Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Tracking The Legion

So, I spent the night in the outpost, as expected. I put my trooper helmet near the bunk bed and closed my eyes. Tomorrow, I should wake up early so I can get to Nipton as soon as possible. I doubted that anyone spotted the Legion, or should I just head straight to the camp which location I didn't know. It was a gamble, but I was racing against time too.

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[05:20 A.M]

The sun hadn't risen up yet, but I needed to prepare myself for this long haul journey. I wore the NCR trooper hat, put my rifle on my back, and replaced the knife with a 10 mm SMG as my backup weapon. At this point, since I couldn't afford a marginally better armor, I preferred the old saying 'the best defense is the best offense.'

I was thinking of bringing a hand grenade, but thinking about it again, it'd be stupid if I accidentally killed one of the hostages from the Legion. It would ruin the whole reputation that I built with both the locals and the NCR. I'd be marked as the stupid idiot that blew up a bunch of refugees with a hand grenade, and I'd be lucky if the NCR don't hunt me down alongside the Legion assassins.

"Leaving so soon, young man?" Lacey asked.

I nodded at her. Sometimes, I wondered whether that woman slept or not because every time I arrived there, it seemed that she was always available. I didn't reply and opened the door of the barrack and headed out to the cold desert night that would turn hot anytime soon.

Heading downhill to Nipton, there was no caravan going in and out yet, maybe because it was too dark to see anything. Darkness wasn't really a thing in the game, but here, it became quite a challenge. Well, welcome realism, I guess? The little bit of sunlight helped as I strolled down the asphalt road in the morning darkness.

I decided not to stop at Nipton. I doubted the people there managed to spot a Legion, nor care enough about the fact that a Legion just entered the town. After all, that town got ransacked by Legion due to something involving… I forgot.

In Nipton, people weren't awake yet, but the caravan guards were sitting down right next to their brahmins. I went past them without saying a word since it would be highly unnecessary at this point, disturbing a caravan guard was definitely a bad idea.

I continued my journey to the suspected location of the Legion encampment. I went through the narrow road between the two cliffs as usual, without worrying about the gang members shooting at me from the top of the ridge. I passed through the narrow road and finally arrived at the abandoned ranch, Wolfhound Ranch.

Knowing that a better scouting position would be needed, I climbed to the top of one of the houses to search for the Legion encampment. It shouldn't be hard to miss, considering that a Legion encampment should be big in the first place. Weirdly, why the NCR kept a Legion encampment unchecked, though? Lack of manpower, perhaps?

I read some lore about the Legion having enough manpower to conquer the NCR, but I never saw it in-game, though. It all seemed that the Legion had an equal number to the NCR even though the lore stated otherwise, well, probably just the difficulty in working with an old game engine.

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Legion had every single man in its army be a fighting force, different from NCR which used conscription to gather its massive army. Not mention that there was a rumor that the Legion had much bigger territory than the NCR, but it was an unconfirmed piece of lore, though.

Back to searching for the Legion encampment, there should be reds in the middle of the desert sands. Looking to my West, I could see Camp Searchlight airport from here, looking to my East, I saw the cliffs alongside Nipton. The Legion encampment should be in the North then since I couldn't have clear enough vision of that area, but there was a little feint smoke rising from that direction.

I went down the roof of the shack and headed to the North, following the highway and the smoke. There was indeed a Legion raid camp near the area, according to the game, but how big would it be in this alternative reality? In-game, an ordinary well-armed courier could take them down rather easily, but in here? I had my own doubts.

Eventually, the smoke got a little bit clearer and it was obvious that there was an encampment there. A big encampment, filled with legionaries of multiple types. If you asked me, I'd not even dare to touch it with a 10-feet pole aka by charging at it directly. Even when I crawled on the sand right now, it was quite obvious that there were more than just four tents in here, unlike in the game.

'Damn it, how many of those people are there?' I said as I tried my best to make myself hidden from the Legion.

Hiding behind a piece of rock while laying down and wearing a uniform in tan should be enough to keep me hidden from untrained eyes, for trained eyes, though, I was quite easy to spot. It would be better for me to crawl around the encampment to see what the Legion had at this point.

From my point of view, there were more than ten legionaries in that camp, but considering the encampment, there might be more than sixty of them in one single place. This would be the first time I got a real glance at the Legion's manpower-sparing ability. Sixty people against myself? There was a glimpse of doubt, to be honest.

One thing was for certain, these legionaries in this encampment weren't recruits, they were basic legionaries who were eventually allowed to use their own ballistic weapons. At least, I could see pistols, submachine guns, and even repeaters or straight bolt-action rifles. No wonder the NCR left them here, these people would do a massive charge against an NCR attack, not caring for their own lives.

'Hmm, I should wait for the backup, no way I'm going to slaughter sixty people on my own,' I muttered.

Suddenly, a legionary appeared right from behind me. He was not deadly, but he was a big threat, not because of his 10 mm pistol, but because of his words. "Legionaries! Form up on me!"

'Shit.'

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