Pinkie stood silently, staring up at the massive wall before her in awe. It had to be at least 25 feet high, and it ran in either direction with a slight curve to it, making the ends, if there were any, impossible to see. Directly in front of her, however, was a set of massive metal doors, which had watch towers sticking up above the wall on either side of it. Two NCR guards attentively stood at the center of the door to make sure that no unwanted persons could enter. The guards gave her questionable glances as she marveled at the large wall.
Jacks ruffled her hair as he stepped past. “I know it’s quite the setup they’ve got here, but wouldn’t you rather see the inside than stand around here gawking at a wall all day?” he said with a chuckle.
Pinkie blinked a few times and nodded excitedly before bouncing alongside him. Jacks walked up to the two guards calmly, keeping his hands secluded in the outer pockets on his cloak. As he neared the guards they raised their guns cautiously, lining him up with their sights.
“Alright, that’s far enough, guy,” the left guard said in a very serious tone. “Identify yourself.”
“Odd,” Jacks muttered to himself as he came to a stop, “The Desert Ranger Combat Armor usually fools the rookies…”
“Maybe he’s suspicious of the blood stains,” Pinkie remarked with a touch of sarcasm. “I mean, they don’t exactly say ‘Oh hello, my good sir, I’ve just come from a lovely spot of tea with my floating robot and pink pony. Pip pip! Cheerio! Jolly good show, and whatnot,’” she said in a mock-British accent.
Jacks rolled his eyes and chuckled at Pinkie’s little impression as they neared the guards.
“At ease, guys,” he said loud enough for the troops to hear, “It is I, the destroyer of evil and rescuer of innocent. Fear me not, for I mean you no harm. That is, unless you mean me harm.”
The right guard lowered his weapon and cocked his head, though the left guard kept his rifle on target.
“What kind of an answer is that? Sounds like something a drugged up fiend would say if you ask me… And what’s with the freak-show?” the left guard continued, motioning to ED-E and Pinkie.
“Yeeaaaah, about the Fiends… I’m pretty sure they won’t be bothering you guys again. As in, EVER,” Jacks retorted with a chuckle.
The left guard took a step forward “You’ve got ten seconds to get out of here,” he said in an irritated tone of voice “And take your freaks with you.”
“Whoa whoa whoa, cowboy, relax. I’ve got business with the colonel.”
“The kind that ends with a high-ranking officer killed?! I think not!”
Jacks was about to protest, but the right guard placed his hand on the left guard’s gun and lowered it slowly. “…Kid, I don’t think you know who you’re talkin’ to,” he said sternly.
“What? You know this drugged up nut-job?”
“As a matter of fact,” the right guard continued as he took his helmet and goggles off, “He just so happened to save my life.”
Jacks squinted at the guard for a moment before he recognized him. “…Halford?” The guard nodded. “Holy shit man, how are you! Hope the leg’s treatin’ you well.”
Halford chuckled heartily. “No thanks to your mad skills with a doctor’s bag.”
The left guard’s gaze darted between Halford and Jacks. “Hal, who the hell is this?”
“This is Jacks, man. You know, the Courier? This son-of-a-bitch right here saved me from a cave swarming with lakelurks using that very gun.” He pointed to the anti-material rifle on Jacks’ back. “He’s done more for the NCR, and half the region, than you could ever imagine.”
Pinkie looked up to Jacks, her smile spreading ever wider. “You’re a bloody hero!” she said, still using her mock-British accent.
“Oh you guys…” Jacks said with a cheeky grin and a chuckle, “Besides, I never turn down a distress call.”
“…I don’t care!” the left guard shouted as he raised his gun again. “You’re not getting in here without the proper clearance!”
“Can you believe this kid?” Jacks said to Halford as he pointed his thumb at the guard. Halford simply shrugged.
“You know what? As much as I enjoy catching up with a friend while a stranger points a gun at me, I’ve got some pressing issues to attend to. After all, it’s not like these guys are going to get any less stinky,” Jacks continued, pulling open his cloak to reveal four bloody sacks surrounded by flies, “So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just go ahead and slip on in.”
As Jacks stepped forward, the left guard jabbed the barrel of his rifle against Jacks’ chin. “I still don’t care who you are! And I’m the one in charge here, so I order you to leave the premises NOW!”
Jacks, reaching around the barrel pressing into his chin, took off his authority glasses and looked the guard in the eye. The guard felt his blood run cold as he gazed into the piercing blue eyes of the Courier. He wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but he could have sworn there was an eerie red glow to them.
“Ah ah ah…” Jacks whispered with a wave of his index finger, “No touchy.”
In the blink of an eye, Jacks yanked the rifle out of the guard’s hands and slammed its stock into the side of his head, knocking the guard out cold. Jacks dropped the rifle beside the unconscious guard’s body and put his authority glasses back on.
“For the record,” Jacks said aloud to no one in particular, “I commend the kid for his unwavering loyalty. Hell, the NCR could use more men like him. But as it is, he was in the way of very important business, and I will take sole responsibility for my actions against him when the time comes.” He turned to Halford. “If you wanna’ take some time to talk and catch up, you can find me in the mess tent.”
“Right,” Halford replied as he watched the courier open the metal doors. Jacks held them open long enough for his friends to enter.
“Oh, and Hal?”
“Yeah?”
“When the kid wakes up, tell him I said ‘sorry.’”
“Will do,” Halford concluded as Jacks stepped inside and closed the doors. Halford looked down to the other guard’s limp body and chuckled.
