The Tiberium War

[V]

Washington DC
Blue Zone
Area B-2
GDI Central Command

It started out as a normal day. The commanders and generals were talking, the equipment was being checked, and the Orca pilots were checking armaments. I myself was in the Barracks, suiting up. I'd just finished putting on my fatigues. The GDI eagle emblem was on both shoulders. Wearing this was such an honor. I was in the military for only a couple years, before being suggested to the Global Defense Initiative. It was time for me put on the heavy composite armor. It was heavy, but it was another up we had on Nod's militants. I started it the same way; limbs then leggings then chest. The chest piece felt awkward putting on...guess that's because they needed to make it so that it would go along with my breasts. The men's counterpart to this armor...they say it's more comfortable.
I put my helmet on, which was pretty much full face...however over my left eye was a neat little targeting thing. Lock on to vehicle targets like the ones on a plane do. Leaving the barracks, I headed to the armory, to get my weapon. The rifles were nice and all...but I'm part of Missile Squad. I loved our "motto" you could say. We are not rocket troops...we're missile squad, and proud of it!
"Hey Claire." Someone says to me. I turn to face him. It's my partner...we're usually paired off. Guess it's easier to keep track that way. Taking my pistol from the rack, I make sure it is loaded, and slide it into it's holster...before reaching for the leviathan that was my missile launcher.
"Listen up missile squad!" The iconic voice of the one who lead our division, the missile squad. "I know this seems like a normal patrol routine...but it's not. Nod activity has been reported in the area, so we need to be vigilant. If you see anything...ANYTHING seemingly suspicious, you must report it."
Right when he said it...there was an explosion in the Orca's landing area. In the sky...cruise missiles were easily seen.
"We're under attack! Scramble all forces! Take p defensive positions!!" The alert was broadcasted, and I saw everyone scrambling. The pilots to their Orcas, drivers to their tanks. A squad a zone troopers ran from the barracks...and even a Commando. Nod transport craft were dropping off soldiers and vehicles...having cover from Venoms. The AA batteries were trying to keep them at bay...but the aircraft were too numerous to keep off the ground. "Missile Squad! Take those birds down!" Our icon ordered. I do as I am told. I bring my missile launcher to my shoulder, and my targeter in my helmet begins to scan my target...the Carryall. It locked onto one of it's engines. Thankfully the launcher is linked to the targeter in my helmet, or this device would be useless. I let the missile free, and watched it fly at the carryall's exposed engine. It collided and exploded, sending it's decent far off course. The aircraft crashed into a second carryall, which smashed into a venom. Three birds with one stone. Now that was lucky.
"Nice shot Jian!" Jian...that's me. Claire Jian. The next moment, I see concrete flying around me, and holes forming into it. The nod militants were targeting us, with their outdated rifles.
I feel a few bullets hit my armor, but thank god this stuff is solid though...the bullets either embed or ricochet off.
"DIE PIG!" The Nod militants are shouting at us while they fire. Then all of a sudden, a mist of red blood flies out from one of them...then another, then a third. Behind us, the riflemen are running up with a couple APCs. "Sorry about that, hit a little snag at the barracks."
"Looks like Nod is retreating already...wow, did they really think this attack would work?"
"Yeah...that was a suicide mission and they knew it....and best of all, they are leading us right to their base."
I begin to wonder. -That is a good question...I don't think Nod would ever attack something if it wasn't for opportunity...but if that is not the case...this must be a distraction...-

