Chapter 59 - The Turn Of The Tide


"I'm sorry Colonel, repeat that again." General Lee Oliver couldn't believe his ears. "Did you just say Vertibirds?!"

"Yes, sir." Colonel Moore nodded. "Ranger Station Alpha has a visual on them; they had a telescope on Colorado."

"Colonel..." Oliver knew he could miss things, but... "Since when do the Legion have Vertibirds?"

"They don't." Moore shook her head, equally lost. "Hold on, new update... sir, it appears that the Vertibirds are engaging the Legion's flanks."

"Oh, good." Oliver took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, that the Legion didn't have air support (especially since the anti-aircraft gun was not coming back online any time this year).

He found himself still confused, though. Only the NCR had Vertibirds, and that was only because they'd captured them from the Enclave, decades ago. And he knew he didn't have any forces in the East...

He froze, as his mind came to a simple conclusion.

"Colonel, are you telling me the Enclave has just entered the battle?!"

-50 MILES EAST OF HOOVER DAM, COLORADO-

The men of the Legion shook in fear, as the cloud hovered ominously in the East, and swarms of grey birds raced towards them.

Most of them had heard of the cloud, and the birds, and the thunderbolts and rain of death, even if they hadn't seen it.

But still, even as their morale and resolve wavered, none of them took one step back, their fear in Legatus Lanius, the Mighty Caesar, and decimation being equally strong.

Then, the first wave of birds were over them, releasing massive droppings, ignoring the small arms fire and spears aa they had so many times before.

Then they exploded, and chunks of gore flew everywhere as holes in their defensive lines were simply blown open.

As the survivors were reeling from the blasts, the next wave of Vertibirds made their approach, skimming the ground as the gunships came in low, nose-mounted and door-mounted miniguns and gatling lasers opening up on anything that moved, before coming to a stop over their new ad-hoc landing zones.

And as the Legionaries watched, hulking figures of steel began jumping from the birds, like fleas, the ground shaking from the impact of hundreds of heavy boots.

Never having faced power armor before, finally having a target they could reach, the Legion began desperately charging at them, trying to buy time for their comrades to the west to seize the dam, to march on Vegas, to achieve the glory the Mighty Caesar so demanded.

The soldiers of the Citadel, having heard of the horrors of Paradise Falls and the Pitt, having witnessed the brutality of Legion territory first-hand, happily obliged the slavers' death wishes.

-HOOVER DAM OFFICES, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"Power armor has been spotted! I repeat, power armor has been spotted!" Moore urgently reported, fighting to keep her voice neutral, trying her hardest not to panic.

It wasn't going well.

"Get me Colonel Royez!" Oliver barked. "Tell him I need those Vertibirds and the heavy troopers at the Long 15, and I need them now!"

"Roger that." Moore nodded, before turning to receive another update, one that made her old wound (the one that had discharged her from the Rangers and field duty) begin throbbing.

"Sir..." Moore began, venom seeping into her tone. "It's not the Black Devils. It's steel power armor. And there's a massive fucking airship following the Vertibirds."

"... so we're looking at a full-scale invasion from the Brotherhood of Steel." Oliver breathed. "Change of plans, Colonel. Tell Royez I needed those Vertibirds yesterday!"

Before she could carry out his order, however, the radio blared out: "This is Lancer-Captain Arthur Maxson of the Prydwen, broadcasting on all channels.

"People of the Mojave, citizens of the NCR... do not be alarmed.

"Our intentions are noble.

"We are... the Knights of the Citadel."

-HIDDEN VALLEY BUNKER, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"Knights of the Citadel?" Elder McNamara echoed, looking at Elder Sarah Lyons inquisitively.

"I'm going to fucking strangle him." Sarah swore, ruefully reflecting that she should at least be thankful he hadn't said "Knights of Camelot", and desperately hoping that Jaune hadn't heard that.

If he had, she would definitely have turned Arthur into a friendly fire statistic.

