"Semper Fidelis"
(Always Faithful)
-United States Marine Corps (Enclave) motto
Duty
Edge of the Mojave Desert
There was nothing quite like a Brotherhood chapter on the warpath, at least, nothing the wastes had seen so far. In the past, the Brotherhood presence in the wasteland accounted for perhaps a patrol or two, less than a dozen or so men and women in hulking power armor armed with their fearsome pre-war technology. Their appearance was so rare that some even thought of them as a myth, an urban legend spread across the wastes to frighten weary travelers. But with the coming of the Enclave and the Chosen one, those theories were put to rest. The power of the Brotherhood soldier was feared throughout the wastes, and talk flew through the wasteland of Paladins single handedly wiping out towns off the face of the earth with barely a scratch on them. Such was the ferocity and power of the Brotherhood that many had already thought a war with them would result in total defeat.
That defeat seemed more evident for their foes as a battalion of Brotherhood Knights made their way westwards from the Mojave, trailed by columns of pre-war humvees and vehicles as they carried their supplies and weapons with them to their targets in the west. The dust kicked up by the columns of power armored troops spread for miles around. Any raider party, or super mutant band stupid enough to get in their way ended up as roasted corpses on the wasteland. As dozens of devoted, and confident Brotherhood soldiers made their way through the Mojave Desert.
Times had changed, even if the warfare itself hadn't. The Tribals had banded together, not only succeeding in recovering some lost technology themselves, but organizing themselves into cities and states. Even the most hard line and conservative members realized that the days of Brotherhood Knights single handedly taking on entire villages and cities were long gone. Organized militaries, in the form of the Shi Empire and the New California Republic had taken root, and were growing, fast. For the Brotherhood, the isolation meant that they were cut off from the fresh pool of recruits that were available to these republics, as well as the power structures that came into fruition. Yet, that was fine with the Brotherhood.
Despite all the odds, and all the dangers, the knights remained supremely confident, not only in their elders, but in themselves. They were still the deadliest force in the Wastes with the eradication of the Enclave, armed with the best weapons and equipment. Above all, they were loyal. To the ideals of their order and to each other.
"Paladin Commander, how far until our destination?" Paladin Vincent Santangelo
Paladin McNamara, his cape flowing behind his augmented power armor, tapped the HUD inside his power helmet. "A few more clicks west, then we will strike in support with Elder Hail's forces in Shady Sands." The Senior Paladin nodded, then waved his men onward as more columns of the Mojave Knights marched past, each armed with gatling lasers and plasma rifles. An eager Initiate Ramos waved towards the two commanders, while they watched the steel wave move westwards.
"We should be making contact with the NCR soon." Santangelo offered. "Border's just up ahead, should I get the scouts to see if we can round up any prisoners?"
Nolan nodded. "Yes, we'll need all the information we can get. If anything, the NCR is in too much disarray for even their border outposts to be on alert."
Santangelo saluted, already tapping the wireless communications tool inside his power helmet and ordering a detachment of knights in recon armor forward. "We will not disappoint sir." The Paladin turned as he prepared to rejoin his column.
"Wait, Vincent. A favour." Nolan raised his arm to stop his friend.
"Sir?"
"When our chapter does go forward, and we will. I need you to stay back from the fighting."
Vincent grinned beneath his power armor helmet. "Why is that?"
"Elder Elijah's orders too. You have a habit of being a bit impetuous. Which is fine for an aggressive squad leader, but not for this. This won't just be one battle, but a campaign. And I'll need all my commanders alive and kicking if we're going to make it out of this in the long haul."
The Paladin seemed to shrug his giant power armored shoulders in response. "Can't lead from behind."
"You've got a child coming don't you? Think of your wife as well. I'm asking you, as a friend, but I'm ordering you as your Paladin Commander. If I should fall, you're next in line. Hardin's a good man, but he doesn't have the temperament I prefer in my subordinates. Which is why I need you to stay back. Take care of yourself."
