Sorry for the wait, buut here is the next chapter and as always feedback is welcome! Also I don't own anything, everything belongs to the original copyright holders.
Tiberium: the fires of Terra chapter 7
February 28th, 9:43 am 2070/CE 70
African Community, Cairo, King Tut hotel
"... Preliminary results from the first day of talks have set the grounds for future relations between the Global Defense Initiative and the African Community. Representatives of both governments have agreed to the establishment of a chain of bases along the Northern African coast housing a subdivision of the Global Defense Initiative military known as the Zone Operations Command; a unit which specialises in containment of the alien crystal Tiberium."
"Further commentaries from officials of both nations indicate that the basing agreement is a part of a wider framework of military, ecological and economical treaties structured similarly to the recent Isola di Capo Rizzuto treaty. Referred to as the Cairo treaty, the preliminary agreement allows GDI to remove any Tiberium which may spread into the African Community, as well as the possibility of economical investment, joint counter-terrorist operations and other cooperative agreements to be finalised by the end of the conference."
"In addition, in a joint statement made by acting Director McNeil and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gyasi Mukantagara this morning, both governments have acknowledged the threat of Tiberium to the region but have assured that its impact on the African Community will be kept to a minimum as humanly possible."
"However the agreement have drawn sharp criticism from the Atlantic Federation's representative Adam Vermilyea."
The news anchor paused momentarily as the representative from the Atlantic Federation filled the screen.
"...from the files the Global Defense Initiative released on Tiberium and our own research, the alien crystal is clearly a threat that should be dealt with. However with the current tensions between the PLANTs and the Earth Alliance, I have to question the wisdom of GDI establishing relations with both the Eurasian Federation, a key ally and our enemies the African Community and what impact it will have on our future relations..."
The video cut back to the anchor, "Moving on, investigation into yesterday's attack on the Governor's residence and the wider Cairo region have yet to determine the parties responsible for the attack despite…."
Sam Willingly shook his head and looked away from the screen. Not that he was heartless about the suffering inflicted by the terrorist attack but after ten long years of travelling the world and meeting people as part of his job for the Deep Space Survey and Development (DSSD), the so called "Battle of New Cairo" is just the latest in a long list of conflicts between different people and cultures and there wasn't much he could do about it.
He sighed; still, as much as he had resigned himself to the conflict in the world…he hated it.
Taking a calming deep breath, Sam's mind continued to move. If there was one thing that could be said, it was the current state of affairs had made it almost impossible for DSSD to get anything done.
Funding had become somewhat of a problem considering that their budget was designed with the idea of them having easy access to the Mass Drivers. No mean feat during the last two months, considering they've resorted to launching some packages into space using good old fashioned heavy lift rockets.
Still, it felt odd to be standing outside the temporary office of the head of government of a state totally removed from the past 170 odd years of history; of a polity which had taken a totally different path from the reality he called home.
He was no historian but while the old adage about history repeating itself did hold true, he doubt the sequence of events which transformed the UN into the hyperpower known as GDI could happen here at any point in their history considering the historical differences. Though, he snickered now that he thought about it, it seems that GDI had somehow inherited his universe UN's rather ambitious goals, both in the arena of politics and space exploration.
Which was ultimately why he was waiting here in the lobby of the (temporary) office of the Supreme Commander, a pretentious title if he had ever heard one. Still she also held the title of acting director, which also sounded odd to him. Though now that he considered it, it was probably no boast but a simple statement of fact back in the home universe of GDI.
Well he noted, noticing a rather angry looking businessman being escorted out of the office in front of him, it was time for him to get to work. He hated doing this shit, but considering their meeting yesterday was interrupted by the attack as security protocol were enacted, it fell on today to try and secure DSSD's future in space. After all, their mission was to advance and explore the frontier to expand humanities' knowledge of space and they weren't going to give up because of war.
Walking up to the receptionist; a rather pretty lady dress in a conservative business cut, although a telltale bulge beneath the arms gave away the location of a sidearm to his experienced eye, and probably a large one at that his mind added.. Keeping that in mind, he approached the makeshift counter slowly, taking care as not to appear as a threat as the receptionist smiled politely at him.
"Hello, my name is Sam Willingly with the Deep Space Survey and Development organization, ma'am," Sam said, bowing slightly, "I was meant to meet with acting director McNeil yesterday but we didn't due to the...attack."
"Administrator Willingly?" The receptionist asked, giving him a brief once over. Unknown to Sam, she was not alone as an array of hidden sensors accompanied her on her scan, inspecting his vital rates and searching for any traces of weapons and/or explosives while another array of hidden lasers and microwave emitters stood ready to neutralise him on any wrong move on his part. GDI wasn't taking any more chances after the events of yesterday.
"You do have an appointment with the director now. She would have rescheduled to meet you sooner but...", The receptionist gave a helpless shrug. "Please continue on."
"I understand. Thank you." Sam nodded as he walked into the rather lavishly decorated office to find the Supreme Commander behind a desk waiting for him.
"Administrator Willingly? Please take a seat." McNeil nodded towards a chair across her desk with a practiced smile. "I'm sorry that we couldn't have the meeting yesterday but nonetheless I'm more than willing to talk right now. Besides I've been looking forward to meeting with a representative from your organization for quite a while now."
Willingly returned the smile, "My thanks director McNeil, the DSSD have also been looking forward to this meeting…but I can definitely say that we're interested in learning more about your government's space programs - particularly the possibility of using your facilities to move our cargo into space."
"I understand, it must be hard to explore the solar system with the political tensions." McNeil said, nodding sympathetically.
"It is," Willingly winced, "Our organization was founded by the International community and is tasked with exploring space beyond the frontier... which at the moment is practically defined as anything beyond Mars. But with the war looming over everybody's head, the nations supporting us have cut funding, not to mention joint operations with just about anybody is just about impossible in this hostile political climate."
Pausing to take a breath, he continued."As a result we don't have easy access to space anymore. Fixing that is our number one concern at the moment." he admitted.
"You believe that is a problem which we can help with?" McNeil said in amusement.
"Indeed any help you can provide would be greatly helpful for our current effort. To finally be able to explore the solar system again," Sam said wistfully, "I understand your government was able to survey and settle your own solar system and it is my hope that we can share our expertise and effort for this reality's humanity despite our own mistakes. However as things are..."
He trailed off shaking his head.
"Of course, we're still able to get some limited cargo into space but this war has effectively made it impossible to launch large payloads…"
"Don't be worried, we ourselves make mistakes in the past and so I can understand your organization desire to alter the situation," McNeil said, she was aware of the tremendous amount of good in the right hands cheap spacelift could do but in the wrong hands...after all, there was a reason the brick which would eventually become Space Command started as an extension of the Global Orbital Defense Grid.
"Yes, and to be honest while we would welcome your power generation technology and the chance to take a close look at it, we don't really need it. What we really would like in the long term, especially if the current political situations continues, is to secure an agreement on chartering a few of your ships for orbital delivery."
"We can reach an agreement on that point in the future, I don't have a problem with it and it would be good for business" McNeil said with an approving nod,
"Thank you, acting director, I'll pass the word on to my boss" Willingly said, with relief in his voice, "We've been getting around the issue by using chemical rockets launched from our Fortaleza facility in South America. Petroleum may have run out 70 odd years ago but we still have alternatives available" Sam said, earning a thoughtful nod from McNeil.
"I'm amazed that you're still using them," McNeil said, "thoug…"
"They are proven systems and while we still theoretically have access to Mass Drivers…we would be lucky if we're able to use them once out of every hundred launches after cutting through the red tape and the paperwork," Sam said slightly annoyed, remembering one such example. "So even having access to your spaceports or any company on your side willing to ferry our cargo would be of significant help to us."
"That should be easy to arrange... well relatively so" McNeil acknowledged.
"Thank you," Willingly said, taking a large file out of his briefcase."here is all the relevant contact information." Sam handed the files over to the director, frowning slightly at her unnaturally smooth movement. "Thank you."
"No, It is my pleasure," McNeil smiled, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. "On that note though, G-Lab has been rather interested in some of the technology that your organization has developed."
"In that case... we do currently have a number of projects that we would love to get your your scientists at G-Lab to collaborate with us on. Well that and to lessen our funding problems." Sam nodded thoughtfully.
.
"Very interesting, I'm sure, we'll be able to provide some funding to for your organization in the near future" McNeil replied with a smile. "I do believe that should conclude the agenda for today. Unless you have something else to add?"
Sam hesitated.
"No, that is all, thank you for your time, Supreme Commander...though you might want to be wary of the Atlantic Federation.." With that, Sam exited the room, leaving McNeil and her bodyguards with their thoughts.
"Well, that went well. Thoughts?" McNeil asked.
"That was nice... But he might be on to something about the Atlantic Federation, they did jump the gun to create the Alliance, didn't they?" Smith said, looking at his boss. "Besides that, his body language is that of a relatively honest guy. Anyway we're running late. The PLANTs representative is just outside."
"Let's get rolling then," McNeil ordered, lightly tapping the computer interface before her. Shortly afterwards Lia Rozika and her lone bodyguard stepped in. Nominally PLANT's Chief ambassador to the Oceanic Union, for the duration of the conference she was acting as the representative for her nation since the Earth Alliance had cut off all space travel between PLANT and their allies on Earth.
"Good afternoon, Supreme Commander McNeil. Lia Rozika, PLANT's Representative to this conference.," Lia said, striding up to shake McNeil's hand firmly. "It is a pleasure to meet you today after yesterday's... unpleasantries.
"Thank you, representative Lia," McNeil replied, while her guards stared emotionlessly at their counterpart. "Please take a seat and help yourself to the refreshment."
"I'd say I'm rather happy to finally be able to meet with you and that my government looks forward to establishing peaceful relations with yours as soon as possible," Lia said carefully while sliding into the seat before her.
"Agreed, though I'm assuming that the topics of discussion are still the same and nothing has changed?" McNeil asked.
"Yes," Lia answered with a nod.
"Good, then I would like to make my government's position very clear again," McNeil saw the look of concern that her opposite number give her, though she didn't let it concern her as a icy smile crossed her lips. "We're fully aware of the economical and social impact Tiberium will have, in particular to the Mediterranean region. As you are aware we had dealt with this problem before and it is not an easy one to manage. Hence, our intention is to deal with it first and not be distracted by other issues."
"Then to put your government at ease again, we have no interests in interrupting containment operations on Earth. While Tiberium it isn't a threat to us for now, it is a clear and present threat to our allies the African Community and we too desire to aid them, should they be threaten by it in the future," Lia said, looking at the acting director calmly "However we can't do that without any sort of information and technologies designed to halt the crystal, technology which I would remind you, your government declined to share" the ambassador finished, slightly frowning.
"No. While I applaud your willingness to aid the African Community in dealing with future Tiberium infection" McNeil answered, "you should be aware of the reason my government do not wish to transfer that technology at this time. Especially with the current political climate."
"I'm aware," Lia replied, cutting her off with a shake of her head "nonetheless as I said before we wish to gain access to the right to clean up Tiberium on our own if anyone tries to use it against us."
"And the answer is still no, for the the same reason we refused the Eurasian Federation's request even if their need for it is more dire. We have concerns of the technology being weaponized and that still remain our primary concern in that regard," McNeil said casually though a slight wince told a different story. She paused, letting the statement sink in before continuing "Moving on to a related topic, the current state of aggression between your government and the Earth Alliances is not in our interest, nor as I am sure is it in yours. I would wish to reiterate our offer to act as a mediator should you request it."
"I understand, director, but we're not responsible for the situation getting out of hand," Lia said defensively, "it was the nations on Earth, led by the Atlantic Federation that overacted to the Copernicus City bombing by blaming it on us without any hard evidence."
"I see, still one cannot blame them considering that the only survivor was the current leader of your government," McNeil said pausing for a moment, "I do agree though, that the Atlantic Federation did overreact to the bombing which is why I will be bringing up the topic in my next meeting with their representative."
Lia was not surprised by this development, she expected it to be brought up eventually but she didn't let it show on her face as she nodded, "Thank you, Director, as far as my government is concerned we will only act in self defense."
"Good," McNeil sighed, "Tiberium requires full commitment of resources and manpower," She continued, stressing the point, "any distraction threatens the effectiveness of containment operations."
"Agreed…" Lia nodded, she could see why fighting a war while trying to contain an alien substance like Tiberium wasn't a good idea. After a quick internal debate, she decided not to push further on the subject.
"If you don't mind me changing topic, my government is very much interested in your deep space programs. We're hoping to learn more about your plans and use it as a starting point towards establishing long term peaceful relations."
"I see," McNeil said evenly, "If you don't mind me asking..."
Lia smiled, pleasantly surprised, "we currently don't have any immediate plans for colonization beyond the Earth Sphere but such a project is being considered as a future possibility. As for current deep space capabilities we have a small fleet of 18 deep space tugs designed for moving rocks from the asteroid belt to the L5 point for extraction and refinement."
"I'm very impressed," McNeil said a serene nod of her head, "especially considering the size of these colonies and the sheer numbers of which you have constructed since the initial colonies. As for our own programs we have two goals in mind, settlement and economic development."
Seeing the questioning look on the Ambassador's face, McNeil decided to elaborate. "Since our encounter with the Scrin and Tiberium, it has become very clear to us that limiting ourselves to one planet is not healthy for humanity's continued existence."
"Huh, I can understand that mind set," Lia answered slowly in agreement, "after all, I've read your history and I have to say that I'm equally impressed with what your own government has achieved, though I'm even more surprised at the foresight that your military leaders had in creating a civilian leadership for your organisation after the United Nations Security Council officially handed over administrative control."
"Thank you," McNeil smiled wistfully, "it was General James Solomon's idea. He was the force behind the movement to form a civilian government. Sadly, he passed away in 2045, though he lived long enough to see the fruits of his labour."
"He was right to do so," Lia said, agreeing fully. She had read in detail the history files that GDI had released, especially the part about the environmental effects of Tiberium and ultimately what it lead to; a world covered in an alien crystal, a massive drop in the world population and three world wars, all resulting in billions dead. In the privacy of her mind, she decided that there was only one word to describe the hellish deathworld GDI's Earth presented: hopeless.
And it didn't set well with her, at all. Not with the situation that she was imagining, If Tiberium breaks loose and the planet goes to hell, people are going to want to get off Earth...and in the chaos that follows Tiberium will probably follow them. She really didn't want that to happen.
"Getting back on point, we plan to begin with reaching out to Mars and establishing a few colonies and outpost stations there before we restart our extra solar colonization efforts. This will likely take a year or two, in the meantime though, we plan to begin mining operations of Near Earth Objects and in the Belt as soon as possible, in order to keep the flow of resources moving."
"That is good news, as I said before we ourselves have very little interest on Earth, our main concern is the continual exploration of the solar system, colonization, and economic development but with the past and current aggressive stance by Earth," Lia said evenly, "we have been increasingly forced to shift more and more of our resources to defence in order to make up for the difference in military power since our nation was founded."
"Mmm…" McNeil murmured in agreement, "I can understand the pressure that would cause to your government, especially since your nation is relatively new."
"We've been forced to slowly build up our military strength since the 50s to protect ourselves, leading to an arms race by the nations of Earth in an attempt to catch up but as I said before, we have no interest in war, our military is for our defense and we will not attack them or anyone else unless we ourselves have been attacked first."
