XCOM: The Advent Directive

by Xabiar

Australia has been annexed, the United Nations is in chaos, the world is under siege and the Ethereals have taken the field. Facing the full might of the Ethereal Collective, the Commander must rally XCOM, the newly formed ADVENT, and several other allies and rivals to unite the divided nations by any means necessary, for failure now will mean the fall of humanity once and for all.

31. Escalation

Escalation

---

The Citadel – United States of America

11/27/2016 – 9:55 A.M.

Nuan flexed her mechanical fingers to make sure everything was working correctly. By the end of the operation in Sacramento, the damage her prosthetics had sustained was more extensive than she'd realized. The small patches and fixes had only been temporary measures, and by the end, whole fingers weren't working correctly.

Not an ideal situation.

Still, even though they'd had to retreat, she was relieved to have something of a reprieve from the non-stop combat. She had never experienced anything like that in her life, and for that being her first time, she thought she'd held up well for the most part. Few casualties, and she'd been rather surprised when she'd seen her recorded kill count. She'd kept track early on, but it had become a blur rather fast.

What she wasn't sure about was what they were going to do now. The battle had died down significantly in the US, and it appeared the Collective was content to hold onto their major cities while ADVENT secured the outskirts. Seattle was technically lost, but the Commander had told them that was a strategic decision, and there were teams working to sabotage, trap, and otherwise make their attempts to secure the city difficult at best.

Alaska was being steadily taken over by the Collective though. While the Commander had said there were plans in place, it didn't exactly sound like a good situation, especially with Canada being threatened at the same time. Korea was still under attack, but that seemed to be going well.

But the Commander had been very tight-lipped about what was going to be coming next, which even she could tell was unlike him. He'd probably told Patricia, and knowing Geist, he'd probably read his mind to get the information, but she was uncharacteristically not sharing anything. Something was going to happen, and she was wondering how long it would be before it was revealed.

In the meantime, she was getting a tour of the Citadel by Iosif since she'd joined XCOM after the infamous attack. Although perhaps infamous was the wrong word, since she'd never heard of the incident until after joining. What was obvious was that the Citadel was extremely different to the Praesidium, and quite clearly constructed by Humans, whereas the latter was definitely repurposed alien architecture.

Still though, she did have to admit she'd gotten used to the silvery walls and rounded design of the Sectoid architecture, and that the sharp angles and utilitarian aesthetic of the Citadel definitely seemed subpar in comparison. With that said, she did have several questions, since the place was clearly in good shape and serviceable. "Why did you leave at all?" She asked. "I don't see any lasting damage."

"Only the Internal Council was really given the reason," Iosif admitted as they walked the halls. "It was likely because the aliens knew where the base was, and there wasn't anything stopping them from just trying again." A pause. "We're very lucky the Ethereals sent one of their own who was relatively weak. I don't think we'd be here if the Battlemaster had decided to lead the charge."

Nuan furrowed her eyebrows and stopped walking. "So instead you moved to an alien base? One that they definitely knew about?" She crossed her arms, looking up at him expectantly.

Iosif scratched his head sheepishly. "I think the Internal Council was…counting on it being so brazen the aliens would never suspect it. And I know we extensively scanned it for bugs and the like."

Nuan smirked. "A bold move. I'm rather surprised they haven't done anything yet. They have to know where we are by now."

"Most likely," Iosif shrugged as they kept walking. "But they won't do anything with Aegis there. He's a good insurance policy."

An insurance policy that seemed to have an aversion to actually contributing, but one nonetheless. She supposed having an Ethereal sort-of on their side was better than not having one at all. But still…she didn't know the full details about why the Ethereal was only providing advice, but it was annoying to see these other Ethereals demonstrating how powerful they were, and Aegis was powerful, Iosif had said as much, but he still held back.

Why?

"And this was the old Mission Control," Iosif said, continuing their modest tour, and stepping through the soundless automatic doors. "Which has apparently been restored to its old glory."

The old Mission Control was actually fairly similar to the new one. It had the more angular aesthetic of Human design, with the steel floor and grey metal of the walls, but the core concepts were essentially the same. In the center was a massive holoprojector, and surrounding it were rows of computers and chairs for analysts, and there were platforms above acting as a second story.

Even if it wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as the new Mission Control, the giant hologlobe was one she'd never get tired of seeing. "Seems to do the same thing as the new one," she commented. "Some things just don't change."

"Indeed," Iosif nodded solemnly. "Though not quite the same anymore."

The legions of ADVENT personnel around certainly contributed to that feeling. She supposed she couldn't really understand from the perspective of an outsider. But this was a defining part of XCOM's short, but memorable history, and she was glad she was getting to see it at least once. "This is where the former Central Officer and Van Doorn died, yes?"

Iosif gave another nod. "It is. Bradford and Van Doorn. Some of the first to actually fight an Ethereal. Good men. I didn't know them well, but they'd always conducted themselves well and proved their dedication to XCOM with their deaths. It's unfortunate they fell; we really could use their help."

"Central Officer Jackson seems to be doing a good job," Nuan noted as several spots on the hologlobe lit up. "I don't know what position Van Doorn had, but I assume the Commander had a good replacement."

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that," Iosif corrected. "The Commander doesn't pick bad candidates, and Jackson has done a good job as far as I know. But to be honest, she isn't Bradford. She doesn't have his experience or connections. I don't think many people knew just how well-connected Bradford was. You'd never guess, but there was a reason XCOM ran so smoothly in the beginning when faced with the…tense situation between the Commander and the Council."

He paused. "I don't know if Van Doorn has really been 'replaced' either. Maybe Patricia is supposed to fill that role, but while she's a good psion, she's no Van Doorn. He was…irreplaceable from an experience perspective."

Nuan didn't know that much about Van Doorn, but she knew his basic reputation, and even her superiors had held some respect for him. China had not participated much during the War on Terror, and that was where General Van Doorn had become more widely known. Ever since he had been indisputably the most respected military official in the world.

She supposed a loss like him was irreplaceable.

"All things considered," Iosif commented. "Things could have gone a lot worse. If only all Ethereals could be beaten by a few telepaths."

"Some can be," the Commander commented, walking up behind them and making her stiffen at his voice. "Unfortunately, the ones we're likely to fight aren't. From what Aegis said, the Ravaged One was a…special case."

The Commander paused. "But that isn't important right now. Come with me."

Iosif and her exchanged a look, and followed him out of the room and back into the hallways. "You've not been here, Nuan," the Commander said without looking back to her. "Your impressions on our humble beginnings?"

Nuan cocked her head. "If you'd shown me this first, I would be highly impressed. China didn't have anything like this. Although I will say the Praesidium is an improvement."

The Commander seemed to find that amusing. "I can't disagree, but I have good memories here…" he sounded wistful at that, before turning to them. "However, I'm afraid your tour will have to be cut short. Suit up and prepare for deployment."

"What's the mission?" Iosif asked.

"We are going to assist in retaking Japan." Was the answer.

Nuan was dumbfounded. It was enough of a surprise that ADVENT was going to try and retake America, but attacking Japan at the same time? Was that even a good idea? Could they even do that without…well, she would say Chinese help, but that seemed unlikely. "Japan," she repeated. "That seems…risky."

"Oh, it will be," the Commander surprisingly agreed with a nod. "However, we have a few factors in our favor. Namely that the Collective will not be expecting an attack like this, they are already damaged from the EMP's, and in addition, we have some help."

"I suppose the Japanese want some revenge," Iosif said, though Nuan had the distinct feeling he didn't mean them.

"Oh, they do, but the difference is that this will not be a primarily ADVENT operation," the Commander looked to her. "It appears that your constant insistence on the benefits of an ADVENT-Chinese alliance have had a role in their decision to reach out."

Nuan's eyes widened. Was it really happening? "You're saying…"

"Yes," the Commander smiled at her. "China and ADVENT are at this moment, in a military alliance. It will be announced within several hours, and has been negotiated for roughly a week. They will spearhead the liberation of Japan, with our assistance. In return, of course, they will acquire the majority of the salvage and afterwards, we can iron out the details of a firmer alliance."

Nuan knew she probably had a stupid smile on her face, but she couldn't help it. This was exactly what she'd been hoping for, and it reinforced her trust in her superiors that she now realized had been deteriorating dangerously. But that was all gone now; they'd finally come around and she knew it was at least partially to do with her.

She really hoped she wasn't dreaming, but if she was, this was going to last as long as she could make it. If China was going to take the step of working with ADVENT, it might set off a chain of events where the other countries began also working in earnest to kick the aliens off their planet. That was the best case scenario, and it probably hinged on the upcoming battle.

"Thank you, Commander," she said. "For the opportunity here."

"In this case, you're more to thank than I am," he answered, inclining his head. "But get suited up now. You deploy in one hour."

"Yes, Commander!" She performed a hasty salute in her excitement, grabbed Iosif by the arm, a bit firmer than she intended and quickly began marching back to the barracks to prepare for what was possibly the most important battle of the war yet.

---

Busan – South Korea

11/27/2016 – 10:11 A.M.

"Do you think they'll ever retreat?"

"Doubt it," Duri sighed, trying once more to line up an impossible shot at one of the barely visible aliens in the distance. Unlike Beatriz, who was still happily chipping away at them. If he'd realized that trench warfare was going to largely be him not shooting at aliens, interspersed with long stretches of absolutely nothing happening, he would have requisitioned a sniper rifle himself.

He was definitely going to diversify after this.

"You want to try?" He glanced up to see Beatriz looking at him curiously, her sniper rifle slightly extended to him.

"How did you know?" He asked. "You a telepath and didn't tell me?"

"I wish," she sniffed. "No, but after seeing you act incredibly bored for the past hour and looking at my rifle, I figured you wanted to do something besides make sure all of us have ammo we're not using."

"Well, if you insist," Duri grinned as she handed it over and brought himself up to a firing position. It was definitely much different than an assault rifle, but it wasn't the first time he'd held one of these. He peered through the scope, actually happy to have some idea of where the aliens actually were instead of faint outlines on the horizon.

They did seem to be trying to mitigate ADVENT's advantage over them, at least their barricades were kind of completed. Above ground, and technically worse than their own, but it was far, far better than what they'd had before (which was nothing).

"Hey," Beatriz chided. "I didn't give it to you to use as a telescope. Kill some aliens, would you?"

