XCOM: The Atlas Protocol

by Xabiar

After the destruction of the dreadnought, tensions between XCOM and the Council are higher than ever. Despite growing opposition and oversight, the Commander doesn't hesitate to push humanity further into uncharted territory, as well as dealing with an ancient global conspiracy, and a growing number of countries looking to take advantage of an invasion that is only just beginning.

42. The Battle of the Citadel

The Battle of the Citadel

---

The Citadel, Situation Room

"Status!" The Commander demanded, striding into the room, helmet tucked under his arm as he approached a similarly armored Van Doorn, Patricia and Bradford. Shen and Vahlen were executing their own portions of the Atlas Protocol, Jackson was preparing the defenders at Mission Control, and Zhang was preparing to deploy his agents throughout the Citadel.

Patricia wore her new Aegis armor, now sporting her usual dark red color which would no doubt be much less shiny after today. Under normal circumstances she'd have likely been ecstatic over the improvement, but now she looked at best concerned. Her helmet rested on the holotable, her face stoic, staring at the ever-encroaching UFO as it got closer and closer to the Citadel. But he sensed her resolve, he sensed it in all of them.

If they were going to go down today, they would go down fighting.

Van Doorn also wore his own variation of the Aegis armor, colored in a dull gray with light blue highlights. Flashes of purple gathered around his hand as he absentmindedly called upon his own powers. The General was also appraising the oncoming UFOs, but in a way the Commander had seen often before, calculating and methodical. A method he'd utilized much before. They'd had many discussions regarding the weaknesses of the Citadel, and he knew as much as the Commander when it came to this.

Bradford wasn't wearing the Aegis armor, but instead an advanced variant of the original Kevlar armor. His was far more armored and layered with additional padding. All the staff from Analysis and Communication didn't have the access to the advanced armors the soldiers had due to limited resources, but the Kevlar variants had been pushed to the point where it could take at least one plasma shot.

But not very many after that.

Although Bradford's something of an exception, since his variant was laced with the heaviest alien alloys XCOM had. Jackson also had a similar suit, though it was a bit lighter than Bradford's. Analysis and Communications personnel also didn't have full helmets; instead, tactical helms with exposed faces and a small clear visor over their eyes provided a limited HUD.

What Bradford did have that was fully up to standard was a prototype gauss…cannon that rivaled Patricia's autorifle in terms of sheer power. It was an assault rifle on steroids, as far as he could tell. It chewed through ammo in seconds, but had a massive clip and if the simulations were accurate, able to rip through a cyberdisk easily.

That prototype had been deemed by Shen as inefficient and too resource-intensive, so he'd been planning to scrap it when Bradford asked to use it instead. So that had become his own personal weapon, the precursor to the gauss rifles they used today. This time, however, the Commander felt that the pulse weaponry was going to be more useful for his rifle, but there were still excellent uses for his gauss sniper rifle.

Patricia was sticking with her autorifle, but Van Doorn now wielded the aptly named 'autoblaster', the pulse cannon that seemed decidedly unstable at least to him since the core barrels were exposed and glowed a hot red. Shen had assured him that it was just as safe as the autorifle, but the weapon looked decided fragile to him.

But it would definitely work.

"An hour at most," Bradford updated as he took his position opposite Patricia. "I've received confirmation from Vahlen and Shen that they are ready to defend their positions."

The Commander nodded; he'd received the same confirmations. Van Doorn pushed some buttons on the holotable and a recreation of mission control came up. "I've set up the personnel in Mission Control as best I can," he pointed toward the circular doors which lead into the uncharted caverns. "We know that they'll likely strike here, so I've positioned our soldiers near the front, and regulated the Analysis and Communications staff towards the back and on the second floors."

"Good choice," the Commander nodded grimly as he looked at the layout. "They won't hold out in a straight up firefight."

"Not without support," Bradford amended. "But they can hold their own. They have the weaponry at least."

That they did. Even if armor was restricted, weapons were cheap enough to produce that all the staff were at least armed with gen-1 laser weaponry. Conventional weaponry was a thing of the past, for better or worse. Glass cannons the support personnel were, but it was much better than nothing.

"Right," the Commander nodded, reaching down and changing the hologram. "I've set up the soldiers in the Hangar as well, though that's straightforward since they're almost certain to attack from the top. But we should be able to defend that position easily."

"Same with the supply halls," Patricia added with a nod. "There is a lot of cover available, but I've set my soldiers at elevated positions around the room. There is the risk of attacks from the roof, but more likely from the tunnels leading to the surface."

"The biggest problem is going to be where the Ethereal attacks," the Commander said slowly. "I do believe we can hold against whatever the aliens throw at us, but an Ethereal will guarantee our defeat unless our psions converge and take it out."

"I wouldn't put it past them to send a Hive Commander or another psion along with him," Patricia said, grimacing. "Not if they really want to wipe us out."

He sighed. "You're right. But no matter what they throw at us, we can win. That Ethereal had to flee before, and if we can corner it again, we can ensure it won't escape."

"That is the best-case scenario," Van Doorn pointed out. "But you're right. Guess it all comes down to this."

"That it does," the Commander nodded. "Which is why we need everyone to help. You said Herman is getting ready?"

Van Doorn nodded. "He is, and is at Mission Control now."

Good man. "Excellent. I think we need to let Nartha help as well."

Patricia frowned, and both Van Doorn and Bradford looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bradford asked slowly, rapping his fingers on the holotable.

"Not entirely," the Commander admitted. "But I think the risk of it backfiring is low. He wants to prove himself, and this is a way to do it. Aside from that, he's a trained soldier and we need as many of those as possible. Patricia, what do you think?"

"I don't think he's untrustworthy," Patricia admitted, clearly not happy to admit that. "But if the Ethereal arrives…he might turn…"

"If an Ethereal arrives, I doubt it'll be just him we have to worry about turning on us," the Commander stated bluntly. "Unless anyone has any serious objections, that's what I'm doing. Anyone?"

They weren't that happy about it, and neither was he, but none of them raised any objections. "Then it's settled," the Commander said. "Patricia, you ready in case they start off with a psionic attack?"

She nodded. "I am, which will certainly happen. But a mass-mind control attempt won't be as powerful as a direct attack, so if each psion nearby defends against local psionic attacks, you should probably negate the worst of it."

"Well, let's hope that training paid off," Van Doorn muttered, flexing his fingers. "I somehow doubt an Ethereal will go easy on us."

"Unlikely," Patricia nodded. "But if he can be resisted for a few minutes, he'll likely hold back instead of wasting energy. That's all we need."

"And what if there's more than one?" Bradford asked quietly.

"Then we're screwed," the Commander said bluntly. "But let's worry about that if it happens, ok?"

He nodded. "Yes, Commander."

"Good," the Commander looked each of them in the eyes. "To your stations then. Good luck and it's been an honor to serve with you." He saluted them, and they all eventually returned it.

With that all of them left, Van Doorn and Bradford to Mission Control, Patricia to the Supply Halls and him to the Hangar. Even against stacked odds, he had no intention of dying today. That was not how this story ended.

---

The Citadel, Holding Cells

Nartha knew exactly what was happening. He'd known the second the klaxon started blaring throughout the base. The Atlas Protocol was being initialized which meant the Ethereals were coming.

And he was stuck in this cell.

He scowled as he paced. Regardless of what happened, he didn't want to die in this cell. The Ethereal was almost certainly leading it, and his army of Mutons, Vitakara and Sectoids likely would kill him if they managed to get down here.

Or worse, decided to take him in for questioning where he'd receive a full psionic interrogation and then a summary execution. Or worse than that, a subject to be sent to the Shapers.

But he wasn't strong enough to break out of the cell, and even if he could, that would likely lead to him being shot by XCOM soldiers. The only way out of here was if the Commander decided to let him participate in the defense, and the chances of that happening were roughly 50/50 from his own baseless speculation.

It really depended on which justification entered the Commander's head first, because either way had its advantages and disadvantages from an objective point of view. He thought the Commander had some amount of trust in him, but if that'd be enough for him to let him participate in the defense…well, that had yet to be determined.

The door to his cell suddenly swung open and an armored XCOM soldier walked in. It had the build of a woman, and was somewhat smaller than him, even armored. The armor also seemed a bit different, sleeker, thicker and well…more armored. New from XCOM Engineering. The armor was painted a deep red, with a white emblem of a hawk inside a diamond on the shoulder. A scout.

He raised an eyebrow, the number of possible identities narrowing itself pretty distinctively. A new kind of laser rifle was attached to her back, and in her hand was a familiar case. "Shun?" He asked, somewhat hesitantly, but mostly convinced it was her.

His suspicion was confirmed when she spoke, even though her synthesized voice. "Yeah, it's me. We're going to be under attack soon if you haven't noticed."

Nartha indicated the ceiling and continuing alarms. "Somewhat hard to miss. Why are you here?"

She set the case down and kicked it in his direction. "You want to help us?"

Nartha nodded. "I do."

She nodded towards the case. "Get suited up. Orders from the Commander to let you help."

Nartha's chest eased at that. At least he wasn't going to die in a cell. "Thank you," he told her as he knelt down and unlatched the case and found a suit of armor similar to hers.

"I've also got standing orders to kill you if you try and betray us," she warned, though she was clearly amused. "So don't do that, please. I really don't want to kill you."

Despite the situation, Nartha chuckled. "Duly noted, Shun. I know the Commander is taking a risk."

"Well, I think he made the right choice," Shun said as he began putting on the chestpiece. "Alien or no, you're a good soldier."

"Glad you approve," he grunted as he began tightening the armor, realizing it was a bit heavier than the previous iteration.

"Let me help," Shun said, stepping forward and securing his armor while he pulled on the gauntlets which actually clicked into place with the center piece. He flexed his fingers, nodding in satisfaction as he confirmed his full range of motion. Even if it was a bit heavier, the armor looked and felt vastly superior to the previous iteration.

Aside from that, it just felt good to be back in an XCOM uniform.

Shun stepped back and nodded once. "Looks good, just the helmet."

Nartha picked up his helm and flipped it onto his head once more, waited a few seconds for it to boot up and once the HUD initialized, gave a thumbs-up to Shun. She reached down and handed him one of the new laser weapons. "Pulse rifle," she explained. "New and improved laser weapons. Supposedly will cut through outsiders."

Do they now? Nartha wondered, grasping the weapon, noting that it retained the customary lightness compared to conventional and gauss weaponry. "Let's hope so. I think we'll be finding that out soon enough."

"We're going to the Hangar," Shun said, motioning him to follow. "The Commander is leading the defense there."

Nartha nodded, then frowned as a new thought struck him. "Do the others know I'm coming?"

"No, but I wouldn't worry," Shun said nonchalantly. "The Commander will deal with anyone who has a problem. Besides, I don't think the majority of new soldiers know about you, or even care."

"Ah, good to know," he said, hoping she was right. "Where are the others?"

"Van Doorn and Bradford are defending Mission Control, Patricia is defending the Supply Halls," Shun explained as they rounded a corner. "Shen and Vahlen are coordinating their own defenses. Don't ask me about Zhang."

"Guess they're as ready as they could be," Nartha said slowly. "All we can do is wait."

"Yeah," Shun sighed as they ran towards the Hangar. "But only for now."

---

The Citadel, Supply Halls

There were two clear entrances. Two circular tunnels that led to the surface. Patricia had set up several crates and trucks to provide some initial cover, though never intended for it to be a permanent beachhead.

That was behind her.

If needed she would let the aliens into the actual storage area, a boxed in kill zone which would allow the soldiers set up on the high ground overlooking the storage depression to easily kill anything that moved. The two offices near the entrance would also be excellent for killing the initial waves, but secure enough to retreat to the open areas when the alien forces became overwhelming.

Soldiers in position, she telepathically sent to the Commander and Van Doorn. Thankfully she was able to contact them easily since they stood out so clearly within the Citadel.

Confirmed. We're ready and waiting, Van Doorn sent back.

Acknowledged, The Commander also replied.

And now all she could do was wait. She'd split up her initial defense forces between the two entrances. She, Veronika and Orvil were taking the right side, while Annette, Latrell and Han were taking the left. Franklin and Creed would provide support for both.

Patricia was disappointed that the Goliath wasn't ready to be deployed, but Franklin in his Ballista-class suit would be more than adequate for defending in such close quarters. She actually had quite a few of the new soldiers with her. Orvil from the French COS and one of the North Koreans, Han Su Hon.

