Eric looked on as one of the soldiers ran to Mr. Clearwater, the solider then ran into the town and a few moments later came back with a briefcase.

"This briefcase contains twenty thousand caps, you can have it if you pretend you never saw us. Does that sound good?” said Mr. Clearwater.

Eric couldn't believe his luck, he slowly moved forward until the soldiers suddenly pointed there guns back at him.

"Yes, I think that would do, but I have one more question, what happened to the people of Big Town?" said Eric.

Commander October was asked a question one that he would rather not reveal the answer of so he lied once again.

“Super Mutants attacked the town and killed all the residents, we arrived right as they finished. We killed the Super Mutants and decided to make Big Town an outpost instead of letting the space go to waste. Now if you don’t mind we have urgent matters to address here are your caps have a good day Eric.” said October, he handed Eric the briefcase and awaited him to leave.

After Eric asked the question, he could see a look of annoyance on Mr. Clearwater's face, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

“Super Mutants attacked the town and killed all the residents, we arrived right as they finished. We killed the Super Mutants and decided to make Big Town an outpost instead of letting the space go to waste. Now if you don’t mind we have urgent matters to address here are your caps have a good day Eric.”

Eric took the briefcase he placed it on the ground and opened it up, sure enough the caps were there.

"Thank you Mr. Clearwater it was nice doing business with you, and as a part of our deal I will forget we ever met" said Eric.

After that he picked up the briefcase and he continued on his journey to Fort Bannister.

OOC: I hope it won't be a bother that I advance a day or two in the story.
Mark

Mark had settled in with a pack of raiders after opening the gates of the D.C Metro and travelling out alone in the wastes. They welcomed him with open arms, surprisingly, and after a few hours sitting round a campfire they didn't seem to be bad at all, just normal persons, like everyone else, only they were needy and also cannibals. Mark had forgotten of his food pack he had gotten after he was freed from his vault. On his trip to find a new life, Mark had run into a small city named Megaton, and there he was given a food pack by the owner of a bar. So Mark opened the food pack and asked the cannibals if they wanted any.

"Is that-is that human- human meat?" asked Slip Lip Johnny, a fierce soldier with only one good eye. The other had been covered by an eye patch.

"No, it's horse. Best damn meat around." Mark enthusiastically declared. The members of the group, including Slip Lip, groaned and rejected. There was a dog, however, who seemed to be tired of eating human meat all the time. During the hunger era that had broken out in the wastes a few years back, Mark was forced to be a cannibal to survive the harsh results of the nuclear war. Luckily, people started selling non-irritated food and water, and everything went back to normal. Mark remembered the horrible taste of human flesh and thought the dog would enjoy his life trying something else for a difference. So, he threw a piece of horse meat over to the retriever. The raiders noticed, but the dog didn't.

"It's just asleep. I'll just poke 'em." Dirty Mary, the leader of the gang, assured Mark. She took out her assault rifle, and poked the dog with the barrel. It jumped up faster than a rash spreading. It whimpered, and Mark thought he had some kind of trauma travelling with the gang. Mark almost cried, but he knew that was just pleading for a beating. The dog's eyelids were heavy until he realized that there was a enormous peace of steak under his nose. It jumped up and observed it, to see if they were trying to poison him, and when he was sure it was safe, swallowed it whole. The whole group, including me, closely studied the dog's expression. It seemed to have like it, because there was a humongous smile on his face.

We all laughed, and laughed all night long. Anyone who had just met them would think they were family, because they were acting like one at dinner. There was a point where all there was was silence, and that gave them the cue to fall asleep. Except Dirty Mary and Mark. Dirty Mary kept staring down at the ground, and Mark kept looking at her to see what she was doing.

"Life's tough, ain't it?" she asked, but he knew it was a rhetorical question. Mary laughed, witch turned into a bad coughing fit. "I used to remember when Moma would call me up to dinner after I had finished playing with 'em vault friends of mine. Ahhh, the good 'ol times. You had any good times in your vault, kid?"

"Of course, life was a breeze at first, and everything seemed to come naturally, as if you didn't need to do anything to gain those things. Until the Overseer initiated the experiment, everyone was happy and greeted each other politely. But it when all downhill when he showed us those fancy weapons that were used for the experiment. Everyone went crazy, killing one another. I don't know if anyone survived, but I surely did." Mark finished his sad statement.

Everything went quiet for a minute, the only sound were the crickets cricketing off in the distance. Then Dirty Mary stood up and walked over to her tent. Mark thought he would be alone outside for a while, but Mary came out of her tent as fast as she went in.

"Come on, we're heading to Paradise Falls to rescue some slavers. This is a two person job, so if we go in a pack over there, they'll start acting suspicious. Don't worry, though, we'll be back before they can find out we've even left." Mary gestured for Mark to get, and he did. And so they walked to Paradise Falls alone, leaving the raider gang to meet their doom.

