10 Things about Las Vegas

1. Military HQ
• There are other places where a company to battalion sized group of soldiers can be found, but rarely do they have much - if any - equipment intact. At least some of them seek to rejoin at Vegas. It is a tough journey, and their units are often separated and reintegrated with others, making for a heartbreaking end. 
2. No More Area 51
• Although rumors persist of prototype weapons, secret caches of aircraft, or factories ready to pump out new rifles - no wasteland scav nor the government is going to find them. For now the US has the biggest and most impressive arsenal, but much of it can only be maintained through diligent labor, warehousing until absolutely necessary, or rampant cannibalization. Equipment recovery will often come before personnel, since they can recruit and train new soldiers easily.
3. The Gun Club
• This is the rumored cabal in charge of reintegrating settlements into the old United States. Publicly, they are known to offer the olive branch, funding, support, and arms to those who pay tithes to Vegas. Towns that refuse to cooperate tend to see food shortages, coups, raider attacks, plagues, and otherwise disappear...
4. Civ Gov and Mil Gov
• The military holds a lot of power in the day to day operations of the city, and some degree of veto power over who can enter or leave the city. (Usually in the form of no un-escorted people can leave, and we can't spare soldiers for such duty). However, the generals only make up a portion of the ruling council, which also includes presidential cabinet members, hospital staff, the city's mayor, and heads of the utility maintenance gangs. 
5. Experiment Rumors
• Vegas maintains the best health care and immunization rates of anywhere in the former US. However, the constant medical monitoring and monthly injections have made some people nervous. Tales of type five experimental reanimates, mind control, intentional sterilization and aphrodisiacs to control the next generation - few things are too wild to be dismissed out of hand.
6. Outside Allies
• Washington DC is mostly a burnt symbol, and many military centers were hit by orbital bombardment. However, the Planetary Citizens generally chose to hit transportation arteries to tie up supplies and divert attention from war fighting to relief efforts. Many capitals and government facilities remain intact, and at least nominally assisting the effort. Elements of the Canadian and Mexican governments also help where they can.
7. The Lights are Still On
• Food supplies can be rough at times, water usage limits constantly imposed, and curfews a way of life. Yet schools, buses, trains, casinos, and shops still run to some extent. Vegas continues to be very metropolitan, while the outlying areas usually exist in a state akin to the early 1940s during the wartime rationing. 
8. Wasteland Patrol
• Far more than any other city state, Las Vegas projects beyond its borders, and makes honest attempts at restoring the nation. A primitive postal service, new cellular towers, and traveling circuit judges are available to those who are willing to accept an agreement with the government. They are often rebuffed as relics, outsiders, or power hungry. 
9. President Grey is on Borrowed Time
• Legally, Grey is past the end of his second term as president, and while martial law is in effect, he is not a dictator and would like honest elections held soon. 
10. Old Habits Die Hard
• Even as the old US lies in ruins, there are still some within the government that longer term plans of how to stop others from rebuilding, and extend their dominion beyond the old national borders. 

Rocket Riding Radio

If you want boring, you join the infantry. Ennui is for the Navy and their tragic lack of ships. Special forces get fame. But if you want excitement, nothing beats being a ferry pilot.

Without satellites, the radius of communication is pretty damn small. Failing the ability to bounce signals off an orbiting reflector, the next best thing is a really tall radio tower, or sending up an aircraft to retransmit the signal, or physically deliver the message.

There is a problem with that latter approach. You can't do that all the time - it takes a lot of fuel, and that is in very short supply around Vegas. Worse, the aliens are no dummies, and know we would only send up an aircraft if its important. And, of course, we need to presume anything that can travel across the stars can break our cryptography.

Hopefully you can see where this is heading. If you want a message to get out to another part of the US, there are only two options. Send someone to hoof it across the desert, then make their way across god knows what in the zone - or turn, burn, and fly it on out under the alien's giant noses and past their interceptors.

As you can imagine, its a task only for the best pilots. In the air, our equipment is pretty evenly matched - we've got some good electronics and maneuverability, but they tend to be faster, and a bit free-er on the fuel consumption. It ends up in a funny situation where the quickest way to go straight in to make a seirs of right-hand loops. Delta wings lose speed in turns quickly, but have good straight-line acceleration. The aliens use deltas, we don't, so you sucker them into turn,  they slow down, you less so. Get a few miles ahead. They catch up. Repeat.

A friend compares it to a rally car and a formula one car racing on a track that is half straightaways and half hairpins. Of course, in this race, the cars have guns.

