A long, slow yawn drifted from the thin dark lips belonging to Senior Knight Lorenzo as he sat in the surprisingly comfortable stuffed chair located just beside his not-so-comfortable rented bed.
Cliff Briscoe, ever the entrepreneur, had taken the Dino Delight gift shop and added another branch to his business; the Dino Bite motel. He had taken control of the motel rather easily, having announced to the citizens of Novac his intentions and nobody raising a fuss over the issue. Nobody cared; such were the ways of the wasteland. After all, Cliff hadn't killed the motel's former owner although he had at one time been a suspect. His name was cleared rather quickly as he had been playing cards in Ranger Andy's bungalow the night she had been killed. Therefore Cliff Briscoe's taking advantage and scooping up the motel along with his gift shop fell upon ears that simply didn't give a shit.
Lorenzo would have to compliment the service he had received from the man and the town at large when he and what he felt were the rest of 'his' entourage had entered town. A man and a woman in power armor should have raised more questions, but nobody except No-Bark Noonan paid them any mind, nor the disheveled blonde, bespectacled man beside the two power armored figures.
Lorenzo lit a cigarette and checked his laser rifle for the seventy-third time since the trio had arrived and he sighed into the still, quiet air. It wasn't so much the mission that had him overwhelmed. In fact it was not Kazdin's mission whatsoever. He finally had no more stakes in the Mojave's problems, a notion that both thrilled him and lifted an invisible weight from his shoulders.
No, it was the summons he had received. Every suit of power armor held a radio transmitter with codes known only to a select few throughout America's Brotherhood of Steel.
That transmitter had been pinged two hours after he had arrived in Novac.
The fact that he had been wearing his helmet and Veronica had not was the extremely thin barrier separating the news of the Mojave Brotherhood's extraction from the Mojave from the younger woman. As the more senior officer between the two of them, it fell to him to give the command to Veronica. The command to report to Camp McCarran and rendezvous with Sarah Lyons, their new commanding officer.
Up until now, it did not fall on him to tell Veronica what and what not to do. Their leadership had been decimated and the formerly knit unit of the Brotherhood of Steel had been made a ragtag band of soldiers following the leadership of Kazdin Willow. The more battle hardened and season veterans held brashly the idea that they should not follow Kazdin to war and instead to spread out and carry on the codex. It had been told to Lorenzo in confidence that these seasoned members of those infamous remains of the United States army followed Kazdin only for the simple fact that nobody else could carry the codex well enough to be made the new Mojave elder.
However now that Sarah Lyons was afoot, they finally had that leader to look and cling to. Lorenzo shuddered at a long time friend and rival of his, a fifty-two year old former native of Louisiana, told him in no uncertain terms that he and a large faction of the almost-sixty remaining members of the Brotherhood were going with Sarah to Washington D.C. and that nobody could stop them. Not Kazdin, not Lorenzo… nobody.
When Lorenzo's helmet transmitter had been pinged, he let out a long sigh of relief. It wasn't up to him anymore. The Mojave remnants' choice was leave with Elder-General Lyons or be considered AWOL, a designation warranting the sentence of death.
Kazdin Willow would not leave and Sarah Lyons, although a stricter officer of the Brotherhood's ideals was not the Elder that most of the past Elders were. She was not do or die and she had a sense of fair and unfair and an unrelenting knowledge of what the word justice meant. Every soldier under her command was one-hundred percent loyal but not through the threat of violence or expulsion, but because she was a natural born soldier even to the point of refusing to drop her title of General nor her command of the famed Lyons' Pride upon her promotion to Elder. Instead Sarah Lyons had become the very first Elder-General in the history of the Brotherhood of Steel.
She was never content to sit among the other officers in the citadel, nor among the elite Paladins aboard the Prydwen. Sarah Lyons was afield with her soldiers every time there was an issue. She would allow seasoned soldiers to investigate reports, even of the disturbing nature, without her presence as she ran operations behind the scenes within the citadel. However whenever a force would gather to take D.C.'s mega purifier, called Purity, she was on the front lines with her men.
This led to another schism among the highest ranking officials in the citadel. When Sarah Lyons refused to hang her combat boots up and become simply the Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel and decided to both lead AND fight, the Brotherhood needed the election of a person with the rank of Elder who would lead behind the scenes when Sarah Lyons was away fighting beside her people.
Enter Elder Arthur Maxson. Sarah Lyons was the unopposed leader, the undisputed Elder of the front lines. But Elder Maxson was the man who controlled everything. Sarah was proud to share power with such a respected man within the lineage of the original Elder of the Brotherhood, Jonathan Maxson. Where Sarah was the Elder-General leading her forces on the front lines, Arthur Maxson was the commander-in-chief, appointing Brotherhood forces to points all along the East coast.
