Chapter 10: Snake Tour

Commander Vista shifted anxiously within the dropship that was ferrying her and six of her honor guard to the 77th HVG's base of operations. Vista herself was anxious to arrive and tour the viper settlement that Commander Harrington was currently building near the 77ths base. Vista herself had contributed aid for the project by providing transportation, resources, and even convincing some viper mothers to travel to an area outside of Viper jurisdiction to birth and raise their young. It was this last part that made Vista anxious while she trusted Harrington's ability to protect the Vipers she couldn't be one hundred percent sure he wasn't doing this to increase his own popularity and not necessarily to help her species. She had seen it many times before were an ADVENT office makes a supposed viper friendly settlement to increase their publicity only for the vipers that arrive to discover the settlement is basically a large slum with barely adequate resources and commodities and guards that didn't seem to care about their wellbeing.

"Commander, we are approaching the 77th's base." The pilot announced shaking Vissta from her thoughts and gather her resolve.

"Understood patch me through." Vissta hissed before allowing the pilot to patch her comm bead to the frequency used by the 77ths traffic control center.

"Inbound shuttle four-two-two-three-seven this is Haven Control, you are entering restricted 77th HVG airspace provide clearance code and cargo." The operator at the Control center demanded.

It took Vissta a moment to remember that Tyler-Harrington she corrected herself, Harrington had named the battleship that housed the 77th HVG "Haven Base". Nodding to herself at the reminder Vissta keyed her comm bead "This is Commander Vissta clearance code Alpha-Gamma-Four-Three-Zulu-Eight-Hotel-Tango. I'm meeting Commander Harrington regarding the nest status."

There was a pause on the other end as the controller checked her clearance code "Affirm Commander, Harrington is expecting you. You are clear for landing pad 5 east, and welcome to Haven Base." The controller welcomed them before signing off and allowing the shuttles pilot to make her approach to the ship.

"Commander you will want to see this." The pilot stated before the dropships doors opened allowing Vissta and her guards to see the battleship they were approaching.

Vissta's attention and those of her guards were immediately grabbed by the completed dome of the viper nest and the small collection of buildings surrounding it. "Is that…the settlement?" one of her guards asked in awe, a sentiment that Vissta mirrored as they gazed over the settlement below.

Where Vista had expected to see ramshackle buildings made for housing she instead saw comfortable two-story buildings reminiscent of human suburban homes with fenced yards that ran along both sides of two roads that ran to what Vissta could only describe as a main street. The main street Itself was a large walkway that ran through a lush park with trees, benches, and even a fountain or two. To the left and right of the park where a number of small businesses ranging in services. At the end of the walkway was the front door to the large dome that was the viper nest. Behind the business ran two roads that connected them to the Viper nest and a group of larger, warehouse like buildings that Vissta suspected provided power, water, waste management, and other such services to the community. Near the nest itself Vissta also saw a small fortified outpost that served as the 312th Viper legions barracks.

The buildings around the nest itself were mostly composed of housing for the doctors working at the nest and military structures for the 312th Viper Legion Detachment that guarded the nest. However, Tyler had convinced the 312th's leader to allow the construction of some shops as well that the 77th's soldiers could use to purchase items. These stores were run by Vipers that were either too young for military service or had been wounded to the point of retirement i.e., missing a limb. Recently Tyler had approved the construction of living quarters for the 77th's support personnel and their families outside the base to improve morale and increase business in the area. This decision was turning the small cluster of buildings into a fledging community including small parks, more businesses catering in many different areas of interest, restaurants, and facilities to provide things like power, water, and waste disposal. Altogether, the area was turning into a rather impressive small town helped by the supplies brought in by the 3rd Viper Core.

"I… wouldn't mind living here." One of her guards stated in awe. Vissta nodded silently but internally was overjoyed, it seemed that once again her expectations of Harrington had been exceeded beyond her highest hopes. In Vissta's honest opinion this trend of Commander Harrington's was starting to affect her opinion of the human male. When she had first met the human after the original 77th had been nearly wiped out she had seen a light in the mans eyes that spoke of his drive and fueled her decision to move for the 77th to rebuild. At that point she thought of him as only an officer with potential to become a very capable leader. When she had met him again after the nest attack in Vietnam she had been blown away at the prowess the 77th had shown in not only rebuilding to combat effectiveness, but also innovating and creating a new type of gunship, defeating an XCOM lead force, and even deploying his forces to an area outside his jurisdiction to protect viper civilians. After that meeting she had viewed Harrington as one of her more favorite officers in ADVENT.

