52 Fortune Casino, Resort, and Spa, Great Lanta
"ED NA, begin recording."
"-cast aside from the view of God, and embraced damnation! Yet God is not without mercy. Repent, and ye shall be saved!" the priest continued. Most everyone that walked by him ignored him. Still, he was a Priest of the Church, and if he reported in something that the Church's spies could substantiate, they could be trouble. Making him happy was worth it. So, Sue came up with the craziest of plans, and this morning, she approached him.
"And you! The succubus who has brought this evil to our shores! You, most of all, should beg the forgiveness of God! Kneel, and embrace the truth of our Savior, and you will be saved!" the priest called out. She grinned at him.
"How about God and I come to a compromise, and we'll save some souls together, eh? I got a deal for you. Step off your soapbox for a moment."
The priest looked about to his listeners, who were all looking at her. He stepped down from his crate.
"Listen, I know how the Casino looks. Drugs, booze, prostitution, gambling. But the only one of those that's actually a sin is prostitution, under 'Lust,' am I right?"
"It's more complicated than that."
"Well, yeah, I'm sure. Still, I'm not one to shy away from the local community, so, when your bosses get the chance, why don't you come inside, and inspect my operation? I'm not just selling drugs and flesh here, and the drugs and flesh I do sell aren't what you used to. I've worked very carefully with an organization known as the Followers of the Apocalypse to ensure that we don't fall into the same traps as so many of our competitors and predecessors do. It's hard work, and it's morally gray in a lot of places, but believe me. I'd rather people shoot up in my lounges, where doctors will make sure they don't die, and I'd rather the prostitutes work here, than in the alleyway around the corner. We've only been open for a couple of weeks now, but since we have, can you honestly say this area is worse off?"
The priest hesitated, but said, "The lavishness of your sin does not mitigate it."
"That's fair. Still, I invite your bosses to see our operations. The casino has nothing to hide, and I hope that our standards meet the approval of the locals. People seem to be happy with it so far, anyway."
That was an understatement; there was a literal waiting list for all their services. They just couldn't keep up with the business, and competition was starting to pop up. The drug dealers had always been there, but now they were putting together competing dens and offering medical help. More gambling had popped up here and there. The only thing Sue had interfered with were the new brothels that were getting organized; she cracked down on those, and made sure they were operated to her standards.
"I'll…Speak with them," he promised.
"Excellent. I look forward to meeting them," Sue told him, and the priest left.
"Most of my journey has been about finding history and observing things as they are. Seeing life as it was, never as it is. It's refreshing to see the Wasteland in the midst of progress, and see history in the making. Here is Great Lanta, the largest and most active port on the East Coast. It's largely controlled by pirates and drug-peddlers, held back only by the Church that promises fire and damnation upon any who break their tenants against slavery, or cross too many lines," a man wearing a unique suit of Power armor spoke into an Eyebot, "The history of Great Lanta can be traced back all the way befo-"
"I can't believe you are still chattering on into that eyebot," Sue called out, and the man in Power Armor turned to her.
"And I can't believe the rumors are true. I'd heard that someone had moved into Great Lanta, but the Governor of Mojave? You're awfully far from New Vegas," the man replied.
"Well there's a lot going down these days, and I didn't want to miss the action. Besides. It's Brotherhood business. There's a lot going on these days."
"So I hear. I've been out of the loop for a few years now. It seemed everything was starting to calm down, and the country was going back to one of those quiet eras where everyone accumulates problems until some hero or another comes along and solves them."
"Well who says it needs to be a new hero?" she asked, "Hell I'm tried and true. It's good to see you gain, Storyteller."
"It's always a pleasure, Courier."
"Listen, I could use your help with something. And not like, my new casino. The real reason the NCR is out here," she told him, "And the rest of the Coalition."
"I'd be happy to help. First, though, tell me more about your operation. It's not often I get to record history as it's happening."
"Let's head inside, and talk some more. You can keep ED NA running, I don't think anyone will mind."
She led him inside; clients and workers gawked at the man in full Power Armor. Brotherhood suits were not uncommon, but his armor was bulbous and almost insect-like, as opposed to the plates of armor that were typical of the Brotherhood. The novelty wore off quickly, though, as strange sightings were starting to be commonplace since the NCR arrived.
