"Yeah." Boone sets one complete carbine to the side, with a few parts of the other sitting in a neat pile, to be used as spare parts for other guns. Still stressed, he grabs a pistol and begins cleaning it.

"I don't think I'll have to. I think you can do this well, if anyone can." With that, Boone's head drops back to his guns, as his hands continue the repetitive cleaning motions.

That’s really high praise from Boone. “Thanks, man.” He watches Boone fix guns for a while. Boone is like a little factory that turns salvage into working guns and gun parts. The gun stash grows ever larger.  

”You know… I’m gonna need more than just the Securitrons now…Gonna need people, and I’m gonna need to arm them. So that huge stash of guns we’ve repaired in the last year? Guess it wasn’t hoarding after all. It’s now the national armory.” Six looks very smug. After all that teasing Veronica and Cass gave him and Boone about hoarding guns. Well now it comes in useful! Who’s a dumb boy pointlessly hoarding shiny toys now huh?

"Your friend Arcade is talking to a Securitron. He seems to want to talk to you! Should I put him on?"

“You can do that? Awesome! Yes please!”

Ohhh it’s like a radio call. But through robots! Wich does automatically make it cooler.

Yes Man's face is replaced with the stylized image of a '20s telephone operator. "We're too far for video. Connecting you to Arcade now."

Arcade's tinny voice emerges from the Securitron's speakers. "I'm sure you're very busy exulting in victory right now, but we have a little problem here."

Pacer's voice interrupts: he must be standing close by. "Vegas on the other end? Swell. A bunch of soldier boys have come over and are watching their own. That's fine as far as it goes, but they're starting to put some heat on the Kings. Sayin' something about being under orders to 'secure Freeside'. You know the Kings can handle themselves, but your little friend here talked me into callin' you."

“You need backup? I can come with the big guns. Or lend you some robots. Seriously the NCR should not be fucking with you. The Kings have my support, you won’t owe me for it or anything. Also for fucks sakes the NCR needs to put general Oliver on a fucking leash. How can one man’s petty tantrum keep risking war! If It was anyone else they were treating like this it’d have escalated. Even House would have killed somebody by now.” Six slams his fist against the coffee table. And he had JUST gotten out of his power armor undersuit! He doesn’t want to gear up AGAIN today.

”Can you do two calls at once and connect them Yes Man? Can you get Crocker on the line too? There’s probably a bot near the embassy right? Or any Securitrons within a short distance of the dam still? Find anyone important looking there. Colonel Moore if you can find her. Or Colonel Hsu at McCarran. See if we can’t get someone to countermand Olivers orders.

"We already have some of your robots here. What we really needed was for the soldier boys next to us to hear what you just said." Pacer sounds very smug.

"The Kings might be real men who will gladly face an army with light armour and small arms, but I'm a soft, defenceless doctor. We would very much appreciate more robots, thank you."

"I'm dispatching messengers wherever I can! It might be challenging for a colonel to countermand a general's orders, but I'm sure she'll do it if you're asking!"

Yes Man is just being sassy where they can. Moore is known by the local troops. She’s been relatively competent and in charge of the dam defence for a while. And every NCR soldier in Vegas would have come through McCarran and know about Colonel Hsu by reputation at least. Oliver is some new asshole Six had never met before, and would bet most of the troops hadn’t either. Even just some confusion in orders would give people plausible deniability to be able to not follow Olivers. He doubts any of the NCR on the ground want a battle in freeside.

”Can we get two bots for Arcade? And so you can feel like a real manly man all safe and snug in plated reinforced titanium, want your power armor sent over?”

"I had hoped not to wear it again. But if they're going to be shooting at each other, it would be very nice."

"The NCR isn't letting the Securitrons into the Dam, and I didn't think you'd want them to force their way in. But it looks like Colonel Moore is coming outside to talk now! Which face do you want to show her?"

