General Williams, Brigadier General Hummel and the other heads of the Alliance Military looked at the Alliance leaders with a collective poker face set not in stone, but unrelenting steel. "Would the honored council please repeat that?" Williams asked with a dull tone of voice.

"We feel that Commander Harper has been allowed enough time to run rampant. It is time for the Alliance Military to step in and assume its rightful place on the front lines. The Turians have yet to answer for the attempted genocide on Shanxi. They destroyed the lives of nearly one hundred million of our people. It has been three months since the unjustified attack on our people, and yet there has been no retribution or retaliation."

No one mentioned Commander Harper's decisions at Invictus. Only those in the know would speak of what had happened and only behind sealed doors.

"We understand that the primary cause to delay any wartime actions was due to the need to consolidate our forces and refit our fleets with the new models of shields and weaponry." Continued the Council representative, "However, these reasonable actions do not explain why it has only been XCOM forces whom have been taking any action against our enemy. XCOM is a special response team. One used for espionage, sabotage, infiltration and other special operations. They should not be serving as the scouting force for humanity's armies nor as our front line soldiers."

None of the collected leaders could properly reply to that. XCOM had frequently irritated the other armed forces of the Alliance. Constantly the extraterrestrial combat unit had abused its privileges to some degree or another. The elite troops of any branch could be conscripted into XCOM's ranks without prior notice, even if it was considered a privilege and an honor to join it was an inconvenience to those that were left behind.

"Due to the recent exploits by commander Harper, we feel that the powers and privileges used by the XCOM forces will need to be restricted and regulated in the future. We needed them three hundred years ago when we had no other alternative. Now we have a military in the billions guarding a population in the tens of billions. The military exploits that were once the sole undertaking of the XCOM forces will now be spread to other branches of the military. Overspecialization in any branch of our forces will only end in defeat."

Frank Hummel couldn't keep the smile off his face. For years he had petitioned with the council to cut back Harper's authority, and it had finally happened. It had taken dozens of back door deals and plenty of political maneuverings but Hummel's rival was now on a much tighter leash.

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When General Williams informed the XCOM commander of his impending loss of power he expected to see his old friend erupt in fury. What he did not expect was for Harper to stay seated and continue to calmly read his tablet.

"Harper did you hear me? XCOM is getting pulled back by the Council!" Williams insisted, annoyed at the lack of response.

"Hummel has tried to play that card for years Williams. Do you really believe that it would affect me, years after his first attempts?" Harper replied without moving his eyes from his reading, "Even without Hummel making his play so many times before, XCOM has been around for hundreds of years. We're the ones who supply the Alliance military with its weapons and armor, the fleet with the alloy it builds its ships out of. We've held the contracts for years. The Council can only pull our funding and the number of troops we receive. The power and influence they would need to shut us down now is beyond them."

Williams held his position, firmly believing that Hummel's actions were worth more concern. "Damnit Jack!" he swore in frustration, "It doesn't matter that you have extra funding, what matters is that this is the first time that he has ever gained anything over you in any political field! This is a clear sign that your star is waning in the eyes of the Council! You need to do something!"

Harper finally lowered the tablet, and rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. "Williams have you ever wondered where humans came from?"

"What does that have to do with the Council sweeping the rug out from under you?"

"Nothing at all." Harper replied calmly.

"Then why are you bringing it up?" the fleet General asked, confused.

"I've already told you about the meltdown Knives has been having correct?"

"The self blame or the part where he thinks hes just doing the Ethereal's work?"

"He's been doing extensive examination of all the data we have gathered. The genome, the history, the culture, so on so forth." Harper continued, "He's made several unnerving discoveries."

"Like what?"

Harper activated several hologram emitters in his office, displaying six different figures: a Salarian, a Human, a Turian, an Asari, a Batarian, and a Quarian. All adults and except for the Asari, all male."Across the milky way, these six are arguably the dominant species in the galaxy. All of us are bipedal, walk upright, have two arms and are carbon based lifeforms. We each need water and breath oxygen. Our digestive processes are almost complete copies of each other, with the exception of Quarians and Turians we could all eat the same foods without dying."

