Jacqueline Spencer

Jacqueline "Jacq" Spencer (username JSpencer) was a settler at University Point prior to the Institute's attack in 2285.

Background
Jacqueline Spencer was an adventurous girl with a talent for engineering, responsible for reactivating the town's mail relay and enabling citizens to send emails to each other. However, she was also single-handedly responsible for triggering the events that led to the town being wiped out by the Institute, starting with the salvage of an old hard drive from old office that belonged to a Stuart Campbell. The hard drive was intended as a replacement, but Jacqueline let her curiosity get the better of her and investigated its contents instead of formatting it. When she realized that she discovered Campbell's research on reactor efficiency, she immediately sought out a passing caravan to find a buyer for the information, agreeing to a 25/75 split of the hundreds of caps promised.

Unfortunately, she chose poorly: The trader was an Institute informant and in a time when the organization was looking for reactor research all over the Commonwealth. The hard drive's contents were vital to the Institute and so a representative was sent to demand that the town hand it over, with the implied threat of force if it failed to comply. It also mentioned Jacqueline by name, leading to the town turning on the Spencers. Bert Strickland, mayor of University Point, managed to keep the tensions contained for a while, violence nearly broke out when Perry Owens suggested that Jacqueline be turned over to the Institute and her father, Gerald Spencer, attacked him. He was convinced it was a con to gain the data for free. However, rumors circulated. One of those, started by Martha Cole, implied the Institute demanded children Another denizen suggested a nuke was hidden in the town to go off if the town doesn't surrender their harvest. The mob was forming and a lynch was just a matter of time, with Owens ready to be the first to grab a pitchfork.

Gerald grounded his daughter for her own protection and Jacqueline obeyed, despite her initial misgivings. However, that did not spare her the hate, as the town used the email relay she restored to flood her inbox with hateful messages. As the atmosphere heated up, Gerald found himself at a loss. The mayor was his friend and he was the one who suggested keeping his daughter inside. However, he also said out loud what Gerald feared: The Spencers were vulnerable at University Point as a result of Jacqueline's actions and if the Institute didn't get to them, then their neighbors would. He suggested getting out of the Commonwealth entirely.

His advice was sound, though Strickland did not anticipate that the Institute would not take kindly to a town not following orders. Synths from the Institute descended on the outpost in late August and wiped the trading post off the map. The denizens put up a fight, but they stood no chance of repulsing the synths. During the fighting, an explosion in the service tunnels under Sedgwick Hall killed many, released a large amount of radioactive material, and caused the building to partly collapse, in a grim monument to the town's fate and the Institute's savagery. The attack did not omit Jacqueline herself, adding her to the long list of Institute casualties.

Appearances
Jacqueline Spencer is mentioned only in Fallout 4, although her skeleton can also be found at Sedgewick Hall.