The desolate expanse of Death Valley was aptly named. The radiated sand was in constant motion as winds swept down from the north, carrying grit through the air in a hissing cloud. Only the toughest and most savage of creatures roamed the wastes in the scorching heat. Deathclaws roamed the hills, adding their roars to the chorus of winds and venturing rarely to the desert floor and never at night. The huge mutants had learned that something else ruled the desert, something that burrowed under the sand in dark tunnels and peered into the night with burning white eyes. For now the desert was silent as its inhabitants hid from the scorching heat, so there were no witnesses when three Vertibirds roared across the sky.
"The air is becoming unstable Colonel." One of the Vertibird pilots announced as he fought with the controls of the aircraft. "We're getting a lot of turbulence from up ahead."
Colonel Royez steadied himself with a hand on the ceiling of the passenger compartment as he watched the masses of blood-red clouds seething ahead. As they had flown across the desert it had become clear that a storm was building over the site where the Sierra Madre was reported to be. He had dismissed all the rumors he had heard of the Sierra Madre, but as they approached it appeared some of the accounts were true. The freak storms that plagued Death Valley he attributed to the nuclear attack long ago. Even now, the fury of that ancient war still twisted and shaped weather across the globe. The storm before them was clearly something very different.
Royez glanced over his shoulder to where Veronica and Dean were packed between armored soldiers in the cramped compartment. Before they took off, Royez had ordered the group separated with the two mutants in Vertibird Four while Veronica and Dean traveled with him in Vertibird Two. Separation was Royez's insurance that it would be impossible to coördinate any plans to escape.
"Looks like the weather hasn't improved in my absence." Dean said with a wince from his cramped seat. "Always dark and storming, like the opening line of a third-rate novel."
Royez turned back to the window with a scowl as the cockpit shook from the buffeting of the wind. The cloud suddenly flashed with lightning, the boom shaking the Vertibird as it echoed through the compartment.
"We're entering the cloud sir!" The pilot shouted as he wrestled with the controls.
Royez leaned forward, his eyes narrowed as he peered into the red murk. Behind him, Dean and Veronica also leaned forward and craned their necks in trying to see out the cockpit. Suddenly a towering art deco façade appeared out of the murk directly in front of them.
"Pull up!" Royez shouted then braced against the wall as the Vertibird tilted hard to the right with a shriek of turbines. Marble walls and black windows flashed past the cockpit then suddenly they were clear. Veronica wrinkled her nose as she became aware of the stink of sulfur pervading the cargo hold.
"Bring it back around!" Royez ordered as he pushed himself upright. The pilot obeyed and the Vertibird circled back and once again the shrouded bulk of the Sierra Madre filled the view from the cockpit.
"No movement reported from Vertribirds three and four." The co-pilot announced.
Suddenly there was a break in the cloud, and for a moment Royez could see the decaying remains of a town spiraling down the slope beneath the cliff, then once again they were lost in the cloud. For a moment, Royez felt the wonder of seeing a sight hidden from the world for two centuries, and then he heard Dean Domino over the whine of the engines.
"Well, well. I never thought I'd see that gilded harlot from this angle."
On hearing Dean's voice, Royez remembered his mission, and felt a surge of anger at risking his valuable aircraft on what appeared to be a wild goose chase to a dead city. He was about to order the Vertibirds out of the cloud when there were a series of flashes from the town below followed by smoky contrails arching into the sky.
"Incoming!" The Pilot shouted as the flaming tail of a rocket filled the cockpit with light as it missed the Vertibird by inches.
"VB Four's been hit!" The co-pilot shouted as the Vertibird shuddered and veered into the cloud.
"Val!" Veronica cried out then doubled over in a fit of uncontrollable coughing.
"Get us out of here!" Royez snapped as the reek of sulfur became chokingly thick.
"Controls are barely responding!" The Pilot shouted back. "Something's wrong with the hydraulics!"
"VB Four is down!" The Co-Pilot reported as the glowing red streaks of tracer fire began to spiral up from the buildings.
"Get us clear!" Royez roared as he braced himself for the inevitable impact. Red slate rooftops whipped by as the Vertibirds swooped over the town in a desperate attempt to escape the kill zone around the ancient casino.
"Brace for a hard landing!" The pilot shouted just before the Vertibird slammed into the cobbled street, its rotors tearing into the stucco walls in an explosion of concrete and steel.
Sparks and smoke filled the crew compartment, as well as the sulfurous red smoke now pouring through rents in the aircraft's armor. Colonel Royez lunged for the main hatch and pulled the release lever. The door opened only an inch before jamming on the bent doorframe. Coughing on the acrid smoke, Royez snarled and drove his armored boot into the door, his servo assisted kick smashing it like a pile driver. The door flew open and Royez and his soldiers leaped into the shattered remains of apartment, its wall torn away by the impact of the Vertibird.
The red cloud was everywhere, and Royez's eyes and throat were burning as he tried to breathe the heavy sulfurous air.
"The town square isn't far Colonel!" Dean shouted, seemingly unaffected by the cloud while he supported Veronica who was gagging and coughing uncontrollably. "The cloud is corrosive! We can't stay in it long!"
