PROLOGUE: WINTERFELL

The rain fell in sheets, the drops washing away the winter landscape of the ancient castle back into the green and browns that were usually reminiscent of summer. This was supposed to be winter, yet for about five hours the snow had turned into a murky brown sludge, the unrelenting rain melting the ground into a muddy quagmire. Even in spite of this, the castle bustled with frantic activity. All the denizens of Winterfell knew about the news emanating from Eastwatch that the Wall had fallen, bringing with it the Army of the Dead. Men, women and children alike found themselves worked to exhaustion to fortify the castle against the hordes of undead marching south.

Jon barely paid attention to the mysterious weather, the muddy ground was hard to pass through and the wooden spikes he carried from the moat along with his waterlogged black cloak he kept from his days at the Night's Watch did not help at all. He arrived at the courtyard before being promptly interrupted…

"M'lord…", Ser Davos Seaworth approached him, holding his own, less ornate cloak above his head.

"I figured I'd see you here, I don't think you have stayed in one place ever since you've arrived back here. You sure you don't want to lie down for a minute?"

Jon promptly responded: "Perhaps, but I cannot let these stakes lie out in the open, who knows when the Dead may arrive and when that comes, the trench won't be any use if the stakes are too soaked to burn"

He quickly trundled through the halls into the crypts entrance before throwing them down. "There, should be fine for now…" A roughly dressed peasant passed by soon after, himself also carrying a bundle towards the lower levels of the crypt. The trench was only a small facet of the various defences that had been thrown up against the Army of the Dead. If numbers weren't on their side, then they would still make it as difficult as possible to get to them.

"I haven't seen weather get this bad since my early smuggling days in Flea Bottom, I'd hate to take a ship through a storm like this." Davos stated, shivering from the cold that still lingered in the air.

"Last time I saw weather like this was in the Gift, when I was with the free folk", Jon said.

"Aye, I think you've told me this story before, they tried to make you kill a horse breeder before…"

"…Before they tried to kill me" Jon finished, "I barely escaped with my life, I had to kill their warg and three others just to escape, people I knew, people I had spent months getting to know, people whose stories I had just cut short. I went to Castle Black all the same even if one of them shot me full of arrows doing so".

Davos enquired, "Didn't you tell me before that this was the same wildling whose body you took beyond the Wall? sounds like you had quite the history with her considering you brought that up"; Jon immediately replied, "There's nothing to tell, it doesn't matter anymore.". Davos nodded in agreement, "And now they fight for us against…" Jon interrupted, "They fight WITH us, they have dealt with the White Walkers longer than any of us and have paid dearly for it, do you still think after all these years they'll still blindly follow some southern lord to fight for someone they don't know to put them on a throne they'll never see?"

Davos didn't answer, "I should go back inside, your sister may be right about having too many mouths to feed but someone still has to do the job and it seems only fitting that the Onion Knight of Cape Wrath should do the job."

A great thunderclap struck the ground in that very moment, with several labourers throwing anything they had in hand and running hastily into shelter. Jon hurried towards the battlements, throwing down his waterlogged cloak. Scores of peasants and nobles of more minor houses rushed inside, seeking shelter on anything possible: A group of blacksmiths ran towards the crypts, several farmers held close to the castle walls, their woven sacks arranged as a makeshift tarp; On the side a Dothraki rider struggled to keep his horse still, each strike of thunder jumping his beast ever further all the while as the Unsullied guards remained motionless, the rain sliding off their forged helmets.

Jon rushed up to the castle walls, trying his best not to slip on the soaked steps, "Get back inside! Forget the stakes!" He yelled towards the remaining few labourers outside… no response. Another giant thunderclap filled the sky, each strike louder and harder than the one before, the storm grew ever stronger. The sky darkened from day into dusk, any kind of conversation or screaming from the people below became muted entirely by never-ending thunder; an unholy shriek filled the castle as the very sky tore in half. A purple fissure emerged from the clouds, bolts of purple lightning striking every inch of the tear like an archers volley. What few people unfortunate enough to be directly under the fissure fell to the ground where they stood, their eyes and mouths bled as the foul purple humours emanating from the tear scorched them from the inside out.

Almost as soon as the fissure appeared, a roar shook the foundations of Winterfell as a colossal grey figure charged through the fissure. Its short, stubby wings and mouth glowed with moonlight, a single, inky slit for an eye stayed unblinking, the creature groaning as if it was in pain as it came thundering downwards onto the castle below faster than any beast ever could.

