Chapter 428 - Romae Defectum Non Patitur

While the Orbital Laser strike and subsequent multiple Mini-Nuke explosion happened in an instant for Afton, Karl, and Anja, the shockwaves of it would continue to spread to every corner of the Mojave...

Robert House was the first to notice the nuclear detonation, his various machine network around the Mojave giving him the exact location... He'd managed to save this place from Nuclear annihilation two hundred years ago, yet it seems that the Great War continues, with nuclear bombs still detonating at a random barbarians whims.​​

Unfortunately, the bombs seem to have either been brought on foot or constructed in the Mojave... If they were launched he'd have been able to destroy them in the sky or at least disable them... Hm, could it be that another country had survived the destruction and was now plotting to get rid of America's last resistance, House himself?... Plausible, if unlikely... He'd need to run further simulations if that's the case... Hopefully his new partner would activate the Platinum chip before anything drastic happens... He needed to have his army before the two armies clash at Hoover Dam...

To conduct proper business negotiations you needed to start at a position of strength, something House was all too well aware... As he runs some simulations on another system, he turns his eyes towards Gommorah, indeed, that place needed to be purged of rats before anything else... Though, he'd need to wait for his partner to return for that.

Elsewhere :

A man wearing incredibly fine robes sitting on a throne within a large tent slams his fist onto the armrest. He had very short cut white hair and a heavily dust-worn face... Caesar glares down at Vulpes Inculta with a ferocity not shown since the 'Burning Man' incident.

Vulpes Inculta had just reported the latest news of another of his hair-brained schemes... Of course, as seemingly always happens, his plans failed spectacularly. So much so that Caesar almost shot the man dead where he knelt.

"What do you mean Holmes and the rest of his escort were all annihilated?!?" he roars, the guards posted around the tent flinching at their leader's rage.

Vulpes Inculta shivers under the glare but composes himself enough to reply, "I fear it may have been an enemy attack, but after the detonation of all the stockpiled explosives, there's no evidence for it!"

Caesar growls at him, "You said it would be safe!"

"I did not anticipate the information being leaked, or the underground lab being compromised! If anyone is to blame for this, it is Andrew Holmes and his haphazard construction of those atomic weapons! It is as you say Great Caesar, similar technology brought about the last Apocalypse, so his loss is not a big one!"

*Smack!*

Caesar strikes Inculta in the face, causing the man t fall to his side, "You continue to displease me, Vulpes! The man's technology was indeed good for one thing, destruction, which is why I allowed your scheme in the first place! You had one goal! Sabotage the NCR supply line... And you fail me, AGAIN!" he shouts before slumping back in his throne, his face morphing into a grimace as his rubs his temples.

"Caesa-" a guard begins to ask but Caesar waves them off, this wasn't the first random headache he'd gotten in the past years... No one in the tent dares mutter a word as Caesar rubs his temples to alleviate the pain slightly, once it's manageable he turns to Vulpes again, "Tell me Vulpes, have any of your recent plans actually worked in our favour?" he asks in a low yet commanding tone.

"Y-yes Caesar! The assassination of Lowell Thompson Jr, stockpiling of weapons on the strip, bombing on the NCR Monorail, Capture of Camp Searchlight-" the man lists off, feeling like his head was on the line... Which it probably was.

Caesar slowly nods, "Despite all your failures, you still advance our cause... Which is the only thing stopping me from having you executed where you stand... Romae defectum non patitur, Rome suffers no failure... Remember this Vulpes, as it may be the last mercy I am willing to grant you... Should you blunder and lose a valuable asset again, I will find a much more creative punishment compared to what happened to Joshua Graham... Am I clear?"

Vulpes pushes his head to the floor, kissing dirt as he replies, "Y-yes Great Caesar!"

Caesar nods and waves his hand at Vulpes, causing the guards to grab the man and toss him out of the tent like a bag of trash. A few Legionaries laugh at his plight but an angry glare sends them on their way.

He gets to his feet and quickly marches away, intending to gather what's left of his assassins to do something drastic... Something that'll hopefully put him back in Caesars good graces, and possibly save his head.

Vulpes held no illusions to Caesar's methods... Should he continue to barely prove himself, he'd be executed once the war was finished... Vulpes grins, he knew just what would put him on Caesar's good side, as well as the annals of history.

It's a good thing Andrew Holmes left them with a couple Mini-Nukes, his original plan was to simply use covert terror tactics... But now? The mayhem he'd be able to cause, and the fear such a strike would cause in their enemies hearts made him salivate...

Of course, as it was his head on the line, he'd participate in such an attack himself... His subordinates had failed their respective duties far too much for his liking, after all, if you wanted something done right you had to do it yourself.