Disclaimer: None of us own the XCOM franchise… hell, we wouldn't change it even if we did!
Earth, 2040, Earth News Network Broadcast Room
"Welcome everyone, on this, the fifth anniversary of the day the Earth and Humanity was freed from the grips of the Ethereals and ADVENT," A pretty brunette said with a cheerful smile on her face as she sat in a somewhat comfortable swivel chair, the camera she was facing focusing on her completely. "I am Rebecca Travis, and today, to celebrate this hallowed day, we have in the studio today a special guest, Brigadier General Thomas Johnston of the heroic XCOM Project."
She maintained her smile as the zoom of the camera reduced to include her, quite frankly, intimidating companion, a tall brown haired, brown eyed man clad in a sleeveless XCOM kevlar vest with his rank bars and medals emblazoned upon it, along with several implants long his arm that had a slight yellowish glow flowing through them. Across his face were several noticeable scars and on each forearm was an Ethereal Skull with an 'X' overtop.
Despite his rather fearsome appearance, however, his eyes twinkled with humour and his lips were curled into a kind smile. "Thank you, Rebecca," he said receptively, looking over to the camera. "Please forgive me if I seem uncomfortable tonight, the last time I was on camera… I was delivering the news of what ADVENT had been doing to humanity."
Rebecca somewhat hid the flinch from the reminder on how many humans had been killed by their former overlords. "Yes… I can understand your discomfort," she replied with a small swallow. "Anyways, it is not often we are able to speak with someone who has been with XCOM since the very beginning, and many of our viewers would like to know, what was it like back then?"
The soldier gave her a small smile in response. "Well, I can't unfortunately say I was there from the very beginning, only Central Officer Bradley and the Commander have that illustrious distinction," he informed with a shake of his head. "I had been recruited during one of the Terror Missions during the initial invasion…"
Earth, 2015, London Ontario
"Go go go!" A large chinese man shouted in impeccable english as he waved on civilians through the checkpoint to the evac zone, his greying hair flecked with alien ichor as he clutched a SAW tightly in his hands, keeping a careful eye out for more of those insectoid like creatures that had been roaming the city since the start of the attack.
"Come on, we're almost there," I encouraged to the two that children that I was half-pulling along, my niece and nephew, the two of them completely shellshocked niece and nephew, both of them not even in their pre-teens yet and saw the terror of people being ripped apart by the alien horde. "See, we'll be able to ride the cool plane."
My dark brown eyes looked behind me as I took in the sight of the flagging soldiers who swept in out of seemingly nowhere to counter the alien horde. I glanced back at my niece and nephew who were both swaying on their feet. "Listen you two, go with them," I said firmly, pushing the pair towards the waiting pilots who were securing people in. "Your mother is waiting for you! Okay! Just find her and you'll be fine!"
With those words I turned away and headed back down the ramp, steadfastly ignoring their shouts for me as I stooped down and picked up an assault rifle from a fallen soldier and quickly checked it over. A screeching sound broke my inspection as it pulled my attention to one of the bug like creatures that literally ate some of my neighbours. "CHRYSSALID!" a broad shouldered woman shouted as she shouldered a shotgun and fired flechettes at the bug like creature that was making a beeline for the plane behind me.
A shout of defiance tore through my throat as I shouldered my borrowed rifle and sighted on the alien creature before pulling the trigger. I could feel the rifle kick against my shoulder as I did my best to keep it sighted on the 'Chryssalid' the rounds impacting against its face causing it to screech and stagger before collapsing bonelessly to the ground, a few feet away from me.
My breaths were coming in heavy pants as I stared wide eyed at the dead creature before me, the rifle shaking in my grip as I tried to calm my nerves. "Get to cover!" I heard distantly - only able to recognize what was said long after the fact - before a body collided with me, sending the two of us tumbling as green balls soared overhead. "Keep low if you're going to fight," a gruff voice told me, bringing my attention to the man who tackled me, clad in what looked to be armor made of carpacase.
He was a fairly tall man with military styled shaved head and dark eyes, carrying an assault rifle in his hands as he peeked over the cover to return fire. "The Muton is entrenched! We can't exfil while he takes potshots at our backs!" he shouted out to the squad that was taking cover. "Longshot, you got a bead on him?"
"Negative, General!" A woman carrying a sniper rifle informed from her perch on top of a nearby house. "I can't get a clear shot!"
I looked up at the person who saved me for a second before looking around and spotting a nearby forklift inside of a now abandoned warehouse. Peeking over the cover I traced the line of green fire back to a hulking humanoid alien with a mask over its face taking cover on top of a set of scaffolding. "I have an idea," I said quickly as I got my feet underneath me. "Keep him pinned."
The soldier shot me a look, but I was already moving for the forklift, my borrowed rifle tight in my hands as I sprinted away, a brief flash of heat whizzing past the back of my head causing me to instinctively duck out of the way of a follow up shot before I made it behind the walls of the warehouse. "Come on, come on…" I muttered as I looked over the forklift before turning the key, grinning as the equipment came to life. "Alright, let's hope this works."
Swallowing tightly I started moving the forklift towards where the Muton had been taking cover. Not many people know this, but a standard forklift can weigh upwards to 10,000 lbs, and when it collides with the, admittedly, flimsy supports of scaffolding?
Well, the end result is a Muton violently slamming into the fall cage of my 'borrowed' forklift, actually denting the solid steel bars under its weight as a greenish blood and ichor dripped down onto my face.
