Paving the Way

 is a Fallout 3 quest that is added to the game in the Operation: Anchorage downloadable content pack.

Listen to General Chase's briefing
General Chase congratulates you on your success in The Guns of Anchorage. You are promoted and put in charge of your own strike team (formerly led by the now deceased Patterson). The General explains that 3 tasks have to be completed before the assault on the Chinese headquarters, a refinery, can begin. You have to destroy the fuel tanks at the enemy Chimera Depot, clear a Listening Post of all Chinese presence and disable a Pulse Field. According to Chase, you should not try to disable the Pulse Field before you have completed the other assignments.

Chase then refers you to your intelligence officer for this mission, Lieutenant Morgan, for the details.

Talk to Lieutenant Morgan
Lieutenant Morgan is found in the same tent sitting at a computer. He can provide more detailed information on the targets as well as why they need to be taken out. Morgan also explains that you can get equipment by selecting it at the terminal and bringing the resulting requisition holotape to the Quartermaster (you can change your choice once by speaking to him).

For details on your strike team please see: Strike Team.

Talk to Sergeant Montgomery
Now in the U.S. Army Field Headquarters, talk to Sergeant Montgomery to make him leader of your team. You relay all orders for your team through him, although this is basically limited to telling them where to wait and whether to attack.

Don't forget to visit the Quartermaster and get your equipment. If you pass a Speech check, he gives you a Gauss Rifle and ammo on top of the equipment package you have selected.

You can then choose which target to attack first: the Chimera depot or the listening post. Tell the Sergeant what you are going to do first and then go to the area yourself.

When leaving the camp, the path on the left leads to the Chimera depot, the path on the right leads to the listening post and the path in the middle leads to the Pulse Field and Chinese Compound (which are going to be your objectives in the final simulation quest, Operation: Anchorage). Alternatively, simply follow Montgomery and your team.

Destroy the fuel tanks in the Chimera Depot
The path to the fuel depot is fairly linear. Start at the Ice Camp, fight your way through Chinese soldiers and Spider Drones and keep going till you reach the depot. Once there, dispose of the enemy soldiers and the Chimera tank. Rig the fuel tanks and enjoy the fireworks. After both of them are destroyed, you are teleported back to the U.S. Army Field Headquarters.

Secure the Chinese Listening Post
On the way to the Chinese listening post, you have to pass through an area of abandoned mines and houses which is heavily infested with Crimson Dragoons, Chinese elite stealth troopers, and regular Chinese troops. Simply follow the path and keep kllling your enemies until you reach the listening post. Clear it of every single Chinese army member including the technicians and once you have killed the last of them on the roof, your mission is complete. You are teleported back to the camp when you re-enter the building from the roof.

Finish
Once both objectives have been completed, this quest ends and Operation: Anchorage begins.

Intel Suitcases
4 of the 10 Intel Suitcases required for gaining the Covert Ops perk can be found during this mission, 2 on the way and at the Chimera fuel depot as well as 2 on the way to or at the listening post. Please refer to the main article for their locations.

Tips

 * You can get at least two kits from the Quartermaster by collecting your first, dumping it on the ground (include your ammo or it will be taken as well), requisition a new kit in the command tent, see the Quartermaster for the new kit and then pick up your old gear. Oddly enough the reloaders will dispense ammo for all weapons (excepting the Gauss rifle, of course).

Trivia

 * Upon returning to the camp after completing the first objective, you encounter an American War Correspondent who asks a couple of soldiers to pose for a photograph. Their pose is identical to the one displayed by the Anchorage War Memorial in Washington, DC and the reporter remarks that the photo is great and that "maybe some day someone might make a statue out of it".
 * On the path leading to the Chinese Ice Camp, one may find an American soldier executing four Chinese prisoners of war with pistol shots to the head. This is a brutal practice, and one which foreshadows the behaviour of American troops during the annexation of Canada.
 * Should you feel morally obliged to do so, you can exercise the privilege of your rank and take the necessary disciplinary steps as might be expected in such situations; you can kill the offending soldier! This will, oddly, incur karma loss. Less surprisingly, it ensures the enmity of the American troops at the nearby base. Your strike team will remain on your side throughout the ensuing battle, as shall the 'officers' at the base (Gen.Chase, Lt.Morgan, Sgt.Montgomery, Dr.Adami and the Quartermaster - they're not tagged as standard 'soldiers'). Amusingly, the soldiers from the infirmary will see fit to do battle against you, clad in nought but underwear against the Alaskan winter. The Chinese prisoners spared thus simply continue to huddle apathetically as they were.
 * Notably, the Chinese don't bother executing their American prisoners (whom you may free for no karma gain, or shoot at no loss), though at least not in front of the player. This excludes, of course, the dastardly General Jingwei - who exhibits his distaste for the American way by executing a prisoner in front of you. International diplomacy, eh?