Well, I've been reading Tiberium: Fires of Terra a lot and have waited for the guy to update for a long time, which unfortunately didn't happen, so I'll be adopting it. However, if bluerockmen doesn't want me to copy his work, then I understand and will delete this story.

Okay, just message me, and I'll delete this story without a second thought because one thing I hate most is copying other people's work.

The cosmic era

a new era for humanity where the use of the Anno Domini Calendar is long gone. an era in which individual countries united together, forming a world power. Such world powers include the Eurasian Federation, the Atlantic Federation, the Orb Union, and so forth. But just like the name suggests, it is also a time in human history when humanity has made advancements in space exploration, with the creation of space colonies and the colonization of the moon, such as the creation of Copernicus City.

However, in the year 70 CE of the Cosmic Era, an event would change the lives of millions in the Eurasian Federation and also save millions of Eurasian soldiers in what would later be known as the Valentine War. Unfortunately, this event will also bring new challenges to a world much like their own, where their world is slowly dying. only to be saved by joining forces with their greatest enemy, who caused four great wars that would rival the reconstruction wars and leave millions dead.

Earth

southern Italy, the town of Isola Di Capo Rizzuto.

February 1st, AD 2070/CE 70.

Earth Broadcasting Network (EBN) New Helicopter 11, ten minutes after the event.

"This is Ruth Warden reporting live from Italy, where the town of Isola Di Capo Rizzuto was replaced with an enormous tower, dark clouds, and a landscape scattered with green crystals," Warden said as the news helicopter was buffeted on all sides by the increasingly heavy winds, which threatened to rip the doors off.

"As you can see, the conditions here are very extreme, and there is no

The pilot mentally cursed repeatedly as he fought to keep his craft stable and in the air as a particularly savage gust slammed into the small rotorcraft, sending the experienced reporter stumbling back inside the compartment.

"What the hell is that?!"

"What the hell do you think it is, Sherlock? It's the bloody wind!" The pilot shot back, "I can't keep us in the air; I'm going to try and land us, so hold on tight assholes."

"Fuck you." was what Warden would have liked to say, but instead he turned to the camera, which was bouncing all over the place like the rest of the helicopter despite the best efforts of John Woods, his long-time cameraman. not noticing small green crystals that were slowly growing bigger on the horizontal rotor of the rotorcraft.

As the two of them were already seated and belted in, Warden leaned toward Woods. "Are we getting anything through?"

The other man barely had enough time to shake his head before being thrown against their seat belts and slammed into their seats.

"Shit! I'm bringing us down now! Pray to whatever gods you want and brace for impact.

Finally, their fortunes ran out as the heavy winds smashed into the helicopter, forcing it closer to the ground. The pilot attempted to gain attitude, but the rotors failed to grip the air. It was then that the pilot accepted that his bird was going only one way in this weather—down.

With that in mind, the pilot guided his craft into the green landscape below, doing his best to find the nearest clearing. Locating one, he wrestled his helicopter around by the sheer force of will and brought his craft in for a landing as heavy winds continued to batter the aircraft. It was at that moment the tail end rotor suddenly gave out. It wasn't long before the news helicopter met the unyielding ground, carving a wake of shredded crystal and metal while throwing its passengers around like rag dolls.

Throughout this, interestingly enough, the camera continued to record the final moments of the crew as they were thrown and shaken inside out (or around?) until it ceased recording. As the final despairing shrieks of metal faded away, there was no movement from within the partially crushed aircraft.

It was ten minutes later that the wreckage of the helicopter was finally discovered by troops of the Rapid Assault and Intercept Deployment 22nd Division under the command of Forward Battle Commander (FBC) Ricardo Vega.

The Bravo team was dispatched to check if there were any survivors when the aircraft was spotted going down; now their dropship hovered above the crash site with the rear ramp open, allowing Zu Lung and his men to jump. As they approached the ground, their Red Zone armor's sensors fired the inbuilt jet packs, slowing down their descent and allowing them to touch down softly.

All were experienced soldiers and had performed missions like this before, so there was no need for words between them as they surveyed the wreckage.

The team medic, Jaya Kumari, made his way immediately into the crashed helicopter, with the captain taking up positions just outside the downed craft behind him, while the rest of the team formed a perimeter around the crashed rotorcraft to keep an eye out for any signs of uninvited guests.

"Captain, we need to move quickly," yelled Jaya, as he carried a survivor out of the wrecked aircraft. "It looks like the guy got Tib's poisoning!"

A single glance was enough to see the need to hurry, as the man was showing the first sign of Tiberium infection, which meant he was going to end up as a mutant or dead unless they acted soon.

"Delta Nine, this is Bravo 1, drop Tiberium Contentment Pod, we have a survivor."

"Bravo 1, Delta Nine here, Roger, inbound in five."

It wasn't long before the pod was dropped by the dropship. Not wasting any more time, Captain Lung helped Kumari move the survivor into the pod and then closed it, placing the man in stasis. They then attached synthetic spider silk cables to the pod before finally ordering the dropship to begin pulling it in.

