the NCRCF and at the entrance I was able to talk to the guard and buy my way in but as soon as I brushed past him he was aggro'd and when I entered the building he spawned with me and attacked. I had to attack him, but even in the room full of other faction members they didn't respond and I got no negative faction rating for it. This happened in all of the other buildings there too, where the higher-ups attack but nobody else does, and I never get any negative rating with them. The problem, of course, is that I'd like to visit the leader and talk but I can't get near him as the higher level guards just attack me asap.

I have no faction standing with them even though I completed the "defend Ringo" quest.

Could it be that I've been able to avoid getting any non-quest faction points? Every time I engage them out in the open I do it from a great distance. I figured it was a way I could avoid the negative faction points.

So am I now sort of not able to continue?