Chapter 57 - Trouble On The Homefront


The ancient bunker. already weakened by the stresses of a missile launch, shook with the force of Jaune's landing.

Pyrrha fell to her knees in reverent awe, as Jaune slowly got up, and the earth trembled with his every step.

Still glowing brightly, he walked up to her, and offered his hand gently.

Pyrrha reached out for it tentatively, scared that it was all a dream, a near-death experience before the world went to even-worse hell.

It wasn't.

As she grabbed it, feeling his warmth, Jaune smiled sheepishly, and suggested: "Come on, Pyrrha. Let's go home."

And as Pyrrha affirmed to herself that the figure in front of her was more than a man, more than a weapon, more than anything that she'd ever seen walk the Wasteland, she swore to follow him and his teachings for the rest of her life.

Jaune Arc.

The Arc-Angel.

-LUCKY 38, MOJAVE WASTELAND, FOUR DAYS LATER-

House hummed to himself, as he processed and assessed the data being fed to him by his scanners.

Profits were down marginally across the Strip, but that was well within his calculated expectations, and he'd already made preparations for it in advance. And even if he hadn't bothered taking measures, well...

He was still turning a profit, he was making quaint caps instead of proper dollars, and it wasn't like he had a board of investors to answer to. No short-sighted schemers who couldn't see past their greed, and look at the bigger picture, the long game.

Oh, the NCR were getting desperate in their attempts to poach his lieutenants from right under his nose. While he doubted that Miss Nikos could be swayed by the NCR, having travelled their territories for years... Jaune had no such experience with their inefficient system.

And someone had apparently leaked the information to the NCR, that Caesar had been willing to pay 50,000 caps for Mr. Arc.

The NCR Ambassador, Dennis Crocker, had spent the past week scrambling to put together an employment package that could edge out Caesar's, to try and convince him to do some work for them.

That... was worrying. He knew Miss Nikos was fond of Mr. Arc. If Mr. Arc was swayed, he gave it a 39% chance that Miss Nikos would choose to follow Mr. Arc.

Silently, he made a mental note to offer more concessions to Mr. Arc.

Jaune Arc...

The boy still remained an enigma to him, which only grew more confusing as he'd compiled more data.

For starters, despite his apparent youth and idealism, House could say, with 95% confidence, that Jaune had indeed participated in the conflict between the Brotherhood and the Enclave, in the Capital Wasteland in 2277. More than that, though, it seemed that the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel had only recently learned of his presence, based on what those disguised Brotherhood members had said about him, at the intersection between the 93 and 95.

That, and the inexplicable explosion over a month ago which had given off strange energy readings, the likes of which he'd never recorded in his databanks before, led him to conclude that Mr. Arc had indeed been telling the truth, about the alien abduction.

Idly, he wondered how much Mr. Arc would sell him the ship for; reverse-engineering it would allow him to create his own probes and colony ships decades ahead of schedule! Perhaps, if he attempted to convince Mr. Arc that it was for the betterment of humanity...

No, no, he would never stoop to such lows. While Mr. Arc might be swayed by such cheap words, House was a fair businessman! He would not cheat his own employees out of their rightful earnings (even if the rightful amount might be in dispute)!

House frowned in his pod, as he remembered the energy readings.

His sensors had detected similar energy readings, and a similar inexplicable explosion, just four days ago, though this signature was tainted by gamma and neutron radiation, and had been strong enough to knock some nearby satellites out of orbit, which had promptly crashed back to the earth.

Had someone nuked an alien ship?

Did anyone even have nukes anymore?

His seismographs and sensors had narrowed the origin of the explosion to somewhere above the former towns of Hopeville and Ashton, in the northwestern Mojave.

Indeed, there were nuclear missiles there, but based on what he'd known, Miss Nikos's first adopted home had been devastated and rendered uninhabitable by some vicious cataclysm.

Idly, House made a mental note to ask Mr. Arc to check out the fallen satellites, and ask him if he knew anything about the event.

He doubted Miss Nikos and Mr. Arc would be willing to take a trip to the Divide, though, and even if they were, they were on a tight schedule, with President Kimball scheduled to visit Hoover Dam in... oh, about sixteen days.

Idly, he wondered how their current assignment in Zion was progressing, and lamented the setbacks communications and transportation technology had faced, since the war.

Oh well. No use crying over spilt milk.

Instead, House set them aside, and continued his data analysis.

