This version of the chapter has been beta read by Hazimat. thanks! :D

Tiberium: The Fires of Terra

Location: Earth, Southern Italy, the town of Isola di Capo Rizzuto

February 1st, AD 2070/CE 70, 12:45 pm
Earth Broadcasting Network (EBN) News Helicopter 11, ten minutes after the event.

"This is Ruth Warden reporting live from Italy, where the town of Isola di Capo Rizzuto was replaced with an enormous tower, dark clouds, and a landscape scattered with green crystals," Warden said as the news helicopter was buffeted on all side by increasingly heavy winds which threaten to rip the doors off.

"As you can see, the conditions here are very extreme and there is no-"

The pilot mentally cursed repeatedly as he fought to keep his craft stable and in the air as a particularly savage gust slammed into the small craft, sending the experienced reporter stumbling.

"What the hell was that?!"

"What the hell do you think it is, Sherlock, it's the bloody wind! "The pilot shot back, "I can't keep us in the air, I'm going to try and land us so hold on tight assholes."

"Fuck you" was what Warden would have liked to say but instead he turned to the camera which was bouncing all over the place like the rest of the copter despite the best efforts of John Woods, his long-time camera man.

As the two of them were already seated and belted in, Warden leaned to Woods "Are we getting anything through?"

The other man barely had enough time to shake his head before they were all thrown against their own seat belts and then slammed into their seats.

"Shit I'm bringing us down now! Pray to whatever gods you want and brace for impact!"

Finally their fortunes ran out as the heavy winds smashed into the helicopter, forcing it closer to the ground. The pilot attempted to gain attitude but the rotors failed to grip the air. It was then that the pilot accepted that his bird was going only one way in this weather, down.

With that in mind, the pilot guided his craft into the green landscape below, doing his best to find the nearest clearing. Locating one, he wrestled his copter around by sheer force of will and brought his craft in for a landing as heavy winds continue to batter the craft. It wasn't long before the news copter met the unyielding ground, carving a wake of shredded crystal and metal while throwing its passengers around like rag dolls.

Throughout this, interestingly enough the camera continued to record the final moments of the crew as they were thrown and shaken inside out (around?) until it ceased recording. As the final despairing shrieks of tortured metal faded away, there was no movement from within the partially-crushed aircraft.

It was ten minutes later that the wreckage of the helicopter was finally discovered by troops of the Rapid Assault and Intercept Deployment (RAID) 2th division under the command of Forward Battle Commander (FBC) Aaron Vega.

Bravo team was dispatched to check if there were any survivors when the aircraft was spotted going down, now their dropship hovered above the crash site with the rear ramp open, allowing Captain Zu and his men to jump. As they approached the ground, their armor's sensors fired the inbuilt jet packs, slowing their descent, allowing them to touch down softly.

All were experienced soldiers and had performed missions like this before, so there was no need for words between them as they surveyed the wreckage.

The team medic, Jaya Kumari, made his way immediately into the crashed copter with the captain taking up position just outside the downed craft behind him while the rest of the team took up positions(or formed a perimeter, one is enough) around the crashed craft to keep an eye out for any signs of uninvited guests.

"Captain, we need to move quickly," yelled Jaya, as he carried a survivor out of the wrecked aircraft, "looks like the guy got Tib poisoning!"

A single glance was enough to see the need to hurry as the man was showing the first sign of Tiberium infection which meant he was going to end up as a mutant or dead unless they acted soon.

"Delta Nine, this is Bravo, drop a Tiberium Containment Pod, we have a survivor."

"Bravo, Delta Nine here, roger, inbound five."

It wasn't long before the pod was dropped by the dropship. Not wasting any time, Captain Zu helped Kumari with moving the survivor into the pod and then closed it, placing the man in stasis. They then attached synthetic spider silk cables to the pod before finally ordering the dropship to begin pulling it in.

"Command, this is Bravo we have found the downed aircraft, one survivor and two fatalities."

"Bravo, this is Command, gather everything and RTB."

"Roger, Command, gathering everything and returning" he answered and cut the communication link.

"Command just ordered us to gather everything and RTB, so get moving people!" Captain Zu said "Vahlen, Kumari, pick that wreckage apart, Branford, Shepard, Pita, and Stevenson stay on over watch for any threats."