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

East Coast of the United States
Border on a Blue and Yellow Zone
Area B-4

"Hey Spencer!" I groan, looking at the soldier who speaks to me. "Come on! We're gonna be late."
"Huh?" I look at him with groggy eyes.
"Come on... tha tharvester won't run itself!"
"Spencer!" The voice of a leader. I quickly get up and snap to attention. "Supply Sergeant Spencer Telfar, reporting!"
"Get your ass in gear, son. The tiberium is growing back at a faster rate, and we need it dealt with. It' claimed well over an acre in the last four hours. That's fast. And what's worse...it is the unstable kind."
"Blue tib, sir?"
"Yes, blue tib! Now suit up and go!"
I don't need him to tell me twice. I run to my locker, and I throw those fatigues on, my air filter mask, and I scramble to my harvester.
"Air filters on...machine gun operable..." I do my checks, before scrambling onto the field. A good amount of blue...at least we'll be rich. I approach the first crystal compound, and the harvester starts its thing, while I oversee. The blades cut through it easily...using some kind of sonic emitter to loosen it up. This crystal dislikes sonic waves for some reason...scientists never figured it out...but hey, it works. The crystal falls onto the belt and it's put into a storage area in the back of the harvester. With this harvester, crystals can be cut down in a matter of seconds. "Wonder where the other harvesters are." Little did I know...that today...I would find a component...that could easily have ended mankind as we knew it...

[V]

Washington DC
Blue Zone
Area B-2
GDI Central Command

"Nod base has been sighted over the river. Unfortunately, it appears to be well fortified, and would be very difficult to perform a siege. The ion cannon has now been authorized to eliminate this threat."
The ion cannon...GDI's greatest weapon in our war with the Brotherhood. It's been in orbit since the first Tiberium War, back in 1995. It may have changed over the years...but it's purpose has not.
I watched as the beams of light fell from the sky...first one, then another, and then another. They begin to rotate in synchronization, counter clockwise, centering in on one location....and then...a blinding flash, followed by an explosion. It was a marvelous sight to behold.
"Target terminated! The entire thing! No survivors spotted. We're sending in an Orca team to scout it out."
After that we all continued our patrols. They went as they do everyday; we find no targets, and we return to the barracks at night.
However, the rec room in the barracks is the greatest place on the base...I can say that with certainty. I had thrown off all my equipment, stripping down to just my tank top and fatigue pants. The rec hall has couches to lounge on, games to play, and a big tv against one wall. I sat at the end of one of the couches, watching what whoever had the remote decided we were going to watch...which happened to be wrestling. "Ugh...wrestling? Is there nothing else on?"
"Claire...if there was, we would be."
"I hear the season finale of A pig for your troubles is showing tonight."
"Haha! We don't watch soap operas!"
"I find them more entertaining than grown men in underwear manhandling each other..."
Then someone we all knew came into the rec room. The Commando from Hampton Roads, without his armor of course. "Hey girls, what's going on?" He said to everyone on the couch. I wasn't too offended, but the other guys just rolled their eyes. "What we watching." He took a look at the screen and winced. "Wrestling? Ugh! Turn it to channel forty! I hear David and Sasha are going to break up on A pig for your troubles."
"What?! Ah man, I don't want to watch any soap opera."
I smirk, and meet the Commando with a high five. Most of the guys left after two second of the show..but I didn't.
Near the end of the show...I was already tearing up. The Commando hit me on the shoulder. "Hey soldier! You ain't crying are ya?"
I bring the tissue to my eye. "It's a soap opera...I'm a woman..."
He chuckled. "So what division you from."
"Missile Squad. 23rd battalion."
"Missile Squad? That's pretty neat. Don't see many women here. They're all in intel...or in that...Marine corps. Marines...they ain't got anything on us."
"Don't we work alongside them?"
"Sure they call it that, but we're just saving their asses from something haha. I got forty years of experience behind me, girl. I know what I'm talking about."
I believed him. I read InOps. GDI commandos often have so many years of experience behind them...and, next to the ion cannon, are the most powerful weapon we have to combat Nod.
"So you like A pig for your trouble?" I asked him.
"You know it! Been watching this since show one! Can't believe David is going to lave Beverly for that whore!"
"You think that too?"
"Of course! Anyone can see she's a whore."
When the show ended, he was quick to jump from the couch and over to ping pong. A man his age was still so...flexible and active..it was pretty amazing.
"Alright tough guy! Let's get this started!"
Was what I heard him say before returning to my room. I shared my room with three other guys. We had bunks and a small personal section.I kept a lamp, a few books, a hand held game, and my helmet there. Tonight however...I was feeling..very tired actually. The moment my head hit that pillow...there was no hope, and I quickly fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

