Chapter 4: longus nocte procedit

NCR defensive line. Hoover Dam. 6:00PM

The last rays of the Mohave sun fell short of the ground, stopped in their tracks by mighty dark clouds bearing down from the north, the land was blanketed in darkness, and not even the stars would shine tonight.

A light spray of rain patted down over the top of the wall, creating a orange haze around the lit up NCR positions. Mags slumped down against a wall of sandbags, her helmet leaning forwards over her face, rifle resting on her forearms. Her eyes were downcast as she rested there, trying to recover some stamina and willpower for the next onslaught. All across the NCR's positions this was seen, on privates without a unit, snipers without a spotter, and on weary field medics. A MRE lay abandoned near the butt of her rifle, the contents undisturbed. She shivered as the memory of blood, fear and screams came rushing back, she felt like crying, but nothing came out. Her hands shook as she remembered the meaty thunk her of her rifle as she clubbed a legionaire. She stuck her hands under her armpits, attempting to quell the shaking. Luckily no-one was around to see her like this, at least that was a small relief. A bearded support gunner walked by, tearing into a MRE. His boots crunching on loose bits of concrete as he stopped in front of her. She sniffed as she looked up at him, tears carving furrows in on her dirt encrusted cheeks. He sighed, and sat down next to her, his prized browning nestled in the crooks of his elbows as he fumbled around for some polishing and cleaning agents. Silence descended over them as the rain thickened, sagging the canvas shelters with their weight. After a while Mags spoke.

"I've always aimed high, Alvarez. Always gunned for the big jobs, the high-risk and high-reward ops, I was on the fast track to a place with the Rangers, I knew it back at boot camp, my instructors did too. That's why they pushed me far more then any other recruit there. Then I messed up. I did. Not the squad, nobody else, just me. Remember Bitter Springs?" Alvarez's eyebrow rose up.

She sighed and closed her eyes, "I was the one who called in, who mistranslated the orders. Got alot of people hurt." Alvarez was speechless.

The rain grew heavier and heavier, turning into a downpour. Must be hell for the troops down the sides Alvarez noted.

She continued on.

"Then I got stuck with the misfits, the so called "worst squad ever", a pacifist farm boy, a know it all slacker, and a messed up raider. Sorriest bunch I ever saw. They all said we couldn't do anything right, no one believed in us. Well. Except for McCredie." her hands clenched in frustration. " I- We- proved them wrong, made them into some pretty damn good grunts, even Poindexter managed to scrape through" Alvarez chuckled. "But that was all before, well" she held her palms up, gesturing to the whole area. "This. This fucking blood-bath. I have to take them in once again, and make them heroes." she sobbed once more, "And there I was thinking back then how fantastic it would feel to be a Ranger." tears welled up in her eyes. "But you know what? Screw that for a joke, Rangers get into terrifying stuff like this everyday, most of the time while alone out there! I can't even handle just sitting here waiting for those savages to come! How the hell can I face up to voluntarily taking their lives and risking others!"

the rain grew heavier, making the canvas roofs sag audibly.

She broke down into tears, wrapping her arms around herself.

"Damn this." Alvarez said to no one in particular.

O'Hanrahan bent down, placing his rifle against a line of sandbags; he unclipped his water bag and took a long draught from his water bag, making sure to hydrate before his watch came up. He wiped his lips with his hands; and clipped it back onto his belt. Picking up his rifle he began to make his way to a hastily constructed lean-to, in it lay four brown packs with sleeping bags rolled up and placed next to them, and one rucksack filled with ammo and extra medicine. He sat down next to his, and pulled the zip, revealing a small heap of objects. He poked his hand through the pile, rummaging for something very important, the back shifted slightly and rattled as heavy arms fire chattered away in the hills on both sides of the river, just because the main offensive had started didn't mean the other positions weren't under siege. Poindexter scratched his neck as he walked, he snagged a roll of duct tape from Razz's pack, normally he wouldn't dare touch his stuff, but Razz had been missing for a few hours and he wasn't in any hurry or mood to look for him.

