- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Kane is missing for the entirety of Firestorm.
and the ending ambiguously suggests he was possibly behind Cabals every action in Firestorm
Traveler [C&C3:KW Multicross SI]
Kane is missing for the entirety of Firestorm.
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
One of these three includes an attempt to work with Kane.
I shall mark it as an automatic failure.
One of the hardest quandaries I'm facing in this story is how exactly to portray this Diabolus Ex Machina of a man. No solid data on who or even what he is, his exact purpose for getting to Ichor Hub (ancient human-like alien hostile to the Scrin? Extreme transhumanist? Sentient Avatar of the Ichor?), and how to portray his character without making him sound like a goatee-stroking cartoon villain.
Kane is an evil genius, capable of plans within plans almost on par with memetic Tzeentch. I am not capable of that.
As obvious on how long I've been staying in this 'verse, I really am fond of the TW'verse and don't want to screw it up with blatant handwaves. Advice would be welcome in getting Kane "right", but the Battle of Berne should be coming up soonish. Sorry for the wait.
Liquid Ink
Contains Sleep Deprived Rambling
Kane is a pain of a character, because he always wins, or at least never loses. He just puts his plans on hold until he can achieve them at a later date. KaBAL said it perfectly with the final line of Firestorm, he reassesses things. He couldn't launch the WA-Missile before GDI had uncontested orbital defences, so he took a 20ish year break and then tricked Boyle into calling the Scrin for him.
He has a mystique that doubles as plot armour, and without him there's not much of a narrative at all, he's much larger than life because in canon he is responsible for everything that has happened in 100+ years.
It's very difficult to imagine a way of involving him in a fic without indulging or compromising that mystique. He's basically a live-action David Xanatos.
He has a mystique that doubles as plot armour, and without him there's not much of a narrative at all, he's much larger than life because in canon he is responsible for everything that has happened in 100+ years.
It's very difficult to imagine a way of involving him in a fic without indulging or compromising that mystique. He's basically a live-action David Xanatos.
- Location
- Russia
The problem with Kane is that he keeps pulling Xanatos Gambits all the time everytime... That's of course is because of meta reasons really. It can be said that there as many Kanes as there are CnC games. Every time he fails it's later revealed that he had a backup plan. He basically supposed to have so many irons in the fire that it boggles the mind.
You could write him as having a plan for almost everything really, and he will be somewhat believable, hell for all we know he's a precog.
But your SI is basically a Scrin AI/Commander-thingy and Kane is supposed to know a lot about Scrin, even if it's unclear how much of that he got from Tacitus. So he should have some plans for eventualities involving Scrin. He may know about sub-factions and their characteristics. SI is an OCP but not outwardly so. Yes his actions are unorthodox but he's supposed to be "experimental". Simply put Kane might just take your SIs actions in stride and carry on with his plans. All the while gathering info on SIs MO and editing plans to implement the SI as an asset/enemy/whatever.
You could write him as having a plan for almost everything really, and he will be somewhat believable, hell for all we know he's a precog.
But your SI is basically a Scrin AI/Commander-thingy and Kane is supposed to know a lot about Scrin, even if it's unclear how much of that he got from Tacitus. So he should have some plans for eventualities involving Scrin. He may know about sub-factions and their characteristics. SI is an OCP but not outwardly so. Yes his actions are unorthodox but he's supposed to be "experimental". Simply put Kane might just take your SIs actions in stride and carry on with his plans. All the while gathering info on SIs MO and editing plans to implement the SI as an asset/enemy/whatever.
In short, probably the "best" way to write Kane, is to have a friend who you know is clever-er than you do all the writing for Kane.
(and, by default, would have full access to your notes. Kane's just that much of a Xantos)
That however, makes it into a collaborative effort, and those are hard to maintain. (instead of one person with writer's block, you now have two with different blocks)
(and, by default, would have full access to your notes. Kane's just that much of a Xantos)
That however, makes it into a collaborative effort, and those are hard to maintain. (instead of one person with writer's block, you now have two with different blocks)
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
It is important to note that we do know one important fact about Kane. The Scrin have heard of him. In the Scrin Campaign, upon you delivering some info referencing Kane, your bosses are all "Drop everything and find out more". The Scrin have heard of him, and consider him a threat or something. (and did not expect him to be on earth, by all appearances).
. . . I thought this thread was for Librarian's story, and discussion of Librarian's story. Not TW/RA/??? debates and/or vs. debates? No? Huh, mind pointing me to the thread with the story then?
(note, I don't do~ subtle... and when I do, it's about as much so as a brick to the head)
(note, I don't do~ subtle... and when I do, it's about as much so as a brick to the head)
vyor
KITTY! \o/
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
Right, let me cut this off before things get out of hand. I asked for some advce on how to write Kane's character, and some discussion sprang up. Everything is still on-topic for now, please don't worry.
Next segment in the works, keep it civil in the meantime everyone.
6. Berne Bug-Bash - First Blood
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
Right, next batch inbound. I now sympathize with the writers of the Tiberium Wars novel, having to hash out complete characters for RTS talking heads. Well, I tried.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The discussions were getting rather tense.
My little squad of Shock Troopers were sitting around in a clearing a little ways from the GDI base perimeter, the heavy infantry serving as communication relays for our little video conference with the GDI. I'd have preferred to have done this face to face, but there was no way in hell heavily-armored anti-tank units were getting anywhere close to anyone of importance. Even just to get an audience, the Shocks had been slathered with C4 explosives from nearby Commandos and watched by no less than 4 Sniper Teams. If they so much as twitched a little too aggressively, my troopers would be turned into so much shrapnel.
Ehh, they're expendable anyway.
