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"We shall go on to the end...we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

~Winston Churchill

Chapter Fifty-six: The Plunge

Cameron Rogers was the only one to see it coming. From the clouds burst two bolts of emerald energy, sizzling and crackling within the containment fields that kept the semi-solid projectiles intact and clustered on their approach.

"Get down!" He had time to seize Liang and tackle her to the floor. He had time to spot Firebrand appear in her drop bay door, frowning. And he had time to frantically wave her way.

"Moose-"

Liang never finished her question: she screamed instead when the EMP charges hit Avenger's spine, and every light went out at the same time as the ship rocked. Gravity imploded, and inertia hurled Cameron and Liang toward the ceiling. Firebrand cried out, flying back into her pride and joy, and techs went soaring in every direction. Cameron's stomach turned.

Across the ship, Meysam Saleh had no warning. In an instant Avenger rocked and the lights went out, and he shot for the ceiling. Reflex took over, and he caught Mariah by the shoulders and pulled her in tight, turning so his own back took the brunt of impact with the ceiling rather than hers. Her shoulder plunged into his chest, and Meysam let out a strangled cry - one drowned out by the brunette's sudden shriek.

Commander Edward Gallant seized his bedsheets in a death-grip more on reflex than anything else, while Zhang caught the foot of his bed. Thankfully it was anchored to the deck - unfortunately, the sheets weren't, and the last thing Gallant heard before he went into the ceiling head-first was Zhang shouting something he couldn't make out.

"Hang on!" Julie Richardson sent out a burst of psi-energy a moment later, even as the bridge lights flickered on and off. Before anyone could shoot off, her will pinned them to the deck. Her eye twitched and her brain seared with pain - how many assholes were on the bridge, again? - but Sylvie jumped in almost immediately, adding her power in another burst of purple.

"We've lost power! We're going down!" Bradford seized the railing, setting his teeth. "Everyone, hold on!"

"This isn't possible!" Shen typed frantically, using what little energy remained in the system to run diagnostics. "There's no damage to the engines!"

"Electromagnetic pulse?" Julie found the presence of mind to demand.

"Must be." Shen's fingers flew, even as her hair started going up with the waning of Julie and Sylvie's power. "If I can just bypass all this alien circuitry..."

"Shen." Bradford cleared his throat, ostentatiously watching the altimeter unwind.

"Interface ready!" Shen froze as red flashed over her screen. "Someone on the system is overwriting my commands!"

"Shen!" Bradford shot her a glare.

"Right!" She abandoned her console, and the engineer darted across the bridge.

"Damn it!" Julie felt her power slip, and once that happened it was all one quick downhill fuckslide. Sylvie couldn't hold the bridge alone, and Julie shot upward with a howl.

A hand locked on hers. Bradford's grip was iron, his eyes full of manic intensity, and his snarl determined. His other hand stayed on the rail, even as his feet left the deck.

"Chief!" Sylvie's face filled with uncertainty, but she abandoned her task in a heartbeat. Techs went flying to join Julie, and not all of them could get a good hold on anything that would keep them down. Sylvie's hands glowed purple, and she fired all of her strength at Shen - even abandoning herself, and Julie's other hand shot out almost without thinking to catch her girlfriend's ankle.

"You idiot!" Julie cried. Sylvie's response was unintelligible: a moment later, she vomited.

"Got it!" Shen, held down by Sylvie's psi-power, ripped a panel off the wall. She crouched, twisting on a wheel Julie hadn't even known was there until-

Boom! Something kicked Avenger in the pants, and then Julie ground back down toward the deck. Bradford hauled her in, and then they hauled Sylvie, until Central had the pair under his arms.

"Backup power is online, but it isn't enough to get us flying again." Shen glanced at the altimeter...and paled. "Uh-"

"Everyone, get down!" Bradford hauled Julie and Sylvie to the floor-

The world ended when Avenger hit the ground with an enormous impact and tremendous vibration-

"...still in one piece?" General Dourde nodded slowly, examining the hulk of the enemy ship where it lay amidst thick, battered woodland. She turned to the chair behind her. "Hunter, sir, I recommend we deploy a strike team to the crash site immediately."

"Can we send Blinky?" The Hunter scowled, sucking on his lemon drop as he did his thing. "I think he'd make mincemeat of Jane Kelly. He's certainly kicking my ass."

"I think he'd get lonely without Clyde, sir."

The Hunter stared at her for a long minute. "Who are you, General, and what have you done with Din Dourde?"

"It's more a question of what you did to Din Dourde." She turned back to her bridge crew. "Deploy the strike team. Send a transmission each to Angelis and the Richmond military base. And fetch the Darklance."

"And if you get one measly fingerprint on my trigger guard..." The Hunter considered. "I don't know what I'll do to you just yet, but I promise it'll be bad. How's that?"

