[StLee]

Year 3: 2287

The Mojave was changing and progressing so much that the war between the NCR and the Legion seemed like hundreds of years ago. The theme of this time has been simple: progress. People were flooding in from lots of different places just for the chance to live in probably the only really thriving place on the known earth.

In 2287, more company progress meant more jobs for the people coming into the Mojave. More jobs meant less crime. Less crime meant less depression, chem use, and death. Healthier, safer environments meant more productivity and cooperation.

Without further ado, here are some companies that started to make traction in the Mojave:

The New Vegas Steel plant was up and running. Instead of concentrating on things like robots and weapons, the steel company was providing structures for rebuilding damaged and destroyed buildings and supplying Loyal and Jack in their transportation ventures.

Loyal had four operating small planes in his warehouse and had found enough trainable people to start building passenger planes. He said he did not know if he could live long enough to witness it, but he estimated that passenger planes would be flying the skies by as early as 2290.

The Samson Rock Crushing Plant, along with the Quarry Junction, was supplying the New California Republic with enough concrete and rubble to improve the integrity of the rails and rebuild sections of roads to make travel much easier. Concrete was also widely available to work on repairing and rebuilding damaged and destroyed buildings, helping communities like Boulder City and South Vegas to thrive.

People with farming skills were moving into the area, allowing brahmin and bighorn ranches to grow, giving even more food supply to the Mojave. Some farmers even worked on cultivation of crops native to the Mojave, like broc flowers, agave fruit, maize, and jalapeno peppers.

The railway stations, still exclusively under the control of the New California Republic, were available in more locations for both passenger transport and business transport. The business side was the biggest because steel and concrete, as well as fresh crops, could easily be distributed to the places they were needed. Also, the NCR set up a special commuter baseball train to allow players and fans to travel to available locations.

The NCR continued its push outside the Mojave. Reports were that there were some places that needed heavy military presence, like Denver. That could mean bad news for the Mojave Baseball League if the NCR took its trooper/baseball players out of the area. Lee considered making a rule that no other soldiers could join the MBL while active. He said he would put the rule into effect if the NCR did move players out of the area. In that case, it was definitely a good thing the president’s brother owned one of the franchises in the MBL.

RobCo’s online network was fully operational and launched on the first of the year, available to everyone who could access it. For people who could not afford the service or had problems connecting in home from infrastructure damage, they could access the RNC at available network stations in schools, libraries, and community centers. The Baseball News Network division of the RNC was the first to launch with its Mojave Baseball League screen.

Nuka Cola was now an operating facility. Their concentration was on distribution of existing products and R&D for producing rad-free products, planned to launch in 2289.

Another California company, Radiation King, moved into the area. They set up their initial HQ in the Nevada Highway Patrol Station just south of Primm. Originally, they explained, the company produced nuclear-age products, like home televisions. The company restructured in California following the fallout by focusing on decontamination ventures. Radiation King said that it would work to decontaminate any irradiated zones in the area to make those places safe to travel through and eventually safe to live. They said that Jack Rabbit Springs could be rad free by 2291 and Camp Searchlight by 2295.

The Toxic Dump Site between Novac and Nelson had been filled in before, but it still was heavily irradiated, so Radiation King said it would fix that area, too, along with the Old Nuclear Test Site, Vault 34, and an area of Black Mountain that required a radiation suit to travel through.

All of those things mentioned above affected the MBL in a positive way of some sort, except for the potential loss of active-duty NCR troops. But there was one event that happened in early 2287 that turned the MBL on its head. I will give you an account based on the eye witness reports of the people on duty.

2.13.87 – Unlucky 13

There was nothing atypical about the day. The Strip carried on as it always did, quiet and recovering at 7:30 AM on a Sunday morning. Ebenezer Swank was milling about smoking a cigarette in the hallway of the 13th floor suites of the Tops Casino.

A young woman, a bit short and a lot country, walked past Swank in the hallway. She smirked as she passed him. Swank noticed the tight pants and couldn’t resist.

“Damn, baby,” Swank called out. “I never saw anything like you up here before. What’s your name?”

The young woman turned around. Swank’s two bodyguards were checking her out, too. “You can call me Cheyenne,” she said.

“Cheyenne. I like that. Want to come in old Swank’s room and have a cup of coffee and shoot the old two-headed bull to start the day?”

“Definitely,” she said.

“Ring-a-ding!”

Swank opened the door to his suite. “Sorry, doll, but company policy. My boys here have to pat you.”

“Pat away,” she said. The smirk remained on her face as the well-armed boys ran their hands over every millimeter of her body. After they were finished, and she was found to be sans weapons, she and Swank walked into the suite. The door shut and locked out the panting bodyguards in the hallway.

They stood guard. Ten minutes, twenty, thirty. It was almost an hour before the young woman walked out of the room. “I think I wore him out. He’s asleep now and told me to give you this.”

She handed the bodyguards a note in Swank’s handwriting: “Boys, I’m taking a rest for awhile to rebuild my energy. Wake me up by noon.”

The young woman smirked at the body guards. “Thanks for the good time.” She strolled towards the elevator, and she was gone.

At noon Swank still had not emerged from his room. By that time the early gamblers had started making the Tops tons of caps and it was usually Swank’s job to keep them happy and spending. The bodyguards knocked, and, after a time of no response, one of the guards used his key to enter the room.

When they found Swank, he was naked and covered in blood. He had been stabbed multiple times with what appeared to be a thin, sharp object, almost like the hairpin that held up the young lady’s hair. A police investigation confirmed that it was indeed a hairpin that did Swank in. They were now on the lookout for a woman who went by the name Cheyenne.

On February 13, 2287, Ebenezer Swank was no more. Lee had to act fast to get things back in order.