Shifti - User contributions [en]

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T03:32:10Z

Doomreaver:

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them, into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is a project I eventually canceled unfortunately. I was working and doing college and I eventually was just to busy to write more. Then when I did find time to write I found myself duplicating scenes with different characters and eventually the save file got lost. It was a fun idea, I just didn't have the time/energy to do it properly. [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

== Other stories ==
These are stories that don't belong to an established setting such as Paradise or the UFAW.

[[User:Doomreaver/running|Running]]

Kris Schnee wrote a story called "Polar Vortex" and posted it to the TSA mailing list, asking other authors to write about the vortexes in his story. While I don't believe that story got posted here I did write a story as well so here it is.

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T03:31:30Z

Doomreaver:

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them, into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is a project I eventually canceled unfortunately. I was working and doing college and I eventually was just to busy to write more. Then when I did find time to write I found myself duplicating scenes with different characters and eventually the save file got lost. It was a fun idea, I just didn't have the time/energy to do it properly. [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

== Other stories ==
These are stories that don't belong to an established setting such as Paradise or the UFAW.

[[User:Doomreaver/running:Doomreaver/running|Running]]

Kris Schnee wrote a story called "Polar Vortex" and posted it to the TSA mailing list, asking other authors to write about the vortexes in his story. While I don't believe that story got posted here I did write a story as well so here it is.

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T03:30:51Z

Doomreaver: /* Other stories */

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them, into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is a project I eventually canceled unfortunately. I was working and doing college and I eventually was just to busy to write more. Then when I did find time to write I found myself duplicating scenes with different characters and eventually the save file got lost. It was a fun idea, I just didn't have the time/energy to do it properly. [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

== Other stories ==
These are stories that don't belong to an established setting such as Paradise or the UFAW.

[[User:Doomreaver/http://shifti.org/wiki/User:Doomreaver/running|Running]]

Kris Schnee wrote a story called "Polar Vortex" and posted it to the TSA mailing list, asking other authors to write about the vortexes in his story. While I don't believe that story got posted here I did write a story as well so here it is.

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T03:29:48Z

Doomreaver:

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them, into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is a project I eventually canceled unfortunately. I was working and doing college and I eventually was just to busy to write more. Then when I did find time to write I found myself duplicating scenes with different characters and eventually the save file got lost. It was a fun idea, I just didn't have the time/energy to do it properly. [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

== Other stories ==
These are stories that don't belong to an established setting such as Paradise or the UFAW.

[[User:Doomreaver/Running|Running]]

Kris Schnee wrote a story called "Polar Vortex" and posted it to the TSA mailing list, asking other authors to write about the vortexes in his story. While I don't believe that story got posted here I did write a story as well so here it is.

User:Doomreaver/running

2016-07-10T00:39:00Z

Doomreaver: Created page with "{{title|name=Running|author=Doomreaver}} I honked at the stopped cars in front of me. The light was green, move! “Come on!” I yelled in exasperation, pounding the horn..."

{{title|name=Running|author=Doomreaver}}

I honked at the stopped cars in front of me. The light was green, move! “Come on!” I yelled in exasperation, pounding the horn even harder. “I’ve got places to be!”

That’s when the first mass of people ran past screaming in panic. When a man with an elephant trunk stumbled into my car before running on my heart fell. I knew what that meant, it was all over the news and a few changed had even been interviewed. With dread I managed to open my door, get out, and look up. A polar vortex, glowing orange, swirled just ahead of me over the bridge.

I cursed. Of course this happens. On the day of the most important meeting of my entire life some mad transformation vortex had to put itself between me and my destination. Could I backtrack? No, the cars behind mine had emptied by now so other people could run away with the crowd. My car was landlocked by abandoned vehicles. Could I walk? No, the only other bridge was miles away; I’d never make it in time even if I caught a taxi a few streets over.

My mind jumped around, trying to find an option, knowing there wasn’t one. “Ah, screw it.” I said finally. Slamming shut my door I forced my way through the crowd. Going the other direction; towards the vortex. I’ll have to run it; maybe if I’m fast enough I’ll make it out ok.
The going was tough at first, fighting against the press of people. Fortunately while I wool-gathered most had made it out and the crowd was thinning. After a minute I finally got clear and took off, picking up speed quickly as I dodged around the last stragglers.

I knew instantly when I entered the area affected by the vortex. It started at my feet, making me stumble and almost fall. Gritting my teeth I caught myself on yet another abandoned car. Can’t fall down now, have to keep moving or I’ll never make it. I could feel my feet changing and soon my expensive dress shoes were flopping awkwardly as my feet became smaller. A few steps later I was out of them. Didn’t matter, I could run much faster without them. Springing on the balls of my feet I ran faster.

I could see people who hadn’t made it out now. Various animal people sat on the ground or leaned against objects, stunned at what had happened to them. It was getting harder to move through them now, frustrating me, my need for speed growing. Move people! Growling in frustration I leaped with surprising agility onto a car, running up it and jumping to the next. Now I was moving! Over the cars I ran, even faster!

I must have crossed the mid-point now. The streets were clearing; people had either fled or had time to collect themselves and get out of the road. Skidding down the window of another car I leapt to the pavement, all four limbs hitting concrete painfully. It was a minor stumble. Sprinting down the sidewalk, the wind rushing past, I felt exhilarated! I’d never felt so alive! I ran faster!

I’m not sure when I exited the vortex. I didn’t notice a first; only when I saw the line of abandoned cars thin and realized that the orange tint to the air was gone did I notice. Skidding to a stop, I leapt up whooping. “YES! Take that you stupid vortex! You aren’t going to catch and change me!” I did a little dance, right there on the street. A nearby store owner gawked at me. Wondering why, I stopped dancing to look back at him.

That’s when I noticed the fur all over my hands.

Looking down at them, covered in orange fur and black spots, I immediately noticed another incongruity; my nose stuck out a lot farther in front of my face than usual. Reaching up I felt my muzzle, the feline teeth, and tousled my hair and ears. I was some sort of cat person. Cheetah or jaguar perhaps.

Suddenly a strange sensation from my back end made me turn around. Of course, this didn’t help at all except to give me a glimpse of my orange tail, which just encouraged me to spin faster to catch it. A few moments of chasing my own tail made me dizzy enough to stop, upon which the simple solution of reaching behind me to grab it occurred. It was long, very furry, and thrashing in agitation.

As I twisted around to look at it I also noticed I had lost my pants somewhere; no wonder the shop owner was staring at me! I vaguely remembered them becoming loose, tripping me up some, before sliding off me between steps. It was right before I jumped up on the cars and ran, ran! across them. I also remembered that I had gone to all four once I jumped back off the cars. I was thinner and sleeker now, a runners build, and I stood on my tiptoes instead of flat my feet. Also I was much shorter; my legs seemed to have shrunk to match my arms so I could run on all fours more smoothly.

Sighing I let go of my tail and grinned sheepishly at the shop owner. It could be worse I decided. I could be some mythical beast, or I could have become full animal and lost my hands. My keys, wallet and phone were lost with my pants, but at least I still had the flash drive with my presentation on it in my jacket pocket. As I reached into it to make sure the drive was actually there I noticed one final change. There was a round mound of flesh under my jacket, hidden by how loosely my clothing now hung on me. Probing it gently, I confirmed that yes, it was part of my body and, yes, I did have a pair of them. Apparently I was a girl now. Huh.

At the moment I didn’t really have time to think through the implications of my latest discovery. The reason I had made my ill-fated sprint through the vortex was recalling itself to me now, and my watch, which I luckily still had, told me I was running low on time to make it there. I also needed to pick up some clothes so I didn’t enter the meeting half naked. Looking about I started to despair. I had the same problem on this end that I did on the other; no car, lines of abandoned vehicles blocking the roads, and no way to call a taxi. If only I could run there, the wind blowing through my fur like before…

Wait, why not? I was some sort of running cat, much faster then I’d been as a human. My destination wasn’t too far away from here, and I knew a good clothing store near it I could get new things from. With a little luck I might make it. The whole idea was ludicrous though, maybe I should just hope I found a taxi soon. If the vortex hadn’t all scared them away.

“Ah, screw it.” I muttered. Flashing a grin at the store owner, I went back down to all fours. It felt strangely natural, every bit as much as standing on two like I had all my life. Flexing my claws for a moment, I gathered myself. And then, I ran.

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T00:33:02Z

Doomreaver:

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them, into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is a project I eventually canceled unfortunately. I was working and doing college and I eventually was just to busy to write more. Then when I did find time to write I found myself duplicating scenes with different characters and eventually the save file got lost. It was a fun idea, I just didn't have the time/energy to do it properly. [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

== Other stories ==
These are stories that don't belong to an established setting such as Paradise or the UFAW.

Running
Someone else wrote a story called "Polar Vortex" and posted it to the TSA mailing list, asking other authors to write about the vortexes in his story. While I don't believe that story got posted here I did write a story as well so here it is.

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T00:31:07Z

Doomreaver:

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them, into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is a project I eventually canceled unfortunately. I was working and doing college and I eventually was just to busy to write more. Then when I did find time to write I found myself duplicating scenes with different characters and eventually the save file got lost. It was a fun idea, I just didn't have the time/energy to do it properly. [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

Other stories:
These are stories that don't belong to an established setting such as Paradise or the UFAW.

Running
Someone else wrote a story called "Polar Vortex" and posted it to the TSA mailing list, asking other authors to write about the vortexes in his story. While I don't believe that story got posted here I did write a story as well so here it is.

User:Doomreaver

2016-07-10T00:26:55Z

Doomreaver: /* The XCom Project */

User:Doomreaver/Invasion

2015-05-02T21:20:08Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=XCom Project Part 1: Invasion|author=Doomreaver}}

{{WIP}}
== First Contact ==

<center>“Two possibilities exist:

Either we are alone in the Universe,

Or we are not.

Both are Equally Terrifying.” –Arthur C. Clarke</center>

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhdzRDIddU| Opening Cinematic]

No one could believe it when the word came. This was a dead end assignment, go sit in a hole in the ground in Europe with the bare minimum of electricity and be ready in case Aliens attacked the earth. It was a joke, one the men laughed about daily while playing cards or pool to burn time. Then word came of the projects activation, along with video of strange devices dragging victims into them as people ran screaming in terror, and the joke wasn’t funny anymore.

There was a mad scramble to gear up. For all that no one expected this to ever happen, they at least had the best equipment, advanced full body armor, grenades, assault rifles, the works. All together a pain in the ass to put on in a hurry though, especially when the generators were still warming up to full power and only the emergency lights on in the equipment room. Finally the troops were ready, and four of the men rushed onto the Skyranger.

Central Officer Bradford briefed them on the way over.

“We have reports of Alien activity in Glasgow, UK. Your objectives are to sweep the area and clear it of all hostiles. Good luck.”

As soon as the ship landed, everyone landed rushed out and took cover behind one of the strange devices and a few nearby vehicles.

“I hope this thing isn’t going to turn back on.” Stonegate said as she crouched behind it, peering around for targets.

That’s when the men saw them for the first time. They were small, grey, with large heads and strange orange-glowing bellies, each gripping some sort of green pistol in hand. “Open fire! Guesz yells, and a hail of bullets flies out towards the nearest of the three targets. They scramble for cover, faster than anyone expected, but Hardy managed to nail one of them with a volley, dropping it in a spray of orange blood. The other two took position inside a building, peering out the windows.

Stonegate and Hardy opened up on the Aliens, but they had good cover and went uninjured. Guesz rushed to take cover behind a large armored truck, trying to get a better firing position, while Rhianna circled around to flank. “Shit, got three more!” she called from her new position. She watched while the second group of hostiles moved out of sight. Guesz was peering at the two in the building still when a green ball plasma splashed into the truck right next to his head. “They’re flanking!” He called. Meanwhile the ones in the building repositioned themselves, a member of the second group joining them. One of them stood to its full height, barely half the size of a man, and opened fire on Hardy. The green energy of the gunshot shredded the wall, leaving a gaping hole, and hit Hardy in the chest.

“Hardy!” Stonegate yelled in alarm, but the body armor had saved her, though a large glowing hole was now in her armor and she could feel burns on her chest.

Hardy was now officially pissed. Ducking low, she ran towards the front of the car, then knelt to remove something from her belt. “Grenade!” she called, throwing it through the hole in the wall. Inside, the three ET’s looked at the object curiously for a second before it exploded, shrapnel tearing their bodies apart.

Guesz ran around to the side of the truck so that he was no longer flanked by the enemy. He noticed one of the grey creatures emitting a purple beam towards the one that had flanked him. “Take that one down!” he called, and he and Stonegate opened fire from their new positions, but neither of them managed to land a hit on the creature cowering under its cover. Rhianna, no longer close enough to fire on the new targets after trying to flank the now dead aliens inside, rushed closer towards the enemy. The ET that had previously been flanking Guesz ran closer to Stonegate and opened fire, green plasma splashing across her shoulder Hissing in pain, she ducked back under cover. “I’m alright!” she assured the others.

Guesz, Hardy, and Rhianna all opened fire on the glowing purple creature, and enough of the storm of bullets landed to take it down. Stonegate watched from across the lot of the store as the beam entering the other creature changed color and sank into it. It gave a strange yell, jerking up, all of its muscles tense, then collapsed, dead.

“Satellite readings show no other movement, all hostiles are down. Great job men.” Bradford sent.

Back at base there was an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. As they trooped off the transport, two of them injured but alive, Commander McNair met them, along with all the other soldiers. A great cry rose up as the victorious soldiers entered walked out of the Skyranger, and those left behind rushed forward to pat them on the back. While they were gone everything had been fired up and the base was humming along smoothly now, bright fluorescents lighting the room brilliantly, far better than the emergency lights that had been all that was on before. After a few moments, the Commander motioned everyone to calm down so he could speak.

“Today, we have won an important victory. We have met an enemy unknown to man before now, and defeated them without losing a single man. Caroline Hardy was key in this mission, eliminating half of the foe with a single well placed grenade, and delivering the killing blow to all of the other enemies. As such, it is my honor to grant her this promotion.” Again everyone erupts in shouts of congratulations as the Commander shook Hardy’s hand and she took the new insignia from him. Eventually the cheers died down, and McNair spoke again.

“Although this first mission was a great success, this was just the first battle. There are reports of UFO’s across the globe, and while there have been no more abductions yet, we must be prepared at any moment to respond to Alien activities. Feel free to celebrate tonight, but know that we are the vanguard of Humanity, it’s only hope against this unknown threat. ”

“ET doesn’t stand a chance against us!” Vulpintaur yelled, and the men again cheered. The Commander left then, to let them have their celebration, and to prepare with the labs and engineers. This was far from over, and they’d need every edge they could get if they were to win this war.

== Girding for War ==

March 1, 2014

Commander McNair met with Central Officer Bradford in the Situation room shortly after the promotion of Hardy. Gazing at the map on the giant screen set into the wall, he asked “How bad is it?”

“It could be better sir. Although the council will provide us with any equipment for our soldiers free of charge, and supply us logistically, we’ll be paying for base expansion ourselves, as well as construction of any equipment we learn make from the Aliens. Furthermore, the nations of the council feel that they shouldn’t have to provide direct funding for us if we don’t have satellite coverage to protect them from the Alien threat. Most satellites can’t detect them, only our specially modified ones can.”

Waving at the map, McNair asks “So that means the only country currently giving us monthly funding is the United Kingdom?” At Bradford’s nod, McNair sighed deeply. “I suppose more satellite coverage should be a priority then. What other good news do you have?”

“Well sir, at the moment reports on the ET’s have just started and most people are confused more the worried. However, as things escalate we’ll have to keep an eye on the panic levels around the world. If too many incursions happen in a country without response, the panicking populace will probably cause the government to withdraw its support.”

“Very well, thank you Bradford. I’ll expect to be kept abreast of the global situation at all times.”

“Of course sir, I will sir. Also, you should visit the Labs and Engineering, the Council sent in staff for them.”

“Oh really? I hope they brought some dusting spray.”

The Commander left Bradford and considered a moment before setting off to the labs first. Inside it was brightly lit, with several scientists setting up various pieces of equipment. As McNair walked in, one of the scientists looks up and greets him.

“Commander? My name is Doctor Vahlen, I’m the head of the research team. It is good to meet you.”

McNair shakes her hand. “Good to meet you to. Is everything in working order? We haven’t had a Scientist on the payroll for a year.”

“The equipment is adequate. We found most of it in storage and completely new, it seems my predecessor had little use for it. We have already begun analyzing the artifacts recovered from our first encounter with the Aliens. Based on our preliminary findings, we believe we can use them to develop some new equipment for our soldiers.”

“Good to know, we’ll need everything we can get to win this. What are our options?”

“We recovered several corpses from the battle, and though most were in poor shape, I believe we could gain an understanding of Alien biology that will help us combat them. Another option is to study the recovered artifacts. The Alien’s weaponry seems to self-destruct when the owner dies, so all we have are fragments, but we have enough to learn about either the methods they use to create the weapons, or the hardened material the Aliens seem to use.”

The Commander thinks for a minute. “Those materials, could they be used to improve the armor of our men? In our last encounter the Aliens blasted through the armor in a single shot, we were lucky not to lose anyone.”

“Yes I do believe that would be viable with enough research. It will take some time, but I will be sure to inform you as we make progress.”

After saying his goodbyes, McNair headed to the Engineering Bay. It was mostly a very large empty area, big enough to build anything up to and including satellites or fighter jets. Along the walls where various pieces of large construction equipment being checked over by the Engineers. An older man with balding white hair noticed him and walked over.

“Greetings Commander, welcome to the Engineering Bay. I’m Dr. Shen and I head the work here, we’ll build anything the lab boys cook up.”

“Good to meet you. What’s the staff look like?”

“Well sir, as you know no one really expected an Alien invasion. I only got here today, and only five engineers arrived with me. Everyone’s very good at their jobs, but larger projects will be slow and expensive until we get more men.”

“After talking to Bradford and Dr. Vahlen I’m not surprised, and it looks like we won’t be able to secure more resources unless we expand our coverage. Can you build another satellite?”

Dr. Shen hesitates a moment, thinking. “Yes I believe we can, but it will take most of our current funds and three weeks of work with the staff we have on hand.”

“Do it. Every eye in the sky we have increases the countries willing to send us monthly funds.”

{{Separator|d}}

Phil Guesz didn’t stay at the celebration long. Instead, he found himself wandering the corridors. It just didn’t feel right. Sure they had taken out some Aliens, outnumbered and outgunned, without losing a man, but it seemed everyone forgot the video of crowds running in panic, people screaming in fear as they dragged by strange green energy and sucked into a device that should be too small to hold them all. Who knows what happened to those victims, or what the Aliens did to them. Where they dead? Imprisoned? Being experimented on even now like all the crazy “I got kidnapped by Aliens and they did stuff to me!” nutjobs claimed? Those stories weren’t so crazy these days…

He found himself standing outside the infirmary door. Reaching up, he pressed the “Open” button, and it slid open with a whoosh. The infirmary was pretty standard, tiled walls, white floor, the smell of disinfectant and sterilizing agents. Glancing around, he’s surprised to see two beds occupied. One has the privacy curtain pulled around it, and on one across the room sits Caroline Hardy in a hospital gown.

“Hey.” Hardy says, glancing up at Guesz.

“Hey. I thought your armor blocked the shot you took.”

“Most of it. I didn’t want to ruin the celebration, so I just gritted my snuck here while it got started. Why’d you leave?”

“It just doesn’t feel right to celebrate an Alien invasion, no matter how well the first fight goes.”

“Yeah I feel you.” Hardy nods, then grimaces in pain. Guesz looks closer and notices a part of her neck is blackened, just barely visible over the collar of the gown.

“How bad is it?” he asks, concern written all over his face.

“See for yourself.” she motions to the top of the gown and leans back some.

Guesz hesitates, then reaches forward and pulls the collar down just a little more to see. Some sort of strange burn is exposed, covering her collar bones and extending below sight. “Shit…” he breathes.

“Looks worse than it is I’m told. The skin on my upper chest is burned away, but the armor saved my life and the plasma sealed the wound so I didn’t bleed out. Can’t even feel it most of the time, only when I move in certain ways.”

Guesz sits down next to Hardy, then looks over at the hidden bed. “How bad did they get Windscale?”

“Little worse than me, I’m amazed she kept fighting out there. The plasma burned through the armor at the shoulder and ran down her right arm. You could see the burns if Doc hadn’t come and closed the curtains. He hates rushing it, but says we’ll both be in good enough condition to go back out in a week. The council is providing the best medicine in the world for us, and we can’t really afford to wait for scars to fade before we go back out.”

They both stare at the curtain hiding Freya for several seconds, contemplating the events of the day. “A lot of people are going to die before this is over aren’t they?” Guesz said sadly.

“Looks like. I’m amazed either of us lived, and those ET’s we fought today didn’t strike me as soldiers, more like working grunts or scientists. We’ll face worse before the end.”

“Think we’ll win?”
They look at each other, the neck of her gown still low enough to show off the blackened skin. “I don’t know.” She responds, her gaze determined. “but we’ll sure as hell put up a good fight.”

== Midnight Run ==

March 6, 2014

It was the middle of the night five days later before the shit hit the fan. The alert sounded through the base, and McNair walked out of his bedroom and into controlled chaos.

“Bradford, what’s going on?”

Bradford looked up from the lower area. “Sir we have reports of multiple, simultaneous abduction attacks across the world. We don’t have the manpower or transportation to respond to more than one.”

McNair closed his eyes and leaned his head back, fists clenching. He took a deep breath. “Damn it. Where?”

“Cape Town, South Africa, Fukuoka, Japan, and Toronto, Canada sir!” one of the techs yells.

McNair gazes at the giant 3D globe floating in the center of the room for a long moment. “Send the Skyranger to Japan. We’ll just have to hope the local forces can handle the threat elsewhere.” Even as he said it, everyone in the room knew it would probably be a slaughter.

With Hardy and Windscale still in the infirmary, only two soldiers who had seen the ET’s before could go on the mission. Tiberius Vulpintaur and Alexander Green joined Guesz and Stonegate on the Skyranger, filled with a nervous energy.

“What’re they like? The Aliens.” Vulpintaur wondered.

“Lab boys named them ‘Sectoids’. They look a lot like the grey men aliens you see on TV actually, so I guess myths are loosely based in reality. Don’t underestimate them, they blew a wall down with a single volley. Advance carefully and always be behind cover.” Stonegate responded.

The Skyranger dropped them off in what looked like a construction site. Two green outlines of people who had been dragged into the strange machines, greeted them as they ran down the ramp, and the rookies stared at them as they glowed softly in the night-vision goggles.

“Less gawkin more walkin!” Stonegate told them, rushing past the strange outlines and taking cover behind a stack of something under a tarp. Getting ahold of themselves, everyone found something to duck behind, gazing out for any signs of movement. The construction yard was full of scattered stacks of building materials and large rectangular metal shipping crates, and there was a ramp leading up to a crane that lifted things from the ground way below. After 20 seconds of nothing in sight but some wandering pigeons, Guesz ran forward to new cover against a pair of massive transport crates.

“I see 2!” He called, as two Aliens some distance away rushed behind cover.

Vulpintaur ran forward to take position next to Guesz, while the others stayed back, as there was no other good cover closer to the enemy. Vulpintaur then motioned that he would try to flank the enemy to the left and disappeared around the corner of the metal container, only to curse loudly and rush back behind cover. “2 more on the high ground!”

Green and Guesz opened fire on one of the Sectoids Guesz had spotted, but couldn’t land a hit as it ducked behind the far side of the shipping container. Stonegate advanced to cover next to the ramp and tried to nail one of the two Vulpintaur spotted up on the high ground, but had no more luck than anyone else.

One Sectoid focused on another, a purple aura going from it to its fellow. Seemingly emboldened by its psionic support, it rushed forward at Green and Guesz, who opened fire at it. Vulpintaur ran over to Green and joined them in firing at the approaching Sectoid, and it took several bullets, but amazingly didn’t fall, grabbing a ladder on the side of the crate and climbing up. Meanwhile, Stonegate advanced up the ramp, trying to flank the Alien mentally empowering the other, but it saw her and ran to cover. The other aliens both took cover in a couple half-finished walls, one opening fire at the soldiers, the other casting that strange green energy to its fellow on top of the crate, who dropped down beside Guesz and also fired, but he ducked behind a pile of bricks just in time. Amazingly, none of the aliens managed land a hit, the plasma splashing off the wood Vulpintaur and Green where hiding behind.

Guesz turned and shot the ET next to him in the face before it could get off another shot, and from the way it screamed and fell to the ground it seems that whatever the purple energy was, it only helped so much. Stonegate tried to nail the one on the high ground, but only managed to send a cloud of dust into the air from the cinder blocks it crouched behind. Green and Vulpintaur had no luck either, their bullets just missing one who had advanced to the other side of the shipping crate. One had stayed behind at the unfinished walls and buffed its comrade, who held it’s fire, waiting for the soldiers to try to advance on it.

Up on the high ground, Stonegate managed to avoid the stream of plasma that was fired at her, then rushed forward, and blasted the Sectiod in the face before it could react. A new pair of Sectoids saw her as she ran forward. Green managed to clip the Sectoid hiding behind the storage crate. Guesz, tired of the stalemate, advanced quickly to the ladder, jumping on it and climbing up, getting clipped slightly by the ET as he did so, then running to the other side and dropping down where he could flank it. Guessing his plan, it backed up, trying to get behind something so Guesz couldn’t nail it in the side, but he followed after it. Stonegate opened fire from the high ground, and while it was distracted avoiding her burst, Guesz nailed it, finishing it off. Everyone took a moment to reposition around the last Alien that had been hiding in the half finished walls for a while now and reload their weapons. Vulpintaur was the one who managed to take it down, advancing quickly to nearer cover, then putting a half dozen bullets in its chest when it leaned out to figure out where he went.

“Is that all of them?” Green called. They all stood from behind cover a moment and looked around.

“This is central, we’re still picking up movement, so there should be more of them.” Just then, Stonegate caught sight of one of the pair that had earlier seen her trying to sneak towards her.

“ET on the flank!” she yelled, dropping back behind cover. The Sectiod, realizing it had been spotted, hid behind the ramp leading up to the high ground. Everyone rushed to reposition, Green and Vulpintaur moving towards the ramp, while Stonegate climbed a ladder to an even higher section of the construction site, Guesz climbing a different ladder to take position where she had been. Green saw movement as an ET ran up and he scored a lucky shot, a bullet going into it’s eye. Thinking it was the one behind the ramp, Vulpintaur advanced, but it had been a different Sectoid. The one hiding behind the ramp blasted him with plasma. Screaming in agony, Vulpintaur fell back against another shipping crate, his gun falling to the ground. Snatching his grenade, he threw it at the Alien, who tried to scramble away but wasn’t fast enough, it’s body shredded by the explosion. Guesz, hearing the scream, rushes over, while the others take up position to cover them in case there are more Aliens.

Vulpintaur was in bad shape. His chest-plate was completely melted, and some of the plasma had splashed across his face. He was still screaming, laying against the shipping crate, one of his eyes melting as Phil gazed in horror. Yanking out his medkit, he sprayed it on the injured man. It’s soothing mist caused the plasma to dissipate, and pain killers entered Vulpintaur’s bloodstream. In just a few moments the pain was deadened completely.

“That miracle drug is temporary, it’ll get you back in the action but you’ll be out of the fight for a while once we get back.” Guesz told him. Vulpintaur took several deep breaths, then stood up.

“You should stay down, we can finish off the rest.” Guesz told him.

“No, that really is a miracle drug, I can barely feel it. I’ll give you covering fire.” From the grim stare he gave Phil, enhanced by his now blacked left eye, Guesz knew there was no use arguing.

They advanced slowly to the last small section of the site, eyes peeled for ET’s constantly. Vulpintaur apparently really was completely deadened to the pain, as he advanced with surety, gaze sharp, sweeping back and forth. Stonegate on the high ground watched them advance, waiting for them to get into position before moving to where she could see – and be seen – from the final corner. They found a pair of Sectoids hiding behind some building supplies, but for once luck was with them and Green and Guesz managed to kill them before they could react. That was the last of them, a short search later proved; as did a radio call from Bradford indicating no movement could be detected by local satellites.

The mood was much more somber this time. While they had been clearing out Fukuoka, everyone else had been watching the news in Canada and Africa. As they feared, local forces hadn’t been able to do anything against the Aliens, and a large number of people had been abducted. Panic was rising as the news spread. Although they had again managed to eliminate the enemy without losing a man, Vulpintaur had to be rushed to the infirmary as soon as they got back. None of his wounds were life threatening amazingly, but he would be out of action for a while and probably lose his eye, and the shot Phil had thought merely clipped his armor had burned through during the rest of the battle and he would need attention from Doc as well.

With 8 Aliens dead and everyone accounting for a pair, McNair promoted them all to Squaddie, but with far less fanfare than Caroline’s promotion had. Everyone was exhausted, even those who hadn’t gone on the combat mission, for the klaxons had woken the entire base. Then news of the Aliens successfully kidnapping dozens of people from Canada and South Africa had come in, local policeman and soldiers standing no chance against the threat. There was little conversation as people went to sleep for the last few hours of the night.

== The Biohazard ==

March 13, 2014

For the next few days, everyone was tense. In 6 days the Aliens had hit four cities, managing three at once on opposite ends of the world the second time, and everyone was all wound up waiting for the next assault. There are only so many days in a row you can spend drilling, practicing at the firing range or working out before it gets old though. By the end of a week the nervous tension had drained to a dull boredom. Fortunately, the base came with a fully stocked bar, complete with a pool table and a giant screen TV.

This particular evening just about everyone was hanging around in the bar. Zane had just arrived and gotten some beers from Donny, the Bartender, to take to the loveseat where he and Rhianna liked to sit together. As he walked past the pool table he saw the 8 ball go into a pocket and grinned. Copernicus, one of the engineers, had been beating everyone in pool all evening. The council had dug him and a few other engineers up as thanks for the great job at Fukuoka, and he had just arrived.

“This place is awesome. I get to build new tech based on Alien designs, and this is the first military job I’ve gotten that came with its own pool table. Best two out of three?”

Doug, his opponent, grimaces. “Sure, nothing better to do. I’m glad you like it here, I bet no one else in the room volunteered except maybe Donny.”

Cope raises an eyebrow as he racks up the balls. “Oh really? How come?”

“Until two weeks ago, no one had any actual proof Aliens existed, yet a project was made just in case of Alien invasion and stocked with Soldiers. This was a dead end post that you got sent to by pissing off the wrong people. I got drunk and vomited on a Four Star General right before he was to make a speech.”

Several people chuckle. Maximilian, who was playing Cribbage with Alex and Caroline, speaks up. “My stories rather interesting if I do say so myself. I was a Gunnery Officer at a British Navy port, kept all the weapons maintained and was in charge of the warehouses. One day my commanding officer storms in and demands to know where a certain shipment was. Of course I had no idea off the top of my head. It seems he had shipped his private collection of old Flintlocks using military resources, which is against the rules incidentally, and was now upset that they had been misplaced.”

Maximilian pauses a moment to take a swallow from his drink and count up his points. “15 2, 15 4, double run of three for 10 and a pair for 12. Where was I? Oh yes, so after the chap blows his top a while he storms out, and I dig through the records to figure out what the dickens happened. A few days later I find the crate sitting in the back of a different warehouse, and I’m just going to tell the bloke when I get told he’s got me shipped out here. Naturally I forgot to let him know I found his pistols before I left, and a pair of very nice looking ones seem to have vanished when he found the shipment a week later.”

Everyone gets a good laugh out of that, and Copernicus just starts making the rounds after that. “Lost the CO’s Begal.” Alex says. “Knocked out a General when he touched my ass.” Caroline comments while moving her peg. “Slept with the Secretary of Defense’s daughter!” Phil calls out from his place at the bar.

“I wanted to fight Aliens.” Freya announces casually. Everyone stares at her.

“Wait a sec. Until two weeks ago, no one had any proof that Aliens existed, nor that they would start mass kidnappings, yet you still decided to sign up for XCom specifically so you could kill some?”

Freya scoffs. “Course Aliens exist, there’s a half dozen in storage at the labs. What other opponent would be as challenging or exciting as Aliens?”

Doug blinks, shakes his head, then looks around again. “How about you lover boy?” He yells at Zane. Zane looks up and grins from the loveseat. “Rhianna and I got into a relationship. Problem was, she was my CO. We got caught by someone we knew who decided not to turn us in, but it was getting too risky.”

Rhianna picks up the story. “So I did some research and learned this place had its own ranking system, and we’d both start at ‘Rookie’ since neither of us had served in a war. Called in a favor, got us transferred, problem solved.”

Everyone nods and goes back to what they were doing. Cope grins at Doug. “I you lost that bet, they asked to be transferred. How much was it for again?”

Doug snorts. “We didn’t actually settle on a bet, but I guess I’ll buy you a drink.” This being a top secret military base, Donny wasn’t allowed to hire any waitresses, so Doug walks over to the bar to fetch a pair of drinks. At the far end of the bar was a woman he thought he recognized, one of the soldiers, silently sipping at her drink, not participating in the conversation.

“Hey uhh… Hawlsera isn’t it? What’s your story?”

She looks up at him a moment, then back down into her drink. “It’s… personal.”

“Oh come on, everyone else shared. Hell I puked on a fuckin General, that’s as embarrassing as it gets.”

She just shakes her head. Now Doug was intrigued, and he decided to insist. “Look, all the rest of the men I know by name, but I had to think to remember yours. This base is tiny, so you’ve been hiding. Before, it didn’t matter, but now we’re at war and we have to trust each other with our lives. If you can’t trust us with whatever it is that brought you here, do you really want to trust us with your life on the battlefield?”

For a long time Hawlsera doesn’t say anything. Doug’s drinks arrived, but rather than going back to Cope he sit and waits. Eventually he decides she was just ignoring him. “Screw it.” He thinks, then yells out to the room “Hey guys! Hawlsera here listened to all of our amusing, embarrassing, and touchy feely stories, but doesn’t think she can trust us with a little history lesson of her own. What do you think of that?”

Immediately everyone boos her good naturedly. “Cmon, tell us!” Phil calls. “Even if you refuse, if we really want to know we can probably look up your military records.” Alex points out.

Hawlsera finally looks up from her drink. There is a hunted look in her eyes that suddenly made everyone uncomfortable. She takes a deep breath to rally herself, then glares at the assemblage. “Fine. You want a history lesson? I’m TG, or transgender. I was born a guy and miserable most of my life, feeling like I was in the wrong body, wanting to be a girl. My dad found out, and tells me he didn’t raise me to be a pansy and sent me off to the army to become a ‘real man’. I hide it for years, absolutely miserable, before saying fuck it and starting therapy, only for everyone to treat me like a freak once they found out. I got transferred here right after I spent every dime I own on the surgery hoping for a new start as Female and no one knowing. So much for that idea!”

Finishing her tirade, she leans back over her drink sullenly, avoiding the gaze of the somewhat stunned room. After a moment of gazing at her near empty glass, there’s a *thunk* and she looks up to see Donnie’s retreating back, a fresh drink in front of her, next to the money he didn’t take as payment. Suddenly someone hugs her from behind.

“You’ll always just be one of the girls to me.” Freya says.

Doug, feeling like a total jackass, pipes up. “We’re all in this together Hawlsera. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, guy, gal, TG, whatever! We’ve got your back, no matter what.”

There’s a murmur of agreement throughout the room. Phil raises his glass. “Here’s to us: The brothers and sisters in arms who are going to blast those Alien scum back to the hell they came from!”

As everyone raises their glasses in toast, Hawlsera looks at them. They all return her gaze steadily, waiting for her to join them. Finally she raises hers as well. “To us.”

== Operation Splashdown ==

March 14, 2014

“Sir, our satellite has picked up something.”

“What?” Bradford said as he looked up intently at the holo-globe.

“There is something in the air over Europe. It’s causing gravimetric disturbances unlike anything we have in the air.”

“Good work, get Blackwing to his ship.” Bradford commed McNair. “We have a UFO over Europe sir, probably Alien in origin. You’d better get up here.”

McNair, who had been enjoying a nice, leisurely meal at the Biohazard, dropped his food and got up. As he strode purposefully into the Control Room, one of the techs called “Blackwing’s suited up and ready to take off in Avenger-1.” Bradford looked up at McNair, who merely nodded his acord.

It was a tense wait. The UFO was flying about at a decent clip in what seemed to be some sort of searching or scanning pattern, weaving back and forth over areas of Germany. Blackwing took it slow to conserve fuel, which meant that it took several hours before he was anywhere near it.

“You sure it’s up here? Sky’s all clear and I’m not getting anything on radar.” He asked.

“The bogie isn’t showing on any radar, so we’re pretty certain it’s extraterrestrial in origin. You’ll need a visual lock to confirm.”

“Roger.” Another few minutes passed as Blackwing scanned the sky for anything else in the air. “I got something, moving fast, no contrail, moving in.” As he flew closer, he slowly made out what looked like a flying silver disk. The entire thing was rounded and curved, preventing radar waves from bouncing off of it, and the sides glowed an alternating bright blue and darker blue.

“Bogie sighted, sure as hell ain’t Human. Permission to engage?”

“Granted. Good luck Avenger-1.”

He approached from the “Side” of the ship, for a lack of a better word. It was heading west, while he was going north. After a moments thought, he maintained his relatively low speed on approach. No one had taken potshots at a UFO before, so with luck it would ignore him until he got close enough for target lock.

Avalanche missiles, what he had on his fighter, had the most advanced guidance system known to man. It could keep track of a ship at twice the range and with ridiculous accuracy compared to the next best. When he had passed optimal lock distance, then exceeded it by 1/4th of the stated numbers, he cursed to himself. “Fuck it, Leeroy Jenkins time.” Pouring on speed, he shot at the UFO suddenly, shattering the sound barrier and rapidly closing the distance. At less than half the stated range of his weaponry he got a target lock and opened fire. A moment later there was a huge plume of flame and a loud explosion as it impacted the strange craft.

Blackwing was just throttling back and preparing to turn to match the UFO’s trajectory when he saw the blue glow change directions and shoot directly away from him. Quickly readjusting his course, he accelerated as rapidly as he could to keep up with the speeding Aliens.

“Target hit, bogie took off like Superman at closing time. “ He reported. The Bogie was fast, but large. Blackwing closed on it, but very slowly. Suddenly there was a green flash and something arced towards him. Reacting quickly, he did a barrel roll, mostly avoiding it, but took a slight hit on the wing. Regaining his target lock, he fired again, but the missile veered off, passing the UFO by a good distance.

“Takin fire, I thought these things never missed.” His calm tone belied the adrenaline flooding his system. Quickly he fired again, landing a hit this time. Again return fire came, but this time it missed by a wide margin. It seems Aliens are not the best sharpshooters, or at least not this group.

Already the chase had been on several minutes, and at this speed his fuel was rapidly depleting. He had time for one more shot before he had to break off or risk not having enough to return to base. First though, he waited a few precious seconds to ensure a closer target and a firm lock. Rolling past another shot across his wing, he fired, then cut the throttle. As his speed dropped, he watched his last missile hit home. After a moments, he sighed in disappointment as it kept going, although smoke billowed out of it. Then it slowly tilted from it’s straight course, edging more and more towards the ground and beginning to plummet.

“Central, this is Blackwing, we have a confirmed kill on Bogey. I repeat, the UFO is down.”

As everyone started cheering, Bradford commed “Copy that Blackwing, good work. Central out.” Things began to calm down again as he called for a satellite visual on the crash site. Smoke filled the screen, and it took a few magnifications before they could clearly see the UFO.

“Still in one piece.” Bradford said, surprised. One side of it was charred and had a gaping hole from the repeated missile impacts, but otherwise it was intact. “Commander, I recommend we get a strike team to the crash site immediately.”

{{Separator|d}}

The crashed UFO was in the middle of a forest in Germany. Fire smoldered in the underbrush in several places from leaked plasma, and trees were snapped like twigs from the fall, trucks lying stretched out on the ground. Wordlessly the strike team took position behind the broken tree’s, then after ensuring there was no ambush waiting for them as they landed, set out into the woods.

Soon they came across debris from the wrecked spaceship. It was hard to tell what any of it used to be, most of it just twisted pieces of metal, some large enough for a man to lean against even standing. Just then Green stopped from his position towards the back. “I heard something; I think there is a group trying to circle around us.” Quickly the group repositioned and advanced slantwise away from the UFO. It took a little bit, but Green spotted the Sectoids across the strewn wreckage and opened fire with his massive machine gun, the bullets shredding his unfortunate target. None of the others could get a clear shot except for Hardy, whose shotgun was useless at the distance the 2nd target was at, so she pulled out her sidearm and opened fire, hitting the Alien a few times but failing to kill it.

Guesz took a risk, rushing across open ground to distant cover, ducking green plasma to slam into a low stone rise, then standing back up as soon as the firing stopped, blowing away the remaining Alien. “Geez Phil, one of these days your luck is going to run out!” Stonegate called out to him.

“It’s my lucky rabbit’s foot!” he called back.

Just then Hardy saw another pair of ET’s off to her right, from the opposite direction of the first group. “Incoming!” she called as the two grey creatures backed up a little to find suitable cover. Guesz fell back to join the others as they found new cover from the direction the new targets approached from. One advanced carefully, being charged by its fellow with that purple energy, then opened fire at Guesz and missed. Guesz returned fire, not hitting it, while the girls circled around to try to get at the Alien channeling into it’s ally. Green wasn’t able to see either enemy clearly, so he merely waited and watched. Thus when the nearer Alien tried to advance closer to Guesz, Green’s LMG blasted it apart.

The second Sectoid, seeing it’s fellow die, tried to retreat. Stonegate and Hardy saw it and ran quickly after it. It managed to duck out of Hardy’s sight at the last second, only for Stonegate to draw her pistol and nail a headshot, killing it.

Everyone was fairly certain the woods were clear then, so they moved on the UFO. It was remarkably intact, about as big as a small house though not as tall as one, almost but not quite circular. It’s sides glowing with some sort of transparent energy field on four sides, while some sort of deep blue shield was on the remaining portions.

“I think that’s some sort of door.” Stonegate pointed at the non-transparent part.

“I see an entrance through that other part.” Guesz commented. After a bit of discussion, they decided they didn’t want to be seen coming, so circled around to surround the large blue “door” of the UFO. Once they were all in position, Hardy hesitantly put out a hand and touched the blue field. Immediately it made a high pitched humming noise and dissipated. For a split second, they saw an orange crystal floating in mid-air. Then something formed around it, a creature seemingly made of a tan metal with black portions giving an impression of a face and emphasizing joints. A rifle materialized with it, and it gazed at the intruders as orange energy sparked from the crystal in it’s stomach.

“Open fire!” They all aimed for the thing, but it was blazingly fast, running to cover before they could react to its sudden appearance. Hardy reacted almost as quickly though, rushing up close to it and unloading her shotgun into it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t tough enough to take a point-blank shotgun blast to the core, and it vanished as suddenly as it appeared, dematerializing into thin air, nothing remaining except the shards of it’s weapon.

== Escort Duty ==

March 15, 2014

“Commander we are receiving a transmission from the council for you. Please report to the Situation Room.” A voice over the intercom said.

McNair cracked his eyes open and glanced at the clock. “Oh come on, 12:51?” he thought. Grumbling, he got dressed, taking his time in an attempt to be properly awake before setting out. Stopping outside the room, he took the one last yawn and stretch. As he entered, he hoped he looked fully awake. “Alright patch them through.”

A looming shadowy figure appeared on the screen, basically a silhouette of the man who acted as “Face” of the council. McNair was a bit annoyed, wondering if they were that paranoid, too concerned with appearances to let him see one tired, or if they just enjoyed the atmosphere of secrecy.

“Commander, we have received word that a friend of this Council has come under attack in Nigeria. It would reflect poorly on our efforts if we were to allow our ally to be captured by hostile forces. We'll need you to ensure his safe return to XCOM HQ; we should have further details by the time your troops reach the extraction site.”

“A friend? Could you possibly be more specific?”

“No Commander. Suffice to say this person has been… useful in the past, and may be in the future if you are successful in the extraction. Time is of the essence, as it is uncertain how long he can evade pursuit.”

“Very well, we’ll scramble a squad ASAP.”

“Good.” The screen blacked out. “Sir, we’re receiving coordinates and a dossier. All it has is a name, age, and picture.” The night tech said.

McNair rubbed his temples. “Alright then. I’ll go wake the troops, send all the info to the Skyranger’s onboard computer. It’s going to be a long night.”

No one was particularly happy at being woken, nor about hearing what little information there was on this mysterious person. Eventually Morgan, Stonegate, Guesz, and Hardy were up and on the way.

They landed on a major road of some sort in Nigeria. Everyone was a bit surprised that a third world country had such a thing. Some sort of stone decorative area with plants and statues sat on either side of the road, with walkways going over it in places. Not many details on the target where added on route, just that his name was Hutch, and he had been in a limo when the Aliens attempted an abduction, and had hit some form of panic button that alerted the Council immediately.

Fanning out, they had just begun searching when Hardy saw a tall, thin man in a suit with sun glasses. Thinking it was a body guard or some sort of secret service, she started to hail the figure, when it saw her and dove behind cover, clutching it’s plasma pistol.

“Got a hostile over here, looks Human but has Alien gear.” Hardy called out as she too took cover. Stonegate looked in the indicated direction through her scope and saw the figure stand up to fire. Her bullet landed first, and the creature exploded into a vile looking green gas with a loud agonized hiss.

“Whoa what the fuck?!” Guesz exclaimed.

“Be careful everyone, we have hostiles that are posing as Human. Watch your fire, and be sure of friend or foe before you approach anyone.” Hardy warned.

They advanced carefully to the edge of the stairs leading down to the road, taking cover behind large lights and pots. Gazing down at a stopped car, Guesz saw two men cowering behind it on the near side. “Freeze, identify yourself!” Guesz yelled, aiming at them.

One of them peed his pants and turned so pale he lost his tan, while the other cursed in a foreign tongue and said “We’re friendlies! There are some on the other side of the highway!” Looking up, Guesz saw a Sectoid crouching behind a statue across the way, aiming down at the two men, and Morgan saw two more crouching at the overpass. Stonegate advanced quickly to cover the civilians, while Morgan got a shot and kill on a Sectoid who was caught by surprise. Guesz dropped a smoke bomb to conceal the group on the asphalt.

One of the Aliens was surrounded with a familiar purple glow. Dropping onto the road and taking cover behind an abandoned car, it took careful aim and fired at Morgan. The plasma hit him in the face, and he fell screaming to the ground, convulsing for a moment before he died.

“Shit, man down!” Stonegate called. Hardy raced forward, blood pounding in her head, and got up close to the Alien who had killed Morgan. Another Alien that had been hidden behind cover tried to shoot her as she ran, but missed, and she opened up on the damned thing. Blood spattered everywhere and gaping holes appeared in it’s flesh. It looked up at Hardy and glared, amazingly still up from the psionic enhancement it was receiving. Stonegate’s round penetrated it’s skull and finished it off just as it’s weapon discharged, causing the weapon to fly off, the shots to going wild, missing Hardy from point blank range.

The Sectoid that had been augmenting it’s ally advanced and fired towards Hardy, but also missed. Guesz dropped to the road and took out the one that had tried to shoot her as she advanced, while Stonegate continued to cover Hardy with her rifle. It had too much cover and the bullet missed, cracking into the stone of the ornate light fixture. Hardy moved around so it was no longer flanking her, and it advanced some, ducking behind more cover just as Stonegate’s next round flew past it. “Reloading.” Stonegate called.

Guesz was keeping watch for a flanking maneuver by any other Aliens down the highway. Hardy peeked out and almost got hit by the Alien’s reaction shot. There was a stalemate for a bit longer as it found a new position where Stonegate couldn’t fire with her reloaded rifle and blasted away at Hardy, but then she found an opening and advanced quickly on it, blowing it away with her shotgun as it was reloading.

Everyone took a breather for a moment, as all nearby targets seemed to have been eliminated. They had ended up fairly scattered, and all converged on the two civilians as they reloaded.

“Thanks for the save.” The man who had soiled his pants said, sitting on the ground, leaning against the car, shivering. “If you’re looking for Hutch he fled down the road right after they showed up. I think he’s hiding behind that delivery van.”

Nodding, they all looked at each other a moment, then over at Morgan’s bloody corpse. “He died for nothing if we don’t get Hutch out of here.” Phil commented.

“Should we put him on the transport?” Stonegate asked.

“No time, we might still have hostiles and we don’t want to leave Hutch unsecured or be carrying a corpse when we get under fire.” Hardy pointed out.

Stonegate nodded solemnly. “Then I’ll stay here, cover you, and make sure nothing desecrates the corpse. Once we have Hutch we’ll retrieve Morgan for burial.”

They advanced carefully to where Hutch was hiding. Hardy was the one to approach him, probably a poor choice considering the orange blood spattering her armor and face. Hutch was at first taken aback by her appearance, but recovered quickly. “Thank god you’re here! We’ve got to get out of here before more show up!”

“We got you. Keep close, and stay covered behind cars as much as possible.” She responded.

About halfway back down the highway they spotted the incoming hostile. This time everyone got a good look at the thin, humanish Alien. The resemblance was only passing actually, it was much too tall for any normal person, and it’s wrists and neck had scales that just peaked out of the sleeves and collar. Also helping the identification was it’s aggressive pose and glowing green weapon. Without hesitation they opened fire on it, but it twisted in an unnatural way, as if it had no spine, and the unexpected motion meant the shots missed.

Raising to it’s full height, the Alien spat. A green projectile of some sort flew out and exploded around Hutch into a toxic cloud. Coughing and gasping, he panicked and ran towards the Skyranger. Another volley of shots at the thing, and a few bullets hit, but it hissed in agony and kept standing, firing down at Hardy. She had just been leaning out to fire at it when it shot, the blast catching her in the chest several times.

“NO NO NO GOD DAMN IT!” Stonegate screamed, emptying her rifle wildly at the Thin Man. It’s luck finally ran out, and it exploded like it’s fellow had leaving a thick green mist. As she vented frustration, the rifle clicking on empty, a sudden strangling noise startled her. Jumping up, she whirled around, pointing her now empty gun wildly about. Hutch had run past her while she was distracted and was now just behind her, mere feet from the Skyranger. As she watched, he clutched at his throat, his eyes bulging, his face a strange reddish green, and he collapsed from the toxin. Running over, dropper to her knees next to him, she yelled “Phil get the fuck over here!”

Phil had wandered over in a daze to Hardies corpse. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he tried anyway. He had just finished applying the medkit to her corpse when he heard the scream. Cursing and gazing about wildly, he ran as fast as he could back to the Skyranger. As he ascended the steps, he saw Stonegate there, kneeling next to the already stiffening corpse of the VIP, clutching it like a dead baby or lover. He dropped his gun, and his medkit. And then he began to chuckle historically, and it turned into tears and screams of rage and frustration.

== Vengeance ==
March 15, 2014

They did not have time to mourn. Mere hours after returning from the failed rescue the alert went out: Once more the Aliens were striking across the globe, abducting people in mass in three cities. Everyone was awake despite it being five in the morning, news had spread fast as to the deaths. Most had gathered at the Biohazard to getting the story from Rhianna, who had just finished her debriefing. Looking up at the sound of the klaxon, everyone hesitates, still fixated on the disaster only just befallen them.

“Well, duty calls.” Rhianna said, standing. She was still in her armor from the last mission, having no time to change between the unloading, debriefing, and the questions.

Zane immediately stood up. “If you’re going, I’m coming to.”

Scowling, Rhianna responded. “I don’t need your protection, I’m a better shot than you and have been on several missions without you.”

