A?N

Alright sorry for those of you who enjoyed this fanfiction. I've just been super busy with life and kinda embarrassed by how poorly written this is. That is why I have decided to basically scarp that previous story and start at a much slower pace. It also helps being able to use a computer now instead of an iPod so the grammar should be a lot better than before with the I's.

I sat on the floor learning against the wall awaiting further orders. It was a few hours before operation riptide a massed attack on the new capital ship that arrived here on earth days ago. We watched idily by as hordes of xeno's landed and took whole cities. Originally it was the normal, they would land, abduct and kill. Now it was different, they were taking cities but leaving people alive but sending them to secured areas where surveillance teams couldn't even get in. More than one squad was eliminated during our first intel gathering ops, we now just relied on a few text messages or calls the civilians made before they were processed.

We've been fighting this war for well over two years. The first few months was more cloak and dagger type of stuff. A mission sent on the dead of night a man or two missing. That slowly morphed into daily abductions and the general populace being forced to know the danger during the Tokyo terror mission. Ten operators left on that mission four came back when we were ambushed by the chrysalids for the first time. We weren't trained for that and soon we found ourselves as the only outfit capable of at least buying people time. The end of the first year everything morphed into something you'd see in war of the worlds. People hid in secrecy only emerging at night to be abducted, scavenge or resist the invader. The larger more wealthy countries were in martial law more or less. Soldiers scattered everywhere to prevent rioting and to create a false sense of security to continue working the work forces.

Military organizations worked closely with irregulars. Few people actually joined the military. Zone's were declared. Green zones were safe with a militarized presence, yellow was filled with irregulars and military patrols and red zones were the parts heavily attacked and left with humans hiding and scavenging for survival. Fear kept them immobilized to make a break for the yellow zones. The world's various armies could only grit their teeth and dig in. That's where we came in.

The first year there were many major offensives to counter the terror missions or to retake strategic areas that were what closely resembled FOBs for the alien forces. Major loses always factored into these major battles and we were still insuring the loyalty of the masses. Recently, General Sutton created a strategy called the Shield initiative for all human forces. While the armies got to dig in, special forces outfits would go out and take the fight to the enemy. Deep recon, raids on UFO's, saving influential people, and other missions like those. We went from a top secret cold war project used for assassination to 'humanity's finest'.

There were some perks. We got better gear primarily it was the new body armor with alien alloyed plates in it that helped us come back home. The new bolt patterned rifles that fired large freaking rounds that obliterated enemy cover and insides, and lastly the 'wierdo's' that kept us on the top. The enemy had the advantage everywhere else. We still haven't found a way to create the same weapons. Instead, we horded the plasma weapons greedily. Ammo was precious worth a months pay for just pistol rounds. The worst were the 'special' kids.

The xeno's invaded quickly and efficiently, but humans always win ground wars... I hope. Nonetheless, we shot down enemy ships and what not. The problem lied in xeno gear. Xenos weaponry often leaked a purple substance called psy for simplicity. It was everywhere. The engines, heavy weapons, the religious leader's bodies. Hell it came from nowhere and everywhere. Soldiers that killed a lot of these guys learn later on that they can somehow feel the force or something like that. These guys were wierdos. New religions were created over night. A head ache if they worshiped the aliens. Normally we would kill the said people, but XCOM couldn't afford the media learning about our less than honorable past. The only decent one was 'the way'. It was basically people who discovered the psyonic potential and decided to fight the enemy with it pretty chill irregulars if I say so myself.

The point is people start to get born with purple eyes. People start having magical powers essentially and well. It was another advantage. We used the piss out of those guys. Medics, pyros, leaders, communication, and what not. We had death squads of these soldiers that would get dropped en-massed in a red zone and turn it into a blue zone aka reclaimed area. Due to the nature of the abilities, mostly children and young adults had these abilities. It was rare for a trained soldier to have these abilities unless he or she was exposed to a lot of xeno tech or a place where a UFO was just kicking it.

Command originally said we would never use these children to fight these wars. Now, I go on 'recruitment' missions for these kids. Late night raids and take the kids, the government had an alert system for these kids. It was almost a death warrant but not quite to have these abilities on a lethal usable level. Many many people died trying to hide these abilities or committed suicide when the doctor informs the of their good luck. We were desperate. if someone just saw an alien the reaction time was scary of how fast people would run and hide.

We had little hope and now with that capital ship we just had a single ember to work with. That ember was operation riptide. It was a major offensive. The American army, The way and any surviving units would attack the capital ship to allow a few XCOM teams to infiltrate the ship and destroy it probably resulting in the western hemisphere's death. The hopeful side was it was a chance to strand all the other aliens here. The egg heads guesstimated that this was the only alien ship capable of long term FTL capabilities. This was for a lack of better words their home turf and we were going to destroy it. We were going to be the spear strike after the falling of the hammer. We were XCOM the knife hidden in the cloak of humanity.