Then of course the battle of Tokyo happened which changed yet again how she thought of the human. During the battle Harrington and the 77th had taken major casualties to reinforce the cities dwindling defenders and establish a foothold in the city for ADVENT reinforcements. Vissta herself had watched what salvaged combat footage ADVENT had acquired and had been very impressed at the mental fortitude of the 77ths members and their battle prowess. The biggest change however was Tyler's promotion to Commander, before despite his successes Vissta had always viewed Tyler as a subordinate, a talented subordinate but still lower in prestige when compared to herself. However now Vissta had been forced to reevaluate her view on him yet again this time as an equal and doing so brought many things to light that she had never noticed before.

Firstly, that a couple months after the battle of Tokyo the mans demeaner had changed, whereas before Tyler had been cordial with all ADVENT officers and personnel now he regarded them with suspicion. Before he had been rather upfront with the progress of the 77th HVG but now he did his best to keep any developments with his unit from the outside world including ADVENT high command. Vissta didn't really blame him for this as she herself and many other officers did the same after they eventually realized that what ADVENT high command wanted wasn't necessarily what was best for the average trooper under their command. Still something about how Harrington regarded the ADVENT coalition made her think the man's opinion went slightly deeper than simple mistrust. The second thing she had noticed was that she herself had been sneaking glances at the Commander whenever the two had met to discuss the viper nests construction.

"Approaching the landing pad, stand by" the voice of their pilot announced as the dropship gradually descended onto the metal surface of the battleship. As soon as their transport had touched down the entire pad shook before its conveyer belt kicked in and lowered them into the large hanger bay of the 77th. For some of her guards it was the first time they had been into the 77ths base and almost immediately they were off put by the level of activity around them. Mechanics were hustling about the area either working on the various craft stored within the hanger or ferrying supplies around the area, nearby a squad of soldiers were being briefed by their squad leader while another group was standing around the area guarding doors. This amount of activity was a stark contrast to most ADVENT basses where the hanger was only populated by patrolling guards.

Vissta herself swept the area with her gaze and immediately picked up the sight of Commander Harrington approaching them in his uniform minus the usual cap. The Commander reached them just as their pad finished its decent into the hanger allowing Vissta and her group to disembark and greet the man.

"Commander Harrington, a pleasure to see you again" Vissta greeted Tyler as the two exchanged a handshake.

"Commander Vissta, welcome back to Haven base. I can assume you're here to see the latest additions you saw on your approach?" Tyler asked referring to the town outside.

Vissta gave a quick nod "Yes, I wish to see the progress for myself before I endorse the community to my people. Would you be so kind to give me and my entourage a tour?"

Tyler nodded "Of course, it would be my pleasure. If you would follow me please, and feel free to ask me any questions you may have." Tyler replied as he led the group out of the hanger.

The trip to the community took about fifteen minutes during which Tyler answered any questions the vipers had before finally arriving at the community's main street and beginning to explain the progress and additions the 77th had built to the community.

"The entire community is powered by a system of generators that utilize our microelerium cores, so power will likely never be a problem. The water supply is drawn directly from the water table and via the ocean after it goes through a purification process, so it could handle a moderately sized city much less the small community we have here." Tyler explained as the group walked down the street.

Vissta was so far impressed by the community around them, the facilities in place were obviously built to handle much more growth and the attention to detail and aesthetics of the building was much better than she had scene just about anywhere else in other Viper communities. However, what really struck her was the happy and blissful atmosphere that surrounded the area. All of the vipers she saw had almost blissful expressions on their faces as they either went about their journey to the viper nest or watched their young daughter play around the grassy park that ran the length of the pain street. It was the last sight that made her almost melt as the sight of a young viper playing was almost nonexistent in the more military oriented viper nests with their strict curfews. Mothers usually had to hold their daughters close to them as they quickly went from the office of whatever doctor they were seeing to their cramped quarters. However here were viper mothers relaxing while watching from afar as their daughters played with one another amongst the grass and trees and under the warm light of the Earth's sun, the sight was truly inspiring.