It was at this moment that Jon recoiled to the ground, his head burned with a deep, intense pain as the beast groaned and roared, its heartbeat growing increasingly loud as it began to fly right past the castle, its colossal figure casting a great shadow that easily covered the Godswood at a bare minimum. The wings of the great creature swung and swivelled as it tried to keep itself level, narrowly missing the Keep before plunging right into the ground a scant two miles from the castle walls, its landing carving a deep wound in the muddy ground it now stood on, the pain had stopped.

As quickly as it came, the fissure closed, the weather calmed and the screams emanating from the colossus died back down into silence, with several onlookers gazing at what exactly had come through. It wasn't long before the silence was broken once again however, this time from the Dragons as the creatures flew straight towards the interloper, though their mother was nowhere to be seen.

Jon had precious little time to waste, with whatever bannermen he could spare, he rode out to the hulks resting spot. He was accompanied by the bannermen of Houses Hornwood, Mormont and what few Umber men had not accompanied young Eddard to Last Hearth as well as a small contingent of Unsullied following behind. When at last he saw the iron beast up close he could only guess as to what it was, the simple iron grey it displayed from afar was revealed to be more complex, with a black stripe running along the flanks its of lighter grey skin. A quick, muddy clattering of hooves heralded Ser Davos as he joined Jon on his little expedition:

"Well, just when you think you've seen everything", he quipped, as equally confused as everyone else who could see what happened.

"What is this beast?" Jon mused, "I have seen giants, white walkers, snow bears and other horrors from my time in the Watch, but never have I seen a creature with steel for skin."

"Looks more like a ship to me; granted, it's laid out backwards, but it still looks the part. You've got your lower deck in the working area right ahead and the upper deck in the bow. I'm guessing whoever's inside use those paddles to move around instead of sails?".

Davos continued gesturing at the thing yet one thing caught Jon's eye, he could see a symbol on the vessels head, what looked like a house sigil but unlike anything he had seen before. It was a shield, per saltire with three stars atop a horizon on a field of blue, there appeared to be some words on the top, he couldn't quite read them, it was quite far away and hard to observe on horseback.

"You know what that says?" Jon asked.

"Looks Valyrian, I'll have to bring one of those Unsullied over, see what he says." Davos replied. He soon went up and down the Unsullied ranks asking if any knew the Common tongue, he eventually brought one over after at least three tries. Davos pointed towards the sigil.

"You know what that means?" He asked.

"Is not Valyrian", the solider said. "Don't know what it means."

The three could only gaze upward at the strange sigil, its words as mysterious as they felt foreboding, for what beings that lingered within seemed to bear such words as any House in Westeros would:

"Vigilo Confido"

THE AVENGER: CENTRAL OFFICER BRADFORD.

The bridge fell dark, a single red light blinking in and out as the light from outside barely illuminated the room. Several of the bridge crew got up, trying to make heads or tails of what exactly had transpired over the past few minutes.

Central Officer Bradford got up from his seat, walking with a slight limp following the impact; suffice it to say it wasn't his best landing but given the circumstances, he was lucky that the thing landed in one piece.

"Can someone turn that alarm off and give me a damage report?!" He ordered in a gravelly voice. His days of drinking and running from place to place following the invasion may have been gone for years but it took its toll on him nonetheless.

He went to a nearby console on the bridge, initially trying to ascertain where on earth the ship had landed before wantonly hitting the blank screens when an intercom went up from the Engineering bay:

"We have a complete system overload, we'll need a total reset to get everything back up and running, your piloting skills have also damaged the landing gear legs 1 and 2, we'll need to retract them individually if we want to conduct repairs."

Her message was cut short as a door on the bridges upper level were thrown open; a man, roughly in his mid to late 20's yet slender and tall with inky black hair marched downstairs towards the command console, the ADVENT chip he wore as a pendant round his neck making no doubt in anyone's mind who he was.

"Can someone tell me what the bloody hell just happened?!"

Doctor Tygan began to speak over the intercom from the Lab: "Commander, I have detected a significant power spike in the Shadow Chamber that occurred about five minutes ago. Whatever it did, it opened a psionic rift that has dragged us through, I will need to go through the data and gather atmospheric readings once the relevant systems come back online."

Shen replied: "I'm still trying to pinpoint where it has taken us, but the computer systems are down, I'll have Rover remotely connect to any GPS satellites that may be in range and work out our location from here".

"Go ahead, Shen, I'll try and get a message through to inform HQ about this" Bradford replied. The Avenger had a separate comms array that drew from emergency power, a feature that Shen viewed as necessary following an attack on the ship by one of the Elders so-called "Chosen" a year back.

