Party Crashers

Note --- I noticed a lot of words are clumped together, probably due to the format change on MicroWord, I'll fix it later.

Colony Three probably had to be one of the most dull of themany colonies established throughout our Northern European perimeter. I was stationed here a few weeks ago from Stuttgart AFB after finishing boot camp, normally acting as military police for C3. I came along with a good handful of recruits like myself, working with the officers and higher-ups stationed in C3. The Global Defense Initiative had a network of outposts throughout these colonies in order to establish order throughout the civilian population, and to prevent the spread of Tiberium that would affect the daily lives of civilians. It was a harsh reality in which we were living in now, but to be honest, most of the action that I had been expecting was nowhere to be found around these colonies. My days at boot camp in Stuttgart AFB really didn’t pay off, normally because I’d find myself on patrol throughout C3 or I’d be guarding its agricultural sector, in which I normally had to handle food distribution along with other civilians. As a fresh recruit I expected to be thrown out into battle shooting Nod fanatics in the head or at least have something much more interesting than this. Nevertheless, this is what I signed up for, and this is what I’d be stuck doing for quite a while.

I was getting ready for another routine patrol throughout C3,getting my usual gear ready and sporting my pulse rifle that I’d been given when I was transferred into C3’s barracks. As a light infantry, making sure that my gear and weapon was ready for action was priority. Though I was a standard issue GDI soldier, I had to keep myself in check at all times if I wanted to move up the ranks. While sitting on one of the benches of the locker rooms, I checked my rifle as usual in case of emergency and making sure all of my gear was in order. “Still pissedabout your job, rookie?” I noticed one of my peers coming through the doorof the mess hall. I looked up and was a bit ticked as his question, but answered nonetheless. ”You bet I am. Ididn’t think I’d be playing babysitter for a bunch of civvies.” PrivateFirst-Class Hudson was one of my squad mates who had been transferred here a few months before my arrival. The guy was about as tall as I was, except he was a bit bulky with dark brown hair. He normally liked to push my buttons, due to my naïve behavior, but was an O.K. guy who had shown me the ropes when I came around. Though he was your unprepared ‘soldier boy’ in our squad, he was the first to act nonetheless. Laughing at my response, he patted my shoulder and grabbed his gear from his locker opposite of where I was sitting. Rather than a pulse rifle, he’d pull out a load of discs from the locker, nonchalantly letting them fall onto the ground. “Isn’tthat a bit explosive to be throwing around?” I had questioned him with a bitof a surprised look on my face. He wasn’t a light infantry like myself, which explained the discs that he had within his locker. He was a grenadier class disc thrower, and normally the discs would tend to explode on impact if not taken care of, but he didn’t seem to really care for its fragility. “Scared you’ll get blown up to bits? Ididn’t think you had fear in you, rookie.” He laughed once more as I got upand cocked my rifle, ready for yet another patrol. “Save that for the Noddies…” Another male had came from the messhall. He was a sergeant unlike us two privates, and was also our commanding officer on patrol runs during this time of day. “…if they have the balls to show themselves of course.” He crossedhis hands as the two of us turned to salute, as usually the custom to our higher-ups. The was known as Sergeant Mitchell, a very rigid but calm man that had kept the barracks in check throughout C3, and was normally around the mess hall to join his fellow men in the little leisure time we’d have to enjoy. He slowly moved his hand while we continued to get ourselves ready for the day. “We’ll be doing the same as usual. Normalpatrol through C3’s agricultural sector, as well as the usual patrol through the VMGs in the eastern sector of the outpost. Is that clear?” “Yes sir!”Our usual response to Mitchell, he nodded and made his way out to meet with the other men. Unlike us, he always had his equipment checked and ready to go everywhere he went. I followed up with Mitchell to the outside of the barracks with my pulse rifle clinging on my back, while Hudson as usual would say “Hey wait up!”. He’s always theunprepared one in the group. “It’s nowonder you’re still a First Class, eh?” Laughing, I continued my way outfrom the barracks. 

