Snowflake on the sand
Chapter 31
In the shadow of the Valley Part 1
Ranger work had always being exhausting work, back when they were founded on Seth or now that the NCR relied on them to do most of the heavy lifting, the story was the same. But there was honor in their history, slavers had been mostly destroyed in California thanks to them and now they faced the biggest slaver empire the world had seen since times long forgotten.
"Shame that you're missing this my old friend, Baja can't be left unprotected sadly" Veteran Ranger Gloria mussed as she finished wiping the blood out of her combat knife, a gecko had run to them on a suicide mission. The Mojave was not what she was expecting, only a week in and she was up to her neck on missions, the NCR was too greedy but that was not what surprised her she was used to that. The troops they had at their disposal on the other hand, they were… not what she expected to put it lightly, a bunch of untrained kids that knew how to use a gun and that was that, meat for the meat grinder.
And they said that the Legion was barbaric, no wonder a general defected and his soldiers seemed to disappear into the wastes "Mam sorry to bother you, but we have located our targets"
"Hmm that was faster than I expected didn't even manage to look at them with my sniper rifle" Gloria stood up making the trooper take a step back, Gloria snorted as she saw him stare in fear at her visor. The red eyes always seemed to be what caught the attention the most, moving towards the rest of the troops she looked at the truck they had arrived in "Please tell me that this is one of those trucks that is nuclear powered and we just have to wait for it to recharge and not one that uses gasoline"
Their mechanic, a redhead girl named Darla shook her head "Sorry miss Ranger, this aint one of them nuclear rides if we had flamer fuel or the like I might be able to make it move but I assume we don't have that" The ranger let out a sigh "No, we don't have that"
Darla snapped her fingers "Darn it then I guess we're just out of luck, Powder Ganger territory is not where I wanna die you know" The ranger rolled her eyes and motioned to the trooper "Name"
"Gregory mam" he said as he saluted. The ranger nodded "Good. Now Gregory I want you to do a run down on the personnel and the weapons we have at our disposal" Gregory looked around and at his friends. "Well, you have three NCR soldiers counting me, the mechanic Darla and if I am not mistaken service rifles and some grenades"
Ranger Gloria hummed "And our target is just around the corner"
"Yes, but they are friendly according to reports. Specialist Winter, as she called herself, is the one that is always helping us out. Courier Six on the other hand seems to be more… aligned we could say to Vegas and Mr. House. The casinos and the tribes are all working under him and he have reason to suspect that one of his subordinates is expanding their influence over to Freeside with help from the Kings"
Right talk to the lady and give the cold shoulder to her boyfriend, she had read the report, but she wanted to see what normal soldiers knew, quite a lot apparently. It did not sit right with her but she did not question the orders, that was more the Chief's forte and dammit, he was good at it. But the Chief had not interacted with this Courier Six or Winter, so for now it was up to her to deliver the message that the ambassador had so "lovingly" handpicked her for. Walking towards the truck she placed her sniper rifle on the back and picked up a carbine assault rifle from a hidden compartment "How did you…"
"I carry my own weapons kid but I'll save the lesson for later, now just follow me and be ready. Hopefully we won't have to fight but you never know as for the rest of you; just guard the transport we'll find the flamer fuel somehow or maybe even gasoline" the other two nodded at her and moved to defend the vehicle, Darla went to part of the vehicle with shade and pulled out a comic. Gregory and the ranger walked for a couple of miles when their ears picked up the sound of fighting. "You like that?" was one of the words she managed to identify followed by a large crunching sound. Some had been ripped in half, preparing her weapon the Ranger ran towards the noise and jumped behind a rock for cover. Unseen and unheard, just how she liked it.
