Apr 27, 2013

Field Logs, Log #16

After exiting Nellis it was time to go back to the Strip, to report to Ambassador Crocker. I was quite happy about how I accomplished the mission. Outstanding.

I returned to the brightness, loudness and sin of The Strip, only to run to it's oposite end where the NCR was station. The civilized part f the Strip. Civilized... Most of the soldiers were drunk and babling against the Legion and the monorail attack... The monorail attack... God, do I ever do anything right...

Before reporting the results of my assignment to the Ambassador I asked about The Strip's situation. He just me that the town was full of drunks and gamblers, which I already knew. Trying to get his opinion about the NCR soldiers making part of that group didn't seem like the right move. Then I reported about the Boomers, saying they were willing to help the NCR. He was thrilled to know and asked me if I was ready for my next assignment. I was, of course. He said the NCR wasn't welcome around those parts and that the violence rate was rising against NCR citizens and the main suspects were the gang called The Kings. He had two plans. First, "remove" a member of the gang called Pacer. Second, a diplomatic approach to the gang's leader, the King. I told the Ambassador I'd remove Pacer. He was a punk harassing NCR's people.



As tactical soldiers me and Craig decided to take a look around Freeside, where Pacer usually strolls on. While on recon we found a homeless ghoul who'd give us information about Freeside (the kind of information that can be useful) for 30 caps. So I gave it a go. He gave me lots of intel, but about the Pacer character only two things of use: 1st, the Van Graffs family, the owners of the best energy weapons shop around, wanted him dead and that he had a jet problem, which he tried to deal with with the help of the Followers of the Apocalypse. I decided to talk to Crocker to decide which would be better.

When I reported to the Ambassador he had his doubts about the plan to OD Pacer, but I told him that I could easily do it with some Psycho, so he agreed to it. Fortunatly I always carry some different drugs, due to their possible medical use. That said, it was time to carry on with the plan.

By nightfall I entered the Kings' building and searched for Pacer's room (had to guess a bit actually, but got proof it was his). It had to be near the King's room, since Pacer is his second-in-command and when I found the Jet stash I knew I was right. I took a deep breath and did what I needed to do. All I had to do next was wait. We decided to sleep there in The King's Impersonation School, since they were actually friendly and had many beds layin' around.



By the morning I snuck up to the room and peeked in. His body was laying behind the bed. He didn't stand a chance. Then I exited the building, with no intention of coming back. I decided to go to the Silver Rush, Van Graffs' shop, to see if they had anything I wanted and could afford. The front guard stripped me of my weapons before letting me through. I ended up buying only ammunition and a scope for my laser rifle. At least I'll be deadlier from the distance.

I quickly went back to report Pacer's death to the Ambassador. He was pleased to know that his death wouldn't be traced back to the NCR. Another job well done. After that I asked the Ambassador to keep me in mind for any future assignments. He told me there was nothing more for me there, but Colonel Moore, at the Hoover Dam, had requested an audience with me. The Hoover Dam! I was certainly getting recognition around the NCR, which felt great. Craig was happy too. We went straight for it.

Oh Hoover Dam... When I saw it again chills went down my spine. I entered and asked where Colonel Moore might be and went meet her with a bit of a rush. I was kind of excited. She said she had a "real mission" for me, that Crocker's missions were the ones noone would take. Colonel wanted us to... Deal with the Great Khans. That did not go well with Craig. But, the mission was given. We had to do it. The Great Khans would be neutralized, for the NCR's sake.

We'll now rest at one of the common rooms. I fear Craig won't get much sleep...

Apr 15, 2013

Field Logs, Log #15

As I said earlier, we didn't have much of a strategy to discuss, since we didn't know what to expect. So we went in and prayed for the best. As we followed the road that would lead to Nellis a man stopped us. He told us he had some information that could help us get to the Boomers - the tribe - without being killed. He'd only give it to us for a wager though. And I'm not the wagering type. I wished him a good day and prepared for the worst, as we went up the road.

As we entered the open area, filled with ruined buildings, we heard a noise. An howitzer being fired noise. We ran to cover on the nearest building, covered behind an almost totally destroyed wall. We counted the shots that were needed before they had to reload. We both had had experience on this. When the last shot was fired we ran to another building, because we figured we didn't have that much time. And we didn't. As soon as we hid the howitzer started firing again. We waited like before and then ran, this time towards the fence. They wouldn't shoot there, so close to their base.