The general arrived late as usual. He walked in or better termed stumbled in. The general or the commander to us regulars wore armor like us. American body armor refitted with the alien alloys in place of our normal ballistic weave and ballistic plates. While it afforded little protection, I can honestly say it saved me once or twice when I took a hit to the chest and detached the plate before it burned through. One time it took the hit and only gave me third degree burns before I could detach it minutes later.

The commander himself was a non descriptive man. He wore a maroon beret always, but he never looked at anyone in the eyes. He rarely left his office and any view of his face was always hidden. He always turned to the side or just looked down. He was short enough where no one could get an accurate look at his face leaving many rumors in its wake. He walked tall yet his shoulders were slumped. He walked with confidence, yet his neck hanged as if he were full of a shame and guilt that would never leave him.

He made his way to the podium. A tense mood fell over us survivors. Our underground base was lost months prior forcing us to work in Africa with tents and the skyrangers as mobile HQs. We were the fortunate ones. Only the Africa, Asia and European branches were alive, I was apart of the few from the South American branch to survive when the chrysalids got in the vents. Dr. Shan died... I was there when it happened I honestly can say I never served with a better person. We were reduced to ten six man squads. We barely had 4 functioning sky rangers and our equipment was reduced to a few specialized pieces. We had no more SHIV's cannibalizing the parts for our armor. We had 7 gene warriors including myself and four MEC soldiers. We had over a dozen but we lost the equipment to give them all limbs or a suit to use. Certain actions were taken at their consent to prevent further pain. My best friend begged me to help and I did. We had gone through hell and back with the commander. We faced hard decisions with this man leaving soldiers behind and killing civilians at his order to insure our survival. Survive we did. He was like a father but he still couldn't look at us in our eyes no matter how hard we tried to comfort him.

The commander just stood on the ramp of the sky ranger he lifted his face so we could clearly see it. There was no sun to block my view only a white face. Dirt and grime covered his face like ours. His lips were chapped, his eyes were hallow and incapable to look at us instead staring into our souls. His eyes were brown like the dying leafs in autumn. His face was sunken like that of a skeleton. He looked like a dead man walking.

His voice was just as sharp and authoritative as it was in my head set. "Soldiers we've been through a lot... Operation Flame, Operation Fallen star, and so many more. We are XCOM we did our duty like humanity needed us to do. We finished every mission even if only one of us survived." I heard a muffled choke to turn and see a fellow gene warrior slowly take a knee holding a hand to her mouth biting a finger. Sable knew so much of that the only survivor of a terror mission including the back up squads we sent. "-manity needs us one last time. This time all of us will go and all of us will face this threat forever. Let XCOM find our place in the hollowed etchings of a memorial hall or the wounds of xenos"

No one spoke for a few seconds. The commander just bowed his head even lower than before to walk the way he came. We parted like water for the commander. We looked at each other as if wondering... No pondering our fate. I met eyes with Sable who was clutching the nine dog tags around her neck as if it was the only life line she had. She locked eyes with me and looked away just as quickly. She straightened herself and made her eyes dead once more and walked away to god knows where.

The crowd of us slowly dispersed for the operation. A mismatched group with no uniform. Sleeves, no sleeves, helmet, no helmet, shotgun, assault rifle what we did have was a hatred for anything non-human. I looked at my right arm seeing the symbol for us gene warriors. A XCOM symbol with a DNA helix in the middle it was orange and black. I closed my eyes remembering the guy who gave me the tattoo before he took a grenade to the chest to prevent a psy warrior's death. We all lost something out there.

"Ten seconds" We all stood up. We hooked up, and we shuffled to the door. I felt my heart drum against my rib cage. I felt the constriction of my heart beat in my throat. I felt my body quivering unable to sit still. I shook and trembled, yet I was ready. I was in the last sky ranger in. We had to dodge a UFO. The squadie that was forced to stand was tossed around the sky ranger until he finally died from a broken neck. I already had his dog tags in my left ammo pouch and his knife stashed in my left boot.

The ramp lowered to show a scene of pure brutality. The other sky rangers were gone already and the three other squads were deployed taking cover whatever which way. Bodies were strewn every where. Sectoids, mutons, and humans laid within arms reach.

I slowly walked off the ramp firing at every target I could. The alien horde was slowly pushed back as I fired a hail of rounds into their bodies. The enemy shifted fire on us. I quickly took cover behind a dead muton. I felt my heart drum harder and harder than silence. I felt the blood rush in my veins then clarity. I stood up rifle against my shoulder iron sights locked onto a sectoids head and then I pulled the trigger. It's round head blew up like a water melon. A blob of plasma flew past me. I rolled to the right and brought up my rifle hitting a Muton square in the face making him stumble back twenty meters away. I used my legs to pump as fast as I could to sprint that distance. That distance closed in mere seconds and I rammed into the muton. It recoiled from surprise and staggered farther back as I brought up my rifle to finish him off with a well placed burst into his heart. I head a loud pop to turn and see a soldier clutching his arm as it hung there in a weird angle. A berserk stood over him roaring before a rocket found both of them creating a beautiful flower of red, orange, yellow and white. This is what I was bred for this is what I was to die in.

