Death From Above

Death From Above is a Fallout 3 quest and achievement that is added to the game in the Broken Steel add-on.

The player is sent to assist a Brotherhood assault on an Enclave outpost at the southwest corner of the map (west of the Dunwich Building), reached via the Rockland Car Tunnel. The Satellite Relay Station is in a new area altogether and is heavily defended by Enclave soldiers.

Talk to Scribe Rothchild
After you wake up in the Citadel's clinic, after completing the "Take It Back!" quest, you are greeted by Elder Lyons, who gives a short overview of what happened during the two weeks you have been unconscious. He then sends you to Scribe Rothchild for a more detailed briefing. Rothchild explains how the Brotherhood systematically attacked Enclave camps with the help of Liberty Prime which has proven to be far more effective than expected. The objective of your mission is to learn how the Enclave are still able to communicate and coordinate their scattered forces, even though Raven Rock has been destroyed. It is believed that the Enclave-controlled Satellite Relay Station might be able to provide answers and you are sent there to assist the assault.

Meet Paladin Tristan and support him during the assault
When you arrive at Rockland Car Tunnel, you are briefed by Paladin Tristan. As in Take It Back!, Liberty Prime will take point, with you and other Knights providing support. The first phase of the assault proceeds much like that mission, as the giant robot stomps implacably down a canyon, swatting Vertibirds out of the sky and crushing all "Communist" opposition in its path.

When the Brotherhood force arrives at the relay station, Liberty Prime analyzes it for weaknesses and then punches a hole in its wall, allowing entrance. Soon afterward, however, he warns that an uplink transmission has been detected and that an orbital strike is imminent. If you do not stay back or immediately retreat to a safe distance from the robot, you will be killed.

Liberty Prime is wrecked by the missile strike, managing to drag himself only a few yards with his remaining arm before shutting down. In the process, his head comes off; like Deputy Weld's when Megaton is destroyed, it can be activated to hear some of his anti-Communist phrases, now slurred and garbled.

Gather data from the Relay Station
The surviving Brothers regroup, and Tristan orders you to enter the base and find out what just happened. Assisted by a squad of Paladins and Operations Officer Edwards, you must fight through many Enclave soldiers before finally reaching a computer room. Encrypted codes can be downloaded from the mainframe terminal.

Return the data to Scribe Rothchild
You are told to return to the Citadel and give the codes to Scribe Rothchild for further investigation. After lamenting the robot's fate, Rothchild takes the data and directs the player to Elder Lyons. Talking to him finishes Death From Above and starts the next quest, Shock Value.

Behind the scenes

 * The title of the quest may be a reference to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now, being the motto of the helicopter of Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore.

Bugs

 * At the beginning you are to speak with scribe Rothchild who then tells you to "go and take a good look at the map". After that he does nothing thus you can not move forward in that quest. The console command (with XX being the load position for Broken Steel.esm) will bypass this stage of the quest as complete.
 * After being briefed by Scribe Rothchild to meet up with Paladin Tristan, you may arrive at the Rockland Car Tunnel only to find the door is locked and requires a key. Go back to the Citadel and speak with Scribe Rothchild again. It will then show you have completed speaking to him again and when you go back to Rockland Car Tunnel the door will not be locked. There is no key to obtain.
 * The Death From Above achievement may unlock incorrectly, whist the game will say you have it, your overall gamerscore will not change.
 * If you go though the base with Chinese stealth armor or power armor the Paladins (and any companions) might bug out and stop moving, you'll be unable to talk to them and they'll be unable to tell you to report to Scribe Rothchild.
 * Any companions you have seem to be unable to follow you all the way though the mission, they seem to get stuck on one of the stair cases along with the surviving BHoS characters. This can make the mission a lot harder for lower level players. This bug occurred with Fawkes as a companion, the BHoS characters will not move from that spot but Fawkes will warp to you as usual upon exiting the compound.