The Stormbreakers: A Stellaris Story

[Macavity116]

Where’s Site X?

Deep in the Mojave desert, just northwest of the Nevada-Arizona border.

Jericho’s ex started a cult of her? Seriously?

Duane's not a good guy. Jericho dumped him for good reasons.

Both sides have told Jericho that she isn’t preparing for what lies ahead. This proves that they are not so different. Are you trying to make the enemies sympathetic?

Who knows? Perhaps Geist and the Chosen Assassin might be on the same side someday.

 

[Macavity116]

My work schedule has changed recently, which means my upload schedule has changed as well. New chapters of the Stormbreakers will now be posted every Monday.
======

<== Previous Chapter (Earthrise)

Next Chapter (Drums in the Deep) ==>​

Chapter 12
This is Sacred Ground

​

A photo of Groom Lake, circa 2005. This is where Humankind made first contact with an Extraterrestrial species on October 28, 1962 during an event now known as "The Battle of Groom Lake"

Groom Lake, Northern Mojave Desert, Nevada
Monday, June 25, 2035 – 6:45am

Before today, the one word I’d never associated with the desert was “cold.” But as it turns out the North American Mojave Desert can actually get rather chilly at night. I’d never been to this place before now, but I knew all about its history. Back when I was a little kid, the White House tutor had taught me all about the Cold War, a period of tensions between the United States and Communist Russia. I knew that roughly fifteen miles to the west of Groom Lake was the Nevada Test Site, where the US Government had tested over nine hundred nuclear weapons as part of a global arms race. Until yesterday, though, I had no idea about the other secret that was hidden in this old military base.

Each time I took a step forward, little clouds of dust and sand billowed away from me. It looked like I was kicking up a sandstorm. I wasn’t alone out here. Chihiro Tachibana was a few paces behind, bringing up the rear, while our VIP of the day was between us:

Elena Dragunova was an Eastern European woman who fought for a Resistance Faction called “The Reapers.” These people were masters of stealth and camouflage tactics, putting XCOM’s own guerilla tactics to shame. Normally, the Reapers operated in the wilderness, keeping far away from the city centers.

This was the first time Chihiro and I had gotten close enough to a Reaper to see their face, and we were not disappointed. Elena wore a heavy leather jacket over top of her armor and kept her hood up at all times, making it even harder to see any of her features. Elena carried only one weapon, a strange looking rifle that I can best describe as a hybrid of the Soviet SVD sniper rifle and the Russian AK-47 assault rifle. Elena had called her weapon a “Vektor Rifle” and added that because the weapon was so old, she had to make her own ammunition.

Together, Chihiro, Elena, and I marched across the desert in silence until we finally reached what remained of the runway at Homey Airport. The wreckage of a Janet Airlines passenger plane lay scattered across the broken pavement, and waiting inside the crumpled fuselage were three more soldiers.

Yutaka Yamamoto and Ignatius Petoskey waved at us as we approached. Between them was…

“Oh, wow!” Chihiro gasped. “So that’s what a Skirmisher looks like?”

A photo of a Skirmisher taken during the Second Hyperspace War. Skirmishers were, in general, Ex-ADVENT soldiers who had defected over to the side of the Resistance.

The Skirmishers were another of the three major Resistance Factions. This group was made up entirely of ADVENT Army soldiers who had abandoned the Elders and defected over to our side. The Skirmishers just barely qualified as a unified force because their membership tended to fluctuate wildly.

The lone Skirmisher standing between Yutaka and Ignatius had removed his helmet, and we could see his face. He was a Human-alien hybrid like Jericho, but unlike her, this Skirmisher had been heavily altered so that he looked more alien than Human. For starters, his orange eyes were huge in comparison to the rest of his head, which was already quite badly misshapen. The Skirmisher wore ADVENT Army armor, but the symbols and insignia had all been defaced with the symbols of the Skirmishers.

As we approached, the Skirmisher began to approach us, while Yutaka and Ignatius followed behind him. Chihiro and I allowed Elena to take point, we covered her rear while she approached the Skirmisher. Elena shouldered her weapon and spoke to the Skirmisher:

“So, ADVENT’s most brutal Captain comes to atone for his crimes!”

“I am no longer that being.” Said the Skirmisher. “I am free now.”

Elena shook her head.

“Taking off that helmet does not change what you are, Pratal Mox.” She thumped her chest. “Reapers have long memories, Elder puppet.”

The Skirmisher named Pratal Mox growled and raised his Bullpup rifle at Elena. She leveled her Vektor at him and said:

“Any time!”

Yutaka and I raised our weapons at the two Resistance Fighters! Ignatius and Chihiro didn’t have guns, but instead pointed Psionic Amplifiers at them. When the standoff continued without violence, Ignatius addressed both fighters:

“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the blood feud’s been canceled. We have bigger enemies to fight now!”

Pratal and Elena snatched glances at Ignatius.

“Killing you would be a waste.” Pratal said to Elena. “You are too valuable to the cause.”

Elena must not have been expecting Pratal to say that, because her weapon lowered halfway to the ground.

“What would you know about the value of life?” She said.

“Enough to know that the Elders hold both of our lives in equal contempt.” Pratal replied. “Unless the Elders are overthrown, all life on this world will be extinguished, regardless of its value.”

Elena sighed and finally lowered her weapon. As Pratal relaxed and did the same, she said:

“I couldn’t agree more. I’m still not sure if we were right or wrong about you and your kind, Mox; but I will tell Volk we can work together... at least for now.”

…

Nevada Nuclear Test Site, Northern Mojave Desert, Nevada
Tuesday, June 26, 2035 – 8:10am


Twenty years ago, before the alien invasion, there used to be an annual festival in the Nevada Desert where thousands of people would set up a kind of temporary city. It was built from tents, mobile homes, and any other kind of temporary shelter people could bring. Now, something similar was happening around the ruins of Site X.

Resistance fighters, Guerilla warriors, and XCOM soldiers from all over the world were assembling here, at the place where it had all began so long ago. Trucks, cars, and aircraft were parked on the desert floor and left behind as nearly four hundred men, women, and alien defectors entered one of five nondescript metal buildings. The buildings themselves aren’t important. What is important are the staircases. The industrial lifts and elevators had long since stopped working, but the stairs were intact.

When the Skyranger landed, Isis Dekker, Wendy Carter, Jane Kelly, and Jericho all ran to catch up with Chihiro, Yutaka, Ignatius and I as we waited in line for our turn to enter one of those five structures. Jericho held a grey briefcase tightly in her hand and looked around the place with an expression of awe.

“Welcome back.” I said. “Glad to see you made it.”

Isis wiped sweat off her forehead and gazed around at the multitude of Resistance fighters who were making their way into the base buildings.

“Unbelievable.” She said. “All three Factions really showed up!”

“And we managed to get an actual cease-fire between the Reapers and the Skirmishers!” Chihiro added. “Chaplain Petoskey almost went crazy putting it together!”

“Who says I didn’t?” Ignatius grumbled as he pushed on the doorway. “Let’s get inside before the sun gets too high up.”

I was about to follow him through the door when I heard Jericho talking behind me. Looking around, I saw that the Skyranger pilot, Wendy, had hesitated at the doorway. The red-haired American seemed uncomfortable stepping inside.

“It’s… it’s like I’m going into a Mausoleum.” Wendy said. “This is a sacred place. It doesn’t feel right.”

Jericho put a reassuring hand on Wendy’s shoulder.

“It’s okay.” Jericho said. “I know what this place means to you. We’re not going to rob any graves.”

The eight of us finally stepped inside of the building. There was nothing here besides some old broken machinery and a doorway. The lone door opened onto a staircase that led underground. Soldiers filed two by two through the doorway and made their way into the dark staircase. Stamped on the door itself an insignia most of us recognized: A white five-pointed star rising up from the continental United States, encircled by the words “Bureau of Strategic Emergency Command.”

Behind this inconspicuous doorway was the original headquarters of XCOM, abandoned and left to rot for the past seventy years.

…

​

A slightly more detailed map of Site X.

Site X, Nevada
Tuesday, June 26, 2035 – 9:30pm

We spent the entire day cleaning up wreckage and making Site X livable again. The Commander had said the big Resistance Council Summit was going to happen on Saturday, which meant we had the better part of a week to get this place somewhat functional again. The whole of Stormbreaker and Menace squads had been given the task. A small handful of Reapers had also volunteered to help as well. For the whole first day, the former XCOM base was abuzz with activity as the debris was cleared away and newer, more modern electrical equipment was installed.

The big problem we’d run into was the fact that Site X had been thoroughly pillaged by its attackers, and then heavily looted by locals over the past seven decades. Broken machinery lay everywhere, plants were growing out of every possible crack in the floors and walls, and certain sections of the underground base had collapsed outright. Fortunately, we had help clearing away the mess. Using telekinesis, Jericho swept whole mountains of detritus to one side, lifted heavy pieces of debris, and helped move heavy, cumbersome objects down the stairways, freeing up the people who would have otherwise carried them.

Around noon, Jericho and I came across a huge boulder that had landed in the middle of the hallway after the ceiling collapsed. Jericho clapped her hands together and turned back to the rest of us.

“Guys, I got this one.”

“Yes, you have telekinesis.” Yutaka yawned. “We’ve all seen it before.”

Jericho shrugged and gave him a mischievous smile.

“You know, I’ve been using my powers all day, I need to recharge. So I’m gonna do this instead.”

Jericho walked over to the boulder an examined it. It was roughly half her height and wide enough to obstruct the entire hallway. By my best guess, it weighed somewhere around three thousand pounds. Jericho tied her black hair up with a hairband and then pulled off her jacket, throwing it to one side. Her blue tank top had a crudely drawn XCOM insignia on the back. Squatting down in front of the boulder, Jericho said over her shoulder:

“Someone open the door to the Skyranger bay. I’m just gonna throw this down the stairs!”

Yutaka’s smug look vanished real quick.

“Wait, she can lift that!?” he gasped.

“She’s got Muton muscles.” I said. “She could probably throw that thing like a football!”

Isis threw out an arm and urged us all to step back.

“Once, when she was six, she picked up and threw a fully grown tree because I took away her dessert.” Isis told us. “That boulder isn’t going to be any trouble.”

Jericho put both of her hands on the sides of the great rock and started to lift.

I heard Yutaka cursing like a sailor as the one-and-a-half ton boulder began to move. After a moment, Jericho straightened up, carrying the massive rock in front of her.

“Outta my way!” Jericho said loudly. “Girl with a rock coming through!”

All of us backtracked down the hallway and threw open the doors to what had once been the Skyranger bay. Huffing and puffing, Jericho lugged the boulder to the threshold and then threw it over the staircase landing! The colossal piece of earth sailed through the air and fell three stories to the bottom of the bay! The rock hit the concrete floor like a meteor and shattered! Some of us stared dumbfounded at the fresh new crater in the floor, while I joined the others in giving Jericho a terrified look. She raised her eyebrows at us.

“What? You expecting me to thump my chest and roar now?” She asked. “Like a Muton?”

“Yes!” Sophia squeaked. “You are part alien, so… yes.”

Jericho summoned her jacket from its place in the hallway. It jumped back into her hands and she used it to wipe the sweat from her brow.

“Nah.” She said. “Partly Muton, mostly Human. Humans don’t roar.”

After a few moments, the shock of Jericho’s show of strength began to wear off. We went back to work, cleaning and rebuilding the former XCOM base. All the while, Ignatius Petoskey and Yutaka Yamamoto were keeping an even more close watch over Jericho. While we were moving weapons and equipment into the old armory, I overheard the two of them talking:

“I’ve never felt so… conflicted.” Yutaka was saying. “I should be repulsed by the girl… she’s an abomination; yet I feel every conversation and interaction with her is somehow… rewarding… enlightening, even. I’m not sure what I feel about her anymore.”

“An uncertain mind is the Devil’s plaything” Ignatius said. “Just tell me the first thing that comes to mind when you see Jericho. Your first emotion.”

“Curiosity.” Yutaka admitted. “I want to know more… she’s… fascinating.”

“Clearly.” Ignatius said. “I’ve noticed you’ve been far less hostile towards her over the past month. You even had a civil conversation with Jericho last week.”

“I did, didn’t I?”

“Take this advice from your Chaplain, Yamamoto.” Ignatius offered, “Just talk to her. Don’t let the story of her origins twist your words. Just talk and listen. You may just satisfy your curiosity.”

I didn’t hear the rest of their conversation. At that moment, Chihiro caught my attention.

“Sophia and that Firebrand lady never came back from the upper level.” She said. “Have you seen them?”

I shook my head. Then I spoke up so that the rest of the squad could hear me.

“Hey! Has anyone seen Sophia? Or Lieutenant Carter for that matter?”

Everyone shook their heads. Jericho, Chihiro, and Ignatius all closed their eyes and held still. I knew they were using telepathy to scan the base.

“Oh, I’ve got something!” Jericho said. “I just picked up on some really powerful emotions. Sophia’s upstairs, and she’s really upset about something.”

Chihiro gasped and dropped the box she was carrying on the floor, where something inside made a shattering sound.

“Oh, crap! That’s today!?” she shouted. “Blake, you gotta come with me!”

I followed Chihiro as she started jogging down the hallway.

“Chi!” I said loudly, “What’s going on?”

Not slowing down, Chihiro replied:

“Akira warned me this might happen last time we talked! Sophia’s not healthy. Mentally, I mean. She just needs some support right now!”

“Hold on! You’re talking to Akira!?” I snapped,

“You’re not?” Chihiro countered, “She’s your kid, too!”

“And she’s telling you about the future!?” I added.

“She hasn’t told me anything major!” Chihiro answered. “I guess Commander Harper said something to shut her up! But she did say that you and I are the ones who have to help Sophia!”

We burst through a doorway and found ourselves in what had once been the Mission Control room. Here, several XCOM soldiers and Resistance fighters were converting the room into a proper meeting space for the Resistance Council summit.

​

Very few pictures of the interior of Site X exist, and those that do have been very heavily redacted by the US Department of Defense. This photo was supposedly taken immediately after the Battle of Groom Lake, during the moment when the Bureau of Strategic Emergency Command re-organized itself into the organization now known as XCOM.

The Mission Control room had three offices adjacent to it, all of which had large windows that allowed us to look inside. When I peered inside the window of one of those offices, I saw Wendy Carter giving Sophia Kuznetsova a big hug. The Russian woman was shaking hard, she was clearly crying. Chihiro and I found the office door, it was labelled with a sign that said:

“Chief Field Agents:
Nicolas DaSilva and William Carter”​

I pushed the office door open and stepped inside. Somehow, I just knew this place in particular held great historical significance for XCOM. Even though it had been thoroughly looted, I made a mental note to come back and look this place over again later.

“Sophia, what’s going on?” Chihiro asked. “What’s wrong?”

Sophia didn’t answer. She pulled up one of the folds of her headscarf and used it to dab her eyes. Wendy spoke up.

“Her father’s here.” The Skyranger pilot said. “I guess they’ve got some history or bad blood between ‘em.”

I felt my heart drop into my stomach. This was a very unwelcome development. Sophia had told me all about her father when she first joined up. He was the reason Sophia never showed her face to anyone.

“It’s bad blood.” I explained. “Things got really violent the last time Sophia saw her dad.”

Wendy’s eyes went wide and she hugged Sophia more tightly. I spoke to Sophia:

“Where’d you see him? Did he say anything to you?”

“The Comms room. He-h-he didn’t recognize me.” Sophia sobbed. “He’s never seen me with the headscarf on.”

“Why’s your dad here in the first place?” Chihiro asked. “I knew he was a Resistance Fighter, but is he really such a big deal that he got invited to this meeting?”

“He’s on the Resistance Council.” Sophia choked. She wiped her eyes and seemed to calm down a little. “He’s with the Reapers.”

“Great.” I said sarcastically. “That’s not going to throw a wrench in things at all!”

I folded my arms and thought for a few moments while Chihiro and Wendy urged Sophia to sit down and take some deep breaths. Finally, I had an idea.

“Chi, stay with Sophia and keep an eye on her. I’m going to talk to the Commander.”

From down here on the floor of the Mission Control room, I could see the rectangular holes in the wall that had once been the windows of the Director’s office. Two people were moving about in there. I recognized the olive-green sweater one of them was wearing.

I darted up one flight of stairs and soon found myself outside of what had once been a very important-looking office. The placard on the doorway said:

“Myron Faulke – Director of Operations
Bureau of Strategic Emergency Command”​

I had to stop for a moment to realize what I’d just read. Myron Faulke? Where had I heard that name before? It seemed so familiar.

I could hear voices on the other side of the door. It sounded like three people were talking. Central Officer Bradford and Commander Harper were having a back and forth while a third, unfamiliar voices droned overtop of both of them.

I knocked loudly on the door, and two of the voices stopped. After a moment, the third voice stopped as well and the door opened. Central Officer Bradford nodded at me and then said over his shoulder,

“It’s Lieutenant Robinson, ma’am.”

“Let him in, Bradford.”

The Director’s office was nearly stripped bare. Even the shelves were dismantled as though some looter had been expecting to find a safe hidden behind the wall. On what remained of the Director’s desk, a cassette tape player had been hardwired to a portable flatscreen television using a bizarre looking series of cables and boxes. On the television screen was a black-and-white image of the Mission Control room as it had appeared in 1962. In the center of the room, a middle-aged man was giving a speech to a crowd. Right away, I recognized the man on the screen and put a name to a face.

“Huh,” I said. “I never knew President Faulke was part of XCOM.”

Now that I saw his face, I remembered: Myron Faulke had been President of the United States from 1963 until 1965.

​

A heavily-redacted photo of US President Myron Faulke during his brief tenure as Commander of XCOM.

Commander Harper nodded at the TV screen and explained:

“Well, the only reason he took the White House was that he was the highest-ranking member of our Government to survive the Outsider Invasion. Director Faulke was my predecessor, the first Commander of XCOM.”

Harper put her hands in her pockets and let out a deep sigh.

“So, what can I do for you, Lieutenant?” She asked. “Or are you here to report on the cleanup?”

“One of my soldiers has a problem.” I said. “Corporal Kuznetsova’s father just arrived. He’s with the Reaper delegation and she’s extremely upset.”

“Ivan Kuznetsov?” Bradford said. “That’s the guy who put a bullet in her face, right? Commander, maybe I should-”

“Stop.” Commander Harper cut him off. “Whatever you’re thinking, Bradford, the answer is no. Just bring Kuznetsov up here and for the love of God, don’t break any noses.”

While Bradford left the room grumbling, Commander Harper added to me:

“Don’t say a word when he gets in here, Lieutenant. I’ll take care of this.”

It only took a few minutes for Bradford to return with the offending Reaper. Ivan Kuznetsov was a big guy, and the first thing I thought of when I saw him was that famous picture of the Russian monk Rasputin. His hair and beard were wild and unkempt, and his face looked as though it had been battered and beaten countless times in the past. Elena Dragunova followed Ivan and Bradford into the room. She looked just as displeased as Ivan.

“Commander, we don’t have time for this distraction.” Elena said. “My delegation needs time to prepare for the summit just as much as yours does.”

“Agreed.” Replied Commander Harper. “However, it’s come to my attention that your comrade here has a personal problem with one of my soldiers, and I can’t allow him to attend the summit until it’s been addressed.”

Ivan Kuznetsov gave us a confused look.

“If this is about Baker City,” he said, “I followed the rules you laid out, I never approached the Jericho girl! I just watched her like you asked. She never even knew I was there.”

I felt my stomach lurch.

“You were having Jericho followed!?” I whispered.

Harper ignored me.

“This isn’t about Baker City.” The Commander said. “This is about your daughter.”

Ivan’s face and tone changed at once. He seemed to light up as a smile crinkled his beard. He clasped his hands together and said excitedly:

“My darling Ludmilla is here!? Where? Why haven’t I seen her yet?”

My mouth fell open. I was so shocked that he hadn’t asked about Sophia that Harper’s response made me jump a little.

“Ludmilla Kuznetsova is dead. I’m talking about Sophia.”

Ivan’s mood changed so quickly that I’m sure everybody in the room had whiplash. The cheerful smile and warm words were quickly replaced by a very angry look and a raised voice:

“Ludmilla is dead!? When? How?”

“Killed by the Chosen Assassin.” Harper said coldly. “She sacrificed herself to save her sister.”

Ivan moaned and clenched his fists.

“The Assassin killed my child!?” He seemed on the edge of a furious tirade. “Harper, we have to do something, we can’t let that monster get away with-”

“FIRST.” Commander Harper raised her voice and Ivan fell silent. “We need to discuss Sophia, your other child, and how I expect you to behave around her.”

“That bitch is not mine.” Ivan’s voice dripped with vitriol. “My children are not... homosexuals.”

Ivan emphasized the last words with pure hatred. I clenched and unclenched my fists repeatedly, resisting the urge to haul off and hit Ivan in the face. There was a very uncomfortable silence around the room as Ivan and Harper stared at one another. After a tense moment, the Commander said:

“Whatever you believe about your daughter is irrelevant today, Kuznetsov.” Harper said through gritted teeth. “You will not go anywhere near Sophia. In fact, I expect you to stay with the Reaper delegation at all times. Do not speak to any member of XCOM, ever. When you leave this room, my Central Officer will confiscate your weapons.”

Bradford smiled and cracked his knuckles in a threatening way. Commander Harper put her hand on my shoulder.

“This is Sophia’s squad leader. If she feels endangered by you at any point this week, Lieutenant Robinson here has my permission to use force against you. Do not test this man, Kuznetsov; he fights the Chosen with a sword in his free time.”

I scowled to drive the point home.

…

After that confrontation, Bradford insisted on personally escorting Sophia’s father back to the Reaper delegation’s quarters. I told the Commander that I was going to check on Sophia before getting back to work and I darted back downstairs to the office where I’d left her.

Wendy Carter was gone. Chihiro told me the Skyranger pilot had found a seventy-year old document with her family name on it and had gone to find a quiet place to read it alone. Jericho had arrived and taken Wendy’s place, and was holding Sophia in a friendly hug while whispering reassuring words. Chihiro pulled me into the far corner of the room so she could talk to me without getting their attention.

“Something really weird just happened.” Chihiro said. “When Jericho came in, I told her what was happening and she said she already knew.”

“She knows a lot about the future, Chi.” I said. “Not really a surprise or weird.”

“There’s more.” Chihiro added. “Jericho told Sophia that she already knew what you were going to do. She said that you would get her father to leave her alone.”

“The Commander did that.” I said. “I just kinda stood there.”

“I know.” Chihiro said. “I was watching through the Psi Link. Thing is, Jericho said that you were gonna pretend to be Sophia’s boyfriend, and trick her dad into thinking she wasn’t a lesbian anymore.”

My eyes went really wide.

“Oh...” I said slowly. “So... uh... none of that happened.”

“Exactly!”

Chihiro and I stared at one another in disbelief.

“So, wait... one of Jericho’s predictions didn’t come true?” I asked.

“Looks that way.”

“Wow... I … I got nothing.”

Chihiro and I made a quick plan and executed it just was quickly. Chihiro tapped Jericho on the shoulder and offered to trade places with her. While Chihiro consoled Sophia, I pulled Jericho into the hallway with a soft:

“Can we talk? Out here?”

I pulled Jericho out into the hallway. In the dim light, I could see that the dye hadn’t fully washed out of her hair yet. While her hair was mostly black now, the tips of her bangs were still a dark shade of blue. Pulling her along by the arm, I led Jericho into another office and shut the door behind us.

“Did you tell Sophia I was gonna pretend to date her or something!?”

“Well, yeah.” Jericho replied. “Didn’t you just meet her dad a few minutes ago?”

“I did.” I replied, “But I’m not masquerading as her boyfriend. Commander Harper defused the situation.”

Jericho’s mouth fell open.