He sat down near O'Hanrahan and held his glasses in the palm of his gloved hand, and began wrapping the tape around the joint, taking longer than usual, something to do was better than nothing to do.

Hoover Dam, central tower. 7:00PM

Disposable lanterns were scattered around the room, struggling to keep even half of the room lit. The reach of the lanterns ended in front of a four star general and his colonel, gathered around a central map of the battle raging below.
Oliver clasped his hands behind his back as he scrutinised the map. Colonel Moore tapped the edge of the table with a gloved finger, waiting for a late Courier to arrive with some news about the Legion. Oliver rubbed his chin as he formed plans and strategies.
"Colonel, what's our current battle strength?"

Moore sighed as she answered "We have at least 500 people currently on the D line, with another 300 in the bowels of the Dam. And another 200 spread out among the cliffs fending off flanking manouevers across the river." she focused her attention on the Dam's wall, and the five red little blocks lined up side by side. She mentally groaned as she saw the huge forest of black and crimson blocks on the Dam's eastern approach. She then wanted to punch Oliver in the face when her eyes swept over a staggered collumn of 'specialised troops' situated near Boulder. Ranger's and Heavie's would be invaluable on the D line right now, especially with the night settling in. the wooden table made a quiet scratching sound as her finger dug into the weak wood. Oliver didn't notice.

He focused on the specialised collumn of troops, mentally checking deployment times and what orders they would be given. he switched his gaze to Colonel Moore, and gave her a curt nod "What are the reports saying?".

She clapsed her hands behind her as she began "Our battalion on D line is operating at a third of their efficiency, partly due to weather and casaulties, which are currently at 100 wounded, and 30 KIA." she swept her hand to the smaller blocks on the western bank "So far our defending units have repelled a combined force of at least 200 Legionnaires, although..." her hand hovered over three small red blocks right next to the Dam's wall "3rd battalion reported that while engaged with 40 assailants, 10 escaped into the facilities at the bottom of the Dam, they have a direct path to the generators, Sir" Oliver responded with an annoyed grunt. She noticed the bags under his eyes. Not a good sign.

He looked up at her, his bars gleamed in the dull light "What about our specialists? The Heavy's and Rangers?", Moore focused her gaze on the forest of triangle blocks scattered in the hills behind their side of the river dam. "we have at least 10 squads of Heavys, hunkered down in the hills in the area. They will wait for the enemy's final push and break through their lines, taking the enemy's doorstep." she paused for a moment. "Sir if I may?" she inquired. "yes Colonel?" she bent over the table, her hands resting on either side of the map. "Why can't we release the Heavy's now? D line is taking a pounding sir, and the Legion already had us outnumbered at the beginning of the battle." Oliver rubbed his chin with a gloved hand "I have my reasons Colonel, and you may be surprised to know they aren't about glory or dramatics."

Moore's cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment "sorry sir, the troops..." He silenced her with a sweep of his arm "Yes I damn well know what the troops think of me! Now shut up and listen Colonel!" he brought his fist down the table, rattling the blocks.

"Three reasons why I can't send them down to the Dam. One." he rose one finger "They aren't equipped with night vision or thermal scanners, making target aquisition impossible. Two." another rose up "Movement is restricted on the Dam at the best of times, if I sent them now they would be fighting in close quarters, and since their armour is scavenged, their combat effectiveness will plummet. And lastly?" his third finger rose "I just had intel come in that the Courier is on his way here, we can let him bloody the Legion and weaken his forces. That'll teach that bastard to cross the Bear!", a dangerous fire shone in his eyes.

But Moore didn't care, her face was a mask as she shook with rage and indignation. Her men were going to get slaughtered tonight just to satisfy this prick's ego! Oliver shouted at her, breaking her out of those dangerous thoughts "Dismissed Colonel!". She swallowed her pride and straightened, snapping off a salute as she exited the room. Oliver went over to his desk and and sat down with a heavy sigh, dragging a bottle of very old whiskey and a even older shot glass from his desk drawer. He set them both down on the old table with a wooden thunk. Dust tumbled around as it was disturbed by the impact. He picked up the little shot glass, studying it with sullen eyes. With a sigh he dropped it back into the drawer, grabbed the whiskey by the neck and took a long draught.

