Author's Note: I hope everyone is doing well. Just so you know, the place where they arrive on the ship is different, and the bridge of the ship will differ slightly from what they are in-game. Enjoy the chapter, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.
Moments later, the group arrived on a large circular platform. Everyone but Mark and Amata stumbled slightly. "Whoa, that was weird," Veronica said, checking herself over, as if she expected a piece of herself to be missing. "Yeah," Cass said, "kinda trippy, if ya ask me." They looked around the room. It had rounded walls and was a metallic grey. About ten feet in front of the platform was a control panel, and a large circular door beyond that. Standing at the control panel was a man of African-American descent, wearing winterized medic armor.
Mark and Amata stepped off the platform, Amata holding Abby, and faced the group. "Welcome, everyone, to Starship Zeta." "Why is it called Zeta, Mark?" Arcade asked. "It's the closest translation to what it's called in the alien's language. It is as simple as that." He turned around and walked to the control panel. The man stood at attention and saluted Mark. "Captain," he said. Mark chuckled. He still wasn't used to that. "At ease, soldier." He relaxed. "Amata, you look as lovely as ever," the man said. "Thank you, Lee. You're looking well." Mark looked back at the platform, where the others were looking around in wonder. Mark clapped his hands to get their attention.
"Private Beckett, these are my friends and my adopted daughter." He introduced everyone. "Everyone, this is Private Lee Beckett, U.S. Army, 108th Infantry Battalion." "Please to meet you all," Beckett said, "and welcome aboard." "Hello, Mr. Beckett," Abby said politely. Beckett smiled. "Well, hello Miss Abby. Aren't you just the cutest thing." Abby giggled. "Wait, U.S. Army? You were alive before the war? How is that possible?" Veronica asked. "I'll explain everything in a minute, Veronica, so all your questions will be answered." "Captain," Beckett said, "Commander Tercorien has updates for you on our current projects." Mark nodded. "Thank you, Private. Where are the translators?"
Beckett walked back around the control panel and grabbed a thin metallic case. "Right here, Captain." He opened the case, and inside were a few C-shaped strips of metal that glowed blue every few seconds. Mark and Amata both grabbed one and put them behind their ears, and Amata did the same for Abby. "If you will come off the platform and take one, please," Mark said. They all came down and grabbed one. "What are these, Mark?" Arcade asked as he examined it closely. "Universal translators. There are aliens on board, and as they do not speak English, these are needed to communicate with them."
Arcade looked excited at the thought of speaking with aliens, as did Veronica. Once everyone put one on, Mark spoke again. "You ready to meet the aliens, Abby?" Mark asked the young girl. Abby nodded excitedly. "I sure am, daddy!" "Good to hear, Abby. Everyone, follow us, please." Mark and Beckett led the group through a hallway, and up two flights of stairs, until they finally reached the bridge. Once the door opened, Mark and Beckett strode through. "Captain on the bridge!" Private Beckett proclaimed.
Off to either side of the room were a couple of aliens typing at holographic terminals that seemed to be floating in mid-air that had a bluish tinge to them. In the center of the room, on an elevated platform was a white high-backed chair facing forward, with another of the terminals barely visible above it. Between the aliens and the platform were sets of stairs leading down. At the opposite end of the room was a large window that gave everyone a nice view of space and the earth.
Everyone, except for Mark and Amata, looked around in amazement. "Would you look at that view," Veronica said, walking forward slightly to get a better look. Arcade took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then put the glasses back on. "Mark, this…this is incredible! That really is the earth, and this tech, it's just…wow!" The chair on the platform swiveled around, revealing a man with messy blonde hair, also wearing winterized medic armor. He stood up and approached Mark. "Captain," he said as he saluted Mark. Mark returned the salute. "Commander Tercorien."
When Mark had first met Private Elliott Tercorien after his release from cryostasis, the man was jumpy, nervous, and afraid of his own shadow. But between the fighting to take over the ship, and Mark making him his second-in-command, he slowly became more self-assured and confident in his own abilities. "You know I've asked you not to call me that, Captain. I preferred my old title." Mark chuckled. "And I keep telling you, Commander, you are my second-in-command, and we are on a ship, hence the need for a new title." "Yes, yes, I know." He looked at Amata. "Amata, I swear, you keep getting more beautiful every time that you visit." "Thank you, Elliott. It's nice to see you again," Amata said as she gave him a hug.
"Commander," Mark said, "I'd like to introduce you to a few people." Mark introduced everyone, saving Abby for last. Elliott went down to one knee and kissed the back of Abby's hand. Abby giggled. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Abby." "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Ter…ter…" Elliott laughed. "It's Tercorien, but you can just call me Elliott, or Mr. T." "Okay Mr. Elliott," Abby said.
He stood back up and addressed the group. "Welcome aboard, everyone. I am Commander Elliott Tercorien, second-in-command of this ship, and former U.S. Army medic." "Commander," Mark said, "where is the rest of our motley crew?" "Well, Sally is, well, somewhere. I swear, I need to put a tracker on her or something. Kago is meditating in his quarters, Daniels is performing maintenance in the robot assembly area, and Somah is-" Another door to the right of the one they entered opened up, revealing a woman of African-American descent, wearing black combat armor, carrying an alien weapon. "-right there," Elliott finished.
"Somah, you're looking well," Mark said in greeting. She smirked. "Yeah, well, not living in an irradiated wasteland does wonders for you." Mark chuckled. "I have no doubt. Somah, these are my friends. This is…" Somah cut him off. "Spare me the introductions, Captain. Name's Somah, head of security, and ex-slaver. If you've got a problem with that, keep your opinions to yourself, because I really don't care."
"Mark, you're letting a slaver walk free up here?" Christine said, eyeing Somah warily, a hand kept over a pistol holstered on her hip. Somah stepped towards Christine. "You wanna throw down, sister? Because I will put you in the ground." "Oh, I'd like to see you try, you slaver scumbag." Mark intervened, seeing as Abby was now hiding behind Amata in fright.
"Enough, both of you! Somah, please go…do something that doesn't involve you being here." Somah and Christine stared each other down for a moment, before Somah broke eye contact. "Yes, Captain." Somah left the room, leaving a tense atmosphere in her wake. Amata comforted Abby, while Mark glared at Veronica. Veronica got the message, and dragged Christine a short distance away to speak with her.
"Well," Mark said as he took a seat in the chair, "how about I tell you all how this all came to be?" He now had the attention of the group, including Christine and Veronica. Amata, after having calmed down Abby, sat down on his lap. "Oh, babe, you're getting heavy." She sent a mock glare his way. "And whose fault is that?" Mark laughed. "Fair enough."
"So, it all started one day when I came upon a crashed spaceship in the middle of nowhere in DC. Next thing that I know, I'm being lifted into the air by some bluish beam of energy. After that, I vaguely remember staring into the faces of some aliens, and then the next time I was fully awake, I found myself nearly naked in the same cell as Somah."
"It was her idea to stage a fight to get the attention of the guards, which worked. Once they came in, we overpowered them…" He then went on to tell the rest of the story, from meeting Sally and the others, to his spacewalk, to his final confrontation with another alien ship. He did mention the death ray, but assured everyone that it was destroyed for good and had no plans to repair it. Unfortunately, Paulson had died during the final assault. Mark kept his hat and his revolver in his quarters in Paulson's memory. They cremated his body, and had a small ceremony in his honor. Mark eventually had taken the ashes down and spread them in the Arlington National Cemetery.
