Sorry for the very late update. I accidentally lost this file when I'm halfway done, making me to have to write the whole thing down again. Then the exams came in and work had been stalled again.
To alichi: The reason why the Scrin in this story is in crisis of Tiberium shortage is simply because they have stripped farmed all resources from available planets around them dry. With Earth as their only known planet to them that still contain resources for them to seed Tiberium, but no way for them to get to there after the Threshold Tower had been reconfigured during the retreat, the Scrin basically had no more resource-rich planets around them to seed.
To Blanchimont: I know there will be this timeline issue when I was writing this chapter. Since we don't know how long exactly does it take for Raynor and his crew to complete each of these canon missions in Wings of Liberty, I can only come up with a guess. In my point of view, the closest guess I can come up with is about a few weeks or half an Earth month. It may seem that the Protoss had spent less than a week to combat Nod forces, Zergs and Scrin on Mar Sara, don't forget that the battle had taken place across the entire planet, not just near Mar Sara City or Ground Zero. The battles described in the story are just some of the key skirmishes in the entire battle that represent who's winning in the battle. Each of these skirmishes may have a span of a few days, so the overall battle will most likely be slightly, about near a week or so; and that is for one of these battles against ONE faction. This is why I think a few weeks is a reasonable timeline for the Protoss to take to prepare, plan, rest and combat against 3 factions on Mar Sara.
After hearing some suggestions, I'd decided to lower down the rating of this fic a bit. When I first started it, I rated it as M for precaution since there will be a lot of deaths and blood going on. This is about war, so it's expected. But after browsing other fics in this site for some time, I realised that there are many others even bloodier but with lower rating. So I decided to follow the crowd. If anyone of you think that the rating is inappropriate, I can change it back to M.
Anyway this storyline will take place more than 400 years after C&C4 and around the timeline of Wings of Liberty, at year 2504.
WARNING: UNAUTHORISED ENTRY DETECTED...
Disclaimer: C&C belongs to EA while Starcraft belongs to Blizzard.
ACT 24: BATTLE FOR BHEKAR RO: GHOST AND SPECTRE
(High Orbit above Bhekar Ro... Nova Squadron flagship Mjolnir control bridge...)
Nova Squadron commander Colonel Akira Yamada is now staring at his command terminal, which is showing the inner layout of the Bhekar Ro Orbital Platform. With Agent Nova Terra still out of contact and the rest of his agents being pulled out from the enemy territory, Akira has decided to turn his attention to the mysterious gravity wells found in the inner chambers of the orbital platform. Due to the presence of these gravity wells, Akira has feared that the orbital platform where the Delta Squadron has now based itself on and where all the Nukes for this operation have been housed on, can be a hidden trap set by the Brotherhood of Nod; hence he has decided to stay on his ship rather than getting down there. Now, he needs to investigate what they are truly used for.
A few hours ago, he had sent in an engineering squad of SCVs and Technicians, escorted by a Marine squad and a Ghost agent, into the inner chambers of the orbital platform to study the gravity wells. Regardless of what the Nod forces are planning to use these wells for, Akira is not planning to let them use it.
"SCV Team N-09A; what's your status?" the Nova Squadron commander asks.
"bzzt... Sir; we've reached the first gravity well! We'd encountered a few booby traps along the way, but fortunately with Agent West accompanying us, we'd been given early warnings of those booby traps and managed to neutralise them safely. All personnel are accounted for and there're no casualties in the team yet."
"Good to know; what about the gravity well? Can you shut it down?"
"Sorry sir! It's not going to be that easy. The well has been rigged with multiple booby traps; all of them appear to be low explosives filled with high volumes of splinters. If these traps blow off, the well will still be operational, but any occupants in the chamber would be dead. I'm afraid that the other wells may have been rigged with similar traps."
"I see... can you disable the traps?"
"We can... but it's going to cost us a lot of time to do that."
"Then do it! We don't know when the Nod forces will start activating these wells. It's better for us to start shutting down these wells as early as possible before something happens. Remember that the Delta Squadron has set up camp on this platform, and our Nukes are also housed on the platform. If something happens to it, we'll be in deep trouble! Now defuse those traps and work to shut down all these wells immediately!"
"Roger that!"
A few minutes after Akira ends his transmission with SCV Team N-09A, the Japanese commander receives an update from the battle down on Bhekar Ro surface; they had just tracked down Nova's new position.
Eager to know the status of the Mengsk's favourite Ghost, Akira quickly orders his men to patch him in to the blonde Ghost.
"Nova; what's your status?"
"bzzt... This is Agent Nova to Mjolnir command... I had just infiltrated into the basement of the target. Met some resistance by the station guards, but I'd eliminated most of them. Right now, I'm using the adjutant-synchronised data drive to download the map layout of the station to find the main control terminal where I can find all the essential Nod files to accomplish my primary objective." Nova replies.
"Alright, Nova... once you've obtained the map and the files, transmit them back to the Mjolnir. We'll help you to analyse them and use these information to get you out of that place in one piece."
"bzzt... Don't worry sir; I'll finish this before the fools on Delta Squadron can arrive to clean this place up."
"You will! Right now, our Nod enemies have deployed a new kind of advanced base defence that have been stalling the Delta Squadron's advance. The new defences have tremendous firepower that can eliminate any of our ground or air units in an instant, but these defences require heavy power consumptions. If you can shut down the power supply of the entire base, you should be able to shut those defences down and clear a path for the Delta Squadron to take this base down."
"I see... and those fools still think that they are doing us a favour by clearing a path for me? Looks like I'm the one helping them instead the other way round. Understood, sir; I'll list down the destruction of the Power Plant clusters in this base as my primary objective after I'd obtained the files from this station."
"Thank you Nova! Wait... we've just received your transmission of the map layout of the station. Now... let's see... the map doesn't show a lot of details on what has been installed in the whole station, so we must expect that there may be some traps and enemy units along the way. The main control terminal of this station appears to be in... the main broadcast studio on Level 6! That will be your destination!"
"Understood; I'm now plotting down my path to my new destination..."
"Hurry, Nova; the Nod forces must be aware of your presence in the station by now. They will be gunning you down with everything they have once they have found you. I'm now ending communication line between you and Mjolnir to prevent the enemies from tracking you through transmission lines; you're on your own now, Nova. Good luck! Mjolnir out!"
"bzzzt... Acknowledged! Nova out!"
After the transmission has ended, Akira switches off the communication line between the ship and Nova, knowing that the enemy may be able to track the Ghost through these communication lines. Nova is on her own now; Akira just hopes that the star Ghost can have the skills and experience to back up her reputation as the Ghost that never fails.
(Nod Bhekar Ro Base no. 10... Main Broadcast Station Level B6 Section 7B...)
With her new objective directives recorded down, Nova prepares to move out. Ignoring the scores of dead bodies of slain Nod soldiers laid strewn across the floor, Nova makes her leave, stepping out of the chamber.
As Nova comes upon a long narrow corridor, she instantly realises that she has been spotted. The Ghost surveys the corridor to find the corridor lined with security cameras, which she has felt that these cameras have been installed with advanced sensory equipment, meaning that these cameras can sense her despite her cloaking.
'Wow... never thought that these Nod forces are so prepared... looks like I have to take out those cameras one by one.' With that thought in mind, Nova hoists up her AGR-14 assault gauss rifle and starts shooting at the cameras; one round for each camera with perfect accuracy. In less than a minute, the Ghost wipes out all the sensory cameras along the entire corridor, leaving none working. It is only when Nova is sure that there are no more of these cameras present around do the Ghost resumes her search.
Just then, Nova's psionic radar detects a pair of infantries approaching; and they are fast. 2 Shadow Warriors hear the gunshots and are quick to arrive to investigate. However, even with their own cloaking, the pair of Shadows are no match to the elite Ghost when they cannot even see her at the first place; not without the support of the security cameras that are supposed to be lined along the corridor. On the other hand, Nova's high PI level allows her to psionically sense her opponents through her pisonic radar even if the enemies are cloaked, meaning that she can see the Shadows while the Shadows cannot. Before the Shadows know what hit them, 2 more gunshots are fired... and the Shadows drop dead.