Whatever issues the soldiers may have had with each other, all had been dispelled once the klaxons began blaring. Now all she sensed from everyone was a shared resolve, determination and anticipation. She wasn't ignoring the fear and nervousness some of the soldiers exuded, but it wasn't uncontrolled. Frankly, all of them should be scared.

But they were soldiers. They were trained for this, and each of them would retain control once the plasma and lead began raining down.

Then almost immediately, it began. A blanket stab of psionic energy jammed into her mind, freezing her initially as she took a few previous seconds to defend herself. Han fell to one knee, clutching his head, while Orvil didn't seem affected yet.

"Psionic attack!" She simultaneously yelled and transmitted to every other psion in the base. "Focus!"

Annette also seemed to have resisted the initial attack and Patricia sensed her growing anger and focus outward. For her part she focused on the soldiers around her, specifically Han first, doing her best to remove the psionic strands that were being planted in his mind. It took a few seconds, but his mind was soon protected and she moved to the rest of the soldiers behind her.

It seemed Garen, Aya and Meru were also suffering a similar attack. All were trying to resist, but they were not psions. They couldn't hold out against a sustained attack for long. But fortunately this psionic attack was as brute force as could be possible. Intangible and broad, with the command being simple and easy to defend as a result.

Kill.

Uninventive, but all it would take was one to get through and cause havoc. Patricia gritted her teeth. Not today, Ethereal. She fed on her own anger and frustration to amplify her own powers, methodically finding each of her nearby soldiers and securing their minds, an invisible shield over all of them keeping out the poisonous thoughts.

She realized she'd dropped her weapon and was gripping the railing with enough force to slightly bend the steel. Something she really only noticed when she opened her eyes and observed the purple-tinted world. Everyone was focused, ready and prepared. She was linked to everyone, the Battlemaster of the coming fight.

She didn't know how long she stood there, stiff and stoic as a piece of stone before the psionic attack receded. It could have been minutes or an hour. But it was gone. It was suddenly over and that was when it hit.

The entire base shook.

And she sensed him. Not by her. But he was here and coming to finish the job.

He's here. She sent to all the psions. Could you defend?

Barely. Both the Commander and Van Doorn sent back and she let out a sigh of relief.

Barely was ok. Barely meant they'd done it.

Well done, psion. The wail of the Ethereal's voice entered her mind. A good resistance. But that was only a start. By the end of today you will be dead and XCOM destroyed forever.

The words were stated with absolute certainty. Words that she couldn't help but be nervous by. Yet she still knew they had a chance. We will see.

She felt what seemed like amusement from him, but then again, it might have been her imagination.

---

The Citadel, Mission Control

It had been a while since he'd been in full combat armor, much less while prepared to rely on it. Herman was glad he'd practiced a bit with the gauss weapons, so he did have something of a clue as how to fire the damn things, which was more than he could say for some of the staff above him.

Mission Control was a very enclosed area that held against several choke points which were all fortunately on the far wall. Two circular doors that led deeper into the caverns, and the storey above had two doorways which led to the same area. The center of the room held a depression containing the hologlobe, and surrounding it were desks and short white walls which ended up making for decent cover.

To the right was Bradford and Jackson's personal offices, which was also now being used as cover by several of the soldiers. There was a second story overlooking Mission Control which held most of the non-combative staff, which meant their chances of surviving were somewhat higher. Privately, Herman was concerned that they'd get spooked and might hit some of the soldiers below them.

Then again, maybe not. Peter would probably be able to maintain their discipline, especially when he was surrounded by nearly twenty of XCOM's soldiers, as well as one of the MECs in the Marauder-class suit. Bradford was also on the second floor wielding his monster machine gun, which would no doubt also keep his people in line.

Peter did seem a little shaken now, and Herman suspected it had something to do with the odd sensation he'd felt a few minutes earlier. Several of the soldiers and staff had fallen to the ground, one had even tried to attack Bradford who'd then subdued him with a sharp crack to the head with the butt of his rifle. A psionic attack for sure, but one that seemed to be gone now.

Now they were just waiting.

The entire Citadel shook.

Several of the soldiers exchanged glances and trained their rifles on the entrances. His limited HUD displayed soldier names, but little else. He wasn't wearing the armor of Peter or the XCOM soldiers, which was expected, but Herman did wish now that he was a little more armored. "Here they come," the soldier to his right, Endre Pridan, muttered.

Peter was pacing slowly behind the hologlobe as they waited, his right arm engulfed in psionic energy as he doubtless was preparing to utilize it. And if he was preparing now, Endre was right. They were close.

"Weapons up!" Peter ordered, his synthesized voice doubled by the psionics. "They're coming now! Remember that we are the first and last line of defense! This is not just a battle for us, this is a battle for the future of humanity! For the future of Earth!"

A loud shout sounded from every person in the room, nearly shaking it themselves with its intensity. Several shouts were accompanied by a fist pump or extended salute. Herman simply nodded in approval. Not the best speech Peter had ever given, but it was good enough and set the tone while reminding them what they were fighting for.

"Fire on my command!" Peter roared, raising his psionically sheathed arm as the moment finally drew close. He could hear it now. Faint whirring. A roar. A chitter.

Sectoids. Mutons. Drones.

They were bringing everything, it seemed.

Then it happened. The doors blew open and several mutons came charging through. Green ones wielding their normal plasma rifles who wasted no time beginning to aim. "Fire!" Peter shouted, thrusting his hand forward, and a shimmering purple field appeared in front of the mutons, preventing them moving forward.

All six were instantly annihilated by the barrage of laser, pulse and gauss fire from everyone in the room. But that was only the beginning. More mutons charged through, now accompanied by several mechtoids which were shimmering with psionic shielding from other sectoids. Herman aimed his weapon towards one of the mutons and fired, grinning as it fell back with several holes in its head.

Fire from above cut one mechtoid down before it had a chance to fire, while Duygu Nur, the MEC trooper raised his wrists and immolated the remaining mutons as well as scorching the remaining mechtoid. Said mechtoid was attempting to return fire, but Peter was manipulating a shield in front of it, which absorbed the plasma while every other soldier ripped the MEC apart.

The whine of engines caught his attention and he looked up just as Cai Wong pointed up. "Floaters!"

They were floaters alright, bursting through the second floor doors with an oddly graceful flight. But these weren't normal floaters. They'd been enhanced. Gray masks covered their faces and every single vulnerable point had been either covered up with armor or removed entirely. There weren't haphazard experiments released anymore. There were flying killing machines wielding massive plasma rifles.

The weapons fire immediately turned skyward as the floaters began their aerial attack. One threw a grenade towards the second floor and even though Bradford shredded the machine, Herman heard several screams as the grenade took its toll. Another floater managed to get behind one of the soldiers, Enzo, blasting him almost point-blank in the head before Cai and Zerren destroyed it.

The other two were being forced to move evasively, but it opened the door for more units to get through. Herman looked to the doors to see more mutons coming through and this time taking positions. Up above a couple cyberdisks were flying through, and clearly ready to unleash hell down upon them.

"Take out the floaters!" Peter ordered, his armor encased in a shimmering purple copy. "I'll hold off the cyberdisks!"

"Providing protection." Duygu stated robotically, as he moved in front of Peter as he stood and extended his hands to the mechanical disks which were suddenly surrounded by a shimmering purple field. Stasis of some kind. Herman fired up on of the floaters, clipping it which was enough for some of the analysts above to finish it off. Pelin and Sierra, two of the soldiers shot the other one a few seconds later.

"Clear!" Bradford yelled.

Peter nodded and dropped down into cover as they began working on the new threats. The mutons were beginning to fire on them from their entrenched positions, and the cyberdisks were transforming into their killing variants. One muton went down, but Vivian Li, one of the Taiwanese soldiers fell back as several plasma bolts slammed into her head.

The cyberdisks then opened fire, raining golden rounds down upon the MEC which tore into the armor with a massive amount of force. "Taking fire," he stated calmly as he raised his massive gauss cannon. "Require assistance."

"Zerren! Take them out!" Bradford yelled, and the Turkish soldier pulled out his rocket launcher and aimed at the two disks.

"Firing!" He yelled and the rocket shot out with a boom. The cyberdisks seemed to realize what was happening and one immediately withdrew into its shell while the other was blown to pieces in a shower of shrapnel and yellow fluid. The rocketeer whooped at that as did several other soldiers.

But the fight was far from over. More mutons were coming in, taking even closer positions while the entrenched aliens laid down a layer of green suppressive plasma fire. And these were the elites. Red armored mutons that towered over their green brothers. But the good news was that they made for much bigger targets and there were only three of them.

"Duygu! Take out the greens!" Peter yelled, his power restored somewhat. "I'll shield you! Everyone else focus on the elites!"

"Support, focus on the right one!" Herman heard Bradford order and that one was immediately the target of four laser beams and hundreds of gauss fire, forcing it to a knee by the sheer force of the attack.

"Focus on the legs or head!" Herman shouted, hoping his voice registered with some of them as they began dealing with the other two. Duygu was suddenly encased in a shimmering purple field and he began charging the muton line, plasma fire melting off him by water. Two shots from his weapon blew the heads off two mutons while a flame blast immolated several more near the doors.

Herman focused his fire on the head of one of the elites, the beast roaring as it became the target of so much firepower. It lowered its weapon and spat out green plasma, shredding the cover of Jae Man-Tu, one of the new South Koreans. He tried getting into more cover but a green bolt clipped his leg and the moment he went down, was annihilated by more barrages of plasma fire.

The elite that Bradford's team was focused on was now dead and lying in a pool of red and yellow. The one Herman was focusing on was bleeding profusely, but not quite dead yet. The final one was engaged in a melee with Duygu and seeming to lose. Strong the muton might be, but even it was small compared to the being of steel.

Two shots from Duygu's weapon blew holes in the muton, and it's strength didn't match either. Duygu jammed a metal fist forward, slamming it into the faceplate of the muton which stumbled back, while he raised the other fist and unleashed a sustained gout of blue flame at the muton which shrieked in utter agony as it melted from within.

The remaining muton was also dead thanks to the combined fire from Bradford's team, and they were now focusing on the remaining cyberdisk which had opened back up and was aiming at the second level. Its barrels hissed as it spat golden projectiles, and Herman heard several more screams from above.

"Seok! Sierra! Take that out!" Peter shouted and the three soldiers in question raised their pulse weapons and fired sustained beams into the cyberdisk, the red beams drilling through the metal in seconds. The cyberdisk immediately tried once more to turtle up, but it was too late and in the middle of the conversion, it exploded.

"More coming!" Ariel yelled and Herman swung his weapon back to see some new kind of enemy charging through. Actually, specifically at Duygu. They were mutons, at least from what he could tell from the armor. But these were the same size as the elites, and instead of wielding plasma rifles, they had two serrated and curved blades attached to their wrists.

Two were charging at Duygu, while the remaining three charged into the line of soldiers, shaking off the barrages of laser and gauss fire like they couldn't feel it. Each hit resulted in a roar, but that only seemed to make these aliens angrier. One cornered a terrified Perrie Tarot, and quickly impaled him in the head with the blades, though that allowed them to execute the muton quickly.

Peter was focusing on another soldier, Golan, shielding him as another of these mutons attempted to impale him. Herman aimed at the joints of the muton, and seemed to score a hit as the muton fell to the ground, roaring as it pulled itself towards the vulnerable soldier.

Duygu was alive still, but taking damage as he attempted dealing with these mutons designed for melee combat. One was pretty much dead, but the other was still going strong, and more mutons were coming through, now a mixture of elites and normal ones. Herman felt his head sink as he saw the reinforcements arrive. How many of these were there?

The initial berserker mutons were dead, minus the one still assaulting Duygu, who finally killed it by managing to grasp its armored head and squeezing till the metal leaked tan and yellow. But now he was under fire from the other mutons, his armor scorched and sparking from the plasma fire.

"Suppressive fire!" Peter roared and with a rallying cry, all of them focused on the new line of mutons, forcing them deep into cover once again. Herman's chest eased a bit as they kept it up. They still had the numbers advantage here, and with the berserkers dead, it seemed like that might be the worst of it. They still had to assault other parts, and even if the elites were difficult, it could be done.

Herman screamed, as did every other soldier as a wave of pain tore through them. Agony which he'd not experienced in years. Peter wasn't quite as affected, stumbling back, looking around frantically. Through the pain Herman looked up at the second floor and saw the Ethereal standing above them. Cloaked in red, the air distorted around him, the being withdrew a shriveled purple arm, palm up.

