The staff were quiet, fixated on their screen. Henry stared at the Hologlobe. A red marker moved slowly on the projection. It was yet another trick up the aliens' sleeves; another new asset that they had just revealed. The officers tried to figure out what the starship was after, but no clear answer seemed to come.
Scans indicated that it was not a Scout nor a Light Scout; it was a completely different ship. It was circular with not too many protrusions. Its size meant that it was slower but bulkier, and better armed than any previously encountered craft. Shen's satellites were as precise as always and were able to render a model of the ship. The officers analysing it could make out its heavy armaments.
The ship flew around, following the pacific coast of the United-States. Its movements were erratic but predictable since the ship stuck around a flight path, occasionally deviating for whatever reason.
Bradford let out a sigh.
"Commander, shall we intercept?" he asked.
"Honestly . . . scans say it's not a new Scout model. There are no sensor equipment. This is a completely new scenario. Keep monitoring. We should gather intel. Notify me if anything happens."
Henry watched the craft for a bit until he walked away from the Hologlobe. He went out of Mission Control to catch a small break in his quarters. He also had to be at his personal computer to catch up on some Council reports. A few minutes of rest would have sufficed until he could go back to work.
Henry got up from his bed and looked to his clock. The 10 minutes of rest was enough. Now, he only had to tackle the arduous task of reading through all the reports. Most of them were missions conducted by local militaries intercepting alien craft and documenting that no artefacts were stolen while in their custody. Reclamation would ultimately have the last say. So far, Solberg did a great job. He was an odd man, but his work reflected how seriously he took his position.
It felt like years since Henry had started his duties as Commander, yet only a few months had passed. Over a course of three months, Henry's load kept adding up. It was not as if he had not been prepared, but it was more than his mind had anticipated.
He knew that the aliens would only grow stronger as their resources increased. Space reconnaissance showed the aliens building up their forces every day. As a result, XCOM had a new UFO class on its hands. Henry had not forgotten it. He trusted his team to keep an eye on it.
It required a lot to keep track of a war much larger in scale than the World Wars. Thankfully, the battles were not as numerous or as bloody. That begged the question: When would the aliens deploy armies of thousands of soldiers instead of a score? It was no wonder why so many people scoffed at the idea of an invasion; the aliens seemed to just stroll around at best and skirmished at worst. The derision was not unfounded. The alien invasion was a joke compared to others throughout history.
The United Nations took it seriously, though. It usually took a while for them to act, but in the case of the Invasion, it seemed as if they were ready. A lot of strings were pulled, and in the end, the Council of Nations and XCOM came to exist. It was a miracle.
The Council still had many loopholes since it was drafted hastily. The obvious being an odd dynamic where everyone had power over each other. The United Nations was above the Council and the Commander who were above the nations of Earth. After all, the United Nations were responsible for creating the Council of Nations as an independent underling so they were at the top. Yet, the United Nations was also the union of the nations of Earth, meaning that at least the major five nations controlled the UN. It was a circular hierarchy that could lead to disasters. The United Nations framed it as being "multiple entities that mutually observe each other". Whether or not it would backfire was the main question.
Henry had to work with the world's governments. The Council did a part of his job since the ambassadors composing the Council of Nations could conveniently communicate the worries of their leaders. In the end, Henry only had to make sure that everyone was happy since they could simply dispose of him using the UN or cast a vote after putting him on trial through the Council of Nations. Fortunately, it was not an easy process.
The Commander could only be replaced if he was proven to be unfit for his duties by either proving that he had abused his powers or had neglected his role. What constituted an abuse of power or negligence of a Commander's duty was not clearly listed. It was left vague intentionally in case the Commander made it hard to be gotten rid of. Henry could not imagine himself conducting in such a way.
Henry took a peek at Shen's work. He dropped by in Engineering to observe his progress on the new interceptor craft. The engineers had developed a slightly modified YF-23 to temporarily replace a few damaged Condor interceptors. It was mainly to act as proof of concept since Shen wanted to work on improving the pilots' performance the same way he did with the soldiers and their advanced gear.
Shen had only designed a few tweaks and plated the fighters with a satisfactory layer of UHTCs. He did not want to increase the weight of the craft too much but also wanted it to have some durability if it came under fire, which the aliens seemed to be good at; close quarters was their speciality. Dogfights were reported to be common by air forces. It was an outdated tactic, but the aliens used it effectively.