Laughter broke out nearby, shocking me out of my trance. "Holy hell kid!" the man who saved me shouted out as he jogged over. "I think we got our 'Alien Kill of the Week' here! Central, please tell me you were recording that!"
The soldier laughed again as an unheard response was brought through on his earpiece radio before pulling me off the forklift. My hand numbly grabbed the assault rifle as he pulled me down, throwing my arm around my shoulder to support me. "Kid, for the time that I've been fighting these fucking E.T's, you are the first to kill one with a freaking forklift!" Laughter ripped from the man's throat again. "Tell me kid, how'd you like to kick these bastard asses?"
Looking around at the destroyed city I once called home before looking over the assorted soldier who all responded with a firm nod. "One condition," I said with a grin. "I get to mount that fucking bug's head above my bunk."
The squad roared in laughter as their squad leader pulled their newest recruit onto their skyranger to return to base.
South-Eastern United States
"Come on… come on… breathe goddamnit!"
In a secluded building in the middle of downtown Charleston, a young man wearing a black uniform with a Ski mask preformed CPR on a man wearing the standard US Marine BDU - his arms appearing to be burned, bleeding from several areas, and his eyes looking lifeless. The young man tried anything - anything to bring life back into the man below him.
But it was all in vain, for he refused to move again.
"Matt… come on Matt… " The Navy SEAL pleaded, taking off his helmet and Ski mask, revealing a young man with short brown hair, and brown eyes - a panicked look on his face as he tried again. "Not you… not you too damnit!" He continued this for another solid minute, before finally… he gave up.
He wanted to scream, he wanted to punch something - but it took all of his training to keep him from doing any of that. There were still aliens around, he could still hear the distant chatterings of those damn Roswell lookalike "Sectoids" he heard someone call them once, along with other horrors outside. He couldn't reveal his position… not yet at least. He reached down, and plucked off the dog tags of the Marine - which read 'Tackett, Matthew' along with a series of numbers… but he could only look at that name for a solid minute, as the news sunk in for him.
His brother was dead.
Tears streaked down Jordan's face, this couldn't be happening - this had to be a bad dream, some kind of alien-spawned nightmare. But he keeps looking, and the facts were all there. He was all that was left of their family now… first their parents died when the aliens attacked their hometown when they were gone. They both enlisted to the military after that… he joined Marines, Jordan got into the Navy - managing to make it into the SEAL's.
They had success against the Xeno's for a while - working with SEAL team 4, completing their missions almost flawlessly… but then it all went to hell here. They were supporting a Marine battalion - his brother's marine battalion… Aliens ambushed them, all of them… now they were all dead. The Marines, his fellow SEAL's… all of them.
All except him…
Jordan's hands balled into fists, letting out a short growl of anger - but that was all he was able to let out without risking anyone hearing him. The mission was a failure, that went without saying. Backup likely wouldn't be coming anytime soon - placing him on his own for the time being. Until then though… it was just him, and all the aliens in the city for him to hunt down.
Putting his brother's tags away, he went through his inventory to figure out what he had, and what he didn't have. He wa armed with his primary weapon - his trusty M24A2 Sniper Rifle, adjusted with 7.62×67mm rounds - which he still had plenty of. It was outfitted with a suppressor, so noise wasn't an issue there at least. Slung over his back was his MP5SD, a suppressed version of the famous SMG known worldwide, fixed for 9×19mm Parabellum rounds making it ideal for the occasional close encounters a Sniper may find themselves in. And finally, there was his sidearm: a Heckler & Koch MK 23 pistol, also outfitted with a silencer and a laser sight.
In addition to his usual weapons, he had a decent supply of grenades - flash bangs, frags, incendiary to name a few - and had a surplus of them from the bodies of his comrades he scavenged up. He also had ten M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mines to play with as well. Speaking of scavenged gear, he had a small armory's worth of weapons from his comrades now - in the room he had about a dozen or so M16's and M4's lying around with their ammo, some having M203 grenade launchers on them too. He even had a sigle AT4 Anti-Tank missile, as well as a M60 Machine Gun (or as his brother called it, 'The Rambo Gun').
Weapons wasn't something he lacked at the moment it seemed, but people to use them… different story.
Jordan let out another tired, exhausted sigh as he stood back up - looking at the bodies on the floor around him. He closed his eyes for a brief moment 'Probably won't make it out…' he thought, 'But… I'll be damned if I don't try my fucking best… Matt would want it, I hope… ' He kneeled down as he picked up a satchel of grenades, and pulled out some string.
It was time to get a bit… creative.
Sectoids crawled through the abandoned streets, joined with a team of Muton's, a handful of Thin Men and even a Sectoid Commander. They moved forward, passing by the human bodies that littered the streets - paying them no mind. The dead were not to be feared.
Or so they thought, as a Thin man walked over a corpse, before hearing a faint 'click' sound before an explosion sent it and the corpse flying into the air in pieces.
The Aliens stopped - taking cover immediately after the blast, however as a Sectoid ran into a building it didn't notice the box-shaped device hidden just inside - and another explosion sent it flying back.
The Commander let out a mad chirping noise, looking around before spotting a figure on top of a three story building. It screeched, pointing at the likely attacker as two more Sectoids ran forward - sticking to the cover of ruined cars. However the sound of automatic weapons fire echoed from another building - riddling up the two aliens.
One of the Muton's roared as it opened fire on the building where the fire came from, plasma hitting the guns fell silent. To confirm its kill, the beast approached the building hopping through the window. It saw a single human body on the ground, lifeless. The Muton's snarled slightly, as it grabbed the human, but then it heard a-
BOOM!