Paladin Santangelo protested, his tone grave and firm. "I'm fighting for my family as much as I am fighting for Elder Maxson's words, just like you, Nolan. What's the use if my child is born into a world where the corrupt and irresponsible run things? I sure as well wouldn't sit back. And I know you wouldn't either."
A tense silence followed between the two comrades in arms.
Vincent finally, offered a concession. "but I'll take your words into consideration."
"All I ask my friend, all I ask." Nolan replied.
"So our target is Shady Sands?" Vincent asked, wanting to divert the conversation elsewhere.
"Negative, Paladin General Sword is directing us towards an NCR facility, converted into an emergency bunker for presidential level VIPs. He believes the NCR will move their vital personnel to that area while Shady Sands is attacked by Elder Hail's chapter."
"Almost sixty Knights to take down this one facility?" Vincent asked incredulously. "This must be some target."
"You bet." Nolan replied. "It's is an old pre-war facility, built to withstand a nuclear bomb. But we know it as Vault 15."
"Vault Clearing." Paladin Santangelo said quietly, if there was one thing worse than urban warfare, where the ground favoured the defenders, it was Vault Clearing. Some of the Vault-Tec vaults had automated defenses, designed to protect the inhabitants against high tech infiltration and attacks by Chinese forces. With any luck, the dumb tribals of the NCR would have either destroyed them or be too ignorant to use them, but either way, a vault was a dangerous place to fight. Close quarters, bottlenecks, and possible traps around each corner. Any invader would have to pay for ground by inches.
Paladin McNamara nodded grimly. A Vault-Tec Vault was supposed to be unassailable, perhaps the most secure location available in the wastes.
Now, the Brotherhood would have to crack one of these open.
Shady Sands
A barrage of gunfire greeted the Brotherhood Paladins as they advanced steadily onto the Presidential Plaza. The NCR Rangers, and the elite presidential guard putting up the only decent resistance in the city as the rest of the Order swept through the streets like a plague. Burning wreckage and bodies of brown garbed soldiers lay strewn on the ground, while the wounded cried out for help and water under the blaze of gunfire.
As the streets of Shady Sands burned, Elder Hail leaned back into the chair of his command bunker, the headquarters of the downtown chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. Around him, scribes coordinated the movements of the Brotherhood squads as they lay a swath of righteous destruction through the very heart of the NCR. The telemetric data had been relayed down onto a holomap of the entire city, denoting the location of each of his fifteen individual squads and keeping track of his troops down to the platoon level. The downtown core was under Brotherhood control, while several pings on the borders of the city walls denoted the presence of the raiders and Khans attacking the NCR perimeter.
Elder Hail grumbled uneasily as he heard of High Elder Maxson's decision to enlist the Khans. He was pragmatic enough to know that anything that diverted attention and troops away from his operations was a godsend, but the Khans and raiders represented everything vile that he hated about the tribal wastes. He reminded himself that he would be sure to deal with them after the situation with NCR had been cleared.
The war had been an interesting one so far. One of many contrasts. Historically speaking, it was the heavily armored formations that were the slowest while light armored enemies had the advantage of mobility. Thanks to the Brotherhood jamming frequencies, and the superior command and control facilities the Brotherhood had in hand, they were more mobile than their lightly armored foes, who were tied up in layers of bureaucracy.
Another interesting aspect so far was the fact that urban warfare highly favoured the defender, but his heavily armored and outnumbered paladins stood the best chance by fighting in the very streets of the NCR's home towns. If they were out in the open wastes, with the NCR light infantry and cavalry formations, they would be easily cut off and surrounded. Yes, this was an interesting war, of many contrasts.
He nodded with approval, quietly praising High Elder Maxson's strategic decisions. Already he had received reports of the Vice President and his staff heading towards the NCR's military fallback position at Vault 15. Paladin General Sword had already informed Hail that four companies of the Mojave Chapter were headed over there.
Everything in the operation was proceeding smoothly. It would take a divine act to stop this advance now.
