John's eyes fluttered upon slightly just as Damien ran out of the last of his ammo, and about half of the NCR forces still alive and still advancing on them. John's head shook slightly as he regained consciousness ever so slightly then looked up to Damien, who was obviously frantic from their situation, "G-go t-to Westside..." John muttered lowly, "T-te-tell the Pr-Prima-Primaperatus...I-I'll play d-de-dead...Ju-just go." he stammered, "O-or we bo-both are go-going to d-di-die..."
Damien did not like his chances of survival and remained stubborn for a moment, but soon accepted as he tried to run, ignoring the enormous injury on his knee caps as he moved away from the battlefield at a limp and heading towards Westside. After what seemed forever, Damien collapsed onto the ground infront of the two Glorian guards at the entry to Westside from his injuries. While still conscious, he desperately tried to crawl towards the entry where the guards ran out of the door and picked up his bullet, shrapnel and even burnt riddled body and rushed past Westside as they soon took him to the Primaperatus on a stretcher. While still conscious, he had lost all movement in his left leg. All he could see was a daze of light, with trauma in his head removing some visibility. He eventually made it to the Primaperatus, where he was surrounded by a platoon of soliders and the Primaperatus as they walked out of the building. Damien basically looked dead, but was still very much alive.
(Glory doesn't use platoons, it's squads(8), crampanas/attack groups(28/32), ciinturas(96), cohorts(480), half legions(2,400) and legions(4800+200 support).) The Gloriians quickly administered what reminded Damien of a Stimpack, but did so much more. Within moments as the blue fluid they had injected into him spread through his body, the bullets in him were forced out, the burned, dead skin replace with new fresh skin, and all his other wounds quickly healed. The attack group accompanying Damien and the Priimaperator was a fully loaded one typical of mixed Legions like the XIIIth, 4 Elatians freshly landed, 8 Magniitiums, and 16 Riigula. John had been left propped up on a wall as the NCR forces reached him, guns ready to fire, "H-have a l-lit-little pity?" He asked, "Sh-shooting a dy-dying man? H-heh, so b-br-brave of you." He sarcastically mocked at them before collapsing to the ground in a coughing fit that spread blood everywhere he coughed. Next thing he knew, he was roughly dragged to his feet and dragged north towards Camp McCarren, the group stopping just long enough to regroup with the surviving soldiers of the larger group, allowing John to see that most of the better troops had survived while the Troopers where now rendered less than a handful from 30, but either way, they had destroyed the Gloriian force at Samson Rock and captured the Gloriian weaponry, making Samson Rock Glory's first true defeat in the Mojave. Closing his eyes to hold back the tears as the two Veteran Rangers dragged him through Camp McCarren's gate, he quickly passed out just before the NCR troops held up him, a captured Gloriian standard, and Driver Nelpi's head.
(My mistake, again. I'll try and remove any mistakes, still adjusting to Glorian lore and so forth. I still know alot about the Glorian's however, so i might need to be corrected sometimes.) Not long after arriving at Westside, Damien fell unconscious after falling to his injuries and entered a coma for which lasted three days. While the medical staff at Westside removing any injuries by using stimpak's, where any bullets he took popped out as his body adapted to the changes, the burns he suffered disappeared, cells repaired themselves at an astonishing rate, bones repaired themselves and any other injury disappeared like magic as if he could regenerate himself. Damien wore a mask over his face to keep his oxygen levels up and a light blue surgical gown with his weapons and clothing/armor were placed in a foot locker. On the third day, he awoke from his coma as millions of memories returned to him, his childhood with his father in Arroyo that involved the brutal tribal training that he was subjected towards, his life as a NCR Ranger in which he was chosen at the age of 15, his wife Anna and her death by the Legion, and his adventures with John. He remembered every single detail and moment. When he awoke, he never seen John nearby. He adjusted to his body much quicker, not even needing any basic health checks. He got dressed, loaded up with his ammo and his armor, said thank you to the doctors fixing him up and headed into Westside.
