Command & Conquer

Project Genesis:

Redemption

Author's note: Hello ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to Project Genesis! This story will be the first in a series of shorter stories I have planned. These stories will be set separate to the main ones I have written, but still follow the same canon. I have always wished C&C had gotten a "Book-verse" similar to games like StarCraft or Halo, so this shall be my attempt to add an expanded look at the series. As always, I hope you all enjoy.

So welcome back, Commanders.

… … …

The sky was thick with dark grey clouds that threatened to unleash a downpour of rain, yet despite that it was a gorgeous day in the Australian Outback. The same breeze that was bringing the potential storm clouds kept things cool on the ground and seemed to give everyone working extra motivation. The facility was bristling with activity as both military and civilian personnel went about their business, making the place feel like a overactive ant colony.

David Greyson stood by the windows overlooking the facility from within the main command building. It gave him a good view of the facility itself and the surrounding Outback. Only the civilian research building blocked some of the view, a tall pillar of glass and concrete filled with offices and labs. The Steel Talons had built their base to defend the lab, and the rest of the facility had grown around that. It had become quite a large sprawl of buildings and refineries, and it was Greyson's job to protect it all.

Greyson sipped his coffee as he let himself reminisce. It had been four years since the war ended, and the Brotherhood no longer posed any credible threat. Or so everyone told themselves. But Greyson and every other member of the Talons knew Nod would remain a major threat. But given how peaceful things had been, and how quiet and boring his current posting was, Greyson could see how people thought the danger was gone.

Behind him officers and staffers worked at their terminals to monitor the base and everything around it, as they did everyday. Greyson gave a content sigh as the day promised to be another mundane affair, but that illusion shattered as foot steps rapidly approached Greyson from behind. He didn't need to turn and look at who was coming, he simply hid a grimace by drinking his coffee.

"Commander."

"Major Bao, something to report?"

"Yes, sir. One of our field bases has reported that a series of automated sensors have gone dark. They were located deep in Nod territory."

"Which Nod territory?"

"Marcion's."

Greyson turned to look at the stoic Major. The two had served together for years, long before the Talons were even an official unit, but that didn't mean the two were friends. However, there was no finer officer in all of GDI, in Greyson's opinion.

"Marcion hasn't done anything to garner our attention for a long time. It seems odd he would attack those sensors." Greyson stated.

"Agreed, which is what has me concerned, sir."

"Have the field base investigate."

"The base commander has requested additional support, and I agree with his request."

"Alright, if you think it appropriate. Send an additional platoon."

"Yes, sir." Bao gave a crisp salute before turning away. Greyson drained the last of his coffee, as he pondered the situation. If Nod had destroyed those sensors, it could mean something bad. Alternatively it could have been a simple case of vandalism, angry kids or disgruntled soldiers looking for an outlet for their frustrations.

"Commander!"

Greyson looked over at one of the other officers and knew that their boring and mundane tenure at this facility was over, given the panicked expression on the man's face.

"What is it?"

"We lost contact with one of the outer refineries. They aren't responding to any calls."

Greyson turned back to the window to look out past the base walls. He couldn't see anything to indicate what had happened, but he knew something was going on.

"Have a Wolverine patrol go and check it out. And send a general alert throughout the base."

"Yes, sir!"

Greyson didn't know what was happening, but it was far too much to be a coincidence. Nod was on the move and the Steel Talons had been right to worry. But Greyson wasn't concerned, this was exactly why General Mitchell had created the special unit in the first place, and why Greyson had been entrusted to defend this facility. Whatever the Brotherhood had planned, the Steel Talons would stop them.

The storm had begun, but no one could have predicted how it would end.

… … … … …

Chapter 1:

Relay 707

Yellow Zone 21

China

September 14th, 2035

15:32

The ground raced by below in a dizzying wash of brown, dead ground, and the baleful green of Tiberium. The Hammerhead was flying low to the ground as it crossed the GDI controlled Chinese Yellow Zone towards the border of Brotherhood of Nod held territory. This far from the more pristine coastline, there wasn't much to see other than lifeless badlands. But the Steel Talons soldiers aboard the helicopter were not taking any chances, either from hostile Nod radar, or opportunistic mutant scavengers, so they kept their eyes on the ground.