Jade sprinted into the ruins of D.C, a dense mist was circulating through the streets and it was quiet. Jade liked, it was hunting time. D.C had been relatively combat free for the past few weeks as the super mutants seemed to have eased up. Sarah Lyons was out on patrol with some other members of the BoS, Lyons pride was elsewhere. As she moved quickly and silently through the streets gunfire and lasers began to echo. No she just had to pinpoint where the combat was. Closing her eye’s she listened carefully and pinpointed combat to the east. Running again she leaped up a mound of rubble, losing her footing near the top as some of it broke away she laid down to assess the situation. Five super Mutants where pinning down with heavy fire from miniguns.

There where so many rounds being put down Lyons and her squad couldn’t even move or return fire. Sliding down the rubble she was un heard over the continuous weapons fire. Sprinting forward she pulled one of her throwing knifes and hurled it silently at the first mutant, as it fell Jade jumped of the beast retrieving the knife and mid air throwing it at the next one. The second throw was slightly misjudged and while it did ill the mutant by clean slitting its throat the knife hit the next mutant in the arm, turning its gun towards Jade she un-holstered her pistol and shot four shot’s striking the mutant in the right eye, skull and chest. Sliding to a stop at the third dead mutant she retrieved the thowing knife and holstered the pistol .

The BoS had started to return fire now under less pressure keeping the other two mutants of the attention of Jade. Hefting a minigun while not actually strong enough to keep the weapon up, she rested it on the dead mutant and pulled the trigger. Pushing back against recoil as hard as she could the 5mm bullets began to tear into the fourth mutant’s back, as bullet holes began to riddle the beasts back it reached behind it just before it fell face first into the ground. The last mutant had realised what was going on, turning his gun towards Jade she ducked behind the dead mutant she had rested the minigun on. The mutant began to vibrate and shudder under the hail of 5mm rounds, then there was nothing peering up Jade could see the mutant had a jammed weapon, so leaping over the dead mutant she pulled her combat knife from her boot and ran towards the mutant. As she approached the yellow hulk it swang for her but sliding along the dirt she avoided it, now facing the creature’s back she jammed the knife in and pulled it across the back, using the leather straps around the mutants legs she climbed up its back while supporting her self on the straps she pulled the knife from its back and jammed it in the neck. As the creature fell she retrieved the knife and rolled off to the dirt.

“Nice, swift and quick as usual” The familiar voice joked, and looking up Jade could see Sarah lyons smiling, with a laser rifle resting on her shoulder. Sheathing the combat knife in her boot Jade accepted a hand from Sarah who pulled her to her feet

“You know me I like to please” Jade smiled.

Borgia Manus

After Borgia had attempted to sweet talk Carolina Red, he decided to call it a night. As he entered Eulogy's Pad, he thought about how Paradise Falls needed a party the next night, a celebration. A celebration for their new leader.

Borgia saw Clover walk from Eulogy's room, sweating and completely naked. She winked at Borgia as she passed him, and she went upstairs. Borgia walked into Eulogy's room as he was wrapping a red robe around himself.

"Friend, may I ask a favour of you?" Borgia asked. Eulogy turned to him.

"Ah, didn't see you there. What is it?"

"I'd like to organise a party, tomorrow. Get into contact with a trader. I was wondering if I could use one you have in your notebook?"

Eulogy Jones' notebook contained various different details, mainly his enslaving deeds and any people he makes contact with. There is the traders who deal with Paradise Falls, along with their routes.

"Why?" Eulogy asked.

Borgia shook his head. "I'll tell you tomorrow." With that he went to bed, and mentally prepared himself for the next day.


Borgia arose early. He spent about an hour cleaning an old, unused piece of combat armour, then attired himself with it. When he crept from Eulogy's Pad with his 9mm and his chinese assault rifle, it was quiet. At first Borgia thought nobody was out except the guard sitting outside the slave pen, but as he neared the bar he saw Ymir passed out on the ground.

For about two hours, Borgia walked around Paradise Falls silently.


Borgia entered the slaver barracks where Marie was staying. Eulogy hadn't noticed one person extra in the camp. The woman was up, and Borgia merely nodded to her before leaving the barracks. She followed him, and together they exited Paradise Falls.

"Listen, I only want ten soldiers. Any more would be encumbering. Got it?"

Marie nodded and ran off to retrieve the soldiers. Borgia looked towards Grouse and pulled his 9mm pistol, eagerly awaiting the ex Talon Company's arrival.

The troops amassed around Borgia.

"Do not kill unless I say, " Borgia ordered, before turning and marching on Paradise Falls. A regular Sulla.


Borgia walked towards Grouse. When he saw the Talon Company following Borgia, he jumped and grabbed his shotgun.

