Living through the Fall of the Enclave

3rd January, 2243

"You are a maggot, a maggot with a steady aim but a maggot all the same!” Sutler watched slyly from his position against the wall of the hanger, his arms folded over torso; Kreger’s squad had just returned from an operation to clear out a system of caves ridden with mainlander filth, when Sergeant Major of the Army Arch Dornan seized Johnson’s arms as he stepped from the Vertibird and roughly dragged him aside for a dressing-down. It never ceased to amuse – and yet anger – Sutler when Johnson was punished for his blatant disobedience.

After burning through most dross at the caves mouth – with no appreciable opposition – repeated forks in the tunnels resulted in Kreger’s squad, and another squad led by a Lieutenant Globus, splitting into pairs and slowly clearing the labyrinth; Sutler partnered with Moreno and after returning from an empty dead-end caught Johnson in the act of escorting a group of mainlanders from the tunnels in the direction of the exit, Israel – his partner – was nowhere to be seen.

Catching Johnson unawares, Sutler held-him-up, grinning maniacally beneath his helmet, sure that Johnson was now doomed; ‘How I wish I could burn you right now’ Sutler thought whist staring into Johnson’s faceplate, knowing that the man behind the orange tinted lenses’ was thinking the exact same. With a curt movement from his pistol, held at hip level, Sutler ordered Johnson to stand aside before then turning it on the five silent and shaking, ragged creatures that Johnson had been escorting and opened fire, covering the distance between them and him as he did so. Of the five, Sutler finished three with Gauss rounds, again, ploughing through the soft targets at impossible speeds and spraying chunks of organic matter over the tunnel walls behind them. One surviving man had fallen over and, in the darkness of the tunnel, Sutler almost took him for dead before noticing that the circle of blood that stained most of his torso was from a lung which had hit him after exploding from the chest of one of the victims; the man was getting up, his hand crawling up the wall trying to find something to support him. As the man got to his feet Sutler grabbed his neck and drew his Ripper before plunging it into the man’s abdomen, dragging it through the torso all the way to the waist and finally pushing the dead man over. The final survivor was another male, his features Sutler didn’t bother to notice as he crossed over to him in a stride; he was one the floor in a state of shock, slowly backing away – and yet facing Sutler – his face frozen in an expression of the initial horror, the same boot was brought down on the man’s head – who made no real movement to avoid his fate – and the crunching of bones told Sutler it was done. Then he turned to Johnson, who had done and said nothing during the slaughter but simply stand and watch, his gloved fists curled in to balls of fury at which Sutler laughed derisively before returning the barrel of his pistol in the direction of Johnson’s torso.

“Where’s Gannon you sick son-of-a-bitch?” Sutler asked coldly, the traces of smugness having drained away.

“What the fuck are you saying Sutler? That I killed Israel to save those people? I don’t care if he took you in, I’ve known him a good year longer than you have; a good year of happy times before all this.”

Sutler had to think about this, unsure as to whether we would think Johnson capable of the murder of a fellow compatriot and human being; as he made up his mind that even in Johnson’s depraved mind such a deed would be unforgivable, Gannon rounded a corner and strode towards them, taking in the situation at a glance.
“You wouldn’t honestly believe Johnson capable of murder would you?” Israel asked Sutler.

“Of course not sir but there are more pressing matters at hand here, this traitor was trying to get these people out of the caves.”

“You ditched me for these people?” Israel asked Johnson, slowly turning his head towards him from Sutler.

“Affirmative sir, these are just innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time there’s…”

“These people could tell other people whom could potentially pose a more significant threat to us of our presence in this region, Navarro is kept safe by these patrols making the area a damn site more dangerous than it should be. Secrecy is our shield Johnson and these people did pose a threat to that.”

“There’s just children here, people just trying to get by on the mainland and we have the right to just swoop in and destroy them all without mercy?”

“Our authority comes from the Constitution of this grand nation and from the Office of the President. These bums are what caused the near destruction of this nation, unpatriotic scum then and now.”

“You’re so full of shit Sutler and you can’t even realise it,” after giving Sutler his scathing look he turned to Israel. “There’s better in you though Israel admit it, you and Judah both know what I’m talking about.”

Sutler didn’t bother to look at Gannon to see his reaction to such an accusation, he already knew what it was, one of disgust and loathing. Gannon however, indicated no such emotions in his tone and manner but merely said, “That’s Lieutenant Gannon and Captain Kreger Private; Private Sutler, stand-down.”

Sutler obeyed though he did not holster his weapon, we watched Gannon from the corner of his eye, unsure what to expect next. Then suddenly Kreger seemed to stride from the darkness towards them, behind him was a soldier from Globus’s squad; he took simply surveyed the scene with a single sweep of his eyes, though being in an officers uniform Sutler could see his face, it was glaring around at them all.

“What in the name of all that is holy is going on here?” He asked calmly, though his voice was etched with authority.

“This… stinking traitor fuck was betraying the objectives of the mission,” Sutler spat. “Going behind his compatriots and backs trying to smuggle these spies out of the caves and back to the mainlanders with valuable information.”

“These are just peasants you mad bastard!”

“Enough of that language all of you, as for you,” Kreger turned to Johnson. “This behaviour is damaging to our ability to operate as a unit and a direct violation of orders, I’m going to have to report you to Sergeant Dornan this time. Make sure I don’t have to do it again Private Johnson.”

* * * * *

“A maggot who is a disgrace to an otherwise prime example of an efficient unit, due to the words of your officer I won’t bust you down and out of this man’s army but make sure I never have to see your sorry ass again for this type of behaviour again; do you understand?”

“Yes Sergeant.”

“Out-fucking-standing, now get to your quarters and out of my sight; I have a real soldier to see.”

Sergeant Dornan left Johnson and returned to a pensive looking Captain Kreger, who had been observing with Lieutenant Gannon; they spoke for a few minutes, whilst out of earshot of Sutler, he hazarded a guess that it was little more than a frank discussion. Dornan gesticulated at Sutler just before he saluted Kreger and started in his direction, Sutler got off the wall and stood up straight, ready to salute the Sergeant when he got close.

“At ease trooper,” Dornan boomed – even though this was not a disciplinary matter; he returned Sutler’s salute before continuing. “Well, it’s my great duty to announce something which has been a while in coming; I almost hate to say it trooper but in these times I appear to have become the very paper-shuffling jack-ass I despised, but it comes with the new rank and world I suppose. I’m very pleased to say that it has been decided – with a substantial amount of support from your officer – that you now hold the rank of Corporal.”

“Thank you very much Sergeant.” Sutler shook his hand vigorously.

“And on a personal note soldier, due to you and your former squad mates testimony, Corporal Spencer has been posthumously awarded the Soldier’s Medal for heroic service outside the field of battle, he saved your lives I believe?”

Sutler squirmed in his armour, pleased as he was with Spencer’s final recognition, the actual reasons for him saving their lives would never be known.

“He did Sergeant, he was a good compatriot and a good friend; I, for one, am glad that he has got the recognition that he deserved. If it wouldn’t trouble you Sergeant, I would like to inform my old squad mates; we haven’t seen each other in some months.”

Dornan nodded. “It’s fine by me Trooper; keep all your friends close, I didn’t have many stationed here… and now they are all dead.”

There was a silence for a time before Sutler saluted Sergeant Dornan and made his way for the elevator to the lower levels, of anyone would know where Autumn was it would be his father. Being of a significant rank – even if he was a military scientist – Lieutenant Colonel Augustus Autumn had displaced the previous holder of the office and quarters which he now called his own, it was a modest room of about the size of an apartment. Autumn Senior was behind his desk, he looked a lot like his son, the jaw and nose in particular, and had his graying hair combed neatly. Like his son, he spoke with a definite southern accent, a family tradition – much like the Sutler’s own – passed down.

“Well hello there Corporal Sutler. Brings you down here?”

Sutler looked puzzled, “You’ve heard about my promotion?”

“I am a senior military official Sutler, things with your name on catch my eye. Now what can I do for you?”

“Oh of course, I’m looking for your son and Sergeant Granite.”

“You haven’t seen them for a while have you? It’s Warrant Officer Granite now, W-1. How about you meet them both in the cafeteria tonight, 19:00pm?

* * * * *

“So Spencer has finally been commended?” Said Autumn in a tone of reverence. “his diligence saved my life.

“Had a damn good voice too,” Granite piped in, he was quieter than usual, though maybe something had changed since they’d last met.

“We miss you Spencer; dear, compatriot Spencer.”

Sutler looked down at his rations and began humming ‘Strong and Peaceful’ – Spencer’s favourite song – to which Granite and Autumn joined in.
 
It's been a while since I posted one of these, due to exams; I am going to try and get things moving along now.

8th February, 2242

Sutler returned the recharger pistol back to the Quartermaster before leaving the armoury, he had just passed an hour at the target range to compensate for any reduction of skill – as indeed all US Army personnel were being encouraged to do so – that may occur due to the fact that all patrols and operations had been cancelled last week for a reason and length of time as of yet undetermined. With little else to do Sutler returned to the Gannon’s apartment to find Roxanne rocking a red-eyed Arcade Gannon to sleep.

“My little boy is tired now,” she said quietly. “Been crying, I don’t think he’s very well; took him to see Doctor Schreber, who thankfully has ran out of test-subjects since the patrols were cancelled. Anyway, he said Arcade has a fungal-infection in his mouth called ‘oral candidiasis’, prescribed some of the hokey medicine cooked up from the cultivations but I could see he wasn’t confident in the ability of the medicine.” She sighed deeply.
Sutler tried to look sympathetic before asking, “So where’s Mr Gannon?”

She smiled and shook her head. “I don’t know where ‘Mr Gannon’ is Alan, but I remember him mentioning that the Department of Energy wanted to see him about testing a prototype suit of Power Armour that’s just been sitting in storage since the ENCLAVE. I just hope that one of these days the machines that they cook up don’t end up killing him.”
“Our compatriot scientists do a good job Mrs Gannon, if there had been any deaths I’m sure we’d have heard about it.”

“I wasn’t doubting our compatriots in the white coats Alan, I’m just worried about him sometimes; and you and Kreger and the others. I know that you all don’t get on, but we really look on you all as family.”

Sutler was, again, truly touched by the extent which the Gannon’s had taken him into their family; even after a year of their hospitality it still amazed him. Before, however, he could say something back to show his appreciation there was a familiar burst of orchestral music over the PA system, indicating that a message from the Government was coming.

“Attention citizens, attention citizens. There will be a national address in the Courtyard in 10 minutes. I repeat; all citizens are required to proceed to the Courtyard within ten minutes.”

“This will have something to do with the cancelled patrols,” Sutler said. Leading Roxanne – with Arcade – into the hallway, which had begun to fill with people making their way topside, Sutler slowly shuffled along with the crowd. At the Courtyard, Sutler left Roxanne to join the men in the military column - which still outnumbered civilian column. He quickly found Kreger and the rest of the men, all of whom – like him – were in off-duty uniforms.

“Alan.” Moreno waved him over. “Pretty exciting ‘eh? Anything that’s been in the works for a week must be.”

“Indeed compatriot,” Sutler reached around Kreger to tapp Israel on the shoulder. “Mrs Gannon said that she took Arcade to see Doctor Schreber and that he has a fungal infection.”

“A few more sleep-depraved nights ahead then?” Israel said with a grimace; ’Thank God the armour compensates for the tiredness’ Sutler thought.

Then suddenly there was a burst of fanfare – though one which everyone immediately realised wasn’t ‘Hail to the Chief’ – as President Halt took his usual position on the stage before the three water columns donned with the Flag; behind Halt, the four other politicians took their places but then Sutler was suddenly taken aback when Autumn Senior too followed the politicians onto the stage, he to wearing the uniform of a politician, though being a scientist like the Secretary of Agriculture the brown suit jacket he been replaced by a lab coat.

“Greeting fellow compatriots of the United States of America, I am here before you to-day to announce my resignation as the Acting President, recently it has came to our attention of the survival of another member of the Executive Branch who’s authority supersedes my own.” Sutler listened to Halt but there was something niggling at the back of his mind; Halt didn’t sound the same, he was known as an orator but now appeared even flustered. The news of a surviving member of the Government however made Sutler’s heart soar upon hearing it, ’The Enclave is not dead!’ he thought excitedly.

“Well without much further ado, may I present President John Henry Eden.” Now the familiar Hail to the Chief poured from the speakers but nobody got to the stage, instead a voice superimposed itself over the anthem, it was a cool and calming voice with an accent unknown to Sutler.