[Greetings, Global Defense Initiative. I am the leader of the Traveler-59, a faction of the Scrin.] Voice intoned according to my mental input, functioning as a crude text-to-speech drive. Turns out giant alien brains just didn't possess the vocal capability to speak in anything but Scrin, and the screeching and chittering of the alien language weren't very pleasing to the human ear. [I wish to parley with you.]
[This is Watch Commander Elliot Gruber, representing the Commander of GDI operations in this area! Who are you and what do you want?] a male voice replied almost immediately, in a somewhat gruff tone. Probably wasn't too pleased to see me.
He was in charge of the Cologne base that was wiped out by us in the early stages of the invasion, if I remember correctly. In all likelihood, he'd lost a lot of good men to the Scrin up to this day, I kind of understand his anger in this case.
Still, have to push on. [The Scrin presence on this planet is due to an anomalous Liquid Tiberium detonation occurring in the Sarajevo region, drawing the attention of a nearby fleet. Upon orbital approach we were immediately fired upon by the weapon satellites of your species and immediately assumed we were under attack, sparking off this conflict between our two peoples.] I continued, Voice dutifully translating my chittering within the ADP into oddly-inflection English words. [If it is possible, I would like to request a temporary truce between us and your assistance in ensuring the possibility of future peace talks.]
I'm lying like a rug while still being technically true. Operation: PR Like a Politician, GO!
The channel went silent for a good long while following my proclamation, most likely due to the commanding officers collectively boggling at the bombshell of information I'd dropped on them. Giving them a couple of minutes to process all that, I had pair of the Shocks idly kick around an Ichor-crusted can on the floor while completely disregarding the sudden tensing of the military personnel around us.
Eventually the radio crackled back to life. [Right, err, Traveler?] Lieutenant Gruber finally replied, sounding rather unsettled by his tone. [I've been authorized to hear you out on your proposed terms. However, we're going to need more information than that. Especially that bit on "requesting our assistance in ensuring the possibility of future peace talks". How do we know this isn't some attempt to screw us over?]
Good, they're willing to hear me out. Now, time to sell this. [Lieutenant, you must understand that the Scrin are not exactly an unified species. Many factions are present within Scrin society and each possess their own credos and agendas, this fleet is no exception. The faction in charge of the base in this region, Reaper-17, is renown for its militarism and has so far resisted our calls for a general withdrawal, laying claim to critical military assets and insisting on continuation of war efforts.]
[Attempts to remove them from command have been met with military action, and thus I am authorised to eliminate them and commandeer their units by force. Due to their sizable presence, I propose a two-pronged assault on this rogue faction to clear the way for negotiations between our peoples.]
Technicality, technicality, technicality. Look ma, I'm a lawyer now!
[...look here, Scrin,] the Lieutenant immediately snapped, barely after I'd finished. [you're asking a lot of us, telling us to commit good men and women on an unplanned siege on a heavily defended base, while cooperating with completely unproven "allies" that were shooting at them just days ago! What kind of proof do you have that you aren't just using us for your dirty work or something?!]
Hook, line and sinker.[Look to your sensors, Lieutenant. Our assault has already begun.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of my many Stalkers pinged me as it picked up approaching enemy forces. A wave of Stormriders followed by a whole division of Devourer Tanks and Shard Walkers, steaming towards the southeastern edge of my base. All of the ground vehicles were packing Buzzer Swarms and shields, and I spotted mostly-full Conversion Reserves on all of the Devourers. Looks like Reaper's playing at steamroller tactics today.
Calling up the Warp Sphere, I linked it to my Warp reserves of pre-produced units. Dozens of Rioter Buggies spilled out of the coalescing orb of Warpspace barely moments after it finished forming, their relative simplicity giving them rapid deployment times almost on par with Buzzers. Within seconds I had a whole pack of them sitting around my base.
I threw all of them at the tank column. A constant droning hum filed the air as the swarm of Mario-Karts from hell zipped off down the street.
As the tanks entered a four-way intersection in downtown Berne, the Rioters struck. The only warning Reaper-17 had was an unearthly droning sound before no less than sixteen Rioters careened into view from side streets nearby and bee-lined straight for the tanks. The Shard Walkers immediately twisted about and proceeded to lay down a punishing fusillade of Ichor Shards, the azure crystal fragments chewing into the thin plating on a couple of the Buggies and destroying them with violent plasma-laced explosions. Meanwhile, the Devourers swung around with painstaking slowness, elongated cannons glowing with deadly Ichor radiation as they struggled to bring their weapons to bear.
They were too late.
The lead Rioter Buggy emitted a high-pitched electronic squeal as it sailed into range, twin proton cannons blazing all the way as it bumrushed the closest Devourer. The sizzling beams of green energy sliced through the heavy tank's shields and atomized its Buzzer escort, punching small holes in its side. As its kindred split up and began to circle the column, proton cannons cleaving into weak spots and the lesser-armored Shard Walkers, the little Buggy smashed nose-first into the alien tank and fired its EMP coils. With a burst of energy, the Rioter pulsed and exploded.
The effect on the column was instantaneous. Devourers and Shard Walkers alike shut down as the wave of energy passed through their systems, their attached swarms of Buzzers flailing around in confusion as their host vehicles abruptly stopped moving. The armored column ground to a halt as the rearmost Devourers ran into a wall of their disabled brethren, the bulky vehicles bogged down in the street by their own kin, rendering their fearsome armor and firepower completely useless. With a unified screech, the rest of the Rioters pounced upon the confused tanks in a deadly melee.
Within seconds, all of the disabled Shard Walkers were nothing but crumpled husks sizzling with leftover plasma. The Devourers on the other hand were proving to be tougher foes, their armor keeping them alive long enough for their systems to reboot. Clustering together to cover each others' weaker rear armor, the tanks split their fire between the Rioters and eventually managed to thin out the horde of little green cars one by one until only a few remained.
Easy pickings for the Devastator just cresting the skyline.
