[color=9e0b0f][u][b]Kedi & Sentinel Irving - Black Mountain - After Midnight, October 18th [/b][/u][/color]
( A collaboration with [@crimson paladin])

Kedi breathed heavily as their guide trotted out from the radio station towards the figures. His finger fluttered around the trigger of his pistol. It was hard to see them in the black of night but the passing clouds above occasionally gave a glimmer of reflected moonlight off their metal bodies. Kedi wasn’t sure if they were armored men or robots. Even at this distance Kedi could taste the acidic tingle in the air as their energy weapons hummed with power. One of the armored men stepped forth and spoke in hushed voices with the man Kedi had been following. 

The young prisoner had said his people could provide aid for the wounded Khans if they would help him get to the top of Black Mountain. It was time for him to make good on his promise. Kedi looked at Daniel, slumped against the wall just inside the station. His face was drawn and pale, his mouth hung open. In the dark Kedi couldn’t even tell if he was still breathing. 

With a whistling buzz of small thrusters came a strange spherical creature. A robot that Kedi had never seen before. The Khans around him tightened and one of them leveled a rifle at the metal ball. Then came the crackle of radio static and a brief message was heard from a speaker which took up the majority of the front of the robot.    

"I am Sentinel Irving of the Brotherhood of Steel, and I would like to extend my thanks to the Khans for this act.  You may not have known it, but this was a high-value prisoner, and his rescue is of great benefit to our organization and a considerable setback for Colonel Abernathy and his superiors. As a token of my appreciation, please accept this Eyebot. It can make deliveries, serve as a highly perceptive sentry, or simply play the radio, and when needed, can serve as a line of communication with us. And feel free to subject it to your gang's initiation rites, because this particular model is quite durable."

Kedi’s eyes narrowed and the sentinel’s attempt at humor was lost on him. He looked past the robot, the figures were slipping back into the darkness below the summit. Pain and anger soaked his mind and Kedi barked out against them, batting the eyebot away with his pistol.

“You promised us help!” He shouted at the Brotherhood members. “You said your people could help mine. Do it!” He stood just a few feet away, the Brotherhood squad had turned to face him. Kedi lowered himself, weapons at the ready. It had been a blunder but Kedi had never been prepared for delicate negotiations. He was a raider, a drug-runner and far too often a killer. Not a diplomat or a leader. 

The robot paused as the Sentinel considered his next words. If the "help" they wanted was weapons or ammo, they'd likely not react so strongly. Judging by the tone and anger of the Khan suggested that the "help" he wanted was pretty serious- perhaps medical assistance or aid against the NCR. The Sentinel looked over at a radar monitor next to the radio, keyed to the Eyebot's sensors- if the NCR had pursued the Khans, they'd need to act quickly.

"...I see. I presume that the Knight you rescued offered you assistance in exchange for escorting him to safety. What matter of help do you require, Khan?"

Kedi turned his attention to the eyebot as a voice crackled to life through its audio emitters. He moved closer to the robot with the slinking motion of a stalking cat. He brought the pommel of his knife down hard upon the top of the eye-bot and it jolted as its thrusters re-adjusted and moved it out of arm's reach. 

"You can see me?" Kedi asked, his eyes wide with pain and bewilderment. He was close enough that the visual light-receptors of the eye-bot could pick up the tattoos that covered his forearms. So numerous and uniform in their patterns they gave Kedi the appearance of scaley reptilian arms. His long hair had been braided many times over and tied back in a small onion-like bun at the base of his skull. He lowered his weapons and glanced over at the Brotherhood members. Some held their ground, others continued their descent. Panic welled up in Kedi's chest and he instinctively called out to them before returning his attention to the hovering eye-bot. 

"We're shot up real good. We need a doctor and fast."

The Sentinel looked at the grainy, black-and-white monitor that conveyed the Eyebot's visual sensors, looking over the Khan and his companions.

"Very well, Khan, give me a moment,"

Irving pushed the microphone away and pulled up another one, one linked to a radio.

"Change of plans, Head Paladin," a portable radio sounded from Hardin's belt. "Send Scribe Pellin back up to the Khans, they were wounded in a skirmish with the NCR and are requesting medical attention."

"Sentinel, is this really necessary," Hardin asked, holding the radio in his power armored hand.  "They knew the risks when they attacked the NCR."

"Knight Keyes promised them aid in exchange for their rescue, and with the NCR attempting to consolidate its control, we need resilient allies on the surface."

"Yes, Elder," Hardin spoke, staving off the urge to crush the radio.  He did not like this- the Khans were untrustworthy troublemakers in his eyes, little better than the other raider gangs.  However, orders were orders.

"Scribe Pellin," he barked, looking at the much smaller figure. "The Sentinel has ordered you to head back up and given the Khans medical aid."

The scribe nodded wordlessly and headed back up the mountain to where the Khan leader and Eyebot were.  He raised his goggles and began to open the myriad pouches on his uniform, revealing stimpaks, bandages, forceps, and various other medical tools.

"Scribe Pellin, Brotherhood of Steel," he formally introduced himself to the Khan.  "I've been ordered to provide you and yours with medical aid."

Kedi motioned for the scribe to come inside the radio station and showed him Daniel. The Khan had lost so much blood that he looked dead already. Pellin knew that the Khan wouldn’t make it to sunup. He performed triage on the small group of raiders. He administered a stimpak to accelerate clotting and reduce the pain to all the Khans except Daniel.. Kedi kept insisting that the scribe help the wounded Khan and Pellin had to level with the man that Daniel wasn’t going to survive. He had lost too much blood and Pellin’s time would be better spent helping those who were not so critically wounded. Tears welled at the corner of Kedi’s eyes and he blinked them away. He wanted to unleash his fury at the situation on the scribe. Make Pellin feel the pain he suffered in his heart. But he felt a coolness in his body and his breathing came more regularly. At once a heavy fatigue settled upon him. He crouched low near the door and set his back against the wall. Kedi watched as Pellin stitched up his warriors, his blinking became slower until he slipped into an exhausted unconscious sleep.