Chapter 1: Entanglement
>Exiting hibernation routines...
>Initiating bootup protocols...
>Running preliminary shakedowns...
>Running interface systems...
>Electronic Video Agent initializing...
>Establishing connection with ISDSS Washington and ISDI CENTCOM...
>Verifying identification...
>...
>...
>...
>Welcome back, Commander Martin Alexandra...
"Skip the pleasantries, EVA, and let's get started," Alexandra said, sitting down at the command console. "I just spent two weeks suffering through endless chair meetings and a lecture by ISDI Intelligence Ops reminding every commander in the Initiative about the Hallman Directive." He sighed and rubbed his forehead, the fatigue of going through days' worth of banal intelligence debriefings. "On a good day, InOps might be able to say that Tiberium is green."
"Affirmative, commander. The Interstellar Defense Initiative believes that all commanders should follow protocol and—"
"No. Stop that, EVA, it's annoying me. Just cut to the chase; I already know about everything you're about to tell me, and I'm not going to suffer through that again. Give me a situation report on the ITC Methuselah and what the hell's been going on here recently."
"Across the Methuselah's numbers of more than three thousand soldiers and crew, morale remains constant, though more veteran soldiers under your command have expressed their dismay at lack of combat time to their commanding officers. Scrin involvement on the frontlines remain at an all-time high, while border colonies are still under heavy protection by individual crawler support groups as dictated by ISDI CENTCOM."
"Any word from Washington about our next deployment?"
"Yes, commander. CENTCOM has directed us to begin controlled expansion over certain frontiers. Extraterrestrial contact has been deemed secondary to stopping the spread of Tiberium across other planets, should it be found. The Methuselah has been directed towards one of these sectors on behalf of your recommendation as an outstanding commander."
Alexandra sighed again. "Being top dog really sucks ass sometimes... do we have any sectors in range at the moment?"
"We are currently in orbit around an unidentified planet, noted to have Earth-like atmosphere. It is currently being ravaged by Tiberium and intensive scans on the planet have proven fruitless due to ion storm interference."
The holographic displays before Alexandra flashed, bringing up the tri-hex symbol of Tiberium and then cut to a data report of the planet they now sat over. "Hmm... sun and moon seem normal... almost reminds me of Earth, actually. What's the data from the Methuselah's InOps team?"
"InOps has speculated that the world is beginning the final stages of Tiberium proliferation. Categorization paints the world as seventy-eight percent Red Zone, twenty percent Yellow Zone, and 3% Blue Zone, the last of which is isolated to small landmasses surrounded by large bodies of water. InOps assumes that indigenous life may have been all but eradicated."
"Any Scrin presence?" he asked. That such a world rife with Tiberium was ignored by the Scrin meant that ISDI pressure on them was substantially more effective than previously thought. Scrin required Tiberium to survive, so being able to starve their enemies at every opportunity was far too great to ignore.
"According to the Hallman Directive, the Methuselah is to immediately reclaim the planet from Tiberium encroachment and defend it against any and all Scrin incursions that may appear when doing so. In the presence of local Scrin forces, the planet is to be taken back and—"
"EVA, directive 0095-XBC November. Please shut up."
"Understood, commander. Deactivating protocol reminders."
"And remind me to find the tech who updated you so I can kick his ass later," he grumbled. "So, Scrin presence?"
"There is no indication of Scrin presence on the planet, as no craft have been detected within the immediate vicinity of the Methuselah. In addition, there are no energy signatures from threshold towers planetside, so it is safe to assume that Scrin activity here is minimal or none at all."
"Why haven't we started landing forces on the planet yet?"
"The planet has heavy Tiberium infestation, and ion storms are present in most of the Red and Yellow Zones. General regions suitable for landing have been blocked off because of this. Further action was denied until your meeting with ISDI CENTCOM was completed and you were able to give a decision on the matter."
"Fantastic. Recommend course of action, EVA," he said. Though actual assessments from EVA were novice at best, it was interesting to Alexandra to see what sort of action EVA would recommend as opposed to his own; a keen reminder of how veteran commanders operated as opposed to ones still getting used to the console.
"Given intelligence and planetary composition, the recommended course of action would be to deploy a small team of elite soldiers to secure a drop zone via beacon. With that, I can plot out an accurate landing trajectory to avoid the worst of the ion storms and alleviate most of the interference for our Orca transports."
"Huh. You actually put together something good this time. Very well, EVA, let's go with that. Grab a squad of soldiers and a commando, and prep them for immediate drop. Notify CENTCOM that we're proceeding with Tiberium abatement protocol and will purge this world as necessary."
"Understood, commander. They will be prepared for drop within ten minutes."
"Lieutenant Anton Viers, you have orders for immediate drop. Prep immediately and meet in the launch bay in ten minutes."