When I got to the gate the guarded pointed a missile launcher at me - not a slick move - and started asking questions like who were we and how did we survive. After he got his answers, his superior, Raquel, took me to their leader, Mother Pearl.

Mother Pearl was probably only a few years older than me, but still adressed me as "child". She was a nice lady, overall. She said she was having trouble in some parts of the camp. I took the chance, if I assisted them then it would be easier to convince them to fight for us, the NCR. She told me that they had many problems and gave me directions to where I could help. I decided to start by making on of their younglings happy, just by listening to their people's history.

I went in the "Boomer's museum. Inside there was a painted wall and Pete, a little child. He was cute, heh. I asked him to tell us all about his people, like he was so eager to do. After his speech we talked for a long while about these Boomers people. They were actually very interesting. Their plans for the future were to restore a Pre-War bomber plane that crashed in Lake Mead in 1948 and use it to blow up "savages". That could be of use. I told them that if they attached ballasts to the plane it could re-surface and then they could get it. Pete said that that was exactly what Loyal, a man I was still yet to meet, wanted to do.



My next stop was the ill clinic. I knew that there I could be useful. The good doctor, Doc Argylle, filled me in. There were three injured men who got to that condition by fighting some giant ants that were nesting on their generator. Yet another problem I had to take care of. But first things first. I had to ampute a leg, treat an allergic reaction to the ants' venom and treated an infection. All in a days work heh?

Then I was off to meet Loyal. Frisky old man, probably even older than Mother Pearl. He told him I could look into the solar arrays that got broken They were directly above the generator, where the ants were. So I went there. It was farther than I expected, since it should be all nearby in a base. On my way there I found Raquel and she also wanted me to kill the ants, but I told her I was already on it.



We decided to first kill the ants and turn on the generators and only then repair the solar arrays. Best that way. We went in there and started shootin' ants. When we thought we had shot every single one more appeared. And this just repeated. Then I finally, not on purpose, shot one of the artillery shells. The ant died, but my leg got pretty messed up. I was able to patch it up, with Craig's help. He turned on the generator and we exited the building. We headed to the roof and I fixed the solar arrays without a problem. Then it was begining to get dark so we wanted to sleep. We reported to them first though. Raquel was still on guard duty and Loyal was about to leave his post to go to his house. They were both satisfied with my work and told me I should return to Pearl. And so I did.

Mother Pearl decided I could be trusted. She trusted me with her people's dream. By the morning I was to talk to Loyal about bring the bomber to Lake Mead's surface.

When I talked to him he gave the ballasts I had think of too when talking to Pete and sugested me to talk to Jack about a rebreather, if I didn't think I could hold my breath. I talked to Jack and he said he needed a pressure cooker to savage parts to complete the rebreather. So I went in the Boomer's kitchen to see if I found anything. Since I didn't, I left and hoped my old lungs could take the dive.

We left Nellis and headed South. The location was almost directly South of Bitter Springs, so it wasn't very far.

On our way there we found ourselves in deathclaw territory. Shit. We tried to sneak our out to the otherside and succeeded. Fortunatly. We did not have the firepower to deal with one of those, let alone the 10 that were around us.

Then we arrived at the place that Loyal indicated us, a dock by the Lake. It was swarming with cazadores. We killed 'em off. Then I had to go in the water "bare lunged" and attach the ballasts in the plane, which was at the bottom of the lake. Craig admited to me, kind of ashamed, that he couldn't be of much help underwater. I attached the first ballast on one wing and quickly went back up. My chest hurted just before I got to the surface. Many deep breaths. Went back down again. Attached the other ballast. Returned to the port, very tired. Handed the detonator to Craig for him to push while I recovered my breath. It worked, heh.



We headed north through Bitter Springs, to avoid the deathclaw territory. We couldn't avoid it, but luckily there wasn't any deathclaws in the area no more. Probably took shelter for the night. Lucky us,

Back at Nellis, I talked to Loyal at the hangars, about midnight. He said he'd send robots to carry the plane back to the base. Then I was off to report to Mother Pearl. She was very happy with my report, thought it was a miracle. When I asked about helping the NCR she didn't hesitate to accept. She was eager to try out the bomber plane too.