The holomap lit up, and the image of a Power armored soldier in front of a blazing complex appeared. "Paladin Commander. Assault the Presidential Suite. I want President Tibbett alive if possible."
"Your will Elder Hail."
"Madame President, get DOWN!" Chief Elise jumped as she pinned President Tibbett down from running across a window. Sure enough, the entire section of the wall exploded into shards of glass and plaster as heavy minigun rounds pummeled the wall into swiss cheese.
Joanna Tibbett was shaking, this was her first experience in a combat zone, having been lifted out of her daily peaceful routine just twenty minutes ago. Her hair was disheveled, and dust and grime covered her face as soot and rubble shook from the rooftops of the building.
Crawling on all fours, the president and her party made it to the hallway, while Elise's rangers took up firing positions at the windows, pouring carbine fire into the street in hopes of warding off Brotherhood fire.
Elise took a quick peek out the window, her heart sinking in her chest as she realized the forward barricades had been overrun, the corpses of policemen and presidential guardsmen still smoking from the laser burns.
Through the smoke, the heavily armored Knights advanced once more.
Elise turned to the president. "Ma'am, we're almost at the roof. Take Bear Force One and evacuate as planned, the contingency is to get you to the Boneyard, we have a fallback position in place."
President Joanna Tibbett watched in shock as the Brotherhood soldiers advanced upon the front door, like cloaked revenants from hell.
"MA'AM!" Elise shook the president again.
"Sorry…you're right." President Tibbett shook her head, clearing her thoughts back to the moment. "We'll evacuate, but once we're clear I want you and your soldiers to withdraw."
"Can't say I'll obey it ma'am, running ain't in my nature." Elise smirked. "But we'll be fine. Head west and get us help. We'll hold these cocky sons of bitches as long as we can. Now go!"
The President nodded, and already ran towards the stairway to the rooftop, where the engines of green tinted Vertibird Bear Force One were warming up.
"Godspeed Ma'am!" Elise saluted, then quickly shouldered her lever action rifle. The last of the Presidential guards in the courtyard had finally succumbed to the Brotherhood attack, and the courtyard temporarily filled with an eerie silence.
"Let's show these Brotherhood Fucks how the Bear does business."
The reinforced doors of the Executive building groaned under the weight of the Brotherhood explosives. Inside the lobby, a makeshift barricade of desks and chairs was manned by several nervous guards and the NCR rangers.
"I want all Rangers! On me! Clear the door!" Elise shouted as she loaded several .45 caliber rounds into her repeater rifle, calmly walking down the stairs to take her place in the first floor hallway. Around her, the remnants of the presidential guard had set up firing positions in the lobby.
"Ma'am, we're locked and loaded." An NCR Ranger in composite armor saluted as he approached her, his raspy voice and decayed flesh revealing that he was a Ghoul.
"Rusty, what took you so long?" Elise smirked. There were many commanders in the NCR who still held prejudices against Ghouls and Super Mutants, preferring to keep their battalions understrength then take them on board, but Elise was one of those who cared nothing about background, nationality or race. To her, the only qualification that got you into the rangers was the ability to kill as many slavers and wasteland scum as you could. And in those categories, Ghouls and Supermutants, with their augmented strength and decades worth of combat experience, proved to be the ultimate recruits.
"Sorry Boss." Rusty saluted with a slight sneer on his rotting features. Despite her hard ass attitude, he had a healthy respect for her since the time he recruited her in the Rangers. "Your plan called for an unholy amount of explosive ordinance, took awhile for the men to gather them up."
"Just as well. Is Chauncey ready?" Elise said just as she finished loading the final bullet into her repeater rifle.
The room shook again, loosening more dust and soot from the roof while the Rangers and Presidential Guards leveled their weapons at the door.
"He's prepped Ma'am. All he needs is the signal." The ghoul rasped.
"Good, because once the president is clear. We'll need him to pull our asses out of the fire."
