Evolutionary Response
On September 2nd, 2030, during a Nod assault on a GDI base, code named Phoenix, and overall increased Nod activity at south-west Sector 9 (South Central America), an encrypted communique found its way on to the Philadelphia's secure channels, jamming them. The message, intended for General James Solomon, was a declaration of war or of intents, of sorts, by the previously thought to be dead Kane.
"I've seen the future. Our Tiberium future. And as you watch this battle just beginning to unfold, I've already seen the final act. It is my destiny to lead the way for all mankind..."
- Kane
Taking the transmission as a clear declaration of war, General Solomon recalled all forces into active duty under the command of his top field marshal, Commander Michael McNeil on board the Kodiak Command Craft. Tasked to defend Phoenix base and fend off the Nod aggressors, McNeil's forces arrived at the site in time to secure the base and sweep the area clear of any Brotherhood squads. However, Phoenix was already critically damaged and Base Commander Tao, CO of Phoenix was captured by one of Kane's Generals, Vega, king of the Eye Candy trade, a relatively new psycho-tropic, highly addicting and dangerous drug.
Pursuing the forces of General Vega, McNeil and his squads tracked transmissions to a small Brotherhood base in a nearby sector. Following the evacuation of the civilian populous from the area and the decimation of the Nod base, McNeil found no trace of either Base Commander Tao or General Vega.
Forward scouts north of Sector 9 reported no sign of General Vega or his men. The scouts have, however, found something in the region. A crashed carrier-sized craft, seemingly not of human construction or origins. Upon further examination of the UFO, the scouts reported of it being booby trapped. However, detonation of the explosives left no mark and caused no damage to crashed craft.
"That UFO has got secrets, Mac. Secrets Kane did not want to share."
- General James Solomon
Nearby Brotherhood of Nod outposts were reported to have been studying the crashed UFO and storing technology and artifacts in makeshift storage facilities. Being of interest to Nod, General Solomon ordered the capture of the Nod technology centers in the region, that were seemingly studying the craft.
After securing the alien craft, McNeil led a three man team into the UFO, to find out what it was, exactly. Inside the craft McNeil was attacked by a shiner, Umagon, a leader among the Forgotten. She was able to strike a deal with McNeil to give him the location of the yet-to-be captured General Vega, in exchange for assistance in rescuing Tratos, elder and leader of the Forgotten.
Rescued from a Nod experimentation facility, Tratos was brought aboard the Kodiak for emergency medical care. Tratos revealed that General Vega was hiding out in an ancient Indian Pyramid in South America, in a heavily guarded surrounding base.
Following a series of highly precise assaults, taking out Vega's outlying forces, McNeil and his second in command, Lt. Commander Chandra, led a small force to capture Vega's last remaining stand. His command center, located inside an old pyramid. Unfortunately they got to Vega too late. Vega had taken a lethal dose of his Eye Candy and was only able to answer a single query about the alien technology.
"Kane didn't steal it, he made it.... He's got the Tacitus."
- General Vega
While GDI's attention was on Vega and his exploits in the western hemisphere, Nod forces, under the command of General Anton Slavik of the Black Hand of Nod, broke through GDI's European perimeters, capturing a large GDI base and research facility that held their newest weapon research, the Sonic Tank, at Hammerfest, Norway. In a communication Kane left McNeil, he told him that his brother, Jake McNeil, who was leading an inspection team into the base, was killed.
The Sonic Tank, dubbed the Disruptor, was designed around Sonic vibrating crystals. Crystals which Kane's forces have stolen from Hammerfest, and which McNeil was tasked to return, while it was still possible. Through a stroke of luck and good weather, a bullet train bridge was washed away... A bridge that was supposed to allow a Nod captured train, with the crystals on board, to pass through the area. GDI were able to retrieve the stolen crystals and research with relative ease.
At that time, Nod launched several missiles, loaded with biological and chemical catalysts. The missiles triggered a rapid chain reaction of... Tiberium-forming. Real time genetic mutation on the molecular level. GDI intelligence tracked the missile origins to a Nod base near Hamburg.
With the help of shiners rescued from Nod research and experimentation facilities near Hamborg, and detailed info they provided, GDI was able to shut down the Hamburg missile plant and delay Kane's plans. GDI then followed with several more strikes against Nod facilities, taking out large research installations and the Banshee aircraft production plants.
Following these events, Kane ordered a full counter assault against GDI forces world wide. However, a transmission from a Forgotten commando outside Cairo, revealed Kane's true plan. He apparently constructed a powerfull missile designed to detonate and spread Tiberium-forming catalysts all over the Earth in one shot. The commando also revealed to location of Umagon, being held inside Kane's temple in Cairo.
Disobeying direct orders from General Solomon, Commander McNeil ordered a fast and overwhelming assault on Kane temple and the outlying Nod bases near Cairo.
"No, I'm not God. But I'm a close second."
- Kane
Driven by his hate for Kane and Nod, his sense of duty and need to save the world, or just his need to save Umagon, Command Michael McNeil's gambit proved to be a success. GDI forces laid waste to the multiple Nod support bases surrounding Kane's temple. McNeil himself led the way into the Temple, to rescue Umagon and make sure Kane was finally dead.