Calmly, Zane nods. “Yes, you are, but this is war and as has just been painfully proven, any of us can die. If one of us is going down, I want us to be together, either so we can go out fighting together, or so one of us can avenge the other.”

She gazed long and hard at her lover at that. Then she nodded, and together they went to suit him up and retrieve her weapons.

Meanwhile Phil was with the Commander when the alert went out. Immediately he said “Sir, permission to be a part of this mission.”

“Guesz, you just got back from a mission that went horribly wrong and you’re mentally and physically exhausted. You’re in no condition to fight.” McNair pointed out.

“Sir, I’m one of your best men and if this next mission goes wrong moral will be crushed. I took no shots in the last mission, and I want payback. No one else is a better choice.”

McNair thought a while, weighing Guesz’ words. Finally he sighed. “Very well. Be very careful, we cannot afford any more mistakes tonight.”

Alexander Green was chosen as the last member of the strike force. After consulting the global situation they were sent to Mexico. The other nations would have to fend for themselves. The sun was just coming up as they landed outside a large construction zone that the Aliens had taken cover in after their abductions. Quickly the team took cover behind some large construction equipment.

“Targets spotted!” Guesz said, seeing motion inside a large mostly demolished building off to the left. The creatures quickly took cover, and he and Stonegate took position to cover that flank. Brubeck moved behind a large crate filled with a few tons of dirt and peeked out, spotting three more targets almost right on top of the squad. Acting quickly, he pulled his grenade and tossed it at the Aliens as they scattered, killing two of them.

Green, hearing the explosion, looked over. “Got two, another one up!” Brubeck told him, and Green pulled his own grenade. Brubeck motioned to show where the last had taken cover, and Green threw. His aim was true, and amidst the sound of the explosive going off he heard the high pitched keen of the dying Sectoid.

Having eliminated the threat on the right, Green moved forward to one of the large digging machines to help against the other group. Unfortunately he was seen, and one of them took a shot at him as he advanced. The shot landed, splashing across his armor, causing it to melt. “Shit, falling back!” Green said, quickly moving back to relative safety while the rest of the team kept an eye out to make sure nothing could get a second clear shot at him.

Brubeck advanced on the right flank to make sure nothing was trying to make it’s way around to attack from the side. It was fortunate that he did, for he spotted two more which ducked under their cover as he fired at them. One of them advanced quickly, and foolishly. The closer target was an easy mark for Brubeck’s second volley. “Two flanking, got one!” He told the others via his radio.

Meanwhile Phil spotted one of the group of three in the ruined building advancing and opened fire, just missing it as it dived behind a wall. After a moment it peaked out of a window, trying to find Guesz. Guesz had been prepared for this and immediately blasted it, it’s brains spattering the ground. Stonegate moved around the digger she was taking cover behind to where Green had been when he had been shot. Spotting the one that had opened fire at Green, she pulled her grenade and tossed it. The Sectoid was unable to scramble out of the way in time and was blown apart.

Everyone took a moment to reload their weapons. Stonegate, who hadn’t fired yet so had a full clip, kept an eye out in both directions. She spotted the surviving target that Brubeck had seen and opened fire, her second shot eliminating it. After that there was silence for a while. The team was a bit hesitant to advance, as the Sectoids had been happy to run into their gun-sights until now, and although they only knew of one remaining, they had barely advanced into the area and suspected there might be more.

Guesz took point, moving forward to take cover behind one of the strange devices the Aliens had left. Their caution was rewarded, as he spotted two lying in wait for them. Realizing they had been seen, the pair of Sectoids retreated into the shadows. Brubeck repositioned closer to the rest of the group, the three of them eying the darkened building steadily. Green was still hanging back in safety, with his armor compromised he was taking no chances.

Geusz and Stonegate repositioned, Guesz moving forward behind a wall, Stonegate taking Guesz’ previous position. One of the Aliens climbed over a low stone wall and found itself facing all three of them. Eyes going wide, it threw itself flat behind a pile of steel beams as a hail of bullets flew through the space it had been, then scrambled on all fours to hide behind a staircase. Peeking out it fired wildly at Guesz, missing by a wide margin. Again a hail of bullets flew out towards it, but it was either smart or lucky, as it managed to duck behind cover before anyone managed to hit it.

Seemingly emboldened by it’s survival after two volleys from all of the XCom soldiers, it moved up behind a generator, hiding it’s small form behind it. Brubeck managed to clip it, but the shots from the other two missed yet again. Unknown to the XCom team, a second Sectoid had used the distraction to work it’s way all the way around the area and behind them. Leaning out, it opened fire at Guesz back, landing a solid hit. Green, who had been hunkering down at the entrance in safety for a long time, saw the bright green flashes and guessed where the flanking Alien was. Pulling out his rocket launcher, he fired it across the site, obliterating the area he correctly guessed the Alien was in.

The other Sectoid, the one that had the insane luck to survive being a distraction and target practice for the entire team, decided that with a few bullets in it and the giant explosion where it’s friend had been discretion was the better part of valor and tried to retreat. Brubeck, who had emptied his entire clip trying to hit the damned thing, commented “Oh fuck that.” As he saw it retreating. Whipping out his pistol quickly, he finally managed to eliminate it.

Guesz used his medkit to get himself back into fighting form after taking that shot from behind. Then everyone reloaded.

“I think there’s one more.” Stonegate said to the others. Nodding, they all jumped slightly as they heard something fall over.

“Yeah, one more.” Brubeck nodded. Moving cautiously, two of them advanced towards the noise. Suspecting might try to move around behind them like it’s fellow had, Stonegate fell back to work around the outside of the ruined building.

Stonegate found the spot that had been demolished by the rocket, Stonegate ran quickly to take cover behind what remained on the wall. The final Sectoid saw her as she ran past the gaping hole in the building and opened fire, clipping her as she passed. Guesz was right around the corner from the Alien and saw its fire. Moving quickly, he spun around the corner while it was still distracted by Stonegate. It was right next to him, and there was no chance for it to do anything before he killed it.

They cleared the area quickly after that, double checking one last time that there were no more targets. Gathering the bodies and weapon fragments, they headed home. Their arrival was met with muted celebration. The deaths, still only hours old, where heavy on everyone’s mind, but the immediate successful mission afterwards had boosted moral greatly. Only Brubeck escaped the battle unscathed, the rest all requiring a trip to the Infirmary, but none of them were seriously wounded. Soon things quieted down and people started going to sleep. It had been a very long night.

== In Memoriam ==
March 19, 2014

“We gather here today to honor two of our finest who died in the line of duty. Each of them was a staunch defender of Humanity and a valued friend. They will be sorely missed.”

They were gathered in the Biohazard for the memorial service. It was a bit cramped since every soldier was there and several non-combatants who knew the deceased, but all of the other locations in the base where either in use, production and research being too important to stop even for a funeral, or to loud or small, such as the various reactor rooms. Someone had found a recording of bagpipe music that was playing forlornly through the bars sound system.

“Corporal Caroline Hardy was truly the best of us. Her great skill and dedication saw more hostiles eliminated than anyone else, and she was a good friend to many of us here. She will be missed greatly. To Caroline Hardy.” McNair raised his glass and everyone echoed him as they raised theirs as well, then they all drank. A few were shaky as they did so, the men had been shocked at the deaths and failed rescue after so many highly successful missions.

“Maximilian Morgan may not have Caroline’s record of extraordinary skill against our Alien foe, but he was a treasured comrade. In many ways he kept us sane during our long vigil in case of the impossible, his stories of his time in the British service entertained us all during times when the world wasn’t facing this great crisis. He brought light and warmth to the world, light sorely needed in these dark times. To Maximilian Morgan.”

Again everyone toasted, draining the rest of the liquid in their glasses. The bodies had been shipped home for burial, so the group surrounded a small shrine that consisted of a table covered in a shroud, which had the XCom symbol on it, pushed against a wall where pictures of the deceased had been tacked up. McNair finished his eulogies and stepped aside so that several others could go up to pay their respects, some saying a few words or leaving a token, mostly odds and ends like old “lucky” shot glasses or knives. Several split into small groups to reminisce quietly amongst themselves.

“I could have salvaged the mission damn it.” Phil says morosely into his glass. He was off in a corner with Tiberius and Freya. Tiberius had finally been released from medical and had the most visible scarring of anyone so far. The blast had struck him on the chest and face, ruining one of his eyes and leaving black scars splashed across the left side of his face, giving him a decidedly grim and intimidating look.

“How so?” Freya inquired. “Half the squad was down and the council’s friend fatally poisoned.”

“My medkit could have saved him, or at least kept him going long enough to get him back to base for medical care. I lost my cool though, ran over to Hardy when she was already gone.” Scowling, Phil drains his glass and pours another shot.

The others took a moment to digest this; for the most part the details of that bitter defeat had been avoided as a topic of conversation even though it was all anyone could think about. Tiberius rallied first. “Don’t sweat it man, shit happens. Live and learn, this won’t be the last time we get our asses kicked, they outnumber and outgun us. We’re just too badass to throw in the towel.” Phil’s grimace only faded slightly as he stared into his glass morosely.

McNair left the Memorial early. While he too mourned their passing, the men needed this time to discuss among themselves without their commanding officer hanging around. Also, sadly, the demands of his position called him away. Thus McNair found himself sitting in his office looking over files. While efforts were going well, the recent deaths struck home the importance of recruitment. With the seemingly random nature of the Alien activity most countries were both eager to offer applications to XCom and reluctant to send veterans when a major attack could happen at any moment. As such McNair had dozens of recruitment folders of promising new blood, skilled enough to be useful but green enough that their homelands would didn’t feel the loss.

“Bunch of damned fools.” McNair grumbled to himself. “As if anyone else has had much luck predicting or responding to the attacks.”

His work was interrupted by his secretary beeping through the intercom. “Yes?”

“Sir, Meyer is here to see you, she says it’s private.”

“Alright, send her in.”

Meyer entered looking nervous. Quickly McNair ran over what he knew of her. She was one of the men who hadn’t seen action against the Aliens yet, not as introverted as Hawlsera but not as outgoing as Maximilian had been. In short, a fairly average soldier that hadn’t made any strong impression on him.

“Yes?”

“Sir, recent events have made me… reconsider my options. I’d like to request a transfer back to my homeland.”

“You’re from the Netherlands correct?”

“Yes sir.” She sat stiffly in the chair across from his desk.

“Why? Speak freely soldier.”

“Several reasons sir. No offense sir, but I don’t want to die defending some politician in another country from Aliens. I’d rather die fighting in and for my homeland, not some backwater third world country.”

“Fair enough. You do realize that if you do end up fighting you’ll have a better chance of making a difference here. We have the best gear and the only satellites capable of detecting the Alien ships before they launch an attack.” McNair pointed out.

“You might be right sir, but I feel I can better defend my people if I’m with my people.”

McNair sighed deeply. “An understandable, but regrettable, sentiment. We’re all in this together Meyer, all of Humanity against an unknown threat. If you are certain, I’ll approve the transfer request.”

“Yes sir, I am certain. Thank you sir.” Meyer got up and offered a hand. McNair took it.
“It was an honor to have you soldier. Dismissed.” As Meyer left, McNair went back to his folders. It seemed he had one more person to find a replacement for.

== Nicknames ==
March 21, 2014

To the Commanders surprise the Mexican government offered one of their most skilled Soldiers to the XCom project shortly after the Memorial service. Their representative in the council was impressed by the swift reaction so soon after the bitter defeat in Nigeria, so offered the services of Misha “The Fox” Brightleaf, a scarred veteran of the Drug War that had been raging in the country for years. Thus a few days after the Memorial everyone gathered around to meet the new recruit as he got off the Skyranger.

Stepping down from the exit ramp, Misha looked around at the small crowd. ‘Scarred Veteran’ described him perfectly, his face was weathered, with the right ear completely gone, and he had several scars criss-crossing all his visible skin. “All this for little ole’ me? I’m embarrassed.” He commented dryly.

Several people chuckled. McNair stepped forward. Misha, recognizing the Commander bars on his uniform, gave a sharp salute and stood at attention. “Sargent Misha Brightleaf reporting for duty sir.”

“At ease Soldier. It’s good to have you, we’ve lost a lot of manpower lately. I’ve already handled all the paperwork, so for now your time is your own. I’d suggest you go with the rest of the men, they’re certainly eager to meet you and they can help you get settled.“

“Thank you sir. All this fuss, I’m beginning to feel special.”

What followed was a round of introductions. Everyone had to walk up and say ‘Hi’ to the new guy, shake his hand, and tell their name. Misha did his best to remember them all, but found it very hard, especially when he caught sight of some of the unusual black scars caused by the plasma weapons the Aliens wielded. When Tiberius walked up Misha’s mouth actually dropped open at the blackened left side of his face and the eyepatch.

“Damn. You make me look pretty.” Misha said.

“Give it time, I’m sure we’ll all be ugly as sin by the time this is over.” Tiberius responded grinning. “We’ll have to swap scar stories sometime, you seem to have plenty of your own.”

“That I do. I was told not to pack much, all my stuff is in here, and I’ve heard this place has a pretty good bar. How about lets run over there and you can all interrogate me over a cold beer?” As he spoke he shrugged his shoulders to indicate his backpack.

The idea appealed to everyone, so a few minutes later there was an impromptu ‘Welcome to XCom’ party happening. Soon war stories where being swapped, Misha being curious about the Alien menace, it’s capabilities and effective strategies against them, the rest being curious about his own experiences.

“It’ll be nice to know who’s out to kill me by sight. The Drug War, you never know who to trust. Officials get bribed, people join the Cartels just to make money to feed their families, and you finally kill one of the big bosses and you just split it into 50 smaller operations.” Misha reflected.

“How’d you get the nickname ‘The Fox’?” Doug asked from the back.

“Well after a while you get to know when something is up. Some kid runs up to you yelling about how they’re killing his mommy, eventually you just know if he’s really in trouble or if he’s going to pull a gun as soon as you turn your back and shoot you. Got promoted a few times and people started saying I could smell trouble before it came. Somewhere along the way they started calling me ‘The Fox’ and it stuck.”

“I wish I had a nickname. I’d love being called ‘Doug “Xodiac” Linger’.” Doug said.

“You want a name to stick you have to earn it. Hell I didn’t even realize I had one till someone accidentally called me Fox to my face. Liked it well enough I asked about, learned everyone had referred to me by it for months and let everyone know they could use it.”

Rhianna chuckled from her seat next to Zane. “In that case if anyone deserves a nickname it’s Phil. I’ve never seen anyone as lucky as him, he’s been missed by inches a half dozen times!”

“I told you, it’s my lucky rabbitsfoot.” Phil grinned and pulled out said object, a rabbit’s foot on a chain. “Never go into battle without it.”

“So what, that’d make you ‘Phil “Rabbits foot” Guesz’?” Hawlsera asked.

“Sure why not? Fear the Rabbits foot Alien scum!” Phil waved the chain with the rabitsfoot about menacingly. Everyone chuckled at that.

“So wait, you’re “Rabbits Foot”, he’s “The Fox”, my last name is Duck, and Ty over there is named Vulpintaur which is a fancy way of saying four legged fox-man. We’re a regular zoo aren’t we?” Bill commented.

“That we are. Also I noticed that we’ve nicknamed two of the Sergeants, so why not give one to Rhianna to? Anyone surviving against this enemy long enough to make Sergeant deserves one.” Freya pointed out. Everyone looked at Rhianna, who looked a bit bemused.

“Like what?” she wondered.

“How about your favorite animal?” Bill suggested.

“I guess that would be Lynxes, used to see one outside my window in the mountains fairly often as a kid.”

“So Rhianna “The Lynx” Stonegate?” Misha said.

“Sure why not. She’s certainly a tiger in bed.” Zane responded, causing Rhianna to punch him in the side.

“So we’re a group of multinational soldiers brought together to fight an extraterrestrial threat nicknamed after the animals of the world? This sounds like a TV show or a fanfic.” Phil joked.

Alex spoke up in a loud “Opening Credits” type announcer voice. “In the 21st century mankind comes under attack by an Alien Menace. Scrambling to assemble a defense, the nations of the world form an elite group of animal men to defend our planet. This is the story… of XCom!”

== The Ides of March ==
March 31, 2014

“A marvelous device isn’t it?” Dr. Shen commented. He was referring to the newly completed satellite sitting in the engineering bay, which may have been a technological marvel, but it looked like any other satellite, probably to keep it hidden. “There’s nothing else like it the world over. We can launch it to be a dedicated eye for Alien ships, and it has the latest in stealth technology so it’ll hopefully be safe unless we ignore a UFO doing scans of the area. Sadly we don’t have the uplinks for any more, meaning we could put more in the air but wouldn’t be able to receive and decrypt it’s signals. If you want another we’ll have to build more, a costly endeavor.”

McNair nodded. “The month is almost up, we should get fresh funding from the Council then. Establishing detection worldwide is our greatest concern, we can’t constantly be caught by surprise if we’re going to win this war.”

“I’ll get the construction crews ready then sir. We should be able to get new facilities ready in a little over a week once we can pay for the materials.”

“Very good. I’ll head over to the situation room and work out where we most need this.”

Once he arrived, McNair found Bradford in the situation room waiting for him. “Greeting sir, I heard the news about the satellite and have been examining the situation. In my opinion, our best bet is to launch it over Nigeria. They’re dealing with a lot of panic right now, and we might lose their support. If we launch the satellite in that area, they will be able to make a public announcement and greatly calm the country, and it will restore the government’s faith in us.”

“Excellent, we can also transfer Jetfire and an Interceptor to cover Africa.” McNair looked over the situation as he talked. Politics touched everything, even saving the world from an Alien invasion, because if he couldn’t sell XCom to the world leaders and their populace, then they would turn to other means. Fortunately he had the tools he needed, the base was staffed with several information analysts who were examining trends and feelings across the world and posting them in a “Panic” map, showing what areas where most likely to cut their losses and abandon the project. Nigeria was currently a bright red, showing mass panic and a high risk of them cutting all ties with XCom, while most of the rest of the world was in various states of calm depending on if they had actually been hit by an attack yet, and how effective response had been.

“Dr. Shen informs me that we’ll need more hardware to increase are satellite coverage, but once it’s up we can expand further and cover parts of South America. They have medical and interrogation specialists that will be extremely helpful in learning about the enemy.” McNair commented. Bradford nodded, then pointed out that Australia might need reassurance first which would disrupt his plans, and soon the pair where deep in conversation analyzing and predicting as best they could.

A few days later, at the end of the month, McNair was summoned to the situation room to receive a report from the Council. The screen displaying the world map was replaced by the ominous shadowy figure of the Council’s representative.

“Commander, the Council has been extremely impressed with XComs progress, and we do not make this statement lightly.”

“Thank you Sir.”

“You will be pleased to know that your swift response to the concerns of the Nigerian government has reassured them and they have reaffirmed their support. This has led to an increase in the funding we can provide for you. Your many decisive victories overshadow your sole unfortunate defeat by large margin, and we are fully confident in your ability to continue your success in the future.”

McNair nods his thanks as the Councilor’s face is replaced with a summing up of all the reports he had sent in through the month. Looking at it all together it was indeed impressive, with three Alien abduction sites cleared out, a UFO shot down, and only two men lost, with two dozen plus Aliens dead total. Considering they were severely outgunned, he had to agree: the fledgling XCom project was succeeding beyond all reasonable expectations.

The report vanished from the screen after a minute, though McNair could of course pull it up again if need be. He spoke to the representative after he, or rather his outline, had reappeared. “It is an honor to defend Humanity Sir. I’ll be sure to let the men know your sentiments.”

The figure nodded gravely, then saluted McNair. “Good luck Commander.” He said. McNair returned it right before the screen reverted to the report on the global situation.

With the monthly report finished, the project was immediately granted it’s monthly funding, swelling the coffers. McNair immediately gave orders for construction to commence on more laboratory space and a satellite uplink facility, expending most of the funding to vastly increase the capabilities of the base. Money was useless if left lying around, and they needed to make even more progress this month then the last.

== Hardball ==
April 8, 2014

“Sir we have Alien abductions taking place in the UK, South Africa, and the United States.” Bradford informed McNair as he entered Mission Control, summoned by the alert.

“We can respond the fastest to the UK alert. Are the men ready?”

“Guesz, Brightleaf, Green, and Vulpintaur are boarding the Skyranger now sir. I’ll brief them on the way.” Bradford responded.

They arrived at a large gas station, three rows of pumps with a few abandoned cars scattered about. Gazing about, the men were dismayed at the sight: the only decent cover where the pumps themselves, or the concrete support beams right next to them.

“I’ll flank the building.” Brightleaf said and the others nodded as they found the best cover they could. Guesz, the closest to the building saw movement inside of it as he crouched down behind a car parked at a pump.

“Two Thin Men at the entrance, I think they’ve spotted us.” He called out, then opened fire since the element of surprise was already lost. His volley thudded into one of the Alien’s chest as it looked out the window at him, yellow-green ichor splattering the shelves behind it. To his amazement, it didn’t go down, instead moving hurriedly out of site.

Then the entrance to the station flew open, the two Thin Men shooting out of it, spraying the area with plasma. Green had hunkered down as best he could a potted plant and some garbage cans, cover that proved ineffective as the plasma burned through it and splashed all around him. As he writhed in agony on the ground a well-aimed shot finished the job, silencing his screams.

Guesz also took a hit from the plasma, but was more fortunate, his armor saving him. As the Aliens took cover against the walls by the door he saw flames from the car.

“Shit.” Jumping up he sprinted away from the car and pump, taking cover behind the next pump in line. As he pulled out his medkit to patch his wounds the fire found its way to the gas tank, which exploded, shrapnel piercing the pump and causing sparks so it also exploded, turning the car into a ruined husk and throwing shrapnel everywhere. Fortunately the pumps were spaced out enough not to cause a chain reaction.

Brightleaf had taken cover behind some parked cars near the side of the building. He cursed in Spanish as he saw the Aliens open fire, moving as quickly as he could to the side of the building. Pulling out his grenade, he rolled it to the entrance just as the Aliens ducked back. Just as the pump and car exploded, so too did his grenade, taking out entryway and another wall where the building jutted out. As green toxic mist filled the air from the Thin Man’s death, he saw something through the destroyed wall.

Guesz finished patching up his wounds. Vulpintaur, who had moved past the pumps to a large van in the parking area, was now gazing at the entryway through his scope, having intended to finish off the injured Alien but not having a chance before the grenade went off. As he gazed with his one eye into the wreckage, he was amazed to see movement in the smoke.

“One’s still up!” he called, just making out the second Thin Man, bleeding profusely, pull itself out of the rubble and stand up, gun raising. His bullet caught it before it could bring it to bear, a second quickly following to be sure. It exploded into a second cloud of mist.

Everyone was about to take a second to breath when a new threat appeared. Brightleaf barely had time to open his mouth to yell a warning before the thing he was looking at through the demolished wall shot him, an expertly aimed ball of plasma turning his head into a gory mess. Something shot out of the building, a strange amalgamation of red skinned creature and machine, humanoid but with no legs, just large jetpacks attached to it’s back keeping it hovering a few feet off the ground. Guesz opened fire, his bullets thudding into it, sparks and blood flying as it cringed in pain, Vulpintaur’s sniper shot finishing it off, but then three more flew out, one going into the air to take cover at the top of the building, the other two not bothering with cover as they looked out at the station.

“Run, I’ll cover you!” Guesz yelled to Vulpintaur, emptying his gun at the creatures.

His effort was valiant, but he didn’t last long, the three Aliens able to easily gun him down. Vulpintaur followed his advice, running back towards the Skyranger as fast as he could. As he heard Guesz die, he took cover behind the large pricing sign, the thick steel beam hiding him from the floating monsters sight as they moved up, gazing about for him. Breaking from his hiding place, he covered the last bit of ground, only one of the Aliens quick enough to send a shot flying behind him as he ran. As he ran up the ramp the rest of the Aliens began flying towards the Skyranger, plasma splashing off it’s armored hull as the ramp closed and it took off. One attempted to fly up to the engines and disable the ship, but it accelerated, the backwash from the engines flinging the monster back to the ground.

== Back to Nigeria ==
April 10, 2014

The death of three more soldiers was hard on everyone, but everyone was too busy to attend to it over the next day. Panic was spreading quickly worldwide, with two countries threatening to cut support of the XCom project if they did not receive better aid, meaning McNair was busy the entire day doing as much political damage control as he could. Meanwhile the science and engineering teams did their best to perfect new technology to combat the new deadlier foes encountered in the field. In fact, everyone was so busy, that the soldiers found themselves lost in the swirl of people rushing about with urgent tasks with nothing to do whatsoever except mourn and reflect. Thus when in the wee hours of the morning they were woken with an alert of UFO activity they were almost relieved.

“This one’s a bit bigger than the last sir.” Bradford told McNair as they watched the indicator showing the UFO over Nigeria moving across the holographic globe.

“Jetfire to big sky, bogey is in sight.” The pilot’s voice came over the com system.

“Copy that Jetfire, you have permission to engage.”

Jetfire kept in mind what his cohort Blackwing had told him before he was transferred to Africa. Flying closer, he opened fire, the missile crashing into the UFO. Immediately he swerved, the return ball of plasma he knew would come only clipping his jet, the armor holding. The UFO accelerated as Jetfire shot again, another plume of fire splashing across it’s side.

The firefight continued this way, the Aliens not bothering with evasive maneuvers, relying on sheer speed to escape, while Jetfire used every aerial trick he knew to avoid a direct hit while keeping up with the speeding spaceship. After three more hits, the UFO dipped out of the sky, falling towards a forest, while Jetfire turned to limp back to base, heavily damaged as well.

“Jetfire to base, bogey is down. I repeat, Bogey is down.”

They landed in the forest a few hours after midnight. A bright fire burned near their landing site, a piece of rubble from the fallen spaceship smoldering inside. The group advanced slowly, taking cover behind thick trees at all time. Because of this they hadn’t made it far into the woods when a pair of the flying Aliens shot around a large outcrop of stone several, large enough for a few trees to grow on top, quickly flanking their position. They quickly repositioned, fortunately the Aliens seemed just as surprised to see them, so they managed to maneuver around and get the first shots.

Stonegate pulled out her pistol after repositioning. She had gotten some modifications to it, it now fired higher caliber armor-piercing shots. The large slugs tore into the frontmost Alien, while Enroygal threw her grenade to finish it off in an explosion of gore and shards of metal. Zane deployed his smoke grenade to give them cover as well. Vulpintaur was unable to get a clear shot and could only find a fallen log to take cover behind, so he hunkered down as best he could.

The second Alien fled, leaving behind the ruined remains of it’s comrade. They hesitated a moment, then Stonegate advanced to a large tree in the general direction it had gone. Zane climbed to the high ground on top of the stone rise. Stonegate managed to catch a glimpse of it and opened fire, clipping it.

As they advanced to try to track down the second Floater, the group was approached from behind by a pair of Thin Men. Taking cover behind the stone outcrop, withstood the quick shots by Vulpintaur and Enroygall. One of them spat it’s toxic mist at Vulpintaur, blinding him and disorienting him as he coughed on the poison. Engroyal fired at the area the creatures were hiding behind to try to keep them under cover, but was unsuccessful, one of them finishing off Vulpintaur as he tried to reorient himself.

Zane was trying to figure out how to drop on top of the Aliens without exposing himself to their deadly attacks when one of them climbed up to his location. Quick reactions allowed him to unload a volley into it’s skull before it could react, killing it. Meanwhile Stonegate and Engroygall regrouped together around the other side so the remaining one could no longer fire at them from the heavy cover it had.

Still weary of the flying Alien somewhere in the woods, the Women on the low ground took cover behind trees to watch both the woods and the route around the outcropping in case the either of the known targets tried to attack. Zane moved to the middle of the high ground to take cover behind a tree and spotted the remaining Thin Man. It was unaware of him and flanked, crouching down behind the stone gazing about for targets, allowing him to take his time aiming and insure his headshot killed it.

The first sign of the Floaters return was plasma fire, splashing across Enroygall’s armor. It saved her, and she quickly fell back as Brubeck and Stonegate returned fire, neither of them managing to land a hit. It flew back out of sight, and the pair quickly switched positions, Brubeck on the low ground, Stonegate on the high. This allowed Brubeck and Enroygall to meet up and for him to treat her wounds while Stonegate watched from the high ground.

Stonegate advanced to the edge of the high ground, finally spotting the downed UFO. After a moment examining it through her scope, she saw the Floater fleeing towards it. A single shot finished the injured Alien, and the whole group breathed easier at the news.

“That’s probably all of them in the woods.” Stonegate said, and the others nodded in agreement.

They proceeded to advance on the ship, taking extra care. It was horribly damaged, burn marks and gaping holes covering the sides. Enroygall suddenly noticed two Sectoids trying to rush to one of the holes to reenter the ship. Reacting quickly, she gunned one down, then got the other as it tried to turn around and rush back to cover.

“Very nice!” Zane called over.

The group surrounded the door to the UFO a few moments later. Holding up three fingers, Stonegate gave a silent countdown. On zero they touched the door, guns sweeping the interior but finding no targets. This ship was much bigger than the one room affair that had been cleared out a month earlier. This section was mostly an empty hallway with some sort of console in it, hallways going off diagonally to the left and right.

Enroygall moved around to enter the hallway from the hole the Secoids had been trying to enter through. It seemed there had actually been a doorway there, but the damage had torn out the entire wall there. She covered that direction while the other two proceeded down the other short hallway, again taking cover on either side of the large blow glowing door.

The next room appeared to have once stored a reactor. However, all that remained of it was a large hole in the ground. All of the rooms silvery metal was pitted and scared from the explosion. Seeing no threat, the pair quickly moved to cover the next door. Hawlsera left the hallway she had been covering, falling back to keep up with the other two while still covering their rear and the exit to outside every room seemed to have. Opening the next door, Brubeck and Stonegate the largest room yet, centering on an enclosed area on the left that jutted into the room so that the room was shaped like a half circle, a smaller door then the ones they had seen so far entering it, and an important computer of some sort on a raised area on the right. All the way across the area was another door leading to the other half of the ship, the section that the door Enroygall had earlier covered, but not entered, lead to.

Circling around to the other side of the room they found another door, meaning that you could only enter or exit the enclosed area from the two doors in this room. Enroygall caught up and took cover by the near door, while the other two circled around to the far door. They all coordinated to open the doors at the same time.
They looked into what seemed to be the flight deck. Several large computers sat in the room with a holographic map on the wall overhead. A strange red crystal floated in the room, and reacted to their presence, forming into an strange metallic humanoid creature. Enroygall remembered the story of the actions of her fallen comrade Caroline Hardy at the last UFO, and she quickly advanced, getting close to it while it was still gaining it’s bearings and emptying her rifle into the exposed crystal at it’s waist. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared as the crystal shattered into a million pieces.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:non-TF]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver

2015-05-02T21:19:15Z

Doomreaver:

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. Each represents one of the 5 senses and takes a bit of thought to piece together reality through the feverish rants of a dying or diseased mind. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. So I split the series into 5 pages to encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next, as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is currently in progress! If you want to join in, send me an E-mail, and I'll try not to get you killed in a horrible manner. Character list can be found [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

User:Doomreaver/Choices

2015-05-02T21:14:36Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=Choices|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|previous=[[User:Doomreaver/Crawling|Crawling]]}}

He made me watch. He made me watch as he drove three people into insanity and death. And then… he let me go. So now I sit here and wonder, did he let me go to remember his sick “Art” for the rest of my life, or did he want to drive me to suicide like the others? I rest the cold barrel of the gun against my temple and for what seems like an eternity I am frozen by indecision. Then I choose.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Crawling

2015-05-02T21:14:06Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=Crawling|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|previous=[[User:Doomreaver/Apples|Apples]]
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Choices|Choices]]}}

It isn’t real. I know it isn’t real. He even told me it isn’t real. I try to ignore it, ignore the feeling of something skittering across every inch of my skin. Eventually it’s too much though. I claw at my skin and the pain drowns the feeling, so I claw and I claw and as the lights begin to fade I think “At least I let the spiders out…”

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Apples

2015-05-02T21:13:28Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=Apples|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|previous=[[User:Doomreaver/Heartbeat|Heartbeat]]
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Crawling|Crawling]]}}

As I lay bleeding, I wondered why I did it. In five minutes I was free, or so he claimed. Yet, I did it anyway. The smell did it I think. Just as he intended. The smell of apples. To my equine nose it was maddening. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there, and the trap surrounding them. Shame trying for them got me killed.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Heartbeat

2015-05-02T21:12:33Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=Heatbeat|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|previous=[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Apples|Apples]]}}

Thump Thump. That noise. Always that noise. Thump Thump. For eternity, nothing. but. that. NOISE! Thump Thump. I gaze at my ears in despair. They lay torn and bloody in my lap. Thump Thump. My eyes turn to the knife next to me. I had wondered why he gave it to me. Thump Thump. Now I know. It’s the only way to stop the noise…. Thump Thu-

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Choices

2015-05-02T21:11:11Z

Doomreaver: Created page with "{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}} {{series box |series=A Taste of Insanity |previous=Crawling}} He made me watch...."

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|previous=[[User:Doomreaver/Crawling|Crawling]]}}

He made me watch. He made me watch as he drove three people into insanity and death. And then… he let me go. So now I sit here and wonder, did he let me go to remember his sick “Art” for the rest of my life, or did he want to drive me to suicide like the others? I rest the cold barrel of the gun against my temple and for what seems like an eternity I am frozen by indecision. Then I choose.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity

2015-05-02T21:11:02Z

Doomreaver:

User:Doomreaver/Crawling

2015-05-02T21:09:28Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|previous=[[User:Doomreaver/Apples|Apples]]
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Choices|Choices]]}}

It isn’t real. I know it isn’t real. He even told me it isn’t real. I try to ignore it, ignore the feeling of something skittering across every inch of my skin. Eventually it’s too much though. I claw at my skin and the pain drowns the feeling, so I claw and I claw and as the lights begin to fade I think “At least I let the spiders out…”

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Crawling

2015-05-02T21:08:26Z

Doomreaver: Created page with "{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}} {{series box |series=A Taste of Insanity |next=Choices}} It isn’t real. I kno..."

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Choices|Choices]]}}

It isn’t real. I know it isn’t real. He even told me it isn’t real. I try to ignore it, ignore the feeling of something skittering across every inch of my skin. Eventually it’s too much though. I claw at my skin and the pain drowns the feeling, so I claw and I claw and as the lights begin to fade I think “At least I let the spiders out…”

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Apples

2015-05-02T21:07:28Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Crawling|Crawling]]}}

As I lay bleeding, I wondered why I did it. In five minutes I was free, or so he claimed. Yet, I did it anyway. The smell did it I think. Just as he intended. The smell of apples. To my equine nose it was maddening. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there, and the trap surrounding them. Shame trying for them got me killed.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Apples

2015-05-02T21:06:35Z

Doomreaver: Created page with "{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}} {{series box |series=A Taste of Insanity |next=Heartbeat}} As I lay bleeding, ..."

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Heartbeat|Heartbeat]]}}

As I lay bleeding, I wondered why I did it. In five minutes I was free, or so he claimed. Yet, I did it anyway. The smell did it I think. Just as he intended. The smell of apples. To my equine nose it was maddening. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there, and the trap surrounding them. Shame trying for them got me killed.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/Heartbeat

2015-05-02T21:04:11Z

Doomreaver: Created page with "{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}} {{series box |series=A Taste of Insanity |next=Apples}} Thump Thump. That noise..."

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Apples|Apples]]}}

Thump Thump. That noise. Always that noise. Thump Thump. For eternity, nothing. but. that. NOISE! Thump Thump. I gaze at my ears in despair. They lay torn and bloody in my lap. Thump Thump. My eyes turn to the knife next to me. I had wondered why he gave it to me. Thump Thump. Now I know. It’s the only way to stop the noise…. Thump Thu-

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity

2015-05-02T21:02:50Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Heartbeat|Heartbeat]]}}

I have always enjoyed murder, but since the Change it has become so much more. Now I can taste my victims fear in the air, their agony, their despair. While before I was content with simple murder, now I create a dark Art of death. Art is meant to be shared though…

== Apples ==

As I lay bleeding, I wondered why I did it. In five minutes I was free, or so he claimed. Yet, I did it anyway. The smell did it I think. Just as he intended. The smell of apples. To my equine nose it was maddening. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there, and the trap surrounding them. Shame trying for them got me killed.

== Crawling ==

It isn’t real. I know it isn’t real. He even told me it isn’t real. I try to ignore it, ignore the feeling of something skittering across every inch of my skin. Eventually it’s too much though. I claw at my skin and the pain drowns the feeling, so I claw and I claw and as the lights begin to fade I think “At least I let the spiders out…”

== Choices ==

He made me watch. He made me watch as he drove three people into insanity and death. And then… he let me go. So now I sit here and wonder, did he let me go to remember his sick “Art” for the rest of my life, or did he want to drive me to suicide like the others? I rest the cold barrel of the gun against my temple and for what seems like an eternity I am frozen by indecision. Then I choose.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity

2015-05-02T21:00:42Z

Doomreaver:

{{title|name=A Taste of Insanity|author=Doomreaver}}{{violence}}

{{series box
|series=A Taste of Insanity
|next=[[User:Doomreaver/Heartbeat|Heartbeat]]}}

I have always enjoyed murder, but since the Change it has become so much more. Now I can taste my victims fear in the air, their agony, their despair. While before I was content with simple murder, now I create a dark Art of death. Art is meant to be shared though…

Thump Thump. That noise. Always that noise. Thump Thump. For eternity, nothing. but. that. NOISE! Thump Thump. I gaze at my ears in despair. They lay torn and bloody in my lap. Thump Thump. My eyes turn to the knife next to me. I had wondered why he gave it to me. Thump Thump. Now I know. It’s the only way to stop the noise…. Thump Thu-

== Apples ==

As I lay bleeding, I wondered why I did it. In five minutes I was free, or so he claimed. Yet, I did it anyway. The smell did it I think. Just as he intended. The smell of apples. To my equine nose it was maddening. I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were there, and the trap surrounding them. Shame trying for them got me killed.

== Crawling ==

It isn’t real. I know it isn’t real. He even told me it isn’t real. I try to ignore it, ignore the feeling of something skittering across every inch of my skin. Eventually it’s too much though. I claw at my skin and the pain drowns the feeling, so I claw and I claw and as the lights begin to fade I think “At least I let the spiders out…”

== Choices ==

He made me watch. He made me watch as he drove three people into insanity and death. And then… he let me go. So now I sit here and wonder, did he let me go to remember his sick “Art” for the rest of my life, or did he want to drive me to suicide like the others? I rest the cold barrel of the gun against my temple and for what seems like an eternity I am frozen by indecision. Then I choose.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:Horror]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver

2015-05-02T21:00:17Z

Doomreaver: /* Drabbles */

= About Me =
Hi all! I'm a relatively new author here, and actually not a furry, nor would I care to be TF'd in any form fashion or manner myself. I joined TSA and Shifti because I love a good story, and there is a diverse and skilled group of writers that I vastly enjoy reading here. As such, I can't promise all my stories will involve transformation, though they will all be either linked the TSA, or based in a shared setting.

Also, apologies for the poor formatting at the moment, I'm still learning how to do this and will come back and fix it once the first two XCom Project parts are set up, and when every minor edit doesn't require me to pick out a bunch of cat pictures :P

== Drabbles ==
Drabbles are stories of 100 words or less, and I enjoy writing them occasionally.

[[User:Doomreaver/A Taste of Insanity|A Taste of Insanity]]: A 5 part drabble series I wrote, this documents the killings of a serial killer. It is rather disturbing, which is why I enjoyed writing it so much. While the entire series is a grand total of 350 words, I found that posting them on a single page caused readers to blaze through it and being confused at the end. I encourage readers to stop and reflect on each one before reading the next as it vastly improves the experience.

== The XCom Project ==
XCom is a video game where you try to save the world from Alien attacks. You can give all your troops custom names, and as such I decided to start a campaign naming my men after the TSA writers and characters, then write about what happens. Ironman mode is enabled, so I cannot reload ever and all of the written material will depend entirely on my skill and luck in game. It is non-transformational, but if we manage to save the planet I might splurge on the expansion, where you can augment your soldiers biologically or by turning them into cyborgs, which probably counts as TF.

NOTE: This is currently in progress! If you want to join in, send me an E-mail, and I'll try not to get you killed in a horrible manner. Character list can be found [[User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet|Here]].

[[User:Doomreaver/Invasion|Part 1: Invasion]]

User talk:Eirik

2015-01-30T11:54:45Z

Doomreaver: Responding to Eirik

A hearty welcome aboard. :) --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 00:11, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

And same here. Good to see your work again. :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 00:30, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

Problem you pointed out with [[Special:Popularpages]] only covering NS_MAIN (the "main" namespace) was even easier to fix than I thought it was going to be. Anyway, it now lists pages in NS_USER (like [[User:Eirik]]). In fact, when I checked before leaving you this notice, [[User:Eirik]] was in 17th place :P [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 03:28, 9 January 2008 (EST)

== Flinthoof Pic ==

I found the pic in question and added the link. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 20:58, 31 August 2007 (EDT)

== Little Boy Lost ==

I'm the one who translated that story.
I want to add Russian ection, but don't know how.
[[User:Inry|Inry]] 11:51, 4 January 2008 (EST)

==Template:My stories==

Hi, just thought I should drop a note here since I imagine most authors won't be regularly checking [[Help:Templates]] for updates. I've finally added a template that I should have created long ago, a tag to put on userpages to facilitate linking to your personal story category; [[Template:My stories]]. If you want, just stick this code at the top of your userpage to create a standardized little box with a direct link in it: <nowiki>{{my stories}}</nowiki>. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 22:19, 18 January 2008 (EST)

== Page Formatting ==

Hey. I added some Headers since your user page is so long, and a table of content. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 04:14, 23 February 2008 (EST)

== Tug of War==

Just noticed that [[User:Eirik/Tug of War]] isn't listed on your user page, just your category. Since you've got extensive blurbs for everything I figured that might be an oversight. Also, hope you don't mind the little bit of copyediting I did; I wanted to stick the story on Bryan's picks and that's all that was holding me back. :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 14:11, 12 March 2008 (EDT)

== Shifti Book ==
Please see [[Best of Shifti]] and leave a note on the [[Talk:Best of Shifti|talk page]] to let us know whether or not we have your permission. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:05, 3 October 2008 (EDT)

== XCom project recruiting ==
Hello Brian! You may or may not be familier with the XCom project. In it, I play the game XCom: Enemy Unkown, naming the charecters after various TSA/Shifti authors. As such, I was wondering if I could use your name for the project, as you have a large number of stories, many of which I greatly enjoy.

''I don't have a problem with that, if you can just use the name "Eirik", not my full name.'' --[[User:Eirik|Eirik]] ([[User talk:Eirik|talk]]) 12:10, 29 January 2015 (CST)

I'll probably use Brian "Doc" Coe, as the game requires a first, last, and nickname. Also, thank you for responding, was starting to think I'd have to use names from people who won't respond to my E-mails. [[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 05:54, 30 January 2015 (CST)

User talk:ShadowWolf

2015-01-22T23:13:12Z

Doomreaver:

== Discussion Section Previously in Page Header ==
how do you delete a page that has no content? I've had to modify a title of a story page and removed it's content, but the title still appears on my author page.
:Please sign with the <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> - but generally you have to remove all content and then kill any links to it you've made. That'll "orphan" it and then an admin can go and do the actual delete. [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:43, 3 October 2007 (EDT)
:Page deleted, Oberon. (Recent Edits is a wonderful tool!) - in the future, though, please sign all entries on a talk page using the <nowiki>~~~~</nowiki> specifier - it's what gives the nifty user link and timestamp. (and in requests for deletion, could you please include the page name ?) [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:48, 3 October 2007 (EDT)

==Sitenotice text==

Where did you put the text for the donation sitenotice? Normally it'd be at [[MediaWiki:Sitenotice]], but I'm assuming since it's not there you've inserted it into the source code somewhere. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 20:46, 3 January 2008 (EST)

Never mind, I found it - MonoBook.php, right? I should move it out of that and into sitenotice, it won't appear for anyone who's using a different skin otherwise. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 21:01, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:Didn't know about the Sitenotice bit, so yeah, I did a bit of hacking and dumped it straight into the code from the primary skin. I actually had thought about dumping it directly into the Skin driver, but decided not to. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 21:08, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:There, fixed up. I pulled the code from the source and added a version to the [[Mediawiki:Sitenotice]]. "A Version" because I had to use the same custom tag I created for [[Shifti:Site support]] to do the button. (PayPal kinda requires it be a form with a crapload of hidden fields) — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 21:16, 3 January 2008 (EST)

::Heh. I was just working on that myself. Good to know I was on the right track. :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 21:20, 3 January 2008 (EST)
::This is odd. It appears that integral.org is in the spam protection filter, I can't save [[Main Page]] now. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 21:37, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:::Not in any of the spamfilters I installed. It's not in the central MediaWiki list or in the site-specific list. I'll look deeper. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:00, 3 January 2008 (EST)
:::[[Special:Version]] doesn't have any spam-blockers besides [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:SpamBlacklist SpamBlacklist] and none of its lists have "integral" anywhere in them. So I don't know what the problem could be... Everything I've installed is hacked to not bug people that are in the Admin group about '''''ANYTHING''''', so I'm at a loss as to what the problem could be. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:04, 3 January 2008 (EST)

::::Well, whatever the problem was, it seems to have passed. I should have saved a copy of the error message but I suppose it's moot if it doesn't come back. BTW, I hope you don't mind the little tweaks I made to the sitenotice banner. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 23:38, 3 January 2008 (EST)

:::::Nah, it works. And I've reverted the changes I made, since it wasn't the cause of Felix's problem. He saw the Captcha, but apparently either 1) Didn't know what it was or 2) Couldn't read it. So I've just gone and given the "Author" permissions group a Captcha exception. — [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:49, 3 January 2008 (EST)

What do you think of the notion of putting a progress bar in the donation request, as demonstrated in [[Shifti:Sandbox]]? Wikipedia does it that way, and it might give people more incentive to donate in order to get rid of the banner. :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 01:23, 4 January 2008 (EST)

:That's pretty nifty. Maybe have the bar in red, though :) [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 01:30, 4 January 2008 (EST)

::There, added a color parameter. Red's a bit garish, though, maybe something a bit more pastel? [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 01:43, 4 January 2008 (EST)

:I hate that banner!! It offends me, I must destroy it by donating! *snicker* :)

--[[User:Devin|Devin]] 23:59, 4 January 2008 (EST)

:Wolfy, how do I become an author? I already have a story written.
[[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]]--[[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]] 20:27, 27 October 2011 (UTC)
::Easy, you wait for an admin to notice the story insert and hit the button :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 21:44, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

:Thanks! I'll be sure to write more soon! How'd you like my first one? [[User:ClydesdaleTF|ClydesdaleTF]] 01:30, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

== Broken Discussion pages and Captcha errors ==

Not sure what's going on. When I click on the Discussion link on a page that doesn't have a discussion, it takes me direct to that page's edit frame (NOT the Discussion page), and I seem to have full edit rights on it. Something seems to have gone wonky along the way.

Pre-existing Talk pages seem to work fine (as evidenced here), though when I was trying to post it gave me an "out of captcha" error (When I tried to post it on the Current Events page that is.).

Oh and for the TF Types, you may want to add "Plant" (for TF's that are not animal based, but not quite Dryad based for the mythical category), and "Inanimate" (and maybe even Robotization or however you want to classify it).

I'm not quite sure if inanimate would be good enough as a catchall for a "living material' type TF (think X-Men's Colossus, and Ice Man, who turn into living steel and living ice respectively), or if we might want another type for that as well.

--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 13:33, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

:I'm working on this, but apparently the 'title' parameter isn't being properly set. When it's a red-link PHP is getting a URL that looks like 'index.php?title=XXX?title=XXX_talk&action=edit&redlink=1' and it's seeing that first 'title=' and not the second one. I'm trying to figure out how to solve that.
:--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:26, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

::Turned out to have several causes, all related to various problems with a code upgrade and several other problems that cropped up. Since I have yet to see this problem re-occur, I'm going to call it 'fixed'. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:38, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

== Story submission captcha? ==

I just went to post a new story and after I hit the 'save page' button, it took me to an edit screen that had:
Your edit includes new external links. To help protect against automated spam, please enter the words that appear below in the box
at the top. I looked and looked again and couldn't find any external links in my story. In fact there was no markup at all once I removed all the tab-indention on the paragraphs.

I'm all for automated systems blocking automated systems, but this sort of struck me as odd. -- [[User:Leasara|Leasara]] 08:01, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

:The regular expressions might have triggered on a non-link URL. But I cannot be certain, as this is the first report I've seen of it. (and sorry for the lag in the response) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:33, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Also, as long as I'm bugging you guys, any chance of getting an inverted color scheme skin? Dark text on a light background seems to be more difficult for me to read for any length of time than light text on a dark background. -- [[User:Leasara|Leasara]] 08:10, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

:The new 'shiftimin' skin took a while to get fully functional, but you could, likely, use "user CSS" to get the same result. Give me a bit of time and I'll see if I can get a "map" together for the CSS behind the "monobook" skin so you can override it easily. Alternatively you could poke at the CSS yourself, but...
:There is a page giving a minimal explanation of CSS at [[Help:Custom css]] and we have a page open to user additions about CSS hacks at [[Custom CSS Hacks]]. I've been planning to do up a page explaining the various classes of the primary 'MonoBook' skin for a while. Guess it's about time to actually get to work on that. (and again, sorry for the lag in the response) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:33, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

== Question ==
...from a nubcake guy. Just asking, is a story allowed to be set in a video game universe ([http://halo.wikia.com/The_Halo_Universe Halo]: w00t!)? 'Cos I wanna write a TF story set in there, but I'm not too sure if this is allowed on Shifti. Hope it's yes, 'cos it's already in progress. Thanks! --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]]
:We have no restrictions on fan-fiction, but if we receive a take-down notice it will be removed. (I run the server and would be the one facing the legal actions - so I will not fight a DMCA notice unless I am certain it is invalid) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:54, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
::Great! Well, I'm pretty sure Bungie, the copyright holder, encourages fan fic, so I think it's ok...Note "I think". I'm not sure how they'd react to TF fan fic. Thanks for confirming (and once again for the fave I can't tell you how much that means to me)! :) --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]]
:::Most companies are open to fan-fic, because it helps with the popularity of their product. And you got the "fav" because I saw real promise in the original and in your willingness to take constructive criticism. Every other author in my "new authors to watch" section has shown the same promise, though they haven't all been available to take the constructive criticism that could be offered. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 20:24, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi there! This is the noob writer, Drake, again, here for a fresh wave of bother-the-administrator. Sorry to bother you, but here I am. Bothering you. Anyway, I was hoping you could help critique my new story, [[User:WolfyDrake95/Finding Himself|Finding Himself]], which I uploaded a couple of days ago. I got comments from Guvnor of Space and Concerned Reader, but I thought I'd ask for your opinion since you were the only one who seemed actually care about my first, and admittedly not-so-good, story. I do hope you can drop a critique and a comment to help me improve.

The above was an email that I sent to you but received no reply for. And also, about the fanfic that this section was initially about: can I upload screenshots? Halo features a Theatre mode in which one can take screenshots of players or NPCs, so I think I could use screenshots to illustrate characters, etc. Anyway, thanks for reading so far! :) --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 23:43, 27 June 2009

:Hey there, ShadowWolf, it's Drake again. Hope you could look through my [[User:WolfyDrake95/Letting Go|new story]], in case you haven't noticed. Yea, it's not very good, and it took a strange direction halfway through writing (becoming all wierd and sappy), but I hope it would merit, at least, a critic. Of course, if you're too busy, it's okay, I'm fine with that. I'm pretty sure critiqueing new writers isn't exactly the only thing you do ;).