"Max, I hope you remember what they taught you in engineering school, because I want the black box of this antique found. Move it!" Captain Zu ordered, looking at the armored figure of the engineer.

"Can't be harder to find then a bloody Nod base sir," the rumbling voice of the hulking engineer chuckled.

The engineer made his way to the front of the wrecked craft and carefully began cutting through the thin aluminum skin so that he could get a look inside. After a little more pulling and cutting through the control panels and the remains of the cockpit, Max found what he was looking for.

"Ah, here it is."

"Erm, Sir, I think I found something not too sure what it is though…" The youthful voice of Lt Vahlen washed over the net as she crawled under a particularly large piece of wreckage.

"Kumari, can you move over and see what is it from the other side?" Captain Zu asked as the young soldier made his way to the other side and bent down to see what it was."

"It appears to be some sort of camera/transmitter combo; it seems to have taken a beating." Kumari said, struggling to help Vahlen get a hold of it.

"Good take it and anything else of interest that you may find."

"On it" Max answered, as he began ripping the wreck apart after Vahlen and Kumari crawled out from under it. In 20 minutes the wreck was in pieces and everything that looked remotely interesting was gathered together in a small pile away from the remains of the copter.

"Delta Nine, we're ready to RTB." Captain Zu said

"Bravo, this is Delta Nine lowing right now." Delta answered, as the dropship slowly decreased its attitude until it was within easy reach of Bravo jets packs.

"Max and Kumari grab the gear and board first; we'll follow after you guys had finished." Captain Zu said as he scanned the surrounding landscape for any threat until the sound of jet packs firing could be heard. "Alright everyone, move it!" Captain Zu shouted, the rest of Bravo fell back one by one, each covering the other until only Zu remained.

The captain took one last look, his eyes scanning the environment one final time before turning, following his man and initiated his jet pack, soaring skywards to the waiting dropship.

00

Earth, Orb Union, Olofat
February 1st, AD 2070/CE 70, 1:00 pm (standard time)

Uzumi Nara Athha, sometime known as the "the Lion of Orb" sat slumped in his darkened office nursing a shot of his favorite whisky. It wouldn't surprise him if it turned out that PLANT or the Alliance was responsible for the attack on the UN on the moon. The fires of war had been burning brighter for the few past decades, with the hate between naturals and coordinators growing ever so slowly until it finally reached this point.

The United Nations was no more and war had been declared, now all that remained was a trigger to begin the madness, Athha thought, staring blankly at his favorite show on the screen before him.

He was spontaneously returned to reality, as the program was interrupted by an unexpected news announcement.

"We're sorry to interrupt your daily program for this important news update, the Pentagon just announced that the alliance is going into Defcon two," said the female reporter. "All attempts to question the government directly for any more information have thus far proven unsuccessful."

So it finally begins, the chief representative of ORB sighed morosely, war.

"Currently the government is advising for people in the affected areas head to the nearest shelter until the situation has been resolved. That's all the information we have available for right now, stay tuned to EBN for the latest news from the solar system."

Maybe this is god's judgment for denying our children a peaceful future, he mused sadly gazing at a framed photo of a blonde girl playing with him. No matter, the world can burn itself in hate but Orb will not be drawn into this pointless war. He will not allow it.

"This is Ava Lovestrong, reporting for EBN from Washington D-"

*Click*

He'd already developed contingency plans with the military, plans to guide his nation in the event of war between the Alliance and PLANT. Now there was nothing else he could do but wait and let them do their job. So it was a surprise when his office phone started ringing.

He picked up the phone without delay and slowly turned pale as he listened to the report.

"Order the military into full combat alert and get the civilians into the shelters immediately but don't do anything more without my permission. I'm heading down right now, see you soon General."

The phone was returned to its resting place and the chief rushed out of his office.

00

Earth, Outside Threshold 19, GDI Mobius Station, Communication Center
February 1st, AD 2070/CE 70, 1:40 pm

"Philadelphia, this is Mobius, Base Commander Tama and Forward Battle Commander Vega reporting as ordered." Vega said, into the microphone.

