Chapter Two: The Second Battle of the Hoover Dam
"Exiting news, the Legion army is due to arrive at the Hoover Dam. The beast in the east is ready for battle. Are you ready?" Yes Man said excitedly.
"Are you? You do realise that once this has been done, you will no longer be able to be a part of the NCR. You will be a part of this faction. Its not too late for you to walk out now". Frost turned to Boone, who stared back at him and nodded.
"I'm with you." Boone said. Frost slapped his hand on Boone's shoulder and pulled him into a bear hug which Boone accepted with a degree of awkwardness.
"Then Yes Man, we are ready."
"That's great. I've been looking over Mr House's force projections and running some calculations and it seems there are two ways we can win this. Hear that? We have options. First, we can reroute the dam's power to the reactor at Fortification hill. That'll wake up the securitron army you left on standby and will give us enough power to push the Legion and the NCR right out of the Mojave. Or we could destroy the dams generators. They the damn won't be more than a big chunk of concrete and the NCR wont have any reason to stick around. But first, you need to install this override module at the terminal in the power control room. Good luck. See you at the damn."
Frost and Boone arrived at the dam, armed to the teeth. The battle had already begun. The NCR had fortified the west side of the damn with sandbags and barricades. While the Legion poured down from the east. A command post was set up on the observation deck above the visitor centre of the dam. Men ran forward and back heading into the battle, hauling their wounded comrades to safety, relaying commands. If it was chaos here, what must it be like where the fighting was.
An explosion lit up the sky in front of them as a howitzer missile launcher exploded throwing them and the NCR troopers aside in the blast. Frost pulled himself to his feat and injected a stimpack into his leg. He grinned at Boone who nodded back, this was where the fun started. He drew his 12.7mm submachine gun and dived behind a sand barricade. He leant round the side and fired, dropping two legion soldiers. He pushed forward with NCR soldiers at his back, at his side.
He split away from the NCR squad and entered a tower of the damn. Two NCR heavy weapon troopers pointed their weapons at him. One of them informed him "You shouldn't be here, this is restricted".
Frost donned a panicked expression exclaiming "Colonel Moore is in trouble! She needs help now!"
"Damn it all to hell! Let's go!" He shouted and then ran out of sight down the corridor. Frost smirked to Boone and entered to room. It contained a huge amount of electrical equipment and a lot of terminals. A sound behind him disturbed him and he leapt behind a barricade as a squad of legionaries ran into the room, guns blazing at the securitron. Frost quickly dispatched them with carefully aimed shots, before they could fire off any accurate shots.
He then installed the override chip onto the dam mainframe while Boone disposed of any legionaries or NCR who entered the room. While the NCR were on the side of Yes Man's face appeared on the screen in front of him. "Hi! How nice to see you again" He said, "Soooo, we can blow up the damn or reroute the dams output to the Fort, waking up our own legion army who can plough down those Legion soldiers."
"Send the power to the fort". Frost told him, with a dive to the side as a gunshot clanked into the metal beside him. Boone took out the legionary before they could get another shot off.
"Yes! This is going to be fun!" Yes Man exclaimed sounding very excited, even for him. "Hit the switch and then go topside to deal with the Legion and the NCR".
"Boone, lets move out." Frost commanded and they left the room, stepping over the bodies in the doorway. The fighting was thick inside the dam as well as above. Frost and Boone cut through swaths of Legionaries as they fought their way to the generator room. They emerged onto a ledge above the floor where the fighting was thick. Frost made his way to the electrical switch and logged on while Boone picked off the Legionaries down below. A clank of metal against metal alerted Boone to imminent danger.
"Grenade!" He shouted and dived off the ledge back through the door, followed swiftly by Frost. Pulling themselves to their feet the ran back out the tower and rejoined the fight on the surface. The NCR forces were pushing forward, aided by Boomers' B-29 airplane which flew over head bombing the Legion forces on the dam and up on Fortification Hill. Frost and Boone pushed forward alongside the NCR, over the dam and up the hill on the east to Legate's Camp.
An explosion threw Frost into the air. He landed heavily and spat out blood. He tried to move but pain seared along his side. He rolled over onto his back and looked for Boone. The ex-recon sharpshooter was down, as were many of the NCR troopers who had been fighting alongside them. Frost looked up as a Legion Centurion walked towards him. The centurion raised his gun and pointed it at Frost. A gunshot echoed in Frost's head; he opened his eyes. He was not dead. The centurion was lying across the hill, just another corpse, one of thousands dead this day.
"Need a hand?" A soft woman's voice sounded behind him. He looked over and his heart lept.
"Cass, Arcade, I'm so glad to see you", he paused a coughs racked his body, "Fix me up". Arcade smiled and stuck a super-stimpack in Frost's side.
"You're gonna be fine, I gotta see to Boone". He left Frost and ran over to Boone. Cass pulled Frost to his feat and pulled him into a hug. She released him and returned his gun to his hand.
