Principium: Cachinnus
Even the smallest of decisions can have far-reaching consequences.
"Everyone ready?"
"Yes sir!"
Much as a tiny stone's ripples reach far across the pond, farther than its thrower expected, so too can one man or woman's choice shake the world itself.
"Are you sure we have enough time? Why aren't Agent Tanya or Norio coming with us?"
"They're still busy mopping up in Brazil. Doctor Siegfried will be accompanying us instead!"
"Guess that makes sense. If anyone can dig something out of the wrecks, it's him."
"He's probably there already, right? With that freaky suit and all…"
"Pffft! Freaky!? He can teleport anywhere! That's not freaky, that's cool!"
"Alright, enough chit-chat folks, get in the transports and prepare for Chronoshift! Area's likely crawling with hostiles, so weapons at the ready!"
"Yes sir!"
This is the story of that choice.
"Chronoshift in 10 seconds. Destination locked."
Of those ripples.
"Commencing Operation: Scavenger."
"Location: Black Forest, Germany."
Of those consequences.
Objective 1: Bring Siegfried To The Seinstech HQ Ruins And Emergency Bunkers
Objective 2: Eliminate All Enemy Bases
Objective 3: Keep Siegfried Alive
And of the much brighter future that awaited the world because of them.
"Battle Control Online."
Interbellum: Relentless
"Hey, Commander? Are you sure this is the best idea?"
Jonathan looked over to find Tanya, arms folded and eyebrows raised.
"Is what the best idea, Agent?" He asked, smiling back at her.
"All that." Tanya unfolded an arm and gestured in front of her, at the rows of War Factories and Barracks being steadily deployed by the nearby Construction Yards.
"Do we really need all of these production facilities? We've got plenty enough as is, surely? Took a hell of a while to gather all the extra ore we needed for 'em, you know Epsilon'll be better prepared for us now, right?"
Jonathan nodded gently and sighed.
"Yeah, I know, but I figured it was worth the risk. Especially with all the losses we've already taken."
He rubbed his eyes and glanced at a nearby group of GIs, Medics, Snipers and Navy SEALs, deep in discussion about who-knew-what.
"And we'll eventually be going for Epsilon's HQ, wherever it might be. They'll be dug in tight ready for us no matter how long we take to get there….and people are going to die cracking those defences open. We need to be able to keep all our task forces topped up at a moment's notice."
He punctuated his point by stepping to the side, allowing a fresh Charon Tank, Cavalier Tank and Archon AMC to roll right past, on their way to the Euro Alliance's section of the Pocket Dimension, followed by Guardian GIs and a few Engineers.
"Well, that's what our forward bases are for, right?" Tanya replied.
"And that way they can get right into the fight instead of needing a Chronoshift or paradrop. Isn't that why we went back to the Black Forest in the first place?"
Mimicking her superior, the Special Agent stepped aside and pointed at the last War Factory in the line, one of the first of the extra facilities he'd ordered built, which had a large, bulky truck slowly emerging from it.
The sight of the vehicle being surrounded by a few Blizzard Tanks, Tsurugis and Kappa Tanks, which all began escorting it to the Pacific Front's section of the Pocket Dimension, filled the man's uneasy heart with a sense of relief and confidence.
As if the round Chrono trip was well worth the delay it had caused the expedition.
The sheer power of the Russians' MIDAS had meant they'd had to flip over every last proverbial rock to get even a third of the data they'd been hoping for, no doubt giving Yuri and his subordinates even more time to entrench themselves in their HQ as Jonathan, Siegfried and their task force rifled through the ashes.
However, their labours had eventually borne much fruit, helped immensely by his decision to capture the local Soviet garrison's War Factory, Palace, Battle Lab and Construction Yard to plunder their databases, the resulting fusion of Allied and Soviet tech schematics within the Paradox Engine's engineering sections gifting them their first boon.
The Mobile Construction Vehicle, long cursed by Allied planners as far-too-rare and prohibitively complex technology, was now freely available to produce within the Engine's more elaborate and specially equipped War Factories. Such an advanced vehicle would, of course, take a considerable amount of time to assemble and roll out compared to their combat-capable ones, but it was a small price to pay.
And the MCV was not the only wonder they'd been able to salvage from the Steinstech wreckage…
"Paradrops? No need for them anymore! After all, we have these!"
Jonathan was rather disappointed when the flourishing sweep of his hand met nothing but an empty space.
Damn, I misjudged the timing.
"Empty air? Wow, real inventive, Commander." Tanya raised an eyebrow and grinned cheekily.
"Guess we're gonna be kicking our troops right out the Paradox Engine now, eh? Bit unconventional, but who am I to argue with your wisdom?"
"No, not that." He mumbled.
A familiar rushing of air had him brightening up again.
