The NCRCF prison break,[3] or the NCR Correctional Facility uprising, was a pivotal event in the Mojave Wasteland in September 2281,[1] when incarcerated convicts at a pre-War correctional facility co-opted by the New California Republic staged a mass breakout led by an anti-NCR revolutionary, Samuel Cooke. After overrunning the NCR staff, the convicts took control, with some fleeing into the wasteland and others staying behind to form the gang known as the Powder Gangers, going on to terrorize communities along Interstate 15. Occurring within the scope of the Mojave Campaign, the event is mentioned as a minor story element in the NCR faction quest arc in Fallout: New Vegas.
Background[]
In the latter 23rd century, the NCR adopted an agenda of major eastward expansion, especially under the administration of Aaron Kimball. During Kimball's terms, the NCR pushed into the Mojave and other parts of the eastern frontier, with the intent of annexing it as their own territory.
To that end, soon after reaching the town limits of Primm and scouting the nearby ruins of Jean, the NCR discovered the intact Jean Conservancy, formerly a low-security all-female prison before the Great War. The NCR quickly re-established the prison as the NCR Correctional Facility, becoming an extension of their judicial system as convicted felons were sent east from the Core Region to serve out their sentences under the blazing Mojave sun.[Non-game 1] The NCR Army was sent to manage the prison, with its soldiers acting as prison guards.[4]
The facility's proximity to old rail lines parallel to Interstate 15 prompted an initiative to repair and expand them, but rather than invest significant resources and manpower from dedicated workers, the NCR chose to have its NCRCF convict population serve as laborers, calling it a "work-release" prison.[5] According to former inmates of this system, the "Correctional" part of the name turned into a bold-faced lie: there was no correcting of the convicts, only the gradual physical beatdown of constant manual labor working on the rail lines.[6]
By the early 2280s, as tensions in the NCR's conflict against Caesar's Legion began turning towards another titanic battle since the last one in 2277, General Lee Oliver began gradually siphoning away guard troopers posted at the Correctional Facility, redeploying them to patrol along the Colorado River and shore up the main military garrison at Hoover Dam.[4]
Day by day, the convicts took notice of the staff's weakening control and began planning to take matters into their own hands; the warden predicted something would happen, but was unable to convince the military to stop the removal of his staff in time.[7] Among the dissenting convicts, Samuel Cooke, an anti-NCR revolutionary doing time for conducting a one-man terror campaign in the Core Region,[8][9][10][11] emerged as a guiding voice and became the lead architect of the mounting uprising.[2] To prepare, Cooke and a trusted circle of fellow inmates began stashing small amounts of blasting powder and dynamite the convicts had been given for railroad work, as well as pilfering weaponry and protective armor where they could.[12][Non-game 1]
Event[]
Sometime in September, following another selection of guards' departure on General Oliver's orders, Cooke's group saw their opening and took it. Cooke and his men used the stolen explosives to blow open the doors in their cell block, freeing many prisoners. They proceeded to overwhelm the warden and remaining guards, killing them all and taking back their freedom. Most of the other convicts outside of Cooke's group joined in once they realized what was happening. Any guards who didn't manage to escape the prison in time were killed.[13]
Aftermath[]
Once they had killed or run off the NCR occupation, the newly freed convicts were split on what to do next: one group under an ambitious thug named Eddie wanted to stay and take control of the prison for themselves, while the breakout's masterminds including Cooke wanted to head out to continue warring against the NCR, and the rest just wanted to leave. Eventually, the convicts went their separate ways, with Cooke and his group abandoning the NCRCF and traveling north into the Mojave,[14] where they eventually ended up taking over the abandoned Vault 19 close to Bonnie Springs.
Powder Gangers rise[]
Meanwhile, the convicts who remained formed ranks under the leadership of Eddie,[15] utilizing the prison as their fortress. They started carrying out raids on traders and local settlements, calling themselves the Powder Gangers after their affinity for using explosives such as dynamite and powder charges. The speed at which Eddie was able to organize the highwaymen in the wake of Cooke's departure came as a surprise to the NCR forces who showed up to reassert control. The Gangers' effective resistance, combined with bureaucratic red tape strangling their ability to acquire proper reinforcements, left the NCR's military response hanging in the wind for weeks.
Conversely, by late October, the Powder Gangers rapidly became the largest organized group of highwaymen west of the McCullough Mountains, turning stretches of I-15 heading to New Vegas into a treacherous journey for caravaneers and NCR citizens alike. The NCR sent the 1st Company of its 5th Army Battalion under Lieutenant Hayes to push back the threat, but proved unprepared for how well-organized the Powder Gangers were and have been limited to containment.[16] [17]
Aside from what they picked up from the prison's armory, the Powder Gangers were also quick to bolster their supply of weapons and explosives from outside sources, including at least one raid against the nearby mining town of Sloan to acquire its supply of dynamite.[18] This inadvertently resulted in a further escalation of trouble since, while the quarry workers were unable to work and had to wait for NCR reinforcements, Quarry Junction became infested by a pack of deathclaws, effectively shutting down all traffic heading north from the Mojave Outpost.
