Bigger Than We Thought

I made it back to Shady Sands three or four days after my brief exploration of the military base following the eastbound dust storms. I entered the city at night and found my way back to Paul's home where I found Sophia. She asked me all about what I went through and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to talk about it. All I told her was that I found an old military base and took a few notes. She was surprisingly understanding given the little information. Instead, she was just glad I made it back and told me about everything she was up to in my absence.

She said she found a nice little adobe home for sale near the Westin Ranch, the Stockman's Association, and west wall of the city in downtown. She didn't want to buy it for fear that I'd have no idea where to go when I got back, and she was right. We had enough illegal Jet money to cover the cost, but stayed at Paul's place the past week awaiting my arrival. When I asked if she'd seen Detective Paul, she said she hadn't, and I began wondering exactly what he'd been up to since I was away. Nevertheless, I was exhausted from days of nearly nonstop travel and went to bed feeling safe in the arms of my amazing ex-prostitute wife.

When the sun rose, I headed out with Sophia towards the bit of real estate she picked out and studied the place from the outside. It was a quaint little house, looking about the size of Paul's 2nd floor duplex, but I declined when she offered to show me the interior. All I told her was to buy the place and move in what little we had.

"I got work to do."

As the thriving post war town stirred to life in the early morning, I left the city limits once more and followed the dirt roads west of the Bazaar towards Camp Seth. When I approached the gates to Camp Seth, the sentries asked my business, and I told them I was a "Independent Scout" under direct orders to report to Captain McNeil. They assumed I was telling the truth, but one of the armed soldiers had to follow procedure and escort me to his office.

At the ground level office, the soldier knocked on the door saying the captain had a visitor, and was met with a simple, "Come in."

The soldier eyeballed me, and I entered the little office to be met by Captain McNeil at his desk, and Detective Paul sitting casually on a little filing cabinet. Paul gave a slight grin and Captain McNeil motioned towards the seat across from him with a, "Please, take a seat."

I set my bag down and happily sat in the chair saying, "What's this? A reunion?" and gave a stupid chuckle.

Paul grinned, but the captain asked emotionlessly, "How was your search?"

I said, "I found some interesting shit at that base, but nothing compared to what I saw when leaving."

Paul said amusedly, "Let's see what you got."

I dug into my pack and pulled out the large power armor helmet that took up half the space inside it. Setting the helmet on the table, the two both grew looks of bewilderment and I said, "I found a dead guy in power armor, ever see anything like this?"

Paul mumbled something and McNeil said, still emotionlessly as he studied it, "Bingo. I've never seen anything like this. T-51 suits don't bear any familiar architecture…"

I jumped in, "Yeah, I think that Chosen One guy blew open the base… But the owner of that helmet was long dead; had a fuckin skull stuck inside it…"

Paul studied the helmet and asked, "What do you mean, 'Blew open?' and you found this helmet inside the place?"

I nodded at the latter question and shrugged, "Yeah, the entrance to the place was blown open recently by the looks of things. There was a bunch of mining shit around the exterior and even what remained of rail carts for hauling shit out…"

Then I paused for a second and asked, "You guys know what that place was for? You know?... Like?... Before the bombs?"

The two looked at me in utter shock and the captain said, "No, but I think we do now…"

Then stopped himself and added, "What else you find there?"

I said, "Oh right! Thanks for reminding me…"

I dug into my pack, tossed the handheld radio on the table and said, "Oh, and the power armor suit had a strange 'E' symbol on it… Maybe E stands for 'Enclave?' What you guys think?"

The two stayed silent as they stared at me. Then the captain pulled a notepad out of his drawer, tossed it to me, and said, "Draw it."

I nodded at his order and opened the notebook to a blank page. I easily remembered what the symbol looked like and spent a few seconds drawing it while the two stared at me. I showed them my crude picture of the E with stars around it and said, "It looked something like this."

Paul set the helmet down and said, "Well, that's the final nail…"

The captain nodded, and before I could ask what they were talking about, Paul asked, "You said you saw something when leaving the place? What was it?"

