Apparently I'm Important

When we reached the end of the trail, we were met by a chain gate, sandbag barricades, numerous sentries, and beyond them were several rounded pre-war style military buildings and brick structures. Standing before the gate, we were approached by two men in tan baggy jumpsuit-like uniforms with leather chest gear dotted with pouches, tan hats, sunglasses, and pre-war automatic weapons.

One of them spoke, "Welcome to Camp Seth, headquarters of the NCR Military's Shady Sands Garrison and Recruit Depot. What's your business here?"

Detective Paul pulled a card looking thing out of his pocket and said, "I'm here to see Captain McNeil."

The NCR soldier gave a nod and shouted at the others to open the gate. Pointing at the mass formation of tan uniforms between the old Quonset huts, the guard said not to disturb the Alpha Company's graduation ceremony and that we could find the captain in the stands. Paul gave thanks and we entered the military base.

I never seen soldiers all grouped together in a big formation like that, so the sight was pretty interesting. I personally found it amazing that anyone could shape wastrels into a disciplined team able to stand in one place for more than a few seconds. But, the "Officers" stood in front of the formation saying something that was muffled by the wind and we stepped onto a set of old bleachers. There were friends and family of those recruits sitting in the stands, all watching with pride or confusion about the spectacle. Then we saw a little section of the stands roped off for other base officials. I stood behind Paul, watching the graduation while he got the attention of his old friend.

When I looked back, a large man in one of those tan uniforms and a light green beret asked Paul in a whisper, "How you been, Paul? What's this about?"

Paul gave a gesture to follow, and I trailed the large military man down the steps and away from the bleachers. When the two stopped, Paul motioned towards me and said to Captain McNeil, "Captain, this is Sean Combs. You said you were looking for independent scouts, and thought he fit the bill."

The Captain held his hand out and I shook it as he said, "I heard a bit about you in Paul's reports, good to meet you."

I responded, "Nice to meet you too."

Paul said, "As you know; Sean here has been helping me out with the occasional odd job over the past few months and found his way into Shady Sands only a day ago. Short on work, I thought he could serve the both of us at the same time."

The Captain brought his hand to his goatee and said, "That so? Hell, Paul here doesn't speak too highly of anyone, even in his reports. So, you must've made some impression."

I didn't want to downplay myself in front of this professional military man, but I said, "I don't know about that, we just met in a few strange situations and I knew a little more than I should've."

He said, "I know all about the circumstances in which you encountered Paul…"

Then Paul said, "Sean has been traversing the wasteland all by himself since he was 12 years old. Whatever you need scouted out, he can."

Captain McNeil thought for a minute and responded with, "Alright, thanks Paul. We'll hash out the rest of this in my office."

Paul took that as his cue to leave and left me alone in the middle of a military base with the tall military man with similar stature to a New Reno thug. Paul's departing words were simply, "Catch you later, Sean."

The graduation ceremony let out and the stands quickly emptied by the families heading down to congratulate loved ones on becoming soldiers in an army. I followed the captain away from the Quonset huts to a brick building with ground level offices marked, "HQ." We entered a stuffy little four walled office and I sat across from the captain for my second strange interview in two days (Although, I instantly learned it wasn't an interview).

Captain McNeil studied me in my still dirty road gear and began, "This isn't an interview; you already got the job. I've heard the reports, and if Paul speaks well of you, there's no need for anything else. Instead, I brought you in to give you your first assignment. But first, I'll answer any questions you have."

I gave a fake sigh of relief but felt somewhat puzzled by being "Hired" so quickly, and instantly had a million questions. I said seriously, "You'll answer questions? Great, because I have a lot of them."

He adjusted in his chair and said with a stern face, "Shoot."

First question: "This sounds stupid but, what is the NCR?"

His face briefly turned somewhat perplexed, but shot back to its emotionless default mode as he answered dryly, "The New California Republic arose from the tiny village called Shady Sands, shortly after the supposed 'Vault Dweller' saved the world from the super mutant army in 2161. That's just the folklore, but the nation that is NCR has been growing and civilizing the southern wastes for almost 80 years now. Not from around here, I take it?"

I said, "Not gonna ask who or what the 'Vault Dweller' was, but no I'm not from anywhere near here…"

Then, I continued with question two: "What is your relation to Detective Paul?"

I really liked how directly this man spoke. He answered my question with, "I'm in the NCR military's Intel Division, and I work closely with the Covert Ops agents operating in the 'Northern Wastes.' I'm who Detective Paul answers to for operations that may or may not directly involve the army. Next question."

I quickly took the moment to see if this guy could satisfy some of my other curiosity. I asked question 3: "What happened at the slave pens in the Bazaar?"

Again, the Captain said simply, "Tribal man in a vault suit known across northern territories as, 'The Chosen One' and his friends killed them for the rangers. Guy's been doing jobs around Shady Sands for the past three weeks, but been under close observation by the Brotherhood of Steel since July of this year. We're trying to work with the BOS while Detective Paul conducts his current investigations into Northern disturbances."