Herman watched in horror as Bradford was drawn towards the Ethereal, gasping as another wave of pain tore into him. Bradford was similarly in pain, suspended well above the floor of Mission Control, directly before the Ethereal. Herman would have fired at it if he could, but the pain was making it difficult to focus on anything but.

"Shoot it down!" Peter roared, his body flaring again with purple light and Herman felt the pain recede and raised his rifle at the Ethereal.

"Your war is at an end," the Ethereal roared, making Herman want to make himself deaf to never hear that voice again. "Your effort was admirable, but not good enough." His arm flared with purple and Bradford's body was ripped apart by purple wreaths of energy, cutting him into pieces which then fell to the floor with a wet flop.

Two more hands extended as every single person forgot the mutons and focused on the Ethereal. Lasers were turned away and bullets missed while the Ethereal weathered the storm of death. Purple energy flared around its lower arms and a maelstrom of energy appeared on the floor by Peter, tearing Aindreas, Cai and Golan apart. Peter managed to survive by sheathing himself in a purple shield.

But now the pain was back. Terrible pain that made him not think clearly. He just wanted the pain to stop and there was only one way to do it. He stood, and shuffled forward, not sure why he was moving forward, nor why the mutons weren't shooting at him. The world was fading away, slowly engulfed by the pain and need to do something.

Peter was shouting something, raising his hands once more towards the Ethereal.

Which he couldn't allow. Not anymore. He just wanted the pain to stop.

He raised his own rifle towards the General's head and fired at point-blank range. Peter fell forward, dead instantly. Yet the pain was still there, and the sheer enormity of it caused him to fall to the ground, wondering what he'd done to deserve it. Why wouldn't the pain stop? Was it all a lie?

His vision becoming blurry, just above him he could see one of the elites above him lower his rifle towards his face and smiled. Ah, so this is what it meant.

The elite fired and the pain stopped.

---

The Citadel, Hangar

The good part about defending the Hangar was that there was one clear line of attack. The opening at the top allowing aircraft to arrive and deport. The Commander had set up the soldiers in such a way that if needed, they would be able to retreat further into the Citadel, as well as moved the skyrangers out of the line of fire. Directly underneath the opening was no cover whatsoever. It would be instant death for the first few waves that came down.

He had just over twenty soldiers and two MECs. Enough to defend this place.

Thanks to Iosif and with a bit of his own help, that brief psionic attack hadn't lasted too long and everyone had been more or less protected.

"They're above us," Iosif muttered to him as he readied his weapon. "Can you sense them?"

The Commander concentrated above. Yes. Slightly. Iosif was more sensitive than him when it came to this, but there was definitely a lot of life on the surface. "Somewhat," he answered. "Only a matter of time."

The Hangar opening to the surface boomed as the aliens attempted to get inside. "Ready weapons!" The Commander ordered, pacing behind the line of soldier, keeping his eyes on the opening. "Open fire the moment they drop down! Understood?"

"Yes, Commander!" They all shouted in response.

Another boom shook the ceiling. "XCOM is the first and last line of defense," he continued as he watched the hatch bend slightly. "Today we are the last. If we fall today, the world will soon follow. But I know we won't fail. XCOM has faced the worst the aliens have to offer and we've survived. They have nothing more to threaten us with!"

"Damn right," Carmelita agreed with a furious nod.

The hatch blew open with a bright explosion, scraps of metal falling onto the floor with a loud clang. Six floaters flew in, and these ones were much more armored than the previous iterations. Likely the perfected design. But the air was instantly lit up with bright red and green beams of destruction with gauss fire mixed into it.

Two of the floaters were instantly taken out by pulse weaponry, and the others were forced into evasive maneuvers while attempting to navigate the deadly minefield of gauss and laser fire. One swerved close to the line attempting a strafing run and the Commander seized the opportunity and reached out, gathering his psionic power and caught the floater in mid-air.

It almost physically yanked him forward, but the catch was enough to allow Finn and Abel, two of the new soldiers to quickly tear it apart. "Outsiders!" Shun shouted and the Commander looked forward to see four of the outsiders jumping into the ground, as well as one of the massive outsiders wielding a deadly plasma cannon. Well, hopefully they could actually kill it this time.

"Apis! Jerra! Iosif!" The Commander called. "Take care of the floaters! Everyone else focus on the outsiders!"

There were shouts of acknowledgement and within seconds the majority of fire was unleashed on the outsiders. Two pulse beams drilled into one of the outsiders, which fell to one knee, seemingly surprised that it couldn't absorb the energy and another beam added to it finished it off.

The other outsiders began ducking and weaving, shooting off their own plasma shots, but without much success. The outsider leader was unperturbed by the hail of fire and began laying down a barrage of green fire towards the line of XCOM soldiers. Several ducked and there were several close calls, but no casualties.

The lack of cover was proving to be a problem for the aliens, as two more outsiders were ripped apart or disintegrated by combined gauss and pulse weaponry. Another outsider fell from the sky while the Commander once more gathered his power and directed it around the outsider leaders, and had it rise up, his hand raised in the direction of the being.

Now more aliens were literally dropping in. More outsiders and some new kind of muton, also in red armor, but with blades attached to the gauntlets. The outsider leader looked around in confusion, while the Commander slowly applied pressure to it, slowly clenching his hand into a fist. He had no aspirations of killing the outsider, but the weapon…that could be destroyed.

The final floater fell from the sky, although that was only a brief respite as six more flew in, requiring a portion of the fire to be redirected towards the aerial threat. The weapon the outsider leader was holding began sparking as the pressure the Commander applied crushed the metal and delicate components within.

It exploded and he let the outsider drop, the being sparking and cracked, though it would heal itself within a few seconds. The outsiders still weren't having much success, still unable to weather the storm of pulse and gauss for enough time to get to anywhere safe.

"Carmelita! Go!" The Commander ordered, knowing the Iosif would also know what to do.

"Copy!" She yelled, and Iosif's body flared as he directed a shimmering shield around Carmelita who jumped directly into the fray. The new mutons had already started charging, but Carmelita overshot them and landed by the outsider leader and instantly fired several bursts from her alloy cannon into its head, finishing it off.

She leapt back a few feet as a couple mechtoids fell in, and began training their own weapons on her. The melee mutons were also having more success weathering the attacks from the XCOM soldiers, only screaming and roaring as metal and fire burned into them, the pain only seeming to make them angrier.

But they were getting too close for comfort. "Amahle! Take out the chargers!" He ordered. The woman in the Marauder suit stormed towards the charging mutons, raising her firsts and engulfed the line in a storm of blue and orange flame.

"Firing barrage!" Sanya also stated from his Ballista MEC suit. A wrist packed with missiles rose and unleashed a barrage on the tripod of mechtoids. They tried scattering, but Carmelita had distracted them enough that they couldn't move until it was too late. Samuel whooped as the mechtoids fell to the ground in a mixture of melting metal and flesh.

The Commander felt a burst of elation as he saw more aliens fall to XCOM. He looked up to see several of the floaters still trying to get a shot. He focused his power around one of the floaters, and unlike the outsider, this one was weaker and could be dealt with. He clenched his fist, watching with satisfaction as the floater's armor crumpled, and began screaming as the metal that protected it became a lethal prison. The engines that propelled it exploded and the Commander yanked down, throwing the now-dead alien corpse to the ground.

He grinned at that. That particular feeling couldn't be replicated. But this wasn't nearly over. Another floater was shot out of the sky, and still more aliens came pouring in. This time it was a consistent barrage over a few minutes. First at least six muton elites, eight floaters, four mechtoids and six outsiders.

They really planned to overwhelm them with numbers.

"They're getting desperate!" Iosif yelled, still engulfed in purple energy as directed psionic shield around the more targeted areas.

Carmelita had long since jumped back into the line of soldiers and was firing continuous barrages at the encroaching line. One of the soldiers yelled and the Commander looked over to see Colanar Sanger, one of the newer soldiers fall back with his head gone. Now the sheer force of the alien pod was making it difficult for retaliatory fire which meant it was time for a few strategy.

The outsiders were first, followed by the elites and finally the mechtoids. Outsiders wouldn't be a problem as long as there were clear shots. "Iosif! Amahle! Flame them!"

"Affirmative," Amahle confirmed beginning to move into the thick of the fighting.

"You're protected!" Iosif told her, as a thin purple field appeared over her. "Go now! It won't last!"

"Sanya! Target the floaters!" The Commander ordered, gathering his own power and raising both hands to focus on the first line of outsiders. He didn't do anything to them, just tried holding them in place while Amahle raised her wrists once more.

"Killing them with fire!" She stated and cones of flame engulfed the pod, breaking their discipline and forcing them to scatter.

"Targeting hostiles," Sanya confirmed, a small missile pod rising from his shoulder pointing up. It fired several micro-missiles as several of the floaters, none of which were able to evade the seeking missiles.

Their line broken, the outsiders were destroyed in a concentrated line of pulse and gauss fire. The still-burning elites were stumbling away, still firing wildly as they tried to return some of the weapons fire.

The Commander focused on one of the elites, though instead of focusing on the body, instead focused on the head of the elite and squeezed his hand into a fist. He gained far too much satisfaction by watching the metal fold in on itself into its head, yellow blood leaking from the crevices around the neck. That satisfaction gave him a rush that dispelled any exhaustion he felt at performing that act.

"They're still coming!" Yeva shouted while she fired at another elite. All the floaters had been dealt with, the elites were dead or dying, and both Sanya and Amahle were engaging the mechtoids at close range, leveling burst of flame and simple punches at the smaller machines.

Behind the pod of mechtoids were some new aliens he hadn't seen before. It appeared to be in an armored suit of some kind, the helmet nothing more than clouded green transparent material. They were smaller than the mechtoids, but were more bulky and wielded some variant of plasma weapons which were attached to some container on its back.

There were four in total, and all of them aimed upwards and fired green...blobs?

"Cover!" The Commander roared as he saw the blobs heading for the line and stepped back. It seemed to be a liquid of some kind. Most of the soldiers managed to step back, but Romed Virgil was caught in one of the blast radiuses, though didn't live long as the substance ate right through him.

"Acid!" The Commander called. "Take those out!"

Sanya fired his weapon at point-blank range into a stunned mechtoid and immediately joined Amahle in dealing with the new aliens. There was still one mechtoid alive, but it was quickly taken out by the line of soldiers.

Amahle fired another burst of flame towards the aliens, but unlike the previous ones, it didn't seem to affect them at all and instead they raised their wrists and shot a burst of green gas at her which immediately began eating through her armor as soon as it made contact, forcing her to step back. Sanya took the hint and also dropped back, firing a small missile in return.

Amazingly the alien was able to take the full blast, though the impact forced it to one knee, but the others kept approaching, firing green lances of plasma. A kind that seemed to tear through weak cover. Calebe shouted as one of the beams tore into his arm, falling to the ground. While Blake rushed to help him, the Commander focused on the aliens.

"Aim for the helmet!" He ordered. "Hit the weak spot!"

They shouted several confirmations and refocused on the helmets, which were thankfully quite large. But this damn armor could certainly take a lot. The aliens had likely realized that the helmet was weak and reinforced it with the hardest substance they could have. But even that couldn't hold out forever, as cracks began forming in several of the helmets of the aliens.

Carmelita jumped forward, shielded again by Iosif and unloaded several barrages from her cannon directly into the faceplate of one, which broke with a loud hiss. A thin screech sounded from inside and the alien within slumped forward, the skin drying in wrinkling within seconds. The suit it had apparently been driving also came to a stop, and Carmelita turned away to move to the next one.

Except that the suit began moving and raised a gauntleted fist. "Behind you!" The Commander shouted, frantically reaching forward and telekinetically holding up the alien gauntlet that would slammed into her. She spun around and leapt back as it swung at her with its weapon. It took her a second to adjust, but to rectify it she reached for her belt and pulled out a grenade and tossed it into the suit and leapt back.

The body inside was ripped to nothing, and that did seem to do the trick. The suit fell to the ground a few seconds, sparking and leaking yellow and green fluid. The soldiers were also figuring out ways to deal with these new aliens. Several were focusing pulse weapons at the legs, cutting them off to halt their progress. Sanya and Amahle were flanking them as well, targeting the tanks on their back, splattering them with the acid, which at least prevented them from using it against them.

Another alien fell to the ground, sparking as the suit gave out while another's helmet got blown off. Sanya fired several more missiles at the downed alien for good measure, and the rest of them focused on filling the remaining two aliens with metal and lasers. Once a sufficient amount of time had been devoted to that, the Commander raised a fist and silence filled the room.