The room the Muton was in erupted in flames with a massive explosion. The remaining aliens scattered - before the head of another Thin Man exploded into a green gory mess - leaking out its toxic fumes.
The Commander tried to get a hold of the situation - but it's orders were ignored as it's forces were picked apart one by one by sniper fire or from the IED's. Every time they thought they killed the attacker - even IDing a corpse… They would come under fire from another direction - even spots they already cleared.
It was almost as if their attacker was a vengeful spirit possessing the bodies of the fallen to do battle against them.
From his latest vantage point, Jordan watched as his handiwork unfolded before his eyes. After placing Claymores around plus some makeshift tripwire mines using the grenades, he has been jumping and moving from building to building - moving the bodies of the fallen into spots set up with traps. Using their leftover rifles he kept the enemy guessing where he was striking from, when they started to get a head on him he would drop it and move to the next position. When the aliens checked the bodies, they'd set off the traps beneath them.
While he felt pride for his work, Jordan didn't show it as he lined up his next shot. He would celebrate - and mourn - when the aliens were all dead. His hand twitched before another shot rang out, blasting off the head of the second Muton. The death of the commander caused even more chaos for the platoon's worth of aliens - with the Muton's dead, leaving nothing but Sectoids and Thin Men - roughly about eight total.
Plasma fire once again began to hit around his location, causing him to curse as he moved to relocate once more. He and his SEAL team had tangled with those big-headed Roswell's before, they know to stay OUT of their line of sight or crazy stuff starts happening in your head. As he climbed down the fire escape of the building though, he heard the sound of engines above. At first he thought it was an alien saucer dropping off reinforcements - but he was able to spare a good look at the craft, and saw it had a more… human design, wings, cockpit and such - not the saucer-shape the aliens usually fielded. The craft flying overhead, setting down on a rooftop several buildings away.
Their arrival seemed to draw the alien's attention away from Jordan - as the last few headed out to engage the new arrival. 'Who the hell are you?' He thought, his eyes narrowed as he hefted his rifle and moved towards the landing sight as well.
"We're hot!" A large African-American shouted loudly as he leapt to the ground from the back of the Skyranger, his LMG already barking out at approaching contacts, a handful of Sectoids with two Mutons and an overseeing brown skinned Sectoid. "New Alien sighted, leave something of it for the Doctor!"
"Roger!" the team replied as they fanned out around the the LZ as they disembarked, a man with a sniper rifle taking cover behind a rock as he rested the bipod for his rifle on it.
"Looks like a lot of friendlies were taken out here, Havoc," the sniper reported quickly. "They gave a hell of a fight too."
"Let's avenge them boys!" the leader shouted as he tossed down a grenade, landing it beside a group of Sectoids, the Armor Penetrating needles ripping through their bodies, although the alien grunts kept moving forward as they attack their position.
"That's one!" the sniper shouted as he finished off one of the wounded Sectoids before following it up with another shot. "Make that two!"
"Mutons moving up!" the squad's medic shouted out as he tried to suppress the two lumbering aliens.
"On it!" another replied as he pulled out a rocket tube and took aim. "Shredder rocket out!"
The rocket sped out and exploded between the two aliens, causing them to stagger to a stop from the numerous bleeding wounds on their body. "Someone finish them off!"
"On them!" Havoc shouted as he turned his LMG towards the staggard Mutons, cutting down the wounded enemies.
"It's… controlling me!" their scout shouted as a flare of purple energy surrounded her head before turning her DMR onto her now exposed teammates and fired.
"Deadeye is Controlled!" the Sniper shouted. "Taze her!"
"On it!" the Rocketeer informed as he pulled out a blocky device before pointing it at their scout and pulled the trigger, sending out an arcing wave of electricity, knocking her unconscious.
"What was that!" Havoc shouted as the medic treated his wound with medkit. "Who has a line of sight on that bastard!"
"The brown skinned Sectoid!" the sniper shouted. "Dammit, can't get a clean shot on him, Demo, destroy his cover!"
"Gladly!" the Rocketeer shouted as he reloaded his launcher before taking aim. "Boom bitch!"
The brown skinned Sectoid screeched as it scrambled away from the now thoroughly destroyed cover, a few chunks of rock sticking out of its body from the explosion. "Take it out!" Havoc shouted angrily.
The Sniper tried to line up a shot, though it was quick on its feet despite being wounded as it ran behind a wall. "Son of a, quick little-"
*CRACK*
Blood shot from out of the Commander's head, as the creature fell to the ground dead.
"Hah! Nice shot Wizard!"
Wizard blinked "That… wasn't me…" The sniper said, shaking his head.
"And who the hell are you?" A voice called out, as the XCOM team looked around, trying to find the source. "You don't look like Army or Marine, and you sure as hell ain't navy or air force!"
"XCOM," Havoc called out. "I'm Colonel Johnson, we were put in charge of fighting the alien threat by the UN, so unless you want us to force you out, come out peacefully!"
There was a long pause, the colonel gave him some time. "Friendly coming in!" The voice called back.
"Above! Rooftop!" Wizard called out, as the team looked up at a building one story higher behind them - a single figure descended down a ladder, reaching the next level of the roofs before dashing over to them - leaping over the gap between the two buildings separating them. As he approached, the XCOM soldiers got a better view at his gear and attire, including the symbol of the US Navy SEALS on his BDU.
The man came to a stop, before he saluted the colonel "Chief Petty Officer Jordan Tackett, US Navy, SEAL Team 4, Sir." He informed.
