Reveille sounded at approximately 0600. Major Frederick Banks rose from
his bunk at 0530, dressed in his Battle Dress Uniform and decoration for
Sunday mass. The remainders of the enlisted men were just now rising for
mass at 0700. Several officers had awakened before Banks, and had joined
their colleagues in coffee rooms and wardrooms throughout the base. Half
an hour later, a flood of uniformed troopers made their way to the sector
church and sat down for this week's sermon from the Padre, Technical
Sergeant Aaron Westbrook.
At 0770, the men were settling in for the normally intriguing and enrapturing sermon, but today was different. As the Padre began his session, a thundering roar erupted from all directions. The soldiers rose from their seats, only to be gunned down by automatic gunfire. The rest of the patrons had take cover behind the wooden pews, the bullets firing overhead. Bank instinctively unholstered his sidearm, and fired blindly into the gunfire, hoping his mark had been made and hadn't hit another serviceman. When the continuous fire had kept them pinned down for several minutes, reinforcement arrived in the form of an armored cavalry regiment returning from exercises. The force commander had obviously seen the assault upon the church and took immediate took action, flanking the unsuspecting infantry assault force by surprise, and forcing them back from the church and into a nearby pasture. With the infantry forces pushed away from the church, the patrons could slowly evacuate the church, and the active duty servicemen reported to the armory to retrieve weapons and vehicles.
Banks made his way quickly to the armory in a motor pool Hummer parked nearby, and charged headlong into the rush of soldiers to bring order to the dispensary. From his post behind the booth, he could see Titan, Wolverine, and Orca Pilots boarding their vehicles, arming their weapons and making last minute repairs before going into standby for the imminent attack orders. When the infantrymen were suited up, squad and platoon leaders, company and division commanders, and regimental brass examined their intelligence, and devised a counter-assault against a nearby NOD tactical facility, fully equipped with a Construction Facility, power supply, and unit-creating structures. Taking out a close-range tactical base with hardened defenses required more than unorganized, random assaults. Upper brass decided that, with no nearby Tiberium resources, they would let the facility run its resources out by slowly destroying its offensive units until they could attack the base with little or no resistance.
The second NOD offensive occurred three days later, in the form of a large Assault Buggy force, which did significant damage to the GDI facility's standing infantry army, but with the great amount of Tiberium resources stockpiled and available for harvesting, they had no problem reinforcing the troop ranks. Major Banks was instructed by his superiors in intelligence to lead a taskforce of units of his own choosing, into a primary offensive against the NOD base. His forces, a combination of a Harpy squadron, three divisions of Assault Buggies and Attack Cycles, and a brigade of assorted infantry men, made a successful assault against the weakening NOD base, managing to neutralize and disable many outer defense posts and defensive weapons such as lasers and SAMs. With perimeter bases neutralized, ground forces began their siege of the base. Titan artillery batteries were brought in, and torn the base apart from the inside. The tactical centre appeared to be falling. Spirits were running high through the three-day siege as it neared to a close, but then their moral was dealt a serious blow. Sentries had reported a steady and quick growth of Tiberium veins, which were steadily approaching the GDI base. Units were sent home to fortify against the corrosive growth, and the NOD forces regained the upper hand. They repealed every assault against the base. Small commando forces to vast battalion strike forces were repelled from the base. Even worse, they had become offensive, actively exiting the walls of the base for guerrilla assaults against the base. Upper brass made the decision that a major bombing mission would commence, commanded by the Major. With a crew of over 30 Orca bombers and 50 Orca Assault Fighters, they prepared the coming 'slaughter' of the NOD base.
Bank's airmen were mentally and physically ready for battle. On the day of the sortie, pilots quickly and efficiently boarded their vessels and performed preflight checks. When all was reported well, the massive force moved forward in echelons, forces becoming progressively bigger in numbers as waves returned. A squadron of 5 bombers was sent out first, 2 of which returned -- badly damaged. Next a 10-plane force was sent out, then 15, then 20, and so on and so forth. When Bank's own squadron entered the fray, he was confident of their abilities -- but would they be enough.
