Elise, sensing that the doctor was in a fit of discomfort, helped the doctor remove his laboratory coat. Parts of it were burned, which was no wonder, considering that Dr. Silberman was running by Beast's side when the latter got blasted with a rocket. Noting that the doctor needed a change of clothing, Elise disappeared into the locker room. When she reappeared she had a fresh set of clothes for the doctor. "Rumors say that the plague was characteristic of Limit 115. Have you heard of it? My grandfather said that before a year or two before Judgment Day, Limit 115 took the lives of thousands of humans."
The doctor nodded as he took the clothes. "Yes. The New Plague, it was called back then." Dr. Silberman took off his burned tattered shirt and then looked into a nearby mirror. His body revealed a vertical gash on his back.
"Doc, you've got a wound!" Elise cried, quickly holding a fresh piece of cloth to Dr. Silberman's open wound. The doctor tried to evade Elise, but it was already too late. She had already seen his metal interior.
"Y-You're one of them!" Elise nervously cried, quickly drawing her Assault Rifle against the doctor.
"Not exactly." Dr. Silberman's wound started healing itself. Elise could only stare in shock and horror. Of course, thoughts sped through her mind, he must have been with Beast when the Terminator fired the rocket! He survived that?!
She aimed her Assault Rifle at the Doctor's head. "Back off or I'll kill you."
"You don't have the guts to do that," Dr. Silberman laughed. "Don't bother calling for back up. I've got a proposition that might interest you."
Rumors about a terrorist attack quickly spread like wild fire among the Citizens of NCR. The Congress felt insecure with the citizens crying out incompetence on the government's part. The citizens made a valid point - how could NCR desire to unite what's left of California (or even the rest of the world), when they can't even properly secure and protect the NCR capital against a terrorist attack? But it wasn't a terrorist attack, and the Congress wanted to find out the truth for themselves. Elise, the leader of the rangers responsible for the accident, was summoned to face the members of the council.
At the Congressional Hearing, Tandi, the president of NCR, tried to keep her displeasure with the New California Rangers. Many of the council members still favored the rangers, and would faithfully believe in whatever Elise would say. Elise had the youth and vigor the council wants in a leader. Tandi was already past 80, and though there was nothing fragile about her, the council had dangerously wanted to vote her off the Presidential seat. Just so they could replace her with Elise, an unspoken truth. It would be tough battling against the council's favorite. Since President Tandi could not put the blame on Elise outright, she needed the help of Vice President Faustus.
The vice president, an elegant man with receding hairline and a pointed beard, dutifully presided over the meeting. He spoke in a clear voice, "Elise, would you care to explain what had happened?"
Elise had already memorized her lines, "It was a most unfortunate accident, President Tandi." Meekness was not her style, but this was Dr. Silberman's orders and Elise has no choice but to follow. "The slave called Tina was pretending to be unconscious." Removing Lin's name was also part of the doctor's plans. "Dr. Silberman left her in the care of Beast and two of his men. They did not know that she was a threat to the security of NCR. I apologize for my men's lax behavior, but they--"
She was cut short by Faustus, "Lax behavior, Elise? Do you know the irreparable damage this accident caused us? Maybe, it's the rules that are lax. Maybe your Rangers need to submit to the law like everybody else! If they were thoroughly searched at the gate for weapons, the stationed men would have located that rocket launcher. But, no. It was secretly smuggled into NCR without the sheriff's knowledge. And don't get me started with that rescued slave. Sources told me she was wearing a military uniform!"
"Hush, Vice President Faustus," President Tandi commanded, "let Elise finish. We all need to be level-headed if we want this problem resolved." She turned to Elise, "Could you please explain thoroughly, Elise? Starting from the raid." Tandi was keeping in command while keeping her head low.
Dr. Silberman specifically told Elise that she must not, by all means, answer back indignantly. They would want somebody to blame, the doctor told her, and you will be that fall guy. "Yes, your honor. Actually, even before the raid, my men had suspected that the slavers were hiding powerful arsenal in their hideout to the west. Intelligence reports prove that it was not heavily guarded with men, but machines that were powerful enough to take down NCR in a rocket assault." Fear, Dr. Silberman said, was the most important weapon Elise had against the council. "I am sorry if I took it in my prerogative not to inform the council, as it may cause unnecessary turmoil. The slavers might have been in possession of these mighty weapons, but they was no indication that they were planning to strike at us - and I have sufficient evidence to back this up." Elise held up a holodisk that was worth far more than what she claims it to be at the moment. Heads nodded. Continue, they seem to say.
"I still stand firm in my belief that the threat of the Plague was a more pressing concern, knowing that it had already spread as far as Vault City." Elise paused, waiting for the fear and logic to sink in every council member. "But, with the safety of NCR in mind, I ordered a raid to the slaver's hideout. It would be in our best interest to intercept those weapons. However, as my men would testify, the hideout was destroyed with a bomb blast before we reached it. We speculate that the slavers knew of our impending attack and would rather lose their hideout than have us take a hold of them."
The Ranger continued, "There were no survivors, save for the rescued slave. My men searched as thoroughly as they could but the place seemed deserted. And there was only so much you could dig out off the rubble and ruins. They were incapable of a search operation in the lower levels of the depot, as the entrance was blocked with big debris and they were not properly equipped for an excavation. That stray rocket launcher was the only working weapon recovered. We did not inform the sheriff of the rocket launcher because such a powerful weapon is hard to come by... and we did not want news to spread that NCR possessed such a destructive weapon. It would threaten our allies."
