Chapter Two
Spartan Ryan
April 15, 2284 (Local calendar)
UNSC Outpost Irwin
The first few days in New California were a blur of politicians, industry leaders and other important individuals coming to see for themselves West Virginia, all of them being escorted around her by Flynn who seemed to revel in the limelight that his corvette, a class whose contributions to the war effort back home rarely made headlines, was receiving.
It took her chief engineer pestering him over the repairs they needed to make to get him to relocate her to the ruins of Fort Irwin and finally put her down on the deck, allowing him to begin the long, arduous task of returning the ship to one-hundred percent.
Ryan had already been in position at the old fort or several days by that point, exploring West Virginia's new home for the foreseeable future and forming a defence plan. Unlike most other military installations in America it had avoided being struck by atomic warheads, the damage it suffered coming about from nearly two centuries of neglect and scavenging efforts by the locals.
There were literal fields of old Quonset huts with windows smashed in and doors ripped off, their interiors filled with dust and the rusted remains of cupboards, bed frames, tables and chairs, with the more permanent structures in no better condition. Ryan was just disappointed that the base, a prominent centre of armoured warfare back home, hadn't held any stocks of tanks or other armoured vehicles in some secure hangar or bunker.
About the only military hardware that remained were some wrecked jeeps in what he imagined had been the motor pool, their engines seized into place. A decent mechanical team could, theoretically, bring them back to life if they had a decent workshop and plenty of time to hand, but then there was the issue of replacing the rotten tyres, wiring, bodywork, lubricants…
Ryan was just thankful that West Virginia had space enough to carry a quartet of Mongoose ATVs and a single Warthog, equipped with the multi-purpose M41 LAAG, in the lower half of her extended midsection. He was less thankful that she lacked the Pelican necessary to move them around to where they were needed quickly, but there was only so much space on a corvette for equipment.
Besides, most of the highways and roads in New California were in decent enough condition that the Warthog could make it to the northern territories inside of a day if pushed and in the hands of a skilled driver. Not that there was anything of great military importance up there.
When he hadn't been showing people around the ship, Flynn was negotiating with them to secure an agreement beneficial for everyone involved. Alongside seconding Ryan to their command, they would also share a number of technologies that were of interest to the engineers and scientists that had come aboard, and to the military personnel.
In exchange the NCR would provide a full company of troopers to help defend Outpost Irwin against outside threats with their commanding officer, Captain Yagami, serving as a liaison between the two groups.
She had accompanied Ryan on his exploration of Irwin and, in the process, given him a more detailed explanation of the regions in New California and what role they played. The northernmost stretches of the nation, places like Klamath and Modoc, were inhabited mostly by trappers and hunters who sold the skins of the creatures they caught to the rest of the republic. Hardly the most attractive of targets for the Brotherhood Yagami had said, and Ryan found himself agreeing.
About the only things of any importance up there were Vault City and the nearby town of Gecko, built around an old reactor that provided power to the city and parts of New California. The Brotherhood had yet to attack either but it was only a matter of time. Vault City was a centre of medical innovation while Gecko was a literal powerhouse, helping keep the lights on for many Californians. Attacking either could cause great disruption to the rest of the NCR.
But by and large, their attacks had focused mostly in the central and southern sections of the republic, where the bulk of its industry and trade routes lay. Yagami had spoken at length of caravans, civilian and military, coming under assault by the Brotherhood's power armour wearing soldiers, the Paladins, with little to no warning and their contents picked over afterwards.
Advanced technology was always taken given the Brotherhood's belief that they and they alone were worthy enough to wield such things, though Yagami had noted their preference was always weapons technology and never anything truly beneficial to the people of the wastes like food production, or energy.
Had they focused on that, she mused, they might well have been the dominant power in the wastes rather than being forced to hide underground, their numbers slowly diminishing, though she and a number of others had heard rumours to the effect there were more Brotherhood of Steel groups spread out across the wastes, some as far east as Washington, DC, and without something like the NCR to keep them in check.
The higherups were constantly debating over sending a team to investigate with the chief argument against it being that should a sizeable Brotherhood of Steel force be found, they would then have to contend with trying to sustain a military campaign on what could well be the far side of the country. Better, then, to ignore the problem and hope some local force rose up in defiance against them.
It wasn't exactly a bad plan, Ryan knew, but the consequences if the rumours were true could be very dire for New California. There was no telling what secrets America's east coast might be hiding, or anywhere else in the country for that matter.
He just hoped that by the time any fallout from those decisions came down, he and the crew of West Virginia would be well away from this place and back in their own universe. How that had happened was still unknown and one of Flynn's top priorities, alongside fixing his ship.
Work had already begun towards the second goal, starting with removal of damaged hull plates to get at the components behind them. Ryan counted at least a dozen people with cutting torches from his position in Outpost Irwin's command post, one of the many multi-storey buildings still standing despite the ravages of time.