He suited up with his men, boarding their Orca Fighters and arming ordinances. With the command of the runway jack, the airmen responsible for directing air traffic, they lifted off, flying toward the NOD base. A few moments after they had left the protective boarder of the base, anti- air batteries opened fire, missiles and shells blackening the early afternoon sky. Around Banks, planes were exploding in steady numbers, they payload and fuselage falling to the base bellow. SAM missiles locked onto him, and a few evasive maneuvers sent the missile splaying in the open air, undirected. During a routine check-in, Banks' wingman, Lieutenant Mitchell, was shot down, his missile pack deploying, and his bomb payload dropping. In a strategic crash landing, the late Mitchell managed to bring his fighter down atop the base MCV. With the structure now located, they ambushed it. Vulcan Cannons, SAM missiles, anti-air shells, Surefire Orca Missiles and Payday Orca Bombs were flying everywhere. Bullet streams tore through hulls. SAM sites demolished oncoming planes, shells bit into, and shredded armor shards. But -- the Surefire missiles and Payday bombs were making their own mark. Many nod structures were left burning, engineering crews rushing to reclaim the building, only to be shot dead by incoming ground forces.
In the chaos of the air assault, all defensive forces had been forwarded to the anti-air batteries, allowing the ground troops to enter with reduced resistance. From his post above the burning war factory, Bank's saw numerous infantry platoons and demolition crews fire up the remains of troop transports, structures, soldiers and aircraft. He circled of the invading ground force, a cheer rose up as his other wingmen joined Banks' and they kicked in the afterburners, flying due south to survey for any escaping forces.
"Major -- that was a hell of a defense that had established there," stated the Padre.
"Quite. I don't think General McMichael had anticipated such a defensive grid -- but we overcame it -- so just calm down, let the nerves cool, and lets get on with out patrol." responded Banks.
"En route to way point four Major. Radar sites back home detected a small grouping of AA (anti-air) defenses in the vicinity."
"Padre -- I'm picking up a heat register. Appears to be a harvester." With the vein movement in the area, upper brass probably had anticipated some vein harvesting. "Search and investigate, then report back."
"Aye, sir!"
Exiting the defensive formation, Padre had beelined to the heat register, while the remainder of the squadron continued its run toward the air batteries. Just as Bank's and his crew had reached firing range of the turrets, an explosion roared through the comm, followed by a concurrent scream of despair, closed with a crash. The Padre had been taken out. Somehow that heat register took out the Padre. Bank's made a quick command for the group to head to the blip's location.
When they arrived, they saw the burning, charred wreckage of the Padre's Orca -- and a SAM site waiting. Obviously the Padre had not had his weapons armed, and was instantly taken out by the one site. Already engaged in assault mode, several Surefire missiles streaked toward the errant site, which, on impact, erupted in a skyrocketing fireball. Upon a closer, fly-by inspection, a structured sink the in ground revealed a hidden silo. Immediately suspecting Tiberium waste modules to be nearby -- he radioed home the coordinates and identity. A bombing force was quickly scrambled and dispatched, but all too late. After his announcement over the comm, Banks collided with an ejecting missile module. His plane lay in pieces on the ground, but a split second reaction saved him -- sort of. His ejector seat had become lodged in the vein packs, which contained the Tiberium material. With a final engagement of the ejector rockets, he managed to detonate a few of the containers harmlessly over the desert expanse below.
In Major Banks' final moments, he had almost succeeded in thwarting a NOD plot to destroy the airbase. With the detonation of the material packets, he had lost his life, partly in vain. Two or three of the modules remained intact, which impacted successfully on the western quadrant of the facility. Hordes of fuel supplies were contaminated with Tiberium -- and dozens of technicians were submitted into specialist hospitals for Tiberium exposure.
