A Voice from the Dark (MT)

"How does this thing work again?" Female.

"Just speak into it." Male.

"Oh. Okay. Umm, I represent the Followers of the Apocalypse. We're positioned out of New Vegas. We've held out as long as we could but we need help. They're coming at us from all directions now. What was left of the New California Republic finally fell to them. Is this even getting through to anyone?" Female.

"I don't know, if it is, it's one way only. No one can reply to us. They're jamming all signals as far as I can tell, but this is the only chance we've got, Julie." Male.

"What's the point, Arcade? They'll break through eventually and slaughter us." Female.

"Damn it, Julie, I told you how bad the Enclave is. I was there. I grew up at Navarro. I remember the oil rig explosion. I remember them heading east. They were out here before and got fought back. Now they're back and they're pissed. They're not going to let anyone survive this unless they can be stopped. Maybe even just talked down. I don't know, but something has to happen here. We cannot win this fight alone." Male.

"Right. Okay. Right now we've claimed independence in New Vegas. They refused to acknowledge it. When we sent a courier to them, they sent the courier back to us. Well, what was left of the courier anyway. Those of us they captured were taken to the barricades and shot there. Shot in front of us. They killed a seven year old girl yesterday." A clear sob sounds as the female breaks down.

"If anyone can hear us, please help us. They've given us an impossible choice. Join them or die. I may have been born into the Enclave, but I refuse to go back. They've done too many horrible things in the past. Too many for me to go back to them. Far too many. Please he......" Male.

The signal is abruptly terminated.

(OOC: So, I couldn't leave Fallout: New Vegas out of this. Anyway, it's up to you guys if you did receive the signal and how much of it you received and if you want to try and help them.)

(OOC: This is after RoE, right?)

Roald carefully played an amplified recording of what little of the signal Hew received to his board of generals and carefully gauges their not so expressive reactions. The moment the recording is finished, he says, "Do any of you see the problem about this?"

A brave soul speaks up, and says, "No, not really. This hardly concerns us, does it? We're going north, not east."

Roald seems rather miffed and glares at the general. "Well yes, I obviously know that. However, it's the symbolism that I'm worried about. The Enclave has expanded at a frightening rate and has definitely showed a tendency to attack anyone and, well, everyone. We've escaped so far because we are considerably more advanced then the rest of the wastes, but they can easily bog us down through sheer numbers alone. Who knows when we will be attacked? Hew will certainly be a rich prize for the Enclave, after all. We're going to fly in a stealth force and see what we can gauge from the situation. Is there any dissent?"

No one dares speak.

Roald smiles, and says, "Good."

***

A jet black and unidentifiable transport and two fighter escorts leaves the military section of the Municipal Airport of Hew and flies somewhat north towards Canada, away from Enclave borders, and then heads in an arc towards Las Vegas, purposely flying over desolate areas to avoid being sighted. They turn on the radio and see what they can pick up from the ground...

If Bismouth even hears the signals, they're ignored. Until the High priest returns from the Rules of Engagement thing, they don't have any data on The Enclave.

(OOC: Yeah. I'd assume it's after. The Enclave did not sign it.)

The plane from Hew doesn't appear to be spotted. Though once it gets closer to New Vegas (which used to be Las Vegas), the first thing that would be noted would be an increase in Enclave activity. Soldiers first, then trucks of all things. Most cars didn't survive, but the closer they get to New Vegas, the less radiation lingers. Even the water in Lake Mead has no sign of radiation.

Hoover Dam is still intact, surprisingly so. Even more surprising is the fact that it seems to be operational. It's currently held by the Enclave and they are fending off attackers. It seems that even though they're all over the area, they are facing some resistance.

The radio contains Enclave transmissions, but the signal from the Followers of the Apocalypse stays silent. There's just static.

The New Vegas strip is active and somehow survived the nuclear devastation that the rest of the wasteland suffered. The Enclave troops seem to be avoiding heavy artillery there.