"So we have some similarities, so what?" Williams replied, stumped, "I don't see what you're getting at here Harper."

"Knives noticed these Coincidences and didn't like it. So he searched the culture and history of all of us to see if we had something in common that was support a theory he didn't want to believe in. Guess what, we all have one key trait in our histories that is common knowledge to our peoples."

"And what, pray tell is that?" Williams asked with a hint of impatience. Harper enjoyed a bit of drama, Williams did not.

"All six species have a missing link at some point in their genetic history. A point in their time line where they had a sudden burst of evolution that left very few fossil records to even suggest the link exists. The only race out there that has the same issue is the Krogan. However that was explained away by the Salarians uplifting them with genetic modification and chemical exposure."

Williams had a chilling sensation he knew where this conversation was heading, and he did not like it at all. "Are you suggesting that we're the end result of something's experiments?"

Harper leaned back in his chair, "That's exactly what Knives' research implies. It takes only a small adjustment to our DNA to turn a human into a chimp. Less than two percent change, yet somehow there are six dominant races ruling the galaxy and all of them look, act, and work impossibly similar to each other. I've had several teams of scientists double and triple check the data, but the results still come out the same. Something has modified and uplifted numerous species across the galaxy."

Williams hesitated, but asked the question on his mind, "So was it the Ethereal? Or...?"

"We don't know."

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Major Gui Montag was a mountain shoved into the form of a man. At over seven feet high, his form towered over the soldiers that he trained in camp and led on the battlefield. When he spoke even those in the ranks above him tended to listen. As he prepped his troops for battle the way they listened to the man spoke volumes of their loyalty and admiration for him.

"When Mankind talks about war we speak of it in contradictions." The Major began, "We herald it with trumpeted fanfare, and curse its existence in the same breath. When humanity fought each other in the past, it was for ideals. For beliefs. For Resources. Now we fight for survival. When the Turians assaulted Shanxi they awakened a sleeping titan. When we land in ten hours we will show them what hell they have brought upon themselves as a consequence."

The crowd of soldiers cheered at the thought of some well deserved revenge. Many had weapons in hand, most were empty handed, but all of those who were listening wore looks of excited pride on their faces.

"Last night the Alliance Council has decided to have the three-hundred and first Siege division be the retaliatory strike against the Turian Hierarchy. These bird brained bastards believed they have wiped us out. That we could easy be crushed in the waves of Nuclear fire they poured over our homes. Today we will show them that they are wrong. Humanity will never fall to such a pathetic tactic. They have killed our people, scorched our lands, and attempted to force genocide upon us because we would not bow to them."

"When the Ethereal attacked us, we suffered, we feared. We also grew stronger. With each battle won, our forces grew stronger, every alien bastard that attacked us died before our constantly increasing might. Shanxi was no different, we may have lost that battle but this war is far from over. We have the secrets to our foe's technology, their strengths have become our own, and we know their weaknesses. When we engage them in battle this time, there will be no mercy, no second chances. We will seize this world and purge the Turian taint from every corner of its surface. They stole ninety-seven million lives from our people because of a law that we did not know yet were supposed to follow. Now it's time we tell the Turians our unwritten law: 'Do not fuck with the Human race!'"

"In ten hours you will strap yourselves into over eighty kilograms of the best Ethereal alloy XCOM has synthesized, drop down to an entire hostile world held entirely by a species that has tried their hardest to kill us and failed miserably. When the Turians look up they will see their pure blue skies filled with the hellish rain of our comrades falling upon their puny little heads. We will make them tremble in fear as they realize that the heavens themselves are falling upon them, assisted by five million of the Galaxy's finest war machines, all aiming to make them pay for the travesty of Shanxi."

"Our target is the planet 'Altakril' located in the Thal solar system of the Shrike Abysmal. The planet is an ice covered rock most of the year, during it's summer period the whole place becomes a Garden of Eden. The planet lacks a standard defensive fleet or flotilla, its entire defense is based upon the heavy anti-space artillery that is stationed in every single population center on the entire planet. Normally the defensive power would decimate any force that came within firing range of those guns. Thanks to XCOM R&D those guns are now worthless against the new shields covering the fleet."

