"Son of Descent? What's that?" Josh asked after snapping out of the influence of the crowd of twin-tailed girls.
"This is it!" While Josh was lost in thought, Yuri moved his hands and two holograms appeared on the control panel in front of him.
Both were images of incubation pods.
But one of the pods had a person inside, and the other had a huge blue crystal.
The person in the pod wasn't the long-haired, one-winged angel Josh had imagined. Instead, it was a bald, middle-aged white man who looked a lot like Yuri. At first glance, Josh even thought he might be Yuri's brother.
"Is this your clone or something? Doesn't really look like it!" Josh joked.
"Of course not. His name is Kane—an old friend of mine," Yuri replied, clearly annoyed.
"Wait, you said his name was Kane? The leader of the Brotherhood of NOD, Kane?" Josh was shocked to hear the name.
Yes, if Yuri hadn't mentioned Kane, Josh would have almost forgotten. The Red Alert series isn't just about a simple alternate history Earth—it's also a prequel or parallel world to another important series.
That series is Command & Conquer: Tiberium.
And Kane is the main villain of the whole series. His role is as important as Yuri's in Red Alert 2.
What's more, Kane is even more unbelievable than Yuri.
Yuri's story mainly takes place in Red Alert 2.
But Kane appeared all the way back in the first Red Alert game in the 1950s—as an advisor with a beard. He had more influence than Yuri, convincing Stalin to start a world war, and then disappeared after it ended.
When he reappeared, it was in the first Tiberium game, Tiberian Dawn, in 1995.
And when the story reached the fourth game, Tiberian Twilight, in 2062, Kane was still the leader of the Brotherhood of the NOD, active on Earth, and he hadn't aged at all.
This means that Kane lived from the 1950s to the 2060s—over a hundred years—without aging. That's not something a normal person could do.
So it's not surprising that his followers believed he was the legendary Cain from human myths.
But if the person in the pod is Kane, then the thing in the other pod must be...
"Is that... a Tiberium crystal?" Josh stared at the blue crystal hologram, his eyes wide.
"So you really know what it is!" Yuri nodded, not surprised to hear Josh say the name.
If Kane is the most important character in the Tiberium series, then the Tiberium Crystal is definitely the key element of the whole story.
This thing is not from Earth, and it's not just a normal-looking crystal.
It's a strange, non-carbon-based material from space, brought to Earth by a meteorite. It has both plant and mineral properties, and can appear as a crystal, a plant, or even algae-like colonies. So while the person may not be the same, the object is still from space.
This substance can absorb metals and minerals from the ground and purify them, making them easier to process and store.
That's why the crystal became the most important and unique resource in the Tiberium era.
Kane and his Brotherhood of the NOD became powerful enough to rival the Global Defense Initiative (GDI)—a force made up of countries from around the world—because they controlled nearly half of all Tiberium mines and the technology to use them.
But the use of this material came at a cost.
Tiberium is extremely toxic and spreads like a virus, quickly covering the planet through self-replication.
Because of this, Earth in the Tiberium series became nearly uninhabitable for humans in just a few decades.
But wait—wasn't the crystal supposed to land on Earth in 1995? And why is someone like Kane, such a powerful figure, being kept in an incubation pod by the Empire of the Rising Sun?
Even though Red Alert 3 has advanced technology, the story still takes place in 1989, long before the Tiberium timeline begins in 1995.
Just as Josh began to wonder about this, a thought occurred to him.
"The time machine!" X2—Yuri noticed Josh's confusion and said what he thought was the most likely answer.
Right. Red Alert 1 is technically a prequel to the Tiberium games, but by the time of Red Alert 2, the timeline had already been messed up by the constant use of time machines, creating an entirely new and separate universe—one in which Yuri was the star.
And in Red Alert 3, history had changed even more.
One of the biggest mysteries among Red Alert fans has always been how the Empire of the Rising Sun came to power.
Even if World War II, started by Germany, had never happened, Japan still wouldn't have had the strength to take on both the Allies and the Soviets, especially with such crazy sci-fi technology.
And yet it happened.
But if the Empire of the Rising Sun somehow got their hands on Kane and the Tiberium Crystal because of a time-related event, then everything that happened in the world of Red Alert 3 starts to make sense... Turns out the Empire was cheating, just like Yuri.
Too bad for them—Yuri's cheat was even stronger.
Now everything they had belongs to him.
"I never thought that this old friend of mine would end up as an experiment for the Empire of the Rising Sun. But this works out great for me—hahahahahahaha!" Yuri said, sounding a little regretful at first, but then bursting into triumphant laughter.
Even though they were old friends, Yuri hated Kane.
That's because the timeline in which Yuri rose to power in Red Alert 2 happened after the Soviets, under Stalin's leadership, started and lost a world war. Red Alert 2 begins with the Soviets trying to rise again after being defeated by the Americans—and Yuri, who had been quiet for a long time, took that chance to rise.