What might be unusual about the whole situation is that there's no indication of Aisha's Tesla Cannon being fired off. If she's in the area, she's not where she can be spotted.

(OOC: Bismouth interfering would be ineffective and silly. We're halfway across the world, and easily the weakest power.)

The convoy finally lands in a fairly deserted area away from all factions and the planes are covered with a camouflage tarp to avoid being spotted from above. A small squad of ten troops wearing Hew Medium Armor, camouflaged to a mixture of brown and yellow, exits the transport with a few boxes (presumably supplies), and begin heading towards the area where the signal was first heard, while also carefully scouting out surrounding areas.

Considering the Enclave doesn't have much of an air force with the exception of about ten vertibirds in the area, there's not much chance of it being spotted from above.

The closer they get to the location of the signal, the more Enclave activity there is. Most of the Enclave are dressed in power armor and, for the most part, ignore the Hew soldiers. Those not out on patrol are keeping to their camps.

Getting into New Vegas is tricky though. The place is guarded by robots. The robots are shooting at anyone wearing Enclave armor. Fortunately, the Hew soldiers aren't in power armor. They can get close enough for the robots to actually talk to them, find out why they're there, and actually let them through. Once this happens, the Enclave soldiers do take notice, but they don't fire on the Hew soldiers. They're smarter than that, though you can bet that Aisha will hear about what's going on around here.

Once inside, the outer edges of Vegas are torn apart. There's power and lights still work, but the area is in chaos. An old fashioned fort still stands, but it's abandoned. There are refugees milling about, though none of them seem to eager to help. Most of them scatter at the sight of soldiers. The Hew soldiers may be mistaken for Enclave troops by the refugees in the area.

The commanding officer orders his troops to shut down their weapons and holster them before moving on. They then continue, looking for some sort of government or military base.

There's no kind of obvious government or military base. There is a way into the main strip, though it's guarded by robots. When approached, they do not appear to be hostile, though when one of the refugees try to pass by them, they do turn hostile and one shoots off a missile at the intruder. Yes, the refugee is killed.

"Damn!" If any of the Hew soldiers heard the signal, they'd recognise that voice. A man, in his thirties with a lab coat and glasses, comes through the gate. The robots ignore him. "I thought I reprogrammed them." He sighs, then spots the soldiers. "You aren't from around here, are you?" He actually looks hopeful, though it's guarded hope.

The commanding officer says, "No, we aren't. And before you ask, no, we are not members of the Enclave in disguise. If you want proof, then take a look at this."

He tosses a small packet to the man. "This is basically a brief brochure about us. We're based in the Appalachians, and we're the United Municipalities of Hew, or just Hew for short. We'd prefer if you keep our involvement in this secret, but the Enclave probably already knows that we're here and in any case there isn't anything in that packet they probably don't know about this. But yes, we're here to help, as for all we know we're the next target of the Enclave and won't exactly just let them go around and take over everywhere. Admittedly this is hardly out of the goodness of our hearts but rather geopolitical maneuvering, but we're here and theirs no turning back now."

The man takes the packet and barely glances at it. "As long as you're not Enclave." He looks rather nervously at the robots, then approaches the one closest to the Hew Soldiers. He takes a panel off and messes with it for a moment. All the robots near the gate seem to go offline. "Go on in. I'll be there in a minute."

Once they go past and through the gate, the robots are switched back on and go about their business. The man does slip through the gate as well. "Sorry about them. I keep trying to work on them so they won't attack people trying to get through. I'm no robotics expert though." He shrugs, then heads down the strip. "We've got a place down here. I'd like to say we know what the Enclave is up to, but quite frankly, we don't. They've been jamming all our signals. If it weren't for the fact that we've got Helios still, we'd have no power. They've turned off the power coming from Hoover Dam already. The Brotherhood's been working with us just enough that we're not all dead yet. So far, they haven't pulled the bitch into this." He sighs.

