Chapter 2: Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum (If You Want Peace, Prepare for War)
Felix woke to his grumbling stomach. Evidently, one bowl of stew wasn't enough to sate a hunger that had been building for days. Other than his empty stomach he felt much better after a decent night's rest. His head still hurt but his vision was clear and his ears weren't ringing. He got up and stretched to work the kinks out of his back. After that he did his usual morning exercises; an old Legion habit, but a useful one to stay in shape. When he was finished he headed out into the bright morning to find Ringo.
Ringo almost got the shit kicked out of him. When Felix found him at the gas station, Ringo pulled a gun and Felix reacted by taking the gun and knocking the wind out of him before he could stop himself.
"Ringo?" Felix asked holding Ringo's gun by the barrel as Ringo was doubled over in pain, leaning against the wall.
"Who's… asking?" Ringo panted.
"Powder Gangers are threatening the town because of you." Felix said as he flipped the gun to hold it properly.
"Dammit. I'd hoped they'd just leave me be." Ringo sighed as he finally got his breath back.
"I'm going to form a…" Felix knew the word he wanted; he'd had to put down enough of them himself. "Militia. You're coming with me."
Ringo started to look worried. "Listen, I-"
Felix grabbed his shirt collar and shoved him toward the door. Ringo walked down toward the town in front of Felix since he didn't have a choice. They headed for the saloon.
"Good morning!" Sunny greeted happily when they entered.
"Who's the thug, Sunny?" Ringo said as he shifted to put Sunny between himself and Felix.
"It's only a matter of time before the Powder Gangers get organized enough to attack. You need a way to defend yourselves. A militia would work." Felix said coldly.
"A militia, eh? Sounds like a plan! However, between you, me, and Ringo, we aren't exactly a force to be reckoned with. A lot of people around here look up to Trudy. If you could convince Trudy to join us, some of the folks in town might decide to help out as well. I know Easy Pete's got a stock of dynamite somewhere, and Chet just got a shipment of leather armor we could borrow. Talk to them as well. Finally, there's a good chance we'll all end up with extra holes in us, so if Doc Mitchell could cough up some extra stimpaks, that'd be great."
Felix didn't like that this was all being left to him but he nodded anyways. Before he turned to leave he offered Ringo back his pistol. Ringo snatched it back and glared at Felix. Felix headed into the bar to talk to Trudy.
"So, you're planning on taking on Joe Cobb's gang. It's a big risk, but I suppose you have to do what you think is right." Trudy said when she saw him.
"Will you help?" Felix asked.
"It's not that I don't want to help, it's just that we don't want to risk our lives for nothing."
Felix considered the area. "Near the saloon and store are good spots to stage an ambush - if I had the help."
"That does sound like a good plan. All right, you seem to know what you're doing, so you can count me in. Let me have a word with a few other folks and I'll see if I can't round up some more members for this militia you're creating. While everyone does own a gun, we could stand to be a little better equipped. The general store probably has what we need in stock."
Felix nodded and headed out to see Doc Mitchell. The doctor greeted him happily when he came in. "Welcome back. I had hoped you wouldn't need to come see me again so soon. What can I do for you?"
"The town is going to be attacked by bandits. Anything you can do to help?" Felix asked bluntly.
"Seems like wherever I go it's always the same. Folks just never leave each other alone. I'm not much good in a fight, with my bum leg. And my supplies are scarce. But I'll give you what I can spare." Doc Mitchell handed over a few stimpaks.
Felix looked down at the stimpaks in his hand. It dawned on him that the doctor probably used these to save his life. Felix had never used them before since all chems were prohibited in the Legion. "Doc." Felix began hesitantly. He hated asking for help. "How do you use these things?" The doctor gave him a surprised looked before he launched into a brief explanation on how to apply a stimpak and when they were best used. Felix thanked him for his help and headed out again.
Felix got nowhere when he spoke to Chet about the leather armour. Chet talked him in circles and as much as Felix wanted to knock his head off his shoulders and take the armour, he didn't. He left the store furious at the cowardice and self-centeredness of the owner. Felix then decided against asking for the dynamite from Easy Pete. It'd be like giving a machete to a child; they'd be just as likely to hurt themselves as someone else. Felix got the townsfolk into position and then went out to find some sign of the Powder Gangers. He found a group of them outside town.
"Pick a fight or get lost." Felix growled at them.
"Excuse me?! Did you just... you fucking did!" The Powder Ganger didn't like his tone apparently. When Felix retreated back to the town, they followed him. Felix found a house and ducked behind it so he could draw his rifle. He and the town opened fire on the angry thugs. Felix didn't feel like getting into melee with people wielding dynamite. He managed only a few hits on the Powder Gangers but with the whole town shooting it was over quickly.
