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Command and Conquer belongs to former Westwood Studios (once again, I refuse to acknowledge it was made by EA Games, who won the Golden Poo Yearly Award, twice in a row. Congrats guys, you totally suck.)
Starcraft II belongs to Blizzard Entertainment
Starcraft AU; Tiberium Galaxy Trilogy story arch belongs to Avatar-of-Kane
All Original Characters belongs to me.
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Starcraft AU Tiberium Galaxy; Primus
Chapter 02 Bringing the Big Guns
(Year 2504, Planet Primus, Outskirts of Koprulu Sector...)
Primus – that is the name of this planet in which the UED has made themselves home. The name was given by Admiral Gerard DuGallade when he first laid his eyes with and no one knew of the name until Vladimir Romanov discovers the audio log within his EVA interface. Apparently Romanov didn't like the name, calling a planet 'First' is just as bad as calling Earth 'Bob', but the others insist that they call it Primus; Vladimir was about to call this unknown planet 'Commandergrad', in the honour of a certain Commander. Felix insists that the name Primus will do just fine; he had just enough headaches as it is.
Primus is very, very highly uncomfortable place to make a home, let alone decide to stay a while, with odd day and night cycle, the abnormal gravity pull, the entire terrain is nothing but ruin alien structure left and right and are about as dull as watching a wet paint dry. Food is non-existent, so the UED plant and farm their own food inside a specialty build tank silo with an artificial weather system, enough food to feed 5000 people per day. Rations are then being harvest inside the facility within Fort Transylvania cafeteria. Unfortunately, UED finest grub also happen to be their least favourite since it is tasteless and felt dry in the mouth - it is the equivalents of the standard MRE; least no one is complaining about hunger. The meal is a test of courage to consume at since the meal consists on mashed meat stuff in green top with unknown gravy that smells like crap. Its high nutrients and protein are good for the men, but eating it is like a challenge in and by itself. It makes BBQ Zergling Wings looks more appetizing than this unholy load of crap. No one is getting special treatment on their food selection, but occasionally Felix will asked the man if they wanted food from the Koprulu Sector, and the man will voted yes unopposed.
Ah, the taste of Steak-n-Brooklyn, Lamb-o-March, Sweet and Burning Spice Lava Crab, or the infamous Flaming Ursadak (rumour has it that many fame hunters died just to get a quality meat off its carcass) or even the Maso Fin Black Soup (highly poisonous, but the taste is heavenly), of course Urubu Wings are delicious too, but word is an entire species are wipe out by some kind of alien plague. A no-name Marine accuses the Zerg for the delicious delicacy extinction.
Water is much easier to get here, but the men didn't really into the planets water cycle though as the liquid will rough up the throat than to quell its thirst. It's drinkable after process - the water need to be purified first, and even after the process it still will rough up the throat, but at a degree where no one is complaining about sore throats and loss of voice. The man prefers to drink liquor or hard drinks than to drink down 'rock' water.
Quite an achievement for the UED Expedition Force to have settled down on Primus for 4 years. And speaking of years...
It has been a year since Dr Petrova's disappearance, and during the following weeks after that, a number of Mobius Research team scientists and researchers on the field are reported missing or lost in a labyrinth of underground ruin. Numerous rescue parties have been dispatched at each numerous cases where the team of scientists has been disappearing. So far the rescue team found traces of shattered power suit and cryptic messages of the missing scientists scribble on the wall. The disappearance researchers also gave hint that something on this planet has claimed the scientist, since there is no body are found at each site.
Though Felix has been dispatch a number of rescue party down on Gamma Point (the area where Dr Petrova is surveying) turn out empty, the men in power suit heard whispers and mumbles at the very wall of the underground ruin. So much so that the rescue team is too afraid to move forward and are forced to turn around. They even resort on using the robotic MULE to venture into the cavern, but the mining robot's battery died out even before it got through the 12 room. Felix can't blame them and their efforts, so the area is shut off by order of Admiral Fleet himself. The only thing guarding the place is the auto turret and a dozen of Marines.
This did not solve the continuous disappearance across the planet however.
After what seemed to be day's after Felix shut off the affected area, several more sites where undergoing excavations faces similar problem of disappearance. Despite having Marine (and Goliath on some sensitive sites) escorts along with the field researcher, the disappearance continue to climb. Felix Parker begin to suspect something has gone terribly wrong as soon as he heard news about an entire excavation team, including Marine escort disappear out of thin air, leaving their equipment and weapons on site. Even the team at Gamma Point has gone missing. Worse still is that the disappearance may have been linked with the Ion Storm occurrence; whenever the incident were to occurred, ionic storm will hang over an area, shutting down the radio frequency transmission and disrupt any communication whatsoever. Not even the Marine's communication links are of any used once the Ion Storm occurred.
Not taking any chances, under the leadership of two existing UED higher officers, Admiral Fleet Felix and Fleet Master Vladimir command their Behemoth-class Battlecruiser to get down to the planet surface and begin to marshal everyone from any small outpost station to Fort Transylvania. As soon as everyone is rally down the fort, the scientist and researchers are directed to stay put inside the Research Facility, where it is safer until the situation improves. Several dozen of Marine station inside and outside the facility boosts the working morale for the Mobius Research team. This action may have calm the researcher's mind and occupied their time by working with Alise on alien tech thus removing the vanishing scientists problem, but after a month or so has got the best of them, and now the Mobius Research scientist had nothing to study. Thanks to Alise however, the good doctor advice every scientist to try and reverse engineer the alien finding to occupy their minds. Felix feels thankful for her help for not having numerous scientists yelling at his ear all the time just to get an attention.
For several months to come, Felix and Vladimir have been directing troops to comb the affected area with a sizeable numbers of Marine. Troop's deployments are on schedule as soon as Vladimir gives in the order. The defence of Fort Transylvania are now on both commander's shoulder to burden as the Russian commander place troops where possible breach may occurred, and Felix begin the construction of several newly design Siege Tanks and the next schematic called Raven, a unit that outclass the native Science Vessel by downsizing its magnitude proportions and maximize its capability, while still being utilized as a detector unit. While Felix isn't impress with the Crucio Siege Tank since it's siege mode is as impressive as the Arlite Siege Tank, he had to admit that the Crucio has many advantages that the Arlite really didn't have; an actual tank-to-tank battle. Raven however is new to him. While the fame Science Vessel did have detection ability and has some useful support ability, Raven is an assault type support unit; most of its ability is to lay down suppression fire or fire a devastating homing mines as well as the infamous point defence drone. Plus, Raven is smaller, smaller than a Viking while the infamous Science Vessel is a humongous space station. More blueprint data regarding the Dominion current arsenal has been gathered thanks to the Turncoat Company, from the Marauder schematic to the Viking units. The two new units, the Crucio Siege Tank and Raven scout units are quickly position itself as needed by their commander; Siege Tank on Siege mode besides the fortified bunker at the entrance while the Raven travel in pairs around the base, with a couple more survey just outside the UED stronghold perimeter. The Raven also benefits the patrolling Marine, as its detection system widen their scope of view.
Despite having no mineral to mine or no vespene gas to gather, the stranded UED forces did something to compensate the lack of minerals and vespene gas; hundreds of SCV begin to break apart the alien ruin one section at a time, carrying the load back to the Command Center for process. This was not Felix's plan nor is Vladimir, but Alise's own idea; she believe that the alien structure is made out of the same material as the Crystal Mineral back on Koprulu Sector, but the minerals that is melted down yield more than the ones on Koprulu Sector. The alien structure also surprisingly has a small residue of fumes which yield high concentration of corrosive gas, much like the gas canister collected from the vespene gas. Dr Alise would go on about this extraordinary find, but Felix and Vladimir did not heed the heap of detail too much, and have their SCV to work. This may resolve their needs for weapons, vehicles and starships declining request, though both commanding officers worried that mining too far will cripple their fortification; since the alien ruin around Fort Transylvania is shielding the stronghold from the outside element, there is no purpose of being a barrier if the ruin structure crumble and leaving a hole large enough for any sort of alien monstrosity to jump in the breach.
With the entire plan layout and their defences ready for anything, the UED stronghold is now firmly secured. With the Marine's patrolling the base as close as possible, outskirt recon are left open for both a number of scout unit on deep patrol. One such patrol happens to be a Vulture and Hellion (Hellion is also being brought back by the Turncoat Company), racing around the base and off into unknown territory alongside the Raven support unit tolling behind.
(One of the patrolling Vulture/Hellion group...)
"Command, this is Sergeant Elm, all quiet on route 6, approaching towards the deserted outpost of Gamma sector" the Vulture driver report his finding, nothing interesting for his liking though.
"Roger that, sergeant, keep you sensor up, we're detecting some kind of activity on your vector."
"I read ya… Sir," Sergeant Elm mumbles, that wasn't the first time you told me.
The Hellion driver open his comms at Sergeant Keyes, "Talk to me boss; is command telling us to keep our eyes peel? Ain't nothing here but them ruin."
Sergeant Elm just rolls his eyes, "nothing interesting; that's all I had to say.' Least there is some kind of action, my balls is aching for some."
Just as the two fast moving vehicles took a sharp turn at the corner, they saw something that resembles a Zerg running into the ruin structure.
"Did you saw that?" said the alarm Hellion driver, "looks like them Zerg, 'cept their skinnier than-"
Before the Hellion driver manage to finish his sentence, the Vulture pilot fires its fragmentation grenade a couple of times into the ruin. An explosion followed by a loud screech confirms a direct hit, it's supposed corpse flew out of the ruin structure and hit hard on the road, its body is burning in fiery fire, still twitching. The Vulture pilot blinks his eye for a second at such a creature before he pulls a boring gaze at his companion, "what in devil's dog tarnation is that thing?"
The Hellion driver shrug before he gazing back at the poor looking critter, "I dunno but…" he paused, "...I think you just killed some guys dog sergeant..."
Sergeant Elm rolls his eyes; if that thing is a dog, then a cat would be something out of periodic ooze. Again, the Vulture pilot gives a boring gaze at his one and only companion, "oh, is that it?" The Sergeant proceeds to fire another frag grenade at the down creature, this time it completely obliterated the said insect. "Must be the wind," the sergeant finished, rolling off the road.
While the Hellion driver snickers at the sergeant's comment, the Raven unit which has been following the two Terrans suddenly ping them an area of interest, "MOVEMENT DETECTED ON VECTOR GAMMA. NUMBER OF MOVEMENT; UNCLEARED. ION STORM OCCURANCE IN T-15 MINUTES."
"You hear that sarge? Something is on them hill we're 'bout to scout on"
"Then why are you loathing around for? Them road is callin'," the Vulture pilot reply before speeding its ion thrusters to maximum gear down the road.
The Hellion driver followed with his own brand of excitement, "HELL YEAH! PETAL TO THE METAL!"
Both light-armour scout units zoom down the road into the former UED outpost, with the chasm in front of them that act as barrier to hinder their movement further. The chasm wasn't a problem to cross over since both lightly armoured vehicles can jump over the other side with sufficient speed. As soon as both Vulture and Hellion crosses, they were in for a big surprise.
The former UED outpost seemed to be crawling with multiple slow moving insect-like creatures that had seemed to be taking advantage on studying the equipment the Mobius Team and the disappearing Marines that had been left behind. The roar of engine from the distant gives off from both Vulture and Hellion did grab the alien insect's attention, gazing at the horizon where the sound originate before two metal object flew up and landed on the base the creatures are on. Obviously, as soon as both Terran units reach to the other side of the chasm, the alien insect drop everything they were doing and scramble for safety, moving randomly at different direction.
"Them critters don't look like them Zerg, sarge..." the Hellion driver asked, "Even Drones would put up a fight".
The sergeant however didn't care; he opens fire its frag grenade at the alien creature, "Don't care; if the critter has more legs than man and as ugly as fuck, it's as good as dead in my list" Sergeant Elm reply sarcastically, "Let's rumble," he added.
The Hellion driver sighs as he too joins the massacre.
The alien creature screech and squeal helplessly as more of its kind are getting slaughter by these heartless human creature. If the flame didn't get to them, the explosive grenades will. With absolutely no offensive action by its own, the creature only drive is to get the hell out of the area. The massacre continues until just a last few remain when something blink in to cover the devastated alien creature from the wrath of Vulture and Hellion. The attack stop, as both driver are trying to assess the situation; despite a being not familiar to the Terrans, these creatures are anything but harmless as they are hostile, evidence as the creature fires off a glob of raw plasma energy. The Raven unit are quick on their work and scan the creature's offensive ability as well as its unique ability to blink, "INDIGENOUS LIFEFORMS DETECTED. ANALYSING ASSESSMENT. ENTRY FOUND; CREATURE INHABITS BLINKING ABILITY SIMILAR TO PROTOSS STALKERS."
"Well, them PROTOSS are ugly as sin, but never this ugly." Hellion driver ponder aloud.
"Who cares? Let's just kill them critter."
Vulture and Hellion units fires off fragmentation grenade and fiery flame respectively against these Protoss-looking wannabe. One thing that took both the driver's interest is that their weapon makes a direct hit, not hailed just an inch away by a field of psionic wall. On the other hand, the armour on the critter is more resilient than the other alien insect.
Oh, and they bleed green blood.
Ignoring the strange creature's unique property, both men resume firing at a group of creature, and in return, the aliens' fires back. The raining orb of raw plasma coming from multiple alien critters at once quickly forced the two light-armour unit to take evasive action, but no matter how well they attempt to dodge it, the raining raw plasma will still splashed onto their ride, jeopardizing their thrill ride. To make it even more worst for the two light-armour scout unit, some of these aliens are also targeting the Raven unit, while the automaton unit only respond was to drop several auto-turret before fleeing. After a few counter-fire and several more splashed on their ride later, the Vulture and Hellion pilot has had enough.
"God damn it, this ride is getting too thrilling!" the Vulture pilot reclaimed, "Fall back to base!" he added.
"Roger sir!" the Hellion pilot replies before making a hasty retreat off the chasm. The Raven unit follows the Hellion after obtaining enough data regarding these new critters, but not before placing several auto-turrets to cover the teams retreat.
The Vulture pilot is about to took off as well, but not after dropping all three Spider Mines from its rider's compartment, "Suck on these, creep!"
The alien critter gives chase, obviously furious by the Terran's action. The auto-turret calibre munitions did little against the alien, but the Spider Mines that Sergeant Elm left out are quite immediate; upon activation, the tiny drone mine scuffle its way towards the alien being and detonate it upon impact. Several of these aliens sustain heavy damage, while few are destroyed. The rest of the alien critters target the auto-turret, ignoring the fleeing Terran.
Miles away, both Vulture and Hellion units radio in their finding as they zoom off the road as fast as possible, "Commander, we have just stumble upon them alien critter on Gamma. Never seen 'em before. Reckon they've kidnap a lot of them egghead and Marines."
(Fort Transylvania... Inside the Command Center...)
"Roger that Elm; get back to base, we are getting the same report all over planet side from all recon team. Command out."
Sitting uncomfortably inside the Command Center, Felix Parker rubs his chin after a while as he stares at the image captured by multiple Raven units. Massive amount of photographic images shows a lot of unknown critter that seemed to have pop out of nowhere. Four long years' and now these creature emerge? What were these creatures waiting for anyway? Felix decides to gather all data regarding these alien menaces as he investigated each diverse hostile alien encounters through the lenses of the all Raven unit.
The first encounter was the batch of Marines by the dozens on patrol at Vector Alpha where they encounter wisp like being in great numbers. The area around Vector Alpha is a high terrain, with very little ruin dotting the area, perfect for a small outpost with little structure to facilitate the Mobius Research team very needs. The area was abandon shortly after Dr Petrova's disappearance, and the outpost structure is left abandon. Report indicates there are movement on the former outpost, and Felix sends in a small team of Marines and a single Raven unit to investigate. This is where the Marine encounter these blue-ish wisp, which seemed to be surrounded by a clustered of knife-like object. The man of course open fire the alien being, only to have them shredded to tiny pieces. The most horrible thing Felix saw on the footage was how effective these things are; these... Buzzers, as the man calls it, rushes up to the man like the one from the Protoss Zealot or the Zerg Zergling and attack the group of Marine without pause. One of the Buzzers dive into the man's unshielded visor and tore the man's face into a new one. The team escape, but they lost a quarter of enlist men in their initial encounter.
The second recon team, consist of 7 Diamondback's (another salute for the Turncoat Company) came across a weird alien on Bravo Point. Bravo Point was initially houses the only Starport here on this planet along with Barracks and several supply depots with a number of Marines, along with their commanding officer in charge, Captain Darius Rico. The Point become uninhibitedness when no Marine on Bravo answered back and the remote mechanism both Barracks and Starport fail to respond to all command. Felix has already sent in teams of Marines numerous times to reactivate the structure, but none reported back. With the Dropship having no place to land, the transport ship is constantly had to land on Fort Transylvania directly on the training field, disrupting troop's deployment at each landing schedule. As a result, Vladimir Romanov had to build another Starport close to the Barracks and Felix is left with no choice but to abandon the outpost for some time. It wasn't until the Turncoat Company contributes their war bounty of Diamondback schematics, along with other recent Dominion tech. This allows Felix to dispatch the newly acquired Diamondback to Bravo, confident that the tank hardened armour will prove useful against any threat. Upon arrival, the base looked intact, but no sign of any Terran life form other than a pony-size aliens. The alien appears like a small horse lying down on the dirt path idle on the road and one of the Diamondback pilot thinks it would be fun to see these aliens pop under its hover unit. The Diamondback drove over the critter when the armoured tank explodes, shocking the other Diamondback's pilots. The alien critter, no longer idle after the death of one of their kind, stood up and attacks the Diamondback with laser cutting beam while the latter fire its primary weapon at these critters. The Diamondback reported that the creature's laser seemed to have dent a serious blow on their armour hull, and quickly retreat by Felix's approval. Disintegrators, as the pilot identified due to its ability to cut down the Diamondback's extra thick armour, may well be a formidable enemy to all armoured division.
And now, the third recon team consist of Vulture and Hellion has filled their report on Gamma Vector, and these... critters attack in violent respond in great number. Plasma disk and orb are the critters primary weapon, and the hot plasma energy reading is off the chart. It also doubles up as an anti-air unit, evidence as its capability to target the hovering Raven. But perhaps what he had even more fearful is its ability to Blink. The Turncoat Company back on Koprulu Sector has update a lot of recent events, including encountering with the recently updated Protoss Forces, one of these recently added list are the Protoss Stalker unit with the same Blinking ability. Both Stalkers and these alien critters has similar characteristics appearance, but the Protoss are less threatening than this new alien enemy, which it's plasma disc does damage at a much wider area of effect. These creatures' looks like some sort of Shock Trooper in a sense... but Felix digress.
The most peculiar of all is that these few creatures only appear hostile as soon as the UED patrol found an alien creature which is fascinated by Terran technology. The alien is slow moving, passive critter, probably without any form of defensive capability. The Raven unit that spotted these alien creature reportedly conclude that they are stealth unit like the one on Dominion Ghost, but when these creature moves away to seek shelter, their stealth capability is dropped. It is unknown if these alien has any offensive purposes, but it's ability to turn stealth while standing still has a lot to be feared of; if the creature make use of its stealth purpose at the fullest, it could even be possible to penetrate into Fort Transylvania itself. Since the creature is so easily fascinated by Terran technology, it is conclude that these creature maybe an enemy engineer or a saboteur... an Assimilator perhaps?
"Commander, our forces are under attack!" the electronic avatar, EVA quickly updates the current event, "Another hostile alien creature has engaged against Vladimir's Marine Corp!"
"Direct video feed to my main console, we need to make use what we have to go up against it!" Felix quickly remark, sitting on the command bridge chair as comfortable as possible.
"Will do Commander; battlefield control establish, battlefield expended, critical unit under attack!"
Critical unit under attack? No, no it can't be, ponder Felix.
The image pan to a nearby area due northwest of Fort Transylvania where the battle both the Terrans and the new alien menace is now initiated. Three dozen Marines, a dozen of Firebats and Medics are now engaging against a mix of all three new enemies, with the flame wielding giant up front roasting the approaching Buzzers while the Marine open fire against the Disintegrators. The alien Shock Trooper fires a rain of Plasma disc against the grouped mass of infantry, and the Marines, who are unfortunate to get caught by the raining hot plasma and had their power suit exposed scream aloud as the plasma eats away the exterior and the flesh of their body. Medic did what they could to heal those who are subjected by the hot plasma energy disc. The damage from the Plasma disc is however are too dense, too concentrated. The raw power of this plasma disc is phenomenon as it could literally crack open the hard-hitting combat armour. Worse still is how these alien forces are cooperating; the Disintegrators fire their cutting laser beams onto the Firebats, Plasma disc from the Shock Trooper cause a dramatic drop of the Firebats power suit much further, and the surviving Buzzers dive in into the exposed crack shell with tiny knife-like razor into the exposed Firebat and thus literally killing the derange psychotic pyromaniacs from the inside out. Marines are much easily toppled; just spam them more plasma disc and they will all melt in no time. What the alien didn't have however are numbers; the Marines and Firebat outnumbered the alien invader, and with the help of Medic, the team stays alive much more longer than these alien do. The alien invaders had put a lot of valiant fight, but it was only when the sound of mortar launcher steals the shows; the group of aliens, mostly Shock Troopers cluster together in hope of fighting at equal ground are shortly being thrown to the sky due to the powerful explosion that suddenly occurred, killing some of the alien bastards. The UED troops turn their attention and all of them praise happily; a Firebat unit in all black, rocket launcher on one hand and a Minigun at another with a mortar launcher at his back arrive at the scene, striking a pose.
"Yo, comrade Felix, could use some directing here, what is our objectives?!" a familiar voice radio in, and Felix face-palm almost immediately… damn you Vladimir!
"Vladimir, did you just left your post just so you can join in the fight?" The computer generated AI asked, seeing as the Admiral Fleet frustration meter just shoot up to the sky.
"Da, my little twinkle devushka! The man needs motivation and morality; I give them promise of money and woman! Ha-ha!"
Felix rubs his head even harder, and the little AI isn't helping at all, "You're going to make me dance naked on the holodisk again aren't you? You are a very, very naughty old geezer!" she chirps happily, and soon Vladimir joins in.
"Enough! Both of you!" Felix bellows angrily, "Vladimir, since you are out from your post, I want you to lead our men safely back to base. Can you at LEAST do that without screwing too much?"