"Simmer down," Borgia spoke to him calmly. "I'm your superior and you shall do as I say." Grouse did not put away his shotgun, nor had he raised it. He was too stupid to piece together what was going on. Borgia shrugged and placed a bullet clean through his head. Don't trust him, Borgia thought to himself before out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. A slaver, one of Grouse's men, assigned to protect the gate, had ran from his seat. The man left off a round of fire, and it clipped one of the Talon Company. Before Borgia could return fire, the leader of his squad of Talon mercs, the one Borgia had threatened with his machete, tore the slaver apart with an excellently placed shot.

Borgia regained his composure and continued on into Falls. He passed through the gate blocking the two parts of Paradise Falls, only to be welcomed by a group of slavers aiming weapons at him. Ymir and Jotun stood at the front of the group, and lowered their weapons when they saw who it was.

"Borgia, what the [censored] is happening?"

"Have a drink friend," Borgia replied. "It's on the house." Borgia turned his attention to the crowd of slavers.

"Disband until Eulogy and I have come to an agreement." In the distance Borgia could see a slaver dashing into Eulogy's Pad.

"That's Talon Company," a small slaver piped up from the front of the group. "Paradise Falls doesn't work with them scum. The man raised his rifle, but feel immediately after doing so. Two shots rang out through Falls. Jerry emerged from behind the group of gathered slavers, aiming his hunting rifle towards the downed slaver. He another bullet in the slaver's head, to make sure. He then looked at Borgia and winked. Borgia laughed before making his way towards Eulogy's Pad.


Borgia decided to keep five of the Talon Company, including their leader and Marie, with the slavers. The rest made their way to the pad. Borgia jogged to the door, and turned ot the five men around.

"Be careful. If anybody shoots, start blasting until nothing is moving." The men nodded, and Borgia turned the knob, ramming himself into the doors, pushing them. The then jumped for cover beside the doors as the soldiers charged in. Borgia heard fire, and the sound of screaming. Crimson and Clover.

Borgia rounded the door into Eulogy's Pad. The Talon Company were in the entry room, firing at Clover and Crimson who were in Eulogy's room. One soldier lay before Borgia, a bullet in his head. Borgia peaked a look from cover behind the ruined couch and saw no sign of Eulogy. Borgia saw Clover get hit in the head. One of the mercs turned to Borgia.

"One left. We'll charge her and take her out." Before Borgia could reply the merc uprooted from cover. Two of the mercs followed suit, and they began running towards Eulogy's room. Then Borgia heard it.

Beep beep beep . The men were blasted to the air by a frag mine, laying just outside Eulogy's room. Just as the mine went off, Borgia saw Eulogy emerge upstairs, clutching his scoped .44 magnum. He was wearing his red robe. Once he noticed Borgia, he began firing. Borgia ducked behind the ruined couch.

"Can we talk about this?" he yelled towards Eulogy.

"Talk? You come into my Paradise Falls with an army of Talon mercs, and you want to talk?" Eulogy shouted back.

"All right. Let's settle this fairly. One on one."

"No can do friend," Eulogy replied, firing more shots at the piece of old furniture. Borgia looked at the one remaining merc.

"You go run to kill the last girl. I'll cover you." The young man nodded nervously and stood from his cover. As he made his way into the main room, Borgia clipped his heels, and the man fell, sliding into the middle of the room. The second Borgia heard the bang he jumped from cover and began firing wildly towards where Eulogy had poked out of cover to hit the downed merc. It happened so quickly that Borgia jumped back to cover, just hoping he hit Eulogy. He heard shuffling from Eulogy's room. Borgia peeked out and saw Crimson raise her arms and slowly limp from the room.

Borgia fired at her chest, killing her instantly. He then looked upstairs, and saw his best friend's body hanging over the rails, lifeless.

Lucas "Reaper" Caine - The Bazaar - Outside South Gate

Immediately upon stepping out into the warzone Lucas took cover behind one of the sandbag barricades. The gates turret mark VII whirred to life spitting out 5.56 rounds at the advancing raiders. The two tower sentries loosed their laser rifles on the advancing cover but were forced to take cover every few shots to avoid the automatic weapons fire of the raiders. At the sandbags where Lucas crouched three power armored Lancers fired their Marksman Carbines at the advancing waves. A protectron and robobrain also contributed firing their laser though most of their shots went wild. Another group of guards in combat armor emerged from the Bazaar to aid in fending off the endless wave of marauders.

Lucas tired of watching crept over to a fallen Lance merc and collected his weapon. Then making his way back to the sandbags he stood up activating his retinal body sensors which let him see exactly where each enemy was. Drawing the weapons scope to his eye Lucas fired a burst at the closest raider dropping the lightly armored foe with ease. Ducking as a barrage came his way Lucas hollered for his men to get down as power armor while powerful wasn't impervious to bullets.

