Snow found Damien and Nathan, "Ah! My guards told me you made it and brought someone along." She said to him, "Who are you?" She asked Nathan. "Nathan White, former master sergeant of the 1st SAP company of the NCR, as in Stealth Assault and Penetration. Dont worry, I retired after the Bitter Springs Massacre." Snow simply nodded before turning around, "Okay, well, we don't have the manpower currently to do much beyond hiding behind our walls, but every one who gets in helps." She said, "But, I fully intend on taking the Strip as soon as we determine the Legion is sufficently weakened in the area, be it moving troops south or simply attrition out of attacking us. Damien, I want you to help coordinate our defense. And don't worry about food, we can grow enough of our own. My main concern is ammunition. We have the resources to make ammo, but it isn't infinite."
"Yes, ma'am" Damien replied before taking out the jar containing a blue flower. "I've found a mutated strain of Poison Joke that seems to act as a purifier to remove radiation from the soil. This isn't important at the moment, but I'll talk about it later. I'll get straight to work with defenses" he said before walking further off into the strip, turning his head every now and then to watch soldiers walk past him. --------------- Tiberius, now the most powerful man in the Legion, made sure that the Legion accepted his rule without difficulties. Fortunately for him, almost nobody refused other than a rogue unit in Utah. Several messages were played out throughout the Legion, especially the Mojave, to the centurions. While the messages only lasted just over a minute, they were more than enough to prove that the Legion was no longer what it used to be. It was a new Legion, and a more fanatical one.
Snow looked at her buildings then over at Nathan, "You know, I actually planned for an eventuality like this. I borrowed this one PreWar architects designs, he was famous for designing buildings capable of surviving a nearby nuclear blast. I then tweaked it a bit, you'll find that if the Legion bring in artillery, they won't be able to do more than artificial damage." She chuckled, "And we have another advantage" she tapped her horn, "We unicorns are preparing a shield spell to protect the North Strip, as long as it's regularly maintained, no one will be able to enter or leave and artillery would simply explode on it." The pipboy like object on her hoof, the PIN, suddenly lit up and vibrated, "Well, make yourself at home, you're going to be here awhile." she said to Nathan as an explosion from outside the North Strip and the buffer zone sounded, followed by gunfire, Snow simply looked up to see the 10 pegasi guards circling and firing down somewhere outside the wall, "Looks like Legion just tried blasting through the buffer wall. From the looks of it, unsuccessful." she stated before trotting off. ********* Centurion Fulius walked around the Lucky 38 penthouse, looking down over at the skirmish outside the North Strip buffer wall, through binoculars he also noticed the explosion did absolutely no damage to the wall, "Damn it." he muttered, watching helplessly as the century was repelled with heavy casualties, "That damn new Caesar is not going to like this hold out...But..." the Centurion turned to a messenger, "Call the men off, have them dig in, we'll seige them out. We have to secure the rest of the Mojave. Until we drive the NCR across Mojave Outpost, they will be the biggest danger. Send all non-garrison forces out. I want Jacobstown under seige, I want positions set up North of Goodsprings, Sloan, and Camp Golf. Until the Eastern troops arrive, we don't have the numbers to launch a proper assault without risking our position for a counterattack. And inform Caesar Tiberiius of the situation." the messenger saluted and ran out, and Fulius walked around to gaze off to the south, and he could see Camp Golf, home of the Rangers in the Mojave and the last thing standing in their way from completely surrounding Hoover Dam and cutting out the last reason for the NCR to persist in the Mojave. Then, suddenly, another messenger ran in, handed him a note before saluting and running back out. Narrowing his eyes, he opened the note; Commanders of the Esteemed Army of Caesar's Legion, We, the civilian rulers of the territories, would like to inform you of some extra motivation to secure the Mojave as the newest province. The soldiers of our lands have been informed and have agreed privately that, should the campaign in the Mojave fail, military rule of the Legion MUST end and be replaced with civilian rule. The failures of the past several years have made the population restless, and the people are clambering for victory or revolution. They want nothing more than the complete takeover of the Mojave and the killing of the Demon of the West, to do any less within the next few years will lead to nothing more than open revolution. This is not a threat, it is a warning. To the Caesar, we doubt that you want to be replaced by a Consul, so we implore and beg of you, win this caimpaign and appease the people. Sincerely, The Civilian Rulers of the Grand Legion of Caesar