Drones just won't do. We need a person around to make sure the message is delivered, or destroyed if it isn't. Effective as drones can be in some inclines, AI is still a bit behind the curve in air combat. And of course, we're doing this precisely because we don't have the satellites that would let us operate drones remotely at range.

Welcome to the Strip 3

20:10

It is a bit of a hassle getting a room - the city can only hold so much transient population at a time, and if we want to keep things constitutional, we can't just force the residents to give us some space. So several of the big hotels are taken over entirely by soldiers, and another is split based on service, and then there are always a few scattered every where else to be posted near their emergency deployment areas. Its possible to get a room, even a very nice one - though a good number are still set aside for big-wigs, generals, and for rewards given to people who bring in a big haul. As I hinted before - bring a cattle drive here, and you could get a tower suite pemamently. Course, its been how many years since anyone's seen a cow?

OK, here we are - 527 - thumb your biometric please - and we're in. So much more convenient than those old key cards, right? Lights! Lights? Not set up for verbal commands - shouldn't be surprised. That window looks over a parking lot if your luck, but what do you expect for free?

Ignoring the lack of modern technology - its a hotel room. About the fanciest thing here is the low water use bidet and that is mostly here because we don't have a forest to clear cut for TP. The shower is on a timer, and you basically need to pay for that - in case you haven't noticed, we're a city in a desert. As per usual - the entire wall facing the bed is a media screen backed by flat panel directional phased speakers so no one else has to hear it. I doubt the channel selections anything of note, and the interface dongle for your personal computer is by the alarm-clock radio.

Aside from the fact you're staying here alone and haven't had a chance to add some personality to the room, this is pretty much how all the troops in Vegas camp.

Its already past curfew, and while rank has its privileges, you're not worth abusing them over. Sorry to break it to ya kid.I'll have one of my troopers pick you up around breakfast. Sleep well now.

09:45

Yew da one Hardcastle is lookn fer? Good, we gotta see im soon as yer done. What yew gots der anyways? Goat cheese, bell peppers, fresh bread - add two shots and dat'll be the standart strip breakfast right dere. Pretty standart in Isreal too - though it tasted better over der. Back wen der was still coffeh - we all miss dat. Surprising how few things in dese united states contain caffeine naturally - and soda just don taste rite widout it. Yewd dink specially out in the desert an xanthine alkaloid pesticide wud be a good way to safeguard precious wader from insects. Ilex vomitoria grows much fader East den here.

What? I'm on da intelegence staff, not sum ignint grunt.

Anyhew, dis is bout where Hardcastle would say sometin like "We can't stay here, this is bat country!" an try to hurry yew on up. If yewd be so kind, we do have dings to do.

10:10

That boy's accent is so thick you can cut it with a knife, but he's a good one. Just don't get his started on horticulture - he'll talk your ears off on anything doing with botany. He's braved ebola, malaria, and a few other diseases we only discovered ten, fifteen years ago so he could study plants for his thesis. Nearly had a doctorate, then gets brought back into service due to the state of emergency. Sad really - I'm sure he'd like noting more than to see some of the plants the aliens brought with them. We don't see any shrimp in this state, up north are some - they ain't so bad - but California is just crawling with them, and those ones are bastards. Its really hard to make runs down the highway when there's laser towers and air cover.

Which of course brings us to why you've gotten the royal treatment so far. A full company is one thing, but they don't dispatch much force to deal with individuals. If you're willing to scout into California, or act as a courier to places back East, there some good rewards to be had. This notepad contains a list of some of the standard deals we make, and items we're looking for. Of course, you'll have to sign an NDA first and agree to a test of character before we get too far into this process. Knowledge of our supply shortages and needs is a matter of military intelligence and could be valuable to the wrong sort of people you know.

I'll give you some time to think about it of course. But we aren't going to take much in the way of freeloaders out here - not when tens of thousands of people need to ration showers. You didn't come here with much, but its going to be time to turn you back out into the desert soon. It would probably be in your best interest to enlist with us.

Let the lieutenant know when you've made a decision.

Welcome to the Strip 2

16:30

"OK, that took a little longer than expected, but you're clean, so it should be pretty quick from here on out. You have signed everything in triplicate - right? Your belongings are in one of the banks, and will be returned upon leaving the city. We're under martial law here, and keep petty tight tabs on the populace, and even tighter ones on new comers. I'm sure you're a bit hungry and tired after your journey here, but this would be the best time to get a tour - curfew is at eight PM. Yeah - another thing you'd never expect in Vegas.

