Sorry for the wait.
Tiberium - The Fires of Terra Chapter 4
Date: AD 2070/CE 70, February 17th, 1:34 PM.
G330X Habitual Module III, Temporary Housing cluster "Ulster", Relocation Centre 31, Cosenza City, 37 Km South of Special Joint Zone Border.
It still felt strange to be walking again, Woods thought, walking down the metallic corridor as the soft 'patter' of footsteps intermingled with the deeper 'thump' of power-assisted footfalls echoed around him.
A small grin flickered across his face as he considered the powered armor he was wearing, a device that GDI had gave him in lieu of a crutch. Apparently GDI like beating their swords into plowshares, a standard powered armor for example, once properly calibrated could be used for support and physiotherapy for an injured person. Or al least that's what his doctors told him.
The smile died as his mind conjured up, unbidden, a more sinister purpose for the armor; to contain the "inert" Tiberium now flowing through his veins.
He sighed and quickly push that thought out of his conscious mind, taking a moment to look at the people around him. Some like him wore powered armor while others didn't and oddly enough, everywhere he looked he found people staring at those wearing armor with some discomfort. Though he didn't mind the stares of the children , the expressions on some of the adult's faces bothered him for some reason. Even odder, he found the same sneering visage on the faces of a number of powered armor wearer.
Even worse than the glares some people were sending at each other was the sign of Tiberium exposure and other disfigurements that some of the civilians were trying desperately to hide. It pained him to see such sights but- Oh. He stopped and looked at the scene again; sure enough most of the glares were directed at a group who showed the tell-tale signs of Tiberium infection. That's not good, Wood decided as he continued his journey.
Woods was currently heading towards the lounge of what his acquaintances in the GDI called a G330X habitual module. Designed to survive the hostile conditions outside the safety of its walls, the cross-shaped module consist of two major hallways running down both axis of the cross. Lining each of these hallways were rooms; each capable of housing a family of six and in the center where the hallways meet was the main lounge, medical wing and cafeteria.
In all, the entire building houses 288 refugees in its two story structure and protected them from the elements with thick T- armor, apparently up to a quarter metre thick in some places. Surprisingly enough, according to a colleague in the EBN who had interviewed him on the crash, GDI had managed to erect hundreds of such modules all over southern Italy within a week of the event. The sheer scale of such an undertaking boggles his mind.
Personally though, the most surprising feature to him was the Module's integrated Artificial Intelligence. According to the information he had seen on GDI's internet, the majority of GDI military and civilians installations and equipment require integrated AI support to aid in management as well as to compensate for the interference caused by environment of their Earth.
And he had to admit; EVA as the AI was called, does its job remarkably well, performing the security, logistical and planning aspect of management almost flawlessly while ensuring that orders and information was conveyed clearly. Though he had to suppress a snicker as he remembered an incident back at Mobius base where someone altered the vocal synthesizer of the AI such that it replied to civilians with the voice of a schoolgirl on a sugar high.
Still snickering, he staggered to a nearby wall as he felt a moment of weakness wash over him. Thankfully the armor ensured that he didn't trip or fall as he finally entered the common room on the ground floor of the module. While it was filled with people, it didn't take long for him to cross the room as the crowd parted when they took note of the giant 'Press' on his white powered armor.
Strolling across the room, Woods ignored the looks that some people were giving him. At first he didn't think much of it, confident that GDI's security will defuse the situation before it gets too ugly but now that he was in the main lounge, he finally noticed the stares that certain people were sending his way was mix of scorn, hate, and curiosity in their eyes. That didn't surprise him but he could also feel a sense of…fear?.
Shrugging he continued walking towards the pair he was meeting, a sister and a brother in their late teens. He had met the two of them at Mobius station after they were picked up by RAID 2th division from the wreckage of their family car. After he'd been released from Mobius Station and transferred to one of the tent city that GDI had set up, he figured that he would check up on them.
Granted using the term 'tent city' was rather far from the mark given that the so called "tent cities" consisted of G330 modules, field hospitals, airfields, motor pools, and a military outpost where GDI and Eurasian Federation forces were stationed.
"Hey, I'm John Woods" Woods introduced himself, reaching out to tap the girl on the shoulder. "We met a few days ago at Mobius Station, do you remember?"
"Yeah, it's nice to see you again." the girl, Cecilia Damiani if Woods remembered correctly, replied rather nervously.
Chuckling Woods moved to reassure her.
"Don't mind the armor, it's a pain to take off and I need it to walk. So how've you and Eusebio been doing?"
"Ok, we're mostly just watching the news and keeping up with what's happening in the rest of the world."
"So what do you think? And what's with the death stares people here are sending each other?"
"You've been exposed to the green cristallo signore" Cecilia said in a dull voice as memories of the wreck that killed her family filled her mind. "Sorry" she added a moment later.
"Don't be, I was on a helicopter when the event happen. I survived. The 'copter and the others didn't." Woods said his tone tired and resigned.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Woods heard her say in sympathy.
"Thank"
He took a moment to look around the room before turning back to find Cecilia scanning him in concern.
"Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?" She asked. "I mean you looked pretty bad when Euse and I met you..."
"No need to worry, I'm doing fine. This suit is keeping me standing," Woods laughed. "Beside if I survived when a helicopter didn't, it means I am tougher than a 'copter right?"
Cecilia crack a smile at the interplay, relaxing a bit and becoming comfortable.