The air outside was filled with the smell of dirt and smoke asusual. Normally the air would be filled with dust clouds from storms from time to time. Its to be expected in our post-apocalyptic reality where Tiberium grows rapidly throughout many regions while the factories around us were hard at work processing the crystal or producing units for use around the outpost and C3. Mitchell was waiting along with my other three squad mates from the radar station posted a short distance from our barracks. “Where’s our good friend Hudson?” Was the first question posed fromone the men standing with Mitchell. He was a light infantry like I was, but was more serious and a bit shorter than Hudson and myself. The guy already had his helmet on him ready for patrol as always, and had his rifle strapped on his left shoulder. A very prepared soldier and sort of a “role model” had it not been for his dry , serious attitude. “Youknow how he is, always getting ready at the last minute.” Private Hernandezwas what he went by, nodding to my reply, and kept quiet while Mitchell talked to the other two. It was the “Same asalways, men.” reply he’d give to us, they nodded back while greeting me. “Another day, isn’t it Stevens?” PrivateFirst-Class James had always said the same thing to me every day, but was a very laid-back soldier unlike Hernandez. James was another light infantry like myself and Mitchell, but had participated in a few battles before being transferred to the colonies. He was much more skilled than I was as far as experience was concerned, but still knew his place as a soldier. “Same as always indeed.” My reply backled to James and the other soldier nodding. The last squad-mate, Corporal Maddox, was mostly quiet with us, not to mention he was part of another squad but would regularly join up with us on patrol duty due to one of our previous squad mates being transferred to another colony. He was our medic in the field, but he’d carry a pistol in case of emergency, something that most medics don’t even tend to carry due to lack of weapons training. “Am I late for the party, gents?” I felt my shoulders being tuggedas Hudson joined up with us near the radar, and Mitchell had cleared his throat as all of us stood at attention.

“Our patrol route willbe similar to that of which we have been assigned to go through on a daily basis.” As if it wasn’t obvious enough, we always took the same exact routeon our patrol run at this time of day, but something else would come up that had recently came from command. “Unfortunately,European Command has received disturbing reports in the last few days. Recently, Colony Ten has been under fire by an unknown hostile source. They’ve been having a lot of their men missing in action during the night patrols, while they’ve also been having problems with some of the equipment and vehicles that have been placed around the vicinity of Colony Ten, most of them engulfed in flames or in a malfunctioning state.” This wasn’t something normal. Mostof the men that have gone M.I.A. probably were attacked by Nod soldiers with stealth equipment, who tend to target men and civvies and take them prisoner into torture camps. The equipment and vehicles situation also seemed like a Nod deed, which led me to the conclusion of only a group of Nod fanatics acting out within the colony, which could probably be taken care of with a few commando infantry. “Well what does that have todo with us? It sounds like Nod’s been knockin’ on the wrong door and causing a bunch of noise throughout C10.” Normally, Hudson interrupted Mitchell as hespoke, and I nodded as he assumed it was all the work of a bunch of Nod fanatics, but that didn’t seem to be the case. “That would normally be an issue of civil unrest, if it weren’t for thefact that all communications from Colony Ten had been severed just yesterday. A message encrypted and sent to European Command had confirmed that Nod wasn’t behind the attacks, so we don’t know exactly who or what could be directing these sudden attacks.” So if it wasn’t Nod, then who could have beensuddenly attacking one of the colonies? As I had understood when I had arrived in C3, the multiple colonies were priority throughout GDI’s Northern European perimeter, meaning that they had multiple guard posts and outposts stationed throughout them as well. To hear that a colony now has been attack and possibly ravaged seemed to be crazy beyond belief. “Sir,so what are the orders from Command then? Do we continue on with what we always do? Or do we join up with another squad?” As serious as it seemed, it onlywould be logical to continue patrol to make sure C3 didn’t become a next target. However, even if it wasn’t a viable target for whatever was causing trouble throughout the perimeter, much more tightened patrol runs should be a priority. My own question received a slight punch to the shoulder from Hudson, while Mitchell replied. “Unfortunately,European Command can’t issue any further orders nor raise the threat level until they receive orders from Southern Cross. Due to the growth of ion storms throughout most regions, the Philadelphia has severed multiple links with most GDI command posts throughout the world. Until then, Southern Cross is the next in line as far as command goes, and we’ll have to receive further orders from them if we’re to a-“

