My eyes shot open as I felt a boot impact me in the stomach. My eyes searched for the attacker and found a giant obscured by the sun. The boot was still close to my hands and they shot out and grabbed it. I yanked the ankle toward me and the giant toppled toward the ground. As it was floundering on the ground I flashed up and brought foot down upon it's knee and met hard metal. My hands flew toward both my armpits and brought my pistols to bear on its face. A power armor helmet rested in my sights.
"Calm down Dawes" Frank's voice came through the helmet's. The man wasn't even concerned with the two bullets ready to impact his face.
"Shit Franks" I sighed "You can't just do that kinda stuff to people"
"You're awake" He said as if that was some form of explanation "Follow me" He got up and starting stalking away.
"Look, I almost shot you, you can't just kick people awake" I berated him as he walked away. He acted as if the guns hadn't affected him at all, which based on his whole demeanor they might not have. I sighed and followed him through the courtyard. We ended up at the doors of a command building and we proceeded inside. He turned to me and stated
"The General wants to see you."
"Thanks" I grunted. I entered the command building then walked toward the back and stepped into Stone's office. The back of a ranger's black armor obstructed my vision. The Ranger turned toward me and nodded his acknowledgment. There weren't too many rangers who earned their black armor and I was somewhat surprised at seeing another one. I stepped up beside him and saluted General Stone.
"Ma'am, may I ask why I'm here" She looked me up and down
"You may, in a minute" After the retort I stood still and waited for something to happen. A minute passed and I eyed the General and she didn't give any inclination as to why I was here. I heard the door creak and turned around to see two more rangers clad in black armor enter. We all eyed each other up and down trying to take the measure of each other soldier. Then I turned my eyes back toward General Stone. She eyed the group of rangers looking for any sign of weakness.
"You all rangers, the best the Republic has to offer. Are you not?" Her voice seemed to test the metal of each individual ranger.
"Ma'am yes Ma'am" We sounded of as if it was some form of answer.
"At thirteen hundred I will be giving a briefing on the new plan to retake the Mojave. You soldiers will be integral to completing one half of this mission. Your task will be eliminating the command structure. Your current target will be the legion commander in Primm. Then we shall review the results and determine the further mission objectives. As of now your current orders are to gain insight on how you would work as a unit and go over reports of Primm' Do you all understand your orders?" I for one had to rewind all the information I was just bombarded with but in unison we chorused
"Yes Ma'am" We saluted and jostled our way through the doorway. We headed through the building and turned the heads of many personnel. Usually when you saw this many black armor clad rangers it meant that the president or vice president was nearby. This time we had a far more lethal objective than being a bodyguard. We were going for blood. We marched in unison toward the back of the compound and all assumed positions around one of the picnic tables. It was an awkward situation we had all just been told to make friends to by a commanding officer. We had all had our share of strange assignments but this one was out of left field. Out of us three were male one female. The one woman and I were Caucasian. The other two men were Black and Latino I assumed he was from Baja or another southern region. I looked around and decided to start the current 'assignment'.
"I'm Lieutenant Jason Dawes, I've been a ranger for five years, I earned my black armor and been with special operations for three years. I'm a designated marksman and an covert warfare specialist." Fortunately we all had take off our helmets.I didn't have to speak to distant ghosts that we all became during a mission.. The black ranger to my left nodded and introduced himself. He was a well built man in his mid thirties with short hair and a close cropped beard
"Captain Solomon Chambers, Ranger for ten years, special operations and black armor for seven. I've earned several specializations covert warfare, demolitions and marksmanship." I nodded my acknowledgment, he had an impressive career. He was fully as qualified as any ranger I knew and if I remembered he was a prime candidate for chief after Hanlon stepped down. I was glad we had him on our team. The Latino man was named Leo Vasquez. The woman was a redhead and was named Cassidy Thompson. They were both fairly new to working with special operations and they had had their black armor for under a year. As the evening progressed we began to edge toward an understanding of each other. Both Thompson and Vasquez were fairly new to the whole situation in the mojave and were only on this mission because the NCR had taken such a hit in the past weeks. Chambers and I were the only 'senior' rangers in the whole ramshackle compound. We took the afternoon pouring over the limited reports of Primm. We had little to no information on the town since we had been booted from the region but there was a confirmed sighting Aurelius of Phoenix we all agreed that he was the real reason why we had been assigned to take out Primm. We knew little about him other than the fact that he was a hispanic male around the age of thirty. As we hashed out details and what we knew of the town of Primm a plan was coming together. At one point Chambers had lost me when he mentioned some sort of grappling hook weapon but as we continued to talk out the plan I saw the why Chambers was a Captain and I a lieutenant. After Chambers wrote an action plan we continued to talk and I found out that Chambers actually had a wife and son who was named Steven. We talked for an hour or more and I discovered that Thompson was from Vault City and had grown up within the military. Vasquez's first name was actually Leonardo and he was indeed from Baja. Once we had shot the shit sufficiently there was a shared moment of silence. We had all become friendly if not friends. I looked at Chambers and sighed out a last breath and shrugged my shoulders
"Well we've gotta go back into the wolf's den and report back" I met his eyes "any sacrifices?"Chambers snorted out a laugh
"Alright kids any volunteers" he looked around at the group meeting each pair of eyes "Well then Dawes if you're so eager you can go report in" I looked at him and sighed again "Anything for my republic" He retorted with another snort of nodded his thanks to me and handed me the plans we had been drawing up. I got up from the picnic table and walked around toward the front door of the command building. The formed flurry of NCR had risen back up again. All new faces and personal had flooded the building since Stone had taken over I could see just how green they all looked. I proceeded back toward the back offices I then had the pleasure of laying my eyes on the only thing that wasn't green in the whole building, the mountain of steel that was the bodyguards and Franks himself. I realized I had no idea what the others name was and I decided that was as good and attempt to break the ice with franks as any.
