Disclaimer: I don't own any of the X-COM games or Sword Art Online. They belong to their creators and/or copyright owners. I make no money from this story. It's not for sale or rent.
XCOM: Ascension
X-COM
Prologue: The Silicon Queen
X-COM
21.11.2031
Paris
France
The first time they encountered a Chrysalid Queen, it was a sobering and terrifying experience. She was a five story tall combination of ravenous hunger, heavy chitin armour and bad temper. The way the damn thing looked and moved surrounded by its brood was enough to sent atavistic fear down Klein's spine. And when it let one of its tell-tale shrieks, it made him shake.
The regular bugs were bad enough. This?! He took a deep breath and looked around. The rest of his squad had hunkered down around him using abandoned cars as cover. There was blood and pieces of torn apart people all around, thankfully all were 'just' NPCs. That knowledge didn't really help – when 'alive' the NPC's of X-COM Online were nearly indistinguishable from real people. Really, as often as not they behaved in a more mature and decent manner than the trapped in players themselves. And the kids… Klein had to suppress another shudder. Seeing them caught in the aftermath or worse, during an alien incursion was pure horror, no matter how real they were.
Truly, Kayaba was an insane, evil bastard that many a player wanted to feed to a Chrysalid, feet first and that was just after the first week trapped inside. Now, six months in? With the exception of some of the actual kids stuck in 'safe' areas, who logged in to experience the social aspect of a 'living virtual world' that was one of the biggest selling points of X-COM Online, everyone else trapped in this hell wanted the bastard to die a slow and agonizing death.
"What's the plan, boss?" Dale asked. The large man had his LMG deployed on the hood of a nearby car aiming at the building sized monster roaring below the Eiffel Tower. Hundreds of lights shone from it illuminating the horde gathering below it into a constantly increasing tide of chitin claws.
"I don't think we've got enough explosives for this." Kunimittz, the squad's engineer hissed after re-checking all the explosive goodness he brought.
"We need everyone for this, I recon." Klein eventually allowed. He certainly didn't relish trying to face against that thing with only his friends at his back. They would end torn to shreds or worse.
"Most people are too busy relocating and settling down." Dunamn pointed out. The ranger was to their right perched atop an abandoned van observing the bugs through the scope of his sniper. "I'm counting over thirty of the little bastards."
Little, in this case was merely subjective. The damn things were still as tall as a grown man and strong enough to tear through most available armour with an alarming ease before either eating your face or implanting a larva in your gut and turning you into a zombie.
It was even worse in this case – below the Queen skittered five forms larger than Dunamn's perch.
"Can't we call in an air-strike or something?"
"We need relatively intact sampled of that thing for the R&D people. There are too many useful things locked behind that," Klein jabbed a finger in disgust at the slobbering monster, "to merely erase it from the air."
"Nice things, I gather?" Kunimittz asked. "Nice enough to be worth the casualties because baring a miracle we aren't taking this one and its brood conventionally without losing people."
"The best organic armour – you know the kind we can actually grow instead of salvaging parts for, with excellent melee and acid protection, increased strength and mobility, better medicine and stimulants..."
"That's the bottleneck on the biology research then." Kunimittz nodded in understanding. As a medic he could appreciate what the R&D cooked up to make everyone's lives easier. If it wasn't for those boys and girls and the gear they designed and created, many more people would have died so far.
The downside was that for unlocking every milestone, players had to assault increasingly difficult and dangerous foes. This one was on exception, though the monster queen was possibly the worst to date. At that thought, Klein slapped his helmet and cursed himself for taunting fate and the insane bastard who created this nightmare.
"We scouted the target and we're getting back. This wasn't really supposed to be the actual assault anyway." They learned this lesson the hard way at the end of the first month when they went half-cocked after their first shot down alien craft without proper Intel gathering. To be fair, at that time the Intelligence function wasn't unlocked yet and no one really knew how vital it would be both for progress and saving lives.
A chillingly familiar moan came from behind. Klein froze for a moment at the sound before twisting where he stood and shouldering his carbine to aim down-street. A small group of zombies stumbled from a side alley and slowly made their way towards the squad.