With a terrific burst of crackling energy, the light cruiser unleashed a Devastating (heh) volley of plasma discs at the bunched-up tanks like an oversized A-10. White-hot discs of superheated matter slammed into the curved faces of the alien tanks in a deadly hailstorm of missiles, punching through their battered armor like boiled eggshells and carving into their delicate inner systems with murderous intent. One by one, the beleaguered Devourers went up in flashes of plasma, spraying fragments of alien armoring and charged Ichor particles everywhere.
First Blood to the Travelers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as the attack on the armored column began, the wave of Stormriders wheeled about and reversed course in an attempt to rescue their ground forces, aborting their run on the hostile Traveler-59 base.
The sight of dozens of Disc-Launcher equipped Shock Troopers teleporting onto the nearby rooftops with bright flashes was the last thing they ever saw.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back at the GDI base, my lead Shock Trooper tilted its head at the watching Sniper Teams, looking straight through their helmet cameras and right at the ranking officers watching the feeds.
[Proof enough for you?] I chirped in a cheery tone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Welp, segment's done. Raider Buggies are horrifyingly good against heavy armor units like Devourers and Predators if you can afford to micro their EMP Coil abilities, each Buggy is so expendable that using them up in a 1:1 tradeoff against an armor column always results in a profit. What's more, the EMP'd tanks make for easy bomber/artillery chow.
Next segment's going to be meatier as the Battle of Berne progresses into the slugging-match stage, where Reaper-17 starts throwing Tripod-Corruptor waves at the Travelers. As Traveler-59 was never meant for upfront combat, the SI's definitely going to need GDI's help with this.
Oh, did I mention the Mothership? Yeah, that's coming too.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The discussions were getting rather tense.
My little squad of Shock Troopers were sitting around in a clearing a little ways from the GDI base perimeter, the heavy infantry serving as communication relays for our little video conference with the GDI. I'd have preferred to have done this face to face, but there was no way in hell heavily-armored anti-tank units were getting anywhere close to anyone of importance. Even just to get an audience, the Shocks had been slathered with C4 explosives from nearby Commandos and watched by no less than 4 Sniper Teams. If they so much as twitched a little too aggressively, my troopers would be turned into so much shrapnel.
Ehh, they're expendable anyway.
[Greetings, Global Defense Initiative. I am the leader of the Traveler-59, a faction of the Scrin.] Voice intoned according to my mental input, functioning as a crude text-to-speech drive. Turns out giant alien brains just didn't possess the vocal capability to speak in anything but Scrin, and the screeching and chittering of the alien language weren't very pleasing to the human ear. [I wish to parley with you.]
[This is Watch Commander Elliot Gruber, representing the Commander of GDI operations in this area! Who are you and what do you want?] a male voice replied almost immediately, in a somewhat gruff tone. Probably wasn't too pleased to see me.
He was in charge of the Cologne base that was wiped out by us in the early stages of the invasion, if I remember correctly. In all likelihood, he'd lost a lot of good men to the Scrin up to this day, I kind of understand his anger in this case.
Still, have to push on. [The Scrin presence on this planet is due to an anomalous Liquid Tiberium detonation occurring in the Sarajevo region, drawing the attention of a nearby fleet. Upon orbital approach we were immediately fired upon by the weapon satellites of your species and immediately assumed we were under attack, sparking off this conflict between our two peoples.] I continued, Voice dutifully translating my chittering within the ADP into oddly-inflection English words. [If it is possible, I would like to request a temporary truce between us and your assistance in ensuring the possibility of future peace talks.]
I'm lying like a rug while still being technically true. Operation: PR Like a Politician, GO!
The channel went silent for a good long while following my proclamation, most likely due to the commanding officers collectively boggling at the bombshell of information I'd dropped on them. Giving them a couple of minutes to process all that, I had pair of the Shocks idly kick around an Ichor-crusted can on the floor while completely disregarding the sudden tensing of the military personnel around us.
Eventually the radio crackled back to life. [Right, err, Traveler?] Lieutenant Gruber finally replied, sounding rather unsettled by his tone. [I've been authorized to hear you out on your proposed terms. However, we're going to need more information than that. Especially that bit on "requesting our assistance in ensuring the possibility of future peace talks". How do we know this isn't some attempt to screw us over?]
Good, they're willing to hear me out. Now, time to sell this. [Lieutenant, you must understand that the Scrin are not exactly an unified species. Many factions are present within Scrin society and each possess their own credos and agendas, this fleet is no exception. The faction in charge of the base in this region, Reaper-17, is renown for its militarism and has so far resisted our calls for a general withdrawal, laying claim to critical military assets and insisting on continuation of war efforts.]
[Attempts to remove them from command have been met with military action, and thus I am authorised to eliminate them and commandeer their units by force. Due to their sizable presence, I propose a two-pronged assault on this rogue faction to clear the way for negotiations between our peoples.]
Technicality, technicality, technicality. Look ma, I'm a lawyer now!
[...look here, Scrin,] the Lieutenant immediately snapped, barely after I'd finished. [you're asking a lot of us, telling us to commit good men and women on an unplanned siege on a heavily defended base, while cooperating with completely unproven "allies" that were shooting at them just days ago! What kind of proof do you have that you aren't just using us for your dirty work or something?!]
Hook, line and sinker.[Look to your sensors, Lieutenant. Our assault has already begun.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of my many Stalkers pinged me as it picked up approaching enemy forces. A wave of Stormriders followed by a whole division of Devourer Tanks and Shard Walkers, steaming towards the southeastern edge of my base. All of the ground vehicles were packing Buzzer Swarms and shields, and I spotted mostly-full Conversion Reserves on all of the Devourers. Looks like Reaper's playing at steamroller tactics today.