With him was Yagami and her staff though their attention was on a holotable in the centre of the room, a topographical display of the outpost and the surrounding land before them. West Virginia had scanned the area quite thoroughly before landing with her Hornets finalising the work afterwards, providing the NCR captain a near perfect replication of the region though she and the others seemed more amazed by the table itself.
'This thing is incredible,' Yagami said as she moved her hands through the hologram, bringing another section of Irwin into view. 'The things we could have done with it in the Mojave.'
'Yeah, it's like experience,' Ryan said as he turned away from the workers to Yagami. 'You only ever get it after you need. There are limitations, though.'
He pressed the button for a live satellite uplink and got a 'No Signal' screen instead, West Virginia having not launched any such devices into orbit. Not that she had any in the first place.
'Still,' Yagami said.
She toggled the table back to the archived scans of Irwin, in the centre of which was the corvette standing taller than most of the structures near her. Various buildings around her were marked off to denote their use, or their intended use in the future as more NCR assets poured in. In time the outpost would come to host the usual amenities of a military base, including various workshops and armouries, alongside more recreational items like a cinema and diners, plus several bars.
With the Hub, the next nearest place with things like that, almost thirty miles away and lacking a reliable means of moving troops there, why not make use of the extensive space on offer to accommodate facilities of such a nature? Estimates were that, not including the NCR troopers or UNSC personnel, the onsite population could reach several-hundred at its peak.
Ryan let Yagami play with the table for a few moments more then switched the image to that of an archived map they had of California and the surrounding states, and on which the new post-war settlements had been marked. Also present were pins on the spots Brotherhood forces had either attacked or been spotted in, with clusters of them giving an indication of where they might have some form of base of operations.
By Ryan's count he saw a good dozen spots that seemed to contain Brotherhood strongholds, many of them in regions with little to no local population or were outside NCR jurisdiction, which was an assessment shared by Yagami.
'Our main problem is figuring out exactly where they are,' she said. 'America's littered with underground bunkers, civilian and military, and despite their hidden entrances the Brotherhood has an uncanny knack for sniffing them out.'
'Have you ever found any of their bunkers?' Ryan said.
'Sure,' Yagami said. 'Plenty of times, but if you're going to ask about whether we get any actionable intel from I'll have to say no. Having only one way in or out of those bunkers is a great way to bottleneck us, giving their Knights and Scribes plenty of time to scrub all valuable data from their systems, or just arm a self-destruct mechanism.
'And any survivors we do find are either too tight lipped to give us anything, or just too low down the food chain to know anything useful.'
'That's disappointing,' Ryan said.
'Isn't it just?' Yagami said as a trooper came in, clutching a clipboard.
'Ma'am, we just received word of another caravan getting hit,' he said. 'Just north of Fresno. Command wants Spartan Ryan to respond.'
He handed over the clipboard and Yagami read through it quickly, nodded once, and handed it back.
'Contact Lieutenant Ramirez and tell him to report to the airfield,' Yagami said. 'Plus a small team of his choosing.
'As for you, Ryan, it's your time to shine.'
He nodded back and donned his helmet, moving out after the trooper as his mind began thinking ahead to what he might just find, and what any subsequent combat with the Brotherhood of Steel might entail.
Spartan Ryan
April 15, 2284 (Local calendar)
Caravan ambush site
Having access to Falcons made getting to the ambush site so much faster than it would have otherwise, the two helicopters racing across the barren wastes at a little over 240 kilometres an hour to offload Ryan and a small squad of NCR troopers in a fraction of the time it would have taken them by foot or Warthog, but it was also at the extreme limit of their range so they couldn't afford to hang around and provide fire support.
As soon as their passengers were off they turned around and headed back to Outpost Irwin, quickly vanishing over the horizon to leave Ryan, Ramirez and his squad alone with the survivors of the caravan attack, plus another NCR squad that had arrived in response to their distress call.
Ryan took a moment to examine the area first, counting at least five of the mutated cattle used by wastelanders for a variety of purposes. All were or had been hitched to an equal number of wagons and carts, and all were lying dead on their sides. Deep burns covered their bodies and in one instance, the flesh and muscle itself had been burned away to reveal carbonised bone beneath.
The carts themselves had been overturned and their contents were spilling out onto the road, most of which looked to be mundane items like foodstuffs, clothes, animal pelts and other random trinkets, all hallmarks of a civilian caravan.
As for the people working it, about two-thirds of them had been killed during or after the ambush as a result of injuries and the ten or so survivors were having their wounds seen to by a medic, resting in the shade of some nearby rocks.
They and the troopers on scene had all looked at the approaching Falcons with a mixture of fear and a little uncertainty, those with weapons clutching them a little tighter. Though word had gotten out to New California's population about West Virginia's arrival, that wasn't to say the people had any idea as to what they had or could do, or what their equipment might look like.
Lyle had touched briefly on another group with access to vehicles similar to the Falcons, some shadowy outfit descended from the remnants of the US government called the Enclave who had used them to terrorise the region about forty years ago. Memory of them had faded into obscurity quickly enough since then but during a recent battle in the Mojave, the presence of such an aircraft dropping off troops in power armour revitalised the fear people had of such vehicles suddenly appearing.