"Fuck it. People, we're getting the hell out of here. Keep your fingers off the triggers – the last thing we need is to draw in the bugs. Go and keep your eyes open!" Klein waited until everyone else was moving towards the exfiltration point before taking the rearguard position and following his friends. He missed the good times of a few months back before the Aliens began jamming during most missions when you could sent in scout drones from the relative safety of the landing zone and gather Intel without much risk. Nowadays, you had to put boots on the ground and get them back along with the people filling them without getting chewed up, poisoned, roasted by plasma or shot by those EXALT bastards.
At that mere thought, Klein scowled. EXALT was another fucked up thing Kayaba thought up – there were a number of players whose condition for getting out wasn't to complete the game as X-COM but to blunt their efforts and help the aliens win as members of EXALT and that meant guaranteeing the death of majority of players. Truly, that bastard went overboard in putting death in this death game of his!
A very familiar and unwelcome screech came from the left, thus tearing Klein from his tangential thoughts. He cursed himself for losing situational awareness – that was a great way to get not only your head blown off but your buddies killed too! He knew better, damn it!
"Kunimittz, lit it up and everyone run! We can't waste time or even try making a stand!" Klein shouted and as he picked up speed he got a grenade from his harness, removed the safeties and threw it in the direction the screech and now skittering came from.
The combat engineer followed his example and an incendiary grenade went into the side street. The explosives detonated one after another just after Klein cleared the corner and thus got a wall between himself and the rain of fragments released by his grenade.
The but most certainly didn't appreciate their little gifts if its pained screams were anything to go by and that simple fact warmed Klein's heart. Then he ran for his life when the Queen and its brood responded to the screech by letting out angry screams of their own and undoubtedly running their way.
They barely made it to the waiting Skyranger and only outpaced the pursuing monsters thanks to a liberal applications of explosives thrown behind their backs. Thankfully, their current armours were just up to the task of stopping fragments from their own grenades. The blows merely hurt and would be felt over the next couple of days but the hits in their backs didn't otherwise slow or hurt them and thus failed to consign anyone as a bug food.
"Take off now!" Kunimittz screamed to the NPC pilots after Klein jumped on the ramp and barely missed Dale who was prone and aiming his LMG at the approaching horde.
The moment Klein cleared up the firing line, his squad let rip with everything they had. Monsters screamed in pain and more than a few slowed down their charge due to wounds. The transport shook below them as the pilots revved up the engines and took off and it was just in time. Kunimittz threw a satchel charge out even as the ramp began to lift. A Chrysalid got its front legs on it and sprawled picked up by the lifting platform only to get shredded into a shower of gore by a liberal application of firepower. Bullets tore off its two claw-like legs, which fell into the Skyranger while the rest of the corpse slid out before the ramp thankfully closed.
"Heh, we made it!" Klein laughed in relief and his friends soon joined him as the tension began to slowly leave them. He helped up Dunamn to get up and went to check if everyone was really still in one piece after the close call when the pilot shouted from the cockpit.
"Strap in! We've got fast movers incoming!"
All color drained from Klein's face. "We need air-support now! Call it in!" He demanded
"Going evasive!" The pilot announced and Klein smashed into a nearby seat when their ride suddenly dived. A wave of heat washed over them followed by a tremendous explosion that shook the Skyranger.
A close miss, thankfully otherwise they would be gone already. Klein cursed and struggled to strap in. A glance revealed that his friends weren't faring much better. The transport went sharply to the right and unsecured equipment flew in all directions along with those very sharp and leaking itchor bug legs. A backpack slammed into Klein's face dazzling him then another wave of heat washed over the Skyranger and the shock-wave of a danger close explosion did its best to shake it to pieces.
"The French are vectoring in Interceptors. ETA one minute!" The pilot sounded strained yet relieved.
That didn't last long as another close miss and explosion shook the Skyranger. Moments like this made Klein appreciate the fact that they were in a game mostly populated by NPCs. He didn't want to ever contemplate how many hundreds or thousands those misses would have killed in Paris if this was a reality. The next miss sobered him up – they would still be very dead if they got hit however.
