Chapter 1
New Arrivals
13:15 Hours, January 1, 1999 (Military Calendar)/ Fort Halo, Location Sicily.
Evelyn Bradley steps up to the exit ramp of the Skyranger only to be blinded by the massive white lights that dot the top of the hanger. She brings her hand to her eyes to shield them from the blinding illumination. Slowly they adjust and she lowers her hand down to the pockets of her USMC dress blues only to find a frantic number of personal running around with crates all over the hanger. She bends over and picks up her big gray duffle bag as she steps down the ramp along with seven other soldiers. After walking across the landing pad she is met by a man wearing a black military dress uniform. He was old. He had neatly trimmed white hair and worry lines extending from the creases of his eyes. He looks them over with an inspective gaze. Sharply he goes to the position of attention and shouts. "Squad, fall in!" Instinctively she drops her bag and falls into the small eight man formation as fast as she can. She quickly dress and covers down with the rest of the row. She averts her eyes forward keeping a strong military bearing, not letting a single thing phase her expressionless face. The man paced back and forth and sized them up, she could not make out with her peripherals what the man's rank insignia was, never has she seen anything like it before. It appeared to be a circle with an X in the middle with two thorns protruding out the side with a large pillar sticking out of the top crossing what appeared to be a sun. Below the rank the word Colonel was displayed.
"Welcome to X-Com's home base Fort Halo. You have all been selected from your respective branches and countries for this opportunity because you all the best, the elite." He pauses as he looks over to a man by the door wearing the same uniform as him. The other man holds his thumb up and the Colonel nods. "My name is Colonel James Stacker. I am your new commanding officer. You will be taken to the debriefing room now where the Commander will speak with you." He goes back to the position of attention. "Soldiers fall out and fall in on the door! Go!" He shouts at the top of his lungs. Evelyn and the rest of the soldiers run to the door as fast as their restricting dress blues will allow, leaving their bags on the cold cement.
The air inside the briefing room was ice cold. It was dark with walls made of mahogany paneling. The floor was almost a silk rug and the chairs were extremely soft. She looked down the table to see the rest of the soldiers, the darkness made it hard to make out figures but she could tell that they were all very tan or dark skinned like herself. Suddenly Colonel Stacker walks in and snaps to attention.
"Room, ten-hut!" He shouts with gusto as the eight man squad stands up at attention. An old soldier of man walks in with a noticeable limp. He walks over to his chair and pulls it out.
"As you were." The man orders with a gruff battle hardened voice. Everyone takes a seat at the table. The Colonel starts handing out folders to each of them. She takes her folder and notices that each one has the words CLASSIFIED and TOP SECRET stamped on it in red ink. Evelyn swallowed her spit for second. What have I gotten myself into? She looks over at the old man. The badge on his arm was simpler then the Colonels but a lot more terrifying. It was simply a skull with crossed bones behind it, biting into a circle with an X. He looks at her for a moment to which she answered by averting her gaze. He orders his files real quick and looks them all over. She takes a good look at him; he looks like he has seen some major action. A scar goes down his forehead, over his left eye, and across his cheek. His left eye itself is white showing that he is blind in it. He closes the folder and looks them all over. "My name is Commander Cole Franco. I am in charge of this base and her personal. You are the first soldiers in a long list of possible candidates who have been selected to join X-Com. Before we get started are their any questions?" Commander Cole says with a little stress. No one raises their hand. "Good. Okay X-Com is a top secret organization run by the United States government and ordered by the United Nations. Our mission is to intercept, destroy, and recover any and all alien artifacts and repel all incursions to our planet." His words send a wave of shock over them. Did he say aliens? She thought to herself with disbelief. "We understand that this may come as a bit of shock but trust me that will pass quickly. X-Com just came online last month and you are the first of our soldiers. You are the first squad of X-Battalion. Your extensive training as Special Forces operators makes you all very capable and deadly combatants. Now we don't know the extent of the alien threat but we have been having alien scouts running covert ops all over the Earth. Our scientists believe they are planning an invasion. It is our job to stop them. Congratulations on being selected." He nods to Colonel James and he nods back. As Commander Cole gets up Colonel James snaps to attention.