Courier's camp, Western bank. 8:00PM

The canvas mats formed a canopy over the camp site, providing cover and dryness from the heavy storm raging. Arcade sat on a rock, brooding. He had been travelling with the others for a month now, he was with them when the Courier drove the Fiends out of New Vegas, he was there when he and the others watched the Courier dissapear before their very eyes when he examined a strange satellite. He had been through a lot in a very short time, something which all of them can attest to. He realised that the last 3 months passed by at a quick pace, at least now that they have passed. At the time he met him, he was just a Doctor with the Followers, and even then not a great one. In the time since then he had killed so many living things, something which will probably skyrocket tommorow. The battle tommorow would be huge, even bigger then the siege of Navarro, which he saw as a terrified kid hiding behind his mother in a Vertibird with two soldiers, their commander, a doctor and a pilot. He wasn't sure if he would survive tommorow, nobody here was. His gaze steeled as he pushed down the dark thoughts. No! They would survive! If not for the Mohave, then at least for each other. A single nod finished his mental discussion.

"Something bothering you, boy?" a black giant loomed over him, peering down with a kind but wrinkled face. Judah Kreger.

He looked up at him "Just thinking about how many pieces of us will be cleaned up after tommorow."

Judah chuckled, his eyes shining in the warm glow of the fire. "You and your wit. You are very transparent, you know?"

Arcade grumbled "Am not."

Judah teased him "Yes you are! Your young friend told me herself!", Arcade protested "I am not transparent! I am a perfectly complicated man who just happens to hide insecurities behind intellectual wit and situational sarcasm."

Judah was unfazed "Well be that as it may, you aren't as aloof as you pretend to be."

Arcade grew serious "Yeah, I wish was though. It would help with alot of things." Judah fell silent.

The young man carried a lot of baggage.

"Hey, look." he placed an armoured hand on Arcade's shoulder. He made no motion to brush it off.

"From what I've heard you and your friends have been through a lot together, haven't you?" Arcade glumly nodded. "You've saved each other countless times?" He nodded again. Judah's face brightened "Well whaddya have to worry about then? As long as you guys stick together, you'll do fine. Its what we did at Navar-"

suddenly Judah fell silent, Arcade glanced at him, a deep sadness was in the old man's eyes, he suddenly looked very tired. He placed his left hand on Kreger's.

"We did it there, and We can do it here." was all Arcade said. They both stared at the fire, lost in its depths. The wind howled around them.

Field outside of the Courier's camp. 2:00AM

Huge droplets of rain splattered the parched ground, bringing much needed moisture into the ecosystem of the Mohave. Two figures crept after a huge mass of golden scales, their identitys obscured with heavy rain coats. It was nighttime in the desert.

The ground quaked as the massive Golden Gecko waddled into the clearing, towards the inviting pile of Yucca fruit in the center. Its orange eyes swiveled to sweep the brush around the clearing, checking for any scavengers or others of its brood. Satisfied, it croaked and flicked its tongue out, tasting the sweet nectar on the air.

It came to a stop in front of the pile, and tore in. Stuffing its face full of the sweet fruit. The two figures stayed out of sight while they watched it, one held a caravan shotgun and the other wore a strange contraption on her wrist.

The one holding the caravan shotgun chuckled "This will be easier then we thought huh?".

The girl with the contraption snorted "Sure, not like last time right?", she chuckled quietly.

The other one scowled "You can be such a bitch sometimes, Veronica." her face brightened and she chuckled, "I must be doing something right." Veronica gave her a wry smirk. Her green eyes darted up, keeping watch on the Gecko.

"Cass, its moving." She awkwardly gave a thumbs up to Cass with her power fist encased hand. Cass couldn't resist laughing at such a sight, she quickly covered her mouth when the Geckop stiffened and sniffed the air, trying to locate the source of the sound. Veronica raised her fist threatningly.

