Prologue
An explosion ripped across the front of the gate, smearing the Nod symbol of a scorpion's tail with dirt and blood. The blast sent out shards of metal in every which direction, randomly injuring anyone that came within their path. Kirk Tyreek, sergeant and long time veteran of Nod, overlooked the carnage that now lay before him. The attack had come without warning. GDI was advancing with their troops backed up by walker support consisting of Titans, Wolverines, and the dreaded Mammoth MKII. It was not surprising that they had decided to attack this specific base. It was a training ground for new initiates to the brotherhood; hopefuls willing to give their life in the name of Kane. As long as the base was up and operational, around two hundred new initiates would flow in every two months. GDI could not stand for this. So they had started their surprise attack by attacking their power plants with an EMP; knocking them out, and any cyborgs next to them. All turrets were offline, but the good news was that the gate would no longer open. That simply held off the inevitable.
"Damn it, shoot straight! Aim and fire, not lift and shoot! Remember your training! In the name of Kane!" A chorus answered him.
"Kane lives in death!"
"Damn rights! Now, keep your heads down! We will treat these GDI bastards the same way we treat stray dogs; a boot to the ass and a fist to the face!" A roar of approval chained its way down the trenches as Kirk could literally see his men's morale rise. He looked onto the field that now lay in front of him from the wall. It seemed like an endless tide of yellow was washing over them for cleansing. There was few soldiers left on the wall, but they fought valiantly, refusing to give up. One by one, they fell to the onslaught of pulse rifle fire and 120mm shells. The initiate next to him went to say something, but his head suddenly exploded, adding more red and gore to his red and black armor. The body fell in slow motion, and Kirk looked up to see a Titan staring straight at him. He dived off the wall just as the shell hit the concrete. He landed in a roll, and was up and running before he even really knew where he was going. Soon, he reached the trenches where the rest of the initiates were now holed up. Then everything slowed down.
For the first time since the battle began, there was an uneasy silence. Nothing could be heard except the nervous shuffling of the initiates in their armor, and the fast paced breathing that came with being afraid. He wanted to yell at his initiates to shape up, that death was not yet here, but he could not find the words. His throat seemed to close up, making it hard for him to breathe. He was a veteran, but this was one fight he knew he was not going to win. One fight he knew there would be no glorious reward for. He controlled his breathing, and looked down the rows.
His men were armed with pulse rifles and rockets, but this would only buy them time. He knew what had to be done. He gestured to his second in command, Jareed Lucien. "Kane favors us with a glorious death corporal, and I will see to it that it is received." The corporal nodded through his mask. Even he knew that no matter what, this base must not fall into enemy hands. If it were, they would learn of all other training camps around Europe. Kirk could not let this happen; he would not let it happen.
"Stand fast my brothers! Kane greets us with open arms! We are his children, and are treated as such. We will not let our father down will we?!"
"No sergeant!" A roar came from his troops. Even now, he could see the welder making its way through the thick gate. Apparently they wanted prisoners and information that was too valuable to risk blowing apart.
"Will we not teach these GDI sons of bitches that we are the sons of a prophet?!"
"Yes sergeant!"
"We will! In the name of Kane!"
"Kane lives in death!" The reply was slightly weaker than usual, so he put a bit more emphasis on his words.
"In the name of Kane!"
"Kane lives in death!" It was a little stronger, but he needed his men to be at their peak; with even more emphasis.
"In the name of Kane!"
"Kane lives in death!" This time, there was a roar as soldiers lifted their weapons and started yelling for GDI to come. They wanted blood. They wanted to be remembered. They wanted to protect their father. Kirk gave a nod, and just as he did, the gate burst open.
GDI troops immediately stormed in, and were met with a barrage of pulse fire as one after the other was put down. GDI was not to outdone, as they brought in disk throwers to lighten the load. Most of the grenades bounced over their presumed target, and exploded harmlessly behind them. However, some of them met their marks, and Kirk would never get those screams out of his head as their bodies were blown to bits. To their credit, the Nod line never stumbled. Simply shaking them off, and continuing to fight. However, the GDI soldiers were like the locust, too numerous to count, and for everyone you killed, there was five to take its place.
