Today is the day XCOM 2 gets revealed on livestream! Hype! In other news, I'm currently moving between places, but I should have enough material to keep publishing every two days. I'm really excited about the developments going on in the master doc right now. Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
MEC Farm, Siberia, Russia – Two Hours Later
"Are you kidding me? That's it?" Acting Commander Kislewski paced back and forth in her office. "Only four other people are confirmed to have made it out? How did we spend years fighting literal aliens only to lose the majority of our remaining personnel to the freaking police?"
"Commander, I know you're concerned. But these raids went off very smoothly. They were extremely high speed, low drag operations. Most of our personnel have been swept up, and disappeared into Advent prisons. The news is even saying that we tried to steal the legacy of XCOM by using their name for our group. We're being branded as terrorists."
Bradford's voice came in crystal clear over the satellite uplink. The Central Officer was en route to the Farm via an old Russian military helicopter that he had purchased from underground contacts.
"Bradford, you know you're not supposed to call me that."
"In the event that bead comms devolve their sender privileges to you, I am, sir. Given that the Commander is MIA, either dead or captured, you are in command of XCOM."
"Don't lecture me, Bradford. I'll go by Colonel if you want a title."
"Very well, sir. I've contacted all of the surviving members who we know got free. You'll be happy to hear that your rookies managed to bail Shen out."
"And Vahlen?"
"Currently unknown, sir. We'll hopefully hear from her and the Commander soon."
"Alright, Kislewski out."
The connection closed and Kislewski sighed heavily. The news reports were bad. The narrative that every station seemed to have latched on to was that a group calling themselves XCOM had taken over the old base used against aliens in the first invasion in order to launch terror attacks on Advent cities. News anchors condemned the appropriation of the name of Earth's former defenders so earnestly that Kislewki thought it was satire on the first channel she tuned into. A panel of news personalities railed against anyone who would seek to brand themselves as the heroic, but mysterious organization that had fought to victory against the aliens and then disbanded, virtually destroyed by the war. Additional footage showed police and SWAT teams kicking down doors and hauling out prisoners in multiple locations across the globe. She recognized every single soldier that was hauled out in handcuffs for a perp walk and even remembered the name of the some of the support staff that were dragged away in a decidedly less violent manner. She continued to watch, and with each face she saw being pulled away from their lives for wanting to defend Earth, she made an effort to write down their name on a list of personnel to be returned to freedom, one way or another.
A knock startled her out of her work, struggling to remember the name of the engineer who had always tinkered with the SHIVs early in war as he was stuffed into a police car on screen. She pressed one button to mute the television and a second to open the door.
Briefly turning her back to the door to catch the last news on the ticker, a gentle clanking on the floor told her who the visitor was. Lieutenant Abeba walked in, his cybernetic limbs whirring slightly as he put his hand on conference table.
"Comma- Colonel," he started, fumbling the title in what Kislewski suspected would be the first but not the last such misstep, "They're requesting you down in the situation room. We've uncovered some...disturbing intel."
The situation room was abuzz with chatter as Kislewski walked in. The room quickly quieted in the presence of the acting Commander.
"Go back to your duties," she said, cognizant of the stares directed at her as she booted up the Commander's console at the front of the room. "Intel, give me what you've got. Where the hell is Bradford? He should be telling me this."
"Right here Colonel," said Bradford, emerging from a crowd of staff in his trademark green sweater. He walked over to deliver the briefing, limping slightly as he did so. Kislewski noticed and queried, "Are you injured?"
"Only a twisted ankle. I had to jump out of an apartment on the second floor of my building in order to get away from the those freaking cops they sent after me. Didn't land as well as I would have liked. Should be better in a week or two."
"Good to hear Bradford, now break it down for me."
"Well, the rookies who we had watching Doctor Shen were able to retrieve him, as I communicated to you earlier. But the ones who were supposed to retrieve Vahlen recorded this." Bradford flicked an audio file from his tablet onto hers. "Listen to what she had to say."
Kislewski clicked play with trepidation. The recording began with a burst of static, then "Doctor Vahlen, you need to come with us." The voice sounded like a worried, yet determined young man.
"That's one rookie," Bradford interjected.
"Doctor, do you have any weapons in the apartment you can bring with you?" asked a slightly deeper male voice.
"And that's the other one," Bradford said.
Vahlen's voice followed a pause of a few seconds. "Gentlemen, I will not be going with you. And no, I have no weapons here. Now put down the guns or the police will surely fire on you once they arrive."
"You don't understand, Doctor," the first voice broke in "the Commander has issued a recall order for all of XCOM."
"I believe I do understand. I choose not to go. His nonsensical 'Advent are aliens' message means nothing to me. I will stay here and continue to work in my lab. This is merely the paranoia of a man who is paranoid about the government. While these arrests are nonsense and will be sorted out by the justice system, I can't help but think that the Commander has succumbed to paranoia brought on by post-traumatic stress disorder."
Kislewski realized she had been clutching her tablet harder and harder as Vahlen spoke. Hitting pause, she burst out, "Damnit Vahlen! Why do you have to be so naive! We fought aliens together. You know what they're capable of."
Bradford replied, "There are three possible options. One is that she's being mind controlled. The second is that she's playing a double game, and wants to stay on the inside to supply us with information. The third is that she really is willing to collaborate with them despite the Commander's warning. Until we know which one, she should be considered a hostile party."
"And just throw her work away, Bradford?" retorted Kislewski "Do we really have to disregard the service she gave during the war and the years after?"
"Comm- Colonel. Dr. Vahlen's chips might have been how they tracked us in order to capture so many people. This base is pretty tightly Faraday caged, but we have to be aware of the possiblity that she inadvertently or purposefully led the Advent to our people, and might lead them here."
"Shit. I hadn't even considered that. Sorry for the outburst, Bradford."
"It's okay Colonel. These are trying times for all of us."
"What else is on the docket?" Kislewski moved on. "Do any of our people need help getting here?"
"We have rookies bringing in a couple others whom they were near. Shen of course, but no one else as far as I'm aware Colonel."
"And the Commander?" Kislewski fought to keep desperation out of her tone. But the way Bradford's shoulders slumped were telling. He felt it too.
"We don't know Colonel. We just don't know. I'm sorry. Permission to be dismissed?"
"Granted."
As Bradford walked away towards the hologlobe, Kislewski turned her back closed her eyes. She wished as hard as she could that the Commander would be found safe and returned to them. On her list of names of all the personnel that had been captured by the Advent, she moved each name down a number and typed in "The Commander" at the top. What would they do without the Commander? Who else had the ability to take on a task like this? She stared at the list a little longer, then sighed and turned back to the situation at hand.