Chapter Two: Breaking Ground

5th of April 2115

Gagarin Cluster

Planet Aurora

The descent using the rope took no longer than few seconds, but for Gloria it seemed like an eternity. The moment she passed through the line of treetops she suddenly came out in a different world – humming of the Skyranger's elerium jets fall silent as the wave of heat and sounds from the jungle hit her, sounds of what she thought were birds, bugs and other animals.

Her boots finally hit the ground and she took a few steps forward letting go of the rope, grabbing pulse rifle hanging on her hip and assuming defensive position. Juan joined her on the ground, his shotgun covering different direction and the rest of her squad followed. Gloria took a quick glance at her PDA – they were all on the ground within 35 seconds, not bad she thought, but they could do better. Other teams were with them as well.

"McCain start blasting those trees over there, small charges, maximum two per tree. The rest of you hold position."

"Yes ma'am." A response came from everyone at once.

Couple of minutes later a chain of explosions tore up a usual jungle melody and trees fell down, creating a clearing of a considerable size.

"Timber!" A cheerful shout came from Monica as she detonated the last of explosives. "I think we're done here people." She spoke to her comm.

"Yeah pretty much, so who's going on patrol?" Gloria asked.

"I will stay here with my team." Yasunow quickly responded and just like that all slots have been filled.

"Overlord, this is Coyote 1-1, we have secured an LZ, moving to patrol with Coyote 2, Coyote 3 will remain here and guard LZ. How copy? Over."

"This is Overlord, solid copy 1-1, you may proceed. Overlord out."

Twenty minutes later they were deep within the jungle, Martinez on point, occasionally cutting a way through the vegetation with his alloy machete, Gloria one step behind him. The heat really started to be pain in the ass.

Gloria took a quick glance at her PDA linked with a motion tracker. Screen was lit up like a Christmas tree with countless signals emitted by the local wildlife, sound muted couple of minutes after leaving a soon-to-be base camp.

Momentarily Martinez roes his fist in the air and entire team stood still.

"What is it Loco? – Gloria asked as quietly as she was able to."

"Something large." Latino said closing his eyes for a second. "About 300 meters right from our location. And it's closing in on us."

"Defensive positions."

"Oh come on Sarge." McCain said in his ordinal shit-talking manner. "It's probably just a big snake, since when you're such a pussy?"

Gloria let her rifle hang as she turned towards the rookie, ready to make connection between her fist and his face. McCain realized that in time and assumed a defensive stance, but deep down he knew that nothing will save him from woman's fury. Rest of the team stayed as they were, covering all angles until Gloria says otherwise. McCain knew that this time he fucked up big.

Gloria stretched her back like a black panther ready to jump at her victim but something changed. A slight shift only someone with PSI abilities could realize. The next thirty seconds flashed in her head like a movie, speed up ten times.

A strange shapeless blob launched from the bushes with a hissing sound, Martinez fired his shotgun, but whatever it was, it managed to dodge the salvo of red death. In the heartbeat a blob wrapped itself around McCain and Gloria could swear that she heard rookie's bones crack under the pressure. Next second the shape let go of McCain, faster than Gloria could line it up, but Martinez and Daniels this time hit their mark. The Creature let out a hiss of anger and fled into the jungle before they could line up more shots.

O'Brien was the first to move, taking a knee next to squashed pile of meat that was McCain just a seconds ago. She gave Gloria a quick gesture – he's dead.

Gloria opened her comm channel, panic building up inside her.

"This is Coyote 1! We are under attack, enemy position unknown! We've got casualties! Over!" She has lost her cool, screaming in the radio, in the middle of a jungle, voice within her saying: "Get your shit together girl, you can't lose it now". She didn't wait for response. "Liz grab McCain! We're falling back!"

It took them only less than ten minutes to get back to the base camp, Yasunow's and Monica's teams on defensive positions as Gloria and Coyote 1 had bursted out of the jungle and took positions to take on any eventual pursuers.

Skyranger came shortly after. Gloria's comm crackled and she have heard a single most beautiful sentence a man could say, she raveled in joy when a familiar voice of Cpt. Barnes filled her ears.

"This is Pequod. On station at LZ."

Ramp of the Skyranger was sealed tight, the only thing between the team and a cold emptiness of vacuum, but despite team's presence ship's hold feelt empty. Everybody was staring down at the floor, trying not to look at the squashed sack of meat that once was McCain, his limbs arranged in angles human body is not suppose to reach. Pequod have finally landed in the Vigilance's hangar bay, ramp of the ship opened, medics waiting outside with the stretchers.

O'Brien lifted her eyes on the medics. Her eyes said everything and the medics took the body of McCain, as carefully as they could, placed it on the stretchers and left without saying a word. Team remained still for a few more minutes.

D was the first to break the silence.

"What the fuck was that?!" his hands turned into fists, fury in his voice more than visible. "What the hell happened there?!"

He waited, but no one responded, so he spoke again.

"So that's it then?! You're going to sit here, stare at the floor and say nothing?!"

"And what exactly should we say D?!" Gloria eyed the big man. "Hm? What do you want me to tell you? That it all went to hell? That we've fucked up?! That I've fucked up?"

"Easy there Sargento." Said Martinez. "Nobody says you did something wrong. We had no idea what we are walking into. It was just…" Martinez paused for a while, sighed and continued. " … just bad luck."

"Bad luck?! Is this what I'm going to tell on debriefing?! I'm sorry sir, but the dice just hasn't rolled in our favor?! This is bullshit and you know it Loco!" Gloria wasn't even trying to stay calm, she had to have it out. It was a little surprising – she never really liked McCain, hell, no one liked him and yet here they were, mourning him in a way. Asshole as he was, he was still their teammate.