GDI had made its way inside now, and was using the rubble from the walls as cover, along with assorted empty supply crates. It looked like it was going to be sooner rather than later for the defeat. Kirk fired his pulse rifle, and caught one of the GDI soldiers in the shoulder, making him fly to the ground. A couple of comrades tried to pull him out of the fire, and were quickly mowed down by the line of Nod troopers. Then the big machines started pouring through.
Wolverines started quickly pouring through the crowd of GDI soldiers, intent on breaking the line of the Nod soldiers with its presence alone. Little did it know that they still had rockets in the line. As stream after stream of rockets went after the wolverine did it finally realize its mistake. It started to back up, but was hit in the legs with four rockets. The entire thing collapsed to the ground, followed by more rockets. The pilot's screams were drowned by rocket fire.
It was utter mayhem as soldier after soldier from both sides fell. Kirk had seen battles like these before, and he had come out of them before. A part of him felt disappointed to not make the rank of Lieutenant, but a part of him was glad that he had served a long term with the brotherhood. It was all that he could ask for.
As another Nod soldier fell, Kirk picked this time to get things ready. He jumped out of the trench, and went to the HQ building. A few soldiers stared at him as he went, but then immediately understood what was going to happen. They returned to firing.
Kirk made it to the HQ within a few seconds, and made his way to the comm. center. The room was huge, often filled with bustling technicians receiving and sending messages to the brotherhood. It was now eerily empty, the lack of bodies almost giving it a haunting look. It was from here that they got their supplies, their men, and pretty much anything else they needed.
There was a huge screen at the front of the room, used only by high ranking generals and Kane himself. He had yet to see that screen light up since he had gotten here. The room's light had been shut off due to the power outage, but the light shining in from the giant glass windows provided enough light to get to what he was looking for. As he reached a compartment, he removed his glove and placed it on the scanner. Of course, it didn't respond due to the power being out. He mentally slapped himself for forgetting, then quickly grabbed his rifle, and blasted the port until there was a glowing hole in the metal. He grabbed the inside, and forced open the compartment. Inside was a beacon the size of his fist. To the average person, it might look like an oversized grenade, to Kirk; it was an engine of destruction.
Every base had one of these beacons since the massacre of the Alpha Delta base near Paris, where vital information was stolen because the commanding officer hadn't enough time to purge the system. This was a backup. If activated, it would immediately send a nuke from their main base in northern Russia raining down on them. He activated it, said a little prayer to Kane, and placed it behind some cover of a computer desk. Then he noticed something, it had gotten surprisingly quiet. He went to the window, and saw that the line of Nod defenders had been destroyed. Only a few were alive, and held by the GDI troops. Suddenly, a GDI soldier, most likely the commanding officer, made a gesture towards HQ, and several squads raced off towards it. Kirk knew what happened. One of the initiates had opened their mouth, and told them. Kirk snarled. The initiate would forever be lost to Kane's eyes for his treachery.
Then came the sound of boots and yelling as the soldiers made their way up the stairs. Kirk returned to the desk and looked down at the beacon. By its rapid beeping, he could tell the nuke was close. He simply had to stall them long enough. Suddenly GDI soldiers came bursting into the room. "Put the weapon down you Nod piece of shit! Put it down, or we drop you!" They had fanned around the room, and were all pointing their weapons at him. His firearm lay in his hand beside him. He looked down at his gun, then back up at the soldiers. "Don't even think it!" The squad leader said, edging forward ever so slowly, until he heard the beeping. Kirk couldn't see his expression through the face plate, but he guessed it was one of sheer horror. Kirk laughed like a man who had nothing to lose.
"Kane sends his greeting card!" He raised his weapon and fired. In return, the soldiers returned fire. Even as he took hit after hit, he continued to pull the trigger on his way down. He could hear the soldiers yelling to each other, and trying frantically to run down the stairs to tell everyone, but he knew it was too late. The beeping had become one long beep, which meant it was practically here. He gave himself a smile as blood started to fill his helmet. "In the name of Kane…"
He was then enveloped in a bright white light.