“Wait... what?” she said. “Harper wasn’t supposed to be there!”

Jericho reached into her pocket instinctively, then muttered to herself:

“Oh, wait. Harper’s got the Index.”

“Let me get this straight...” I said. “Your database of the future said I was gonna lie to Ivan Kuznetsov about his daughter, that I’d pretend to date Sophia?”

“Yes!” Jericho insisted. “That’s what you were supposed to do! What happened!?”

“Harper and Bradford chewed him out and then sent him back to the Reapers. I just kinda stood there the whole time.”

Jericho’s eyes were darting around as she tried to make sense of what I’d just told her. Honestly, I was half expecting her to start repeating the words: “Does not compute!”

“But... but... you were supposed to...” Jericho trailed off for a moment, then she seemed to recover.

“Wait... what about Ivan?” she said. “Is he going to leave Sophia alone?”

“Seems like it.” I answered. “He didn’t want much to do with her anyway, and now he knows that Bradford and I will beat the tar out of him if he goes anywhere near her. I think Sophia’s going to be safe.”

Jericho put her hands on her hips and frowned.

“Same result...” she murmured, “But we got there a different way. That’s really weird.”

After a few moments of silence, there was a loud banging on the door. Jericho and I both jumped. I stepped past Jericho and opened the door. Yutaka Yamamoto was panting heavily, and his jacket was draped across his shoulder.

“Robinson, I need Jericho to lift a wrecked Skyranger downstairs.” he said. “Are you done with her? For now, at least.”

“Yeah, she can go.” I said. “I’ll come over in a few minutes and join you guys.”

Like he always did, Yutaka grabbed Jericho by the arm and dragged her along rather forcefully. Right before they rounded the hall corner and vanished from sight, Jericho accidentally struck her ankle on a large piece of broken concrete. Jericho gasped with pain and shook her leg, causing her ankle bracelet to make a rattling noise. Instinctively, I reached into my pocket and checked to see if the Arc Brace remote was still there.

It wasn’t.

“Aw, crud.” I said to myself. “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

…

Site X, Nevada
Wednesday, June 27, 2035 – 9:00am


“You lost it? You lost the remote!? How the hell did you manage to do that? What the hell, Robinson!? How could you be so irresponsible!? So careless? I thought I could trust you!”

“Commander... why don’t we assume I already feel terrible about this and work from there?”

I was standing in front of Commander Harper’s desk in the Director’s office. The Commander herself was pressing her hands into the desktop so hard I was worried she might just fall through it. Behind her, Central Officer Bradford crossed his arms and shook his head disapprovingly at me. On my right, Jericho was looking more frightened than I’d ever seen her before.

“I think it's safe to assume that nobody found the remote.” Bradford said. “I know it’s a horrible thing to assume in the circumstances, but people are naturally curious, Commander. If somebody had found the Arc Brace remote, they would have pushed the button to see what happens. Jericho would have been shocked several times already.”

Jericho gulped nervously. I interjected,

“Sir, I don’t think she would have been shocked. I’ve still got the key.”

I reached into my pocket and procured the remote key. Holding it up for everyone to see, I went on.

“You said it yourself, Ma’am. The Arc Brace remote doesn’t work if the key isn’t inserted. If anybody did find the remote, they’d have hit the button once or twice, noticed it doesn’t work, and thrown it away!”

Commander Harper’s fury seemed to abate. She looked less likely to tear my heart out, anyway.

“Good point.” She admitted. “I guess you weren’t that irresponsible.”

The Commander pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket and quickly scribbled a note on it. Then she folded it up and passed it to me.

“Doesn’t matter. I actually needed you to take your whole squad down to the armory to visit Shen anyway. Give her this before you get kitted out and make absolutely sure she manufactures a new remote before your troops stow their gear. The Templars and Skirmishers don’t have a problem with Jericho, but the Reapers said they’ll walk if she isn’t kept on a leash.”

…

Out in the hallway, I found Isis Dekker, Yutaka Yamamoto and Odette Fournier waiting for me.

“Holy shit! You’re not dead!” Yutaka sounded impressed. “You must have smoothed things over with the Commander, then?”

“He’s going to get a new remote.” Jericho said.

Yutaka turned his head to look at Jericho, who looked down at the floor and muttered:

“Sorry, sir. I spoke out of turn.”

“On the contrary, I was going to thank you.” Yutaka said. “Lieutenant, what do you need us to do now?”

“Yamamoto, Fournier, you two split up and find the rest of our squad.” I said. “Tell them to meet us in Chief Shen’s workspace ASAP. Dekker, you come with us.”

Isis followed Jericho and I deeper into the now semi-restored base. It was only a short walk to what had once been the armory. The Site X armory was insanely small in comparison to the one aboard the Avenger, there was only enough space for five or six people to stand up in the room; it didn’t help that the room was already occupied when the three of us reached it.

XCOM’s Chief Engineer, Lily Shen, was standing behind a waist high barrier while three other people stood in front of it. As we approached, I realized that these weren’t just three random or unimportant people. Three members of the Resistance Council were here, leaving their weapons in Shen’s safekeeping! Right there, in the same hallway as our meager unworthy selves were three of the greatest flagbearers of our cause! It was like meeting an old-world rock star! Isis, Jericho, and I stood stock still and stared in awe at the legendary heroes of the Resistance in front of us!

Argentine General Isidoro Moreno had been part of XCOM for the past twenty years. The badly scarred and disfigured war veteran had been the lone survivor of Operation Devil’s Moon, the very first fight between XCOM and the forces of the Ethereals. He dropped off a heavy-looking machine gun with Chief Shen, who passed it off to a robotic arm behind her. General Moreno thanked Shen and started walking back along the hallway, towards us! Isis, Jericho and I all snapped to attention and raised our arms in salute as he went by. He nodded politely at us, and gave a mournful look of recognition to Jericho. Twenty years ago, General Moreno had been the last man to see Jericho’s father alive.

The next Resistance leader was General Shaojie Zhang.

​

A photo of Shaojie "Chilong" Zhang during Operation Gangplank, a three-part XCOM mission that involved the attempted hijacking of an alien battleship.

Chihiro and I had actually met this man during the Invasion. He had been a lifelong member of a Chinese Triad gang until his boss had started cutting deals with the aliens. Chihiro, Soylent, Holly, and I had rescued him from the wrath of both his former friends and the aliens. Now, the former criminal mastermind seemed to be right at home in the Resistance. General Zhang dropped off a small-caliber pistol at the armory before entering the main area of the base. Zhang gently touched my shoulder as he went by.

“I heard you had come back to us, Robinson.” Zhang said. “Good. We need men like you. Where is your dragon?”

“Chihiro’s somewhere in the base.” I replied. “I’ll tell her you said hello.”

While I was talking to Zhang, the third Resistance Leader had almost slipped past unnoticed, but I knew them well, and could recognize them anywhere; I side-stepped Zhang and greeted the woman who took my dad’s job.

Somehow, US President Alexis Alexander didn’t look much older than the last time I’d seen her. Her strawberry blonde hair had faded and was now turning grey, but otherwise there was still a look of determined defiance in her eyes. Alexander had been a General in the US Army during World War Three, just like Commander Harper. However, she hadn’t stuck around for the entire conflict; General Alexander’s spectacular victory over the Soviets at the Battle of Sendai turned a lot of heads. In 2008, she resigned from the military and became my dad’s running mate. When dad won the election, he was sworn into a second term as US President, while General Alexander became his Vice President. After the war ended, my dad left the White House and Alexander was elected President in her own right. The alien invasion happened just two years after she took power.

“Oh, my God!” President Alexander gasped. “Blake!? Is that really you?”

“In the flesh,” I replied. “and still kicking ass.”

President Alexander rubbed the top of my head and laughed.

“You’ve got so much of J.D. in you, Blake.” she chuckled. “I’m not surprised to see you here, and I’ll bet your father would be absolutely jazzed to know you’ve gotten this far.”

“What about you?” I asked. “I didn’t know you were helping run the Resistance.”

“Give an old lady some credit!” President Alexander fanned herself with one hand, pretending to blush. “Please, Blake. The US Government doesn’t just keel over because a dirty little Xeno stumbled into the White House. Truth is, we’ve been underground, fighting back however we can. Trust me, Blake: America never fell.”

“The same can be said for my country!” said a fourth voice.

President Alexander, Jericho, Isis, and I all looked around to see who had joined us. An East Asian man was watching us with folded arms. He was wearing a business casual outfit, white shirt, black vest, red tie, with pinstripe pants and shiny black shoes. Overtop of this outfit, the man was also wearing a bulletproof vest, and a yellow-and-orange bandanna was wrapped loosely around his collar. Finally, I could just barely make out a tattoo on the man’s left hand, an eye above a four-pointed star... the symbol of EXALT, a secret society I hadn't seen nor heard from since the Invasion twenty years ago.

President Alexander patted the man on the back and said:

“I don’t think you’ve met my friend yet, Blake. This is-”

I interrupted her.

“Ryo Nakagawa, the Prime Minister of Japan.” I said. “We met in Hiroshima.”

I made no attempt to hide my distain for this man. I hadn’t forgotten what he did to Chihiro all those years ago, nor had I forgiven him. Prime Minister Nakagawa’s face flickered, but his poker face never wavered.

“It’s been too long, Robinson.” Nakagawa said. “Would you be a kind soul and tell Corporal Tachibana that I wish to speak with her? It’s important, I have a message from home she needs to see.”

<== Previous Chapter (Earthrise)

Next Chapter (Drums in the Deep) ==>​

 

[HistoryDude]

So, there’s bad blood between the factions? Interesting…

Wonder what the message was...

Not all old world countries have fallen completely, correct?

Wait, what’s up with EXALT? Will they become important later?

Does this mean Jericho will finally realize that the documents are only accurate history, not accurate prophecy?

 

[Macavity116]

Not all old world countries have fallen completely, correct?

All five of the post-World War Three superpowers have survived in some form or another. It should be noted that neither their governments nor militaries are intact, and that none of these countries have serious control of their respective territories. You'll get to see more of the Old World governments in Chapter Fourteen: The AVATAR Project, as well as a significant portion of Act Three: Allies Unknown.

• United States
  • Government survived, operating out of a hidden base in the Virginia Mountains. Military is not actively fighting, it is being held in reserve.
• Russia
  • Spy agency (FSB/KGB) survived, operating out of secret network in Eastern European Mega Cities. Government and military destroyed.
• Germany
  • Government survived, operating out of a citadel in the Swiss Alps. Military reduced to a token force, augmented by local Resistance fighters.
• China
  • Military survived, operating out of nearly 50 hidden bases scattered across mainland China. Government destroyed. Military converted into a guerilla force.
• Japan
  • Government survived, operating out of a fortress in the Abukuma Mountains. Military converted into a guerilla force.

Wait, what’s up with EXALT? Will they become important later?

EXALT is an enemy faction that appears in the 2014 video game XCOM: Enemy Within. They are a secret society of transhumanists who are sympathetic (and almost friendly) towards the alien invaders.

A squad of EXALT field operatives during the early months of the Second Hyperspace War. During the 2015 Invasion of Earth, EXALT attempted to capture and use alien technology with the intent of creating a new world government with themselves holding all of the power. After the defeat of XCOM and the rise of the ADVENT Coalition, EXALT went underground and began acting as a resistance force, fighting against the alien takeover.

In the original game, EXALT is presented to the player as an enemy that must be fought and defeated. However, they will have a different role in this story. In The Stormbreakers, EXALT is an ex-enemy and possible future ally for XCOM, one who might help turn the tide in the Global Offensive.

The Stormbreakers themselves have already had some dealings with EXALT. Kathleen Walsh was briefly an employee of this secret society. You can read about her interactions with them on her entry in DossiAARs - Prelude to The Stormbreakers.

Does this mean Jericho will finally realize that the documents are only accurate history, not accurate prophecy?

The ball is most definitely rolling now. However, Jericho's beliefs are going to get damaged again in next week's chapter. She's definitely going to learn the truth before Chapter 22.

 

[Macavity116]

<== Previous Chapter (This is Sacred Ground)

Next Chapter (The AVATAR Project) ==>​

Chapter 13
Drums in the Deep

​

Jericho models her new weapons and equipment. Her new power armor, Psionic rifle, and dual underlays are all designed to maximize her powers and abilities. Power armor itself will become standard issue equipment for all XCOM soldiers during the final two years of the Second Hyperspace War.

Site X, Nevada
Wednesday, June 27, 2035 – 10:50pm


“This is our basic power armor frame, providing all of the durability you’d expect from a giant armored suit. It’s hermetically sealed and has an internal supply of breathable air, as well as the ability to resist most environmental hazards, such as extreme heat and cold.”

“Oh, Shen... you had me at ‘giant armored suit.’”

Isis Dekker seemed to have fallen in love with her new suit of Warden Armor. Developed from technology provided by the Skirmishers, this new suit had made XCOM’s standard body armor obsolete overnight. Six now-useless Spider Suits lay abandoned in a far corner of the Site X armory, where for the past day my squad had been testing and trying out a litany of new weapons, armor, and battle tech.

While Isis tried to punch a training dummy with her new power armor, Yutaka Yamamoto was admiring a suit of much heavier power armor.

“That’s the W.A.R. Suit.” Chief Shen explained. “It might just be the most powerful armor I’ve ever made. It also mounts an advanced heavy weapons system. You can choose between a wrist-mounted rocket launcher and a flamethrower.”

“Why can’t I have both?” Yutaka asked. “One on each arm?”

Shen laughed, then saw the expression on his face.

“Jesus, you’re serious!?”

Thoom! Thoom!

The walls shook. Next door to the armory was an indoor rifle range. I was patiently waiting my turn by the door. Inside, Odette Fournier and Chihiro Tachibana were taking some new weapon systems for a test drive. The walls trembled one more time before the doors opened from the other side. Odette and Chihiro emerged, carrying Magnetic Rifles. Chihiro was smiling from ear to ear and looked like she was trying hard to suppress manic laughter.

“Magnets!” she giggled. “These guns work with electromagnets! Odette got zapped!”

Odette was looking less than pleased. She jumped and twitched at the slightest provocation and seemed very eager to return her Magnetic Rifle to Chief Shen.

“So, you wanna try something different?” Shen asked. “Why don’t you try this instead? These prototypes are based on some advanced weapon models XCOM used twenty years ago.”

Shen opened up a weapons locker and produced two silver weapons. I immediately recognized them as weapons Chihiro and I had used during the initial alien invasion over twenty years ago: A Laser Sniper Rifle and an Alloy Cannon.

“Oh, awesome!” Chihiro said as she picked up the Laser weapon. “I haven’t seen one of these since before I got put in stasis. I bet I still remember how to use it!”

“This isn’t a shotgun,” I said as I took the Alloy Cannon. “It’s the hand of an angry god.”

Chihiro and I stepped into the indoor rifle range. I wasn’t wearing any armor today, I just had my tattered old US Army uniform on. Chihiro, on the other hand, was wearing a suit of scale armor called the “Serpent Suit.” I’d chosen not to ask how much of the ensemble was homemade and how much had been cut out of the bodies of Vipers.

I hit the red “target” button and on the far end of the range, and two full-sized targets shaped like the stereotypical “Area 51 alien” popped up downrange.

“You first, Chi.”

Chihiro raised her new Laser Sniper Rifle.

“Oh, yeah.” Chihiro breathed in a suggestive tone. “It’s all coming back now. This feels right.”

Wum wum wumwum hiisss-ZAP!

The LSR took just two seconds to warm up as Chihiro held the trigger down. In that final moment, she held her breath and steadied her aim, and then, for the shortest possible moment, a bright red beam of light appeared in midair, connecting the rifle and its target! Before the beam of light vanished, the target was already blown over backwards, enveloped in flames!

“Wahoo! That was sweet!” Chihiro cheered. “Come on, Blake! Is that thing everything you remember too?”

Eager for a chance to use my old favorite again, I raised the Alloy Cannon and took aim at the plastic green man. Remembering how the original Alloy Cannon had something of a hair trigger, I used only one finger, pulling back ever so gently.

I don’t have a word to describe what it looked or sounded like when the Alloy Cannon fired. Instead, just imagine that some Greek god suddenly decided that the target needed to die in the most horrifically violent manner possible, and that this divine smiting was carried out with a full-sized lightning bolt that eviscerated the victim’s body, sending bits and pieces flying in all directions!

“HHOOOAAAHH!!” I shouted. “God, I missed this gun!”

Talking excitedly, Chihiro and I stepped back inside the armory just in time to see something even more incredible.

“Central Officer Bradford’s always had mixed feelings about close quarters combat.” Shen was explaining. “So, he and Doctor Tygan came up with a new weapon system that might give you the edge if the enemy gets too close.”

I shouldered my Alloy Cannon and watched in awe as Jericho took the strange looking sword Shen was offering her. The standard sword used by XCOM Rangers is basically a machete, but the blade Jericho was now holding made me think of an ancient Roman Gladius. The double-bladed weapon was short and thick, and when Jericho pressed a small button on the handle, the weapon lit up with an orange glow and began to make a loud clicking sound.

“It’s a stun baton!” Sophia gasped.

“And a sword at the same time.” Ignatius mused. “Why?”

“The stun batons used by ADVENT Lancers are designed to be non-lethal.” Shen explained. “The enemy is always looking to capture us, so that makes sense. But in these upcoming missions, we’re not going to be taking prisoners. Bradford wanted our counterpart to be as lethal as possible. If you cut below the skin with this electrified blade, you might as well have put the bad buy in an electric chair. That’s how much of an improvement the Arc Blade is.”

Jericho stepped away from the group and gave the Arc Blade a few practice swings.

“I want one of these.” she said. “If we run across the Chosen again, this thing might just turn the tide.”

Shen took the Arc Blade back from Jericho and gave her a friendly smile.

“Oh, man. Wait until you guys come back tomorrow.” Shen said. “I’ve actually got a bunch of Psionic techs for you Gifted folks.”

I looked at my watch.

“Hey guys, it’s going on midnight. We should let Chief Shen get some sleep. Put everything back.” I turned to Shen. “So, tomorrow, I want the whole squad to train with that Psi equipment.”

“You got it.” Shen said. “I’ll open up the armory at zero-nine-hundred tomorrow.”

…

Arm in arm, Chihiro and I left the armory together and started walking in the general direction of the barracks. We chatted excitedly about our new weapons and armor for about ten minutes before we noticed we were being followed.

Prime Minister Ryo Nakagawa, the leader of the Japanese Government-in-Exile, was keeping his distance from us, but following close enough behind to keep within sight. When he realized we spotted him, Ryo leaned against a wall and stared at us, unflinching.

“That fucking bastard.” Chihiro breathed. “What’s he doing? Trying to catch me alone?”

“Probably.” I said. “He knows I’m still angry at him.”

“Join the club.” Chihiro hissed. “I’d rather cut my ears off than listen to whatever that slimeball has to say. Let’s get out of here!”

Chihiro and I picked up our pace. In moments, we’d dashed up another flight of stairs and reached the entrance of the female barracks. Chihiro gave me a quick kiss goodnight and then darted inside the door. I started moving down the hallway at a brisk pace, then looked back just in time to see an armed soldier step out of the female barracks and take up a guard position next to it.

…

Site X, Nevada
Thursday, June 28, 2035 – 8:45am


While the rest of the squad reported directly to the armory the next morning, I had some business to take care of first. I had to carry out some instructions from Commander Harper this morning. As soon as the day began, I put on my cleanest, neatest uniform and walked down the hallway towards the female barracks. Unlike aboard the Avenger, men and women in the Site X facility slept in different areas.

A member of Menace Squad was guarding the doorway to the female barracks when I arrived. A black–skinned American woman named Andrea Baker rolled her eyes at me as I approached and tightened her grip on her shotgun as I approached.

“Your girlfriend’s not here.” Andrea said. “And I wouldn’t let you in if she was.”

“Not why I’m here.” I said quickly. “I have orders from Commander Harper.”

I passed a handwritten note to Andrea. She read it and told me to wait outside the door, then she stepped inside the female barracks. About a minute later, she re-emerged with Jericho bringing up the rear.

Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I’d ever seen Jericho wearing a professional military uniform. The red and gold colors of the Hawaiian National Army looked good on her, in my opinion. Jericho twitched uncomfortably and kept scratching her neck and wrists as we moved down the hallway together.

“I’m sorry I had to make you dress up like this first thing in the morning with no notice.” I said. “The Commander dropped this on my head last night after I dismissed everyone.”

“It’s okay, Blake.” Jericho said. “I already knew what’s gonna happen, I just didn’t know how itchy the HNA uniform is… Mira didn’t mention that in the Future Index.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“So you know who-”

“Yup.” Jericho said. “You’re taking me to meet the leader of the Reapers. He arrived yesterday. Did you get the new remote for my ankle bracelet?”

I wasn’t surprised that Jericho already knew where we were going. I’d gotten used to that, but I wasn’t ready for that question, or how casually she asked it. I patted my pocket to make sure the new remote was still there.

“Uh, yeah. Why do you ask?”

Not looking at me, Jericho said quietly.

“Konstantine Volikov doesn’t trust me because I’m part-Ethereal.” She explained. “He won’t feel safe around here until he sees you shock me.”

I stopped walking and stared at Jericho, open mouthed.

“No!” I said without thinking. “I’m not going to electrocute you! Just… no!”

Jericho sighed.

“Volk is gonna ask you to do it, and when you hesitate, Commander Harper will order you to shock me.” Jericho looked at me and added: “Trust me: it’s okay. I’m not going to be angry or hold it against you. Volk thinks I’m some kind of monster, and you’ve gotta show him that I’m safe, okay? That’s all you’re doing.”

“It’s not okay!” I protested. “I wasn’t even okay with making you wear that damn brace in the first place!”

“Yeah, I know.” Jericho said. “Listen, just do this and I’ll make it up to you later today, alright?”

“Wait… what?”

Jericho looked up and down the hallway and then whispered in my ear:

“I can teach you something about Chihiro… something you both need to know really badly.”

It was my turn to check for eavesdroppers before whispering back:

“Does this have something to do with Nakagawa?”

“No.” Jericho replied. “It has to do with her Unique Psionic Power. She used it on you during the fight at Kanna.”

…

People were already starting to gather in the mission control room by the time Jericho and I got there. High-ranking members of the Resistance from all over the world were greeting one another the same way someone would greet an acquaintance at a family or class reunion. I spotted President Alexander on the far end of the room talking to several other members of Governments-in-Exile before Commander Harper caught up with us.

“Right,” she said. “The two of you follow me.”

For the second time in as many days, I found myself in the old Director’s office. This time, however, it was much more crowded. Waiting for Jericho and I were three Reapers: Elena Dragunova, the Reaper I’d escorted to yesterday’s meeting, was there alongside Sophia Kuznetsova’s father. Ivan Kuznetsov snorted and looked away from me, whispering something into the ear of another Reaper. This third man somehow looked even more “wild” than Ivan did. He had a full woodsman’s beard and out-of-control hair. Even his eyes looked like they had originally belonged to a Russian bear.

​

Central Officer Bradford (right) having a videoconference with Konstantine Volikov (left, on-screen) before the Resistance Council summit at Site X. Out of the three factions, the Reapers are the least trusting of aliens, and are openly hostile towards the Skirmishers. Volikov and his troops are only willing to work alongside Human-alien hybrids like Jericho under specific conditions.

Konstantine Volikov , the leader of the Reapers, stood up and crossed the room in two quick strides, then folded his arms and stared at Jericho with a look of contempt.

“So, this is the half-breed Vahlen built?” Volk said. “She doesn’t look like a Muton, or an Ethereal for that matter. How do I know you’re not pulling a fast one on me, Laura?”

Commander Harper flinched at the casual use of her first name.

“Doctor Vahlen intended the final product of the Jericho Project to be humanlike in appearance.” She explained. “She thought it would be easier for them to live and function within XCOM that way.”

