The Stormbreakers

by Macavity116

Summary:

When a team of XCOM soldiers crosses paths with a powerful young Psychic who claims to know the future, they are thrown into a confusing battle where new allies and new enemies clash over the fate of the entire Galaxy.

Chapter 1: Children of the Gods

 

Prologue

Children of the Gods

 

Dappled sunlight filtered gently into the temple chamber through the ceiling, which was as clear as glass yet solid as steel. Over one mile of ocean water lay above this sanctified room. Schools of fish flitted past the undersea structure, keeping their eyes on it as though they expected it to grow teeth and attack.

The temple chamber itself was ornate and beautiful. Images of tall beings, clothed in magnificent robes and helmets, were carved from gold and towered over the room. A constellation of symbols and hieroglyphs were carved into the floor, dividing the room into four equal quadrants and drawing the eye towards the central shrine. The room had only one exit: a pressurized airlock that led deeper into the colossal undersea complex.

With a series of clicks and hisses, the airlock door opened and allowed a tall slender being to enter. He was humanlike in appearance, but on closer inspection, it was plainly obvious that this… thing had not been Human for a very long time.

Gur-Mon Madron wore subtle, muted colors that made him difficult to spot from across the room. His eyes glowed with fantastic purple light, but were impossible to see from anywhere other than directly in front of him owing to the hood he always wore. Madron had barely taken two steps into the temple chamber before stopping in his tracks. He wasn’t called the Elder’s Chosen Hunter for nothing. He could sense another presence in the room.

Slowly… quietly… Madron reached up and unshouldered his hunting rifle. The Darklance was the finest, most accurate, and most powerful firearm that had ever seen service in the Second Hyperspace War. Only one existed in the entire Galaxy, and now the Chosen Hunter aimed this lethally accurate weapon into a darkened corner of the room where the shadow of a gold statue was hiding someone.

Looking down the sights and into the scope, Madron mused to himself:

“It would be so easy…”

Lazily, without any real thought going into it, Madron’s finger began to slip inside the trigger well.

Two pinpricks of purple light flickered in the shadows, then went out. Suddenly, Madron felt a strong tugging sensation on his back! His weapon fell to his side as two irresistible forces clamped down on his arms like a vice! Then Madron heard a soft hissing noise as his attacker became visible once more.

The Elder’s Chosen Assassin could have killed Madron in that moment. Having grabbed him from behind, she had pressed her Katana into his chest with one hand while holding the little Shoto Blade to his throat with the other. Madron turned his head, gave the Assassin a look he knew would make her angry and said:

“Good to see you, sister.”

The Chosen Assassin bared her teeth at Madron and hissed.

She wanted to kill him.

He wanted to kill her.

But before either of the Chosen could do or say anything else, a deep booming voice filled the whole chamber, causing the Assassin and the Hunter to let go of each other.

“Miscreants.”

The voice of Kon-Mon Dessurik, the Elder’s Chosen Warlock, rolled across the temple like an approaching thunderstorm. Each of his footfalls made the floor tremble, and the air around him shimmered as raw Psionic energy radiated away from his massive body.

“Restrain yourselves.” Dessurik commanded. “Lest you be restrained.”

Reflexively, Madron took a step back from the Assassin and raised his Darklance, taking aim at the Warlock and putting one finger on the trigger. This time, the Assassin stepped directly into the line of fire and put one hand on the barrel of the rifle, forcing Madron to lower it.

“No!” she spoke in a raspy, strangled whisper. “The three of us… called upon together? Something has changed.”

She cast a look at the Warlock.

“On that we are agreed.” Dessurik replied. “The battlefield has shifted. Our masters have need of us once more.”

The Chosen Hunter scoffed.

 “Sounds to me like they’re afraid.”

This was the wrong thing to say. Something seemed to snap within the Chosen Warlock. Dessurik clenched both of his fists and bright purple Soulfire ignited in his palms! Pointing one burning finger at Madron, Dessurik shouted:

“You DARE defile this place with your wretched tongue!?"

With a mischievous smirk, the Hunter answered:

“Oh, I dare…”

The conversation was over.

The Warlock began to charge a powerful Psionic attack, his whole body enveloped in flickering Soulfire.

The Hunter took aim with his Darklance, putting the crosshair right between the Warlock’s eyes.

The Assassin crouched low and began to draw her Katana, aiming to strike at the Hunter’s trigger-hand.

Before the fight could start, the Chosen were interrupted! A pillar of brilliant violet light shot up from the shrine in the center of the temple, scattering through the transparent ceiling before being diffused by the seawater above. All three of the Chosen stopped preparing to attack, disarmed themselves, and fell to their knees in reverence while the image of an Ethereal began to resolve itself. Hovering in the air above the shrine, it looked down upon the three warriors.

“Our children…” The Angelis Ethereal spoke in a motherly tone, sounding almost kind and friendly. “Each of you possess our strength, each of you possess our wisdom. Of all our creations, you are truly blessed.”

The three Chosen smiled inwardly to themselves. The Angelis Ethereal continued:

“Your charge was a simple one: The subjugation of all those who would see our grand design falter. We have been pleased… until now.”

Those inner smiles turned to much more horrified expressions. The Angelis Ethereal’s voice became a little cold:

“The New One has returned to the battlefield, many years after we thought it to have been lost at the hands of our strongest. We are disappointed."

The Assassin tried to hide her ignorance.

The Warlock tried to hide his embarrassment.

The Hunter tried to hide his contempt. He failed.

“Thought you were the strongest.” Madron mumbled under his breath.

