(I make my way to the center of Burrard Bridge, stopping and looking south at Granville Island. The city of Vancouver is especially cold this winter, definetly more so then my native Los Angeles. Despite being almost 1300 miles north, I find myself growing used to this city quickly.

Corporal Haku Tsubota is also an LA native, growing up in J-town. He was part of the "Second-Wave" of X-Com recruits, soldiers sent only after the attack on Hamburg.)

"X-Com, as I understand it was first created as an dumping ground. An Belgian program for soldiers to useful to discharge but too troublesome to keep in their regular units. If Belgium had held territory in Antarctica, these soldiers would have been sent there. This was back in the early 80s."

(A few rowers go underneath us on the False Creek.)

"It was only in the late 90s that it became something more. As a gesture of cooperation, X-Com was transformed into an UN task force to deal with unusual circumstances."

(He grins wryly, eyes a bit out of focus.)

"As one of the old-timers told me, it was still an dumping ground, just a much bigger one often sent on wild goose chases. Of course, back then an government, never mind a group of governments, funding an group of alien hunters would've be a laughingstock. As a result, every time X-Com went into the field, it would be under an new name. Usually logistical units, no one ever looks to closely at them."

(All mirth fades quickly from his face.)

"The first time we actually took to the field under our own name was when 137 people died. Compared to what came later, especially the disaster at the Port of San Diego or the 3 Gorges Dam catastrophe, it was a Thursday but it shocked the world."

(He pauses, a hand reaching into his pocket.)

"My first field deployment with XCOM was Operation Blinding Fury, on the night of March 31st, 2015."

(He nods as i stiffen.)

"You recognize the date, good. Most people remember that horrid night. I was part of the first unit to land, a full platoon carried in Skyrangers. Running down that ramp, our boots thudding on the metal."

(His eyes are unfocused, as if focusing hard on remembering.)

"The first thing that hit us was the screams, they seemed to echo in our helmets, coming from all around us. Then the smell of smoke and flesh burning. My squad came around a corner just in time to see a fleeing college student turn the corner, clad in only in a bikini. This purple and yellow blur slammed into her, snarling and howling as we fired.

It happened so fast, this young woman had come to Cancun as part of the annual spring break. She was young, probably only 19 or 20. Gone, instantly."

(He snaps his fingers.)

"Gone and that thing just took the bullets. We fired and fired, emptying our magazines and reloading before doing it again. When it finally went down, we'd hit it some 200 times. Utterly ruined it as an sample. I don't quite remember what happened next. My squad said i ran to the woman, shaking her, trying to get her to respond, telling her she'd be fine. It seemed like I didn't realize she was gone. They had to pull me off, Sergeant Thompson ringing my bell to snap me out of it."

(I notice his hands are shaking.)

"We spread out, reinforcing the local police and, once they arrived, the Mexican army. More and more XCOM teams landed every hour until we'd secured the area."

(He sighs.)

"I attended the memorial reopening last year. It was touching, a park where every brick had the name of someone who died."

(He stays quiet for a few minutes before asking if I'd like to get lunch. We walk to a small stand selling Japanese style hot dogs. We part ways after we finish our lunch. Haku Tsubota now works as a cook in a restaurant.)

{[-]}

Well, that was grim. So that was the first Terror Mission, a bit ahead of schedule. Sorry for taking so long, it's been a busy couple of months. I've finally graduated High School *Happy Dance* but my job hours have gotten longer to compensate so I don't have quite as much free time as I'd like.

Also, that XCOM2 trailer. So awesome. Basically everything coming out of E3 right now as well.

Hope to see you soon.