Silus Treatment

Silus Treatment (or McCarran: POW in the G.E.C.K.) is an unmarked quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough
Silus, a captured Legion Centurion, is being held captive in Camp McCarran, with the NCR attempting to interrogate him. So far he has refused to give up any useful information and his interrogator, Lieutenant Carrie Boyd is looking for help.

The player character can speak to Lt. Boyd about getting the centurion to talk, such as using a truth drug, insulting him, or simply beating him senseless. Boyd reveals that her hands are tied since the torture of prisoners is frowned upon in the NCR.

With a reputation of Accepted or higher with the NCR, Lt. Boyd will allow one to go in and deal with Silus. The player character will go in unarmed, unless their Sneak skill is high enough to bring in holdout weapons.

The Courier can either break Silus to get information for the NCR, or help Silus escape.

Break Silus
There are two ways of getting Silus to talk - violently or through persuasion. Keep in mind that using a method of non-violence yields more caps and XP.
 * If one chooses to use violence:
 * Once inside the room, start hitting Silus until his HP drops below 50 (2/3 of his full health). At this point Silus will stop being hostile and Lt. Boyd will come in. She asks the player character to step outside and precedes to have a brief conversation with Silus. Once inside again, keep hitting Silus until his HP drops below 25 (1/3 of his full HP). Silus will then initiate dialogue and is willing to talk now. One can either listen to his information or choose to "beat him to death for personal satisfaction". Note that there is no going back should one choose the latter option as Silus would not even enter into dialogue when interacted, forcing the player character to kill him in order to complete the quest.
 * If one chooses to persuade Silus:
 * Passing a series of Speech checks of 50 (though the number is not shown) will anger him, causing Lt. Boyd to come inside. She asks the player character to step outside and precedes to have a brief conversation with Silus. Once inside again, keep passing the Speech checks and eventually Silus will spill the information. This approach also yields an additional 50 XP.
 * Passing a series of Intelligence checks of 8 will trick him into thinking that one is a Legion assassin and is here to kill him. This results in him panicking and yelling accusation of the player character's identity, causing Lt. Boyd to come inside. The two will engage in a brief conversation with Boyd completely unconvinced. Once she has left the room, keep passing the Intelligence checks and eventually Silus will spill the information.

Once Silus has given up the information, or is killed in the process, one can no longer interact with him, and will need to talk to Lt. Boyd in order to complete the quest.
 * The XP and caps reward will depend on the method of obtaining the information. Either way, one will gain NCR fame.
 * Killing Silus during the interrogation results in Lt. Boyd condemning one's action by complaining that she will not see a promotion this decade since Silus did not reveal anything about the Legion, and the fact that his suffering has ended. Lt. Boyd then finishes this diatribe by calling the Courier an "asshole", resulting in NCR infamy.

Help Silus escape
Warning: Completing the quest this way would lock up Lt. Boyd's dialogue, preventing any other quests involving her from being completed. Therefore it is advised to complete all other quests involving Lt. Boyd should the player character wish to help Silus escape. See Bugs section on Boyd's page for affected quests.

If the player character has already been invited to Caesar's camp at The Fort or has a positive reputation with the Legion, they have the option to tell Silus this, gaining his trust. Silus will ask the player chracter to retrieve his silenced .22 pistol from the locker in the next room. He then propose to stage a fight with the player character to avoid suspicion. Hit him until his HP drops below 50 (2/3 of his full HP). At this point Silus will stop being hostile and Lt. Boyd will come in. She asks one to step outside and precedes to have a brief conversation with Silus. Steal the pistol from the locker and go inside again once requested, Lt. Boyd will confiscate all weapons except the pistol. The quest itself will be completed once one hands over the weapon to Silus.

He then fakes being unconscious so one can get out without being suspected. Lt. Boyd will come back in and say it looks like he is "all tuckered out," and tell the player character to leave for the day so she can get someone to clean up the mess. On the way out, she instructs Cpl. Hornsby to the job. Once the Corporal is inside the room, Silus will kill the Corporal and dress in his clothes, then walk out of the terminal building undetected by the NCR soldiers.

Rewards

 * If Silus gave up the information
 * NCR fame (if Silus persuaded) or infamy (if Silus died during interrogation)
 * 175 caps (violent approach) or 300 caps (non-violent approach)
 * 250 XP (violent approach) or 325 XP (non-violent approach)
 * If Silus escaped
 * 250 XP

Behind the scenes

 * The name of this quest is a play on the term "silent treatment," which means to deliberately ignore someone for a period of time, usually because of something they have done.
 * If the player character chooses the Intelligence option to pose as an agent of the Legion, a few Latin phrases will appear in the dialogue choices. Here is their meaning:
 * "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" means "I fear the Greeks, even when they offer gifts." This is a line from the Roman poet Virgil, recounting the doubts of Laocoön, one of the Trojans, about accepting the gift of the Trojan Horse.
 * "Corruptio optimi pessima" means "Corruption of the best is the worst possibility." It is originally from Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great).
 * "Legum servi sumus" means "We are all slaves to the law." The phrase is originally from the Roman orator and statesman Cicero, and in full reads "Legum servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus" -- "We are the slaves of the law, in order that we might be free."