"Command, this is Bravo 1-1. We have found the downed aircraft, one survivor, and two fatalities."

"Bravo 1-1, this is Colonel Parker speaking; gather everything from the downed aircraft and RTB." Be advised.

"Roger, Command, gather everything and return," he answered and cut the communication link.

"Command just ordered us to gather everything and RTB, so get moving, people!" Captain Lung said, "Vahlen, Kumari, pick that wreckage apart; Branford, Pita, Steveson, Davison, stay on overwatch for any threats."

"Max, I hope you remember what they taught you in engineering school because I want the black box of this antique I found. Move it!" Captain Lung ordered, looking at the armor of the engineer.

"Can't be harder to find than a bloody Nod base, sir," the rumbling voice of the hulking engineer chuckled.

The GDI engineer made his way to the front of the wrecked craft and carefully began cutting through the thin aluminum skin so that he could get a look inside. After a little more pulling and cutting through the control panels and the remains of the cockpit, Max found what he was looking for.

"Ah, here it is."

"Erm, sir, I think I found something. I'm not too sure what it is though." The youthful voice of LT Vahlen washed over the net as she crawled under a particularly large piece of wreckage.

"Kumari, can you move over and see what's there from the other side?" Captain Lung asked as the young soldier made his way to the other side and bent down to see what it was.

"It appears to be some sort of camera/transmitter combo; it seems to have taken quite a beating," Kumari said, struggling to help Vahlen get a hold of it.

"Good, take it and anything else of interest that you may find."

"On it," Max answered as he began ripping the wreck apart after Vahlen and Kumari crawled out from under it. In 20 minutes, the wreck was in pieces, and everything that looked remotely interesting was gathered together in a small pile in T-armor containers away from the remains of the helicopter.

"Delta Nine, we're ready to RTB." Captain Lung said

"Bravo, this is Delta Nine lowering right now," Delta answered, as the dropship slowly decreased its attitude until it was within easy reach of Bravo jet packs.

"Max and Kumari grab the gear and board first; we'll follow after you guys have finished." Captain Lung said as he scanned the surrounding landscape for any threats until the sound of jet packs firing could be heard.

"Alright everyone, move it!" He shouted, and the rest of Bravo fell back one by one, each covering the other until only Lung remained.

The captain took one last look, his eyes scanning the environment one final time before turning, following his men, and initiating his jet pack, soaring skywards to the waiting dropship.

Earth, Orb Union, Olofat

February 1st, AD 2068/CE 68, 1:00 pm (standard time)

Uzumi Nara Athha, sometimes known as the "lion of orb," sat slumped in his darkened office, nursing a shot of his favorite whisky. It wasn't a surprise to him as tensions between the PLANTS and the earth are reaching a boiling point. The fires of hatred had been burning brighter for the past few decades, with the hatred between naturals and coordinators growing ever so slowly until it reached a point of no return.

The United Nations was no more, and war had been declared. Now all that remained was a trigger to begin this madness, Athha thought, staring blankly at his favorite show on the screen before him.

He spontaneously returned to reality as the program was interrupted by an unexpected news announcement.

"We're sorry to interrupt your daily program for this important news update. The Pentagon just announced that the Atlantic Federation is going to DEFCON 2," said a female reporter. "All attempts to question the government directly for any more information have thus far proven unsuccessful."

So it begins, the chief representative of the ORB sighed morosely, "War."

Currently, the government is advising people in the affected areas to head to the nearest shelter until the situation has been resolved. That's all the information we have available right now; stay tuned to EBN for the latest news from the solar system."

Maybe this is God's judgment for denying our children a peaceful future, he mused sadly, gazing at a famed photo of a blond girl playing with him. No matter what, the world can burn itself in hatred, but Orb will not be drawn into this pointless war. He will not allow it.

"This is Ava Lovestrong, reporting for EBN from Washington, D.C."

*Click*

He'd already made contingency plans with the military, plans to guide his nation in the event of war between the Earth and plants. Now there was nothing else he could do but wait and let them do their job. So it was a surprise when his office phone started ringing.

He picked up the phone without delay and slowly turned pale as he listened to the report.

"Order the military into full alert and get the civilians into the shelter immediately, but don't do anything more without my permission." "I'm heading down right now; see you soon, general."

The phone was returned to its resting place, and the chief rushed out of his office.

Earth, outside of threshold 19, GDI Alpha Base, Communication Center

C&C September 7th, 2077/February 1st, CE 70, 1:40 p.m.

"GST Tzadik, this is Alpha Base Commander Tama, and Forward Battle Commander Vega reporting as ordered," Ricardo said into the microphone.

"Alpha, this is GST Tzadik, received." "Gentlemen, we have a situation." He recognized the voice of the commander in chief of the GDI armed forces: Wesley Riggs.

"I'll put this bluntly, but G-Tech tells me you've been moved to another reality." If that is true, then your primary objective is to consolidate your position and make sure that the remaining Tiberium stays contained until we set up the TNC hub. We can't afford to ruin another world."