"I could, but this alien dvornyazhka is leading a strike against our fortification," Vladimir quickly replies, firing another mortar again before he continues, "These damn aliens are the most persistent ones I've seen! They must have a base of operational somewhere."
Felix sigh, "Alright Vladimir. You have my permission to proceed with… whatever mission you had in mind. Keep me in loop in case you need reinforcements. I'll try and organise my end here and see what I can do to provide additional support."
"Ha! The only supports I need now are two lovely Medic devushka! Ahahahahaha!"
The communication immediately cuts off just before Felix would throw in a fit. Once again, the Admiral Fleet sat on his command chair, face-palm at his only comrade officer. The computer generated AI is still not helping, "Teeheehee, I wonder which digital uniform I'll be wearing next time? Is it a strip form or a tiny cloth?"
Felix eyed at his computer degenerate AI with a menacing glare, "If you ever do that again, under my watchful eye, not only will I reset you, I'll downgrade you to a pixel cube."
The AI, naturally yelp.
Immediately after the Admiral's threaten his AI, Felix Parker notice a blip on the minimap display which indicate forces not registered in their enlist database, just a few clicks from the outer defence perimeter. Thanks to the sensor array, Felix could now be prepared for any attack from any angle of the base. The outer defence perimeter is consists of dozen of deployed auto-turret, a pair of missile turret, half a dozen Siege tank in siege mode and Goliath combat unit as well as a full battalion of Marines with a single Raven unit. The area around the outer perimeter is filled with choke point due to the alien ruin structure around Fort Transylvania, thus making it ideal for placing defensive structures in front of the choke points allowing the Siege Tank to pound the hostile aliens as the creature tries to get into range for an attack in such a narrow and tight path while Marines and Auto-turret finish off any survivor that manage to get through that gap. Goliath however has double duty since it can target both air and ground units, but their main purpose is to insist the missile turret with their own long range Hellfire missiles. Raven's duty is simple; to be the eye for the men below, set up an Auto-Turret to replace lost one's as well as setting up Point Defense Drones to protect incoming hostile projectile. Seeker missile ability are conserve sparingly, allowing the Raven unit to use other support ability unless in a desperate situation.
The blip initially just a few dots, which Felix thought of nothing but a scouting party, but as the unknown blip grew nearer and nearer to the outer perimeter, the number of unknown blips begins to accumulate onto a staggering, rate.
"Warning; enemy forces inbound" EVA report a second too late, "A little late for such a warning," hiss Felix.
The computer generated AI balloon her mouth, pouting at her commanding officer. She scans the perimeter around the Fort and are quick to notified several non-operational base which belongs to the Russian commander, "Sir, if I may; Commander Vladimir have left his post, and his own EVA unit has been operating solely on Alexander Axis. Vladimir's Command Center is left vacant; shall I take control of his forces and its property?"
Felix wanted to object, since allowing the computer generated avatar does not always sit right on him due to her system not reset at the appointed time. However, this situation calls for an immediate action and with Vladimir decided to go alien hunting on his own along with his troops, this decision left him in a very limited spot for Felix down to two option; either he himself take control of Vladimir's forces which will force him to micromanage the entire base meant to operate by 4 commanders, or have his AI avatar, who had not had her system reset well over 20 years to take control of Vladimir's army. Decisions, decisions.
"EVA, can I trust you on this?" Felix asked, doubt runs in his mind. The computer generated avatar only smiles back in return, nodding.
"Don't worry Commander; I may have well expired than most of my peers, but I'm still 150% combat effective on my task." she reply positively, giving him a small salute, "I'm raring to go Commander."
Felix nod, "You have my permission to take control of Vladimir's forces until he returns to take command. Is that understood?"
The computer generated AI nod smartly before her entire body flashes brightly, degenerate her cluster of data that made up her entire length of body into a glowing hovering cube, "Affirmative. Transferring medium data to Vladimir's Command Center. Medium established. Establishing system control node. Control node established. Establishing battlefield control, standby..."
Suddenly, a massive explosion can be heard, and Felix can identify the sound of that particular explosion; it is the same exploding shell made by the Siege Tank! The enemy is now upon the remnant of the UED! "Commander! Base is under attack!" cried one of the junior staff members on the Command Center bridge, typing their keyboard as fast as the system allows them to, "Outer Perimeter site 4 to 12 has reported alien intrusion; biggest one coming from Perimeter 12! The defences are holding them back for now!"
Just as the notified hostility is confirmed, Felix Parker is quick to input his command, "We can't allow the aliens creature to jeopardise our internal goal! I want Barrack 3 and 5 to train more Marines, full queue! Have one of the SCV units to build addition War Factory. For current War Factory, get those Siege Tank and Goliath out there at the field!" Felix then turn his attention to the outer perimeter defences where the battle against the alien forces has commence, "Notify the troops on all active Perimeter; they are to hold their ground at all cost until I said otherwise, no alien are to cross that line!"
Just as Felix finish with his command, his computer assisted AI has already establish connection, "Battlefield control established; all Vladimir's Barrack production is now running at 100%, engineering bay is now at full production, armoury and tech lab required for production. War Factory is now working at 100%. First unit, Goliath unit is ready to commence operation."
The Admiral Chief are quick to note at his AI, "EVA, configure your combat setting up to 200% efficiency; if we are facing a planet wide alien incursion on their own turf, we're going to push our limit to maximum drive."
"Affirmative; combat efficient setting is switch from 50% to 200% setting; Insane Diff. All production structure are now at maximum drive."
"Get me in touch with Captain Rilves from Litany of Fury and the EVA unit at Alexander Axis"
"Establishing, please stand by. Connection with Captain Rilves from Litany of Fury and EVA series SR54HG at Alexander Axis establish. Switching to main monitor."
The moment Felix's EVA unit reported her duty, two images appear before the Admiral Chief's monitor screen. Captain Rilves smartly salute his superior on the left, and Vladimir's own EVA unit, a heavily winter coated female avatar with a Dragonov Sniper Rifle at hand did little to respect Felix other than a huff on the right, "Mr Rilves," Felix begin, "I want the Litany of Fury and her crew to prepare and defend Fort Transylvania at the moment notice. The Ion Storm is approaching, so I want that ship's magnetic shielding at 100% functional at all times. Are you understood?"
"Order received, Admiral Chief!" "Captain Rilves salute, "oh, and welcome back Commander, kinda miss that full on authority tone of yours for ages!" he added before ending his communication.
Felix only nod slightly before turning his attention to the female computer avatar. Vladimir Romanov EVA system is largely different from his own, since her EVA unit listen to no one but Vladimir order. Felix and her had some history regarding that matter, and both sometimes do not see eye to eye, "Natasha, I want you to relay your support with Litany of Fury. Whatever she does, you'll do the same. Understood?
The computer AI avatar, which is revealed to be named Natasha roll her eyes and huff miserably. She did nothing in vocal respond other than a mere nod, saying something in Russian under her breathe before her screen too shuts off.
Felix's EVA unit giggled, "It looks like she still hates you, Commander."
"I don't what to even know what she said to me. I'm better off not knowing than to actually care about her opinion on me. So long as she performs her task, that's just fine."
While most of the outer perimeter is being hammered by the alien forces, Perimeter 12 hit the hardest; at the outer perimeter defences, the row of men fire their C-141 AC rifle against the purple/silver alien being that is racing towards their fortification, mostly consist of Buzzers, Disintegrators and Shock Troopers. Buzzers and Disintegrators rushes upward towards the UED fortification while Shock Troopers rain down plasma disc as far as possible, but most of these three alien being are either being pound to unrecognizable heap of metal or blown to oblivion. While Buzzers and Disintegrators are easy to held at bay, Shock Troopers on the other hand could teleport right into the less exposed choke point area and rain more plasma disc against the fortification. Siege Tank are helpless at this tactic as this fast blinking alien could blink once in front of the group, then blink again at the rear row of the Siege Tanks. Fortunately, the Goliath combat unit are at the back row for obvious reasons, and these two legged mechanical walker will rain death against any brave or suicidal Shock Trooper that would blink in. However, the alien that blink in and out did shake some of the battle-harden Marines up, especially when these alien forces blink in too close to the Marine. At some extend, the blinking alien action did cause friendly-fire among the group, and when they divert their attention to the blinking alien and are not concentrating at the incoming enemy for just a few seconds means three or more Buzzers manage to slip in into their fortification, and these alien wisp shows absolutely no mercy as these things smash into the man's visors, slashing the man's poor exposed head with hundreds of sharp knife-like blade before jumping to their next victim. Marine's death numbered by the tens due to Buzzers intrusion alone.
Suddenly, the sensor array alerted the troops that a hostile flying unit is inbound, and with the advance sensory of the missile turret, the UED defenders have a good visual what it is. This thin, flat and oval-like flying machine, with two wide digit that serve as a pair of eyes, zooms forward towards the Terran outer fortification numbering by the dozens, raining down plasma cannon against the defenders. The collection of Marines and Goliath combat walkers caught by this unrelenting event, aim high and open fire upon getting visual on their flying alien target. The alien fighters' exterior hull is protected by a layer of protected field just like those of a Protoss, hence the alien fighters worried little about losing a companion or so. Using strength in numbers, both ground forces and air forces combine their might to overwhelm the outer perimeter defences. The UED defenders could do nothing but to attempt to fight their alien adversary at the best of their ability.
(Meanwhile, inside the Science Facility)
While the battle is fiercely erupted with roaring Gauss rifle and the thunderous explosion of Siege Tank, the scientists and researcher inside the facility continue their work in fear of their very life. Dr Alise Carmen assures that this dreadful time will pass, but even she has her doubts; many of her Earth raised scientist has gone hiding, while few lock themselves in their room, praying for god. Many of Dr Alise colleague are actually those who are recruited from the Koprulu Sector, and even they are subject to fear; the mental image of thousands of Zerg Swarm or the pillar of light of death from the Protoss are largely to blame. Without any variant options, Alise rally those who can work, and left those who can't back to their room.
"Alright, that should be the last item being shipped here." Dr Alise comment as she lay down the last item down on the table, her fellow colleague sigh in relief.
"Look at them stuff," one of her colleagues said, pointing at a wreaked object that look like a weapon, "they're metallic in nature, but has the flexibility of a rubber. Whatever alien civilization that stayed on this rock must have been advanced beyond understanding, like them Protoss."
"Yeah, but these ain't Protoss tech that's for damn sure."
"Guys, stop making theories and help me file down these following architects items here." the lead scientist pout, carrying the box of item near the computer console, which has its own built-in EVA unit and house the entire library of the Mobius finding. Unlike the ones used by both Felix and Vladimir, this EVA unit is primitive, and since she is not authorized to command an army, her avatar tally her authority and appearance as a short haired, worn scientist outfit with spectacles (even though the AI vision is 20/20) and carry a data pad accessories. The computer generated avatar is design to facilitate the Mobius Research Team by cataloguing information which is vital for the group's independent thirst for knowledge.
So Dr Alise did just as she did with the rest of the alien wreckage and junk via scanning the object with a laser scanner, which the console will create a 3D render of the said object. EVA will catalogue this find as yet another alien item that Dr Alise and her team found outside this once thriving planet. Each tech fragment will be analysed later for further study.
However, when Dr Alise scanned what appears to be plated armour with a shattered emblem, the Mobius Research Console suddenly gone haywire! The interface EVA screams in a mix of human agony and electronical shriek! The room they were in flickers on and off creating an ominous scene!
"Wha-what's going on!?" one of Dr Alise colleague scream in panic.
"I don't know!" cried Alise Carmen, tapping the console keyboard as fast as she can, "the Mobius Research Console is experiencing some kind of data surge! The entire system has gone haywire!"
"Shut it down Dr Carmen!" one of the older scientists cried with reason, "We cannot afford to lose all our years' work on this alien tech because of some data surge!"
"Attempting shutdown procedures!" Dr Alise Carmen acknowledged her senior colleague suggestion, but no matter how hard she tries to shut it down, the system won't let her! "I can't - I can't shut it down! The system won't allow me to shut it down! None of the controls are responding!"
"For god sake someone disable the power on this room! Years of research will go down the drain if this persists!"
And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the scream and the chaos stop to a halt. Dr Alise Carmen and her colleague looked at each other worrying their hearts out, and the Mobius Research Console...
The console shows only a pale white screen, no images, no letters, it is absolutely blank. The team obviously feared the worst. Years of research... really did gone down the drain.
Or is it?
"ELECTRONIC VIDEO ASSISTANCE -EVA- VERSION 5.56 ONLINE." The familiar voice slowly brought the attention to Dr Alise and her colleague, but what surprise her and her team is that the EVA unit reside in this very computer is supposed to be version 8.23, not version 5.56. Did the data surge just downgrade the AI to an even more primitive state than it previously was? Dr Alise Carmen shoot a fearful gaze to everyone before she attempt to operate the console again. However, the Mobius terminal is not responsive, no matter how many keystrokes she presses.
"NEW DATA FOUND. DATA DOSSIER ACCEPTED. LOADING... LOAD COMPLETE. ALL 1,769,541,540 ENTRY ACCEPTED. NEW VERSION OF EVA UNIT FOUND. ATTEMPTING TO UPDATE ENTRY. LOADING... INSTALLING. INSTALLATION COMPLETE." a short pause later the Mobius Research Console screen opens up, appeared unaltered and remain idle with the current appearance of EVA openly greet its human master. "Good Morning Dr Alise."
"Oh god... EVA, you scared the hell out of us." the lead female begins, ending her worried expression with a sigh. The other scientist sigh in relieve as well.
"I do apologize for any... sudden surprise." EVA replies at the best of her ability, though the computer generated avatar tilt her head to the side, wondering what had been going on. Just as EVA about to asked why they were so exacerbate themselves, EVA's eyes suddenly lit up several times, causing the AI unit to pause any known function to focus on a sudden surge of incoming data. She meets with Dr Alise eye to eye; the little artificial intelligence smiles, "New data receive; Scrin Dossier found."
Dr Alise Carmen tilt her head to the side, pondering, "Scrin?"
(Back in the Fort Transylvania Felix's Command Center)
Felix Parker continues to monitor his forces while maintaining troop's deployment as intense as possible. He had already sent in a squad of Medics and a platoon worth of Marine to the outer perimeter in order to fortify the area, along with two airborne Barracks which he had his SCV build. His computer generated avatar, EVA has just finish manufacturing half a dozen Goliath combat units, and had already dispatched these walking mech to other outer perimeter lines which has also come under attack. What really change Felix's own tactics is because of the existing air-type alien enemy, and this only complicate things as these alien craft could hit the stronghold by diverting their flight pattern away from the outer perimeter sensors and into the fort itself. Already, he is seeing 3 to 6 alien craft attempting this tactic and only fails when both Litany of Fury and Alexander Axis open fire their plasma torpedo and severely damage the tiny alien craft. The alien aircraft weaponry is perhaps what intrigues him the most; sensors and visual from the field indicate that these alien beings can target any known direction from any point of their ship, and has shown exceptional near perfect aiming. As for endurance, the alien craft has a light bubble-like forcefield protecting the craft from harm, but it seemed rather weak compare to those from the Protoss, in fact a few rounds of plasma torpedo is enough to drop the shield down before being engulf by the wrong end of the raw plasma energy. The craft itself is not too heavily armoured, but they are fast undoubtedly, faster than a Protoss Scout unit or the Protoss Phoniex, one of the newer anti-air combat ship from the Khala warrior. He had seen the ship capability to fire against ground forces, and when attempting to enter the Fort's perimeter, the alien ship also attempt to fire against two Behemoth-class Battlecruiser hovering the base, drawing conclusion that this alien craft is also capable of anti-air warfare.
In conclusion, this alien craft is an all-purpose alien fighting ship that can target anything of visible target.
"Commander," EVA suddenly report, cutting the Admiral Chief's mental thought, "I have Dr Alise Carmen on secure line 5. She says it is urgent."
"How urgent?"
"Try planetary catastrophic urgent." EVA reply, only to have the human commander making death glare at the computer generated avatar. The AI is not amuse, "…That wasn't a joke."
Felix sigh, "Put her on the main screen."
Just as the screen flicks open in Felix's own demand, Dr Alise Carmen explodes with a mix of rage and excitement; she practically scream upon noticing her channel being notified by Felix Parker, "Felix! Thank god you finally pay any attention to me! Listen, about these aliens-"
"Dr Alise, let me make this clear first; please do not refer to me as 'Felix' during the line of duty. Its 'Commander', got it?"
"I don't even care if you refer yourself as a 'useless husband!', now listen to me!" she pout almost immediately, "These aliens creatures are unlike anything we've seen before like those of the Zerg or the Protoss, however, our database on the Mobius Research indicate that this is not the case! The alien structure, the creatures metaphoric figures, they are all match with the data within the Mobius archive of war hidden in a compressed pocket of data! In fact, we may have stumble upon an alien race that had once ravage Earth many years ago!"
Felix blinked, "What are talking about? Earth was never under attacked by some alien freaks before-"
"That was a lie! The old Earth Government cover that truth up for more than 400 years after a little conflict known as the Ascension Conflict! All historical data prior by this conflict are deleted and removed, historically and in general locations! The Earth wasn't as beautiful as we were led to believe in! Our homeworld were under attack by an alien material used as a staging area at some point. However, the fact remains that we are currently battling against a being that had once ravage Earth many hundreds of years ago!"
"And how do you know this?" Felix question Alise, the commanding officer begins to feel rather uneasy with all this commotion going on, "Is this information only limited to those of higher authority level? How did we not know of this?"
"To put it bluntly, Admiral DuGalle should have already known about this fact, but he or his subordinate may or may not have time to share this information to any of his lesser officers! The data on the Mobius Research also suggest that whatever happens to the original Mobius Team during or after the Ascension Conflict did not follow the orders of the Old Government on erasing this information willingly. I myself have just discovered this messages and its history when I run through the alien diagram on the system. It must have triggered something in the system to open up all known library regarding about these aliens which dated all the way back to the late 1990s!"
"This is getting out of hand… our history, our foreign enemies…" Felix mumble, and then it hit him; the truth, "My god… the terrorist back on Earth… they weren't some blindly devoted terrorist at all… they are really people who seek to spread the truth about the Government. The lies… the propaganda… Project Purification… 400 million people… It all starts to makes sense now…"
And how can it not, when Felix Parker were among many member of the military that had initiate this known Project? It was one of many known genocide that the people of Earth had committed for the unity of the world; erasing other religion beliefs through military might, eradicate human cyborgs, mutant being and other fanatical terrorist with the fire of humanity banner raising high above their burning corpse, Project Purification has done all in hopes to purify the people and its planet by raging war for well over eighty years. Felix was part of it, having eradicate countless pocket of resistance, splintered military faction, and even raised arms against his own countrymen who is branded as mutant or cybernetic junkie before going off duty in a cryogenic sleep chamber. If it were true, then Project Purification did not only destroy the people with different belief and its legacy, it may also destroy the truth regarding about the alien incursion on Earth, something that the Old Government should never turn a blind eye on.
Felix's computer generated AI woke him up from his own guilt and conscious, "Commander, our base is under attack; Perimeter 1 to 5 breached, 6 to 9 is under siege, remaining Perimeter is still holding on to their immediate order."
"EVA, contact all remaining troops that we have just push forward; return to base! I want all perimeter defender to abandon their post and have them make their way towards the Fort! Don't sell off any known functional auto-turret; those turrets will buy us some time!" Felix quickly diverts his attention to his troops needs before placing his free hand on his head. He felt like a hammer had just hit him at the head mercilessly.
EVA stares at her human commander, with her worried look. She nodded at her given orders, "Affirmative; transmitting orders… standby…"
"Felix! There's more!" a voice from Dr Alise are quick to add Felix's dilemma, "According to Mobius notes, the creature we are facing against had a name, collected by an ancient alien artifact known as the Tac-"
There was a pause, as if time had just slowed down by a fraction of its millisecond frame. The video feed are instantly disconnected and is replace with a black and white static. The sound of the glorious battle of firearms and siege cannon is now still in total silent, as if the loud and violent battle outside of the base has being sucked out into the vacuum of space. Felix could feel something was wrong because he could see ripples coming from his monitor computer, even the staff members under his wing seemed to have frozen in place, but their eyes move erratically, panicked and fearful. Their voice seem distorted, alien, grunting and hissing, grumping aloud, anything that would make Felix to experience this oddity. He tried to move his entire body, but moving around felt like he was buried alive on the ground with a ton of dirt but are kept alive; he can't move at all, even at the slightest movement. It sounded like a joke; a really, really bad joke gone horrendously right, but Felix hate jokes, and even more loathly if his enemy did it deliberately for fun, especially the Protoss. Felix will his strength, his teeth clash together to break whatever it is that is going on, with no result. Seconds turns to minutes as he and his team stood there trying to move and understand the situation their frozen moment in time until…
…Reality slam them hard against their base, the sound of gunfire echo into their ears like hellish choir and the siege cannon sing with thunderous roar of explosive wrath. Colours and light begin to form, dancing in front of them as computer came back online and communication is restored, and with all electronical devices restored, Felix's own electronical computer generated AI are quick to alerted Felix with a half-finish report, "-nder attack! Frontal Perimeter at risk of being overwhelmed!"
Felix blinked, distorted, "EVA! Report! What just happen!?"
EVA looked at the her Commander with a boring look, and when Felix eyes twitch due to all the confusion, she sigh and report, "It would seemed that your Command Center, Barrack 2 to 5, Engineering Bay and Supply Depots 27 to 55 has been placed in a 'bubble shield', which Dr Alice and myself has been trying to get through. It would appear that the enemy alien forces have placed a similar fashion of the Protoss Stasis Field exploited by an Arbiter, but at a larger, grander scale."
Felix blinked once more, cold sweat roll down from his temple down to his cheek, "A Stasis Field?" he reply weakly, as he scan with his eyes on each affected area of said field, "An entire football field yard?"
"That is correct-"
"Felix!" another loud voice boomed the speaker, which happens to be Dr Alise, "The Scrin! Sensors indicate multiple Scrin units are heading towards this vector!"
"Scrin?"
"They are the name of the aliens we are currently encountered, and from what I can gather from this old archive, the alien forces have many technologies which are related to warp, time and space, even psionic!"
Felix's expression goes to complete irritation, aiding his aching head, "So we are fighting a Protoss with a Zerg body physical appearance and structure. Fantastic."
"She's right Commander," EVA reply, and with a slight movement, the electronical avatar is huffing for air, "The enemy has just destroyed the last outer defences. All Marine, Goliath, Vulture, Hellion, Raven and Siege Tank have already returned to base…" she added before huffing again.