John eventually slowly came to in a cell a day after the Samson Rock battle, his chest healed over from the bullet wound thanks to some medical treatment, but it was still very, very sore. Slowly sitting himself up on the hard mattress he had been dumped on, he carefully propped himself up against the wall and leaned his head back against it, taking in long, slow breaths as he recovered, "Look who's awake." a female voice said sarcastically to him from outside the cell, "Have a good beauty rest?" John turned his head slightly to look at the source of the voice and saw what appeared to be a female NCR lieutenant staring at him, she was dressed in typical NCR armor, but with a beret on instead of a helmet, "Oh yes, because taking a bullet to the chest and nearly bleeding out certainly is no reason to have been knocked out." He replied just as sarcastically. "Oh, and here I was thinking you would be more appreciative to ones who saved your life." she said calmly back "Oh yes, very appreciative to the ones who also were the reason I nearly died." "Hmph, well, it doesnt matter to me what you may think of us, but congratulations, you're NCR's first Gloriian POW, and we intend to make you talk." she announced "Heh, good luck getting anything from me, I cant say I know much as I'm not Gloriian, just a supporter." John replied, "Here is about all I know: Glory intends to take the Mojave and rebuild it from the ground up and is trying to do so with minimal loss of life on all sides except for Caesar's, and they have no ill will against NCR except its aggression towards Glory. May I leave now?" "I find that hard to believe, everything we know about Glory says that they'll kill anything and everyone that dares even puts a foot in their way. And no, we aren't going to let you go, you've been an interesting figure for us, one moment helping us, the next turning against us for some aliens? Let's just say we intend to keep you until you change your mind, does that sound good?" John rolled his eyes, "Well, then I guess I'll die here. Now, could you spare me at least a little dignity to tell me who my warden's name is?" he asked, obviously referring to her. "Lieutenant Boyd is all you need to know about me. Oh, and one more thing, that little rock crushing plant your friends loved using? Yea, that's now entirely walled off and heavily defended by our troops, who just so happen to be using your friends' weaponry and armor that's been more suited for us. Hope you enjoy knowing that your friends' tech advantage on the ground has come to an official end." and with that, Moore walked out of the room, leaving John to his thoughts. John simply rolled his eyes then looked back to the lieutenant, "
Damien restocked on ammunition as he went back towards his home and changed weaponry, replacing his Gladius with a trench knife and his Hunting Rifle with a light brown Sniper Rifle(Gobi Campaign Sniper Rifle) he found while traveling through the wastes inside of a footlocker nearby Cottonwood Cove. He had to figure out a way to rescue John from his oppressors in Camp Mccarran, news from what he was told by a Glorian solider in Westside soon after he left the hospital. Going it alone was possible against the entire base, but extremely risky. With the Glorians "preoccupied" in dealing in a way to retake the rock crushing plant. He remembered his time in the NCR as one of it's very best rangers, selected even at the age of 15 due to his fathers reputation for saving the village of Arroyo with the GECK over fourty years prior to his struggle. Damien took his equipment, reinforced his vest underneath his duster with metal scraps from Power Armor over the kevlar and headed out towards the NCR main headquarters. He felt betrayed in a way, knowing that the nation he once held dear was ravaging the Mojave and tearing innocents apart, and destroying a future that seemed possible . He was not going to stand for that. Within the next hour, he stood a kilometer away from the main fort of the camp. He was looking to provoke the Fiends to launch an full blown assault on the fort, allowing him to slip in undetected and rescue John from his NCR oppressors. It was a suicide mission, but he felt he was in peace for some reason. Maybe it was his time to leave the world. It turned out that the Fiends already had the same idea. It seemed that Motor-Runner ordered whatever left of the Raiders to simply wipe out the base, not knowing that the NCR now had Glorian tech with them. Damien slipped on a stealth boy as he entered the steel door, just as it was getting blown apart through explosives. Once he was inside of the base, all hell broke lose.