"Mobius this is Philadelphia, received. Gentlemen, we have a situation." he recognized the voice of the Commander-in-Chief of GDI armed forces; Verena McNeil.

"Look, this sound ridiculous but G-Tech tells me we've been moved to another reality. Our primary objectives if that is true are to consolidate our position and make sure that Tiberium stays contained, we can't afford to ruin another world."

Mobius station was built at the end of the Third Tiberium War to study the tower and understand the technology behind it but without much success. The only thing that they had been able to determine was that the tower was phase into another dimension preventing anyone from damaging or even touching it.

So it was no surprise that the technology within the station was slightly out of data, namely the fact that it was forced to make do with an older EVA unit which relied on the station's communication systems.

"Scans of Earth reveal the only Tiberium present is what we have under our control in the Blue Zones and in the area around the tower. And we're going to keep it that way," McNeil said, as static interrupted the transmission momentarily. "Commanders, I need you to move quickly and begin deploying sonic emitters and repulsor fields to stop the growth of Tiberium on the land side. In addition, we haven't made contact with any of the locals yet so I'm authorizing you to talk to them in Italy about the local situation for now."

"Yes, ma'am," Vega answered "what about the Mediterranean side of the tower, Ma'am?"

"ZOCOM will take care of that" McNeil said "Commander Tama , they will be arriving soon so begin construction of transports as soon as possible and ensure that any crafts you have is also available for ZOCOM use. We need to move quickly to contain the situation."

"Yes, ma'am," Tama answered.

"By the way, Commander, we have some G-330X habitat modules available if you need them, use whatever means possible to keep the civilians safe. The 8th and 9th RAID divisions and a Crawler are also available for deployment, they will be under your control, Commander Vega," McNeil sighed "Sorry, I would've sent more troops but I don't want to cause any hostilities to break out. It seems that whatever reality we're in, they've clearly been in space for a while judging by the looks of things up here. Any questions?"

"None, ma'am"

McNeil paused for a moment before finally wishing the Commanders good luck as the communication link was cut, leaving Vega and the base commander alone in the communication center. "I'll get moving and we'll talk over the coms" he said with a nod at the base commander before leaving.

As he left the Command Center, the alarm systems begin sounding throughout the base.

"This is an emergency situation, repeat, all hands to action stations." the speakers begin as he made his way to the main underground hangar which was built to handle the cargo transports too large to land on the helipad on top of the research station.

The hanger, like all entrances was equipped with a decontamination chamber which he used before entering a side elevator taking him topside to the waiting Blackfish Dropship. Thankfully, the trip didn't take long.

Vega covered the distance to the dropship swiftly and didn't bother taking a seat as he knew the dropship's seek aerodynamic frame would get him to his destination quickly rendering seating a moot point. Learning against the airframe, he brought up a holographic map of the area on his HUD, following that he made a call to Commander Tama.

"How's the situation developing on your end?" Vega asked the base commander, as he studied the holographic map of southern Italy, particularly the towns and cities around Isola di Capo Rizzuto. The closest city was Crotone to the north, and then there was a town to the north east and another to the east on the coast. In-between the three were mountains and farmland that wasn't going to be useable any time soon.

At least Nod didn't come through with them, he thought, making up his mind on where he'll be deploying the 8th and 9th division.

"As well as can be expected under the circumstances, not good," Tama said, as static interrupted the link temporary. "We're making the transports as fast as possible but we're a research station not a military base" Tama sighed, "but I have good news, ZOCOM will be deploying into the surrounding area around the station soon."

"Good" Vega answered with relief in his voice.

"Where will you be deploying your troops too?" Tama asked.

"I'm heading to the city of Crotone according to the data package from the Philadelphia," Vega said. The data package in question was downloaded by EVA while he was talking with the CIC back at the station. "The 8th will be deploying to the town of Cutro, to the north-west, and the 9th will be deploying to another city known as Steccato di Cutro to the west."

"What about the Crawler?" Tama asked, as he was interrupted by static again.

"Hold it in reserve in case until I need it," Vega said over the static filled com link "hopeful the situation doesn't go to hell but if it does I'll also need some of the Blackfish transports to move my own troops from the station to here."

