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Praal wrote:

Highway 93 Dance Hall.
Belton, TX.

As night falls, Decker and McCoy move in on the hall's main entrance. Decker takes a position on the side, allowing McCoy to quietly prime and roll a smoke grenade into the building; coughing and cursing begin emanating from within, and the doors are shoved open by two dirty men wearing patchwork armor. Decker and McCoy raise their lasrifles, ready to fire if need be - as the two men catch their breath, their eyes fall upon the strangers in camouflage aiming weapons at them. One of them immediately drops to the ground, while the other reaches for a shoddy pipe pistol on his belt. A single shot rings out, punching through the back of the man's head and vaporizing his brain; Decker waves a hand in the air to signal her thanks to Fletcher for the support.

The man who surrendered, eyes wide and beginning to hyperventilate, throws himself to the side and cowers behind a rusted barrel in a futile attempt to get away. McCoy grabs him roughly by the back of his shirt, lifting him up and threatening to put a laser bolt through his knees unless he states his business in the area. The bandit immediately does so, practically spilling his life story to the two Rangers as Fletcher walks up from the storage unit. As it turns out, Darryl - the bandit being questioned - was here with his brother Rowan to take slaves back to their camp at Hector Garcia Elementary in Temple. Sixteen people are chained up inside the dance hall, though Rowan had already 'had his way' with one of them after she tried to stick a knife in his stomach when they picked her up. He goes on to tell about how Rowan had cut off three of the woman's fingers as punishment, leading to the scattered blood trail Charlie Team had followed down the highway and to the dance hall. Darryl begs for mercy, pleading that he'll give up everything he knows about his bandit clan - numbers, hidden storehouses, and rivals.

Corporal Fletcher takes Decker aside, discussing the ramifications of this information; the Republic cannot simply stand by and allow innocents to be put into a life of slavery, or worse, yet neither can it allow such scum as Darryl to go unpunished. Decker concurs, suggesting they knock the bandit unconscious and chain him up so that they may rescue the civilians inside the building and tend to their wounds. Pleased with the resolution for the moment, the Corporal viciously punches the bandit in the head, bloodying his knuckles and leaving the scum out cold, as Decker and McCoy enter the building to help the hostages.

Nolan's Dawn.
Fort Hood, TX.

A day after the rescue of the sixteen hostages from the Belton Dance Hall, the survivors have arrived in Nolan's Dawn with a message from Corporal Fletcher. Vault Police quickly rush to their aid, bringing the wounded into Vault 257 for proper medical care, while the remainder stay in Nolan's Dawn for debriefing and to determine their future. Sergeant Major Patell comes out of the Vault himself in order to hear the story of the survivors, and to receive the message from Charlie Team.

As the survivors tell it, they were part of a larger community on the run from Georgetown, just outside of Austin, after roving bands of slavers, cannibals, and ferals began increasing in size and number. The biggest slaver clan in the area had set it's eyes on the Georgetown settlement half a year prior, slowly chipping away at them before breaking through their defenses and forcing the wastelanders to scatter into the hills. Over a dozen groups managed to escape the slaughter, ranging in size from seventy to as little as six people. The Belton group had at one point consisted of thirty people itself, but festering wounds cut them down by half, leaving the remaining sixteen to keep forging northeast towards Waco before being ambushed in Yowell Ranch, a former neighborhood on the outskirts of Killeen and Harker Heights.

The message from Corporal Fletcher and Charlie Team details the information they were given by the bandit Darryl, telling of their scattered safehouses, main camp, and numbers.

Missive Charlie-01
Sergeant Major Patell's Eyes Only
Sgt. Major, Charlie Team has identified and rescued a band of wastelanders from the clutches of a slaver gang. After taking one of the slavers hostage, we were able to successfully interrogate him and gain access to his knowledge of their crew - dubbed the Fire Boars. Our informant relayed the location of their main camp, situated in the ruins of Hector Garcia Elementary, in Temple; twenty eight men make up their numbers. He also gave up the location of several caches of equipment and safehouses scattered throughout the countryside; an ammunition cache in Heidenheimer, a medical supply cache in Morgan's Point, and a safehouse containing stolen trade goods from wandering caravans.
It appears that they have a rival gang situated in Waco, going by the name of the Knuckle Company. The informant did not know the location of their camp, but believes it to be in the vicinity of Baylor University.
In order to effectively eliminate the Fire Boars, Charlie Team requests the assistance of thirty infantrymen from the Vault. The team will be able to pick off any guards and infiltrate their defenses, allowing the riflemen to move in and take the brunt of the enemy forces unawares.