Hmm, if I don't own Fallout, then it also means I don't own Fallout Tactics... that's something at least.

"Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it." – Max Frisch

Private Dawkins was in many ways an average soldier; he had a loving wife waiting for him back in New Arroyo, a child on the way. He had fair accuracy at the ranges, enough that his sergeant wasn't on his ass but not good enough for a field promotion or even a posting out to Camp Forlorn Hope. He was of a slim build, enough muscle on him to last the long marches the Brass put them through but nothing all that special. However all of his friends and comrades knew one thing about him that often had him at the butt of many jokes; he was very easily bored.

Right now he was leaning against a half-collapsed wall, the powdery mortar just about keeping the bricks together. His face-wrap was bunched around his neck, relieving him somewhat of the oppressive heat out in the desert. It wasn't a particularly hot day for the Mojave but compared to the much milder climate back in Arroyo it was still a furnace. It didn't help that the standard issue armour for NCR grunts like him was thick canvas and body armour; it was like walking around in his own personal oven.

He fiddled idly with his gun; the pin had been catching recently making it difficult for him to reload. He figured he would have to trade it in for a new one next time his company was down at the Mojave outpost. He groaned noisily as he slung it onto his back, his fingers twitching irritably in the heavy gloves he was forced to wear. He tilted his helmet back to wipe a hand through his sweaty hair but that only occupied him for a few seconds.

The postings where he was on his own, acting as lookout or guard, were always the worst; at least if he was with someone he could whittle away the time with some stories or maybe a card game. It was especially fun if he was with Private Watson, that guy was so tightly wound Dawkins swore he would snap if he so much as prodded him too hard. He could waste away a good few hours trying to get a rise out of the man as his face slowly turned a more virulent shade of red. However that wasn't the case now, he was stuck out in the heat, on his own, standing watch over this little town in the back end of NCR fringe territory.

So bored out of his mind was he, that he barely noticed the hazy speck off in the distance that was gradually becoming a slightly bigger speck. He finally noticed when the sound of a squeaking tire met his ears and forced him to look up, his eyes widening in surprise. Dawkins had of course been to New Vegas on leave; not to any of the casinos mind, his wife would kill him if she found out he had gambled away their savings with a child on the way. That was why he was rather surprised to spot a Securitron making a beeline straight towards him.

However oddly enough that wasn't the surprising thing; no, that would definitely be the young red-haired girl riding along on the machine's shoulder mounting. Dawkins blinked in surprise at the strange sight; he didn't even think that Securitrons ever left the strip, never mind go wheeling about with random girls riding them like some kind of mechanised horse. He was so shocked he only realised what he was supposed to be doing out there when the thing was about to move past him down the road. It was only then that he noticed the oddly familiar blue jumpsuit the girl was wearing; although he couldn't put his mind to where he had seen it before.

"Uh hey!" The girl that was riding the robot looked up, having been tinkering with something in her hands the entire time; it looked very complicated to Dawkins and he could barely follow the mess of wires.

"Oh, hi there." Again Dawkins blinked at the surprisingly friendly attitude from the girl; it was far too... normal an answer for somebody riding a Securitron.

"Hey uh, you might wanna steer clear of Primm miss, it's dangerous over there right now." The girl just smiled at him in a friendly manner, hopping down off the Securitron's shoulder and patting it like one might a faithful dog.

"Really? I need to go see the Mojave Express people; that's here right?" Dawkins looked down for a moment, going over the plan of the small town their commander had made them memorize in case it came to a fire fight.

"Ah yes it is ma'am but I don't think those folks'll be in right now, there's a situation in the town that hasn't been resolved yet." Ruby just walked forward curiously, stowing the small mechanism she had been working on in her satchel.

"What kind of situation? Will it be over soon?" The soldier looked down and chuckled humourlessly; if the situation was quick to be resolved he wouldn't be standing around in the back end of this desert, bored out of his mind.

"Ah, no ma'am, this ain't the kind of situation to be fixed so easily. A bunch of the convicts that broke out of NCRCF a few weeks back set up shop in the Bison Steve hotel a ways down there." He pointed in the direction of the large roller-coaster emerging out of a particularly noticable building. "They've pretty much taken the town hostage, got 'em holed up in the Vikki & Vance." Ruby just blinked in surprise; when she had decided to head down into Primm she hadn't thought she would be walking into a genuine hostage situation. Her first instincts were to simply move on, that it wasn't her problem and she could let the NCR soldiers deal with it; unfortunately it was her problem.

