Honest Hearts - Fallout: New Vegas AAR

[mrcrusty]

'Tis my first shot at an AAR, so be gentle.

Game: Fallout: New Vegas

Difficulty: Medium, Hardcore.

Mods: Wow, where do I begin? Let's just say a lot.

...

Prologue:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"grroo"

Goris was hungry again. Veritas Corr looked over at her "little" friend. "Damn thing doesn't know when to stop eating" she said, shaking her head.

She was rightly irritated. Goris may have been a faithful companion and a loyal pet, but he was eating up their supplies faster than she would've liked. She thought for a moment on what he would do without her. But after taking a quick glance at Goris, she didn't want to dwell on the issue any longer.

Goris, you see, was a Deathclaw. A baby Deathclaw, but a Deathclaw nonetheless.

His parents had been killed or they had abandoned him. Veritas could empathise, her own parents had abandoned her as a baby, leaving her with the Followers and her weird name to go to join the Mormons, whatever that meant.

In either case, she unwittingly rescued the newborn during a scavenging expedition almost a year ago. Even since then, he had followed her day and night. At first she tried to lose him and even contemplated killing him, but eventually she gave up, accepting that Goris probably saw her as a mother figure.

She ripped open a box of cram and left most of it on the ground, Goris came over and devoured all of it with glee. She smiled, Goris was adorable in his own little way.

She stood up. "Well, time to get going, Goris. Every step forward is a step towards New Vegas."

It seemed like such a good idea at the time. Work hard to get money, travel to New Vegas, make it big at the casinos and retire into a life of luxury.

She knew it was half baked, but unlike many others, her dreams of making it big in the casinos was a backup plan. Even if she blew it, there was a good chance she would be able to find work with the Followers in New Vegas. The Followers always seemed to be short handed and appreciated her help in the Boneyard, why would it be any different in the Mojave?

She had many talents, ranging from her scientific and computer skills, to her social skills and she always had a knack with energy based weaponry. There would be at least something that the Followers would need her for.

It may not be a glamorous lifestyle, filled with riches and fancy parties, but the way she saw it, she could do honest work for honest pay and live a happy life in a city untouched by the Great War.

What could possibly go wrong?

Part 1 - Price of Admission:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"Finally! We're here... oh thank God..." gasped Veritas. She was absolutely exhausted, Goris didn't seem to miss a step. "Of course he'd be fine", she mumbled to herself, "he wasn't the one who's been living off quarter rations.."

Still, she thought, they had reached the NCR's Mojave Outpost. New Vegas shouldn't be too much farther, and with NCR patrols around, all I have to do is stay away from the Colorado river and I'll be fine.

It had been a rough journey. After all, she had walked with Goris all the way from the Boneyard. It wasn't easy, what with pockets of Raiders here and there, but she was no slouch with an energy pistol and despite her fatigue, both she and Goris made it to the Mojave in one piece. She had considered covering up Goris with a robe or cloak, after all, what kind of person travels with a Deathclaw? But her efforts at hiding him were for naught. Goris apparently didn't like the idea, ripping to shreds any robes that Veritas tried to cover him with.

She stepped into the main outpost building, hoping to resupply herself with food, water, medical supplies and ammunition.

"Name?" called out a bored looking NCR Trooper. Veritas looked around, realising she was the only civilian in the lobby.



She walked right up to him. "Veritas Corr", she replied.

"Civilian, Merchant or Cour- whoa, what the hell is that thing?" The trooper jumped back in surprise, nearly hitting his head on the shelf behind him.

"Oh right, his name is Goris, he's a pet."

His eyes narrowed.

"Don't worry, he's tame" Veritas reassured him, "if he was hostile, he'd have already eaten me by now."

The trooper looked at Goris, then back at Veritas. He paused for a second, thinking things over.

Veritas was nervous. She realised that he could order that Goris be put down, or worse, that the two of them turn back. After all the time we spent getting here, she thought worriedly, we might not be allowed int-

"Okay, fine." Veritas sighed with relief.

