Battle of Griffith Observatory

The Battle of Griffith Observatory was a decisive battle fought between remnants of the New California Republic Army and the combined forces of the East and West Coast Brotherhood of Steel in 2296, with the two sides engaging each other for control over Griffith Observatory, the technology for cold fusion, and consequently the Boneyard during the NCR-Brotherhood War.
==Background==
The NCR and the Brotherhood had been engaged in a major conflict on the West Coast for decades, with the NCR previously gaining the upper hand in the conflict prior to the decline of the republic. By the 2290s, the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel had ended their exile and had returned to being active on the surface in New California. This occurred due to the NCR's waning influence in the region following the destruction of Shady Sands sometime after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam in 2281. Despite the two parties' prior animosity, following the nuclear detonation, the Brotherhood was the only known faction to send patrols or search and rescue into the detonation zone, with at least one Brotherhood knight having been immediately present at Shady Sands following its destruction. By 2296, Griffith Observatory in the Boneyard had become a settlement and major stronghold under the control of surviving NCR forces, who were led by the "Flame Mother" Lee Moldaver. In 2296, the West Coast Brotherhood was reinforced by and subsequently seemed to be acting under the directive of the East Coast Brotherhood.
==Prelude to battle==
In 2296, the Prydwen arrived at a Brotherhood airbase and training camp on the West Coast; this resulted in the integration of the two forces. The group had traveled all the way across the continent from the Commonwealth. Their initial objective, as stated by Elder Cleric Quintus, was to locate a crucial item in the possession of an Enclave deserter. The Brotherhood sent several search teams into the "Wilds" to locate the artifact. The search for this artifact would once again reignite open hostilities between the Brotherhood of Steel and the NCR.
The NCR forces under Moldaver were also looking to acquire the artifact: a cold fusion artifact that could be used to generate unlimited energy. Moldaver was a pre-War scientist who had originally developed cold fusion as a means to solve the global energy crisis underlying the Resource Wars of the 2070s. Still, her research had been bought and made proprietary by the Vault-Tec Corporation, who found such a solution undesirable to their business model.
She had heard of Siggi Wilzig, a defector from the Enclave who had managed to create a working cold fusion reactor technology; she would offer him safe harbor with the NCR in exchange for it, in the hopes of using the technology to restore power to all of Los Angeles. When this artifact made its way into the NCR's possession by way of Vault 33 dweller Lucy MacLean, it forced the Brotherhood to take action. Their forces acquired the town of Filly as a forward operating and supply base, despite resistance from Filly's residents. The Brotherhood flag was raised in the center of town, marking one of the first known territorial expansions of the West Coast Brotherhood in decades.
==Battle of Griffith Observatory==
From the settlement of Filly, the Brotherhood — guided by Maximus — traveled to Griffith Observatory. The Prydwen accompanied the force of vertibirds that took off from Filly. The first wave of seven vertibirds landed its troops out front of the observatory amidst heavy anti-aircraft fire from the NCR remnants. Despite the NCR's use of SAM missile defense systems and shoulder-fired rockets, during the approach, only one aircraft was struck, which crashed to the right of the complex. However, one Brotherhood initiate was also killed when he fell out of a Vertibird, taking evasive maneuvers due to an incoming missile. NCR forces and civilians outside the observatory building fled as the Brotherhood began to fire their miniguns indiscriminately into the courtyard. As the Brotherhood forces advanced rapidly through the compound's perimeter, a vicious battle ensued in the courtyard, and Brotherhood and NCR combatants clashed in extremely close quarters. Both sides took several casualties during this period. The NCR lost a majority of its defending force, while the Brotherhood lost at least three knights to NCR fire along with a dozen other soldiers. The vertibirds deployed the first wave, they began to return to the Prydwen for the next wave; a second vertibird was damaged and crashed during this period.
The NCR defenders put up a valiant defense, with Moldaver personally joining her troops in the battle, but the situation quickly deteriorated for them. They had attempted to utilize their artillery and laid down a tirade of machine gun fire on the advancing Brotherhood. They were seemingly also joined by civilian combatants, who chose to join the fight and did what they could to resist, such as flying the NCR flag into combat. At least one knight was seemingly incapacitated outside the observatory after taking a near-direct hit from a mortar. At the same time, another was killed after being pinned down and shot multiple times directly in the helmet. One Brotherhood knight could be seen using the raw strength of their power armor's servo motors to crush the head of an NCR defender. The Brotherhood's forces, spearheaded by its armored units, were eventually able to breach the facility's front doors. From there, they split into two groups: three knights along with Maximus, Petty Officer Shortsight, and several others headed for the artifact. In contrast, others, including Dane, continued to engage NCR defenders elsewhere in the observatory.
