Prologue

A man leaped sideways, narrowly dodging a beam of light that flew over his head and struck a wall, creating a hole where moonlight shimmered in. As it hit his face, he closed his eyes.

Come on, man. You can do this. There might be two of them, but you can do this. Just don't get shot.

He chuckled at his own stupid sense of humour, but took it to heart nonetheless. His eyes shot open as he remembered what the exact predicament he found himself in. He decided to take a quick peek over the crate he was using as cover to assess the situation. As his eyes peeked out from the side of the crate, another shot was fired, sheering the side of the crate off. The one thing he could take in was that he still had one companion in this recon mission gone wrong, but she was pinned down. He took a deep breath and rounded the crate, gun held out, ready to fire.

"Central? This is Big Sky. Looks like we found the crash site." The pilot hovered over the smouldering wreckage that used to be a street.

Central Officer Bradford took in the grainy image being transmitted by the Skyranger camera. Failing to see anything, he replied. "Roger Voodoo Three-One. Any sign of activity?"

"Negative, sir. Nothing's moving down there." The pilot shook his head, saddened by the devastation in front of him. What could have caused it? He wondered.

"Okay, set her down nearby, but be ready for any trouble." Bradford advised. He was shaken by the events of the day. Everything had been completely fine when he woke up. He wished he were still sleeping, and pinched himself to make sure he wasn't.

"Ouch!"

He sighed. I'm awake alright. This isn't a dream. This was not how he pictured the day going. Since a minor incursion in the 60's, the organization he was a part of did not have a purpose. Honestly, Bradford preferred it that way. Having read the files, he assumed that it was going to start again. This was how it started last time. A crash that decimated entire streets with collateral damage, suspicious circumstances in which the local authorities stop responding. Bradford prayed that it wasn't happening again. If it is happening, I hope those soldiers will keep their heads. If it's anything like the last 'first contact'...

He prayed it wasn't happening again.

Sergeant Leroy Gregory sat in the back of the Skyranger, looking at his team. Just another mission with the regular team...and a new guy. Sergeant Gregory didn't like meeting new people, especially if they had to have his back once they landed. If I met him a couple weeks before the mission, fine. But on the Skyranger? Ridiculous!

He was recruited after five years with the Rangers, serving with Corporal Devon Jackson and Specialist Jeannette Love. They had served together with the Rangers, and they had worked together on the few missions they'd had since becoming UN Peacekeepers. They treated each other like old friends, which they were. They laughed, told stories about their other 'heroic' endeavours, and teased each other.

The odd one out was Keagan Knox, a private picked up straight from basic training with the Canadian military. He was nineteen, standing six foot twol with a lean, muscled physique, but he seemed to be shy, as he hadn't said a word since he got on the plane. He could be a good soldier, given a bit of time. Sergeant Gregory thought. I'll see him through this first mission. It's just a recon job, even if it is for a guy who won't tell us a damn thing about what we're looking for. Still, it should be simple enough. Should be a cakewalk.

The pilot's voice came on over the radio with a crackle.

"We're landing in 60 seconds!" The pilot called. "I'll be waiting to pick you guys up, just radio Command and I'll come get ya!"

"Will do!" replied the sergeant. He turned to his fellow soldiers, yelling over the Skyranger's engines. "Alright, people, listen up! We got a call at 2100 hours to HQ in Vienna! There seemed to be some kind of attack in Munich! Apparently, an entire street was destroyed by some kind of projectile! Our job is to secure the area, and, if we come across any hostiles, to eliminate the threat! However, I must stress that we are not to use lethal force if it can be avoided! Am I clear?"

"SIR, YES, SIR!" There was a resounding chorus. The soldiers grabbed their assault rifles from the rack and walked to the exit. The sergeant's smile turned to a frown as the door to the Skyranger opened, revealing a devastated street. Flames were not yet out, burning in the streets, giving a dim light to the horrific scene. Nearly every car on the street was flipped, bodies lay in the streets, and all that was heard was the crackle of the fire. All four of the soldiers quickly flicked the safety off, setting their guns to automatic. The squad quickly moved out onto the street and the Skyranger rose back into the dark sky. Sergeant Gregory swallowed, then turned on his radio.