"When we arrive, the fleet will bomb the planet, focusing on communications and the anti-space guns. To soften any ground resistance XCOM teams have been sent ahead with the orders to sabotage everything they can. When the fleet arrives the Templars and Predators will be up first, then the infantry. When an area is secured establish a drop zone and a fresh off the line Subjugation Mech will be delivered to the target. After that locate any Turians left and Tag them. Every medic will have a pack with enough chips for two hundred Turians. If you don't have enough for all the bird brains, kill the spares."

Major Montag stepped down from his pedestal and took a deep calming breath. There was work to be done.

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Disarmed, low on ammo, wounded, weak from hunger and dehydration. Desperate was not the best way to walk to a negotiating table. Particularly to a negotiation where you might get killed before you sat down. David Anderson was an elite. The youngest Psi-Volunteer Class XCOM had ever produced. Top of his class in every field from piloting to Extraterrestrial-On-site-Procurement. To his friends however, he was a very shitty poker player. A man who was never good at the artistic bluff.

"Fuck me sideways..." Anderson thought to himself, for the fiftieth time. The Elite soldier was very hesitant to open peace talks with an alien. It went against everything he had ever been taught.

A drop ship holding an unknown species was in front of him, holding with it the potential to save his people. The new race that was before him were taking soil samples, looking over damaged tools and broken cars. They were mostly scientists, with a small guard of twenty. The guard didn't look like the shoot on site type, they moved like security guards: bored, loose, barely observing.

Anderson checked his gear out of nervous habit. No grenades, dull combat knife, a near empty med pack, two spare power cells for his rifle, no side arm, and a sniper rifle that had two shots left to it before it was empty. For combat, that was a horrible set up. Psionics were still possible, but after weeks of using inspiration techniques anything more than a set of mindfrays would cause the captain to black out.

Still debating on how to proceed Anderson activated his comm link, "If anyone wants to take my place?" He weakly joked. He heard a half a dozen disagreements. "Well fuck you guys too."

"Your the one in charge Captain," remarked team medic Melissa Lang, "You should have known negotiating with anyone is part of the job."

"I'm in XCOM I'm not supposed to negotiate with aliens!" Anderson hissed back. "Dammit I'm a soldier not a politician!"

"Do you have any better ideas captain?" remarked the team heavy. Johnson was mounting his Gatling plasma on a tripod, if shit hit the fan, the alien's drop-ship would have more holes in it than a fisherman's net in seconds.

Anderson strained his fatigued mind for anything that could work. Anything that would grant them an edge towards surviving a new encounter. Seizing the ships wasn't an option. The fight could damage the vessel and was no guarantee that they would win the fight. Mind controlling the new species was possible, but the strain that it would place to control so many would quickly end in disaster for whomever tried it. Even if the burden was split between all the psychics still capable of mustering the necessary focus, the effort to hold these newcomers for long would undoubtedly cause neurological failures.

"But what about a weaker technique..." Anderson thought, with a flash of inspiration.

"Everyone who thinks they can do it, I want you to perform a half-assed meld with the new aliens."

Every member of the team instantly thought that their commanding officer had gone nuts from radiation poisoning, "What? Captain, have you lost your goddamned mind?" Melissa accused

"Just listen to me!" Anderson commanded, "When we form a meld we share everything we sense with each other. I want you all to force a feeling of trust and a desire to help. Think of it like a weak version of the mind control techniques, instead of forcing your will on them, force them to trust us and want to help us. We need to get off this rock and if we have to fight our way off world I can guarantee we are going to die!"

"I don't like it Captain," Johnson replied cautiously, "What if this new breed are psi-sensitive or got tipped off by the Turians?"

Anderson's face puckered like he had sucked a bag of lemons dry, "Then we fake a surrender, get taken aboard and take over once they lift off! For fucks sake stop second guessing everything and get a grip! We need to get to space and this is our chance! When I give the order we are going to hypnotize these bastards and get ourselves a trip home one way or another! I am not letting us die here!"

Anderson calmed himself, drawing on his self-discipline and training, "Get ready to put on a smiling face people! We move in five."