I'm on something of a roll today. Three chapters were uploaded within a two month time-space. Chances are that the output will slow over the next few weeks as class ramps up though.
Anyway, enjoy this chapter of the Beta getting smacked from Space.
Orbit of Earth, Lance Battery 20
Space had always been the exclusive domain of GDI. Up until recently, no one had the power to contest the orbits of Earth beyond the occasional missile strike.
From the constant lines of Fusion and Impulse driven spacecraft that dotted the trade lanes to the various human colonies, to the myriad of industrial and orbital habitats stations in Earth's atmosphere, and the growing solar armada of human warships guarding against another Scrin invasion.
But the oldest network in space was also Earth's last line of defence in Space: the Orbital Ion cannon network.
Hundreds of sword-prong-like satellites, each larger than a maritime freighter and packed with some of the most sophisticated and rugged technologies. From the most powerful Fusion Reactors and targeting systems to the Energy capacitors and radiators.
They weren't the only weapon systems in orbit of Earth, with GDI operating a network of Railguns, Missile, particle beam, and Laser satellites to support the defence lines.
The Ion cannons, though, would remain any Ground Force's go-to strategic weapon. Used constantly to cover the advance of any GDI army or Fleet.
And like any other operation, a Lance Battery of four Ion Cannons Satellites prepared to conduct a routine ritual.
Reconnaissance and Communication satellites watched above as a vast horde grew in Kuwait by the hundreds per second. It correlated the data from a thousand sources, from Tank cameras and drone footage to satellite imaging.
From one of the ASAT defence stations which coordinated Earth's defence Grid, a Space Force Officer received the fire mission request and wordlessly approved it. Another officer followed the customary procedure and approved the computer to begin preparations.
Thrusters pushed the leviathan cannons into the correct orientations, fusion reactors and capacitors began feeding energy into the Particle Array, targeting data feed information to ensure friendlies weren't hit, and the communication array awaited the approval to fire.
The Thrusters pulsed again, making millimetre adjustments from the Targeting system's scans of stellar and geographic markers. The Reactors and Capacitors surged with unthinkable amounts of energy.
When it was ensured no GDI forces would be in the line of the fire, someone on the ASAT station pulled the proverbial trigger.
From each of the four cannons, 8 beam projections suddenly surged earthwards along the main cannon before beginning to rotate around the main weapon's shaft.
On the ground and just outside of the portal, GDI drone cameras watched as 32 beams crashed into the horde of alien creatures, each striking within the horde that stretched along kilometres. Where beams struck, creatures burned or burst from the raw particle beams.
And then the beams began to swirl, closing in on each other as alien creatures were torched as they ran in and out of the beams. The Beams began spinning faster and faster, closing in on each other as the air around them became ionized and became plasma.
Seconds ticked by as the beams converged closer and closer into an epicentre, creatures, large and small, burst into flames and died by the hundreds.
Soon enough, the beams converged together into one singular beam. Before disappearing, they turned the area around the strike into boiling plasma.
The computers ran diagnostics and analysis once more in microseconds, before beginning the final process.
From every single Ion Cannon of Lance Battery 20, almost every scrap of power surged into the main cannons, and every single cannon unleashed enough power to fry whole downs.
Four great bolts of blue and white ionized particles briefly lashed from the heavens and struck the plasma in the target area, and everything turned white as the ground shook and dust erupted upwards.
Seconds later, the lights faded and the lands of Kuwait went still.
12 square kilometres of the desert had been incinerated by the might of four Ion Cannons, a horde of over 25,000 creatures was turned to blackened glass.
Among the casualties were dozens of forts, hundreds of destroyers, and the key components for a Hive. Along with almost every other creature in the horde.
A force that would have overran entire countries was gone in seconds.
Silence was all that remained yet as the dust settled, the world continued turning.
Lance Battery 20's ion cannon's thrusters pushed every single one of the massive weapons away from their firing positions, to continue its orbit and recharge before awaiting for the next fire mission.
In its place, two more Lance Batteries descended to take their place. 8 more massive Ion Cannons took up an overwatch position to await further commands.
They awaited the next set of targeting coordinates and requests for a fire mission, one that would not come anytime soon.
()
Kuwait, Middle East
20 Minutes Later
"Granger's Graces, this was a slaughter."
"I got nothing on my scopes. Ion Cannons did a lot on them"
Lieutenant Garcia Zalas of Zone Trooper Platoon Gaucho ignored the statement from his APC's Crewmembers as the platoon of Armadillos approached the target zone.
Actual had chosen the level the region outside of the portal with a full ion cannon strike rather than try and fight the horde with just two regiments.
Was he upset that both the 3rd and 5th got locked out of kills of their own? A bit.
But still, he couldn't deny that he enjoyed the fact that it just spared his platoon from slogging through them. He saw some of the camera footage from some of the engineers and he didn't want to know if his zone armour was bite-proof.
With the complete annihilation of the next horde, the 3rd and 5th moved up with an MCV to sweep and clear for any stragglers.
"Driver, halt. We'll disembark here and traverse on foot. Cover us with the 30mm."