"Fucking finally," Viers muttered, hopping out of his bunk and stretching his muscles. Though all the free time meant that he could work out at his own leisure, it was incredibly stale compared to operating in his own zone armor. At least in combat, you were always on your toes.
He pulled on his combat fatigues, his shirt emblazoned with the flying eagle insignia of the Interstellar Defense Initiative, and headed out the door. Ever since the Ascension Conflict had ended over a century ago, the reverse engineering of Scrin technology presented doorways for humanity that they never would have found quickly otherwise.
Among those of which were terraforming and jump technology, both primary pillars of Scrin technology that the then-named Global Defense Initiative quickly threw scientists at in droves. With the first crafts sent into space and the first colonies established, deep space scans quickly showed that the Scrin held several nearby systems, fully processed worlds that provided their lifeblood in large spades, spreading throughout the surrounding systems, though it was revealed later on that worlds containing life provided much faster growth compared to those without. To find them was easy: Scrin threshold towers emanated massive energy signatures, and GDI scanners could easily pick them up across vast expanses of space.
So to combat the Scrin's ever-increasing presence, the redesign of the GDI's Global Stratospheric Transports began, and resulted in the creation of the Interstellar Troop Carrier, now under the use of commanders throughout all of the ISDI. And each had a contingent of standard troops, battle-hardened soldiers, and as always, one or several of the ISDI's elite commandos.
Viers himself was one: he actually requested to be put under the command of Commander Alexandra given his reputation across several incredible victories on the war front. He was beginning to regret his decision, but now he was called to action. Perhaps this wasn't going to be so stale, after all; commandos were men of deeds, not words, and every single moment they were out in the field was another moment that could be spent helping the ISDI fight back against the Scrin.
Proceeding through the armory, Viers stopped before the armor refit station and entered in his identification. He stepped inside and stood motionless as the machines within went to work, assembling his commando zone trooper armor around him as his objectives appeared on his heads-up display.
"Blind drop into a Red Zone so we can go ahead with abatement operations, huh...?" His suit created a contained environment with a hiss, and his armor was good to go. "Test, test, come in, command," he said, pinging his direct comm link to Commander Alexandra.
"Alexandra here. Viers, you've got your orders. Proceed to launch bay D-7 and prepare for orbital drop." Alexandra was never really one for small talk, and that was something that Viers always appreciated from him.
"Yes, sir," Viers responded. A hatch opened on his right as he walked out of the refit station, and his Guardian heavy machinegun rolled out before him. Though most zone troopers were outfitted with more conventional portable cannons, high-caliber explosive ammunition with a high rate of fire worked just as well against the Scrin as anything else. "Will we have harmonic resonance weapons available to us?"
"Your attached squad will have access to them. They're veterans, don't worry. I know how you commandos hate being paired up with greenhorns, so you'll get some decent soldiers this time around," Alexandra said. "This might be Tiberium at a juvenile stage of evolution, so there's a good chance that they'll work."
"Who's the squad?" he asked, passing by a pair of navy technicians as he exited the armory. He rumbled down the hallways in the bulky suit, barely fitting through most of the bulkheads.
"ISDI infantry that have seen some good combat time, a small four-man zone trooper squad, callsign Yankee. Yankee Lead is already in the launch bay with his squad and awaiting your arrival."
"No worries here, commander, I'm already there." Viers entered the expansive launch bay, the view of the planet hanging just outside the hangar’s shielded doors and wreathed with musty green, to see Yankee Lead waving to him near one of the drop pods.
"Hey, sir! You're the commando, right? Yankee Lead, at your service!" He awkwardly saluted as his suit's hefty hand tapped against his faceplate. "Now that you're here, we just have to wait for the last bastard to show up."
Viers was unaware of extra elements being attached to his deployment. "Who else is there?"
Yankee Lead scoffed. "InOps. The commander wants someone with medical experience down there, since we're deploying blind straight into a Red Zone. So we have an InOps doctor heading down with us."
"What the hell does InOps do with a doctor?" Viers asked.
"Research on the biological effects of Tiberium," came a voice from behind them. They all turned to see another person decked out in zone trooper armor before them. "Since we can't deploy our full force, we'll have to do with just us. And in the case that any of you should fall ill," he said, "you'll receive immediate medical treatment."
Yankee Lead huffed. "With all due respect, sir, we're zone troopers. I think we can handle ourselves out there." He shuffled around on his hydraulics, putting a hand on his Enforcer tri-barreled chaingun. "We don't need a doctor following us around out there."
The doctor shrugged. "Orders are orders. You have a problem with it, talk to the commander."
Viers opened a line with Alexandra, as the droning of machinery echoed in the background as an Orca transport was brought through the area on its way to the engineering bay. "Commander, are you assigning an InOps doctor to us?"