"So, yeah, I became Captain, and stayed up here for a few days to get better acquainted with the ship. A homing beacon was sent down to where I was first abducted, so I could come and go as I pleased, but I couldn't leave that out in the open, so I had it moved to a safe place." "Where?" Arcade asked. "I had it moved to a back room in Moira Brown's shop in Megaton, and made her swear that she would not go up. In exchange, I brought some alien objects down for her to examine. Nothing dangerous, mind you, just random trinkets. Before I left DC, I rendered the beacon inoperable."
"Um, Mark," Veronica said, "won't people begin to talk if she claims to have alien objects?" Mark shook his head. "No. Most people in Megaton think she's nuts anyway, so her claiming to have alien objects would only solidify their thinking that of her." "Mark, if you could just teleport up here, why did we have to walk all the way back from the Sierra Madre?" Christine asked.
"Two reasons," Mark said. "One, I wasn't ready to share this with any of you guys yet, and two, I can't just teleport anywhere I want instantly. Once we're done here, we will teleport right back into the Penthouse at the 38. There is no actual, physical beacon there. I had the rest of the beacons scrapped. It's kind of hard to explain, but essentially, there is a trail of energy that leads back to where we were."
The door to the group's right opened again, and Mark smiled when he saw who it was. "Greetings, Captain Cosmos!" Sally said to Mark as she walked right up to him and saluted him. She had ditched her old clothing in favor of one of the silvery outfits that the aliens wore. She then looked at Amata. "Greetings to you as well, Miss Skyfire!" Amata leaned down and gave Sally a hug. "Hey, Sally. How have you been?" "I am wonderful! I am keeping this ship in tip-top shape for you and the Captain!"
"Well, actually, Sally," Elliott said, "I'm kinda the one doing that." Sally turned to face Elliott. "You only think that, Jangles. Don't make me get the monkey costume again." Elliott grimaced. "Everyone," Mark said, "this is Sally Johnson. Cadet Sally, these are my friends, and my daughter. Abby, come say hi." Abby walked over and stood in front of Sally. Mark noted that they looked similar, almost as if they were sisters.
"Hello, Sally. My name is Abigail Celeste Fields. Why did you call my mommy and daddy those names?" "Well, duh, he's the Captain, so he's obviously Captain Cosmos, and Stella Skyfire was his second-in-command, well, for the first few episodes, anyway." "Who's Captain Cosmos?" Abby asked. Sally's face lit up, as she got to talk about one of her favorite subjects. "You don't know who Captain Cosmos is? He's only the coolest, most awesomest superhero is the entire universe! He goes around in his super-cool spaceship, fighting bad guys and saving the day with the help of his trusty sidekick, Jangles the Moon Monkey!"
"Cool!" Abby exclaimed. "I know, right? Wanna be friends?" Sally asked. She extended a hand, which Abby shook. "Sure," Abby answered. Mark and Amata looked at each other and smiled. They hoped that the two of them would become friends. As much as ED-E and the others were friendly with Abby, she really did need a friend that was around her own age.
Sally then turned to Mark. "Permission to give Abby a tour of the ship, Captain?" "Permission granted, Cadet Sally. I would like you to take my friends on a tour as well. I have some things that I need to catch up on." She saluted Mark. "Aye, aye, captain." "Wait, yer gonna have a kid show us around?" Cass asked skeptically. Sally frowned and walked up to Cass, stared her down for a few seconds, and then stomped on Cass' right foot. "I'll have you know," Sally said as Cass hopped around in pain, "that I know this ship better than anyone, and I am the most qualified to show you around."
"That is true, Cass," Mark said. "She can give an infinitely better tour than I could. Cadet Sally, before you go, can you come here for one second?" Once Sally was next to the chair, Mark whispered in her ear. "Absolutely, Captain. Everyone, please follow me!" Sally said as she exited the room. Abby went to walk right next to her, while the others trailed behind.
"Interesting group you've got there, you two, especially that redhead. Is she, uh, seeing anyone? Just for curiosity's sake, of course," Elliott said. Amata grinned at him. "Why Mr. Tercorien, are you perhaps attracted to our resident cowgirl?" Elliott blushed and started stammering. "W-What? Yes, no, I mean n…no, I mean, um, uh…" Mark and Amata started laughing.
"I'm just teasing you, Elliott," Amata said. "I actually think that the two of you would make a cute couple. Though if you do make a go for her, I hope your liver is ready to take a pounding." He furrowed his brow. "Why is that now?" "She's kind of a party girl, and she likes to drink…a lot," Mark said, "and whiskey is her drink of choice." "Well," Elliott said as he rubbed his chin, "I'm not much of a drinker, but I suppose I could get used to it. If I remember correctly, there are some very old bottles of whiskey among the things the aliens have taken from Earth over the years. Perhaps I could use one of them to break the ice."
"Yeah, that could work," Mark said. "We could even talk you up a bit to her, if you want." He smiled. "That would be great, thanks. So, um, is there any particular reason that you lied to them about the death ray and the beacons?" "I already told them my life story and showed them this place. I think I'm allowed to have a couple of secrets. Anyway, give us the updates on the projects."
Mark swiveled the chair around to face the control panel. The panel was a large circle that sat at a forty-five-degree angle. It had the buttons to control the lasers that he had used to fight the other ship, in addition to controls for the ship's systems. It had taken him a while to figure out what buttons controlled what and what the various dials showed. Using duct tape and a marker, he had labeled everything so he wouldn't forget, or press the wrong button by accident. He also had all the ship's files converted to English.
He pressed a button, and a holographic blue screen popped up in front of him. He looked through files, and looked for the file on the current projects and opened it. Mark scrolled through as Elliott talked. "Ok, so, we've finished cataloguing everything that the aliens have brought aboard over the years. There's a bunch of junk, you know, ruined bathtubs, toilets, and the like. There's an old Corvega, a lot of food, clothing, armor, a lot of Giddy-Up Buttercups-" "Oh, Mark," Amata interrupted, "we should bring one of those down for Abby to play with." "Yeah, why not. Maybe for her birthday. Sorry, Commander, keep going."
"Right," Elliott said, "there are also a bunch of weapons and ammunition, enough to outfit a decent-sized army." Mark went through and saw what was there. "Alright, nothing of note. Next." "The Shield Project is coming along nicely. As you know, the energy shields were weaved into the clothing some of the aliens wore. Adapting the tech to work for anyone is in its final stages. We're just tweaking a few things." Mark nodded. "Next."
"The death ray is back on-line and fully operational. We've tested it over the Pacific, and it seems to be working properly." He paused for a moment. "I still think that we should've left it destroyed." "I understand your concerns, Commander, but I told you back then that it could be useful. It turns out that I was right." Mark exited out of the project files, and brought up a screen that showed the earth. He looked on his pip-boy, and then entered some coordinates on the screen, and set the ray to fire at ten percent of its full power.
