Chapter 1

2287: Wolfe Hunter looked out over the city of New Vegas. The 31 year old was dressed formally, black suit jacket and pants, black shoes, a white shirt and a red waistcoat and dickey-bow. As always, he had his Bowie knife in its sheath on his left side and his 10mm pistol, with silencer and laser sight, on his right. His black hair and beard, both streaked with grey, were tightly cropped, not that you could see his hair under the beret he was wearing. Steely grey eyes peered out through his glasses, admiring the lights of the city. His city. Officially, now that he had been elected President in the Vegas Free State's first ever general election. It had taken him, and his allies, over six years to build and rebuild Vegas into the power it was now, and it had all started that night he'd been shot in the head.

He couldn't remember much of his early life. The faces of friends and family were either blurry or non-existent, a result of meeting the business end of Maria, Benny's 9mm pistol. What he did know was that he'd been born in Shady Sands, capitol of the New California Republic, in 2256, and had joined the army at about 14 or 15. His excellent marksmanship had seen Wolfe rise until, at 20, he was accepted into First Recon, the elite sniper unit. It was also around this time he realised that he hated taking orders. When the time came to re-enlist, he simply walked away. His only remaining connections to First Recon were his sniping skills and the red beret that he still wore to this day.

What followed was a series of mercenary jobs which, although well paid, lacked the sense of freedom that Wolfe craved. Eventually, he found himself working as a freelance courier, roaming the wastelands and seeing what was left of the world. And he loved every second of it. That is, until that fateful day in 2281 that he'd arrived in Primm and been given an oversized poker chip to deliver to the Strip. What followed was nearly being killed, hunting down the man responsible and taking revenge, discovering a plot far bigger than him, and in the end seizing control of the entire Mojave Wasteland.

Wolfe ended up killing Mr. House, the ruler the Strip, and using the Lucky 38 as a base of operations. Under the pretence of assisting the NCR (although he did a lot of that as well) he began recruiting or removing the various factions in the wasteland. He convinced the Great Khans to move Northwest, gained the support of the Boomers, removed the cannibalistic element of the White Glove Society and killed the Legion-allied leaders of the Omeretas. He had also single-handedly massacred the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. As it turned out, the poker chip he had been supposed to deliver was a powerful software upgrade for House's Securitrons, and the key to an army of them under the Fort. After slaughtering any trace of the Legion on the Vegas side of the Colorado and recruiting the Remnants of the Enclave to fight for him, Wolfe led his troops across the dam during the battle and confronted Legate Lanius; the new Caesar after Wolfe had shot the previous one in the face with a shotgun. He proceeded to slay Lanius in single combat, claiming his mask and blade as trophies, before turning around and, with help from his new army of upgraded Securitrons, convincing General Oliver Lee to surrender and remove NCR troops from the Mojave.

The first thing Wolfe had done after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam was issue a declaration. In it he stated that any Raider or criminal operating in the Mojave would be given amnesty should the join the new nation's army. As he expected, the shattered remains of the Powder Gangers, including those who had failed the Khan's initiation ritual, were only too eager to join up, as were a number of NCR and even Legion deserters. The other Raider groups, like the Fiends, Vipers, Jackals and Scorpions, proved more reluctant, and found themselves facing the dangerous end of his Securitrons' Gatling lasers. Those who accepted the offer, along with the Vegas locals and NCR squatters who signed up, were trained at Camp McCarran by his army officers; General Judah Kreger, Colonel Orion Moreno, Colonel Cannibal Johnson, Colonel Craig Boone, and Colonel Christine Royce. Those who proved themselves exceptional in combat were moved to Hidden Valley to continue training under Kreger, Moreno, and Johnson. These soldiers made up Wolfe's power-armoured units.