:And by the way, if creating new info tags were possible, a "Critique Requested" one might be more effective in garnering critiques than the "Comment" tag that's provided. And in regards to my Halo-fanfic, is it okay if I put screenshots from in-game to illustrate? It'd be useful for people to understand what I'm saying, since Halo isn't as well known as Star Wars. —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 12:48, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

::Sadly I'm going to have to decline a critique on that story. I have tried reading it and found that it did not interest me, sorry.

::As to the images... I am unsure about this, as there is content in the texture-maps and such that will wind up as part of the image that are copyright MS/Bungie. However... This would appear to be a case covered by the "Fair Use" exceptions, so unless a lawyer that uses Shifti can answer otherwise, go ahead and upload.

::The 'critique requested' template itself should be easy. I'll have to see about that at some point today. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 16:35, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

:::All right, I understand if you don't want to critique. I do know that this isn't exactly my best story...I suppose every writer has times when he writes bad. Just that I get these times more often. I sorta knew it was already bad, but I guess I needed someone to tell me that it was lousy, right to my face. Ah well.

:::As for the pictures, thanks! And for the template, another thanks. You're one hell of an admin! --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 04:10, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

::::It's not that it isn't a good story, Drake. The problem is that when I tried reading it I was not able to get more than a few paragraphs in before I said "this is depressing"—I do not read anything that I can say that about because I suffer from bipolar disorder. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 11:41, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

::::Um...then I guess I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. And yeah, I guess I shouldn't write so many depressing stories; it certainly gets a little boring after a while, and I suppose you're right in that when people read stories, they probably won't like those that make them all depressed. I should put a warning on that story one of these days! Anyway, I think I should start on my more normal stories soon.
::::I don't know what to say about that last bit of what you said because I'm just a kid, and I'm not very smart and I'm terrified that I'll say something insensitive or insulting or whatever. I do that a lot of times, and the people on the receiving end tend to take offense. Sorry.
::::On the upside, I'm thinking of writing a PaW story soon. It's a cool story setting, the Pig and Whistle. Looks like a good setting for assassinations!
::::Still, thanks for taking the time to clarify the issue. I suddenly feel happy. :) —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 13:02, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

:::::I don't offend easily—and if you ever do, you'll know it. Depressing stories can be good, too, but I stay away from them for medical reasons—bipolar disorder means I have massive mood swings and reading depressing stuff just feeds into that. There have been several times when I've read something really depressing and it had a very bad impact on me.
:::::On another note… You are a lot more intelligent and mature than most of the "kids" these days (IMNSHO). Most "kids" these days have almost no idea how to put a sentence together and you are one of the few that I have run into that can take criticism.
:::::As to a PaW story… The setting was created, as it says in the description and rules, as a "reboot" of the "Tales from the Blind Pig" setting. Within the last couple of years the "Blind Pig" setting has had numerous arguments over what is and is not "canon" between authors who have seen the setting grow and contributed and people just finding the setting. Because the creator has left it behind it has become something of a "lawless waste" with no real controls and people changing it from what the creator said is actually the reality of the setting. To solve this and make the setting much more internally consistent I asked around and a small group formed to generate the new setting. There is a lot more to the setting than has been revealed or is likely to be openly revealed to anyone anytime soon.
:::::And we tried to define only what was needed to give the setting its own identity so that the people actually interested in writing a story set there could create the setting itself. We only ask that you not set the story outside of the NAR/RoT/Quebec area unless you are actually from that other area. The reason for that is simply that we wish to allow people from those other regions to have control over what, exactly, happened to their regions after the collapse. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:45, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

{{Green|Well Wolfy is from Singapore, so he could open up that side of the world. On a side note, all 14-19 year olds I know on the internet have trouble with basic grammar and spelling when talking normally, so I wouldn't quite call your writing juvenile.}} --[[User:Concerned Reader|Concerned Reader]] 14:29, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

:Well, actually Singapore is pretty boring. Nothing's really cool or fun here (maybe I'm just used to it?), and society feels very...suppressed. There's no space for individuality. If you try to be yourself, you get mocked and stuff (like when my friends discovered that I was on Shifti). Bad story material. And as for deciding what happens to my region...I dunno. Best I don't, I have terrible imagination and my mind only circles around video games that I play.
:If I might refer you to the [[User_talk:WolfyDrake95/Letting Go|talk page]] of Letting Go, you'll find the rough plan of this PaW story.
:As for my writing, I won't deny that I'm very, very proud of it (my downfall), which is why I hurt a lot sometimes when criticized without knowing why (thus why I seemed so upset when I replied to ShadowWolf's declination). I also have a somewhat existant superiority complex (I got really jealous when ShadowWolf commented that Rabbit was impressed by CR's Rebuilding. Puberty? I dunno.)
:Even though I know I'm not that good a writer, I like to think that I write depressing stories because of my "painful experiences in life". Actually, it's because I read a lot of Michael Bard's work (both the sad ones and the happy ones). Both of which are awesome, by the way. I'll admit that I'm a fan of his. <3
:Oh, and thanks for the compliments, you two. I can feel my ego swelling already. :) —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 14:54, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

I hope I'm doing this right and putting it in the right place. If not, please accept my apology. If you have the time, I would like for you to take a look at the stories I've posted and offer some criticism. I've read enough of your material to trust your judgement. Also could you suggest others who might be able to help me to improve my work?
Thank you
Alveric

Just a quick question. I'm thinking about posting my stories on TSAT. Do you know where I can find some detailed instuctions on how to do that? I'm afraid my tech-savvy is on the low side.
Thanks
Alveric

With TSAT being a defunct e-zine, I'm assuming you're referring to the TSA-Talk mailing list. For that, well... First sign up for the mailing list, then the following advice will help:
# Make sure that your post is plain-text - copy to Notepad first and check for any characters that have disappeared. A number of us do not use Windows and the UTF-16 that windows uses for things like "smart quotes" becomes mojibake for us.
# If it contains adult material or things not safe for work, make sure to include the NSFW tag
# Don't expect comments and don't be so attached to your work that negative comments or criticism of any kind causes an adverse reaction
# Check spelling and grammar - the list is populated by quite a number of authors - some of which have been published. We do like to see people actually making an effort towards making their writings legible and understandable to others.
--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 19:04, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I'm been on the mailing list for a couple of months. I'll procede cautiously.

Alveric

Just made my first attempts to send a story to TSATalk. I sent it as an attachment, then thought attachments might not work, so I sent it the second time in the body of the message. I hope I didn't screw it up too bad.

Alveric

I noticed that on the 'All Authors' page, I'm listed as User:Alveric rather than just Alveric. Is there some way I could correct that? Thanks --[[User:Alveric|Alveric]] 17:09, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

:Fixed. Seems you just had the category set and the actual template we use for setting the stuff wasn't. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 17:16, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! --[[User:Alveric|Alveric]] 18:02, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

== RSS Feed? ==

Not sure if there's much you can do about this or if I'm using it wrong or expecting the wrong things. But I've signed up for the RSS feed on Shifti, and I'm not only getting the new changes soon after they occur, but I also get a bunch of changes that were already reported to me, often multiple times.
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 11:46, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:That's the way the RSS feed works. It works similar to how the 'Recent Changes' page works by default. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 16:25, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:: True but it seems to be picking up changes it has already reported that haven't had any actual new changes done. For example, when Bryan was adding/updating the separator graphics, the RSS feed repeated it twice for each change he did, and that seems to happen a lot.
::--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 17:54, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:::I'd look closer - there were, in most cases, two files uploaded/updated - and yes, there is a bug somewhere in the system that is double-logging some events. I haven't been able to track that one down, though. It's about time to take a look and see if there is a new version of the code available, however, so I can see if an upgrade fixes the problem. (Most notably it is the new-user stuff that gets double-logged, but I have no idea how this is impacting the RSS feed) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 18:37, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

:::: I meant that as a general example thouhg; not that in particular.

:::: Another example, I just got an RSS update now. I've been watching the feeds and had no recent updates from Shifti since this morning whence I'd gotten Jon's latest update and a few hours. The update I JUST got says there are 8 new changes, including Jon's After Hours addition again, Wolfy's New world addition and 4 entries for the RSS Feed discussion. (Despite this being the 4th entry now). All of the entries have a time of 4:03PM ADT. --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 19:21, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

::::: Odd... And I'm not really that knowledgeable about the MediaWiki code-base (yes, I can hack on it, but...) I have a feeling that the problem lies in how the system works. I think that it might be compiling a list of all changes within a certain period and sending it out. And if it isn't keeping a proper time-stamp on the items, that is a violation of the RSS spec, IIRC - since it is then pushing out duplicates without a way for readers to determine that with any degree of certainty. I'll sign up to the RSS feed myself and see if I can track the problem. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 19:39, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Okay - I've got my client signed up to the RSS feed for the [[Special:RecentChanges|Recent changes]] page. Let's see what this edit does... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:33, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Now I've seen the problem and it sucks. That one previous edit led to a major flood of '31 new edits' in my feed reader. Looks like I was right - it isn't properly date-tagging the entries. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:35, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Looked at the raw XML of the feed and it doesn't look like there is an error in it - though there might be. Let me go take a look at the RSS specs to see if I can figure out what is missing and/or not being set properly. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:39, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Ooooh... I think I just found the cause. Apparently the feed is claiming to be RSS 2.0 but it isn't putting a stable <guid/> tag on any of the entries. This tag is the method by which most RSS readers decide whether an item is new or not. The feed here does not have them. This is probably an oversight on the part of the person that wrote the code, but I cannot say. I'm going to go check Wikipedia to see if they have it there - because if they don't then the only reason that feeds of Wikipedia aren't getting overwhelmed is because of the volume of edits there. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 22:48, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Changed it to include the link-url as a guid - it should be genuinely unique to a specific page revision. Lets see if this fixes the problem... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:16, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Okay - I give up (for now) - because that last edit showed up with a massive number of others and the added <guid> tag doesn't seem to have helped any. Unless, of course, those <guid/> tags need a bit to start showing up... I really don't know. Might be time for me to look into cleaning out the cache table of the database. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:20, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: And that looks like it did do it after all. Bug report being marked CLOSED/RESOLVED. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 23:22, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Bug not completely resolved. On restart my RSS client has shown a singularly massive flood of repeated messages. This does not make sense to me, as it was not doing this during the testing yesterday - and I am willing to bet it will not show such action today. However it might be that the text I am using to generate the data for the GUID tag is not as stable as I once thought - this bothers me and makes me think I might have to go much deeper into the code for changes. Perhaps as deep as altering the 'feed item' class so that it requires the actual ID of the revision so that said ID can be used for the GUID. --[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 14:39, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
::::: Sadly... It looks like utilizing the Date of the edit might be the only way to uniquely identify them - in combination with the page title, that is. However, I shall not be making those changes at this time. What I shall be doing is finding a way to interact with another developer so that I can be certain this will permanently and fully squash this bug. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 14:48, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

: Not sure what's going on, but the problem seems to be cropping up again. I've gotten RSS feeds telling me of changes that I've already gotten before (and before and before)... --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 17:52, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

::Has to do with how the URL's are generated. Since I'm using the URL as the GUID, it looks like there is a periodic shift in them. I have zero clue how to fix it, because I'd have to come up with something that is genuinely unique as an identifier, and I can't think of anything that would work there. (at least, nothing that is actually available to the feed generator) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 18:15, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

== ShiftiMin-related stuff ==

I expect to be poking at the new theme with sharp sticks during the [[TSA-Bash]] anyways, but in the meantime I discovered (largely by happenstance) that if you're not logged in, there's no "log in / create account" link in ShiftiMin! I'd say that's a bug - unless we want to become a really exclusive club. ;) 
Looking pretty decent otherwise; we just need to figure out how to handle the menu organization. (Plus about eleventy billion other pet peeves with which I intend to drive you TOTALLY BATS**T INSANE. Mua ha ha.) --[[User:Viqsi|Viqsi]] 15:30, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

:I thought I'd gotten that bug (GAH! Must be related to me changing the user-options bits to a drop-down from the long list it was)
:Since Shiftimin does not work on versions of IE prior to 8 without a massive javascript hack it is not meant to be used as the primary skin for Shifti. This means that the 'missing login/create link' is a very low priority bug.
:I am currently poking at ideas for another design that is as (or more) minimalistic but is also designed to take full advantage of modern browsers CSS3 support and HTML5. That redesign is not public yet, since it is currently little more than an image in the GIMP.
:Oh, and I already am 'TOTALLY BATS**T INSANE' - I just hide it well. So driving me there is a very short trip... And... If you have any ideas at all for changes, just dump them here. I'll get on top of the ones that are fast/easy to implement immediately.
:And if you have Fx3.5 available, look at Shifti using the Shiftimin skin. All kinds of nifty little hacks I've added that target it. (Okay, so they could probably target Safari/WebKit and Konqueror/KHTML as well... but I'm not going to try and support all the alternative browsers until they agree on the format for the CSS. And Opera '''STILL''' does not support even the 'border-radius' property or the 'box-shadow' or 'text-shadow' properties)
:--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 16:02, 9 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey there, ShadowWolf. Just poking in here to point out what seems to be a bug. The SiteSearch function isn't working; I believe it has something to do with the server crash and tech replacement the other day. If I click the Search button it shows

:A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:
::SELECT page_id, page_namespace, page_title FROM `shifti_page`,`shifti_searchindex` WHERE page_id=si_page AND MATCH(si_title) AGAINST('' IN BOOLEAN MODE) AND page_is_redirect=0 AND page_namespace IN ('0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','12','13','14','15') LIMIT 20
:from within function "". MySQL returned error "145: Table './shifti/shifti_searchindex' is marked as crashed and should be repaired (malfoy)".
I guess this isn't normal, but I'm also guessing that you might have already noticed. Anyway, sorry that I can't donate. I don't have PayPal or MasterCard or anything. —[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 13:15, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

::Thought I'd run the "check and repair" before bringing the new server live. Guess it didn't actually do the repair... It's fixed now - sorry for not spotting it myself :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 15:03, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

== Redirects ==

Just a heads-up, I noticed that [[PAW General TimeLine]] was linked to from [[Talk:Rebuilding]]. I didn't check all the redirects so there might be others. In general I think it's best not to delete redirects left behind by page moves, especially not when the redirect's name still accurately reflects the content it's redirecting to - even if you fix all the internal links there's still the possibility that other pages out on the web point there. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 06:01, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

== Links on archived pages ==

Hi ShadowWolf! Thanks for the welcome. :-)

I made the edits to the archived page because, well . . . posterity is nice, but if you don't actually get to the site intended, that's not very useful to readers! At WikiFur we either update outdated links, replace them with a link to archive.org, or remove them altogether; leaving them broken tends to results in linking to spam sites sooner or later. And WikiFur's old site is going down imminently. [[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]] 01:58, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

:Ah, well... I've added a new section to the front-page. For that set of archived pages we really should keep the links up-to-date. We have a larger problem right now that is in the process of being worked out - I'm sure you've seen the site-notice banner... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

== Spam Flood ==

What can we do about this? --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 04:44, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

:So far there's only about a half dozen spam postings showing up per day, which is IMO quite manageable in terms of manual deletion. I'd recommend avoiding anything that might slow down legitimate posting. Maybe tweak the account creation captcha, if that's easy to do (I'd bet that spending more than a few hours working on it will probably be more time than is taken doing manual cleanup for the next month :) [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 06:13, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

:Right now I have a lot to do - including fixing the donation button. But a better captcha system than what we have is a good idea and I've been wondering if maybe using ReCaptcha would be a good idea. Very few spam-bots have cracked that one so far. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:18, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Seems to be coming in just brief surges. After that page of spam last night I went to bed expecting to have dozens more to delete in the morning, but no more came in. This one, too, may pass. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 15:35, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm moderating another Wiki, and it's been hit as hard, if not harder. It's annoying to say the least, and we're trying to figure out better options ourselves, but there isn't much that can be done. Damn spammers. --[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 12:07, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

:I'm not going to try and fight the losing battle of who can outwit who. The only winner in that game is the spammers and everyone else loses big. The trick here is going to be finding a better way to secure the account creation and, at this point, file uploads. I have thought about an oversight system for monitoring uploads/page creation by new accounts, but it seems too draconian to me. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:24, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

This is getting worse than it was before. Looking at the Recent Changes page is very discouraging. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 08:18, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

:Looks like we'll have to change Captcha systems (there might be a way to use ReCaptcha, which is a "proven hard to break" system) and I am going to change the upload permissions so that you need to have "author" status. Give me a bit to look at things - the problem is that any system we go with has to be both easy on humans and tough on bots... -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 11:42, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

::Sounds like a reasonable step to me, Shifti is not very image-oriented anyway and only a few stories have them. Shouldn't be any need for non-authors to upload them. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 23:20, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

:::Uploads locked to Authors and above and it turns out the Captcha system was disabled entirely for some reason. I've re-enabled it and told it to use a question/response type of Captcha instead of the images. I'd have gone with ReCaptcha, but that is not part of the modern code, apparently. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 00:38, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

==2012 Flood==

Would disabling account creation for a while make any difference? I suppose they'd just come back the second it was re-enabled.--[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 18:02, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

:I've thought about this, but would have to discuss disabling account creation with BD first. Sometime today I am going to be instituting email validation for accounts. I just need to look into that :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 18:29, 27 February 2012 (UTC)

To deal with the spam try changing the reCaptcha to a questyCaptcha. The bots have learned to be able to read the reCaptcha words. --[[User:ZProteus|ZProteus]] ([[User talk:ZProteus|talk]]) 07:45, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

:We're using an HTML-spam blacklist system that has massively cut down on the amount of spam we get. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 01:19, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Argh! Here they go again! Can you tweak the account creation security? --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 03:20, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Apparently I'm getting "could not connect to fSpamlist server" at the top of the screen. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 03:25, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Okay, we need to shut down new account registration, like, '''now'''. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] ([[User talk:JonBuck|talk]]) 22:48, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

:Turned off the createaccount permission - this should lock the site against new registrations. I'll look into different captcha methods, since ReCaptcha has been broken quite badly now. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 23:09, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

==Just a Note==

Heartfelt thanks from a follower and long-term fan of the site. Glad to be here (and glad to finally be able to edit pages). Thanks for all you're doing! [[User:ChronoStrike|ChronoStrike]] ([[User talk:ChronoStrike|talk]])

==Big Note==
I had nothing to do with the creation of the [[TSA-Talk]] Mailing List. I did, however, learn of it and first join in 1997 - ie: I 'Found' it on the net. The text there is correct and needs no changes. 
--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 17:43, 4 November 2014 (CST)
:Sorry; your wording of that particular word was hard for me to parse in that context; I wasn't sure whether it was a typo or if using a different word would be a better idea. In the future, I'll consult you or whoever else is involved in a page on which I am working if I'm confused about some of its contents and whether they need to be edited or not. Maybe the word 'discovered' would be more appropriate and less perplexing? You said in the description of the edit that reverted the one that I did and about which you got somewhat irritated that other typographical errors might exist in that article, and I think you're right; the one I misidentified just seemed like the biggest one there to me and therefore became the most important item on my list of problems to fix with that page. If you like, I can help you go through it with a finely-toothed comb, all right?
:Apologies, 
:— [[User:RandomDSdevel|RandomDSdevel]] ([[User talk:RandomDSdevel|talk]]) 20:51, 6 November 2014 (EST)
::No problem. The simple fact is that I rarely do editing of pages - even ones I've created.
::--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 09:54, 7 November 2014 (CST)
:::Thanks! Glad we've got that straightened out. — [[User:RandomDSdevel|RandomDSdevel]] ([[User talk:RandomDSdevel|talk]]) 16:30, 8 November 2014 (EST)

== Formatting and XCom ==
Hello, we met at the bash at Phil's and you said this was the best way to get ahold of you. First a formatting/code question: I've seen several stories with a box at the top that says something along the lines of "The Llama Series! Next story: Llama's don't eat cake. Previous story: WTF why am I a Llama?" I've been trying to figure out how to do that on and off as it'd be a huge help for orginizing my stories, but have been having no luck.

Secondly, you may have heard I need more names for the XCom project, and I was wondering if I could add you. The idea is to use well known names in the comunity and as the Shifti Admin I think you qualify! [[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 10:32, 17 January 2015 (CST)

:We really, really need to make the help-files easier to locate... try [[Help:Templates]] - specifically the [[Help:Templates#Linking stories in a series|Linking Stories in a Series]] section. There are other useful templates there as well.
:There are a number of other templates that have been created, but thanks to the server crash that took out most of the edits for a specific year a few years back I'm not actually sure what still exists.
::--[[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] ([[User talk:ShadowWolf|talk]]) 14:51, 17 January 2015 (CST)

::Thanks for the information. May I use you for XCom, and if so what should I name the soldier? [[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 17:13, 22 January 2015 (CST)

User talk:ShadowWolf

2015-01-22T23:12:33Z

Doomreaver:

User talk:Eirik

2015-01-17T18:32:44Z

Doomreaver: asking for help with a story

User talk:ShadowWolf

2015-01-17T16:32:22Z

Doomreaver: If you are reading this, you are too close! :P

User talk:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-07-21T12:38:55Z

Doomreaver: Adding more commentary

Here is all of the author commentary for this series. I wrote it in parts, so each part has it's own commentary. Feel free to leave comments of your own!

== First Contact ==

Welcome to the XCom Project! I hope you enjoyed the first part. The idea started right after an attempt to run Ironman Classic difficulty where I lost half of my men in the first 3 missions (one in each of the first two, all four I sent in the third), or less then two weeks in game time. It was my own fault, as I made several critical mistakes that I knew better then to make. So I started from scratch and came up with the idea of naming the characters after the TSA and writing about it.

I nearly had a repeat of my last run on the first mission, getting Phil flanked by a Sectoid. Flanking gives ~50% extra chance to hit and crit. At this point in the game, a crit means instant death, and most shots have a base hit and crit chance of 25% or so, meaning Phil had a 1 in 4 chance of not being hit, and if hit only a 1 in 4 chance not to die. The shot missed entirely, and I was very happy that luck was with me for once.

One mission and one kill is enough to get a soldier enough experience to be promoted, so usually the first mission ends with 2 or 3 guys getting their specialization. It wasn't until the end of the mission that I realized Caroline Hardy got the killing blow on all 6 opponents. Sadly, no matter how badass, you can't get a Soldier promoted unless they meet Exp requirement and a certain number of missions completed. So I've got 1 Squaddie with an insane number of kills, and a bunch of Rookies feeling left out. Oh well. /Doomreaver

== Girding for War ==

So this is my first part that is entirely invented by me. This game works on a sort of reverse difficulty, starting out hard when you have Rookie soldiers and no Alien tech. No in game event sparked this section, I just wanted to introduce the in game NPC's, point out how bad your starting position is, and highlight the fact that I was lucky to not lose anyone in the first mission.

Originally the first part mostly took from in game Cinematics to introduce the three NPC's, but then my beta reader pointed out how stilted that made it seem and made me realize it wasn't at all clear that most of them had just arrived. So I rewrote the whole thing, and am much happier with the result.

The second part in the Infirmary really didn't change at all. I picked Phil partially because I hadn't gotten in all the names for my men yet, and partially because it's Phil. In most of his self inserts he's the kind of guy who goes out of his way to check up on and help people, and from the start I had planned on giving him a lot of screen time because everyone knows who he is and I enjoy reading his stuff so much, so it just feels right. /Doomreaver

== Midnight Run ==

This particular part ran across a lot of game mechanics that make little sense in real life. Firstly, it was the middle of the night, but I didn't even realize it until a few real-life days later while I was working on this part due to how bright nighttime is in game so you can see what's going on. Secondly, Vulpintaur got taken to 1 HP from his base HP of 5. Phil then used a medkit on him, and he was back up to 5 HP. Thus the part where he's severely wounded, but the miracle drug gets him back on his feet and he insists on providing cover fire. The game is not so silly as to eliminate recovery time due to medkits, so he'll be out of action for 2 in game weeks.

Phil once again proves his phenomenal luck. An Alien climbed up and around to drop next to him. Fortunately there where boxes between Phil and the Sectoid, so he wasn't flanked this time, but it was still only half cover and an extremely short distance, so it was amazing that he didn't get hit. Directly afterward I ruin it by trying to make him circle around to flank an enemy, only to realize that same ladder the ET used was closer then the long route, causing Phil to run over to it and run up it instead. This made him cross in front of an Alien on Overwatch, which means you fire on the first enemy to move in your field of view. Alas, his luck didn't save him and he got shot. It seems even a Rabbit's run out of luck eventually. /Doomreaver

== The Biohazard ==

There is in fact a bar at XCom. You can see it in game! I decided on the name to it because it has a "Biohazard" sign on the side of the bar. This part took a while to write, because I consulted everyone who donated a character so they could decide their own backstory. Only Phil and Freya's creator took me up on that. Ironically, although it's a multinational organization, most of the characters are probably American due to the source material, so I made a point of specifying at least one foreigner.

Maximilian's backstory came from his eventual nickname "Matchlock", that he'll get if he survives to be promoted a few times. I wanted to connect him with old flintlocks to give a reason for his later nickname. Hawlsera, until this point, wasn't in the list of characters, but I knew from the start I'd want to include her because I really enjoy her writing, a TG soldier would make it feel more TSA, and her origin story occurred to me shortly after I thought to add her. Some of the delay was consultation on the details of modern day Transgender therapy and surgery, then having her read over it all to make sure I made no mistakes. /Doomreaver

== Operation Splashdown ==

The last time I played the game on this difficulty I had a total party wipe on my first UFO mission, meaning all four of my soldiers died horribly. Now I have not only beaten the mission without losing a man, none of my soldiers where even slightly injured. This play through has created interesting conflicting reactions to in game events due to the nature of me writing on everything that happens. One the one hand, going through three missions without losing a man is amazingly lucky, and my goal is to beat the game with as few losses and setbacks as I can. On the other hand I've played up how outgunned and risky the whole thing is, so every time I get through a mission with no deaths and don't lose anyone makes me nervous the project will get boring as I curb stomp the entirety of the game.

This may sound like a broken record, but Phil had an event of insane luck once again. Green had shot and killed one of the first pair of Aliens I spotted, and I decided to move Phil up out of cover and take a shot at the Sectoid from the open. If he succeeded, it'd be dead and he'd be at no risk. Unfortunately, I had already moved him once that turn, so instead he walked out of cover and stood there 10 feet from the enemy in the wide open, basically asking for a horrible death, or at least a painful wound. It missed him. So I moved him up to nearby cover that had previously been just out of reach and took out the target. This is why his luck is commented on in the story, though the in game event didn't translate quite the same. /Doomreaver

== Escort Duty ==
So the other shoe has finally dropped. Hopefully not to many people are totally pissed at me. The first three missions I breezed through with some incredibly lucky breaks, even though I expected someone to get killed at any time. I knew from the start I would lose people, and missions, in this run of the game. It was inevitable on this difficulty, and it sucks, but in the overall terms of the game it's mostly a setback. A bad setback true, I lost my best Soldier and Nigeria is panicked with riots on the streets, but in the grand scheme of things I can still complete the game, and probably even regain Nigeria's confidence. Maybe that's a comfort to Hardy and Morgan, as the fight lives on without them.

The actual events of the mission involved some incredible luck for the Aliens this time. Killing Morgan took a 5 damage shot, when attacks normally do 3-4 damage. Unfortunately the Sectoid not only hit Morgan while he was under cover (a 1 in 5 shot or so) but crit him (a further 1 in 10 chance), instantly killing him. At the end, the final Alien appeared outside of cover and stood in the open in sight of 2 of my soldiers, who both missed an 80% hit chance, then again a pair of misses. This is where I made the worst mistake possible: I got pissed off at the game and stopped thinking, just reacting. As such, I placed Hardy in a bad position to kill the damned thing, and forgot that a medkit can cure the poison. So although I couldn't control what the Aliens did, it is my fault the mission ended in failure, and I will endeavor to do better in the future.

I mentioned this last time, but this play through has given me an interesting duel perspective on the entire game. When I lost the mission, I was furious. But as I finished writing down the events of the mission I was also excited. I knew this was coming, and now it had dropped, all the potential story hooks and plans on how the characters would react started whirling through my head. Actually, I had plans for Morgan and Hardy's future characterization and development, now wasted, but rather then an opportunity lost, I see it as a chance to instead develop the rest of the men more. People who signed up expecting to be cannon fodder and who's characters I haven't made firm plans for now take on greater importance.
/Doomreaver

== Vengeance ==
So I actually wrote this part after I wrote "In Memoriam", the next part. It took a long time to finish In Memoriam, and when I finally did I advanced the clock in game from right after the mission that appears in "Escort Duty", only for another mission to immediately be declared. It was around 4-5 hours since the Council had given me the assignment at 12:15 AM. As such, I was tremendously careful during the mission, both because of the losses I had taken in the previous one, and because I didn't want to have to rewrite the entire Memorial service to add more dead people. Grenades and explosives, usually something you reserve for large packs, where used often and gleefully, to the point where I was completely out of them by the end of the mission. Again I had an Alien who had insane luck, dodging tons of high % shots (though that one at least had the excuse of cover unlike the last one). I kept my cool this time and kept my men under heavy cover, preventing it from landing a return hit, until eventually the numbers clicked and I dropped it. All in all a successful mission and a fairly easy part to write, which was good as it had been about 1.5 months since my last update due to school and I really wanted to post something.
/Doomreaver

== In Memoriam ==
This was, by far, the hardest part of XCom to write. I haven't been to a funeral in a long time and barely remember the last one I did go to a decade or more ago, so had little personal experience to draw on. Furthermore, while I knew in general what I wanted everyone to say, the exact wording was agonizing to nail down. Add to those factors a month long hiatus due to finals at college, and this part took a month and a half to produce.

I mentioned in the commentary on "Escort Duty" that I could have salvaged the mission. Guesz realizes this as well here, and that was the main topic of conversation. The soldier who requests a transfer was the one that was simply "Unclaimed Female Soldier" until now, and I decided to get rid of her, as she spent so long unnamed and unmentioned in the story it felt silly to name her and suddenly have her show up a bunch from her on.

As for why she went unnamed, it was mostly because I wanted all 12 of the starting soldiers to be iconic representations of the major settings. Sure there are lots of female TSA charecters, but I wanted people to look at the roster and have every name that wasn't claimed by a TSA member jump out and make you think "That's this setting/person!" Phil Guesz, our resident rabbit, was of course the first selected, as to me he's the most iconic name/author of the list. Then came Caroline from Metamore keep, with an intention to add Misha later. Rhiana Stonegate and Zane Brubeck where selected to represent FreeRIDErs naturally, then Freya Windscale, the android from Stormovik's UFAW setting, which is a bit more obscure, but he's a good friend and I have several stories in progress for the setting to had to include it. From there I was stuck, as the other settings that came to mind didn't have an immediate character jump out as representative of it, or if they did they weren't female (Or at least weren't always female... Paradise is fun that way). Most of the rest of my names where claimed by TSA members who showed interest in being cannon fodder (As several of them put it), but I still had two females unclaimed. Hawlsera became one, and the other sat there unclaimed until I said screw it and decided to have her leave, both to get rid of her, and because it was an interesting and possibly powerful story moment. Alas, looking back, I should have done Raven, who shows up a lot in Metamore keep, but also has a strong presence in the Blind Pig setting, and is probably fairly well known (Hard to say, I've only been around ~9 months at this point). Oh well, hind sight is 50/50.
/Doomreaver

== Nicknames ==
So this one was fairly quick to write for the most part, as I already had Misha and Phil's nicknames selected. Misha's backstory was also easy to create, as I happened to win him from Mexico and had heard of the Mexican Drug Wars before a real war that has being going on and off for years, look it up if you're interested. Rhianna's nickname stumped me though, partly because I couldn't think of a good one, but mostly because I couldn't contact Robotech_Master, her creator. He's the only one I didn't get ahold of before adding them to the XCom roster, so for everyone else I can (and often do) consult the person that my characters are either based off or created the stories that I'm referencing. Eventually I just looked up the species of her RIDE and used that. It's a shame she's the Lynx, her partner has a Leopard (A friend of mine got the two confused in fact) and that is a much more intimidating animal to be nicknamed after. I have nothing against Lynxes, it's just that if two guys wanted to kill you, I'd be more scared of "The Leopard" then "The Lynx."
/Doomreaver

== The Ides of March ==
So this is what I call a "House Keeping" part. It covers boring facts from the game like my end of month report, a satellite finishing, and the current panic situation, and tries to turn it into something interesting to read. Hopefully I succeeded and managed to give the Commander and the NPC's some character development. The current plan is to do this once a month at the end to recap the months exploits and bridge each month.
/Doomreaver

== Hardball ==
So I just noticed I started a lot of my author commentary with "So". Now that I've done so yet again specifically to point it out, I'll try to be more grammatically interesting :P. Besides, it's really unnecessary to add a so in front of a sentence that's perfectly fine without it.

I really learned a lot about how the game works with this part. The day I played the mission I was at work for 24 hours and the internet was down for the foreseeable future. Being extremely bored, I played a little XCom, at first on a different file, but I couldn't bring myself to care about starting another new game and playing two at the same time, so I fired up the file for this project. I was far from focused, mostly wanting something to do to entertain myself, and I got my ass kicked horribly. Obviously I was really annoyed at myself for this, and due to Ironman it was set in stone. Except I wasn't online and there was no online backup for the new file. I immediately uninstalled the game so I could later redownload it and retry the mission.

Upon reloading the game I learned a couple things. Firstly, the developers are fairly smart and my save scumming attempt was a failure. Secondly, the game saves at the start of every turn, not after every action. This is an important distinction, as it means that from now on when I make a misclick that would get people killed (Like Caroline Hardy in the previous month), I can reload the game and undo the misclick as long as I do so before the Aliens take and finish their turn. This is extremely useful knowledge, because oftentimes it looks like a soldier can see and shoot from cover and it turns out they can't once they get there, and because they sometimes take unexpected routes to a location that get them shot several times. Both problems can now be eliminated.

== Back to Nigeria ==
After the fiasco of the last mission I decided to lower the difficulty on the game. I have never done Ironman or Classic difficulty before, and the later comes with several surprises that I can't adapt to without a lot of men dying due to the former. It was a mistake to do both in a single run, so now it's back to Normal difficulty, but still Ironman mode. This is most evident in this part, as the Thin Men die in a single volley, though I feel I did a good job of explaining it as the soldiers learning better how to kill them. See, the new enemy types all have four health, and your guns can do up to four damage total. On Normal, the chance is pretty good, on Classic, the chance is very low. Thus in the last few missions I was as surprised as the characters that they could eat grenades or a burst of machine gun fire and still blow their faces off. If I had known beforehand, I would have used more rockets and been more careful.

In this part I got hit by the panic mechanic. Right before Vulpintaurs death a Thin Man hit him with poison. This actually caused everyone except Brubeck to panic, firing wildly and unable to take actions like retreating, which would have saved him. One soldier, I forget which, even fired at another soldier as he had no other viable targets, though he fortunately missed by a mile. I've heard of this happening before with low ranked soldiers, an Alien does something or one of your men dies, causing everyone else to panic and kill each other and the next thing you know you've only got one soldier left, it's the enemies turn, and there was absolutely nothing you could do about it. This event felt extremely silly, so in the story itself I said everyone fired on the Aliens trying to keep them under cover and save Vulpintaur, a much more sensible and heroic impulse then shooting each other in a sudden bout of madness.

User:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-07-21T11:51:57Z

Doomreaver: Adding new parts

{{title|name=XCom Project Part 1: Invasion|author=Doomreaver}}

== First Contact ==

<center>“Two possibilities exist:

Either we are alone in the Universe,

Or we are not.

Both are Equally Terrifying.” –Arthur C. Clarke</center>

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhdzRDIddU| Opening Cinematic]

No one could believe it when the word came. This was a dead end assignment, go sit in a hole in the ground in Europe with the bare minimum of electricity and be ready in case Aliens attacked the earth. It was a joke, one the men laughed about daily while playing cards or pool to burn time. Then word came of the projects activation, along with video of strange devices dragging victims into them as people ran screaming in terror, and the joke wasn’t funny anymore.

There was a mad scramble to gear up. For all that no one expected this to ever happen, they at least had the best equipment, advanced full body armor, grenades, assault rifles, the works. All together a pain in the ass to put on in a hurry though, especially when the generators were still warming up to full power and only the emergency lights on in the equipment room. Finally the troops were ready, and four of the men rushed onto the Skyranger.

Central Officer Bradford briefed them on the way over.

“We have reports of Alien activity in Glasgow, UK. Your objectives are to sweep the area and clear it of all hostiles. Good luck.”

As soon as the ship landed, everyone landed rushed out and took cover behind one of the strange devices and a few nearby vehicles.

“I hope this thing isn’t going to turn back on.” Stonegate said as she crouched behind it, peering around for targets.

That’s when the men saw them for the first time. They were small, grey, with large heads and strange orange-glowing bellies, each gripping some sort of green pistol in hand. “Open fire! Guesz yells, and a hail of bullets flies out towards the nearest of the three targets. They scramble for cover, faster than anyone expected, but Hardy managed to nail one of them with a volley, dropping it in a spray of orange blood. The other two took position inside a building, peering out the windows.

Stonegate and Hardy opened up on the Aliens, but they had good cover and went uninjured. Guesz rushed to take cover behind a large armored truck, trying to get a better firing position, while Rhianna circled around to flank. “Shit, got three more!” she called from her new position. She watched while the second group of hostiles moved out of sight. Guesz was peering at the two in the building still when a green ball plasma splashed into the truck right next to his head. “They’re flanking!” He called. Meanwhile the ones in the building repositioned themselves, a member of the second group joining them. One of them stood to its full height, barely half the size of a man, and opened fire on Hardy. The green energy of the gunshot shredded the wall, leaving a gaping hole, and hit Hardy in the chest.

“Hardy!” Stonegate yelled in alarm, but the body armor had saved her, though a large glowing hole was now in her armor and she could feel burns on her chest.

Hardy was now officially pissed. Ducking low, she ran towards the front of the car, then knelt to remove something from her belt. “Grenade!” she called, throwing it through the hole in the wall. Inside, the three ET’s looked at the object curiously for a second before it exploded, shrapnel tearing their bodies apart.

Guesz ran around to the side of the truck so that he was no longer flanked by the enemy. He noticed one of the grey creatures emitting a purple beam towards the one that had flanked him. “Take that one down!” he called, and he and Stonegate opened fire from their new positions, but neither of them managed to land a hit on the creature cowering under its cover. Rhianna, no longer close enough to fire on the new targets after trying to flank the now dead aliens inside, rushed closer towards the enemy. The ET that had previously been flanking Guesz ran closer to Stonegate and opened fire, green plasma splashing across her shoulder Hissing in pain, she ducked back under cover. “I’m alright!” she assured the others.

Guesz, Hardy, and Rhianna all opened fire on the glowing purple creature, and enough of the storm of bullets landed to take it down. Stonegate watched from across the lot of the store as the beam entering the other creature changed color and sank into it. It gave a strange yell, jerking up, all of its muscles tense, then collapsed, dead.

“Satellite readings show no other movement, all hostiles are down. Great job men.” Bradford sent.

Back at base there was an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. As they trooped off the transport, two of them injured but alive, Commander McNair met them, along with all the other soldiers. A great cry rose up as the victorious soldiers entered walked out of the Skyranger, and those left behind rushed forward to pat them on the back. While they were gone everything had been fired up and the base was humming along smoothly now, bright fluorescents lighting the room brilliantly, far better than the emergency lights that had been all that was on before. After a few moments, the Commander motioned everyone to calm down so he could speak.

“Today, we have won an important victory. We have met an enemy unknown to man before now, and defeated them without losing a single man. Caroline Hardy was key in this mission, eliminating half of the foe with a single well placed grenade, and delivering the killing blow to all of the other enemies. As such, it is my honor to grant her this promotion.” Again everyone erupts in shouts of congratulations as the Commander shook Hardy’s hand and she took the new insignia from him. Eventually the cheers died down, and McNair spoke again.

“Although this first mission was a great success, this was just the first battle. There are reports of UFO’s across the globe, and while there have been no more abductions yet, we must be prepared at any moment to respond to Alien activities. Feel free to celebrate tonight, but know that we are the vanguard of Humanity, it’s only hope against this unknown threat. ”

“ET doesn’t stand a chance against us!” Vulpintaur yelled, and the men again cheered. The Commander left then, to let them have their celebration, and to prepare with the labs and engineers. This was far from over, and they’d need every edge they could get if they were to win this war.

== Girding for War ==

March 1, 2014

Commander McNair met with Central Officer Bradford in the Situation room shortly after the promotion of Hardy. Gazing at the map on the giant screen set into the wall, he asked “How bad is it?”

“It could be better sir. Although the council will provide us with any equipment for our soldiers free of charge, and supply us logistically, we’ll be paying for base expansion ourselves, as well as construction of any equipment we learn make from the Aliens. Furthermore, the nations of the council feel that they shouldn’t have to provide direct funding for us if we don’t have satellite coverage to protect them from the Alien threat. Most satellites can’t detect them, only our specially modified ones can.”

Waving at the map, McNair asks “So that means the only country currently giving us monthly funding is the United Kingdom?” At Bradford’s nod, McNair sighed deeply. “I suppose more satellite coverage should be a priority then. What other good news do you have?”

“Well sir, at the moment reports on the ET’s have just started and most people are confused more the worried. However, as things escalate we’ll have to keep an eye on the panic levels around the world. If too many incursions happen in a country without response, the panicking populace will probably cause the government to withdraw its support.”

“Very well, thank you Bradford. I’ll expect to be kept abreast of the global situation at all times.”

“Of course sir, I will sir. Also, you should visit the Labs and Engineering, the Council sent in staff for them.”

“Oh really? I hope they brought some dusting spray.”

The Commander left Bradford and considered a moment before setting off to the labs first. Inside it was brightly lit, with several scientists setting up various pieces of equipment. As McNair walked in, one of the scientists looks up and greets him.

“Commander? My name is Doctor Vahlen, I’m the head of the research team. It is good to meet you.”

McNair shakes her hand. “Good to meet you to. Is everything in working order? We haven’t had a Scientist on the payroll for a year.”

“The equipment is adequate. We found most of it in storage and completely new, it seems my predecessor had little use for it. We have already begun analyzing the artifacts recovered from our first encounter with the Aliens. Based on our preliminary findings, we believe we can use them to develop some new equipment for our soldiers.”

“Good to know, we’ll need everything we can get to win this. What are our options?”

“We recovered several corpses from the battle, and though most were in poor shape, I believe we could gain an understanding of Alien biology that will help us combat them. Another option is to study the recovered artifacts. The Alien’s weaponry seems to self-destruct when the owner dies, so all we have are fragments, but we have enough to learn about either the methods they use to create the weapons, or the hardened material the Aliens seem to use.”

The Commander thinks for a minute. “Those materials, could they be used to improve the armor of our men? In our last encounter the Aliens blasted through the armor in a single shot, we were lucky not to lose anyone.”

“Yes I do believe that would be viable with enough research. It will take some time, but I will be sure to inform you as we make progress.”

After saying his goodbyes, McNair headed to the Engineering Bay. It was mostly a very large empty area, big enough to build anything up to and including satellites or fighter jets. Along the walls where various pieces of large construction equipment being checked over by the Engineers. An older man with balding white hair noticed him and walked over.

“Greetings Commander, welcome to the Engineering Bay. I’m Dr. Shen and I head the work here, we’ll build anything the lab boys cook up.”

“Good to meet you. What’s the staff look like?”

“Well sir, as you know no one really expected an Alien invasion. I only got here today, and only five engineers arrived with me. Everyone’s very good at their jobs, but larger projects will be slow and expensive until we get more men.”

“After talking to Bradford and Dr. Vahlen I’m not surprised, and it looks like we won’t be able to secure more resources unless we expand our coverage. Can you build another satellite?”

Dr. Shen hesitates a moment, thinking. “Yes I believe we can, but it will take most of our current funds and three weeks of work with the staff we have on hand.”

“Do it. Every eye in the sky we have increases the countries willing to send us monthly funds.”

{{Separator|d}}

Phil Guesz didn’t stay at the celebration long. Instead, he found himself wandering the corridors. It just didn’t feel right. Sure they had taken out some Aliens, outnumbered and outgunned, without losing a man, but it seemed everyone forgot the video of crowds running in panic, people screaming in fear as they dragged by strange green energy and sucked into a device that should be too small to hold them all. Who knows what happened to those victims, or what the Aliens did to them. Where they dead? Imprisoned? Being experimented on even now like all the crazy “I got kidnapped by Aliens and they did stuff to me!” nutjobs claimed? Those stories weren’t so crazy these days…

He found himself standing outside the infirmary door. Reaching up, he pressed the “Open” button, and it slid open with a whoosh. The infirmary was pretty standard, tiled walls, white floor, the smell of disinfectant and sterilizing agents. Glancing around, he’s surprised to see two beds occupied. One has the privacy curtain pulled around it, and on one across the room sits Caroline Hardy in a hospital gown.

“Hey.” Hardy says, glancing up at Guesz.

“Hey. I thought your armor blocked the shot you took.”

“Most of it. I didn’t want to ruin the celebration, so I just gritted my snuck here while it got started. Why’d you leave?”

“It just doesn’t feel right to celebrate an Alien invasion, no matter how well the first fight goes.”

“Yeah I feel you.” Hardy nods, then grimaces in pain. Guesz looks closer and notices a part of her neck is blackened, just barely visible over the collar of the gown.

“How bad is it?” he asks, concern written all over his face.

“See for yourself.” she motions to the top of the gown and leans back some.

Guesz hesitates, then reaches forward and pulls the collar down just a little more to see. Some sort of strange burn is exposed, covering her collar bones and extending below sight. “Shit…” he breathes.

“Looks worse than it is I’m told. The skin on my upper chest is burned away, but the armor saved my life and the plasma sealed the wound so I didn’t bleed out. Can’t even feel it most of the time, only when I move in certain ways.”

Guesz sits down next to Hardy, then looks over at the hidden bed. “How bad did they get Windscale?”

“Little worse than me, I’m amazed she kept fighting out there. The plasma burned through the armor at the shoulder and ran down her right arm. You could see the burns if Doc hadn’t come and closed the curtains. He hates rushing it, but says we’ll both be in good enough condition to go back out in a week. The council is providing the best medicine in the world for us, and we can’t really afford to wait for scars to fade before we go back out.”

They both stare at the curtain hiding Freya for several seconds, contemplating the events of the day. “A lot of people are going to die before this is over aren’t they?” Guesz said sadly.

“Looks like. I’m amazed either of us lived, and those ET’s we fought today didn’t strike me as soldiers, more like working grunts or scientists. We’ll face worse before the end.”

“Think we’ll win?”
They look at each other, the neck of her gown still low enough to show off the blackened skin. “I don’t know.” She responds, her gaze determined. “but we’ll sure as hell put up a good fight.”

== Midnight Run ==

March 6, 2014

It was the middle of the night five days later before the shit hit the fan. The alert sounded through the base, and McNair walked out of his bedroom and into controlled chaos.

“Bradford, what’s going on?”

Bradford looked up from the lower area. “Sir we have reports of multiple, simultaneous abduction attacks across the world. We don’t have the manpower or transportation to respond to more than one.”

McNair closed his eyes and leaned his head back, fists clenching. He took a deep breath. “Damn it. Where?”

“Cape Town, South Africa, Fukuoka, Japan, and Toronto, Canada sir!” one of the techs yells.

McNair gazes at the giant 3D globe floating in the center of the room for a long moment. “Send the Skyranger to Japan. We’ll just have to hope the local forces can handle the threat elsewhere.” Even as he said it, everyone in the room knew it would probably be a slaughter.

With Hardy and Windscale still in the infirmary, only two soldiers who had seen the ET’s before could go on the mission. Tiberius Vulpintaur and Alexander Green joined Guesz and Stonegate on the Skyranger, filled with a nervous energy.

“What’re they like? The Aliens.” Vulpintaur wondered.

“Lab boys named them ‘Sectoids’. They look a lot like the grey men aliens you see on TV actually, so I guess myths are loosely based in reality. Don’t underestimate them, they blew a wall down with a single volley. Advance carefully and always be behind cover.” Stonegate responded.

The Skyranger dropped them off in what looked like a construction site. Two green outlines of people who had been dragged into the strange machines, greeted them as they ran down the ramp, and the rookies stared at them as they glowed softly in the night-vision goggles.

“Less gawkin more walkin!” Stonegate told them, rushing past the strange outlines and taking cover behind a stack of something under a tarp. Getting ahold of themselves, everyone found something to duck behind, gazing out for any signs of movement. The construction yard was full of scattered stacks of building materials and large rectangular metal shipping crates, and there was a ramp leading up to a crane that lifted things from the ground way below. After 20 seconds of nothing in sight but some wandering pigeons, Guesz ran forward to new cover against a pair of massive transport crates.

“I see 2!” He called, as two Aliens some distance away rushed behind cover.

Vulpintaur ran forward to take position next to Guesz, while the others stayed back, as there was no other good cover closer to the enemy. Vulpintaur then motioned that he would try to flank the enemy to the left and disappeared around the corner of the metal container, only to curse loudly and rush back behind cover. “2 more on the high ground!”

Green and Guesz opened fire on one of the Sectoids Guesz had spotted, but couldn’t land a hit as it ducked behind the far side of the shipping container. Stonegate advanced to cover next to the ramp and tried to nail one of the two Vulpintaur spotted up on the high ground, but had no more luck than anyone else.

One Sectoid focused on another, a purple aura going from it to its fellow. Seemingly emboldened by its psionic support, it rushed forward at Green and Guesz, who opened fire at it. Vulpintaur ran over to Green and joined them in firing at the approaching Sectoid, and it took several bullets, but amazingly didn’t fall, grabbing a ladder on the side of the crate and climbing up. Meanwhile, Stonegate advanced up the ramp, trying to flank the Alien mentally empowering the other, but it saw her and ran to cover. The other aliens both took cover in a couple half-finished walls, one opening fire at the soldiers, the other casting that strange green energy to its fellow on top of the crate, who dropped down beside Guesz and also fired, but he ducked behind a pile of bricks just in time. Amazingly, none of the aliens managed land a hit, the plasma splashing off the wood Vulpintaur and Green where hiding behind.

Guesz turned and shot the ET next to him in the face before it could get off another shot, and from the way it screamed and fell to the ground it seems that whatever the purple energy was, it only helped so much. Stonegate tried to nail the one on the high ground, but only managed to send a cloud of dust into the air from the cinder blocks it crouched behind. Green and Vulpintaur had no luck either, their bullets just missing one who had advanced to the other side of the shipping crate. One had stayed behind at the unfinished walls and buffed its comrade, who held it’s fire, waiting for the soldiers to try to advance on it.

Up on the high ground, Stonegate managed to avoid the stream of plasma that was fired at her, then rushed forward, and blasted the Sectiod in the face before it could react. A new pair of Sectoids saw her as she ran forward. Green managed to clip the Sectoid hiding behind the storage crate. Guesz, tired of the stalemate, advanced quickly to the ladder, jumping on it and climbing up, getting clipped slightly by the ET as he did so, then running to the other side and dropping down where he could flank it. Guessing his plan, it backed up, trying to get behind something so Guesz couldn’t nail it in the side, but he followed after it. Stonegate opened fire from the high ground, and while it was distracted avoiding her burst, Guesz nailed it, finishing it off. Everyone took a moment to reposition around the last Alien that had been hiding in the half finished walls for a while now and reload their weapons. Vulpintaur was the one who managed to take it down, advancing quickly to nearer cover, then putting a half dozen bullets in its chest when it leaned out to figure out where he went.