(This might take me a while to write a response. In the meantime, have a map of what I’m gathering from the information at the moment. Red is Legion, Green is Equestria and Blue is NCR http://imgur.com/JwMK22Z)
(Alright, and I was thinking more along the lines of; http://m.imgur.com/S1RqMVo (because the Legion hasnt taken Camp Golf or Hoover Dam yet)
(This would be useful) The Fort was in the process of being rebuilt under the new Caesar, and the Legion was not taking any chances in its territory across the Colorado. Tiberius had received the notes from the messenger and accepted them instantly. He was extremely charismatic and intelligent, and used his talents as much as he could to his use as possible. Instead of rebuilding Fortification Hill outright, the New Caesar simply expanded Legate Lanius’s forward camp as a heavily reinforced entrance to the new fort, where the Legion’s fortress would expand until it reached where Caesar’s original fortification. The Fort was now tripped in size and defensive measures, as Tiberius sat on his throne. Once he received the message from the Civilian Rulers, he now had something to work towards. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Orchid cooperated in the defences of Northern Vegas with Damien in order to maintain a successful advantage over their foes. Orchid focused on the stability of the strip, which included well-being and production supplies. Ammunition was going to be a serious problem in the long-run, with a Equestrians having no production centre of any sort and making do with the already huge stockpile of what they already had. Damien on the other hand, focused on training soldiers. It was what he was good at, considering that he was raised to be the perfect solider since he could walk. Within a week, the standing army had experienced a vast improvement in the quality of the soldiers. Damien taught them how to maintain stress on the battlefield despite everything going to hell, how to improve their accuracy and greatly improving close quarters combat. The Equestrian soldiers were taught a new form of marital art that Damien personally created and developed over the course of his life called ‘Mokara’. Mokara was a combination of several martial arts that Damien had learnt through his father that eventually blended together to form its own style. The martial art was designed to be easy to learn, while remaining deadly at the same time. It’s physical requirement however, was to be at peak physical condition.While it had the grace and appearance of an older form of Chinese martial arts, it also was as extremely brutal. Damien demonstrated the move onto a captured and restrained legionary who refused to cooperate with officials, placing his fist an inch away from his head before hitting the Legionary in the forehead that killed him instantly. While being as basic as any other martial art, the fight to become the Grandmaster of the art was to the death. Damien, being its creator, grandmaster and sole use of the art was pleased that the Equestrians were learning so quickly.
Snow was pleased at seeing the rapid improvement of her forces over the next few weeks, but she honestly was a military commander, she was a civilian leader, inventor, genius, highly charismatic, yes, but not a fighter in any way, only fighting when she had to. But, it seemed the Legion had moved to be content with simply trying to seige out the Equestrians, which unknowingly to the Legion, played to the Equestrians favor as they would be able to save ammo. Snow also got the idea for establishing a pegasi "sky-bridge", in which she modified carts with repulsers so that the pegasi could fly out with any unnecessary civilians and fly back in with fresh supplies and reinforcements. Though they couldn't have too many in the North Strip due to food restraints, at least they could keep their forces bolstered, even flying out those who were too stressed and the like to carry on, far above range of any Legion sharp shooter, to NCR territory for some R&R. However, Snow knew that if the rest of the Mojave fell, the Sky Bridge would become too long to be of true use, and once it fell, the length they could hold out would simply depend on how much ammo they have...