Hidden Valley Bunker was seeing a massive uptick in communications traffic, but they weren't making any other moves. No patrols recalled, no build up of forces (as far as he could tell)...

Well, as long as they didn't strike first, House would keep his word. It chafed at him greatly, not seizing the initiative, but a businessman was only ever as good as his word.

NCR troops continued reporting marked decreases in morale, no surprise there. Truly, General Lee Oliver and Colonel Cassandra Moore were his best assets when it came to subverting the NCR! And he didn't even need to pay them, or give them instructions! They just did what came naturally to them, and he just sat back (metaphorically speaking) and reaped the rewards!

They were doing too good of a job, admittedly. At the rate things were going, he projected a 63% chance that the Legion would take Hoover Dam, if they were to attack tomorrow. Of course, the odds would improve in the NCR's favor, as they continued shoring up their defenses, and their beloved President paid them a visit.

And speaking of the Legion...

House activated some of the remote sensors at the old weather station in what was now Fortification Hill, before his jaw almost dropped.

He double-checked his sensors.

He rebooted them, and checked them for a third time.

Nope.

The impossible readings were still there.

The Legion were setting up massive staging areas to the East of the Dam. Primitive canoes, packed beyond any safe or recommended capacity, were landing at Cottonwood Cove and Fortification Hill every few minutes.

How?!

Had he really misread Caesar and his new Legate that badly?!

He'd been 98% certain that they wouldn't attack until after attempting to assassinate President Kimball, since their "society" was too unstable to endure another defeat!

And that was almost double the number of troops he'd predicted Caesar's Legion could spare!

Had they abandoned their borders, in Colorado and Utah?

He briefly considered the possibility that Caesar was merely building up forces in advance, preparing to attack the Dam on the day President Kimball arrived, conceding that that act would certainly hurt NCR morale.

He quickly tossed the thought aside.

Every simulation he ran said that Caesar didn't have the logistics to sustain such a massive force for more than three days, assuming the strictest possible rationing and two meals a day. More importantly, a build-up of this scale was tantamount to pointing a giant neon sign for the NCR to see, screaming: "We're attacking RIGHT here, very soon!"

For all the man's flaws, Caesar wasn't an idiot. House doubted he would willingly throw away the element of surprise to such an extent, not when he'd had the luxury of choosing when to attack.

Was Caesar really about to gamble everything he had on this one battle?

For a moment, he found himself amused by the irony, that Caesar was going all-in, for Vegas.

The moment passed.

House grimly lowered the NCR's ability to hold the Legion off, from 37%, down to a paltry 18%... and that was assuming General Lee Oliver noticed the Legion's movements right now, and began listening to Hanlon's advice straight away.

He doubted that would happen, though, and took a few more percentage points off of that number.

He'd just needed more time! Just an override module in the El Dorado power substation to jumpstart the Lucky 38's main reactor, and an override chip in the Hoover Dam to activate his hidden ace, in the Securitron Vault!

This was just like the Great War all over again.

Even two hundred years later, he was always a step too late.

He knew the NCR would never tolerate his Securitrons poking around those strategic locations, and so, with a resigned sigh, he turned to drawing up plans for defending the Strip from a siege, until Miss Nikos and Mr. Arc returned.

Even as he began activating the Three Families and recalling most of his Securitrons, a small part of him couldn't help but wonder, just what had he missed, that had caused Caesar to accelerate his plans.

-LEGION OUTPOST, NEW MEXICO, WEST OF THE ROCKIES, THREE DAYS AGO-

The Legionaries were nervous and anxious that day.

Despite the violent and brutal threats to silence, despite all the indoctrination and brainwashing, nothing could stop the men from talking.

Oh, they talked in secret, away from the ears of the frumentarii and the centurions, but still, they talked.

Even the decanii were beginning to discuss it privately.

About ominous omens to the West, of a Second Sun rising on the horizon.

About the Profligates of the Two-Headed Bear, and the arrival of the Devils in Black Armor.

About something that was going on to the East.

About how scores of outposts on the Colorado frontier had already been silenced.

Ordinarily, the men would have just hidden their nervousness by boasting about how whatever had done it had better not show its face anywhere near them, about how it stalked the outskirts of Colorado because it feared true Legionaries, in New Mexico.

That day wasn't an ordinary day.

A scout had pointed it out first, a stray speck, high in the sky, moving against the east-bound winds.

That had been two hours ago.