From her vantage point she could spot the fight. Tall man, tanned skin with long black hair tied into a ponytail, one missing eye and dressed in the ancient Dessert Ranger armor, seems like she found Courier Six. He was fighting against a large group of Powder Gangers, bullets seemed to bounce off him and whatever melee hit the raiders landed on him did not seem to matter to the bizarre Courier. From the other side she saw Winer twirling around in a graceful way, decapitating and freezing the ones that tried to fire at her. A deadly duo for sure, but they had failed to notice that one of the powder gangers was charging at them with a fragmentation grenade.
Moving quickly Gloria narrowed her eyes and shot just in time to explode the powder ganger and two criminals close to him "Bullseye" she muttered, Six turned around to the sound of gunfire and when he spotted her waved happily at her, Witner gave her a nod. "Mam, how did you run off so fast" Gregory said as he finally caught up to her. Ranger Gloria stood to her full height and patted him on the back "You need to do more cardio Gregory, come on kid. Let's say hello to our… friends"
As expected Winter was the one who approached her "An NCR Ranger, it's nice to meet you. Specialist Winter Schnee" the white haired girl said as she extended her hands towards her, Gloria placed the weapon on her back and shook it "Pleasure, Ranger Gloria. I was just looking for you… both of you" Six had disappeared; Winter frowned as she looked down at her PipBoy.
"He's not that far away, if you want I can go fetch him" the ranger shook her head and motioned for the trooper to come over "No need, the message was mostly for you anyways. The NCR is… in need, as I am sure you can tell. We rangers have come from Baja to help out but it's not enough and with your disappearance, Ambassador Crocker was worried. He sent a request to locate you, Courier Six on the other hand was thought to be somewhere around here, so he was our best bet to find you. Intel was right it would seem"
Winter smiled "Thank you for worrying, I will personally visit the ambassador when I return to Vegas. I just returned from… a trip you can say, but the Powder Gangers stopped our return" Winter glared at the death bodies. "Fiends and other leaderless raiders are joining them, worse of all we don't know where their main base is. They are hiding somewhere but we can't find where" Gloria hummed and added that to her mental list of potential threats "Tried to interrogate some?"
Winter nodded "Killed themselves with a razor before we could ask them, they are jumpy to say the least" Gregory raised his weapon as he spotted something move in the horizon "Mam"
"I see it" Gloria said as she prepared her weapon, more raider scum. A group of at least twenty if she was right, Winter put the axe on her back and switched to the LAER. But before they could reach them a missile was launched in the middle of the group killing most, Winter crouched and fired at the ones that tried to escape. Gloria doing the same but using her revolver "Ah I love the smell of missile fire in the morning" Six said as he returned with a new weapon in hand. Gregory narrowed his eyes at him, he remembered that voice. Back in Vegas when he was on leave he had lost to him on a poker match… asshole.
Winter for her part let out a sigh "You got here in time, Six this is Ranger Gloria. The NCR is looking for us" Six placed the missile launcher on the ground and dusted himself off "Nice to meet you Miss Ranger, what does the NCR want with us?"
The ranger shrugged "Beats me, but you're needed back at the Embassy… and in a more personal level. I would like for you to go to Camp Golf and speak to Chief Hanlon, leader of us Veteran Rangers in the Mojave, he has been acting odd so we rangers suspect that there is something off… but I think that should be it" Gloria said making Winter nod. Six then looked at the trooper and then back to her "Wait, you two traveled half of the Mojave looking for us?"
Gregory shook his head "Not exactly" Gloria let out a sigh "Our vehicle is ruined, not enough gasoline it would seem. Our mechanic said that she could fix it but we don't have flamer fuel" a look was shared by the couple, Six whistled as from the wastes a small roar was heard. Moments later Stripe arrived munching on the remains of a Powder Ganger, he spat the severed limb towards Six's feet "Right, it is not you who I wanted but thanks anyway boy"
Gloria resisted the urge to shoot, just because Winter had kneeled to pet the death machine. She did not even want to know how the fuck they managed to domesticate one of those, a howl was next and a robo dog followed by a girl arrived. Six smiled at them both.