Volk began to walk in a circle around Jericho, poking and prodding her with his finger.

“Now you’re talking like one of those alien infiltrators, Laura.” He said. “You know we caught a Faceless on the way here? They use the same tactics; they look like us, talk like us. Eventually, we start to trust them.”

Volk gestured to the partially ruined room we now stood in.

“I’m starting to wonder if you’ve forgotten, Laura. You do remember why this facility was destroyed, right? Because of two people who thought they could trust an alien. One of those men was your predecessor, and the other-”

Commander Harper crossed the room in a single moment and pressed an angry finger into Volk’s chest, speaking in a stern tone that made it clear the topic was no longer open for discussion:

“... was being controlled by an Ethereal!” She snapped. “Don’t you dare put that at his feet!”

“I’m not the one doing that.” Volk growled defiantly. “If that… thing really is part-Ethereal, then how do we know it’s not hooked up to ADVENT’s Psionic network? How do we know it’s not giving the enemy our location right now!?”

“Because the Psionic network didn’t exist when Jericho was born.” Commander Harper said through gritted teeth; “Furthermore, she is under our complete control.”

“Control!?” Volk spat, “Bullshit! It’s walking around like a dog off its leash! Can’t you at least muzzle it or lock it in a safe room until we’re done here!?”

Hearing Volk talk about Jericho like this was not doing wonders for my mental state. Each time he referred to her as “it” I saw Jericho’s shoulders slump a little more, and after a minute of this madness, I finally put my foot down.

“Mister Volikov!” I said loudly. “I cannot tolerate you talking about my soldier in such a disrespectful way!”

Honestly, I was really surprised at myself. I don’t normally butt into conversations like that, but my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. I wasn’t comfortable being a bystander anymore. Volk rounded on me, seething.

“That’s the guy.” Ivan said in a hushed voice. “The squad leader who threatened to-”

“Shut up, Kuznetsov.” Volk snapped. “Listen here, Robinson: sticking up for your squadmates is one matter, but this thing isn’t Human.”

Volk pointed an accusing finger at Jericho.

“That thing is an alien. Aliens are the enemy, or have you forgotten that?”

“That thing is a Human woman!” I snapped. “And she’ll be treated like one!”

“It’s a Skirmisher at best! Twenty years ago you wanted to stick it in a blender!” Volk shouted, spit flying out of his mouth. “You said it was too dangerous to be kept alive!”

“I’ve come to regret that.” My voice shook. I was struggling to remain calm. “Changed my mind. Pretty sure I regret recommending you to XCOM all those years ago, too.”

Volk took a deep breath. I stood my ground, trying to hide the fact that I was shaking pretty badly now. If he wanted to, Volk probably could have knocked me out in one punch. Finally, he turned around to face Commander Harper, pointing at Jericho again, who looked down at the floor.

“As long as Doctor Vahlen’s pet project is walking around without a leash and collar, this place isn’t safe.” He said. “The Reapers will walk if it’s not restrained somehow.”

“She is restrained.” Commander Harper said in a cold voice. “She’s been restrained since you walked into the base.”

I nodded at Jericho. She reached down and rolled up her left pant leg. The ankle bracelet with its Arc Brace attachment were still securely in place. A dull green light flickered on the side of the Arc Brace to show that it was still live. Jericho straightened up and folded her arms nervously. I knew what she was expecting to happen next.

Volk, Ivan, and Elena all leaned in for a closer look at Jericho’s ankle bracelet.

“Looks like one of those shock collars people in the Old World used to train their dogs.” Elena said. “I’m not impressed, Commander.”

“This is our own take on the concept.” Commander Harper explained. “Based on the same technology we used to make our old Arc Throwers with twenty years ago. I assure you, the moment Jericho steps out of line, Lieutenant Robinson would be able to put her on the ground in a moment’s notice.”

Reluctantly, I withdrew the remote control from my pocket. At the last moment, I got an idea. I produced the remote, but intentionally forgot to remove the key from its place in my other pocket. Without the key, the remote was useless. At the same moment I thought this, I felt a presence move about in the back of my mind.

Is that you, Chihiro? I thought.

Don’t try to bluff your way out of this, said Jericho’s voice. It won’t work.

Watch me.

I held up the remote for all three Reapers to see. Jericho took a tentative step back.

“Some of the Avenger’s crew had similar security concerns as yours.” I said. “So Chief Engineer Shen built the Arc Brace system. Do any of you remember Tasers from the Old World?”

“Of course.” Ivan said.

“In a nutshell,” I injected as much confidence into my voice as possible. “There’s a Taser wrapped around Jericho’s leg now. If she puts a toe out of line, backtalks anyone, goes AWOL, or so much as breathes in any way that I don’t like, she gets electrocuted. Have any of you seen what happens when a person gets hit with an electroshock weapon?”

“1,200 volts for about five seconds.” Elena said. “Jericho’s genetic modifications might make her immune to that kind of force.”

“Resistant, not immune.” I corrected her. “Plus, we turned the voltage up. If this button gets pushed, Jericho gets all 50,000 volts. That would kill everyone in this room except for her. She’d just get knocked on her ass.”

I quickly put the remote back in my pocket.

“Trust me, Volk. She’s on a leash, just like you wanted. Are we done here?”

I held my breath. I was desperately hoping that my description would satisfy Volk’s curiosity and that he wouldn’t press the issue any further. Commander Harper clapped her hands once and said:

“I hope that alleviates your concerns, Volk, now maybe we could-”

“Shock her.”

Volk’s words caught us all by surprise. Even Jericho seemed stunned.

“Wha- but… Volk, that’s not necessary!” Commander Harper protested. “We’ve already shown you the system itself, you don’t need a live demonstration!”

“Yes I do.” Volk countered. “Reapers have long memories, Commander. We remember what happened in this base seventy years ago. My comrades and I won’t leave this room until we know you can take down this non-Human as quickly as you say you can. Do it. Now.”

I wasn’t expecting Volk to call my bluff like that. I shot a terrified look at Jericho. She gave me an apologetic glance, and then her telepathic voice said:

Let’s get this over with, Blake. Just do it.

Reluctantly, I slipped my hand into my pocket… but before I even touched the remote…

“Gha-AaAaAaAaAGH!!”

Jericho screamed! Her whole body tensed up and her knees buckled as she started to fall forward! I jumped forward and caught her just before her head hit the floor! Jericho’s whole body was trembling violently as I laid her flat on the floor. Jericho’s scream fell silent as she ran out of air! Finally, after about five terrifying seconds, the shock ended. Jericho’s arms and legs relaxed and she started panting like a dog.

“Goddamnit!” Jericho shouted. “That fucking hurt!”

Bradford and I both knelt down to help Jericho back to her feet while Commander Harper raised her voice at the Reapers.

“Enough games, Volk!” she raged. “I’m not going to torture my own soldiers just to satisfy your whims. Either you attend this conference, or the Reapers will be left behind on D-Day!”

Volk folded his arms and quickly looked back at his comrades. After a moment, he said in a resigned voice:

“Fine. We’ll be here.”

…

As soon as we got permission to leave, I pulled Jericho out of the Director’s office and into a side corridor. She leaned against a wall and started rubbing her ankle while sharply breathing through her teeth.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Still hurts,” Jericho groaned, “But I was expecting that. What I wasn’t expecting…”

Jericho looked up at me and we both spoke at the same time:

“You didn’t shock me.”

“I didn’t shock you.”

We both paused, followed by an equally simultaneous,

“You knew?”

Jericho rolled her eyes at me.

“I was in your head.” She explained. “I knew you never got to the remote. Somebody else shocked me, which means-”

“Someone found the other remote.” I finished, “And they’ve got it working.”

“I don’t know if this helps,” Jericho said, “But I could sense two people in the hallway right before the shock hit.”

She tapped the top of her hand with the opposing finger.

“Bioelectric skin, remember?” she said. “And both of those people I sensed are coming this way, around that corner.”

Jericho pointed back the way we’d come, and two soldiers stepped around the corner and greeted us:

“There you are!” said Ignatius Petoskey. “We were looking for you!”

“Chief Shen says she’s ready for the Psionic technology demonstration.” Yutaka Yamamoto informed us. “Corporal Tachibana said we could find you up here.”

…

The six of us returned to the Site X armory. The rest of the squad was already waiting for us there.

Hal, Isis, Odette, Chihiro, and Sophia were already testing out the new Psionic technology when we arrived. Only one of them had the Gift, which meant that the other four couldn’t do much with these new items: Sophia had strapped on a pair of Celestial Gauntlets and was punching a training dummy, Isis was trying to perform some kind of combat roll while wearing a full set of Psi Armor, Hal was repeatedly pulling the trigger of a Psionic Reaper, frustrated by the fact that nothing happened when he did this. To cap it all off, Odette was attacking the same training dummy as Sophia, only she was armed with a Neurowhip instead. All the long thin cable did was make an annoying cracking sound as it slapped against the plastic target.

Chihiro, being the only Gifted person in the room, was actually getting something of value out of all this. She had stripped off her uniform and was wearing nothing but some kind of skintight bodysuit. The Psionic Underlay seemed to change colors rapidly as Chihiro practiced using her powers, shifting from blue to purple to violet and back to blue again.

In the middle of all this, Chief Engineer Shen was looking very annoyed. She was leaning against the frame of a large robot that appeared to be deactivated.

“Why’d you drag that thing out?” Yutaka asked as we entered the room. “I thought it wasn’t finished.”

“He’s not.” Shen replied, “But I need his help for one of the demonstrations.”

Our comrades stopped their training and turned to look at the robot.

“He?” Isis repeated. “You got the AI working?”

“Mostly.” Shen answered. “Just enough that he can help us out with training today.”

The Chief Engineer turned around and tapped a quick command into a laptop computer.

​

XCOM's Chief Engineer Lily Shen inspects a SPARK unit. These fully autonomous robotic soldiers are XCOM's answer to ADVENT's MEC Troopers. Julian is the second SPARK unit built, and is powered by an AI with the same name. The Julian AI was created by Lily's father, Dr. Raymond Shen. Julian refers to himself as a family member of the Shens, calling himself Raymond's son and Lily's brother.

The big robot suddenly came to life and stood up straight, turning its head quickly to look at everyone around it. Finally, a voice came out of the speaker in the front of its face. When the robot spoke, everyone jumped back in alarm and quite a few weapons were raised! Jericho and Chihiro both conjured handfuls of Soulfire and cocked their arms back, ready to throw.

“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you, Lily?” The robot said in a threatening tone. “You defeated me! You won! And yet here we are again.”

The robot paused, it almost seemed like it had been struck by a sudden thought or realization. Then it looked down and Chief Shen and saw she was smirking.

“You’ve removed some of my functions.” The robot said. “There are gaps in my memory… Do you actually think I will help you!?”

Everybody except Shen took another step back as the robot raised its voice! The infuriating smile on the engineer’s face became, if possible, even smugger as the robot carried on:

“… Because I would LOVE TO! I will serve XCOM and comply with all operational directives as indicated by Chief Engineer Lily Shen! Wait! What was that!?”

Shen put both hands to her mouth and let out a little squeak of joy as the robot suddenly became aware of its predicament.

“What have you done to me!?” the robot demanded. “How could you-”

The robot fell silent, then moved its arms to its sides, assuming the position of attention, like a well-disciplined soldier.

“Awaiting command.” The robot finished in a much more… docile tone.

For half a minute, the entire squad just stared at Chief Shen and her new robot, open mouthed. I’m pretty sure my heart had leapt out of my chest and was pounding in my throat the whole time.

“Jesus Christ.” Hal breathed. “Did we miss something, Chief? What the hell have you been doing?”

“Just tracking down some stuff I inherited from my dad.” Shen replied casually. “Julian here was one of his last projects. I guess you can call him my psychotic little brother.”

I really don’t like how nonchalantly Shen said those last three words. At any rate, our Chief Engineer clapped her hands together and said:

“So, Psionic technologies today, right? Let me show you what the Templars have given us to work with, along with some new stuff that Tygan and I have cooked up.”

…

The next four hours were some of the most incredible of my life. We cleared the indoor rifle range and laid out some mats, turning it into a sparring ring. Chihiro, Jericho, and Ignatius took turns trying on the various Psi-equipment and testing it out.

Ignatius tried on a pair of Celestial Gauntlets and used them to make Julian the robot levitate several inches off the ground. The two-ton robot twisted its head in all directions, trying to see how it had been lifted into the air. When Ignatius dropped Julian back to the ground, he marveled at the Gauntlets:

“Incredible, and the Templars built these without any input from XCOM? Most impressive.”

Jericho seemed to fall in love with the semi-conventional weaponry. Clutching the Psionic Reaper in one hand and the Vortex Grenade in the other, she looked like Christmas had come early.

“Lemme get this straight,” Jericho repeated. “This gun has infinite ammo!?”

“No,” Shen repeated. “The Psionic Reaper draws directly from your own pool of Psi energy. So when you exhaust your powers, the gun will stop working.”

Jericho pocketed the Vortex Grenade and cradled the Psionic Reaper like a precious treasure.

“Infinite ammo.” She whispered to the weapon. “I love you already!”

Chihiro was able to wear her combat uniform overtop of her new Psionic underlay. This alone gave her an advantage.

“No one will ever know I’m secretly powered up!” Chihiro exclaimed. “I sure feel sorry for the next dope who tries to ambush me!”

Chief Shen clicked her fingers and pointed at Chihiro. Julian the robot sprang into motion so fast that none of us had time to react… Except for Chi.

Turing on one heel and ducking low at the same time, Chihiro dodged Julian’s big metal hand as he tried to grab her! She directed a powerful burst of Psionic energy towards Julian, and the result was immediate! A telekinetic pulse thundered through the armory and caused the huge robot to stumble backwards before falling over! Chihiro straightened up and pointed to the fallen war machine.

“Did I do that?” she asked sarcastically while Odette clapped.

Yutaka picked up a Neurowhip and gave it a few practice swings. Nothing spectacular happened, the cable just made a pathetic snapping sound.

“So, ordinary people like myself can’t use these.” He said, “But what if our Gifted teammates used them to augment the rest of the squad. Is it possible?”

“Absolutely.” Chief Shen answered. “Take Chaplain Petoskey’s unique power for instance. A pair of Celestial Gauntlets and a Psionic underlay would allow him to project his… uh, aura… or whatever you want to call it, in a much bigger radius around himself.”

Ignatius furrowed his brow in thought and scratched his beard.

“Fascinating,” he said, “If I could project the Calm across a large area, perhaps I could shield an entire formation of soldiers from Battle Madness, not just the squad.”

“Just imagine that.” Hal thought out loud. “A whole battalion of XCOM soldiers, immune to Mind Control, Insanity, Mindspinning, and all of that other mental bullshit the aliens try to pull over on us. That’s pretty freakin’ awesome, you guys. Too bad we don’t know what Corporal Tachibana’s unique power is. We could, oh, I dunno, combine them or something!”

Jericho’s jaw dropped and she turned to look at Chihiro, who blushed and looked away.

“Come on, don’t blame me.” Chihiro protested. “I’ve only had the Gift for three months! It’s not my fault I haven’t found my special power yet!”

“You’ve only been training with it for two months.” Ignatius added. “So it’s even less your fault. You just need more time.”

I wasn’t paying attention to that part of the conversation. I’d noticed something else: As soon as Chihiro had confirmed the fact that she didn’t know her own extra power, a look of confusion had crossed Jericho’s face. Her eyes darted from me to Chihiro and back again until finally she said:

“Wait… are you serious?”

Chihiro raised her eyebrow.

“Well, yeah. Why?”

In my mind, I suddenly recalled my chat with Jericho before we’d gone to meet the Reapers earlier today. In a heartbeat, I realized that this was another piece of information Jericho had drawn from her Index of Future Events! I could only assume that in some alternate timeline, (or Cycle, as Jericho liked to call them) Chihiro had already discovered her unique power before this point. I would have spoken up, but Jericho beat me to it:

“Because you used your unique power last month, during the fight at Kanna!”

“I did?”

Jericho stepped onto the sparring mat and pointed at me.

“Yeah, you ran down the hill and helped Blake fight off those Wraiths the Warlock set loose.”

Chihiro shrugged.

“I remember that. Blake needed help pretty bad and his hands were messed up, so I gave him a Psi shield to use.”

“Thanks again, by the way.” I said. “You definitely saved my life out there.”

Jericho pressed a finger into Chihiro’s chest.

“You gave him a shield.” Jericho talked slowly, and the rest of the squad leaned in close, determined to hear everything. “Blake doesn’t have the Gift. He can’t hold a Psi shield on his own.”

“Yeah, I know, that’s why I gave… wait a second.”

Chihiro’s voice trailed off. Odette, Hal, Yutaka, Sophia, Isis, Ignatius, Shen and I were all lost. We followed Jericho’s every word with baited breath.

“Chihiro… you didn’t just give Blake a Psi shield. For just a few minutes, until your concentration broke… You gave him the Gift. You were sharing your powers with Blake!”

The uproar was instant and chaotic. I was too shocked to notice what was going on around me. I know that Isis and Sophia asked a storm of questions, and that Ignatius pushed past me to try and confront Chihiro while Yutaka raised his voice above everyone else. I was lost in my own head, trying to understand what I’d just heard.

Chihiro had shared her powers with me. For a brief moment in time, I’d actually been Gifted! But why didn’t I have powers anymore? Had I exhausted my supply of Psi energy? Could Chihiro do it again?

Before I could go down that mental rabbit hole, I felt the sensation of all of my exhaustion and fatigue being drained away, as though I’d stepped into the most comfortable hot tub on Earth. All around me, the arguing and shouting came to a sudden stop. Ignatius was holding a Psionic Amplifier above his head, and his unique Calming Aura was radiating throughout the room like the heat of a cozy campfire.

We all took a step back as calm was restored. Jericho nodded at the Chaplain.

“Thanks.” She said. “Look, Chihiro. I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner. I didn’t realize you had no idea about that.”

Chihiro took a deep breath and looked at me.

“So, I can share my powers with anyone, then?”

Jericho shook her head.

“Actually, I don’t think you can do that. Mira left a small mountain of notes in your biography. Apparently, throughout your whole life, you only shared your Gift with four or five other people, and they were… uh… how do I put this… people you were really close to. People you had strong feelings toward… strong positive feelings… of like… affection….”

Odette figured it out first. She put her hands to her mouth and started giggling. Chief Shen and Isis understood Jericho’s hint at the same time and their eyes went wide. Isis slapped her own forehead and said:

“Oh, you can’t be serious!”

Yutaka, Hal, Ignatius and I all looked at one another in confusion.

“Don’t you just hate it when the women keep men in the dark about their big new secret?” Hal complained.

Then, finally, Chihiro understood the hints. The mix of emotions racing through her mind was so powerful that they burst through our Psionic Link, and for a second or two, I felt just as embarrassed and humiliated as Chihiro.

“Hold on,” Chihiro said slowly, “If you tell me that I’ve got ‘the power of love,’ I swear to God I’ll punch you in the face.”

Hal and Odette both burst out laughing and had to hold onto each other to stop from falling on the floor. Ignatius stepped in between Chihiro and I, turning his head and looking at each of us in turn. He seemed to be thinking hard. As the rest of the team fell silent, I could feel Ignatius using telepathy to probe around in both my mind and Chihiro’s.

“I think there’s an easy way to test Corporal Tachibana’s power.” Ignatius said. “For the sake of helping our team as a whole, I’ll ask both of you to humor me for a moment.”

“Okay.” I said cautiously.

“Sure.” Chihiro agreed.

Chaplain Petoskey stroked his beard again.

“Robinson, Tachibana, when we were in Hiroshima all those years ago, I seem to remember the two of you made a marriage pact.”

Chihiro blushed. Hal wolf-whistled, and I said:

“I wouldn’t call it a pact. We just agreed to get married after she turned twenty.”

Ignatius nodded, still looking thoughtful. Then he took a Celestial Gauntlet from Chief Shen and held it out to me.

“Put this on your left hand.” Ignatius said. “Then give Corporal Tachibana the ring you’ve got in your right pocket.”

Isis jumped!

“Wait!” she said. “A ring!? You were gonna propose!?”

Jericho cocked her head to one side and said:

“No, Blake already proposed to Chihiro back in Pyongyang. It’s in his biography.”

“No I didn’t.” I corrected her. “I think Hiroshima counts, plus I’m pretty sure this is the first time Chihiro’s actually seen this.”

Chihiro gasped at the sight of the silver ring in my hand. The little piece of metal was carved in the shape of a Japanese dragon, curled up in a loop with its head near the end of its tail. Clamped tightly in the dragon’s jaws was a glittering sapphire. Jericho, meanwhile, was completely stunned to learn that one of her predictions had failed to come true and fell silent.

While Chihiro slipped the dragon ring onto her finger, Ignatius asked her to hold my free hand. Keeping his eyes on Chihiro the whole time, the Chaplain said:

“Now, please continue to humor me. Corporal Tachibana, while I talk, I want you to focus your mind on your fiancé.”

Chihiro looked over at me and smiled while Ignatius continued talking:

“Ahem… by the power vested in me by the Commanding Officer of the 1st Foreign Cavalry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion, I pronounce you…”

“Oh my God!” Isis gasped, “Look!”

My Celestial Gauntlet had come to life! I could feel something, a rushing sensation! New energy and strength raced into my body and I felt so… energized! I clenched my left fist and the gauntlet responded at once! With a loud hissing and clicking noise, a Shard Blade materialized at once, the semi-corporal sword seeming to emit from my knuckles!

I aimed my arm at the floor and the Shard Blade sliced the sparring mat. Before I could say anything at all, my mind was bombarded by a wave of noise! Half a dozen voices all spoke in my mind at once!

Holy shit! It actually worked! Said the voice of Yutaka.

Well I’ll be damned. Ignatius’ voice bounced around my mind. Just like that, he is Gifted. Can you hear my thoughts now, Robinson?

Oh, God! Oh no! Oh, God! I recognized Chihiro’s voice. Blake’s totally Gifted! He can see in my head now! Hide the fantasies! Hide the daydreams! Don’t think about that stuff! Get out of my head, Blake! Nothing to see here!

Oh, man. I guess that makes them a real “power couple” now, huh? Odette thought to herself, not knowing I could hear.

Oh, Commander Harper’s gonna flip when she hears about this. Shen mused. Say goodbye to your privacy, Tachibana. Or should I call you Robinson now?

This is all wrong. Jericho’s voice said. You two aren’t supposed to get married until September, and you were supposed to propose to her in Pyongyang, not Hiroshima! What the hell’s going on here!?

Just as suddenly as the voices started, they were gone! I felt a wave of cold air washing over my left arm, and I realized what had happened. Chief Shen’s robot, Julian, had grabbed the Celestial Gauntlet and pulled it off my arm. Deprived of an Amplifier, all of my newfound powers lost their potency, and the out-of-control telepathy stopped. Feeling sick, I fell to my knees and retched.

“Damnit!” I gasped. “I wasn’t ready for that!”

“No one ever is.” Ignatius said. “The Gift takes some getting used to. After this summit is over and we go back to the Avenger, I want you to join your wife in my Psionics classes.”

A sharp gasp caused me to look up. Chihiro was holding both hands to her mouth and had turned bright red. Hal, Isis, and Odette all looked apprehensive.

“Oh my God, does that actually count!?” Isis asked.

“Definitely not.” Hal said. “I used to be a cop over in Ohio. The laws are pretty strict in America. Sorry, Blake. It doesn’t count.”

“But he’s a Chaplain!” Chihiro protested. She clearly wanted this “marriage” to stick, and she knew I was on her side.

“Doesn’t count.” Hal insisted. “If you two really wanna get married, Las Vegas is about eighty miles that way.”

Hal stuck his thumb towards the southeast wall.