Within a few weeks, Damien took no chances about the risks involved of facing the Legion. The soldiers were already fantastic, sitting nicely between trooper and Ranger in terms of skill. But having been involved in a Legion siege before, and especially the ten day nightmare that was the Siege of Sac-Town in 2265, maintaining that Sky-Bridge was crucial to the survival of the Equestrians. Damien would have been executed the moment he was captured, but he cared about the survival of the Equestrians. Whenever he failed a mission, he feels intense guilt whenever things went wrong but he always manages to crawl back because of his desire to make the world a better place. And keeping the Equestrians alive was all he really cared about at the moment. With the sudden arrival of Tiberius, Damien hadn't seen a picture of the man. Since he came to power, Tiberius was recently known to have worn a mask to hide his identity. He even had a voice changer in his mask when he spoke. He had spent his off-time learning on the identity on who this new Caesar was. He went over to the higher levels of the command center to relax for just a moment. He had also learn that the main forces of the NCR were due to arrive at the Mojave Outpost tomorrow morning and make a major push from the south. Once the Legion was weak enough, the possibility to retake the Strip and the Lucky 38 was possible. But since the Legion had now dug into their area of 'No-Man's land', just making it past there was difficult.
(Hey, wanna play the forces attacking the Boomers?) Snow looked through the numbers of recent reports she had been given, the NCR was sending a battalion, the largest single reinforcement in quite some time in the Mojave for the NCR, of Troopers who they had made sure gone through a proper basic training, along with a large group of Rangers, namely Veterans. The Rangers had lost a lot of soldiers in Legion attacks, and were wanting to make up for those losses. The plan was to attack was a two pronged attack, one being from Camp Golf to the east side of North Vegas and the other being from Goodsprings, up to Red Rock Canyon, then Westside and link up with the west gate of the North Strip. The idea was then to launch a combined offensive on the rest of Vegas before moving south to trap the Legion forces in a pocket, supposed to take place before the Legion reinforcements arrived, which were about 3 weeks away from what she understood. They would then charge across the Dam at the diminished Legion forces and take Fortification Hill. She sighed then got up and found Damien, "NCR offensive coming in the next couple weeks, I want you to make sure that, if it fails to reach us or even New Vegas, that we will be able to break the siege and take the Strip and maybe Freeside. That way, we could have more room for the Sky-Bridge to land more soldiers in and would help pave the way for any further offensive."
(Yep, I'll make my next post dedicated to it) Damien simply nodded at Snow, leaning up against a wall with his arms folded. “I’ll make sure that this happens, I can assure you that now.” Before looking at Blood-Nap, which was as sharp and strikingly beautiful as ever. He then twirled it around his fingers as if it were to be a revolver or a pistol, which was unsettling to some of the commanders in the room. “The troops, I must say, are extraordinary alongside the Equestrians in general. You have magic for unicorns while the pegasi have wings, which I must say are astonishing. There is something about you ponies that I find fascinating.” Damien said as he then spun the knife several more times, picking up speed with each spin before placing it in his holster as he lowered his arms. “I’ve also noticed that Orchid has been spending quite alot of time with me. She’s been spending plenty of her off-task time with me, telling me about you and her, her childhood, and she follows me around like a lost puppy. We can both assume what I think this means?”
Snow zimply shrugged, "I've been too busy to notice. But yes, it is odd the way you speak of it. It might very well be what you think, but remember, I've been alive nearly...300 years now? Of course I spent 200 of those in cyro but anyways, in that entire time, I only had 2 loves, my job and my..." she shook her head, "My point is that I'm not too good at understanding and reading that sort kf thing, but if you think that's what is going on with her, well, I can't really make a comment one way or the other."
