Welcome Back Commander
"Welcome back, commander."
"Good to be back, Rachael."
"Local Nod forces are en route to the Y-6. They're going after Chicago."
"What do they want there?"
"I don't know sir, but they have a large force mobilized, some seven thousand troops and counting, we're looking at a major offensive."
"How fast can we get there?"
"In an hour, but we won't have long before Nod hits us."
"We'll have to move fast, set us a course. Lieutenant, how many troopers we got at our disposal."
"We only have a few hundred. I've contacted headquarters and they have reinforcements headed that way, but we'll need to buy a lot of time."
"Don't worry about that lieutenant that's my job."
"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Rachel Broeck was one of the finest the Global Defense Initiative had in their entire army. Prior to the outbreak of the Third Tiberium War she and her family had lived in Michigan in the Blue. Unfortunately with the onset of Tiberium they were forced to evacuate as the GDI attempted to halt the spread of the green death to the world's largest source of fresh water.
The lieutenant stood up and headed to the barracks on board the ship. The men would need to be ready when they hit the ground. Nod would be inside the city limits in under an hour they would hit the defense line in two.
"Hey, get up we've got a war to win." She yelled at the men who were lazing about in their quarter. "We go groundside in under an hour and I want everyone suited up by then."
"Aww come on lieutenant can't we just hang out for a little bit, here sit on my lap and we can play a game of cards."
"Stow it corporal. Now move."
"Someone sounds like they're not having a very good day. Who needs a hug?" Rachael slapped him across the face.
"Get suited up." She turned on her heels and walked back to the observation deck, leaving the corporal slightly stunned and the rest of the squad laughing at him. Unbeknownst to them however, was that the two soldiers had at one point been together, and that it had been more than just friends. In fact, the corporal was still under the impression that they were together.
Rachael smirked as she walked away. It would be best to leave him guessing, after all she was his superior officer and she liked to be in charge. She walked onto the deck and sat down in her chair.
"Lieutenant I need Intel on our landing site ASAP. EVA what's the current situation on the ground."
"GDI command forces are currently holding inside the GDI tower. Civilian forces are being evacuated across the lake as we speak. No help is expected from local powers. Nod also controls the main road, into and out of the city, so the tactical benefit of a preemptive strike is removed. Our only option is to defend the GDI tower and the reclamation facility until help arrives."
"Wait, what reclamation facility?"
"GDI has a local facility just south of the tower. They have several scientists and many dollars invested in the project. You didn't think they were going to send help just cause you needed it, did you?"
"Thank you lieutenant, your tone is noted."
"I try to please." She said playfully as strands of her beautiful blonde hair danced around her face. "Is there something you need Commander?" He recognized that he was staring at her and promptly stopped.
"Sorry just off in my own little world. I do believe that it's important that we secure the facility first. The tower can hold against an attack. I believe that our best bet would be to take up positions in the surrounding buildings and make them come to us, while our snipers eliminated anyone careless enough to hang out in the open. The urban terrain should help minimized the benefit of their overwhelming numbers."
"Good plan sir, we'll set her down two blocks north of the site."
"Good, now I have to go get suited up, take good care of her while I'm gone." The ship was the GDI Igneous. The strange thing about this particular unit was the involvement of the higher ups on the battlefield, rarely did they take high risk roles, but the commander often racked up his own kill count.
"Sir, incoming message. Originating from the research facility."
"Patch it through lieutenant." The commander continued putting on his battlesuit as the call came through."
"Requesting assistance from all nearby GDI forces. Nod is at the gates. We managed to hold off their first attack, but we only have side arms and have many wounded. Please send reinforcements as soon as possible."
"How'd they get there so fast?"
"I believe that they already had forces in the area. In fact Nod has a forward base two miles north of the facility, if we remove it we can halt their advances as they try to repair their base."
"Sounds like a plan. I want our vehicles rolled out ASAP. Lieutenant, I'll see you out there."
"Good Luck, Commander." He jogged off the deck and toward the hangar where the soldiers were waiting for them to land.
"EVA, how long do you think the commander is going to keep going out there before he gets injured or killed?"
"I wouldn't expect it to be more than a few weeks."
"You have that little faith in him?"
"No, he exhibits irrational behavior that suggests distraction. I believe he's going to lose his focus and slip up."
"I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary."
"What about earlier? He has shown this type of behavior increasingly recently."