Sighing, she forcibly set Arthur out of her mind, and together with Elder McNamara turned her attention to organizing the East Coast, Texan, Midwestern, Chicago, Appalachian, Montana, and Floridian Chapters of what had apparently, in her absence, been renamed the Knights of the Citadel.

-HOOVER DAM OFFICES, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

General Lee Oliver and Colonel Cassandra Moore shared a look.

"What the fuck?" Moore finally broke the confused silence.

-HOOVER DAM, MOJAVE WASTELAND, HALF AN HOUR LATER-

Jaune took a second to catch his breath, as he finally made it to the Hoover Dam.

Thank Oum he hadn't really run into anything, as he'd run across the length of the Mojave Wasteland. Even with Beacon's training and the experiences he'd gotten from Skyrim and the Capital Wasteland, running across the scorching sands of the desert had not been easy.

"Hey, you." An NCR MP challenged him, as the sentries raised their weapons and aimed it at him. "Hold it right there."

"Woah..." Jaune reflexively raised his empty hands, showing that he was unarmed.

"What are you doing here, civilian?" The MP demanded, wary of Legion infiltrators, after what the acts of sabotage had done. "This is a warzone!"

"I'm just here to..." Jaune protested, trying to explain.

"Hey, you're that kid!" Another voice spoke up, and the MP and Jaune both turned to see Lieutenant Monroe approaching them. "The one from Boulder City! What are you doing here?!"

"I heard about the battle, and I came to help!" Jaune explained quickly, impatiently, in case of any more interruptions.

"Kid..." Monroe sighed. "You really don't want to be here. It's not looking good."

"I know." Jaune nodded. "That's why I'm here."

Monroe took a second to study the boy, the one who'd gotten his men out alive, resolved the hostage crisis with the Great Khans, and stopped him from shooting them in the back by appealing to his professional pride as a protector, a soldier, and a man.

It was obvious that the kid wasn't about to leave, unable to leave while the situation was dire, and so he prayed that he was once again doing the right thing as he ordered the MP: "Let him through."

"Are you sure, sir?" The MP was still suspicious, seeing as how it was his job to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Just do it, soldier." Monroe confirmed. "He's not a Legion spy, I'm sure."

The MP, knowing a losing fight, finally waved the sentries away, and stepped aside.

"Thanks, sir." Jaune stuttered, as he followed the Lieutenant. "Uh... why did they think I was a Legion spy?"

"Legion spies blew holes in our defenses and tried to assassinate most of the commanders and personnel." Monroe informed him, gesturing to the wrecked anti-air gun at the top of the visitor center. "Between the sabotage and the sheer number of men throwing themselves at us... it's not going well..."

"It sounds pretty quiet now." Jaune observed.

"Legion's resupplying and reorganizing for another push." Monroe shook his head. "So, kid... how were you thinking of helping us? Got any medical skills?"

"Not really..." Jaune admitted, looking over the sandbags and gun emplacements, towards the Legion's side of the Dam, who'd set up crosses and hanged captured soldiers from them.

Oum, even the Enclave had never bothered with such cruelty.

"Got a radio I could use?" Jaune asked, clenching his fist tightly.

"Uh, sure..." Monroe handed him his personal radio.

Jaune fiddled with the dials, trying to remember the frequency he'd been given.

"Raquel, are you there?"

"... Arc?" The Boomers' Master-At-Arms finally replied with a burst of static. "What's going on? Do you need something?"

"Remember that little favor I asked for?"

"What, about the Hoover Dam, right?" Raquel's voice was excited, enthusiastic. "Is it time?"

"Yup." Jaune answered, before turning to Lieutenant Monroe. "Sir, mind helping her, uh... what was it..."

"Act as an artillery observer and report the effectiveness of our fire." Raquel helpfully informed him.

"Yup, that. Thanks, Raquel." Jaune tossed the radio back to a stunned Lieutenant Monroe, who was doing his best impression of a fish on land, as he tried to process the fact that the kid could apparently command the motherfucking Boomers.