"Terrifying, sir."

"That's what I thought."

"I'm happy to be of service." Dourde examined the lamed Avenger again, and her lips twitched. "Today, we put an end to this rebellion once and for all."

"Do you have to be dramatic about it?" The Hunter sighed. "I'm going to have to work, aren't I?"

The world swam in and out of focus: distorted and vague. Throbbing pain...

"Oh...shit..."

Everything was red. Was that Julie, seeing blood? No, the lights...the lights were red. They cast a hell-pallor of scarlet over everything, which did really well as far as promising portents went.

"Sylvie?" Julie rolled onto her side, swearing as the world tried to spin around her. Avenger must have landed in the water, because she was pitching and rocking like a big, ugly boat. "Sylvie, did you die?"

"Oui." She must have been thrown across the bridge during the crash, because that's where she was, gamely seizing the center rail and pulling herself to one knee. Julie supposed the dazed light in her girlfriend's eyes was a mirror for her own. "Et toi?"

"Someone get me a damage report!" Bradford finished clambering up, and he paused to rub at the back of his neck. "Haven't been in a crash like that since '07-"

Blam! The ship vibrated, and all the computers fizzed and sparked. Julie made it back to her feet just in time to duck as electricity shot out from every monitor and processor.

"We've got a problem."

"No shit, Shen: only one?" Bradford loomed over her shoulder, eyeing the computer she somehow was keeping online.

"What's going on?" The door didn't open with hydraulic hissing, but instead a couple of Reapers yanked it wide. Volk and Betos hurried in, the former with blood running over his cheek that he didn't seem to notice.

"We crashed." Julie felt something trickling over her chin, and supposed that made her an honorary Reaper.

"What would we do without you?" Volk ignored her from there on out, and Julie had to catch Sylvie's arm before a chair flew.

"They've deployed some kind of...spike...out there." Shen typed, and a little map of the surrounding area appeared on her display. "It's generating the same type of pulse that blew us out of the sky."

"...that means we're stuck here." Julie swallowed. "That means we're right where Advent wants us."

"They don't want us." Bradford's teeth set. "They want the ship."

"That we are on-"

"Override it." Volk gestured sharply to the terminal. "Can't you do something, Shen?"

"Not from here. And not with..." She trailed off, eyes darkening. "I think-"

"We're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way." Bradford keyed his com. "Commander? Commander Gallant?" He swore a moment later. "He's not responding."

"Not right now's problem." Volk ignored the harsh look Bradford sent his way. "We need to take that device out. I'll send my Reapers as forward scouts."

"And my Skirmishers-"

"Belay that, both of you." Bradford hurried back to the center of the bridge. "Keep your people here as a fighting reserve. We can't take chances with something like this. If the aliens take this ship, the war is over."

"Where's Kelly?" Shen demanded.

"Find her. Rouse the entire complement. I want anyone who can hold a rifle out there gunning for that device."

"That means us, I presume." Julie scurried for the door, heedless of her bleeding nose. "Come on, Sylvie!"

Richard Tygan groaned, grabbing onto the first lab counter he could reach for support. Laboriously, he got his legs under him.

"What happened?" He clutched his head. "Did we crash?"

"We've been shot down. Alien hunter craft!" Kipler wiped hot coffee off his arm, grimacing in the red light. "I've probably got a burn..."

"All hands to General Quarters!" The speaker hissed and fizzled after that. It didn't resume, and Tygan knew what that meant.

"Our secondary batteries must have been drained during the emergency landing. We don't have much power left." He hurried to his computer. "Jiaying? Are you still here?"

"She left just before the crash." Johannes Vermuelen popped up from behind a computer bank. "Said she had something to talk to the other Shen about."

"Find her." Tygan waited while his machine laboriously began the boot process. "Make sure she's safe. Doctor Kipler and I will make our way to the bridge-"

Wham!

"What was that?" Kipler's gaze shot upward, past the SHADOW Chamber's flickering lights. "Something hit the ship."

"Yes." Tygan's blood ran cold. He quickly hunted through his machine, pulling up any data he could find. "Not only is our primary power core deactivated, but..."

Wham! Wham!

"Vermuelen?"

"He's already left, Richard." Kipler hesitated. "Shouldn't we be off to the bridge?"

"I think that would be most unwise." Tygan issued another set of commands. "I am connecting this terminal to the ship's mainframe, and sealing the SHADOW Chamber to external entrance."

"Why?" Kipler demanded, as the doors jerked, hissed, and slid inward until they whooshed with a solid pneumatic seal. "Richard, that locks us in here away from everyone else on the ship-"

"Exactly." Tygan inhaled. "Unless I am severely mistaken, Doctor, we have uninvited guests landing on the hull."

