Starting That Path
One week of military marching, and almost two weeks of establishing ourselves in the Bay Area was enough to create trouble. Nobody knew why we were in San Fran at all. All the military was told was that the NCR declared war on "The Enclave." People had gone to war on less I suppose, but the fact that nobody could really answer Who the Enclave was, made NCR troops restless. Also, being locked in a tiny complex west of a city that didn't want us there didn't make things easier.
I spent my days primarily monitoring the radio, passing along orders, and coordinating with independent caravans for supplies. Things were boring and very stagnant, but talking with the caravans allowed me to send letters to Sophia back home. It turned out, a lot of the local caravans were headed to Shady Sands anyway after their business in Shi territory or Chinatown. Sophia's reading was getting a lot better, so I was sure she was able to read the letters I sent. When I met her, she wasn't illiterate, she just didn't know how to write or spell a lot of words. Nights off Bishop thug duty remedied that situation pretty quickly. So, when I wasn't writing letters home, writing grocery lists for traders, creating guard rosters, or speaking incoming orders from the radio, I saw to my sniper teams on the rooftops.
I enjoyed getting to know the men and women of my sharpshooters and getting to know their stories. Most of them were simple Californians who joined the NCR Army when recruiters came to town. Many had been fighting raiders or mutants in the wastes ever since, and showed impressive enough marksmanship to be offered a spot in the 1st Recon Sharpshooter Battalion. Apparently, the rest of 1st Recon was spread out around NCR territory keeping order, but Alpha Company got assigned to support the recently formed "NCR Northern Division" that was headed to San Fran. The NCR Army acted primarily as a police force or border guard within the territories down south, so this was one of the first divisions formed specifically to attack an enemy in a long time. Unfortunately, we were stuck in the time being.
When meeting my sharpshooters, they all asked about how I got put in 1st Recon and when my ignorance about military life showed, many asked what I did before joining. I still wasn't sure what I was allowed to disclose from my time with Detective Paul, so I just told them I helped with intelligence operations and worked in New Reno as a hired gun. I left my involvement in the gangs of New Reno out of the stories, but it wasn't long before rumors about me started circulating.
The sniper positions on the rooftops gave incredible views of the San Fran area. The ruins of the prewar city spanned across the region encompassing even the far side of the bay, past the wrecked ships, and abandoned island. However, the San Francisco Peninsula was where all the civilization was. Shi territory and Chinatown was east of us, and always sprawling with caravan traffic or activities from the hundreds of residents. On the east end of Chinatown was a giant steel facility seemingly erected post war out of what looked like scrapped ships. I had no idea what went on there, but scopes and binoculars showed it heavily guarded by the Shi, and caravan hands referred to it as, "The Steel Palace."
On the west edge of Chinatown was the BOS bunker. I found it strange that the Shi allowed the BOS military to have a bunker inside their city, but wouldn't allow our forces to even enter on trade. The BOS troops who initially joined us on the march all got to hole up in their bunker within Chinatown or around it before moving north to spy on the enemy we've yet to meet.
Almost straight north of Chinatown was one of the biggest landmarks of the San Fran area. I remember seeing it from that ridge overlooking the San Fran ruins. The thing was a giant red bridge separating the San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean, apparently called the "Golden Gate Bridge." The base of the bridge was pretty far from our position, but I saw tiny people wearing what looked like blueish robes coming in and out of a little facility. Aside from the giant bridge itself, the most noticeable thing was a silvery aircraft looking thing parked at the base of the bridge. The supposed aircraft didn't look like a Vertibird or anything. Instead, it looked somewhat like one of those old space shuttles I'd seen in prewar books. The thing was seemingly facing towards the bridge, so I began wondering; are people planning to take off in that thing? The mind boggled, too bad we were stuck in our isolated section of the city.
Northwest of Chinatown was the Vagrant Docks that were inhabited by San Francisco wastelanders who weren't members of the Shi. Even though the Shi largely ignored the residents of the docks, they still considered it their territory and forbade us access. It was easy to see that the place was home to the miserable based on the tents, container homes, and people living in boxes easily seen through scopes. Vagrants on the docks went about their business, but even caravans headed to that part of the peninsula always seemed to enter the giant parked tanker ship that appeared to be the home of many squatters. The ship itself was massive and took up a large part of the docks. The tail end, and name of the ship, was close enough for us to read without the use of binoculars or scopes. The name of the ship was, "PMV Valdez" and seemingly served as home to a never-ending train of vagrants coming and going.
Directly west of us and past a block or two of ruined buildings was the Pacific Ocean. I had never seen the ocean before, but smelt the salty air long before we reached the cliff overlooking San Fran. Prewar pictures and travel brochures always showed it clear, blue, and glimmering in the setting sun, but that wasn't the ocean I saw. Far beyond the eye could see was a murky grey expanse of polluted nothingness. So, days passed, letters were sent, orders were stagnant, and people got restless. At the start of that 2nd week in San Fran, it was late January and things got interesting.
1st Recon was a pretty disciplined unit, but some of the regular troops were getting antsy. Tensions with the Shi were rising as we caught some of their members snooping around our facility, and some of the regular troops were caught inside Chinatown on their time off. The Shi had eyes everywhere and knew when NCR troopers changed out of uniform to enter their turf. They even accused us for stealing some missing fuel they were stockpiling for some reason. The Shi said that we were suspected just as much as the Hubologists, who ended up being that group inhabiting the Golden Gate Bridge.
Through the confusion, there was talk of that Chosen One creep with a car milling around the Vagrant's Tanker and ruckus being caused left and right. The NCR military even extended an olive branch and offered their support in helping the Shi locate where their fuel went. Why the Shi were even stockpiling fuel is beyond anyone's reason, but we did so for the sake of diplomacy. So, things escalated with the Shi for a day or two until it seemed like all the factions of the area suddenly stopped everything they were doing.
It's strange how a single unusual event can stop the world from spinning.