Chapter 1: End of a Long Journey
Wasteland Gate
By Kylia
Chapter 1: End of a Long Journey
By Kylia
Chapter 1: End of a Long Journey
Outskirts of Denver, Colorado
6 Months after the NCR Victory at Second Hoover Dam
"Surrender your weapons, your goods and yourselves, profligates," the Decanus said, keeping his shotgun leveled at what appeared to be the leader of the four travelers from the west. Legate Marcus Agrippa, true heir to Caesar, had ordered all outsiders detained and brought to him for questioning and enslavement.
"So who's the officer who has gone and declared himself ruler of Denver here then?" The leader cocked an eyebrow, not lowering her pistol.
"I serve Legate Marcus Agrippa, true heir to Caesar and Master of Denver," The Decanus replied. "Surrender or die! We have you outnumbered, Profligate!"
The leader laughed, laughed at his order, and it was the Decanus could do to not shoot her now for her insult.
"Being outnumbered is something I'm used to, Decanus," the leader replied, shrugging blandly. The Decanus bit his lip for a moment, and he could tell from the stances of the rest of his men that they too were on the verge of charging or shooting, depending on their weaponry.
"Veronica," the leader looked over to one of her companions, a pale, dark-haired woman wearing nondescript wanderer's garb - very different from the black, obviously old-world armor the leader wore. On her right hand, the pale woman had a power fist, like the ones Caesar's Praetorian Guard had used, that Legate Agrippa had given to his own Praetorians.
"Do you think we should surrender?"
"Seems like a bad idea," The woman - Veronica - said, shrugging. "Can I take the one to the left the idiot with the shotgun? He's leering at me." The Decanus looked at the legionary on his left and tightened his grip on his own shotgun. They showed no concern for the situation they were in!
"SURRENDER OR DIE!" The Decanus barked, "All of you!"
"Here's the thing, Decanus. I don't surrender. Not a fan. And if you're smart, you'll turn tail and run." With her free hand, she tugged down slightly on her black, broad-brimmed hat.
"The Legion does not run."
"They sure did from me at Second Hoover Dam," her lips turned up in a wicked, cruel smirk he'd have expected on a Frumentarii. It sent the first chill of fear down his spine that he'd felt in years. You are a legionary! A Decanus! Control yourself! This profligate woman poses no-
"The ones that were left after I finished emptying my .44 into Lanius's skull, anyway," the woman continued.
Now that chill of fear became an icy grip deep in his gut. "No..."
"Yep," The woman gave an elaborate bow while still pointing her gun at him. "Victoria Fernandez, courier, contractor-at-large for the NCR and general pain in the ass, at your service."
The Decanus physically swallowed as he looked at the olive-skinned woman before him. She's just a woman, just a weak profligate-
But he couldn't think it. Victoria Fernandez was no woman. She was a demon - a monster, a scourge upon the Legion in human flesh. Slayer of Caesar, of Lucius, of Lanius, of Vulpes Inculta. A one-woman army, who it was said had single-handedly won Second Hoover Dam and broken the Legion...
It can't be true! It's all lies! No one person could do that!
Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw his own men wavering, though none were running. Not yet.
And yet -
The Decanus wanted to run. He wanted to flee - and keep fleeing until this terror before him was miles away.
"You! You are a Profligate myth! You are not-!" The Decanus tried to say, about to fire his shotgun at her, to kill her now -
He didn't even get to shoot a single shell before the .44 bullet went through his right eye and into his brain.
Outskirts of Denver, Colorado
6 Months after the NCR Victory at Second Hoover Dam
"Huh," Victoria holstered her pistol less than five minutes after firing off her first shot. "So I guess the Legionaries around Denver really do still have discipline. They all fought to the death even after I told them who I was." She crouched by the body of the Decanus she'd shot first, grabbing his belt pouch and searching for anything else useful on his body. Just some shotgun shells and pinyon nuts.
"Really, Boss, you're the one of the richest women in the Mojave and you're still stopping to loot dead bodies?" The raspy voice of Raul said from behind her.
"We're a long way from friendly territory," she pointed out, checking the pouch. A couple dozen Denarii, and a few Aure. A well paid idiot she'd gone and run into, apparently. "Plus, how do you think I got so rich?"
