(Oh yeah, forgot about that. I forgot about that entrance, and to think I was playing it only yesterday. Oops. On another note, I finally got the Pros Only achievement. I'm doing my next play through on Hardcore)
They finally mamaged to drive back the Legion after a short but intense fight, taking about 5 casualties to the Legion's 20 or so that the 80 soldiers of the Conterberium left behind in their flight, and 5 more who committed suicide before being captured, however, most of the dead where decanius and the centurion. Nathan climbed down from the rock and found his companion, giving her a big ol' grin, "I havent had that much fun sincr the pacification of the Sierras!"
Jess's kill-streak went as high as 16 alone with her pistol until the numbers ultimately wore thin and eventually vanished. If she had a better weapon, this number would have doubled. She soon looked at the mess that had been left behind, around 92 dead on both sides. It wasn't the nicest thing that has happened in Bitter Springs since the massacre, but what was important was that the Legion failed it's assault. However, it was only a small raiding party. Had they attacked at full-force, the Legion could have won the battle in minutes.
(Uh, I said in the last post that abouy 30 on both sides died, mainly because I was thinking since it was just a raid they would withdraw once they started taking significant casualties)
(Wow, I'm really dropping the ball today. I'm not particularly concentrating that well, I'll just fix my post up unless you want to make yours.)
(Nah, dont worry about it man. ) Nathan approached Jess, "How did things go down here? How are the refugees?"
Jess turned around to face Nathan, where the young woman was nearby a group of injured people. "We lost some, but most of them made it out alright. Shame about the ones who died however."
Nathan looked around at the bodies, "Well, at the very least, all those dead and wounded were the ones fighting. I don't see any of the more vulnerable refugees as injured." (Timeskip or switch to Cato and Janius again?
(Maybe continue as Jess and Nathan for just a little while longer, I'm thinking of something big for Cato and Janius) Jess thought for a moment. "Maybe the Legion took some of them as slaves before they decided to fall back. They might have got their hands on a dozen of them, although this does leave Bitter Springs's defences wide open now. When the Legion comes back, it would be another massacre."
Nathan pursed his lips, "Collapse an entrance so that the camp defenders force the Legion to attack from one way and one way only?
"Good idea, I'll go ahead and work some magic on collapsing the path. Meanwhile, the defenders might as well dig themselves in and fortify the hell out of the entrance of the camp." Jess responded before taking a grenade from a dead NCR solider and lobbing it into the air until it landed just behind some rocks. Once it detonated, the entire path collapsed as rocks fell onto the path. Getting into Bitter Springs through that path was now impossible, and it forced the Legion to funnel through the tight opening that was the entrance of the camp.
Nathan nodded as some refugees noticed what they had down with the second funnel entrance and grabbed whatever they could to make the rock rubble wall larger that the small but significant one the grenade made while soldiers who were not too exhausted began entrenching the last remaining entrance. He then turned to Jess, "Well, looks like we've done as much as we can here. And I'm not too worried about the southern flank as Camp Searchlight will prevent large armies from Cottonwood Cove from getting out to play a part in the offensive. So...Shall we head to the Dam?"
Jess nodded in response. "Let's..." ----------------------------------------------- Cato, Janius and the remainder of the Inner Circle had been speaking together about the reforms needed for the Legion. Unfortunately, Cato had to inform the circle about Janius's discovery about the Legion being nothing but a mere copy of a once great empire. However, Cato did indeed learn something about this empire that Sallow didn't. Instead of the brute barbarian force that made the identity of the Legion so well known, establishing a government was a major focus onto his reforms. From the book that he was able to read, the three major elements of the Imperial Roman state were the central government, the military, and the provincial government in conquered lands. Cato discovered that the military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the military mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens, the agricultural fields that fed them, and religious sites. The Legion was a vast army that was the size of France and could have had close to a million people living throughout it's lands, Cato wished to establish these three governments to create a civilian government and to remove the previous image that his 'Father' had of barbarianism from existence, to give the civilians power to dedicate themselves to the idea of the Legion itself instead of being byproducts of the Legion's brutality. The Legion held enormous potential, Cato just felt that his father took a misguided approach to the way he ruled his empire. Cato, being the next Caesar, was essentially going to become what he called the "Emperor" of the Legion, after reading through one of the various books that his father had. He didn't only seek reform, but he seemed to think of anything inbetween to ensure that the Legion didn't falter and collapse overtime. These reforms were enormously important, and he thought of just about everything. He wrote down and discussed huge changes to the Legion, with Janius being an important figure. From restoring factories to produce materials needed to rebuild cities such as Phoenix or for the military, to a cultural reform, a vast focus on education and literacy to anything inbetween. From Engineering, Economics and trade, Agricultural and recreational activities, Societal values from citizens and slaves. Cato even considered introducing new aspects to the polytheism based religion of the Legion, and possibly removing the more Cult-of-Personality aspects of the ideology. After some discussions with Janius, he gained much more from these experiences than what he ever could of thought. However, Cato was always a warrior, and his idea to reform the entire