"Easy," Duri chuckled. "I need to find them first. Here we go…"

He knew he was going to miss before he even fired the gun. He was a fairly good shot with a rifle, but he wasn't trained for long-range combat. He'd be lucky if he actually hit the alien barricade itself. Nonetheless, he fired at one of the Vitakarian soldiers in the distance. He saw the alien duck into cover, so he'd probably hit…somewhere close by…but it was definitely a miss.

"Ugh, shot wide," he muttered, still looking through the scope.

"You're not taking enough time," Beatriz suggested. "At this range you can take minutes to set up shots, especially against humanoid figures. I could hit a Cyberdisk or Sectopod in my sleep – normally because those are closer, but I digress – but the small aliens need time. But you're new, so I guess keep practicing." He heard a pause. "This isn't against the rules, right?"

"Technically, probably," Duri shrugged. "But don't worry, as your superior officer, you are just following orders. Doubt ADVENT is going to care all that much."

"Hey, check above!" Miguel called from the back of the trench. "Looks like we have a skyranger incoming!"

Duri glanced behind him to see the sight of the skyranger flying towards the battlefield from the city. He'd seen the pictures, but he was fairly certain that this was the first time he'd seen a skyranger in person. They were smaller than he was expecting, but then again, they only had to fit in…what, eight soldiers.

"What is XCOM doing here?" Cara asked from her gunner position, sounding confused. "Yeah, it's nice, but they don't show up unless we really need the help."

"Or they're coming to end the attack," Mana commented. "I suspect ADVENT doesn't want this to drag out too long."

Duri frowned. "XCOM is good…but they're not that good. It's going to take more than eight soldiers to end this battle here, much less the rest of the country."

"I don't know," Beatriz said slowly, looking up at the encroaching skyranger. "I've heard the stories about their psions. Supposedly one of them turned Vegas into a tomb. Killed all the living enemies inside and ADVENT mopped up the mechanical ones."

"Trask," Mana nodded. "Yes. One of the most powerful they have. If she's here, the aliens better run. If half the stuff about her is true, they'll wish they had been killed by us."

Duri didn't feel the need to add too much to the conversation. If XCOM was going to help, good for them, and if they had something else planned, then that was also fine. But to his surprise, while the skyranger was getting closer to the ground, it was still flying over the trench line itself, and finally stopped, hovering a few dozen feet past the front line.

"I really hope XCOM isn't stupid enough to do a charge forward," Cara muttered. "Because that worked so well for the aliens."

The first clue that something was off was that several of the alien soldiers began firing at the Skyranger, with as little accuracy as Duri expected. However, there were a few stray plasma bolts that came perilously close, and the aircraft was suddenly enveloped in a psionic shield which instantly negated the green plasma.

The Skyranger door then opened, and Duri felt his body become paralyzed in terror. For the being that jumped from the skyranger to the ground below was not any number of XCOM soldiers.

But an Ethereal.

He'd never actually seen one in person, and this was not one of the ones that had been fought before. It was just as surreal as he had imagined. The alien was massive, at least three meters tall, but this one had a different kind of helmet. This one was more ornate and had some kind of open rectangle maw where the mouth probably was. It almost looked like it was screaming.

The Ethereal itself wore what at first glance looked like armor, and it did seem to be armor, but almost more ceremonial than anything. It clearly wasn't thick, nor was full plate like the Battlemaster or even ADVENT armor. Instead it was more similar to…lighter types. Only parts of the body were covered, the chest, legs, and arms, and underneath was a kind of blue material.

The armor itself was masterfully engraved with alien patterns and…words, maybe? Duri didn't know why he was focusing on the pretty armor when it belonged to an Ethereal. Also like the Battlemaster, a blue cape with gold embroidery fell from his shoulders.

Cara decided to speak for all of them. "That's a fucking Ethereal!"

He could forgive her for stating the obvious this time. The skyranger flew off, and the Ethereal stood alone, not facing ADVENT, but the alien lines themselves. The entire battlefield had become silent; collective breaths held as they waited for something to happen. "Orders?" Mana asked breathlessly. "Shoot it?"

Duri couldn't believe he was saying it, but the Ethereal, for whatever reason, wasn't attacking them. "Hold on…let's see what he does…he hasn't attacked yet."

They waited a few more seconds, and then the Ethereal began walking towards the alien line, purple energy beginning to coalesce around him. The aliens had stopped firing, but a quick glance through the scope confirmed they were just standing there in shock, still enough he probably could have shot them, even with his lack of experience.

The Ethereal was about a quarter of the way through no-man's land when it raised one purple-enshrined hand, and slammed it down violently. A sheet of psionic energy materialized above part of the alien line and slammed down, crushing the barricade and any aliens unfortunate enough to be caught under it. More similar shields appeared and began falling down on the aliens.

Several of the Sectopods held back found themselves encased in purple boxes which collapsed in on them, crushing the machines instantly. The Ethereal was continuing to walk forward, all four of his arms moving in mesmerizing unison. The alien line was now littered with rapidly shifting, appearing, and disappearing psionic shields of various sizes of kinds.

That had apparently been enough to get the aliens to start attacking, though it was as close to a futile effort as ADVENT had had fighting Ethereals themselves. The Ethereal had erected a personal shield around him, and the ones that shot him found themselves bisected by shields that appeared to materialize inside them, or have limbs shattered when a low-form shield appeared to undercut them.

Cyberdisks shimmered in barely tangible prisons before becoming crushed. The barricades that were capable of withstanding artillery fire were destroyed as if they were clay. Aliens soon forgot their mission, and with no Hunter to shoot them, fled as the aliens sent some UFOs, somehow believing that they would do the job.

Eight of the fighters fired at the alien from the skies, and all the Ethereal did was motion at them once and they found themselves encased in a form-fitting purple shield. Unlike the other ones, they were not crushed, but instead they fell from the sky like rocks as the shield likely prevented propulsion or any other way they used to stay aloft.

The alien was now three-quarters of the way across, and already he had broken the alien line and shown no signs of slowing down. Duri watched through the scope as massive Mutons were crushed into paste, and large groups of Vitakara were running forward, hands up and trying to convince the alien to spare them.

"What the fuck is going on?" Cara asked numbly. "Am I dreaming?"

"I don't know," Duri said equal awe in his voice. "But if I had to guess, I think that Ethereal really doesn't like his brethren."

"Uh…this is Chief Marshal Kong to all ADVENT forces," the Chief Marshal said, sounding as shocked as they all felt. "Don't, ah, don't fire on the Ethereal…he's apparently on our side."

"Wow, I can see why he was put in charge," Cara muttered as they saw the Ethereal down another wave of fighters.

"Quiet," Duri muttered. Now was not the time for sarcasm.

"We have more information incoming," Kong updated, still audibly shaken. "XCOM…apparently wanted to keep this a surprise. But everyone's fine up here, the situation is normal. How are you?" A brief pause. "Please disregard that and prepare to advance forward."

"I should ask him what his operating number is," Cara snickered, jumping down from her gunner position. "Well, guess XCOM had more going for them than we thought."

Duri grinned. "Well, you heard the Chief. Get ready to move out! We're kicking the aliens off the country today!" That was met with cheers or acknowledgement as they prepared to do what they'd been hoping for since the battle had started.

Win.

---

ADVENT Media Center – Switzerland

11/27/2018 – 1:02 P.M.

This was going to be something historians would talk about for decades afterwards, assuming they actually had a history to discuss in the future. It didn't seem so long ago that she was up here, announcing Operation Sherman, and in truth, it had only been a week. It certainly felt longer than that, but this turn of events had given her some energy back.

Today the world would be forever altered, and the war would never be the same.

Not that it had been before.

The media room was absolutely packed. They'd been endlessly speculating on the rumors of the various people she'd been meeting. The good news was that they didn't exactly know who they were in contact with. Most seemed to believe it was with the EU (who had denied to comment), the SAS (who had flatly denied it), or China (who had also declined to comment). It had been interesting seeing the speculation about what the effects would be if there was something announced with any of the suspected parties.

However, there had been zero discussion about another possible attack.

She allowed herself a smile at that.

The Commander was here with her, and had asked to make his own statement, which she had immediately allowed. If for no other reason than it was good for the public to hear from XCOM every once in a while. However, there was definitely something off about what he was presenting. Not only was Patricia Trask and Shaojie Zhang with him, the former in full armor, but the Commander himself was in his own distinctive silver armor.

She didn't know what he was planning. Perhaps that XCOM was going to be assisting in the defense of Vancouver or South Korea? More likely he was wearing it for the psychological factor. That he had his sniper rifle attached to his back armor and the pistol in plain view, that was a more than likely reason.

The Chinese delegation, which would consist of President Qin and Generals Zhen and Kong would be arriving…any moment now. She was quite looking forward to the looks on their faces when they realized that the Chinese government was going to make a surprise appearance. Not that she could blame them. After this, she was going to be taking a short trip to China for a similar media event.

She wondered how this was going to go over with the Chinese people.

At a signal from one of the door guards, she stepped up to the podium and right on cue the doors behind her opened to let the Chinese delegation begin filing in. There was a burst of gasps, muttering, and the inevitable clicks of cameras going off by the dozens. Saudia kept her face controlled, as did President Qin as he took a place beside her.

Saudia rested her hands on the sides of the podium. "Thank you all for coming today, and as you likely expected, we have some major announcements to make. These will be primarily on the state of the war and the future plans moving forward, both militarily and diplomatically. There will be no questions today, but I will of course be speaking at length over the following days."

She let her gaze sweep over the enraptured crowd. "The first announcement, is that ADVENT is officially forming a military alliance with China." She paused intentionally to let the press do their work reporting and transcribing. That alone was headline news, but she felt that would be less important than the later announcement.

"Negotiations have been taking place over the past week," Saudia continued. "Under normal circumstances, such an event would not be kept secret, but this was a special case as when the Chinese government, and in particular, President Qin approached us, they had a very specific goal in mind for this initial alliance. Mr. President?"

She stepped off to the side as President Qin took the center podium to the clicks of cameras. "Thank you, Chancellor. It has been a pleasure to work with you, and I hope our relationship will continue to be fruitful in the days to come." The Chinese President looked around the room as she had before.

"This was a decision that was not taken lightly, but times have changed, even since the formation of ADVENT itself," he began. "It has become clear, both to me and my advisors, that the time for neutrality is over. This is a larger concern than either of our governments; it is one that concerns our entire species. It is one thing to disagree professionally, it is another to have one fight battles for you."

He nodded to Saudia. "The Chancellor and I know where we stand. We disagree on much, but in one area we are bound, and that is the defeat of the Ethereal Collective. ADVENT, for as much as they are criticized, is doing something that no one else is even attempting – they are fighting back. They have done so since the beginning, while others have stayed behind, either out of fear or malice – it ultimately doesn't matter."