McNeil nodded as she thought about this, after a few moments she said "maybe we can consider the issue of trade between our two nations in the future and work out a deal in regards to a joint mining or exploration mission to the outer solar system or to Mars."
Lia watched and waited for a moment, as it was clear to her that the acting director was thinking, "In my most recent meeting with the Eurasian president, I informed her of the impact Tiberium will have on her nation and the disruption it can cause. We both agreed that space exploration and development would be a way of countering the economical effects of Tiberium on the Eurasian Federation and the world economy."
Lia was surprised by what the director was implying with that piece of information, when the PLANT colonies gained independence, it had been the Eurasian Federation which had suffered the most but she have to admit that much of the bad blood between them had disappeared in the last 20 years.
"In that case, would your government be interested in an non-aggression treaty and a possible trade treaty in the future?" Lia asked hopefully.
"It would be in GDI's interest to have such an agreement with your government," McNeil said, somewhat relieved. "Especially since we have a number of different technologies that I'm sure will be of interest to your government. Of course, we'll be making this offer to any government who will be interested in taking up our offer too in the interests of peace."
"That is good news to hear," Lia answered stolicily even as she gave herself a self congratulatory pat on the back mentally, "the Supreme Council will very happy to hear of this."
McNeil simply smiled silently with approval. Still she wondered about who was responsible for the moon bombing? She thought before dismissing the thought out of her mind, now wasn't the time.
"Oh where are my manners," Lia said, straightening in her seat as she remembered something that she could possible use, maybe it'll work. If not, well she tried "I'm sorry but I just remembered something."
McNeil tilt her head in surprise, wondering what it could be.
"My government would like to apologise for Spokesman Kigglegr's words yesterday when he announced our intention to send the exploration fleet to study the Tower" Lia said with as much sincerity she can cram into her voice as she could muster.
"Ah," McNeil said, remembering the amusement it had caused when the announcement had been replayed on their side of the news. "That. There is no need to apologise for his action, nevertheless it did cause me to wonder what exactly your government anticipates to learn from the experience that we haven't?"
"Our technological level is higher than Earth's, so our hope is that we at least may be of help in determining the nature of the technology behind the Tower," Lia said firmly, though McNeil suspected the other unsaid reason, military; it had been a first for ZAFT to position a fleet that close to Earth, a smart move in the light of the Earth nation's fleet movement and would make both side think things over carefully before trying anything.
Though in the privacy of her mind, she'd like to ask the woman before her why they'd even 'd read all the reports from Mobius station, even the most recent ones concerning their attempt to determine why the Tower was suddenly active all of a sudden. Still, as far as anyone is concerned, nothing could harm it, nor could they actually learn anything from it without the underlying knowledge gleaned from Scrin-tech. Then there was the possibility of a case BLUE which gave everyone involved nightmares. She pushed the thought out of her mind, she had a meeting next week with everyone which covered the topic. Remember she told herself, one problem at a time, one problem at a time.
Still what were they expecting to achieve?
A few moment later, she refocused on the matter Ahead of her again as a predatory half smile emerged on her lips, "Still, please do pass this warning along to your government, we will be keeping a very close eye on your fleets and that of the Earth Alliance. Like I said previously a war is not in our interest."
"I'll make sure to pass along the warning," Lia said with hidden discomfort and decided that a quick change of subject was required. "Getting back to the previous topic somewhat, would your government be interested in using any of our facilities as a stopover point for your ships before they depart the Earth Sphere? After all that was one half of their purpose." Lia asked, curious, leaving the other half of their intended purpose unsaid. Then again, shipping resources back to Earth was no longer required, not with the current state of things.
Lia froze for moment, seeing the confused look on the acting director face. "Is there something that I'm missing?" she asked, but it didn't help her composure when she saw that the acting director was trying not to laugh.
"Sorry," McNeil said, "but our colonization and mining ships will not be slow boating in real space."
For a moment Lia blinked at the Director's statement, trying to figure out its meaning before it hit her like a speeding freight train. "FTL?!" She breath out, shock and wonder sparkling in her eyes.
"Sorry," McNeil said, fighting back a grin, "an FTL drive? No, nothing so grandiose, our ships are simply equipped with a stasis device which allow them to achieve greater practical speed and range."
"Stasis?...I see," Lia said, slowly coming out of her shock, her mind still reeling at the implications. This wasn't something she expected to run into today with her talks with the acting director.
"Our four colonization fleets were launched equipped with the drives," McNeil said amusedly, "though it did still take them a year subjectively to make the journey."
"That is a surprise." Lia said, slowly regaining control of herself, "The documents you released left that little detail out."
McNeil nodded, acknowledging her statement, "you caught me, we modified the files we released to omit certain details. In truth, the reason why is because of the clear gap in technological capability between us and the various nations in this reality, particularly in regards to some of our technology which can and will impact both your nation, those on Earth and Mars socially and economically."
"I can see that," Lia said managing to recover a little from her shock. GDI having such a device, that meant that they wouldn't require massive amount of fuel or supplies to reach Mars or even more to reach beyond. It made space exploration easy, almost unfairly so... And that is just space travel, the other potential application of such technology are even more intimidating. "Then…" she finally managed only to be cut off.
"No," McNeil said, "until we trust you and the various nations here, we refuse to share any of our vital technologies with you or the other nations, especially with the current state of of tension between the various powers here. We don't want our technology being misused when we have larger issues to deal with."
Lia paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and fully recover before speaking, "I can understand your sentiment and position when our history has clearly shown many examples of such things happening, but you must be aware that this reflects badly on your government's...intentions. To some extent it only makes it worse considering that GDI began as an anti-terrorist organization and the military arm of the United Nations - some will question your intentions when this becomes public knowledge."
"I'm aware," McNeil admitted, "but it is a risk that had to be taken, since some of our technology will have an impact on an unprecedented scale throughout the entire solar system."
"With a stasis device, you'll be able to make trips from here to the Mars far easier than what we can do currently," Lia acknowledged the fact, though she did her best to hide the cold chill that ran down her spine at the other implications now that she had a little more time to think. "Then clearly, we should reconsider the issue of trade between our two nations, I'm sure we will both benefit from it."
"In time, I'm sure" McNeil said.
"As I said earlier my nation's technological level is far in advance of anyone in the Earth Sphere, especially in the fields of genetic engineering, manufacturing, nuclear power, mobile suits, energy weapons, armor, propulsion, and plenty more."
"Impressive," McNeil said, though her tone was anything but, "Still it does not change the facts, we would prefer that our impact on your society and on Earth remain minimal until we can assess our position fully."
"I understand," Lia said as calmly as possible, there was no point in pushing the point at the moment. And fuck, she thought, it was time for the one question she didn't want to ask. Why? Because it was a question that didn't belong to her "Then I guess that covers everything, though there is something I was wondering about, I'm interested to know when will civilian communications and exchange become available between your nation and the rest of the solar system?"
Lia paused, fighting her desire to kill the person responsible for making her deliver the question GDI have been so obviously evasive about, "I imagine that the delay is due to software and hardware differences between your computer software and ours?"
"Yes, it's been worked at the moment" McNeil said, remaining tight lipped on the subject much to Lia's relief.
"Then I believe we have covered everything today. Thank you for your time, Supreme Commander. I will let my government know of the results of our talks," Lia said, with a forced smile, "and trust me when I say they will be happy to know that your government is open to the possibility of trade and a non-aggression treaty in the future."
"No, thank you for your time, representative," McNeil nodded as she stood up. "It was certainly a fruitful talk, good day and be careful."
"Likewise, Supreme Commander, likewise," Lia answered standing up too. A final nod from the acting director, she left the room with her guards following close behind, though she waited until she was out in the lobby and down the hallway before speaking.
"They aren't going to like this but at least we have common interests which we can use as starting point for relations," Lia said levelly but her annoyance as clear to her only companion. While not totally to her or PLANT's benefit, the meeting was certainly useful and provided plenty of information for her to think about.
"No one would be but McNeil does have a point...history has shown that technology can certainly have a social impact," the CIO agent next to her said, "we don't have to look any further than us or the development of the internet."
"Point," Lia said halfheartedly, even though she agreed with the man. "Who is she meeting with next?"
"The Atlantic Federation representative and then it's back to the talks," the spy answered.
Lia hissed, almost spitting on the ground in disgust but she stopped herself in time. She quietly wished the acting director good luck with that meeting.
00
Same time
L-5 Cluster; Productive Location Ally on Nexus Technology J-7
In a secluded corner of the PLANT colony of Junius Seven, amidst the rolling fields and stubby tanks of the farms which supplies the PLANTS with most of their agricultural needs, there stood a carefully maintained house bordered by wide serene fields. From the house, one could gaze out onto a wide courtyard framing a beautifully grown bonsai tree and further beyond, Junius City and the massive central shaft which formed the core of the Colony; the link which moved all the cargo and agricultural goods produced in the countryside to the spaceports in the center of the spinning hourglass shaped colonies.
As Patrick Zala gazed out upon the scene, he couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride flutter within his heart; pride at making all this possible, pride at securing food security for the PLANTS and most importantly; pride at granting this serenity to his beloved family currently laughing at Athrun's attempt at cooking behind him.
Patrick gave a rueful sigh; it haven't always been like this of course. Ever since the completion of the first ten PLANT colonies in CE44, the Colony Management Commission (CMC) prohibited the production of 'agricultural goods' allegedly for 'failing to meet International food safety standards'. It was pretty obvious to all taking part in the construction of the PLANTS what the real reason was. After all, the sponsor nations of the PLANT wouldn't want anyone to have any funny Ideas about independence, especially not after the trillions they poured into constructing the colonies in the first place.
He shook his head; how ironic that a mere possibility of a revolt back then united the Earth Nations in ways the United Nations had only dreamt of, even at a time when the sponsor nations were actively competing against each other in an arms race in space whereas the UN had to fight tooth and nail to secure the funding and sooth the relations between all involved to make the PLANTS a reality. Then again while George Glenn might have came up with the designs, he'd long since lost any trust and good well he had with any of the powers on Earth. Perhaps in the end, it was the promise of wealth in space and greed that brought them aboard the UN's plan.
Not that the CMC survived the political manipulations of the 'big three'; the Eurasian Federation, Atlantic Federation, and the Republic of East Asia, Patrick thought distastefully as memories of the so called 'workplace accidents', 'Terrorist attacks' and other sabotage and assassination attempts played through his mind; nothing he would wish on his worse rival, much less Lenore and Athrun. Shaking his head, he took a deep breath and refocused his mind.
The universe had a sense of irony, really. when he thought about it, they didn't want the colonies to be independent by not allowing them to grow their own food and turning them into a demilitarized zone but it still ended that way because of the commission inability to actually do anything but their original mandate, building the colonies.
It was kind of sad when he thought about it, while the commission's responsibilities included setting policy for these who lived in the colonies and ensuring the peace within it, and while the policies makers of the commission had tried their best, in the end all their best efforts were scuttled by the frankly insane political compromises they had to deal with from the Earth nations.
For example, there was the aforementioned regrettable decision to turn the PLANT's colonies into a demilitarized zone for all three nations. As the original person behind the idea Senator William Yu from the Atlantic Federation put it: "The new PLANT colonies were the first steps towards moving beyond the Earth Sphere, prohibiting weapons will ensure that no one will be allowed to endanger our future, not even coordinators."
While that sounded good on paper, the actual reality of the way it was enforced effective stripped the colonial's security forces of all weapons while ensuring that terrorist and other radicals had a steady supplies of heavy weaponry from the black markets of the Earth force stationed on the colonies to 'ensure the peace'.
Blue Cosmos attacks and the likes were regular events during those years. While the politicians from all three nations debated and wangled endlessly for a solution, people died, waiting for any action from the politicians of Earth to resolve the deadlock. Nothing happening.
The effects of the debates on Earth in the three nations had on the commission wasn't pretty. Commission members were fired, replaced or even sometime assassinated by the others regardless of merits, skills or actions simply for the sin of standing up against illogical decisions or views.
By the end, 91.2 percent of the commission's original members met with one of those fates. One of the only exceptions was Yu Jin, the then general secretary of the commission who managed to at least keep construction of the colonies on track till the end with plenty of thankless pain and trouble. Even then he was killed by Blue Cosmos car bomb a year after the PLANTs threw off the Earth nations.
Sons of a bitch, Jin was a good man despite his other failings. Patrick sighed, nor did he fault the other remaining commission members for moving to Mars after the colonies become independent.
Mars -the red planet- was the first planet to be colonized by man in the solar system. An achievement that he would have been more proud of, if only it had not been done by refugees fleeing the troubles of the Earth Sphere. War, terrorism, racial tensions..., name any one of the hatred and prejudices lurking under the veneer of human civilisation and he heard people say it's the reason why they moved to Mars over the years.
He'd grown up experiencing the bigotry naturals had against coordinators from his fellow citizens in San Francisco, where he was born, studied and worked before leaving to aid in the construction of the colonies in the L5 point. But still, back then, not every natural was a racist bigot against coordinators. Hell he had friends back then, friends who didn't care or gave two cakes about the issue, viewing it as a waste of time especially since in their opinion there were more pressing social and economical issues on Earth to deal with. Looking back, he'd missed those simpler times.
Sighing, Patrick looked back down at the half completed report before giving a soft sardonic laugh. Ironically enough, the thing which is giving him a headache now is the same thing which sparked the arms race in space; the Ptolemaeus moon base, established by the Atlantic Federation's Robertson administration in CE35, allowing their spaceforce, the AFFSF to strike anywhere in the Earth sphere from the (then) unassailable fortress of the moon. Said base was currently the HQ of the Earth Alliance Space Command (EASC) allowing them to command their space forces out of reach of ZAFT retaliation from the safety of the moon.
As a result of its creation everyone else more or less took it as a sign that it was fine to militarizes space, to say that the United Nations wasn't happy was an understatement but there wasn't much they could do besides express their displeasure with words.
It was the first sign of the decline of the UN's soft power with the governments of Earth. A sign that the shock and suffering caused by the Reconstruction Wars and the second use of a nuclear weapon in anger had faded from the minds of the Earth governments, and without any 'Hard' power to back it up, the UN devolved back into the ineffective political deadlock which characterised its pre-reconstruction wars years.
The reality GDI come from was a different story though as evident from the use of nuclear weapons by the Soviet Union in their Second World War and by Nod through the various Tiberium Wars. From his reading it seems that GDI and the allies had developed the tactic of rapidly moving in strike forces to neutralize their enemies' WMD's before it could be used against them. Not that it worked unfailingly but it was the next best thing when one didn't seem to have WMDs nor seem to have any intention of using one. As far as he know, GDI had never used WMDs despite maintaining their own nuclear stockpile. That fact that had surprised him; yet something about it didn't feel right to him. To show that kind of restraint against a foe who were willing to use WMD's on the battlefield, even to the point that they used 25 megaton nukes (abet rarely) as tactical weapons?
