//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 // Story: The Mad Mojavian Adventures of Courier 6 and Pinkie pie // by Edmar Fecler //------------------------------// A gentle breeze wafted across the old air field. The area was dark, but not entirely unlit. The stars and the full moon glimmered in the night sky, lighting the area just enough to see the outlines of objects. Old airliners sat here and there, gathering dust as they slowly deteriorated. A few NCR guards patrolled along the base’s outlying wall, keeping an eye out for any signs of trouble. The distant echoes of gunfire and a muffled party were all that broke the night’s silence. Jacks and his two companions sat behind a pair of large containers that were slightly spaced apart. From there they could see the control tower and a fair bit of the surrounding area from the gap between the crates. “So, remind me of the plan again? Please?” Pinkie said in a whisper, trying not to give away their location. Jacks swallowed the last bite of cherry pie and sighed. “Alright, but only if you keep these pies coming.” He sat the empty pie pan down with the half dozen or so others. Pinkie pulled another steamy pie out of her sweets sack and handed it over. Jacks happily took the pie and turned his gaze back to the tower. “Alright, so when we see our friend enter the tower we will get over there as fast as possible without drawing too much attention. Once inside, ED-E will begin recording immediately. We will proceed to sneak up to where the spy is making his transmission, see what he talks about, and then confront him. When he realizes he’s been caught, he’ll probably attack. However, I’d like to see if we could get him alive. He may have some valuable intel for the NCR.” He scooped a handful of pie into his mouth, savoring it as much as he could before swallowing it. “By the way, that was certainly a hell of a party. Best I’ve ever been to. Also, it has probably lulled the spy into a false sense of security. Most people are attending it, and we started it, so it would only make sense that we are there living it up instead of out here.” “Speaking of being out here instead of partying, is he here yet? This is soooo boring,” Pinkie whispered in anguish. “I know this is important and stuff, but the party was going so well! We were about to break out another piñata and everything.” “All in due time, my energetic friend. But for now, we’re on the clock and have a job to do.” Jacks checked his Pipboy for the time. “Look sharp guys, it’s almost 1AM. ED-E, let me know when you pick up any signs of someone heading for the tower.” The eyebot beeped in acknowledgment. Silence fell over the airfield once more as the trio waited for something to happen. Jacks shoved pie down his throat, ED-E floated idly, and Pinkie began tapping her hoof impatiently. The speed of her tapping steadily increased as the seconds began to draw out into minutes. Her eyes started twitching as it grew more and more difficult to contain her ravenous party hunger. After what felt like eons to her, she reached the breaking point. She stood up on her hind legs and drew in a massive breath, inflating her lungs like balloons. She opened her mouth to scream something about partying like it was 2077 when- “--Life sign approaching the tower!--“ ED-E beeped urgently, but in a hushed tone. Jacks swallowed the pie stuffing his cheeks and pulled out Sasha, his anti-material rifle. After scanning the area with the scope he spotted the shadowy outline of an NCR soldier approaching the tower. “Can’t see who it is…” Jacks muttered to himself as he tracked the figure. The soldier pulled something out of his back pocket and used it to open the door. As he stepped in, he took one last look around to see if he was being followed. The clack of the door closing seemed to echo across the airfield, acting as a call to action for the trio. Jacks slung Sasha onto his back and vaulted over the containers as ED-E floated behind him. Pinkie, who had been holding her upright position, suddenly let the air out of her lungs with a massive sigh and followed suit. It took them little time to cross the open area between their hiding spot and the doorway. Jacks stopped in front of the door and lifted his left leg up to where he could reach it. Pinkie halted, a bewildered expression coming over her face. “What are you doing? I thought we were in a rush to get up to the spy,” she whispered. Jacks pulled his boot off, dropping it by the door before pulling up the other foot. “Sock feet make for maximum stealth in buildings, of course.” He dropped the boot by the other and pulled out the door’s access holodisk. “Come on,” he continued as the door opened, “time to catch this fool with his hand in the cookie jar!” Pinkie stuffed put the cookie jar she was holding back into her goodie bag before following Jacks into the tower. The three of them ascended the flight of stairs almost silently. Soon they reached the door into the control room. Jacks put an index finger to his lips to emphasize their quietness before slowly opening the door… “Lupa, this is Frumentarius Pikus, over,” a familiar voice said sternly. Jacks crouched as he walked up the final flight, looking over his shoulder as the room came into view. His head was at the level of the room’s floor, giving