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October 23rd, 2281, 9:47 p.m.
"Don't think I don't appreciate your taking out the Legate – we would've had a hard time of it by ourselves – but I'm afraid this is where your little story ends."
"Oliver, how nice of you to join us," Denn replied, dropping the Legate's helmet and moving his hands to his sides, holding his palms to the sky. "I'm surprised you even know how to work a Stealth Boy; doesn't the NCR usually hire outside help when it comes to technology? Remind me, how long did Mr. Fantastic run the energy management department back in Shady Sands after HELIOS One turned back on? Shame he had no idea how he increased the output..."
A low chuckle reverberated behind him. "I thought that might've been you," Oliver said, the barrel of his gun pressing tighter against the Courier's back. "Just one more slight against something you ought not've slighted. I told President Kimball we should've had you assassinated months ago."
"And now you'll do the job yourself?" The Courier asked, glancing behind him and seeing only seemingly empty air. "Seems like a big chance for the acting General of the military to take."
"I'm a gambling man, and a rock solid alibi makes things easier. See, right now I'm in a private communication with Kimball and am not to be interrupted. If a little old Courier should be shot in the back while I'm there… well… I suppose I'll just have to do my best to act surprised. I have to thank you for making all of this so easy, by the way. With Caesar's Legion, we had a line of succession a mile long to deal with, but with you? Who's gonna' take charge when you're gone, the cripple? It'll be child's play to kill him and-"
The Courier suddenly slapped his hand behind him and a burst of electricity erupted from the hem of his duster. White energy enveloped the air behind him and General Oliver appeared – the jacket and hat customary of those of his rank conspicuously absent. The General wrapped one arm around the Courier's neck and turned the man so he stood between him and the dam while pushing the gun barrel even harder into Denn's back.
"You have been nothing but a God-damned inconvenience since you walked into my office," Oliver lamented, glancing down at the angrily sparking Stealth Boy clipped to his belt. "What'd that even accomplish, huh? Everyone over at the dam is too far away to see anything, and even if they do, it'll just look like a wasteland yokel shooting you in the back and running away."
"Not quite, ED-E can see things well enough," the Courier said, gesturing with his hand to the sky over his right shoulder.
Oliver's eyes followed the Courier's gesture and he spotted a small robot innocently bobbing in the air less than twenty yards away. A happy trill emerged from the machine as Oliver tried to duck further behind the Courier, and it moved to keep line of sight on the crouching General.
"Smile, Oliver," Denn said, glancing back at the General, "this conversation – along with an audio recording – is being broadcasted to every station able to receive it, as well as my Securitrons."
Oliver looked at the dam and saw the NCR troopers no longer rebuilding their fortifications. They now stood facing either the Securitron army, or straight towards where he and the Courier stood.
"I guess that alibi isn't 'rock solid' anymore," Denn continued, his eyes dancing as the General turned back towards him. "I wonder how it feels, Oliver, to be publically humiliated like this – twice, nonetheless. Two times now, you've had the glory taken from you by better men, and this time you get to deal with every single person in the wasteland seeing it happen. Imagine it, Oliver, everyone you ever meet from now on will be thinking of this video, of your defeat and how your lips quivered like a mewling-"
The roar of a gunshot erupted from Oliver's weapon, silencing the Courier. Denn fell forward, the General's hold on him gone as Oliver stared at him in shock. Turning his gaze to the gun smoking in his hand, Oliver's eyebrows creased in stunned disbelief. ED-E trilled angrily and a burst of electricity erupted from the small robot, enveloping the NCR General and causing him to drop like a rock.
Simultaneously, all of the Securitrons' display screens at the dam turned bright red, and the hatches on their missile launcher systems flipped open. Hundreds of blaring claxons burst to life and overshadowed the hum of the automatons' weaponry as they prepared to fire. The NCR troopers fell back, their eyes wide with terror as the Securitron army prepared to destroy them.
"No! Hold fire."
The order reverberated through the Securitrons' speaker systems, silencing their bellowing sirens. The hum of the mechanized weaponry ceased, and the Securitrons settled back down to their customary relaxed stance. Their crimson display screens turned black, before returning to the broadcast from ED-E, now a close up of the fallen Courier.
Denn was lying on his side, one hand clenching his torso where he had been shot and the other holding his rebreather to his face. "Colonel Moore," he continued breathlessly. "I am taking custody of General Oliver. Come to the Legate's camp alone," The Courier gestured to ED-E and the small robot ended the broadcast.
A group of eight Securitrons broke away from the gathered formation and raced to the Legate's camp. Moving to the Courier, seven of them formed a visual barrier between the dam and their now-kneeling commander, while the last wheeled up right beside the Courier.
"Bet that hurt!" Yes Man exclaimed happily, its smiling display screen flickering slightly.