His shock only grew as Jaune added: "Oh, and, uh... try not to hit me, alright?"

-CAMP MCCARRAN, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"All units, be aware, we are receiving help from a non-NCR military asset." Colonel Hsu's radio crackled to life. "I repeat, we are... where the fuck did that wall of ice come from?! Holy shit, that sword... it's the Lone Wanderer! The Lone Wanderer is at Hoover Dam!"

"The Lone Wanderer's here?!" Lieutenant Carrie Boyd couldn't keep the surprise from her voice. "What're they doing in the Mojave?!"

"Who knows?" Colonel James Hsu wondered sagely. "And who cares? The situation's so dire I'd accept even a Great Khan's help!"

"A little less conversation, a little more action, please." The King's voice sounded strained, as he put two 9mm bullets into a Fiend below who was forcing his way into the former airport, followed by another six bullets before the drugged-up raider finally realized he'd been shot and was supposed to be dying of blood loss.

Then he noticed his cyber-dog tear out the throat of one of the Fiend's hounds, and cheered: "Good going, ol' Rexie! Show them a hound dog with a little more bite and a little less bark!"

The two NCR commanders exchanged looks, wondering why the King spoke the way he did. They didn't say anything about it, of course, wanting to be polite to the Freeside gang that had came when they'd needed, and instead changed the subject: "There's still too many of them... and our bullets just aren't putting down them down fast enough..."

"Psycho and Buffout, by the looks of it." The King observed. "I'm surprised they even remember how to pull the triggers on them fancy guns. If we had time, we could just wait for them to drop dead..."

"May as well ask for a suit of power armor while you're at it." Boyd rolled her eyes.

"Colonel Hsu!" Major Dhatri shouted, looking through his rifle's scope. "I'm spotting additional movement, from the northwest!"

"More Fiends?" Hsu asked urgently.

"Doesn't look like it." Dhatri shook his head. "The figures look too big..."

And as the members of 1st Recon watched, a small army of Super Mutants descended from the direction of the nearby Mount Charleston, led by a quarter of what were obviously Brotherhood of Steel, and smashed into the Fiends' flanks.

While the average Fiend was more than a match for the poorly-trained and barely-armored NCR conscripts, with their energy weapons and near-inability to pain, the Super Mutants were veterans and survivors of over a hundred years in the Wasteland, from the Unity Crisis to the Brotherhood reprisals and the Enclave invasion.

Buffout and Psycho may have allowed them to shake off a few 5.56mm FMJs, but not even they could ignore a super sledge being swung into their chest by an eight-foot tall mutant who could bench-press a man in power armor.

As the well-trained Super Mutant brutes drilled tight bursts of 5mm rounds into Fiends' heads with their assault carbines, and masters closed the distance, shaking off the few poorly-aimed bolts that actually struck them, before smashing through the Fiends' lines with blows that could have cracked concrete, the members of the Lyons' Pride showed the Mojave Wasteland why they were the most prestigious and decorated force in the Capital Wasteland.

Initiate Sydney rushed in, covered by Paladin Reddin and her laser rifle, the close-quarters specialist clearing a path through the Fiends with her pair of 10mm Ultra SMGs, before holstering them as they ran dry, and pulling out the modified AER9 the Lyons' Pride had recovered from the Pitt, long before she'd joined. Each pull of the trigger fired nine beams from the barrel, and the laser shotgun all but vaporized Violet and two of her dogs.

Cook-Cook roared at the newcomers, his metal armor allowing him to shrug off most of the bullets from the super mutants and the NCR conscripts firing at him as he turned his flamer to bear on the power-armored figures.

Much to the approval of 1st Recon, the two Brotherhood sharpshooters took care of him, Dusk drilling a .308 round through the gap in his welder's helmet, before Colvin once again unwittingly one-upped her by shooting Cook-Cook's flamer's fuel tank with an incendiary round, detonating the volatile substance and killing eight more Fiends.