"You'll be blind out there, and I'd rather not chance losing an experienced squad if I can help it. On top of that, intelligence reports that other Tiberium-afflicted planets with indigenous life have proven to be extremely hostile and possibly more than your weapons can deal with. I'm taking no chances. Now stop wasting time and deploy."
He turned to look at Yankee Lead. "Looks like it's legit. The doctor is coming with us."
"Then you'll get no arguments from me," Yankee Lead said, holding up his left hand as an affirmation. "Now let's get in the pod. God knows we've got our work cut out for us. Got that beacon, sir?"
"Yeah." Viers held up the drop zone beacon before placing it back into his pack. "Your squad ready?"
"Ready and raring, sir."
"Excellent. Doctor, you're with me. Stay close to us and try not to get killed."
"I know how to use a gun, you know," the doctor said. "I've been trained, I'm InOps, after all."
"I might be inclined to believe that when InOps can tell the difference between Scrin artillery and our own," Viers said, recalling an unfortunate incident of friendly fire on Avarus IV. "Now get inside."
"Register confirmation for drop pod EP-185, infantry group callsign Yankee. Registration confirmed from Commander Alexandra. Control tower to commando, callsign Dagger, you are clear for launch. Happy hunting down there, and godspeed."
The interior of the pod was lit with a dim red glow as Viers keyed the ready button. "Dagger, ready confirmation. Launching pod now."
Metal shook against metal as the pod was launched from one of the Methuselah's many launch bays, falling towards the planet at extreme speed. Comfort was a secondary concern in the cramped enclosure, as survivability was the primary concern, though their suits could absorb more than enough of the damage to keep their legs still functional after they hit the ground.
"Yeehaw!" Yankee Two shouted. "Now this is what I've been waiting for!"
"Hey, you and me both, man," Yankee Four said. "Finally going to get some real action down here, baby!"
"Shut the fuck up, you retards," Yankee Three said. "Can't you see we've got a commando operating with us? Get your shit together, this mission is going to go from cakewalk to shitstorm the minute we hit the ground, I promise you that."
"Come on, man, why do you have to be such a buzzkill?"
"We're going into a Red Zone blind with a medic as our only support. This has fucking Murphy's Law written all over it."
Yankee Two laughed. "Seriously, man, you should just go hang with the regular infantry bozos down at the mess hall if you want to get all yellow-bellied over it. We look forward to this stuff because we're the ones who get shit done, remember?"
"Yeah, so long as we get some Scrin to shoot at, I'm a happy camper," Four agreed. "But it looks like we're just going to have to clean this planet up bit by bit 'till all that Tiberium's gone."
"No fucking shit," Three said. "That's why I'm worried. The Scrin probably know about this place, they just haven't reached it yet."
"Cut the chatter, all of you," Yankee Lead said. "We're about to break atmosphere, and—" The pod rumbled violently as they made contact with the tiberium-affected skies, flying straight into turbulence. "Shit, what the hell is going on down there?!"
"It's a—fucking hell—class 2 ion storm, Sergeant!" the doctor said. "That means it's—son of a bitch—!" he said, slamming against the wall in front of him, "That means that it's a Yellow Zone about to go full blown Red Zone!"
"What makes you so sure of that, Doc?!" Yankee Three shouted.
"Because if it was a class 1 Red Zone ion storm, this pod wouldn't be here right now!"
Viers made no attempt to express his dismay, for he had none. Drops like these were an everyday occurrence for him, and to see people actually complaining about it was amusing. They should try coming in hot on a pod through anti-orbital Scrin ordnance...
"Ah, shit, you know you can tell when a world's been screwed up by that Tiberium!" Two said. "I can freaking smell it in here!"
"ETA twenty seconds to impact!" Viers called out. "Lock and load and prepare to exit!"
"Yes, sir!" the rest responded.
Viers had been focusing on the drop when he realized that the sound of static was barely discernible through his comms, catching bits and pieces of a voice in the noise. "—Dagger, contact—bzzt—EVA uplink and... cannot track—your own—bzzt—luck."
"We are out of contact with the commander!" Viers said. "We are restricted to local comms! Stay close, stay together, and watch your fields of fire!" A high-pitched whir hissed through the outside as the jet brakes on the pod activated. "We need to find a landing zone for the MCV before we start moving in!"
"What about crawler support?" Yankee Lead shouted. "We could use the guns down there!"
"Unless you want to burn a crawler through an ion storm, MCVs are our only option, Sergeant!"
"Point taken!"
The pod went dark as it impacted into the ground, blacking out Viers' vision.
"...ugh, son of a bitch. Everyone okay?" Viers asked, his vision blurred as his head reeled from the shock.
