As our battalion set up a camp at the 188 I caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of my eye. I looked over to see a dull red blur disappear behind some rocks. I immediately raised my rifle and took aim. The next movement was caught as at least seven legionnaires sprinted through rocks for cover. I turned and slapped the shoulder of the nearest exo soldier and shouted for everyone to hear. "Legion 2 o'clock. Exo soldiers get moving."
I leapt over a rock and charged for the rocks the legion were hiding in. As more soldiers caught up with me I could see the legion members start sprinting away from us. We were slightly slowed down in the rocks but we were still gaining on the idiots fast. However they outnumbered us. The scattered out leaving us split up among the rocks chasing different targets.
I could hear some enemies getting cut down by exo soldiers but most were escaping. As I rounded a turn I found the desert had opened up an the five legion I was chasing going into an opening in the mountain we were running along. I could hear a large group of soldiers from the battalion entering the rocks as I attempted to shoot the enemies.
One dropped as a bullet made a chunk of his head splatter. The rest got to the opening and sprinted down it. As I rounded I found them all slipping into a wooden structure and the end of the opening. I immediately unloaded my rifle through the door and reloaded. I was pretty sure I knew where they had just gone so I waited at the opening for reinforcements.
My exo soldiers arrived after a few minutes with around fifty men and Colonel Moore. I reported what had happened and entered with twenty soldiers and two exo soldiers. The entrance had a dead legionnaire with multiple holes in him. We moved deeper and at the end of the cave found a vault down. It was slightly open so we all slipped inside. We found a small horde of dead mantises and some rats, all killed with blades. I left five men at the entrance room and sent five with each exo soldier to explore and hunt.
I pushed deeper, knowing our pry couldn't get past the locked door to the next floor. We stumbled across one trap that snapped upon hitting my exoskeleton and we eventually found one of our targets. He was a decanus with a 12.7mm smg. He attempted to shoot us while deafening everyone so I tossed an micro fusion cell I quickly set to overload. A green blast of light and heat reminded me of the sun of the Mojave Desert at midday in a radstorm.
I flicked my rifle around the corner and swept the area with 308 rounds pinging off the walls. I took a look after reloading and found the collapsed hallway was now singed with a burnt bullet riddled corpse. I grabbed the smg that had been thrown away by the blast and double tapped the ex-decanus. As we continued our hunt gunshots started to echo with a scream interrupting them then abruptly cutting off at a louder gunshot.
We made our way up to find that one of the exo soldiers had found th last target and had executed him with a hunting shotgun. We left the vault and made our report to Moore before I went back in with the exo soldiers an the same twenty men. We left a day later with the wagons overflowing and soldiers packs stuffed full of loot. The notable stuff was a mini nuke that Moore immediately snatched, 83 vault 11 jumpsuits, a differential pressure controller, multiple now dead bots, and lots of rarer foods and drinks.
After looting the vault the all the men in the battalion got to spend some time in the markets of the 188 which I also went to. Most of the stuff was inane but the thing or persons that truly caught my attention were a group of four very shady individuals with 'hidden' science weapons. Every one of them had what was likely recon armor on under dark baggy clothing. There were two women a young man and an older one. One woman with a sniper rifle and the other with a power fist. The two men had laser rifles and all had a concealed laser pistol.
I flagged down the exo soldiers and pointed them to the group. They gathered a few soldiers each and bagged the four people. I looked around for a bit before leaving to find colonel Moore already trying to interrogate the captured people. I walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder and spoke.
"I've got them." I looked to the soldiers behind each and said "Remove the coverings." As the four were revealed tension exploded as NCR troops saw Brotherhood of Steel members. It didn't matter that they had unmarked recon armor on, what mattered was that they silently shouted righteous, and religious anger.
"What chapter are you all from. If your not from a hostile chapter I can guarantee your safety."
I felt multiple gazes bore into me, including Moores but I ignored them in favor of the BOS response. "What are you talking about? What's this chapter nonsense your spewing NCR scum. Release us, you have no right to imprison us!"
I smiled at him playing dumb. I put a hand in his forehead and force it back. I yanked his collar and snapped a BOS holotag from his neck. I released his head and held it up infront of him and asked again. "What chapter are you from?"
The man let out a sigh as he glared at me then looked to the other man who spoke up.
"I'm the squad lead boy, so ask your questions to me. Try not to get rough with the newbies please." I turned and smirked at the older man and dropped the tag into the youngers clothes. "So you've got my answers? Like I said before, if you're not a hostile chapter I can secure your group's safety and likely release. The NCR has enough on its plate of Mojave without the BOS stomping on the edge."
The old man snorted at me and finally answered. "We're the Mojave chapter, ain't got nothing with the NCR from what I know."
I looked back at Moore and she nodded in agreement. "Who formed your chapter and why? Who's your elder and head paladin?" I asked him.
He raised an eyebrow then spoke. "From what I know the elders formed our chapter. Our elder is father Elijah. Don't know why your asking about the head paladin but his name is Nolan McNamara. Any other questions boy?"
I thought for a minute and then asked. "What was the mission your chapter was sent here for? What's the opinion your chapter has of the NCR and us taking Hoover Dam? Finally, what would your chapters opinion on the capital chapter under elder Lyons be?" All of them locked their eye on me when I asked the last question so I sent them all a smile.
"Well, I go in order then. First, we were sent to take the dam but went elsewhere when we found you guys had already taken it. Second, we obviously don't like you guys very much. It won't be immediate attack, but we'll consider if and ask permission. And third, I have my own question for you. How the hell do you know about the rogue Lyons chapter?"
I raised my eyebrow at him and answered.
"All you need to know is that I know about them and that you need to tell me what your chapter thinks about them."
He scoffed in return and gave me his answer. "I don't think most of us have much of an opinion on them besides them being rogues." The younger man spoke then to give his own contradictory opinion on him hating them but was shut up by a boot to his back. I flicked his forehead after the kick and he tried to spit on me. A bag swiftly found if way onto him with a rope tied around it.
The girl openly laughed at him as the older man sighed. I looked back at him and asked my final question. "Do you think that the NCR could come to some kind of peaceful agreement or alliance with your chapter?"
This time his answer was simple. "No, not with Elijah as elder."
I nodded and stated. "Seems the Mojave chapter needs to elect a new elder. Without an elder willing to work with the NCR your chapter is likely to be wiped out by us."
The idiot tried to jump up from his tied up position on a chair but a slap from the trooper behind him stopped his jostling. The girl who'd kicked the idiot was openly glaring at me and the other two looked to be thinking. "That would be hard to do and most wouldn't even want that. They'd likely vote to die fighting."
I nodded again at his words. "Then we'll simply have to show them the futility of fighting us as we are already prepared for war. Tell me, where is your chapter staying and where does your elder usually stay inside the place?"