Saudia couldn't help but notice that he was making a lot of eye contact with European media as he spoke. "That will end today. China will not allow another to fight its battles, and this battle cannot have any on the sidelines. The aliens are the enemy. They will come to capture, kill, or experiment on your people, and that will not change regardless of if ADVENT fights back or not."

His speech was far harsher than Saudia had anticipated, but she couldn't argue with it. He was putting a challenge to the world: If China can work with ADVENT, so can everyone else.

"If countries are so foolish as to believe that the aliens will simply ignore them, they are willingly blind to the threat they face," Qin continued. "They do not discriminate between Chinese, American, or English. They do not care for your homeland, only its people. It is time to put aside our differences between countries, and unite to fight and conquer this alien threat. China will fight beside ADVENT to accomplish this task."

Another pause. "And to conclude this, I do not say these words as empty promises, but a harbinger of what is happening now. Chinese forces are moving towards Japan at this moment to liberate it from alien control, and return it to the Japanese."

There was a predictable, though muted outburst from the press. No one bothered trying to hush themselves as Qin let them digest this. Saudia took the center once more. "As per our negotiations, China will take primary point on this operation, with limited ADVENT and XCOM support. This is what I hope to be the first of many victories between ADVENT and the People's Republic of China."

She motioned to the Commander to step forward. "Our offices will be updating the press on the current status of the operation in Japan, but it will be several hours yet. However, before this meeting is adjourned today, the Commander of XCOM will be making some additional comments on the status of their own operations and this recent diplomatic victory."

She stepped down and the Commander walked up, hands clasped behind his back and looking suspiciously pleased with himself. While she was as pleased with this turn of events as he probably was, he didn't exactly seem happy about that. It was a look that he was going to do something that would somehow overshadow what had just taken place.

She really didn't know how that could be possible though.

Just what are you up to, Commander?

---

Saudia was definitely suspecting something. To be fair, it was rather difficult to hide and he didn't really have the desire, nor inclination to do so. He was allowed to have some fun with this. Normally, he didn't think there would be bigger news than this, but that was before the announcement that there was an Ethereal working for XCOM.

The press was going to have a heart attack today.

"Thank you, Chancellor," the Commander began, once more nodding to Saudia. "I would first like to express my thanks for the leadership of both China and ADVENT coming together. This is a war than we cannot win unless we are fully united, and I am pleased to say that President Qin has taken the first step, and hope that many more will follow in the coming days."

He decided to give them some more praise. It couldn't hurt. "China has had a working relationship with us for some time, and the soldiers they have provided us with have more than done their part in defending humanity. XCOM I believe is the ultimate expression of unity; it is of people from all different backgrounds and nationalities coming together for the greater good."

"While I do understand that such decisions on the scale of nations are more difficult than a paramilitary organization, I believe that we are seeing the first stages of such unity today." He nodded to Qin. "As Chancellor Vyandar stated, I also hope that this is the first of many victories we share. I will be personally assisting in the liberation of Japan, as will the best of my XCOM operatives, including Overseer Trask."

Patricia raised a hand behind him. Right, that part done. Now for the good part.

"However, today I do not want to simply focus on this, but about our enemy, though not necessarily in the way you are thinking," he paused. "I have been in a privileged position these past few months, and have seen and worked to acquire knowledge about our enemy, for there is much that you, and even ADVENT, are not aware of."

He paused. "But I am."

The press looked confused, and he even sensed some confusion from those behind him, wondering where he was going with this. "There is much speculation on the nature of the aliens; their society; their government; their culture. Perhaps not in military circles, but certainly academic ones, and it is often ignored despite the prevailing saying that to defeat an enemy, you must know them."

He tapped a finger on the podium. "Most do not, nor care to. Understandable, as information is hard to come by and often our survival is placed above the acquisition of trivial knowledge. However, I believe the time for that should be ended. There is much that should be known about the Ethereal Collective, much of which their own soldiers do not know."

He rested one hand on the podium. "The Collective is much more fragile than you have been led to believe. They are commanded by an apathetic Imperator, a leader who allows the species to plot and plan on their own. The Ethereals have no loyalty to the species they command, but simply view them as a means to an end."

Now he had the rapt attention of everyone in the room. "The Vitakara government is held hostage by the Ethereals and their people watched endlessly by the Zararch, killing or silencing anyone who has the audacity to ask questions. Even today there are those on their homeworld who resist the commands of the Ethereals, and each day more and more die."

He paused. "Both President Qin and Chancellor Vyandar are correct. This war is bigger than any one country, but it also fails to state the scale of what is truly at stake. This is bigger than just one species. This war has disputed the fragile peace that once existed within the Ethereal Collective, and every day becomes more tenuous the more we resist."

"All eyes are watching us now, those within the Andromedon Federation, and those of the Sectoid Hive Commanders. The Andromedons have been on the edge of civil war for years, and this conflict has only exacerbated the inevitable outcome. They are only held together by the threat of the Sectoids, and tensions between the species have been rising for years-and this war may force it to a breaking point."

A pause. "The Sectoids themselves have been manipulated by the Ethereals from the beginning; the Ethereal Overmind bent their minds to listen to the Ethereals instead of rejecting them, and ever since they have obeyed as subservient pawns in the Imperator's game of galactic control." Some of the people looked slightly overwhelmed by what was being said, but he pressed forward. There would be plenty of time to digest it later.

"The point I wish to make here," the Commander said. "Is that this is not only a war for the survival of our species, but one against the Ethereals. They have dominated and controlled all they encounter-except us. We resisted, and as a result, we are now what others undoubtedly look towards for inspiration. They fear what we are capable of, of what we have already set in motion."

He allowed some time to think about that. "The question you all no doubt have right now is how I could know any of this. We have certainly extracted such information via our telepaths and interrogations, but it is not our greatest source. Not even the Ethereals are immune to the divide that exists within their Collective…" He trailed off.

"The time has now come to reveal that XCOM has been working with an Ethereal defector since the first invasion of Australia."

The Commander allowed himself a smile as the room burst into chaos with everyone shouting questions and trying to be heard, and destroying any semblance of order. He glanced back at the entourage to see Saudia, for once, completely in shock. The blood from Qin's face had drained and his generals looked especially stunned.

The Commander crossed his arms, waiting for it to calm down, but to his surprise, it wasn't. He motioned to Patricia. "Silence!" She commanded, her eyes flaring purple, and within a few seconds the crowd quieted down and waited for him to continue.

"This Ethereal, whose name is Aegis, defected after he saw how our species had been treated by them. His reservations have existed for some time, and this was his chance to do something about it," the Commander explained. "You will of course wonder why his involvement was kept a secret, and what we have done with the knowledge provided."

He motioned to Patricia and Zhang. "We have pioneered technology used in ADVENT today, and even now are working on technology beyond even that of the Ethereals. We have provided ADVENT with crucial information about the aliens themselves, though not enough to implicate Aegis himself.

"But the question of why we have been silent? His reason was that his open involvement would escalate this conflict, and force us into an unwinnable situation. That," the Commander punctuated with a fist to the podium. "Has not deterred the Ethereals. It has not stopped them from escalating this conflict. Nanoweapons; bombardment; terrorizing our cities and people. The Collective has escalated this war, and there is no turning back. They will not stop, regardless of his involvement or not."

"But now," he lowered his voice. "The time for hiding is over. As we speak, he is moving to destroy the Collective forces in Korea. Today, I can promise that the battle there will end. The Collective has feared his involvement, and now they will remember why they fear the power of an Aegis." The Commander looked towards one of the cameras.

"This is for the Battlemaster, and a message from Aegis himself. This is your final warning to withdraw your forces from this planet, or there will be consequences." The Commander paused. "That is all. We will provide additional details once the current situation has stabilized."

The Commander stepped down as the press rose up again, demanding answers, which he promptly ignored as he walked out of the room.

That had certainly been entertaining.

Although Saudia…he glanced over to see Saudia storming his way.

Saudia was going to have some questions.

---

Command Room, Mars Observation Station – Mars Orbit

11/27/2016 – 10:33 A.M.

Quisilia put his skill with words to excellent use.

"This is not good."

The Battlemaster had to agree. Now they were in the exact position he wanted to have avoided, with Aegis now indisputably taking the side of the Humans. He didn't know whether to be furious at Aegis doing something so damaging as that, or slightly relieved that Aegis was, for once, actually taking a firm stand for something. That at least he could respect.

Going against the Imperator was not done lightly, and regardless of his reasons, Aegis had now proven that his little stunt had not been a means of making a point, but something he felt strong enough to fight his kind for. But at the same time, it severely complicated things. The entire war effort, which had already had its fatal flaws exposed, was utterly useless against an Ethereal of Aegis's caliber.

Human psions had already thrown a wrench into this plan, especially with them being completed sooner than anticipated, but they were nothing compared to an Ethereal. No, the entire Collective military was going to have to be reworked to take this development into account. He was now going to have to prepare for Ethereal-level threats, not just moderately powerful Humans.

Aegis knew his involvement would escalate the war. There was little reason to hold back against the Humans now. The Imperator might not like it, but that was too bad. The Humans, with Aegis, were now a threat. Perhaps not compared to the remaining Ethereals, but against the Collective forces. The entire strategy needed to be reworked and overhauled.

"I assume the plan has changed?" Quisilia asked.

To make matters worse, Japan was now under attack by not ADVENT, but the Chinese. An influential power of the old power structure of Earth, but one he hadn't really bothered to consider in any serious capacity. And for that, he was paying the price. The Japanese defenses were already damaged by the previous nuclear EMP attacks, with only limited communication and Gateway support established.

Not even all the soldiers were armed. There were no mechanical units. Even with a technologically inferior foe in the Chinese, against a neutered Collective, he was not happy with his odds, especially with the Chinese seeming to send a large portion of their army to invade. Worse, they were far more coordinated and organized than should be possible.

They, with inferior weapons, armor, and tech, were somehow managing to outflank, outshoot, and destabilize their defenses and he was somehow at a loss as to how that could be. Not even ADVENT was this tactically good, at least not with the speed the Chinese were performing. Already they were invading along the entire southern coast of Japan, and seemed to plan to surround the whole island.

A problem.