The Skyranger suddenly jumped and a scream of boiling metal came from outside. The heat inside became unbearable.
"Scheize!" The pilot screamed. "We're going down! Mayday, mayday, Trojan Zero Five is going down! We need..." The Skyranger shook with sudden deceleration, metal screamed and Klein blacked out.
X-COM
Chapter 1: Welcome to the game
X-COM
Part 1
X-COM
15.05.2033
Setagaya
Japan
Yuuki Asuna was bored. She had her homework done, the less said about her parents, who were again busy, the better and her brother got called back to work to clean up some kind of mess to his eternal chagrin. Today X-COM Online would launch and he hadn't shut up about it – both the game and the social aspect of the virtual world that had both the internet and regular news raving about. Over a hundred thousand players worldwide were expected to log in as the game launched in an hour and those were just the players – there were supposed to be at least twice that number of people who were in just for the experience of a virtual world to meet in, socialize and as her brother laughed – fool around without having to face any real consequences.
She put her phone in a pocket careful not to unplug her headphone's jack and stared morosely at the ceiling. All everyone seemed to care on the net was that game! He friends too – they either gushed over it wondering how incredible the experience would be or those who could afford it were too busy preparing to log into the game. There were at least a thousand people streaming said preparations too! Asuna grumbled and looked up at the ceiling at her brother's room. Why not? It wasn't like he was going to use his nerve gear over the next couple of days. Besides, for once all the hype might have some substance to it but she didn't hold her breath – that would only lead to disappointed, something Asuna was painfully familiar with.
So she went into her brother's room and unpacked the nerve-gear. It was surprisingly easy to set up, something greatly aided by the existence of an actually clear, helpful and accurate manual. It was fast too – in less than half an hour she had the console ready, and the X-COM Online plugged in. She checked the time – just a few minutes until the launch. Just enough time to go to the bathroom and go get a cup of water before siting on her brother's bed and setting up the nerve-gear. She checked again if everything was set up as the manual required, lied down and slipped on the helmet.
For a brief moment, all she could experience was soft light before X-COM's familiar opening echoed in her ears. The sound quality was excellent, that much she had to admit, even if she wasn't a fan of the opening. There was a brief sensation of falling before various logos materialized in front of her eyes in rays of green light. She blinked and found herself standing in a gray void looking at a computer window with games selection screen floating in the air. It had only the familiar X-COM logo on it with the words "X-COM Online: Ascension" under it. Asuna reached to touch the start screen only to notice that her arm was gray and featureless – obviously it would remain that way until she could create an avatar or something.
Once again, logos materialized in front of her – again, that of Argus, the company that developed the nerve-gear, then Cardinal's – the advanced AI developed by Kayaba and meant to make the virtual world of X-COM come alive. Finally, a three dimensional representation of X-COM's shield with the organizations motto in Latin: 'Vigolo Confido, followed by a translation in Japanese: We are always watching.
To Asuna it was both amusing and depressing the furor simple thing as translating X-COM's credo in various languages sparked through the internet – apparently no one could really want to agree on the meaning and that was between people who actually studied Latin… The rest, it was simply sad…
The logo dissolved in motes of green light, which soon got back together to announce 'Directed by Kayaba Akihiko'. The words flashed brightly and Asuna found herself standing in a comfortable looking room high up in a skyscraper – Tokyo's familiar skyline lit up the sky outside. She had been dragged on a few family get-together in her father's company office in the capital and the only difference between this room and some of those she had been in was that the virtual one has a much more tasteful decoration. It had almost homely feeling to it.
A large screen covered most of one of the walls and it contained the start menu – new game, avatar creation, options, etc… She pressed the flashing new game and an empty field and a virtual keyboard replaced it. She typed Asuna as a name and the screen changed again – she had to choose a starting location now.
There were a lot of them and most were grayed out. They were listed by a geographical order. Three in North America, one on each coast and another somewhere in the middle, two in South America - in Brazil and Argentina, then three more in Western Europe, two in Russia, three more in China, two in Japan – Tokyo Hub and Hiroshima Hub and the list went on. Considering she was apparently already in the Tokyo's one was still green with a count of 21,544/30,000 and the other already was almost full, she chose the former.