'That's not too hard... but I don't think the enemy will be stupid enough to not figure out my movements through this complex when they find out their cameras are going blind. Best for me to hurry to the primary objective!'
Nova begins to pick up her pace, dashing across the corridor with amazing speed. She keeps sprinting... until she reaches the end of the corridor and towards the entrance of another chamber, which reads "Section 7A".
'Hmm... according to the map layout of this facility, the main broadcast studio is in the central region of the facility on Level 6... and the only route to gain access to that area is through an elevator at Section 3A on Level 1. The entire building has 8 sections on each level... and there is an elevator in each section which allow access to and from any levels other than Level 6. Looks like I need to find an elevator and get up to the higher levels first.'
With that in mind, Nova cautiously approach the chamber entrance of Section 7A, knowing that the entrance may be rigged with traps or there may be enemy soldiers lying in wait behind from the other end of the chamber. By using her psionic radar, she picks no traps and only several more cameras in the chamber. With inhuman speed, Nova barges into the chamber and takes out all cameras with her AGR-14, shutting the enemy surveillance blind. The Ghost checks her surrounding for a few more seconds, before heading towards the next chamber. If she recalls correctly, there is an elevator in the next chamber.
(A few minutes later... Main Broadcast Station Level B6 Section 7A...)
After Nova walks into another room, she finally sees an elevator at one of the room's corner. Cautiously, the Ghost slowly approaches the elevator while observing it at the same time. From the numbers indicated in front of the elevator door, Nova can tell that there is someone coming down, most likely more pathetic Nod grunts trying to stop her. She will let them try, and let them know that they will fail in vain just before their deaths.
Checking that her cloaking is still on, Nova sneaks herself just right outside next to the elevator door. She slings her AGR-14 assault gauss rifle back onto her shoulder, switching to her Psyblade gauntlet. With her super high PI level, Nova has been one of the few Dominion Ghosts that have been issued with Psyblades, reverse engineered by Dominion scientists from their Protoss origins for Terran use. These exotic weapons are very few in numbers, hence only the best and most psionically gifted Ghosts are allowed to use them.
With her melee weapon ready, Nova stays silent; waiting for the elevator door to open. Then, when the number flashes "B6" and a buzzer sound is heard, she knows that the enemy is near. The elevator door opens, revealing 4 Devouts led by a single Confessor. The 5 Nod soldiers march out, unaware that their target is just hiding right next to where they have entered the room.
The Confessor, identified by his bulkier power suit, which is around the same size as a standard Marine CMC armour, a tall conical full face helmet with 4 red visors, a black cloak attached to the shoulder pads of his armour, and a heavy gauss rifle carried in his hands; begins to issue orders to the Devouts to spread out and check for enemy presence. He himself has hoisted up his C-1X heavy gauss rifle, ready to shoot at any suspicious characters.
Knowing that she is now outnumbered 5 to 1, Nova has to tread carefully to take these new threats out even though she is fully cloaked. If these soldiers start to shoot across the entire room in a panic, there is a chance that a stray round can hurt her or worse, damage her Crius suit and reveals her location. Her best shot now is to take them out silently, one by one.
The Ghost decides to stay put first, remaining motionless so as to not produce a single sound that may alert those Nod soldiers that she is just standing right in the same room as them. Standing motionless right next to the elevator door, Nova looks on as the Confessor and his 4 Devout minions begin to spread out. As the Nod soldiers begin to space themselves further and further apart, Nova knows that it is almost time to strike. Then, she sees an opportunity.
One of the Devouts decides to head back to the elevator entrance for some reason, possibly trying to cover their route of retreat in case if the situation gets too sticky. However, as the Devout does so, he gets himself out of visual range of his fellow squad mates, making himself fully separated from the entire squad. As the lone Devout stands a step just right next to the elevator door, Nova decides to strike. With psionically enhanced speed, the elite Ghost activates her Psyblade and plunges the energy blade right through the Devout's throat from the back, silencing the Nod soldier before he can even mutter a single word. In a single fluid stroke, Nova slices and fully decapitates the Devout. This stealth kill has ended in less than 5 seconds.
However, the sound of a thud echoes across the room when the headless body of the Devout collapses onto the chamber floor, alerting the remaining Nod soldiers. Realising that something is amiss, the Confessor and the 3 remaining Devouts quickly rush back to the elevator scene; only to discover the headless body of their squad mate and his decapitated head.
"This is Confessor Black reporting back to HQ; we've just lost a disciple... I suspect the Ghost is still somewhere here nearby... requesting for..."
Before the Confessor can finish his words, a flash grenade is suddenly being tossed right in front of the gathering squad, surprising the Confessor.
"A flashbang... all units: look away!"
Unfortunately, the Confessor's warning comes too late. The flash grenade detonates just at the exact moment when the Confessor has just started to react. The resulting flash instantaneously blinds the entire squad, forcing them to cover their visors with their hands. These actions have given the hidden assassin the exact opportunities she need.
In less than a second, the Ghost brandishes out her AGR-14 again and fires a single round right into each of every remaining Nod soldier's head with godly accuracy, killing all of them before anyone of them has a chance to fire a shot back. With all threats neutralised, Nova slings her AGR-14 back onto her shoulder and cautiously approaches all of the dead bodies; checking that all of them are truly dead and not playing possum. Using her Psyblade, she stabs each dead Nod soldier in their necks, making sure that none of them will rise up again.
As Nova approaches the dead Confessor's body, the blonde Ghost notices a green card in the Confessor's right hand. Picking up the green card, Nova realises that the card is a Green Security Clearance Card, which seems to be vital for anyone that wants to use any of the elevator systems in this building.
'Well... what do you know? I guess I've just hit a jackpot...'
With the Green Security Clearance Card in her hands, Nova approaches the closed elevator entrance; and flashes her 'new card' in front of the elevator's scanner. In an instant, the Ghost has been given clearance to use the elevator.
(Section 7 Elevator...)
Before Nova steps into the elevator, the Ghost has already noticed another security camera hidden in the elevator ceiling. With a mild blast using her vast psionic powers, Nova blasts the camera into oblivion without the need to use her hands or weapons.
Nova scans the interior of the elevator to ensure that there are no traps laid inside. From what she can see, this elevator is rather spacious; able to house about 5 to 6 fully equipped armoured infantries, including those Devouts and Confessor earlier. After making sure that there are no traps inside, the Ghost steps in.
Inside the elevator, Nova checks the accessible levels of the building . With the Green Security Clearance Card in her hand, she is only able to gain access to the ground level as well as all basement level. She knows that if she wants to reach the Main Broadcast Studio on Level 6, she would need to first get to Level 1 Section 3A. With that in mind, the blonde hits the '1' selection icon on the elevator electronic panel.
The elevator door shuts as the selection is made... and instantly ascends in level. Knowing that there may be more enemies up at the ground level, Nova reloads her AGR-14 and prepares all her assault gauss rifle magazines, ready to unleash hell upon anyone that dare to stand against her.
As the elevator just goes past Level B2, Nova suddenly detects a presence through her psionic radar; a rather familiar one. The psionic signature appears to be masked intentionally in an effort to remain stealthy, but the powerful blonde psionic girl is still able to detect that signature... meaning that it must have come from another powerful psionic being. To Nova, this signature is what she had been trying to track for years before the emperor had given her this new mission.
'It can't be? One of the secondary targets is right inside this building too? Should I pursue him first or resume my primary mission?' the Ghost is in a dilemma.
(Main Broadcast Station Level B3 Section 2A...)
A Reckoner bursts right through the walls of an ammunition storage room in Section 2A of Level B3. The rampaging Reckoner then comes to a stop, in which a shadowy figure emerges from inside the cockpit. The figure hoists up his AGR-28 assault gauss rifle, firing a round right into an ammunition pile before retreating back into the vehicle. The round ignites the ammunition pile, causing a massive explosion that sets the entire subsection in flames, killing several squads of Nod guards that are rushing towards the scene after they had received warnings from LEGION about a 2nd hijacked Recknoner heading their way.