Lieutenant David Greyson clutched his GD2 rifle tighter as he leaned out to try and get a glimpse of where they were going. But all he could see was more desolate badlands that had once been green and full of life. Or so his parents and teachers told him; that had all taken place long before he had been born. Before Tiberium. But seeing it now, it was hard to imagine all the life people described, all the beauty, from a time before ecological decay, social collapse, and seemingly endless war.

Greyson pulled himself back in, both physical into the helicopter, and mentally from his melancholic train of thought. He had a mission to do; it was best to focus on that, and not a forgotten time people like his parents were constantly nostalgic for. He and four soldiers selected for this mission were being sent to investigate a communications relay station that had gone dark. The obvious answer was Nod sabotage, but other possibilities like mutant marauders was also likely. Hell, it was entirely possible it was nothing more than a simple mechanical fault. Unfortunately, they wouldn't know for sure until they got there, which meant they were going into the situation blind, and that was always dangerous.

"Five mikes to landing. Five mikes!" The pilot reported, cutting into Greyson's thoughts.

Greyson turned around and flashed five fingers at his squad, who all responded with a thumbs up. They could have communicated through their helmet radios, but he knew they needed these five minutes to do their own individual pre-battle routines. Besides, he didn't want to hear Sergeant Tobias West questioning their orders again. Even after all this time, Greyson knew the sergeant held a deep grudge.

Just as dark memories threatened to claw their way to the forefront, the radio crackled as Corporal Maria Zielińska opened a private channel with Greyson.

"Say, LT, why didn't we just take Pitbulls or APCs instead of flying? Seems it would make more sense."

Greyson smiled at Zielińska's question, happy for the distraction. Zielińska was a new recruit to the Steel Talons, but was a proven soldier during her time in the Army. Despite the Talons being comprised almost solely of veterans from the Second Tiberium War, Zielińska had quickly garnered respect and earned her place.

"Because as was discussed in the briefing," Greyson began to answer. "We need speed. To get in and deploy quickly. Ground vehicles would take too long."

"But what if we do find Noddies, or Shiners? We're gonna wish we had brought some heavier gear than just our rifles."

"That's because we're recon. We go in and tell the rest of the company what guns they need to bring."

"Just saying. I'd feel a lot better with armored support."

Zielińska went quiet as she checked over her equipment, so Greyson decided to leave her be. He trusted the young soldier to do her job, now he had to make sure he did his own. As he began to double check his own equipment, Greyson couldn't help but privately agree with Zielińska's assessment: going in to recon the relay with some form of support would be nice. While the rest of 1st Platoon could be deployed within ten minutes via Orca Transport, that was still ten minutes he and his squad would be alone. And in a battle, a lot could go wrong in ten minutes. But then again, Nod hadn't been much of a threat since the end of the Second Tiberium War back in the 2030s. Even the Eastern Brotherhood had been relatively pacified outside of minor skirmishes near the Chinese Red Zone. And InOps had downgraded the global threat scale to low, so hopefully this would be the milk run mission they were all complaining it would be.

The Hammerhead began to slow down as it flew past an abandoned farm, the old farmhouse and rusted tractor the only evidence it existed at all. The helicopter circled back around and lowered to a hover, just low enough the soldiers could jump out safely. As soon as Greyson and the others were on the ground, the Hammerhead sped away once again, returning to their home base. Greyson began moving towards the dilapidated farm house, with the four other soldiers following behind with weapons at the ready.

"Remind me again why we didn't get dropped off at the relay?" Corporal Frédéric Duncan asked.

"Geez, Duncan, do you always bitch so much?" West retorted.

"Because, Corporal, Command wants us to check on the small village first. See if they know what's going on." Greyson answered, opting to ignore Duncan's griping, as he'd been repeating the same complaints from since they first boarded the helicopter.

"Like some dirt farmers are gonna know shit."

The squad entered the farm house, finding nothing but a startled flock of Dust Hoppers, which quickly flew away on leathery wings. There was no sign of life besides the mutant birds, simply dust of a bygone time. Greyson wordlessly ordered the squad to move away from the farm, and head up the worn path towards the village. According to their mission briefing, the village consisted of five structures, three of which were farms that barely made enough crops to support the fifteen or so people who lived there. It was, however, the only civilization close by to Relay 707 on the GDI side of the border.