But it was the last figure that caught the attention of everyone on the battlefield.

Sentinel Ruby Ironwood, the kid from Vault 101, the author of the Wasteland Survival Guide, the Lone Wanderer, quickly sprinted down the path opened for her by Initiate Sydney, as swift as a Deathclaw, dodging and weaving her way through a flurry of poorly-aimed plasma bolts, trusting in the strength of her modified T-60f power armor to hold up to laser beams, her greatsword gouging a gash in the ground as she dragged it behind her, thumbing the switch in the sword's guard.

Driver Nephi stepped in front of her, swinging his golf driver down, the fearsome 9 iron that had crushed the skulls of many 1st Recon members and Rangers.

She came to a halt in front of him, faster than he could react, and swung her electrified and flaming sword upwards as she did so, transferring her momentum into Arondight.

The head of the 9 iron and Driver Nephi fell to the floor, followed by the Fiend's headless body.

Ruby ignored him after that, instead crushing his body as she leapt forward, sword pointed forward, driving her blade through a Fiend to stab a second, before releasing Arondight to punch a third Fiend in the face.

She knew she could have never matched Jaune's strength, even with all the training she'd done just to be able to use Arondight; Excalibur was just as big and heavy, and he used it with a single hand like it was light as air!

She did, however, try to copy his feats with her tinkering and technology, like she always had.

The power fist on her right hand broke the Fiend's nose, and the piston activated with a hiss, driving the ram into his skull as he lifelessly flew away.

She was already moving, driving her left elbow into a fourth Fiend's solar plexus, before upper-cutting her in the chin with her left power fist.

Within two seconds, five Fiends were dead or dying, as the Red Reaper grabbed Arondight's hilt, and yanked it out of the bodies.

Ruby shook the blood off of her sword, before drawing it to her shoulder's height.

Motor-Runner didn't miss the spectacle, nor the challenge, and ran towards her, chainsaw in hand, shouting obscenities.

Ruby rolled her eyes, not understanding half the words being hurled at her, and simply batted at his hands with the flat of his blade, the flames and electricity forcing him to release his chainsaw, before kicking the cumbersome weapon away as she drove Arondight into his chest.

After that, with the loss of their four leaders, any chance of an organized defense against the newcomers evaporated, and the few Fiends who weren't too drugged-up to care broke and tried to run, fleeing for the relative safety of Vault 3.

The Super Mutants, the Lyons' Pride, the Kings, and the NCR didn't make it easy for them.

As the vengeful defenders of Camp McCarran finally counter-attacked, charging after the routing Fiends, Colonel Hsu and the King approached Ruby.

The colonel stopped in front of the Sentinel, and respectfully held out his hand, saying: "You didn't need to come; I know the NCR hasn't had the best relationship with Super Mutants and the Brotherhood recently... but you saved our hides..."

"We're from the Capital Wasteland." Ruby explained, sheathing Arondight. "The Brotherhood's been in the Capital Wasteland since the early 50s. Most of us didn't even know about the war, to be honest..."

"The Capital Wasteland?!" Hsu blinked. "What are you doing all the way here?"

"That sword... that skill... are you the Lone Wanderer?" The King asked, remembering what he'd heard about the Lone Wanderer coming from the East.

"Can't be." Hsu reminded him. "They said the Lone Wanderer's at the Dam."

"I'm sorry, what was that about the Dam?" Ruby interrupted, ears perking underneath her helmet.

"We got a report about a non-NCR military asset on the Dam." Hsu explained. "Then there was something about... a wall of ice?"

"A wall of ice?" Ruby breathed, eyes widening. Then she quickly asked: "Do you have any transports that can take us to the Hoover Dam?"

Hsu spent a moment weighing the dire situation at the Hoover Dam and throughout the Mojave with his natural reluctance to trust strangers, especially self-admitted Brotherhood strangers, before finally sighing, as the fact that they'd saved the life of his men tipped the scales.

"I think we've still got some trucks in the back..."

