[0210 Day 1, near Lake Ladoga, former USSR]
2nd Lt. Steve Mitchell slowly breathed in the cold night air and tried to warm himself up by huddling with Sgt. Freeman, his platoon seargent. It didn't work, and the freezing wind still stung Mitchell's face.
Mitchell and his 42-man platoon were on guard duty in Griffin Base, one of the 3 GDI bases in the Baltics. The platoon had 32 light infantrymen and 10 grenadiers, nicknamed "disc throwers". With tiberium infecting all of the temperate regions of the planet, the polar and subpolar areas of the world were becoming more and more important. The GDI was trying to set up centers to research space warfare in northern Russia, where the centers would be safe from tiberium. From there, the scientists could work on building a space fleet to deter attacks by the alien species now known as the Scrin. Also, biochemists could work on a way of decontaminating/exterminating tiberium.
However, Kane and the Brotherhood of NOD had other ideas. Mindlessly aggresive as always, they continued to attack GDI in hopes of gaining world domination. GDI military establishments like Griffin Base were built specifically to stop them and to protect the research centers.
"Sir! Battalion CO's on the line!" yelled the platoon's radioman. Mitchell was part of the 27th Mech Infantry Battalion, who, along with her sister battalion, the 28th, was tasked with defending Griffin Base.
Mitchell nodded and picked up the portable radio. "This is Bravo two six. Go."
"Bravo two six, be advised, Orca fighter patrol Red Dog has picked up massive ground formation of attack buggies and attack cycles. Regional MSV briefly picked up Devil's Tongues, underground APCs, and cloaked Stealth Tanks moving more or less with them. They are en route to our position. Firestorm defense is on standby, and Mechs are deploying to the defense perimeter. Reinforcements are coming from other area bases. But you and 2 other platoons are the only infantry platoons that we have that are currently capable of fighting."
"Understood, sir. We'll do our best. Bravo two six out," Mitchell replied. Then, he handed the radio back to his radioman and yelled at his platoon, "Huge NOD force coming our way. At arms, troops!"
With a huge yell, the soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 27th Mech Infantry Battalion snapped the safety off their M-16 Mk. II assault rifles and dropped prone in the foxholes. 42 pairs of eyes looked ahead, watching for any sign of the enemy. Visibility was good because there were florescent street lights all over the base. They were very colorful, and the scene would've been quite beautiful if the imminent threat of death hadn't been hanging over the soldiers.
Suddenly, one of the Vulcan towers erupted in flames, followed by a watchtower. Four decloaked Stealth Tanks came into visual range a second later.
"Attack on the eastern perimeter! Counting 4, 5, 6, 7 Stealth Tanks decloaking and firing. Where're the Titan Mechs?" Mitchell shouted into the radio. He was pretty green and barely had any combat experience, so he was scared.
"They're coming," his company CO, a captain, replied.
"Yeah, well, they're coming too slow. Any other fire support?" Mitchell yelled.
"Wolverines and Hover MLRS units are coming to your position. ETA less than 5 seconds. There's nothing else we can do. Out," the captain told him.
Just then, an artillery shell exploded a few yards in front of him, kicking up dust and firey debris. Another two towers, this time RPG towers, were blown up.
"Sir, we're not doing anything sitting here. We're just waiting to get killed. Let's go get their attention and draw fire away from the defenses!" Freeman suggested. He had considerably more combat experience than Mitchell and knew what had to be done.
Mitchell nodded and yelled to his men, "Charge and engage!"
The men ran forward and opened up, sending a dense stream of gunfire toward the 4 Subterranean APCs that had just popped up. At the same time, the EM Pulse Cannons finally locked onto the newly-decloaked stealth tanks and fired, momentarily disabling them. 12 other vehicles, mainly Attack Buggies, were disabled before all of the cannons were knocked out by NOD artillery. Mitchell's platoon easily cut down the troops that came out of the APC, then focused their gunfire on the APCs themselves. The disc throwers threw a barrage of grenades. The high explosive tore holes in the APCs' armor. More grenades went inside the holes and detonated, wrecking the vehicles from the inside.
