[u][b]Brother Joseph - Ultra-Luxe [/b][/u]

"[i]Runner!.....[/i]", said a man's voice from the holotape player's speaker, "[i]Right, let's see.... Greetings, Men of Steel. I am commander John Fulman of the Arctic Haven mercenary force. I apologise for all the loops, spy games and mystery surrounding this message, but I assure you I have good cause for this, as you will soon learn. Please come to our temporary command outpost set up at the old 'Allied Technologies Offices' just south of the McCarran walls. It's the base with old Navarro Class vertibirds and concrete walls. I dare not explain my purpose for these security measures even in this tape I've obfuscated for fear of this falling into the wrong hands.[/i]"

"That is all that was on the tape, My Lord", Joseph said as he reached over to the holo-tape player and pushed the stop button. "There was no supporting documentation at all, whatever Fulman wants, he is afraid of it getting intercepted."

"As well he should", Barnaky said as the robot began to pace back and forth pensively. As many years as he had served the Lord-Paladin as his lieutenant and advisor, Brother Joseph had never quite gotten used to the human-like gestures of the Lord Paladin's robot avatars when he was controlling them. The robot stopped, and pointed at a portrait on the wall, a print of one of [url=http://old.theartnewspaper.com/imgart/web-jp-scotland.jpg]Rembrandt's self-portraits[/url], then waved at it. "The walls here...have ears. And probably eyes, too." He then looked back at Joseph and added. "speaking of that[i][/i]...for Christ's sake, stand the hell back up or take a seat, I don't need our host thinking there is something to what that moron Kimball sent to pretend to be him said about me thinking I'm a 'Man-God'."

"Yes, my Lord", Joseph said as he got up off his knee and sat on the couch. "Kimball's deception does not seem to have been well received, that could be useful to Lucius...and us."

"I hope that idiot is [i]only[/i] a 'body double'," Barnaky growled as he begun to pace again, through the area where Joseph had been kneeling, "if his 'intellect'", Barnaky emphasized by raising his hands and sarcastically making quote marks to each side of his head, "matches Kimball's as closely as his [i]looks[/i] do, they both must eat lead paint chips for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Barnaky stopped directly in front of the reproduction of the Rembrantdt and faced it. 

"So tell me, Robert", Barnaky asked, "what do [i]you[/i] think of Kimball and the pickle he's putting you in?"

At that, the terminal sitting on a desk in one corner of the room emitted a single beep, then it's screen popped into life. The cursor scrolled across the screen, leaving behind a single sentence. 

[color=39b54a]Mr. Robert Edwin House is available for communication.[/color]

"[i]Out[/i]-standing.", Barnaky said in a satisfied voice. "Brother Joseph, go at once to the location in Fulman's tape and find out what he wants, then report to me from the plane. While you're there, give Fulman the offer we discussed before you left." Barnaky then added, "And now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to have a robot to screen chat with our host. Dismissed."


[u][b]Allied Technologies - Later[/b][/u]

"The Allied Technologies Offices", intoned the Securitron he had requested as an escort and guide from the Ultra-Luxe's front desk as it swept it's arm to take in the decrepit single story office building, surrounded with concrete barricades and armed guards. "I will wait here for your return, Brother Joseph."

"Thank you", Joseph said as he walked forward alone, approaching what appeared to be the security checkpoint. As the tape said, there were several Vertibirds, of the type once used by the Enclave, parked near the building, well back from the barricades. He reached the checkpoint, and halted as requested by the guards. 

"I am Brother Joseph of the Midwestern Order of the Brotherhood of Steel", Joseph said in a dignified manner. "I am here at the request of Commander Fulman, I wish to discuss with him matters of his interest...and ours."