Calling up the Warp Sphere, I linked it to my Warp reserves of pre-produced units. Dozens of Rioter Buggies spilled out of the coalescing orb of Warpspace barely moments after it finished forming, their relative simplicity giving them rapid deployment times almost on par with Buzzers. Within seconds I had a whole pack of them sitting around my base.
I threw all of them at the tank column. A constant droning hum filed the air as the swarm of Mario-Karts from hell zipped off down the street.
As the tanks entered a four-way intersection in downtown Berne, the Rioters struck. The only warning Reaper-17 had was an unearthly droning sound before no less than sixteen Rioters careened into view from side streets nearby and bee-lined straight for the tanks. The Shard Walkers immediately twisted about and proceeded to lay down a punishing fusillade of Ichor Shards, the azure crystal fragments chewing into the thin plating on a couple of the Buggies and destroying them with violent plasma-laced explosions. Meanwhile, the Devourers swung around with painstaking slowness, elongated cannons glowing with deadly Ichor radiation as they struggled to bring their weapons to bear.
They were too late.
The lead Rioter Buggy emitted a high-pitched electronic squeal as it sailed into range, twin proton cannons blazing all the way as it bumrushed the closest Devourer. The sizzling beams of green energy sliced through the heavy tank's shields and atomized its Buzzer escort, punching small holes in its side. As its kindred split up and began to circle the column, proton cannons cleaving into weak spots and the lesser-armored Shard Walkers, the little Buggy smashed nose-first into the alien tank and fired its EMP coils. With a burst of energy, the Rioter pulsed and exploded.
The effect on the column was instantaneous. Devourers and Shard Walkers alike shut down as the wave of energy passed through their systems, their attached swarms of Buzzers flailing around in confusion as their host vehicles abruptly stopped moving. The armored column ground to a halt as the rearmost Devourers ran into a wall of their disabled brethren, the bulky vehicles bogged down in the street by their own kin, rendering their fearsome armor and firepower completely useless. With a unified screech, the rest of the Rioters pounced upon the confused tanks in a deadly melee.
Within seconds, all of the disabled Shard Walkers were nothing but crumpled husks sizzling with leftover plasma. The Devourers on the other hand were proving to be tougher foes, their armor keeping them alive long enough for their systems to reboot. Clustering together to cover each others' weaker rear armor, the tanks split their fire between the Rioters and eventually managed to thin out the horde of little green cars one by one until only a few remained.
Easy pickings for the Devastator just cresting the skyline.
With a terrific burst of crackling energy, the light cruiser unleashed a Devastating (heh) volley of plasma discs at the bunched-up tanks like an oversized A-10. White-hot discs of superheated matter slammed into the curved faces of the alien tanks in a deadly hailstorm of missiles, punching through their battered armor like boiled eggshells and carving into their delicate inner systems with murderous intent. One by one, the beleaguered Devourers went up in flashes of plasma, spraying fragments of alien armoring and charged Ichor particles everywhere.
First Blood to the Travelers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as the attack on the armored column began, the wave of Stormriders wheeled about and reversed course in an attempt to rescue their ground forces, aborting their run on the hostile Traveler-59 base.
The sight of dozens of Disc-Launcher equipped Shock Troopers teleporting onto the nearby rooftops with bright flashes was the last thing they ever saw.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back at the GDI base, my lead Shock Trooper tilted its head at the watching Sniper Teams, looking straight through their helmet cameras and right at the ranking officers watching the feeds.
[Proof enough for you?] I chirped in a cheery tone.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Welp, segment's done. Raider Buggies are horrifyingly good against heavy armor units like Devourers and Predators if you can afford to micro their EMP Coil abilities, each Buggy is so expendable that using them up in a 1:1 tradeoff against an armor column always results in a profit. What's more, the EMP'd tanks make for easy bomber/artillery chow.
Next segment's going to be meatier as the Battle of Berne progresses into the slugging-match stage, where Reaper-17 starts throwing Tripod-Corruptor waves at the Travelers. As Traveler-59 was never meant for upfront combat, the SI's definitely going to need GDI's help with this.
Oh, did I mention the Mothership? Yeah, that's coming too.
Last edited:
- Location
- Arizona
I've always wondered how many Motherships were attached to the Scrin mining force. There's definitely more than 1, 2 is already confirmed (one in berne, the other for the Foreman when it fled through the tower). I think there was a third one that was a objective for the... GDI (I think?) finale in C&C3, you could take out Nod's stealth towers to make the mothership reroute and take out that whole base.
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
I'm going with 2 for now. Mothership 01 is Foreman 371's personal craft/loyal SIC, while Mothership 02 is Reaper-17's pimp-mobile. Of Course the warlike faction's leader would insist on bringing along a city-killing mobile superweapon.
Being a relatively small force (only 1 mission in KW), Traveler-59 dooesnt get one. It's too slow for their tastes in either case.
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
Technically, Traveler-59 is going rogue. However, by tying up the GDI and delaying the planned raids into the Red Zones, the SI's indirectly bought time for the Kane manhunt to continue and relieved the immediate pressure of "barbarians at the gate". The Supervisor just might buy it with some quick ad-libbing and assume that the Travelers are playing the long game.
Well, they are in technicality. Just on the other side.
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
Really, I wouldn't be surprised if the Travelers have done this kind of thing enough in the past (but always ultimately loyal) that they get interpreted to be conning the natives by default.
CrabMonarchy
Allegedly Dutch
- Location
- the Netherlands, apparently
I think the thing is that in the past by the time the Scrin come there are barely any natives left at all due to TIberium overrunning the entire planet, since the Scrin usually wait for the natural equivalent of a liquid Tiberium bomb to begin harvesting ops.
- Location
- The Great Beyond
- Pronouns
- He/She/They
It's been awhile so I'm not confident I'm remembering this correctly, but my recollection is the Scrin indicate arguably that as the expectation, yes. Like, the way they talk, they wouldn't have been surprised by hold out militant city-states or the like, but this armies of a national scale stuff is just not supposed to be left around.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Problem is, usually when the Scrin arrive, the planet is all Red Zones, at best.
