Sgt. Zack "Fullscreen" Luo
I'm somewhat pissed at Bradford, to be honest. We've been on the ship less than 24 hours, and we're already being deployed for a mission. Even back when I was at base, in the early days, we gave recruits 3 days to get settled. Not to mention I haven't had a full night's sleep in nearly two days, after that awful hike to get here. I'd be mad at the Commander, but a) they're still in the medbay, recovering from what our new medical head has euphemistically described as "extensive cranial manipulation" and what the Commander said was "ripping wires out of my head". I don't know how I feel about them. I never knew the Commander well before I got shipped off to the FOB, but from what I remember they were just that: a commander. A good leader of troops, to be sure, but still mortal. This new commander feels much more…calculating. Like a machine. Still, sometimes a machine is what you need. And the humanity is still there. Just...different.
Oh, and Ol' Sweaters accidentally demoted me. No more "Major" Luo, now apparently I'm all the way down to Sarge. Apparently post-invasion, officer training means nothing anymore. Ugh. It's not a pay cut, at least, although it's not like we get any pay. To be expected, I suppose. The barge is a bonus, at least, with its climate control and purpose-built dorms. No more horseflies in June, and frozen doors in December.
After half of us collapsed in our new beds the second we saw them, instead of letting us have a restful slumber Bradford insisted on the tour of the ship. While it was nice for Chief Scientist Tygan to reassure us that no, the ship isn't at risk of exploding despite the constant knocking sounds, I'm not sure it was worth the headache that I've been having. He was kind enough to slip us some stimulants, for "use during the mission, ideally", in his words.
It's been a while since I had to sit through a briefing, even before XCOM fell. The FOB didn't exactly have the most action back then. Regardless, it was nice to have someone else tell me what to do for once. Our job's to get rid of some nosy ADVENT officer who's apparently been snooping around for Resistance groups, particularly the one that helped us get the Commander out of wherever ADVENT was keeping him. It's our quid pro quo, I suppose.
The Commander gave me free reign over who to select for XCOM's inaugural operation, and not knowing the level of resistance we planned to face, I took my best soldiers, or at least who I remember trusting the most back when we were doing supply raids every other week. To be honest, it's been a couple years since we saw any real combat. Regardless, joining me in the briefing room was Jack Walls, probably the one amongst us who's seen the most combat, Sahara, who despite not technically being XCOM is pretty handy with both a sword and a gun, with the added bonus of having inhumanly fast reactions, and Cathy, who I don't think I've ever seen miss a shot.
-xxx-
"Menace 1-3, you good back there?"
Our pilot asked through the opened door to the cockpit, which flapped back and forth as we went violently vertical. Sahara had just emptied the contents of her dinner on the exit ramp of the Skyranger, as the rest of us braced.
"She'll be fine, but this place is going to smell like puke for the next couple days." I replied.
"I have Miss Leather Gloves installing more dampers on this thing, but it'll be a couple weeks at least. She never been on a transport?" The voice from the cockpit asked.
"She's not originally XCOM. Well, at least not as an operative."
"Ah. That explains the puke. And the fur."
Sahara was still bent over double, too airsick to hear the latter part of that statement.
"It's been a while since we've been on a raid, eh?" Came the voice of Menace 1-2.
"It has, Jack. It has."
"Feels good to be back."
The rest of the ride went by uneventfully. We were dropped off an hour's drive away from the AO, and told by Firebrand to "buzz me loudly and repeatedly if you need a quick evac". All of us piled into a resistance sympathizer's sedan, and we slowly made our way to the town where we were to conduct our first mission for the new XCOM.
We rolled up to a quiet, unassuming old town, mostly untouched by ADVENT except for a large office complex situated in the outskirts. We stashed the car a ways out of town, and made our way in by foot, hoping to skirt past the ADVENT checkpoint.