Even with the fatal sacrific of Major Banks and hundreds of other airmen, and the destruction of a prominent NOD tac-com facility -- the base was still lost to Tiberium contamination and exposure. The evil and unprejudiced enemy in the war of domination.
At 0770, the men were settling in for the normally intriguing and enrapturing sermon, but today was different. As the Padre began his session, a thundering roar erupted from all directions. The soldiers rose from their seats, only to be gunned down by automatic gunfire. The rest of the patrons had take cover behind the wooden pews, the bullets firing overhead. Bank instinctively unholstered his sidearm, and fired blindly into the gunfire, hoping his mark had been made and hadn't hit another serviceman. When the continuous fire had kept them pinned down for several minutes, reinforcement arrived in the form of an armored cavalry regiment returning from exercises. The force commander had obviously seen the assault upon the church and took immediate took action, flanking the unsuspecting infantry assault force by surprise, and forcing them back from the church and into a nearby pasture. With the infantry forces pushed away from the church, the patrons could slowly evacuate the church, and the active duty servicemen reported to the armory to retrieve weapons and vehicles.
Banks made his way quickly to the armory in a motor pool Hummer parked nearby, and charged headlong into the rush of soldiers to bring order to the dispensary. From his post behind the booth, he could see Titan, Wolverine, and Orca Pilots boarding their vehicles, arming their weapons and making last minute repairs before going into standby for the imminent attack orders. When the infantrymen were suited up, squad and platoon leaders, company and division commanders, and regimental brass examined their intelligence, and devised a counter-assault against a nearby NOD tactical facility, fully equipped with a Construction Facility, power supply, and unit-creating structures. Taking out a close-range tactical base with hardened defenses required more than unorganized, random assaults. Upper brass decided that, with no nearby Tiberium resources, they would let the facility run its resources out by slowly destroying its offensive units until they could attack the base with little or no resistance.
The second NOD offensive occurred three days later, in the form of a large Assault Buggy force, which did significant damage to the GDI facility's standing infantry army, but with the great amount of Tiberium resources stockpiled and available for harvesting, they had no problem reinforcing the troop ranks. Major Banks was instructed by his superiors in intelligence to lead a taskforce of units of his own choosing, into a primary offensive against the NOD base. His forces, a combination of a Harpy squadron, three divisions of Assault Buggies and Attack Cycles, and a brigade of assorted infantry men, made a successful assault against the weakening NOD base, managing to neutralize and disable many outer defense posts and defensive weapons such as lasers and SAMs. With perimeter bases neutralized, ground forces began their siege of the base. Titan artillery batteries were brought in, and torn the base apart from the inside. The tactical centre appeared to be falling. Spirits were running high through the three-day siege as it neared to a close, but then their moral was dealt a serious blow. Sentries had reported a steady and quick growth of Tiberium veins, which were steadily approaching the GDI base. Units were sent home to fortify against the corrosive growth, and the NOD forces regained the upper hand. They repealed every assault against the base. Small commando forces to vast battalion strike forces were repelled from the base. Even worse, they had become offensive, actively exiting the walls of the base for guerrilla assaults against the base. Upper brass made the decision that a major bombing mission would commence, commanded by the Major. With a crew of over 30 Orca bombers and 50 Orca Assault Fighters, they prepared the coming 'slaughter' of the NOD base.
Bank's airmen were mentally and physically ready for battle. On the day of the sortie, pilots quickly and efficiently boarded their vessels and performed preflight checks. When all was reported well, the massive force moved forward in echelons, forces becoming progressively bigger in numbers as waves returned. A squadron of 5 bombers was sent out first, 2 of which returned -- badly damaged. Next a 10-plane force was sent out, then 15, then 20, and so on and so forth. When Bank's own squadron entered the fray, he was confident of their abilities -- but would they be enough.
