Chapter 3: Rendezvous
“I don’t even... how does that even make any sense?” Wesley muttered. He was browsing through the technical specifications of how the translation program worked, and even then, it sounded like complete gibberish to anyone who wasn’t directly involved in the field. “Even the layman’s explanation is a maze to understand...”
Looking away from the ludicrous mathematical formula designed to calculate the nuances of a pause in speech for proper categorization and processing, he noticed that it was almost time for the daily checkup. The base, or as it was known now, Camp Greenwood, had been fully operating for a total of two days now with no major mishaps. New staff was increasingly rare as the ion storms fluctuated throughout the region, but abatement was proceeding along smoothly; the only worry was how much Tiberium had to be removed before the storms actually began to let up.
Grabbing his stethoscope and flashlight, he finished off another cup of coffee before heading out the door and down the hall. It was early in the morning, so the attendant wasn’t present at the moment, and Wesley was never one to let time go wasted if he could help it... not that he could manage much sleep after drop pod aftershocks. He was no zone trooper, that was for sure.
The hall was quiet, eerie with the sound of wind coming from outside, as the reinforced glass window that stretched down the entire length of the medical center’s second story produced a view of the green landscape beyond. A squad of troopers exited the armory across the road, on their way to another patrol to gather data and survey the geology, while the Vulcan-equipped watchtowers outside the walls in the distance temporarily rumbled to life as they fought off another one of many curious approaches by the fiends from the dead forest.
“How’s our guest holding up?” Wesley heard from behind. Breaking his observation through the glass, he turned around to see Viers, minus power suit, but still as equally intimidating. Tattoos covered the length of his arms and part of his neck, mostly ISDI homages and gung-ho skulls and quotes.
“She’s been doing fine. We had to remove quite a bit of matter from afflicted areas, but treatment is proceeding along smoothly. I expect her to be back on her feet... er, hooves, or what have you, within a week’s time. Miracles of modern medicine, you know?” Wesley responded.
A deep rumble shook the foundations of the base, causing the two to latch on to any solid emplacement near them. “Damn earthquakes,” Viers said. “Seismic activity is crazy here. I wonder if the Tiberium’s causing it.”
“No doubt it is. Shifting lands, changing lifeforms... it might be like several occasions before where underground Tiberium deposits were found, especially in places like Red Zones.”
“I see. So, does the commander have anything to say about our guest?”
“Nothing that we already don’t know. Keep her safe, ask what she knows, and try not to step on any toes while we’re here. Speaking of which, she’s due in for a checkup. Mind coming along?” Wesley asked, gesturing towards the room, guarded by two riflemen.
“Sure. You said you removed a lot of matter. How bad is it?”
“With regenerative medicine, she might be up and walking within about two days’ time, and that’s assuming everything goes along swimmingly. Rarely does it ever play by our wishes, though, so we’ll have to keep her in bed until further notice. She seems to be taking it quite well, though she doesn’t seem inclined to talk about much else at the moment.”
With a slide of his ID card through the receiver recently installed to ensure security, the door unlocked and the pair stepped through. Applejack sat on the bed, still groggy from the early morning fatigue usually accompanying patients under medication, but smiled when she saw Wesley enter. That smile quickly disappeared when she saw Viers standing behind him.
“Who is that?” she asked, wary of the newcomer. The now-wall-mounted PDA quickly chirped out a quick response, the program working much quicker than it had before over the exposure of conversations she’d had with her attendant and Wesley.
“Oh, him?” Wesley realized that even though he knew who Viers was, Applejack didn’t... and his appearance—shaved head, patrician face, and plethora of tattoos—certainly didn’t do much to give off an aura of being approachable. “He’s a friend, don’t worry about him.”
“Hello,” Viers simply said, giving a small wave.
Applejack’s mood quickly lightened. “Friend of Doctor is friend of mine,” she said.
Wesley pulled up a chair next to her, as Viers simply deigned to look around the room. “This is Lieutenant Anton Viers, and he was with me when we first found you. He was in charge of security for my team when we arrived.”
“Come from sky?” she asked.
“Yes, all of us came from the sky, Applejack. As you may have obviously guessed... we’re not from this world. How have your lessons with the attendant been?”