I remembered my statement at the beginning of the conversation and said, "Right. Well, after I left; I saw a crap load of Vertibirds come straight out of the eastern mountains going west…" They remained silent again for a moment.

After the two had a seemingly telepathic conversation, Paul said, "Ok, we got everything we need-"

Still feeling left in the dark, I jumped in and asked, "Wait, what's going on?"

Captain McNeil answered in his dry tone, "We have a theory that should link all the northern activity together. Now we need to approach the Brotherhood of Steel with our findings."

That wasn't even remotely an explanation. Still utterly oblivious to all of this, I asked, "What's happening? Am I still involved? And…"

Then another question entered my mind as I looked at Paul saying, "Hell, where were you when I was scouting out that old ruin?"

Captain gave Paul a look and said, "Lay it on him."

Paul nodded at the captain and looked at me. "Now, we still have a few unanswered questions, but you ready for what we got?"

I gave a determined nod and said, "Let's hear it."

Paul adjusted himself on the filing cabinet and began, "We have you to thank as our primary lead into this situation, and scouting that base gave us the last few pieces we needed for a solid theory…"

I focused in while he adjusted himself again, "Ok, I'll break it down simply based on all the intel gathered over the past year, including other reports from our agents in the field: We have reason to believe that the drug trade within New Reno and particular families in that town are responsible for exporting drugs to surrounding communities… The Families are trying to get Redding in their favor to counter our diplomatic efforts to annex it… Profit from Redding gold goes back to New Reno to fund slaver operations and dumb down populations up north… Salvatore's and Mordinos' sharking rackets offer weak people to slavers and Vault City for extra profit. New Reno Families are bolstering the slave trade, but why?... My time up north with the slavers detailed entire villages and towns rounded up for enslavement. I believe you can second that. But let me ask, how many slave owners you ever see up north?"

I said, "I never really met any other than a couple of the families, but not too many I'm guessing?"

Paul continued, "Hundreds of missing people were reported up north and whole towns are gone. Where is the demand for slaves?... There is none, not in the open wasteland. I ran the numbers for Vault City's 'Servant' intake, and the New Reno Families' slaves, but there is a large number of sacked towns and populations unaccounted for by any wasteland communities. Even after running the numbers on the Reno slave intake before the surge of Jet remains inconsistent. To sum up: There is a large gap in the number of decimated tribes, Vault City servants, and Reno family slaves…"

He stopped himself for a moment before asking, "But to account for that gap: who knew the name of those aircraft near Klamath?"

I said, "Slavers?"

He went on as Captain McNeil watched me, "Right. Well, we believe the 'Enclave' has demand for slaves, but the Families of New Reno are exploiting this fact for profit. But that's irrelevant considering my time with the Salvatores and our shared experience with the scientist runaway is proof of their ties with the Enclave… While you were scouting out the military base, I headed east to the old Vault 15 where a raider gang's been holed up. That 'Chosen One' guy ransacked the place with his friends before I got there, but I managed to interrogate a survivor from the attack. I discovered that the 'Khan' gang was using the place to run a slave operation in accordance with the Den for a southern expansion. All the while, they were keeping their refuge out of sight by bribing a local squatter community with spoils from their raids. The raider I interrogated spilled everything he knew about The Den and what little he knew about a deal with the 'Enclave.' So, I established that the Enclave is predominantly responsible for the slave trade up north. Also, the Salvatores' direct ties with the Enclave presume their responsibility for the missing chemicals from Vault City I discovered in both New Reno and the Den…"

He saw my lost face and I said plainly, "Can you break this down slower?" feeling somewhat embarrassed.

He grew a look of understanding and said, "Clear Enclave allies: Salvatores, and Slavers from The Den… Enclave actions: They're seemingly behind slaver activity, and the gathering of mysterious chemicals from Vault City through the Salvatores and slavers as their intermediary. Drug surge in north seems to point to that as a cover up or diversion… Especially if what you said about Jet being made from brahmin shit is true… The questions we can't answer are: Why is this 'Enclave' kidnapping people? What do they need slaves for? What do they need chemicals for? And where are they?"

