As usual, I walked down the road of I-15 while looking vigilant in case an NCR military convoy went past again. I didn’t want to be hit by a truck going around 40 km/h because it would be the end of my demise. It was cool though, to see a vehicle every once in a while. 

I also got quite a cool nickname, Courier 10. The protagonist from New Vegas was Courier 6, I wondered where she or he had gone, though. It made me wonder. Would I become a regular courier, or would I become a dead courier? 

I wouldn’t think too much about it, for now, it was irrelevant and what was relevant was delivering the package to Nipton general store which was not that far from here, to be honest. Should I go through the desert to take the shortcut, though? 

I meant I would need to make a 90 degrees turn once I arrived at the Poseidon gas station and headed straight to Nipton, in comparison to just taking the desert route. Should I risk it, though? Even from afar, I could see the red silhouettes from afar, considering that they might be fire ants. 

Those were nasty creatures. Imagine an ant that breathed fire like a bloody flamethrower. I didn’t know how they managed to do that, but it increased their threat level to a level high enough to make me fully concerned about that. Even though I had a service rifle in my hand, I had a doubt that I could kill all of them before they burned me to a crisp. 

One thing that I wondered about this service rifle was why they didn’t include full-auto on it. I meant, the ammo was expensive for the NCR soldiers, but I wasn’t exactly an NCR soldier, I was a fully independent courier/mercenary. I had no problem supplying myself with ammo one bit. 

The merchants usually sold ammo at 2-3 caps each, and it was not like earning caps was a hard feat in Mojave Wasteland. A loot from one enemy would be more than enough to keep me supplied to kill another enemy. I wasn’t even talking about the cheap surplus ammunition. 

I wondered why the NCR didn’t supply its grunts with surplus ammunition, was it because of the increase in maintenance making it not worth it with their time? I didn’t really know. Maybe, I could figure out a way to turn this firearm to fire in full auto. There might be a gunsmith that could help me to achieve that. 

After some decision, I took the ordinary road to head to Nipton. 

===

An hour of walking later, I arrived at Nipton with the package in my hand. Without the gang members on the pit stop, there was no danger for me, to be entirely honest. I opened the door to the general store and the air from the air conditioner breezed through my face. It felt very nice. 

The general store looked different than what I was expecting. I expected this place to be fully rummaged, but instead, I noticed the shelves were filled with scraps of pre-war foods. There were Nuka-cola, mac & cheese, deviled eggs, etc. However, after the experience with the snack bar, I prevented myself from buying that thing. 

“Did you hear? Someone cleared the jackals in the pit stop?”

“No shit, it meant we don’t have to pay toll anymore to them, right? That’s going to be good for business, don’t you think?” The merchant behind the cashier talked about the rumor. 

So, the gang name was Jackal, huh? I didn’t remember which faction they belonged to, but for me, the fact that they shot me, at first sight, made them no better than a regular raider gang. Lucky for me, I managed to kill them all with my pistol, my rifle, and some luck. 

“Mojave Express, I have a package!” I shouted to gain the attention of the shopkeeper. 

“Come here,” the merchant said and I put the package on the counter of that general store. 

“You there, are you the vault dweller that cleaned up the Jackal on the pit stop?” Someone asked. 

“Hmm, kinda, how do you know about that?” I asked him back. 

“The Pip-Boy gave it away, kid. Still, I couldn’t believe that you manage to clear them out. They have been a lot of trouble for us, and the NCR from the outpost wouldn’t do anything but to get drunk in our town,” he commented. 

“Well, that’s quite unfortunate for you. I’m only killing them in self-defense, nothing more,” I said. 

“Oh, thanks for the help. The whole town will appreciate this,” the shopkeeper commented on the action since he was the one that depended so much on the caravan traffic that brought merchandise into this town. 

The merchant put the package below the counter, “So, what can I do for you, since you’re kinda liked here, I’ll give you a discount, interested?” he asked. 

“Depends, do you have a full-auto modification for NCR standard-issue service rifle?” I asked him back and showed him the service rifle that I carried on my back. 

“Ah… sorry, I don’t have anything like that. If I have any, I’ll let you know. So, anything else in your mind?” The merchant asked me. 

“Nothing else, I think. I am only looking for a full-auto sear for this rifle, do you know where I can find any?” I asked the merchant for the same question again, knowing that it would be the only thing that I considered to be an upgrade. 

Sure, there were many weapons available in Mojave Wasteland, but I never considered some of them to be viable whatsoever. For example, I’d never use the Caravan Shotgun or the Single Shotgun since its ammo capacity made the weapon unusable in some situations, especially when damage and range were needed. 

Shotguns were shit, especially against armored enemies. The only reason why it was a good weapon was because of the [Stay Back!] and [Shotgun Surgeon] perks that practically made it very overpowered. However, I didn’t have the comfort to use that kind of weapon yet. 

“Sorry, the only place I can think of is the Gunrunners, other than that, no, I don’t know. Unless… you can try making it yourself,” he said. 

“Hahaha, wait, that’s a good idea,” I said. 

“I see, well, good luck with that, then,” he said. 

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”