The moment of adrenaline fading, the Commander surveyed the room. The Hangar was splattered with alien blood and corpses, with only two casualties and one injury of their own. A good start if he said so himself. "That couldn't have been the last of them." Nartha said, walking up. "They wouldn't give up like this."

The Commander agreed, but there was actually a good reason for that. "They know they can't win here. So they'll either attack a different part or want us to come to them."

"The UFO?" Iosif asked, the frown evident in his voice.

The Commander smiled. "Exactly. Big Sky?"

The pilot had taken a rear position, but had survived and seemed very eager. "Yes, Commander?"

He pointed at the now-destroyed hatch. "Could the skyranger fit through that?"

He appraised the hole. "The aliens were clean with the explosion…so I think that could work."

"Commander!" Jackson's voice interrupted, and he immediately switched to her channel.

"Status?" He demanded.

"Retreat!" She breathed, the sounds of fighting in the background. "Bradford and Van Doorn are dead. The Ethereal is here! We're retreating to Patricia!"

Damn it. So that was where it was. "Copy, I'll come to reinforce there as well." He switched to Patricia's frequency. "Patricia?"

"We're holding them, Commander," she answered, while fighting raged in the background. "What about-take that out!"

"Hangar is secured for now," he answered urgently. "Mission Control has fallen and the Ethereal is likely headed towards you. I'm heading there to respond."

"Copy! We'll be waiting!"

"Carmelita!" He called as he strode towards her.

"Yes?" She answered instantly.

"Take what soldiers we have left and take the UFO," he ordered. "I'll be leading a team to reinforce Patricia."

"What about me?" Iosif asked. "If the Ethereal-"

"You'll accompany them," the Commander interrupted. "If there's another psion on board, they need a means of protection."

He gave a brief nod. "Understood, Commander."

"Samuel, Yaseen, Jona, Maven, you're with me," he shouted, turning on his heel. "Good luck Carmelita."

"You too, Commander," she said. "The UFOs will be ours."

He nodded and with the soldiers behind him, charged into the Citadel to reinforce Patricia and slow the alien advancement.

---

The Citadel, Supply Halls

Patricia watched emotionlessly as two of the lesser mutons suicidally charged the elite, mixing it up between firing their plasma weapons and straight up punching it. They didn't really have much individual thought anymore. All that mattered was what she willed.

A fact that many of the aliens here had learned the hard way.

She'd only lost one so far to sustained outsider attack, Han. There had unfortunately been little she could have done to stop that, but it still felt like a failure. But the rest of the room was filled with dead or dying aliens. She'd figured out quickly that the elites were resistant to mind control, even if she could break through eventually.

It wasn't possible at all on the outsiders, but that was something she had suspected to begin with, which oddly enough made them the most dangerous of all the enemies here. The aliens had started small at first, sending in mutons, the enhanced floaters and only now had they begun sending more heavy forces.

Six cyberdisks floated through, a ludicrous amount even for something like this. Smart too, since she couldn't control them. Now might actually be the time to pull back…oh, hold on. Accompanying them were more mutons. Foolish.

Their minds were so simple now it only took seconds to break into them and plant a few simple commands. Kill the machines. Then each other. Their eyes became glazed and they immediately aimed upwards towards the cyberdisks. Several of them transformed into their attack modes and began firing on her soldiers, while two focused on the controlled mutons.

Patricia heard Annette yell, and watched as the woman sheathed in energy rose and directed her destructive powers at one of the open cyberdisks, the energy writhing around the machine, damaging vital components, scorching and tearing the metal apart which concluded in the cyberdisk exploding in a brilliant yellow flash.

Creed, Latrell and Myra also took another one down a few seconds later, getting the attention of the other open cyberdisk, which rained down more fire, steam rising from its cannons as it forced them back into cover. Patricia felt several more aliens approaching, and looked up to see about six more of those suited aliens coming through.

They were interesting, and one of the best unexpected resources in this fight. They weren't particularly psionic resistant, but they were extremely difficult to kill since it had taken three mutons to take down just one. The only drawback was that once the pilot died, some kind of AI took over the suit and made it a problem again.

But she could work with that. She focused around the alien minds, ones that seemed more methodical than mutons, yet not devoid of emotion like the sectoids. What she'd really imagine beings hooked up to cybernetics would be. All she had to do was imprint her will on them like she had with the others. Attack your allies.

The encroaching aliens paused once she sent the command, then a few seconds later began firing up, down, wherever there was an alien. Anywhere but at XCOM. One of the aliens raised its wrist and sprayed a mist of acid at one of the cyberdisks which instantly corroded the material. Before the cyberdisk could move, she and Veronika added to the mix and shot it out of the sky.

"More fast ones!" Orvil called as he directed her attention to more of the melee mutons charging into the fray. They were somewhat tricky since it seemed they were so hyped up on drugs that rage was the only emotion available to them, which made it difficult to control their minds. Two of the suited aliens turned to face the muton and began firing at it.

The alien charged blindly, shrugging off the plasma fire and slamming it's spiked gauntlets repeatedly into the green helmet of the alien. Even when the other one sprayed it with mist, it didn't seem to slow it down and only punched harder until the glass cracked with a burst of air and glass. The muton roared and charged forward while the suited alien had to start dealing with the AI controlled suit.

"Orvil, get back!" She called as she watched the muton charge his position. "Creed! Franklin! Kill it!"

MEC and soldier turned to the charging alien while Orvil stumbled back, clearly surprised by the ferocity of the attack. Patricia focused on impressing slow into its brain but it was too blinded by pain and rage to pay any remote attention to her suggestions. Creed missed his shot, but Franklin scored one on its leg and with a last leap it lunged toward Orvil and tackled him to the ground.

Roaring in triumph it stabbed down at his helmet and neck, the blades piercing the weak points with ease. Fuck. Franklin stormed over and laid a solid punch into the muton, throwing it several feet back before unloading several gauss rounds into it's head at point-blank range. Patricia looked over to the other side to see Annette manipulating a swirling energy storm that was consuming three of the suited aliens and the remainder of these muton berserkers.

Annette herself already had a miniature storm around her body, Patricia suspected that the energy around her was just as lethal as the energy tearing the aliens apart now. But standing up, surrounded by power and extending one claw-like hand towards the center of the maelstrom, she looked as close to invincible as Patricia could imagine.

The energy only swelled further as Patricia connected to her, let her draw off her own strength and she watched as bit by bit, the aliens were ripped apart with no subtlety or grace. Once the storm finally died, only pieces remained. At that point two mechtoids charged in, took a look around, and that was all she needed to get inside their empty minds.

Go back out and kill everything.

The mechtoids hesitated somewhat, then turned around and did exactly that. Patricia then motioned all of her soldiers to come back. "Head to our retreat position. Let them come closer to us."

They all shouted an affirmative and they all rushed back to join the bulk of the soldiers. It also seemed that Zhang had joined the fray with some of his agents. "Director," she greeted, walking up. "Glad you're still alive."

Even under attack by aliens, he sounded unimpressed, even through his Aegis armor. "The same could be said for you, Psion. What is the situation?"

"Contained," she answered, looking over at the entrances. "The aliens are weak-willed, and we control the battlefield. It's not going to change much unless psions begin arriving."

"And they will," Zhang promised grimly. "The Ethereal just took Mission Control. Bradford and Van Doorn are dead."

Hearing it again didn't make it easier, but hopefully he had some news the Commander hadn't mentioned. "Any survivors?"

"Jackson is leading a few of the soldiers and personnel here," he answered. "The good news is the Commander has secured the Hangar and is sending the team to assault the attacking UFO."

"Yeah, I got that," Patricia nodded, tapping her helmet. "He's on his way too."

One nod. "Yes. The aliens will also likely attack the labs and Engineering Bay along the way. That should buy us more time to prepare."

"Unless of course the Ethereal wants to take his time," Creed muttered grimly.

"I don't think so," Patricia said slowly, shaking her head. "I think he'll come to me as soon as possible."

She reached out and quickly located the Ethereal coming towards her. Unmistakable. She sensed nothing beyond duty, resolve and pain. He was coming to kill her and end their war once and for all. There would be no prisoners taken in this attack.

"He's coming here," she repeated dreamily. "He's coming to kill me."

"Hey." She felt a hand on her shoulder and reached back to grasp Creed's hand. "We've beat him before," he promised. "We'll win again."

"We will," Zhang stated with a cold confidence. "I've faced beings like him. Ones who believe power makes them invincible. They often overestimate their power and we proved it once, and today we shall prove it decisively."

She understood where Zhang was coming from, but this Ethereal wasn't like an overconfident general. He had no bravado. No overconfidence. Why should he bother with either when he knew that he had incredible power? If anything, she was concerned that they were underestimating him.

But all they could do was prepare. And she did had a good idea of where the Ethereal would attack from.

"Warn Shen and Vahlen they'll likely have company," she ordered Creed, before turning back to Zhang. "Anything else?"

"The United States is sending air and ground support to the Citadel," Zhang confirmed. "Most will likely die, but they might be useful in clearing the aliens out and supporting the attack on the UFO."

Patricia pursed her lips. "Then let's hope that the Ethereal was the only powerful psion here."

She could hear the frown in Zhang's voice. "Can you not sense another?"

"This deep? No," she admitted. "Not to mention the Ethereal is powerful enough to possibly obscure any other threats and I don't want to waste energy looking for something that isn't there."

Zhang seemed satisfied with that, and they stood there for a few minutes, looking at the carnage ahead. "How many do you think they have?"

"Several hundred or a thousand?" Patricia sighed. "I don't think it really matters. Unless the Ethereal is killed, the others are just distractions."

"Then focus on that," Zhang said, raising his weapon. "The rest of us will deal with the distractions."

She smiled wearily. "Let's do that. We've got an Ethereal to prepare for."

---

The Citadel, Research Labs

He had always wondered what sort of experiments Vahlen and her team were running behind closed doors. Weapons, he'd thought. Stuff with the MELD substance, clearly, though what that entailed he didn't know what to think. This entire place had been an…experience to put it lightly, especially upon first arrival.

Not like Iraq at all.

Jamali and Lesedi exchanged a look, even through their helmets they could convey just how unreal this felt. The aliens attack was partially the cause, and had been a day he'd been secretly dreading for a long time.

No, the main cause of his discomfort was the unholy chryssalid in front of him. Not just one, either. Six.

Six large, armored, and very much alive chryssalids.

Fakhr had almost blown up the labs when she'd seen the beasts around Vahlen and her team, who'd been frantically putting on armor and grabbing odd-looking weapons and grenades. Had Vahlen not come storming over demanding she put the weapon down, he'd have never figured out these were 'friendly' chryssalids.

So, right then. They'd been growing chryssalids.

Chryssalids.

He wondered what the Commander had been on when Vahlen had suggested it to him, because he knew she'd been the one to suggest it. He suspected they were together, so he doubted it had taken much for Vahlen to convince him of the 'benefits.'

Although to her credit, the chryssalids were staying a good distance away while they were set up in the labs, having turned over some of the desks and equipment for cover. Lautaro and Lesedi were beside him, while Ralph was towards the front, and slightly behind him was Fakhr. Not a lot to begin with, and the scientists were in the back to provide support.

Jamali pursed his lips as he looked at the scientists. Their armor was barely better than typical ISOF gear from Iraq, and he knew that it wouldn't last under any kind of alien weapon fire. To make up for it they seemed to have an array of creative weapons he could only guess at. Only Vahlen was appropriately armored with the Aegis armor and helmet, which was colored a pure white. Not like he'd really expected anything else.

She was pacing behind them, commanding an intensity that could only be the result of psionics. She was likely doing everything she could to keep her pets in line, so he felt it best not to disturb her too much.

The room suddenly shook, and all of them looked up. Jamali clenched his gauss rifle a little tighter. He really hated not knowing what was going on. "Mission Control has fallen," Vahlen finally said, drawing every eye on her. "The Commander has warned that the aliens are coming our way. Prepare yourselves."

There had been a brief debate over which soldier was in charge, but since they were all special forces of one kind or another, it really didn't matter, experience-wise. Fakhr had seen the most action, so she was the official Squad Overseer, though Jamali had a feeling that Vahlen wouldn't comply if she felt her ideas were better.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

"So we still hold the Hangar and Supply Halls?" Ralph asked from the front. "Patricia and the Commander are alive?"

"Correct," Vahlen confirmed. "I suspect Mission Control was where the Ethereal attacked, and thus why it fell so quickly."

Jamali looked around, wondering if anyone had somehow missed the implication. Allah protect them all. "Then that means the Ethereal is coming here?"

Vahlen hesitated before answering. "Possibly."