I asked, "So, how does what I found at that military base finish this puzzle?"

He said simply, "It doesn't solve much for the present issue necessarily, but may be enough to solidify other party involvement. Anyway, the decrepit remains of that old power armored guy and the symbol he wore leads us to believe that the Enclave was responsible for multiple past cases. That includes; the missing caravans a decade ago, and the first mention of a Vertibird. What it doesn't answer is: What was the Enclave doing at that base?..."

He paused and added, "Actually, I think we might know that answer."

I asked, "What is it?"

Paul glanced at Captain McNeil, and the captain gave his input. "I'm sure you heard the story of the 'Vault Dweller' who saved the world from the Super Mutants?..."

I briefly recalled the story from my caravan guard friends, nodded, and he continued, "The story says how that guy saved his Vault supposedly hidden in the mountains northwest of us by finding the 'Water Chip', destroying 'The Master', and destroying 'The Vats' that were responsible for creating super mutants…"

He paused at my expression, but continued, "According to the Brotherhood of Steel, The Vats were located at an old military base and contained a prewar virus that created the first super mutants… We believe that base you scouted was the location of The Master's super mutant army, and the source of the virus… Based on what you said about the Enclave presence there, and all the mining equipment you reported, we believe the Enclave was trying to uncover the old virus…"

I understood what they were talking about but asked, "So, what are the pieces we're looking at?"

Paul said, "This is speculation, but through everything we gathered I can say this: Enclave is taking slaves and industrial chemicals from Vaults and ruins… And they were apparently trying to excavate the remains of a deadly prewar virus from its source… We still don't know the whole story, but clearly none of their involvement in the wasteland is for the good of humanity."

I said stupidly at that revelation, "Oh shit…"

The two of them nodded in agreement and Captain McNeil said, "There is one common external factor in all of this though."

Paul nodded in agreement, but I asked curiously, "What's that?"

The captain said, "When I first took your questions in this office, I told you that the Brotherhood of Steel has been monitoring the Chosen One since earlier this year… Before we can act on the Enclave, we need to know where they are, and get accounts from every primary location or person involved in this matter. That 'Chosen One' character is one of the only recurring external elements in the whole picture up north."

I asked, "So, what's next?"

Paul said, "Now, now we collaborate with the Brotherhood and find out everything they know… Maybe that weirdo in the car just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but maybe he knows something… If he knows something, the Brotherhood will tell us-"

I jumped in, "So, why don't we just nab him or something? Why we gotta approach the Brotherhood about this psycho?"

Captain McNeil said, "Though he is technically a member of the rangers now, even they can't get ahold of him. I would suggested we take him in for questioning, but nobody knows his schedule, and his patterns have proven unpredictable even by all our intel efforts."

I asked, "How so?"

Paul chuckled to himself before saying, "We can't catch up to his car on foot, and our agents across the north can't bag him considering his gang is always with him, and you saw what they did in New Reno... Monitoring his activities for a focused interrogation is like the Captain said; unpredictable. There's reports of him and his band driving around the wastes looking for raiders to kill, after which, he'd pop in a town for a few minutes to sell weapons only to disappear again. He was also seen talking with an insane homicidal bridge keeper in the mountains, and watching over the Westin's pastures only to clear out random caves of mutants immediately afterwards... No, the Brotherhood is our only shot at getting a clear profile of this character..."

So, an explanation for all of the strange activities happening in the northern wastes were explained to the NCR through my actions at the start of 2241 (Minus the activities of the Chosen One). Though I'm certain that most of this would have been uncovered eventually, me stumbling my way through life inadvertently set off a chain of events that led to focal points for the NCR Intel Community to dig into. I've been unintentionally involved in this huge matter regarding drugs, slaves, crime families, and chaos since I mentioned the flying machine to Paul in a Jet induced intoxication, but this whole thing was turning out far bigger than we thought.