Ch 1 Independence Day

"Do you still miss them?" Veronica said, looking down at stage being prepared for the celebration.

"Everyday. I still blame myself for not finding out about Sean until it was too late." Joseph said, attempting to tie his tie as he prepared to celebrate yet another Independence Day without two of his former companions.

"It wasn't your fault, how could we have known he was a spy, you said he was with you since Day 1."

"He was. Can we not talk about this? I don't want to walk out to the podium crying. Help me tie this damn thing, I still can't tie it." Joseph said in frustration.

"How quaint, our president can unify a wasteland but can't tie his own tie." Veronica said laughing.

"There, all better. You know, you do look good in that suit." Veronica said standing on her toes to kiss Joseph.

"What would I do without you Veronica?" Joseph said looking down at his First Lady

"Well you wouldn't be able to wear a tie." Veronica said laughing.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Joseph said sarcastically.

Suddenly, a panting Raul flung the door open.

"Boss, we've got trouble!" he said trying to catch his breath.

"Last time we had "trouble" I ended up blindfolded in a dumpster." Joseph deadpanned.

"Hey that was funny, you screamed like a girl when we blindfolded you. But we have real trouble this time, Ulysses' scouts reported that there were at least thirty transport vertibirds, all with strange markings headed in this direction." Raul explained.

"Shit, did anyone get a picture?" Joseph asked.

"Ulysses said his scouts were unable to get a picture of them." Raul said

"Well in any case, tell the army to be on stand-by in case of invasion." Joseph ordered.

"Will do Boss." Raul said.


"Do you think they saw us?"

"I don't know, maybe they just shot at us for fun."

"Geez, you don't have to be so mean."

"I would have preferred to have returned to the Mojave undetected."

"Well, we should be landing soon, do you want me to activate my stealth field? Or do you just want the soldiers to activate theirs?"

"No, I want you to be visible."

"No problem, should I tell the General to stay visible?"

"You really do love those worthless titles, don't you? But yes, tell him to remain visible as well."

"The people call him that so I suppose I can call him it too."

"Well hurry up and tell him, we just landed and I want to be in Vegas by 7:00."

By the time that sentence finished, over 500 stealth soldiers stepped out into the Mojave.

"Have our scouts seen anything Boone?" Joseph asked over his Pip-Boy.

"Nothing yet, but don't worry. If they show up, we'll see them. Boone out." Boone said, ending his transmission.

Joseph now turned to hear advice from his Board.

"What do you think we should do about this?" Joseph asked.

"I feel that it would be best if we waited it out, they might not even be heading here." said Joshua Graham.

"We could always blast them with missiles, the Divide still has enough firepower to do that." Ulysses chimed in.

"We are not going to blow them up with missiles Ulysses." Joseph said. "I say we wait and see if they land. If they do then we can try to start peaceful talks with them."

"And if they are hostile?" Ulysses asked.

"Then we attack." Joseph answered.


"Wow, they really fixed up Freeside didn't they?"

"Yeah, it looks a lot cleaner then it did since we were last here."

"Won't we need caps to get into the Strip?"

"No, we've been scouting for the past two years and on Independence Day anyone can enter the Strip."

"What will we do when we enter?"

"We wait for the right moment to reveal ourselves."

"Go on, you'll be fine." Veronica said, trying to reassure her husband.

"I'm still worried about those vertibirds, what if they are invaders? We still haven't managed to eliminate the Legion, plus the Separatists have been attacking the Frontier again." Joseph said, worrying about the state of his nation.

"Worry about them later, right now you need to focus on your speech. Now go!" Veronica said, pushing Joseph out onto the stage.

"Welcome citizens of the New Nevada Republic. I'm happy to be here with you, celebrating our fourth Independence Day." Joseph said to loud cheers from all over the Strip.


"Shall we appear now sir?"

"Yes, all stealth soldiers deactivate stealth suits."

Suddenly, soldiers armed with Chinese Assault Rifles and Shockswords appeared amongst the crowd.

"What in the he-" Joseph said before being cut off by a man dressed in a duster and a pre-war hat.

"Ah yes, welcome citizens of the New Nevada Republic. Welcome to a celebration in my honor. You see, what Joseph here has been telling you for the past four years hasn't been true. I'm sure he told you how his good friends Randall and Ryan valiantly fought the good fight against the Legate, only to be betrayed by someone that he thought was a Legion spy. It just so happens that that isn't true. You see, before the battle Ryan and I had went to check out a Chinese distress signal. Upon finding the source we found out that China is very much alive and well. We faked our deaths and flew to China on a vertibirds provided to us by the Chinese. But enough about what happened. We are here to ask for help. There's this guy to the East, you might have heard of him. His name is Gerald Jackson or as some of you might know him, the Lone Wanderer. I don't know what stories you've heard about the guy, but let me tell you something. The dude is evil. He sent over an army of power-armored soldiers, and has since ordered them to raid our towns and to kill the men and boys, and take the women as prizes. Now normally an army is no problem to us, but the thing is they've somehow tinkered with laser rifles and have made them shoot out a black laser that can shoot a hole about the size of a bowl straight through. And now here I am, before your President, asking for him to not only take his friends back, but to help them in their time of need." said the returning Randall Miller, waiting on answer from his one-time companion.

"Let's get to work, old friend." Joseph said before walking over to the Lucky 38.

A/N For anyone that read and enjoyed my other story, yes these are the same characters, and no I will no longer be updating the other story. As always, reviews would be nice and flames will be put out.