Applejack’s face furrowed in thought, an endearing trait so surprisingly human, as Wesley quickly found out during their conversation. “I learn alphabet,” she said.
“Really? That’s fantastic! Oh, and how are the apples we have?”
“Not bad. But mine better.”
Wesley chuckled. “Well, when the time comes when we can try some of your apples, we can see for ourselves. How are your legs?”
She jabbed at them. “Itchy.”
“That’s a side effect of the medicine, I’m afraid.” Wesley brought out his stethoscope, placing it on her chest. “Heart rate is normal, and...” He flipped over to his flashlight, checking her eyes to see any indication of mental damage. “...eyes seem to be okay. Don’t worry about your legs, the itchiness just means the medicine is working.”
“Oh... okay. Can go outside soon?”
“I... maybe. We’ll have to see about fixing up your suit.”
“Oh, right, that’s what I was here for,” Viers interrupted. “According to the specifications that we got from the hazmat suit, I arranged for the boys down in the armory to fix her up some zone armor, mostly parts that they could spare.”
“Really?” Wesley said, interested. “Well, that solves that problem, then. I had intended to ask Commander Alexandra if it would be possible for us survey the area around Camp Greenwood with Applejack, perhaps see what she can recognize.”
“I would hope so, otherwise all my work would have gone to waste. It’s kind of funny, though, since the suit looks like a miniature Mammoth assault walker. Had to build in a whole other compartment just to keep her tail in, too.”
“Don’t tell me you actually put guns on it...?”
Viers rubbed his chin. “Well, I thought it was a good idea, then I realized that she would have no idea how to use a gun, much less fire it. I’m still in charge of Yankee, and the Commander did place me in charge of your safety, and by extension, that also means her...”
“That’s true.” Wesley leaned forward, an indicator to Applejack that he was usually about to ask something very important. “Can you move your leg, Applejack?” Saying the name was still odd for him to do, but what he learned of what the so-called ‘ponies’ called themselves usually involved their trademark talent in some way. How they knew what that special talent was before they were born was something beyond him, but he decided to save that question for later.
Applejack kicked her legs a few times. “A little,” she said, looking at Viers. “He say we go outside soon?”
“Yes, very soon, seeing how well your leg is healing up. You can understand me, right?” It seemed superfluous at this point in time, but Wesley needed assurance that Applejack could still hold a conversation in the case she was being spoken to by anyone other than himself.
“Yes, can understand. Why?”
“Just making sure.” He leaned forward again, taking a long pause before asking his question slowly. “So, Applejack... do you have any family... any friends here? We need to know if you have anyone here, anyone at all, that you’re worried about. If they are here, then we will make it a priority to keep them safe.”
Applejack looked away, and Wesley feared the worst. It was the reason why he had been so reluctant to bring up the issue, at least until she had been settled in and grown accustomed to his presence: the fact that her family or friends might have been taken by Tiberium, and reactions to loss may vary across species.
“...lot,” she muttered. “In... lot.”
“I’m... sorry?” Wesley asked. “Could you repeat that again? I didn’t catch it.”
She looked back at him, a look of concern in her eyes. “Friends in Canterlot.”
“Canterlot... is that a city?” he asked. Applejack nodded.
“Capital,” she responded. “Of...” She must have been introducing new words that the translator hadn’t heard before, so it took several moments of repetition before it came through. “Capital... of... Equestria,” she repeated again, clearly annoyed at how slowly the program was working.
“Oh, Equestria? Yes, that sounds a lot like what I’d expect from a nation of... ponies.”
The lights flickered slightly as the sound of thunder could be heard through the walls. Patient care rooms within the medical center were present, but reinforced and tinted black for safety reasons, so it wasn’t surprising that Applejack hadn’t seen anything beyond her own room for quite a while now.
“That ion storm is picking up again,” Viers noted. “That’s bad, considering the commander had intended to send in another round of personnel to help bolster the base. The harvesting crew’s done a good job at cleaning up the area around the base, but we’re going to need to put down some silos now.”
“Hasn’t Commander Alexandra accounted for that already?” Wesley asked.
“Not yet. Since we’ve yet to expand our walls, we have nowhere to drop the silos. As it stands right now, we’ve got ninety, maybe a hundred men on base, including us. And you know Alexandra’s going to want us to head up to their capital and see if anyone is still alive.”