The group arrives at the Lucky 38 and the man heads in. "We still don't know how, but the Enclave managed to kill the last guy protecting New Vegas. This is where he used to live. It's now where we've made our headquarters." The man looks around the casino floor. Several people are here and there are electronics equipment set up, though none of it seems to work.

A woman wanders their way. "Arcade?"

"Julie, these soldiers are from Hew. They heard us." The man smiles faintly.

The woman doesn't seem to have the same hope that Arcade does. She just looks at the soldiers, her eyes dead. Of course, this could be because she looks exhausted.

The Swiss hear the message and send out a small group of Predator drones to take a look-see before returning. Carriers are moved in to the bases in Panama and Hispaniola to make a total of four carriers there, with appropriate convoy protection with them. It can't really do too much, as they're still kind of far away, but the increased Swiss presence should be noticed by anybody with the technological means to do so.

The commanding officer nods curtly, and says, "It's a pleasure to meet you. Now, we'd like to help with what we can, but we're under direct orders not to lead a direct military attack on Enclave troops, since that might as well be asking for them to invade us. However, we're willing to provide technological and logistical assistance, and somewhat more covert operations are also possible. However, we'd like a brief overview of your military situation before we really attempt anything."

The Enclave notices the increased Swiss presence, but only because some of them are nearby and in northern South America. In any case, those that notice can't radio back to inform anyone.

Arcade and Julie both just look at the Hew officer like 'you've got to be kidding me'. Arcade sighs and shakes his head. "There is no military here. Just the robots. The rest of us are not soldiers. We're doctors, researchers, and technicians. Very few of us have any military training. So a brief overview is we have no fucking clue what's going on."

Julie looks at Arcade, then rolls her eyes. She look back to the officer. "Arcade is probably the only one of us who can give you a somewhat decent situation report. He grew up and served with the..."

"Julie!" Arcade glares at her, then sighs and turns to walk away, shaking his head. Something seems to stop him though as he pauses, then turns back around. "I do have a military upbringing. The Enclave was out here before. About ten years ago, they got pushed east. My parents served in their military as did I." He doesn't sound happy about it. "When Navarro fell, I left. I deserted, actually. Quite a few of us did. Some are still around here. Most are dead now." He sighs. "Right, so, a military report. Well, we're surrounded. They haven't blasted the water pipes yet, but they're threatening to irradiate Lake Mead." He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket. "We got this just this morning." He hands it over.

The paper is a surrender order. Nothing is mentioned about what will happen to those who do surrender. There's a forty eight hour time limit before the threat to irradiate Lake Mead. The paper is addressed to the Followers of the Apocalypse and it's signed by Captain Jacob Reilly.

Julie walks over to Arcade and rests a hand on his arm. "We're not going to surrender. The last group that did surrender were forced to join the Enclave or they were killed. We're not joining them and we will fight for our independence from them. If there were some way to negotiate with them."

Arcade pulls back from Julie at her last comment. "There is no negotiating with them, Julie. I've explained that much to you. They may have better technology, better weapons, but they're not going to let us live. I've told you that. That surrender order was unconditional. That means that if we surrender, they'll come in here. You and I are dead at that point. They're not going to let us live. They know enough to know who we are. We're their primary targets."

The commanding officer shakes his head, "Well, that's as good of a report as any, I suppose. For one, you might want these."

He motions to a soldier with a box and begins taking out parts, and a set of schematics.

"These are atmospheric water generator parts and schematics. While it's not going to win the battle, at the very least it'll ensure that you have some clean water. We carry these all around, actually, these are very valuable trade goods."

The officer then ponders the note for a minute.

"I agree with your assessment, from what we know of the Enclave we know that they aren't going to make agreements of any sort. However, I believe there might yet be a way to drive them out. So far there is no unified resistance, am I correct? If we co-ordinate the attacks of all the groups against the Enclave, perhaps we can draw them towards areas each group knows well and harry them with guerrilla tactics, while staying on the move to throw them off of trail, otherwise known as the 'People's war'. Now, of course, if you will use this plan, it never came from us. Then again, I have a feeling they know we're here already."