"Copy LT. Pulling up just in a bit."
The Armadillo slowed to a halt, and Zalas glanced to the 5 other Troopers clad in Zone Armour.
One and a third times taller than the average human, weighing more than 800 kilos, clad in composite, Titanium, and Ferro-aluminium Alloy armour (the armour used in lighter and medium) vehicles, powered by a potent generator, packing the necessary life support systems to keep a soldier operating for days on end, and augmented some of the best power-augmentation tech around, the ZM-95 Zone Armour was a fairly practical armour system.
It wasn't exactly as flashy as the Raider or Lancers lines of Zone Armour that ZOCOM operated, but that was the whole point of the ZM-95, affectionately known as the Fusilier Armour.
Be good enough for the Regular Ground Forces and mass-producible for millions of soldiers. And by gods, he loved his armour.
"Troopers, we are getting off here. You all know the drill, even if it isn't against NOD, Bandits, or the Scrin. We're going to run a BDA on the Ion Cannon Strike and make anything that isn't human dead! Ohaah?"
"Ohaah!" The rest of the platoon replied, from both within his own APC and others.
"Alright, doors opening! Have fun out there!"
Garcia watched as two of the Troopers entered the rear airlock and the door closed behind them. He could hear the life support system and Tiberium scrubbing system activate.
In most combat situations, they would just rush out without fear of Tiberium contamination. Today, they could take it easy.
The airlock doors swung open and the next two Zone Troopers entered before sealing shut.
Finally, he watched as the airlock swung open again, empty and waiting for the next.
Taking a breath, he stepped into the airlock with the remaining Zone Trooper, Corporal Diaz.
Behind them, the hatch leading to the passenger bay shut close, and Garcia simply listened as the decontamination bay's system did its thing, with light sonic waves sweeping through to rid the bay of Tiberium.
Then, the hatch in front of him swung open to the outside world, and Garcia stepped out.
Emerging from the rear of the Armadillo, Garcia was initially treated to the rather normal desert view, with pockmarks of Tiberium crystal croppings jutting out of the ground. Another 4 Armadillo APCs and 8 Guardian II APCs had halted with GDI Troopers and more Zone Troopers disembarking.
He stepped around to the side of the APC he disembarked and was treated to the view of the apocalypse.
Blacken Glass, speckles of plasma in the air, and all the hallmarks of an Ion Cannon Strike. All in all, nothing too different from the many Ion Cannon Strikes Garcia got to witness the aftermath.
The hundreds of looming carcasses, and layers and piles of smashed organic matter was something new. And the puddles of blood and fluids that seemed to drip and stream from the bodies of the dead.
"When we were told we were fighting bugs, I was thinking of the Arachnids from Stellar Troopers. I think they forgot to add the amount of blood present," a Corporal Lucia noted, her Mexican accent bleeding into her words.
"Whole different world we're in. Alright Troopers, rally up, keep your heads on a swivel, and move out." Garcia ordered.
Garcia unhosted his GZR-4 Railgun Rifle. A 14mm short barreled Railgun Rifle, while not capable of ripping apart heavy walkers and tanks of the modern age, it was still extremely lethal against infantry and lighter vehicles while having better range and rates of fire.
The rest of his platoon, 24 Zone Troopers in total, unhinged their own weapons. From 40mm Short Barrelled anti-armour Railguns and GDM-3 Heavy Machine Guns to Long Range Laser Rifles and Missile Launchers. Enough firepower to wreck a Soviet Combined Arms Battalion.
Garcia began marching forward the wasteland of death, hearing the rest of his platoon following in.
As he got closer to some of the carcasses, he was presented with a rather grizzly view. A field of bloodied bodies of differing kinds.
Soon enough, he was face to face with one of the downed carcasses that was seemingly intact. One that resembled a white mushroom with eyes and a giant mouth.
Despite much of its skin being darkened from the effects of being hit with an Ion Cannon, Garcia couldn't deny that it was….unsettling to look at.
His suit ran a few scans with his suit, noting that it was dead. Likely one that had been thrown into the air and thrown back down from the initial cannon strike.
"Ugh, that's ugly," Lucia mentioned.
"We've fought Tiberium creatures before and thought they were ugly. Gotta say, this is a new level of ugly," Diaz added.
"Garcia turned away from the creatures and began walking past it toward another carcass. This time, one that the commander of the 71st had described as 'Fat Elephants' during the fighting.
The creature in front of him was a giant. Likely rivaling the size of ZOCOM's Mastodon Walkers. And while they definitely weren't elephants, he could understand why Clover Actual made the resemblance.
Remarkably, this one was still intact. Likely because it had been on the edge of the blast zone.
But his scans showed it was still dead.
"(Comms) Lt, Mac here. Lion's got drones inbound. Rottweilers and Guardians."
"Copy."
Garcia turned to see a quartet of tracked drones rolling from the parked APCs. In GDI's quest to bring more automated forces into play, they began introducing what every essentially tankettes.
The Rottweiler practically zoomed in. It was just armed with a normal GDM-3 Heavy Assault Rifle/Machine Gun, but its main purpose was recon and sniffing out targets with its myriad of sensors.
