Protecting the Water Way

 is a Fallout 3 quest that is added to the game in the Broken Steel add-on.

Walkthrough
Scribe Bigsley asks the Lone Wanderer to investigate the organized bandit attacks on the Aqua Pura caravans, directing The Lone Wanderer to speak with Officer Lepelletier of Rivet City to learn more details about the attacks. It should be noted that you don't have to talk to Scribe Bigsley at all, Officer Lepelletier will give you the quest as well.

Consult Officer Lepelletier
Lepelletier can be found on the ramp leading to Rivet City, and explains that a water caravan heading towards Canterbury Commons that has just left the Jefferson Memorial. You are asked to catch up with it, talk with Officers Davis and Lorin and guard it from attack. Passing an easy Speech check with Lepelletier can net you a plasma rifle before departing to protect the caravan.

Meet Officers Davis and Lorin north of Project Purity
Following the river leads the player to the caravan just as it is in ambush by three bandits. The ambush point seems to be at a constant location, under the large bridge between the Citadel and the D.C. Ruins. If you hurry there you can save the lives of the two guards but the caravan driver will always be dead. There is also a scavenger camped out under the bridge who will help fight the bandits and can be saved as well.

Fast traveling to Dukov's place may cut down on the time available for the bandits to attack the caravan but be wary of the enclave post next to Dukov's place as well as the raider post in between Dukov's place and the ambush point.

Alternatively, players can leave a heavily armed follower under the bridge near the scavenger, before speaking with Officer Lepelletier to trigger the quest and the ambush. The follower should wipe out the bandits and save the Officers' lives before the player even reaches the location.

Find out who is responsible for the attacks
Upon searching any of the bandits you find a holotape titled New Meeting Place from Split Jack, the bandit leader, instructing the bandits to group at Wilhelm's Wharf.

Deal with Split Jack and his gang
When reaching Wilhelm's Wharf, you can speak to Split Jack (the password is "Mirelurk Stew") and pass a difficult Speech challenge to persuade him to give up. Please note that if the Speech check is passed successfully then Grandma Sparkle is likely to be immediately killed by the bandits. Failing that, Jack has to be killed either simply by attacking him and his men, or by joining his gang and then slaying him in a duel for leadership of the gang.

If you elect to join their gang, you will receive a metal armor and helmet, which you must wear before Split Jack will talk to you again. He will ask you to sit down and wait for "other gang members to arrive"; however, no matter whether the player sits and waits or not, no further events are triggered. At this time the player can challenge Split Jack to fight to the death, in which case he lets you choose one of three melee weapons to fight with (Lead Pipe, Combat Knife or Nail Board). As long as you fight him with the weapon you gives you none of the gang members attack you, and will instead cheer on the fight.

The melee fight is by no means a push-over, especially on harder difficulties if you stay with the mediocre metal armor you are provided and do not take any drugs. Split Jack has high HP and blocks well, and, more importantly, the item HP of the weapon you get is low, making it quite possible that the weapon will break before Jack is dead. You can replace it with another weapon of the same type, or repair the original you are given. But, if your weapon breaks and you hit Jack with your fists or any other weapon, the entire gang will turn on you and you will be forced to kill them all. Note that choosing Nail Board is especially difficult, as Jack will block almost every swing you initiate and your weapon will deteriorate quickly (Jack's will not deteriorate).

The melee fight can be made fairly easy by switching your armor to Chinese Stealth Armor or popping a stealth boy. Keep stealth until your indicator goes to [hidden] then hit him with a sneak attack. Back off and wait for [hidden] again, then repeat. Do this 3 times and you should kill him without ever getting hurt.

After winning the duel one of the unnamed bandits approaches you, stating that while they do not want another leader you should speak with Lepelletier about a "protection" contract; you will be able to interact with them again after making your choice with Lepelletier (see below).