"The uhhhh regular one? Doubt Victors home down country charm would help here? Can you tell her I want to talk urgently and put me through like you did with Arcade?" Finally! someone sane to talk to in the NCR! Hopefully they can get their people to calm the fuck down and stop risking a war nobody even wants!

Colonel Moore steps out of the door of the visitors' centre. Although there are certainly snipers on the roof, she has no personal guard. She walks towards the line of Securitrons slowly and deliberately, not raising her hands but keeping them where they are clearly visible to the cameras.

"I've received multiple conflicting reports. What is going on?" She speaks to a Securitron with her typical efficient tone of voice, but she's clearly been a bit frazzled by recent events.

"General Oliver has repeatedly been skirting around the treaty of Vegas with stupid fucking brinksmanship games. He threatens me at the dam. He tried to send armed troops into the strip to arrest me for treason. and now he wants to play more stupid power games and start a fight with the Kings in freeside literally hours after I told him Vegas does not belong to him. I have been exceedingly nice because of my previous relations with the NCR but if you keep letting that man give orders then the treaty will end up broken! What am I supposed to do here? I have inhereted the power and I suppose the responsibility of House after his passing and your idiot keeps pushing me! What am I supposed to tell the Vegas families If I get walked all over? If the fucking idiots goons starts shooting I have to shoot back!" He starts pacing as he says this. Six needs to move when he gets angry.

"I've already talked to Ambassador Crocker about this, but apparently nothing has made its way up the chain. I am trying so hard to keep everything calm and things from escalating past the point of no return, but for gods sakes the NCR is making that very difficult. I have killed too many people today and I'll be damned if I have to kill any more. This isnt a fight you can win, its not even a fight I want to win. SO MUZZLE YOUR BRAIN DEAD FERAL GHOUL OF A GENERAL BEFORE SOMEONE DIES." Six yells directly at the Securitron camera before sitting back down and catching his breath.

"Sorry. you didn't deserve that. But we just crushed the legion, I just wanted a week, just one god damn week, of calm after all that fighting. Instead I have to deal with your rabid idiot dog Oliver trying to start a war with Vegas that nobody even wants."

"A war with Vegas. A war with... so it is true." Colonel Moore's voice becomes cold. "You're declaring independence, then. After all we've done together, you're taking Vegas out from under our noses." With some effort of will, she stops herself from continuing. "You're correct though, neither of us want a war. I need three minutes to think about this."

Colonel Cassandra Moore stops talking for three minutes, never taking her eyes from the Securitron as she calculates.

"I have neither the authority nor the desire to negotiate with you. But if our troopers and your robots start shooting at each other, everyone loses." It's clearly grating on Moore to acknowledge that, but she did not make a career out of lying to herself. 

"NCR isn't abandoning any of our garrisons. If you have a problem with us staying where we currently are, you can be the one to start the war."

"I'll send a message to LVB station reminding them to respect the treaty. No troopers on the Strip with weapons."

She pauses, speaking the next sentence carefully. "Freeside... is a mess. But if it's not ours, it's sure as hell not under the Treaty either. How about this: it can remain neutral for now. I'll tell the troopers to stand down and stay out of the Kings' way, if you get all your robots out of Freeside."

"Don't act like this is a betrayal." Six wants to pout, but that would be undignified.

"I didn't owe you a city. It wasn't even mine to give until recently. Vegas was already indepedent, it just happens to be under new management now. And every single second since that meeting on the dam has convinced me that not handing over Vegas was a good idea. I still like the NCR, I'm still happy to help you mop up the legion and gangs. If I wanted the NCR as an enemy I would have stabbed you in the back at the Dam and not put so much effort into helping you get ready for the battle. You know how much work I've done for you." Seriously! hes supported the NCR to the hilt up until now! Can he get some credit for that please!

"I put a lot of effort into defusing the tensions between the Kings and the NCR, I think the King does a fine job in Freeside and am happy to let him deal with it. I'll pull the robots out, they were only there to protect the Kings if they asked me to. Can I however leave two Securitrons at the followers fort? To help gaurd my personal friend Dr Ganon? Im sorry if I don't fully trust the NCR to act rationally right now, and I'd rather have something there to protect the followers at least if things escalate."

