(Nikolai Shevchenko meets with me outside the offices of Ministry of Defense in Kiev. The tall man's dark hair is cut short in traditional military style, a holdover from his days in X-Com. The Ukranian's skin glows a faint orange, an effect of the bio-electric skin mod.)
Devil's Moon sent a shock wave through X-Com, our first engagement with the enemy and 3 of our own had come back in body bags. It didn't matter that we hadn't known them personally or that our only connection is that we worked on the same base, it could have just as easily been us or one of our friends that died. It's important to note that when the war started, only a fifth of all members had seen heavy combat. That changed pretty soon but it those confusing and terrifying early days, it was up to the old timers to keep us together.
Then suddenly we get word that a flight of Raven fighters had downed a hostile UFO. A UFO, I never thought I'd be told to assault a UFO when I joined but my entire platoon was sent. Overkill really, there were 7 sectoids and a single Thin Man alive when we got there.
He coughs harshly.
We were ordered to leave as much intact as possible but we used explosives as often as we could. It was cathartic, seeing those feared bogeymen in pieces. I was classified as a leftside CQC specialist and carried an M1014 shotgun, punched right through the thin man. But I was to close and he exploded like a fucking ballon, spewing gas everywhere. This was back when we were wearing Ballistic vests and basic helmets, absolutely no defense against gas. I breathed in too much.
He coughs again.
The medics saved my life for a time but missed an infection. My lungs are slowly shutting down. I will die soon from this damned Keprals (Named after Lieutenant Jason Kepral, its first victim) syndrome. But I've lived a good life and science gave me 6 years that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
(I say goodbye to him and head towards my taxi, him towards his car. Nikolai Shevchenko died of Lung failure brought on by Keprals 6 weeks after this interview.)