“Is that all of them?” Green called. They all stood from behind cover a moment and looked around.

“This is central, we’re still picking up movement, so there should be more of them.” Just then, Stonegate caught sight of one of the pair that had earlier seen her trying to sneak towards her.

“ET on the flank!” she yelled, dropping back behind cover. The Sectiod, realizing it had been spotted, hid behind the ramp leading up to the high ground. Everyone rushed to reposition, Green and Vulpintaur moving towards the ramp, while Stonegate climbed a ladder to an even higher section of the construction site, Guesz climbing a different ladder to take position where she had been. Green saw movement as an ET ran up and he scored a lucky shot, a bullet going into it’s eye. Thinking it was the one behind the ramp, Vulpintaur advanced, but it had been a different Sectoid. The one hiding behind the ramp blasted him with plasma. Screaming in agony, Vulpintaur fell back against another shipping crate, his gun falling to the ground. Snatching his grenade, he threw it at the Alien, who tried to scramble away but wasn’t fast enough, it’s body shredded by the explosion. Guesz, hearing the scream, rushes over, while the others take up position to cover them in case there are more Aliens.

Vulpintaur was in bad shape. His chest-plate was completely melted, and some of the plasma had splashed across his face. He was still screaming, laying against the shipping crate, one of his eyes melting as Phil gazed in horror. Yanking out his medkit, he sprayed it on the injured man. It’s soothing mist caused the plasma to dissipate, and pain killers entered Vulpintaur’s bloodstream. In just a few moments the pain was deadened completely.

“That miracle drug is temporary, it’ll get you back in the action but you’ll be out of the fight for a while once we get back.” Guesz told him. Vulpintaur took several deep breaths, then stood up.

“You should stay down, we can finish off the rest.” Guesz told him.

“No, that really is a miracle drug, I can barely feel it. I’ll give you covering fire.” From the grim stare he gave Phil, enhanced by his now blacked left eye, Guesz knew there was no use arguing.

They advanced slowly to the last small section of the site, eyes peeled for ET’s constantly. Vulpintaur apparently really was completely deadened to the pain, as he advanced with surety, gaze sharp, sweeping back and forth. Stonegate on the high ground watched them advance, waiting for them to get into position before moving to where she could see – and be seen – from the final corner. They found a pair of Sectoids hiding behind some building supplies, but for once luck was with them and Green and Guesz managed to kill them before they could react. That was the last of them, a short search later proved; as did a radio call from Bradford indicating no movement could be detected by local satellites.

The mood was much more somber this time. While they had been clearing out Fukuoka, everyone else had been watching the news in Canada and Africa. As they feared, local forces hadn’t been able to do anything against the Aliens, and a large number of people had been abducted. Panic was rising as the news spread. Although they had again managed to eliminate the enemy without losing a man, Vulpintaur had to be rushed to the infirmary as soon as they got back. None of his wounds were life threatening amazingly, but he would be out of action for a while and probably lose his eye, and the shot Phil had thought merely clipped his armor had burned through during the rest of the battle and he would need attention from Doc as well.

With 8 Aliens dead and everyone accounting for a pair, McNair promoted them all to Squaddie, but with far less fanfare than Caroline’s promotion had. Everyone was exhausted, even those who hadn’t gone on the combat mission, for the klaxons had woken the entire base. Then news of the Aliens successfully kidnapping dozens of people from Canada and South Africa had come in, local policeman and soldiers standing no chance against the threat. There was little conversation as people went to sleep for the last few hours of the night.

== The Biohazard ==

March 13, 2014

For the next few days, everyone was tense. In 6 days the Aliens had hit four cities, managing three at once on opposite ends of the world the second time, and everyone was all wound up waiting for the next assault. There are only so many days in a row you can spend drilling, practicing at the firing range or working out before it gets old though. By the end of a week the nervous tension had drained to a dull boredom. Fortunately, the base came with a fully stocked bar, complete with a pool table and a giant screen TV.

This particular evening just about everyone was hanging around in the bar. Zane had just arrived and gotten some beers from Donny, the Bartender, to take to the loveseat where he and Rhianna liked to sit together. As he walked past the pool table he saw the 8 ball go into a pocket and grinned. Copernicus, one of the engineers, had been beating everyone in pool all evening. The council had dug him and a few other engineers up as thanks for the great job at Fukuoka, and he had just arrived.

“This place is awesome. I get to build new tech based on Alien designs, and this is the first military job I’ve gotten that came with its own pool table. Best two out of three?”

Doug, his opponent, grimaces. “Sure, nothing better to do. I’m glad you like it here, I bet no one else in the room volunteered except maybe Donny.”

Cope raises an eyebrow as he racks up the balls. “Oh really? How come?”

“Until two weeks ago, no one had any actual proof Aliens existed, yet a project was made just in case of Alien invasion and stocked with Soldiers. This was a dead end post that you got sent to by pissing off the wrong people. I got drunk and vomited on a Four Star General right before he was to make a speech.”

Several people chuckle. Maximilian, who was playing Cribbage with Alex and Caroline, speaks up. “My stories rather interesting if I do say so myself. I was a Gunnery Officer at a British Navy port, kept all the weapons maintained and was in charge of the warehouses. One day my commanding officer storms in and demands to know where a certain shipment was. Of course I had no idea off the top of my head. It seems he had shipped his private collection of old Flintlocks using military resources, which is against the rules incidentally, and was now upset that they had been misplaced.”

Maximilian pauses a moment to take a swallow from his drink and count up his points. “15 2, 15 4, double run of three for 10 and a pair for 12. Where was I? Oh yes, so after the chap blows his top a while he storms out, and I dig through the records to figure out what the dickens happened. A few days later I find the crate sitting in the back of a different warehouse, and I’m just going to tell the bloke when I get told he’s got me shipped out here. Naturally I forgot to let him know I found his pistols before I left, and a pair of very nice looking ones seem to have vanished when he found the shipment a week later.”

Everyone gets a good laugh out of that, and Copernicus just starts making the rounds after that. “Lost the CO’s Begal.” Alex says. “Knocked out a General when he touched my ass.” Caroline comments while moving her peg. “Slept with the Secretary of Defense’s daughter!” Phil calls out from his place at the bar.

“I wanted to fight Aliens.” Freya announces casually. Everyone stares at her.

“Wait a sec. Until two weeks ago, no one had any proof that Aliens existed, nor that they would start mass kidnappings, yet you still decided to sign up for XCom specifically so you could kill some?”

Freya scoffs. “Course Aliens exist, there’s a half dozen in storage at the labs. What other opponent would be as challenging or exciting as Aliens?”

Doug blinks, shakes his head, then looks around again. “How about you lover boy?” He yells at Zane. Zane looks up and grins from the loveseat. “Rhianna and I got into a relationship. Problem was, she was my CO. We got caught by someone we knew who decided not to turn us in, but it was getting too risky.”

Rhianna picks up the story. “So I did some research and learned this place had its own ranking system, and we’d both start at ‘Rookie’ since neither of us had served in a war. Called in a favor, got us transferred, problem solved.”

Everyone nods and goes back to what they were doing. Cope grins at Doug. “I you lost that bet, they asked to be transferred. How much was it for again?”

Doug snorts. “We didn’t actually settle on a bet, but I guess I’ll buy you a drink.” This being a top secret military base, Donny wasn’t allowed to hire any waitresses, so Doug walks over to the bar to fetch a pair of drinks. At the far end of the bar was a woman he thought he recognized, one of the soldiers, silently sipping at her drink, not participating in the conversation.

“Hey uhh… Hawlsera isn’t it? What’s your story?”

She looks up at him a moment, then back down into her drink. “It’s… personal.”

“Oh come on, everyone else shared. Hell I puked on a fuckin General, that’s as embarrassing as it gets.”

She just shakes her head. Now Doug was intrigued, and he decided to insist. “Look, all the rest of the men I know by name, but I had to think to remember yours. This base is tiny, so you’ve been hiding. Before, it didn’t matter, but now we’re at war and we have to trust each other with our lives. If you can’t trust us with whatever it is that brought you here, do you really want to trust us with your life on the battlefield?”

For a long time Hawlsera doesn’t say anything. Doug’s drinks arrived, but rather than going back to Cope he sit and waits. Eventually he decides she was just ignoring him. “Screw it.” He thinks, then yells out to the room “Hey guys! Hawlsera here listened to all of our amusing, embarrassing, and touchy feely stories, but doesn’t think she can trust us with a little history lesson of her own. What do you think of that?”

Immediately everyone boos her good naturedly. “Cmon, tell us!” Phil calls. “Even if you refuse, if we really want to know we can probably look up your military records.” Alex points out.

Hawlsera finally looks up from her drink. There is a hunted look in her eyes that suddenly made everyone uncomfortable. She takes a deep breath to rally herself, then glares at the assemblage. “Fine. You want a history lesson? I’m TG, or transgender. I was born a guy and miserable most of my life, feeling like I was in the wrong body, wanting to be a girl. My dad found out, and tells me he didn’t raise me to be a pansy and sent me off to the army to become a ‘real man’. I hide it for years, absolutely miserable, before saying fuck it and starting therapy, only for everyone to treat me like a freak once they found out. I got transferred here right after I spent every dime I own on the surgery hoping for a new start as Female and no one knowing. So much for that idea!”

Finishing her tirade, she leans back over her drink sullenly, avoiding the gaze of the somewhat stunned room. After a moment of gazing at her near empty glass, there’s a *thunk* and she looks up to see Donnie’s retreating back, a fresh drink in front of her, next to the money he didn’t take as payment. Suddenly someone hugs her from behind.

“You’ll always just be one of the girls to me.” Freya says.

Doug, feeling like a total jackass, pipes up. “We’re all in this together Hawlsera. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, guy, gal, TG, whatever! We’ve got your back, no matter what.”

There’s a murmur of agreement throughout the room. Phil raises his glass. “Here’s to us: The brothers and sisters in arms who are going to blast those Alien scum back to the hell they came from!”

As everyone raises their glasses in toast, Hawlsera looks at them. They all return her gaze steadily, waiting for her to join them. Finally she raises hers as well. “To us.”

== Operation Splashdown ==

March 14, 2014

“Sir, our satellite has picked up something.”

“What?” Bradford said as he looked up intently at the holo-globe.

“There is something in the air over Europe. It’s causing gravimetric disturbances unlike anything we have in the air.”

“Good work, get Blackwing to his ship.” Bradford commed McNair. “We have a UFO over Europe sir, probably Alien in origin. You’d better get up here.”

McNair, who had been enjoying a nice, leisurely meal at the Biohazard, dropped his food and got up. As he strode purposefully into the Control Room, one of the techs called “Blackwing’s suited up and ready to take off in Avenger-1.” Bradford looked up at McNair, who merely nodded his acord.

It was a tense wait. The UFO was flying about at a decent clip in what seemed to be some sort of searching or scanning pattern, weaving back and forth over areas of Germany. Blackwing took it slow to conserve fuel, which meant that it took several hours before he was anywhere near it.

“You sure it’s up here? Sky’s all clear and I’m not getting anything on radar.” He asked.

“The bogie isn’t showing on any radar, so we’re pretty certain it’s extraterrestrial in origin. You’ll need a visual lock to confirm.”

“Roger.” Another few minutes passed as Blackwing scanned the sky for anything else in the air. “I got something, moving fast, no contrail, moving in.” As he flew closer, he slowly made out what looked like a flying silver disk. The entire thing was rounded and curved, preventing radar waves from bouncing off of it, and the sides glowed an alternating bright blue and darker blue.

“Bogie sighted, sure as hell ain’t Human. Permission to engage?”

“Granted. Good luck Avenger-1.”

He approached from the “Side” of the ship, for a lack of a better word. It was heading west, while he was going north. After a moments thought, he maintained his relatively low speed on approach. No one had taken potshots at a UFO before, so with luck it would ignore him until he got close enough for target lock.

Avalanche missiles, what he had on his fighter, had the most advanced guidance system known to man. It could keep track of a ship at twice the range and with ridiculous accuracy compared to the next best. When he had passed optimal lock distance, then exceeded it by 1/4th of the stated numbers, he cursed to himself. “Fuck it, Leeroy Jenkins time.” Pouring on speed, he shot at the UFO suddenly, shattering the sound barrier and rapidly closing the distance. At less than half the stated range of his weaponry he got a target lock and opened fire. A moment later there was a huge plume of flame and a loud explosion as it impacted the strange craft.

Blackwing was just throttling back and preparing to turn to match the UFO’s trajectory when he saw the blue glow change directions and shoot directly away from him. Quickly readjusting his course, he accelerated as rapidly as he could to keep up with the speeding Aliens.

“Target hit, bogie took off like Superman at closing time. “ He reported. The Bogie was fast, but large. Blackwing closed on it, but very slowly. Suddenly there was a green flash and something arced towards him. Reacting quickly, he did a barrel roll, mostly avoiding it, but took a slight hit on the wing. Regaining his target lock, he fired again, but the missile veered off, passing the UFO by a good distance.

“Takin fire, I thought these things never missed.” His calm tone belied the adrenaline flooding his system. Quickly he fired again, landing a hit this time. Again return fire came, but this time it missed by a wide margin. It seems Aliens are not the best sharpshooters, or at least not this group.

Already the chase had been on several minutes, and at this speed his fuel was rapidly depleting. He had time for one more shot before he had to break off or risk not having enough to return to base. First though, he waited a few precious seconds to ensure a closer target and a firm lock. Rolling past another shot across his wing, he fired, then cut the throttle. As his speed dropped, he watched his last missile hit home. After a moments, he sighed in disappointment as it kept going, although smoke billowed out of it. Then it slowly tilted from it’s straight course, edging more and more towards the ground and beginning to plummet.

“Central, this is Blackwing, we have a confirmed kill on Bogey. I repeat, the UFO is down.”

As everyone started cheering, Bradford commed “Copy that Blackwing, good work. Central out.” Things began to calm down again as he called for a satellite visual on the crash site. Smoke filled the screen, and it took a few magnifications before they could clearly see the UFO.

“Still in one piece.” Bradford said, surprised. One side of it was charred and had a gaping hole from the repeated missile impacts, but otherwise it was intact. “Commander, I recommend we get a strike team to the crash site immediately.”

{{Separator|d}}

The crashed UFO was in the middle of a forest in Germany. Fire smoldered in the underbrush in several places from leaked plasma, and trees were snapped like twigs from the fall, trucks lying stretched out on the ground. Wordlessly the strike team took position behind the broken tree’s, then after ensuring there was no ambush waiting for them as they landed, set out into the woods.

Soon they came across debris from the wrecked spaceship. It was hard to tell what any of it used to be, most of it just twisted pieces of metal, some large enough for a man to lean against even standing. Just then Green stopped from his position towards the back. “I heard something; I think there is a group trying to circle around us.” Quickly the group repositioned and advanced slantwise away from the UFO. It took a little bit, but Green spotted the Sectoids across the strewn wreckage and opened fire with his massive machine gun, the bullets shredding his unfortunate target. None of the others could get a clear shot except for Hardy, whose shotgun was useless at the distance the 2nd target was at, so she pulled out her sidearm and opened fire, hitting the Alien a few times but failing to kill it.

Guesz took a risk, rushing across open ground to distant cover, ducking green plasma to slam into a low stone rise, then standing back up as soon as the firing stopped, blowing away the remaining Alien. “Geez Phil, one of these days your luck is going to run out!” Stonegate called out to him.

“It’s my lucky rabbit’s foot!” he called back.

Just then Hardy saw another pair of ET’s off to her right, from the opposite direction of the first group. “Incoming!” she called as the two grey creatures backed up a little to find suitable cover. Guesz fell back to join the others as they found new cover from the direction the new targets approached from. One advanced carefully, being charged by its fellow with that purple energy, then opened fire at Guesz and missed. Guesz returned fire, not hitting it, while the girls circled around to try to get at the Alien channeling into it’s ally. Green wasn’t able to see either enemy clearly, so he merely waited and watched. Thus when the nearer Alien tried to advance closer to Guesz, Green’s LMG blasted it apart.

The second Sectoid, seeing it’s fellow die, tried to retreat. Stonegate and Hardy saw it and ran quickly after it. It managed to duck out of Hardy’s sight at the last second, only for Stonegate to draw her pistol and nail a headshot, killing it.

Everyone was fairly certain the woods were clear then, so they moved on the UFO. It was remarkably intact, about as big as a small house though not as tall as one, almost but not quite circular. It’s sides glowing with some sort of transparent energy field on four sides, while some sort of deep blue shield was on the remaining portions.

“I think that’s some sort of door.” Stonegate pointed at the non-transparent part.

“I see an entrance through that other part.” Guesz commented. After a bit of discussion, they decided they didn’t want to be seen coming, so circled around to surround the large blue “door” of the UFO. Once they were all in position, Hardy hesitantly put out a hand and touched the blue field. Immediately it made a high pitched humming noise and dissipated. For a split second, they saw an orange crystal floating in mid-air. Then something formed around it, a creature seemingly made of a tan metal with black portions giving an impression of a face and emphasizing joints. A rifle materialized with it, and it gazed at the intruders as orange energy sparked from the crystal in it’s stomach.

“Open fire!” They all aimed for the thing, but it was blazingly fast, running to cover before they could react to its sudden appearance. Hardy reacted almost as quickly though, rushing up close to it and unloading her shotgun into it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t tough enough to take a point-blank shotgun blast to the core, and it vanished as suddenly as it appeared, dematerializing into thin air, nothing remaining except the shards of it’s weapon.

== Escort Duty ==

March 15, 2014

“Commander we are receiving a transmission from the council for you. Please report to the Situation Room.” A voice over the intercom said.

McNair cracked his eyes open and glanced at the clock. “Oh come on, 12:51?” he thought. Grumbling, he got dressed, taking his time in an attempt to be properly awake before setting out. Stopping outside the room, he took the one last yawn and stretch. As he entered, he hoped he looked fully awake. “Alright patch them through.”

A looming shadowy figure appeared on the screen, basically a silhouette of the man who acted as “Face” of the council. McNair was a bit annoyed, wondering if they were that paranoid, too concerned with appearances to let him see one tired, or if they just enjoyed the atmosphere of secrecy.

“Commander, we have received word that a friend of this Council has come under attack in Nigeria. It would reflect poorly on our efforts if we were to allow our ally to be captured by hostile forces. We'll need you to ensure his safe return to XCOM HQ; we should have further details by the time your troops reach the extraction site.”

“A friend? Could you possibly be more specific?”

“No Commander. Suffice to say this person has been… useful in the past, and may be in the future if you are successful in the extraction. Time is of the essence, as it is uncertain how long he can evade pursuit.”

“Very well, we’ll scramble a squad ASAP.”

“Good.” The screen blacked out. “Sir, we’re receiving coordinates and a dossier. All it has is a name, age, and picture.” The night tech said.

McNair rubbed his temples. “Alright then. I’ll go wake the troops, send all the info to the Skyranger’s onboard computer. It’s going to be a long night.”

No one was particularly happy at being woken, nor about hearing what little information there was on this mysterious person. Eventually Morgan, Stonegate, Guesz, and Hardy were up and on the way.

They landed on a major road of some sort in Nigeria. Everyone was a bit surprised that a third world country had such a thing. Some sort of stone decorative area with plants and statues sat on either side of the road, with walkways going over it in places. Not many details on the target where added on route, just that his name was Hutch, and he had been in a limo when the Aliens attempted an abduction, and had hit some form of panic button that alerted the Council immediately.

Fanning out, they had just begun searching when Hardy saw a tall, thin man in a suit with sun glasses. Thinking it was a body guard or some sort of secret service, she started to hail the figure, when it saw her and dove behind cover, clutching it’s plasma pistol.

“Got a hostile over here, looks Human but has Alien gear.” Hardy called out as she too took cover. Stonegate looked in the indicated direction through her scope and saw the figure stand up to fire. Her bullet landed first, and the creature exploded into a vile looking green gas with a loud agonized hiss.

“Whoa what the fuck?!” Guesz exclaimed.

“Be careful everyone, we have hostiles that are posing as Human. Watch your fire, and be sure of friend or foe before you approach anyone.” Hardy warned.

They advanced carefully to the edge of the stairs leading down to the road, taking cover behind large lights and pots. Gazing down at a stopped car, Guesz saw two men cowering behind it on the near side. “Freeze, identify yourself!” Guesz yelled, aiming at them.

One of them peed his pants and turned so pale he lost his tan, while the other cursed in a foreign tongue and said “We’re friendlies! There are some on the other side of the highway!” Looking up, Guesz saw a Sectoid crouching behind a statue across the way, aiming down at the two men, and Morgan saw two more crouching at the overpass. Stonegate advanced quickly to cover the civilians, while Morgan got a shot and kill on a Sectoid who was caught by surprise. Guesz dropped a smoke bomb to conceal the group on the asphalt.

One of the Aliens was surrounded with a familiar purple glow. Dropping onto the road and taking cover behind an abandoned car, it took careful aim and fired at Morgan. The plasma hit him in the face, and he fell screaming to the ground, convulsing for a moment before he died.

“Shit, man down!” Stonegate called. Hardy raced forward, blood pounding in her head, and got up close to the Alien who had killed Morgan. Another Alien that had been hidden behind cover tried to shoot her as she ran, but missed, and she opened up on the damned thing. Blood spattered everywhere and gaping holes appeared in it’s flesh. It looked up at Hardy and glared, amazingly still up from the psionic enhancement it was receiving. Stonegate’s round penetrated it’s skull and finished it off just as it’s weapon discharged, causing the weapon to fly off, the shots to going wild, missing Hardy from point blank range.

The Sectoid that had been augmenting it’s ally advanced and fired towards Hardy, but also missed. Guesz dropped to the road and took out the one that had tried to shoot her as she advanced, while Stonegate continued to cover Hardy with her rifle. It had too much cover and the bullet missed, cracking into the stone of the ornate light fixture. Hardy moved around so it was no longer flanking her, and it advanced some, ducking behind more cover just as Stonegate’s next round flew past it. “Reloading.” Stonegate called.

Guesz was keeping watch for a flanking maneuver by any other Aliens down the highway. Hardy peeked out and almost got hit by the Alien’s reaction shot. There was a stalemate for a bit longer as it found a new position where Stonegate couldn’t fire with her reloaded rifle and blasted away at Hardy, but then she found an opening and advanced quickly on it, blowing it away with her shotgun as it was reloading.

Everyone took a breather for a moment, as all nearby targets seemed to have been eliminated. They had ended up fairly scattered, and all converged on the two civilians as they reloaded.

“Thanks for the save.” The man who had soiled his pants said, sitting on the ground, leaning against the car, shivering. “If you’re looking for Hutch he fled down the road right after they showed up. I think he’s hiding behind that delivery van.”

Nodding, they all looked at each other a moment, then over at Morgan’s bloody corpse. “He died for nothing if we don’t get Hutch out of here.” Phil commented.

“Should we put him on the transport?” Stonegate asked.

“No time, we might still have hostiles and we don’t want to leave Hutch unsecured or be carrying a corpse when we get under fire.” Hardy pointed out.

Stonegate nodded solemnly. “Then I’ll stay here, cover you, and make sure nothing desecrates the corpse. Once we have Hutch we’ll retrieve Morgan for burial.”

They advanced carefully to where Hutch was hiding. Hardy was the one to approach him, probably a poor choice considering the orange blood spattering her armor and face. Hutch was at first taken aback by her appearance, but recovered quickly. “Thank god you’re here! We’ve got to get out of here before more show up!”

“We got you. Keep close, and stay covered behind cars as much as possible.” She responded.

About halfway back down the highway they spotted the incoming hostile. This time everyone got a good look at the thin, humanish Alien. The resemblance was only passing actually, it was much too tall for any normal person, and it’s wrists and neck had scales that just peaked out of the sleeves and collar. Also helping the identification was it’s aggressive pose and glowing green weapon. Without hesitation they opened fire on it, but it twisted in an unnatural way, as if it had no spine, and the unexpected motion meant the shots missed.

Raising to it’s full height, the Alien spat. A green projectile of some sort flew out and exploded around Hutch into a toxic cloud. Coughing and gasping, he panicked and ran towards the Skyranger. Another volley of shots at the thing, and a few bullets hit, but it hissed in agony and kept standing, firing down at Hardy. She had just been leaning out to fire at it when it shot, the blast catching her in the chest several times.

“NO NO NO GOD DAMN IT!” Stonegate screamed, emptying her rifle wildly at the Thin Man. It’s luck finally ran out, and it exploded like it’s fellow had leaving a thick green mist. As she vented frustration, the rifle clicking on empty, a sudden strangling noise startled her. Jumping up, she whirled around, pointing her now empty gun wildly about. Hutch had run past her while she was distracted and was now just behind her, mere feet from the Skyranger. As she watched, he clutched at his throat, his eyes bulging, his face a strange reddish green, and he collapsed from the toxin. Running over, dropper to her knees next to him, she yelled “Phil get the fuck over here!”

Phil had wandered over in a daze to Hardies corpse. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he tried anyway. He had just finished applying the medkit to her corpse when he heard the scream. Cursing and gazing about wildly, he ran as fast as he could back to the Skyranger. As he ascended the steps, he saw Stonegate there, kneeling next to the already stiffening corpse of the VIP, clutching it like a dead baby or lover. He dropped his gun, and his medkit. And then he began to chuckle historically, and it turned into tears and screams of rage and frustration.

== Vengeance ==
March 15, 2014

They did not have time to mourn. Mere hours after returning from the failed rescue the alert went out: Once more the Aliens were striking across the globe, abducting people in mass in three cities. Everyone was awake despite it being five in the morning, news had spread fast as to the deaths. Most had gathered at the Biohazard to getting the story from Rhianna, who had just finished her debriefing. Looking up at the sound of the klaxon, everyone hesitates, still fixated on the disaster only just befallen them.

“Well, duty calls.” Rhianna said, standing. She was still in her armor from the last mission, having no time to change between the unloading, debriefing, and the questions.

Zane immediately stood up. “If you’re going, I’m coming to.”

Scowling, Rhianna responded. “I don’t need your protection, I’m a better shot than you and have been on several missions without you.”

Calmly, Zane nods. “Yes, you are, but this is war and as has just been painfully proven, any of us can die. If one of us is going down, I want us to be together, either so we can go out fighting together, or so one of us can avenge the other.”

She gazed long and hard at her lover at that. Then she nodded, and together they went to suit him up and retrieve her weapons.

Meanwhile Phil was with the Commander when the alert went out. Immediately he said “Sir, permission to be a part of this mission.”

“Guesz, you just got back from a mission that went horribly wrong and you’re mentally and physically exhausted. You’re in no condition to fight.” McNair pointed out.

“Sir, I’m one of your best men and if this next mission goes wrong moral will be crushed. I took no shots in the last mission, and I want payback. No one else is a better choice.”

McNair thought a while, weighing Guesz’ words. Finally he sighed. “Very well. Be very careful, we cannot afford any more mistakes tonight.”

Alexander Green was chosen as the last member of the strike force. After consulting the global situation they were sent to Mexico. The other nations would have to fend for themselves. The sun was just coming up as they landed outside a large construction zone that the Aliens had taken cover in after their abductions. Quickly the team took cover behind some large construction equipment.

“Targets spotted!” Guesz said, seeing motion inside a large mostly demolished building off to the left. The creatures quickly took cover, and he and Stonegate took position to cover that flank. Brubeck moved behind a large crate filled with a few tons of dirt and peeked out, spotting three more targets almost right on top of the squad. Acting quickly, he pulled his grenade and tossed it at the Aliens as they scattered, killing two of them.

Green, hearing the explosion, looked over. “Got two, another one up!” Brubeck told him, and Green pulled his own grenade. Brubeck motioned to show where the last had taken cover, and Green threw. His aim was true, and amidst the sound of the explosive going off he heard the high pitched keen of the dying Sectoid.

Having eliminated the threat on the right, Green moved forward to one of the large digging machines to help against the other group. Unfortunately he was seen, and one of them took a shot at him as he advanced. The shot landed, splashing across his armor, causing it to melt. “Shit, falling back!” Green said, quickly moving back to relative safety while the rest of the team kept an eye out to make sure nothing could get a second clear shot at him.

Brubeck advanced on the right flank to make sure nothing was trying to make it’s way around to attack from the side. It was fortunate that he did, for he spotted two more which ducked under their cover as he fired at them. One of them advanced quickly, and foolishly. The closer target was an easy mark for Brubeck’s second volley. “Two flanking, got one!” He told the others via his radio.

Meanwhile Phil spotted one of the group of three in the ruined building advancing and opened fire, just missing it as it dived behind a wall. After a moment it peaked out of a window, trying to find Guesz. Guesz had been prepared for this and immediately blasted it, it’s brains spattering the ground. Stonegate moved around the digger she was taking cover behind to where Green had been when he had been shot. Spotting the one that had opened fire at Green, she pulled her grenade and tossed it. The Sectoid was unable to scramble out of the way in time and was blown apart.

Everyone took a moment to reload their weapons. Stonegate, who hadn’t fired yet so had a full clip, kept an eye out in both directions. She spotted the surviving target that Brubeck had seen and opened fire, her second shot eliminating it. After that there was silence for a while. The team was a bit hesitant to advance, as the Sectoids had been happy to run into their gun-sights until now, and although they only knew of one remaining, they had barely advanced into the area and suspected there might be more.

Guesz took point, moving forward to take cover behind one of the strange devices the Aliens had left. Their caution was rewarded, as he spotted two lying in wait for them. Realizing they had been seen, the pair of Sectoids retreated into the shadows. Brubeck repositioned closer to the rest of the group, the three of them eying the darkened building steadily. Green was still hanging back in safety, with his armor compromised he was taking no chances.

Geusz and Stonegate repositioned, Guesz moving forward behind a wall, Stonegate taking Guesz’ previous position. One of the Aliens climbed over a low stone wall and found itself facing all three of them. Eyes going wide, it threw itself flat behind a pile of steel beams as a hail of bullets flew through the space it had been, then scrambled on all fours to hide behind a staircase. Peeking out it fired wildly at Guesz, missing by a wide margin. Again a hail of bullets flew out towards it, but it was either smart or lucky, as it managed to duck behind cover before anyone managed to hit it.

Seemingly emboldened by it’s survival after two volleys from all of the XCom soldiers, it moved up behind a generator, hiding it’s small form behind it. Brubeck managed to clip it, but the shots from the other two missed yet again. Unknown to the XCom team, a second Sectoid had used the distraction to work it’s way all the way around the area and behind them. Leaning out, it opened fire at Guesz back, landing a solid hit. Green, who had been hunkering down at the entrance in safety for a long time, saw the bright green flashes and guessed where the flanking Alien was. Pulling out his rocket launcher, he fired it across the site, obliterating the area he correctly guessed the Alien was in.

The other Sectoid, the one that had the insane luck to survive being a distraction and target practice for the entire team, decided that with a few bullets in it and the giant explosion where it’s friend had been discretion was the better part of valor and tried to retreat. Brubeck, who had emptied his entire clip trying to hit the damned thing, commented “Oh fuck that.” As he saw it retreating. Whipping out his pistol quickly, he finally managed to eliminate it.

Guesz used his medkit to get himself back into fighting form after taking that shot from behind. Then everyone reloaded.

“I think there’s one more.” Stonegate said to the others. Nodding, they all jumped slightly as they heard something fall over.

“Yeah, one more.” Brubeck nodded. Moving cautiously, two of them advanced towards the noise. Suspecting might try to move around behind them like it’s fellow had, Stonegate fell back to work around the outside of the ruined building.

Stonegate found the spot that had been demolished by the rocket, Stonegate ran quickly to take cover behind what remained on the wall. The final Sectoid saw her as she ran past the gaping hole in the building and opened fire, clipping her as she passed. Guesz was right around the corner from the Alien and saw its fire. Moving quickly, he spun around the corner while it was still distracted by Stonegate. It was right next to him, and there was no chance for it to do anything before he killed it.

They cleared the area quickly after that, double checking one last time that there were no more targets. Gathering the bodies and weapon fragments, they headed home. Their arrival was met with muted celebration. The deaths, still only hours old, where heavy on everyone’s mind, but the immediate successful mission afterwards had boosted moral greatly. Only Brubeck escaped the battle unscathed, the rest all requiring a trip to the Infirmary, but none of them were seriously wounded. Soon things quieted down and people started going to sleep. It had been a very long night.

== In Memoriam ==
March 19, 2014

“We gather here today to honor two of our finest who died in the line of duty. Each of them was a staunch defender of Humanity and a valued friend. They will be sorely missed.”

They were gathered in the Biohazard for the memorial service. It was a bit cramped since every soldier was there and several non-combatants who knew the deceased, but all of the other locations in the base where either in use, production and research being too important to stop even for a funeral, or to loud or small, such as the various reactor rooms. Someone had found a recording of bagpipe music that was playing forlornly through the bars sound system.

“Corporal Caroline Hardy was truly the best of us. Her great skill and dedication saw more hostiles eliminated than anyone else, and she was a good friend to many of us here. She will be missed greatly. To Caroline Hardy.” McNair raised his glass and everyone echoed him as they raised theirs as well, then they all drank. A few were shaky as they did so, the men had been shocked at the deaths and failed rescue after so many highly successful missions.

“Maximilian Morgan may not have Caroline’s record of extraordinary skill against our Alien foe, but he was a treasured comrade. In many ways he kept us sane during our long vigil in case of the impossible, his stories of his time in the British service entertained us all during times when the world wasn’t facing this great crisis. He brought light and warmth to the world, light sorely needed in these dark times. To Maximilian Morgan.”

Again everyone toasted, draining the rest of the liquid in their glasses. The bodies had been shipped home for burial, so the group surrounded a small shrine that consisted of a table covered in a shroud, which had the XCom symbol on it, pushed against a wall where pictures of the deceased had been tacked up. McNair finished his eulogies and stepped aside so that several others could go up to pay their respects, some saying a few words or leaving a token, mostly odds and ends like old “lucky” shot glasses or knives. Several split into small groups to reminisce quietly amongst themselves.

“I could have salvaged the mission damn it.” Phil says morosely into his glass. He was off in a corner with Tiberius and Freya. Tiberius had finally been released from medical and had the most visible scarring of anyone so far. The blast had struck him on the chest and face, ruining one of his eyes and leaving black scars splashed across the left side of his face, giving him a decidedly grim and intimidating look.

“How so?” Freya inquired. “Half the squad was down and the council’s friend fatally poisoned.”

“My medkit could have saved him, or at least kept him going long enough to get him back to base for medical care. I lost my cool though, ran over to Hardy when she was already gone.” Scowling, Phil drains his glass and pours another shot.

The others took a moment to digest this; for the most part the details of that bitter defeat had been avoided as a topic of conversation even though it was all anyone could think about. Tiberius rallied first. “Don’t sweat it man, shit happens. Live and learn, this won’t be the last time we get our asses kicked, they outnumber and outgun us. We’re just too badass to throw in the towel.” Phil’s grimace only faded slightly as he stared into his glass morosely.

McNair left the Memorial early. While he too mourned their passing, the men needed this time to discuss among themselves without their commanding officer hanging around. Also, sadly, the demands of his position called him away. Thus McNair found himself sitting in his office looking over files. While efforts were going well, the recent deaths struck home the importance of recruitment. With the seemingly random nature of the Alien activity most countries were both eager to offer applications to XCom and reluctant to send veterans when a major attack could happen at any moment. As such McNair had dozens of recruitment folders of promising new blood, skilled enough to be useful but green enough that their homelands would didn’t feel the loss.

“Bunch of damned fools.” McNair grumbled to himself. “As if anyone else has had much luck predicting or responding to the attacks.”

His work was interrupted by his secretary beeping through the intercom. “Yes?”

“Sir, Meyer is here to see you, she says it’s private.”

“Alright, send her in.”

Meyer entered looking nervous. Quickly McNair ran over what he knew of her. She was one of the men who hadn’t seen action against the Aliens yet, not as introverted as Hawlsera but not as outgoing as Maximilian had been. In short, a fairly average soldier that hadn’t made any strong impression on him.

“Yes?”

“Sir, recent events have made me… reconsider my options. I’d like to request a transfer back to my homeland.”

“You’re from the Netherlands correct?”

“Yes sir.” She sat stiffly in the chair across from his desk.

“Why? Speak freely soldier.”

“Several reasons sir. No offense sir, but I don’t want to die defending some politician in another country from Aliens. I’d rather die fighting in and for my homeland, not some backwater third world country.”

“Fair enough. You do realize that if you do end up fighting you’ll have a better chance of making a difference here. We have the best gear and the only satellites capable of detecting the Alien ships before they launch an attack.” McNair pointed out.

“You might be right sir, but I feel I can better defend my people if I’m with my people.”

McNair sighed deeply. “An understandable, but regrettable, sentiment. We’re all in this together Meyer, all of Humanity against an unknown threat. If you are certain, I’ll approve the transfer request.”

“Yes sir, I am certain. Thank you sir.” Meyer got up and offered a hand. McNair took it.
“It was an honor to have you soldier. Dismissed.” As Meyer left, McNair went back to his folders. It seemed he had one more person to find a replacement for.

== Nicknames ==
March 21, 2014

To the Commanders surprise the Mexican government offered one of their most skilled Soldiers to the XCom project shortly after the Memorial service. Their representative in the council was impressed by the swift reaction so soon after the bitter defeat in Nigeria, so offered the services of Misha “The Fox” Brightleaf, a scarred veteran of the Drug War that had been raging in the country for years. Thus a few days after the Memorial everyone gathered around to meet the new recruit as he got off the Skyranger.

Stepping down from the exit ramp, Misha looked around at the small crowd. ‘Scarred Veteran’ described him perfectly, his face was weathered, with the right ear completely gone, and he had several scars criss-crossing all his visible skin. “All this for little ole’ me? I’m embarrassed.” He commented dryly.

Several people chuckled. McNair stepped forward. Misha, recognizing the Commander bars on his uniform, gave a sharp salute and stood at attention. “Sargent Misha Brightleaf reporting for duty sir.”

“At ease Soldier. It’s good to have you, we’ve lost a lot of manpower lately. I’ve already handled all the paperwork, so for now your time is your own. I’d suggest you go with the rest of the men, they’re certainly eager to meet you and they can help you get settled.“

“Thank you sir. All this fuss, I’m beginning to feel special.”

What followed was a round of introductions. Everyone had to walk up and say ‘Hi’ to the new guy, shake his hand, and tell their name. Misha did his best to remember them all, but found it very hard, especially when he caught sight of some of the unusual black scars caused by the plasma weapons the Aliens wielded. When Tiberius walked up Misha’s mouth actually dropped open at the blackened left side of his face and the eyepatch.

“Damn. You make me look pretty.” Misha said.

“Give it time, I’m sure we’ll all be ugly as sin by the time this is over.” Tiberius responded grinning. “We’ll have to swap scar stories sometime, you seem to have plenty of your own.”

“That I do. I was told not to pack much, all my stuff is in here, and I’ve heard this place has a pretty good bar. How about lets run over there and you can all interrogate me over a cold beer?” As he spoke he shrugged his shoulders to indicate his backpack.

The idea appealed to everyone, so a few minutes later there was an impromptu ‘Welcome to XCom’ party happening. Soon war stories where being swapped, Misha being curious about the Alien menace, it’s capabilities and effective strategies against them, the rest being curious about his own experiences.

“It’ll be nice to know who’s out to kill me by sight. The Drug War, you never know who to trust. Officials get bribed, people join the Cartels just to make money to feed their families, and you finally kill one of the big bosses and you just split it into 50 smaller operations.” Misha reflected.

“How’d you get the nickname ‘The Fox’?” Doug asked from the back.

“Well after a while you get to know when something is up. Some kid runs up to you yelling about how they’re killing his mommy, eventually you just know if he’s really in trouble or if he’s going to pull a gun as soon as you turn your back and shoot you. Got promoted a few times and people started saying I could smell trouble before it came. Somewhere along the way they started calling me ‘The Fox’ and it stuck.”

“I wish I had a nickname. I’d love being called ‘Doug “Xodiac” Linger’.” Doug said.

“You want a name to stick you have to earn it. Hell I didn’t even realize I had one till someone accidentally called me Fox to my face. Liked it well enough I asked about, learned everyone had referred to me by it for months and let everyone know they could use it.”

Rhianna chuckled from her seat next to Zane. “In that case if anyone deserves a nickname it’s Phil. I’ve never seen anyone as lucky as him, he’s been missed by inches a half dozen times!”

“I told you, it’s my lucky rabbitsfoot.” Phil grinned and pulled out said object, a rabbit’s foot on a chain. “Never go into battle without it.”

“So what, that’d make you ‘Phil “Rabbits foot” Guesz’?” Hawlsera asked.

“Sure why not? Fear the Rabbits foot Alien scum!” Phil waved the chain with the rabitsfoot about menacingly. Everyone chuckled at that.

“So wait, you’re “Rabbits Foot”, he’s “The Fox”, my last name is Duck, and Ty over there is named Vulpintaur which is a fancy way of saying four legged fox-man. We’re a regular zoo aren’t we?” Bill commented.

“That we are. Also I noticed that we’ve nicknamed two of the Sergeants, so why not give one to Rhianna to? Anyone surviving against this enemy long enough to make Sergeant deserves one.” Freya pointed out. Everyone looked at Rhianna, who looked a bit bemused.

“Like what?” she wondered.

“How about your favorite animal?” Bill suggested.

“I guess that would be Lynxes, used to see one outside my window in the mountains fairly often as a kid.”

“So Rhianna “The Lynx” Stonegate?” Misha said.

“Sure why not. She’s certainly a tiger in bed.” Zane responded, causing Rhianna to punch him in the side.

“So we’re a group of multinational soldiers brought together to fight an extraterrestrial threat nicknamed after the animals of the world? This sounds like a TV show or a fanfic.” Phil joked.

Alex spoke up in a loud “Opening Credits” type announcer voice. “In the 21st century mankind comes under attack by an Alien Menace. Scrambling to assemble a defense, the nations of the world form an elite group of animal men to defend our planet. This is the story… of XCom!”

== The Ides of March ==
March 31, 2014

“A marvelous device isn’t it?” Dr. Shen commented. He was referring to the newly completed satellite sitting in the engineering bay, which may have been a technological marvel, but it looked like any other satellite, probably to keep it hidden. “There’s nothing else like it the world over. We can launch it to be a dedicated eye for Alien ships, and it has the latest in stealth technology so it’ll hopefully be safe unless we ignore a UFO doing scans of the area. Sadly we don’t have the uplinks for any more, meaning we could put more in the air but wouldn’t be able to receive and decrypt it’s signals. If you want another we’ll have to build more, a costly endeavor.”

McNair nodded. “The month is almost up, we should get fresh funding from the Council then. Establishing detection worldwide is our greatest concern, we can’t constantly be caught by surprise if we’re going to win this war.”

“I’ll get the construction crews ready then sir. We should be able to get new facilities ready in a little over a week once we can pay for the materials.”

“Very good. I’ll head over to the situation room and work out where we most need this.”

Once he arrived, McNair found Bradford in the situation room waiting for him. “Greeting sir, I heard the news about the satellite and have been examining the situation. In my opinion, our best bet is to launch it over Nigeria. They’re dealing with a lot of panic right now, and we might lose their support. If we launch the satellite in that area, they will be able to make a public announcement and greatly calm the country, and it will restore the government’s faith in us.”

“Excellent, we can also transfer Jetfire and an Interceptor to cover Africa.” McNair looked over the situation as he talked. Politics touched everything, even saving the world from an Alien invasion, because if he couldn’t sell XCom to the world leaders and their populace, then they would turn to other means. Fortunately he had the tools he needed, the base was staffed with several information analysts who were examining trends and feelings across the world and posting them in a “Panic” map, showing what areas where most likely to cut their losses and abandon the project. Nigeria was currently a bright red, showing mass panic and a high risk of them cutting all ties with XCom, while most of the rest of the world was in various states of calm depending on if they had actually been hit by an attack yet, and how effective response had been.

“Dr. Shen informs me that we’ll need more hardware to increase are satellite coverage, but once it’s up we can expand further and cover parts of South America. They have medical and interrogation specialists that will be extremely helpful in learning about the enemy.” McNair commented. Bradford nodded, then pointed out that Australia might need reassurance first which would disrupt his plans, and soon the pair where deep in conversation analyzing and predicting as best they could.

A few days later, at the end of the month, McNair was summoned to the situation room to receive a report from the Council. The screen displaying the world map was replaced by the ominous shadowy figure of the Council’s representative.

“Commander, the Council has been extremely impressed with XComs progress, and we do not make this statement lightly.”

“Thank you Sir.”

“You will be pleased to know that your swift response to the concerns of the Nigerian government has reassured them and they have reaffirmed their support. This has led to an increase in the funding we can provide for you. Your many decisive victories overshadow your sole unfortunate defeat by large margin, and we are fully confident in your ability to continue your success in the future.”

McNair nods his thanks as the Councilor’s face is replaced with a summing up of all the reports he had sent in through the month. Looking at it all together it was indeed impressive, with three Alien abduction sites cleared out, a UFO shot down, and only two men lost, with two dozen plus Aliens dead total. Considering they were severely outgunned, he had to agree: the fledgling XCom project was succeeding beyond all reasonable expectations.

The report vanished from the screen after a minute, though McNair could of course pull it up again if need be. He spoke to the representative after he, or rather his outline, had reappeared. “It is an honor to defend Humanity Sir. I’ll be sure to let the men know your sentiments.”

The figure nodded gravely, then saluted McNair. “Good luck Commander.” He said. McNair returned it right before the screen reverted to the report on the global situation.

With the monthly report finished, the project was immediately granted it’s monthly funding, swelling the coffers. McNair immediately gave orders for construction to commence on more laboratory space and a satellite uplink facility, expending most of the funding to vastly increase the capabilities of the base. Money was useless if left lying around, and they needed to make even more progress this month then the last.

== Hardball ==
April 8, 2014

“Sir we have Alien abductions taking place in the UK, South Africa, and the United States.” Bradford informed McNair as he entered Mission Control, summoned by the alert.

“We can respond the fastest to the UK alert. Are the men ready?”

“Guesz, Brightleaf, Green, and Vulpintaur are boarding the Skyranger now sir. I’ll brief them on the way.” Bradford responded.

They arrived at a large gas station, three rows of pumps with a few abandoned cars scattered about. Gazing about, the men were dismayed at the sight: the only decent cover where the pumps themselves, or the concrete support beams right next to them.

“I’ll flank the building.” Brightleaf said and the others nodded as they found the best cover they could. Guesz, the closest to the building saw movement inside of it as he crouched down behind a car parked at a pump.

“Two Thin Men at the entrance, I think they’ve spotted us.” He called out, then opened fire since the element of surprise was already lost. His volley thudded into one of the Alien’s chest as it looked out the window at him, yellow-green ichor splattering the shelves behind it. To his amazement, it didn’t go down, instead moving hurriedly out of site.

Then the entrance to the station flew open, the two Thin Men shooting out of it, spraying the area with plasma. Green had hunkered down as best he could a potted plant and some garbage cans, cover that proved ineffective as the plasma burned through it and splashed all around him. As he writhed in agony on the ground a well-aimed shot finished the job, silencing his screams.

Guesz also took a hit from the plasma, but was more fortunate, his armor saving him. As the Aliens took cover against the walls by the door he saw flames from the car.

“Shit.” Jumping up he sprinted away from the car and pump, taking cover behind the next pump in line. As he pulled out his medkit to patch his wounds the fire found its way to the gas tank, which exploded, shrapnel piercing the pump and causing sparks so it also exploded, turning the car into a ruined husk and throwing shrapnel everywhere. Fortunately the pumps were spaced out enough not to cause a chain reaction.

Brightleaf had taken cover behind some parked cars near the side of the building. He cursed in Spanish as he saw the Aliens open fire, moving as quickly as he could to the side of the building. Pulling out his grenade, he rolled it to the entrance just as the Aliens ducked back. Just as the pump and car exploded, so too did his grenade, taking out entryway and another wall where the building jutted out. As green toxic mist filled the air from the Thin Man’s death, he saw something through the destroyed wall.

Guesz finished patching up his wounds. Vulpintaur, who had moved past the pumps to a large van in the parking area, was now gazing at the entryway through his scope, having intended to finish off the injured Alien but not having a chance before the grenade went off. As he gazed with his one eye into the wreckage, he was amazed to see movement in the smoke.

“One’s still up!” he called, just making out the second Thin Man, bleeding profusely, pull itself out of the rubble and stand up, gun raising. His bullet caught it before it could bring it to bear, a second quickly following to be sure. It exploded into a second cloud of mist.

Everyone was about to take a second to breath when a new threat appeared. Brightleaf barely had time to open his mouth to yell a warning before the thing he was looking at through the demolished wall shot him, an expertly aimed ball of plasma turning his head into a gory mess. Something shot out of the building, a strange amalgamation of red skinned creature and machine, humanoid but with no legs, just large jetpacks attached to it’s back keeping it hovering a few feet off the ground. Guesz opened fire, his bullets thudding into it, sparks and blood flying as it cringed in pain, Vulpintaur’s sniper shot finishing it off, but then three more flew out, one going into the air to take cover at the top of the building, the other two not bothering with cover as they looked out at the station.

“Run, I’ll cover you!” Guesz yelled to Vulpintaur, emptying his gun at the creatures.

His effort was valiant, but he didn’t last long, the three Aliens able to easily gun him down. Vulpintaur followed his advice, running back towards the Skyranger as fast as he could. As he heard Guesz die, he took cover behind the large pricing sign, the thick steel beam hiding him from the floating monsters sight as they moved up, gazing about for him. Breaking from his hiding place, he covered the last bit of ground, only one of the Aliens quick enough to send a shot flying behind him as he ran. As he ran up the ramp the rest of the Aliens began flying towards the Skyranger, plasma splashing off it’s armored hull as the ramp closed and it took off. One attempted to fly up to the engines and disable the ship, but it accelerated, the backwash from the engines flinging the monster back to the ground.

== Back to Nigeria ==
April 10, 2014

The death of three more soldiers was hard on everyone, but everyone was too busy to attend to it over the next day. Panic was spreading quickly worldwide, with two countries threatening to cut support of the XCom project if they did not receive better aid, meaning McNair was busy the entire day doing as much political damage control as he could. Meanwhile the science and engineering teams did their best to perfect new technology to combat the new deadlier foes encountered in the field. In fact, everyone was so busy, that the soldiers found themselves lost in the swirl of people rushing about with urgent tasks with nothing to do whatsoever except mourn and reflect. Thus when in the wee hours of the morning they were woken with an alert of UFO activity they were almost relieved.

“This one’s a bit bigger than the last sir.” Bradford told McNair as they watched the indicator showing the UFO over Nigeria moving across the holographic globe.

“Jetfire to big sky, bogey is in sight.” The pilot’s voice came over the com system.

“Copy that Jetfire, you have permission to engage.”

Jetfire kept in mind what his cohort Blackwing had told him before he was transferred to Africa. Flying closer, he opened fire, the missile crashing into the UFO. Immediately he swerved, the return ball of plasma he knew would come only clipping his jet, the armor holding. The UFO accelerated as Jetfire shot again, another plume of fire splashing across it’s side.

The firefight continued this way, the Aliens not bothering with evasive maneuvers, relying on sheer speed to escape, while Jetfire used every aerial trick he knew to avoid a direct hit while keeping up with the speeding spaceship. After three more hits, the UFO dipped out of the sky, falling towards a forest, while Jetfire turned to limp back to base, heavily damaged as well.