"So..." I ventured "I have the distinguished honor of knowing you" I pointed my finger at Franks "What's tweedledee's name?" Franks helmeted eyes bored into mine"
"What do you want?" His voice issued out of his helmet.
"Here to report into General Stone"
"Chambers?" He conveyed all of his sentence with one word
"We drew straws, what the hell do you think happened? he sent me now may I PLEASE go report in"
"Proceed" He answered in an unamused tone
"Thank you very much" I gave a dramatic bow and continued down the hall. It may have been a foolish idea to provoke Franks since he was a superior officer but he had kicked me in the stomach so I considered us even. I trudged down the hall and looked at the frosted glass on Stone's door. Someone had painted her name on the door. All that had happened all those who had died, all the blood that was dried in the desert. And this name was painted onto this fucking door. Briefly my mind's eye was consumed with the image of me bashing that frosted door to pieces. I breathed out and settled myself and knocked on the door. I waited for a response I heard a cough then I heard Stone's voice callout
"Enter" She was facing her terminal and didn't know who was at her door, it was fairly reminiscent of all the rookies that she brought here: no awareness.
"Ma'am, Captain Chambers sent me in to report" I motioned with her to the papers I held in my hand. Her eyes probed my whole form searching for anything out of place as if we were on a drill ground and she was my drill sergeant. Interiorly I laughed at the idea of anyone replacing Ghost as my drill sergeant. But there were things to do and I couldn't afford to drift off in front of Stone.
"What's that in your hand Lieutenant?" She asked
"It's the plans that we drew up for the assault on Primm"
"You're incorrect Lieutenant this is no mere assault" I could hear the acidity, almost like I had kicked her dog "This is an assassination"
"Pardon me ma'am" I looked into the steel green eyes " Here are the plans for the 'assassination'" I handed her the plans and watched her eyes as she reviewed them. Her green eyes were like searchlights looking for any escapees. Her eyes furrowed momentarily and then continued over the report.
"Tell Chambers I'd like to speak with him." Her eyes seemed confused but under that I could see a gleam of the Jessica I knew a lifetime ago.
"Ma'am" I saluted. I thought back to shortly after the barn fire and I had to leave. I traveled to the hub. I met a preacher shortly after I was an old black man who gnawed on anyones ear as long as they would listen. I only knew him as Father Mills but he taught me much about god and then I joined the army so I'm not sure how many lessons I absorbed there are some things I learned. He taught me many phrases some numbering from the bible and the quran. But one sprung to mind when I saw the light in Jessica's eyes. 'Wherever there is life, young son, there is hope'. He was old enough to be my grandfather but he called everyone young son. But Jessica's honest confusion brought that phrase back to me even though her life was trapped in a steel cage, it was there and there was hope. I smiled her a little and she frowned
"Sorry Ma'am old thought reporting to Chambers." Her eyes searched me up and down looking for the escapee that was the smile. She didn't seem to find anything out of order so she dismissively turned back to her terminal. I headed out of the building and I was lucky enough not to have Franks kick me in the stomach again. I went back to the picnic table and sat down in the middle of a story. Thompson was in the middle of explaining how she and her unit had blow a bridge that a legion patrol had been using and they fell into a gorge. The rest of them laughed and I stood there.
"Dawes" Chambers called out a smile on his face "How was the General?"
"Well sir" I smiled " Funny story about that, she wants to see you"
"Uggh" He sighed "Thanks for that, Alright troops it's been fun but I get to go to the General" he flashed us a grin and turned to go. For being as old as he was and seeing all the action he had I was surprised he was walked away from the group and I took back my seat. Thompson resumed her story and Vasquez ate it up. Maybe Father Mills' stories had rubbed off more than I know. It's hard for me to find any joy in the stories all I can see are my dreams and hearing other's stories. Over the years I've had the opportunity to talk with many soldiers and had the pleasure to drink beer with a few. Inevitably the subject of kills how many to how extravagant. I've always leaned back and abstained. Even though I've never seen any burning bush or squeezed by an angle and told to recite. I've always prayed for forgiveness after a kill and I've always had to shut my eyes once I end a life. Vasquez was in the middle of explaining how he had stabbed a legionnaire. I had been trained to be a killer and I was even good at it but I couldn't find any pleasure in the act. I stood up in the middle of the story and they both looked at me. Vasquez's brown eyes searched mine questioningly.
"You okay sir?"
"Yeah perfect, I gotta step out."
"Sure you got it Sir."
I walked over toward the infirmary with the full intention with finding the girl from earlier and getting a drink. As I stepped to the door I halted and I balled my fist. I leaned against the doorframe and gently hit it with my balled fist and sighed. Out of all the ways to deal with my issues this was not it. I looked around and saw the ramp to the rooftop. It would burn like whiskey but it'd be better for me in the long run, so I went to talk to Ghost.
Her head turned toward me when she heard me coming up the ramp. She smiled and said
"What's up Dawes?" I interrupted her asking
"How many people have you killed" She frowned and asked
"Why does that matter?" I looked off east into the mojave, sun spearing my eyes then answered
"How can it not matter?"She sighed before answering
"Dawes, you think about it too much. You gotta let these things go" She reached out and patted my balled fist. Then I asked
"Let go... Let go" It sounded like a foreign language "How do you that" She turned east as well saying,
"One step at a time Dawes"
"Hell I might just go get something to drink instead" Her sunglassed eyes bored into me
"Shit maybe not, I don't know Ghost, I gotta do something" She squeezed my hands
"Let it go soldier, forget" I snorted out laughter.
"Thanks, Ghost I appreciate it"
