Boston Police rationing site

The Boston Police rationing site is a location in the Commonwealth in 2287. It was used by the Boston Police Department to distribute supplies to civilians but came under investigation by the United States Army for ration shortages. The supplies were delivered by NH&M via a rail line, which connects to the NH&M Freight Depot a short distance to the east.

Background
A pair of community basketball courts and a railway unloading depot were combined by the pre-War Boston Police Department to set up a rationing station that would provide the destitute with food and other necessary goods. With such an ample supply of goods, many of which were in short supply on the market, theft, and abuse was a natural concern. The United States Army Reserve was therefore responsible for providing security and the loading and unloading of the goods from the train (the last shipment of which was on October 17th ) while the 3rd Precinct of the BPD was in charge of the actual distribution (checking receiving ledgers and distributing rations to civilians). The shifts were scheduled jointly by Detective Francis Perry and Sergeant John Reise.

This concerted effort, however, was not enough to stem the tide of corruption and incompetence. Complaints about shortages and missing items were dismissed by Sergeant S. Randall (BPD) as "just some civies trying to weasel a bit more out of the system," and to continue to keep the lines in order. However, the officers couldn't or wouldn't do so, as there were several news stories about pickpockets stealing medical supplies from old ladies right under their noses. Meanwhile those on duty were trying to cozy up to the soldiers on guard. This was strictly forbidden by the senior staff, who informed their troops that there was an ongoing investigation into the ration shortages in the unit. Although it was believed to be only a corrupt police issue, this was not the case.

The missing supplies were the result of collusion between Detective Francis Perry and Sergeant John Reise who were hiding them within the utility tunnels between the warehouse and the Massachusetts Turnpike tunnel. They were, in reality, old friends and had no compunction about stealing the supplies for resale on the black market. The supplies were being sold by Perry's cousin Jack; however, he was having a hard time trying to sell the goods and Reise was having none of it, especially as Perry's partner Detective McDonnell was catching onto their scheme. Reise was so concerned that he ordered his men to arrest McDonnell if the detective even came near the property.

In reality, Perry was planning to pin the whole scheme on Reise and skip town after his cousin Jack moved the goods to a safer location. However, Jack dragged his feet and less than half was moved. This prompted Perry to record a message to Jack for him to hurry up and to remind him of their plan including their alibi (to leave for a week or so and say that their grandmother was having health problems in New York). The plan to have Jack come by and gather the rest of the goods on the night of October 23rd was interrupted by the sergeant overhearing Perry's recording of the coming betrayal. The two would kill each other and their skeletons would lie in the tunnels undisturbed for over two hundred years.

After the Great War, the Boston Police rationing site was rediscovered by the Black Devil at some point after the Enclave's defeat in the Capital Wasteland in 2277. The Black Devil used the basement of the rationing site to store his prototype X-02 power armor and as a base to listen for settlement distress calls and come to their aid. Eventually, the Black Devil abandoned the site, leaving his equipment and power armor behind a security room inside the basement. This basement was eventually discovered in 2287 by the Sole Survivor and the Enclave Commonwealth remnants led by Sergeant Hodges who both sought to find the Black Devil's power armor.

Layout
The site consists of a yard adjacent to a railroad and a section of a train. There is a small two-story warehouse containing shipping crates, a locked steamer trunk, and one of three entrances to the Mass Pike Tunnel. The other two are Mass Pike Tunnel east and west.

The intended way to enter the warehouse is to jump on to the roof via jumping on the shipping containers, blue rail car, walk around to the side and enter through a broken wall on the second floor. It can be also entered by performing a power armor jump next to the barred door, or by throwing explosives, either of which will dislodge the bar and open the door. The player character can also shoot the bar to dislodge it by jumping and shooting through the window on the opposite side of the building.

Stepping on the ground floor will trigger the spawning of several mole rats including a brood mother. A temporary office with a terminal can be found on the lot as well. In the utility tunnel, there is a chemistry station and a power armor station.

Exterior
The warehouse (east) and basketball courts (west) are located on the hill between the railway line and the once busy one-way street. Directly in front of the entrance to the site is a bus stop. The retaining wall of the basketball court was reinforced with sandbags facing the street. The entrance to the rationing line began here, passing in front of the Boston Police Department trailer checkpoint and winding around both this and ending at the second court behind it.

This court was used to move the shipping containers into position (via a megaloader) for the officers of the BPD to distribute the rations for those on line. Past this court was the yard entrance to the warehouse. At the street, directly in front of it is a van with three skeletons removing cash from a broken safe in its rear. A coupe sits past the entrance, apparently smashing through the fence from the yard entrance to the yard. The entrance to the warehouse yard was purposely narrowed with concrete dividers.

The yard of the warehouse is mostly empty, one container sits out front, one stands upright on the platform, two more were offloaded and stacked behind it, and one final container was to be placed behind the warehouse. However, it is still on the megaloader arm behind the warehouse. The cargo train still mostly sits at the platform but some cars appear to have broken free and slid down the tracks, one coming to rest on the nearby rail bridge.

Warehouse
The warehouse's main doors can only be unlocked from the inside via a wall button. The door on the platform is barred from the inside and the windows are boarded up from the inside. It can be accessed by jumping onto the roof and entering via a hole in the wall, or via the stairs inside that connect to the Mass Pike Tunnel's utility tunnels.

The interior of the warehouse is packed with crates; the northern wall with crates on shelving, the center with two shipping containers, the southern platform has the access to the Mass Pike Tunnel's utility tunnels to the west and a Protectron pod in the east corner past the terminal on the desk, the wooden crate next to it, and the ammo box next to that. The stairway to the balcony storage is located on the northern side of the warehouse. The balcony storage is separated into two parts: the first has a smaller shipping container, this is where the hole to the Commonwealth is, this balcony is attached to the other balcony by a rickety wooden pathway where a former pathway once was. The second balcony contains a steamer trunk (Expert locked) and a larger shipping container.

Exterior

 * Det. McDonnell's holotape, within the police terminal inside the trailer west of the warehouse.
 * Four fragmentation grenades can be found in a wooden crate under the desk in the trailer west of the warehouse.

Interior

 * Behind a security door within the basement of the rationing site, a full suit of prototype X-02 power armor can be found as well as a wall safe containing the X-02 Devil's Inferno power armor paint schemes.

Related quest

 * Speak of the Devil

Companion comments

 * When at this location companions make comments, which are activated in front of the trailer kiosk.

Appearances
The Boston Police rationing site appears only in Fallout 4.