The Commander gazed out of the window, he could barely see the image of a medieval-style castle on the far right, he was almost within touching distance of the glass as he stretched to get a proper look at the thing. Even despite his so-called "legacy" of military leaders and his hours mulling over ancient and modern battles he never actually got to see a proper castle with his own eyes before. It wasn't long before something else got his attention however…

"I can't seem to establish contact through comms" Bradford said, "This should be the right frequency but I'm not getting anything". He frustratingly swung the frequency knob around; in the days when ADVENT was still in full force each resistance faction operated under its own radio frequency to make their individual transmissions harder to detect, yet even under these stations nothing turned up. Not even the Templar frequency, which had recently been buzzing with 24/7 preachiness about psionics also fell completely silent.

"Central…" The Commander asked; he paid no attention, still trying to cycle through every local and national radio frequency he knew.

"I'm trying to get contact, just give me just a minute".

"Central…" The Commander asked again, a little louder this time. Still he ignored his call.

"Skirmisher frequencies aren't working, you think we've landed somewhere in Europe? I know they have a history with castles, though this doesn't expl-"The Commander roared in interruption, his face halfway between frustration and confusion:

"CENTRAL, THERE ARE ACTUAL DRAGONS OUTSIDE!".

He immediately recoiled, "What?!", he immediately went over to the window and, true to his word, there they were. Two dragons roughly the size of a small UFO were overhead and heading straight for the ship, one of them was large, matted black in colour with red highlights streaking along his neck; the other was smaller, with darkened emerald wings with similarly green highlights on his neck. What were these creatures? Was it yet another one of Vahlen's twisted creations? Another weapon of war? Either seemed possible given everything he has seen.

"It's not just that, look here" The Commander said as Bradford passed the binoculars back to him.

"We've got company, and I don't have high odds that a completely different world produced people that looked just like us… Unless this is that so-called 'Planet of the Faceless' Tygan joked in his autopsy report."

"Of all the places we had to crash in, we had to land in a Renaissance fair, didn't we?", Bradford joked semi-seriously.

"This is bad, if we even lost one important part that makes this ship fly we'll be stranded here forever. And I don't think it's likely those spear-swingers would be of any assistance."

Several of the consoles flickered back to life, with almost all the bridge crew frantically tapping away at the computers all with their own goals: one only wanted to see if their music collection survived the trip, one of them logged their experience of the journey in the ocean of logs already present, another was only cycling through external cameras.

"I have managed to get several core systems back online" Shen began: "I can't seem to connect to any satellites with Rover or anything else I can get back at this point, I'll keep you posted once I get something"

"Don't bother, Lily, I don't think anyone around here knows about what on earth a radio is", The Commander replied.

"I don't understand, what's going on?"

"Meet me on the bridge, we'll discuss this in detail."

The Commander turned towards Rodriguez, one of the bridge crew, "Could you get a message on the PA to send Tygan here? We'll also need the bridge to ourselves for a while"

Rodriguez called to the bridge crew, "You heard the guy, let's go everyone, Let's see how quickly we can empty the bar!"

"Dear God, I hope we won't have to stick to our food stores or we won't last a month in this ship", Bradford muttered, his gaze briefly turning towards his crew

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that, I'm sure we can strike a deal with these locals".

Dr. Richard Tygan arrived quickly to the bridge, his head marked with a bruise from the crash followed by Lily Shen, datapad in hand with her most recent diagnostics from the ship. The four of them gathered around the central console.

"Tygan, any updates getting the systems online?" Bradford asked.

"I have conducted a full-band sensor sweep of the local area. I have found something that is deeply concerning"

"Lay it on me"; The Commander replied.

"I have detected multiple psionic energy signatures from within the castle though I cannot determine exactly how many."

"I see, so I presume you already know about the dragons flying around outside?", The Commander stated.

"Excuse me?", Tygan's otherwise stoic expression quickly jolted into complete confusion.

He put up the feed from the starboard cameras. The creatures having since landed alongside a small army's worth of foot soldiers. All but the Commander just stood there, unable to properly process their thoughts into words.

"How is this possible?" Shen asked.

"I could not have imagined this in my wildest dreams. The Shadow Chamber did not just transport us through space, but across a multiverse into the reality that we now see." Tygan said, with a tone bordering between fervent and concerned.