The Colonel nodded "Where's the rest of your team?" He asked.
Jordan seemed to pause for a moment, closing his eyes before he reached into his pocket… and pulled out Dogtags… a lot of Dog tags.
The Colonel looked briefly at them. "You did good survivin' out here son," he told the SEAL. "You want to help humanity survive this war?"
Jordan looked at the Colonel, before glancing around the battlefield "…permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Granted."
"…I lost most of my family when these aliens hit Summerville," he informed. "And just a few hours ago, I just lost my brother - all the family I have left. Got nothin to lose now, aside from a burning desire to kill these xeno fucks… so…" he saluted the Colonel once more. "Reporting for Duty, sir."
"Welcome to XCOM, then, Petty Officer, get on board and I'll brief you what I can," Havoc informed as a pair of soldiers jogged up the ramp, carrying the brown Sectoid's body with them. "Looks like Valhen will be happy upon our return."
Jordan paid it no mind, as he followed the XCOM soldiers inside the Skyranger - the loading bay doors closing behind them as the craft began to start up once more - the turbofan engines whirring as it rose up into the sky, and lurched forward from the combat zone.
XCOM Training Base- Africa
Deep within the African jungles, under the surface of the Earth lay in wait one of Humanity's biggest kept secrets, XCOM's main training base, a several level building built miles deep into the Earth with only the landing/launching bay and a satellite nearby being the only indication that something was there.
Looking around, I couldn't help but feel at ease in the underground base, checking over my new equipment in the armory along with my new squad, commanded by the man who saved me and christened me 'Forklift', Peter van Doorn, or as many of the soldiers and staff here called him, the General.
Apparently his main job was training and leading rookie squads into combat and ensuring that they were all up to snuff and selecting the leader of the newly formed squad before moving onto the next one, or rejoining his personal squad for High-Risk Missions. Nearby was a woman named Jessie Hinkleman, a recruit from Massaud and apparently a crack shot with a rifle - the newly formed squad's designated sniper. Her skin was very tanned and she was wearing the same armor I was, apparently it was recently developed, using the shells of Chryssalids as a base for increased protection.
I personally found it ironic that we used the carcass of our enemies for armor, it spoke quite highly of how Humanity fought, always evolving, and never the same.
On the other side of me was a Marine Captain - although we were all of the 'Rookie' rank within XCOM - named Hendrick Gunderson, although he insisted on being call 'Boomer', disassembling his Battle Rifle with ease before reassembling it, getting a better feel for its components and mechanisms.
"So, what outfit are you from?" the Marine questioned curiously as he eyed the Canadian Flag on the back of my uniform. "JTF-2? Army?"
"Civilian," I admitted with a sheepish smile. "The General picked me up during the attack on London, Ontario, apparently I impressed him when I killed a Muton with a forklift."
The Marine stared at me for a moment before letting out a laugh and clapping my back with a hard slap. "No wonder you're here then if you're a civvie!"
I gave him a smirk back in return - silently thankful that we were required to wear our armor at all times when not sleeping or showering. "Good to know," I replied easily. "Sorry if I drag you guys down, not exactly in the best of shape."
"No man left behind," Jessie informed quietly from her spot, her voice clearly audible despite her soft voice. "You put in your full effort, we'll make sure you aren't left behind."
I paused for a few moments as I processed her words. "No need to worry about me not putting in an effort," I replied grimly. "I saw what those fucking ET's did to civilians."
"Front and center Rookies!" van Doorn shouted as he strode into the room, me and the other two leaping to our feet in a parade rest as we assembled before him. "The rest of your squad is arriving shortly, once they're here, we'll be going over your training regime and get started, any questions?"
"No, sir!" we responded as one, garnering a nod from the General.
"Alright then, Forklift, how's your aim been?" he turned to me with a sharp grin that I knew meant nothing good for my mental health.
"Improving sir, 70% accuracy, sir!" I replied, the two beside me hiding their smirks at my nickname.
"Alright, to the range, time to prove it!" Peter told us with an unholy grin. "DOUBLE TIME ROOKIES!"
The three of us groaned as we began to run to the firing range, five stories of stairs up and on the opposite side of the four mile base.
"I liked to pride myself on endurance… but this is humiliating" I panted as the two finished the stairs ahead of me and began sprinting down the hallway towards the shooting range, me close on their heels.
"Keep pushing, Forklift!" Boomer shouted encouragingly with a small laugh as we kept running.
"Hate you… so much!" I panted out as my lungs burned from exertion as we finally ran into the firing range, glaring at the smirking General who had taken the lift. "So much!"
Peter laughed at me as he pointed to my designated firing stall, handing me a rifle as I limped over. I made a quick check of the standard X-9 assault rifle - wouldn't have been the first time I was handed a purposely defective weapon.
Calming my breath I stepped up to the firing booth and shouldered my rifle. "Course begins in… three… t-NOW!" Peter roared, cutting off his own count as wooden targets popped up, shaped like the assorted aliens that have been encountered.
I didn't even hesitate or wait for him to finish before opening fire, the first shots hitting a Sectoid cutout with ease before moved onto the next target, two of the bullet's hitting before the third missed. I easily slipped into a receptive trance as I moved on from target to target, not firing at uninfected civilians, even the 'General' doing his very best to distract me.
"Clear!" I shouted out as the last alien cutout dropped, my rifle clicking dry for the fifth time as I lifted the barrel towards the ceiling.
"Out of 100 shots… 71 hit!" the commanding officer announced with a smirk. "Nicely done Forklift, looks like you're ready for mock combat now!"