-NOVAC, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"And that's for breaking my fucking legs!" Boxcars yelled, tossing a stick of dynamite at another group of approaching Legionaries, forcing them to scatter and making them easy pickings for Craig Boone and Manny Vargas, the two former members of 1st Recon.

"And this is for Ranger Station Charlie!" Former Ranger Andy shouted out as well, tossing a grenade at a Centurion who was rushing at them.

The pair were then forced to duck behind a wall together, as bullets and body parts flew past where their heads had been.

"That was my last fucking stick of dynamite." Boxcars swore, before looking at the old man. "What about you?"

"I'm out too." Andy shook his head.

"Well, fuck." Boxcars swore.

"What about you, Chris?" Andy asked, as a man in a vault scientist's outfit joined them behind cover.

"Last magazine." Chris Haversam said, in his gravelly voice, before murmuring: "Never thought I'd die with smoothskins..."

"Never thought I'd die with NCR." Boxcars shrugged back, just thankful Ranger Ghost had been so grateful for his warning about Nipton that she'd conveniently closed an eye when he'd left before they could realize he'd been a Powder Ganger and arrest him again.

Up in the giant dinosaur, Boone and Manny were rifling through their last ammunition box, grabbing any loose rounds lying at the bottom, when Boone spotted something in the sky.

His former spotter and best friend noticed it too, and asked: "What on earth is that?!"

Boone really didn't want to talk to him more than was absolutely necessary, after his best friend had refused to help him get his wife back, refused to help him find out who sold out his wife to Legion slavers... after he'd been relieved that Carla had been taken.

But he'd been a soldier.

Duty came first.

He gruffly replied: "No clue. I'll call it in."

Manny winced at the tone in his voice, but his attempts at reconciliation were brushed off as Boone pushed past him, and called it in.

Manny turned back to the battle, just in time to see three rocket ships suddenly descending from the clouds, thrusters burning to slow their re-entry, before they landed right on top of the Legion's positions.

As the doors hissed open, and bridges slid downwards, energy weapons opened up the shocked Legionaries, as ghouls in spacesuits poured out, led by Jason Bright, who declared: "For the Saint of the Great Journey, and the township who delivered our friends to us in our hour of need!

"Novac, we are here!"

-PRIMM, MOJAVE WASTELAND-

"Sunny, what the hell is going on?!" Paulson shouted, watching as the Legionaries attacking the town suddenly began panicking, as their Centurion suddenly flew away, his head smashed into an overripe watermelon.

The town had been attacked by the Legion half an hour after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam had begun, looking to occupy the town and use it as a base from which they could strike at the Mojave Outpost.

The only reason why Primm, still recovering from the Powder Gangers' occupation less than two month ago, hadn't immediately caved had been Jaune's advance warning, as he'd passed by the town on the way to Hoover Dam, which had allowed Paulson to send a runner to Goodspring, and mobilize a small militia (led by Sunny Smiles) to defend the town.

Unfortunately, half a dozen townsfolk with varmint rifles and revolvers had little hope of actually holding off a full centuriae. Even a full platoon of NCR conscripts would have had difficulty facing 60 well-trained Legionaries.

But still, Paulson had fought aliens, and a Legionnaire wasn't nearly as well-protected as the space bastards with their bullshit energy shields, and he led the town in a desperate delaying action, trading ground for time.

After three hours of grueling fighting, though, they'd been pushed all the way back into their casino, where they'd been preparing to make a desperate last stand.

Until the Centurion's head had suddenly exploded, and his body had been sent flying.

As both sides watched on in shock, a ten-foot tall purple hulking Super Mutant suddenly materialized out of seemingly-thin air, talking to a bleached brahmin's skull.

"What's that, Antler? Puny humans in building is friends of not-so-puny sword human?" Captain Davison asked, looking at the skull's empty eye sockets. "Mmmhmm... mmmhmm... MY KIN!"

Heavy footfalls thundered all around the town, and the Legionaries and defenders of Primm looked around worriedly, unable to spot anything more than the occasional faint shimmer in the air.