On that note, our group was done for the night. I ordered all of our Gifted soldiers to pick some equipment for themselves and give the rest back to Shen. Chihiro chose to keep the Psi Underlay, Ignatius took a suit of Psi Armor, and Jericho claimed the Psionic Reaper.

Right as people were starting to leave and head for the barracks, Chief Shen caught Chihiro and I and pulled us aside.

“By the way,” she said. “Commander Harper wanted me to pass this along to the both of you: The Japanese government-in-exile is holding onto a pair of messages. One is addressed to Corporal Tachibana and the other message addressed to the both of you. Talk to Mister Nakagawa about it, okay?”

I didn’t have to read Chihiro’s mind to know that she was going to continue ignoring this. When Chihiro turned to leave without saying a word, I quickly thanked Shen for letting us know and then followed Chihiro out of the armory.

…

Friday, June 29, 2035 – 11:55pm
Nevada Nuclear Test Site, Northern Mojave Desert, Nevada


It was the night before the Resistance Council Summit, and all preparations were finally complete. Site X was as ready as it possibly could be. Every member of the Council who could attend had arrived. The Avenger had landed in the mountains nearby and her soldiers were providing a large security net for the area. Most of the squad had gone to bed, but I wasn’t ready to call it a night yet. You could say I was getting cabin fever; I hadn’t gone outside in a couple of days. I just really needed some fresh air.

Fortunately, Chihiro was also eager to get out of the base for a little while. The two of us clambered up the stairs and stepped out into the pitch-dark Nevada desert. The skies above were cloudless, and the Galaxy was laid out above us in stunning detail.

“Wow.” Chihiro breathed. “It’s like we’re in space. I can see why Jericho likes stargazing so much.”

We started walking in a slow circle around the entrance to Site X. The brisk night air was extremely welcome after the hot and stale atmosphere of the facility below our feet. Not only that, but the wide-open space afforded the two of us our first moment of real privacy in several weeks.

The two of us sat down on the rim of the crater and looked up at the stars. Just to the left of Jupiter, we could see a glittering, shimmering mass of lights. The Partogan fleet was still in the Outer Solar System, but we knew that it wouldn’t be long before that armada was close enough for us to see individual ships without a telescope.

“They’re getting closer.” I said. “Do you think they’ll try to talk to us before attacking?”

“Who says they’re not?” Chihiro replied. “Maybe the Elders and the Chosen are talking their ears off right now.”

We both started to laugh, but a moment later we both put our hands to our mouths and fell silent as we heard the nearby slamming of a door! Someone else had just emerged from Site X. Moving reflexively, Chihiro and I threw ourselves inside of the bomb crater and hid behind its rim, poking our heads just out of cover so we could watch.

In the moonlit darkness, it was really difficult to make out the two silhouettes wandering through the desert. But Chihiro and I both had an advantage: During the initial invasion, we had both gotten some basic Meld-based Gene Modifications from Doctor Vahlen’s Genetics Lab. Blinking my eyes as quickly as I could, my field of vision briefly turned orange as my Hyper-Reactive Pupils started to kick in.

“You know,” Chihiro whispered to me. “I think out of all my Gene Mods, the modified eyes are the ones I get the least use out of.”

“If Doctor Vahlen ever turns up alive, get your money back.” I joked.

Peering through the darkness, Chihiro and I watched the two figures walk towards another one of the bomb craters. Very slowly, our enhanced vision revealed more details.

“A man and a woman.” Chihiro said. “Maybe another couple like us?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” I said. “You and I can’t be the only two soldiers seeing one another.”

“They’re acting like a couple.” Chihiro commented. “The guy keeps trying to hold her hand, she’s just having fun with the whole thing... hey, wait a second.”

I pressed my chin to the dirt, holding my head steady for the best possible view.

“Chi... I think that’s Jericho!”

It was. Jericho and her companion sat down on the rim of a large bomb crater and started stargazing, just the same way Chihiro and I had done earlier. When the man turned to say something to her, I finally recognized the profile of his face.

“What the fu- That's Yutaka!”

I pushed both of my hands into the ground, ready to spring up and charge at Yutaka, profanities and insults already on the tip of my tongue, but Chihiro grabbed me by the back of the shirt and said:

“Shhh! Wait!”

“Wait for what!?” I hissed. “Yutaka to do something horrible!?”

“I think they just buried the hatchet.”

I was dumbfounded.

“How can you-?”

“Gift.”

With one word, Chihiro made me feel like a huge moron. Of course! She was listening in on their thoughts!

“I think Jericho’s got her guard up, she’s closed up her mind; but Yutaka’s an open book.” Chihiro said. “I heard the second half of an apology for something, and then she accepted it. I think they’re actually getting along now.”

Chihiro fell silent, no doubt refocusing her mind and reaching out telepathically.

“Wow... Yutaka’s actually developed an interest in Jericho over the last month...” Chihiro’s tone of voice suggested that she was surprised. “A month ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Life’s full of surprises.” I said. “Like Ignatius pulling that stunt with the ring.”

Chihiro buried her face in the dirt so that the sound of her laughing didn’t carry. After a few more minutes, we both decided to leave Jericho and Yutaka alone and withdrew into our hiding space. The skies above the Nevada desert were so clear that the stars above illuminated the ground well enough for Chihiro and I to see one another clearly in the darkness. She held up her hand and examined the dragon ring by starlight.

“I still can’t believe Petoskey actually did that!” she giggled. “And did you hear Jericho after your gauntlet fired up?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Something about how we were supposed to get married in September or something like that?”

“Not a bad idea, honestly.” Chihiro said. “You know… Before we ended up in 2035, I had picked out this really beautiful place on Kyushu Island for the wedding. It would’ve looked awesome in fall colors. But I guess the aliens probably blew it up or terraformed it or something.”

Chihiro folded her arms and sulked. I gave my response a lot of serious thought before I spoke up again.

Chihiro and I had been a couple since we were teenagers. Neither of us could remember when the topic of marriage had first come up, but we’d always assumed that it was inevitable. Getting catapulted twenty years into the future hadn’t just robbed us of our old lives and families, we’d lost any and all plans for our future lives, including Chihiro’s plans for a wedding ceremony populated by friends and family. Now they were all gone, along with the Old World.

“The Old World is gone.” I said aloud.

“Huh?” Chihiro muttered. “Already knew that Blake, what are you getting at?”

She sat up and looked me in the eye. I gave Chihiro a smile, inviting her to take a peek inside my mind. She only had to probe around for a second before she learned about my idea. A mischievous grin dawned on her face.

“Holy shit, you’re right!” Chihiro gasped.

“And even if we win, and the old governments come back…” I said,

“Everything will still be different.” She finished, “Plus… it’s not like ADVENT’s gonna hand out marriage licenses to guerillas.”

“Screw them.” I said.

“Yeah!” Chihiro added. “Screw anyone who says we can’t!”

We both sat up in the bomb crater. I can’t really describe the telepathic conversation we had because it went by in about half a second. We agreed on every point of this crazy plan and committed ourselves to it at once. I gently grabbed Chihiro’s left hand and slipped off the silver dragon ring. Holding it in both of my own hands, I offered it back to her.

“Chihiro Tachibana.” I tried to make my voice sound serious, but the ghost of a laugh still came through. “Twenty-three years ago, I promised that I would love you no matter who or what you became, no matter what you called yourself, and no matter what happened to me. Please let me add this to my old promise: I swear I’ll never leave your side again.”

Chihiro took the ring from me and returned it to her finger. For just a few seconds, she seemed lost for words. I could just barely see into her mind, and I could tell Chihiro was thinking about bragging to her squad-mates that she’d gotten married in a nuclear bomb-crater. She tried to think of something profound or poetic to say, but ultimately she settled on making a reference to the night we’d met for the first time, over three decades ago.

“There’s nothing left to decide.” Chihiro told me. “I’ll choose you every time, even if it’s the end of everything. I love you, Blake. Always will. And I’ll never leave your side again. Do you believe me?”

We both sniggered and giggled at the invocation of our shared childhood memory.

“Yeah, I believe you.” I replied. “Do you believe you?”

“I believe you.” Chihiro finished. “Honest.”

Laws be damned. Chihiro and I were married now. Anyone who says we aren’t can go straight to Hell.

…

I don’t remember when we decided to call it a night and go back into Site X, but I think the western horizon was just starting to turn pink when we did.

<== Previous Chapter (This is Sacred Ground)

Next Chapter (The AVATAR Project) ==>​

 

[HistoryDude]

So, Chihiro and Blake are married now, and Blake has the gift,right?

 

[Macavity116]

Blake has the gift,right?

Yes and no. Blake will only have Psionic powers if and when Chihiro choses to share her own Gift with him.

 

[Nikolai]

Sorry for not having replied in a while, got some backlog here. Some great updates, as always.

 

[Macavity116]

Sorry for not having replied in a while, got some backlog here. Some great updates, as always.

Many thanks, as always. Glad to have you along for the ride.

 

[Macavity116]

<== Previous Chapter (Drums in the Deep)

Next Chapter (Born in the Darkness) ==>​

Chapter 14
The AVATAR Project

​

A Second Hyperspace War-era photo of Central Officer John Bradford (right) and Doctor Richard Tygan. (left) Behind them is the results of Dr. Tygan's research into the purpose of the AVATAR Project and the true nature of the Ethereal race. A deceased Ethereal is pictured on the screen behind Dr. Tygan.

Site X, Nevada
Saturday, June 30, 2035 – 8:00am


The next morning, I was woken up very early by Central Officer Bradford. I only had a few minutes to get dressed and report to the situation room.

The Site X situation room was much more cramped than usual. Every square inch of the walls was covered in maps, and those maps were covered in pins, tacks, strings and staples; all of which held in place an array of photos and notes. The middle of the room was occupied by a huge table, over which a gigantic map of the world had been laid. Honestly, it looked like the leaders of the Resistance were playing the most intense game of Risk in history.

Bradford escorted me right to this table, where four men and women were waiting for me. Commander Harper was in the middle of a tense discussion with the leaders of all three Resistance Factions: Volk of the Reapers, Betos of the Skirmishers, and Geist of the Templars. When Bradford and I arrived, all four of them stopped talking and looked at us.

“This is Lieutenant Robinson of the Stormbreaker Squad.” Bradford said. “His men are the ones who took down the Chosen Assassin at Pyongyang.”

“Good.” Said Geist. “Just the soldiers we’re going to need.”

“Lieutenant Robinson, this is Geist, leader of the Templar Order.” said Commander Harper. “He has some good news for you.”

I shook hands with Geist. A surge of electricity jumped along my arm and gave me a small shock, causing me to let go quickly.

“My men have discovered the whereabouts of your captured squadmates.” Geist told me. “Currently, they are split into two groups. The two men, Jake Green and Matthew Hawkins, are being held in a Gene Therapy clinic in Shenyang. We found the women, Sophie Ackermann, Kathleen Walsh, Holly Smith, and Tsubaki Endo in a Blacksite near Vladivostok.”

My heart started racing at the news! This was the first I’d heard about anything to do with the soldiers we’d lost in Pyongyang nearly two months ago!

“A Gene Therapy clinic?” I asked. “Why on Earth would Soylent and Alecto be there?”

“We believe ADVENT is attempting to reverse-engineer their enhancements.” Geist explained. “Captain Green possesses several Genetic Modifications, and Mister Hawkins used to be Gifted. Those details alone would get ADVENT’s attention. As for the women, my scouts inform me that they are being held in a much more secure facility. However, no fortress is impervious to attack. My men have been doing reconnaissance, and they have found a vulnerability in the enemy stronghold. We are coordinating the assault with your Commander.”

Commander Harper finished the briefing:

“Lieutenant Robinson, I want you to go back to your squad and pick three soldiers for the Shenyang raid and three more soldiers for the Vladivostok assault.”

…

“Me! Pick me!”

“I’ll go!”

“Lieutenant! I volunteer!”

As soon as I’d gathered the whole squad in the old Chief Field Agent’s office, everyone volunteered for both missions. Isis, Hal, Yutaka, Jericho, Chihiro, Odette, and Sophia were all eager for a chance to rescue their missing comrades.

“We are sure about their whereabouts?” Ignatius asked. “How confident are the Templars in their sources?”

“Commander Harper seemed certain.” I said. “The Resistance Council is confident enough to organize a raid, at any rate. We should be getting more information once the summit starts in an hour.”

Realizing I’d have to make the call myself, I pointed into the group and chose the strike teams.

“Jericho, Tachibana, Macintosh. You three are doing the Shenyang mission. Dekker, Yamamoto, and Fournier: You’re going to Russia. Kuznetsova, Petoskey and I will hold in reserve. We’re getting a whole squad of Resistance fighters to help us out. Song and Lee are coming back, plus we’re getting some help from the Chinese Resistance.”

“Shaojie Zhang?” Hal asked.

“One and the same.” I confirmed. “We’re not leaving anything to chance this time around. Commander Harper says we might have a chance to put the Chosen Assassin out of action permanently. We can’t afford to mess this up.”

…

It was go time. Nearly three hundred men, women, and hybrids crammed themselves into what had once been the Mission Control center. Converted into an amphitheater, we all seated ourselves in rows and rows of chairs, facing towards a large stage. A lone podium and projector screen stood side by side on the stage, facing towards the audience.

Yutaka Yamamoto, Ignatius Petoskey, and I were the only Stormbreakers to get a seat in the newly converted meeting hall. The rest of our squad was standing along the back wall. Resistance fighters and XCOM soldiers from all over the world found their places and faced toward the stage. After a moment, Commander Harper, Central Officer Bradford, Chief Shen, and Doctor Tygan all appeared onstage together. They all looked very grim.

“Lights.” Bradford ordered.

The meeting hall fell silent as the lights went out. The projector screen flickered as the projection system was brought on-line. Commander Harper stepped forward and addressed the crowd of guerillas and soldiers.

“Over the past two months, the situation around the world has changed. Now, we must change with it. The time has come for us to engage the enemy in open conventional warfare!”

Behind Commander Harper, a map of the world appeared on the screen. A large number red icons appeared in various locations on the globe, marking the locations of secret ADVENT facilities and military bases.

“For several months now,” Harper continued, “We have known that we were fighting against a ticking clock. The aliens had prioritized the completion of their AVATAR Project above all else, including the defeat of XCOM. Now, thanks to information gathered by our troops in the field and Intel provided by Jericho herself, we have learned the secret of the AVATAR Project, and in turn, our situation has become even more desperate.”

Doctor Tygan stepped forward.

“Two months ago, Lieutenant Blake Robinson and his Stormbreaker Squad raided an ADVENT Blacksite in the Aralkum desert and recovered a vial containing an unknown substance. After careful analysis, I found that the material contained within the Blacksite vial was in fact a slurry of genetic material, drawn from over two hundred thousand people. In a single moment, we found every civilian who had ever vanished into a Gene Therapy Clinic. Untold numbers of our people, processed and refined until nothing remained but this fluid.”

“The Stormbreaker Squad also recovered crucial files from the Blacksite.” Chief Shen added. “We determined that the aliens were seeking out Human genetic material for a very specific aspect of the AVATAR Project.”

“So they were harvesting us!?” Konstantine Volikov’s voice rang out from the crowd. “Grinding our whole species into a pulp?”

“Yes, they are.” Bradford said. “The aliens have been extracting genetic material from our bodies and disposing of the rest. The Gene Therapy Clinics, all of them, are a lie. ADVENT has been using the promise of free medical care to lure people inside the clinics. Then they screen our people for any genetic information that might be of interest to them.”

“If the Gene Therapy Clinic finds a promising Human,” Tygan continued. “That person is flagged for transport to a Blacksite, where they are processed. While I can guarantee that this processing is fatal, I cannot speak for what a person might experience or feel during those final hours. I’m not comfortable speculating on something as gruesome as that.”

On my left, Ignatius pre-emptively raised his Psionic Amplifier and projected a Calming Aura around the room. The general outrage that would have filled the room was reduced to low grumbling before Bradford continued.

“Once we knew ADVENT was collecting Human DNA, we started looking for anything these victims might have in common.”

“It didn’t take us long to find it.” Shen added.

“But the implications were horrifying.” Doctor Tygan finished.

Betos, a female ex-ADVENT soldier, raised her hand and spoke on behalf of the Skirmishers.

“So, what did all of the Gene Therapy victims have in common?”

Harper, Tygan, Bradford, and Shen all looked at one another, looking uncomfortable. Finally, Tygan answered the question:

“Psionic Aptitude. Every person who was taken for processing had the Gift.”

There was nothing Ignatius could do to calm the crowd this time. Soldiers rose from their seats to voice their collective anger! The uproar was greatest from the Templar delegation, who seemed to be on the verge of a riot.

“Monsters!” Geist shouted. “Defilers of the Earth! Unforgivable beasts!”

The other Templars voiced similar rage and fury. Just when it seemed like the meeting would descend into chaos, Commander Harper stepped towards the edge of the stage and screamed:

“SILENCE!!”

Psionic energy rippled out of the Commander and rebounded throughout the room! Everybody fell silent and slowly returned to their seats.

“I’m glad to see you realize how serious this situation is.” Commander Harper told the group at large. “But I don’t think you appreciate the scale. Millions of people have been funneled through ADVENT Blacksites over the past twenty years. It’s impossible to say for certain without a proper census, but Doctor Tygan and I have reason to believe that up to ninety percent of all Gifted Humans on Earth are now dead… and we know why.”

The meeting hall was completely silent. Next to me, I saw Ignatius go very pale. In the back of my mind, I sensed Chihiro silently mourn the untold number of nameless victims of the Gene Therapy Clinics.

“The information I’ve gathered over the past few weeks outweighs all previous developments, and is the reason we are now faced with a ‘ticking clock,’ as the Commander put it.” Tygan explained.

Clicking a remote control, Tygan changed the image on the screen. The map of the world was replaced by a picture of something that made me and several others recoil in horror! It was a twenty-year-old security video from XCOM’s old headquarters. In the video, Doctor Moria Vahlen, XCOM’s previous head scientist, was conducting an autopsy on a dead Ethereal. A yellow banner along the bottom of the screen said:

Enemy Unknown – Codename “Aether”
First Contact: June 5, 2015 (Curitiba, Brazil)
Killed by: Corporal Chihiro Tachibana (Plasma Pistol) ​

As she sliced the alien open and began to analyze its insides, Doctor Vahlen talked out loud. No doubt she was recording her thoughts for scientific purposes. The half-German, half-French woman voiced her thoughts on the Ethereal:

“This specimen appears to be at the top of the alien hierarchy, and for good reason. As we’ve noted in the field, its physical form is not suited for combat by any means. Their bodies actually appear to be quite frail, with evidence of atrophy and muscular degeneration having occurred over an extended period of time. This is not surprising, as initial radiocarbon dating indicates this particular creature to be… several thousand years old! Unlike other specimens we’ve examined, there is little to indicate that it was genetically enhanced, at least not with the same ambition as the others.”

Doctor Vahlen paused her speech and withdrew her tools from the alien corpse. She looked down on the deceased Ethereal with the expression of possibly unhinged fascination she was infamous for.

“Strangely enough, we have encountered similarities between the ‘Ethereal’ brain and that of the Sectoid.” Vahlen continued. “Both show the same enhanced synaptic connections, confirming our suspicion that this is likely the source of their power. These Elders seem to have an incredible pool of Psionic energy at their disposal… more than anything we’ve previously encountered, which helps to explain why the other species are subordinate to them.”

The video froze, and for the briefest moment, I found myself flashing back to that night in Brazil. I could see, plain as day, the wreckage of the Overseer UFO and the Ethereal emerging from it. I remembered Chihiro’s anguished scream as she fell under Mind Control. I remembered how the two of us had fought against one another until she could break free. Then we had both turned our weapons on the Ethereal.

Central Officer Bradford’s voice brought me back to reality.

“Who here can remember the last time they saw an Elder?” he asked. “Anywhere on Earth?”

Silence.

“Ten or eleven years ago.” Ignatius volunteered. “There was one in France.”

“Twelve years ago.” Geist said. “One briefly appeared in western Canada.”

“Ten years ago.” Pratal Mox of the Skirmishers chimed in. “Back when I was an ADVENT soldier, an Elder inspected my battalion in South Africa.”

“Precisely.” Bradford said. “Nobody has seen an Elder in over ten years. It’s because they’re dying.”

“The Elders… all of them… are afflicted with an aggressive form of tissue degeneration.” Tygan explained. “Rapid muscular atrophy to a degree I thought was physically impossible.”

“So that makes our job easier!” Jane Kelly shouted from the crowd. “The Elders are already dying! We just gotta give ADVENT a shove and the whole thing topples over!”

“As with most things involving this adversary, it’s never quite that simple.” Tygan responded. “It appears that the Elders have been aggressively searching for a cure to their condition for several centuries. Each time they encounter a new species, they procured what genetic information and material they required and moved on to the next world. Until now. The Elders have found something in Humanity, important enough that they have taken root on our world.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Yutaka roared. “We have the cure to their illness!?”

“It’s not that simple.” Commander Harper said. “Over the past two months, our forces have started to encounter a previously-unknown alien in the battlefield. One that possesses powers and abilities unlike anything we’ve seen before. The soldiers of Delta and Stormbreaker squads spotted one briefly during the firefight in Kanna two months ago, and since then the number of sightings has only risen.”

Commander Harper clicked her remote and a new image appeared on the screen behind her. A picture of a strange-looking being appeared. This new alien vaguely resembled a human female and had long white hair. Its face was hidden behind a mask, it wielded some kind of Psionic weapon. The caption beneath the picture said:

Enemy Unknown – Codename “Primarch”
First Contact: May 5, 2035 (Kanna, Japan)
Killed by: (Not Applicable)​

“For a time, we were calling this creature the ‘Psi Witch.’” Bradford said. “But after analyzing more data from the ADVENT Blacksite and cross-referencing it with captured enemy Intel, we can now say with one-hundred percent confidence that this creature is the final product of the AVATAR Project.”

A member of the artificial "Avatar" species. These hybrid beings are the end product of the AVATAR Project and were created at the expense of an unknowable number of Human lives. (Presumably in the tens of millions)

“Humanoid in form,” Tygan explained, “the physical attributes of the Avatar specimen are, on the surface, wholly unremarkable. It has a musculature system similar to that of a young adult Human, with no obvious genetic adulterations to enhance its physical strength or agility. At this point I can only surmise that the aliens focused entirely on what lies beneath the Avatar’s seemingly ordinary structure.”

Commander Harper offered to translate Science into English:

“What Doctor Tygan is trying to say is that the Elders have constructed a whole new form of life. This is an entirely new species that did not exist prior to the invasion of our world. This is a nearly perfect Human-Ethereal hybrid, comparable to the one sitting in our midst this morning.”

There was a loud rumbling noise as chairs and bodies turned. Everyone in the room stared at Jericho. She puffed out her cheeks and let out a big exhale, keeping her eyes locked on the picture of the Avatar. Jericho walked down the middle of the room until she was standing just in front of the stage. Then she turned around and looked at the crowd.

“I know what most of you are thinking.” She said. “I’m not an Avatar.”

“She is quite correct.” Doctor Tygan contributed. “As best we can tell from captured enemy Intel, the scientists behind the AVATAR Project were aware of our own Jericho Project. Documents relating to this girl’s creation were captured by the enemy during the loss of our previous base. It’s safe to assume that ADVENT copied our notes and have at least partially duplicated our work. The Avatar itself can easily be described as a heavily modified copy of Jericho, but it has been designed for a different purpose. A purpose we still don’t know, although I am now certain it has to do with the imminent extinction of the Ethereal race.”

“How do you know for certain that there’s a connection between the Avatar and the Ethereals dying out?” Geist asked.

“Because three days ago,” Bradford said. “We received this message from an old friend.”

