//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Secure the Area // Story: Tiberian Sunset (Cancelled) // by AuremUmbra //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Secure the Area The Montauk travelled down the tunnel at a very fast pace. After several minutes they passed by a small Black Hand military installation. It was surrounded by Hassan’s ‘elite guard’ and they were unable to escape. “We need to help them,” Sunset said. “A large force of Hassan’s elite guard is tracking us. We are unable to stop to assist our forces,” CABAL replied. “How about I go and lead our troops.” “Very well. Take an attack cycle, it should get you there in time,” Slavik answered. “Thank you, sir.” Sunset retrieved her gear from her locker. She retrieved her special helmet. It showed her a transparent map of her forces locations and known enemy locations and had a direct link to CABAL. She also retrieved her laser rifle; she was already wearing her light armour and had her pistols holstered at her hips. She swiftly walked to the rear of the Montauk and climbed into one of the two attack cycles. The attack cycle was a large enclosed motorcycle that could shoot rockets at enemies. It was black with the scorpion symbol on both sides of it. She climbed into it and started it. The rear door opened and she rode out. She rode down the way the Montauk had come for several hundred meters until she saw an opening on the left wall. Shortly before turning down the tunnel she saw another attack cycle coming down the tunnel in front of her. It was blue and black. It was one of Hassan’s elite guard following the Montauk. She fired her missiles at the cycle and turned down the tunnel on her left. She followed the tunnel for a few minutes at full speed until she reached an opening. The tunnel angled upwards and opened out to the surface. She rode out still at full speed and the tires left the ground for a moment. She slowed down now that she was out of the tunnel and turned South West towards the Nod base. She came across two Nod soldiers being chased by an attack buggy. She opened fire on the attack buggy. One of the rockets hit it on the rear and badly damaged the armour. The second hit it on the left at the rear and knocked off its wheel. The attack buggy spun off the road and crashed; facing back towards her. She fired again and the rockets destroyed the buggy’s cockpit, killing the driver. She continued down the road, slowing down when she approached the two Nod soldiers. She escorted the Nod soldiers back into the Nod base. The base’s main entrance was defended by two laser turrets, one on either side of the large armoured gate. The laser turrets were automated turrets that looked like a large cannon mounted on a platform. The turrets retracted into the ground when not in use for defensive reasons. Inside was a Hand of Nod – it served as a barracks – it was shaped as a human hand grasping the ground and was coloured red with black outlines. There was also a construction yard. It looked like a large red factory, and like the name suggests, was necessary for the construction of other structures. There were also two power plants in the rear of the base. They consisted of a single large cooling tower and a turbine that is spun by steam. The cooling tower is the only part of the structure that is above the ground. Inside the base were four infantry standing near the Hand of Nod and an attack buggy near the power plants. The two infantry she rescued joined the other four infantry. She parked her attack cycle on a paved area of the base clear of any buildings and climbed out. She started organising the defence of the base, starting with building a refinery. A tiberium refinery is a structure that stores and refines tiberium. It separates the tiberium into components for use. The metals inside the tiberium are used for construction and the other components are used for other purposes or research if it can be safely transported to a technology centre or more specialised research facilities. As the construction commenced she organised the infantry and discovered that the base has a second entrance which was not guarded. She sent the infantry and the attack buggy to defend that entrance. Shortly after she did so a subterranean APC surfaced just outside of the base in front of the laser turrets. Several light infantry working for Hassan exited the APC and were quickly cut down by the laser turrets. Then the APC was shredded by the lasers. The refinery was built quite quickly and the harvester that came with it immediately left through the path guarded by the troops to the tiberium field to begin harvesting. Shortly another subterranean APC surfaced. This one was also working for Hassan however it surfaced inside the base near the corner. It released five light infantry which ran towards the construction yard. Sunset ordered the Hand of Nod to outfit more troops with weapons and armour and ran to intercept the infantry. She came to a stop and raised her rifle after only a few meters. She aimed and shot. Her laser rifle had a larger range than the enemy rifles. It had a very similar range to an obelisk of light’s laser beam which it was based off of. However, it did not have the same power. Her beam caught one of the enemy soldiers in the right shoulder. He dropped his rifle and screamed in pain. She shot a second; this one she hit in the head. The beam passed through his face plate then burned through his skull, killing him instantly. She shot at the next two. One she caught in the head and the second she shot through the heart. Both died very quickly. The last one however managed to get in range and raised his rifle to shoot Sunset. She