Davison, for his part, pulled out his bumper sword, the former chrome car bumper's license plate glinting evilly in the sun, before barking out a simple order to the rest of his kin, the pinnacle of the Master's creations: "KILL THE BATTLE-BRAHMIN!"


Author's Note: And here we are, with the second part of the Second Battle, as the Legion and their allies get pushed back on all fronts, and shit absolutely hits the fan all over the Mojave.

Sorry that the individual sections may be short and unsatisfying. Sure, I could have lengthened them, added some graphic details about characters dying, maybe built it up more with an outline of the four hours of battle, perhaps done it like I did in my first Skyrim story as a section from a future history book detailing the Second Battle of Hoover Dam... but I didn't see the point, honestly. The build up was the past 20 chapters. There's only so many ways to write about a small town holding out desperately against superior odds before reinforcements arrive out of nowhere before it loses its impact...

And yes, canonically speaking, the NCR do actually have some Vertibirds (besides Bear Force One, the President's personal Vertibird). If you nuke the Long 15, you can see crashed Vertibirds around the area. Of course, they can't actually build any new Vertibirds, only having captured a few from their war with the Enclave, and presumably lacking the materials to build more, or the fuel to justify even attempting to bother breaking one down to reverse-engineer it. Also, according to the Enclave Remnants, Vertibirds were limited by the fuel they could carry, which would rule out a nuclear reactor. Presumably, since the Enclave used to be located on an oil rig, the original Vertibirds used to run on oil, and the ones used by the NCR still do.

Between the limited number of Vertibirds and the NCR's extremely limited supplies of oil, it would make sense for General Oliver to reserve them specifically for key deployments... like, say, dropping off NCR heavy troopers behind the Legion after they'd been routed by the NCR at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, an assumption supported by the fact that heavy troopers can also be found in the Long 15 (and why being cutoff from the Mojave Outpost and the Long 15 is a worst-case scenario). Tactically speaking, the NCR heavy troopers in Vertibirds would be a decisive advantage, able to turn the tides of any battle by themselves. But strategically speaking, there's not nearly enough of them, and they don't have nearly enough fuel, to be everywhere at once. They can win a battle for you, but it doesn't matter if you've lost three other key battles throughout the theatre at the same time.

God, look at the sheer number assumptions I'm being forced to make to try and make General Wait-And-See seem like he had an actual fucking plan, but was just an amateur strategist who neglected his flanks (or was just counting on Camps McCarran, Hope, and Golf to hold the line)...

As for the East Coast Vertibirds... since the Enclave were forced out of the Oil Rig, they would have probably been forced to convert the Vertibirds to nuclear power, just to continue using them in the numbers they did in the Capital Wasteland. And since the Brotherhood has Scribes capable of activating Liberty Prime... well, I'm pretty sure they could build more, between the salvage from Adams AFB and the steel mills of the Pitt. Also explains how the East Coast Brotherhood can use Vertibirds en masse despite not having oil (since the only oil on US soil would have been in Anchorage).

And this is also how I justify mentioning that a Vertibird in Chapter 35 had an onboard reactor as well!

And from the Fallout wiki, to give a brief overview of Caesar's Legion, a cohort is 480 men, divided into 8 centuriae, led by a centurion, which further divides into 10 contubernia, each led by a decanus. Essentially, a full cohort departed from Cottonwood Cove and Nelson, with 4 centuriae pushing up north through Camp Forlorn Hope to threaten the southern flank of the Hoover Dam, 1 centuriae taking out Ranger Station Echo before heading North, 1 centuria beelining straight for Primm to occupy it and establish an outpost in the Western Mojave, and 2 centuriae hitting Novac for supplies and slaves.

Also, the Bright Brotherhood coming back to help Novac is canon. That one's actually canon. I didn't make that up.

The Kings, Boxcars, and the Antlerites, on the other hand... no, those are just pure fanfiction.