"I've heard reports about the 'Savior of the NCR,'" Colonel Moore said, and Layla felt her cheeks start burning. She had expected the woman to be a hard ass, not start throwing compliments around.

"Well, I'm just trying to help," the Courier answered.

"You've proved yourself more than capable, and that's what I need, capable people. The Legion is coming and I need people to tie up the loose ends before they do," the colonel said, sitting at her desk. "Normally I'd send my rangers to handle these kinds of issues, but they're swamped as it is. Having someone with your abilities will lighten their load."

Layla nodded, feeling a little burst of pride at getting ranger assignments.

"Now, the first thing I need done concerns a group called the Great Khans. Have you heard of them?"

The girl felt her head itch.

"We've had dealings," she answered.

"Good, then you know how much of a pain in the ass they can be," Moore continued. "We've gotten reports they might be throwing in with the Legion. I need someone to see to it they're in no condition to oppose us at the dam."

"Will the Legion be able to absorb them in time?" Layla asked, a little incredulous.

"Not likely. If they had any sense, they'd just convince them to fight as-is during the battle, then deal with whatever's left after." Layla nodded; that was just about what they had done with the White Legs in Zion.

"They probably don't know what getting 'absorbed' means," she said to the colonel. The woman gave her a mildly impressed look.

"That's true, but make no mistake about the Khans; they're no better than raiders and should be handled as such."

Layla frowned. She wasn't about to charge in, guns blazing. This situation called for some recon. Speaking of which, she glanced back at Boone. His face was in business mode, nothing betraying his feelings. She probably wouldn't be taking him to the Khan settlement. Too much bad blood and memories.

Looking back to the colonel, she found herself growing curious. The woman was a former ranger, which meant she probably had a lot of good intel on the coming battle.

"Do we know what the Legion's up to? Is there any guess on how long until they'll attack?"

Again the woman looked impressed with her question. "Because of the upset in command, we think everyone's trying to figure out their roles and their plans for the dam. Our best guess is Lanius will wait until a few weeks before the monsoon rolls in. The heat and barometer pressure will make our troops irritable. They'll see it as a weakness to exploit."

Layla nodded. "That makes sense."

"I understand you've met key members of the Legion's command," Moore started, sounding a little cautious in her tone. "Is there anything you can tell me from your time at Fortification Hill?"

"Oh." The Courier should have guessed this would come up. She frowned at the question anyway. "I don't know how much help I'll be now. I never met Lanius, and I'm sure you already know what I know about Vulpes Inculta: he's a jackass." The colonel smirked slightly, and Layla continued.

"Honestly, I spoke the most with Caesar and Lucius, and they're both dead."

Moore nodded, sighing. "That's about what we figured."

"Oh!" Layla said. "Oh, I do have something; they had a couple howitzers at the Fort." Biting her lip for a moment, she pulled her Pip-Boy to her arm and consulted her map.

"Yeah, going by the distance and the way they were positioned, they're aimed at the dam." The colonel looked grim as she pulled open one the neatly stacked folders on her desk and wrote in it. "They didn't have the firing mechanisms when I was last there… but I don't think it's safe to assume they won't find them."

"Thank you," Moore said, finishing what she was writing. "That is helpful. It's impressive what you and your team accomplished there."

"Oh, well, this is my 'team,'" she said, indicating the two men at her sides. "More like it's their team. They were rescuing me from a slight overstep in 'negotiations.'"

Moore pointed a mildly curious look at Boone and Raul, then nodded.

"The NCR owes you all for killing Caesar," she said, "and for your continuing help with our preparations."

"Well, I'm happy to help."

Colonel Moore's face lightened with a ghost of a smile. "Glad to hear the enthusiasm. Keep me appraised of the situation."

*.*.*

"Gorobets! What are you doing here?" Layla called down the hall. They'd been winding their way out of the Hoover Dam offices after their meeting when she spotted a soldier wearing a 1st Recon beret. The man turned her way, face breaking into a smile when he spotted the girl. He and an older man in a ranger uniform walked her way.

"We're just getting some updated orders," Gorobets said, smiling.

"Hello Corporal Sterling." The Courier adopted the polite demeanor she reserved for people much older than herself. The graying man smiled at her.

"Hello Layla, Boone," he said, nodding to the sniper, who nodded back.

"Have you met Raul?" Layla asked, looking at the pair. They shook their heads and the Courier stepped aside so they could see the ghoul fully in the cramped hall.

"Lieutenant Gorobets and Corporal Sterling, this is Raul Tejada, one of the folks I dupe in to shooting cazadores off me."

Gorobets held out a hand to Raul, which the ghoul shook. He smiled easily.

