Could it be, perhaps, that the BoS are working *with* the Institute? To me it depends on one thing...

Are the BoS part of the Lyons division, or not? So far all evidence says yes, though airships is the one thing that throws a chink in the chain, being they may actually be midwest.

Even if it is the Lyons division or not, Lyons is focused on helping *people*. Who knows if they care of Androids, but my bets on they aren't. This could mean that if there really are more members of the Preston Garveys Militia that they may side with the BoS seeing as what early (and small, mind you) footage we have seen shows them helping humans.

What better way to help people, then with armed and dangerous synthetics who, in my opinion, don't have freewill unless programmed with such freewill? So many questions... Its really hard to say until we get the game in our consoles/PC's.

My one wish? That Liberty Prime is back in action. As my signature may give a clue to, he is probably the coolest things I have ever seen in Fallout, and his anti-communism ramblings are amazing.

Well, about that airship - isn't it named after something from the Arthurian legend, so that it could be a pointer (Arthur Maxon!) towards it being Lyon's BOS?

greetings LAX

Yes, it is. But, there is nothing, outside of the ships name and a vague achievement icon, that definitively attributes it to being the Lyon's BoS. The setting of 2277 leaves only 2 months between the events of Fo3 and Fo4, so a little kid in the broom closet pioneering that expedition is unlikely. The only other explanations are that Owyn Lyon's let the kid name the ship (or named it in honor of his family's legacy), or the timeline progresses as the story unfolds (very unlikely).

My hopes for the Midwest BoS have slowly died..

The Midwestern BoS had Arthurian references as well, they had a Grail Squad lead by Paladin Lancelot. If Fallout 4 does take place in 2277, then there is no way it could be Lyon's East Coast BoS.

Unless there is a time jump sometime along the MQ of the game. Personally, I'm not a fan of time jumps, but it is a possibility.

I'm not so sure about the timeline. Bethesda explicitly stated that their timeline is only going to move forward. The real question is whether that applies to spinoffs, since New Vegas took place in 2281. If they are counting New Vegas, then the game can take place no earlier than 2281. There's also the matter of whether timeline events occurring concurrently counts as moving forward.

Yeah well, devs can change their mind. Nothing a dev said can be confirmed until it actually appears in a game.

It is possible that Lyon's sent an expedition out before the events of Fallout 3 perhaps even before the schism with the Outcasts. Perhaps the airship was something they were sent to retrieve not something they arrived in Boston with.

This could also be a completely new BoS faction. When the MWBoS went east a storm blew them off course. SOME of them crashed in Chicago maybe this group crashed in Boston and managed to eventually repair the airship.

That could be possible. We will know soon enough.

Still, though, I think the possibility of them not even mentioning Lyons is slim to none. And I reaaally hope Liberty Prime comes back. Perhaps the Institute wants Prime, and tries to get the PC to take his data or something? Doubtful... Maybe the Institute has built their own Prime you must deal with?