Our New Mission

Back at the Capitol, everyone was surprised to see me, but troubled when they knew I was going to be punished for "Drug Trafficking." Once again, I was about to be punished for something I didn't do, but I supposed that beat the alternative and true crime. The next day, they tied me to the statue under the rotunda beneath the portrait of Jack Swilling's ancestor, "Jack Swilling." Doc Martin was my team leader, so he conducted the whipping. Without my shirt on, I held the statue tight as I felt the long leather whip gash my back twenty times until it stopped. When they untied me, I had a day to recover up in my room where Bailey and the others were still a little suspicious of me.

I assisted in supply runs into Phoenix for the next week every day. We mostly gathered food or weapons and ammunition to stock up the Capitol armory. In town on one day, a squatter approached me. This event wasn't unusual, but the beggar who unveiled his hood was. The beggar subtly motioned towards his face, presumably hoping I'd recognize him, but I had no idea who he was. However, his face did look a little too clean for an average squatter, but his clothes seemed fitting for Phoenix.

He got up close and said to me while the others were still bartering for goods, "It's me, Mr. Kekos. I was going to speak with you by the Phoenix gate, but your 'friends' got to you first. And yes, I know my face is different; I got facial reconstruction surgery in Scottsdale when I overheard your friends telling you not to associate with me. Take this letter, it's from Mr. Dinero…"

As soon as I took the paper, he said "Now, put some caps in my hand and tell me to go away." I gave him a hand full of caps and told him to "Git!" He danced down the street all awkwardly, and I slipped the note into my pocket. Bailey and the others approached, and we walked back towards a livelier part of town. We stayed in a saloon to grab a few drinks and some food for a couple hours just to pass the time before linking up with another contact. When nobody was looking, I peaked at the note which read;

Dear, Drifter

On Friday, there is going to be a ceremony for all of Phoenix and Scottsdale led by Mayor Sillen. Make sure you are there for it. After the speeches, head backstage. Tell the guards you need to: "Join my man in the garden." Don't ask me why I chose that particular phrase Hahaha! Anyhoo, glad you made it out of soldier school or whatever! : )

P.S. you might want to burn this note. : )

Your Buddy, Mark D ;) :D

(He actually drew smiley faces)

I put the note in my pocket and soon enough, we headed back to the Capitol. In my room, I lit up a cigarette and burned the note away when I was by myself. The next day, every agent in the Capitol gathered under the rotunda and Mr. Swilling addressed us. He said that there was going to be some kind of ceremony on Friday for all of Phoenix and Scottsdale. Not even he knew what the event was going to be about, but everyone was supposed to be there for Mayor Sillen's speech before the start of a city wide fair. As representatives of Phoenix's underground army, we were all obligated to be there. We weren't going to provide security, but us agents were going to monitor the crowds and report anything suspicious. I was just relieved that I didn't have to make an excuse to go there.

On Thursday, we were all preparing to go to the ceremony the next day when Doc Martin came into the room and placed some papers on the bed next to me. They were mission dossiers. This was the first time I wasn't given a group assignment that gave me zero clue on the objective.

Every mission since I got back from Have-Su were just shopping runs, so I was excited to see what I was doing as Doc said, "You should go over these. They will detail everything we need in order to help evacuate people from the valley and your role in it."

Then, he walked out without another word. I was surprised they trusted me enough to run solo, but reading the workload soon clarified. By this point, Doc Martin and Bailey seemed to trust me again, but Sykes and Brutus were still semi-distant. I was involved with my Resistance team during two giant missions; I earned a lot of respect on the operation to rescue Master Walker, and the prepper tortured "Hanged Man." However, Sykes and Brutus seemed unable to completely buy my explanation for disappearing, and I hoped to make it up to them. Hopefully, the independent Ops would land me in my team's good graces, but needless to say; I was glad to be going on my own and away from prying or judgmental eyes. Things were moving fast in the entire Civilized Valley, and everyone in the Resistance had their own objectives regarding Jack's big plan.

Going over the papers, they said how many of the teams were going to stay together to eliminate raider strongholds and mutant encampments along the proposed evacuation routes. There were two routes that weren't detailed at all, and simply showed the directions. One was headed east through the Legion frontier of New Mexico, and the other headed southeast past Two Sun, into Mexico, and landing at the "Gulf Coast." In the documents, it was listed that I was one of the agents to seek assistance from numerous groups across the wasteland. Doc Martin, Bailey, and Mr. Swilling knew that my reputation down south was widely known, so my diplomatic role wasn't entirely unexpected. My orders were very vague in "Resistance Style" but outlined the places I had to go, and the assistance I needed to request. My orders went as follows:

-See to reports about suspicious activity around the Scrapper Town of Gold Canyon, and see what they can offer to the evacuation – Request aid from scavengers, mappers, and robotics techs

-Ensure the assistance of the Arizona Rangers at their base in Dust Valley. Annotate their troops, trackers, and first aid equipment. See what they can offer, and our runner will meet them two weeks after you make contact.

- Investigate the Bloomfield Space Center, and mark technology for salvage that can be used in the evacuation.

-Contact the local Brotherhood of Steel Chapter deep in Legion territory and southeast of Flagstaff. Seek their assistance and enlist any support they can offer, whether it be tech or troops.

-Ensure the cooperation of the US Army at Luke AFB, and see if they are ready for our runner who will coordinate their forces and detail the logistics of evacuating the people. Inform General McMann that we need extra troops allocated to secure the evacuation site itself

When I saw the next one, I had a sudden flashback to back home and what I went through as a kid:

-Investigate the NCR presence at the Yuma Runoff. Seek their assistance in distracting the presence of high prepper activity in the southern wastes.

I thought about all those years ago when I was just a kid, and what the NCR did to my family. By this time, the NCR owned all of California and even parts of Nevada. I never once thought that they would establish themselves across the Colorado and rake their claws into Arizona. I crossed the Colorado years ago to get away from them. Those people hired mercenaries to butcher my family, and their citizens whether in cities or on the frontier treated me like absolute crap everywhere I went. I sat there thinking angrily about the NCR, but with brief moments of consideration on the route I would take to secure those factions. While thinking about my past, my hardships, and all my new responsibilities, I wondered how exactly I was supposed to keep in touch with Caesar, the Legate, or even Mr. Dinero while I was out doing all that. Hopefully, the big ceremony in Phoenix would somehow fill me in on what Caesar required, but the silence from that man and even Joshua was unsettling.