"I'll see what I can do," Tama said as once more the link was interrupted by static, only this time it lasted longer "shit, it looks like we got ourselves a Ion storm developing here. So you had better move and make this quick, when the storm starts communications will be screwed."

"Then in that case, we'll need the Crawler, it'll have one of the newer EVA units on board. We can use that to communicate if a storm does happen." Vega said. He was about to cut the com link when a thought occurred to him. One that should have occurred to him sooner, there was no guarantee that there was a GDI in this reality then…

"We could say that we're with the United Nations, they're bound to have one in this reality"

"Or maybe we should just stay with GDI Vega; the UN is history, old history at that."

"Screw it, you're right" he said "I'm just overthinking things, Bamboo out."

"Commander, we're here" he heard the pilot voice over the dropship speakers. He made his way to the rear and activated the intercoms. "Make it a hot drop, Mobius just informed me that we got a possible Ion storm developing."

"Shit, will do" the pilot answered.

Releasing the intercom, Vega retrieved his GD-10A from the arms locker before looking out over the lowering ramp. As the endless landscape of purplish-blue clouds and blue-green crystal that quickly gave way to green fields, and then the drab gray of urban sprawl, he slowly counted to three and jumped.

00

The city was a mass, the weather was getting worst, and its inhabitants were panicking in their shelters unsure of what was happening to the world outside. And in the province capital building a man sat subdued behind his desk, silently praying for anyone to help his people. As the governor, it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of the people of this province but he can only sit there helplessly watching the growing storm engulf his province. It was a nightmare, and to think the madness had started less than an hour ago…

All attempts to contact the rest of his province and the surrounding towns failed. Radio, satellites, digital TV and any other wireless communication system didn't work. The only method that seems to be working was the landline which connected the city to the one way National Emergency Land Network (NFLN).

The network was designed to ensure that Rome had the capability to warn each portion of the nation in case of war. The idea was to link Rome with the provinces capitals with landlines since they wouldn't be interrupted by fighting in orbit. The only problem the program was relatively new and the line to the city was one of the few which had been completed. That was the reason he'd set up his own Emergency Broadcast System for his province allowing his government to relay any warning it received.

He'd been forewarned by a friend in the national government about the NFLN project which allowed him to get a head start with his own program and the Emergency Broadcast System, but now that there was a crisis, the system wasn't functioning at all despite his minister's assurance. Tired of them and their worthless bubbling he'd dismissed them and now Governor Carlos Salvatore sat defeated in his office with two security guards, silently dammed himself for his failure.

He turned his head away from the wooden desk to glare out the window at the tower in the distance. He might have failed the rest of his province but at least the city's inhabitants was safe in the shelters, whether their own or those built by the city. He'd made sure of it by sending his own people to do so.

The latest message that came through the NFLN was a notice that the Federation and the Alliance were at Defcon 2. He assumed that was in reaction to the tower in the distance which was responsible for this crisis but even so, that wasn't his main concern, as he once more returned to staring down at his wooden desk.

The people of this province had entrusted themselves to his care and now this...the table groaned as he mentally raged against his helplessness in the face of this calamity. He shouldn't be sitting here doing nothing he should be out there doing his job!

He had lost track of time as he stared dully at the wooden desk when suddenly he was interrupted by one of his bodyguards whispering into his ears.

"Chief says that there is someone at the front door who claims to know what is happening, should we remove him?"

"No, let him in," he said, without a thought. The wait wasn't long as the room was on the second floor of the province capital building. The door finally opened and the Chief of Security Jose Homes entered followed by an armored figure with a rifle slung on his back.

He sweated blood and tears in the streets to come this far so that one day he could work for the betterment of everyone and now he was nothing more than a powerless little man forced to physically send his own people to warn the surrounding cities and towns. This was the 21th century, not the dark ages, this shouldn't be occurring.

"What the hell is happening?" he asked, doing the best to keep his own voice calm.

"Begin evacuating the civilian population in the city and the surrounding region, we don't have time." the armored figure said.

"There's no point, the city's population is in their shelters and I've already send out my own people to warn the surrounding cities and towns," he stated in a toneless voice "You know with communications down doing anything more is pointless. So who on Earth are you and what information do you have that could possible help me beside the obvious?" he said, his voice flaring with rage.