“So... that means soon, then. Very soon, since our friend here is already capable of moving.”
Viers nodded. “So it seems. Just a reminder to you, Wesley,” he said, moving to the door, “that the barracks and mess hall is attached to the medical center, so don’t just keep yourself cooped up in here all the time.” With a nod, he left the room to attend to his own errands.
Wesley looked back at Applejack, and gave a half-serious smile. “Well... let’s just keep you in bed for the moment. I’ll talk to the commander later and see if help can’t be arranged.”
“So it’s our turn to make the rounds, huh?” Yankee Lead asked. The eagle-marked gate before Viers and his men slowly lowered, revealing a barely-worn path that led to the ruined town beyond.
“Five men. Forest full of baddies. And a sea of Tiberium as far as the eye can see,” Two said. “Feels like a vacation.”
“We’re not making rounds today, Yankee,” Viers said. “Today, the con-yard manager wants us on overwatch as he expands the base, along with some other security detail out here. A dropzone for heavy transport and silo facilities are going to be going up.”
“Yes, sir, sounds like a cakewalk,” Four said.
“So we just stand here and shoot those fiends if they get too close?” Three asked. “Huh, I could have sworn I signed up for a harder op than this...”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Viers said. “Now fan out, and check your fields of fire.”
“No worries,” Two said. “We got these powerful watchtowers covering our asses, so it won’t be a total disaster if we get jumped out here.”
Engineers and several Titans exited the compound, moving in tandem with several hover transports with the prefabricates onboard. With a heavy clunk and activation of blowtorches, construction was quickly underway, the first building of which happened to be the landing zone.
There was a roar in the distance, a powerful one, strong enough to be discerned from the storm that brewed around them. “I don’t like the sound of that...” Three said.
“Maybe if you stop pointing that shit out, bad stuff will stop happening to us,” Four said, chuckling. “You’re the King of Jinxes around here, sheesh.”
The Titans certainly took notice of the roar, and began shifting their positions closer to the forest to keep tabs on any undesirables, maintaining their position for several tense minutes. Then, suddenly, a huge mass of dead brush exploded from the treeline as a huge creature pounced forward.
“Engage, engage!” Viers shouted as he and Yankee rushed forward to provide firing support. The creature seemed to be four-legged, almost as if it were some sort of creature from mythology, and futilely swiped its massive claws at the Titan’s heavy metallic legs.
“Shit, there’s more of them to our right!” Four shouted, directing his burst of chaingun fire down his flank. “Fiends! Fiends on the right!”
The watchtower cannons rattled as they brought forth a wall of lead into the advancing horde of creatures. “What the hell? There’s so many of them!” Yankee Lead shouted, gunning down a trio of fiends as a beam from one of the nearby Titan’s pair of high-penetration lasers blew off the left arm of the larger creature.
“More big guys on our left!” Two shouted, firing his cannon at a pair of the beasts charging towards them. “Wait, there’s more over—” He dodged backwards using his jump packs as a large shard of Tiberium smashed into the place where he once stood. “Whoa, that shit is not cool!”
“Those things are throwing Tiberium shards from their backs!” Three shouted. “Talk about kicking the beehive here!”
“Yeah, let’s not go into Tiberium-infected bees now, okay?!” Four said, slamming the barrel of his cannon down on the neck of a fiend, then quickly finishing it off with a shell to the back. He didn’t even turn around when another fiend jumped at him, smashing lightly into his faceplate.
The sound of metal grinding on metal joined the cacophony of battle, and more zone troopers poured out from within, joining the fight as alarms were raised. The engineers stayed back, doing their best to repair the damages on the zone troopers and Titans as the soldiers quickly formed a firing line against the incursion of lifeforms.
Viers’ own heavy brass casings bounced off of his shoulder plate, machinegun constantly on the fire as with every target he killed, another one appeared in its place. Among the fray, he noticed that the beings were no longer the two he’d noticed: the fiends and the strangely large lion-like creatures with stinger tails were now joined by more. These newcomers seemed like large bipedal dogs with hands and feet, and their eyes glowed green, a sure sign of Tiberium mutation.
“Are all the locals shiners now or something?!” Lead shouted.
“Doesn’t matter, keep firing!” Viers shouted, standing shoulder to shoulder as the field of bodies before them grew ever larger. Using his comms, he opened a line straight to the con-yard manager. “Get the commander on the horn! We need reinforcements now!”
