Fallout NV fanfic: Old Man Courier chpt 17

5 years ago, HELIOS One – Operation: Sunburst…

“Hey, Jake…” the young NCR trooper called, “Jake, you there?”

“Yeah, I’m here James…”

“Pass me the bottle will ya.”

Jake handed over the water bottle. James took a little sip then wiped his mouth. The two of them were standing watch under a little trench. Off that position about a few miles was the solar power plant called HELIOS One. The general called this operation code name Sunburst. The solar plant was currently under the possession of the Brotherhood of Steel. A small chapter it seemed. Not too many of them. The general said to wait until dawn when the ranger troops come along, only then would they have enough firepower.

James took another sip, wiped his mouth then sighed:

“Brotherhood of Steel… never thought the day would come when I’d be going up against one of those crazy power armor wearing son of a bitch.”

“None of us thought of that day.” Jake said, grabbing the bottle and taking a sip himself.

“Do you think we can make it? Make it out of here alive I mean.”

“You kidding?” Jake said, “When the rangers come, the Brotherhood are the ones who should be worried. “

“I don’t know about that, those guys seem awfully strong.”

“Yeah… but still…”

Suddenly out from the corner, the general emerged, bellowing:

“HSU! ERWIN!”

That shout woke both of them up, pulling themselves onto their feet and saluting the grumpy general before them.

“General, sir!”

“At ease!”

James and Jake sighed in relief.

“Hsu,” said the general, “I want you on patrol over the east post after midnight, one of the boys over there had some stomach problems, you’re going to need to fill in.”

“Yes sir!” He answered firmly.

“And Erwin.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t cause any trouble, alright? That is all.”

The general left, James and Jake sat back and relaxed. It was as if they just experienced a lightning bolt striking at their hearts. The two of them panted heavily.

“That was intense.” Jake commented.

“Yeah, well what are you going to do about it?” James said smiling.

“You know what would be even more intense?”

“What?”

Jake looked about, as if seeing if anybody was watching them. Jake went over and sat closer to James so that he could whisper to him:

“If The Red Eye shows up.”

James sat there for a moment, not knowing how to respond to this. He stared at Jake blankly for a long minute.

“Wait,” Jake shook his head, “don’t tell me you don’t know the urban legend about The Red Eye.”

“What on earth are you talking about? What urban legend?”

Jake sighed, disappointed:

“I guess I’ll just have to tell you, okay, listen up. There is a legend amongst all travelers of the Mojave Desert. There is a man, who walks the sand and earth of this land, nobody knows who he is, but legend says that this man dresses exactly like one of our rangers.”

James was blinking in disbelief, Jake continued:

“He wears a duster and a helmet – just like our ranger boys – but with red glowing eyes. And the urban legend is that if you see these glowing red eyes in the distance. Then you better pray that you are not the one he is after because if you are then you’re as good as dead.”

James kept on staring at him, not knowing what to make of it.

“And it gets better,” Jake said, “The man is practically a one man army. Once, there was a Legion camp down south to the far East somewhere, along the Colorado River. That camp has got arms and weapons that we normal troopers could only dream about. Anti-Material Rifles, Brush guns, Gatling gun and even Plasma Caster. They say that that camp, just over one night, was burnt to the ground, the Legion didn’t even manage to set foot into Nevada. Nothing was left alive. Witnesses said that it was just one man. And the best part was… that witnesses say that… the man only uses a single revolver.”

The two of them sat there staring at each other for an awkward silence that lasted for nearly a few minutes before James finally said:

“You’re crazy!”

“What?” 

“You expect me to believe this crap?” James said, “Jeez, man, what do you take me for, an idiot?”

“Hey, I swear to god, I’m not making this up, it’s a real urban legend. You go and ask around, or better yet go ask the general, he’ll confirm it.”

“Real or not, I’m not buying it.”

“Yeah,” Jake admitted, “I won’t force you to… hey… do you hear that?”

James and Jake strained their ears very hard to hear what was happening. Suddenly from afar, they heard it – gun fire. The two of them quickly grabbed their service rifle and jumped out of the trench. All of the camp was up and running at this point. It was strange, all NCR troops were present at the camp, and yet they could still hear loud gunfire from afar. It came from the direction of the solar plant. What was even stranger was that Brotherhood Paladins would usually use laser or plasma rifles. And yet they heard sound of normal bullets and guns.

By the time the NCR troops got to the solar plant, all of them stared in horror. Brotherhood Paladin bodies stacked like mountains of flesh. Blood oozing from the metal power armor. There were few surviving Brotherhood members which could be seen retreating onto the hills from afar. At the center of all the bodies – one man. Red glowing eyes…

Truth was – Solmund had hated the Brotherhood of Steel from the very beginning…