The Streets are pretty much the same as they've always been and you can look up the exact names on the SPHERE later. However, what you should know is that its been divided up into sectors with transport terms for reference and admin purposes. The Strip is still the main thoroughfare - though not quite as fancy as it once was. Gambling was officially established here in the early 1930s so that part of town is still traditional, but the real upper class area is the Cloverleaf. Its two big ramps going up, then curving back and circling around with tall buildings in the loop they form together, and even more areas underneath. That's where most of the post 2020 construction and big names went.

The "interchange" and "off ramp" are the code names for much of the city proper. Parkway is where all the greenhouses are. No one gets in there without permission and clearance given how vital that is, even the generals need to call ahead. Turnpike on the north end of town is where the major transit hubs are - notably the maglev station and one of the smaller airfields. However, that is the only one we've left open to civilian flights - all the others are basing military craft. McCarran International Airport has become the largest deployment of bombers in this hemisphere, so far as I know. Don't go near there.

We've got functioning buses, which I would recommend using even if you just want to get across the street. Otherwise you're going to hit a security checkpoint about every 200 feet. Its not like we've literally paved the roads with gold - but we need to do something with all the solders we've got here. The actual mechanics of all these deployments are bit much to explain on an empty stomach - but i know a few good restaurants.

19:21

Foods good huh? Nobody's been stuck eating noting but MREs for years now. Admittedly, we haven't so much made the desert bloom as create an entire town of green houses but if you don't mind the near meatless diet, its not so bad. There is some good money to be made if you can start a cattle dive and bring fresh beefs to any city.

Hold on - over your shoulder. No, the other one. See the gal with the yellow beret that has one black stripe down the center? That is a crossbow. Do Not antagonise them, hell if you ever end up in 20 feet of one offer to buy them a drink or otherwise be as polite as possible.

As if three regiments, four aircraft squadrons, and the local police weren't enough, there are three special forces groups in Vegas. Commando Platoons one through five are akin to police special response and help break up problems non-lethally or doing covert ops if necessary. They're drawn from all branches of Special Operations Command since we don't have an abundance of any one group - there's even two or three guys with odd accents from the Special Air Service in the group. Its not like they were going to get home anytime soon, so they decided to help out.

Unlike the all volunteer World War Two Special Service force, ours is anything but. Not to mince words - its a penal battalion. However, since everyone is alike in a willingness to act in an unconventional manner, thinks on their feet, and knows how to get around security - those that survive two or three missions develop a certain esprit de corps that makes the group very effective - especially in their main role of scavenging for supplies.

And of course, the aforementioned crossbow. Eighty Five percent of SLAASH is bureaucrats and technicians who plan out and make ready for nuclear war. Ten percent are the actual pilots and misileers who carry out the strikes. The last five percent are the ones who guard all that stuff and recover it if necessary. It takes a special kind of loyalty to personally move live plutonium pits and cary launch codes - and these guys are fanatical. Try to steal a weapon, and they will beat you down, then pump you full of artificial adrenaline so you can't pass out as they proceed to rip your your eyes, break your legs, set you on fire, and then dump your charred carcass in the desert.

Well, with that lovely image - hurry up and finish your food. Curfew is fast approaching, and we need to get to your accommodations for tonight.

Welcome to the Strip 1

13:45 Local Time

"Get down -Down, Face on the road hands out, legs spread! Don't move - Don't-"
"Stand down soldier! I don't think they're going to try anything with a pair of vehicles pointing 35milis at 'em."
"No Sir, uh yes sir..."
"Don't strain yourself too much. Right now. You OK son? You have to forgive the zealous welcome. Anyone who crosses the desert must be a bit crazy, and they react accordingly. I'm sure we'll resolve this quickly and then I'll be off giving you the ten cent tour.

Not everyone out here is so hair trigger - regardless of the rumors about mutinous officers you might have heard. Its hogwash, mostly, and you'll be just fine with me as your guide - I'm Ian Hardcastle Executive officer to General Robin. Just so long as you don't make any hundred acre woods jokes around the general. Do so and you'll be hiking through death valley naked. Hey! Don't take me so seriously, the generals really not a bad guy. He'd let you keep your boxers.

 Welcome to Vegas boy.

***

14:26
"Sorry about all those needle jabs son - but its for everyone's good. Vegas might of had a reputation for certain kinds of disease back in its seedier days, but right now we got handle on our health and its the rest of the world that's a problem. And its easier to quarantine a handful of visitors than a whole city. If the test show you've got functioning nano-vac, you'll be out of here in an hour and in clothes not made of paper. I think I can take this time to introduce you to a bit of the who's who.

