A detachment of the eastern Brotherhood slowly trekked in westward, their power armors shaked the ground as they walked in the night with a storm. They moved toward the Mojave and California. greatly disturbed by the sudden loss of contact for everyone in the west, Maxson had ordered a squad to scout out the area and determine what had happened. So the group marched west into Colorado, they noticed that their rad counters suddenly rose. The area definitely had been struck by nuclear weapons, and recently given the very high levels of radiation in the area. Echoes and remnants of towns lay before them, the structures reduced to blackened, burnt wrecks. Those unlucky enough to not be scorched into shadows were scattered around, their skeletons blackened from the intense heat that had seared the flesh from them.
These same cities also bore an unfamiliar emblem: a pre-war bull on a crimson background, but seeing as there were none left in the cities as the Brotherhood travelled through, they could not ascertain what this represented. What had been there had been thoroughly, almost completely destroyed by the missiles' assault. Reports back to the east relayed such concerns: someone or some group still had access to nuclear weapons, was capable of using and willing to use them for whatever ideological purpose they saw.
Maps of the region showed that north and central Utah were likely too treacherous for exploration, so the Brotherhood squad shifted south, travelling right along the border between the states of Arizona and Utah. As they began to approach the Mojave and the former Las Vegas, however, a new, much more terrifying concern made itself visible.
"It's just a wall... a never-ending storm cloud of red. As far as we can see, a thick fog has fallen over the Mojave. Thought it was just poison at first, but those unfortunate enough to have gone in came out coughing and choking in seconds. The whole area simply looks and feels dead."
The only shifts in the toxic clouds came with the weather patterns in the area, so when a storm arose and blew a quantity of the fog away from the Dam, the group moved forward. They were astonished to see the span patrolled by figures of pale blue light. Confusion gave way to worry when upon approach, the figure stopped its patrol and faced the scouts directly, also changed to a cautionary yellow.
It is not known who among the expedition fired the first shot, but all hell broke loose when it happened. All of the light figures on the Dam suddenly turned crimson red and began returning fire with lasers. In the confusion, it took time for the Brotherhood to realise their shots were completely ineffective: no matter how many times they struck the armoured figures with plasma bolts or laser beams, there was no demonstrable effect. Worse so, the laser beams that the figures shot back were unquestionably lethal. Within minutes, the expedition lost a quarter of its own forces and had no choice but to retreat. To the squadron's great surprise, the light figures did not pursue them once they had retreated off the Dam, and gradually returned to their original bluish colours and patrol routes.
While it was a longer route, the Brotherhood was eventually forced to cross the former Lake Mead, though they watched warily as other storm clouds broiled and rolled to their north. Through their scopes, they were able to observe that the blue lights never stopped their patrols across the Dam.
"The Dam is cut off, and whoever holds it is wielding some crazy extremely advanced technology. From all we can tell it's weaponised 'hard light': we can't hurt them but they can definitely hurt us. No luck in any countermeasure for the toxic fog. The facilities in the Dam might have more info but when we opened a door, the interior is even more densely concentrated with that gas: couldn't see a foot in front of the door we'd opened. The gas itself seems to be heavy since it tends to remain at ground level. Not clear whether the hard light defences are linked to a central intelligence or whether each unit is sentient."
Maxson was aware of the recent news in the Mojave, how their Elder Elijah(who somehow managed to become an elder despite being a scribe and not a paladin) ordered the brotherhood to control a pre-war solar power plant named ''HELIOS ONE'. But NCR managed to defeat them with their endless numbers, giving the Brotherhood huge casulties so they had no choice but to retreat in an underground bunker. Said Elder then has gone rogue and his assasination was ordered by Circle Of Steel. The Circle of Steel was a sub-faction within the Brotherhood of Steel meant for dealing with internal conflicts. In terms of their position relative to the Brotherhood proper, they are the Internal Affairs of the whole Brotherhood of Steel. So if they ordered a rogue elder's assasination, Elijah was a traitor or must be very dangerous and a threat or both. Last they knew, Christine Royce according to her last transmission was that she failed her mission and betrayed by this ''Courier Six'' before her death. Maxson and Circle Of Steel only knew Elijah was last seen in ''Sierra Madre'' they had no idea what it was other than a treasure legend. So their second orders by Maxson if possible was to Capture this ''Courier Six'' invidiual who is believed to be working with Rogue Elder Elijah. They had orders to subdue the Six bring them to a secure location for questioning. Extact information for Elijah's current location or activities. If the target couldn't be taken alive, then termination was allowed.
But this? they definitely did not expected this at all, there was simply no way in entering mojave with their current numbers, because of that red cloud and those figures made of ''hard-light'' entering in would be suicide.
So they retreated from the Mojave to report their findings for Elder Maxson.
An invasion by the Brotherhood into Mojave was inevitable.