Arcade nods slightly. "There's a resistance, but like I said, very few have military experience. Our best individual is Tex. He's the only one that's got sniper training. He's been hiding out up top of the buildings and taking shots at their camps. It's kept them off balance so far and unable to make an organised attack against us. I've been trying to rig up some kind of EMP blast that can take out their power armor. It's damned hard to hurt them while it's on, even with the stockpile of armor piercing rounds we have."

The parts and schematics are immediately welcomed and several people start looking them over. Likely the technicians that were mentioned.

Julie looks over and shakes her head. "They probably do know. Very little escapes them."

"Well, that's the beauty of People's war, you don't really need too much military experience in the first place. How many other groups do you know of besides in New Vegas, by the way? We saw Hoover Dam attacked when we came by so we assume you're hardly alone."

The officer thinks for a second, and then says, "I'm afraid I haven't introduced myself, sorry. My name is Major Frederick Johaanson."

"What you saw was likely the Khans or possibly even what's left of the Legion or NCR trying to retake the Dam. They refuse to work with us, which is all and good. We don't want their help. The Khans will back stab you. The Legion will enslave you. The NCR would have been the better alternative, but even they're not much better than the Enclave. It's hard to explain. They expand without thinking of any serious conflict. It's how the Enclave ran them over so fast." Arcade shrugs. "Around here, there's several groups. Most have had their leaders assassinated though. It's just remnants of what used to be here. The only two groups that made it intact were us and the Kings. When the Strip started becoming disorganised, we came in and tried to fix it. So far, we've been doing business as usual. We have ways in and out of the Strip that the Enclave hasn't figured out yet, but some of our prospectors get caught."

Julie closes her eyes. "They kill any of us they catch out there. They march them to the outside gate and kill them where we can see it happen."

Arcade nods slightly. "Tex managed to take one of them out after such an execution. He keeps close watch now. We don't dare try and stop it, but he will shoot anyone who kills one of our own." He motions for the officer to follow him as he walks to what looks like a map of the area. A circle has been drawn around New Vegas. Smaller circles around other areas. The circles are different colors. Blue and Orange. "The blue is us. The orange is the Enclave. We were actually surprised to have these three spots." He points to three blue spots. "Shortly after the Enclave moved in, the Brotherhood of Steel approached us and asked if we were going to surrender. When we said no, they offered their help. Said they had a score to settle with the Enclave." He shrugs. "I didn't ask what it was. They're the only real soldiers we have. I don't know, but Tex might be one of them. He showed up about the same time as they did."

"Ah. We've heard a bit about this Brotherhood but all we really know is that the Enclave despises them, and we've picked up some signals from them before. Now, how much weaponry and ammunition do you have? I might be able to work on a plan if you can tell me."

More Swiss troops are moved in to Panama and Hispaniola, to make a total of 15,000 soldiers and 1,000 of the Rocket Red Brigade, a full third of them.

For the most part, the Swiss are ignored. The Enclave decides to send a small group of soldiers to report in so they're made aware of a build up though.

Arcade nods to the Hew Soldier. "Yeah. They have something of a grudge. The Brotherhood stopped them in the west, with the help of the NCR, though to hear the NCR tell it, the Brotherhood helped them stop the Enclave." He shrugs. "But the Brotherhood failed to stop them in the east. That's why they're here now. That one event. The bitch of the wastelands. If she'd turned the other way, the Enclave might have been stopped completely. Instead, we've got them running rampant over the wastes now." He sighs, then slides a clipboard across a table toward him. "The list of weapons and ammo is here. It's not much, but we do have the ability to take ammunition that won't fit anything we have and break it down so we can fit it to what we do have."

(OOC: Umm, I just gave the officer a name a few posts ago, just call him Major Frederick.)