Elise managed to find the time to even light a cigarette, calming her nerves as the Brotherhood slammed the door once more. To her, this was just like fighting the slavers, only the Brotherhood had another kind of slavery in mind. Technological slavery, keeping the best for themselves while giving nothing but scraps to others in exchange for their allegiance and obedience. It was no different than the scum who sold people's flesh, the only difference being that the slavers at least were honest about what they were doing.
"Ma'am, they're breaching!" A presidential guard shouted.
"Everyone down!"
The doors shattered.
Chunks of steel and shrapnel rained through the lobby as men and women were blinded by the massive blast of the Brotherhood lasers. Several screamed, while others fired blindly, while the rangers held firm. Through the smoke, the power armored shapes sent a jolt of fear through every NCR soldier in the lobby.
For a moment, the entire NCR squad froze in paralyzed fear, as if they were still registering the threat in front of them. They had heard the legends, the terrible ghost stories of the invincible Brotherhood Knights that had shattered not only the Super Mutant Army, but the Enclave as well. Now, they were here to address the NCR's best and humble them like so many others.
Yeah right.
Elise stood up from the barricade, giving the Brotherhood Knights a one fingered salute.
"FRAG OUT!"
Half a dozen grenades propelled themselves towards the knights, while rangers rolled more on the ground from behind desks and barricades. The NCR troopers, snapped out of their daydream, all ducked.
The world suddenly shook, and a bright flash engulfed the front lobby as shrapnel and explosions knocked back the first Platoon of Brotherhood Knights. Two power armored figures lay crumbled and burned on the ground, their armor charred black, while four more lay in various states of disorientation. Behind them, another Platoon was advancing, plasma and laser rifles raised.
"Fire at will!"
The entire NCR garrison suddenly cut loose, lighting up the entire hallway. From outside, NCR snipers in the windows took pop shots at the advancing Brotherhood. Elise felt the stock of her repeater slam into her shoulder, tenderizing it. But she had fired four armor piercing rounds into the torso of a Brotherhood Paladin, who reeled back in shock as his fingers tried covering the bloody holes in his rented armor, before finally collapsing.
The other guards and rangers fired a mixture of repeaters and shotgun shells. Though the rangers were firing measured, controlled bursts, the guards, clearly unnerved by the presence of so many Brotherhood of Steel Knights, fired wildly. The stress and fear throwing off their aim and nerves, some guardsmen continued firing even after their weapons clicked empty.
Beams of red light and bolts of green plasma flowed into the room. One of the NCR guards heads exploded, throwing bits of armor and bone off Elise's armor. Another guard was disintegrated on the spot, the lasers kickstarting a chemical reaction in his body that steamed away all the moisture in his body, reducing him to ash and bones. Another guardsman screamed in pain as a laser amputated his arm into a steaming stump.
"For the Brotherhood!" One of the Paladins screamed, as another Platoon breached the entranceway, spreading out into the lobby. An NCR guardsmen tried meleeing the Knights as they reached the barricade, but his neck was quickly dislocated by a power armored punch to the temple.
"Balls." Elise spat as she reloaded her repeating rifle, giving it a good cock before blowing the brains out of another Steel Paladin that got too arrogant for his own good.
"Ma'am! We gotta fall back!" Wellis, a presidential guardsman, shouted into Elise's ear above the roar of gunfire.
Rusty the Ghoul was beside him, shouting for ammo as he fired his trail carbine into the horde of Steel soldiers. The NCR did a good job of accounting for themselves but even they were at risk of being overwhelmed.
"We hold out as long as we can! We're not moving from this spot until I hear that Vertibird take off!" Elise said grimly, firing even as the wall next to her exploded from a laser blast.
Guardsman Wellis' features darkened, but he nodded. "Then we'll be here when the sun goes down ma'am!" he said grimly, firing more bursts from his assault rifle even as more Brotherhood swarmed into the lobby.