Now, the speck was a grey cloud, that hadn't changed course despite the winds, still travelling slowly in their direction.

Even the Centurion had stepped out of his tent, unable to ignore the mutterings

The venerable veteran, unlike his men, had seen enough of the Wasteland during his numerous campaigns to know just how little truth the Cult of Mars carried.

He still paid it lip service, of course. Even if the Mighty Caesar was a liar, he had still brought order to the untamed wastes years ago, and more importantly even a Centurion wasn't safe from the wrath of Caesar, if he dared speak against him.

But still, he immediately recognized the cloud for what it was, for the threat it posed, and ordered his Legionaries to take it down.

Of course, the cloud was high up, too high up for bullets or rocks to reach, and the Legion had little in the way of energy weapons or bigger guns.

But the men still tried their best, to carry out their impossible task.

Then a bolt of lightning flew from the cloud, and with a clap of thunder half a dozen men were simply gone, with another score lying on the ground, blinded and deafened, bleeding from their eyes and ears.

Then a rain of red beams began to pour, shredding anything out in the open.

Then a flock of birds began descending from the cloud.

-FORTIFICATION HILL, TWO HOURS LATER-

"... and that concludes the report, Mighty Caesar." Vulpes Inculta finished, putting away the note.

"... are your frumentarii fucking kidding?" Edward Sallow, Caesar, finally answered, as he digested the information. "A cloud that spat thunderbolts and rained laser beams?! And what was that about birds?!"

"Be that as it may, Mighty Caesar..." Vulpes coughed, handing over some photos. "I can guarantee that we've been hit all across the Eastern borders of Colorado and New Mexico. Most of it is in ruins, and while the... "cloud", is new, the reports of "birds" is a common theme."

Caesar huffed and leaned back, thinking it over, ignoring the throbbing pain in his head. As much as he wanted to fly into a rage and crucify the frumentarius for this report... it wouldn't do any good.

No., Vulpes was loyal and trustworthy.

Sighing, he massaged his temples, and racked his brain, trying to think of what it could be.

Birds... laser beams...

Crocea Mors.

The Brotherhood of Steel.

The Enclave.

He froze.

It made gruesome, bitter sense. Just as they'd survived the NCR, only to return in 2277, it was also possible that the Enclave had survived even the Crocea Mors, and was attempting to claim his lands.

And while he doubted the Brotherhood of Steel on the East Coast would have expanded this far West... there were rumors, dating back to the times when the Super Mutants had first emerged, about a century ago, of how the Brotherhood had sent airships across the continent, most of which had promptly disappeared in sudden and violent storms.

Was he under attack by one of the Lost Chapters?

"Did the Frumentarii make any mention of figures leaving the birds?" Caesar asked urgently.

"... not that I know of, Mighty Caesar." Vulpes Inculta answered, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. He was loyal to the Son of Mars, but the Mighty Caesar was glorious and terrifying in equal measures, and had been known to punish messengers who displeased him. "The messages I received were from the Frumentarii that fled, as soon as the battle started. Those that stayed to observe..."

"Fuck." Caesar quietly cursed. No way of knowing if it was Enclave, Brotherhood, or some third party, then.

Well, it didn't change anything.

His Legion, as it was now, had little that could stand against the full might of the Enclave or the Brotherhood.

But Vegas did.

Specifically, the defenses of the Lucky 38, that had sheltered Vegas from the war.

He didn't know how it would fare against a Brotherhood airship or a fleet of Enclave Vertibirds... but it was better than throwing waves of Legionaries at power armor and energy weapons, or trying to fight a war on two fronts at the same time.

History taught them that much.

"Muster all the men in the garrisons!" Caesar declared, getting to his feet, ignoring the numbness in his left leg. "It's time to take the Mojave once and for all!"

-HIDDEN VALLEY BUNKER, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"Elder Lyons, Lancer-Captain Maxson has just made contact." Paladin Reddin announced, working from a terminal in the bunker. "He reports that Head Paladin Vargas has successfully linked up with the volunteer forces from the other Chapters, and the fleet has entered Legion territory as of 0900 hours, Citadel Standard Time."

"Good." Sarah nodded in satisfaction, doing the mental math, and ignoring the clock that insisted it was barely 0700. Time zones being an actual issue wasn't something she was used to...

"And have they encountered any significant resistance?" Sarah asked.

"None whatsoever, ma'am." Reddin shook her head. "Then again, I doubt the Legion could even scratch a Vertibird's paint, let alone hurt the Prydwen."

