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| - Chapter 1: Chicago the once bustling commercial and econmoic center of the Midwest now lay empty. But why? a traveller would ask the city was in great condition arguably hit by the fewest Nuclear weapons, well for awhile it was full of survivors from all over the country seeking refuge and a safe haven but soon things began to happen, first ghost stories of men walking around in big black combat suits carrying energy weapons began to surface, then people began to see Vertibirds flying to high to be hit with weaponry but colse enough to see the E surrounded by thirteen stars. Those from out west or out East recalled seeing Vertibirds with the exact same symbols on them and knew they meant trouble. When people began to be attacked in certain parts of Chicago people began to clear out until there were nothing but a few isolated groups of people living in the ruins in fear of the Power Armored demons who walked the streets, even the powerful Brotherhood of Steel refused to enter certain areas of Chicago after losing a squad to these demons. But yet people were suprised when one of these Demons suddenly showed up asking where the others came from, they pointed him in the right direction and were suprised to see him at the head of a group of Elderly people. Orion stepped out of the building, "The locals say its this way people" Moreno said to the group around him, "And it looks like were walking!" "Quit complaining Moreno" Cannibal Johnson said, "Its not Daisy's fault the damn Vertibird ran outta fuel" "Well I told you gus to fill extra fuel bladders but no one listened to Orion" "Quiet both of you!" Judah yelled, "We're in unfriendly territory watch your sectors" Both Johnson and Moreno relaxed and began to scan their areas drilled into their head by Sergeant Dornan at Navarro. The little group of elderly continued to move down the street looking left then right, every move they made was being tracked by one of the dozens of sentry turrets hidden into the ruins, a Mister Gutsie hovering quietly in the bombed out ruins of an apartment complex had his plasma pistol trained on the unarmored Judah Kreger for a brief second then relaxed their faces all matched all missing members of the Enclave. Suddenly from the cellar doors of one building came an officer in the uniform of an Enclave officer, "Movement center!" Judah called out instictevly he trained his plasma pistol on the movement Daisy raised her own plasma pistol and Orion spun up his Gatling Laser. "Hold your fire! friendlies coming out" The officer stood in front of them his own pistol drawn and at his side, "Identifiy yourselves!" immediately seeing the oak leaf of a major Judah snapped to attention, "Sir Captain Judah Kreger, serial number 05672307 this is Corporals Moreno and Johnson 14th Quick response unit" "And you two?" The officer turning to Doctor Henry and Daisy, "Im Doctor Henry Engineering and Research Corp sir"Henry said, "I'm Pilot Daisy Whitman 1st attack squadron" Daisy said, The officer visibly relaxed holstering his sidearm, "Where the hell did you guys come from in such relics?" The officer asked looking at their Advanced Power Armor, This comment almost immediatley sent Orion's blood boiling 'cheeky bastard he's no more than thirty' "We came from the Mojave desert out west" Judah replied, "Wait so Navarro is still operational!" The officer said excitedly, "No, we cmae from the Mojave refueling station an old outpost for Vertibirds to refuel at" "Oh well thats a shame we've been trying to get contact with remnants out west for the longest time" The officer replied, "Well come along I'll take you inside" They followed the officer to the cellar doors and down into the basment of an old building yet in the basement was anything but old several men sat around a monitor with cables leading to a radar dish pointed out the window, a radio was alive with chatter between different squads and several Veribirds, several men sat in chairs their Advanced Power Armor Mk.II all turned and looked at the remnants as they walked in. "Hows it goin boys?" Orion asked a group of soldiers, both soldiers shocked by the elderly voice coming from the suit of armor only managed a "Good" The officer approached a blast door at one end of the room typed in a passcode and let it slide open bathing the basement in blue light, "Don't mind the men they're just never seen a peice of Power Armor that is so polished its glistening" he approached a second door guarded by two Enclave security officers and typed in another security code, it opened up to stairs leading down the remnats began to follow him down. "Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to Nova America" he said walking out onto a catwalk. The others followed him out onto the catwalk and were shocked to see what they did, they stood on a catwalk perched over a massive space the walls lined with doors each with a number on them, families could be seen eating in their rooms or walking along the Catwalks, each level built into the walls of the massive square cavern were room after room lite by