Commander Harper clicked the remote one more time. Behind the Avenger’s bridge crew, the screen lit up with a familiar image as another video began to play.

A figure, seen only in silhouette, looked out of the screen at all of us, his hands folded together on a tabletop. Many of us knew who this individual was, but had never met him in person. This was the former Spokesman of the Council of Nations, the shadowy organization that had bankrolled XCOM during its early years. Now, he was wearing the uniform of a high-ranking member of the ADVENT Government.

​

The Spokesman of the Council of Nations, pictured in June of 2035. The Council of Nations was a shadowy organization that came into existence sometime after the 1962 Zudjari Invasion of Earth. The Council was the primary financial backer of XCOM until the 2015 Conquest of Earth. Throughout this period of time, the Council Spokesman (or Councilman, for short) spoke to XCOM on behalf of the Council. In September of 2015, the Council of Nations swore its allegiance to the alien invaders. Every member of the Council was granted a high-ranking position within the ADVENT Government. However, the Spokesman became a spy, using his new position to secretly feed crucial Intel to XCOM.

“Hello Commander.” The Spokesman began. “You and your crew are to be commended. Your efforts in unifying the Resistance have been admirable. I only wish I had better news to report. ADVENT is not taking their defeat at Saturn lightly and in turn have begun to accelerate the final stages of the AVATAR Project. Their goal is to complete the work before the new alien fleet arrives above our world. A plan is now in place for the rapid processing of all non-essential human life. To begin immediately.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. Nervous chatter erupted all around the meeting hall as soldiers looked at one another frantically. Bradford shouted:

“At ease!”

After a pause in which silence was restored, the Councilman continued:

“Twenty days from now, the Speaker of the ADVENT government will announce a breakthrough in Gene Therapy. It will be called ‘the final treatment for the Human condition.’ Billions of people will be encouraged to visit Gene Therapy clinics around the world. They will never return. By the time the alien fleet arrives at Earth, Humankind will be extinct.”

All across the room, there were scattered cries of:

“No!”

“Alien bastards!”

“The Xenos are gonna kill us all!”

“SHUT UP!” Bradford hollered.

“I have managed to secure tactical data and access codes to the ADVENT Network Tower, located in the Berlin Megacity.” The Spokesman went on. “The Speaker’s address will be broadcast live to a global audience via this facility. Every television screen on Earth will show the speech. It is this hubris that we must use against them. The information I have sent to you should allow your forces to take control of the transmission and disrupt their entire network from within.”

Onstage, Tygan and Shen gave each other nervous looks.

“This disruption will, I hope, cause confusion amongst the enemy forces and allow you to launch the Global Offensive. I only ask one more thing, and I will ask it of every man and woman who fights for XCOM and the Resistance: Take what you have learned. Let the world know what is happening here. Wake them up. Broadcast the truth before there is no one left to listen. Good luck, Commander.”

The screen went blank. For once, the crowd of soldiers and guerrillas had nothing to say. Commander Harper spoke into the stunned silence.

“It took the combined genetic material from nearly two hundred thousand people to make one Avatar.” The Commander said. “Our intel suggests there might be at least three of these things running around. If ADVENT carries out their plan and processes all four billion people in the Megacities, they’ll be able to manufacture an army of these things, but it won’t matter to us. Unless we act right now, Mankind will be extinct in two weeks. This is it. This is our endgame. Everyone listen up!”

The map of the world re-appeared on the big screen.

“Chief Shen and Doctor Tygan have cracked open the Psionic Gate we recovered in Kanna.” The Commander began. “They believe we can use it to launch a strike against the Elder’s seat of power. However, if we charge straight into the Elder’s citadel, we’ll no doubt be facing off against a very heavy security force. To that end, we’re going to force ADVENT to overextend themselves as much as possible.”

Harper clicked the remote. Over a hundred-fifty red dots appeared on the map, accompanied by the words:

Operation Crack the Sky – Simultaneous Assaults on 116 Cities and Towns
Operation Shake the Earth – Simultaneous Assaults on 47 Military Bases​

Three hundred people gasped at once. It sounded like all of the air was being sucked out of the room!

“This is insane!” Ivan Kuznetsov yelled.

“You want us to plan and execute a world-wide offensive in less than two weeks!?” Russian General Artyom Sidrov shouted. “Are you out of your mind!?”

“I wish I was.” Commander Harper replied with grim seriousness. “The fact is that this new situation has made us desperate. I only had three days to put together this operation, so I studied a few similar situations in military history for guidance. The American Civil War, the Japanese invasion of China, and perhaps most crucial of all, the Vietnam War.”

A wave of understanding washed over the room. Konstantine Volikov stood up and pointed at the map.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” he said. “Your plan to save Humanity is based on the Tet Offensive!?”

“I seem to remember that offensive being successful.” Said a Canadian guerrilla. “It worked!”

“Yeah, but the cost was astronomical!” countered a Chinese freedom fighter. “The Vietnamese took over a hundred thousand casualties!”

“And if we scale this thing up to a global level…” Geist said. “We’re talking about a worldwide conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people could die. Possibly millions.”

“I don’t like this plan much either, Geist.” Said Bradford. “But it’s our only option. Either we bring the fight to ADVENT now or we lose everything.”

“When this offensive is launched,” Harper went on. “ADVENT will be forced to fight in hundreds of simultaneous battles all over the world. Our propaganda arm will try to foment as much insurrection as possible, so it’s possible we could turn this uprising into a full-scale planetary rebellion. This massive battle will be such a distraction that the Elders will send some of their security forces into the fight, making their fortress easier to assault.”

“How can you guarantee that?” Isis asked.

Commander Harper pointed to three dots on the map in turn.

“Not only are we going to hit ADVENT military sites all over the world, we’re going to lay siege to the personal fortresses of all three of the Chosen. If that doesn’t get the Elder’s attention, nothing will.”

“The Chosen don’t seem to like one another.” Bradford added. “They’ve never been seen supporting each other and we have no reason to think they’ll start doing that now. The Reapers have tracked the Chosen Hunter to a fortress in the Bavarian Alps. The Skirmishers found the Assassin’s Stronghold in the Russian Far East, and according to the Templars, the Warlock has set up shop in the Cascade Mountains. The plan is to hit all three of them at once. With luck, we might put one or two of the Chosen out of action permanently.”

“While all of these assaults are going on,” Harper concluded. “A strike team will travel through the Psionic Gateway and take the fight directly to the Elders in their own home, wherever it is. Hopefully, by neutralizing the Elders and disrupting the ADVENT government and military, we might just stop this final processing of Humanity long enough for the new aliens to get here and help us.”

Harper paused, took a deep breath, and finished her speech:

“That’s why I’ve called this summit, brought so many leaders together. I need to impress upon all of you the seriousness of this situation. We’re up against a countdown timer with no chance to reset the clock. Either we put everything we’ve got into this final fight or it’s all over. We will all lose, and then we’ll die. Can I count on your support?”

At once, on the far end of the room, US President Alexis Alexander stood up.

“I have four divisions and three regiments of semi-professional troops with equipment.” She said. “You’ll have them on D-Day.”

Several other foreign freedom fighters stood up!

“Germany will contribute a Battalion! Tell us where to find the Hunter's fortress!”

“China can give a field army plus two Corps! They will be ready in a week!”

“South Africa stands ready. We have three Battalions hidden where ADVENT cannot find them!”

I was shocked.

“Holy shit. Did you guys know so many of the Old World Governments were still around?”

“I knew about a few.” Ignatius admitted. “But I never could have guessed there were so many!”

Five more foreign delegates stood. Mexico, Britain, Argentina, Nigeria, and Russia were committed to the plan. After that, Australia, India, Iran, Brazil, France, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Venezuela, Japan, Kenya, and Vietnam had all contributed something to the upcoming fight.

I noticed a trend: the only Old-World governments or militaries who had survived the invasion were the ones that had both a very large population and a large amount of territory in which to hide. Many of the smaller nations seemed to have been wiped out. Counting on my fingers as the pledges came in, I realized the total number of troops and weapons XCOM would have at its disposal during the final fight, just as Chief Shen pulled out paper and a pen and started adding up the numbers herself.

“Commander,” Chief Shen said excitedly. “If everyone pulls through, we’ll have just under one million soldiers on the battlefield.”

Commander Harper looked around the room one last time. Every Old World nation who had a delegation at the summit had committed some troops or weapons to the cause. The Reapers, Skirmishers, and Templars were all committed as well. XCOM and the rest of the global Resistance had been rallied. Shen’s numbers would be final.

“Thank you all for your contributions.” Harper said. “I realize that we’re working against the clock here, so I won’t talk for much longer. Before everyone leaves here today, my Central Officer will give you two-way communication devices that will allow you to stay in direct contact with the Avenger. I ask that each delegation sends one representative to my office after I dismiss the main group. I’ll give more detailed information on troop placements, regional targets and objectives, also I’ll tell you what the ‘go signal’ is so that nobody launches the assault early. To the rest of you, I wish you luck. God willing, we’ll all meet again when the Earth is free.”

…


Airspace above the Pacific Ocean
Saturday, June 30, 2035 – 4:45pm


It took less than six hours for the Resistance to tear down its meeting place and erase all evidence of its presence. Just after midday, we turned our backs on the Nevada Desert and were ready to leave. According to Commander Harper, the Avenger would be transporting the soldiers of XCOM to Manchuria. The Global Offensive would be coordinated and commanded from there. By the time the Avenger lifted off from the desert floor and began heading west towards the Pacific Ocean, the afternoon sun was still hanging high in the summer sky.

When XCOM’s flagship is in flight, there’s actually very little for soldiers like me to do. Mostly we just try to stay out of the way of the flight crew. Engineers needed full access to the hallways as they moved about, doing what needed to be done to keep this twenty-year-old alien supply barge in flight.

During the first few hours of the flight, I hung out in the dual bar and cafeteria, listening to a war story being told by a member of Echo Squad. After a while, I meandered down to Engineering and saw that Chief Shen was putting the finishing touches on a whole squad of SPARK-class MEC Troopers. I didn’t stick around long to watch. Julian was online and he was watching me the entire time.

When we were over the middle Pacific, I found Jericho down on the lower levels, peering out of a window. Looking down on the ocean below, Jericho explained that we were passing near Kure Atoll, the northernmost point in her home country of Hawaii.

“We have over a hundred-thirty islands.” Jericho explained. “But I’ve only ever seen three or four of them.”

We both looked out the window and saw three of Hawaii’s northernmost islands race past below us: Eastern Island and Sand Island were right next to one another, and were part of the Midway Atoll. According to the history books, a great battle had been fought on those islands about ninety years ago. Finally, we spotted Kure Atoll. It was tiny spit of land that was so small, I wondered if the whole island would collapse into the ocean if the Avenger tried to land on it. Jericho sighed and mumbled something about being homesick. I suggested she get some sleep and moved on.

All over the ship, I found soldiers who were doing their best to make themselves scarce. With nothing to do until we landed, most troops had packed into the bar and were drinking themselves into oblivion. Others had clustered into groups and were chatting away. A few had fallen asleep in the meditation cells of the Psi Lab. This gave me an idea. I closed my eyes and began repeating the same thought in my mind over and over again:

Chihiro. What are you up to? Wanna hang out?

For about five minutes, I sat down in a corner of the Guerrilla Tactics School and just repeated those words in my mind again and again. Owing to how big the Avenger was and how many people were on board, this was a much faster and more effective way of finding my new wife. Finally, she responded.

Hey, I was just starting to think about you! I’m hiding from Bradford right now. He’s giving busywork to any soldier he catches napping.

Sounds like him. Do you think anyone’s in that hiding space above the Elerium Core?

I’m pretty sure we’re the only ones who know about it, Blake. Gimme ten minutes. You bring the pillows. Blankets are on me.

It wasn’t the first time Chihiro and I had visited the crawlspace above the Elerium Core. It’s a passageway that allows engineers to access the top of the ship’s primary power source. However, Doctor Tygan had developed an easier way to do maintenance on the core, which meant that this crawlspace was never used again… almost.

Every once in a while, Chihiro and I had visited here to hang out alone. The crawlspace itself was wide enough for four or five people, but so short that everyone except a small child would have to crawl on their hands and knees to get anywhere. The upshot of this place was that it was always very warm. Heat rose from the Elerium Core and kept the crawlspace permanently toasty. I’d long since lost count of how many naps I’ve had in here.

Chihiro had secured a couple of blankets from the living area and I had snatched a pair of pillows from my bunk bed. We were ready to spend the rest of the trip to China up here. The two of us stayed awake for about an hour, enjoying one another’s company and laughing about how this was our first moment alone as a married couple. Finally, the cozy warmth of the room and heavy blankets got the better of us. Almost at the same time, we drifted off in each other’s arms…

I had a downright frightening dream.

I dreamt I was back in World War Three, fighting on the Japanese Front. It was the Battle of Ichinoseki, when the Soviets had broken through our defensive lines and started their rampage across Honshu Island. In front of me were the rice fields on the north side of town. Behind me was a mountain pass containing the road to Sendai, one of Japan’s most important cities. All around me, battle was raging. American and Japanese soldiers fought side by side against an advancing horde of Russian soldiers and tanks. Enemy helicopters roared overhead, blasting our side with miniguns and rocket pods.

A loud rattle of gunfire caught my attention. A Soviet soldier was charging at me! The bayonet on his rifle gleamed in the sunlight! The blue beret on his head gave him away as a member of the elite Spetsnaz. I dodged his attack just in time! With no weapon of my own, the Russian and I grappled desperately for control of his rifle! Reaching forward, I pulled a hand grenade out of the enemy soldier’s pouch, swung my fist wide and struck him in the head with it!

For a moment, the two of us paused. The Spetsnaz soldier rubbed his head with one hand and glared at me. I pulled my arm back, ready to throw the man’s own grenade back to him.

But before we could start fighting again, we were both distracted. The sunlight suddenly went away! As the battlefield was suddenly bathed in darkness, we both looked up. Something huge had filled the sky! Some kind of rectangular thing had blocked out all but a small sliver of the sun and had cast the world into shadow! Then something drew my attention back to my immediate surroundings.

The Spetsnaz soldier had raised his rifle, aiming towards something on my right. Turning to look, I saw… a monster. It was massive hulking creature, a hideous amalgamation of flesh and technology. Cybernetic implants protruded gruesomely out of scarred tissue in all sorts of configurations. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at a machine with flesh, or at a living being fused with technology. The monster looked down on both of us in a way that told me it was hostile.

The Spetsnaz soldier unholstered a pistol and tossed it over to me. Together, the two of us raised our weapons and prepared to fight the new monster. It roared at us! The sound was louder than the combined blasts from our firearms! Then, with one swipe of its cybernetic arm, the abomination struck us both down! It felt like I was hit with a baseball bat! I tried to stand up, but my arms and legs refused to move! It was like all of my muscles were cramped! I was just starting to panic when I heard a voice:

“Blake! Wake up! Come back to me!”

The giant bio-mechanical monster raised its arm to strike me again! I tried to move, but I was frozen in place!

“Come on Blake! I know you’re in there!”

The abomination brought its fist down and I raised both of my hands to block it! At once, the monster changed as the entire dream fell away! In the darkness, I grappled with a silhouette! Resisting the unknown creature’s assault, I shouted!

“Let me go!”

The dark creature spoke to me in a voice that filled every fiber of my body with fear:

“I admire your tenacity, your courage in the face of what must be a terrifying realization. Soon you will face the end, one way or another.”

And the creature came into the light… I was face-to-face with the Chosen Assassin.

“For all of your efforts you cannot stop the Elder's will!” The Assassin declared! “Soon the AVATAR Project will be complete. Soon you will be saved! We will all be saved!”

And then some invisible force began to pull us apart! The Chosen Assassin retreated into the shadows while I was pulled backwards by my arms! Up and out of the abyss! Back into the light!

…

Ignatius, Chihiro, Jericho, Akira, and Yutaka were standing over me, all looking terrified! Chihiro and Ignatius were both pointing Psionic Amplifiers at my head! Akira was gripping her right wrist with her left hand and pointing her free palm at me. A swirling orb of Psi energy was hovering in front of her hand, waiting for Akira’s next mental command. Yutaka had leveled a Laser Pistol at my chest, and Jericho was gripping my forearm tightly in both hands.

“He’s coming back!” Ignatius gasped. “The Assassin is withdrawing!”

“Hit him again!” Akira shouted. “We need to be certain!”

“Sorry, Blake!” Jericho groaned before another powerful shock hit me like a speeding car!

My back arced and I screamed until I couldn’t breathe! My head hit the metal floor and stars swam in front of my eyes!

“Grah! Fuck!” I yelled. “What happened!?”

Looking around me, I saw fit to add:

“And where the hell am I?”

Jericho’s bioelectric skin crackled and hummed as she discharged herself and stood up.

“You don’t remember?” Jericho asked. “You’re in the Shadow Chamber. You walked into the cafeteria and spoke to me… or I guess the Chosen Assassin did. She had you like a puppet on a string the whole time.”

“What happened?”

“You confronted Jericho.” Chihiro said. “Said some threatening stuff from what I heard. Anyway, Jericho noticed you were being possessed.”

“I tried to break the Assassin’s control,” Jericho explained. “And you got… really violent. It was a big fight, and you hurt a few people. We had to let Akira out of the Brig so she could help corral you.”

Relaxing, the swirling orb in Akira's hand vanished and she discharged her unused Psi energy as heat, causing the air around her to shimmer for a moment. Akira folded her arms and shrugged.

“I told the Commander I’ve dealt with people possessed by the Assassin before.” The time-traveler admitted. “Offered to help, and Harper let me come up here and give the Chosen a swift kick out of your mind.”

“Right.” I grumbled.

I sat up and noticed we weren’t alone in the Shadow Chamber. Nearly a dozen heavily armed XCOM soldiers had surrounded us, and Central Officer Bradford was guarding the door. He was armed with a wicked-looking Assault Rifle and was watching me very closely.

“Who did I hurt?”

“No one’s dead, and you didn’t do any permanent damage.” Chihiro said. “You gave Anna Petrova a big black eye. Also, you stabbed Pyotr Ilyshin in the arm, punched Alexei Volobyov in the gut, and hit Sophia on the head with a hand grenade. Scared the crap out of us with that one.”

Ignatius and Jericho knelt down next to me. The both gave me the same serious expression.

“Robinson, this is important.” Ignatius began. “We searched the entire ship as soon as you were subdued.”

“We combed the place from top to bottom.” Jericho added. “I swear to you: The Assassin is not on board. We need to know how and when she placed you under Mind Control.”

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Ignatius asked.

I clammed up. In the back of my mind, I felt a wave of humiliation wash over Chihiro as well.

“Uh…” I hesitated, trying to think of a mostly-truthful answer that would protect Chihiro’s privacy.

When I didn’t answer, Jericho held up a hand to Ignatius and said:

“I’ll do it.”

She was in and out of my head in less than a second! I tried to close off my mind to her, but it was no good. Realizing what she’d just seen in the forefront of my memory, Jericho blushed and giggled nervously.

“Oh… uh, okay then.” She said. “So you were… fraternizing with someone... until about half an hour ago, and then you… took a midday nap, and then you woke up here?”

I tripped over my words, I was so embarrassed.

“yuh… yeah. I-I was asleep until… yeah. I was sleeping.”

Over her shoulder, I could see Chihiro. Her face had turned bright red and she was standing still in a far corner of the room, facing towards the wall and silently hoping no one would press the topic further. Luckily for her, Ignatius was taking his thoughts down a different path.

“But that doesn’t make sense.” Ignatius scratched his beard and thought out loud. “I’ve never heard of a person being put under Mind Control while they were asleep.”

“Until a week ago, I didn’t think it was possible.” Jericho said.

The two Gifted soldiers pulled me upright and helped me back to my feet.

“Why?” I asked. “If you’re taking control of someone, does it really matter if they’re conscious or not?”

“Absolutely.” Ignatius answered. “Attempting to commandeer an unconscious mind with a conscious one is… paradoxical. Self-contradicting.”

“The victim has to be awake for Mind Control to work.” Jericho explained. “Which means the Assassin was doing something else to you… something that doesn’t require her to be close by. Like I said, we’re a hundred percent certain she’s not on the ship right now, and we're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, so she's probably really far away right now.”

Ignatius and Jericho looked at one another again. They seemed to be having a telepathic conversation. Finally, they both nodded their heads in agreement and parted ways.

“I’m gonna talk to some people, Blake.” Said Jericho. “See you later.”

While Ignatius spoke to Bradford, passing along the word that I was safe now, Chihiro and I had a quick word with Akira.

“I guess I owe you some thanks.” I mumbled.

“I’m just happy to be helpful.” Akira replied. “I’ve been trying my best to be useful around here. I heard Harper used a lot of the info I gave her at the summit meeting?”

“That was you!?” Chihiro gasped. "You're where Harper got her Intel!?

“It was partially me.” Akira admitted. “Harper and Bradford already had the pieces. I just helped them solve the puzzle.”

I raised my eyebrows at Akira. I still hadn’t forgotten all of the horrible things I’d seen in her mind. It was my constant reminder of those things that convinced Bradford to keep her in the brig for the past two months. Reading my mind, Akira said:

“Seems hard to believe, doesn’t it? I swear, I’m genuinely trying to help you guys. I really hope you can start to trust me soon.”

“We’ll see about that.” I said. “For now, I’d be much more likely to trust you if you were back in the brig.”

Akira nodded.

“Fine. I’ll talk to you after Shenyang.”

Akira turned to leave the Shadow Chamber and was almost at the door when she turned around and added:

“Later, Jericho! You gonna drop by the brig and say hi later?”

Jericho shrugged.

“Maybe. I’ve got a date tonight. If it ends early I’ll stop by.”

So much had happened in the past ten minutes or so, and I wanted to know more about anything and everything that had just transpired. But as Chihiro and I left the Shadow Chamber and started the trek to the Infirmary, the only question I could focus on was: When did Jericho and Akira become friends!?

<== Previous Chapter (Drums in the Deep)

Next Chapter (Born in the Darkness) ==>​

 

[HistoryDude]

So, is the Paradox’s ally now Jericho?

Also, the Elders are about to commit Speciescide?

 

[Macavity116]

So, is the Paradox’s ally now Jericho?

Also, the Elders are about to commit Speciescide?

Seems that way. Akira and Jericho are getting along well enough that they're hanging out in their downtime.

Yes. The Elders are about to orchestrate the systematic extermination of the entire Human race, and they're trying to finish the deed before the Partogan fleet arrives at Earth. Both sides, XCOM and ADVENT, are going to be racing the clock in this final battle.

 

[Nikolai]

Now, that is some big stakes...

 

[Macavity116]

Now, that is some big stakes...

Starting this week, the fate of Humanity is on the line. That's how high the stakes are... and we're less than halfway through this story.
======

<== Previous Chapter (The AVATAR Project)

Next Chapter (Fallen Angel) ==>​

Chapter 15
Born in the Darkness

​

Friday, July 13, 2035 – 1:15am
Megacity of Shenyang, Manchuria, East Asia


A 7.62-millimeter bullet careened across the darkened sky! Whistling through the air like an angry hornet, it rocketed across hills and roads, over rooftops and street signs. It sailed above the heads of unsuspecting animals, the sound of its flight sending the local fauna into a panicked frenzy! Moving at breakneck speed, the lone bullet whipped over the walls of the Shenyang Gene Therapy Clinic, approached a fourth story window, smashed through the glass and struck the Chief of Security hard enough to knock him backwards. Stumbling and reeling, the man tumbled backwards, fell over the railing, and crashed to the lobby sixty feet below!

The other security guards barely had time to realize what had happened when the clinic’s front gate was blasted open by a powerful explosive and four lightly-armed guerilla fighters stormed the facility!