"I don't understand why we're stalling here, the entire region is falling apart, and we're building a casino!" Zhao Ming demanded. The upper and basement levels of the casino were reserved for the coalition's operations as a sort of headquarters. Sue also used them as a kind of embassy.
"The casino is a front," Sue said as she entered with the Storyteller in tow.
"Well, yes, we're using it for communications and-"
"No, we could do that from the boat. The casino is a front, the same way that the Lucky 38 is a front. It's actually a major RobCo facility with complex communication equipment and infrastructure. Everyone, this is the Storyteller. He's a member of the Brotherhood, and he's the only one I know of that has operated for both East and West coast chapters. We can trust him," Sue explained, "He's a historian."
"What do we need a historian for?" Captain Yancey asked.
"A Historian who's been to Ronto," Sue pointed out, "To answer your question, Storyteller, this coalition is built from the NCR, the Shi, the Brotherhood, and RobCo."
"RobCo? I thought Mr. House died before the Battle of Hoover Dam," the Storyteller said.
"He did. I took over. I brought back RobCo as a means of legitimizing my work. That way, I'm not just some lady putting tech back together and running a casino. I'm the head of a major conglomerate, bringing an Old World behemoth back to life with a new direction. That's the story anyway."
"But the truth is never that simple," the Storyteller observed.
"Indeed. The truth is, Storyteller, and everyone, is that something has been brewing for a long time, perhaps even from the beginning. When we think of conspiracies and evil, the Master and the Enclave come to mind, but I looked at Mr. House's data, and the conclusions are very troubling. So much suffering has come out of the hands of ideologues, like Caesar and the Enclave Presidents, that we never really thought to look at more conventional powers.
"House was all about control. He had eyes and ears all over the country. Every Protectron was a possible spy, and certainly every RobCo facility was filled with some kind of reporting ability. It's tougher to get those reports further from the center-being the Lucky 38, so he built a second brain. The 52 Fortune. Every RobCo facility can be monitored from here. Every scrap of technology that made New Vegas what it is, is either already here, or can be replicated here. There's only one other facility like this, and the third is out in Minnesota of all places.
"When I get this casino's true function working again, I'll be able to control every RobCo facility from here to Louisiana in one way or another. We'll be able to communicate in a way unheard of in two hundred years. We'll be able to build and supply ourselves much further than any other power in the former United States. Our coalition will be the dominant force in all the Wastelands."
"You mean you will be the dominant force," Captain Yancey accused, "You didn't tell this to Congress, you just fed them a bunch of crap about how the NCR would get dragged into this war that's brewing! But you just picked up Mr. House's plan to take over the country!"
"And you certainly haven't shared a fraction of what you have access to with the Brotherhood. We always knew you were hiding something from us. How can we trust you now, with everything that's going on? With this? You're just setting yourself up to be a tyrant on two coasts! You're using us to destroy your competition!" Scribe Trapezium added.
"I'm inclined to agree, that this whole thing was just a scam to get what you wanted," Zhao Ming agreed, "But at the same time, you've never been one to share wealth. You've been very generous with the Shi in the past. With all of us. I will listen, but you have to tell us everything."
"All right. I specifically chose you three to represent your respective groups. Captain, we served together in the war. I know at the time it didn't seem like we were going to get along, but you were the first to work with the Securitrons after I revealed their enhanced functions. Not only that, you questioned me the entire time. You never let up. I've never had anyone question me like that before. I wanted your scrutiny. I wanted you to keep me honest to the NCR.
"Trapezium, you come from a Brotherhood lineage tracing back to Elder Rhombus. The Brotherhood is everything to you, and those traditions are important. But you aren't stuck in them. You've seen how the Brotherhood has changed in so many ways, and instead of shying away, you engage that change, without altering your principles. It's still about technology, and protecting humanity from it. I wanted you to do exactly that: To make sure that the technology we'll be handling doesn't consume us, as it has so many times in the past.
