[u][b]Palace of Caesar[/b][/u]

“The New California Republic has failed the world", Garcia said, "We showed our worst face at New Vegas Conference. And Kimball's invasion was a violation of the peace the world hoped for.” he looked at Lucius, a former enemy he’d never seen before today, and couldn’t help but respect him some for all this. “Both of our nations have been at each others throats for years in a needless conflict. Thousands died for a dam that ultimately neither of us owned when the fighting stopped. Kimball tried to restart that when we ought to have ended our silly conflict. For that, the new leaders of the NCR apologize and hope to make things right in the coming years in whatever way we can. Resentments between our people may continue, but never again another war. The Republic may one day expand into those untouched wastelands at our border, but the people of California have had enough blood. We want to gradually establish peaceful and open economic and diplomatic connections to all nations around us. There is only benefit to be had for Texas, Vegas, the Legion, and both Brotherhoods to discussing open trade agreements with us. To carry out these promises, General Hsu is currently reforming our democratic government and I have been authorized to make binding agreements with you. So by all means, be prepared for some far future conflict with the Republic. But know ‘gluttonous expansion’ and further war is not on the Bears agenda.”

"[i]Nice speech[/i]", Barnaky thought to himself, "[i]Even though you looked like you were sucking on a lemon while giving it.[/i]" As for Gladstone's bellicose talk, he should keep in mind the NCR wasn't much weaker now than they had been when they forced him to abandon the bunkers that made up the cradle of the Order and into exile in Washington State. Barnaky was sympathetic with Garcia's predicament, however....Hsu had truly given the man a hard duty to perform. Personally, he would have rather have seen his old "friend" Cassandra Moore...one of the authors of this whole mess, and the only one to survive it politically...served up that healthy portion of crow pie than Garcia, she richly deserved it. But that woman had more lives than a cat....not only was she still in uniform, the same clowns in Shady Sands that had been moving a bill through the NCR Congress to demand she be cashiered as news reached them of her victory over Thunderbird, last War Leader of the 80s, turned around and made her a Major General instead. Her leading role in the Mojave War, and the disastrous war with the Legion that followed was all but forgotten in the NCR now.        

Garcia sat, then spoke again. 

“I have one request Caesar", Garcia continued, "Would it be possible for the remains of Kimball and his outfit to be turned over to the NCR? The remains could serve as a powerful symbol of Kimball's defeat to the NCR public. They would also be some consolation for the family relations and friends the man left behind, regardless of his final actions.”

Barnaky was surprised by this, he had thought Lucius had repatriated Kimball's remains. While returning the corpse seemed like a reasonable request to him, that was up to Caesar. he looked over at Caesar to await his reply to Garcia. 

[u][b]Akeisha Moon - SAC HQ - Former Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff Offices - Four Months Ago
[/b][/u]

"Here it is", the Scribe said to Akeisha as he placed the thick book on the table before her. "This is where it all begins..." 

Akeisha regarded the book, a large softbound tome at least three inches thick, and looked at the black letters that still stood out boldly on the blood red cover. 

[b]TOP SECRET//SIOP-ESI

SINGLE INTEGRATED OPERATIONAL PLAN, FY 2078 (SIOP-78)
WITH APPENDICES AND ANNEXES

THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20301
1 OCT 2077

CLASSIFIED BY DIRECTOR, J-3
DECLASSIFY ON OADR

TOP SECRET//SIOP-ESI[/b]

There it was before her, one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Old World's Government....the document that spelled out, in meticulous detail, the US Military's comprehensive plan for ending the world. Below her, deep underground, was one of the command centers from which the final war of the Old World had been waged. The men and women assigned to it, all but forgotten except for names on duty rosters and logs, had prosecuted the war relentlessly, managing the initial exchange, and then sending out commands for follow-up strikes to units that one by one, had ceased replying until, in the end, supplies had run out, forcing them to venture out into the hellscape of post-exchange Nebraska for more, which exposed them to the radiation that ultimately claimed them. When the Brotherhood had seized Offut AFB from the Calculator, along with their bones, they inherited the largest known repository of records regarding the Great War known to still exist. Everything from the SIOP itself, to the real-time logs of SAC HQ as the war was being waged, to, reports from SAC assets and Battle Damage Assessments and follow up orders that emanated from them. It would take months to scan it all onto holodisk and years for a dedicated team of historians to catalog and analyze it all....so that historians could properly chronicle the madness that had created the world as it was today.

While Akeisha's specialty with the Followers of the Apocalypse was the study of the Societal Protection Program, or Vault Project as most called it, when the Brotherhood had responded to her requests for information about the Vaults in the Midwestern Order's lands with a counter-offer to help them catalog the trove of Great War-era documents, she couldn't help but accept. 

With a mixture of deep curiosity, sadness, and a little fear, she opened the cover and began to leaf through the pages of the massive tome before her.