Greyson's GPS indicated the walk to the village would only take several minutes, but the sky was unusually clear which allowed the sun to beat down on the soldiers. Empty fields stretched off in every direction as far as the eye could see, and not even Tiberian flora grew here.

"What I still don't get is: why send just us in? If this relay is so damn important, why not have the whole platoon do a recon-in-force?" Duncan continued.

"Because that would draw too much attention. Command doesn't want everyone to know there's a bunch of soldiers stomping around the border." Greyson answered with a tired sigh.

"What does that matter? If it is Tib-heads or Shiners, they probably know we're coming anyways."

"It's because Command doesn't want everyone to know Relay 707 is there." Specialist Kerby chimed in. "The relay technically doesn't exist."

"So, this is some black ops shit? So why doesn't InOps send in some spooks, why send in us grunts?"

"Two reasons. One: spooks aren't good for shit. And two: because Steel Talons do it best." Greyson said, hoping for an enthusiastic response. Instead he received a tired and automated "Damn right" from the others.

"Seriously, though, Corporal. We got the mission, so we do it. Bitching won't change anything." Greyson hastily added.

"Ah hell, LT, I know that. I'm just saying what everyone is thinking."

"Well, maybe you should consider why no one else is saying anything," Greyson barked.

After several minutes of walking through the Tiberium choked fields, they came upon an unusual sight. The dead earth gave way to green grass and patchwork farmland. It wasn't exactly a verdant paradise, but it was an oasis of sorts from the barren land all around them. Their approach was noticed by a young girl working in one such field, who quickly ran into her house. By the time Greyson and the squad entered the village center, all of the men – seven in total – crowded around them.

"Specialist Kerby, tell them we are simply passing through but we would like to ask some questions. Ask him if they have seen anyone recently." Greyson ordered.

Specialist Ian Kerby bowed to the man who clearly was the village leader. They began speaking rapidly in Mandarin, and despite having lived in China for over a year, Greyson was having a hard time keeping pace with the conversation. After a few moments, both men turned away, the leader to speak to his people, and Kerby to speak with the squad.

"He says they haven't seen anyone in awhile." Kerby explained.

"See, told you these dirt farmers knew nothing." Duncan exclaimed.

"No. He says its weird they haven't. The people up at the relay would come down here from time to time; at least every other day, he says. But they haven't seen anyone in four days."

"Why would anyone come here?" West asked incredulously.

"Posted at a comms relay in the middle of nowhere, with just some farmers for company? Have to find some way to entertain yourself." Duncan offered.

"Yes, the elder explained how the youngsters in the village enjoyed the visits, specifically the two young woman."

"Ha! Maybe these dirt farmers are good for something."

Zielińska punched Duncan in the arm, silencing any further vulgar comments.

"So, he's saying its weird no one has been by. Has he heard or seen anything?" Greyson asked, ignoring the exchange.

Kerby again began speaking in Mandarin, though the conversation was much shorter. Kerby merely shook his head in the negative, which gave Greyson all the information he needed.

"Xièxiè." Greyson bowed to the village leader. "alright, let's keep moving."

With a few more bows to the men and waves to the young children, the Steel Talon squad left the village and began their march towards Relay 707. Greyson double checked their GPS: according to it, they had a roughly fifteen minute walk from the village to the comms relay located on top of a small cluster of hills. Greyson decided to use that time to radio in to Command update them.

"Condor Actual, this is Sparrowhawk-6, over?"

"Sparrowhawk-6, Condor Actual, I hear you Lima Charlie. Sitrep."

"Just left the village, locals say they haven't seen anyone from the relay in four days. According to them, that's odd behavior, as someone should have visited at least once. They also say they didn't hear anything from the relay, no gunfire or sounds of fighting."

"Understood. We will keep the platoon held back until we receive further intel. Continue your recon. Condor Actual, out."

