"The extensive damage and loss of life suffered during Operation: Devil's Moon is unacceptable Commander" the huge videoscreen boomed in the situation room of XCOM HQ, in which the Commander and her executives; Bradford, Shen and Vahlen stood, the shrouded figure of the head councillor shaking his bald head slightly, his voice dripping with disdain. Bradford in particular felt this disappointment, he had been given operation command by order of the Commander whilst she had been occupied liaising with council nations for the scientists, engineers, troops and resources they would require to stymie the alien invasion. And he had failed her, losing the entirety of Delta team on XCOM's first operation. No wonder the Council felt uneasy at handing over the defence of Earth to the project. He snapped out of his internal guilt and refocused on the exchange between the Commander and the councillor. "Central Officer Bradford held operational command did he not?" asked the councillor.

"Yes sir but..." the Commander began

"Then the failure is his, therefore this council suggests that he is at the very least demoted, and a more suitable officer be found to fill his position"

"With all due respect, sir, I am quite capable as an intelligence and tactical officer. There was no way of knowing what we would find at Alpha site, no way to know what events would have taken place. Therefore I suggest that you take a step back and reconsider your suggestion. Sir." Bradford spoke calmly but every syllable dripped with venom. Eyes around the room widened, the Commander raised an eyebrow and suppressed a smirk. Then she quashed such immature thinking and spoke herself.

"Central, shut your mouth. That's an order" She did not shout, but her voice was commanding. Bradford visibly recoiled at the rebuke and hung his head. "Councilman, we will take your suggestions on-board and report back in a month's time as requested."

"See that you do. We look forward to seeing your progress Commander." the councilman intoned as he leant forward and pushed a hidden button, cutting the communication between him and HQ. As soon as he was off-screen, the Commander nodded to Shen and Vahlen, indicating they should return to their posts and stepped over to Bradford. The officer had slid down the wall and was now sat on the floor with his head in his hands. The commander squatted down next to him and spoke gently to him, "You okay Dustin?" Bradford dropped his hands at the Commander's rare use of his first name, his eyes puffy and red.

"Commander I failed you. I failed Delta. I failed Earth. The councilman is right."

The Commander shook her head and pulled Bradford to his feet, "You haven't failed anyone, and he's really wrong. Politicians don't understand operations like we do, and none of us yet understand the kind of ops we're going to have to run, the kind of sacrifices we're going to have to make. The only thing the last op proved is lacking is the way we tackle operations," the Commander led Bradford back towards mission control as she spoke, "From now on we're leaving operational command to the team leader on the ground. They'll know more than we do about what they're facing and they can act faster than we can. I still want you in here where you belong Bradford. You'll be providing intel and tactical advice if strike-lead wants it. Sound good?"

The pair stopped in front of the hologlobe, and Bradford snapped a salute to the Commander. "Aye ma'am, I'll get it done...thank you." The Commander returned his salute and span on her heel and headed for the hangar.

"No need to thank me, you're the best for the job." Now she went to break the news to Sword Team's leader that he was responsible for the outcome of the mission.

The Commander's brief words before Sword Team dusted off weighed heavy on Chase Wallace, a Brooklyn kid, born and bred. Despite their almost opposite characters, he and the late Cory Cook had been close friends and Chase felt the loss keenly. He snapped out of his reverie as the sound of Central Officer Bradford's voice filled the Skyranger's hold and the holoscreen to the fore of the craft snapped into life as Central began his briefing. "We're deploying you to Egypt for this operation team, Port Said specifically."

"I hear it's lovely this time of year." piped up Sword Team's number 2, the Irishman Caden Kerrigan with a smirk. The rest of the squad glanced at him with a mix of amusement and annoyance before returning their attention to Central, the officer himself having raised an eyebrow at the trooper's cocky nature.

"We've got an alien abduction in progress, multiple hostile signatures detected along with some unusual energy readings that Dr. Vahlen would like you to investigate. Central out" Bradford concluded his brief and the holoscreen blinked off, leaving the troop compartment bathed in red light.

"Well. We wouldn't want to disappoint the good doctor would we chaps?" drawled James Thompson, the Australian's broad accent breaking the silence that had fallen in the Skyranger. He grinned beneath his wide-brimmed slouch hat, a hat which was not strictly regulation, but Thompson was a skilled enough trooper that command overlooked it. A chorus of quiet laughter rippled in the wake of Thompson's comment. A chorus Wallace did not join, he was focussed on Sword Team's fourth member, the Greek Sabastian Galanos. He had said nothing since they had left HQ, but had instead spent the trip inspecting his gear and staring at the opposite wall of the transport. The deceleration of the Skyranger swiftly silenced the trooper's laughter as they prepared to touch down.