Marie:

She heard gunshots from inside the Pad

"What the hell is going on in there?" she asked a slaver, identified as Ymir

"Dunno man....dunno"
--------------------------------
Harry Mason:

"I need to meet Mieux in person, i've had it with his secretary. JENKINS! GET ME WITH MIEUX!" he barked

"Okay!" he handed Harry the phone

"Yes? Okay, tell Mieux that Harry Mason would like to meet him in-person, you can? Thank you!" he hung up and flipped on the radio to a channel called "Wastelander's News":

Today we learned that a caravan carrying supplies to Justin Mieux, the proprietor of Tenpenny Tower, has been sniped by unknown forces, people suspect the Talon Company, but it could be just raiders. You will know when we know! Now for some new song, Tell us what you think of it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DD_NCM_RJs

"[censored], that was old news, catchy tune though...." he chuckled

Mark

"Hey, what do you call a blonde that's lost?" Dirty Mary stopped on their way to Paradise Falls.

"What?" Mark asked.

"Me." she laughed. "We're screwed."

OOC: Mieux office is the spare bedroom in Tenpennys personal suite, just so you get a visual idea. Also, sorry about the Outcasts, I was under the impression they still existed.

Mieux had been reading the papers on his desk, some scouting reports, a few money calculations, as well as the after action report on how the trip with the traveller went. He just finished a recent server update memo, boosting power while decreasing server generator usage. "Ah, come in." The door opened, the man, a ghoul, by the look of it, was expecting some bigoted response, but Mieux was no bigot, "Welcome my good man, perhaps I can offer you a drink?" Pushing a glass of scotch, obviously pre fixed just for him. "Holw on one moment would you kindly?" He turned to his phone, which was connected to the lobby, and spoke courtiesly, "Yes, I know, I was well aware, send him to the elevator, but not before he cleans himself up, he looks......dirty. Have him head to his suite and bathe. and give him some hair oil and a comb I don't want.....GERMS in my home. When he's bathed, tell him to stand at the elevator doors, and it will become unlocked for five seconds. Tell him he neednt worry, the elevator is going to be sent up here by me.'" He hung up the phone politely, obviously a man of very gentle demeanor. "I apologize, I am not a clean freak, but I DO despise germs." Mieux stood up, his black suit was well kept, perhaps you want to see with your own eyes what controls this towers power and security?"

Without any indication the Programmer was meant to respond. He escorted the Programmer into the room straight down the hall, This room here," Mieux said, opening up the room door, revealing a generator humming very silently, across from it behind a glass wall was the huge server with a terminal and a status screen, "is where we house the towers power generators, it runs by a modified software that determines the best way to power commonly used devices here." Without bothering to shut the door, he walked the man across the hall, going into detail, speaking in great detail the hows of the softwares function, walking to the opposite end of the hall, "This my good man, is the security station, this can control every turret you see on the ceiling of this floor, it also controls the Protectrons, cameras, intercoms etc, even the phone, I know everything going on in this tower." He escorted the man to the room next to it, "and THIS" Mieux said, "Will be your room should you wish to take up a job as a fellow software coder for me." As he pushed the door open, it had been filled with Pre-War comforts, a queen sized bed with silk sheets, a jukebox, a bookshelf filled from top to bottom with various books, In the corner was a desk and a safe, as well as a Mister Handy, capable of hairstyles and purified water production. At the opposite ends were double doors, which Mieux unlocked, leaving them open, allowing a soft cool breeze to enter the room, he walked out onto the terrace, filled with a few potted flowers and plants. "You could work for anyone, but you're not going to do that, you're going to do the smart thing, and work for me. They may offer you caps, but I can offer you everything you never had in your old life. Plus, I'd like to have a friend in the world" Mieux held out the key on his fingers, there for the Programmer to take if he wanted to work for Mieux.

OOC: I am going to give the location of all my characters. Commander October is in Big Town, Garrus is roaming the wastes looking for something to do and John Shepard is in the Company bunker in Lucifer’s Office.

John Shepard

“So John what are your views on our newest alliance.” asked Lucifer.

“I don’t trust it completely. The Enclave are forcing us to work with one of or worst enemies and they paid them a million caps. We didn’t get [censored].” replied John.

“I believe our relationship with the Enclave is more of a don’t shoot us and we won’t shoot you kind of thing.”

“Well if that is the case then why are they forcing us to go into some bunker?”

“I believe that is just so they know where we are at all times. Maybe they want us to do something for them later.”

“Maybe. But for now we are in a truce not an alliance. Same thing with Paradise Falls.”

“You can thank me for that.”