Even the nuclear weapon used in the Reconstruction Wars and World War II had less than a megaton's yield. To use such overpowered weapon in the battlefield...It was insane. But now that he thought about it, it would explain GDI's focus in developing their orbital capabilities to the point where they could drop troops from orbit at a moment's notice... Or perhaps even bypass the issue entirely and drop a rock directly on top of the offending missile silo...if they had such capabilities it could threaten the forces stationed on Earth but the Navy could deal with that issue.
Well there wasn't much he could do about it and such a system is only useful against those SOBs living at the bottom of the gravity well anyway, as far as he was aware, and not a threat to the PLANTs. Shaking his head to wipe away his grin, he bought his mind back on track or at least something approaching it.
The need to grow food was one of the reasons why they had sought out allies on Earth, that and the need for political allies who would be willing to represent PLANT's case in the United Nations and to the public, especially in the early days of independence.
However even with all the concessions the PLANTs were ready to make, almost every Earth nation denied their claim to independence. In the end only the Oceania Union and the United States of South America proved receptive to their diplomatic overtures; not much of victory but it was enough at the time... Enough to obtain the food imports, the seeds, the equipment and the expertise needed to ensure that they did not starve during the first founding years.
It was little wonder that public opinion of those nations still remain highly favorable even till this day, even with the growing hatred of Earth and the actions of the Earth Alliance. After all, most people were smart enough to realise that the Oceania had been strong armed into halting their 20 year trading relationship by the EA, especially after the Atlantic Federation held a wargame simulating an amphibious invasion off the coast of Australia. Not that it had stopped the various Unions and traders from buggering the Council to do something about the situation.
It would be nice if they stopped doing that. After all, he doubt those spineless assholes of the Earth Alliance will lift their embargo due to a few angrily worded letters.
He took a deep breath to focus on his laptop, gathering his thoughts from his whimsical musing back towards the subject of his future briefing.
The truth of the matter was there just wasn't a simple solution to the war, not one that the people of the PLANTs could even begin to accept at any rate. From his perspective after contemplating the myriad of reasons behind this crisis with Earth, the war simply wouldn't end, not until the truth behind the bombing was revealed... And he and CIO had no idea where to even begin looking for proof, agents on the moon couldn't find anything in months of searching. As a result he approved the proposal to stop the operation and redistributing their agents to other operation though he did manage a minor victory in getting the Director to at least keep two agents on the moon and stay on the search. While he agreed with the reasoning given by the Director, that the trail had gone cold, something just didn't felt right about it.
So who? Damn it, that was what the two agents were meant to find out but so far no luck in finding any that they could follow. Anyways none of which mattered to the reality facing them now.
The Earth Alliance blamed them for the bombing on the moon and the PLANTS couldn't do much to deny it. The simple truth was that besides his friend surviving, there was no evidence on who was responsible for it, no terrorist group had come forward to claim responsibility, investigation into the bomb used had turned up dead ends and even worse, with all the multitude of potential actors who could benefit from the bombing, there wasn't even a single likely group to blame. All he was left with was a mystery locked up in an enigma.
So until they actually found any evidence on who was responsible, the only real proof that anyone had was Siegel's survival. Which, he grimaced, was enough for that vulture Fukunaga to wave around as "proof" of PLANT's involvement in the Earth Alliance council. Of course, they were ignoring the fact that Siegel Clyne was a leading member of the moderate elements who was willing to work with the United Nations to organize the meeting in the first place. Hell, from the way he saw it, the rapid move by the Atlantic Federation to create the Earth Alliance could itself be taken as proof that they themselves were responsible for the bombing.
In other words, it was causing a headache for the Council on the diplomatic front. Thankfully the public was firmly united behind Siegel.
Still, his friend's popularity wasn't going to help him or anyone else find a solution.
Thankfully no fighting had broken out yet and he planned to keep it that way. It was the main reason why ZAFT's rule of engagement was limited to self-defense actions, though to further reinforce the point, he had given strict orders reminding the various admirals and commanders of the consequences of failing to follow them. He didn't need any fighting to break out; not until they had a better picture of the Earth Sphere. Hopefully with that information and time, cooler heads would have prevailed by then on both sides, making finding a non-violent solution to the war so much easier.
Of course, now the situation wasn't so simple, GDI's history proved the existence of threats beyond the solar system but even worse was the threat Tiberium presents and possible effects it could have throughout the Earth Sphere. CIO's threat assessments on the alien crystal basically boiled down to "Keep that fucking thing far, far, far from the PLANT colonies at ALL COST".
God, he didn't want to think about the cost to refit the colonies with anti-Tiberium armor that GDI had given the Eurasian Federation, but it had gotten him thinking that perhaps it was time to tighten security in all the spaceports in the colonies to make sure that none of that crystal crap made its way up here. He'll have to bring it up in the next Council meeting, he thought, jotting down a quick note on his laptop to remind him in the future before turning back to work.
The study did also suggested weakly that it was in there interest that Tiberium didn't break containment, as the report put it 'even with the current space infrastructure, there wasn't enough to support seven billion people. Nor will there be for the next decade or anytime soon at the current rate of growth.'
Another soft sigh escaped his lips and he didn't think it would be the last one for the day. It seems the problems just keep on piling on and it only gotten worse with the addition of GDI but at least they were willing to work with the rest of the world to contain the mess their appearance caused.
He briefly allowed himself to relax and focus on the familiar scene behind him, Athrun had finally given up trying to cook and glued himself onto the TV screen, watching the news while the mouthwatering smell of olive oil, garlic, red pepper, basil and a few other spices waffing out of the kitchen indicated that Lenore is whipping up her special. Damn, he really couldn't wait anymore, her cooking was paramount and he doubted that anyone would ever surpass it.
Smiling, he quickly sped up his typing, the smell floating past his nostrils bringing back nostalgic memories of when he first met Clyne and Lenore all those years ago. A time when his problems weren't as complex, but then again, he would have never met his wife back then if he had remained on Earth. It was the one moment in his life that he could say definitely changed it for the better. If anything were to happen to her, he didn't know what he would do but there was one fact he was certain about, whoever or whatever was responsible was going to regret it.
In many ways, it was the reason which drove him to be here today; the simple desire to protect her had brought him this far and nothing will ever change that. Nothing, he thought, determinedly. Thought it didn't last too long as his concentration turned back to the laptop in front of him, currently displaying the mostly-finished presentation he was working on. He had hoped to finish it by last night, since it'll leave him free today to spend more time with his family but... Ah well.
He was so close to finishing it too, he thought, his hands flew over the keyboard punching out more content for it. Finishing, he brought up Muggy Note and put a quick note for himself. When he was finished, he switched back to the Ally Point program displaying his presentation.
The current portion dealt with what they knew about GDI capabilities and it was this portion which he was paying the most attention to, and the reason why he hadn't finished yet. He wanted to make it clear to the Council that provoking GDI was a bad idea but with so little hard data on GDI's ships or space station besides the fact that they were clearly armed and armored, it was going to be a hard sell.
GDI's First Fleet and space stations stood out against the void of space, shining beacons to sensors, especially to their IR sensors. The same held true for the few independence colonies in the L3 and L5 point, not to mention the colonies on the moon. Of course, the Alliance fleets making their way around the Earth Sphere also stood out like a torch in the night. It was clear that they were keeping the majority of their fleets in Earth's orbit while dispatching a large detachment to L3, the moon, and finally to the few colonies still in their control here in the L5 point.
The EA Fleet, a detachment from their sixth fleet if CIO had got their facts right, had taken up position over the colonies they controlled on the far side of the L5 point, some 50,000 Kilometers away from the main PLANT colonies.
He wasn't too worried about that fleet though, while the 20 ship EA force was undoubtedly formidable with a single Beijing-Class carrier, two Nelson-class battleships, five Chengdu-class destroyers, and 12 Drake-class escort ships, they were operating practically at the doorstep of ZAFT and there was no way in hell that such a small force could fight through to the PLANTs using conventional weapons. No, Patrick decided, frowning, it was meant to be a show of force and he got the message loud and have been issued to the Third Fleet to hold just out of range and watch their Earther counterpart's every movement for any signs of trouble.
Huh, in the end there wasn't much they could do but wait, standing up to walk off the stiffness that hours of sitting had incurred. He'd included every bit of information they had learnt about GDI from both the history files they released and those gained using the PLANT's long range sensors network but what they had was both informative yet frustratingly vague at time, especially since what he learnt was deeply worrying. For example the engines used by GDI ships, sensors readings from the fleet and CIO's assets were reading very high release of energy from them, far higher than any engine design anyone in the Earth Sphere had ever developed, especially when they were lifting GDI's ship out of the atmosphere. However was all that he and CIO knew for certain. What he didn't know was their fuel requirement, how long and often they can sustain such output or even if that is their maximum output. Hack, CIO and ZAFT in general can't even figure out what GDI's engines run on. In short they didn't know anything about GDI's tech except it is more advanced than their own. Probably.
If he had precise information on GDI's abilities, he could find ways to work around them but for now GDI's technologies -and their warfighting capabilities- remain a worrying and threatening enigma.
Interestingly, CIO had determined that the energy signature of GDI's spaceship was similar to the predicted output of the Godwana's experimental fusion engines... When they worked. Were they using fusion reactors? Likely it seemed to be the only way to explain the massive output GDI ships had, he thought. Another interesting fact was that GDI's GST were only slightly smaller than the Godwana.
Zala shook his head and gave a troubled sigh; the Godwana was to be their newest heavy mobile suit carrier, still under development, mostly on account of difficulties with its aforementioned fusion powerplant.
Either way, the Godwana was to be the flagship and pride of ZAFT's fleet, able to carry hundreds of mobile suits into combat and most interestingly, it was designed to operate in both space and inside an atmosphere. He sighed; it was really kind of sad that someone else beat them to the punch and proved that a ship of its size could be built but what the hell, at least the EA had nothing remotely comparable should the war turn hot. At 1200 metres long the Godwana would had been the largest space vessel ever built by this reality's humanity, a record only matched -and exceeded- by the massive leviathan lurking in the heart of GDI's First Fleet. He pouted mentally before reprimanding himself for the childish reaction.
It was yet another blunt reminder that they had more to gain from GDI being friendly with them than anything else, but it was also his job to consider the impact that GDI would have on their war plans should they become enemies of his nation. It was why in the end, he and CIO Director Rin agreed to send a team with the fleet with additional sensor and ELINT gear. Long range sensors were nice and all, but they still needed detailed scans of Earth surface, the moon, anything in Earth's orbit, the L1 and L2 points. While the overall plan was simple and still possible, it was clear from GDI history that they had long since transited from being a regional government to a planetary power; a somewhat paranoid one that will not tolerate anything which could be a cover for a sneak attack on its territory at that. So he was uncertain if GDI would even welcome them and the Alliance moving around near its space. True, technically space belonged to no-one, but…it was clear GDI was far more suited for the job of managing space travel compared to anyone on Earth. It was another issue for May, he thought, turning to take his seat again and made a note of it on his laptop. It was another problem for the future but he was sure GDI is already aware of it.
In case of war with the Earth Alliance, the overall battle plan they had developed in the last two months was a modified and combined version of their previous ones.. Battle Plan Starvation was aimed at isolating Earth completely from space, which meant two things; taking out or otherwise blockading the Earth Alliance assets in space such as the International Space Station Yggdrasil, the Ptolemaeus Lunar base and all military assets on the moon and destroying as much of the Earth Alliance Space Command fleets as possible. Once those were gone or lock at their ports, then it was time to take out the Mass Drivers, without which the Earth Alliance would be left effectively harmless and with only old fashion rockets to use in order to reach space.
But GDI's presence threw all of that into question and some readjusting to the new reality was required.
"... That's ...insane." Athrun's voice laced with worry and uncharacteristically; disgust drew him back to reality, after all his son wasn't the type to judge unnecessarily. Turning back, he fought back a grimace as he quickly understood the source of Athrun's revulsion; it was hard for even one such as him to remain impassive when faced with the desiccated, crystalised husk which was all that remained of some poor soul unfortunate enough to succum to Tiberium infection just minutes prior. Mentally he noted to speak to the media department about the appropriate timing of disturbing content on air, especially when then next disturbing set of images of mutants in various stage of Tiberium inflection rolled past the television screen.
He readjusted himself in his seat and turned back to his laptop, though keeping an ear open listing to the TV for anything of interest. Soon, he lost track of time, immersed in his work with his son and wife not far from him; busy doing their own thing. It was definitely a nice change of pace from his normal workplace, he decided, just basking in the feeling of being with his family. Definitely a nice change of pace...
He didn't expect to be pulled out of his work again when he heard the word "threshold" and "tower" used in the same sentence coming from the TV. Damn, there was another problem for him to consider, though he wasn't sure whether it was a threat or not. It was another reason for the fleet been sent to Earth; to study the tower, they needed information to know what to do about it... if they even decided to do nothing about it.
Commander Rau was made the overall fleet commander of the exploration fleet for his talents and the ability to follow the letter of his orders and no more but he expected the Commander to use his brains in carrying out his orders. Still... there was something about the man that didn't sit well with him but he just couldn't pin it down. It wasn't the mask…so what was it?
Well it didn't matter at the moment, he thought, dismissing the thought. Le Creuset had his orders and he would follow them; that was the only thing that mattered to him. For now.
He gave a slight grin as he slam home the last few keystroke; there, it was finished for real now. Now he just had to reread it in order to check for any mistakes, it would be embarrassing if there were to be any.
Objectively speaking, he had no interest on the Earth's surface besides their allies but GDI change that. It was clear the moment they arrived that they were far more advanced than anyone else on Earth. That was a problem; especially if their surface to space technology was to fall into the Alliance's control...it would make the war far worse than it needed to be. Then again, it was only a matter of time before their tech proliferated to the rest of humanity... But not soon if he had anything to say about it, Patrick assured himself grimly.
Hence the Council's decision weeks ago; to be friendly with GDI and slow the spread of their technology to the other government in the Earth Sphere, they simply couldn't trust the Earthers to be responsible with them. As far as he was aware GDI didn't have any intention of threatening or fighting them but the same could not be said of the rest of the Naturals Their technology was a threat to the PLANTs and ZAFT couldn't allow any of it to fall into anyone else's hands.
None of the major powers on Earth could be trusted with any new technology. Besides, if the Earth Alliances were to ever get their hands on GDI's technology, they would be forced to take action ASAP. But the same held true if they developed their own single stage to orbit capital engine or the experimental fusion reactor on the Godwana, if the Earth Alliance were to get their hands on them…it would be the same thing as them getting their hands on GDI surface to space technology.
They would be forced to take out every single spaceports and ships production facilities on the surface. Hell in that case any airport might suddenly be a launchpad for a missile with the PLANT's name on it... The only way to possibly neutralize that kind of threat would be to literally glass Earth, to bombard the homeworld until all space related infrastructure and manufacturing is gone. A course of action that he didn't ever want to authorizes unless it was absolutely necessary.
"What's on your mind, honey?" Lenore asked, startling him out of his gloom as she approached unnoticed, two cups of coffee in her hands.. It brought a smile to his lips; the aromatic scent of the coffee and her presence creating a serene and comforting atmosphere as she placed one of the cups in front of him while taking a snip from the other. Satisfied that the new blend was to her taste, she took a seat.
"Just finished working on a presentation I have to give the council when I get back on GDI's military capabilities..." he answered, taking comfort in the warmth of the coffee.