"Thank you.. umm..."

"Knight, Major Knight.", he responded, "Still, I'd be careful about bringing that thing anywhere with you. Obviously the folks outside didn't think much of it, but many of them are recruits. Probably too scared to bring it up. But I'm no recruit and I'm warning you. He may be tame now, but when he grows up, what if he decides you'd make a tasty breakfast. Not to mention everyone else around you when it happens."

"I'll keep it in mind." She met his stare. "Was there anything else?" She asked.

"Yes actually, don't expect to get clearance to head on out. There plenty of merchants and traders who are stuck here. The roads ain't safe and there's a whole lot of uncertainty going on these days. In either case, you won't be able to leave."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Dead serious. Why do you think all those caravans and people outside are so grumpy?"

Veritas stared in disbelief. She was tired, almost broke, her equipment in deteriorating condition and now after all the work she did in getting here, the NCR's simply saying "oh, too bad." It made her want to scream, but nothing more than a tiny whimper came out.

"Hey, talk to Ranger Jackson, he's the leader around here. Maybe he'll make an exception for you and your 'friend'."

Veritas nodded weakly. It was worth a shot. But she was tired, hungry, thirsty and it was almost midday. That meant lunch time.

"Is there a place around here where I can get some grub and something to eat? Possibly resupply?" She asked Knight.

"Well," he said, "you could try your luck with some of the caravans outside, but there's a bar in the adjacent building, at the very least you could get some alcohol."

"Thanks. I guess."

"No problem."

As she walked outside, she recomposed herself. "It ain't over," she said aloud, shaking her head, "it's far from over."

She got an odd look from one of the Troopers outside, but she didn't care. She wouldn't be broken, not when she was so close.

"First lunch, and then... and then we'll see."

[mrcrusty]

No interest in this?

Aww.

*sniff*

Anyways...

Part 2 - Pest Control:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"Ants? That's it?" questioned Veritas.

The grizzled Ranger, Jackson, nodded.

"There are dozens of them out on the road." He sighed. "There ain't nothing we can do missy, the Ants are ripping through the corpses of people, just like you, who decided to take their chances."

"But what if yo-"

"I know what you are thinking", Jackson said, interrupting her interruption, "we could get the recruits and soldiers to chase off the Ants, would be good practice for the greenhorns too, but orders are orders. We have been ordered to keep the outpost at full capacity, no patrols and no exceptions."

Veritas' was puzzled, it's not like the higher ups would notice a contingent of NCR Troopers on a "scouting mission" by the roads. But she resigned herself to the fact that he wouldn't change his mind. For that matter, Jackson looked rather resigned himself.

Perhaps he had gotten into hot water for disobeying orders before...

"Fine, I'll risk it then. But I'm a little short on ammunition and stimpaks. My laser pistol could use a bit of repairing and my armor could use a little patching up too."

"Well, we haven't got much on ammunition or weapons to sell so to speak, but Major Knight, the man at the HQ front desk, he can repair your weapons for you."

Veritas raised an eyebrow. She wasn't talking about buying.

Jackson gave her a look and scratched his beard. He understood.

"Ahh, if you get the roads clear again, if you do mind you, I may have accidentally misplaced a couple of requisition forms. The outpost is such a busy place and all, a rifle here, some ammunition there, maybe trooper's uniform, things get lost in the hustle and bustle."

Veritas gave Jackson a little smile. "Thanks, I'll be back once the Ants are gone."

"You've only just eaten, maybe you want to wait or rest before tackling the Ants?"

"Not a chance," she laughed, "I may have had lunch, but my little exterminator is still hungry." She flung open the door with Goris in tow.

"I wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

...

The Ants were congregating near the crossroads of two large highways, making it impossible to travel in either the Northbound or Eastbound direction. You would have to brave the Mojave desert in all it's desolate glory. "Ugh," Veritas muttered, "I'd rather be eaten by the Ants."