Shady Sands was a well fortified community, protected from the hazards of the wastes by state of the art technology that had thought to have been available only to the Brotherhood just a decade ago. Around the city of fifty thousand, were miles of laser fences, motion detectors and auto turrets, all imported from the sister state and member nation of Vault City. With such advanced technologies at its disposal, the risk of being attacked by raiders was a worry of the past.
Until now.
Private Dan Griffiths watched in horror as the entire desert outside Shady Sands came to life. The barracks of the outskirts garrison coming to a flurry of activity as alarms wailed. The troops had received orders to mobilize and head to the downtown core, to assist their beleaguered comrades against the Brotherhood of Steel. At first Dan couldn't believe it, but the smoking columns emerging from downtown spoke otherwise. The second unfortunate surprise of the day came in the form of a cloud of dust from the East.
Clouds of dust to be precise, in the form of dozens of pre-war motorbikes and buggies.
"Oh God." He whispered, just as several spears of rockets slammed into the frontline garrison. With the power station down, the laser fences, the auto turrets, the motion sensors, they were all decativated. Shady Sands was wide open to attack.
"Raiders!" Another soldier shouted unnecessarily, and Griffiths readied his rifle even as the roar of motorbike engines and the howling of raider Khans filled the air.
The NCR Halls of Congress were less guarded than the presidential offices ever were. Manned mostly by a garrison of conscripts and REMFs, the Brotherhood Knights breached the building with ease.
Knight Captain Aiden and his squad advanced quickly through the clean halls and rooms, leaving behind a trail of wreckage and death in their wake. The men and women of the San Francisco chapter did their work admirably, firing and covering each other as they advanced in squads.
Around the legislative chamber, gunshots and screams erupted as fleeing civilians, government officials, and soldiers tried to escape. On the floor, lay dozens of congressman, killed in the crossfire. A smattering of paper fluttered in the air as gunfire blazed across the chambers.
"I want this building cleared of all enemy troops." Aiden said coldy, a glimmer of distaste in his mouth as he regarded the civilian dead around him. "Any members of the government you can capture, bring them to me."
The stealth knights saluted, before turning on their steath boys and vanishing into the next rooms.
He then turned to the rest of his men.
"Alpha squad, on me, it's time we clear out the rest of the NCR and claim this place in the name of Maxson."
"For Maxson!" The Knights shouted."
To say Vice President Frank Carlson was not in a good mood, was understating it. For years he had warned Tandi of the impending threat of the Brotherhood of Steel, imploring her to adopt a military solution to what he deemed was an inevitable fight between them and those fanatics. Now, they were paying for it in both men and material. Luckily for him, he had planned for such emergencies.
"Sir!" His escort guard shouted as the VP's humvee rounded a corner in the street, avoiding fleeing civilians along the route. "We've received reports that President Tibbett has boarded Bear Force One. She is lifting as we speak."
So that settles that. Frank thought, there goes his last chance at being president. He gave a dark snicker, but knew that it was probably for the best. At least in the event one of them was killed or captured, he knew the republic would continue on.
"Corporal." He shouted to his military driver.
"Sir?"
"Change of plans. Take me to the Presidential Bunker at Vault 15."
"Are you sure sir? The President expressly said she wanted you at the evac site." The Corporal asked, confused.
Carlson shook his head. "It's best if we remained separate. Doesn't give the Brotherhood one convenient target. As long as one of us is alive, the executive branch, and the war effort, will live on. I can run things from the bunker, and it's the most secure location near here."
"Not my call sir."
"I know son, but please trust me, you will be doing your country a great service." Carlson said, softly.
After a few moments, the corporal relented. "Very well sir, Vault 15 it is."
The gates to the city of Shady Sands exploded from the raider barrage, and through the dust cloud, a swarm of Khan warriors on foot and motorbikes ripped through the checkpoint. The roar of screaming engines and raiders drowned out even the shooting that took place, as the border platoons were overwhelmed.
The remaining NCR in the border posts had holed themselves up in the tower, returning sporadic fire even as the raiders closed in for the kill.