"So what's bothering you... Oh don't try to deny it." Lenore repeated, frowning.. She been married to him long enough to know that expression on his face; the one that looked like he was about to burn a hole through the wall through sheer willpower, meant only one thing to her; trouble. She would have sighed, she love him all and well but sometime she wished he wouldn't try to shoulder the burden of his office alone. The only way to help him now was to get him blow off some steam and talk. Of course, she had her own technique developed over the years in order to get him to start talking. Staying silent and forcing him to break it was one of them.
"Can't hide anything can I?" Patrick finally said a few moments later, pouting mildly. "You know this was meant to be a break for you and me, right?"
Lenore just sat there and smirked, waiting silently for an answer, knowing very well that Patrick was just stalling.
"Fine, I'm just going over everything that has happened recently while I worked."
"Really. I would have thought that you had something else in mind all this week?" Lenore replied good-humoredly.
"Like what, you?" Patrick answered with the same tone of voice.
"Yes," Lenore answered, reaching out and placing a hand on Patrick hand while giggling. It brought another smile to Patrick lips.
"Look, if you're looking for comfort, I'm not providing it," Lenore teased before continuing in a more serious tone. "You may have heard this before from someone else on the council, but we don't have anything of interest on Earth besides our allies there."
"I know that," Patrick answered tiredly. "But I'm not bothered by the polities; I'm worried about the military side of things. You've seen the footage of GDI First Fleet in action and from their own history we're talking about things like handheld railguns and energy weapons and engines powerful enough to move a ship from Earth's surface to orbit, not to mention an alien femotech von neumman crystal basically eating their Earth."
"Huh," Lenore smiled, amused, "Patrick Kavadas Zala...ever the watchful and caring one. So you're fearful of this technology getting into the hands of the Earth Alliance where it could be used against us?" Patrick didn't need to answer for her to know what he was going to say. If there was one thing about her husband that worried her it was his deep sense of duty, it drove him to keep working when he really should be resting. Like these last three days, it was meant to be a break for all three of them and a chance to be together as a family but even so, he still brought his work home.
"There is no meaning in having a war unless one can end it," she finally said, "it's one of your favorite quotes and I see why you're worried but war is war, Patrick. The Earth Alliance should very well know their weakness. Especially since they should obviously know that they will be our objectives, logically speaking." she said smugly.
"They should shouldn't they?" he answered, in reply she squeezed his hand and held it for a moment before releasing it. She took a drink from her coffee and calmly answered. "Then there no need to worry too much about them since they know they can't match us currently without losing too much and everything I've seen of GDI they have no reason to be hostile to us and as far as naturals go they are the best mannered we've met. Can we trust them? Of course not considering their own history which demonstrates clearly that they have no problem using violence to solve their problems. But it is also clear their world has had five world wars, three of which GDI was forced into and paid with oceans of blood before it ended. Not to mention the continued terrorist attack and low level fighting in their 'yellow zones'. Were I in their shoes, would I not be sick and tired of all that fighting especially if I have more pressing concerns like Tiberium?"
"Of course, I don't have to mention the worse outcome do I?" she said softly, looking tiredly at Patrick. "There isn't enough room in space now for the whole population of the Earth is there, now Patrick?"
"I know," Patrick finally answered of a few moments of silence and then made another note on his laptop. Aid GDI in containment operations, he typed, before taking another drink from his coffee. Thankfully, he thought, the warm liquid felt good relaxing him. She was right.
"There is something I'm sure you also noted about them also, right?" she said, amusement returning to her voice. Seeing the confused look on her husband's face, she sighed. He was hopeless. "They are proof that in the end, regardless of what the radicals both here and Earth say, naturals are just as smart and capable as we are. Otherwise GDI would have never been able to develop the technologies they have."
Again she was right, Patrick thought, thankfully for her pointing out a fact that should have occurred to him and others weeks ago.
From what they know of them, humanity in GDI's reality had never seen the need to develop anything like coordinators. So as his wife said, it was proof that despite everything naturals were just as smart as they are. But then again, they were talking about two set of humanity from two different realities... He dismissed the train of thought and looked at his wife.
"Thank you, Lenore" he said, relieved, "I don't know what I would do without you."
She smiled back at him before answering, "I do and that's why I promised to never join ZAFT, after all I wouldn't want you to be worried about me."
"Thank you," Patrick said, whispering the words as his hands clenched at the thought of even the possibility of losing his wife. It lasted until Lenore clasp his fist in her warm and soft hands, gently hugging his arm against her chest.
"Look no matter what happens, Patrick, just make sure you do your best keep us safe and come home in one piece," Lenore said with a soft smile on her face, as her own eyes stared deep into his soul. It was perfect. If only it could last forever, he thought, as she released his hand and stood up with the cup in her hand. "Sorry but that's all the time I have, the potatoes are almost already for mashing." Lenore grinned cheerfully and somewhat playfully as she turned and headed off to the kitchen.
Patrick blinked blankly at the entrance to the kitchen for a few moments before he turned his back to the TV, thinking, talking with his wife allowed him to get his mind rolling and helps consolidate his thoughts.
Wait, an idea occurred to him but was it possible? No, it would be a risk, but there was a war on and what was the point of having a war when one can't end it. It was risky but if successfully it would mean one less enemy and thus making the situation easier for ZAFT to handle but he wasn't sure if CIO was up for the task he had in mind.
Considering the idea slowly in his mind, there were two problems that he could see. Communications, getting CIO personal to the Earth, and he'll need aid from Eileen Canaver, the chair of the Diplomatic Committee seeing as she was responsible for the PLANTs diplomatic affairs. If he wanted this operation to be successfully, he needed her help and that shouldn't be a problem her. He was sure that she would agree to the overall objective of the mission he had in mind.
In terms of getting additional CIO personnel and assets to Earth, that is going to be a problem because none of the options they have available were easy ones.
mmm,,,still he liked the idea and he'll have to work over the details with CIO and Canaver. It was risky but in his mind it was worth it if it meant weakening the enemy by one.
00
March 1st, 12:50 pm 2070/CE 70: Last day of Conference
African Community, Cairo, 11 km NW of King Tut hotel
Some 12 kilometre to the north-west of the conference; a few blocks from the outermost security zone was an area best described as a slum. A relic of the economic growth enjoyed by the African Community prior to the ruinous Second Suez War, the old abandoned apartment was supposed to have provided affordable housing for the expanding middle class of the city. That plan was utterly demolished by the war, and the half finished apartment block had stood empty since then, officially anyway... in truth, the entire area had been claimed by the dredges of society; the homeless, the drug dealers, the petty criminals, the multitude of gangs which thrived upon the lawlessness of the city. The key word being had been; now this particular apartment host the temporary base of operations for something far more dangerous.
Outside, the apartment appeared normal; with its dull, weather-worn paint and balconies on each corner of the building. However, appearances can be deceiving as the entire building was covered with a sophisticated grid of motion sensors, LADAR and jammer arrays while inside, what had been 4 separate apartments had been converted to a surprisingly organised and hi-tech base for the newcomers... which would had been rather surprising and very worrying to a rather large group of people since these newcomers, "freedom" fighters that they were should not have access to the resource or discipline to set up and hide such a base under the nose of both the African Community and the Eurasians forces.
Either way, in the living room of the second floor of one of the apartments; the de facto command centre, two man set on steel framed chairs, staring at each other while their minds analysed what they had learnt so far about their objective while a TV in the corner filled in the silence between the two men.
"With the recent pull out of Eurasian military units from the region, several Middle Eastern leaders are threatening to boycott the upcoming Pan-Eurasian council meeting in protest despite statements from the Eurasian government spokesman refirming that the Federation is still committed to upholding any outstanding defense agreements."
"Among the leaders is Kurdistan prime minister Zaro Kaya whose continued call for the federal government to return troops to the region in the name of maintaining the peace in the region and to deal with the increasing tensions caused by the presence of Tiberium in Italy have obtained widespread support within the lower houses of parliament."
"Well he does have a point Willson, according to the story earlier, wind patterns are likely to spread Tiberium particles into the eastern Mediterranean and possibly as far as the Middle East" the news anchor quipped back in the safety of the studio.
"That much is true," the reporter said a few seconds later, "The cause behind prime minister Zaro statement..."
"The situation favors us and this is our chance to make a statement to the world! To show them that we mean business. That our cause is just and we are the protectors of humanity!" one of the man; Ramesses proclaimed flatly.
"For what? We have most of what we came here for. It's clear now that the JDF has improved in training and coordination far beyond what we've thought, aided by those traitors in the Union and those bastards from ZAFT. With them in play there is no way of provoking a reaction from GDI." The other man all but spat out. "To mount another attack now would be the same as committing suicide."
"We have to make a statement and this is the right moment to do it! We have representative from all over the world here! If we strike now, we can show them what we stand for!" Ramesses replied, his voice burning with passion, trying to convince his stone-faced counterpart. "We can change that and force them to react."
"And what use is that when the world see us killed and scattered by the JDF? Of what use is this attack when it would force them to hunt us down, crippling all the other operations we have?" Hashish countered with an abrupt slashing gesture. "No it would be better to bide our time and conserve our brothers to strike another day."
Ramesse turned his head and spit on the ground. "Our cause is far more important than such considerations; we fight to protect humanity from those…."
"We fight but we fight using our resources shrewdly," Hashish cut him off before he could finish, rising to his feet. "After all we are no good to our cause dead."
"Are you afraid of the United Nations?" Ramesse demanded hotly.
"No but I do respect them, Ramesse," Hashish answered, not bothering to correct the other's mistake. "You'll be a fool if you underestimate them or any of our other enemies, no matter how weak they appears."
"Fine, we withdraw," Ramesse hissed out defiantly.
"Good," answered Hashish with a tinge of relief hidden in his voice. "I'll go get things in order,"
Ramesse watched his commander for this operation turn and stood up. It really was too bad that the man was too trusting or this wouldn't have been possible. Shortly afterwards the distinctive *Crack-Clink" of silenced 9mm fire from his weapon dealt with the situation.
"And you should listen to your own advice more Hashish."
He'll been planning this ever since his... patron had informed him that Hashish would be in charge of this operation. A effective man but he lacked conviction and the determination needed to reach their goal.
One of his men entered the room, not bothered by the sight of a dead body in the room.
"Did we recover anyone from the Eurasia team?" Ramesse asked, a smile slowly creeping its way across his lips.
"Yes, sir, Rainer team has what remains of the members of the Eurasia team within the innermost barrier. The two captured members of the Eurasian team are secured within one of the King Tut rooms," the masked man said, putting his weapons away.
"Good, are they in position?" Ramesse asked.
"They are sir, but they did run into some problems."
"Deal with it, Soon we will make history," Ramesse said, only to be disrupted by the sound of gunfire. "What was that?"
"Gunfire" the masked man replied unhelpfully, as he pulled out his radio and spoke into it. It didn't take long, but it was enough for Ramesse to discreetly draw his weapon again "some of Commander Hashish's men…." The man never saw the shots which blew his head apart courtesy of the still smoking gun in Ramesse's hands.
"And you have outlived your usefulness." Ramesse said, spitting on the dead body, he didn't have much time but it was enough to send a quick message to his patron and reposition himself and the dead bodies before the door was flung open by heavily armed fighters.
"Sir! We have to move, some of the man- HASHISH!" A man shouted, stunned by the sight of his leader dead, shot in the back.
"What happened!" Ramesse snapped in apparent rage.
"A few of the man started shooting at us sir, we have to move before..." The terrorist trailed off as he took in the carnage around him.
"Treason." Ramesse hissed, inwardly smirking at his acting skills. "Paki here, tried to kill me" He gestured at the headless body before him, "but he shot Hashish before I could stop him."
"FUCKERS! What do we do now!" the man didn't have long to live, as a round entered his head and put an end to his life while a look of shock was locked on his face. Useless, they are all useless, Ramesse thought, as moment later his men entered the room weapons raised and ready for action.
"Send the GO orders to Malthusian team then get the others moving." Ramesse ordered.
"What about us?" one of the man asked. "All the gunfire will have attracted the police."
"We will stay here act as a distraction while Malthusian team makes their move," Ramesse said softly, looking each of the men in the eye. "It is likely that none of us will survive but if our death is for the sake of our brothers in protecting this Blue and Pure world, then SO BE IT!
The reply was thunderous.
"FOR HUMANITY!"
"Get ready, for our guest and pass orders to Rainer team, we are a go for this operation. Today we make history." Ramesse ordered firmly, pride in his voice.
00
"We're approaching the area where the last reports of the gunfire came from," Captain Menes said, his usually slight french accent thick from the stress of the last few days, "It's in the old residential zone with the apartments due for redevelopment next year."
"Copy, Patrol 23 be careful," the voice over the radio said quietly."We will have CAS drones over your position in 10 minutes if things go south so don't do anything too stupid."
"Copy, State 53," Menes answered.
The drive didn't last longer as the patrol of four vehicles approached an desolated, graffiti ridden square of aged stone seats, messy weeds and broken concrete. The only signs of the living was what was left behind by the homeless.
The moment the vehicles stopped not far from the building, the police officers jumped out and headed for cover fully armed and armored. It had become normal over the years for the responding officers to be armed and armored before leaving the station the moment they received word they would be responding to gunfire. There was no telling whether they were responding to a simple gang fight, honor killing, someone firing a weapon wildly into the air in celebration, another terrorist attack or something completely different until they arrived on the scene so it was better to be safe than sorry as the old saying went. That said, the officers today were even more heavily armed and restless than usual with their nerves set on the edge by the chaos and death caused by the recent attacks.
The sense of tension and unease was thick in the air as each police officer advanced from cover to cover, expecting hell to break loose any moment and it only got worse as the minutes passed.
"Chidiebube what do you have on thermal?" Menes asked over the radio to the only man with thermal gear.
"It's pretty hard to tell, sir, the entire area looks like it had been blanketed with IR." That surprised Menes, thermal jammers?, "But it looks like the building in front of us is showing the highest thermal readout compared to the other buildings."
"Good, I want two teams of three each. Chidiegwu and Adebowale will lead, scout the buildings and if you find any trouble report back and I'll call backup. The rest of you, with me." Menes ordered but even as he did so he couldn't calm the unease within him. As his men began to move towards the double doors, he made his way to cover the left apartment building and proned behind the thick support column, with the men assigned to him not far behind him.
"We're in and heading up the stairs," Chidiegwu reported in.
"Good, be careful," Menes ordered, "covering the left apartment building."
"Copy, sir," Chidiegwu said.
He really hope that this was only a minor incident, maybe even a accident but it just didn't seem like it. If it was a mistake they would have been people, nevermind the whole situation scream AMBUSH in his mind. He let out a breath he didn't realise he was holding.
He should have ordered them to park the next street over and proceed on foot to try to maintain the element of stealth but he hadn't thought of it while on the way here and that was a bad sign. It meant he was off his game and that was never a good thing, not when lives were on the line.
His fingers itch for the FM mobile transceivers radios in any of the cars so that he could call for backup in case they need it. He didn't like it, it was too quiet in his opinion and he didn't trust the government issued "radio" on his belt. Nothing it seem in his life was meant to be easy, he grumbled, suppressing the half remembered memories of the ambush. Now wasn't the time nor place for it, he told himself firmly again for the millionth time.
