Chapter Three

It was a short hour for Patrick and Demon clopping along the ruins of the old Highway north from Waskada. The sun was starting to set as the sleipnir and its rider continued traveling, almost reaching the old Number 3 highway when the drum of hoofbeats in the distance echoed over the quiet, windswept plains. Patrick looked to the west to see five riders, all in the red painted combat armor and brown Stetsons of the RAMP. Patrick grinned as the galloping Sleipnirs at last turned the corner and slowed down as the approached Patrick.

"Morrison!" the leading officer shouted, as they came to a halt right in front of Patrick and Demon. Patrick pulled on the reins, making the Sleipnir stop, snorting at the interruption. The five RAMP men pulled up in front of Patrick, with the leading officer dismounting. Patrick followed suit, pulling Demon behind him by the reins. From the little bit that Patrick knew, this was Lieutenant Joseph (he refused to let anyone know if it was his first or last name, and after years, people have stopped asking), the highest ranking officer in the Melita Detachment. He wasn't overly tall, but his broad shoulders and confident stride were enough to intimidate those that didn't know him. For those that did, he was a friendly guy, known for having a few beers off duty in the town bar. He hadn't been in Melita for more than a year, but he was already respected and looked up to.

"Morrison, I don't even know where to start with you," Joseph started, making Patrick's smile fall. "Charging head on into a dangerous raider encampment without aid, with just a pistol and a bolt action rifle, and somehow managing to defeat the toughest baddy in the district. I don't know if I should arrest you for public endangerment or pin a medal on you." The Lieutenant smiled though, and clapped Patrick on the shoulder. "But I know I will get you a drink when we are done."

Patrick smiled again, but the smile ended when he thought back to Waskada. "I was unable to find the kids though. They might be in the old rink or some nearby farm, but I didn't have time to figure that out. For all I know, the raiders got them out of the town."

The Lieutenant nodded. "We can solve that problem. For now, let's head back to Waskada and see what you actually did."

Patrick and Lieutenant Joseph swung back up on their animals and the small band trotted off back to the south. For the longest time, wind going through the wire between broken hydro poles, the crunch of disintegrated pavement and the snorts and nickers of the equines were the only sounds that filled the silence.

"Shame about your Grandfather, Patrick," Joseph at last said, looking over to the other rider. "For the little I knew, he was a good man."

Patrick was silent, but it kind of comforted him that, even if Harold Morrison was starting to get grumpy and senile in his old age, that he was still well respected by the community. It gave Patrick something to think about as the half dozen men continued toward the burning wreckage of Waskada.

The smell of burning wood, the odour of gunpowder and the stench of blood hung over the ruins of Waskada as the group of men approached. The sun was starting to set in the west as Patrick and the RAMP members finally arrived in the town. They split up, with two officers going to check the west side of the town, two more the south near the old hundred acre park, and Patrick and Lieutenant Joseph searched the School and northern part of the town. They guided their sleipnir's through the overgrown field that was the camp for the raiders that had set up in Waskada until they got to an old railing and tied their animals up there. On foot they continued through the playground, sidestepping the bodies that had been left by Patrick when he first barged his way into the school.

"I still can't believe you took on all these guys yourself," Lieutenant Joseph said, looking at the body of a raider.

"Most of them were drugged up or drunk," Patrick replied. But he remembered the couple close calls they had. Had then been an inch off...

As they got to the Library door, Patrick pulled out his 10mm pistol while the RAMP officer unholstered his standard issue Winnipeg Armoury .44 magnum revolver, the WAR79. With the number of surviving weapons from the Pre-War era decreasing with every year, the Dominion set about to design and build their own firearms a few decades ago. While the 10mm Patrick had was fairly common in the pre-War world and there seemed to be millions of them all over, more powerful weapons were being manufactured from scratch in Winnipeg for the military and personal use. The service rifle Patrick had was one of them.

The two men walked through the school again, but only the bodies of the dead that Patrick dealt with earlier were there. Lieutenant Joseph was surprised at how much Patrick had done by himself.