(Chosen One's second son eh? ) John's head shot up at the sound of a massive explosion and troops starting to yell and run and the sound of gunfire from outside filled the air, looking around wildeyed, John saw that his assigned guard, a ranger, did not even budge, simply stating, "We saw the Fiends coming, no need for much reinforcement." before continuing to stare at John, "So don't go getting your hopes up it's a rescue." John rolled his eyes as, sure enough, the firing had died down in just about a minute as the disorganized Fiends were wiped out by the NCR troops, "I figure that if Glory wanted to save me, they would do it in less...obvious ways anyways." John simply replied before laying back down on the bed. The ranger seemed obviously curious about just how calm John was, almost seeming resigned to whatever fate had in store for him, "I must ask, how could a man who, as far as I know, never had any formal military training as you were a courier for much of your life, be so calm and disciplined under these circumstances?" Which John replied to with a small snort "Well, when one has walked as many miles as I have, has been through as much as I have, things stop fazing you, to put it simply. But no, I will not go into specifics, I like to keep my past exactly like that, my past. So, I'm basically just going to lay in here and wait until either I get rescued or you people decide to let me go." *** The Primaperatus watched from the South Wall of Westside as the Fiends flooded into the gate, which would have brought a smile to the face of non-Elatian general's, but all he felt was simply time to enact Glory's strategy for taking Camp McCarran, the only reason they ever allowed the Fiends to live. He then lifted a small mic to his mouth, a direct link to the Viceroy, "Poviid oas Elatians."(send the Elatians) he spoke simply into it, then turned skyward as moments later, several Jula-type space-lander craft came in cloaked through the atmosphere and dropped off their cargo, the deadliest weapons to ever exist on Earth besides the atomic warheads that nearly destroyed it, the Elatians, a group so feared on Terra, that the mere mention of their approach can cause rout and surrender, and the NCR was about to learn of their power for the first time...
(Pretty much I've had the head canon that my Courier is the Chosen One's son, with the first son being the Bishop Child whom never knew his real father. So while Damien is about 38 in NV, and his father would have been 22 when he was born, his father is 60. What follows after is my own back story to Damien) While still cloaked, Damien pulled out both of his pistols as he entered the main building of the camp after a solider forgot to completely shut it as the wind blew across the field, allowing Damien a completely non destructive way of entering the building. Once he stood infront of a sandbag, Damien made a quick tweak to his Stealth Boy as he smiled. He cracked his neck as he suddenly discloaked on purpose infront of a random NCR guard. "Showtime...." Damien said with a smug sadistic smile on his face. Before any of the troopers realized what was going on, Damien placed a round directly infront of the NCR guards head. He raised his hands as he aimed at two guards standing next to him before fully alerting the entire base of his presence as an entire squad of Veteran Rangers burst through the door, only to find nothing but three dead bodies. Confusing them, Damien took advantage of this by cloaking almost at will as he silently ran up the stairs and pulled out his knife and threw it at a Ranger's head, spinning across the room as it buried itself deep into the Ranger's temple, killing him instantly. To add insult to injury, Damien dropkicked the Ranger exactly where the knife had hit him before he even fell down, picking up the knife and slashing the closest Ranger in an exposed part of his neck, finishing him off also. The Ranger's, now opening fire upon Damien as the courier cloaked once more were having trouble hitting their marks. Damien was tearing the Rangers apart...