There was just enough time for the soldiers to see the Banshee fighter screaming in before it opened fire. Plasma streams flashed out, accurately hitting the platoon of soldiers. 12 men were killed, before they had the chance to scream. More Banshees came out of the dark sky, firing at the Firestorm emitters. While the SAM towers managed to down most of the Banshees, the Firestorm defense had been destroyed and the base was wide open. Then, 2 Devil's Tongue flame tanks popped up out of the ground and fired their flamethrowers. This time, the men had a chance to scream. 11 soldiers were hit and ran around with their flesh on fire, screaming like demons. The putrid smell of burning flesh made Mitchell's eyes water.
"Shit!" Freeman yelled. "Pull back!"
"Pull back!" Mitchell seconded as he retreated behind a wrecked Stealth Tank. Four Wolverines appeared, firing their assault cannons at the Devil's Tongues and Stealth Tanks. But the Wolverines were quickly overwhelmed. However, they had bought enough time for the Titan Mechs to finally come.
From the shadows, 12 Titan Mechs came out and fired a furious barrage of 120mm shells. Devil's Tongues and Stealth Tanks erupted in fire, their thin armor no match for the 120mm shells. A detachment of Mammoth Tanks and Hover MLRS units also arrived, shooting more shells and missiles at the hapless attackers. It seemed like the GDI units were winning.
But in warfare, nothing is ever as it seems.
Without any warning the Banshees struck again. With the air defenses decimated, the 8 NOD fighters had no problem at all. They fired their plasma discharges, shooting up the heavy ground units. The Titans and Mammorth Tanks, even with their heavy armor, could not withstand the combined pounding. A Cluster Missile came and seperated into 10 projectiles, each hitting a different target. Any remaining GDI defenses on the eastern perimeter were destroyed. Two nuclear missiles dropped right into the middle of the base, where the tiberium refineries and power plants were, annihilating them. Then, NOD Harpy fighters came and went after the vulnerable MLRS vehicles. The GDI vehicles put up a brave fight, but the Harpies outnumbered them. More Stealth Tanks and Devil's Tongues poured in.
At this point, the battle was 2 minutes old.
Inside the now-penetrated Griffin Base, it was chaos. Tick tanks had come through the holes in the defense perimeter and had deployed, their cannons shooting up everything. Subterranean APCs poured in and disgorged Cyborgs and Rocket Infantry, who began destroying anything that they saw. Lights were shot out all over the place, and power plants were rapidly being destroyed. The base was running on minimal power, and power was cut off in all nonessential buildings. Units were being destroyed almost as soon as they were built. The pavement was all but gone, destroyed in the heavy GDI-NOD crossfire.
The power was out to the defenses, watch towers, and lights, so the NOD units had an easy time destroying them. The entire perimeter collapsed and GDI units still inside the base were forced to dismantle their buildings to keep them from being taken over by NOD engineers. All of the GDI troops quickly climbed onto any vehicle that could still travel and rolled out of the base. And just in time, too -- a Tiberian Missile hit the base and spread poisonous gas as well as tiberian veins around a large area.
Mitchell watched in horror as the seemingly-invincible base fell apart. He was shook out of his daze by Freeman, who had rounded up all of the surviving members of Mitchell's infantry company. The company commander had died in the attack, and since Mitchell was the most senior officer in the unit, he would command the 70 or so survivors of the NOD attack.
"Sir! We've gotta get out of here!" Freeman screamed to be heard over the loud explosions.
Mitchell quickly recovered. "Uh, right. Do we have any APCs left?"
"No sir," Freeman told him.
Mitchell suddenly got an idea. "Where's the school?"
Freeman raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"
"The school. There's a school in this base, isn't there?" Mitchell yelled.
"Yes sir, but--"
"The school buses! We can load the men onto the buses!" Mitchell explained.
Freeman nodded slowly. "Yes sir. This way." They began running toward the small school in the base. The children of the base's officers went there while their parents worked. With any luck, the buses would be intact and the children would be safe.
