The situation was one that could be considered if somebody was being extremely generous as "passable", and if there was a skeptic of some kind? Well, it was going to be slapped with a very big and a very loud "fiasco" tag.
It wasn't really anyone's fault really, the Tiberium NOD forces had decided to attack the facility with a vengeance. Possibly alerted by a spy or something, it wasn't as if their own NOD had a monopoly when it came to spies. Or maybe they did and they were just using this opportunity to break into their facilities?
As it was they were being hit by what looked to be several dozen soldiers and what looked to be tanks as well. Where they had managed to hide those inside of Europe was a mystery, especially with NOD holding the reins to the intelligence of the region with an iron fist. Heading in and demolishing anything that could be considered a threat and sometimes when it wasn't. NOD had made a name for themselves and it was often that many just surrendered rather than face the wrath of a mobilized NOD.
It wasn't like NOD was discriminate when it came to what and when they brought in the full might of their force to play. Anything that was a possible threat was cracked down on so hard that it was a wonder that there were still any insurgents left. Why they kept trying when they knew what would be waiting for them on the other side was rather baffling.
But as to the forces attacking the facility, it was likely that they were remnants of the actual NOD army which had been hidden away to wait for orders from Kane himself for a special mission or something of the like.
It certainly made a large amount of sense when one considered the role that this facility was playing in the first place. It was storing a next generation microwave tank, a tank that was capable of using directed microwaves to engage and destroy enemy forces in an area of attack.
The current iterations were terrifying enough that the GDI and NOD had standing orders to engage the Microwave tanks first out of all the vehicles in an armoured division. The problem being that the microwave tank itself had the effect of shattering morale when it was deployed. One that outweighed any and all considerations, an army that was demoralized was an army that was useless in the fight and they would be running away rather than fight a perfectly fightable enemy. Something that was a danger to the GDI who were finding it hard to motivate their men as it was.
While it did not have the range that more conventional tanks had, nor did it have the versatility that other vehicles had with suppression battles or things like hunter-killer roles, nor did it have the speed or the armour of other tanks. What it did have was the very large, very vulnerable microwave dish, that should have looked innocuous and rather comical, was one that in reality inspired a level of fear unseen anywhere except perhaps Napalm in the Pacific and Vietnam theatres when the Americans deployed them.
Soldiers very often dropping their weapons and trying to run away when the Microwave tanks made their entrance to a battlefield. It was here that their full might was deployed, the numerous recordings of it serving to show the rest of the world the folly of resisting the Coalition, the tank itself causing those in the path of its main (and only) gun to quite literally die from having their blood boiled if the gun was on low power.
If it was instead of high power, the effect instead was one where those caught in the path quite literally exploded in starbursts of gore.
The effect being terrifying enough that the soldiers would try to surrender if one was spotted in the field. After all, one could survive being shot, being shelled, being run over. One could not survive being exploded and the ones that had survived the low power setting had explained in very clear and concise detail just how excruciating it was to be affected by the microwave gun in the first place.
The prototype for the next generation tank was being held in this facility, which meant that it was a very likely target for the NOD that wanted their own working model. Their understanding of the technology not enough to understand the few tanks that had been captured.
They inside were trying to activate the tank so that it could be used to assist in the defence of the facility, while others were planting charges all over the tank in the event that it needed to be self-destructed to avoid capture.
Others were trying rather desperately to hold back the enemy, they were overwhelming the defenders, the facility not having the adequate defensive systems in place. The commander had been complacent and only ordered the bare minimum, something that was going to get him into very hot water soon enough with the leadership of the Coalition if they lost the base and more importantly the prototype.
"Under heavy attack, we need reinforcements!" The commander desperately tried to call out, his voice high pitched, the panic that was hammering at his self-restraint evident in his voice. The man was very close to breaking and that was unacceptable, they needed their commanders to be sane after all.
"We have a company of tanks approximately 15 minutes from your position. Hold until they arrive." Came the reply from the regional commander, a man that sounded distracted as he tried to find more assets with which he could deploy to aid in the defence of the facility. He knew of the importance of it and the need to ensure that it wouldn't fall.
"We don't have 15 minutes! They are already breaching the outer walls!" The commander cried out, his reserve broken, his panic overtaking him.