Alpha Station was just recently built at the start of the fourth Tiberium War to replace Mobius Station and study the tower and understand the technology behind it, but with little success. The only thing they had been able to determine was that the tower was phasing into another dimension, preventing anyone from damaging or even touching it.

It wasn't until a desperate alliance with Kane that the scientists were able to understand some of the Scrin's technology; however, it was no surprise that it sustained some damage, namely the fact that it was forced to make do with a civilian EVA unit, which relied on the station's communication systems, before hastily turning into a military base to subdue the extremist Colonel Louise James' forces.

"Scans of Earth reveal the only Tiberium present is what we have under our control in the Blue Zones and in the area around the tower."

"And we're going to keep it that way," Wesley Riggs said, as static interrupted the transmission momentarily. "Because as of today, Verena McNeil is now an acting director on the other side of the threshold, and as the only two commanders on the other side, I need you to move quickly and begin deploying sonic emitters and repulsor fields to stop the growth of Tiberium on the land side. In addition, we haven't made contact with any of the locals yet, so I'm authorizing you to talk to them in Italy about the local situation for now.

"Yes, sir," Vega answered, "but what about the Mediterranean side of the tower, General?"

"ZOCOM will take care of that," Riggs answered. "Commander Tama, they will be arriving soon, so begin construction of transports as soon as possible and ensure that any crafts you have are also available for ZOCOM use. We need to move quickly to contain the situation before it gets out of hand."

"Yes, general," Tama replied.

"By the way, Commander, we have some old G-330X habitat modules available if you need them. Use whatever means possible to keep the civilians safe. The 8th and 9th RAID divisions and a crawler are also available for deployment, they will be under your command, Commander Vega. General Riggs gave out a heavy sigh, displeased at what he was sending through the scrin tower: "Sorry, I would've sent more troops but I don't want to cause any hostilities to break out, adding that the situation back at home is tense right now after Colonel James' uprising. Any questions?"

"None sir."

Riggs paused for a moment before finally wishing the commander good luck as the communication link was cut, leaving Vega and the base commander alone in the communication center. "I'll get moving, and we'll talk over the communications," he said with a nod at the base commander before leaving.

As he left the Command Center, the alarm system began sounding throughout the base.

"This is an emergency situation; repeat, all hands to action stations." The speakers begin as he makes his way to the main underground hanger, which was built to handle the cargo transports too large to land on the helipad on top of the research station.

The hangar, like all entrances, was equipped with a decontamination chamber, which he used before entering a side elevator that took him topside to the waiting Blackfish Dropship. Thankfully, the trip didn't take long.

Vega covered the distance to the dropship swiftly and didn't bother taking a seat as he knew the dropship's sleek aerodynamic frame would get him to his destination quickly, rendering seating a moot point. Leaning against the airframe, he brought up a holographic map of the area on his HUD, and following that, he made a call to Commander Tama.

"How's the situation developing on your end?" Vega asked the base commander as he studied the holographic map of southern Italy, particularly the towns and cities around Isola di Capo Rizzuto. The closest city was Crotone to the north, and then there was a town to the northeast and another to the east on the coast. In between the three were mountains and farmland that wasn't going to be usable any time soon.

At least Nod didn't come through with them, he thought, making up his mind on where he'll be deploying on the 8th and 9th.

"As well as can be expected under the circumstances, not good," Tama said as static interrupted the link temporarily. "We're making the transports as fast as possible, but some of our facilities were damaged during the battle with Nod," he sighed in frustration, silently cursing Colonel James and her resentment before continuing. "But I have good news: ZOCOM will be deploying into the surrounding area around the station soon."

"Good," Vega answered with relief in his voice.

"Where will you be deploying your troops?" Tama asked.

"I'm heading to the city of Crotone according to the data package from the other side," Vega said. The data package in question was downloaded by EVA while he was talking with the CIC back at the station. "The 8th will be deploying to the town of Cuto, to the northwest, and the 9th will be deploying to another city, Staccato Di Cutro, to the west."

"And what about the crawler?" Tama asked as he was interrupted by static again.

"Hold it in reserve in the case until I need it," Vega said over the static-filled comlink. "Hopeful the situation doesn't go to hell, but if it does, I'll also need some of the Blackfish transports to move my own troops from the situation to here."

"I'll see what I can do," Tama said as once more the link was interrupted by more static, only this time it lasted longer. "Shit, it looks like we've got ourselves an ion storm developing here." So you better make this quick; when the storm starts, communications will be screwed."

"Then, in that case, we'll need that crawler; it'll have one of the newer EVA units on board." "We can use that to communicate if a storm does happen," Vega said. He was about to cut the computer link when a thought occurred to him. One that should have occurred to him sooner was that there was no guarantee that there was a GDI in this reality then.

"We could say that we're the United Nations; they're bound to have one in this reality."

"Or maybe we should just stay with GDI Vega; the UN is history, old history at that."

"Screw it, you're right." He muttered, "I'm just overthinking, Bamboo out."

