New Vegas: Blood Ties

"That may be true, but that implies that they have to be aware of their surroundings - a trait that seems lacking in the wasteland judging by the large amounts of corpses I've run into - shot up by raiders or mauled by deathclaws. Poor bastards." Scythe realized he was babbling on a bit too much. "Apologies, it's been some time since I've been around other humans, let alone talked to them. Who might you be?" Scythe asks, nodding at Brad.
 
Tom stared at Nevest, "I didn't particularly mean the power armour and the energy weapons, many people don't give a half a shit about them, I mean the energy producing devices you guys have, or you wish to procure, surely these devices would do better in the hands of the hard strung doctors of Vegas, or the small communities that could do with the help", Tom paused for a few seconds,"Even if you guys did manage to take Helios, what would you do with the energy? Use it to improve your relations with the local by helping them out, or using it to power the bunkers and shit you have, i'm sure it's the latter".

Tom knew what he had said was right, he knew that if the steelers did get helios they would never share the energy out, after all, the Brotherhood weren't higher than everyone else, they just have their own ideals, just like every other bastard in the wastes, they wren't different.
 
Carib noticed the new comer, the man who apparently came out of nowhere. Interesting. Carib put out the finished cigarette butt and stomped it out. The man was stealthy, and he wondered how he pulled it off. From what he noticed, he didn't see the usual Stealthboy device attached to any of his wrists. His suit was an object of curiosity as well.

Was that the source of his stealth. Interesting. There had been old records stating that during the Great War, rumors of Chinese Stealth Operatives had infiltrated the US. But Carib never saw any schematics or any on sale in any of the illicit merchant dens on the west coast.

He seemed to be engaged in conversation with Brad. The man wasn't a Khan, he had a military baring.

He turned to David, "David. During your time with your organization," Carib saw no need to mention the word Enclave, as he knew Rangers were everywhere and they were constantly on the hunt for that old Government Remnant or rumor of locations of said Evil Old World Shadow Government, "during your time in the East have you ever come across any sort of stealth armor or did your people ever create any?"
 
Jacob walked out of the Silver Rush with the flamer fuel he had been able to pawn off some of the weapons he had taken from some raiders in the area. Fiends, were they? Crazy bastards the lot of them. Jacob had ambushed them while asleep, and relieved them of their possessions. Afterwards he had made a bee-line to Freeside to get rid of the extra weight. The weapons had been in poor condition, but the fuel was cheap enough that it wasn't an issue.

He turned to the Silver Rush guard who had patted him down before entering. Jacob set the tanks of fuel down, and the guard opened the safe he was standing by and took out Jacob's weapons. Jacob took them back one by one and put them on their respective holsters.

"Well thanks for the fuel, I'll probably be back in a few days to pick up some more."

"Always good to have repeat buisness, just leave yer robot behind next time alright? It makes other customers nervous." The silver rush guard pointed out.

"All those greasy haired hooligans out there aren't worth the time of an American soldier!" GU-DR exclaimed.

"I see your point. Alright Denny, let's go."

"Lead on!"

Jacob opened the top of GU-DR and placed the fuel accordingly. He bid farewell to the guard and headed back down towards the main street of Freeside. However he noticed a large group of what he could only believe were mercenaries gathering outside of the Atomic Wrangler. Where that many mercenaries were gathered, that must mean there is something big going on. He looked around and saw that the leader of the group seemed to be a woman a couple of years younger than he was. Furthermore, she seemed to have just recruited a ghoul with a brahmin of all things. What happened next was even more surprising, as a man hidden by a stealth field revealed himself to the group. He was wearing one of the Chinese stealth suits used to infiltrate the US before the Great War. During his childhood with the Enclave Jacob had heard all about the Chinese and their technology, so he was able to recognize it when he saw it. He decided to keep that little tidbit for himself though. No need to raise questions on how he knew that kind of thing.
"Ready to die for your country you commie son of a bitch?!" GU-DR exclaimed as it extended it's combat sensors to their full length. The robot obviously still had Chinese communists as enemies in it's database, and someone in Chinese stealth armor uncloaking probably used to be a good sign of an enemy.
"Woah woah woah woah! Hold on!" Jacob yelled, and he turned the robot's combat inhibitor up as far as it would go. A little click in the robot resulted in it standing down and going back into a scanning mode.
"Sir, searching for targets!" Jacob gave a sigh of relief that he may have just avoided a fight, since he didn't know if the man in the stealth suit was with the large mercenary group or not.
 
