John Fulman, Commander of the Arctic Haven outfit
New Vegas TCC, New Vegas
John was sitting back in his chair awaiting the man of the Brotherhood's answer nervous he'd say no. "It's a harsh world, Commander, and we all do what we must to survive. It is true that there is a checkered past between Arctic Haven and the Brotherhood, both our Brethren to the West, and our Order. But we recognize that you and your men are professionals, bearing grudges over past conflicts helps no-one. I can speak for the Lord-Paladin on this matter with authority...we shall aid you in making sure this weapon is never, ever used. For that matter, we will dismantle the device or devices on-board, and destroy them, as we have many others before." John let out a quiet exhale of relief as the Brother Joseph pulled a notebook and pen from a satchel at his side and continued.
"If you could kindly give me the coordinates of the silo the weapon is housed in, and the designation of the control center you found, we will research military records in our possession to learn precisely what we are dealing with. We will assemble a team that can, with your permission, evaluate the weapon and determine the best way to neutralize it before transportation. Does your command have access to a crane that can hoist a weight of forty tons?". John nodded, "Of course, give me a moment." He put his hand in his coat and withdrew a handheld Pipboy 2000, continuing to enter coordinates until they pulled up an island on a map of Alaska with the word 'Nikolski' on the map and transcribed the coordinates to the Brother's pad. "There you are, sir. We also do have old silo cranes, but unused and mothballed. Almost every silo has been depleted, so the cranes were put to storage except down on the dockyard." John put his Pipboy away and had begun to sit down when Joseph turned from the door. He removed a folder from his satchel and offered it to John, "For your perusal, Commander", Joseph said, "A contract offer I have been authorized and directed to make by the Lord-Paladin." John scratched his head as he read over the file as he escorted Joseph out of the office. He took pictures of each document and photo before he threw the file into a nearby metal bin and set it on fire. An old Vertibird with remnants of Enclave callsigns on the side was no whirring as John yelled over the rotor noise, "Sure, I know just the team for this. As for you, be ready to dress warm, Brother. It's not as sunny up north."
Vertibird
En Route to Arctic Haven Motherbase
John was reading over the files, his Pipboy plugged into the helicopter to keep it powered. He was impressed by the data the Brotherhood had compiled and muttered to himself, "Quite the contract. Quite the payday.". You could critique many things about the Brotherhood, but their thoroughness wasn't one of them. "Randolph, take us back to motherbase. I want to be ready for the Brotherhood's arrival.", Randolph's voice came into his earpiece, "Copy, Biddle. Returning home." John was still reading the notes even as the night came until he fell asleep, dropping the Pipboy as he fell into deep sleep.
"Sergeant! Look alive! We got Legion crossing the bridge!" John was nervous, trying to keep behind his CO. "You will stand and hold this line, men. The Bull will not outmatch the bear!" The scenes flashed as bullets popped and concrete chinked with holes from impact and he was on the ground with his unit. "JOHN! HELP ME!" John turned, remembering Susan was hit by a grenade blast, "I got you, Harrison. Let's get you off the front." John was covered in blood and sweat, some of the blood his, some alien. He was dragging Susan behind the visitor center, trying to get her out of the fighting. "I'm hit, man. I'm going to die. Please, give this to my husband, John. As my brother in arms." John shook his head, "You'll get that to your husband yourself, Susan." He began looking around frantically hollering "MEDIC!" as loud as he could until one came. "Doc, she got hit in the chest. She needs help!" The doctor removed her chestplate and opened her shirt. She inspected Sarah for what felt like hours before shrugging, "It looks like her left breast took most of the impact, nothing deep or fatal. Just needs the bullet removed and disinfected." John looked at his friend with concern, "But wh-" A voice over a loudspeaker interrupted, "All soldiers are ordered to retreat to Boulder City! This is an order!" John hoisted Susan onto his back and limped the road to Boulder but a hard impact punched him forward. He didn't stop to recoup, continuing to carry his comrade on his back through Boulder with the last of the soldiers too weak and injured to run anymore. He fell forward when a violent explosion shook the earth, Boulder City collapsing feet behind them and soldiers cheering. He put Susan down and sat on the ground, pain in his ankle. "Harrison, we did it! We won! Look!" He looked down and saw the lifelessness in her eyes and he rolled her over gently, a giant hole in her back and he knew. That pushing force earlier wasn't a shockwave, it was Susan taking a bullet that should have killed him. He wept as two of his brothers came upon him, seeing Susan's body and understood. "John. It's not your fault, man. You tried to save her, that's not something everyone would do." John wiped his eyes, "I know, but still. We've all been through so much together." He realised something wasn't right, "Where's the rest of our unit?" Tom and Bradley looked at each other gravely, then Tom spoke up in a hushed tone, "John...We....We are the rest of our unit."
John woke up in the Vertibird and as he did every time he had this dream, he instinctively reached for the small bag he kept on him at all times, inside each dead brother and sister in his squad's ID tags and whispered quietly, "I am so sorry...." under the muffled sound of the rotors.