"So, you seem pretty broody... Care to talk about what's on your mind?" Woods asked, his tone now serious. The change in the reporter's tone surprised Cecilia but she didn't mind much.
"When the event happened we waited, expecting the government or the military to show up but no one did. We tried radio, the internet, satcoms- none of it worked. At first we didn't mind so much since we had food and everything for a week or so but then we saw the tornados forming on the other side of the town. From there it was pretty obvious that we needed to get to the city and its bunkers and it seemed pretty simple. It was only half a mile away."
Cecilia paused for a moment, her voice wavering from the memories. "We wasn't the only ones on the highways, there were others. Once we entered the city boundaries we thought we were safe but we were wrong" Cecilia paused for a moment taking a slip of water in an attempt to calm her voice. "It started with the widows, I think it was hail, smashing against them. Then the windows broke and then the entire car just flipped over."
"It was painful" Cecilia sobbed, "the wind was so strong, it was sending spikes of that crystals through the car. I think Pa threw himself over us when that happened but then there was blood everywhere."
Woods reached over to awkwardly pet her shoulder as the girl sobbed into her palms.
"At least Eusebio is still alive" She continued sadly, reminded her of her brother, who was barely as lucky. The green crystal had mutilated her brother far worse than her. Where she "just" ended up with scars over parts of her face and skin, and a pair of heterochromatic eyes, he ended up with a deformed body. It was the reason why he wasn't here, Cecilia raged as she looked sideways to the rest of the room.
Assholes.
Cecilia was about to continue when they were interrupted by the form of her brother descending the stairs, she could tell by the sound his footstep; each sounding like a footfall of a giant, sending a booming echo through the metal structure of the lounge. The reaction was mixed; a few people moved out of the way to make space, some left the room in fear, while others other stayed put, paying it no mind. These who moved out of fear annoyed her, he was only human dammit.
Her brother had always been big. In the years before the event, he played Rugby, he wasn't major league material or a well-known player but he was earning money and saving it during the season while working and training on the off season. But now, whatever method GDI used to save his life cursed him with a hulking body with curved plates of that cursed crystal sticking out of his skin like some demented armor.
"Hey Cecilia" he said in his deep voice, giving Woods a nod, "We should leave. Now."
Even as he finished that sentence, a trio of trouble makers made their way down the stairs which he had just used.
"Shit" Cecilia whispered, "Blue cosmos wannabes. Assholes"
Woods saw the problem immediately and it didn't surprise him; the moment he'd recovered enough to stay awake, he'd asked for something to read to keep him busy, anything to keep his mind off the crash and GDI had provided in spades, up to and including bringing up that jarhead Bruce Lipton from the political department when he had visited Mobius station. Hence he got up and made to stand between the three and the Damiani siblings.
"Is there a problem?" Woods asked, stepping in front of Eusebio.
"Hiding behind the press?" the leader of the group sneered
"I would ask again since you appear to be deaf, is there a problem?" Woods repeated, his tone dead even.
"Why don't you get the fuck outta my way" the man said disgust manifest in his voice as he took a moment to study the patchwork like skin on Woods' face.
"Oh? It is a crime to be a survivor of a deadly accident now is it?" Woods mocked, "If so then perhaps you should start with you friend over there?"
The leader took a step into Woods' face, his eyes narrowing.
"Yeah, I see a problem," the man growled "you think you're tough, wiseass?"
"If you have a problem why don't you go stand outside without the power armors the UN gave everyone?" Woods asked the asshole and saw the man's eye quiver momentarily with fear at the mentioning of going outside without protection.
The man didn't have a chance to answer as GDI military police entered the lounge slipping through the crowd which had gathered around Woods and the Blue Cosmos sympathiser. While it didn't take long for them to spot the cause of the commotion, they didn't rush in directly since they too thought the problem was solved judging by the posture of the two group.
"Good, I think we've solved the problem here," Woods said turning around only to receive a punch to the head that almost sent him stumbling... Which his armor compensated for almost instantly.
"Sonofabitch!"
Acting on instincts from a self defence class long ago, Woods duck low and twisted, sending a roundhouse kick into the chest of his opponent. Unfortunately for his attacker, his armor boosted his strength and turned what would be a weak blow into a devastating kick which sent the attacker crashing backwards in pain into the arms of his unwary henchman. It was only then that the MPs jumped into action and rushed the scene.
While one of the MPs checked on Woods, the other rushed in and urgently pushed the two henchman aside to check on the wounded man. And the MP was right in doing so, the man's ribs was broken and he needed immediate medical attention.
"Get that Stretcher and help me move this dumb moron to the medical bay" the MP hissed to the man's two friends while spraying the man's chest with an pain "God dammit is he trying to earn a Darwin Award or something, punching a guy in power armor..."
The men shook themselves free of the sound of breaking bones and finally got to help, carrying the man carefully out of the room.
"Bloody dumb arsehole" the MP said who remained with Woods, "ya alrigh mate?"
"I'm fine" Woods said "the hit just surprised me that's all."
"You shouldn't be moving around, you really should be in bed" the MP said reading Woods' medical report from his EVA
"Right…" Woods answered sarcastically as he was helped to the nearest desk by the Damiani siblings. "And I guess your next line is 'you are lucky to be alive'?"
"You're lucky to be alive" the MP deadpanned as he backed off to check on the surrounding and the two civilians who were with the reporter, it was pretty obvious to the MP what the problem was. The MP sighed; another bloody mutant problem
"I'm assuming that those dumbarse blokes started it?" the MP said as he retracted his helmet, revealing an aged face with a pair of hard brown eyes slowly scanning the room. Finding most of the occupants slowly returning to their own business he snapped around, finding and noting a few stragglers who moved further away from them or left the room altogether.