"With all due respect, go fuck yourself," I panted as I came out of my trance.
"Go fuck yourself…" Peter led on with a grin making me roll my eyes.
"Sir," I finished, letting out a sigh.
"Very good, DOUBLE TIME BACK TO THE ARMORY!" he shouted cheerfully before shooing us on, my two teammates laughing at my groan as I followed after them.
"I can't… feel… my legs…" I panted as I finally stumbled into the armory, being half supported by Hendrick. "Fuck you… sir."
"Glad to have your hatred Forklift," the General replied all too cheerfully, glancing over at me with a grin before turning back to the three new recruits in the room. "And these are your teammates, the one who looks to be on Death's Door is Forklift, he got into the top ten for last month's 'Alien Kills of the Week' Contest. The lady is 'Bloodhound' the Squad's designated sniper from our friends in Massaud, and finally from the Marines we have Boomer, I think you can guess what he does."
The first figure in the room saluted the General upon his entrance, before glancing at the new recruits. "Glad to meet you," he informed, "Chief Petty Officer Jordan Tackett - US Navy SEALs. I look forward to working with you."
"D. Joseph Cobb, sir." said a man in his late twenties, wearing a boonie hat and had a Ranger tab on his uniform, "Just don't give me orders that don't make a lick of sense."
"Well, no worries on that," Peter informed with a cheeky grin, making me roll my eyes.
"Thomas Johnston," I said, properly introducing myself. "Currently halfway to my grave because I decided to kill some aliens."
Jordan, the SEAL, blinked however, as he looked at the other in the room with a disbelieving look. "…no fuck'n way…" he muttered, gaining their attenion. "…Patriot? Ryu?!"
"Huh?" I replied with a confused look for a moment before I recognized my Online handle. "Who're you?"
"Hell, it's me Ryu!" Jordan smirked slightly "117Jorn? Remember?"
"Yeah… I remember," I confirmed with a nod, recalling my little circle of online friends. "So, you ended up here as well, huh?"
"Yeah… " Jordan sighed, "Fucking aliens… I always kinda hoped first contact would be more like Star Trek, not Independence Day… "
"Well, you never know what the future holds" said Patriot, "I never expected to be a Ranger."
"Huh, you got into the Rangers?" Jordan asked with a chuckle, "Damn man… guess it fits ya, Patriot."
Said person just shrugged, "As long as I get a CO who won't give me shit, I'm cool. Of course I've been having less success at that."
"Here here," Jordan muttered, growling slightly "I don't know who's calling the shots, but there are some big idiots running things… "
"No, just asshole Generals who will drill you to death before the aliens even touch you," I informed with a groan as I finally was allowed to sit down.
"They told us to try and 'push back' a Chryssalid incursion without air support," Patriot admitted a scowl on his face.
"Came face to face with them myself," I admitted. "Shot one point blank with a borrowed rifle…"
"Fought 'em… Once," Jordan said, "With my SEAL team…" He chuckled bitterly "Oh the Starship Trooper jokes we made…" He then paused, pulling out a pair of dog tags. "Then all the sudden… a lot of the fun got sucked out… "
"Well, this is what we're here for right?" I questioned, finally managing to stand on my own feet without support. "Make those fuckin' X-rays pay, right?"
"Damn straight," Jordan nodded, "No one fucks with Earth and gets away with it."
As the five of us nodded with a few murmurs of agreement, none of us quite realized, this was the birth of XCOM's most famous squad, eventually anyways.
My eyes were open before the first tone of the morning bugle was finished, shotgun in hand as I was standing in a parade rest alongside my two teammates - each six man squad was divided in two 'teams', with mine consisting of myself, 'Boomer' and 'Bloodhound', the General wanted us to refer to everyone by the assigned call signs to get used to hearing them in combat. Across from me 'Reaper' and 'Solowolf' - who were assigned a S.H.I.V to fill out their team - were all standing at attention at the foot of their beds, their weapons at the ready.
"Alright Specialists!" the 'General' announced as he strode into the room, looking us over with a grin. "It is time for your first real mission, after two months of training you all should be ready to start taking the fight to the aliens."
I knew a feral grin slipped onto my face, and did nothing to stop it, I wasn't the only one in the squad eager to spill alien blood, and I didn't throw myself into my training for the last two months for nothing, hell, I lost ten pounds as much of my former 'cookie fat' as I had called it had been turned to hard muscles, giving me a far leaner appearance under my reinforced carapace armor that was standard for all XCOM soldiers.
It was that feral glee at the thought of killing aliens that brought me into the 'Assault Class' of XCOM soldiers, the first to rush the enemy, and the first to kill them. So, to compliment my shotgun I grabbed a machine pistol along with a frag grenade to clear any obstacles between me and the aliens.
Next to me Hendrick looked over the Heavy Rifle that he had chosen as his primary weapon to go along with the standard pistol of the XCOM program, like me he wore the Carapace armor, but without the reinforcements of my own, and bore both frag and AP grenades on his grenade belt, being apart of XCOM's battlefield Engineer Corps, his role was to flush enemies from cover with his grenades, or quite simply destroy their cover.
To my other side, Jessie was as calm as ever as she stared ahead, her sniper rifle being held easily in her hands, the specialized SCOPE device gleaming where the standard scope once was along with a lasersight sitting alongside the barrel. Unlike myself and Boomer, however, she had chosen to use the older Kestrel Armor for its added mobility and built in grappling hook.
