OPERATION COLD FEET
LOCATION:SOMEWHERE IN NORTH WEST RUSSIA
BASE:CODENAME MIKE(SETUP AT 0800 26/3/1966)
TD:0040 28/3/1966
BATTLEFIELD SITUATION:TERRIBLE, GROSSLY OUTNUMBERED, CHANCES OF A VICTORY ARE LESS THAN 0.004%. FULL RETREAT ADVISED AND INITATED.
COMMANDER:ESCO VON WICKERSHAM
SIDE:GERMANY
BATTLEFIELD ANALYSIS
VICTORY IS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE:M.A.D. RETREAT IN PROGRESS
CLIMATE:SNOW
A-BOMB 1:READY
A-BOMB 2:READY
A-BOMB 3:READY
CHRONOSPHERE 1:80 SECONDS UNTIL READY
CHRONOSPHERE 2:400 SECONDS UNTIL READY
KILL DEATH RATIO:0.64:1
ALLIED TO SOVIET RATIO:1:15
ALLIED COUNT:80 RIFLEMEN, 20 LIGHT TANKS, 1 APC, 4 CRUISERS, 1 DESTROYER, 2 ARTILLERY, 1 TANYA, 1 DISGUISED COMMANDER, 1 STOLEN M.A.D. TANK
BASE STATUS:MOST BUILDINGS EITHER DESTROYED OR HEAVILY DAMAGED, WAR FACTORY, BARRACKS AND ALL HELIPADS DESTROYED WITH BARELY ENOUGH POWER TO SUSTAIN BASE DEFENSES, LET ALONE SUPER WEAPONS AND A RADAR
"How much longer until that Chronosphere is ready again?" A man dressed in a standard issue Allied Rifleman's uniform and a heavily accented and scratchy voice stood idly by, seemingly bored, despite the battle raging around him. The uniform had a face mask, gloves and a helmet, as well as a pair of goggles to protect against the snow. This uniform made it impossible to tell any features underneath the uniform, however.
"How are you NOT scared by the face of the battle, Commander!?" another man dressed in the same garb with a much more... "improved" and less accented voice, crouched behind a crate simply labeled "Ammunition" in a bold, yellow font that looked heavily like Comic Sans asked. He fired a couple of pot shots from his M16 at approaching Soviets, before grabbing another M16 that was to his left, and tossing it to the other man.
"Answer the damn question and we'll get our asses to the APC to retreat," the now pronounced commander replied, taking a large swig of some moonshine. His tone shifted from the bored tone he previously bore to one of slight annoyance tone.
"Chronosphere ready," said a British voice with a monotone voice.
"Thank the fucking gods. Operator, you're the best announcer we have," the commander said.
The commander and rifleman took a couple of potshots at the approaching Soviet forces(with seven kills from the commander) before making a beeline to the nearest APC, which was around 30 to 40 feet away. Quiet frankly, the commander didn't know how far, couldn't tell how far, and didn't exactly care all at once. He just wanted to retreat so he could order the atomic weapon he had saved on his base and end the battle. Once they arrived at the APC, they boarded immediately. A civilian lieutenant and two more riflemen, of a lower rank than the rifleman with the commander, came bolting for the APC.
"C'mon Tanya! Last and only transport out of this dump!" The commander shouted.
Suddenly, time seemed to slow with only the next few words Operator's announcement came with;"A-Bomb launch detected."
The strategy suddenly became clear. Anark Zielokof, the Soviet commander of the offensive against this base, didn't care if his men died, he did not want the COMMANDER to leave the battlefield uncaptured, and what better way to do so than to target the Chronosphere and it's 4 advnaced powerplants with an atomic weapon, to make sure it can't get any more action. Anark clearly knew that Tanya was too far away to reach the APC in time, and was too valuable to leave out of action. What he didn't realize was the fact that the commander of the field had a plan. A plan that would overthrow Anark's that even the most simple minded could've come up with.
"Chronosphere ready," the Operator announced again. Yes, the commander had a secondary Chronosphere built off base for a situation just like this, and there was an APC ready.
"Chronosphere 2, this is Mike base, we're being overrun. Tanya is too valuable of an asset to lose, but I need to get out of here now," the commander radio'd to his secondary Chronosphere.
"Roger that Mike base, teleporting the APC to Tanya's coordinates," came an almost equally as scratchy reply from the commander's secondary Chronophere. "Get yourself out of here."
"Copy that. APC! LOCK UP!"
The APC's door closed right before a blinding blast of light, followed by a monochrome field and slowed time for 30 seconds.
"Chronosphere 1, we need out of here. Get us to FCP Charlie."
"Copy that," came a soft reply over the radio. "Commander Esco?"
"Yes, Chronosphere 1?"
"It was a pleasure serving with you."
"Same to you, Ian Glynn."
However, before the Chronosphere could activate, a boom was heard, the whole world shook violently, and the skys plunged into red.
"AH SHIT, WE WEREN'T FAST ENOUGH! ALRIGHT, APC UNLOCK, WE GOT TO MAKE A RUN FOR IT!"