"Yes" Woods answered for all three of them. "That sound right."
"Not surprising," the MP answered "bloody discriminatory buggers."
"You're from the Union?" Cecilia asked without thinking having finally recognized the accent. However she was confused when the MP just stared back at her equally confused.
"She means are you from Australia?" Woods said rewording the girl question.
"Huh? Yeah, I am, used to be based in Sydney with the military before I transferred to UPMP," the MP replied, "Right sorry, name's Ian," he continued holding his hand to Woods.
"I'm John Woods, this here is Cecilia Damiani and her brother."
"Good to meet you'll." Ian answered with a sardonic smile on his lips.
"Is this normal?" Cecelia whispered " I mean do most people hate...?"
"No but from what I heard of your world, I'm assuming that this is normal on your end with the coordinators and what-nots?"
"Yes" Cecilia whispered while her brother moved closer to her protectively.
Ian sighed before speaking "when you lived on a death world and through the six years of hell, mutants are a normal sight to see."
"Normal?" Woods asked.
The MP looked at the three people in front of him and sighed. "Yes, normal, though it's not much as a problem today what with the majority of the population in the solar system having some mutants somewhere in their family tree." Ian replied before correcting himself "I mean, back in our solar system. Reality. Whatever."
"Beside, while there are benefits to being a mutant, the availability of power armor kind of renders it pointless," he grunted as he continued to watch the room for any signs of trouble.
" . Ha." the brother repeated bitterly.
"Sorry, I didn't caught your name?" Ian asked
"Eusebio".
"Nice to meet you too kiddo. Look, you're never going to escape reality." Ian said drawing from experience, "Trusts me, it'll take awhile for everyone to get acclimated to the situation and even then there is always going to be these who dislike mutants." Ian said bluntly, "Besides if you've been with the military as long as I have, mutants are normal sight to see."
As everyone digest the statement in silence, man continued. "If you really want to avoid all this, signing up or moving may get you out of this" Ian said, waving his arms at the rest of the lounge.
"It sounds almost like mutants are welcome in the military" Woods asked seeing that he wasn't the only one engrossed in the MP's words.
"Ha, I was a Zone Trooper during the war, lost friends and comrades those F-turds Nod, the bloody Scrin when they showed up and to Tib when their armor was penetrated during combat. A lot of my buddies ended up as mutants, those who survived anyways," Ian said gloomily, reminiscing in the memories before continuing coldly "Look. listen to me, I've seen combat, don't sign up for the military. If you do you'll probably lose everything. It's only a matter of time before Nod starts another war."
"Nod?" Cecilia asked, recognizing the word from the news.
"Wherever Tiberium is those son of bitches are bound to be," Ian said his face twisted in anger, and without further explanation. It was clear enough that the MP didn't want to speak further on the subject.
"Thanks" Cecilia said to Woods as Ian took a moment to check with his partner via his suit's EVA unit.
Finishing Ian turned back towards the group, "Now, where are your parents... according to the files we have...ah…shit…sorry for your loss." Ian said biting his lips before continued, "Do you have any relatives?". A twin shaking of heads had him sigh in sympathy.
"Shit…well I'm with the 460th Military Police Division and I'll be here for the foreseeable future so if you two need anything just let me know. God know how I'd feel if I found my family dead back when Sydney got nuked. "
"Thank you," Cecilia said as Ian got ready to leave.
"It's my pleasure" Ian answered, however as he made to leave, Woods stopped him.
"Do you mind if I interview you for a possible story in the future?" Woods asked the man, having caught the offhand mention of Sydney being Nuked.
"Maybe" Ian grunted as he left the group, heading over to his partner in the medical bay of the module. Satisfied, Woods turned back to the siblings.
"Do you mind, if we continue elsewhere?" Cecilia asked.
"Not a problem," Woods answered as he followed the two out of the lounge and up the stairs to their room.
00
The CIO agent sat on a train making plans as it sped towards the next switchover before his destination. It was going to be tough acting against an unknown opponent, then again, the agent was almost certain that he wasn't the only spy heading towards southern Italy.
00
President Richard Monroe sat in his office with his inner cabinet, the ones whom he trusted to be free of excessive outside influence: his Secretary of State Kevin Rhudd, the Secretary of Defense Mark Hunam, and James T. Robinson, the representative to the Alliance Council. Those were the people he trusted the most but that trust was itself was but a lie for they were all politicians. Trust between them went only as far as one could throw the other. Still, they were united by the simple fact was that there was one single topic on the public's mind: the Economy.
And the cause of that problem? PLANT. They and the rest of the colonies were meant to be the link between the Earth and the rest of the solar system. It was meant to be humanity's next step to the stars, at least according to the old UN plans in the history books, but all that was long forgotten and rendered worthless by the simple existence of coordinators.
It was utter bullshit brought about by human stupidity.
Earth needed control of PLANT, mainly because that was where the majority of the infrastructure and investments for Earth's flourishing space economy was. Resources were already tight on Earth, the colonies under their control just wasn't enough to provide enough resource for the whole damn planet.