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
The Supervisor outright stated that the harvesting operations on Earth are expendable compared to abducting Kane. Even with their reputation, Traveler-59 gets an unusual amount of leeway in this scenario.
7. Berne Bug-Bash - I Put on my Flighsuit and Pilot "Hat"
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
Right, new update fresh out of the ovens. I've been watching videos on competitive Reaper-17 matches to shore up on the enemy's tactics, expect to see brutal slugging matches as the Scrin war-machine ramps into high gear.
P.S: Reaper Tripods have a really damn fast fire rate. Those things are like walking Tesla Coils!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as the last Devourer Tank collapsed into a pile of steaming wreckage, the lone Devastator and all of the surviving Rioters hastily booked it for the safety of the Fog of War. Can't risk Reaper snagging one of my very valuable capital ships with a casual Stasis Field, after all.
Ordering the rest of the fleet to scatter and head away from the very exposed Ground Zero in the center of the ruined city, the few packs of roaming Stalkers I had in my possession quietly sidled in closer to the edge of the Reaper-17 stronghold under the cover of stealth. If my memory hasn't failed me yet, the base should be packing a sizable number of Storm Columns all pre-built, and that's only for vanilla Scrin. Time to take a gander and see what's changed.
Lessee, Storm Column, Storm Column, Storm Column... that is a lot of Storm Columns. Just from the very edge of the Stalker's sensor range, I'm already seeing Storm Columns packed together so tightly they form a physical wall. Is Reaper-17 planning to make an Amazon Rainforest of Storm Columns or something?!
I'm going to have to bring a bloody bulldozer to get through them at this rate!
Dear god, that "Storm Forest" is going to eat anything that I can throw at it alive. I won't be able deal with it from range as the Scrin (Traveler-59 in particular) have absolute zilch for artillery, all of the units in our arsenal will have to walk right into that hellscape just to get in range. Hitting the base with a Wormhole raiding party isn't an option either, as all that lightning will utterly shred any scouting Stormriders I'd have to send to get eyes in the area.
Right, I'm going to need the GDI to deal with this. Their Juggernauts ought to have the range to deal with the Columns from a safe distance. Although they're likely to only commit that sort of heavy artillery to the field if they're sure that the murderous horde of Reaper armor lurking behind the maelstrom's not going to pop out and scrap the heavy walkers, which is definitely going to be a costly affair in both credits and lives spent to hold off the heavy garrison.
Sounds like a job for the "Doombot Horde" faction!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The idling trio of Tripods stumbled forwards and took up escort positions around an Explorer that the Drone Platform helpfully churned out, as the pack of generic Scrin Seekers and Gun Walkers joined in on the little convoy. As soon as the many vehicles slid into position, I sent the little settler force forth on a beeline toward the enemy lines, with orders to set up a forward base near the Reaper-17 borders.
Meanwhile, my Portal began spitting out a small horde of Disintegrators and a few Assimilators, the little infantry bugs scuttling ahead of the convoy unseen, sidling through tight spaces and back alleys that shielded them from watching eyes above. As soon as they neared the clearing that was the convoy's destination, I shoved them all into a trio of reasonably-intact office buildings nearby, garrisoning be damned. The Disintegrators wouldn't be able to to shoot out of the windows without bringing the entire structure down, but I wasn't planning for that anyway.
10+ packs of Disintegrators and a handful of barely-visible Assimilators crouched in the darkness of the abandoned office lobbies, skittering into pposition behind what meager cover they could find before I shut them down. Instantly, the 50-odd insectoid bots dimmed and vanished from radar, turning into "inconspicuous" hunks of abandoned alien metal.
Now we wait.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the other side of Berne, things were running pretty hot.
GDI (and a detachment of Steel Talons, surprisingly) had agreed to a tentative ceasefire with us in order to kick out the Reaper-17 forces destroying their planet. Officially, the GDI would be "exploiting a spontaneous outbreak of infighting" among the alien forces, while unofficially (ie the stuff not shown to Mr. Boyle) we would be running a combined effort to stomp out the Reaper Stronghold in the east. Plans were for us (namely the air fleet and whatever mobile assets I had on hand) to swing round and take out the western armor base to cut off reinforcements to the stronghold and to clear out a firebase for the GDI, giving them a solid staging ground to deploy their heavy guns.
In exchange, we were going to "rush" our assault on the secondary base and "forget" to completely annihilate the enemy outpost before moving on, leaving behind a few tech and non-combat structures still standing in the crippled base and push onward. GDI would be claiming salvage rights on the surviving facilities, and whatever intel that InOps could extract from the intact buildings.
I had absolutely no problem with that. ZOCOM was going to have a field day with the Reaper outpost, and I wished them the best of luck.
Hopefully they don't turn around and kill me with their new goodies just yet.
On the field, a pair of my loaned Devastator Warships cruised on a parallel course to a strike force of APCs, Missile Squads on foot and four Titan walkers, the humans still not trusting me enough to allow me to station the light cruisers directly above their heads. Behind us, four of our Stormriders were loosely followed by a pair of Firehawks and a pod (heh) of Orcas, the attack craft would be in charge of bombarding the outpost's defenses to soften them up for the ground troops while the Stormriders kept away any pursuing air units.
The pair of Firehawks were loaded with anti-air loadouts of 6 Rattlesnake missiles each, supposedly as a safeguard in case something got through the screening alien gunships. Of course, no one was under any illusions as to what those missiles were really for.
Speaking of which, I wonder if they'll let me have the blue prints for the Rattlesnakes in the future? My little UFOs could use some heavy ordnance in addition of their lasers.