The first wave of Brotherhood entrants (Maximus and Shortsight's group) massacred any defenders in their path as the NCR defense collapsed, even stomping on some with power armor. Casualties were increased for the Brotherhood by the interference of the Ghoul, who was there seeking Moldaver. Prior to arriving at the observatory, the ghoul had killed two members of the NCR remnants to obtain the headquarters' location. When confronting the Brotherhood of Steel, he was able to exploit a flaw known to be in the chest plating of the T-45 power armor that was subsequently also present in later models, such as the T-60 power armor. This, in combination with his special munitions and accuracy, allowed him to penetrate the armor. He also disabled the hall's lighting to take the group by surprise, killing at least two knights and injuring, if not killing, a third. The rest of the group's fate remains unknown; Maximus was the only one who was able to escape further inside and reach the control room. 
There, Maximus freed Hank MacLean, not knowing of his role in destroying Shady Sands. This inadvertently allowed Hank to escape as he donned a dead knight's power armor and incapacitated Maximus, flying off into the distance after being wounded by the Ghoul. The Ghoul subsequently began tracking Hank, joined by Lucy MacLean. Before departing, she mercy killed her mother Rose, who had been turned into a feral ghoul by her father's actions. This occurred during sunset, at which time the front courtyard outside the observatory had become littered with the bodies of combatants from both sides. Fighting would continue elsewhere inside the observatory as the Brotherhood engaged the remaining NCR defenders. Around this time, a second wave of vertibirds was launched with reinforcements from the Prydwen and could be seen approaching. The airship had remained out of range of the NCR defenses, with the Brotherhood utilizing it to its true purpose of being a mobile vertibird and troop carrier.
The fighting inside the observatory continued until dusk, with the control room remaining undisturbed until then. Maximus awoke to find that Moldaver had returned from outside with a mortal wound, and she succumbed to her injury after activating the cold fusion reactor to light up the Boneyard. The second group and other Brotherhood reinforcements made it inside the control room soon after, finding Moldaver dead and Maximus standing near her body. Dane led the victory cry, celebrating Maximus as a new knight for leading them to the artifact and seemingly slaying Moldaver. This was a massive victory for the Brotherhood on the West Coast, seemingly wiping out the NCR remnants in Los Angeles, including Moldaver herself, but not before she was able to activate the cold fusion generator—providing unlimited power to the Los Angeles and Shady Sands ruins.
==Aftermath==
Lee Moldaver was able to achieve her 219-year-long goal of introducing clean, unlimited energy to the world, a technology that undoubtedly would have changed the outcome of the Resource Wars had it has been allowed to be introduced. This action saw the lights in post-war Los Angeles reignite for the first time in centuries, with the cold fusion generator feeding unlimited power to the Boneyard. However, due to the destruction of the remnants, the technology and, consequently, the Boneyard itself now seems to be under the control of the Brotherhood.
This was a huge strategic and tactical victory for the Brotherhood. It achieved its goal and acquired the artifact as had been ordered by the East Coast clerics. The cold fusion technology was described as being extremely important: "Who ever controls it will rule the wastes." These events also seem to have brought about a further restructuring of the West Coast Brotherhood. One of their leaders, Elder Cleric Quintus, believed that the Brotherhood had "lost its way" in its isolation before reminiscing about the time when they ruled the wasteland on the West Coast. He further stated that power must be "taken" and not "given." Quintus initiated plans for the rebirth of the Brotherhood in New California with him as its leader, and "the likes of [Maximus] as its sword."
==Notes==
* This is an unofficial, editor-made title used to distinguish the event.
* The NCR noncombatants seen outside the observatory from when Lucy arrives are shown fleeing towards the observatory building when the Brotherhood fires on them. Some of them chose to participate in the defense of the observatory, as several defenders are shown to have no armor or weapons and appear out-of-uniform compared to the armored soldiers, such as the woman with an NCR flag or the man with a wide-brimmed hat seen shortly after. In the episode's audio description, they are described as "citizens." Most of the NCR civilians from before are otherwise not seen, alive or dead, after fleeing. It is possible that some were able to escape the battle. Some civilians are shown dead amidst the bodies outside the observatory after the fighting moves elsewhere; these could be civilian combatants (at least one of them, the man with the hat in the top right, was previously seen on the battlefield), or noncombatants killed when fleeing.