Jamali didn't need to be a psion to feel the mood in the room turn…concerned at the very least. His ears perked up as the sound of heavy footsteps echoed down the hallways. "They're coming!" Lesedi called, raising her rifle.

"Weapons up!" Fakhr ordered.

Everyone complied except Vahlen who stood straight, the air around her shimmering. "Dr. Vahlen?" Jamali asked. "You should probably get into cover."

She looked down at him dispassionately. "In time, but I want to see how they work."

He rolled his eyes at that, wondering if she realized that she could do the same from cover. That was not going to make his job easier, and if she died because of that he didn't envy the person who told the Commander his girlfriend had died due to her own stupidity.

Then it happened. Two green-armored mutons charged into view and began firing their plasma weapons, shattering the glass. Then they saw the chryssalids and hesitated, which was that moment when they roared and charged the mutons. It was clearly something they hadn't expected as the chryssalids tore into them and covered their bodies like spiders before ripping out their faces and throats.

One of the chryssalids raised its bloody jaws and screeched in triumph as green plasma fire streaked towards them from deeper down the hallways. They roared and charged off and the sound of alien grunts and screams was audible to them. Jamali didn't take pleasure in their agony, but it was better than it being human.

"They seem to be working well," Lesedi muttered as an elite came into view, unleashing its cannon at the oncoming chryssalids. "Who would have thought?"

The two chryssalids attacking the elite were whittling it down bit by bit, their nimble bodies making it difficult to land shots and one had attached itself to its back and was furiously stabbing into the muton with glee. Two chryssalids suddenly came charging back, followed by plasma fire which was revealed to be from two outsiders.

One stamped a crystalline foot on the back of one chryssalid, pinning it despite the struggling and fired several plasma rounds into its face. Looked like it was their turn. "Fire!" Fakhr ordered and Lautaro and Ralph fired their pulse rifles into the outsider while the rest of them fired at the other. Jamali saw the rounds chip off parts of the outsider's leg, and fire from Lesedi and Fakhr blasted parts of its head off. One of the scientists threw some kind of smoking grenade at the outsider and it exploded with a white burst.

A freeze grenade apparently, as the outsider was covered in a thin sheet of white. He aimed carefully at the head and fired a few shots, shattering it. Looking over at the other one, it had been disintegrated by the pulse weapons and the remaining chryssalids were ravaging the elite which was somehow still alive.

"Shoot it when they leave!" Vahlen barked, her voice unnaturally doubled. Jamali didn't need to ask what she meant, so when the chryssalids dropped off and scuttled a few feet back, they all fired at the elite and finished it off for good. It wasn't to last sadly, as two more muton elites charged into view and now began firing at them.

The remaining four chryssalids immediately began attacking the legs, but that didn't seem to do much. Jamali focused on the helmets, knowing that was a weak spot. The thing was that this cover wouldn't last under prolonged plasma fire, something Ralph found out when the desk he was hiding behind melted in two from the sustained fire of the elite.

He tried rushing back but both elites saw him and not even the Aegis armor could protect him from that much damage. Several of the scientists threw some flash-bangs towards the elites, but that didn't seem to do much for them. But the chryssalids were at least distracting them. One chryssalid was chewing on the hand of an elite while the rest were jabbing their razor-sharp claws into the other.

Two more green mutons came in and initially focused their weapons on the soldiers, before a blank look came over them, and instead they raised their weapons towards the elites and fired. The plasma was a lot more effective than claws, it turned out, and the surgical strike against the face killed it relatively quickly and they moved on to the next one.

Jamali looked back to see Vahlen have her hand outstretched towards the skirmish. Yes, she was definitely doing this. Under normal circumstances he'd be very uncomfortable, but right now he was simply grateful. What he did note was that the size of the hallways leading here meant that there wouldn't be any mechtoids or cyberdisks. So that was something.

A roar sounded from the hallway and another red-armored muton came charging in. But the helmet was different and it had bladed gauntlets on the hands. Oh, that wasn't good. Vahlen apparently directed the green mutons to focus on the new threat, but the plasma didn't seem to hurt it the same. It tanked several shots and plunged a bladed fist into the uncovered face of one of the mutons in a shower of yellow.

It immediately yanked it out and repeated a similar procedure with the second muton, its blades clearly made out of a sharp and strong substance to penetrate even the weak points. Jamali looked over to see the chryssalids had finished with the elite and were now leaping on the melee muton which was now flailing around in fury as it tried to throw off the newly attached chryssalids.

Another similar muton also joined the fray, and with no chryssalids to distract it, charged the XCOM line. They all fired at once and the fire seemed to slow initially, but it fixated on Fakhr and leaped at her, stabbing downward. She leapt back just in time, but not quick enough to dodge another bladed arm stab into her side.

She screamed as it raised another fist to finish her off, which it froze. "Kill it!" Vahlen screamed. "I can't hold it forever!"

Every rifle turned on the alien and the combined force turned its head into dented metal and misshapen tan flesh. It felt back, pulling the blades in Fakhr's side with it. Jamali dashed forward, med-kit in hand as the chryssalids dealt with the last melee muton. He wasn't a doctor, but it didn't look like an artery or something had been hit since the amount of blood coming out wasn't life-threatening.

"Hold still," he told her, spraying on the wound. "You'll be fine." She groaned as the mist hit her exposed flesh but eventually nodded in confirmation that she was fine. He let out a breath and helped position her against an overturned table facing away from the fighting.

Jamali returned to the situation at hand, and saw a lot of dead aliens, blood-soaked chryssalids and one dead XCOM soldier. But no more aliens. He let out a sigh. That could have been a lot worse. Perhaps weaponized chryssalids wasn't as idiotic as he'd assumed.

There was silence for a few moments while they reloaded and checked themselves. "I don't sense any more nearby," Vahlen finally said, stepping forward. "They probably don't want to send more down here."

"Which means they're attacking somewhere else," Lesedi pointed out. "I doubt that was the last of them."

"We should go help someone else," Lautaro suggested. "Doubtful I was, but those animals probably saved our lives. We need to use them."

"We don't move without orders," Jamali reminded him. "Atlas Protocol specifically states that."

"I'm contacting the Commander," Vahlen said, raising a hand. "Hold on."

She must have disabled her vocoder since it was a couple minutes before she spoke again. "We're to reinforce Patricia now. Move out," she turned to her staff. "Hold this position. I doubt they'll be back, but do whatever you have to."

"I'll stay here," Fakhr groaned, rising. "I'll only be a hindrance out there. You need healthy soldiers."

"Understood," Vahlen nodded. "Protect them and we'll be back."

That was a promise Jamali really looked forward to keeping. Flanking Vahlen, and with the remaining chryssalids in front, they charged toward the Supply Halls.

---

The Citadel, Supply Halls

"Here come some more," Zhang muttered as more aliens came in from the tunnels to the surface. Patricia's lips curled up as she watched them approach. Most of them were set down right before the open area, and had designed the cover in such a way as to defend against an attack from all sides.

But the aliens coming wouldn't pose a problem. A few planted orders in the minds of the floaters and suited aliens and they were suddenly fighting each other yet again, while the XCOM soldiers mowed them down with pulse and gauss fire.

This was going well-

Patricia gasped as a wave of pain rushed through all of them. He was here. But now she knew how to defend against this. She first banished the pain from her mind, and focused on disrupting the aura the Ethereal was emitting. Within a few seconds the pain had receded enough for the soldiers to scramble to their feet and Patricia turned to see the Ethereal standing alone, cloaked in his tattered robe.

"Creed…" she said slowly. "Hold off the others. We'll handle the Ethereal."

She felt his anxiety, but he understood. He would direct half the soldiers towards pushing back the alien reinforcements while the rest of them fought the Ethereal. "Understood, Overseer."

"Shoot it," she growled, striding forward as she felt amusement rippling off it. The soldiers set up began shooting gauss and pulse lasers at the Ethereal, all of which missed or were stopped in mid-air as the Ethereal raised a hand, the fingers relaxed as it easily weathered the storm of fire and bullets.

Annette yelled and drew her right arm back, it encased in purple energy and thrust forward, a beam of purple light jutting out of her hand. With surprising speed the Ethereal stepped to the side and responded by withdrawing its two lower arms and yanking backwards. Garen and Renato were pulled towards the Ethereal and slammed onto the ground in front of it.

Patricia attempted to attack it's mind directly, pressing the order delay, delay over and over again. But the Ethereal wasn't weak enough for that to work. It's arms flared with purple flame and directed the energy on the downed soldiers, warping their bodies beyond any sort of recognition. Annette responded by throwing more bursts of energy at the Ethereal with simply took the smaller shots.

"Foolish child," it said as it withdrew its lower arms within its robe and directed the extended one towards her. "You cannot hurt me." Annette was suddenly lifted up and thrown across the room, slamming into the far wall with a clang.

Latrell hissed and unleashed a renewed assault on the Ethereal which simply deflected or caught all the gauss rounds spit from his weapon. Veronika took that opportunity to scoot around for a flank, holding fire until she had a shot. Myra also stepped forward, firing her own weapon. Patricia added her own flavor of attack against the Ethereal, though instead of any pain, she just forced upon him a loud ringing. A disorienting noise that was little more than an annoyance, but distracted him from any sort of surprises.

Patricia really hoped Creed was keeping the other aliens back, because all of them were completely exposed. "You use the tactics of an amateur, Psion," he hissed, withdrawing an arm in the direction of the flanking Veronika. She gasped and was lifted up, clutching her throat. "You know we do not sense the ordinary world like the unawakened. We feel it. We feel mind. That cannot vanish no matter what sounds you make my physical body hear." He twisted his wrist and Veronika's head snapped completely around with an audible crack and her body fell limp to the ground.

Why did she think that would work? She wasn't dealing with Iosif or Annette, she was dealing with a being who'd mastered this over decades. Centuries even. Nevertheless she gritted her teeth and began a renewed attack on his mind, pressing incessantly as the living soldiers kept shooting. He groaned as Myra scored a hit and responded by gathering energy in his hands and thrusting out.

The wave hit Myra and tore off a few vital systems and stripped a thin layer off. Otherwise she appeared fine and responded by firing another barrage of lead at him. At the same time the Ethereal gathered up another ball of energy and sent the result towards her, Leonid and Latrell which she and Latrell managed to get away from.

The ball of energy exploded into a maelstrom similar to Annette's, only much smaller and only for a few seconds. Unfortunately Leonid was just on the outskirt of the blast and was thrown into the air and landed a few feet away, missing most of his legs and his armor was completely stripped apart.

"Get him medical attention!" She yelled to Creed, hoping he heard while she focused on the Ethereal.

"Your actions are pointless," the Ethereal stated, motioning to Latrell who was lifted into the air also clutching his throat. "You will not save him anymore than this one." Another twist of the wrist and Latrell's neck snapped with a sickening crack and dropped to the ground.

This was getting very, very bad. She renewed her own mental attack, channeling the rage she felt from the deaths of her soldiers into strength.

Then the Ethereal was engulfed in a center of swirling purple energy. A scream of pure hate rang out for the side as Annette walked forward, palms upturned and bent arms outstretched towards the Ethereal. Patricia had believed that she'd been angry before, but it was nothing compared to now. The Aegis armor was corroding under the energy surrounding her body, turning her into an inferno of power.

The Ethereal roared in pain as it resisted the swirling energy as best it could, a faint shield over itself that just barely insulated it from the ravaging bands around her. It was distracted enough that she might be able to isolate his mind. Disrupt. Disrupt.

Myra charged forward and lowered her wrists towards the Ethereal and the being was then engulfed in flame, only eliciting another otherworldly shriek from the Ethereal as it held all of his arms out in an attempt to staunch the agony. If anything that only made Annette more powerful, and she took another step towards the alien as did Myra.

Then it worked. The shield around itself vanished and it was vulnerable to the attacks. So Patricia listened as it screamed and screamed. She watched as the robe burnt into ash and the helmet became cracked and red-hot. She watched as a limb fell off and blue fluid leaked out from the stump.

But then something changed. She noticed that now the energy wasn't hitting the Ethereal. But wrapping around it. As if-

"Get back!" She screamed, added some psionic suggestion to her plea.

Too late.

The Ethereal suddenly thrust all his arms forward and sent a cracking wave of energy towards Myra which instantly tore her to pieces. It literally ripped the MEC suit into tiny pieces, nearly vaporizing her completely. Only ensuring that Myra was gone.