"That was not one of my better drops, I'll say that much," Yankee Four said, chuckling.
"Cut the chatter and sound off. Yankee Lead, I'm fine."
"Yankee Two, alive and kicking."
"Yankee Three, still here."
"InOps, still alive."
"Pop the hatch and let's get moving." Viers flipped a switch and slammed down the resulting button as it appeared, causing the side hatches of the drop pod to propel with explosive force. The sound of air rushed in through their audio receptors as the sight of the landscape before them appeared in a green haze.
"Oh, shit, this is a Red Zone, alright," Four said, jumping out of the pod as he pulled out his cannon. "Looks like this place got hit bad."
"This place is a lot worse than expected," the doctor said. "The local plant life has already been assimilated into the Tiberium landscape. Whatever life was here is most likely dead by now. We'll be lucky if there's anything here for us to rescue."
"Right, doctor, uh..." Viers said.
"Doctor Wesley is enough, lieutenant. As expected, the entire planet is covered with Tiberium Riparius. And over there in the distance, look: there are several instances of Tiberium Cruentus over there, along with Vinifera and most likely Arboreus, as well. The presence of Vinifera indicates substantial Tiberium incubation..."
"Yeah, that means we're going to need a boatload of reclamation vehicles to clean this place out," Three said. "Unless CENTCOM wants to spare a MARV or twelve. Or a whole fleet of harvesters."
"Doesn't matter. This place has been quaked to hell and back, and there's no suitable ground near here for the MCV to deploy," Yankee Lead said, pulling out a handheld sonic device, and walked over to a small patch of Tiberium. With a high-pitched whine, he directed the device at the Tiberium nearby as they all watched it crumble to bits under the strain of sonic sound waves. "We can check that one off since it looks like it works. Let’s get moving.”
The whir of their suits was the only thing accompanying them as they proceeded through the blasted landscape, passing through field after endless field of Tiberium. The sky cracked with unnatural lightning as the ion storm still raged on around them, the skies shifting in brightness as the bolts struck around them. The ground stood out like a sore patch, broken and cracked everywhere they went.
"Hmm, all these Tiberium glaciers in the distance there... that indicates substantial Tiberium growth. We're going to need more than a few harvesters or a MARV to destroy that thing." He faced leftward and and paused to get a closer look at the gargantuan emerald objects as Viers stopped beside him.
"The Methuselah is equipped with a direct strike ion cannon," Viers said. "When we get that uplink center established, we can begin softening all of this up."
"Hey, sir... look at that," Three said, lowering his chaingun to point at the location in the distance. "That looks like a town. Or what's left of it. Can't see shit through all this green haze. I think we’re in a valley of some sort."
"Well, I'll be damned," Two said, walking up beside him. "It looks like those quaint little European towns back on Earth. Except everything went to shit and now it's all covered in Tiberium and... well, other shit."
"Still not a good place to set up shop," Yankee Lead said. "Haven't seen a Red Zone this bad since the siege of New Oslo several years ago. That was a nightmare, and it was full of Scrin. Here, it's just... all quiet. Really gives me the creeps."
"That's because our boys in purple haven't shown up to the party yet, boss," Four said. "Hey, there looks like a good drop zone over to the right there, let's go check it out—" Several green shards appeared from behind them and clanged off of his armor. "Contact!" Four said, wheeling around with his cannon at the ready.
Yankee Lead opened fire with a steady flow of bullets from his chaingun. "Tiberium lifeforms!"
Wesley fired his own cannon, a shell smashing into the face of one of the snarling creatures. "They certainly look a lot like fiends from the Second Tiberium War! They gave our infantry a hard time back then, but with this technology..." He planted a metal fist into a fiend who treaded too close to him. "It's nice to see we have a substantial advantage this time around!"
"At least it's nice to know that even if InOps can't work worth a damn, you can still hold a gun!" Two said laughing, turning left to fire his cannon at another incoming group of fiends. "Just how many of these assholes are there?!"
"Take the high ground, Yankee! Down this road and up that hill, move, move, move!" Yankee Lead said, laying down a wall of suppressive fire, the fiends hissing as they turned back; the other soldiers rushed past him. Viers' explosive ammunition found refuge in the craniums of several more fiends until the beasts whimpered and began falling back.
As they sat on top of the small hill, Yankee Three gave the fiends a parting gift: a sonic grenade from the Enforcer chaingun's under-slung attachment, watching as more of them were felled by the grenade's resonating effects, shattering parts of their bodies into unrecoverable bits. "So much for no contact," he said. "So, local wildlife might not be all dead, but they're not all normal, either."
"Hey, boss, I think I got a live one over here!" Two shouted.
"If it's a visceroid or a fiend, you kill it, understood?" Viers said.
"It's not a tiberium lifeform, sir, whatever it is."