That was why he'd signed the treaty that created the Earth Alliance and declared war on the PLANTs after they cut all trade with Earth after the bombing on the Moon, to do anything else would almost certainly end in the Atlantic Federation being crippled by lack of resources. As it is, the early seizure of the Earth-Moon transit route and the remaining PLANTs under their control provided just enough resources for Earth industries to survive.
He should have never ran for president, Monroe decided. He'd entered the running driven by the desire to bring the Atlantic Federation back to its days of glory and to end the problems between normals and coordinators peacefully and all he had to show for it are years of frustration and deadlock.
"Mark?" Monroe looked at the man, waiting for him to share everything they had on this newest problem on the international stage. "Talk to me."
"We need GDI tech, especially their surface to space technology," Mark said stressed and tired from the day's work. "But there is a far more serious problem, I've had my people looking through GDI's historical records and it's not good. As far as Tiberium is concerned, it is as dangerous as our friends across the Atlantic and GDI says it is, the effects are too detailed for the records to be faked " Mark continued, skimming through the documents before him. "The bottom line is this; If the UN and the EF fails in containment then we are looking at a century max, maybe one or two decade more before Tiberium overrun the world. Granted, that estimate is based on the UN fighting Tiberium alone..."
Grim faces greeted that statement.
"Back to GDI, they are no longer under UN control. As of their 2040s, they effectively formed their own government built on the ideals and charter of the UN. I've looked through their version of the UN charters and while there are minor differences, for intents and purposes they're identical to our'. The charter GDI created in 2040 is pretty much the same document, modified with the inclusion of elements for a functional world government."
"So they are a military junta who took power in a Coup d'etat?" Kevin asked, his opinion about that titbit evident in his tone.
Mark paused, thinking, "Well I suppose if you put it that way... no, a Coup d'etat would imply there was resistance from the original government. They became the government after each member nation of the UN was reduced economically until they collapsed from the strain of maintaining their economy in the hostile conditions of their world. Also, after the period of transition, GDI then went out of their way to create a civilian administration which was why Supreme commander McNeil also called herself the 'acting director'. "
"But enough of that, we have a larger problem. I've had my people looking through the other parts of the historical records GDI provided and I don't like what I see." Mark sighed heavily "There are two related things we should really be worried about, the first is WMD and the second is GDI itself."
"Weapon of Mass Destruction?" Kevin repeated, his voice filled with dread.
"They don't seem to have any problems at all with using WMDs, the historical files refer to the Brotherhood of Nod using nuclear weapons and GDI using something called O.D.I.N in their wars. Both were used by Battalion level formations." Mark paused, seeing Kevin's enquiring look. "A battalion is about 300 to 1200 troops. We are assuming that was a legacy of their world war two, where WMDs were thrown around like candy."
"So don't piss them off," James stated, his tone low and controlled in contrast to his pale face.
"Yes, sir"
"That's complete and utter bullshit, no one…" Kevin began but was cut off.
"I would have thought that you would had read the damn files by now Kevin," Mark said annoyed, knowing full well that a copy had been delivered each individual in the meeting.
"Look- I just got back from Pretoria, you know full well what OMNI and the CIA think of our South African 'Allies'."
"Ah... I see. Anyway the second concern is the fact that GDI is in effect a planetary and arguably a solar system wide government, so they will be use to acting accordingly. They have already notified each of the governments which control a mass driver to coordinate all travel with them in order to prevent any accidents…"
Kevin's eyes narrowed, "Where the hell? Why is the UN ordering us around? Don't we already have an agency for that?"
"…and I've passed the information to OMNI in Alaska. I don't know what the other members of the Alliance are doing but my department feels that this is the right thing to be doing. We don't want any accidents to happen especially right now." Mark sighed, "And Kevin, our orbital space tracking facilities are already stretched to the limit trying to cover ZAFT movement, trying to add another bunch of Unknown is probably going to break the Net."
"Kevin does have a point, though" Monroe pointed out looking at his secretary of defense.
"Sadly GDI does have an advantage over us in that area; AI." Mark said.
"AI as in Artificial intelligence? The kind DSSD has been working on?" James asked, his eyes filled with fascination at this development.
"Yes, I just got word a day ago from contacts from across the Atlantic, it's in the report," Mark said waving the report. "Didn't any of you read it?"
The blank stares that he got was answer enough. Mark covered his face with his palms to sooth his growing headache.
"Ug... Why do I even bother to write those things..,"
"Sorry, we didn't have the time," Monroe apologised..
"Arg, Why do I even bother... Anyway, GDI's use of AI ensures that they can do a far better job of managing all space travel in and around the Earth then we can. In addition they had already announced their intentions of restarting their other space projects and that, Mr President, is an area that we effectively can't match at the moment," Mark explained.
Monroe silently dammed the stupidity of the past few decades before asking "What about tech?"
"We don't have any details beside what we've observed although there is a troubling development, our scientist wasn't sure what it is but we've been detected roughly 230 intermittent but very high output energy signatures in orbit .We still don't know what is causing them at the moment but we'll keep an eye on it. Its most likely some sort of GDI long range communication spillover given that they seems to originate from empty space within clusters of GDI satellites.
However there something else not covered in the report that really worries me."
"It's the weapons used in their world war two, they tried to scrub it from their historical records but... from what my department had pieced together, they were using strategic teleporters…" at that point Kevin almost coughed out his drink in shock and he wasn't the only one, the rest of the people in the room stared back in disbelief "…jammers, plasma weapons, advanced bio weapons, optical cloaking tech, GPS, ICBM class nuclear weapons, primitive cybernetics, some sort of anti-armor electric weapon and energy shields. In their 1950s"
Everyone was left speechless.