Denn looked up from bandaging the injury on his side, his good eye slightly glazed from yet another syringe of med-x. "Oh yeah," he said happily, returning his attention to filling his bullet wound with medicinal foam. "Got him to shoot, though, and that will make this next part much, much easier."
Oliver groaned and began to stir, the knockout effect of ED-E's attack wearing off.
"Keep him out, I don't need him conscious right now," the Courier asked, gesturing to the General.
Yes Man's arm extended and slammed into Oliver's skull. The General fell limp.
Denn stared at the fallen commander and then glanced back up at the grinning Securitron. "Sometimes I really regret letting you become independent," the Courier quipped.
"Really?" Yes Man asked, seemingly hurt.
"No," Denn answered, reaching a hand out towards the robot.
Yes Man chuckled mechanically and reached down to help the Courier rise, supporting him as he stumbled slightly. A hatch opened on the robot's side, and Yes Man pulled out a pair of scratched-up glasses. "Got these off a Legionary, might want to put them on," the Securitron suggested. "Moore is on her way." Yes Man's display screen flickered and changed to the grizzled soldier customary of the Securitron army and the robot moved into formation, blending in with his counterparts.
Denn nodded and rubbed his eyes gingerly, slipping on the glasses as carefully as he could. Returning one hand to his injured side, the Courier slouched forward and held his rebreather to his head.
The visual barrier of Securitrons split down the middle, revealing the approaching Colonel flanked by another pair of Securitrons. The woman's hard eyes glanced from the Courier to the prone General and back.
"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it," she said wearily, shaking her head and glaring at the fallen General. Collecting herself, the Coronel stood at attention. "On behalf of the NCR, I would like to apologize for-"
"The NCR will withdraw from the Mojave," the Courier interrupted her, and the Coronel's eyes widened with the proclamation.
"Withdraw?" she asked loudly, eyebrows creased in anger. "Like fucking hell we're withdrawing. We just spent four years protecting this dam! We didn't do that to let it go."
"The terms for this withdraw are stipulated in my message to your president," Denn stated, ignoring her outburst and gesturing behind the Coronel as ED-E approached. A hatch on the Robot's side opened and a stream of paper spilled out. The Coronel grabbed it and began to read.
"United Mojave?" Moore asked no one in particular. "What the hell does that mean? Oh, wait, here we go."
Moments passed in silence as the Coronel finished reading the document. "I've seen what your Securitrons can do," Moore said finally, turning her gaze to the Courier, "and my superior officer just committed what will probably be labeled as treason by Kimball in an effort to save his own skin, but that doesn't make this right. Four years we spent holding this dam – four years worth of NCR soldiers died for it. Remember that when you make your little world."
"Around eight Thousand Legion soldiers were killed today, Coronel," Denn answered, staring right back at the woman. "How many more NCR men and women would have died trying to hold them off? Remember that when your council debriefs you, and remember what defeated Caesar. I am not the NCR's enemy, even if you think I am."
The Courier nodded curtly to the Coronel and the Securitrons led the woman back to the NCR lines. Denn turned to Yes Man. "Take three quarter's of the Securitrons from the dam and escort the NCR to the Mojave Outpost," Denn ordered, beginning to walk towards Caesar's camp with Yes Man following along beside him. "Have them camp in the Canyon between Novac and the ruins of Nipton, near the abandoned ranger station. There's a deathclaw nest near there – hopefully they'll investigate and you can chase them off for the NCR. Make it as theatrical as you can.
"Give the soldiers enough time to gather enough supplies to make it to the border before you leave. Oh, and have a squad of Securitrons take Oliver to the Lucky 38. Put him in the honeymoon suite, that might help take his mind off his troubles."
"Righty'o!" Yes Man said happily. "By the way, the Fiends have just assaulted Camp McCarran, reports from Bitter Springs indicate the NCR there have been attacked by Cazadors, and it looks like the Brotherhood of Steel have taken HELIOS One!"
The Courier stopped, turning back to stare at the dam as the NCR troopers there milled about confusedly. "How the hell am I going to make this work?" he asked quietly, shaking his head.
"On the plus side," Yes Man continued, wheeling back and forth happily, "Camp Golf held, the Westside Hunters are already on their way to Bitter Springs, and I've taken the liberty of redirecting the Securitrons coming from New Vegas to contain the Fiends in McCarran."
The Courier laughed hollowly, putting a hand on Yes Man's shoulder and shaking his head. "That's how," he said, answering his earlier question himself as he smiled appreciatively behind his rebreather. "I'm not alone."
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Shady Sands, NCR Capital, 150 miles west of New Vegas
"Senator Peak? Senator Peak!"
The man turned, searching for the source of the voice in the chaotic environment. Squinting his eyes, he found it in his normally quiet aid, the woman beckoning towards him expressively from the other side of the room. Nodding to the other senators that stood around him, Senator Peak moved through the hectic crowd towards his aid.
"What is it, Lora?" he asked, finally reaching the excited woman.