“Our forces are under attack,” EVA again repeated.
“I am currently... aware... of that...” Alexandra said, preoccupied with shifting through the intelligence reports that were flooding into his command console. The base would be overrun given the number of men it had against what he believed to be hostiles with clear numerical superiority. “EVA, analyze ion storm density and calculate survival rates for drop pod insertion.”
“Affirmative, commander. Rates show that the ion storm is currently limiting our Orca dropships from making planetfall, covering a radius of several dozen miles over the current region with fluctuating levels of intensity. Drop pod insertions would have less than twenty-three percent chance of success.”
Better than expected, but worse than what he wanted. “Continue monitor of pattern breaks, and notify me of any changes. What of the forces on the ground?”
“According to the reports, both the construction yard manager and Doctor Wesley report that enemy presence has appeared on all sides of the base. Construction is delayed as the engineers deployed are currently too focused on maintaining repairs on the defending forces to focus on building more defenses.”
“Any solutions, EVA?” Worse came to worst, they would lose the base and all hands with it. And with that, their first and possibly only contact with the natives of this world, and that would be a hell of a thing to explain to CENTCOM if—more likely, when—they got wind of it.
“We have a break in the ion storm, commander. There is a possible deployment radius with a break in the storm no larger than half a mile, with a landing zone due two klicks southwest of the Camp Greenwood’s location.”
“I’ll take that chance. Get Hampton and Michelin on the line, and tell them they’ll be going in with a full contingent.”
“Knock knock, party girl.”
Hampton turned off her ludicrously loud music and gave a look at the man standing in the doorway of her quarters. “Michelin. What brings you around here?” she said.
“In case you haven’t noticed, Hampton, we’re due to drop in ten minutes, all arms.”
“All arms? Is it that bad down there?” As forward battle commanders and operators of the ISDI’s crawlers, they served under a primary governing commander, which in this case happened to be Alexandra.
“Bad enough that Alexandra is sending both of us in with full stock to put out the fire. Now stop lazing around and let’s get moving. The troops are all onboard the crawlers already and judging by the tone of our commander’s voice, he’s getting edgy.”
“Well, let’s not keep him waiting, then. Let’s get down to the armory and get suited up.”
Michelin nodded and waited until Hampton had properly locked her quarters before continuing. “From what I’ve been told by EVA, we have a commando and a basic guard detail planetside. They’re getting hammered hard on all sides by hostiles and have a four-way split on their already-small guard detail to try to hold the base. The engineers they have down there are too busy trying to keep our boys alive to build new defenses, and what civilian staff down there are under lockdown. If we don’t move now, they’ll probably be wiped.”
“I can understand why Alexandra’s edgy about this,” Hampton said, laughing as they stepped into the service elevator at the end of the hall. “Equipment and vehicles are easy to replace; men aren’t.” She tied her hair into the signature ponytail that she was known for as the booth screeched downwards towards the lower decks, where the armories and the launch bays were held. “Isn’t the airspace above the drop zone hot at the moment?”
“As hot as can be. It’s loaded with ion storms, but EVA says we have a small break to drop in from, two klicks out from the base. Alexandra wants us to hit the ground running and cut our way through uncharted turf to them.” The bell dinged as the doors opened, revealing a hall bustling with dozens of other servicemen and women, readying their own equipment as they prepped to be dropped in with the battle commanders.
“Strange how we’re still stuck with standard ISDI troops,” Hampton said. “Alexandra is through-and-through Steel Talons, isn’t he?” They eyed the wall’s length of zone troopers as they marched past them towards the launch bays.
“Officially, yes,” Michelin said. “But it was his call when he was sent on this search-and-contain mission to leave the big boys on the homefront and take a regular detachment here instead.”
“Sounds like a win-win to me. Keep the Talons where they’re needed the most, give the greenhorns some time to shine, and put them under the service of a commander who knows what he’s doing.” She nodded approvingly. “That’s our boss for you.”
The pair nearly walked into the armory and straight into a wall of steel as they jumped out of the way of exiting zone troopers. “Looks like we’re a bit behind, huh?” Michelin said, chuckling. They walked inside, passing through the standard refit stations and proceeded to their lockers. Unlike their own troops, battle commanders stayed within their crawlers, so beyond regular integrated protection suits, not much else was needed.
