Chapter 3: The forest

As the door slip open she heard the bustling sounds of people working and tapping away at consoles. Centrals exasperated voice to her amusement, still managed to cut though the rest of the noise. "I heard you Shen. When we get the thing, you'll be the first to know." Hrefna took a single step into the room - and was promptly cut off by an alarm and the light switching to a blinking red

"ATTENTION: UNAUTHORIZED PRESSENCE DETECTED."

She jumped in surprise as what she assumed to be the security system announced her presence. Central and two nearby personnel quickly turned to face her. Central seemed ready to pull his gun and send her off before realizing who she was. "Commander. Give me second" he took a few lazy steps toward her raising his voice. "Execute echelon protocol." The moment the words left him the light switched to blue, the siren stopped and the computer once again spoke.

"ATTENTION: SENIOR COMMAND EXCHANGE CONFIRMED."

Every single pair of eyes in the room were trained on her, and for the first time that day, she felt a little silly in her giant sweater. But she pushed it aside. It sounded like she was officially promoted to commander again. Not very formal, but it it was efficient, she had to give him that.

Central walked over to her "I had wanted it to be a little more ceremonious, but we got something." straight to business as always. She smiled as he turned slightly and gestured to a large screen on the wall. The screen switched to some... complicated looking module.

"A local resistance cell just located this 'Hybrid magnetic power converter' that Shen's been pushing us to find."

Sounds as complicated as it looks. The thing was mostly a big square with numerous indentations, wires maybe and what she thought looked like jet engine exhausts but were most definitely not. Central continued his briefing in a way that made her fell like thing had changed.

"They tracked the device to a nearby ADVENT convoy and are attempting to take it down. If we can bring this 'converter' back in one piece, we might actually get this place up and running. Give the aliens a real war for a change."

But everything had.

Even their base, the Avenger as it was called. She had learned a fair bit about it from the database, a converted alien supply ship. But the massive craft was still unable to fly, at least for the moment. Hrefna couldn't recall the reason - If one was even given in the database. But it sounded like this device could be what they needed.

A mobile base of operations. Her smile broadened ever so slightly, now that would give them a massive edge. Like inventing aircraft carriers all over again, not only would it drastically increase their operational range, since the entire base could move around - It would also significantly cut down on transport to and from missions sites, making evac or resupplying quicker. No longer would they be nailed down to a single location, hoping the aliens didn't recognise patterns in their troop transports flight path and reaction times to alien movements. Neither could lead them back to the Avenger, because by the time they had figured out a possible location for the X-COM HQ, they would be long gone.

She looked around the bridge, several people looked to be doing maintenance, but a few were overlooking what looked to be an ongoing battle. A number of troopers hiding behind a column of vehicles. The fight he just mentioned. She fought back the urge to yawn again, blinking a few times hoping to clear her head a bit.

Her attention snapped back to him the moment he started speaking

"A squad is prepped and ready to launch on your order commander. Just give the word."

"Well consider it given" She rushed out, if resistance fighters were actively engaging the convoy the clock had already started ticking. The exhaustion left her, a newfound focus taking over. Hrefna looked around, barely giving Central time to relay the order to the drop ship before flinging out the next line of questions. "What sort of intel do we have, helmet cams, surveillance drones, hostile troop numbers?"

Central stopped for a moment before calling out to a nearby operator and pointing to a large monitor "Helmet cams, main screen" Then turning back to her "We also have 2 scout drones with the drop ship, top down view, access to thermals and an automatic identification system for hostiles, aliens and civilians." She gave a quick nod before pointing to a nearby terminal "This work?" Central nodded, pressing a few buttons to boot it up and prepare the drone view. He finished up quickly moving away to give her space. "Squad Coms is on channel four, channel five is for Shen and Dr. Tygan." She nodded, taking a quick look over the squad helmet cameras. They were in the drop ship on route to the convoy. Five soldiers, each in full combat gear, body armour and helmet with assault rifles, pistol sidearm and frag grenades. Their expressions were mixed, but once thing was visible on each, determination. good.

"We have an entire setup ready for you in your quarters as well if you want the privacy"

She peaked up at that, but quickly dismissed it for now. "Convenient but don't have the time to move now."

She switched focus back to the terminal, quickly going over the scout drone camera controls and how to switch to thermals, satisfied she looked through the earlier calls with the resistance forces. She hoped they had communicated some degree of tactical information, enemy numbers, vehicles etc.

The moment she opened the log Central cursed pressing a hand to his ear. "Blackstone this is Central. Communications with resistance forces have gone dark..." Central was using channel 4 for the squad so must be an updated briefing. And Blackstone must be the squad tag, she noted to herself.