The main issues the fighter pilots faced was matching a UFOs manoeuvrability and getting a proper target lock. Shen could not do much do match the aliens' nimble aircraft. He wanted to examine the ships' thrusters to potentially integrate them into his designs. The only thing he could do was improve the YF-23's armaments, using state of the art XCOM technology.
Sidewinder missiles always did the trick, but with the help of his satellites, they could have better tracking using the same triangulating system used by a lifeform scan. His satellites could also render live models of UFOs and scan them efficiently. It allowed XCOM to have a basic idea of where the key systems were located in a ship. The technology could be fully exploited.
Henry stared in disbelief.
"So, you want to create our own missiles compatible with our satellites? You also want to create sabot missiles for our fighters to use?"
"Precisely, Commander! In fact, there are these hypervelocity missiles that do the very thing," Shen explained. "Instead of producing an explosion, they use pure kinetic energy to pierce through a target. Using the new guidance system I envision, we could use them to take out precise systems inside of a UFO."
"And how will these missiles aid us?" Henry asked.
"Well, we can always benefit from having intact alien technology, but it always gets blown up somehow. Our missiles do not help. Using these HVMs we can leave much of the ship unharmed. Of course, there is the fall which will damage the ship, but the alien ships have shown to come out intact after a crash landing."
Henry plunged himself into thought.
"I know that it's a major flaw, Commander, but you have seen how much we've benefited from alien technology. Look at Meld!" Shen exclaimed. "Imagine what we could do with the aliens' phenomenal thrusters and reactors! We need their tech to advance our own."
"You'll be adding more work to your teams," Henry pointed out.
"I won't immediately get to it, but it would be helpful eventually."
Henry nodded.
"Add it to your to-do list. I trust you to have fixed your priorities, Dr Shen."
"No worries, Commander. We haven't lost track!" he reassured.
Dr Shen pulled out his XCOM-issue phone to make a note. Somehow, his seemed different than the rest.
Shen did design most of XCOM's tech so he might have given himself the liberty to modify the one he would use. Henry was curious as to what Shen would reserve for himself, but he let the subject drop. He remembered an idea worth bringing up.
"Doctor, remind me to give your guys some time off once the workload decreases."
Shen smiled.
"A gift from the Commander might just be what we need to see it through!" he reacted.
The engineers around Shen and the Commander seemed to agree. It seemed more like a chance to be spared from overworking rather than a gift. Either way, the engineers were excited for some time off. Their workload increased incessantly and it seemed to affect performance and mental health. Henry did not need Erena to notice the fact. The engineering department was understaffed compared to the workload. Once things calmed down, the engineers could do with a break.
Henry made the mental note to deliver on his promise to his staff. Vahlen's teams were also worthy of some time off. He opted to wait to unravel his surprise to the scientists. Either way, word would spread between the two departments and the scientists would get jealous. He would have to bring it up with Vahlen sooner or later.
The alien ship still had not caused any trouble. It only flew at lower altitudes than usual; the reason was unknown. It seemed to cruise around aimlessly while sticking to its flight plan. After a few hours, it went from the western coast of America to inland, crossing into Canada through the State of Washington.
"Bradford, keep a close eye on that ship," Henry ordered. "I have a hunch it's just waiting for the right opportunity to strike . . . wherever it will strike."
He slanted into his chair and stared at the Hologlobe in thought. What do you want?
The invasion seemed a lot simpler when the Scouts roamed the skies. Their task was predictable; they were analysing Earth, humanity's feats or were a getaway for abduction teams. Abductions were, of course, to analyse the human physiology. At least, that was what everyone thought. Why else would they abduct humans other than to dissect them, as Vahlen did in her autopsy room?
But, what was their end goal? The aliens were capable of much more.
The new type of ship did not behave like the scouts. It was probably going to abduct just like the others, but that was not the main issue. That ship is not a scout. It had another purpose. So far, the aliens only seemed to be on a scientific mission. They were just aggressive with their means. If it was the case, the term invasion would not be correct. Humanity was just a primitive species that got the aliens' attention and they got curious. Clearly, it was no longer the case. They had many types of ships for different tasks other than scientific.
What other tasks were they capable of? One day they could come out with bombers made solely to wreak havoc in cities. They could have vessels made solely for running experiments on human bodies. Maybe they even had ships that were meant for combat; fighters that were much stronger than anything humanity had to offer. The aliens' arsenal could have been as vast as the species wielding them.
The aliens have a master plan, but what is it?