As our merry band of brigands steamed into view, my sensors caught sight of eight shadowy blobs lifting off from within the outpost and streaking towards the ground force. A local garrison of Stormriders by the looks of things, the Reaper models were packing heavier armor, light shields and a Shard Thrower in exchange for the default laser. Those shards of theirs would wreak havoc on the lighter-armored Orcas and APCs behind us if they got through.
[Enemy Units Sighted.]
Oh, Voice. Almost forgot something. Could you do me a favor, VI of mine?
[Awaiting orders, Foreman.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was a Stormrider.
Diving fully into its electronic interface, my biomechanical processor claimed full dominion over the sleek gunship's systems. The organic curves and pulsing plasma veins of the leading Stormrider sprang into my vision as I assumed control, slaving the rest of the Scrin gunships to my chosen vehicle as wingmen. In unison, our thrusters flared as the wing of alien ships screamed forth, casually breaking the sound barrier on an intercept couse to the hostile air units.
As soon as the first gunship entered weapons range, all of the Reaper aircraft immediately let loose with sweeping volleys of charged Ichor fragments, the Shard Launchers on the larger ships roaring like machine guns of old as their railgun-esque catapult systems hurled shard after shard out of their barrels almost as soon as their projectiles could clear the launching mechanism. Within seconds, the Reaper Stormriders had vomited a swarm of deadly green flechettes at my outnumbered craft.
Battle-tested across countless worlds and the odd minor civil war, the Stormriders that the Cult of the Reaper fielded were designed specifically to tear opposing Stormriders apart with unmatched lethality. If they hit, the anti-aircraft projectiles would completely shred what little armor my Stormriders had and punch them with more holes than Swiss Cheese.
However, the Reaper vessels were up against Traveler units. We lived and died depending on our ability to not get hit.
My personal Stormrider shot up into a steep climb as my little squadron scattered, the agile Traveler model easily outpacing the supersonic spikes as it went into a looping climb over the enemy formation. Diverting into graceful turns, my three wingmen literally flew circles around the slower Reapers as they roadsided the enemy craft, their laser bolts slamming into protective energy fields and dissipating. A few of the shield bubbles on the hostile gunships abruptly dimmed as their coherency was compromised, but all eight of them remained airborne.
Drat. I'll have to focus fire and bring the down one by one then.
The Reaper formation fragmented as they split up, three or four Stormriders flying off to hunt down each of my ships simultaneously. Pitching into a sharp dive, my Stormrider entered into a screaming dive towards the surface, firing potshots at the four tailing ships behind. At that speed and with all the air resistance in the way, the Ichor Shards that they were launching were beginning to scatter into total inaccuracy, while my lasers still sailed true. By the time we reached the surface, I had just broken the hypersonic barrier whilst one of their shields depleted, my lasers slamming into the unprotected craft and coring it in one shot.
The stricken heavy gunship shattered as its armored fuselage fractured, the sheer drag the craft was enduring doing the rest. With a pathetic fizzle, the Stormrider's husk veered off as The Bane Of All Aviators tore it aart with invisible talons.
Scratch one.
Pelting the remaining ships with one last volley, my Stormrider pitched up just in time to skim the skyline, barely dodging the spear-like tops of an errant skyscraper as it blitzed through the desolate metropolis, sonic boom shattering what windows were left on the buildings still standing. The ungainly Reaper Stormriders, on the other hand, had much more difficulty in following my zippier ship's course, the larger vessels bouncing off highrise buildings like armored pinballs as they struggled against their greater momentum, draining their shields further.
One of the three gunships, stunned by a laser bolt impacting on its shields and dazzling its sensors, failed to react in time and nosedived straight into downtown Berne. It promptly vaporised from the impact in a tremendous explosion of plasma and scattered Ichor.
Scratch two.
Bleeding off its built-up airspeed with a tight loop, the faster Traveler Stormrider materialised behind the final pair of Reaper ships like something out of a horror movie. Immediately tazing their backsides with its laser cannon, the last of their shields flickered away. Now at the mercy of my cannons, its charged bolts viciously bit into the larger hulls of the heavier aircraft even as the Reapers desperately tried to keep my ship at bay with wild volleys of Ichor Shards.
Despite their best efforts one of the enemy Stormriders spiralled off into the earth, trailing smoke from its engines. A muffled whump signalled its end soon after.
Scratch three.
As its final companion died, the last Stormrider promptly tried to break off and run for dear life. Punching its engines, the enemy ship abandoned all hostilities and put all of its considerable engine power into a desperate power-climb to get away from the demonic little Traveler ship that had single-handedly wiped out its entire wing. Having bled off most of its speed in its earlier maneuver, I idly watched through the Stormrider's sensors as the enemy gunship soared off into the distance, home free.
Right into the maw of the waiting Devastator Warship hovering above the battlefield.
The light cruiser's onboard cameras gave me a perfect view of the doomed Reaper Stormrider as the warship's targeting systems came up with a satisfactory firing solution on the sitting duck. It almost looked flabbergasted.
The Devastator's Plasma Disc Array glowed with deadly light.
Scratch four.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Aaand this is what happens when you give Stormriders Traveler Engines and reasonable combat AI: alien hellbats that spit lasers and dance along the hypersonic barrier. The CAS-specced Reaper models never stood a chance. Still, I might actually use the Reaper-17 Stormriders for ground support in the future, those things will eat light vehicles and Orcas/Venoms alive.
Might have to substitute the Ichor Shards with tungsten flechettes if I plan to field them though, what with Ichor contamination and all. The Cult of the Reaper is not eco-friendly in the slightest. Would take a hit to offensive power, but the utility of a A-10 knockoff armed with a turreted magnetic catapult cannot be understated.
Next segment probably will be the beginning of the assault on the Reaper stronghold, and the appearance of the Mothership. Stay tuned, and all reviews and criticisms are welcome as always.