With the powder gangers dead, Felix went about the duty of removing the corpses from the town without being asked; he knew the sickness the dead could carry. Two at a time, he carried one and dragged the other up to the graveyard. When he got to the graveyard with the last two bodies he found Sunny and a few townsfolk waiting for him. She offered him a shovel when he approached. Felix considered for a second and then took the shovel. In the Legion, bodies were usually burned. Enemy corpses were burned in piles. Legionaries were usually burned solo, on a small pyre. High ranking officers were burned on large pyres. After they were burned the ashes would usually be buried. He was unaccustomed to burying a body.
Felix, Sunny and the three townsfolk spent the afternoon digging a grave for the Powder Gangers. They looted the bodies before putting them in the grave. When everything was finished, Sunny and the townsfolk bowed their heads for a few moments as Felix just watched. When they were done and all headed back to town, Sunny came up beside Felix as they walked and clapped him on the back happily. The gesture was familiar but a woman touching him without his permission made his hand twitch toward his machete.
"Thanks for standing with the town!" She said happily. Felix simply nodded for fear of shouting at her. "Trudy's making that gecko you brought in yesterday into a feast for the town. So you're staying another night, right?"
Felix couldn't deny the idea of eating his fill was appealing. Even if he had to be surrounded by the town as he did it. When they got back to the saloon everything was already prepared. Apparently the townsfolk had all pitched in on the supplies for dinner so the saloon was packed with the whole town. Felix took a heaping plate of gecko steak, maize, potatoes and carrots and slid into a booth. He was half finished when Sunny joined him.
"You're a quiet one, aren't ya?" She asked as she settled in across from him.
He wasn't. Felix liked to talk and he could even be funny. But if he said even half of the things he was thinking, the town would have run him out long ago. "It's easier." He answered when it became apparent that Sunny wanted a response.
"Easier, eh? Well, if that's how you want it. Here, I got you a present." Sunny reached under the table and then put four full 5.56mm mags on the table.
"Ammo?" Felix asked in confusion.
"Call it a going away present. You'll only get better if you practice."
"I can't pay-"
"It's a present, doofus!" Sunny interrupted. "You're leaving in the morning right?" Felix nodded, wondering what a doofus was. "To find the people who put you in the ground?"
"Yes."
"Well, you be careful out there. And come back and visit!" Sunny said happily.
Come back and visit? That was the first time anyone ever said that to Felix. He nodded and Sunny slipped out of the booth and began socializing with everyone else. Felix ate until he was just beyond full. It was good food and Felix was sure it'd be awhile until he had anything similar.
When he was finished, he carefully excused himself and headed to the general store. Felix didn't need anything beyond his machete to survive in the desert, but every item he could get his hands on would make life easier. With the loot he'd scavenged off the Powder Gangers, Felix was able to procure most of the items he wanted. He got a sturdy pack and a proper belt to hang his machete from. He got a canteen and a backup combat knife. The one thing he did splurge on was an old world lighter. Once he was finished resupplying, he headed for the schoolhouse to get some sleep.
Felix started the day early. He left Goodsprings just as the sky was lightening with his varmint rifle and pack on his back. The moment he lost sight of Goodsprings, he started jogging. He didn't jog because he needed to or because he was being chased, he did so because that's what he was used to. He was used to covering long distances quickly; it'd been his job for years. Even after he left the Legion and stopped being a speculatore, he took a job as a courier and that also required him to travel quickly.
He found a decent pace and stuck to it until he spotted some geckos on a hill. Felix could dispatch them easily with his machete but Sunny had given him bullets to practice his marksmanship. So he stopped and tried to hit the geckos before they go too close. Only two of five shots hit so he was forced to kill the geckos with his machete. Felix was coming to realize a gun needed a much steadier hand than a machete.
As he traveled south he kept an eye out for any useful plants and stored anything he found in his pack. He ran afoul of a few Powder Gangers as he traveled but his aim was getting better and he was usually able to sneak up close enough to manage a kill shot.
As the sun started to set Felix realized he'd had a good day. He'd used all of the ammo Sunny had given him and the practice was helping. His pack was full of Xander Root, Buffalo Gourd Seeds and Banana Yucca fruit. He wandered off the roads and found a suitable spot to sleep. After eating his fill of Buffalo Gourd seeds he lay down and put his head on his pack, his hand on his machete and he tried to sleep.
Felix managed a few hours of sleep and was on the road at first light. His head was still bothering him but he ignored it since otherwise, he seemed to be in good health. It was late morning when he saw the town in the distance. When he got close enough he saw a guard in unmistakable NCR armour. He also saw a flagpole proudly waving the two headed bear flag. Felix stopped in his tracks. Even if he wasn't with the Legion anymore he had served Caesar for nearly twenty years. In that time he had done many things that the NCR would deem unforgivable. If they found out what he was, there was no doubt in Felix's mind that the NCR would execute him. Felix secured his pack in place, knowing it would cover his scars, and took a deep breath. He forced his hand away from his machete and slowly walked toward the trooper.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going? Primm is off limits!" The soldier shouted to Felix.