"That's ridiculous!" Shen uttered, "How do you know these dragons aren't another one of ADVENTs creations? Not to mention that these people could just be a scattered group of survivors"

"She's right," Bradford said, "It is as you had said once, Doctor, 'Nothing is impossible when it comes to the aliens.' It would make sense that they would cook those things up as a weapon of terror, what better way to inspire fear in the hearts of the Resistance than to bring to life the dragons of folklore? We should have one of the bridge crew run checks on the radio while we meet these dragon riders or whatever they'll call themselves."

"It's not just the isolated psionic readings" Tygan countered, "The background readings are showing elevated levels of psionic energy, were such a phenomenon to occur in our own world we would have detected it from orbit. It is of great importance that we should make long-terms plans to ration our supplies"

The Commander sighed, ignoring the bickering among the three. "Doctor, If your hypothesis is true, can you find us a way to get us back home?".

"I did not even know this was possible, much less devise a process for." Tygan replied, "I will need more data on how this occurred from the Shadow Chamber logs to learn the process and nature of how we were transported"

"Do whatever you must, we can't afford to stay here longer than we can"

"Commander, with your permission, I would like to send a research team to the castle, the psionic energy readings could offer valuable insights in the field", Tygan requested.

"You've got it. In fact, all of us will need to go there. If we're going to survive in this new world then we'll need to get friendly with the locals, especially considering our rather frightening entrance, I imagine" The Commander addressed.

"Commander, please. I'll go with a squad as a diplomat, you don't need to put yourself in danger just because you want to 'get friendly' to people who could burn us at the stake as witches" Bradford immediately urged.

"Firstly, I'm not going to be in danger, I'll have the three of you and three squads as protection and secondly, we'll need to reassure them following our… less than stellar entrance. If Tygan is correct and we have travelled between universes then we will need to be especially careful with our approach, after all, we don't want to cause trouble."

"And what if we have to?" Bradford asked.

"We'll worry about the situation when it comes" The Commander spoke with almost a whisper.

"Right, so, here's what we are going to do: Us and the aforementioned squads will head for the castle accompanied by new friends outside. We'll arrange some sort of agreement with whoever is in charge there so that we don't wind up killing each other immediately. Once that is done we will split up into three groups: Bradford and I will try and learn more about this place and keep them cordial while we are here, Tygan and his research team will help find out what happened while Shen will head back to the ship and get it airworthy again, we'll need an exit if things go sour"

"Sounds good to me" Bradford replied.

"Shen, have you got the PA system working?" The Commander asked.

"Just got it working, you should be able to broadcast ship-wide"

"Good, The rest of the people of the ship need to know what's going on and what we're going to do"

Bradford tapped at a few buttons on the centre console, the Hologlobe that would be present right at the centre of the bridge itself under any normal circumstances now completely absent, producing mere sparks in its place; "It's all yours… Commander"

The telltale screech of feedback could be heard throughout the Avenger as he addressed everyone in the ship.

"Attention all hands, we have a Code Purple scenario in play, I repeat, we have a Code Purple, I need everyone to head up to the bridge in an orderly fashion for a full crew meeting to outline a full plan of action, Thank You."

XCOM had various protocols dealing with anomalous situations ever since the defeat of ADVENT and the repercussions that happened: A Code Green related to unusual natural activity, Code Red related to any form of alien activity, Code Blue related to abnormal political situations, Code Black was reserved only for the worst of the worst events. Fortunately, this was a Code Purple, a freak psionic event.

The Commander turned towards Bradford, switching between a thumbs-up and thumbs-down gesture, looking for his insight.

"Yeah, you're doing well, Commander, you worry too much about what these people think of you", Bradford replied.

"If you say so."

The bridge began to fill up with people; ever since ADVENT fell many of the Avengers crew simply left, choosing the create new lives as far away from the fighting as could possibly be. What few people remained on the ship stayed for at least one of four reasons: Out of loyalty to XCOM and the cause, Out of desire to see what remnants of ADVENT and their Elders ground to dust, Out of curiosity for knowledge of the aliens or simply because they wanted to kill things. As everyone was present The Commander and Bradford formed up on the upper level overlooking everyone there, the crew manifests gave a total number: 113 people, soldiers, engineers and scientists alike. The two gathered their notes gathered from the bridge crew and began.