"These!"
He pointed again, this time at the large, tracked, missile-armed tank that had begun to phase into view right before their eyes.
"Eh? The boys in the labs cooked up a new toy for us?" Tanya smiled, moving forwards to stand by Jonathan.
"Actually it's an old toy from Steinstech, the Quickshifter. Siegfried found some prototypes in an underground lab and the engineering corps just dusted 'em off. It's a two-seater APC with an attached rocket launcher, sort of like a Stryker or Archon but exchange the adaptability for Chronoshifting."
"From that description, it kinda feels like deja-vu for some reason…"
"Well, Siegfried told me it was based on an old Allied design from World War 2. You ever heard of the Chrono Tank before?"
"First I'm hearing about it, but cool. Cool."
"Yeah, if nothing else they'll be useful for moving infantry in and out of the field without relying on paratroopers all the time. We can get Spies and Engineers into the field a lot faster now."
"What a revolutionary strategy, Commander. Yuri's never gonna see 'em coming."
"Yeah yeah, keep laughing next time you're pinned down by Gatling Cannons and Inferno Towers, just begging for a spy to give you the opening to slap some C4 on them. Who'll you turn to for that, huh?" Jonathan jerked a thumb in his direction and smirked.
"Aaaaww, thanks Commander….but I've got Siegfried for that." Tanya returned it with interest.
"Oh alrighty, I see how it is. Well, at least you two are getting along just fine."
"Yeah, thick as thieves, we are." The Special Agent boasted, now turning and striding away.
"Don't wanna stick around? There's a few other toys to show off ya know!"
"Thanks Commander, but-"
This time, he could see just a hint of nerves in her expression as she jerked her head around to look past him.
"-I'd feel a lot safer away from the salvage."
Her words brought the whirring hum filling the room from background noise into clear focus as Jonathan turned to look in the direction Tanya was.
Yeah, can't exactly blame her for that one.
He too would prefer to never see another Psychic Beacon for as long as he lived.
But it was, in his mind, a necessary security measure before they plunged into the belly of the beast.
They'd lost FAR too many good soldiers to Yuri's psychic trickery already.
They would NOT lose many more. Not on his watch.
"Hey, this one's on our side, or it's going to be. The one in Italy worked just fine against the Psychic Amplifier, so why not try that again for the biggest base we've got left?" He assured her. "Just give it a chance, will you?"
They'd almost missed that chance entirely. Even with all their precautions and care, including Spies breaking into the garrison's Construction Yard, Pandora Hub, Radar Spire and Bioreactors to cut off their power, command protocols and communications, trying to stop Yuri or the resident Proselyte from remotely dismantling or self-destructing the Beacon, the Epsilon soldiers had eventually cottoned on.
The last few handfuls of defenders had turned their own guns on the Beacon. Better to see it in ruins than in Allied hands, they had decided.
Fortunately, Siegfried's quick thinking had come to the Allies' rescue, lowering his Neutron Cannon's output right the way down and beginning the Beacon's dematerialisation in the nick of time.
And with the defenders' weapons pointed away from them, ineffectually pouring lead and psychic fire into their fading target, the Allied assault forces had dispatched the remaining resistance swiftly, letting the scientist release their prize before his weapon could fully banish it.
The Beacon was thus theirs. Badly damaged but still operational, and nothing their own Construction Yard's repair protocols couldn't fix, the Paradox Engine's technicians were quick to ferry it to the Pocket Dimension, where it was now poured over by Siegfried, his assistants and the Paradox's primary engineering team.
"Okay, Commander. Okay." Tanya nodded softly. "If you say it'll work, then it'll work."
"Thanks Tanya." He smiled, raising a hand to her shoulder and squeezing it gently. "Alright, we should be arriving in the vicinity of Cape Town soon, so best go get ready."
"You got it, Commander."
As she saluted and jogged away, Jonathan began walking over to Siegfried and his cohorts. Best to check up on them while he could.
The Engine's chief engineer (what was his name again, Mark maybe?), noticed him first and waved merrily.
"Ah, there y'are lad! What canae do for ya?" He called, in an accent Jonathan recognised as Scottish.
"Just here for an update on refitting this thing." Jonathan indicated the Beacon. "I know you've not exactly worked with Epsilon tech before, so don't worry if there's some complications."
"Hahaha, don't ye worry none!" The burly man laughed, slapping him heartily on the back and nearly sending Jonathan to the floor with how much force he put into it. "Main problem's pullin' double duty on this and them wee towers."
"What "wee towers"?" Jonathan asked, confused.
"The salvaged Hybrid Tower designs." Siegfried cut in, approaching the duo with hands clasped behind his back.