Sectoids were the simple foot soldiers; conscripts. They were weak but did the job. Thin Men were more suited for combat. Not to mention, they were infiltrators but not great at it. It was a matter of time before the aliens figured out how to disguise them without any flaws. The Seekers were much better at infiltrating, and combat-oriented. They served no purpose when it came to abductions. The Outsiders were robotic pilots who only fought when things went wrong.
The Floaters, though, shook everything up. They were good when it came to abductions, but only because they were excellent foot soldiers in general, without feet. They could fly around and cause destruction with their weapons and abduction canons. They were ruthless compared to the other species. One could only imagine that the process of cybernetically enhancing them was as ruthless as their combat behaviour. Why would any being subject itself to it? It could be that the Floaters were just that way as a product of their evolution or society; a world where being a cyborg was seen as the only road to salvation. Salvation from what?
There was another option. The aliens were capable of extensive genetic manipulation. The Sectoid's physiology was somewhat altered as seen by their vestigial essential organs. The Thin Men were altered so much that they went from reptiles to humans. Seekers were cramped into suits made solely for hunting. And finally the Floaters, they were just pure abominations. These species, they are not doing these modifications to themselves. They did not appear to be beneficial in any way. The Floaters were even seen ripping their mechanical body parts off out of anger. No being would self mutilate for no reason.
Something was doing these to the aliens. The aliens that were encountered were only the lower echelons of something much bigger; a hierarchy. A hierarchy where they were slaves and the ones above, the slave masters. The masters did not care about their slaves' well being. They were only pawns to be sacrificed for the kings.
It was much clearer now. The aliens started to abandon rescuing their struggling comrades when a human task force would intercept because their loss was meaningless to the master above.
Still, the question remained: What do you want, master of the alien races?
"Commander Avant!" an officer called out.
Henry snapped out of his reflection and focused on the Hologlobe displaying an alert.
"Commander we've received an SOS!" the officer reported from his seat.
Bradford rushed to his officer's station to review the details of the distress signal.
"Officer, what's going on?" he demanded.
"Sir, it's in Banff!" the officer answered. "Security received a distress call and has asked our help. Aliens have come out of hiding and have fired abduction webs at local workers in the park. They're at a gondola station!"
With all tourist spots closed all around the globe, the workers were either laid off or were kept at work to improve upon the destination while visitors would not come. It was an excellent opportunity to prepare for the next tourist season after the pandemic. The workers were warned about the danger of catching the coronavirus, but the danger of being abducted by aliens was something beyond their executives' imagination.
"Sir, our UFO is heading for that area!" another officer exclaimed.
Henry snapped his head to the Hologlobe. Sure enough, the new alien ship changed course to the newly marked abduction site.
"So that's their target!" Henry exclaimed. "Bradford, launch our YF prototype! Get Condor-1 and 2 as back up."
The announcement came in the hangar. The pilots rushed towards their fighters and launched out of the hangar to intercept the alien vessel. One of the pilots took the prototype.
Doctor Shen needed to see his work in action to gauge the performance boost from his modifications. It would also give him an idea as to how the YF-23 would fare against a new, more combat-ready alien ship. The Scout and Light Scout were simple enough to be dealt with by the F-17 Condor, but the new ship seemed to be much faster, probably boasting a stronger engine.
Alpha-1, Alpha-2 and Beta-1 went to the armoury to prepare for the interception. The aliens seemed to be in large numbers so XCOM had to reply in kind. The larger alien ship also showed a promising ability to transport many bodies, so the enemy's count would be bolstered once they would disembark.
The distant hallways were filled with the echo of boots hitting the metallic floor. The rhythm ended as the armoury got closer and closer. The doors slid open, revealing the squads gearing up. Henry put his comms device and his coat in his claimed locker. He put on his under-armour and attached the suit of ceramic plates and holstered his backup pistol. He grabbed an assault rifle from the rack and waited for the signal. The suits connected to Mission Overview and all relevant information on the soldiers were displayed as intended.
"All right Commander, we're receiving all data from your suits. We've got an officer on every soldier. You're clear to go!" Bradford indicated.
The squads rushed towards their respective air transports. After a few last-minute checks, Big Sky got the confirmation for take-off. The aircraft shook and the ground could no longer be felt as the roaring of the vertical thrusters got louder and louder. The hatch opened to let the Skyranger, Nightglider and Frostrike out of the underground base. The vessels pitched forward as they redirected their trajectory to the area of operation.