East Coast of the United States
Border on a Blue and Yellow Zone
Area B-4

"Push the button...eat the crystal..moving on..." I'm nearly falling asleep at the wheel...UGH! Driving this damn thing is so boring!
"Spencer!"
"What do you want?"
"Don't fall asleep at the wheel!"
"This is harder than it looks!"
"What? You just tell the thing where to go!"
"That's not the hard part, the hard part is staying conscious!"
Yes...I often did get in a battle with my crew member...but he doesn't know what I go through...I do.
Suddenly, the harvester refuses to continue. "Unidentified crystal substance" The monitor reads. I look you the front...looks like tib to me.
"Go put on a suit and look outside." The other guy says.
"I don't wanna!" I say back.
"Well you're gonna!"
"FINE!"
"FINE!"
Murmuring very subtle swear to myself, I leave the harvester in a survival suit, I move to the front. When I come to the base of the wheel...I drop the scanner...I don' need it to see the "crystal substance."
"That's...a tib crystal...but.." I look at it..it's blood red and pulsating. "I need...to bring this in." I push the comm link on my wrist. "YO! get a crystal jar!"
"Where are they?!"
"Check the dashboard!"
"What?"
"Dashboard!"
"Crashboard?"
"DASHBOARD!"
This..was going to be a long morning...

[V]

Washington DC
Blue Zone
Area B-2
GDI Central Command

Next morning I reported to the mess hall, for my daily serving of shredded wheat. Living in this blue zone is great, as food is never an issue. I can't help but feel sorry for the brotherhood. Most of them we fight are militia recruited from the yellow zones, told of how our life is so much better...and I guess they want it for themselves. I finished my breakfast quickly, before being stopped by a few soldiers.
"Did ya hear? Some of us going to be sent over to Africa...to secure a base in Nod Territory."
"What?" I sounded shocked. "Nod territory? They'll kill us!"
"Yeah...no kidding."
I checked the roster to see who has going to go...my battalion was on the list...and we were leaving tomorrow.
"Pack your stuff up guys!" I heard our leader say in the crew room. "We're leaving at 0830!"
A sigh slips through my lips. Sometimes I wished the "G" in GDI didn't stand for "Global".
I return to the crew room, and pack what little I had into my gold colored duffel bag, with the GDI eagle. Atleast we knew the Commando from Hampton was going to tag along. I sure was going to long for this place...wonder if the barracks there has a rec room as nice as this one.
More news came to me later that day. Turns out...we were heading there to secure a base for newly discovered tiberium crystal. And by securing a base, I mean by fortifying an already existing one...which turns out to be one of our tiberium research centers.


Cairo, Egypt
Yellow Zone
Area Y-24
GDI Tiberium Research Center

The next day came quickly. The crystal was scheduled to arrive shortly after we did. Have you ever been in a V85 for longer than 3 hours? And in composite armor? Ox transports are not made to give their passengers comfort. And I was in one of many flying over the Atlantic. If Nod had some AA ships down there, we'd be easy targets..even with our Orca and Firehawk escorts. Three hours later...we arrived at the base without much resistance, and were greeted by the local garrison. We were all lead to the barracks complex. Ours was nothing like the one back at base. The rec room had an old 18 inch tv, pool table with most of the balls missing, and a ping-pong table. Atleast the crews area was well maintained...as a woman, if I sleep well, everyone does. We unpacked, just in time to see the tib crystal arrive. The crystal itself...looked..well...evil. That pulsating red...and with it, the lucky harvester who found it. Said his name was Spencer...funny guy. He was really good at letting his inner child loose though...especially when a certain friend of his was around. The brought the crystal into the research lab...and I was met by the Commando.
"Yo girl."
"Hey."
"Too bad...we're missing a pig for your trouble."
"Haha..I know."
"Yeah...but you know...with this crystal, Nod'll probably be swarming us soon. They seemed obbsessed with tiberium."
"That's what I'm afraid of." I hugged my missile launcher like it was a teddybear. Nightwatch teams were assigned...and I got to be on first night. My partner and me were sitting on the wall's walkway, watching the field ahead. This was a Yellow zone. There were Tiberium fields all around, destroyed cars, and ruins of buildings. I can't imagine living here...knowing what I had left behind, no wonder Nod wants our blue zones.
"Look at that." My partner said. I scan the horizon, looking for something.
"No, no. My watch...shift is almost over."
"Ah..that's good." Suddenly, I see light from the corner of my eye....then another...and another. "What the?" Then the sound of an engine...sounded like...a buggy. "Are those...Nod Raider buggies?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