"What the hell happened?" Monroe said finally as everyone tried to find an explanation for that piece of insanity.
"We don't know" Mark said closing the files in front of him equally confused.
"Well. Crap. Do they still have any of that advanced technology?!" Kevin asked, morbidly curious.
"We don't know for certain, but we think they might still have the teleporters and are using it as a FTL drive given McNeil's comments about re-colonising the nearby systems." was Mark's answer.
"Well at least it proves we don't need the bloody coordinators to reach the stars and we can kill them all." Kevin murmured softly.
"We can't kill them all, Kevin," James said leaning forward in his chair "I know that you hate coordinators for killing your son and daughter in law at the bombing but it still doesn't change the facts, coordinators are simply stronger, faster, and smarter than we are. Besides that's genocide... If we try to kill them all, what there to stop them from killing us right back?"
The president's eyes narrowed as he looked at his Secretary of State with mixed feeling before shaking his head sadly.
"So in other words they had a head start on us, so it's a good idea to stay friendly with GDI since they have no problems with using military forces backed by WMDs to deal with threats to humanity or them and they have tech we need, correct?" Monroe asked his secretary of defense.
"Yes," Mark answered before pausing to take a breath and leaned back in his chair to relax, in doing releasing a deep and long breath of relief. Meanwhile each person within the room took the time to digest everything that had been said, trying to imagine what possible events could lead to a world war where technology that, by rights, belonged to a far more advanced world was being thrown around by each and every side. It was simply impossible to even imagine it had been possible at all and yet it all lead to the same question; Was it true or was it just a load of bullshit? From there everybody's minds took different paths but their thoughts was best expressed by Kevin.
"WTF is this...It's…insane," Kevin muttered in disbelief.
"Then we'll follow the EF's lead and play nice with the UN, we'll also send someone to the conference in the pacific in May, but what about this Tiberium? It's an energy source right…." The president began only to be cut off by James. "I would advise against it, Mr. President, remember from the historical files GDI released, it does have great potential but if we ever lose containment... it would be foolish to even try. It's best we don't touch it."
"Then what are we doing to do? We'll technologically screwed by PLANT and GDI, our only hope is the G-Project which is still in development," Monroe said, his eyebrows knitted together in thought.
"We need time, that's what we need, time. This war starting this soon just doesn't work to our advantage," Kelvin said thoughtfully. "We need the time to get our superior weapons online to crush the PLANTS."
"If playing nice with GDI will get us that time we need to complete the G-Project, that works for me. James, Mark, I want the project completed, tested and the technology deployed to the rest of our forces as soon as possible but don't cut too many corners. Still, remember we need it as soon as possible." the president ordered.
"Yes Mr. President" Mark answered with a nod, making notes on his notepad.
"Sir, do we still want to go ahead with the attack on South American?" Kevin asked
"No," was the answer, "we can't afford it with the upcoming conferences."
"Is there anything else?" no one said anything. "Good then, thank you for your time, and please have a good night," the president said with a tired smile as each member stood to leave.
00
Azrael, right now, was not a happy person. One could say he was the antithesis of happy at the moment. Nothing was going as planned, the planned attack on PLANT was effectively over, with the Eurasian Federation's decision to withdraw their forces from the Alliance and now, with the new announcement which could be seen on the TV screen in front of him...
"…only hours ago the Alliance Council announced that the Earth Forces will not be taking any hostile actions against PLANT for the foreseeable future…."
And then there were the other reasons for his anger; GDI and their attitude was wrong! Did they not understand? They were no different from the UN, they just didn't understand. Coordinators are an abomination to nature and they must be burnt from existence and swept into the bins of history.
Blue Cosmos will not fail their appointed task, Azreal raged, he must save mankind from the coordinator plague and he will not let the UN get in his way again. They will be crushed underneath the might of the naturals if they tried to stop him.
Azrael's eyes fell back on the TV screen for a moment, "….this move is surprising and certainly unexpected considering that the Moon bombing is still flesh in the public min…" the reporter on the screen droned on.
This changed nothing, already his plans were in motion and soon the pieces will be in place soon.
As for the mutants created by Tiberium that had been reported in Southern Italy, he'd already taken action and started Blue Cosmos' own research project into the alien crystal, now all they needed were samples which should be easy to get their hands on. Though it'll take a while, Azrael fumed, pacing around his office.
No one disobeys him, he will find out who was responsible for this and they will learn their lesson, Azrael though, a growing murderous smile appearing on his lips.
00
McNeil lay back in her seat in her office in orbit, utterly tied. She knew that she was pushing it, burning through GDI resources that were earmarked for use in case of war against the Scrin but it was worth it. Using those resource to aid the Federation was a gamble that she was willing to make for the safety of the planet not to mention the countless lives that GDI have saved in the past two weeks alone. It was as she told the press, this is the best chance GDI had to remove Tiberium completely from Earth and she was going to give it her best shot.
And like everything else in life, McNeil thought sadly, looking at the picture of her desk where a picture of her former unit, the the 44th Armored division, third Battalion, rested, this too has a price.
GDI paid that price with blood whenever it was necessary to safeguard humanity and she too paid the price. This act of god was no different, leaving them in a reality where humanity was divided and on the edge of war, with the bloody tower right in the middle of the red zone.
McNeil tensed for a moment but it was enough to crush the pen with her grip. At least their Earth was safe now, with the only danger being an attack from an extrasolar source and it was going to take the Scrin millennia to get to Earth in Sublight.