The Commander began his address:

"Okay, everyone, approximately 25 minutes ago at 16:33 hours Engineering detected a massive power spike originating from the Shadow chamber, leading to the creation of a psionic gateway of unprecedented size. This gateway forcibly pulled the Avenger and us with it to this location in which we now preside; Central Officer Bradford will now describe what intel we do know"

Central continued:

"We haven't yet determined our location, but there is a nearby settlement that should provide the info we need. They don't appear to have any significant technical knowledge, but, as unscientific as it sounds… they seem to have possession of a couple of dragons, we don't know anything about these creatures or their origin so we must keep our distance from these creatures until we can better know their capabilities."

The faint sound of muttering could be heard in the back. Several of the Psi Operatives shook their heads in disbelief. Bradford continued.

"Menace, Fury and Alpha squad will accompany The Commander, Shen, Tygan, The research team and myself to the nearby castle, you'll escort us there and make sure that everyone is safe while we negotiate with the locals. If things go south, we'll have the Avenger provide fire support while we evacuate the AO. It is safe to assume they don't have radio comms so we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. The research team will be led by Dr. Tygan, you'll be investigating anomalous activity from within the castle. Investigate the cause and find out if it can benefit our case. Everyone else on the ship will be tasked with putting the ship back in working order, the Engineering crew will help you along with this."

Tygan rose. "There's something else. We are working in an optimistic case scenario with this Code Purple scenario. I, along with I imagine, perhaps a few among yourselves have good reason to believe that we are no longer on Earth. If this is indeed the case, then it is probable that we will remain here for an extended amount of time. Until we can confirm either situation, I will defer back to the Commander for additional instructions"

The Commander then got up, clutching a sheet of paper he had written between his PA address and now.

"Now, I would like to stress that these are only temporary rules that will be void either by direct order from myself or once we return back to HQ. Anyway, without further ado:

Firstly, Non-humans, namely Skirmishers and SPARKs are not allowed outside the ship without permission from myself unless XCOM senior staff or the Avenger is under attack; Next, Psi Operatives and Templars are not allowed to use their psionic powers outside of the ship, they must also wear thick clothing to hide their skin features.

Next up, under no circumstances are we to sell or supply these people with our own equipment. If this is a full-scale civilisation than we risk forever changing not only their society but all others in this world in ways that we cannot possibly predict. Remember who we are; we don't meddle in the petty affairs of others unless it is a direct threat to us.

Thirdly, we are just visitors in their land, just because they don't have their own guns or haven't seen a computer in generations at the least does not make us superior or even more knowledgeable. I especially don't want anyone preaching religious nonsense around here… as a matter of fact, make sure Scorch doesn't leave the ship. The last thing we need is for our Templar friend to start a cult or worse, a new religion. Are we clear?"

"And lastly, but most importantly, all of you are still under XCOM jurisdiction and you will act as such. If I discover that if any one of you have pillaged, raped or conducted experiments that would even make Dr. Vahlen say 'Hold the hell up' then you will be court-martialled as you would be anywhere back home. We are not conquistadors, we don't do as we please when we please. We are only visitors and we will act as such. I'm talking especially to you, Major Durand! I don't want a repeat of what happened in New Vancouver!"

Annette slowly tried to retreat from view, that incident happened a year and a half ago and even now it had impacted relations between the Cascadian government and XCOM. She would have been thrown into prison for life if she weren't such an asset to the organisation both as an expert on the alien's political structure and as a powerful psionic.

"Okay then, we all have our objectives, let's get this done. Dismissed"

All but the bridge crew began to vacate from the room in single file. A small scuffle among two of the lesser-ranked soldiers was quickly snuffed out by Col. Kelly. Before long, the bridge returned to business as usual.

Rodriguez soon reactivated the ships radar before consulting the external cameras to get tabs on any other air contacts. Nothing, nothing at all in fact, as far as he could determine, the skies were all but clear.

"Commander, the Dragons have disengaged; I think they've gone back to the castle."

"Well, that's one immediate issue out of the way for now. We should get going". The Commander soon left the room, with the other three senior staff soon following.

"Ooh, one more thing, Rodriguez" he said, reaching for his chair, "Could you run an inventory list while we're gone? Just a precaution in case we're staying here for the long run"

Menace, Fury and Alpha Squad were already in the Armoury, located in the upper floor of the ship's stern right next to the Skyranger, the soldiers lightly arming themselves with their personal weapons and more "concealable" pieces of armour. Bradford grabbed his signature rifle, a large, darkened hunk of metal kitted out with SCOPEs, laser sights and an extended drum mag as well as his sword, a scarlet-red arc blade he kept for those rarer close-range situations.