It was a matter of time before the aliens realised that the town nearby was a prime target for abductions. The staff were isolated and seemed like easy pickings, but the local police showed otherwise. The aliens followed the retreating foe into the nearby town. The tourist hotspots only contained a few people, but the town below was as populated is it would be by local inhabitants. They were probably happy not to see any tourists, even though it meant less business for them. Now, having tourists around did not seem so bad when a mob of aliens descended to wreak havoc.
The interceptors arrived at the area of operation. They caught up to the alien ship and engaged the target. It's plasma cannon fired hot balls of plasma at them, but they dodged with ease. All they had to do was lock their missiles and let them do all the work. Since there were three of them, one of them could be the decoy and the others would focus on launching missiles. The pilots had gotten used to this tactic.
Condor-1, Condor-2 and the YF prototype broke formation. The ship slowed down to get closer to its foes tailing it; it wanted to utilise its close-quarters advantage. After slowing down, the ship went to hover mode. It stayed in one place and rotated itself to keep its cannon facing its enemies. Condor-2 flew straight at the alien ship, drawing its fire. Suddenly, Condor-2 had no plasma bolts flying towards him. The UFO's cannon shifted to Condor-1 at the back.
A flurry of large plasma bolts flew at the XCOM fighter. Most of the bolts missed but rest burnt through the cockpit. Engulfed in flames, the fighter lost control. It slowly tipped downwards until it slowly crashed in the forest.
Condor-2 stared in shock. The pilot was meant to draw its fire. The ship saw through him and went for the furthest fighter jet. It knew Condor-1 would be the one launching the missiles. He flew by the alien aircraft as the pilot got distracted by his comrade losing altitude. The ship was now behind him and had the advantage.
He looked at his rear camera and saw the alien craft turn to face him. The pilot made a hasty turn to avoid the plasma flying at him. A second too late, and the plasma would have burnt through his fighter as well.
"Condor-2, this is YF! Listen, fall back and turn to get a solid lock on that ship. I'll occupy it," the experimental YF-23's pilot ordered.
"Their pilot is smart, YF! They know our tactic."
"Fuck then, we'll both arm our missiles! It's got only one cannon and there's two of us! I'll try and draw its fire. I've got the armour!"
The YF-23 pilot made a sharp turn to face the alien ship. He fired a small burst of his autocannons to attract the UFOs attention. He quickly armed his missile and fired it off. The vessel responded by preparing its weapons. The plasma cannon aimed at the missile and landed a hit. The missile blew up meters away from its target. The UFO faced the sender and fired off its plasma. With no time to dodge, small circles of red hot metal littered the hull of the YF-23.
Condor-2 had a lock. He launched his missile. The ship turned to face it too late and an explosion rocked it in mid-air. It slowly descended as it swooped downwards. Condor-2 did not celebrate.
"YF, what's your status? Do you read me?"
"The armour, it worked!" the pilot exclaimed.
Condor-2's pilot let out an exhale.
"Central, this is Condor-2. UFO is down. YF has sustained damage but the hull hasn't been compromised. . . Condor-1 is down."
"Good work. Escort the transports into the AO and stick around to keep the sky clear. YF, you'll head back to base though," Bradford ordered.
"Copy that, Central!", the pilots replied with a slight hint of frustration in their voices.
It was the first downed XCOM fighter. A fellow pilot had fallen.
The air transports caught up with the downed UFO. Unfortunately, the aliens had not idled after they crashed and joined their comrades at the site of the abductions. Beta-1 dropped near the ship and rushed to cover. The lifeform scan indicated that only a single Outsider guarded the vessel. Even the aliens' "captains" never abandoned their ships; perhaps because they were robots programmed not to.
"Commander, Central, this is FO-1 of Beta Squad. The Outsider is down and the UFO is secured," the sergeant of Beta-1 reported.
Bradford's assistant's work had paid off. Irel had spent her time filling out XCOM's archives. It helped organise information, but more importantly, it allowed everyone to have access to the same information. The soldiers benefited tremendously; if they knew their enemy, the chances of victory would increase.
Every soldier in XCOM knew that the best time to engage an Outsider was to "kill" it in its unmorphed from. In its passive state, the Outsiders were harmless and vulnerable. It was only a theory made by Vahlen, but Beta-1 had proof of the concept. The issue was getting the jump on the Outsiders. Once they did, the immobile orange crystal made an easy target.
The Skyranger and Nightglider looked for a spot to land. Unfortunately, there were no large enough empty fields so the transport deployed their cables. Alpha-1 and 2 grabbed on, slid down the ropes and prepared for combat as soon as they hit the ground.
The landing was unopposed.