It pissed him off to hear this person come in to tell to do something that he'd already done. Rage bubbled within him to the point that he felt his hands harden into fists of iron, ready to punch that upstart in the face, before fading away when he finally regained control of himself.

"Forward Battle Commander Aaron Vega of the Global Defense Initiative Rapid Assault and Intercept Deployment, 2nd Division," Vega said, as the helmet cameras zoomed into to study the governor. "The area around the tower is a Red Zone; an area that is hostile to carbon based lifeforms. It is also under our jurisdiction."

"I've never heard of this Global Defense Initiative or Rapid Assault and Intercept Deployment" he said, his tone almost mocking. "But with that tower" he said, as he turned to once more to glare impotently at the offending structure. "I'm willing to believe you. For now."

"The only link to the outside world I have is the one way National Emergency Land Network, nothing else" he continued, small trace of his rage leaking through.

"I have a solution but I'll need your permission to deploy a RAID Crawler from orbit" Vega said. "It'll be equipped with the communication gear to break through the ion saturated atmosphere."

"Permission given," Carlos said offhandedly. His chief briefly protested but stopped when he saw the look on the governor's face. "I've never heard of this Global Defense Initiative but neither did that tower exists an hour ago. Whatever happened, clearly this Initiative came with the tower judging by the presence of the Commander here," he said, taking in the strange weapon and armor Commander Vega was wearing. "So it's rational to think that they know more about the situation then we. Isn't it?"

"Governor, I'll need you to come with me to the Crawler when it arrives," the armored figure said "And I have troops standing by ready to help but I'll need your help and permission to deploy them without causing any problems in the surrounding areas."

"Done, I'll take any additional help you can give and I'll include it in my message to the province."

He was about to speak again when suddenly, a massive explosion-like boom echoed through the air.

"I assume that was the Crawler?" he said, as he shook his head to clear it. A nod from the armored man answered his question.

"So, how long until the transports arrive?"

"Five minutes."

"Time enough for a few questions. What on Earth is this "Global Defense Initiative" and what is the hell is that tower?" he gritted out.

"GDI was created by the United Nations as it formalized military to combat global terrorism in 1995" was the surprising answer.

"Wha- never mind, and this "Crawler"?" he asked again, taking in what had been said by the commander. The United Nations was dissolved a month ago by the Atlantic Federation and replaced with the Earth Alliance. If he remembered right, one of the reasons given was that the UN lacked the muscle need to deal with the current state of the world.

"A Crawler is a mobile base of operations with full command and control function" Vega said, "Its communication systems is much more advanced compared to anything you or I have access to right now but we need to move quickly, there's a storm heading our way."

Carlos didn't say anything more because he didn't have anything else to add, his mind was presently jumping in joy now that he finally was going to get a means of communicating with the rest of the province.

"The Roughrider has arrived." the armored figure informed them.

"Then lead the way Commander Vega" the governor said with a nod as he stood up. If following the commander meant giving him a method of upholding his responsibility to the people of his province, then he will take it. They came first.

00

A short while later, Governor Salvatore was sitting in the cramped room which was the crawler's main command hub. It basically consists of two rows of desks filled with computers screens and input terminals.

The first row of terminals was built into the wall, with the second not far behind, built into the opposite wall. Currently, Commander Vega sat at one of the terminals, silently cursing the fate which had forced him to cramp Governor Salvatore, his security detail and a team of 6 engineers from both sides into this tiny, cramped room.

Meanwhile the Chief of Security for the governor, Jose Homes, was leaning against the wall watching an engineer who worked on the Emergency Broadcast System argue the finer point of some engineering discipline with his GDI counterpart. They had been working together for the last hour to jury rig the Crawler communication system to be able to broadcast on the same channel as the EBS and therefore, allow the governor to get the message out to his people.

Off to one side, Governor Carlos was replaying the events of the past hour in his head. He had been rather surprised when they arrived at the Crawler; instead of an armored vehicle of some sort he'd been expecting, he'd been confronted with a massive building. Now he was trying to figure how on Earth GDI was able to erect such a large structure on short notice.