Felix is quick to notice his EVA's problem, "EVA… are you…?"
"I'm fine! Let's go hunt us some more Scrin!" the computer generated AI assured Felix, pulling a cheerful smile before vanishes into a clustered of pixel data.
Being a field commander who is currently being overwhelm by enemy forces while underwhelm due to the lack of any known intelligence always puts him in defensive, so knowing only the alien races name is just a fundamental solution to him, especially if he needs to identify the aliens capability in the near future conflict. In the long run however, learning its name will not achieve victory; he needs hard facts, number of enemy forces, number of base, anything that could point out some kind of weaknesses the alien has so he can paint a red target at them. Felix quickly glance through the number of his current standing forces are after what those alien bastard just did - in his case, the alien Scrin just threw a Stasis Field onto an entire area losing precious time to help defend the fort. He can see that his troops deployment are not affected by the wide area Stasis Field, and the SCV that had mine those alien structure too further in are to mine elsewhere thanks to EVA. Surviving Siege Tank and the marching Marines from all corner of the map have all safely reach to the fort and had already being placed into duty by the computer generated avatars with the exception of Vladimir.
EVA is doing well from what Felix can gather. The computer generated AI has been pushing the troops on a forward momentum, and only issues the injured ones to fall back. Her micro is effective, however this put her already deteriorated condition - her artificial intelligence data and program - are now at risk on a verge of collapsing.
It is by the book - manual that all known EVA unit – when placing from economy operating mode (basically a setting which is standardize to all functional AI), most of the electronical devices – the sensitive bits and bytes will not affected much of the system. However, Felix has just allowed EVA into combat mode, which is not only dramatically draining EVA system to overwork itself, the system that is keeping her program to stay afloat is going overdrive. Add that fact that she is now commanding inside Vladimir's Command Center, which is not her primary leverage domain adds the burden even worst.
Personal feelings should never be on the battlefield, and that is what the UED officers been practicing ever since these man and woman begin charging headlong into the battlefield with a few fellow squad member as their own team, and has been continue to obey it so as it is compulsory to follow. This act not only stops them from going into a fit, it also allows them to concentrate their work. Felix isn't one of them; though successful, he had always feels sorry to his men, granting them a proper funeral of rights when other officers would do it later. DuGalle even approve of Felix opinion on proposing a funeral for Stukov, not out of the grief that Admiral Gerard DuGallade had killed his right hand man by that traitorous Samir Duran and his lies, but because Felix respected Stukov when he was under his command. His EVA is no different; there are a number of UED commanders who has the privilege to own an EVA unit treated the artificial intelligence as another piece of tool. Felix are one of the few people who treat his AI avatar as a person. So in Felix's defence, seeing his computer generated AI holding a bulk of Vladimir's forces on her shoulder when the Russian man is hunting down some Scrin aliens does is unsettling. Oh, and she is officially the oldest combat AI in the UED branch, senior to any surviving EVA system on Koprulu Sector and beyond.
Koprulu Sector and beyond... That phrase suddenly stir within Felix's own gut; if the Scrin and the Terran knew each other 400 years ago, and somehow the Terran stumble upon the Scrin here, the alien menace will no doubt take this offensively to defend their dying planet. But the worst has yet to come; what will happen if the Scrin learn of Earth location through them? Seeing as Litany of Fury and Alexander Axis has position itself well above the fort releasing swarm of Wraith fighters against the intruding Scrin in the sky with that dark sky growing even darker with an immense ionic charge building up, Felix attempt communication on his ship one last time, "Captain Rilves?"
"Yes Command?"
"Do we still have any Science Vessel in orbit?"
"Yes, several," Captain Rilves quickly reply, "What about it?"
"I want you to send this message out." Felix reply, inserting a datapad into the console slot. A few seconds later Captain Rilves received the package data.
"It will be done; shall I deliver this message to either the Spartan Company or Turncoat Company?"
"Neither." Felix reply, his harden expression shows the seriousness of their current situation, "Get that message back to Earth; tell them we have confirmation on a possible Scrin invasion. Let's wake up the sleeping giant up."
(Northwest from Fort Transylvania… several hundred of meters away, Ion Storm occurred)
Vladimir's men march with fiery explosion, ringing firearms and scorch earth along their path, and with the Ion Storm occurring on top of their heads only encourage the man to march faster. The Marine, Firebat and Medic combo manage to pull through the strike force all thanks to Vladimir's present. So far, they have vanquished a ton of Buzzers, a platoon worth of Disintegrators and a squad of Shock Troopers without heavy losses. The method of engagement are all the same; Vladimir's men discovered an alien strike force, the team moves to engage, and Vladimir deliver the punishing blows against these creatures from the safety at the rear position. After spending several shells of mortar later, the big Russian man order any injured man to move to the rear line for treatment while he moves forward and start mowing down the any surviving alien critter. Having Vladimir is like having a Siege Tank around, and one that does not require unpacking and deploying. The team of men has minimal casualties compare to the alien forces, and with each steps they made, the Russian big daddy and his forces crushes the alien resistance. They are like Zerg since they are insect like being, but they are also technologically advance like a Protoss. The men didn't mind; all they wanted is to get some bloody action.
This time however, the team encounter what appears to be a mechanize walker, much like those of Goliath or Dragoon (or Immortal). This walker has 3 pairs of legs and has an enormous back abdomen with crystal growing at their backs. Its head is small, but at close observation the head appears to be like a gun barrel. The size of this creature is roughly the size of an APC, and they are accompanied by a floating, hovering object that looks distinguishably like a tank. The main turret is small, smaller than Siege Tank own main turret cannon, and it has two digit lights that looks like an eye. Both of these unknown units appear in great numbers, and both creatures immediately attack Vladimir's men. The team respond, returning fire with the best of their ability, though the Firebat are forced to back out from the fight due to their weapon of choice. Vladimir directs the Marines to focus at their target rather than fire wildly at them while Vladimir fire more mortars on the spot. The insect mecha, which Vladimir calls them Shard Walker (due to their appearance) are a serious threat since their shards can penetrate into the men's power suit while the hovering tank (Hover Tank? HovTank? Hovank? Vladimir really hate naming things) is firing plasma disc just like those Shock Troopers, which deals area of effect damage due to those incoming plasma disc is raining down at them in an arch angle. Strangely enough, these things are as durable as Vulture or Hellion; these things are quick to be destroyed due to their lack of armour and a single mortar strike can destroy any one of these units easily. The threat both Shard Walker and Hovank(?) are quick to neutralize.
The men continue to march on, leaving trail of destruction as they past. The alien forces are quick to notice the threat, but they continue to approach with violent tendency, and the UED strike forces are quick to shut their curtains. After destroying more Shard Walkers and Disintegrators, the team march on until they spotted what appears to be an alien production structure over the horizon, and judging from the bright sphere and the way the structure appearance like a doorway similar to the Protoss Gateway but simplified, that alien structure is responsible on releasing these alien critters.
Vladimir decides to move in and clear the hostile alien threat when another alien ambush comes around the corner of an alien ruin. The ambushed Shock Troopers retaliation the UED forces in an attempt to protect the base with very little success as any other Scrin infantry that got to close with Vladimir's men. A single Raven unit had just arrived the area, obviously being dispatch by Felix, are quick to notify an approaching alien forces, "WARNING; ALIEN FORCES - SCRIN - APPROACHING TO YOUR LOCATION. FIRST ALIEN - SCRIN - HEAVY INFANTRY; SHOCK TROOPERS. SECOND ALIEN - SCRIN - UNKNOWN INFANTRY; ATTEMPTING TO COLLECT DATA."
Sure enough, two aliens from the Scrin base are approaching towards the group at high speed. Shock Trooper is no surprise, blinking across the battlefield to cover an entire length of the field but the second one raise Vladimir's interest. Unlike the first alien that Vladimir has crushed thus far, this one has yet to be crush under his heel, and it is a skinny alien critter with this green crystal growing at its back running on all four. It has a sinister green eyes and a sharp talon at each 'legs'. But what was surprising however is its speed; it can cover an entire length of the field by running on all four and still manage to catch on those blinking Shock Trooper.
When the team of Shock Troopers blink into firing range, so as these Scrin quadruple critter, flinging crystal shards at high velocity against the intruding Terran forces. These new creature waste no time dive into action; half of the number of creature jump right into the Terran formation and starts to maim, stab and outright slashes each power suit wearing soldiers in melee form, injuring and killing a few unfortunate Marines and puncher a Medic on the face and sides. The other half stands back behind the Shock Troopers, with the latter fires off hot plasma disc while the former flinging its green crystal against the line of Marines and Firebats.
Vladimir team resist the attack and fought harder by activating their stimpacks; after getting ridiculously high in the middle of the battlefield the team of Marines and Firebat attack this alien menace with double the ferocity and aggression of a normal Terran being. This however comes at a grave consequences; this creature with crystal at their back has a nasty property onto its hapless foe, something that had not shown from the same kin as the Shard Walker. Starting from the Firebats, the psycho pyromaniac flame-wielding heavy unit begins to scream in pain from his shoulder. Medics are quick to approach, seeing the green crystal sticking out from armour plating like those from a Hydralisk. However, instead of the Zerg poison most Hydralisk carries which are known to spread towards the entire body - mostly painlessly experience, these 'poisoning' which the arsonists experience complains of burn-like pain into the Firebat's arm, numbing his entire arm. Medic goes to work, but the pain continues to persist onto the Firebat, to the point where the Medic's Caduceus reactor beep angrily.
No matter how much energy the Medic place into the Firebats or how many Medics administer their Caduceus reactor to the suffering Firebat, the arsonist suffering only intensified, forcing the Firebat to aid its burning arm instead of fighting the alien back. The cries of help from the infected Firebat brought the attention of one from the leading Medic team, Dr Mullisen.
Having seen Zerg infestation before and studied its poisonous properties, she initially believed the Firebat had been infected by an alien virus that had yet to be discovered and force the Firebat out of battle by dragging the hulking human behemoth away from the fierce fire fight and prepare an emergency operation in the middle of the battle. Using a massive saw design to lacerate infected limb along with the armour, Dr Mullisen did what she believe is the best course of action and severe the man's arm. This however shocked her; as soon as she excise the infect arm and went to treat the dreaded Firebat, she bear witness the infected arm open wound is slowly crystalized. She turns her attention to the battle as more and more Marines are taking heavy casualties from these new alien creatures. The rest of the Firebats, laid dead, crystalize at an alarming rate due to multiple green crystal punchers. Vladimir is holding on his own, firing his attached Minigun, Rocket Launcher and Mortar at the same time, while bashing any nearby alien critters that is attempting to slash him apart.
Having his men massacre left and right by Shock Troopers and these new alien menaces, he had no choice but to attempt communication, Vladimir radio in his comrade officer for help, "Felix, this is Vladimir! We're getting hit hard and require some assistants! These… Ravager thingy is cutting us to shreds!"
Communication establish, but Felix sound even more urgent, "Vladimir, if you can hear this transmission; return to base immediately!" the Admiral of the Litany of Fury is not answering directly, and Vladimir knows this is a pre-recorded message, "we're getting hit at all major sites, our outer perimeter has being compromise! We are currently holding the fort, but I do not know for how long! I repeat…"
'Damn it, nothing is going right! What is going on here!?' thought Vladimir, "All of you, back to base! We're getting hammered hard and Fort Transylvania need assistant!"
Vladimir and his men are quick to retreat, and the Ravager, which Vladimir named it, gives chase. The rest of the Shock Trooper turn around and crawl back to its lair.
Though the Shock Troopers did not give chase, the Ravager is having a field day picking off one Terran unit at a time. Unable to fight back and unable to do anything, the man, including Vladimir run back towards their stronghold as fast as their legs can carry. The Ravager, racing at top speed against these power-armoured men fire more crystal shards, randomly hitting a soldier and watch them suffer by the crystals leaching property. The amputated Firebat, unable to contain its aggression roars aloud and breaks formation both Marine and Medic in an attempt to halt the aliens with its powerful flame attacks. The tactic works as the Firebat score multiple kills, but it only lasted less than 15 seconds before the massive man falls flat to the ground with multiple crystal shards puncture its massive body. The Ravager seemed to be very amused by the massive human being, so much so that a couple of these Ravager stood guard for some odd reason while the surviving Ravager resume its hunt.
"Oh my God, they got Hudson!" one of the fleeing Marine cried out in fear, "GAME OVER MAN! GAME OVER!"
"Quit you whining!" Vladimir bellows aloud in anger.
Vladimir and his men continue to flee from the speeding demon, and seeing the glimpse of Fort Transylvania brings hope for the big Russian man and his team. As the Ravager finally manage to catch up with the running UED Terran forces gunning down more Medics and Marines, the Raven unit, now having enough energy in its reactor release another Auto-turret against the approaching Ravager, and the alien crystal shooting being finds it very amusing to destroy the turret before giving chase again. Seeing his troops demoralized much further with a thin out ranks both Marine and Medics, Vladimir howl aloud with his praise of fury as to encourage his men to push forward, momentarily boosting their morale, despite having the Scrin Ravager picking off demoralized Marines who has run off from their usual formation and start firing their weapon reluctantly against an alien menace that is counter effective against powered armour infantry. As soon as Vladimir and his demoralized men manage to bend to the side leading to their Fort, two teams of reinforcements are sighted, and they carry Terran weaponry. Vladimir sighs in relief.
The first one is a group of Marauder, a recent Dominion heavy infantry that shoots grenade launchers from its arm-mounted gauntlet which are quickly replacing the aging Firebat out of service. The Dominion heavy use on the Marauder is also base on their combat effectiveness against mechanized vehicles as well as to combat the Zerg heavy carapace shell. This massive infantry unit are known to have Jackhammer Concussive Shells upgrade on the core and fringe world of Koprulu Sector, as the powerful explosion also form a gravitational warp, slowing down its adversary to a crawl. The Marauder is designed to tackle armoured units, thus the payload munitions are optimise for maximum destruction. Because the Marauder fires grenade off its arm-mounted gauntlet, the Dominion heavy infantry cannot, at any point, are able to target air units. To Vladimir point of view however, the Dominion must have caught him in the act a few years back and start to redesign the Firebat suit to function just like the one used by Vladimir, minus the Minigun and Mortar attachment and replay its rocket overall payload to grenades.
"KABOOM BABY!"
As the Marauder edge itself in position, the group of heavy infantry men all fire their Quad K12 "Punisher" grenade launchers against the incoming Scrin heavy hitters, and the explosion cause by each individual grenades slows down the Ravager considerably, giving the demoralize Marine and Medic a much needed space between them and the alien creatures. Each grenade that detonates on the Scrin creature cause the Ravager to feel the gravitational pull, thus ensuing its muscle contract and become rather numb, causing the hostile alien critter to run half of its original speed. More grenades are fired, but the weapon are meant to engage armoured units, and the Scrin Ravager is not an armoured unit creature, thus the Marauder only purpose here is to slow down the creatures overall speed thus allowing Vladimir and his men to escape death. However, the Marauder is not the one that will finish off the Ravager; rather it's the other new unit which Vladimir had never seen before that will crush these alien pest off, and he can tell that this new unit is not from the Dominion main arsenal.
The second new unit has a rather boxy profile, with two short legs and wield two attached Minigun in the days of yore. The main body appear boxy, but it actually looks rather hexagon from up close and personal; the armour plating at the side and the visor gives the unit its boxy appearance. The main weapon it carries appeared old and unused for many conflict, but the weapon has 12 barrel pots and it is rotating at a menacing pace. What surprise Vladimir is that this unit is no taller than a Goliath unit. In fact, this unit looks like a dwarf version of a Goliath.
And my god the number of these unit deploy is plentiful - an entire platoon!
"You mess with the Wolverine, you mess with the entire pack!"
The new units, the Wolverine step forward in front of the group of Marauder instantly open fire their weapon at the approaching Ravager. Their weapon sing with thunderous roars that would only be match by a thousand brave Marines in the field and the bullet spend littered the ground in mere seconds, creating a river of spend munitions. The Scrin Ravager could not counter or retreat, because any thoughts of doing so shred the alien creature into nothing more than a bloody pool of green ooze. Just as the last Ravager turn to Swiss cheese ala Scrin, the alien Scrin reinforcement continue to push forward over the horizon.
Vladimir attempt to bombard the alien creature from afar, but the Wolverine had another idea, "Wolf Company 2 to 5, form in into a line position! Initiate Hold the Line Protocol! Fire at the enemy position as soon as you are in place!"
"Alpha Leader, we are in position!"
"TMX-III 'Killjoy' Minigun now rotating! Effective range; 300 meters! Current range; 500 and closing!"
"Alright boys, initiate Bulletstorm protocols; SHRED 'EM TO PIECES!"
The approaching Scrin forces is a mixture of Buzzers, Disintegrators, Shock Troopers, Shard Walkers, Hovank(?) and Ravager, and these units comes in massive sizeable army - the numbers alone could easily downsize the Wolverine Platoon. However, what they lack in numbers, the Wolverine has effective counter range. Without warning, the entire platoon of Wolverine open fire their weapon beyond the weapon range of the enemy forces, and the hostile alien forces is taking massive casualties over the horizon! Each Wolverine unit fire a blanket of bullet at the enemy position without fear of retaliation, and while the Wolverine continue to spend the munitions, they inevitably clear the entire section of alien ruin just by firing their weapon at one direction only! By the time the last Scrin forces are down to one fallen Ravager, the entire column section is clean of alien ruin, except the ground now littered with munitions shell so high up it matches the height of the Wolverine's munitions pack just below the Minigun.
Vladimir and his men had their jaw dropped. Their ears rings with the sound of the blazing Minigun fire, but the sight of these never before seen weapon platform somehow brought hope, and joy.
While the Russian Commander is still dumbfounded, one of the Wolverine pilot, presumably Alpha Leader walk up towards his liege, "Comrade Vladimir, Admiral Chief Felix Parker wants you back to Fort Transylvania, he is in need of dire help."
"Ah, of course!" the Russian Commander reply as soon as he caught his bearing again. "What of you to do now?"
"The Wolverine Pack and the Marauders will go northwest to eliminate those Scrin structures. Intel indicates there are multiple more, and we intend to clean them up. However, large energy source just a few clicks of Gamma Point suggest an enemy stronghold. Felix wants you to hold a meeting in the War room."
(Several Minutes later... Felix's Command Center, Fort Transylvania)
The Fort has been shaken up by hostile enemy forces, the line between the Terran defenders and the persistent alien race known as the Scrin are held at bay thanks to the UED quick thinking and lighting fast reaction both human and AI alike. Long after Vladimir Romanov gone back to the fort, the chubby Russian commander re-establishes his position in his Command Center, relieving Felix's EVA from command. The 20-year old AI sigh in relieve before thanking the fat Russian commander; should she be in his Command Center any longer she is seriously going to lose some important data and program. Again, Vladimir urge Felix to reset her, but according to Felix, they are going to need their EVA's directional guide and unparalleled commanding capability at her prime; resetting Felix's current EVA will also cause her to lose significant data experience she had for over 20 years, plus the two commanding officer knows for a fact that resting the AI will have the computer generated avatar to re-spawn in a week – hardly the necessary notion at such a crisis time. Still, the newly obtain Dominion arsenal contribute much of the success at holding the aliens at bay but even those weaponry are too much for the Dominion technology to push these hostile aliens back as the Scrin are too powerful. It wasn't the Dominion tech that manages to even the playing field against the Scrin, rather it was the Mobius Research Team that happens to pull the miracle sheet off the table and provides a temporary victory flag under the UED banner.
Unbeknownst to everyone, the Mobius Research Database has open up a large gap of missing information to be filled; the alien Scrin is one of them. Dr Alise Carmen and her colleague, with renewed strength flip through every fascinating facts about these alien creatures, from the wisp-like being known as the Buzzers to the yet to be seen Annihilator Tripod. Each 'units' has been document thoroughly by the past Mobius Team some 400 years ago, and has also noted down its appropriate counter. Felix and Vladimir now have a key idea how to counter these alien forces thanks to Dr Alise 'accidental' discovery. But that is not all however; among other files regarding about the alien race, an entire library of war machine blueprint also exist within the Mobius Research Database. Fearsome weapons platform and vehicles that not even Vladimir had not ever seen with his own human eyes, nor has Felix - Hovering MLRS, gigantic tank, quadruple walkers and a tank that fires wave of destructive force in a form of supersonic wave-link. Many of these blueprints bear an iconic emblem of a circular ring with an eagle in silver. According to the Mobius Research Database's EVA unit, the emblem belongs to the once superpower nation on Earth which once govern Earth as its protector against another rival superpower and has not been heard for well over four decade; a superpower nation called the Global Defense Initiate, or GDI. Through them, Dr Alise, alongside with Felix and Vladimir could now see the entire library of weapons and vehicle that had long forgotten.
However, the blueprint data is hard to extract and even harder to uploaded into the War Factory, and certain numbers of these units require actual training to operate or lack the necessary technology key to have the said unit to work properly. They can force the factory to manufacture it, sure, but the built unit will be half-baked and would just as useful as a cannon-folder. The Wolverine Anti-infantry unit is one of few exception - it is the first data to be uploaded into the War Factory and the first unit to assist the fight against the Scrin forces, and it is also user friendly; any untrained Terran human can pilot the walking mech as though as they are piloting a SCV and with the easy to understand HUD and Targeting System, mastering the Wolverine is actually easier than piloting the Goliath. Plus, the Wolverine schematic is so simple the War Factory can manufacture two units at the same time.
Prior of these weapon discover, Felix attempt to upload all the found technology tree of these fearsome GDI units into the War Factory with the help of his own EVA unit and from Dr Alise, however due to the technology limitation which he later discovered, he had to settle with three.
"Three? We have 'bout 20 fearsome units in this here blueprint and we can make only three puny units?" Vladimir asked in disbelieve.
"Two, actually." Felix replies calmly, "the third unit is far too large for our War Factory to produce. And it needs a ridiculously long built time than any unit combine."
Vladimir scratches the back of his head, looking really sceptical about the second and third units. He had seen the Wolverine performance, and from what he had gathered minutes later during the war meeting, the Wolverine Pack and the Marauders team which the Russian commander met earlier has cleared at least 6 alien encampment with zero casualties. They are forces to retreat once the Scrin all-purpose aircraft unit, the Stormriders, retaliate against these powerful duos. It was quite impressive for such a unit to survive that long only to have them turn tail because of a squadron of flying aliens.