** When the Brotherhood knights enter the observatory, they are also shown gunning down fleeing people, who similarly do not have much equipment. However, all but two of these figures seem to be carrying weaponry when their bodies hit the ground. These individuals can be seen being gunned down in the presence of better-equipped defenders, who try to take position and fire back.
** For some viewers who are disturbed by the morality of a post-nuclear conflict, please note that the following rules do not need to be adhered to by any post-war faction. 
** Rules on civilian involvement: In an armed conflict, it is a war crime to intentionally attack civilians or non-combatants, as they have protected status. Civilians, however, who ‘for such time as they take direct part in hostilities’ become lawful military targets. It is also stated that civilians may not opt in or out of protected status once they choose to regularly and persistently take direct part in hostilities. If they wish to maintain the aforementioned protected status, they must show no involvement and flee immediately. Civilians who participate in hostile engagements do not resume protected status. There is no ‘revolving door’ of protected status. Once the civilian passes through, it is like a one-way turnstile, and the civilian assumes the risk of being targeted. 
** What would constitute a crime: In the instance of the battle at Griffith Observatory, the purposeful mixing of military and civilian infrastructure is forbidden in an active combat zone (or in an area you believe may become active). The endangerment of its citizens by the NCR, whether it be purposeful or negligent, would constitute a war crime in the modern day. While the NCR is putting them at risk by allowing them to establish permanent residency in a possible target zone. Furthermore, proper recon was not conducted by Brotherhood forces before beginning their assault. Civilian and military targets were mixed upon their arrival. Yet, they fired indiscriminately into the courtyard instead of verifying targets (they were receiving fire from armed combatants mixed in with the civilians, regardless, firing on them undoubtedly killed some of those who attempted to flee). This negligence and action on their part would also constitute a crime in the modern day if civilians were hurt or killed. Despite the NCR's leader, Lee Moldaver, being seemingly aware the Brotherhood would come for the cold fusion reactor, no attempts were made to evacuate civilians before or at the beginning of hostilities. By modern standards, both parties would be equally responsible for the loss of any non-combatant.
** There's a large chance the entire engagement would have never taken place if Maximus had simply carried out his mission. If he had returned the artifact to the Brotherhood instead of allowing it to fall into hands that would undoubtedly force them to retrieve it, things may have gone differently. He can be seen as mostly at fault since he also relayed the NCR's location to the Brotherhood.
* When the Brotherhood breaches the observatory, at least four knights can be seen entering the building alongside Petty Officer Shortsight, Dane, Maximus, and others. Two of these knights are armed with assault rifles, while the other two are carrying T-60 pistols. After these two groups split up, three knights are shown with Maximus and Shortsight. Two of these are the rifle-wielding knights, while the third is one with a pistol.
** The Ghoul is then shown shooting the first knight (one of those with an assault rifle, non-lethally), and subsequently firing multiple times in darkness while the first knight is seen getting back up. Going frame-by-frame reveals that the Ghoul shoots the knights several times: he is seen shooting the pistol-wielding knight twice, while the rifle-wielding knight from before is shot at least twice more (three bullet holes are seen in the chest), and he also shoots Petty Officer Shortsight in the chest (the other two officers afterward, confirming the identity of the one seen being shot). The last rifle-wielding knight is not seen to have any damage until the Ghoul tosses a grenade in their armor, killing them. The fate of the other Brotherhood soldiers with Maximus is unclear, as they are not seen again after that scene.
** The other group, which includes Dane, continued to fight in other areas, as they were not seen during the altercation with the Ghoul. When Maximus regains consciousness, gunfire can be heard echoing throughout the facility as the other groups clear NCR forces. An indeterminate, but likely short amount of time passes between sunset when Maximus is incapacitated and later when he wakes up, as when Moldaver activates the cold fusion reactor and returns the power to Los Angeles, dusk is just setting in. The setting sun's light can still be slightly seen in the sky.
==References==
Category:Brotherhood of Steel conflicts
Category:New California Republic conflicts