"Ah, well why don't you guys go in and flush them out; this is NCR territory right?" She wasn't exactly up to date on modern geography; it was her job to deliver packages, it didn't really matter in whose land she was delivering them to. Dawkins just chuckled again with a small shake of his head.

"If it is then the locals sure ain't acting like it miss; wouldn't even be here save this is an important route for personnel movements up north, or at least it would be if the I-15 weren't crawling with Deathclaws." Ruby frowned, she still needed to see the Mojave Express people but if they were holed up in some hostage situation, or perhaps even dead, then she didn't really want to risk her life. She blinked before looking around at the hulking machine standing silently beside her.

"Well maybe I could help." Dawkins was about to laugh her off but she quickly re-iterated, patting PD on the arm. "Let me re-phrase that, maybe my friend here could help." That gave Dawkins pause for a moment; he had seen just how effective those rolling metal brutes were at dealing with the various ruffians that would occasionally try to break into the strip. The convicts weren't very well equipped and the young private wouldn't be surprised if only a handful even had guns. Anyway, if worst came to worst no NCR property would be damaged and a few of the convicts might be taken out in the process.

"Um, well, I suppose if you think you'll be safe." The private said in a wavering voice, however Ruby simply nodded happily; heck, she wouldn't be anywhere near any of the actual combat if she had anything to say about it. That was what she was doing with the small, complex-looking device she had been fiddling with for the past half hour. Hooking her Pip-Boy up to the Securitron was all well and good but she would prefer something a little more permanent, not to mention wireless. Hopefully this would accomplish just that, creating a wireless link between her wrist-mounted computer and the bulky machine.

Of course any tech-savvy person would easily be able to disable that link if they knew what they were looking for but if Ruby really was dealing with a few convicts straight out of prison that shouldn't be too much of an issue. That in mind she gave the still rather befuddled young soldier a cheeky salute and walked on toward the town, PD trundling dutifully after her. Dawkins continued to stare at her worriedly for a few moments before she turned a corner and was lost from sight.

He found himself chuckling involuntarily for a moment; despite her slight frame he had the weirdest feeling that the young redhead would be just fine. Well, he certainly wouldn't want to go up against a Securitron, that was for sure.

Ruby allowed a small frown to slip onto her features as she walked away; she hadn't expected this kind of trouble. A berating for failing her delivery sure, maybe even having to pay for it out of her own pocket which she definitely wouldn't be able to afford; but a hostage situation? Still, she supposed it was a good enough opportunity to test out the small wireless transmitter she had been configuring.

Fitting it into PD posed no problems and soon her Pip-boy was scrolling through lines of code as she verified the uplink. If what she saw here was correct she had about a 120m radius that the robot could receive instruction from; that was plenty far enough. Giving the stoic machine another pat in the arm she set her face into a resolute mask and carried on walking.

"Alright PD, time for a quick test run." Its tire seemed to squeak as if in agreement as the two made their way steadily further into the smaller town, using the large rollercoaster as an indicator of where to go.

The first sign of conflict came without any kind of warning as the brick-work of a nearby building suddenly gained a new hole, just shy of Ruby's ear. Instinctively looking round she was met by the sight of a rather dirty figure wearing a leather jacket strung with twin bandoleers. That was all she managed to glean before he finished reloading his rifle, and ducked as he lined up another shot. However he was not the only one and the next bullet found itself pinging harmlessly off of PD's reinforced chassis.

The air became abuzz with the staccato chatter of its in-built 9mm machine gun, and with just flimsy leather between it and the convict's body the poor man didn't stand a chance. Ruby felt a little queasy looking across at his prone form, blood slowly leaking out onto the pavement beneath him, but forced it down and continued on. That first bullet had been far too close for her liking, it would have been a rather underwhelming end to her story, especially after already surviving one bullet to the skull.

The rest of the convicts occupying the streets never even got that chance; far more cautious after her close call with a piece of lead she chose to send PD ahead of her this time. It proved either a strong defence or a good deterrent as, aside from a few low-calibre bullets harmlessly ricocheting off its form, the rest of the escaped prisoners were mowed down without much fanfare. Ruby didn't even see most of it, deciding sticking her head out into a firefight wasn't the brightest idea.

However she certainly saw the aftermath. It was both astonishing and sickening how much damage a machine like PD could do to a poorly-equipped fighting force like this and soon a good dozen or so bullet-riddled convicts lay motionless on the dusty ground. Afterwards she went about checking through their pockets for anything valuable; it was gruesome, and if she was perfectly honest Ruby hated doing it, but it was simply a necessary part of post-apocalyptic life. It wasn't as though they needed it anymore; still, she tried to avoid looking them in the face.