Overhead, 6 Orca fighters passed by and released their missiles. Some Orca bombers followed and dropped large high explosive "blockbuster" bombs. If GDI couldn't hold Griffin Base, then they sure as hell would make NOD pay dearly for it.
*****
Major Robert Terrell knew of the NOD attack on Griffin Base. He knew of the fierce but futile GDI resistance. He knew of the Banshee fighters' strike. And he knew of the nuclear attack. However, there was only one thing on his mind right now, and that was putting his missiles on target.
Terrell's squadron of Orca fighters had 23 Orca fighters currently; it had started out with 36. His squadron commander had been killed in a strike, and Terrell had taken command. That had been 2 weeks ago. Or was it 3? Since the war had began, it had become difficult to keep track of all of the days. Terrell was of medium build, with a hard and chiseled 6'1" body and a trim beard. He had a good personality, and he usually used his wit and pleasantness to cheer up his fellow pilots. However, he had watched so many good friends die, attended so many funerals of loved ones, that it was hard to maintain a positive attitude.
"Blue Knight Lead, this is White Knight Lead. How copy?" sounded on the scrambled inter-strike radio frequency, shaking Terrell back to reality. White Knight Flight was a flight of Orca bombers that were scheduled to strike just before his own flight.
He hit the com button. "Blue Knight here. Tangos in sight, TTT is 10 seconds." TTT stood for Time To Target.
"Roger, ball's in your court. Our bombs should give you some cover fire," White Knight Lead replied.
Ahead, Terrell saw 4 Orca bombers release their bombs and peel away. Seconds later, the bombs detonated in a terrific sheet of fire that killed all of the troops below and damaged the vehicles. The explosions were enough to stun the NOD forces for a second and prevent the surviving rocket infantry from firing, at least for the time being.
"Blue Knight Flight, this is Lead. Follow me in," Terrell radioed as he put his fighter in a slight dive, leading his flight of 12 Orcas straight into the jaws of hell.
*****
The concussion of the Orca bombers' bombs exploding almost knocked the men off their feet. But they managed to keep on going. Finally, they reached the school. Four school buses were waiting for them.
Mitchell yelled at the commanding officers of his 1st and 2nd Squads, "Have your squads follow me into the school to find the kids." Then he turned to Freeman. "Seargent, you and the rest of the men try to keep the Noddies off our backs for as long as possible."
Freeman nodded, pleased that his platoon leader was taking charge. "Yes sir. Good luck sir."
Mitchell lowered his head and led the two squads of 9 men each into the school building.
As soon as they got inside, the smell of burning wood and flesh hit them. The building was on fire, and was in danger of collapsing. They had to hurry.
They ran down the hallway, kicking open doors and yelling for any kids to join them. Outside, they heard sounds of gunfire.
Suddenly, as they rounded a corner, two NOD soldiers came into view.
"Dammit! Fire!" Mitchell yelled. He quickly raised his M-16 and fired a 3-round burst into the head of one of the Noddies. It split open like a ripe melon. Another man shot the other enemy soldier before the surprised Noddie could react.
"Kids!" shouted one of the soldiers from 2nd Squad.
"Come out!" Mitchell added.
After a few moments, 9 young, frightened faces emerged. The soldiers immediately rushed forward and offered their backs. The kids, glad at seeing friendly faces, climbed on.
As Mitchell steadied his child into a good position for carrying, he asked, "Are you kids the only ones left?"
The child on his back spoke up, "Y-y-y-y-yes. Everyone else is dead."
Mitchell didn't ask how they died. He wasn't so sure he wanted to know.
A minute later, the 2 squads came out of the building and rushed to the defensive perimeter that Freeman and the others had set up.
"We got all the survivors. Let's go!" Mitchell yelled as stopped next to Freeman. Freeman and his troops were currently shooting at a NOD infantry platoon that had stumbled onto them. While the platoon was easily slaughtered, heavy reinforcements would undoubtedly come. Time to get the hell out of dodge.