"Sir, everything is ready to go." GDI engineer Mark Johnson announced, giving his superiors a salute before leaving.

"Whenever you're ready governor" Vega gestured towards the microphone.

"This is Governor Carlos Salvatore to all civilians and government officials of the province of Crotone. As of this moment the province is in a state of martial law, please go to your nearest shelter and stay there until troops arrive to help with evacuation to a safer location. Please do not panic. The national and federal government is now at Defcon 2 so help will be on the way." Salvatore paused, looking around the command hub. "In addition, do not, repeat, do not fire on troops who have identified themself as belonging to the United Nations Global Defense Initiative. They will be helping with the evacuation effort, I repeat do not fire on United Nations Global Defense Initiative troops, they will be helping with the evacuation. Thank for your time and know that we all pray for your safety."

Message recorded, the governor slumped into his seat as the artificial intelligence known as EVA prepared to broadcast it over the crawler's communication systems.

"Thank you, governor" Vega nodded. "EVA, begin deployment of the 8th and 9th division to their assigned location with orders to begin evacuation of the local population if possible. Also have them place down G-330X habitat modules to provide additional shelter where needed."

"Acknowledged, commander" Eva answered through Vega's helmet speakers, "Orders from above is to make contact with the federal government as soon as possible and begun talks to secure the area around the tower in order to ensure we have a means of contacting the nations of this reality."

"Affirmative Eva" Vega turned to face the governor. "Sir, if you don't mind I was hoping we could begin negotiations with the federal government, we need to begin talks immediately about the situation here as soon as possible before it gets out of hand."

Salvatore paused for a moment, as he thought about the situation and everything that had happened so far. In the end, he decided that he had a favor to return. Beside he can't have his own government fighting the only people who know what is happening in his province.

"Governor…?" Vega asked.

"Not a problem but it may take a bit of work." Salvatore said.

"I can wait." Vega replied, looking down at the console, "EVA, please help the governor with establishing contact with the federal government."

"Affirmative, commander" The cool voice of the AI echoed from all around the room as the screen before the governor lit up with lines of data. "Governor, I would need you to…"

"Thank you commander" Salvatore said, turning to the desk in front of him as his engineer peered over his shoulder, unsure of what to do and who this EVA was.

"EVA, what's the current status of the 8th, 9th, and the city?" Vega asked the AI.

"Drones deployed to the city show the only civilians above ground are those in the main government buildings." the AI said before pausing for a moment as new data was received. "Commander, the GDS Izanagi has arrived and is currently deploying the 8th and 9th RAID divisions to their assigned location."

"Are they having any trouble?" Vega asked.

"None so far, Commander, however the Izanagi report sighting what appears to be local forces moving in. The commander of the Izanagi is requesting permission to make contact with them once they get closer." Eva said.

"Permission given, Eva, tell them to be careful" Vega said. "Now, what's the latest update on the weather?"

"A storm is unlikely to occur within the 24 hours. Nonetheless the heavy winds will have no doubt carried Tiberium particles into the surrounding regions. Most worrying is the Mediterranean Sea and Tiberium growth undersea." Eva said bringing up a holographic map of the Mediterranean Sea on the projector on the right side of the room. "Until we reclaim the Red Zone around the tower from Tiberium, the surrounding regions will remain susceptible to Tiberium infection."

He watched as EVA highlighted the area around the tower in red, most of the Mediterranean, the Middles East, the Northern Coast of Africa, and the Southern Coast of Europe in yellow, with the regions further beyond colored in blue.

"Thank you, Eva" Vega said, turning away from the holographic map to check on the governor, only to see the man was also staring at the holography map intensely.

"Is that accurate?" Salvatore asked with a nod in the direction of the holographic map. A grim nod was the answer.

"Is this Tiberium really that dangerous?"

"Tiberium will kill a full grown adult within 60 seconds of exposure, a child even faster. It will fuse with the skin causing a burning sensation and begin to crystallizes the victim flash spending from the initial infection point until the victim has been turned into Tiberium" Vega said, as he brought up an image of a Tiberium infected civilians for the governor to look at. "If it's breathed in, then the Tiberium will become embedded in the lungs causing the victim to hemorrhage to death as their lungs crystallized."