Mitchell was interrupted by the sudden sound of an alarm fromthe eastern sector of the outpost, near the starting point of our patrol run during mid-day. Squads of men and a couple of Wolverine walkers made their way towards the gate as we followed alongside them. “What’s the situation here, soldier?” One of the soldiers ran onpar as we followed behind Mitchell, while tightly gripping onto our weapons. “It looks like a patrol squad that was onthe morning run has come back…but there are two men out of the six that we’ve sent.” All of the men suddenly stopped to watch as the gate opened. Wecould see a light infantry running towards the base from a distance hustling from the dust clouds that surrounded the outskirts of the eastern wall. On his back was what seemed to be another light infantry. The men from the gate stood in shock as they watched the soldier run. “He-heylook! What’s that soldier on his back doing??” As we took a closer look,the soldier aimed his pulse rifle from the back, as if something was chasing them from behind. The Wolverines acted immediately, approaching the two soldiers as quickly as they could, while a Titan had been deployed to follow in case of an ambush. Everything had happened way too quickly, especially for me now experiencing what I could call “action”. In a blink of an eye, the infantry running suddenly had stopped. The Wolverines looked from behind the infantry but could not see a thing from the dust clouds across the terrain. “Get to that man, NOW!” OrderedMitchell from the radio, but the two Wolverines seem to be immobilized for some reason. Too afraid to respond, they slowly backed away as I caught another glimpse of the soldier. Is…that…? “Sir…isthat…Tiberium coming out of him??” The soldier’s body began to tremble asthe infantry on his back fell to the ground. Tiberium began to penetrate…no, it began to pierce through the armor from his back that surrounded his body.  Blood began to spew from his chest, asif he had been struck with a giant spear made of the green rock. A sudden cry could be heard from the dust clouds, a cry so paralyzing that even the Wolverines ahead of us began to move back in fear. “Fiends…” “What sir?” I was perplexed at his statement. I imaginedit was a Nod ambush against a couple of men on patrol, but the cry led the Titan to make its way into the perimeter of what remained of the two infantry, while the men pointed their rifles in the direction of the dead. “What the?? Fiends!” A sudden outbreakof the green rock began to pound against the armor of the Wolverines that were backing up. The men from moved from the gates began to fire out into the dust clouds, whilst the Titan and its 120mm pounded the ground behind the dead soldier. Creatures that looked like dogs popped out from the smoke of the 120mm shell that left a small crater a couple of clicks from the dead soldiers. They had Tiberium rock glowing a bright green light from their backs, as they ferociously ricocheted the rock onto the Wolverines, slowly but surely pounding the armor into scrap metal. More of these creatures had popped out and ran after us, as we ran back for cover from within the outpost, knowing that we’d be taken down if we didn’t find some cover. Two men from another squad began to get the VMGs on the Component Towers to fire onto these creatures, but as one fell many more came. “What in the hellis this?? Intel never told us about Tiberian Fiends in the area!!” AsHudson’s words echoed within my head, my pulse rifle consistently kept firing upon these creatures, slowly knocking them dead on the ground whilst the Wolverines pulled back into the safety of the outpost. They consistently kept firing their assault cannons as the creatures slowly began to deteriorate. The threatening cries of these creatures had left some of the men completely immobilized as they began to run back towards the large clouds of smoke. What were we facing? What the hell did I just shoot at? This wasn’t Nod, this wasn’t anything that I’ve ever seen before, these weren’t cultists that I had heard about back at Stuttgart while I was still in training. “Hold fire, hold fire!” Mitchell’s words had also echoed through myhead, but out of fear I couldn’t put the gun down. I was shooting as if my life had depended on every round that left this gun. “Damn it, Stevens! It’s over!” Hudson had put my gun down as myfinger had slowly left the trigger. I found tiny craters of dirt along the ground while I looked back up at the dead soldiers. “I need the medics out on the field NOW! Maddox, go with James and Hernandez and get those corpses over here pronto!” The three quickly headedtowards the middle ground of the fight. Two more Titans had been deployed from the War Factory as they made their way towards the men, the other Titan backing back up for repairs. Immobilized, I kept my eyes on the two men, my head began to feel a bit dizzy, almost if I had just been in some wicked dream. I wanted action, and here I found it. This was the action that I had been desiring since I started out at boot camp. This is what I had been looking for. The reality of action hit me just in a matter of seconds, and it hit me pretty hard.

Author's Note(s)​

Let me start off with giving you a visual of the actual map of the base and the surrounding area, for those of you that are interested. Visual Click This fanfic is actually based on the post-apocalyptic, sci-fi mixed franchise of the game some of you might know as Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun. It's personally one of my favorites as far as real-time strategy is concerned, and it's also been one of my main fanfics in the past. This fanfic, 'Party Crashers', is actually based on one of the missions from Tiberian Sun's expansion pack, the Firestorm Expansion series. I actually love playing this mission, it being one of my favorite turtling missions in the game, and I wanted to give it a bit of life as far as the before and the after of the actual mission was concerned. One thing I did here first and foremost was to introduce some characters to add a bit of a real life scenery to the fic, since its important to know who we'll be focusing on as the fic slowly but surely will progress. One of my main problems here was adding personality to these characters that I introduce in the story. Adding personality to military figures can be very difficult, but promising if you give them the right personalities, as well as blend them in with their surrounding figures. It's important for me in this story to make sure that I also add a hint of reality in this story, and by this reality, I mean death. What some writers have trouble understanding in this genre is that this isn't rainbow magic land, or Band of Brothers where most (or all if anything) of the characters survive an entire war. In order to hook your audience further, you need to establish the factor of death, and the possibility that the characters, and the main character that we will be focusing on, Stevens, is always surrounded by the possibility of getting wrecked by anything in a crossfire.​