Beyond the Beef has ruined not only my current save but apparently all my previous saves as well.

I came to the strip, Veronica in tow. We had just completed part of her brotherhood series wherein her brethren attacked us for being seditious as we left the bunker and she decided it was time to go out for a while and take a breather.

I went to the Ultra Luxe and gambled 300 chips into 2500 and turned them in. At that moment I realized that Veronica hadn't followed me in. As I was about to leave I noticed Heck Gunderson and got involved in his quest to find Ted. I went stealthy, broke my weapons out of the cashier's booth, and proceeded to steal keys to the kitchen and freezer from the staff. Without really doing anything else to advance the quest I broke into the kitchen and found ted in the freezer. At this point I was attacked by the Chef and I grabbed a knife and fought back while Ted ran away. All of a sudden I start hearing hydraulic KAWANGs and getting slow-mo kill shots from the other end of the floor. Yep, Veronica has somehow magically appeared and still has her power fist. Every single kitchen staff member gets mowed down by punches.

At this point I take a wrong doorway and move into the white gloves dining room. Whoops! Ted and Veronica appear and destroy everyone in sight. Every single enemy is now dead. Ted becomes unresponsive and won't move. Veronica will still talk to me and let me change her behavior, but she won't move either.

I exit to the main lobby of the Ultra Luxe to find a gunfight already in progress. I fight for a while, almost dying, then all of a sudden I start getting slo-mos again. Veronica's back and she kills every employee. Once the fighting stops I realize Heck won't acknowledge the fact that Ted is standing right there. I end up leaving the casino.

And no one follows me outside. So I fast travel somewhere, and TED follows me, but won't move once he's there! I end up killing him and telling Heck that the cannibals killed him and heck pays me. Quest marked complete.

But still, no Veronica. I've sent her back to the trading post, back to lucky 38. Asked her to rejoin. Used the console to move her, disable her, enable her; killed her and used the console to ressurect her. Nothing. She will absolutely not take a step. She still talks and interacts, but that's it.

So here's the kicker:

I shut down the game completely and begrudgingly reload to two hours prior, just after the brotherhood attack. Guess what? No veronica to be seen!

What could possibly have gone wrong?

I have encountered the same bug when attempting to bust the kid out by force. I suspect the only way to complete the quest is to do "by the book". I tried going back and following the quest directions after killing everyone, but the game locks up part way through. I also had to revert to a save from a few hours prior, but I didn't experience any issues with companions (I had Rex rather than Veronica).