Damien nodded in response as he looked at the handle of Blood-Nap one last time before looking at Snow. “Well, I’ll be heading off. I want to make sure that when the time came, we’ll make sure that the troops won’t disappoint.” He said as he took several steps before stopping once more. “I’ll speak to her as well; she’s no doubt looking for me right now.” He said before he simply vanished from the room. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nellis Air Force Base, home to the Boomers. An isolationist tribe known for their extreme xenophobic beliefs and colossal firepower. Heading to Nellis as an outsider was a death-wish, invading it was an entirely different story. Centurion Titus was the one chosen to lead his huge amount of troops to attack Nellis by a higher authority. Titus was not the sanest nor smartest of the Legionaries, but he was however easily one of the evilest, cruellest and blood-thirsty of the Legion. What made him infamous was that he was absolutely ruthless, doing whatever it takes nessacary to ensure a Legion victory. Either sending his own men to his death or if he had to kill them himself, he did whatever possible. They stood over the hill as he looked over to see quite a few artillery guns, with the Boomers themselves using grenade launchers, missile launchers and even fatman launchers. Titus knew that regardless of a victory or not, casualties on his side were going to be astronomical. He said nothing as the Legion began to move down the hill while snipers were positioned strategically out of the range of the artillery to take down those operating them. Hundreds upon hundreds of bloodthirsty slavers came down together in several lines, roaring loudly before they went into a full blown sprint. A second later, the Boomers artillery kicked into life and all hell broke loose. Every ten seconds, forty Legionaries were blown to pieces by the combined attack of the Artillery. The heavily armed boomer soldiers stood nearby the gate with grenade launchers and missile launchers, while those with heavier weaponry such as Grenade Machineguns and Fat-Man launchers stood on giant crates that peaked over the fence and unleashed their payload onto the Legion. By this point, the main Legionary force had barely made it half way while those at the front were slaughtered like cattle. Within a minute into the attack, at least 60% of the attacking force were massacred. Just when any sane commander would order a retreat, Titus pushed onwards until disaster struck. Just as the first of his Legionaries had made it to the fence, only to be cut down later. A fat-man nuke was aimed at the tight main force of the Legionaries and was fired, sailing towards the air as it landed in the centre of the force, blowing anyone even remotely close away with ridiculous force. Titus had just managed to kill an older Boomer with his rifle until the Mini-nuke had hit the main force roughly twenty meters away from where he stood, killing him instantly as the power of the explosive tore the right half of his body to shreds’ and burning what remained with radioactive fire. More and more Legionaries poured from the hill until the artillery cannons managed to find the snipers and shelled them. Once the serious damage had been done, the Legion had no choice but to retreat after being humiliated by the Boomers, losing just over 900 Legionaries in the process. The Boomers, despite their overwhelming victory, did not escape without losses however. The Boomers lost over fifty of their own at the gate, severely weakening their defensive capability. If several more offensives took place on this scale, the Legion would eventually gain the upper hand and defeat the Boomers. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.
(My main idea about Centurion Fulius is that he is Legate Lanius but far less ruthless and much more cunning, kind of a Vulpes gone general, as in, most Legion generals throw their men about like a river, hoping they'll hit some weak point and flow through there, then surround the strong points from behind. Fulius is much more aware of tactics, he knows flanking, how to make a battlefield suit you, etc) Upon hearing of the failure of Centurion Titus, Fulius immediately issued an order for a Fumentarii to penetrate the airfield and kill the Boomer leadership, after all, a single man with a stealthboy could slip in unseen and then kill from the shadows causing havoc. Turning his attention back south, he knew that because the Legion was far more suite for attack than defense, if the NCR reinforced itself and launched a major counteroffensive, they could make it to New Vegas in no time, so he looked over a map of the Mojave that detailed their military positions and ordered troops to be set back from the front lines in dozens of hidden camps that should the NCR break through the front line, they would gather and set up a massive ambush to attack the attacking forces, forcing the NCR on the defense and putting the battle in the Legion's favor.
