[color=6ecff6][u][b]Sentinel Derek Irving- Hidden Valley Bunker[/b][/u][/color]

Sentinel Irving stood next to Head Paladin Hardin in the radio comms room, looking down over a map of the Mojave with various pins sticking in it.  He always preferred to lead from the field rather than hidden away in a bunker.  Even so, he was able to recognize the need to coordinate forces from a command center, and this particular instance definitely called for it.  This was going to be a busy day for the Brotherhood.  They were performing simultaneous several surface operations in broad daylight, making preparations for what would lie ahead.  Their surface teams consisted of knights and scribes, disguised as wastelanders, with a few eyebots.  Encrypted radio signals, routed through the Black Mountain facility, would be their means of communication with the bunker.  Even so, their orders were to use radio minimally.

The Sentinel was still looking over the map.  It had four locations pinned- Primm, NCRCF, REPCONN headquarters, and the Strip..  With the Brotherhood's presence no longer a secret, they needed to be able to act, and to act, they needed intel.  Irving was looking over the map locations when one of the teams radioed back.

[color=a7a7a7]"This is Veronica.  I've got all of your Brahmin Burger orders, I'm heading home now."[/color]

"Knowing Veronica, that means she's completed her objective without any problems," Hardin remarked, unsure if the Sentinel was already familiar with how goofy that particular scribe could be.

Despite Irving's frustration with Veronica's tendency to joke around in very serious situations, this was good news.  Since the Battle of Helios One, Veronica probably had spent more time on the surface than the rest of the chapter combined.  Irving didn't like risking her for grocery duty when the NCR had clearly caught their scent, but that was why they had sent her to Primm.  She already had a bit of a reputation in the town as a tinker and scavenger.  In fact, it was in Primm, and by Veronica's hand, that the Brotherhood obtained the Enclave's prototype Eyebot, an act that may have very well convinced the western Elders of the worth and usefulness of the Mojave chapter.

"We can't risk her doing this routinely," Irving remarked.  "The NCR will notice, but it should help buy us some time while we sort out..."

He was interrupted by one of the radios crackling to life.

[color=a7a7a7]"Command, this is Kristof.  Surveillance completed.  Awaiting further orders."[/color]

"Hardin, what is your assessment of the NCR presence in the Mojave?" the Sentinel asked the Head Paladin.

"You're referring to Colonel Abernathy's 3rd Infantry Battalion?  They are a far cry from the mismanaged conscripts that made up much of the NCR's occupying forces at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam," Hardin answered.  "They've spent the last several years occupying the Mojave without support from either the NCR or the local population, so most of them are hardened veterans."

"However," Hardin continued, "Much of the 3rd's military might is tied up maintaining order.  He and his troops are very unpopular with the local population, so Abernathy must commit many of his troops to keeping them under control.  If we were to face him, he could not bring the full strength of the 3rd against us without inviting considerable unrest among the locals.  If he were to sustain enough casualties, or if his army's grip on the region was otherwise weakened, his ability to project his forces would be diminished even further."

"And what of the Van Graffs?" the Sentinel asked.  "What do you think of them?"

"Filthy arms dealers," Hardin replied in a disgusted tone.  "Back when we first went underground, their only presence in the city was a small weapons facility in Freeside, but the Elder refused to allow me to take action even when it became clear that the NCR did not have the strength to stop us.  Now there's a damned Van Graff [i]president[/i] in California, and those in the Mojave are sitting on the REPCONN Headquarters and whatever pre-war tech that may have survived the bombs."

"Yes, they're definitely a serious threat," the Sentinel remarked.  "On a regional scale, their energy weapons could provide any fool with enough caps a weapon that can potentially punch through power armor.  On a larger scale, they have the NCR's army at their beck and call.  And...on a global scale, I fear they may be foolish enough to meddle in forces that they do not comprehend, like the Green.  Abernathy may be ruthless, but he and his troops have experienced firsthand the ruination that playing with The Green will bring and so far appear to have learned their lesson.  The Van Graffs back in California, by contrast, have not."

The radio once again crackled to life.

[color=a7a7a7]"This is Redmond.  Surveillance completed.  Awaiting further orders."[/color]

"I wonder, though- if the Van Graffs were to assert their authority in the Mojave, would Abernathy comply?" Irving asked.  "He and his battalion predate the Van Graff administration, and they've been been cut off from the NCR for quite some time.  Long enough to discard many of the NCR's purported values.  Long enough to forge bonds between each other rather than their distant rulers."

"Do you truly believe that the Colonel might resist?" Hardin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure, but it's happened before in the Brotherhood," Irving answered.  "But if we are able to avoid uniting them against us, it would be to our benefit, especially if..."

[color=a7a7a7]"It's your son again.  The Strip is really something.  If you're important enough, you'd never have to actually sleep in your own bed."[/color]

"That's all of them," Hardin reported, glancing at the scribe operating the radios, then at the Sentinel.  "What are your orders?"

"Recall Kristof and Redmond back to base," he ordered. "And...inform Sato and Hoss to keep a radio tuned to that strange signal we picked up.  If it fires up again, I want to triangulate it."