However, Vissta also noticed that Tyler seemed to be stressed. It was almost unnoticeable at thanks to the amount of time she had spent talking to the man she could see that he walked with a large weight on his shoulders. When Tyler took them to one of the local restaurants to eat Vissta decided to take the opportunity that presented itself when a viper waitress was about to seat them.

"Actually, could you get a both just for Commander Harrington and myself?" Vissta asked the waitress after shooting a glance to her escorts that shut down any complaint they may have brought up. The waitress shot a wide-eyed glance between the two commanders before almost a radiant smile appeared upon her face before leading them to a more secluded both. After the two had been seated and their orders taken Vissta turned to Tyler and clasped her hands together before addressing him. "Now Commander Harrington, would you like to share with me what's been bothering you? You look like your about to collapse under a thousand-ton weight."

Tyler paused from where he sat across the table before blinking and leaning back and giving a bemused smile that Vissta found somewhat endearing "Should have guessed you would have noticed that. Your too observant to let those kinds of details slip by Commander Vissta."

"Just Vissta when its just the two of us Tyler. I would like to think we are familiar enough with each other to converse without the formalities of rank when not technically on duty." Vissta stated hoping she hadn't overstepped herself.

Tyler seemed surprised but thankfully nodded in acceptance "Alright then Vissta, and sorry if I seem stressed ADVENT command is being rather unreasonable lately and is putting a lot on my plate. "

"Care to share?" Vissta asked both concerned and curios.

Tyler seemed to regard her before shrugging and deciding that he trusted Vissta a lot more than most others "ADVENT high command has decided that I'm the best candidate to organize and create additional ADVENT units. Not full military outfits mind you but a couple company strength detachments that will be stationed in various remote locations around the world."

Vissta widened her eyes in surprise at the by no means small undertaking "Are you worried you are not up to the task?'

Tyler shook his head "Oh no I can do it all right, its just a while lot of work heaped onto my plate that was already pretty full to begin with" Tyler explained. "The 77th's Charlee company is almost ready to be made combat ready and, in another month, or two this whole base is going to be swarming with new recruits to form new companies. I was originally planning for the 77th to have four companies total but our increased responsibility has put that total to six and maybe even eight in the future. Now with all of that recruiting and equipping to do I also have to expand the base facilities and staff to compensate for them and any additional specialized forces ADVENT decide to heap on me. They already are sending a chrysalid queen my way to start a nest here that I'll have to manage and prep for. All of this on top of readying for the upcoming tournament and staying on top of any potential enemy engagements means a lot of work on my end that's becoming a real obstacle as my timetables keep moving up."

Vissta nodded in understanding, the amount of work Tyler had just described was certainly immense and the fact that Tyler was undertaking such a massive workload while also building the community around them made her admiration of the man rise even higher than before. "Can you delegate any of the work to your subordinates?" she asked concerned.

Tyler shook his head "Not currently mostly because of the lack of qualified people for the task, a problem that I hope to fix at the tournament where I can recruit some of the most highly qualified people in ADVENT if I play my cards right. As it stands I'm going to have to mitigate what forces I allow to participate in the tournament itself."

Vissta nodded "And what forces are you having participate if I could be so curious?"

Tyler thought about it for a bit "At this point probably just Shal's hound pack. Other than that I'm going to be there for the science and technology presentation and individual competition, just as an observer mind you."

Vissta nodded "Not going to compete yourself? There is an even that matches the Commanders against each other."

Tyler shook his head "No thanks, I have yet to undergo gene-modifications that you and the other Commanders have and as much fun as it would be for you to watch me get thrown about, I'll have to say no thankyou to that."

Vissta nodded in understanding before the two paused their conversation as their food arrived. After the waitress left with an encouraging smile to Vissta for some reason she addressed Tyler again "If you are interested I myself will be participating in an honor dual against Commander Sisstha."