The VTOL touched down next to the entrance of a graveyard, a recent addition to the city, courtesy of the Council. An ominous sign, Galanos thought to himself as the squad moved left out of the Skyranger, he himself taking cover behind an obelisk within a few metres of what he assumed was the source of the unusual energy signatures Central's brief had mentioned. He tapped his PTT button and spoke quietly, "Central, I'm seeing a pod up ahead. It's different to the others. Advise."

Back in XCOM HQ, Bradford was monitoring the mission feed, Dr's Shen and Vahlen flanking him. "That must be the source of the energy spikes we picked up" Vahlen spoke, her voice filled with unease. She had no idea the purpose of these devices, and not knowing something unnerved her worse than any other sensation she had ever encountered. The mission feed chopped to another view of the pod as Sword-2, Kerrigan spoke up.

"Hey, there's some kind of button on the side of it," the trooper whispered as he took position behind an ornamental bust of some long dead Egyptian. His observation of the pod was disturbed by a shrieking call as two of the diminutive grey aliens loped into view of the squad, their movements simian as they rolled into cover behind a row of gravestones, "Contact front!" he shouted, the team's cover blown.

Immediately Galanos ran from his cover, reacting faster even than Kerrigan who had first spotted the X-rays. He slid into cover behind a pillar opposite the pod, leaned around the corner and sent a five round burst of 6.8mm into one of the grey's who had the misfortune to peek out of cover at that moment. The small body was thrown back, spewing amber as it flew several feet backwards, half its face missing. Wallace followed swiftly, taking up position where Sword-4 had previously stood, training his rifle on the other hostile huddled behind the memorials of the dead, watching for any movement. Covered by Wallace, Thompson rushed from his cover behind a bench to the more solid protection provided by a small mausoleum as Kerrigan stalked over to the next bust, firing as he went, bullets slamming into the other alien and blasting chunks from the gravestones. The grey staggered but remained on its feet, viscera oozing from its wounds. It attempted to escape the vengeful XCOM team, but Wallace's rounds were faster, the American's expertly placed shots bursting the grey's head in a shower of vermillion pus. He grinned to himself, "Welcome to Earth!" he shouted as the squad moved forwards in unison.

As they stepped off, another cry echoed through the early morning twilight, signalling the arrival of two more grey's. An arrival, Thompson reasoned, prompted by their comrades summary execution at the hands of Sword Team. He saw them lope out of the large, church-like building in the centre of the graveyard, then take cover within as they spotted him approaching. He grinned as he walked slowly towards them, preparing a grenade and lobbing it just inside the doorway of the building. His grin widened as the aliens screeched and attempted to flee a second too late and their bodies were flung unceremoniously out of the doorway, one in several pieces, shredded by the force of the high explosive. "Piece of piss" he whispered to himself as the squad swept through the rest of the graveyard, declaring the site all clear. Kerrigan and Galanos secured the crystals held inside the new pods, the Irishman doing so with no small matter of swearing. Apparently the crystals were bloody sharp.

"Well done boys, the Commander will be proud. First round's on me when we touchdown" Wallace congratulated the squad as they strapped back into the Skyranger and were homeward bound. He smiled as the powerful craft carried them back to HQ. By the book, he thought to himself, just like you would've wanted pal, and he sent up a silent prayer for his late friend and another for the rest of Delta Team.

The Commander was waiting in the hanger when Sword Team returned. "Well done chaps, damn good op. Wallace, Galanos, you two have been assigned new equipment based on your training aptitudes. I feel you'll approve. You as well Thompson, though I'm inclined to retract it if you don't ditch that bloody hat." she smirked as Thompson sheepishly doffed his hat, though she knew it'd be right back on as soon as she had left. "Kerrigan, take those crystals down to Dr. Vahlen please, and inform her I'd like her to begin examining the cadavers you lot brought back. Carry on." The Commander snapped a salute, which the team returned crisply before they headed off to continue their duties.

Mission Report-Operation: Final Hymn

Location-Port Said, Egypt

Time-0130 Zulu (0330 Local)

Strike Team-Sword Team

E-KIA-4x Unknown X-Ray-Codenamed "Greys"

Resources Obtained-4x Weapon Fragments, 4x "Grey" Corpse, 20x Unkown Energy Source-Codenamed "Crystals"

Casualties/WIA-N/A

Promotions-Chase Wallace (Corporal), assigned 'Assault' class, Sabastian Galanos (Corporal), assigned 'Support' class, James Thompson (Corporal), assigned 'Sniper' class