Hub 11, Tokyo, Japan. Difficulty: Impossible; Players: 21,592; Ping: 10 ms; Loading Hub, no avatar detected, initializing avatar creation wizard…
Asuna hummed to herself. She wasn't really sure she would be playing once she got over her boredom and saw what all the hype was really about. So far, all she could say was that what little did she saw appeared realistic and the music was of a great quality though not necessary to her taste. She probably should see what could be done about that… The room she stood into dissolved into motes of green light and she was back into the gray void. This time however, she stood in front of a muscled western man wearing a military outfit – almost indistinguishable from what she has seen from the US marines in Japan on TV on training exercises. The primary difference was that the weapons and armour he had looked sleeker, more advanced.
It took her a few moments to see the windows floating around him – this was avatar creation, duh. She felt like slapping herself on the back of the head. Naturally, the first thing she changed was the gender and the man was replaced by a tall woman – very buff and to Asuna's pleasant surprise, she has normal proportions, not what she had had the displeasure to see as advertisements of women characters in games both on the internet and walking in the real world. That at least was a positive first impression. She hoped the rest won't be disappointing.
Above the woman's head there was a window designating both nationality and country of origin. Asuna chose Japanese on both counts and now the western soldier was replaced with a shorter woman – almost as tall as her mother though even below the uniform it was obvious she was quite muscled. A nice nod to realism then.
Asuna fiddled with the settings until she had the avatar looking more or less like her, though with most of the options for hair locked in at this stage, it wasn't as close as she wanted. At least there was a color matching her chestnut red mane.
Next, clothes. There apparently was a great deal of options, enough to make most of her classmates sqee in glee, however again, most were locked in. The available choices varied between various military uniforms and quite nice suites not too dissimilar from what her mother wore to work when she wasn't in an expensive dress. Those really weren't her cup of tea, because of mother, a small voice added in the back of her mind.
Satisfied with her virtual body, if not the clothes, Asuna chose the uniform of the SDF woman from before she began changing the appearance and hit the confirm button. The gray expanse dissolved into motes of light, again, was this going to be a constant or something? … and she was back into that comfortable room overlooking Tokyo.
The door opened and a man a bit older than her father walked in. He wore a pristine SDF uniform as if he was about to be a part of a parade or something.
"Miss Asuna, good evening." The man greeted cordially. "I'm Colonel Yamada and I will handle your induction in X-COM. Do you want to proceed now or simply explore Tokyo?"
This had to be an NPC, right? A virtual construct? As she watched him, Asuna couldn't help but feel how real he looked. He wouldn't be out of place if she met him on the street…
X-COM
"Yuuki! It will be fun, I promise! We've got a whole city to explore!" Aiko dragged her sister by the arm through the streets of Tokyo. After the past years of obsessive cleanness that culminated in the need to stay in all but sterile room, the pilot Medicuboid medical program that came hand in hand with the nerve-gear development was a chance for the sisters to experience a real life again…
The first thing Aiko paid attention after logging in and creating her avatar and finding her sister was the feeling of light breeze upon her skin. It felt… good. Natural even. It has been too long since she had enjoyed something so simple and it filled her heart with joy.
"Come one, Yuuki! Let's explore!" Aiko exclaimed and continued to drag her sister despite her half-hearted protests.
"There're supposed to be nasty aliens here." Yuuki protested. "Couldn't have we waited for another game?"
"That's months away!" Aiko scoffed. "Besides, there are won't be any aliens here! This is safe area! A replica of Tokyo to have fun in and explore!"
That mollified Yuuki. Its been so long since her sister suggested they did something together, much longer since they could go outside… Yuuki smiled wanly and let her sister drag her through the streets. Aiko surely was right, here they could have some carefree fun without worrying of getting sicker!
"Um, Aiko, where are we going? Won't we get lost?" Yuuki wondered aloud.