Garrus

“DIE RAIDER DIE!” Yelled Garrus as he swung his sledgehammer at the raiders head, it crushed his skull on impact and blood sprayed onto Garrus. “Its always good to let our some rage every know and then.” said Garrus out loud. He had just finished clearing out an entire Raider camp for fun. Now that Garrus was done with the Raiders he started to make his way back to the Company base but on the way there he was attacked from behind, he fell to the ground and his vision was blurry he could see Power Armoured men approaching him and then he get kicked in the head and fell unconscious.

Echo Six (Militia Sniper team)- near Fort Bannister:

"Okay, i got eyes on the commander, authorized to shoot?" said the sniper

"You have to okay, blow his head off." said the man on the other line

The Commander was in a open brahmin cart, who was going around the area to raise morale for the troops bogged down against raiders and brotherhood troops. Infront of him sat a Enclave officer

"Who the hell is infront of him? Nevermind that, i need him dead." he trained the sniper at his head, but he slipped, and the bullet when into his back, and through him, into the Enclave officer

"One shot!" the bullet jingled out

This time, the Commander wasn't so lucky. He took a headshot, blowing the top of his head off.

"He's dead..." said the spotter
----------------
Frank Linville-Base Lima, nearby Big Town:

Frank grabbed the Mole Rat and dragged it into the cage, then carried it back to the camp.

"We got this one, hopefully this will do good!" he said to his commander

"Good specimen solider, we always need these beasts, report back to Big Town, i've given you a transfer to the Raven Rock Airborne Trooper Drop-Team, you will meet up with your team at Big Town, then you will be trained to drop down on ropes, parachutes, and use Fat Mans and Miniguns." his commander declared
-----------------------------



OOC:Colonel, you skipped my post

"If you intend to give me more then I had in my old life," the Programmer began, slowly taking the keys with a smirk, "You will first need to grow some grass and get me a working car. And please, call me Vatris. Now then, I have on this CD here a lot of data that can prove very useful to both, you and I, and the rest of the world if we decide to expand from here... which we may very well need to do. Once I have my computer set up in here, I have some things to show you that you may find very... intersting."

The Programmer looked his room over, setting his briefcase down. "I don't like people knowing me. Your the only person besides some ghost of the past that better be in there graves whom knows what I look like. Those two mercenaries of yours aren't aware I am a ghoul. Now, before I get to work for you, I have one very simply question."

Vatris turned to Mieux, smiling and revealing his many jagged teeth, "You wouldn't happen to have a radio tower just lying around somewhere in this tower that we can setup on the roof my room, would you? Ill also need three computers and seven monitors, if you have any just... lying about for some odd reason."

Aiden Park

Aiden groaned and awoke somewhere unfamiliar to him. He ended up staring at the clouds lazily floating and floating. Although he was probably at the roof of some remote building, he couldn't help but smile at the freedom of it all. Without any worry, he leaned back in his sleeping bag and watched the clouds drift slowly across the clear blue sky.

Then the serene mind was shattered as he heard talking. Aiden crept on top of the building, readying his Dragunov. It was his contract, some guy who conned a slaver out of some money he owed him it seemed. Everything seemed standard. Aiden aimed his rifle and shot three consecutive rounds to the man and the other two next to him.

Aiden smirked. It may have taken a week to complete the contract but the feeling of wandering the wastes once more was exhilarating. But one thing remained...getting his pay. Although he was Talon, Aiden was used to taking private contracts like old times and he did many times and Paradise Falls paid good money for killing people who didn't pay.

He packed up his sleeping bag and headed along, quietly admiring the beauty of it all. What many saw as the scarred wasteland, Aiden saw as a beautiful expanse of desert and plains.

Soon, he got to Paradise Falls before sitting down at the entrance, admiring everything before going in. What he saw...was complete annihilation. Grouse was dead, and so was almost every slaver in the compound. Aiden walked along, his admiration for the wastes vanishing at the very instant.

Aiden saw somebody very familiar and then more gunfire. He slowly headed across the remains to find Ymir and some young girl. Aiden approached slowly. "What's going on?"

Eric ran as the raiders chased after him, they were steadily gaining on him thanks to the briefcase he was holding. Eric suddenly turned around and with his 10mm sub-machine gun let loose a torrent of bullets that ripped into the raiders.
The raiders were dead.

Eric turned back around and as he turned a corner he could see Fort Bannister, even from where he was he could see the Talon company mercs running around, like angry ants that had just gotten their nest prodded with a stick. He looked ahead of him and saw a lone merc coming his way, before he could hide the merc was aware of him. Eric quickly ran back from where was and hid in a bush, the merc came into view, he was young in his early twenties, Eric waited for him to get close enough, when the merc was a meter away Eric tackled him to the ground.

Lieutenant Ryans.Fort Bannister.