"Suit up and check weapons! Everyone kit at full. We get one shot at this." Jane caught Cameron by the arm when she spotted him checking his sidearm. "Shadowkeeper, Sergeant."

"It's not here, Captain."

"Where the hell is it?" Jane swore. "Fine. Take your peashooter."

"What do I do?" Irina sat at the edge of the mess, her prosthetic still a piece of shit. She had a long metal rod she was using as a crutch, but there was no bloody way...

"Bridge. I want you riding shotgun on Central." Jane claimed a rifle from the rack and tossed it. Irina caught it without missing a beat.

"Could use a lift."

"I don't have anyone to spare." Jane had to ease out of the way then: Junior stomped through the madness in the Armory, helix cannon spooling up. His BIT followed, and then it was chaos as the GREMLINs descended on Aileen and Charlotte. Julie and Sylvie seized guns and extra mags, amps already glowing with power, and there was Liang, picking up a mag-cannon and not looking at Cameron in a very ostentatious way.

"I can't get there on my own." Irina's eyes darkened as she admitted it, but now was clearly not a time for false pride. "I can-"

"You can not be heavy, that's the best you can do, Comrade." Firebrand appeared from the next best thing to nowhere, throwing Irina's arm over her shoulders. "Now just don't suck too badly and we'll get up just fine."

"Don't die," Jane urged. Irina shot her a withering look: withering enough she winced.

"I'm not the one running out into battle, am I?"

"She's got a point, Jane." David appeared at her side, while Kang and Nui took their weapons and hurried past. "Advent's got us backed into a corner. There's going to be blood on the floor before it's over. No way do we all-"

"Shut up, Nitro." Jane grabbed the axes from the wall, throwing them over her shoulders. "Spider-suit, spider-suit..."

"Captain! Captain Kelly!"

"The hell are you doing here?" Jane frowned as she forced her way through the throng of soldiers, using her shoulder when necessary. "This isn't exactly-"

"Captain, I need you." Lily Shen's eyes burned with anger and cold, harsh fear. "Someone on this ship is overwriting my commands on the system. Even if your field forces destroy the EMP spike, I won't be able to reinitialize the engines from the bridge with that opposition."

"So what?" Jane blinked. "You need to kickstart them from Engineering."

"Got it in one."

"Why do you need me?"

"Because whoever's on the ship...is still on the ship." Shen's lips thinned. "After the Tower, you and I both know I'm not soft, but..."

"Damn it." Jane shot a glance at the hangar doors, hissing as they prepared to open. "Shen-"

"Go, Irish." Aileen clapped her shoulder. "I can take your field team." She paused. "Check it: four more, three o' clock."

"Four?" Jane turned...and froze. "Dragunova, you should be in medbay!"

"Fuck you too, Jane." The Reaper marched up gamely, temnotic rifle in hand. Jane's eyebrow twitched.

"I'm an officer, lieutenant."

"Fuck you too, ma'am." Dragunova glared. "If we lose this ship we lose this war. I'd rather die shot full of holes and shooting back than shot full of holes while lying in a white ward."

"Listen, you batshit crazy Russian-"

"I will protect her, Captain Kelly." Pratal Mox paused to don his helmet. "We will fight together, and your forces will be all the more capable for it."

"Advent-man has a point." Aileen nodded judiciously. "I'm taking them, since it's my op now."

"I didn't say-"

"Go be an engineer, Irish." Aileen turned and waved. "Meysam, you're in too!"

"I'm coming!" The Saudi paused to clap his companion on the shoulder. Then he raced off to the side, seizing a rifle in passing as he ducked into the armor storage. For her part, said companion took a deep breath, then hurried up.

"Can the shit, Bradford." Jane jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Shard gun, now. You're in and you don't get a say about it: it's all hands and most feet on deck at this point."

"But, Captain-"

"Shut up and do as you're told." Jane drew the axes and tossed them. Mariah let out a strangled gasp as she caught the bundle of Vahlen-made death by the hilts. "Kick a lot of ass for me."

"I..." Her eyes lit up with something like gratitude. "Captain!"

"Go!" Jane waved...and Mariah beamed. She raced for the armor storage in Meysam's wake. Jane sighed. "If her dad has a problem, fuck him."

"I'd hope you wouldn't."

"Go get yourself killed, David." Jane hesitated. "I shouldn't say things like that, especially today."

"I'm tough. Worry about yourself, you damsel in distress you."

"You're a jackass."

"You chose me."

"You're goddamn right." Jane caught his cheek, pulled him down to his level, and gave him a good-luck charm as old as time. They both quivered with the fears they couldn't express, but in that one moment...

"More where that came from if we win?" David wondered, when she let him go.

"When you win, soldier boy." Jane turned back to Shen, impatiently shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "Lead the way, wrench wench."