As the destroyed subsection burns in flames, the figure steps out of the Reckoner again, setting foot onto the chamber floor. The figure reveals himself as a dark skinned, white eyed bearded man dressed in black Spectre hazard suit with red glowing LED lines. The man's dark brownish hair has been pulled to the back of his head in dreadlocks. In his hands is an AGR-28. The man is the Spectre Gabriel Tosh, a mercenary and currently a business partner with James Raynor, who may soon be his ally for one of his long-term goal.
As Tosh surveys the scene of carnage of his own creation, the Spectre suddenly senses a powerful presence through his 'voodoo mind'. The presence is familiar; one that he is trying to get away from for years after a few unpleasant run-ins, despite the fact that they were once fellow students and teammates in the Dominion Ghost Academy on Ursa; and once secret lovers.
'Oh boy... I shouldn't have come here first! Luckily she's still inside some kind of elevator or something, so she won't be getting here too quickly. I guess I should start looking for some clues and get out of here before that baby finds me.'
(High Orbit above Bhekar Ro... inside Hyperion control bridge...)
While Tosh is getting into trouble of getting discovered by one of his most persistent pursuers, Raynor and his men are observing the entire skirmish over Nod Bhekar Ro Base 10 through the footage relayed by a cloaked satellite released into the planet's orbit. As they wait for Tosh's response, the Raynor's Raiders decide to spend their time by studying more on their more enigmatic future foe.
At first, the Raynor's Raiders have doubts that the Nod forces are capable of holding off the full blunt of a Dominion frontal assault when the Delta Squadron and the Nova Squadron had deployed plenty of Ravens and Orbital Command Centres to neutralise the stealth advantage. Adding Ghosts to the equation, it almost seems that there will be a disastrous defeat awaiting for the Nod forces. To their surprise, not only did the Nod forces hold off the Dominion assault well with appropriate unit counters, the Noddies even conduct countermeasures to prevent the Dominion forces from using their deadliest weapon: Nukes. Without the use of Nukes, the Dominion forces had to be forced to attack the Nod bases in massive waves. When it seems that the Noddies would finally succumb to the Dominion's unmatched combination of superior firepower and armour, those new towers suddenly began to pop up. Then, everything had changed.
Everyone on board of Hyperion watching the footage were totally awed by the power of the Obelisks of Light. Never before had anyone of them witnessing a weapon capable of cutting a Crucio-class Siege Tank into half in just one or two shot. Not even a Thor or an Ultralisk can do this much damage so quickly. Worst of all, these towers were capable of handling tightly clustered ground unit formations and aerial threats as well, making them a dangerous weapon with few weaknesses. From what Raynor can observe from these obelisks, the leader of the Raiders concludes that the only possible safe way of taking those things down without sacrificing a unit is through nuking.
Rory Swann, the dwarfish-looking chief engineer on board of Hyperion, has remarked multiple times of how he desires to get his hands on all those Noddies' toys. In the former Kel-Morian miner's point of view, the technology and gadgets invented by those Noddies would surely be helpful to the undermanned Raynor's Raiders. Imagine having one of those obelisk of their own; with that they have no need to fear from Mengsk's goons pursuing and destroying their base of operation. Or having those 'Perdition tanks'; with that Zerg rushes will no longer be so scary anymore. Or having those cloaking and burrowing vehicles; that would make covert missions even easier. The only criticism that the short portly man has made about the Noddie's gadgets is that the Noddies have focused on too much speed and offense on their vehicles, not giving them enough protection against the Dominion arsenal in a direct frontal assault. If it was him, he would trade some of the speed for heavier armour, making them near unstoppable powerhouses in any kind of combat scenario.
"Damn! Nice toys those Noddies got down there!" the chief engineer remarks, "Hope that Tosh guy would bring one of those babies back intact."
"Hell yeah! I agree with old grease. Wish I would be locked inside those Noddie's grunt armour instead of this one... theirs look lighter and less restraining." Tychus states.
Raynor ignores the comments made by his crew as they continue to watch the Dominion and Nod forces slugging out on Bhekar Ro surface. In his mind, the rebel leader has been analysing all the different weapons and tactics employed by the Nod forces throughout the entire time rather than simply marvelling at their hardware. As Jim continues to watch on, he is starting to get less and less confident on how his current forces can hope to stand against a force like this. If one planetary bastion-sized force of Noddies can stand against 2 major Dominion squadrons even when cut off from the outside world and backed to a corner, imagine what the entire Nod Armed Forces is capable of; and the fact is no one knows exactly how big is the Brotherhood of Nod. Maybe they do have what it takes to challenge the Terran Dominion for power in this sector; heck they may even have a chance to topple Mengsk from his throne if the Dominion tyrant gets too careless.
'Damn! Those Noddies performed better than I thought... how do I even have a chance to beat them?' Raynor ponders. Although the outlaw does not wish to face off against the wrath of the Brotherhood, Raynor knows that if Kane is someone like Mengsk, then the overall defeat of Mengsk and the Terran Dominion would only mean the switching from one galactic tyrant to another; something that is not what he is fighting for. Lately, he had been crossing paths with Kane's men for one reason or another, with a few encounters due to both of them pursuing the same goals. They had even had a brief skirmish back on Deadman's Port. Sooner or later, a head-on confrontation would be inevitable.
While Raynor is still deep in thoughts, Tray suddenly asks, "Sir? Do you think Mr. Tosh is going to be alright down there?"
Snapping his attention back to the younger officer, Raynor wonders for a moment before looking back at the battle portrayed in the screen; it seems that the battle between Nod defenders and the combined forces of Delta Squadron and Nova Squadron is still going on fiercely and there seems to be no definite winners yet.
"Relax, Tray; with Mengsk's boys and the Noddies still busy fighting against each other, it's least likely that anyone of them will pay attention to look for Tosh. Besides, if Tosh fails, it just shows that he isn't good enough as what he claims. If that's the case, we'll try to look for another way in." Raynor replies. Although he sounds heartless as if he does no care for Gabriel's wellbeing, he has his reasons. The Spectre known as Gabriel Tosh is too suspicious and none of his crew are ready to trust the psionic mercenary yet. For someone who has the ability to burst a brain just by thinking hard, no one would really like to stay close to him. It is also pretty obvious to everyone that the Spectre has been using Raynor's Raiders to help him rebuild his Spectre army. The reason why Raynor had decided to agree helping Tosh is so that by helping the Spectre leader to regain his army, he may be able to convince the rogue Dominion agent that he 'owes' him, making him a likely future ally. Besides, if Mengsk gets to know that the Spectres have returned, maybe that old treacherous emperor would divert some of his attention away from his group to the newly emerged Spectre army. Anyway, it will be a win-win situation for both him and Tosh.
After listening to his boss's explanation, Tray remains silent, as he joins his crewmate to resume watching the fierce battles on the surface. It seems the battle is far from over.
(Main Broadcast Station Level B3 Section 1A...)
'Hmm... let's see... Noddie guard shift list... some propaganda shit things... more propaganda shits... damn... there's nothing useful to hint where that robo is.' Tosh mentally curses, as he hacks and searches through a computer terminal in the chamber. 2 Saboteurs and 4 Devouts lie dead on the floor next to the Spectre.
"Alright, time to check the next room..."
(A few minutes later... Level B3 Section 1B...)
'More preachy stuff again... damn... why there's no useful stuff when I need one?' It seems that Gabriel has hit another dead-end in his search. The Spectre slams his palm onto the computer terminal in frustration.
"Alright, next..."
(Another few minutes later... Level B3 Section 4A...)
'Even more preachy stuff... alright, next...'
(Another few minutes later... Level B3 Section 5A...)
'Still the same old propaganda rubbish by their bald bossman... seriously do these Noddies have any forms of entertainment?'
(Another few minutes later... Level B3 Section 6A...)