"And Ming, the Shi aren't Brotherhood or NCR. You're your own monster. The Brotherhood and the NCR, they're family, but you, the Shi are neighbors. Not exactly strangers, but still, outsiders to our operations. I chose you because of your curiosity, because you want to see how the Shi will engage with a world so much bigger than San Francisco. The Shi will find their place and stake it out, and make the world revolve around them, and I couldn't find anyone that could do it better.
"You're all checks. On me. You're the only people capable of telling me, 'No, this is a bad idea. I won't let you do this.' I considered creating kill-keys, something that would allow you to shut down the RobCo network, if it ever came to that, but then I realized, that's exactly the stupid kind of thing that some lucky jerk with a destiny would take advantage of to oppose us. Kill the most important leaders of the Coalition, steal their keys, and shut the whole thing down at the last minute.
"Instead, I'm going to rely on the fact that I can't do this without you. Captain, you were right to suspect me of usurping Mr. House's plans, but Mr. House didn't think this far ahead. He planned on using the NCR to defeat the Legion, and then use his Securitron army to toss you out, too. I almost did it, too. But then I realized, Mr. House was only interested in his own little corner of the world. That the NCR was not only inevitable, it was necessary, a second chance to try again and learn from the old mistakes. So I decided to use that power to keep the NCR honest. And so far? It's worked. The NCR voted Hsu in. The Mojave is providing power and services to its people.
"And, for the record, I told him everything. He still agreed. I just didn't tell congress everything.
"As I explored and expanded on Mr. House's tech and network, I started seeing more and more patterns, connecting to more and more networks. According to calculations based on Mr. House's work, the Caesarean tribes in Arizona and Colorado are going to unite again, and they're going to have a much more nuanced and complex society.
"Then, I started running those calculations based on what I learned about other factions. The Luddites of Missouri and Kansas are doomed to infrastructure failure, though their traditions of personal craftsmanship will be carried on by successor cultures. The drug trade out east would create a kingdom forged from the gangs. The Institute would create a new nation-state, small in size but considerable in power. And then I ran the Brotherhood of Steel through those calculations.
"Every sign pointed to nuclear tyranny. Cities obliterated all over again. Progress stamped out. The Brotherhood getting larger and larger as people had no alternatives to turn to, creating a technological powerhouse where all people served a kingly figure, bound together in an ancient cult. Inevitably, it would destroy itself and another comparable power that would destroy much of the country. The only comparable power in size, capability, and technology…Is the NCR, Shi, and Brotherhood.
"Not all of the calculations came true. The Institute was destroyed rather than came to power. I didn't predict the Pitt's importance, and we knew nothing about Atlantica or the Cotton Kings. In the last few weeks, through listening to traders and locals, we've learned more than we have in the last decade about the East Coast.
"But what convinced me that this expedition needed to happen was a distress call I'd received. You see, Mr. House listened for everything. There's a Russian television network that teaches people how to navigate their way to America. That's why there's so many immigrants from Europe out in the East, and almost none out west. Radio transmissions throughout the NCR. GNR in the Capital Wasteland. Old bases still trying to get orders. But this distress signal was special. It was meant for me, specifically.
"It was sent by an old friend, Arcade Gannon. He and I convinced a squad of old Enclave troopers to join the fight at the Hoover Dam. You may have remembered them, Yancey. I was with them, in one of their suits, all painted up NCR patriotic. Well, they found a place to settle down, with other Enclave survivors out in Vermont. And they were under attack. By the Brotherhood of Steel.
"I took it as validation-and my friend needed my help. Now, I have no way of coming to his rescue right now. But I hope, every day, that he's still pleading. And I am coming. With or without the rest of you. I will not, however, do this in such a way that breaks the East. If there's a way to save the Brotherhood without sacrificing the rest of the East, I'll do it.
"The more I look into everything, the more I see a constant, though: Ronto. Ronto fought a war against the Free State, Ronto rallied the Raiders of Empire into a new Kingdom, Ronto funded an army to ravage the Commonwealth, Ronto is making a major offensive into Ohio again, Ronto is using submarines. The more I try to figure out these guys, the more I realize, I don't know anything about them.
"But Ronto is a story for another time. The question is, despite my half-truths and lies, now that you know the truth, are you still with me? What is it that you ask of me? Because now is the time we need to start acting, before someone acts on us."