"...Which can only mean one thing." He continued "These people sacrificed everything to give us this shot. We need to recover that converter at all costs."

She looked at the helmet cams again, one made a motion she translated to "dammit."

But the determination was still there, if not reinforced by the weight of the mission. Hopefully they would handle the pressure well, Hrefna knew the training wasn't the same as before the war. The aliens didn't exactly let the humans run military academies and orchestrate large training exercises for resistance fighters. So all training was done at local camps, with whatever knowledge and equipment was available. In other words it was spotty at best. They would fix that that in time of cause but, the start would be rough.

She looked at the route and saw the drop ship was rapidly approaching the site.

"Who's the squad leader?" She asked, not taking her eyes of the screen.

"Cilia, helmet cam 3. It's only her third mission with us, but she's done plenty of independent resistance work over the last few years. Picked her up about 2 months ago. One of our best. Rest is mostly green"

She looked at the helmet cams, checking the rest of the names and helmet cam numbers. Clyde 1, Alva 2, Cilia 3, Johannes 4 and Stevens 5. Clyde, Alva and Celia only carried standard assault rifles while Johannes seemed to be equipped for fire support with a single shot rocket launcher by his side. Stevens was the team medic, carrying similar weapons but also a bag of mixed equipment for patching wounds in the field.

"Blackstone, this is the Commander speaking. Central already gave you the briefing so I'll keep this short. Prepare for landing in 5, we have confirmed hostiles on site but the local resistance hit them hard. I'll guide you once you have boots on the ground."

The soldiers looked at each other, few nodded and Cilia looked relieved. "Can uh, can they hear us?" One of the soldiers, Clyde asked. Hrefna chuckled a bit to herself before responding "Yes Blackstone 1, I hear you loud and clear."

Clyde was silent for a moment before asking "Permission to speak freely mam?"

"Always" she responded quickly. She preferred people honest, last time she led X-COM and now. So many unnecessary problems could be avoided with an open door policy. If they told her what they thought, their worries or suggestions, then they had something to work with. Half truths and boot licking helped no one. She needed all the information she could get if they hoped to go anywhere with this war, if their soldier had problems, then it was only a matter of time before it bled out to the rest of the team.

"Think I speak for everyone when I say it's dam good to have you back"

"Blackstone, your appreciation is noted." She replied half jokingly, Hrefna had never dealt well with open appreciation and compliments which... well as the main leader of planet wide resistance group you would think she had gotten used to it by now but no. It still felt weird.

Thankfully the drop ship pilot was there to change the subject.

"Firebrand here, prepare for drop, 30 seconds!"

And if Blackstone 1 had a response, it was cut short by Firebrands call out. Every soldier took a few breaths, stretching arms and getting ready for the drop.

The Firebrand ship came to a halt, a good 8-10 meters above the ground. Internal lights switched to green as the door opened and dropped ropes to the ground.

The X-COM soldiers jumped out, landing one after the other on the grass. They quickly took stance, scanning the immediate area for hostiles while covering for the rest of the squad, who were still disembarking.

"Firebrand commencing Eagle-Eye protocol, good luck down there!" The pilot called out. For once she knew exactly what was going on, they had used the same strategy during the first war. Firebrand would ascend and circle the area, using the drop ships excellent optics to give them an overview of the battle field. Combined with the 2 scout drones they were guaranteed to have a clear picture of what was going on, from every angle needed.

Speaking of which, the scout drones were finally up and in position, Hrefna zoomed out with the camera before focusing back in on the convoy. It was a mess, though not as bad as it could've been. It consisted of 3 vehicles, front and back ones were armoured troop transports sandwiching a decent sized truck with a big piece of machinery strapped to it's trailer.

There were clear signs of combat, 5 dead ADVENT troops and 4... No 5 still standing. They were spread out along the convoy, patrolling the western part of the site. She couldn't get a solid count on the resistance soldiers, not until she switched to thermals. The bodies of 9 people, scattered around the area with varying weapons by their side.

Dammit.

She turned on the coms. "Blackstone we have 5 ADVENT troopers on site direct north of your position. We have the element of surprise and we are going to take full advantage of that. We will do a simultaneous strike. Spread out and advance to the tree line. I'll follow from from the sky."

"Cilia here, orders confirmed" She responded, signalling for the squad to advance. Hrefna followed along, one drone on the squad and the other on the ADVENT troops.

Cilia reached a large rock covered with bushes and flanked by a number of trees on each side, a solid hiding spot. The squad leader peeked around the corner, noting the nearby terrain and where the ADVENT troopers were. Hrefna checked the group, each one crouched and aimed in, heavy foliage and cover in front of them.