Sarah nodded grimly, as she studied a map of the continental United States.

The opening phase was going about as well as could be ezpected, but she'd been taught to never take anything for granted.

Then again, with the sheer number of volunteers from the Citadel alone (overwhelming enough that they'd had to reject a full third of applicants), she'd have probably been able to seize Hoover Dam for herself, if she'd wanted to.

And speaking of the Hoover Dam...

"Remind Vargas and Maxson that, while the Brotherhood and the NCR are technically at a state of war, neither we nor any of the other Lost Chapters are belligerents in the conflict." Sarah instructed. "And remind them that our stated goal is to stop the Legion and recover Jaune Arc."

Reddin nodded, before pausing, and pointing out: "Do you really think it'll stop them from shooting us first, ma'am?"

"Probably for as long as they're fighting Caesar's Legion." Sarah affirmed, remembering the intelligence she'd collected on the NCR, over the past month. They were desperate enough that they'd have probably accepted help from Powder Gangers and Great Khans. Then she frowned, remembering something else. "After the dust settles, though..."

"Do you really think the Pendragon will just turn on the NCR like that?" Reddin couldn't see him stabbing someone in the back like that.

"No, I don't." Sarah agreed with her. Worry crept into her tone, though, as she continued: "But House might, depending on whatever ace he has up his sleeve, and Jaune'll be put in an awkward position. He'll probably try to ease tensions, talk things out, but..."

"Don't worry, ma'am." Reddin reassured her. "I'm sure that, between the Super Mutants Ironwood's gathered from Jacobstown, and the Prydwen, the NCR won't be so unreasonable."

"... thanks, Paladin." Sarah spared a rare smile for the goofy and energetic communications expert of the Lyons' Pride (and missing the knowing smirk and waggling eyebrows Reddin was giving her, behind her helmet). "Anyway, inform the Prydwen that current rules of engagement regarding the NCR are that they are only clear to fire in self-defense. Once House and Jaune Arc make their move... we'll see how things play out from there."

"Roger that, ma'am." Reddin saluted.

As the Paladin turned to relay her instructions, Sarah turned back to the map, studying the disposition of her forces, when a stray thought struck her.

Eden had been wrong.

Jaune didn't need three generations to rule the Wasteland.

Three years would have been sufficient.


Author's Note: Just a short chapter, since I'm busy with work. And no, I didn't forget about Ulysses.

For a quick explanation on what I can tell about Mothership Zeta technology... teleportation requires a teleporter and a homer. Once you have both, teleportation can occur even through energy shields. For example, during the mothership battle in the DLC, the enemy mothership is able to lock on to the homers on the bridge's teleporters, and send boarding parties to try and neutralize the crew from there (mainly so that the player isn't just stuck waiting for the death beam to recharge, and can actually do something during the battle sequence. Also why Paulson and Toshiro Kago are so useful).

As for what Jaune did... as established in Chapter 50, he has a portable homer in his pocket, that is keyed to the alien scout craft that was programmed to follow Pyrrha, and which also has a teleporter to the alien mothership itself. Since there's no teleportation homer on the ground for him to teleport to (except for the one near Goodsprings, keyed to the mothership's teleporter), however, Jaune can only leave the scout craft by... well... either asking it to land and set him down, or by using his usual landing strategies. When the missile launched, he teleported to the scout craft, told the drone piloting the scout craft to plot an intercept course, engage the autopilot, open a window for him to jump out of, and escape via teleporter back to the mothership, before deactivating the teleporter (in case the blast and explosions travelled through the teleporter and hit the mothership itself). Then, once he was sure the missile would be intercepted by the scout ship... well, the only thing he could really do was stay on the ship, or jump out.

And yup. The Second Battle of Hoover Dam is about to be kickstarted early, much to House's surprise... as well as everyone else's, except for the Wild Card that is the Brotherhood of Steel.

As for why Legionaries refer to NCR Veteran Rangers as Black Devils... the Enclave soldiers were originally known as that, thanks to the shape and coloration of advance power armor mark II. However, while the stories of Black Devils may have spread East, most of them have never even seen an Enclave soldier, let alone one in power armor. And so, when the Legion expanded West, and faced Veteran Rangers in Black Armor (the colloquial name for their riot armor), they just made the assumption that these terrifying foes were the Black Devils they'd heard about. I don't know if that's canon, but that's just what I'm going with here.