"Hmm, yes. I've worked with similar equipment before, so it's nothing I can't deal with. I propose that we attempt to draw some of them into an area where you know well, and then harry them on the move to keep bleeding them dry until they have to move. Heavy weaponry is not really a concern, and neither is combat experience, as what we really need are people who can utilize the surroundings well."

(OOC: I know, but I couldn't be bothered to go look it up. Heh.)

Just before Arcade could answer, a young man in what looks to be reinforced leather armor comes in by way of the elevator. He doesn't even acknowledge the Hew soldiers. He just slings a sniper rifle from his back and sets it down next to the elevator. "Damned Enclave. They damned near hit me up there." He's got a clear Texan drawl.

Arcade looks toward the elevator, then back to the soldiers. "Ahh. This is Tex. Our resident sniper." He looks toward Tex. "These people heard our message."

"I figured. I saw 'em comin' in." Tex, about six foot with dark hair to his shoulders and a bit of a soul patch growing in, just looks at the soldiers. "Name's Mark, but they call me Tex. Came up here from what was the great state of Texas. It's now a dump with all kinds of critters. Them killer bees are a hell of a problem there. Probably why I decided to come out this way."

Arcade clears his throat. "Tex was like me. He used to fight for the Enclave. Now we're against them."

Tex nods once. "Damn straight. I'll never forget that last order they gave me. They actually wanted me to set off a nuclear bomb in the middle of what had been Dallas. I refused and ran like hell to get away from them. They're probably gonna try that tactic here. I didn't recognise your uniforms, but I figured ya'll were cool to let through. You aren't Enclave, and that's what matters. I did have my eye on you all the way into this building though. If ya'll had tried anything that seemed wrong, I'd have shot at ya." He looks pretty serious. "And I hit what I aim at."

Arcade smiles faintly. "As I may have mentioned, Tex is our best weapon in this fight."

Tex looks to the soldiers, then to the Major. "So what's this about drawin' em into an area? There's lots of small passages around here, but that'd take an organised offensive and defensive. There's just not that many of us around here, sir. We can hold out only so much longer, but we're gonna have to face it at some point. We're screwed."

Arcade looks like he wants to strangle Tex for a moment, then sighs. "He's probably right. Even if we could get messages out to the other settlements, there's no guarantee anyone would come."

The Major seems to be thinking very carefully, and then says, "Well, I suppose that might not work, but there are always options. Always. Fifteen years ago, the City of Hew was under siege by several hundred thousand ZPCI troopers while there were only three hundred or so defenders of the city. But our leader, Generalissimo Roland, still managed to find a way to drive them out and actually defeat the rest of their mercenary army. War is not decided on numbers, it's how you process them. In any case, if you plan to sit around here and hope for a deus ex machina, you'll be even more screwed unless you at the very least attempt some offense."

Tex remains silent as he walks over to where he put his sniper rifle. He looks at the Major, then points to it. He doesn't have to say it. His entire posture and facial expression says it all. 'What the hell do you think I'm doing here?' is the message.

Arcade can't help it. He has to grin. "You'll have to forgive Tex. He's a bit of a smart ass at the best of times, and a downright asshole at the worst." He winks at Tex, then looks back to the Major. "We are doing what we can, but as I said, we have a limited amount of ammunition."

"It's the bitch and her pet that have to be taken out." Tex states rather simply. "Well, those two or Eden. Takin out either target may cause em to crumble and retreat in order to regroup. We take that time to get stronger. I'm hopin we can hold out long enough that they have to call Aisha and Jericho in. If they show up here, they'll be my primary targets."

Arcade nods slightly. "The only problem with that is we may run out of ammunition before then."

Tex glances to Arcade with a rather serious look. "Yeah, I know. Our scavengers aren't bringin back enough and most of them are gettin caught now." He sighs and looks to the Major. "That's where we really need the help. If we can get enough ammo and food, we can hold out long enough for them to send Aisha in. Where she goes, Jericho follows. I can take them both out." He sounds so damned sure about that. Either he's never met them, or he's discounted the stories about those two.