"What are those coordinates of, Captain?" Elliott asked. "The Sierra Madre Casino," Mark answered. "Yeah, I remember hearing about that place. Why are you blowing it up, though?" Mark shook his head as he nudged Amata to stand so he could get up. "It's a long story. Suffice to say, it is now a hellhole, and it needs to go. You have the controls." Mark walked down a stairway to the lower part of the bridge, Amata following right behind him. They stood in front of the window to get a better view.
"Firing on your command, Captain," Elliott said. Mark stared out into space for a few moments before he spoke. "Fire," Mark ordered. "Firing death ray at specified coordinates in 5…4…3…2…1…" Moments later, a yellow beam of energy came out from under the ship and struck the earth, right where the Sierra Madre stood. As the energy dissipated, Amata slipped her hand into his. "Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds," Mark said softly. "You okay?" Amata asked. He gave her a kiss. "Yeah, I'm fine."
The two of them went back up the stairs and re-took their places in the Captain's chair. "Alright, so that's done. How goes the monitoring of the country?" "Well, we are detecting signs of life across the U.S. There are some unusual energy readings coming from the area around Boston, but as of right now we don't think that it is anything to be concerned with." Mark nodded. "Keep an eye on it, let me know if it does become a problem." "Will do. Did you know that they turned Fenway Park into a settlement? Kind of inspiring, actually."
"You a baseball fan, Commander?" Elliott grinned. "Oh yeah, big time baseball fan. Big Yankee fan. It's a shame that Yankee Stadium was destroyed by the bombs." "Can you bring Fenway up on screen? I want to see it." Elliott walked over to an unused terminal over to the side and began to type. A few moments later, the view of space and the earth was replaced by an overhead shot of Fenway Park. "Zoom in closer," Mark said.
The picture got close to field level, showing people going about their business. "Hmm, doesn't look half bad," Mark said. "May have to visit one day. Can you switch over to DC, please?" "Sure. Any specific place?" Elliott asked. "The Citadel, if you wouldn't mind." The shot of Fenway Park was replaced by a shot of the Citadel's courtyard. It was a hive of activity, with the day's training in full swing.
Mark smiled, not saying anything as he watched the goings on for a couple of minutes, when he noticed something. "Commander, zoom in, northeast quadrant." The picture zoomed in further, showing an overhead shot of a woman with blonde hair that Mark was all too familiar with. He had looked in on the Citadel before, but had never been able to find her. The Sentinel appeared to be yelling at some recruits, who began to run laps. "Hey, Sarah," Mark said quietly.
What happened next was strange. Almost as if she heard him, she looked up, and her frown instantly changed into a warm smile. "Interesting," Mark said as Sarah went back to what she had been doing. "Clear the screen, Commander." The view switched back to that of space and the earth. "Well, that was weird," Amata said. "Yeah, tell me about it. Then again, my whole life has been weird, so what else is new?"
(One hour later)
Mark was looking through a few reports on the computer, while Amata talked with Private Beckett on the lower section of the bridge about what life was like prior to the war. Elliott had gone to the cargo hold and retrieved a bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey that had been made over three hundred years ago, and was now pacing around like a caged animal and talking to himself, waiting for the group, Cass in particular, to return. "Commander," Mark said without looking from the computer, "if you don't stop doing that, I will eject you out of the airlock."
"I'm sorry, it's just…what if she doesn't like it?" "Trust me, Commander, if it's alcohol, she'll love it." "And besides," Amata said, coming up the stairs, "I saw her checking you out, too. Might have forgotten to mention that earlier." Elliott's face lit up. "Really?" She nodded. "Yes, really. Just be confident. Women like guys who are confident. Just don't turn into a bumbling mess. You're giving her a bottle of whiskey, not asking her to marry you." "So basically, don't be the version of you I first met when you came out of cryostasis," Mark said. "Wouldn't be the first time he turned into a bumbling mess around a woman," Private Beckett said as he came over.
Elliott closed his eyes and groaned. "Please don't bring that up." "No, please, do bring that up," Mark said, snickering, "and that's an order, Private." "Gladly, Captain. So, we were in Basic Training, and there was this woman with us, um, Emily something. She was fine as hell. Nice curves in all the right places. Probably could've been a model. Every guy wanted her, but man, she was cold as ice. She had these blue eyes, and she could send a chill down your spine with just one glance. So, we're in the mess hall for lunch one day, when my boy Elliott here works up the courage to go talk to her to ask her out."
"Please stop," Elliott begged. Beckett ignored him. "She's at a table by herself, so he figured that it was the perfect time. He's all confident, but once he gets over there, he's all nervous and shaking, and suddenly, it's like he forgot how to speak English. He's tripping over his words, and Emily's just looking at him like he's lower than pond scum. And here comes the best part. Out of nowhere, he just throws up. On the table, on her lunch, and on her."
Mark and Amata burst out laughing. Once they settled back down, Beckett finished the story. "So now the hall goes silent, and everyone's looking at him. He turns to run, but some of the puke was on the floor, so when he starts to move, he slips and hits his head on the table. Knocked his ass out cold." "Yes, it was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life, and after I woke up, I felt like an idiot. Could we drop it now, please? I'd rather not think about that while I'm about to attempt to court another woman."
The group looked over when one of the doors opened, a frantic-looking Christine being chased by a very angry-looking Toshiro Kago, looking ready to strike with his katana. He grabbed Christine by one of her arms, threw her against a wall, and then pressed the blade to her throat. "Return what you have taken, thief!" the samurai growled out. Mark quickly got to his feet and went over to see what was going on, followed by Amata and the two pre-war soldiers. The rest of the group that was on the tour had ran in the room.
Various weapons were now being pointed at Christine and Kago, and Veronica looked like she was ready to take out Kago with her power fist. "Let go of my girlfriend!" Veronica said. Kago looked at her. "Your "girlfriend" is a thief! I should cut off her hands like they did to thieves in my village." Mark let out a shrill whistle to get everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone calm the hell down. What is going on here?" "Mark," Christine said, "tell this crazy guy to let go of me! You said they weren't going to hurt us!"
Mark walked calmly over to where they were, and put a hand on Kago's shoulder. "Kago, my friend, please take your blade away from her throat. There are children present." Kago looked over to see both Sally and Abby being led away from the scene by Amata. Kago took away the blade and sheathed it, and Christine let out a sigh of relief. "Consider yourself lucky. A child should not bear witness to bloodshed." He then looked at Mark. "Captain, I saw this woman take one of those, uh, how do you say, power…cells, and place it in her pocket. That is why I called her a thief." "He's lying!" Christine exclaimed.
Mark looked at Kago, then at Christine. "Christine, empty your pockets." "What? No, Mark, I swear that I didn't take anything!" "Really now? Then, uh, how do you explain that blue glow coming from your right pocket?" The others looked, and did indeed see a blue glow emanating from her cargo pants. Veronica groaned and dragged her left hand over her face. "Goddammit, Christine." Mark held out a hand. "Give it to me, Christine."
Christine reluctantly reached into her pocket and put the power cell in his hand without looking at him. "Christine, since I'm assuming that you were planning to take this back down to Earth, that's two of my rules that you've broken. What do you have to say for yourself?" Before Christine could answer, Veronica did. "Mark, let me handle this, please. Can you send Christine and I back down?" "Yeah, I can send you down to the last used coordinates. Beckett!" "Yes, Captain?" the Private answered.
