General Solomon looked out of his space station window with frustration. Abruptly, he activated EVA. "Suggested course of action, EVA?"
"The first step would be to find out more about their 'destroyer's' technology."
"But how…Eva, patch me through to Mac McNeill. Tell him…that if he pulls this one off, he'll get a promotion."
***
"You ready, Chandra?" Mac looked seriously over at him.
"Ready as always, Mac."
"All right. We enter the research facility here." He pointed to a map that popped up on the viewscreen. "We then proceed to the main control room disguised with the new Spytech technology, which allows us to look like anything that our sensors scan."
"When will we be receiving the equipment?"
Sigh. "Right now, Chandra. That's why I'm briefing you about the mission now."
Chandra looked confused. Mac cursed under his breath and said, "Never mind. The Kodiak will pick us up at around 1300 hours, fully loaded with our equipment. Until then…try and get some sleep." With that, Chandra and Mac went to their quarters.
***
"Kane has a need for you, Slavik," CABAAL's voice droned. "He needs you to begin construction of the tiberium missile silo."
"I thought that that wouldn't be necessary with the advent of the Incenerator!"
"Kane always has a backup plan for things, Slavik…including command positioning…" Again, CABAAL seemed ready to laugh.
"All right, CABAAL; I get the message. Where does he want it built?"
"In northern Siberia."
Slavik's mouth hung open. "Why there? That place is infested with GDI troops? How am I supposed to get past-"
"Have you forgotten? We do have a rather powerful new weapon at our disposal." CABAAL's voice took on a menacing edge.
"Ah. How many will I be receiving?"
"2."
I've heard of everything! "Two vehicles! Anything else?"
"An elite division of Rocket troops and a squad of Cyborgs."
"All right…when does the mission start?" He already knew answer, though.
This time, CABAAL really did laugh. His face disappeared from the viewscreen.
"Great," Slavik muttered to himself. "Slavik to Oxxana, could you meet me in the Banshee hangar bay? We have some…business to discuss."
***
"This is WGDI, the world's best news source for the Global Defense Initiative and its affiliates thereof. Good morning, I'm Sarah Jones, reporting from the wreckage of a one-time Titan-producing facility. Here, it is said that 2 of NOD's new 'terror machines' rained absolute hell down on our brave warriors. Here's an interview with the chief production officer, currently in an intensive care unit."
"Umm…we were mindin' our own business when we detected 2 machines comin' at us from the south. We thought that NOD might be up to somethin', so we sent a couple of our Titans-"
~Click~
"Hey! That was the morning news cast!" Chandra squealed in indignation.
"Time to board our ship. Let's go!"
Chandra looked at Mac pleadingly. "Can't we watch some more TV?"
"No, Chandra. LET'S GO!"
"All right, all right."
The Kodiak, an off yellow but state-of-the-art ship, was waiting for them in the hangar bay. Its captain came out and saluted them.
"Mornin', soldier! We're ready to leave when you are." When Chandra tried walking off, Mac grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him over.
"We're ready to leave right now, Captain. Just show us the way."
"Step right up and enjoy the ride!"
***
"What?" Oxxana asked fervently. "Why do you want me to help you?"
"Listen," Slavik started, "you know how Kane is. If I don't build that silo in time…"
"And why should I care, Slavik?"
"I could make it worth your while…"
"Ok, then, since you put it that way. CABAAL, tell Kane that I will be joining the commander on his little mission in Siberia."
CABAAL's face appeared on the screen. "I wasn't aware that you needed assistance on this mission. Anyhow, your message has been sent. I have just been updated with tactical information on the area. It appears that your fears have been misplaced, Commander Slavik. The GDI has only just recently established a foothold in the area. You may approach this mission in 1 of 2 manners-conquest or stealth. I suppose you could set the missile silo up without anyone noticing if you tried."
"Thanks, I guess. One more thing, CABAAL-why is Kane really setting up this silo?"
CABAAL merely laughed and cut off the communication.
"Don't you just hate it when he does that?" Oxxana said with a mocking grin.
Slavik glared at her and jumped in his Banshee.
***
"Ok, Chandra, we're in. Nothing foolish now-we don't have our disguises in place yet."
They crawled along a few meters, stopped, and watched as an officer passed by the ditch they were hiding in. Mac lifted a box and put it on top of the ditch. He caught his breath when the officer turned around, but he passed by without any further incident. As soon as he had, Mac got up and retrieved the box.
"This should have his optical information stored in it. Link up with the box by putting your SpyTech wristband next to it. Good."
"What about you?" Chandra asked.
Sigh. "It would look kind of suspicious with 2 people looking exactly alike walking into the same building."
"Oh."
Shaking his head, McNeill thought up of a plan. "This is the oldest one in the book, Chandra…but it should work. I'm guessing that CABAAL's main station is where they'd take prisoners. If you-" Mac broke off because Chandra had turned into the officer that had just passed them. "It worked!"
"As you were saying…"
"If you make me your prisoner and take me to CABAAL, we might be able to find some answers."
"Sounds good to me."
"Let's move."
10 minutes into the operation, things weren't going too well. Chandra wasn't the quickest thinker, and he often got kicked by 'his prisoner' as a reminder to say the right thing.
"Why are you here?"
"We're here to learn about the-" he grimaced as Mac kicked him. Luckily, the soldier was a little slow on the uptake as well.
"Man, that prisoner is feisty! Where are you taking him?"
"Directly to CABAAL."
"He'll show him respect. Move on!" While they were walking off, the soldier couldn't help looking strangely at the prisoner, who appeared to heave a sigh of relief at the though of CABAAL!
About 5 minutes later, the doors to CABAAL's chambers swished open. They were lucky-no one was there except for them. Once the door closed, Mac got up and started playing with the controls.
"I wonder how we turn him on…"
Sigh. "We're not trying to activate CABAAL, Chandra. That would be bad. We're trying to activate the files on NOD's new 'destroyer'…"
As if on cue, hundreds of technical documents appeared on the screen. "Something's not right here-"
Mac was cut off by deep, mechanical laughter. He bit his lip in fear. Oh God! I should have known!
"Welcome to my humble abode, McNeill. You don't know how long Kane has been waiting to see you…or your brother, in that case…"
Mac was boiling with rage at the mention of his brother. That traitor! "What do you want, CABAAL?"
"I believe I could ask you the same question, McNeill, but I won't, considering that I already know. How could you think that you could infiltrate the place that houses my central processor? I'm here constantly."
The place that houses his central processor? Mac and Chandra exchanged glances. "No matter what you do here, CABAAL, we'll stop your little terror machines."
The face on the screen threw its head back in laughter. "Are you so sure? Anyhow, I have need for you. We need to know the T-160's weaknesses, so I was looking for a resourceful mind. It seems that one has fallen in my hands." He shook his head and looked at Chandra. "We will begin testing as soon as I am ready. Good luck!"
After he was gone, Mac and Chandra started talking. "Well, looks like we'll get a closer look at his machine than we ever thought…"