If that was the price for her humanity to be safe, McNeil thought, leaving them in a reality where humanity was divided and looking for ways to genocide each other, then she and the rest of the GDI was willing to pay a thousand times over.
However such thoughts paled in comparison to the fear, the -unknown-, she felt growing within her, the simple knowledge that humanity existed in this reality and all that it implies.
Thankfully, the various GDI War Plans were still largely practical due to the sheer amount of assets that come through with them and that she was thankful for.
However with the situation on this Earth added more complications to the War Plans, forcing them to adapt to these new factors or die. Never before had she been so thankful for the speed and efficiency of EVA.
McNeil breathed deeply, thinking of that particular hidden secret from the public. The secret in question was a single transmission recovered by a Inops spy within Nod, and it was the reason for Project Endurance, the establishment of the GDIN(S) and the slow buildup of the rest of the military ever since.
She took a deep breath, her eyes returned to the picture of the and she slowly raised her hands until they were within her sight. There she could see the unnatural smoothness of her skin covering her artificial carbon nanotube muscle and synthetic phased Cobalt alloy bones: a memento of an encounter with a buzzer swarm, a legacy of the Third Tiberium War.
"EVA statu-"
"Affirmative, Supreme Commander McNeil. Priority transmissions from Mobius Station indicates that the Tower had been emitting tremors on an irregular interval for the last two days. Mobius isn't sure of the cause but…"
"EVA, alert the fleet and RAID. I want RAID to find the cause, hold the Seventh flotilla in reserve and put the Orbital network into standby mode," McNeil ordered.
"Affirmative"
"Thank you, EVA, What would I do without you." McNeil replied ,thanking the AI who didn't answer back. It was another benefit to GDI increasingly heavy use of AI, it allowed them to simplify the chain of command. Though with the fear of history repeating itself, precautions and contingencies had been taken to ensure EVA is completely loyal and safe.
Focusing her mind for a moment, she moved on to the next problem; GDI has its own problems such as the issue of the economy, which should be solved with the restarting of GDI space industry. However with the very real possibility of the removal of Tiberium from Earth, it meant a possibility of a change in the economy model to something they have only historic records to rely on, the last of the conventional economies collapsed in the 40s with the rest of the nation states. To her, it highlighted one of the things she feared, and yet, envied most; a world without Tiberium, a world she didn't know anything about, a world she'd only read about.
McNeil shook her head; there was no point worrying about a future she can't control.
Sighing, she stood up and turned towards the cabinet where she kept her pricey self-made potato derived alcohol which she liked to claim was vodka, not exactly the best shit to be drinking but alcohol was alcohol. Despite all the energy and material goods that can be obtained from Tiberium, the fact of the matter was they still had to eat. Food was the one thing they still had to grow, and it was the reason why the UN credit was implemented by the Board of Directors all those years ago.
Food was one of the few items that were still a scarcity in the post-Tiberium war period, although with the reclamation of Yellow Zones in Australia and North America it wasn't that much of an issue. However with the event that displaced them in this reality that was soon going to become a problem. While the orbiting Agriculture Stations and the secret farms within the depth of the city-fortresses was designed to grow enough food to feed the remaining world population, it wasn't enough to feed GDI's current population, especially with the amount of aid being provided to Italy.
McNeil poured herself a drink and slumped back onto her chair. GDI needed its space programs up and running as soon as possible so that they can get humanity out of the solar system. It was a gut feeling, something big was about to happen and it was her job to ensure the survival of GDI and Humanity.
GDI's current War Plans was something High Command and former Supreme Commander Granger developed before he retired and they were still in use today. Although Nod was the wild card considering how they oscillated between an organized movement to scattered fragments between each Tiberium war.
Hell, there was no way that GDI could have foreseen Kane's return in the second and third Tiberium wars so it made sense to prepare, even if she, personally, was pretty sure that Kane was dead. Nothing could have survived the detonation of the Liquid Tiberium under Temple Prime after all.
The Scrin were more a predictable foe so planning for them was easier. They were the reason why GDI had three primary War Plans; plan Red, plan Blue, and plan Purple. Red assumed an extrasolar invasion but since the Scrin forces didn't display use of FTL drives and with STL only a Scrin invasion wasn't considered likely for the foreseeable future. Purple was the unlikely situation of a combined extrasolar and threshold tower invasion. Blue however was the one considered by her and the rest of High Command the most likely and the one they feared most: A full scale invasion through the tower which they now knew was a wrap gate.
It was the reason why G-Lab, Futuretech, Steel Talon, and every organization that developed weapons for GDI military-industrial complex were kicking their gears into overdrive ever since project Endurance started.
She was thankful for a small mercy at least; the majority of the civilian population of Earth had been moved onto the orbital habitats or the colonies on the Moon and the wider solar system or had left on one of the colony fleets. That means that the forces that come through with her wasn't needed much in her home realty.
And besides, Earth still had the Third, Fifth, Eighth and Tenth fleets to call upon, more if they decided to recall the colonization fleets although that action itself was going to take a few years with sublight drives. .
They were safe there but this reality was a different story, McNeil thought as the sense of doom returned. She only hoped that they aren't going to need to use any of GDI's military might but with the sense of foreboding she was feeling, she had a feeling that she was likely to be forced to do so in the future.