By contrast, the heavier Gaurdian, mounting a 40mm Railgun, had been designed to assist GDI forces in dealing with anti-armour units while taking hits. A mini-Tank.
"Good old Rotties and Gaurd Dogs. What would do without out them-"
"(Comms) Contact! Contact 500 metres! One hostile!"
An icon showed up on Garcia's HUD as he whipped around in the direction of the point where his troopers called in.
The contact was…..a bipedal creature. Same white tone as a dead carcass but this one did have an appendage resembling an elephant trunk.
And it was clearly wounded, stumbling forward but seemingly driven.
"Hey LT, uh we want to capture this thing?" One of the younger nearby Zone Troopers asked.
Garcia ignored the suggestion and refocused as he raised his Railguns at the target.
"This is Gaucho 1 to Red Control. We have one wounded wanderer. Do we have any…..wildlife containment equipment?"
"(Comms) uhhhhh, stand by Gaucho 1."
Other Zone Troopers and the arriving Unmanned Ground Vehicles levelled their own weapons against the creatures, as it stumbled forward and closer to the GDI detachment.
"Got to give it credit. Thing's moving after being shot with four Ion cannons."
"Mike, shut up."
"No no, he's got a point. Gotta respect something that can stand up after being hit by heaven."
"(Comms) Gaucho 1, This is control. Negative on containment resources. Red Actual orders that all Wanderer elements be neutralized."
Garcia flicked the safety off and felt energy surge into the Rails. "Copy Control."
The Zone Trooper pulled the trigger, the barrel of his rifle flashed blue, and a streak of whitish-blue flashed over the creature.
The streak dissipated quickly as it appeared, and the creature was clear as day.
Or at least the lower half, which toppled downwards.
"One tango down. Troopers! Let's move, we got a couple of sectors to clear out!"
"Ohaah!"
()
Command Mammoth Tank, Pacific Rim Actual.
25 minutes later
"(Comms) This is Gaucho 1, this sector is clear. We'll leave a few drones behind to be sure."
"(Comms) Pastor 1. Sector clear, good lords. These things are ugly."
"(Comms) Compass 1 here. We had to put down a few tangos but we're clear."
"(Comms) Paco 1. Finished our sweep, we are clear."
Coen simply listened as various teams of infantry swept the edges of the Ion Zone.
To put it bluntly, everything was either dead or dying. A near-perfect Ion Cannon Strike in his opinion.
And now, his Mammoths, Dragoons, and brigade of Zone Troopers had rearmed with full loads of ammo and fuel and were pushing towards the anomaly. With the 3rd and 5th Regiments dug in, he should be able to fend off another Wanderer attack as long as he had air or fleet support.
"(Comms) This is Lion. Rim Actual, do you read me?"
"Go ahead Lion," Coen replied.
"(Comms) My little metal friends and your doctors are immersing themselves in some of these creatures. It's…..interesting."
"Lion, before you enter your mad scientist phase of an AI life, please brief me."
"(Comms) Of course. For starters, all of these creatures are Carbon life forms. Their biological structures are….somewhat recognizable."
"Huh, Carbon. So, they could eat stuff humans and Earth animals can eat?"
"(Comms) Indeed. I cannot yet confirm everything but I believe these creatures have been designed specifically for consuming either materials or beings. I've found both Tiberium and carbon materials in their stomachs, both unlikely from either our strike or Tiberium exposure"
"That's somewhat disturbing."
"(Comms) That's not all. Some of my drones have run a few…..in-depth analyses. Some of these creatures have…..human biological matter within their structure."
"…You mean they ate humans or-"
"(Comms) Negative. Some of these creatures have what appear to be composed of biological matter found in humans and it's unlikely to have been humans that's been consumed. Not there would be enough humans to create these things."
Coen frowned. Kuwait and the surrounding area had been abandoned by humans for at least the last half a century. Outside the occasional NOD, GDI, and Protectorate recon patrols, there wouldn't be enough humans to eat.
That posed….some questions.
"Bag and tag those specific specimens, for the time being, Lion. We'll let dedicated eggheads handle it. And keep your lips zipped for the time being."
"(Comms) Understood, moving out General."
The AI disappeared, presumably to continue his work.
Meanwhile, Coen pondered. Creatures made of humans? He recalled several fictional works where humans were melted down as raw materials in horror shows. Whether as some perverted attempt at species preservation or protein building blocks for ships.
The general shook his head. He'll let the scientists deal with that problem. Right now, he had to worry about another Wanderer attack.
"EVA, Status on Griffin?"
"Griffin Actual's status is that he is moving his entire regiment to reinforce Red and Mapuche. The first line of Rigs are being deployed and rudimentary stationary defences have been established."
"Very well. Remind him that the sooner we get a base up and running, the sooner we can have more guns set up."
"Understood. This unit will inform Griffins Actual to hasten his pace."
Coen pondered for a moment. "Driver? Bring us towards Red Actual's location."
"Understood General. We're moving."
Coen felt the treads of his tanks rumble and churn through sand and rock, towards his troopers and the portal.
His musing was over, it was back to the front.