Fernanda Hannaford always wondered what the wasteland was like outside of Primm. Every time she traveled to Goodsprings to fetch water for the town with her father, she always saw that big tower in the horizon. That tower was like a beacon of adventure to her. Whenever her parents let her inside, she always heard stories from the gamblers in the casino of Primm, stories of scary monsters, a giant dinosaur, and a community of mutated people who could level a house with their fists. She was skeptical these things, at first, except for the mutated creatures which she had encountered before while fetching water with her father, simultaneously learning about geckos, and how to use a gun. She liked adventure, but she was constantly held back by her parents. Her father's friend even made her learn to decrypt files for his courier service that he ran, files that were encrypted to ensure it couldn't be read, if it was stolen.
the NCR had came to Primm to search for recruits. They drafted a firing squad of men, including Fernanda's father. The sheriff couldn't do anything about it because he signed a contract a couple years back that made Primm apart of the NCR, mainly for protection. Her father promised to write to her as much as possible. A couple years had past before she heard anything from him, one day while she was working for Mr. Nash, she decrypted a long, advance, complex line of code that wasn't that hard for her. When she was done, an audio file began to play, it was from her dad. From the way he was talking, it was a simple "I'm doing fine and what not" kind of message, but to Fernanda, it was the most precious thing to her in the world. He said that he wanted the message to be special. He explained on it that it might be a while before she actually got the disk. Her pip-boy, that she got when she was a kid, could download it and play it back, and she did that whenever she wanted to hear his voice.
When she turned sixteen, she had fell in love with a traveler that lived in Goodsprings for awhile. She had grown attached to him, but she never knew how vicious geckos were as she was popping their heads off to save him one day. Some of the townspeople said he went for a stroll, others said he was leaving, although you couldn't be sure it was him anyway, he wasn't even recognizable after the geckos ran off. It was the first time Fernanda ever saw someone die. Heartbroken, scarred for life, and mad as hell, she went on a rampage to go beat a couple of geckos to death with just a shovel. Someone had to pull her off from beating one of them, whose head was pulverized into the ground, and clearly dead. She returned home only to fall into a deep depression for four days. On the fourth day her mother sat at the foot of her bed, where Fernanda had been dwelling, and gave her advice on how to handle it, she said, "You shouldn't fall in love someone in this world, especially in the wastes, it ends up with either one of you dying and the other do something crazy stupid, possibly getting killed in the process. Find something that makes you happy, stick with it, be good and be good at it." That was the last thing she heard from her mother other than a "I love you" before she was taken from her the next day by these men that carried a flag with a bull on it. They said they would not come back unless a woman was given to them. Fernanda's mother volunteered to do so. Then and there, Fernanda realized she was alone.
A year after Fernanda's mother was taken from her, on her birthday, she was about to leave Primm for a water run. She was sitting in the Nash Residence with Mr. Nash, talking to him about the going-ons of the day and working on a strange robot on the counter. When suddenly, they heard gunfire in the distance, at first Mr. Nash thought it was just NCR troops at the firing range in the camp posted up next to the town. That was until he raised the blinds to the windows. "Raiders," he said to himself, "Fernanda! Grab your gun, and get the hell outta here." Fernanda, confused and frighten, quickly ran out the door. Not knowing where to go, she ran the only way she knew, to Goodsprings.
It was a little after sunset and she had been running for about half of a hour, and then she finally saw the little town. While running along the bottom of the ridges, she tripped over a lump of dirt protruding out of ground, either out of fear, curiosity, or both, she looked back. It was a grave, a poorly made one with a plank that said, "Here lies the bastard Joe Cobb." She undermined it and continued to Goodsprings with a bit more caution of graves for the next five minutes. When she approached the saloon, she saw Easy Pete sitting on the rocking chair like he normally was. As Fernanda went to open the door, it opened by itself, she heard, "Bye Trudy! Live long and prosper!" and then a familiar face walked out, in his eyes he saw a little figure out of breath, with his quick natural wit he said, "Cat got your tongue? Hey Trudy, I think you got a customer!" and then he signaled her to step in as he stepped out.
