Chapter 1:
New Vegas Goes to DC
Old pre-war music plays as the roaring engine is drowned in beats from a glowing green screen Pipboy strapped to Jamie the Courier's wrist. His eyes gaze over the clouds. All the hard work had paid off. Liberating the Mojave was a task. Destroying the NCR's hold over the region and killing off the Legion. He had done it all. Not without a little help from his friends and then some. A woman with red hair tucked under a cowboy hat sits nearby. Sharon of Rose Cassidy or Cass as everyone calls her is quietly reading a magazine about firearms from before the war while she sips whiskey. ED-E spins around the cabin as Raul enters from the cockpit with a wrench in hand, grease glistening on what would be his brow if he had one left over. He attempts to wipe it with his free hand.
"I don't know how you got this plane but she's flying mighty good for a piece of junk as old as I am," he says with a smirk.
Jamie laughs. "Thank the Boomers. Their obsession with planes surely paid off," he says with a grin.
"You sure know how to make some odd friends, boss."
"Where are we going again?" Cass asks not lifting her head from her magazine.
"D.C.," Jamie reminds her.
Her eyes glance at him over her magazine. She lifts her brow at him in doubt. "Nothing like flying to the other side of the United States in a flying screaming metal deathtrap. Other boyfriends give their girls flowers but you think bigger huh?"
Jamie lets out a hoarse laugh. "You know you love the excitement of adventure," he says.
Cass says nothing and rolls her eyes before returning her attention to her magazine and her drink.
From the back of the plane a bark rings out. Metal paws clink on the hard floor as Rex runs forward chasing ED-E. Another bark as ED-E beeps loudly in protest.
"Ugh, it's going to be a long flight," Cass observes. "Well, lover boy, why are we going to D.C. while Veronica and Arcade run all of Vegas in our place? I was enjoying being the king of the Mojave."
"I need to meet up with someone. She is a bit of a legend throughout the wastes," Jamie replies. He holds up a copy of the Wastelander Survival Guide. "This is a book written by some woman named Moira Brown in a small town named Megaton out in the middle of no where near the ruins of D.C. She claims this other woman helped her write the book. She risked her life to get the information. She's also an expert. If we want this country to get back, we need to contact people who can help us."
"You mean the Lone Wanderer? Wasn't she just some teenage kid from a vault?" Raul asks.
Jamie nods his head. "She can be a help in restoring some sort of civilisation. She is known to be an explosives expert. Not to mention she also has a sharp scientific mind and handy medical skills."
"But does she know anything about politics, boss?" Raul ponders.
Jamie turns his head from Raul to the window again. "We need people who are smart and capable. We do not want to repeat the mistakes of the government that came before us."
"Before you, you mean," Raul reminds him. "I remember those days all too well. I'm old but not senile yet."
The plane soars over a large woodland area as it begins its descent downwards to Earth. The radio overhead cackles. "This is Raquel reminding you that I didn't really want to do this. Oh yeah, and we will be landing shortly so keep your asses in the sitting position and make sure that damn dog settles down."
Rex perks his large ears up at the voice coming from the speaker and barks at her. "Yeah, yeah furball. I just don't need you getting hurt."
Cass peers out the window and furrows her brow when her eagle eyes catch something on the ground. "Hey, did you happen to know if there were other towns or other people living out here?"
"I had some reports from the Brotherhood of Steel chapter stationed out here but they were over a year old. It is possible that either a tribe or a town has sprung up since then," Jamie says.
His eyes land on what Cass had seen. A large metal ring surrounded by a chainlink fence stood out in the distance. It was something that neither of them had ever seen in their lives.
"What the hell is that thing?" Cass asks.
Raul joins them. He snickers. "I remember something like this before the war. Some people, they went in vaults. However, there was a program that NASA ran. They were not involved with Vault Tec. All the countries had one of these things in space. They thought they would restart humanity because they were sure the vaults would fail. They were half right. Though, why one would be on the ground is beyond me."
"This thing came from space? How is that possible?" Jamie asks.
Raul shrugged. "I'm a mechanic, boss, not a rocket scientist."