Vegas is run by a council of Seven people. Three of them are the ground-pounder generals - including my boss. He commands the second Armored Calvary Regiment - Two A.C.R. General Teach runs the 53rd Infantry and General Dodgson the 308th. You'll see patches for other units here and there - but all the miscellaneous platoons and companies that arrived piecemeal just go a bit folded in. Number four is Brown from the air force, and Five is Hackett – of SLAASH - Strategic Laser, Air, Atomic, and Space Headquarters. Be careful of him and his troops – any weapon that can destroy an entire city with three or fewer is their domain, and they take that responsibility almost too seriously. Most of those guys will shoot on sight – even if they're asleep.

The final two people on the council are civilian authorities – Ms. Stevenson is city's mayor proper, and Dr. Denghazi is a former secretary of the interior and the local representative of the USA Civ-Gov. Yes we still listen to them, and are part of the proper United States sworn to protect them from all threats foreign and domestic. Problem being those two are kinda overlapping at the moment since a number of places have effectively seceded from the union – like that place down in 'Bama. Not sure why its new Birmingham – the old one should still be standing but its been a while since I was in that part of the country.

Hope I'm not going to fast for you. There's really no easy way to get through Vegas politics cause the council is mostly there to argue or rubber stamp approval retroactively something that already happened. Not that they're powerless mind you – its just that their power comes more from the, well I guess the polite term is  "machinations", of their lieutenants working the scenes outside the chambers. Each has their own agenda and is all but running autonomously.

Yes, it sounds like I'm betraying my boss by telling you this, but generally it causes more trouble when an outsider gets recruited to do someone's dirty work without knowing the bigger picture. At the end of the day, they're all good people. Except Hackett. Even then, he's better than some who could be in charge. We've go the so called “Stangelove” faction round here – its a reference to a piece of cinema, wonderful really – a classic – but they'd be willing to use nuclear weapons on just about anyone. Certinly, we don't have the manpower to really pacify a city any other way but those bombs would really defeat the point of trying, and their effects would ruin the three things we want most – food, computers, and nano-vac. Hackett keeps them in line, so we think he's good.

Those are the seven big names - but you'll hear a bunch of others - a mix of councilmen, NCOs and go-fers that help manage the water supply, food distribution, power and most of that other stuff. But miserable as that host can make you - they're not the ones who can order summary executions under martial law. 

If you'll excuse me, I've got a bit of other business to attend to, but I'll be back once the doctor clears you to help find a place to put you.

A Beatnik Heat Pic

Heat shimmers rise from the desert sun baked pavement, lending everything a wavering and surreal appearance. The normally ever-present soldiers are gone from the boiling roads, nothing but dust devils and parked APCs from one end of the strip to the other. All you can hear is the hum of power lines and the occasional click of a door followed by rapid foot steps as someone tries to minimize their exposure.

Inside, its not much louder. Everyone's played the games of chance a hundred times, everyone has developed their on system for finding a winning streak, and everyone knows its futile - even if they make a fortune, what is there to spend it on? Almost every story has been told, the veterans tired of rehashing the Southern Drone War and the new recruits too awake to let BS just slip by.

Lights still pop and flash, electric music jingles, and wheels spin on automatic, beckoning someone to put down a couple of chips. But most of the card tables are covered with springs and gun oil or magnets and solder. Troops field stripping their weapons for the tenth time that week, dislodging sand and keeping busy, ready for the next run down the road to Barstow, Saint George, Paradise or Hurricane.

Civvies just scuttle by, like over-caffeinated crabs. There are a lot of bored people with guns who would be willing to start a civil war for a simple break from monotony, ideology be damned.

"Red Irish" Drinks whiskey sours in back. Not his real name by a long shot - its one of those old country words that has twelve extra letters in the original tongue - but he has the shock of hair and other characteristics that would make him the dictionary definition image of a Gaelic stereotype. Even has an amazing accent so thick you need to beat it down with a Shaleighleigh to understand - doubly amazing since all his kin were through Ellis island by 1908. He's a "ranger" which is a dangerous thing to admit to in Vegas. Most of the military types think you shouldn't co-opt the name of a special forces group and claim to uphold the ideals of the army, when you could actually be in the army - even if service mostly consists of pointless patrols and the occasional midnight tank drag race down route 66.

Least he's quite this morning. Sometimes things just explode. Someones got a bit of peyote growing in one of the rooftop greenhouses, and some mighty fine hash indeed. Usually these harm no one - but synesthesia and rumors of undead in the sewers don't always mix.

Even without the drugs, that seems to be the word of the year. Synesthesia. It all seems to blend together - after a while you taste the strip, you hear the camouflage, and smell the boredom.