"Its a stealth suit. The chinese made them and used them during the battle for Anchorage, specifically for snipers and spec ops. Its what the stealth boy was based off. I'm sure we had some, but I didn't put my nose into the brasse's business. The few remaining suits on the east coast were probably destroyed when our mobile base was destroyed by the brotherhood of steel. The irony is that they destroyed a lot of tech when they won that fight. Other than that I don't know about any other copies. That guy must have done something right to get them.", David replied to Carib. David gave the man near the silver rush and his robot a quick glance before turning his head to the others.
 
"Ready to die for your country you commie son of a bitch?!"

Uh-oh.

This was not the first time a pre-war robot had taken him for a Chinese spy. Since China was the primary enemy of the Great War, the damn hunks of junk were programmed to identify and eliminate anything Chinese. An unfortunate, but not unforeseen consequence. It was risk to wear the suit, but its benefits were worth it. Scythe immediately removed his hand from his trench knife, instead pulling up the Infiltrator assault rifle slung over his right shoulder. Dropping to one knee, he aimed it at the robot and addressed its owner.

"Is that rusty piece of junk going to be an issue, or do you have it on your leash?"
 
"Woah, is that a functional Mr. Gutsy unit?"

Brad strolled up to the owner.

"Where did you find it? Whenever I find a robot it's always beyond repair."
 
Yasmin stood back, leaning against the wall of the Wrangler, smoking with an ammused look on her face while the little drama and hostilities unfolded before her. A man appearing out of no where, a robot having it in for said man. She never remembered Freeside to be this interesting before.
 
"The Brotherhood did not occupy Helios to hoard its energy," Nevest replied to Tom.

Much fuss had been going on as he and Tom conversed, a man in the Chinese's stealth armor and another with a pet Gutsy. He clenched his fists, knowing without any brothers to support him, he could not strip them of their "property".

Nevest spoke to Tom instead of confronting the technology-holders, "That one is too cautious to even disable his stealth field in a populated area, and the other cannot even program his robot to properly identify actual targets. Now, do you see why the Brotherhood should exist?"
 
Carib was becoming increasingly irritated by Nevest, "Lie to us all you want Nevest, don't lie to yourself. Helios one was battle for resources. If the BOS took it, they wouldn't share the power. You guys flip out if you see a dirt dweller with shoddy laser pistol. You think its your right to take. I am sure your looking at the new comer now with envious eyes.

What fucking right do you have to take what isn't yours, or what you didn't earn by your own skill? You have your power armor, but your not satisfied. NCR is no saint either. They want everything they see. Only difference is I walked away. And people have to learn in time. But I swear, we find any tech and you decide to bring your brothers in, there will be trouble. I have no issues with the BOS personally. I knew some good Knights and honorable Paladins. Back West before things got weird."
 
Jacob addressed the man who was wearing the stealth suit. "It's fine... for now. I got it's combat inhibitor up as far as it'll go, so it should be as docile as any Mr. Handy... well it may try to give you some nasty looks, but that's the worst it can do."

Soon after, one of the others in the group, one who seemed pretty beat up expressed amazement at GU-DR, then approached Jacob. "Where did you find it? Whenever I find a robot it's always beyond repair."

Jacob was always willing to answer this sort of question, the robot was his greatest prize in his scavenging career, and those back with the Enclave would find it impressive too.
"I found it out around Denver, it was pretty far gone by the time I found it, but a couple of weeks of scavenging and I got enough usable parts to get it up and running again. Oh, and before you go out towards Denver lookin' fer Gutsys, don't. I have never seen a place that far gone. Whole city is overrun with feral dogs, I have never been more scared in my life. Fuck man. Jacob shuddered at remembering the howls during the night around Denver.