"Commander, we're here." He heard the pilot's voice over the dropship's speakers. He made his way to the rear and activated the intercoms. "Make it a hot drop. Alpha just informed me that we've got a possible ion storm developing."

"Oh shit, will do," the pilot answered.

Realizing the intercom, Vega retrieved his GD-10B from the arms locker before looking out over the lowering ramp.

As the endless landscape of purplish-blue clouds and blue-green crystal quickly gave way to green fields and the drab grey of the urban sprawl of a city, he slowly counted to three and jumped.

The city was a mess, the weather was getting worse, and its inhabitants were panicking in their shelters, unsure of what was happening to the world outside. And in the provincial capital building, a man sat subdued behind his desk, silently praying for anyone to help his people. As governor, it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of the people of his province, but he can only sit there helplessly watching the growing storm engulf his province. It was a nightmare, and to think the madness started less than an hour ago...

All attempts to contact the rest of his province and the surrounding towns failed. Radio, satellites, digital TV, and any other wireless communication system didn't work. The only method that seems to be working is the landline that connects the city to the one-way National Emergency Land Network.

The network was designed to ensure that Rome had the capability to warn each portion of the nation in case of war. The idea was to link Rome with the province's capitals with landlines since they wouldn't be interrupted by fighting in orbit. The only problem was relatively new, and the line to the city was one of the few that had been completed. That was the reason he'd set up his own emergency broadcast system for his province, allowing the government to relay any warning it received.

He'd been forewarned by a friend in the national government about the NFLN project, which allowed him to get a head start with his own program and emergency broadcast system, but now that there was a crisis, the system wasn't functioning at all despite his minister's assurance. Tired of them and their worthless bubbling, he'd dismissed them, and now Governor Carlos Salvatore sat defeated in his office with two security guards, silently damning himself for his failure.

He turned his head away from the wooden desk to glare out the window at the tower in the distance. He might have failed the rest of his province, but at least the city's inhabitants were safe in the shelters, whether their own or those built by the city. He'd made sure of it by sending his own people to do so.

The latest message that came through the NFLN was a notice that the Federation was at Defcon 2. He assumed that was in reaction to the massive tower in the distance, which was responsible for this crisis, but even so, that wasn't his main concern, as he once more returned to staring down at his wooden desk.

The people of southern Italy had entrusted themselves to his care, and now this... The table groaned as he mentally raged against his helplessness in the face of this calamity. He shouldn't be sitting here doing nothing; he should be out there doing his job.

He had lost track of time as he stared dully at the wooden desk when suddenly he was interrupted by one of his bodyguards whispering into his ears.

"The chief says that there is someone at the front door who claims to know what is happening; should we remove him?"

"No, let him in," he said, without a thought. The wait wasn't long, as the room was on the second floor of the government building. The door finally opened, and the Chief of Security, Jose Homes, entered, followed by an armored figure with a rifle slung over his back.

He sweated blood and tears in the streets to come this far so that one day he could work for the betterment of everyone, and now he was nothing more than a powerless little man forced to physically send his own people to warn the surrounding cities and towns. This was the 21st century, not the dark ages; this shouldn't be occurring.

"What the hell is happening?" he asked, doing his best to keep his own voice calm.

"I don't have time to explain; you have to begin evacuating the civilian population in the city and the surrounding region." The armored figure said

"There's no point; the city's population is in their shelters, and I've already sent my own people to warn the surrounding cities and towns," he stated in a toneless voice. "You know, with communications down, doing anything more is pointless." "So who on Earth are you and what information do you have that could possibly help me, aside from the obvious?" he asked, his voice flaring with rage.

It pissed him off to hear this person come in to tell him to do something that he'd already done. Rage bubbled within him to the point that he felt his hands harden into fists of iron, ready to punch that upstart in the face, before fading away when he finally regained control of himself.

"Information that could possibly save six billion lives and avoid an apocalyptic event that could turn the entire planet into a wasteland," Vega said, as the helmet cameras zoomed in to study the governor, "The area around the tower is a Red Zone; an area that is hostile to carbon-based lifeforms." As of now, it is also under the jurisdiction of the Global Defense Initiative.

"I've never heard of this Global Defense Initiative." He said, his tone almost mocking as his head followed the unknown soldier.

"But with that tower," he said, as he turned once more to glare impotently at the offending structure. "I'm willing to believe you. For now."

"The only link to the outside world I have is the one-way National Emergency Land Network, nothing else," he continued, a small trace of his rage leaking through.

"I have a solution, but I'll need your permission to deploy a crawler from orbit." Vega said, "It'll be equipped with the communication gear to break through the ion-saturated atmosphere."

"Permission given," Carlos said offhandedly. His chief briefly protested but stopped when he saw the look on the governor's stern face.

"I've never heard of this Global Defense Initiative, but neither did that tower exist an hour ago. Whatever happened, clearly this initiative came with the tower, judging by the presence of the Commander here," he said, taking in the strange weapon and armor Commander Vega was wearing. "So it's rational to think that they know more about the situation than we do." Isn't it?" A nod from the armored man answered his question.