A message was delivered to Fulius by a Legion runner, contained in an envelope with his writing on it. It simply said. Centurion Fulius; Upon hearing about the failure of Centurion Titus's attempt on Nellis, I was informed that you were now given that honor. From your past history underneath the Legion, you have excelled in many areas where most Centurions haven't. This is why I have written to you to inform you of something that you would find most pleasing. If you achieve a solid victory against the Boomers, I will promote you to the highest military rank of Legate of the Legion. You will be given full control of the armies of the Legion, alongside your standing force already. I would be proud to call you a Legate, Fulius. Grant the Legion a victory, and I'll see to it that you authority is implemented immediately. Don't disappoint Your truly; Tiberius Caesar of the Grand Legion of Caesar
Fulius pursed his lips, to launch another disastrous attack on the Boomers would likely ruin the chances of the Legion of holding out against the NCR until they recieved reinforcements, however...He turned his attention to a map of the area around the Boomer's territory. Titus had tried pouring troops over the obvious direct route, but maybe...maybe he could do the exact opposite, push in heavily armed single squads under the cover of spread out, hidden sharpshooters who would focus on keeping the Boomers under cover, then once they got up close and personal, the Boomers wouldn't stand a chance. His eye was caught by a shown railroad track that disappeared into the mountain before reappearing right by the fence line of Nellis. They would no doubt be expecting another attack through the same way, so maybe...they could slip in unnoticed, "Gather 2 centuries of Veterans and 3 of Prime Legionaires, along with 2 squads of sharpshooters, I have an attack plan in mind..." ***some time later*** Fulius, dressed in full Centurion battle armor, assembled his higher quality troops in the tunnel after clesring out the ghouls inside, at the same time, a feint attack by a century of recruits would attack in waves of squads as distraction. The idea was for the recruits to fan out, attacking 8 at a time, giving no single target to keep the Boomers busy while the rest attacked from behind through the tunnel. The first howitzer blast signaled the start of the offensive, "Go!" He ordered to the first squad, who sprinted under cover to the nearby fence, cut a hole in it and made their way in, then he let another squad through, quickly followed by more. As Fulius looked out, he saw the Boomers trying to get out to fire and direct the howitzer fire get sniped off each time, the sharpshooters too hidden and too spread out to be good targets for explosives. Then, when he was certain of the Boomers attention being completely to the front, he ordered an all out charge by the elite men just as the first howitzer was overrun and reaimed at the Boomers. They flooded into the camp as the second and third and final howitzers were overtaken. Within minites, the base was overrun...
(I will) The Republic's battalion had arrived at the Mojave Outpost before splitting into two different collective forces. The well-trained and armed republic troopers were reinforced by Veteran rangers who wanted to make amends to their fallen comrades. The surviving MOCKINGBIRDS, despite only half of them being alive and having been disbanded in 2277, had also arrived to assist in this last chance effort to push the Legion out of the Mojave. Rodger Lin, known to the Rangers as 'Crow' was a rather sturdy man of Chinese descent going back to the Shi. He had fairly long yet sleak black hair and a goatee. He was in his black-coated Riot Gear as he went to the eastern offensive. What made 'Crow' special was his unnatural marksmanship and his skill with a blade. Damien and Rodger were both key figures during what has been described locally as the 'Showdown in New Reno' in 2273. Another MOCKINGBIRD, a younger woman who stood only at 5ft 3, went with the other forces in the west. Ashley Young, known to the world as 'Robin' and a technical genius. Even with her intelligence that was as good as any scientist back in the Republic, she was a child-solider just like Damien. However, she was raised by particularly bad people, namely a former crime family that operated just where the Californian/Oregon border once was. While she was drafted into the Rangers when she enlisted at 16, she wasn't known until the infamous 'Siege of Sac-Town' in 2265 where she turned the turrets of the Raider/Slaver alliance against them. Despite being the youngest of the MOCKINGBIRDS, she was still extremely dangerous. With the NCR breaking off into different directions for their assault, they were unaware of the trap that the Legion has set for them. ------------------------ Somewhere outside of Vegas Damien had been spying on the Legion for several weeks, and had made a promise to Snow to ensure that the Republic makes it to Vegas at all costs. He was armed to the teeth and was aware of a trap that the Legion was going to spring, and headed off to prevent a massacre.
