Chapter 1: Today’s Execution
A young woman walked down the white halls. She stopped at a door with a stylised golden eagle in a circle on it. The woman was wearing a white lab coat. She had brown hair that fell to her shoulders and teal eyes.
She scanned her identification card through the high security lock next to the door. The door split open in the middle and slid into the walls on either side. She walked through swiftly and the doors closed behind her.
The room she had entered was empty of people. There was a large computer system at the wall on her right. On her left was a firing range; the walls were extremely fortified and were actually screens showing what the cameras on the other side of the door showed rather than the glass windows that they appeared to be.
In front of her was an advanced weapons research and development laboratory. There were many different types of weapons being researched and prototypes being built here. The only finished weapon was a laser rifle. It was built from advancements in laser technology that were gained from researching the Obelisks of Light that the Brotherhood of Nod had built in the First Tiberium War.
The woman walked towards the computer system, she used her identification to log in to the computer and plugged in a device then ran the program on the device.
She took off her lab coat revealing black clothing with red outlines and a red hexagon – it looked like a triangle with the corners cut off then the side connected with a new line – with a scorpion’s tail inside it. She had a pistol on each hip. She pulled a small device out of her pocket and put it in her ear.
“I’m in. Go when ready CABAL,” she said.
“Download in progress. Reinforcements on route. Rendezvous with the subterranean APC,” CABAL replied.
The woman took the laser rifle from the bench and ran to the door she came in from. She swiped her identification card through the lock and the door opened. She ran through the door.
Barely a second after getting out of the lab an alarm blared. Red lights flashed and the sounds of combat could be heard. The woman came to a corner. She stopped before it, moved to the wall, readied her rifle and peered around the corner. There were two men standing there with their backs to her. They were facing a closed door.
The men were wearing golden armour with a helmet. They were holding a rifle each, pointed at the door. The helmet had a blue tinted face plate; not that she could see it from where she was. Gunfire could be heard from the other side of the door.
The woman readied her rifle, aimed and fired. Twice. The two soldiers never knew what hit them. They both had a small hole burnt through their heads.
She moved to the door, readied her rifle and swiped her id through the lock. The door didn’t open. She moved back to the soldiers. Slung her rifle over her back and picked up one of the soldiers rifles. She aimed it at the lock and pulled the trigger. Three bullets shot into the locking mechanism. She put down the rifle and moved back to the door.
She pulled off the damaged cover to the locking mechanism exposing the hardware underneath. She cut a wire and connected it to one that was broken when she shot it. This caused the door to unlock. She moved to the right side of the door, unholstered her left pistol. She grabbed onto the doors handle with her right hand, readied her pistol with her left and pulled. The door slid open a little. Enough for her to get through, but only barely.
She looked through the door and found another soldier in golden armour shooting down the hallway. She quickly shot him in the head with her pistol.
She had a peek through the door and couldn’t see any more soldiers, so she slipped through the door and moved towards where the soldier she shot was. She peeked down the hallway. There were many corpses in the hallway. Most were wearing golden armour, however two were wearing black armour with the same scorpion logo she was wearing.
They were very tall, heavily built and were mostly made of metal. They were cyborgs. Made from those who volunteer so that they can better serve the Brotherhood. With their armour, cybernetic enhancements, training and heavy weapons it was rare for them to die facing down anything short of a wolverine unless badly outnumbered. And even then the cyborgs would inflict heavy casualties.
They must have been badly damaged before here, that is the only likely cause, the woman thought. She continued down the hallway, it was badly damaged from gunfire and explosives.
She quickly reached the exit. Standing in the doorway was a cyborg. It was taller than the others, by about another foot. It was more heavily armoured and it was armed with three weapons: an arm based plasma cannon on its right arm, a chain gun held in its left metal arm and a flamethrower slung over its back.
The cyborg commando saluted her as she passed. A vehicle was waiting in the courtyard only a few meters away from where the cyborg commando was on guard. It had a large drill at the front, and was a heavily armoured and tracked vehicle. It was a subterranean armoured personal carrier. She quickly got in the vehicle, the cyborg commando followed her in.
