Before exiting the motel room I told Raul all about my quest for an Independent New Vegas. He agreed to support me and suggested we'd go to the Red Rock Canyon, home for the Great Khans. So we exited the motel room and prepared for our ride.
On our way we found an old NCR Ranger. I decided to talk to him. Remember that promise I made to Raul right? The Ranger, Andy, did say he felt a little useless though. He said he used to talk to some other rangers over the radio but then they stopped talkin'. He thought they got tired of him, so I offered to go see what was going on. He refused though. He didn't want them to think that he was havin' trouble movin' on. Then I asked how did he got injured, since he had told me that his arm and leg wasn't workin' so well. He told me a pretty sad story. The Legion had used a child to lure him into a grenade the kid would drop. Damaged half his body. I told him what I tried to tell Raul. His body was injured, not his head. He got happy and taught me a technique he had learned when on the Rangers. It was a takedown, might come in handy when I run out of ammo eh eh! Point was, Andy felt better about himself. Age can do a number on your body, but your knowledge counts too.
After Andy got in his house and we were about to ride, Raul asked me if he could ask me somethin'. He asked me what I thought of Ranger Andy. What I thought of people who had given all but ended up not being able to do nothing anymore. I told him I thought all the experience earned was invaluable. Then he... opened up to me. A lil'. He asked me if I would be surprised to know if he once was a gunslinging adventurer. And then he told me his story from the begining. He lived in a family farm, before the Great War. Always was quick with his hands, either with a pistol or with a wrench. He told me his farm was far from the explosions so they survived the war, but things got bad quickly after that... He said his family helped refugees that came from Mexico City, where the bombs dropped right on, but that there were so many refugees that they had to start turning folk away. Then folk got violent. They burned his house and trapped all his family inside... He only had time to grab his lil' sister - Rafaela - and go off one window... His parents, grandmother, two brothers and two other sisters... All burnt to death... Raul killed the men that followed 'em while he ran with his sister. He had always been a good shot. Then he figured he should protect his Rafaela rather than go crazy with thoughts of revenge. He stopped there. I asked him if he blamed himself for what had happened then. He wasn't sure, but thought that with all his skills with a pistol, he should be able to do somethin'... I couldn't say anythin' else, he then thanked me for listening to him so kindly. Darn sweety pie... Poor Raul...
We went west and ended up near Goodsprings. I told Raul what the good Doc Mitch had done for me and he told me we should visit. So we did. The Doc didn't have much to say, he was glad to see me but didn't have any stories of late. Goodspring is a fine, quiet town, sure it didn't have anything new happenin'. And I liked it that way.
We went north, the ways of the Red Rock. On the main road there were some cazadores. We killed them and decided to go left, on a path that seemed deserted. While walkin' the path we found many burnt bodies layin' around and at the end of it was a camp swarmin' with those killer flys. Me and Raul hardly handled 'em. We needed to go slow after that fight. Dumb shortcut eh?
When we arrived I recognized the costumes that folk were wearin'. The fellows that gave me Benny's lighter at Boulder City had the same outfit. The ones that aided in my death. Still, I had to check 'em out. I went straight for the longhouse, the only building that wasn't a tent around the place. I talked right to the man who seemed to be the leader. He considered me a cub amongst wolves. I asked him to tell me the story of his people, so I could know about the Khans. I learned that there was an incident with the NCR a while back, in which they slaughtered the Khans' elderly, children, women and sick... Darn. Then Papa Khan, the leader, told me that they had now an alliance with Caesar's Legion. Oh no... I asked him, a bit afraid, for him to break up his alliance with the Legion. I told him that Caesar was just usin' 'em folks and then they'd all be slaves when it was all over. He didn't listen though. I had no more options, so we left the longhouse.
On my leave I was followed by the man who sat next to Papa Khan. He wanted to talk to me about breaking the Khan-Legion alliance. YEE HAA! He said I had to convince specific folk around the Khans in order to make Papa Khan listen. He pointed me out to them. Regis, the man who talked to me, still needed something to convince him, even though he wanted the alliance to be broken. I would do it. The Legion doesn't need supporters. And the Great Khans are good enough to go on without going so low.
So me and Raul had to leave Red Rock to go find a Melissa girl. The other ones I had to convince were all inside the camp so I'd do it when I got back.
It was dark from the night, critters were everywhere. Dangerous critters. Cazadores, Deathclaws, Giant Scorpions... I tried to avoid most. We ended up killin' three of those deathclaws... Sweety pie, those critters scare me to death!
Then we finally found the darn camp where Melissa was. To convince her, I simply had to say what Regis told me. I had never seen any woman serve the Legion. They used women only as slaves.
They let us sleep at their camp now. We'll be ridin' back to Red Rock in the mornin'.
Love you sweet pie!
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