One final pause to gather his thoughts together, let the other know where he was going, and off he was dashing from cover to cover until he found himself safely behind one of the patrol cars. By this point, he was sweating with water droplets running down his forehead. Rather than standing in the open and in full view from the apartment he quickly opened the door and drew the speaker out to where hiding, the far side of the patrol car.
"State 53, this is patrol 23, we have traced down the location of the gunfire detected to the old apartment building in the Squayl district. The entire area seem deserted but there might have been signs that someone was using IR countermeasures on us. Still, no signs of trouble so far" he said.
"Copy patrol 23, keep looking. We have other patrols responding to similar incidents throughout the city. Word from the top, is check everything until the conference is finished, especially with the fun that happened across the border," Station 53 said.
"Copy station 45, we'll keep our eyes on open for any trouble-"
Any further words were drowned out as an explosion rained down rubble on him and the car he hid behind. For a brief moment between the end of the explosion and the moment when the fragments from the building landed, he quietly prayed that nothing large would land on him. That would be unhealthy for him.
As the debris fell down around him, with most of the largest pieces thankfully missing his location, his senses finally returned to him. "Chidiegwu, and Adebowale report," he shouted into his handheld radio. Dammit. Cursing, he was tempted to run into the building in an attempt to find his men, but he stopped himself. Fuck, they can't handle this by themselves he realised, reaching for the speaker of the car radio.
"This is Patrol 23, an explosion has occurred in the old apartment building, Red Alpha, men down, requesting immediate support!"
"Copy, Patrol 23, support incoming they will be there in ten minutes," he heard over the radio. "Be aware that drones have spotted movement-"
Whatever else the dispatch officer was saying was lost as Menes quickly ducked down on reflex as he spotted movement on the upper floor of a nearby building out of the corner of his eye, an action which saved his life, as a burst of bullets flew through the space he had occupied just moments before and hammered the inside of the car, along with the radio apart.
Peeking up from under the car, he barely saw the hazy outline of a few fleeing figures through the dust choked air..he brought his weapon to bear only to pause.
Damn it, his men were more important. He took a running start towards the smoking ruins of the apartment even the cold chill of despair ran down his spine; the top half of the building they were investigating seem to be gone, leaving only the bottom half still standing, there wasn't much he could do for his man other than pray that they've made it out safely.
As he ran out of the choking dust and into the severely damaged lobby way of the half-destroyed apartment, a corner of his mind thanked a merciful god as he saw the forms of one of his man shaken and knocked to the ground but otherwise unharmed in the lobby, he wasn't the only one he saw. Quickly he helped the leader of the section to his feet, lightly rapping the still dazed man's head to get his attention.
"Nimat! Grab everybody and leave! The building might collapse at any moment. I'm going up to check on Chidiegwu and Adebowale!" He yelled and the man seem to blink confusedly before his eyes snapped open in understanding.
"Sir, you can't do that! You said it yourself! We need you here to org-"
"You'll be in charge till I get back, set up a defensive line and wait for the cavalry! They'll be here in a few minutes. Now get going!" The captain yelled and gave the inspector a gentle shove before sprinted up what remained of the staircase.
Leaping up the stairs, his hope fell as he took in the extent damage; by the time he'd reached the second story, he was almost certain that no-one had survived in the burnt and shattered floor but he had to try.
"Chidiegwu!, Adebowale! Respond!" he shouted desperately as he cleared the half blocked stairwell, reaching the second floor proper. Amazingly, despite the general devastation surrounding him, a muffled cry responded.
"Goddammit! Here sir!"
Following the voice, he came upon a scorched doorway blocked by a piece of reinforced concrete wedged into the doorframe by the initial force of the explosion, protecting the door and thus the room behind it from the full brunt of the blast and the fire which followed. Of course, the same rebar was now trapping his man in a potentially collapsing building. Inspecting the rebar and the room, Captain Menes came to a decision. Taking a few steps, he then proceeded to try and dislodge the rebar by the quickest mean he have available; ramming the concrete slab at full speed.
He almost immediately regretted his decision as a sick sounding crack and a stab of pain announced that something in his left shoulder decided to give way at the point of impact but his efforts were rewarded as the slab surprisingly started to shift to the side. Eyes wide, the Captain quickly rolled out of the way as the massive slab toppled; barely missing him.
Picking himself up, he was forced to jump to the side again as the door was smashed off its hinges courtesy of a rather sooty man, Sergeant Chinegwu his mind supplied, body slamming into it. Turning, he helped the Sergeant onto his feet as he quickly did a quick count of the men beyond the doorway. Fuck.
"Chinegwu. Where is Adebowale?" Menes asked tiredly, already knowing the answer.
"Didn't make it sir." Chinegwu coughed out. "He and Hashers was upstairs when the bomb exploded. They probably never had a chance."
Dammit. Menes raged internally. Another two good men who wouldn't be going back home today.
Taking a deep breath, he walked towards the other officers.
"We have to get moving Chidiegwu. We have hostiles outside and building probably going to collapse"
"ياتك ضربة في قلبك.," one of the other officers said testily, trying to lever himself off the floor while avoiding his bleeding leg, a task made easier as Menes slung his arms beneath the wounded man's arm and hoisted him up in a fireman's carry.
"We probably will if we don't get out of here. Chidiegwu take point, come on!"
Hurriedly the ragged group made it back to the ground floor and out through to the ruins of the square. The smoke and dust was gone now, revealing the scale of the destruction. None of the surrounding building had escaped the explosion unharmed, peppered as they were by shrapnel, of all sizes, from the blast. Looking back Menes realised that his team had only survived because some quirk of the building's construction and pure luck had directed the force of the blast outwards and upwards instead of downwards; all that remained of the five story apartment was a three story stump.
"AllAhu Akbar" Menes muttered, hauling the wounded towards the impromptu barricade Nimat set up, grimacing as he saw the state the road was in; with all the rubble on the road, it was going to be a bitch for help to reach them soon.
Suddenly a low rumble filled the air as what remained of the bomb-out apartment chose that moment to collapse, filling the air with soot and more importantly, totally blocking the road with rubble.
"Allah Akbar" he cursed, a sentiment reflected by the officer he was carrying.
Reaching the barricade, Menes set down the wounded officer, pulling a bottle out from under his jacket and passing it to the man who took it gratefully.
"Thanks...did you hear that?"
'That' referred to the sirens of emergency vehicles underlayed by a sort of... slow shifting rumble, Menes decided, gesturing for Nimat to join him as he walk cautiously out into the open, his weapon ready.
He sighed in relief as he saw the strobing lights of emergency vehicles, eyes widening slightly as the lead vehicle of the impromptu column came into view; a pair of Corseque IFVs bearing the faded markings of the Equatorial Union's 495th Mobile Battalion bulldozing a path through the rubble.
As the column stopped and began disgorging armed officers, Menes made his way towards the lead vehicle only to do a double take as he spotted a familiar but unexpected face.
"Lt Wright! I thought you had retired, what the hell are you doing here?!"
"Captain Menes?" The identified Lieutenant blinked in recognition, "You unlucky reprobate. I'm retired but with all the chaos, me and a couple of the boys," He gestured at the IFV behind him crewed by people in a motley assortment of civilian dress and body armor " decided to help out, besides we also got word from the colonel that you guys may need help."
"Chaos? What the hell have been happening-" Menes asked before cutting himself off abruptly, "Nevermind that, I got wounded wit-"
"I'll get my man on it." Wright said, glancing at a nearby soldier/militiaman who nodded and ran off to the ambulance. "Anyway, someone have been hitting the zone outside the Conference line pretty hard since an hour ago. Arson, random shootings and bombings, that sort of things. Emergency services are responding but they are being stretched. Rumors even have it that JDF HQ is considering pulling units off protecting the King Tut Hotel to help deal with this shit. So here I am."
As if to underscore the Lieutenant's statement, the resounding 'boom' of another bomb blast echoed from somewhere deeper within the city.
"Damn. Anyway we came under fire from unknown forces in that direction," Menes said, pointing in the general direction where the shots were fired from. "Three gunman, they ran instead of fighting."
"Andrews!" Wright shouted, turning around to face his XO who poked his head out of the IFV.
"Sir?"
"Is the projector working? Bring up that map," Wright ordered and soon enough a map appeared in front of the men. "Alright, I want you to get the others and conduct a sweep here and here." Wright pointing at the major intersection in the areas around them, "Comms zero-niner, give him a sitrep and advise him to do a converging sweep with us. Also contact Serpent Tail and get them airborne, we'll probably need air support."
"Yes, sir," answered Andrews.
"We'll also need reinforcements, Andrews, radio HQ for more reinforcements and let Kane know what is happening, we're going on a rabbit hunt for these sons of bitches." Wright snared.
"Yes sir, on it" Andrews replied, ducking back into the vehicle to carry out his orders.
"How are you doing?" Wright asked.
"I'm fine, but I've got other responsibilities to handle right now. I have to make sur…." Another explosion and bursts of gunfire interrupted him. There was no need to finish as it was pretty clear to both of them that they didn't have the time to chat.
Wright's radio buzzed to life."Sir, we've found them and are pursuing, they are heading through some alleyways."
A feral grin appeared on Wright lips and he turned towards his vehicle, "Take at least one alive" Wright ordered savagely, "also keep alert, we don't want to be caught in another ambush."
"Got it sir! This is our home too those bastards."
"Who's the officer in charge here?" Menes asked, torn between the desire hunt down those responsible for the death of his men and his duty here.
"You are," Wright nodded, as he listened to the reports coming in from his radio, "orders from the top for me is to hunt these assholes down and find out who send them."
"So in other words, I handle this situation here" Menes said, gesturing at the ruined apartments around them, "while you handle the cause of said problem."
"More or less," Wright nodded, mounting his command track. "Good luck."
"Good luck, to you too and good hunting" Menes said, as he saw the first fire truck and ambulance arrive intermixed with police cars. While he didn't agree with the decision, he had a job to do and at the end of the day, the lives of his men were more important to him than revenge.
00
March 1st, 01:05 PM 2070/CE 70
African Community, Cairo Airspace sector 21N
"And that makes six..." Gai Murakumo muttered stared at the tactical overlay on his head up display of the command variant of the Mil-72 'Hydra' he was current observing the city-turned battlefield from. While the "Flying Brick"; as the pilots nicknamed the tiltwing, was a massively armed and armored machine, it could still be brought down by sufficient amount of Anti-Air fire as Gai was painfully aware.
"Said something boss?" The voice of his pilot behind him enquired, almost drowned out by the dull thump of the gunship's powerful turboprops despite their noise cancelling headsets.
"Nothing Wayne. Any word from the ground pounders?"
"Nein, TI is still jammed and the drones are getting shot down. We are going to have to get our hands dirty." The slightly germanic accented voice of the ex Eurasian pilot; Brus 'Wayne' Fledermausmann sounded out over the intercomms again. "You ready for this Gai?"
Gai glanced again at the tactical overlay again, focusing on the four blue arrowheads which represented his command as well as the scant green symbols of Cairo police, military and other mercenary teams as compared to the veritable sea of shaded red area which represented area where reported terrorist incident took place; taking special care to note the six angry 'X' of MANPADS launches.
"Go-"
"CarioCom to Serpent lead, our radar is reading your position as over the RZ. Contact the ground element and coordinate with them. ROE is Yellow-two. Out."
Gai grimaced, 'No info, restricted weapons and confusion everywhere.'
He sighed, "Alright guys you heard that right?"
"Serpent-zero one. Affirm. Weapon hold. over."
"Serpent-zero two. Wilco. I hate this job. Weapon hold. over"
"Serpent-zero three. Roger. Best job I've ever had. Weapon hold. over"
Rolling his eye slightly at his flight Gai switched to a secondary channel. "Serpent lead to GMI12 OC, we are incoming and will have eyes on the situation in five, be aware that our ROE is yellow-two. Over.
"Coming into visual range now Gai. Heads Up!"
Sure enough, they were approaching the column of smoke and dust thrown up in the aftermath of the explosion. Switching to the look-down camera, he spotted a ragged-looking column of armored and police vehicles.
Probably GMI 12, Gai noted, but then who are in the trucks down the intersection?
"Serpent lead, this is GMI 12, we copy. Be aware we've tracked the suspect down to the intersection of Thebes and Kamak-" Gai's attention snapped back to the HUD, fingers already flying towards the master armament switch as the cover on one of the trucks was ripped off, unmasking a quad-tube launcher frame... pointing straight at him.
Time seem to slow as Gai snapped open the trigger guard of his control stick, bringing to life the gunship's twin chin-mounted 23mm autocannons. As the tell-tale flare of a missile launch erupted from the truck, he laid the reticle onto the offending launcher and calmly squeezed the trigger, sending 1200 rounds/mins worth of 23mm HEDP-T back at the technical. By sheer skill or luck, his first burst managed to catch the first missile head on half way, the ensuing explosion as the missile's fragmentation warhead detonated shredded the following three missiles, filling the air between the gunship and the trucks with flaming debris; obstructing their targets. Even as that happens, Gai could feel the Tilt-Wing banking as Wayne pulled the Gunship lower, seeking cover in the cluttered Cairo skyline.
"Damn, Lead to flight, I've lost sight of bogie. Zero-One, Zero Three, Circle sweep North East, Zero Two, with me. SEAD. Remember, stay low." Switching back to crew intercoms, Gai continued; "Wayne, I've marked out waypoints, go!"
"Serpent lead to GMI 12, there is a group of Technicals waiting for the tangos at the intersection. Advise caution."
"Acknowledged Serpent, we are moving to envelope them now. Just remember your IFF protocols."
"Serpent 02, I see the target. Rifle! 2 away!."
On his tactical overlay, Gai could see a red square highlighted as serpent 2 identified and launched two missiles at the technicals even as his own gunship entered the firefight. From his vantage point, he could actually see the missiles hit, sending one terrorist flying as the rest of his compatriots was vaporized in a fury of flame and explosion.
"Serpent, GMI 12 is entering Op area now. Watch your-"
Another thunderous explosion shook the intersection as a car bomb exploded, the blast flipping the lead armored car of the military column and setting it on fire. At the same time, machine gun and rocket fire erupted from the surrounding building, sending blood-red tracers flashing towards the column and the gunships in the air.
Look like those 'terrorist' knew what they are doing as well, Gai noted, switching to his cannon and rocket pods. "All Serpent units. Suppressive fire! NOW!"
The ash choked street exploded into a firework display as tracers and rockets crisscross each other as the Gunships, soon followed by what remained of GMI 12 as they recovered, opened up on the terrorist's position. Soon, the amount of fire from the building slackened as those within decided to cut their losses, a fact which Gai grimly observed as he sent a burst of 60mm rocket through a window, silencing the machine gun behind it. Scanning around, his eyes widened as he saw the SAM mounted technical appear onto the street directly below Serpent 4.
