December 19th, 2246
The escape from Navarro had been a hasty one, with an even more hastily prepared arrival location. Lieutenant Washington before passing out, ordered the Vertibird to head to the Mojave Wasteland to a place called Hidden Valley. Nobody was sure what Hidden Valley was nor did they know why they were ordered to go there, but as soldiers they followed their orders. Daisy Whitman their pilot, flew to the Mojave Wasteland under the cover of darkness that descended on the flight rapidly after evacuating the base. As she approached Hidden Valley as marked on her charts within the Vertibird, she descended the helicopter down to the ground and shut off the engines. "This the place? It sure does look kinda dead," asked Kreger who could only see hills of sand and make out some radscorpions. "This is what I got on my charts. If that's wrong, then it's not my fault." Daisy would turn around from her controls to Kreger, as he would sigh. "I hope the lieutenant is right. I'll take a squad outside the craft and scout. Keep everyone else inside until we can signal back an all clear." Daisy would nod and Kreger together with Orion Moreno, and Cannibal Johnson would leave the safety of the Vertibird and venture outside. As they walked around, they noticed the sand mounds were not just mounds, but had entrances like that of a bunker complex. "Boys, I think the lieutenant is leading us to some pre-war bunkers. Problem is, we need to find out which is which." As Kreger barked out his orders to his squad, Doctor Schreber had stabilized the lieutenant and was managing his condition to the best of his abilities. "If we can't get the lieutenant into a medical facility, he will certainly crash and die." Daisy, turning to the crew looked straight at Schreber. "We won't be doing anything, until the place is scouted. We don't need to be ambushed when trying to get to safety." Schreber would shake his head, but would accept the remark without much more hesitation. As Kreger and his team finished clearing the bunkers, they returned to the Vertibird twenty minutes later. "It's clear. The lieutenant seems to have known a pre-war bunker complex was underneath this place, as we found it and took care of some bugs that were inhabiting the place. We can move all this stuff inside." The crew proceeded to offload all the equipment, taking it down into the cleared bunker complex. Washington was placed in one of the beds, as Doctor Schreber worked to crack his bones into place and create a makeshift cast for his bones to heal into place. After two hours, the lieutenant would awaken with a small cough. "Did we-..make it?" Schreber, still being nearby would smile. "We did, sir. We made it to the location you spoke of. The gear is being unloaded as we speak and we're getting acquainted with the complex's defenses." A smile would creep across the face of Washington, as he would stay lying down. "This is where true rebuilding of America begins. This, is where we make America great again."
January 1st, 2248
Over a year past for the Enclave Remnants, as they proceeded to settle into their new home at Hidden Valley. Daisy had taken the Vertibird to a small hidden refueling station a bit north west of Vegas, to keep it there for safe keeping and returned on foot with a small escort back to Hidden Valley. The bunker over the year, had been converted into the headquarters of the Remnants. With the first floor containing the personnel quarters, shooting range, armory, medical bay, and a classroom. On the second floor was were the command center was located. Lieutenant Washington had received himself a field promotion to General Washington, with no objections from his men to the appointment. Captain Judah Kreger had been promoted to Colonel, serving as second in command to Washington. Not only was the command center located on the second floor, but the archive room, a workshop, and a virtual reality simulation room for training. The only thing the bunker did not have was a science lab, but that was something planned for a much later project. On top settling, General Washington ordered for scouting missions to take place around the Mojave Wasteland to gather information about the area and prepare a detailed analysis on threats, towns, and if possible locate any fleeing Enclave personnel from the New California Republic. This lead to Washington's Remnants running into various towns, and establishing small protection relationships with them in exchange for information. This lead to some slight competition with the local Desert Rangers of the Mojave, but nothing of a serious nature to be concerned about. Over time, the Enclave scouts managed to assimilate fleeing enclave members back into the Enclave, bringing the original twenty that escaped Navarro to forty-five. Not large, but something for Washington to work with. The Mojave was ripe for ambition. With a lack of a centralized authority to govern the lands and the raiders and super mutants engaging in war with the locals, Washington saw a chance to begin his ambition to restore America right within the Mojave.