An NCR Trooper looking over the piles of dead Fiends, hoping to be the first to find the dead Fiend leaders when he heard the sound of approaching metal boots coming from outside the blasted open gate, turning quickly, his eyes widened as a whole army numbering in the dozens what reminded him of Brotherhood Paladins approached Camp McCarran, he opened his mouth to cry out in fear, before a hail of 40 mm grenades fell upon him and the area surrounding him, blasting an even larger gap in the walls of Camp McCarran than the Fiends left. Smoke grenades launched from the Elatian's grenade launchers soon filled the entire area with smoke, blinding the NCR defenders as they stumbled about, trying to find their enemy, only to be cut down in a hail of energy fire as the smoke did little to conceal them from the Elatians whom were equipped with visors with infrared filters. The "battle" lasted even shorter than the Fiend attack as the NCR defenders were simply massacred, because unlike regular Gloriian troops, Elatians don't spare those that surrender in the midst of battle. In no time at all, the ciintura of Elatians were inside the terminal, and the rangers that had been fighting Damien suddenly found themselves flanked and simply gunned down like cannon fodder as Elatians spread throughout the building, purging it of any NCR troops they found with extreme ease before moving outside to the old runway area, something that happened so quick, Damien found himself alone in a desolated area with nothing but dead surrounding him in not quite a minute, where the only sounds were the sounds of Elatians massacring the rest of the camp. *** John sat quickly back up as he heard the door to the cell room slam open and a man in power armor swing in with what looked like a gatling laser and turned straight towards his ranger guard. The ranger was left dead in his chair as a hail of blue bolts killed him before he even realized what had happened. The man then walked over the ranger's desk and grabbed the key, which he took and unlocked John's cell with before simply walking off again without a single word. Very creeped out by this, John carefully decided he might as well take advantage and get the heck out of here and snuck out of the room, and soon arrived at the escalator's leading to the first floor and the way out. John got to see the last of the Elatians leave the area of the terminal into others and then looked down to see dead NCR soldiers and personnel littering the floor. Taking a gulp, John muttered to himself, "Those guys are [redacted] scary..." (Yea, Elatians are probably the scariest thing ever thought up by Gloriians, and that's saying something as Gloriians invented the nuke, a chemical agent called XVI which can completely sterilize an area right down to the bacteria, Big Wave orbital missiles (which essentially were made to fling themselves at extrodinarily high speeds at their target, producing a large explosion and a shockwave capable of blowing out windows for hundreds of miles) and many other terrifying inventions(most of which are the brainchild of the mad emporer: Septimus II the Mad, who hoped to wipe all "non-Gloriian life off the face of Terra and establish a new era of peace and unity throughout the planet")
(If the NCR/Glorian war is Man vs. Man, the battle between the NCR and the Elatians would be Man vs. Nature.) Damien watched the Elatian walk past. He had destoryed an entire nation with John, both of them survived the impossble against the horde of Legionaries. Damien himself was considered the best Ranger in the entire history of the NCR, being selected at the age of 15, 3 years off the NCR's own recruiting age. He was the Chosen One's son, surviving the living hell that was his's family's own form of training in combat worse that made the Ranger's training look like a summer picnic at the age of six onwards. Yet... The Elatian that walked past gave Damien shivers down his spine. The Elatian stared at Damien as he walked past, his face hidden in the helmet he wore. Damien was considered a one man army by himself alone, a legendary warrior with honor born out of a herritage of heroes dating back to the Vault Dweller. And even then, even if the Elatian simpily coughed, Damien could have dropped his weapons onto the ground and bend down on his knees and surender. Damien could possibly kill one Elatian , but two is an easy way for suicide. Focusing on his task, he walked off towards the elevator, most likely assuming that the Elatian that walked past let John free. Damien leaned back onto a wall directly infront of the Elevator on the other side of the room. Once the Elatian walked out the door, only to hear the sound of screaming and explosions outside which were dulled by the soundproof concrete walls of the facility. Damien shook his head, still thinking about what had just happened. "Glad he's on our side...." Damien spoke to himself