"Sarah"
"Fuck you" came the moody reply from the blonde girl, who Gloria could see was sweating bullets. "Now now, language young lady" Six said but he seemed more amused than anything else, Sarah glared at him "When you said training I did not realize that you meant I would be your pack mule… why do you even need tin cans for?!"
Six chuckled as he took the bag from her "You would be surprised what a little bit of thrash can do, but that not what I want. Cook-Cook taught me a lesson and that was that a little bit of flamer fuel can never go wrong" Six said as he placed the flamer fuel on the hands of the ranger "Mind if we tag along on the back?"
Darla wiped the sweat off her brow as she finished the installation "And done! Thank so much for the help Miss Winter I really appreciate it" Winter wiped the oil on her Vault Suit, as she gave the woman a thumbs up "You're welcome, the sooner we get to Vegas the better"
"Ah man, I always wanted to go there! But am always stuck at Camp Golf fixing something or another, there's nothing to do there! And worse all the troopers are either rude or weird… the rangers don't talk to me too much but better that way. They are scary as hell, I heard some of them chew nails and spit napalm" Winter chuckled at that.
As she looked at Gloria discuss with Six over a map of the region something about raiders, she wondered how scary it would have been to meet her s enemies, hopefully she would never have to find out "Sooo… whats he like sister?" Darla said as she looked at Winter with expecting eyes "Who?"
"That man right there! I have heard some rumors from some of the traders that come and go, did he really fuck up the Omertas? Oh man and what about that thing with Goodsprings I wanna know if he really did defend the town like one of them stories papa told me about"
Winter tilted her head confused at the sudden interest "I think so yes, we became traveling companions sometime after that incident in Goodsprings so I don't have all the details" Darla made a dismmisive motion. "Nah don't worry I just wanted to know, is cool to have people like him" she turned to look at her "Not that you're not cool or anything; hell I think you might be cooler if you catch my pun, the NCR loves ya. But darn it, I just want someone outside the NCR ya feel me? Some folks are tired of them and their expansion Brahmin-shit. You know that I could not find a job back home, so I had to take this one? My mama and papa are sick… I didn't want to be in this dessert, I could have fixed some water purifiers back home but no, they wanted me for their war"
Darla let out a sigh but was surprised by the soft hand that was placed on her shoulder "I understand, don't worry about the war. It will soon end, NCR will win and you will go back home. Now if this thing is ready to go, we should head to Vegas. I have a feeling that we're going to be needed there" Darla nodded, nicer than she expected. Sure of NCR victory and pretty to booth, now wonder the ambassador was sure that she would be a valuable asset. The truck ready to go the soldiers squeezed inside leaving her to sit on the back, as usual.
"Got room for two more plus some abominations?" the voice caught her off-guard as Six jumped in followed by the other blonde, quiet as a mouse. Darla nodded and patted the spot close to her "Wouldn't mind the company, wont your girlfriend get jealous?"
Six shook his head "Nah, she's speaking to the scary Ranger lady about some info on the Legion and tactics or whatever. Not really my forte and besides I like to see the dessert. Isn't that right Sarah?" the blonde girl nodded as she helped Rex and the motherfucking Deathclaw up the truck. Sarah had warmed up to the miniature death machine quickly, Rex on the other hand took some time and a growl to understand to not mess with the abomination. As they advance leaving the Novac area and taking the long route back to Vegas, Darla placed a hand on her chin "I don't know about y'all but I hope it rains, this heat is unbearable"
"Agreed… is even worse when you have to crry a stupid backpack all over the dessert" Sarah said glaring daggers at Six, The courier simply shrugged as he leaned back, ready to take a nap "You're in training don't think that me almost dying is going to make me forget that"
Sarah tilted her head "Did you have trouble? And how did you reach Winter and came back, I know you said teleporters but that sounds a bit weird and… like a lie"
Darla tilted her head "Teleporters? Aint that like some Sci-Fi only thing? I used to mess around with old world junk back in Cali but man o man nothing like that" Sarah turned to look at the mechanic "Is not impossible in theory. The schematics and the construction of the machine on the other hand that would be the issue" there was a chuckle from where Six was as he moved closer to the girl "Is not, I met the guys that made it work. But for what is worth I am sorry Sarah, for making you worry. For making all of you worry" Six gave the girl a small hug as Sarah managed to give him a weak smile.