Lorenzo had been speechless when the appointment had been made. Two Elders? Never had this happened in the history of the Brotherhood. At first he was outraged, but when he saw both how well the two Elders worked together as well as the tremendous sense of duty between the two of them, he decided that he had been wrong and that Lyons and Maxson made the perfect team.
It had been the Elder-General who had issued the command for all Brotherhood forces to report to McCarran and it was Lorenzo who would have to convince Veronica.
It was not an assignment Lorenzo relished.
BBBBBBB
Stella embraced Siri furiously with tears leaking from her eyes to stain the dark-skinned woman's already stained tank top.
"I never meant to leave you. You know that right?" The taller woman wondered.
Siri pulled back to look into Stella's eyes and smiled at her, her eyes full of happiness despite her ragged condition.
"You made good your escape. Do not even try to lie to me." Siri joked. Stella wiped a tear away.
"I just missed you. You were the only one here for me."
"Lucius protected you as much as a lieutenant could." Siri pointed out.
Stella's eyes narrowed and her lips formed a line.
"He had power and he allowed the abuse to happen. He was a worm."
"So you killed him along with Caesar."
"Yes. I gave him one chance to leave. He only deserved one chance."
Siri remained silent.
"I know you loved him in your own right…"
Siri stopped her with a laugh and Stella looked at Siri incredulously.
"Really?" Siri asked flatly.
Stella said nothing, simply waiting for her friend to continue. Siri drew close and hugged Stella again before whispering in her ear.
"I didn't love him, you fool. I loved you."
Stella blushed before Siri took another look at her and joined Sarah Lyons' vertibird among the other few rescued slaves.
Stella looked back at Siri and watched her leave before Lenk interrupted her with a shy clearing of her throat. Stella looked back at Lenk silently, her dark eyebrows moving upward to indicate that she was listening.
"Commander Stella…"
"Just Stella." She cajoled. Lenk stammered an apology.
"What is it?" Stella wondered, crossing her thick arms.
"I've found quit the communications setup in Caesar's tent. We could use it to announce our victory to Kazdin."
Stella smiled at Lenk.
"Excellent job, Comm. Officer."
"My pleasure, Stella." Lenk said brightly.
"Has Boone figured out what that bunker is?" Stella wondered. Her combat boots crunched the gravel as she moved toward the aforementioned bunker alongside Comm. Officer Lenk.
"It has the Lucky 38's insignia inside on a console. Without the key, however, it is inaccessible. It looks to be about the diameter of a standard poker chip." Lenk reported.
Stella stopped at the bunker's gate. She rubbed her chin with her calloused hand. Stella repeated Lenk's words curiously.
"A poker chip."
BBBBBBBBBB
Senior Knight Lorenzo studied the door to Veronica's room as if he faced an exam on it later. It wasn't so much the order that gave him pause, but Veronica's expected reaction to it. Along with the fact that Veronica's home was Nevada and if the budding romance between Veronica and Daniel was any indication of her living intentions, there was Veronica's love of Kazdin.
He had seen strong bonds form among his own people, especially during wartime. Bonds stronger than brothers would form in the most unlikely places and between the most unlikely people. Veronica and Kazdin had a lot of things in common and both were fun loving and carefree individuals at the best of times. The pair shared a sense of duty and justice and fierce animal-like protective tendencies in the worst of times. Their likeness to each other only strengthened the bond the two had formed during their time together.
Veronica and Kazdin were inseparable now. The only time he would have a prayer of coming between the two women was during their down time when Kazdin was drowning at a bar and Veronica was drowning in self-pity in the bunker. The problem was that Lorenzo had underestimated Kazdin, thinking she was a failure. He would never have guessed that Kazdin Willow would become a member of the Brotherhood of Steel, much less put her gun in the mix as to becoming the next leader of the Mojave.
And so Lorenzo bullshit himself into believing that if he ignored the issue there would in turn be no issue and the Brotherhood would get on without Kazdin ever entering the picture at all.
But the friendship between the two women had been repaired and built stronger than it ever had been before, Kazdin did become a prominent member of the Mojave's Brotherhood of Steel and throughout a series of events that nobody could have predicted Kazdin had become the de-facto leader of the Remnants of said Brotherhood unit. Veronica enjoyed command of the Remnants before even Lorenzo had, a fact that left a sour taste in his mouth.
Lorenzo breathed through his nose before finally rapping on Veronica's door. After a muffled command to 'hold on', Lorenzo heard the unclasping of a door lock and the door opened to Veronica with wet hair clothed in her brown robe.