"Please take Miss Santangelo and Miss Royce to the transport room and send them back, please. Oh, and make sure they leave the translators here." "Yes, Captain. Ladies, if you will follow me, please." Veronica, who was clearly unhappy, grabbed Christine by the arm and dragged her out of the room. "Come on, you. We need to talk." Once the door closed, the room was left in an awkward silence. "So," Mark said eventually, "how was the tour?"
(Eight minutes later)
Veronica and Christine reappeared in the Penthouse. Veronica hadn't said a word to Christine on their way back to the transport room. Once they both got their bearings, Veronica opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it and went to look out the windows, leaving Christine standing in the middle of the room. After a minute or so of silence, Veronica turned back around and spoke.
"He had three very simple rules, Christine," she said, holding up three fingers. "Three rules: don't touch, don't shoot, and don't take. You broke two of those at once, and you nearly broke the third with that Somah woman." "Veronica, I wasn't-" "Wasn't what? Going to take that thing off the ship? So, what, you just found it on the ground, so you figured that you would just put it in your pocket and give it back to Mark? Don't pull that crap with me, Christine. I know exactly what you were going to do with it. You were going to take it to Hidden Valley. Just admit it."
They stared each other down. "Alright, so what if I was?" Christine said. "You saw all of that technology! He complains about the Brotherhood hoarding tech, yet look at what he's keeping up there!" "That's completely different Christine! Down here we're talking about plasma pistols and laser rifles. We know what they're made of, and how much damage they can cause. Up there are things that are far beyond our comprehension, made out of materials that likely don't exist on Earth."
"Mark obviously has seen first-hand what those weapons can do, the dangers that they pose. I doubt that either of them have used that weapon since they've came out here, and I can understand why. If other people, like the Brotherhood, saw a weapon that they've never seen before, they would be hunting them down to get it, and that would put Abby and their unborn child at risk as well."
Veronica paused as a realization came to her. "You weren't just going to take them the power cell. You were going to tell the Brotherhood about the ship." "Of course I was. Do you know how useful all of that tech could be to the Brotherhood?" Veronica let out a yell and threw her hands above her head. "Good god, woman! Is that all that you think about? How something could benefit the Brotherhood? Did anything Mark or I said last night stick in that brain of yours, or did it just go in one ear and out the other?"
"Did you know that Mark actually had a blanket ban on anyone but him or Amata having access to Yes Man? He did that because he didn't want to single you out, because he doesn't trust you." "What?" Christine asked, a bit perplexed. "Oh, you heard what I said. He. Does. Not. Trust. You. He told me that plain and simple this morning, but I defended you. I told him that you could be trusted. That he just needed to give you a chance. He agreed, reluctantly, but he agreed nonetheless. Now I just feel like a fucking idiot for defending you."
"Wait, wait, back up a second," Christine said, "how does he not trust me? I saved his damn life at the Sierra Madre!" "Well, you didn't exactly make a good first impression. He lets you out of the Auto-Doc and the first thing you do is jump on him and start punching him. Granted, you may not have been in your right mind at the time, so I'll give you a pass on that. But then you wouldn't even bother to shake his hand after he was willing to start over. Then you get back here, and then you have that whole thing with Boone, and then there was all the crap you pulled last night and today, and…" She trailed off and sighed.
"Christine, answer a question for me. If I wasn't there, and if your life wasn't tied to Mark's at the Madre, would you have saved him in the switching station?" "Veronica, I-" Veronica steeled her gaze. "Yes or no, Christine." Christine didn't answer, but the silence spoke volumes for Veronica. "That's what I thought," Veronica said as she let out another sigh. "Mark was right."
"Veronica, why are you taking his side? You've known me and the Brotherhood a hell of a lot longer." "He has never lied to me. He may have omitted certain details about his life, and after hearing everything last night, I get it. If I was in his position, I would probably have done the same thing. You've lied to me, and the Brotherhood's lied to me. There's only so much that I can take. Right now, I trust him more than you and the Brotherhood combined."
"I met him at the 188, and even though he barely knew anything about me, he let me travel with him and Amata and the others. He took a chance on me, knowing that I was Brotherhood, and knowing what our chapter was like. He and Amata kept my secret from the others. He trusted me to watch over Amata when she was hurt. He and the others have been nothing but nice to me."
"Veronica, I'm not saying that they're not nice people, but the Brotherhood is your family." Veronica scoffed and shook her head. "No, that's where you're wrong. I only thought that they were my family because I had nothing else to compare it to. Ever since I've been with Mark and them, I've seen what a real family acts like. They don't belittle my beliefs. They don't act like I'm some nuisance that they have to put up with. They listen to what I have to say, and they value my opinions. They genuinely care about me. If I died tomorrow, they would mourn me. The Brotherhood would have a moment of silence, and then act like nothing happened. Hell, most of them would probably be happy that I died."
"The Brotherhood is not my family. They are a group of xenophobes with a bunch of outdated rules and ideals that I was unfortunate enough to be born into." "Unfortunate?!" Christine exclaimed. "Veronica, how could you say that? That's how we met! They taught you everything that you know!" "Yeah, and look what happened. We were separated for six years by my mentor, who then turned into a maniac that was hell-bent on committing genocide. Not to mention the ridicule that I had to endure every time that I returned to the bunker. I don't know about you, but to me, that doesn't exactly scream, "loving family."
Veronica paused to take a calming breath. "Christine, you need to choose." Christine looked confused. "Choose what?" "Us or them, Christine. This group or the Brotherhood. It is clearly obvious that your loyalty to the Brotherhood is clashing with your ability to be a member of this team. So choose." "What?" Christine said, looking at Veronica in disbelief. "No, Veronica, I can do both. Just give me another chance. Please."
Veronica shook her head, her stoic demeanor belying the storm of emotions going on inside of her heart and mind. "Christine, you've had multiple chances. You were told that we were living with an NCR sniper, yet you pulled a gun on him. Yes, you only did it because he pulled one on you, but he wasn't going to shoot you, not with Abby right down the hallway. Then last night you basically said that Mark wasn't responsible to have a weapon that only he and maybe Amata knows how it works. Then this morning happened."
"When I talked with Mark this morning, he didn't say it, but I got the feeling that bringing you up to the ship was a test, and you failed miserably. He didn't give you an ultimatum last night, when he would have been perfectly justified to. Maybe it was because he didn't know you that well, or because you're my girlfriend, or maybe just because he's a nice guy. Maybe a little bit of all that. But I am giving you an ultimatum. So choose."
Christine took a step forward, and went to put a hand on Veronica's shoulder, but Veronica took a step back. "Veronica, why are you doing this? Don't you care about me anymore?" "I do, Christine, but I care about the others as well. I may not have taken any type of oath to the effect, but I have sworn my allegiance to Mark. He is a force for good in the Mojave, and he has the skills and resources to incite change. I wanted the Brotherhood to be that force for good, but they refuse to listen, so they lost my allegiance, not that they know it yet. Please stop stalling, and make your choice, Christine."
"Veronica, I…I can't." "No, Christine, you can, but you just don't want to. It was naïve of me to think that you cared more about me than the Brotherhood. Since you won't decide, I will decide for you. Get out, Christine. You need to leave." Christine appeared to be in shock. "Veronica, are you- are you breaking up with me? You were the one that wanted me to come back!" she exclaimed.