Even as he shouted out a warning, his finger were already tightening around the trigger, sending two anti-tank missile into the truck destroying it... too late as its quadlet of deadly missiles were already speeding up towards the wildly evading gunship. Tracking upwards and holding down the trigger, Gai managed to bisect two with autocannon fire, to the surprise of everyone watching, while the others fell for the wall of flare and countermeasures Serpent 4 threw up, veering off into the distance. However it was all for naught as another smoke trail rose up from yet another building in the distance and in an insane stroke of misfortune, flew straight into the exhaust port of Serpent 4's portside turboprop pod, bypassing the Hydra's vaunted armor. Within seconds, the Gunship started to spin wildly as the pilot struggled to compensate for the excess torque no longer countered by the flaming engine, only to crash tail-fast a building before tipping over onto the street.
The sharp chirping of missile alert rang again as another missile rose into the air. This time however, the gunships were prepared and managed to dodge down below the horizon presented by the building, leaving the missile to chase after the flares they have ejected overhead.
"Damnit! Zero two, Zero three! Follow the smoke trail and flatten that bastard. I'll keep them suppressed from 04. MOVE!"
Opening up with his 23mm cannons, Gai was joined by the few remaining armoured cars and APCs on the ground as they pinned down the gunmen allowing armed man to storm into the buildings. Soon the fighting stopped completely as remaining terrorist found themselves outflanked and forced to either surrender or were blown apart by the now overwhelming firepower brought to bear against them.
"Lead this is Zero three. We have identified the launch site. It appears to be an apartment building just outside of the old residential zone and can't fire, civilians are confirmed to be the building. I'll mark it on the tec... uh... nevermind".
"Zero three respond! What happened!"
"Uh, it looks like a group of civis just subdued the terrorist while they were distracted by taking pot shots at us. Er, it look like a lynch mob down there." Zero three incredulous voice replied.
"Roger Zero two, Zero three, withdraw to a safe distance and hold position" Gai muttered as the camera feed from 03's remote drones came in, showing, as he said, a mob of people beating up 4 masked man into a bloody pulp with rocks, sledgehammers, poles or even their own bare hands. "GMI 12, you got this?"
"Roger, we'll send someone to deal with that after we patch ourselves up. We have also recovered your drowned ship."
"Are they alright?" Gai quickly asked, a hint of guilt and anxious in his otherwise calm voice.
"What, the crew? Yeah, the Pilot's ok and the Gunner is cussing up a storm over her broken leg. They are being looked at by the medic now -hold one." The grizzled voice of the ground force commander cut off though he see to be having a conversation with someone if the background chatter was anything to go by. "Serpent flight, what is your status?"
"Flight, statrep."
"Serpent Zero two, half tank, cannons still full and 2 rocket left, winchester arrows."
"Serpent Zero three, 66% tank, out of ammo for the cannons, 3 rocket left in the pod, 7 arrows on rails."
"GMI 12, we can still patrol a bit longer. New orders?"
"Affirm, reinforcements arriving now but some of my people found signs that some of the bastards just now have escaped into the old sewer system. We'll need you to do a scan along highway 21, see if anyone come out of the sewer. Got it?"
A quick look at the drone feed showed that civilians had cleared the streets for the most part as GMI 12 finally arrived in force, reinforced with additional AFV's and transport vehicles carrying a mix of troops, police officers and armed civilians. All the vehicles bored the faded marks of the Equatorial Union 495th Mobile Battalion.
"Roger 12, moving out" Gai said, moving on to his next mission..
00
When the new orders arrived, courtesy of the agent in the kitchens, it swiftly filtered to the rest of the cell. Yet for the next couple of hours nothing out of place happened besides some of the hotel staff taking more breaks which most ascribe to the stress, especially for the recent hires from the south who are not used to an event of this caliber.
So it wasn't unexpected for a few of the workers to end up missing for an hour or two, taking a break from work. For the most part, the workers ended up either going outside to smoke at the loading docks or elsewhere in the hotel. Regardless, one of the workers still on duty was currently on the tenth floor as she entered the floor via the elevator and made her way to the first room to her right, finishing her job there before moving onto the next room.
This hard working employee kept pushing her cart along, moving from one room to another until she reached room 1012. There, she saw a "do not disturb" sign which was promptly ignored as she knocked a certain musical rhythm onto the door.
"Have my bottle of '47 Cheval Blanc arrived?" A deep set voice on the other side of the door enquired after a moment's pause.
Rolling her eyes at the code phrase, the 'maid' answered, "No sir, due to the recent disruptions, our deliveries have been delayed. Would you instead accept a bottle of '43 Château-Figeac as a gesture from the hotel?"
"Acceptable." The man answered, pulling open the door, allowing the young woman to step in. Once inside, she took out some sheets and other rather unusual items, while the other quickly closed the door behind her.
"So Lissie, what's the news?" The man asked.
"You're right Rainer, something happened, a message was left at the dead drop for us to prepare to abort-"
"-Which with the suspicious validity of the orders we've received means that Hashish might have been... compromised." Rainer interjected with a grimace. "Damn."
"Don't jump to conclusions, Hashish is pretty resourceful." Lissie objected, more to reassure herself than anything. "Still, what are we going to do now?"
"Damn..." Rainer growed before coming to a decision. "We are pulling out."
"Sir?" the young women asked, "Not that I don't agree but how are you going to explain this to the boss?"
"We were never meant to fight." Rainer replied grimly. "When Hashish set up the plan, our mission here is simply to observe while the other elements cause a distraction allowing us a close look at how they react to them. The possibility of us actually joining in the fun was always a last resort and meant to stay that way. The most that was expected of us was to use those two to cast some possible discord," He nodded at the two drugged Eurasian agents currently tied up at the corner of the room along with a standard EF specops supply cache.
"But what about Ramesse's man downstairs?" one of his man who had been silent till now asked. "Do we tell them anything?"
"No," Rainer answered after a moment's thought. "We tell them we are continuing with the mission. Ramesse is a fanatic, a mad dog who doesn't care about who get caught in the crossfire as long as some coordinator scum are killed. If his men are anything like him... No, we use them as a distraction, at best." He gave a predatory smile, "we find out just how good GDI's boys really are."
"What about those two?" Lissie asked, nodding at the unconscious Eurasian.
"We give them the antidote when we leave. Then call and tip off the JDF." Rainer answered, assembling a pistol from the parts Lissie took out. "Let's see them euros explain what a section 12 kill team is doing here, the fallout might even benefit our cause or our allies."
He shook his head. "We're pulling out, Lissie head down stairs and pass the word down to the rest of our people, if Hashish is under attack then it means they are onto us and we need to get out while we still have the chance."
00
Ramesse was not a happy man, running through the decades old tunnels as he was, surrounded by a quartet of his men, all that's left of his strike team.
It wasn't meant to be like this, he raged, he wasn't meant to scurry through these decaying tunnels like a hunted rat and how did Harpy team know about Hashish death? Who told them? Who?
Never mind, Ramesse thought, thinking of the little button he'd pushed just an hour ago. It doesn't matter anymore; in a matter of hours his little surprises scattered throughout the city will go off along with his message to the world. No he thought, he couldn't have his message play as planned not after Hashish's people so clearly refused to follow orders.
It didn't matter, he'll just let them rot on the vine by seeing to it that there were starved of money and resources in the future. As for the moment, well it didn't matter that Hashish's men refused to follow orders. They were nothing more than bugs, little better than those traitors and the coordinators, unworthy of the true cause, fit only to die so that their betters can live.
He should have never allowed others to take the lead in this operation. A mistake will not be repeated in the future, not with the support he had.
00
March 1st, 16:50 pm 2070/CE 70
African Community, Cairo, King Tut hotel: Main ballroom
Located on the second floor of the 65 floor hotel, the large and ornate ballroom of the King Tut was the hotel's pride and joy, an extravagant show of wealth and culture, and more prominently, a show of faith that Cairo will need such things in the near future. Though such a future does seem quite far away Gyasi Mukantagara thought sourly; money wasn't going to magically solve everything and already she was hearing stories of local corruption, which should have worried her more but didn't, she thought as she observed the party on said ballroom below her. Corruption was a fact of life here, in the African Community and its members, it was really only a question of avoiding been caught red handed.
Filled with the various dignitaries, their adjuncts and staff, along with members of the media providing broadcasts to the various news agency of the world, the party below was meant as a celebration to the end of the conference, a chance for all involved to take a break. A chance to meet and talk informally with little or no formal political concern, showing the world that everything was fine and everybody was getting along with each other.
In short an illusion, she concluded, very carefully suppressing her desire to punch several people in the room, including more than a few from the Atlantic Federation for their opinions on the events out there in the city the last few days. She shook her head; she hated it, really. People; her people were dying out there while she was here playing tea party with…these people, these politicians. She doubt that she would ever get used to it; this aspect of her job had always bothered her to an extent. Maybe it was because of her upbringing or was it her five-year stint in the JDF?
She shook her head again, this time to clear it; she had bigger issues to consider. She hasn't expected GDI to be willing to follow up so soon in putting the "AC-UNGDI Protocol for Anti-terrorists operations" into action. Sure she had expected acting director McNeil to offer a gesture in response to the terrorist attacks over the last few days but even she had baulked when the good director had offered to essentially throw what amounted to a GDI army group at the terrorists until the problem went away.
Still, the negotiation went well despite running through the night and into the wee hours of the morning; but still…she shouldn't have been surprised when she received word that the acting director had also offered to act on the "AC-UNGDI Economical-Internal Development treaty" mere hours after the treaty was signed but she was. Together with her other offer, it worried for some reason but she couldn't put her hand on it; she went through the treaty herself and by all measure the terms was pretty good for the African community, almost too good in fact - so why would GDI push for its fulfilment so soon? She could understand their rush for the trade portion but why did GDI appear so committed in helping her country in infrastructure development and anti-terrorism eludes her. She'd tried to pushing for an explanation and all she'd gotten were vague statements that basically come down to them needing the resources to keep their economy from crashing until their belt mining operations were up and running.
She sighed, perhaps now wasn't the time to overthink things, the past few days in had been a very tense time for her, despite the precautions and preparation she made but in the end, she found that she was still anxiously waiting for something go wrong. Even now, still the last few days she couldn't deny the truth; she felt hope for the Community and maybe in time it could truly climb out of the hellhole that it has been in for decades.
With that in mind, she made her way to the nearest area clear of people and simply stood there with her drink in hand. She was fine with not talking with anyone else for the moment; just taking the time to reflect on this historic moment was good enough for her.
"I see you still have that same smile on your face," she heard. Right away, she knew who it was, after all, it was hard to forget the scarred, yet oddly grandfatherly man that was her old mentor/ rival on the political scene.
"Yeah, I'm quite happy at the moment Phoenix," she said, turning to face the man, using the chance to check out two aides, probably from GDI and ORB judging by their clothes, chatting amicably. "What brings you here from your corner of Tunisia?"
"Business unfortunately, one of them being the PM want additional help from the Community."
She frowned, more help? The African Community has been pouring what aid they can, both military and otherwise for years, finally allowing the country to put down the rebels terrorising its countryside two years ago. What do they want now?
"Haven't we given your government enough aid, both militarily and financially, and over the years?" she said tightly, thinking of her own role in making it possible over the years.
"Oh, don't be mistaken. We've quite thankful for the aid that the administration has been willing to provide us. True, it's only a small amount but every bit has helped." the man answered, pausing for a moment to look around the room, a tired simile still on his face. "To be clear, he's not really asking for more troops or money but rather if it would be possible to get the Joint Defence Force stationed there to remain, at least for the next two years or so."
"Why?" she asked, allowing a little annoyance to leak into her voice. Not that she couldn't see where he was coming from but she wanted to see his reaction.
"The PM is worried about our new visitors like everyone else on the planet, we've been going over their history and from what we've read and seen them do inside the SJZ and outside it, the public is concerned and panicking. The other factor is due to our relative closeness to the SJZ and wind patterns in the Mediterranean which place us directly at risk." Phoenix said, not mentioning that these same issues were beginning to appear in the other northern African nations, the only difference is that the Tunisian government chose to act on it now and not later.
"While that is true, we got other problems in the region that we have to deal with…."
"Then maybe we could get one or more of the GDI treaty bases?" the man asked, trying another angle.
"Already done, your country will be getting two of the GDI bases due to the relatively closeness to the SJZ."
"Thank you, still it would still be nice to have the JDF troops," Phoenix trailed off,"... I mean the GDI bases would be nice but we have to remember they are basically an alien presence. We have no idea what their culture is like...at worse-"
"As long as your PM approves it shouldn't be a problem," she interrupted, thinking about it "But you do raise a good point..."
Looking around, she gave an impish smile as she spotted the GDI aside from earlier; apparently cultural attache by the name of Fullerton if his name tag was correct. "But perhaps we can start addressing this now," she continued, walking up to the attaché with a rather bemused Phoenix in tow.
Slowing as she approached the slightly tanned, bespectacled, European gentlemen who looks to be in his 50s, she frowned; she can't place it but there was something off about the man, something which made all of her instincts scream DANGEROUS; an 'aura' she had only felt around the most hardened of soldiers...yet there was nothing obvious threatening about him.
"Hello, may I help you?" Perhaps sensing her hesitant movements, the man turned slightly, tilting his head at the pair. Gyasi was surprised that he even noticed them approaching with all the people around. Deciding to analyze that later, she gave a small nod and replied.
"Gyasi Mukantagara and my friend here is Wilber Phoenix. I assume you are with the GDI contingent Mr...?"
"Fullerton, Antony Fullerton. Freelance writer, botanist and cultural attaché with the GDI for now. What can I do for you Minster Gyasi and Attorney General Phoenix?"
Gyasi blinked, while her position is probably well known to GDI by now, she haven't expected one of their random attaché to recognize an official from such an obscure state as Tunisia and on sight at that.
"You are certainly well informed Mr Fullerton." Phoenix injected, "most people outside of certain cycles in the Community couldn't have recognized me on sight like that."
Fullerton gave a warm laugh, "I didn't, I cheated," he admitted with a smile, tapping his glasses. Gyasi looked blankly in confusion then blinked as she realized the very faint images on the glasses that she had initially dismissed as reflections are actually transparent holograms, projected in front of Fullerton's eyes. It was the smallest holographic projector she had ever seen.
"This screen here is connected with the EVA unit we brought along, said unit then has an uplink connection to the shuttle and from there to Earthnet." He explained with a grin. "But enough of that, I believed you wanted to talk about something else initially?"
"Yes, about that..." Phoenix started, "You are probably aware that my country has been chosen to house two of the bases for your country's military Mr Fullerton. My government is interested in learning more about your culture and social so we can hopefully avoid any issues that it may cause."
"Not a problem, if you want, I can get some basic primers on most of the ethno-religious groups that still exist in GDI." Fullerton chuckled good naturedly, "Not that it really matter anyway since the boys and girls over at ZOCOM are pretty anti-social."
"Sorry? ZO-Com? What is that?" Phoenix replied, confused as his mind took a moment to connect the dots.
"I'm sorry, Zone Operations Command. They are our tiberium containment specialist, usually based at Yellow and Red Zones-" Gyasi nodded as Fullerton launched into a basic explanation of the roles and history of the command.
It was the way he stoods that was bothering her, Gyasi realised. She wouldn't have noticed it if she wasn't specifically looking for something off about the GDI attache but even as he was talking to the two of them, his eyes have never really focused on them, instead, the crisp hazel eyes behind the glasses were scanning the room almost constantly. And his stance...what she had initially assumed was a relaxed slouch actually allowed him to move in any direction at a moment's notice. Frankly it was rather frightening how natural and casual Fullerton made it seem.