"I'm still a little surprised most of the patrols we ran into just ran off rather than fight," Victoria turned to look at Arcade, the blonde man pulling a stimpack out of his pack and sticking it into his arm, near where he'd gotten a grazing injury from one of a bullet. "Given how brainwashed your typical Legionary is."
"Or was," Victoria mused. "I mean, they were also taught to believe that Caesar was God, and now God is dead."
"I don't think Nietzsche applies here," Arcade countered.
"No, but I am the one who killed their 'God', and his entire inner circle. If the Son of Mars can't stop me, if the Monster of the East couldn't stop me... well, what are mere mortals like your average legionary supposed to do." She shrugged and stood up. "Veronica, you alright?"
"A few scratches, but nothing serious," the former Scribe said, cleaning bits of blood and bone off her power fist.
"Raul?"
"I'm good, Boss," Raul shook his head. "Remind me why I agreed to go on this trip with you?"
"Because you were getting bored on the Mojave?" Victoria shrugged.
"No Boss, that was you," Raul shook his head. "This trip may be hell on my knees, but someone's got to keep an eye on you on this crazy plan of yours." Victoria smiled a little at his words. "So how much longer till we reach Colorado Springs and..."
"The Cheyenne Mountain Complex," Victoria supplied. "Home to Project Blue Book, and something House was apparently prepared to send half his Securitron Amy to secure, this far away from Vegas, if need be." Victoria moved onto another body, grabbing his ammo and coin pouch as well as anything else of value that wasn't that heavy - she didn't carry a shotgun, nor did anyone else in her little party, but ammo made for a good thing to sell.
Though, House's notes had said he'd have prefered to find 'reasonably trustworthy human employees', when the time came, just monitored by a few of his Securitrons to keep them honest.
Convincing Veronica to come with her when she'd found House's plans buried in his computer systems at the Lucky 38 had been easy. The Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood had been willing to help the NCR at Second Hoover Dam, but refused to move any further forward than that. Arcade was coming because he'd never trusted House and didn't trust that it wasn't some pre-war superweapon House had wanted.
Victoria had her doubts about that, but she'd agreed to help Arcade destroy or secure it if it was, so it could never be used.
Raul had mostly just shrugged and said 'let me get my tools' when she asked him to come along. She envied the ghoul's ability to just... go with the flow of life so easily. Then again, a hell of a lot happened to him to make him like that.
Victoria had mostly just wanted the excuse to leave the Mojave. The NCR was good for the region, for the people living there, and they were on their way to being incorporated as a full state. But it was getting too civilized for her taste.
But I can't say I'm not curious about what that pre-war pendejo was up to. House had vision, she'd give him that, but his plan had been... well, fucking stupid. Not to mention his idiotic management of the Three Families and his notion that he could just milk all the money out of the NCR forever and all time.
Maybe he could have done it, maybe, but I'd rather not support the cost.
So anything he'd marked as 'urgent priority' once New Vegas and the Mojave Wasteland were secured was of interest to her.
"Anyway, it's about... four, maybe five more days." Victoria said after consulting her Pip Boy and its map. "Could be three if we can make a straight shot down the Interstate, but that's unlikely." Something would probably get in the way of that.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Arcade asked, holstering his energy pistol. "We should get moving. Before another patrol comes by."
Ruins of Colorado Springs
6 Months after the NCR Victory at Second Hoover Dam
"People have passed through here, recently," Victoria said, crouching down to examine the cigarette butts and footprints. "Hopefully locals from Cheyenne." Colorado Springs had all the hallmarks of being near a nuclear detonation - Cheyenne Mountain Complex being the target, presumably, as well as some of the other nearby military facilities.
"I'm still amazed that town exists at all," Arcade mused. "This place had to have been covered in missiles, and yet people hiding out in the underlevels of Cheyenne Mountain managed to survive and come back up into the wasteland and make a town in the place." Arcade frowned, "I'm sure you've thought of this, Victoria, but what if they already have whatever Project Blue Book is?"
"House's records seemed to imply it was under the underlevels, really deep underground, and that those lowest levels were sealed with some sort of advanced locking you needed a proper code for," she tapped her Pip Boy. "Which I have here. In theory, not even the best hackers would be able to get through it."