"Then tell me what it is, Yankee Two."
"It looks like a... uh, a horse thing. It's wearing a hazmat suit."
"That's bullshit, horses can't wear hazmat suits," Yankee Four interjected. "You sure your suit isn't compromised or something?" he asked, as the whole group made their way towards Yankee Two. When they arrived around him, they had to angle their bodies downward to see the creature laying before them.
"I don't know about you," Two said, "but I'm pretty sure horse-ponies don't wear cowboy hats."
"Is it dead?" Wesley said. "We might have to relocate this thing to somewhere safer... wherever safer might be considered." They nearly jumped back when the creature coughed several times and gave a heaving gasp, then returned to breathing quietly on the ground. "Goddamn, this thing is barely alive. The suit has punctures all over it..."
"Whatever the case, we've found our landing zone," Viers said. "This place looks like a farm. Lots of empty space and sufficient amounts of Tiberium for harvesting." He pulled out the beacon and tossed it several lengths away from him, landing with a beep and a flashing blue light.
"Uplink established... sending coordinates to ITC Methuselah..." his HUD AI said. "Reinforcements inbound."
"This thing needs medical treatment immediately," Wesley said, kneeling down as he shined his flashlight on the creature. "The tiberium exposure is still in the early stages; we can still save it. The fact that the indigenous population can wear hazmat suits might mean that there are more that we can help."
"Then this situation just got escalated," Viers said. "The commander's going to want to notify CENTCOM ASAP. Friendly first contact is considered high-priority on their protection list, after Tiberium and Scrin removal."
What few alien species had survived being exposed to the Scrin and the horrors of Tiberium had numbers dwindled down to near nothing until the timely intervention of the ISDI. Most now lived within ISDI territories as protectorates, their people former shells of what they once were. But if they could save the natives here, save their entire species from the Tiberium and the Scrin, it would not only signal a great victory for all of the ISDI, but for species everywhere.
And those victories were what was needed most.
"...and if the Scrin come to take this planet back, ZOCOM better send a hell of a lot more troops..."
Applejack couldn't tell what was going on. Her head was swirling and her mind was in a daze, and she had such a hard time trying to breathe... she couldn't think straight as every breath she took felt like her lungs were lit on fire. There were voices nearby, and she felt the ground shake for a moment, but she couldn't find the energy to pick herself up to look.
Where was she? What had happened? Why did it hurt to move, to think, to breathe? Things shouldn't be like this... what was she doing on the ground, sleeping...? She should be trying to harvest the apples right now... yes, that was what she needed to be doing...
Then she felt a bright light shine in her face and the sound of voices again, echoing in her ears from all directions. The ground shook several times as she saw the strange sky above her. Silly her. The sky shouldn't be green: it was blue, everypony knew that. Then the sound of air rushing around her put her mind to darkness yet again.
Stats
Page generated in 0.058 seconds
Total duration
886 users online
727,036 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Yep, another crossover fiction from me. For the record, this is based on the 4th C&C game, and in all due respect, you're not supposed to talk about this one because it's so bad and deviates so much from the original C&C formula that it was never truly considered a C&C game. But I found the actual lore and the technology behind it to be cool enough to warrant including it in a future universe. All the technologies involved in this story are drawn primarily from Tiberian Sun, Tiberium Wars, and Tiberian Twilight (obviously).
Tiberian Sun, which I consider to be one of the best games in the series alongside Red Alert 2, is available for free online along with its expansion pack, Firestorm.
For those interested in what the soldiers look like:
Zone Troopers:
i.imgur.com/wv2OO.png
Zone Enforcers (the troopers armed with chainguns):
i.imgur.com/aKcBG.jpg
Command and Conquer. Good stuff.
A CnC Crossover!?! MUST READ, even if it is on the 4th one.
C&C 4 had a good story but the game-play wasn't implemented well. I have been looking for a story to read and this has defiantly caught my eye. TO READING!
Ok. I know I haven't played much of these games, but I thought it was Tiberium.
I do remember an older game that never came out called Tiberium, but I am not sure if it had anything to do with CnC at all.
1208002 Tiberian's a strange word that seems to be invented specifically for the titles of the game. It has no mention in the series anywhere else, not even in dialogue. As for the game Tiberium, it was originally made to be a Battlefield-like FPS in the CNC world, but was scrapped later on.
Edit: sorry, were you talking about the title?
1208002>>1208015 Tiberium is a noun, Tiberian is an adjective.
Also, I despise you for using The Game that Shall not be Named, but I commend you for saying Tiberian sun is a great game.
Also, also, Zone troopers from Tiberium Wars looked cooler (in my opinion)
I'm gonna read this now.
Comment the second, before I read, I would just like to say that: The only reason the Scrin attacked earth, was because humanity was hostile. The population of a planet is generally dead, or they don't care enough about them to attack.
