-Chapter 1-
A figure slouched underneath the small tent perched high above the road. She exhaled while pursing her lips in an exaggerated manner that spoke of her frustration. It was hot today. It was hot every day, but it was especially hot today. The figure fanned herself and sighed before tugging at the glove on her left hand. If it wasn't so useful she would gotten rid of the device on her arm a long time ago. The damn thing was heavy, and on days like today it was absurdly hot. She fanned herself again. This was getting ridiculous.
"How long could it possibly take for the sun to set?" she remarked. It felt like they had been there for days when, in fact, it had been merely hours. She tugged repetitively at her tank-top. It may not have been the most tactically appropriate garment, but damn-it if her time under the scorching Mojave sun hadn't taught her that sometimes it was better to feel a breeze than body-armor.
"Just how long are we gonna wait here watching those assholes do nothing?"
The figure turned back to the inquiring woman, responding with an exasperated, sarcastic look that answered the question, just as it had the dozen similar queries before it.
"Right, right. 'As long as it takes,'" parroted the inquiring woman. She waited a moment before asking, "Remind me again why we're not picking these fuckers off right now? I mean shit, you've got that brand new rifle to play with." She gestured back towards the shanty where a brown rifle was leaning against the footlocker the blonde had jimmied open.
The figure shook her head jostling a few strands of blonde hair in her eyes. "Listen, if we use this thing right now, that whole camp is gonna come scurrying up here. They'll tell their fort that they're all being killed, gunned down by the First Recon probably. The Legion back at their fort will probably send out more raiders as reprisal."
Cass thought a moment and added, "But won't they do that anyway?"
"Probably," the blonde said wryly, turning back to watch the camp. "but this way, we get to be a bit more," she paused, "theatrical with how they find out that their precious forward base is wiped out," she said then added, "and what else they find here."
Cass sighed. "Fine, we'll wait... As long as it takes," she said.
The Courier smirked and nodded in agreement to both the woman's answer and her impatience. The figure unfurled her legs and arched her back in an attempt to stretch inside small tent that was little more than a small piece of fabric stretched diagonally downwards from a set of supports. She set down the binoculars she had been using and extracted herself from the half-tent and stretched languidly. She walked back to the shanty and picked up her newly acquired rifle. She walked back to the tent and laid down in it head-first on her stomach. She leveled the rifle, aiming down at the camp, squinted her left eye shut, and peered through the rifle scope at the camp below.
She grimaced in frustration as she adjusted the rifle scope to bring the patrolling figures into focus. It didn't offer a closer view than her binoculars, but she felt like playing with her new toy. She rested her head on her left hand and opened her left eye and watched the campgrounds below. She saw only the small figures of patrolling guards around the uniform buildings that comprised the ancient compound. She shut her her left eye again and gave the camp another cursory examination through the rifle's scope. The figures below remained on their patrol routes without the slightest of deviations. She hadn't seen them so much take a break to eat, drink, or even relieve themselves. She had heard of discipline but frankly this was absurd, even for Caesar's Legion.
Her redheaded companion lay down next to her. Saying nothing she picked up the abandoned binoculars and joined the blonde in examining the camp. She smiled wordlessly at her friend and turned back, peering once again at the distant camp through the rifle scope.
"You know, I gotta be honest, the whole 'let's wait till they fall asleep and then we'll pick 'em off one at a time' plan sounded good yesterday evening, but these jerks don't sleep but one at a time, so ... what are we gonna do?"
The Courier looked at her companion. It was a valid question. She would have to come up with a new plan. She didn't like waiting around any more than her companion, but she couldn't just let them get away with what they had done at Camp McCarran. Those monsters had to be shown that they didn't own everything they saw. They had to be taught that there were those who would push back. She had found this spot thanks to a message there that pointed the way, and had headed, more or less, straight here after she had delivered it to the CO at Camp Forlorn Hope.
They had been trying to earn enough caps to buy their way into the Strip. Seeing as every street in Freeside found them beset by extortionists, beggars, or addicts, the two figgured they could scrounge up some better caps running jobs for the NCR out of McCarran. So naturally they ended up running various errands around the outskirts and eventually wound up in the major NCR base. She sighed heavily at the memory, trying to push it from her mind.
She heard a crack of thunder and looked up to see a thunderstorm raging in the distance. She prayed it wouldn't make it's way to her. Although the rain brought with it temporary relief from the heat, it could also bring with it some unwanted rads. She extracted herself once again from the tiny perch on the cliff and walked back to the corrugated shack. She rummaged through her pack and fished out two doses of Rad-X before returning to the small tent. Handing one to Cass she gestured to the storm on the horizon. Swallowing the capsule with a mouthful of purified water from her canteen she once again laid down in the tent. Soon enough her thoughts turned back to the base from which they had come.
She thought to the note on the desk of the traitor at Camp McCarran. They had left the base and headed towards Forlorn Hope. What a cheerful place that had been. Not that she was expecting the place to be a bastion of optimism, she just wanted to get away from McCarran. She had really screwed up there and she sighed at the memory. She pursed her lips and puffed a few wisps of hair out of her eyes and sighed. 'What a screw-up that had been.' She sighed inwardly as she thought of how she had almost died, twice.