The second thing he'd done was to claim sovereignty over not only the Mojave, but also Zion Canyon and the ruins of the Divide. Few disputed his claim. Squads of Securitrons were sent into the Divide with the sole purpose of salvaging the gold mine of weaponry that was stored there, and returning it to Vegas. Zion was pretty much left alone. Wolfe also had the Think Tank at Big MT develop a material that could resist the corrosive cloud in the Sierra Madre, and construct Securitrons out of it. These robots were used to clear the casino and villa of weaponry, valuables, and technology, especially the gold from the casino vault and the miracle vending machines. Those two recoveries set the Vegas economy on its feet. Cloud residue was also collected and sold to the bars and casinos, where the Sierra Madre Martini became increasingly popular.

Wolfe looked around the penthouse of the Lucky 38. Where once the shelves had been piled high with pre-war books, most of those had been donated to the Silver Rush Library, run by the Followers of the Apocalypse in Freeside. Instead they were now filed with the trinkets and trophies of Wolfe's travels and battles and victories. Lanius' mask and blade, the power-fist of Salt-Upon-Wounds, tribal leader of the White Legs, Maria, Benny's pistol, and many others. Wolfe sighed and sat down, waiting for the other members of his country's first government to arrive.

The first was Judah, representing the Military. Next came Swank, Marjorie, and Cachino, the leaders of the Chairmen, White Glove Society and the Omeretas respectively. Then came the King from Freeside and Tom Anderson from Westside. Loyal from Nelis, Marcus from Jacobstown, and Neil from Black Mountain. Sunny from Goodsprings, Beagle from Primm, Chomps from Sloan and Jason Bright from Novac. Captain Giles from Bitter Springs. Crandon from North Vegas. The representatives of the rebuilt Nipton, Nelson, Cottenwood Cove, Vaults 3, 11, 19 and 22, Cass from the Mojave Caravan Company, Ike from Boulder City and Arcade to represent the Followers. The last to arrive was the representative of Alcatraz, a small town set up in the ruins of the NCR Correctional Facility by NCR immigrants. "Well," said Wolfe, "Let's get down to business". He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. There was a very special guest arriving today.

Chapter 2

Star Paladin Chris Waters sat as still as a rock as the Vertibird approached their destination. Across from him, Knight Arthur Maxson was fidgeting, as he had been doing for the entire trip. Chris knew Arthur looked up to him, but the boy had never been good with Vertibirds. Chris thought of Arthur as a boy since the first time they'd met he'd only been 10 years old, however Chris had to keep reminding himself that ten years had passed since then. Still, he wished Sarah hadn't assigned the young knight to this mission. He would have felt better with Gallows or Dusk watching his back out here. Still, Arthur wasn't the worst backup to have. Chris had trained him to use energy weapons himself, and he was a good shot with the Telsa Cannon on his back, and the plasma pistol on his hip. Both of them were dressed in Brotherhood of Steel power armour. Of course, with the technology available to the Brotherhood in the east, their energy weapons and power armour were light-years ahead of anything else you would find in the wasteland. Light-weight, super-durable, and far more powerful than the standard. Chris didn't have a Telsa Cannon. Instead, he had a black laser rifle on his back. The rifle's name was Metal Blaster, and he'd picked it up during his time in The Pitt. On his left hip was his trusty combat knife, Occam's razor. He'd claimed it from Commander Jabsco of Talon Company during his assault on Fort Bannister. Both he and Arthur had five plasma grenades each strapped across their chests. They weren't just ready to fight. They were ready for war.

"Approaching New Vegas, ETA 10 minutes" called back the pilot, a tall red haired woman who went by the name of Torch. Clad in Brotherhood Recon armour, she had what appeared to be a sword on her left hip, and a laser pistol on her right. Chris looked at Arthur, and as expected found his gaze lingering on the back of Torch's head. He grinned and snapped his fingers in Arthur's face. "You wouldn't even think we just spent 20 hours straight stuck in here, would you?" he laughed, and the other two joined in. Soon, the Vertibird began to descend, on top of a building that was apparently being used as the NCR embassy. Six figures waited for them on the roof. Four were clad in power armour, of which three were wielding Gauss Rifles and one had a plasma caster. The fifth man was dressed in a tuxedo and a red beret, and he appeared to be unarmed. Beside him floated something Chris had hoped he would never have to see again; an Enclave Eyebot. "Keep your weapons ready" he muttered. Arthur and Torch nodded.