That disrupted Annette's focus and the maelstrom faded for one second and then it was over. For the first time Patricia got a good look at the Ethereal without the robe. Underneath the robe was some kind of gray bodysuit of some kind that ran the length of his body to his feet. It was probably resistant to all kinds of hazards if it managed to survive through that barrage. The arms were spindly and the body seemed unnaturally thin.

Odd how such a frail being contained such power.

Annette was suddenly engulfed in a maelstrom of her own as the Ethereal, sheathed in purple energy raised a hand towards her and she levitated into the air, screaming as the attack was turned back on her. Patricia tried something to disrupt it. She threw every sort of distraction she could. Blindness. Deafness. Pain. But it didn't deter the Ethereal from continuing his attack.

"A valiant effort, psion," he said, closing his hand into a fist. "But you simply are not powerful enough." The energy around Annette compressed and resulted in Annette's body exploding in a shower of blood, bone and armor. With the threat taken care of, he turned to the last remaining psion.

"You trained them well," he hissed. "But the students can only be as good as the master, and you, psion Trask, are no master."

Her vision turned purple as she focused everything she had on the Ethereal and noticed something interesting. Something he was trying to hide.

He was hurt. He was tired.

Vulnerable. She pushed that thought while she stalled. Even after this they could still win. They just needed the Commander to come help. "This isn't over yet," she growled, taking a step forward. "You won't win."

She could swear it was smiling. "We shall see."

Her mind was suddenly assaulted with a new barrage of sensations and commands. But she was focused. She could hold out. And she would make this Ethereal pay for what he'd done. All she needed was a little help.

Commander, I need your help!

---

The Citadel, Engineering Bay

Shen was definitely faithful in his execution of the Atlas Protocol.

All the machinery had been surgically destroyed and had been rearranged into one of the most defendable locations Abby had seen in the Citadel. Each choke point was manned by at least two engineering staff, operating either a portable turret or flamethrower. Scattered through the defended area were also some kind of small automated turret that hovered a few feet off the ground.

She hadn't been aware stuff like that had even been discussed, let alone put into production. Though Shen had said it was experimental, so there was that. She was near the back of the line, intending to use her pulse rifle as a sniping weapons of sorts thanks to her enhanced eyesight. Near the front were the rest of the soldiers.

The two North Koreans, Areum and Chan were in the second line of cover while Gyeong and Timur were up front. Thais, the Brazilian soldier was a bit off to the side, but all of them were ready and waiting for the attack. If Mission Control had fallen, then they would be here soon.

She hoped Zhang was alright, especially since the Ethereal was likely headed for Patricia.

Abby also knew that they were somewhat at a disadvantage if they faced a severe assault. They didn't have a psion or a MEC if things really got bad. This place was easily defendable, but that would only last so long, especially if a psion showed up. Well, she had no intention of being mind-controlled today.

"I hear something!" Areum called out, raising a fist. "Ready weapons!"

"So it begins," Shen said softly from the back. The elderly engineer was in a suit of Aegis armor, which was admittedly an odd sight for her. The helmet helped a bit, but it couldn't disguise the fact that the suit was made for a soldier and not an elderly person. He was still going to help, but she didn't expect his contributions to be great. This was not his area of expertise.

She really hoped Lily was somewhere safe. Shen had assured her his daughter was hidden, and there were plenty of places for a kid to hide in a place like the Citadel. Removing all thoughts of Lily, Abby returned to focusing on the oncoming attack.

Something banged against the door. Then it did it again. The Engineering bay was utterly silent.

Until it was shattered by the door being blown apart. Green plasma fire spat out from the smoke towards the line of soldiers who immediately began returning fire. The two automated flame turrets Shen had set up near the door began spitting out thin bursts of flame and Abby heard roars of pain as they effectively secured the first choke point.

Timur tossed a grenade into the area and another squeal reached her ears as the grenade found a victim. The rest of the soldiers were all firing into the smoke, even if they couldn't see anything, they were still hitting things. Finally a massive muton elite burst through, blood already leaking from wounds and holes in the once-pristine armor.

It immediately swatted down the flaming turrets with ease and began focusing laying down suppressive fire on the initial line, forcing Gyeong and Timur to get down. Her turn. She aimed at the knee of the elite and fired a sustained beam from her pulse rifle. The drilling took a few seconds, but the muton finally collapsed to the ground as the knee was effectively gone. Gyeong rolled a grenade by its head and even the armor couldn't protect it under that strain.

But its death had allowed the aliens to mount something of an offensive against them. Three outsiders rushed in, followed by four normal mutons. There was a lack of cover, so most of the mutons died immediately from the first volley, but the outsiders lived and began firing at the first line.

Abby aimed at the farthest one, and fired at its head. The beam immediately began drilling and shattered the head a few seconds later as the outsider failed to react in time to the beam. They apparently weren't acquainted with pulse weaponry yet. Thais and Areum targeted the second one while the rest focus-fired the final one until it was disintegrating into nothing.

But of course that wasn't the end. Two more elites walked through, already firing and in the middle was one of the outsider leaders, who stood almost as tall as the behemoth mutons themselves. As it began laying down suppressive fire from its own cannon, one of the elites pulled out a grenade and tossed it towards the front line.

"Grenade!" Chan shouted, as Gyeong and Timur leapt to the side, but not quite out of the reach from the radius. She could see both of them bleeding from leg injuries, but still very much alive. They nodded to each other and reached for the grenades attached to their belts and threw them behind the cover, forcing the mutons to move a bit.

One nearly blasted the leg of an elite off, while both hit the outsider. Abby saw her chance and aimed again at its head while the others focused on the elites. It was still taking a few seconds, but eventually her laser drilled a hole straight through its head and it fell to the ground, dissolving like paper in flame.

Now she needed to remember her training. Taking advantage of the cover the second line provided, she dashed towards the wounded soldiers and quickly slid to Gyeong first, for once thankful that she wasn't wearing that much armor. One look at his leg told her that he was fine. The Aegis armor had absorbed the worst of the blast and prevented too much shrapnel from being lodged in his body. A med-kit would fix it.

"Good throw," she complimented as she sprayed. "Alright, you'll be fine!"

Without waiting for a response she then dashed over to Timur, taking a second to fire a brief pulse blast at the remaining muton before ducking down again to focus on Timur. She bit her lip as she saw the damage. Yeah, his leg was bent and warped at such an angle that she was skeptical that it could be fixed. The med-kit would stave off any potential death, but it would need a proper surgery to really assess the damage. "Don't move your leg," she warned while she sprayed the blue mist on it. "It's in bad enough shape as it is."

"Got it, doc," he affirmed weakly.

Doc. Been awhile since she'd been called that. Well for better or worse she was on the front line and felt she should stay here until it ended one way or another. It felt like the old days of being on the front lines, before intelligence work had made her life so complicated. She took her position and her heart sank as another muton elite, and some new suited alien joined the mix.

She quickly looked back. Four soldiers not including her left, as well as the engineering staff, though they were mostly providing supporting fire and nothing substantial. She was worried that wouldn't be enough. But she still aimed and fired her weapon at the wounded muton, which simply roared and unleashed a barrage of plasma at her, which flew over her head, but directly towards Areum's position.

It only took one hit and she stumbled back. But now the other elite had noticed her and added its fire to the other one, while the suited alien also fired a lance of green plasma at her. The Aegis armor was good, but even it couldn't hold against the sustained fire of two elites and…whatever this thing was. Abby knew the moment her body hit the floor that she was dead and there was nothing she could do.

Three soldiers. They might not actually make it out of this one.

But she was going to go down fighting.

She raised her pulse rifle and fired yet another sustained beam on the elite which then focused its massive weapon on her. She gritted her teeth as green plasma flew around her. No. She was going to kill this thing.

Her perseverance paid off and the muton roared, stumbling back as it clutched its chest. And then something strange happened. The suited alien suddenly raised a fist at the other elite that was targeting Chan and Thais, and shot out a green mist. It must have been an acid of some kind since the armor immediately began corroding, adding to the alien screaming in pain.

She blinked. The hell?

"Focus on the wounded one!" Thais yelled, firing her gauss weapon on the one Abby had been whittling down. Abby agreed and added her pulse weapon to the barrage. She'd focus on the strange turn of events later. Big the elites were, but fast or graceful they were not and thus it soon succumbed to the combined firepower of four soldiers and an unknown number of engineers.

The remaining elite had unloaded its plasma weapon into the green transparent helmet of the new alien. The material burst with a hiss and out slumped a strange brown-skinned alien that looked like it was in the process of burning. That was odd, could it-

The suit stood up and aimed its weapon at the soldiers again. Alright, change of plans. Then she heard it. The roar of chryssalids. She felt sick, knowing that they didn't really have much of a chance now. Not with both a surviving elite and a robot suit.

Why did it have to be chryssalids?

Armor still steaming from the acid mist, the elite began firing again and she fired her pulse weapon up, hoping the integrity of the armor had been weakened. Then out came the chryssalids, even bigger than she remembered. But they didn't charge her. They charged the muton and began biting and stabbing it.

She watched in disbelief as the chryssalids began systematically tearing the alien apart, wondering if she'd actually died and this was some weird fever dream. The suit was still up, but it suddenly turned around as gauss fire from behind it sounded, and Abby had never been happier to hear anything else in her life.

It fired a few more plasma lances in the direction, but it gave her enough time to toss a grenade of her own. Probably in the interior would be the best. She stood and threw, and watched elatedly as it landed directly in the control area of the suit and exploded. Whatever it did, it worked apparently and the suit fell to the ground, sparking and dead.

The yellow coated chryssalids roared and chittered as they ate the elite which had stopped moving. Abby still had her weapon trained on them, wondering how long it would take them to turn hostile. "Don't shoot them!" She looked up to see Vahlen and several other soldiers coming towards her.

"They're friendly," one of the soldiers explained. "Science project. But it works."

Oh, so this was Vahlen's doing. Under normal circumstances…well, no, she wasn't surprised. If anyone would have the gall to think growing their own chryssalids was a good idea, it would happen in the twisted brain of Dr. Vahlen. But right now she had to thank the mad scientist. "Your pets saved us," she said with a brief nod. "Good job."

"The Ethereal is headed for Patricia," Vahlen explained breathlessly. "We need to reinforce her and the Commander."

"Got it," Abby nodded, waving the surviving soldiers forward. "Are there any more?"

"Not that I can sense," Vahlen said. "It's all by the Supply Halls and up above. Carmelita is leading an attack on the UFO that landed."

Was she now? Well that would explain why the attack wasn't as strong as it could have been. "Then we should head there now, especially if an Ethereal is close."

"Agreed," Vahlen nodded. "Take what soldiers you have and let's go."

Abby almost snorted. It seemed Vahlen didn't realize she wasn't the one in charge. "I'll stay and protect them," Chan said. "Take Thais."

Well there wasn't much of a choice. Vahlen's team now had a grand two extra soldiers to help bolster its forces. "Lead the way," she told Vahlen. "Let's finish this."

---

The Citadel, Hangar

"I'm not sure of this," Nartha said slowly as he stood in the front of the skyranger ramp, Iosif in front of him and Shun to his side. Blake, Carmelita, Iida, Jerra and Apis behind him. Nartha was fully expecting an ambush on the surface which admittedly was what Iosif was there for.

"Well, the alternative is staying in here," Shun shrugged. "Let's make the aliens a little uneasy, yes?"

Nartha sighed, but still gripped his weapon securely.

"Taking off now," Big Sky informed. "Be ready Iosif."

"Will do," the Russian psion confirmed, the air around him already distorted.

Nartha felt the skyranger life slowly, and resisted the urge to look down and see how high up they were rising. But the transition up was surprisingly painless and all of them were greeted by the sight of snow, alien barricades and the UFO transport in the distance. A small rectangular purple shield appeared in front of them as the skyranger hovered over solid ground.

Nartha quickly took stock of the situation. All the barricades were taken by the smaller mutons, and in between most of them was a mechtoid or cyberdisk. Two of each in total. Doable. Plasma fire went flew in their direction, but most missed or was absorbed by Iosif's barricades.

"Deploy!" He yelled and they charged out into the snow and through the storm of green. They spread out, Nartha already taking aim at one of the mutons and fired. The beam hit the face squarely and it fell back. One down.

"Suppressive fire!" Iida called, falling to one knee and targeting the mechtoid which was aiming at Carmelita. It worked and the nimble woman slid into cover, blasting the two mutons to pulpy flesh with her alloy cannon before turning to the bigger threats.

Nartha and Shun also took cover behind the alien barricade and began focusing one of the cyberdisks which was returning fire with mechanical ease. Carmelita was also being pinned down by one of the mechtoids and more mutons were rushing out. No elites though, Nartha noted, which either meant they'd run out, or they were holding them in reserve.