"Because I thought that we could pick up where we left off," Veronica responded. "Honestly, though, I'm not really feeling it. We've been apart for too long. I've changed, Christine, and, well, you haven't. I have a new purpose and new responsibilities, and I embrace all of it wholeheartedly." Christine crossed her arms over her chest and struck a defiant pose. "Veronica, I'm not leaving, and you can't make me." Veronica was silent for a couple of moments.
"You're right. I can't." Christine smiled, thinking that everything would be okay, but any hope was quickly dashed. "But someone else can." Veronica went to her pip-boy. "Mark, come in." Christine's face paled. "Hey, Veronica," Mark said through the pip-boy, "is everything okay?" "Yeah, everything's just peachy. Listen, Mark, you know that favor you owe me? Well, I'm calling it in." "Uh, yeah, sure no problem. What do you want?" "Before I tell you, is Abby with you?" "No, she's in my personal quarters with Sally." Veronica stared at Christine as she spoke. "Veronica, please, no," Christine begged. "Mark, I want you to ban Christine from the Strip." That statement was met with silence. "Mark, you still there?"
"What? Oh yeah, I'm still here. Did I just mishear you? You want me to ban Christine from the Strip? Actually, you know what? Hang on. Veronica, I'm closing the connection. I need to test something anyway." Mark's voice cut out, leaving the penthouse in silence. About twenty seconds later, the large computer screen, which had been blank, displayed the upper part of Mark sitting in the captain's chair, Amata leaning down next to him.
"Can you guys hear me? Can you see me?" Mark asked. "Yes to both, Mark," Veronica responded. "Ok, good. Now," he said, looking between Veronica and Christine in confusion, "could you repeat what you said, because I don't think that we heard you correctly." "No, you did not mishear me, Mark. I am calling in my favor, and asking you to ban Christine from the Strip." "Can I ask why?" Mark asked. "You remember the conversation we had this morning, Mark? About how Christine didn't have your trust?"
"Mark!" Amata exclaimed. Mark put a hand up to silence her. "I'll explain later, babe. Go on, Veronica." "Well, after the stunt she pulled this morning, I don't think that she is able to work with us and be part of the Brotherhood at the same time. So do it. Give the order." "Veronica, I would just like to point out the fact that you were working with us and the Brotherhood, so…." "I know, Mark, but I was already at odds with them when I met you."
"Veronica, sweetie," Amata said, "I understand that you're angry, but I think that that anger is clouding your judgement. I think that you need to cool down before you do anything drastic." "Amata, I have never been more level-headed in my life." Mark looked at Christine. "Christine?" "Mark, please, I'm sorry. I swear that I won't do it again. Just give me another chance." "I already told you, Christine. You already had enough chances. Do it, Mark," Veronica said.
Mark and Amata looked at each other, facial expressions changing at a rapid pace. Amata eventually just shrugged, and Mark sighed. He looked directly at Christine. "Very well." He cleared his throat. "Christine Royce, I, Mark Franklin, as head of the sovereign state of New Vegas, hereby declare you to be persona non-grata. You are banned from the Strip forevermore. You have a half-hour to collect your belongings and leave the Strip. Failure to comply will result in you being forcibly removed. Yes Man!"
The picture on the screen split in half, Yes Man's face appearing on the other half. "Yes, sir?" the AI responded. "Christine Royce is hereby banned from the Strip. Please have a Securitron escort her to retrieve her belongings. She has thirty minutes to leave, starting now. If she has not left by then, she is to be forcibly removed." "Yes sir!" Mark and Amata both gave Christine a sympathetic look, before Mark cut off his part of the connection, leaving Yes Man's face on the monitor.
A Securitron then rolled up to Christine. "Veronica, please, reconsider," she said in a last-ditch plea. Veronica glared coldly at Christine. "You made your bed, Christine. Now you need to go lie in it." Veronica then turned around and went up the staircase, disappearing behind a curtain.
(15 minutes later)
The remainder of the group reappeared in the Penthouse. Mark had checked with Yes Man that Christine had vacated the Strip before they returned. Things were already awkward enough as they were. "Well, aside from the business with the samurai and Christine, that was very interesting. Thank you for that, Mark," Arcade said. "You're welcome, Arcade. Just remember, you can't tell anyone about this. Not even Julie."
Arcade chuckled. "Don't worry. I doubt that anyone would believe me, anyway. Even I can't believe it. I mean, I talked with an actual alien." He smiled and shook his head. "If you'll excuse me, I think that I'll go and take a look at that machinery that kept House alive." Arcade then went through the open doorway.
Mark looked at Amata, who was staring at her pip-boy. "Where is she?" Mark asked as Cass and Boone listened in. They had heard the entire exchange between Mark, Veronica and Christine. "Cocktail Lounge, I think. I'm gonna go talk with her." Mark nodded. "Ok. I'm gonna stay here and go though some more data." Abby, who had been chasing ED-E around the room, caught that last part. "Ooh, can I stay up here with you, daddy?" Mark smiled and picked Abby up. "Absolutely, sweetheart. You can be my assistant." "Yay!" the young girl exclaimed excitedly.
(2 minutes later)
Amata stepped off the elevator and into the Cocktail Lounge, which was right below the Penthouse. It was a large, circular room with large bay windows going all the way around the room to give patrons an unobstructed view of Vegas and the surrounding areas. It was a three-tiered room, with the bar in the middle being the highest section, proper dining tables in the middle section, and faded yellow couches and coffee tables set around the outside, the lowest section. Like the rest of the 38, it appeared to be in pristine condition.
Amata found Veronica a little to her right, sitting on one of the couches, staring out the window. Amata approached her. "Go away, Mark," Veronica said, not turning her head. "It's not Mark, Veronica," Amata said as she sat down across from her. "Sorry, Amata. Mark's usually the one giving me a pep talk." "It's alright. He's pretty good at making people feel better." There was a silence for a minute or two as Amata looked out the window as well.
"So, how'd you like the ship?" Amata asked, breaking the silence. "Oh, the ship was something, but I'm guessing that you didn't come here just to ask me about that." Amata chuckled. "No, not really. So, um, are you alright?" "Eh, I'm fine, I guess. Is Mark mad at Christine?" "No, he wasn't mad. More…disappointed." "Yeah, well that makes two of us," Veronica replied. "You know that I defended her to Mark this morning, saying that she could be trusted? Then she went and pulled that stunt. Made me look like a liar."
"So, are you and Christine done?" Amata asked. Veronica straightened out on the couch. "Yeah, we're pretty much done. You know, when I convinced her to come back from the Sierra Madre, I thought that we could pick up right where we left off, but it just never felt the same. It was six years since I last saw her. Like I told her, I think it's because I've changed, and she hasn't. Be careful what you wish for, right?"
"Well, people change as they grow, Veronica, and what we want in life changes as well. I'm not the same person now that I was six years ago, and what I wanted back then isn't what I want now. Except for Mark. I've always wanted Mark." Veronica chuckled. "Yeah, that seems fairly obvious from everything that I've found out about the two of you. You two have a love story for the ages. Your relationship seems to be perfect."