"I think in light of everything that has happened. The treaty does need to eventually be renegotiated. But that can wait, at least a week. Can we all just calm down and celebrate the victory against the Legion instead please?"

"Fine. NCR soldiers will regularly walk through Freeside to make sure the deal is being respected. We can ask the Kings to escort our patrols, if you want. We'll agree to maintain the status quo until negotiations, which will begin-" she checks her watch - "November 9th at 9 AM, seven days and fourteen hours from now."

I'll get in touch with General Oliver. He's a good man, whatever you think, and with a deal in place I'm sure he'll listen to reason."

“A good man?? Reason? If House was still alive there would be bodies in the streets! HE TRIED TO SEND ARMED TROOPS ONTO THE STRIP TO ARREST THE PERSON WITH CONTROL OF THE ROBOT ARMY FOR TREASON. I am surprised the man remembers how to breathe!” He has lost SO much respect for Moore. Six never really liked her, but he respected her until now.

“I told both Crocker and Oliver this. But I was going to help you assimilate Vegas after the battle, the battle that I won for you. I was fully on board thinking the NCR was the best option for Vegas. Instead I get insulted and threatened. Then the man tries to break the treaty of Vegas to arrest a non NCR citizen for treason. Me, the person with a robot army who crushed the legion for you with it and controls Vegas. The person who would otherwise have helped you integrate Vegas. Then he sends his goons to antagonise the Kings and ‘secure’ Freeside and risk open conflict between them. Tell me how those are the actions of anyone with an ounce of reason. With people like that in charge how could I ever trust you with the safety of my people. 

I will see you, or whoever else they send. On the 9th. At the embassy.” He gestures to hang up the call.

He has never been so pissed off. He really should have been more diplomatic. But seriously what the actual fuck is wrong with the NCR. Was he just too naive to see it before? They never would have treated House like this. Maybe he needs to play into being more scary like House did. Being nice and helping out everyone you meet apparently doesn’t translate into being treated like a equal when it matters.

He can use these NCR fuckups to get concessions during the negotiations perhaps. But his own outbursts probably lost him some major diplomacy points.

"Connection terminated. You did a super job showing her who's boss!" Yes Man doesn't sound sarcastic this time, but you can never really know with him.

Reports start coming in about five minutes later. The MPs in a standoff at Las Vegas Boulevard station are returning to Camp McCarran. The troopers in Freeside have ceased their encroachment, although a few have taken it upon themselves to bring some medical supplies to the Followers. At the Dam, troopers are walking uneasily past the Securitrons, but neither side makes any hostile moves.

Novac's Victor has just arrived. It reports a small group of dead Legion raiders in the dinosaur's kill zone, and reports to Manny Vargas.

“You don’t have to station any more bots at the dam I don’t think. The NCR should be able to handle any crazy legionnaire stragglers that want to suicide by charging fortified positions.” The NCR can feel better about losing Vegas with the significant consolation prize of keeping the dam. The bots hanging around the dam probably make some worry they wont get to have either.

Six slumps in his chair. He shouldn’t be having to deal with all this after crushing the legion. They should be celebrating instead. He’s spent almost the last year working on making this happen. It should be a happy occasion. “Ughhhh. Fuck it, I need a drink. Many drinks. Anyone know where Cass is holed up? Let’s go celebrate together properly and ignore all the politics bullshit at least until tomorrow. I am going to drink enough atomic cocktails to kill a super mutant.”

Veronica steps out of the bathroom, having spent some time removing a stubborn bloodstain from her power armour. "Probably at the Wrangler. She doesn't like the more upscale bars in Vegas."

She looks at the Securitron heretofore acting as video monitor. "How's the situation in Freeside? I'd rather not wear power armour if I can wear this instead!" She holds up one of the dresses that Six got her from a pre-war ruin.