"Watch your flank!" Shun yelled toward Apis as a mechtoid suddenly charged forward and cornered the soldier. Before they could do anything, it unleashed a devastating barrage into him and the soldier fell to the ground, staining the fresh snow around him with blood.

But that opened up the mechtoid to an attack by Jerra and he, which both of them took which added a few new holes and scorches to the gray armor. "Reinforcements are here," the voice of Gray Sky said, and Nartha glanced behind him to see two MECs charging their position. A sight for sore eyes.

The cyberdisks immediately began focusing on the oncoming threat, spitting golden projectiles from their barrels. Unfortunately for them, Iosif took the opportunity to place single-facing shields before the MECs, negating any sort of effect they might have had. Nartha raised his weapon and fired directly at one of the cyberdisks, with Shun targeting just below him.

They must have hit something vital because the cyberdisk exploded brilliantly a few seconds later and forced the other two nearby to retract into their disk shells. None of them wanted to advance, but for now they held a pretty good position, and now the MECs were here. Sanya raised his right arm, a rocket clicked into place, and he fired towards one of the mechtoids, which tried to stumble away but failed miserably as the rocket collided perfectly with the alien in a shower of metal and blood.

"Reinforcements have arrived," Big Sky stated as the second wave of XCOM soldiers hit the field. Nartha grinned at that. The tables had turned in their favor quite dramatically.

"Advance!" Iida yelled, waving her arm forward and all of the shouted an affirmative and charged up towards the next line of barriers. The cyberdisks had retreated to the mouth of the UFO and had redeployed and were raining fire on the MECs once more. The eight or so mutons were also aiming at the front line, namely him.

"Amahle! Take out the line!" Iosif commanded as he gathered energy in his hands to create another shield.

"Affirmative," she acknowledged and charged to the muton line, protected by Iosif's purple barrier surrounding her. Luckily the Citadel had plenty of fuel for her flamethrowers, so she was in no danger of running out anytime soon. A fact Nartha suspected Amahle would have enjoyed had she not been stripped of emotions.

But even still, the sight of a line of mutons being cooked in their own armor was beautiful, even more so when one of the cyberdisks was soon blown out of the sky by a friendly rocket from their reinforcements. That left….one cyberdisk and one mechtoid. All the mutons were dead or dying and with all the XCOM soldiers focusing on the cyberdisk, it soon went down in pieces of scrap.

Sanya charged the final mechtoid and slammed the wounded alien to the ground, pinning it with his foot, while raising the other one over its face and stamping down hard. It took a few tries, but the mechtoid's face was soon reduced to pulp in the snow.

A relative silence fell over the battlefield, save for the whistling wind.

"Nearly a clean sweep," Carmelita commented as they converged at the mouth of the transport, which had a dark and foreboding interior. Nartha look a closer look at the inside. Strap stands. Definitely a troop transport, and judging by the side, they were almost out of troops.

"They'll still have a guard," Nartha said. "But it won't be a large one."

Carmelita swung her head to him. "I don't recall asking for your opinion."

"Hey, he knows the ships better than you," Shun defended walking up.

"Because he's an-"

"Enough!" Iosif commanded, raising a hand, turning to him. "You know the ship? Then what should we expect?"

Alright. He could work with this. "It's a troop transport for sure," he explained, pointing to the line of poles and straps. "See those? They strap mutons to them during the flight since they don't get exhausted standing up. Saves space, and has plenty of room for more forces. I'm guessing the majority of outsiders came from the Raider UFOs since they don't number many on large ships like this."

"Got it," Iosif nodded. "But what will be inside?"

"A sectoid likely," he answered slowly. "Normally it's of the pilot variety since it doesn't take much skill to fly. But they may have sent a Hive Commander for this one. But inside we'll likely face sectoids and maybe some mutons since the main force is dead."

"Good to know," he agreed, then turned to face the small army of XCOM soldiers behind him. "Listen up! We're going to sweep this UFO thoroughly. Be on guard and weapons up! Report anything out of the ordinary. There is a possibility we'll be facing a Hive Commander, so realize that your thoughts might not be your own. Understood?"

"Yes, Overseer!" They shouted in response.

"Then advance in an orderly fashion," Iosif ordered, raising his weapon and beginning the march forward into the UFO. Nartha followed close behind, Shun at his side as they prepared to take the ship, or die trying.

---

The Citadel, Hallways

The Commander and the soldiers behind him charged furiously forward, the clock ticking down with each second they spent getting to Patricia. She was in trouble, the Commander could even sense the immense power being used ahead. But the Citadel was a big place, and even the fastest routes would still take time.

"Your right!" Mavern called suddenly and they swung their weapons to two regular mutons together with a mechtoid. They quickly took up positions along the walls as the aliens began shooting plasma at them. The Commander scowled as the deadly projectiles flew past his head. They didn't have time for this.

"Samuel! Suppress them!" He called.

Samuel nodded and swung out, sending a hail of gauss rounds at the aliens. "Go!"

"Focus the mechtoid!" The Commander ordered, and all of them aimed at the machine-alien hybrid while ravaging the chassis with laser and lead. The mechtoid stumbled back, but managed to return fire at them. Jona fell back as a plasma burst clipped her leg.

"I'm fine!" She yelled while pushing herself out of the line of fire, though the pain was evident in her voice. But little he could do about that now. That mechtoid needed to die, as did the mutons. But the combined fire was enough and the center of the mechtoid exploded and fell back with a long groan of ruined metal.

Samuel focused his fire now at one of the mutons which withered under the onslaught and fell back, leaking yellow fluid from many holes in its body. With one remaining, the Commander wanted to try something. He gathered his power once more and focused the energy around the muton, direction the pressure specifically around its neck.

He raised a fist to stop firing as he stepped out of cover and concentrated more intently on the now struggling muton. It had thrown it's rifle down and was clutching at its throat, roaring and wasting more air as it tried frantically to figure out why it was choking. His hand in a pincer position, the Commander pinched a little tighter, knowing a little more would be enough to crush the windpipe.

But he didn't have time to experiment with this. He closed his hand into a fist, Crushing the windpipe, and essentially the entire neck, all at once and turned to let the muton die while experiencing utter agony for the last few moments of it's life.

He let the power fade away and rushed back to Jona who was propped against the wall. "Can you walk?" He asked.

"Doubt it," she wheezed. "Go on! I'll be fine!"

Under normal circumstances he would have refused to leave her behind. But the longer they delayed, the greater chance they'd all die anyway. "Stay low then," he instructed. "Everyone else follow!"

They shouted an affirmative and they continued charging through the base. The Commander wondered how long it would be until reinforcements showed up. Even if the United States wouldn't be able to provide much, it would help with clearing out the base. But as things stood, this fight was going to be decided long before they arrived.

They rounded another corner and he suddenly sensed a very familiar presence. Vahlen. Ah right, she was also coming. Best to meet up with her beforehand. He then altered his path to coincide where she'd likely be. Telepathic contact would have been preferred, but unfortunately that wasn't his specialty. But it was Vahlen's, and she had to be sensing him coming.

His assertion proved true as he sensed her stop, even if she wasn't telepathically communicating, he knew exactly where she was now. Only a few steps forward…

They rounded another corner and were greeted by the sight of XCOM soldiers with chryssalids. "Shit!" Samuel yelled, raising his autorifle as he spotted the aliens.

"Hold fire!" The Commander instructed immediately. "They're friendly!"

Vahlen and Abby, surprisingly, came running up. It was almost the inverse of what he'd been expecting from them. Vahlen was in the armor while Abby was not. "What do you mean they're friendly?" Yaseen asked incredulously.

"One of Vahlen's experiments," the Commander summed up. "Looks like it's worked so far."

"Even better than I'd hoped," Vahlen confirmed with a bit too much excitement. "The chryssalids are-"

"We'll discuss it later," the Commander interrupted. "We need to get to Patricia!"

"The Ethereal is up ahead," Vahlen pointed. "Let's hurry."

They dashed off while the Commander tuned his frequency to Iosif. "What's your status Iosif?"

"Beginning our assault on the transport," he answered. "Exterior is secure and we're moving inward. Nartha doesn't expect much heavy resistance, though there is a possibility of a Hive Commander."

Good. "Excellent job," he complimented. "We're nearly at Patricia now. Good luck."

"You too, Commander."

Satisfied with the current progress above, the Commander prepared to go into what might be his final battle.

---

Outskirts of the Citadel

The UFO hummed quietly as the soldiers made their way through the desolate ship. Nartha knew it was the elerium cores that gave the impression that the ship was 'pulsing' but he could attest to the fact that it was disconcerting. Most of the soldiers were in the deployment bay, and were climing the two ramps on the sides to enter the second part of the UFO.

The entrances deeper into the UFO were blocked by the multi-colored shields, so Carmelita had set up the soldiers on respective sides before they gave the order to go inside. She and Yeva were on the far left entrance, he and Shun were on the far right, and Iosif and Iida were in the middle, with more soldiers filling the nearby walls or right behind them. The MEC troopers were also standing by, waiting for the order to go in.

"Now," Iosif muttered and touched the shield. Nartha did the same and it receded with a buzz to reveal a medium-sized room with another depression in the middle. But this room wasn't empty, there was a mix of sectoids and…Vitakara in the mix. Borelians to be specific, which was sadly not a surprise since their fur made them ideal for colder climates, not to mention they were excellent soldiers.

"Go! Go!" Iida shouted and the initial wave charged in, Nartha and Shun sliding into cover behind the short barriers that overlooked the depression. The air around them was instantly filled with plasma, lasers and lead as the sectoids and Borelians reacted. Nartha was once more reminded of just how poor the mutons really were at strategy compared to a more intelligent species.

The sectoids immediately scurried back while the Borelians immediately took cover behind nearby pods and began laying down suppressive fire with the intent to allow the weaker sectoids to escape. Borelians really were intimidating when it came down to it. Especially ones covered in silver armor which obscured most of their fur, though the helmets were designed in such a way as to leave their faces open, since covering them interfered with their senses.

Nartha got a quick look at the numbers as more XCOM soldiers ran into cover and began returning fire. Eight sectoids? Excluding the ones killed in the initial attack, and roughly fourteen Borelians. He raised his rifle and fired a quick burst on a Borelian behind a pod, trying to get a better look at them.

All over seven feet, with incisors. Yep, all females and likely from an elite detachment. He tried to view the insignia, but none of them seemed particularly interested in making it visible. He sighed and ducked back into cover. He'd known this was going to happen, but it still felt wrong to fight his own species, even if it was for the right reasons.

Two Borelians were cut down by XCOM pulse weapons, but they responded by making a strategic retreat to the second upper deck which lead to the Command pod. One threw a device towards several of the soldiers and he instantly recognized what it was. "Cryo grenade!" he yelled as it headed toward where Yeva and Cheng were, then realized it didn't matter since it was the advanced variant that emitted a freezing effect while it was being thrown before exploding in a shower of frost.

It then had the effect of freezing them in place while trying to get away, making them easy targets for Borelian soldiers. Yeva's head exploded into chunks and Cheng was also ripped apart by concentrated fire. The only good news out of this was that was probably the only one they had, and it allowed Amahle to charge forward into the plasma fire and execute two Borelians.

The sectoids were also trying to put up a fight, though their attacks weren't doing much with Iosif nearby. Nartha raised his rifle, took a brief second to aim at the bulbous head and fired. The red beam melted a nice hole and it fell dead. A second one was taken out by Shun.

Sanya's MEC froze in place and another smaller missile box popped up from his shoulder and unleashed several more micro-missiles on the entrenched position of the Borelians and sectoids. The ones who weren't killed from the blasts were taken out by the deadly maze of laser and gauss fire that saturated their now-exposed positions.

Amahle charge further up the line and stopped right to the side of where the aliens were still holding position. But this time she only raised one wrist and blasted the surviving aliens with a continuous burst of flame, walking forward slowly and deliberately, roasting each alien alive while sweeping her arm back and forth.

The two Borelians that ran to the opposite side were met by Sanya who blew one of their heads off with his rifle, picked up the other struggling one easily by the head and crushed it before throwing the corpse to the side. The battlefield fell silent one more, except for the crackling of fire and pulsing of the elerium cores.

Nartha reloaded and cautiously made his way down into the depression along with several other soldiers. He stepped over the mutilated corpses, only kneeling before one of the Borelians to look at the patch on her arm. He pursed his lips once he saw it. What he expected, but it was still depressing to see.