She managed to scrounge a good few caps as well as some ammo which would prove useful in re-stocking PD, but not a lot else of use or interest. With that done she did an about turn and walked over to the doors of the Vikki and Vance. However after laying a hand on the door she thought better of it and instead decided to send PD through. It proved unnecessary though as there didn't seem to be a single convict within, instead she was suddenly confronted by an elderly man with as many patches on his clothes as there were wrinkles on his face.

"W-What's going on? Who are you? We heard gunshots and…" The man seemed to pause, possibly to regain his breath after the rapid-fire questioning as he glanced down at her clothing. He obviously came to the conclusion that she was not another convict and summarily calmed down. "Are we finally being rescued?" Ruby was startled by the hopeful look on his face as he seemed to instantly shed a few years. What was even more startling was that very same look being shared by the various other residents of the spacious casino.

"Can we go home now?" Came a cry from the back.

"Is it safe?" Came another, this time from a woman peeking from behind a slots machine.

"Are you with the NCR?" A young man shouted; however Ruby didn't get the chance to answer as the elderly man cut them all off with a wave of his hands.

"Give the young lady a chance to speak would ya?" And once again he turned to face her hopefully, unsettling the redhead with the intensity in his sun-strained eyes.

"Ahh well, um, no I'm not with the NCR and uh, I suppose you're being rescued?" Ruby finally managed, unable to avoid the slight uplift of her voice at the end. She hadn't really been expecting this; more just checking to see if the hostages were okay before moving on to the hotel to finish up with the convicts. The old man seemed somewhat disappointed that she was the extent of their cavalry but quickly got over his confusion.

"So, you got a plan for those ruffians in the hotel miss…"

"Ruby." She clarified.

"Ah, Johnson Nash; now as you were sayin'…"

Ruby simply stared at him for a moment before her eyes went wide with realisation, quickly glancing over at PD who had remained quiet at her side this while time. "Well, I was just going to send my Securitron in there to get rid of them all, with the kind of weapons the convicts have-"

"Wait you can't do that!" Johnson seemed incredibly alarmed by the thought, although he refrained from grabbing the younger girl. "Our Deputy, Beagle, he was taken by those ne'er-do-wells; your robot there might kill him too."

Ruby grimaced at that; the man was probably right; she was just going to temporarily remove PD's IFF so that he would kill everything in the hotel; now even that plan was shot to hell. "Ah well then, I'll just have to follow him in there." The distinct lack of enthusiasm for the new plan was rather obvious in her tone. "I'll uh, be right back I guess." She made to turn and leave, more to get away from the suddenly awkward atmosphere than anything else, only to have her wrist grabbed suddenly.

"Thank you young miss." It was Johnson, looking at her with sincere, watery eyes. "We don't mean ta' put you in this kind'a danger, but we really do appreciate what ya'll done for us."

Ruby gave a weak smile and a quick nod, not trusting her words at the moment and quickly left the casino, taking a deep breath once she was outside. "I need to get better at dealing with people." She muttered quietly before huffing and making a beeline for the Bison Steve. Vault life had not prepared her for all this, and apparently neither had five years of courier work.

It was with trepidation that she opened the front doors to the lobby, only to immediately whip her head back around as splintered wood went flying out, along with the deafening crack of a rifle. She patted PD on the arm rather forcefully and placed a strained smile on her lips. "Alright big guy, you're up." The large Securitron dutifully wheeled through the doors and only after the cacophony of his arm-mounted machine gun died down did Ruby risk another look around the door, sighing when it proved all clear.

Moving through the decrepit old hotel was slow going, is seemed around every corner was another convict, either drawn by the gunfire from their previous scuffle, or caught unawares as a trundling mass of steel and ammunition suddenly appeared around a bend. Eventually though, Ruby came across what she imagined used to be the dining room, although stumbled in might be more appropriate. The sudden silence as she was stared down by no less than five rather large and aggressive looking men was decidedly unnerving.

It was broken rather suddenly as, in a feat of improbable synchronisation, they all brought their weapons to bear at once. Almost on instinct Ruby found herself tapping the glove of her Pip-boy and instantly the world slowed to a crawl, as if the men in front of her were suddenly moving in thick molasses. The redhead mentally gulped as her eyes narrowed in on what she deemed the biggest threat in the room, the convict currently hefting an enormous flamethrower in her direction, the small pilot-flame in front of the barrel flickering in almost taunting slow-motion.