Trade with the other nations here will do good for moral and lessen tensions, McNeil decided, drowning her drink and forcing her mind to think about something else. She then turned to leave for her next meeting when she stopped.
"EVA, has Operation Overwatch began?" McNeil asked, shrugging on her dress jacket.
"Inops agents have entered the SJZ and have began monitoring all communications originating from within," EVA answered, "In addition constellation 3 have been retasked to cover the Italian theater of operations."
"Thank you, EVA" McNeil said, locking down her computer, She had to admit, this reality was certainly capable, case in point being the colonies in the Lagrangian five, every single one of which was 30 km long. Certainly an achievement to be proud of, McNeil thought, leaving the room.
She sorely hoped that she wouldn't be required to smash them with the hammer of GDI's military.
00
Date: AD 2070/CE 70 February 18th, 1:00 AM.
Special Joint Zone, main highway A3 towards Cosenza City, GDI-EDF military convey.
The OMNI agent watched as the vehicle transporting her and the rest of the 111th and 124th Guard Divisions drove towards the fort where they will be stationed alongside GDI forces in the Special Joint Zone. Of course, it wasn't just the military who were coming along, the government was also sending in scientists and researchers, though the rumors going around camp says that most of the scientific expeditions were halted after some scientist got himself killed. Right now the military's job was to get in there and put on a friendly face to the public and the media, who no doubt were already there or not far behind.
The two divisions should have rolled into the SJZ the moment they arrived in the morning from France but orders were orders. They were to meet up with GDI 11th Motor Rifle Division at a place called Sala Consiline to be refitted with new equipment. And that she was thankful for, because the agent had (unlike some) read the briefing material provided and by god it put the fear of god into her. A alien crystal killing people in 60 seconds? Mutating the survivors? Tiberium Suppressors? What was this shit?!
She didn't have to look any further than outside the window of the APC to see the overcast, purple sky and the glowing green crystals that she was seeing here and there. It was insane and it felt like she was on another planet and with the powered armor, the UN from another reality, and the APC she and the rest of the 111th and 124th Guard Division was been transported in...Unreal, the agent finished, falling silent in the face of the magnificent yet desolate landscape.
She had understood the troopers' concern but the simple truth was that this was the home field of the UN, not theirs, they should be the ones listening to the GDI forces. She didn't have a good feeling about this, she thought, returning to the document provided by the UN. She couldn't believe half the medical details she was reading about in the document, it was insane and yet it is all completely feasible, the details of each knock on effect were accurate to the best of her knowledge.
She didn't know whether to be amazed or frightened at the implications. She had graduated from medical school and while the effects listed before her was unlike anything she'd ever seen or heard of before, the possibilities are... overwhelming. Though to be fair, it had been years since she'd picked up anything resembling a medical textbook.
She was attached to the 111th as a medic for her platoon; her job was to take care of the men and prevent them from coming to harm and here she was, plotting against her better judgement to smuggle a sample of that deadly green crap back home for study. That may take awhile to plan out because after passing through everything, like the massive wall GDI was building and all the military hardware she'd seen thus far, she didn't like her chances of success. At all. But orders were orders and her loyalty was to her country first and herself second.
She had a job to do.
00
Hub 8923, Cycle 474,342.
Sector 1123A, System 212KS-H
'UNKNOWN WARP GATE STATUS ACTIVE'
'COMMENCE PHASE 1'
'RECONNAISSANCE'
TRANSFER COMPLETED…hub 8923 transferred under Traveler - 59 authority as per Overlord command…
…new directive received…
…threshold unlocked and charging…47%
WARNING…Unknown AI detected… AI hostile…
…enacting countermeasures… Probability of mission completion 98%
…countermeasures fail…threshold charge... 72%
…initiating new countermeasures….
…new countermeasures fail… Probability of mission completion 12%
...ABORT SIGNAL SENT...
ALERT!…wrap gate locked…
…hostile AI responsible...
...scanning AI... querying Database...
...abnormal readings detected from AI...
…re-engaging hostile...
00
Newpedia: United Nations Space Colonization Program
The United Nations Space Colonization (UNSC) Program was launched on CE 9 (2009 AD) only five months after the end of the Reconstruction Wars. The program was supported by the newly established superpowers as each of the new nation saw the advantage of the development of space and the possible riches awaiting exploitation, especially since the cornerstones of the old economy were no more.
The UNSC Program began with the accelerated construction of the new international space station (ISS) Yggdrasil at the Earth–Moon Lagrange 1 (L1 ) point. The location was chosen due to it ideal location between the Moon and Earth, allowing it to monitor and coordinate communications among various missions on the nearside of the Moon .
The new international space station was also located in an ideal location for observations and close study of the Sun. The UNSC Program also designed the station to be not only a research and communication station but also an stopover point for all movement between Earth and the Moon. As such it played an important role in the development and construction of Copernicus City and eventually the Production Location Ally on Nexus Technology or PLANT. These massive 30 km hourglass shaped habitats were designed by George Glen and were meant to be the centerpiece of the new space economy, with the ISS acting as the center-point between the colonies and Earth.
The new PLANT's were built at Lagrange five due…
Inops archive-
EVA online. Welcome back commander
Search: Project Endurance
Classification level: Black... Please enter password
*******
Password accepted.
Beginning playback.
Commander... Or should I call you general now? Good to see you anyway.
Now I am sure you are wondering why you are here or about the new buildup of millitary forces...
*Sigh*
Commander, What I am abou to tell you is... highly classified information.