"We have visual on hostiles, permission to engage?"

Hrefna squinted at the screen, switching back to day sight and zooming in. 3 troopers were grouped close, one hunched over a resistance soldier... A soldier who was still very much alive. The man was lying in the mud, a bloody wound on his forearm, gasping for breath with the ADVENT trooper shouting at him.

"Blackstone we have a survivor, I repeat friendly on site. Spread out your targets and watch your fire. We don't want a blue on blue incident here."

"Roger that, Commander" Cilia responded in a low but clear voice. The squad leader gave a few hand signals and pointed towards the hostile troops. Hrefna waited expectantly, she needed to know what they were capable of, how well they worked together. If any cracks showed they would have to patch them quickly - But so far, rookies or not they worked together well.

The ADVENT troopers were in the open, should any of them survive the initial strike they would have no cover. There were solid trees scattered around, but X-COM soldiers had made a half circle surrounding them.

They were going down no matter what, and Hrefna knew it would be quick.

"Fire when ready" she said, hoping the shots would find their marks.

The ADVENT trooper pulled the resistance soldier to his feet before slamming him against a tree, shouting again. The other 2 stood guard, with the 2 remaining checking the condition of the convoy.

Hrefna looked to central "How long do we have?"

His answer was quick, "12 to 15 minutes before hostile reinforcements arrive. It's gonna be close."

She nodded before turning back to the screen, just as Cilia gave the signal. Several shots rang out, all from different angles and each hitting their mark. The ADVENT troopers all fell to the ground, though one was still alive. The wounded trooper started crawling into cover before 2 more shots could be heard. The trooper twitched before going limp.

The resistance soldier looked frantically in every direction, a bit of alien blood splattered on the tree next to his face. His head snapped to the X-COM soldiers the moment they moved out of the treeline.

"Blackstone all hostiles are down, secure package and the survivor. But be advised, hostile reinforcements are on route. You have 10 minutes before everything goes to shit"

Cilia responded immediately "Noted, you heard the Commander!" She called out to her squad, everyone immediately set into motion on getting the resistance survivor back on his feet and getting the converter ready for extraction.

Central called "Firebrand, site is secure, move in for extraction"

"Firebrand here, orders confirmed moving to evac zone"

From there it took only a moment for the X-COM soldiers to get the converter and ADVENT trooper corpses into the Firebrand and take flight.

Hrefna leaned back in her chair, feeling pretty satisfied with what was, she noted with a bit of humour: Her first operation in 20 years. They had even managed to salvage a few components and bodies since they were pretty much starting from scratch. They were fighting a new enemy with new equipment and technology so they had new autopsies to perform, reverse engineer weapons and components as well as securing personnel and resources to build anything Shen and Tygan developed.

Well, one step at a time. For now they needed to get the Avenger into the air, and it seemed Shen had finally gotten the thing to make that happen.

"Solid work everyone, couldn't have asked for a better result." She called out to everyone on the bridge. Her words were followed by a short applause and a bit of chatter here and there.

"That was so smooth!"

"So glad one of the resistance soldiers made it."

"Just mowed them down in a single spray... Damm."

"They never knew what hit them... about time ADVENT got a taste of their own medicine."

Hrefna quickly asked central to send her the mission report when it was done. She doubted there was anything she missed, but it would be useful for knew and old recruits alike to look through combat reports. To get a feel for the enemy and their tactics, going in blind was not an option. Blackstone 5 - Stevens patched up the resistance soldier. Seemed it was only a gracing hit to his arm, but still bad enough to put him out of the fight. X-COM would de-brief him, if was he was an experienced combatant or had some skill set they might keep him. If he agreed of cause, otherwise they would facilitate transport back to the colony he came from.

For know... Well It was time to bring the battle to ADVENT.

Hrefna was watching the holo-map with Central, It was similar to what they had in the old X-COM HQ, if a little more compact. The Avenger was currently nestled in the bottom of a canyon in central Europe. The massive cliffs on each side hid the ship well from both visual and radar detection. Thinking of it did the aliens even use radars? Eh, whatever they used the Avenger had remained undetected for a long time, but Shen and her team was working on installing the converter. Once it was up and running they would be able to fly pretty much anywhere they needed to, cutting down on transport time and making it quicker and easier to establish communication and gather supplies.