Tyler rose an intrigued brow "Are you now, well I defiantly wont miss that. It will be a rather important match for your people if I'm not mistaken correct?"

Vissta nodded "Yes my people will be watching, and the winner would greatly increase their chances of becoming the leader of the Vipers."

Tyler nodded "The next Queen of the Vipers also has to have a mate correct? How is the completion for that going?" Tyler asked as he began to cut into his steak.

Vissta shot Tyler a glance before returning her gaze to her plate so he wouldn't see the secretive glint in her eyes "Sisstha has the edge for now as her connections as a member of the specials allows her access to the males of my species. If rumors are to be believed she has been enjoying their company even without choosing one as her desired mate. As for myself, I have increased the number of potential candidates" she answered cryptically. What she didn't tell Tyler was that the number had increased from zero to one. "Currently I'm taking my time and thoroughly considering them."

Tyler nodded "Well, bst take however long you need to, while Sisstha seems okay with picking any random male viper you do have to spend the rest of your life with your chosen mate. Best make sure their someone you'll be happy long term with."

Vissta nodded and gave him a knowing look that he didn't see "Oh yes, I am but so far the prospects are looking good."

Tyler nodded as he gave Vissta an encouraging smile "Well than I hope it goes well" he stated before raising his glass "To future prospects, may they work out for the both of us."

Vissta raised her own glass and taped Tyler's "Oh yes I intend it too" and with that the two relaxed and went to idle chatter unknowingly being watched by both Vissta's and the waitresses excited gazes. The rest of the day was spent without incident with Vissta asking Tyler and some of the resident viper's questions before having to return to her own unit but assuring Tyler that she would endorse the expansion of his growing community.

Three months later:

77th HVG Headquarters, formerly Australia

July 19, 2030

Tyler was asleep in his cabin when the alarms went off. Waking near instantly, the young Commander quickly through on some BDU's and strapping a pistol to his side moved to the bridge, the room already bustling with activity. "Report!" he barked the moment he stepped inside.

"Sir, we're getting reports of a terror attack in L.A., HIGHCOM has further information standing by in the situation room sir!" one of the techs said hurriedly. "We're trying to gain appropriate access to the battlenet!"

Memories of Tokyo six months ago flashed through Tyler's mind as he remembered the last 'terror' attack he had responded to but shook those thoughts out of his mind as he thanked the tech and stepped inside the situation room, where the Council soon flickered into existence. "Speaker, what's the situation?" Tyler asked, saluting the Speaker as he did so.

"Commander, a most heinous act has just started in Los Angeles!" the Speaker declared, looking at Tyler from just above his Lennon specs. "Rebels have attacked a vital relay in the city, threatening to bring down our eyes in that great city! More importantly, this relay is scanning a vessel currently in dry dock at the same city!"

"Do we know who is claiming responsibility?" Tyler asked.

"XCOM" the Speaker sneered in disdain as he answered.

Tyler went rigid as the Speaker continued. "Their forces have been stalled for the time being, but they may yet break through the line and take the relay! This must not happen!" Tyler quickly caught the Speaker's drift.

"We'll get it done," he announced, earning several approving nods from the Council. "I will deploy them immediately." Without waiting for the Speaker to finish or continue, he strode out of the situation room, pulling up a list of troops he could use on his PDA. Alpha Company was on a field exercise, testing to see who would be sent to Titan with him, and Bravo Company was either helping to protect the Viper nest or deployed on patrol. Calling them back would take far too long. That left only one other company he could use… so stepping over to the base intercom, he opened up a channel.

"Captain Finch, report to the hangar bay immediately, Captain Finch to the hangar bay," he announced calmly. "Charlie-One, Charlie-Two, assemble in hangar bay with Captain Finch, C-1, and C-2, report to the hangar bay." Clicking the comm off, he made his way into the access lift and made his way into the hangar bay itself. He didn't have to wait long as Finch and his troops spilled out of the armory.

"What's the situation sir?" he asked, concerned. Tyler looked over the green troops, feeling tense in unease.

"XCOM has attacked a tactical relay in the greater Los Angeles area," Tyler briefed, crossing his arms behind himself. "You and your men will be going in to reinforce and repel their forces. Any questions so far?"