"Yes. The plan has changed," the Battlemaster finally said. "Our strategy has proven to be ineffective. Collective forces have had their flaws revealed. I'm ordering a full retreat and full lockdown of the countries we do control with direct Ethereal and Cleanser Ship support. Our offensives in Korea will be abandoned, as will Japan-"

He was suddenly thrown against the wall, only managing to twist in the air, to face a visibly furious Caelior. The air was distorted around him, and the entire room was vibrating. Quisilia had one hand holding a blade, and was ready to spring into action. But Caelior did not seem to care. "Coward," he spat. "And I thought you were actually one of our greatest champions. But no, at the moment you see the traitor reveal himself you run away!"

The Battlemaster really did not have time for this. "We are not pre-"

"No!" Caelior roared. "You are not prepared. You are weak. You are scared of defeat. You are the reason our Empire fell, because when faced with an adversary, you run. You flee like a scavenger. You are no Ethereal, much less worthy of the title of Battlemaster. You are an only fool who would be beaten by primitives!"

"Choose your words carefully, Little Storm," Quisilia said, his voice noticeably humorous. The Battlemaster knew that he was fully prepared to attack if Caelior became more violent. "As the Battlemaster can attest, running into battle for the sake of it-"

One of Caelior's hands clenched into a fist and Quisilia was suddenly lifted into the air and thrown back, though he vanished and reappeared right behind the irate Ethereal. Caelior did not seem perturbed, jabbing a finger at him. "And you are a bigger coward than he is. You hide in shadows and believe that you are powerful. You have been corrupted by the Humans, believe them worthy of our attention and preservation." His voice turned to a sneer. "I feel like you would prefer them over your own kind."

"At this moment, I certainly do, Little Storm," Quisilia said. "Do you have a reason for your tantrum? It's highly unprofessional."

"And what are you going to do, Shadow?" Caelior growled. "Kill me? No, the Imperator will not allow it. I was chosen for a reason, and I am certainly more important to our fight than you will ever be. Far more than him." He spat towards the Battlemaster.

Caelior spun towards the window. "You can have our useless soldiers flee from Aegis in Korea. But I will not let Japan fall to a mass of technologically inferior primitives. That you would even consider such a measure is disgusting."

"There is a reason for that," the Battlemaster stated, resisting the urge to unsheathe his sword. "When Aegis finishes with Korea, just where do you think he is coming next? Especially if you arrive?"

"Let him come," Caelior stated firmly. "I will do what you will not and kill the traitor and present his corpse to the Imperator. He does not intimidate me."

The Battlemaster hesitated. "You really believe you can kill him?"

"It is not a question that needs to be asked," Caelior sneered. "You could not. Quisilia could not. But I am more powerful than either of you, and one Aegis is nothing compared to the power I wield."

"I do recall the Imperator wishing Aegis be kept alive," Quisilia mused.

"That was before Aegis joined the Humans fully," Caelior dismissed. "The circumstances have changed. I will not allow such an insult to go unpunished. One who has turned their back on our own can no longer be trusted."

The young Ethereal turned towards the Battlemaster. "I initially believed that I could learn something from you, but that is clearly false. You are clearly of inferior stock, and why you were preserved is something I cannot understand. But I will not tolerate it any longer. When I return, I will take control of this military operation and you can go back to the Imperator like the failure you are."

Coming from anyone else, the words would have been somewhat hurtful. However, from Caelior, they only sounded as powerless as the Ethereal himself was. Quisilia simply started laughing, but paused when the Battlemaster raised a hand. "Very well. On the condition that Aegis dies. Do that, and I will relinquish command to you."

"As if I need your approval to do such a thing," Caelior sniffed. "But it is certainly something that can be done. Make preparations for the transition of authority. That includes the Zar'Chon, Quisilia, as you'll be under me when I return."

"Oh, of course, Little Storm," Quisilia said with clear mockery. "I, of course, live to serve your every command. Although, once you return, of course."

"And you will address me properly," Caelior stated, stepping towards Quisilia. "No more mockery. No more names. I will be in command, and I expect you to comply, else I will inform the Imperator of your insubordination."

Caelior was truly lost if he didn't realize that Quisilia only answered to the Imperator, not the Battlemaster. Quisilia was usually willing to listen to him, and offered his own advice, but unlike the other Ethereals involved, he was technically not under the Battlemaster. But he allowed Quisilia to have his fun.

"I suppose you should prepare your attack," the Battlemaster said. "My-"

"Strategies, tactics, plans," Caelior growled with a dismissive sweep of his arm. "We are not common primitives, Battlemaster, we are Ethereals. We do not outplan our enemies, we crush them. The only plan needed is how painful I will make their deaths. You have forgotten much from the Empire, Battlemaster. We are the masters of this galaxy, and we will not stoop to the level of our enemies."

"Go then." Was all the Battlemaster said. "Kill Aegis. Do it."

"We will speak shortly," Caelior said, and spun on a heel and marched away through the doors.

Quisilia walked up to him, twirling the blade in his hand. "I would say it's a shame he's going to die, but really, I would be lying. I'm surprised you let him go so easily, it's not like you were in any danger."

"Caelior is not fit to hold a position in the Collective," the Battlemaster shook his head. "He has become a liability, and I have seen enough to know he will not change. He will die against Aegis, and we will be better off for it."

"Still," Quisilia mused. "He would have been useful."

"No," the Battlemaster dismissed. "He would not. That is why I allowed him to leave. He has no use to us anymore, and when he dies, it will only emphasize the need for change."

"The defection of Aegis will be a large blow to morale," Quisilia pointed out. "And the very public death of an Ethereal will not assuage that, no matter how necessary it may be."

"I cannot kill one of our own for the crime of stupidity," the Battlemaster said, looking out the window into space. "But I can have them die to it. The Collective will recover, as will our species."

"Very well," Quisilia sighed. "I will inform the Imperator of this. Although I suspect he will not object."

"That," the Battlemaster said. "Is very unlikely."

---

Kumamoto – Japan

11/27/2016 – 2:17 P.M.

The Commander stepped outside the skyranger onto the shores of the now-captured Sapporo beachhead, as the Chinese forces deployed in square formations beside him and were already sweeping the streets of the city itself. The initial attacks had gone…almost suspiciously well, even with the massive advantage they had with the disrupted aliens and Chinese numbers.

"Geist, take Shun, Nuan, and Iosif towards the fighting," the Commander stated, and the three dashed off towards the sounds of fighting in the center of the city. Patricia stepped up beside him, Creed and Carmelita close behind her. "Patricia, do your thing. We don't need prisoners today."

"Yes, Commander," she nodded, and presumably began exerting her telepathic influence. The Commander then turned to see one of the Chinese squads walking forward to greet him.

"Commander," the lead soldier greeted, voice heavily accented. "A pleasure. We have made excellent progress and we will likely have control of this city within the day. Similar offensives are already taking place across the country."

"Good," the Commander said approvingly. "Estimated enemy defenses?"

"Their main weapon emplacements were taken offline by the EMP blast," was the answer. "I estimate that they were not prioritized in the reconstruction process. They did not expect us to attack, and focused instead on basic power and living conditions."

"Unlikely," he agreed. "So what is the plan of attack moving forward?"

The soldier exchanged a look with one of his subordinates. "We will need for you to be connected to the Tiāngōng Artificial Intelligence. From there you will receive further directions."

The Commander blinked, and Creed stepped forward. "You have an AI?"

"Correct," the soldier answered. "I am not aware of the specifications. You will need to speak to General Kong or President Qin if you wish further details. However, to be at your most effective, I highly recommend connection to the AI."

Well, the suits weren't sophisticated enough where there was a large amount of information within them. It was…likely safe to connect. But he would have to ensure that the suit wasn't compromised when he returned to the Praesidium. The question of exactly how China had managed to develop an AI was one he would have to answer later.

"Alright, do it," the Commander nodded. The process of setting it up was a short one, and rather anticlimactic aside from the voice in his helmet.

"Nationality identified: American. Ethnicity identified: Caucasian. Position identified: Commander of XCOM. Estimated spoken language: English – If this is correct, please state yes or no." The voice was flat and bland, and didn't have personality, but it was still neat to hear working.

"Yes," the Commander said.

"Confirmed. Loading current objectives based on your current position. Based on previous combat data, you fight at long range with a sniper rifle and have unknown genetic modifications that improve mobility. Please confirm – yes or no."

"Yes."

"Objectives set." The voice really was monotone. He couldn't detect any kind of accent in it. It sounded purely like a computer, and he wondered if it sounded different in Chinese. "For your own safety, it is recommended that you follow all instructions. Failure to do so will lead to your death or equivalent disciplinary action by People's Republic of China."

The Commander smirked. "I'm not with China. I'm just helping out."

"Noted. Documentation and systems updated."

Huh, well it seemed it was more than a machine intelligence, which he had first assumed. He still wasn't sure if this was an actual AI, or a machine intelligence. It seemed to be a highly sophisticated version of the latter, but not what he would define as a true AI quite yet. Maybe this would change. His HUD blinked and he saw the location he was being 'sent'.

"Alright, I've got coordinates," the Commander said to Carmelita and Creed. "Follow me."

"I don't think it wants us to follow you," Carmelita said with a chuckle. "I think it actually has individual orders for each soldier."

"The processing power must be absurd," the Commander muttered. "Well, it'll have to make do. Tell it to recalculate or something. Follow me. And be careful what you say, you could face disciplinary action by the Chinese."

"Note: This policy no longer applies to members of XCOM."

"Creepy," Creed muttered. "I already don't like it."

"That is unfortunate. If you have issues with my performance, please inform your nearest captain."

"Just…don't distract me," Creed sighed as he moved to follow the Commander. "I really hope this thing isn't going to be an annoying GPS."

The Commander almost hoped the AI would respond with a snarky comment, but it seemed its programming had limits. A shame. Hopefully JULIAN would have some more personality when he advanced enough. Shen was just going to love this new development.

With the AI watching them, they advanced forward into the city to test out its full capabilities.

---

Kumamoto – Japan

11/27/2016 – 2:42 P.M.

Confusion. Terror. Pain.

The aliens were disorganized and fleeing. The ones that were still alive anyway.

There was no Overmind to protect them here, although for what reason she couldn't determine, nor really had a desire to question. It made her job easier, and she figured it was just better to accept some convenient gifts for once. Sacramento had been an excellent time of experimentation, and thanks to the Imperator…expanding her horizons, so to speak, she was getting better at the micro aspects of telepathy.

That China had some kind of machine intelligence was…surprising…but it was something they would fix later. As of now she was more than content to kneel on the ground and simply concentrate. An artificial intelligence could not truly predict psionics, and she had elected not to allow the machine in her suit.