Central had been going over their resources and the state of the local resistance base. It was at once, better and worse than Hrefna had expected. Relatively speaking they had plenty of ammunition, conventional weapons and explosives with enough uniforms and armour plates to fit a small army. The limiting factors were however... very limiting. For one they lacked qualified personnel to actually use any of the equipment, the majority of people living at the colony were busy salvaging and making sure there was enough food, water and medicine to keep the colony going. They didn't have giant machines and factories to make homes, amenities and consumer goods, it all had to be done by hand or by salvaging from nearby towns and wrecks.

The Avenger was in a bit better shape, but they shared many of the same problems. Last time they could pick and choose from the best of the best among all the nations around the world. This time they had very limited military personnel, so loosing experienced people in the field would be catastrophic. This was also true for scientist and engineers, not to mention all the people in the bridge, keeping the ship flying and communications flowing and all the other behind the scenes work. What they had was a skeleton crew, but at least it was enough to maintain and perform the necessary day to day work.

"...We've got one here, here and contacts tells us another one is located around this area." Central said, marking an area near the northern part of Germany.

"We still need confirmation on the last one, but that's only the major resistance headquarters in our area. There is numerous smaller groups as well." He finished, very much agreeing that establishing communications and uniting people should be a major focus.

"Despite all of ADVENT's best efforts, there are still people who refuse to believe their lies. And it's time we let them know they are not alone." He finished with a look she knew all too well.

"Sounds like a plan, guess you already have a few targets in mind?"

Central nodded, bringing up several markers on the globe. "We have already located several possible targets for our next operation. ADVENT knows you are here, so there's no need for us to be subtle anymore, we should strike a central ADVENT monument. Give the people a clear message that we are still in the fight."

"- And show them that ADVENT isn't as untouchable as they want us to believe." Hrefna finished, catching on to the idea. Before going silent for a moment as a thought hit her.

She breathed out a heavy sigh, catching Centrals attention. "Before we do anything, you should tell the resistance heavens to keep a low profile. I have a strong suspicion ADVENT is going to... how do I put this, dramatically overreact."

Central looked questioningly at her, not quite following. She started explaining what she learned from going through the database. "ADVENT's tactics have been, temperamental for lack of a better word, ever since you broke me out. Delegating significant forces to minor skirmishes and acting much more aggressive than before. Blowing a bomb in their backyard? Yeah figure that should piss them right off. "

Central nodded, quickly taking in the information. "We will give a quick call out, but you agree with the mission?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'll let you assemble the team. Pick a low risk target and bring fresh soldiers, we need to give our people some field experience." She replied, with the last few words nearly getting lost in a yawn.

Central raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, sleep's been a bit spotty these past few days. Think I can catch an hour or two before the mission?"

Central gave a quick nod. "Sure still need to plan it out. I'll get you when we are ready to begin."

She nodded her thanks and stoop up, briefly waiting for her vision to clear. Every time it happened, and every time she forgot. Standing up too quickly - Something about the brain not getting enough blood or something. The lightheaded feeling dissipated soon enough and her vision cleared up. She let out a small sigh, ignoring the various noises from the bridge behind her as she moved for her quarters.

She leaned back on the door the moment it slid shut behind her, her knees almost buckling. She looked around the room, almost not recognising it before remembering that this was her new one, not the old.

Everything is as it should be.

She let out a sigh and a yawn

Exhaustion punching through now that the mission was over.

She was so tired, both physically and mentally. She felt ready to drop. And Hrefna did, the moment her slow steps carried her within reach of the bed she led herself fall onto the bed.

She slowly pulled her blanket together as a pillow before she drifted off.

...

...

Hrefna stood in her quarters, a strange fog surrounding her. It was silent, but in a pleasant way.

But there were whispers to her left, distant and indistinguishable. She didn't want to be near them right now. Part of knew they wouldn't notice her. And even if they did, they wouldn't - No couldn't hurt her. They were too small, too fragile.

Instead she turned right. She had nowhere special to be, no schedule to follow. And so Hrefna walked, each silent step leading her towards the centre of her room.

...

She reached it, and she turned to look back - the whispers were almost inaudible, like they could no longer reach her... She watched with a smile as the walls melted away, little flakes disappearing like leaves in the wind.

Turning she raised her gaze to the sky - and it was a sky, beautiful and clear. Dark blue and black, covered in stars... She took a deep breath of the fresh night air. The moon shining with a pale light, gleaming like a frozen phoenix in the heavens. Eyes drifting closed she listened as the wind rustled the grass and bushes.

The great trees shielding her from a world outside, she couldn't be sure if she remembered what it was like. Fragments seemed to find her, always - they called out to her, or maybe she was the one calling out. An old friend, a loved one? She didn't know, but she could sense it, just beyond reach, familiar and yet perfectly strange... It hadn't always been there, but she found herself longing for it, needing it again, not understanding when and why it left. She sensed it and searched for it but never found it. It was too far away, vague and... obscured. But without it she felt empty, like part of her was missing.