bright lights like the ones found in vaults. On the ground floor several stories below the group tiny ant figures of Men in Power armor doing push ups and running calstenics with the powerful yelling of their drill sergeants echoing up the cavern. On the far left wall a huge opening set into the wall a hangar full of Vertibirds all lined in neat rows sat waiting for their pilots, the space in between the wall sides bustled with Vertibirds some marked as military or Security personel other were civilian transports. "My God" exclaimed Doctor Henry, "How many people live here?" "Well last census said about one million non-combatants live in our little city" The officer said, " That down there" he said pointing to the Ground floor, "Is our boot camp where recruits are trained and become used to the functions of Power Armor,and these living quarters go down about 100 stories all filled with families" "How are there so many?" Daisy asked, "We dug into a vault and we integrated them with our people hold on let me take you to the Defense wing" Hewalked over to a nearby helipad and hit a button on a panel calling a Vertibird over, it landed on the pad and its door slid open to allow the group into the, they all sat on the seats and watched out the front window as the massive space went by. "Oh and by the way I'm Major Grimes, Command staff" "Your on Command why did you come out to greet us then?" "We've been tracking you since you enter Chicago" Grimes replied, Flying through a massive corridor the Veribird set down and the group exited. "This is the Defense wing all our Military assets operate from here" The room had the same layout except there were three distinct wings Airforce was on the highest levels with helipads sitting in front of the office, then there is the Ground forces taking up bottom levels on the ground a massive robot walked along its squat form, there was a single window built into the upper part of the mechs chest it moved, it was colored black and its massive hands and arms hung at its side carrying a massive gun in one, it matched the similair mechs lining the walls all appearing to be off. "Those are out new Mechanized Battle Systems operatd by two operators and a single commander" "What ate they for?" Doctor Henry asked, "Well we heard the brotherhood had their own giant robot so we made our own and alot more we have a total of sixteen completed" The middle section is the Engineering and Research floor where all research and develomentis done. "Well here is your new home talk with the quarter master to find your lodging and we'll get back to you on any new assignments" With that Grimes turned and walked away. Chapter 2: President Nathaniel Baird sat in the top most floor of the Willis Tower, this was his oval office the ability to see the entire city suited the president well. Enclave engineers had been able to keep the Willis building from falling by basically repairing the whole thing adding new supports and turning the bombed out office building into the White house and Pentagon for the new Enclave, clearly displayed by the American flag flying outside on the flag pole on the roof. A knock on the door. "Come in" President Baird said, he looked up and saw it was the chief of the Air Force. "Yes General Williams" Baird asked, "Sir I have some news for you" he stood at attention, "Continue General" The President said, "Well while going through some of the old files from the Repconn servers found here, we dicovered that Repconn had been in a competition with several other companies including Helios Solar Power, Poseidon Energy and Aerotech to design and construct an orbital weapon, we found files refering to a satellite called ARTEMIS" "Excellent can we take control of it?" Nathaniel asked, "Not exactly, in order to keep Chinese hackers out along with other corporations Repconn installed a state of the art security system that prevents us from hacking it" "And how do you intend to get control of this thing?" The President asked, "Well our techs have discovered that Repconn had the controls at their test site in the Mojave all we need is take that control panel and we have control of one of the most powerful weapons ever fielded by the US" General Williams finished, Nathaniel pondered this "Alright prep a Spartan team for deployment" "Yes sir" General Williams saluted, turned and left. Chapter 3: "Come on boys get that equipment loaded!" Captain Edward Prescott yelled, "Colonel Moore wants us back by 0200!" The Captain watched as the members of his airbborne company continued to load the boxes of ammo and guns onto the company's Vertibirds, this raid had proved very beneficial for the NCR not only had they destroyed a Legion base along Lake Mead but they got all supplies they came for; Plasma Rifles, Anti-material Rifles and of course the three powerful Fat Man nuclear catapult all had been taken from a Gun Runners Caravan that had been ambushed while delievering supplies to Bitter Springs. captain Prescott was a member of an elite new group the Paratrooper Corp, The new Paratroopers were equipped with old Vertibirds from the former Enclave