"Then show me these second units, comrade Felix, this..." Vladimir pause as he reads the display highlight on the terminal screen, "...this Titan"
(East of Fort Transylvania... Several Clicks Away from a possible Scrin Stronghold...)
"Titan reporting in!"
A massive number of UED forces consist of 3 platoon of Marines, a company of Marauder, a squad of Medics, a division of Goliath, a dozen of Siege Tank, a pack of Wolverine, and the newly introduce Titan numbered by a dozen clear the path between them and the location of the Scrin Stronghold. And by clearing the path, they mean to widen the path which has been narrowed down due to the alien ruin structure. While the infantry weaponry is proven weak against such fortification, Siege Tank and Titan however did a wonderful job clearing the path. Most of the time the congested group of infantry could not help it but to marvel both the Wolverine and the Titan; the former machine has a unique simple design as well as its immense firepower to dispense infantry regardless of whatever armour you worn and the latter, the towering walker with its twin particle cannon attachment has the height to spot a distant without the help of the Raven unit. What was astonish however is that the Titan height is merely 10 stories high, the bulk of the armour is highly dense on par with the Siege Tank and it carries two weapons at the side usually found on Behemoth-class Battlecruiser. With that all massing up on top of the behemoth walker, the men sometimes question the actual weight of the unit. The answer is really quite simple; the Titan is heavy enough to leave a massive footprint.
The Titan is operated by 3 men - the captain, the gunner and the driver. Each of them has been briefly told that operating a Titan is no different than operating a Siege Tank. The only key difference is that the Titan cannot transform into Siege mode, and another is the height. The men still question if the targeting system would be off, since the two cannon appeared unaligned and worried that they would miss by a yard. After safely piloting the massive walker (as well as blowing stuff up), the three man crew sing many silly phrases in mythological term, many which would be sarcasm to the ancient gods themselves.
Imagine operating the old Arlite or the newer Crucio Siege Tank, getting real comfortable on the ground with rocking and bumping road, music blast so loud you can barely hear what your command is telling about, and the sound of thunderous siege cannon fire rings choir in the hearts of men who is dispensing indiscriminate justice. Now imagine taking a ride on a Titan, 10 stories high unit, looking at the battlefield where normally it look so large on the ground, everything below you felt and looks so darn small, miniscule at best, and you carry a weapon that can only be found attached on the freaking Battlecruiser.
Yes, the Titan pilot felt like a freaking Titan themselves from the Greek mythology; forget Thor – this is their new toy!
However, while the Titan's crew felt high and mighty inside their cosy armoured unit, Felix has repeatedly point out that the unit could also cause some serious problem regarding it upon completion; unlike the Wolverine, which are notoriously powerful on its own, the Titan HUD and Targeting system has one major flaws; it cannot see what is directly below them. The Titan pilots literally cannot see the massive unit's feet while moving due to the lack of vibration sensor which are to be built into the feet thus the Titan is literally walking blind from the top-side view. Because of the massive weight the Titan is weighing, it can literally crush any unfortunate unit under its massive metal feet, enemy or ally alike. All units that is attach with a squad of Titan are told to stay away from the massive being - a good few meters are recommended.
The Titan's main armament, the Twin Particle Cannon, sports an impressive 120mm barrel cannon, like those found on the old Arlite Siege Tank in Siege mode, but instead of firing superheated tungsten, the Twin Particle Cannon fires ionized condensed plasma found on the main front of the Battlecruiser guns, but has been heavily modified so that the cannon will fire out blue-ish beam instead red, yellow or green beam. In addition, the Twin Particle Cannon does not fire it's weapon the same manner as the plasma torpedo would - rapid-firing the weapon at a specific target with rapid success, instead the weapon supercharge itself within the cycle system, turning the ionized condensed plasma even more lethal than the unprocessed material. Once process, the result is lethal; lethal enough to annihilate a lightly armoured unit or severely damage a Siege Tank in one hit, regardless of armour type. Because the ionized condensed plasma has been supercharge, it will result in a speedy blue blur, hitting the target regardless if the target is moving at high speed or not. Because of the weapon efficiency, the Titan are design to also fire upon any known air target in the sky, making the Titan a real threat on both air and ground combat. The drawback for such powerful weapon however is the rate of fire - between the processing and firing the weapon, the system require to cooldown between shots for a full 7 seconds, a major drawback worth considering since it can target both ground and air enemy forces as well as obliterated heavily armoured units.
As the UED forces cut through the narrow road and widen their path through sheer force, several numbers of Scrin forces, the Seekers (Vladimir has finally drop the silly name, the Hovank), Shard Walkers and the newly observed Devourer charge in in an attempt to stop the approaching Terran forces. The massive battle is assured; with the Scrin reinforcement consist of Buzzers, Disintegrators, Shock Troopers and Ravagers arriving at the scene in an attempt to ambush the stranded Earth forces, which further demoralize the UED forces.
The towering Titan, standing tall and proud among the UED strike force, are not afraid of some tiny alien insects before it.
"I can take these chumps!" the almighty Titan proclaim in unison and fire it's 120mm Twin particle cannon against the Shard Walkers, turning the light-armoured Scrin tank inside out before exploding. The mighty Titan lead the demoralize troops into battle as its heavy stomps move forward with equally thunderous cannon fire. The leading troops, now seeing the walking walker as an idol, move forward, cheering aloud the name of their icon, guns blazing. Following the destruction of several Shard Walkers, the entire column of Siege Tank transform into their siege mode and pummel the concentrated crowd of Buzzers and any other unfortunate Scrin units while the Goliath combat walker goes into a dangerous tango dance with the Disintegrators; their autocannon works equally as effective as the enemy that could slice a Goliath unit in half, but the Goliath walker triumph over the anti-vehicle Scrin units due to superior range over the Disintegrators. The three 'M' formation are quick to deal with the Shock Trooper and the Seeker which seeks out those of armour unit, countering its intention to go after the Siege Tanks while the Wolverine shred the Ravager into a pool of green ooze. Multitude of Stormriders enters the field, firing its Proton Beam against the lightly armoured Marines. Medics are quick to respond to the injured companion to heal them up. Marines and Goliath turn their weapon to the sky, gun blazing and missiles fired, all aiming to down the swarming alien pest, but it was the Titan that does most of the shooting. Switching their target from the Shard Walkers to the Stormriders, the mighty Titan aim one of the approaching Stormriders and open fire, leaving a trail of blue blur and as a result, turn the speeding Stormriders inside-out, crashed onto a nearby alien ruin structure before it explodes in a glorious fashion. Similarly, the swarm of Stormriders end in similar fate like it's brutally punctuated kin of theirs; one Titan even manage to down two Stormriders with one hit due to its penetrating power of the Twin Particle Cannon - the crew eventually come up with a joke about killing two Stormriders with one Particle Cannon. With no more flying units left, the Titan goes back to hunt down more Shard Walkers. So far, casualties on the UED remain minimal.
The row of Scrin Devourer tank, notice the massacre of its fellow kin, decides to back track a bit and absorb the alien structure ruin dotting the area using its beak-like mount. After absorbing enough energy, the greenish light that is on the mount suddenly turn blue, and when several Goliath unit attempt to crush the unit by itself, the Scrin Devourer tank open fire a blue-ish beam that cut through the Goliath units legs, effective downing the unit and killing the pilot as the unit explode when it crashed to the ground. The Devourer Tank weapon prowess is powerful enough to even pierce a Wolverine unit and hit the heavily armoured Siege Tank behind it, effectively killing the Wolverine unit and damage the Dominion Crucio tank. Siege tank in Siege mode attempt to pummel the Scrin Hover tank, but each attack only encourage the Devourer tank to target the deployed siege unit. To counter the immense firepower found by the Crucio Siege Tank, the Devourer merely move a meter away from the effective weapon range from the Crucio current range. This frustrate the Siege tank operator since they had to force to transform back to Tank mode, move a meter forward, transform back to Siege mode only to discover the Devourer Tank move back a meter more! To further frustrate the UED tank operator, even at the distance range outside of the Siege Tank effective firing range, the Devourer tank still hammer the transforming tank at the distance! And that alien tank doesn't even need to transform into siege mode! This is possible due to the Scrin alien tank, which when the Siege Tank advance and transform, the Devourer Tank could retreat a few meters away and absorbs more energy from the fallen alien ruin, giving this alien tanks more power and apparently, firing range.
The Titan, hearing the cry of its siege cousins, switches their primary target in order to help its allies on the ground by targeting the Scrin Devourer itself. All available Titan moves in, avoiding any friendly unit being crush and open fire their Twin Particle Cannon, each with a different designate Devourer tank once in range. All three Devourer tank took the damage at the fullest, but the thick armour borne by the alien terrestrial tank seems to hold the unit. Rather than countering the mighty walker, the damage Devourer Tank retreat, and the rest of the Devourer resume its assault, but this time aiming at the Titans. Interestingly enough, any surviving Scrin units, knowing defeat is now at hand seemly retreat, leaving only the Devourer Tank to face the approaching UED strike force. As the Titan approach the Devourer with its weapon system now in range, the Devourer tank did something unexpected; all surviving Devourer tank now breaks off and group themselves in a formation of three and begin to supercharge their cannon. All three Devourer Tank had their barrel close to one another, with the middle Devourer mostly aiming at the approaching Titans. Sensing imminent danger as the reading load out from each Scrin tank/siege units is now astronomically high, the Titans quickly break formation, "Their inbound!" one of the Titan pilot quickly proclaim.
Sure enough, the collective energy from the collection of Devourer Tank release a beam of white hot ray, and each ray are all intended to hit every Titan on the field. All of these rays hit their marks, causing the Titan to explode upon impact. The UED forces on the ground watches with fear grip in their hearts, but out of a dozen Titan that got hit, only 2 Titan are immediately destroyed by the beam of destruction, and one turn turtled. The surviving Titan however had a nasty damage on its frontal armour, all ten of them suffered superficial damage and require immediate repairs. The Devourer Tank seemed to have drop dead at this point, as Marines and Marauder seemed to have march forward to investigate the alien tank only to find it non-functional – one of the UED Marines even quote 'probably a bad idea to cross the beam'. The Titan pilot, seeing a ton of warning sign inside their cockpit radio in to their officer for an immediate emergency repair crew of SCV, which Felix gives them the green light.
The strike force eventually resumes its march towards the Scrin possible stronghold after the SCV are drop down from the Dropship and have the massive walker a well deserve repair and the turtled Titan back up its giant metal feet. As for the destroyed pair of Titans, it is concluded that both Titan had already sustain a number of damage from its earlier brawl with the Devourer, resulting the destruction of the mighty walker. Those blows are devastating; the SCV pilot theorise that not even a Siege Tank could survive such blow. How a Titan manage to survive, much less operate after such superficial beam hitting directly at the armoured hull continues to intrigue both UED military corps and the scientist that had been given credit for submitting the blueprint. One of the Titan pilot, apparently fume by the loss of his comrade redirect the gigantic metal walker towards the path of the non-functional Devourer Tank and had the Titan massive weight crushes the alien tank under its foot. The pilot did it deliberately for several more Devourer Tank before going back to formation, satisfying glee mark on their faces. Praises aside, the strike force eventually reach what used to be Gamma Point.
The strike force stops their advance just a few hundred yard away when bizarre numbers of light flashes through the night where Gamma Point is. Knowing the Scrin stronghold is now within visual sight, the crew inside the Titan contact their commanding officer for the rule of engagement as they cannot simply charge-in without a proper intelligence on their enemy. Felix Parker, who is leading this operation, had his troops to stand down and attempt reconnaissance first. He needs to ensure the strength and numbers of his enemy before commencing his orders; he needs to ensure that his forces are sufficient enough to deal a blow that will cripple the alien stronghold with one strike. With the agreement from Vladimir, the Russian Commander chooses two unfortunate souls to do the scouting.
The two men, obviously gulp in fear, confirm Vladimir's orders.
Moving away from the strike team and heaving their Gauss Rifle as their only form of protection, the two Marines silently pray for divine intervention at the bottom of their harden criminal heart as they slowly march up the hill for a better view of the situation. What they see are instantly transmit back to high command, and what both of these Marine saw with their human eyes shocked Felix, Vladimir and Dr Alise as well.
A Metropolis of Scrin Stronghold.
The Scrin structure look simplified for an advance alien species, and from what Vladimir and the Wolverine had witness before, the strike team reportedly mention multitude of warp sphere like portal similar to the Protoss – Portal in the old Scrin archive database. With the row of Portal bringing in troops not enough to put a scare to the UED strike force, then a multitude of even larger Portal-like structure – Warp Sphere that appears to be transporting their main arsenal of Shard Walkers, Seekers and Devourer Tank into the battlefield. Among these production structures, several structure designated as Gravity Stabilizer is present on the Scrin massive base. The structure is responsible for producing Stormriders which attack the UED defenders and bravely attempt to down the two Behemoth-class Battlecruiser. Besides that, multiple strange structures that are emitting high level of unique radiation signature – Reactor unlike anything the UED had seen before, ominously glowing in green. Several hovering 'Probe' – Harvester units numbered a few dozens are moving from the alien ruin structure harvesting the same manner as the UED SCV, but it collects an abundance of material rather than a chuck of raw material like those on the SCV. These Harvesters move its cargo into multiple strange unique structures that port the Harvester it settles. Extractor as they are called within the old Scrin database appears to be plentiful, strangely not at the center of the base but rather away from the main battlefield.
The center of it all, the Drone Platform, is a massive looking alien tower, standing at the very center of the massive base with several alien structure which the archive designate it as a Nerve Center, an intelligence gathering and logistic terminal, a Stasis Chamber which according to the archive unlocks a more potent Scrin forces into the field and also directly responsible for throwing a Stasis Shield around the UED base earlier today, and a cross-like structure dub Technology Assembler where all Scrin technology are held. The Drone Platform appears to be the hub of the alien operation, much like the Terran Command Center. What surprise the two Marine (as well as those who are watching the feed live) is the lack of construction workers, like those found on the Terran, Zerg or Protoss. It does in fact answer of question in the minds of men however; the Scrin is able to materialize a freaking structure as it pleases, and it all happen when a beam of light shine on a nearby Warp Sphere and another newly summoned Warp Sphere appear before the old one, it's purple orb becomes darker as the structure begin to summon more alien forces. Coincidentally, before the structure is summoned out of thin air, the Drone Platform seemed to emit sky blue glow on several port dotted around the alien structure before dying back to dark purple. The strike force witness this a couple of times, and fairly conclude that the Drone Platform not only serve as a hub for the alien operations, but also a main construction structure of sort.
Of course, what kind of an alien stronghold would it be without a formidable unbreakable defence line? The two Marine eye at the defences here, and it is just riddles with alien turret after another. There are defences at the outer stronghold, inner stronghold, heck, even the inside of the stronghold itself is riddle with base defences. The two Marine try to make count on the number of base defences, but eventually they both give up since more and more base defences are constructed from the beam of light.
"So many structures..." the Marine on the right, Private Freeman said with a huff, head down and weapons free.
"Yeah, and the alien has massive army too lining up, 2 o'clock," the Marine on the left, Corporal Gordan, reply, "I'm reading... 1500? Wait, 2000 units? My god I don't think Blizzard Entertainment authorized such population cap..."
"Stop breaking the fourth wall soldier; we have enough as it is," Felix coldly replies via communications uplink from Gordan's powered armour suit, "what else can you see?"
"A ton of mess up war machine, no visible enemy fleet other than the common Stormriders. I don't see any way in other than to force ourselves headlong into their defences." Private Freeman reported back.
(Fort Transylvania... Felix's Command Center, War Room)
"I was afraid of that option." Felix muses, rubbing his chin, "moving our forces to the rear will take too long, and with that so many Scrin forces, not even our strike force can repel them off, with their base defences and all."
"Why don't we just use our capture Dominion Ghost? Nuke 'em from orbit?" Vladimir suggests.
"It would work, but we don't have any more Ghosts. Turncoat Company isn't going to risk themselves to capture a Dominion Ghost, plus, nuking could be potentially dangerous if the alien here has a way to counter the weapon of mass destruction." Felix replies with great wisdom, and the Russian nod in agreement - he has a point.
"I suppose delivering the WMD to their front door is out of the question?" Dr Alise open her own suggestion meekly, "I could re-design the MULE to carry the warhead and have it ram into the densely collection of structure."
"A Demo MULE?" Vladimir answered with great interest, "that is a very interesting concept, doctor."
"No" Felix are quick to disagree, "The robotic MULE can't even sustain itself for several minutes, what makes you think a MULE with a nuke will be able to carry the payload to its destination without running out of battery or intercept by enemy forces, let alone carry out its suicidal mission in front of the Scrin base?"
"We can fly the Command Center and have it set down near the strike force..." Dr Alise reply weakly, twirling her thumb together, pouting.
"Bad idea; not only am I sacrificing good man with another Command Center flying into a hostile enemy territory, the resources requirements to build one are unacceptable."
"So we charge in and hope for the best?" Vladimir voices his concern; the strike force is not large, and the Russian Commander does not execute a charge order with such little force. Granted there is also the mechanical war machine with them especially the Titan, but even the Titan will fall if this attack is carried out.
Felix did not reply, it was either strike now or postpone the attack for further reinforcement. Both options are not favourable to him; the former could succeed, but it will result an entire strike team to suffer heavy losses while the latter will have his men linger in the area for additional forces, allowing the enemy to grow in strength as well.
Felix was about to give an 'all units - CHARGE!' order when Private Freeman radio in, "Sir! Something just happen! An orb just appeared in front of the alien army! I repeat; a giant Scrin orb has just been form in front of the Scrin Army!"
"Warning, warp energy detected from Scrin stronghold; Wormhole opening." EVA quickly alert Felix and Vladimir as well, both commander are still puzzled why a Wormhole had just form, or how in the world could such a thing be able to form out of thin air. This however has cause Dr Alise to gasp in terror, whom had previously run through the Scrin Database regarding its units and structures, including its tactics - the Wormhole is but one of such Scrin tactic that would cause a highly secure position into a death trap.
"Felix! Shift your attention to the rear of the base, one with the least resistance! The Scrin will attack from there!" Dr Alise shrieks in panic.
"WHAT?!"
(Fort Transylvania... A Distant Away From Barrack 5)
Breaking any laws of physics and universe, a glowing, purple orb appear out of nowhere at the rear end of the base where Barrack 5 are placed. The group of Marines, Marauders, and Medic are the first respond team to arrive by order of the Admiral Chief while Wolverine, Titan, Goliath and Siege Tank will arrive as soon as they are constructed. Their weapon safety is now off and now anticipating those ugly hostile critters to emerge from the other side. When the first swarm of Buzzers and Disintegrators rushes in, Marines and Marauders waste no time and open fire against the Scrin. Both the UED and the Scrin gain no winning sides as both factions took equal casualties and both sides are repeatedly being reinforced via Barrack or from the other side of the Wormhole. The Terran UED Hellions and Vulture are the first reinforcement to turn the tides, with the fire spewing Hellion and the long-range grenade launching Vulture thin down the ranks of Buzzers and Disintegrators respectively. This last for several waves until Shock Troopers, Ravagers, Gun Walkers, Shard Walkers, and Seekers all emerge from the Wormhole, laying waste anything not nailing down.
"Fall back! We've getting hammered!" The heavy infantry Marauder, Major Kennedy Leo quickly sees the table has been turn and order his compatriots to exercise a strategic retreat.
The collection of Marine, Marauder, Medic, Vulture and Hellion seeing the reasonable side of the Major's point of view and agreed with a nod or a confirm reply; they are unable to fend the attack off with their current gear and will likely cause numerous casualties among the UED rank if the collection of troops continue to fight on. The demoralized UED infantry was about turn tail and run when a pack of Wolverine rushes into the field of battle with the mighty Titan towing behind.
"STEEL TALON COMPANY UED DIVISION RULES!" an over-excited Wolverine pilot practically scream through the loud speaker followed by a roar of howling companion of the same Wolverine pack.
The mighty Titan division, which follows the pack of Wolverine couldn't agree more, "THAT'S RIGHT! DADDY'S HERE NOW!"
Both former GDI tech once again proof it's worth by laying waste anything that walks out of the Wormhole, the previously demoralized Marine and Marauder, seeing their much needed reinforcement arrive with singing choir of destruction are quick to be back at their feet to assist the Wolverine and the Titan. Siege Tank and Goliath had also managed to arrive the scene, though the Crucio Siege Tank stop halfway their ride and transform into Siege mode. Bounding the enemy at the distance with its siege mode gives the UED a much needed space between them and the Scrin forces. To facilitate the troops need for air power, the Litany of Fury and the Alexander Axis, two mighty Behemoth-class Battlecruiser lower itself and help the ground troops with rapid-fire Plasma Torpedo that burns the Scrin right down to the core.
More variation of Scrin forces move out from the Wormhole continue to plague the UED forces no matter if they are well prepared, or well equipped; the thick, hovering Devourer Tank, emerged from the Wormhole quickly place it's priority target on the Wolverine for its ridiculously weak armour against heavy hitters like the Devourer Tank itself. With the number of fallen Wolverine pilot comes the newly observed blue-ish Ravager emerge from the Wormhole, systematically targets the infantry corps thus freeing the tension for Shock Troopers and the Seekers to target either the Titan or the Goliath, though the mighty Titan seemed to be the likely target. Major group of Goliath attempts to counter this alien assault, but the Disintegrators force the Goliath to forgo its original attention and focus on the actual threat in front of it. Then another two more newly observe Scrin units worms its way into the field, one is identified as the Scrin flask bug Corruptor and another the fast moving, creepy looking, 100% bug-like Mechapede. The Scrin Corruptor appears to be hosing some kind of green liquid ooze onto its allied companion that had suffer serious damage which heals the damages it had previously suffered with no negative effect. While it act as a supportive role, it can also work against the UED intruder; dosing the green ooze onto an enemy infantry quick melts them to a puddle of unknown organic flesh while dosing onto an enemy armoured units quick corroded its exterior hull. The Mechapede however is not a slow moving unit like the flask Scrin bug, rather it looks like a millipede with tons of weapons poking out of its body. A group of Mechapede zooms past the UED infantry while shooting, spewing and hosing a lot of random weaponry which as a result annihilate a number of Marines, Marauders and even the innocent Medics to unrecognizable mishmash of metal and flesh. The Mechapede primary objective is to get close to the Titan and deal as much damage as possible for the range Devourer Tank to one shot kill the walking mecha of death. To a certain extent, the Mechapede plan succeed, reducing the standing number of these mighty Titan to half of its total, that is until the thunderous roar of 180mm Shock Cannon armed with Maelstrom shells strike and disperse the broken segment of the Mechapede into a harmless damage creature. One of the surviving Mechapede soon realize that its grand body has been reduce to a 'head', and upon noticing how vulnerable it is attempts to flee into the Wormhole. That Mechapede had its head turn inside-out after receiving the wrong end of the Titan's mighty Twin Particle Cannon.
