Fallout: Crusaders of the Brotherhood

Part I: Chapter 1

Veronica sat down at the bar at Trading Post 188. It had been a rather uneventful day. She scavenged an abandoned pre-war office building looking for any interesting books to read or anything that could keep her mind occupied for a period of time, but all she could find were a couple of ruined books that were unreadable and an instruction guide to the assembly of an office chair.

After some more scavenging, she found the half assembled chair that the instructions were meant for. For entertainment's sake, Veronica decided to try to finish the chair's assembly, but realized there was a missing component. She wandered around the office building a little more, searching for the missing component with no avail. She finally called it quits on her scavenging run and decided to head to the Outpost for a drink.

Sometimes Veronica regretted leaving the Brotherhood of Steel. Even when they were sending her on pointless scouting and scavenging missions, she had a purpose and a place she could call home. Now she was the equivalent to a wandering vagrant. Even though she missed her old home, seeing a group of paladins harass some wastelander over a fission battery or some other small scrap of technology made her even more sure that leaving the Brotherhood was the right choice.

It had been roughly two years since "Mr. House" took over the Hoover Dam and liberated the Mojave. With the united factions of the Mojave behind him, Mr. House managed to drive the NCR and Caesar's Legion out of the region, giving Vegas the Independence it deserved.

Of course, that was the simplified version of the story. It was the story that travelers and traders on the road who weren't there at the time told each other. The story was much more complex and would be told a lot differently if one was there to see how it all happened.

"How much will these give me?" asked Veronica as she pulled two ruined books out of her scavenging bag.

"Hmm," said the bartender, stroking his chin as he examined the two large books, "Not much I'm afraid. The only use that I have for them is to help keep the barrel fire going at night. I could pay you three caps or two shots of whiskey. Which would you prefer?"

"Give me the whiskey," said Veronica. The offer was generous, even for the bartender who she befriended a few months back.

She normally took caps, but today was one of those more depressing days where she scavenged nothing interesting and did nothing productive. Not that it mattered though; with the exception of a friendship with Mr. House, she had no cause or allegiance. For the most part, she was just a lone wanderer.

At least tomorrow would be more interesting. There was supposed to be a large shipment of medical supplies coming up from the south that was headed north to the Follower's outpost at the Old Mormon Fort in Freeside. Veronica signed up to help guard the caravan on the stretch of road between Trading Post 188 and New Vegas. They were expected to arrive at the 188 by morning.

Although she never joined The Followers of the Apocalypse, she liked helping out where she could, and this caravan really looked like it needed assistance. From what she saw told by one of the trail organizers, there was way too much supplies and not enough manpower to transport it safely through the Mojave. In addition to the usual stimpaks and bandages, there was loads of psycho and med-x, enough to last even the worst junky half a year. It would be a dangerous job, and she wouldn't get paid as much as one of the regular caravan gaurds, but the wage would beat the big three caps worth of books she sold today. Besides, Veronica was no stranger to danger, and she could use a little excitement every now and then.

Veronica downed the two shots in two consecutive gulps. She wasn't able to hold her liquor like Cass could, but it would take more than two shots of whiskey to get her drunk, or at least drunk enough to be receptive to the typical guy who would try to hit on her at the bar. She turned around in her bar stool and watched the people go by.

The outpost had changed quite a bit in the past couple of years since New Vegas became independent. Four other shacks and stands had risen in addition to the general store and the bar. A weapons shack opened up not long after the NCR left and managed to put the gun runner's stand out of business with it's lower prices and willingness to sell to everyone. A boarding house opened up soon after that. Then a medical clinic opened up when a doctor in New Vegas realized that there was business to be made by starting a convenient medical center for Brotherhood soldiers out on patrol. Finally, the most recent addition to the 188 was the clothing and armor stand. That place sold anything from pre-war clothing to the heaviest armor that you could find in the wastes, or at least the heaviest armor that wasn't Brotherhood armor.

Trading activity had reached its highest since the NCR first arrived in the Mojave. In the absence of the Legion and the NCR in the region, there was virtually nothing to stop raiding activity in areas that weren't patrolled by the Brotherhood or Mr. House's forces. Despite the drawbacks of an independent Vegas, if the NCR were in power, they would continue burdening traders with heavy taxes that most people in the Mojave wouldn't be able to afford. If the Legion took over, risk of enslavement would have discouraged folks to come out and trade at all. Overall conditions for trading in the Mojave were great, you just needed enough protection.

Veronica could hear a light hissing sound from the hydraulics of a set of power armor approaching behind her. She turned her head to see Paladin Ramos approaching. He stopped at the edge of the bar, standing beside her.