She sat down and strapped on her harness. The cyborg did likewise. Immediately afterwards the APC turned on its drill, tilted and drilled down into the ground at an angle. After a few minutes of driving the APC levelled off.
After another twenty minutes the APC entered a large tunnel system. It drove onto the tracks set into the tunnel. The wheeled tracks on the APC lifted and retracted into the base of the APC and wheels that resembled train wheels lowered.
The APC then drove down the track at a much higher speed. Ten minutes down the tunnel the APC stopped and drove off the tracks. The woman removed her harness and got off of the APC. She walked around the left of the APC.
There was a large vehicle there. It was a very large black and red train-like vehicle. It was extremely heavily armoured. It continued the scorpion motif with the front of the vehicle looking like a cross between a scorpion’s tail and one of its pincers.
It was the Montauk. A subterranean mobile command centre. It was the command centre of the head of the Black Hand: Anton Slavik. The woman’s immediate superior. Waiting there, however, was not Slavik as he usually was but a woman: Lieutenant Commander Oxanna Kristos.
She was blond, had blue eyes and was wearing her black uniform. She was waiting a fair distance away from the Montauk and the APC.
“Welcome back, Lieutenant Shimmer. We have a lot to catch you up on. Anton Slavik was captured by Hassan. We believe he was betrayed. I along with several of our most loyal soldiers are going to rescue him during his execution. I want you leading the main team. I will be using my occupation as a reporter to get in. You and CABAL will have to lead the team to get us out.”
“Who can we trust?” Sunset asked.
“You, me, CABAL and a few soldiers that will be helping me. No one else.”
“Is it at the usual place?” Oxanna nodded. “Good. Then I have a plan.” Sunset smirked. “You and your team save Slavik. We’ll take care of the guards.”
The next day Sunset and a team of cyborgs sat in a subterranean APC. The driver was also a cyborg. The cyborg commando from Sunset’s mission sat on her right. The cyborgs were all controlled by CABAL so they were the only allies Sunset could trust on this mission, besides Oxanna’s team.
They were watching the execution on the television Sunset and CABAL had installed in the subterranean APC the day before. Waiting for the signal to start their attack.
“Battle day twelve, thirty-two, seventy-one. Good welcome, citizens,” Maicheq, the television host said. “Our united efforts continue to be rewarded in the struggle for peace. Wherever there is oppression, Nod is there. Not with empty promises and propaganda, but with divination.”
The television cut to a screen, playing music, showing the words ‘Today’s Execution’, then returned to showing Maicheq sitting at the news desk.
“Good evening. By Permission of General Hassan himself,” he continued. “It is with great honour that we bring you the following live execution. One vision. One purpose. Oxanna.”
“One vision. One purpose. Maicheq,” Oxanna said. She appeared in a small rectangular piece of the screen to the right of Maicheq. She was wearing black and holding a microphone. She was standing in a room with a soldier visible behind her.
There was a window behind her through which Sunset could see Slavik strapped to a stone slab with a collar with tubes connected to it. The poison would run through the tubes into the collar then into Slavik’s bloodstream.
“I can tell from all the vert-com traffic tonight, that this termination is a special one,” Maicheq said.
“Yes, very special.” – the television switched to showing Oxanna on the full screen – “I’ve been told that the mixture this evening is one hundred percent toxin and no sedative. If everything goes as planned, our traitor should remain fully conscious to the painful end.” The screen then switched back to showing Maicheq with Oxanna in a small rectangle on the right.
“We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”
“General Hassan has joined us,” Oxanna said. The screen then changed to show a television screen with a man’s face on it; Hassan’s face. He is balding, in a military uniform with a large number of medals on its left side.
“One vision. One purpose,” Hassan said.
“The technology of peace,” the crowd replied.
“Be seated. One death is not enough for Anton Slavik. For attempting to give our enemy our most vital secrets, the GDI spy should die a thousand times. In the name of Kane.”
“Kane lives in death!” shouted the crowd.
“Sweet dreams, Slavik,” Hassan said.
After a few moments the poison was administered to Slavik. Oxanna pulled out her pistol and shot one of the soldiers guarding him. That was the signal.