“Jetfire to base, bogey is down. I repeat, Bogey is down.”

They landed in the forest a few hours after midnight. A bright fire burned near their landing site, a piece of rubble from the fallen spaceship smoldering inside. The group advanced slowly, taking cover behind thick trees at all time. Because of this they hadn’t made it far into the woods when a pair of the flying Aliens shot around a large outcrop of stone several, large enough for a few trees to grow on top, quickly flanking their position. They quickly repositioned, fortunately the Aliens seemed just as surprised to see them, so they managed to maneuver around and get the first shots.

Stonegate pulled out her pistol after repositioning. She had gotten some modifications to it, it now fired higher caliber armor-piercing shots. The large slugs tore into the frontmost Alien, while Enroygal threw her grenade to finish it off in an explosion of gore and shards of metal. Zane deployed his smoke grenade to give them cover as well. Vulpintaur was unable to get a clear shot and could only find a fallen log to take cover behind, so he hunkered down as best he could.

The second Alien fled, leaving behind the ruined remains of it’s comrade. They hesitated a moment, then Stonegate advanced to a large tree in the general direction it had gone. Zane climbed to the high ground on top of the stone rise. Stonegate managed to catch a glimpse of it and opened fire, clipping it.

As they advanced to try to track down the second Floater, the group was approached from behind by a pair of Thin Men. Taking cover behind the stone outcrop, withstood the quick shots by Vulpintaur and Enroygall. One of them spat it’s toxic mist at Vulpintaur, blinding him and disorienting him as he coughed on the poison. Engroyal fired at the area the creatures were hiding behind to try to keep them under cover, but was unsuccessful, one of them finishing off Vulpintaur as he tried to reorient himself.

Zane was trying to figure out how to drop on top of the Aliens without exposing himself to their deadly attacks when one of them climbed up to his location. Quick reactions allowed him to unload a volley into it’s skull before it could react, killing it. Meanwhile Stonegate and Engroygall regrouped together around the other side so the remaining one could no longer fire at them from the heavy cover it had.

Still weary of the flying Alien somewhere in the woods, the Women on the low ground took cover behind trees to watch both the woods and the route around the outcropping in case the either of the known targets tried to attack. Zane moved to the middle of the high ground to take cover behind a tree and spotted the remaining Thin Man. It was unaware of him and flanked, crouching down behind the stone gazing about for targets, allowing him to take his time aiming and insure his headshot killed it.

The first sign of the Floaters return was plasma fire, splashing across Enroygall’s armor. It saved her, and she quickly fell back as Brubeck and Stonegate returned fire, neither of them managing to land a hit. It flew back out of sight, and the pair quickly switched positions, Brubeck on the low ground, Stonegate on the high. This allowed Brubeck and Enroygall to meet up and for him to treat her wounds while Stonegate watched from the high ground.

Stonegate advanced to the edge of the high ground, finally spotting the downed UFO. After a moment examining it through her scope, she saw the Floater fleeing towards it. A single shot finished the injured Alien, and the whole group breathed easier at the news.

“That’s probably all of them in the woods.” Stonegate said, and the others nodded in agreement.

They proceeded to advance on the ship, taking extra care. It was horribly damaged, burn marks and gaping holes covering the sides. Enroygall suddenly noticed two Sectoids trying to rush to one of the holes to reenter the ship. Reacting quickly, she gunned one down, then got the other as it tried to turn around and rush back to cover.

“Very nice!” Zane called over.

The group surrounded the door to the UFO a few moments later. Holding up three fingers, Stonegate gave a silent countdown. On zero they touched the door, guns sweeping the interior but finding no targets. This ship was much bigger than the one room affair that had been cleared out a month earlier. This section was mostly an empty hallway with some sort of console in it, hallways going off diagonally to the left and right.

Enroygall moved around to enter the hallway from the hole the Secoids had been trying to enter through. It seemed there had actually been a doorway there, but the damage had torn out the entire wall there. She covered that direction while the other two proceeded down the other short hallway, again taking cover on either side of the large blow glowing door.

The next room appeared to have once stored a reactor. However, all that remained of it was a large hole in the ground. All of the rooms silvery metal was pitted and scared from the explosion. Seeing no threat, the pair quickly moved to cover the next door. Hawlsera left the hallway she had been covering, falling back to keep up with the other two while still covering their rear and the exit to outside every room seemed to have. Opening the next door, Brubeck and Stonegate the largest room yet, centering on an enclosed area on the left that jutted into the room so that the room was shaped like a half circle, a smaller door then the ones they had seen so far entering it, and an important computer of some sort on a raised area on the right. All the way across the area was another door leading to the other half of the ship, the section that the door Enroygall had earlier covered, but not entered, lead to.

Circling around to the other side of the room they found another door, meaning that you could only enter or exit the enclosed area from the two doors in this room. Enroygall caught up and took cover by the near door, while the other two circled around to the far door. They all coordinated to open the doors at the same time.
They looked into what seemed to be the flight deck. Several large computers sat in the room with a holographic map on the wall overhead. A strange red crystal floated in the room, and reacted to their presence, forming into an strange metallic humanoid creature. Enroygall remembered the story of the actions of her fallen comrade Caroline Hardy at the last UFO, and she quickly advanced, getting close to it while it was still gaining it’s bearings and emptying her rifle into the exposed crystal at it’s waist. It vanished as quickly as it had appeared as the crystal shattered into a million pieces.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:non-TF]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet

2014-07-21T11:47:42Z

Doomreaver: /* The Men */

This is the list of all of the characters in the XCom Project. First is the name, with a nickname in quotation marks if they have earned one,then rank, class, number of missions, and finally number of kills. If you would like to be included, either as yourself or one of the characters from your stories, let me know!

The ranks, in lowest to highest order: Rookie, Squaddie, Corporal, Sargent, Lieutenant, Major, Colonel

The Specializations are: Sniper, Assault, Support, Heavy

== The Men ==

'''Doug Linger''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Bill Duck''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Zane Brebuck''' - Corporal- Support - 2 Missions - 6 Kills

'''Hawlsera Enroygall''' - Squaddie - Assault - 1 Missions - 4 Kills

'''Freya Windscale''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Mission - 0 Kills

'''Rhianna "Lynx" Stonegate''' - Sargent- Sniper - 6 Missions - 8 Kills

== The Memorial ==

'''Phil "Rabitsfoot" Guesz''' - Sargent - Support - 5 Missions - 7 Kills - Died on 4/8/2015

'''Misha "The Fox" Brightleaf''' - Sargent - Heavy - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - 4/8/2015

'''Alexander Green''' - Corporal- Heavy - 4 Missions - 6 Kills - Died on 4/8/2015

'''Carolin Hardy''' - Corporal - Assault - 3 Missions - 8 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

'''Tiberius Vulpintaur''' - Squaddie - Sniper - 3 Mission - 2 Kills - Died on 4/10/2015

'''Maximilian Morgan''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet

2014-07-21T11:44:35Z

Doomreaver: Updating

This is the list of all of the characters in the XCom Project. First is the name, with a nickname in quotation marks if they have earned one,then rank, class, number of missions, and finally number of kills. If you would like to be included, either as yourself or one of the characters from your stories, let me know!

The ranks, in lowest to highest order: Rookie, Squaddie, Corporal, Sargent, Lieutenant, Major, Colonel

The Specializations are: Sniper, Assault, Support, Heavy

== The Men ==

'''Doug Linger''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Bill Duck''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Zane Brebuck''' - Squaddie - Support - 1 Mission - 4 Kills

'''Hawlsera Enroygall''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Freya Windscale''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Mission - 0 Kills

'''Rhianna "Lynx" Stonegate''' - Sargent- Sniper - 5 Missions - 7 Kills

== The Memorial ==

'''Phil "Rabitsfoot" Guesz''' - Sargent - Support - 5 Missions - 7 Kills - Died on 4/8/2015

'''Misha "The Fox" Brightleaf''' - Sargent - Heavy - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - 4/8/2015

'''Alexander Green''' - Corporal- Heavy - 4 Missions - 6 Kills - Died on 4/8/2015

'''Carolin Hardy''' - Corporal - Assault - 3 Missions - 8 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

'''Tiberius Vulpintaur''' - Squaddie - Sniper - 3 Mission - 2 Kills - Died on 4/10/2015

'''Maximilian Morgan''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet

2014-07-10T16:11:35Z

Doomreaver: Adding new soldier

This is the list of all of the characters in the XCom Project. First is the name, with a nickname in quotation marks if they have earned one,then rank, class, number of missions, and finally number of kills. If you would like to be included, either as yourself or one of the characters from your stories, let me know!

The ranks, in lowest to highest order: Rookie, Squaddie, Corporal, Sargent, Lieutenant, Major, Colonel

The Specializations are: Sniper, Assault, Support, Heavy

== The Men ==

'''Alexander Green''' - Corporal- Heavy - 3 Missions - 6 Kills

'''Phil "Rabitsfoot" Guesz''' - Sargent - Support - 5 Missions - 7 Kills

'''Tiberius Vulpintaur''' - Squaddie - Sniper - 1 Mission - 2 Kills

'''Doug Linger''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Bill Duck''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Zane Brebuck''' - Squaddie - Support - 1 Mission - 4 Kills

'''Hawlsera Enroygall''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Freya Windscale''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Mission - 0 Kills

'''Rhianna "Lynx" Stonegate''' - Sargent- Sniper - 5 Missions - 7 Kills

'''Misha "The Fox" Brightleaf''' - Sargent - Heavy - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

== The Memorial ==

'''Carolin Hardy''' - Corporal - Assault - 3 Missions - 8 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

'''Maximilian Morgan''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

User talk:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-06-17T04:12:45Z

Doomreaver: Adding Commentary

User:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-06-17T03:54:44Z

Doomreaver: Adding a new part

{{title|name=XCom Project Part 1: Invasion|author=Doomreaver}}

== First Contact ==

<center>“Two possibilities exist:

Either we are alone in the Universe,

Or we are not.

Both are Equally Terrifying.” –Arthur C. Clarke</center>

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhdzRDIddU| Opening Cinematic]

No one could believe it when the word came. This was a dead end assignment, go sit in a hole in the ground in Europe with the bare minimum of electricity and be ready in case Aliens attacked the earth. It was a joke, one the men laughed about daily while playing cards or pool to burn time. Then word came of the projects activation, along with video of strange devices dragging victims into them as people ran screaming in terror, and the joke wasn’t funny anymore.

There was a mad scramble to gear up. For all that no one expected this to ever happen, they at least had the best equipment, advanced full body armor, grenades, assault rifles, the works. All together a pain in the ass to put on in a hurry though, especially when the generators were still warming up to full power and only the emergency lights on in the equipment room. Finally the troops were ready, and four of the men rushed onto the Skyranger.

Central Officer Bradford briefed them on the way over.

“We have reports of Alien activity in Glasgow, UK. Your objectives are to sweep the area and clear it of all hostiles. Good luck.”

As soon as the ship landed, everyone landed rushed out and took cover behind one of the strange devices and a few nearby vehicles.

“I hope this thing isn’t going to turn back on.” Stonegate said as she crouched behind it, peering around for targets.

That’s when the men saw them for the first time. They were small, grey, with large heads and strange orange-glowing bellies, each gripping some sort of green pistol in hand. “Open fire! Guesz yells, and a hail of bullets flies out towards the nearest of the three targets. They scramble for cover, faster than anyone expected, but Hardy managed to nail one of them with a volley, dropping it in a spray of orange blood. The other two took position inside a building, peering out the windows.

Stonegate and Hardy opened up on the Aliens, but they had good cover and went uninjured. Guesz rushed to take cover behind a large armored truck, trying to get a better firing position, while Rhianna circled around to flank. “Shit, got three more!” she called from her new position. She watched while the second group of hostiles moved out of sight. Guesz was peering at the two in the building still when a green ball plasma splashed into the truck right next to his head. “They’re flanking!” He called. Meanwhile the ones in the building repositioned themselves, a member of the second group joining them. One of them stood to its full height, barely half the size of a man, and opened fire on Hardy. The green energy of the gunshot shredded the wall, leaving a gaping hole, and hit Hardy in the chest.

“Hardy!” Stonegate yelled in alarm, but the body armor had saved her, though a large glowing hole was now in her armor and she could feel burns on her chest.

Hardy was now officially pissed. Ducking low, she ran towards the front of the car, then knelt to remove something from her belt. “Grenade!” she called, throwing it through the hole in the wall. Inside, the three ET’s looked at the object curiously for a second before it exploded, shrapnel tearing their bodies apart.

Guesz ran around to the side of the truck so that he was no longer flanked by the enemy. He noticed one of the grey creatures emitting a purple beam towards the one that had flanked him. “Take that one down!” he called, and he and Stonegate opened fire from their new positions, but neither of them managed to land a hit on the creature cowering under its cover. Rhianna, no longer close enough to fire on the new targets after trying to flank the now dead aliens inside, rushed closer towards the enemy. The ET that had previously been flanking Guesz ran closer to Stonegate and opened fire, green plasma splashing across her shoulder Hissing in pain, she ducked back under cover. “I’m alright!” she assured the others.

Guesz, Hardy, and Rhianna all opened fire on the glowing purple creature, and enough of the storm of bullets landed to take it down. Stonegate watched from across the lot of the store as the beam entering the other creature changed color and sank into it. It gave a strange yell, jerking up, all of its muscles tense, then collapsed, dead.

“Satellite readings show no other movement, all hostiles are down. Great job men.” Bradford sent.

Back at base there was an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. As they trooped off the transport, two of them injured but alive, Commander McNair met them, along with all the other soldiers. A great cry rose up as the victorious soldiers entered walked out of the Skyranger, and those left behind rushed forward to pat them on the back. While they were gone everything had been fired up and the base was humming along smoothly now, bright fluorescents lighting the room brilliantly, far better than the emergency lights that had been all that was on before. After a few moments, the Commander motioned everyone to calm down so he could speak.

“Today, we have won an important victory. We have met an enemy unknown to man before now, and defeated them without losing a single man. Caroline Hardy was key in this mission, eliminating half of the foe with a single well placed grenade, and delivering the killing blow to all of the other enemies. As such, it is my honor to grant her this promotion.” Again everyone erupts in shouts of congratulations as the Commander shook Hardy’s hand and she took the new insignia from him. Eventually the cheers died down, and McNair spoke again.

“Although this first mission was a great success, this was just the first battle. There are reports of UFO’s across the globe, and while there have been no more abductions yet, we must be prepared at any moment to respond to Alien activities. Feel free to celebrate tonight, but know that we are the vanguard of Humanity, it’s only hope against this unknown threat. ”

“ET doesn’t stand a chance against us!” Vulpintaur yelled, and the men again cheered. The Commander left then, to let them have their celebration, and to prepare with the labs and engineers. This was far from over, and they’d need every edge they could get if they were to win this war.

== Girding for War ==

March 1, 2014

Commander McNair met with Central Officer Bradford in the Situation room shortly after the promotion of Hardy. Gazing at the map on the giant screen set into the wall, he asked “How bad is it?”

“It could be better sir. Although the council will provide us with any equipment for our soldiers free of charge, and supply us logistically, we’ll be paying for base expansion ourselves, as well as construction of any equipment we learn make from the Aliens. Furthermore, the nations of the council feel that they shouldn’t have to provide direct funding for us if we don’t have satellite coverage to protect them from the Alien threat. Most satellites can’t detect them, only our specially modified ones can.”

Waving at the map, McNair asks “So that means the only country currently giving us monthly funding is the United Kingdom?” At Bradford’s nod, McNair sighed deeply. “I suppose more satellite coverage should be a priority then. What other good news do you have?”

“Well sir, at the moment reports on the ET’s have just started and most people are confused more the worried. However, as things escalate we’ll have to keep an eye on the panic levels around the world. If too many incursions happen in a country without response, the panicking populace will probably cause the government to withdraw its support.”

“Very well, thank you Bradford. I’ll expect to be kept abreast of the global situation at all times.”

“Of course sir, I will sir. Also, you should visit the Labs and Engineering, the Council sent in staff for them.”

“Oh really? I hope they brought some dusting spray.”

The Commander left Bradford and considered a moment before setting off to the labs first. Inside it was brightly lit, with several scientists setting up various pieces of equipment. As McNair walked in, one of the scientists looks up and greets him.

“Commander? My name is Doctor Vahlen, I’m the head of the research team. It is good to meet you.”

McNair shakes her hand. “Good to meet you to. Is everything in working order? We haven’t had a Scientist on the payroll for a year.”

“The equipment is adequate. We found most of it in storage and completely new, it seems my predecessor had little use for it. We have already begun analyzing the artifacts recovered from our first encounter with the Aliens. Based on our preliminary findings, we believe we can use them to develop some new equipment for our soldiers.”

“Good to know, we’ll need everything we can get to win this. What are our options?”

“We recovered several corpses from the battle, and though most were in poor shape, I believe we could gain an understanding of Alien biology that will help us combat them. Another option is to study the recovered artifacts. The Alien’s weaponry seems to self-destruct when the owner dies, so all we have are fragments, but we have enough to learn about either the methods they use to create the weapons, or the hardened material the Aliens seem to use.”

The Commander thinks for a minute. “Those materials, could they be used to improve the armor of our men? In our last encounter the Aliens blasted through the armor in a single shot, we were lucky not to lose anyone.”

“Yes I do believe that would be viable with enough research. It will take some time, but I will be sure to inform you as we make progress.”

After saying his goodbyes, McNair headed to the Engineering Bay. It was mostly a very large empty area, big enough to build anything up to and including satellites or fighter jets. Along the walls where various pieces of large construction equipment being checked over by the Engineers. An older man with balding white hair noticed him and walked over.

“Greetings Commander, welcome to the Engineering Bay. I’m Dr. Shen and I head the work here, we’ll build anything the lab boys cook up.”

“Good to meet you. What’s the staff look like?”

“Well sir, as you know no one really expected an Alien invasion. I only got here today, and only five engineers arrived with me. Everyone’s very good at their jobs, but larger projects will be slow and expensive until we get more men.”

“After talking to Bradford and Dr. Vahlen I’m not surprised, and it looks like we won’t be able to secure more resources unless we expand our coverage. Can you build another satellite?”

Dr. Shen hesitates a moment, thinking. “Yes I believe we can, but it will take most of our current funds and three weeks of work with the staff we have on hand.”

“Do it. Every eye in the sky we have increases the countries willing to send us monthly funds.”

{{Separator|d}}

Phil Guesz didn’t stay at the celebration long. Instead, he found himself wandering the corridors. It just didn’t feel right. Sure they had taken out some Aliens, outnumbered and outgunned, without losing a man, but it seemed everyone forgot the video of crowds running in panic, people screaming in fear as they dragged by strange green energy and sucked into a device that should be too small to hold them all. Who knows what happened to those victims, or what the Aliens did to them. Where they dead? Imprisoned? Being experimented on even now like all the crazy “I got kidnapped by Aliens and they did stuff to me!” nutjobs claimed? Those stories weren’t so crazy these days…

He found himself standing outside the infirmary door. Reaching up, he pressed the “Open” button, and it slid open with a whoosh. The infirmary was pretty standard, tiled walls, white floor, the smell of disinfectant and sterilizing agents. Glancing around, he’s surprised to see two beds occupied. One has the privacy curtain pulled around it, and on one across the room sits Caroline Hardy in a hospital gown.

“Hey.” Hardy says, glancing up at Guesz.

“Hey. I thought your armor blocked the shot you took.”

“Most of it. I didn’t want to ruin the celebration, so I just gritted my snuck here while it got started. Why’d you leave?”

“It just doesn’t feel right to celebrate an Alien invasion, no matter how well the first fight goes.”

“Yeah I feel you.” Hardy nods, then grimaces in pain. Guesz looks closer and notices a part of her neck is blackened, just barely visible over the collar of the gown.

“How bad is it?” he asks, concern written all over his face.

“See for yourself.” she motions to the top of the gown and leans back some.

Guesz hesitates, then reaches forward and pulls the collar down just a little more to see. Some sort of strange burn is exposed, covering her collar bones and extending below sight. “Shit…” he breathes.

“Looks worse than it is I’m told. The skin on my upper chest is burned away, but the armor saved my life and the plasma sealed the wound so I didn’t bleed out. Can’t even feel it most of the time, only when I move in certain ways.”

Guesz sits down next to Hardy, then looks over at the hidden bed. “How bad did they get Windscale?”

“Little worse than me, I’m amazed she kept fighting out there. The plasma burned through the armor at the shoulder and ran down her right arm. You could see the burns if Doc hadn’t come and closed the curtains. He hates rushing it, but says we’ll both be in good enough condition to go back out in a week. The council is providing the best medicine in the world for us, and we can’t really afford to wait for scars to fade before we go back out.”

They both stare at the curtain hiding Freya for several seconds, contemplating the events of the day. “A lot of people are going to die before this is over aren’t they?” Guesz said sadly.

“Looks like. I’m amazed either of us lived, and those ET’s we fought today didn’t strike me as soldiers, more like working grunts or scientists. We’ll face worse before the end.”

“Think we’ll win?”
They look at each other, the neck of her gown still low enough to show off the blackened skin. “I don’t know.” She responds, her gaze determined. “but we’ll sure as hell put up a good fight.”

== Midnight Run ==

March 6, 2014

It was the middle of the night five days later before the shit hit the fan. The alert sounded through the base, and McNair walked out of his bedroom and into controlled chaos.

“Bradford, what’s going on?”

Bradford looked up from the lower area. “Sir we have reports of multiple, simultaneous abduction attacks across the world. We don’t have the manpower or transportation to respond to more than one.”

McNair closed his eyes and leaned his head back, fists clenching. He took a deep breath. “Damn it. Where?”

“Cape Town, South Africa, Fukuoka, Japan, and Toronto, Canada sir!” one of the techs yells.

McNair gazes at the giant 3D globe floating in the center of the room for a long moment. “Send the Skyranger to Japan. We’ll just have to hope the local forces can handle the threat elsewhere.” Even as he said it, everyone in the room knew it would probably be a slaughter.

With Hardy and Windscale still in the infirmary, only two soldiers who had seen the ET’s before could go on the mission. Tiberius Vulpintaur and Alexander Green joined Guesz and Stonegate on the Skyranger, filled with a nervous energy.

“What’re they like? The Aliens.” Vulpintaur wondered.

“Lab boys named them ‘Sectoids’. They look a lot like the grey men aliens you see on TV actually, so I guess myths are loosely based in reality. Don’t underestimate them, they blew a wall down with a single volley. Advance carefully and always be behind cover.” Stonegate responded.

The Skyranger dropped them off in what looked like a construction site. Two green outlines of people who had been dragged into the strange machines, greeted them as they ran down the ramp, and the rookies stared at them as they glowed softly in the night-vision goggles.

“Less gawkin more walkin!” Stonegate told them, rushing past the strange outlines and taking cover behind a stack of something under a tarp. Getting ahold of themselves, everyone found something to duck behind, gazing out for any signs of movement. The construction yard was full of scattered stacks of building materials and large rectangular metal shipping crates, and there was a ramp leading up to a crane that lifted things from the ground way below. After 20 seconds of nothing in sight but some wandering pigeons, Guesz ran forward to new cover against a pair of massive transport crates.

“I see 2!” He called, as two Aliens some distance away rushed behind cover.

Vulpintaur ran forward to take position next to Guesz, while the others stayed back, as there was no other good cover closer to the enemy. Vulpintaur then motioned that he would try to flank the enemy to the left and disappeared around the corner of the metal container, only to curse loudly and rush back behind cover. “2 more on the high ground!”

Green and Guesz opened fire on one of the Sectoids Guesz had spotted, but couldn’t land a hit as it ducked behind the far side of the shipping container. Stonegate advanced to cover next to the ramp and tried to nail one of the two Vulpintaur spotted up on the high ground, but had no more luck than anyone else.

One Sectoid focused on another, a purple aura going from it to its fellow. Seemingly emboldened by its psionic support, it rushed forward at Green and Guesz, who opened fire at it. Vulpintaur ran over to Green and joined them in firing at the approaching Sectoid, and it took several bullets, but amazingly didn’t fall, grabbing a ladder on the side of the crate and climbing up. Meanwhile, Stonegate advanced up the ramp, trying to flank the Alien mentally empowering the other, but it saw her and ran to cover. The other aliens both took cover in a couple half-finished walls, one opening fire at the soldiers, the other casting that strange green energy to its fellow on top of the crate, who dropped down beside Guesz and also fired, but he ducked behind a pile of bricks just in time. Amazingly, none of the aliens managed land a hit, the plasma splashing off the wood Vulpintaur and Green where hiding behind.

Guesz turned and shot the ET next to him in the face before it could get off another shot, and from the way it screamed and fell to the ground it seems that whatever the purple energy was, it only helped so much. Stonegate tried to nail the one on the high ground, but only managed to send a cloud of dust into the air from the cinder blocks it crouched behind. Green and Vulpintaur had no luck either, their bullets just missing one who had advanced to the other side of the shipping crate. One had stayed behind at the unfinished walls and buffed its comrade, who held it’s fire, waiting for the soldiers to try to advance on it.

Up on the high ground, Stonegate managed to avoid the stream of plasma that was fired at her, then rushed forward, and blasted the Sectiod in the face before it could react. A new pair of Sectoids saw her as she ran forward. Green managed to clip the Sectoid hiding behind the storage crate. Guesz, tired of the stalemate, advanced quickly to the ladder, jumping on it and climbing up, getting clipped slightly by the ET as he did so, then running to the other side and dropping down where he could flank it. Guessing his plan, it backed up, trying to get behind something so Guesz couldn’t nail it in the side, but he followed after it. Stonegate opened fire from the high ground, and while it was distracted avoiding her burst, Guesz nailed it, finishing it off. Everyone took a moment to reposition around the last Alien that had been hiding in the half finished walls for a while now and reload their weapons. Vulpintaur was the one who managed to take it down, advancing quickly to nearer cover, then putting a half dozen bullets in its chest when it leaned out to figure out where he went.

“Is that all of them?” Green called. They all stood from behind cover a moment and looked around.

“This is central, we’re still picking up movement, so there should be more of them.” Just then, Stonegate caught sight of one of the pair that had earlier seen her trying to sneak towards her.

“ET on the flank!” she yelled, dropping back behind cover. The Sectiod, realizing it had been spotted, hid behind the ramp leading up to the high ground. Everyone rushed to reposition, Green and Vulpintaur moving towards the ramp, while Stonegate climbed a ladder to an even higher section of the construction site, Guesz climbing a different ladder to take position where she had been. Green saw movement as an ET ran up and he scored a lucky shot, a bullet going into it’s eye. Thinking it was the one behind the ramp, Vulpintaur advanced, but it had been a different Sectoid. The one hiding behind the ramp blasted him with plasma. Screaming in agony, Vulpintaur fell back against another shipping crate, his gun falling to the ground. Snatching his grenade, he threw it at the Alien, who tried to scramble away but wasn’t fast enough, it’s body shredded by the explosion. Guesz, hearing the scream, rushes over, while the others take up position to cover them in case there are more Aliens.

Vulpintaur was in bad shape. His chest-plate was completely melted, and some of the plasma had splashed across his face. He was still screaming, laying against the shipping crate, one of his eyes melting as Phil gazed in horror. Yanking out his medkit, he sprayed it on the injured man. It’s soothing mist caused the plasma to dissipate, and pain killers entered Vulpintaur’s bloodstream. In just a few moments the pain was deadened completely.

“That miracle drug is temporary, it’ll get you back in the action but you’ll be out of the fight for a while once we get back.” Guesz told him. Vulpintaur took several deep breaths, then stood up.

“You should stay down, we can finish off the rest.” Guesz told him.

“No, that really is a miracle drug, I can barely feel it. I’ll give you covering fire.” From the grim stare he gave Phil, enhanced by his now blacked left eye, Guesz knew there was no use arguing.

They advanced slowly to the last small section of the site, eyes peeled for ET’s constantly. Vulpintaur apparently really was completely deadened to the pain, as he advanced with surety, gaze sharp, sweeping back and forth. Stonegate on the high ground watched them advance, waiting for them to get into position before moving to where she could see – and be seen – from the final corner. They found a pair of Sectoids hiding behind some building supplies, but for once luck was with them and Green and Guesz managed to kill them before they could react. That was the last of them, a short search later proved; as did a radio call from Bradford indicating no movement could be detected by local satellites.

The mood was much more somber this time. While they had been clearing out Fukuoka, everyone else had been watching the news in Canada and Africa. As they feared, local forces hadn’t been able to do anything against the Aliens, and a large number of people had been abducted. Panic was rising as the news spread. Although they had again managed to eliminate the enemy without losing a man, Vulpintaur had to be rushed to the infirmary as soon as they got back. None of his wounds were life threatening amazingly, but he would be out of action for a while and probably lose his eye, and the shot Phil had thought merely clipped his armor had burned through during the rest of the battle and he would need attention from Doc as well.

With 8 Aliens dead and everyone accounting for a pair, McNair promoted them all to Squaddie, but with far less fanfare than Caroline’s promotion had. Everyone was exhausted, even those who hadn’t gone on the combat mission, for the klaxons had woken the entire base. Then news of the Aliens successfully kidnapping dozens of people from Canada and South Africa had come in, local policeman and soldiers standing no chance against the threat. There was little conversation as people went to sleep for the last few hours of the night.

== The Biohazard ==

March 13, 2014

For the next few days, everyone was tense. In 6 days the Aliens had hit four cities, managing three at once on opposite ends of the world the second time, and everyone was all wound up waiting for the next assault. There are only so many days in a row you can spend drilling, practicing at the firing range or working out before it gets old though. By the end of a week the nervous tension had drained to a dull boredom. Fortunately, the base came with a fully stocked bar, complete with a pool table and a giant screen TV.

This particular evening just about everyone was hanging around in the bar. Zane had just arrived and gotten some beers from Donny, the Bartender, to take to the loveseat where he and Rhianna liked to sit together. As he walked past the pool table he saw the 8 ball go into a pocket and grinned. Copernicus, one of the engineers, had been beating everyone in pool all evening. The council had dug him and a few other engineers up as thanks for the great job at Fukuoka, and he had just arrived.

“This place is awesome. I get to build new tech based on Alien designs, and this is the first military job I’ve gotten that came with its own pool table. Best two out of three?”

Doug, his opponent, grimaces. “Sure, nothing better to do. I’m glad you like it here, I bet no one else in the room volunteered except maybe Donny.”

Cope raises an eyebrow as he racks up the balls. “Oh really? How come?”

“Until two weeks ago, no one had any actual proof Aliens existed, yet a project was made just in case of Alien invasion and stocked with Soldiers. This was a dead end post that you got sent to by pissing off the wrong people. I got drunk and vomited on a Four Star General right before he was to make a speech.”

Several people chuckle. Maximilian, who was playing Cribbage with Alex and Caroline, speaks up. “My stories rather interesting if I do say so myself. I was a Gunnery Officer at a British Navy port, kept all the weapons maintained and was in charge of the warehouses. One day my commanding officer storms in and demands to know where a certain shipment was. Of course I had no idea off the top of my head. It seems he had shipped his private collection of old Flintlocks using military resources, which is against the rules incidentally, and was now upset that they had been misplaced.”

Maximilian pauses a moment to take a swallow from his drink and count up his points. “15 2, 15 4, double run of three for 10 and a pair for 12. Where was I? Oh yes, so after the chap blows his top a while he storms out, and I dig through the records to figure out what the dickens happened. A few days later I find the crate sitting in the back of a different warehouse, and I’m just going to tell the bloke when I get told he’s got me shipped out here. Naturally I forgot to let him know I found his pistols before I left, and a pair of very nice looking ones seem to have vanished when he found the shipment a week later.”

Everyone gets a good laugh out of that, and Copernicus just starts making the rounds after that. “Lost the CO’s Begal.” Alex says. “Knocked out a General when he touched my ass.” Caroline comments while moving her peg. “Slept with the Secretary of Defense’s daughter!” Phil calls out from his place at the bar.

“I wanted to fight Aliens.” Freya announces casually. Everyone stares at her.

“Wait a sec. Until two weeks ago, no one had any proof that Aliens existed, nor that they would start mass kidnappings, yet you still decided to sign up for XCom specifically so you could kill some?”

Freya scoffs. “Course Aliens exist, there’s a half dozen in storage at the labs. What other opponent would be as challenging or exciting as Aliens?”

Doug blinks, shakes his head, then looks around again. “How about you lover boy?” He yells at Zane. Zane looks up and grins from the loveseat. “Rhianna and I got into a relationship. Problem was, she was my CO. We got caught by someone we knew who decided not to turn us in, but it was getting too risky.”

Rhianna picks up the story. “So I did some research and learned this place had its own ranking system, and we’d both start at ‘Rookie’ since neither of us had served in a war. Called in a favor, got us transferred, problem solved.”

Everyone nods and goes back to what they were doing. Cope grins at Doug. “I you lost that bet, they asked to be transferred. How much was it for again?”

Doug snorts. “We didn’t actually settle on a bet, but I guess I’ll buy you a drink.” This being a top secret military base, Donny wasn’t allowed to hire any waitresses, so Doug walks over to the bar to fetch a pair of drinks. At the far end of the bar was a woman he thought he recognized, one of the soldiers, silently sipping at her drink, not participating in the conversation.

“Hey uhh… Hawlsera isn’t it? What’s your story?”

She looks up at him a moment, then back down into her drink. “It’s… personal.”

“Oh come on, everyone else shared. Hell I puked on a fuckin General, that’s as embarrassing as it gets.”

She just shakes her head. Now Doug was intrigued, and he decided to insist. “Look, all the rest of the men I know by name, but I had to think to remember yours. This base is tiny, so you’ve been hiding. Before, it didn’t matter, but now we’re at war and we have to trust each other with our lives. If you can’t trust us with whatever it is that brought you here, do you really want to trust us with your life on the battlefield?”

For a long time Hawlsera doesn’t say anything. Doug’s drinks arrived, but rather than going back to Cope he sit and waits. Eventually he decides she was just ignoring him. “Screw it.” He thinks, then yells out to the room “Hey guys! Hawlsera here listened to all of our amusing, embarrassing, and touchy feely stories, but doesn’t think she can trust us with a little history lesson of her own. What do you think of that?”

Immediately everyone boos her good naturedly. “Cmon, tell us!” Phil calls. “Even if you refuse, if we really want to know we can probably look up your military records.” Alex points out.

Hawlsera finally looks up from her drink. There is a hunted look in her eyes that suddenly made everyone uncomfortable. She takes a deep breath to rally herself, then glares at the assemblage. “Fine. You want a history lesson? I’m TG, or transgender. I was born a guy and miserable most of my life, feeling like I was in the wrong body, wanting to be a girl. My dad found out, and tells me he didn’t raise me to be a pansy and sent me off to the army to become a ‘real man’. I hide it for years, absolutely miserable, before saying fuck it and starting therapy, only for everyone to treat me like a freak once they found out. I got transferred here right after I spent every dime I own on the surgery hoping for a new start as Female and no one knowing. So much for that idea!”

Finishing her tirade, she leans back over her drink sullenly, avoiding the gaze of the somewhat stunned room. After a moment of gazing at her near empty glass, there’s a *thunk* and she looks up to see Donnie’s retreating back, a fresh drink in front of her, next to the money he didn’t take as payment. Suddenly someone hugs her from behind.

“You’ll always just be one of the girls to me.” Freya says.

Doug, feeling like a total jackass, pipes up. “We’re all in this together Hawlsera. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, guy, gal, TG, whatever! We’ve got your back, no matter what.”

There’s a murmur of agreement throughout the room. Phil raises his glass. “Here’s to us: The brothers and sisters in arms who are going to blast those Alien scum back to the hell they came from!”

As everyone raises their glasses in toast, Hawlsera looks at them. They all return her gaze steadily, waiting for her to join them. Finally she raises hers as well. “To us.”

== Operation Splashdown ==

March 14, 2014

“Sir, our satellite has picked up something.”

“What?” Bradford said as he looked up intently at the holo-globe.

“There is something in the air over Europe. It’s causing gravimetric disturbances unlike anything we have in the air.”

“Good work, get Blackwing to his ship.” Bradford commed McNair. “We have a UFO over Europe sir, probably Alien in origin. You’d better get up here.”

McNair, who had been enjoying a nice, leisurely meal at the Biohazard, dropped his food and got up. As he strode purposefully into the Control Room, one of the techs called “Blackwing’s suited up and ready to take off in Avenger-1.” Bradford looked up at McNair, who merely nodded his acord.

It was a tense wait. The UFO was flying about at a decent clip in what seemed to be some sort of searching or scanning pattern, weaving back and forth over areas of Germany. Blackwing took it slow to conserve fuel, which meant that it took several hours before he was anywhere near it.

“You sure it’s up here? Sky’s all clear and I’m not getting anything on radar.” He asked.

“The bogie isn’t showing on any radar, so we’re pretty certain it’s extraterrestrial in origin. You’ll need a visual lock to confirm.”

“Roger.” Another few minutes passed as Blackwing scanned the sky for anything else in the air. “I got something, moving fast, no contrail, moving in.” As he flew closer, he slowly made out what looked like a flying silver disk. The entire thing was rounded and curved, preventing radar waves from bouncing off of it, and the sides glowed an alternating bright blue and darker blue.

“Bogie sighted, sure as hell ain’t Human. Permission to engage?”

“Granted. Good luck Avenger-1.”

He approached from the “Side” of the ship, for a lack of a better word. It was heading west, while he was going north. After a moments thought, he maintained his relatively low speed on approach. No one had taken potshots at a UFO before, so with luck it would ignore him until he got close enough for target lock.

Avalanche missiles, what he had on his fighter, had the most advanced guidance system known to man. It could keep track of a ship at twice the range and with ridiculous accuracy compared to the next best. When he had passed optimal lock distance, then exceeded it by 1/4th of the stated numbers, he cursed to himself. “Fuck it, Leeroy Jenkins time.” Pouring on speed, he shot at the UFO suddenly, shattering the sound barrier and rapidly closing the distance. At less than half the stated range of his weaponry he got a target lock and opened fire. A moment later there was a huge plume of flame and a loud explosion as it impacted the strange craft.

Blackwing was just throttling back and preparing to turn to match the UFO’s trajectory when he saw the blue glow change directions and shoot directly away from him. Quickly readjusting his course, he accelerated as rapidly as he could to keep up with the speeding Aliens.

“Target hit, bogie took off like Superman at closing time. “ He reported. The Bogie was fast, but large. Blackwing closed on it, but very slowly. Suddenly there was a green flash and something arced towards him. Reacting quickly, he did a barrel roll, mostly avoiding it, but took a slight hit on the wing. Regaining his target lock, he fired again, but the missile veered off, passing the UFO by a good distance.

“Takin fire, I thought these things never missed.” His calm tone belied the adrenaline flooding his system. Quickly he fired again, landing a hit this time. Again return fire came, but this time it missed by a wide margin. It seems Aliens are not the best sharpshooters, or at least not this group.

Already the chase had been on several minutes, and at this speed his fuel was rapidly depleting. He had time for one more shot before he had to break off or risk not having enough to return to base. First though, he waited a few precious seconds to ensure a closer target and a firm lock. Rolling past another shot across his wing, he fired, then cut the throttle. As his speed dropped, he watched his last missile hit home. After a moments, he sighed in disappointment as it kept going, although smoke billowed out of it. Then it slowly tilted from it’s straight course, edging more and more towards the ground and beginning to plummet.

“Central, this is Blackwing, we have a confirmed kill on Bogey. I repeat, the UFO is down.”

As everyone started cheering, Bradford commed “Copy that Blackwing, good work. Central out.” Things began to calm down again as he called for a satellite visual on the crash site. Smoke filled the screen, and it took a few magnifications before they could clearly see the UFO.

“Still in one piece.” Bradford said, surprised. One side of it was charred and had a gaping hole from the repeated missile impacts, but otherwise it was intact. “Commander, I recommend we get a strike team to the crash site immediately.”

{{Separator|d}}

The crashed UFO was in the middle of a forest in Germany. Fire smoldered in the underbrush in several places from leaked plasma, and trees were snapped like twigs from the fall, trucks lying stretched out on the ground. Wordlessly the strike team took position behind the broken tree’s, then after ensuring there was no ambush waiting for them as they landed, set out into the woods.

Soon they came across debris from the wrecked spaceship. It was hard to tell what any of it used to be, most of it just twisted pieces of metal, some large enough for a man to lean against even standing. Just then Green stopped from his position towards the back. “I heard something; I think there is a group trying to circle around us.” Quickly the group repositioned and advanced slantwise away from the UFO. It took a little bit, but Green spotted the Sectoids across the strewn wreckage and opened fire with his massive machine gun, the bullets shredding his unfortunate target. None of the others could get a clear shot except for Hardy, whose shotgun was useless at the distance the 2nd target was at, so she pulled out her sidearm and opened fire, hitting the Alien a few times but failing to kill it.

Guesz took a risk, rushing across open ground to distant cover, ducking green plasma to slam into a low stone rise, then standing back up as soon as the firing stopped, blowing away the remaining Alien. “Geez Phil, one of these days your luck is going to run out!” Stonegate called out to him.

“It’s my lucky rabbit’s foot!” he called back.

Just then Hardy saw another pair of ET’s off to her right, from the opposite direction of the first group. “Incoming!” she called as the two grey creatures backed up a little to find suitable cover. Guesz fell back to join the others as they found new cover from the direction the new targets approached from. One advanced carefully, being charged by its fellow with that purple energy, then opened fire at Guesz and missed. Guesz returned fire, not hitting it, while the girls circled around to try to get at the Alien channeling into it’s ally. Green wasn’t able to see either enemy clearly, so he merely waited and watched. Thus when the nearer Alien tried to advance closer to Guesz, Green’s LMG blasted it apart.

The second Sectoid, seeing it’s fellow die, tried to retreat. Stonegate and Hardy saw it and ran quickly after it. It managed to duck out of Hardy’s sight at the last second, only for Stonegate to draw her pistol and nail a headshot, killing it.

Everyone was fairly certain the woods were clear then, so they moved on the UFO. It was remarkably intact, about as big as a small house though not as tall as one, almost but not quite circular. It’s sides glowing with some sort of transparent energy field on four sides, while some sort of deep blue shield was on the remaining portions.

“I think that’s some sort of door.” Stonegate pointed at the non-transparent part.

“I see an entrance through that other part.” Guesz commented. After a bit of discussion, they decided they didn’t want to be seen coming, so circled around to surround the large blue “door” of the UFO. Once they were all in position, Hardy hesitantly put out a hand and touched the blue field. Immediately it made a high pitched humming noise and dissipated. For a split second, they saw an orange crystal floating in mid-air. Then something formed around it, a creature seemingly made of a tan metal with black portions giving an impression of a face and emphasizing joints. A rifle materialized with it, and it gazed at the intruders as orange energy sparked from the crystal in it’s stomach.

“Open fire!” They all aimed for the thing, but it was blazingly fast, running to cover before they could react to its sudden appearance. Hardy reacted almost as quickly though, rushing up close to it and unloading her shotgun into it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t tough enough to take a point-blank shotgun blast to the core, and it vanished as suddenly as it appeared, dematerializing into thin air, nothing remaining except the shards of it’s weapon.

== Escort Duty ==

March 15, 2014

“Commander we are receiving a transmission from the council for you. Please report to the Situation Room.” A voice over the intercom said.

McNair cracked his eyes open and glanced at the clock. “Oh come on, 12:51?” he thought. Grumbling, he got dressed, taking his time in an attempt to be properly awake before setting out. Stopping outside the room, he took the one last yawn and stretch. As he entered, he hoped he looked fully awake. “Alright patch them through.”

A looming shadowy figure appeared on the screen, basically a silhouette of the man who acted as “Face” of the council. McNair was a bit annoyed, wondering if they were that paranoid, too concerned with appearances to let him see one tired, or if they just enjoyed the atmosphere of secrecy.

“Commander, we have received word that a friend of this Council has come under attack in Nigeria. It would reflect poorly on our efforts if we were to allow our ally to be captured by hostile forces. We'll need you to ensure his safe return to XCOM HQ; we should have further details by the time your troops reach the extraction site.”

“A friend? Could you possibly be more specific?”

“No Commander. Suffice to say this person has been… useful in the past, and may be in the future if you are successful in the extraction. Time is of the essence, as it is uncertain how long he can evade pursuit.”

“Very well, we’ll scramble a squad ASAP.”

“Good.” The screen blacked out. “Sir, we’re receiving coordinates and a dossier. All it has is a name, age, and picture.” The night tech said.

McNair rubbed his temples. “Alright then. I’ll go wake the troops, send all the info to the Skyranger’s onboard computer. It’s going to be a long night.”

No one was particularly happy at being woken, nor about hearing what little information there was on this mysterious person. Eventually Morgan, Stonegate, Guesz, and Hardy were up and on the way.

They landed on a major road of some sort in Nigeria. Everyone was a bit surprised that a third world country had such a thing. Some sort of stone decorative area with plants and statues sat on either side of the road, with walkways going over it in places. Not many details on the target where added on route, just that his name was Hutch, and he had been in a limo when the Aliens attempted an abduction, and had hit some form of panic button that alerted the Council immediately.

Fanning out, they had just begun searching when Hardy saw a tall, thin man in a suit with sun glasses. Thinking it was a body guard or some sort of secret service, she started to hail the figure, when it saw her and dove behind cover, clutching it’s plasma pistol.

“Got a hostile over here, looks Human but has Alien gear.” Hardy called out as she too took cover. Stonegate looked in the indicated direction through her scope and saw the figure stand up to fire. Her bullet landed first, and the creature exploded into a vile looking green gas with a loud agonized hiss.

“Whoa what the fuck?!” Guesz exclaimed.

“Be careful everyone, we have hostiles that are posing as Human. Watch your fire, and be sure of friend or foe before you approach anyone.” Hardy warned.

They advanced carefully to the edge of the stairs leading down to the road, taking cover behind large lights and pots. Gazing down at a stopped car, Guesz saw two men cowering behind it on the near side. “Freeze, identify yourself!” Guesz yelled, aiming at them.

One of them peed his pants and turned so pale he lost his tan, while the other cursed in a foreign tongue and said “We’re friendlies! There are some on the other side of the highway!” Looking up, Guesz saw a Sectoid crouching behind a statue across the way, aiming down at the two men, and Morgan saw two more crouching at the overpass. Stonegate advanced quickly to cover the civilians, while Morgan got a shot and kill on a Sectoid who was caught by surprise. Guesz dropped a smoke bomb to conceal the group on the asphalt.

One of the Aliens was surrounded with a familiar purple glow. Dropping onto the road and taking cover behind an abandoned car, it took careful aim and fired at Morgan. The plasma hit him in the face, and he fell screaming to the ground, convulsing for a moment before he died.

“Shit, man down!” Stonegate called. Hardy raced forward, blood pounding in her head, and got up close to the Alien who had killed Morgan. Another Alien that had been hidden behind cover tried to shoot her as she ran, but missed, and she opened up on the damned thing. Blood spattered everywhere and gaping holes appeared in it’s flesh. It looked up at Hardy and glared, amazingly still up from the psionic enhancement it was receiving. Stonegate’s round penetrated it’s skull and finished it off just as it’s weapon discharged, causing the weapon to fly off, the shots to going wild, missing Hardy from point blank range.

The Sectoid that had been augmenting it’s ally advanced and fired towards Hardy, but also missed. Guesz dropped to the road and took out the one that had tried to shoot her as she advanced, while Stonegate continued to cover Hardy with her rifle. It had too much cover and the bullet missed, cracking into the stone of the ornate light fixture. Hardy moved around so it was no longer flanking her, and it advanced some, ducking behind more cover just as Stonegate’s next round flew past it. “Reloading.” Stonegate called.

Guesz was keeping watch for a flanking maneuver by any other Aliens down the highway. Hardy peeked out and almost got hit by the Alien’s reaction shot. There was a stalemate for a bit longer as it found a new position where Stonegate couldn’t fire with her reloaded rifle and blasted away at Hardy, but then she found an opening and advanced quickly on it, blowing it away with her shotgun as it was reloading.

Everyone took a breather for a moment, as all nearby targets seemed to have been eliminated. They had ended up fairly scattered, and all converged on the two civilians as they reloaded.

“Thanks for the save.” The man who had soiled his pants said, sitting on the ground, leaning against the car, shivering. “If you’re looking for Hutch he fled down the road right after they showed up. I think he’s hiding behind that delivery van.”

Nodding, they all looked at each other a moment, then over at Morgan’s bloody corpse. “He died for nothing if we don’t get Hutch out of here.” Phil commented.

“Should we put him on the transport?” Stonegate asked.

“No time, we might still have hostiles and we don’t want to leave Hutch unsecured or be carrying a corpse when we get under fire.” Hardy pointed out.

Stonegate nodded solemnly. “Then I’ll stay here, cover you, and make sure nothing desecrates the corpse. Once we have Hutch we’ll retrieve Morgan for burial.”

They advanced carefully to where Hutch was hiding. Hardy was the one to approach him, probably a poor choice considering the orange blood spattering her armor and face. Hutch was at first taken aback by her appearance, but recovered quickly. “Thank god you’re here! We’ve got to get out of here before more show up!”

“We got you. Keep close, and stay covered behind cars as much as possible.” She responded.

About halfway back down the highway they spotted the incoming hostile. This time everyone got a good look at the thin, humanish Alien. The resemblance was only passing actually, it was much too tall for any normal person, and it’s wrists and neck had scales that just peaked out of the sleeves and collar. Also helping the identification was it’s aggressive pose and glowing green weapon. Without hesitation they opened fire on it, but it twisted in an unnatural way, as if it had no spine, and the unexpected motion meant the shots missed.

Raising to it’s full height, the Alien spat. A green projectile of some sort flew out and exploded around Hutch into a toxic cloud. Coughing and gasping, he panicked and ran towards the Skyranger. Another volley of shots at the thing, and a few bullets hit, but it hissed in agony and kept standing, firing down at Hardy. She had just been leaning out to fire at it when it shot, the blast catching her in the chest several times.

“NO NO NO GOD DAMN IT!” Stonegate screamed, emptying her rifle wildly at the Thin Man. It’s luck finally ran out, and it exploded like it’s fellow had leaving a thick green mist. As she vented frustration, the rifle clicking on empty, a sudden strangling noise startled her. Jumping up, she whirled around, pointing her now empty gun wildly about. Hutch had run past her while she was distracted and was now just behind her, mere feet from the Skyranger. As she watched, he clutched at his throat, his eyes bulging, his face a strange reddish green, and he collapsed from the toxin. Running over, dropper to her knees next to him, she yelled “Phil get the fuck over here!”

Phil had wandered over in a daze to Hardies corpse. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he tried anyway. He had just finished applying the medkit to her corpse when he heard the scream. Cursing and gazing about wildly, he ran as fast as he could back to the Skyranger. As he ascended the steps, he saw Stonegate there, kneeling next to the already stiffening corpse of the VIP, clutching it like a dead baby or lover. He dropped his gun, and his medkit. And then he began to chuckle historically, and it turned into tears and screams of rage and frustration.

== Vengeance ==
March 15, 2014

They did not have time to mourn. Mere hours after returning from the failed rescue the alert went out: Once more the Aliens were striking across the globe, abducting people in mass in three cities. Everyone was awake despite it being five in the morning, news had spread fast as to the deaths. Most had gathered at the Biohazard to getting the story from Rhianna, who had just finished her debriefing. Looking up at the sound of the klaxon, everyone hesitates, still fixated on the disaster only just befallen them.

“Well, duty calls.” Rhianna said, standing. She was still in her armor from the last mission, having no time to change between the unloading, debriefing, and the questions.