Cass mouthed a apology, and crept off into the brush, weaving in between a group of broken boulders, hardly making a sound. The Gecko made a low growl, its spines straightening to make it appear bigger, it lowered its head back to the Yucca, and began stuffing its face once more.

Cass searched for a rucksack she had brought along with them among the boulders. She found it wedged between two chunks of limestone. She zipped it open, and grabbed a lever action shotgun and a few slugs, she zipped it up and placed the shotgun on her shoulder strap.

Cass always had a plan for every hunt she did, alone or otherwise. Unlike Six, she didn't just go charging in and blasting the creature's head off with a city-killer shotgun, that made a lot of noise and it ruined the chances of skinning the beast effectively.

No, she planned it all out, planned exactly how much equipment she'd need and use, plan out the environment.

Of course apart from those times when she was hammered, these plans worked all the time.

She made her way out of the tangle, towards a patch of high grass just ten metres away.

Her boots made soft crunching noises on the gravel as she did a roadie run towards the patch. She was directly behind the massive bulk of the Gecko. The edge of the grass patch was just in front of her. Her movements were slow and deliberate as she pushed through the tall grass to the center of the patch. The Gecko still hadn't heard her. The center of the patch was devoid of any tall grass, only a soft mound of dirt. She dropped to her stomach, and crawled onto the mound. She slowly shifted the strap on the ruck sack, letting it slide of her shoulder with a slight rustling sound. Her hiding place had a direct line of sight to the Gecko, courtesy of a small gap between the tall grass.

Keeping one eye glued to the Gecko, she reached into the sack for her shotgun. She brought it towards her, and layed it just to her left. Her hand reached in once more, bringing out five heavy brass hunting darts, made for long range one shot kills.

With care and practice she snapped the shotgun's downwards, exposing the loading chamber for the shot. She slotted a dart round into the chamber, with a smooth flick upwards, the shotgun's barrel was in position.

She settled into a prone firing position.

Much of their bait was eaten by now, soon the Gecko would be finished and they would miss their chance.

The air began to be filled with the stench of digesting Yucca fruit, Cass knew that this was a defense mechanism for the Geckos so that their scent could be masked, if any predators entered the area, the Gecko could just slip away. Works on animals, not people.

Cass took aim, the tiny space between the iron sights was occupied by the iris of the Gecko. She steadied herself, and held her breath as she squeezed the trigger.

The dart whizzed towards the giant, ripping through its left eye, yellow jelly and blood flowed from the trauma, a terrible scream came from the Gecko as it stomped and berserked, trampling the Yucca under its heavy feet. Its good eye swiveled around, searching for the source of the projectile. Its golden eye focused on Cass's hiding place. It stopped screaming, and assumed a low growl, its spines rose up.

It loosed a grating shriek that tore at Cass's ears and charged, its head level with her chest. She rolled out of the patch of tall grass, gaining a few scrapes and wet patchs on her jeans for her trouble. With the shotgun by her side she sprinted for a tangle of boulders, hoping to snare the beast there. As she ran at a breakneck speed through the Mohave scrub, she silently prayed that Veronica was coming up with a plan.

Soon she would be the appetizer of the Wasteland's most goofy predator. How humiliating.

Veronica was hidden in the swathes of tall grass on the other side of the clearing, as she saw the Giant Gecko turn and charge towards Cass, she swore.

"Shit, hang in there Cass!" She tightened the bolts on her power fist and vanished into the rightmost patchs of grass, cirumnavigating the clearing. She watched as Cass dove into a tumble of rocks, providing temporary respite from the Giant lizard. She came out of the patch of grass onto the gravel path, 50 metres to the right of the Gecko. She made her way to the Gecko at a crouched run, sneaking up behind it to distract and stun it.

Cass quickly opened the rucksack, fishing out buckshot rounds and slotting them into the Lever Action's barrel. the barrel section snapped upwards, connecting with the handle. The Gecko's face was wild and angry, it tried to shove its head into the rocks to get to its meal, but the gaps were too narrow. The lever action bucked as a round left the barrel, speeding towards the Gecko's thick neck, it ripped into it, tearing out chunks of flesh and ravaging the Creature's airway. She could hear a small choking sound come from it as it roared, it redoubled its efforts, digging deep furrows in the rocks as it tried to claw them out of the way.