"I can't believe you did this Patrick," Lieutenant Joseph said again. "Frankly, I have a feeling you would make an excellent Dragoon for the RAMP," the lieutenant said as he rolled over the stiff and cold corpse of the Principal.

"I guess it was adrenaline or something." Patrick replied as he went through some boxes on the other side of the room looking for information on where the kids went. "Wanting to get Zach back might be a reason as well."

Lieutenant Joseph chuckled, before his radio crackled to life. He pulled it off his belt and began talking in it, before giving a few orders, and hanging it back on his hip.

"We found about twenty kids in the basement of one of the houses. Care to join me and we will see if we can find your brother?"

Patrick nodded, and walked with Lieutenant Joseph out of the school and down to the house that the other RAMP said the kids were in. Two of the members were standing guard over the yard that the kids were now huddled in, while the other two were writing down names and where they were from.

"We have Oak Lake, Metigoshe, Saskatchewan Territory, Melita, and a half dozen other places," one officer said as Patrick and the Lieutenant showed up. "Seems to be no rhyme or reason for it though, as why they are all mixed up."

"These kids were the raiders payment for what the did," Patrick said, looking over them. "Zach? Zach, are you here?"

The officer flipped through his book, and once again. "Sorry, no one by that name is here."

Patrick stopped, staring at the officer. "What?"

The RAMP member shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe they are in another house, or they have been carted off. I'm really sorry."

Patrick continued staring at the officer, or rather through him. All that work, and Zach wasn't here.

Patrick's knees buckled, and he nearly fell to the ground. All that work, putting his life on the line… and Zach was gone. And he couldn't do anything about it.

One little kid, a boy not even quite 10 and in dusty, patched clothes, slowly came up to Patrick. "Uh, excuse me, sir," he started, nervously shuffling on his feet. "Um, I just wanted to thank you for getting rid of those bandits."

Patrick slowly looked up into the bright blue eyes of the young boy, and forced a smile. "Thanks."

"There were a bunch of guys that came here last night, caravans. Some were dressed in fancy suits, while others were in those big metal suits," the boy continued. "Maybe your brother went with them?"

Lieutenant Joseph turned around and walked over to the boy and Patrick. "Excuse me, what did you say?"

"Some big men in black suits with those ties came here yesterday, picked out a bunch of us, then a man in big purple robes with two metal giants. They seemed like robots, but they talked like people. Some other people may have come, but I don't know."

The RAMP officer grimaced when he heard that. "As if this wasn't hard enough, I think those Syndicate guys in Brandon took a bunch of the kids, and then the Brotherhood of Steel took more."

Patrick's eyes went wide. "The Syndicate and the Brotherhood? Jesus…" He got up on his feet. "I need to go."

Lieutenant Joseph grabbed Patrick before he walked away. "Don't you even think about going after either one of the them, Morrison. Assiniboia is having enough issues with Brandon and the BoS to have an ordinary citizen try to charge in. The Dominion is overextended everywhere, and the RAMP will not be able to help you if you get into trouble, and if anything it will lead to war. That is the last thing we need right now."

Patrick scowled. "You mean to say that I should just give up on my brother? That I should let him be taken away to do hell knows what to him? I'm not giving up on Zach like that!"

Lieutenant Joseph was about to say something, before the portable radio on the Lieutenant's belt crackled to life. He grabbed the radio and brought it to his mouth. "Joseph here."

"Sir, Commander Mackenzie from Metigoshe is on the line for you. Do you have a long range radio to talk to him?"

Lieutenant Joseph looked at Patrick, who pointed back to the school. "Yeah, we have one. Give me fifteen to get to it,"

"Sir, you are also asked to bring the man that wiped out the raiders as well. The Commander would like to talk to him as well," the dispatcher said, before cutting the line.

"So who is Commander Mackenzie?" Patrick finally asked as they were walking into the school again.