'Still no clue down here... and still the same old religious honcho stuff! I guess I need to try another approach. I remember there're administration offices in the above ground levels. Maybe I'll get better luck over there... but I may meet even more Noddies along the way. I think there's an armoury mentioned in the map layout of this facility somewhere in Level B2, perhaps I can find something useful in there.'
Tosh decides to head to one level higher, where an armoury is located. Knowing that he would encounter even more Nod forces as he goes higher up for his search, Tosh believes that he needs to get more equipment and tools from there to storm his way through.
Bending down right next to the corpse of a freshly slain Nod Confessor, the Spectre picks up a Green Security Clearance Card. By briefly glimpsing through the mind of his foe before blasting the foe's brain with his 'voodoo magic', Tosh learns that he will need the Confessor's Green Security Clearance Card in order to gain access of most elevator in this building. Not only that, in order to get into the armoury on the Level B2, he would need a Yellow Security Clearance Card, in which this Confessor does not possess.
"Oh well, better than nothing. Guess I'll look for a yellow card on the next level up. Thanks for the card, mon!" The Spectre mock thanks the dead body of the Confessor, before stepping into the Section 6 elevator.
(Seconds later... Level B2 Section 6A...)
Gabriel Tosh steps out of the elevator, with his AGR-28 poised and ready to respond to any possible enemy ambush. Soon enough, as soon as the Spectre steps out of the elevator and into the room, he is immediately greeted by an incoming mob of Devouts, Militants and a few Confessors. The Nod guards immediately open fire, with the cloaked Spectre in their sight due to transmission of thermal images through their visors by advanced sensory security cameras lining the room's ceilings. Realising that he has been spotted, Tosh immediately channels his 'voodoo powers' and creates a psionic shield around himself, fully protecting himself from harm's way. With his own personal protection set up, the Spectre immediately returns fire, gunning down each and every guards with his gauss assault rifle. Bodies of Nod soldiers begin to pile as the blood of fallen Nod soldiers begin to flood the room.
One of the Confessors has realised that there is no way to take down this intruder with conventional means. Instead, the elite soldier takes out a bottle containing some kind of greenish yellow liquid. The Confessor then tosses that bottle towards the Spectre. Noticing the flying bottle, Tosh skilfully dodges the projectile, before gunning down that Confessor with a round through his head. However, unknown to the white eyed Spectre, the danger is far from over.
Suddenly, the dark Spectre begins to feel dizziness in his head. When Tosh looks up towards the remaining unslain Nod soldiers, he can see that his vision is blurring, and even sees some double multiple images of his foes.
'Damn! That conehead must have drugged me with that bottle! Got to shake it off else I'm gonna be in real big trouble.'
The Spectre closes his eyes, begins to calm his mind and focuses his psionic powers to purge the hallucinogenic drug flowing through his system; a feat that he had practiced hundreds of times during his training days as a Ghost cadet in the Ghost Academy. In less than a minute, Tosh opens his white eyes again as he has felt his vision cleared again, indicating that the drug has been fully purged from his body. Wasting no time, the Spectre resumes fire upon the Nod guards as if nothing's had happened just now.
Just before Tosh can gun down the last remaining squad of Militants, the Spectre's psionic senses begin to pick up dangers right in front of him. Soon enough, several mini pop-up turrets, all of them comprise of a single long barrel tube each (1), begin to pop out from beneath the floor and start firing beams of laser towards the Spectre.
The beams of laser disperse upon contact onto the Spectre's psionic shield, but Tosh knows that his shield would not last long after such relentless assault. He also knows that the AGR-28 in his hands does not pack enough firepower to take down all those turrets by itself. Hence the Spectre decides to duck to a corner to avoid further fire.
'Damn those lasers! Need some bigger firepower to take out those turrets...'
Just then, as if the Spectre's wish has been granted, Tosh notices another squad of Nod Militants coming his way; one of them is wearing a red poncho and carrying a shoulder-mounted twin-barrelled rocket launcher.
'Thank the spirits that's just what I need!'
In an instant, Tosh briefly emerges out from his cover and quickly places a few accurate shots right into the Rocket Militant's chest, killing the red clad militia and forcing the now dead man to drop his weapon. Before the pop-up laser turrets can zap him into the oblivion, Tosh quickly return back to hiding behind the corner.
'Alright, now the guy's dropped his weapon... now I somehow need to rush in there and get it... looks like I need to strengthen my shield first and get rid the rest of those fodders.'
Focusing his psionic energy, the elite Spectre reforms his psionic shield. Seconds later, with the rough location of all his foes already memorised, Tosh quickly springs into action; dashing out from his cover and rushes straight towards the rocket launcher while shooting and killing all opposing Nod soldiers along his way. Nod Militant guards begin to drop dead one by one, each killed with accurate kill shots to either their head or chest.
The Laser Turrets immediately respond to the Spectre's sudden movement and resume another round of firing. Once again, the laser beams strike harmlessly upon the invisible wall of barrier surrounding the Spectre, giving Tosh the precious seconds needed for him to grab the dropped rocket launcher on the floor.
With a skilful roll, Tosh grabs the weapon. Seeing that both rocket warheads are already loaded into the launcher, as the conical warheads are already visibly protruding out of the barrels like those of ancient RPG launchers, the Spectre immediately takes aim at the closest turret and presses the trigger. One of the warheads launches itself towards the turret, blowing the small pop-up structure into bits of parts and scrap metal. With the destruction of the first turret, Tosh turns his direction towards the second closest turret. Once again, the Spectre takes aim and fires the second warhead, blowing up the turret into oblivion.
Out of ammunition, Tosh quickly rushes towards the corpse of the Rocket Militant that he has slain earlier. Ignoring the barrage of laser beams striking upon his psionic shield, the Spectre rummages through the dead Rocket Militant's body to loot all of the dead militia's rocket ammunition. With the extra ammunition in his hands, Tosh quickly loads 2 more warheads into the rocket launcher. Then, he fires the 2 warheads at 2 more turrets, before loading again. The cycle goes on, until all the pop-up turrets are destroyed... just before the psionic shield has run out of power.
"Now that's close mon... any few more shots and I'm gonna get hurt for real. Good for me that I got this nice toy to blow those lasers up before they zap me to the spirit world. Now I don't need to fear from those surprises anymore." The Spectre comments to himself as he hoists the newly acquired twin-barrelled rocket launcher back behind his shoulder. Then, he starts to rummage through the dead bodies of the slain Nod soldiers to search for anything useful.
"Hmm... some ammunitions... but none of them fits in my rifle. Then there's this... some propaganda booklets... do these Noddies make their own bible too? I guess these are all just grunts, so none of them should have the yellow card that I need. Wonder where are those big shots hiding?"
With no more enemies in the area, the white-eyed Spectre decides to explore the other sections of the building for his search for a Yellow Security Clearance Card.
(Meanwhile... Level B3 Section 7B...)
BANG!
A Confessor in the middle of a Devout squad formation drops dead with a single gunshot wound to his head, causing the rest of the squad to panic. Some of the less experienced Devouts in the squad start to shoot randomly in the chamber, hoping to get a lucky shot at whoever the mysterious assassin that has taken out their spiritual squad leader. However, before they can strike gold with their random shots, several more rounds of gauss assault rifle rounds sound across the chamber. Seconds later, the rest of the entire Devout squad falls dead on the floor in a pool of their own blood.
Nova smirks as she disposes the last of the Devouts standing in her way. It is all a simple textbook strategy; take out the leader first to disorganise the squad, then the rest of them will be easier to pick off one by one. It has worked when Nova snipes the Confessor with her C20A canister rifle first, before clearing the rest of the mob with the AGR-14 before they realise that they should have retreated first.