(At the Same Time... Gamma Point... Scrin Stronghold)
While the battle at Fort Transylvania has occurred fiercely, so as the strike force that was send here earlier. With their Terran base under attack due to the alien unique ability to create a backdoor out of thin air, Felix and Vladimir commence the operation to take down the enemy stronghold with everything they got, allowing the collective UED strike force the green light to go in guns blazing. Thanks to the SCV that was sent here to perform emergency repairs for the Titan, the computer generated avatar EVA has taken the liberty to order the human piloting the SCV to construct an additional Barracks and War Factory on a small secluded area as a fast access for reinforcements. With the building in place, the strike force of Marines, Marauders, Medics, Siege Tank, Goliath, Wolverines and Titans all charge in, blasting the alien defences like cardboard box before going after the alien production structure itself. The Scrin, who probably believe the UED small army are forced to call in a tactical retreat in respond to their base being under attack are quickly notice that the UED strike force did not in fact withdraw. Having arrive at the Scrin very doorsteps of their supposing stronghold isn't a clear message enough, the rude wakeup call from those Siege Tank and Twin Particle Cannon as well as other Terran weaponry calls forth the Scrin forces to divide half of its accumulate forces to engage the Terran intruder. Both faction clashes just like the ones on the Terran Fort, countering one unit after another. However, the table has suddenly turn against the UED when the formidable foe from the past rose forth to the challenge; the Annihilator Tripod.
Outnumbering the current standing force of the mighty Titan, the well-known and fearful, Tier-3 Apod merely march towards the strike force, firing its proton beams at the Terran intruder without fearing the mechanical walker pathetic Twin Particle Cannon. With the UED forces still engage the variety of Scrin army, the strike force quickly cleanse the alien forces before concentrate fire at the approaching Tripod from the Gauss Rifle to the grenade launcher, from the mighty 120mm Twin Particle Cannon to the thunderous choir of the 180mm Shock Cannon with Maelstrom munitions. Every UED units shell the crap out of the Tripod, even the refreshing reinforcement joins in to the fight, however for inexplicable reason, despite the immense firepower, not a single Tripod falls!
The leading Titan pilot becomes frustrated when he sees the reason why; these Tripod is shielded with blue-ish orb of protection globe. But even though the shielded bubble pop leaving the Tripod vulnerable, any damage inflicted at these towering alien monstrosity are instantly repaired! Second observant from the same Titan pilot could see the towering Scrin monstrosity is actually being supported by several Corrupters leeching behind, spraying the green ooze onto the Tripod itself, which explains why the Tripod has not fallen under great pressure! To make matters worse, any lingering Tripod that are not being targeted had its bubble shield regenerated, further frustrating the UED strike force! It's like fighting the damn Protoss again, with Zerg ultrafast healing factor riding at the back!
"Sir! We can't get through those Apod! Our armour hull is compromise, breaching at 85%!" one of the Titan pilot, designate Titan 6C scream as his walking mecha of death is now taking too much damage, limping around side by side dangerously even with a simple turn, "We're going take a strategic retreat! Cover our backs!"
"This is Wolverine, Delta Lead! Those Corrupters are responsible for those Apod regenerate! Siege Platoon, time to nail them Corrupters with the hammer!"
"MUSIC TO MY EARS! ITS TIME TO DISPENSE SOME INDISCRIMINATE JUSTICE!"
The Annihilator Tripod moves in closer and closer towards the UED forces, firing devastating Proton Beams that slices and dices any unfortunate soul who are in their path of destruction. Many brave UED troops that attempt to move away from the beam and attempt to cheap shot the towering alien monstrosity are met with the same unfortunate soul that got hit by the Proton Beam due to having another beam tentacle at the rear of the head. If the Proton Beam didn't kill them, the Corrupters will probably turn them into soup. Any surviving Scrin forces – special mention to the Devourer Tank - hang around at the back of the Annihilator firing its Beam Cannon against the UED forces particularly those with weak armour plating like the Wolverine. Siege Tanks are the only UED Terran units that will eventually sing a different tune for the Scrin; a tune of defeat.
A row of Crucio Siege Tank in their Siege Mode ready and aim their weapon in an arching angle, all of them aim at the Corruptor that is spraying that green ooze onto the Annihilator Tripod. Row after row of clustered infantry form in front of the Crucio Siege Tank to counter any Scrin threat that tries to intercept the Crucio's mission to blast the flask-like bug into tiny broken pieces. Every single blast fired from the Siege Tank did not disappoint the UED forces, though the Scrin forces are obviously angered by the Terran's counter-fire. Since the Corruptor is never meant to be a frontline combat unit, a single strike from the 180mm Shock Cannon easily tears the creature fragile body.
"WHY DON'T YOU STAND 50 YARDS FROM THERE AND STAND STILL FOR ME!?" the loud-mouth Siege Tank pilot proclaim his superiority to the alien, practically yelling at the built-in megaphone.
With one of the Crucio operator had his music system blast to maximum volume playing 'Ride of the Valkyries', one should not be surprised to hear them sing-along the theme with the deafening music played at the background. That being said, the Siege Tank did a wonderful job clearing the annoying Corruptor off the Annihilator Tripod, allowing the strike force to perform what they are good at; blast the alien Scrin beast to an unrecognizable scrap metal. Initially the Apod withstand the assault, but after more Maelstrom shells and Twin Particle Cannon later, the fearsome tall alien begin to moan aloud at its injury.
"PULVERIZE 'EM!" the leading Titan pilot scream out his orders, and the rest of the mighty Titan walker reply with positive remark. Aiming at each weaken Tripods, the towering Scrin moan and groan with each successful hits, and as a confirm cry of the slain creature, the alien Scrin beast collapse under its massive wound, giving off its death bellows.
All was going well until…
"Warning, unidentified warp signature detected; enemy reinforcement has arrived."
"SERIOUSLY!?" one of the Titan pilot remark to EVA's unprepared announcement.
And lo and behold, as the sky above the raging battlefield tears apart with astronomical high energy reading, ripping a massive hole from the fabric of time and space itself as the enemy reinforcement emerge into view, unfolding each layer after another, before finally the warp energy object becomes a whole; an alien Mothership with all its glory, and with the arrival of such grand alien ship warps in more fleet from the fabric of the warp while releasing smaller fighters to bear the fewer capital ships. Accompany the massive fleet are a number of escorted transport ships numbering more than a few dozen and the massive alien Mothership hover gloriously with its golden plating armour and hull with massive psionic frequency pulsing from its very core of the ship.
Wait a minute… golden plating armour and hull?
The battling UED forces, as well as the confuse Scrin forces all stare in awe as the massive alien ship and its fleet hover before the Scrin stronghold. Though the Scrin had not been able to identify this being and its impressive arsenal of weaponry and technology, the Terran, who had fought on Koprulu Sector, are however horrified at what they are witnessing; the Protoss is here! And the worst part is the emblem these fleet is carrying; the emblem of the Tal'darim, The Forge Ones!
"Wretched aliens, Terran thieves, seize your meaningless struggle and give way to a more superior being; the Tal'darim will claim this world as our own!" the booming message immediately broadcast towards all known channel on the UED Terran tech, while the Scrin receive it with a headache induce pain. All known Stormriders in the sky immediately engage the Tal'darim Protoss fleet, while the Scrin ground forces are once again separated into two groups; one against the Terran forces, and another at the newly arrived alien fleet. The three way chaotic battle ensures.
"Command! This is Sergeant Birkin! We got hostile Protoss just appear out of fucking nowhere! I repeat! We got Tal'darim Protoss in our line of sight!"
(At the Same Time... Fort Transylvania...)
The news of the Protoss Tal'darim suddenly arrive to open shop on this planet is a shocking news to Felix and his fellow Terran officers. However, they are too preoccupied by a single fact that had happen on their own term; the Scrin just throws another Stasis Field, and with more than half of their forces trapped in a sphere bubble, they are about to lose their primary base of operations on Primus.
"Command! We're about to be overrun! Where's that god damn support?! Stay in formation! I said stay in formation!"
"This is rear-guard Medic team! We are separated by our Marine attachment! Help us! I repeat help - Shock Troopers! They are blinking into our position! Get those things off us!"
"This is Titan 53AF, we're getting hammered here! We need Wolverine support! Massive numbers of Disintegrators are chewing us up!"
"This is Wolverine, Delta Pack; hang in there Titan 53AF, we're coming in - damn it, those Devourer Tank just ambushed us! All Wolverine disengage the enemy and get to our Titan buddy pronto; we're sitting duck down here!"
"This is Captain Rilves from the Litany of Fury! Surface to air units are attacking vector 12 to 15, all forward shield is dropping at 65%, hull integrity is dropping to 60%! Can somebody down there deal with those anti-air units?!"
"Can anyone in this frequency know how to talk to them Protoss? Those crazy buggers are shooting everything that god damn move!"
Felix, Vladimir and Alise couldn't believe their luck; just when they could wrap things up with a full armour push into the Wormhole, the enemy Scrin forces throws another Stasis Field into the cluster of UED combined forces. Almost half of that number is in stasis, and the other half had to fight off the ever renewed enemy alien forces. Disorganized and separated by the blue bubble sphere, the enemy forces can easily counter the shattered UED forces as the Terran forces attempts to regroup, but are constantly denied by the Scrin. With many of the heavy hitting units trapped inside the stasis bubble like the Siege Tank and the collection of trapped Titans and Marauder, the Scrin ground forces casually pick off one unit after another while the Scrin anti-air units like Seekers and Gun Walker or its more advance kin, the Shard Walker begin to target the Behemoth-Class Battlecruiser, confident that their massive number of Scrin units are able to down at least one Battlecruiser.
"Comrade Felix, our current standing forces will not be able to hold off the attack in this fort; send in a strategic withdraw from our strike force." Vladimir Romanov urges his officer-in-arms. "With the hostile Protoss over the horizon, we cannot sustain more loses than we already had!"
Felix didn't want to call in the strategic retreat, and he knows why; if he pull out now, his forces will not make it in time to defend the fort, and most likely to be easy picking for the hostile alien creature, Scrin or the Tal'darim Protoss alike. He could simply have the bubble to pop open in due time, but without his available forces useable due to the accursed Stasis Field, the alien enemy creature is running rampage in his own turf. Even the two Battlecruiser, with superior firepower and outstanding capability to snuff off any damage is now on the verge of collapse. Felix clutch his head as the word 'defeat' once again soil into his mind; he lost the Psi Disruptor back on Braxis where he assured to Stukov he will guard it with his life, he fail again when the Zerg experimental team are massacred even though he continue to push on with the assault, and now he is failing to safeguard the sanctuary of the UED stronghold. All known option that played in his head all lead to the annihilation, or at the very least, destruction of the standing UED forces here is Primus. And if the Scrin could not finish the job, the damn accursed Tal'darim bitches most certainly will, as these splintered Protoss faction view everything relate to the ancient Xel'naga are theirs by default, collaboration and political dispute are not in their vocabulary when it comes to their ancient sacred Gods.
All option... but one.
"EVA, give me status report on the third unit ETA completion!" Felix quickly asked his computer generated AI, carrying a heavy tone which the AI can only describe as being seriously nervous.
Acknowledging her master's wish, several diagram of the third unit are brought up onto display for Felix, Vladimir and Alise to watch, "The third unit is now completed sir, it is now on a testing phase on all operating system. All system is reading at optimal levels, system is now ready to engage. Unit is currently testing for optimise performance; the test is now at 15% complete and climbing. Estimation of completion is under 3 hours."
"Activate the unit, now!"
EVA blinks, "But… Admiral Chief… the unit is requires to go through all test phases! If one system acts up due to incomplete system or programing error it will be a disastrous, both the pilot and this base!"
"EVA, I'm ordering you to activate this unit NOW!"
"I cannot allow such dangerous unit to go rampage if the system is not fully and completely tested! I cannot!" the female AI protest, her outline body which is previously white flare angrily in red.
"Damn it EVA! Don't force me to shut you down!"
"You can't, that's the problem! If you shut me down, the UED will be in disarray, and with the troops both inside the fort and the ones assaulting the alien stronghold, you'll only lead more death than to accomplish your given task! Now stop being silly!"
Felix hates her, because his AI is right. However, what the AI has for massive intelligence gathering, she lacks the understanding how humanity can survive in a harsh situation, and having to survive Primus harsh environment is the ultimate testimony that sums it all. Felix Parker rose from his seat, stood up in his full authority posture before pointing his finger with certainty, "As the Admiral Chief of the remaining UED Expedition Force, I hereby disengaging priority Level 1 through 3 - stripping you from command and hereby authorising Level 0 on all command!" Felix barked out his command, leaving the computer generated AI gasping at what Felix is doing, "Felix, you can't-!"
"All command structure database and programming archive are now ineffective from you as of now! You are no longer in command on all priority level of the UED authority until you are told otherwise! All command protocols are to be release, or you will be terminated as such!" Felix Parker bark out even more, forcing the computer generated artificial intelligence to release her protocol command from her grip, which would essentially provide the programing protocol in order to overwrite her command.
Generally speaking, Level 0 Authority Command Overwrite is regard to all UED officer as a tertiary optional command protocol to all EVA units and should never be used in any situation be that day to day routine or a life and death theatre of war - especially during the field of combat on Primus. A single use of such protocol will spell heresy and traitorous among the UED ranks as the EVA system is essentially required to remain active to serve as a medium member in order to subjugate any rogue UED member.
Incidentally, Level 0 Authority Overwrite has a nasty backlash as well; if the EVA system has been subjugated by such command, all her program, all her data, equal to several level-headed commanding officers are pulled out from her, leaving the highly intelligent AI of the United Earth Directorate to become hollow shell, thus leaving her idle. For the most sophisticated AI to be idle without anything to do but to stare blankly at the world that she had once find joy in analysing, commanding, structuring and establish protocols is as good as her being turn off. To an AI, it is the next worst thing than being deleted.
EVA facial shows a lot of sad expression, as she could not believe her ears. She wanted to object, but the command are already in effect. She could not spat a single workable word out from her mouth other than an angry beep and shrieking electronic static. She could see the once coded binary codes and hex numbers once dance in her with puzzles and riddles on her body left her leaving her an empty hollow body. Dr Alise in all her years had never seen or heard such a protocol before, and seeing her at such state for an AI leaves a questionable glare at Felix while Vladimir could only turn away with an understanding grim face. Even Felix, who ordered the Priority Level 0 protocol isn't happy about it, but due to his AI not cooperating, he had to do something. Her human operator sign heavily, turning an equally heavy gaze to her, "I'm sorry, EVA. But there are something's that not even a sophisticated AI can do."
The computer generated artificial intelligence remain silent, her angry glare shoots at Felix. Her vision begins to go static and her body begins to deform back into a pixelated cube. If there is one word Felix could read from his AI, it would most definitely be, "I hope your right, for our sake," in a low, disappointed heavy heart.
With Felix's EVA return into a cube, the strike force are now in Vladimir's hand, which the Russian Commander waste no time organize his men and have his strategy known - tank rush, or more precisely, heavy tank rush the Scrin position. As for the computer generated avatar's system grip, her priority system has been pass down to her human master, allowing the Admiral Chief to activate the third units that has becomes available onscreen. Felix, without hesitation, presses the onscreen button, ignoring the possible danger of an untested combat unit that had not been used for well over 400 years.
(Several Yards Away... Near War Factory 7...)
When Dr Alise forward three useable data regarding the old GDI tech to Felix, the Admiral Chief have several SCV to pause their mining operation and reassign them to construct this weapon of war. Due to the unit is bigger than the War Factory, a lot of the units huge hull, armament and hydraulic systems are constructed first in the War Factory, then have that part extract it out using the SCV and crudely build it outside of the War Factory. During the development of this 'third unit', a number of the Fort defenders consist of Marines has been station near the structure/unit to ensure the safety of this odd, boxy structure/unit that had been said to decimate an entire regiments of armies 400 years ago. Soldiers are sceptic, and it hold no reason why due to its apparent appearance.
"50 bucks says this piece of crap won't do a damn thing," one of the Marine calls out towards his buddy, pointing the structure/unit thing behind him. One of his friends accepts his challenge, "Deal"
The war machine is ready as EVA pointed out, but it still required to run a massive number of system checks and test before it is safe to be activated. The total crew inside this unit is an astonishingly 12 UED pilots, and it is divided into 4 groups; the weapon system, navigation system, power monitoring, and a command crew. All four groups are running their system console as if it is a battle itself, since the more time they sit in here idling with the console system the more comrade and bother-in-arms are getting slaughtered out there. The man in charge of this unit is named John McNeil, veteran Siege Tank pilot rank Master Major and one of the few survivors from the Iron Patriot of the UED forces. Being a Britain descendent and a fine tank commander, he has devoted his life to Felix and Vladimir's cause by becoming an instructor to teach the newer recruit how to operate the Siege Tank from firing to transforming to parking the heavily armed tank at the parking lot. While the Master Major have little difficulty to lecture self-centred individual who thinks the Siege Tank is a tool for absolute victory, John McNeil is actually bad at complex computer console, since majority of these array of buttons, pretty lights and mischievous tiny switches makes him miss his old Arlite Siege Tank. His dislike of computer in front of him only seals the deal, taunting him that the overall system check is currently at 15% and counting, and an estimation of complete system check will be in three hours.
So imagine his surprise when the loading screen on the console monitor reads that all system is now operation, with the phrase 'ACTIVATE' practically screaming to have its button push. Is this a joke or is this real? John McNeil dare not press the button. Wild imagination flooded his mind; will this thing explode if he presses it? Will the machine suddenly collapse itself with him and his crew? Will it suddenly catapult him to the ceiling, further mocking his less impressive finger on the computer console? It had to be the latter one, thought McNeil.
"Master Major, the Admiral Chief is online! He's on secure channel 9!" one of the crew quickly reported in.
"Truly?" John McNeil replies with doubt, "Communication with headquarters is well established?"
"I'm not sure ourselves; one minute we were hearing static, the next all communication came back online."
McNeil could only nod, "Patch our Commodore through on the main console, punch it onto the main screen."
"Roger that"
Initially it was static and hissing, but eventually the recognizable face of the Admiral Chief firmly seals the deal, "McNeil, do you read me?"
"Yes sir, I read you crystal clear sir,"
"I know this is sudden, but the system you and your crew are on should be operational now. Do you see the console option highlighted before you?"
"Yes, and yet I dare not activate it. What happen if ever I press the blinking floating button of doom?"
"I'm not sure myself; according to the records, the unit had never been completely tested and it had been well over 400 years since its activation. With the system testing phase skip due to time restriction, I do not really know what will happen after you press the button. However I can assure you that it will not cause any sudden combustion or break down," Felix said which is enough reason for McNeil to press the button without fear, rewarding McNeil with humming machinery.
"I think..." Felix added. McNeil calm face drastically turns a worried and fearful look.
Outside, the lights attach to the boxy structure begins to rotate in red, warning the surrounding SCV that the unit is now being activated prematurely. The SCV pilots who manned the vehicle flee at the sudden activation of such unit followed by the defending Marines. The boxy structure are then begin to unfold itself, transforming the relatively odd structure into something else; the top edge of the structure begins to descend to the edge as far as it can fall, almost killing a nearby SCV or destroy a nearby friendly structure. The top of the structure begins to unfold itself, ascending slightly at the top, rotating it a full cycle before descending back to its spot. When the top of the structure snapped back in, everything from the side of the structure to the front and back literally transform; metallic groan of gear and equipment snaps, slam and crunch in place, a mechanical roar can be heard as the two cylinder like object ejected out at the front of the structure, forming two fearsome looking barrel cannon. The side of the structure begins to form two sets of legs, with a tank-like tread firmly placed underneath the metallic limb. While the legs are form, the top of the structure begins to collapse and form itself in place, snap open a hidden hydraulics and slam into its place on the structures metallic body. A loud thump can be heard as the hooks snap into place causing the front of the structure extend slightly to the front, half of the front structure separate itself as it begins to unfold as well, causing the front structure to resemble a head, mounted with the two barrel cannon earlier before. The top half of the front structure slide gentle back to body, each layer stop itself and firmly attach itself on the exposed machinery to form a neck, and the other half extend slightly to the top with three horizontal slights beams up with lights, serving as the eye. Finally, after the head and body is complete, the object rose from its idle position using its mighty steel legs, standing much taller than the Command Center. The monstrous unit leads out a mechanical roar that sound like a dying elephant, bathing itself with glory and splendour. Every known unit on Fort Transylvania can heard its roar that even the alien menace Scrin pause and stare at the strange quadruple metal monster announce of its very presents.
"STEPPE MAMMOTH; RESURRECTED!" a booming voice openly proclaims its arrival.
The defending Marine, who retreat a few pace when the unit transform, stood there in awe. One of the Marine nudges his companion to his left, "You owe us 50 bucks."
John McNeil and his crew are simply daze inside their designated spot, with lights, control module, targeting heads up display, power reading, among various others are operating at maximum capacity. It even house an artificial intelligence on McNeil's console, though the AI isn't as sophisticated as EVA however - the AI's primary function is the survivability of the weapon platform station and its crew. In other words, the AI serve only as a primal, almost animalistic mind for these monstrous quadruple walker weapon platforms, and the only way to redirect it is to have the navigation crew map out the location for the mechanized creature to move forward. The AI is also in control of the weapon system, but it can easily be willed or manually control by the gunner crew or by the command bridge. McNeil is shock beyond words.
Think of it as riding an actual elephant, armed with a cannon mounted on its body. The elephant go where it please, though you can will the animal to the direction you want. Same rule apply to the Steppe Mammoth.
The feeling is equally mutual for Felix, Vladimir and Dr Alise; the third unit revealed to be a Mammoth, a line of ancient super tanks created to quell the uprising back on Earth. There are multiple series of Mammoth according to the unit's history, and in one instances the monstrous war machine divert itself and becoming a separated unit, calling itself the Mastodon Siege Walker. It wasn't until sometime later that this unit, this Steppe Mammoth has a complete design ready for manufacturing, but did not see the light of day. Now, upon completion marked the massive quadruple walker moment that its creation are not on Earth as expected, but also away from its homeworld and well over 400 years overdue, under a different faction banner no less.