“Thank you for the introduction Mr Halt. Greetings my fellow Americans, my name is John Henry Eden, President John Henry Eden and I suppose that you and I need to discuss the future of our America. Since the loss of communications almost a year ago, I and my staff here have been attempting to re-establish communications and finally succeeded in our task only two weeks ago. Together, the surviving members of the Federal Government have been working around the clock on the future of our nation, on the future of our America. Now America, you can relax; you can put behind you all of those worries of the future, the worries of what kind of world our children will grow up in for we have… a plan.”

“We have decided that no future can remain for us here in California, we have decided that a change will be necessary for the revival of our nation in the face of the threat that these mutants pose us. We the American people have gone through hardships before and will do again, God willing, after we re-establish ourselves and rebuild our country; this has pushed our ability, tested our resolve and we have triumphed in the face of adversary against our foe simply through the act of survival. Wait until he see’s our next card America; we will leave this dustbowl behind and instead begin again where we ought to be, where we belong as the final refuge of America. My friends, I and the executive branch have found record of a American installation built outside of the seat of our office and power, Washington DC; this installation will serve as the home and foster to a new generation of American people. My fellow countrymen, we are going home, truly; after all this time away our Capital needs us back and we will not be found wanting. Now, my ability to assist further in our exodus from this region is over and I will return you to the hands of the man you may be more familiar with. Secretary Halt, please retake the stage.”

Sutler listened intently and excitedly to the announcement. “We’re going to Washington!” He whispered to Moreno. “Washington DC, America is coming home at last!”
Halt retook the stage and cleared his throat loudly, gaining the immediate attention of the crowd who had broken the traditional silence which presided during an announcement. “Alright compatriots, please settle-down; as pleased as we all are that major steps have been taken for our survival, the logistics of the matter still needed to be sorted out. We have already drawn up lists and orders of the operation, but due to our need to constantly maintain our vigilance in the face of adversity, we will inform one block per day of their role in the new development whilst the others can continue their functions and the security of this installation can remain uncompromised. Now please let us salute the flag and get to work, the days ahead will be long but we shall prevail, humanity shall prevail!”

From the speakers, Star-Spangled Banner began to play and all the citizens gatherered in the Courtyard stiffened to attention, but there was a static in the air, a charge feeling of optimism and hope; the Enclave was going to Washington.
 
13th February, 2243

The PA system crackled into life with as the clocks around Navarro sounded noon. “Attention Citizens. Block E, please report to Quartermaster Raffles on level 1 immediately. Repeat, Block E report to the Quartermaster and form an orderly queue.” The same announcement had been made at 12 o’clock for the past five days, with the citizens involved clocking out of their work assignment and filing into the Quartermaster’s Office at the northern end of the base for their instructions on the coming exodus; most found themselves assigned to the Raven Rock detail which was predicted to cover 90% of all citizens. Excited, Sutler made his way to the Armoury as quickly as possible, on the way there he ran into Autumn.

“Isn’t this exciting Autumn?” Sutler said by way of a greeting after increasing his fast pace to a jog to catch up. “We’re going to Washington, the capital itself will finally become the seat of government again, and in our generation too.”

Autumn grinned at Sutler’s enthusiasm, before replying. “Yeah, it’ll be almost surreal to see Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson in person; but I can’t help but wonder at how long it’s going to take to get there.”

“Who cares?” Sutler said, stunned at his friend’s ability to forecast gloom over the glorious occasion. “The getting there is the adventure, blasting apart mainlanders and moving to the capital. I for one cannot imagine something to look forward too more; hell, the shooting would be enough for me but… hell I still can’t believe it. The capital itself, where the declaration of our very sovereign sits waiting to be brought back into the arms of the nation it created, where surely Richardson will join his fellow as a monument to a great President.”

As they joined the queue which had formed along the right-hand side of the corridor, they saw beaming citizens coming from the opposite direction after having presumably told that they were going to Raven Rock. The queue moved fairly quickly and it wasn’t long until Sergeant Raffles was looking down his long nose at them, before checking their number on the terminal and confirming their placement.

“Dr Schreber sir. One moment…. Alright I can confirm that you will be going to Raven Rock.”

The dark haired, middle-aged man clad in a lab coat worn over his jumpsuit didn’t seem to phased. “Will I be able to take my cyber-dog?” Schreber asked in his typical voice of always sounding like he had somewhere more important to be.

“I don’t know Dr Schreber, I would assume that you could. It is property of the Department of Energy which is taking all of it’s assets to Raven Rock so I assume so.”

“Excellent, thank you Raffles.”

“No problem Dr Schreber; my wife and I are still eternally greatful…”

“No problem Sergeant.”

“Alright next. Autumn right? Don’t know why you bothered coming seeing as how your father is a political. Yeah, your going to Raven Rock. Next.”

Sutler patted Autumn on the back whilst stepping forward. “Sutler, A. J. Sergeant Sir.”

“Alright Corporal Sutler, one moment please; alright you’re part of the Navarro garrison Corporal, no need to pack anything. Next.”

The words were like a punch in Sutler’s gut knocking the wind right out of him; ‘I have to stay here?’ he thought bemusedly, ‘Here at the ‘Navarro Garrison’’. Autumn was stood to the side looking at him ashen faced with a touch of sympathy, “Oh man I’m so sorry. We could talk to my Dad if you want and try and get you placed.”

“No,” Sutler said flatly. “No it’s not fair that I might displace a fellow compatriot of their chance to see the capital. If I am to stay here compatriot, then it must be for a reason right?”

18th February, 2243

Sutler tried to get over his massive disappointed, it was only the next day that Sutler found out that the rest of Kreger’s squad and the Gannons were to remain at Navarro too. Everything happened to fast, only a week after announcing who would and would not be going to Washington. The new President Eden appeared again at a national assembly, one thing Sutler did notice about President Eden was that he didn’t seem to reference the human race as much as he was used to, Richardson had always said that their actions were vital for the survival of the human race as well as America. At the assembly was jubilation, though Sutler’s experience was tainted by the knowledge that he wouldn’t be going; still though he enjoyed the experience. Music was played non-stop for hours on end, he and the squad donned their armour and took part in a huge parade of military personnel and flags to the Stars and Stripes Forever; eventually though the event ended and the next morning rose, the first Vertibirds were being loaded with supplies and many people, particularly those who would be remaining at Navarro watched from the side as crate-upon-crate was heaved into the storage compartments of the Vertibird. Autumn was leaving on the first Vertibird, as Sutler watched the troopers labour beneath the rising sun, Autumn appeared from nowhere at Sutler’s side.

“Well friend,” he said to Sutler as he approached; neither was looking at the other, it wasn’t necessary. “I guess this is the end… for now.”

“Yes, for now compatriot.” Sutler replied. “They watched the bird get lowered for another few minutes until one of the troopers banged his fist on the hull of the bird as a signal and the rotors began to spin. ‘I can’t believe it’s actually happening,’ Sutler thought aghast. He could see Autumn’s father waving at them, it was time to leave. “Autumn,” Sutler began. “I really am so sorry that I’ve neglected you this past year. We’ve drifted apart you and I, but we’ve been friends since first grade, surely us just getting to spend more time together again was no way to leave things?”

“Sutler, this isn’t the end of us; we’re only in our early twenties, you really think that it’ll take more than 60 years for the United States of America to return?”

Sutler looked sheepish. “Well no Autumn it’s just…”

They had reached the bird without realising it and a trooper hurried over and accepted Autumn’s duffle-bag before carrying it onto the bird for storage in the overhead compartments.

“I hope that you do well for yourself,” Autumn Senior said as they approached the bird; he put his arm around his son’s shoulder. “Your going to turn out like your dad, I know it; a proud man who’ll do his duty until their isn’t a single breath within him.”

“Damn right Dr Autumn sir.”

They shook hands, Sutler with the two Autumn’s; behind them were cries of farewell and goodbye on top of the Washing Post which had begun to play from the speakers.

“We’ll be a long way-away my friend but it won’t be the end; when we’ve won, when the nation is truly in a state where it can be restored, we’ll meet again.”

“Yes,” Sutler smiled. “Yes my dear compatriot; we shall meet again one day in a world where there is no darkness.”

And with that final goodbye, the trooper who had took Autumn’s bag came over and sealed the door, searing the picture of a smiling Autumn from inside the Vertibird into Sutler’s mind as the last time he would see his great friend in many years. The trooper banged twice this time on the side of the bird and slowly pushed Sutler back and motioned for the crowds to do the same as the Vertibird taxied slowly for a bit down and before building enough speed and taking off into the sky in a western direction; after a turning manoeuvre which took it over the whole base it flew east and into the rising sun where it become hard to see before crossing the horizon and out of sight forever. With it, Sutler’s best friend had left his life, possibly forever.
 
This will be the typical format for the forseeable future; I used to pride myself on having a minimum of three MS Word pages of text for each post, but the prospect of writing them was daunting and even during periods were I have been free between exams the thought of sitting down to write them is exhausting. Given the need to pass several years now - and for the most part daily life on a military base being failry repeatitive - key dates and events will be posted. There's still a lot left to tell and I want to get the story moving.

3rd March, 2243

As Sutler stood to attention in the Courtyard, even on this day of all days, he couldn’t help but notice the absence of so many people; the exodus had finished now with the once over-populated Navarro now feeling empty. All of the renovated buildings and masses of tarmac destroyed for crops now stood largely empty of people, occasionally a Vertibird would return from somewhere Sutler knew not where and collect massive sacks of soy and grain to feed the people on the great journey. President Eden had appeared frequently on the radio system to keep their spirits high, he was every bit the orator he had sounded in his introductory address, making sweeping references to the glory of the nation and of her past Presidents ‘who illustrious shadow it would forever be his duty to work under’. Sutler wondered what he looked like and indeed who he was, he had certainly never heard of Mr Eden before and nor it seemed had Kreger, Gannon or Moreno; but Sutler thought nothing of it, ‘If Richardson gave him a position of authority then that should speak for itself’.

Today was the one year memorial of the ENCLAVE’s destruction and ‘the day when America, the candle of hope and justice, was almost extinguished by the encroaching darkness of the mainland hordes’ or so said President Eden; Sutler had been stood to attention now for a long time but he wasn’t tired. Despite all of the combat simulations he had ran however his ears rang from the howitzers which conducted the Gun Salutes for the fallen President, Cabinet Members and then – for the first time – for the citizens of the ENCLAVE and the nation itself; Three-Volley Salutes with regular plasma rifles were then carried out on behalf of all of the US Army personnel who had died aboard the ENCLAVE.

As Sutler lay in bed on that night he remembered what had been the most turbulent and terrible year of his life, he remembered at four pm that day how he had gunned down Horrigan and allowed that man, J Smith, to escape justice with the blood of a whole nation on his hands, he remembered Spencer’s initiative which saved Autumn’s life and then the final salute they shared before he had turned and walked back into the ENCLAVE from the docks and out of Sutler’s life forever; he remembered his mother asking about her dress which she was too wear to a committee and that he hadn’t even seen or spoke to his father on that day due to him being far to busy with state business.

There were the more recent events too, looking at the newly born Arcade Gannon being cradled by his mother, the rain dripping from Kreger’s cap as they stood tense looking out past the wire fence and into the darkness for an attack on Navarro and Halt with the other Politicals boarding their Vertibird to Raven Rock amidst the crowds of people who were staying behind; Halt had boarded the Vertibird last and before climbing aboard it turned to face the cheering crowd where-upon he waved and raised his arms in a triumph. That night, Sutler wasn’t the only one being haunted by the years events and the next morning, those who had slept well and those who had been kept awake by daemons were instantly differentiated.
 
And so life at Navarro proceeded as usual, days completely interchangeable with one another flew day and quickly led to weeks months and years. To the people at Navarro however, what some would consider monotonous life was what they had all known their entire lives. Simple people living simple lives of honest work in the fields or patrolling the area; the whys had never concerned them, the existential questions behind the purpose of their far-flung bulwark never entered their minds.

Life at Navarro slugged ever onwards, the wasteland seemingly forgetting its existence for a couple of years until late in 2246 when a patrol identified what could only be described as a reconnaissance outposts. Later, in 2247 more such outposts were found; intelligence inside each of them referred to the organisation as the New California Republic with a corrupted Old World flag of that state serving as their own. Tensions began to heighten around the base, Commander Xavier Marsh stepped up patrols around the area; Eyebots too were sent out in great fleets and captured radios from the outposts provided the Navarran technicians with the ability to break NCR radio security with relative ease.