Me, Craig and ED-E are spending one last night at Nellis, before returning to Ambassador Crocker.

Frank out.

Apr 11, 2013

Field Logs, Log #14

Before heading to The Strip itself I had to stop by Aerotech, to inform poor Frank Weathers that his family was dead. On the way I passed by the monorail tracks... Failure after failure haunted me... I eventually took off again the NCR Ranger armor. I may be back on the NCR, but I don't feel like I deserve a Ranger armor.

The poor man... His wife, daughter... Craig tried his best to confort me, but it wasn't enough...

The Strip was so close to me, though I had to enter via Freeside. I had a long walk ahead of me.

Freeside seemed mostly like a poor Strip. It had one casino, some stores... Nothing much, really. As we approached the place we figured the Strip wasn't for us. Fortunatly there was a NCR branch on the Strip. Then I finally arrived at it's gates. Apparently I had to submit to a credit check to the robots guarding the entrance, since one poor bastard who didn't was shot and blown up right in front of me. I had the bottle caps, so I submitted to the check.



Then I entered. The fabulous New Vegas. I heard only loud music and saw girls whoring up to promote casinos and... And... NCR soldiers puking all around the place... Victor appeared and talked to me. It was a nice surprise. He greeted me and then said that the Strip's leader, Mr. House, wanted to see me. For all my time in the Mojave, this was the first time I heard such a thing. No one had ever seen Mr. House. I accepted the invitation on the spot.

Mr. House was... A monitor. A... monitor... With a face on it... That talked... He asked me what did I make of New Vegas. I told him I prefered the Wasteland. He started lecturing me about how could I prefer a desert, a radioactive desert, filled with barbarians and that would eventually get me killed. But then said my talents could be put to use there, so he wanted something. I wasn't interested in working for everyone but my country, which NCR represented. No I told him I wasn't interested. He said I was the first person to enter the Lucky 38 in 200 years and that it was not an invitation made lightly. He also mentioned my courier contract. My short time as a courier was over though, I was now a part of the NCR. He told me to go, if I wanted to, to enjoy the Strip he had built. He was an arrogant bastard. He even gave me the Lucky 38's presidential suite. I left, with no intentions of returning.



Then to deal with Benny. I thought about it while on the elevator. It had to be done.

On my way out the casino a NCR trooper came to me and gave me a letter from Ambassador Crocker, the NCR representative on the Strip. That was just what I wanted, I could help the NCR instead of going meet Benny. Craig was very pleased too, though he encouraged my revenge.

I entered the Embassy, asked the secretary where the Ambassador was and then reported for duty. He pretty much opened up to me. He confessed that the NCR was in a tight spot between Mr. House and The Legion. He told me the people would suffer if the NCR fell. And he couldn't be more right!

He then told me about a tribe to the North called Boomers. They had invaluable ammunition for us and would be a great help. That is, if I could reach them AND convince them to help the NCR. The Ambassador told me they were hostile to all outsiders, so no one knew how they were.



We slept at the Embassy and in the morning headed North, where the Ambassador told us to. It was a relativelly short way from the Strip. Me and Craig stopped now to develop a strategy, even though we knew nothing about them. We advance in two-three hours.

Frank out.

Apr 4, 2013

Field Logs, Log #13

We left Bitter Springs and headed to Camp Golf in the morning. As with the way North from Camp Golf to Bitter Springs, on the way South we found some cazadores, but few of them which we could neutralize from a distance.

I talked with Sergeant McCredie, who was still grateful for my help at Camp Golf. I told him him what Captain Gilles needed and he happily obliged. That was it for Camp Golf, then off to Forlorn Hope.

The ways to Camp Forlorn Hope was fairly easy. We made our way from Boulder City, passing by it's beach campground and then the city itself. When we arrived, I first told Tech Sarge Reyes to tell her all the stations were upgraded and then I talked to Major Polatli and told him we were ready to take on Nelson and defeating the Legion.