Suiting up in record time as EVA sounded off the remaining time to drop, Hampton and Michelin pushed their way out of the armory again, past the soldiers in the hall, and entered the launch bays. Sitting closest to them were their own crawlers, Hampton’s offensive crawler Mobius and Michelin’s defense crawler Aegis, with their own specialized crawler drop pods opened to receive their cargo.
“Well, Hampton, see you on the ground?” Michelin said, holding out his hand. They shook before giving entering their crawlers, followed by the pilots for immediate vehicle production once they hit the ground, as only infantry and crawlers were suitable enough to weather the shock from a drop pod landing.
Sitting down in the operator’s chair, EVA authenticated Hampton’s credentials. “Welcome back, Commander Tricia Hampton.” She moved the crawler forward into its drop pod and waited until the hatches sealed with a hiss, notifying her that her group was ready to drop.
“This is offensive crawler Mobius, ready to drop,” she said to launch control.
“This is defensive crawler Aegis, ready to drop,” Michelin echoed.
“Affirmative on ready. This is deckhand to launch control, all forces prepped for drop. Green light when ready,” came the response from the deck crew.
“Affirmative, deck, confirmation received. Crawlers, acknowledge.”
“Mobius, acknowledge.”
“Aegis, acknowledge.”
“Control, acknowledge. Dropping now. Burn-in to ground, ETA ten seconds. Godspeed, and happy hunting.”
“Doctor, what happen?” Applejack asked, as the noise outside grew louder.
“I don’t know...” Wesley said. “But whatever it is, it’s not good. The battle must be shifting closer to the compound.” He walked up to his PDA, and with some tinkering, patched himself into the battle comms as a listener, as staff of his clearance weren’t allowed to directly speak in battle comms.
“You!” he heard Viers’ voice shout. “Yes, you, the engineer! Stop repairing that Titan, he can handle himself! Get back to the con-yard and get some more defenses out here ASAP!”
“Yes, sir!” the engineer responded. “Engineer 0331 to con-yard, requesting pre-fabs ready at the door five minutes ago! Give me three builds, watchtowers, stat!” Wesley walked out of the room quickly, stepping up beside the two door guards as they saw the engineer hop through the opened gate and making straight for the con-yard. Machinery shifted as pallets of materials were prepared and deposited on quick-move transports to be ferried to the construction site.
“This is con-yard to Dagger! Message is through, repeat, message is through! The commander is sending help our way!”
“Let’s hope they can make it here in time! Titans Sword Two and Four, pull back and stay behind the line! Watch the damage, your legs are giving out! Tiberium shards have blown off the plates guarding your hydraulics!” More gunfire echoed from the PDA’s speakers as Wesley quickly went to his office, pulling open one of the upper drawers and finding a handgun with several magazines within.
Exiting again, Wesley saw the con-yard using its own cranes to manufacture defenses within Camp Greenwood, in the case where their walls were breached. It was a handy function, allowing the engineers to work on other projects while the yard could produce defenses for itself. The medical center and barracks were directly across from it, so they would be under the protection to some extent.
“Doctor? Doctor!” he heard Applejack shout. He rushed back inside, loading his magazine into the handgun with a clack as he turned around to see hear more roars coming from outside. “Doctor, what happen?!”
“It’s bad, Applejack,” he said, flipping off the safety. “We don’t have enough of our own here to properly defend this base. Damn these storms; without them, we could have been reinforced yesterday!”
“Get that harvester inside! This is our last run, so watch the gates! Don’t let a single one of them through!” Viers shouted again. “Yankee Two, that wall down on the east end’s been smashed, and I can’t see shit from here! Recon and report back!”
“Yes, sir, checking it out now!” Two responded.
A rush of static flooded the comms for a moment. “Greenwood, this is Commander Alexandra. I’m sending in crawlers along with a full detachment of reinforcements. They’ll be landing two klicks out from your position, and will move to your position post haste. Bunker down and hold out until they arrive. ETA, several minutes if they don’t run into any of your friends down there.”
“Yes, sir! Tighten up those lines and make your shots count! Yankee, hold down this side while I go check on everyone else!” Viers said.