He called for a meeting between himself, Colonel Kreger, Doctor Henry, and Quincy. As Washington sat at his desk, he twiddled his fingers as he awaited from them to come down. "Don't worry sir, you're going to do fine." Kreger would reassure the general, who he saw was a little nervous about this meeting. "The Mojave holds a lot of unforeseen danger. Our numbers are precious more then ever before, and I need to make moves that will only serve to benefit us." Kreger would chuckle, crossing his arms as he stood beside the general. "You've benefited us in more ways than once already, sir. You must take more credit where it's due." It was then, that his requested participants to his meeting had arrived. "Good morning, sir." Quincy would remark, as Henry would sigh to himself and make his way inside. "Gentlemen, thank you for coming to this meeting. We have much to discuss." Henry would look around, seeing no real place to sit as he would turn his head back to the general. "Sir, do we not get anywhere to sit for this meeting?" Washington would look around, obviously having forgot to check with Quincy about the chair order earlier. "My apologies. It appears I have forgotten to check on that order. Uh, Quincy do you have any information on that." Before Quincy could respond, three chairs would be brought into the room in front of the general's desk and they would all take a seat. "As I was saying, before my chair error. We have much to discuss." Washington would reach underneath his desk, and pull out a stack of papers and place them on his desk. "Sir, don't tell us we need to file this paperwork and that we're behind on something." The general would merely smile, "No, not in the slightest. These reports are already filed and done on time. It's the contents of the files I am referring to." Washington would bring turn his attention to a map of the Mojave on the wall, showing pointing the men into it's direction. "Take a look at this map, while I explain. These reports are all the intelligence reports of The Mojave we have managed to observe and evaluate over the past year. I would like to share with you all the findings." The map pointer would move itself towards the center of the map, stopping on the location of Las Vegas. "This, is the center of what used to be Las Vegas. Amazingly, it seems to be relatively unscathed along with the rest of the Mojave Wasteland. Odd, considering that I'm sure the Chinese had plenty of nukes pointed at this location during the Sino-American war. Yet somehow, it survives and is occupied by various tribal groups. This intelligence report was taken a month after we arrived in the Mojave." The map pointer would begin to move again, stopping on a location not far from Hidden Valley. "Goodsprings. That is what this town is called. Nice people, simple town. We have established a small relation with them to provide some protection by dealing with any raiders they come across. Showing that these people are merely survivors of the war." The map marker would move again, this time centering on what appeared to be an Air Force base. "Nellis Air Force Base. We have not been able to gather any real intel on this place, due to observing that anyone who gets close to the facility is mowed down by artillery, preventing getting any information for that area. We toyed with the idea of flying a Vertibird over it, but don't wish to find any more surprises. Last intelligence report for this area was six months ago." The map marker would now move west again on the map, north of Goodsprings. "This is Sloan. A mining town, that seems to have a problem with Deathclaws in an old quarry. Haven't been able to obtain more information than that though. That report is four months old." The map would return to the east, stopping a bit of way before reaching the border of Nevada-Arizona. "Hoover Dam. According to our scouts, it's still appears to be functioning. A tune up here and there, and it can supply enough power for a nation."
Washington would finish moving the marker, looking back at his group of three who sat in front of him to see where this was going. "Gentlemen, this is the formula for a great nation. We have a City untouched from the nuclear war, a power plant to restore electricity, a mining town to provide raw materials, and a populace that would be at least willing to work with us. Not to mention the still remaining factories in the city which can be fixed and placed into service. My point being Las Vegas is where I plan to begin rebuilding America." The men would look happy at these new bonuses; however Henry would raise his hand. "Sir, if you have made up your mind on this. Why did you call us down?" Washington would shift his gaze directly to Henry, and smile. "I'm glad you asked doctor. I called you all down to call for some changes in our ideology. We all remember the Dick Richardson policy of genocide across the United States and allowing the Enclave members to take back the land with no resistance. Well, I'm not Dick Richardson. I want to create an America, that is built on the backs of the fine people who survived the nuclear war and are willing to work for a better future. Genocide is no longer a policy I wish to be associated with, or enforce. I want all Americans to take part in rebuilding their once fine nation, and to use them to bolster our depleted forces with new recruits." Doctor Henry would nod and Colonel Kreger would speak next. "Sir, I wholeheartedly agree with this shift in policy. I never agreed with the practices of the old enclave and always felt a change was needed. Glad to see I was not alone in my thinking." Henry would join Kreger in declaring his support, happy that maybe his research could truly begin to improve the wasteland instead of kill it in favor of some misleaded goal with a misleading purpose.
After ensuring agreement, Washington smirked in accomplishment. "I'm glad we all agree to this new course of action. However, we must not be hasty. We first need to establish some real ground in the Mojave before we can begin our ambitious program. And I already have our first objective." The map marker would begin to move, centering on Mojave Outpost. "Here, is the headquarters of the Desert Rangers. A group with noble goals, seeking to protect the Mojave from the super mutants and raiders. I wish to establish official diplomatic ties with them, allying them into a coalition to begin taking the Mojave. With their respected status, and our manpower. Taking the Mojave may not be so hard." Colonel Kreger would stand up from his seat, stretching for a second before responding. "Leave that to me, sir. I'll personally make my way to the outpost to establish contact. We've been in a little competition for clientele in the Mojave. This might resolve some friction between our two and strive for a better goal." Washington would nod in approval, "You may assemble a team without delay. I want this to be done by the ground, no Vertibird." Colonel would nod, and begin to make his way out of the room to plan for is diplomatic venture. Henry and Quincy, the remaining two members of the meeting soon stood up as Washington spoke up. "You two, you have a new job. As you two know, we are unable to produce new units of Power Armor, or new Vertibirds. With my plan, we shall eventually regain that knowledge when we have the resources, but we must make do with the cards we are given. In the meantime, I want some new armor to be developed. Not Power Armor, merely some makeshift Power Armor that we could dish out to incoming recruits in the future. Do this, and you will be helping to establish our remnant as a force with some power behind it in the Mojave. Dismissed." The men soon left the office, with Washington sighing. "This may be the beginning. But that's the most vulnerable time for anything. Hope this works out." Washington said to himself, as he stood up and proceeded to his quarters.
