Freedom never dies

Disclaimer: I do not own Command and Conquer or any of the units; ideas and other things thought up by them, all I own is this story.

Another explosion filled the air as a soviet rhino tank burst into flames. Private Jake Winters ran from his position in order to take up a new one along a pillbox. Damn these commies, he thought, This is their third assault on the base, don't they know when to quit? Quickly deploying his heavy machine gun, he fired into the mass of soviet conscripts trying to break through. Another explosion sounded, this time in the base, signaling that the soviets did some damage. " Sweet Jesus!" he whispered in awe. There was a crater in the middle of the base, a crater where the barracks had once stood. There were people still in there when the initial attack had come, but there was no hope for them now, they were most likely dead by now. Turning back towards the battle he started to shoot wildly, ignoring the screams of men on both sides as bullets found their marks. " You damn bastards!" he screamed above the noises of battle. Another rhino came, its turrent firing wildly at the defenders. A blast almost knocked him down as the pillbox next to him was pounded into oblivion. He knew they couldn't hold on much longer, it seemed the soviets were throwing everything they had in the area against the base. A loud roaring sound now covered the battle site, drowning out the noise of M16's and A-k47's. Jake looked up and almost turned whiter than he already was, the commies were using V3's!

No, oh god no! he thought as the missiles drew closer and closer. He had heard of these weapons, a mobile platform able to fire giant rockets from great distances, a perfect thing to use in base assaults. Now the patriot missile systems began to answer, firing wildly at the incoming projectiles. Several of the rockets were taken out, but a few still got through. One slammed into the radar station, turning it into an instant fireball, while two more fell among the power plants, damaging them seriously. Jake couldn't help but stare open-mouthed at the destruction, surly there would be time to get the power back on before the next missile strike?! He was rewarded with his answer as another group came in. With no power the missile defense systems weren't working, and men scrambled for cover as the missiles hit. " Holy…!" Jake started, but was then knocked off his feet as a missile landed not that far from his position. Groaning slightly he got up and surveyed the base. The power plants were gone, fiery debris and smoke marking where they were. The ore refinery had been hit hard as well but stood standing. That's when he heard it, a soviet commander talking in rough English through a microphone.

"Attention all Allied troops", the voice began, " see how we can destroy you easily?! Give up now and we will spare your lives, you have put up a good fight, but continuing to resist will result in death! Join us and together we will create a brand new country in the name of glorious Russia!" Jake looked around him, at the blackened earth, the numerous dead, the badly looking shape of the base. The soviets had wanted them to surrender, which he knew in the back of his mind was wrong. He shook his head, surrendering to them was still like dying. They would hold you for a few days, and use their psychic troops to extract information from you. Once that was done they would group you together and systematically wipe you out one bye one. Surrendering did seem like a good idea, but at what price? At that moment he and every other G.I. knew that if they surrendered they would just help the commies win faster. They had to stay, they had to fight for their country, their lives, their freedom! " You want us to surrender then come and get us!" bellowed a sargent. With that said, every G.I., pillbox and tank still left opened fire with renewed spirits. They would not let the base fall that easily, they had freedom to protect.

The sun rose slowly that morning, its rays penetrating the darkness still left. There was smoke everywhere as Allied and Soviet tanks burned alike. Bodies of the dead were strewed about everywhere as well, showing just how bad the carnage was the night before. A lone figure could be seen, quietly moving around the field collecting the dog tags off the unfortunate people who didn't make it. It stopped when it came to the body of a Russian conscript, and peered down at the face. The soldier was a teenager, and from the looks of it about 17 or 18. The figure dropped down on one knee and closed the boys open eyes. Turning from the horrible scene the figure looked up at the sky. " Man do I hate wars," murmured Jake as he looked up at the blue sky. He said a prayer for the kid, and made a solemn oath to his spirit that he would be the first they buried. Taking one last look at the carnage, he turned and walked back towards the base, where the American flag flew proudly on the pole. Freedom had been protected that night, and they would continue to protect it. It would not be long before they had the Soviets running back to their homeland. We'll show them, he thought, freedom never dies!

Author's notes: Well there you go, my first C&C fic, please go easy on me. Sorry it's so short as well, I wrote this at 2:30 at night. Anyways, please tell me what you thought!