McNeil did face Kane. And after a short and awe inspiring speech about being invincible, McNeil drove a large metal girder through Kane. Killing him, once and for all... Or so it would seem. Back on board the Kodiak, Tratos created an experimental vaccine, based on data he gathered from the Tacitus, to the advanced genetic mutation experiments his people, the Forgotten, were subjected to by Nod. Being a victim of such experiments, Umagon was the first to test the supposed cure, the immediate results of which were promising.
"You are only delaying the inevitable. I have the Tacitus. I am invincible. The Tacitus told me of Tiberium missiles, of invulnerable flying ships, of real time genetic mutation... More than alien. More than human. The next step in our evolution as a species."
- Kane
Deus Ex Kane
Establishing himself back at the head of Nod's Inner Circle of Generals, General Anton Slavik staged a grande show to be the public execution of the true GDI spy, the would-be Pharaoh, Hassan. During the massive chants of "Kane Lives in Death" that followed Slavik's speech and preceded Hassan's execution, Kane revealed himself to be alive and well to his Brotherhood.
"Rise my people. I have returned, never to leave your side again. GDI sought to destroy me, but they have only made me stronger.Today, we march forward into our future. A stronger people. A divined people, enhanced for the Tiberium world.The time has come, to claim this world as our own.The time has come, to destroy GDI.One vision. One purpose. Peace through power."
- Kane
The success of the Black Hand of Nod in reuniting the Brotherhood and the Inner Circle behind one leader, General Slavik, and Kane's return paved the way for Nod's final push. Or so it would have seemed.
However, one piece of the puzzle still remained to be retrieved from Nod's Temple at Sarajevo. The staging area of the final main battle of the First Tiberium War and a reported research facility for strange technologies and the Re-Genesis project... A place where GDI excavating teams came dangerously close to finding Nod's hidden secrets.
Kane dispatched two teams into the area; Slavik's troops from the south and General Vega's troops attempting to reach the site from the north. The existence of a relatively small GDI basejust south of the Sarajevo Temple slowed down Slavik's forces and allowed General Vega to reach the site first.
Arriving to the underground bunker at the Sarajevo Temple, from which Kane ordered him to retrieve an Alien Warship constructed at the end of the First Tiberian War, Slavik found no trace of this final piece to Nod's war puzzle.
It would seem that arriving at the site first, General Vega saw an opportunity by taking Kane's ship to settle an old score in South America. However, unable to control it, Vega crashed the ship somewhere south west of the Great Antilles. The Montauk, Slavik's subterranean command craft, intercepted an emergency transmission from the ship, sent by Vega.
"The Tacitus is the source. Its Tiberium secrets can make or break empires."
- Kane
Slavik ordered a quick response, sending large forces to North America. South Central America, to be exact. Slavik's forces managed to beat off the initial GDI forces that were already in the area. However, upon inspection of the Scrin Warship, several artifacts were not found. Among those, the Tacitus.
Surveillance tapes from the Nod salvage teams showed a mutant female, later identified as Umagon. Being their only lead, Slavik ordered surveillance of the shiner, in hopes it would lead them to the Tacitus... Umagon led them to a large Forgotten outpost.
Following Kane's orders, Slavik's troops overran a small GDI base near the Forgotten camps. And, posing as GDI, the Nod troops leveled the ultimately inferior Forgotten forces. Retrieving the Tacitus, capturing Umagon and spinning as much anti-GDI propaganda as possible through international media, mostly directed at the only people that still roamed the Tiberium infested areas of Earth, the Forgotten.
Along with these, General Slavik has also acquired information about a possible vaccine against Tiberium Divination being researched at a GDI facility.
Unfortunately, the info was less than reliable, and Slavik stepped right into a GDI trap. Causing massive Nod losses and the entire Montauk crew to be captured. With the help of spies and agents within the GDI prison camps, Slavik and Oxanna were promptly freed by an elite commando squad from their Black Hand of Nod.
It was at this time that Kane granted control over his Hamburg facilities to General Slavik, to test the new Tiberium mutating missiles.
While prepping for testing of the missiles, Kane ordered a massive assault on one of GDI's most secure bases and research facilities. Hammerfest, Norway.
"The systems are impenetrable. There are no weak points. The technology is without flaw. The Human element, as always, is riddled with imperfection."
- CABAL
The GDI base at Hammerfest was protected with the latest in defensive shielding; a Firestorm wall. A shield which the Brotherhood was yet able to penetrate. Further research into Hammerfest defences and personnel revealed an ironic coincidence. Jake McNeil, the younger brother of GDI's field marshall Commander Michael McNeil.
Nod was able to stop an inspection convoy Jake was leading into Hammerfest and seduce McNeil the younger to help them infiltrate the highly secured base, in exchange for promised power, lust, glory and even divination.
Jake McNeil did bring down the Firestorm defenses of Hammerfest. However, Nod's reign over the GDI installation was short lived. GDI forces drove Nod out of their base with special forces pursuing the technology that Nod was able to steal during their visit.
By December of 2030, GDI forces managed to overrun Kane's primary base at Cairo, retrieve that Tacitus, for whatever it was worth, and kill Kane... again.
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