Behind me, Jordan suited up with his own weapon loadout - he seemed to be weighing out the different weapons. He was already clad in a set of old Kestrel armor much like Jessie, kept in a digital desert camo pattern. To his side he already had a semi-auto pistol strapped on, I remember him saying it was a Heckler & Koch MK 23 - and it came with a laser sight, and a suppressor. What he seemed to be debating about where the two weapons in either of his hand. To the left was a submachine gun - an MP5SD with a full stock, suppressor and laser sight, and to his right was an M24A2 Sniper with a suppressor as well. After weighing them out, he put the SMG down and prepared the Sniper - double checking the barrel and all.
Not far away, was D.J., after getting his personal gear on, which included the Carapace Armor, colored in multicam, and a military cap with a comm headset. He was then preparing his own weapon set, which included a SCAR-H Battle Rifle, which was fitted with a holographic sight, a Springfield 1911 with extended mags, and modified with a quick release button.
"Interceptors have splashed a Ayyes Scout Ships in Egypt and the Commander has seen fit to test you guys out in combat," Van Doorn explained as he paced between the recruits. "I'll be accompanying you on this mission, but I will not be participating unless it is an emergency situation," his eyes turned over to me. "For this mission the Commander has decided to place good ol' Forklift here in charge of the squad."
My entire world froze at my CO's words as I stared at him. "Sir?" I questioned in surprise. "Me, Sir?"
"Yup, so give us a good showing!" Van Doorn told me as he turned to leave. "Suit up and be at the launch pad in ten minutes! Move it Specialists!"
No more words were exchanged as we leapt into action, sprinting for our lockers where our armor and equipment lay in wait for us to don. It was with practiced ease that we were armored and ready within four minutes and in the launch pad in eight.
Jordan let out a deep sigh, looking at his rifle once more - as if looking for the slightest error he may of missed. "Nervous?" I asked.
The Navy SEAL glanced at me, but shook his head. "No, its just… " he said, glancing around. "It's just… odd, going into a fight without a spotter. Usually Snipers work in pairs, but… " He let out a short chuckle "I guess I'm just paranoid."
"Your team is your spotter," I replied blandly. "Try being told that you're being put in charge of a squad that is mostly made up of military personnel, one of whom has lead a squad of marines and another was a sniper in fucking Massaud."
Jordan nodded "Yeah, its… a lot to take in." He said, glancing at him. "But you do good in training Ryu- err, Tom… Forklift… gah dammit… what I'm saying is I trust your judgement, alright?"
I nodded in response as I let out a sigh, forcing my eagerness out of my body as I focused on the mission on hand, going over the reports I read on other assaults on splashed ships.
"Alright, everyone, set your comms to Alpha Meta 300," Van Doorn announced as he strode into the room. "Central is ready to give us the briefing while we're enroute."
The radios were adjusted quickly as we moved, the 'General' stopping me as I moved towards the Skyranger. "Here, squad leaders carry these," he instructed me as he handed me what looked to be a large smartphone in an otterbox. "This is the Tac Map and bio-reader, it'll let you monitor the squad's position and give you detailed maps on the terrain, keep it on you at all times from now on, understood?"
"Yessir," I replied with a firm nod as he patted my shoulder in encouragement before leading me up into the Skyranger. I settled myself into the crash seat, ensuring that I was strapped in before I slid the Tac-Map into a slot on the underside of my forearm and powered it up.
"This is Central, do you ready, Van Doorn?" a masculine voice asked over the radio as a holographic screen came to life on the wall leading to the Skyranger's Cockpit.
"Loud and clear, Central, we're loaded and ready," Peter said as he looked up at the screen as in the corner an image of a middle aged man with an obvious military demeanor appeared.
"Understood, as of this moment this squad will be known as Rho Squad," Central Officer Bradford announced to the squad. "Your mission is to secure the splashed alien vessel, be on alert, we don't know how many of them survived the crash, so be ready for anything."
I glanced up at the screen to see it display an image of it crashed within a forested area that had several fires surrounding it. "Do we know any of the hostiles on site?" I questioned aloud.
"That is a negative, but be prepared for at the very least an Outsider leading a group of Sectoids, that appears to be the standard grouping on a Scout ship," Bradford told me, even through a holographic screen and him being who knows where, I could feel his eyes examine me.
I nod in response as I look over my group. "Reaper, Bloodhound, keep your distance, cap any Roswell that pokes its head up," I tell the two of them.
"Understood," Jessie replied with a firm nod.
Jordan glanced at D.J "Alright, I'll find some high ground and give you overwatch," He said, "Make them come to us, force them into the open and deprive them of cover. If you see a Sectoid Commander, focus all attention on them - we know how dangerous they are."
"Duly noted," D.J. said, while sighing, "I hate telepaths."
"Damn straight, cheating Xeno's." Jordan muttered, before glancing at their third member of the Squad - a small desert camo painted machine, with a small gatling gun mounted on the top with four treads. "Good thing mind tricks won't mess with this little guy." He chuckled, patting the top of the Super-Heavy Infantry Vehicle - otherwise known as the S.H.I.V. "Ain't that right Argo?"
The S.H.I.V Jordan had decided to name 'Argo' did not reply.
D.J chuckled slightly "You love those things, don't you?" He asked.
"Hell yeah," he said, "They're like mini-tanks! And make pretty good scouts!"
I grinned in response as I called up the S.H.I.V's 'eyecam' on my new device to see it's view. "At the dropsite in five," the pilot announced.
"Lock and load," I called out in command. "Argo goes out first followed by me and Solowolf, then the snipers with Boomer taking the rear."