"Command, you gettin' all this?"

"Copy that, Delta Squad. First thing's first, let's get you out of the open and into cover. Whatever did this could still be out there." Central Officer Bradford's voice came through all four soldiers earpieces.

Sergeant Gregory moved forwards, motioning for his squad to spread out. Corporal Jackson followed the sergeant to the right, motioning for Specialist Love to go with Private Knox. She rolled her eyes at him, but nodded to him. She gestured to Keagan towards the left and the two set off. Love took the lead and found cover in the form of a pickup truck rolled on its side, and Keagan took cover by a car a few feet back. Love held up a hand and Keagan stopped moving. She looked over and saw the sergeant and corporal both standing still, staring at her. She spoke quickly into her radio.

"Central, I have movement. 30 meters north of my position. In a police vehicle."

"Roger, Delta Four. Advance, but we advise caution."

The specialist moved forward slowly, keeping a close eye on her surroundings. As she drew level with the police vehicle, she gasped. "HOLY HELL!"

"What do you see, Delta four? Report!" Bradford's voice was full of worry.

A man lay on the ground, groaning in pain. Blood soaked his protective armour and coated his face. He reached out to Jeanette, gasping for air. He managed to drag himself a few feet closer to her. She stepped back in revulsion as she realized one of his legs was a stump at the knee, bleeding profusely into the street. His hand reached out one more time, then slumped to the ground. Specialist Love took a shaky breath.

"Looks like one of the recon team, sir. It looks like something..."

"HILFE!" The sound came in through their headsets loudly, causing everyone to wince. Bradford was the first to recover his wits.

"Is that your man, Delta Four?"

"Negative, sir. That's... someone else." The specialist shuddered, worried that someone could get onto the frequency.

"HILFE!" The call came out again, with more urgency.

"Get me Doctor Vahlen on the line, now!" Bradford shouted to a comm specialist. The man quickly patched her in.

"Yes sir?" Doctor Vahlen's voice came through.

"Doctor Vahlen, what's he saying?"

"Hilfe..." The voice was sounding significantly weaker.

"He's saying..." Doctor Vahlen paused for a moment. "Help."

"We've got to do something! The man is blatantly calling out for help!" Keagan's silence came to an end as he hoped that the sergeant would agree with him.

"I gotta say, I'm with the rook on this one." Sergeant Gregory said tentatively.

"Well, if you are sure, that radio transmission is coming from somewhere north of your current position," said the doctor. "Based on its strength, probably inside a structure."

Sergeant Gregory looked around and spotted a warehouse about 30 meters away. "Got it. Thanks Doc."

Bradford's voice came back over the radio. "Alright, Delta, advance and infiltrate that building."

The squad began to move forward through the streets again. They walked right up to the building and Keagan had his hand on the handle before to sergeant stopped him.

"Listen rook, just bustin' in there without a game plan is a bad idea. My thought is, once we open the door, everyone get to cover as fast as you can, alright?"

Keagan nodded. The sergeant looked at the rest of the team and they nodded as well. Knox took a breath, then opened the door and quickly entered the building.

The warehouse was dark, save for one light shining on a man. The man's face was obscured, but his attire marked him as a member of the security force that had been sent to investigate. He held an assault rifle in one hand and a grenade in the other. His voice could just barely be heard from across the warehouse floor, with boxes and crates between the squad and the man. "Hilfe..."

Keagan remembered the sergeant's orders and quickly moved into cover and found Corporal Jackson beside him. Specialist Love was across the space, behind a crate that was just outside the ring of light. Sergeant Gregory was with her.

"Central, we have eyed on the target. He's armed."

"Copy that Delta. Move in and disarm him."

Sergeant Gregory nodded, then began to move towards the man. As Gregory stepped into the light, the man suddenly stood still. Gregory slowly grabbed the light and raised it to show the man's face. The light rose up slowly, but as it reached the man's eyes Gregory gasped. They were a cloudy purple, and the area around them was discoloured as well.

"My god!"

The security guard raised his gun, and before Gregory could react, shot him through the heart. A gasp was heard by the squad and as they looked out, the mysterious man flicked the pin out of the grenade. Keagan's eyes grew wide.

