Author's Note: Sorry if the past couple of chapters have seemed a bit boring, and I apologize if this one seems a little boring, too. It gets more exciting, don't worry! Minor spoiler, the journey to Novac will be especially entertaining to some. But that won't happen for quite some time. For now, enjoy the next couple of chapters centering around Primm!

"Damn it all." The young Courier cursed as she holstered her Laser Pistol, staring down at the body of a young man. She didn't want to kill him, but he'd tricked her into braving an entire pack of Geckos, just so he could get to a stash of supplies on a cliff. He attempted to kill her, but she was too quick. Now she was down to one full clip in her 10mm from all the shooting she'd had to do, so she'd switched to her Laser Pistol. She honestly preferred using it. Just one clip provided her with thirty shots, while her 10mm only held a clip of twelve. The fact that the weapon had a tendency to turn enemies into piles of ash also helped. Out of all of her weapons (she had been presented with a worn-out 9mm submachine gun from Doc Mitchell before leaving town, and also had a .357 Magnum revolver that she'd looted from Joe Cobb's body), the Laser Pistol was easily her favorite.

She made her way up to the cliff where the supplies were, finding a corpse among a mattress, ammunition box, and a refrigerator. She checked the body, finding thirteen caps, but no useful supplies. The ammunition box held, to her relief, another clip of 10mm ammunition and even a 10mm pistol.

"Good," she said aloud to herself. "I can repair mine with this, if I ever need to." She placed the ammo and the spare pistol in her pack, before making her way up to the fridge. After disarming another trap, she opened the fridge to find some old fruit, a bottle of Whiskey, and a bowl of stew that smelled as though it had been in there for weeks. She only took the whiskey, closing the door quickly after being assaulted by the smell of the rotting food. She descended back down the hill, and eventually found her way back to the main road.

"Okay...Follow this road south, then head east. Shouldn't be too difficult." She commented to herself as her feet touched the worn pavement. She began to walk, and after walking about a mile, she began to hear growling. She drew her Laser Pistol, looking around warily, before seeing a Coyote not more than a yard or so west from her position. Upon further inspection, she noticed the Coyote's left leg was caught in a bear trap. She felt bad for the animal, and cautiously made her way forward. It growled as soon as it saw her, and snapped its jaws threateningly.

"I won't hurt you." Alessa said calmly, moving towards it slowly, holstering her weapon. Once close enough, she attempted to disarm the bear trap. It didn't take long at all to free the animal, which limped a foot away from the trap, then fell onto the ground, as though giving up. She frowned, moving over to it. Its leg was badly mangled from the trap, and it looked as though it had lost quite a bit of blood.

"Even a Stimpak won't save you, huh? Poor thing." She said solemnly, genuinely feeling bad for the creature. It merely looked at her, then looked blankly ahead of it, breathing slowly. Alessa removed her magnum, aiming for the coyote's head, and pulled the trigger. The shot hit its mark, putting the creature out of its misery. She sighed, holstering her weapon again, and continued on her way.

* . * . * . * . * . *

"Dammit!" Alessa cursed, limping behind a large rock, holding her now injured leg. As her luck (or lack thereof) would have it, she ran into a group of Powder Gangers. They managed to hit her twice in the leg, but she took one of them down. There were at least three left. She bit her lower lip as she removed a Stimpak from her bag, stabbing the needle into her leg, hissing at the brief pain. Her wounds would slowly heal, the bullet casings simply being pushed out of her body. She sighed in relief as the pain slowly faded, and stood quickly, aiming her pistol in the direction of the men. She was surprised to find that they were already dead, a hulking, boxy figure wheeling towards her. It could only be one thing.

"You need to be careful!" Victor called to her. "It's dangerous out here!"

"Victor?" Alessa was surprised. She'd thought the robot was back in Goodsprings. "How did you know I was in trouble?" She asked.

"Heck, I can smell trouble a mile away." She could swear his monitor flickered to a winking cowboy face. She smiled, resting her hands on her hips.

"Some trick without a nose." She joked. Victor chuckled.

"Heh. I like you, Friend. I mention that?"

"No, but it's nice to know someone's watching out for me." Victor smiled.

"Well'p, I'd better get back to m'post. I'll seeya around, Buckaroo." Alessa smiled in return.

"See you, Victor." The robot wheeled off back towards Goodsprings, and Alessa continued on her way.

* . * . * . * . * . *

After getting attacked by at least ten Geckos along the way, Alessa sighed in relief as she spotted what looked to be a military outpost. A flag flew on an old pole, a white flag with a picture of a two-headed bear. She was in the midst of questioning the significance of such an image when a man began to head in her direction. He was clad in simple brown fatigues. She wondered if he was NCR.

"Hey, where do you think you're goin'?" The man asked sternly. "Primm is off limits." Alessa frowned at this news.