"Sir, how many of those XCOM freaks are we looking at?" one of the soldiers asked, her fingers tapping the edge of her rifle nervously. Tyler sighed.

"I don't know, but the local ADVENT forces have them stalled for now," he told her. "Good luck, and come back safely."

"Commander, I would like to join this battle!" Tyler looked over and saw Shal running up to the gathered soldiers with Ruby and Raksasa trailing her. The second thing he noticed was that Ruby was wearing the new weapon system they had created for the hounds.

Tyler regarded the three for a second before glancing over to Finch "Your call Captain," the Commander stated. Finch gulped and nodded no doubt somewhat nervous of leading not only his own company into their first engagement but also a squad of hounds, something that was a first for the whole 77th. "Okay Shal, hop on in and Ruby don't get fancy with the new tech. This isn't exactly an ideal field test" he told her, gesturing to one of the dropships. The Hound nodded in appreciation as she and her pack mates entered the craft.

Finch looked at Tyler and saluted him as his troops filed inside. "We'll get the job done sir," he said simply.

"I know you will Captain. Godspeed," Tyler responded, returning the salute. He stepped away, mostly to avoid the backwash from the dropship engines as they roared to life. In moments, the two dropships containing the strike force took off, leaving Tyler alone in the hangar with the various air crews. Sighing, he strode back to the lift and made his way back into the C&C, his expression grim all the way. "Pull up any and all tactical data available on the L.A. Relay," he ordered as he walked in, stopping in front of the holotable. In moments, a mostly accurate topographical map of the city coalesced into view, which quickly zoomed in on the southern portion of the city, settling on a war-torn city block.

"What in the actual fuck," Tyler whispered in stunned surprise. He could count about thirty enemy soldiers still alive, and at least a solid dozen enemy corpses on the ground but what had grabbed his attention were the ruined wrecks of two out of three Mk. IV Sectopod Heavy Assault Walkers on the streets, an ADVENT unit that only could be found amongst the Specials.

It must be serious if the Specials are sending heavy armor in to defend this place, he thought as he shifted the camera to where the remaining enemy soldiers were engaging the last Sectopod. "Control, what's Captain Finch's ETA?" Tyler asked.

"Sir, Charlie Actual will be landing in the AO in… eight minutes," reported Sub-Captain Hawke, the Air Liaison Officer's face set in a neutral grimace. Come to think of it, when did that guy ever smile? Shaking his head, Tyler looked back at the map, watching as a small set of XCOM rebels opened fire on the last Sectopod, the red flashes of MAG pulse weapons almost relaxing-

"Fuck!" Tyler swore in realization at seeing the advanced weaponry. "Get Captain Finch on the line now!"

A communications tech turned to look at him "Sir, I'm picking up interference from the AO, it might be the relay, or some kind of barely shielded generator sir, I-I can't tell!" he stammered Tyler whirled around, his face twisted with a grimace.

"You mean to tell me that I can't contact Finch and tell him that Hopkins and Phoenix squad is down there in the damn crossfire!?" he yelled, slamming a fist into the table before reeling it in and taking deep breaths. He couldn't lose his cool despite Hopkins leaving and the unease truce the two groups had they were still technically enemies and if they found themselves on opposite ends of the battlefield they would have little choice but to engage each other, a decision that he made sure all his troopers understood. "Keep trying to reach them, in the meantime get me Junia and relay the situation to her!" Tyler ordered before making his way to the tactical table to watch events via satellite.

Dropship 3-1, Just outside San Francisco

July 19, 2030

The light went red, and Ruby readied her combat harness for battle for its battlefield debut. The young Hound was eager to fight, and with her new MAG turret, Ruby was almost drooling to test it out. Seemingly sensing her excitement, her Alpha turned to look at her. [Ruby, behave yourself!] Shal growled softly, admonishing her gently. Ruby whined as her ears folded back.

[But, I get to test the new harness out!] she whimpered as the door opened, a rush of already hot California air buffeting the troops inside.

[I understand your excited but stay calm, this is our packs debut performance amongst the 77th HVG and I will not embarrass the Commander!] Shal stated before the hounds crouched down in preparation as the dropship neared the ground.