"I hope your right, or this has been a waste of time."
"Oh come on Arcade, it's not like you wanted to stick around New Vegas while the NCR consolidated even more," Victoria laughed.
"Maybe not, but I could have gone with other Followers up to Wyoming," Arcade pointed out.
"If it turns out this was a wild goose chase, I might go there myself. Papa Khan left a message for me inviting me to come visit when the Khans left Red Rock Canyon," Victoria mused. She'd impressed the Khan leader, at least to an extent, when she'd been able to convince him to reclaim the legendary Mongol legacy and to avoid the Scylla and Charybdis of the NCR and the Legion.
She shook her head, "Anyway, with any luck the people of Cheyenne will realize that we're not a threat and be interested in trading. They still trade with some of the communities that the Legion used to control... and parts of it still do." She was a bit surprised that they did that, but after taking Denver, Caesar's Legion had pulled up short and turned entirely back West, and though the people of Cheyenne apparently didn't have any real love for the Legion, they weren't under immediate threat.
Plus, supposedly, they had access to some good pre-war hardware that they used to defend themselves. But nothing like a superweapon or some... cache of power armor whatever. Nothing that would be worth Mr. House making it a priority.
Victoria stood back up. "The people of Cheyenne have picked this place clean though. No scrap, no salvage... hell..." She walked over towards the ruined skeleton of what might have been a house with aluminum siding. Parts of the outside, what was left of it, might even have been...
"Someone's been harvesting a way at these buildings, taking off chunks of the wall, probably to drag building material to Cheyenne. Or somewhere else nearby, I suppose." She shook her head. "Sorry. We should keep going."
Victoria checked her pipboy, but it was a bit hard to get a clear fix on how best to navigate these ruins... she fiddled with the dials on the device, then finally got it zoomed properly... maybe. I've let myself get reliant on this thing since Doc Mitchell gave it to me.
"That way," She pointed to the southwest. They picked their way through the ruins, and though Victoria - and Veronica - kept their eyes open for any sort of salvage, or something worth taking, but the whole place really had been picked clean, and they saw more signs of people having just... ripped parts off the ruins and moved them away. Usually when people used the ruins to build like that, they rebuilt right there where they were salvaging. Then again, Cheyenne does have a place they call home...
"I think we're almost to Fort Carson, and then from there it's not much further to the Mountain..." she looked up at the sky. "But we may want to rest there, if we can. Not surprise them when it gets dark and all."
"Not a bad plan Boss," Raul agreed. "Small towns on the furthest edge like this Cheyenne... no big friends or warlords nearby to protect them - they don't like to let people in or even come close when it's getting dark." He shrugged and Victoria nodded.
Victoria tried in vain, as they walked, to find a radio frequency to tune into, something anything, even some pre-war channel, but despite her efforts, she didn't find anything, unsurprisingly. The Legion apparently tracked down the source of any old world radio signals and destroyed any transmitters they could...
Raul was quiet, and Arcade and Veronica talked about the Mojave and exchanged theories about what Project Blue Book might have been about. Veronica's ideas got crazier and crazier, from time machines to cyborg armies to space ships with Faster than light capacity. Victoria had had to stop and ask what the hell that actually meant -
And been subjected to a physics lecture from Arcade and Veronica that she could have done without.
As they drew close to Fort, Victoria took off her sunglasses with the setting sun, slipping them inside a belt pouch. Then she briefly removed her hat and wiped her brow, pushing aside a few strands of hair that had stuck to her damp forehead. This riot armor from the divide is good, but did it have to be black? That was not the first time the thought had crossed her mind, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
She paused, dropping her back to the ground and fishing out a fresh canteen of water. Fortunately, most of the rivers, ponds, and streams they'd passed had been free of any leftover radiation, along with other water sources. They'd boiled the water, of course.
She unscrewed the cap and sipped, slinging her back back on.
Finally, they were able to get past the ruins, and she had an unobstructed view of Fort Carson up ahead -
The bombs had wrecked the walls of the place, but they'd been patched more recently, and at several spots she saw some sort of... automated turrets? Hooked up to some computers, probably, ready to fire at someone's order.