Jacob overheard the man who was in salvaged power armor degrade his programming skills, claiming he couldn't even program his robot to track actual targets. Jacob acted as though he hadn't heard since another member of the group seemed to be confronting the man about it. Then a surprising revelation occurred, the power armored man was brotherhood. Jacob bit back the blind hatred he felt for the man and continued speaking with Brad.
"So, from the look of things you guys are planning an excursion of sorts. Who's leading it, and are you still recruiting?"
 
Yasmin finished her cigarette and walked over, putting her hand on Carib's chest to settle him. "Relax. He's isolated from the Brotherhood. We're his way back to them. He can dislike it all he wants, but any tech that gets found is ours."

She looked over at the two new men. "Now what the hell is going on?"
 
With an assurance, the Mr. Gutsy was under control, Scythe stood back up, slinging his assault rifle over his shoulder. He then opened his backpack, throwing his stealth suit's helmet inside, then threw the pack back up over his shoulder. There were many conversations going on at once, so he was only picking up bits and pieces. However, he did not miss that the Brotherhood of Steel was a topic being dicussed. Walking up to Carib, Scythe addressed him.

"Not everyone in the Brotherhood is like that. I met some of them out East and they were more focused on helping the wastelanders and stopping the Super Mutants than securing pre-war tech. There were those that disagreed, but they were firm in their mission. I haven't run into any other Steel chapters since Chicago, but they were largely the same way." Upon saying that, Scythe cursed at himself and hoped he hadn't made it obvious that he was ex-BOS. That was a fact he did not wish to reveal as he made eye contact with Nevest; the man was obviously BOS but he hoped he didn't recognize that so was he.
 
Almost everyone had taken a shot at Nevest today. But he held fast to his ideals.

"I spoke the truth, nothing more. If you wish to believe the Brotherhood was obsessed with Helios One for its energy source, then go right ahead."

Seeing the man with the Chinese stealth armor was not part of the group, and therefor fair game for all intents and purposes, he approached him.

"The Brotherhood detachment in the East Coast are renegades, nothing more. Devoting precious resources for the cause of protection of an irradiated hellhole and its mutant inhabitants, is not the mission of the Brotherhood of Steel. Of course," he went on, "if people would simply cooperate with us, then I do suppose some form of a relationship could be formed. But alas, such a decision cannot even receive contemplation without the approval of the High Elder and Council, so discussion is both undesirable and moot."

Nevest looked upon the man, noting his use of "Chapter" in place of a word that was less associated with the Brotherhood of Steel. Not only that, but he had made contact with the Capital Wasteland and Chicago chapters.
 
SinisterScythe said:
With an assurance, the Mr. Gutsy was under control, Scythe stood back up, slinging his assault rifle over his shoulder. He then opened his backpack, throwing his stealth suit's helmet inside, then threw the pack back up over his shoulder. There were many conversations going on at once, so he was only picking up bits and pieces. However, he did not miss that the Brotherhood of Steel was a topic being dicussed. Walking up to Carib, Scythe addressed him.

"Not everyone in the Brotherhood is like that. I met some of them out East and they were more focused on helping the wastelanders and stopping the Super Mutants than securing pre-war tech. There were those that disagreed, but they were firm in their mission. I haven't run into any other Steel chapters since Chicago, but they were largely the same way." Upon saying that, Scythe cursed at himself and hoped he hadn't made it obvious that he was ex-BOS. That was a fact he did not wish to reveal as he made eye contact with Nevest; the man was obviously BOS but he hoped he didn't recognize that so was he.
Click to expand...

(Carib already knows this, as I and Tom have already talked about the east coast brotherhood. Please note that he mentions having met some knights and Paladins who were nicer than the rest of their brothers)

David turned to Nevest and said,"And what exactly were you going to use the power plant for, if not for the energy producing capabilities? You sound a lot like the enclave when you talk about the 'mutant' inhabitants of the east coast. Have you even been there? I'm from the east coast, do I look mutated to you. Hell, I'm probably closer to original Humans than you. And people did cooperate with you. Thats why there was the state of Maxson. Its because your fucked up leadership decided Humanity wasn't deserving of technology. Well guess what, dipshit, the great war is over and it has been for a long time. Most of us aren't tribals with no knowledge of weapons, we're a functioning civlisation, which is more than I can say for you and your brothers."
 