"Governor, I'll need you to come with me to the crawler?" he said, as he shook his head to clear it.

"So how long until the transports arrive?"

"Five minutes."

"Timing is enough for a few questions." "What on Earth is this "Global Defense Initiative," and what in hell is that tower?" He gritted his teeth.

"GDI was created by the United Nations as it formalized military action to combat global terrorism in 1995," was the surprising answer.

"Wha-never mind, and this 'crawler' ?" he asked again, taking in what had been said by the commander.

The United Nations was dissolved a month ago by the Atlantic Federation and replaced with the Earth Alliance. If he remembered right, one of the reasons given was that the UN lacked the muscle needed to deal with the current state of the world.

"A Crawler is a mobile base of operations with full command and control function," Vega explained. "Its communication system is much more advanced compared to anything you or I have access to right now, but we need to move quickly; there's a storm heading our way."

Carlos didn't say anything more because he didn't have anything else to add. His mind was presently jumping for joy now that he finally was going to get the means of communicating with the rest of the province.

"The Roughrider has arrived." The armored figure informed them.

"Then lead the way, Commander Vega." The governor replied with a nod as he stood up. If following the commander meant giving him a method of upholding his responsibility to the people of his province, then he would take it. They came first.

A short while later, Governor Salvatore was sitting in the cramped room, which was the crawlers' main command hub. It basically consists of a row of desks filled with advanced computers and input screens.

The first row of terminals was built into the wall, with the second not far behind, built into the opposite wall. Currently, Commander Vega sat at one of the terminals, silently cursing the fate that had forced him to cramp Governor Salvatore, his security detail, and a team of six engineers from both sides into this tiny, cramped room.

Meanwhile, the chief of security for the governor, Jose Homes, was leaning against the wall, watching an engineer who worked on the emergency broadcast system argue the finer points of some engineering discipline with his GDI counterpart. They had been working together for the past hour to jury-rig the crawlers' communication system to be able to broadcast on the same channel as the EBS and therefore allow the governor to get the message out to his people.

Off to one side, Governor Carlos was replaying the events of the past hour in his head. He had been rather surprised when they arrived at the Crawler; instead of an armored vehicle of some sort he'd been expecting, he was confronted by a massive building. Now he was trying to figure out how on earth GDI was able to erect such a large structure on such short notice.

"Sir, everything is ready to go." GDI engineer Mark Johnson announced, giving his superiors a salute before leaving.

"Whenever you're ready, governor," Vega gestured towards the microphone.

"This is Governor Carlos Salvatore to all civilians and government officials of the province of Crotone. As of this moment, the province is in a state of martial law. Please go to your nearest shelter and stay there until troops arrive to help with evacuation to a safer location. Please do not panic. The national government is now at Defcon 2, so help will be on the way. Salvatore paused, looking around the command hub. "In addition, do not, repeat, do not fire on troops belonging to the United Nations Global Defense Initiative." They will be helping with the evacuation effort. I repeat, do not fire on United Nations troops; they will be helping with the evacuation. Thank you for your time.

The message was recorded, and the governor slumped into his seat as the artificial intelligence known as EVA prepared to broadcast it over the Crawler's communications systems.

"Thank you, governor." Vega EVA, begin deployment of the 8th and 9th divisions to their assigned locations with orders to begin evacuation of the local population if possible." Also, have them place down G-330X habitat modules to provide additional shelter where needed.

"Acknowledged commander." EVA answered through Vega's helmet speakers, "Orders from above are to make contact with the federal government as soon as possible and begin talks to secure the area around the tower in order to ensure we have a means of contacting the nations of this reality."

"Affirmative EVA," Vega turned to face the governor. "Sir, if you don't mind, I was hoping we could begin negotiations with the federal government; we need to begin talks immediately about the situation here as soon as possible before it gets out of hand."

Salvatore paused for a moment as he thought about the situation and everything that had happened so far. In the end, he decided that he had a favor to return, and besides, he couldn't have his own government fighting the only people who knew what was happening in his province.

"Governor...?" Vega asked again, breaking the man's silence.

"Not a problem, but it may take a bit of work," Salvatore informed.

"I can wait." Vega replied, looking down at the holographic console, "EVA, please help the governor with establishing contact with the federal government."

"Affirmative, commander." The cool voice of the AI echoed from all around the room as the screen before the governor lit up with lines of data. "Governor, I would need you to-"

"Thank you, commander," Salvatore said, turning the map in front of him as his engineer peered over his shoulder, unsure of what to do and who this EVA was.

"EVA, what's the current status of the 8th, 9th, and the city?" Vega asked the AI

"Drones deployed to the city show the only civilians above ground are those in the main government building." The AI reported before pausing for a moment as new data was received. "Commander, the GDS Izanagi has arrived and is currently deploying the 8th and 9th RAID divisions to their assigned locations."

"Are they having any trouble?" Vega asked.

"None so far, Commander; however, the Izanagi report sightings of what appear to be local forces moving in. The commander of the Izanagi is requesting permission to make contact with them once they get closer.

