Restoring Hope
"It's been an honor, sir.," Lucas told the mustachioed Major Polatli as their hands shook., "hopefully with the NCR flag raised back over Nelson you won't be as hard pressed with acquiring supplies."
The officer nodded, "it will damn sure make it easier to keep the troops fed. Thanks again for everything you lot did for us here today. With the missing supplies now back in our possession, our wounded troops tended to, and Private Stone in bars; Forlorn Hope should be secure for now."
Lucas smiled at the subtle tone of relief in Major Polatli's typically stoic accent. With a final salute from the resurrected courier and his sniping compatriot; they slouched out of the command tent to meet Cass and ED-E.
"'S'bout time y'all finished in there. Twas beginning to think y'all were pleasuring each other in there.," sardonically Cass said with a smirk.
Boone's face remained as neutral as ever while the courier let out a hearty chuckle.
"You've got a filthy mind, my friend. Between you and this man back home called 'Dukov' I don't know who the bigger pervert is.," Lucas, grinning, commented.
"What's our next move?," a stoic Boone inquired.
"We're gonna backtrack aways, two klicks due Southwest. There lies, supposedly, a Legion slave encampment." Boone felt his trigger finger squirm with anticipation and rage.
"A couple of, uh, Powder Gangers are said to be held up there. Now, while there's absolutely no love lost between myself and the Powder Gangers, I did make a promise to rescue them. Besides, crucifixion is hardly, if ever, a necessary punishment. Plus the Legion is the fiercest threat between either faction. Let's get out of here; we could get most of the way there by nightfall."
The quartet just about made it there by nightfall as expected. Despite the best of attempts by fire geckos and bloatflies they reached shelter right on schedule. Unfortunately, the gang's shelter was infested by a dozen of rodents of unusaul size. Aside from a few minor cuts and bruises, the rodents were easy pickings.
"What on God's green Earth were those things?", the cowgirl asked in disbelief.
"Rodents. Rodents of unusual size as we called 'em back in the NCR. Rats exposed to abnormally large amounts of radiation tend to grow several times larger than that of a typical mutated rodent.," Boone elaborated to Cass and Lucas's amazement.
"Huh, maybe my ex-boyfriend's penis could use an 'abnormally large amount of radiation'.," Cass remarked.
Lucas spit out the sarsparilla he'd been sipping on at that comment. Boone actually gave half a grin for a split second, but soon went back to examining a rifle he'd found tucked away. It was silenced .308 round varmint rifle equipped with a scope that had night vision and thermal capibilites. It didnt pack as much of a punch as his standard issue hunting rifle, however, he decided to keep it for infiltration missions.
"Alright, everyone, I think I'm gonna call it a night. Wake me at first light.," Lucas concisely stated.
"Come in, Citadel, this is Knight Emmanuel requesting permission to land, over."
"Copy that, permission granted."
From the courtyard a gathered squadron of Brotherhood soldiers stood encircling Paladin Tristan who was discussing the recent death of Elder Lyons. The elder had succumbed to an assassination attempt made by a rogue Enclave remnant.
"Scribe Rothschild was the only witness. According to the report, a suspected Knight who was claiming to be guarding the Elder jabbed a knife right into his neck while Elder Lyons was observing the remains of Liberty Prime. Fortunately, as most of us know, Rothschild was able to alert the rest of the Citadel before the assassin could make an escape."
Lucas had his head down struggling to fight the tears welling up in his eyes. Deftly wiping the tears away he gazed into the crowd to begin speaking.
"Thank you, Paladin. With that said, I will remain here at the Citadel for three more days minimum. It's my duty to the Brotherhood to ensure stability and security within our ranks. Speaking of security, we will be recalling ALL of our units from the field. All units will be dispersed between the Citadel, Forts; Independence, Constantine, and Bannister, and the MegaHub of Megaton. However, the Lyons Pride is the only exception as their mission of the utmost importance."
Lucas was struggling to contain his grief of the last remaining father figure he had. Owyn Lyons instilled as much discipline and knowledge he could into the young man that he saw as the son he never had. Still he continued:
"The Pride are on a reconnaissance mission up north into the Commonwealth. Reports from up there alleged that people are being abducted and subsequently turned into androids. This new menace is referred to as "The Institute." I've heard of this entity a few years back when I aided an escaped cyborg hide from an Institute representative, that's neither here nor there. Additionally, all caravan guard duties will be relinquished to the combined forces of the Pitt Army, Regulators, and independent militias operating within the confines of the law. Dismissed!"