(Remember, he can't possibly know where all or even really a good portion of the camps are, they are hidden after all. But, every bit helps) As the battle neared and just before Damien set off, Snow noticed the forces sieging the North Strip and garrisoning New Vegas were seriously depleted. So she prepared the forces under the command of Nathan and Colonel Sky(an Equestrian), and an hour after Damien snuck out of the lines, she ordered the offensive to begin. The Equestrians casted a large shield on the ground itself, allowing the soldiers to go over without worry of landmines, catching the Legion while they slept, they quickly overran the siege lines and forced their way into the Strip, in which the population which had survived the Legion takeover quickly took up arms to support the Equestrians. Snow watched from her tower, knowing she couldn't be on the front line, and watched as for the first time, the Legion was defeated on a large scale in hand-to-hand(well, mostly hoof) combat, the superior strength of earth ponies meant they could buck a Legion soldier nearly 5 meters on average, and kill them easily. The Equestrians had adapted Damien's martial arts to better suit themselves and it worked like a charm. Soon, the Legion had been thrown out of the Strip, Freeside, McCarren, Westside, sealed inside Vault 3(why attack it when you can just collapse the building around it and trap them inside), and just about all of New Vegas entirely. However, knowing a counterattack would come, they withdrew to more defensible positions, namely the two Strips, Freeside, and McCarren. They then battered down the hatches and prepared for the worst. ******* Within hours of the second fall of Vegas, Legate Fulius, fumed in anger at the news from his new position across the Colorado. He should have known better to have withdrawn troops from an active front, he got complacent, and he wasn't about to do it again. If they didn't take back Vegas, the civilian rulers would launch a popular coup, one they couldn't be able to stop, and down would go the Legion as they knew it. Gritting his teeth, he went into the new Caesar's tent, "Sir. I'm sure you know about what happened with Vegas, but, I have worse news, the Demon was not spotted at the battle, meaning he's at large in the Mojave, likely on his way right now to try to take out as many counter attack groups as he can. The men are well equipped to fight, have high quality guns and all, but you should know the most dangerous thing about the Demon is his stealth attacks." he sighed, "And sir, I request that no attempt to be made to retake Vegas until the NCR is driven entirely from the region. Once they are gone, will to fight from the Equestrians will likely be gone as they will have no hope for support, meaning they'll either surrender peacefully or put up much less intense resistance."
Tiberius had raised himself slightly from the chair, the mask covering his entire face other than his left eye. The mask design was split in two, with the left side that had his left eye painted red while the other side was completely black, as if it was made out of carbon fibre. He kneeled forwards as he spoke with a deep booming voice, no doubt going through a voice changer in his mask calmly. “Our legionaries might be well equipped to fight, but that means nothing once the Demon infiltrates the camp.” Tiberius spoke. “He has the advantage of stealth, plus he also prefers to work alone when he takes down camps. He’ll be difficult....” Tiberius stood up from his throne and looked toward Vegas. “If the Legion is to survive, we must be careful for what action we shall take. At this very moment, the NCR is pushing towards Vegas. Driving back the NCR is our highest priority, we can leave Vegas alone at the moment unless we are absolutely sure we can retake it.” "And if he finds me, let the Demon come..." Tiberius said with surprising confidence. ------------------------------------------------------- Armed with a silenced Sniper Rifle after the Legion tore his Hunting Rifle apart during his original attack on the Fort, Damien began to find a lead on the ‘hidden’ camps. He made his way through the mountains, using his long experience of stealth exploration to avoid combat whenever possible. Whenever he did make it past a group of Legionaries, he could hear them talking about how the Equestrians retook Vegas, and how his training for the troops (especially on hoof-to-hoof) and could not but feel pleased. Eventually, he discovered the first ‘hidden camp’. He knew that he would not find all of the camps, nor did he need to. All he needed to do was implement as much damage as he could against the Legion before the NCR eventually encountered them. Fifteen Legionaries, mostly recruits. What they lacked in numbers, they made up for their arms with some of the higher ranking soldiers carrying plasma grenades. Their camp was surprisingly large as well, made up of tents closely packed together, but the Demon expected reinforcements when the Eastern forces arrived. One particularly large tent was designated as the command tent. Damien hid out in the mountains until it got dark, where he made his move to attack. He watched as the commander, one short haired Decanus with a bundle of plasma grenades on his belt as the other Legionaries came together in their final meal for the day, with two Legionaries placed on guard. Damien skulked around the nearby area until he got the perfect angle, and with the darkness around him acting as a blanket, he was virtually undetectable. He watched as about thirteen other Legionaries stood at the table, and just before the commander reached out to take his first bite of a piece of bread, Damien shot the commanders plasma grenades. What resulted after was pure chaos as the command tent simply exploded sky-high in a green wave of energy, alerting the two guards instantly. Damien then took the rifle and dispatched the two remaining guards from a mile off within a seven seconds. Damien then went over to what remained of the small camp and took any information he deemed necessary. The location of all of the other hidden camps weren’t available, being a victim of the explosion, but he did manage to find the location of two other camps after searching through the commanders sleeping quarters. Happy with his result, he headed off into the night.