"The Steppe Mammoth..." Dr Alise remarks, "known to be the biggest fossilized ancient mammoth on Earth, it rival the previously heir quadruple walker by sheer size alone."
"But will it be useful against the Scrin?" Vladimir question the Steppe Mammoth capability, like a good commander should.
"It should; see that twin barrel cannon underneath the Mammoth?" Dr Alise reply, pointing at the two 'tusk' that is sticking out of the massive units head. Vladimir rub his chin in respond with a pondering 'Hmm', allowing the female doctor to proceed onward, "That is no original cannon, gentleman; that cannon has the same destructive power as the one orbiting our homeworld by only 1%"
Felix Parker blinks as he snap his attention to Dr Alise, just as he was about to switch his computer generated AI back on, " Wait... That means..."
Dr Alise pulls a big smile, "Yes Felix, it is armed with the legendary Ion Cannon."
(Outside, Near the Scrin Wormhole)
The battle for supremacy continues to rage on, and as the Stasis Field bubble dome pop open releasing the trapped UED forces, the mighty Scrin forces are forced to transport through their own ace in the hole with dozens of Annihilator Tripod accompany with whatever Scrin forces it can mustered. Without the help of EVA and her boosted frequency wave-link to organise their attacks accordingly their communication is constantly getting static feedback due to the interruption of the Ion Storm, the demoralised UED forces has to break rank and attempts to get out of the Scrin path of destruction when a sharp thump echo the battlefield followed by a white hot beam of light that travel over the retreating UED forces and makes a direct hit against the Annihilator Tripod. The severely damage Annihilator bellows a mechanical moan of pain, it turns its head to the direction where the white beam came from. The Tripod however are out of luck; the tall alien creature never got in time to allow the Corruptor to heal its wounds when another loud thump followed by a trail of white hot beam are fired at the same Annihilator. What raises everyone's eyebrow, the Scrin included (if the Scrin forces do have eyebrow) is that the destructive white beam did not end there; after it makes a direct hit, the white hot beam penetrate through the damage Apod and damage another Tripod just behind it!
Tracking the source of fire reveal to be the Steppe Mammoths doing which are escorted by a collection of Marines, Marauders, Titans and Wolverines. What was most surprising is that the range between it and the Scrin forces is astronomical; the Mammoth fire its primary weapon well out of any weapon range to date, not even the Devourer Tank maximum range can compare to the range of the Steppe Mammoth! The colossal quadruple walker takes thing slowly, walking towards the battlefield in its leisure while raining more death and destruction against the Scrin forces from well out of harm. Seeing that the colossal walker is a formidable foe and a threat to its survival, the Scrin heavier forces march forward, ignoring the rest of the UED forces in hope to tackle the quadruple walker in a match. This allow the UED forces to have a deceit battle against the likes of Disintegrators, Shock Trooper, Ravager and among others while Apod and Devourer Tank ignore the small fry, their focus are locked onto the Mammoth itself. As for the two distinguished alien creature themselves, the Apod and Devourer Tank continue to get hammered by the lone Steppe Mammoth until any surviving Tripod and Devourer Tank finally get in range of their target. Naturally, the surviving rows of Devourer Tanks are the first to fire off its blue-ish beam against the titanic quadruple walker before the approaching Tripod had their turn. The Steppe Mammoth took the damage from both alien beings, but the Mammoth tough external hull snuff off the foreign dazzling beam of death, and to top it off even further, the damage, smug blackened hull is slowly fixing itself at a crawl, restoring the inner mechanical frame and even the default paint jobs.
"Cocky little buggers, aren't they?" the man in charge of the Steppe Mammoth, John McNeil, remark. "Let them do their worst; fire all weapons!"
Not only does the crew inside the Steppe Mammoth agree with the plan, even the primitive AI agrees with McNeil's plan; with a thunderous bellow from the Mammoth itself, the twin barrel Ion 'Tusk' Cannon simultaneous open fire against the Scrin Tripod, instantly vaporizing the powerful unit as if it wasn't there. The Mammoth's escort also rain down the hurt against the Scrin forces, adding heavy casualties among the Scrin forces much further. One of the Tripod that had survive the hail of spike munitions and powerful explosion, not to mention a curtain of bullets and rail cannon manage to creep up at the side of the Mammoth, it's intention was to shut the massive unit down using its shortwave EMP. However, the Steppe Mammoth has another trick on its sleeve; sensor pickup by the navigation crew shows a sneaky Tripod are now closing in, and with information brought to light, the animalistic AI wills the weapon system program and have several depth charges, hidden at the side of the colossal quadruple walker to be disengaged from its safety protocols. Three APC-size depth charges are drop right onto the approaching Annihilator Tripod, which not only effectively destroy the Tripod's three wavering tentacle beams, it also landed right into the Tripod's head, completely dismantle the silver/purple dome. The death blow however goes to the third and last depth charges it is crash the already crippling dome right into the nerve center of the creature's brain, and the detonation cracks the Tripod open like a peel fruit, sending three separate limbs to random direction.
The battle for supremacy are suddenly turned against the Scrin forces, and with the present of the Steppe Mammoth laying waste anything not Terran related units, the invading Scrin forces did what was rational; every unit they have on Fort Transylvania retreat back into their Wormhole!
Seeing the powerful units like the anti-infantry Ravager to the towering Tripod hurry back to their Wormhole was not only a delightful sight to see, it also restored whatever morality left on the people who fought the intruding alien menace. Marines and Marauders pick up their weapons and unload at the retreating Ravagers, Goliath units block the fleeing Disintegrators and cut them down with their autocannon, Siege Tank in tank mode are now braving against the backing Devourer Tank with the Wolverine not far behind, to the retreating Tripod being chased by a group of Titan while being taken down by the Steppe Mammoth one Tripod at the time thanks to its astronomical firing range. The Scrin intruder never reaches to their Wormhole, not even a single Buzzer.
(Fort Transylvania, Felix's Command Center.)
"EVA unit functionality restored; Establishing Battlefield Control; standby. Radar functionality restored. EVA unit are now at 100% operational."
Felix's EVA announced itself just as Felix disable Priority Level 0, restoring all system functionality that the computer generated avatar's previously had been remove thank to Felix. The female computer avatar slowly opens her silver and blue eyes only to be greeted by her human master. EVA obviously fumes, "YOU! Do you have any idea what you just did?! You just broke your tenth rules about the UED standard protocol buster! TEN! And Protocol Zero of all things considerate! You could be hung, executed, or if you're darn lucky like Akira Yamada, EXILED!"
"Yes, that is quite charming of you to remind me of that traitor, congratulations, 5-star on a job well done, etc. Let's get back to work, shall we?"
"NO! I'm not done with you yet! I'm going to write a report about this! All 31,777 word count, just like this fanfic the internet is reading!"
Felix roll his eyes, "Right, whatever. By the way, the Steppe Mammoth doesn't seem to have any kind of problem, and base on what John McNeil says, it is rather well behaved."
EVA narrows her eyes, "I'll believe when I see it"
"Sorry to ruin your fun time with your AI, but we have a problem." Vladimir butts in, "The strike force on the Scrin stronghold is being hammered by both our forces and the Tal'darim Protoss. It will only be a matter of time before those psionic alien turn their focus and their forces against us. And by all means I do not want to feel the wrath of some fanatic Protoss who view their alien gods as anything but sacred."
Felix stop and absorb Vladimir's words, giving a confirm nod at what the Russian commander is trying to emphasis, "Reinforcing our forces so far out at the enemy base will be difficult, and with so little transport ships, we can't have a steady flow of pressure to force the Protoss out of this planet. Having our forces travel on foot will take too long, and who knows what ambush awaits them by any surviving Scrin forces or that Protoss forces between us and that Scrin Stronghold." Vladimir adds further, his mind already work on a strategy to defeat any enemy which is not Terran forces, "During our battle on those two front, the Protoss manage to slip in a few drones and has constructed several Nexus and Pylons on several location on our current field, rooting them out will be too difficult with just our weapons and men alone."
"Not to mention we are currently underman for such an operation; I'm actually surprise we have enough men to pull this off before the Protoss shows up." Felix fumes.
"Da, Comrade. This is a grim moment for us."
As Felix and Vladimir formulate a plan of attack, Dr Alise Carmen, who was away from the War Room, bust into the room with new discovery, and from the look at her face, it is not a good thing, "Felix! Vladimir!" She bellows, breathing heavily, "The Scrin! They are not done yet!"
"What are you talking about Dr Alise Carmen?" Vladimir spoke up; displaying the combat map that all Scrin outposts are now destroyed and the alien stronghold is on the verge of total collapse. Several new dots marked in grey for the Protoss are equally highlighted and are increasing exponentially, "The alien Scrin forces will soon be dealt with, and our only concern is the fanatic Protoss forces."
"The Tal'darim forces are the least of our concern!" Dr Alise Carmen scowl angrily as she produces a data disk from her lab coat pouch, waving the disk at the two men frantically, "The Scrin forces that we face is but only one such stronghold!"
"Wha-what do you mean by that?" Vladimir reply.
Dr Alise Carmen rush in and insert the data disk into the unused console system before tapping the keyboard like a rapid-fire machinegun. The choir of tapping eventually ends when she turn her attention to the EVA unit which Felix had just turn on recently, "EVA, can you produce a mass scale mapping area on Planet Primus?"
"Certainly, doctor." EVA reply, carrying a heavy tone of concern, "How big do you want it?"
"Go for 1/1 scale; planet wide."
"Attempting to simulate mass scale mapping of Planet Primus in a 1/1 scale, please standby. Rendering, analysing, data occurred. Please standby"
The minute EVA announce the rendering is complete, Felix, Vladimir and Dr Alise get to see the planet Primus on a simulated scale on the holographic map. Dr Alise proceed to type in a few more when one orange dot appear on the map, "This is our current base," she points out, typing a few more keys when a grey dot, mark on several location represents the Tal'darim forces, "And this is the Protoss forces."
"And the Scrin?"
Dr Alise lock her glare at Felix, with dread and fearful eyes. Dr Alise Carmen simple press one key from console system and the holographic planet of Primus lit up in purple. At first it was just a few purple dots, slowly representing the current Scrin forces, then the purple dots begins to lit up like a Christmas tree; the holographic planet of Primus is filled with purple dots from the upper hemisphere to the lower hemisphere. And each dot represents the Scrin stronghold just the same as the one Felix and his UED forces invades. Then a few new dots, bigger than the one appeared before begin to overflow what's left of the sphere, and that alone is enough to send chills to the two UED commanding officers. Unable to contend the fear held within and unable to grasp that the Scrin forces overall number, Felix turn to Dr Alise, fear held into the human commanders lungs and throat, "This… this is the Scrin's true numbers? Aren't their race supposed to be wipe out?"
"And that large one…" Vladimir points out; teeth shiver in fear, "what are those…? Metropolis?"
"No, not a Metropolis," Dr Alise replies, pushing her reading glasses further in, "That, my fellow colleague, is a Megalopolis. A Scrin Megalopolis."
"How... How did you find out about this?" the Russian commander asked, shaking beyond believe.
"She didn't" a cold, dark voice creep into the minds of both UED officers, which both men leap out of their chairs and armed themselves with their sidearm, trailing the room looking for a target.
As both UED officers attempt to find their target, the shimmering object that stood at the entrance of the room reveal itself; a Protoss Dark Templar! Felix and Vladimir aim their weapon at the alien creature, instinct dictates them to open fire and shoot the alien assassin of the shadow for being foolishly enough to de-cloak itself when Dr Alise stood in front of the pale alien being, arms stretch wide open in defence, "Wait! She's friendly!" she cried.
Felix and Vladimir just stood there, baffle; a friendly Protoss? A friendly female Protoss? A friendly female Protoss that Dr Alise Carmen befriends? A friendly female Protoss that Dr Alise befriends that so happens to have infiltrated the UED Fort Transylvania? Blasphemy!
"Wow, all of a sudden this has turn into Twilight rip-off" EVA gesture out.
"Please, let me introduce you to Shan'kai, she is the one who points out that painful truth to me regarding the Scrin actual numbers. She is no way related to the Tal'darim." Dr Alise gesture out, with a defensive hand between her Terran comrade and the Protoss. The alien Protoss wears a garment and equipment similar to any other Dark Templar regardless of their class status, the only different is that this female Protoss worn a skull of a Zergling on both shoulder and worn mandible of similar species. Another difference is how slick her skin is with bright white and yellow glow on her eyes and less wrinkle on the face. She carries a staff like object, which to Felix and Vladimir's acknowledgement could be a double Psi Scythe Blade.
"How can you tell? How can you tell that this is the same Protoss among those outside setting up shop out there?" Felix quickly points out, "After all, they allied themself with the Queen of Bitch on Char to slew the Overmind! I know - I was there!"
"It is one of many regret we Nerazim warriors aren't able to instil that growing fact, but much has happen since then." Shan'kai telepathically replies, "However we Nerazim has similar veil upon you who would think to redirect a hive-mind sentient creature as a tool as well as your hostility on Braxis and Aiur. As for the Tal'darim, their mind are not one, shattered, crumble, their mental link with the Khala are severe. They answer to no one and only to themselves. They would attack any faction they come across regardless of allegiance between Terran and Protoss. They are akin to the tyrant ruler of a faction you know as the Terran Dominion among other Terran faction. Even Hierarchy Artanis wisdom and unification did not raise intrigue to the Forge Ones, only resentment."
"..." Felix stuck at that point, seeing how the scale differs rather than a match, especially in politics discussion. Oh, how he hates diplomatic talk; he wished his brother is here, "Okay, let's start this over again; how different are you with the Tal'darim, and what alien business do you want from us?"
"As I have said before, The Forge Ones are hostile to all sentient life forms, be that the Zerg, Terran or Protoss alike, even its own kin such as the Nerazim. Moreover, it would appear some higher power had manipulated them into a being similar to the Aeon of Strife occurrence. As for the other question, Hierarchy Artanis has been keeping tabs on you and your activity, and we Nerazim are quite surprise to see you struggle here for your own survival."
"Then pray tell - why are they here?"
"We know not why, but if the Tal'darim is here, then something must have triggered their deep space probe sensors that could reach to their interest. A Xel'naga artifact for example."
"I guess only the Protoss would have known about some hidden treasure that our stubborn tenacity on this planet fail our objective" The Russian Commander whispers to Felix, unknowingly the female Protoss has already caught his thoughts.
"Regarding about our objective, our hold only mention to observe you and determine what threat you have despite surviving what was arguably inescapable death. My sisters and I intervention are played by but a small part."
"Why? Why did you decide to help?"
"Hierarchy Artanis sent in a disturbing news regarding a new alien being, a threat never before foreseen - the creature is being forge from the accursed alien material known as Ichor and has make the Terran world of Mar Sara as their staging ground. We are to abort our surveillance mission to gather around the Hierarchy for further counselling when similar diagnosis equal that the alien you called the Scrin brought to light that this is in fact the same being."
"The similarity didn't end there, unfortunately," Dr Alise Carmen quick to point out, "the Scrin has a unique structure known as the Relay Node, and according to the information gathered by the past Mobius team, it exist solely to maintain the Scrin movement, it's survivability as well as the hub to circulate the distributing Ichor to the Scrin forces."
"Wait, wait a minute, you lost me there doc," Felix raise his hand with his free hand, his weapon still aim at the female Protoss Dark Templar with another, "what in the world is Ichor?"
"We do not know as it is a completely foreign object in this sector and for all we know it exist at the end spectrum of the universe, but Prelate Zeratul foresaw a prophecy in which the Ichor has a play in its part in this sector. Zeratul mention little of it, but we can tell that it will not be any brighter than it is presently."
Felix shot a caution glare at Vladimir, and the Russian man did the same; mental scenarios begin to fabricate in both commanders mind, since if this is true - especially when the Terran had encounter with the Scrin in the past - the Scrin will definitely return to finish what they had done in the past, except in a much greater scale, endangering not only the colony they were send to reunite, but their homeworld Earth as well. Both human commanders holster their sidearm back, shooting a nervous eye at the pale Protoss as they are not hostile... for now.
"So this Relay Node, they are the Scrin's major weakness?" Felix spoke up as soon as he feels a little comfortable having a Protoss in the War Room.
Dr Alise gives a solid confirm nod, "Yes, but it will not be easy," once again she turn her attention to the computer console, tapping at the keyboard as fast as she can, "by triangulating every Scrin outpost, bases, mega-base and Megalopolis, I have pinpoint a rough estimated location of significant number of Relay Nodes-"
"Multiple Relay Node?" the Russian commander reply fearfully, as the newly added information now give the planet hologram of Primus a few dozen yellow tiny dots across the globe, pinpointing the Relay Node in a general area.
"-and most of these structures are underground, deep in the cavern of alien labyrinth like the one on Gamma Point." Dr Alise finish her findings, and the two veteran season commanding officer could only aid their spinning head; the Scrin placed their most important structures underground? Is there just no easy solution when it comes to the United Earth Directorate Expedition Force?
"We'll have to destroy multiple Relay Node underground..." Felix harden his facial expression in a pondering position, "We don't know what is in there and there are probably be swarming by Scrin forces. Sending a full platoon into the caverns will not work. Explosive charge has to be plentiful, in case there is more than one-"
"You can scratch that last one off Admiral Fleet," EVA reply, "Dr Alise Carmen already has a working moveable portable nuclear warhead - the Demo MULE - in the works."
Felix sigh in a less amusing way, his eyes rolls around; if Dr Carmen can build a pair of security drone under his nose, she can definitely built a robotic harvesting drone to carry a nuclear warhead. "-fine. A team of small, well-trained individual should suffice. Don't need too many people though; 3 will do."
"He he, getting antsy on things eh, comrade Felix?" Vladimir reply, nudging his partner at the elbow. Felix can only smile, gazing his Russian companion. Dr Alise Carmen however stare at Felix with a worried look. They're not planning to go by themselves right? Carmen's thoughts surface fearfully of losing another individual close to her.
"And where are the nearest one?" the female Protoss Shan'kai asked, her glowing eyes narrow as she sees the Scrin as a threat that should not be overlooked.
Alise Carmen blink awhile before she found herself tapping the computer console. EVA aid the good doctor to formulate the algorithms to correspond the data she is getting, which as a result provide the team a zoom in version of the general location, in a familiar patch of map to both Felix and Vladimir knew off, "Gamma Point" she finishes.
(Gamma Point, Scrin Stronghold, Several Minutes Later...)
The Scrin base is being hammered at both fronts against two impending threats, with the Terran UED forces wiping out the one section of the base with immense firepower and the Tal'darim Protoss rushes in and attack with relentless zeal. Occasionally the UED forces will come across the Protoss strike team, and both would lock into a fierce combat with no clear winning sides. The former GDI technology are the only piece of machinery that keeps the Terran forces afloat on both chaotic fronts as the UED forces had not engage the Protoss for well over 4 years, so generally the troops will get an anxious and with worried look when they had to engage the Protoss newer weapon hardware like the Stalker, Sentries, Immortal, Void Rays and Colossus.
That is... until the Steppe Mammoth waltz into the combat zone on Gamma Point, firing its white hot beam of doom against those who dare oppose the Mammoth's divine crusade. Even the Protoss Colossus shields and tough armour hull stand no chance against the astronomical Ion Cannon firepower - if the weapon can destroy a structure with one or two shot in the past, breaching the Colossus tough defences proofs no challenge.
Directing the massive unit across the field, John McNeil has been instructed to have the almighty Steppe Mammoth and its crew to take point of the situation on Gamma Point. The Earth-born British man just couldn't say no, having the mighty armoured artillery walker wreak the alien stronghold sounds just about right in all kind of human sense. That and he love to test the theory which one of any alien faction available unit on the field could truly take on the Steppe Mammoth. So far the Annihilator Tripod are the biggest threat, but once they are within striking range, the Tripod are nothing more than a pile of smoking crater.
However, what his superior instruct him to do make no sense, hence a problem; Admiral Fleet Felix wants an outpost setup at the coordinate given, with a single layer of defence. From what he heard regarding today's crazy event, John McNeil has heard from his colleagues that their superior Admiral Fleet Felix wants to send a small force comprises of him, the Russian commander and a Protoss on some kind of infiltration mission. He wasn't sure which is true, but orders are orders; his here to sanitize the area from the Scrin and have the SCV drop down and construct a small defensive outpost.
With the plan now shifted from an all-out offense to hunker down and defend, the initial UED strike team are now being pull back and hold up at one specific location, with the Wolverine in front of the Titan while Siege Tank deployed behind the Titan to further support the mechanized armour group. A score of Marine, Marauder and Goliath kept themselves occupied by hunting down any Scrin remnants or an approaching zealous Protoss Zealot on their general guarding position, never stray too far from the outer outpost perimeter.
It didn't take long for the massive quadruple walker to arrive at Gamma Point and astonish the initial strike force team at the sheer size. Despite being dwarf to the Protoss Colossus, the Steppe Mammoth are never to be underestimated - the Tal'darim Protoss just didn't give a damn what is in front of them; they are not one of them, and they are on some Xel'naga sacred ground, which means the Terran are infidels. No question asked.
A question soon needed some answer once they feel the wrath of the Mammoth's Ion Cannon.
However, while the Steppe Mammoth can easily destroy any hostile enemy with its duel Ion 'Tusk' Cannon Artillery, Void Rays, one of the much newer Protoss fleet are giving a hard time to fend off. Since the Void Rays main role is to destroy capital ships and massive ground unit, the Mammoth, due to its sheer size could not counter the Protoss fleet-chewing spacecraft even with the attached Twin Missile Launcher. The numbers of Void Rays hammering the gigantic quadruple walker force the escort Titan to focus fire against the Void Rays rather than to attend its much needed attention from Devourer Tank, Annihilator Tripod, Immortal or Colossus.
"Mammoth is taking fire! We have armour breach on upper armour hull, reading at 41% and increasing!" one of the crew in the Steppe Mammoth report hastily.
"What?! Return fire!" John McNeil is quick to reply, "we cannot stop now, fire everything we have at the attacker!"
"We can't! The Mammoth's missile launcher is not strong enough to penetrate that Protoss ship exterior shielding!"
"Bloody hell, are there no way to counter that blimey pest!?" John reacts angrily, slamming his fist on the side of the computer terminal console.