"Nope!" Aiko turned and grinned. She fished a smartphone from somewhere on her dress and switched it on. "See, we've got a map right here! Besides, this place is safe and we can always log out! Now, come one! I wanna explore!" With that declaration, Aiko put away the phone and continued dragging Yuuki away. She giggled – its been so long since her sister has been this carefree!
As they ran up and down the city, the sisters had to remind themselves that this was all virtual, fake. Because to them the short time they spent in this place already felt more real than everything since being confined to clean rooms due to their illness. It certainly felt real, as real as they remembered the outside world, just safer!
Eventually they stopped their wandering and Aiko got her phone out again to look for a park – it has been eternity since they visited one! It was a child's play to get a taxi with the starting money they had on their characters that drove them to the closest one… and once there they both ran through the grass barefooted laughing merrily at the sensation. This was the best thing that happened to them in the longest time!
X-COM
Kirito's heart raced and pumped adrenaline through his veins long after he got through the last qualification course in Tokyo's X-COM base. He skipped the training sequences that would have otherwise wasted hours of his time to go for the prize – a class assignment, option to deployments and NPC squad-mates to get his feet off the ground. He had to give creators of the game this much – after the beta they had improved the system emulating sensations to impossible degree. He felt like he really ran through the courses in his real body, complete with noise, explosions, bullets wheezing safely above his head, all the works. The mud that covered his fatigues felt damn real and unpleasant. It smelled of an old swamp too and he really didn't need to remember how he knew firsthand all about that stench. He couldn't really blame his impish sister for that escapade – he did follow her gleefully after all.
A couple of minutes leaning against the wall got him to relax and get his breath back before heading for the NPC Sergeant monitoring the qualifications.
"How did I do?" Kirito asked.
"Good enough." The pale westerner grumbled. "You can choose from three specializations at this time – Ranger, Infantry and Assault."
Without thinking, Kirito picked up Ranger – that was the available class that supplemented his speed and reflexes best, even if the long range combat options were quite wasted on him. A patient sniper he was not. At least, in the future, some of the further specializations that the class unlocked would be more his alley. Otherwise his pick would have been Assault, however he didn't handle heavy armour all that well. It simply slowed him too much and left him a sitting duck.
The NPC nodded, made a few notes on his tablet and then sent him a message. "Go to the armoury and requisition your gear. You'll be clear for deployment after that."
Kirito nodded. Once that was done, he could get up to the fun stuff, but first. He went to the contact list of his tablet and checked if Argo had already logged in and yep, she was online. He sent her a chat and friend request and headed for the armoury.
"Hey, hi there!" An unfamiliar, cheerful voice shouted from behind.
Kirito turned around and frowned at a tall red-haired man waving at him. Somehow he managed to make his uniform scruffy looking too despite there being no sign he had been through the training, much less qualifications.
"Yes?"
"I saw you breeze through these exams. You're a beta tester, aren't you? I'm Klein by the way." The man offered a disarming smile and his arm.
Kirito warily shook the arm. "And what if I am?"
"Any pointers for a newbie? I'm waiting for my friends to log in so we can breeze through training and those exams so we can get to the real fun." Klein explained.
"There's not much I can do until you do complete the training and based on that you'll be able to choose from classes best suiting your performance. Later you can unlock other ones if you don't enjoy those..." Kirito trailed off. "If your going to play with friends instead of NPC squad-mates, make sure to get a balanced team going. You'll need medic, recon, gunner and engineer at the very least. An infantry or two would give you a stable backbone for when things go wrong. That's a solid class."
"Thanks. So we can't go out to see what is to fight the aliens before we've completed training?"
"Technically you can – if you're one of those hardcore purists. You'll only have access to the most basic of equipment, not really a good idea, especially if you haven't been a beta tester and know what works best for you." Kirito thought about it. "I'm going to get some gear then to contact an information broker an on a deployment. You can come along – between me and the NPCs you should be all right and see what the hype is all about."
"Is the game up to expectations?" Klein asked.
"For me it is. I don't know what you expect of it." Kirito shrugged. "Are you coming or not?" He asked and headed to the armoury.