dove to her left. A few bullets passed through the air where she had been. She raised her rifle, from where she was lying on the ground, and shot it three times. The first beam passed through the soldier’s leg and he collapsed. The second passed through the air above him, and the third passed through his head. Sunset stood, she could hear the sounds of fighting from the second entrance to the base. There was an enemy attack buggy trying to get in. She looked at the screen in her helmet and saw that her soldiers were going to destroy it before she could join in and help. So she ran to the subterranean APC that Hassan’s troops had arrived in and walked inside. There was no one else in the back so she moved towards the front. She paused before the door, slung her rifle over her back and drew her left pistol. Her rifle would be too cumbersome for a fight in such close quarters. She threw open the door with her right hand and looked inside. There was no one there. The driver must have joined the rest of the soldiers in the battle. She sat down and drove the APC next to her attack cycle. She climbed out of the APC and moved towards the Hand of Nod. There were about twenty soldiers armed with rifles and armour. She now had a force capable of removing the remainder of Hassan’s forces from the area. She led them down the path towards the tiberium field. The path had cliff walls on either side and led straight to a field of tiberium. Sunset and her troops skirted the cliff wall to avoid the tiberium as it is very damaging to carbon-based life, and lethal after a certain period of time, unless you mutate. Once past the tiberium field they had three paths that they could take. The left and right both were slopes that led to a cliff. The path in front led back to the road to the base. She sent a group of five infantry up each cliff. Both groups encountered one enemy light infantry. The group that went up the cliff to her right killed it before it could return fire. The other group wasn’t so lucky. They were shot before they could see the enemy. Two of the soldiers were wounded. One shot in the chest, the other in the arm. The other three soldiers quickly killed the enemy. The armour prevented the bullet penetrating the soldier’s chest, but the glancing blow still made him fall down. He stood back up after the enemy was dead. He wasn’t badly injured but his ribs may have been bruised. The soldier who was shot in the arm, however, was not so lucky. The bullet penetrated his arm and blood was spilling out. Sunset ordered the two to return to the Hand of Nod and get medical attention. She sent one of the other soldiers from their group with them. This left Sunset with seventeen soldiers to eliminate the remainder of Hassan’s ‘elite guard’ in the area. ‘Elite guard’, hah. If these are the best soldiers Hassan has, he might as well give up now, Sunset thought. They’re probably those he trusts to know that he is working for GDI. If he is working for GDI that is; he might just be an idiot. She led her remaining troops through the path. Stopping at the road. She again split her team here. She sent ten of her troops to follow the coast line and led the other seven to the town to the north-east. Her team followed the road until they saw the town, where they paused. The town was surrounded on three sides by cliffs and the other side was open. It was a very small town. The other team found an enemy attack buggy and two light infantry. She quickly used her communication system and connection to CABAL to order the infantry in that team to follow separate orders. She ordered three of them to attack the left infantry, three to attack the right infantry and the rest to take cover and distract the attack buggy, attacking it when it wasn’t attacking them. The enemy infantry quickly fell, without landing more than a glancing shot. The six infantry quickly turned and fired on the buggy. The buggy managed to kill two infantry. One when the battle first started and the second shortly before the amour gave way and the fuel tank exploded. She ordered one soldier to escort the few who were more than slightly injured back to the base. The remaining four infantry were ordered to escort the others back to the road, then follow the road to the north-east to join her team. Sunset’s team moved into the town, stealthily. Sunset’s troops were not very good at it, nonetheless, the only enemy soldier they found in the town was unaware of their presence. Sunset chalked this up to his own bad discipline rather than her team’s stealth skills. She aimed her laser rifle at the enemy soldier and pulled the trigger. The beam went through the side of his helmet and burned a hole through his skull. He was dead before he hit the ground. She ordered her team to double check the town was clear, and to defend the civilians if necessary. Sunset moved back to the road leading to the base and waited for her reinforcements and her team to finish checking the town. There were no more enemy soldiers in the town so she was quickly joined by her team. She didn’t have to wait long for her other forces to join them. They continued north-east along the road until they came to the hidden entrance to the tunnel system. She ordered two of her soldiers to hide in the bushes there and watch the entrance. They were to tell her if any enemies came out of it or came down the road. She led the remaining nine of her soldiers along the cliff face to the east of the road. They quickly found another enemy attack buggy. Her soldiers opened fire on the attack buggy. Their shots were not concentrated so the buggy’s armour was being destroyed all over, but no internal damage was being done. She opened