I haven't read this but I'm adding this story to FimFiction's only Command and Conquer group run by yours truly.
I will read and give a full report later!
Welcome to the Bronies' C&C branch!
Silver out!
Defineitly looking forward to more. It is well written, and though I haven't kept up on any new Tib lore recently, I like the direction it takes, though it seems like this would be taking place well after CnC 4. Large scale fighting against the Scrin in space and all, just seems like it would have been mentioned.
1208002>>1208015
Quick clarification, Tiberium is the substance itself, whereas tiberian means 'of or relating to Tiberium' if I remember correctly, I haven't done any true CnC Tib research since a few weeks after the 4th came out.
Anyways, good start, thumbed and faved.
EDIT: A few things after reading it again and being over my mini fan craze attack.
It happened too fast, Tib takes ages to convert a planet, decades, centuries possibly, seeing as how the detonation in Tib 3 was early, we can't know for sure. Vinifera wasn't very common on Earth until years after the initial landing, and here it is implied that it is abundant mere months later. This might not be a problem, as long as you explain why. Did the Scrin re-engineer Tib to work faster with the ever encroaching humans? Questions have been raised.
Also thoroughly enjoy how you brought the crawlers in, that was how I thought it should have been used, more like the Tiberian Sun mobile war-factories than a base replacement.
Other than some minor (major) time line issues that need to be addressed in one way or another, I am still looking forward to seeing where you take this.
Okay, I got good news and bad news. First of all, the bad news: six months is far far too short a time for 97% of the planet to become infected with tiberium, especially to the point where tiberium glaciers are becoming commonplace. To be frank, tiberium has been wanked to Hell and back in this story. It was thirty years before Earth became a hell hole, and even then it wasn't as bad as the MLP world in this story. Hell, Ponyville seems to have jumped from blue zone to red zone in less than an hour, and that's just . . . Well, it's crazy on the face of it. I mean, it took years for humanity to view tiberium as a serious threat, and the whole MLP world is having civilization decimated by miles by the minute?
The good news: Everything else. I can't find any major problems with the grammar, characterization, or the plot, save for what I've already gone over. I'm going to suggest to you Peptuck's excellent Tiberium fanfics to read, and I'd like to welcome you to . . . Wait a tic, you're the bloke who put nuclear weapons in EndWar, I remember you! Man, small world, huh?
3 things:
#1: Reread what Cody MacArthur said about tiberium spread rates.
#2: EVA = Electronic video assistant
#3: This story is great. I love it.
C&C wiki <--- for lore, if'n you need it.
Im guessing its the magic of the mlp world i.e. equestria that sped up the process. also faving and tracking.
1208123 Thanks for the comment. Also, I was under the belief that Earth was attacked was while the Scrin didn't believe that there was any reason to expect resistance, they were still armed with a military detachment and that was how the events of C&C3 happened. Also, C&C4 was a good game on paper, but it was all sorts of dumb how they saw that it clearly wasn't C&C yet still ahead with it. The game does have a great soundtrack, though, just about the only saving grace, but even that wasn't the kind of C&C soundtrack I expected. I did use the C&C wiki for some lore, but it appears that I haven't delved enough into it.
1208138 Thank you!
1208149 The rant is appreciated, as are criticisms. I didn't intend to reveal it until later, but Equestria was bombed with more than one Tiberium-containing vessel across multiple locations on the planet along with the supposed fast-generation Tiberium spread that was the Scrin's reaction to intense military pressure from the ISDI. I guess I'll have to make sure to make it clearer. On the issue of crawlers: that was what I thought they would be, too, after seeing how mobile factories were handled in Firestorm.
1208286 Hey again, Cody! I'm beginning to wonder if I should just run my crossover stories by you before I actually publish them.
But, yes, it's going to undergo revision (like my other story).
1208319 Yep, it is! I am reworking it now.
1208776 I won't go into any specifics, but magic is involved. Or will be. Eventually. Tiberium siphons from the terrain on which it resides, and magic has a tendency to exist in the very fabric of Equestria itself.
That all said: revision time!
Oh hell yes.
1208883
Sorry sir, but I got enough beta reading jobs on my plate. You'll just have to find another bloke to pre-read your stuff. Hang around Spacebattles.com or some similar site for a time and you'll eventually find someone well versed enough CnC lore to help you out.
Also, on the Scrin accelerating tiberium growth . . . Well, I really don't think they're capable. Kane seemed to indicate that as advanced as the Scrin were they were still just addicts playing around with something they didn't fully understand, and given that their tib growth accelerator required placement on a active vain and their reaction to GDI and Nod was to tuck their metaphorical tails between their legs and run back to the Overlord instead of unleashing some form of super tiberium I'm inclined to agree with the loony.