The reason why Nova is in this level rather than heading towards the ground level where she was heading towards initially is because of the presence of the psionic signature of a certain Spectre that she had been tracking for years. Although her orders by Emperor Mengsk had been clear that her primary objective is to gather data about the Brotherhood of Nod from this installation and the apprehension of the Spectre convict is to be treated as a secondary objective only if he is to cross directly right into her path, for some reason, Nova has felt that it is her personal mission to bring that Spectre to justice, even if she had been ordered to do something else first. To her, the apprehension of Gabriel Tosh has become a top priority personal mission for reasons even unknown to herself. It is as if there is some unknown attraction between her and the Spectre. The blonde Ghosts makes a mental note to get her mind 'fixed' after this mission; that is if she can complete it and make it out alive first. As an elite Ghost, Nova knows that she must not be distracted from her primary objectives; and this behaviour is currently unacceptable. Yet she just cannot help but find herself heading towards the rogue psionic agent even when she has another higher priority mission in her mind. So now, Nova has found herself wandering in Level B3, staring at the corpses of Nod soldiers killed by her guns.
Just as the elite Ghost has thought that the skirmish is over, her psionic radar picks up presence of 4 more infantries heading her way. In fact, she can start to hear the heavy thudding footsteps coming her way. Judging from the heavy footsteps, the blonde knows that she is most likely going to face against either flamethrower-wielding robed heavy infantries, or cyborgs. Then, when Nova hears a characteristic scuttling noise, the Ghost is fully convinced that the approaching opposition are cyborgs. Her suspicion is confirmed when the 4 figures emerge out from a corner; 2 Enlightened and 2 Spiders.
The Ghost remains silent; confident that her indefinite cloaking would keep her out of the cyborgs' sight. However, it is not the case when for some reason, the 4 cyborgs turn their heads towards her the moment when they step out of the chamber corner.
"ENEMY UNIT SIGHTED... SUBJECT IDENTIFIED AS: TERRAN GHOST... INPUTTING COMMAND: TERMINATE SUBJECT..." one of the Enlightened announces in its monotonous robotic voice.
'Shit! They found me... but how?'
Just then, Nova spots a gleam of light in the chamber ceiling. Then she realises how the cyborgs spot her despite her cloaking.
'Damn! I missed one security camera in the ceiling! I should have noticed it earlier if not for those Nod fodders distracting me!' Nova curses as she quickly hide behind some cargo crates to gain cover.
The blonde starts to get a little bit nervous. Although her AGR-14 and C20A are capable of killing those cyborgs, they are not easy to take down completely as each of these cyborgs would often need lots of rounds in order to put them down permanently. The fastest way she can kill a cyborg based on her own experience is by putting at least 2 shots through their head with sniper rounds from a distance; but this is usually in a one-on-one scenario. Faced against 4 cyborgs, even for a skilled sharpshooter like her does not have the concentration to snipe 4 cyborgs repeatedly in an instant; especially when all 4 enemies are aware of her presence. She needs another strategy, or she would be the one ended dead instead.
'Come on... how am I going to take down 4 half-robots in an instant without them killing me? Let's see... my AGR-14 doesn't have the firepower to take them down quickly, so that's one out... I may be able to take out one or two by sniping them in the head using C20A with a round or two, but there's 4 of them and they would be onto me before I can take all of them out... EMP rounds may disrupt their combat performance for a while, but I don't think it will be much of a help if I'm against 4 of them... I don't have enough grenades to take out all of them either... E-11 lockdown devices have been known to have limited effects against those things... wait, I got it!'
As the 4 cyborgs slowly approach the hidden Ghost with their weapons ready to fire, the blonde Ghost is making mental plans to take out her hulking adversaries. Seconds later, Nova has everything all planned out.
'Alright, hope this would work...'
From her hiding spot, Nova loads EMP rounds into her C20A canister rifle. Then, without warning, the blonde springs out from her hiding spot and fires 4 EMP rounds at her enemies; each round onto each cyborg. Before the cyborgs can react, the EMP rounds slam into their armour, releasing EMP fields that start to disrupt their in-built electrical circuits. In an instant, the Enlightened find out that their own EMP cannon/shield generator in their left arms have been disabled, while the Spiders are unable to use their Spinneret Synthetic Web sprayer.
After disabling the enemies' special weapons, Nova hides back to cover again. This time, she quickly takes out 4 fragmentation grenades. She knows that these grenades are not strong enough to take out those cyborgs, but they can at least knock them off their feet, giving the Ghost a precious opening to finish them off before they can retaliate. After unplugging the safety pins of all 4 grenades at once, Nova chucks all of them towards the approaching cyborgs and by using her telekinetic psionic powers, she directs the grenades towards each individual cyborg.
The Enlightened and Spiders notice the incoming grenades and immediately take evasive actions. While the Enlightened manage to get out of the way before the grenades blow up, the Spiders wide-area coverage by their quadruped legs make it difficult for them to move out of the grenades' blasts in time. As a result, both Spiders trip after the grenade blast and resulting shrapnel have damaged their leg servos, slowing down the usually nimble 4-legged cyborgs.
Knowing that their comrades operational status have been compromised, the Enlightened stay vigilant. Even if their left arm weapons/tools not working, they can still use their 70mm Centurion cannon to terminate the Ghost intruder. Just then, they detect motion coming out from a pile of cargo crates.
Nova has just dashed out of her cover once again, this time armed with an E-11 lockdown device. Ignoring the volleys of 70mm shells flying just inches away from her, the Ghost fires 2 lockdown warheads in rapid successions towards the 2 Enlightened. The warheads hit their intended targets, releasing another surge of disruptive electrical fields that begin to restrict the bipedal cyborgs' movements. The crippled Spiders try to assist the Enlightened in killing off the blonde intruder, but the nimble Ghost weaves and dodges around the spreading laser beams like a veteran acrobat, barely grazing her suit.
With all 4 enemy cyborgs crippled, Nova prepares to deliver the finishing blow. In less than a second after firing her lockdown device, the Ghost switches back to her trusty C20A. Braving against the cyborg onslaught despite having crippled those cyborgs with a combination of EMP rounds, grenades and lockdowns, Nova snipes back at the cyborgs while dashing towards another pile of cargo crates for cover. Even though she is shooting while on the move, the expert markswoman scores solid hits onto each and every cyborgs' heads with her sniper rounds. In an instant, both Spiders collapse onto the floor with sparks and fluids spurting from their head wounds. The tougher Enlightened stagger from the assault, but they also fall after Nova plant a few more rounds into their heads before they can recover.
As soon as she has destroyed all 4 cyborg foes, Nova fires one more round onto the security camera that she has missed earlier so as to prevent the enemy forces from seeing her again in case if there are more Nod soldiers lurking in the area. After checking that there are no more hostiles in the area through her psionic radar, Nova checks a burn wound on her left shoulder; she has been hit by one of the laser weapons fired by one of the Spider cyborgs in the earlier shootout. The wound is not life-threatening, but it hurts. Not wanting the wound to slow her down, Nova grabs a portable first-aid kit and takes out a syringe containing a small dosage of pain-killers. Ignoring the intense pain, the blonde injects the drug into her burn wound, which eventually subsides after the drug is delivered into her system.
'Those machines are truly a challenge to take out. Those Nod soldiers have some powerful weapons, but it is a real pain that most of the enemies have their weapons installed and integrated into their combat suit. I can't rummage any useful weapons from these guys, except from those weak fodders that are not wearing power suits, and those fodders weapons are too weak to be of any use. So far, I can only find some grenades that can be quite useful in the future. Perhaps I should give recommendations to Commander Yamada about integrating weapon systems into power combat suits for our Marines too...'
As Nova is still deep in her thoughts, the Ghost senses a peak of psionic energy nearby.
'It's him! He must be really near... I must hurry before he gets away again!'
(Meanwhile... Level B2 Section 8B...)
'Damn!' Tosh curses in his mind as he hides behind a wall corner to avoid incoming fire.
In his overconfidence, the Spectre has just underestimated a team of Nod Militants led by a single Confessor. Thinking that they are easy kills, Tosh decides to challenge them head on, only to realise that he has fallen into a trap. Despite many of the Militants have been killed by the shadowy super soldier, the Nod militia squad has lured the Spectre into a trap, comprising of an array of Laser and Shredder mini-turrets (2). Tosh manages to avoid getting zapped or shredded conjuring another strong psionic shield just in time before getting hit.