"Room, ten-hut!" He shouts as the Commander leaves. The Colonel waits until Commander Cole has left before continuing. "At ease." The soldiers all go at ease, moving their right leg 12 inches out and putting their hands together in the small of their back. "You will all find your things in squad bay one. Get some sleep; I know you have all had a long journey. Carry on." He ends his little speech as he walks out of the room.
In squad bay one, Evelyn unpacks her belongings and prepares for a long stay. She was tired but she could not fall asleep. Too much was on her mind. When her CO told her she was selected for greater opportunity then Marine Recon she jumped at it. All her life she was told what she couldn't do, so she joined the United States Marine Corps to prove them wrong. She then took it further by joining Marine Recon. The toughest unit in the Marine Corps, but now she was here, whatever that meant. The squad bay was relatively large for such a small group of people, with white floors and blue walls with a sterile smell in the air. The other seven people in her unit remain quite as the grave while they continue to unpack. She was tired of the silence, if she was going to be working with them she wanted to know who they were.
"Hey I just wanted to know if we could all introduce ourselves so we know each other better. Since were going to be saving the Earth and all. My name is Evelyn Bradley and I am in the United States Marine Corps Force Recon." Her words carry over the squad bay breaking the tension in the air. She then took off her dress coat and hung it up. The men in the squad bay were offset by her appearance. She had the body of model, her black skin made her appear like an Egyptian goddess with her long black hair up in a bun. One of the guys decides to go along with the whole get to know each other routine. His skin was white and he had blonde hair.
"Okay then. My name is Sergeant First Class Tom King, but I prefer Tommy. Oh and I am Army Green Berets." Says Tom as he folds his uniform perfectly. Another one gets up.
"Name's Spencer McNeil. I'm a Sergeant in the United States Army Rangers." Says Spencer as he rubs his head red head. His tan skin made him look exotic. Evelyn swears she heard someone whisper "Ginger." Another one of them got up. This one was handsome with dark skin and equally dark hair. He was strong and has clearly seen his fair share of combat.
"I'm not playing this game. Just call me Master Chief Dujardin." He lays back down on his bunk pulls out a Cigar from his bag. Contraband in every sense of the word she thought. He ran it under his nose before lighting it. Taking a deep breath he exhales a puff of smoke with a growing smile on his chiseled jaw. "Nothing like a Cuban." Evelyn rolled her eyes as woman got up, she was beautiful with oriental features.
"I'm Sumie Fujimoto, Sergeant Second Class, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force 1st Airborne Brigade." Her words were so soft and calming, but Evelyn knew she must have been tough as nails to be in that elite brigade. She coughs from the smoke building in the squad bay. She glares at Dujardin with her narrow eyes while pointing to the no smoking sign. He looks over at the sign and grins.
"Fine." He says as he snuffs it out on the floor, leaving a big burn mark. From the back of the room came a large woman who was built like a Russian body builder and for good reason.
"Me Meranda Yamanaka, Praporshchik in Russian Ground Forces Spetsnaz." Her words carried a heavy Russian accent. Clearly English was not her first language. Her muscles looked bigger then Dujardin as well. Her tan skin and brown hair made Evelyn wonder which part of Russia she was from. These thoughts pass quickly however as a short, fit woman with brown hair gets up for her "turn" at the, introduce yourself routine.
"Staff Sergeant Sylvie Marcelle, British Royal Army SAS." Her words carried a hint of a suppressed British accent. She caught the eyes of a couple of the guys as she sat back down. Evelyn grabbed her copy of the Art of War as the last person in their squad rose from her bunk. She was built like Meranda but a little less bulky. Her skin was as black as her own but her dark heir was a lot shorter.
"My name is First Lieutenant Sarah Croft, United Stated Army Delta Force." Her words felt as if she was trying to take command then and there. She too sat down as silence descended over the room. Evelyn just took it all in for a moment. Wow… She thought to herself. Elite Special forces from all over the world… Suddenly Colonel James walks in catching her eye.
"Room ten-hut!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Everyone dropped what they were doing and snapped to attention.
"Listen up. You are all now X-Com soldiers. Think of it as a whole separate branch from your respective militaries. Any rank you had before has been removed. You are now all Rookies in X-Battalion of the UN's personal pet project. You will be issued your battle dress uniforms tomorrow. Its lights out, get some rest." Orders Colonel James has he flips off the light switch on the way out. All eight of them stop unpacking and slip into their bunks. Evelyn closes her eyes and starts to wonder what she got herself into.