The subterranean APC drilled the last few meters to the surface. Sunset put her helmet on. She was wearing black armour with the symbol of Nod on her right chest. Her armour was light but sturdy; it wouldn’t affect her mobility. Her helmet was black with a red tinted visor. She had her newly acquired laser rifle with her and her twin pistols were at her hips.
The APC stopped and the four cyborgs quickly exited followed immediately afterwards by herself and the cyborg commando. The cyborgs quickly shot down and killed the guards outside of the building.
The cyborg commando used its plasma cannon to destroy the door so that they could enter. Two of the cyborgs entered first, using their arm-mounted chain guns to kill the enemies in the way. They were followed by the cyborg commando and Sunset. The other two cyborgs took the rear. The APC drilled back underground to wait in safety.
They found no solid resistance until they found Oxanna and her two trusted soldiers. They had administered the cure to Slavik – he was now unconscious – but were pinned down in the room with him by a large contingent of enemies.
Sunset and the cyborgs were separated by extremely tough glass from the enemy soldiers. Sunset sent the cyborg commando and two of the cyborgs around to join Oxanna and get Slavik out. Sunset herself started shooting her laser rifle at Hassan’s soldiers through the glass. She managed to incapacitate seven of them before they realised that she was shooting them through the glass.
They took cover from her and most were promptly cut down by Oxanna and her soldiers or the cyborg commando and the two cyborgs she had sent with him. Two of the survivors shot at Sunset but the bullets failed to pierce the glass. Sunset killed another; a clean shot through his head. The cyborg commando torched the few remaining soldiers in the room with his flamethrower.
Oxanna released Slavik from the slab and one of the cyborgs carried him. They all came out in Sunset’s direction quickly. Sunset and her two cyborgs took the lead when they were joined. The cyborg commando and his cyborg not carrying Slavik took the rear. The cyborg carrying Slavik was right in the middle.
They encountered very few soldiers on the way out. The few they did encounter were cut down quickly by the cyborgs or Sunset. They quickly arrived at the exit. The subterranean APC surfaced when they got there and they quickly boarded and strapped Slavik in; he was still unconscious. Then everyone strapped themselves in.
The APC descended. They were on a course to join the Montauk as it came by in the tunnel system.
It took only a few minutes before they joined the Montauk. It slowed down and the rear cargo door opened up allowing the APC to enter.
Everyone disembarked the APC. A stretcher was quickly brought by to carry Slavik to the medical facility on board the Montauk. The stretcher was carried by a pair of cyborgs. Oxanna and Sunset quickly placed Slavik on the stretcher and the pair of cyborgs carried him to the medical facility. Sunset and Oxanna followed.
The four cyborgs separated to guard the exits to the Montauk. The cyborg commando followed Sunset and Oxanna to guard Slavik from the traitor in case they tried to finish the job.
The Montauk after having received the APC had sped up and was on a direct course for the closest Black Hand military installation. Only a few minutes after arriving in the medical facility Slavik awoke.
Oxanna was watching him. She had retrieved her hat from where she left it – in the medical bay because she knew she would be going there when she returned – and was now wearing it. “Dead and back commander," she said. "Dead and back.”
A few quick tests were run to see if Slavik was recovered. He was for the most part. He would only require some rest and to avoid high intensity exercise or extreme stress for a few days.
Slavik accompanied by Sunset and Oxanna walked towards the bridge. On the way he asked Oxanna for her pistol, which she gave him.
When they arrived at the bridge, one of the technicians there stood and said, “Sir. It’s an honour to have you back.”
Slavik quickly shot him through the heart. “Traitor,” he said. Slavik then sat in the command chair on a raised platform behind two others. One of which Oxanna sat in, the one the traitor had used. The other was taken up by another technician. Sunset stood to Slavik’s left.
“CABAL, situation?” Oxanna said.
“A division of Hassan’s elite guard is closing in on our position,” CABAL replied. “The probability of a favourable outcome can be increased if we can return to your main base and engage the enemy as we move.”
“Define favourable outcome, CABAL,” Slavik said.
“They all die.”
“That’ll do. Let’s go. No man or structure stays standing.”