"Your target, according to our information gathering, has taken up residency in a flat located above the local pharmacy. Stay concealed; we don't know if any of the civilians are aligned with either ADVENT or the Resistance." The voice of Central came chirping over our earpieces. Easier said than done when all of us are lugging around large caliber assault rifles. Fortunately, we encountered no resistance making our way into town, and the few civilians we spotted we made our way around without them taking particular notice of the heavily armed individuals with clear padding under their civilian clothes.
We set up around the pharmacist's, ready to engage whenever the officer would deign to peek out of his little hiding spot. But minutes passed, and soon a civilian took notice of us. Cathy quickly raised her rifle and mouthed some silent threats, which seemed to startle the civilian enough to freeze them. However, this put us on a clock. A very short clock. I gestured to the two ADVENT guards outside of the pharmacist's.
"Shit. Weapons free."
And with those three words the tension in the air was sliced to ribbons by a barrage of gunfire. Both troopers slumped over in a pile of yellowish liquid, as the screaming from the sparse civilians began.
"Push into the building. Secure the perimeter, don't let him get out alive!"
But as we pushed up through the street, a hail of fire from the second story punched through the air. We scattered, as I grabbed a frag and lobbed it into the window. One blast later, the gunfire ceased. However, a new threat emerged.
"Sectoid! Break sight lines!"
Taking cover behind the building we needed to gain entry to, I saw plasma blasts come down the alleyway. Suddenly, Sahara reaches to her back, and grins.
"Gimme some covering fire."
We blindfire into the alley. It seems to be enough for the Sectoid to duck back into cover, and in the lull of combat Sahara rushes the creature down with her blade. An unearthly screech is all the confirmation we need, as I gesture for the other two to enter the building. I advanced down the alley, trading fire with an ADVENT trooper seemingly lost without a squad leader, when suddenly a window exploded out ahead of me.
"Officer's here! Out the back!"
Our fire grazed the target as it dashed into a nearby gas station.
"This is Central, you have a troop transport coming your way! Eliminate that target before they can secure him!"
Off in the distance, I could hear a humming noise. We needed to get into that building somehow, but if we just waltzed in, we'd be gunned down.
"Grenade check!"
"We're both out over here," was the reply as Menace 1-2 and 1-4 made their way to the station.
"We have less than a minute to get in that station before all hell breaks loose. Any plans?"
And that glimmer in Jack's eye meant he had one. He gestured for us to shove what looked to be a post-invasion car right next to the wall of the station, and laid into the engine with his rifle.
A fun fact about the aliens' cars: The elerium in the fuel makes them explode violently.
The wall caved in, as we trained our barrels towards the objective. With nowhere to run, he pulled out a grenade as a last-ditch option to try and inflict some damage onto us, but Cathy just calmly put a bullet into the explosive, detonating it in the officer's hand.
"You don't miss, do you." I quipped.
"Never."
The automated transport delivered several more troopers, but without a commander their efficacy in fighting left much to be desired. A couple bullets put all of them down, and a couple more the transport.
"Central, this is Menace 1-1. Area is secure, and the package is ready for pickup."
"Understood. Resistance salvage is on the way, hold tight."
Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with any more ADVENT in the area, although apparently the salvage crew shot down another transport after Firebrand got us out of the AO. As we stepped off of the Skyranger, both the Commander and Central were there to receive us.
"Good work out there. We held up our end of the bargain, and hopefully the Skirmishers will continue to hold up theirs. We're expecting the salvage to get back around midnight, and the Skirmishers should have a cache of resources and weapons to deliver to us. No injuries?"
"None related to combat. Menace 1-3 got a bit airsick. Really airsick."
"We'll hold off on deploying her on any long-range missions until she gets better adjusted, in that case."
After Bradford's pleasantries, the Commander stepped forward.
"Sergeant Luo. You were a sniper, were you not?"
"I'm surprised you remember."
"I don't easily forget those who serve under me."
I smiled, then frowned. I thought about all of those dead in the intervening years. The Commander didn't forget any of them, either.