He suited up with his men, boarding their Orca Fighters and arming ordinances. With the command of the runway jack, the airmen responsible for directing air traffic, they lifted off, flying toward the NOD base. A few moments after they had left the protective boarder of the base, anti- air batteries opened fire, missiles and shells blackening the early afternoon sky. Around Banks, planes were exploding in steady numbers, they payload and fuselage falling to the base bellow. SAM missiles locked onto him, and a few evasive maneuvers sent the missile splaying in the open air, undirected. During a routine check-in, Banks' wingman, Lieutenant Mitchell, was shot down, his missile pack deploying, and his bomb payload dropping. In a strategic crash landing, the late Mitchell managed to bring his fighter down atop the base MCV. With the structure now located, they ambushed it. Vulcan Cannons, SAM missiles, anti-air shells, Surefire Orca Missiles and Payday Orca Bombs were flying everywhere. Bullet streams tore through hulls. SAM sites demolished oncoming planes, shells bit into, and shredded armor shards. But -- the Surefire missiles and Payday bombs were making their own mark. Many nod structures were left burning, engineering crews rushing to reclaim the building, only to be shot dead by incoming ground forces.
In the chaos of the air assault, all defensive forces had been forwarded to the anti-air batteries, allowing the ground troops to enter with reduced resistance. From his post above the burning war factory, Bank's saw numerous infantry platoons and demolition crews fire up the remains of troop transports, structures, soldiers and aircraft. He circled of the invading ground force, a cheer rose up as his other wingmen joined Banks' and they kicked in the afterburners, flying due south to survey for any escaping forces.
"Major -- that was a hell of a defense that had established there," stated the Padre.
"Quite. I don't think General McMichael had anticipated such a defensive grid -- but we overcame it -- so just calm down, let the nerves cool, and lets get on with out patrol." responded Banks.
"En route to way point four Major. Radar sites back home detected a small grouping of AA (anti-air) defenses in the vicinity."
"Padre -- I'm picking up a heat register. Appears to be a harvester." With the vein movement in the area, upper brass probably had anticipated some vein harvesting. "Search and investigate, then report back."
"Aye, sir!"
Exiting the defensive formation, Padre had beelined to the heat register, while the remainder of the squadron continued its run toward the air batteries. Just as Bank's and his crew had reached firing range of the turrets, an explosion roared through the comm, followed by a concurrent scream of despair, closed with a crash. The Padre had been taken out. Somehow that heat register took out the Padre. Bank's made a quick command for the group to head to the blip's location.
When they arrived, they saw the burning, charred wreckage of the Padre's Orca -- and a SAM site waiting. Obviously the Padre had not had his weapons armed, and was instantly taken out by the one site. Already engaged in assault mode, several Surefire missiles streaked toward the errant site, which, on impact, erupted in a skyrocketing fireball. Upon a closer, fly-by inspection, a structured sink the in ground revealed a hidden silo. Immediately suspecting Tiberium waste modules to be nearby -- he radioed home the coordinates and identity. A bombing force was quickly scrambled and dispatched, but all too late. After his announcement over the comm, Banks collided with an ejecting missile module. His plane lay in pieces on the ground, but a split second reaction saved him -- sort of. His ejector seat had become lodged in the vein packs, which contained the Tiberium material. With a final engagement of the ejector rockets, he managed to detonate a few of the containers harmlessly over the desert expanse below.
In Major Banks' final moments, he had almost succeeded in thwarting a NOD plot to destroy the airbase. With the detonation of the material packets, he had lost his life, partly in vain. Two or three of the modules remained intact, which impacted successfully on the western quadrant of the facility. Hordes of fuel supplies were contaminated with Tiberium -- and dozens of technicians were submitted into specialist hospitals for Tiberium exposure.
Even with the fatal sacrific of Major Banks and hundreds of other airmen, and the destruction of a prominent NOD tac-com facility -- the base was still lost to Tiberium contamination and exposure. The evil and unprejudiced enemy in the war of domination.