him ample view while he remained hidden. He stopped where he was, worried he would be seen if he exposed himself any more. “Go ahead Pikus,” someone replied over the radio. Jacks eyed the man clad in NCR garb, instantly recognizing him as Curtis. He looked down the stairs to Pinkie and ED-E. “It’s Curtis! I knew it,” he mouthed silently. “Afternoon patrol enters Fiend territory at 1300 hours. Have them mine that stretch,” Curtis continued, oblivious to his watchers. “Ten-four Pikus. Fiends will be alerted.” “Roger Lupa.” “What’s the status of your primary mission, Picus?” “I may be compromised. I’ve had to deploy ahead of schedule. Charges are set. Detonation will occur when the train leaves the station. Over.” Jacks’ eyed widened with the sudden bombshell of information. He looked down to Pinkie, who’s jaw was hanging open in shock. ED-E remained expressionless. “How long?” The radio continued. Jacks returned his attention to Curtis and the transmission. “A couple of minutes. Over.” “Ten-four. Keep us updated.” “Ten-four.” Jacks looked back to Pinkie, only to be further shocked to see nothing but a pink cloud of smoke where she had been. He blinked, looking around for a second before turning to ED-E. The robot tilted its chassis, implying a shrug. Jacks rolled his eyes in frustration before standing up. “Hey, Curtis,” he said, winging the situation. “Did you see that party? Crazy stuff, huh?” Curtis spun around, locking his gaze onto the intruder. “What are you doing here? You don’t have clearance.” Jacks had to give him credit for keeping his cool so well, though he saw rage and panic in the man’s eyes. “I couldn’t find you in your office, so I… came here?” Curtis squinted angrily, his facade beginning to crumble. He slowly began to reach behind his back for his gun when a pink flash zoomed up the stairs and halted beside Jacks. The courier almost jumped out of his socks when he saw the pony practically materialize beside him. “The hell was that Pinkie?!” he shouted, clutching at his heart. Curtis used the distraction to pull out his 10mm pistol, only to have it blasted out of his hand. He looked over to Jacks, who was suddenly staring him in the eye with a dead serious expression. A smoking .44 magnum could be seen in his hand. “Seriously,” Jacks continued, his expression suddenly softening, “what was that? What did you do?” “I found the thing!” she said gleefully as she pulled a rectangular box with buttons and wires out from behind her back. Now it was Curtis’ turn to be shocked. “What? Where the hell did you get that?!” he shouted as he backed against a window overlooking the airport. “On the train, silly! You should know that, considering you put it there.” “W-wha… How the hell did you know I had put a bomb on the train?” “Yeah, I’m actually with Curtis on this one. How in the Mojave did you get that thing?” Pinkie rolled her eyes nonchalantly. “I heard him say he planted a bomb in his little call, so I ran over there and grabbed it before the train left! Easy peezi, lemon Parcheesi.” Jacks holstered the pistol and began rubbing his forehead. “Did you at least disarm it?” “Are you crazy? I don’t know how to disarm a bomb!” She tapped the side of the box, opening up a panel that revealed a timer at 5:42 and counting down. Jacks looked up to the timer, staring at it for a moment before beginning to chuckle. Soon the chuckle evolved into a hearty laugh, as he bent over and grabbed his stomach. Curtis simply stood against the window, his mind unable to grasp what was happening anymore. Jacks’ laughter subsided after a moment. “Of course you can’t disarm a bomb. What was I thinking?” he stood up and wiped a tear from his eye. “All you are is an alien pony with a magical, bottomless sack of pastries that can travel half a mile in less than 30 seconds and use the laws of physics like her own play-things.” His gaze met hers. “Why the hell do you even need me to help you get home?” he continued, his tone suddenly shifting to one of sorrowful seriousness. “You seem more than capable of handling things on your own.” “Oh Jackie, I wouldn’t have nearly gotten this far without you. You’re my friend. And with friendship on our side, we can accomplish anything.” Pinkie shed a tear of joy as she stood up to hug Jacks around his lower torso. He knelt down and returned the embrace. “…What the hell is going on right now?!” Curtis screamed as he began to question reality. ED-E floated up to Jacks. “--I agree with Curtis. Is now really the time for a heart-to-heart?