I said, "Thanks." Question four: "What is the NCR trying to uncover through the works of Detective Paul and apparently myself?"

With the same facial expression, he said, "Paul was sent north at the end of last year to investigate an upsurge of Jet in Redding, reveal its source, infiltrate the New Reno influenced Morningstar Mining Company, and try to sway the town into NCR favor… Anonymous source/you, altered his objective towards investigating increased slaver activity and 'Vertibird' sightings in the north… Reported events in the north had us send him to New Reno to infiltrate the Salvatores and detail their involvement with the Vault City chemical trafficking into the area… Events regarding the incident with the scientist had us bring him back home and report all info he gathered on the 'Enclave.' So, current intel objective has us trying to find out who the Enclave are, what they want, and how they're seemingly linked to the slave increase, drug trafficking, and kidnapping in the northern territories… Before you ask, the goal of the NCR military in the north is to stabilize the region and hopefully annex it with minimal use of boots on the ground. However, non-forceful intervention is proving difficult due to the drug operations, slavery, New Reno Families, and this 'Enclave' group. The big puzzle that me, Detective Paul, and the rest of the intel community is trying to figure out is if they're all connected, and if so; how?"

I had one more real question, question five: "What are my orders in relation to Paul?"

The man said, "Since you got roped in with Paul's assignment; you know more about the NCR military's northern involvement than President Tandi herself. So, don't take this the wrong way but; we own you now…"

At that statement, I asked dumbly, "What?"

Still emotionless, he said, "The Covert Ops can't take you in due to time constraints and probable failure in passing their tests. But, we need you because things are about to heat up very fast…"

He noticed my face and added, "As the head of Shady Sands' Intel, I oversee the entire NCR military's involvement in this situation. Detective Paul bringing you to me was no accident or charity for the Recently Unemployed. You are one of only five people in NCR territory with any sort of grasp on the big picture we're looking at up north…"

I interrupted by asking, "So wait… Back to my question; what you want me to do?"

He said, "Right, you are one of the most important people in all of NCR at the moment given what you know about our involvement in the north, and we need you to do something for us…"

He studied me for a second and resumed, "We recently heard reports of a person scavenging through a decrepit old military base far off the caravan road to San Fran. I need you to check it out for me."

I asked curiously, "What's at this military base? Why's it so important?"

"Your mention of the Vertibird near Klamath at the beginning of this year was the first time anyone with NCR affiliation had ever heard that word spoken in almost a decade. The only time before that was from some caravan wreck survivor in the process of being mutated…"

I interjected, "Oh, I think Paul told me about that before."

He glanced into my eyes and went on, "So, Covert Ops didn't have a chance to interview the guy before he croaked. However, back then there was mention of a 'Vertibird', power armored goons, and a decimated caravan. Most details of which are fairly similar to the scene you and Paul witnessed in the desert over a month ago. Also, just before your op with Paul, there were sightings of Vertibirds only just northeast from Shady Sands in the uncharted mountains…"

He paused for a second when he saw my completely lost facial expression and said, "Bottom line: there's been reports of activity around the prewar military base, so I need you to head there and report everything you find. Sound good?"

I asked curiously, "Who do you think is poking around there?"

His stern eyes locked on mine for a moment. He was silent for a few seconds before he said, "I don't know. That's why I need you to check it out."

The way he said that made it seem like he had an idea of who it was, but didn't want to say anything he didn't know for sure.

I gave a silent nod but asked again about how my exploring some old-world ruin was relevant to this investigation I was now part of. "What about Detective Paul? Where's he off to?"

The captain said, "He's headed out east to gather more intel from a possible lead…"

I was about to ask another question that shot into my mind when he busted a map out of the drawer and began writing on it, "Before you ask anything else, take this map. There'll be more info for you when you get back. It actually aint too far a walk. Say goodbye to whoever you have to and head out immediately..."

Then, he stood up with a posture that demanded no more questions. Our conversation was over in an instant as he pointed to the door.

I wasn't entirely sure where that sudden end to the chat came from, but I wasn't too upset even when he physically rushed me out of the office. There I stood, holding a map and having a new goal in my life. So, I walked back to Shady Sands proper to say goodbye to my wife and head out. Reaching the gates to the city I noticed the car was gone, and thought "Good riddance" but was more focused on reaching my wife to tell her what was going on before going into the wastes again.

The bizarre thing was that I wasn't even thinking about the task along the way. I didn't have any independent thoughts of my own. I still had a million questions about the task, my new home city, and the role I played in this whole mess that I still didn't really understand. Hell, I got taken to the Captain for "work" and didn't even know how much they intended to pay me.

While I chewed on those thoughts, I found Sophia back at Paul's place and discovered that she spent the morning exploring the city. She asked me a bunch of questions about the job that I didn't even know the answer to. When she saw me getting ready to head out and noticed the midday sky, she asked what I was doing. I told her that I was ordered to head out immediately, gave her a quick kiss, and left the city for the map marked location somewhere in the west.