When Fernanda stepped in, it was like a military hospital, people were healing from gunshot wounds on make shift cots and what not. Then she heard a voice from the bar, "Howdy Fernanda, what can I do for ya?", it was Trudy, the owner. "What's wrong, pumpkin?" she saw that Fernanda was looking worried. Fernanda explained about how Primm was being attacked by raiders and how it needs help. Trudy gave a drink on the house as she talked, and gave her a sympathetic look, but also looked a bearer of bad news. Trudy replied, "Sorry to say sugar, but just take a look around you. We just got done facing off some Powder Gangers, and most of the few of us are still recovering." Fernanda looked down in disappointment. "Oh no," a voice came from the other side of the bar, it was Sunny Smiles. "Trudy, the courier." Trudy slapped herself on the forehead and said, "You're right! The courier!" "What courier?" Fernanda said cluelessly. "The guy that just walked out," replied Sunny, "Trudy, we have to stop him." "I know, I know. Alrighty kid, I know you just got running a marathon, but that courier is your guy and is heading to Primm. It may have taken most of us, but that courier did most of the work fending off those Powder Gangers." Fernanda quickly shotgunned the Nuka-Cola Trudy gave her, and ran out the door. "Be safe!" Trudy said as she did so.
Fernanda ran for a couple of minutes, and then finally found the tall figure along the boulders south of Goodsprings, and shouted "Hey you!" He quickly turned around a corner, Fernanda thought she caught up with him. She did, but had a gun cocked to the back of her head, she froze and heard, "And you are?" she turned around. The courier said yet again "Cat got your tongue, who are you?" Fernanda quickly replied, " Please don't shoot, I came to stop you." He angrily said, "Yeah, you and a whole slew of people, the last guy who tried to stop me put a bullet in my head. Now, tell why I shouldn't put one in yours?" Fernanda said while looking at the barrel of his .357 magnum, "Trudy sent me, she said you could help." The courier expression changed quickly, "Trudy sent you?" As he said holstering his gun, "Sorry for offering a bullet to your head, I thought you were trying to kill me. What's wrong kid? Someone steal your sweet roll?" "More like my town," she replied. "Oh, so you're the mayor?" said the courier. "No, smart ass," she muttered, "The town you were heading to, it has been taken over by raiders, I need your help, please." "Ok," replied the courier. "Seriously, just like that?" she said surprised. "Well I need to know where the guy who put me in the grave is, and Trudy told me to go to Primm to start searching." "What happened to you?" Fernanda asked. "I honestly don't remember anything up to a couple nights ago, I don't even know where I came from, or my name." He explained. "I maybe able to help you with your problem." Fernanda proposed. "How's that kid?" The courier replied. "I work for the Mojave Express, does that ring a bell?" she asked. "I have a delivery order from there! I believe we can help each other, err...what was your name again?" He asked her "Fern-," she was interrupted by the courier's hand over her mouth. "Shhh," he pulled her under the boulder where he was hiding from before. "What is it?" She asked quietly. "geckos," He said, "Stay here, I'll take care of them."
There were three of the vile creatures, two began to fight over rusty tin can, while the other was searching a good twenty-feet away from the others. The courier emerged from the little overhang from the giant boulder, as he pulled out his double-barrel shotgun and machete, Fernanda slowly covered her ears. He crept up behind the lone gecko, and made a considerable large hole in its head. The others were immediately alerted and began to charge him, the first one took the handle of his machete to the face. The second gecko almost bit the courier, but instead was stopped by a blade in its mouth, and had its neck blown off. The courier then preceded to lob off the head of the recovering gecko with one swift slash. This fight lasted a mere twelve seconds from the first gun shot, while Fernanda was watching, she was astonished, happy, and a little bit aroused, about how fast the courier took them out. Then her mother's last words to her played through her head again, that she shouldn't fall in love with someone. The courier gave a little *phew* after he was done and said, "I think it would be a good idea to saw this barrel off, don't you think that would be nice? I think that would be nice."
After Fernanda came out from the overhang, the courier agreed to help out her town. "You haven't told me your name yet kid." He implied. "It's Fern-," she hesitated and thought about her mother's words, "Fern. Fern Hannaford." She said with unease. "Fern? That sure is an odd for a boy." Said the courier. Fernanda looked rather ambiguous, with her gender appeal not being apparent. She was commonly mistaken for a boy, for her short dark hair. She knew he would do this, so she used it to her advantage to hide the fact that was she was a girl. "Well Fern Hannaford, let's go save 'your' town." Said the courier as he began to travel southbound towards Primm. Fernanda hesitated, to take a good look at the courier, seeing him as not only as a friend, but an opportunity as well. Then the courier stopped to look back and saw Fern just standing there, and said, "You coming ?" Then she realized what she was doing, and started running towards him. Then they began to walk to Primm, with the moon beginning to loom in the western sky.