“Sir, the east wall’s been smashed hard! I think a couple of those bastards already got into Greenwood! I got an engineer here with me setting up a couple of watchtowers, though, just need a few put up and we can work on fixing this wall. Where the hell are these guys getting all this firepower, anyway?” Two returned.
“Tiberium can do some crazy-ass shit,” Viers said. “South side is taking a beating, I’m moving to assist.”
The medical center’s roof-mounted defense turrets whirred and opened fire as several fiends ran through Camp Greenwood’s main streets. Red lights flashed and doors locked as the facility was put under lockdown. “Looks like we’re stuck up here, doc,” one of the riflemen said, hefting his gun.
Applejack gave a quizzical look at Wesley. “What is... Tiberium?”
“Oh, that... it’s the name that we gave to the green crystal when we first discovered it on our world. It’s supposedly named after the river near which it was first found, though there have been claims otherwise...” he said, trailing off near the end.
“I... see... Will crystal hurt you people?”
“Not us. We have special suits designed to protect us from them... at least, until they’re breached. Then we’re at its mercy like anyone else.”
“Friend say he make suit. Suit protect?”
“Yes, the suit will protect you a lot better than what you had before. Maybe we can go searching once you’re up and about.”
“What about monsters?”
Wesley looked back to Applejack, and saw her worried expression. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he gave a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Applejack. We’ll be here to protect you.”
“Stay here?” she said, as he turned away to flip off the comm chatter on his PDA, leaving the room in mellowed silence.
“Yes, I’ll stay here. The guards can manage the hall, so I’ll stay here... to protect you.” He left his gun on the desk next to her bed, and took up a seat next to her instead. “Say, Applejack. You say that you have family and friends here... what about this place? There’s a town nearby, close to where we found you. Do you know what it is?”
“Town?” she asked. “Yes, I know town. Town is...” She again grew annoyed when the PDA didn’t translate the last of her response, easily telling despite her lack of English knowledge as the sentence abruptly cut off at the end. “Town is pony...”
“Yes? Pony what?”
“Town is Ponyville!” she nearly shouted, then catching herself. “Yes, Ponyville. My home.”
“Oh, your home? Well, actually, I don’t even know why I’m surprised to hear that... anyway, what of your friends? Has... has anyone been... lost in the town?”
Thankfully, Applejack shook her head. “No. Moved before crystal came.”
“That’s great! No one was harmed, then. This is very good. Perhaps soon we can help you find your friends and family again. Now, I—” Another rumble shook the building, more seismic activity. “Damn... I’m beginning to wonder if this planet isn’t some sort of trap or something...” He looked back to Applejack, who was busy fiddling with her hat. “Well, let’s just hope this doesn’t end too badly...”
The crackle of thunder shot through the sky as lightning raged throughout the region, as objects in the sky above the world plummeted to the ground at high speeds...
“Hampton, I’m starting to think that this wasn’t a good idea!” Michelin shouted over the comm.
“You don’t say?” Hampton shot back, busy dealing with the storm-affected malfunctioning displays on her own crawler as they burned in through the atmosphere. “Ten seconds! It was only supposed to be ten seconds!”
“I think my crawler’s veering right! Oh, man, these storms are intense! Oh, wait, my pod’s shifting now! Stabilize, stabilize!”
The burn-in radar on Hampton’s display showed that the infantry drop pods going in alongside them seemed to be mostly unharmed. The mass of electronics and intricate systems that the crawler drop pods had meant that they were the ones in hot water. Their half-mile break in the sky had lasted only for a while, and they found themselves in the thick of it when it returned in full force.
“I’m out! I’m out of the clouds! LZ is in sight, but I’m... oh, wait, I moved half-klick to the northeast! Yes! Mobility matrix and enhanced shields online! See you at the finish line, Hampton!” She saw that Michelin’s infantry pods diverted their course to intercept him at his drop zone, while hers still maintained the course. Curse Michelin and his luck... at least defensive crawlers moved like a turtle on flypaper. A turtle that had shields and big guns on it, that is.
“Just make sure our boys don’t end up as mincemeat, alright? You bring the walls, and I’ll bring the guns,” Hampton said. Her crawler pod’s external view opened up as they broke through the turbulent clouds, slamming into the ground with a quaking thud. She heard the ringing as the hatches blew open and her direct link to the Methuselah was re-established under the green skies that now spanned her vision. Zone troopers exited their pods and gathered up in formation around her crawler, as bits of tree and Tiberium covered the length of their journey ahead.