"They were an old Steinstech project, aiming to combine Soviet Tesla technology with our Prism technology to create an all-purpose defence tower for our bases, with rapid-fire Tesla projectors for use on aircraft and artillery attacks, while the Prism refractors attack ground targets."
"Sounds like a great addition to the arsenal. I'm sure everyone's going to love giving Epsilon a front-row demonstration of the new towers."
Siegfried's neutral expression dipped into a morose frown.
"I'm afraid these towers can't be deployed to the frontlines, Commander. We weren't able to find the data schematics we needed to finish the Tesla portion of the tower's internal mechanisms. The storage was far too damaged in the MIDAS blast."
"Damn it. Well, at least we got some data. How about the Super Thor design?"
"Almost nothing left of that. All we could recover were the technical specifications for its shield generator."
"Knew it was wishful thinking to try and get that back." Jonathan shrugged and sighed. "So if those were a bust, why are we building some of those Hybrid Towers in the Paradox Engine? We can't use them."
"Not the way they were intended, no. However-" this time, Siegfried did crack a small smile.
"My team and I decided to replace the intended Tesla technology components in the Hybrid Towers with the existing technology of our Shield Command building and new components based off of the Super Thor's shield generator.
"While we couldn't re-create the Super Thor, we realised we could expand on the existing principle behind its shields."
"...and scale it up to apply to the Paradox Engine itself?" Jonathan guessed, smiling back and raising an eyebrow.
"Correct, Commander. Once our new Shield Towers are complete, the Paradox Engine will have a permanent, recharging force shield bubble to protect it. From our calculations, it should be able to recharge even while being fired on but obviously it won't be as quick."
"No no, that's still great! We'll be able to bring the ship to the frontlines a lot more with that extra protection." Jonathan nodded and offered him a thumbs up. "Great work Siegfried, anything I can do to help the process along?"
"Yes, actually. The power drain on these towers will be…substantial." The scientist grimaced. "Shielding a vessel of this size is quite the herculean effort, especially with this semi-experimental technology. There is always the Paradox Battery as a source but, well…"
"Yeah, it'll be a hell of a drain on top of everything else."
"And we'll need to stop for more recharges, which we'd like to avoid."
Jonathan nodded and scratched his chin.
Yeah, you never know when Yuri's going to try another Psychic Amplifier or Nuke Silo…
"So, you want an independent power source for these things? Want me to order up some Power Plants for 'em? We've got plenty of ConYards now, so they should be up in no time."
"Thank you Commander, but I fear these towers will require more power than our stations can provide while using this space most efficiently. Put simply, we'd need too many of them per tower. If we're forced to, we'll go with that option, but we'd like to be able to keep as much space free for extra military production infrastructure as we can."
"All right, you have a backup option in mind?"
"Yes. During the next operation, could you keep an eye out for any Tech Nuclear Plants around the operation area? They should be able to generate the power we need without taking up too much space."
"Yeah, sure. How many d'you need?"
Siegfried sucked in a breath, rubbing at his chin and looking around.
"Mmmmm, a bare minimum of 1 per tower would be acceptable, and we've calculated that we should need 6 Shield Towers for the Paradox Engine to be properly protected, otherwise the barriers will be spread far too thin and they'll be very weak, so try to find 6 Nuclear Plants."
"Got it. I'll keep an eye out and tell the troops to do the same. If we can't find enough, then we'll expand the search outside the operation area till we find all we need."
"I wouldn't want to delay us any further, Commander. We can always go with our own Power Plants." Siegfried assured him.
"It's okay, command's planning to stop for a recharge here after we take Cape Town anyway. We're going to set up our own naval and mining base here, so I'm sure they won't mind my forces spreading out a little bit to find some Tech Plants while Ellis' guys get set up."
"Understood. My team and I will be on standby to Chronolift them to the Engine once they're secure."
"An' the boys and I'll keep on working on gettin' all this hardware installed!" The chief engineer grinned.
"Thank you, uh-"
"Montgomery, lad! But ye' can call me Monty!" Monty offered his hand, which Jonathan took. "It'll take us a while, but we'll get it done!"
"Great. If possible, focus on the Psychic Beacon first. The sooner we can keep Yuri and his psychic corps from probing our HQ, the better."
"Consider it done, laddie!" With that, Monty lumbered over to the Beacon and his fellow Engineers.
Jonathan turned to Siegfried, intending to speak again, only for a voice from his earpiece to interrupt him.
"Commander, we're approaching Cape Town. The naval detachment is already assembled and Commander Ellis is waiting for you in the command centre."
"Understood Eva, I'll be there soon."
Glancing at Siegfried, he smiled apologetically.
"Duty calls. Hopefully we'll find Epsilon's HQ from this data centre."
"Understood, viel glück Commander." Siegfried nodded and took his leave, with Jonathan jogging off in the opposite direction.
Time to go to work.