Jordan nodded - prepping his rifle as the team all stood up. "Ready to go!" He shouted.
D.J. also acknowledged as he readied his own weapon, "Good to go!"
"Ready," Jessie informed, her eyes still closed as she continued to meditate.
"10-4 good buddy," Hendrick informed with a grin and a firm nod, the kind that made me grin and nod in return, my muscles relaxing as some of the tension left them.
"Remember, I'll be observing you this mission, so unless things go tits up, then I won't be interfering," Peter reminded as he looked over his assault rifle.
"Understood, sir," I replied as I let out another breath as the Skyranger came in for a landing. "We have hit the dirt," the pilot announced. "Rho Squad is away."
"I read you, Dark Sky," Bradford informed as the S.H.I.V rolled out of the skyranger, myself and D.J following closely after it. "Rho Squad, you are clear for engagement, good luck."
"Roger that, Central," I replied as I looked over the surrounding terrain. "Alright, Team-2, take the left flank," I whispered over the radio. "Team-1 and I will take the right, heads on a swivel."
"Wilco," Jaden whispered, tapping D.J on the shoulder as the two mobilized, slipping into the darkness - Argo trailing behind them.
I motioned for my two squadmates to follow me as I headed towards the right, taking cover behind a fallen tree as I checked my Tacmap to double check Jorden's progress. "Boomer, move ahead to the rock formation to the right," I whispered into my mike over TEAMCOM. "Bloodhound, the tree at the top of hill should give you a good place to set up for now."
A pair of double clicks came in response as the pair moved for my indicated. "I see the UFO, Forklift," Boomer whispered. "No Contacts in sight."
"Roger, Reaper, sitrep?" I questioned the former SEAL.
"Reaper here," Jordan's hushed voice came through, "Set up on a ledge, got good view of the area. I see movement inside the ship, but nothing solid. Maintaining overwatch."
"Roger that, send Argo closer up to take a look," I ordered as I moved up closer to the ship, Boomer moving with me on my right as we took cover behind some debris that had fallen off in the crash. "See what comes out."
"Copy that - Argo moving out." I looked at the camera feed, as the S.H.I.V crawled forward towards the downed UFO, its gatling gun scanning the area for new contacts.
It didn't take long though, as it crawled over a few rocks, as a trio of Sectoids were busy walking around the area - but immediately spotted Argo as their heads picked up in alert, before dashing away. "Contacts. You want Argo to light e'm up?"
"Wait one," I commanded, glancing at my Tacmap once more. "Boomer, to the left, we'll clear that area before moving closer, can you guys deal with the trio, Reaper?."
There was a short pause "I've got eyes on," He informed, "Fire… fire… Fire."
*CRACK!* The echo of a sniper rifle firing echoed across the desert. "X-Ray down, remaining two are ducking for cover. Won't save 'em."
"Take them out then," I said as I scanned the area ahead of me and Boomer.
"Contacts!" Boomer shouted out as a trio of Sectoids exited the crashed UFO and spotted us before running for cover.
"Bloodhound, do you have an angle?" a double click of the radio gave me a positive in response. "Wait on shooting, Boomer, take out their cover!"
"Roger!" the former Marine shouted as he ripped a frag grenade from his waist and pulled the pin before tossing it in front of the debris two of the sectoids were using as cover, destroying it as it exploded.
A crack of the rifle followed by a screeching sectoid told me that the Israeli understood my plan, taking one of them out as I charged from cover.
While many 'classes' within XCOM were trained to remain in cover and fire in minimal movement, the Assaults like me thrived in close range, meaning I learned to fire as close as possible to the enemy, which meant charging them like I was.
"Forklift, watch it!" Boomer shouted as a flash of orange entered into my vision in the opening on the UFO as the 'Outsider' alien popped the corner, it's small rifle at the ready and aimed at me.
"Oh… FUCK!" I cursed, throwing myself to the side as a flash of green plasma flashed across my flank, drawing a pained scream from my throat as I managed to get behind cover. "Goddamn Outsider!"
"Well it could've been worse, we could've had-!" D.J. began only for me to stop him.
"Don't you DARE finish that sentence!" I growled as I checked my wound, the one good thing about plasma, it cauterizes ensuring minimal bleeding, although said cauterizing burned like acid. "Flesh wound, have eyes on the outsider though."
"Reaper here, where are you-no wait, I see you." The Outrider aimed its rifle at me again…
*CRACK*
Suddenly the creature went flying backwards, hitting a tree as it collapsed. But it wasn't dead, as it began to shakily stand back up.
"Son of a… tough bastard," Reaper muttered, "Hang on I've got-"
"Jordan! Left Flank! They spotted us!" D.J warned, as I looked towards the ledge as several more Sectoids began to crawl towards the position, firing their plasma pistols.
"Boomer, suppress that Outsider!" I ordered over the radio as the Marine opened fired in short bursts, keeping the orange alien pinned in place as I looked over the edge of my cover to locate the two surviving Sectoids on our end closing in, aiming for the firing marine. "Boomer, get down!"
I stood up, leveling my shotgun at one of the sectoids and unloaded a round of buckshot into it's face, killing it before ducking back down to cycle the round, another high calibre round echoed through the forest as the final sectoid fired off a round of plasma at the exposed Marine, hitting his arm as it was dropped by the sniper round.
"Gah!" Hendricks shouted over the radio as he dropped back under cover, clutching his arm.
"Boomer!" I called out in concern.
"I can fight," the Marine assured. "We need to take that Outsider out."