Henry stared at the empty town surrounding him. The lack of inhabitants was almost shocking. Considering the global events, it was no surprise. But, The alien presence nearby made everyone rush to safety. The roads were littered with abandoned cars and the occasional wrapped bodies. Anyone would be discouraged to venture out if they saw such a sight outside of their windows. There were little signs of plasma charring but enough to conclude that the aliens had fought in the vicinity.
"Bradford, how's the lifeform scan?" the Commander asked.
"It should kick in to your feed soon. Commander, we've been detecting unidentified strong energy readings of some sort. The aliens probably brought some machines along," Bradford informed.
"Unidentified, huh? As if we don't have enough already," Henry reacted.
"There are still many civilians in the area," Bradford alerted.
The lifeform scan indicated a strong human presence around the XCOM soldiers. They were all hunkering in their houses, hoping for the armed forces to deal with the present threat. There was no time to waste.
Henry took his troops further into town, taking cover behind the walls. The occasional peeper could be seen from the windows looking at XCOM forces. They preferred to stay away from windows since a stray bullet or plasma bolt could hit them.
Colonel Archer noticed a wounded police officer nearby. He signalled his troops to form up around him while he cautiously made his way towards the policewoman. She was shot in the leg. It left a considerable wound and would have limited her mobility, or in her case, immobilised her. Archer kneeled next to the woman sitting with her back resting on a rough brick wall.
The Colonel examined the wound. The plasma had burnt through muscle on her right outer thigh. The policewoman had no armour to speak of. It was a miracle that the aliens had not hit her a few inches away or her entire right leg would have been gone forever.
Archer took a breath. He put his helmet on Speaker mode.
"What happened here?" he asked.
The woman lifted her head.
"You . . . you're XCOM, right? The aliens . . . they have a flying disc," she said through her pain.
"Disc? Don't worry we'll help you," he declared. "Ibarra treat her wound!"
"Yes, Colonel!"
Ibarra rushed to the woman and let out a yelp that her squad could hear through the comms. The wound was not something that could be healed so easily. Ibarra could do little to help until the woman was rushed to a hospital. She just made sure that the woman stayed well until the fight was over.
Archer relayed the information to Alpha-1. His squad went back to follow the Commander through the town. A few locals were courageous enough to open their doors or windows to talk. All of them rambled about discs and flying monsters.
The soldiers knew all too well what was meant by flying monsters. The aliens' new foot soldier had joined the fray and they were real trouble. Sectoids and Thin Men were easy to get accustomed to. The Floaters irked everyone no matter how many times they had seen one. More to everyone's worries, the aliens had a new disk contraption. The enemy was bent on throwing out all of their new cards.
The squads stepped with prudence. Bradford's lifeform scan indicated that the aliens were ahead. Faint chittering and howling only confirmed the soldiers' trust in their suit's technology. Bodies with burnt holes proved that the location was the centre of all the action. Amongst the deceased men and women were those wrapped in a green web. Henry disdained the idea of letting the aliens have their way.
A crackle came in Alpha-1's helmets.
"Commander, the aliens can't evacuate themselves or their loot," Natalia remarked. "This is the right time to attack."
Henry switched his comms to all XCOM squads.
"All right everyone, sneak to cover. We'll ambush them. Set up and watch your radars," the Commander announced.
Floaters could be seen further ahead. They guarded nearby Sectoids who were rounding up the bodies they all captured. They were all on high alert since the Skyranger and Nightglider kept up the sense of danger. The aliens clearly saw and heard it coming so they knew enemies were present. Thankfully, the pilots flew off as to not aggravate the aliens further.
Alpha-1 and 2 were far enough to remain unnoticed to their foe. The Sectoids were all too busy with the bodies, and the Floaters flew around them like vultures, occasionally landing to peer at nearby buildings.
The troops divided themselves into small fireteams and quietly opened doors to run into buildings to hide. They could shoot through windows whilst still remaining hidden behind walls. The troops were still prudent and took whatever nearby furniture they could to toughen the walls without making a sound. Bookshelves and cabinets would increase the mass a plasma bolt had to go through before striking Jackal Armour.
The civilians would not appreciate coming back to the mess, but it was the least of XCOM's worries. The soldiers also had to break the glass in the windows to shoot. Their infrared cameras could not outline a target through the glass too.
Alpha-1 and 2 prepared for a firefight when a loud roar echoed through the town. The soldiers stationed outside looked up and noticed a familiar aircraft flying towards them. The Forststrike was at full burn to drop Beta-1 with the rest of XCOM's forces.