"Hey Lorenzo, how's it hangin'?" Veronica asked, chipper as ever. Lorenzo closed his eyes.
"I have an urgent summons. May I come in?" He asked. Veronica's face softened and she opened the door with a nod and a softly stated yes.
Lorenzo entered Veronica's motel room and she closed the door behind them to give them a measure of privacy.
Lorenzo couldn't help but analyze the room they were in. Faded and peeling wall paper and a splintery and worn out floor. The same model of indoor room that he had ever seen in post-apocolyptia. A useless TV sat upon a more useful dresser against the wall to his right and the bed, disheveled and stained with who knew what stood against the wall to his left. Not much else furnished the room except for two nearly broken beyond repair night stands and a couple of metal book stands.
"Dan's not here?" Lorenzo wondered thoughtfully as his eyes looked around the room.
"He left about midnight last night. Why?" Veronica asked.
"Just curious. Seems like the two of you were getting close."
"We're not defining anything. We're letting it flow." Veronica answered with a shrug.
"You're both adults. Take it at the pace you want." Lorenzo said uninterested, letting the subject drop.
"What is it you want to tell me?" Veronica asked.
"It's like this Veronica," Lorenzo sighed, "Sarah Lyons pinged my helmet communicator yesterday after we arrived here in Novac."
Veronica's eyes immediately narrowed.
"And she has commanded all Brotherhood units to converge at McCarran for further orders."
"She's just going to tell us to leave with her to D.C." Veronica said, crossing her arms.
"Exactly. We will have a family again."
"I have all the family I need here, thanks."
"You don't understand. There is no greater family than us, the Brotherhood. It's for life."
"Not for me." Veronica answered firmly.
"You dedicated yourself to the codex. You can't just trade that in for this ball of dust."
"My loyalty is to the Mojave and its citizens. My loyalty was always to democracy!" Veronica shouted, throwing up her hands.
"You questioned the codex many times," Lorenzo agreed, "But you made a pledge to the Elder of…"
"My Elder is dead now and I never saw eye to eye with him anyway." Veronica interrupted.
"This is a chance to join with the most famous Brotherhood chapter in the history of America! Veronica, it's not negotiable anyway."
"So, you're going to force me to go? How typically Brotherhood of you."
"You made a pledge to follow all tenants of the codex regardless of what you agree with and what you don't. One of the tenants you agreed to follow was that in the absence of your chapter's Elder, you will conform to the order of the ranking official present. Sarah Lyons is your commanding officer and even though she's not here, I am your commanding officer present and our mission is to go to McCarran for extraction." Lorenzo spoke softly and squeezed the barrel of his laser rifle as he did.
"I will not go with you. I am staying here." Veronica stated flatly.
"Veronica, see reason! You have to do your duty! It's an order sanctioned by the Elder-General. I am passing that order to you!"
"No! This is my home god damn it! I will not leave my home and I will not leave Kazdin!" Veronica argued.
"That was a direct order! I will not tell you again!"
"Good!" Veronica shouted.
She dove out of the way of a bright red laser blast from Senior Knight Lorenzo and behind the bed. She took pot shots at him from behind the bed, but his armor was too thick and she could not make the shot at his head from her position.
Lorenzo jumped at the loud banging of the door as it was shoved open. Daniel's visage was the last thing Lorenzo ever saw as Dan pointed his rifle at Lorenzo's uncovered head and pulled the trigger. The round embedded itself between the Senior Knight's eyes and he fell into a loud clanging heap on the wooded floor, his power armor useless now.
"Dan!" Veronica cried as she leapt from the floor, ran to him and hugged him tightly.
"Are you okay? I heard the shouting! Did he hurt you?" Dan said loudly, searching Veronica's robe for any sign of blood.
"No! No. He missed me, Dan. God, he was going to kill me!" Veronica shouted, hugging Dan tighter.
"It's okay. He can't hurt you now. What happened?" Daniel wondered.
"He said the Brotherhood was summoned to McCarran and he and I had to join them there. I refused and he said that given my service with the Brotherhood I didn't have a choice. He tried to order me to leave the Mojave, to leave Kazdin…" She looked into Dan's eyes and touched his lightly whiskered cheek, "… to leave you. I refused again and that's when he almost shot me. Thank you Dan! You saved my life!"
Dan smiled and kissed Veronica's lips. It was the first time he had ever engaged those lips he loved so much. The kiss turned long and slow and sensual before the two separated.
"I just know that I don't want you to get hurt, Veronica." Dan whispered. Veronica kissed him again.
"I know that I really, really don't want to leave you."