--“ Jacks patted Pinkie on the back before breaking from the embrace to stand up. “You’re right,” he said with a sniffle. “We’re on the clock.” “Literally!” Pinkie chimed in as she held the bomb up. It now read at 2:57. “You know,” Jacks begun as he grabbed the bomb with his left hand, “I was actually kind of hoping for a dramatic ‘race against time’ type scenario where we had to book it across the airport and disarm this thing at the last second.” He paused. “But I guess this works too.” In a flash he whipped out the magnum with his right hand and fired a shot at Curtis. The bullet found its mark, shattering the man’s kneecap. Curtis fell to the floor from the onset of pain, clutching at his leg desperately. Jacks calmly walked over and set the bomb down beside the wounded traitor. “Here’s your bomb back, friend. Do with it what you will. Just know that I’m heading straight to Hsu to let him know what happened and where you are.” He smiled to the man momentarily before turning back to the staircase. “Come along, gents. We have a report to fill out.” Jacks walked down the stairs nonchalantly, the pony and eyebot close behind him. As they left, Curtis was able to push past the pain enough to pick up the bomb. He watched the timer count down as he weighed his options… - - - ED-E fell silent as the recording ended. Jacks and Pinkie spun their chairs around to face Colonel Hsu. “See? Curtis was the big baddie after all! We knew it all along,” Pinkie said as she swallowed the popcorn she’d been munching on. Hsu didn’t know how to take the news. His gaze fell to the paperwork scattered across his desk as he tried to wrap his mind around the situation. The recording was borderline insane with all that was implied. Where to even begin… “Curtis… I don’t understand how he could be the spy. He’s been with us long before our conflict with the Legion. If they could get a mole that deep into our military, I hate to imagine who else might be compromised…” He paused. “And you; I am extremely thankful for saving the monorail, but you almost blew up our radio tower in the process! What were you thinking?” “Okay, to be fair, that last part was Pinkie’s idea. She didn’t even fill me in on her plan until we had left the tower,” Jacks said with a shrugged. “I had to sell the moment.” Pinkie giggled. “You all should have seen the looks on your faces!” “Well, it all ended well and good, but I still don’t appreciate you lying to me about being able to disarm bombs.” Hsu rubbed his forehead. “I’m not even going to ask how that thing can disarm a bomb.” “Magic!” “Of course it is,” he continued with a sigh. “In any case, thank you for everything you’ve done for the NCR. Here is your payment, and more importantly I will be sure to let the higher-ups know about your most recent achievements.” He dropped a bag of caps on the desk and pushed it towards the trio. Jacks took the sack and hung it in his cloak among the others before turning back to the officer. “No problem, Hsu. So, you mind if I ask what you guys plan on doing with Curtis?” “Quite frankly, I’m not sure. I suppose he might get sent back west to face trial, but who knows how long that would take. Hell, there may even be more spies that aid him. That recording you gave me should be more than enough to convict him for his crimes, but I don’t know what will happen to him.” Hsu sighed, leaning back in his chair as he looked to the ceiling. “Damn bureaucrats. On the bright side, he’ll probably never walk again thanks to your injury. I suppose things would have been simpler if you had just killed him.” “Well I’m trying to cut back on the whole ‘killing’ thing.” Hsu lowered his head, looking at jacks with an unamused ‘are you serious?’ expression on his face. Jacks shrugged. “Well, okay, I did just kill almost all the fiends, but those guys don’t count. They’re so drugged up none of them had any brains left, and the ones who did were the twisted bastards calling the shots. Besides, it was going to have to happen sooner or later.” “Fair enough, I suppose.” Hsu looked back up to the ceiling. “So, you got any other super-fun jobs you want us to take care of, Mr Shoe?” “Other than cleaning up the mess your party left?” He paused, rubbing his chin in thought. “Quarry Junction is still overrun with deathclaws, if you’re feeling up to the task of clearing them out. Other than that, you’ve done everything that’s needed doing around here.” “OOH OOH, that sounds like fun!” Pinkie rambled excitedly. “I’ll finally get to meet a deathclaw! They sound like fun little critters. Dangerous, but fun. Kinda’ like Gummy when he grows up and gets his teeth! Speaking of which, I bet he misses me. I’m sure Fluttershy is taking good care of him though.” “Right, fun…” Jacks rubbed his back anxiously. “Well Hsu, you can consider Quarry Junction cleared. But are you sure that’s it, because I won’t be coming back this way for a while.” Hsu took a deep breath. He looked down, making eye contact with Jacks. “That’s about all I’ve got for you. You may find some work in your wanderings, however. After all there’s always trouble brewing somewhere.” A subtle, barely visible smile came to his lips. “In any case, you’ve certainly helped lighten my burden here at McCarran. Things should be pretty good until you find yourself on our side of town again.” Jacks felt the warm fuzzies of having done a good job. It was a rare feeling, often being overshadowed by the weight of his actions or their consequences, but it was a welcome feeling all the same. He smiled as he stood up from the chair. “In that case,” he said, outstretching an open hand, “It’s been a pleasure working with you again, Colonel. I look forward to the next time we meet.” Hsu stood up, leaning over his desk as he took the extended hand into his own. “The pleasure’s been all mine, Courier,” he concluded with a single, firm shake. They exchanged looks one last time before Jacks released his grip. He turned to exit the office, his companions following close behind. As the door closed behind him, Hsu sat back in his chair as he took a deep breath. “Godspeed, Jacks.”