fire on the cockpit. Firing several shots through the tinted, hardened glass. After several shots she could see several small holes burnt into the glass and the buggy stopped shooting. CABAL informed her that there were no more enemies in the area. She led her troops back into the base; the two watching the tunnel entrance were still there. They set about getting ready to leave. Following Slavik’s orders they left no structure standing, and no man was to be left behind. They filled the APC to the brim. Two people driving: a pilot and co-pilot, ten seated in the rear, the rest of the infantry were either going to walk or were standing in the back holding onto whatever they could. The construction yard had packed itself back up into a mobile construction vehicle. Doing so had taken the better part of two hours. The other buildings had their supports destroyed with c4 once they were not needed anymore; that caused the buildings to collapse. The harvester was carrying as much tiberium as it could. Finally, they were ready to leave. Sunset climbed into her attack cycle and drove towards where the gate had been. She issued the order for everyone to get into formation. She was in the front in her attack cycle, the attack buggy was bringing up the rear. The harvester was behind Sunset, the MCV was behind it and the APC – unable to drill underground as it was unsafe with so many people in the rear – was behind the MCV. The remaining infantry were spread around the convoy, the majority were surrounding the MCV as it was the most important vehicle in the Brotherhood’s arsenal and was unarmed. They slowly moved towards the tunnel. They arrived at the entrance with no trouble, where the two soldiers waiting there joined them. Sunset opened the hidden door and the convoy moved inside. Once the attack buggy was inside the door closed. “Hassan’s forces trailing us have been eliminated,” CABAL said. “The Montauk is on route to your position.” “Thanks, CABAL,” Sunset replied. “Troops, we’re moving down the tunnel another few hundred meters. There we will await retrieval.” Sunset rested in her attack cycle. She had organised sentries and guards and had let the others rest until either their shift or the Montauk arrives. She had been awake for nearly two full days now and was very tired. She had been very stressed for a long time. Defending the base, rescuing Slavik and before that posing as a GDI tiberium scientist for several days. She hadn’t had much time to rest; no time to sleep; not even enough time to wash the brown dye out of her red and yellow hair. *** Sunset was running. People in gold armour were chasing her. They had shouted at her and pointed their weapons at her, she panicked and ran. She let her instincts take over her body. She wasn’t running like she was used to; she was running on two legs, pumping her fore-limbs back and forth as she did so. She saw a field of green crystals in front of her. Other people in gold armour were standing around the side of it. She tried to use her magic but it didn’t work. She ran into the field of green crystals. Those chasing her were yelling louder now but she ignored them and tried to run through the crystals. A large gold and grey vehicle drove in front of her. She screamed and tried to use her magic again. There was an explosion of light, sound and magic. She felt herself hit the ground, then everything went black. She awoke. She was still in her attack cycle. Her heart was racing. Her breath quick and shallow. She looked around. She sighed. “Just a memory. It can’t hurt me anymore,” she said. The Montauk arrived after another few minutes in which Sunset tried to calm herself down. She was mostly successful. Everyone boarded the Montauk. The attack cycle, attack buggy, harvester, APC and MCV just barely fit. Sunset reported her mission to Slavik then went to get herself a coffee. The news was on the television when she got there. “The result being GDI forces retreating further and losing valuable ground,” Maicheq said while sitting at the news desk. “In other news, Anton Slavik’s body was burned in the smelting fires of an unnamed factory, as is the custom for traitors. In a related story, we were all saddened to learn, that our colleague, Oxanna Kristos, was killed in a tunnel collapse near her home.” While this was going on Sunset had gotten herself a cup of coffee and walked to the bridge. She could hear it continue on. “The death was ruled accidental by authorities,” he finished. Sunset walked onto the bridge right behind Slavik. “I hear you’re dead, lieutenant,” he joked. “Rest in peace.” Slavik sat down in his command chair and Sunset stood to his left again. “The brotherhood is in chaos,” CABAL said in his robotic voice. “A strategic opportunity presents itself.” “They’re desperate for a new leader,” Oxanna said. “When we destroy the rest of Hassan’s elite guard, the people will sway with us in the name of Kane,” Slavik said. “Kane lives in death!” everyone replied. “We have reached the Benghazi border,” the technician piloting the Montauk said. “The elite guard division we will engage is located here on this island,” CABAL said. “Take the bridge out and their cut off,” Slavik said. “The island is a tomb.” “Shut down the enemy’s power and protect your own,” CABAL said. “A large force is approaching from the south,” Oxanna said. “They’re directive is to protect the guard, but I think they can be persuaded otherwise. Coordinates: broadcast studio. Get me into that TV station and I’ll take care of the rest.” “Control the media; control the mind,” CABAL said. “Let’s go,” Slavik said. “Sunset, you lead the cyborgs. Escort Oxanna into the TV station. I’ll lead the main force.”