Zane immediately stood up. “If you’re going, I’m coming to.”

Scowling, Rhianna responded. “I don’t need your protection, I’m a better shot than you and have been on several missions without you.”

Calmly, Zane nods. “Yes, you are, but this is war and as has just been painfully proven, any of us can die. If one of us is going down, I want us to be together, either so we can go out fighting together, or so one of us can avenge the other.”

She gazed long and hard at her lover at that. Then she nodded, and together they went to suit him up and retrieve her weapons.

Meanwhile Phil was with the Commander when the alert went out. Immediately he said “Sir, permission to be a part of this mission.”

“Guesz, you just got back from a mission that went horribly wrong and you’re mentally and physically exhausted. You’re in no condition to fight.” McNair pointed out.

“Sir, I’m one of your best men and if this next mission goes wrong moral will be crushed. I took no shots in the last mission, and I want payback. No one else is a better choice.”

McNair thought a while, weighing Guesz’ words. Finally he sighed. “Very well. Be very careful, we cannot afford any more mistakes tonight.”

Alexander Green was chosen as the last member of the strike force. After consulting the global situation they were sent to Mexico. The other nations would have to fend for themselves. The sun was just coming up as they landed outside a large construction zone that the Aliens had taken cover in after their abductions. Quickly the team took cover behind some large construction equipment.

“Targets spotted!” Guesz said, seeing motion inside a large mostly demolished building off to the left. The creatures quickly took cover, and he and Stonegate took position to cover that flank. Brubeck moved behind a large crate filled with a few tons of dirt and peeked out, spotting three more targets almost right on top of the squad. Acting quickly, he pulled his grenade and tossed it at the Aliens as they scattered, killing two of them.

Green, hearing the explosion, looked over. “Got two, another one up!” Brubeck told him, and Green pulled his own grenade. Brubeck motioned to show where the last had taken cover, and Green threw. His aim was true, and amidst the sound of the explosive going off he heard the high pitched keen of the dying Sectoid.

Having eliminated the threat on the right, Green moved forward to one of the large digging machines to help against the other group. Unfortunately he was seen, and one of them took a shot at him as he advanced. The shot landed, splashing across his armor, causing it to melt. “Shit, falling back!” Green said, quickly moving back to relative safety while the rest of the team kept an eye out to make sure nothing could get a second clear shot at him.

Brubeck advanced on the right flank to make sure nothing was trying to make it’s way around to attack from the side. It was fortunate that he did, for he spotted two more which ducked under their cover as he fired at them. One of them advanced quickly, and foolishly. The closer target was an easy mark for Brubeck’s second volley. “Two flanking, got one!” He told the others via his radio.

Meanwhile Phil spotted one of the group of three in the ruined building advancing and opened fire, just missing it as it dived behind a wall. After a moment it peaked out of a window, trying to find Guesz. Guesz had been prepared for this and immediately blasted it, it’s brains spattering the ground. Stonegate moved around the digger she was taking cover behind to where Green had been when he had been shot. Spotting the one that had opened fire at Green, she pulled her grenade and tossed it. The Sectoid was unable to scramble out of the way in time and was blown apart.

Everyone took a moment to reload their weapons. Stonegate, who hadn’t fired yet so had a full clip, kept an eye out in both directions. She spotted the surviving target that Brubeck had seen and opened fire, her second shot eliminating it. After that there was silence for a while. The team was a bit hesitant to advance, as the Sectoids had been happy to run into their gun-sights until now, and although they only knew of one remaining, they had barely advanced into the area and suspected there might be more.

Guesz took point, moving forward to take cover behind one of the strange devices the Aliens had left. Their caution was rewarded, as he spotted two lying in wait for them. Realizing they had been seen, the pair of Sectoids retreated into the shadows. Brubeck repositioned closer to the rest of the group, the three of them eying the darkened building steadily. Green was still hanging back in safety, with his armor compromised he was taking no chances.

Geusz and Stonegate repositioned, Guesz moving forward behind a wall, Stonegate taking Guesz’ previous position. One of the Aliens climbed over a low stone wall and found itself facing all three of them. Eyes going wide, it threw itself flat behind a pile of steel beams as a hail of bullets flew through the space it had been, then scrambled on all fours to hide behind a staircase. Peeking out it fired wildly at Guesz, missing by a wide margin. Again a hail of bullets flew out towards it, but it was either smart or lucky, as it managed to duck behind cover before anyone managed to hit it.

Seemingly emboldened by it’s survival after two volleys from all of the XCom soldiers, it moved up behind a generator, hiding it’s small form behind it. Brubeck managed to clip it, but the shots from the other two missed yet again. Unknown to the XCom team, a second Sectoid had used the distraction to work it’s way all the way around the area and behind them. Leaning out, it opened fire at Guesz back, landing a solid hit. Green, who had been hunkering down at the entrance in safety for a long time, saw the bright green flashes and guessed where the flanking Alien was. Pulling out his rocket launcher, he fired it across the site, obliterating the area he correctly guessed the Alien was in.

The other Sectoid, the one that had the insane luck to survive being a distraction and target practice for the entire team, decided that with a few bullets in it and the giant explosion where it’s friend had been discretion was the better part of valor and tried to retreat. Brubeck, who had emptied his entire clip trying to hit the damned thing, commented “Oh fuck that.” As he saw it retreating. Whipping out his pistol quickly, he finally managed to eliminate it.

Guesz used his medkit to get himself back into fighting form after taking that shot from behind. Then everyone reloaded.

“I think there’s one more.” Stonegate said to the others. Nodding, they all jumped slightly as they heard something fall over.

“Yeah, one more.” Brubeck nodded. Moving cautiously, two of them advanced towards the noise. Suspecting might try to move around behind them like it’s fellow had, Stonegate fell back to work around the outside of the ruined building.

Stonegate found the spot that had been demolished by the rocket, Stonegate ran quickly to take cover behind what remained on the wall. The final Sectoid saw her as she ran past the gaping hole in the building and opened fire, clipping her as she passed. Guesz was right around the corner from the Alien and saw its fire. Moving quickly, he spun around the corner while it was still distracted by Stonegate. It was right next to him, and there was no chance for it to do anything before he killed it.

They cleared the area quickly after that, double checking one last time that there were no more targets. Gathering the bodies and weapon fragments, they headed home. Their arrival was met with muted celebration. The deaths, still only hours old, where heavy on everyone’s mind, but the immediate successful mission afterwards had boosted moral greatly. Only Brubeck escaped the battle unscathed, the rest all requiring a trip to the Infirmary, but none of them were seriously wounded. Soon things quieted down and people started going to sleep. It had been a very long night.

== In Memoriam ==
March 19, 2014

“We gather here today to honor two of our finest who died in the line of duty. Each of them was a staunch defender of Humanity and a valued friend. They will be sorely missed.”

They were gathered in the Biohazard for the memorial service. It was a bit cramped since every soldier was there and several non-combatants who knew the deceased, but all of the other locations in the base where either in use, production and research being too important to stop even for a funeral, or to loud or small, such as the various reactor rooms. Someone had found a recording of bagpipe music that was playing forlornly through the bars sound system.

“Corporal Caroline Hardy was truly the best of us. Her great skill and dedication saw more hostiles eliminated than anyone else, and she was a good friend to many of us here. She will be missed greatly. To Caroline Hardy.” McNair raised his glass and everyone echoed him as they raised theirs as well, then they all drank. A few were shaky as they did so, the men had been shocked at the deaths and failed rescue after so many highly successful missions.

“Maximilian Morgan may not have Caroline’s record of extraordinary skill against our Alien foe, but he was a treasured comrade. In many ways he kept us sane during our long vigil in case of the impossible, his stories of his time in the British service entertained us all during times when the world wasn’t facing this great crisis. He brought light and warmth to the world, light sorely needed in these dark times. To Maximilian Morgan.”

Again everyone toasted, draining the rest of the liquid in their glasses. The bodies had been shipped home for burial, so the group surrounded a small shrine that consisted of a table covered in a shroud, which had the XCom symbol on it, pushed against a wall where pictures of the deceased had been tacked up. McNair finished his eulogies and stepped aside so that several others could go up to pay their respects, some saying a few words or leaving a token, mostly odds and ends like old “lucky” shot glasses or knives. Several split into small groups to reminisce quietly amongst themselves.

“I could have salvaged the mission damn it.” Phil says morosely into his glass. He was off in a corner with Tiberius and Freya. Tiberius had finally been released from medical and had the most visible scarring of anyone so far. The blast had struck him on the chest and face, ruining one of his eyes and leaving black scars splashed across the left side of his face, giving him a decidedly grim and intimidating look.

“How so?” Freya inquired. “Half the squad was down and the council’s friend fatally poisoned.”

“My medkit could have saved him, or at least kept him going long enough to get him back to base for medical care. I lost my cool though, ran over to Hardy when she was already gone.” Scowling, Phil drains his glass and pours another shot.

The others took a moment to digest this; for the most part the details of that bitter defeat had been avoided as a topic of conversation even though it was all anyone could think about. Tiberius rallied first. “Don’t sweat it man, shit happens. Live and learn, this won’t be the last time we get our asses kicked, they outnumber and outgun us. We’re just too badass to throw in the towel.” Phil’s grimace only faded slightly as he stared into his glass morosely.

McNair left the Memorial early. While he too mourned their passing, the men needed this time to discuss among themselves without their commanding officer hanging around. Also, sadly, the demands of his position called him away. Thus McNair found himself sitting in his office looking over files. While efforts were going well, the recent deaths struck home the importance of recruitment. With the seemingly random nature of the Alien activity most countries were both eager to offer applications to XCom and reluctant to send veterans when a major attack could happen at any moment. As such McNair had dozens of recruitment folders of promising new blood, skilled enough to be useful but green enough that their homelands would didn’t feel the loss.

“Bunch of damned fools.” McNair grumbled to himself. “As if anyone else has had much luck predicting or responding to the attacks.”

His work was interrupted by his secretary beeping through the intercom. “Yes?”

“Sir, Meyer is here to see you, she says it’s private.”

“Alright, send her in.”

Meyer entered looking nervous. Quickly McNair ran over what he knew of her. She was one of the men who hadn’t seen action against the Aliens yet, not as introverted as Hawlsera but not as outgoing as Maximilian had been. In short, a fairly average soldier that hadn’t made any strong impression on him.

“Yes?”

“Sir, recent events have made me… reconsider my options. I’d like to request a transfer back to my homeland.”

“You’re from the Netherlands correct?”

“Yes sir.” She sat stiffly in the chair across from his desk.

“Why? Speak freely soldier.”

“Several reasons sir. No offense sir, but I don’t want to die defending some politician in another country from Aliens. I’d rather die fighting in and for my homeland, not some backwater third world country.”

“Fair enough. You do realize that if you do end up fighting you’ll have a better chance of making a difference here. We have the best gear and the only satellites capable of detecting the Alien ships before they launch an attack.” McNair pointed out.

“You might be right sir, but I feel I can better defend my people if I’m with my people.”

McNair sighed deeply. “An understandable, but regrettable, sentiment. We’re all in this together Meyer, all of Humanity against an unknown threat. If you are certain, I’ll approve the transfer request.”

“Yes sir, I am certain. Thank you sir.” Meyer got up and offered a hand. McNair took it.
“It was an honor to have you soldier. Dismissed.” As Meyer left, McNair went back to his folders. It seemed he had one more person to find a replacement for.

== Nicknames ==
March 21, 2014

To the Commanders surprise the Mexican government offered one of their most skilled Soldiers to the XCom project shortly after the Memorial service. Their representative in the council was impressed by the swift reaction so soon after the bitter defeat in Nigeria, so offered the services of Misha “The Fox” Brightleaf, a scarred veteran of the Drug War that had been raging in the country for years. Thus a few days after the Memorial everyone gathered around to meet the new recruit as he got off the Skyranger.

Stepping down from the exit ramp, Misha looked around at the small crowd. ‘Scarred Veteran’ described him perfectly, his face was weathered, with the right ear completely gone, and he had several scars criss-crossing all his visible skin. “All this for little ole’ me? I’m embarrassed.” He commented dryly.

Several people chuckled. McNair stepped forward. Misha, recognizing the Commander bars on his uniform, gave a sharp salute and stood at attention. “Sargent Misha Brightleaf reporting for duty sir.”

“At ease Soldier. It’s good to have you, we’ve lost a lot of manpower lately. I’ve already handled all the paperwork, so for now your time is your own. I’d suggest you go with the rest of the men, they’re certainly eager to meet you and they can help you get settled.“

“Thank you sir. All this fuss, I’m beginning to feel special.”

What followed was a round of introductions. Everyone had to walk up and say ‘Hi’ to the new guy, shake his hand, and tell their name. Misha did his best to remember them all, but found it very hard, especially when he caught sight of some of the unusual black scars caused by the plasma weapons the Aliens wielded. When Tiberius walked up Misha’s mouth actually dropped open at the blackened left side of his face and the eyepatch.

“Damn. You make me look pretty.” Misha said.

“Give it time, I’m sure we’ll all be ugly as sin by the time this is over.” Tiberius responded grinning. “We’ll have to swap scar stories sometime, you seem to have plenty of your own.”

“That I do. I was told not to pack much, all my stuff is in here, and I’ve heard this place has a pretty good bar. How about lets run over there and you can all interrogate me over a cold beer?” As he spoke he shrugged his shoulders to indicate his backpack.

The idea appealed to everyone, so a few minutes later there was an impromptu ‘Welcome to XCom’ party happening. Soon war stories where being swapped, Misha being curious about the Alien menace, it’s capabilities and effective strategies against them, the rest being curious about his own experiences.

“It’ll be nice to know who’s out to kill me by sight. The Drug War, you never know who to trust. Officials get bribed, people join the Cartels just to make money to feed their families, and you finally kill one of the big bosses and you just split it into 50 smaller operations.” Misha reflected.

“How’d you get the nickname ‘The Fox’?” Doug asked from the back.

“Well after a while you get to know when something is up. Some kid runs up to you yelling about how they’re killing his mommy, eventually you just know if he’s really in trouble or if he’s going to pull a gun as soon as you turn your back and shoot you. Got promoted a few times and people started saying I could smell trouble before it came. Somewhere along the way they started calling me ‘The Fox’ and it stuck.”

“I wish I had a nickname. I’d love being called ‘Doug “Xodiac” Linger’.” Doug said.

“You want a name to stick you have to earn it. Hell I didn’t even realize I had one till someone accidentally called me Fox to my face. Liked it well enough I asked about, learned everyone had referred to me by it for months and let everyone know they could use it.”

Rhianna chuckled from her seat next to Zane. “In that case if anyone deserves a nickname it’s Phil. I’ve never seen anyone as lucky as him, he’s been missed by inches a half dozen times!”

“I told you, it’s my lucky rabbitsfoot.” Phil grinned and pulled out said object, a rabbit’s foot on a chain. “Never go into battle without it.”

“So what, that’d make you ‘Phil “Rabbits foot” Guesz’?” Hawlsera asked.

“Sure why not? Fear the Rabbits foot Alien scum!” Phil waved the chain with the rabitsfoot about menacingly. Everyone chuckled at that.

“So wait, you’re “Rabbits Foot”, he’s “The Fox”, my last name is Duck, and Ty over there is named Vulpintaur which is a fancy way of saying four legged fox-man. We’re a regular zoo aren’t we?” Bill commented.

“That we are. Also I noticed that we’ve nicknamed two of the Sergeants, so why not give one to Rhianna to? Anyone surviving against this enemy long enough to make Sergeant deserves one.” Freya pointed out. Everyone looked at Rhianna, who looked a bit bemused.

“Like what?” she wondered.

“How about your favorite animal?” Bill suggested.

“I guess that would be Lynxes, used to see one outside my window in the mountains fairly often as a kid.”

“So Rhianna “The Lynx” Stonegate?” Misha said.

“Sure why not. She’s certainly a tiger in bed.” Zane responded, causing Rhianna to punch him in the side.

“So we’re a group of multinational soldiers brought together to fight an extraterrestrial threat nicknamed after the animals of the world? This sounds like a TV show or a fanfic.” Phil joked.

Alex spoke up in a loud “Opening Credits” type announcer voice. “In the 21st century mankind comes under attack by an Alien Menace. Scrambling to assemble a defense, the nations of the world form an elite group of animal men to defend our planet. This is the story… of XCom!”

== The Ides of March ==
March 31, 2014

“A marvelous device isn’t it?” Dr. Shen commented. He was referring to the newly completed satellite sitting in the engineering bay, which may have been a technological marvel, but it looked like any other satellite, probably to keep it hidden. “There’s nothing else like it the world over. We can launch it to be a dedicated eye for Alien ships, and it has the latest in stealth technology so it’ll hopefully be safe unless we ignore a UFO doing scans of the area. Sadly we don’t have the uplinks for any more, meaning we could put more in the air but wouldn’t be able to receive and decrypt it’s signals. If you want another we’ll have to build more, a costly endeavor.”

McNair nodded. “The month is almost up, we should get fresh funding from the Council then. Establishing detection worldwide is our greatest concern, we can’t constantly be caught by surprise if we’re going to win this war.”

“I’ll get the construction crews ready then sir. We should be able to get new facilities ready in a little over a week once we can pay for the materials.”

“Very good. I’ll head over to the situation room and work out where we most need this.”

Once he arrived, McNair found Bradford in the situation room waiting for him. “Greeting sir, I heard the news about the satellite and have been examining the situation. In my opinion, our best bet is to launch it over Nigeria. They’re dealing with a lot of panic right now, and we might lose their support. If we launch the satellite in that area, they will be able to make a public announcement and greatly calm the country, and it will restore the government’s faith in us.”

“Excellent, we can also transfer Jetfire and an Interceptor to cover Africa.” McNair looked over the situation as he talked. Politics touched everything, even saving the world from an Alien invasion, because if he couldn’t sell XCom to the world leaders and their populace, then they would turn to other means. Fortunately he had the tools he needed, the base was staffed with several information analysts who were examining trends and feelings across the world and posting them in a “Panic” map, showing what areas where most likely to cut their losses and abandon the project. Nigeria was currently a bright red, showing mass panic and a high risk of them cutting all ties with XCom, while most of the rest of the world was in various states of calm depending on if they had actually been hit by an attack yet, and how effective response had been.

“Dr. Shen informs me that we’ll need more hardware to increase are satellite coverage, but once it’s up we can expand further and cover parts of South America. They have medical and interrogation specialists that will be extremely helpful in learning about the enemy.” McNair commented. Bradford nodded, then pointed out that Australia might need reassurance first which would disrupt his plans, and soon the pair where deep in conversation analyzing and predicting as best they could.

A few days later, at the end of the month, McNair was summoned to the situation room to receive a report from the Council. The screen displaying the world map was replaced by the ominous shadowy figure of the Council’s representative.

“Commander, the Council has been extremely impressed with XComs progress, and we do not make this statement lightly.”

“Thank you Sir.”

“You will be pleased to know that your swift response to the concerns of the Nigerian government has reassured them and they have reaffirmed their support. This has led to an increase in the funding we can provide for you. Your many decisive victories overshadow your sole unfortunate defeat by large margin, and we are fully confident in your ability to continue your success in the future.”

McNair nods his thanks as the Councilor’s face is replaced with a summing up of all the reports he had sent in through the month. Looking at it all together it was indeed impressive, with three Alien abduction sites cleared out, a UFO shot down, and only two men lost, with two dozen plus Aliens dead total. Considering they were severely outgunned, he had to agree: the fledgling XCom project was succeeding beyond all reasonable expectations.

The report vanished from the screen after a minute, though McNair could of course pull it up again if need be. He spoke to the representative after he, or rather his outline, had reappeared. “It is an honor to defend Humanity Sir. I’ll be sure to let the men know your sentiments.”

The figure nodded gravely, then saluted McNair. “Good luck Commander.” He said. McNair returned it right before the screen reverted to the report on the global situation.

With the monthly report finished, the project was immediately granted it’s monthly funding, swelling the coffers. McNair immediately gave orders for construction to commence on more laboratory space and a satellite uplink facility, expending most of the funding to vastly increase the capabilities of the base. Money was useless if left lying around, and they needed to make even more progress this month then the last.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:non-TF]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User talk:Jetfire

2014-06-17T00:34:13Z

Doomreaver:

Hi, just thought I should drop a note here since I imagine most authors won't be regularly checking [[Help:Templates]] for updates. I've finally added a template that I should have created long ago, a tag to put on userpages to facilitate linking to your personal story category; [[Template:My stories]]. If you want, just stick this code at the top of your userpage to create a standardized little box with a direct link in it: <nowiki>{{my stories}}</nowiki>. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 22:25, 18 January 2008 (EST)

== Paradise Categories ==

I just wanted to let you know that your Veil stories should have the Paradise Category as well. The Veil is actually a ''subcategory'' of Paradise. In addition, all stories get the Story category so they show up on the All Stories page. Thanks. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 14:50, 24 January 2008 (EST)

==IDIC Meeting?==

I came across your stories on the IDIC while searching for multiverse based fictional organizations, and wondered if you might be interested in a meeting with Agents from another group of stories called the PPC, or Protectors of the Plot Continuum. Agents from the PPC, somewhat similarly to your IDIC teams, visit fictional universes to maintain the status quo. They do this by removing bad fanfic and the fic's characters from the stories by killing them. Just wondering if you might be interested in representatives from each group bumping into each other somehow, as your IDIC apparently covers all fictional universes.

Here's a link: http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/PPC_Wiki

:Interesting setting. (Though as I just added) IDIC wasn't originally my idea (not that a Multiverse setting is all that original). It's origins are on the TSA; I'm just taking my own take on it and spinning it.

:The meta setting is still gelling for me as I write my own stories (specifically what the Tangle is and how it relates to everything) but the setting in general is wide open for anyone to write in and do what they want. If there are conflicts it's always easy to just handwave them as different actions in similar universes/multiverses. :)

Hmm...are there any informational links for the setting?

:Not really, since it's a meta setting really, as in literally anything goes. If something happens that you don't like that someone else wrote, feel free to ignore it. (Though I would generally try to be consistant with my own stuff. :)

:I'm on IRC all the time if you want to talk more or find out my thoughts on what the Tangle is and what my crew/little corner is about.

*NOTE: Copied the discussion over to [[Category_talk:IDIC]]. Probably best to continue it over there. :)
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 09:21, 19 January 2009 (EST)

== Request... ==

Um, hi, I'm Drake, and I hope you could let me use your character AT in my story (Paradise setting)...If permitted, he/she is going to be the one that Jon (main character) consults after first change...and I can send you a copy of the story first. I also hope you can read through the story when I'm done (it'll be some time from now; I'm a slow writer) and let me know what you think. Thanks a lot :) I could only contact you via your talk page as there was no "Send message" link to use...sorry that I took up a new section. -- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]]
02 April 2009, 19:50 (+0800 GMT)

Sure, just let me take a gander at it when it's done/near done and we can make sure things work out fine, but I don't see why not.
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 00:09, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for trusting me! It'll take some time though: I still have homework and projects left over, so it won't be done in a hurry. Still, I'll work as fast as I can. I'll try to speed it up a little. -- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 04 April 2009 15:10 (+0800 GMT)

Hey Jetfire, I'm almost done with the story. I'm working on the last edits, improving a little here and there but it should be ready in one or two days. You can take a gander now. Or even ''two'' ganders. Okay, so I don't know what a gander is. But I hope you could help me check through my story, for inconsistencies with AT's character or the timeline in general, and stuff like that, and also give a critical review. Could you provide me your email address to send the Microsoft Word document to? I don't really want to post it on Shifti yet until the editing is 100% complete. Once again, thanks for kicking me into action, and offering to check my story! :)
-- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 20 April 2009 22:17, (+0800 GMT)

Umm...Reply soon? Thanks! --[[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 27 April 2009 22:17, (+0800 GMT)

ok guess you can send it to taeolas@yahoo.com that should work.

Got it. I'm editing a large part again...it might take a little longer. Expect an email from "Johnathan Wong" at "drake_halounity@hotmail.com" ----[[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 1 May 2009 21:22

All right, sent the story to the above email address. Hope it's correct...actually I'm not sure if that even ''is'' you, 'cos you didn't sign off after naming your email. Just checkin', hope I didn't send to the wrong one. Thanks once again for helping me out! -- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 5 May 2009 15:52

:According to the logs it was Jetfire that posted that e-mail address. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:38, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

::Wow, I didn't know ShadowWolf was watching this convo...unnerving. O.o Anyway, I finally posted the final version of my silly story on Shifti. Thanks a lot for critiquing it (and bearing with me)! --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 14 May 2009, 22:17

==Just a complement==

I just wanted to drop a line to let you know I really liked your Veil series. I haven't finished it yet but I am enjoying it so far. Usually stories that feature the characters changing into some type of anthro animal are kinda shallow. I liked yours because you actually thought of details like how their diet changes, how interactions change and to what degree their instincts change. Good job I'll make sure to keep posted.

== Trying to contact you ==
So I'm trying to get ahold of you for my XCom project and can't find where your E-mail address is, nor do I often surf the IRCs. Ergo, I'm hoping you're "Watching" this page and will get back to me. --[[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 19:33, 16 June 2014 (CDT)

User talk:Jetfire

2014-06-17T00:33:25Z

Doomreaver:

--[[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 19:33, 16 June 2014 (CDT)==Template:My stories==

Hi, just thought I should drop a note here since I imagine most authors won't be regularly checking [[Help:Templates]] for updates. I've finally added a template that I should have created long ago, a tag to put on userpages to facilitate linking to your personal story category; [[Template:My stories]]. If you want, just stick this code at the top of your userpage to create a standardized little box with a direct link in it: <nowiki>{{my stories}}</nowiki>. [[User:Bryan|Bryan]] 22:25, 18 January 2008 (EST)

== Paradise Categories ==

I just wanted to let you know that your Veil stories should have the Paradise Category as well. The Veil is actually a ''subcategory'' of Paradise. In addition, all stories get the Story category so they show up on the All Stories page. Thanks. --[[User:JonBuck|Buck]] 14:50, 24 January 2008 (EST)

==IDIC Meeting?==

I came across your stories on the IDIC while searching for multiverse based fictional organizations, and wondered if you might be interested in a meeting with Agents from another group of stories called the PPC, or Protectors of the Plot Continuum. Agents from the PPC, somewhat similarly to your IDIC teams, visit fictional universes to maintain the status quo. They do this by removing bad fanfic and the fic's characters from the stories by killing them. Just wondering if you might be interested in representatives from each group bumping into each other somehow, as your IDIC apparently covers all fictional universes.

Here's a link: http://ppc.wikia.com/wiki/PPC_Wiki

:Interesting setting. (Though as I just added) IDIC wasn't originally my idea (not that a Multiverse setting is all that original). It's origins are on the TSA; I'm just taking my own take on it and spinning it.

:The meta setting is still gelling for me as I write my own stories (specifically what the Tangle is and how it relates to everything) but the setting in general is wide open for anyone to write in and do what they want. If there are conflicts it's always easy to just handwave them as different actions in similar universes/multiverses. :)

Hmm...are there any informational links for the setting?

:Not really, since it's a meta setting really, as in literally anything goes. If something happens that you don't like that someone else wrote, feel free to ignore it. (Though I would generally try to be consistant with my own stuff. :)

:I'm on IRC all the time if you want to talk more or find out my thoughts on what the Tangle is and what my crew/little corner is about.

*NOTE: Copied the discussion over to [[Category_talk:IDIC]]. Probably best to continue it over there. :)
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 09:21, 19 January 2009 (EST)

== Request... ==

Um, hi, I'm Drake, and I hope you could let me use your character AT in my story (Paradise setting)...If permitted, he/she is going to be the one that Jon (main character) consults after first change...and I can send you a copy of the story first. I also hope you can read through the story when I'm done (it'll be some time from now; I'm a slow writer) and let me know what you think. Thanks a lot :) I could only contact you via your talk page as there was no "Send message" link to use...sorry that I took up a new section. -- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]]
02 April 2009, 19:50 (+0800 GMT)

Sure, just let me take a gander at it when it's done/near done and we can make sure things work out fine, but I don't see why not.
--[[User:Jetfire|Jetfire]] 00:09, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for trusting me! It'll take some time though: I still have homework and projects left over, so it won't be done in a hurry. Still, I'll work as fast as I can. I'll try to speed it up a little. -- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 04 April 2009 15:10 (+0800 GMT)

Hey Jetfire, I'm almost done with the story. I'm working on the last edits, improving a little here and there but it should be ready in one or two days. You can take a gander now. Or even ''two'' ganders. Okay, so I don't know what a gander is. But I hope you could help me check through my story, for inconsistencies with AT's character or the timeline in general, and stuff like that, and also give a critical review. Could you provide me your email address to send the Microsoft Word document to? I don't really want to post it on Shifti yet until the editing is 100% complete. Once again, thanks for kicking me into action, and offering to check my story! :)
-- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 20 April 2009 22:17, (+0800 GMT)

Umm...Reply soon? Thanks! --[[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 27 April 2009 22:17, (+0800 GMT)

ok guess you can send it to taeolas@yahoo.com that should work.

Got it. I'm editing a large part again...it might take a little longer. Expect an email from "Johnathan Wong" at "drake_halounity@hotmail.com" ----[[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 1 May 2009 21:22

All right, sent the story to the above email address. Hope it's correct...actually I'm not sure if that even ''is'' you, 'cos you didn't sign off after naming your email. Just checkin', hope I didn't send to the wrong one. Thanks once again for helping me out! -- [[User: WolfyDrake95| Drake]] 5 May 2009 15:52

:According to the logs it was Jetfire that posted that e-mail address. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 02:38, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

::Wow, I didn't know ShadowWolf was watching this convo...unnerving. O.o Anyway, I finally posted the final version of my silly story on Shifti. Thanks a lot for critiquing it (and bearing with me)! --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]] 14 May 2009, 22:17

==Just a complement==

I just wanted to drop a line to let you know I really liked your Veil series. I haven't finished it yet but I am enjoying it so far. Usually stories that feature the characters changing into some type of anthro animal are kinda shallow. I liked yours because you actually thought of details like how their diet changes, how interactions change and to what degree their instincts change. Good job I'll make sure to keep posted.

== Trying to contact you ==
So I'm trying to get ahold of you for my XCom project and can't find where your E-mail address is, nor do I often surf the IRCs. Ergo, I'm hoping you're "Watching" this page and will get back to me. --[[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 19:33, 16 June 2014 (CDT)

Talk:Lloyd's Favorites

2014-06-17T00:00:00Z

Doomreaver:

== Horror Template ==

I found an image on wikimedia commons that I'm currently using for my horror icon. If anyone else wants to do so the template name is Horror. Not very creative I know, but it works =D -- [[User:Lloyd Brunnel|Lloyd]]

==Comments==

WOW! Thanks so much for faving my story, you don't know how important this means to me! I can't believe it! And you even put a star there, oh my god! Thankyouthankyou holy shit wowowowowowow! I feel like crying with joy...but that would be awkward. Still, a huge thank you! It was really, really great of you to fave my story! Even a :) can't express my joy! (I'd put more thankyou's, but that would take up a lot of space)--[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 15:30, 28 June 2009
:Where are my stories? LOL. All kidding aside, I like the list. It is one of the shorter ones on this site, so I actually read through the whole thing. Oh, and I was woudnering how long it would take you to add "Finding Himself." It's one of the best stories on Shifti.--[[User:Guvnor Of Space|Guvnor Of Space]] 12:37, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
::I agree with you there, Guvnor - and that is why I'm going to be adding it to [[ShadowWolfs Pack|my list]] when [[User:WolfyDrake95|Wolfy]] has had a chance to address the critique I've given it. [[User:WolfyDrake95|Wolfy]], [[User:Concerned Reader|CR]] and [[User:Guvnor Of Space|you]] are three of the better writers that have shown up on Shifti. And all three of you respond well to helpful criticism of your works and try to improve them. -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 13:11, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
:::Ow... my poor ego =P -- [[User:Lloyd Brunnel|Lloyd]]
::::No, I wasn't excluding you, Lloyd. For some reason I see you as not being a newcomer that started with Shifti, but as an already established author. If that isn't true, then you would make a fourth for that list :) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 14:50, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
:::::I'm making the transition from essays to creative writing if that counts, but what's on Shifti is mainly my first foray. -- [[User:Lloyd Brunnel|Lloyd]]

Hey, I have an abbreviation! I feel like I'm part of the gang now. I too came from writing essays, I guess because we're both fresh out of high school, but I think I enjoy writing narratives much more. And Lloyd, you've technically been published, if you count Anthro, not sure how many of us can claim that. --[[User:Concerned Reader|Concerned Reader]] 17:48, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

:Oh no...ego...inflating...urge to...BRAG TO EVERYONE!!! Must...RESIST! No, stop glaring. That was just a joke. Jeez, what's a guy got to do for a laugh around here? Anyway, narratives ''are'' much more fun than essays. Essays are boring and overly short, whereas narratives give you the chance to elaborate on character. I'm only worried about how I transition back to essays when school reopens. HIGH SCHOOL POWER! HIGH FIVE, CR! Never mind. And, yes, Lloyd, *points accusingly* how many people are published in the awesomest newletter of the world? All hail Lloyd, who was in Anthro!

:Still, a big thanks for the faves, you two. If I haven't told you guys yet, it means a lot to me. --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 08:10, 29 June 2009

::Hehe... yea... we're all awesome. But Wolfy, you must have alot of nice teachers since all the essays I've written this year have been 3 pages minimum. You should see my law final. But its all worth it, I graduated last thursday ^^. On another note, I wouldn't be suprised if Cubist approached either you, Guvnor, or Concerned for Anthro sometime. -- [[User:Lloyd Brunnel|Lloyd]]

All my essays were 3-5 pages, but double spaced. I fudged it on some of them. My final essay was on my affinity for commas. I got a 92. --[[User:Concerned Reader|Concerned Reader]] 02:34, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

:Well, my final essay was on Lord of The Flies, this book that we're doing for Lit. I ran out of time, so I only got about one page down. But that's more or less what's expected during a test: I write real slow by hand. --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 11:12, 29 June 2009

I write quickly, but not legibly. I've never actually read lord of the flies, but I hear it has children eating each other. On a side note, Shifti needs a chat box or something. --[[User:Concerned Reader|Concerned Reader]] 03:22, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

:Actually, LOTF is a story on human morality and stuff. It's about a bunch of boys who get stranded on an island and try to make a civilization there while awaiting rescue, but they slowly descend into savegery. A very morally reverberating story. And yes, I do agree with Concerned Reader: Shifti could use a "chat box or something". I'm sure it would encourage conversations and socializing among the users, and that would help us grow as a community. --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 11:28, 29 June 2009

Yes! exactly. That way we would have a dedicated area, and not be filling up Lloyds talk page with our crap. --[[User:Concerned Reader|Concerned Reader]] 03:45, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

:Yup. See, even now we're filling up his talk page. At first we were talking about some noob's story making the list, but now we're on to chat boxes. See? SEE? SEE?!

::You see... Shifti does have this really nifty "chat box" called IRC :) (see irc.lapinia.org - almost any channel)

::Seriously, though, a chatbox sounds like a decent idea. I could probably hack one together pretty quick, but my "quick hacks" are never all that stable. And [[User:Lloyd Brunnel|Lloyd]] isn't the only one chatting here who has been "published" in Anthro - your [[User:ShadowWolf|humble administrator]] is co-author of the temporarily-on-hiatus 'Bastard Assassins From Hell' series and the sole author of the "Pro-rights" side of the "Rights of the Transformed" essay. And I've also been published in the now defunct TSAT - that's where [[From Thesis to Synthesis]] was originally published (IIRC). :P -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 06:13, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

:::Oh my god...we're in the presence of...''awesomeness''. Can we open a fan club? Pleeeease? Then we can go and talk about how much we <3 you. I bet we'll get a lot of members!:P --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 17:45, 29 June 2009

::::Okay, enough sarcasm there Wolfy. Don't make me go and edit the Pack to remove you entirely :P
::::Seriously, though, I have mentioned the three of you who haven't been in Anthro to Cubist and he's said he'll look at what you've got with an eye on a future issue. (Oh, and if it matters for anything, I actually have had poetry published in a print volume o.O) -- [[User:ShadowWolf|ShadowWolf]] 11:22, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

:::::Nah, it's more "minor exaggeration" than "sarcasm". It's cool that you wrote so much stuff, and Thesis to Synthesis was one of the essays that I found really helpful in the Writer's School. I do read there a lot. However, I've never found out where the Bastard Assassins from Hell series was, 'cos the link on your user page is gone, and neither have I read your Rights of the Transformed essay. Perhaps a link, please? :) --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 20:04, 29 June 2009

::::::Greetlings, Wolfy! Quentin "editor of both ANTHRO and TSAT" Long here. ''TSAT'''s 48 issues can be found [http://tsat.transform.to/ here], and ''Rights of the Transformed'', [http://tsat.transform.to/i.44/tf.rights.pro.html here]. As to the BAFH stories, you can find them at ''[http://anthrozine.com Anthro]''. In order: ''[http://www.anthrozine.com/stry/cleared.for.departure.html Cleared for Departure]'' -- ''[http://www.anthrozine.com/stry/tip.your.assassins.html Don't Forget to Tip Your Assassins]'' -- ''[http://www.anthrozine.com/stry/fish.barrel.dynamite.html Fish, Barrel, Dynamite]''. Regarding your stories: What ShadowWolf said... [[User:Cubist|Cubist]] 12:46, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

:::::::Oh hi there! Welcome to Lloyd's Faves' Talk Page, aka Discussion Forum. Thanks for the links: I'm done with the Rights to the Transformed (I'm pro-rights, I think), and I'm starting on the other links now. ''Anthro'' is a great newsletter, by the way. I enjoyed it.

:::::::Unfortunately, because this conversation is merely a bunch of typed-out words, and thus have no tone underlining them, I have little idea what you meant in that last comment. So I'm hoping that was a good comment, and if it was, thanks a lot! :) --[[User:WolfyDrake95|Drake]], 09:01, 30 June 2009 (+0800 GMT)
On a completly unrelated note, "In Soviet Russia, comment writes you!" I can never resist the pun. And it's been a while since I've seen Cubist on. Oh, and thanks for adding two of my stories to the list.--[[User:Guvnor Of Space|Guvnor Of Space]] 23:24, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

== It Broke ==
So I've perused large portions of the wiki's story, to the point where the 5 random stories it generates are almost all ones I've already seen, so now I'm trying to find some gems I may have missed by pursuing editors favorites. Sadly yours seems to be entirely broken, with the list turning into one giant mass of code and links, only the links seem to work but picking them out is a pain. With any luck, you're "Watching" this page, and can fix it. --[[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 19:00, 16 June 2014 (CDT)

User talk:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-06-10T15:22:29Z

Doomreaver: Adding Commentary

User:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-06-10T15:16:18Z

Doomreaver: Adding new part

{{title|name=XCom Project Part 1: Invasion|author=Doomreaver}}

== First Contact ==

<center>“Two possibilities exist:

Either we are alone in the Universe,

Or we are not.

Both are Equally Terrifying.” –Arthur C. Clarke</center>

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhdzRDIddU| Opening Cinematic]

No one could believe it when the word came. This was a dead end assignment, go sit in a hole in the ground in Europe with the bare minimum of electricity and be ready in case Aliens attacked the earth. It was a joke, one the men laughed about daily while playing cards or pool to burn time. Then word came of the projects activation, along with video of strange devices dragging victims into them as people ran screaming in terror, and the joke wasn’t funny anymore.

There was a mad scramble to gear up. For all that no one expected this to ever happen, they at least had the best equipment, advanced full body armor, grenades, assault rifles, the works. All together a pain in the ass to put on in a hurry though, especially when the generators were still warming up to full power and only the emergency lights on in the equipment room. Finally the troops were ready, and four of the men rushed onto the Skyranger.

Central Officer Bradford briefed them on the way over.

“We have reports of Alien activity in Glasgow, UK. Your objectives are to sweep the area and clear it of all hostiles. Good luck.”

As soon as the ship landed, everyone landed rushed out and took cover behind one of the strange devices and a few nearby vehicles.

“I hope this thing isn’t going to turn back on.” Stonegate said as she crouched behind it, peering around for targets.

That’s when the men saw them for the first time. They were small, grey, with large heads and strange orange-glowing bellies, each gripping some sort of green pistol in hand. “Open fire! Guesz yells, and a hail of bullets flies out towards the nearest of the three targets. They scramble for cover, faster than anyone expected, but Hardy managed to nail one of them with a volley, dropping it in a spray of orange blood. The other two took position inside a building, peering out the windows.

Stonegate and Hardy opened up on the Aliens, but they had good cover and went uninjured. Guesz rushed to take cover behind a large armored truck, trying to get a better firing position, while Rhianna circled around to flank. “Shit, got three more!” she called from her new position. She watched while the second group of hostiles moved out of sight. Guesz was peering at the two in the building still when a green ball plasma splashed into the truck right next to his head. “They’re flanking!” He called. Meanwhile the ones in the building repositioned themselves, a member of the second group joining them. One of them stood to its full height, barely half the size of a man, and opened fire on Hardy. The green energy of the gunshot shredded the wall, leaving a gaping hole, and hit Hardy in the chest.

“Hardy!” Stonegate yelled in alarm, but the body armor had saved her, though a large glowing hole was now in her armor and she could feel burns on her chest.

Hardy was now officially pissed. Ducking low, she ran towards the front of the car, then knelt to remove something from her belt. “Grenade!” she called, throwing it through the hole in the wall. Inside, the three ET’s looked at the object curiously for a second before it exploded, shrapnel tearing their bodies apart.

Guesz ran around to the side of the truck so that he was no longer flanked by the enemy. He noticed one of the grey creatures emitting a purple beam towards the one that had flanked him. “Take that one down!” he called, and he and Stonegate opened fire from their new positions, but neither of them managed to land a hit on the creature cowering under its cover. Rhianna, no longer close enough to fire on the new targets after trying to flank the now dead aliens inside, rushed closer towards the enemy. The ET that had previously been flanking Guesz ran closer to Stonegate and opened fire, green plasma splashing across her shoulder Hissing in pain, she ducked back under cover. “I’m alright!” she assured the others.

Guesz, Hardy, and Rhianna all opened fire on the glowing purple creature, and enough of the storm of bullets landed to take it down. Stonegate watched from across the lot of the store as the beam entering the other creature changed color and sank into it. It gave a strange yell, jerking up, all of its muscles tense, then collapsed, dead.

“Satellite readings show no other movement, all hostiles are down. Great job men.” Bradford sent.

Back at base there was an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. As they trooped off the transport, two of them injured but alive, Commander McNair met them, along with all the other soldiers. A great cry rose up as the victorious soldiers entered walked out of the Skyranger, and those left behind rushed forward to pat them on the back. While they were gone everything had been fired up and the base was humming along smoothly now, bright fluorescents lighting the room brilliantly, far better than the emergency lights that had been all that was on before. After a few moments, the Commander motioned everyone to calm down so he could speak.

“Today, we have won an important victory. We have met an enemy unknown to man before now, and defeated them without losing a single man. Caroline Hardy was key in this mission, eliminating half of the foe with a single well placed grenade, and delivering the killing blow to all of the other enemies. As such, it is my honor to grant her this promotion.” Again everyone erupts in shouts of congratulations as the Commander shook Hardy’s hand and she took the new insignia from him. Eventually the cheers died down, and McNair spoke again.

“Although this first mission was a great success, this was just the first battle. There are reports of UFO’s across the globe, and while there have been no more abductions yet, we must be prepared at any moment to respond to Alien activities. Feel free to celebrate tonight, but know that we are the vanguard of Humanity, it’s only hope against this unknown threat. ”

“ET doesn’t stand a chance against us!” Vulpintaur yelled, and the men again cheered. The Commander left then, to let them have their celebration, and to prepare with the labs and engineers. This was far from over, and they’d need every edge they could get if they were to win this war.

== Girding for War ==

March 1, 2014

Commander McNair met with Central Officer Bradford in the Situation room shortly after the promotion of Hardy. Gazing at the map on the giant screen set into the wall, he asked “How bad is it?”

“It could be better sir. Although the council will provide us with any equipment for our soldiers free of charge, and supply us logistically, we’ll be paying for base expansion ourselves, as well as construction of any equipment we learn make from the Aliens. Furthermore, the nations of the council feel that they shouldn’t have to provide direct funding for us if we don’t have satellite coverage to protect them from the Alien threat. Most satellites can’t detect them, only our specially modified ones can.”

Waving at the map, McNair asks “So that means the only country currently giving us monthly funding is the United Kingdom?” At Bradford’s nod, McNair sighed deeply. “I suppose more satellite coverage should be a priority then. What other good news do you have?”

“Well sir, at the moment reports on the ET’s have just started and most people are confused more the worried. However, as things escalate we’ll have to keep an eye on the panic levels around the world. If too many incursions happen in a country without response, the panicking populace will probably cause the government to withdraw its support.”

“Very well, thank you Bradford. I’ll expect to be kept abreast of the global situation at all times.”

“Of course sir, I will sir. Also, you should visit the Labs and Engineering, the Council sent in staff for them.”

“Oh really? I hope they brought some dusting spray.”

The Commander left Bradford and considered a moment before setting off to the labs first. Inside it was brightly lit, with several scientists setting up various pieces of equipment. As McNair walked in, one of the scientists looks up and greets him.

“Commander? My name is Doctor Vahlen, I’m the head of the research team. It is good to meet you.”

McNair shakes her hand. “Good to meet you to. Is everything in working order? We haven’t had a Scientist on the payroll for a year.”

“The equipment is adequate. We found most of it in storage and completely new, it seems my predecessor had little use for it. We have already begun analyzing the artifacts recovered from our first encounter with the Aliens. Based on our preliminary findings, we believe we can use them to develop some new equipment for our soldiers.”

“Good to know, we’ll need everything we can get to win this. What are our options?”

“We recovered several corpses from the battle, and though most were in poor shape, I believe we could gain an understanding of Alien biology that will help us combat them. Another option is to study the recovered artifacts. The Alien’s weaponry seems to self-destruct when the owner dies, so all we have are fragments, but we have enough to learn about either the methods they use to create the weapons, or the hardened material the Aliens seem to use.”

The Commander thinks for a minute. “Those materials, could they be used to improve the armor of our men? In our last encounter the Aliens blasted through the armor in a single shot, we were lucky not to lose anyone.”

“Yes I do believe that would be viable with enough research. It will take some time, but I will be sure to inform you as we make progress.”

After saying his goodbyes, McNair headed to the Engineering Bay. It was mostly a very large empty area, big enough to build anything up to and including satellites or fighter jets. Along the walls where various pieces of large construction equipment being checked over by the Engineers. An older man with balding white hair noticed him and walked over.

“Greetings Commander, welcome to the Engineering Bay. I’m Dr. Shen and I head the work here, we’ll build anything the lab boys cook up.”

“Good to meet you. What’s the staff look like?”

“Well sir, as you know no one really expected an Alien invasion. I only got here today, and only five engineers arrived with me. Everyone’s very good at their jobs, but larger projects will be slow and expensive until we get more men.”

“After talking to Bradford and Dr. Vahlen I’m not surprised, and it looks like we won’t be able to secure more resources unless we expand our coverage. Can you build another satellite?”

Dr. Shen hesitates a moment, thinking. “Yes I believe we can, but it will take most of our current funds and three weeks of work with the staff we have on hand.”

“Do it. Every eye in the sky we have increases the countries willing to send us monthly funds.”

{{Separator|d}}

Phil Guesz didn’t stay at the celebration long. Instead, he found himself wandering the corridors. It just didn’t feel right. Sure they had taken out some Aliens, outnumbered and outgunned, without losing a man, but it seemed everyone forgot the video of crowds running in panic, people screaming in fear as they dragged by strange green energy and sucked into a device that should be too small to hold them all. Who knows what happened to those victims, or what the Aliens did to them. Where they dead? Imprisoned? Being experimented on even now like all the crazy “I got kidnapped by Aliens and they did stuff to me!” nutjobs claimed? Those stories weren’t so crazy these days…

He found himself standing outside the infirmary door. Reaching up, he pressed the “Open” button, and it slid open with a whoosh. The infirmary was pretty standard, tiled walls, white floor, the smell of disinfectant and sterilizing agents. Glancing around, he’s surprised to see two beds occupied. One has the privacy curtain pulled around it, and on one across the room sits Caroline Hardy in a hospital gown.

“Hey.” Hardy says, glancing up at Guesz.

“Hey. I thought your armor blocked the shot you took.”

“Most of it. I didn’t want to ruin the celebration, so I just gritted my snuck here while it got started. Why’d you leave?”

“It just doesn’t feel right to celebrate an Alien invasion, no matter how well the first fight goes.”

“Yeah I feel you.” Hardy nods, then grimaces in pain. Guesz looks closer and notices a part of her neck is blackened, just barely visible over the collar of the gown.

“How bad is it?” he asks, concern written all over his face.

“See for yourself.” she motions to the top of the gown and leans back some.

Guesz hesitates, then reaches forward and pulls the collar down just a little more to see. Some sort of strange burn is exposed, covering her collar bones and extending below sight. “Shit…” he breathes.

“Looks worse than it is I’m told. The skin on my upper chest is burned away, but the armor saved my life and the plasma sealed the wound so I didn’t bleed out. Can’t even feel it most of the time, only when I move in certain ways.”

Guesz sits down next to Hardy, then looks over at the hidden bed. “How bad did they get Windscale?”

“Little worse than me, I’m amazed she kept fighting out there. The plasma burned through the armor at the shoulder and ran down her right arm. You could see the burns if Doc hadn’t come and closed the curtains. He hates rushing it, but says we’ll both be in good enough condition to go back out in a week. The council is providing the best medicine in the world for us, and we can’t really afford to wait for scars to fade before we go back out.”

They both stare at the curtain hiding Freya for several seconds, contemplating the events of the day. “A lot of people are going to die before this is over aren’t they?” Guesz said sadly.

“Looks like. I’m amazed either of us lived, and those ET’s we fought today didn’t strike me as soldiers, more like working grunts or scientists. We’ll face worse before the end.”

“Think we’ll win?”
They look at each other, the neck of her gown still low enough to show off the blackened skin. “I don’t know.” She responds, her gaze determined. “but we’ll sure as hell put up a good fight.”

== Midnight Run ==

March 6, 2014

It was the middle of the night five days later before the shit hit the fan. The alert sounded through the base, and McNair walked out of his bedroom and into controlled chaos.

“Bradford, what’s going on?”

Bradford looked up from the lower area. “Sir we have reports of multiple, simultaneous abduction attacks across the world. We don’t have the manpower or transportation to respond to more than one.”

McNair closed his eyes and leaned his head back, fists clenching. He took a deep breath. “Damn it. Where?”

“Cape Town, South Africa, Fukuoka, Japan, and Toronto, Canada sir!” one of the techs yells.

McNair gazes at the giant 3D globe floating in the center of the room for a long moment. “Send the Skyranger to Japan. We’ll just have to hope the local forces can handle the threat elsewhere.” Even as he said it, everyone in the room knew it would probably be a slaughter.

With Hardy and Windscale still in the infirmary, only two soldiers who had seen the ET’s before could go on the mission. Tiberius Vulpintaur and Alexander Green joined Guesz and Stonegate on the Skyranger, filled with a nervous energy.

“What’re they like? The Aliens.” Vulpintaur wondered.

“Lab boys named them ‘Sectoids’. They look a lot like the grey men aliens you see on TV actually, so I guess myths are loosely based in reality. Don’t underestimate them, they blew a wall down with a single volley. Advance carefully and always be behind cover.” Stonegate responded.