As New Year rolled around again to 2248 however, things would take a very rapid turn for the worse on the Enclave’s part…
 
The last post I made was an old version – or it didn’t save after I had added to it whatever. The following is a missing paragraph:

After a successful mission against an outpost being operated by a faction whom the Enclave at Navarro had encountered in 2242, ‘The Brotherhood of Steel’, and he subsequent interrogation of the prisoners taken; Sutler found himself in the favour of Master Sergeant Dornan. He was routinely placed for special assignments and within a few years Sutler found that he had traded his stripes for a single bar of a 2nd Lieutenant.

2nd February, 2248

“Troopers get your asses moving!” Dornan roared as he ushered troopers into the Vertibird. Navarro had been raised to DECON 2, for several years now, outposts and small settlements belonging to the ‘NCR’ had crept steadily upward and now it appeared a serious development had taken place when scouts reported the existence of what they and later satellite imaging identified as a Forward Operating Base; Commander Marsh had been frank and forth-coming about it’s existence and the threat the these people – whom had started to be referred to by some as ‘wastelanders’ – posed to Navarro, later President Eden himself came on and announced that he had given authorisation for the removal of the NCR FOB. It would be a raid of such terror and brutality that whoever these people were wouldn’t want to come back again in hurry; Sutler liked this idea.

And so at 06:00 am, eighteen of Navarro’s finest troopers and all three of the Vertibirds were assembled on the tarmac at Navarro and were loading up for a show of force that would rock these primitive fools tiny minds. No holes were being bared, the full armoury was available to the mission; the compound of tents and hasty lookouts would be razed to the ground and the ground burned black.

Sutler was no rifleman however, he already held the mightiest piece of firepower he was trained to use; not that it bothered him, he was a marksman and didn’t been rate of fire or explosives to accomplish his tasks, just a clear line of sight and practically infinite range. He double-timed behind Kreger with Moreno and Johnson; Gannon came up behind them.

“Just hoping Roxy and Arcade would wake up but no such joy,” he said as he caught up to Sutler. “Navarro isn’t the best place for him to be growing up but we’ve got to do what we can to keep it safe.”

“Damn right compatriot, today we strike a blow; these ‘NCR’ won’t come here again after we steamroll over them today!”

As the birds took off from Navarro, the atmosphere was one of tension and excitement; Sutler especially couldn’t stop jiggling his leg up and down as he looked around at the faceplates of his fellow troopers. “These sons-of-bitches who encroach on our land and threaten our people will feel the wrath of the United States!”

“Alright back there,” their pilot, Daisy Whitman, yelled back. “It’s 07:00 hours and target is in site, prepare to disembark in thirty seconds.”

“Right Whitman, good luck out there.” Kreger got up and led his men to the doors.

“20 seconds…. 10 seconds….” A red light above the door turned green. “Go! Go! Go!” Kreger yelled, standing to one-side he pushed Johnson, Moreno, Gannon out before leading out himself as the door behind him was slid shut by the co-pilot and Whitman pulled the bird back into the air. Sutler looked around the second he left the Vertibird, the NCR base was an organised collection of tents out of which were pouring soldiers wearing simple looking dusty armour and uniforms.

“Johnson lay down suppressing fire now, Gannon, Moreno follow me and Sutler provide cover!”

Johnson fired a burst at the mouth of a nearby tent from which three soldiers came out, one still pulling on his boots and all unaware as to the scale of the attack; they all ducked into cover behind a sandbag wall as a Vertibird flew in overhead jettisoning it’s payload over the eastern side of the camp where no troopers had been inserted. The air was electrified by the never ending sound of explosions, for another whole minute they never stopped as the Vertibirds lay waste to the tents on the eastern side and Sutler could see little pinpricks of flashing yellow on the underside of their fuselages as enemy soldiers on the ground attempted to shoot them down; after they had exhausted their supply of missiles and bombs the Vertibirds departed westwards to await the extraction of the men whom now would destroy whatever had survived the attack. Kreger being the most senior officer pulled a whistle out of his pocket and gave two short burst to indicate that the rest of the troopers could proceed with the attack.

Nothing was spared as the Enclave troopers climbed over the sandbags - which had been placed to defend the base from intruders – and into the camp; aside from a tent which had been identified as the command tent before the attack, everyone and thing was a target with tents simply being hosed down as the three squad united and formed a single line which marched through the camp from west to east. Nothing was spared, some of the enemy soldiers were still moving about but were literally split-in-two by the bolts of laser and plasma racing through the air. Tents began to catch fire and smouldered quickly and burning enemy personnel ran out and jumped to the floor trying to extinguish themselves before being shot with the callousness one might use on a rabid dog.

Sutler and Moreno found what appeared to be a medical tent, it was larger than the others in length and filled with mostly empty beds; a doctor his hands up, Sutler shot him. A few wounded soldiers lay in the beds, groaning in pain from their injuries and coughing as smoke from the burning camp billowed in through the tent flap; a methodical stab to the chest from Sutler and Moreno’s rippers ended their futile lives. Sutler left before Moreno who had been ordered by Kreger to stack any pre-war medical supplies to be taken back with them, in his arrogance Sutler lightly jogged across the open stretch to where Gannon had taken cover and was surprised when a significant force collided and –fortunately – ricocheted from his right shoulder pauldron.

“Christ,” Sutler exclaimed to Gannon. “An actually threat, think that was a .50 Cal.” Sutler turned to Gannon to see blood oozing from a hole in the side of his helmet. “No,” Sutler managed to wheeze before the air caught in his throat; Sutler fired blindly in the direction of the gunfire. “Man down! Man down! Need a medic over here!” Sutler looked up again, the shooter was a soldier in different armour which was browner in colour and most distinctively wore a stumpy hat with a wide brim.

“Big mistake asshole,” Sutler spat; he waited a second and the man started to reload. Sutler vaulted over the cover and charged at the man like a speeding locomotive, the man tried to reach for his sidearm but it was too late; the armoured shoulder of Advanced Power Armour collided into the man’s upper torso, Sutler couldn’t hear over the battle but he was sure that the man’s ribs will have been broke. Sutler stopped and the man’s momentum carried him another meter before he lay on the ground and struggled for his pistol. Sutler crossed the distance too him in a stride and put one foot forward and crushed the man’s left shin, then his right foot on the man’s upper thigh, the left foot came inwards and the full weight of the a suit of Advanced Power Armour Mk I and a 180lb soldier pressed on the man’s groin, his solar plexus and then his shattered ribcage and entry wound; it was here to Sutler’s great displeasure that the man died before he had had the chance to stomp on his face, though Sutler did it anyway. He turned around as Johnson came up to him; Moreno was carrying Gannon’s body back into the secure part of the base.

“Sutler want happened?” He asked, any animosity forgotten in the wake of their friend. “I don’t know Johnson, I just ducked into cover with him and he was dead; this it was this mother-fucker here.” Sutler indicated the pulverised corpse which he was still stood on.

“Oh my God Roxanne and Arcade,” Johnson gasped.

* * * * *

Gannon was the only casualty of the raid, the Enclave left with several holotapes and notes and left behind them a square of black ground and burnt metal – most of the tent fabric was just ash now – the many bodies of the soldiers there were assembled in a great heap and set on fire. Sutler tried to take everyone’s mind of Gannon by talking about the enemy.

“They had no idea we were coming and we annihilated them in a great wave; they’ll be praying to their tribal Gods that we don’t swoop down on them again, whoever these bastards were… we’ll never encounter their sorry asses again for a longtime.”

After touching down at Navarro, some of the people had assembled to meet the people who were coming back; friends and family, but nowhere to be seen was Roxanne and Arcade Gannon.
 
Love how you handled the transition of power from the Enclave elected officials to Eden. This is more a question than a criticism, why is Eden giving tactical orders to Navarro? I mean it does exsplain NCR hostility, but it seems like a foolish thing that a local cammander would have done rather than a calculating machine president. One idea I had was that the survivors of the Enclave were trying to subvert the NCR somehow, sending educated people with superior knowlege of technology to influence them in the same way that vault city would send doctors into the waste in the effort softning them up to vault city rule.
 
Quagmire69 said:
Love how you handled the transition of power from the Enclave elected officials to Eden. This is more a question than a criticism, why is Eden giving tactical orders to Navarro? I mean it does exsplain NCR hostility, but it seems like a foolish thing that a local cammander would have done rather than a calculating machine president. One idea I had was that the survivors of the Enclave were trying to subvert the NCR somehow, sending educated people with superior knowlege of technology to influence them in the same way that vault city would send doctors into the waste in the effort softning them up to vault city rule.
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Because Eden is the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Military and over a very small United States, he is consulted and informed of every decision which could affect the Enclave.

You've read my ramblings on the Enclave right? I have argued that they are largely ignorant of mainland affairs and this is the case here, they don't really know what the NCR is aside from a seemingly 'organised' wasteland government which has took inspiration from the Old World. The NCR has been trying to expand north and the Enclave has been pushing everything out of it's territory; the NCR has finally had enough of the Enclave - which it has some information on from the Brotherhood - and is taking steps to remove it.

The Enclave however just think them pathetic wastelanders and a sufficient show of force will make them back-off and leave the region until President Eden issues further instructions to Navarro after Eden has... something for them to do. These Enclave are loyal to their leadership and after decades of Oil Rig life are no longer familiar with the concept of monotony; Eden will call on them eventually and he, being President, knows best so they will wait.

I've really stepped up the pace for these now and so should have another one all ready by this time tomorrow. Cheers for the compliments :D
 
The pre war Eden leadership seemed a bit reckless to me, however Eden seemed like an overly cautious guy. He should have just wiped out the DC Brotherhood while he had the chance instead of waiting for them to attack Raven Rock and fucking around with the purifier.
 
Quagmire69 said:
The pre war Eden leadership seemed a bit reckless to me, however Eden seemed like an overly cautious guy. He should have just wiped out the DC Brotherhood while he had the chance instead of waiting for them to attack Raven Rock and fucking around with the purifier.
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There's a guy in Bethesda who's overly defensive of Eden - as I am of Richardson to be honest - but I always get him on one thing... Enclave Radio.

I serves absolutely zero strategic purpose as Eden is the one looking to kill everyone and does nothing but broadcasts the Enclave presence to the region when in-fact secrecy has been the Enclave shield and modus operandi since before the war.

Stay tuned.
 
Dusk - 3rd February, 2248

Israel’s Funeral was held at sunset, everyone who was off-duty turned out to pay their respects to their fallen compatriot, the sixth person to be killed serving Navarro since its establishment. Draped in the Star-Spangled Banner he was lowered into a grave beside three troopers whom had been killed in 2246 in action against the Brotherhood of Steel and two troopers whom had been killed in a Vertibird crash. Roxanne wept into Daisy’s shoulder for most of the proceedings whilst a confused and sad Arcade silently watched his father’s coffin lower into the grave. Kreger held Arcade’s hand tightly in his own and watched with a blank expression on his face as was customary during such events, his true feelings he bottled up inside as always in the face of his men and friends. Sutler stood with Moreno and Johnson next to Roxanne; as Israel was lowered into the grave Sutler looked at Arcade and wondered what would become of his life., Sutler agreed to sleep in the barracks that night so that Kreger could stay over in the Gannon’s apartment for the foreseeable future; in the face of the death of his friend however and due to his rapid rise through the ranks, Sutler then replaced Gannon as Kreger’s second.

Dusk - 8th February, 2248

Sutler looked over at Moreno to his left who was stood as stock-still as he, being on guard duty was the least desirable position at Navarro, like being on parade but all alone without the comforting feeling of your nation all around you.

“Could one of you troopers out there give me a hand please? You there on the right help me get this crate down.” The mechanic pointed at Sutler who obliged, the crate was almost out of the man’s reach and it would be too heavy to pull down without assistance.

“There are you are compatriot,” Sutler said upon setting the crate down.

“Thank you trooper, this place has been a mess since everyone left; a lot of supplies were taken and Raul who knew where everything was went too. Hey you’re Alan Sutler. Sorry sir, Lieutenant Sutler.”

“Yes I am compatriot.”

“Superb work you and the troopers did to that mainlander outpost to the south, truly phenomenal; I went there to lend my technical expertise to recovering intelligence and saw what you left behind; overall a mission truly worthy of your heritage Lieutenant Sutler.”