"Swatson sit rep!" I hollered over the groaning of the ship. "Staff sarge this shit is toast we need to evac out!" I spied a sectoid poking his head out and fired a burst into its small torso more or less obliterating it. "Fuck! get the survivors off this god damn ship and I'll cover you!" Swatson nodded as he rounded up the twenty odd survivors. The survivors quickly placed killing blows to the remaining aliens with brutal efficiency with rockets, grenades or sustained fire. Aliens were torn apart from the brutal fire power we had.

Sable was at the control pad trying her best to send the capital ship upwards into space. Swatson soon came back to me and reported in and then left. I was alone with Sable. The enemies were long gone now no doubt hiding in whatever crevice they could. They were probably too dumb to figure out anything else. I stood with my rifle at the ready and slowly walked to Sable. She had her head bowed and lowered. I gave a small shove laughing as I dead. We were the last gene warriors after this stint. She took a step and fell down to the ground. Not merely just falling but like dropping a bag of concrete. There was no grace there was no slow motion she just fell.

My ear piece rang. "Sargent the ship is descending get the hell off of it while you can!" The ship groaned loudly the orb turned red alarms went off. My ears rang with pain from the sudden change. I did what the little voice in my head told me to do. I grabbed that orb and tried to thrust it up like I saw Sable doing. Then everything changed pain in my eyes forced me to shut them and then I saw them.

I was in a cave with a few torches on the walls. The cave had odd symbols on the walls. It looked like kindergartens had done some finger painting. I no longer wore the barbaric armor anymore. Instead I wore brown robes of a monk. I felt a cowl over my head and I saw a great assembling of others dressed more or less like me. The voice in my head said brother shamans. I saw one turn to me and smile I knew his name immediately Ra. He was always arrogant in his own humble way. His right was Thor always one to laugh and take a challenge of any manner.

A part of me recoiled at the though of them. How could I know them, where was I, who was I? I couldn't control my body as I walked to Thor to embrace him and say in an unintelligible language a greeting that brought laughter loud as thunder into the cold cave. Ra smiled at me and said something I couldn't understand and I felt my body nod on its own accord. He then slapped me on the back as I removed my cloak. I looked down at my arms to see intricate symbols. Looking up I soon found myself in the middle of the room to be surrounded by chanting. I knew the words and said them aloud, yet I didn't understand them. We spoke to eternal beings to bless us in our endeavors as we ventured into the great unknown. Words and sounds I never said before sprung from my lips as if I said them on a daily basis.

Then it went white and I saw one of the foul alien beings hands clasped together. It looked at me its head tilted to the side in a human expression. The shamen no longer surrounded me instead I was alone with this alien. While it levitated I found myself looking at it face to face on the same level. Everything was the same yet different reality no longer had its hold as the alien looked at me. There was a pause. Finally in my mind a voice said. "We were right the new one has risen." Then it drifted away along with it this reality. I chased after it despite seeing everything slowly fade including my body as I shouted. I screamed and hollered yet every time I tried to say something it was in words I didn't know or understand. I chased until everything faded besides that ethereal slowly floating away mockingly getting smaller and smaller. Then I was sucked into the rest of this reality that was fading away. I was gone from this reality.

The commander looked up into the sky to see the capital ship explode. Amidst the cheers and yelling XCOM didn't pay them any heed. The twenty odd survivors stood mournfully over the cascading happiness humanity felt. The ever vigilant soldiers knew of the great sacrifice they had to make. Of the survivors, ten were regulars, one was a MEC, two were psy operatives and the last seven were rookies never indoctrinated into the organization. Red shirts training hard before an actual op before becoming a squadie.

XCOM was devastated. No support from any official organization due to all of them being lost into the war. Staff was in short supply once Dr. Shan died. XCOM was faced with a crisis. The commander just looked at all the soldiers looking up to him for leadership. All of them survivors who fought on multiple missions. The ones who were here in the underground base. Those who were survivors from the loss of Russia. The backstabbing in Australia.

He saw a desperate need of purpose from these soldiers. The commander knew what had to be done and soon everything XCOM was gone only leaving videos of brave men and woman who fought. A fading memory of Earth's most famous yet enigmatic heroes.

A/N

I've been going through some of my old notes for this story and have decided that there will be no huge first contact event I will mention in this FF. Instead this FF will focus on the new one's destiny as the story implies. My other FF I plan on writing out the in-depth war on earth and hopefully expand into the mass effect history of the first contact. I hope the quality of this chapter is much better than the last. I know I changed a lot but it'll make a lot more sense later on. I was skipping way too much from my original plan in my other rewrite. I hate being flamed on the reviews, but I see where ya'll are coming from and I've tried my best to remedy those problems so thank you for reviewing and hopefully with your help this story will be much better along with my writing. Thanks to all of you reviewers

-SITH