In all his hated, John notice something when he strike his fist onto the side of the computer terminal, a holographic button hovering next to where his fist is. It spelled 'Transform' in red with blue outline, with a small holographic illustration of a quadruple walker transformed into a tank.
John McNeil raise his eyebrow; a tank? This huge unit, into a tank? Temptation and curiosity is a dangerous chemical compound, and John McNeil had just brewed the mixture without knowing it. "All crew - standby for transformation! Activating Transformation Protocol on my mark!"
John McNeil's crew heard the call, and half of the crew has the expression of shocked and confuse; this thing they are piloting can transform?
"TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!"
Out in the battlefield, the mighty Mammoth's eyes shines in respond to the programming command executed by its human master, the quadruple walker bellows in the air before kneeling down on all four, forming a crawling posture. The minute the mighty Mammoth sit on the ground on its stomach (or lower hull), all four metallic mighty legs merge and lock into each other, expanding and fortified the former leg with a heavy series of armour plating layer. Each formed legs are then enter another phase of its transformation - extracting a massive tank treads on the top of the formed legs. Mechanical groan can be heard with mighty creak and crack as the pair of formed legs are now twisting its front and hind legs anti-clockwise and clockwise respectively, ending the leg transformation into a heavily armour tank tread.
While the legs has change into a tank treads, the mighty Mammoth itself also goes into a drastic change; the top most section of the Steppe Mammoth snaps open after its auto-locking mechanism release from its binding, rotating back anti-clockwise but this time it also carries the bridge and the mighty Twin Ion 'Tusk' Cannon Artillery around. During its rotation, the twin artillery piece suddenly split into half, and both cannon begin to automatically climb at the side of the Mammoth 'face' and only stop at the very top of the head. The two cannon are then retreated into the expose gigantic mechanical gears and wheels which slam shut perfectly into the expose gap, and only the tip of the cannon can be seen. The bridge are then draws in into the hollow mechanical body while the overall metallic heavy hull of a body are broken down to a sizeable chuck of armour before it twist and turn and collapse perfectly in place - shutting the previously vulnerable bridge deep inside the body.
Ending the Steppe Mammoth transformation comes after the bridge is secure inside the body of a massive mass of armour protecting the crew from further harm. The previously top most section halt its rotation routine after it has accomplish turning 180 degree of anti-clockwise. With a loud mechanical groan, it gives a blazing final warning, buzzing aloud in the air as the top section clamp down and slam shut into the main body, it's auto-locking procedure are commence as it shut the top much firmly under its metal claps. As soon as the top section slam shut, the previously twin cannon eject out from its confined space, with a much longer barrel tube now appeared to have attach firmly with the cannon. Ending the transformation are several pop-up Twin Missile Launcher that appear at the side of the tank, Plasma Shielding rod on top of the tank and a mighty roar of engine coming into life.
"MAMMOTH TANK ENSEMBLED!" a loud, mechanical gruff-like voice announces itself through the loud speaker.
No longer is the Steppe Mammoth a quadruple siege walker, the massive walker has transform into an object bigger than any known existing ground forces the Dominion could come up with though shy only by the grand prototype unit they call the Odin. With twin tank treads at the side, heavily dense armour plating and twin cannon barrel that spells neutralization in capital letters, the awe-inspiring heavily armour tank unleash its powerful salvo of destruction.
Unlike the quadruple siege walker which are powerful against any ground forces only, the massive armour tank now has even more dense armour plating to snuff of even the most damaging form of attack to the point where a few Tal'darim Void Ray which are firing continuous with its primary weapon, the prismatic beams onto the mighty tank only breached a fragment of the exterior hull of the tank, even at maximum output! This, and thanks to its Plasma Shielding which are design to lesser the amount of damage taken from siege-type units, contribute the Mammoth Tanks external toughness. The iconic Twin Ion 'Tusk' Cannon had also change into a more suitable weapon to be compatible with the heavily armoured tank; the mighty Mammoth Tank is now equipped with Railgun Accelerator Cannon, design to pierce ground units and airborne targets. Despite losing the raw power to one shot a structure to kingdom come, the ability to target airborne target with the Mammoth's primary weapon is a welcoming sight.
The crew inside the Mammoth Tank waste no time with the pesky Void Rays as the massively armoured unit targets the Tal'darim Void Ray, firing its Railgun weaponry against a few of these Void Ray in the sky while firing payload of missiles into the sky. More Tal'darim Void Ray joins in, in hopes to down this massive unit which they see as a liable threat. A few salvos of Railgun and missile later, three Void Rays drop from the sky either being smashed to smithereens or puncture through the armour so hard the remains of the said Void Ray rocket through the sky and crashed into the ground before violently explodes. With the Titan helping the Mammoth Tank deterrent the number of Void Ray with their own Twin Particle Cannon, Goliath combat unit from the initial strike force joins in by firing their AA Hellfire missiles against the Tal'darim airborne forces only makes matters worse for the Void Rays. After more Protoss airborne units are down to just a few of them, the group of surviving Protoss forces attempt to escape their cruel fate through the impassable route by the alien ruin.
Keyword is 'attempt'.
"ARMOUR SUPERIORITY!" the Mammoth Tank loud speaker boomed, and the escaping Tal'darim airborne stop moving away, turn around and fire their prismatic beams against the Mammoth Tank, despite knowing that Titan's and Goliath's anti-air weaponry is waiting to be fired off. The taunted victim surprisingly no longer value their life or their surrounding area and only sees the Mammoth Tank as an object that needed to be destroy - if any of the Tal'darim warriors knows what had gone wrong, they are already too late.
With the last Void Ray blasted to oblivion, the massive armour column move out to secure the rendezvous point in a slow pace - thanks to the added armour and tank treads, the Mammoth Tank moves twice as slow as when it was on walker form. This leads frustration to John McNeil and his crew as they needed to reach their designated area as soon as possible; one might even suggest to change back to walker mode to regain lost momentum but with the threat of Protoss Void Ray sweeping around at any directions and the complex transformation takes away valuable time, John McNeil could only utter out, "Pushing forward."
Despite its sluggish movement and after smashing countless numbers of Scrin and Tal'darim Protoss in separate conflicts - the suicidal Disintegrators, the sneaky Shock Troopers, the speeding Ravagers, the siege/tank Devourer, the tentacle horror Tripod to a group of Zealots, blinking Stalkers, lumbering Immortals, the towering Colossus, pestering Void Rays, sometimes even during a crossfire - they were merely skirmishes to the group, parts of it because the Scrin and Protoss forces are engaging fiercely on the planet that the armour group only encounter those who had survive the assault. The Mammoth and its collective team of Titans, Wolverines and Goliaths finally reach to the rendezvous point, where columns of Marines, Marauders, Titans, Wolverines and Siege Tanks are holed up and repelling the enemy alien forces. Ironically, this is the same specific area where Dr Petrova fell, and instead of having a squad of Marines and Auto-Turret defending this area, almost all available UED heavy armour forces are now here, including the Mammoth Tank.
With the huge heavily armour tank now reach its designated area, it's true mission are now to be commence; protecting Gamma Point from further alien intrusion while air escort drop in the UED VIP into the area for via Command Center which are protected by its own form of escort.
This is going to be a long mission for the crew and their captain, John McNeil. In his account however, he will gladly accept it.
(At the same time... Koprulu Sector, Abaddon.)
It has been a year since the Spartan Company has make contact to the UED stronghold after what had happen to Foxtrot Team early demise. Major Browder made a vow that the Spartan Company will investigate this matter in cooperating with the Turncoat Company to find and eliminate these new Terran faction despite the warning from their higher ups. The Turncoat Company has double their effort in recruitment and with new fresh recruit to integrate into their forces, the man in charge of the Spartan Company had almost no time to ponder what had happen to their stronghold outside of the sector. Despite months of training new recruit in the art of war, an entire following week to come however has been very unusual.
While the Spartan Company has been around in this sector for 4 years accepting mercenary works cautiously because of Dominion influence reign a quarter and a half sector, lately they have been an increased number of 'employee' needed some mercenary job, including some other mercenary faction as well as several Dominion fringe colony. The troops requirement and assignment is off the chart, that even the half-trained recruit who had barely even able to handle the recoil of a Gauss rifle effectively has been thrown in into the mix to operate the specially design Goliath to battle. The Hercules Transport ship arrives not too long ago and had carry away at a dozen or more Goliath pilots and their machine to battle. This has been occurring in front of Major Captain for quite some time.
Major Captain Browder, who is registering a total of 12 Hercules Dropship over the course of a day is now unable to contain his curiosity. Spartan Company consist of half a dozen squad per order, and now he sees a number of Hercules Dropship from a number of mercenary faction as well as lesser known anti-Dominion group purchase more than he had set out.
After making the last schedule check at the barracks, Major Captain Browder Elsewood makes his way back to his Terran Command Center hidden deep underground with a couple of Marine as escort. It is quite a walk to the CC, due to the volcanic area and a river of lava making it hard to travel on foot, but made up being an excellent choke points for the Siege Tank barrage. After a short march later, the cave is now in view, which the entrance is protected by three layers of automated defences. Inside the dark smoky underground cave lies a UED Command Center, and thanks to the Turncoat Company, the CC is now on Planetary Fortress mode. The UED Command Center is sheltered by two bunker and a pair of Siege Tank in siege mode at each bunker as added protection as well as a ring of Missile Turret defence. The Planetary Fortress quickly detects the approaching Terran officer and is immediately welcome the officer on board once it scans its bio-signature and his escort. His escort at this point no longer follows him as both of them stand guard beside one of the Bunkers.
Unopposed, the Major Captain walks in and enter the facility and into the docking station where SCV's are manufactured. He continues to march forward until he steps into a private changing room specifically for the commander in charge. The mechanical door slam shut behind him, and the console pop out demanding access code. Calmly, Browder Elsewood enters in his code through the power suit security measurements via 12 digit codes. The suit responds, allowing the suit to crack open and release the bald, mildly moustache with beard man off. The door in front of him also cracks open upon submissions of the code, acknowledging his authority. Wearing only his military shirt and camo pants, Browder march into his private chamber, attempting to find out what's going on these past few days.
Sitting comfortable on his chair, the bald Major turns his attention his personal computer, key in several encrypted password before the device purr to live. An electronic cube emerged from the screen before taking shape as a woman avatar, "Good Afternoon Major Captain Browder Elsewood. It's been a while."
"Same to you too, EVA. Give me status report; what's going on in the past few days?"
"Gathering history, please stand by... Transmitting... Receiving... Data acquired; there has been an increase demand on our mercenary troops in all corner of the Koprulu Sector, from the fringe colony to the Core World. The latest demand came from Raynor's Rai-"
"Never mind that; why is our demand just boom up? Did something just happen in the past few weeks?"
"Affirmative; the Queen of Blades has just launch a massive Zerg invasion from across the sector. Most fringe colony is currently under siege and the Core World is being breached by both Zerg and Terran insurgent." EVA reply.
Browder's jaw drop when he heard the Queen Bitch of the universe is now launching an attack across the sector, "what is the likelihood of the Xenomorph to invade Abaddon?"
"Calculating... Please stand by... Analysing... Data acquired; the likelihood of the Zerg invasion is 34% to 45%. It is possible that the Zerg will likely pass by due to the volcanic nature of this planet."
"Just because the planet is inhospitable doesn't mean it does not have any value to the creature of pure nightmare," Major Captain Browder reply, "Fortified our position, EVA. I want every reserve army here to be on high alert and all base defences all maintained and ready to retaliate against any alien forces. Any new business inquiry will have to go through me before they are verified and acknowledged. Tell them the former Iron Patriot insignia code as well."
"Order receives," EVA replies before her eyes begin to flicker for a while, "Incoming Transmission from Foxtrot Team."
Foxtrot team? Didn't the team up and die on Bhekor Ro? Could there be survivor all this time?
As the computer screen flickers, showing nothing but statics, the screen soon present absolute clarity and reveal quite possibly a surviving member from Foxtrot team...
Wait a minute... That's not a member from Foxtrot team! That's...!
"Hello, Sergeant Browder Elsewood... It's been a while," the man, Japanese in origin with a familiar spectacle calls out.
"Commander Akira Yamada... Traitorous Dog..." Browder Elsewood reply in kind, "How did you get this secure encrypted channel!? Are you the one who dispatched Foxtrot Team!?"
"Foxtrot Team? So the team of rotting marines underneath Bhekor Ro Orbital Platform really does belong to you. What a coincidence." Akira reply, a wide smirk across his face disgust Browder greatly, "However, I'm not here to rub salt on your open wound; I have a business proposition for you."
"We do not make businesses with traitors! What could you possibly have that would interest me!?"
"Do calm down, my former ally; what I have here may be the very survival of the human race as a whole. My top agent, Nova discovered an interesting information on her last mission against a... uncommon enemy. I have not seen this object other than fable rumours and speculation... but perhaps your EVA could light up the situation."
The Major Captain of the Spartan Company initially looked uninterested on whatever the traitor has to offer... until the image of a peculiar orb with wild digit, numbers and swelling mathematical gibberish caught his attention. He also had never seen this object before, and he only heard it in whispers back on Earth, the information regarding this orb object has been classified as Level 9 'eyes only' information and it is an object of interest for well over 4 hundred years by the Old Earth Government.
The fable object; Tacitus.
"How... how in the world..."
"What lies beneath, lies thee truth," Akira end, which trigger an interesting look from Browder; did Akira, the traitor just use one of many secret UED messages on him?
Then it hits him; Browder saw something which quickly becomes obvious. Despite being a traitorous bastard, Akira Yamada isn't behaving one at all, even though he had switch sides. It was evidenced that Commander Yamada is taking a huge risk to even contacting Major Captain Browder, and as to why he had asked about EVA. He was sending crucial information to him. Something only the artificial intelligence would gather.
To make matters more sense, just behind Akira Yamada is a Dominion Ghost shimmering at the side; cloaked no doubt, teeping the Japanese commander even as they speak.
'My god... What had you brought yourself into...' ponder Browder.
Akira smiles, "You and I, as well as the rest of the UED remnant knows what this is. Now answer me this; you were on the Iron Patriot, and they carry a massive pocket of data regarding it. What is it?"
Another clue, which Browder did not have to answer. Was Akira giving false surface thoughts to the Ghost? Granted, Akira is psionic, that much is certain, so projecting a false thought and delivering crucial information at the same time? That must be a lot of strain to Akira. Browder looks away, playing along with Akira's mental game, "I only heard tale of it. Nothing more; I was a lowly sergeant before I took up this burden to lead the remnant of the UED here. Now if you excuse-"
"Accept this exchange of information and I'll throw in several million credits as well. How's that for business?"
Okay, now that was a joke, and Browder knows it.
"Not interest." Browder finished, turning off the video screen and quickly severe the communication link.
"That was harsh, Browder Elsewood. For a childhood friend, you sure know how to throw a tantrum." the electronic AI EVA makes a clear statement.
Browder gaze at the EVA unit in front of the computer, 'at least this AI doesn't read thoughts like any peeping Tom's out there', thought Browder.
"He is no friend of mine. We both have different ideal, different goal. He was a traitor to the UED. And that fact will remain until his crime is paid in blood."
"Harsh, I give you that." the little AI makes a sad face, "It's a shame that he join the Son of Korhal; I miss him and his tactical battle analyst, to an extend that it makes the other version of me feel uneasy at times."
Browder only huff at that statement. It is true that he was a brilliant charismatic leader, even more so than Felix Parker or Vladimir Romanov, but that did not help the faithful member of the UED in question why he betray and join the Dominion forces.
Oh wait, he didn't. Yamada is clearly trying to tell him about the ancient device back from Earth away from the Dominion. And speaking of Dominion forces, if the Emperor Mengsk gets hold on this information regarding the Tacitus, there is no telling what chaos will ride along the entire Dominion Armada, since the device is the reason why Earth was ravage by untold number of conflict to the point where the Ascension Conflict is where the device disappears from the face of the Earth.
Browder only smirk, 'damn it Akira, you are always 5 steps ahead of everyone'.
"EVA, have you-"
"Already got it my liege." EVA quickly reply, "image of the Tacitus has already uploaded into my exterior memory core; all surviving EVA unit will receive it by your mark."
"Have that image shared to Felix's own EVA unit. Do not share it with any other units for safety purposes."
"Transmitting... Transmit complete." EVA chirp happily when her eyes flickers about, "Major Captain, Operation Cwal is now at 56%. Our weapon will be accomplished within 2 weeks' time."
Two weeks? So their secret weapon is halfway complete. Browder sighs in relief; he can almost feel the nostalgic feeling of riding the largest triple barrel monster-of-a-tank again. Feels like good old time back on Earth when they use that old relic to root out those terrorist tyranny who-
Wait a minute! That's just it! He can use it to distract the Dominion main stronghold! No point on building the biggest tank in the universe and launch it on Bhekor Ro!
"2 week's? Too slow!" he quickly replies, grinning across his face, "Triple the construction time of the weapon, I want that weapon ready within 2 days. We hit Korhal with our secret weapon in 4 days."
The electronic female avatar blink at the sudden change of command, but she acknowledged it anyhow, "Affirmative" The EVA unit reply to the officer's command.
Chapter 02 end
Preview
Final Chapter: Into the Locust Maw
The UED expedition forces are not out of the woods just yet, as the Protoss now descend from the sky to claim what is rightfully theirs at the wrong time. The previously stasis Scrin has awaken in full cycle and are now declaring war against all that dare to stand on their own holy ground. Now, exhausted physically and mentally, as well as lack of enough manpower to continue the fight, the UED are forced to fight deep into the Scrin territory area to deliver one last killing blow before all their hopes of reuniting the lost Terran colony on Koprulu Sector will truly be lost forever! New Scrin units and alien cross-tech with the captured Terrans! Old school 'Gotta present for ya' Commando! Crazy Firebat Russian with Tesla Technology! A Medic with a Gauss Rifle CRC-14 Penetrator Round! A Dark Templar with the mastery of the Void! A terrifying secret and the fate of Dr Petrova! All in the next chapter!
I wanted to end this story here, but since I promise a heavy content to show the GDI pre-build tech which Avatar-of-Kane might use, the eerie original Scrin Homeworld Planet Primus complete details and the previously not-so-establish rush introduction on the EVA unit, the fact must go on!
Planet: Primus
Region: Unknown
Sector: Unknown, planet appear to be outside of Koprulu Sector
System: None
Moon(s): Coeptus, Umbilicus, Terminus
Diameter: 960,000km
Climate: 42 Centigrade (98.6F), Very Dry humidity
Axial Tilt: 14.7degrees
Gravity: 3.09 medium heavy
Dominant Terrain classification: Wasteland, Mountain, Ruins
Dominant: Xel'naga (formerly), Scrin (formerly), Terran UED (remnants)
Population: Roughly 21,000 Terrans, unaccounted number of stasis Scrin.
Capital: Fort Transylvania.
History:- Primus is a planet seamlessly appear outside of the Koprulu sector and hence very inhospitable, and it is the first base of operation the UED used to stage the attack before arriving to Koprulu sector itself. Due to the unnatural inhospitable planet that is constantly raging in Ion storms, UED believe it would serve as a primary place to set up their command post here should their expedition fleet failed to accomplish their goal. After the UED had succeed in enslaving the new Overmind, the command post is all but abandon. It was not until the UED has been defeated that remnants of the UED forces retreated here and salvage what they can before they can marshall a force against the Dominion Empire. Though unable to leave to their homeworld, they make a pledge to somehow accomplish the impossible task at great cost, slowly growing in strength at each small victory by their offset sub-factions; Spartan Company, Turncoat Company and Foxknot Team.
During their time here on Primus, they took time to study the ruin city which has interest a group of surviving patch of scientists known as the Mobius Research Team in hopes to find some kind of useful technology worth studying and contribute their finding to aid the stranded UED expedition force. What they found were more than a puzzle than an answer. Unlike the Terrans or Protoss inhabit on the Koprulu Sector, the things they found is actually a ruin city of a once thriving alien race known as the Xel'naga, but what they did not notice is the ruin landscape of what appears to be Scrin former homeworld. Ever since the last conflict back on the Solar System 400 hundred years ago erase all form of past event, the imminent alien threat known as the Scrin is nothing more than a myth. The Scrin, lay in domain for well over countless of millennium on Primus after a disastrous event has began to bring about a new blossoming harvest, be that organic component or the Ichor seeds it has sown.
This planet were coined Primus since the beginning of the Terran expedition approach, and ironically, so as the Scrin; based on the rough alien translation, this planet seemed to be where the Scrin first appear and quickly prosper faster than any known race due to their being of psionic essence, they shape their structures out of rare material that surrounds the planet and are known to build and construct city with their collective mind, able to construct from simple mass landscape to a grand city in a matter of months. What makes the UED puzzled as to why such a thriving planet could leave behind thousands of unchecked ruins of knowledge and technology behind, one which they will soon find out.
But the truth is only one-sided; Primus was not abandoned for a reason. In the Scrin database, their original homeworld is indeed thriving and the three moons once used as Tiberium fields as a whole, enough to fuel the planet needs even if Tiberium Relay Nodes overflow with Tiberium. What makes the Scrin abandon the planet was because of civil war outbreak among the caste followed by a freak Warp incident that consume their homeworld and its inhabitant, nearly destroying and exterminating the Scrin race if not because they would conquer other planets to expend their growing numbers. With their former homeworld planet gone, the Scrin look elsewhere to call home, conquering one planet after another bringing war to other alien race who would dare take Tiberium and strip the very resource on each and every planet they lay siege on. Earth was the only planet they had underestimate thus far. It is unknown how Primus survived the journey of the Warp, considering that the planet were consumed are most likely be destroyed, or barely recognizable.
Geography:- Although Primus is a wasteland with mountain landscape, it is also dotted with ruins at every turn, making it almost urban like feel when going around it. Due to the sheer amount of ruin on a once thriving Scrin cities, it is almost impossible to place structures or coordinate a carefully plan attack when moving with the landscape filled with ruins. On the plus side, each dotted ruin has a finite of raw Ichor deposits - minerals and gas per say - and since there is an abundant amount of ruin, minerals and gas are never a shortage. Most ruin are easily destroyed with a single cannon shot, while others require a concentrated fire to bring a much larger one down. Ion Storm on this planet is always occurred without a fix time, one that could last for 12 hours; these versions of Ion Storm are more malice than the once produce by the Scrin or during the Second Tiberium War as it struck the ground twice or more at the same spot. Ships with anti-magnetic field can fly without worried of being grounded, though they cannot escape to the upper atmosphere as the concentrated magnetic field is powerful enough to shut such ships and crash to the ground. It is known that Scrin ships maybe beneficial for such atmosphere due to their technology is highly adapted to Ion Storm. Due to the weathers powerful magnetic field, it is no surprise if the minimap on the radar would shut down the minute the Ion Storm occurred to those who is without anti-magnetic shielding.