Sutler was about to respond with gratitude when the Washington Post, which had been playing from a nearby screen, suddenly stopped and instead was replaced by a wailing klaxon; Sutler’s heart rate increased, even over the sound of the klaxon he could hear it echoing throughout the base from the other screens and loudspeakers.

“Attention all citizens, The United States of America are now at DEFCON 2, Navarro is now at REDCON-1, REDCON-1; all troopers man your posts immediately.”

“Oh God,” the mechanic steadied himself against the box.

“Compatriot, get yourself below ground now.” Moreno was shouting from the mouth of the hanger. “I’m coming Moreno!”

The hangers were close to the Courtyard and on the eastern side of Navarro; doors were being opened left-right-and-centre as troopers spilled from all of the occupied buildings and across the Courtyard to the perimeter fence, which served as the first line of defence. As Sutler ran alongside Moreno he looked up and to his left to see troopers rapidly ascending the Navarro’s old fractioning columns which served as sniper perches.

“The Gauss Snipers are moving into position,” Sutler shouted to Moreno as they ran. “They’ll let us know if something is going on.” He then heard the sound of Vertibirds taxing onto the Courtyard behind him where they sat with their engines on waiting for the call.

“Attention citizens,” the Base Commander, Xavier Marsh, was on the screens in person now. “We had detected via satellite the presence of a force of indeterminate size approaching Navarro from the south-east, the current eta till they reach the eastern and southern borders is twenty minutes. Listen here to the sound of the march of the 7th Cavalry my boys; today we will do what our nation has done since it’s conception, we shall defend our land from the invading foreign hordes and drive them from our soil and back to their barbaric homeland – the poor conditions of which being why they are trying to take our hard earned and fertile soil. We fight today with God and glory on our side under the twinkling eyes and cheery smiles of all our dear compatriots in heaven. God bless America my compatriots, today we show the world that the candle light of America in the darkness will not be destroyed. Do her proud my boys!”

There was a flurry of cheering at the Commander’s words; Sutler and Moreno were then joined by Kreger and Johnson at their alongside the fence at Navarro’s eastern edge.

“Do you think that it is the NCR?” Johnson asked cautiously to the squad.

“After the beating we gave them last time?” Moreno scoffed. “Surely not, we obliterated them.”

“Maybe we’re overestimating the intelligence of this ‘NCR’, maybe they saw our attack as an impeach on their territory or their tribal leaders foolish believe that one battle must be matched with another. What do you think Captain sir?”

Kreger hadn’t looked at his men as they discussed but merely out at the steady inclining hills around Navarro. “Lieutenant I don’t know, but I get the feeling that all of our questions on life will be answered soon.”

“Sir…” Sutler began before he and a great many other looked skywards at the sound of a volley of Gauss Rounds being fired from the tops of the fractioning columns at the top of the hills on the horizon. The screens turned off, floodlights all around Navarro’s perimeter bathed the borders in light in the face of the gathering dusk and Sutler looked around at his compatriots in front of him.

“God bless America.”
 
I still don't understand why the Enclave would leave a garrison in Navarro since it had practicly zero value with most of them in the east. I mean after losing so many people you'd think that they would'nt want to throw away more soldiers.

This is not a critisism of you or your story, I just think the whole navarro thing was handled badly, but you've done a good cleaning up the gaps in the story.
 
Quagmire69 said:
I still don't understand why the Enclave would leave a garrison in Navarro since it had practicly zero value with most of them in the east. I mean after losing so many people you'd think that they would'nt want to throw away more soldiers.

This is not a critisism of you or your story, I just think the whole navarro thing was handled badly, but you've done a good cleaning up the gaps in the story.
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I put it down to Jeff Hughs at Obsidian - the creator of the Remnants, except for Arcade who was done by Sawyer - wanting to give the Enclave the ending that they probably would have got had things not turned to shite after Fallout: Tactics. Even though the Enclave reappeared again in Fallout 3 I firm-heartly believe that he or someone else wanted to give the Enclave their proper ending and just went ahead with it regardless; I can fully sympathise with that man :cry: .

As for cleaning the gaps... it's what I do - when it comes to the Enclave.
 
The Battle of Navarro

The fall of the Primary Perimeter

From the instant after that first volley had began, a landslide was coming their way; all of a sudden the smooth outline of the hill in the distance rose up and a sea of brown – which blended very well with the ground – was racing towards them.

“Surely…” Moreno spluttered.

“It’s them alright.” Johnson said, more to reassure himself than anyone else. Sutler was struck by stunned silence and Kreger raised his pistol before yelling “Open fire!”

So began the horizontal fireworks display as troopers all along Navarro’s border discharged, bolts of red and balls of green which melted through the fence surrounding Navarro and hurtled towards the on-coming masses. Many of them stopped dead in their tracks, jumping to the ground for cover before firing back; individually – and at this range – their puny bullets meant nothing. Small explosions of gore could be seen as the Gauss Snipers found their mark and outright molecular destabilisation was an often occurrence from the balls of plasma; Sutler was barely even using his marksmanship, surely he had to hit something no matter where he aimed. Soon a rhythmic thump of steady howitzer fire could be heard from somewhere behind the Hangers, blasting deep craters into the hillside and sending men and limbs flying in all directions. It seemed however not to stop the relentless tide as plasma explosions indicated that the surge had made it to the minefield and into the first perimeter trench.

“Keep up the fire men we’re holding them in place,” Kreger yelled back; indeed he was correct. The NCR soldiers – who were still coming over the hills – found that remaining in one place or hiding to avoid the volley of shots often proved equally fatal due to the snipers camped up high in the fractioning columns; they were gathering in the deep trenches, which were deep enough for a man to stand in without being seen. The howitzer fire ceased as the three Vertibirds flew over head, using the aerial acrobatics afforded to them by their unique tilt-wing design to perform sweeping strafing runs with their Gatling Lasers, causing NCR soldiers to find solace only in the deep craters caused by the howitzer fire or the trenches for those who had made it so far.

It was then however that the NCR finally struck a significant blow, a Vertibird had paused momentarily in the air after completing a strafe to adjust it’s wings properly to turn around when a volley of missiles thundered from just over the hill; after a terrific series of explosions across the right side of it’s fuselage, the bird lurched to the left and then began to bank steeply to the right as the forces acting on it tore most of the wing and engine off. Kept airborne only by its left engine, the Vertibird span rapidly in a clockwise direction and – all the while descending – fell in a northerly direction where it crashed a few seconds later into Navarro’s central Communications Center just behind the perimeter fence in the south-west corner of the base; a truck came from the garage on the eastern side and raced across the courtyard to the burning wreck. The snipers now changed their sights and scanned the horizon for the missile squad but to no avail as the two remaining Vertibirds hurriedly discharged an explosive ordinance in pure desperation and returned to Navarro.

“God dammit!” Kreger had yelled as he saw the Vertibird spin out of control. “Was that Whitman’s aircraft?” There was little but a glance shared between the men when officers all along the perimeter were raising their radios – Kreger included.

“Men they have bangalore torpedoes assembled in the first trench and are going to use them to breach straight through to the second.”

“What does that mean?” Johnson asked.

“It means that the trenches might as well be one, they’re too high to see what’s in them and they are now only going to have to get shot climbing over one; which is admittedly closer to us.”

Kreger’s words were followed immediately by more explosions from inside the trenches as the NCR bangalores went off; behind them most troopers who hadn’t already made it to the trenches hid in the multitude of deep craters which now coated the hillside, they had stopped firing back however. A few minutes past before the first wave came crashing over the second trench, once there was nothing and then a series of whistles similar to that employed by the Enclave could be heard all along the trench and within two seconds NCR soldiers were almost being thrown up out of the trench only 20ft away; every two seconds another wave was thrown over.

Everyone was firing indiscriminately now; Sutler caught half-dozen soldiers in the first 15 seconds alone, the same was repeated all along the lines. The waves of NCR soldiers simply could not reach the fence and despite Sutler’s own feelings of triumph here, he looked around to see a few limp bodies of troopers being dragged back. Without warning the whistles came again and another wave of soldiers came over the wall yet they were backed up by another wave almost instantly this time, NCR soldiers were getting closer and closer, each blood-stained soldier closer than the last; it was here that Sutler instinctively ejected a magazine and reach for another only to feel nothing.

“I’m out of ammo,” Sutler cried.

“Hurry and get restocked,” Kreger yelled back over his shoulder without pausing from his own withering barrage of plasma fire.

Sutler turned and sprinted as hard as his power-assisted legs would carry him, indeed he noticed – whilst crossing the Courtyard – a number of other troopers running in the same direction he was to the armoury. Even after arriving at the armoury it was already pretty full; the line along the right-hand side of the corridor was moving faster than it had ever done before and the troopers who came sprinting down the left were often holding strange long rifles with wooden furniture that Sutler only got a glimpse of as they rushed past.

“Next!” Quartermaster Raffles yelled as the trooper immediately in-front of Sutler left; he however was cut off before he could say anything. “Ammo type?”

“Gauss rounds.”

“All Gauss rounds have been transferred to the snipers. Can you reload a belt-fed weapon?”

“No.”

Raffles bent down and placed the same long rifle, with wooden furniture and a bipod attached to the front of the barrel, on the desk with a bandolier of clips; behind Raffles another trooper came carrying an armful of the things with several bandoliers over his shoulder and began to assemble them.

“.308 Calibre Automatic Rifle, 20 rounds in a clip and pull the bolt back when you’re done. Next!”

Not wanting to question anything Sutler slung the rifle over his shoulder and ran back for his post whilst fastening the bandolier. The position at the post had weakened in his absence, Moreno had been reduced to using his sidearm now and Johnson wasn’t far off; Sutler clumsily tried to assemble the bipod on the sandbags they were hiding behind and could suddenly tell from the decreasing natural light that some time had passed since the battle began.

“I think that there is an ammo shortage,” Sutler said out-loud whilst working on his gun.

“Right, now that your back,” Kreger began, only silently taking in what Sutler had said. “Moreno come with me; we can’t fight anymore like this and we had better get some more ammo.”

It was then that the situation became tenable to Sutler, Kreger and Johnson hadn’t got far before trucks started pulling up laden with power cells where the troopers took the empty cells and rationed out new one’s before speeding away. Some troopers however, like Sutler got given ‘Automatic Rifles’ and some not even that but rifles of a more typical size. Even with this new rifle, Sutler was burning through bullets at an alarming rate and was unused to dealing with the larger clips. Moreno and Kreger came back from the truck fully stocked and Sutler was grateful for their only momentary absence.

“Fall back to the second perimeter! Fall back, fall back!” Sutler around, officers all around him were signalling a retreat; Kreger grabbed Sutler’s arm.

“Commander Marsh says were falling back to the Courtyard, we can’t hold this position anymore.”

Firing whilst he ran backwards along with the rest of the remaining southern garrison, Sutler behind cover; whilst they had held-off the approaching forces, the rest of Navarro’s personnel had established portable, metal barricades called ‘Field Bunker Kits’ to form a veritable wall along the length of the massive Courtyard, crates of ammo had also been set-up and reinforcements were already there and handing out night-vision goggles to the retreating officers. Sutler too noticed as he ran that some of the Gauss Snipers had relocated to the windows of the former renovated residential buildings from 2242 and continued to provide support as the primary perimeter was over-ran. Sutler set-up his rifle again began to fire at the NCR soldiers from his new position but it was too late; most of them now were running to the left and right of their entrance and into the buildings along Navarro’s exterior from which they rained down fire from relatively impressive cover than what they had before. Already the barricades had been riddled with bullets from the wealth of fire fixed in their direction.

Moreno, his Gatling Laser ready for action again, was being reckless in his fire, standing outside of cover to lay waste to the swarms of NCR rodents which were still funnelling through the perimeter breach; the still fresh reinforcements coming down the hill were almost completely out of sight due to the now pitch darkness. After everyone appeared to have taken up their new positions, the exterior lights all around the facility were killed, plunging Navarro into total darkness; Sutler reached for the side of his helmet and engaged his night-vision. He could only imagine the horror on the NCR’s faces at this moment when they were plunged into complete darkness to become little more than targets at a shooting range; he could see them scattering and trying to find cover in the darkness whilst those in the windows ducked down below to avoid the fire.

For a few minutes there was nothing but silence and the cut-down bodies before them until from somewhere behind the NCR lines whistling sounds could be heard and several red specks of light being fired skywards before exploding in a great display of red light.