1208883
Really? In my crossover, Tiberium behaves like a radar jammer for magic. It distorts magic so when unicorns try to use spells on or near it, the spell goes awry and becomes hard for the unicorn to control.
Hmm...I guess we each have our own styles I guess!
Silver out!
1208883 C&C4 was a good game. It was not however, C&C, You are completely right. The story should have been scrapped, and it should have been given another title... oh well... hindsight...
Grand story so far. Glad to see AJ doesn't get deformed into a Visceroid.
I can't wait for the next chapter!
Also if you need a hand with C&C lore I can help.
Also starting off the chapter with this little tune feels about right.
1209016 The scrin force that attacked earth was a small misguided mining operation. They weren't fully prepared for a full on resistance from the remaining inhabitants.
I'd like to think that since magic is so ambient in Equestria that the magic possibly caused some bizarre mutation, accelerating the growth rate.
Loving it so far. I loved Tiberium Wars so goddamn much.
Well what can I say we need more of this and honestly my opinion on Tiberium Twilight is that "A true fan will play it, but won't like it" And it is interesting to see GDI become a full Space Age Power capable of stopping the Scrin, but as I saw some of the Scrin cinematics I think that the Scrin has a few galaxies under control by Tiberium as they selected our system and galaxy from a DataBase or list.
1209876 That'll be great! When I start getting heavy into the revisions, I'll drop a message to you and see if everything checks out. And that song is fantastic. The other one I like is one that actually doesn't appear on the soundtrack: Nod's victory music after returning to the main menu.
Back to on-topic: yes, magic is intended to play a huge role in affecting how the Tiberium behaved. Last I recall, even in the actual lore of the story, it isn't really ever explained how Tiberium truly "evolves" and changes it properties. I know after Tiberium Wars that it underwent an evolution that made the Earth strain completely immune to sonic weaponry. Rocks aren't really known for their ability to adapt, so this is intriguing.
From there, it only took a little over a decade (the loss of the Tacitus in 2052 was what I believe marked the downfall of Tiberium containment and eventually turning the world into 98% Red Zone by 2062) for it to expand from what was originally believed to be reversal of its growth, and this is assuming that the race in question still has methods of being able to remove or harvest it. On a planet with absolutely zero ways to combat Tiberium growth, it wouldn't surprise me if it invents way to spread itself through quicker and more efficient means, like the trees from Tiberian Sun.
EDIT: Found it, here it is.
I mean... if you want...
1210587 The good old days of tib sun when you would leave the battlefield alone for about an hour or 2 and the WHOLE map gets consumed in tiberium!
1210256 Yeah, I guess the library and fluttershy's house are just huge blossom trees now.
So are TCN hubs gonna play a roll in the story? AND MAMMOTH TANKS! There gonna be mammoth tanks!?
Ignatio Mobius theorized that Tiberium is a lifeform that can adapt and evolve so if it is left alone or heavily mined it will try to adapt to the situation and spread as fast as possible. [Quote below]
in 2062, not only was it immune to sonic weaponry it was also immune to every harvesting attempt, including the MARV. Kanes plans for the TCN hub is the only thing that saved the planet.
this is brilliant.
I DEMAND MOAR!!!
10/10
Have 10 mustaches for your good work:
Now that I've thought about it, that glorious bastard Kane is the only reason earth survived as long as it did because he introduced the tech to harvest and utilize it.
This is a good story, but you have some extremely glaring issues with scale.
Wait. Wait, wait wait. You're saying that the Scrin own most of the universe? In fact, most star systems? That's an unimaginable number of star systems. It's septillions of systems at the very least. The sheer scale of that is completely ridiculous.
Humanity would stand no chance, as there are enough Scrin forces to simply bury Earth in ships. Even owning most of the galaxy means that the Scrin own over 200 BILLION star systems. That is still ridiculous.
I'm sorry, but this statement just takes by suspension of disbelief out back behind the shed, shoots it in the head, and desecrates its corpse.
1210681 Last I recall, the use of a TCN hub required that a Scrin threshold tower be present in order to utilize it. And, yes, mammoth tanks, because it wouldn't be the old-fashioned GDI without some armor superiority.
1212434 Yep, just another one of many logic holes in there, I'm afraid. I'm working on revising it now.
1212981 I don't think the TCN hub doesn't actually require a threshold tower to make the system work. Kane secretly linked the threshold tower to the system to power it.
1213290 I think it does. From the wiki:
The towers were originally meant as a way to contain, harvest, and then transport Tiberium to the Scrin Ichor Hub, so Kane must have found a way to utilize the containment and harvesting properties in a more modular form and that was the resulting TCN.
Ah, I should probably take this to messages now; don't want the whole comments section to end up as a lore discussion box.