"That's not what I've meant…"

"Forget it." She dismissed Martinez with a wave of hand. "I just need to have it out, I… you are dismissed." She said and went back to the armory, dropped her gear and back to her room. In there, she bumped into two comm officers she didn't even knew. No wonder, since they worked opposite shifts, but nevertheless she muttered something she wanted to sound like greeting and fell on her bunk.

She would have to write her After Action Report, but later. Right now all she needed was rest. As Gloria was laying on her bunk she started to feel weightless, her mind detached from her body in a way.

She was in her room on the Vigilance, but in the same time she was in a small cabin in the mountains, heavy furniture made of wood, a picture of her with her parents, taken when she was eighteen, a window showing her a blue-purple nebula, twinkling with countless stars hidden in it.

She never really understood the state she was in, whenever she went into her Inner Sanctum, deep within her mind. Time flew differently here than it did in the real world – she could spend hours in here, but it would be only a minutes in the real world. And she fell asleep on the couch as she was looking at the nebula.

It was dark, only indication of a human presence was a sound of a heavy military boots on a concrete. Then a figure emerged from the corner, his flashlight lightening up the corridor. It was Specialist Majewski on his patrol, armed with a standard issue pulse rifle every blue shirt, as XCOM staff called base security personnel because of their bright blue uniforms, carried. Majewski could never understood why he, or anyone really, needed to patrol these tunnels, especially since they were basically rigged with motion sensors, but it wasn't his job to question it.

Still this place gave him a creeps every single time. It was a whole different world down here and even despite the fact that he knew he's technically still in Poland, he couldn't get rid of a feeling that he's somewhere where no man should be. Patrolling these tunnels always made him feel uneasy, as if he was walking through the insides of a long dead giant. He saw a writing on the wall, time made it impossible to decipher, but letters in bold print were still easily recognizable as german.

This "Riese Complex" was adequately named as "Riese" meant "Giant" in german. And here it was – a massive web of tunnels build by Nazis, on the blood of their slaves, all to feed Hitler's megalomania, a place where he could build his Wunderwaffe and bring both Allies and Soviets to their knees. When Earth came under attack from alien invaders this place was chosen to house the base of Humanity's Last Hope.

Before the Great Conflict this complex was mainly sealed off, partially by Nazis themselves as they've flooded the tunnels when Red Army caught up to them and then by Soviets, who collapsed some of the access tunnels, but a certain people got this place back up and running in no time. Majewski was not the only one feeling uneasy here – some PSI sensitive personnel claimed that they have heard voices, screams that have sunken into the concrete, echoes of suffering prisoners that build these corridors.

Majewski have finally finished his patrol route and headed back to the elevator. The room with the elevator was fortified with sand bags, that could as well be over a hundred years old, covering Automated Gauss machine guns covering the corridor leading to it.

As he stepped into the lift and saw it's door shut behind him, Majewski finally felt "disconnected" from the remains of the giant. When elevator finally stopped on the lower levels and opened, he was in a whole different world… again. Corridors carved through rocks, well lit up by the lamps in floor and on the ceiling, occasional banner on the wall. This was XCOM HQ on Earth, this is where it all started.

This is the place outside alien reach… or it used to be. During the Great Conflict aliens somehow managed to find it and launched a tremendous assault with a sole purpose – bring XCOM down. But brave men and women, scientists and engineers, soldiers and blue shirts, they have held the line. And that failed attempt? It only made them angry.

To this day everyone who fell that day earned his or her place on the memory wall and in the memories of those who survived. In here you could probably hear every language used my man – from Polish through English, German, Russian, French to Chinese, Japanese, Afrikaans. Men and women from all around the globe, all working towards protecting humanity. Majewski had set sail on a mess.

The office was lit only by a single desk lamp. A bald man in the simple XCOM uniform was standing with his back turned toward the door, looking at a holographic display on the wall. Suddenly someone knocked at the door.

"Enter."

A black haired, asian woman entered the room and saluted.

"Commander."

"Yes Mei? What is the matter?"

"Reports from the Vigilance just came in, sir." She said, her voice uneasy and Commander felt that. That could mean only one thing – bad news.

"That quick? I though they have just reported reaching the Gagarin Cluster." He asked taking a drag from his cigar. "They either work really fast, or they are cheating in the reports. So what is it? You wouldn't came to me, if it wasn't important."

"The ground forces from the Vigilance came under attack sir. They have taken casualties."

Commander froze for a second then took another drag from cigar.

"Who?"

"PFC McCain. He was serving in Coyote 1…" She paused for a moment. "Your daughter's squad, sir."

"And who were they attacked by?"

"We don't know sir. Reports from Coyote 1 are… sketchy at best, our intel teams are analyzing their uniform cam feeds."

"Alright, give me a shout when we know anything new. For now you are dismissed."

"Yes Commander."

Commander was again alone in his office looking at the display on the wall. He had a feeling it was something more than wildlife. Something was not right here. He knew that he had to get to the bottom of this. This mysterious attack just convinced him that something is going on. Maybe the Collective is back, maybe they're not, but he wouldn't take any chances. He opened a comm channel to the Fleet Commander.

"Ann."

"Ian. It has been a while old friend." A familiar voice came out of the comm. Fleet Commander Anna Calvert. "What's up?"

"I need you to move part of your Battle Fleet, we may have a situation."

"Battle Fleet? Ian you know I barely have any ships, right? And the ones I have are mostly a scout ships and some transporters. Calling it a Battle Fleet may made it sound tough, but it won't give it any more firepower."

"I know, but we need someone there, should things go wrong."

"That bad, huh?"

"That bad."

In the deep space a enormous ship came to life. It lit up and started moving. Inside thousands of minds began to act. It has been set into motion. These minds were determined to do whatever it takes. The Leviathan has been awaken. And it was ready for war.