"I haven't really noticed any change since I've been here. I believe that the commander is just being a little bit more risky is all. He's a good man and would rather be there, than staying up here."
"I agree, however his tendencies prior to your arrival are much different than after, suggesting attraction."
"I doubt that, he hasn't even made anything to suggest such a thing."
"He is fairly good about masking his emotions, besides you know GDI discourages relationships between officers."
"Yeah lieutenant, besides you know the commander would never like you anyway."
"Shut up, sergeant. EVA help the sergeant land, I'm going to get suited up."
"Yes, ma'am." She walked down the corridor to the armory where they had their equipment housed. She grabbed a GD4 and several grenades along with her battlesuit. She quickly put on the extra protection as the ship started its descent to the ground. She walked out of the armory with her GD4 strapped to her back. When she reached the hangar the men were already prepared. The APCs were running and several tanks were at the door, ready for a quick exit.
The Commander had always made sure that his men were off the ship in less than ten minutes. It helped to get in to the battle and engaged quickly, but more importantly it had saved their lives on more than one occasion. When they had been fighting in Kentucky they had a different ship than before. Moments after they had gotten off the ship it exploded. Only the pilot had been on board. They had thought that the ship had been hit by a missile, but it was in fact planted on the ship. From then on they were sure to get off the ship as fast as possible.
The ship touched down and the hangar bay doors were already on their way down. She observed the deck looking for her squad, but failed to find it.
"Lieutenant you need a lift."
"No thank you corporal, I have my own squad."
"I know they were the first ones out of the gate. You're going to get left behind if you don't hurry up and hop on." Rachael ran into the APC and it shut its door quickly before gunning it out of the hangar.
Rachael's team was headed for the research facility to help defend the position against the Nod soldiers attacking. The commander's group headed for the Nod base. The soldiers watched the tanks split off with the commander, hopefully to destroy the base with as few problems as possible.
"Lieutenant we are approaching the research facility now, no signs of Nod forces." Maybe we'll get a break before they come back she thought to herself.
"Missile lock, evasive maneuvers." The APC driver hurriedly whipped the vehicle around the corner of the building. The missile impacted just short of the armored car, but it caused the off balance vehicle to flip tossing the soldiers inside. Rachael saw everyone flying around and was glad she had been smart enough to stay in her harness; she was going to make that mandatory for next time. Then she was struck on the head and knocked out by one of the soldiers tumbling around the APC.
"This is Scout One reporting in. Sniper teams one and two are in position, but they say that there isn't a base there. It appears as though there was a decoy set up."
"What are you telling me sergeant? There's no one there."
"Incoming transmission, patching it through."
"We have kshhhhhhh need help kshhhh Nod at reser kshhhh." The transmission went silent.
"Double time it, back to the vehicles. I want those APCs going in ahead to hit them on the flank. We'll punch in after you guys get in there and finish them off."
"Roger that Commander." The APCs accelerated to their maximum speed and left the tanks behind. The commander climbed into one of the mammoths and cursed as he closed the hatch. How could he have been so stupid? He should have known that they would pull something like this. He wondered who the other commander could be that he was out thinking him this well.
"Commander."
"Shut up sergeant I know." The commander hadn't expected GDI to send scout in ahead of their main force. They would be hitting his troops before they finished off the first team. They could be decimated. However he couldn't appear weak, the plan would go forward and with any luck his men would manage to win. If not there was no problem to him they had reinforcements in a hour anyway and then they would crush them.
"Sir, your orders?"
"Relax sergeant our men are doing fine."
"Shouldn't we at least warn them?"
"Sergeant, are you questioning my orders?"
"No sir, I was giving tactical advice that's all, after all that why I'm here isn't it." Kane had specifically put this man in the commanders unit. He felt that it was to punish him for something, but he couldn't take this man tormenting him any longer. He drew his pistol and shot the sergeant through the head.
"Such a waste. Someone clean up the sergeant's station and replace him, please." He watched as his men slowly moved to remove the sergeant's body from the room and clean his brains from the control console. Good, they're afraid. The commander laughed as the soldiers drew straws for who would take the sergeants place, as though it was a death sentence. It almost was the commander had killed the last three sergeants at that position.
"FRAG OUT!" The report of the GD4s echoed through her head as she regained consciousness. She shook her head and reset herself. She was strapped into the seat of the APC and suspended by the harness she was in. Inside the vehicle were several soldiers who appeared to be unconscious as she noticed they were still breathing. A few others were wounded and had managed to crawl into the APC as cover. One had a shot to the upper thigh that was bleeding profusely even with the suit attempting to stop the bleeding. Another had taken one to the abdomen he didn't look like he was going to make it much longer.