East Coast of the United States
Border on a Blue and Yellow Zone
Area B-4

I use a sonic saw to extract the crystal, and carefully store it into the crystal jar. Safely onboard, I continue my harvesting for the day. Afterward..I show my finding to my supervisor...who flips his lid.
"Spencer!" He shouts...although sounding surprisingly happy. "You have found something that might give us an edge on Nod!"
"Totally! Umm...what is it...exactly?"
"Do you realize what we could do with this? Blue tiberium can generate alot of power...but this...I imagine...we can generate even more. A single charge might be able to run an army of Mammoths. But w'ell never know...so we're going to send it to Cairo...and you're going."
"Cairo...isn't that a Red Zone?"
"Not Cairo, Illinois! Cairo, Egypt!"
"Oh...sounds....sandy."
"I'm scheduling a V85 to launch you tomorrow...it's imperative we get answers on this ASAP....you are dismissed now."

Cairo, Egypt
Yellow Zone
Area Y-24
GDI Tiberium Research Center


So..here I am...riding with a poisonous rock...on a ship..with my worst enemy. Fun, right? Hehe...WRONG! All the way, I was getting poked and made fun of. I want to wring this guy's neck! On the bright side...met with this cute woman from Missile Squad...named Claire. She said she isn't married...guess she'll need to meet the Spence soon, hehe. We get to our room...and there's a cockroach on my bed...not five minutes here...and my sleeping area is already contaminated...I hate my job...

[V]