"We cannot get anything else to you in time. Hold until relieved." The regional commander said, his voice filled with impatience. Being a veteran of the Euro-African conflict, he had very little patience for those he considered to be idiots. Had he not survived many similar attacks to his own facilities? Had he not lost an arm to the African commandos? What was this shit that the local commander was trying to peddle at him?
"They've got tanks! We can't hold, we don't have the defences!"
The regional commander sighed at that. Another idiot that had thought he could get away with only deploying what was absolutely necessary and was not paying the price for it. Why was it that people were so stupid? He wondered briefly, his head to the sky before escalating the situation to the eyes and ears of the General in charge of the defence of the facilities across Europe as a whole. A Willem van der Meer who had been there at the very first day that the conflict had broken out.
Now a general and a very good one that that. Or so the stories went, the regional commander had never seen him in action before, perhaps now was the time?
The attackers of the facility grinned savagely as they pushed their way in, the target had been open just as Kane had said, open and vulnerable to their attack, the defenders sleeping on the job, useless, dead.
Most of the defenders had already been killed, the walls breached by the charges that they had placed on them, the entire facility cracked open as if it were an egg and they were a very large hammer made specially for cracking eggs.
Which was when the sky began to burn. The ground shuddered as massive impacts inside the base, outside of the base and all around them bowled them off their feet. Those who were looking up at the sky saw the red hot hulls that were descending to them, their pointed bottoms coming right into the middle of their lines.
As they got to their feet, the sonic boom that was just now coming home to roost bowled their ears over and more than a few fell to the knees or their faces as their sense of balance was destroyed, the roar carpeting the base like the fart of an angry god.
Just what the hell was that?
The soldiers got to their feet, swaying from side to side as they stared at the little domes that were present. Little blue domes that… oh. Were those missile launchers?
The domes popped out of the ground and presented themselves to a very new and very afraid NOD attacking force. The turrets themselves demonstrating what was clearly a set of machine guns, a rocket launcher, and a tiny little antenna. As the attackers tried to re-orient themselves to engage the turrets, they in turn, opened up on the hapless attackers.
The brrrrrrt that signalled the stream of death that in turn proceeded to tear apart the foot soldiers that had been too close as hot death erupted from the barrels. The soldiers not even having time to scream as the bullets tore through them at chest level, cutting those who were lucky in half, those not lucky enough merely exploded as their ribcages gave up the fight.
They tried to engage the but to no avail, the tank shells merely bouncing off the domes, barely even denting the damned things before the turrets in turn, let loose their missiles at the tanks, dealing catastrophic damage every time that one of them impacted.
The miniguns were still tearing apart their men, the attackers now forced onto the defensive as they tried to hide behind the burning corpses that was their armoured support. The hulls being able to at least protect against the minigun rounds for which they were thankful.
The fact that they were now surrounded by a ring of very angry turrets on the other hand, was not something to be thankful about. Trying to run through the ring didn't work as the turrets moved so much faster than what they should have been capable of to catch the unlucky streaker.
At the same time, there was nothing they could do, the survivors being armed with basic rifles. Those with rocket launchers had been targeted first they realised, a devious and bloody evil maneuver that saw them now pinned down.
A stalemate where the attackers had all the advantages. The NOD forces could try and maybe… run for it? Or they could possible just fire a few bullets here and there to draw the attention of the turrets and maybe force them to fire a few rounds. They couldn't have unlimited ammunition, after all, that was just cheating.
Time was not on their side however, they knew that reinforcements would be coming, the attack had been detected too early and the alarm had gone out. They had thought that with their numbers, powering through would have been a simple matter and one that didn't need to even be discussed, rushing in, grabbing what they came for then escaping again.
Only the enemy had the ability to call in turrets from the sky which was ridiculous and going to change everything… assuming that there were any of them who survived long enough to tell NOD about it. Something that was looking increasingly unlikely given their situation and dying was looking to be their only way out of here unless they wanted to be taken prisoner, a disgrace that none of them could allow.
Given their options however, it looked to be the only actual choice that was possible.
With a unified nod, the NOD members got ready to rush at a single point in the turrets, where it was thinnest but also was one that led into the forest where they could escape and bring this information back to NOD. There would at least be some kind of benefit to be gained from this mission even if the primary goals were catastrophic failures.
The base was safe, the NOD attack team wiped out to a man, their little attack at the end being not nearly enough to save them, unfortunately.
The base commander had been executed for dereliction of duty while the protocols of defensive fortifications regarding facilities in the Tiberium Universe had been updated to reflect the possibility of armoured attacks.
As for Willem, his idea had worked out, the orbital turret drop which made him a very happy man. If they had those in Athens… well, things would have gone so very much different.
The GDI were not having perhaps the best time of it. The fact of the matter was that they had been pushed out of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and were now holding ground in the USA and South America.
Their massive militaries had managed to evacuate in time, but it was not something that was advertised very much, the idea that the military had managed to escape but leave behind the civilians was not something that they tried to make public. The outrage would be so much that their plans for winning the hearts and minds of the populace would fall through almost immediately and they could very possibly lose everything if they kept going down this path.
No, it was far too dangerous for that.
Still, they were not going to be giving up, that was for people that did not have the responsibility of an entire world on their shoulders. They could not afford to simply give up and abandon the many billions that were left in the hands of NOD, nor could they just sit and wait as they built up their forces either. That would only result in many millions no doubt being repressed and killed by the forces of NOD, no they had to be handled in some kind of manner that would keep the spirit of the people alive.
So that when the GDI came back, they would have a popular support of the captive population, and a population that was willing to help them and rise up against the forces of the NTU, striking at their rear lines as the GDI pushed in from the front. A two pronged attack that would see them emerge out of this victorious and with as little casualties as possible. An important factor that had to be considered, NOD was still a problem even if they were being helpful… for now. No, they would win this war then look to the future.
It was for this reason therefore that the Nuclear Submarine Adamantine was slowly drifting closer to the Coast of China. Once they had verified the all clear signal, the Adamantine would drop off its cargo, a shipment of special forces soldiers, all of whom had been chosen for their loyalty and their dedication to the cause of the GDI.
As the submarine rose slowly, making sure to do it in such a way that they wouldn't be detected, the bubbles that could possibly be detected by radar would need to be kept to a minimum or as small as possible. That way the radar operators could be confused into thinking it was just fish and the like that were in the area, much better than thinking there was a Submarine that was.
As they reached periscope depth, the Captain looked through at the exact location provided by their sympathizers. The light flashed green 8 times, each time a different duration. The mission was a go. The Captain nodded and called over the intercom.
"Mission is a go."
The squad lay down on their little raft, each one of them holding a paddle and working steadily as they pushed themselves closer to the shore. Each one of them working the paddles in such a way that they wouldn't be causing undue splashing or anything like that, being discovered now would only see them shot if they were discovered and that would be an immediate mission failure.
The beach was patrolled of course, all of it was, but this was a gap in between the patrols, a brief half an hour period in which they could get ashore and deeper into the Coalition's territory. The deeper in they were, the safer they would be.
As the team made its way to the shore, the lights flashed again, this time red. They were being observed by their sympathizers and there wasn't a patrol in the area. Good.
The team kept moving, making sure to not increase the rhythm just because they were close to their objective, that was an amateur mistake. The difference in the sound could alert a trained ear. They were told there wasn't a patrol in the area, but there could be a team waiting for them. One never knew.
Ok. Keeping it steaaaady. There.
The little raft gently breached the sand, easing its way onto the beach, the operatives hopping off and dragging it further up. It would be deflated and hidden in the event that they needed a means to escape.
A quick change of their clothes into something more… local, and also dry, the operatives made their way up the trail to meet those that would be guiding them in. They were to be given the utmost respect, the fact that they were risking their lives in helping the GDI was something that they all understood. Being discovered was grounds for being tortured and a summary execution… if they were that lucky. No, they were preparing to give up everything and had to be treated as such.
Waving them over to the side, the sympathizers made sure that each of them was up to standard before waving them onto the trucks that had been stashed away further up the trail. These would be the next step of the journey.
Each of them buckling in, the operatives prepared for a rocky ride, they weren't allowed to carry firearms, having one on your person was grounds for an immediate execution. Naturally, this meant that they weren't going to risk it by carrying their own. They were not stupid and wanting to die was certainly that.
Each of them grinned slightly as the made their way deeper inside, the exhilaration of dodging one of the patrols causing endorphins to pump through their body. It wasn't over yet however, the next part would be to get past the checkpoints on the road, after which they would be in the clear, able to make the rest of the trek on the underground network laid out by the sympathizer network.
After all of this time, they were very professional in the way that they had established the network. A given considering that they had plenty of trial and error to get it done properly, countless lives being lost as they had done so.
As the vehicles rode up to the checkpoints, the operatives made an effort to keep themselves loose and relaxed. Being overly tense would only invite questions, questions of the kind that would likely see them possibly detained, searched and killed.
They had fake identification papers, but whether or not they would be fit for scrutiny was another question altogether. Breathing in the operatives prepared for the most intense moment of their lives. This singular moment would determine whether or not they would live or die.
Closing a few eyes, a little prayer here and there… and they were through.
The Coalition guard was surprisingly lax today, something that they weren't going to question, not if they could benefit from it. Looking a gift horse in the mouth was a sure fire way to have the horse bite your nose off as they had been taught. Whether or not this was applicable in the real world was another question.
As the little convoy moved along, down the line, down the front. The soldiers inside closed their eyes and took the chance to get a little sleep. They were going to be active the next day, their destination after all, was Paris and that was quite the trek. Inserting from Europe was impossible, the coast had been locked down to a ludicrous degree, dozens if not hundreds of destroyers constantly searching the waters around the coast for submarines and aircraft. There was no way in from that side and if they tried it would just see them dead.
The operatives slept, safe in the hands of the sympathizers that were driving them all the way. If they were going to be betrayed, it would have happened at the checkpoint, doing it anywhere else was foolish, not when they could just overpower and kill them.
"Why are we helping them infiltrate the continent?" Asked one of the sympathizers who had stayed behind and was helping pack away the raft that the operatives had come in on.
"It is very simple. If they come in, they can kill people, plant bombs, train people to kill people, train people to plant bombs, and if they do that, then it means that the Coalition will have to keep fighting, have to keep killing, and they will grow to hate the population of this world." Said the one next to him, he had been helping the operatives from the GDI since the very beginning, a founding member that didn't need to be out here when it came down to it.
"What is the use of the Coalition not wanting to be here? They are here now and the leaders are telling them to stay." Asked the first man again, packing away the now deflated raft into a little hole he had dug in the ground.
"It is not a matter of the now, it is a matter of the when. We are not staying in this world permanently my friend, we are here since Catherine wants for us to be here. Why that is I do not know, I would not presume to attempt to guess Catherine's mind. However, I do know that our objectives have not been accomplished yet and we will remain here until they are. So long as we are here, we will aid them in entering the continent, their continued presence is more of a boon than they would have thought. When it comes time, the Coalition will leave willingly and not want to leave behind anyone. None of them will want to stay and it will be a clean break from our universe and theirs." The second one finished, a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
As a patrol rounded the corner, he waved at them.
"This infiltration go as planned?" Called the patrol leader. All of them were NOD for this very reason, it was much easier to "time" a patrol when you knew exactly when it would be coming.
"Yes, they are on their way to the interior as we speak. 9422 is leading the convoy, 2342 is waiting at the checkpoint." Replied the second one, the leader.
"Good good. What route are these ones taking?"
"Route 284, the Paris route. They are heading in to assist in rebuilding the Paris cell after it was destroyed." He said sounding just a bit happy at that. Granted this was what he had been ordered to do, but the fact that there would be people that rejected the light of Catherine, especially for a bald guy with bad facial hair… well, that picked at a nerve.
These ones were all going to die, it was a given really, there were no operatives that survived even if they wanted to make it out as if there were. While they did have orders to assist them from Catherine herself, she didn't specify that they had to live. And so when they extracted again, like the team that was coming in a few minutes, he would be "gifting" them some brandy.
He would insist that they share a drink with him, a tiny shot for each of them. And when they did drink, well things were not going to turn out so well for them in a few years, their bodies would begin to degrade from the long acting poison, tearing apart their tissues and acting like a strange disease of some kind. It would be classified as natural, but the sheer number of deaths would be a sign it was not.
They would be frantic, they would have no idea what was going on, then they would die. All those that spurned Catherine would be held in contempt, all those that actively worked against Catherine? Well, they were going to pay the ultimate price for their blasphemy. Catherine might allow it, but NOD would not.
All resistance actions inside of the three continents conquered by the Coalition were organized by NOD for the goals of NOD.
In the end, they would have what they wanted from this world and they would leave, this world did not deserve the light of Catherine and NOD itself agreed wholeheartedly.
They couldn't leave fast enough.