Carib calmed down, he just resented the BOS' closed minded way of thinking. Pre-war tech was dangerous, no doubt. During his tour of the South, near the former boarder with Mexico, Carib had lost good men and women from pre-war traps, tainted food. The phantom death was a horrible way to go.

"Amen Tom," Carib said. He smiled at Yasmin, "I'll be good. For you. After all, you pay the bills."
 
"The business of the Brotherhood is not your own," he replied to the rather innocent inquiry of David's.

But, once again, a hail of insults made their way to Nevest.

"I'm going to dissect this for you, since you seem to believe you are the most intelligent entity in this godforsaken place: The Enclave are -- were, the Brotherhood destroyed them -- elitists whose obviously sinister agendas distinguished them from the Brotherhood of Steel. Their definition of 'mutant' was anything born outside of a vault or the Enclave itself, with the morons most likely believing the Brotherhood to be mutants, just like you seem to be implying. And, if you had been to the East Coast, you would know that the entire ruins of D.C. were overrun with Super Mutants.

Moving on. Maxson was an isolated incident, when the New California Republic was a fledgling fish in a sea of sharks. They posed no threat to the Brotherhood of Steel's goals, and vice versa. Eventually, however, it was decided that more technology should be confiscated from those outside of the Brotherhood of Steel. And yet you say they cooperated, when in reality the New California Republic reacted with hostility -- just as you are now, when confronted with facts and reason -- instead of simply handing over what we asked.

Lastly, your vulgarity and haste to resort to insult is merely testament to your ignorance. And not once have I mentioned the Great War, in fact, so perhaps you should lay off of the jet or whatever it is you use to get high."

Nevest scoffed, satisfied with his arguments.
 
"Oh your nothing like the enclave, are you? Then why the fuck did you call the people the east coast steelers are protecting 'mutants'? And you have no right to take technology out of peoples hands. Least of all Laser Rifles. There used to be a time when you kept power armour and some pretty nasty stuff from falling into the wrong hands, now your just attacking people with the belief that taking a few energy weapons is going to save humanity from itself. And you don't get the symbolism of the great war, do you? Humanity was destroyed that day, and it had to begin again. Now its getting back on its feet. So stop acting like you have the god given right to dictate the progress of humanity, because not only will it do no good for humanity in the long run, it will destroy you, which as I recall, it almost did."
 
"I'll be good. For you. After all, you pay the bills."

Jacob whirled around, his composure regained he was back to his goofy character at the sound of the word "pay" and saw exactly who he had thought was the leader to begin with. A grin spread across his face and he strolled on over.

"So, you must be the one in charge. Pleased to make your acquaintance Ms...?" Jacob extended a hand towards the woman, hoping to get her name and maybe a handshake to smooth things out.

Meanwhile, GU-DR was surveying the group itself, deciding that it was a good squad who could be instrumental in the battle against the Chinese communists. The communist who had them all fooled would need to be dealt with, but as soon as it could find a place to get it's weapons fixed it would see to that. It saw the Colonel walk over to the leader of the squad, a fine American lass like that must be an excellent leader.
 
Yasmin took her hand off of Carib and took the man with the robots, shaking it. “Yasmin. Though I don’t think I’ve been called ‘Ms’ ever.” She withdrew her hand smiling and took out her assault rifle. “Just give me one second.” She said pleasantly then turned her weapon to the sky and let it rip for a few second. The gunfire shut them all up and made them all look at her.

“We don’t have time for a pissing contest about who is right or wrong and who did what for whatever reason. You really want to bitch with each other? Do it while you walk.” She said looking at them, clearly unimpressed, then back to the man again and putting on her pleasant persona again. “Now, I’m pressed for time, so if you’d like to talk further, you’ll need to walk with me while we do it.”

She looked at those already with her and jerked her head towards the way out, then started walking.
 
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