"You're… the closest thing I have to family. Stop disappearing please, first the Sierra Madre and now this" Six gave her a nod as she looked at the horizon "I know, but don't worry next time I leave I will tell you and there's only one place that I need to go"
Darla smiled "Aww you made me miss ma brothers and sisters. Seems like forever ago that I waved at them goodbye but your girlfriend says that this is gonna end soon" Six gave her a nod and a smile "Sure is, we're just going to smooth out some of the details. I think we just need one or two more things to get done, Legion knows it and the NCR does too. So the question here is, why is the NCR waiting for? What is the legion waiting for? What is the big thing that's going to send us over the edge?"
Darla looked down "I wouldn't know I am no soldier"
"Look, Darla was it? Look Darla do you think your opinion matters less than the common soldier? I know that they are your boss, but the NCR millatary should not act like they have all the power, because power really lies somewhere else" this made the mechanic lean forward "And where would that power be Mr. Six?" Sarah looked at Six curious about where this was going. Six threw something Darla's way she caught and stared at a folded piece of NCR currency "Money, everything is money wheter we eant it or not. The NCR has got a big problem right now, the Brotherhood of Stell destroyed their gold reserves. Their money is backed by jack and they know it, so here comes the big expansion the currency might be worth dog water but land is land. Brahmin Baron rule the world as long as they keep the nation afloat with production, they want what Cesar has and that is a stable currency, they want this"
Darla caught the legion coin and stared at it with horror and wonder, it certainly was heavier than the paper, maybe it was the blood of all the slaves "Take a thousand books and you can make millions of these, fake them sell them it doesn't matter. That's why caps are still so famous, there's only so many still around and you cant really fake those can you? So here's my prediction, the NCR will move first, they can only afford a stalemate for so long"
Sarah hummed "And if the Legion moves first? Why would they?"
"Then something is going terribly wrong with them, Caesar might just go insane and order it. But if I was him, with all their information the spies for sure give him I would let them funnel towards me… so here comes the question how do we force them to come to us?"
Darla furrowed her brows "A crisis? You said that they need it, so you push them towards it?" Six snapped his fingers towards her "Exactly and besides I think its time that we stop those maniacs from walking all over us, Vegas is ours and no one else can take it from us" the young mechanic narrowed her eyes "Yours? Not the NCR" Six shrugged as Sarah huddled next to Rex to sleep through the rest of the trip.
"NCR is not all there is; they need to win the war but… maybe Vegas should remain outside their reach, for the good of their OWN people" Six commented, Darla did not understood fully what the weird Courier was saying but something inside told her that all maybe she didn't want Vegas to fall under NCR either. "Say? Do you need a mechanic, am pretty good and I can learn on the fly"
Six grinned as he felt a plan come to mind "Sure I do, hope you don't mind getting paid on caps" Darla shrugged as she extended her hand "Money is money, do we shake on it?" the Courier extended his hand as the his new plan to renovate Freeside begun.
