Flavius Valerius Pontificus Augustus Maximus Vulpes Inculta Constantine Invictus Caesar
"...Three new gunsmiths, seven blacksmiths, a chem lab, a salt mine, three brahmin ranches, a radio station and accompanying press, and a sulfur mine.”
A man in the tent scoffed.
“Half a million denarii investment and a single salt mine? My dear Emperor this is absurd the Utah governor has made a mockery of your trust! We should return to the previous distribution of funds it does not do to give such favour needlessly.”
“Thank you for the input, Colorado. However as stated before until the 80s dreggs and Mexico are subdued Utah, New Mexico and Arizona will have disproportionate investment. I doubt you truly require more funds, no? The few tribes not under the protection of the Brotherhood are trivial work if there are even any left, no?”
“Of course m’Lord, but think of what a beauty could be made of Denver!”
“Later, Governor, later.”
Vulpes did not enjoy these talks. He went through with them with the full extent of his competency of course, but he had become a Frumentarii because that was where he knew he could make the greatest impact.
“Dolos, what progress can you report?”
“My Lord, I think you will be most happy with what we have managed to do.”
Reaching into a pocket of his pre-war suit he removed two wads of paper which were NCR and pre-war dollars respectively. “The margin of error is asymptotically approaching those of the originals. We haven’t tried any other currencies but I believe we may be able to achieve similar results to any nation’s mints.”
Vulpes smiled. The ability to create falsified currency was a thought in the man’s head for a long time. Intelligence revealed that the Brotherhood of Steel’s most potent assaults upon the NCR were grounded in attacking the republic’s financial institutions and this knowledge would certainly be useful when the inevitable confrontation with the NCR would come again.
“Most excellent.” He said. “But tell me, the other project, has it come to… fruition?”
“Yes, it has.” The ghoul whistled and another of his kind (both Frumentarius and ghoul covered in sewn-on human skins) approached with a pip-boy that played a holotape of some indecipherable cacophony.
All present knew what it was.
“The seeds of Techatticup do bear fruit. Not as potent as I had hoped, but also far more transportable than I previously expected.”
“You tested it?”
“Yes.”
“The results?”
“I used a terminal to graph the effects. You may view them my Lord. With approximately one hundred test subjects we have found the waste to be able to - depending on dose in the water - create effects from as mild as diarrhea, nausea, fever, and more to ones as severe as nearly instant death and ghoulification. A water supply poisoned with a single barrel will destroy that community for years until a painful and expensive cleaning process purifies it.”
“You have out done yourself, Dolos.”
“Well I thank you m’Lord, but I would still request more funding for a continuation of the project. In camp searchlight we can find much more of the same in a manner that is so compact and yet so powerful…..”
“It is under review, Master Dolos. We must also temper our expectations in a hypothetical campaign of mass-poisonings of course. For now turn your attentions to the 80s, we shall review retrieving the radioactive material at Searchlight in a month’s time. Now let us turn to to reviewing the Aurelian Campaign.”
There she was, la Belle Mexico. Full of so many mysteries and wonders promised to Aurelius and the Legion at large. Oil, stockpiles of arms and munitions intended for the occupation long ago, and millions of souls yet uneducated to the glory of the Bull. Already on the march into the land some tribes and communities were encountered, and only one community and two tribes were foolish enough to try and resist an army in the tens of thousands. They were crushed of course, but before Aurelius could give them a taste of the old Legion’s conquest one of those new Grey Frumentarii put a firm hand on his shoulder, and he reared in his men.
Emperor Vulpes Inculta would most certainly be pleased when the news reached him, one more step in the path of the man’s retribution before the eyes of his Emperor.
Aurelius rubbed on the collar at his neck. After their duel the slave’s bomb was wrapped around him exactly where his throat was slit, before it managed to heal. The wound got salt forced into it such that when the collar went over it would forever bring Aurelius great pain until it was removed — which would most certainly not be in the foreseeable future. Truth was he didn’t mind the pain, what the man cared more about was the symbolism of the thing, what mattered was that he was now a slave of sorts. The mere thought that he - the conqueror of Phoenix! - was a slave! Well it would be gone in good time, and great Laurels would sit in its place. Perhaps once Mexico was integrated he would even have the honour of leading the campaign against the NCR!
For now though, he had to set his eyes on the current prize: Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, with the secondary objectives of Mexico city and Tamaulipas, the tertiary objective of Guadalajara, Sinaloa and Tabasco, and the ternary objective of the rest of Mexico.
Aurelius knew that with but a few years he could do it all.
From the Frumentarii and Speculatores sent ahead of the main force a picture pleasing to the man was painted. The largest parties they could discover were two rival Empires with both claiming to be heirs of some ancient Throne of the land. Aurelius found no irony in dismissing them, whilst wearing a Galea and having his armour gilded with Latin phrases. They were both powerful in their own right, Mexico's salvation from direct nuclear hellfire letting the land grow to great prosperity in contrast to America proper. Great farms grew crops to feed the whole Legion, while many instances of pre-war technology operated just as well as before the bombs fell.
Supposedly these two Empires had a fair bit of advancement. They had working vehicles, perhaps even more than the NCR albeit with no vertibirds to call their own, the extent of their aeronautics being microlight flyers. They had stalemated each other, their long war of more than a century leaving them blissfully unaware of the danger coming for them. Both Empires had armies larger and far better equipped than the force under Aurelius. But they had grown complacent, and largely were deployed against one another; the well prepared army of the Legion would be marching right onto their flank previously unfortified believed to present no danger beyond occasional Vaquero bands. The fact these raiders had disappeared was news taken with delight, and it seemed nobody had questioned why they had. No matter, they were a good warmup and a source of supplies for the Legio Mexicanae.
Currently there were two goals for Aurelius to achieve in the immediate term. He had to take Chihuaha and Hermosillo to be staging points for the rest of the campaign. With the loss of two major areas the Habsburgs would feel pressure, and their Iturbide enemies would feel arrogant with only clues to their new threat. If all went to plan, this would be capitalized upon by the Legion and with the integration of the Empires the Legion would have a grand new population and resources. Oh, how glorious it would be….
Onwards, to Hermosillo, to Chihuaha! At the front of the column thousands strong Aurelius walked with the flag of the Bull wrapped around his rifle,
and he let a song come from his lips that slowly echoed along with his men. The Legion was in Mexico, and much blood would be spilled....
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