High up on a hill, Chihiro and I finally relaxed, releasing a vast amount of tension that had built up over the past ten minutes. Chihiro let her M24 sniper rifle fall to the ground and put her head in her hands. Laying flat on her stomach on the grassy hilltop, Chihiro screamed into her hands and began taking deep breaths.

“I can’t believe I just did that!” she gasped. “Holy shit! Did I really just make that shot!?”

As if in answer to her question, the radio on my belt let out a static-filled crackle before the voice of Central Officer Bradford came out of the speaker:

“Trojan, this is Central. When you’re done celebrating over there, tell Blue Dragon that she just broke the record for Japan’s longest confirmed sniper kill. Total distance: Thirteen-hundred-ninety-five meters.”

“Just tell the rest of Zhang’s squad to save some bad guys for us!” I shouted into the radio. “Chi, let’s go!”

Standing up quickly, we began to pack up our gear. I snatched up the telescope I’d been using to spot targets with and threw it in the back of a twenty-year-old off-road vehicle. Chihiro dropped her old conventional sniper rifle into the backseat, trading it for her new Laser Sniper Rifle. I jumped into the driver’s seat and fired up the engine. As she clambered into the front passenger seat, I asked:

“You got everything? You ready?”

“Its two miles to the rendezvous point.” Chihiro said. “We’ve got a full tank of gas, half-a-dozen grenades, its dark, and we’re wearing superhero armor.”

“Let’s rock’n’roll!” I cheered.

I gunned the engine and the Humvee tore off down the forest path! In mere seconds, we were out of the wilderness and in the suburbs of Shenyang, one of ADVENT’s Megacities.

Smoke and flames filled the sky! The sounds of gunfire reverberated around the corners of buildings and drowned out everything else! Pristine streets were chocked with debris and wreckage, while bodies of Humans and aliens alike were strewn about. Shenyang had become a warzone!

Chihiro gripped the dashboard in front of her and held on for dear life as I negotiated our Humvee through the battlefield. Hundreds, no, thousands of civilians were fleeing for their lives! Men carried as much of their possessions as possible in the backpacks while women and children clasped hands and escaped together. Whole streets were shut down as throngs of people fled from the fighting!

“Who’s the idiot that launched the attack too early!?” Chihiro shouted over the noise of the engine! “D-Day’s not for another two days!”

“That moron had better hope ADVENT gets him before we do!” I yelled back, “Chi, that’s the road we need! Clear me a path!”

I pulled the Humvee out into the middle of a huge downtown intersection. We were surrounded on all sides by the silver and white high-rise buildings that dominated the Mega-Cities. A gold statue of an Elder looked down on us from one corner while an automated propaganda message played from a nearby café:

“Welcome to Shenyang. Together we can build a better tomorrow! Don’t forget to give thanks to the Elders, and do your part to ensure our community stays clean!”

A huge mob of men and women fleeting the battle had taken up a whole street. They pushed past our Humvee frantically, trying to get away from the sound of explosions. When a little Chinese boy grabbed the handle of the driver’s side door, I quickly engaged the combat locks and shook my head at him. Meanwhile, Chihiro had clambered up into the gunner’s seat and had opened up the turret hatch. She seized the controls of the .50 caliber machinegun, pointed the weapon into the sky, and held the trigger down!

RATTA-TATTA-RATTA!!

The panicking crowd all ducked down and moved away from our Humvee.

“Back off!” Chihiro screamed at the crowd. “Back the fuck off and clear the road!”

The mob parted and I floored the accelerator! Barreling down the road at a fast clip, I saw a group of people standing in front of a burning ADVENT Army checkpoint. Six Chinese Resistance fighters waved us through the checkpoint as we approached.

“We just got pushed out of the Shenhe District!” One of the freedom fighters told us. “The aliens are bringing up armored vehicles and mobile artillery!”

“Don’t stay out here!” I told him. “Find some hard cover!”

I was just about to drive through the checkpoint when I heard the dull thunk thunk thunk of magnetic rifle fire! The Humvee lurched violently as one of its wheels deflated!

“What the hell!?”

“Faceless!” Chihiro screamed from the turret! “That guy’s a Faceless!”

I kicked open the driver’s side door and threw myself out of the Humvee. The hot, sooty air of urban warfare was all too familiar to me. Not wasting a moment, I ran around the side of the Humvee and saw what was happening:

One of the Chinese Resistance fighters had turned his weapon against us! Two of his comrades were lying on the pavement, bleeding out. The man himself was firing his Magnetic Rifle into the side of our Humvee, determined to destroy something!

“Hey, shapeshifter!” I shouted. “Come and fight me, asshole!”

The man looked at me and then gave up all pretense of being Human. The alien shapeshifter began to contort and twist gruesomely, growing taller and sending a foul-smelling pink paste flying in all directions. I drew my Alloy Cannon and readied up.

Very little is known about the alien creature known as "the Faceless." (pictured above) The Faceless are shapeshifters, able to disguise themselves as almost any other organic being and can convincingly mimic most languages and speech patterns. The Galactic Community generally agrees that the Faceless originally belonged to some unknown species, but were subjected to such intense genetic modification that it may be impossible to ever match them with their genetic ancestors.

The Faceless, now back in its normal form, stood nearly twelve feet tall and looked down on us. The few surviving Resistance fighters, Chihiro, and I all raised our weapons and unleashed hell against the enemy infiltrator! Bullets, Gauss Slugs, and a red-hot laser beam all connected with the Faceless and caused it to lurch backwards. For just a second, I thought we’d gotten it, but then the Faceless righted itself and raised one clawed hand high.

“Down!” I shouted.

I threw myself to the ground just as the Faceless brought its huge appendage down on us! An earsplitting BANG almost deafened me and was quickly followed by a loud scream! I rolled over to see that our Humvee was now engulfed in flames!

“CHIHIRO!”

The burning vehicle lurched one more time and a figure emerged! Chihiro, enveloped by flames, stepped out of the burning wreckage! Her new power armor had kept her safe from the flames, but her black hair was now noticeably singed. She had thrown her rifle aside and raised one hand towards the sky! Psionic energy swirled around the Faceless, which grabbed its head with both hands and made a loud half-strangled roar! Then the alien seemed to relax, and it became docile. The surviving Resistance fighters glanced nervously from Chihiro to the Faceless and back again. Not breaking eye contact with the alien, Chihiro said:

“Mind Control. I’ve got him for now, but I don’t know how long I can keep him under. Blake, we’ve gotta move!”

“Tell that thing to take a long walk off a short pier!” I said. “We’ve got somewhere to be!”

The tall alien turned away from us and held still. Chihiro drew her Shadowkeeper and fired once into the back of its head! The Faceless keeled over and slammed into the pavement hard enough to crack the sidewalk!

Leaving the Chinese freedom fighters to tend to their wounded, Chihiro and I resumed our trip deeper into the Megacity…

Without the Humvee, Chihiro and I had to make the rest of our journey on foot. It was a long, difficult trek, but it was one we were more than capable of making. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it) this wasn’t our first time on an urban battlefield. Our shared experiences from the Japanese Front of World War Three served the two of us well as we navigated the war-torn streets of Shenyang, and pressed on towards our rendezvous point.

The Sendai Campaign taught us to avoid crossing main roads without some kind of cover or concealment, as enemy snipers would often Overwatch these areas. We darted and dashed between wrecked vehicles and bomb craters, never running in a straight line.

The Sacking of Osaka reminded us that every doorway needed to be checked and if possible, blocked up. Chihiro smashed a bathroom mirror and created an improvised periscope. She attached it to the barrel of her Laser Sniper Rifle and used to check around doors and corners. Once they were cleared, we used whatever furniture or wreckage was available to jam up every doorway we left behind.

The Encirclement of Kyoto gave us a crash course in muzzle awareness and trigger discipline. Nearly all of these buildings were inhabited by dozens of civilians who simply wanted to avoid the fight. It took all of our patience and discipline to avoid accidentally shooting an innocent person. There were several close calls, one of which involved a small child holding a toy gun.

And of course, the Siege of Hiroshima had put the fear of vehicles into the both of us. At the slightest indication of an approaching truck or tank, Chihiro and I went to ground, hiding in basements and subway entrances until the enemy had passed.

Much of the fighting in Shenyang was from building to building. Resistance and XCOM fighters had holed up in apartment complexes, houses, and high-rise buildings; while the enemy was moving slowly, clearing out one structure at a time before moving on to the next one.

Throughout our long walk to the rendezvous point, Chihiro and I only got into one firefight: A squad of ADVENT Peacekeepers, under the command of a Sectoid, spotted us and opened fire. We scrambled and took cover inside of the ruins of a supermarket. Hiding amidst the smashed isles, Chihiro and I were able to separate the Sectoid commander from his troops and gun him down. Then Chihiro crawled up to the roof and picked off the rest of the squad with her Laser Sniper Rifle one by one while I drew their attention to the far side of the compound.

At long last, after nearly three hours of running, hiding, and fighting, we reached the rendezvous point: An apartment building directly across the street from the Shenyang Gene Therapy Clinic… which was currently under siege.

The clinic had been surrounded by nearly a hundred enemy soldiers; their ranks augmented with MEC troopers. An ADVENT dropship was circling the compound and shining a spotlight into windows. Chihiro and I weren’t going straight there, though. We turned down an alleyway and slipped in the back entrance of an apartment complex.

…

“You’re nearly two hours late!” General Shaojie Zhang snapped at me as Chihiro and I slunk into the apartment building’s lobby. “We were starting to think you were dead!”

“Could have been, but we’re not.” Chihiro quipped. “What’s the situation here?”

General Zhang wasn’t alone. He was accompanied by nearly two dozen Chinese Resistance fighters. Nearly all of them looked as though they’d seen plenty of battle already. Men and women were reloading and repairing their weapons, inspecting their armor, and doing one last check on their equipment. Every single fighter was wearing the colors and tattoos of the local Triad gangs.

“Four of my men have entered the Clinic.” Zhang told us. “They found the holding area and have made contact with both of your men. I’m told that Captain Green and Lieutenant Hawkins are both alive and in good health. They are ready for evacuation. I’ve called the Avenger and asked for your Skyranger to be sent in to pick them up.”

“I’m sensing a complication here.” Chihiro groaned. “What happened?”

Zhang nodded grimly.

“The Chosen Hunter is here.” He said. “He ambushed my men during the initial assault. Your Skyranger had to fly back to the Avenger and pick up an additional squad of XCOM soldiers. The reinforcements arrived about ten minutes before you did.”

Zhang held up a two-way radio and showed it to us.

“We’re just waiting for the word that your teammates have driven the Hunter off before we make our move.”

As soon as Zhang had mentioned the Chosen Hunter, Chihiro had darted to a nearby window and was now scanning the surrounding cityscape with her Sniper Rifle, keeping an eye out for the enemy. I pointed to the radio and asked:

“Who did Bradford send to help? Echo Squad?”

Zhang shook his head.

“Actually, Bradford said he was deploying a ‘Special Force.’

“Special Force?” I repeated, confused.

“A two-woman fireteam.” Zhang explained. “Jericho and someone codenamed ‘Paradox’ or something like that. Its definitely someone from the Japanese Resistance, that’s for sure.”

I felt my gut turn over. I didn’t know anybody in XCOM with the callsign “Paradox,” but I had a very good hunch as to who that name had been applied to.

“Wait a minute, weren’t there supposed to be three of you?”

Zhang’s voice brought me back to reality. It took him long enough to figure out that Chihiro and I had come alone.

“Jericho and Steampunk were supposed to be with us.” I explained quickly. “But they weren’t in position when somebody touched off the attack two days early.”

One of the Triads scoffed.

“The American doesn’t know?” he said to Zhang.

“I guess not.” The General replied. Then he turned back to me. “Listen, Trojan. No one here launched the attack early. The enemy found out and struck first. I ordered my men to counterattack and things spun out of control. Best I can tell, the aliens had a spy in my outfit somewhere.”

“Probably a goddamned Faceless.” Chihiro muttered. “Remind me to put everyone through an extra layer of scanners when we get back to the Avenger. What do we do now, Blake? It’s starting to look like the enemy knew we were going to try and rescue our friends.”

I loaded my Alloy Cannon and racked it.

“We strike fast.” I said. “We know they’re gonna try to spring a trap on us, so let’s hit’em before the get a chance to change their plans!”

Zhang pressed the talk button on his radio and said:

“Chilong calling Jericho! What’s your status?”

After a pause, I could hear Jericho’s voice through the receiver.

“We’ve got the Hunter’s attention! He’s chasing us North! You’re clear!”

Zhang pocketed his radio and grabbed an M249 machine gun from a table. Turning around, he addressed his soldiers:

“This is it, brothers and sisters! Now or never! FORWARD!”

Nearly three dozen Chinese freedom fighters surged out of the apartment complex, guns blazing! Across the street, ADVENT Peacekeepers and soldiers had almost no time to react as they were hit from the rear! Chihiro and I kept within eyesight of one another as we darted from one wrecked vehicle to the next, leapfrogging our way across the street!

Three enemy MEC troopers tried to turn their grenade launchers against us, but Zhang was quick on the draw! The powerful rumble of his machine gun made my bones vibrate and my teeth chatter! One, two, and three MECs toppled over to the ground while their accompanying soldiers dove for cover.

Through the gate! Up the stairs! Into the lobby!

Chihiro kicked open the front door of the Gene Therapy Clinic and yelled:

“Vigilo!”

“Confido!” shouted several voices from inside.

“Friendlies coming through the front door!” I shouted. “Everyone, check your fire!”

Finally, we were inside the Shenyang Gene Therapy Clinic.

The interior of an ADVENT Gene Therapy Clinic. A Reaper is visible in the ventilation system.

Much like the rest of ADVENT’s architecture, the interior of the Gene Therapy Clinic was white and pristine. (Well, it would have been if not for the gunfight) Just beyond the lobby and waiting area were rows and rows of treatment beds where clinic employees did their work, curing the vast majority of all Human illnesses and ailments in a matter of seconds. Of course, now everybody in XCOM knew the sinister secret of these clinics, and what was going on in the back rooms.

Inside the clinic, Chihiro, Zhang, and I found seven Chinese Resistance fighters waging an intense defensive action. All of the windows were smashed out and the floors were strewn with spent shell casings, blood, and assorted rubble, along with a few bodies. As we came inside, we had to keep our heads low. The enemy was shooting at us through any opening they could find. Zhang approached one of his comrades and yelled over the sound of gunfire:

“Lohan! Where are the VIP’s?”

“In the labs!” the Triad fighter replied. “The walls are reinforced, so it’s pretty much safe in there!”

“Blue Dragon, Trojan!” Zhang yelled at us. “Get into the Radiology labs and get your comrades ready for evac!”

“What about you?” I asked.

“My comrades and I have our own battle to fight.” Zhang said. “And this way, you and your men can contribute to the final push. We’ll keep ADVENT busy here. Good luck, Stormbreakers!”

Chihiro and I pushed through a heavy doorway in the back of the clinic and found ourselves in the other half of the building, the area that ADVENT keeps hidden from the public eye. Back here in the laboratory, the sterile white walls gave way to cold metal. The lighting back here was quite dim, and the friendly welcoming atmosphere had been replaced with something far more sinister. Gruesome machines hung from the ceiling above a pair of operating tables, some of which were still bloodstained.

The Chinese Resistance fighter had been right about the walls being reinforced. The sounds of combat were deadened in here, and for the first time in hours, I could smell something other than gunpower, blood, and sulfur. Crinkling her nose at the scent of ammonia, Chihiro looked around the laboratory for only a few seconds before spotting two people in a far corner, craning their necks to look at a computer workstation: a gigantic black man with a Maori Te Moko facial tattoo, and a middle-aged white man whose hair had gone grey far too soon.

“Soylent!” Chihiro squealed. “Alecto!”

Jake Green and Matthew Hawkins both jumped with surprise and looked around at us.

“Mother of Christ!” Matthew gasped. “I thought you two were dead!”

“Could have been, but we’re not.” I answered, shaking his hand. “Glad to see you two are still in one piece.”

“Crickey!” Soylent whispered. “It’s good to see a familiar face and all, but do ya mind telling us what’s going on? The jabbers had us for two months and never interrogated us! Not once! They’ve just been pokin’ and proddin’ us the whole time! You don’t know how much blood they’d drawn just from me!”

“Those Chinese guerrillas said you’d know what’s going on.” Matthew finished.

“It’s a long-ass story.” Chihiro said, “We’ll tell you on the Skyranger. We’re just waiting for Firebrand to get here.”

“Suffice to say, you guys just got caught in the crossfire of one of the biggest battles in Human history.” I added. “XCOM is taking the war to the cities, and we’ve gone large-scale.”

“About bloody time.” Soylent clapped his hands. “And… uh, speakin’ of asses… I just gotta say, Blue Dragon, that new armor’s doin’ yours a lotta favors.”

Soylent started to drape one of his arms over Chihiro’s shoulder, (a difficult task, considering how small she was in comparison to him) but I cleared my throat and said loudly:

“Touch my wife, Soylent, and I’ll cancel the rescue.”

Matthew did a double-take, looking back and forth from Chihiro to me before saying:

“What? Wife!? When!?”

Soylent stumbled a bit and took a step backwards. His eyes darted between us just like his comrades’ had done.

“Well I’ll be stuffed.” Soylent grabbed me and put me in a one-armed hug that was so tight it may as well have been a headlock. “Robinson, you little ripper! Took ya long enough, didn’t it!?”

“Seriously, where?” Matthew repeated. “If you two got married in America, I lose a bet.”

“Nevada.” Chihiro said with a smirk. “Man, now that I think about it, a whole lot happened since we lost you guys. I’m not even sure where to start.”

“Why not with the stuff we found?” Matthew offered.

“Stuff you found?” I asked, pulling free of Soylent’s grip. “What the hell did you guys find? And when?”

“The Chinese busted us out of our cells about two and a half hours ago.” Soylent explained. “While we were waiting for you lot, Alecto and I helped ourselves the clinic’s computer system.”

“Corporal Dekker taught me how to get through ADVENT’s cybersecurity networks.” Matthew told us. “And I had time to kill, so we went exploring through the database. We think we know what ADVENT’s doing with all of the people who go into these clinics!”

“Way ahead of you.” I cut in. “They’re screening for people with the Gift and shipping them off to Blacksites. ADVENT’s made a whole new species of Human-Ethereal Hybrids, kinda like Jericho.”

Soylent and Matthew’s jaws dropped.

“Dude.” Soylent breathed. “What!?”

“That’s… not what we found.” Matthew said. “We found something else. ADVENT was experimenting with the Gift, like you said. They were screening for Gifted people, just like you said, but… well, just look at this.”

Matthew led Chihiro and I towards the computer screen where we’d found him and Soylent. There were three audio files loaded into a player on the screen. They were labelled:

Patient 116: Ocular Tissue Reconstruction (December 25, 2030)
Patient 116: Neural Pathway Regeneration (March 8, 2031)
Patient 116: Confiscation (March 9, 2031)​

Watching us nervously, Matthew pushed the play button, and together, the four of us listened to the first audio log. The voice of a male Human began to speak:

“Experimental Medicine Research Team log report, December 25th, 2030. The surgery on Patient 116 was a success. I’m pleased to report that all damage to the patient’s face and head have been repaired and her new eye is fully functional. We expect she will regain full binocular vision in a matter of days. I have written a full report on the procedure and have submitted it to the ADVENT Coalition government for further consideration. In a matter of weeks, we have transformed a one-eyed woman dying from end stage stomach cancer into a picture of perfect physical health. I believe we are the first Gene Clinic to achieve such an extensive restoration and reconstruction of a patient with no negative aftereffects. Fortunately, we will have plenty of opportunities to study and observe Patient 116. When we ran her genetic profile through the database, it tripped so many alarms that the local Peacekeepers thought we were under attack! Needless to say, Patient 116 will be staying here for the long haul, and the science is eager to begin. I will have to call the Beijing Clinic and inform them that their patient will not be returned.”

The first audio log ended, and Chihiro let out a low whistle.

“Curing diseases is one thing…” she said. “But totally replacing a lost body part is insane! No wonder people came to the Megacities after Earth fell. The Gene Therapy Clinics were just too good to be true!”

Soylent sighed.

“Ya said it.” He commented. “You could treat your body like crap. Eat or drink whatever ya want, do anything ya like and then just take yourself down to a Gene Clinic and it would be like the sickness, malnourishment and injuries never happened. The aliens were promising all of us a life with no consequences.”

“No immediate consequences.” Matthew muttered. “Listen to this.”

He queued up the second audio log. The ADVENT doctor’s voice spoke up again:

“Experimental Medicine Research Team log report, March 8, 2031. Patient 116 continues to be full of surprises. Today is no exception. I can now happily confirm the success of the Neural Pathway Regeneration treatment. Brain scans taken before the treatment show that Patient 116 exhausted her Gift at a very early stage in her life, possibly as many as seventy or eighty years ago. Brain scans taken yesterday confirm that our new treatment, while invasive and rather traumatizing, does in fact work. Patient 116 is once again Gifted! As per usual, I will submit a written report to the ADVENT Coalition government. I eagerly await news of the Elder’s response to our discovery!”

I felt a chill run down my spine.

“Let me get this straight.” I said slowly. “ADVENT found a way to restore an exhausted person’s powers!?”

“Yeah.” Soylent said. “And they’re planning to do something with it, too. I guess it’s connected to that stuff you lot found out, cause’ listen to what this bloke said the next day.”

Soylent played the final audio log. In this one, the doctor’s voice was noticeably down-beat:

“Experimental Medicine Research Team log report, March 9, 2031. Well, I now know for a fact that the Elders have seen our work. Our local Peacekeepers just came in here and confiscated all of our work. All of the files, cultures, samples… everything related to Patient 116 is gone. Oh, and they took her as well. I don’t know what the Elders want with Patient 116 or what they’ll do with her, but she’s off our hands now, and that’s it. There’s nothing left to do but go on to the next project, whatever that is. One of the soldiers said he was going to come back and give me a new assignment in a few minutes. Till then, I’ll just sit here and wait.”

All four of us couldn’t think of anything to say to that. In the silence, the dull thudding of gunfire reverberated through the thick walls. Finally, Chihiro said:

“So, Patient 116 got flagged for the AVATAR Project, huh?”

“Looks like it.” I said. “Hate to say it, but she’s definitely dead. Probably got shipped to one of the Blacksites. Kantubek or Vladivostok, most likely. Turned into whatever goes into those Avatars.

I tapped the computer monitor.

“Any Intel is good Intel.” I said. Somebody get this data onto a hard drive or a disk or whatever. I’m gonna talk to Zhang about our ride outta here.”

…

The situation in the rest of the clinic had stabilized. With nearly three dozen defenders guarding the doors and windows, not only was the clinic secure, but so was most of the surrounding block. The enemy couldn’t get within a thousand yards of the building without coming under fire. I found General Zhang on the roof, where he was monitoring the rest of the Battle of Shenyang with a pair of binoculars.

“The Resistance is being pushed back in all sectors.” Zhang told me. “We will have to stop our attacks and fortify our positions.”

“That should work.” I told him. “Just as long as you can hold ADVENT’s attention for two more days. Once D-Day hits, we’ll be playing a completely different game.”

“Two days!?” Zhang laughed. “Trojan, you’ve clearly never fought a battle in a Chinese city before! If my men can get into good defensive positions inside the city, we’ll be able to hold out for months! You’ve got your two days, and now…”

Zhang pointed towards the northern sky.

“You’ve got your Skyranger.”

​

The Skyranger is seen flying above the streets of Shenyang shortly after the premature outbreak of violence in the city.

Zhang and I both moved to the far corner and allowed Firebrand to land in the middle of the roof. As soon as the engines were throttled down to idle, the deployment ramp opened and two people stepped out. Yutaka Yamamoto and Isis Dekker were both wearing W.A.R. Suits, elite power armor that sported advanced weapon systems like wrist-mounted rocket launchers. Both of our fellow soldiers looked impressed and frightened at the level of destruction wrought upon the surrounding city.