"Finally, sleeping beauty has awakened."
"Corporal, when I get out of here. If the noddies haven't already killed you, I will."
"Alright, good luck with that. Considering that the powers off and those harnesses are power outfitted I think you're going to need a little bit of help."
"No thanks corporal." Rachael began to cut the straps restraining her.
"Here let me help." The corporal walked over and managed to get right below her as she finished the last strap and fell on top of him. "Hmmm. I think that if you want to do this you should at wait until we get back, or at the very least until the firefight is over." The lieutenant got up off him and made sure to push him back down after she got up.
"Corporal when we get back I'm going to give you a reprimand. A very stern reprimand."
"What, is reprimand code for something now?"
"Yes, it's code for me shoving my boot up your ass, cause you won't shut up."
"Point taken."
"I hope so corporal, I hope so." They probably would have fought longer, but the explosions outside rocked the APC. "How long have I been out?"
"Only about an hour or so. We've been getting hammered, but we are holding them off better that I bet even they expected, we were just about to put somebody else in charge when you woke up. The temporary HQ is behind the wreckage of those APCs. We came out here to get the injured and anyone else who hadn't made it back yet." He had personally volunteered to, know that she was out here, but he didn't tell anyone that.
"RPG! GET DOWN!" The projectile whistled over their heads as they dove to the ground. The grenade hit a the ground thirty feet past their hole and sent showers of dirt and rocks tumbling down on them.
"Corporal! Can you hear me?" The corporal looked up as the ringing in his ears started to subside. "Thank God. We have to move, Now." Rachael helped the soldier up and handed him his gun. She provided suppressing fire while the others ran down the street to the corner. They covered her as she made her way back to them.
They waited at the corner for the fire to calm down. As they did Rachael noticed a sniper perched on the fourth floor balcony of the building across the street. She took her time looking through the scope of her GD4 and sent a burst the struck the soldier with all three bullets; two of them striking him in the chest and the last in the head. He tumbled over the railing and fell to the concrete below.
The corporal's gun jammed and while he went to fix it he noticed a soldier with a rocket launcher directly above them. "Shite. Tango twelve o'clock high." They fired shot up at the soldier and, but he just ducked behind the rail and aimed the gun down towards them.
"Danger close. You guys might wanna find somewhere to hide. Fire." The commander's voice came over the radio. One of the privates in probably the quickest thinking maneuver ever shot out the window to the lobby of the store in front of them and the soldiers dove through the window as the balconies collapsed where they had been moments ago.
"Status Report!"
"Here." The corporal yelled.
"We're ok over here." A couple of privates said as they slowly got to their feet.
"We are all good." Called a sergeant.
"Is everybody there? Please. Somebody?"
"We're here."
"Thank God. Sergeant, send the tanks after the noddies. Lieutenant where are you at?"
"We're in the building in the lobby."
"Ok, Move through the complex to the other side, you should be on their right flank. We'll meet you on the other side."
"Roger that. You heard the Commander we're moving through the building to hit the tibeheads." The soldiers grunted their approval and grabbed their weapons. "Corporal you take point, everyone else form up." The corporal kicked in the first door and moved inchecking the room for hostiles.
"Clear." The group followed him in, all of them watching the entrances. The lieutenant pointed to the next door and everyone stacked up on either side. Rachael opened the door and everyone had their guns trained on the doorway. Inside there was a shuffle and the soldiers immediately pointed their guns in that direction.
"Identify yourselves."
"Please don't shoot us we haven't done anything."
"Oh, God." The soldiers flipped on the lights and were astounded by the sight. Thirty to forty people were living in the room makeshift beds had been made and the people were so thin you could see their ribs sticking out.
"Oh thank you." One of the people ran over. "We thought they had won Chicago. They've been killing every one. The green has been spreading from the west side. Almost all of the families had moved with us. Nod came with it bring as much death as the green itself."
"Corporal distribute some food to these people." She handed him some of her rations. "Commander you're not going to believe what we've got in here."
"I'm going to guess a bunch of almost starved civilians."
"Yeah how'd you…"
"They started ficken pouring out of the buildings after we ran the bastards off. We are equipped to handle this kind of mission. I radioed command and they have evacuation units en route, but I don't know that they have enough people to them until help arrives."