Realising her time was almost up she noted the positions of everyone in the spacious room, where PD was, as well as the nearest source of non-flammable cover. As soon as the nauseating rush of blood passed her ears she dived to the right, just in time to avoid a veritable wall of lead that made swiss-cheese of the flimsy door she had come in through.

As soon as she was safely behind a metal table she clamped her hands over her ears, just in time for the convict's wave of bullets to be met by a return volley from the Securitron. The noise was deafening yet unbelievably the roar of the flamethrower seemed to drown out all else and she soon realised why when the metal protecting her began to glow an ominous red; she immediately leapt back, as though she had been burned herself.

The decision was immediately regretted as the convict hoisted the flamer a little higher, his eyes murderous as Ruby watched, almost in slow motion, as his finger squeezed the trigger of the bulky weapon. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable heat to consume her body; only the pain never came. Instead she faintly heard an odd 'thwup' sound and her entire world was replaced by a thunderous explosion that threw her like a rag-doll into the wall.

It was only after what felt like a few minutes of staring dazedly across the room, her ears ringing with a persistent high-pitched whine, that Ruby managed to find her senses. A couple of blinks removed the lights swimming through her vision and eventually the whine became an irritating buzz she could just about ignore. Instead she looked at her saviour, or more precisely the arm-mounted grenade launcher PD was equipped with. She just about managed a weak chuckle before letting her head flop back against the wall again.

"Oh good, that works." She sighed out wearily.

She had made a few attempts on the way from Goodsprings to bring some of the Securitron's redundant systems online but they remained irritatingly stubborn, constantly citing those same missing drivers. She thought she had been making progress but hadn't been sure; it seemed though, that her efforts had paid off.

Eventually, and that was all Ruby was willing to admit as far as how long it actually took her, the redhead managed to fight down her nausea and clamber to her feet, albeit unsteadily. By now that slight ringing had vanished and she was able to make out muffled cries from somewhere in the building. She found their source within what appeared to be a kitchen, although decrepit and perverted from its purpose into a makeshift prison by the looks of things.

"Oh thank goodness, I'm finally being rescued." The young sandy-haired man currently tied up on the floor managed to sputter around a dirty gag that had come loose from his mouth; Deputy Beagle she presumed. "I was beginning to lose ho-oh, thank you." He muttered as Ruby sliced through his bindings, rubbing his wrists and cracking his joints as he stood. Before she even blinked though he was already moving in the direction of the exit.

"Hey wait, there are still more of them upstairs." She called out after him, only for the deputy to turn and eye her with a quirked brow.

"Ah, well you seem to have things in hand, carry on then." And without so much as a goodbye he turned and bolted from the room. Ruby was left slightly agape at his speedy exit before scowling, her finger subconsciously twitching toward the laser pistol on her hip.

"Coward." She muttered spitefully under her breath before sighing piteously to the empty room.

However her morose attitude turned out to be unwarranted, the eradication of the remaining convicts proved rather swift after that. With the threat of a hostage gone Ruby was content simply allowing PD to run loose, and in the confined space of the hotel's corridors it proved disastrous for the escapees. The upper floors became choke points filled with the continuous crack of its submachine gun or the soft whine of its in-built Gatling laser.

Soon enough she was walking out of the front doors again, met in the streets by the cautiously optimistic faces of Primm's residents as they pooled out of the Vikki and Vance. However if Ruby was expecting some exultant cheers or raucous applause she was disappointed. Many of the residents were smiling, but mostly they seemed indifferent; the wastes were a harsh place and this was the typical state of affairs. A few of the braver souls even ventured into the hotel, likely looking for whatever they could scavenge off the corpses; although Ruby had already taken all of their useful ammunition and caps.

However one resident in particular did seem sincerely thankful and Ruby soon found herself inexplicable ushered into the Nash residence before she could utter a word of protest.

"You really have done this town a great service, an' even if the others don't express it, I want you to hear it from us." The elderly man continued to gush, guiding Ruby toward a comfy-looking, if not dilapidated armchair in the corner. However Ruby resisted, her attention elsewhere as her gaze remained firmly fixed on the first thing she had noticed upon walking in. A small, round robot with many protruding antennae lay in a sorry state on a low counter. Nash finally broke off from his thanks to follow her gaze.

"Oh, I see ya' spotted ED-E right off the bat, you got a good eye on ya'."

Ruby quirked a brow. "Eddy?"

"ED-E." Nash stressed, "See on the plate there?" And sure enough there was an old licence plate poorly bolted to the eye-bot's casing in what looked like a hasty repair-job. It was scorched and grimy, but '2ED-E59' was just about visible in bold white font, although the numbers could barely be made out. "'Course I never did get the thing workin', but it seemed like as good a name as any. A courier brought him in one day and I did my best to fix 'im up but-" The man seemed the catch himself rambling and saw that Ruby was barely listening anyway, her attention was on the exposed machinery visible within the robot's opened casing, her mind already picking it apart.

"You want him?" He suddenly spoke up; that managed to finally snap Ruby out of her technophilic daze.

"Huh?" She muttered rather ineloquently.

"The bot, you wan'im? It's the least we could do after you saved the whole damn town. It's not like we're swimming in caps here so we can't really pay you in the traditional sense…" However the mention of pay finally reminded Ruby of why she was in Primm in the first place, making her eyes spark with realisation.

"Oh, that's right I almost forgot; do you know where I can find the Mojave express office? I remember someone telling me there was one in Primm." She said with surprising enthusiasm, catching the older man off-guard, although surprise quickly gave way to amusement.

"You're standing in it Miss Ruby." He stuck out a hand that after a moment of hesitation the redhead took. "Johnson Nash, supervisor of the Primm branch of the Mojave Express."

Ruby's eyes widened in understanding before she suddenly withdrew, her posture becoming sheepish as she rubbed a hand on the back of her head. "Oh, well that's… convenient. Um, I actually came to Primm to tell you that I'd failed a delivery." She winced, expecting indignation from the man, however all she heard was a deep, resigned sigh.

"Oh, you were on that delivery." He sighed again and his wrinkles seemed to somehow deepen before Ruby's eyes. "That whole job just stank of rot if y'asked me." He sank back into the armchair he had previously been herding Ruby toward, rubbing the bridge of his nose wearily. "From what I saw Missy, it's a miracle you got off alive. A few days before those convicts rolled in I woke up to find four bodies dumped on my doorstep, all of them couriers on that job. To be honest I thought the last'n had probably kicked it too, but here you are." He grinned at that, some colour returning to his weather-beaten features.

However even as he said it Ruby's hand drifted up to her temple where she could still feel the slightly tender flesh of the scar hidden by her hairline. "Yeah, here I am I guess."

Nash's smile grew at that. "Listen, and I'd probably a' said this even if you hadn't just rolled in and saved all out lives, but don't you worry about that delivery. As far as I'm concerned I never should'a accepted it, the money was too good to be true." Ruby wasn't quite sure what to make of that but Nash wasn't quite finished. "Anyway, if you want it, take the robot; s'not like I could'a fixed 'im anyways." He looked up, grinning. "And if you stick around a bit, my wife cooks a mean radscorpion casserole." Even Ruby managed a quick smirk at that.

In the end Ruby declined the man's kind offer of dinner; staying in Primm left a rather bad taste in her mouth as her mind kept flashing back to the images of the dead convicts. No, she wanted to leave as soon as possible, so once ED-E was safely stored inside of PD's storage compartment she hit the road again. However despite the swift stride she walked with Ruby was, for the first time in a long time, rather uncertain of what to do.

It wasn't as though she could just get a new job from the Mojave express, it didn't feel right after what happened and Nash certainly wasn't in any condition to hand one out. She imagined he would be re-organising for a while yet. Still, it wasn't like she could wander aimlessly forever; eventually she would need some money. With that in mind she figured she would head back west, link up with a caravan going along the I-15 back to The Hub. There was always work there for a courier, especially if you knew who to ask.

With a destination finally set in mind Ruby managed a smile and carried on south, her gait suddenly a little more confident. The positivity didn't last long though, soon enough the sun began to droop low on the horizon and as it dropped, so did the temperature. She was looking for any kind of building on the horizon, somewhere to hunker down for the night. She was tired after the day's rather hectic events, not to mention sore from the various bruises she had received being flung into a wall by an exploding grenade.

However hope came and passed as she spotted an old and seemingly abandoned police station, the broken and rusted cars out front still bearing the distinctive black and white colour scheme. As she drew closer though it quickly became apparent it wasn't so empty. She nearly jumped out of her skin as the loud crack of a bullet sounded off inside the squat building, followed by raucous cheering.

She decided to give the building a wide berth and carry on walking after that.

Her perseverance was soon rewarded though as a very different sight met her on the horizon. What started as indistinct blobs atop a far-off ridge, hard to make out in the dimming light, soon grew into towering giants built entirely out of scrap. Twin monoliths of enormous figures reaching out to shake one another's hands. It was a familiar sight that brought a grin to Ruby's face, the monument to the Ranger unification treaty that also stood as a landmark marking out the Mojave outpost and the current boundary of NCR territory.

From here it should all be smooth-sailing.