"Kimball just called a meeting with his inner cabinet," Lora answered, glancing from side to side and pulling the senator away from the bustling assembly.
"Caesar's Legion has won then?" Peak asked, leadingly.
"I don't think so, sir," the aid said, flicking a few switches on her Pip-Boy. "I've been biggy-backing on the military's communications, and it seemed like the Courier had secured victory on his own. He had a Securitron army the size of two battalions stationed beneath the Fort that nobody knew about. Minutes ago, I intercepted two messages being sent on Kimball's private channel. One written, the other auditory." Quickly, Lora attached a small pair of headphones to her personal computer, holding them up for the Senator to take.
Peak glanced around and put the headphones on. The audio of the Courier's interaction with General Oliver began to play from the Pip-Boy, and as it did, Lora pulled up the text of the Courier's withdraw orders, turning the file upside down so the Senator could read it off her wrist.
Senator Peak's eyes widened as the drama unfolded, straining to hear the conversation over the din of the crowd behind him. His eyes shot up to meet those of his aid as he finished reading the message and she nodded, her lips pressed tightly together.
Peak bit his lip, pulling off the headphones as the recording finished. "Alright," he said, mind racing as he processed all that had just been revealed. His head shook side to side as multiple scenarios played out in his mind, before nodding as he found one acceptable. "Release this through our anonymous sources to the media. Don't give them the withdraw orders, though. Let's make Kimball admit to its existence to stop the general populace from rioting over the loss of water rights from the dam. Making water free but electricity eight caps per kilowatt-hour is genius – keeps the populace happy while putting the screws to-"
"Senator," Lora interrupted, her voice barely above a whisper. "What about the mission?" Only then did Peak see the fear veiled in her excitement as she glanced at the crowd behind them – a crowd full of men and women who, if they knew of his and his aid's pasts, would happily see the both of them executed by a firing squad.
Peak placed his hand reassuringly on the woman's shoulder. "That mission is over, Lora," he said firmly, squeezing her slightly and nodding as the fear slowly left her eyes.
Lora nodded back, collecting herself and glancing down at her Pip-Boy. "What do I do after I leak the recording, sir?"
"Meet me back at my office," Peak answered, bringing his hand up to itch his nose. "Once the story hits the airwaves, we'll wait for some of the more reactionary senators to make a statement before releasing our own. We'll turn this defeat into a rallying cry for anti-expansion and stabilization. With luck, they'll end up impeaching Kimball and we can make it into the presidency even sooner than we expected."
"But sir," Lora began, her eyebrows creased in confusion, "you said the mission was over?"
"That Mission, Lora," Peak replied, glancing back to the crowd behind him. "We still have the chance to help these people, whether they would ask for it or not."
Lora nodded in understanding and excused herself, making her way to the depths of the Council Building.
Senator Peak, or as he was known to Caesar's Legion, Judas, left the room as well, rubbing a secret pouch in his jacket as he did. He would have to dispose of the gold coin the compartment contained as quickly as possible – he no longer needed the daily reminder of his former leader from the east.
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White Rock Canyon, 4 miles downriver from Hoover Dam
"It is finished?"
"The firebombs fell an hour ago, Inculta. If Lanius did not perish in the bombardment, he was most likely finished off by the Courier's steel soldiers."
"Did you see his machines? Did you see them fight?"
"Yes, Inculta, before I made my way to the river."
"And?"
"They are death. They shrugged off anything Caesar and the Legate threw against them. Their cannons of light tore through flesh and set cloth to flame – entities of Tartarus, carrying its fire."
"I see..."
Inculta's blade pierced the man's heart before his next breath left his body. The soldier stared at the Frumentarii leader in confusion, before his eyes rolled up into his skull and its unending darkness.
"He must die?"
"He would talk – tell others what he saw. I could not allow that. The Courier must kill more than Caesar's men to defeat the Legion; he must destroy Caesar's legend. Lead your men East. We must intercept the survivors the Courier sends to spread the tales of his power."
"Stopping the stories does nothing to stop the power of the man. Caesar learned this with his damnation of Malpais' name."
"I am not punishing men for speaking; I am killing them before they can. Control what the Legion knows, and we will control the Legion."
"… We're with you, Inculta."
"For the Legion. Kill every survivor you meet. I will see our strength re-forged, even if it is by the fires of Tartarus."
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Mt. Wilson, 6 miles East from Caesar's Camp
"This 'Courier' seems to have exceeded our projections neatly! Even outfitting the Legion tribals with advanced weaponry failed to change the outcome of the battle, and his handling of the NCR? Inspired. We will have to redouble our efforts, agreed? … Of course, come along then, 216."
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This chapter marks the major conclusion to the intro, and when I completed it, I realized just how much story I have left.
I promise that this story has an ending, but we've got a hell of a long way to go to get there.
Years, even, in universe time (maybe even real time)
"Things were always going to get worse before they got better."