November 7th 2237 (Local)/ November 8th 0437 (Zulu) 2014

OPERATION: SMOKEY TEMPESTS

VX-30 Skyranger Voodoo 3-7 crash site near Agra, Kansas, USA.

The rain was cold as it fell upon his face, the liquid of life making the smell of death around him all that more repugnant. The visor of his helmet had been shattered in the crash, letting the rain slowly run down his face and pool by his chin. All around me I could hear the snap-hiss of Laser fire. Someone was still alive.

Hoping against hope, he used the last of his readymade tourniquets on his legs, hoping to stem the bleeding from where they'd been severed just above the knee. He was running high on painkillers and uppers as well, the result of a truly crazy 24 hours. Keying his radio, he spoke out loud. "Sergeant Abbott this is Corporal Brackman, I'm alive."

No response. His words were slurred by the meds but someone should still acknowledge and he tried again. "This is Corporal Brackman of Echo team to any X-Com forces in the area, please respond. NORAMCOM this is Echo-2, I've lost contact with my team, please respond. You there chatterbox? Cog? Come on Fox, this isn't the time for jokes so PICK UP THE FUCKING RADIO!"

Cursing at the lack of response and the beginnings of his own panic attack, he reached over to the small Tac-Pad in his front pocket. It was heavily damaged, but the built in receiver would normally be able to pick up his team's Bio-Data. The results weren't good. In big red letters, the words KIA stood next to 3 of Echo Team, including Sergeant Abbott, in addition to the 3 man crew of Voodoo-3-7.

However, it did show that 2 of his teammates were still alive and that gave him hope. His Laser Rifle had been thrown away in the crash but his Laser Pistol was still in his hip holster.

BOOM

His eyes widened as a large explosion appeared on a hill not too far off, in the direction of the surviving members of Echo Team. The Tac-Pad seemed to mock him as the KIA markers appeared next to the names of Echo-3 and Echo-6.

A wet squish jolted him out of his state of shock. Grabbing his pistol he brought it up, only for a purple haze to grip the weapon and yank it out of my grasp. Jason Brackman gasped as he saw it, a figure clad in the green and brown imitation of Carapace Armor EXALT had begun to field for their newest operatives a few months ago.

The figure's head was surrounded by a fading purple aura, marking it as a Psi. There had been rumors about EXALT getting Psis even after Specialist Durand and her cohorts was rescued from the aliens who'd stolen them from EXALT but were widely regarded as false.

Searching around for a grenade, his arc projector, anything that could be used as a weapon and found nothing. The figure was near him now, seemingly uncaring of the V-30 Skyranger wreckage around it. An armored boot pressed into his gut as one of EXALT's mass produced converted Laser Rifles was shoved into his face. His own Carapace armor wouldn't protect me from a headshot, especially if the helmet was as damaged as he thought.

After a moment he looked up at where the eyes would be on the helmet and said 2 words. "Finish it."

The figure seemed to agree as the Rifle produced the high pitched whine it made when preparing to fire. Bowing his head and saying one last prayer, he found he wasn't dead. With fire in his eyes he looked up to find the EXALT soldier was standing still. He spat on the EXALT soldier before saying it the angriest voice he could muster. "Finish it you jackass."

Still nothing. "FINISH IT!"

The figure's hands were shaking, finger repeatedly getting on and leaving the trigger. It seemed to make a decision and stepped off of him. To his amazement the figure grabbed a nearby Medi-Kit and tossed it to him before disappearing into the night once more.

Dumbfounded but wasting no time, he used the Medi-Kit to patch himself up and waited. The sight of a V-30 Skyranger used to be the best feeling in the world, but now it only brought the taste of ash into his mouth, while my radio crackled. "This is Whirlwind-1-5 to Voodoo 3-7 and Echo team, is anyone out here?"

"This is Echo-2, I'm the last one."

As the Skyranger landed, more and more of my vision was claimed by exhaustion and Jason felt himself beginning to slip away. A team of combat medics ran towards him carrying a small fold out stretcher one of them asking the other "Morgue or Infirmary?"

He didn't hear the other medic's response as he fell into the hands of Morpheus.

*X#X*

Hey everyone, it's me again. This is the prologue for yet another idea of mine that was born when I had a cold a few months back and was inspired to develop after seeing the XCOM 2 reveal. It will be independent from In Remembrance but some characters from there will appear in addition to other sources. It will also roughly follow the Enemy Within plotline but be bigger and combine elements of XCOM 2 as it comes.

Just so you know, the next chapters will take place way before the Prologue does.