P.S: Reaper Tripods have a really damn fast fire rate. Those things are like walking Tesla Coils!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as the last Devourer Tank collapsed into a pile of steaming wreckage, the lone Devastator and all of the surviving Rioters hastily booked it for the safety of the Fog of War. Can't risk Reaper snagging one of my very valuable capital ships with a casual Stasis Field, after all.
Ordering the rest of the fleet to scatter and head away from the very exposed Ground Zero in the center of the ruined city, the few packs of roaming Stalkers I had in my possession quietly sidled in closer to the edge of the Reaper-17 stronghold under the cover of stealth. If my memory hasn't failed me yet, the base should be packing a sizable number of Storm Columns all pre-built, and that's only for vanilla Scrin. Time to take a gander and see what's changed.
Lessee, Storm Column, Storm Column, Storm Column... that is a lot of Storm Columns. Just from the very edge of the Stalker's sensor range, I'm already seeing Storm Columns packed together so tightly they form a physical wall. Is Reaper-17 planning to make an Amazon Rainforest of Storm Columns or something?!
I'm going to have to bring a bloody bulldozer to get through them at this rate!
Dear god, that "Storm Forest" is going to eat anything that I can throw at it alive. I won't be able deal with it from range as the Scrin (Traveler-59 in particular) have absolute zilch for artillery, all of the units in our arsenal will have to walk right into that hellscape just to get in range. Hitting the base with a Wormhole raiding party isn't an option either, as all that lightning will utterly shred any scouting Stormriders I'd have to send to get eyes in the area.
Right, I'm going to need the GDI to deal with this. Their Juggernauts ought to have the range to deal with the Columns from a safe distance. Although they're likely to only commit that sort of heavy artillery to the field if they're sure that the murderous horde of Reaper armor lurking behind the maelstrom's not going to pop out and scrap the heavy walkers, which is definitely going to be a costly affair in both credits and lives spent to hold off the heavy garrison.
Sounds like a job for the "Doombot Horde" faction!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The idling trio of Tripods stumbled forwards and took up escort positions around an Explorer that the Drone Platform helpfully churned out, as the pack of generic Scrin Seekers and Gun Walkers joined in on the little convoy. As soon as the many vehicles slid into position, I sent the little settler force forth on a beeline toward the enemy lines, with orders to set up a forward base near the Reaper-17 borders.
Meanwhile, my Portal began spitting out a small horde of Disintegrators and a few Assimilators, the little infantry bugs scuttling ahead of the convoy unseen, sidling through tight spaces and back alleys that shielded them from watching eyes above. As soon as they neared the clearing that was the convoy's destination, I shoved them all into a trio of reasonably-intact office buildings nearby, garrisoning be damned. The Disintegrators wouldn't be able to to shoot out of the windows without bringing the entire structure down, but I wasn't planning for that anyway.
10+ packs of Disintegrators and a handful of barely-visible Assimilators crouched in the darkness of the abandoned office lobbies, skittering into pposition behind what meager cover they could find before I shut them down. Instantly, the 50-odd insectoid bots dimmed and vanished from radar, turning into "inconspicuous" hunks of abandoned alien metal.
Now we wait.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the other side of Berne, things were running pretty hot.
GDI (and a detachment of Steel Talons, surprisingly) had agreed to a tentative ceasefire with us in order to kick out the Reaper-17 forces destroying their planet. Officially, the GDI would be "exploiting a spontaneous outbreak of infighting" among the alien forces, while unofficially (ie the stuff not shown to Mr. Boyle) we would be running a combined effort to stomp out the Reaper Stronghold in the east. Plans were for us (namely the air fleet and whatever mobile assets I had on hand) to swing round and take out the western armor base to cut off reinforcements to the stronghold and to clear out a firebase for the GDI, giving them a solid staging ground to deploy their heavy guns.
In exchange, we were going to "rush" our assault on the secondary base and "forget" to completely annihilate the enemy outpost before moving on, leaving behind a few tech and non-combat structures still standing in the crippled base and push onward. GDI would be claiming salvage rights on the surviving facilities, and whatever intel that InOps could extract from the intact buildings.
I had absolutely no problem with that. ZOCOM was going to have a field day with the Reaper outpost, and I wished them the best of luck.
Hopefully they don't turn around and kill me with their new goodies just yet.
On the field, a pair of my loaned Devastator Warships cruised on a parallel course to a strike force of APCs, Missile Squads on foot and four Titan walkers, the humans still not trusting me enough to allow me to station the light cruisers directly above their heads. Behind us, four of our Stormriders were loosely followed by a pair of Firehawks and a pod (heh) of Orcas, the attack craft would be in charge of bombarding the outpost's defenses to soften them up for the ground troops while the Stormriders kept away any pursuing air units.
The pair of Firehawks were loaded with anti-air loadouts of 6 Rattlesnake missiles each, supposedly as a safeguard in case something got through the screening alien gunships. Of course, no one was under any illusions as to what those missiles were really for.
Speaking of which, I wonder if they'll let me have the blue prints for the Rattlesnakes in the future? My little UFOs could use some heavy ordnance in addition of their lasers.
As our merry band of brigands steamed into view, my sensors caught sight of eight shadowy blobs lifting off from within the outpost and streaking towards the ground force. A local garrison of Stormriders by the looks of things, the Reaper models were packing heavier armor, light shields and a Shard Thrower in exchange for the default laser. Those shards of theirs would wreak havoc on the lighter-armored Orcas and APCs behind us if they got through.
[Enemy Units Sighted.]
Oh, Voice. Almost forgot something. Could you do me a favor, VI of mine?
[Awaiting orders, Foreman.]
Music, Please.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was a Stormrider.