They all know the country they swore to protect doesn't really exist. Its city states and new frontier now, with tenuous UHF contact between the Rockies and Alleghenies. Guns and tanks can unite the lot - the question is how and who. A military campaign isn't going to last long without factories, and factories aren't going to exist without a campaign. Should the aliens be the first target, or an ally against the others? Is it the open hand or closed fist that will restore the republic? How about those angry fission bombs growling in their silos - unchain the atomic dogs or neuter those puppies before they flash on American soil?

In another casino more whiskey sours are being lifted to dry lips. One general has the control codes in his breast pocket, the other half a mind to shoot the first.

Just another day.

KC in LV AZ

"Welcome back listners! I'm happy to say that once again we have the infamous Mr. Cats in our studio."
   "And once again I need to remind you, its just KC."
"If its not the sound guy, its my guests, if its not the guests, if its not them... it had better not be anything else because there's no one within fifty miles of here."
   "I get that feeling a lot in my travels."
"Speaking of which, I'd like to know - what is the scariest place you've been?"
   "Las Vegas, Nevada."
   "Vegas? Vegas! That's one of the major government zones, its where most of the US leaders and army is, its got to be one of the safest places in North America."
   "Best protected perhaps, safeset, that is another matter entirely. And for the sake of argument, its a couple of senators, a secretary of something or two, and a bunch of military brass, but where the bulk of the US government is, its kind of hard to tell."
   "I know, I know, but I just can't see how Vegas is your top pick. I mean, haven't you been inside an overun arcology before?"
   "NEST zero one, zero seven, and zero eight. Certainly hazardous, and unsettling. Your listeners would probably love to hear about those some time. But I stand by the idea, Vegas is the worst."
   "I'm sure they would, but you're going to need to give a good reason why a controlled zone is the worst."
   "First of all, I was in Vegas, before. When I was young, my parents went through there while on a trip to California, and I got to see it in its full glory before the oil crisis. Went back after I turned 21, and even with the new restrictions on long distance travel and power use, reduced water consumption, and generally less tourism - it was still a sight to behold, it kept that city of lights and free shrimp cocktail mystique. Go there now, and its black. Sure there are more important facilities than the casinos, but I mean even the street lights are out, the only illumination is the headlights of the military vehicles blocking the roads in and an occasional lantern at a sector post.
   If you have any concept of Las Vegas from before, this alone would just take you as completely wrong. There is more automated ligihting in an abondend arco-tower.
   Even if that old spirit is gone, something else is there. You can feel it in your teeth, crawling about your spine. Part of it is that you can't go ten feet without seeing pointing a gauss rifle in your direction. Every one of those soldiers has a symbol of their unit on them, and then a larger version of it, and a larger one still. They want to show off their allegiance. There is a definite pride, and a sense of purpose and heroism in belonging to a pre-event battalion. However, the resources of Vegas just won't support them all, and there is going to be a demobilization and disbanding of units.
   Its like being around 10,000 captains who want to go down with their ship.
   There are nightly fistfights over who gets to guard the quietest place in the desert and who gets to stop wearing out boots with pointless street patrols after a curfew everyone follows. It is by the grace of god that things have gone so well up until now, but there will be a reckoning amongst these soldiers."
  "Couldn't they be sent on longer range patrols or reinforce other G-zones? Why keep them there?
   "You would probably need to interview an actual soldier or his commanding officer. Part of it, is that everyone wants the credit and cushy job of protecting the city. Secondly, where would they go? The desters and mesas are a lot like the alien's home world, so to the south is quite a few of their outposts. North of them is the free city of Tesla and Rubuy Ridge - groups that don't want the govenment to interfere with their new societys, and would probably activly fight them. California was hit hard by the plague, and little short of a nuclear weapon would thin their numbers.
  Speaking of which - as you might know, several A-bombs were used in the defense of Vegas five years ago, and there is good reason to believe they have more. To say this is a point of - conflict - is an understatement. With no nations surviving fully intact, they could go ahead and vaporize every other world capital and see no retaliation. A few generals believe this would be a good thing - part of America's manifest destiny to rebuild the world under its own image when we pull out of this dark age. A few more moderate ones only want to use ICBMs on the aliens, but still... So forces need to be kept around to either back this "stranglove" faction, or to oppose them if they made a play for power.
   "I... I don't knwo what to say about that."
   "And you shouldn't. A basic part of human decency is not wishing devastation upon others- and certainly not acting upon such. If it scares you, you're a good person."
   "With bombshel... revelations like this, I think we need a few minuets to think about this and then a lot more information about the government in exile."
   "Take your time. The Zone isn't going anywhere without me."