"What do we do?"
"Bring them out here. I've got half the men already diverted to helping provide shelter and food to the civilians. We'll talk when you get out here." The commander cut the comm and left the squad with their problems.
"Alright we're moving out. Follow us, we've got a place for you to find shelter and food." The lieutenant led them out of the building and into the square. The commander wasn't kidding; literally hundreds of civilians were standing in the street as the GDI soldiers directed them toward the refugee camp."
"There you are. Are you alright? Is anybody hurt?" The commander asked examining the cuts on her face to access the seriousness.
"We are fine commander, just getting our job done."
"That's what I like to hear Colonel."
"I'm sorry sir."
"We don't have enough officers to get everyone where they need to be. Everyone basically got promoted. Sergeants are lieutenants and corporals are sergeants. Even you corporal. Colonel I need you to oversee the defense set up while I make sure that all the civilians are taken care of. Make sure you get the lieutenants working. I want us back to fully operational status, in less than twelve hours, they won't attack in the dark."
In fact Nod never attacked at night, but to GDIs superior night vision technology, Nod could not afford for all the soldiers to be equipped with that level of technology, not after losing the first two wars.
That night was a restless one for most of the members of the GDI. With the trauma surrounding the day's events, sleep was the last thing on their minds as the thought of Nod torturing the remaining civilian population haunted them. The civilians told stories of mass graves in which the terrorists had executed civilians for the heck of it. The civilian estimate was roughly two thousand executions. The actually number was believed to be twice that many in just that district.
"Commander, these guys just get better by the day."
"I wish I could disagree with you private. They don't seem to be able to understand any of the concepts of morality anymore. I think the tibe has gotten to their heads. I just wish we would have known about this earlier, how many lives could have been saved."
"You can't blame yourself for that Commander; there was nothing you could do. You didn't pull the trigger, the noddies did, and you're just making sure that they can't do it again."
"Well put private, get some rest, you're going to need it. Tomorrow is going to worse than today, they ran today, but tomorrow they'll fight till we're all dead. I'll keep watch you rejoin your squad. Don't worry about it, we'll have reinforcements and we'll shove the bastards back to the Reds."
"Thanks Commander." The private ran off into the night toward where the other men were stationed.
"Commander."
"Sergeant Copton. Good to see your still alive."
"Thanks Commander, just call me Derek though."
"Alright sergeant. Your request has been noted, and ignored."
"I'm glad to see you listen to your soldiers."
"I'm listening Derek, I just like to give people a hard time. It's a way for me to understand what you're thinking."
"I see, anyway what's our plan for tomorrow? I want to be able to prepare the men for tomorrow."
"Get one promotion and you're already taking charge, I like that, that's good to see in an officer, keep it up and you might get another one, if you aren't dead first." The sergeant stared at him frightened. "I'm just kidding sergeant. We are gonna get out of here in one piece. I am going to talk to Rachael in the morning and we'll decide our next move from there."
"You wanted to talk to me sergeant?"
"Or we could discuss our plan right now. Colonel, good to see you. We were just talking about you."
"In a good way or a bad way."
"Depends on what you mean by good and bad way."
"Why what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking like in a certain kind of way."
"Wait are you two… uhhh."
"Yes."
"Kinda, we're sort of."
"What the heck does sort of mean?"
"Yeah"
"Ok that's easier to understand. Now we have to plan out our next objective. And being that we have the civilians it is not going to be any easier. We still need to get the scientists out of the facility and onto the Igneous. Plus we have to get the civilians and the soldiers from the tower as well. Rachael, I'll let you decide where you want to go, you can take the sergeant with you.
Option 1: Nod has attacked the GDI tower to the north of the research facility, by defeating the Nod forces surrounding the building we will have help with the large population of civilians. The current GDI objective is to have the entire area secured after reinforcements arrive. I may be necessary to hold out until reinforcements arrive.
Option 2: The Brotherhood of Nod is currently sieging the GDI research facility in this sector. The scientist have high value intel and are tier one assets, casualties are unacceptable. Defeat the soldiers holding the surrounding area and bring the scientists back to the Igneous.
Author's note: Oh, an interactive story, it's just like choosing a mission. Leave a comment after readying the story and my next chapter will be about the confrontation, you picked, plus some extra. This is just a little experiment, if you are in a hurry just write two in your comment/review. If you enjoyed it, feel free to write something longer. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter.