Operation Black Dawn

Mission 11 - To Talk Of Home

September 29(?) - 1995/1097

An unknown amount of Time after the establishment of Camp Riverbed [II]

"The United Nations... It was supposed to protect the peace. That was until Iran, and, generally, the fall of post-WW2 Africa in the 60s. The UN was founded on the principles of mutual defense, to make sure no Stalin rises again, and to quash terrorism in its birth. But... the 60s were an unfortunate time. Nod had been fed up. The British ransacked and looted everything from their old colonies before coming back home, the French took everything of value and left their colonies anything, and Belgium... we all know about the Congo-Vrijstaat, and they expected those colonies to stay loyal. At least, until Kane showed up. Now? I don't think the UN has much to care about genuine colonies. Only allies with enough competence."

- Former UN Secretary-General Enrico Berlinguer, during an interview with an independent news team, 1995.

PFC. Alvin S. Payne - Camp Riverbed [II] Quarantine - Dated September 29, 1995

Koff. Koff. And Koff.

Those were the only sounds I heard as the quarantine zone's clear 'windows' - I don't know what the proper term for this type of transparent canvas is - stained themselves with soldiers coughing up blood on the floor. And on the walls. And on the canvas. Scratch that, everyone was coughing blood everywhere. Even Harma, whose collar and neck area seemed to be stained by blood completely.

"Harma. You okay?"

Koff. And bloodstains appeared on Harma's collar. He kept coughing out blood and black-and-green shit. Harma looked at me dead in the eyes and shook his head. He was not okay, not even a little bit. And I could understand that. It had been a while since we were contained, but yet, we feel like absolute shit. If I were to say something, it would be that the healthcare policy for the GDI was good, but not good enough against NCID.

"Payne, for the love of god, I'm sick, and I'm pretty sure the Russian over there-" Pointing towards the slumped up Russian Confederation Peacekeeper, still breathing but in pain. "-Just threw up on my shoes. Do I look okay, dude?" Even in sickness, Harma looked like he was still chuckling. "Ah, hell. I guess Kane really does have it for my guts." Harma coughed again, though with less force.

"Hey, Harma." I decided to bring up something that caused needless debate within initiative lines. It was a topic about one of the most divisive things in human history. It was... religion.

"You live in Estonia, right? What's the Nod religion like?" I asked, putting my hands clasped together as I sat on a box waiting for his response. Harma, leaning against the wall, raised his hand to silence me for a moment as he coughed and released blood for a little bit. Then he turned back to me. "Okay, I'll admit, I only heard this from my friends who are religous, but, I'm secular. Just wanted to warn you."

"Ah, that's fine. I just wanted to hear what you think of it. I'm not particularly knowledgeable regarding it." I sheepishly admitted, with Harma instead giving a nod in response to what I was trying to say.

"Alright, so, the Nod Religion is, let me be clear first; Completely decentralized." Harma raised five of his fingers. "But it has six sects that actively compete for influence within the major Brotherhood sphere of influence. Most of them, bar two, pretty radicalized, claiming that all who oppose Kane are heretics." Putting four of them down to let his index finger up, he continued.

"There's the Yugoslav sect, which is a split-off from major Orthodox Religion. It inherits the more Christian-outwardly aspects. But, well, it's blasphemous because it claims that Kane is Jesus Christ reincarnated." He then put his middle finger up alongside his index finger. Taking a moment to breathe, he stopped to let the cogs in his head run smoothly.

"There's also the Chinese Sect, which inherits more or less Chinese collectivism, Christian nationalism, and claims that Kane is the Brother of Jesus Christ himself. It also has influences from Taoism, but those are few and far-between, only propping up like once or twice." Harma then let his ring finger hold up, and spoke as he continued his lecture.

"There's the South American sect, which inherits Catholic fundamentalism, traditionalist conservatism, and, well, anti-imperialism. They claim that Kane is one of the destined Prophets of God sent to help the oppressed fight back against their oppressors and liberate their brothers." Harma's pinky finger then raised itself, joining the lecture Harma had set up to kill the time while they were waiting for quarantine.

"Then there's the popular depiction of Islam within some UN territories. The Middle Eastern Sect, more popular within the Turkish National Salvation Party and the Saudi Allegiance Council, is basically a radical sect of Islam that claims that Kane is a disciple of Mohammed who has survived to bring the Light of Allah upon the world. At least, that's what I hear. I'm not savvy enough to talk about it." Harma shook his head.

"The last two ones aren't the radicalized ones, but damn they're treated like shit for trying to reason with GDI. Even after the GDI-Nod ceasefire when NCID started to spread." He clarified, taking a moment to breathe as his tone went from angry regarding the radical ones to more calm about the ones he claimed were more 'moderate' compared to their other counterparts.

"There's the Baltic Sect." He chuckled for a bit, before clarifying what he meant. "The Baltic Sect isn't really a unified religion, more like a cultural spirit." He took a moment.

"The Baltic Sect really is more like a unified culture that tries to accept who everyone is. It's a rather curious sect with the main 'religious' goal being the continued independence of the Baltics. Atmostas Baltija, Bunda jau Baltija, Argaake Baltimaad. Those are the rallying cries of the Baltic Sect. The Baltic Sect's culture is... unique. From an academic sense, it is almost akin to an altruistic culture, with the sacrifices of each individual citizen working towards the goal of securing the continued independence of the Baltics."

He continued to ramble on, probably because he could actually relate to this sect unlike the other sects, which were more "kill the heretic" or something.

"From what I remember, the main parts that make up the Baltic Sect include attempts at extending the olive branch towards people to ensure their independence, a major part of the culture encouraging martyrdom in the name of the Baltic Republics to ensure independence, and that everyone must defend the democratic system of the region. Last time I checked, the closest thing we have to a cult is a cult of independence, with the partisans who led the Baltic Democratic Front being hailed as saviors of Baltic democracy from Stalinist oppression."

It was at this point that I decided to speak up about the Baltic Sect. They seemed genuinely interesting rather than the cookie-cutter religious fanatics that made up Nod. "From what I remember, they only joined Nod because they were promised independence against future aggression, right?" I asked, thinking that I was somehow culturally insensitive or something.

Harma nodded. "Yep. We were afraid that Russia would invade us again, but, regrettably, Article 55 and President Katushev proved our fears wrong. I'm no fan of GDI itself, but if we were presented with the membership opportunity to GDI instead? I'd take them over Nod any day." Harma chuckled, before looking at his bloodied collar tags. The Scorpion Tail shined right back at him. He sighed. "Never can escape that bastard Kane, can I?"

"Afraid not. Popular perception of Nod is that y'all are just Kane fanatics willing to throw hand grenades into kindergartens to secure political dominance." I cringed as I recalled some of the more brutal Nod-aligned attacks committed outside the territory of the United Nations. Or, hell, even within UN territories. Be it DMZs or actual UN cities.

"Yeah. The popular consensus within Nod is that throwing hand grenades at a UN Food Truck is necessary to win. Pfft, my ass." Harma crossed his arms as he sat down and leaned back onto the bloodstained canvas that made up their quarantine zone. "The last Noddie Sect within here is one that I call mood kindred in a sense. They're equally persecuted and shunned within the greater Nod community for not being violent enough."

"Who are they, exactly?" I asked, before Harma's response was to immediately breathe in heavily and let out a huge sigh. "Sinkists. They're a sect that originated within China and are, frankly, much more influential in the more moderate regions. Like the Baltics, or hell, some parts of the Turkish Government. They're less insane." He sighed for a moment.

"They believe that Muhammed tasked their ancestors with spreading the religion of equals and peace. It refuses to engage in active combat unless it's either a self-defense mechanism or a form of 'righteous crusade' that's marginally more humanitarian and reconstructive than normal Noddie 'crusades'," He scoffed at the last part. "The Sinkist religion is some weird form of folk ancestor worship, combined with Islamic ideas. The idea that Mohammed tasked the believers' ancestors to spread the religion of peace."

"Worst part is they're incredibly sane. Were it not for the fact that they revere their ancestors and God, they'd look like regular secularists! Or, at least, in some way..." He shrugged. "They're tolerant to a tee, willing to accept all who walk down the Sinkist path, but pray for the safety of those who do not. But you want to know what the worst part is?"

"Hmm?" I responded. The Sinkist guys sounded more like a cult with an unfortunate circumstance surrounding them. If he was in a better world, maybe they'd be viewed like eccentric but normal people. Too bad they're a part of Nod, though...

"The worst part was that in the event of Tiberium hitting earth and the first reports of NCID, they prayed and prayed for those afflicted. They wished good luck on them for 'standing up to one of God's trials' and mourned those who lost, calling them Martyrs and honoring them by establishing the 'Tomb of the Unknown Martyr'. Those who were recovering were prayed for, and the recovered..." He chuckled, then coughed for a little bit, before continuing.

"Those who recovered were said to have stood near God and lived. They serve as the closest thing we have to saints. They're near-revered as the ones closest to God. In a weird way akin to the disciples of Jesus. Only, well, more numerous." Harma finished, shaking his head but I could tell he had a smile underneath that. The fact that there was a moderate group in Nod got him to smile even more.

"So I guess we're Saints of Nod, then?" I laughed. Harma's first response was to laugh with me, as I slapped my knee. Harma howled and instead clutched his sides. "Hey, hey! Maybe we could have days named after us!" Harma smiled. "Oh, if only, haha." Harma responded. "I'd rather not be known as the Saint who goes insane about details and Guns. I have enough on my titles as-is."

"And I don't want to be known as the Saint with blood on his collars. I mean, there are far worse titles, that's for sure. But still. Blood-collared Saint is going to be the death of me." Harma's eyes paved the way for a hidden smirk. I knew the guy would do things like that. We were buds for a reason. But he is pretty much one of the few Noddies I've basically come to enjoy.

"Hey, dude." Harma looked at me.

"Hmm?"

"You think we'll ever recover from this? I mean, look. Parts of our blood will get crystallized, we'll bleed crystals, and hell, I have a feeling that crystals will grow out of me." Harma said, tone turning forlorn. "I heard that people can survive it, but still..." He held his hands together and put his head down. "Are we actually going to make it out of this?"