The silence had been broken and the Floaters let out their groans and howls. Henry switched his comms to the pilots.
"Pull back, Frostrike! Pull back!" he ordered in a panic.
Henry was bombarded by the shouts of his men reporting the aliens' movements. The Floaters flew up and The Frostrike came under fire. The hull would hold up for a while, but the pilot did not take any chances. He jerked the yoke sideways to hastily get out of the area.
The aliens did not linger on the aircraft for long as a lone bullet diverted their attention. A bullet from a designated marksman rifle was fired and resulted in a Floater crashing down on the cement road. The enemy, now alerted to the presence of XCOM, diverted their attention to underneath them. The soldiers followed their comrade who broke the silence and unleashed their volleys.
"Dammit! Fire at will!" Henry directed.
The sound of gunfire attracted all the aliens in the area of operation. The Sectoids made their squeals and ran on all fours towards cover. They performed their mind-merge and took their shots. The plasma came close to the windows but missed the men hiding around them. The outer microphones picked up the sizzling from outside the walls. The plasma slowly burnt through the brick buildings.
Green projectiles flew all around the soldiers. One of them ducked to reload or to dodge plasma as their comrade returned fire for them. A small jolt of pain came from the heating metal of their armour, but it held strong and the troops could keep fighting through the pain.
The Colonels alerted their troops to shoot down the Sectoids who attempted to run into blindspots to get an advantage. The soldiers' vision was limited to what their window could show. An alien's presence could still be seen but through an orange marker. With the large quantity of obstructed targets, it made a lot to keep track of so the help of their superiors was appreciated.
The Floaters attempted to get in as close as possible. The soldiers aimed up at their flying enemies. A burst of their rifles was enough to eliminate a single threat. The Floaters shot their plasma and the soldiers hid behind cover, walls sizzling around them. They kept their eyes on the corners, watching their cover slowly turn into char. They pointed their weapons out to eliminate the rest.
The snipers focused on the Sectoids at the back of the aliens' formation. With their mind-merges, they made ideal targets. The marksmen only had to trust their comrades to protect them against the Floaters.
Some stray Floaters had the idea to smash through the openings that were the windows. The soldiers stared stunned as Floaters rammed through the trims and came crashing in the same room they stood. The soldiers snapped their guns towards their enemy and unloaded wildly at their foe. The shotgunners had the easiest time dealing with their seemingly suicidal foe.
Henry observed the rendered map of the battlefield littered with aliens. The Sectoids had been eliminated and the Floaters kept at bay. A couple of distant aliens were taken out by the snipers with his guidance. The enemy's numbers had significantly been reduced.
Henry took another look at the map. He noticed an unidentified entity moving towards him. It was mainly an energy signature and showed some organic matter. Shen's satellites were designed to pick up the aliens' organic-based technologies. It would take further research and analysis to perfect his system to identify every alien machine.
"Heads up, guys. We got an unidentified energy signature coming our way. Stay on the lookout," he informed.
Corporal Joel O'Connor loaded a new magazine and took aim on a Floater. It activated its jetpack until Joel disabled it. Specialist Sam Dodd took down the alien, sticking her weapon out through the window. She noticed movement behind her deceased target.
A flying horizontal disc hovered towards the squads. The plates composing the sides of the disc opened up. It oriented itself vertically and stuck out its many barbs and wings. The disc had an orange "eye" with a plasma cannon below it.
Sam pulled back from the window. Her comrade, Spc Owen Renee, pointed his gun out, scanning for targets.
"What the hell is that!?" he exclaimed.
"I don't know! I don't know!" Sam responded.
Joel switched his comms to all squads. He stuck his head out of cover and looked out the window.
"We've got the unidentified target, 63 degrees from the epicentre!" he reported. "Helmet Command, Infrared Scan."
The mechanical entity's heat signature got picked up by Joel's suit. Now he had to relay it to his squad.
"Pin Unmarked Entity 1, red!" he ordered to his interface.
The entity turned to face Joel and fired its plasma cannon at him. The first few plasma bolts flew and the fireteam ducked. The rest of the plasma hit the wall protecting them. Sam noticed that the wall started to crumble and yelled for her nearby comrades to evacuate.
Henry noticed the alien firing at his soldiers. Most of his fireteams were occupied with more reinforcing Floaters and Sectoids. He was at the back of the formation, guarded by a handful of his troops. They had little action so he could afford losing one bodyguard.