"Anyone who keeps our courier out of trouble is a friend in 1st Recon's book."

"Oh, there's no keeping her out of trouble," Raul answered.

Layla's hands were on her hips. "Excuse me," she turned, looking Boone's way. "I saved him last."

"Oh really?" Gorobets laughed. "What did you do?"

"I shiskebabed a bunch of tribals off him," she said matter-of-factly. "He was surrounded."

"Well, Boone always seems to have trouble with tribals…" The lieutenant turned a smile in the sniper's direction. If Raul didn't know better, he'd swear Boone was blushing.

"There was that one time he and Manny were scouting north of Vegas." The man turned to Sterling. "Have you heard this one?"

"Yes sir, but it's always good to hear it again." the corporal said, grinning.

"We have to get going," Boone said suddenly, sounding very uncomfortable. "Colonel Moore gave us orders."

"Uh huh," Layla said, grinning knowingly. "We'll have to talk later, Lieutenant. See you guys later."

"You'll have to hear it from Betsy, she tells it better," Gorobets called as Boone quickly led them away.

*.*.*

"Do you know Corporal Sterling very well?" Raul asked later, after they'd made it back to the Lucky 38. It had been late afternoon when they'd gotten back from the dam. Layla had wanted to move out at first light in the morning for Red Rock Canyon. The girl put the book she'd been reading down and smiled.

"Sterling? Well, I know a little about him. He's got a son and granddaughter in California. Wife passed away a few years ago. Real nice guy, well sorta." She looked up at him. "You ever see a ranger go from buddy-buddy to business mode? Scary. Sterling's no different. I think its actually scarier with him because he's like a nice old grandpa before he switches."

"Why is he in 1st Recon?" the ghoul asked. Layla's smile melted.

"He… Well, he got captured by the Legion when they were first scouting the Mojave. They tortured him, mangled his hands and feet. Then the idiots didn't tie him up when they left him alone, so he crawled on his elbows and knees to the river. Couple other rangers found him and got him patched up."

She sighed. "That was it for him in the rangers. He asked if there was anywhere he could still serve, and Gorobets scooped him up."

"What do you think about him?" the ghoul asked.

"He wanted to serve and found a way to do it. He's a tough guy, Gorobets was smart to pick him up." She shrugged. "Though if he'd retired, I'm sure he would have found something to do, like Ranger Andy in Novac."

Raul looked contemplative, and Layla spoke up again.

"We're not just talking about Ranger Sterling or Andy, are we?"

"No," he admitted as he sat on her couch. "I grew up in a place called Hildago Ranch. It was just a small farm, but three generations of Tejadas lived there. It wasn't far from Mexico City, but enough that we weren't directly hit when the bombs fell.

"After they did fall, refugees started pouring out of the city. We helped as many as we could, but eventually we had to start turning people away, or we'd run out of food. My father and I had to drive off a group when things got violent." His voice started to sound more somber as he continued.

"That night, two dozen men came back. They set the farm house on fire and barred the doors from the outside. I smelled the smoke and got myself and my little sister, Rafaela, out.

"My mother, father, grandmother, my two brothers, and two of my sisters all died in that fire."

Layla covered her mouth in horror.

"What did you do then?" she asked.

"Rafaela and I ran. Some of the men pursued us, but I was always good with a gun. I didn't go after any that hadn't come after us. I had to look after Rafaela."

He looked away from her, focusing on the wall.

"You don't blame yourself, do you?" Layla asked. He shrugged.

"Maybe. All I know is, for all my skill with a pistol, I couldn't help them."

The Courier bit her lip, trying to think of something to say. A moment later Raul spoke again, sounding more like his normal self.

"Anyway, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. It was weighing on my mind."

Layla nodded, frowning.

"Layla! Are you ready?" came a bellow from the hallway, and the Courier jumped to her feet.

"Coming!" she cried. She turned to Raul. "Lily's teaching me to bake cookies."

"Anything that ends with more cookies sounds good to me, boss," he replied. Layla hesitated at the door.

"Are you okay?" she asked, hating to leave so suddenly.

"Go on. This old man's going to take a nap on your couch."

"Don't drool on it," she said as she left the room. Lily was waiting for her in the kitchen, and soon they were going over mixing techniques and baking times.

"I really appreciate this, Gra- uh, Lily." When they'd visited Jacobstown last, Doc Henry had taken her aside to tell her about the nightkin's schizophrenia treatment. Lily's progression had been slow, and the doctor had asked she stop calling her 'Grandma,' as it exacerbated the problem. Layla complied, wanting to help the nightkin with her treatment, but she had to admit it made her sad. With their 'grandma' around, it felt like the group was really a little family.