Primm's problems[]
A small group of unaffiliated convicts also left on their own and traveled south, where they harassed the town of Primm, driving locals away; one such case is Samuel and Michelle Kerr, who closed up shop at Primm and traveled as far as the opposite side of the McCullough Mountains to settle down and form the 188 Trading Post at the intersection between the old Highway 93 and Highway 95. The move proved fortuitous, as the combination of the Powder Gangers' activities in the month since the breakout and the deathclaws in Quarry Junction resulted in traffic along I-15 being forced to reroute east through Nipton and up along Highway 95, bringing big business to previously floundering locations like Novac and the 188.[19][1][20]
Primm's residents have since been left trapped in their own town, with all business shut down due to the rampaging convicts. Several townspeople and travelers were killed by the convicts, including a Mojave Express courier named Daniel Wyand.[Non-game 2] All law in Primm was lost when the convicts killed Sheriff McBain and his wife in their sleep and took Deputy Beagle hostage.[21] Although Lieutenant Hayes' unit of the NCR Army is camped just outside of town, on the other side of the highway, they are unable to protect Primm due to a lack of manpower and supplies, and are stuck containing the threat and warning travelers away from the town.[22] The surviving townspeople are all holed up in the Vikki and Vance Casino and have successfully resisted any attempted attacks by the convicts, but they are running low on supplies and cannot last much longer without help.[Non-game 3]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Courier: "Who are you?"
Michelle Kerr: "Name's Michelle. My Dad and me run this store. His name's Samuel. I take the day shift and he takes nights. We came here about a month ago, when Primm went to hell on account of the prison break north of there. Found a bin to call home and set up shop."
(Michelle Kerr's dialogue) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 The Courier: "Tell me more about what happened in the prison."
Meyers: "I understand that Cooke was behind it all. I kept my head down the whole time. Didn't want any part of it. I stuck around, figuring the NCR would show up and put things back the way they were. No sense in making myself look guilty, right?"
(Meyers' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Who are you?"
Samuel Cooke: "You really don't know? I'm Samuel Cooke. I was the brains behind the NCRCF prison break."
(Samuel Cooke's dialogue) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 NCRCF terminal entries; warden's terminal, Draft of complaint to NCR command.
- ↑ The Courier: "What can you tell me about the prison?"
Eddie: "The NCR called it a "work-release" prison. We lucky prisoners got the privilege of fixing up the rail lines and blasting rock for new lines. They got sloppy, though. Some of us managed to hide away some dynamite, and look who's in charge now."
(Eddie's dialogue) - ↑ Dawes: "This? This is - or was - the big house. The New California Republic Correctional Facility. Not much "correcting" went on here, just slave labor. One day, us prisoners decided to liberate ourselves. Killed the warden, killed the guards, took over the whole damn territory."
(Dawes' dialogue) - ↑ NCRCF terminal entries; warden's terminal, Guard transfers to the east.
- ↑ NCR Correctional Facility terminal entries; Warden's terminal, Access warden's log
- ↑ The Courier: "Tell me about the NCR."
Samuel Cooke: "Their 'republic' is a joke. They're a bunch of tyrants led by an even greater tyrant, that idiot Kimball. They think they have the right to annex every inch of dirt in the West and force their system on every man, woman, and child."
(Samuel Cooke's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Who's Cooke?"
Meyers: "Some kind of anti-NCR rebel. Some people just don't like being pushed around and told what to do."
(Meyers' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "How did you end up in prison?"
Samuel Cooke: "I was blowing up supply caravans along the 15 freeway. The NCR got wise to my ambush spots, picked me up and threw me in a cage."
(Samuel Cooke's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Tell me about the prison break."
Samuel Cooke: "A beautiful thing. Saved a little blast powder here, hid a makeshift weapon there, and one day I orchestrated a little symphony for the NCR."
(Samuel Cooke's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Tell me about the correctional facility."
Hayes: "Most people just call it NCRCF. That's NCR Correctional Facility. A little bit ago the convicts there staged a coup, killed the guards that weren't able to escape, and have been ransacking the area since then."
(Hayes' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Where can I find Cooke?"
Meyers: "He went north with some of the other guys. Didn't say where, didn't say why. All I know is he's got some kind of score to settle with the NCR."
(Meyers' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Who's in charge of the Powder Gangers?"
Meyers: "Right now, Eddie and his boys run the place. They've got the guns and the dynamite, so they call the shots."
(Meyers' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What are you doing out here?"
Hayes: "We were sent out here to hold back the tide of convicts from the correctional facility. As you can probably tell, we aren't doing the kind of job we could be doing."
The Courier: "What's the problem with your mission?"
Lt. Hayes: "The mission isn't a problem. The problem is with supplies. The convicts are better armed and organized than our intel initially suggested. I'm trying to get some reinforcements here, maybe some guns with some firepower, but... shit... things are just going slow."
