Chapter 1 - NEW SPACE, NEW SHIP, NEW CREW

"Greetings"

A lone Ethereal stared at a psionic projection in his quarters, sitting on an open pod meant to be his bed. The display of the Elder was on it. Its voice, however, was not very pleased. It was more to sorrow of farewell.

"If you are hearing this message… then our fear had came true. The Commander had overthrown us once again. Our plan, the Avatar Project, is officially terminated. The Humans had rejected our gifts and warnings. They are killing those left on Earth as you are listening to our final message."

He deeply sighed. He shifted his gaze over a pod holding an Avatar.

"The Avatar before you is the last one, as so are you" The psionic feed continued. "Although they had forbid us from Earth, the great threat still looms toward Earth." The feed swapped to a view of the galaxy map (one that the Ethereals had explored so far). "We have sent you away on this ship when the psionic network failed. Your objective is to seek out, explore, and find new allies to help us reclaim Earth and prepared the Humans for the incoming threat."

"The Avatar we given you will be known as Noah. Take it as it will be your new identity for the rest of your lifespan as well. The ship you are on is named the Exodus. You have a skeleton crew to command and operate this vessel, as it is a quick work done by our engineers."

The Elder halted as they heard an explosion in a room nearby. "XCOM is here for us. I'm afraid this will be the last time we speak to each other. As their Spokesman once said… Good luck, commander. And farewell"

The message ended. Noah palmed his mask with all of his hands. They failed, defeated. He knew that one day the Humans will rebel, but never had he thought they would ended up like this.

He glared up at the Avatar again. He was still here. And the threat was still out there. He had to finish this.

Only he can.


Noah was having a hard time walking. The healthy humanoid shape of the Avatar was a different experience. He could barely adapted to it after years of being having degraded muscular system. He didn't need to be cautious of his step too much.

He was exploring the Exodus. He was never briefed about the crew and its capability, so it was best to go to the bridge and talk to the captain of this ship. He did saw some Sectoids walking around, Cyberdisks maintaining the electrical circuits, Mutons and Vipers doing supply check. He knew they were chosen, or signed up to be on this craft.

He stepped on to the bridge. There, he was greeted by a Viper. She was wearing a T-shirt with ADVENT logo branded on it. "Welcome to the bridge of the Exodus" The voice was rather blunt.

"You don't seem to respect me that much" Noah spoke.

"Sorry" The Viper replied "It just… it's been difficult for all of us. Losing to the Humans. Again. And now, they rose up and killed most of the Elders. My sisters are still on Earth. Probably dead by now"

Noah could feel sorrow. "Humans may have deny us now, but our goal still holds" he said "We will search for a new ally and help in defeating the great threat, and perhaps bring back the Humans to our fold"

The Viper shrugged. "Better be. We're in what the Human would said as 'shit hit the fan'" she implied.

"You seemed to know a lot about Humans" Noah noted.

"Perks of being a so-called Thin Man once" the Viper answered "Got a lot of chances to talk with them before abducting them. I went by the name of Naga, and I have been calling by that name ever since."

"Naga… suitable" Noah nodded. The Vipers did look like the Human's mythological creature called Naga. "And is that why you prefered to wear Human garment?"

"I envied them, to be honest" Naga spoke "I just dislike how the Elders do things. We could have just talk, but no, we just got to go in and kidnap them. I'm not proud of it"

"I too dislike the approach" Noah said "But they shot down our ships during our surveys. We don't know if they are going to shoot our diplomats when we landed there."

"At least we could have tried." Naga argued.

The room then fell silent. All of the crew seemed to be burdened by more that just the defeat. Noah sighed deeply. "How many crew we have?" he asked. "The Elders told me we have a handful of crew"

Naga brought up a datapad. "A couple of Sectoids, Vipers, Mutons, Cyberdisks, Berserkers, and Chryssalids. However, we do have a cloning chamber installed, so shortage in recruits should not be a problem. However, we cannot spare any of the non-cloned crew. We are all that is left." She stowed it away. "I suggest you go talk to chief engineer Gravac and our head scientist Biggs."

Noah nodded. "I was going to meet them, anyway. Fly safely"


Biggs the Sectoid was peaking into a microscope, studying a SPARK wreckage they managed to get before their departure. He was amazed by this Raymond Shen. He built a completely mechanized unit for XCOM to use, and its performance outweighs how the SHIVs do in the field.

The door of his lab hissed open. Noah marched in. "Oh, did not see you coming in, Great One."

"You can drop the title. It's just Noah now, Biggs." Noah replied.

"To most crew, you still are the Great One" Biggs pointed out. "There is no denying that." He breathed deeply. "Anyway, welcome to the lab. I've noticed how the Humans managed to gain our technology, and improvised it with theirs. Got to give them credit, they did beat us with it. We're just too busy processing Humans. What was her name again…? Something Vahlen…?"

For once, Noah could agree. They had never developed anything for their army despite XCOM's constant adaptation. "So I hope you're the one who would do that."

"Yes, as the former ADVENT scientist Richard Tygan once do." Biggs nodded. "If you managed to find any new technology, bring it to me, and I will see what I can do"

A sound of gunfire came from the deck below. "Guess Gravac already testing the weapons we brought. Go meet him quick, Great One. He wasn't a man of patience."


Noah expected this Gravac to at least be another Sectoid.

He was met with a well-built Muton, armed with a plasma rifle. He fired a few shots, testing out its functionality. It put it down after shooting, and moved on to the next gun. He kept doing until Noah pushed a toolbox down from the bench by accident.

"I was wondering if you've miss me, Noah" Gravac spoke, lowering the weapon.

"You knew what I am to be called soon?" Noah asked. He had never tell anyone about it.

"I wasn't that dumb, you know." Gravac grunted. "I did overheard you and your talk with the Elders. May they rest in peace." He turned to Noah, revealing scars of battle on his armor. "This is the engineering, and I, Gravac, am the chief engineer of this vessel. If you need to upgrade our weapons and armors, talk to me, and we'll see."

Noah was betting on a catch. "There's something we need first before we could get those, right?"
"Yes it is" Gravac nodded. "Although we can produce Elerium and alloys on our own, the most crucial is the supplies. That's the part we lack. Once you got enough, looking at the kiosk and see what is your poison"

"You wanted to kill me?" Noah asked.

"No. It's a Human slang" Gravac spoke "It means 'what is your favorites'. Humans said that a lot when go to the bars. Got to say, they do make a good drink"

Noah just stayed silent. He had never drink any of those intoxicating fluids before, but he wished he could have one to sate his depression now.


"So, what do we got?" Naga asked her adjudant.

"The planet was life-sustainable." said the adjudant "There is also signs of settlements. Seems like we're not the first to be here. Should we charge up the guns."

"No, just land the ship." Naga ordered "I'll asked the Great One of our next approach.

The Exodus descended down the atmosphere. They got closer to the surface, passing a sign.

"Welcome to Mar Sara."