“Mobius and elements are on the ground. Moving to rendezvous at Camp Greenwood.”
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Glanced over at my computer and decided to refresh page, now I'm not going to get anything done.
Edit: This is so EPIC!
1299096 It's not that long!
Anyway, on another note, it might interest readers to know that the rank of Forward Battle Commander was originally a rank to be instituted in the now-cancelled game Tiberium, where the main character serves as one and commands forces directly from the field. I felt that this fit crawler commanders to a tee, so I decided to use it.
Excellent work.
Although after the words Tiberium got Flinged around in front of Applejack a few times, I'm surprised she didn't ask what the word meant. Since the ponies kept calling it crystal you know.
I wonder if anything in canter lot is gonna see the light show that's about to start.
This is so much win. I'm glad I don't have work to do or this would destroy my will to do anything but procrastinate.
1299413 Excellent point, and an honest mistake on my part. I guess I overlooked that when I was writing this chapter. I'll work it in with an edit.
Good chapter, can't wait to see those crawlers in action!
Also liked/hated the explanation of why we're not seeing the Steel Talons yet (I'm so looking forward to that, nearly as much as the Scrin).
& just to make sure I read it correctly, so far we have Timber wolves, manticores, diamond dogs, and Ursas attacking the base, correct?
1300213 Roughly thereabouts, yes.
1300113 Not necessarily!
If the inhabitants of Canterlot would see the action down in the vally, it would also mean that the ISDI forces could have easyly spotted the mountain city in the first place, especially if its protected by Shining Armors shield against Ion Storms (which I persume it is). The truth is, if I remember right, you described the environment to be rather foggy and, from my experience with C&C 3 Tiberium Wars, red zones tend to be rather cloudy as well. Now considering how high up Canterlot is, there is a good chance that there is a cloud cover or dense fog just below the city obscuring the view down to the vally and vice-versa. Also there is good chance for a higher cloud cover that somewhat blanks out the skies, concealing the approach of the drop pods, they become visible for mere moments before dissapearing in the lower fog, and giving satelite cameras a hard time making out settlements on the ground.
I hope this little theory of mine is helpfull to you!
PS: Seriously, high power lasers on the Titans, I know they had them in C&C 4 but you should have sticked with railguns, they are much more awesome in that manner.
This is one of my favourite crossovers. <3
Well what else can I say than epic. Good job with this story. I quite the addition to the Command and Conquer franchise. You should send this idea to EA because it is said they ask for fans how would they like to see in Command and Conquer 5.
1301822 It's a good theory, and cloud cover does indeed permeate most of the environment, making it hard to see. At the current height of Canterlot, though, due to it seemingly being on the same or lower elevation than Cloudsdale, clouds covers their skyward line of sight, as well.
Also, given the presence of beam weapons in Tiberian Twilight (and beyond), it's probably safe to say that beam weapons have become standard issue equipment. They're just the regular forces, though; the big boys in other ISDI departments have access to such weaponry and then some...
1302313 Thank you, I'm glad you like it.
1302691 At this point, I don't really trust EA with anything C&C anymore. I'd rather they just hand it over to a decent publisher with a decent company willing to do what it takes to bring C&C back to its roots. Like Valve or Bethesda, or something... at least those publishers don't have a history of ruining franchises.
1303488 [enable sing-a-long voice] STEEL TALONS [disable sing-a-long voice]
Man can't wait till the scrin arrive, the shit hits the fan and ISDI rolls out their heavy hitters.
And of course there is the issue with diplomacy but its looking good so far. With the rescue of Applejack the apes have already scored a huge number and if they save Pinkie Pie and Luna (althou the medics will probably have to amputate her wings but she's an alicorn, they'll probably grow back) as well, then the results would be unpredictably awesome!
BEWARE SCRIN, FOR THE ORBITAL FRIENDSHIP CANNON IS AIMING AT YOU!!!!
1306989 Indeed.
Also, as an interesting tidbit, readers might notice that as of the current moment in the story, they're only using Tier 1 technologies at the moment. Things will ramp up and new toys thrown into the mix as the story progresses, naturally.