“…Jacks, man, you gotta’ work on your people skills,” he whispered to himself.
-
Pinkie sat at an old picnic table, picking at the weathered green paint that was peeling off after so many years of no upkeep. ED-E, of course, hovered to her right keeping an eye on her for Jacks as he had gone to get their food. Enthralled in her paint chipping, Pinkie didn’t notice as Jacks made his way to the table. Jacks set a metal plate piled high with vegetables in front of her, almost making her jump.
“Here,” Jacks said kindly, “got you the best vittles they had, straight from the sharecroppers.”
“Ooo~ this looks fantastic!” Pinkie said with a beaming smile. She bent her head down and bit into a carrot, chewing it loudly. “So,” she said before swallowing, “Why do they call this place a mess hall? It doesn’t look very messy if you ask me.”
Jacks shrugged as he cut his brahmin steak into bite-sized bits. “Beats me, but I know they’ve been calling it that since before the war.” He set his silverware down and clapped his hands together. “Oh! Almost forgot to say grace.”
“Hmm?” Pinkie asked as she cocked her head.
“In my religion it’s considered proper to give thanks for your food before you eat. So, if you would please…” Jacks meshed his fingers together and bowed his head, Pinkie mimicking his actions.
“Lord, we give thanks for the food we are about to receive, and pray that you bless it to the nourishment of our bodies. Amen.” Jacks lifted his head, poking Pinkie’s fluffy hair to let her know to do the same. Pinkie took another bite from the carrot.
“You know,” she said through a mouthful of orange nutrition, “When I met you, I didn’t peg you for a religious type.”
“Yeah, most people don’t,” Jacks said solemnly as he forked a bit of his steak and ate it. “Still, I find it to be quite fulfilling, and it helps strengthen me in times of need. To believe in something much bigger than yourself, and that you have a chance to be forgiven for all the sinful things that a person does… for all the things I do…” He paused for a moment, pondering the idea. “It gives me hope.”
Pinkie nodded slowly, listening attentively to his words. Jacks smiled and took another bite of his steak.
“Now, I know that it might not look it, but I am a believer. However, I do not do what I do in the name of my religion, because that’d make it look like believers were a bunch of psychos… which they’re not,” he said, putting particular sternness into the last part. “I’ve worked hard to make this land as good a place as I can. I’ve dealt with the Fiends, the Legion, Powder Gangers, and many more, as passively as possible, but some people are just impossible to work with.” He paused.
“My point is, Pinkie, that I’ve done bad things, both inadvertently and intentionally. My intentions may be true, but that is far from justifying what I’ve done… However, my God is a merciful one. If someone is a true believer, who is willing to accept God as their one true savior, then they shall be forgiven for their transgressions.” He continued sincerely. “Of course, that doesn’t give someone the freedom to just go do whatever they like, thinking they can brush their actions off with a half-baked ‘sorry’. To be forgiven, you truly have to feel remorse for what you’ve done and be willing to seek forgiveness for it.”
Pinkie stared at Jacks attentively, nibbling on her vegetables as she listened. “So…” She swallowed a mouthful of potato. “This God dude seems like a pretty cool guy.”
“Oh yeah. You know, in the story of Jonah, God forgave an entire city of people.”
“What did they do? Oh, is it a story?! I love stories!” Pinkie said, suddenly interested by the possibility of a good tale.
“Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve read the story, but I’ll do my best.” Jacks cleared his throat. “So, there’s this big ol’ city called… Nineveh I think. Now, this place was one wretched place. I mean murder, prostitution, thievery, all sorts of bad stuff, the reason being that nobody knew the difference between right and wrong. I mean, these guys had been known to brutally wipe out entire cities… Kind of like Caesar’s Legion, now that I think about it.” Jacks paused to contemplate the similarities the Legion had to the biblical city.
“…Anyhow, God sees that this place is messed up something awful, so awful in fact that he’s ready to wipe the whole place off the face of the Earth. But God’s not one to jump to conclusions, so he asks a prophet, Jonah, to travel to the city and warn the people of Nineveh that if they don’t get themselves straightened out, that he’s going to wipe them out. But there was just one problem. Jonah didn’t want to do it!”
“What? That’s crazy!”
“I know, right? See, Jonah knew that if he went there and started preaching the word of God to all these heathens that they’d likely seek forgiveness from God, and if they did that, and meant it, that God would forgive them and spare their lives. But Jonah didn’t want God to spare them. He hated the Ninevites so much that he wanted to see them all destroyed, even if it meant disobeying God. In fact, he was so deadset on not going that he jumped on the first ship out of the city to try to escape God’s presence.” Jacks chuckled. “But one does not simply escape the deity that created the world. So God, not too pleased with his disobedient disciple, sent a storm of biblical proportions to intercept the boat…”
Suddenly, a squad of troops walked into the mess tent. Jacks paused his story to look over at the newcomers. Normally, he wouldn’t have found anything strange about their presence, considering they were in one of the NCR’s largest bases, but something about how they pointed to him and shouted “You! You’re under arrest!” made him a little suspicious. His suspicions were further fueled when they rushed over to him and forced his head to the table as they began tying his hands up.
“Don’t look now Pinkie,” he said through the steak that his face was currently shoved in, “But I think these guys might actually be here to arrest us…”
“What should we do?” she replied as she raised her hooves for a troop that was aiming for her head.
“Smile and wave,” Jacks whispered. “Smile and wav-” He was cut short as one of the troops knocked him out.