"Would you be willing to be reinstated in that role?"
"It's been a while since I last picked up a marksman's rifle, if i'm being honest."
"It's not a skill one easily forgets."
"If you will it, I shall obey."
"Very good." The Commander turned to enter the Avenger, but before he made it to the door, he looked back for a second.
"Oh, and Sergeant?"
"Yes?"
"I knew I could count on you." And for the first time, I saw the Commander smile.
-xxx-
The Avenger, for being a cargo barge, had a surprisingly well furnished training area. The Commander had decided for me to be trained as a sniper, in addition to my squad leader duties, as well as having Jack be trained as a Specialist. Apparently, his heroics had caught the eye of our resident tinkerer, and she had put in a request to have him field test the new GREMLIN system.
"How's the drone working?"
Jack chuckled. "Like a charm. I don't know what type of black magic our new Shen has put into this thing, but it doesn't miss a beat."
I nodded. "And you?" I turned to Cathy.
"I hate using these iron sights. Can't see a thing if I'm not pointed right at them."
I looked at the score that she had just put up on the digital targets. 54/60. My highest was a 47.
"Well, it certainly doesn't seem like you need it."
"It would help."
I laughed. Behind me, I heard steps coming down the stairs.
"Sergeant."
"Bradford."
"All three of you are needed in the Ops room immediately. You'll be joined by one of our own recruits."
We made our way up to the briefing room, where the Commander stood, deep in thought, next to a projector with the image of a stout, bald man, encased in shadow.
"Hello, XCOM," the shrouded man said in a gravelly tone. "The Resistance has received a communication from a double agent in the ADVENT administration. This individual claims to have obtained valuable data on a secret and wide-reaching plan of the aliens', and has fled to the ruins of Seattle to rendezvous with XCOM. The Resistance has an agent on the ground, who may be of value. Good luck, XCOM."
The transmission cut, as Bradford spoke up. "Hope you got all of that. We're sending you in to get this man, get his contact, and get them the hell out of there. And don't linger. In those ruins lurk these things we call the Lost. You probably haven't seen them before, but they look like calcified corpses. The only difference is, they walk. We know they're not Chryssalids, but beyond that, we don't have much. If you pop 'em in the head, they'll probably die. They're drawn to explosions, and there's more of them than you'll ever be able to deal with. We have no idea if they reproduce, but ADVENT's been trying to deal with them for years and haven't made a dent in the population, or so we've heard."
"So we're dealing with something poorly understood, and endless manpower. Seems like the olden days."
Bradford nodded. "Except this time, we don't have the regular rifles to clear them out once we're done. Good luck, Sergeant."
We suited up, and made our introductions to the new squad member as we began takeoff. He was a tall fellow, who went by Karl. I didn't catch his last name over the roar of the jet engines, but he assured us that he was as good a shot as we could hope for from our new Menace 1-3.
We arrived in Seattle as the sun began to set.
"Don't stay too long past sunset," Firebrand warned. "I'm not searching for y'all if you disappear." Duly warned, we exited the craft and turned on our radios to the frequency we were given.
"This is XCOM Strike Team, do you read us, over." The radio crackled with static, but we heard no reply. I tried again, with the same result. "Unfortunately, it looks like we're going to have to fan out. Stay on the frequency, and if you see anything report in. I'd rather waste time for a false alarm than have us picked off one by one."
Fortunately, we made radio contact before anything sprung onto us. The agent on the other side gave us direct coordinates, and soon our squad was heading directly towards them. We made it to just within a block's distance when,
"Contact on 3!" I glanced towards my right periphery. A shambling mess of grey flesh was running at us.
"Drop it!" And drop it indeed did, after a well placed bullet to the head. "Well, Central, your intel was correct for once." I snarked. "Keep pushing towards the building.