Tosh peeks back from the wall corner to take a peek at the enemy turrets again. He has already encountered the Laser Turrets before and he knows that with a well placed shots by his 'borrowed' rocket launcher, they will pose little problems. The trickier ones are the second type of turrets; a turret with some kind of triple-barrelled shotgun mounted on either side. The fragmentation slugs fired from those things are harder to evade, which means they can drain his shield faster and sooner or later, hurt him.
'Alright, those shotgun cannons have to go first!'
With rocket warheads fully loaded in both barrels, Tosh hoists up the looted rocket launcher and quickly emerges out of his cover to fire the weapon, ducking back quickly within seconds before the opposing forces can take him out. The rocket warhead shoots towards the nearest Shredder Turret, blowing it into bits. Minutes later, despite the Militant squad effort to stop the Spectre by laying suppression fire upon the wall corner, Tosh systematically takes out the rest of the turret array. With the more dangerous automated defences taken out, the Militant squad easily falls victim to a hail of AGR-28 fire, with the Confessor squad leader receiving a special treatment in the form of a psionic mind blast.
'Still no yellow card, mon... alright I guess I'll look for the next room then...'
Suddenly, Tosh detects a powerful surge of psionic energy nearby; one that he is quite familiar with despite not encountering it for years until the moment when he had stepped into this building.
'Oh shit! I bet she's pretty close now. Even if I wish to stay and have a little chat, I don't think that sister would just stop and say hi. Best for me to get out of here before she catches me. Damn! I can never forget those crazy powers of hers.'
(Meanwhile... Level B2 Section 7A...)
BANG!
Nova lowers down her C20A after she has just taken out another ceiling camera. Now it should be safe for her to walk through... if not for one more complication.
Earlier, Nova had detected an array of mini-turrets hidden underneath the floor using her psionic radar. There are too many of them for her to use her E-11 lockdown devices, and the rest of her weapons lack sufficient firepower to let her force her way through. She can try to blast her way through with a high-powered psi-induced explosion, but that would drain a lot of her powers and would cause too much unnecessary collateral damage, which may draw in more enemies and bring further complications to this mission in the future.
'Dammit! What should I do?'
Just then, Nova detects the approach of several more Nod soldiers approaching towards her. The heavy footsteps have indicated the incoming hostiles to be heavy infantries. Nova quickly hides around a wall corner and takes a peek so that she can know what she is going to handle next. This time, the enemy turns out to be a squad of those robed heavy flamethrowers.
Suddenly, Nova thinks up of a plan on how to get past this section.
The squad of Black Hands are on a high lookout for their hidden enemy. The last presence of the Ghost intruder was captured in this area before the cameras went blind. Now, the Black Hands are pretty sure that the Ghost must be still lurking around here somewhere. Even if the Ghost has cloaked herself, the advanced sensors installed in the mini pop-up turrets in this room would transmit the Ghost's location to their visors if the Ghost has stepped into the sensors range. With numbers on their side, the Black Hands are confident that they can toast the Ghost intruder this time.
Suddenly, one of the Black Hands spots a green bottle-shaped item flying towards them. To their horror, the squad of Nod battle priests realise that the bottle-shaped item is no other than a hallucinogen grenade commonly utilised by the Confessors.
"A hallucinogen grenade! Fall back, brothers! Fall back..."
Unfortunately, the warning comes a little bit too late. In an instant, the green bottle smashes onto a floor region surrounded by the Black Hands. A yellowish green mist-like gas is spilt and released around the squad.
In seconds after the Black Hands are exposed to the released hallucinogen gas, the whole squad starts to 'get mad'. Usually, combat helmets of Nod soldiers contain rebreathers that not just protect their wearers from breathing in biochemical agents while allowing them to fight efficiently in low oxygen conditions, they also protect them from accidental inhalation of their own biochemical weapons such as hallucinogen grenades. However, in this case, even the rebreathers are unable to filter off the high amounts of foreign gases during a direct exposure. As a result, the Black Hands fall victim to the full effects of the hallucinogens.
"Death to the enemies of Kane!"
"Purge the unclean!"
The hysteric heavily armoured priests begin to spray their flames against one another in their exalted state of mind. Although the Black Hand flame hazard heavy power suits provide adequate protection against their own flames, the continuous exposure to the purifying blue flames will still eventually melt them down. While the crazed Black Hands are busy trying to burn down one another, the hidden pop-up mini-turrets have registered the drugged Black Hands as hostile threats and begin to pop out from beneath the ground to engage the newly registered hostiles. Shredder Turrets pump fragmentation slugs into the Black Hands body, spilling blood across the floor; Laser Turrets fire beams of laser right through the Black Hands heavy armour, toasting the robed soldiers from the inside out.
In the midst of chaos, the Black Hands decide to turn their attentions to the turrets. Under the influence of their drugged minds, the black clad battle priests mistake the turrets as hostile units as they turn their flamethrowers towards the turrets. The intense blue purifying flames make short work out of the lightly armoured pop-up turrets, reducing them into molten scraps in seconds. However, there are just too many of them and too few Black Hands left to scorch down all the turrets. In the end, the last Black Hand falls as a Laser Turret shoots a beam right into his chest.
With the last registered hostiles eliminated, the few remaining turrets begin to retreat back into their standby position underneath the floor. However, before they can do so, several gunshots are heard, and the next thing that occurs is that all the mini-turrets have taken hits from their mysterious assailant.
Detecting that they themselves have taken damage, the turrets swivel around in search of the mysterious assailant. However, what the artificial intelligence installed in these machines are unaware of is that their mysterious assailant has cleverly positioned herself just beyond the range of their sensors and had been sniping at the turrets from long range using her C20A canister rifle.
With the turrets already popped out and exposed, Nova has no problems shooting at them at long range without getting into harm's way. By resuming fire upon them, the Dominion special agent ensures that the turrets' artificial intelligence will always remain in engaged mode and will not retreat back beneath the floor again, where they will be out of the Ghost's reach.
Nova's plan has worked very well. The enemy Black Hands earlier had performed well as distraction and bait to lure the turrets out from their hiding. To add icing to the cake, the enemy heavy flamethrowers had even reduced the number of turrets by about half before going down. This had allowed Nova to decide to engage the remaining turrets directly from long range after the Ghost had calculated that she had enough C20A ammunitions to finish all of them off. In about a minute later, the last turret collapses onto the metal floor; severed in the mid section by multiple high calibre sniper shots in the same spot.
Nova scans her surrounding before she is sure that all hostiles in the area have been eliminated. She approaches the corpse of one of the Black Hands to rummage for anything useful. Sadly, the Purifier flamethrowers used by the robed warriors are too big and unwieldy for the slim-built young woman to carry. Still, the Ghost manages to find something useful for her mission... very useful...
'A Yellow Security Clearance Card! Hmm... definitely going to need it to assess the more sensitive sections of this building.' The blonde thinks as she keeps the card in one of her suit's compartments.
(Meanwhile... Level B2 Section 6A...)
Gabriel Tosh rummages for items and ammunitions through the corpses of several dead Militants, Devouts and even a few Confessors and Black Hands that he has just shot to death the moment when he just entered in this room. The Spectre picks up a few gauss rifle rounds, fragmentation grenades, hallucinogen grenades, Holy Water grenades and most importantly, a Yellow Security Clearance Card from a slain Black Hand.
'Bingo!'
With the required security clearance card found, Tosh heads for the armoury in Section 5. Before he leaves the room though, the black and red clad Spectre flicks out his favourite balisong and stabs a fallen Confessor right into the armour chink at the back of the neck. The Confessor, who has been trying to play possum in hope of catching the Spectre off guard, jerks in a sudden jolt as the bladed weapon pierces through his spine and ruptures the carotid artery, before lying flat still on the floor, dead for real this time.
With the last enemy in the room slain, Gabriel pulls out his balisong, giving it a few flicks to flick the blood away, before sheathing it into one of his suit's compartments as he heads towards Section 5.
(10 minutes later... Level B2 Section 5 Armoury...)