I stare at the two Nod vehicles....who don't seem to be reacting at all.
"Hey, what's going on?" Behind me, a sniper team reveals themselves.
"A couple Nod vehicles. They aren't doing much though." I respond.
"Let's have a look..." The spotter took out his binoculars, and engaged the night vision. "I see two of them. Drivers are talking into radioes....that could mean they are talking to each other."
I begin to think. Are they just scoping the base out? That does seem like some the Brotherhood would do. Suddenly...there was a familiar sound....and we all knew it. This sound was nothing but bad news...for at that moment, we knew what the buggies were doing.
"They aren't scouts..." the sniper said. "They're spotters! Everyone, get down!"
The sound we heard were Vertigo bombers, the roar of their engines soared over our head, flying right over the walls. The whistling from the bombs releasing was loud enough for us all to hear, and the explosion nearly deafened us.
"Nod attack! All forces take up arms!"
The alarm was sounded, and we watched everything roll out. At the same time, Nod launched their offensive;, a rush of tanks from three sides. Did Nod just want us dead? I wouldn't be surprised, but again, Nod doesn't attack without a good reason to...and if this was just an act of marauding...why send so many units? No...they wanted something from us. The red tiberium crystal maybe...but how could they have possibly found out about it?
"Fanatics at the west wall!" A shout came from men on the wall opposite of us. We couldn't help them...we needed to hold strong to one...but spreading thin doesn't always work.
"Flame tank! heads up!" That was my partner, and I quickly raised the launcher to my shoulder. Our target was easy....we both locked onto one of the fuel tanks on the flame vehicle, and let the rocket loose. The explosions connect simultaneously, blowing the tank apart, as well as surrounding infantry. Suddenly, there's a massive flash of red light, and we feel the wall shake beneath us. "Beam Cannon! Get off the wall!" We all turned to, but before we could, the beam collided again, the wall collasped with us on top of it. Luckily, I was crushed by any rubble, falling a good ten feet from where the wall originally stood. The armor broke my fall, although the targetter in my helmet was malfunctioning.I took my helmet off, because my launcher wouldn't be tracking correctly with it on. Nod forces were coming in through the breach....and it seemed like other walls were beginning to fall as well. The rifle teams took care of the infantry that made it through, but when the tanks started, that was our time to shine. I put the launcher to my shoulder, and looked through the sight. The launcher started tracking my target...the flame tank's fire fuel tank. When the tone came red, I let the missile go. The explosion set soldiers around it ablaze, as well as destroying the tank. Predators and Mammoths were rushing to defend now, and the commando was just getting out.
"What'd I miss?" He said, seemingly unaware to the sights around him.
"Nod walkers!" Someone shouts. "Three Avatars!"
"Hot Dog!" The Commando shouts. "Let's have some fun!"
A second later, I hear the roar of an engine, as he jump jets over the wall. I watch him land on the other side, heading for the Avatars. "He's insane..." I mumble, watching him. One of the mechs tries to take him out with a laser, which he easily rolls out of the way of. The second and third ones didn't seem to find him a threat....bad call on their part.
I watched the Commando slide under the first one, and he slapped something on it's leg, before jump jetting to the second one. It tried to stomp him, but he evaded once more, and attached another device on that one's leg. The third one, also seeming to be annoyed by him, turned it's laser on him. The beam made a sweeping motion at him, and watch as he easily avoided it, before sliding under it and attaching another device. Then, he jumped jetted away from them, pressing a detonator in the air. Three explosions went off simultaneously, and all three mechs crumbled to the ground.
"Haha! New record! Three kills!" He landed with a graceful crash, behind the wall again. "WOO! Get's the blood pumping! Alright guys, let's finish this!" He ruched me, and a few surviving riflemen to the otherside.
"Rocket girl!" He shouted to me. "Hit that support beam!"
I looked at what he wanted me to hit...it was holding up a rather large container, like ones you'd see loaded onto ships.
"Uhh...yes sir..." I took my sight to it and fired. The rocket hit, and sent the container crashing down onto a group od Nod militants, as well as blocking off that opening.
"Nice shot!"
"Enemy Commando sighted!"
Our Commando seemed to turn at that. "Oh? Hehe...I'll show him a thing or two." With that he turned around, and headed for another opening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Keep the crystal safe! Nod has clearly come for it, and I want to make sure they don't." The lab's top researcher was in our faces. Wonder why he was in mine...I was just the Harvester driver. I gulped as a rifle was pushed into my hands. "Any Nod bastard come through that door....you blast them."
"Uhh...sir I..."
"WHAT?!"
"Nothing...nothing..."
Wow that guy was scary. I looked over at the crystal. "Wonder why Nod wants it...."

[V]