"Hey Vargas, get your LMG on that alien machine, ASAP!" he ordered.
Gabriel Vargas dashed out from his cover and ran to the building his suppressed comrades fought in.
The alien being, noticing further movement in its targeted area, shot more plasma. Joel watched the bolts fly at him. One missed him by an inch but he soon felt a sudden build-up of heat at his forehead. He felt a jolt of pain from the heat.
Sam dropped down to a crawl to avoid the plasma. Joel's scream of pain distracted her. She looked up and found another plasma bolt hitting his helmet, this time silencing her comrade.
Joel's body fell onto her. She coughed out the air in her lungs but took a rapid inhale of carbon-filled air, despite the best efforts of her respirator. She pushed Joel's body off of her and got back up to run down the stairs of the duplex her fireteam set up in. She made another run for the stairs but bumped into Gabriel Vargas in the process.
Owen Renee stopped in his tracks to avoid pushing Sam. He realised he was out in the open and looked out of the window to spot any incoming projectiles. He noticed his foe spin vertically and fling a green object at him. It did not travel at the same speed as a plasma bolt and it glowed a lot more than one.
Owen rammed himself into Sam to push her out to the hallway. Sam and Gabriel were shoved away, but Owen remained in the battered and scorched living room of the home. He noticed the green object hit the wooden floor and a burst of fiery ionised gas expanded into the surrounding air.
Colonel Jacquemin was suddenly pulled out of her interface's tactical map. One of her soldiers' name flashed red after an explosion at the corner of her eye brought her out of her focus on shooting down her enemies.
"Commander, Corporal Joel O'Connor is KIA!"
Colonel Archer heard the commotion and checked the status on his squad.
"Specialist Owen Renee is KIA on my end, just now!"
Bradford tuned in into all of XCOM forces' comms, "We have two KIA, Gabriel Vargas is lightly injured and Sam Dodd of Alpha-2 is in critical condition! She's clinging onto dear life!"
"Christ almighty!" Archer reacted. "Ibarra, get on it!" he ordered.
Fatima Ibarra rushed to aid Sam Dodd. She went up the stairs of the duplex. Gabriel dragged Sam into the hallway and stepped aside to let the medic examine her.
Fatima made sure that coagulants were injected into her blood and focused on stopping the bleeding from the blown-off left leg. It was mostly cauterised as a portion of her leg was also burnt by the blast.
"She lost a leg. Colonel!" Ibarra reported.
Sam would survive but needed extensive treatment for her leg. All that Fatima could do was alleviate the pain Sam was in.
Gabriel sucked up the pain from his wounds, grabbed his nearby light machine gun and aimed his rifle at the flying disc. The barrage of bullets penetrated its plates, but a lot of the damage was reduced due to the armour. It was clear that the being was mechanical and not biological since it would have reacted to his barrage. He fired more and more, and managed to cause enough damage to the point where the robot lost its energy source and fell to the ground. It erupted as the Elerium inside of it discharged.
A pause of silence reigned; not a single Sectoid coo or Floater howl. The carbonated walls could still be heard emanating heat. XCOM's soldiers took a breath. Henry and the two colonels got a bearing on their troops. The fireteams reported their status and stuck at their post in case a hidden alien showed up.
The lifeform scan showed no resistance, but the soldiers opted to be cautious.
"Well, it's over," McGrath broke the silence.
"Don't jinx it, Gail," Arthur commented, unfolding his sniper rifle's bipod.
Bradford radioed in," Commander, alien reinforcements incoming!"
"Reinforcements! Didn't they stop doing that?" Henry reacted.
"Damn Gail, you spoke too soon!" Arthur complained.
The squad readied their weapons for another fight. A fresh magazine was loaded. The soldiers waited for the ship to arrive. Beta-1 dropped in after their blunder. Condor-2 would take a while to reach the area and could not intercept according to the calculated speed of descent of the alien ship.
With some time to rest, a faint roar could be heard in the background. Henry got out from his hiding spot to look up. He ordered his helmet to zoom on the target. The ship had its rear facing the ground, and decelerated using a full constant burn of its engines. The roar got louder until it was deafening. The soldier's helmets detected a high decibel count and lowered the volume to aid the hearing of its users.
"All rocketeers, prepare your ordinance on that ship. Fire on my command!"
The XCOM soldiers carried their rocket launchers out and prepared a rocket. Their comrades stood away to not receive any backlash.