"EVA, if you will continue…" Vega said.

"Tiberium arrived on Earth in 1995 and within 40 years, 30 percent of the world was designated as Red Zones; areas hostile to organic life, 50 percent was designated as Yellow Zone, areas partially infected with Tiberium but still capable of supporting human life, and the remaining 20 percent was designated as Blue Zone, areas free of Tiberium." Eva supplied, as the governor cringed in horror.

"By 2055, 60 percent of the world was a Red Zone, 35 percent a Yellow Zone, and the remainder Blue Zones" Eva continued.

"That's only five percent of the world still free of Tiberium" Salvatore said, horror slipping onto his expressions before he regained control.

While the governor was gasping in horror, he wasn't alone as the president of the Eurasian Federation herself also joined him, having heard the morbid report over a newly established teleconference link. However Vega didn't notice this as his attention was elsewhere.

"However by 2070, GDI was able to halt the spread of Tiberium and reclaim about 15% of the Earth's surface. Before the unexplained translocation event, 70 percent of the world was a Red Zone, 10 percent yellow zone and 20 percent blue zones." EVA finished, a hint of smugness slipping into its usually emotionless voice.

Vega took a quick moment to check with EVA about the current status of the base, the Airfield and Tech Center were almost completed. The base defenses were already up, perhaps a little on the light side but it was enough for now.

"Oh sorry Commander, but I've been able to make contact with the central government and they are willing to begin the talks immediately. The president is on screen right now." Salvatore said helpfully.

"Thank you" Vega said surprised as he look up to see pale skin, red hair, and a female face staring at him intensely.

"I'm President Julia Borski of the Eurasian Federation and if this "Tiberium" is truly as dangerous as you're told Governor Salvatore than we need to move quickly to contain the situation. I've already passed along word to the military to coordinate with your forces for now."

"I'm willing to establish a special joint zone in southern Italy order to ensure the safety and containment of this Tiberium but in return, I went GDI to share whatever technology you have to fight this "Tiberium" with my government." President Borski said firmly.

"Sharing our Tiberium medical treatment technology is no problem, however, I am afraid that we can't share our containment technology. We will be more than willing to perform all removal of Tiberium from within your territories without compensation." Vega said, as the president nodded, willing to accept that for the time being.

"Our immediate concerns is containment of the situation here and halting the spread of Tiberium. So the establishment of a joint zone would go towards aiding us fulfill our objectives." Vega continued. In other words, the president translated, it would a good way to start relations between them and her nation.

"We would also be grateful it if you would aid us in establishing diplomatic relations with other nations in the region that could be threaten by Tiberium in addition to peacefully introducing us to the global community, Ma'am President." Vega finished.

"I can see no problem with that." President Borski said with a nod of her head and a slight touch of a smile on her face.

"Eva, draw up the documents with all the points mentioned and sent it to the President for her staff to look over before it's officially signed." Vega said, immediately "Thank you for your time. If I may beg your leave, Ma'am President, I have a situation to deal with right now."

"No. Thank you commander." answered the president, right before the link was cut.

"Governor, thank you for all your help, it could have gone worse without you." Vega said, looking at the governor.

"No it's you I should be thanking. If you hadn't arrived then I'll be helpless in my office right now, staring at my wooden desk without any idea what to do." Salvatore replied, relief clear on his features.

"I was just doing my duty, Governor Salvatore. I think you should take the time to rest for a bit while I deal with the rest of the situation. Unfortunately, RAID Crawlers aren't designed with VIPs in mind, so we only have MREs and basic sleeping quarter to offer your people."

"No problem, I know that it's only been a few hours but I admit that it's been the worst couple of hours in my life." Salvatore said, standing up. "Thank you and your government for everything that you've done for me and my people."

"Lieutenant, please escort the Governor and his people to the crew quarters and bring them some food." Vega said, with a slight bow at the governor.

"Yes, sir, if you wouldn't mind, Governor?" Answered the lieutenant before the group moved towards the exit, leaving Vega and the other GDI soldiers in the Crawler Command Hub.

Vega breathed a sigh of relief. Now that was out of the way, the only thing left was making sure that everything else worked out.