“Flares!?” Sutler screamed as his vision became nothing but blinding whiteness, he reached for the controls to switch his night-vision off whilst tears streamed from his burning eyes. Bullet’s were flying at them again from all directions and Sutler could barely see to return fire but did so regardless, blindly painting the buildings from where blurry burst of fire where coming from in fire. Amidst the confusion there was another great rush at their position from all sides, Sutler’s scope of fire being restricted by the barricade he fired at all he could see until a bullet glanced off his helmet his head was knocked back from the impact.

As he got back to his feet however the sky was lit up by a deafening explosion from somewhere ahead and to his left which almost threatened to send him back to the ground, he struggled to see through the blazing inferno what had happened before his face sank.

“Oh fuck,” he said under his breath.

The fractioning columns were gone, replaced with a towering inferno of fire higher than any structure at Navarro and lit up the whole base with the same intensity of the flares, bathing the whole battleground in flickering orange light. From somewhere behind him, Sutler heard cries of “Fall back!” but to where Sutler didn’t know.
 
The Battle of Navarro

Chaos

Sutler turned around but couldn’t see any of the others, the cries of “fall back!” continued and again Sutler had no idea where he was supposed to be falling back too; he couldn’t see anything in the dark orange light given off by the towering flames in the distance. So he ran, knowing that somewhere ahead was a building, he couldn’t see anything in the darkness but a mess of monstrous elongated shadows running in the light of the fire; then he identified the building as the lights all around Navarro were switched back on. The building he was heading for was one of the warehouses, the door of which he crashed through in his haste to find cover as bullet’s pinged off his armour and the scenery. Upon making it through the door he instinctively took cover behind the wall and reached for his pistol to lean out and start shooting before realising that he had never got anymore ammo for it and that the Automatic Rifle was still attached to the barricade; instead he drew his Ripper.

Sutler looked popped his head out into the doorway to survey the scene, squinting from the ferocious white flames stretching high into the air he saw swarms of NCR running in all directions, vaulting over the barricades and firing wildly in the hopes of hitting something; they were spreading fast now and in all directions. Hearing gunfire being returned with energy fire from inside the buildings, Sutler ducked back into cover hoping that some troopers would come his way. ‘I can take more than one, easily. Mainland fuckers.’

Hearing the sound of trampling boots, Sutler steeled himself and raised his Ripper as a khaki coloured helmet came through the door. Sutler lashed out and struck the coming soldier in the face with the armour of his lower left arm. The soldier’s face crashed into Sutler armour and the continuing momentum from his legs pulled him to the ground where Sutler hadn’t the time to finish him off before a female trooper stepped over her fallen comrade and into the room. Sutler punched her in the face as she tried to raise her rifle before seizing that too – with his left hand – by the wooden furniture at the front, pulled it from her weakened grip, leapt forward with it in hand and clubbed her in the face with the stock. The force sent blood pouring from her nose as she recoiled; the pain from her broke nose was short-lived however as Sutler flipped the rifle around and too his hip before firing as fast as he could pull the trigger. The female soldier fell backwards dead as the man struggled with a partially broken jaw and a size nine stomp-induced injury in his back from when Sutler has lunged forward; Sutler brought his foot up again and in a vicious curb-stomp ended the man’s life.

After the last few seconds events’, more soldiers were rushing into the warehouse, one after another jumping over their fallen comrades and Sutler decided a tactical retreat was in order; after throwing the bloody NCR rifle at those rushing in he performed a running jump over some empty agricultural supply crates and deeper sprinted deeper into the warehouse. The place was completely empty of friendlies as it had been largely out-of-service since the supplies had been used in 2242, ‘Am I running away?’ Sutler suddenly thought aghast; ‘NO!’. He stopped in his tracks and turned around, he could see at least ten people coming at him; it would be impossible to stop and fight them all. With the NCR soldiers navigating their way around the supplies that Sutler could nimbly leap over in the strength afford him; he ran from the warehouse and out onto one of the central roads which connection the Courtyard and industrial sector to the administration. A fire fight was occurring between troopers taking cover behind an over-turned truck and the NCR which were trying to push down the road, again it was a futile fight; the Enclave’s position had been broken and small pockets of fighters couldn’t hold back they couldn’t hold back from a defensive wall.
“Troopers!” Sutler yelled. “They’re flanking us through the warehouses we need to fall back!”

Another volley shots exchanged and a trooper’s armour was compromised sending a bullet straight into her heart; “Come on! Fall back!”

“Where to sir?” One of the men behind the truck yelled.

“Underground, their numbers are surely useless from underground.”

Sutler ran over to the fallen trooper whilst the rest held the position just a little while longer, hepulled her holo-tags from around her neck, grabbed his rifle too and what little ammo that she had before raising the rifle to his faceplate. Sutler felt empowered holding some real fire-power again, the Wattz Laser Rifle was big and cumbersome but nothing he couldn’t handle at such a short range; he squeezed off a bolt of laser fire – which a soldier caught in the chest before bursting into flames – whilst retreating on his haunches to a nearby service elevator nestled close in-between some of the surface hangers and air traffic control. As they retreated between the buildings to the elevator they heard another explosion and a horrible creaking sound as the satellite dish toppled over and crashed through the roof of the air traffic control building close to where they were heading.

“They’re disabling our communications,” yelled one of the men with Sutler.

“Must be sending in special units to hit certain targets,” said another who turned out to be Johnson. “Those fella’s with the better gear and the wide hats.”

Indeed Johnson was right, the NCR had stopped coming trying to follow them as the narrow opening made trying to even see them to return fire a death trap and as Sutler rounded the air traffic control building first he was treated to a smouldering wreck of girders and smoke thicker than he had ever seen in his life. Suddenly though he could see yellow flashes of light from deep within the smoke to which all of the rag-tag men return whatever they had, both energy and ballistic based weapons. The fire stopped after a while and Sutler had enough to time to slide his arm through the strap on the Wattz rifle to let it dangle at hip-height whilst he muscled the door open and ushered his men onto the elevator whilst he and another trooper with another pre-war ballistic weapon – which Sutler didn’t recognise – covered them. Once all were aboard Sutler slid the door down and sent the lift down to the first level where he was greeted to his great pleasure by a pile of NCR bodies and the barrels of friendly rifles; an officer approached them.

“Good to see you’ve made it down here compatriots; go see the base commander he’s moved himself to the Quartermaster’s office for ease of command. You’re going to be assigned another elevator to watch over, we’ve locked most of them down and even the tribal dogs themselves have learned that nothing comes of trying to get down here that way.”

“What about the stairs over in places like the communications array which they must have under control?”

“Nah, boys self-destructed the crashed Vertibird with some plasma mines after they pulled the wounded out; that place is buried. Now go and see the Commander sir.”

Leading the men up the corridor to what used to be the Quartermaster’s office, he was greeted by more friendly troopers who nodded in appreciation at Sutler’s bloody armour before waving him through to Commander Marsh who paced around a desk covered in radios, somewhere stood up and crackling whilst others had been placed onto their sides and switched off.

“Troopers you’ve made it, quickly name-call.”

They gave their names and Marsh crossed them off a big chalk board which had been set-up on which all ninety citizens at Navarro were listed; Sutler handed the holo-tags to Commander Marsh who took them wirily and scribbled out one ‘Corporal J. Henderson’s’ name with red chalk.

“Right lads time is off the essence, your all from random squads?” They nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” he crossed over to a map of the first level of the underground. “We’ve got the civilians and wounded here in the physicians room and your all going to be split up to provide equal support to all of the elevators and this flight of stairs whilst I and Captain Kreger think of something.”

It was at then that Kreger appeared thinking that he had been summoned; he nodded in recognition and approval at Sutler and his appearance.

“The civilians are calmish sir, not many questions mind; they trust us to see them right.”

“As they should and as we have always done. Right Sutler, you and Philips here to the northern-most elevator and God bless America.”

“God bless America sir,” Sutler and Philips said together as they turned and ran from the office and down the corridor to their destination; behind them Sutler heard another pair of footsteps being sent somewhere else. The elevator that they were at connected the cafeteria and surface barracks to the lower barrack; there were already just over half-dozen troopers waiting in various positions, bunker kits had been established here and all simply watched and waited on the elevator which a technician was actually working beneath as though trying to lock it into place.

“Sutler,” Moreno yelled whilst flagging him over. “Glad you’re alright compatriot.”

“Yes Moreno I’m fine, these bastards might have the upper hand for now but Kreger and the Commander are working on a plan; the day’ll be ours yet and by our hands too shall it be so.”

“I can see you’ve seen some real CQB,” Moreno said indicating Sutler’s gore covered boots to which Sutler grinned beneath his helmet and patted Moreno on the back. “There’s been talk here of a ‘Forlorn Hope’ being planned but I don’t know what to think of it.” Moreno said.

“What, a new assault? You se that’s the plan, we’ll get them yet Moreno.” Sutler spoke with confidence but remembered from history what a forlorn hope attack was. There was nothing but silence and waiting, for how long Sutler couldn’t tell; all that existed was the sights of the recovered Wattz Rifle and the elevator which had been locked-in-place but could still be breached at any moment. There had been some alarm earlier when smoke began to pour in from under a door down a corridor and a flurry of rifles and sharp turns later reviled it just to be a door left open with smoke from the spreading surface fire pouring in; the door was slid down and sealed; being built to survive a close hit from the Third World War, Sutler was confident that a little bit of flame wouldn’t weaken the door. Time ticked by at an unknown rate until suddenly all of the screens around Navarro – or at least the underground – turned on and the triumphant orchestral score which had accompanied a Halt Broadcast began to play.
 
The Battle of Navarro

Forlorn Hope – Part 1

At the sound of the screens, most of the troopers gathered in the hallway turned around to face it, on the screen was Commander Marsh who appeared to be wearing his old suit of power armour minus the helmet.

“My fellow Americans,” he began in a tone that conveyed both seriousness and sombreness; playing in the background to his words was- the Marine’s Hymn. “Together with Captain Kreger, and after consulting some of the other officers, we have prepared plans for an assault from the main staircase in the eastern wing where we will hold off the NCR soldiers whilst an evacuation procedure is put in standby in-case the assault proves fruitless.”

At Marsh’s words there were sighs and some nods from the soldiers who began to recognise that this might be a last-ditch effort, their last chance; Sutler however was unperturbed, all that registered was ‘assault’ which would, of course, lead to their timely victory.

“Now my compatriots before I tell your orders, there is something I wish to get off my chest as this may be the last opportunity to do so; if today is my final day before reckoning then I to face my reckoner with a clean conscious. Compatriots, I was responsible for the destruction of the ENCLAVE.”

There was a collective gasp and silence all throughout the lower levels of Navarro; whatever his planned address had been this was clearly a deviation. Sutler was stunned, he knowing more than anybody else was struck by the realisation that the man who had destroyed the ENCLAVE, ‘J. Smith’ as he had identified himself, had been to Navarro had walked the same rooms and corridors as he had these past six years; the thought of it both sickened and enraged him whilst most were silent and confused as to how their trusted Commander could be apart of such an atrocity.

“Not directly you understand,” he said, his voice faster and almost pleading for reason. “Somebody came here, he said that he that the FOB for the derelict tanker in San Francisco was being recalled back to the ENCLAVE; I was busy with the Secretary of Agriculture with the plans for what would happen to Navarro after the Project and I forgot to follow it up…. Then a few days later the ENCLAVE was destroyed.”

The stunned silence still went unbroken.

“That is why,” he said, fixing on his helmet. “That I am leading the forlorn hope into battle today, I will atone for my crimes against the nation with my life in the hopes that someone else can live theirs to the full in a safe, free world again. Now I need you in your assigned groups to volunteer for the hope and make your way to the eastern staircase immediately.”

As though it had been building in the tense silence of the confession, a cheer emerged from the men all around Navarro at the Commander’s words. Now was not a time of gossip or accusation but one of unity and perseverance, together they would surmount this NCR and anything that could be thrown their way; Sutler stood up amongst his group.

“Now listen here,” he said in a raised voice over the murmuring troopers. “As the highest ranking officer here at this garrison I will decide just who is going to volunteer to lead our nation to victory. Now first of all I will be going, now, does anyone else wish to volunteer?”

Everyone there raised their arms in close unison as Sutler predicted; almost everyone at Navarro had been stationed there in-face of the exodus because of their relatively minor ties to other individuals or for their camaraderie with one another, nobody there have anything if Navarro fell.