Ramirez quickly went to speak with the squad leader that had responded to the distress message, explaining the situation, as Ryan began his examinations of the battlefield.
From the looks of things the caravan had walked into the ambush, getting hit from both sides of Highway 99 on their way north to Sac-Town, the old Sacramento, as it dipped into a small valley. Paladins had occupied the ridges on either side and opened fire in a coordinated strike, dropping most of their targets with the first salvo before moving in to secure the survivors and picking through their cargo.
It was a textbook example of an ambush, making good use of the terrain to funnel their targets into place whilst limiting or eliminating the concern of friendly fire. Ryan would have been hard pressed to come up with a better ambush given the terrain and resources, and he had to commend the Paladins on their tactical acumen. He was less impressed by their attacking of a civilian caravan rather than a more legitimate military one, especially as they had to have been observing the area ahead of time to know when and where to lay their ambush.
He stopped at one point where a Paladin had fired from judging by the disturbed dirt, crouching down to see what they had seen during the ambush. Before him was a perfect view of the five dead brahmins and their cargo, whilst behind him was the hill itself, preventing him from being silhouetted against the horizon. He even had a moderate sized rock to use as cover and concealment.
Ryan stood and walked to the top of the hill, performing a sweep of the far terrain for any possible vantage points a scout might have used during the recon phase of the ambush. There were plenty of potential locations to be seen, ranging from derelict buildings, billboards and water towers, but his attention was drawn to an old apartment block about a mile to the east, easily the tallest structure around and backdropped against the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Everything else had either collapsed or burnt away to nothing.
'I count at least twenty shooters,' Ryan said to Ramirez once he had finished his inspection, returning to the lieutenant as he and the other troopers formed a loose cordon around the survivors. 'Ten to a side.'
'Twenty Paladins?' Ramirez said, going slightly pale alongside the other troopers in earshot. 'We usually need a whole company for that many, minimum.'
'Usually,' Ryan said. 'But not today. I have an idea of where they might be, or at least an old observation post of theirs.'
'Wish I had your confidence, sir,' Ramirez said on hearing the Spartan's unfazed tone.
'Paladins?' an unknown voice said. 'So this was the Brotherhood of Steel's work? For definite?'
Ryan and Ramirez both turned to the speaker, that of a bespectacled young man in his twenties who was checking the wound of one of the caravan workers. He didn't look all too familiar to Ryan but his focus had been on the ambush itself rather than tending to the survivors, so he could have missed him, or he could have just been a good Samaritan doing his duty.
The ambush itself had occurred a good five or six hours ago and Highway 99 was well travelled, meaning it wouldn't have been too out of the question for somebody passing by to stop and lend aid to fellow Californians in obvious distress. About the only thing of note on the man was the Pip-Boy he wore.
'We have little reason to believe otherwise,' Ryan said. 'This area is rife with BOS activity and the ambushers were using energy weapons. Why? Do you have anything you might want to add?'
'No,' the man said. 'Not particularly. I've just had a few run-ins with them before.'
'They given you any grief?' Ramirez said.
'No,' the man said again. 'At least not yet, anyway.'
'Well, if that changes you be sure to let someone know,' Ramirez said. 'Especially when and where it took place.'
'Will do,' the man said, nodding, but his gaze seemed to linger on Ryan for the longest of times before he asked, 'You're not from around here, are you?'
'What gave it away?' Ryan said before jerking his head to the southeast. 'I'm part of the crew of that ship that touched down a few days ago, over at the old Fort Irwin army base.'
'Right,' the man said. 'Well, I wish you luck against the Brotherhood.'
'Thanks,' Ramirez said before motioning for his squad to grab their equipment.
The man kept his gaze on Ryan for a few moments longer before giving him a curt nod which the Spartan returned, watching as the man went back to tending to the injuries with a practiced hand ahead of linking up with the NCR troopers as they stood off to one side, awaiting new orders.
'Vault dwellers, huh?' Ramirez said as he came over. 'Weird bunch. I can't believe the guy was staring you down. You'd think someone who'd encountered Paladins before would be used to power armour.'
'Depends on how many times they met,' Ryan said. 'He never did specify.'
'I suppose not,' Ramirez said. 'So, what's the plan?'
'There's a building to the east I want to examine,' Ryan said. 'But I want to wait until it gets darker before doing so, and of the off chance there's still observers in there we'll move seven or eight miles to the north so they think we're on the wrong trail. We'll set up camp once we're far enough away and I'll detach from the group, make the approach on my own.'
'You sure, sir?' Ramirez said. 'That could see you facing down twenty or more Paladins without support.'
'I'll be fine,' Ryan said. 'In all honesty, my chances are better without you or your troopers being there.'
Ramirez opened his mouth as though thinking to object or suggest some alteration to the plan, but it seemed like the idea of being able to avoid fighting upwards of twenty Paladins was enough to stay his words, instead nodding and giving the order for everyone to head north along the highway.
