Talon Company

Talon Company is a mysterious mercenary army active in the Capital Wasteland in 2277.

Background
Little is known of their history. In 2277, they are working for an unknown third party, with simple orders - keep the Capital Wasteland a lawless, disorganized place. They have a particularly nasty record, which includes slaughtering an entire settlement (complete with women and children) between 2275 and 2276. As a mercenary army, the Talons have absolutely no reservations about their targets. A job is a job: in exchange for the right sum of money, they are ready to kill anyone without giving it a second thought, which includes raiding and killing entire villages. They can be hired by anyone who has the caps.

Organization
As a military outfit, Talon Company uses a well defined, hierarchical chain of command, with a single Commander leading Talon Company forces from a central, reinforced location. In 2277, this man was Jabsco, issuing orders from his headquarters in the bunkers of Fort Bannister. The Company has entrenched positions throughout the metropolitan D.C. area, though these are sometimes lost to the supermutant infestation, as is the case with Takoma Park.

Talon Company mercenaries are almost exclusively male. Bodies of female Talon mercs can however be encountered in the bathroom in the Hall of Columns in the Capitol Building, in the Metro Central, and the Corvega Factory. A live female Talon merc can be encountered in the Fort Bannister bunker, and another can be in the first fire team that ambushes the player.

Technology
Members of roving Talon Company fire teams typically have either police batons, combat shotguns, laser rifles, or Chinese assault rifles as their primary armament, with no more than one of each encountered per fire team (exceptions: combat shotgun and police baton). Talon Company personnel in set encounters may wield other weapons, such as sniper rifles and missile launchers. Combat knives, .32 pistols, and pulse grenades are often carried as backup weapons.

In addition to conventional infantry, Talon Company controls several reprogrammed military robots Mister Gutsies and sentry bots, which they use sparingly to guard some of their outposts in the D.C. Ruins.

Finally, the Company operates a number of artillery units that are used to provide fire support to advancing fire teams.

Interactions with the player character
They are hostile towards the player by default. Other characters may take out a bounty on the player to kill them, making them ambush the player in several locations across the map (for example, at the Northwest Seneca Metro Station near Arefu, Anacostia Crossing near Rivet City, Lucky's just near Tenpenny Tower and Warrington Station and other locations).

A bounty on the player will be taken out by Mr Burke for not siding with him during the The Power of the Atom quest and if the player's karma is too high.

With the addition of Broken Steel and completion of Take it Back!, the player can encounter a group of Brotherhood of Steel Knights outside Fort Bannister who are trying to retrieve a water shipment captured by the Talons, along with a captured Brotherhood of Steel Paladin, Paladin Jensen, in the tents in Fort Bannister. After releasing him, he will thank the player and then proceed into the base to get revenge, quickly followed by his fellow Knights. The Brotherhood will then quickly kill all mercenaries inside the base including Commander Jabsco.

Another encounter lies on the highway leading to the Citadel, east of the Nuka-Cola Plant, and south of the Red Racer Factory, where two Talon mercs are fighting with a couple of raiders over a crate containing four aqua pura barrels.

Appearances
Talon Company appears only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * In early previews, Pete Hines was said to have stated that "the humans going up against the mutant occupiers were mercenaries working for the Talon Corporation." However, it is most likely a previewers mistake, and Hines mistook the military term "company" as being the business term "company".
 * In the Japanese translation of Fallout 3, Talon Company is translated as "タロン社" (Talon sha) which would translate back into English as Talon Company (as in a business company and not a military company).

Bugs

 * On rare occasions, Talon Company mercenaries may spawn with an African-American body and a Caucasian face/head.
 * It is possible that five or more mercenaries may ambush the PC. However, as soon as one mercenary is injured the rest will flee. These mercenaries may ambush the PC later at the same spot, but the entire party will only have one bar of health each except the mercenary who was damaged in the initial fight (who will have the same amount of health that was left when he fled).
 * It is possible to encounter a fire team just after you leave Vault 101. This can cause slight confusion, as it is unclear as to who would want to kill you this early on in the game.