"Permission given, EVA, tell them to be careful." Vega exclaimed, "Now what's the latest update on the weather?"

"A storm is unlikely to occur within 24 hours. Nonetheless, the heavy winds will no doubt carry Tiberium particles into the surrounding regions. "Most worrying is the Mediterranean Sea and Tiberium growth undersea," EVA said, bringing up a holographic map of the Mediterranean Sea on the projector on the right side of the room. "Until we reclaim the red zone around the tower from Tiberium exposure, the surrounding regions will remain susceptible to Tiberium infection."

He watched as EVA highlighted the area around the tower in red, most of the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the northern coast of Africa, and the southern coast of Europe in yellow, with the regions, further beyond colored in blue.

"Thank you, Eva," Vega muttered under his breath, turning away from the holographic map to check on the governor, only to see the man was also staring at the hologram intently.

"Is that accurate?" Salvatore asked with a nod in the direction of the holographic map, receiving a grim nod.

"Is this Tiberium really that dangerous?"

"Tiberium will kill a full-grown adult within 60 seconds of exposure; a child will die even faster." "It will fuse with the skin, causing a burning sensation, and begin to crystallize the victim's flesh from the initial infection point until the victim has been turned into Tiberium," Vega explained, as he brought up a series of images of Tiberium-infected civilians for the governor to look at. "If it's breathed in, then the Tiberium will become embedded in the lungs, causing the victim to hemorrhage to death as said lungs will crystallize."

He was then interrupted by one of his men, who whispered something important into his ear.

"EVA, can you take over?" Vega said.

"Tiberium arrived on earth in 1995, and within 40 years the state of the earth was deteriorating. Tiberium infestation has reached critical levels. 30.6 % of the world was designated as a red zone; areas that suffered the worst contamination and cannot support human life; 50.8 % were designated as yellow zones, areas that are dangerously contaminated but can sustain human life and contain most of the world's population. Unfortunately, decades of war and civil unrest have left these regions in a state of social collapse, giving rise to multiple terrorist groups. But only 20.% of the remainder of the Earth's surface is unscarred by the Tiberium outbreak, these blue zones are considered the last refuge and hope of the civilized world and are under the protection of the Global Defense Initiative. "EVA lectured, as the Governor cringed in horror.

"By 2055, 60.9 % of the world was a red zone, 35.1 % in the yellow zone, and the remaining blue zones." EVA continued.

"That's only five percent of the world still free of Tiberium," Salvatore said, horror slipping onto his expression before he slowly regained control.

While the governor was gasping in horror, he wasn't alone, as the president of the Eurasian Federation herself also joined him, having heard the morbid report over a newly established teleconference link. However, Vega didn't notice this as his attention was elsewhere.

"Sadly, GDI's Tiberium abatement efforts soon failed after the end of the Third Tiberium War. as the Tiberium unexpectedly underwent an evolution, growing at such an aggressive rate that it spread across the entire world unchecked by all conventional means. By 2062, 80.6 % of the world is a red zone, 20.8 % is a yellow zone, and blue zones no longer exist. However, an uneasy alliance was formed at GDI Global Headquarters in Manchester, with the leader the Brotherhood of Nod."

Vega flinched after hearing that name, but he suppressed a sneer from his mouth as he continued to focus on coordinating the relief efforts, while the governor so far looked confused, wondering why some of the GDI personnel looked like they swallowed a sour lemon after hearing that name like it was the devil himself as EVA continued.

"It was in 2070 that Did GDI was able to halt the spread of Tiberium and reclaim 15% of the Earth's surface. Before the unexplained event, 60.2 % of the world was a red zone, 30.6 % yellow zone, and 20.9 % blue zone, and growing steadily." EVA finished, a hint of smugness slipping into its usually emotionless voice.

Vega took a quick moment to check with EVA about the current status of the base; the airfield and tech center was almost complete. The base defenses were already up, perhaps a little on the light side, but it was enough for now.

"Oh, sorry, Commander, but I've been able to make contact with the central government, and they are willing to begin the talks immediately." "The president is on screen right now," Salvatore said helpfully.

"Thank you," Vega said, surprised as he looked up to see pale skin, red hair, and a female face staring at him intensely.

"I'm President Julia Borski of the Eurasian Federation, and if this "Tiberium" is truly as dangerous as you've told Governor Salvatore, then we need to move quickly to contain the situation." I've already passed along word to the military to coordinate with your forces for now.

"I'm willing to establish a special joint zone in southern Italy in order to ensure the safety and containment of this Tiberium, but in return, I want GDI to share whatever technology you have to fight this "Tiberium" with my government." President Borski spoke firmly.

Vega scowled a bit, not trusting these people one bit with their Tiberium containment technology since it could easily be turned into a weapon of mass destruction.

"Sharing our Tiberium medical treatment technology is no problem; however, I am afraid that we can't share our containment technology. We will be more than willing to perform all removal of Tiberium from within your borders without compensation," Vega said as the president nodded, willing to accept that for the time being.