Just then a vertibird touched down nearby. No one was expecting reinforcements so soon. With bated breath Lucas pondered which detachment had arrived. To his shock it was not a squad of Knights or Paladins to exit the craft; it was his wife.
"Amata?," the Head Paladin asked befuddled.
She run towards and he steeled himself expecting a blow to the face. Instead, she embraced him and sobbed into his chest.
Good thing he was wearing military fatigues instead of his power armor.
"Honey, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-" before she could finish, Lucas pulled her into a kiss before pulling away to meet her gaze.
"Don't be sorry, you're right to be angry at me. I'm gonna be gone for Lord knows how long. As a father and a husband I fear what will happen to you and the children while I'm absent.," he told his wife without losing her gaze.
"But that's not just it. It's not simply about me and the kids or, hell, even the greater wasteland. It's the fact that I'm -,"
"Pregnant.," the two spouses said simultaneously.
The husband smiled as a shocked expression lit up his wife's face.
"You knew?"
"I knew this whole time, baby.," he said while gently rubbing her stomach., "I could see it in your eyes and how you beamed with love and bliss. It was like that the first time around and I just knew from the jump."
Amata's heart melted at her husband's words. She met his gaze again.
"Lucas," she began, "Lucas. Lucas. LUCAS!"
"Goddamn, he sleeps like a hibernating Yao Guai." commented an annoyed Boone.
Groggily Cass slinked over above where the courier lay.
"WAKE UP YOU SUMMA BITCH!," yelled the sleepy cowgirl. Almost instantly Mr. Matthews' eyes shot open and the man jumped out of his bedroll.
"I'm awake! I'm awake! Awake and alive!"
He took a glance around the room and caught his allies' shaking their heads at his antics.
After a brief meal to break their fast; the four of them took packed up their belongings and continued walking the trail leading further up into the hills; there they created a makeshift sniper's nest to provide overwatch overlooking the Legion camp.
"Boone, do you think we can take all of them?" asked the courier. Although, he was confident in their combined abilities, Lucas liked to hear the thoughts of his friends and allies.
"Hmm. I think we can do it just gotta be quick about it.," the sniper said without pulling away from his rifle., "I think the quieter we can be the better. We're outnumbered five to one, give or take, this might be the best time to put Ratslayer to the test."
"Cass, what say you? Do you think you can be sneaky?"
"I mean, I've got a knife if that helps?," came her reply.
"Shit, this might be trickier than I had anticipated."
The three humans talked it over while ED-E guarded the perimeter. The final plan came down to having Cass with support from ED-E hit the Legion with dynamite from the northern edge of the camp. The intent being to draw out the Legion from their positions and letting Boone pick em off while Lucas came from the south to secure the captured Powder Gangers.
In position all four of them locked in the signal to strike. With the dexterity of a chimpanzee on jet, Cass flung a lit stick of dynamite into the camp. Successfully killing two legionaries and blowing the legs off a third one.
Six more came running from their tents wielding machetes and in less than a heartbeat; their heads were reduced to paste either by a well-placed .308 round or a laser shot from ED-E. The legless legionary lied in the middle of camp screaming a blood curdling scream of agony, well, until Cass blew his torso in half with a single shell from her 12 gauge shotgun. Lucas watched all of this unfold and felt a tinge of pity for his crew's victims.
He knew that nearly every Legion soldier had been brainwashed since childhood to be loyal to one man and his ideology. Now, however, was not the time for pity. He was rounding the edge of camp near where the captives were held. Two legionaries stood guard over them with machetes pressed against their throats. Before either legionary could react two bullets from the courier's 5.56mm pistol blew holes through their cranial regions. Once the combat concluded; Lucas unbound the two crook's hands and feet and gave each some weapons and ammo that he'd looted off the dead Legion platoon. Both men vowed to turn away from their lives of crime, which Lucas and company doubted.
"Shit, we did pretty good I'll say." Cass praised while gesturing around the encampment.
"Not bad at all, everybody.," Lucas complimented while patting ED-E, "let's head back towards Novac to resupply and hit the road. It's eleven past eight we should get back to town by noon at the latest."
Along the way to town something had caught Lucas's eye. It was shiny and alongside the road about three-fourth of a mile from the edge of town. He insisted on inspecting it and it proved to be a brilliant decision.