Once the Vertibird had touched down the three of them descended onto the roof. Chris stepped forward, as did the man in the tuxedo. The man extended his hand. "President Wolfe Hunter, at your service" he smiled. Chris took his hand and shook it, replying "Star Paladin Chris Waters, we spoke via radio last month". "Yes, I remember" said Wolfe "I'll show you and your companions to your rooms and then tomorrow we can get down to business". He turned and walked towards the stairs, the Eyebot following him. His power-armoured guards never took their eyes off the trio. Chris would have preferred to get right down to business, but this was Wolfe's territory. They were playing by his rules now. "Are we staying in the embassy then?" Arthur asked one of the guards, the one with the plasma caster. "No" he replied "you're being set up in the Lucky 38; hotel, casino, and seat of government. Although it hasn't been used as a casino in hundreds of years". As long as Chris could find a bottle of Scotch he'd be happy to sleep in the Vertibird. But still they followed after Wolfe and his Eyebot, the guards still watching their every move.

The room in the Lucky 38 was definitely five-star. After removing his power armour, setting down his weaponry and changing into camo trousers and a white t-shirt, Chris checked the mini-fridge and sure enough found a bottle of Scotch. His father had always loved Scotch. He had just poured himself a glass when there was a knock on the door. He yelled that it was open and Arthur and Torch walked in. They were both dressed exactly the same as he was. Chris's t-shirt showed off the shiny metallic plating that not just covered, but actually made up his right arm. Curtesy of Talon Company, he had been caught in a plasma booby-trap without his armour, just outside Megaton. The Brotherhood Scribes had done everything they could, replacing his right arm and left leg (from just above the knee) with robotic titanium replacements. The titanium plating also extended over the right side of his chest, and his right lung had been replaced by machinery. Aside from all that, he was perfectly intact, although not quite human. Doctor Lesko in Grayditch had given him a mutagenic bio-enhancer, which improved his sight beyond human limits and made his skin highly resistant to flame damage. On top of that, an experiment with Moira Brown involving massive amounts of radiation resulted in Chris developing a mutation. Although he could still die of radiation poisoning, exposure to radiation caused his physical wounds like cuts and broken bones to heal rapidly. Rothchild had told him that the ability was similar to the mutation found in Ghouls, without being immune to radiation poisoning or looking like a corpse. Chris wasn't too bothered about not being entirely human. In his mind, nobody in the wasteland was, and aside from the Enclave nobody made a big deal out of it.

He poured two more glasses and invited Arthur and Torch to sit, to which they happily obliged. "Tell me," he said, sipping his Scotch, "what are your first impressions?". Torch was the first to speak. "The city is heavily protected, both by those Securitron robots and by human soldiers. Their weaponry is high grade, very good condition, and they're all armed to the teeth. I'm pretty sure I saw at least one who'd filed his teeth to points as well. Most of the soldiers use conventional guns, energy weapons seem to be concentrated with the ones in power armour. Most soldiers' armour seems to be based off the old Desert Ranger gear, right down to the helmet. The power armour is a mix of T-45b and T-51b models. Not as advanced as our newer models, but still sturdy and obviously functional. It seems as though it's common for units to be accompanied by cyberdogs as well". Chris nodded approvingly at the young knight's keen perception. "And what do you think of our host, Arthur?" he asked. Arthur swallowed his Scotch and took a minute to get over the strong taste. "Well," he replied when he'd recovered, "he doesn't give much away. Plays his cards close to his chest. I don't trust that Eyebot of his, but so far he hasn't given us a reason not to trust him". Chris looked at both of the knights in front of him and stood up. "The key words in that sentence are 'so far'. We're thousands of miles from backup if things go wrong and the only help we have is from a man we're not even sure we can trust. This mission is one of the most important objectives the Brotherhood has ever undertaken. We need to find out if President Wolfe is our ally, and if not, how we can make sure he doesn't interfere. Make no mistake. If we fail here, humanity falls with us".