base at Navarro, where the Paratroopers did most of their training. Prescott's unit was a part of the 1st Airborne Brigade. "Captain Prescott sir!" a voice said behind him, "Yes Lieutenant Jackson?" Prescott replied, "Here sir we found a cabinet full of Legion Intelligence reports" he handed him the reports, "Very well Lieutenant carry on" Prescott looked through the reports Legion raiding plans and the locations of their camps on the NCR side of the river were all listed in the reports, one of which had been wiped out according to a side note written on the side, it had been near Nipton. Prescott continued to leaf through the reports until he came to one, it was in a folder and bound by a piece of string it was labeled 'Special Intelligence Report' setting down the other reports he took out his combat knife and cut the string then slowly opened the folder making sure no wires were attached to anything. he pulled out several sheets of paper and began to read them. To Vulpes Inculta, Report on Frumentarii Raid on Repconn Facilities. The raid went well at the start of it as we cleared the lower floor however upon reaching the second floor the buildings security system activated, the resulting fight claimed the lives of three new recruits,however were were able to make it to the computer database and download the information as you asked. It would seem that the Tech Caesar mentioned from his dream is in fact real, known as ARTEMIS it appears to be a powerful orbital weapon employed by the Pre-war government and it would be in our best interest to find a way to take control of and utilize this weapon against the NCR as quickly as possible. True to Caesar Frumenarius Cato "Holy shit" Prescott said quietly "An orbital weapon? Lieutenant! are you and your men packed up?" "Yes sir were doin one last sweep then were gonna torch it" Lieutenant Jackson replied, "Make it double time we need to get this to McCarran immediately!" "Yes sir!" Jackson replied, Chapter 4: Fortification Hill, the runner ran up the hill towards the command tent, the seat of Caesar's Legion. The runner was a young Recruit Legionary he was from the Legion base of Arizona Spillway and was carrying intelligence that was vital for the Legion war effort. Despite Caesar's disdain for any faction that used robots to fight its wars the Legion had no problem using certain types of advanced tech and ARTEMIS was no exception. The satellite would give the Legion an decided advantage over the NCR wth the ability to rain fire down upon the NCR, they could after all destroy McCarran, Camp Golf and any other target they pleased with just the press of a button. The young Legionary quickly ran into the command tent before quickly bowing to Caesar. Caesar was flanked by Vulpes Inculta and Lucius. Vulpes being the commander of the Legion Frumentarii was giving a quick report to Caesar of NCR activities, while Lucius the commander of the Praetorian Guard listened in the background. All three turned as the Legionary came in. "Who is this?" Lucius demanded, the Legionary got down on one knee, "Sir! I am a runner sent from the Arizona Spillway with important intelligence to report" "Why hadn't they radioed?" Vulpes Inculta asked angrily, The young Legionary grimaced under his mask, "It was damaged and I was sent to deliver the message" he had accidentally knocked over the radio and his punishment after his lashing was to take this message to Caesar. "Well speak! what is your message?" Vulpes yelled, "A raiding party had chased a group of run away slaves into the Repconn building upon capturing them, the Centurion ordered the premise searched for anything useable, the security system had been activated and the party lost three men but they discovered a Pre-war satellite called ARTEMIS built and launched by Repconn its controls are inside the building itself but the Centurion did not wish to move forward without the approval of Caesar" "Nonsense! We are Legion! we do not hide behind such things!" Vulpes shouted, "What was the name of the Centurion" Caesar suddenly said, "Silus if I remember correctly, yes it was Silus" "Vulpes can he be summoned" Caesar asked, "No Caesar he and his party were killed during a failed attack on Camp Golf" "Ah yes...leave us" Caesar said to the young Legionary, "This tech if Silus was telling the truth will be valuebale in our war effort" "Yes sir" Vulpes agreed, "It would be a great tragedy if this fell into the hands of the NCR or Brotherhood yes?" "Yes sir, but if I might add do we really wish to use such a weapon, such a cowardly weapon?" "There is no cowardice in victory Vulpes, we should seize it to learn its secrets and if nothing else to keep it out of the hands of others" Caesar continued, "Vulpes this seems to be of the upmost importance to us, you will go take command of Cassius' party near Primm and proceed to the Repconn building" "Yes Caesar" Vulpes responded, he was happy at these orders the last time he had been sent out it was to attack Nipton and now he was going to go and do what he did best: Kill. "You will proceed there immediatley, we will radio Cottonwood cove