"You alright?" Shun asked, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I suppose," he sighed, standing back up. "These are Lurainian, special forces of the Vitakara. Makes sense why they'd be here."

"How do you know?" She asked, looking down at the corpse.

"That patch on their arm," he said, pointing. "Only the Lurainian bear it, not to mention I'd know it anyway since I suspect all the soldiers are female."

"Does that make a difference?" She asked as they walked to inspect one of the pods.

"A big one," Nartha confirmed, looking over the pod which he suspected had been used to transport the muton elites. "Borelians have strict standards, the Vitakarian Lurainian even more so. Males generally aren't soldiers to begin with, and unless something big has happened, male Borelians in the Lurainian are unheard of."

"Fascinating stuff," Carmelita said, walking up. "But do you know what these are?"

Nartha pointed at the pods, indicating the tubes. "I think these were used to transport the elites. Probably for sedation or injecting them with drugs. Though there seem to be too few to really account for the number."

Iida was also observing one of the pods. "Hold that thought," she said slowly, raising a hand. "You said sedation?"

Nartha frowned, but nodded. "Yes, it's possible."

"And there aren't enough for all the elites we saw," she continued. "However…"

"What do you think?" Iosif asked, looking towards the Command pod ahead.

"Those other mutons," Iida continued. "The berserkers. They seemed…unhinged and immune to pain. Maybe that's what these were for?"

Hm. The woman was smart, and that did make sense, especially due to the limited number. "Good theory."

"Agreed," Iosif nodded. "But irrelevant now, we still-"

A hot spike of pain drove into his head, causing him to hear ringing and he raised a hand to his helmet out of instinct. You have come far enough, XCOM. A voice in his own language said in his mind.

A Hive Commander.

Shun came to the same conclusion. "Hive Commander," she said hesitantly. "We-"

"Hurry!" Iosif ordered, motioning for them to charge forward. "We need to kill it now!"

Nartha couldn't agree more and followed his charge as they ran towards the Command pod, trying to ignore the stabbing in his brain. They stormed through the final barriers and saw the Hive Commander standing in front of a massive console at the end of the UFO that stretched from end to end. The level he and the XCOM soldiers were standing on led to another depression of consoles and piloting equipment, while the level the Hive Commander was standing on was just slightly elevated above that.

There were eight sectoids also in the room, all busy with tasks, but the full attention of the Hive Commander was on them. It raised a spindly finger towards them as they began firing.

It responded by raising another hand and surrounding itself with a purple shield, turning the lasers away and stopping the gauss rounds in their tracks. "It's in my, arg!" Jerra shouted, raising a shaky weapon towards Karen who would have died if Jerra hadn't been tackled to the ground by Iida, who subdued the struggling woman easily. The MEC charged in, while Carmelita jumped down the middle and began raining havoc on the unprotected sectoid pilots who suddenly realized they were going to die and struggled frantically to get away.

Nartha also jumped down and severed the head of a fleeing sectoid with a brief pulse of his weapon. The Hive Commander gestured towards Amahle and a faint wave shot out and blew her back off the platform. No damage though, and she was back up in a few seconds. The Hive Commander then turned its full attention to Sanya who was firing his massive cannon at the frail creature.

It resisted, then gestured and the MEC was also blown back a few feet and thrown off balance. It quickly turned toward the line of soldiers and the air around it's head flared and several dropped to the ground limply. Sleep. That was it, Hive Commanders weren't powerful enough to kill with that little effort. But it was great at putting enemies out of condition.

But even if couldn't hold out against the continuous amount of fire being sent it's way from the additional soldiers rushing in to take the place of the incapacitated. Carmelita jumped up to the second platform where the Hive Commander stood and fired several blasts from her alloy cannon.

If the alien could have scowled, Nartha knew it would have. Carmelita fell to one knee as the Hive Commander directed it's power on her, but she strangely wasn't succumbing and Nartha saw why. From the XCOM line Iosif was standing up and reaching toward her position, surrounding her in a cocoon of protection, mentally and physically he assumed.

Now the MECs were back and Nartha could see the barrier around the Hive Commander was flickering and would fall eventually. With a frustrated screech it shuffled back as both MECs and protected soldier closed in. Amahle raised her wrists once more and shot out a cone of blue flame which engulfed the small orange alien.

Nartha also jumped up and added his own sustained weapon to the attack. Then when it finally broke, it experienced a painful and quick death. It's body was immolated by the flames, while a blast from Carmelita's cannon turned it's head to mush, Sanya blew it's chest apart with his weapon and Nartha's own laser added to Carmelita's damage, not to mention the flurry of gauss rounds that also riddled it's body from the XCOM line.

All of them ceased and lowered their weapons, just making sure that Hive Commander was really dead. Nartha walked over and looked down at the charred corpse. Yep. Really dead. "I think that's it," he said slowly. "We did it."

"We did," Carmelita agreed, turning to him. "Thank you."

Nartha didn't think she'd ever forgive him entirely, but getting that at least meant progress, and if she felt he was reliable enough to say that…well, it was good to hear.

"Alright! We need to sweep the rest of the UFOs for stragglers," Iosif commanded back from the line. "But we've won! The Hive Commander is dead!"

The soldiers cheered and whooped at that, though Nartha knew that they hadn't won yet. They wouldn't truly win until they heard that the Ethereal was dead. Carmelita seemed to have the same idea. "Go reinforce Patricia," she told Amahle and Sanya. "See if you can still help them."

They nodded and charged off. While Nartha doubted they'd arrive in time to make a difference, sending the MECs was the best idea. Regular soldiers would just be killed, but psions seemed to have trouble with MECs for some reason. Anything that would help.

They may have won here, but it all rested on Patricia and the Commander now.

---

The Citadel, Supply Halls

It only took a few seconds after they charged into the room for the Commander to get a full idea of the situation. Around half of Patricia's soldiers, including Zhang, were still alive and focused on the aliens still coming in from the surface, though that number seemed to be dwindling. The rest were either corpses, or not anywhere at all.

Annette was nowhere to be seen, but he had to assume she was dead. Patricia was encased in a light psionic field as she appeared to be in a staring contest with the Ethereal, who actually seemed wounded. The robe was gone and one arm was severed, but that didn't stop the alien emanating pure energy.

The Commander growled as a wave of pain washed over him, but he knew it was a weak effect of being in the Ethereal's presence and recalled how Patricia had blocked it. The Ethereal looked up at they stormed in, and the soldiers immediately began firing.

Vahlen rippled with psionic energy of her own, and raised her arm in the direction of the Ethereal who screamed and gestured towards the mass of soldiers. "Kill them all!" It roared as several of his soldiers fell to a knee, clutching their helmets as the psionic command echoed in their minds. It was weak enough that the Commander was able to resist it, but not for the others.

Maven sleepily raised his rifle and blasted Samuel in the head at point-blank range while Yaseen executed Lautaro with a quick shot to the head. The remaining soldiers quickly scrambled to deal with the mind-controlled operatives including the Commander who stepped back and just barely missed a shot from a mind-controlled Thais.

But he was in a bad position now and both knew it. He didn't want to hurt her, but she had no such hesitation and kept firing. He focused his telepathic powers on the rifle and pulled, the rifle flew out of her hands and he extended his right arm to the side to throw it away. Unfortunately she'd anticipated that and with her left hand reached for her pulse pistol and fired a sustained beam up near his arm, neatly severing the limb in one fell swoop.

White-hot pain flooded his body, and he gasped as the stump cauterized a second later. No more time to delay. He couldn't save her unless he wanted to die. With his left arm he directed his power onto Thais, using the pain as a source of strength for him and twisted sharply, cracking her neck with quick twist.

Hissing in agony, he turned back to see how the rest of the fight was progressing. The mind-controlled soldiers were dead, either from the Ethereal or allied fire. But now everyone was focusing on the Ethereal since there were no more aliens coming in from the tunnels.

The Ethereal gathered up more energy in his hands and thrust them out in multiple direction. The Commander jumped over the railing onto the lower floor to avoid one of the devastating waves. Vahlen also ducked out of the way and the other soldiers did the same or leapt onto the floor with him.

Patricia was beginning to walk slowly towards the Ethereal, slowly and deliberately and Vahlen followed suit, psionic energy rippling off them as they directed their telepathic powers on the Ethereal. "You are weakened," Patricia stated. "You cannot win now."

"No!" It roared, raising a hand and all the non-psions fell to the floor screaming. It took everything in the Commander to not succumb to the imaginary pain debilitating the others, but he managed it and turned that into his own source of power. He thrust out his good hand and directed it around the Ethereal and pushed.

It took a step back, roaring as the attacks from Patricia and Vahlen seemingly got more intense. The remaining MEC, Franklin also dashed over pulling his fist back in a wind-up punch and slammed his metal fist fully into the Ethereal's damaged helm.

That threw the Ethereal back which the Commander added to by pushing while he was in mid-air, then slamming the Ethereal into the far wall with enough force to leave a small impact. It howled and Franklin was suddenly lifted into the air, his weapons and suit sparking as they folded in on themselves.

The cocoon of purple light around Patricia flared and Franklin was suddenly dropped, still functional, but damaged. The Commander kept pinning the Ethereal to the wall, making it unable to lift his hands to assist with the retaliation. All of them kept walking forward slowly, never letting up on their continuous assault.

But if it wasn't decided soon, they were going to run dry. He was slowly losing his grip on the Ethereal, and the being was still trying to disrupt his mind, albeit weakly since he was also fighting off attacks from Vahlen and Patricia. With a scream unlike any he'd heard, the Ethereal was suddenly enveloped in a ball of purple light, uncontrolled energy spewing from the body.

But it was fighting his telekinetic hold on his body, it weakly raised an arm and Franklin's suit was engulfed in deadly shards of purple energy that began ripping the suit apart. The Commander applied another attempted thrust to his telekinesis and succeeded in driving the arm down, making the energy around Franklin disappear.

The purple waves of energy that were emanating from the Ethereal were acting as a force field, making it difficult for anyone to get close to it. Which meant that they were close to killing it. They had to be. They had to!

But Franklin persisted, taking one step forward into the fray, then another. The Ethereal fell to one knee howling in pain from the relentless assaults. His suit being torn apart from the wild energy, Franklin still raised a fist and slammed down into the Ethereal's head. The helmet was molded into a misshapen shape, and Franklin raised his fist again and struck down.

The energy flared and the hand disintegrated in the flash, but Franklin still had one good one. No more punching this time. Instead he reached into the fray and grabbed the Ethereal by helmet and lifted it several feet off the ground. The Commander sustained the grasp, pinning his arms to his sides while Franklin squeezed.

Blue Ethereal blood leaked out from under the helm and with one final crunch, the Ethereal's body emitted a shockwave that ripped Franklin's suit almost in half and shredded his remaining arm before throwing him well across the room.

Then there was silence.

The Commander finally let the telekinetic field drop and the power drain away as exhaustion overtook him. His vision turned blurry, but he stumbled forward, having to confirm it had really happened. Vahlen and Patricia also had walked over and looked over the alien.

The helmet didn't resemble anything more than misshapen metal now firmly mixed with flesh and bone. Whatever face the Ethereal had was gone, crush beneath unforgiving steel. Blue blood pooled around the body, and the skin now wept blue fluid from dozens of wounds on the arms. But there was no mistaking it.

"It's dead," Patricia confirmed numbly. "It's dead."

Joy. Relief. Elation. He experienced all those things all at once, and he was too tired to care if they were even his own emotions. But it didn't matter. Vahlen immediately embraced him and he returned it strongly, neither of them caring at the point that he was missing a hand. All that would come later.

"We did it," he said, still in shock and some disbelief. "We killed an Ethereal."

---

After-Action Report

Operation: Ashes and Temples

List of the Fallen:

-Andreas Amsing

-John Bradford

-Renato Caio

-Herman Diederick

-Peter Van Doorn

-Annette Durand

-Cheng Esther

-Areum Gujoian

-Orvil Halette

-Yeva Hurik

-Maven Lane

-Vivian Li

-Calebe Luan

-Lautaro Maetan

-Jae Man-Tu

-Apis Montu

-Latrell Moreau

-Duygu Nur

-Enzo Pietro

-Endre Pridan

-Samuel Roche

-Myra Rodriguez

-Zerren Saygin

-Colanar Sanger

-Garen Sevan

-Golan Shani

-Yaseen Shon

-Veronika Slava

-Han Su Hon

-Perrie Tarot

-Ralph Tritagor

-Thais Vitor

-Romed Virgil

-Cai Wong