Hello Gentle Reader,

This story follows the XCom 2 game's main storyline. It contains dialogue and events which appear in the game. Please keep this in mind if you want to stay spoiler free!

Thank you for reading! Comments are welcome! Happy Reading!

The Commander starts her day with Dr. Tygan in research. He had completed his analysis of the chip and wanted to brief her. As she enters the research lab she finds him examining the alien device in a suspended containment field of blue light. She has the sense he was admiring their handy work. It is impossible not to, unless you are at the other end of it. The Commander thinks Tygan might understand this himself a little. He had been among their ranks, until his conscience got the better of him.

After her conversation with Central the evening before she is relieved that he has some information for her. "My analysis reveals that its primary function was that of conduit, passing a vast amount of data directly to your cerebral cortex," he explains. With the connection severed, much of the data was lost however there were fragments that remained. He calls them "ghosts." With the deteriorated data he strongly believes that there was no residual connect between ADVENT and the Commander.

On the screen he shows some of the data which has been processed - tactical combat simulations or wargames as he put it. While Tygan thinks these were mere simulations, the Commander believes she had been processing and directing actual battles and coordinated attacks - mostly against her own people. "The sheer volume of encounters you were processing was astounding."

She thinks the actual word should have been horrifying. Each person in those fragments represented a person lost or maimed in reality. Standing there she feels ill-to think that she had been used against her own like that. "It is truly remarkable that you survived as long as you did."

How she survived that was something she had started to understand on her own. Over the last few nights she had begun to remember more and more of her time in stasis, though the memories were still just sensations or fragments themselves, she could see a developing pattern. She understood that her mind had attempted to protect her from the terrors she was witnessing and provoking on humanity the only way it knew how. It was something she didn't think she could explain to Tygan with any great clarity or scientific proof. It was just a feeling - a whisper.

It harkened back to when she was a child. Whenever young Maggie was scared her mother would tell her, "Margaret, go to your happy place!" It wasn't an actual location or a place you went - though she guessed it could be a real place. What it meant was you thought of something you loved, something that made you happy. It could be her stuffed animal monkey, Jimmy, her favorite song or even the smell of the field of daisies near her home. When she got scared or uncomfortable in life she "went to her happy place" just like her mama taught her. It wasn't sophisticated and maybe that's why she didn't volunteer her theory to him.

"...from such an officer would be the only way to know for certain," he said. She knows what that meant. "A greater understanding of these implants would undoubtedly benefit us all, Commander." She nods, saying she would speak to Central about the Doctor's request.

On the bridge she finds herself in a slew of briefings, from intel to system briefings and on to recruit training and mission briefings. The Commander starts to wonder if it had always been like this or if it was a result of her long absence. She finds herself restless and her mind unable to focus.

Central takes time to brief her on the resistance efforts over the globe. While XCom lived, few knew about their covert activities. He feels with her return they need to start making contact with these groups. It will allow them to obtain additional intel without having to have an actual presence in the regions.

"We've already located a target for our first operation," he explains as they viewed the holo-globe.

"Sir, given our current location there's actually no way the Skyranger can reach that position," Petrak says from his post.

Turning to her Central gives her a grin, "Who said anything about the Skyranger." Opening a comm to Engineering he asks for a status report, "Are we ready?"

The Commander hears the young Chief's voice confirm, "Short answer? 'Yes', but you might all want to hold onto something." They feel more than hear the Avengers engines engage. It feels as if the vibrations will shake the ship apart before they can get into the air and yet before too long they find themselves hovering over the desert terrain which had sheltered them for so long. Once en route she returns to her quarters for an incoming message. Bradford says she is about to see an old friend.

It is a surprise when she finds herself sitting "face to face" with the Spokesman. "Hello Commander." She smiles seeing his shadowed silhouette on her terminal - Central was right, he feels like an old friend. All members of the original 16 countries had sworn their allegiance to the ADVENT administration abandoning the XCom project - all the members except for one. This man, whoever he was, stayed loyal to all they had built. He had assisted the resistance as he could and it was with his help that Central had finally found her.

He now puts it in her hands once again. She needs to find a way to organize and harness the resistance forces if they are going to defeat ADVENT and beat back their alien masters. He transfers her classified reports of missing civilians from across the globe. The numbers are staggering and only multiplying. "We suspect they have been taken to a nearby ADVENT black site, though its exact location remains unknown." We will need the help of local forces to locate such a location - which means establishing contact with local cells all over the world like she and Bradford had discussed. The Avenger would lead the fight, but to win the war they will need to ring them into the fold. "Good Luck, Commander."

As the screen goes back to the XCom logo, she knows they need more help. She calls together her senior staff to review the intel and discuss current objectives, their resources and needs. The internal battle between each of the departments is always a struggle. They each know that one relies on the other, but that doesn't stop the need to fight for what you saw as a more important priority within your own department. When they leave her she feels like crawling back into that stasis suit might be easier.

It is near the end of her bridge shift that she meets with Lieutenant Michael Banks, Banks is a skinny red haired English recruit who Bradford has taken under his wing when he established the XCom team on the Avenger. After the insurrection at HQ Bradford had grown wary; though the Mission Control staff had been mere victims of the breach like the rest of them he felt it was his duty to find recruits with strong wills and stable psychological profiles that might ward off another such attack.

Banks is honored to be selected by the Commander for a special project. He hadn't been on the bridge during the previous day's mission, but he had read the mission report and had heard all about it from Petrak, who had been on duty. He knows the respect Central has for the Commander - they all have great admiration for her after what she did for XCom and the planet. Her loss was one of the biggest blows to the project and their prospects for winning the war. Now he stands before her waiting for his assignment, knowing to let her down would be to let down his CO, the man who had given him a chance.

The Commander makes it clear this assignment was off the record. He is to speak to no one but her on the matter. "Not even Central. Will that be a problem, Lieutenant?" she asks him.

"No Commander."

She explains to him that she is looking for any communications or intel which might pertain to several keywords as well as her own abduction. It isn't much to go on, but she assumes with his knowledge of the Avengers systems and intel communication he might be able to assist. "A second set of eyes is always helpful," she tells him.

When she dismisses him, she gets out of her chair. Today has been overwhelming to say the least. She is looking forward to a little down time… That is what she feels her time with Bradford will be. While she is the Commander to XCom, she doesn't feel she has to put on airs with him.

As she undresses she thinks about her CO. She is sure it took a lot for him to ask her to join him tonight. It is kind of sweet - not a word she would commonly use to describe her now hardened Central Officer.

When she had finally been up and about, she had explored her quarters. She was surprised to find many of her personal items had been salvaged from HQ after the collapse. Clothing which was probably outdated - then again anything was better than an XCom uniform. Tucked into a drawer with her undergarments she found a small box which held a ring her grandmother had given her and the dust of a decaying flower from her father's funeral. Next to it was a bottle of her favorite perfume.

She changes her clothing and runs a brush through her hair before picking up the cane Shen had fashioned for her. Being confined to the chair all day is torture. Mostly because she knows how much Central detests it. She hopes her appearance this evening without her metal chariot will put him in a good mood. She wants to surprise him. Perhaps it was a bit childish, but she likes to keep him guessing. This dynamic had been established early on in their relationship. In fact it was there from day 1 in the situation room and was reinforced on the floor of Mission Control after leading her first mission. Each time he would underestimate her and she would prove herself more than up to the challenge. Before long he came to trust her - only second guessing her when she herself felt on shaky ground. Tonight she is going to reassure him that she is stable and that the cane she carries is to steady her only when his piloting when awry.