Royez turned to his men, seeing that all six had survived the crash and were carrying their heavy weapons. Gritting his teeth against a wave of nausea, the Colonel gestured sharply toward the street visible through a smashed green door. Leading the way, the heavy troopers descended to the street where rubble and the bulk of the Vertibird blocked all progress up the cobbled street. Instead they ran down through the swirling red fog seeking clear air. Abruptly the fog vanished and the found themselves standing in an intersection with a signpost indicating the Town Square lay behind an ornate iron gate. Royez held a fist in the air, halting his squad's progress as he listened and took deep breaths of the foul-smelling but comparatively clear air.
"My, I had forgotten how pervasive that aroma is." Dean quipped as he looked about at the silent two-story stucco buildings surrounding them. Over the rumble of thunder, Royez could hear the distant sound of gunfire.
"VB Four, come in." He said into his throat microphone. "VB Four respond." Static was his only reply and Royez turned and strode to where Dean stood next to a gasping Veronica.
"What is waiting in the Square ghoul?" Royez snarled.
"Haven't a clue." Dean replied with a shrug. "The cloud is nasty but I thought your aircraft could manage. Clearly I was wrong."
"You just cost me three aircraft." Royez growled with fury as he pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Dean's nose less face.
"I don't see what killing me would accomplish." Dean said calmly. "I admit being less than forthcoming about the cloud but it was an honest mistake. I suggest that our time would be better served finding a place to regroup."
The barrel of the pistol didn't waver as Royez fought to control his rage. Suddenly an explosion thundered from the northern slope of the cliffs below the Sierra Madre, jerking the Colonel's attention to a column of black smoke making a dark smear against the seething red mist. Royez rammed his pistol back into its holster and whirled from Dean, motioning his squad toward the road leading to the square.
"Move out!" He ordered as he led the way down the street.
"That was the Vertibird Val was on!" Veronica gasped as she leaned against Domino, her eyes red and streaming.
"Have no fear, I'm sure it will take more than a crash to kill your large friend." Dean said reassuringly as he put his arm over Veronica's shoulders and urged her after the soldiers.
The square was surrounded by a promenade with the second story supported by arched columns. In the center of the cobbled courtyard was a dry fountain decorated with cracked tiles painted like blue and white china. In the center was the flickering blue image of a woman, her hair styled in the fashion of a long-lost era. She stood with a hand on her hip and one of her legs visible through the waist-high slit in her off the shoulder gown. Upon seeing the Hologram, Royez stopped with his fist raised as he eyed it warily. The eerie distant sound of a woman singing echoed about the fountain, the words almost audible over the rumble of thunder.
"Have no fear Colonel." Dean's voice echoed from behind the soldiers standing with their Plasma Cutters and heavy machineguns readied. "Vera's stood at that spot for two-hundred years without a peep. It should be quite safe."
Royez glared over his shoulder, than gestured toward the fountain. As they approached he toggled his throat microphone.
"Veritibird Four, respond." He snapped, but only static answered as a panel suddenly rose from the edge of the fountain and a light projected a new image over the head of "Vera". It was the scowling bearded face of an old man with tangled hair and a piercing gaze.
"Elijah!" Veronica gasped as Dean looked at her with an eyebrow raised in surprise.
"You can forget trying to radio for help." A voice echoed from the speakers around the square. "I'm blocking all your frequencies."
"I am Colonel Royez." The Colonel growled. "And I demand you answer why you have attacked the NCR!"
"Colonel Royez?" Elijah answered with a hint of amusement in his voice. "There's a name I never thought I'd hear again. You led the assault at Helios One I understand."
"I did." Royez snarled. "What of it."
"We've never been introduced." Was the reply. "You can call me Elijah and I was the Elder in command. Obviously my orbital strike didn't kill enough of you. Pity."
"You admit to the attacks?" Royez growled incredulously.
"Of course I do." Elijah replied irritably. "I intend to avenge the humiliation of losing the wealth of the past to you cretins. The fact that you're here is an unexpected bonus. Now this little chat has given my forces a chance to get into position, so now I bid you farewell."
Elijah's image flickered into nothing as hulking shapes suddenly appeared on the rooftops surrounding the square.
"For the Master, and Rhonda!" A mutant bellowed as it waved a browning automatic rifle in one fist, its hairless scalp hidden under a yellow pig-tailed wig.
"Fire!" Royez roared as the mutants bellowed and howled while the troopers raked the rooftops with slugs and searing blasts of plasma. The battle was short and furious. The mutants had the advantage of height and numbers, but their fire was wild and undisciplined. The heavy armor of the NCR soldiers bought them precious seconds as their concentrated return fire dropped one mutant after another. Soon the roar of combat faded into the ghostly echoes of Vera's song as Colonel Royez strode across the courtyard, his armor scored and pitted from the impacts of the mutant's slugs. The leader of their Nightkin attackers lay sprawled on the ground surrounded by blood and shattered tiles from the roof it had fallen from.
"Rhonda?" The mutant moaned, its bloody wig lying next to its head. "Where are you Rhonda? It…It's dark…"
His teeth gritted with fury, Royez pointed his pistol and shot the mutant between the eyes. He then looked up at the Sierra Madre where it towered from the mist-shrouded cliffs. An assault was impossible with his meager force, his only option was to try to regain contact with the crew of VB Three and find a way to bring reinforcements. This "master" had been revealed to be a member of the Brotherhood, and the Sierra Madre far more than a myth. Perhaps now he could get the Brass of the NCR army to listen and take action. But first he had to escape, and for that he needed all the information Dean Domino had. His mouth set in a grim line, Royez looked about the courtyard for the ghoul and the woman.
But they were gone.