Back then, Yuri had opposed Stalin's plan to start the war. And the one who pushed Stalin into it, and set the Soviets up for failure, was none other than Stalin's mysterious advisor—the same Kane now floating in that incubator.
Yuri was a loyal supporter and admirer of Stalin. How could he not hate Kane?
Yuri's revenge in Red Alert 2 wasn't just for himself. It was for Stalin's death and the fall of the Soviet Union the first time around.
"Congratulations, looks like you finally got your revenge!" Josh said, knowing the whole story.
"I should thank you," Yuri replied emotionally. "If you hadn't pointed it out, I wouldn't have found such a big catch!"
"So," Josh asked, "what's so special about Kane? He's not really that Cain, is he? And what exactly is this 'Son of Descent' project?"
"He's really special. He may look about my age, but from what I've gathered—and what the Empire of the Rising Sun has recorded—he's already lived for several centuries. He's got incredible physical strength and fighting skills," Yuri explained. "As for the Son of Descent project, it's like the Yuriko project. Both are super soldier programs. But while the Yuriko Project is based on cloning, this one uses gene transplantation."
"Gene transplantation? Why not just clone him like Yuriko?" Josh asked confused.
"Because he can't be cloned. Unlike Yuriko, who only has powerful psychic abilities but is still genetically close to a normal human, Kane is a genetically enhanced being. His DNA is extremely unique. The Empire couldn't clone him, and I tried to clone him, too, without success. The clones collapse in the early stages," Yuri said, shaking his head.
"But transplantation works?" Josh asked curiously.
"Exactly. While cloning fails, the Empire has discovered that if you mix Kane's genes with a certain substance extracted from the Tiberium crystal, there's a small chance of success. They can transplant his genes into normal humans and give them superhuman powers. I tested it myself—the results are even better than our Super Soldier Serum. If the Clerics hadn't been equipped with vibranium weapons, they would have suffered heavy losses in the last battle. And there may be another special benefit..."
"Longer life?" Josh guessed.
"Correct," Yuri confirmed. "Though we can't be sure yet—the earliest success was only three years ago, so it's still too early to tell."
"Sounds amazing... but I guess the success rate is super low, right?" Josh smirked.
"Haha, nailed it," Yuri laughed. "Just like the early versions of the super soldier serum, the success rate is terrible—about one in ten thousand. And here's the weird part: almost all of the successful test subjects are white. Maybe that's because Kane himself is white. One of them, named Cloud, has an almost perfect compatibility with Kane's genes," Yuri nodded. "That's also why the Empire of the Rising Sun, after the start of the war, began to capture white people from all over the world for experiments—especially Jews. Tsk tsk... you should have seen the scenes."
"I haven't seen it, but I can imagine it clearly," Josh's expression turned cold as soon as Yuri mentioned it, thinking of what the Japanese did during World War II.
Thanks to all that was going on in the Red Alert world, both Josh and Yuri were in a particularly good mood today.
"But back to business—this Tiberium crystal... you'd better be careful with it. The consequences could be catastrophic if it gets out of control... It hasn't gotten out, has it?" After the excitement, Josh became serious again, his eyes showing concern as they focused on the Tiberium crystal.
"The bad news is—it has leaked. But the good news is its spread is still limited to the Empire's homeworld. And the bombs I dropped actually slowed it down. Tiberium doesn't thrive in such a environment. Its activity dropped to a minimum after the blasts. Besides, the Empire had developed some basic methods of detecting and controlling it. Once I upgrade the research, I should be able to contain it," Yuri replied in a neutral tone.
But Josh could still see a flicker of uncertainty on Yuri's face.
Clearly, the Tiberium threat might not be as under control as he let on.
"Still, no need to worry too much. Thanks to your help, I now have long-range space travel capabilities. If we really can't stop the Tiberium from spreading, I'll have enough time to build new human habitats on the Moon or Mars—or even find a more suitable planet to settle on," Yuri added, maintaining a rather optimistic tone.
Josh nodded. With the increasing integration of Cybertronian technology, their science and technology had reached a level where interstellar colonization was possible—even if the lack of planetary terraforming made it expensive and inconvenient at first.
But survival? That wouldn't be a problem.
And from the time Tiberium began to spread to the point where Earth became uninhabitable—it would still take seventy or eighty years. That was more than enough time for Yuri to act.
And if the worst came to the worst, they still had the System. Josh could help set up a full world migration if needed.
"Right, enough about me—why did you come to me in the first place?" asked Yuri finally.
"I found a new world. One with insane potential. But my trading partner there got into a little trouble... so I need to borrow some people from you—only reliable ones," Josh said, then went on to explain everything about the Star Wars universe and Anakin's situation.
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