"Nod's clearing out! The Commando got rid of theirs, haha. Ugly bitch, too." I couldn't help but feel relieved. Nod forces were pulling back, could see the tails of their tanks and vehicles moving away. I will admit this plan of attack was cetainly executed well...as if they knew where to place their units and what our weaknesses were. The Raiders who started it could have approached any other wall, which would have had AA defenses. But they chose ours...which would be the most strenuous journey to. Nod has been surprisingly...ahead of us you could say.
"Well...I'd say job well done." Commando came up, dusting his hands off. "Nod made a bit of a mess though. We're open now....but don't worry. Because, as long as the GDI banner flies, there is hope for all....and, I've still got plenty of bombs left. If that hope mumbo-jumbo don't work, can turn Nod into a big fireworks display, hehe."
I rolled my eyes at this. "I'm going to wash off..."
My partner and the other riflemen just Nodded, but Commando opened his mouth. "Hey! Not gonna invite me? I'm dirty, dirty!"
Everyone laughed, and even I giggled. I didn't really mind that he harassed me you could say. It made everyone laugh, and I laughed a bit myself, too. Before I could make it to where I wanted to go, someone grabbed my arm...it was that Spencer guy. "Come here a second!" he sounded frantic.
"What is it?"
"I see something in the crystal room, but the others don't believe me. I swear something is in there."
"Why'd you stop me?"
"Please, I stopped everyone I passed, but everyone thought I was crazy!"
Sighing, I agree to follow him, and he takes me back to the crystal's holding room. The door required all in the party to scan a id card. Thankfully, all GDI personnel were allowed access, so both our cards were accepted. There were maybe four other riflemen guards in composite armor standing ground. In the middle of the room, was a massive metal structure, and at one end, held the red tiberium crystal. It was in a capsule...but the capsule was made of a crystalline like compound, that not even the Mammoth's rail guns could destroy. So you could see it and it was also secure...which also prevented tiberium radiation from leaking. Spencer himself, although a harvester driver, seemed to have been given a set of the armor and a neat rifle. He pointed to a shadowed corner. Looked like darkness...but when I flashed my flashlight in there...there was about a millisecond of distortion.
"Hmm..." My launcher was slung across my back, but I obviously wasn't going to use that. I took my side arm from the holster and pointed it at where the distortion had happened. Then...all of a sudden, there gunshots behind me, and the sounds of bodies dropping...but not the ones of the GDI rifles. When I turned around...there were those black suited soldiers, three of them...clearly one of Nod's ninja like shadow teams...but where was the fourth. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in the back of my leg, and an arm went under my chin, applying pressure on my throat; I was put in that immobilizing hold.
Out of the shadows, walked another black suited woman...blond, sunglasses...generic female spy from Russia. Another of the shadows had Spencer in one of the immobile holds.
"Hmm...I'm guess there is an alarm rigged to this device...if we try to break it, it'll sound no?"
She ran a finger under my chin. "Tell me, do you know the code to open it."
I did, although I wasn't supposed to. The leader of missile squad left the folder open...I, went and read...but that doesn't mean I could reveal it.
"Hmm...and you?" She asked Spencer. He shook his head no. "Hmm...okay, you're useless, dispose of them. We'll ask others...if they don't know it, we kill them too."
"WAIT!" I called. "Okay, I'll give you the code, but just promise you won't hurt anybody else..."
"Oh don't worry...I'm a woman of my word."
"8-8-5-9-4-3-6-8..."
She punched the code in, and the metal machine ejected the capsule. One of the shadows took it. The Commando then approached me. "Since you kept your end of the bargain...I will keep mine. I won't hurt or kill anyone on my exit...but..." My eyes went wide, as I felt her lips on mine. She...just...kissed me!
"I'll leave you that to remember me by." She looked to her shadows. "Let's go! We got what we came for!" They must have turned their cloaking devices on, for the moment I was released...I couldn't see them anymore.
"W-what the hell was that?" Spencer seemed frustrated, and afraid...and I was as well.
"Shit...I just...just gave away...what we were guarding...fuck...I'm an idiot..." I hit the ground with my fist. "They'll surely court marshal me...God...how am I going to explain this..."

[V]