"GET DOWN!"

The squad took cover as an explosion boomed, echoing through the warehouse. Keagan looked up after the explosion to see Gregory as Bradford's voice came over the radio.

"What's going on!? Delta Squad, report!"

"He shot him, Central! Sergeant Gregory is down!" Corporal Jackson bawled.

Keagan took in the charred area and the dead body of the sergeant. Horrified, he looked past the ring of light and saw two glowing purple eyes. He quickly raised his assault rifle and fired off a quick burst. The eyes ducked, then moved into the light. The only way to describe the form was: alien. Keagan's voice shouted out,

"We're under attack!"

Corporal Jackson looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Specialist Love looked out and saw the alien and gasped. The alien hissed at her and immediately lay down suppressing fire to keep her low. Corporal Jackson saw that and rose up to his feet to shoot the alien, when suddenly, with a flash of light, his head exploded. Keagan gasped as he stepped out to fire at the alien, when it took a shot at him as well. Keagan leaped back into cover and blinked as the moonlight hit his face.

He took a quick look to see if the specialist was still alive and was relieved to see she was in the brief second before he had to pull back into cover as a laser shot past the edge of the crate. Knox took a deep breath, then rounded the side of the box, firing two bursts, both of them landing, knocking the alien backwards. It thumped to the floor, dead.

Keagan turned to Specialist Love with a smile when she rose and aimed her gun at him. His eyes squeezed shut for a second and a shot fired through the air. Keagan opened his eyes and saw Love smirking.

"Saved your life." She nodded behind him. He turned around to see another dead alien with a clean shot through the eye.

"Shit." Keagan said. "Nice shot." They smiled as each other, then Love's face contorted in a scream of pain as a laser shot through her chest. Keagan looked past her and saw another alien, hissing with glee.

"NO!" Keagan yelled as he raised his gun. The alien's eyes widened and it aimed its gun at him, but he fired off a shot faster. The bullet drilled the alien through the chest and it let out and angry squeal before it dropped to the ground, dead.

Keagan gasped and fell to his knees. His eyes closed and he clenched his fists. His eyes shot open as a voice came over his radio.

"Come in Delta! Are you there?"

Keagan's voice came back. "Central, I think that's it. It's over. I'm the last one left."

"Roger that Delta. I'm sorry. But please, secure the bodies and head back to the Skyranger for immediate extraction."

Back at the base, Doctor Vahlen and Central Officer Bradford stood facing a monitor with an image of one of the aliens. They studied its face for what felt like an eternity before either of them broke the silence.

"What are they?" Doctor Vahlen asked.

Bradford didn't want to worry her with the truth, but at the same time, she had to be ready to help. "Whatever they are, they nearly wiped out a squad of some damn good soldiers."

"Will more follow?" A voice came from the doorway. It was Doctor Shen, lead engineer of the project. Bradford sighed.

"If you'll excuse me, doctors. I've got to go see to that soldier who survived the ambush."

After Bradford had walked out, Shen turned to Vahlen.

"Their technology is far beyond ours."

"Then I'd say our work is cut out for us. Doctor."

Keagan Knox stepped off the ramp from the Skyranger to see Bradford standing a few feet away. Knox walked over to him and shook his hand.

"You must be the guy I was talking to?"

Bradford nodded. "I'm Central Officer Bradford. I'm sorry about your squad. I'm sure what you just went through was tough."

Knox let out a dry laugh. "No, I go through that every other weekend." He took a look around. "Now where am I? I need to report back to HQ."

Bradford sighed. "Well... Private Knox, is it?" Keagan nodded. "I wish I didn't have to say this, but I guarantee these kind of attacks are going to keep happening. And since you've got experience with them, I'd like to offer you a chance to join our operation in attempting to stop them."

Keagan eyed the hangar as he considered the option. Those bastards just decimated my team. Hell, how can I call them my team, I barely knew them for a few hours. And now they're dead. He looked at Bradford. "You're giving me a shot at those shits who killed my people?"

Bradford nodded.

"Then you've got yourself a deal. Officer." Keagan held out his hand. Bradford smiled and took it, giving it a firm shake.

"Well then, Private Knox. Welcome to XCOM."