"Commander Elliot Mackenzie is the leading RAMP man here in the District of Turtle Mountain. I've served here for years, and I have to say, he's a man of good intentions and a great leader of men, but he's also been known to be short tempered and brutally frank, especially with those of higher rank than him," Lieutenant Joseph commented. "That's why he's all the out where when officers of similar experience are leading Dragoons into battle or in a higher-prestige district. He should be in Red River North or PorLaPra, not little dinky Metigoshe, no offense."

Patrick nodded, as they walked back into the gym and to the corner of the room with the radio. He twisted the dial until he got to the RAMP channel.

"This is Lieutenant Joseph, RAMP, in Waskada, over," he said into the microphone.

A husky, deep voice came in on the line. "Commander Mackenzie hearing you, loud and clear."

"You wished to talk to me sir?"

"First I want to talk to that… Patrick Maurry you were talking about."

"Morrison, Commander," Lieutenant Joseph corrected. "Patrick Morrison."

"Put him on the line for me, will you?" The commander ordered. The Lieutenant shuffled over and allowed Patrick access to the microphone.

"This is Patrick Morrison, Commander."

There was a pause on the other end. "Sound a lot younger than I expected. How old are you?"

"Twenty, sir," Patrick replied.

Another silence. "From what I hear, you just did a very fool hardy thing, to charge into a town of raiders," the commander replied.

"I've been hearing that a lot in the past few hours," Patrick said, looking over to the stone-faced Lieutenant.

"Well it's true. Anyway, I'm going to cut to the chase. It's no secret that Assiniboia is facing some problems, from raiders and bandits to the Syndicate in Brandon, and, of course, the Brotherhood of Steel. I've been talking it over with the District Reeve, and he agrees that we can use someone of your talents to investigate a few things that we had bubbling up. Nothing serious or dangerous, but the RAMP cannot look into all of these things. Would you be interested?"

Patrick bit his lip and looked around, chewing on his lip. "I didn't do this to be a hero or get a job, you know. I did this to find my brother."

"I understand," the Commander Mackenzie said, with what sounded like genuine understanding, but it was hard to tell over the speakers. "Look, if you help us with these things, I will get a couple officers on the case to do what they can to track down the kids, your brother especially. Believe me, the RAMP do not want to have this mark on our record, that a bunch of children were just taken on our watch. We will do what we can to find them, and we will do all that we can to get them back, I promise."

Patrick thought it over, before at last picking up the mic again. "Commander, I'll help you with what I can, if you can help me."

Patrick could almost hear the smile on the other end of the line. "Excellent! If you can come to Metigoshe as soon as possible, I can give you the details. Can I talk to Lieutenant Joseph for a moment?"

Patrick handed the mic back to the Lieutenant. "If you won't mind just stepping out for a moment please. This is RAMP business."

Patrick nodded and walked out of the gym and down the hallway. Patrick could hear the radio crackle on and off, and the Lieutenant saying something in return, but couldn't make out the words. A few minutes later, the RAMP officer came out of the gym, and motioned to Patrick to follow him as they walked through the school.

"I've been assigned to track down where the rest of the kids went, to the best of my abilities," Joseph said. "So I'll do what I can."

Patrick sighed. "So, it could be weeks before we actually know anything, right? Even though one of the kids said it was the Brotherhood and the Syndicate?"

"I can't tell you what to do Patrick," Lieutenant Joseph said. "Just know that if you go into Brandon, you're a dead man. If you go to the Brotherhood, you will not only be dead, but also most likely start a war. I know you want your brother back, and you just tackled and defeated a raider gang, but the Syndicate is a lot more than just some dirty raiders, and leagues behind the Brotherhood. So is it worth your life?"

Patrick sighed again, but eventually nodded as they arrived at their sleipnirs. "I'll go to Metigoshe then, and see what the Commander wants."

