Chapter One

A New Face and a New Life

Julie Farkas knew pretty much everyone that came into Old Mormon Fort. Having been working there for the past two years, it was hard not to know the regulars. Drunks, druggies, NCR civilians after a fight, she knew them all and she knew all their problems by heart. But their was one person she had never seen before that came in holding his side. She noticed that he had on what looked like riot armor, a huge shotgun and pack on his back and a knife deeply planted into his side. She went quickly over to him as he fell to his knee. Julie called for another doctor and together, they helped the armored man into a tent.

It was about three days later when the man awoke, and when he did, Julie was bent over him, reaching for some med-x. His eyes opened, and he immediately shot up, not knowing that Julie was right above him. This sent his head crashing right into her side and she screamed as she felt herself being flung over. She braced herself to hit the metal bar at the end of the bed, but it never happened. She opened one eye and saw an arm around her. It was the man's. "Sorry for scaring you ma'am." He said, letting her down. Julie replied "That's ok, just wasn't expecting it." She brushed her lab coat, and told him what had happened to him and how they treated him. She then asked him why he was in such armor and why he was in Freeside in the first place. "I came to give you all this." He said, grabbing the pack that was left next to his bed. He opened it, Julie looked inside, and nearly fainted from the shock. The Pack was filled to the brim with medical supplies: fixer, med-x, rad-away, and tons of other things. "Wh…where…where did you get all this?" She said, still looking into the pack. "I just found it all over time. I don't need any of it, so I brought it here." he replied, zipping the pack up. They conversed some more, and the man was deemed OK to leave. Julie then asked him his name. "Omega." He said, slowly turning the tent door. "Omega."

Over the next month, Omega would come back now and again, bringing more much needed supplies. And, over time, Julie found that whenever he came by, she would make a beeline right to him. They would talk for a while about a multitude of things; life, the wasteland, medicine, people, his adventures. But it seemed that he never said much about his childhood. Julie decided that she would not press the issue.

Julie noticed that whenever he came by, her heart would soar, she would be instantly happy, and she felt generally good around him. One day, after he had brought in a crate full of medical supplies, she asked him if he would like to join the Followers. He had great medical skill, he had done so much, and Julie felt like it was time. He accepted, and just before he left, Julie asked him one more question. "Can I come with you into the wastes?" she asked tentatively. He stopped, turned, and looked at her confused. "You want to come out into the wastes with me?" he asked.

"Yes. I want to see the wasteland and try to help out who I can out there. You travel everywhere and see everything." She said, looking him in the eye. He stood there, deep in thought for a moment then replied, "Fine. But you will need a few things. Take my pack and this list. Don't worry about the gun or ammo; we will take care of that." She looked at the list. Most of it was easy stuff: Her will, next of kin, combat knife, five days worth of food and water, four med-x, four stimpacks, sunglasses, a kind of hat, and some extra clothes. "Now," he told her, "I will be back tomorrow at 4:00am. Get some sleep, you'll need it." And with that, he left. Julie was quick to get what she needed and before long, it was about nine pm. She decided that she was going to try to sleep, but found it hard to do. Her mind kept racing about all that would happen. She would be able to travel with Omega and his other companions that he mentioned before. When she finally fell asleep, it felt like moments passed when she woke up. It was 3:30 in the morning, so no one was awake yes. She quietly brought out her pack to the entrance of the fort, and went over to Arcade's tent. She left him a not explaining everything, and said that he was now in charge. At exactly 4 AM, Omega appeared from the shadows, clad in a duster and a cowboy hat. "Well, are you ready?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Yes, everything is set" She replied with a smile. They left the fort, then Freeside. It was the first time in two years that she had left Freeside, and she was looking around for about five minutes until Omega called her over. "Ok, we got about a 15 minute walk, and then we'll be at camp." He said, looking at the horizon. They walked in silence for a while until they had reached what seemed like a small mountain. "Right up there?" She asked. "You got it. Here I'll help you up." He said. It took those about five extra minutes to get up the pile of rocks, and when they did, Julie saw what lay behind it. There was a small dip in the hill, an in it contained two tents, a small fire, and what looked like two people. Looking closer, Julie realized that it was two people plus a floating robot. "That must be ED-E." She thought. They descended, and walked into the small camp. Julie could hear the soft music of a radio playing, see the flame of the fire, and smell what must have been cooking meat. "Everyone," Omega said once they reached the bottom, "This is Julie Farkas. Julie, the lady in the robes is Brotherhood scribe Veronica" Veronica came bouncing up, shook her hand and said something about no longer being the only girl in the group, and Boone came over, shook her had and said a quick hello. Something was off about him, but Julie shook it off. She then wondered where the robot was, found it on the other side of the fire, but it just floated there.

Everyone sat down while Boone tended the meat on the fire, and Omega answered every question Julie had. "Boone is our sniper and is quiet, so I wouldn't try to get in touch with him. Veronica here wants to study people, and has a nasty punch. ED-E has great sensors and can detect anything within 500 feet, and now that you're here, I won't be strained for medical work. We try to help where we can, and we generally drift wherever." He finished as Boone passed out the food. Grilled mantis and Nuka-Cola. Pretty simple. "Alright people, time to plan." Omega said, pulling out a map, everyone scooted closer to hear better as Omega unwrapped said map. "OK, we are here. We need to go, here" he said, pointing at a mark on the map labeled 'I88 Trading Post'. Boone, Julie, take down the tents and lets head out.