This is a fic regarding the first C&C, the formation of GDI and how Nod came to power, and some other things I came up with. Also, I claim no rights to C&C in any of my fics. Westwood owns them and EA owns Westwood. Also, do remember this is an alternative timeline to our own, so there will be differences. Final note. I've seen several pre-C&C fanfics appearing on ff.net, but many people seem to be forgetting the original timeline of the storyline. As far as I have been able to get through my research and the net, this is the storyline. 1950, Soviet invasion of Europe. Beaten back after about five years. Alexander Romanov then becomes Premier of the USSR. Around 1965, the Soviet Union attacks America but after about two years, more or less, the Alliance wins again. This time, the USSR is broken up and becomes the Russian Federation. Then we go to the year 1995. Five years ago, the UN had voted unanimously to reveal the existence of Special Operations Group Echo, Black Ops 9 and renames it the Global Defense Initiative. Then, three years of war starting in 1995 with the Brotherhood of Nod ensue and finally end with the destruction of the Temple of Nod at Sarajevo. I'm not sure why but so many people assume that GDI was formed in the 90s. They were not. GDI was formed long before, maybe about ten to fifteen years before. Of course, the rest is more easily understood. Enjoy my version of how GDI was formed.

Birth From the Ashes

Chapter 1

Major General Roberto Shield stood before the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The representatives of the United States, Great Britain, China, Germany, and France were sitting in front of him behind the massive oak desk. After facing down the Soviets in two World Wars and now at the age of fifty, the general wasn't about to back down on his proposal.

"Now this idea is rather interesting," said James Larson, the US representative, "Though I'm afraid I'm not completely convinced that there is such a need for it."

"Mr. Larson, if I may respectfully remind you, because there was not such an international force ready, the Soviet Union nearly took over the United States," said the Chinese representative, Zhan Sun, "I would think that of all people you would be one to support this."

"That was nearly twenty years ago," said Larson, "The Russian Federation is a full ally of the United States and this time they will not attempt anything."

"That is what you Americans said last time," Herman Feyer, "You have too short of a memory span."

"Perhaps this taskforce might be needed, but so far nothing has appeared that might require us to have one," said Pierre Montage, "I do believe that our individual countries can handle all this."

"Gentlemen, may I remind all of you that it was the combined might of all of our nations that defeated the Soviet Union twice," said Shield, "We are stronger if we stand together."

The only one that had not spoken regarding the idea was the British representative. He had listened through the entire thing and so far had not uttered a word in approval or disapproval of the idea. It might be a good thing, or it might be a very bad thing.

"I think we'll need more time to think about this," said Larson, "I suggest we adjourn until tomorrow."

"I agree," said Winston Gregory. He had finally spoken.

"Then it's settled," said Larson, "Until tomorrow gentlemen."

The representatives got up and left the room. Shield waited a few more seconds until leaving the building. At least the council hadn't rejected his idea. He walked out of the UN building and got into his car.

"Where to sir," his driver asked.

"Back to base."

The Humvee pulled into the New York traffic and headed out of the city. The US military base had been relocated to outside the city after World War III. As they drove along the seaside, Shield could see the reconstructed Statue of Liberty. Absolutely nothing better than the symbol of peace and power. Unfortunately, it caused many not so peaceful organizations to attempt to disrupt the peace. It was his job to keep them from succeeding. After a few more minutes they arrived at the base. The base commander, a colonel, was waiting for him.

"Sir," he said.

"Hello Colonel."

Colonel Nick Bahador was an Iraqi refugee that had fled to the United States with his family. He had joined the US Army just in time to get thrown into the second conflict with the Soviet Union. He had fought with Shield in the war and got promoted to Colonel before a gun wound in his side sent him to safe territory.

"So what did the Security Council say?"

"They didn't reject it," said Shield, "I guess that should be a good sign."

"Colonel!" a private yelled, "You'll want to see this!"

The two officers walked into the mess hall and found several other soldiers looking at the TV.

"The government of Afghanistan has been overthrow by a military coup led by the Fist of Allah party, originally thought to just be in Jordan," said the reporter, "They have executed all political and military officers not with them and have completely seized power within the country. Several other surrounding countries have offered their support and acknowledged the new government."

"That's the fifth third-world country to change governments since the end of the war," said Shield, "This is ridiculous. I know the Middle East is unstable, but I didn't think that even there governments would switch so quickly."

"There is much unhappiness in those countries," said Bahador, "It is a fuel which such parties use to their advantage to take control of a country."