The Chinese hadn't really pressed her on that. They presumably knew her reputation, and were quite happily keeping their distance. Right now she was in…an experimental state. She knew she was most effective when her eyes were closed, removing the possibility of visual distractions; she could ignore noises fairly easily by now, but she wanted to get better.

A master of telepathy would not need to have their eyes closed, but simply be able to perceive the world immediately around them, and what was far beyond them. This was as good a time as any to practice that, and so here she was. The result was that her vision was…out of focus; almost blurry but not quite. Sound was muted as usual, and her telepathic range was noticeably smaller.

But she would be able to overcome that. Eventually.

"I am impressed they managed to convert the CODEX for their own purposes," the Imperator said, materializing out of nowhere as before. Unlike the rest of her vision, he was in clear focus, and this time taking the form of President Qin, and standing before several blurry Chinese soldiers as if expecting them. "Such a feat is worthy of praise, especially with such limited experience."

Patricia knew now she couldn't speak openly, but he was no doubt listening in her mind now. He'd vanished for several days, but she had expected him to debut once more here. Where did they get one?

"From the Dreadnought fragment," the Imperator answered thoughtfully, scratching his chin with one hand. "In your rush to harvest as many resources as you could, XCOM failed to find the primary CODEX module, and when the Chinese acquired it, they immediately began working on it."

Patricia felt a surge of annoyance. And they never actually thought that we could use it? They were still in the Council, and had an obligation to turn over something of that magnitude to us! Nationalist scum.

"Mhmm," the Imperator turned to her, smiling. "The Chinese do have much to answer for here, but I suspect now is not the time to force amends. If you truly must do something, simply extract the information from their minds. There are those here who know more about this modified CODEX than they let on. They are needed in case something happens. Not all of them are common soldiers."

And you know who they are.

"Of course I do," the Imperator confirmed easily. "And in the interest of maintaining our…working relationship, you may have them. I have no reason to protect the Chinese. They have stolen as much from my species as XCOM. Do with them what you will."

The names suddenly appeared in her head, along with the general area of where their minds were. They were close enough that she could easily reach into their minds and extract the secrets that rightfully belonged to XCOM. However, she didn't know if this was the right time. This was a battle, and her efforts were unfortunately better spent against the aliens.

Then again…why artificially limit herself? She knew what she needed to do, and all that was required was the strength to do it. But she was going to improve during this round, and made herself stand, while maintaining her psionic focus. The first thing she did was locate the alien minds in her immediate vicinity.

Easy targets. Ones that were trivial to her now. Primarily Muton and Vitakara, they stood out with their practically screaming minds; filled with the white noise of fear. A much larger percentage were non-combat services, probably engineers and technicians to repair the damage caused by the EMP.

Now, this time she wanted to be slightly more strategic in her telepathic efforts. XCOM could use more alien specialists, especially with China having control of a modified CODEX. She smiled to herself as she made herself walk forward, almost absentmindedly. It was strange, almost like she was not in full control of her body, but just propelling it forward by willpower alone, as if she was an avatar in a video game; an outsider of her own body.

In a way, she supposed she was.

She knew where things were when she walked around; barricades, cables, rubble, things she wasn't necessarily seeing in her current dream-like state, but that she was nonetheless aware of. And right now, that was unimportant as she worked. She first isolated the minds of the alien soldiers, and gave them a very simple command: Prepare the specialist aliens for transfer. Subdue, but avoid hurting them. Upon completion, eliminate each other.

Simple enough, and it would instill the desired effect in the soon-to-be captives. The good news for her was that they were clustered, and she simply sent out a sleep command, and stopped walking briefly to acquire a more basic command of their minds. She slowed their beating hearts and made them physically feel more at ease.

Everything is fine. Do not worry.

She hadn't noticed it, but she realized that she had something of a guard around her now, and at the same time realized that she'd somehow slaved their minds to hers, and were at the moment connected to her own. Interesting; she hadn't meant to do that, but it seemed to happen so…naturally.

"You are getting more skilled," the Imperator complimented, stepping beside her. "The telepaths of the Empire were as you are now; in full awareness of the battlefield and those around them. These men and women do retain their minds in your presence, but they are now connected to your own. Utilize them as you would your soldiers, no speech necessary."

Patricia found herself nodding at that, and out of curiosity decided to try some more experimentation. She wanted them to take cover at an upcoming intersection that had several alien barricades, and the moment the thought existed, they were already moving in that direction. Towards, she noticed, a half dozen Muton soldiers who were coming their way.

A near-oversight, but one she would easily rectify. Without ceasing her walk, she narrowed her focus on the bodily functions of the aliens charging forward. There were so many ways to kill, as she was finding out the more she experimented and thought about the gift she had been given. But sometimes the simplest ones were the most effective.

Stopping their hearts was such a motion, accompanied by one of her hands slowly clenching into a fist. No more blood pumped through their veins, and within seconds they were falling to the ground, clutching their chests and moaning in pain as she walked by. Well, they would have been moaning had she been able to hear them.

As it was right now, they were just corpses on the ground; their minds flickering out like candles one by one. More Chinese soldiers around her followed her march deeper into the city, and she decided to check on the status of her captives. Most of them were dead. Good, that meant that their primary objective had been completed.

She motioned towards the general direction of where their prisoners were, and a dozen Chinese soldiers wordlessly ran off to accomplish her unspoken directive. And as she had something of a reprieve, she figured she might as well take advantage of the information the Imperator had given her, and located the minds of the Chinese operators.

There was no psion to protect them, and their minds were easily taken over, and she didn't waste time poking around heads any more than she had to. She was only there for the information XCOM was owed. Luckily their minds were easily navigable, and she finally found the information on their machine intelligence.

She smiled to herself, even as they were "ambushed" by a team of Borelians. A raised hand in their direction and the simple command of die immediately took care of that problem; it was so easy she barely was distracted from her previous work. It was a simple command, which was highly open to interpretation. Most simply killed themselves, others rushed in suicidal charges, other times their bodies just shut down.

One command; many outcomes.

Ah, there we go.

The Tiāngōng AI, China's purported only hope of retaining any semblance of independence. Unfortunately the men were not engineers, so there were no technical details memorized, but there was a great deal about what it was capable of, what the usage of it was, and where exactly it was housed.

Interesting that they knew where it was, but then again, it needed supercomputers to truly run, even if China had also managed to fully restore the power source of the Dreadnought. Keeping this thing secret from everyone was near-impossible, and many actually knew, even if they didn't know what it was for.

The location was known. XCOM Intelligence could investigate later.

It seemed the Tiāngōng AI had two main purposes; to give China a tactical advantage over any foe, Human or alien, by tapping into terabytes of video, satellite, and personal data and allowing that to dictate their battle strategies. The AI was supposedly powerful enough to provide each soldier with personal objectives and real-time support, such as falling back, advancing, or anything in between. This was in conjunction with every other soldier, and such a level of coordination would be impossible for anything other than a computer.

XCOM could certainly use this for the JULIAN Project.

The second purpose was to have some kind of leverage over ADVENT. It was an insurance policy of sorts, one area where they were more advanced than ADVENT. Of course, this wouldn't last, but China would leverage this to get more from ADVENT than they might normally. AI technology was useful, and useful enough to potentially gain psionic technology.

China, planning for the future as usual.

Both the Commander and Saudia were going to be interested to hear about that.

With that acquired, she relinquished their minds and returned on her warpath, the soldiers around her waiting for her unspoken commands. "You would do well to prepare," the Imperator suddenly said. "The Commander convinced Aegis to intervene. Caelior is at this moment preparing to attack."

Patricia looked at the sharply detailed figure amidst the blur. And you are telling me this because? It is appreciated, and we will prepare.

"I tell you this because he is coming alone," the Imperator continued. "He has no support, no backup. He has unfortunately proven himself a liability to my plans, and it is in the best interests of both our species that he is disposed of. Aegis will certainly assist, but this is your opportunity to face an Ethereal – and win."

Patricia cocked her head. I doubt he's left himself vulnerable.

"The Little Storm is an arrogant child who failed me," the Imperator stated emotionlessly. "You know what can defeat him. I am curious to see how you do it." He vanished.

The Imperator was a continuous puzzle. But if nothing else, she knew that he wouldn't interfere.

She stopped, and adjusted her helmet to contact the Commander. This was one thing he needed to know about.

---

Kumamoto – Japan

11/27/2016 – 4:23 P.M.

"[Two enemies located, recommend firing on leftmost alien. Species unable to be identified.]"

Nuan followed the instructions of the AI and fired at the alien specified. Unlike the intelligence, she could very easily see that it was a Muton, although its armor was not a pristine green and was covered in soot and dust. Not surprising that the AI had some kinks to work out, but Nuan knew that wouldn't be a massive problem at least now.

Her euphoria over the whole situation was still strong, and the knowledge that China actually had been working on such a tool had only exuberated that feeling. Not even XCOM had something like this, and while it obviously wasn't perfect, it was already proving to be exceptionally useful. She fired several shots into the Muton when it popped back out of cover, and combined with supportive fire from Shun, brought it down.

The other alien, a Cobrarian soldier, hissed as Iosif charged it swinging his mace towards its head. It slithered back and into a defensive barrier created by Iosif, with two more materializing to pin it in place. In desperation it tried wrapping its serpentine body around his, although all it achieved was getting itself shot, as the AI instructed her to provide supportive fire.

One strike on the head disoriented it, and as the body wriggled on the ground, Iosif pinned it in place with his foot before bringing the mace once more down on its head and crushing it into the pavement. The Chinese soldiers advanced forward down the street, past the corpses of the aliens they had already killed.

The AI itself had truly shown itself to be far superior to a standard commander. Much as she now respected the Commander, there was no way that he could have orchestrated such a thorough and meticulous invasion that even now was cutting through the disorganized alien line even with more limited weaponry than ADVENT or XCOM.

Geist had held back, refusing to allow the AI into his suit, and deciding to focus on providing telepathic support. Where that was, Nuan didn't know, but for once she just wanted to enjoy the feeling of actually being in the position of power. Iosif was similarly enjoying the shift of the power dynamics, and Shun was like her, impressed with the Chinese Tiāngōng Program.

A good name too. She felt it was appropriate.

"[Immediate threats in the vicinity clear,]" it said. It did need a better voice. It reminded her of a GPS, only with less expression in the tone. "[Recalculating.]"