"Alright, go go go!" the crew chief shouted while gesturing to the open doors. In sequence, the troops jumped out of the dropship, the Hounds following close behind as they leapt out and landed on the cratered ground between the enemy forces and the relay building. The troopers landed first all using their thrust packs to slow their fall and roll into cover, Ruby even saw a few of the more veteran members firing upon the XCOM operatives almost instantly after coming out of their roll.

Ruby herself landed quickly and hopped into a shallow crater before looking around. Ruby saw that the area they were in was, in essence, a ruin. The landscape was marked by shallow craters, bodies, ruined masonry from a partially collapsed building and destroyed sectopods. Unfortunately, the ruins seemed to be currently shooting bullets at them from XCOM forces hidden throughout the area behind cover. Shal and Raksasa split off and found cover to either side of her before they began to lay down covering fire for their allies. The two hound's heavy plasma cannons ripped apart enemy cover and left the now exposed enemies running for cover.

[No, you don't!] Ruby growled before disengaging the safeties of her turret and aiming down range at the exposed hostiles. While her weapon didn't have the power of her Alpha and pack mate's plasma cannons the MAG pulse gun mad up for it with its sheer rate of fire. A mental twitch, and a lance of magnetically accelerated rounds flew out and sliced an XCOM operative in half, bisecting him from shoulder to hip in a messy spray of blood. Ruby blinked at the results, and her tail began to wag, she loved this gun. The new MAG pulse turret was a new variant of the standard MAG rifle that utilized a larger frame and housed an improved cooling system to keep the weapon from overheating allowing the weapon to fire continuously so long as it had power. To implement this the 77th had rigged a single microelerium core to her harness basically turning the once MAG rifle to what was essentially a MAG Minigun. The only down side was that the weapon system was so heavy and bulky that only a hound could carry it into battle, not that Ruby was complaining.

Suddenly she saw another soldier pop up out of cover with a grenade launcher but before Ruby could do anything the enemy operative fired a grenade directly at her position. Just as the grenade made it about halfway it was intercepted by three rapid streaks of red that completely destroyed the projectile. Turning her head Ruby saw that Charlee companies second squad called C-2 had landed and deployed their new LTS turrets behind the defender's lines. The LTS turrets or the Laser Trophy System was the new brain child of the Experimental Warfare Wing of the 77th. The system utilized the advanced threat identification system installed in the hounds of the 77th's visors to pinpoint incoming projectiles utilizing three different hounds to triangulate the position and path of the projectile before relaying the information to a small laser turret that was carried into battle and deployed by one of the 77ths engineers in C-2. Ruby had had her doubts about how accurate the system could be but she was none the less glad to be proven wrong.

Raksasa took care of the enemy grenadier with an accurate shot from his plasma cannon that blew through the operatives cover sending the writhing body flying back ten feet. Ruby started engaging targets as they appeared while listening to the companies comms net for important information.

"Sniper restaurant second floor!"

"Enemy advancing on the left!"

"Vandal suppress your three o'clock!"

"Enemy machine gunner bearing two-four-zero!"

Ruby did her best to keep engaging targets while listening to the information being relayed through the communications net, her rapid fire doing a superb job at suppressing the enemy or raking down advancing enemies. Soon she heard Charlee company's captain start issuing orders. "Charlee 2-3 suppress that sniper! 1-2 and 1-3 choke off that enemy advance on the left, 2-2 support them! 2-1 how far are we with those defenses?" Finch ordered his troopers and quickly took over the situation.

"Sir, LTS turrets fully deployed, currently working on installing a signal booster to clear up long range comms" one of the engineers in Charlee 2-1 reported. "Just give us another minute here sir!"

"Understood, as soon as you're done move to the relay and increase its firewalls or quicken the scan." Finch ordered. "Amaterasu hold the front with your pack, 1-1 and the remaining friendlies will back you up!" Finch instructed Shal who acknowledged before addressing Ruby and Raksasa.