"Were you a soldier?" Gyasi interjected, "I mean you seem to know a lot about your country's military..."
"Well... just a tip, if you ask any GDI citizen between the age of 18 and 65, the answer is almost always going to be yes. I take it that its not the case here?"
"Some of our constituent states do have conscription but by law, they are allowed to handle their own internal affairs." Not that we can dictate their internal policy most of the time. Gyasi thought sourly. "Still, given your history, it is not surprising your government implemented conscription."
"Er... actually the government didn't." Fullerton blink owlishly, "The GDI armed forces is strictly a volunteer only service. Its just that it is a social norm to contribute back to the state by volunteering two or three years for government service."
Gyasi frowned at the remark slightly before deciding to save it for later.
"Ah," Phoenix nodded, slipping into his political science professor persona. "Social coercion. Does your government have any problem with calling up its reserve? Dr Lee's paper on Rational choice theory would indicate that turnout should be quite low once the reserves have establish a better choice."
"Ah,no." He blinked back at the two African with slight bewilderment, "according to the last census, around 2 to 7% of the eligible age group would fall to answer a mobilisation and those are usually the ones who didn't sign up for government service anyways. Isn't that the usual number?"
Two to seven percent! Gyasi blinked incredulously, before her eyes narrowed, as she gave Phoenix a warning glare, telling him to drop the subject.
A solemn violin piece, one that she didn't recognize; beautiful yet somehow bittersweet and haunting, interrupted her train of thought as Fullerton reached into his coat and pulled out a metal brick of a phone with practiced ease.
"My apologies, can we continue our conversation later?" He said as he glanced at the screen, "my boss wants a meeting. By the way, conference room 72A is by the left corridor yes?"
"Don't apologize, you have a job to do." Gyasi gave a small grateful smile. "And yes, take the left door and head towards the lift lobby, then take the lift to the tenth floor and head left. Conference room 72A should be somewhere around there. Do you need a guide?"
"No, I can manage. I'll arrange for the press corps to send you a small briefing package, Mr Phoenix." With that, the GDI aside gave a small bow and left.
"Well, that was interesting," the man known as Phoenix chuckled for a moment though somewhat uneasily. "That wasn't as helpful as it should have, but at least we'll be getting more information soon
"Do you think he was lying about the degree of militarization Phoenix?" Gyasi asked.
"Well, I don't know. He doesn't look like he was..." Phoenix frowned in thought. "Their government and logistics would completely break down. But still even if he was only half right, a 7 million man army is nothing to joke about."
"So that was supposed to be a threat!?" Gyasi exclaimed, although she regained control of herself when she remembered something else that she'd forgotten about GDI. "But they're not the same as us, there use to operating at a much larger scale than us."
"True," Phoenix said, after a moment thought, at which point his brain provided the answer. It was all a matter of scale, still it did not change the sense of unease he felt.
"I know-" She was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. "Sorry, give me a second."
Odd, it appears that the commander of hotel security was trying to call her. "Gyasi here."
"Minister, we have a problem" The captain's icily calm voice came over the phone. More worry inducing was the rapid-fire commands being shouted in the background. "We have set up a perimeter around the kitchens and docks and lock down the service elevators successfully but the terrorists were already armed. My man are holding them back for now but we need your authorization to deploy a full company from the 89th and any addition backup we may need."
Gyasi reacted instantly, "Authorization granted. Sierra, niner, niner, one, three, one, seven, Golf! I say again, Sierra, niner, niner, one, three, one, seven, Golf! Give me a sitrep once able!"
"Yes ma'am! Lieutenant!" There was a burst of rapid fire Swahili on the other side as the phone changed hands. "Madam minister?"
"Talk to me." Gyasi replied impatiently "what is the situation?!"
"Ma'am, the initial platoon of terrorist infiltrators are holed up in Kitchen 2. Our troops have cut the service elevators and secured corridors 1/Alpha through 1/ Echo as well as most of their weapon cache as per contingency LANCER so they are not going anywhere, what is more pressing though is the section sized group of heavily armed hostiles assaulting the loading bay-"
"What! How did they get past the perimeter!" She demanded, eyes twitching.
"Via the old sewer system ma'am, there must be an access point that we somehow bypassed all the outer ring checkpoints and blew past the rapid reaction team who responded to the sewer sensors. By the time our main force got there they had already hunkered down at the loading bays..." The lieutenant trailed off, "Not that it matters though; to get to the conference, they have to get past the Kitchen and the corridors we had secured and they don't have a chance in hell of doing that before the rest of the company come hammering down on their asses."
"So is the conference secure?" Gyasi asked curtly. "Wait- get pass the Kitchens? I thought the terrorist were hiding in the kitchens?"
"Yes, ma'am. The Ballroom is built into a reinforced slab; almost a vault- even if they have heavy demo charges, they'll have to collapse the entire floor -not just the kitchen- to get at it. We have already sent people to keep everyone in the upper floors or in the ballroom. Also the two groups of terrorists appear to be shooting each other as well."
"Huh, well let them kill each other then." Gyasi said, without a second thought.
"Unfortunately not Minister. Both the Kitchen and the loading docks are located near the hotel's primary backup fuel cell array and the terrorist assault team at least have RPGs, I'll rather- oh SHIT!"
A rumbling crack which rumbled through the ground beneath her feet told her something had just gone wrong with the operation.
"Lieutenant," She said, her voice deathly calm, "what happened?"
"Minister, the terrorist just detonated an explosive charge right under a section of corridor just outside the ballroom and-
00
Major ( Ret.) Anthony "Starks" Fullerton was having a bad week. Scratch that, he was having a bad month. First, there had been that act of GOD which literally dumped him, some 30 million people and some rather vital part of GDI's infrastructure into some random godforsaken universe. Then, he was reactivated from his rather comfortable early retirement (and he had been working so hard on his small indoor farm too) by the Supreme Commander of the freaking GDIUP herself. Finally he was ordered to attend some conference with a local second rate power in fucking Cairo which still somehow manage to live up to it's reputation as a hotbed of terrorism despite being in another fucking universe ... And was that the sound of gunfire below him?
Still it was surprising, even to him, when the universe decided to throw him yet another wild card and collapse the floor from underneath him.
Then again, he mused sourly as his arms loosen in preparation for landing against the rapidly approaching ground, the last time he had expected an easy assignment, Stuttgart happened.
00
Moments Earlier
African Community, Cairo, King Tut hotel: Kitchen 2
Rainer staggered as yet another near miss rained concrete shrapnel down upon him before poking his head around the doorframe and wildly spraying his Uzi at the other side; the swarm of 9mm rounds keeping their opponent's head down long enough for Lissie to rush out and drag one of their wounded back into cover.
"You Ok?" He asked, swing back into cover as return fire hammered into the kitchen, sending up sprays of concrete dust.
"Fuck those traitors!" Lissie spat, trying to stop the bleeding on the wounded man. "I swear, if I get to that fucking BITCH who tipped us off to Ramesse, I am going to rip her bloody guts out and feed it to her! I'll-"
Turning away from his ranting companion, he nodded as one of his fighters slid into cover next to him. He had sent the man, Alahagan; if he had remembers the name correctly, to scout out the battlefield he was forced into and from the look on the panting man's face, the news was bad.
"How bad is it?" He asked half dreading the answer. "And don't sugar coat it."
"Really bad Rainer. As in dead man walking bad. Hate to say it but the Community have us by the balls now, they were waiting for us." Alahagan coughed, "Slater's team was ambushed and captured when they tried to recover the upper caches. Almost three quarters of what's left was sabotaged. We are down to 10 mag of 5.56 and around 10 mag of 9-mils. After that we are throwing rocks."
"For our team?" Rainer asked, knowing full well that a serious firefight will deplete that stockpile within minutes.
"No, for everyone." The scout replied sourly, "not to mention these jokers," he spat in the general direction of their former compatriots in the loading bay, "means we'll be running into the teeth of the JDF no matter what we do."
Rainer understood what the other man was saying immediately; with all the death and destruction outside, the JDF aren't going to be in the mood to accept surrenders. "What about further into the hotel?"
"Not going to happen, Ryan's team haven't made it back yet but if all the corridors are like what Hazzam's team encountered, the JDF have up to a section of troops with machine gun and automatic grenade launchers fortified in each corridor. We'll be lucky if we made it through that with our original weapons and-"
Whatever else the scout had to say was drowned out as the world exploded into painful noise.
Pain, that's the first thing he felt as he came to, struggling to make sense of the world through blurred eyes and ringing ears. The second sensation to return was touch, as he felt something dragging him over a surface covered with pools of metallic smelling liquid; blood he dimly realize, he was being dragged over a killing ground.
"R- Rain- wak- " he heard dimly over the ringing in his ears, looking upwards he saw the fuzzy form of a tearful face; probably whoever who was trying to drag him to safety- wait Lissie?
"-Goddamn it wake up Rainer!
Giving a half strangled cough he reached out and with Lissie's assistance, pulled himself over a dented metal wreck which used to be a table.
"What happened?" He manage to rasp out, collapsing into a heap behind cover.
'Satchel charge." Lissie spat, glaring at something before turning and looking worried at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Dizzy but I can still fight," Rainer grunted as he hauled himself up then sighed as he surveyed the damage. What used to be a solid wall now spotted a gaping, still smoking hole surrounded by the bloody minced corpses of his people. "Not that there is much point in fighting on anyway is there?"
"The only reason why Ramesses's men haven't finish us off yet is because the roof is about to collapse." Lissie sighed, pointing out the spreading cracks on the ceiling. "Once it falls, they will probably come charging in and catch us in the crossfire."
As she speaks, a heavy crack echoed through the room as the ceiling have way, dropping the concrete slab some seven meters straight downwards... Followed a split second by what looks to be a 50-something gentleman in a suit landing on the broken remains with a wet smack.
"Poor bastard." Rainer winced; he hated it when innocent civilians get caught up in his ops, even if they are coordinators - like the kids which got caught in the blast when he bombed their clinics - his conscience supplied. After all he was trying to kill the real monsters - the parents who would force their own children to be coordinators and the doctors who supply them with the means to do it. Unfortunately it was a view often mocked as naive in Blue Cosmos by people like Ramesse. .
Perhaps it is Kama, Rainer mused, readying his Uzi as a trio of Ramesse's man stormed through the hole, one of them already bring his rifle up to gun down the helpless man. Perhaps he wouldn't survive this but the least he could do for Blue Cosmos is to avenge this innocent bystander and put down the rabid dogs like Ramesse while he still could.
Of course that just made it all the more surprising when the supposedly helpless bystander lunged forward, somehow dodging the first burst the terrorist sent his way before utterly dismantling all three terrorist with a fury of precise blows.
00
Major (Ret.) Fullerton would have liked to reiterate that he had a bad day as he (and the floor underfoot) fell afoul of gravity. Unfortunately he was far too busy cursing a certain McNeil as he fell through seven meters before throwing forward his arm in a flawless front break-fall, bruising and cutting his arms and leaving him slightly dazed but otherwise unharmed from his fall.
Taking a deep breath to collect himself, he instinctively tensed, preparing himself for action as certain scents in the air triggered training beaten into him by a certain colonel Parker some three decades ago.
Blood... It was hard to tell through the concrete dust but the distinctive smell of human blood and smokeless powder hung heavy in the air.
Instantly on alert, his vigilance paid off moments later when three raggedly dressed but heavily armed militia types fast-trotted into his view, one of them already training his rifle- an antique of a M16A1 he noted, towards him.
Muscle memory kicked in as his body reacted, his left arm flinging a fistful of dust and debris towards the offending gunman while using the momentum of the throw to roll counterintuitively to the right.
As he predicted, the throw manage to cause the insurgent to finch and miss towards the left and unfortunately for the gunman, that was enough time for the veteran (ex)commando to cross the distance and deliver a devastating right handed pivot jab into the gunman's master shoulder, sending the man reeling back. Simultaneously, the commando grabbed the trigger guard (and trigger hand) of his assailant with his left hand and making use of his own momentum and overextended stance, grabbed the gunman's collar and rammed forward with deliberate purpose, twisting the man's rifle arm backwards with a muffled snap, the gunman's reflexive death grip on the trigger sending a short stream of bullet which decapitates a second unsuspecting terrorist.
However Fullerton was not finished yet. Still moving forward, he dropped down to one knee, neatly sidestepping the third gunman's knife lunge, while simultaneously flipping the initial attacker on his back. Shifting his footing, the commando delivered a killing stomp to the exposed throat of the downed gunman while using the improved leverage to wrench the man's rifle from his still spasming hands, swinging the weapon like a club in a lightning fast arc towards the last gunman. Surprisingly enough, despite still recovering from his earlier failed lunge, the scruffy dressed fighter managed to somewhat block the devastating blow at the cost of his knife arm. However all that did was to buy him a few fractions of a second among the living as Fullerton simply reversed the grip of his right hand and muzzle thrust the rifle through the terrorist's eye.
A strange silence hung in the air as the last gunman collapse limply onto the blood soaked ground, with Fullerton taking the moment to discard his now useless M16 and 'appropriate' another weapon, this time a Submachine gun, from the dead terrorists, surveying the area in the process. That's when his glasses lit up with a familiar warnings, causing him to almost instinctively dive sideways into the smoke and bloody debris nearby as his EVA unit warned him of multiple signatures converging on his location.
00
"4 Seconds... God almighty."
Ignoring the stunned gasp beside her, Lissie could only stare dumbfounded at the brutal conclusion of the fight- if it could be even called that- between Ramesse's fighters and that... Coordinator?
Lissie blinked, puzzled by her odd hesitation; after all no true human can even hope to replicate what that... thing just did; demolishing three armed and hardened militants with nothing but bare hands after just getting up from a multi-story fall was just not something a normal human can do.
But then again, whatever that man was, it was something she had never seen before. His actions weren't just fast (though not inhumanly fast like other coordinators, a part of her mind added), there was a certain deadly grace about them; there was no hesitation, no wasted movement, just one attack which flow into another like some fatal waltz.
Regardless, she thought, shaking her head, ducking back under cover in the process, while three of Ramesse's man was neutralized, the firefight was still going strong and she doubt whatever other miracles the 'coordinator' could pull out of his ass would be enough to save him.
She was proven wrong minutes later when something slammed into the service elevator door from the inside so hard that it flew forward a good ten metres, the solid pieces of metal crumpled and literally ripped from their mounting, followed closely by a blur riding on wings of brilliant blue-white light.
00
"I am sorry madam, I cannot allow anyone to pass. My orders are pretty clear on that."
"-And my orders are for me to go down there and extract one of our people! Look this is getting us nowhere. Can I speak with your officer commanding?"
"I am sorry, the Captain is extremely busy at this moment but I am sure that he will get back to you after this operation."
Sergeant (Senior Grade) Valentina Weiss growled internally in frustration, squishing the glowing urge to punch the young second lieutenant in front of her despite her standing orders to be as courteous to the locals as possible. She had rushed out here when her EVA had informed her of an impending class A(2) situation involving a GDI personnel, only to find herself blocked by this obnoxious lieutenant and his platoon cordoning off a sizeable hole in the floor of the corridor out of which the sound of gunfire and fighting could be heard. Two minutes later, she was still stuck at the far end of the corridor arguing with the lieutenant. This was getting nowhere, she decided.