"You're welcome, dearie."

Scooping more dough onto the tray, she did concede calling Lily 'Grandma' was just a superficial thing. Their group had certainly gotten close over the last few months. Besides, she and Veronica were the only ones who called her that anyway. The tray was soon full and Lily popped it in the oven.

"So… is it true I shouldn't eat the dough before it gets baked?" Layla asked, eyeing the spoon in the bowl.

"Yes it is!" Lily admonished. "You'll get sick!"

"Oh. Oh well," the girl said, frowning as she moved to clean the bowl. Lily reached over her and took the spoon, licking it clean. She noticed Layla gaping at her accusingly.

"You will get sick, dear. Not me."

Just as she was about to form a retort, Boone and Raul came into the kitchen.

"They won't be done for ten more minutes," Lily said knowingly, and both men sat at the table to wait. Layla shook her head at them; she couldn't even smell the dough yet, and here they were.

"What's the plan?" Boone asked.

"I'm going in the morning. I uh," she fidgeted, hoping what she was about to say wasn't going to cause a problem. "I figured you probably shouldn't go."

He nodded at that, then glanced at the oven. Lily tapped the egg timer in response.

"Wait, so you don't mind staying behind?" Layla asked, eyebrow raising in suspicion. The sniper seemed to have caught the disbelief in her statement, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You're taking Raul, right?"

"Well, yeah," she said, glancing at the ghoul. "You want to go, right?"

"You're the boss," Raul answered, and Layla turned back to Boone.

"You'll be fine," the sniper said. Raul found Layla's reaction interesting. She smiled at first, but an irritated look ghosted over her features.

"You know, I don't need a chaperone everywhere I go. I keep telling you people I used to travel alone until just a few months ago."

"And you got shot in the head," Boone replied. That didn't seem to make the Courier happy, and Raul caught the subtle softening in the sniper's face.

"The Great Khans are dangerous," he continued. "Violent and unpredictable. It wouldn't be a good idea for anyone to go alone." Layla's frown lessened, and she sighed.

"Yeah, I know. I just… I'm not a helpless idiot."

"Didn't say you were," Boone answered. "You just… get in trouble a lot."

"Trouble you usually walk directly into," Raul added. Layla looked his way, hands on her hips.

"What are you two even doing here? I thought I banished you both."

Raul looked at Boone, who nodded. Layla hid behind Lily before he could move against her.

"Anyone who attacks the Ruler of New Vegas won't get cookies. Right, Lily?"

"Of course, dearie."

Neither man stood from table, going back to patiently waiting.

*.*.*

"So what happened after you and your sister escaped the ranch?"Layla asked the next morning, carefully picking her way over the broken pavement outside the Strip as they headed for the Great Khan camp. Raul sighed. He'd known mentioning his younger life would get the girl asking questions. He'd tried to prepared himself for it, but the memories were still painful.

Looking back to her, he saw the Courier's curious look turning serious, probably understanding this wasn't easy for him to talk about.

"After we ran, things were bad. The men who'd attacked our home were still after me. They even put a bounty out on me. My sister was pretty scared, but I'd told her if she came with me, she'd see the vaqueros."

"Vaqueros?" Layla asked, looking his way.

"Trick riders at rodeos. Rafaela used to love them. Anyway, we went to Mexico city."

"Wasn't the city destroyed?"

"We were pretty young. We didn't understand about the bombs. By the time we got there, it was just a radioactive ruin. We scavenged to get by, always looking for food or medicine for my burns, dodging the raider tribes that were starting to form." He sighed.

"Then the radiation kicked in, turning me into this handsome devil." He noticed the Courier giving him a sympathetic smile before it melted to a frown.

"Sounds like things were pretty bad."

"You're a poet for understatement, boss." He noted the eyebrow she raised at him and continued. "It wasn't all bad, though. I had found a costume shop one day while I was out. Inside there was a vaquero outfit, just sitting there, untouched. I wore it back to our camp. That was the first time Rafaela laughed since we'd left home." The Courier smiled.

"Is it flashy? The Vaquero getup?"

"It wasn't silk and sequins, but it was noticeable," he said. Layla laughed.

"Well, I'm sure you made a statement with it."

"I did, but it caused more trouble than it headed off. People started talking about me, and soon young punks were trying to test themselves against me. But my eyes were sharp and my guns quick.

"For a while, it looked like things were going to be okay. But then… Rafaela." A lump formed in his throat. Layla has stopped walking. She turned to face him directly.

"What happened?" she asked, not completely sounding like she wanted to hear the answer.