The gate of the armoury chamber opens as Gabriel Tosh steps in with his AGR-28 assault gauss rifle poised and ready. The Spectre scans his surrounding in search of enemy presence, in which surprisingly there is none.
"Hmm... what a surprise that there are no guards in here... oh well better for me to start borrowing things..." Tosh comments as he begins to search the room for useful equipment. However, just when the mercenary thinks it is safe for him to have the liberty to take things away from this armoury, an alarm has been sounded.
"Siren... WARNING! UNAUTHORISED ENTRY INTO LEVEL B2 ARMOURY DETECTED! DEPLOYING CYBERNETIC UNITS INTO LEVEL B2 ARMOURY TO ELIMINATE INTRUDER!"
"Damn! They found me! And they are sending clankers towards me! I gotta make this quick!"
Knowing that he is running short of time, Tosh quickly skims through the armoury to analyse what are the items available in this room and which ones are worth taking. There may be a lot of equipment available, but the Spectre knows that it is impossible and not practical for him to take all of them. He has to make his selections right and fast, because he will not be returning back to this room when the enemy has been made aware that their armoury has been looted.
'Let's see now... firstly the power suits are definitely all out! There are lots of old pulse rifles and their ammunitions... there may be more than enough of them for me to finish this entire task alone, but their crappy firepower just makes them plain useless against the heavily armoured Noddie elite goons unless I shoot them at the right spot... ah forget it! Next... twin-barrelled rocket launchers... good I need more of them to blast those irritating turrets... I'll take them! Next... grenade launchers... not much useful in indoors compared to outdoors... and I prefer tossing... so that's out! Next... grenades... there are frags, fire beer bottles, oily bottles and... oh yeah... the hallucinating grenades... I'll take them all! Next... timed charges... never knew they got some of those... alright I'll take a few of them in case things get ugly. Next...'
Gabriel comes across a set of gauss rifles that look like the C-14 Impaler models commonly used by the Marine Corp, but slightly heavier and with slightly different looks. They are the primary weapons used by Nod Confessors.
'Those guns look just like buffed up versions of C-14 rifles used by the Marine boys... must be the guns that the coneheads used. I'd seen some of them in action... and they ain't bad. Though not as good as my AGR-28, they are close enough and since there's so many of them and their ammunitions lying around... alright!' With his decision made, Tosh tosses his near depleted AGR-28 and grabs one of the heavy gauss rifles from the rifle stands as well as a number of ammunitions.
Happy with his new toy, the white eyed Spectre slings his newly acquired C-1X heavy gauss rifle over across his shoulder as he walks towards the far end of the armoury. There, the Spectre finds an array of robed black and red Black Hand heavy power suit arranged in a neat single file. Next to the array of Black Hand armour, a set of Purifier flamethrowers have been laid neatly along an arms rack.
'Flamethrowers baby... too bad they look too heavy to carry around for fun. I already got one big mother f**ka heavy gauss rifle... no more space to carry another big f**king flamethrower. Although more of these oily bottles would be nice...'
As Tosh picks up more of the Holy Water grenades, the Spectre suddenly senses a powerful presence heading towards his direction... fast. It is the presence that Tosh had been trying to avoid all the time. Sadly, it seems that the origin of that psionic presence is just a few walks away from the armoury, meaning that escape would be too late and an encounter would be inevitable.
'Damn! I should have made this quick! Never expect that sister to have reached here and found me so quickly...' Tosh curses in his mind as he prepares for the inevitable.
The dark clad Spectre rushes towards the armoury gate with timed C4 charges ready, intending to booby trap the gate and hoping to either catch the coming opponent off guard or slow her down so that he can make more preparations for the showdown. As Tosh reaches the gate, he hastily sets up a few C4 charges onto the sliding gate door, which are rigged to blow up when the gate has been opened. Satisfied with his work, the Spectre is about to set a few more charges elsewhere across the entire armoury chamber when instincts begin to scream at him to get away from the gate. The psionic mercenary trusts his instincts and immediately does so; just in time to avoid a violent explosion caused by the set charges triggered by a powerful psionic blast that bursts through the gate.
BOOOOOOOOMMM...
"WARNING: SECURITY BREACH IN LEVEL B2 ARMOURY DETECTED... ENEMY GHOST DETECTED..."
Shaking off the dizziness caused by the explosion shockwave, Tosh quickly gets back to his feet with his C-1X heavy gauss rifle ready. With lightning speed, the Spectre hoists up the looted rifle and fires off several rounds towards the massive smoking hole in the wall where the armoury gate used to be. His action is soon answered by several returning sniper rounds from the other end of the hole. Tosh has to quickly duck behind a row of standing unused Devout combat suits to avoid getting shot.
"Damn! You almost got me, sister! Looks like you have yet to lose your touch, sweetie." The Spectre remarks.
"Tosh..." the reply comes as a slender feminine figure steps through the smoking hole, revealing a blonde female Ghost in blue and white hazard suit with a C20A canister rifle in her arms. Nova has arrived; and she has finally found Gabriel Tosh, one who has somehow evaded from her for so many years.
PREVIEW
Next Act: Battle for Bhekar Ro: Beauty, beast and machine
Ex-lovers are reunited, on opposing sides. While Nova Terra is going to apprehend the rogue Spectre with any means necessary, Gabriel Tosh is going to use all his tricks to avoid getting captured by the Dominion Ghost else his plans for raising a Spectre army will be brought to naught. However, unknown to both psionic super soldiers, they will not have the time and luxury to confront with each other solely; the Nod guards in the Main Broadcast Station is about to unleash their most fearsome warrior against the intruders.
(1) These mini pop-up turret are like the Tiberium Sun's Nod Laser Turrets as shown in cinematic cutscenes.
(2) Shredder turrets are the same individual Shredder turrets in Tib Wars.
List of Nova's items so far:
Armour: Ghost hostile environment suit augmented with Crius suit
Melee weapon: Psyblade
Primary weapon: AGR-14 assault gauss rifle, C20A canister rifle
Secondary weapon: Flak pistol
Special weapon: E-11 lockdown device, Frag grenades, Flash grenades, Hallucinogen grenades (N), Nuke target marker
Skills: Permanent cloaking, Psionic radar, Dominate, Snipe, EMP rounds, Lockdown, Psi blast
('N' denotes for Nod weapons)
List of Tosh's items so far:
Armour: Spectre hostile environment suit augmented with Nyx-class cloaking module
Melee weapon: Balisong
Primary weapon: AGR-28 assault gauss rifle -later switched to C-1X heavy gauss rifle(N), Twin dragon rocket launcher (N)
Secondary weapon: Slugthrower
Special weapon: C4 demolition charges (N), Frag grenades, Molotov cocktails (N), Holy Water grenades (N), Hallucinogen grenades (N)
Skills: Permanent cloaking, Psionic mind blast, Psionic shield, Consumption
('N' denotes for Nod weapons)
My Nod Unit Profile: Confessor
Role: Anti-personnel squad leader and intelligence operatives
Armament: C-1X heavy gauss rifle; Hallucinogen grenade; Modified CMC Powered Combat Suit
Appearance: Similar to the TW3 Confessor and Confessor Cabal, with heavier and bulkier armour around the same standard as a Terran Marine CMC armour, with iconic tall conical shaped full face helmet with 4 red visors.
Confessors make up the backbone of the Order of the Black Hand. These religious figureheads are responsible for gathering information on their enemies for the Brotherhood of Nod mainly through counter-espionage and interrogation. Their main role, however, is to lead squads of lesser infantries, mainly lower trained Militants, into the heat of battle against their hated enemies. Not only do these battle priests inspire morale and courage to the less experienced foot soldiers with their hulking physique and large C-1X heavy gauss rifle, the Confessors also ensure discipline within the ranks and make sure that deserters, which are rare, are severely dealt with while it is made sure that every single disciples play their part in battle. Besides their heavy gauss rifles, Confessors are also equipped with hallucinogen grenades. Although these grenades are non-lethal, the yellowish green hallucinogenic gases produced by these grenades are known to induce almost realistic hallucinations to any hostile infantries that get exposed to such gases, causing them to fire upon their own allies in the midst of battle due to panic. The influence of such hallucinations is also known to cause heightened adrenaline rushes, increasing the attack power of affected hostiles and resulting in swifter death to their allies that get caught in the crossfire. Still, that will also make those affected enemies more dangerous if all their surrounding allies are already dead, forcing them to turn their aggression solely against the Brotherhood. Most Nod infantries have been issued with rebreathers in their armour to protect themselves against such gases, but the symptoms will still occur if a Nod infantry gets directly exposed to the gas if the grenade is thrown directly onto below their feet.