The alien ship came to halt mid-air as it had beaten Earth's gravitational acceleration and lost its speed od descent. It hovered down until the ship was oriented horizontally. It came down to land smoothly. The ship was easily recognisable as the somewhat armoured Scout.
"All rockets, fire!" Henry ordered.
The propelled grenades shot out of their launchers and struck the hull of the ship. They were not enough to take down the ship since they did minimal damage to the key systems. They were enough to shatter the hull of the ship and to destabilise it during its smooth descent. The ship was pushed into a nearby building where it lost control and slammed into the ground.
The fireteams oriented themselves to get a better view of their target. They steadied their aim at the door they faced from their positions in buildings and roads.
The blue-tinted film of the ship's entrance faded and the large metal door racketed open. A group of Sectoids emerged and were quickly gunned down.
Another mechanical being came from the intersection followed by another small group of Sectoids. It was not another mechanical disc. It was a large robotic unit that had long arms with cannons built in them. It was plated from head to toe with alien alloys, and its head was encased with semi-transparent alien plastic with liquid sloshing inside. The being was partially organic judging from XCOM HQ's constant live scans.
"What is that thing?" Skorsi exclaimed.
"I don't know, but it's firing so get down!" Archer exclaimed.
The half-mechanical being pointed its arm cannons at the squad and large bolts of plasma shot out. Its cannons could penetrate any wall it encountered. The plasma shots were aimed directly at Specialist Patrick Chambers who took point of the formation on a road behind a car. Jackal Armour did not stand a chance against its heavy firepower. A portion of the plasma was absorbed by the large vehicle, but the rest burned straight through, into the armour and the soldier.
"Another one down! I'm not picking up his vitals," Archer reported.
Fatima ran to her squadmate's body but stopped herself as she realised that it was too late.
"Colonel, the vitals scanners were destroyed. The plasma went straight through the armour and into his essential organs," she observed from afar.
"Dammit! Take that thing down before we lose more!" Archer ordered.
The alien fired more shots at XCOM's position. They all missed except for the one that grazed Haidar Patterson's arm. She and her allies responded by firing every bullet at it. The alien absorbed the shots thanks to its armour.
"Try aiming for the head!" Arthur Stone directed.
He fired his sniper at the head of the alien. He easily punched a hole through the plastic encasing the alien's head. The yellow liquid inside of the suit slowly poured out. Everyone followed Arthur's advice and went for the head and torso. The being weakened as the shots started penetrating through the shredded armour. Sectoids stepped up to absorb the fire directed at their heavily armed support.
Their sacrifice did not distract XCOM's disciplined fire for long as they were gunned down. A final barrage from Gabriel eliminated the half-mechanical half-living alien.
The squads kept their guard up as the Outsider emerged from its wrecked ship. It came out with its arm cannons pointing at first soldier it could see. The marksmen at the back of the formation immediately aimed for its Elerium core, causing the robot to erupt from the surge of energy.
Silence had taken over once again, this time for good.
Gail Mcgrath approached the downed mechanised unit and observed it from up close.
"This thing. I swear we need better weapons. It took many shots to take it down," he commented.
"We weren't aiming at the right spots, but you're right. These things don't look too armoured up close, but they still took a lot," Arthur replied, taking off his helmet to get some fresh air.
It was not worth it since the air had the burnt smell that always greeted him after a battle. Arthur had gotten used to it anyways, as unwelcomed as it was.
The soldiers took the opportunity to relax. The firefight was over and the aliens did not show any signs that they were coming for a third round. The Skyranger and Nightlglider arrived to pick up whatever artefacts they could hoard. The rest was up to the Clean-Up Teams. The fallen soldiers were carried back to the ships and the wounded received better treatment from the medical supplies on the transports. The rest was up to Erena and her crew.
The town was a mess after the fight. There was charring everywhere, and corpses of civilians and aliens littered the streets. The locals found the courage to come out and did whatever they could to help XCOM's soldiers.
Some offered food and water. Others helped to tend the wounded. The soldiers tried declining but gave in to the locals' generosity. The break was occasionally disrupted by the soldiers yelling at uninformed civilians who tried aiding their green-wrapped kinsmen. It was futile and touching the green substance was a risk without the proper protection.
Minutes had passed and the army arrived to secure the town and the abducted bodies in the woods. XCOM's troops were eager to go back to base for some rest. They slowly made their way into their transports. The troops threw themselves onto the seats and attached their belts. The townsfolk waved as the bay doors closed, and their saviours replied tiredly in kind. The air transports engaged their thrusters and took off to bring the troops back to base. A long period of rest awaited them.