Ryans was called to Talon's office for a private meeting, Ryans did not know what this was about but he thought he was going to be in trouble. He made his way to Talon's office and opened the door, Talon sat on his leather chair wearing a suit of black Talon Company armor, an M4A1 Assault Rifle was set on the table with a clip in it and three spare clips on the desk. This was not normal Talon was ready for war.

"What's with the armor and gun boss? Are we going to war or is this about the Enclave hiring us?" asked Ryans.

"It's a bit of both. Remember when we called the meeting everyone showed except for that one group...traitors...Anyways scouts have confirmed that they assassinated Commander Jabsco." replied Talon.

"What!? Commander Jabsco is dead...Does...Does that mean I am being made into Commander!?"

"Precisely."

"Oh my god! I have never been happier!"

"You fell no mourning for your Commander?"

"Always look on the bright side of life Talon, sir."

"I like you Ryans, I think you will be better to have around then Jabsco. Damn steroid junky. But he was a good shot. You can shoot good kid right?"

"Hardly a kid but yes I am an excellent shot. Don't you remember you promoted me to Lieutenant yourself because I was the best shot out of all the mercs?"

"Oh yes. My old age is getting to me."

"Talon you are forty eight."

"Like I said old age."

"Thank you for the promotion."

"It was inevitable."

"Don't say that it takes away my pride."

"Go away now your idle jokes are starting to bore me."

"Rather rude sir."

"Do you want this job?"

"See ya later sir!"

Monroe

Fort Constantine 8:10am

Monroe and his men had reached the North Gate of the Camp and were moving in battle formation down the East wall towards what they now knew to be the Brotherhood assault. The boys in the Admin building seemed to be holding thier own, tracers streamed from the windows and roof even as a Gatling Laser being fired from below raked the windows on the Third Floor. "Holy s***!!!", thought Monroe as a rocket whizzed by fifteen feet over his head from behind him, to explode on the other side of the ridge, silencing the Gatling Laser. Monroe dared to take a quick glimpse behind him and saw the exhaust trail led to a Sentry Bot on the roof of the Bomb Storage building. "That clever bastard", thought Monroe with savage glee. "How the f*** did Brainiac get a Sentry Bot up there?". His radio crackled to life again. It was Frankie.

"We can see you and the Boys, Boss!", yelled Frankie excitedly. The f****** are on the other side of the ridge. F*** 'em up!"

"One fist-******* coming right up!", Monroe said to Frankie over his mic. He then turned to the men with him. "They're just over the ridge. It's time they learned they just f****** with the wrong Crew. Get on the crest and light 'em up!"

With that, Monroe and his men charged up to the ridge, throwing themselves prone just below the crest and crawled to the top. Looking over the crest, they had a excellent view of the Brotherhood troops trying to suppress the fire coming from the Admin building so they could advance through the breach. They immediately opened fire on the unsuspecting Paladins. Realizing they had been flanked, they began to withdraw to the south.

The Watcher rolled along the inner surface of the satellite dish as a second fist sized hole appeared in the steel skin of the dish where he had been observing the battle. "An Anti-Material Rifle?" he thought despairingly. "Where the hell did they get one of those?" Every so often a new hole appeared, sometimes to the left and others to the right of where he had been. "They're trying to keep me pinned down", he thought. "I'm going to have to burn a Stealth Boy and look. That will only leave me two to evade." Activating his Stealth Boy, he climbed up and looked over the lip and his heart sank. At least part of the force sent to relieve the weapons convoy had returned and had flanked the Distraction force and they were being massacred. Then the Watcher's radio cracked to life and new order were coming in. The force attacking the Caravan was ordered to retreat and head to the aid of the distraction force. They were ordering the Reclamation Team to abandon the mission but they weren't responding. Bringing up his suppressed sniper rifle, he spotted the Raider sniper on the roof of the Admin building, and fired at him, missing due to the extreme range but forcing him and his comrades to take cover. The Watcher then began to run around the inside of the bowl to the wooden plank at the other end that led to the dish that had the exit. It was a suboptimal vantage point, but he needed to lose that sniper so he could resume reporting. "This is a disaster", thought the Watcher. "We've been routed by Raiders. God help us!"

"They're on the run, boys! Forward! For Ashur!!", howled Monroe as he got up and charged the now fleeing Paladins, followed by his men. Taking fire from two sides, the Paladins had no choice but to retreat immediately or be cut down where they stood....their only hope now is that the Raiders would be too distracted to see the Reclamation Team when they emerged. Stopping at a small ridge, the Paladins took cover and tried to make a stand but then began to take long-range rocket fire from the Sentry bots of the returning raiders from the South. Under attack from the front and rear, the Brotherhood force dissolved...the remaining Paladins tried to flee and were quickly cut down. As quickly as it had began the battle was over.