"This doesn't seem random," said Shield, "I mean, all of the countries that have changed governments are clustered together. Just last year the Pakistani government was overthrown and a people's government, in other words a dictatorship, was installed. There must be an objective."

"The oil?" Bahador suggested.

"Perhaps. We tore Iraq apart during World War III and they were the first to fall. Kuwait and Iran are still there, but I give Kuwait another year at most before it falls. Saudi Arabia is still stable, but that's because of American military presence in the country. None of the guerrilla groups dare move since we can go right in and take them out."

"The worlds is a very unhappy place. I hear the Russian Federation has recovered nicely from the economic damage that we did to them. It seems that their gross national production is seventy percent as large as ours."

"That's nice for the Russians. I guess we're friends now, but there isn't that much to build a friendship from. How is their army doing?"

"They are doing a production run of their new T-99 tanks. Double barrels just like in World War II. Some European nations are a bit uneasy about that, but we have two heavy armor corps in Germany and Poland, and that is besides the forces the European Union has."

"So what else is there for us to do? The world is at peace more or less, and we'll soon be out of jobs."

"The world is not at peace my friend. The Middle East is ready to erupt, but no one is willing to see it."

"It is not human nature to court trouble Nick. That's why we try to deny it."

"Currently, the UN has not interfered with any of these military coups and it does not look like they will do so in the close future," the reporter continued, "In other news."

"You know what I think about all this Nick?"

"That we should stamp out all these various terrorist organizations?" Nick offered, "Forget about it. We hunt them but the smart ones always survive."

"That's why we must keep hunting. A terrorist is nothing but a professional murderer of the innocent. Next time we go to the Middle East for a combat mission, I'd like us to actually do something."

"The government will never approve of that."

"Screw the government," Shield spat, "All they care about right now is rebuilding our country. They should make a law that permits us to move in and hunt down terrorist organizations in other countries providing we have permission."

"I've heard that the Democratic Party wants such a law," said Bahador, "What party are you sir?"

"I'm thinking of switching," he answered. Two Apaches flew overhead as they returned from a training run. With all the power he controlled, he still couldn't get the politicians to listen to him. Well, the German and Chinese representatives listened and supported him, but if the American representative didn't he didn't stand much of a chance in getting the US government to support him. Life sucked.



A bald man with a beard in a black outfit walked into the room. Sitting inside the conference room were six other men. Three of them were Arab while two others were Caucasian and the last member Asian. The man sat down and nodded to the man sitting to his right before speaking.

"Gentlemen. Let us welcome our new brother, Mohammed Abdullah of Afghanistan. Congratulations on overthrowing the corrupt government that plagued your nation."

"Thank you Kane. I am honored to be welcomed into the Brotherhood."

"The Afghani people have long wanted to be free from the oppression of the west-controlled government that held reign over their land," said Kane, "How could we not respond. Now, there is a rather interesting piece of information that has come up. Seth. Explain it."

"We have become aware of a certain US Army general that wants the United Nations to establish a sort of global antiterrorist organization. Of course, this is contrary to our interests as such an organization will be used to fight against our brothers in other countries that have not yet seen the light."

"We must stop this immediately!" one of the men said.

"We are working on it," said Seth. He pressed a few buttons and the image of the general appeared on the wall. Three of the men turned so that they could see it. "This is Major General Roberto Shield. He is one of the surviving American generals that fought in World War III against the Soviet Union. He is the one who came up with the concept. Our agent reported it at the earliest opportunity and now awaits our instructions. All we have to do is order him to support it or not support it."

"We must do more than that," said the Asian man, "We must eliminate the threat that Shield possess to us."

"That would merely prove his point," said Kane, "We need to defeat his cause politically otherwise the UN will decide to form such an organization."

"Politically we can do so," said Seth, "Our agents are already working on destabilizing what support he has."

"There is another matter at hand," said Kane, "It would seem that we have lost the Russian Federation. Our supporters have all been removed from office, killed, or expelled out of the country. Therefore, the Russians are no longer our allies. However, their previous gifts to the Brotherhood will be very useful. Also, combined with the technology that our agents within the Alliance have delivered to us, we can begin constructing our armies."

"We will support you in any way we can," said the Arab, "We know who to contact for weapons."

"Good. Currently, we are short of armored weapons. See to it that we get some. We require that they be of sufficient quality to stand up against enemy forces in battle. Once the temple at Sarajevo is completed, nothing will be able to stop us. Not even America."