That confused Felix. Did the NCR usually block off towns? He'd been in Primm a few days ago when he picked up his delivery. He'd avoided the NCR presence completely then. What exactly was going on? Surely it couldn't hurt to ask. "Why is Primm off limits?" He asked carefully.
"Some convicts from the prison up the road have taken over the town. Everyone inside is either dead or in hiding. What's more, there are two tribes of raiders causing trouble in this area as well. You'd be safer heading back up to Goodsprings."
Wait. Powder Gangers took over the town? Powder Gangers? The Mojave was supposed to be NCR territory. "Shouldn't you be protecting the town or something?" Felix thought aloud. He mentally kicked himself for saying that out loud.
The trooper groaned. "We'd love to, but they don't fall under NCR jurisdiction. Even if they did we're in no shape to protect them. We don't have the equipment to take out the convicts, and even if we did we need some extra hands for backup. You should talk to Lieutenant Hayes. He's in a tent down the road. Just stay on the west side of the overpass if you don't want to get shot."
The NCR doesn't have the equipment to take out the Powder Gangers? Felix snorted at his own dirty joke. Still it was interesting to learn that the NCR was so ill equipped that they couldn't fight off a few convicts. Felix nodded and headed into the makeshift NCR camp. There were maybe a dozen troopers including the guard he'd met and the lieutenant he had been directed. He found the officer in a tent going over some papers.
The lieutenant looked up as Felix entered. "I'm Lieutenant Hayes of the New California Republic Army, 5th Battalion, 1st Company. What's your business?"
"I need to get into Primm." Felix said carefully.
"Primm has been overrun with convicts." Hayes sighed.
"Isn't it your job to keep the town safe?" Felix asked.
"We were sent out here to hold back the tide of convicts from the correctional facility. As you can probably tell, we aren't doing the kind of job we could be doing. The problem is with supplies. The convicts are better armed and organized than our intel initially suggested. I'm trying to get some reinforcements here, maybe some guns with some firepower, but... shit... things are just going slow."
Guns. Felix thought. Without a gun, an NCR trooper was practically useless. Felix didn't particularly need to get into Primm. He knew that his attackers were headed to the strip but someone in Primm may have seen them and he might be able to get more information about the delivery from the Mojave Express office.
"Can I go into town?" Felix asked.
"Why?"
"I need to visit the Mojave Express Office."
"It's probably empty. Most of the townsfolk are holed up in the casino." Hayes explained.
"If you have no problem with it, I'm going to see if I can help them." Felix didn't want to get on the NCR's bad side.
"Fine but don't say we didn't warn you."
Felix left the tent and found a place to stash his pack. With his rifle over his shoulder and his machete in his hand he crossed the bridge into town. It took little effort to ambush the patrolling Powder Gangers and he left them in pools of their own blood. He headed to the casino and carefully cracked open the door.
"I'm a courier." He called.
"Alright, come on in." He heard called back. Felix headed in to find a few dozen people scattered about the casino. A handful of people were near the door with guns at the ready. "Well now! If it ain't Courier Six."
"You remember me?" Felix said in surprise.
"A fellow like you is hard to forget. What can I do for you?" The old man said happily.
Felix quickly and succinctly told the man what he knew and then asked for help tracking down the man he was after. As he expected nothing came free and he needed to promise to kill the Powder Gangers in the Hotel and free the deputy to get his information. The old man did provide him some additional details on his package thought. He said it was a strange contract for seven couriers and all the other couriers made it. Felix then headed to the Hotel.
The inside of the hotel was dark and cramped, perfect conditions for Felix. He stalked, whisper quiet through the halls leaving silence and dead bodies in his wake. The only time he was spotted was on the main floor in the large dining room. Three powder gangers were talking and two had spotted him when he killed one. All they managed to do was shout before Felix slit their throats and left them to gurgle on their own blood.
When both floors were clear Felix sought out a change of clothes. One good thing about his old armour was that Legion red and black tended to hide all the blood stains. His light coloured clothes were completely ruined. He managed to find a new t-shirt and a faded pair of loose jeans that fit well enough. He then grabbed a bag and looted the bodies. When he was finally finished, he found the deputy. The deputy was still right where the Powder Gangers had left him. He hadn't moved an inch even though all his captors were dead. Felix was disgusted by the deputy cowardice and wouldn't have even spoken to him if he didn't have the information Felix was after.
In the end, Felix found out nothing new. However he did make a profit on all the Powder Ganger gear. He went to retrieve his pack from its hiding place then he traded with the old man for some additional gear and ammo to practice with. He left town and headed toward Nipton at his usually speed. Rather than actually go to Nipton he stuck to the hills and made his way to Novac.