“Alright,” Sutler said. “Sergeant Moreno your going, you there, you, you, Corporal Hopkins….” Soon, Sutler had a team of just under a dozen men lined up and ready; they saluted and shook the hands of those they were leaving at the garrison before double-timing their way to the eastern staircase. On the way their Sutler ran up the central base corridor, past Commander Marsh’s quarters, the central computing room and then the physician’s office came into sight. The door was open as supplies were being brought in, as he ran past Sutler saw some wounded men and Roxanne Gannon; she was on her knees to being her down to Arcade’s level and lovingly had both of her arms around him – as he did to her – so that his head was against her shoulder, her eyes were closed and tears silently rolled down her face as she quietly – and waveringly – sang the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’.

“And the rockets' red glare, atom bombs burst in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

Sutler almost stopped and ran in to comfort her but dismissed the thought almost as it occurred to him, She won’t need comforting in a hour when we’ve sent these mainlander-scum packing. Sutler led his men further down the corridor and then to the right through to an open hallway in-which had gathered roughly forty men at the front of which was Commander Xavier Marsh; also in the room were other troopers carrying crates of ammo and weapons, the most common of which were Laser Rapid Capacitor Weapons. Sutler too was handed one of these on his arrival and a small sack-full of cells which he slung over his shoulder. He drifted into the crowd – though Moreno followed close – and aside from him and Moreno, he couldn’t see anyone else he knew.

“Alright fine men and women of the US Army,” Commander Marsh said in a raised voice after he was satisfied that everyone had been serviced by the troopers from the armoury. “Soon we are about to embark on the greatest offensive of our lives and one that will determine the fate of all the citizens here; from the old battleaxe Quartermaster Raffles to the young Master Gannon. Our actions today will determine the fate of Navarro; up there are the mainland hordes who have toiled these past years and in their own greed and foolish desire of self-preservation have reduced us to a shadow of our former selves; in their hunger for our technology and equipment they have callously, and without regard, almost destroyed the human race itself. Humanity will prevail! Now and to the end of time we shall always be fighting to improve out own lives and that of our country; but today we fight to make sure that the later generations have that chance and that freedom. These N-C-R can try and take our home, our dream and our lives; but we will always, now and forever, be able to take their puny bullets in stride!”

There was more applause and cheering at Marsh’s words, a feeling of energy, as if the air were electrified, that Sutler hadn’t felt since last Hate he had been to on the ENCLAVE.

“Now we may not come back from this attack, not all of us anyway; the NCR has scattered throughout the facility and we may be able to even split into smaller fire-teams to eradicate them, but I will not lie some of you will be taking a bullet for Uncle Sam on this one; but you will go to your final rest knowing that you died a patriot and a servant of humanity. Let us at least go out with a song in our hearts my compatriots.”

Marsh flicked his radio which looked like it had been on the whole time and the nearby screen switched on and from it the national anthem began to play; everyone, as a natural reflex, stood to attention and sung along.

“…O! say can you see by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
And the rockets' red glare, atom bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

“A proud canticle,” said Marsh in solemn reverence. “A proud canticle, to a proud people who have always defended and protected their nation in the face of all adversity; come compatriots, ready yourself for the charge.”
 
The Battle of Navarro

Forlorn Hope – Part 2

“A proud canticle, to a proud people who have always defended and protected their nation in the face of all adversity; come compatriots, ready yourself for the charge.”

Sutler took a few deep breathes and clutched the Laser RCW tightly in his hands; they all readied themselves for sprinting, but into what they didn’t know. Suddenly the column of men was on the move, slowly at first though by the time they were half-way up the ramp they had all broken out into a fast run whilst the door ahead of them slid open. Outside was an old car-park, bathed in the orange flickering glow from the raging inferno as the Enclave charged out of the opening and began to break into smaller groups and take different directions. Sutler saw a group of six continue straight ahead down the road and some ducked into the building that the road ran alongside to provide cover. Sutler personally, with Moreno, seemed to pick up another four men and led them ahead into an alley between the buildings; as he ran he heard from all around the sound of the screens being turned back on, they were playing the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Sutler then exited the alley and out into the Courtyard almost simultaneously with the just over half-dozen men proceeding up the road. The Courtyard had been trashed, Sutler could see the bodies both friend and foe alike (although the ratio was heavily skewed in the Enclave’s favour) and the line of barricades that had been set-up as the secondary perimeter had been largely knocked over; it wasn’t however devoid of NCR soldiers. They had been carrying their dead, securing equipment and looking out for any signs of the Enclave but unlike before didn’t form a never ending wall of soldiers; they were scattered and poorly equipped pockets of unready soldiers who would last in a fight approximately six seconds. One soldier actually grabbed onto something for support as he saw them coming; sixteen black giants glowing a burning orange, Sutler smiled in rapture.

“Stars-and-stripes forever mother-fucker,” Sutler grinned as he raised the RCW and squeezed of a burst at a soldier who had dropped the feet of a corpse he was carrying and reached for his rifle; that soldier wasn’t the only one counting their last as even the troopers whom had entered the building reached their vantage points overt the Courtyard. Bursts of laser fire rained down from every direction and the NCR soldiers scattered hopelessly for cover behind the barricades that they hadn’t knocked down or even from the ground itself as they leapt to avoid being hit; those who were hit by the laser bolts often set on fire and – if not already dead – ran around screaming as they were engulfed.

From the warehouse Sutler had sought shelter in earlier though came NCR reinforcements, from vantage points on the first floor and from those simply rushing out at ground level, the NCR soldiers put on a show of great firepower which forced Sutler and some of the others close by to duck back into the safety of the alleyway until a few plasma explosions and a cease of gunfire told him that the coast was clear. The Enclave spilled out onto the Courtyard with the intention of clearing as many buildings as possible whilst they still had the element of surprise. Sutler however gazed south to the melted holes in Navarro’s thick electrified fence and outwards to the pockmarked hillside behind them; it was then that Commander Marsh fired into the air to signal the attention of the troopers who had remained on the Courtyard.

“Over the hill,” he cried over the noise of the fire. “Over the hill lies their command base, another network of weak tents and stolen US Army equipment from which they have been running this entire assault; we destroy that and this is over!”

Behind Marsh, Sutler and a good percentage of the forlorn hope ran for the holes in the perimeter fence; Sutler’s heart sank somewhat as he saw the silhouettes of soldiers were appearing on the horizon but then Marsh sang from the front:

“Courage, boys, 'tis one to ten,
But we return as gentlemen
All gentlemen as well as they,
Over the hills and far away.”

Sutler, oddly enough, didn’t recognise that particular tune but he knew that Marsh was fond of history. As Sutler passed through the fence he saw that boards had been placed over the trenches by the NCR; though that over the first trench broke after Marsh and four other ran across. They picked themselves up in no-time and instead led a manoeuvre through the trenches as the rest of the forlorn hope dropped in behind them. Sutler jumped though he hit the ground sooner that was surely possible from his memory, looking down and around he saw mountainous piles of dead NCR soldiers which appeared to have formed ramps up-and-out of the trenches from the initial massacres a few hours ago; they were lay as fell, mostly on their backs with missing limbs, faces frozen in terror and pain or covered with goo and ash from their other comrades of which nothing identifiable remained together with the other common theme of dismemberment with arms, legs and sometimes heads having been torn off and scattered much further than the rest of the corpse.

A few troopers had stayed in the trench to give the others’ a boost; after being propelled out of the deep trench Sutler continued up the steady slope. Suddenly, a trooper ahead of Sutler fell and then another, enraged Sutler looked up at the horizon to see the same people that had killed Gannon; superior equipped thugs in what Sutler rapidly decided were the most ridiculous pieces of military headgear he had ever seen. Some of the men had faltered as the NCR snipers made their mark but Marsh kept pressing onwards, yelling triumphant and victories cries.

“Forward we go, against the enemy, upwards into the unrelenting arms of battle; not one step back compatriots, don’t give these bastards a single step!”

The Enclave returned vengeful fire, as they ran, in the direction of the snipers and one paid the price for wearing a cloth hat in a war-zone as his head exploded, prompting the rest to take cover. Weaving in and through craters the crest of the hill was getting closer and closer, enemy fire increased and so did their return fire in the face of it until there was a great sound of heavy rotors beating the air behind them and the two Vertibirds flew in low and over their heads to cheers. NCR soldiers were taking positions on the top of the hill as the mess of black metal raced towards them, deflecting fire and return searing bolts of energy in return until the distance between the two factions was no more as Sutler shoulder-barged an NCR soldier – who raised his rifle to his face in pathetic defence – and sent him rolling down the crest. Not too far away – and on a downward incline – was the NCR encampment; it was a glowing orange light whilst around it danced a pair of insect-like Vertibirds spewed death and destruction.

The Enclave sprinted across the distance between them and the NCR base, they knew and could feel the NCR troopers behind them but couldn’t stop; Sutler saw Marsh reach for his radio and one of the Vertibirds flew over head at the area that behind them and soon after could be heard engaging the enemy. Finally they reached the camp, some of the tents were on fire and, just as before, they had little in the way of objectives aside from total annihilation. Most of the troopers didn’t actually stop running but just tore through the flimsy tents and whatever was inside them; the one Sutler broke through was unfortunately empty of things to kill so he fired a few bolts into the fabric, setting it on fire, before stepping out into the fight.

He had stepped into what appeared to be a ‘street’, a long line of tents running parallel which presumably served some-kind of mass barracks; most of the tents had been deserted however so, after a once-over with the RCW, Sutler moved on with the rest of the men coming behind him. The NCR’s could bolster no defence, even the warning that they had had produced nothing in the way of tangible resistance; the Enclave literally steam-rolled over everything in its path. Sutler, followed by Moreno and some others proceeded to the centre of the camp where most of the fighting was taking place; on the way he rounded a corner to find a NCR soldier huddled and shaking against a tent whilst surrounded by pools of green goo.

“Momma!?” He sobbed, “Where are you Mother!?”

Sutler kicked him in the face and he didn’t get back up. The battlefield at the centre of the camp was a fierce shooting galley with both sides taking pot-shots at one another; the involvement of a Vertibird strafing run however soon ended the skirmish and Marsh with two other soldiers threw plasma grenades onto the roof of a huge tent beside some radio equipment. As the command tent burned, Marsh crossed the distance to a makeshift flagpole around which all of these tents had been built; he hacked at its base with his Ripper before placing his boot on it and kicking it down to applause where upon he drew his plasma pistol and set the flag alight.

“L-a-a-a-ds!” He roared in triumph as the flag of the New California ‘Republic’ burned. Sutler cheered with the rest, they could hear shooting from somewhere else on the compound but this was it; now, surely, the NCR’s organisation had been crushed. It was as they celebrated this small victory, which would lead to total, that a sound which Sutler could only describe in ‘howitzers in reverse’ could be heard.

“Everybody get down!” Someone yelled.

Then there was an explosion somewhere in front of Sutler, which knocked him over, followed by another close-by and another; it was after this third explosion that the whistling of artillery could be heard again. Sutler got to his feet and ran.

“There’s still friendlies alive here assholes!”

Sutler heard the yell somewhere but couldn’t respond, he needed shelter immediately. Running out of the camp as more explosions scattered around the area, Sutler hid in a crater from a Vertibird missile as repeated blasts came down all around him. They rained for what seemed an eternity and Sutler’s ears felt like they were bleeding from the noise when just as suddenly as it had started, the barrage stopped.

Sutler climbed out of the crater and sprinted for the enemy camp, he could see a few troopers stirring out of cover here-and-there; the centre, when he finally reached it, made his stomach turn ice cold in fury. There was almost nobody left, bodies and parts of bodies were strewn everywhere; Sutler found a trooper missing the entirety of her lower torso, she was shaking all over and didn’t appear to be conscious. Had he not been running on his ‘Psycho’ combat injection Sutler might have wept; instead he drew his Ripper, brushed apart the trooper’s shattered breastplate and drove it into her heart. Marsh too lay not to far away from the NCR flag he had burned, he too was dead. The place was rapidly becoming an inferno from the burning tents but Sutler bent down and pulled the holo-tags from Corporal Mendocino, the mercy killing, and from the others nearby; he was soon supported by a few of the other surviving troopers who had came back, one of them was Moreno and despite the loss of everyone Sutler felt some modicum of relief.

“What do we do now sir?” One of the troopers asked quietly after they all handed the holo-tags to Sutler, who hadn’t said a word but was fiddling with Marsh’s radio.

“Commander Marsh!? Commander Marsh!?” It was Kreger andhe was yelling wilder then he had ever heard him sound before.

“This is Lieutenant Sutler, what’s going on sir?” Sutler asked, though terrified of what the answer would be.