"Guess we keep moving until then," Iosif said, joining her as they advanced down another street. The grey buildings around them seemed to have been largely untouched by the aliens during their occupation. Unsurprising, given the sheer number of them. They had converted some into bases or storage areas, but the majority were just abandoned.

"I'm surprised they are this disorganized," Shun noted as she briefly knelt down by one of the Vitakarian corpses. "This is unlike the Collective."

"That's easy," Iosif shrugged. "They weren't prepared. This is close to their equivalent of D.C. coming under attack. Yes, they have a defense force, but they aren't actually prepared."

"A nuke did go off overhead," Nuan reminded him.

A pause. "Fair point."

"But they weren't expecting us," Nuan conceded. "Honestly didn't think China would enter for some time yet. They're cautious about entering this kind of situation."

"Neither did I," Shun agreed quietly. "But I am glad they did."

They heard gunfire ahead of them as they got closer to the city center, and the AI immediately began giving her a short rundown of the situation. "[Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army are currently engaged in combat with alien forces. Currently there are fifteen aliens alive, with one identified Muton and fourteen unidentified aliens. Engagement recommended. Please confirm yes or no.]"

She said yes of course, and was immediately directed towards cover behind several alien crates. There was a noticeable lack of cars or vehicles, or any sort of clutter on the streets, which Nuan figured was the result of the aliens clearing the cities out. But they had compensated with it by leaving clutter of their own in the form of barricades and supply crates which had been adapted as a kind of form of portable cover.

"[Target center-left unidentified alien,]" the AI ordered, helpfully flashing where it was located, and Nuan complied. It was a Borelian hiding behind several stacked crates, and her gauss burst forced it back into cover, although it didn't do much to save itself as one of the Chinese soldiers tossed a grenade towards the alien, and it detonated right beside it.

Iosif charged two of the Mutons, swiftly lashing out and crushing their knees before finishing off with bashing their heads in. Yellow blood splattered from the caved-in skulls and Iosif was moving onto the other aliens even as the bodies were crumpling to the ground. As a result of his charge, the aliens near him were now in the unenviable position of getting out of there, and exposing themselves, or staying and almost certainly dying.

That was a choice she could get behind.

Nothing like the warm feeling of teamwork as she shot a fleeing Vitakarian in the back as Iosif closed in on the small group of aliens. They certainly worked well together, and for once, the aliens didn't seem to be able to stop them.

However, she couldn't quite ignore the fact that they were probably not going to like what had happened here. The alien response would be coming, and she was somewhat nervous as to what that would entail. This was a response that could not be taken lightly.

---

Zar'Chon's Chambers, Mars Observation Station – Mars Orbit

11/27/2016 – 3:22 P.M.

No matter which way this ended, Ravarian felt like they would never really recover from the damage this day had caused. When he'd heard that one of the reasons for the limited invasion was because they didn't want to 'provoke' Aegis, he had assumed there was something more. That may be the case, but as it turned out, that had been a very good reason to do so.

The Andromedons and Sectoids were not the Vitakara. Their people were not quite as sheltered and controlled. Even the Aui'Vitakar would be outraged by this…not to mention the entirety of the Runianarch and Lurainian. Even the majority of the Zararch were not privy to such knowledge, and right now…well, right now many of them were in shock that this was actually happening.

The Elders were supposed to be united, invincible, and to be obeyed above all else. How could you feasibly react when seeing such a being fighting against you? Ravarian was more worried about just how badly this was going to shake the units on Earth. He was fearing sudden and mass defections once the news of this spread.

And this wasn't something that he could just make disappear. He was going to have to deal with this very real and ugly truth. Unfortunately, he still wasn't sure the best way to handle it. The Vitakara were going to have to be treated with some delicacy, and trying to cover it up simply wasn't going to work in this case.

The hologram display on his palm flashed again, and he sighed as he saw yet another message from the Aui'Vitakar, and he sent his pre-written reply which was the equivalent of 'We will discuss this later', the same thing he'd sent to representatives from the Runianarch and Lurainian.

This was as close to a disaster as he had ever experienced in the Collective.

South Korea was done for. He'd seen Elders fight before, but it was clearly apparent that Aegis was one of the most powerful they had had. Anyone who could single-handedly defeat an army was one not to be trifled with. What was worse was that he already had reports of Vitakara turning on their brethren once they'd heard what was happening, Mutons refusing to fire at an Elder, and even Andromedons immediately surrendering and then shooting anyone who didn't comply.

He didn't know how ADVENT would handle that, but that, he felt was going to only escalate the growing divisions within the Collective. The Ethereals couldn't just sit this one out like they had been doing; for once they would need to exercise some diplomacy if they wanted to retain some measure of stability in the Collective.

The Andromedons were already furious with the development of the Spectres, and the news that the defection of an Ethereal had been kept from them was not going to help. The Federation itself was formally demanding an answer from the Imperator himself, and some of the smaller Unions were openly suggesting that the Ethereals were no longer worth following.

That alone was troubling since the smaller Unions very often worked as mouthpieces for the major Unions to say what they usually wouldn't. But what worried him about this was that it wasn't just the obvious suspects saying this through their Union puppets, like Viarior or Apear, but the ones who were known supporters of the Ethereals like Stuirah and Jamoiar.

That was bad.

Very, very bad.

This entire situation could be summed up as bad.

And then there were the Sectoids.

Who were now preparing to hold one of the exceptionally rare conferences of the Hive Commanders, put forth by none other than 001 himself, as if it would be anyone else. And Ravarian suspected it was going to be due to the Commander's little speech where he alluded to the suggestion that the Hive Commanders had been initially controlled by the Ethereals.

If that were true, he couldn't really say. Quisilia hadn't shared that with him, but he honestly wouldn't be surprised at that. And having an Ethereal on his side suddenly gave his word a lot more weight.

The greatest threat Aegis posed, Ravarian was starting to suspect, wasn't necessarily his power.

It was what he knew.

He very likely knew what the Imperator had planned. He knew the secrets of the Ethereals. He knew what they had done and what they were planning. He knew about the Blacksites and the stains of the species such as Isomnum and the Creator. And he had no reason to keep that a secret any longer.

Ravarian was curious now: What exactly had pushed him to not only leave, but willingly fight against his brethren?

Quisilia had a lot of explaining to do.

No, the Ethereals had a lot of explaining to do. And this time, he wasn't going to accept dancing around the question. This entire situation was the result of at least one or more Ethereals fucking up, and while he would have been more understanding if they had…well, largely interacted with the collective they had made, they hadn't, with only a couple exceptions. They would have to fix this themselves or watch it fall apart around them.

The reveal of Aegis had effectively changed how this war was interpreted now. It was no longer against a single species, but now against an Ethereal. No matter how much the Humans would deny it, that was what it had turned into. And said Ethereal now had an entire species backing him; one filled with psions and an ever-improving military.

Yes. This was very bad.

And of course Caelior was going to make it worse. Ravarian did not honestly know what he was thinking with his decision to go down and actually fight the Humans. Now was not the time for revenge, much as he would wish. The Collective itself needed to be stabilized before the focus could return to Earth. Ravarian was not entirely unconvinced that the only reason the Battlemaster was letting him go down was to die, especially since he had given orders to ignore any commands Caelior might send. The only thing he had allowed was moving Cleanser Ships into position over Japan.

Well, the Ethereal was heading down there now. Ravarian did not expect the young Ethereal to win, especially not now, but as much as he didn't like the Little Storm, he still felt he was more valuable alive than dead.

He just needed to be taken down a notch. Hopefully a defeat would accomplish that.

In the meantime, he had to figure out how to put out the fire that was brewing in the Collective. He couldn't ignore that forever.

---

Kumamoto – Japan

11/27/2016 – 5:00 P.M.

"Bring them in," the Commander ordered Burning Sky as the AI updated him on the arrival of a UFO that had the same signatures as Caelior's UFO. Thanks to Patricia's…atypical warning, he'd figured that now was the time to bring in the XCOM squad specifically designed to bring him down. With Aegis also en route, after having pretty much demolished any kind of Collective attack in Korea, this plan suddenly became much more feasible.

Caelior's greatest advantage was his power. Unfortunately for him he had the tendency to treat it like a hammer or blunt instrument. He had very little interest in individual targeting, and would instead just destroy the entire building they resided in to kill them. His telekinetic manipulation also essentially granted immunity to physical projectiles.

But not energy weapons.

Jayhawk Team, the original squad for dealing with Caelior, was just such a squad for him. They would be interspersed throughout the battlefield so in the event that Caelior decided to target one, he wouldn't take all of them out with one single attack. In addition, they would be planted far enough back where he couldn't reach them immediately.

Then there was the Archangel team which would operate along the same concept. All armed with sniper rifles, they would maintain the height advantage from behind and far above the Ethereal himself. If all went well, the Ethereal would be under sustained laser assault, and the Commander trusted that his snipers would be able to hit even a moving target such as Caelior.

And since it appeared that the Overmind had given up protection of the Collective forces, the Commander was reasonably sure that if he had a strong enough group of telepaths, it might be possible for him to be defeated that way. That the Imperator himself had apparently told Patricia this made him suspicious, however.

Caelior was not popular in the Collective. Yet at the same time, it didn't make sense for him to really be sacrificed for…well, that was the issue. Aside from being an internal problem, the Commander could genuinely not see any reason for deliberately giving them, and even encouraging them to kill any Ethereal.

Perhaps it was a test? Maybe the Imperator didn't care about the preservation of his species as much as he assumed?

Something didn't add up.

It would almost be better to attempt to capture Caelior, instead of killing him, but that came with its own set of problems, not the least of which was that they didn't have the capability to hold an Ethereal for any long-term period of time. It was simply impossible, and aside from constantly keeping him sedated with psionics, one mistake would have him wake up and kill everyone.

Too risky, and the information Caelior could provide was unlikely to be more than what Aegis had already. Were the Manchurian Restraints fully complete, he would genuinely consider it a fitting punishment for the Ethereal, but alas, they were not. There was some merit in keeping an Ethereal for more extensive testing purposes, which he couldn't do to Aegis, but Caelior would suffice.

But again, it came back to the lack of appropriate restraints. How, exactly, could they prevent an Ethereal from using psionics at any point? There was a reason they weren't experimenting on psionically awakened test subjects.

It was safer just to kill him.

Aegis wouldn't like it, but he knew that the possibility was likely when he defected. Granted, capturing him would have perhaps a more detrimental effect on the Collective, but ultimately, that was useless unless he could be contained.

"I sense him coming," Patricia updated. "Geist, Fatima, you occupy him psionically. Don't think you'll break in, but he won't be able to resist what I can do to him."