(The Elatians are so deadly because A): they're trained from birth to be that way, B): their armor, the M-103, is 3-5x more protective than T-51b armor, and C): their weapons are made to be extremely deadly on a massive scale) John noticed Damien at the bottom of the escalators drenched in cold sweat from the Elatians much like himself, "Heh...Well...At least they aren't here for killing us right?" John said down to him as he made his way down the escalator, "Q-quite the show of force Glory just put on, eh?" he added nervously as the sounds of dying NCR soldiers slowly started to fade as the Elatians pushed into the far ends of the base and fewer NCR troops were being killed *** The Primaperator looked down to a small row of NCR troops they had rounded up so far in the mission, which was to say, about 4, as the Elatians around him finished up mopping up the last of resistance in the area, the four before him were Lieutenant Carrie Boyd, Colonel James Hsu, and two NCR sargents. "You cannot blame us for what has happened here." he said plainly to them as they stared in defeat at the ground, "This was all your fault. We never launched the first strike against you, your nation attacked us. You attacked and killed our troops at Samson Rock just recently, so we were forced to respond in force." he continued in his neutral tone, which sent shivers and cold sweats through the four captives as it felt as though the words were supposed to be full of hate, but the sheer neutrality in the tone seemed impossible, yet it was there, a feat not even the best of Veteran Rangers can do. "Do you want to know why I've spared you for now?" he asked them, a question that was only meant with silence as all the Elatians started to gather in a circle around them, staring at them. "No idea? Okay. I'll make this obvious. I want word of this attack spread throughout the wasteland, in detail. This isn't like how the Legion attacks random towns and commits atrocities in order to induce fear..." the Primaperator got down on one knee and forced the captives to look at his face as he removed his helmet so they could look at what was basically death staring back at them, "I want it known that Glory is far superior in every way than anything you wastelanders can throw at us. I want you to tell the Wasteland that the Elatians of Glory have arrived, and the Mojave will fall under our banner when Hoover Dam comes. And that that promise was made by an ex-member of the First Cohort of the First Elatian Legion, also known as the most dangerous humans, if not beings, in this entire arm of the Galaxy. But.." the Primaperator stood up, "I can only let one of you do so." he held out a hand and an Elatian placed a machete in it, "So I'm going to let the strongest spread that word. Release them, and don't let them leave until only one lives." he ordered calmly to his Elatians before tossing the machete in between the four, "Oh, and don't forget to also say that this isn't just any Gloriian Legio, or Legion, being deployed here, it's the Eighth, Glory's most famous mixed Legio." and with that, the Primaperator walked away, leaving the four NCR to fight it out for life, forcing them to attack their own men for life, and the Elatians weren't about to let them use the machete to commit suicide.
(I just had a really cool idea. After this, we could do a 5 or 10 years later version of this. Where the Mojave is under Glorian control (And completely rebuilt) and prospers enormously in basically all fields, the NCR remains in it's borders while underneath a much more peaceful government, and the Legion is utterly wiped out with some resistance here and there by those trying to rebuild it, mostly former high ranking Centurions. There could even be a Glorian expedition to the Capital Wasteland or something like that, because a Lone Wanderer/Courier thing is always good.) "Well then...this is awkward." Damien said, placing his hands on his hips after placing his weapons in his holsters. "I was going to originally rescue you from the NCR, even killed about three Veteran Rangers with nothing but a knife and three other troopers before the Elatian's outside basically massacred anything that moves around the base. If this doesn't send a message to the NCR saying to simply back down from the Mojave, then they would declare a full blown war against Glory. But after this..." Damien paused for a moment, taking time to look around at the hundreds of bodies surrounding the base. "....Display, they might as well give up and not bother. Not saying that this would stop them, but this would give them one hell of pause.." Damien watched as a body which originally was leaning against the stairs fell down almost comically, making the moment more awkward then it already was. "We should get out of here, take five and then talk about what the hell had just happened...." (I'm picturing Elatian armor being black. Not assuming it's Black, but oh well)
(Hm...sure, I could imagine Glory sending like a ciintura to go check out the ruins of America's former capital, especially after they land the VIIth HMR and the CLIInd R in support of the XIIIth M [12th Half Magniitium-Riigula, 152nd Riigula, 8th Mixed]. I could also see Glory using either the VIIth HMR or the CLIInd R to wipe out the Legion following Glory making peace with the NCR. And the Elatians actually color-code their armor depending on experience, an Elatian in the first half of their service [18-30] wear a dull silver armor, Elatians in the latter half wear a dark red mixed with black designed like camo [30-45], and Elatians who have decided not to retire after 45 are given a black armor, or if they're 1st Cohort, Ist E Legio, and an Elatian of that age, but before they turn 100, when they are forced to retire [Terreans live twice as long as earth humans, and tend to be comparable to 20-30 year olds from 18-100 about] are pretty much the best of the Elatians, even though they tend to serve as generals and high, high ranking field officers) John nodded, "Way ahead of you." and went to make his way out of the terminal building, trying to ignore the fact he was stepping on dead bodies, something which he really didnt have much choice to do.
(Yea, this time reporting back to Viceroy as Primaperator is at Camp McCarren preparing to attack Samson Rock and take it back, along with Vault 3. You wanna start?)