Getting to the building was easy. However, our earlier gunfire had begun to attract the attention of the Lost, and more were beginning to converge on our location. Knowing what I heard earlier, I wasn't foolish enough to assume that would be all of them either.
"I'll secure the package, you three hold off the horde!" As I finished my sentence, I took off at a sprint into the lobby of the apartments where the two were hiding.
"Hey! Get down here! We're gonna get you out, but we gotta move!" I yelled through the radio. Soft footsteps from upstairs were confirmation enough for me, but unfortunately they became overshadowed by a sudden metallic clanging, and then the sound of glass shattering. I turned to the source of the sound, just as I was tackled to the ground by a skeletal figure. It grabbed me around my neck in a chokehold, as I desperately tried to break its grasp. Despite its build, however, it held firm, and so I reached for my knife, hoping it would do something. With a swift thrust, I jabbed the weapon into its leg, and immediately I felt the pressure cease.
I looked to my fallen firearm, then decided against it. The length of the sniper's barrel would only hinder me here. As a second Lost filed in through the window, I knew I had to act quick. The first one charged at me, and as it swung at my head I ducked under its arms, spinning around and jabbing my blade into the back of its skull. Whatever was left of the bone put up no resistance, and its head crumpled.
Drawing the knife back out, I rushed the next one, but with no good shot at its face I made two quick slashes at its knees. This did not have the effect I wanted, as despite some satisfying cracking sounds it fell directly on my back, and grappled onto my belt. With a heave of exertion, I crashed my torso on top of it as I fell onto my back, and seeing its face look out from between my legs I stabbed it right in the eye.
One more came through the window, but without its hands, which were being used to mantle into the room, to defend itself, my knife was easily placed through the forehead of the creature. As I put it through the cranium of the last one's head, however, only one thought entered mine. "I really need to carry a sidearm."
At this point, the operative came down, lugging a body clad in formalwear. Her scrapped-together armor had some fluids on it, and judging by the multicoloured splashes on the plates it wasn't just the Lost who had been taking a beating.
"He dead?"
"No, but got pretty roughed up by the Lost. They knocked him out cold."
"What about you?"
"Got a bit roughed up, but I'll live. Where's the evac point?"
"Follow me."
We made our way to the bottom of the staircase, where the horde seemed bigger than ever.
"What took you so long? We're running dry, and the horde doesn't fucking end!"
"You weren't the only one getting kills." I replied, as I picked off as many Lost as I could.
"Well good for you, but we still need a way through this mass." And he was right, because we were surrounded on all sides by the creatures. We couldn't push through without getting caught by the horde.
"Where's Firebrand?"
"Two blocks straight ahead."
I weighed our options, and found only one solution.
"You know how Bradford said they were drawn to explosions?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, we're about to be the most popular thing in a 5-mile radius." And with that, I tossed a grenade at a car, resting right in the middle of a good chunk of the horde. The grenade took out a couple, and the blazing gasoline flying from the vehicle set several more on fire. It gave us just enough room to get through.
"Go, go, go!"
And with that we took off across the street. As we crossed through some type of shop, I lobbed another grenade into the swarm, hoping to at least delay their chase. By the time we made it to the Skyranger, we were home free.
"You're insane, you know that?" Jack said with a smile.
"Insanely clever, and good looking." I shot back.
Menace 1-3, who had been quiet for most of the mission up to this point, chimed in.
"Is this what I can continue to look forward to if I'm deployed with you old-school XCOM types?"
"I mean, it's not what they taught us in training." Karl grinned.
"Don't worry. You've earned my trust, and probably the trust of the rest of the crew with your heroics over the last week or so. You make a good leader."
I turned to Karl, and then to Jack, before nodding.
"Being a good leader is just having people around who do what they need to and give you their ideas when you need them. All I have to do is put it all in a plan."
Jack tapped his GREMLIN with his finger as I spoke.
"Haven't gotten to use this thing yet. Nobody's taken a bullet or anything."
"And I hope it stays that way for as long as possible."