"Huh, I thought that was you. Still wearing that old set of scribe robes, I see," said Ramos in a friendly tone.

Despite having left the Brotherhood and killing a few paladins in the process, Veronica was still on friendly terms with the Brotherhood…or at least most of the Brotherhood.

"Yeah," said Veronica, turning her eyes back towards the crowds she was watching pass by, "You didn't hear? Old, discolored, muddied brown scribe robes are the new in thing in fashion now."

The paladin chuckled, "Heh, you know Veronica, I have to say that the one thing I miss the most about you was your sense of humor. It got in the way sometimes, but it reminded me of myself when I was younger."

"Really," remarked Veronica, turning her head in mild bewilderment towards Ramos. Ramos was normally willing to play along with Veronica's antics, but she had never seen him go out of his way to be humorous.

"Hehe," the Paladin let out another small laugh, more directed at himself than it was at Veronica's remark, "I guess it's pretty hard to see now, but I used to be known as the funny guy in my younger days. I even managed to get one of the drill paladins to laugh during basic training."

"So how come you don't try to make people laugh now? What happened?" asked Veronica.

"War with the NCR happened," responded Ramos frankly, "the more I saw my friends die, the less I felt the urge to make people laugh."

Veronica was silent for a while. She was actually able to relate to Ramos' story. On the few occasions when she actually had a chance to make a sarcastic or funny remark, she either didn't make one at all or she had to force it out of herself. Humor didn't come as easily to her as it once did.

The two remained in silence for a while, watching people go by until Veronica spoke up, "So what brings you all the way out to the 188? I thought you were in charge of security at Hidden Valley."

"I still am, but now I'm in charge of security at all Brotherhood stations in the Mojave. A patrol east of here apparently took a strange looking waster in possession of some highly sought after technology into custody about an hour ago."

"What kind of sought after technology?"

"The report wasn't specific, but the guy claims that he's Brotherhood, and he knows things that only a member of the Brotherhood of Steel would know."

"What does he know?"

"He was able to recite lines from the codex as well as other information that could only be accessed by a member of the Brotherhood."

"But if he is Brotherhood, then what's the problem?"

"He refused to cooperate fully with the patrolmen."

"I don't get it," stated Veronica, now getting up off her stool, "Why take him into custody, and why does this require the head of security?"

"Well when I said refused to cooperate fully, I meant that he got violent when the patrol tried to confiscate his technology," explained Paladin Ramos, "According to the report, he managed to injure two of the patrolmen in full power armor with his bare hands. The rest of the patrol managed to get the better of him though and got him restrained, but they've been keeping him under a constant watch and claim they don't have enough men to move him safely."

Veronica raised an eyebrow after hearing this. Ramos caught her reaction, "Yeah I know it's pretty hard to believe myself, but if it's all true, we can't have someone that dangerous and with extensive Brotherhood knowledge wandering around the Mojave. Because of that, this is a security issue, and McNamara and Hardin don't want us taking any chances in these kinds of situations."

Ramos pointed towards a group of four other heavily equipped Paladins. Two were armed with gauss rifles. The other two were armed with a gatling laser and an anti-material rifle. Whatever this guy did, he must have had the Brotherhood really spooked.

"We're supposed to rendezvous here with another patrol coming in from the west near the Repcon HQ. Speaking of which…" Ramos gestured towards a group of another five knights and paladins coming down the road reaching the other end of the trading post.

"We're bringing the prisoner to Helios I. Hardin's going to want to take a look at him," said Paladin Ramos as he pulled his gauss rifle over his shoulder. He started making his way towards the gathering group of knights and paladins, but stopped a few steps ahead of Veronica and turned towards her one last time, "I don't know what you've been through or what you've seen in the past couple of years, but if you can, do yourself a favor and try not to lose yourself. You'll regret it if you do."

With that said, the Paladin put on his power helmet and continued making his way towards the group. Veronica didn't say anything; Ramos probably wasn't expecting her to. She sat back on her barstool and continued observing people go by, reflecting on her short conversation with the paladin.

A/N: Okay so I'm just going to say this right off the bat, feedback is great, and I would love to hear it, praising or critical, it'll only make my writing better. Also, I'm not sure if I structured the dialogue between characters properly or not so if anyone has any extensive knowledge on that subject please let me know. Also, if there are any other grammar errors that you may notice, please point them out to me; I've always had trouble using proper grammar and would be very grateful if someone pointed out the mistakes so I could fix them and avoid them in later chapters.