The Commander simply grabbed a plasma pistol from the drawer before leaving. With the sole exception of the Avatar he controlled during the now-legendary Leviathan Operation which put the final nail in the coffin for ADVENT he almost never fought in direct combat. It was far too risky of an endeavour considering that the Elders pursued him at every turn since he escaped their custody as well as the fact that he wasn't physically built for such a confrontation.

Everyone soon gathered in Engineering, not coincidentally right below the armoury for their "first contact situation".

"Remember everyone, we're all friends here so please keep your weapons holstered. We don't want a diplomatic incident this early in", The Commander addressed.

"Opening the service bay door now…" Shen announced, withdrawn to her workshop at the back of the bay.

The Commander and Bradford moved right in front, within breathing distance of the hatch, the cold winds lashing them as the service door opened tentatively.

"How about you leave the sweet talk to me?" Bradford asked, "If this is as sensitive a situation you're telling us then it's definitely not worth going out of your way for"

"Sure, just don't talk in 'ye olde speak' no matter how much you want to, just because we're in the Renaissance fair it doesn't mean we should speak the part." He replied, shielding his face from the sharp winds.

A roaring chant was immediately heard the moment the service door reached the ground, a full line of spears held forward with their tips barely touching the lip of the bay hatch, clutched by a group of warriors clad in leather armour and full-face helmets. Bradford nearly twitched in surprise; these people looked nothing like the classic knights they saw on the cameras, or like any kind of soldier he had seen before, not to mention the fact that their attire was completely ill-suiting for the weather yet none of the fifty soldiers or so did so much as flinch.

"Stand Down" Another soldier moved in front. His armour and horse were muddied from the ground below; he was a well-dressed man with hair almost as dark as the Commanders whilst also having a full, well-trimmed beard. Another man, older, gruffier and wearing patchy, brown fur clothing lined up next to the bearded rider.

"Welcome to Winterfell, my lords", said the old man, "My name is Sir Davos Seaworth and the good man right beside me is Jon Snow, Warden of the North. The Dragon Queen understands your men must have had a rather unpleasant journey and has already made some new arrangements for your arrival if you so wish"

John stared at the two gobsmacked, Winterfell? Warden of the North? Dragon Queen?, in all his years speaking to resistance settlements and knowing peoples of all backgrounds and walks of life, but this? How could anyone take in something like this with a straight face? He swallowed a little, doing his best to push aside how ridiculous what he said.

"Thank you very much, Sir Davos" Bradford replied. "I am Central Officer John Bradford and this… is Commander Michael Waterson, our leader and head of Earth's extraterrestrial combat unit or 'XCOM'. I am sure the both of us would like to learn more about your kingdom here." He said.

"Of course," Jon Snow replied. "We'll be more than happy to escort you to the Great hall and give you an audience with the Queen, I would ask however that you turn over your weapons before we proceed."

Bradford responded promptly, throwing his arc blade down onto the ground. The Commander unholstered his pistol, more carefully placing it next to the sword.

"Ahem", The Commander cleared his throat while nudging Bradfords arm, the good man did request for all of their weapons.

"Fine". He threw his assault rifle on the ground, the two figures exchanging confused looks as he did so. It was clear that Commander wanted some concessions for these people to gain their trust, not the squads however; their weapons would remain on their persons. A pair of spearmen quickly made their way towards the service ramp to collect them.

"Come, I'll get you a horse for the trip up ahead. Your soldiers are permitted within the castle walls, but I would ask that they do not enter the Great hall while you speak with the Queen" Jon Snow announced.

"Of course, thank you." The Commander replied, completely disembarking from the ship.

The rest of the political and scientific team soon followed. They didn't amount to much, since the re-emergence of the organisation during Operation Gatecrasher XCOM squads were always arranged into squads of six. This combined with the scientific team of about twelve and the number of senior staffs amounted to 34 people for the expedition in total. A pitiful assembly really, they couldn't match the numbers of the spearmen alone, let alone the other knights they soon found themselves being escorted by. But, as is with XCOM, numbers were never their strong suit, but it was never like it mattered when they brought ADVENT to its knees.

The commander quickly gave a tap on Bradford's shoulder, revealing a shield gauntlet usually seen on ADVENT Shieldbearers.

"If they turn on us in the hall, We've got enough juice in this gauntlet to get us out of the building before they level it, don't worry about it."

"Thanks, though I think I have found a problem with your going-in plan, if I may interject," Bradford asked.

"And what would that be?" The Commander replied, already trying to figure out the answer in his head.

"Do you even know how to ride a horse?" He quipped, albeit in a completely serious manner. The Commander merely gave an unimpressed glare before moving on.