Greyson let out a quiet sigh. It seemed Command wouldn't let the platoon deploy unless absolutely necessary. The reasoning was due to the station's sensitive nature: Command didn't want its location to be revealed to either the general civilian population or to the enemy. Assuming it wasn't enemy saboteurs who had taken the relay offline in the first place.

"How much you wanna bet its some idiot POG that spilled his soda on some wires?"

Greyson lost his train of thought as Duncan abruptly started bitching again. He considered reprimanding him and returning the squad to silence, but since there was nothing around but emptiness for miles in every direction, he figured there'd be no harm in letting the team blow off some tension by shooting the shit.

"InOps said the whole facility went dark. I doubt it was someone spilling something." Zielińska retorted.

"I'm just saying, what if we're wasting our time here?"

"Why? You have something better to do?" West asked mockingly.

"Anything is better than hoofing it through butt-fuck nowhere."

"The ladies must love it when you run your mouth constantly."

"Fuck off, Sar'nt." Duncan snarled, hiding his smile.

Greyson envied these soldiers comradery, it was something he wouldn't be privy too. Once he may have been respected enough to be let in, but after what happened in Australia…

The cluster of jagged hills came up on the horizon, as well as the relay station. The tall, rectangle of a building sat alone, surrounded by tall concrete walls. The large radar dish on top of the building was still spinning. But as the squad came closer, immediately they could tell something was wrong: there was no one at the single gate or in the two guard towers.

"No bullet holes or blast markings. No bodies or blood, but also no one at their post." Kerby remarked.

"Not Forgotten then. No way they'd be this clean." West added.

"Let's not rule anything out yet, but I agree with West. This doesn't feel like Shiners. Keep frosty people." Greyson ordered.

With some quick hand signals, Greyson had the team move into position to cover the entrance. At the same time, he gestured for Kerby to use the EVA unit on his wrist mounted tablet to open the gate. The metal gate lowered with an annoying screech, causing everyone to tense at the sudden loud noise. Greyson raised his weapon as the gate lowered to reveal… nothing. All he saw was an empty parking lot and landing pad in front of the relay building. A few cars and a single flatbed truck littered the parking lot, while a forklift was the only thing occupying the landing pad.

"Zielińska, watch our six. Everyone else, fan out and check these vehicles. Make sure they're clear and let me know if you find something." Greyson said as he brought his radio up. "Condor Actual, Sparrowhawk-6. We are at the relay, no signs of anyone. No signs of combat either, please advise."

"Understood. Proceed inside and continue your recon, but I'm deploying 1st Platoon now. I've got them in the air, ETA ten mikes." Command informed.

"Copy that." Greyson glanced at his team. "Heads in the game, troops, we're headed inside. Stack up on the door. Kerby, get it open."

his team nodded in acknowledgement, and quickly got into position. Meanwhile, Kerby already had his tacpad set up to open the door, and the squad was waiting for his signal to head inside. With only the tiniest amount of hesitation, Greyson led the squad inside Relay 707.

Despite there being power to the door and gate, and the dish on top, the interior was dark. West tried flicking the lights on, but to no avail. The squad had not brought any night vision goggles, and Duncan was the only one to have attached a flashlight to the underside of his GD2. That foresight earned Duncan the spot of point man, as the squad traveled deeper into the facility. There were still no signs of anyone, hostile or otherwise, but there were also no signs of struggle.

Greyson couldn't understand how anyone could have taken the relay with no bloodshed. The Forgotten were typically never subtle despite being masters of guerilla warfare. Even the most covert Nod units typically left signs such as laser weapon scorching, or mutilated bodies to leave a message. So, maybe there was no enemy. But if that was the case, then where was everybody?

"Lieutenant?"

The whispered question came from Duncan, who had stopped at a T-section at the end of the hallway. Greyson glanced down both directions, seeing the left went down a slight ramp towards what he assumed was the sub levels, while the right seemed to go towards an open space full of what he assumed were cubicles, though it was difficult to tell in the dark.

"Go right. We'll clear this floor before heading down." Greyson said.

