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Volare!
Steps...
(1) Help the Boomers around Nellis. (2) Return to Pearl. (3) Speak to Loyal about the Boomer's plan to raise the bomber from the bottom of Lake Mead. (4) Attach the ballast from Loyal to the B-29 at the bottom of Lake Mead. (5) (Optional) Talk to Jack about getting a rebreather to swim to the bottom of Lake Mead. (6) Return to the shore near the tow winch and use Loyal's detonator to float the B-29 to the surface. (7) Return to Loyal to let him know the B-29 is up from the bottom of the lake. (8) Let Pearl know your job is done.
Important Items...
Deployable Ballast (x2), Loyal's Detonator, Rebreather.
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The side quest known as Volare! is a bit of free-form side quest that's directly related to the events of the main quest known as Wild Card: Side Bets . The events of the side quest essentially take place in and around Nellis Air Force Base, which is the well-guarded facility at the far northeastern edges of the Mojave Wasteland. Getting there can be complicated, if not outright deadly. After all, the people who control the base, the Boomers, are isolationists who will stop at nothing to keep outsiders at bay. You can learn more information from the aforementioned link, since you'll need a little know-how and some nimble feet to get to the base in one piece.
Once you arrive for the first time, you'll first have to speak to the Boomers' leader, an elderly woman named Pearl. After that, you'll be unleashed on the Air Force base to go about your business as you'd like. While you can go about things in many ways, if you're following our walkthrough, you'll want to follow along carefully with what we did, so you don't get mixed up. The first place you'll want to visit is the medical hangar on the premises. Within, you'll find a doctor named Argyll. Argyll will be grumpy with you at first, but if you can prove to him that you have some medical knowledge, you can help him out. You'll need a maximum Medicine skill of 60 points to help him out completely. Basically, you can examine the three patients in each occupied bed in the medical facility and, if your skill is high enough, you can heal that person. Healing all three people will net you positive feelings from the Boomers. Keep in mind that if your skill isn't high enough to help a particular patient, however, it's best for you to ignore that patient. With a low medical skill, you can actually kill these people, which would have the exact opposite effect of what you were going for.
Your next stop should be the Nellis Boomer Museum, which is in an identical style building as the medical building you just occupied. Within, you should find a young man named Pete. Pete, as you'll learn, is considered the Boomers' Keeper of the Story, which basically makes him the group's historian, who can recount their history. What you'll want to do here, to continue to earn the Goodwill of the Boomers, is to listen to his story, as he explains the Boomers' history as illustrated on the mural along one of the walls of the structure. Following his brief presentation, go ahead and speak with him further, to clarify the things he says. While you'll earn some goodwill just by listening to him, you'll earn even more by picking his brain and complimenting the Boomers. You can even do some skill checks here, using Explosives, Speech, and more. Taken together, this is a great way to earn a lot of props from the Boomers all at once.
When taken together with other ancillary side quests, such as the Side Quests entitled Sunshine Boogie and Young Hearts , you'll start to gain a lot of positive favor with the Boomers at Nellis Air Force Base. But there's still more to do, as the Volare! side quest itself culminates with a request from Pearl, as well as the elderly man you've seen wandering around named Loyal. Upon speaking with Pearl, you'll learn that there's one final thing you have to do to prove your worth to the Boomers, and it's a rather complicated job that will require you to first speak with Loyal. Loyal, as usual, can either be found at the base's main hangar, or in his home. When you talk to him, you'll find out that he has a grandiose plan to raise a downed bomber from the bottom of Lake Mead to the south. Agree to do the job for him, and he'll hand over the tools you'll need for the job -- a couple of Deployable Ballasts, as well as a weapon-like device known only as Loyal's Detonator.
Lake Mead is far to the southeast of Nellis Air Force Base. Since you're going to be diving into the water, you'll either need to opt on relying on your ability to hold your breath, or better yet, speak to Jack in the hangar. When you do, he'll tell you that he needs some supplies to create an item called a Rebreather. You can find the items necessary if you'd like (it isn't hard), but with a moderate Science skill, you could simply convince him to create the device with items he already has around. Doing so will net you the Rebreather immediately. You can then begin to travel southward towards Lake Mead. The location you're specifically looking for is known simply (and aptly) as Crashed B-29, itself southeast of Callville Bay. As long as you make Volare! the active quest via Pip-Boy, the location will be shown on your map. If you haven't added any locations around Lake Mead to your map yet, thus creating an inability to quick-travel, you're going to have a bit of a journey ahead of you. So get to it!
As you swim into Lake Mead, head towards the location of the B-29 on your map. When you're over it, you can submerge yourself to see the hulking airplane below you. If you have the Rebreather, now is the time to equip it. If you don't have the Rebreather, you're going to have to constantly resurface for air, so keep that in mind. It's not immediately apparent, but what you're looking for here are two locations marked on the bottom of each wing on the aircraft. When you approach the bubble-like markers, you'll be asked to attach one of the two ballasts Loyal gave to you. Attach both ballasts, one to each wing, and then surface. Swim back towards the south, as if you're heading to Lake Mead Cave. When you've positioned yourself properly on a concrete docking area, Loyal's Detonator will start to beep. Equip it and use it as you would any weapon (not in VATS, of course), and the ballasts will explode, sending the sunken B-29 to the surface. Excellent!
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With the B-29 surfaced, your job is basically done. All that's left to do now is to return to Nellis Air Force Base. When you arrive, first speak to Loyal (whether he's in his house, or in the hangar). Pass along to him the good news. Loyal is happy, and has plans to send some robots over to salvage the airplane in pieces, and bring it back to the safety of Nellis. But before you finish, you'll need to speak with Pearl. The salvaging of the B-29 is all Pearl needed to know. Ecstatic that you opted to help her, this side quest will end successfully. You can then ask her to help you out (if you'd like) later in the game, which ties directly in with the events of the main mission entitled Wild Card: Side Bets .