“They’ve breach the elevators and are sweeping through the tunnels, there’s no ammo left to hold them off Sutler! Where is Marsh!?”

“He’s dead Kreger, the NCR has artillery; there’s only…” Sutler did choke on his words this time. “There are only eight of us left.”

“Get down here now, we have to flee the underground!”
 
The Battle of Navarro

Alas, Navarro – Part 1

“Get down here now, we have to flee the underground!”

Sutler almost dropped the radio in cold horror.

“What’s going on down there Kreger?”

“We’re being routed Sutler, it’s a fucking rout; soon there won’t be anyone left, get down here now!”

Sutler clipped the radio onto his belt and turned to face the survivors of the forlorn hope.

“This is it men,” Sutler said, his voice was quick and he paced awkwardly as he spoke. “These NCR are pushing for a total rout of the entire base now; we’ve got to get down there and kill, kill until there is nothing left. The ammo is gone, the safety of the civilians is gone, but our will isn’t whist there is still one man to protect right?”

“Yes sir,” they chanted.

“Then let’s… go,” it was an odd moment for Sutler; a true loss of any words of inspiration. He looked meekly around at his men, before stooping down and grabbing some ammo from off of his fallen men; after the others had salvaged whatever they could, Sutler led the men back towards the crest of the hill until a Vertibird came into view from the east and performed a rough landing in front of them. The door opened, it was Daisy Whitman – one of Kreger’s friends – she motioned them over quickly.

“Alan come on I haven’t finished them all off!”

Sutler didn’t need telling twice, he ushered the men towards the Vertibird and scrambled in himself once all were secured; as they took off Sutler heard the pinging of small weapons fire coming from the north-east.

“Those snipers that shot at you during your charge,” Daisy shouted from the cockpit. “There were some more men over there and I hadn’t finished them all off before the artillery barrage, then I figured picking you lot up might be more important.”

“You aren’t getting any orders Whitman?”

“No Sutler, not a damn thing; Kreger must have his hands real busy, I guess Commander Marsh is dead?”

“Yeah,” Moreno said; presumably to take his mind of the thoughts of what lay ahead. “We took out the NCR position up there but he was killed in to artillery like almost everyone else.”

“Kreger said that the NCR have moved into the underground,” Sutler needed to fill Whitman in. “People are scattering everywhere now or just trying to holdout; the ammo is all gone, everything has been spent. These are my orders, land as soon as you can, pick some people up and get them to safety. As for you men,” Sutler turned to the troopers. “I want three of you with me and three with Moreno; splitting into two groups may allow us to manoeuvre more effectively if the NCR is less concentrated.”

Whitman took the Vertibird in lower over the battlefield, “Get ready to disembark.” Sutler took his four men to one of the doors and placed his hands on it ready to fling it open and run; Moreno came from behind him and got ready to close it after they all got off.

“Sutler,” he said so quietly that Sutler barely heard him; he turned to see Moreno looking at his boots, he sighed and looked Sutler in the eye. “Good luck friend.”

“It’s mutual comp… Orion,” shaking hands for one final time, Sutler slid the door back and jumped five feet to the ground. Looking around him he recognised where he was, what was often referred to as the ‘Founder’s Car-park’; it was by the Hanger and was preserved as the car’s which had taken some of the people to Navarro before the war to await transportation to the ENCLAVE. After the rest of Sutler’s men had leapt from the Vertibird, Daisy didn’t stay long and for good reason; likely alerted by the Vertibird NCR soldiers were already coming around the corner of the building ahead of them. Sutler had no time to aim and instead fired his RCW from the hip at the soldiers; one fell though the other’s managed to duck into cover behind one of the old cars. The proceeding gunfight didn’t last much long, laser beams – travelling at the speed of light – hit their targets before they could duck. Sutler noticed, as he led his men around the car park and towards an old renovated residential building, that the screens had been switched off. As he entered the building another half-dozen NCR soldiers came around the corner, pinning the men down outside behind the cars; he moved to a window and went to fire only to curse as he realised that his RCW was out of power. He reached down for another cell but heard as he did so same whistling sound which gradually increased in volume; turning his skin paler beneath his helmet.

“Get to cover!” Sutler yelled as he dropped his RCW and dived across the room as somewhere outside came an immense explosion; he felt a torrent of bricks, wood and furniture slam into him, knocking him to the ground.

* * * * *

Sutler opened his eyes, he was laying on his back with a clear view of the brighter – but still night – sky; peering downwards he saw a pile of rubble from the first story of the building which had collapsed on him. Sutler’s hands felt weak but he still managed – with some difficulty – to move some of the pulverised concrete which covered him before he slowly pulled himself along the floor and out from under the rubble. He couldn’t see the RCW anywhere but his trusty weapons were still holstered at his side, after checking for it, he pulled the Ripper from his left thigh and readied it lest he be attacked in this vulnerable state of confusion; he felt around his neck suddenly as he noticed that his holo-tags had been removed.

One thing he noticed was that the area was much quieter; Sutler could still hear the burning fractioning columns and sporadic bursts of gunfire but not on the same scale as before. How long was I down there? He thought wirily. One of our boys thought I was dead. He staggered out of the ruins and into the Founder’s Car Park to see that it had been turned into a large crater, inside it his three men lay in various stages of completeness; after visiting each Sutler noticed that they too had had all of their holo-tags removed. He looked around the deserted battlefield around him, the almost lack of the sounds of battle almost seeming alien; leaving his departed compatriots behind, Sutler – Ripper in hand – moved back into the building which had almost been his tomb. The eastern side of the building had been pulverised by the artillery but the western side looked relatively in-tact; scrambling up rubble, Sutler tried to find his way through the darkened halls to a window from where he could see what was going on. It was as he rounded a corner at the top of a flight of stairs that a shot rang out and Sutler – acting on instinct – rolled across the floor, across the corridor and into a room ahead of him. He could hear hurried, retreating footsteps in the corridor; Sutler began to creep up the room in the same direction as the sound, timing his steps.

Sutler aimed his shoulder against the wall before crouching into a sprinting position; with all the power he could muster he ran at the old wall which crumpled like tin-foil beneath his shoulder. Stopping himself before he charged right through the parallel wall Sutler looked to his left to see that he had over-shot his mark as a shot rang-out but was deflected from his shoulder pads which he then used to charge the attacker. The man – whom was another man in a stupid hat – was knocked to the ground, his left leg crushed beneath Sutler’s boot before he stopped; it was time for some questions and answers. Sutler bent down, grabbed the man’s throat and raised him into the air.

“So… up until now I’ve always thought of you fuckers as the guys’ with the hats, these stupid impractical hats.” Sutler swatted it from the man’s head with his free hand. “So what branch of your tribal military do you serve?”

“I’m a Ranger,” the man spat with hate. “We fight for what is right and just; you evil bastards aren’t going to terrorise anyone else anymore.”

“Evil?” Sutler said in a tone which was as mercyless as it was mocking. “No, I’m a good guy.” Sutler pulled away the armour protecting the man’s stomach, un-sheathed his Ripper and slowly drew it through the man’s torso from left to right. Almost relishing the man’s pain, Sutler relinquished his grip on the man’s throat and let him drop to the floor before stomping on his groin. The man wriggled and writhed on the floor in pain, Sutler put his boot on the man’s chest to steady him whilst he used the Ripper to cut off the man’s belt to take his ammo and Sniper Rifle.

Leaving the ruined building behind him, Sutler exited onto a road which he knew led to the Fractioning Columns and the old industrial area; hugging the side of a building closely he moved down the road. He rounded a corner and saw eight NCR troopers coming down the corridor, Sutler raised the rifle but didn’t have time to fire a single shot before a burst of machine gun fire came somewhere behind him, cutting down the NCR soldiers in seconds. Sutler looked up to that the fire had come from a first story window behind him; a trooper stuck his head out and ushered him into the building. Sutler turned for the building and climbed through a window to be greeted by another trooper who saluted before identifying himself.

“Corporal Jefferson sir, glad to see another one of us who made it.”

Jefferson didn’t stop to talk but continued back through the building immediately after giving his salute; Sutler followed.

“Thank you Compatriot, I’ve just came back from the Forlorn Hope.”

“That was four hours ago sir… it’s nearly dawn now.”

“Really? I was knocked unconscious during the artillery strike; I need a SitRep now corporal.”

“Sergeant Locklear can give you a better idea of what’s going on than I can sir, it was his idea afterall.”

Before Sutler could ask what Locklear’s idea had been they rounded a corner to see the flickering orange light from the raging inferno shining through the windows until it was suddenly blocked by advancing figure in power armour; Sergeant Locklear saluted Sutler and motioned for Jefferson to keep moving.

“Lieutenant Sutler, glad to see your still here.”

“Still here?”

“Yeah it’s real bad sir, we’ve already seen some people off the base from here.”

They exited the building and into the thick smoke billowing from the fire which had engulfed the old storage facilities near the fractioning columns.

“It’s ingenious really, the NCR can’t get us here; too hot and they can’t breathe. We have to leave in shifts to quickly top our air supplies off, make sure the self-cooling systems aren’t compromised and we’ve have had to move along more than once as the fire spreads but apart from that this place is the only NCR-free area.”

Sutler sighed. “That should explain the situation on it’s own but I need more, a full SitRep.”

“Well I don’t know much sir, Kreger went off the air with the artillery strikes; I do know for certain that the Vertibirds’ are grounded though. We’ve been holding out here since, sending people out into the rest of the base to try and find people; so far I’ve sent six people through a hole we’ve made in the fence four troopers, one of the doctors and a civilian.”

“Where did you send them? Did Kreger give anywhere to regroup?”

“No he…. I just wished them good fortune and God-Bless America sir.”
 
The Battle of Navarro

Alas, Navarro - Part 2

“No he…. I just wished them good fortune and God-Bless America sir.”

Sutler looked around and sighed, “So they aren’t heading for anywhere?”

“They have a pair of Wattz Radio with them just in case, same when I send another group out; we’ll regroup after all this is over.”

Locklear continued to lead Sutler through the smoke-filled maze of columns and rubble until in the distance Sutler could barely make out the silhouette of a two-story building which he remembered was a disused process operation control station for the refinery before the war. Locklear proceeded to rap on the door which, after a sound of heavy furniture being moved, was opened by another trooper who ushered them in quickly before shunting a magnetic-reel data storage console back in-front of the door. Visibility inside the building was a slightly better affair after Sutler and Locklear activated their thermal vision.

“Makes identification a pain,” Locklear said out-loud. “But it’s the only way we can see in here without turning on any lights; better this way.”

“Indeed compatriot,” Sutler replied as he walked slowly alongside Locklear whilst the trooper who had admitted them caught up. “I’m going to need you to assemble everyone for a briefing Sergeant.”

“There’ll all be in the room ahead sir, Polyak get down here!” The sound of a trooper getting to his feet and making his way down to them could be heard. “He was on lookout duty,” Locklear said by-way of an explanation.

In a room filled with banks of consoles, four troopers sat in silence, fiddling with their rifles or mindlessly counting ammo cells; upon the entrance of Sutler and Locklear they placed their equipment on the floor and saluted; Polyak, who came in after Sutler and Locklear, also saluted them and found space for himself on the ‘Oil Pressure’ console.

“At-ease troopers,” Sutler said to the assembled men after Locklear rejoined them from Sutler’s side. “I cannot provide you with any new information I’m afraid after just regaining consciousness from a building collapse, in-fact I’ve been out for about four hours according to the Sergeant. But as of now I am assuming command of this garrison, Sergeant Locklear informs me that you have allowed four troopers and two civilians to be safely evacuated from this facility. Good job. I assume then that you have come across nobody else?”

They nodded in sombre agreement; Sutler too lowered his head in silent prayer.

“Well given that it must be around four am now, the battles nearly been raging for 12 hours; but surely out-there there are other hold-outs too… We must concentrate our efforts on retaking Navarro, the NCR think us defeated and this will be their downfall; right men?”

“Sir, yes sir,” the assembled men cried simultaneously.

“That’s the American spirit lads, never wanting in the face of the enemy; but now we have to act. Our countrymen are waiting out there for us to get this battle over and done with so we can return to normal.”