Report to Officer Lepelletier
If you choose not to side with the bandits, Lepelletier thanks you for your assistance, but is unable to reward you. You are advised to speak to Scribe Bigsley in order to receive the reward which consists of some captured Enclave gear - Enclave Power Armor and Helmet, a Gatling Laser, a Plasma Pistol and ammo for the same. The quest will finish right after this dialogue and before you go to Bigsley for the reward.

If you have joined the bandits and killed Split Jack, you will be given two extortionist options that will both decrease your Karma (by 200 points). The first option is to blackmail Lepelletier for 500 caps immediately after passing a Speech check in exchange for stopping the attacks. You can tell her that you want 500 caps now, and 500 caps after the attacks have stopped, but she will refuse and still only give you 500 caps. The second option is to make her pay a weekly "protection fee" of 200 caps for the bandits' stopping their attacks. If you choose the latter, you can periodically talk to the bandits at the wharf for a share of the 200 caps for the rest of the game. The quest finishes upon finishing these dialogue options.

If you take any of the evil options, Lepelletier will tell you that she will kill you if you ever talk to her again; and indeed, if you speak to her again she becomes hostile, and so do the Rivet City guards outside ship (but not the City itself). Meanwhile, if you take any option other than the "protection fee" choice, the remaining bandits at the wharf will accuse you of backstabbing them and attack you on sight.

Bugs

 * After challenging Split Jack to a knife fight for some reason the knife cannot be dropped, fixed or unequipped. It may be due to picking up the combat knife off of Split Jack's corpse. After dropping his knife, it was possible to drop the bugged knife. Other combat knives can also be repaired by the bugged knife without the bugged knife disappearing. (I was able to remove it from my inventory by storing it in the locker in My Megaton House.)


 * After challenging Split Jack to a knife fight and winning his body may not be lootable. Also his three bandits will continue to heckle you even after he is dead. Firing on his corpse with a weapon will result in the bandits attacking you.


 * Split Jack can sometimes spawn in the middle of the river, and will remain there, endlessly treading water. While it is possible to go and speak to him, you cannot begin the meeting as Jack will remain in the river and won't speak to the assembled bandits. The quest can still be completed, by killing Jack and any bandits in the area. Note that Jack can somehow fire a few shots despite swimming - he seems to lunge out of the water and is able to 'stand' midjump to fire a few shots at you before landing in the water.


 * If Grandma Sparkle was killed beforehand by the player, Split Jack will still act as if she was still alive.


 * Sometimes a hostile creature or enemy might appear as you approach the gang (even a Super Mutant Overlord) - the gang will immediately gang up on it and try to kill it. You can help them, but be careful not to shoot one of the gang in the crossfire or they will turn hostile.

I led a Giant Radscorpion down into the area where the bandits were hanging out. They did not attack it, or vice versa, but instead fled into the river. After I killed the Radscorpion, I found Split Jack and 3 of the bandits treading water and swimming around in the middle of the river, but could not engage them in dialogue. They didn't return to the Wharf, either. (PC)
 * If you speak with Officer Lepelletier to start the quest but don't immediately go to meet up with Officers Davis and Lorin, they may not be at the marked location later on, which may render the quest uncompletable. In this situation, bandits may no longer spawn either.
 * Sometimes when the player simply kills Split Jack without talking to him or anyone else, no-one will become hostile towards them. The player may then simply fast travel back to Rivet City with no problems.
 * On one occasion, when challenging Split Jack to a knife fight, I simply pulled out the knife as he was sitting in one of the chairs (after talking to him and allowing him to give me the knife of course!) and proceeded to repeatedly slash him in the head while he was saying things like "Ow!" and "he's attacking me!" and although it was not a bad thing and worked in my favor, it's still considered a bug and had to be reported.(Xbox 360 and PC)
 * Upon killing Split Jack in V.A.T.S mode, the mysterious stranger appeared and killed Split Jack and the camera will not move from Split Jacks dead body and the player is unable to continue, it looks the same as a game crash but you can still see the grass moving. (Xbox 360)