I met Sergeant Cooper, who was leading the attack, outside Nelson. We were ready to teach those Legionaries a lesson. He told me that there were NCR hostages at Nelson and that the main objective was to kill Dead Sea, the Legion leader.



We stormed Nelson and killed most of the Legionaries in little time.But when I regrouped with Craig I saw the only three NCR troopers that came along dead. Before heading on to defeat Dead Sea, though, we freed the crucified NCR soldiers. Then we entered Dead Sea's bungalow. He was expecting us, but we outnumbered him 3 to 1, so we neutralized him quickly. We might have killed him, but it didn't feel like a victory.



I reported back to Major Polatli and he didn't even seem to care about the death of the soldiers in the battle. He simply congratulated me... After I recomposed myself I told him about Captain Gilles' request. After winning at Nelson, he said it wouldn't be much of a problem to reassign troops.

From Camp Forlorn Hope, my next stop would be the NCR Ranger Safehouse. My name as been carried around the NCR so I might as well get some gear to represent it. On my way there the usual Legion Assassins attacked us. Gosh, I swear, those might very well be the end of us someday.

Inside the safehouse I took the liberty of claiming a bed and a footlocker for my own. We also took a long rest. When I woke up, I undressed my armor and took a Ranger Patroling Armor from a shelve, which I wore. Next up, go to The Strip and meet that rascal Benny.



Frank, former-FORMER-NCR, out.

Apr 1, 2013

Field Logs, Log #12

Not aware of the time, we decided to move right on to New Vegas Clinic. Soon the night fell and we were moving through the desert in the dark, trying to be as quick as we could, not to be caught by Cazadores or some creature. But of course, things are never that simple. We were attacked by another group of Legion's Assassins and I blew most of them up with some grenades. ED-E and Craig did the rest.

We arrived at the Clinic and asked Doctor Usanagi if Corporal Betsy could come to her about treating her psycological trauma. The Doctor said that she had expertise in the area, so Corporal Betsy was good to go. Then I left and entered the Crimson Caravan, right outside the clinic. I had to find the books for Lieutenent Markland. When I enetered, Ringo, the civilian I had helped in Goodsprings, came running to me and gave me the caps he promised. I bought the books from a shop keeper and then headed out, to figure out my next move. I decided to pass by Camp McCarran to assign troops to Bitter Springs and then go to Ranger Station Foxtrot to upgrade the radio.

Craig agreed with me to spend the night walking. So we didn't rest until we got to Camp McCarran and even after we left. At Camp McCarran I talked to Clonel Hsu. Before I could say anything, he gave me a key to a Ranger Safehouse where I could rest and re-supply. I saluted and thanked him. Then I told him that Captain Gilles needed more soldiers and the Colonel agreed to reassign some.



Then we headed to Ranger Station Foxtrot. I tried to take a shortcut through the mountains but it didn't pay up, since the path was full of cazadores who found us quick enough. We hid in a Beer Brewery. There we found some ammo, so we didn't go in for nothing.



When we exited the darn beasts were still waiting for us. They attacked us over and over and I used up almost all my ammo to keep us alive. When we got past them, leaving a lot of dead bugs on the ground, I found a dufflebag which countained a reinforced combat armor. I used parts of the one I was wearing to repair the new one I had found and I got myself a slick armor. But, as Craig had warned me, the path we wanted to take was blocked by a mountain we couldn't climb. So we had to go around, fighting even more cazadores. I had had it with those bugs.

After much walking, we finally caught sight of the Station's antenna. I got to the Station and talked the Commander. Before I could say anything, she told me she needed more time for the money and thought I was with the Omertas, a New Vegas family. I was disappointed by her attitude, she was supposed to be a fearless Ranger. Still, I gave her the radio updates and left. Then it was the long ride back to Bitter Springs, to deliver the books.

We ran through the night like shadows, but somehow Legionaries squads still managed to find us. Caesar had great power, no doubt.

We finally got to Bitter Springs after a long run. I talked to Lieutenant Markland and gave him the books he asked me to get. He was very surprised and thankful.



Now we are to take a long rest. I've decided with Craig that we'd stop by Camp Golf and ask to reassign troops to Bitter Springs and then finally head to Forlorn Hope, where we'll battle the Legion and then ask Major Polatli to reassign troops to Captain Gilles.

Frank out.