Legionary Army was deeply important to him and to the rest of the Legion. His main objective, aside from changing the organization slightly, was to rapidly modernize the Legion to compete and even outperform the NCR and any other potential threat. Although the Legion had a limited capability for manufacture in factories, Cato wished to equip the Legion with the finest military equipment possible, which would result in the Legion using rifles, sidearms and all other forms of weaponry. In doing so, this would almost immediately put them on the level that the NCR formerly was prior to the Mojave Campaign. Armor was also considered, but is currently a secondary consideration due to available resources. Organization of the Legion would be modified to allow the Legion to have more flexibility, Centurions were to be moved down to coordinate lower positions and command, although their power still made them incredibly valuable officers. The position of Legate being moved to assume more of a "General" position and being able to have five at a time, and are made up of the finest commanders in the Legion. The Five Legates would then answer of Generalissimus (Supreme Commander) and would be highest distinctly military position in the Legion, and would allow the commander to maintain and formulate the empire's military policy and strategic goals after the emperor's personal input. The only person higher than the Generalissimus would then be Caesar himself and could also technically appoint himself if needed. Cato had dozens of other ideas for the command structure, but each idea seen an overwhelming amount of support. Since learning about the Roman Empire in the Pre-War book, Cato has become obsessed with learning about other cultures from around the world which he had never heard of with one sole objective. Long-Term stability at all costs. Cato personally ordered hundreds of surviving books about Pre-War civilizations and nations to be brought to him and understand what made them survive. From the British Empire, Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany, the Han Dynasty, the list went on. With this new found knowledge literally being at his fingertips, Cato spent hours after the meeting reading old books, even reading into the night after being in a hypnotic trance about these empires. Cato and Janius didn't only seek reform, they sought to transform and create an entire empire. Cato didn't seek to even create a more authentic 'Copy' of the Roman Empire either, the future Caesar wished to create an entirely new civilization with it's own identity that combined the awe-inspiring power and technology of Pre-War America and some aspects of Rome incorporated into it's society. This concept would evolve over time, but Cato and Janius eventually set up the foundations for what could potentially become the greatest civilization to emerge since the Great War. The only thing stopping this future from taking place was the Mojave itself. Although the raid on Bitter Springs failed, it would soon fall in time. With the battle of Hoover Dam quickly approaching, Cato was ready to lead the Legion to a victory against the NCR. In the next morning, he was dressed in full armor and took his customized Brush Gun. A Legionary victory today would result in a prosperous future in the long-run, and would also cement Cato and Janius into legend. The odds were overwhelmingly in the Legions favor, and the profligate defenses were crippled. The Fiends were going to keep the NCR at Camp McCarran busy, the Omertas were going to launch an attack on the Strip and the Great Khans had allied themselves with the Legion to get their revenge against the NCR in exchange for being absorbed into the ever growing Legion. Once the battle occurred, all hell was going to break loose across the entire Mojave wasteland. The sky was a blanket of grey, the wind was almost deathly still and it was almost midday. To make matters worse for the already panicking NCR, a lonesome crow sat on the first tower and cried out it's call, while weeping blood. Once it stopped crowing around twelve times, it flew away towards New Vegas. It was exactly 12:00 pm when the bird landed, a bad omen for what is about to happen. The Legion was more then ready and were now organizing themselves to attack. Blades were sharpened, Artillery was aimed and loaded at the NCR, guns were armed and the Legion began to slowly advance towards the Dam. Cato and Lanius were personally participating in this battle as well. The die is cast, and the Legion was now going to cross it's own Rubicon.
Janius however, found himself obessed with something entirely different, even on the eve of battle. The seemingly mystical Roman concrete, the best concrete to ever exist, outperforming and outlasting even the very best of Old War concrete. However, it was just one of several projects he had started since the start of the reforms to try to turn the Legion into an advanced technological faction, not just in military but in civilian life. It took one of his soldiers reminding him what was about to happen at Hoover Dam to tear himself away from his attempts to recreate old world tech. He met up with Cato and Lanius in his full armor, looking like a true Roman legionaire from his helmet to his feet, except with a sniper on his back and a revolver at his side. "Imperator Cato. I have something to show you." He said before pulling out a crimson red cloak, "It's based on the cloak of the Roman Caesar, so that the men can know who you are and look to you even when behind you. And finally." He looked off to the side as a legionaire stepped forward holding a wolfhead helmet and what looked like a normal standard until Janius held it up, "The standard of Caesar was the Bull. Your standard is the Eagle, and so it shall be the Standard of the Legion." Janius said as he held it up, a brillant red standard flag emblazoned with IPQR (SPQR, only with "senatus" replaced with "Imperator", the military title of the Roman emperor) underneath a gold eagle surrounded by a gold laurel branch. And at the top? Instead of a spike it was a gold eagle, "An Eagle shall show you have the blessings of Jupiter and therefore, the blessings of ALL the Gods." Janius then cleared his throat, "I may be a sniper by trade, but I would be honored if you allowed me to lead the charge across the Dam with the Eagle Standard, my Imperator."