Duncan led the squad forward, with Greyson and Zielińska behind him, and Kerby and West covering the rear. Greyson's guess was correct, as they were now in a large open space occupied by cubicles. Inside, there was a single large holographic display table near the front, while the far wall was covered with video screens, though of course everything was without power. The squad fanned out to check the cubicles, hoping to find any sign that people were here. But again, they found nothing: no bodies or sign of struggle. However, there was more evidence people had been here. Many desks were covered with personal items: pictures, personalized coffee mugs, discarded food wrappers.

Greyson was still scanning the dozens of cubicles when West came over to tap him on the shoulder. He turned to ask what he wanted, but stopped when he noticed he had a finger to his lips, indicating to be silent. He also became aware that Duncan had turned off his flashlight, and the squad had collapsed in to him. Still not saying a word, West pointed to the upper floor, where a faint light was spilling out of a larger office.

"West, you come with me. The rest of you stay here and cover." Greyson whispered.

He received nods of acknowledgment, then took West and proceeded up the stairs to the second level. Greyson hadn't originally noticed there was another level when they first entered the room, but now he looked up to see if there were anymore. Fortunately, there did not appear to be any further levels to check, though he assumed there must have been some way to access the roof to reach the radar dish.

Greyson and West slowly approached the office where the light was emanating from. The blinds to the office window were shut, but a small section was broken, which was how the light was seeping out. It wasn't enough to see through, so Greyson readied his weapon and nodded to West. West kicked the door open, causing light to spill out and illuminate the open room.

"GDI Steel Talons, identify yourself!" Greyson yelled.

The man inside turned around in shock, while in the same motion, began reaching for his belt. Greyson didn't think, he simply shot the man dead center in the forehead. The man fell backwards as his blood sprayed across the wall, the handgun he was raising slipping from his lifeless grasp.

"Fuck," Greyson gasped as he lowered his rifle, the gunshot still ringing in his ears.

"Contact eliminated!" West called out, more for the benefit of the others still a floor below.

"West, take Zielińska and Duncan and start searching these other offices." Grey commanded.

"Copy." West said, already heading for the stairs.

"Kerby, get up here." Greyson called into the radio.

"On my way up."

As Greyson waited for Kerby, he studied the corpse of the man he had just killed. He was a young man, early to mid-twenties, and wore only plain civilian clothes typical for Yellow Zones. However, he had a large tattoo of a Chinese dragon on his face, with the entrapped scorpion tail sigil of the Brotherhood of Nod cradled in the dragon's claws. It was a popular tattoo people got here in Y-21 to show their loyalty to Nod.

After a quick pat down of the body revealed nothing else, Greyson finally looked at what the Nod agent had been doing, seeing a laptop hooked up to a computer on the office desk. He was far from being a computer whiz, so he had no idea what he was doing, but he knew it wasn't good.

"What'd we got, boss?" Kerby asked as he entered the room.

"My guess? A hacker. Plug EVA in and see what he was doing."

"Got it."

Greyson moved aside to let Kerby work. As he plugged the Electronic Video Agent into the computer, Greyson radioed in to Command.

"Condor Actual, come in? We have confirmed Nod presence, I say again, we have confirmed Nod presence at the objective."

"Understood, Sparrowhawk-6. 1st Platoon is ETA, four mikes. Meet them outside and-"

The radio abruptly cut off, and for a moment, Greyson started to worry that their comms were being jammed. However, Command's voice came back a second later, but before they even spoke, Greyson knew something was wrong by their shift in tone.

"Sparrowhawk-6, 1st Platoon has been engaged by enemy Venoms! They are making an emergency landing and will hike their way to you. Secure that relay. Condor Actual, out."

Greyson cursed; things had just very quickly gone wrong. "Kerby, finish up what you're doing. We need to move."

"Boss, they've uploaded some kind of virus." Kerby stated.

"What kind of virus?"

"I have no idea, but I have EVA trying to disable it."

"Well, leave it going. We have to clear the rest of the building."

"What about Sergeant Richter and the rest of the platoon?"

"They're walking."

Greyson moved out of the office without giving further details. Together, he and Kerby ran down the stairs and collected the others before heading towards the ramp leading to the lower levels. They were all on high alert now, knowing more Nod agents were likely nearby. They proceeded down to the second level, which was dominated by engineering shops and storage rooms. At the end of the room was a sealed metal door, and even from this distance, Greyson could see it was covered with warning signs indicating it was some sort of electrical room beyond.