"Our immediate concern is the containment of the situation here, and halting the spread of the establishment of a joint zone would go towards aiding us to fulfill our objective." Vega continued. In other words, as the president translated, it would be a good start for relations between them and her nation.

"We would also be grateful if you would aid us in establishing diplomatic relations with other nations in the region that could be threatened by Tiberium in addition to peacefully introducing us to the global community." Vega finished.

"I can see no problem with that." President Borski said with a nod of her head and a slight smile on her face.

"EVA, draw up the documents with all the points mentioned and send them to the president for her staff to look over before it's officially signed." Vega said, "I immediately thank you for your time." "If I may beg your leave, madam president, I have a situation to deal with right now."

"No, thank you, commander." answered the president, right before the link was cut.

"Governor, thank you for all the help; it could have gone worse without you," Vega said, looking at the governor.

"No, it's you I should be thanking." If you hadn't arrived, then I'd be helpless in my office right now, staring at my wooden desk without any idea what to do." Salvatore replied, relief clear on his features.

"I was just doing my duty." I think you should take the time to rest for a bit while I deal with the rest of the situation. Unfortunately, RAID Crawlers aren't designed with VIPs in mind, so we only have MREs and basic sleeping quarters to offer your people.

"No problem, I know that it's only been a few hours, but I admit that it's been the worst couple of hours in my life," Salvatore said, standing up. "Thank you and your government for everything that you've done for me and my people."

"Lieutenant, please escort the governor and his people to the crew quarters and bring them some food," Vega said, with a slight nod at the governor.

"Yes, sir, if you wouldn't mind, governor?" answered the lieutenant before the group moved toward the exit, leaving Vega and the other GDI soldiers in the Crawler Command Hub. As the RAID breathed a sigh of relief, Now that that was out of the way, the only thing left was to make sure that everything else worked out.

"Commander, the airfield and tech center have been completed, and construction of the emitters, repulsor rods, and generators has begun," EVA said, bringing up a holographic map on the projector. "ZOCOM has arrived and is currently deploying deep sea sonic emitters on the seaside of the threshold. The 8th and 9th divisions report that they have deployed several G-330X habitat modules for those civilians who didn't have shelter, and evacuations have been held off until the weather has improved.

"Good to hear." Vega sighed. Maybe the rest of the day will work out without him having to shoot anyone. "Eva, please inform the High Command of the results of the negotiations."

"Affirmative Commander," Eva answered, as she took a nanosecond to inform Philadelphia.

A pair of blue-colored eyes stared at the latest data on the sudden appearance of the Global Defense Initiative with their assets and territory.

Physically, nothing betrayed the man's emotions to the outside world, but inwardly, Azreal felt more like killing something with every moment as he read the data from the Eurasia Federation government to the Alliance.

According to the Eurasia Federation, the Global Defense Initiative's full name was the United Nations Global Defense Initiative. Azrael's frown slowly deepens until it is a full-blown frown scowl as he considers the potential consequences of that little titbit of information.

"Finally, to have successfully removed these idealist old men from power and have the means of enforcing the very will of Blue Cosmos...

Only to have this unscientific event happen, where islands and space stations appear out of nowhere without any warning and with neither a trace nor a hint of energy detected,

Eyes twitching, Azrael put down the data pad as he continued his analysis.

Which was impossible; you can't have something just appear out of nowhere without leaving a trace. It was insane and scientifically impossible for such an event to happen. Standing up, he has to physically retrain himself from throwing his datapad across the room to complement his rant.

"Things like this do not happen!"

Yet it just did.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he set down and tried to collect his thoughts.

At least there was some good coming out of this situation. This Tiberium in Italy was dangerous and hostile to human life. A perfect reason to justify war against the African Community like the PLANTS, and all he needed to do was to move a few pawns around.

He smiled; it was perfect.

An UN-created military, huh? They will be easy to play with. Idealist fools.

In-Ops Archives

The Global Defense Initiative is the global government of Earth. It was founded in accordance with the United Nations Global Defense on October 12, 1995, as a united military force for a global peacekeeping force to combat the Soviet Union in the second world war. The GDI's initial goal was to preserve world order by combating global terrorism, epitomized by its nemesis, the Brotherhood of Nod, but eventually outgrew its original mandate to become a world government.

But it was the aftermath of the third Tiberium War in 2049 that left the world in ruins; the Blue Zones were but a shadow of their former selves due either to the Scrin or the fallout from the infamous Ion Strike on Temple Prime ordered by former Director Boyle, and the Yellow Zones were not much better off.

The then-acting director, James Hawk, initiated recovery and reclamation operations to repair the damages caused by the largest and most costly war since the end of the second and third world wars in 1953 and 1975, respectively, a century ago. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent that Tiberium was mutating again, rendering sonic containment technology useless.