"We f****** did it.", thought Monroe exultantly. "We beat the f****** Brotherhood!" By the looks of it, at least 20 Paladins lay dead along the hillside. Four more of them were still alive, but wounded. Monroe prevented his battle-crazed men from killing them and had them disarmed and herded towards the Admin building. He told Frankie to have Brainiac come down and get them out of thier armor. Frankie reported that the attack on the caravan had suddenly broken off, and the relief force was bringing them in. Watching as his men collected the weapons of the fallen Paladins and dragging their bodies into the Camp, he started having the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something.

Security Robot FC-19, a Mr. Gutsy, was executing it's standard patrol route, as it had been directed eight minutes ago by SysAdmin Brainiac, who also sent out a general advisory that the Communist assault on this facility had been repelled, but to keep vigilant. Moving past the breach in the wall and the fallen FC-24, FC-19 approached the CO's Quarters. It's patrol plan did not specify entering any building unless ordered, so it decided to pass by the rear entrance to the structure then north towards the Bomb Storage building. It's motion sensors detecting unusual movement, FC-19s rabid electronic mind decided to investigate, hoping it had found a communist it could vaporize. Training it's optical, electronic, and infra-red sensors on the source of the motion...the rear door of the CO's quarters, it detected a anomaly. The door was slightly ajar, and behind it was a slightly larger than human sized object, concealed by what FC-19's ELINT sensors classified as a Stealth field. Comparing it to the Access list for this structure, it was definitely not Admin Monroe, Guest Betty, User Mitch, User Frankie, or SysAdmin Brainiac. comparing it to the wider list of Authorized base personnel, and list of Authorized resources, there was also no match.

"Hot damn!", thought FC-19 with synthetic joy. "A Commie!". Turning on it's external speaker, it selected one of the phrases SysAdmin Brainiac had programmed into it's authorized list of Battle Cries then opened fire on the Communist.

"Lord Ashur sends you this!", bellowed a Mr. Gutsy from behind Monroe. It then opened fire with it's plasma weapon. Monroe whirled around to see the Mr. Gutsy firing at something behind the CO's Quarters. Now he knew what had been nagging at him.

"F***!!", thought Monroe with dismay. "Betty!"

The Citadel - A Ring - Com Center - 8:25am

Elder Lyons sat beside the Citadel's Satellite Uplink, waiting to speak with a ghost from his past. The reports from Scribe Peabody were beyond belief. According to the last report from Scout on scene, who had been forced to flee himself, the entire Distraction force...24 Paladins...had been wiped out by the Pitt Raiders. The force sent to attack the Caravan had disengaged successfully but there were only 10 Paladins, they had no chance to reach the Reclamation Team. The only saving grace is that the Raiders did not seem to have detected them yet inside the CO's Quarters. There was only one way to save them now....by appealing to thier leader. Eventually, the radio crackled to life.

"Good morning Eowyn, it's been a long time.", said Ashur. "I have been told you wish to speak to me."

"Yes, Ishmael.", said Lyons. "We have a situation and you are the only one that can help." He then explained the Operation, and how it gone disastrously wrong for the Brotherhood, and the remaining Paladins were in imminent threat of being detected and killed.

"Let me get this straight, Eowyn.", said Ashur heatedly. "You leave me alone in this [censored] hellhole, then twenty years later you attack my solders...without provocation...then you ask me to show you mercy? Is that correct?"

"I'm afraid so, Ishmael.", said Lyons sadly. "All I can do is appeal to you to spare them. They were your comrades once, surely you remember that."

"Alright, Eowyn.", said Ashur angrily. "For old times sake, I will spare them. But know this, this is not over! Here are my terms and they are not negotiable. First. The living shall be set free with thier armor and weapons...the armor and weapons of the fallen I claim. I will order my men to provide you means to take the dead with you. Second. Whatever it is you came for is mine. Your men will hand over everything they have relating to it. Do you accept my terms?"

"I have no choice but to accept them, Ishmael.", said Lyons. "I will direct Star-Paladin Cross or the ranking survivor to give you the materials."

"Very well, then", snapped Ashur. "I cannot reach Ft Constantine with my equipment directly. I need you to provide a relay."

Fort Constantine - Admin building - 8:30am

The radio cracked to life. The operator's eyes opened wide as he realized who he was speaking to. The operator frantically summoned Frankie, who took the headphone.

"Hello?", said Frankie, knowing that thier equipment could not directly contact the Pitt. "Who is this?"

"Frankie.", came a familiar voice. "This is Ashur, Lord of the Pitt. Tell Monroe I want to speak to him right now."

"But Boss!", exclaimed Frankie. "The Brotherhood attacked the camp! Some of them are still holed up in the bunkers underneath the base!"

"I know that!", said Ashur firmly. "They are what I want to talk to Monroe about. You tell him to stop doing whatever he is doing and to get on this radio NOW! It's over, a truce is being declared!"