Commander Edward Gallant had, in his time, heard and used just about every curse in the English language. He'd heard some impressive-sounding rants in Arabic during his tours, and right now he was pissed off enough that even with an imperfect grasp of the language, he lapsed into trying that shit out.

"Yai ibn el sharmouta!" He probably fucked up the pronunciation worse than he'd fucked up leading XCOM in the War, but it was the thought that counted. "Kess ikhtak!"

"Commander!" Zhang seized the mattress pinning Gallant down, and he heaved. It shifted, then flipped, and Gallant's armchair spun away when the corner clipped it. The Commander snarled, grabbing for purchase.

"Cane!" He couldn't get to his feet, so he accepted a sitting position instead. He smacked Zhang on the arm when the old codger tried to pull him upright. "Find my fucking cane, that's how you help me." He breathed in, then out, trying to settle his pounding heartbeat.

Thump! Thump!

"The fuck is that?" Gallant paused, then keyed his com. "John, the fuck is that?"

"Commander!" Bradford's voice was welcome today, if not any other day. No one ever taught Air Force jocks to shut up. "We've been shot down by an alien EMP pulse. They're calling in troop transports from nearby bases in Richmond and Kill Devil Hills, and they've got battleships in tow."

"Fucking lovely." Gallant held out his hand, and Zhang threw his cane from the other end of the room. "I'll make my way down to the bridge. Keep us alive until I get there."

"Can do, Commander. Only, we have Advent units on the hull, aiming for the ventilation-"

Crash!

"Oh, Jesus!" Gallant threw himself backward as a pair of soldiers tumbled down from overhead, struggling to keep their guns as they hit the deck. Zhang slugged one in the face and he went down in a senseless heap - but more came on their heels, all with weapons at the ready.

Most of them bearing on Gallant.

"Commander? Commander, come in!" John Bradford swore, then abandoned the channel. "Someone get upstairs and check on him!"

"I'll go!" Volk waved two of his men with him, and they hurried for the hallway out even as Firebrand and Irina came in.

"Menace is deploying into the field, sir." The tech paused. "Shen and Kelly are headed for engineering, and the Doctors are secured in the SHADOW Chamber."

"Jiaying? Tariq? Vermuelen?"

"Vermuelen went after Jiaying, and I don't know anything more. Tariq is shipping out with Meance."

"Roger that." Bradford examined the holodisplay. He sucked in a gentle breath as he watched one icon - one icon in particular, one that gave him many mixed feelings - on its journey into the jaws of battle.

"Patch me through to all coms." He leaned forward on the rail. "Everyone."

Silence. It would probably be the last moment of that for a good long time, and Bradford savored it while it lasted.

The tech gave him a thumbs up.

"All units, this is Central. Security status red." He inhaled. "The perimeter has been breached and hostile units are moving in on all sides. I'm not going to lie: we are outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered and worse. The odds are heavy, and defeat here means the end.

"A thousand generations bear their eyes on us today: our ancestors, sternly watching to see if we, the untested children of the new age, can bear the torch of humanity's defense that they did for so long. Equally vigilant are our children and theirs, desperate to know if they will ever have a world of their own to call home - whether they will even have the right to exist.

"We will not yield with gentle grace. We will not surrender meekly. We will fight until the last man, because we are XCOM. We are the world's first - and last - line of defense. If today is the end of the war that has raged for twenty years, then so be it. But I have faith: faith in the judgment of history, and faith in you. Together, if we give our all to the fight, if we embrace the collective sacrifices demanded of us, and if we set our hands to this greatest task ever delivered to any among humanity, we will survive. We will win, and will be remembered until the ending of the world, among the greatest legends of mankind.

"Vigilo Confido."

"Vox Tala for Ten!" Betos threw her fist in the air. Bradford managed a smile.

His eyes went back to the curly-haired soldier running out with her fellows, as if she weren't the slightest bit afraid.

Maybe-

"Sir!" The tech froze. "Sir, I'm detecting Chosen signatures!"

"The Chosen?" Bradford's eyes narrowed. "Which one? The Hunter?"

"Sir..." The tech looked up, and there was nothing but terror in his eyes. "All of them, sir."

Author's Note 56: Put That Avenger Defense Music On Loop

I certainly did. I'll hear it in my sleep, and I'm not even done.

Be honest: this is the moment you always wanted in the game but we never got. I expect mods. And you should expect death and kickassery.

The title gag between this chapter and the last one is one that's been in my head for years. In one of my old, unpublished-for-good-reasons MS's, I used it prior to the first of the big battle scenes. Magic-powered railgun muskets vs legions of vampires! It was sweet. I have good ideas sometimes even if my execution is usually shit. Maybe I'll rewrite that series - for about the 20th time - before I die, but I doubt it.

Until next time, Vigilo Confido.