And that's not his only injury. I can see a dozen small scars and burns earned through a life in the wastelands. Three years in the NCR's care with minimal medical aid and surrounded by violent criminals hasn't exactly been easy.
I mean, my goodness. Forty years since Navarro. And he wasn't exactly young when it happened.
Grizzled, nothing!
This man is etched out of pure
steel, from the sound of it.
"How the heck are you still alive?"
The skin around his eyes tightens as he moves his glare from 'hostile' to 'openly contemptuous'.
...And I can't help but picture Clint Eastwood. Goddammit,
yes.
"I AM ALIVE BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE WEAK MUTANT BLOOD IN MY VEINS! I HAVE PURE AMERICAN VINEGAR!"
He looks like he wants to keep shouting, but there's a tremor in his chest and he has to brace himself to avoid showing weakness.
...Or possibly a
young R. Lee Ermey? Good lord, the man
sounds like a drill sergeant.
Sergeant Arch Dornan is the longest serving surviving member of Enclave personnel still in NCR custody. He was captured after the NCR/Vault City stormed the Sierra Army Depot and he was moved here once they realised who he was. This is the man who led the evacuation of Navarro once the command post was destroyed by Brotherhood Paladins, and who organised the remaining free Enclave units in California into a cohesive force.
And then he sided with Doctor Anderson in their election and it was all downhill from there. New Reno may never recover.
I'm guessing things did
not go well. Still, I suppose he has his uses...
"Well, when you're immune to disease and radiation and can punch out a brahmin, it's time to stop pretending you're not a mutant. FEV's powerful stuff."
"THAT IS US GOVERNMENT PROPERTY, MUTIE!"
What US Government? In case you haven't noticed, soldier, America
lost. The only reason they didn't get conquered by the enemy was the enemy lost too.
...
Mutually Assured Destruction, folks. It's a hell of a drug.
"The US government never finished it. I would be happy to share my expertise, were the US government a going concern."
"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS NOT DEAD SO LONG AS ONE LOYAL SOLDIER REMAINS! AND I AM NOT YET DEAD!"
...Are you sure about that? Because people have a habit of not
staying dead out here.
"Sergeant, how would you like to get out of prison while still alive?"
…
No reply to
that, buddy?
He continues glowering at me for a few moments.
"I'm listening."
Gee, not so stand-offish all of a sudden, are we?
"The NCR is rather pleased with me at the moment. I've been helping them make friends, dealing with a few potential conflicts and we recently killed a giant super mutant god. Caesar's next on the chopping block and then that's basically it. The territory of the former United States will be home to peaceable successor states, several of which conform to the borders of pre-War states. Texas is back, and Oklahoma, and Colorado, and the Republic of the Rio Grande."
"Get to the point, mutie."
Well, for a
start, he's telling you things have changed out there. Oh, not
War,
that never changes. But the aftermath? Change all the way.
"The Enclave claimed to be the legitimate government of the United States, using emergency continuity laws to pass authority from one leader to another. But the people of the wasteland don't recognise their authority, not only because the Enclave tried to kill them all with FEV, but because they didn't vote for them. America is supposed to be a democracy, and the constitution makes it clear that you do need to have federal elections every few years. You tried fighting the entire wasteland twice, and it didn't work."
I lean forwards slightly.
See, when you use loopholes like
that, people start to think you're empire-building. That's what bit Julius Ceaser in the arse way back when...
"Have you considered more covert means?"
"What the hell do you mean by that?"
Well, when punching someone in the
face doesn't work, maybe you should try shouting 'what's that!' and pointing behind them...
But maybe that tactic's a little
advanced for you.
"I believe that the best way to ensure ongoing peace in North America is to re-establish the United States. For a while I've been picking up Enclave survivors and shipping them off to Iowa. Governor Autumn really just controls a single town and some farmland at the moment, but there are a lot of hard-working and patriotic Americans there who'd be glad to see you, and the other Enclave personnel in NCR custody."
"Iowa."
What's so bad about it? James Tiberius Kirk came from there, you know! And are you
less of a man than the
manliest Starfleet captain ever?
"Not sure what Iowa did to piss the Chinese off, but they nuked it pretty hard during the War. Now, the radiation forms a barrier around the area their Garden of Eden Creation Kit purified. Point is, if I talk the reformed states into reforming the United States, that will be one Governor, two Senators and however many congressional representatives who were members of the Enclave."
