For Honorable Service

by peanutkid

Slade Westbrook has moved into the New Vegas area to attempt to bring a new start to his troubled life. Upon his arrival in Nipton, he strikes up a vendetta with Caesar's Legion and House's Courier, Deacon Blake, who have begun to work together. Slade eventually meets with Veronica Santangelo. They form an unlikely friendship and work together to fix the wasteland.

Slade Westbrook stared blankly into the surrounding desert as he loaded more .45-70s into his Ranger Sequoia. According to his Pip-Boy, he had fifty rounds left. Enough to make his way Nipton, which was almost seven miles away. It had been a long journey from California.

His revolver had the inscription FOR HONORABLE SERVICE along the barrel. He laughed. He owned that gun for any reason except honorable service. Slade chuckled, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was the fact that he had recently downed his third bottle of whiskey and was working on a fourth. Maybe it was irony that his despicable actions earned him a revolver labeled as being honorable. Either way, it really wasn't something he should have been laughing about. His mind wandered, remembering just about every mistake he had made in his life. I am the worst fucking person, he thought to himself. What was it, twelve, thirteen deaths I caused in little more than three minutes? Not to mention the others I've killed and wounded over the years... Dammit, all of the blood my hands... He took another hefty swig of whiskey. He figured he shouldn't think about such things. He had been sitting on a rock in the dead middle of nowhere for what he figured to be three or four hours by then. That's about one bottle of whiskey an hour, and at the rate he was going, it could be more.

I guess I should set up camp, Slade thought as he observed the sun setting in the distance, leaving a hazy orange over his surroundings. Not a single living thing could seen. A quick switch to heat vision on his elite riot gear helmet confirmed that there was next to nothing alive nearby. Just how he liked it. Grabbing his shovel, Consuela, he quickly dug a nice sized fire pit and kicked some dry brush into it.