"She had gone out to get food from a nearby market. I was sick from the radiation, so I stayed home. It was supposed to be safe, but a band of raiders came by while she was there." He paused. "I won't speak of what they did to her."

The girl looked horrified, and he turned away before speaking again.

"I was only able to identify her by this funny little scar on her knee she got when she was a kid."

There was silence after that. Just as he was about to turn back, he felt Layla's arms wrap around him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. Raul didn't respond, instead turning around to face her. The girl looked like she was fighting back tears as she squeezed him. Hugging back, the ghoul thought of his family, now long dead. The Courier had a big family too, only one that hadn't been torn apart by the wastes. He sincerely hoped she'd never have to face the horrors he had. She let him go, and he felt compelled to continue.

"After I found her, I guess I went a little crazy. I took my guns and went back to the market. After I'd finished with the raiders, I was tired. I just wanted to be alone forever." He saw her questioning look.

"I had failed them all. I was the last Tejada. I went to the Gulf Coast and found a Petro-Chico refinery no one had claimed. The guns I'd lived by had only caused me grief, so I hung up the Vaquero outfit and put on a Petro-Chico jumpsuit. The name tag said Miguel, so I started going by that. Eventually I made my way to Arizona… but that's another story, boss."

Layla didn't say anything for a while after that, and Raul let his mind wander as they continued down the road again. The Courier turned his way to speak, when she seemed to notice something off his side of the road.

"What is that?" the girl said, and Raul turned to look. A building with a tall structure attached was visible.

"Looks like a bottle," he answered. The girl gasped as the 'label' became clearer.

"It's the Sunset Sarsaparilla company!"

"Huh." Raul didn't quite understand why she was so excited.

"That's where the star cap treasure is! Let's go!" Layla hopped from foot to foot.

"That's just an old marketing gimmick to get kids to buy mo-" He was cut off when the girl grabbed his hand and started dragging him toward the building.

"I've got thirty caps. That's gotta be enough. We just need to find Festus!"

The ghoul sighed as he was dragged along.

*.*.*

The building was dark and quiet. That wasn't a surprise; most buildings in the wastes were. But something about this particular building was unnerving as Layla slowly made her way into the foyer. It felt like someone was watching her.

Glancing back, she found Raul was still behind her, pistol drawn. She looked markedly at the weapon.

"Is this place creeping you out too?" she asked.

"No, I'm just looking out for security robots."

"Oh." The Courier tried to shrug off her growing unease. "There's supposed to be-"

"Howdy Partner!"

Layla shrieked, looking wildly to her side to find a person staring at her. Or what she'd thought was a person: it looked like a cross between a cartoonish puppet and a nightmare robot cowboy torso. One of its arms was ripped off, lying at its side and one eye dangled from its socket. Layla could make out a few bullet holes as well, unsurprisingly. She'd have shot it if her weapon had been drawn.

"Welcome to the headquarters of the Sunset Sarsaparilla Company!" it squawked at them.

"It's like look into a mirror," said Raul, taking a step toward the machine. "A tacky, cowboy festooned mirror." Layla hid behind him, peeking out from his side.

"Is… is that Festus?" she asked.

"I think so," Raul said, moving closer.

"If you're here to redeem Sunset Sarsaparilla star caps, just put them in the slot!" the robot cried. Turning toward Layla, the ghoul raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well? Isn't this what we're here for?"

"Okay, okay, I'm… going." She moved cautiously toward the robot, pulling a sack from her pocket. Dumping the caps into the machine, she backed away as Festus started speaking again.

"Wowee!" Festus yelled. "That's quite a bit. Keep collecting Sunset Sarsaparilla star caps and you might win a prize!"

"Not enough…" Layla said, frowning. "All this way and all these impending Festus-filled nightmares for nothing."

Raul sighed heavily and started digging through his pack. A moment later, he pulled out a bag.

"Here, boss. I've been saving these since I got to the Mojave… before I was brought into Tabitha's care that is."

Taking the offered bag, Layla opened it to find a pile of star bottle caps.

"Holy crap!" She looked his way. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah yeah, let's find out what this treasure is."

Grinning, she started feeding the caps in. About halfway through the bag, the puppet-robot-cowboy started hollering.

"Waaaaaaho! You did it partner! Bully for you! I suppose you'll be wanting your prize now?"

"Yeah," Layla said. Raul hadn't even noticed she'd hid behind him again.

"Well sit back and listen. Few people have ever hear the story of the Sunset Sarsaparilla company! It's quite an honor."

"Uh huh," Raul said. He glanced down at Layla, who was peeking around his elbow at the robot. She looked torn between curiosity and horror.

"And now, without further ado, your prize: the Legend of the Star," Festus continued.