Though the planet may weight down a normal human being, it is not really bother those who is equip with power suits. However, Psionic units such as Protoss, Zerg and even Terran enhance Ghost or Spectre who find themselves fighting on this planet had somehow gain great benefit here as it psych their already heighten psionic power to a new level, and ships that require energy to fire (such as Terran Battlecruiser) find themselves constantly renewing their lost energy at a staggering rate. But the real beneficial goes to the Scrin, who originate this planet; while the planet can be cruel or kind to those who attempt to exploit it, it is the Scrin who gets the most beneficial among these landscape. With such unnatural Ion Storm occurrence and constant psionic enhancement on the planet surface makes it a perfect planet for Tiberium to grow. In fact, placing even a single Tiberium crystal onto the ground will cause unbelievable growth to start blooming with Ichor within minutes.
Author's Note: Now you might be thinking "Wow, Primus is so darn overpowered place to be in, with the Scrin having major advantage over the rest", well, to tell you the truth it is; Primus is the original (Fanmade of course) Homeworld of the Scrin, and thus those who decides to set up shop here will have to deal with the owner of the planet, just like United Earth Directorate on Terra, Brotherhood of Nod on New Eden, Zerg Swarm on Char, Terran Dominion on Korhal, or Protoss Protectorate on Aiur. True that the whole civil war between caste is outrageous, but after reading some (due to EA bullshit for not completing the entire Scrin saga) of the Command and Conquer wiki regarding about each sub-faction of the Scrin caste member, one might believe that Reaper-17 and Traveller-59 as well as Vanilla Scrin (I don't know, it was called that way, or I can call it Foreman 371) are not the only warring caste fighting for control.
EVA DATABASE DOSSIER
As old as the Earth plunge into an unending war, the electronic video assistance, or EVA for short has been with humanities best Commanders, Commodores and Generals partner for many generation. They are a reliable self-learning AI avatar with distinguish personality to boot, and operate solely in the interest of man. The known AI has been both a crucial tool to alert commanders on the field of any warning that their human master overlooked to simplifying the commander chain of command with the iconic battlefield control interface. The AI avatar contribute much to their human master, and the only reward these computer generated AI require is a long day of rest and tons of battle analysis to occupy its lust for combat information and database.
Despite that the Old Government ban the use of dangerous computer generated AI avatar, let alone have it installed right into a military installation hub within the military database, the EVA unit is inseparable to the Earth military forces, as military installation with complex computing system will collapse without it and robust amount of database of information store in high facility information gathering will takes weeks if not months to look through when the computer generated AI could search it in a matter of minutes. The EVA unit also has a tie-in with the military protocol - without such protocol, the AI will not function - synth with the protocol allow the computer generated AI to root out traitors and corrupted military individuals faster than simple monitoring and questioning. It did however cause the Old Government goes in a state of panic when the AI is later on authorize the use of military hardware as well as full authorization to command an army, even though the military has full confident that an AI rebellion will never occurred.
All known version of military grade EVA are design specifically to aid their human commanders on the field regardless of their ranking position; if they can command a squad of ten men or more, that specific individual are presented with an EVA unit. There is no limitation on how long the computer generated AI can work or carry out a task at hand, and at times would also provide light entertainment for their human master (though this is a very rare case), or how far the AI will last. The theory on 'how far can you push an AI to a breaking point' once tested by the military scientist, and so far the computer generated avatar withstand a strain of stress ten times that of a human being before the program and system which held the AI in place cause a system crash. Calculation from said amount of stress comes to 15 years of service, and sets a bar for all military personnel who is in command of an EVA unit to constantly be reminded to reset the AI when her service time has ended. The extension of said 15 years has major consequences, and reports suggest several case including unnatural behavior, strange obsessions on human being, random AI glitches, AI not responding to all form of command as well as fascination on mankind as a whole. The worst offending consequences may well be absolute resentment to all human being and plot to take over the world. The last two are cliche, if down right unrealistic, but most officers isn't going to take a chance.
The AI has several functions that would benefit the human master she is being aassign to. For one, if the commander felt bored and wish to had some kind of action other than to sit on his chamber or bridge all day, he or she may have the AI companion generate a mock battle between the human officers and herself. Not only will it be entertaining to see who would win a match against an AI controlled opponent, but it also casualty free. Since the AI is a self-learning processor, the same tactic will not work against the AI, forcing most commanders to think outside the box to outwit his or her computer opponent. Most AI starts out slow, but as time progresses, the AI will eventually be smacking the human commander with absolute ease. This function actually encourage most commanding officer to employ during the early stages, especially during wartime. During actual wartime, the AI can use this accumulated information through the mock battle and apply it in real time, turning the EVA unit into an actual field Commander should the current field Commander are away during missions. Many of the past battles on Earth are actually being contributed by the AI, lessening the death toll of the military forces against the insurrection.
However, the AI origin history is actually missing a lot of section, mostly because of the infamous Ascension Conflict which devastate the world to its foundation. Military scientists and technology researchers attempt to unearth this missing piece of information in search of the fable Prime EVA - the very first version of the computer generated AI avatar - their search went fruitless.
Nonetheless, when the UED comes into power, the electronic video assistance computer generated artificial intelligence avatar are the first object that the military instill on, knowing that the mass accumulated information and a library of database will surely secure total victory on an unknown sector known as Koprulu Sector.
Author's Note: Believe me, I tried, but writing the EVA unit without subjugating myself with silly puns and computer joke is hard to do, and with Felix own EVA unit celebrating 5 years not having her system reset is the hardest thing to do!
GDI Pre-build Database
Titan MK-IV (Armoured) (Tier 1)
(150 Min, 50 Gas, 3 Cap)
"Titan at the ready!"
Height: roughly 8 stories high
Weight: 40 tonnes, 70 tonnes maximum weight when fully upgrade up to Twin Particle Cannon
Armament: 220mm Anti-Armour Shell.
Known Upgrades: -120mm Particle Cannon Weapon Upgrade (upgrade weaponry to Rail-base weaponry, increase damage by 15%)
-Twin Particle Cannon Weapon Upgrade (Add additional Particle Cannon weaponry on the second arm)
-Achilles Armour Pad (decrease chances of lucky hits on the knee by 50%, increase armour by 2)
Ability: -Titan's Trail ( Allows the Titan unit to crush anything under its metallic feet, passive ability)
Appearance: Has a close similarity with the Titan from Tiberium Twilight, except it still has the ability to crush anything with its metallic foot. Starts off with one cannon attachment, upgrading will switch its cannon property and further update grants the Titan a second cannon.
Pro: - Heaviest known Tier 1 unit.
- Capable of crushing anything under its foot.
- A few number of Titan can flatten almost all but the most fortified base.
- Extremely lethal to ground unit as well as air unit after it is upgraded.
- Terrain are not a problem for the Titan, except for cliffs.
Cons: - Perhaps the most expensive tier 1 unit ever constructed.
- Slow rate of fire.
- Fragile against Commando
- Despite sporting heavy armour, if the Titan sustain too much damage it will begin to limb over the battlefield, slowing its movement down considerably.
- Still outshine by Tier 2 or Tier 3 units.
Description: A mobile weapon that utilize walker technology, this tier 1 weapon platform is used back on Earth to quill the uprising of bio-terrorist even before the Great Exile. It's size and stature says it all; the Titan is known to obliterate anything smaller than itself and is not afraid to show its brutal firepower against any opponent. Where the flock of Titan roam, no opposing forces are safe, not even the sky is safe where these titanic metal walker goes.
Titan are known as an all-purpose anti-armor offense unit with its mobility not restricted by all known terrain like those conventional tanks would with the exceptional of cliffs. It's primary weapon, the 220mm Anti-Armor Cannon can tear down any known armour with absolute ease, from the heavily armour tank to the tough-as-nail Command Center. It's weapon upgrade grants the Titan a 120mm Particle Cannon, a powerful railgun weapon that has high accuracy and precision shot against all moving target. While the 220mm cannon are not design to drop aircraft off the sky, the 120 particle cannon is, thus granting the Titan the ability to target air units as well upon its first upgrade. If that is not enough, a secondary upgrade which install another 120 particle cannon acts as an insurance in case the first shot is not enough to finish off whatever terrorist forces on the walkers path. If the Twin Particle Cannon still did not make the cut, the Titan can always crush its enemy underneath its heavy metal foot.
Despite earning a fame name (Crawler Killer), the Titan has its own drawback, two of which is its rate of fire and armour on its legs. The rate of fire on both 220mm cannon and the 120mm particle cannon is slow, and it took at least 7 second per shot, 5 second for veteran pilot. This drawback was later being issued in a form of having a second cannon attach to the Titan, but even with the second cannon attachment, it only reduce its firing rate by 2 second. Another problem comes from the Titan is its leg salvo; despite having an armour shell that would protect the crew from any possible harm, the Titan leg salvo is incredibly mild armoured. This particular weakness are often being exploit by the enemy whom had fought a Titan before; a well-placed C4 charges on the leg salvo or a well-aimed concentrated RPG fire can down the Titan without touching the main body. Despite that the armour upgrade is available which increase the Titan survivability higher than usual, vulnerable joints on the legs is still present. It is also known to be far more expensive than any known Tier 1 unit in existence.
Myth: According to the Old Confederate folk story, the Titan walker is often described as a walking Mecha of death that could crush any and all opposition with absolute ease in great numbers. This common folk story had also give rise to moviegoers who watches the movie shows named 'Against a Titan' and 'Mecha of Destruction'. Even the Old Confederate government who had not took this story seriously are interest of converting this very idea into a war machine. The result of trying to turn a fictional story into reality is the Goliath assault combat unit. Despite not having the same role as the Titan itself, the Goliath did earn its place in many military hands, even pirates will not pass up the change to steal the unit for their own goal.
Author's Note: Pre-build GDI tech Titan Mk-IV is a wonder, just like its distant cousin the Titan Mk-I. I typically love this unit on Tiberium Sun, and in Tiberium Wars I was sort of pissed. Titan makes a return in Kane's Wrath restored very little faith and the Titan on Tiberium Twilight is… well, meh. I still love me some Titan Mk-II design, so I decided to just throw in the Mk-II, make it the new Mk-IV with extra cannon in tow. Oh, and it can crush people to under its metallic foot! Take that Mengsk! Feel the ground tremble before my armies of Titans!
Wolverine MK-IV (Light, Biological) (Tier 1)
(50 Min, 50 Gas, 1 Cap)
"The Pack is on the move!"
Height: 8 feet high
Weight: 30 tons
Armaments: TMG-II 'Buzzsaw' Minigun (.50 Caliber) anti-infantry munitions.
Known Upgrades: -TMX-III 'Killjoy' Minigun (increase damage by 25%, does a plus 5 damage to armour unit)
-Artic Cooling Pack( Increase weapon spin speed by 8%)
-Advance Circular Singularity ( Further increase weapon spin by 12%)
Ability: -Bulletstorm (fire a hail of bullets at one the enemy position, does continuous damage overtime, Wolverine unit require to stand still)
-Bullet Sweep (fires a curtain of bullets at 90 degree angle. Does a fix damage. Wolverine unit require to stand still)
Appearance: The Wolverine remain the same as its last appearance on Tiberium Wars; Kanes Wrath.
Pro: -Best Tier 1 anti-infantry.
-Does continuous damage on one target. Damage multiplier remain the same if immediately change target.
-Perfect for hit-and-run, as it has the ability to fire while on the move.
-Prevent early rushes, and still provide additional firepower in mid game.
-Has the lowest resource requirements.
-In a mass, Wolverine can easily overwhelm an enemy base with a swift blow.
Cons: -Any Anti-armour unit can turn a Wolverine to scrap metal.
-No anti-air capability.
-Most scout units (Vulture or Hellion) can outrun a Wolverine.
-Wolverine require to standstill to increase its damage output per second.
-Infantry micro can still down a Wolverine.
Description: A well purpose anti-infantry weapon platform, the Wolverine unit are known to strike fear to any small regimen of well-armed soldiers on the field as well as small defenceless hostile outpost. The Wolverine are notorious hit-and-run unit as well, capable of charging into the enemy flanking position and cause serious properties damage before disappearing. Despite being the lowest tier unit, the Wolverine can still deliver a serious blow with additional upgrades and in great numbers, escorting powerhouse unit like the Titan to overwhelm enemy fortification.
The Wolverine MK-IV is an improvement version of the lineage Wolverine and it's lesser known counterpart. It is cheap to build, easy to pilot and require little to no manual instructions. Wolverine are small, smaller than the Terran Goliath unit, meaning that the unit can outpace the massive unit and still benefit on targeting its enemy while on the move, something which the Goliath never had. The weapon's munitions demand are plentiful ever since people had been using a much newer kinetic ammo or spike-like munitions, allowing the Wolverine unit plenty of ammo to spare to last until the unit seize to function or the pilot does on a retired after mowing down its foe. Because the weapon utilizes an old, if whatnot aging weapon, the damage done by the Wolverine is dependent on how fast the weapon is rotating; the faster the weapon spin, the more damage it can cause.
It comes to no surprise that the Wolverine has an absolute no decent defence against incoming anti-armour weapons, as its thin frame could not stand up against the penetrating power of such weapon tier. Though Wolverine are known for their hit-and-run tactics, faster scout units like Hellion and Vulture will outrun the unit, since the Wolverine top speed are no faster than a stimmed Marines. Lastly, despite arming the aging minigun, which has a notorious reputation to mow down both infantry and aircraft in the days of yore, the Wolverine weapon system cannot triangulate targets above it, making the most notorious infantry chewing machine running for cover against even a single Banshee aircraft.
Myth: For over 400 years, the Brotherhood of Nod, known to be very loyal to Kane, and are known to be very violent to those who defiled the name of their messiah, are also known to be fearful at the sight of a Wolverine. Indeed, young disciple and acolyte of Nod would listen to older generation story, word by word of wisdom, past down from their father and their father's before them. Each of them would tell younger audience of the dreaded Wolverine, how one of those things arrive in the Nod encampment area and lay waste every man, woman and child of Nod. The story is gruesome, but each story always end with their Nod leader Kane, quell the children of Nod fear by a way of introducing the Scorpion Tank, which happened to be the iconic main battle tank to this age. The number of Scorpion Tank on the field most likely fortified by these stories.
Author's Note: Anyone with a single grain of salt will definitely love the Wolverine. It was a threatening sight upon seeing this thing coming to your base when you could only counter it with laser turret and Tick Tank! Not even the Nod rocket troopers can do anything about it! Wolverine got onto this spot next to the Titan for a sole reason; both units appear on Tiberium Sun and Tiberium Wars; Kane's Wrath. It feel rather incomplete without Wolverine escorting the fame Titan, moving as a whole unit and mowing down anything which is not carrying the proud GDI banner.
Steppe Mammoth (Armoured, Massive) (Final Tier)
(750 Min, 750 Gas, 12 unit caps)
"Steppe Mammoth Resurrected!"
Height: No Record; estimation height is well over that of the Command Center on Walker Form, at least 7 stories high as Tank Form.
Weight: Unknown
Armaments (Walker Form): Twin Ion 'Tusk' Cannon Artillery, Twin Missile Launcher.
Armaments (Tank Form): Twin Railgun Accelerator Cannon, Twin Missile Launcher.
Known Upgrades: -Project Resurrection (Grant Steppe Mammoth the ability to resurrect itself from a defeated 'husk' in Walker Form, does not apply to Tank Form)
-Quadrangle Slots (Adds additional Missile Launcher and grants ability to fire onto ground forces, increase damage by 5%)
-Endangered Shields (Grants Steppe Mammoth in Tank Form a protective shield that lowers intake damage from Siege-Class weapon only, does not apply to Walker Form.)
Ability (Walker Form): -Regenerate (Steppe Mammoth regenerate lost health overtime, passive)
-Discharge Detonation (drops a row of explosive at the side, dealing 100 damage a piece) Ground only
-Resurrection (If the Steppe Mammoth has fallen, but the husk is not destroyed, the system will slowly repair itself, and once repair is completes, allowed the Steppe Mammoth a second chance to reign havoc) (cool down 240 seconds)
-Transform (Transform Walker Form to Tank Form, require 35 seconds of transformation, cooldown 40 seconds)
Ability (Tank Form): -Regenerate (Steppe Mammoth regenerate lost health overtime, passive)
-Titan's Trail (Allows the Steppe Mammoth to crush anything underneath its treads, passive)
-Taunt "Armour Superiority!" (Area-of-effect, affected units lost their sense of control and direct all engagement to the Steppe Mammoth itself)
-Reinforced Force field (Require Upgrade) (Protects the Steppe Mammoth from Siege weapons; normal weapons still penetrates through)
-Transform (Transform Tank Form to Walker Form, require 35 seconds of transformation, cooldown 40 seconds)
Appearance: In Walker Form, the Steppe Mammoth took a form of the Mastodon, albeit much larger. In Tank Form, it will resemble that of the Mammoth Tank, but slightly bigger and tougher.
Pro (Walker Form): -Most powerful and devastating Final Tier artillery piece, capable of destroying an entire base no matter how fortified it is.
-Its firing range rivals any known siege-type units combine!
-Can build up to four units!
-Final Tier exclusive unit only
Cons (Walker Form):-Freaking expensive!
-Steppe Mammoth is vulnerable to airborne attacks, despite having anti-air capability.
-Very, VERY vulnerable to attack during production time as the Steppe Mammoth is required to build outside of the War Factory.
-Despite being a quadruple walker, it cannot crush ground enemy forces under its metallic foot.
-Vulnerable to Commando, Ghost, Dark Templar and Roach (yes, the Steppe Mammoth is actually weak against a Tier 1 Zerg unit)
-Feudal Rampage is dangerous, as it targets both enemy AND allies.
-Did I mention that it is expensive?
Pro (Tank Form): -Powerful ground unit with equally powerful weapon to deal with any specific threats.
-Siege Units has little to no effect against the Steppe Mammoth in Tank Form.
-Its Taunt ability can draw in fleeing enemy forces, regardless if they are ground or air units.
-Transformation adds more armour and convert the Mammoth's primary weapon to tackle both ground and air forces.
-Tank Form can crush all types of ground units.
Cons (Tank Form): -Slowest ground unit! Typically a Mighty Glacier type ground unit.
-Though Siege Class units are frown at the sight of Mammoth Tank, other ground units such as Marauder, Immortal or Roach will have much higher survivability.
-Needs to transform from Walker Form; it cannot be built through Tank Form first then Walker Form.
-Banelings works wonders against Mammoth Tanks, as well as Disintegrators and Fanatics.
-Trolling the Mammoth Tank by placing a Stasis Field on it; hilarity ensures as its slow movement came at a screeching halt.
-Freaking Expensive!
Description: A fable within a fable, the Steppe Mammoth is arguably the next logical step for the Mastodon and Mammoth Tank evolution line of supertank within the GDI rank. The massive quadruple walker armed with what is arguably the most devastating weapon in existence and it's very stature strikes fear to all and any form of resistance. Though expensive and having a clear limitation per build, the Steppe Mammoth is the pinnacle of its existence as the Mammoth Super Tank series. The massive quadruple walker is schedule to be used against its opposing hostile faction, but since the Ascension Conflict ended in such a short time (10 days), the Steppe Mammoth production came to a screeching halt. To its disappointment for the former line of Mammoth Super Tank program, the Steppe Mammoth never see the day of light, and it's blueprint is shelled into a mothball status until it is left forgotten... until now.
Speculation regarding about the fable unit however can be seen on the densely compact blueprint (up to 225 pages!), each of it place in a deep emphasis on its mechanical transformation system, which is the first of its time. It is understandable why, as the Mastodon and Mammoth Tank has outperformed itself during the Ascension Conflict, but with grave weakness on each part; Steppe Mammoth very existence is to counter-balance what Mastodon lack and what the Mammoth Tank suffers (too vulnerable to most ground and airborne target and too unreliable despite having massive armour respectively). Each form are powerful on its own, each are design to overpower or outlast the opposition forces - Walker Form is the default form when the Steppe Mammoth came to being, and is equipped with not one but two Ion Cannon mounted on the chin of the quadruple walker. Despite only sporting 1% of the true firepower, it is enough to devastate the entire landscape from any point of the battlefield. Pair that with the astronomical firing range, the Walker Form can easily destroy even the most hardened, fortified installation in the entire planet without worry of retaliation from half across the battlefield. In Tank Form, the massive quadruple walker transform into a Mammoth Tank with plenty of armour and firepower to last against multiple warring faction. Even if the Tank Form smack right in the middle of the mass battle and under massive crossfire from multiple faction, the Steppe Mammoth in Tank Form will surely emerge victorious.
Speculation aside, major flaw are immediately spotted from a keen observer - the overpowered GDI unit is resource demanding and that alone discourage any field commander to actually field one, let alone four. It is not constructed from a War Factory as the unit is far too large to house it and is very vulnerable to being attack since it's construction is right outside from the protection of any facility. The weaknesses present in the past Mastodon and Mammoth Tank still exist from each respective form and is regarded as a big waste of time since it took up too long to be fully prepared. If one is ever present on the field, one could make an assumption that the field commander has ultimately deplete his or her resources just to activate one. The setback maybe worth it, but if the massive quadruple walker is vulnerable to suicidal fanatics, it is not a big surprise to see the owners face shock in horror.
Author's Note: Wow. Overpowered? Yes. Overly hype? Yup. Broken? Correct. Epic Unit? HA! You wish! Steppe Mammoth may not be an Epic Unit, it certainly has a spot for it at the top of the tech tree, higher than Tier 3. It is called Final Tier everyone, the same goes to Kirov Airship, X-1 Future Tank and Giga Fortress; they are all super expensive to deploy, and even time consuming to prepare even one unit out! But when this unit wreak the entire battlefield, prepare the white flag ladies; you just got Final Tier-ed!
Next Chapter will be mostly a squad of four heroes going into the Scrin underground labyrinth to destroy multiple Replay Node with a single nuclear bomb, so no crazy battle like the one on the ground; this fight is only focus on four heroes; Felix the UED Commando, Vladimir the Firebat Geroy (Hero), Dr Carmen the Combat Medic and Shan'kai the Dark Assassin. More details on the next chapter! Tally Ho!