The two sat on the bed and took another look at Lorenzo's body lying in a hunk of metal.
"What can we do now?" Veronica murmured.
"Well, McCarran needs to be the furthest thing away from you. We can't go back there until the Brotherhood leaves with Sarah." Dan said, cradling Veronica as she laid her head on his shoulder and breathed him in, sighing pleasantly as she did so.
"What if they come looking for us?"
"I don't think that will happen. Sarah will likely pack up her troops and head to D.C. But we should be harder to find. I think we should hide out somewhere near here just in case." Daniel said softly.
Veronica nodded and took his hand.
"Come on, I know of a shack near here where we will be inconspicuous." Veronica said.
Daniel readily agreed and the two gathered their belongings and moved away from Novac.
BBBBBBB
Knight Captain Dusk made her way toward Sarah's location near the McCarran terminal where she stood before nearly sixty other souls in power armor and a pair of waiting vertibirds. Catching Sarah's attention was not difficult and Sarah walked over to meet her counterpart in the Pride.
"Knight Captain Dusk, is everybody accounted for?" Sarah asked.
"All except for two. Senior Knight Lorenzo and Veronica Santangelo, a local scribe, are missing. As well as Kazdin Willow." Dusk reported, "What about her anyway?"
"Kazdin Willow stays here. I know she is a Paladin and a tremendous soldier, but her destiny lies here in the Mojave. We won't worry about her." Sarah answered.
"Should I even ask about Lorenzo and Santangelo?"
"It is strange. As a person strongly allied with Kazdin, she likely would not want to go very easily. Lorenzo probably gave her an order to come with him and she refused and she probably killed him."
Dusk was taken aback.
"Shouldn't we go after her then? She killed one of our own." Dusk asked.
"We don't have the time right now. Maxson wants to interview every scribe, knight and paladin here and he would like them as soon as possible. I don't like that a Brotherhood Senior Knight in good standing was killed. I may send someone to investigate, but it would take time."
"What are your orders, Elder-General?" Dusk asked.
"You are to officially sit on this information for now. Tell nobody except for me and I will debrief these soldiers and get back to you. The Deliverer won't be here for another six hours. I will think on this and get back to you with official orders." Sarah said.
Dusk saluted and moved to join the Pride on the fringes of the small gathering of Mojave Brotherhood of Steel members.
Sarah sighed. She knew that Veronica was a key player in the Mojave's affairs, as well as a very close friend of Kazdin's. She also knew that the murder of a Senior Knight lit the fire of anger in her belly. She could think about it for a while and decide what she wanted to do. For now she needed to let the gathered soldiers know that their transport was inbound, gather the Pride and report back to the citadel where she and Maxson would have a discussion about the happenings.
Perhaps she could seek counsel from Maxson upon her return and send an investigator at a later date.
She looked to the crowd and put on her game face before striding and making one decision final, the debriefing of her new soldiers.
BBBBBBB
"This is Comm. Officer Lenk to Commander Kazdin Willow. Please copy."
The message was sung into the ham radio once more before Lenk was interrupted with a knock on the wooden pole that was charred and burnt. The canvas of the tent and all wooden and manmade furnishings had gone ablaze but the miraculous survival of the radio had amazed her. The radios were made to withstand a nuclear blast, so therefore a tent fire had hardly scorched the thing.
"How goes communication, Lenk?" Stella asked as she leaned against the blackened tent pole.
"Nothing yet and I've been at it for an hour," Lenk answered before depressing the microphone button again, "This is Comm. Officer Lenk trying to contact Commander Kazdin Willow. Please copy."
The two women listened closely for any break in the static on the radio.
"This is Kazdin Willow. It is nice to hear your friendly voice after everything."
Lenk immediately depressed the button and spoke.
"It's nice to finally hear from you as well, ma'am. How did your mission go?"
"It went more strangely than expected and I am not sure I'm satisfied with how it went, but that's my bridge to cross whenever. What's the situation on your end?"
Lenk grinned widely up at Stella and Stella returned the gesture.
"Proceed, Lenk." Stella said. Lenk nodded.
"We have suffered zero casualties and the mission has been completed. We have rescued several slaves and burnt this wicked place to the ground. But there has been a development here. Have we got news for you!"
"I do hope the news is as good as what you've already told me. Go ahead, Comm. Officer."
Lenk breathed deep and let it out before depressing the button once more.
"There is a bunker here that we could not open. There's also a console that has a strange, small, round hole that seems to serve as the key. The insignia matches the Lucky 38. Do you know what it means, ma'am?" Lenk wondered.
After several minutes of static Lenk looked up at Stella, who shrugged.
The static raged on. The line was dead.