"Alright. Thank you for your time lieutenant." The young woman gritted out, her green blond hair trailing behind her as she stalks off. Once out of earshot, she gave a few discrete taps on her personal EVA unit, whispering into her throat mic as it gave a short buzz to signify an active connection.
"Well any ideas you can work up this time Grace?"
"Not yet but it look like our objective is already being engaged by some militants according to the syphons we had placed- ooh, ouch that had got to hurt -" A voice which sound like an overexcited lab tech on a sugar high replied, "and anyway it looks like he can take care of himself for now so we have more time to plan. I've got EVA looking through the database we had bribed from the city officials... Ok It looks like we got something, wait one-"
Lieutenant Grace Helfer is the intelligence and security officer for McNeil's Security contingent; widely considered one of the best officer to have come out of Inops for the past decade or so. It was unfortunate for the rest of GDI however, that Inops tend to produce two types of officers, the first being highly professional and relatively competent officer who are quite good at what they do and the second being officers whose slight eccentricity and breaches of protocol are ignored in light of just how damn competent they are at their job.
Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on whose point of view) Lieutenant Grace Helfer belonged to the second category.
"Wait Grace, Slowly." Valentina sighed, "Take a deep breath and tell me what you got."
There was an audible pause at the other end of the line as the Inops agent took a moment to compose herself. When she started again, her voice was considerably calmer and more professional, a fact which Valentina noted gratefully.
"Alright, Syphon intercepts," The Inops agent begin, referring to the 'Syphon' drones which they had deployed to tap into the Hotel's security and communication system days before, "indicates that our VIP is currently caught in a crossfire between two hostile groups in the Kitchen directly below your current location. Most of the ingress points are covered with heavy weapons and local troops. The closest entry point not covered by heavy Community presence is the freight elevator to your East. I'll send Frank and Chen via an alternate route once they are ready. I've patched the map and route to your EVA."
"Good. Hostile strength?" Valentina replied, already running in the indicated direction.
"Already uploaded into your EVA's TACTINT but it look like the bigger group is armed primarily with handguns and SMGs. It also look like they have physically cut the power conduct of the elevator so you'll have to rappel down."
"Nevermind, I'll take care of that."
"Oh and Val? Don't do anything stupid, I've crack the local's comms, get permission, and snuck a Guardian with a Fireteam just outside the Hotel's perimeter. They can be here in less than 10 minutes if needed though I'd rather not use them."
"Got it."
Taking the last few steps to the freight elevator doors, switching her eyepiece to enhanced vision along the way, she blanched as she saw the mass of at least twenty red Icons surrounding the lone blue contact overlaid on the floor. That guy downstairs is not going to last a minute unless he is a fucking commando, she thought with a grimace as she pick up her pace.
Moving faster now, she slammed her fingers into the crevice between the two door panels, the piezoelectric fiber laced gloves of her LCS 10[IN] hardening into steel-like talons, carving deep into the gap. With handholds secured, the GDI guard pulled, the form fitting armor beneath her clothes amplifying her strength trice over, allowing her to easily overcome the screeching resistance put up by the door's motor.
Looking down the elevator shaft, she scowled; with the elevator cab stuck at several level below where she wanted to go, not to mention the utter lack of leverage to open the door once she got there, there was no way that she could reach the VIP in time; especially considering the cluster of six red contacts vividly marked on her HUD; hostiles who are making their way to the VIP's location even now.
"Oh this is going to suck." Taking a deep breath as an insane, half-baked plan took shape within her mind, she took a half step back, then took a running leap forward into the elevator shaft, ignoring the footsteps and surprised shouts behind her. Her coat was shredded apart a fraction of a second later as she activated her jumpjets, precise twitching of her left wrist and fingers to control the jetpack's thrusters, guiding her descent towards a lower point on the opposite wall almost directly opposite where her HUD indicated the door to the kitchen was located.
Nearing her mark, her jetpack's boosters pulsed once, momentary arresting her fall as she drove her armored hand into the wall, her own tiberium fueled strength augmented by the power of her armor carving inches deep fingerholds into the concrete of the elevator shaft. Handhold secured, she curled upwards, planting her feets upon the wall of the shaft and leaped. Reinforced concrete underfoot cratered as she was propelled forwards with a force three order of magnitude higher than what an normal human could ever hope to achieve, sending her flying at the door. Then the jetpack's main booster kick in, smashing her into -and through- the door with energies more commonly found in high speed car crashes.
Piezoelectric fibers and Non-Newtonian fluid plating stiffened then deformed as her armor struggled and failed to fully disperse the titanic forces generated as she slam shoulder first into the offending door separating her from her charge. Muscle tore and bone shattered as her right shoulder started to give way under the immense stress only to abruptly halt as the tiberium 'scales' growing from her bones locked together. Then she was through, the multi-hundred kilogram piece of metal which used to be the freight elevator door torn out of its mooring and sent flying in front of her like some demented shield.
Twisting mid air with a burst of her thrusters, the GDI soldier hover-glide on her jumpjets, snapping her weapon to ready with her good hand, targeting reticle flashing to life on her HUD. Smiling savagely over the pain of her already healing shoulder, her innate biology, suit medical systems and medical nanites already mending the damage, she switched her GD-12 to sustained mode with a practiced flick of her thumb and as the door crash to the ground, fires, sending a deadly lance of high energy photon slicing into the three terrorists who were unfortunate enough to be caught out in the open.
The normally invisible laser swept across -and through- the unfortunate terrorists, its passage outlined by an ethereal glow as dust, blood and indeed the very air itself flash into plasma with its passing. Blood flash-vaporized, fats exploded and bone burnt to ash as energies designed to burn through unyielding steel and composite was brought to bear against mere kevlar and flesh for mere fractions of a second...and then the deed was done; three terrorist cleaved in half like so much wheat before a farmer's scythe. Or in this case, so much wheat before an industrial grade combine harvester.
Then again, she IS left handed.
00
The dynamic arrival of the one-woman GDI reinforcement didn't come as much of a surprise to Fullerton, having been forewarned by his EVA uplink. Thus he was prepared to take full advantage of the opportunity presented by the carnage the trooper wreaked upon the unsuspecting terrorist. Bursting out of cover in the aftermath of the laser strike, he did the last thing that anyone expected him to do: attack.
Charging the still dazzled terrorist with all the speed his aged legs can muster, his smart glasses having shielded his eyes from the fury of the laser's passing, firing his SMG in long deadly accurate bursts as he crossed the intervening distance in a matter of seconds.
The first burst went high, merely hammering into the space above the entrenched terrorists, making them duck down instinctively. The second burst bit into the skull of the only two gunman with enough presence of mind to try and counter-suppress him, dropping them out of the fight.
Then with a quick vault over the impromptu barricade, sub-machine guns blazing all the way, he was in among the terrorists, nullifying their numerical advantage and cover; turning the firefight into one deadly game of chicken, seeing who will break and seek cover first.
And say what you will of the GDI commando program but no-one has ever accused them of passing out cowards.
00
"Hello. This is Alpha-Niner. Alpha-one. Aspirin. Over."
"Alpha-one is at Hugo axis. Ride is ok, all forces ok. Awaiting to proceed. Over."
"Alpha-one, Alpha-Niner. Spyglass update indicates at least 2 archer emplacements and 8 lancers at objective. Give them hell, we want those VIPs back in one piece. GDI have confirmed that their VIPs are not in the immediate IZ. Show those Blue Helmets what we are really made of. Out."
"Alpha-one Roger. Out"
"Alright! You all heard Captain Ruddle! All unit ready and with me, move now! Out!"
With that, 12 machine gun loaded and 6 engines roared to life, driving the VX200 apcs and their cargo of 42 angry young soldiers towards those who had dared to embarrass their country.
First platoon, Alpha company, 89th motor-rifle Battalion was finally going to town on the arse of the terrorist.
00
"That was a Beam rifle...! The blue hats got goddamn INFANTRY BEAM RIFLES!"
"SHUT UP!" Harpy snared, backhanding the panicking fighter before his hysteria could get out of control. "It is just ANOTHER FUCKING GUN!"
Giving the downed man a disgusted kick, he turned around and glared at the fire fight the blotched operation had devolved into. What was supposed to be a quick strike at the political heart of one of the coordinator's allies had bogged down quickly when Hashish's damn band of traitors dare take up arms against them.
Still, it should had been child's play to punch through the meagre resistance the traitors had put up had two more unknowns not intervened on the traitor's side; just two unknowns who had went up against eighteen of his best men... And slaughtered more than half of them in that many minutes.
He don't know which one was worse; the business suit clad bastard who kept charging into his men and mincing them in close combat before seemingly fading into the smoke and chaos with a few impossibly accurate parting shots before re-emerging elsewhere or that banshee in some kind of power armor who was dancing around his men's gunfire with her bloody jetpack before burning them down with her goddamned beam rifle.
In fact, that bitch seem to be making a game out of it, waiting for his men to get tired at her constant dodging and try to throw a grenade or fire a rocket before shooting their arms off, dropping the explosives at their own feet. Not that business suit was without his own surprises given that he was consistently landing hits on his men. While running. With single shots. From halfway across the room. With a SMG.
Either way, he was sure that those two were some new type of coordinator monsters that those GDI fuckers had created despite their assurance of equality; it was simply impossible for real humans to do what they were doing.
There! Feeling more than spotting the deceptively faint blue beam that the GDI rifle sent forth, he traced it back to its source within the dust enshrouded kitchen and replied with a long spray from his light machine gun...
It was unfortunate that he was so focused on the threats in front of him that he never registered the sound of heavy machine gunfire behind him. Then again, even if he had noticed, it wouldn't have helped him against the 40mm grenades which turned him, his compatriot, and anyone else within a 2 metre radius for that matter into a fine red mist courtesy of an over eager squad of JDF troops.
00
'Reinforcements have arrived."
Sergeant Valentina Weiss smiled tiredly at EVA's announcement, giving one last parting shot at a machine gunner too preoccupied with the flood of angry JDF infantryman storming up the loading bay to notice her approach. Hunching down behind an overturned counter, she breathed a sigh of relief; despite her superior weaponry, armor and mutant heritage, she had been on the verge of being overwhelmed by the numbers of the militants as the now healing wounds all over her body could attest to. She only had light armor power on with even less protection than the LCS armor, much less the Zone armor she was used to, it a wonder to her that it was even still in one piece and the jetpack was still working after all that she had put it through.
It had taken no small amount of skill, and admittedly, luck to have survived all that the hostiles had thrown at her, even with her armor defeating almost half the shots which actually hit her, deliberately drawing fire away from the crazy diplomat as it were.
"Having a bad day?" A smooth baritone enquired beside her.
Almost jumping in surprise and, as much as she loathed to admit it, no small amount of fear, she twisted, training her rifle at the... crazy diplomat she had came to rescue?
She blinked, the 50 something year old was man sitting nonchalantly beside her as if they were sharing a smoke break instead of the aftermath of a free for all firefight with him staring down the wrong side of her rifle sights, which she notice belatedly was buzzing angrily at being pointed at a friendly IFF. Even his clothes looked mostly clean in contrast to her bruised and shot up appearances.
"Put down the rifle sarge." The diplomat sighed, "I would suggest that you get your commander on the horn and tell them to let the Africans know not to shoot up the kitchen since just about everybody here is surrendering anyway," he said pointing at the armed people behind him slowly putting down their weapons and raising their arms in surrender.
"How the hell did you sneak up on me!" Valentina demanded,"For that matter who the hell are you?! "
"Tsk,Tsk. You are still too reliant on your armor to notice the tell-tales of a fooled sensor I guess? And still too cocky for your own good." The man reprimanded with a small fond smile. "As to your other question, name is Anthony Fullerton; cultural attaché. But you'll probably know me better as Major Fullerton, former commander of the 3rd commando cadet course."
00
Five kilometres away in a secluded internet cafe a plain looking businessmen turned towards his colourfully dressed tourist acquaintance as the last of the action in the hotel kitchen, as captured by hijacked security feed, played across the screen of their laptop.
"Alright, Mr Waltfield..." Colonel Hamzah asked his ZAFT opposite number bemusedly. "What in the name of fuck did we just watch?"
Codex:
Newwiki: Serpent Tail
One of the newest mercenary groups to be created in the aftermath of the dismantling of the United Nations, the Serpent Tail group (LLC) is a private military contractor specialising in aerospace combat, close air support and associated logistical support. As of its founding in November CE69 the group is based out of the Eurasian affiliated Republic of Iran, where the group first formed.
Since its founding, the group have been involved in a series of high profile operations in the Middle East and in the African Community, completing a total of 15 missions within a two month time period; a very high job completion rate compared to other comparable mercenaries groups. It must also be noted that the group seem to specialise in high-difficulty/high reward jobs, the most recent of which is the assassination of the infamous terrorist warlord Arkaan Muhammad, a mission with a rumored payout of $30 million.
This odd job selection pattern and their extremely high job proficiency have lead to many speculating that Serpent Tail is actually an undercover special operations unit which went rouge, a rumor which could not be confirmed. Indeed, in spite of its reputation, not much is known of the inner workings or even the structure of the group.
Newwiki: Private Military Companies/mercenaries and the world today
Until the recent dissolution of the United Nations, mercenaries were outright banned while private military companies were placed under very strict guidelines and regulations which they were required to follow or else face heavy fines, criminal investigations and/or sanctions with were designed to drive their parent company into bankruptcy, neatly sidestepping the inability of the UN to disband such groups with force.
But with the United Nations disbanded, the "United Nations Mercenary Convention" like other UN treaties no longer apply and nations no longer abide by them. As a result the number of mercenaries and private military companies have radically increased, with the newest of them being "Serpent Tail" which recently emerged in the Middle East.
While mercenaries and private military companies aren't technically the same, the United Nations considered private military companies as just another front for mercenaries which is why such groups were heavily regulated and restricted in the activities they were allowed to performed...
Newwiki: The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPO)
The Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPO) is the organization responsible for planning, preparations, managing, and the directing of all UN mandated peacekeeping forces. The department can trace it roots back to 1950, during the first Korean war.
The crisis led to the then UN Secretary-General Yu Lawson pushing UN Resolution 44 through the security council (The USSR abstained from the vote).
Resolution 44: "Condemnation of aggression upon the Republic of Korea" effectively placed the South Korean and US forces under UN control in the auspices of the newly created UNDPO. In addition, the resolution allowed for the deployment of additional UN forces from other member nations. In total, 21 members nations provided support during the war, with the majority provided by the US military.
While UNDPO didn't actively direct and control the UN combat forces in Korea, it did allow the new department to gain experience as they worked alongside the US military. The years that followed saw UNDPO controlled forces deployed throughout the world, especially during the long chaotic years of the Cold War and the Reconstruction Wars as the UN attempted to maintain some sense of peace in a world actively going down the drain.
After the Reconstruction War, the department was reorganized and oversight added in to avoid some of the worse excesses seen in some UN affiliated forces during the Reconstruction Wars, especially since most of the traditional contributors to the UN Peacekeeper force no longer exists in the new world of 10 countries...