After assembling they all shook hands with a sense of finality and resonance; despite not personally knowing any of the troopers he was leading, Sutler’s bond to them was one of camaraderie and he would go to the ends of the earth to make sure that they all made it out safely. The troopers moved, for a time, in a northerly direction, running into no resistance as they manoeuvred along the eastern perimeter fence; eventually though – after leaving the darkness of the smoke behind – Sutler made out the silhouettes of the hangers, and therefore the garages, somewhere ahead of them and to the left. After taking cover behind the fallen satellite communications dish and scanning for hostiles, Sutler led another trooper up to the eastern wall of the long-range communications building and around that to the eastern wall of the garages. Sutler then gave the order to stack-up on the rear door to Technical Sergeant Quincy’s office whilst he edged around to peer through the window; he quickly peaked around before ducking back again. A man in a dusty white coat – whom was clearly the authority – was rummaging through Quincy’s desk and adding papers he found to an already considerable pile, with him were two other soldiers one of whom was un-packing a filing cabinet whilst the other had his back to them guarding the other entrance to the office.

Sutler returned around the corner, and made the appropriate gestures to communicate ‘Two tangos and one civilian’; they readied themselves for the order to clear and Sutler placed his hand on the console by the side of the door before taking a breath; he twisted the switch and the door flew open. The man in the coat didn’t have the time to turn around before a ball of plasma travelled through him and impacted with Quincy’s saucy poster of Mrs Deck 3 for 2240 which adorned the wall above the desk, the trooper searching the filing cabinet had his rifle hanging at his side but didn’t ready it in time to oppose the bolt of energy which burnt through him; Sutler rushed on ahead and sunk his Ripper into the chest of the soldier in the doorway who had turned around.

From the actual garage though Sutler could hear a flurry of movement as more than one pair of boots scrambled to the sound of the gunfire, there were a pair of trucks parked in the garage and the one within clear sight of the doorway had became cover for three NCR soldiers. Sutler called his men to him staged a flanking attack on the truck, with Sutler proceeding around one side armed with his Ripper which bore its way through another chest whilst Sergeant Locklear led another trooper around the other-side, taking down the two remaining NCR soldiers with ease.

“Well…” Sutler said as he returned to Quincy’s office to inspect the corpse of the civilian. “They think this battle won compatriots, they think that the situation is so tipped in their favour that they can already begin looting from our dead and scavenging our home.” He stood back up, giving the body a good kick in the ribs as he did so.

“So we have the upper hand sir?” one of the troopers asked.

“Yes trooper we do, they have been lulled into a false sense of security; there must be other garrisons still remaining in Navarro, waiting to be rallied and help drive out the invaders.”

“Sir we’ve got company!” A pair of troopers had taken positions around the garages large open door and spoke as a hail of fire came in their direction; Sutler and the others crossed over to them, identifying and taking cover as they ran. Sutler looked out through the door, he saw that from across the Courtyard NCR soldiers were firing from first story windows and slowly pressing towards them. Pressing the scope of the Ranger’s sniper rifle to his faceplate, Sutler aimed downrange and opened fire, taking down a soldie as; other’s too fell from the fire of Sutler’s troopers; those in the window made it difficult to for the troopers to expose themselves long enough to return accurate fire. A burst of fire could suppress a single window for a couple of seconds but the NCR was firing from all directions and every window; Sutler hadn’t imagined that the NCR would be able to mobilise onto the battlefield so quickly, he took at another soldier who ducked out from behind a window.

“What do we do sir?” Locklear asked as they themselves were suppressed back into cover by the sheer volume of fire.

“Nobody is injured are they Sergeant? We just keep up the fire for now. You private.” Sutler pointed to a soldier back in the Garage reloading his weapon. “Secure the rear entrance; make sure these bastards don’t flank us.”

The fire-fight raged on, NCR soldiers unable to close the distance to the garage yet the troopers unable to kill them all; a lucky shot had killed one of them, Sutler cursed and recovered his holo-tags. As he made his way back to cover he then noticed the condition of his own armour for the first time; it had been tarnished in ways he previously thought unimaginable. His lower legs and boots still covered in dry blood, dust and small particles of rubble caught under his shoulder pauldrons and scratches from bullets which made him fully aware for the first time just how much fire he had been exposed to; his men didn’t look much better.

“Come on men, we’re pulling back to the hangers; fall back!” Sutler yelled.

The position was no longer tenable, Sutler directed his troopers to rear office whilst he provided as much cover fire as possible before sprinting across the garage door – all the while feeling the bullets around him – and followed the same path as his men. The backdoor to the office led back to the rear of the Communications Building, Sutler signalled two troops positions behind the fallen satellite dish to cover their escape whilst he motioned Sergeant Locklear and the two other remaining troopers into the nearby hanger building; Sutler himself took a position at the hanger’s doorway. NCR soldiers came through Quincy’s office and simultaneously through the alley way between the Garage and Comm. building but were dropped before they got too close, with those surviving using the doorway and alley as cover; another fire-fight but with a different outcome. The NCR soldiers fell back but – as before – simply came back with more soldiers and again once those had been killed. Sutler ran out of ammunition at this point and threw the sniper rifle away before drawing his trusty Ripper and initiating another fallback; two men alone could not hold another NCR advance, however Sutler hadn’t given the order before it began again. He watched helplessly as the two held the NCR back, one watching the office and the other the alley. The second that one of the troopers had to reload her laser rifle it was over, the other trooper unloaded the rest of his weapon into the alleyway before running back whilst the female trooper too followed him in making a break for the Hanger.

Sutler pushed the first trooper through the doorway but then in his wake saw a sight which made his blood boil; the female trooper had been grabbed from behind by two soldiers who seized her arms, she managed to break the grip of one and elbow the soldier in the face before he latched on again with two others and another who had scrambled onto her back. It was here that Sutler himself had broke cover and sprinted to the scene, a trooper came from the alley way and amidst ushers from his fellows who were restraining the trooper took aim and fired at the side of the troopers helmet until all resistance stopped; it was then however that Sutler finally covered the distance to the preoccupied soldiers, all-the-while screaming a blood-curdling battle-cry and blinded with rage with arms extended and in his right his screeching Ripper. His left arm crashed into the necks of those who had been holding the troopers right arm whilst his Ripper simultaneously sunk into the chest of the soldier who had had her left arm; the soldier who had scrambled onto her back had been crushed beneath the weight of the armour when they had killed her and was unable to evade Sutler’s continuing charge.

Aware that the trooper’s executioner was still somewhere behind him, Sutler continued his charge until he was safely behind the fallen dish; he readied his Ripper in preparation for their likely attack and not a moment too soon. As he revved his Ripper a coordinated attack came in the form of the trooper’s ‘executioner’ coming in from behind him whilst another two soldiers came from the opposite direction – likely from the Garages; Sutler knew which one he had to make sure died. As the executioner came around the side of the dish, Sutler reached out and seized the barrel of his rifle before pulling the soldier forward with-it into his awaiting Ripper; slicing open the soldier’s jugular. ‘That was close, but we have had our vengeance,’ Sutler thought as blood poured from the right-hand side of the soldiers throat; he then turned to his other attackers and prepared to charge again, hoping his angled body would deflect their inevitable shots. A shot rang from Sutler’s carapace whilst a few feet still remained between him and his foe; before another could strike though a bolt of laser fire came from somewhere behind Sutler and struck the other soldier right in the centre of his torso, tearing it completely from the lower half of his body. The other soldier was distracted for a moment in bewilderment and fear before Sulter made contact and the soldier was crushed to death beneath Sutler’s feet and repeated blows.

A hand came down on Sutler’s shoulder as he gave the already deceased soldier another bone-breaking blow to the jaw; calming down, Sutler looked up at the compatriot behind him, taking note of his identification on his chest plate.

“These holo-tags yours Lieutenant sir?” The hand that had been on Sutler’s shoulder was gripping tightly the chain of Sutler’s holo-tags that had been removed, the hand was shaking slightly.

“Moreno... you son-of-a bitch.” Sutler grasped the hand tightly in his own and shook it before taking the holo-tags and returning them to their proper place.

“Thought we’d lost you sir…”

“Moreno up ahead,” Sutler heard Kreger call out from behind him; Sutler took looked up at another squad of NCR soldiers coming from the Garage. Moreno grabbed the handle of the Gatling Laser slung around his neck and unleashed a concentrated burst of fire into the crowd of soldiers, those still alive were then cut down by Kreger, Johnson and eve Whitman wielding his plasma pistol.

“When was the last time you fired that thing Whitman?” Sutler asked humorously after picking up a NCR rifle.

“Not since basic on the ENCLAVE Lieutenant, now come-on.”

Kreger took the lead and ushered the squad back to the Hanger behind them.

“Good to see your still alive Sutler, we couldn’t believe it when Moreno told us he’d found you underneath rubble; that’s no way for a soldier to go.” Kreger was honest and sincere as always, Sutler appreciated it; in the Hanger Sutler was pleased to see a Vertibird sat on the huge elevator to the lower in the centre of the cavernous room.

“Excellent, death from above again it seems compatriots,” Sutler said wildly as he watched Whitman climb into the bird; Sutler saw Roxanne and Arcade too at the door, she was in tears at the sight of him.

“Alan!” Arcade cried whilst his mother managed little but sobs.

“Hey there little man you…” Sutler stopped in mid-sentence as Johnson, Kreger and then Moreno clambered aboard and ushered Sutler to do so. “What the hells going on compatriots!?” Sutler cried out aghast.

“Sutler we’re leaving come on quickly,” Kreger muscled his way to the open door of the Vertibird.

“What?” Sutler repeated, flummoxed. “That battle isn’t over Kreger, we can still pull this around.”

“No we can’t Sutler,” Johnson growled almost un-interested.

“Fuck you Johnson, there’s still people here I have a squad I’ve just told to fall-back.”

“Please Sutler come on!” Roxanne cried.

“No, I won’t stand for this; I’m reliving you of your command Kreger, you’re a traitor! All of you, deserters! I’m especially disappointed in you Moreno; I can’t believe I’m going to have to testify against you all at the proceeding Court-Marshal...”

“Sutler we have to protect the civilians,” Moreno pleaded.

“Sutler please, I am ordering you onto this bird immediately,” Kreger yelled.

“You aren’t fit for command anymore sir,” Sutler retorted before a shot ricocheted off the Vertibird; NCR soldiers were outside the Hanger. Sutler raised the puny NCR rifle against its fellows and along with Kreger from the Vertibird door fired returning shots into the open side-door; immediately after a cease in the gunfire, Sutler was struck by an odd and unexplainable moment of clarity.

“Go!” He yelled at Kreger behind him. “Go! Israel wouldn’t want Arcade and Roxanne to die here.”

“Sutler…” Kreger yelled.”

“No I have men here; I’m going to see it through with them… Captain Kreger sir.”

“Sutler I…” Kreger said.

“Go!”

“Sutler,” Moreno had manoeuvred past Kreger.

“I said I’m not…”

“No. Here.” Moreno held his Plasma Pistol in his hand with his ammo pouch too.

Sutler should have known Moreno wouldn’t have pursued him, “Go down with dignity you magnificent bastard.”

Sutler smiled as he accepted Moreno’s side-arm, “Navarro will not be the end of me Moreno, the NCR will not take me… now go!”

“Alan no, come with us ple…” Roxanne yelled out before Kreger determinately slammed shut; Sutler looked back over his shoulder as the Vertibird taxied out of the open Hanger doorway before followed the Vertibird out of the Hanger after correctly suspecting that the NCR would have some presence on the Courtyard. About eighteen NCR soldiers were sprinting across towards them; Sutler, finally armed with his specialty, aimed the pistol and downed one of the soldiers marching at him. The NCR soldiers were largely concentrated on the Vertibird, attempting to stop the it from taking off with small arms fire. Sutler took cover behind some crates and fired again at the massed NCR as the Vertibird gain speed and scattered the NCR before taking off into the sky; Sutler looked up helplessly as it soared in a westerly direction and in the still darkness of a February morning out of sight.

“Me versus the world,” Sutler breathed before he stood up and fired another two shots at the soldiers, most of whom were still scanning the sky for the Vertibird; as two of their number were melted before their eyes however they quickly turned towards Sutler. As the soldiers found cover however, the sound of propellers began to increase again until Whitman came screaming down from the west whilst unleashing a payload of missiles into the NCR numbers before swooping overhead and out to the east; Sutler watched her fly over, “Do Israel proud Arcade,” Sutler said.

He looked over the crate again and picked-off another NCR survivor, before abandoning his position; he had no idea where his men could have gotten too, no gunfire could be heard throughout the facility. ‘They must be underground,’ Sutler thought before he turned around, made his way through the Hanger and to the elevator behind near the fallen dish.
 
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