1213326 We should take this to PMs but not before this one bit of info from the wiki. I know GDI had to have a good idea of how the TCN hub worked but Kane held a secret. [wiki quote]
This is going to be good!
I can to a certain degree predict what is going to happen.
ISDS lands, establishes base. Applejeck gets healed, introduces Humans to Ponys, meeting in Canterlot. Humans and Ponys form a treaty, ISDS starts reclaiming lost ground via sonic weapons and ion strikes. One such strike accidently causes an LQ detonation, leading the Scrin to Equestria. ISDS rolls out their big guns: Mammoth tanks, Mastodon walkers and Kodiak aircrusers. Epic shit hits the fan.
Well, lets see what the future holds.
PS: I'm getting a strange feeling that we are going to meet a crimson red alicorn stallion with a scorpion tail as a CM and a familiar "OoL charge-up" sound whenever he charges his horn up.
PSS: I recently re-listened to the entire soundtrack of C&C 4 and I discovered it shares some parts with the OST of Battlestar Galactica, most notably the Opera House.
I must say, this was one of the best Tiberium crossovers that I have ever read. The set-up was fantastic and your style is enjoyable.
Most C&C crossovers are like:
1# HiE
2# Nod kills lots of ponies and brings Tiberium.
3# GDI comes and lots of Micheal Bay scenes ensue
4# Ponies completely helpless the whole way through
5# Tiberium takes a backseat, is ignored, and doesn't have anything to do with the plot.
6# Writing looks like it was scrapped together in a day.
Good sir, for the most part, you avoided all of the above cliches. Even though you do have a few of them, it doesn't matter since your writing is great and I CAN ACTUALLY SIT THROUGH THIS WITHOUT FACEPALMING! I love how you structured this story and I would actually like to read more!
You get a thumb and a favorite from me!
Silver out!
ow I wanna try Tiberium Twilight.
Uhm - few minor problems.
First, wasn't Global Command in Manchester?
Second - what, did you put Tiberium on steroids, or something? From what I can see, it looked like Ponyville was being evacuated just as the first crystals were starting to encroach on it. Yet, in no more than a day, it has turned into at least a Yellow Zone (I say a day, as AJ was _still alive_)?
Even allowing for enhanced Tiberium growth due to magic, the initial burst would only have affected Equestria - the other Tib crash sites would have advanced at normal pace. But the rate of infestation wouldn't be quite so fast as on Earth. Whilst it is true that in Equestria there won't be any harvesting operations to limit individual field growth, humanity actually enhanced the spread of tiberium by burning it, thereby releasing tib particles into the air in the smoke.
So, what I'm saying is, it should have taken a lot longer than two years to attain 98% contamination of the planet (of the Equestrian nation, maybe) - even if there were some crazed cult of unicorns encouraging the growth of Tiberium for their own deluded reasons.
...That wasn't a hint, by the way.
god i loved the commando's voice when he blew stuff up "i got a Present for ya" boom
Rather then rant about certain bits of conflicting headcanon (since all C&C canon is mutable, based on which games you're excluding), I'm going to point out a couple of issues I saw.
This feels like you went back and changed the wording, but forgot to read it back to yourself out loud.
This seems like another case, shattering under the weight of sonics calibrated to Tiberium's resonant frequency. Or something.
1470678 You're right on both counts, and I have properly amended them.
1453014 My money is on Crystal-crazy Sombra and/or the Dragons (which can burn things) causing the speed up of Tib growth. Or it could be a side effect of being in a land of magic.
I've taken a liking to C&C crossovers recently, ever since I read the Mass Effect/C&C crossover 'Renegade'. This one seems like it will be great as well!
2758992
May I ask, does Shepherd's Ship have a Mammoth in its storage bay in the fanfic instead of the default ME vehicle? XD
"Give me a situation report on the ITC Methuselah and what the hell's been going on here recently."
I think Hell is supposed to be capitalized.
2847368
I'm much more partial to the prequel, which details what happened during the first contact scenario in that universe. I don't recall ever reading a more well written and well paced military sci-fi book published by pro-authors ever and it REALLY captures the essence of what a back and forth slug-fest should look like so much that I honestly felt I had to take a time out to catch my breath after certain scenes.
Both Tib wars base and tib twilight's base
Applejack lives
5554623 you have no idea during those time when C&C 4 was in the market everyone went balistic berserk rage when the C&C is no longer cant haverst tiberium or build base. but using a crawler during those time where many dislike among C&C player but others however enjoying it.
now in present time nobody care about C&C 4 now
kinda feel like this is the next step C&C should take, going into space to fight the scrin and clear infested planets, but say the first half of the game is from GDI perspective and the last half is nod since they "ascended" as in going to the hub world, would be nice nostalgia at least