"Cass get over here, Boone needs more than a stimpack." Arcade called, a note of worry in his voice". Cass turned to leave, but Frost pulled her back. He planted a kiss on her lips, winked and joined an NCR squad as they ran up the hill. Cass watched him for a moment and then went to help Arcade.
Frost and the squad made it into Legate's Camp without any more casualties. Crucified bodies hung either side of the road down to the centre.
Legate Lanius stood watching Frost shoot his way through the camp. His Guard picked off the NCR soldiers one by one. The Legate wore a piece of unique armour and wore a horned, bearded mask. He carried a sword that looked to big for a human to carry. When he spoke it sounded deep and husky, yet immensely powerful.
"An envoy of Vegas, yet you carry yourself for battle. If so, you cannot truly be of that city of cowards."
Frost looked up at the Legate. He was a huge man, tall and powerful. "If you think you've got any chance of taking Hoover Dam, you're sadly mistaken". Frost told him.
"Many graves in the east are filled with those who said as much. With braver words, and with less strength. It is Caeser's will that this gate the west bare the mark of the Bull, not of the Bear. And Caeser's will shall be done."
"What, Caesar giving you orders from beyond the grave?"
"Caeser's will is the will of the Legion. And the west…..The great bear exists to test the strength of the Legion. The west shall fall as the east fell. All the tribes as far as the setting sun shall bare the mark of the Legion"
"The Legion's advance ends here".
"Enough words, let our strength settle this" And with that, he drew his sword and leapt a Frost, who dived backwards and rolled down the hill, pulling his gun and firing into the Legate. His armour absorbed the bullets and he charged forward swinging his vast sword in front of him. The blow could carve a man in two. Frost ducked under the blade and fired up into the Legates chest. The armour was no match for the submachine gun at point blank range and Legate backed off, with his free hand clutching his stomach. Frost straightened up firing round clip after clip into the Legate. The legendary Legate Lanius dropped to one knee, wobbled but still didn't fall. With a last bust of inhuman strength he lunged forward sinking his huge blade into Frost's shoulder. As he did, Frost kept fired his gun straight threw the Legate's neck. They both collapsed in a pile of blood. Frost pulled himself away from the Legate's body, panting with adrenaline from the battle.
He stuck his last super-stimpack into his shoulder and injected a shot of med-x to numb the pain. He pulled himself to his feet and limped over to exit camp when 5 NCR Ranger Veterans walked up to him, escorting General Lee Oliver, the general of the NCR forces in the Mojave.
"Caeser on the cross. Been along time since I've seen the kind of work you laid down today… A damn long time. And the screams of those Legion bastards as they kicked dirt running east, like a choir of angels to my ears. Speaking of – That crazy light show over at the Fort, what the fuck was that, some kind of thumb from God you called down? Amazing, fucking amazing".
Frost looked up at him, a smile played round the corners of his mouth. "Think that's great? You won't believe what happens next."
"Uh er..umm..these boys with you…I don't suppose you could as your boys to stand down".
"General Oliver, Hoover Damn is ours. Time for you to head back west."
"Who the hell do you think you're talking to? If you think you can cash your chips with NCR bullets do you?" He threatened, angered at the betrayal.
"Retreat, or wipe NCR off the face of the Dam."
"Right now you ain't pissin' me off, your pissin the Bear off. You've been far enough west to see how strong the Bear is. How long its claw is. If you fuck with the Bear then.."
Frost interrupted him "How about I ask these robots to fuck you and your entire battalion with a rocket barrage?"
"You think we're gonna run back off west with our tail between our legs. No, I came here looking for a fight and if you're looking to make me budge then you better have a good left hook or I'm staying."
"You think these robots are all the forces I have?"
"Right now that's all that's standing there. That and the corpses. So that's your plan, defend the dam all by your lonesome".
"While the Boomers fly west? Works for me."
"They wouldn't…" His voice faltered.
"Who's to say? I just suggested coming to Hoover Dam to them, and BOOM!"
"What a fuck of a day. Do you know what your doin'? Think carving out a nation is like munchin' down a pack of fancy lad snack cakes. Think you got the guts to carve out a frontier? Build towns, protect roads, run supplies, train troops."
"Can't do a worse job than the Republic, that's for sure".
"Hell. I can't believe we got suckered by some road jockey. We should've watched the flank while Caeser's best was making all that noise. I know what those robots of yours can do on a bad day, and I'm not eager to toss lives at them just to make a point. But if you're taking this place, you better hope you can hold it. I'll give my superiors my opinion, but I don't think they're going to listen. So if the NCR comes at you, and it will, you better prey you're ready. I promise you, our situation reversed, I'd see you hang."
"Insults? Tsk tsk. Securitrons, please erase all trace of NCR from the area".
"Come on then you sons of bitches." He said as he drew his gun. But before he could even fire a shot, the securitrons slaughtered him and his escort.