for an escort" Caesar finished, "Ave True to Caesar" Vulpes returned, A brief radio message was sent to the Legion base of Cotton Wood Cove, relaying the time and place Vulpes would be arriving at the camp and the request that another message be sent to Cassius and his raiding party with orders to prepare an escort for Vulpes. In Camp McCarran a NCR Sergeant also heard this message using a machine constructed by Thomas Hildren and the OSI that was built from old radio parts it had the ability to listen in on Legion radio traffic, the Sergeant listening in recorded what he heard and quickly took the holotape to Colonel Hsu. The message worked its way to General Lee Oliver, it was on. Chapter 5: Nova-America, Orion sat staring down at the cards in his hand it he looked up at those around him the Enclave veteran society was quite a dull place to be, there was no action at least out west you had to worry about the NCR catching you or the Brotherhood but here there was no tension, no anticipation it was just..boring. It was only made worse because the very people he had arrived with were now occupied with various responsibilities Judah had been re-commissioned into the Army and sent back to the Mojave to setup a forward base in the region, Daisy was helping to train pilots in the Air Force and Doctor Henry was down in the Biomedical labs working on some high browed research project (had something to do with dogs) and even that traitor Johnson was down training troops on the lower level. Orion looked over his hand, it was a piss poor one. "I fold" Orion said and set his cards down on the table, And what about him? he had been made an honorary member of the Enclave Veteran society sitting around with mostly people twenty or thirty years younger then him most of them veterans of fighting from the fighting in the Capital. "I'll see you boys later" Orion said to the gathered group of soldiers. "See ya old man" this caused some snickers from the other soldiers Orion shot the man a look that quickly shut him up, Little shit Orion thought. "Orion Moreno?" came a voice, Orion turned it was one of the security staff in his gray and black uniform, shit he forgot his monthly dues to Uncle Sam. "Yes?" "Sir you have a message from Captain Kreger" the officer said handing him the holodisk, "Thank you, is that all?" Orion asked, "Yes sir that appears to be so" Orion tucked the holodisk into his pocket and walked out of the room an onto the catwalk down towards his room, now there he swiped his key card and watched as the doors slid open he walked in, and sat down at his table retrieving the holotape from his pocket and settting it down, he hit the play button. "Orion this is Captain Judah Kreger I need your help out here in the Mojave I've got a whole company of these Spartan commandos and not one of them knows their way around the Mojave and I can't be leading them everywhere I'd appreciate it if you would get back here as quick as possible and thats an order Sergeant Kreger out" the holotape clicked off, Orion sat for a moment before shooting to out of his seat and immediately began gathering his things, the Security staff had taken his old Power armor and put it in a museum along with his Gatling laser, he would need to find some Power Armor and a new weapon but he could find a way to do so. Orion looked over at the old picture of the original squad back at Navarro the remnants smiled happily together, Just like old times. Ch. 6: Cassius and several other Legionaries sat around the billowing fire at the center of their camp. Today had been a good day for their raiding party they has ambushed six caravans and had taken all but one of the caravaneers alive. The prisoners sat in a pen to the side of their camp. Their camp overlooked a narrow stretch of the I-15 a common trade route for merchants going around the Mojave Circuit, a trade route that went through allthe major towns of the Mojave. This raiding party had setup their base of operations around an old trailer clearly once owned by some survivalist, whoever he was here was gone now and had left all of his broadcasting and radio equipment in the trailer. The Legionaries quickly fixed it up and were able to pick up messages sent from Cottonwood Cove. Cassius' walked over to the fire and pulled a kabab of gecko meat, not the best in the world but it would suit him for now. "We did well today men" Cassius said to the gathered Veterans and Primes around him, we soon will be replaced by another party and will be back in the Fort basking in Caesars gratitude" down on the trail leading out of Cottonwood Cove the recruit ran along carrying his message when he noticed a patrol of Legionaries he took no real notice of them and continued on when suddenly one men whipped out his arm hitting him square in the face braking his nose. "Tie him up good boys his we don't want him biting the pill" Milo said, The Rangers quickly tied up the recruit and hauled him off to Stattion Delta. He was only the second Legionnaire ever captured alive by the NCR and likely the most valueable.
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