1307006
Bring it On.
1307006 Then where are the wolverines(/wolfs)? Role out the bucking Gatling guns!
I think the walkers units would be more effective in the current battlefield because there is so much broken and uneven terrain. Also they are a lot cooler than the tracked things from C&C 4.
Quite interesting! This is...fabulous!
I'm looking forward to AJ reuniting with her friends, as well as the "We come in peace/Take me to your leader!" scenario!
Best CnC story ever!
More please?
1311843 It'll come along. I work on two other stories and I publish a chapter for each in a cycle, so it'll be a while before I return to this.
I really enjoyed this chapter and your writing is excellent!
The plot looks really structured, I don't see ANY holes right now and its very exciting!
Silver out!
1312405 Thanks, I try to avoid having holes in my story as much as possible.
1312410
Hey, you're doing good work here. Keep that in mind. Very few C&C crossovers have quality as a priority. And so far, you have the finest Tiberian one to date.
You even outclassed me, you bastard!
(Jelly FTW)
I'm kidding...keep up the great work!
Silver out!
Oh, one thing I forgot to ask in my last comment:
According to an earlier post from you (I think), the Brotherhood left on Earth had basically been erradicated after Kane left, so did they have any technology left over? As things that were generally associated with Nod like stealth tech, flamethrowerers...I'm probably missing a few things since I haven't played CnC for awhile, nor am I familiar with CnC4 units. The question is did ISDI reverse engineer any of the remaining Nod tech cookies?
One last thing, is Earth pretty much all blue zone again?
Once again, looking forward to more, keep up the good work.
1316329 For the first question: yes. Essentially, those that were not killed in the aftermath of Nod's subsequent power struggles found themselves nowhere to go and disillusioned with Nod's original cause. For those that left, the ISDI offered them a place where they could still put their talents from Nod, such as stealth systems, flame weaponry, and Tiberium research into more progressive lines by working with them towards the common threat, which is the Scrin. The ISDI have found suitable use for Nod technology in their own arsenals (for example, flame weapons are extremely effective against Scrin buzzers). I don't think the explanation for the effectiveness of stealth systems is needed, since Kane has proven quite handily that Nod technologies are capable of fooling even Scrin forces.
For the second question: also yes. Earth had been resorted to a huge majority of Blue Zones post-C&C4's timeline rolled around, where the Tiberium Control Network reversed the growth of Tiberium from terrestrial Earth and made it a controlled resource.
Also, it's nice to know that the author of "It Must be Tuesday" is following my story.
Just occured to me that you are bringing back the Mammoth Mk.II walkers with the addition of tech from the fourth Tiberium War so... They will have, in addition to their already devastating firepower, all the enhanced design elements from the Mastodon such as reinforced and armored legs to protect against explosive charges, Depth Charge Emergency Ejection System for close defense, and backup systems (nano-tech self repair systems). They will also have support form MCVs compliment their abilities.
This is going to be good
Oh hell yes I am loving this story! can't wait for more.
fc02.deviantart.net/fs28/f/2008/053/2/2/Tiberian_Twilight_Mod_GDI_Logo_by_Councilor.gif
Saw this in Deviant Art. Tiberian Twilight Mod GDI Logo by ~Councilor
Well, fuck me sideways. I didn't think a C&C and MLP crossover could be done without producing shit. Looks like I was dead wrong.
All my likes, man. All my likes.
All of my love, man. This fic has my eyes glued to the screen. Keep. It. Up.
“Yes, I’ll stay here. The guards can manage the hall, so I’ll stay here... to protect you.” He left his gun on the desk next to her bed, and took up a seat next to her instad.
You misspelled instead.
I want to play my little C&c someone make it please
3923216
Yeah, I could imagine that as a Kane's Wrath mod since doing it for CNC4 would be too hard due to lack of mcv's, walkers, etc. At least in Kane's wrath you could potentially add the CNC 4 walkers as produceable vehicles.
"Equipment and vehicles are easy to replace; men aren’t.”
Well, if an interstellar empire is honestly sending out chicks into front-line conflict en mass unless they've been rendered barren, then yeah, I suppose having enough people to fight off a race like the Scrin would be pretty difficult. It'd be even worse if this was a fantasy kingdom that did that, admittedly, but still...