At that last remark, Amata laughed. "Veronica, our relationship is not perfect. No relationship is, and if anyone tells you different, then they're lying to you. We argue, just like any other couple, and there are some days that I want to strangle him, but I don't because I love him. Growing up, if I was mad at him, I'd just ignore him for a while. These days I withhold sex." Veronica grinned. "I'll bet the make-up sex is pretty good, though." Amata grinned back at her. "Yeah, the make-up sex is pretty good, but we're getting off-track here."
"While what you said about you changing and her not changing is valid, what I also think may have happened is that maybe you compared your relationship with Christine to mine and Mark's relationship. You said that you saw our relationship as perfect, so you wanted yours to be the same thing, and when it wasn't measuring up, you got angry and used what happened today as an excuse to end things with her."
Veronica sighed and looked out the window. "I don't know, maybe you're right. Regardless, I think Christine and I are done for good. I need to stop trying to hang onto the past. While I'll always remember the good times that we had together, I need to move on with my life. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and I think it's time to go see what I can catch." Veronica looked at Amata, appearing to be content.
"Thanks, Amata. I feel a lot better about things, interestingly enough. She was the last piece connecting me to my old life, so now I can fully start anew. "Veronica 2.0. Even better than the original," you might say." Amata smiled. "Happy for you, Veronica. Now, how about we go see what Mark and Abby are up to?" They both stood up. "Sounds like a plan. You know, now that I think about it, there is one more loose end that I need to tie up, and hopefully Yes Man can help."
They stepped off the elevator to the Penthouse, and once they did, they could hear music emanating from the office. Although they couldn't hear it clearly, it was very upbeat, and wasn't one of the songs that were played on the radio. Once they got closer to the office, they could hear laughter, and the music became clearer:
"…Why don't you come with me little girl,
On a magic carpet ride
Well you don't know what we can see,
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Fantasy will set you free…"
The two of them walked through the curtain, and what they saw was simply adorable. Mark was holding Abby, dancing around the room to the music. Abby was laughing hysterically, and her hair was flying around.
"…Close your eyes girl
Look inside girl
Let the sound take you away
You don't know what we can find
So why don't you come with me little girl
On a magic carpet ride
Well you don't know what we can see."
As the music faded out, Mark tossed Abby straight up in the air, and as he did, Amata's heart lodged in her throat. But Mark caught her, gave her a kiss, and then set her down. "Thank you very much for the dance, Abby. You were wonderful." Abby giggled. "You're welcome, daddy." "Mark," Amata asked as she and Veronica moved towards them, "what was that? I've never heard that music before."
"Oh, hey you two," Mark said as Abby ran over to Amata. He looked at Veronica. "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine. So, what was that?" "Well, I got the basics on what House was planning for Vegas and the Mojave, and got an overview of his financials. Then I asked Yes Man if there was anything unusual on House's databanks, which led me to discover a few things: Radio New Vegas was controlled by House, Mr. New Vegas is an Artificial Intelligence-" 'Well, I guess I won't be meeting him then,' Amata thought. "-and House has thousands of pre-war songs saved."
"Really?" Veronica asked curiously. "Then why did the station play the same few songs over and over?" "I asked Yes Man the same question. There was nothing to suggest why he did it, just that he did it. So, I had Yes Man play something upbeat, and asked my darling daughter to have a dance with me." Amata looked down at Abby, who was standing in front of her. "Did you enjoy dancing with your daddy, Abby?"
"Yes I did mommy. It was super fun!" Amata leaned down and gave her a kiss. "Glad you enjoyed it, Abby. I enjoy dancing with daddy, too. Now why don't you head downstairs with ED-E and see what your Auntie Cass is up to." "Okay, mommy. Let's go, ED-E." The eyebot followed Abby out of the room, and once the elevators opened and closed, the adults began to talk.
"So, House must've been a big fan of music, huh? Who would've thought," Veronica said. "Yeah, that's one theory. Maybe in the future, Radio New Vegas could be reconfigured." A thoughtful look crossed his face, before he shook it away. "So, Veronica, are you and Christine, well, um…" "If you're asking if we broke up, the answer is yes, probably for good. It wasn't the same as it was, and I think that I was just trying to hold on to one of the bright spots of my past. I just need to tie up one more loose end before I can get on with my life."
She directed her attention to Yes Man. "Yes Man, does House have anything on Helios One, like anything pertaining to projects they were working on?" "Absolutely! There's all kinds of information on Helios One! House had spies in a whole bunch of companies that fed him information. What would you like to know?" "Veronica," Mark said, a tinge of worry in his voice, "are you sure you want to go down this road? You might not like what you find at the end of it."
"I know that, Mark, but this has been bugging me for years. Before I can move on, I need to know what all those people died for." Seeing that she needed this, Mark nodded. "Okay. Go ahead." "Yes Man," Veronica said, "I need information on any top-secret projects that they were working on, mainly anything to do with weaponry." "Searching records…records found. There was one top-secret project that was in its final stages before the bombs fell, codenamed "ARCHIMEDES.""
Yes Man's face disappeared from the screen, and multiple document papers appeared on the screen, overlaying one another. Yes Man then continued to speak. "It is an orbital weapons platform, split into two parts: ARCHIMEDES I and ARCHIMEDES II. The former is a plant defense system, while the latter can be used as a weapon anywhere using a special gun, designation "Euclid's C-Finder."" One of the documents was made prominent on the screen, showing a photo of what looked like a toy gun the size of a pistol, with a green body, a large red fin on top, and some kind of display on the back.
"I have a video of a test of ARCHIMEDES II. Would you like to view it?" "Please, Yes Man," Veronica said. The three of them gathered around the screen. The screen switched to a recording. The Helios One logo appeared, and a man began to speak. "Attention: What you are about to view is a top secret. Only those with Level II Security Clearance are allowed to view this. If you do not have said clearance, you're fired."
It then switched over to what looked like a few men in lab coats standing on an elevated metal platform that overlooked the desert. They all had goggles on, and one of them was holding the C-Finder. The man holding the C-Finder aimed it over the desert, and then pulled the trigger. The camera zoomed in momentarily on the display on the back of the gun, displaying mathematical symbols and coordinates.
The camera then went back over to the desert, where three beams of light seemingly descended from the heavens, rotating in a circle. The three lights then came together, and then disappeared. Seconds later, a large blue beam of energy came down, striking the ground where the three smaller lights had formed the circle earlier. Once the light dissipated and the dust cleared, there was a large, circular piece of scorched earth where the beam had struck. The recording then ended.
"Wow," Mark said. "No kidding," Amata replied. Veronica, however appeared to be deep in thought. "Yeah, it is impressive," she said, "but inherently useless. Yes Man, could you bring up the page marked, "Conclusions," please?" One of the pages was blown up on screen. Mark began to read it.
While the ARCHIMEDES II laser is a feat of engineering, there are severe limitations:
It cannot be used without the C-Finder
It is only usable outdoors
Its blast radius is severely limited
Requires a twenty-four (24) hour recharge between firings
Conclusion: ARCHIMEDES I and II, while impressive, are ultimately useless as weaponry, and more suited towards light shows. It can be easily seen by enemies, who would have time to move out of the radius, as there is a five second delay from when it finds its firing coordinates to when it actually strikes the target. I doubt the executives will listen, but I feel that I must tell the truth.