"Affirmative, Psion," Geist stated. "He will be occupied."

Patricia had also developed some new kind of telepathy very recently. She had only given him the very basic overview, but it turned out that by attacking the lower brain, she could essentially manipulate entire bodily functions. He was impressed by that revelation, as it honestly sounded like something that Geist would have figured out first.

But then again, Patricia had a lot more experience. And it was difficult enough that even explaining the concept to Geist, or Fatima for that matter, hadn't really led them to figure it out for themselves. Perhaps that could be solved with an information transfer, but that was something to figure out later.

"Coming up with our resident Ethereal," Big Sky updated smugly. "He asked to be dropped off nearby."

"Good timing," the Commander said, spotting the UFO in the distance through his scope. "We've got Caelior incoming. Let's see how this machine handles it."

"Processing new information," the machine intelligence said in the typical monotone. "Making adjustments based on previously acquired data."

The skyranger roared overhead and Aegis dropped from it onto a nearby skyscraper. Without wasting any time, the Ethereal straightened and was already enshrined in psionic energy. Until recently the Commander hadn't known Aegis even had a battle suit, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised by it.

It made a lot more sense than wearing the equivalent of a robe into battle.

"Heads up, he's on his way," the Commander stated as he saw Caelior deploy from under his UFO, with a new and fully repaired hoverboard-like device, and in the same battle equipment he'd seen before. "Jayhawk team, are you in position."

"Affirmative, Commander," Seraph Jim Cuban answered. "Preparing to ascend and split. We'll let him get a little closer before opening fire. Or on your command."

"Wait for my command, or Aegis'," he advised. "Everyone else on the ground have lines of sight?"

There was a chorus of affirmations, and the Commander looked over to where Aegis was. "Do you think they'll bombard us?"

"Quite possible," Aegis confirmed, lifting one hand up. "But they will not be able to penetrate a psionic barrier." As he finished, the sky itself was suddenly tinted with a very visible purple barrier that reminded the Commander of what being inside a deployable transparent bubble shield would be like. He briefly looked around and saw that the barrier seemed to extend as far as he could see.

Well, that problem was solved.

"Traitor!" The voice of Caelior roared and reverberated through the city. It must have been enhanced with psionics for it to actually reach his ears. Caelior himself was now speeding towards them, his body also wrapped in clear psionic energy. "You will die for this, Aegis! As will every Human here. Your attempt to challenge us will end!"

"Fire."

Nine beams of sizzling red energy shot out from the city and above, including his own. Most hit his torso which sizzled the fabric away, though failed to actually penetrate the body. A couple shots hit the helmet but also didn't penetrate, and the remaining ones hit the hoverboard, causing it to spark and shudder.

Caelior disengaged and kicked the board away just before it exploded. "Die, Humans!" And with a wave of his hand, the front line of skyscrapers were shattered. The structures of metal, concrete, and wood were splintered as easily as glass. The unfortunate soldiers caught in the wave suffered mercifully little as the wave liquefied them before they had a chance to comprehend what was happening.

The hovering Ethereal didn't stop as he motioned with another hand towards another large skyscraper, and clenched a fist, crushing it easily and letting the rubble fall to the ground, while he shot another telekinetic blast down a street, which also liquefied the soldiers as well as take out the bases of the buildings across that street.

The good news was that there were thankfully not large clusters of soldiers just waiting to be obvious targets. The Chinese soldiers were obviously firing at the Ethereal, but from what the Commander could tell, in very interspersed ways. Perhaps it had learned something; not clumping all soldiers together was probably the best possible scenario here.

Aegis had also apparently had enough and the city in front of Caelior was suddenly guarded by skyscraper-sized barricades before the buildings that were still standing. "Leave now, Caelior. This species is under my protection. I do not wish even you to die today."

"Words from a traitor and fool!" Caelior sneered, settling himself on the ground. "You do not intimidate me. You are a broken remnant of what you were."

"We still need lines of sight," the Commander told Aegis, because as useful as the barriers were, as a consequence it blocked their lines of sight, with the exception of the Archangels.

The red beams still came down from sky, and with each hit, they distracted Caelior enough to where he turned to look to the sky…just as two more massive beams from the sea fired. Chinese vessels, using primitive laser tech. One hit Caelior directly in the back, spinning him around while the other collided into one of Aegis's barriers.

"I will suffer this no longer," Caelior growled, extending two hands to the ground, and one to the vessels out on the sea. The Commander watched with amazement as the ships in the distance crumpled as easily as toys and the destroyed wrecks simply sank deep into the ocean.

"Patricia, what's your status," the Commander said, as the ground began shaking. "We need him taken down now!"

"She's busy," Geist interjected as the shaking became more intense. "He is…stronger than even I anticipated. He is furious, and that ironically gives him more focus than he would otherwise. It is difficult to break his concentration, and he also appears to be simulating an earthquake right now."

It certainly felt that way, and the shaking was becoming intense enough that it was impossible to actually hold his weapon steady. "Aegis!" He called to the other Ethereal. "Can you handle him?"

"I can." The elder Ethereal waved a hand and a shimmering horizontal barrier materialized a short distance away from Caelior and slammed into him with enough force to send him flying backwards until he was almost in the water. Two more barriers materialized to the sides of him, but Caelior was more aware now, and leapt upwards just in time to avoid them.

He landed running towards the city, clapping two of his hands forward and sending a shockwave towards Aegis's barriers, which did noticeably rattle them, and followed that by thrusting a hand down and creating another severe tremor in the ground. A box of psionic defenses suddenly appeared around the Ethereal, effectively trapping him inside.

"You think this will hold me!?" He yelled. "I cannot be contained by this!"

As a presumed response to that, he spread his hands all around him, and all of the rubble from the previously destroyed structures, corpses of Humans and aliens alike, as well as everything else rose into the air and at a gesture was flung upwards at an angle that would presumably bypass Aegis's barrier and rain down on those behind it.

Aegis simply responded by extending the barrier upwards, angled in such a way that when the debris hit, they would just slide back down the psionic barrier to the ground. The Commander hoped that Aegis could keep this up a bit longer, but also saw from a glance above that the shield Aegis had erected for deterring bombardments was sustaining fire.

"Clever…" the young Ethereal rasped, seeming to take a moment to pause. "[Why did you leave us?]"

The Commander didn't know if they'd been speaking the Ethereal language this whole time and he'd only realized at this point, or this was the first time. It appeared the knowledge Aegis shared was still good. A bit strange to know something he had never formally learned, but interesting nonetheless.

Aegis waited a moment before answering. "[Because there was no other way. The Imperator is no longer interested in our original mission. His efforts have been corrupted by something else.]"

"[You are deluded if you actually believe that.]" Caelior snarled, clenching one of his fists. "[We will destroy the Synthesized as we intend. The plan for that has not changed, Aegis.]"

"[And if that is the case, then why are we here?]" Aegis shot back. "[Earth! The Humans! Why are we fighting them? Why would we do so if we need allies and soldiers?]"

"[Because…]" Caelior paused suddenly. "[The Imperator has his reasons, even if he does not share them with me. They pose a threat only he can see, or otherwise are a piece of a puzzle.]"

"Good work, Aegis," Geist said. "He is no longer focused."

"[That is what he wants you to think!]" Aegis insisted. "[I had made my concerns about our direction known to him, and as a result, he silenced me from it reaching others! If you ask him questions, you will receive the same treatment I did.]" To the Commander's surprise, the barriers suddenly disappeared, including the ones around Caelior. "[Even if you kill me today, that will not change. All you will ensure is that our direction is irreversible and doom our species once and for all.]"

Aegis, what the hell are you doing? He was certainly good at putting the young Ethereal off balance, but he better be ready to throw up those barriers again. He couldn't be fool enough to actually trust him, so it was probably a gambit.

"[That's…ah,]" Caelior suddenly stumbled forward, he gingerly put one hand on his helmet. "[You…what are you doing to me?]"

"Thank you, Aegis," Patricia suddenly said, and he saw the psion enveloped in purple walking out towards the Ethereal who had fallen to one knee. "I'll take it from here."

---

Kumamoto – Japan

11/27/2016 – 5:41 P.M.

The mind of an Ethereal was unlike anything she had ever felt, although considering the level of the brain she was targeting, that was likely no surprise. It was…not nearly as simple as that of a lesser alien; a Muton or Vitakara. Ethereal bodies, at least at the moment, seemed more complex to her, more alien. Things were in supposedly normal places, but with their innate psionic potential, it made things cloudy.

While Geist and Fatima were focused on his higher brain functions, she attempted to puzzle out what went on beneath his surface thoughts. While he technically wasn't protected by an innate telepathic defense, his other psionic abilities were making it more difficult for her to get her bearings on exactly what worked.

"This would be easier if you had spent time in an Ethereal mind before now," the Imperator commented from behind her. "It usually is in this case. Rarely does one start with the base of the mind and work up."

"Shut up and let me concentrate," Patricia muttered, only superficially aware of the destruction going on around her. She was mildly surprised the Imperator was sticking around. If there was ever a time where he was going to backstab her and help Caelior, it would be now.

Yet for some reason, she doubted it. He had the attitude of one more interested in the spectacle than one who actually wished to take part in it.

She ignored him, and worked more to burrow deeper into the mind of the Ethereal and try and figure out how this actually worked. His brain was, as much as she could tell, highly energized at the moment. What passed for his heart was pumping rapidly and there was definitely something that was getting sent to his brain, a hormone or something like that.

"Correct," the Imperator nodded approvingly. "Chemical impulses. Not the same as Humans, or any alien species for that matter, but they can be manipulated just like any other part of the body. These generally accompany feelings of anger and judgement."

Caelior was shouting words now, and she only heard parts of them as she tried to figure out some way to…at least halt the impulses, if not change them. She knew there was some kind of impulse that would calm him down, but right now cutting the source of the problem at the moment would, at least, make him less volatile.

And…there.

Stop.

And there it went. Well, she'd done it and allowed herself to become slightly more aware of the real world. Aegis and him were exchanging words in their tongue, which she didn't understand. The Commander did, but to her it was more of an oddly rhythmic harmonic exchange between the two beings.

"What are they saying?" Patricia asked.

"Aegis is trying to distract him," the Imperator answered with a smirk on his face. "Appeal to his better nature or some other foolish gesture. I suspect it is purely for your benefit. Be prepared to finish him off."