Freeman nodded at Mitchell, then turned to the troops and yelled, "Fall back! Get on the buses, now!"
As soon as the NOD platoon was decimated, the troops and the children ran onto the buses. Each could carry 20 passengers, so there was no problem with space. Once everyone was onboard, the designated drivers gunned the engines and the buses accelerated forward, away toward the NOD-free western gate of the base.
"Sir!" yelled one of the soldiers sitting in the back of Mitchell's bus. "We've got problems. I see 3, 4, 5, 6 Attack Cycles and 2 Attack Buggies in hot pursuit.
Mitchell looked back and saw the same thing. "Fuck! They're much faster than us; we can't outrun them."
An explosion erupted dangerously close to their right side, kicking up dust and debris. The bus rocked side-to-side, then steadied and continued.
Freeman suddenly grabbed the portable radio and began adjusting it. Mitchell looked at him and asked, "What're you doing?"
"There's bound to be friendly aircraft in the vicinity. I'm trying to call one up on GUARD," Freeman replied. He tapped the TRANSMIT button and said, "This is Bravo Company of the 27th Mech Infantry Battalion to any GDI aircraft in the area. We are fleeing the base, headed west in 4 school buses. I repeat, we are headed west on 4 school buses. We have 6 Attack Cycles and 2 Attack Buggies on our tails. Requesting immediate assistance. Again, this Bravo Company of the 27th mech Infatry Battalion..."
*****
"...Requesting immediate assistance," the message finished.
Terrell had been monitoring the GUARD channel and had heard the plea for help. He and his fighters had finished their attack run with most of their missiles still unfired; the targets had fled, and there had been no reason to chase after them, which would just waste fuel and missiles.
He opened a channel with the E-16 AWACS command-and-control plane, code name Sky Eye. "Sky Eye, this is Blue Knight Lead. Were you guys monioring GUARD?"
"Affirmative. We've pinpointed the source of the call, and we're transferring the coordinates to you now," Sky Eye replied. A moment later, a new dot appeared on Terrell's moving map display (MMD). "You are directed to proceed there ASAP and engage any enemy ground units."
"Blue Knight wilco. Out," Terrell agreed. He wagged his wings to signal to his flight that he was going to turn, then banked right toward the location of the buses. A few moments later, he called out, "I see them on IR. Four buses, moving single-file, being chased by 6 ACs and 2 ABs. Buses are under fire."
He focused on his HUD, selecting the closest AC to fire at. His target indicator box turned read and a tone beeped in his helmet, signalling a lock. "Hellfires away."
A cluster of missiles rapid-fired away from his aircraft, and he immediately banked hard left to evade any incoming missiles. And indeed, two missiles from the middle AC streaked up after him. He immediately banked right, too fast for the missiles to follow. He looked back and saw his missiles slam into the AC head-on, making it explode in a brilliant white-hot ball of fire.
"I'm turning around to make another overhead pass. I've depleted my missiles, but I can draw their fire," he announced as he made a rapid 9-G turn back toward the enemy vehicles. Ahead, 5 volleys of missiles slammed into and destroyed all of the ABs and 3 ACs. Unfortunately, two missiles from an AC streaked up and slammed right into the engines of Blue Knight 7. The fighter, already damaged, exploded in mid-air. There was no ejection.
The other two ACs fired off 4 more missiles at Terrell, which he easily outran (he was at the outer limits of the missiles' range). Then, they turned tail and headed back for Griffin Base. However, another 4 volleys of missiles ended them in a fiery blaze of destruction.
"Bravo Company, your tail is clear," Terrell announced.
"Roger that."
Behind them, a team of commandos lased the base. Shortly after, an ion canon beam smacked into the middle of the base and eliminated the highest concentration of NOD units. A fresh wave of airstrikes roared in, destroying or heavily damaging the remainder of the NOD force. NOD may have destroyed Griffin Base, but now they had nothing to show for it except a lot of casualties. The commando team, Bravo Company, and Terrell's squadron slipped into the night.
Griffin Base had sighed its last breath.