She snuck down the road coming from the Outpost, she didn't want to attract undue attention. So many broken down cars. She shook her head. "These poor people... must've been trying to leave the Mojave when the bombs fell."

She could see the Ants up ahead. They were picking apart the body of an unfortunate man. The only thing fortunate about it was that he was already dead before they started gripping onto his limbs, ripping them off with ease.

Veritas took a moment to collect her wits and tried to think out a plan.

"Okay..." She equipped her laser pistol, firmly gripping it, aiming down the sight. The Ants had yet to discover her. The afternoon sun beat down on her, causing sweat to trickle down her forehead. "I have to do this right", she told herself.

As she calculated in her mind her ability to shoot the Ants down from range, she reached a disturbing answer. She had neither the accuracy nor the ammunition to take them down all at once. Luckily, she was also carrying a 9mm pistol with her with a clip or two of ammunition, something she scavenged off a dead raider. Not to mention a broad machete. Just in case.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It came to her. Goris was not an aggressive Deathclaw (imagine that), so he'd need a reason to attack the Ants. If she started shooting, he would, sure enough, go down there and rip them up, but at the same time, that puts her at significant risk. She wouldn't be resupplied with ammunition or weapons until she finished the job, either.

She removed her backpack, opened it up and took out 2 boxes. 1 of Cram and the other of Sugar Bombs. She waved the packaging in front of Goris, who naturally, wanted a taste.

As she moved closer and closer to the Ants, being careful not to cause alarm, Goris followed her every step, not once looking away from the boxes of food. Then, hiding behind a broken down car, she threw the boxes over the car and into the direction of the Ants.

The Ants scurried towards the boxes, happy to get a free meal. Goris cried out and ran towards the Ants head on. There was no way he was going to let them have his meal, Veritas thought. He would be ferocious.

Still, Goris was still an infant - perhaps a toddler - as Deathclaws go, so after a few seconds of distraction that Goris provided, Veritas climbed on top of the rusted out car husk and focused on the Ants.

Gunplay came naturally to her, she had the innate ability to calculate in her mind how effective her shots would be. The likelyhood of them hitting enemies and the affect it would have on them.

She lined up the Ants one by one.

Then they started to die.



For the Ants, it must have been like a buzz of death descending upon them. The "buzz" sound coming from her laser pistol rang out as the Ants fell one by one. They fell as sure as the day is long.

Veritas lost count of how many she took down, realising that she was beginning to run out of energy cells, her laser pistol's ammunition. Thankfully, there were only 2 Ants left. So really, it was just a matter of time before the Ants would be fin-

"Argh!" She yelled. "!"

Sparks began to fly from her laser pistol.

Veritas quickly dropped it and jumped away from it, her right hand stung with pain. She'd need to stimpak it later. The laser pistol stopped making sparks, but in it's place, black smoke started to come out of it. Her eyes darted back to the Ants, the last of them being clawed at by Goris. The Ant seemed to be missing some of it's legs. Goris was merely playing with it. The Ant was going to die no matter what happened now.

She focused her attention back to the laser pistol, inspecting it closely. It was in poor condition. One of the energy cells had not been discharged properly, causing the internal capacitor to overheat.

The pistol was, for a lack of a better word, toast.

She took out her scavenged 9mm pistol and decided that she may as well use it unless she finds another energy based weapon to use. She wasn't a complete novice with ordinary guns, it's not like she couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Usually.

Goris came on over to her, pieces of Ant's legs sticking out of his mouth.

"That's disgusting Goris, at least swallow your food." She said, shaking her head. Goris of course, didn't respond.

...

"I've cleared the roads out for you."

"So I've heard," Jackson replied, "I didn't think you had it in you. Many had already tried and failed. But then, I guess not many people have a tame Deathclaw."

"About the requisition forms," Veritas began.

"Requisition forms?" Jackson said, dropping a couple of documents on the ground, "I have no idea what you're talking about, missy."

She picked the documents up, flicking through them and reading it aloud. "4 stimpaks, 3 bottles of purified water, a service rifle, several clips of 9mm, 5.56mm and 10mm ammunition, and a... reconnaissance armor?"

"Oh, that sounds like a list of equipment that's recently gone missing. It arrived in the barracks sure enough, but I seem to have lost the requisition forms for it. So I can't claim it. You wouldn't happen to know those forms are, would you?" Jackson asked with a wink.

Veritas returned his wink with a grin, "No sir I haven't," she replied, "but if I happen to come across them I'll let you know."

...

Veritas slept easy that night, perhaps for the first time since leaving home. She was well stocked, at least for the moment, Goris was not causing any problems and her first major roadblock in the Mojave was overcome without a hitch, unless she counted the laser pistol. She didn't, however.

Pretty soon, she'd be living it up in Vegas full time. Or at the very least, helping out the Followers and living it up in Vegas on her off days.

The only question now was how to get there. Now that the road was cleared, she could go either North through Primm or East through Nipton.



She decided on Primm, thinking it would get her to New Vegas quicker. After all, it's not like there was any reason to take the longer route, right?

[Legio]

Nice job. LOL at the deathclaw in the pic above^

[Bolkonsky]

Great job! How do you like NV? Worth the dough?

[mrcrusty]

Nice job. LOL at the deathclaw in the pic above^

Lol, I wasn't originally going to have the Deathclaw in the AAR, but it was a bonus perk I picked up from the XFO rebalancing mod.

The description said something like "you now have an animal friend who you can feed and grows with you in your journey in the Mojave" so I was expecting like a dog or something. Lol.

Great job! How do you like NV? Worth the dough?

Definitely. Gameplay wise, it's not too different from Fallout 3, but it's got the flavour of the original Fallouts sprinkled with a little frontier and Wild West motif, and that just warms my heart.

The game itself is huge, content wise it's about as big as Fallout 3, but the branching questlines and choices with knock on consequences improves replayability.

Plus mods. There are plenty and plenty of mods. Really happy with the XFO mod I'm using. Makes the game more RPGish, challenging and rewarding all at once.

...

Part 3 - The Long Road to Primm:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In the late afternoon, Veritas left the Mojave outpost, not wanting to stay overnight.

She decided to head north to Vegas, via the Interstate 15 Highway. It would pass by the town of Primm, which would be her next preferred stop.

She knew however, that she wouldn't be able to reach Primm before sunset. There was no point traveling at night under the cover of darkness. Only an idiot with a death wish, or a Cateye addiction, would even consider traveling during the night.

Goris looked at her expectantly.

"Hungry? Again?" She asked.

Goris just continued looking at her, Veritas could feel as if Goris was almost pleading with her, to give him a snack.

Veritas refused to give in to his demands. Not while they were out in the open road. She'd need to find a safe place first where they could hunker down, safe from the dangers of the Wastes. Whether that meant the weather, the wildlife or the wastelanders.

As it was nearing sunset, she could see off in the distance a solitary building. It was still standing, and hadn't suffered any structural damage as far as she could tell. It would make a perfect place to spend the night, provided there wasn't any hostiles around.

She quickly dropped her backpack, took out the reconnaissance armor that Jackson had given her, and put it on. The material was heavier than the leather, but still relatively lightweight. More importantly, it provided her with much more protection.

She jogged over onto the side of the road, amongst a couple of large rocks. It gave her plenty of cover but served as a great vantage point. She pulled out a pair of binoculars and focused in on the building, hoping that there wasn't anyone there.

Unfortunately for her and Goris, there was.

She couldn't mark out who exactly the people were, but she could guess. Judging by the clothes they wore and the way they walked around, she knew that it had to be a gang of raiders. Probably addled with drugs. One of them was lying down on the ground, waving a knife in the air, as if trying to slash at the sky.

"Scumbag s." She muttered to herself.

She had bad memories of drugged up Raiders. There was this one time where she was part of a prospecting mission Downtown where her group got caught up in a firefight with a gang of Raiders who were high at the time. They dispatched them quickly enough, most of them weren't even armed with guns. But as one of her fellow prospectors tried to obtain a stimpak on the body of one of the Raiders, he suddenly pulled out a razor blade and slit the man in the throat, killing him.

That was one of Veritas' first experiences with Raiders, and the first watching drugs cause Raiders to do seemingly superhuman things. The Raider with the blade had already been shot 3 times.

So she knew, if she was going to kill these Raiders, she had to make sure they were really dead.

Sunset was coming, so she mulled down her options. Her laser pistol was discarded back at the Outpost, unrepairable. So all she had with her was a 9mm pistol and a standard issue NCR service rifle. She had enough ammunition for each, so that wasn't an issue but she had to decide which approach to take when gunning these Raiders down.

Her proficiency with firearms wasn't horrible, but it was far from great. She would have to take advantage of her situation and prevent herself from fighting up front if she could.

That meant attacking from long range. Service rifle it was.

She lined them up, knowing that most shots would miss. That wasn't the point however, the point was to attract their attention so that Goris would run and charge at them. She prayed that they were high on Jet and not Psycho otherwise this would be a short fight.

She fired the first shot. Goris, looking first at Veritas and then in the direction of her rifle fire, scrambled down the large rock and started running for the group of Raiders. "Pssh, grazed arm," said a disappointed Veritas, she had been aiming at the head.

Goris roared, the Raiders fled in panic. Veritas couldn't believe it, maybe they were high on Ultra Jet. She saw one Raider stumble over, only to have his back clawed out by Goris. The other two Raiders jumped back, one of them trying to shoot at Goris, but accidentally kneecapping the other Raider instead. As Veritas looked on with her binoculars, she could only remark on how pathetically high they looked. Crying out in fear, they both stumbled into the building.

Veritas jumped off the rock's ledge and sprinted after them.

She entered the building, bringing out her 9mm pistol for this. In close quarters, the higher rate of fire would prove useful. She was expecting a firefight. She did not get one.

As she opened the door, all she saw was a pathetic mess of humanity. One of the Raiders was unconscious and bleeding profusely from a stump that used to her leg. The other, was simply staring at her friend, mumbling something unintelligible. Apparently they had tried to remove the bullet but the Raider playing the role of "Doctor" was too high, stupid or both, instead severing the leg altogether. It certainly wasn't wise for them to use a hunting knife as a scalpel, either.

They looked utterly helpless. For a moment, Veritas considered letting them live. They were drug addicts sure, but they seemed to care for each other. Most Raiders would sooner eat each other than try to help one of their own.

But she quickly banished the thought. The drugs or the money for them was probably obtained by killing innocent people traveling along the highway. She was just lucky they were high when she arrived.

It's not like they would just let her stay for the night when their kick wears off. No, they'd kill her and Goris if they could. They would then use her weapons and ammunition to kill more people in the future.

There was no way around it.

She pistol whipped the weeping "Doctor Raider" and with both of them now unconscious, she put them down.



She moved the lifeless corpses towards the door and planted a mine on each of the bodies.

"There we go. A-grade defense system," she said proudly, "if any Raiders come across the bodies, that ought to give me plenty of warning. Not to mention blow them to bits."

She was safe for now, tomorrow would be different. But that didn't bother her too much. She had been through a lot, and had come out stronger for it.

This life, she thought, it's not that bad.

It's not that bad at all.

[Omar Nelson B.]

Good stuff man, keep it going!

[mrcrusty]

Part 4 - I fought the Law and the Law won:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

After their morning meal, Veritas and Goris headed off towards Primm. It had apparently done well in recent times, serving as a resting point between New Vegas and the Mojave Outpost. Although Veritas was still well supplied, she knew that the harsh environment of the Mojave would take it's toll, particularly on their water supply. Goris, again, was a source of frustration in this area.

Luckily, she was able to refill two empty bottles from the building that she now knew as the highway patrol station. The water itself may be a little dirty, and probably irradiated, but it wasn't going to kill either of them. At least not immediately, and really, water is water.

She hoped that when she arrived at Primm, she could either make some spare cash, or some energy cells and weapons. She disliked using normal firearms, she found them clunky and wasn't very adapt at using them. There were rumors going around that the Mojave Express hired Couriers to make deliveries across the wasteland. If she was lucky, she'd find a cushy job assignment and earn some caps. Maybe NCR paper money.

The town probably had a doctor or medical professional too. Perhaps an animal expert.

She didn't give it much thought before, but maybe a doctor, or a researcher, or someone could provide some useful information about Goris. Maybe a way to stop him following her. She loved Goris dearly as a pet. But let's face it, she thought, he's a Deathclaw and once he grows to full size, no one will want to come near us.

"Maybe I can find a way to get him back with his own kind," she said, smiling at Goris, "we'd probably both be better off." Goris returned her smile with a blank stare.

But really, what were the chances of finding a Deathclaw expert at a town like Primm? She'd have to travel to New Vegas. Perhaps the Followers or maybe the Mojave OSI branch would have answers for her. In either case, both were still a long way away and all her speculation did was pass the time.

Which was fine frankly, she didn't have a working radio on her Readius, or anything else to distract her from the walk to Primm.

It was late morning, judging from the position of the sun, Veritas couldn't be exact, that will be another thing that she'd need to add to her readius, but she was sure they would reach Primm sometime in the afternoon. Hopefully, there will be shelter and maybe a vendor with a laser pistol, or even laser rifle, waiting for her business. She could also try her hand at the Bison Steve casino. It wasn't said to be as grand as the casinos in New Vegas, but she hadn't even been to a casino before. So any chance to play at the slot machine or blackjak before she got to Vegas was appreciated.

...

She was right, it was afternoon before she arrived on the outskirts of Primm. The sun was high in the sky, the heat and light burning at her like it does every day. Goris had pierced open a bottle of dirty water and began sucking at the holes, drinking each drop as if it were his last. He ended up biting into the bottle, small pockets of water bursting everywhere. He then shook the bottle quite ferociously and threw it away, apparently dissatisfied. He looked towards Veritas, obviously wanting more.

"How strange," she noted, "you'd think Deathclaws wouldn't act like this. Is it because Goris is young? Or is it because I mother him too much?"

Suddenly, she heard a rather loud noise, followed several others.

She'd recognise that noise anywhere. Gun fire.

After opening up her backpack and dropping another bottle of water with a fancy lad on the ground, she ran in the direction of the gun fire: Primm.

She perched herself up on a rock outside the town so she could get a picture of what was going on.



It was a firefight between a group of men and NCR troopers. She suppressed a wince, the NCR troopers were outnumbered. Badly.

There were at least a dozen of the men, who looked well armed with a variety of fire arms and decent clothing. They weren't ordinary Raiders, by the looks of things. Probably a gang of some sort, but more organised than drug crazy Raiders. Regardless of how trained the NCR soldiers were, unless a veteran ranger was hiding in the bushes somewhere, they were going to be killed.

She considered helping, but what good would that do? There were only 4-5 NCR troopers and a good dozen armed men shooting at them. Had she brought a laser rifle, she would've jumped immediately into the fray with abandon, shooting until they were all dead. This was a different tale however, she had no energy weapons, she had a deteriorating NCR service rifle with limited ammunition. She thought very carefully about her options.

Veritas chose the easy way out.

She ducked behind the rock and waited for the firefight to finish. Every couple of seconds or so, she poked her head out from the side, checking to see what was happening. A couple of the armed men were dead, same with the NCR troopers, but the troopers were retreating across a bridge connecting Primm with a few demolished buildings.

Oddly, the armed men did not give chase.

"They must have a camp based there," she realised, "today's fight may have been just a probing mission." She smiled, "I may be able to get some weapons and ammunition, after all."

She ran back to the highway, where she left Goris. He was still there of course. He was rolling on the floor in a playful manner. Veritas had no idea Goris acted like that. He was moaning and growling very softly. Her curiosity was replaced with worry. No, this wasn't like him at all, she thought.

Goris stopped moving. Shock and panic started to course through Veritas' veins.

Was he poisoned? Is he okay? What's going on?

Another gun shot sounded. She looked towards Primm and didn't see anything coming from that direction, but she did see something coming from the NCR camp. A contingent of 3 soldiers were running in her direction.

She could see one of them carried a tranquilizer gun. The other two carrying NCR service rifles.

"Halt! You are in the jurisdiction of the NCR Army, 5th Battalion, 1st company. Drop your weapons, put your hands above your hand and move away from that... thing."

"Wha-"

"Do it now or I will shoot, Powder Ganger!"

Veritas complied. She had no idea what she had gotten herself into. She only hoped she could get herself out of it.

[mrcrusty]

Update after a short break. No pics for this one, though I may add them in later. Probably will have another chapter up tomorrow.

Part 5 - NCR Capitivity:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"Ugh, so let's go over this again. You say you're not a Powder Ganger?"

Veritas shook her head. This back and forth had been going on for days.

So, here she was. In an NCR camp outside Primm, sitting inside a tent, with two soldiers, one of them looked like he was in charge and the other soldier... probably just a subordinate. Could be a communications officer.

She had been captured by the NCR, yes, captured by the NCR. Ridiculous, she thought, I'm an NCR citizen and I haven't done anything wrong.

However, the soldiers didn't believe her.

Really though, if she were one of them, she wouldn't believe it herself. After all, she had just come out of a hostile Primm right around the time injured NCR soldiers limped back to their camp. On top of that, she ran away from the NCR camp and towards a Deathclaw.

She didn't like it, but to some degree, she understood. Doesn't mean that she wasn't any less angry.

It had been close to a week. At least she thought it was almost a week. Handcuffed the entire time. Being spoonfed because they wouldn't trust her to eat without trying to escape.

Not to mention 'needing to go'. They wouldn't let her go without someone supervising. There were also no women in the camp as far as she saw. So, she had been holding it in as much as possible. Needless to say, both of the times she failed were just ing humiliating.

It was enough to fill her with rage. She held back however. They were still holding her, but she could convince them yet to let her and Goris go. She couldn't say what hour it was, only that it was probably day time. The sun was out. Her backpack and everything she had was taken away from her when she was captured.

The NCR officer was handed a clipboard with some documents attached by his subordinate. He looked at the clipboard, then at her.

The subordinate walked out of the tent. The NCR officer sat down at his chair and table, not taking his eyes off the clipboard.

Goris was on the ground, still groaning, weakly moving his arms. They had been drugging him constantly, keeping him barely conscious, or "safe" as they liked to call it. Veritas worried a little about how drugging Goris would affect him over the long term. But to be perfectly honest, most of her she was just glad that they hadn't decided to kill either of them. Yet.

The NCR officer put his clipboard down and looked at Veritas.

"Okay, we've just received a letter from the Mojave Outpost confirming your identity."

Vertias instantly looked up at him.

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

He didn't stand up, nor look as if he was going to do anything.

"Umm. Excuse me?" Veritas asked.

"Yes?" He replied.

"Aren't you going to let me go?"

"Let you go?" He chuckled. "well, all we've done so far is establish that you are an NCR citizen who helped out the folks at the Mojave Outpost. You do realise that there are convicts and gangs running roughshod all over Primm, not to mention elsewhere. No my dear, you aren't going anywhere just yet."

Veritas groaned in annoyance.

"One last thing, Miss... Corr, is it?" She nodded weakly. "You've got a growing Deathclaw with you. We're running out of anesthetics to treat it with. We're running out of supplies, period."

She raised an eyebrow.