"What's happening in Primm?" She asked.

"A bunch of convicts from the prison up the road have overrun the town. We believe most, if not all of the inhabitants are dead or in hiding."

"Well," Alessa replied. "I'm a Courier for the Mojave Express, and I need to get to their headquarters here. I'm not asking that someone accompany me into the town, but I'm also not just going to stand here." She crossed her arms. "And shouldn't you be protecting the town?"

"Primm isn't part of our jurisdiction." The soldier replied. "If you have an issue with how we're handling things, you can talk to Lieutenant Hayes. He's in the big tent back there." The soldier pointed a few yards behind him to a camp area, where a few other soldiers sat.

"I think I will do just that." Alessa soon began to head towards the camp, looking around. The soldiers there looked exhausted. They must have been there for quite a while, she reasoned. As she approached the campsite, she noticed one soldier leaning against a wooden blockade. She approached him slowly.

"Excuse me." She asked, and he looked up.

"Hm?" The man seemed tired, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Yes. I'm Sergeant McGee, NCR Army, 5th Battalion, First Company. Something I can do for you?"

"Yes." Alessa said in return. "A few things, actually. First, I need to know how to get to the Mojave Express headquarters. Second, I would like to speak to your commanding officer. A Lieutenant Hayes, I believe his name is?" McGee nodded, pointing her in the direction of a large tent, with a door made of flattened scrap metal.

"Lieutenant Hayes is in there. Now, about the Express...I don't recommend you go in there alone."

"Why's that?" She asked.

"Well, I dunno if you've heard, but there was a break-out in the prison a ways north of here. A large group of convicts from the prison came and took over the town. They're armed, and very dangerous." Alessa shrugged, crossing her arms as she leaned against another wooden blockade beside the one McGee was leaning on.

"Well, I don't know if -you've- heard, but the town of Goodsprings experienced something similar. I helped the inhabitants of the town fight off a group of these convicts. Besides, I need information from the man who runs the Mojave Express, and I need it now." She could tell McGee didn't buy her story, and she didn't entirely blame him. She didn't exactly look threatening, wearing glasses that made her eyes look like dinner plates, and clad in a slightly torn Vault suit with very simple armor attached.

"Well, don't say we didn't warn ya." McGee replied. "Go across the bridge around the corner there." he pointed towards the street a few yards northeast of their position. "Just be careful. We got mines set up to keep the convicts out."

"Right. Message received." She acknowledged, and got up. "Thank you for your help, Sergeant McGee. I'll be back." She headed towards the bridge, carefully avoiding the three frag mines that were set there, and made her way towards a large brick building with a large, neon sign on the side reading "Mojave Express."

She entered the building with her .357 revolver drawn, but found no one in the building. A dead body lay outside, with a delivery order similar to hers, which told her she wasn't the only one making strange deliveries to the Strip. The other man in question, a Daniel Wyand, had been ordered to deliver two oversized dice, composed of a strange, fuzzy material. His package was not on him, and she wondered if the delivery was successful. She closed the door behind her, examining the room she was in. There were three large mailboxes in the main room, and a counter in front of the door littered with junk, a wall of small mail slots behind it. A beat-up, round robot of sorts lay there with bits of scrap metal and a wrench. She decided she'd take a look at it after surveying the rest of the room. Behind the office was a small living quarters, with a dinner table, stove, fridge, a large bed with two nightstands, two wardrobes, and a footlocker at the foot of the bed. Someone lived here, but she didn't know who. Probably the owner of the Mojave Express, she reasoned. She turned back to the counter where the robot lay, looking it over. It had been damaged by some kind of explosion, judging by the burns its armor sustained. She soon set to work, opening it up to check the internals. All it really needed were a couple sensor modules and new electronics on the inside, and some scrap metal to fix the patches of plating that had been burned. She had the components, having scavenged them from an old motor home with radio equipment flooding it, and she knew she could get it running again. It would just take some time.

It took about three hours to get the robot's electronics and sensor modules hooked up, but once she connected the last wire, it suddenly sputtered to life. She jumped back in shock as it quickly floated into the air. It had various antennae that seemed to scan in all directions, and a strange horn on its "forehead." Under its faceplate was a strange gun, which she reasoned fired lasers. On its side was a piece of red metal, the letters "ED-E" printed in white.

"Edie, huh?" She commented absently, and the robot turned to face her, analyzing her. It floated a bit closer, circling her. She smiled.

"Alright, then. ED-E, Companion Protocol: Initiate. You're with me, now." The robot chirped in acknowledgement, and moved to her side. "Good. Now, float down here a bit. I need to reattach your casing." Once ED-E's casing had been reattached, Alessa wiped some sweat from her brow.

"Now then. Let's take care of business, shall we?" The robot chirped again, and Alessa exited the building, the little robot floating behind her.