The lieutenant exhaled a breath of relief. "Thank God. The last thing I want is for someone else to die from a foolish decision. But don't worry. I'm sure if you do a good enough job, the RAMP might send you through the Dragoon's training course in Winnipeg. While most Dragoon's are officers or military men, they will allow those with special talents to join them. Oh, and I recommend heading back to Melita to take the train to Metigoshe. You will have to detour through Killarney to get there, but it will be safer and quicker."

Patrick was already nearly out the door of the gym by the time Lieutenant Joseph was done talking, and the RAMP officer ran after as Patrick walked quickly through the halls. "Thanks, but I don't exactly have the money for the train. Anyway, the train may be quicker, but they run on schedules. I want to be there as quick as I can." Patrick turned and pushed open the door of the library. Before the Lieutenant could say anything else, he could hear the snort and whinny of the black Sleipnir as it's owner mounted him, and quick hoof beats heading east signalled that Patrick was gone.

"Damn, that kid is stubborn," Joseph muttered, before turning to get his own Sleipnir. "Well, he's going to need it."

Pip-Boy 3000 InfoTracker Note #186

Governing Assiniboia: A Guide to Government and Administration

(2196 Edition)

Have you ever wondered how Assiniboia was governed? Or do you simply have a school test on this subject? Well look no further than this short guide to how your nation works!

First of all, Assiniboia is known as a "Dominion," much like Canada was known before the War of 2077 and the Annexation by the United States. A dominion is an old-world term that meant that the country was actually ruled by a King or Queen in a country far away known as "England." This did not mean that Canada had to do everything the Queen of King said. Oh no! In fact, Canada had something called a "Democracy." This meant that everyone in the country older than 18 could vote for a "Member of Parliament" or "MP" based on the parties that run candidates. This MP would be sent to the capital of the country to represent the area he was elected from in the "House of Commons." The leader of the party that won the most seats will then be named the Prime Minister, and he will decide policy and what the government will do. The House of Commons vote on Bills, and if they succeed they become the law of the nation. This government was in charge of the army, national police, radio, the mail, taxation, dealing with other countries, and many other issues.

Assiniboia works very similarly to this old system, with only a few changes, such as word choice: the House of Commons is now the Legislative Assembly, the capital is Winnipeg, and the King or Queen is replaced by the acting Governor General, who exercises the powers that the King or Queen would have had. Due to the changing nature of the Wasteland and how quickly threats and problems can develop, the Prime Minister is given powers to make laws without the approval of the House of Commons. He can only do this if over half the House of Commons determines that such a crisis cannot be resolved any other way. Rest assured, the Prime Minister would never blatantly abuse these powers!

Assiniboia also has a more local form of government, known as the "District." There are 12 districts in the Dominion, each with a central town where the government of the district is run, and bordered by some of the old highways. Each district has a Reeve, appointed by the Government in Winnipeg to oversee each district. There are several Councillors, between 4 and 10, elected from each town or village in the district who are then sent to advise the Reeve and help him with his duties in their area namely making sure roads, train tracks, rivers and trails are accessible all times of the year, providing law and order in the form of courts and the RAMP detachments, electing three MPs to go to Winnipeg to sit in the Legislative Assembly, and raising local militia's to protect the district. Winnipeg, being the largest city, is a unique case: they have an elected mayor in charge of the city, and elect 10 MPs to the Legislative Assembly, as well as other rights and privileges that only the Dominion government can exercise in the districts. There is also the "Territory," where the Reeve is replaced by a General of the Assiniboian Army, as the Territory is a dangerous area, and the Army is the only force capable to protect the area. The Territory can only elect one MP each, and most are still under Martial law, so the local General of the Assiniboian Army can dictate the rules.

Finally, some of the larger towns have their own government, and so far 22 towns have a mayor and a few councillors elected to organize their town. Each town with this responsibility has to maintain hospitals, schools, a well-stocked armoury, fresh water and enough food to withstand any problems that may arise.

This has been only a short and simple explanation of the government of Assiniboia. If you have any further questions, please contact your local RAMP Detachment, school, District or Town officer or Councillor, and they will be glad to assist you!