The exposure of Europe to this new form of Tiberium was only a taste of what would follow in the next four years as Blue Zones were slowly pushed back and GDI found itself unable to process Tiberium. GDI found its resources overtaxed and diminishing quickly as it took care of the remaining world population, being forced to ration resources despite increasing unrest and protests. The situation wasn't helped by the presence of warlords, freedom fighters, and mutants attacking GDI and civilian targets without discrimination.

All this changed in mid-2055 when Inops made a breakthrough studying the Tacitus before it was retaken by Nod, allowing GDI to once again develop the technology needed to battle and process Tiberium for manufacturing. One of the projects that launched after this development was Project Asclepius, which involved the construction of orbiting stations to artificially grow food for those on the surface and the beginning of reclamation operations by ZOCOM.

The years that followed were the main reason for GDI deciding to launch Project Genesis in 2056, which many have both praised and criticized in the years since. GDI's justification for the project was to move the human population off of Earth in case of another Tiberium evaluation or if another war with Nod threatened humanity's survival.

In truth, the real reason for the project remains classified as top secret to this day.

By 2062, global Tiberium contamination had reached critical levels, even through ZOCOM's best efforts. As Tiberium unexpectedly underwent yet another evolution, it is now growing at such an aggressive rate that it has spread across the entire planet unchecked by all conventional means. It was at this time that Kane resurfaced once more and, given the dire situation, traveled to GDI Global headquarters in Manchester and formed an uneasy alliance.

However, while the Alliance with Nod has proven to be tremendously beneficial towards GDI and the human race in general, having entered a new golden age after finally pushing back the spread of Tiberium and reclaiming much of the planet, it has also had the unexpected side-effect of splintering GDI. Much of GDI's military forces and civilian population resented working with Nod, whom they still consider to be a band of fanatics and terrorists, and the old wounds left over from the previous Tiberium wars have yet to fully heal in the minds of the populace.

This is particularly true amongst segments of the military, who consider Kane to be a soulless murderer and see the alliance as a betrayal of GDI's principles and the millions lost to Nod violence, foreshadowing the possibility of a potential civil war within GDI itself, but GDI was not the only organization to be divided by the new alliance.

Many Nod followers believed this to be a direct contradiction to the goals that were laid down by Kane himself. As a result, they split from the Nod loyalists and started a separate but highly destructive guerrilla war against both Kane, GDI, and the construction of the Tiberium Control Network. The Nod separatists rallied around Gideon, an outspoken critic of Kane, as their leader and staged heavy attacks on the Blue and Yellow Zones, starting what would be known as the Incursion War.

By 2069, GDI had successfully colonized the moon in addition to launching four colonization fleets to the nearby solar system that had been identified as harboring habitable planets. The project also led to the expansion of Space Command to include the Navy and the construction of GDI's space fleet. But despite GDI's rapid advancements in Zone armor and the development of brand new vehicles for combating the Nod separatists' war machines, it could not protect the TCN and pursue the separatists simultaneously, leaving the GDI military in disarray. However, with the GDI airforce's expansion and the Crawler's development in 2073, the GDI military was reorganized into three branches: offense, defense, and support.

A year after the introduction of the crawlers, GDI and Nod loyalists were able to protect the TCN construction and crush the separatists as a military force, driving Gideon and the other separatist leaders into hiding. It was during this period, when TCN construction was partially completed, that GDI gained renewed funds from the new method of harvesting Tiberium. The renewed funding enabled the GDI military to reintroduce the mechanized walkers such as the Titan and the AW-12 Mastodon that were gradually shelved after the Firestorm conflict, much to the delight of the veterans of the Second Tiberium War.

The GDI council would also direct funds to rebuild areas that were previously scarred by Tiberium, most notably the city that would become the capital city of the GDI government: New Adana.

Despite the coming of a new golden age, GDI's political situation was on shaky ground because of the alliance, which was not helped by Gideon's raids. Indeed, on the 1st of May 2077, Gideon attempted to assassinate Kate at the TCN opening ceremony in New Adana, sparking the Fourth Tiberium War twelve hours later.

The GDI-Nod alliance still held as they initially battled against the Nod separatists, which included the protection of both Kane and GDI General Secretary Evelyn Rios. GDI extremists led by Colonel Louise James followed their orders and worked alongside the Nod loyalists despite their suspicions of Kane's motives.

But over time, those suspicions turned into a full-blown civil war as Colonel James collected evidence of Kane's attempts to bring back the Scrin via TCN and the Scrin tower, which was later dismissed. Colonel James and her extremists would have ended the human race entirely on earth if not for loyal forces under General Riggs and units from RAID, who were able to not only take back new Adana but also arrest James and her crew by discovering that the Colonel was giving Gideon top-secret information to kill Kane and manipulated Commander Parker into joining her rebellion after his wife died. However, the crew soon escaped and pursued Kane and his Nod followers to threshold 19.

This led to the disappearance of Blue Zone sites 12, 9, 14, 19, 10, 8, 11, and 17, the orbiting network, five stations from orbit, and the first fleet upon the tower's activation, leaving many confused and worried.

Unfortunately, it also led to GDI's entry into the bloody Valentine's war between Naturals and Coordinators.