The Skyranger dropped them off in what looked like a construction site. Two green outlines of people who had been dragged into the strange machines, greeted them as they ran down the ramp, and the rookies stared at them as they glowed softly in the night-vision goggles.

“Less gawkin more walkin!” Stonegate told them, rushing past the strange outlines and taking cover behind a stack of something under a tarp. Getting ahold of themselves, everyone found something to duck behind, gazing out for any signs of movement. The construction yard was full of scattered stacks of building materials and large rectangular metal shipping crates, and there was a ramp leading up to a crane that lifted things from the ground way below. After 20 seconds of nothing in sight but some wandering pigeons, Guesz ran forward to new cover against a pair of massive transport crates.

“I see 2!” He called, as two Aliens some distance away rushed behind cover.

Vulpintaur ran forward to take position next to Guesz, while the others stayed back, as there was no other good cover closer to the enemy. Vulpintaur then motioned that he would try to flank the enemy to the left and disappeared around the corner of the metal container, only to curse loudly and rush back behind cover. “2 more on the high ground!”

Green and Guesz opened fire on one of the Sectoids Guesz had spotted, but couldn’t land a hit as it ducked behind the far side of the shipping container. Stonegate advanced to cover next to the ramp and tried to nail one of the two Vulpintaur spotted up on the high ground, but had no more luck than anyone else.

One Sectoid focused on another, a purple aura going from it to its fellow. Seemingly emboldened by its psionic support, it rushed forward at Green and Guesz, who opened fire at it. Vulpintaur ran over to Green and joined them in firing at the approaching Sectoid, and it took several bullets, but amazingly didn’t fall, grabbing a ladder on the side of the crate and climbing up. Meanwhile, Stonegate advanced up the ramp, trying to flank the Alien mentally empowering the other, but it saw her and ran to cover. The other aliens both took cover in a couple half-finished walls, one opening fire at the soldiers, the other casting that strange green energy to its fellow on top of the crate, who dropped down beside Guesz and also fired, but he ducked behind a pile of bricks just in time. Amazingly, none of the aliens managed land a hit, the plasma splashing off the wood Vulpintaur and Green where hiding behind.

Guesz turned and shot the ET next to him in the face before it could get off another shot, and from the way it screamed and fell to the ground it seems that whatever the purple energy was, it only helped so much. Stonegate tried to nail the one on the high ground, but only managed to send a cloud of dust into the air from the cinder blocks it crouched behind. Green and Vulpintaur had no luck either, their bullets just missing one who had advanced to the other side of the shipping crate. One had stayed behind at the unfinished walls and buffed its comrade, who held it’s fire, waiting for the soldiers to try to advance on it.

Up on the high ground, Stonegate managed to avoid the stream of plasma that was fired at her, then rushed forward, and blasted the Sectiod in the face before it could react. A new pair of Sectoids saw her as she ran forward. Green managed to clip the Sectoid hiding behind the storage crate. Guesz, tired of the stalemate, advanced quickly to the ladder, jumping on it and climbing up, getting clipped slightly by the ET as he did so, then running to the other side and dropping down where he could flank it. Guessing his plan, it backed up, trying to get behind something so Guesz couldn’t nail it in the side, but he followed after it. Stonegate opened fire from the high ground, and while it was distracted avoiding her burst, Guesz nailed it, finishing it off. Everyone took a moment to reposition around the last Alien that had been hiding in the half finished walls for a while now and reload their weapons. Vulpintaur was the one who managed to take it down, advancing quickly to nearer cover, then putting a half dozen bullets in its chest when it leaned out to figure out where he went.

“Is that all of them?” Green called. They all stood from behind cover a moment and looked around.

“This is central, we’re still picking up movement, so there should be more of them.” Just then, Stonegate caught sight of one of the pair that had earlier seen her trying to sneak towards her.

“ET on the flank!” she yelled, dropping back behind cover. The Sectiod, realizing it had been spotted, hid behind the ramp leading up to the high ground. Everyone rushed to reposition, Green and Vulpintaur moving towards the ramp, while Stonegate climbed a ladder to an even higher section of the construction site, Guesz climbing a different ladder to take position where she had been. Green saw movement as an ET ran up and he scored a lucky shot, a bullet going into it’s eye. Thinking it was the one behind the ramp, Vulpintaur advanced, but it had been a different Sectoid. The one hiding behind the ramp blasted him with plasma. Screaming in agony, Vulpintaur fell back against another shipping crate, his gun falling to the ground. Snatching his grenade, he threw it at the Alien, who tried to scramble away but wasn’t fast enough, it’s body shredded by the explosion. Guesz, hearing the scream, rushes over, while the others take up position to cover them in case there are more Aliens.

Vulpintaur was in bad shape. His chest-plate was completely melted, and some of the plasma had splashed across his face. He was still screaming, laying against the shipping crate, one of his eyes melting as Phil gazed in horror. Yanking out his medkit, he sprayed it on the injured man. It’s soothing mist caused the plasma to dissipate, and pain killers entered Vulpintaur’s bloodstream. In just a few moments the pain was deadened completely.

“That miracle drug is temporary, it’ll get you back in the action but you’ll be out of the fight for a while once we get back.” Guesz told him. Vulpintaur took several deep breaths, then stood up.

“You should stay down, we can finish off the rest.” Guesz told him.

“No, that really is a miracle drug, I can barely feel it. I’ll give you covering fire.” From the grim stare he gave Phil, enhanced by his now blacked left eye, Guesz knew there was no use arguing.

They advanced slowly to the last small section of the site, eyes peeled for ET’s constantly. Vulpintaur apparently really was completely deadened to the pain, as he advanced with surety, gaze sharp, sweeping back and forth. Stonegate on the high ground watched them advance, waiting for them to get into position before moving to where she could see – and be seen – from the final corner. They found a pair of Sectoids hiding behind some building supplies, but for once luck was with them and Green and Guesz managed to kill them before they could react. That was the last of them, a short search later proved; as did a radio call from Bradford indicating no movement could be detected by local satellites.

The mood was much more somber this time. While they had been clearing out Fukuoka, everyone else had been watching the news in Canada and Africa. As they feared, local forces hadn’t been able to do anything against the Aliens, and a large number of people had been abducted. Panic was rising as the news spread. Although they had again managed to eliminate the enemy without losing a man, Vulpintaur had to be rushed to the infirmary as soon as they got back. None of his wounds were life threatening amazingly, but he would be out of action for a while and probably lose his eye, and the shot Phil had thought merely clipped his armor had burned through during the rest of the battle and he would need attention from Doc as well.

With 8 Aliens dead and everyone accounting for a pair, McNair promoted them all to Squaddie, but with far less fanfare than Caroline’s promotion had. Everyone was exhausted, even those who hadn’t gone on the combat mission, for the klaxons had woken the entire base. Then news of the Aliens successfully kidnapping dozens of people from Canada and South Africa had come in, local policeman and soldiers standing no chance against the threat. There was little conversation as people went to sleep for the last few hours of the night.

== The Biohazard ==

March 13, 2014

For the next few days, everyone was tense. In 6 days the Aliens had hit four cities, managing three at once on opposite ends of the world the second time, and everyone was all wound up waiting for the next assault. There are only so many days in a row you can spend drilling, practicing at the firing range or working out before it gets old though. By the end of a week the nervous tension had drained to a dull boredom. Fortunately, the base came with a fully stocked bar, complete with a pool table and a giant screen TV.

This particular evening just about everyone was hanging around in the bar. Zane had just arrived and gotten some beers from Donny, the Bartender, to take to the loveseat where he and Rhianna liked to sit together. As he walked past the pool table he saw the 8 ball go into a pocket and grinned. Copernicus, one of the engineers, had been beating everyone in pool all evening. The council had dug him and a few other engineers up as thanks for the great job at Fukuoka, and he had just arrived.

“This place is awesome. I get to build new tech based on Alien designs, and this is the first military job I’ve gotten that came with its own pool table. Best two out of three?”

Doug, his opponent, grimaces. “Sure, nothing better to do. I’m glad you like it here, I bet no one else in the room volunteered except maybe Donny.”

Cope raises an eyebrow as he racks up the balls. “Oh really? How come?”

“Until two weeks ago, no one had any actual proof Aliens existed, yet a project was made just in case of Alien invasion and stocked with Soldiers. This was a dead end post that you got sent to by pissing off the wrong people. I got drunk and vomited on a Four Star General right before he was to make a speech.”

Several people chuckle. Maximilian, who was playing Cribbage with Alex and Caroline, speaks up. “My stories rather interesting if I do say so myself. I was a Gunnery Officer at a British Navy port, kept all the weapons maintained and was in charge of the warehouses. One day my commanding officer storms in and demands to know where a certain shipment was. Of course I had no idea off the top of my head. It seems he had shipped his private collection of old Flintlocks using military resources, which is against the rules incidentally, and was now upset that they had been misplaced.”

Maximilian pauses a moment to take a swallow from his drink and count up his points. “15 2, 15 4, double run of three for 10 and a pair for 12. Where was I? Oh yes, so after the chap blows his top a while he storms out, and I dig through the records to figure out what the dickens happened. A few days later I find the crate sitting in the back of a different warehouse, and I’m just going to tell the bloke when I get told he’s got me shipped out here. Naturally I forgot to let him know I found his pistols before I left, and a pair of very nice looking ones seem to have vanished when he found the shipment a week later.”

Everyone gets a good laugh out of that, and Copernicus just starts making the rounds after that. “Lost the CO’s Begal.” Alex says. “Knocked out a General when he touched my ass.” Caroline comments while moving her peg. “Slept with the Secretary of Defense’s daughter!” Phil calls out from his place at the bar.

“I wanted to fight Aliens.” Freya announces casually. Everyone stares at her.

“Wait a sec. Until two weeks ago, no one had any proof that Aliens existed, nor that they would start mass kidnappings, yet you still decided to sign up for XCom specifically so you could kill some?”

Freya scoffs. “Course Aliens exist, there’s a half dozen in storage at the labs. What other opponent would be as challenging or exciting as Aliens?”

Doug blinks, shakes his head, then looks around again. “How about you lover boy?” He yells at Zane. Zane looks up and grins from the loveseat. “Rhianna and I got into a relationship. Problem was, she was my CO. We got caught by someone we knew who decided not to turn us in, but it was getting too risky.”

Rhianna picks up the story. “So I did some research and learned this place had its own ranking system, and we’d both start at ‘Rookie’ since neither of us had served in a war. Called in a favor, got us transferred, problem solved.”

Everyone nods and goes back to what they were doing. Cope grins at Doug. “I you lost that bet, they asked to be transferred. How much was it for again?”

Doug snorts. “We didn’t actually settle on a bet, but I guess I’ll buy you a drink.” This being a top secret military base, Donny wasn’t allowed to hire any waitresses, so Doug walks over to the bar to fetch a pair of drinks. At the far end of the bar was a woman he thought he recognized, one of the soldiers, silently sipping at her drink, not participating in the conversation.

“Hey uhh… Hawlsera isn’t it? What’s your story?”

She looks up at him a moment, then back down into her drink. “It’s… personal.”

“Oh come on, everyone else shared. Hell I puked on a fuckin General, that’s as embarrassing as it gets.”

She just shakes her head. Now Doug was intrigued, and he decided to insist. “Look, all the rest of the men I know by name, but I had to think to remember yours. This base is tiny, so you’ve been hiding. Before, it didn’t matter, but now we’re at war and we have to trust each other with our lives. If you can’t trust us with whatever it is that brought you here, do you really want to trust us with your life on the battlefield?”

For a long time Hawlsera doesn’t say anything. Doug’s drinks arrived, but rather than going back to Cope he sit and waits. Eventually he decides she was just ignoring him. “Screw it.” He thinks, then yells out to the room “Hey guys! Hawlsera here listened to all of our amusing, embarrassing, and touchy feely stories, but doesn’t think she can trust us with a little history lesson of her own. What do you think of that?”

Immediately everyone boos her good naturedly. “Cmon, tell us!” Phil calls. “Even if you refuse, if we really want to know we can probably look up your military records.” Alex points out.

Hawlsera finally looks up from her drink. There is a hunted look in her eyes that suddenly made everyone uncomfortable. She takes a deep breath to rally herself, then glares at the assemblage. “Fine. You want a history lesson? I’m TG, or transgender. I was born a guy and miserable most of my life, feeling like I was in the wrong body, wanting to be a girl. My dad found out, and tells me he didn’t raise me to be a pansy and sent me off to the army to become a ‘real man’. I hide it for years, absolutely miserable, before saying fuck it and starting therapy, only for everyone to treat me like a freak once they found out. I got transferred here right after I spent every dime I own on the surgery hoping for a new start as Female and no one knowing. So much for that idea!”

Finishing her tirade, she leans back over her drink sullenly, avoiding the gaze of the somewhat stunned room. After a moment of gazing at her near empty glass, there’s a *thunk* and she looks up to see Donnie’s retreating back, a fresh drink in front of her, next to the money he didn’t take as payment. Suddenly someone hugs her from behind.

“You’ll always just be one of the girls to me.” Freya says.

Doug, feeling like a total jackass, pipes up. “We’re all in this together Hawlsera. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, guy, gal, TG, whatever! We’ve got your back, no matter what.”

There’s a murmur of agreement throughout the room. Phil raises his glass. “Here’s to us: The brothers and sisters in arms who are going to blast those Alien scum back to the hell they came from!”

As everyone raises their glasses in toast, Hawlsera looks at them. They all return her gaze steadily, waiting for her to join them. Finally she raises hers as well. “To us.”

== Operation Splashdown ==

March 14, 2014

“Sir, our satellite has picked up something.”

“What?” Bradford said as he looked up intently at the holo-globe.

“There is something in the air over Europe. It’s causing gravimetric disturbances unlike anything we have in the air.”

“Good work, get Blackwing to his ship.” Bradford commed McNair. “We have a UFO over Europe sir, probably Alien in origin. You’d better get up here.”

McNair, who had been enjoying a nice, leisurely meal at the Biohazard, dropped his food and got up. As he strode purposefully into the Control Room, one of the techs called “Blackwing’s suited up and ready to take off in Avenger-1.” Bradford looked up at McNair, who merely nodded his acord.

It was a tense wait. The UFO was flying about at a decent clip in what seemed to be some sort of searching or scanning pattern, weaving back and forth over areas of Germany. Blackwing took it slow to conserve fuel, which meant that it took several hours before he was anywhere near it.

“You sure it’s up here? Sky’s all clear and I’m not getting anything on radar.” He asked.

“The bogie isn’t showing on any radar, so we’re pretty certain it’s extraterrestrial in origin. You’ll need a visual lock to confirm.”

“Roger.” Another few minutes passed as Blackwing scanned the sky for anything else in the air. “I got something, moving fast, no contrail, moving in.” As he flew closer, he slowly made out what looked like a flying silver disk. The entire thing was rounded and curved, preventing radar waves from bouncing off of it, and the sides glowed an alternating bright blue and darker blue.

“Bogie sighted, sure as hell ain’t Human. Permission to engage?”

“Granted. Good luck Avenger-1.”

He approached from the “Side” of the ship, for a lack of a better word. It was heading west, while he was going north. After a moments thought, he maintained his relatively low speed on approach. No one had taken potshots at a UFO before, so with luck it would ignore him until he got close enough for target lock.

Avalanche missiles, what he had on his fighter, had the most advanced guidance system known to man. It could keep track of a ship at twice the range and with ridiculous accuracy compared to the next best. When he had passed optimal lock distance, then exceeded it by 1/4th of the stated numbers, he cursed to himself. “Fuck it, Leeroy Jenkins time.” Pouring on speed, he shot at the UFO suddenly, shattering the sound barrier and rapidly closing the distance. At less than half the stated range of his weaponry he got a target lock and opened fire. A moment later there was a huge plume of flame and a loud explosion as it impacted the strange craft.

Blackwing was just throttling back and preparing to turn to match the UFO’s trajectory when he saw the blue glow change directions and shoot directly away from him. Quickly readjusting his course, he accelerated as rapidly as he could to keep up with the speeding Aliens.

“Target hit, bogie took off like Superman at closing time. “ He reported. The Bogie was fast, but large. Blackwing closed on it, but very slowly. Suddenly there was a green flash and something arced towards him. Reacting quickly, he did a barrel roll, mostly avoiding it, but took a slight hit on the wing. Regaining his target lock, he fired again, but the missile veered off, passing the UFO by a good distance.

“Takin fire, I thought these things never missed.” His calm tone belied the adrenaline flooding his system. Quickly he fired again, landing a hit this time. Again return fire came, but this time it missed by a wide margin. It seems Aliens are not the best sharpshooters, or at least not this group.

Already the chase had been on several minutes, and at this speed his fuel was rapidly depleting. He had time for one more shot before he had to break off or risk not having enough to return to base. First though, he waited a few precious seconds to ensure a closer target and a firm lock. Rolling past another shot across his wing, he fired, then cut the throttle. As his speed dropped, he watched his last missile hit home. After a moments, he sighed in disappointment as it kept going, although smoke billowed out of it. Then it slowly tilted from it’s straight course, edging more and more towards the ground and beginning to plummet.

“Central, this is Blackwing, we have a confirmed kill on Bogey. I repeat, the UFO is down.”

As everyone started cheering, Bradford commed “Copy that Blackwing, good work. Central out.” Things began to calm down again as he called for a satellite visual on the crash site. Smoke filled the screen, and it took a few magnifications before they could clearly see the UFO.

“Still in one piece.” Bradford said, surprised. One side of it was charred and had a gaping hole from the repeated missile impacts, but otherwise it was intact. “Commander, I recommend we get a strike team to the crash site immediately.”

{{Separator|d}}

The crashed UFO was in the middle of a forest in Germany. Fire smoldered in the underbrush in several places from leaked plasma, and trees were snapped like twigs from the fall, trucks lying stretched out on the ground. Wordlessly the strike team took position behind the broken tree’s, then after ensuring there was no ambush waiting for them as they landed, set out into the woods.

Soon they came across debris from the wrecked spaceship. It was hard to tell what any of it used to be, most of it just twisted pieces of metal, some large enough for a man to lean against even standing. Just then Green stopped from his position towards the back. “I heard something; I think there is a group trying to circle around us.” Quickly the group repositioned and advanced slantwise away from the UFO. It took a little bit, but Green spotted the Sectoids across the strewn wreckage and opened fire with his massive machine gun, the bullets shredding his unfortunate target. None of the others could get a clear shot except for Hardy, whose shotgun was useless at the distance the 2nd target was at, so she pulled out her sidearm and opened fire, hitting the Alien a few times but failing to kill it.

Guesz took a risk, rushing across open ground to distant cover, ducking green plasma to slam into a low stone rise, then standing back up as soon as the firing stopped, blowing away the remaining Alien. “Geez Phil, one of these days your luck is going to run out!” Stonegate called out to him.

“It’s my lucky rabbit’s foot!” he called back.

Just then Hardy saw another pair of ET’s off to her right, from the opposite direction of the first group. “Incoming!” she called as the two grey creatures backed up a little to find suitable cover. Guesz fell back to join the others as they found new cover from the direction the new targets approached from. One advanced carefully, being charged by its fellow with that purple energy, then opened fire at Guesz and missed. Guesz returned fire, not hitting it, while the girls circled around to try to get at the Alien channeling into it’s ally. Green wasn’t able to see either enemy clearly, so he merely waited and watched. Thus when the nearer Alien tried to advance closer to Guesz, Green’s LMG blasted it apart.

The second Sectoid, seeing it’s fellow die, tried to retreat. Stonegate and Hardy saw it and ran quickly after it. It managed to duck out of Hardy’s sight at the last second, only for Stonegate to draw her pistol and nail a headshot, killing it.

Everyone was fairly certain the woods were clear then, so they moved on the UFO. It was remarkably intact, about as big as a small house though not as tall as one, almost but not quite circular. It’s sides glowing with some sort of transparent energy field on four sides, while some sort of deep blue shield was on the remaining portions.

“I think that’s some sort of door.” Stonegate pointed at the non-transparent part.

“I see an entrance through that other part.” Guesz commented. After a bit of discussion, they decided they didn’t want to be seen coming, so circled around to surround the large blue “door” of the UFO. Once they were all in position, Hardy hesitantly put out a hand and touched the blue field. Immediately it made a high pitched humming noise and dissipated. For a split second, they saw an orange crystal floating in mid-air. Then something formed around it, a creature seemingly made of a tan metal with black portions giving an impression of a face and emphasizing joints. A rifle materialized with it, and it gazed at the intruders as orange energy sparked from the crystal in it’s stomach.

“Open fire!” They all aimed for the thing, but it was blazingly fast, running to cover before they could react to its sudden appearance. Hardy reacted almost as quickly though, rushing up close to it and unloading her shotgun into it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t tough enough to take a point-blank shotgun blast to the core, and it vanished as suddenly as it appeared, dematerializing into thin air, nothing remaining except the shards of it’s weapon.

== Escort Duty ==

March 15, 2014

“Commander we are receiving a transmission from the council for you. Please report to the Situation Room.” A voice over the intercom said.

McNair cracked his eyes open and glanced at the clock. “Oh come on, 12:51?” he thought. Grumbling, he got dressed, taking his time in an attempt to be properly awake before setting out. Stopping outside the room, he took the one last yawn and stretch. As he entered, he hoped he looked fully awake. “Alright patch them through.”

A looming shadowy figure appeared on the screen, basically a silhouette of the man who acted as “Face” of the council. McNair was a bit annoyed, wondering if they were that paranoid, too concerned with appearances to let him see one tired, or if they just enjoyed the atmosphere of secrecy.

“Commander, we have received word that a friend of this Council has come under attack in Nigeria. It would reflect poorly on our efforts if we were to allow our ally to be captured by hostile forces. We'll need you to ensure his safe return to XCOM HQ; we should have further details by the time your troops reach the extraction site.”

“A friend? Could you possibly be more specific?”

“No Commander. Suffice to say this person has been… useful in the past, and may be in the future if you are successful in the extraction. Time is of the essence, as it is uncertain how long he can evade pursuit.”

“Very well, we’ll scramble a squad ASAP.”

“Good.” The screen blacked out. “Sir, we’re receiving coordinates and a dossier. All it has is a name, age, and picture.” The night tech said.

McNair rubbed his temples. “Alright then. I’ll go wake the troops, send all the info to the Skyranger’s onboard computer. It’s going to be a long night.”

No one was particularly happy at being woken, nor about hearing what little information there was on this mysterious person. Eventually Morgan, Stonegate, Guesz, and Hardy were up and on the way.

They landed on a major road of some sort in Nigeria. Everyone was a bit surprised that a third world country had such a thing. Some sort of stone decorative area with plants and statues sat on either side of the road, with walkways going over it in places. Not many details on the target where added on route, just that his name was Hutch, and he had been in a limo when the Aliens attempted an abduction, and had hit some form of panic button that alerted the Council immediately.

Fanning out, they had just begun searching when Hardy saw a tall, thin man in a suit with sun glasses. Thinking it was a body guard or some sort of secret service, she started to hail the figure, when it saw her and dove behind cover, clutching it’s plasma pistol.

“Got a hostile over here, looks Human but has Alien gear.” Hardy called out as she too took cover. Stonegate looked in the indicated direction through her scope and saw the figure stand up to fire. Her bullet landed first, and the creature exploded into a vile looking green gas with a loud agonized hiss.

“Whoa what the fuck?!” Guesz exclaimed.

“Be careful everyone, we have hostiles that are posing as Human. Watch your fire, and be sure of friend or foe before you approach anyone.” Hardy warned.

They advanced carefully to the edge of the stairs leading down to the road, taking cover behind large lights and pots. Gazing down at a stopped car, Guesz saw two men cowering behind it on the near side. “Freeze, identify yourself!” Guesz yelled, aiming at them.

One of them peed his pants and turned so pale he lost his tan, while the other cursed in a foreign tongue and said “We’re friendlies! There are some on the other side of the highway!” Looking up, Guesz saw a Sectoid crouching behind a statue across the way, aiming down at the two men, and Morgan saw two more crouching at the overpass. Stonegate advanced quickly to cover the civilians, while Morgan got a shot and kill on a Sectoid who was caught by surprise. Guesz dropped a smoke bomb to conceal the group on the asphalt.

One of the Aliens was surrounded with a familiar purple glow. Dropping onto the road and taking cover behind an abandoned car, it took careful aim and fired at Morgan. The plasma hit him in the face, and he fell screaming to the ground, convulsing for a moment before he died.

“Shit, man down!” Stonegate called. Hardy raced forward, blood pounding in her head, and got up close to the Alien who had killed Morgan. Another Alien that had been hidden behind cover tried to shoot her as she ran, but missed, and she opened up on the damned thing. Blood spattered everywhere and gaping holes appeared in it’s flesh. It looked up at Hardy and glared, amazingly still up from the psionic enhancement it was receiving. Stonegate’s round penetrated it’s skull and finished it off just as it’s weapon discharged, causing the weapon to fly off, the shots to going wild, missing Hardy from point blank range.

The Sectoid that had been augmenting it’s ally advanced and fired towards Hardy, but also missed. Guesz dropped to the road and took out the one that had tried to shoot her as she advanced, while Stonegate continued to cover Hardy with her rifle. It had too much cover and the bullet missed, cracking into the stone of the ornate light fixture. Hardy moved around so it was no longer flanking her, and it advanced some, ducking behind more cover just as Stonegate’s next round flew past it. “Reloading.” Stonegate called.

Guesz was keeping watch for a flanking maneuver by any other Aliens down the highway. Hardy peeked out and almost got hit by the Alien’s reaction shot. There was a stalemate for a bit longer as it found a new position where Stonegate couldn’t fire with her reloaded rifle and blasted away at Hardy, but then she found an opening and advanced quickly on it, blowing it away with her shotgun as it was reloading.

Everyone took a breather for a moment, as all nearby targets seemed to have been eliminated. They had ended up fairly scattered, and all converged on the two civilians as they reloaded.

“Thanks for the save.” The man who had soiled his pants said, sitting on the ground, leaning against the car, shivering. “If you’re looking for Hutch he fled down the road right after they showed up. I think he’s hiding behind that delivery van.”

Nodding, they all looked at each other a moment, then over at Morgan’s bloody corpse. “He died for nothing if we don’t get Hutch out of here.” Phil commented.

“Should we put him on the transport?” Stonegate asked.

“No time, we might still have hostiles and we don’t want to leave Hutch unsecured or be carrying a corpse when we get under fire.” Hardy pointed out.

Stonegate nodded solemnly. “Then I’ll stay here, cover you, and make sure nothing desecrates the corpse. Once we have Hutch we’ll retrieve Morgan for burial.”

They advanced carefully to where Hutch was hiding. Hardy was the one to approach him, probably a poor choice considering the orange blood spattering her armor and face. Hutch was at first taken aback by her appearance, but recovered quickly. “Thank god you’re here! We’ve got to get out of here before more show up!”

“We got you. Keep close, and stay covered behind cars as much as possible.” She responded.

About halfway back down the highway they spotted the incoming hostile. This time everyone got a good look at the thin, humanish Alien. The resemblance was only passing actually, it was much too tall for any normal person, and it’s wrists and neck had scales that just peaked out of the sleeves and collar. Also helping the identification was it’s aggressive pose and glowing green weapon. Without hesitation they opened fire on it, but it twisted in an unnatural way, as if it had no spine, and the unexpected motion meant the shots missed.

Raising to it’s full height, the Alien spat. A green projectile of some sort flew out and exploded around Hutch into a toxic cloud. Coughing and gasping, he panicked and ran towards the Skyranger. Another volley of shots at the thing, and a few bullets hit, but it hissed in agony and kept standing, firing down at Hardy. She had just been leaning out to fire at it when it shot, the blast catching her in the chest several times.

“NO NO NO GOD DAMN IT!” Stonegate screamed, emptying her rifle wildly at the Thin Man. It’s luck finally ran out, and it exploded like it’s fellow had leaving a thick green mist. As she vented frustration, the rifle clicking on empty, a sudden strangling noise startled her. Jumping up, she whirled around, pointing her now empty gun wildly about. Hutch had run past her while she was distracted and was now just behind her, mere feet from the Skyranger. As she watched, he clutched at his throat, his eyes bulging, his face a strange reddish green, and he collapsed from the toxin. Running over, dropper to her knees next to him, she yelled “Phil get the fuck over here!”

Phil had wandered over in a daze to Hardies corpse. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he tried anyway. He had just finished applying the medkit to her corpse when he heard the scream. Cursing and gazing about wildly, he ran as fast as he could back to the Skyranger. As he ascended the steps, he saw Stonegate there, kneeling next to the already stiffening corpse of the VIP, clutching it like a dead baby or lover. He dropped his gun, and his medkit. And then he began to chuckle historically, and it turned into tears and screams of rage and frustration.

== Vengeance ==
March 15, 2014

They did not have time to mourn. Mere hours after returning from the failed rescue the alert went out: Once more the Aliens were striking across the globe, abducting people in mass in three cities. Everyone was awake despite it being five in the morning, news had spread fast as to the deaths. Most had gathered at the Biohazard to getting the story from Rhianna, who had just finished her debriefing. Looking up at the sound of the klaxon, everyone hesitates, still fixated on the disaster only just befallen them.

“Well, duty calls.” Rhianna said, standing. She was still in her armor from the last mission, having no time to change between the unloading, debriefing, and the questions.

Zane immediately stood up. “If you’re going, I’m coming to.”

Scowling, Rhianna responded. “I don’t need your protection, I’m a better shot than you and have been on several missions without you.”

Calmly, Zane nods. “Yes, you are, but this is war and as has just been painfully proven, any of us can die. If one of us is going down, I want us to be together, either so we can go out fighting together, or so one of us can avenge the other.”

She gazed long and hard at her lover at that. Then she nodded, and together they went to suit him up and retrieve her weapons.

Meanwhile Phil was with the Commander when the alert went out. Immediately he said “Sir, permission to be a part of this mission.”

“Guesz, you just got back from a mission that went horribly wrong and you’re mentally and physically exhausted. You’re in no condition to fight.” McNair pointed out.

“Sir, I’m one of your best men and if this next mission goes wrong moral will be crushed. I took no shots in the last mission, and I want payback. No one else is a better choice.”

McNair thought a while, weighing Guesz’ words. Finally he sighed. “Very well. Be very careful, we cannot afford any more mistakes tonight.”

Alexander Green was chosen as the last member of the strike force. After consulting the global situation they were sent to Mexico. The other nations would have to fend for themselves. The sun was just coming up as they landed outside a large construction zone that the Aliens had taken cover in after their abductions. Quickly the team took cover behind some large construction equipment.

“Targets spotted!” Guesz said, seeing motion inside a large mostly demolished building off to the left. The creatures quickly took cover, and he and Stonegate took position to cover that flank. Brubeck moved behind a large crate filled with a few tons of dirt and peeked out, spotting three more targets almost right on top of the squad. Acting quickly, he pulled his grenade and tossed it at the Aliens as they scattered, killing two of them.

Green, hearing the explosion, looked over. “Got two, another one up!” Brubeck told him, and Green pulled his own grenade. Brubeck motioned to show where the last had taken cover, and Green threw. His aim was true, and amidst the sound of the explosive going off he heard the high pitched keen of the dying Sectoid.

Having eliminated the threat on the right, Green moved forward to one of the large digging machines to help against the other group. Unfortunately he was seen, and one of them took a shot at him as he advanced. The shot landed, splashing across his armor, causing it to melt. “Shit, falling back!” Green said, quickly moving back to relative safety while the rest of the team kept an eye out to make sure nothing could get a second clear shot at him.

Brubeck advanced on the right flank to make sure nothing was trying to make it’s way around to attack from the side. It was fortunate that he did, for he spotted two more which ducked under their cover as he fired at them. One of them advanced quickly, and foolishly. The closer target was an easy mark for Brubeck’s second volley. “Two flanking, got one!” He told the others via his radio.

Meanwhile Phil spotted one of the group of three in the ruined building advancing and opened fire, just missing it as it dived behind a wall. After a moment it peaked out of a window, trying to find Guesz. Guesz had been prepared for this and immediately blasted it, it’s brains spattering the ground. Stonegate moved around the digger she was taking cover behind to where Green had been when he had been shot. Spotting the one that had opened fire at Green, she pulled her grenade and tossed it. The Sectoid was unable to scramble out of the way in time and was blown apart.

Everyone took a moment to reload their weapons. Stonegate, who hadn’t fired yet so had a full clip, kept an eye out in both directions. She spotted the surviving target that Brubeck had seen and opened fire, her second shot eliminating it. After that there was silence for a while. The team was a bit hesitant to advance, as the Sectoids had been happy to run into their gun-sights until now, and although they only knew of one remaining, they had barely advanced into the area and suspected there might be more.

Guesz took point, moving forward to take cover behind one of the strange devices the Aliens had left. Their caution was rewarded, as he spotted two lying in wait for them. Realizing they had been seen, the pair of Sectoids retreated into the shadows. Brubeck repositioned closer to the rest of the group, the three of them eying the darkened building steadily. Green was still hanging back in safety, with his armor compromised he was taking no chances.

Geusz and Stonegate repositioned, Guesz moving forward behind a wall, Stonegate taking Guesz’ previous position. One of the Aliens climbed over a low stone wall and found itself facing all three of them. Eyes going wide, it threw itself flat behind a pile of steel beams as a hail of bullets flew through the space it had been, then scrambled on all fours to hide behind a staircase. Peeking out it fired wildly at Guesz, missing by a wide margin. Again a hail of bullets flew out towards it, but it was either smart or lucky, as it managed to duck behind cover before anyone managed to hit it.

Seemingly emboldened by it’s survival after two volleys from all of the XCom soldiers, it moved up behind a generator, hiding it’s small form behind it. Brubeck managed to clip it, but the shots from the other two missed yet again. Unknown to the XCom team, a second Sectoid had used the distraction to work it’s way all the way around the area and behind them. Leaning out, it opened fire at Guesz back, landing a solid hit. Green, who had been hunkering down at the entrance in safety for a long time, saw the bright green flashes and guessed where the flanking Alien was. Pulling out his rocket launcher, he fired it across the site, obliterating the area he correctly guessed the Alien was in.

The other Sectoid, the one that had the insane luck to survive being a distraction and target practice for the entire team, decided that with a few bullets in it and the giant explosion where it’s friend had been discretion was the better part of valor and tried to retreat. Brubeck, who had emptied his entire clip trying to hit the damned thing, commented “Oh fuck that.” As he saw it retreating. Whipping out his pistol quickly, he finally managed to eliminate it.

Guesz used his medkit to get himself back into fighting form after taking that shot from behind. Then everyone reloaded.

“I think there’s one more.” Stonegate said to the others. Nodding, they all jumped slightly as they heard something fall over.

“Yeah, one more.” Brubeck nodded. Moving cautiously, two of them advanced towards the noise. Suspecting might try to move around behind them like it’s fellow had, Stonegate fell back to work around the outside of the ruined building.

Stonegate found the spot that had been demolished by the rocket, Stonegate ran quickly to take cover behind what remained on the wall. The final Sectoid saw her as she ran past the gaping hole in the building and opened fire, clipping her as she passed. Guesz was right around the corner from the Alien and saw its fire. Moving quickly, he spun around the corner while it was still distracted by Stonegate. It was right next to him, and there was no chance for it to do anything before he killed it.

They cleared the area quickly after that, double checking one last time that there were no more targets. Gathering the bodies and weapon fragments, they headed home. Their arrival was met with muted celebration. The deaths, still only hours old, where heavy on everyone’s mind, but the immediate successful mission afterwards had boosted moral greatly. Only Brubeck escaped the battle unscathed, the rest all requiring a trip to the Infirmary, but none of them were seriously wounded. Soon things quieted down and people started going to sleep. It had been a very long night.

== In Memoriam ==
March 19, 2014

“We gather here today to honor two of our finest who died in the line of duty. Each of them was a staunch defender of Humanity and a valued friend. They will be sorely missed.”

They were gathered in the Biohazard for the memorial service. It was a bit cramped since every soldier was there and several non-combatants who knew the deceased, but all of the other locations in the base where either in use, production and research being too important to stop even for a funeral, or to loud or small, such as the various reactor rooms. Someone had found a recording of bagpipe music that was playing forlornly through the bars sound system.

“Corporal Caroline Hardy was truly the best of us. Her great skill and dedication saw more hostiles eliminated than anyone else, and she was a good friend to many of us here. She will be missed greatly. To Caroline Hardy.” McNair raised his glass and everyone echoed him as they raised theirs as well, then they all drank. A few were shaky as they did so, the men had been shocked at the deaths and failed rescue after so many highly successful missions.

“Maximilian Morgan may not have Caroline’s record of extraordinary skill against our Alien foe, but he was a treasured comrade. In many ways he kept us sane during our long vigil in case of the impossible, his stories of his time in the British service entertained us all during times when the world wasn’t facing this great crisis. He brought light and warmth to the world, light sorely needed in these dark times. To Maximilian Morgan.”

Again everyone toasted, draining the rest of the liquid in their glasses. The bodies had been shipped home for burial, so the group surrounded a small shrine that consisted of a table covered in a shroud, which had the XCom symbol on it, pushed against a wall where pictures of the deceased had been tacked up. McNair finished his eulogies and stepped aside so that several others could go up to pay their respects, some saying a few words or leaving a token, mostly odds and ends like old “lucky” shot glasses or knives. Several split into small groups to reminisce quietly amongst themselves.

“I could have salvaged the mission damn it.” Phil says morosely into his glass. He was off in a corner with Tiberius and Freya. Tiberius had finally been released from medical and had the most visible scarring of anyone so far. The blast had struck him on the chest and face, ruining one of his eyes and leaving black scars splashed across the left side of his face, giving him a decidedly grim and intimidating look.

“How so?” Freya inquired. “Half the squad was down and the council’s friend fatally poisoned.”

“My medkit could have saved him, or at least kept him going long enough to get him back to base for medical care. I lost my cool though, ran over to Hardy when she was already gone.” Scowling, Phil drains his glass and pours another shot.

The others took a moment to digest this; for the most part the details of that bitter defeat had been avoided as a topic of conversation even though it was all anyone could think about. Tiberius rallied first. “Don’t sweat it man, shit happens. Live and learn, this won’t be the last time we get our asses kicked, they outnumber and outgun us. We’re just too badass to throw in the towel.” Phil’s grimace only faded slightly as he stared into his glass morosely.

McNair left the Memorial early. While he too mourned their passing, the men needed this time to discuss among themselves without their commanding officer hanging around. Also, sadly, the demands of his position called him away. Thus McNair found himself sitting in his office looking over files. While efforts were going well, the recent deaths struck home the importance of recruitment. With the seemingly random nature of the Alien activity most countries were both eager to offer applications to XCom and reluctant to send veterans when a major attack could happen at any moment. As such McNair had dozens of recruitment folders of promising new blood, skilled enough to be useful but green enough that their homelands would didn’t feel the loss.

“Bunch of damned fools.” McNair grumbled to himself. “As if anyone else has had much luck predicting or responding to the attacks.”

His work was interrupted by his secretary beeping through the intercom. “Yes?”

“Sir, Meyer is here to see you, she says it’s private.”

“Alright, send her in.”

Meyer entered looking nervous. Quickly McNair ran over what he knew of her. She was one of the men who hadn’t seen action against the Aliens yet, not as introverted as Hawlsera but not as outgoing as Maximilian had been. In short, a fairly average soldier that hadn’t made any strong impression on him.

“Yes?”

“Sir, recent events have made me… reconsider my options. I’d like to request a transfer back to my homeland.”

“You’re from the Netherlands correct?”

“Yes sir.” She sat stiffly in the chair across from his desk.

“Why? Speak freely soldier.”

“Several reasons sir. No offense sir, but I don’t want to die defending some politician in another country from Aliens. I’d rather die fighting in and for my homeland, not some backwater third world country.”

“Fair enough. You do realize that if you do end up fighting you’ll have a better chance of making a difference here. We have the best gear and the only satellites capable of detecting the Alien ships before they launch an attack.” McNair pointed out.

“You might be right sir, but I feel I can better defend my people if I’m with my people.”

McNair sighed deeply. “An understandable, but regrettable, sentiment. We’re all in this together Meyer, all of Humanity against an unknown threat. If you are certain, I’ll approve the transfer request.”

“Yes sir, I am certain. Thank you sir.” Meyer got up and offered a hand. McNair took it.
“It was an honor to have you soldier. Dismissed.” As Meyer left, McNair went back to his folders. It seemed he had one more person to find a replacement for.

== Nicknames ==
March 21, 2014

To the Commanders surprise the Mexican government offered one of their most skilled Soldiers to the XCom project shortly after the Memorial service. Their representative in the council was impressed by the swift reaction so soon after the bitter defeat in Nigeria, so offered the services of Misha “The Fox” Brightleaf, a scarred veteran of the Drug War that had been raging in the country for years. Thus a few days after the Memorial everyone gathered around to meet the new recruit as he got off the Skyranger.

Stepping down from the exit ramp, Misha looked around at the small crowd. ‘Scarred Veteran’ described him perfectly, his face was weathered, with the right ear completely gone, and he had several scars criss-crossing all his visible skin. “All this for little ole’ me? I’m embarrassed.” He commented dryly.

Several people chuckled. McNair stepped forward. Misha, recognizing the Commander bars on his uniform, gave a sharp salute and stood at attention. “Sargent Misha Brightleaf reporting for duty sir.”

“At ease Soldier. It’s good to have you, we’ve lost a lot of manpower lately. I’ve already handled all the paperwork, so for now your time is your own. I’d suggest you go with the rest of the men, they’re certainly eager to meet you and they can help you get settled.“

“Thank you sir. All this fuss, I’m beginning to feel special.”

What followed was a round of introductions. Everyone had to walk up and say ‘Hi’ to the new guy, shake his hand, and tell their name. Misha did his best to remember them all, but found it very hard, especially when he caught sight of some of the unusual black scars caused by the plasma weapons the Aliens wielded. When Tiberius walked up Misha’s mouth actually dropped open at the blackened left side of his face and the eyepatch.

“Damn. You make me look pretty.” Misha said.

“Give it time, I’m sure we’ll all be ugly as sin by the time this is over.” Tiberius responded grinning. “We’ll have to swap scar stories sometime, you seem to have plenty of your own.”

“That I do. I was told not to pack much, all my stuff is in here, and I’ve heard this place has a pretty good bar. How about lets run over there and you can all interrogate me over a cold beer?” As he spoke he shrugged his shoulders to indicate his backpack.

The idea appealed to everyone, so a few minutes later there was an impromptu ‘Welcome to XCom’ party happening. Soon war stories where being swapped, Misha being curious about the Alien menace, it’s capabilities and effective strategies against them, the rest being curious about his own experiences.

“It’ll be nice to know who’s out to kill me by sight. The Drug War, you never know who to trust. Officials get bribed, people join the Cartels just to make money to feed their families, and you finally kill one of the big bosses and you just split it into 50 smaller operations.” Misha reflected.

“How’d you get the nickname ‘The Fox’?” Doug asked from the back.

“Well after a while you get to know when something is up. Some kid runs up to you yelling about how they’re killing his mommy, eventually you just know if he’s really in trouble or if he’s going to pull a gun as soon as you turn your back and shoot you. Got promoted a few times and people started saying I could smell trouble before it came. Somewhere along the way they started calling me ‘The Fox’ and it stuck.”

“I wish I had a nickname. I’d love being called ‘Doug “Xodiac” Linger’.” Doug said.

“You want a name to stick you have to earn it. Hell I didn’t even realize I had one till someone accidentally called me Fox to my face. Liked it well enough I asked about, learned everyone had referred to me by it for months and let everyone know they could use it.”

Rhianna chuckled from her seat next to Zane. “In that case if anyone deserves a nickname it’s Phil. I’ve never seen anyone as lucky as him, he’s been missed by inches a half dozen times!”

“I told you, it’s my lucky rabbitsfoot.” Phil grinned and pulled out said object, a rabbit’s foot on a chain. “Never go into battle without it.”

“So what, that’d make you ‘Phil “Rabbits foot” Guesz’?” Hawlsera asked.

“Sure why not? Fear the Rabbits foot Alien scum!” Phil waved the chain with the rabitsfoot about menacingly. Everyone chuckled at that.

“So wait, you’re “Rabbits Foot”, he’s “The Fox”, my last name is Duck, and Ty over there is named Vulpintaur which is a fancy way of saying four legged fox-man. We’re a regular zoo aren’t we?” Bill commented.

“That we are. Also I noticed that we’ve nicknamed two of the Sergeants, so why not give one to Rhianna to? Anyone surviving against this enemy long enough to make Sergeant deserves one.” Freya pointed out. Everyone looked at Rhianna, who looked a bit bemused.

“Like what?” she wondered.

“How about your favorite animal?” Bill suggested.

“I guess that would be Lynxes, used to see one outside my window in the mountains fairly often as a kid.”

“So Rhianna “The Lynx” Stonegate?” Misha said.

“Sure why not. She’s certainly a tiger in bed.” Zane responded, causing Rhianna to punch him in the side.

“So we’re a group of multinational soldiers brought together to fight an extraterrestrial threat nicknamed after the animals of the world? This sounds like a TV show or a fanfic.” Phil joked.

Alex spoke up in a loud “Opening Credits” type announcer voice. “In the 21st century mankind comes under attack by an Alien Menace. Scrambling to assemble a defense, the nations of the world form an elite group of animal men to defend our planet. This is the story… of XCom!”

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:non-TF]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet

2014-05-28T04:23:33Z

Doomreaver: Updating

This is the list of all of the characters in the XCom Project. First is the name, with a nickname in quotation marks if they have earned one,then rank, class, number of missions, and finally number of kills. If you would like to be included, either as yourself or one of the characters from your stories, let me know!

The ranks, in lowest to highest order: Rookie, Squaddie, Corporal, Sargent, Lieutenant, Major, Colonel

The Specializations are: Sniper, Assault, Support, Heavy

== The Men ==

'''Alexander Green''' - Corporal- Heavy - 3 Missions - 6 Kills

'''Phil Guesz''' - Sargent - Support - 5 Missions - 7 Kills

'''Tiberius Vulpintaur''' - Squaddie - Sniper - 1 Mission - 2 Kills

'''Doug Linger''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Bill Duck''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Zane Brebuck''' - Squaddie - Support - 1 Mission - 4 Kills

'''Hawlsera Enroygall''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Freya Windscale''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Mission - 0 Kills

'''Rhianna Stonegate''' - Sargent- Sniper - 5 Missions - 7 Kills

== The Memorial ==

'''Carolin Hardy''' - Corporal - Assault - 3 Missions - 8 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

'''Maximilian Morgan''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

User talk:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-05-28T04:20:17Z

Doomreaver: Adding commentary for the two new parts

User:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-05-28T03:41:33Z

Doomreaver: Adding two new parts

{{title|name=XCom Project Part 1: Invasion|author=Doomreaver}}

== First Contact ==

<center>“Two possibilities exist:

Either we are alone in the Universe,

Or we are not.

Both are Equally Terrifying.” –Arthur C. Clarke</center>

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhdzRDIddU| Opening Cinematic]

No one could believe it when the word came. This was a dead end assignment, go sit in a hole in the ground in Europe with the bare minimum of electricity and be ready in case Aliens attacked the earth. It was a joke, one the men laughed about daily while playing cards or pool to burn time. Then word came of the projects activation, along with video of strange devices dragging victims into them as people ran screaming in terror, and the joke wasn’t funny anymore.

There was a mad scramble to gear up. For all that no one expected this to ever happen, they at least had the best equipment, advanced full body armor, grenades, assault rifles, the works. All together a pain in the ass to put on in a hurry though, especially when the generators were still warming up to full power and only the emergency lights on in the equipment room. Finally the troops were ready, and four of the men rushed onto the Skyranger.

Central Officer Bradford briefed them on the way over.

“We have reports of Alien activity in Glasgow, UK. Your objectives are to sweep the area and clear it of all hostiles. Good luck.”

As soon as the ship landed, everyone landed rushed out and took cover behind one of the strange devices and a few nearby vehicles.

“I hope this thing isn’t going to turn back on.” Stonegate said as she crouched behind it, peering around for targets.

That’s when the men saw them for the first time. They were small, grey, with large heads and strange orange-glowing bellies, each gripping some sort of green pistol in hand. “Open fire! Guesz yells, and a hail of bullets flies out towards the nearest of the three targets. They scramble for cover, faster than anyone expected, but Hardy managed to nail one of them with a volley, dropping it in a spray of orange blood. The other two took position inside a building, peering out the windows.

Stonegate and Hardy opened up on the Aliens, but they had good cover and went uninjured. Guesz rushed to take cover behind a large armored truck, trying to get a better firing position, while Rhianna circled around to flank. “Shit, got three more!” she called from her new position. She watched while the second group of hostiles moved out of sight. Guesz was peering at the two in the building still when a green ball plasma splashed into the truck right next to his head. “They’re flanking!” He called. Meanwhile the ones in the building repositioned themselves, a member of the second group joining them. One of them stood to its full height, barely half the size of a man, and opened fire on Hardy. The green energy of the gunshot shredded the wall, leaving a gaping hole, and hit Hardy in the chest.

“Hardy!” Stonegate yelled in alarm, but the body armor had saved her, though a large glowing hole was now in her armor and she could feel burns on her chest.

Hardy was now officially pissed. Ducking low, she ran towards the front of the car, then knelt to remove something from her belt. “Grenade!” she called, throwing it through the hole in the wall. Inside, the three ET’s looked at the object curiously for a second before it exploded, shrapnel tearing their bodies apart.

Guesz ran around to the side of the truck so that he was no longer flanked by the enemy. He noticed one of the grey creatures emitting a purple beam towards the one that had flanked him. “Take that one down!” he called, and he and Stonegate opened fire from their new positions, but neither of them managed to land a hit on the creature cowering under its cover. Rhianna, no longer close enough to fire on the new targets after trying to flank the now dead aliens inside, rushed closer towards the enemy. The ET that had previously been flanking Guesz ran closer to Stonegate and opened fire, green plasma splashing across her shoulder Hissing in pain, she ducked back under cover. “I’m alright!” she assured the others.

Guesz, Hardy, and Rhianna all opened fire on the glowing purple creature, and enough of the storm of bullets landed to take it down. Stonegate watched from across the lot of the store as the beam entering the other creature changed color and sank into it. It gave a strange yell, jerking up, all of its muscles tense, then collapsed, dead.

“Satellite readings show no other movement, all hostiles are down. Great job men.” Bradford sent.

Back at base there was an atmosphere of excitement and celebration. As they trooped off the transport, two of them injured but alive, Commander McNair met them, along with all the other soldiers. A great cry rose up as the victorious soldiers entered walked out of the Skyranger, and those left behind rushed forward to pat them on the back. While they were gone everything had been fired up and the base was humming along smoothly now, bright fluorescents lighting the room brilliantly, far better than the emergency lights that had been all that was on before. After a few moments, the Commander motioned everyone to calm down so he could speak.

“Today, we have won an important victory. We have met an enemy unknown to man before now, and defeated them without losing a single man. Caroline Hardy was key in this mission, eliminating half of the foe with a single well placed grenade, and delivering the killing blow to all of the other enemies. As such, it is my honor to grant her this promotion.” Again everyone erupts in shouts of congratulations as the Commander shook Hardy’s hand and she took the new insignia from him. Eventually the cheers died down, and McNair spoke again.

“Although this first mission was a great success, this was just the first battle. There are reports of UFO’s across the globe, and while there have been no more abductions yet, we must be prepared at any moment to respond to Alien activities. Feel free to celebrate tonight, but know that we are the vanguard of Humanity, it’s only hope against this unknown threat. ”

“ET doesn’t stand a chance against us!” Vulpintaur yelled, and the men again cheered. The Commander left then, to let them have their celebration, and to prepare with the labs and engineers. This was far from over, and they’d need every edge they could get if they were to win this war.