In 2047, just hours before you won your victory at ground zero, a Scrin Mothership class vessel evacuated Earth through threshold 19. As it did so Inops intercepted an alien transmission from the tower.
Two week ago, with the aid of some intel from an agent in Nod, we've successfully decripted the message.
I am not going to mince words commander, the message is basically the head honcho of the Scrin ordering a full scale invasion against Earth and you know as well as i do that we almost got our ass handed to us by a mining security team.
Data from Nod suggests that they had already tried to access the Tower and got blocked by Kane's pet AI but we don't know how long that would last.
In responce to this threat, the Board of Directors have chosen to activate Project Endurance; the plan for the ultimate survival of the human race.
And this is where you come in commander, I want you to lead this project. I want you to put together a team of the best and brightest, to learn more about our enemy, to expend our capibilities. I want you to reforge GDI into a shield capible of withstending the Scrin onslaught.
Now I know this is a lot to ask of you and our chances of pulling this off is low but...
You're the best we got Commander.
Do your best commander. That's all I can ask.
For the sake of our childrens and for the sake of this Blue and beatiful world.
Granger out.
Playback ended
Files updates received:
Decoded Alien Transmission [Classified: SIREN CALL]
Nod Intellignece file #2210A [Classified: HARBINGER]
Analysis of Alien Tower [Classified: STAR GATE]
Project CASTLE [Classification level: Black]
Project ARK [Classification level: Black]
Operation Plan Akula [Classified: RED OCTOBER]
Project Missouri [Classified: The Big Red One]
Project Yamato [Classified: ADMIRALTY CODE]
Lightweight Civilian/Combat Suit (LCS) - 10/12
GDI Engineer Combat Primer 2064 Edition– Standard Civilian Protection
In using the LCS there are few cardinal rules should be kept in mind at all times
1) These suits are not GDI Standard Infantry Integrated Combat Suit.
These LCSs are weaker, slower and less armored with a strength enhancement factor of only 20 kg above the total weight of the armor. So no, you are not a near invincible Juggernaut like the Zone Troopers.
2) Check the model you are wearing!
Though superficially similar, LCS 10 is the military version with a HUD with Night, Thermal and Starlight vision, NBCT protection, automatic medical system and a hard point system in addition the rebreather system and EVA unit. All the civilian LCS 12 have is Tiberium protection, the rebreather and a Class -0 EVA.
3) In case of emergency, check the shelters.
Ever since UN directive 4932 was issued by Director James Hawk in 2056, all civilian shelters and public installations is required by law to have multiple sets of LCS 12s with spare parts available at all times.
As the LCS 12 features 90% parts commonality with your LCS 10, you may appropriate those spares for field repairs in the event that your LCS gets damaged.
InOps archive: Medical: Tiberium Suppressors
Tiberium Suppressors (Also known as Tib-S or Anti-Tiberium medication) is the collective name given to a class of Drugs designed to delay, halt or reverse the effects of Tiberium infection. Due to the evolution of Tiberium, only third generation and some second generation Tiberium Suppressors remains effective.
The first generation of Tiberium Suppressors, known as conventional Suppressors, was developed in the early 2000s. They function in much the same way as conventional radiation sickness treatment, by binding to Tiberium particle in the human body and removing them from the body in urine or in faeces. However this type of medication is rendered obsolete in the 2030s with the evolution of Tiberium to stage 3 as defined by the Mobius Theory. They had since been superseded by second generation Tiberium Suppressors
Second Generation Tiberium Suppressors, also known as Sonic suppressors was developed independently by both GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod in the late 2030s. Marking a radical departure from conventional medication, second Generation Tiberium Suppressors instead function as a engineered molecular explosive designed to be absorbed only in very small doses by individual cells. As the cell attempts to metabolize the compound, the compound detonate, producing a sonic shockwave in the resonance frequency of Tiberium crystals. This shatters Tiberium Crystals into small pieces, often below its critical mass. (Stage 3 Tiberium have a critical mass of 117.72 femtogram. Below this threshold, the concentration of exotic particles is too low to stabilize Tiberium, leading to the transmutation of Tiberium to more conventional elements by Beta decay or neutron capture.)
Unfortunately such drugs are rendered useless as a front line treatment by the evolution of Tiberium in the aftermath of the Third Tiberium war. However they do remain useful as they retard the formation of large crystals, increasing the effectiveness of Third generation Tiberium Suppressors.
Third Generation Tiberium Suppressors, also known as Field suppressors, was developed from the containment technology discovered within the Taticus near the end of 2055. At its base, this type of drug consist of a nano-scale particle with small amount of nuclear Isomer (Usually Hafnium 178m2, Zinc 66m or Platinum 186m) contained within a specially designed metallic-ceramic-silicate "shell". Once injected into the body, the Isomer is induced to release its energy which is then converted by the "shell" via an unknown method into a small, short-lived, burst of asymptotically free quarks and gluons. The Quark–gluon plasma, retards nuclear fission and destabilize Stage 4 Tiberium's metastable structure, destroying a large percentage of Tiberium exposed to the Quark–gluon plasma while converting rest back to stage 3 Tiberium, allowing it to be destroyed by Second generation suppressors.
The development of the Mobius-Chen Fusor and the Harthford process (which allows the easy small scale production of Nuclear Isomers and the metallic-ceramic-silicate "shell" respectively) in 2056 and the subsequent dissemination of these technologies to all settlements, regardless of affiliation by GDI is widely regarded as a major reason for the peace of the last decade.