Charles E. Johnson
Lead Scientist
Mark looked at Veronica, who was staring at the screen, an impassive look on her face. "Veronica, I know you're probably tired of hearing this, but are you okay?" he asked. She closed her eyes and chuckled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Honestly, this doesn't surprise me. The secret that all those people died for was nothing but glorified artillery that would have made the Brotherhood marginally more effective. I guess Elijah never found that C-Finder."
"Yes Man, is that weapons platform still active?" Mark asked. "Active, yes, but currently inoperable. The solar panels at Helios One are not aimed correctly for it to be usable." "Can you take control of the platform?" "One moment…no, I cannot. It can only be accessed at the Helios One facility, but I am aware of its current orbital position."
"Mark," Veronica said, "that weaponry that you fought that other alien ship with, are they still active?" "Yes, they are. Why?" "In the Codex it states that if a piece of tech can't be protected, then it needs to be destroyed. The C-Finder is missing, but eventually, someone will find it and figure out how to re-orient the mirrors at Helios One. Even though it isn't a very practical weapon, it is still dangerous."
Mark thought it over. "So, we use the weaponry to blast it out of the sky. Not a bad idea, and probably the best course of action here. Yes Man, connect me to the starship, but stay on-screen." "Yes, sir!" the AI said. The screen split in half once more, this time showing Commander Tercorien in the Captain's chair. He jumped a bit. "Jesus! You scared me, Captain. What can I do for you?" "Commander, I am transmitting the orbital position of a weapons platform, codenamed "ARCHIMEDES" to you. I need you to blow it out of the sky. Yes Man, relay the orbital position to the ship."
Elliott looked slightly off to his left, and pressed a few buttons. "Ok," he said, "I have received the coordinates and have the platform locked in. By your command, Captain." Mark looked at Veronica. "You want to do the honors, Veronica? It was your idea." She nodded and looked at the screen. "Fire," she said to Elliott. "Firing at designated target," the Commander said. There was silence as Elliott looked to his left again. "We have a confirmed hit. Target has been destroyed."
Veronica looked visibly relieved. "Thank you, Commander," Mark said. "No problem, Captain. Actually, now that I have you, did Miss Cassidy partake of that whiskey yet?" Did she like it?" Mark smiled. "Don't know yet, Commander, but I will let you know one way or the other." "Thank you, Captain. Was there anything else?" "No, that will be all, Commander." "Roger that. Over and out." The screen returned to only Yes Man's face.
"Well, I guess that's that, then," Veronica said. Amata came over and put a hand on Veronica's shoulder. "Did that give you the closure that you wanted?" she asked. Veronica nodded and smiled. "Yeah, it did. I got my answer. The future is bright, and I look forward to facing it with some great friends by my side. So, shall we go have lunch?" "Sounds good to me. Mark?" "Yeah, I am a bit hungry." It was then that Arcade came back through the doorway. "Hey, Arcade," Mark said, "we're going to have some lunch. Care to join us?" "Sounds like a plan," he said as they headed towards the elevator.
(20 minutes later)
The group was at the kitchen table, finishing up lunch. Arcade had mostly talked about what he found out about House's life-extending machines, Mark talked about the music and the info on Helios One they had found, and, as promised, Amata talked up Elliott to Cass, who was thoroughly enjoying the bottle of whiskey that the Commander had given her. It was at this point that Abby noticed that someone was missing.
"Auntie Ronnie, where is Miss Christine?" The glass of water that Veronica was about to drink from froze in mid-air, and the rest of the table went silent. She put the glass back down and looked at Abby. "Well, sweetheart, you see, Miss Christine broke your dad's rules, and she learned that when you break rules, there are consequences. So, you won't be seeing her around here for a while." 'Or ever again,' she thought.
"Oh. How long will she be gone for?" the young girl asked. "Abby," Amata said, saving Veronica from answering, "why don't you go with ED-E into your room and practice writing your letters. I'll come check on you in a bit, and if you do a good job, you'll get a treat, ok?" "Ok, mommy," she said as she jumped off her chair and skipped out of the room, ED-E following obediently behind her.
Once Abby's bedroom door opened and closed, Mark spoke. "Ok, so I gathered some information from Yes Man concerning the future of Vegas and the Mojave as a whole, as well as the finances of the Strip. We'll start with the money. In the past, I got paid for whatever House needed done, and you guys got a cut of it. Well, from now on, if you need any money, just ask Yes Man, and he'll get you the amount that you need."
"Are ya serious, Mark?" Cass asked. "I have no reason to lie, Cass. Last year, House spent over 800,000 caps to have people look through ruins to find the Platinum Chip, and that barely made a dent in what he has collected from the casinos over the years. So, if you guys want any armor, weapons, ammo, go nuts. Hell, if you want to go over to Gomorrah and get shit-faced and hire a few hookers, go ahead. It's none of my business."
"That is extremely generous of you, Mark," Arcade said. "Think nothing of it, Arcade. You guys are all my friends, you're all helping me make the Mojave a better place to live, so you all deserve the best protection that money can buy. And this goes without saying, but this all stays between us."
"Uh, Mark," Amata said, glancing over at Veronica, "are you at all concerned about a certain someone informing a certain group about the change in circumstances?" Veronica rolled her eyes. "Amata, you can just say it. You're wondering if Christine will tell the Brotherhood that House is dead." "Uh, yeah," Amata replied sheepishly.
"If she still cares about me like she claims," Veronica said, "she won't, but even if she does, it won't matter. Hell, telling them about the ship won't matter. They don't have the numbers to assault the Strip, and they don't have any vertibirds at their disposal, so there is no chance of any aerial assault. In addition, while power armor is strong, the Securitron's weaponry is more than enough to defeat it. It would be similar to what happened at Helios One. We can keep throwing Securitrons at them, like the NCR kept throwing soldiers at them, and they'll become overwhelmed fairly quickly. And we have the ship as a safehouse if things go sideways."
"Thank you for that insight, Veronica. We will now move on to the future of Vegas and the Mojave." He sat back in his chair. "Before Amata and I left Goodsprings, there were three major factions vying for the lion's share of power: House, the NCR, and the Legion. Then you had Benny, who was trying to usurp House, making him a wild card of sorts in all of this."
"When I killed Benny, I took his place as the wild card. Now, with House out of the picture, I have taken his place, although to the outside world, House is still alive. Now, it is no secret that the NCR wants to annex the Strip, in large part to the taxes they would collect on the revenue. As for the Legion, House theorizes that Caesar wants to make Vegas the crown jewel of his empire. His Rome, if you will."
"His what now?" Cass asked. Boone also appeared to be unsure, although it was hard to tell with him. "Arcade, you wanna field that one?" "Uh, sure. This isn't common knowledge, but Caesar was once a member of the Followers, before my time. The Legion is actually based on the ancient Roman empire, which spanned a vast amount of continental Europe, and lasted for a few hundred years. One of its most influential rulers was Julius Caesar, which is where our Caesar likely took his name from. Rome, which is, or was in Italy, was the center of the empire."
"Well said, Arcade. Now, what I want, similar to what House wanted, is to remain independent. I would sooner burn Vegas to the ground before I would allow Caesar to get his mitts on it, so our only issue is how we deal with the NCR after the war is over. Like I said yesterday, I am not a dictator, so I will listen to you guys' thoughts on that issue, so please speak freely."
Surprisingly, Boone was the first to speak. "I say we stay independent. I may have ties to the NCR, but they're too bureaucratic and corrupt for their own good." "I agree with Boone," Cass said. "They didn't lift a finger ta help find who destroyed ma caravan. Plus, we got a good thing goin' here, so why ruin it?" Veronica spoke next. "I'm with you, Mark. You point to a target, and I'll punch it with gusto."
"Good to know, Veronica," Mark said. "Arcade?" "Well, actions speak louder than words, and while all the NCR does is talk, you have proven to be a man of action, so I believe independence is the best route here." Mark then looked at Amata. "Mark, I've already told you that I will always support your decisions, and this is no different." Mark leaned over and gave her a kiss. "Thank you, babe. So, it appears that we're all in agreement. Vegas remains as an independent state. Now, House, and Yes Man, interestingly enough, have plans to deal with a few other factions in the Mojave."
"House wanted me to deal with the Brotherhood, the Boomers at Nellis Air Force Base to the northeast, and the Omertas here on the Strip. I've already dealt with the Omertas, and the situation with the Brotherhood is complicated, so that's on the back burner for now." "Mark," Arcade said concernedly, "are you aware of the reputation of the Boomers?"
"I am, Arcade. They specialize in heavy artillery and bomb the hell out of anyone who gets anywhere close to Nellis. House wanted either their leaders neutralized so they won't be a threat, or their weapons pointed at his targets. That type of help could be very useful against the Legion, so I'm favoring the second option." "So how do you propose getting to the base? Hell, even the Brotherhood won't go near there…well, anymore," Veronica said. "Eh, we'll figure something out."
"So, Yes Man added a couple of other factions that I should deal with, based on what Benny had said in the past. One is the White Glove Society, who run the Ultra-Luxe. Apparently, it is supposed to be a real high-class place, but I guess Benny once mentioned something about it being creepy, and not wanting to go in the basement. Which means, of course, that I'm going to have to end up going in the basement. I doubt that there's anything too bad down there, but knowing my luck, they'll be cannibals or something."
He chuckled and then moved on. "Finally, there's the Great Khans." Boone grunted. "Something you wish to share, Boone?" Mark asked. "Not really," he replied. "Okay. Other than where they live, Red Rock Canyon, there was really no information on them. Can anyone fill me in?"
"I believe that I can, Mark," Arcade said. "Rumor has it that they originated out of Vault 15, which is somewhere in the NCR. They have a warrior-like culture, and they were one of the tribes that lived in the area until House pushed them out. They relocated to Bitter Springs, but there was an…incident…there involving the NCR, and then relocated to Red Rock Canyon. The Followers taught them to make their own medicine, but they used that knowledge to produce chems instead. They have since become the biggest distributors of drugs in the Mojave. They have been pushed around a lot in their history."
Mark looked thoughtful. "So, we're dealing with a group of highly-organized raiders who likely aren't fond of House or the NCR. I'll need to tread carefully here, as they might align with Caesar to get back at them. Hopefully that Jessup guy is still alive." "Who?" Veronica asked. "He's a Khan whose life I saved. He said something about Khans always repaying their debts, so hopefully I can use that to talk to their leader," Mark replied.
Mark's voice then took on a slightly darkened tone. "One last thing. We are at war, people. Right now, us and the NCR want the same thing: the destruction of the Legion. When that happens, I will likely come out into the open with House's death. But, with the NCR being as greedy as they are, might make a move to take Vegas by force. With Oliver at the helm of the military, that is a very real possibility."
"The only thing that's stopped them from trying already is that the Legion is keeping them occupied. I have no doubts, however, that they are keeping an eye on Vegas. So, we need to keep an eye on them as well, which is why I bugged Colonel Hsu's office, among other places." "How were you able to manage that?" Veronica asked. Mark grinned. "Sleight of hand, my dear Veronica. While everyone's looking at your right hand, your left hand is doing something else."
"Wait," Veronica said, "you said "among other places. Where else have you bugged?" "I have bugged Alice McLafferty's office, the main building and bar at the Mojave Outpost, and the security office and Elder's office at Hidden Valley." "Wait, Hidden Valley? Mark, you do recall that there is a radio interference setup there, right? That would effectively nullify your bugs."
"Ah, but that is where you are wrong, Veronica. The bugs, while originally Earth technology, have been augmented by alien technology, which, given its advanced state, easily beats any earthly attempts to block the signals." "Ok, well, what if they're discovered?" Veronica asked. "They won't be," Mark said. "They're no bigger than my fingernail, and they blend in to whatever surface they're stuck to, so you'd have to get up really close to notice it was there."
"The transmissions are being sent to the ship, recorded and analyzed, and a report is prepared for me of anything that I should know. Commander Tercorien is to notify me if anything is heard that needs my urgent attention." Arcade looked a bit pensive. "This all sounds like a large invasion of privacy," he said. "I understand, Arcade," Mark said, "but like I said, we're at war. The NCR may be our friend today, but our enemy tomorrow." "Mark's right, Arcade," Boone said. "In times of war, you use every tool at your disposal."
Boone then looked at Mark. "Is there any chance of the transmissions being intercepted?" "None whatsoever, Boone. It is on an alien frequency that radios on earth can't detect. I can't even access it from my pip-boy. That is by design, done as a safety precaution." "Well, have ya heard anything interesting?" Cass asked. "Nothing interesting from the Brotherhood. The NCR, however, is a different story. Apparently, they have a Legion Centurion in custody, which from what I've picked up, is rare."
"You can say that again," Boone said. "Legion soldiers usually slit their own throats if they're about to be captured, so capturing one of them, a Centurion, no less, is a big deal. They get anything out of him?" "No, not yet. They have Lieutenant Carrie Boyd interrogating him, but she isn't having any luck. She wants to beat him, but I guess that that's against regulation."
Mark then looked around the room. "Anyone else have anything they want to discuss?" No one responded. "Ok then. If anything urgent comes up, I'll let you guys know. Other than that, we're done here. Enjoy the rest of your day."
(2 hours later, Hidden Valley)
Christine stood in the antechamber of the Hidden Valley Bunker, pondering her recent life choices. She had been somewhat thinking about them on her way here, but she did need to pay attention to any threats. Now that she was here, however, she had time to think. She knew that Veronica could be vindictive on occasion, but what she had just done took vindictive to a whole new level. Christine really wanted to blame Mark for the change in Veronica that caused her ex-girlfriend to act that way, but she knew in her heart of hearts that this situation was her own fault.
Now, with nowhere else to go, she had come back to the bunker that she had been born and raised in. She did need to report the success of her mission, anyway. Sighing, she approached the intercom and pressed the button. "This is Scribe Christine Royce, registration Charlie November dash Four Zero One Foxtrot (CN-401F) requesting entrance, over."
There was silence for a moment. "Please hold," a man's voice said over the intercom. A minute later, he spoke again. "Ok, that checks out." The door then slid open. "Welcome home, Scribe Royce." Christine sighed, and then began her descent down the stairs, the door closing behind her.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. The alien ship was visited, an old relationship died, a new one may have formed, there were some interesting discoveries, things were blown up, and plans for the future of the Mojave have been laid out. Until next time, and reviews are always welcomed and appreciated.