"Awfully callous of you," Patricia grunted as she returned her attention to the lower mind of the Ethereal, one which was becoming easier to infiltrate and manipulate. "You certainly want him dead."

"That he is succumbing to you is proof enough of his ineptitude," the Imperator stated coldly. "I allowed him a chance to live, learn, and grow from the false prodigy he was. He has proven incapable of such. He no longer is worth my consideration. His purpose will be better served like this."

"Good work, Aegis," Geist suddenly interjected. "He is no longer focused."

The world flickered around her and she became fully immersed in the brain of the alien. Each flickering line led somewhere different, and it was becoming a matter of plucking the strings to get a response. So she did, and she felt terror suddenly envelop the alien. "You caused his heart to skip a beat," the Imperator explained. "Good."

Alright, so that was what that did. Let's see what happened if she plucked the string a little longer…

Her eyes saw the Ethereal fall to one knee, saying something in his language she didn't need to know, as it was likely along the lines of "What are you doing to me?"

"I am going to kill you," she said, lips curling into a grin, fingers twitching as she eased on the string that controlled his heart, allowing it to function briefly. She turned on her helmet mic to the rest of them as she began walking towards the fallen Ethereal. "Thank you, Aegis," she said. "I'll take it from here."

She had broken the barriers, and now she had something she had once thought was a far-fetched notion – control of the mind of an Ethereal. Granted, it wasn't necessarily in the traditional way, but it was control nonetheless, and this was something that the majority could not fully defend against. It appeared that telepathy was not as well understood by some of them as they would like to believe.

Patricia let the world briefly fade as she returned to the mind of Caelior more clearly, and saw the map of his brain clearly again, like working piping or an interconnected map. Nerves also fit this picture, and…well, she had access to them in their most basic form. No more simple commands that the brain would interpret.

No, this time the pain that would be felt would not be able to be described.

She extended one hand, palm vertical to the ground and simply commanded the nerves to briefly overload. Caelior suddenly howled in excruciating pain, and fully collapsed to the ground, shaking and yelling. That had not even been a second, and it had rendered the proud Ethereal a shaking wreck on the ground.

"You!" He shouted at the approaching Patricia. "What did you-"

"You are a test," she answered, voice deeper than normal, indicating the depths of her psionic usage. She gestured with a finger and sent another microsecond of agony against him. He screamed again, convulsing on the ground. "I will acquire what I need from you, and then I will kill you."

"I…I will not die like this!" He spat, trying to rise. Patricia narrowed her eyes, and decided to try another piece of his mind she hadn't experimented with. She clenched her hand into a fist, and the Ethereal began choking a few seconds later as his lungs refused to pump oxygen any longer. She let it continue for close to half a minute before she allowed him to breathe.

"Yes," she said quietly. "You will die. It is only a matter of how long and how painful. You have killed many people. Today you've killed more. There will be justice for this, and it will be at my hand."

"No!" Caelior insisted. "Aegis! He will not let me die! The Imperator! He will not let me die, not to you. Not to a Human."

Patricia smiled under her helmet. "Is that right?" She knelt down closer to the Ethereal. "Then call for him, he will not answer you. You failed your mission, and you failed him. And Aegis…" she glanced behind her to see the other Ethereal and the Commander walking forwards. "Aegis will not kill you, no. But he will not stop me."

"Patricia!" Aegis called. "Wait!"

Caelior chuckled. "Are you sure of that?"

She responded by letting him experience unfathomable pain for three full seconds, pulling back her fingers into a single fist as Aegis walked up to visibly demonstrate the control she had over him. "What?"

"You have beaten him," Aegis said simply. "There is no need to torture him."

"I am experimenting," she answered, turning back to the Ethereal on the ground. "And since I have limited opportunities, I have to take what I can get. You would not be a viable…candidate, Aegis, and he does not deserve comfort, nor mercy."

"And you plan to kill him," Aegis interrupted. "Look at him! Does he pose a threat?"

Patricia looked back towards Aegis, and raised a fist as she once more cut off the airflow of the alien. "Not anymore," she answered softly as the Ethereal choked behind her. "This is not up to you, Aegis, you knew what the consequences of this war were. Dead Ethereals. If you cannot accept that, then you should not have joined us."

The Commander crossed his arms. "She has a point, Aegis. We're not ending this war without a lot more dead Ethereals. I know you…don't like it, but-"

"That isn't the point here!" Aegis interrupted, pointing to Caelior as Patricia reluctantly let him breathe again. "You heard what he said! The Imperator was using him just as he does everyone! Think! The Imperator would not just sacrifice one with his power unless there was something to be gained from it. He wants him dead!"

Patricia could imagine the frown under his helmet as the Commander spoke. "You also make a good point. But from what we know about Caelior and his…actions." He gave a dismissive glance towards the shaking Ethereal. "It could be simpler. Caelior was a loose cannon, a liability, and ultimately someone not worth keeping. While I wouldn't sacrifice him, I can see why the Imperator would."

The Imperator chuckled, appearing behind Caelior. "So unfortunate the Commander is on the opposite side. While predictable, he has a grasp of the choices one must make to achieve the ultimate goal."

He was still invisible to the others, it seemed.

"Does it actually matter?" Patricia demanded, absently toying with the mind of her Ethereal captive, seeing what certain manipulations caused. "Even if the Imperator gains from this, so do we." Caelior suddenly spat golden blood from his helmet. Hm, so that was what happened. She'd have to try that again. "And why should we spare him, Aegis? Really, why? He's killed thousands and is not in any way remorseful."

"I could say the same for you, me, or any of us," Aegis countered. "And considering how much enjoyment you derive from your abilities, I hardly think you are in a position to judge Caelior."

"That does not mean he should live," she spat. "You just want to keep one of your kind alive!"

"And I do not support your method of execution!" Aegis countered, stepping forward, now notably agitated. "It is one thing to kill him, it is another to draw it out."

"Then leave," Patricia growled, sending another wave of agony to Caelior. "No one is making you watch. I will not waste this opportunity for the sake of my conscience. Too much is riding on what I can do, and this is one who deserves it."

"Patricia!" The Commander interrupted, stepping forward. "Much as I would prefer to see him dead, Aegis does make another point." He pointed at Caelior. "We do not needlessly torture our captives. You beat him. You won. We kill him or take him captive. Unnecessarily prolonging it is beneath us, do I make myself clear?"

Patricia stared at him for a few seconds, thoughts swirling around her. She almost wished that the Imperator would interject something. She wasn't in the right state of mind to really be thinking this through. Every instinct in her screamed to kill the alien before her in as painful a method as possible, yet the Commander was her superior.

"Then what are your orders?" She finally said, the psionic power diminished enough that her voice was normal.

The Commander looked at the defeated Ethereal for a moment. "I heard the conversation, Aegis. Do you think he could be useful?"

"Possibly," Aegis said immediately. "I do not wish to make promises, but he was a pawn of the Imperator. If he realizes that…"

"Not good enough," the Commander shook his head. "I'm not betting on that. We need a way to secure him long-term, until this could be sorted out. The problem is that I don't know how."

"Patricia," Aegis said, looking to her. "Could you keep him…sedated? Or kept unconscious?"

She took a few moments to look into the tangle that composed the mind of the alien. She pursed her lips. "Yes. I'm unfamiliar with how his mind fully works, so there might be complications…but nothing that would kill him. I could likely keep him in an unconscious state as long as it was intermittently maintained."

"And by 'intermittently', you mean?"

"Don't know," Patricia admitted. "I've never done this before. Every few hours. Maybe longer once I get more experienced."

"That would solve the short-term storage problem," the Commander said slowly. "But keeping you as his personal psionic ward isn't going to happen."

"There are additional options beyond simply killing him," Aegis pointed out. "There are the stasis pods. And there are drugs which are powerful enough to keep us sedated for long periods of time. Non-lethal solutions are not out of the realm of possibility. And…" he looked down. "He is beaten. He poses no more threat to us."

"And what if it doesn't work?" Patricia demanded. "You don't know the risk he poses!"

"Patricia has a point," the Commander admitted. "Caelior as it stands is still a danger. He's unstable, even when he is supposedly an ally. I don't see this improving with him being captured."

"There…is a possible solution…" Aegis said slowly. "A procedure done to Ethereals who had broken our laws, but were not deemed worthy of execution. It would likely render him…tranquil, although destroy both his personality and mind in the process."

"Really?" The Commander looked to Aegis. "And that's better than killing him?"

Aegis looked almost sadly down at the Ethereal. "A blank slate is preferable to…this. Or to death. He could still learn. He would be more valuable to you alive this way. But there is no reason that must be the solution. He can be restrained without such permanent measures."

"A shame the Manchurian Restraints aren't ready," the Commander mused. "He would be an excellent candidate. But if what you suggest is possible, this could suffice. If either the procedure fails, or he becomes too high a risk, we can kill him later."

He nodded to Patricia. "We'll take him captive. For now." He shot a glance at Aegis.

She nodded and focused on the defeated Ethereal. It took several minutes to figure out how it would go…but she eventually found it, and unlike before, gradually manipulated it to send the Ethereal into a coma-like state where he would pose no danger.

You got off easy. You should be dead.

She stood, not feeling like this was the right decision, but knowing her place, and that was following her Commander. She only hoped he knew what he was doing, and this wasn't going to end up being a Trojan horse.

"I can't blame you," the Imperator said, looking at her from behind the silent body of Caelior. "But you followed the orders of your Commander. I can understand and respect that. It is good you can restrain yourself when needed. Do not worry, I am sure the time will come for you to avenge the deaths he has caused. The figures behind this war are more than Caelior."

She heard the skyranger overhead, and glanced up to see it landing near them. When she looked back, the figure of the Imperator was gone. A mild surprise, but right now she was ready to welcome only one voice into her head – her own.

"Guess we should get him ready for transport," the Commander said as several XCOM soldiers walked over with restraints. "Let's hope Vahlen is up for this."

"What are you going to tell Saudia?" Patricia asked.

"That we've taken care of the problem," the Commander answered. "I suspect she won't like it, but Ethereals are our purview. Not ADVENT's or China's."

"Does she know that?"

"I doubt it," the Commander admitted whimsically. "But she will now. She probably would have killed him too, if you were wondering."

Patricia sighed. "I really hope you know what you're doing. He should be dead."

"Maybe," the Commander glanced to Aegis. "But we've made it this far by taking some risks. If this turns out to gift us an Ethereal weapon, I think it was worth it. But make no mistake…" he looked at the soldiers carrying the body into the skyranger. "If he becomes a threat, I will let you kill him yourself."