[Ruby suppress the enemy directly in front of us! Raksasa, you and me will destroy the enemies cover. Do not let them advance any further!] Shal ordered much to Ruby's glee. Ruby wasted no time as unleashed the full firepower of her MAG cannon at fully automatic upon the enemy, racking her fire across their lines, Ruby really liked her new baby. As time went on many of the XCOM operatives were either wounded or killed thanks to the 77th's heavy firepower and XCOM's inability to use explosives due to the LTS turrets. However the dragoons had also taken some casualties in the form of five wounded troopers, two rather severely from an enemy heavy.

"Sir we got comms back up!" a soldier from 2-2 announced before a familiar voice broke over the 77ths comms "Finally got through! Attention all ADVENT forces at the LA relay this is Commander Harrington of the 77th HVG. The mission is successful, the relay has pinpointed the remaining bombs and we're disposing of them now. Admiral Junia is dispatching the battleship to provide you support and will be there shortly. Hold fast Troopers!" her commander's voice announced much to the defenders relief.

"X-Ray Charlie, X-Ray Charlie, abort, abort, abort!" a new human voice suddenly yelled out in panic. "All XCOM forces, get the fuck out of here now, that battleship's heading right for you! I'm going to try and draw it off as best as I can!" The human paused as he readied himself. "Attention all ADVENT forces, this is XCOM Field Commander Monnot broadcasting on all frequencies! My location is Los Angeles International Airport, if you assholes want me, you're going to have to work for it! Monnot out!"

Ruby paused and saw the remaining XCOM forces rapidly pulling out [Enemy in retreat, permission to pursue!?] Ruby telepathically broadcasted to Finch.

Finch took a moment to think about it knowing that the enemy was vulnerable as they desperately ran but also aware of Tyler's orders not to engage Old Dog's unit unless necessary. Looking out to the sea he saw the battleship swinging around toward them and launching fighters. "Negative all 77th HVG elements hold your positions. Our mission priority is the relay! 2-1 relay to command that we need a medivac for the wounded, everyone else secure the perimeter. Out-fucking-standing work Charlee! Shal, you and your hounds are definitely invited to the celebration party. Drinks are on me tonight!"

"Sir, yes sir!" replied the happy men and women of the 77th's Charlee company looking forward to driving their CO bankrupt that night.

Aaaannnnddddd Done! Holy Shit its been awhile since I last updated but life has been crazy recently for me. Anyway, I won't bother you with the details but now you know I'm not dead in a ditch somewhere so that's good news for most of you but as for the rest of you… next time use better poison.

So, in this chapter we got to see a little Vissta and Tyler bonding along with seeing how the viper Nest is really taking off. I also announced that Tyler will be trying to get the 77th HVG to eight companies of combat personnel in the future but this is still some ways off.

However, I also revealed that ADVENT high command is making Tyler start to create smaller units that would be stationed around the world. These units are not going to be a part of the 77th HVG but will likely be trained by them and maybe even have some of the 77ths personnel in their units. Now I'm specifically mentioning this because I thought that this would be a chance for you my reader to get involved with the story. I want you all to create your own ADVENT unit! There are a number of rules you will have to follow so pay attention. THAT MEANS YOU NUMBNUTS!

Rule 1: All personnel in the unit must be human, with only basic gene-modification.

Rule 2: None can be psionically gifted

Rule 3: Units must have at minimum twenty members but a maximum of fifty.

Rule 4: The unit must have a single specialized role such as desert warfare, reconnaissance, tracking, amphibious assaults, sabotage, cyberwarfare, ect.

Rule 5: The outfit would be equipped with the same weaponry the 77th has (currently) MAG rifles but you can go lower on the tech if you wish to.

Now with those rules out of the way here is the templet for submissions, please remember that your unit may not be primarily featured in my story but may be referenced a few times at minimum.

Unit name: (example: Screaming Eagles)

Logo: (the unit's logo and slogan)

Base Location: (anywhere in the world but pick something that makes sense for your unit's specialization)

Specialization:

Commanding Officer: (name and description)

Number of personnel: (20-50)

Description: (Who are they, what do they do, how do they do it and any other important notes)

Also include any cosmetic differences in their uniform from the that of the 77th HVG

Anyway, that's it for now until next time remember to stay frosty and don't forget to review.