"You've been here for a few days now, I'd like to hold the both of you here for longer. Obviously since he won't able to restrain the Deathclaw by force, I was wondering if yo-"

Then it happened.

"!" She yelled.

"Goris and I didn't do anything wrong and now you're holding us here against our will. I've been here handcuffed to a ing chair for the last week being spoonfed and pissing all over myself because you wits can't trust me to go to the ing toilet!"

If she wasn't handcuffed, she surely would've have pummeled his face in by now.

"Oh, by the way," she added mockingly, "we're not able to hold you here for too much longer, so can you please be a dear and try not to escape on your own."

"You really think that's the right thing to tell me after keeping me here for so long?"

Veritas spat onto the ground.

The NCR officer looked taken aback.

"No, you misunderstand me," he said, recovering his composure, "the documents here prove that you're an NCR citizen, you know that much. But they also contain glowing recommendations from a Senior Ranger Jackson. He says that you're quite talented at gunplay and that you and your err... pet, took out a number of Giant Ants blocking the I-15."

Veritas didn't say a word. What was he getting at?

"The reason I don't want you to go anywhere is because we're going to get resupplied within the week. These convicts have been around for almost two weeks. The folks of Primm are holed up in some hotel so the convicts outside have been living on borrowed time. They were able to steal some food and supplies, but new intel suggests that the Powder Gangers aren't resupplying them. It's a splinter group."

Veritas digested the information. She understood what he was getting at. She then realised how utterly moronic her outburst had been. She wasn't any less pissed off, but she did still feel foolish for blowing up the way she did.

"Powder Gangers? Your men accused me of being one. You accused me of being one."

"Ahh, yes. Apologies Miss Corr, but it did look pretty suspicious at the time. The Powder Gangers are a group of escaped convicts from the NCR correctional facility. They've been rampant around these parts. You can clearly see that Primm is under the control of a splinter gang."

"So, you want me to stay here for now because you want my help to take back the town?" She asked him, knowing his answer.

"Yes."

"Is there any chance of you letting me go?"

"Well, I can't force you to stay here. But your Deathclaw is a different matter. It's a dangerous beast. I can't let it go in good conscience."

"But you'll make an exception if the two of us happen to help the NCR here. Right?"

The officer smiled.

He walked over to Veritas and dangled the keys to her handcuffs. He unlocked them.

"The supplies get here in 3 days. 4 days from now, we take back Primm."

Veritas nodded. She was happy that she was no longer a prisoner. Goris too, would be happy about it. Once he regains full consciousness. But she couldn't help feel a little down. Was she going to be destined to take part in other people's problems, why can't they solve their own crap?

All she wanted was to live life on her own terms. But it seemed like wherever she went circumstance causes people left and right to ask for her help.

Oh well, she finally thought to herself, such is life.

So, she smiled at the NCR officer and as she got up to go to and 'see to nature' for the first time in 2 days, she felt that maybe one day, her experiences here would help her control her emotions better.

Specifically, the emotion that made her want to slaughter everyone in the camp.

[Choki]

Very nice job! I love this!

[mrcrusty]

Sorry I've been lax on the updates recently, I haven't given up on this AAR or anything. Just been busy with other stuff.

I do plan to enter it into the Monthly AAR Competition this month, so I'll be resuming regular updates on the AAR starting later today.

[Timberwolf467]

Just dropping in to say that i really like this- i especially like the nod to Fallout 2

Keep up the good work!

[mrcrusty]

Just dropping in to say that i really like this- i especially like the nod to Fallout 2

Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

Now, sorry for zero updates for quite a while. I caught a bug called "The Witcher 2" and I couldn't get over it for a while.



I also was working on a Vault 11 video (spoilerific). But I promise I'll get some updates up soon.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Update (13-6): Putting this on hold for the moment. I just don't have the will to continue writing it, especially since I've long past the section in my playthrough and having too much fun playing through it. I'll update when possible, but don't expect anything.

Sorry everyone.