Sorry, life struck. Also got XCOM 2, and had a few ideas based on my current run. To note: said run included the mods playable aliens and Allies Unknown, so those concepts will appear, with 2 of the 3 main starters characters, as I'm approaching it like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. Nobody is safe.
I'm aiming for longer ones, and this should come out right after my Star Wars one.
Also to note, this is XCOM, but has some stuff from an original-ish sci-fi world I wanna work on building, inspired by a Mass Effect story idea I had I spun off to it's own thing. Also it fits, as most of the Allies Unknown modules are Mass Effect races.

So, down at Jane's second part there is also a || break, I know it looks weird, but I put it there and here for a reason. That marks the split. This was something I worked on quite awhile ago, but just kind of stopped, which is where that || break is. I've been busy trying desperately to juggle classes for college and all that (I HATE calc).
This semester most of my classes are focused on a day and a half or so, so I may get more time to write. Or I may not. Either way, I'm finishing this one up and dropping it for you all to know I'm not intending to vanish, just very busy. I'm going to try and get back on track when I can, but then again, Nintendo Switch XD :P
And I may put some stuff over on the original stories side sometime, cutting out the original stuff here back to just it, and another idea I've been kicking around for... a few years now, actually. And a DnD inspired little thing just to work on a character or two I wanna play one day, but his personality isn't the easiest to play.

Ch.1

Michal pt.1
"They're here!" a voice booms through the loudspeakers, as my fellow troops and I rush to the situation room.
"Who's here?" Gracie Wiliams asks, pulling down her bandana.
"it's an ADVENT mobile command ship, which means one of two things."
"Which are?" Another man asked, though I didn't know who he was.
"Either it's ADVENT, and we're truly screwed... or It's XCOM.

"Incoming Ship!" the group faces Markus, the only Engineer in the facility. "Prepare! If it's ADVENT, give 'em hell!"

I hunker behind the wall, propping my gun on it, watching the ship warily. The door opens, a fog concealing the contents, as I hear audio chatter. "Hold still, see who comes out, don't fire until we know they're hostile."

We don't have to wait long before a gun pokes out, scoping out the area, then a body. A woman with a buzz cut exits, and signals behind her, followed by a pony-tailed man and a woman with glasses and a bandana, not too unlike Gracie's. The group relaxes, it's XCOM. The first woman's drone buzzes overhead. "I'm Colonel Eva, Come out." And we happily obliged.

A few hours later, we find ourselves in the Gruella Tactics Room, with four people, the three from before and a man with a pair of robotic arms. "Here in XCOM, one you've earned a nickname, you use it. So, you all can call me Rex." She gestures to the pony-tailed man and his blade, then the other woman, and finally the man newest one to the group she's addressing. "These are Merc, Undertaker, and Swamp Thing. The four of us are the most experience soldiers here at XCOM, each in our own specializations. I'm the tech, Merc's got close-quarters combat, Undertaker's who you call for long range, surgical shots, and Swampy's the guy you call when things need to go boom. Now, let's get you all training."

Jane pt.1
Jane looks down at the small device she'd figured out was called a Walkman. Frankly, from what she'd heard, it was a miracle to find one in working order before ADVENT, let alone now, but it was the only device she could find that could be uploaded with audiobooks, as while ADVENT took care to not actively destroy books, they tried to bury them in new content, and other devices wouldn't accept audiobook files. She rushed back towards her Post, thumbing the hidden switch to change the feed and displayed contents to the pre-approved music, and a good thing too, as an Officer stood at the Pod. "What are you doing out?" He growled as she slithered up.

"I... I was out warming up for training sir, a quick lap, sir, I find warming up before training helps most, sir!"

"And how'd you get out?"

"Uh... the... time settings were unlocked, I just set it an hour earlier."

"And just what is that?"

"A... Walkman, sir. There isn't anything issued to play music during individual warmups, and I happened to find this thing." The officer just glares.

"As is, soldier." He glowers at her as she sighs. "I have good news for you and your squad, be ready in 15." He stalks off. As he leaves, she slides her Walkman into the Post, and slides in.

15 minutes later, Jane and her squad assembled. "Today is a grand day, in you've been trained sufficiently. No more will you only be deployed as guards or such things. Now, you can strike at our enemies," A screen springs to life. "We located a camp in New Australia of a Resistance Cell. You will be sent in to eliminate all resistance. Know XCOM will likely arrive at some point, so keep an eye out, and choose some early victims to be replaced by Faceless, do you understand?" a resounding aye echoed, so loud nobody realized one from a certain Viper was very half-hearted as Jane seemed very interested in the floor, and a small device in her hand.

Andrews Pt.1
Captain Andrews walked down the corridor. This was going to be the first time he'd been back home in years, and heavily doubted anyone would even recognize him. Soon, he reaches the end of the hall, and a door hisses open. "Commander Rydor." he looks at the man, as expected, no recognition in the man's eyes.