== Girding for War ==

March 1, 2014

Commander McNair met with Central Officer Bradford in the Situation room shortly after the promotion of Hardy. Gazing at the map on the giant screen set into the wall, he asked “How bad is it?”

“It could be better sir. Although the council will provide us with any equipment for our soldiers free of charge, and supply us logistically, we’ll be paying for base expansion ourselves, as well as construction of any equipment we learn make from the Aliens. Furthermore, the nations of the council feel that they shouldn’t have to provide direct funding for us if we don’t have satellite coverage to protect them from the Alien threat. Most satellites can’t detect them, only our specially modified ones can.”

Waving at the map, McNair asks “So that means the only country currently giving us monthly funding is the United Kingdom?” At Bradford’s nod, McNair sighed deeply. “I suppose more satellite coverage should be a priority then. What other good news do you have?”

“Well sir, at the moment reports on the ET’s have just started and most people are confused more the worried. However, as things escalate we’ll have to keep an eye on the panic levels around the world. If too many incursions happen in a country without response, the panicking populace will probably cause the government to withdraw its support.”

“Very well, thank you Bradford. I’ll expect to be kept abreast of the global situation at all times.”

“Of course sir, I will sir. Also, you should visit the Labs and Engineering, the Council sent in staff for them.”

“Oh really? I hope they brought some dusting spray.”

The Commander left Bradford and considered a moment before setting off to the labs first. Inside it was brightly lit, with several scientists setting up various pieces of equipment. As McNair walked in, one of the scientists looks up and greets him.

“Commander? My name is Doctor Vahlen, I’m the head of the research team. It is good to meet you.”

McNair shakes her hand. “Good to meet you to. Is everything in working order? We haven’t had a Scientist on the payroll for a year.”

“The equipment is adequate. We found most of it in storage and completely new, it seems my predecessor had little use for it. We have already begun analyzing the artifacts recovered from our first encounter with the Aliens. Based on our preliminary findings, we believe we can use them to develop some new equipment for our soldiers.”

“Good to know, we’ll need everything we can get to win this. What are our options?”

“We recovered several corpses from the battle, and though most were in poor shape, I believe we could gain an understanding of Alien biology that will help us combat them. Another option is to study the recovered artifacts. The Alien’s weaponry seems to self-destruct when the owner dies, so all we have are fragments, but we have enough to learn about either the methods they use to create the weapons, or the hardened material the Aliens seem to use.”

The Commander thinks for a minute. “Those materials, could they be used to improve the armor of our men? In our last encounter the Aliens blasted through the armor in a single shot, we were lucky not to lose anyone.”

“Yes I do believe that would be viable with enough research. It will take some time, but I will be sure to inform you as we make progress.”

After saying his goodbyes, McNair headed to the Engineering Bay. It was mostly a very large empty area, big enough to build anything up to and including satellites or fighter jets. Along the walls where various pieces of large construction equipment being checked over by the Engineers. An older man with balding white hair noticed him and walked over.

“Greetings Commander, welcome to the Engineering Bay. I’m Dr. Shen and I head the work here, we’ll build anything the lab boys cook up.”

“Good to meet you. What’s the staff look like?”

“Well sir, as you know no one really expected an Alien invasion. I only got here today, and only five engineers arrived with me. Everyone’s very good at their jobs, but larger projects will be slow and expensive until we get more men.”

“After talking to Bradford and Dr. Vahlen I’m not surprised, and it looks like we won’t be able to secure more resources unless we expand our coverage. Can you build another satellite?”

Dr. Shen hesitates a moment, thinking. “Yes I believe we can, but it will take most of our current funds and three weeks of work with the staff we have on hand.”

“Do it. Every eye in the sky we have increases the countries willing to send us monthly funds.”

{{Separator|d}}

Phil Guesz didn’t stay at the celebration long. Instead, he found himself wandering the corridors. It just didn’t feel right. Sure they had taken out some Aliens, outnumbered and outgunned, without losing a man, but it seemed everyone forgot the video of crowds running in panic, people screaming in fear as they dragged by strange green energy and sucked into a device that should be too small to hold them all. Who knows what happened to those victims, or what the Aliens did to them. Where they dead? Imprisoned? Being experimented on even now like all the crazy “I got kidnapped by Aliens and they did stuff to me!” nutjobs claimed? Those stories weren’t so crazy these days…

He found himself standing outside the infirmary door. Reaching up, he pressed the “Open” button, and it slid open with a whoosh. The infirmary was pretty standard, tiled walls, white floor, the smell of disinfectant and sterilizing agents. Glancing around, he’s surprised to see two beds occupied. One has the privacy curtain pulled around it, and on one across the room sits Caroline Hardy in a hospital gown.

“Hey.” Hardy says, glancing up at Guesz.

“Hey. I thought your armor blocked the shot you took.”

“Most of it. I didn’t want to ruin the celebration, so I just gritted my snuck here while it got started. Why’d you leave?”

“It just doesn’t feel right to celebrate an Alien invasion, no matter how well the first fight goes.”

“Yeah I feel you.” Hardy nods, then grimaces in pain. Guesz looks closer and notices a part of her neck is blackened, just barely visible over the collar of the gown.

“How bad is it?” he asks, concern written all over his face.

“See for yourself.” she motions to the top of the gown and leans back some.

Guesz hesitates, then reaches forward and pulls the collar down just a little more to see. Some sort of strange burn is exposed, covering her collar bones and extending below sight. “Shit…” he breathes.

“Looks worse than it is I’m told. The skin on my upper chest is burned away, but the armor saved my life and the plasma sealed the wound so I didn’t bleed out. Can’t even feel it most of the time, only when I move in certain ways.”

Guesz sits down next to Hardy, then looks over at the hidden bed. “How bad did they get Windscale?”

“Little worse than me, I’m amazed she kept fighting out there. The plasma burned through the armor at the shoulder and ran down her right arm. You could see the burns if Doc hadn’t come and closed the curtains. He hates rushing it, but says we’ll both be in good enough condition to go back out in a week. The council is providing the best medicine in the world for us, and we can’t really afford to wait for scars to fade before we go back out.”

They both stare at the curtain hiding Freya for several seconds, contemplating the events of the day. “A lot of people are going to die before this is over aren’t they?” Guesz said sadly.

“Looks like. I’m amazed either of us lived, and those ET’s we fought today didn’t strike me as soldiers, more like working grunts or scientists. We’ll face worse before the end.”

“Think we’ll win?”
They look at each other, the neck of her gown still low enough to show off the blackened skin. “I don’t know.” She responds, her gaze determined. “but we’ll sure as hell put up a good fight.”

== Midnight Run ==

March 6, 2014

It was the middle of the night five days later before the shit hit the fan. The alert sounded through the base, and McNair walked out of his bedroom and into controlled chaos.

“Bradford, what’s going on?”

Bradford looked up from the lower area. “Sir we have reports of multiple, simultaneous abduction attacks across the world. We don’t have the manpower or transportation to respond to more than one.”

McNair closed his eyes and leaned his head back, fists clenching. He took a deep breath. “Damn it. Where?”

“Cape Town, South Africa, Fukuoka, Japan, and Toronto, Canada sir!” one of the techs yells.

McNair gazes at the giant 3D globe floating in the center of the room for a long moment. “Send the Skyranger to Japan. We’ll just have to hope the local forces can handle the threat elsewhere.” Even as he said it, everyone in the room knew it would probably be a slaughter.

With Hardy and Windscale still in the infirmary, only two soldiers who had seen the ET’s before could go on the mission. Tiberius Vulpintaur and Alexander Green joined Guesz and Stonegate on the Skyranger, filled with a nervous energy.

“What’re they like? The Aliens.” Vulpintaur wondered.

“Lab boys named them ‘Sectoids’. They look a lot like the grey men aliens you see on TV actually, so I guess myths are loosely based in reality. Don’t underestimate them, they blew a wall down with a single volley. Advance carefully and always be behind cover.” Stonegate responded.

The Skyranger dropped them off in what looked like a construction site. Two green outlines of people who had been dragged into the strange machines, greeted them as they ran down the ramp, and the rookies stared at them as they glowed softly in the night-vision goggles.

“Less gawkin more walkin!” Stonegate told them, rushing past the strange outlines and taking cover behind a stack of something under a tarp. Getting ahold of themselves, everyone found something to duck behind, gazing out for any signs of movement. The construction yard was full of scattered stacks of building materials and large rectangular metal shipping crates, and there was a ramp leading up to a crane that lifted things from the ground way below. After 20 seconds of nothing in sight but some wandering pigeons, Guesz ran forward to new cover against a pair of massive transport crates.

“I see 2!” He called, as two Aliens some distance away rushed behind cover.

Vulpintaur ran forward to take position next to Guesz, while the others stayed back, as there was no other good cover closer to the enemy. Vulpintaur then motioned that he would try to flank the enemy to the left and disappeared around the corner of the metal container, only to curse loudly and rush back behind cover. “2 more on the high ground!”

Green and Guesz opened fire on one of the Sectoids Guesz had spotted, but couldn’t land a hit as it ducked behind the far side of the shipping container. Stonegate advanced to cover next to the ramp and tried to nail one of the two Vulpintaur spotted up on the high ground, but had no more luck than anyone else.

One Sectoid focused on another, a purple aura going from it to its fellow. Seemingly emboldened by its psionic support, it rushed forward at Green and Guesz, who opened fire at it. Vulpintaur ran over to Green and joined them in firing at the approaching Sectoid, and it took several bullets, but amazingly didn’t fall, grabbing a ladder on the side of the crate and climbing up. Meanwhile, Stonegate advanced up the ramp, trying to flank the Alien mentally empowering the other, but it saw her and ran to cover. The other aliens both took cover in a couple half-finished walls, one opening fire at the soldiers, the other casting that strange green energy to its fellow on top of the crate, who dropped down beside Guesz and also fired, but he ducked behind a pile of bricks just in time. Amazingly, none of the aliens managed land a hit, the plasma splashing off the wood Vulpintaur and Green where hiding behind.

Guesz turned and shot the ET next to him in the face before it could get off another shot, and from the way it screamed and fell to the ground it seems that whatever the purple energy was, it only helped so much. Stonegate tried to nail the one on the high ground, but only managed to send a cloud of dust into the air from the cinder blocks it crouched behind. Green and Vulpintaur had no luck either, their bullets just missing one who had advanced to the other side of the shipping crate. One had stayed behind at the unfinished walls and buffed its comrade, who held it’s fire, waiting for the soldiers to try to advance on it.

Up on the high ground, Stonegate managed to avoid the stream of plasma that was fired at her, then rushed forward, and blasted the Sectiod in the face before it could react. A new pair of Sectoids saw her as she ran forward. Green managed to clip the Sectoid hiding behind the storage crate. Guesz, tired of the stalemate, advanced quickly to the ladder, jumping on it and climbing up, getting clipped slightly by the ET as he did so, then running to the other side and dropping down where he could flank it. Guessing his plan, it backed up, trying to get behind something so Guesz couldn’t nail it in the side, but he followed after it. Stonegate opened fire from the high ground, and while it was distracted avoiding her burst, Guesz nailed it, finishing it off. Everyone took a moment to reposition around the last Alien that had been hiding in the half finished walls for a while now and reload their weapons. Vulpintaur was the one who managed to take it down, advancing quickly to nearer cover, then putting a half dozen bullets in its chest when it leaned out to figure out where he went.

“Is that all of them?” Green called. They all stood from behind cover a moment and looked around.

“This is central, we’re still picking up movement, so there should be more of them.” Just then, Stonegate caught sight of one of the pair that had earlier seen her trying to sneak towards her.

“ET on the flank!” she yelled, dropping back behind cover. The Sectiod, realizing it had been spotted, hid behind the ramp leading up to the high ground. Everyone rushed to reposition, Green and Vulpintaur moving towards the ramp, while Stonegate climbed a ladder to an even higher section of the construction site, Guesz climbing a different ladder to take position where she had been. Green saw movement as an ET ran up and he scored a lucky shot, a bullet going into it’s eye. Thinking it was the one behind the ramp, Vulpintaur advanced, but it had been a different Sectoid. The one hiding behind the ramp blasted him with plasma. Screaming in agony, Vulpintaur fell back against another shipping crate, his gun falling to the ground. Snatching his grenade, he threw it at the Alien, who tried to scramble away but wasn’t fast enough, it’s body shredded by the explosion. Guesz, hearing the scream, rushes over, while the others take up position to cover them in case there are more Aliens.

Vulpintaur was in bad shape. His chest-plate was completely melted, and some of the plasma had splashed across his face. He was still screaming, laying against the shipping crate, one of his eyes melting as Phil gazed in horror. Yanking out his medkit, he sprayed it on the injured man. It’s soothing mist caused the plasma to dissipate, and pain killers entered Vulpintaur’s bloodstream. In just a few moments the pain was deadened completely.

“That miracle drug is temporary, it’ll get you back in the action but you’ll be out of the fight for a while once we get back.” Guesz told him. Vulpintaur took several deep breaths, then stood up.

“You should stay down, we can finish off the rest.” Guesz told him.

“No, that really is a miracle drug, I can barely feel it. I’ll give you covering fire.” From the grim stare he gave Phil, enhanced by his now blacked left eye, Guesz knew there was no use arguing.

They advanced slowly to the last small section of the site, eyes peeled for ET’s constantly. Vulpintaur apparently really was completely deadened to the pain, as he advanced with surety, gaze sharp, sweeping back and forth. Stonegate on the high ground watched them advance, waiting for them to get into position before moving to where she could see – and be seen – from the final corner. They found a pair of Sectoids hiding behind some building supplies, but for once luck was with them and Green and Guesz managed to kill them before they could react. That was the last of them, a short search later proved; as did a radio call from Bradford indicating no movement could be detected by local satellites.

The mood was much more somber this time. While they had been clearing out Fukuoka, everyone else had been watching the news in Canada and Africa. As they feared, local forces hadn’t been able to do anything against the Aliens, and a large number of people had been abducted. Panic was rising as the news spread. Although they had again managed to eliminate the enemy without losing a man, Vulpintaur had to be rushed to the infirmary as soon as they got back. None of his wounds were life threatening amazingly, but he would be out of action for a while and probably lose his eye, and the shot Phil had thought merely clipped his armor had burned through during the rest of the battle and he would need attention from Doc as well.

With 8 Aliens dead and everyone accounting for a pair, McNair promoted them all to Squaddie, but with far less fanfare than Caroline’s promotion had. Everyone was exhausted, even those who hadn’t gone on the combat mission, for the klaxons had woken the entire base. Then news of the Aliens successfully kidnapping dozens of people from Canada and South Africa had come in, local policeman and soldiers standing no chance against the threat. There was little conversation as people went to sleep for the last few hours of the night.

== The Biohazard ==

March 13, 2014

For the next few days, everyone was tense. In 6 days the Aliens had hit four cities, managing three at once on opposite ends of the world the second time, and everyone was all wound up waiting for the next assault. There are only so many days in a row you can spend drilling, practicing at the firing range or working out before it gets old though. By the end of a week the nervous tension had drained to a dull boredom. Fortunately, the base came with a fully stocked bar, complete with a pool table and a giant screen TV.

This particular evening just about everyone was hanging around in the bar. Zane had just arrived and gotten some beers from Donny, the Bartender, to take to the loveseat where he and Rhianna liked to sit together. As he walked past the pool table he saw the 8 ball go into a pocket and grinned. Copernicus, one of the engineers, had been beating everyone in pool all evening. The council had dug him and a few other engineers up as thanks for the great job at Fukuoka, and he had just arrived.

“This place is awesome. I get to build new tech based on Alien designs, and this is the first military job I’ve gotten that came with its own pool table. Best two out of three?”

Doug, his opponent, grimaces. “Sure, nothing better to do. I’m glad you like it here, I bet no one else in the room volunteered except maybe Donny.”

Cope raises an eyebrow as he racks up the balls. “Oh really? How come?”

“Until two weeks ago, no one had any actual proof Aliens existed, yet a project was made just in case of Alien invasion and stocked with Soldiers. This was a dead end post that you got sent to by pissing off the wrong people. I got drunk and vomited on a Four Star General right before he was to make a speech.”

Several people chuckle. Maximilian, who was playing Cribbage with Alex and Caroline, speaks up. “My stories rather interesting if I do say so myself. I was a Gunnery Officer at a British Navy port, kept all the weapons maintained and was in charge of the warehouses. One day my commanding officer storms in and demands to know where a certain shipment was. Of course I had no idea off the top of my head. It seems he had shipped his private collection of old Flintlocks using military resources, which is against the rules incidentally, and was now upset that they had been misplaced.”

Maximilian pauses a moment to take a swallow from his drink and count up his points. “15 2, 15 4, double run of three for 10 and a pair for 12. Where was I? Oh yes, so after the chap blows his top a while he storms out, and I dig through the records to figure out what the dickens happened. A few days later I find the crate sitting in the back of a different warehouse, and I’m just going to tell the bloke when I get told he’s got me shipped out here. Naturally I forgot to let him know I found his pistols before I left, and a pair of very nice looking ones seem to have vanished when he found the shipment a week later.”

Everyone gets a good laugh out of that, and Copernicus just starts making the rounds after that. “Lost the CO’s Begal.” Alex says. “Knocked out a General when he touched my ass.” Caroline comments while moving her peg. “Slept with the Secretary of Defense’s daughter!” Phil calls out from his place at the bar.

“I wanted to fight Aliens.” Freya announces casually. Everyone stares at her.

“Wait a sec. Until two weeks ago, no one had any proof that Aliens existed, nor that they would start mass kidnappings, yet you still decided to sign up for XCom specifically so you could kill some?”

Freya scoffs. “Course Aliens exist, there’s a half dozen in storage at the labs. What other opponent would be as challenging or exciting as Aliens?”

Doug blinks, shakes his head, then looks around again. “How about you lover boy?” He yells at Zane. Zane looks up and grins from the loveseat. “Rhianna and I got into a relationship. Problem was, she was my CO. We got caught by someone we knew who decided not to turn us in, but it was getting too risky.”

Rhianna picks up the story. “So I did some research and learned this place had its own ranking system, and we’d both start at ‘Rookie’ since neither of us had served in a war. Called in a favor, got us transferred, problem solved.”

Everyone nods and goes back to what they were doing. Cope grins at Doug. “I you lost that bet, they asked to be transferred. How much was it for again?”

Doug snorts. “We didn’t actually settle on a bet, but I guess I’ll buy you a drink.” This being a top secret military base, Donny wasn’t allowed to hire any waitresses, so Doug walks over to the bar to fetch a pair of drinks. At the far end of the bar was a woman he thought he recognized, one of the soldiers, silently sipping at her drink, not participating in the conversation.

“Hey uhh… Hawlsera isn’t it? What’s your story?”

She looks up at him a moment, then back down into her drink. “It’s… personal.”

“Oh come on, everyone else shared. Hell I puked on a fuckin General, that’s as embarrassing as it gets.”

She just shakes her head. Now Doug was intrigued, and he decided to insist. “Look, all the rest of the men I know by name, but I had to think to remember yours. This base is tiny, so you’ve been hiding. Before, it didn’t matter, but now we’re at war and we have to trust each other with our lives. If you can’t trust us with whatever it is that brought you here, do you really want to trust us with your life on the battlefield?”

For a long time Hawlsera doesn’t say anything. Doug’s drinks arrived, but rather than going back to Cope he sit and waits. Eventually he decides she was just ignoring him. “Screw it.” He thinks, then yells out to the room “Hey guys! Hawlsera here listened to all of our amusing, embarrassing, and touchy feely stories, but doesn’t think she can trust us with a little history lesson of her own. What do you think of that?”

Immediately everyone boos her good naturedly. “Cmon, tell us!” Phil calls. “Even if you refuse, if we really want to know we can probably look up your military records.” Alex points out.

Hawlsera finally looks up from her drink. There is a hunted look in her eyes that suddenly made everyone uncomfortable. She takes a deep breath to rally herself, then glares at the assemblage. “Fine. You want a history lesson? I’m TG, or transgender. I was born a guy and miserable most of my life, feeling like I was in the wrong body, wanting to be a girl. My dad found out, and tells me he didn’t raise me to be a pansy and sent me off to the army to become a ‘real man’. I hide it for years, absolutely miserable, before saying fuck it and starting therapy, only for everyone to treat me like a freak once they found out. I got transferred here right after I spent every dime I own on the surgery hoping for a new start as Female and no one knowing. So much for that idea!”

Finishing her tirade, she leans back over her drink sullenly, avoiding the gaze of the somewhat stunned room. After a moment of gazing at her near empty glass, there’s a *thunk* and she looks up to see Donnie’s retreating back, a fresh drink in front of her, next to the money he didn’t take as payment. Suddenly someone hugs her from behind.

“You’ll always just be one of the girls to me.” Freya says.

Doug, feeling like a total jackass, pipes up. “We’re all in this together Hawlsera. It doesn’t matter who or what you are, guy, gal, TG, whatever! We’ve got your back, no matter what.”

There’s a murmur of agreement throughout the room. Phil raises his glass. “Here’s to us: The brothers and sisters in arms who are going to blast those Alien scum back to the hell they came from!”

As everyone raises their glasses in toast, Hawlsera looks at them. They all return her gaze steadily, waiting for her to join them. Finally she raises hers as well. “To us.”

== Operation Splashdown ==

March 14, 2014

“Sir, our satellite has picked up something.”

“What?” Bradford said as he looked up intently at the holo-globe.

“There is something in the air over Europe. It’s causing gravimetric disturbances unlike anything we have in the air.”

“Good work, get Blackwing to his ship.” Bradford commed McNair. “We have a UFO over Europe sir, probably Alien in origin. You’d better get up here.”

McNair, who had been enjoying a nice, leisurely meal at the Biohazard, dropped his food and got up. As he strode purposefully into the Control Room, one of the techs called “Blackwing’s suited up and ready to take off in Avenger-1.” Bradford looked up at McNair, who merely nodded his acord.

It was a tense wait. The UFO was flying about at a decent clip in what seemed to be some sort of searching or scanning pattern, weaving back and forth over areas of Germany. Blackwing took it slow to conserve fuel, which meant that it took several hours before he was anywhere near it.

“You sure it’s up here? Sky’s all clear and I’m not getting anything on radar.” He asked.

“The bogie isn’t showing on any radar, so we’re pretty certain it’s extraterrestrial in origin. You’ll need a visual lock to confirm.”

“Roger.” Another few minutes passed as Blackwing scanned the sky for anything else in the air. “I got something, moving fast, no contrail, moving in.” As he flew closer, he slowly made out what looked like a flying silver disk. The entire thing was rounded and curved, preventing radar waves from bouncing off of it, and the sides glowed an alternating bright blue and darker blue.

“Bogie sighted, sure as hell ain’t Human. Permission to engage?”

“Granted. Good luck Avenger-1.”

He approached from the “Side” of the ship, for a lack of a better word. It was heading west, while he was going north. After a moments thought, he maintained his relatively low speed on approach. No one had taken potshots at a UFO before, so with luck it would ignore him until he got close enough for target lock.

Avalanche missiles, what he had on his fighter, had the most advanced guidance system known to man. It could keep track of a ship at twice the range and with ridiculous accuracy compared to the next best. When he had passed optimal lock distance, then exceeded it by 1/4th of the stated numbers, he cursed to himself. “Fuck it, Leeroy Jenkins time.” Pouring on speed, he shot at the UFO suddenly, shattering the sound barrier and rapidly closing the distance. At less than half the stated range of his weaponry he got a target lock and opened fire. A moment later there was a huge plume of flame and a loud explosion as it impacted the strange craft.

Blackwing was just throttling back and preparing to turn to match the UFO’s trajectory when he saw the blue glow change directions and shoot directly away from him. Quickly readjusting his course, he accelerated as rapidly as he could to keep up with the speeding Aliens.

“Target hit, bogie took off like Superman at closing time. “ He reported. The Bogie was fast, but large. Blackwing closed on it, but very slowly. Suddenly there was a green flash and something arced towards him. Reacting quickly, he did a barrel roll, mostly avoiding it, but took a slight hit on the wing. Regaining his target lock, he fired again, but the missile veered off, passing the UFO by a good distance.

“Takin fire, I thought these things never missed.” His calm tone belied the adrenaline flooding his system. Quickly he fired again, landing a hit this time. Again return fire came, but this time it missed by a wide margin. It seems Aliens are not the best sharpshooters, or at least not this group.

Already the chase had been on several minutes, and at this speed his fuel was rapidly depleting. He had time for one more shot before he had to break off or risk not having enough to return to base. First though, he waited a few precious seconds to ensure a closer target and a firm lock. Rolling past another shot across his wing, he fired, then cut the throttle. As his speed dropped, he watched his last missile hit home. After a moments, he sighed in disappointment as it kept going, although smoke billowed out of it. Then it slowly tilted from it’s straight course, edging more and more towards the ground and beginning to plummet.

“Central, this is Blackwing, we have a confirmed kill on Bogey. I repeat, the UFO is down.”

As everyone started cheering, Bradford commed “Copy that Blackwing, good work. Central out.” Things began to calm down again as he called for a satellite visual on the crash site. Smoke filled the screen, and it took a few magnifications before they could clearly see the UFO.

“Still in one piece.” Bradford said, surprised. One side of it was charred and had a gaping hole from the repeated missile impacts, but otherwise it was intact. “Commander, I recommend we get a strike team to the crash site immediately.”

{{Separator|d}}

The crashed UFO was in the middle of a forest in Germany. Fire smoldered in the underbrush in several places from leaked plasma, and trees were snapped like twigs from the fall, trucks lying stretched out on the ground. Wordlessly the strike team took position behind the broken tree’s, then after ensuring there was no ambush waiting for them as they landed, set out into the woods.

Soon they came across debris from the wrecked spaceship. It was hard to tell what any of it used to be, most of it just twisted pieces of metal, some large enough for a man to lean against even standing. Just then Green stopped from his position towards the back. “I heard something; I think there is a group trying to circle around us.” Quickly the group repositioned and advanced slantwise away from the UFO. It took a little bit, but Green spotted the Sectoids across the strewn wreckage and opened fire with his massive machine gun, the bullets shredding his unfortunate target. None of the others could get a clear shot except for Hardy, whose shotgun was useless at the distance the 2nd target was at, so she pulled out her sidearm and opened fire, hitting the Alien a few times but failing to kill it.

Guesz took a risk, rushing across open ground to distant cover, ducking green plasma to slam into a low stone rise, then standing back up as soon as the firing stopped, blowing away the remaining Alien. “Geez Phil, one of these days your luck is going to run out!” Stonegate called out to him.

“It’s my lucky rabbit’s foot!” he called back.

Just then Hardy saw another pair of ET’s off to her right, from the opposite direction of the first group. “Incoming!” she called as the two grey creatures backed up a little to find suitable cover. Guesz fell back to join the others as they found new cover from the direction the new targets approached from. One advanced carefully, being charged by its fellow with that purple energy, then opened fire at Guesz and missed. Guesz returned fire, not hitting it, while the girls circled around to try to get at the Alien channeling into it’s ally. Green wasn’t able to see either enemy clearly, so he merely waited and watched. Thus when the nearer Alien tried to advance closer to Guesz, Green’s LMG blasted it apart.

The second Sectoid, seeing it’s fellow die, tried to retreat. Stonegate and Hardy saw it and ran quickly after it. It managed to duck out of Hardy’s sight at the last second, only for Stonegate to draw her pistol and nail a headshot, killing it.

Everyone was fairly certain the woods were clear then, so they moved on the UFO. It was remarkably intact, about as big as a small house though not as tall as one, almost but not quite circular. It’s sides glowing with some sort of transparent energy field on four sides, while some sort of deep blue shield was on the remaining portions.

“I think that’s some sort of door.” Stonegate pointed at the non-transparent part.

“I see an entrance through that other part.” Guesz commented. After a bit of discussion, they decided they didn’t want to be seen coming, so circled around to surround the large blue “door” of the UFO. Once they were all in position, Hardy hesitantly put out a hand and touched the blue field. Immediately it made a high pitched humming noise and dissipated. For a split second, they saw an orange crystal floating in mid-air. Then something formed around it, a creature seemingly made of a tan metal with black portions giving an impression of a face and emphasizing joints. A rifle materialized with it, and it gazed at the intruders as orange energy sparked from the crystal in it’s stomach.

“Open fire!” They all aimed for the thing, but it was blazingly fast, running to cover before they could react to its sudden appearance. Hardy reacted almost as quickly though, rushing up close to it and unloading her shotgun into it. Whatever it was, it wasn’t tough enough to take a point-blank shotgun blast to the core, and it vanished as suddenly as it appeared, dematerializing into thin air, nothing remaining except the shards of it’s weapon.

== Escort Duty ==

March 15, 2014

“Commander we are receiving a transmission from the council for you. Please report to the Situation Room.” A voice over the intercom said.

McNair cracked his eyes open and glanced at the clock. “Oh come on, 12:51?” he thought. Grumbling, he got dressed, taking his time in an attempt to be properly awake before setting out. Stopping outside the room, he took the one last yawn and stretch. As he entered, he hoped he looked fully awake. “Alright patch them through.”

A looming shadowy figure appeared on the screen, basically a silhouette of the man who acted as “Face” of the council. McNair was a bit annoyed, wondering if they were that paranoid, too concerned with appearances to let him see one tired, or if they just enjoyed the atmosphere of secrecy.

“Commander, we have received word that a friend of this Council has come under attack in Nigeria. It would reflect poorly on our efforts if we were to allow our ally to be captured by hostile forces. We'll need you to ensure his safe return to XCOM HQ; we should have further details by the time your troops reach the extraction site.”

“A friend? Could you possibly be more specific?”

“No Commander. Suffice to say this person has been… useful in the past, and may be in the future if you are successful in the extraction. Time is of the essence, as it is uncertain how long he can evade pursuit.”

“Very well, we’ll scramble a squad ASAP.”

“Good.” The screen blacked out. “Sir, we’re receiving coordinates and a dossier. All it has is a name, age, and picture.” The night tech said.

McNair rubbed his temples. “Alright then. I’ll go wake the troops, send all the info to the Skyranger’s onboard computer. It’s going to be a long night.”

No one was particularly happy at being woken, nor about hearing what little information there was on this mysterious person. Eventually Morgan, Stonegate, Guesz, and Hardy were up and on the way.

They landed on a major road of some sort in Nigeria. Everyone was a bit surprised that a third world country had such a thing. Some sort of stone decorative area with plants and statues sat on either side of the road, with walkways going over it in places. Not many details on the target where added on route, just that his name was Hutch, and he had been in a limo when the Aliens attempted an abduction, and had hit some form of panic button that alerted the Council immediately.

Fanning out, they had just begun searching when Hardy saw a tall, thin man in a suit with sun glasses. Thinking it was a body guard or some sort of secret service, she started to hail the figure, when it saw her and dove behind cover, clutching it’s plasma pistol.

“Got a hostile over here, looks Human but has Alien gear.” Hardy called out as she too took cover. Stonegate looked in the indicated direction through her scope and saw the figure stand up to fire. Her bullet landed first, and the creature exploded into a vile looking green gas with a loud agonized hiss.

“Whoa what the fuck?!” Guesz exclaimed.

“Be careful everyone, we have hostiles that are posing as Human. Watch your fire, and be sure of friend or foe before you approach anyone.” Hardy warned.

They advanced carefully to the edge of the stairs leading down to the road, taking cover behind large lights and pots. Gazing down at a stopped car, Guesz saw two men cowering behind it on the near side. “Freeze, identify yourself!” Guesz yelled, aiming at them.

One of them peed his pants and turned so pale he lost his tan, while the other cursed in a foreign tongue and said “We’re friendlies! There are some on the other side of the highway!” Looking up, Guesz saw a Sectoid crouching behind a statue across the way, aiming down at the two men, and Morgan saw two more crouching at the overpass. Stonegate advanced quickly to cover the civilians, while Morgan got a shot and kill on a Sectoid who was caught by surprise. Guesz dropped a smoke bomb to conceal the group on the asphalt.

One of the Aliens was surrounded with a familiar purple glow. Dropping onto the road and taking cover behind an abandoned car, it took careful aim and fired at Morgan. The plasma hit him in the face, and he fell screaming to the ground, convulsing for a moment before he died.

“Shit, man down!” Stonegate called. Hardy raced forward, blood pounding in her head, and got up close to the Alien who had killed Morgan. Another Alien that had been hidden behind cover tried to shoot her as she ran, but missed, and she opened up on the damned thing. Blood spattered everywhere and gaping holes appeared in it’s flesh. It looked up at Hardy and glared, amazingly still up from the psionic enhancement it was receiving. Stonegate’s round penetrated it’s skull and finished it off just as it’s weapon discharged, causing the weapon to fly off, the shots to going wild, missing Hardy from point blank range.

The Sectoid that had been augmenting it’s ally advanced and fired towards Hardy, but also missed. Guesz dropped to the road and took out the one that had tried to shoot her as she advanced, while Stonegate continued to cover Hardy with her rifle. It had too much cover and the bullet missed, cracking into the stone of the ornate light fixture. Hardy moved around so it was no longer flanking her, and it advanced some, ducking behind more cover just as Stonegate’s next round flew past it. “Reloading.” Stonegate called.

Guesz was keeping watch for a flanking maneuver by any other Aliens down the highway. Hardy peeked out and almost got hit by the Alien’s reaction shot. There was a stalemate for a bit longer as it found a new position where Stonegate couldn’t fire with her reloaded rifle and blasted away at Hardy, but then she found an opening and advanced quickly on it, blowing it away with her shotgun as it was reloading.

Everyone took a breather for a moment, as all nearby targets seemed to have been eliminated. They had ended up fairly scattered, and all converged on the two civilians as they reloaded.

“Thanks for the save.” The man who had soiled his pants said, sitting on the ground, leaning against the car, shivering. “If you’re looking for Hutch he fled down the road right after they showed up. I think he’s hiding behind that delivery van.”

Nodding, they all looked at each other a moment, then over at Morgan’s bloody corpse. “He died for nothing if we don’t get Hutch out of here.” Phil commented.

“Should we put him on the transport?” Stonegate asked.

“No time, we might still have hostiles and we don’t want to leave Hutch unsecured or be carrying a corpse when we get under fire.” Hardy pointed out.

Stonegate nodded solemnly. “Then I’ll stay here, cover you, and make sure nothing desecrates the corpse. Once we have Hutch we’ll retrieve Morgan for burial.”

They advanced carefully to where Hutch was hiding. Hardy was the one to approach him, probably a poor choice considering the orange blood spattering her armor and face. Hutch was at first taken aback by her appearance, but recovered quickly. “Thank god you’re here! We’ve got to get out of here before more show up!”

“We got you. Keep close, and stay covered behind cars as much as possible.” She responded.

About halfway back down the highway they spotted the incoming hostile. This time everyone got a good look at the thin, humanish Alien. The resemblance was only passing actually, it was much too tall for any normal person, and it’s wrists and neck had scales that just peaked out of the sleeves and collar. Also helping the identification was it’s aggressive pose and glowing green weapon. Without hesitation they opened fire on it, but it twisted in an unnatural way, as if it had no spine, and the unexpected motion meant the shots missed.

Raising to it’s full height, the Alien spat. A green projectile of some sort flew out and exploded around Hutch into a toxic cloud. Coughing and gasping, he panicked and ran towards the Skyranger. Another volley of shots at the thing, and a few bullets hit, but it hissed in agony and kept standing, firing down at Hardy. She had just been leaning out to fire at it when it shot, the blast catching her in the chest several times.

“NO NO NO GOD DAMN IT!” Stonegate screamed, emptying her rifle wildly at the Thin Man. It’s luck finally ran out, and it exploded like it’s fellow had leaving a thick green mist. As she vented frustration, the rifle clicking on empty, a sudden strangling noise startled her. Jumping up, she whirled around, pointing her now empty gun wildly about. Hutch had run past her while she was distracted and was now just behind her, mere feet from the Skyranger. As she watched, he clutched at his throat, his eyes bulging, his face a strange reddish green, and he collapsed from the toxin. Running over, dropper to her knees next to him, she yelled “Phil get the fuck over here!”

Phil had wandered over in a daze to Hardies corpse. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he tried anyway. He had just finished applying the medkit to her corpse when he heard the scream. Cursing and gazing about wildly, he ran as fast as he could back to the Skyranger. As he ascended the steps, he saw Stonegate there, kneeling next to the already stiffening corpse of the VIP, clutching it like a dead baby or lover. He dropped his gun, and his medkit. And then he began to chuckle historically, and it turned into tears and screams of rage and frustration.

== Vengeance ==
March 15, 2014

They did not have time to mourn. Mere hours after returning from the failed rescue the alert went out: Once more the Aliens were striking across the globe, abducting people in mass in three cities. Everyone was awake despite it being five in the morning, news had spread fast as to the deaths. Most had gathered at the Biohazard to getting the story from Rhianna, who had just finished her debriefing. Looking up at the sound of the klaxon, everyone hesitates, still fixated on the disaster only just befallen them.

“Well, duty calls.” Rhianna said, standing. She was still in her armor from the last mission, having no time to change between the unloading, debriefing, and the questions.

Zane immediately stood up. “If you’re going, I’m coming to.”

Scowling, Rhianna responded. “I don’t need your protection, I’m a better shot than you and have been on several missions without you.”

Calmly, Zane nods. “Yes, you are, but this is war and as has just been painfully proven, any of us can die. If one of us is going down, I want us to be together, either so we can go out fighting together, or so one of us can avenge the other.”

She gazed long and hard at her lover at that. Then she nodded, and together they went to suit him up and retrieve her weapons.

Meanwhile Phil was with the Commander when the alert went out. Immediately he said “Sir, permission to be a part of this mission.”

“Guesz, you just got back from a mission that went horribly wrong and you’re mentally and physically exhausted. You’re in no condition to fight.” McNair pointed out.

“Sir, I’m one of your best men and if this next mission goes wrong moral will be crushed. I took no shots in the last mission, and I want payback. No one else is a better choice.”

McNair thought a while, weighing Guesz’ words. Finally he sighed. “Very well. Be very careful, we cannot afford any more mistakes tonight.”

Alexander Green was chosen as the last member of the strike force. After consulting the global situation they were sent to Mexico. The other nations would have to fend for themselves. The sun was just coming up as they landed outside a large construction zone that the Aliens had taken cover in after their abductions. Quickly the team took cover behind some large construction equipment.

“Targets spotted!” Guesz said, seeing motion inside a large mostly demolished building off to the left. The creatures quickly took cover, and he and Stonegate took position to cover that flank. Brubeck moved behind a large crate filled with a few tons of dirt and peeked out, spotting three more targets almost right on top of the squad. Acting quickly, he pulled his grenade and tossed it at the Aliens as they scattered, killing two of them.

Green, hearing the explosion, looked over. “Got two, another one up!” Brubeck told him, and Green pulled his own grenade. Brubeck motioned to show where the last had taken cover, and Green threw. His aim was true, and amidst the sound of the explosive going off he heard the high pitched keen of the dying Sectoid.

Having eliminated the threat on the right, Green moved forward to one of the large digging machines to help against the other group. Unfortunately he was seen, and one of them took a shot at him as he advanced. The shot landed, splashing across his armor, causing it to melt. “Shit, falling back!” Green said, quickly moving back to relative safety while the rest of the team kept an eye out to make sure nothing could get a second clear shot at him.

Brubeck advanced on the right flank to make sure nothing was trying to make it’s way around to attack from the side. It was fortunate that he did, for he spotted two more which ducked under their cover as he fired at them. One of them advanced quickly, and foolishly. The closer target was an easy mark for Brubeck’s second volley. “Two flanking, got one!” He told the others via his radio.

Meanwhile Phil spotted one of the group of three in the ruined building advancing and opened fire, just missing it as it dived behind a wall. After a moment it peaked out of a window, trying to find Guesz. Guesz had been prepared for this and immediately blasted it, it’s brains spattering the ground. Stonegate moved around the digger she was taking cover behind to where Green had been when he had been shot. Spotting the one that had opened fire at Green, she pulled her grenade and tossed it. The Sectoid was unable to scramble out of the way in time and was blown apart.

Everyone took a moment to reload their weapons. Stonegate, who hadn’t fired yet so had a full clip, kept an eye out in both directions. She spotted the surviving target that Brubeck had seen and opened fire, her second shot eliminating it. After that there was silence for a while. The team was a bit hesitant to advance, as the Sectoids had been happy to run into their gun-sights until now, and although they only knew of one remaining, they had barely advanced into the area and suspected there might be more.

Guesz took point, moving forward to take cover behind one of the strange devices the Aliens had left. Their caution was rewarded, as he spotted two lying in wait for them. Realizing they had been seen, the pair of Sectoids retreated into the shadows. Brubeck repositioned closer to the rest of the group, the three of them eying the darkened building steadily. Green was still hanging back in safety, with his armor compromised he was taking no chances.

Geusz and Stonegate repositioned, Guesz moving forward behind a wall, Stonegate taking Guesz’ previous position. One of the Aliens climbed over a low stone wall and found itself facing all three of them. Eyes going wide, it threw itself flat behind a pile of steel beams as a hail of bullets flew through the space it had been, then scrambled on all fours to hide behind a staircase. Peeking out it fired wildly at Guesz, missing by a wide margin. Again a hail of bullets flew out towards it, but it was either smart or lucky, as it managed to duck behind cover before anyone managed to hit it.

Seemingly emboldened by it’s survival after two volleys from all of the XCom soldiers, it moved up behind a generator, hiding it’s small form behind it. Brubeck managed to clip it, but the shots from the other two missed yet again. Unknown to the XCom team, a second Sectoid had used the distraction to work it’s way all the way around the area and behind them. Leaning out, it opened fire at Guesz back, landing a solid hit. Green, who had been hunkering down at the entrance in safety for a long time, saw the bright green flashes and guessed where the flanking Alien was. Pulling out his rocket launcher, he fired it across the site, obliterating the area he correctly guessed the Alien was in.

The other Sectoid, the one that had the insane luck to survive being a distraction and target practice for the entire team, decided that with a few bullets in it and the giant explosion where it’s friend had been discretion was the better part of valor and tried to retreat. Brubeck, who had emptied his entire clip trying to hit the damned thing, commented “Oh fuck that.” As he saw it retreating. Whipping out his pistol quickly, he finally managed to eliminate it.

Guesz used his medkit to get himself back into fighting form after taking that shot from behind. Then everyone reloaded.

“I think there’s one more.” Stonegate said to the others. Nodding, they all jumped slightly as they heard something fall over.

“Yeah, one more.” Brubeck nodded. Moving cautiously, two of them advanced towards the noise. Suspecting might try to move around behind them like it’s fellow had, Stonegate fell back to work around the outside of the ruined building.

Stonegate found the spot that had been demolished by the rocket, Stonegate ran quickly to take cover behind what remained on the wall. The final Sectoid saw her as she ran past the gaping hole in the building and opened fire, clipping her as she passed. Guesz was right around the corner from the Alien and saw its fire. Moving quickly, he spun around the corner while it was still distracted by Stonegate. It was right next to him, and there was no chance for it to do anything before he killed it.

They cleared the area quickly after that, double checking one last time that there were no more targets. Gathering the bodies and weapon fragments, they headed home. Their arrival was met with muted celebration. The deaths, still only hours old, where heavy on everyone’s mind, but the immediate successful mission afterwards had boosted moral greatly. Only Brubeck escaped the battle unscathed, the rest all requiring a trip to the Infirmary, but none of them were seriously wounded. Soon things quieted down and people started going to sleep. It had been a very long night.

== In Memoriam ==
March 19, 2014

“We gather here today to honor two of our finest who died in the line of duty. Each of them was a staunch defender of Humanity and a valued friend. They will be sorely missed.”

They were gathered in the Biohazard for the memorial service. It was a bit cramped since every soldier was there and several non-combatants who knew the deceased, but all of the other locations in the base where either in use, production and research being too important to stop even for a funeral, or to loud or small, such as the various reactor rooms. Someone had found a recording of bagpipe music that was playing forlornly through the bars sound system.

“Corporal Caroline Hardy was truly the best of us. Her great skill and dedication saw more hostiles eliminated than anyone else, and she was a good friend to many of us here. She will be missed greatly. To Caroline Hardy.” McNair raised his glass and everyone echoed him as they raised theirs as well, then they all drank. A few were shaky as they did so, the men had been shocked at the deaths and failed rescue after so many highly successful missions.

“Maximilian Morgan may not have Caroline’s record of extraordinary skill against our Alien foe, but he was a treasured comrade. In many ways he kept us sane during our long vigil in case of the impossible, his stories of his time in the British service entertained us all during times when the world wasn’t facing this great crisis. He brought light and warmth to the world, light sorely needed in these dark times. To Maximilian Morgan.”

Again everyone toasted, draining the rest of the liquid in their glasses. The bodies had been shipped home for burial, so the group surrounded a small shrine that consisted of a table covered in a shroud, which had the XCom symbol on it, pushed against a wall where pictures of the deceased had been tacked up. McNair finished his eulogies and stepped aside so that several others could go up to pay their respects, some saying a few words or leaving a token, mostly odds and ends like old “lucky” shot glasses or knives. Several split into small groups to reminisce quietly amongst themselves.

“I could have salvaged the mission damn it.” Phil says morosely into his glass. He was off in a corner with Tiberius and Freya. Tiberius had finally been released from medical and had the most visible scarring of anyone so far. The blast had struck him on the chest and face, ruining one of his eyes and leaving black scars splashed across the left side of his face, giving him a decidedly grim and intimidating look.

“How so?” Freya inquired. “Half the squad was down and the council’s friend fatally poisoned.”

“My medkit could have saved him, or at least kept him going long enough to get him back to base for medical care. I lost my cool though, ran over to Hardy when she was already gone.” Scowling, Phil drains his glass and pours another shot.

The others took a moment to digest this; for the most part the details of that bitter defeat had been avoided as a topic of conversation even though it was all anyone could think about. Tiberius rallied first. “Don’t sweat it man, shit happens. Live and learn, this won’t be the last time we get our asses kicked, they outnumber and outgun us. We’re just too badass to throw in the towel.” Phil’s grimace only faded slightly as he stared into his glass morosely.

McNair left the Memorial early. While he too mourned their passing, the men needed this time to discuss among themselves without their commanding officer hanging around. Also, sadly, the demands of his position called him away. Thus McNair found himself sitting in his office looking over files. While efforts were going well, the recent deaths struck home the importance of recruitment. With the seemingly random nature of the Alien activity most countries were both eager to offer applications to XCom and reluctant to send veterans when a major attack could happen at any moment. As such McNair had dozens of recruitment folders of promising new blood, skilled enough to be useful but green enough that their homelands would didn’t feel the loss.

“Bunch of damned fools.” McNair grumbled to himself. “As if anyone else has had much luck predicting or responding to the attacks.”

His work was interrupted by his secretary beeping through the intercom. “Yes?”

“Sir, Meyer is here to see you, she says it’s private.”

“Alright, send her in.”

Meyer entered looking nervous. Quickly McNair ran over what he knew of her. She was one of the men who hadn’t seen action against the Aliens yet, not as introverted as Hawlsera but not as outgoing as Maximilian had been. In short, a fairly average soldier that hadn’t made any strong impression on him.

“Yes?”

“Sir, recent events have made me… reconsider my options. I’d like to request a transfer back to my homeland.”

“You’re from the Netherlands correct?”

“Yes sir.” She sat stiffly in the chair across from his desk.

“Why? Speak freely soldier.”

“Several reasons sir. No offense sir, but I don’t want to die defending some politician in another country from Aliens. I’d rather die fighting in and for my homeland, not some backwater third world country.”

“Fair enough. You do realize that if you do end up fighting you’ll have a better chance of making a difference here. We have the best gear and the only satellites capable of detecting the Alien ships before they launch an attack.” McNair pointed out.

“You might be right sir, but I feel I can better defend my people if I’m with my people.”

McNair sighed deeply. “An understandable, but regrettable, sentiment. We’re all in this together Meyer, all of Humanity against an unknown threat. If you are certain, I’ll approve the transfer request.”

“Yes sir, I am certain. Thank you sir.” Meyer got up and offered a hand. McNair took it.
“It was an honor to have you soldier. Dismissed.” As Meyer left, McNair went back to his folders. It seemed he had one more person to find a replacement for.

[[Category:Story|All Stories]] [[Category:non-TF]][[Category:Doomreaver]]

User talk:Eirik/Tug of War

2014-04-22T16:01:27Z

Doomreaver:

Interesting story. A train of thought that occurred to me, if they use a similar method on all their victims then sooner or later one of their victims is going to simply go to the police with the story. No need to say "They're kidnapping people and turning them into horses!", just point out how people tend to get murdered near the family. If Beckett had thought to do this instead of shenanigans with a magic harness, he could have got his revenge as Shawn's father rotted in jail. Even if all of the murders are considered solved with the culprit punished like in this story, enough in a row is suspicious, and a serial murderer is of great interest to the FBI. --[[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 11:01, 22 April 2014 (CDT)

User talk:Eirik/Tug of War

2014-04-22T16:00:35Z

Doomreaver: Commenting on the story

Talk:A House Divided/Part2

2014-04-10T11:45:43Z

Doomreaver: Actually discussing an Authors work in the discussion page. /gasp

I'm going to use this to actually discuss the story /gasp! And I bet no one will ever read it. They should E-mail you when people edit pages like this.

Anywho, I'd just like to comment that back in my highschool days if the boy or girl bathroom thing happened to me, I wouldn't have bowed so easily. As in, when teachers told me "You can't be in here" I would have ignored them completely until they forcibly pushed me out, and/or cursed them a lot and gone in bushes. Of course when I was in school I was a resentful rebel who felt totally misunderstood by everyone and was perfectly happy to tell the world to go to hell on any topic. --[[User:Doomreaver|Doomreaver]] ([[User talk:Doomreaver|talk]]) 06:45, 10 April 2014 (CDT)

User:Doomreaver/XCom Character Sheet

2014-04-10T04:13:32Z

Doomreaver: Updating list

This is the list of all of the characters in the XCom Project. First is the name, with a nickname in quotation marks if they have earned one,then rank, class, number of missions, and finally number of kills. If you would like to be included, either as yourself or one of the characters from your stories, let me know!

The ranks, in lowest to highest order: Rookie, Squaddie, Corporal, Sargent, Lieutenant, Major, Colonel

The Specializations are: Sniper, Assault, Support, Heavy

== The Men ==

'''Alexander Green''' - Squaddie - Heavy - 2 Missions - 4 Kills

'''Phil Guesz''' - Corporal - Support - 4 Missions - 5 Kills

'''Tiberius Vulpintaur''' - Squaddie - Sniper - 1 Mission - 2 Kills

'''Doug Linger''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Bill Duck''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Zane Brebuck''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Hawlsera Enroygall''' - Rookie - N/A - 0 Missions - 0 Kills

'''Unnamed Female Soldier''' - Feel free to ask to be included!

'''Freya Windscale''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Mission - 0 Kills

'''Rhianna Stonegate''' - Corporal - Sniper - 4 Missions - 5 Kills

== The Memorial ==

'''Carolin Hardy''' - Corporal - Assault - 3 Missions - 8 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

'''Maximilian Morgan''' - Rookie - N/A - 1 Missions - 1 Kills - Died on 3/15/2015

User talk:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-04-10T04:00:02Z

Doomreaver:

User talk:Doomreaver/Invasion

2014-04-10T03:56:28Z

Doomreaver: Changing title