Diving fully into its electronic interface, my biomechanical processor claimed full dominion over the sleek gunship's systems. The organic curves and pulsing plasma veins of the leading Stormrider sprang into my vision as I assumed control, slaving the rest of the Scrin gunships to my chosen vehicle as wingmen. In unison, our thrusters flared as the wing of alien ships screamed forth, casually breaking the sound barrier on an intercept couse to the hostile air units.
As soon as the first gunship entered weapons range, all of the Reaper aircraft immediately let loose with sweeping volleys of charged Ichor fragments, the Shard Launchers on the larger ships roaring like machine guns of old as their railgun-esque catapult systems hurled shard after shard out of their barrels almost as soon as their projectiles could clear the launching mechanism. Within seconds, the Reaper Stormriders had vomited a swarm of deadly green flechettes at my outnumbered craft.
Battle-tested across countless worlds and the odd minor civil war, the Stormriders that the Cult of the Reaper fielded were designed specifically to tear opposing Stormriders apart with unmatched lethality. If they hit, the anti-aircraft projectiles would completely shred what little armor my Stormriders had and punch them with more holes than Swiss Cheese.
However, the Reaper vessels were up against Traveler units. We lived and died depending on our ability to not get hit.
My personal Stormrider shot up into a steep climb as my little squadron scattered, the agile Traveler model easily outpacing the supersonic spikes as it went into a looping climb over the enemy formation. Diverting into graceful turns, my three wingmen literally flew circles around the slower Reapers as they roadsided the enemy craft, their laser bolts slamming into protective energy fields and dissipating. A few of the shield bubbles on the hostile gunships abruptly dimmed as their coherency was compromised, but all eight of them remained airborne.
Drat. I'll have to focus fire and bring the down one by one then.
The Reaper formation fragmented as they split up, three or four Stormriders flying off to hunt down each of my ships simultaneously. Pitching into a sharp dive, my Stormrider entered into a screaming dive towards the surface, firing potshots at the four tailing ships behind. At that speed and with all the air resistance in the way, the Ichor Shards that they were launching were beginning to scatter into total inaccuracy, while my lasers still sailed true. By the time we reached the surface, I had just broken the hypersonic barrier whilst one of their shields depleted, my lasers slamming into the unprotected craft and coring it in one shot.
The stricken heavy gunship shattered as its armored fuselage fractured, the sheer drag the craft was enduring doing the rest. With a pathetic fizzle, the Stormrider's husk veered off as The Bane Of All Aviators tore it aart with invisible talons.
Scratch one.
Pelting the remaining ships with one last volley, my Stormrider pitched up just in time to skim the skyline, barely dodging the spear-like tops of an errant skyscraper as it blitzed through the desolate metropolis, sonic boom shattering what windows were left on the buildings still standing. The ungainly Reaper Stormriders, on the other hand, had much more difficulty in following my zippier ship's course, the larger vessels bouncing off highrise buildings like armored pinballs as they struggled against their greater momentum, draining their shields further.
One of the three gunships, stunned by a laser bolt impacting on its shields and dazzling its sensors, failed to react in time and nosedived straight into downtown Berne. It promptly vaporised from the impact in a tremendous explosion of plasma and scattered Ichor.
Scratch two.
Bleeding off its built-up airspeed with a tight loop, the faster Traveler Stormrider materialised behind the final pair of Reaper ships like something out of a horror movie. Immediately tazing their backsides with its laser cannon, the last of their shields flickered away. Now at the mercy of my cannons, its charged bolts viciously bit into the larger hulls of the heavier aircraft even as the Reapers desperately tried to keep my ship at bay with wild volleys of Ichor Shards.
Despite their best efforts one of the enemy Stormriders spiralled off into the earth, trailing smoke from its engines. A muffled whump signalled its end soon after.
Scratch three.
As its final companion died, the last Stormrider promptly tried to break off and run for dear life. Punching its engines, the enemy ship abandoned all hostilities and put all of its considerable engine power into a desperate power-climb to get away from the demonic little Traveler ship that had single-handedly wiped out its entire wing. Having bled off most of its speed in its earlier maneuver, I idly watched through the Stormrider's sensors as the enemy gunship soared off into the distance, home free.
Right into the maw of the waiting Devastator Warship hovering above the battlefield.
The light cruiser's onboard cameras gave me a perfect view of the doomed Reaper Stormrider as the warship's targeting systems came up with a satisfactory firing solution on the sitting duck. It almost looked flabbergasted.
The Devastator's Plasma Disc Array glowed with deadly light.
Scratch four.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Aaand this is what happens when you give Stormriders Traveler Engines and reasonable combat AI: alien hellbats that spit lasers and dance along the hypersonic barrier. The CAS-specced Reaper models never stood a chance. Still, I might actually use the Reaper-17 Stormriders for ground support in the future, those things will eat light vehicles and Orcas/Venoms alive.
Might have to substitute the Ichor Shards with tungsten flechettes if I plan to field them though, what with Ichor contamination and all. The Cult of the Reaper is not eco-friendly in the slightest. Would take a hit to offensive power, but the utility of a A-10 knockoff armed with a turreted magnetic catapult cannot be understated.
Next segment probably will be the beginning of the assault on the Reaper stronghold, and the appearance of the Mothership. Stay tuned, and all reviews and criticisms are welcome as always.
Last edited:
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Knowing him, he'd have somehow gotten Nod and Reaper to agree to a permanent alliance to eradicate GDI.
Librarian
SAN Loss Isn't Fun Anymore...
Mr. Boyle was literally a corrupt politician even before he came into power, Kane even specifically delayed him before the Philadelphia attack so that he'd survive and go on the utterly crap up GDI operations for the years to come.
He's not just incompetent, he's actively aiming to fail in politics.
It's a Crab that is Giant, that a just a few days ago was my Enemy.
Much clearer distinction between the Nod Giant Enemy Crabs and the GDI MCVs in anycase, so I"m keeping it that way.