"Were those...ninjas?!" I heard Spencer start to sound more...dumbfounded than anything. "Yeah..Nod's shadow team. Should have figured....the attacks outside...were distractions. They kept our sensors looking for Vertigo bombers...those bastards just slipped in undetected..."
Footsteps...coming from the crystal door. There were three people. Two of them were officers, the man in the middle, was none other than General Jack Granger. "How you doing soldier?" He asked me.
"Been better, sir..."
"I see Nod got away with the crystal..."
"I'm sorry...I just didn't...want..."
"Don't worry, I know why you did it...and I can honestly say I'm happy you did. The only person on this base who should have known the code was me...and they'd have killed everyone who didn't. We would have lost several good people...and no crystal of tiberium could make up for that. and in time...we might have found out it's secrets, and would more than likely be using a tiberium based weapon. GDI's purpose is to rid the world of that stuff. You did good, soldier."
"I-I...thank you, sir..."
"And also, there's a tracker on that capsule, those guys are leading us right their base. Given the assumed priority for the crystal, and Nod's obsession with it, I'd imagine they are taking it to either a top research center, or to Kane himself. Either way...we can use this to our advantage...."
General Granger offered me his hand to help myself up, which I took. Then he patted my shoulder, before leaving.
"So what now?" Spencer asked me.
I shrugged. "Guess we just...go back..."
We left the room, unsure as to how we react to this. Everyone didn't look to happy. Even the Commando was sulking. "I feel so used. Damn. We played right into Nod's hands..."
That night, and lay in bed...but didn't fall asleep. Not just because the man above me was snoring. I couldn't help but think at What Nod was going to do with that crystal...and even about how they knew about it. Who was their man on the inside?

[V]

The next day, I was awoken by vigorous shaking. My partner was standing beside me. "Damn it Clare, wake up! Get suited up! We're heading out?"
"Nnhuh? Where?"
"Outpost about sixty miles North. Lost contact with another research lab. Just sending in a small task force, all infantry."
"Huh? What about vehicles?"
"Don't worry, some Zone Troopers and the Commando are coming, too."
Quickly I suited up, and in the next hour, we were boarding some Oxen. There were four of them. Inside the the one I'm in was a rifle squad, myself and my partner, Spencer, and the Commando. From what I remember. Two others were full of just zone Troopers, and the other was of snipers and riflemen. We were the only Missile team.
"Why is it just infantry...if Nod is the real threat, then they'll likely have vehicles....we'll be screwed..."
"Yeah, No Kiddin'." The Commando agreed.
"Approaching destination, 3 miles ahead." The Pilot announced.
"Well...here we go." I mumbled, watching the mountains rush past the window. All of a sudden, a loud alarm went off, and we were bathed in a red light.
"Shit! Missile Batteries. Everyone hold tight, this ride will be bumpy!" We were jerked and tossed around in that cabin, while the pilot did some insane maneuvers. Through the window, we saw one of the Oxen take a hit.
"Ox 3, going down!" The radio went off. From the back, the Zone Troopers inside simply jumped jetted out. "Bravo two, we're bailing out here. The lab is about half a mile away, we'll proceed on foot."
Damn...Zone Troopers show no fear. Another transmisison.
"Ox 2! Going down!" That was the other Zone Trooper Ox. They did thte same as the first one. The rest of us scrambled for parachutes The Rifle team took nearly all of them, my partner taking the last. That left me, Spencer, and the Commando parachute-less."
There was a violent shaking, as the aircraft started to list. "We've been hit, losing altitude! Soldier squads evacuate!"
The riflemen and my partner jumped out...we watched them deploy the chutes.
"Siht! We're gonna splat, huh?!" Spencer seemed freaked out. Commando shook his head. "Nah. He took both of us...one under each arm, and jumped out.
I was too afraid to do anything, even blink. Spencer on the other hand was shouting his lungs off. "You're insane MAN! INSANE! AAAAHHH!"
Then...there was a deafening roar behind me, as the Commando activated his jump jet. "YEEEEEHAW!!!!" Commando happily cheered.
We safely landed on the ground a few moments later....literally right in front of the research lab. We were greeted by the other soldier squads.Miraculously, everyone survived...except the pilots...may they be honored.
"Damn looks like Nod was here." One of the riflemen said. "Left almost nothing standing...that's the lab, let's have a look inside. The Zone Troopers went in first...followed by Commando. A rifle team went in next. The snipers and the other rifle teams were to stay outside to stand watch. We were to go in. Spencer clung to me. Couldn't blame him..I'm the only one who knew. Soon it was our turn to follow. I took a deep breath...and entered the ruined structure.