Damien and John made it back to Westside after making their way out of the mess that was Camp McCarren, to report back to the Viceroy. After making their way across the streets of the former Vegas Suburb, now a Glorian colony, they made it to the main building where they were let inside and sat down to see the Viceroy. Damien started off with the introduction as him and John soon started to talk to the hologram. "The Boomers are able to support the Glorians under specific conditions. They want to keep their cultural identity, they want you to teach them how to fly your aircraft and that they wish to remain culturally independent. Other then that, they are able to support you. Also, Camp McCarren has been completely wiped out after the Primaperator made an impressive display with the Elatians and is going to take back Samson Rock alongside Vault 3. We received orders to report back to you, since he's busy."
The Viceroy simply made a confirmatory "Mhm, I knew about the Primaperator actions and plans and success. But congratulations on your success with the Boomers, how little do they know that is our standard treatment to those who accept our rule without a fight." The Viceroy paused for a moment before continuing, "Sadly, the NCR's actions and the soon coming arrival of Caesar's Legion's Legate Lanius have forced us to accelerate our plans, we originally planned to have you two deal with our problems individually over a spread out period of time, but reports state we have as little as 3 days before Hoover Dam. So, we need you two to kill off the Vault 19 Powder Gangers first, move quickly down the I-15 and behead the Great Khan and NCRCF Powder Ganger's leadership, then we'll need you two to move to Hoover Dam, as likely by then, Aaron Kimball will making his speech. Once there, await for order's of what to do as we are still making projections of possible outcomes of his survival and death. I need you two to carry out this as soon quickly as you can, as we will be busy landing the rest of the Eighth Legio and moving them into position." the Viceroy said to them, "I look forward to meeting the two of you face to face upon the securing of this land. On your way out, you will receive your reward for the Boomers and playing a part in the defense of Samson Rock, and also a way to contact me or the Primaperator in the field to report your successes, and we'll send a Magniitium to reward you. Thank you, you are dismissed." and the Viceroy's hologram shut off once more John turned to Damien, "Well, looks like we got ourselves a time schedule now, let's go knock this stuff out of the way ASAP." and turned to leave, when a Magniitium confronted him and handed him their rewards, more Gloriian credits, more ammo for the GEAR, the GESR-11 sniper rifle, Gloriian armor, and finally two certificates of citizenship. Turning to Damien and giving him his half, he remarked, "Looks like the Gloriians really trust us now."
Damien thanked the Magniitium for the rewards and studied the armor used by the Glorians extensively, just when an spark of his imagination gave him an idea. To help suit his own combat style, while also providing protection, Damien decided to make modifications to his own duster/armor at his home (about half an hour's walk from Westside). Damien used the Glorian armour's chest-piece to replace his own lightweight combat vest he wore under a tank top, used the two gauntlets on the arm pieces and replaced his own boots with the set of armor's, all Damien needed to remove was the Shoulder Pads which he could use for spare parts and the helmet was put on a display case. Once he made these changes, he used attached them to his sleeveless duster for a highly effective, yet surprisingly fearsome looking set of armor.Damien even painted his armor to match the color of his duster. He was going to pull his best pieces of weaponry for this attack, using the GEAR to take out the Great Khans, his trusty 45.auto pistol and his gladius. He headed back down to John as quick as he could. "How are we going to deal with this? Are we going to split up and do our objectives separately or should we stick together and get it done faster?"
John had dressed himself entirely in the Gloriian armor, but had instead thrown his duster over it, pretty well concealing the fact he had any armor at all on, "We should stick together. As clear as Glory's been keeping the I-15 clear of Deathclaws, I don't want to risk it. Besides, those groups couldn't possibly withstand a surprise assault from the two of us!" (Oh, thought you might find this interesting: http://www.nucleardarkness.org/nuclear/nuclearexplosionsimulator/ )
(Just tried it on North Terrace in Adelaide (Very important street, can be considered a main street. Also the most likely area of detonation), and the effects on the rest of the city are tiny. That and it's location from my house is 40 km away. Still devastating nonetheless, in that the center of the city is vaporized. Pretty cool website ) "Good idea." Damien replied. "You and me, we're both problem solvers." The Courier then pulled up his Pipboy and pointed north. "Let's deal with these Power Gangers from Vault 19 first, let's start in order."