Imperator Cato had the largest smile on his face. "It shall be an honour to me as well. You are free to charge the Dam, Jupiter bless you." Cato then put on the cloak as he attached it to his neck and any Legionary nearby suddenly looked to him in wonder. Cato looked at the nearby army and began to speak to them loudly, long training in delivering speeches allowing his voice to carry amongst the ranks of the Legion without the assistance of a microphone and without strain, although it did seem to get quieter further back. "Legionaries! Brothers! We have a sacred duty today, a divine one. We are going to take Hoover Dam from the loose and feeble grip from the Republic. They have defeated us once before, but this isn't the same Legion from four years ago. We are stronger! Faster! Tougher! And ready to fight for the Legion!" The Legion roared one chant, their combined voices rocking the walls and earth for miles. "Hail Caesar!" Cato then pointed across the river. "And now that we shall finally be set free, what are we going to do? "Hail Caesar!" The army roared again. The speech continued and Cato played along with the emotions of the army for a while before ultimately concluding his speech, the result ending in almost magical in comparison to the 'weak' speeches that the NCR delivered. Cato turned to Janius. "It's your turn now to lead the Legion to victory today. Go with the gods."
Janius nodded to Cato before lifting the standard high into the air, "Men! Look to the Eagle! Even if I may fall, I expect the next man to take the Eagle further! If you let the NCR capture this Eagle, you have let them capture a symbol of our eternal greatness and our divine fight!" He drew out his revolver and looked towards the road to Hoover Dam, "Legionaires, forward!"
On the other side of the River, the NCR barely had time to fortify themselves and prepare for the battle. They were outnumbered dramatically, and the lack of training of the NCR soldiers themselves was going to be a major factor in the battle in comparison to the weakest Legionary. Although there was some experienced soldiers there, such as veteran soldiers and the surviving Rangers, this wasn't enough. Even if they managed to turn the tide, the Legion fortified their side of the Colorado enough to make advancement almost impossible. Around a thousand soliders were ready to repel the tidal wave of red. There was a slim chance that they might be able to have victory under their grasp. Until the multiple artillery guns began to fire from the Fort... A slight sound could be heard from the Fort before anti-personnel shells exploded above the NCR front-line, and was effective almost immediately. Shells also tore against the NCR snipers that were positioned on the hills next to their side of the Dam. The Legion began to advance in waves and when Rangers in the tower were either killed or taken capture, the Legion began to advance through another means. Taking the intake pipes into the heart of the Dam itself. It was a short swim, but this would have worked wonders in the offensives. Cato was going to participate with his own personal century, 100 elite soldiers who would advance where the enemy least expected it then suddenly come down onto them. In this instance, Cato was heading inside of the Dam with his century.
(Well, there is only one peice, but in Fallout, that would still make a huge difference, I mean, look at the Boomers, if you go around their camp you see they only had three or four howitzers) While Cato went into the bowels of Hoover Dam to deal with the NCR inside, where the most elite NCR troops lay in ambush waiting for the Legion, Janius was busy clearing out the top of the Dam. Though the NCR resistence was at first weak and dazed, allowing him to lead his troops to secure 75% of the Dam on the surfacr, they managed to regroup and form stiff resistance, seemingly actually encouraged in their fighting. The Dam did have the advantage of heavily favoring the defenders by making sure the Legion which was still heavily melee weaponry based could only send across so many troops at one time, making for a much more pitched battle. As Janius tried to shoot with his revolver from cover, he wonder just why the NCR was able to put up such a fight. Little did he or anyone on the Dam know, the attacks on Camp Golf, Forlorn Hope, and Bitter Springs had all been swiftly crushed by stern resistence, and the NCR knew as they had access to their radio. ***** Nathan and a contigent of Veteran Rangers finally made it to the top of the cliff overlooking the Dam, giving them an excellent vantage point, especially know that the Legion was unable to fire its artillery due to proximitt with its troops. "Just like old times!" One exclaimed to Nathan as he began to pour lead at the Legion, it was one of Nathan's old SAP buddies, Demarcus. "Yes sir indeed...Only an actual battle this time." Nathan replied before adding his lasers to the snipering contigent's firepower, picking off Legion commanders. (I wanna make the Battle not so certain to.make it more interesting)