"Yes, Boss...right away!", said Frankie as he dropped his headphones and ran outside towards the CO's Quarters.

OOC: Ghost is going to be my side character until the second thread. He is one of Paradise Falls best slavers and the most stealthiest. Eulogy used him to get slaves from populated areas and to take out rivals. Ghost does not really like Eulogy though and only pretends to because he gets paid a lot more than the average slaver. He has an M4A1 Assault Rifle and wears black leather armor and a black ski mask when on missions. He has blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that is very messy. He was born in Paradise Falls and raised by two of the top slavers both of which preferred stealth. By age eighteen he was a master of stealth and one of the top slavers. He is twenty nine right now.

Ghost was sitting in the barracks when he heard gunshots coming from Eulogy's pad, Ghost got up and grabbed his assault rifle and kicked the door open he sprinted over to the pad and kicked the door down he pointed his assault rifle at one of the people before releasing that it was Borgia Manus Eulogy's right hand man. What the [censored]? Eulogy is dead and Borgia is just standing there.

"Borgia, did, did you kill Eulogy?" asked Ghost nervously.

Harry Mason-Kallarn Station

"Sir, look at this." Jenkins planted a newspaper on Harry's Desk

COMMANDER OF TALON COMPANY ASSASSINATED!

Earlier this week, the Talon Company leader, Commander Jabsco, has been assassinated while raising morale for troops. He took a bullet into his back, and went through, and hit the man infront of him, identified as Officer Markson. He then took a bullet to the side of his head, blowing it off. People are blaming deserted Talon Company Soldiers.

"Why should this concern me? I don't give a rats ass about the Talon Company." Harry said

"Well, this might mean they will stop raiding our caravans.." said Jenkins

"Or maybe they will boost their tactics.." Harry added

OOC: Sorry Name, I should have explained, Mieux ignores it because he doesn't care, he sees it as 'Oh, one less trader coming here, pity. Moving on then...' kind of attitude.

Commander Ryans.Talon Company Outpost.

Ryans had made his way to the last Talon Company outpost that had Talon Company mercenaries in it. He was here to inform all the men to go to the Enclave secret bunker between Megaton and Grayditch. All the other Talon Company mercenaries where there along with all of the Company except for Garrus and John Shepard. The Enclave where not at this bunker yet though so it was just the Talon Company and the Company. Ryans approached the leader of the outpost.

"You tell your men to go the Enclaves bunker at once! The Enclave expected all of us to be there yesterday!"

"Will do Commander Ryans." replied the Officer.

The Officer collected his men and sent them off to the bunker, Ryans followed.

Frank Linville-Big Town Deployment Station:

Frank woke up with a startle of hearing the Vertibird land

"ALL ABOARD FOR RAVEN ROCK!" shouted a man, and about 10-15 men boarded it

"So, why you goin to the Rock?" asked a man next to Frank

"For a drop team being organized. You?" asked Frank

"Same! My name is Gary, Gary Winchester." Gary extended his arm, and Frank shook it
---------------------------------------------------------
Maire-Eulogy's Pad:

Marie burst the door open with other Militants, she found a slaver looking at a body, appeared to be Eulogy's

"HIM!" she hissed, she pulled out her .44 Magnum called "Mustang" and aimed it at his head

"[censored]!" she yelled as he emptied a entire clip of her revolver.

Commander October

October was awaiting his private Vertibird to come and pick him up, it usually only took thirty minutes for a Vertibird to get from Raven Rock to Big Town but it had already been forty five minutes, October was growing impatient. Instead of sitting around and doing nothing October grabbed his customized Plasma Rifle that was colored black and was more powerful then other Plasma Rifles, the microfusion cells that October used could shoot twenty fives times before emptying. October walked out into the wastes and saw a house that was clearly a raider camp. The roof had collapsed and scaffolding had been put up, Raiders with Hunting Rifles looked out into the distance but it was dark. They could only see someone close to them. October sneaked his way to the back of the Raider camp and shot his rifle at one of the Raiders, luckily Plasma Rifles didn't make that much of a loud sound so it was not heard by any of the raiders, after the Raider dropped dead October took the Raiders combat knife. One by one October slit the throats of the raiders silently, he then saw that back at Big Town a Vertibird was getting read to land. October returned to Big Town and boarded the Vertibird. Back to Raven Rock.

A lone trader walked through the town of Springvale looking for stuff to sell, it looked as if the town was already picked clean which was understandable considering it was right beside one of the largest trading hubs in the Capital Wasteland, Megaton. The trader sat on the ground discouraged and sad, he had not had a meal in two days and had not seen caps in three weeks, if he didn't get either of the two soon he would die. The trader dozed off and moments later was awoken by a man in a blue jumpsuit.

OOC: This is edit/ question


Will the Lone Wanderer take place?