I looked at him and proceeded to pat him on the shoulder. He needed it. "We'll make it out of here, I promise you." I smiled. Harma was the only buddy in Nod I had, and by God I was willing to die for him.

"Look, Harma." I spoke up to him. "If we wouldn't get out of here, I'm willing to shill out 20 Dollars after my death."

"Be sure to pay me in hell, alright?" Harma spoke, grinning under that bloodstained balaclava.

"Got it."

And thus I sat there, reassuring Harma. But, in order to prevent thoughts about the looming possibility of dying to a crystal infection, I decided to try and bring levity to the situation. Something about our roles as infantry. I always wondered what the roles of Nod had for its infantry. In particular, something that interested me was the role of the Black Hand. As far as he could tell, they were Nod's black ops.

"Hey, Harma." I asked him. "I've come to ask a question that only came up just now." Harma looked at me with one eyebrow raised and responded. "Shoot." He said, continuing to prevent himself from coughing up more blood.

"What role does the Black Hand play? I've seen them around the base, but as far as I can tell I'm in the dark regarding them." I spoke. Harma breathed in, and sighed. "I'll keep it short, alright?"

"Alright."

"Okay, so within the proper context of Nod, the Black Hand is the right arm of Nod. The cleanup. The black operations. The raiders. They're basically the special forces of Nod. Hell, even within Estonia, I know the 'Black Hand' more as the ESTSOF. Estonian Special Operations Force. You can identify them by the signature laser rifles they possess, well, that and their bicycle helmets. And black uniforms. On second thought, they wear a lot of dark coloring. But you can easily identify them."

"I see."

"The Black Hand basically are the dirty-work guys. Yeah, they are the personal group of Kane. But they're also decentralized, and most operate as the SOF of Nod anyway. We also call them 'Commandos'. Although, speaking of them," Harma put his hands to his chin to think. "Where do your commandos come from?"

"Ah, they would come from two sources," I responded, putting up two of my fingers as I proceeded to rattle off about the goddamned ISA and the 'Tan Berets'. "The International Security Agency, and the Tan Berets. The ISA is basically the GDI's secret police. They have a more common name though, Zashtitate. Last two letters come from Romanian word to describe Security. Everything before that is Bulgarian."

I took a moment to pause, before talking about the ISA. "The Zashtitate are ruthless in their tasks. They're if the Black Hand was a UNPOL Operation. They answer only to the Secretary-General, while GDI is commanded by the Chief of Staff. But ISA Agents are often trained under GDI, so it's somewhat of a moot point," I stopped there, and then moved on to the Tan Berets.

"Then there's the Tan Berets. Officially "Studies and Observations Group Echo-9" they represent GDI's SOF. The Zashtitate are more civilian by technicality, but hey, Echo-9 and the Zashtitate both produce commandos. Echo-9 is where the best of the best come from. Or so I've heard. You can tell if it's an Echo-9 man by their tan beret, and a Zashtitate man if they wear a shoulder pad."

"I see." Harma nodded. "Well, this has been... an interesting conversation." He concluded, with both of us having nothing to say later.

"Yeah, it's one of those times." I fidgeted sheepishly, while Harma just decided to call it a day.

"I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when they decide to dissect us." He got up and proceeded to lie down on the floor of the 'tent' covering us and quarantining us. Proceeding to put his hands below his head as a crude pillow. "Nighty-night." He said, before closing his eyes.

I chuckled. "Nighty-nite."

And I was left alone with my thoughts.

But all I wondered was just a simple question.

"Why didn't I bring a Gas Mask?"

The world truly had it against him.

Author's Notes:

Terribly sorry for being late and taking time with my other fics! Or, at least, another one. I had school going after me, and I only got to finishing this draft as a short worldbuilding chapter as an interim back towards the plot with the Pilot. I promised to show off a draft regarding the Nod religion, and here I am. Again, this was made in a self-inflicted crunch, and I rushed it. I am terribly sorry. This is just meant to be a worldbuilding chapter, with some ideas tied in. I tried to squeeze in more but I crunched it. Pain.

Also, if any part of the religion discussion is a bit too close, I'm sorry. I just tried to run with what worldbuilding ideas I had that could tie into Nod's culty shenanigans and ideas that didn't. You're free to yell at me. Also, yes, the Zashtitate is a Securitate reference. I've been trying to tie in legitimate cold war elements with the worldbuilding of Tiberian Dawn.

Hopefully next chapter will be about the actual plot. Also, if anyone wants to say something about the tying of gameplay logic into this story; Yes, I understand that it's better for the readers to leave it separately in. However, I've been trying to have continuity nods towards the game itself and not just its story. I just want to get a stifle or two while trying to work with the logic presented to me. I'll just go out of my way to say that the gameplay logic is still going to stay, if anything just for entertainment. Even if it means suspension of disbelief. Terribly sorry about that.

Well, I hope to see y'all in the next chapter. I have a few fanfics to work on though, so expect me to take my sweet time. Well, also with some thanks to school.

Bye.