"Let's clear these rooms fast. West and Duncan, you-"

"Contact front!"

Two Nod soldiers, distinct in their black and red armour, emerged from a room at the far end of the floor. One of the enemy soldiers fired off a quick but wild spray of bullets, sending Greyson and his squad diving for cover. Duncan managed to snap off a return burst which caught the second enemy square in the chest. The enemy collapsed in a heap, but the original shooter fired the rest of his magazine in an attempt to keep Greyson and the others pinned down. Greyson stood up and fired a three-round burst, but the Nod soldier managed to reach cover behind an electric pallet-cart. Greyson could see the enemy desperately reloading his rifle, but he didn't have a clear shot on him. However, Zielińska darted forward and fired a barely controlled burst that sent the Nod soldier into the wall.

"Clear!" West called.

"Stay on alert!" Greyson barked.

The metal door at the far end suddenly began to open, but before it even had a chance to, a hail of bullets came soaring through. West and Kerby unloaded their rifles through the now opened doorway, but Greyson could not see the enemy. He pulled a canister from his belt, cocked back his arm, and yelled, "Flashbang out!" while throwing it into the other room.

The grenade went off with a loud bang and a flash of light, one Greyson and his squad were prepared for. The enemy, however, had no time to prepare and stumbled around from the disorientation. This gave the squad the edge it needed as they stormed into the room and gunned down the four Nod soldiers guarding it. The squad suddenly found themselves in a large room filled with power transformers. At the far end, in a section lower than the one Greyson and his squad was on, was a small room that housed the master control terminal. If there were any remaining Nod forces, they would be there.

"West, take Kerby and Duncan and go right. Zielińska will go with me left. Move."

West and the two other men nodded and crouched walked behind the transformers. Greyson and Zielińska moved across a catwalk that spanned over a pool of water, which kept the small Tiberium-fusion generator that powered Relay 707 safely contained. For a brief moment, Greyson began to wonder if they had eliminated all the Nod saboteurs, but three soldiers charged out of the control room and began firing on West and the others.

"Contacts! Left side!"

"Engaging!"

"Die infidels!"

Shouts were cut off by the exchange of gunfire, but the enemy did not appear to have spotted Greyson or Zielińska. Zielińska raised her rifle to fire, but Greyson stopped her.

"We can flank the enemy from the control room. Come on." Greyson urged.

The two took a single step before a bright lance of ruby light cut directly in front of them. Greyson leapt backward as a second laser bolt nearly vaporized him, and he immediately brought up his weapon and fired at the new attacker. He spent nearly his entire magazine trying to hit the laser rifle toting enemy, but he simply ducked back into the control room.

"Zielińska, keep going! I'll cover!"

Zielińska nodded and ran off, trying to get around the second bank of transformers to reach the control room. Meanwhile, another laser bolt seared past Greyson, and he fired off the rest of his magazine. He ducked to reload and cursed as a bolt burned into the metal grating beside him. He risked peeking out of cover to check on Zielińska, and noticed the private had finally made it around to the control room, where she immediately fired several short burstsat Greyson's target. None of them seemed to have connected, but it did drive the enemy soldier back into the open. Greyson immediately launched himself out of cover, firing as he did and hitting the enemy center mass and causing him to fall face first into the ground. Greyson wasted no time as he charged around the same path Zielińska took, listening as the exchange of gunfire continued. However, by the time he reached the control room, the firefight had already ended. The four Nod soldiers were dead and the room was secure. Duncan had taken a grazing shot across the right arm, but other than that, there had been no serious injuries.

"Kerby, check the master control. Zielińska and Duncan, secure the area. West, with me."

The soldiers went about their tasks, as Greyson and West examined the body of the Nod soldier armed with the laser rifle. Visually, his armour was the same as all the others, but for a unique symbol stenciled on his chest piece in place of the traditional Nod sigil. It was the same triangular design but with a simple Christian style cross in the center.

"God damn it." Greyson hissed.

"What? What is it?" West asked.

"A Templar. They're specially trained Nod infantry, but most of them are brainwashed GDI POWs. If a Templar was here, then that means something major is up."

"Shit."