"Ah good, you're finally here. I was afraid that you had run out to the wasteland on some forsaken mission" Mr. House said as Six chuckled "Careful you might to sound like you care boss"
The machine made what sounded like a snorting sound "Don't flatter yourself, useful employees might be dime a dozen but still replaceable. Winter for example can replace you, she is more famous with the NCR after all. I might just reduce you to administrator of the Strip if you're not careful"
Six laughed at that "Oh my next thing you know you're going to threaten me with the key to the executive toilet, but in all honesty boss if I can have your ear for a moment, I think we have a problem" Mr. House remained silent, Six took it as a sign to continue "Legion, they are getting to bold. I saw them near Vegas and the NCR is fumbling their expansion, I met this ranger on the way here and I don't know about you but those machete wielding maniacs put me a bit on edge, they are no pushover"
"And yet you fail to understand that this is what we want, their advance covers our activities. Legion will never walk on Vegas no matter what Legate Caesar summons we wont let them in, their spies mean nothing to us, but for the NCR? Oh they are quite the thorn and they are making the United States imitators bleed. So for now we let them bleed, because they CANNOT know what takes place next"
Six leaned forward in his chair, as their new mission was printed "The final bump towards Hoover Dam, the last faction that will cause a problem if we do not wipe them off the face of the earth" there was a pause as Six swallowed nervously, sweat forming on his brow. "The Brotherhood of Steel, these… ridiculous group that cosplays as knights of yore, they raid every type of technology their greedy hands can reach and not just any type of technology. You don't see them target the hospitals or anything that might help anyone, they only care about themselves. The NCR and their war seems to have driven some of them here, their fanatical beliefs will not let us move forward with their plan. Eliminate them all"
Veronica, she was brotherhood. He could not do this, she was helping him. hell she was his friend, how could he do this. "They have power armor" he said, such a pathetic excuse and he knew it "You'll figure something out, both of you I would say. Speak to me again when the task is done"
Six felt cold as he went down the elevator, his head spinning with ideas and ways to change things in his favor. A truce? Unlikely, he doubted he could go to the brotherhood and tell them that their army of robots was actually cool and not a danger to mankind, after the upgrade they probably hated the machines even worse. House seemed to hate them back so how? How did he go about it? Veronica seemed to be saddened as of late; Could this be because of that? Paranoia swelled within him and he realized that because of Veronica he could not pull the trigger on her family, her only home.
Winter caught him like this as he downed his worries in booze, the specialist oblivious to the situation greeted him with a large smile and a kiss on the cheek "The ambassador say hi, there seems to be quite a lot of troubles. Can you believe that we leave for a couple of days and they are falling apart! But it is to be expected when your army is spread too thin and on various targets of interest. So unless our boss wants us to do some work for him I think it would be best if we aid our NCR friends for now"
Six downed his beer "Sounds like a plan… House um we talked and he asked me to… make contact with the Brotherhood of steel, they are in Hidden Valley apparently. They are Veronica's family and enemy to the NCR" Winter hummed as she leaned on the table studying the situation "Then we need to smooth things over between the two factions, if they are Veronica's family they can't be all that bad. Besides they sound like an interesting group of people form what she has told me, a small group that wishes only to protect the people from sins of the past" Six looked at the bottle and then back at Winter.
"Yes, they sound like good people. I wonder if Veronica can let us in to her home, it would look better if she was the one that introduced us" Six stood up as he put the bottle on the shelf, another one for the collection. He was doing it out of habit, his new organs could process alcohol faster and better, so he could no longer get drunk.
Winter narrowed her eyes at how quiet he was "Indeed, Arcade also spoke to me when I arrived. The day of the final battle between NCR and Legion is fast approaching and he believes that he might have something to help the NCR to push the legion out" the courier tilted his head "Oh and what does the good doctor have to help? At this point everything helps no matter what"
Winter nodded "My thoughts exactly, Arcade or rather his father was part of this military group. He knows some of the memebers, if convinced they might be willing to join the cause" Six frowned as he heard the word military "Oh? Did he say the name of their group?"
"Yes, The Enclave"
A/N: To me the Enclave will always be the main bad guys of fallout. The Master, Caesar and even the Institute are creations of the Wasteland, while the Enclave, they always knew what was happening and what would happen so with the aid of Vault-Tech they set out to do their goals… whatever they are. Maybe it was whatever the Zeta Aliens where up to. Id like to hear what you think about it.
Thank you for reading!