Her mood crumbled a bit as the thought settled in.

But the grass was there, and the little river running by her side. Another wind rustled the trees, the sound echoing within her along with the running water.

She slowly moved her hand through the long cold grass.

So peaceful.

Hrefna knew how quickly things could be lost... How things could change without warning or reason... but the forest always seemed to be there... It was nice, her little piece of paradise...

...

She found her mind wandering again, flowing between the old trees, across the thick roots and through the grass. Seeping deep into the ground. And then she saw something, just beyond the horizon. A light in the blackness that was the edge of her forest.

And it saw her.

She studied it for a moment, a faint purple glow, like paint stretched too thin.

It looked... a bit like herself Hrefna thought, though the shape was hard to make out. It was not solid, instead seeming to shift and waver as if the gentle wind of the forest threatened to tear it apart.

It met her watchful gaze but it seemed confused, angry, anxious maybe also curious and... and a little happy. Hrefna like the happiness, like little pink baubles. But the rest?

The being seemed conflicted. Anger and anxiety... How can any of those feelings exist in a place like this? she pondered, feeling herself sink a little deeper into the woods.

The being creeped forward and Hrefna cocked her head to one side, suddenly eying the thing with suspicion - Why she didn't know, it seemed harmless, almost. But part of her wanted it gone, wanted it to stay out of the woods and - It took a step onto the grass with it's spindly legs. The weight was massive and she felt an overwhelming wave of emotions wash over her. As conflicting as they were strong. Love, compassion, hatred and sadness. Hrefna couldn't sort through them all, it was too much at once, too early. It wasn't supposed to be here, she didn't want it to be here.

She felt it's gaze drift across the woods, over the grass bushes and trees before it landed on her. It raised both, no all four of it's arms towards her, dancing purple light flowed forth from bony hands, streaking towards her faster and faster until -

She gasped awake, heart pounding in her chest.

Eyes darting around the room she found nothing. Dim yellow lights revealed couches and chairs, cabinets and bookshelves. All untouched, she felt a painful sting and looked down, finding her hands clenched into fist, hard enough for nails to pierce skin. She slowly opened them, watching the red marks her nails had left.

She focus on the pain, letting it ground her as she breathed, slowly in and out.

She ran a hand over her face, desperately trying to slow her beating heart.

Another deep breath, the dream still fresh in her mind. It all felt...surreal and yet familiar, normal even. The forest was...

She let out a sigh, even just thinking about it seemed to help her mind calm down.

Hrefna had seen it before, some distant memory perhaps, but nothing specific came to mind, no past memory or location. The being was the same, though it might have been the same as what she saw when they removed the chip... Maybe, but that one only had one arm.

Or maybe it only showed one?

The long robes covering the body, the purple light, it had to be the same. But just what the hell was it and why did she see it? Then and know, was it trying to tell her something? It looked alien, she reminded herself. If it was trying to reach you it can't have been about anything good.

No, no - she needed to think. Maybe go through the archives again, perhaps she had missed something under the list of alien combatants, she must have. What else could the being be-

Hrefnas head snapped to the right fast enough to make her wince. Thought she felt...

Only silence followed.

Maybe it was nothing.

She slowly got out of the bed, walking to the bathroom before throwing some cold water in her face.

She rubbed her eyes, the dream was fading, her heart rate slowly going back to normal. Was it not for the memory and the small stinging pain in her hands she could almost pretend it hadn't happened.

She left the bathroom only for the strange feeling to return. She took a few careful steps forward, eyes locked on the door.

Just as she was about to press the button, the door swing open with a loud hiss.

Hrefna jumped, breath caught in her throat.

It was Central, with an irritatingly smug grind on his face.

"You scared the shit out of me!" She hissed out.

"I would have never guessed, think you almost hit the ceiling there" He remarked jokingly, much to her frustration. Though he looked at her in silence for a moment before adding a "Sorry Commander, didn't mean to startle you. Mission is planned and we have a few other matters that need your attention too."

Hrefna took a deep breath before nodding rubbing both hands across her face in tired acceptance. "I'll make a quick cup then I'll be there."

Hope you enjoyed the reading this one as much as I did writing it :D

It will sadly be some time before the next chapter, ended up having to rewrite a few scenes and it's... taking a bit longer than I would've hoped. But it's going to be bigger than usual so hopefully that makes a bit up for it ^^

Let me know what you think, any and all feedback is appreciated. Until next time~