"HALT" Someone shouted down from the walls, across the distance, aided by some sort of pre-war device they were holding up to their mouths. "Wait there while we send someone out!"
"Okay..." Victoria pulled up short, bemused. Cheyenne was supposed to be situated at the mountain, not here in the old fort, right? She kept her hands on the handles of two of her guns - one on her modified .44, and the other on the .357 police pistol she'd salvaged from the Sierra Madre.
She saw the gates to the fort open and three people walk out - one was in power armor, and unlike the NCR's heavies, the servos seemed to be still in place, because the person inside it was moving at a reasonable pace. The other two, as they drew closer, she saw were wearing U.S. Army combat armor, the faded green and the star on the chest a clear giveaway.
"Power armor?" Veronica shook her head, "Where the - how?! God..." She shook her head. "If the Brotherhood hears about this... thought I suppose it makes sense that NORAD might have had at least a few suits, if they're from Cheyenne..."
"I was more noticing the Gatling Gun the one in the metal armor is carrying," Raul pointed out. "Maybe try to be more diplomatic than you were with those Legionaries by Denver, Boss?"
"I'll do my best Raul," Victoria chuckled. She let out a sigh and pulled her hands away from her guns, holding them up just a little - not in a gesture of surrender, just to make clear she wasn't making aggressive moves.
"Who are you?! What's your business here?" The one in the power armor asked as they got within thirty or so feet. He leveled the gun, aiming it at the ground in front of him, but clearly ready to redirect it if need be. And there's no cover here unless we go backwards...
"Victoria Fernandez. These are my friends, Raul Tejadas, Veronica Santangelo and Arcade Gannon," she pointed to each in turn. She lowered her hands to her sides. "I'm on my way to Cheyenne."
"Victoria Fernandez?" One of the two in combat armor - a woman, young, maybe 18 - blurted out. "But -" she turned to the one in power armor. "This is that woman those traders were talking about last month! The one who beat the Legion way out West, killed Caesar and-"
"Created the entire mess we're in," the one in the power armor cut the woman off.
"Excuse me?" Victoria raised an eyebrow. "What did I do to you?"
"Created a massive Refugee problem," the power armored man replied. "When the Legion collapsed started fighting itself, civilians and escaping slaves fled, and a lot fled here, since we're outside of what was Legion territory." He gestured to the fort. "The Cheyenne Council has been helping them turn this old Fort into a new town for them to live in, but in the meantime, it's a lot of work, and we have to help keep the peace and defend it."
"So you are from Cheyenne," she didn't make it a question.
"Lieutenant Richard Davis, Cheyenne Defense Volunteers," the man replied. "Are you actually Victoria Fernandez?"
"That's what my parents named me," Victoria replied. "And yeah, though I suppose you don't have to believe me, I am the woman who killed Caesar... but I didn't win Second Hoover Dam single-handedly or any of the other stuff these traders your friend was talking about probably are saying about me."
"You are supposed to be ten feet tall and have orange hair," Lt. Davis replied after a moment. "But if you're the woman who did all that - all the way over in... Nevada, why are you here?"
"Project Blue Book," Veronica answered first. Victoria frowned. Veronica, girl, I love you, but maybe don't spill the beans yet?
"What?" Davis's confusion sounded genuine.
"It's a bit of a long story. I'd like to talk it over with your leaders - the Cheyenne Council you called them? I'm happy to pay for the privilege, and for a place to sleep tonight or for a few days."
"You're welcome in Fort Carson, but since you're not a trader or a refugee, you will need to pay a small entry fee to help support the refugees," Davis said. "As for coming to Cheyenne to meet with the Council..." Davis paused for a moment. "I'll send a message, but no promises. We don't hate outsiders, but trust can be expensive."
"Very true," Victoria agreed. "Do you guys take Caps? I've also got some Legion currency, if that's still worth anything to you."
"Not worth what it used to be, but gold and silver are gold and silver. A Denurias... Denaris," Davis gave up: "The silver ones - one for each of you will be fine. You can pay at the gate."
"Alright then. Lead on." Hopefully she could talk her way into a meeting with this Council and convince them to let her down into the lowest levels. If nothing else, I'm sure there's something they need I can go and get for them.
She was a courier, after all.