The sound of running feet caused the squad to rush for cover. Greyson discarded his half-spent magazine for a fresh one, and readied himself for another firefight. But just as the sound of those approaching boots got closer, a familiar voice called out.

"Friendlies, friendlies!" Platoon Sergeant Jason Richter shouted.

"Stand down, guys. Good to see you Sergeant." Greyson called back.

Richter and a full squad of riflemen walked into the room. Greyson noted that their armour was dirtied and covered with scorch marks, indicating they had had a rough landing. He wanted to ask if anyone was KIA, but they had more pressing concerns.

"A Templar?" Richter asked as he joined Greyson and West.

"Affirmative." Greyson stated.

"Fuck me." Richter cursed.

"Boss! Come here! I know what that virus is doing." Kerby said from the control room.

Greyson and Richter jogged over to Kerby, who was standing in front of a large wall mounted computer. The screen was split into two displays, one showing a complex wall of text and numbers, while the other was showing a diagnostic of the entire facility.

"What is it, Specialist?" Greyson asked.

"EVA was unable to stop the virus. Nod used the relay to upload it into the network. They've shut down the early warning systems and spy satellites that were hooked up to this relay." Kerby hastily explained.

"They just blinded us?"

"Yes, sir."

"That can mean only one thing," Richter said.

Everyone grew deathly silent at that, as cold realization struck them. Nod had taken out a spy station and essentially blinded the GDI forces in Y-21.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Greyson quickly stated. "The other relays are still active. Whatever Nod is up to, we'll stop them."

The others nodded in agreement, assured by the Lieutenant's words. There was no way Nod could strike at GDI without them seeing it coming.

"Sergeant Richter, take your men and secure the Relay. I'm heading back up to report to Command." Greyson ordered.

"Aye, LT. Come on boys and girls."

Greyson led his squad back through the facility, passing by their fellow soldiers who were working on securing the rest of the relay. Greyson was honestly looking forward to just sitting down and putting the whole day behind him, but the ominous virus Nod uploaded kept him tense. When they reached back outside, Greyson allowed his recon team to sit down and relax as he walked a few meters away to speak with Command.

"Sparrowhawk-6 to Condor Actual."

Greyson was met with static and he could feel panic starting to set in.

"Sparrowhawk-6 to Command, come in?"

More static. Greyson tapped hurriedly on his wrist mounted tablet, hoping it was just a fault with his radio. But when the screen reported his equipment was fine, a familiar sense of dread began to creep up his spine.

"Sparrowhawk-6 to Command! Does anyone read me?"

The others looked at Greyson, worried looks on their faces. Greyson turned to speak to them and ask them to grab Richter when the radio exploded with a garbled message and muffled shouting.

"Under…Nod force! Dropped in without...already in the base! Need…all Steel Talons return! Message repeats: Fort Gallwitz is under…"

"Kerby! Run and grab Richter, tell him to gather everyone back here. Now!" Kerby ran off back inside without a word as Greyson shouted out more orders. "West, when Richter get up here tell him to have the Platoon ready to deploy back to base. Fort Gallwitz is under attack and we need to head back and assist."

"So that's why the Noddies hit the Relay. To blind us so they could attack us at home." Duncan summarized.

"Seems that way. I'll radio for transport. Let's hope we make it back in time."

West nodded as Greyson began shouting into his radio again, calling on any Steel Talon or Army forces nearby. He tried to keep his racing heart under control and remain calm for the men under his command. Painful images flashed through his mind of the last time Nod had attacked his home base. This time he would make sure he did not fail.

… … … … …

Author's note: A quick note I wanted to make; while I am happy to be back and writing fanfiction again, life has certainly been chaotic. I feel I should give fair warning that my ability to write my be affected and thus this story will either be written in a timely fashion, or move at a glacier pace. So I hope you can forgive me if the second chapter is released either within the next few weeks or next few months.

Despite the time it may take, I want to assure readers that I am fully dedicated to this fanbase. While it may have been nearly two years since the end of Part Three, I have spent that entire time thinking of new stories and writing out rough drafts. You will never know how many would be stories ended up in the waste bin. But at last I have one I'm happy with and will finally share with you.

Until next time.