"Looong ago, people didn't have a heap of choices when it came to drinks; it was water or Nuka-Cola."

"Sunset Sarsaparilla came out before Nuka-Cola," Raul said, and Layla shushed him.

"One day, the owner of a saloon in a small town was trying to come up with a new soft drink. He asked his patrons what flavor he should make it. Well one man said he should make a sarsaparilla flavored drink. He offered to share his family's recipe on one condition: that he could sample the drink free of cost at any time, to make sure it was up to his family's quality.

"Well, the saloon owner readily agreed, and they were to meet the next day at sundown. Well the next morning, the sheriff came by to inform him the stranger had been killed by bandits.

"The saloon owner was pretty upset, and closed down his bar early. When he came back from locking his doors, he found a strange bottle with a note under it. It was the recipe the stranger had promised, sealed with blue wax in the shape of a star!

"The saloon owner went on to become rich off the drink, and to this day some Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles still have a the blue star. Some say it was the saloon owner honoring the stranger. Others say it was the stranger sampling the drink like he promised.

"And that's the Legend of the Star! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you keep enjoying Sunset Sarsaparilla!"

"Wait… That's it?" Layla gaped.

"The treasure is finding out the owner of the company murdered someone and stole his recipe?" Raul said. "I guess it's a business lesson."

"That can't be it," Layla said, frowning. "Is that it?" she asked the robot.

"In response to the numerous complaints lodged to the Sunset Sarsaparilla Company about the prize awarded for redeeming star caps, another prize has been offered for even the most discerning of Sunset Sarsaparilla fans!" Festus explained. "Just head through the double doors and down the hall to your left. An attendant will be waiting to give you your prize!"

"Oh, there we go," Layla said. "We just need to go down the… hall." She stopped as she found that the hallway was blocked by the caved in ceiling. She brought up a map of the building on her Pip-boy.

"If we go through this room, climb through the ceiling and hope there's another hole to drop through, we'll be able to get to the other side…"

"Sounds like a great idea," Raul said sarcastically.

*.*.*

"All righty, this is it," the Courier said as she reached to open the door at the end of the hallway. They had climbed up through the wreckage of one room and down another. Raul was still surprised neither of them had broken their necks in the process.

A blast of air escaped as she opened the door. It led to what looked like a storage room. Boxes were arranged on wooden shelves. Larger crates lined the walls. Everything was stamped with the Sunset Sarsaparilla logo.

Stepping further in, she found the body of a man. Looking over the corpse for a moment, she determined he'd died of asphyxiation.

"Don't let the door close!" she cried, turning to find Raul had already propped it open with a crate.

"Oh…good," she said as the ghoul shook his head at her.

"Who's your friend?" Raul asked as he joined her. Layla shrugged.

"No clue." Taking a interesting-looking laser pistol off the ground near him, she stowed it in her pack. She moved on to his body, poking around his belongings. There wasn't much of consequence until she found a holotape. She flicked it on, and the crackling recording played a man's voice between labored gasps.

"I guess this is it. Not much air left now. Minutes, maybe. And this is all I have to show for it. I guess the joke's on me. Prolly shouldn't have killed... all those people, Prolly shoulda stayed at home... and taken care of my ma. She... always used to say people who... murder and steal... die bad in the end. Said they…"

"Huh. This must be Allen Marks," Layla said. Raul gave her a curious look, and she continued. "The first night Boone and I traveled together, this guy ran up and warned us about an Allen Marks. Said he killed people for their star caps, hoping to get the treasure."

"So where is it?" Raul asked, looking around the room again.

Layla bit her lip and looked at the man again, noticing a tin badge pinned to his armor. It had the Sunset Sarsaparilla logo on it. She'd noticed a few boxes of the badges in the storage room.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." She looked up at Raul, who was poking through the crates, "These are the 'prizes.'"

"They would have been pretty popular with pre-war kids," he said thoughtfully. "There is a bright side for us, though."

Layla raised an eyebrow at him, and he dug a hand into one of the crates. Layla gaped as he pulled up a handful of caps.

"It's nearly full of them," the ghoul remarked.

Layla grinned. She collected a few of the badges, stowing them in her pack. She pinned one to the front of her sneaking armor, then made her way to Raul.

"I hereby deputize you," she said, pinning another badge to the front of his jumpsuit.

"What an honor," he said flatly. "My dreams are finally coming true."

Big thanks to my editor, without him this would be an unreadable mess. And thank you for reading (and reviewing, favoriting or alerting, if you feel like it)!

Also, a little birdie (Jason Bergman [New Vegas' Senior Producer]) tells me Lonesome Road will be here this month! :D