Cass quickly loaded another round, to finish it off. She squeezed the trigger, a grinding noise came from the shotgun as the shotgun shell was ground into shards of metal and ball bearings at a incredible pressure, shredding the mechanisms of the Lever Action, the shrapnel found way out by way of the reloading break. Shrapnel slammed into Cass's left hand, slicing through the leather glove and shredding the skin inside. Cass screamed and clutched her hand, she backed off from the Gecko as the rocks began to tear away. The shotgun bounced on the rocks, and wedged itself in a crevice underneath Cass. The Gecko growled and leapt, its single terrible eye focusing on her blue eyes.

The maw of the Gecko grew large in her vision as it lunged towards her, claws outstretched towards her.

Veronica was ten metres behind the giant as it began to loosen the rocks guarding Cass. Things were getting hairy. She crept forward a little bit, preparing to strike the Gecko. She relaxed as she saw Cass unload a round into the Beast, then start loading another. She could handle this herself.

Then disaster struck, the shotgun misfired, wounding Cass and giving the Gecko the opening to attack. Veronica rushed forward, building up momentum. Four metres behind the giant she jumped, powerfist outstretched towards the Creature's shin. It collided against the leathery hide with colossal force, completely shattering its lower leg, and fracturing the upper leg, blood gushed out of the pulverised flesh, causing the creature to scream in pain.

The Gecko roared, deafening Cass at this distance, it wasn't a roar of triumph though, but one of pain and surprise. She shuffled backwards, tumbling out of a gap in the rocks behind her into the open, sending puffs of dust up as she hit the ground hard. She groaned as she clutched her hand, she moved her right hand towards her pocket, fishing out a roll of gauze, she grabbed the end with her mouth, holding it with her teeth, she then wrapped it around her hand. She propped herself up against the rock, and tilted her head back, trying to catch her breath.

That happens way too often to me.

Veronica ducked under a clumsy swipe, and struck with a powerful punch to the ribs, cracking a few, causing the Creature to stumble. She used the chance, sliding in under the Creature's chin and thrusting her fist upwards. The Creature's eyes lolled lifelessly as it finally gave up and crumpled to the ground. Veronica quickly rolled out of the way. She sat there on the ground, trying to catch her breath. She dusted herself off, and stood up, she faltered, a sharp pain went down her right leg as she put her weight on it, she stoppd for a moment. Putting her weight on her left leg she managed to move at a slow limp, she headed towards Cass, cursing along the way.

Cass wearily held a hand. "You okay, Veronica?".

She waved her off "Just a sharp pain in my right leg and a pretty raging concussion, no biggy." She sat down next to her, making sure to keep her right leg straight.

Cass's lips tightened in concern. "Good, good, have fun telling that to Arcade when we get back, I'm sure he'll love it.", she fished a med-x and a stimpack out of their rucksack, and tossed them to her. "Here. Knock Yourself out."

Veronica gave her a cheery smile, she unwrapped the Med-X and plunged it into her right leg, the pain coursing up it dulled a little, then almost dissipated to a throb. She looked at the stimpak longingly, but shrugged and handed it back to Cass. "You need it right now."

Cass nodded, she unscrewed the cap on the needle tip, a small grunt of pain escaped as she moved to inject her arm with the concoction. A flood of medicinal fluids, drugs, pain killers and boosters went through her, immediately washing the aches and pains away.

She threw needle tip away into the brush nearby, and stowed the dispenser in the rucksack.

They both tipped their heads back, resting for a bit, letting the cool air coming from the east wash over them.

A laugh escaped Veronica as she said "That was fun!", Cass cast a wry glance at her, she smirked.

"Yeah, I guess it was."

They both fell silent, across the river, a lone ray of sunlight broke out of the storm clouds, highlighting the rain it hit in a golden light.

Veronica spoke up. "It'll be dawn soon, is that when we move?".

Cass responded, her eyes downcast. "Yeah."

She wasn't sure who was going to be left standing tommorow.