Black Hand vs. Firebat
The next battle, another one suggested by MegaAuthor and one that I also had planned to make, is the clash between the 2 types of hulking flame spewing heavy foot soldiers of Nod and Terran forces. Whose flame will burn down its foe first?
Black Hand:
Black Hands are the military police forces of the Brotherhood of Nod. These elites of the Order of the Black Hand are adorned with Black Hand flame hazard heavy power suits that are more than capable of protecting their wearers from most light firearms and environmental hazards, including their own flames. The Purifier flamethrowers utilised by the Black Hands spew off a continuous stream of flames at their targets, incinerating the area overtime even if the Black Hands have switched target. Multiple Black Hands can overlap their flames to create a devastating firestorm; one that can even melt down entire tanks and burn down any structures within seconds. Black Hands are trained to use their flamethrowers in close combat against multiple foes with unmatched efficiency, burning down rows of rushing Zerglings, repelling charging Zealots, purging mobs of unfriendly Terran militia and even incinerating entire fortified Bunkers with Marines still inside. Black Hands can even increase their deadliness by receiving upgrades such as the even more destructive blue purifying flames or equipping with Holy Water grenades. Blue purifying flames provide a significant boost in firepower to the Black Hand's offensive prowess, while Holy Water grenades douse the unfortunate targets with a cocktail of flammable substance which can further amplify the damage dealt to the targets by the flames. However, the purifying flames of the Black Hands are still relatively weak when faced against a heavily armoured foe, unless a massive firestorm is created. The Purifier flamethrowers also do not have the range to combat aerial threats like all other flamethrowers. Out of all of the infantry types of the Brotherhood, Black Hands are one of the most loyal and disciplined fighting forces in the Brotherhood of Nod. These caped crusaders are known to fight till death and never retreat even under overwhelming odds.
Firebat:
The modern Firebats are now adorned in the 2nd generation CMC-660 heavy combat suits, which are heavier, more durable and far more fire resistant than other CMC powered combat suit models. Firebats from most modern Terran factions, including the Terran Dominion, are armed with dual wrist-mounted Perdition flamethrowers, which unlike the Black Hand's Purifier flamethrowers, spew destructive flames in short but explosive bursts. The latest generations of Firebats can also be equipped with incinerator gauntlets, which channel plasma fuel of the Perdition flamethrowers through multiple ports rather than a single port, allowing the Firebats to unleash bursts of flames at a wider area without losing intensity. With their heavy armour and wide-area effect flame attacks, Firebats excel in combating close range Zerg rushes as well as providing close up fire support for Marines when dealing with hostiles at close range, such as Zealot rushes. Like their Marine and Marauder cousins, Firebats have stim-packs installed in their combat suits, allowing Firebats to gain a temporary boost in their speed, reflexes, firepower and aggression during combat with the cost of a bit of the Firebats' own health. Some Firebats also have their armour upgraded with Juggernaught plating in their armour to protect the weak points and thicken the head and chest plates. While tougher and more durable than standard Marines, Firebats are slower in speed due to their heavier armour and their flamethrowers are ineffective in combating more heavily armoured targets as well as aerial threats. Like most Marines, Firebats are mostly recruited from neural resocialised hardened criminals, in which in this case most of them used to be or are still psychotic pyromaniacs.
Comparison:
Both types of infantries are very heavily armoured and highly resistant to flame; although with Juggernaught plating upgrade, Firebats are slightly tougher and more durable than the Black Hands. The main difference between the 2 heavy infantries is how they attack; a Black Hand spray his flame through a single nozzle in a continuous stream, dealing tremendous amount of damage overtime; while a Firebat spray his flames in wide area short bursts through multiple nozzles, dealing a large amount of damage in a short period of time. In other words, Firebats can unleash higher damage per attack in wider splash damage area, but Black Hands can deal a higher overall damage overtime. With purifying flames upgrade, Black Hands can even unleash a heavier damage.
If a Black Hand has received upgrades such as purifying flames and Holy Water grenades, a combination of Holy Water grenade and higher damage purifying flames may result in the Black Hand's firepower exceeding that of a Firebat. However, a Firebat may be able to regain his lead by activating his stim-pack. If both types of infantries are locked in a group battle, the wider area splash damage dealt by Firebats will give them an edge; but Black Hands in numbers can also unleash a massive firestorm to counter the Firebats' wide area of effect damage.
Like all Brotherhood of Nod foot soldiers, Black Hands are highly loyal to Kane and the Brotherhood's cause. Although more aggressive and extreme compared to other Nod infantry types, Black Hands are highly disciplined and obedient and would follow any orders given by their superiors all the way through without questions, even if those orders are suicidal. On the other hand, Firebat ranks are mostly made up of neural resocialised mentally deranged arsonists. Added with stim-packs, a Firebat's aggression is no less than that of a Black Hand's. However, that would mean that these mini walking flame tanks are also very difficult to train and discipline, probably one of the reasons why the Terran Dominion has hardly trained anymore Firebats.
Black Hand's edge:
Speed
Higher damage overtime
Higher damage output with purifying flame upgrade
Holy Water grenade
Groups can create firestorms
Loyalty and discipline
Urban combat
Firebat's edge:
Higher durability with Juggernaught plating upgrade
Wider area of effect damage
Higher damage output per attack
Stim-pack
Conclusion
Black Hand wins if:
In an urban combat scenario, Black Hands will enjoy a significant advantage over their Firebat foes. Unlike Nod infantries, Firebats are not trained to clear garrisoned structures by spraying their flames directly into firing ports, a technique that the Black Hands excel in. On the other hand, even if Firebats are to garrison themselves within Bunkers or civilian structures, Black Hands have no problem cooking them out by spraying their Purifier flamethrower directly into the structure through windows or firing ports. In a single one on one combat scenario, as long as the enemy Firebat does not use his stim-pack, the Black Hand will eventually outlast his Firebat foe with a combination of Holy Water grenade and his flamethrower, which continuous flame would deal a higher overall damage compared to the Firebat. In a group battle scenario, a combination of Holy Water grenades and firestorm would also ensure victory for the robed battle priests.
Firebat wins if:
In a one on one or small group battle scenario, Firebats can win if they use their stim-packs, dealing short bursts of higher damage to their Black Hand foes and finish the fight faster before the continuous stream of Purifier flamethrower flames can outdo the short bursts of explosive twin Perdition flamethrower flames. The slightly heavier armour of Firebats would mean that the Firebat would have a higher chance of outlasting a Black Hand in a straight battle. In a large group battle, as long as the Black Hands do not use Holy Water grenades or create firestorm, the wider area of effect damage of the Firebats would ensure that the groups of Black Hands will fall faster than the groups of Firebats. If the Firebats use their stim-packs in the midst of battle, their combined firepower would be able to match those of a firestorm created by multiple Black Hands.
I would say that the match between Black Hands and Firebats would be a pretty close fight. Both are heavily armoured and resistant to flames, and both have their own methods of vastly increasing their firepower (stim-pack vs firestorm and Holy Water grenade combination). I guess it would have to depend on who have the better upgrades at the time of battle and who could use their abilities at the right time.
I am now close to my graduation from my university, so these few months I will be spending more time on doing job searches and researches on the different career paths that I can take. This means that I would have less time writing and updates would be even slower. Still, I will not give up this story even if I have gotten myself an actual job and I will try to update as fast as I can.