(Hayes' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Do you have any information on the convicts?"
Hayes: "Not much. They've taken to calling themselves Powder Gangers. Mostly because they've taken to using the explosives meant to clear boulders as weapons. They got organized faster than I would have thought, most of them at least. Thankfully the small group in town here seem to have split off from the main force, so they aren't getting anything in the way of support."
(Hayes' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Tell me about the Powder Gangers."
Chomps Lewis: "They're a bunch of escaped cons from down south. The NCR was using them to maintain the railways as part of their sentence. I don't know who screwed up, but the Powder Gangers are loose. It was one group that attacked us and took our entire supply of dynamite."
(Chomps Lewis' dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Why's business so good here?"
Samuel Kerr: "When 15 shut down, 95 became the route NCR citizens use to get to the Strip - or limp back home, after the Strip's drained 'em of caps. We get 'em coming and going. Coming, the suckers flush with caps they saved to gamble on the Strip... ...and going, the same folks, but now they're losers who'll trade you the shirt off their backs so they don't starve before they make it back home. Add in the troopers marching back and forth from McCarran and the Dam, and well, let's just say we don't miss Primm."
(Samuel Kerr's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "I just wanted to meet you."
Alice McBride: "Oh! Well I'm Alice and that handsome stranger yonder is my husband Dusty. Going on fifty years, now. I keep waiting for him to leave me for some young thing with platinum blonde hair and hoop earrings, but he still sticks around. Says it's my cooking. I think it's because I know which Brahmin udder you can milk without getting kicked in the noggin. We set up this ranch years back when Novac was just getting settled. But now with all the danger on I-15, folks are starting to come through here from all over. Novac might just be the next Nevada boom town."
(Alice McBride's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "How'd you end up being a hostage?"
Beagle: "The Powder Gangers stole into town at night and murdered my sister and her husband, the sheriff, in bed, while I was sleeping in the office. I watched them for a bit, waiting for the right moment to pounce and arrest the lot of them. Taking careful notes as I watched. To my dismay, they found me while I waited in the shadows and brought me here."
(Beagle's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What do you need to take over protecting the town?"
Lt. Hayes: "What we need, more than anything, is bodies. If we had just one more squad, we could easily install a sheriff and still handle our primary objective of protecting the interstate south of here. If you'd like to see the NCR include protection of Primm in its duties, then you'll have to get some more troops up here. Knight, at Mojave outpost, may be able to help."
(Hayes' dialogue)
Non-game
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition pp. 43-44: Powder Gangers
The NCR Correctional Facility is the dominant location of the central Mojave Wasteland. In the distant past, it was the Jean Conservancy, a low-security all-female prison. Under recent NCR control, it was used to house prisoners on work release. The prisoners worked the railroad parallel to the Long 15 under NCR trooper supervision, maintaining the vital land link between the Boneyard and New Vegas. Eventually, prison guards (NCR troopers) were pulled away to run Colorado River border patrol. When the guard staff was low, the prisoners executed a daring and violent escape.
Because the rail crews often used explosives (typically dynamite) to blast through rock or get rid of train cars that were locked/fixed to the line, the prisoners inevitably acquired small amounts that they hid in their cells. When they made their break, they blasted their way out. The interior of the prison was clearly the scene of a large riot where the prisoners used explosives, improvised weapons, and stolen NCR trooper equipment to break through multiple walls and scatter through the desert. A lot of the prisoners weren't in on the escape plan formally; they just got caught up in the moment. Consequently, a lot of them didn't really know where to go when the dust settled. A large contingent of Powder Gangers can be found in Vault 19 through many squatted in the prison and have been informally raiding since then."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide faction profiles) - ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide: "Are you starting to remember? Do you recognize Daniel Wyand? Perhaps in time; he’s a courier just like you, but didn’t survive a bullet to the brain, and is slumped outside the Mojave Express. Search his corpse for a Note. Compare it to the one you started with, and you’ll see they’re written by the same hand. This one mentions a different delivery package."
- ↑ Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Collector's Edition p.44: "Primm"
"Pre-war, Primm was "budget Vegas", a tiny town where Californians could go to gamble, the shortest distance between their wallets and a hole in the ground. Now it's not much of a settlement at all, poorly populated to begin with and more treacherous since the Powder Gangs broke out of prison. The landscape of Primm is dominated by a few empty ranch homes, the rubble of the town's main streets and store-fronts, and a small NCR camp set up southwest of town to prevent Convicts from pushing further south to the NCR's Mojave Outpost. The townsfolk, now without a sheriff after he was murdered by Gangers, are hold up across the road from the Mojave Express Couriers, in the down-trodden old Vikki & Vance Casino. Low on supplies, the townsfolk can't hold out much longer, and the Convicts' presence continues to build as they've recently commandeered the larger Bison Steve Casino and Hotel, patrolling the unstable El Diablo rollercoaster and wrecking the remaining grandeur this place once had. Primm faces a grim reality; there are few people here to keep order."
(Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide faction profiles)