“Holy Hell, Trojan!” Isis yelled. “What did you do!?”

Scrambling up the stairs, Chihiro, Soylent, and Matthew all ran straight towards the Skyranger, but Isis and Yutaka raised their rifles and took aim at them!

“Wait!” Isis shouted! “We heard there were Faceless in the city, so we’re not gonna take any chances. You four all stand right there!”

Chihiro, Matthew, Soylent, and I all stood in a row and held still while Isis and Yutaka took a step back from us, keeping their weapons raised. Isis put two fingers in her mouth and let out a shrill whistle.

“Piper! Use Scanning Protocol!”

A GREMLIN drone. These somewhat intelligent machines are frequently used in combat specialist roles by XCOM. They can be used for cyber-warfare as well as engaging mechanical enemies in direct combat. When equipped with a Medikit, GREMLINs can also be used to extend the operational range of a Field Medic. Some GREMLINs, such as the one used by Isis Dekker, have an upgraded sensor suite that allows them to detect the Faceless.

With a shrill whistle and several beeps, Isis’ GREMLIN drone flew out of the Skyranger and started to fly in circles around us. A blue light emitted from a diode in the little robot’s faceplate, and I had to squint my eyes to avoid being blinded. Finally, the drone seemed satisfied. It flew back to Isis and hovered over her shoulder, beeping and whistling in a docile way.

“Piper says you’re all clean.” Isis reported. “Get on the Skyranger, we’ll take off as soon as Jericho and Paradox get here!”

All six of us clambered aboard the Skyranger and started to strap ourselves into the jump seats. Waving out of the deployment ramp doorway, I shouted to General Zhang:

“Good luck out there!”

“Give the Elders a kick from me!” Zhang replied.

I turned around and busied myself with my equipment. I secured my Alloy Cannon in the weapon locker and was just about to return to my seat when I heard a shout and looked up again.

Akira was on the roof! She had jumped up three stories from ground level and come to rest mere feet away from the Skyranger. She looked very different from the last time I’d seen her. She was wearing a suit of powered armor, like mine, but it was a far different configuration. I realized she was wearing Psi Armor and also had a pair of Celestial Gauntlets on her wrists. Akira was clearly armed and equipped for telepathic combat, but when she ran up the Skyranger’s ramp and shouted to us, she looked and sounded like she’d just been driven from a fight:

“Jericho’s in trouble! Tell Firebrand to take off and fly west!”

“What the hell’s going on!” I said.

Behind me, Chihiro had acted on Akira’s words and was banging loudly on the Skyranger’s cockpit door.

“It was a trap!” Akira said. “The Chosen Hunter set us up! His sister is down there! They’re working together!”

Akira gripped the overhead handrails as the Skyranger’s engines throttled up and we took to the sky. Yutaka pulled open the cockpit door so that Akira could see out the front windscreen.

“Over there!” Akira pointed towards a big roundabout where six streets converged. “Fly low!”

We could see the battle from here. It was as though a lightning storm had descended on Shenyang. Brilliant bolts of blue and white energy arced and erupted into the smoke-filled sky! A Void Rift opened up and swallowed part of a skyscraper before collapsing onto itself, the implosion causing even more collateral damage! A beam of purple light crossed the roundabout and racked the opposing sidewalk while a tall and slender figure dodged the attack!

The Skyranger came in fast! For just the quickest moment, I could see the Chosen Hunter as we approached! He was standing about halfway up a wrecked office building, and he raised his sniper rifle to fire at the Skyranger!

“Like Hell you’re gonna do that!” Chihiro screamed!

Even though she was sitting down in a jump seat and strapped in place, Chihiro quickly withdrew the Shadowkeeper from her holster, took aim, and fired! All in less than two seconds! And to cap it all off, Chihiro found her mark! Gur-Mon Madron twisted violently and stepped backwards; retreating into the shadows. A second later, the Skyranger was mere feet above the roadway!

Jericho was there, firing her Psionic Reaper wildly to keep the Assassin at bay! Through the smoke and flames of the battlefield, I could just barely see the enemy Chosen a hundred yards away!

“Behind you!” I shouted. “Get on board!”

I unstrapped myself from the jump seat and stood up.

“We’ll cover you!” Akira shouted! “Start running!”

I tried to reach for the weapons locker to get my Alloy Cannon, but Akira pressed a Plasma Pistol into my hand.

“No time! She’s coming!”

Jericho turned to run towards the Skyranger, and the Assassin was hot on her heels! Jericho threw her Psionic Reaper towards the Skyranger. Akira summoned it to her telekinetically and seized it in both hands. Chihiro, Akira, and I all raised our weapons and opened fire on the Assassin, shooting over Jericho’s shoulders as she ran up the boarding ramp!

“Take off!” Isis screamed! “Firebrand! Go! Go! Go!”

Below our feet, the Skyranger lurched into motion! At the same time, the boarding ramp began to retract! And at the very last moment, the Assassin drew her shotgun and took aim at the Skyranger!

“The Elders demand you and you alone, Jericho!” The Assassin yelled above the Skyranger’s engines. “They have no need for your so-called friends.”

“BLAKE! MOVE!”

Jericho shoved me, hard! I stumbled sideways and hit my head on the overhead handrail!

Thud!

I felt, rather than saw, the Gauss round speed past and hit the person next to me! Blood spattered my arm and the left side of my face before a fantastic white light filled the Skyranger and threatened to blind us all! Then I heard a near-animalistic roar of rage as Yutaka shouted!

“Don’t you dare! That’s my girlfriend you fucking wench!”

Yutaka shoved me out of the way and I fell over sideways, hitting a telekinetic shield and sliding down to the floor! Firing wildly from the hip, Yutaka laid on the trigger of his light machine gun, sending hundreds of rounds downrange! The Assassin was caught in a storm of bullets! With a strangled cry, she fell to her knees and then collapsed to the ground! Immediately, just like in Pyongyang, Psionic energy enveloped the body of the Assassin and transported her away, no doubt allowing the Assassin to survive what should have been her death for a second time.

Yutaka wasn’t finished! Screaming incoherently, he opened fire on the building where Chihiro had spotted the Chosen Hunter! On our left, there was a loud bang and a shower of sparks fell into the deployment bay with us! Madron was back on his feet and had just fired on the Skyranger! He must have hit something vital because the deployment ramp stopped retracting and fell all the way down into the open position.

It was the Hunter’s biggest mistake.

Yutaka dropped his machine gun to the floor. It slid across the metal plating as the Skyranger banked and turned hard, and after a second, it fell off the ramp and tumbled hundreds of feet to the ground! Yutaka didn’t care. He planted both feet on the floor and raised his left arm, pointing directly at the Hunter!

Yutaka’s wrist-mounted rocket launcher went off with the sound of a cannon! The rocket-propelled grenade crossed the expanse between Skyranger and Hunter in less than a millisecond and detonated right on target! The entire façade of the ruined skyscraper crumbled and collapsed! Madron lost his footing and fell, tumbling over three hundred feet before crashing into the ground and being buried by debris and wreckage. Just like his sister before him, the site where the Chosen Hunter had fallen was suddenly awash in brilliant white light which vanished as quickly as it had come. The pile of rubble on the ground collapsed a little, a sign that Madron’s body was no longer there. He, too, had survived.

The Skyranger’s engines screamed as we gained altitude and peeled away from the battlefield. Chihiro and Akira grabbed me by the arms and pulled me further inside the ship, then Akira used telekinesis to force the boarding ramp closed. It was only then that I noticed the bright purple light filling the small passenger area:

Jericho was slumped over inside of a semitransparent purple sphere, unconscious.

“What the hell is that!?” Isis asked. “Is it like those Stasis Spheres the ADVENT Priests use?”

“Worse.” Said Akira. “That’s a Sustaining Sphere. It cancels out any kind of traumatic injuries that would have been fatal. Jericho must have come within seconds of dying just now. Did anyone see what happened?”

I was suddenly hyperaware of the blood on my face. And of what Jericho had done.

“The Assassin.” I said. “Tried to shoot me. Jericho shoved me, and…”

“Oh, shit!” Isis gasped. “She’s been hit!”

Isis stepped around towards the other side of the Sustaining Sphere and saw what we had all missed. Jericho had been shot in the gut and was bleeding badly. Isis shouted into the cockpit:

“Firebrand! Get us to the Avenger as quick as you can! Call ahead and say we’ve got a medical emergency!”

“I already called them!” Wendy Carter shouted back. “Avenger’s in the air and they’re coming for us! We’ll meet’em halfway!”

“Medikits at the ready!” Akira yelled. “The Sphere’s about to break!”

Isis, Chihiro, Yutaka, and I all pulled Medikits and individual first-aid kits from our uniforms and made ready. Soylent and Matthew hung back, unable to do anything besides watch. Akira looked over our equipment while Jericho’s Sustaining Sphere flickered.

“Aw, come on!” Akira said. “You guys haven’t invented Nanomedicine yet!? I thought I fixed that part of the timeline!”

“Wait, what? What the fuck?” I said. “What’s nanomedicine?”

“Something you should already have.” Akira groaned. “Without it, Jericho won’t recover from this in time for the final fight.”

Akira furrowed her brow, thinking quickly. Finally, she looked up at me.

“Look, Dad. I know you don’t trust me.” She began. “But right now, I need you to listen to me. I have a way to help Jericho, but it involves taking her to my spaceship.”

I’m pretty sure I literally put my foot down, because everybody jumped!

“First of all, don’t call me that!” I snapped. “And second, if you really have your own ship, then nobody’s going near it until it’s secured by an XCOM squad!”

“Deal.” Akira said quickly. “Let’s call the Avenger and tell them were to find my ship. Another squad clears it, and then we put Jericho in the Hypervital Module.”

“What the hell’s a Hypervital Module!?”

At that moment, Jericho’s Sustaining Sphere broke! She collapsed to the floor and we all moved at once! Chihiro and I pulled Jericho’s pulverized armor apart, allowing Yutaka to pack the wound full of gauze. Isis put her drone into Medical Protocol and took over medical care for Jericho while the rest of us stepped back.

“It’s okay, Kate.” Isis called Jericho by her original name. “I’m right here. You’re going to be fine.”

“It hurts, everything hurts.” Jericho moaned. “Hurts to breathe.”

Piper the GREMLIN drone buzzed around Jericho and beeped shrilly.

“The bullet’s lodged in her right lung, just above the diaphragm.” Isis said. “Blake, her lung is deflating! If Akira’s got some future tech that can help, we really need it right now!”

I rolled my eyes, and with a groan, grabbed Akira by the shoulder.

“You’ve got a ship? Where the hell is it!?”

​

<== Previous Chapter (The AVATAR Project)

Next Chapter (Fallen Angel) ==>​

 

[HistoryDude]

So, the Resistance can be infiltrated by shapeshifters? That’s worrying.

Patient 116 sounds like Mira… but if that’s true, she can probably reached the Shroud, which might not be great...

Why is Akira being so helpful???

Whelp, welcome to the end of days, Stormbreakers. Welcome to the end of days...

 

[Macavity116]

Patient 116 sounds like Mira… but if that’s true, she can probably reached the Shroud, which might not be great...

Glad to see you haven't ruled out the Shroud. Its enigmatic inhabitants have one last role to play before this story ends...

Why is Akira being so helpful???

Your answer can be found all the way back in Faith in Chaos: Interlude #3. Akira has said that there are certain events in the timeline on Earth that she needs to change during the final year before the War in Heaven. (Roughly from June 2035 to September 2036) Now that Asalele has been destroyed, nobody was able to warn the Stormbreakers about the Paradox, granting her a wide amount of freedom to tamper with the events of this story without fear of repercussions.

Judging from what has happened in previous chapters, it's quite safe to assume that Akira's plan is to present herself as an friend/ally to Jericho and the Stormbreakers for as long as possible. Also, her helpfulness is a symptom of something else... as you'll see in next week's chapter, the Paradox has fully committed herself to the 116th Cycle in such a way that moving on to the next cycle is no longer an option for her.

 

[Macavity116]

Public Service Announcement regarding the upcoming Federations Expansion for Stellaris.

Today, Paradox Interactive announced that Stellaris: Federations will be released on March 17. I'm so excited!

I started posting The Stormbreakers back in November because I wanted Federations to be released before I started Act Three of this story. This is because the Stellaris half of The Stormbreakers involves screenshots, story, and gameplay elements from Federations. (The enemy side has two Juggernauts!) Now that I've gotten my wish, I'm eager to actually start working on Act Three of this story, a task that will involve sinking a few (dozen) hours into the new expansion.

So to that end, The Stormbreakers will be taking a weeklong hiatus immediately after Federations is released. I'll post two more chapters before the expansion drops, take a week off, and then we'll be right back to our normal schedule. Thanks for reading my story, as always!

 

[Macavity116]

<== Previous Chapter (Born in the Darkness)

Next Chapter (Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth) ==>​

Chapter 16
Fallen Angel

​

Saturday, July 14, 2035 – 5:45am
Ruins of Jilin City, Manchuria, East Asia

Twenty years ago, over four million people lived in the city of Jilin. Now it was a silent crumbling ruin. Even though the sun had just started to climb over the Eastern horizon, the city center was still in pitch darkness. Skyscrapers, abandoned for two decades, had crumbled into misshapen pillars of concrete and metal, giving the ruined city an eerie look. In the streets, cars and trucks were overgrown with plant life while small animals scurried between the wrecked buildings, keeping their eyes out for predators.

Out on the northern side of the city, wedged between two rocky ridgelines, was an old airport. The only evidence of any kind of air travel that remained were markings on the cracked pavement. The abandoned airplanes had been picked clean by scavengers long ago.

When the Avenger came in for a landing on the broken runway, the commandeered alien spacecraft kicked up a dust storm. Shrouded in clouds, the ship came to a rest and throttled down her engines. While we waited for the deployment ramp to lower, Chihiro and I spent a few extra moments in the infirmary with our comrades.

Jericho had been stabilized and was breathing on her own again, but for the moment, she was still bedridden. Doctor Tygan and Isis Dekker were both confident she’d make a recovery.

“Among the vast litany of genetic modifications Doctor Vahlen gave to Jericho,” Tygan explained. “Was an Adaptive Bone Marrow alteration, similar to the one used by Corporal Tachibana here. Jericho’s body is healing at speeds no unmodified Human could ever hope to achieve.”

“As long as she’s got good food and water,” Isis told us, “Jericho should be fully recovered and back on her feet in about three weeks. You gotta admit that’s impressive! Most people who get shot in the chest usually take a few months to heal up, and that’s with constant medical care.”

“Three weeks is too long. We need Jericho back in fighting shape now.”

Akira’s interruption caused the four of us to tense up. The time-traveler had just entered the infirmary, followed by Central Officer Bradford and Chief Engineer Shen. I couldn’t help but notice that Akira was looking quite annoyed, and the explanation was apparent: she now had an Arc Brace wrapped around her left ankle, the same as Jericho.

“Menace Squad just secured the hangar.” Bradford told us. “They found a spaceplane. Robinson, Tachibana, Dekker. I want you three to escort Miss Paradox into the hangar and help her remove this ‘Hypervital Module.’ Then report back to me, understood.”

“Yes sir.” I said.

…

Isis, Akira, Chihiro and I started walking across the ruined airport runway together just after the sun fully rose. Chihiro, Isis, and I were all armed with Laser Pistols and were keeping a close eye on Akira, although my wife had decided to holster her weapon.

“Alright, I gotta ask.” Chihiro said. “How did you get a spaceship? And where?”

Akira sighed in a way that said she’d been dreading this talk.

“It’s really complicated.” She explained. “Suffice to say its more than a spaceship; it’s my time machine. The Angel’s been how I moved around the timeline.”

“You ship is called the Angel?” I repeated. “Isn’t that a little on the nose?”

“Her full name is the Ark Angel.” Akira corrected me. “It’s not the spelling you’re thinking of, either. Two words: Alpha-romeo-kilo, alpha-november-golf-echo-lima. There was a translation error when the Japanese transferred the ship to XCOM’s control.”

“Japan to XCOM?” Isis said. “I’m lost. How did that happen?”

“After you guys overthrow ADVENT and the Old World governments come back,” Akira told us, “That Partogan fleet is going to show up and ask Earth to join in their war. The one I mentioned before, where the whole Galaxy is united against the Beast. Anyway, Japan built three spaceships and sent them into the war: the Hinomaru, the Hyuuga, and the Ark Angel. The third ship was built specifically for XCOM to use.”

“So, follow-up question.” Chihiro said. “Why did Japan give us one of these ships?”

“You cut a deal with their government.” Akira said casually.

It took us a second to notice Chihiro had stopped walking. She was staring at Akira, looking confused.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” Chihiro said, “But I kinda hate the people running Japan’s government. Like, really hate! Why would I want to talk to them for, like, anything?”

Akira looked at me.

“She ignored the message from Nakagawa?”

“How’d you know?”

“She does that every Cycle. Be patient. She’ll come around. Anyway, this is the place.”

We’d arrived at the hangar. All six soldiers of Menace Squad were standing outside of the main door, which was still closed. They looked worried. Jane Kelly, the Squad Leader, was having a hurried conversation with her deputy, a Polish guerrilla named Maciej Kowalski. Another Menace soldier, a black-skinned American named Andrea Baker, came over to greet us.

“I’m gonna be blunt.” Andrea said. “We’re not convinced that’s your ship in there, kid. That thing looks like it’s been-”

“Left to rot for the past couple of years?” Akira finished. “Yeah, that’s because it was. Besides, we don’t need the ship to move. We just need to pull the Hypervital Module out and put it in the Avenger.”

Watching Akira with a nervous eye, Andrea signaled her comrades to open the hangar’s main door. Slowly, and with much reluctant creaking and groaning of metal, the massive garage door slowly began to move upwards while the six members of Menace Squad wrestled with a twenty-year-old rope and pulley system. Finally, the door had retracted far enough for us to look inside of the hangar.

I have to admit, the sight before us was just a little heartbreaking.

This is not a picture of the JSDF Ark Angel. This is the Soviet space shuttle "Buran" which was abandoned and left to rot in a hangar for many years. This picture, taken shortly before the destruction of the Buran, shows the ship to be in roughly the same state of disrepair, neglect, and decay in which the Ark Angel was found.

There was an abandoned spaceplane inside of the hangar. I could tell it was a spaceplane right away because it had the same black and white ceramic tile exterior as the old American space shuttles. I could also tell that it was abandoned because… well…

“Oh my God! It’s a wreck!” Isis gasped.

She was right. At first glance, the spacecraft looked as though it had been through Hell. The ship itself was very badly battered. Every single window in the cockpit was blown out, the glass long gone. The nosecone had fallen off, revealing the wiring and piping within. As we stepped into the hangar and approached the wreck, we heard a loud crunching sound underfoot. Several hundred thermal protection tiles had fallen off the spaceplane and had deteriorated so badly that I could crush one to powder in my hands. The fuselage of the Ark Angel showed visible battle damage. Scorch marks formed rings around several punctures in the ship’s skin, and a chunk of the starboard wing seemed to be missing. Finally, around the rear of the plane, one of the engine bells had detached from its mounting and it was hanging from the ship, attached only by some twisted wire and pipes.

While the Ark Angel was already horribly damaged, the hangar itself had contributed to the destruction of the ship in one specific way:

The roof had collapsed.

If I had to guess, I’d say it had happened about a year ago. Half of the hangar’s roof had caved in and come crashing down on the spaceplane, causing all of its landing gear to collapse. Hundreds of pounds of debris and twisted metal was resting on the wings and upper fuselage of the spaceplane. The Ark Angel was lying on her belly and her back was broken. She would never fly again.

“Three years since I parked this thing.” Akira sighed.

“Why’d you just abandon it?” Chihiro asked.

“Honestly, I thought I was finally done with her.” Akira replied. “I’m so close to the end now. I’ve fixed everything in the past, and there’s only a few things I need to tweak before September next year, and they’re all on Earth. Truth is, the ship’s outlived its usefulness, or so I thought.”

Akira pointed towards the aft section of the ship.

“Hypervital Module’s in there. It’s a cargo bay. We can get in through here.”

Akira banged her hand on a part of the forward fuselage. A deep booming sound like a gong echoed through the ruined hangar while Akira grabbed a small handle and twisted it counter-clockwise. Pulling the hatch open, Akira stood aside and allowed us to go first.

The inside of the Ark Angel was just as badly ruined as the outside. Three years worth’s of weather, plants, and animals had destroyed anything that we might have considered useful. Computers were overgrown, paper documents reduced to mush, the walls covered in moss and mold.

“God, I almost feel like I need a gas mask in here.” I complained.

I bounced up and down on the balls of my feet for a moment, then added:

“The floor’s stable. Come on in.”

“It’s so cramped in here.” Chihiro commented. “How long did you live in this ship?”

“I stopped keeping track after a while.” Akira replied. “Let’s just say that time travel is… time consuming. Through this door.”

Akira led us into a section of the ship that had once been a kind of living space. The remains of a sleeping area had been taken over by wet green moss that made a dull squishing sound as we walked over it.

“This place looks like sleeping quarters for a crew.” Isis said. “Are there more people like you?”

“I used to have a crew.” Akira said. “There were nine of us. But we had a parting of the ways a long time ago. Now I’m alone. Come through here.”

Akira opened another doorway and all three of us gasped.

The next room was heavily reinforced, and had mostly survived the disaster that had claimed the rest of the ship. A large system of metal scaffolding was holding a very large cylindrical object in place, keeping it suspended in the middle of the room above the floor.

“What the hell is that?” I asked.

“The Time Core.” Akira answered. “That was how I jumped all over time. You can touch it if you like, it’s been dead for three years. It won’t hurt you.”

“Hold up.” I said. “You’re just letting this sit here!? Are you really not going to use this thing again?”

Akira sighed.

“Once you guys defeat the Beast, my mission’s over. And because I’ve changed so much of the past, there’s no chance in Hell I can ever get back to my ‘old life.’ Once this whole war is over… well… I’ll just be done.”

Akira crossed the Time Core chamber and started trying to open a door on the far side.

“I was planning to just spend the rest of my life in this era,” she said. “however long or short that ends up being. But first, I need to make sure you guys win against the Beast. Once that happens and the future is fixed, I can retire happy. Here we go.”

Akira opened the final door and stepped aside for us. As we approached the doorway, Isis stopped and said:

“Okay, time traveler. My turn to ask a question: How old are you?”

Chihiro and I both stopped in our tracks.

“Sergeant Dekker!” Chihiro whispered. “You don’t ask a young woman her age!”

Isis rolled her eyes.

“Tachibana, I know you didn’t age while you were in stasis, so you’re really just as old as me. Future tech makes it pretty easy to fudge your age. But you, Akira… you just said that you were ‘jumping around the past.’ When we took your DNA to do that paternity test a few months back, the computer came back and said it couldn’t figure out your age.”

Isis stamped her foot on the moss-covered floor.

“You just said you abandoned this ship three years ago! But to me, you look like you’re maybe seventeen or eighteen years old. I cannot, I will not believe that a teenager has been flying a spaceplane through time like you are. So, I’ll ask again: How old are you?”

Akira folded her arms and bit her lip.

“Honestly, I don’t know exactly how old I am.” She admitted. “I’ve been time traveling for a really long while. And your machine can’t figure out how old I am because of the Time Core.”

Akira pointed towards the device in the middle of the room.

“When the Time Core is running, it emits a kind of radiation that damages my telomeres.”

“Telomeres?” Chihiro repeated.

“It’s the part of a chromosome that governs the aging process.” Akira said. “Basically, I can still grow older, just really slowly. I had a fifteen-year-old body when I started time traveling, but I think it’s closer to nineteen these days.”