"Commander, the Airfield and Tech Center have been completed, construction of the emitters, repulsor rods, and generators have begun." Eva said, bringing up a holographic map on the projector. "ZOCOM has arrived and is currently deploying deep sea sonic emitters on the sea side of the threshold. The 8th and 9th division report that they have deployed several G-330X habitat module for those civilians who didn't have shelter and evacuations have been held off until the weather has improved."

"Ok, good" Vega sighed. Maybe the rest of the day will work out without him having to shoot anyone. "Eva, please inform the high command of the results of the negotiations."

"Affirmative Commander" Eva answered, as she took the nanosecond to inform the Philadelphia.

00

A pair of blue cold eyes stared at the latest data on the sudden appearance of the Global Defense Initiative with their assets and territory.

Physically nothing betrayed the man's emotions to the outside world, but inwardly Azreal felt more like killing something with every moment as he read the data from the Eurasia Federation government to the Alliance.

According to the Eurasia Federation, the Global Defense Initiative's full name was the United Nations Global Defenses Initiative. Azrael's frown slowly deepens until it was a full blown scowl as he considered the potential consequences of that little tidbit of information.

"Finally, to have successfully remove theses idealist old man from power and have the means of enforcing the very will of Blue Cosmos…"

Only to have this unscientific event happen, where islands and space stations appear out of nowhere without any warning, with neither trace nor hint of energy detected…

Eyes twitching, Azrael put down the data pad as he continued his analysis.

Which was impossible, you can't have something just appear out of nowhere without leaving a trace. It was insane and impossible scientifically for such an event to happen.

Standing up, he has to physically restrain himself from throwing his data pad across the room to complement his rant.

"THINGS LIKE THIS DO NOT HAPPEN!"

Yet it just did.

Taking a deep calming breath, he set down and tried to recollect his thoughts.

At least that there was some good coming out of this situation, this Tiberium in Italy was dangerous and hostile to human life. A perfect reason to justify war against the Africa Community and all he needed to do was to move a few pawns around.

He smiled, it was perfect.

A UN created military, huh? They will be easy to play with. Idealist fools.

Inops Archive: A recent history of GDI

The aftermath of the Third Tiberium War in 2049 left much of the world in ruins, the Blue Zones were but a shadow of their former selves due either to the Scrin or the fallout from the infamous Ion strike on Temple Prime ordered by former Director Boyle and the yellow zones were not much better off.

The then-acting GDI Director, James Hawk, initiated recovery and reclamation operations to repair the damages caused by the largest and costly war since the end of the Second World War in 1953, a century ago. Unfortunate it quickly became apparent that Tiberium was mutating again rendering sonic containment technology useless.

The loss of Europe to this new form of Tiberium was only a taste of what would follow in the next four years as Blue Zones were slowly pushed back and GDI found itself unable to process Tiberium. GDI found its resources overtaxed and diminishing quickly as it took care of the remaining world population, being forced to ration resources despite increasing unrest and protests. The situation wasn't helped by the presence of warlords, criminals, freedom fighters, and mutants attacking GDI and civilians targets without discrimination.

All this changed in mid-2055 when Inops made a breakthrough studying the Tacitus, allowing GDI to once more develop the technology needed to battle and process Tiberium for manufacturing. One of the first projects that launched after this development was Project Asclepius, which involved the construction of orbiting stations to artificially grow food for those on the surface and the beginning of reclamation operations by ZOCOM.

The years that followed was the main reason for GDI deciding to launch Projects Genesis in 2056, which many have both praised and criticized in the years since. GDI's justification for the project was to move the human population off Earth in case of another Tiberium disaster or if another war with Nod threatens humanity's survival.

In truth, the real reason for the project remains classified as top secret to this day.

By 2069, GDI had successful colonized the moon in addition to launching four colonization fleet to nearby solar system that were identified as harboring habitable planets. The project also led to the expansion of Space Command to include the Navy and construction of GDI space fleet.

The disappearance of parts of the world, the orbiting network, five stations from orbit, the first fleet, and the tower left many confused and worried.

Unfortunately it also led to the start of the bloody Fourth Tiberium War with Nod.