"It's good to meet you, Captain, and great our people could meet today." The man gestures, as the two follow him. "Funny thing, actually, I knew someone by the name of Andrews years ago, until he went missing. That mystery seems it'll never be solved. Andrews seemed about to speak, but is cut off by a hand on his shoulder, looking to his companion's slight shake of her head, shuts his mouth, thinking for a moment.

"What a coincidence." He replies, a soft lilt evident from him, as his kind were not quite human. "Maybe you'll figure it out soon." This elects a chuckle.

"I would say if we'd figure it out, it'd be solved by now." he leads them into an office. "Please, sit down!" he says with a grin, gesturing to two seats, as the two visitors sit. "It truly is an honor you'd select us to make First Contact with!" he offers a hand. "Now, for the official introduction so we can get to business. I'm Commander Rydor, I run Space Station Alpha. Our job is to monitor and ensure nothing harmful gets down to the surface." Andrews takes the hand, and shakes it.

"It's nice to meet you, Commander. I'm Captain Andrews, in command of the good ship Chaser. On behalf of the Spatial Coalition, we were sent to meet with your people."

"Spatial Coalition, eh? a bunch of foxy people running around." Rydor chuckles. This was fitting, as the two beings in front of him were indeed foxy, in the sense that their species had evolved from a vulpine-like species, as opposed to humanity evolving from primates.

"Close, we Vul are one of the four species in the Spatial Coalition. There are also our allies the Vaiili, though most call them Grays, as they look like the stereotypical little gray aliens. I think the reason is some fringe elements used to experiment on non-Coalition planets, then use those advancements for new medicines and such. Then on the other side are the Haado, big, hulking beings hard as rock, but the most helpful and astute people you'll meet. Then the Pao probably need little explanation, as they're also a primate-based people."

"Other Humans?" the jolly man seems excited.

"Not quite, sir, they may appear similar, but there are internal differences from different situations. I'm no biologist, you'd have to get with the ship's doctor for that." A bracer on the Captain's arm beeps. "I'm sorry, sir. We have to go, something needs our attention. Once we're fully docked, we can meet again." The two stand and leave.

Michal pt.2

It's been weeks, but we're as well trained as we can get just doing detached practice. I'd found my specialties lay in the art Undertaker used, in Sniping enemies from long distances, though it took longer to take to the pistol's kickback, as they had more advanced weaponry than we had before. At this point, we were just waiting for an alien attack or chance to strike, and some were starting to get antsy, especially Gracie, arguing with Merc even as the two were practicing their swordplay. She had ditched her bandana for a half gas mask. I think when she was young she either saw or was victimized in a chemical attack, but I can't say for sure because she wont talk about it, and tends to snap at anyone who mentions it, which is what brought them to this sparing match. Neither notices as Rex enters the room. "I could never imagine being able to do that." I turn, and realize she's referring to me.

"It's so fast, and the idea of getting into the alien's face and those weapons..." I shudder.

"I'm guessing you've seen them in action before?"

"Only vids, ma'am. I was in contact with a friend in New Mexico when they were attacked, saw him ripped to shreds."

"Ah, yea, that raid. Actually, I think that call was how we found you guys."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we found him at the coms station, and tracked the last call to find a general area, then went looking for you." I watch her little drone float over and administer a light jolt to the two combatants, as the both jump back. "That thing's fun. I like my Gremlin as is, great to keep our guys going, but the more Offensively focused ones can be funny to mess with."

Merc stalks over. "What was that for?"

"We need you on the bridge." She gestures to me. "And him, we need snipers and more ranged explosives for this next assignment."

"An assignment? What is it?"

"Seems one of the camps we protect managed to get a tip off of an ADVENT raid. We're going to be there early to shut down the attack before they can do any damage."

"What?! How'd they do that?"

"They wouldn't tell us, now gear up!"

Jane pt.2

It was night as Jane cracks her eye open. Her override of the Post had worked!

Carefully cracking open the door, she pokes her head out, checking the area. Nobody's watching... no cameras... perfect! Sliding out slowly, Jane made her way down one empty corridor after another, bringing to mind the original version of an old movie she'd heard of. "What is this place, Cloud City?" she whispered as corridor after corridor of smooth walls just gave way to yet more halls. She had to stop and hide a few times, but she finally found where she was going: The communications station. It was unguarded on a change of shifts and she slipped in, sliding around the camera's view and found a coms unit, sliding it into her vest. With this in her grasp, she slipped out of the complex into the nighttime forest, the scanners watching for intruders, not escapees.

Now free and in the forest, she activates the comms, and keys in a frequency she'd heard of before, and hoped they'd let her talk, and called the resistance fighters known as XCOM, planning to make her way to the camp to ambush those she had deserted from in case XCOM cant make it there first.