"Reaper, can you guys handle the new arrivals?" I questioned in concern as plasma flew over my head from the Outsider.
There was silence on the comms, "Reaper?" I called out again, "Jordan, you there?!"
Finally, there was a grunt. "Reaper here… sorry Ryu," Jordan's voice came through, "Sectoids are dead… fuckers got me in the arm but… one moment."
*CRACK*
Once again, the Outrider was hit violently by the Sniper round, knocking it off balance once again - even causing it to shoot off it's intended target, it definitely didn't like me
"Boomer, frag the wall!" I shouted as the marine pulled his second frag off his belt before tossing it at the wall that the Outsider was hiding beside, blowing a massive hole in it, a hole that was quickly used by Bloodhound to shoot at the Outsider, cursing quietly as it managed to get out of the way in time.
"Suck on this you stubborn bastard!" I shouted as I tossed my frag into the UFO causing the Outsider to retreat further back. "Frontline units, push forward," I grunted out as my movement aggravated my wound. "Snipers, keep him pinned as we move up."
I continued to push forward, Bloodhound opening fire as well, and I could see D.J firing from his position as well. Argo also had moved up, and let loose with its own auto-cannon at the Outrider - and I could hear the cracks of sniper fire as Jordan and Jessie fired their own rifles.
I slid into cover behind some kind of console as I added in my own fire onto the alien, clipping it's shoulder as Boomer moved up to pin it down. "Solowolf, finish it off! We'll keep it pinned!"
"Got it!" D.J. shouted as he got from cover and began his advance toward the Outsider, all the while firing his SCAR.
The bullets riddled the alien as it staggered before falling back, it's body evaporating as it died. "Good Job Rho Squad, objective has been secured," Peter announced over the radio as we all stared for a moment. "Salvage crews are en route and we can leave."
"We… did it?" I questioned in shock as I looked around at my squad.
"I don't... See any more movement," Jordan spoke up, "Damn... Fuck those Outsiders man..."
"Good work Rho Squad, no more hostiles detected, return to the Skyranger, your job is finished," Central announced over their radios. "Welcome into XCOM."
"Let's get your guys onto the Skyranger and to your new Base of Operations in Europe," Peter announced. "We'll look over your performance once we've arrived, and don't worry about your personal effects, they're being transferred over."
"Sounds good," I reply as I stumbled a bit, a firm hand catching me as Jessie grabbed my arm to put around her shoulders, helping me along. "Thanks."
Jessie simply nodded in response as they continued along.
As we walked back towards the Skyranger, Argo rode back up, with D.J and Jordan walking behind it - Jordan's left arm burnt and torn from a plasma shot. "Bah, it's nothing," He said with a pained smirk "Tis… only a flesh wound!"
"Don't start quoting Monty Python to me," I grimaced in response. "It hurts to breath, let alone laugh."
"Fair enough..." Jordan chuckled, as they boarded the Skyranger once again. "But... All in all... Glad we're all back in one piece... More or less."
"Well, I think I left a few fragments here and there," I tried to joke with a pained groan. "Y'know, marking my territory and all that?"
"Good, that should scare e'm off," Jordan chuckled "Look out Xeno's, the Forklift was here!"
I couldn't help myself as I let out a laugh, ignoring the pain in my chest as my laughter agitated my wound. "Fuck yeah I am," I confirmed. "Now let's get home before I pass out from pain."
"Right." Jordan sighed, sitting down as D.J looked over his arm with a first aid spray in hand. "Hey, if I lost my arm could I get a bionic arm replacement?"
"You won't lose it," the General informed as he stepped up next to me, a Medkit in hand as he sprayed the wound. "Plus our docs will be able to get you fixed up and ready to go within the month."
"Drats," Jordan smiled "Now I will never get my rocket fist from Phantom Pain!"
"Keep you rocket fist, I want Jensen's arm cannon," Boomer announced with a grin as he mimed shooting with his arm.
"Maybe, but with a rocket fist I can simultaneously shoot it, and flip them off at the same time," Jordan chuckled, mimicking pointing is fist up with a bird raised - before grunting as he lowered it. "Fuck still hurts… "
"No shit Sherlock, these just keep you glued together till the docs can get to you," Peter said sternly. "These don't regen tissue, I thought we went over this already."
"I'm well aware of that," Jordan stated, "You'd think it would kill off some of the pain though… then again, last thing I'd want is to get doped up on Morphine... "
"They do numb the pain," I grunted. "But take a look at our condition, we're fucked up."
"Fair enough," Jordan sighed, leaning back in his seat. "Wake me when we get back to base… "
"Will do, rest up kiddies, things will only get harder from here," Peter told them ominously. "For your now XCOM Operatives."
"Hooyah," Jordan muttered, before closing his eyes.
I let out a little sigh as I reclined back into my seat a bit, yawning as the adrenaline began to ebb away. "A nap sounds good," I muttered quietly, garnering a smirk from Jessie.
"I'll watch," she informed calmly.
"Thanks," I murmured before slipping into a light doze.
END CHAPTER
DKR: Welp, this is the first chap of yet another fic, here's hoping it's well recived, an few notes, this is based off of the Long War mod by Long War Studios, so meaning EVERYTHING is tougher and can KILL us so much easier, which I hopefully portrayed with the Outsider as they had become monsters in the game.
117Jorn: F**k those god**** things with a ten foot pole…
DKR: Yup, anyways, so hopefully this one keeps some momentum, cause I plan on riding it right to the end of 2 and possibly even XCOM 3 if Firaxis finishes it before I finish this, which they just very well might. See ya'll later.