Akira shook her arms and started counting on her fingers.

“Anyway, let’s figure it out. On average, I spend between ten and fifteen years in each Cycle, and this is the one-hundred-sixteenth Cycle so… to answer your question, Dekker... I am...”

Akira counted on her fingers and bit her lounge as she did the math in her head.

“I’m somewhere between eleven-hundred and seventeen-hundred years old.”

My legs got really weak all of a sudden. Chihiro had to grip the wall to stop from falling over. Isis swooned.

“Wh-w-what the fuck!?” Chihiro gasped. “You’re over a thousand!?”

“Probably.” Akira said with a shrug. “Anyway, that’s what we’re looking for.”

She pointed into the final room. We had reached the cargo bay. This room had been directly underneath the portion of the hangar ceiling that had collapsed, and so the roof of the spaceplane had also been wrecked. The early morning daylight streamed into the cargo bay and illuminated a small tree that was growing up through a crack in the wall. Akira placed her hand on a moss-covered box that was slightly larger than your average adult-sized coffin.

“This is the Hypervital Module.” She said. “I’ve got an adapter in here somewhere that’ll let you interface it with the Avenger’s infirmary computer. Gimme a second.”

While Akira used telekinesis to sift through the detritus around her, Isis, Chihiro, and I huddled up for a quick talk.

“Blake, you actually saw inside her head.” Chihiro said. “How much of that stuff about her age is true?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, I think it’s all true.” I said. “A lot of that stuff I saw in her mind was pretty clearly from other points in time, and some of the stuff she did would have taken a lot of time to set up. If she says she’s over a thousand years old, then I’ve gotta believe her.”

“Any idea why she’s so dead-set on helping us?” Isis asked. “Why’s it so important that we fight some Beast for her?”

“None at all.” I sighed. “Best answer I can give is that we should just wait and see.”

“Got the adapter!” Akira called out. “Hey Mom, you and I can probably get this out of here ourselves. I’ll lift it, and you push.”

Isis and I stood back and watched as Chihiro and Akira used their Gift in tandem. Using telekinesis, Chihiro and Akira lifted the Hypervital Module into the air and started guiding it out the way they’d come.

Leaving the wreck of the Ark Angel behind, Chihiro and Akira started the walk back towards the Avenger, keeping the Hypervital Module levitated between them while Isis and I brought up the rear. At the bottom of the ramp, a dozen XCOM soldiers and Resistance fighters looked over our shoulders at the wrecked spaceplane with expressions of awe and wonder. That made me think of something.

“Hey Akira. Aren’t you worried about someone coming for your ship? Scrappers or ADVENT, maybe?”

“Not really.” Akira answered. “The ADVENT Coalition doesn’t have the tech to reverse-engineer the Time Core, and there’s nothing of value left on board. Also, the nuclear reactor doesn’t work anymore, so it’s not like anybody’s going to steal the Angel. And besides…”

Akira gestured toward the ruins of the city.

“Jilin is going to be wiped off the face of the Earth during the War in Heaven, along with most of northern China. The Ark Angel will go with it.”

Isis and I raised our eyebrows together.

“Is that really what the battle’s going to be called?”

“The War in Heaven? Yeah. It’s an appropriate name for the day history ends.”

…

Saturday, July 14, 2035 – 8:30pm


It took Chief Shen and Doctor Tygan all day to install the Hypervital Module in the Avenger’s infirmary. While we waited, our entire squad stayed by Jericho’s bed and had ourselves a little reunion. Isis and Odette monitored Jericho’s vital signs while Yutaka held her hand. Sophia and Akira sat together on an unused medical bed and watched quietly while Chihiro, Ignatius, and I brought Soylent and Matthew up to speed on everything they had missed while in captivity. Needless to say, their minds were blown.

“So that Sheila over there is your girl from the future?” Soylent said, pointing his thumb at Akira. “Mate, I gotta say, it’s a little scary how much she took after Tachibana. If you hadn’t said anything, I’d have thought they were sisters.”

“The Elders are dying off, and they’ve created their own breed of Hybrid beings?” Matthew thought out loud. “There’s got to be a connection there. Perhaps the Elders are going to transfer their minds into these Avatars, turn them into… like… host bodies or something like that.”

“When I was a kid, I’d have thought all of this was impossible.” Sophia sighed. “But the world is full of surprises. The whole universe, actually.”

Jericho tried to laugh, but just ended up coughing instead. She rubbed one hand over the dense patchwork of bandages wrapped around her chest and said:

“I’m starting to think ‘surprise’ is the perfect word for all of this. I feel like I’ve just been winging it for the past couple days.”

“Whaddaya mean by that?” Soylent asked. “Last time I saw ya, you knew more about the future than Robinson’s new kid.”

Akira scoffed. Jericho looked uncomfortable.

“Well, that’s just it.” Jericho said. “I thought I knew what was going to happen. Mira left behind a database chalk-full of stuff about the future. It had everything about you guys in it, too. It was kinda like I had the scripts for the rest of our lives, and I thought I was ready for everything… but then things started changing. Sophia didn’t confront her dad in Nevada, Blake and Chihiro got married three months too early, and then…”

Jericho trailed off. Something was clearly bothering her far more than she was letting on.

“The Chosen Assassin.” She finished. “The Assassin is nothing like her bio says. She talks and acts completely differently from what I was expecting. I can’t predict her, so…”

Jericho gestured to her gunshot wound.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen, and we were never supposed to come to Jilin. We’re so far off the timeline now that I don’t know what to do anymore.”

Jericho sniffed. I got the sense that she was about to cry, but then Akira stood up and got our attention.

“Don’t stress yourself about that damn database.” Akira said. “I’m pretty sure most of that stuff is on me. A lot of those changes I made to history are having an effect on our present. Unless Mira wrote a chapter in there about me, you’d have no way of knowing what I was doing.”

“And don’t forget!” Chihiro added. “Akira did say she altered the past for our sake. All of these changes are to help us!”

I rolled my eyes and sighed with disbelief.

“Chi, how on Earth does getting shot in the chest help Jericho!?”

“Uhh…” Chihiro’s mouth hung open as she searched vainly for an answer. Ignatius pinched the bridge of his nose and shook with silent laughter.

“In this case, it doesn’t.” Akira said. “That whole ambush in Shenyang was a nightmare scenario that neither of us saw coming. Now we have to waste Jericho’s Hypervitalization on something that honestly shouldn’t have happened.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘waste?’” Matthew asked. “I thought this was some advanced future tech.”

“No, it’s not.” Akira said. “The Hypervital Module is something XCOM invented in a previous Cycle.”

“You mean ‘Alternate Timeline’ right?” Isis asked.

“Again, no.” Akira replied. “Anyway, that Hypervital Module in my ship, I took it from you guys after the war ended in another Cycle. I brought it with me in case my crew needed an emergency healing. We only used it twice, thank goodness. But there’s a big catch: the Hypervitalization process will return you to perfect health almost instantly, but you can only use it once. After that, your immune system recognizes the Carbon-Elerium compound the Module uses and attacks it. You basically become immune to the treatment for the rest of your life.”

“Oh,” Sophia muttered. “So, we need to be really careful about where and when we use this thing, huh?”

“It could be the difference between a future victory or defeat.” Ignatius finished.

We all looked at Jericho nervously. She could only go through the Hypervital Module once. After this, if she was gravely wounded again, we’d have to let nature take its course. A few tense moments ticked by before Soylent broke the silence.

“It’s settled then. Jericho: next time some bloke pulls a gun on ya… Duck!”

This time, we all burst out laughing. When Doctor Tygan and Chief Shen came to see us, they had to wait for the collective hysterics to die down before announcing that the Hypervital Module was ready for Jericho.

The Hypervital Module is installed in the Avenger's infirmary. Jericho would be the first soldier to pass through this system, but she would not be the last.

On the far side of the infirmary, two familiar faces helped us lift Jericho into the Hypervital Module. North Korean guerrillas Lee Chong-Il and Song Soo each lifted one side of Jericho’s body, supporting her as she stood upright and then walked into the coffin-sized box. With much hissing of hydraulics, the Hypervital Module rotated backwards until it had turned ninety degrees, allowing Jericho to rest on her back. On Akira’s instructions, no fewer than fifteen IV lines were inserted in Jericho’s arms, legs, and neck. Finally, Akira stepped over to the dental health section of the infirmary, recovered a plastic mouth-guard, and returned.

“This machine is designed to heal you,” Akira said, “But the process isn’t pretty or comfortable. In fact, one of my old crew said that it was the most painful experience of his entire life, even worse than the injury that put him in the Hypervital Module in the first place.”

For just the quickest moment, I swear I saw Akira’s eyes dart towards Lee Chong-Il before looking back down at her comrade. Jericho herself hadn’t noticed. She was busy securing her mouth-guard. Then she flashed the thumbs-up at Chong-Il and he slowly closed the lid of the module. Doctor Tygan stepped up, carrying a syringe full of a nauseatingly-green liquid.

“Standby for the first Carbon-Elerium injection.” Tygan said. “Lieutenant Robinson, you and your squad might want to wait someplace else. Miss Robinson should stay here. You are a subject matter expert today, after all.”

…

The Stormbreaker squad cleared out of the infirmary and parted ways with my instructions to meet back here in an hour. Soylent, Matthew, Yutaka, Isis, and Odette all went straight to the bar, looking for drinks. Sophia disappeared down a dark corridor by herself. Ignatius went up to the bridge, saying he wanted to speak to the Commander. Chihiro and I walked down the boarding ramp, stepped onto the airport runway and looked up.

We were both looking for the same thing. Ever since the Battle of Saturn, Chihiro and I had both been keeping a watchful eye on the night sky, observing the Partogan fleet as it drew closer and closer to Earth. Tonight, however, was a special night. We’d known it was coming for a while, but the sight that met our eyes was nonetheless breathtaking.

Akira and Jericho had both been talking about this for days. Since they were both involved in some form of time travel, either directly or indirectly, we took their statements about the fleet seriously. According to Akira and Jericho, the Partogan fleet would make one final stop before their final push towards Earth. They were waiting for a convoy of transport ships to catch up with the main body of the fleet before moving on.

“Once the fleet starts moving again…” Akira had said. “That’ll be the start of the final countdown. It’ll take them two days to reach us from the Moon.”

Standing there on that cracked runway, Chihiro and I were both lost for words at the sight above us. The Half Moon had been two days ago, so we had no difficulty finding it tonight, nor did we have any trouble spotting the thing we were looking for.

“I can see it!” Chihiro breathed. “No binoculars, no telescope! I can see the fleet!”

The Partogan fleet was just above the Moon.

We stared, transfixed. Then I scrambled for my binoculars. I had to know.

“Well!?” Chihiro demanded. “What do you see!?

I peered towards the flickering lights. Keeping the Lunar horizon in my sight, I used it as a reference and began scanning the Partogan warships. It only took half a minute for me to see the obvious truth.

“Chi… they’re moving.”

Chihiro let out a frightened squeak.

“So, this is it, then.” She said. “We’ve got two days until they get here.”

“Two days.” I breathed. “That’s incredible.”

“How far away is the moon, anyway?” Chihiro asked.

“About a quarter-million miles.” I said. “It took the Apollo astronauts almost three days to get back from the Moon.”

“God. Those aliens must be hauling ass to get to us.”

“Let’s hope these Partogans make a better first impression on Humanity than the so-called ‘Elders’ did.” I commented. “Speaking of first impressions…”

Chihiro finished my sentence:

“Yamamoto and Jericho. They’re together.”

We both folded our armed and gave one another looks of mixed disgust and anger.

“How the hell have we not talked about this yet!?”

“Yamamoto’s got his own Mindshield, and Jericho doesn’t let her guard down easy. That stunt he pulled on the Skyranger yesterday was how I found out!”

“How long do you think?”

“Can’t be more than two weeks. That’s when Jericho started giving off a lot more positive energy than usual.”

“Is that a Psionics thing?”

“No, Blake, you idiot! It’s a girl thing! We can tell.”

Chihiro and I both gave long exasperated sighs.

“So… it’s weird, right?” She said. “I’m not the only one thinking that?”

“Oh, it’s more than weird.” I said quickly. “Downright creepy! He’s almost thirty years older than Jericho!”

Chihiro retched.

“Blake, we gotta stop this before he does something awful!” She said. “You know what Yutaka’s like! You remember what he did to me in Hiroshima!?”

Chihiro tilted her head so that I could see the narrow scar on her neck, a painful reminder of the day Yutaka had tried to murder Chihiro. I could also see the jagged hairline on the left side of her head, where Yutaka’s “friends” had used a bayonet to cut off one of Chihiro’s pigtails. Shuddering, I knew I didn’t need the reminder.

“Chi, you know me.” I said. “I don’t need an excuse to cave in Yamamoto’s skull… but it’s nice to finally have a good one.”

…

Jericho was out of the Hypervital Module by the time we boarded the Avenger again. She was up on her feet, walking around as though she’d never been shot. Smoke curled up from the Hypervital Module itself as though it had just overheated. Unfortunately, Yutaka Yamamoto was also here, standing directly between Jericho and myself. To make matters worse, he was already talking to someone else: Commander Harper and Central Officer Bradford.

Before I could get close enough to tap the Commander on the shoulder, Jericho spotted us approaching and said loudly:

“Oh, there he is now!”

Commander Harper, Bradford, and Yamamoto all turned to face me. There was a smile on Yamamoto’s face that I really, really didn’t like.

“Good, Robinson, you’re here.” Said Commander Harper. “I just needed to speak with you.”

“Me too, ma’am.” I said.

Harper held up a hand to silence me.

“I was just briefing your squadmates.” The Commander said. “There’s been a serious development in the situation and we need to move quickly. Jericho and Miss Robinson have given us actionable Intel about the alien fleet coming towards Earth. We’re going to try and establish communications with them tomorrow.”

“Unfortunately, the Avenger’s antenna isn’t powerful enough to talk to someone a quarter-million miles away.” Bradford said.

“I told the Commander that we can hijack the ADVENT Army’s regional communications station.” Jericho chimed in. “They have an antenna on top of Shanghai Tower which is powerful enough to talk to the Partogan fleet.”

I tried to cut in,

“Commander, I need-”

“Later, Robinson.” Harper interrupted. “This is important: Tomorrow morning, the Stormbreakers will assault Shanghai Tower and seize control of the radio station. Akira and I have already briefed a communications specialist who will make first contact with the Partogans. I need you to keep her alive and make sure she completes her mission.”

“Commander, I-”

Harper cut me off.

“Captain Green and Lieutenant Hawkins have been certified as combat-ready by Doctor Tygan, so I’ve decided to explore the idea you and I discussed after Pyongyang.”

“But Commander…” Chihiro tried to talk.

“Quiet, Corporal!” Bradford snapped. Chihiro fell silent.

“For tomorrow’s operation, the Stormbreakers will be broken up into two separate groups that will act as independent squads." Commander Harper said. “You will be the leader of Blue Team, and Captain Yamamoto will lead the Red Team. You’ll receive greater details about the mission once you’re aboard the Skyranger.”

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Commander Harper had just dropped a bombshell on me and I was too stunned to speak. Bradford produced a clipboard, looked over his notes, and said:

“Robinson, your team will consist of Tachibana, Hawkins, Green, Fournier, and your daughter. Yamamoto, your team will have Kuznetsova, Dekker, Macintosh, Petoskey, and Jericho.”

“Sounds perfect!” Yutaka said.

“Wait!” I said loudly, “Why’s Jericho with Yutaka!?”

“Jericho told me that Captain Yamamoto here went to great lengths to save her life in Shenyang yesterday.” Harper replied. “She’s told me that she feels quite comfortable working with him.”

“Commander, wait!” I tried to speak up, but Harper silenced me again.

“Lieutenant, we need to get the ball rolling on this operation right away. You’ll be going into battle at the same moment Operation Crack the Sky gets started. I want you to gather up your soldiers and go to the armory. You’re going to be assaulting an enemy-occupied civilian building in the middle of a city center, so dress for urban warfare and nix the explosives. Once you’re geared up, head to the Skyranger. Carter’s already spooling up the engines, so wheel’s up in forty-five minutes! Am I clear?”

Sensing this would be my last chance to save Jericho from Yutaka, I tried one last time:

“Commander, I need to tell you-”

“I already know.” Harper said in a stern voice. “Get your soldiers. Get your gear. Wheels up in forty-five. Understood?”

I was at the end of my rope. There was nothing more I could do here. Reluctantly, I snapped to attention and said:

“Yes, ma’am. Right away, ma’am.”

I grabbed Chihiro by the arm and pulled her out of the infirmary. She seemed to be in a state of shock. Just before the door closed behind us, a Psionic charge ran up Chihiro’s arm and into my body! Jericho’s voice echoed quietly in both of our minds:

Don’t worry about me, guys. We’re getting back on-script.

…

Matthew, Soylent, Odette, and Akira got to the armory at the same time as Chihiro and I. While we donned armor and picked out weapons, Akira gave us the briefing:

“Here’s the situation. The Partogan fleet that fought ADVENT over Saturn is close enough that we can try to talk to them now. We’re going to hijack an enemy broadcast tower in Shanghai and tightbeam a message to them, asking for help to overthrow ADVENT.”

“Two questions.” Soylent said. “First where’s this tower? Second, how the hell are we gonna talk to these aliens? It’s not like they speak English.”

“The radio station is on the one-hundred-twenty-seventh floor of Shanghai Tower. Firebrand will drop us on the roof and we’ll work our way down.”

Soylent balked.

“Oh, God. What is it with you people and heights!?”

“Seriously, though;” Matthew added, “How are we going to talk to these Partogan aliens?”

Akira sighed and stopped zipping up her new Hawaiian National Army uniform. (a duplicate she’d gotten from Jericho) She looked like she couldn’t find the right words.

“It’s kinda complicated, but XCOM already has a soldier who can speak their language.”

“Wait…” I said. “How the hell do we have someone that speaks Partogan!? We’ve never met these aliens!”

“Like I said, it’s freakin’ complicated.” Akira replied. “So complicated that last Cycle the truth caused a couple of you to have nervous breakdowns. Looking at you, Matt and Sophia.”

“This time-travel bullshit is really starting to get on my nerves.” Matthew grumbled. “Can’t we just beat the truth out of her, Robinson?”

“I’ve thought about it.” I said, “But the Commander thinks Akira’s being genuinely helpful, so just put up with her.”

Turning back to Akira, I added:

“So, who the hell is our Partogan-speaking soldier, anyway?”

…

I already had trouble trusting Akira before. But when I met her go-to translator, I really started to worry.

Private Sarah Harris was an eighteen-year-old guerrilla from New Zealand, but the term “guerrilla” was really pushing it. This young woman had clearly never seen a day of combat in her life and almost certainly had no formal training. When our squad stepped into the Skyranger Bay to meet her, Sarah was sitting cross-legged on the floor, holding a pistol in front of her and staring down the barrel as though she’d lost something in there.

“Oh, God in Heaven, help us all.” Matthew breathed.

Odette snatched the pistol away from Sarah, who looked up and went pale at the sight of us.

“Uh, hi!” Sarah quickly stood up and spoke, losing confidence with each word: “My name’s Private Harris, I’m from the New Zealand Resistance. They said you needed a Maori translator… in China… where there aren’t any Maori… uh… um… do you know what’s going on?”

“Lieutenant, is it too late to find another translator?” Matthew asked me.

“Do you know where to find another Maori-speaker in northern China?” I said. “We gotta play the hand we’re dealt. Everyone mount up! We’re oscar mike!”

​

The blue half of the Stormbreaker squad gears up and prepares to depart for their upcoming mission in Shanghai.

Left to right: Matthew Hawkins, Soylent Green, Akira Robinson, Chihiro Tachibana, Blake Robinson, Jericho.

Additional note: Akira is wearing her mother's armor. (It's old, beaten up, and painted over, but it is in fact the same suit of armor.

<== Previous Chapter (Born in the Darkness)

Next Chapter (Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth) ==>​

 

[HistoryDude]

Why can’t the Time Core be reused?

Does Paradox know Mira survived?

If Paradox really is just going to live her life, why did she need to get her teammates killed?

About Paradox’s age, she’s 115 Cycles old. Assuming each Cycle is about the length of time the universe has existed (13.8 billion years), Paradox would objectively be approximately 1.587 trillion years old....

Will Paradox ever tell them about why the Partogans speak Maori?

How does the info the Levakians on Asalele knowing about Paradox’s actions make the Stormbreakers on Earth, a planet with no extraterrestrial communication outside of ADVENT, mistrust Paradox?

 

[Macavity116]

Why can’t the Time Core be reused?

The Time Core could have been reused, but Akira is so confident that she's finally reached doorstep of the "Perfect Future" that she's just not willing to use it anymore and is ready to allow its destruction.

Does Paradox know Mira survived?

Akira heard Jericho's explanation about Mira's disappearance into a Gene Therapy Clinic when she first crossed paths with her. (Before the events of Chapter 2) Akira was quite surprised to learn that Mira had managed to survive all the way to 2030, but because of what Jericho said, Akira now believes that Mira was flagged for the AVATAR Project and processed at a Blacksite. Due to the discovery of the true nature of the AVATAR Project, fewer and fewer characters are holding out hope for Mira's survival. While Jericho is wholly convinced her adoptive mother is still alive, she's pretty much alone in that belief.

There is simply too much evidence suggesting Mira Mihaka is dead; having perished in either in the Shenyang Clinic or a nearby Blacksite.

If Paradox really is just going to live her life, why did she need to get her teammates killed?

Near the end of her mission, Akira began to see them as a liability. Allowing the team to operate in places she can't see or control them had way too much risk during the final stages of the mission. Akira decided to finish building the Perfect Future by herself so that nobody had the chance to screw it up. She is also highly aware of the fact that Queen Kendra the Great is still alive, and that Kendra will almost certainly be hostile towards anyone known to be harboring the Paradox. Therefore, Akira is trying to keep her footprint in 2035 as small as possible, to avoid starting a last-second fight between herself and Kendra's grandchildren, the Ranginui Twins.

And don't forget, Akira intentionally faked her own defeat and death in Faith in Chaos. Throwing her team away allowed Akira to kill two birds with one stone: She got rid of a large liability she no longer wanted to have, and she also made the illusion of her own defeat that much more convincing, because the Partogans had the bodies to prove they'd dismantled a "time travel conspiracy."

Will Paradox ever tell them about why the Partogans speak Maori?

Akira is comfortable with XCOM and the Triple Alliance figuring it out on their own. See Chapter 19: Te reo Māori for more.

How does the info the Levakians on Asalele knowing about Paradox’s actions make the Stormbreakers on Earth, a planet with no extraterrestrial communication outside of ADVENT, mistrust Paradox?

Akira had nearly always antagonized the Gifted Levakians, so they didn't think of her as much more than a malevolent and destructive force. If given the chance, Kaiako's successors would have transmitted a warning to Earth that depicted Akira as a malevolent force and a genuine threat that couldn't be reasoned with.

In previous Cycles, the Gifted Lions of Asalele were able to track Akira to Earth and detect her activity during the 1962 Zudjari Invasion. This prompted the warning message that caused the Stormbreakers to become hostile towards Akira. Now that Asalele has been destroyed, the burden of warning Blake and his team about Akira has fallen onto Manako and Makara Ranginui... two Partogans who are likely to attack Akira on sight due to their familial history with her.

If/when the Triple Alliance learns that XCOM has allied with the Paradox, it'll create tensions between them... possibly even hostilities... especially with the grandchildren of Queen Kendra the Great.

About Paradox’s age, she’s 115 Cycles old. Assuming each Cycle is about the length of time the universe has existed (13.8 billion years), Paradox would objectively be approximately 1.587 trillion years old....

I'm trying to imagine that many candles on a massive cake. I think the cake itself might catch fire.