"YOU EXPECT ME TO SIGN UP TO A GOVERNMENT OF THE MUTANTS BY THE MUTANTS FOR THE MUTANTS?! I WOULD RATHER ROT IN HELL!"
Given that Iowa is smack-dab in the 'breadbasket of the country', the Chinese probably figured it would render all the farmland there unusable, forcing the Americans into a famine... Also, who
isn't a Mutant, by your definition, fella?
"A person who is born to either naturalised or natural-born American citizens is an American citizen. That means that virtually everyone you dismiss as 'mutants' is in fact an American citizen. They may be mutants as well, but they are legally American citizens. The Constitution puts some fairly strong restrictions on the way a legitimate government can treat its citizens, and the fact that the Enclave refuses to recognise that is another rather serious strike against it. Not… A serious strike as in 'something that makes people dislike it', I mean a serious strike against its claim to be the legitimate government when it fails to respect the very laws which give it power."
Oof.
Don't try to out-argue a rules lawyer, soldier-boy.
I shrug.
"I mean, if the government doesn't follow the law, why should anyone else?"
...Thank goodness he's talking about a
fictional version of the not-so-United States...
"MUTANTS ARE NOT CITIZENS OF MY COUNTRY!"
"The Constitution makes no provision for depriving a person of their citizenship on the grounds of genetic alteration. You don't have to like us, but you can't deprive us of our rights. But that's rather beside the point. The point is; do you want to see any kind of America restored and then work to make it more like what you think it should be, or do you want to die here?"
...Personally, I would vote for
not dying. But I am not
this guy.
I could give his mind a little nudge, but… That sort of thing tends not to stick. If I drop him on Autumn and Granite like that he'd probably end up as the nucleus of a hard-core Purist movement that will create even more trouble for me later on. And cost me virtually all of my credit with the NCR. No, this does need to be something he decides for himself, and I can feel his thoughts churning.
The joy of being a mind-reader. That sweet natural bonus to all social skill checks.
As far as he's concerned, Iowa, Nevada, California, it makes no difference. He'll gladly fight and die for the Enclave, completely convinced of the legitimacy of his cause. Some Enclave soldiers I've met weren't convinced that releasing the FEV Plague was the right thing to do at the time, and the ones like Granite who spent time since the Fall of Navarro living around wastelanders are now firmly convinced that it was wrong. Others like Dornan have drunk all of the Kool-Aid.
One nation, under the Enclave, with mindless obedience for all.
I doubt they could even afford the name-brand these days.
Probably used some crappy knock-off like Flava-Aid. Gives the mind-control drugs an extra
Zing!, you know?
But Dornon needs someone else to set the agenda. His insistence that he's not an officer is something he feels deeply. He isn't comfortable making policy decisions himself. And he knows Granite and knew Autumn Senior. They are part of the group of people he's used to taking orders from.
"What else?"
Ah, so you're leaning on his willingness to look to someone else to do all his thinking for him. Such a good soldier...
"You and all Enclave personnel remaining in NCR custody would be loaded into trucks and put on the road with a small escort of my people. Any who don't take this deal will be 'killed attempting to escape', which is one of the reasons why I hope you'll convince as many of your fellows as you can to accept it. Governor Autumn already knows that some people will be coming, and they've made the arrangements to receive you. I believe that you will technically become a member of the Iowa National Guard, though in practice your responsibilities will remain the same. Or you… Could retire. You've served with distinction for a very long time-."
A thousand-kilometer-plus drive across blasted wastelands, packed with hostile raiders and wild beasts? I think you've got him hooked.
"I've failed my country
twice, mutie. Do you have any idea what that's like?"
"
Restoring Britain has somewhat fallen down my schedule, but I'll get there eventually."
Assuming anything of it still exists. The British Isles are not that large, and even a couple of Nukes would leave it devastated... Still, there's always
SCIENCE! to be applied.
"I can't make this decision myself. But if I'm alive, I can always come back and kill you later."
I smile broadly. "That's the spirit. You'll tell the others?"
I can't imagine they'll vote against it...
He nods, grudgingly. "Get the guards out of the way for half an hour. We'll be having a free and frank exchange of views."
I nod. "Good to hear it. I'll see you with the trucks tomorrow."
...Though there might be some
sore heads in their future.