The APC doors opened, revealing a bunch of soldiers, equal parts Soviet to Allied, rushing around, attempting to find something to hold on to for dear life. A lot of screaming and shouting was happening, including soldiers from both sides hugging eachother as their supposed last moments were happening. (Some of the screaming was hilarious to the Esco, like "THE SEAGULLS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS" and "THE EARTH IS BECOMING FOUR DIMENSIONAL!", but he never showed any signs of it being hilarious.) But the most peciular sight of all, was the lack of an atomic blast. Sure, the Chronosphere was gone, and a giant crater was where the once concrete walled compound was, but there was no fire stem, no mushroom cloud, and it was eerily silent, minus the soldiers. There was not a single noise coming from any animal life.
"Connection lost to radar," the Operator announced.
"What in the fucking blazes is going on? Get ahold of command, will ya?" Esco practically shouted.
"Right away si-" the unnamed rifleman accompanying replied, but was promptly cut off before he could finish. What cut him off? Why, the entire world shaking again, the sky becoming blue again, and the planet being in a completely different galaxy, at night no less.
"Connection reestablished with radar."
"Gee, well that's very fucking helpful," replied Esco, his voice laced with so much sarcasm it was almost toxic.
CLASSIFIED INFORMATIONAL TAPE WHEEL:USE IN AUTHORIZED IBM SYSTEM/360 SERIES MAINFRAMES ONLY!
Commander Esco Von Wickersham
Commander Esco Von Wickersham is considered one the of best, if not THE BEST Allied commander ever, but not for his primary tactics, rather his moonshine and high victory chance. If there was a 0.5% victory chance, he'll make it through. His tactics are a bit unethical, if not simple, however, and the fact he rarely deviates from these tactics do not make it easy for him, as there are many weaknesses with these tactics he and the enemy have both discovered a long time ago.
For a retreat, no matter what he does, he does a Mutually Assured Destruction Retreat, which launches every available nuclear weapon at the base as soon as he, and any very important personnel, are off base. The other soldiers are considered disposable in this case, but there are good reasons for this. He needs to take attention off his Chronosphere and his silos, as well as his APC to make this retreat work.
For very low odds battles, instead of building just one base, he'll split his base up into small , heavily armed sections scattered around the battlefield, where they focus one mostly one thing and dabble in the others. For example, one of his bases could focus mostly on ore production, but also have a barracks, advanced powerplant, and war factory to make sure it's well rounded, where another base will have mostly just powerplants and an ore refinery with a helipad.
For his offensive tactics, he mostly believes in rushing a bunch of soldiers to their deaths, only to return the favor of those deaths with a full on strike including ten times the forces of the enemy, and using faults he discovers by accident as much as he can before it is patched up. If he doesn't find a weakness, he will force one.
He often partakes in battles as a rifleman with sniper accuracy, murdering hundreds of Soviets in the progress. If you compared his skill to Tanya, they're virtually indistinguishable, making this commander a worthy foe on the battlefield. Otherwise, Commander Esco's tactics make him a prime target for an almost instant demotion for his simple, unethical and overall just brutal tactics, on top of his terrible alcoholism that occasionally shows. He atleast makes a mighty fine moonshine, which may have also helped him keep his position as Commander. Still waiting on confirmation of that.
-TAPE ROLL END-
AND THAT'S A CUT! The story takes place in the 1960s because, well, 1981 seemed to far away from the period that Red Alert was actually set in. Sorry for the fact this is called "Tiberian Galaxy" and doesn't have Tiberium yet, I just thought it would've been a great idea to start with what is canocially first. I intend to include all the Command and Conquer games(yes, including Renegade), with the exception of the unreleased games, Command and Conquer Tiberian Alliances and Command and Conquer 4. And sorry for not showing anything SW:R yet, I'm still learning some vessel names before I start doing anything with that.
I actually learned a little about the IBM marketed computer mainframes from the 1960s when I was making this story. Originally, I had listed "Commodore Machines"(as the story originally took place in 1981, one year before the discontinuation of the Commodore Personal Electronic Transactor, or our friends across the pond would refer to it as the Commodore Business Machine 3K, due to Phillips European branch's investment in the name PET... because that was a thing) instead of "IBM X Mainframe"(as I thought the Red Alert canon would've put the war more closer to the 1960s, what with the Operator being a mainframe controlled by heavily a human and all), then it went to "IBM 7K Mainframes', then "IBM 7K/7H Series Mainframes", to the final "IBM System/360 Series Mainframes". It's quiet interesting to be completely honest.
There was also three different names. Originally, I had "Cold Front", but I decided that was too cliche. Than I tried "Cold Steel" and uploaded that, before finally, after having to rename the chapter to "Earth^1"(as it uploaded as Chapter 1), I thought of "Cold Feet" and I just couldn't have passed up the opportunity.
Now, I plan to update this story every week, and I've even set an alarm, but I did rush this chapter. And to that, I apologize. I had this idea sloshing around, and I could barely wait to show the world this idea I've had for about 8 months now. I was also sleep deprived if that's any excuse. Cramped and sleep deprived on a plane with a 4 hour going to LAX from Hawaii(Maui to be exact.) I know almost exactly what will happen in a somewhat rough fashion, somewhat like what the creators of Star Wars:Rebels have been doing with their episodes.
Anyways, I hope you all had a good new years and I'll see you on the flip side.