It was a functioning Highwayman. The trunk was unlocked and a full of micofusion cells, several hundred caps, the keys to the car, and a handwritten note addressed specifically to the courier. The first half of the note was mostly a makeshift manual, but the second-half, well he didn't have time to read.
The drive to Novac took only two minutes tops. After resupplying the group drove off towards Boulder City. However, Boone and Cass were insistent on stopping off at the 188 Trading Post first off. Obliging, Lucas pulled off to the side of the road and the other two split off. Boone to purchase ammunition from his Gun Runner buddy, Alexander while Cass stocked up on booze and food. Lucas explored the quaint outpost that had seen better days when he caught the eye of a small child wearing an unusual headpiece.
"Hey, kid, what's that thing on your head?"
The kid looked up at the tall man before him. The child pointed at his headpiece.
"Oh this? This is my medicine. If I take it off I can see into the past, present, and future.," the reply came., "one hundred caps and I can tell you about anything."
The price seemed outrageous but from the looks of it the kid needed funny, so Lucas figured he'd play along.
"How about you tell me about, I don't know, here?"
Lucas slid the kid one hundred caps.
"Hmm let's see.," the kid took off his "medicine" and grimaced., "Local, local, the here and now... little of interest... things to buy, false hopes, and regrets watered down, washed down in dirty glasses.With regret comes a girl... smiling sad, brown robe, name Veronica, half here. Wraps her and her heart up like a pack, in the pack, a key, some say.Forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of friendship."
"Huh, that's oddly descriptive.," stated the courier, "how about everywhere?"
The kid closed his eyes and went into deep thought.
"Bull and Bear over the Dam, at each other's throats... but a light from Vegas? Ball spinning on the wheel, more than two at the table, placing bets. All lose in different ways, a dam of corpses, towns of corpses, scattered across the sand. But whose, in what shares? Even the dealer doesn't know. Forecast: A rain of blood will flood the desert and not purify it."
Lucas didn't think much of this "forecast" given the ongoing circumstances. Although, he wondered what the child was insinuating about Vegas.
"Alright, last one. What about... me?"
"You?," asked the child, "alright here goes, Your face does the thinking - two to the skull, yet one gets up. Odds are against you... but they're just numbers after the two-to-one. You're playing the hand you've been dealt, but you don't let it rest, you shuffle and stack, and a gamble... a gamble that may pay off? But how? Forecast: Rapidly changing conditions."
Lucas's heart sunk. That was too specific for his liking so he handed over the caps went to meet with Cass back up top. Before he could meet up with his cowgirl companion he ran into an oddly familiar individual.
"Hi, sorry to bother you, but you seem like you've seen a lot, been a few places. If you don't mind me asking; where are you from?" a strange woman in a brown robe asked.
"The grave.," was the first answer out of Lucas's mouth.
"Huh, you seem better off than I'd thought. Say, where are you headed?"
"At the moment, Boulder City, then probably Vegas. Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm tired of being stuck in one place, would it be cool for me to come along?" asked the strange girl.
"Only if you can answer this; what do you bring to the table?"
"I'm a decent shot, I can make solid repairs and can help craft ammo if need be. Oh! I am also good at punching!"
"Punching?"
"Yeah! Like really hard with and without a power fist. Preferably with."
Lucas pondered this for a moment.
"Fuck it, come on with."
"Sweet! Oh and I forgot to introduce myself my name is Veronica Santangelo.," she said with vibrantly enthusiasm.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Veronica!," Lucas smiled, "my name is Lucas Matthews. My robot friend guarding the car down there is ED-E, my friend in the beret is Boone, and the cowgirl walking towards us is Cass."
Veronica stiffened suddenly and took in a deep breath. "By the way," Veronica started, "I had a run in with this group called the Brotherhood of Steel, do you know anything about them?"
Lucas was ready to give an honest answer, but saw Boone and Cass closing in on them. As quick as he could; Lucas rolled up his sleeve and briefly flashed his Brotherhood of Steel tattoo on his bicep.
"What's going on over here?," asked a slightly jealous sounding Cass.
"Cass, Boone, meet Veronica our new friend.," the courier said.
A/N
Sorry for the wait! Life has been throwing curveballs left and right, but I'm back, baybay!
Please do leave a review and/or follow all constructive criticism is welcome!