A small group of guerillas climbed over the wall and landed as softly as they could. They placed charges against the wall and ran out of the blast radius. The explosion knocked a section of the wall down and their fellow soldiers poured in. The guards were taken by surprise and quickly killed. The guerillas took whatever weapons and equipment they could and disappeared into the night. Yet another victory for the Colombian Revolutionary Army.



Shield hated the desk job. He finished the last of the papers for the accounting and set them aside. Now he could concentrate on his little pet project. President Carter had given Shield enough support to set up a sort of covert operations team. This was an all-American team and was not the international force that Shield had envisioned, but it was a starting place. Most of the soldiers were originally Delta Force and Navy SEAL operatives. The intelligence officers were mostly former CIA agents, while there were a few FBI agents within the team as well. However, there was nothing for them to do. Terrorism in the US was rare and most of the other countries that might need them had their own teams to handle such operations. Perhaps something would come up. He knew it was wrong of him, but Shield wished that someone out there would try to cause some trouble. There was a knock on his door just then.

"Come in," he said.

Bahador walked into the room. "Hello General."

"Nick. Anything wrong?"

"Not really. I'm dropping off a few files for you to look over."

"What are they?"

"Since you're so interested in understanding the networks that the terrorists all use, I thought you might want to review their information."

"That's an interesting idea. You know, I've always suspected that there's some other group that's been funding them. Some overall group in control of them."

"That would be highly unlikely sir. No evidence of such a network exists."

"That's the thing. Evidence can be covered up and they also can be manufactured. We never know for sure which is fact and which is fiction until after we put them to use."

"Perhaps you should work for the DIA instead," Bahador joked.

"They're all a bunch of suits. Hell, I'm a suit now. I originally wanted to be a field commander. Instead I'm stuck in a desk job."

"The men in Washington think they're rewarding you."

Shield sighed. He looked at a picture on his desk. It was him when he was twenty and still stupid. He was with another American who had fought alongside the Germans against the Soviet forces during World War II. He picked it up and examined the picture.

"Do you know when this was taken?" Shield asked his friend.

"It was after Allied forces had disabled four Soviet nuclear weapons," answered Bahador, "The man you were standing next to was Zachary Keith."

"We were good friends. Our two divisions fought side by side for many battles. We were like brothers."

"I seem to recall you saying that both of you competed for the same woman."

"Zach won," said Shield, "She was a German nurse. Zach met her during the assault on Berlin. She was one of the captured prisoners inside the city. Zach deserved her more. Me, I'm a guy that's married to the job. I would never have the time for a family. Zach somehow balanced it though."

"What happened?" Bahador asked. Even though the two were good friends, Shield had never told him.

"Zach married her and they lived in New York City. Both his son and wife were killed during the initial invasion. After that, he rejoined the army and became one of the primary field commanders. He commanded many covert missions, not all success. But he was an excellent soldier and my best friend."

"I'm sorry."

"Zach went crazy after that. But somehow he stayed in control and took out several Soviet armies with the forces under his command. If it weren't for him, you and I wouldn't have been able to finish off the Soviets and take out Yuri."

"What happened to him?"

"Zach was a general near the end of the war. There was actually another force that was supposed to back us up on the final assault in Antarctica. But his force was ambushed. Zach took heavy losses but defeated Yuri's forces. He died though. He threw himself in the way of enemy fire to save a few of his colonels."

Bahador was speechless for a few seconds as he digested all this. "He is a true commander."

"I'm afraid that the entire story will never be told. He's the unsung hero of the war. If those idiots in Washington can get their head out of the mud, then maybe he'll get the recognition he deserves. Anyways, enough about that. Anything interesting I should take a look at?"

"All of the new governments that took over in the Middle East and Asia have been forming alliances with each other. They just welcomed Jordan into their alliance."

"So they're linked," said Shield, "That isn't much."

"It's better than nothing sir," Bahador said dryly.

"All right. I'll look gone over once I get the chance. Maybe we'll find something."

"Don't lose sleep over it sir. I've already gone over the data several times. There isn't much to link together."

Shield nodded and Bahador left the room. He was tired and rubbed his eyes. The chair he had was a nice one, but it wasn't very comfortable at the moment. He thought back. Well, there wasn't much he could do at the moment. The accounting would be handled by one of his secretaries. The information Bahador had left him might be interesting.



President Andre Golovoko was exhausted. He just wanted a few hours of sleep. No. Just a few minutes would suffice.

"Comrade President, the economic reports."

