(Hamburg, Germany was one of the first areas rebuilt after the First Contact War. I meet retired Staff Sergeant Ignacio Delegado one block south of the memorial, in order to hear what happened during Operation Devil's Moon from the only participant to survive the war. The Sergeant appears to be in good health, with the exception of a massive plasma burn to his right arm, clearly visible in the short sleeved shirt he is wearing.)
"For the Germans, it started when the GasSats (An X-COM colloquialism for Type-1 Chemical Delivery Platform. Also known as pods) started raining down on the street. They acted like any human would and gathered around to see what it was. They didn't know any better."
[The Pamplona native shakes his head, eyes closed as he remembers.]
"For me and the rest of EUROCOM 1st Battalion/ 1st Company/ 2nd Platoon/ 4th Squad, the war started when the Skyranger touched down right here. All 8 of us moved out, taking cover behind cars and that statue. We looked pretty smart, followed our training and found the remains of the recon team."
[Here he blanches and shivers]
"It was a mess, we found all but one after a little looking around. They all looked like their rib cages had exploded, like in those Aliens movies I saw while in the US. The worse part was the smell. They smelled like they'd been dead a week instead of 20 minutes. I still don't know how that happened, we never saw it again thank god."
[He turns and gestures to the memorial, a large statue of 8 X-COM Soldiers with weapons drawn, their faces defiant.]
"We didn't look anything like that. We were scared out of our minds, trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Suddenly the boss came on the com."
"The Boss?"
"Yeah, Lieutenant General Patrick Mitchell US Army. He was in charge of the whole project. He had this way of speaking, calmed us down but firmly told us to get our asses in gear. We moved to the the warehouse, following a brown-orange smear on the ground. I was one of the 4 who went through the doors, the other went through the windows."
The warehouse was pretty empty; a few crates and a forklift. We could see the missing soldier, just standing there. Adrian approached him, asked if the man was ok. The German's face was... Blank for lack of a better word. Bang. Adrian goes down, eviscerated by the soldiers shotgun blast. That's when everything went to hell.
[He grimaces]
"Sectoids started coming out of the woodwork, the vents and even the goddamn crates. We opened up, kept shooting as we found ourselves back to back. Jessie and Bianca went down before it was all over."
[We approach the memorial, the names of everyone who died are inscribed on it. The Sergeant salutes the memorial, tears gathering in his eyes. We walk on as the sergeant wipes his eyes clear]
"I'm the only member of the original squad still alive. James fell during Stone Serpent to a Cyberdisc, Itzli during Falling Sword from a Chrysalid and we lost Alina during Hell Mountain (X-Com nickname for the assault on an Ethereal Base in the Swiss Alps. 17 Operatives died during the assault.) Carla died last year from an infection in her lungs she acquired when a Thin Man gassed her 6 years ago. Henry became a MEC trooper after Falling Sword but was crushed during Discarded Arrow after EXALT collapsed the mine they were fighting in.
[He seems to sag as he sits on a bench facing the Memorial.]
"4 years. 4 goddamn years before we finally blew their Temple Ship to hell and another 3 stamping out EXALT. Over 22 million dead. I still can't grasp just how large that number is."
[He shakes his head]
"I suppose I just don't want to."