Fallout: Crusaders of the Brotherhood
Part I: Chapter 2
Paladin Ramos took a look at the prisoner. The captive was staring at the ground while two Paladins stood next to him, standing guard. The guy's hair was unkept, his face was unshaven, and a thin layer of dust and sweat coated most of his face. He looked like he had just been through one hell of a journey.
All eyes were watching the captive carefully. Ramos moved his focus to the confiscated equipment that was lying on the ground next to one of the Knights. There was a pip-boy, some sort of silenced assault rifle, and a modified combat helmet.
Ramos to a look at the pip-boy. He wasn't sure what model it was, but one of the scribes could probably tell him which series it belonged to. Though pip-boys were not immediately threatening and dangerous technology, it could be used as a useful tool for any of those who wished to bring harm to anyone else, making it fair game for the Brotherhood.
The paladin then picked up the modified assault rifle to take a closer look at it. It was a silenced variant of the R91 series, a rifle model that was rather rare in these parts of the wastes. According to one of the scribes who had discovered a small cache of them in California, the silenced variant was popular among the pre-war Special Forces. The Brotherhood didn't normally confiscate conventional guns, but anyone who was in possession of a silenced firearm and didn't have a license issued by the New Vegas Military or any other organization or institution recognized by the Brotherhood often had their silenced weapons confiscated.
The last piece of equipment stood out among the rest.
"Hmm," said Paladin Ramos as he picked up the modified helmet, "conventional combat helmet with what looks like a T-45a eye piece for which appears to be used as a pair of goggles, and an air filtration mask that covers the bottom half of the face."
Paladin Ramos looked up smugly at the prisoner, "I'm guessing this helmet has undergone a few…modifications since it left the factory lines before the war."
The Paladin looked at the prisoner again. He was wearing some sort of reinforced trench coat or duster. Ramos moved closer to get a closer look at the captive's apparel.
"Let's see," remarked Ramos as he examined the prisoner's armor, "Worn out trench coat draped over leather type armor…Oh! And what is this?"
Ramos grabbed on to one of the captive's armored shoulders, shaking the prisoner from the armored plate. The sarcasm and mockery was clear in the Paladin's voice.
"A T-45a shoulder plate used to protect the left shoulder and a T-51b used to protect the right!" Ramos let go of the prisoner, "Don't tell me let me guess, you just 'found' those pieces of power armor lying around somewhere."
The prisoner said nothing.
"I must say, I got to hand it to ya," remarked Ramos as he paced away from the prisoner, "This is all a pretty clever bastardization of Brotherhood technology. If you really are one of us, you better have one hell of an excuse for doing this to your armor, soldier."
The prisoner finally looked up from the spot that he was starring at on the ground. A clear 'fuck you' was written across his face.
"Tell me, what's your rank?" asked Paladin Ramos.
The stranger said nothing, but continued to stare at his inquisitor. After a short silence, Ramos charged up towards the prisoner.
"I'm not going ask you again!" demanded Ramos, raising his voice and getting in his captive's face, "What is your rank, soldier?"
The prisoner didn't even blink at the Paladin's attempt to look intimidating.
"Sentinel," responded the prisoner coolly. There was a small pause among the crowd of Brotherhood soldiers; some of them began muttering to one another.
"Sentinel?" repeated Ramos, "That rank hasn't been occupied in at least a century. What chapter do you belong to?"
"East."
"East? East where? As far as I know, this chapter is as far east as the Brotherhood extends. Where the hell are you from?"
The prisoner continued to stare at Paladin Ramos in silence. Ramos considering pointing a gun at the prisoner's head to see if he would start talking, but quickly decided against it. This guy seemed like he had seen his fair share of guns pointed at his head before. Doing that now wouldn't make any difference to him. Besides, the real interrogation was supposed to happen at Helios 1, not out in the middle of the desert.
"Alright men," said Ramos, signaling the knights and paladins to get in formation, "We're moving the prisoner to the power station, get in your positions and stay alert."
It was getting late. The sun was starting to set now. Veronica started making her way to the boarding area of the 188. She didn't manage to scavenge anything recently that was worth enough to pay for a bed in the shack for a night, so she would have to settle for one of the mats outside. The mats outside were free, but they were a first come, first serve deal; so unless she wanted to sleep in the dirt or the on the cement on the eroding highway, Veronica was going to have to find a mat before sundown. She started to approach an empty mat when a voice called out to her in the distance.
"Veronica!"
Veronica turned around to see a set of power armor jogging towards her, holding some piece of pre-war tech.
"Veronica, Paladin Ramos wanted you to identify the model of this pip-boy. He said it would save him some time."
Veronica recognized the voice underneath the Helmet, "Stanton? Is that you?"
"Yeah!" said the eager voice underneath the helmet, "I just earned my armor a few months ago, I'm a Kight now."
"Good for you," said Veronica with a smile as she stretched out a hand, offering to examine the pip-boy. Though she didn't see him much, even before she left the Brotherhood, she had always been on friendly terms with Stanton. He was one of the few members of the Brotherhood who could honestly say that he was sad to see her go.
Veronica looked down at the pip-boy and instantly recognized the model. She had spent about three months following a man around the Mojave who had the exact same model.
"It's part of the 3000 series," stated Veronica handing the device back to the rookie Knight.
"Thanks," said Stanton, "and Paladin Ramos said to give you this for your trouble."
The former initiate stretched out his hand and dropped five caps into Veronica's palms. At first, Veronica thought she shouldn't accept the small reward, but decided against it when she realized that she would need money to eat tomorrow if she didn't want to spend any of her reserve caps.
"Tell Ramos I said thanks," said Veronica, "and it was good seeing you again, Stanton."
"Likewise"
As she watched Stanton make his way back to the large group of soldiers of what must have been the escort party transporting the prisoner to Helios I, Veronica couldn't help but feel sorry for the captive.
'Poor guy,' thought Veronica, 'imprisonment and possibly extreme interrogation, all because of a pip-boy he was using.'
Veronica turned around to see an old man in brahmin skin overalls take the last mat outside the boarding house.
"Aw crap."
A/N: Okay, so I know this is a really short chapter. The next few are going to be that way. For me, when it comes to writing, a chapter is done when its done. I don't specifically shoot for any sort a word count. A chapter is done when I feel the scenes have been completed. Fortunately, chapter 3 is basically done, I just have to polish it, and chapter 4 is now in progress.
I want to thank the people who have checked my grammar and pointed out some of the mistakes. Also, thank you for the feedback; it always helps me stay motivated to keep writing. As always, keep pointing out my mistakes so I can correct them, and any feedback would be much appreciated.