Golovoko nodded. After the Russian Federation had freed itself from its socialist system, it had had to completely reorganize its economy and that was no small task. Two major weapons factories had been converted to make cars and washing machines while the remaining weapons plants were making weapons for export. Their main buyers were from the Middle East. A certain organization had been rather busy of late, buying up large amounts of weapons. That was something to worry about, but Golovoko knew he could do nothing about it.

"Comrade Chairman," Golovoko said to Sergey Klerk, the head of the SVR, "We currently have the economy under control more or less. However, it has come to my notice that someone has been laundering money from several of our ministries. Who is it?"

"Comrade President, we are no longer the KGB," said Klerk. That was certainly true. The SVR, formerly the first directorate of the Committee for State Security, was indeed not the KGB. Even the Federal Security Service was a shadow of its former self.

"There is evidence that points to foreign influence," said the head of the FSS, Marko Zukov.

"Then Chairman Klerk. It seems that falls under your jurisdiction."

Klerk nodded. In fact, he had been working on identifying who was laundering the money. It was rather small amounts in each case, but the total was well over several billion dollars. It would be a task to unravel everything.

Golovoko looked at the reports. The ruble had stabilized and the exchange value for it and the dollar was six to one. It wasn't too bad. What was truly worrisome was the alliance south of Russia. Several Middle East and Asia countries had joined in a major alliance and it looked as if they would threaten Russia if they grew any stronger.

"Very well. Is there anything else relevant enough that we need to discuss? Good. I'm going to get some rest."



President Wayne Carter was flying back to the states after a rather successful meeting with the Prime Minister of China. The new Republic of China was not like the old communist government that had existed before. This one was more free and open. China was now the third superpower of the world. The United States was first and Russia, while weakened, was still second. He checked the time. Two more hours before he would get back to the states. Might as well review some of the technical reports regarding a project that Pentagon R&D was working on.

He took out a manila folder and opened it. Some of the things didn't make too much sense but that was expected. However, what truly intrigued him was that the scientists and technicians were working on an AI, and Artificial Intelligence. They were using Lieutenant Eva's voice, the officer that was the operations officer for General Shield, as a template for answering a query. They were also calling it EVA, for Electronic Voice Address System. Very clever actually. The progress on it was slow, but in two years they would have a prototype. Technology had jumped greatly because of World War III. The particle weapons research that the US had conducted during it was now being used for larger purposes. Even though they would be decades away from actually getting a proper system up, the idea that had been proposed was brilliant.

Carter put the reports away. He couldn't understand any more of it. So far, the economy was in great condition, selling and buying from China and Russia, as well as the European Union, and the dollar was very strong. The only thing that wasn't good was his political platform. Many people questioned his policy regarding China and Russia, but Carter was sure he could handle this. Almost.

"Mr. President."

"Yes."

"There's a call for you. It's General Duke."

Carter picked up the phone. "Hello Duke."

"Mr. President. We've been receiving a lot of reports regarding some sort of terrorist attack that is going to take place. We think that it would be prudent for you to be relocated to a secure location."

"General, I'll be fine. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with people like you watching over me?"

"A lot Mr. President. Just because the Russians are out of the war-making business doesn't mean that some other nations aren't as well."

"What country would dare to actually attack us directly?"

"I don't know Mr. President, but there are ones who will."

"All right. But first I want you to-"

Alarms suddenly cut him off. Two Secret Service agents rushed in and grabbed him.

"What's going on?"

"Don't know sir," said an agent.

Carter dropped the phone with Duke still on the other end, wondering what had gone wrong. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the plane.

"Who's attacking us?" Carter demanded.

"Sir, we need to get you down to the escape pod."

Then, five missiles struck the body of the plane. Air Force One was incinerated in a blast of heat and fire, the burning wreckage dropping into the Pacific Ocean.

End of Chapter 1

Well, as you can see, the president is dead and we are in trouble. Yes, this is the same Zachary Keith from Where is My Homeland? and that was a spoiler, but none of you know exactly how everything happened. Actually, I've decided to do something like this. Where is My Homeland is the story that takes place in RA1. I'll do another story regarding RA2 to fits the actual storyline and this is the story about GDI and Nod. Of course, we also have my Tiberian Eve, Moonrise, and joint story with Book-Master, Tiberian Eclipse. It's rather fitting actually. This is a series that tells the entire story regarding the C&C timeline. Though I'll still need to do something about Tiberian Sun and Firestorm. Also, I need reviews for my story Gathering of Force. Just look under my profile.

Z98