For Chief Bekter, this was a dream come true. He took in with satisfaction: the smell of the dead and burning, the screams of the terrified and dying enemies, savoring it, before moving on to his next target.
PFC Dan Griffiths clutched his rifle tightly, knocking a raider off his motorcycle with three short bursts of fire. The chem-fueled man laughed even as he lost control of his bike, the wheels crushing his head on the ground as the vehicle flipped out of control, exploding into a nearby checkpoint station.
The men and women of the NCR fought bravely, but being without radio communication and outnumbered, they were being overwhelmed. Even as he fired, Griffiths noticed that several NCR troopers were fleeing, only to be shot in the back by the motorbike infantry. The women who had the misfortune to be part of the NCR garrison and wounded were captured, dragged off screaming by Khans and raiders into the barracks with hungry looks in their eyes. Right in the middle of a battle. The whole thing was insane, Griffiths thought, and he tried hard to ignore their screams even as his own position was being pushed back. He cursed himself, knowing that he was going to die and that he was unable to save his comrades from these animals.
"How'd you like that you NCR trash?" One raider laughed hysterically as he aimed his flamethrower at Griffith's platoon, instantly covering his position in a sea of flame that sent more than one NCR trooper screaming. One corporal, set ablaze, screamed wild eyed as he ran towards the Khans firing his rifle, only to be put down by a shotgun blast to his face.
"Die you raider piece of shit!" Private Griffiths shouted, biting the pin off his frag grenade and rolling it towards the flamer wielding raider. Seconds turned to years as the raider registered the threat at his feet.
The resulting explosion ignited not only the flamer tank, but half a dozen other raiders who had the misfortune of standing next to him. Within seconds, all were put down as Griffiths and his three remaining comrades fought on.
"We're surrounded man!" Another private screamed in panic. "They're gonna tear us apart."
"Stow it trooper and fire!" Griffiths loaded his rifle again, firing another three bursts even as the hordes of raiders were finishing off the rest of the garrison. It would only be a matter of minutes before they were overwhelmed.
Then, it all changed.
A monstrous roar of a car engine filled the air of the outpost, and PFC Griffith heard several thumps as a pre-war microfusion humvee slammed into the raider group that was attacking them, throwing their bodies around like ninepins.
The driver of the humvee was a standard NCR ranger, what really set this humvee apart was the flatbed trailer it pulled, on it, was a mounted heavy SAW machine gun, but what was even more amazing was the person manning it. He was big, monstrously big, and wore armor that looked like it was made from strips of old tires and car parts. The bulky muscle and green skin also made him stand out even in the middle of this chaotic battle.
A…super mutant?
PFC Griffiths was even more amazed, as the Super Mutant manning the SAW quickly scythed down the remaining raiders in a hail of gunfire, plopping their corpses into a neat arc that surrounded his humvee.
"The name's Chauncey," The Super Mutant said in his guttural grunting voice. "NCR rangers. Figured you boys needed a lift. "
The NCR Troopers, too stunned to even say anything, simply nodded, and PFC Daniels threw himself onto the trailer, even as the Humvee pulled away from the burning barracks, leaving the shouts and curses of the raiders in the distance.
Bear Force One took what seemed like an eternity to lift off. The pilots running through the final checks even as the landing pad and building shook from the battle erupting in the lobby. Within minutes, the engines roared and the aircraft ascented into the blue sky, which darkened from the columns of black smoke and flame.
Through the window of the Vertibird, President Joanna Tibbett watched with shock and despair as the Hall of Congress and Presidential Offices burned, small armored figures firing laser bursts at her plane. More depressing, the statue of the Vault Dweller, Savior of President Tandi and inspiration to the Republic, lay collapsed on the street in a smoking ruin.
Joanna felt her eyes water as she watched her home burn, but fought back against it, gripping her fist tightly. The Brotherhood had struck, not just at the legacy of Tandi and the Vault Dweller, but at everything the NCR stood for. If the Brotherhood thought that the NCR would take this laying down without a fight. She would show them just how wrong they were.