The floating image of the Angelis Ethereal suddenly became a lot less angelic. Its fury and rage became known at once! A column of Psionic energy descended from above and struck the Hunter! Wracked with intense pain, Madron hunched over while Dessurik smirked in a satisfied way. The Angelis Ethereal admonished the Hunter a terrifying voice:

“Arrogance! Defiance! You have walked among the Humans for too long! You have been corrupted. You can be reclaimed.”

Just as quickly as the bombardment had started, it stopped. Allowed to raise his head at last, Madron saw the Angelis Ethereal revert to a less-demonic form. In an almost sweet voice, it said:

“Yet perhaps, you may also be redeemed. Perhaps you all may be redeemed… A greater battle still lies ahead…”

Psionic energy washed over the temple and swirled around the three Chosen. Their minds were filled with images from the Second Hyperspace War… memories of all that had come before, all that had been lost:

The Warlock witnessed the Blorg Homeworld succumbing to the Beast, turning a sickly black and red color. In the orbit above, Blorg warships turned against one another as the biomechanical virus began to spread across the fleet.

The Hunter saw the Taiidani attempting to unleash a superweapon against the Beast, only for the creature to subvert the weapon and turn it against its masters. A whole armada, thousands of people, wiped out by the thing that was supposed to be their savior.

The Assassin saw a Partogan Hyperspace Gate being attacked and bombarded by Partogan warships while an endless stream of infected starships poured out of the gate. As the gate itself is demolished, a handful of infected ships run the blockade and escape into Hyperspace.

All three of the Chosen saw a vast armada of warships assemble in the Alpha Centauri star system, massing into a colossal combined fleet, then depart as one. Partogan, Levakian, Assurian, Micore, Kelt, Vanian, and Amadii warships all flew in formation together, united by their common destination… Earth.

The visions faded, but the dark implications were burned into the minds of the Chosen.

“Our time on this world draws to a close.” The Angelis Ethereal said, “Yet we need not abandon it completely at our departure, for one among you is surely ready to claim this world as their own. One among you is worthy.”

The Chosen began to shoot suspicious glances at one another, sizing each other up.

The Angelis Ethereal resumed its terrifying voice and appearance, all the better to make its will perfectly clear:

“Bring the New One to us. Crush all who would stand in your way. To the one that succeeds: our everlasting favor! To the others…”

The silence was the only explanation the Chosen needed. They looked up at the Angelis Ethereal and nodded their understanding.

“You are the Chosen! Do not fail us. Now GO!”          

Chapter 2: The Hero of Another Story

ACT ONE: ALL THAT REMAINS

 

Chapter One

The Hero of Another Story

 

 

My girlfriend spent her twentieth birthday saving my life.

I’ve heard people say that the first words of a story are the most important. They grab the reader and pull them in, and that it’s a waste of time to describe things like the weather or the color of the grass and so on. It might bore people. I don’t wanna do that. I’ve got a really big story to tell. It’s about the end of… well, not the world, but the end of life, the Universe… everything, really. It’s the end of history itself. That’s the story I want to tell.

A long time ago, I was a hero in my own right… but my story ended a while ago. I’m here to tell about Jericho. I was alive at the same time as Jericho, I knew her real name; fought by her side in a lot of battles. I was right next to Jericho during her highest and lowest moments… but I never knew… I never could have predicted... how her story was going to end. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m writing this… so that somebody out there knows who Jericho was, what she did, and why she did it.

So, my story might have ended a long time ago, but you need to know the basics of what happened to me if you’re going to understand the role I played in Jericho’s life. Let me explain:

My name is Blake. Blake Alexander Robinson. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve probably read about me in a history book. See, my father was J.D. Robinson. Yes! You read that right! THE J.D. Robinson: 6th President of the United States. He’s the guy who won the Presidential Election despite winning the popular vote in only eleven out of fifty states.

God, I hated living in the White House. If you ever look at those pictures of the Inauguration Ceremony, you can see me and my sister Jackie sulking next to the podium. Anyway, things weren’t bad for that long. I made friends with a Secret Service agent named Kathleen Walsh, and the two of us still have a good relationship to this day. But other than hanging out with Agent Walsh, I hated life in Washington for the first few months. All my dad cared about was stopping some kind of “border crisis” in Asia from spinning out of control and turning into a war.

Then there was the big state dinner about a few months after the Inauguration. Dad signed some kind of treaty that made an alliance between America and Japan. It was supposed to prevent a huge war between Japan and the Soviet Union, and we celebrated by inviting about 200 important Japanese people over to the White House for a state dinner. That’s where I met the girl I’m going to marry soon. Back then, her name was Princess Asami Yamato. She was a member of the Japanese Imperial Family. I never found out how she was related to the Emperor, but I heard Asami call him “Uncle” a few times, so they were definitely blood relatives.

Princess Asami was the only person who believed me when I said there was a ghost haunting the White House. She was so interested that we both snuck out of the state dinner and we set up a stakeout in the Lincoln bedroom, trying to catch the ghost. Agent Walsh caught us and raised hell about the whole thing. Lucky for us, both of our families were really anxious to make the America-Japan friendship as real as possible, so they allowed Asami and I to have a long-distance relationship under close supervision. Princess Asami was the most valuable person in my life. She made my first two years in the White House worthwhile.

About a year after I met Asami, I made my first footprint in history. Again, if you’ve ever read an American history book, you know what I’m going to say: I saw Vice President MacDonald taking a bribe from a lobbyist. I didn’t understand what I saw because I was just an idiotic preteen at the time. I called a news reporter who I was on a first-name basis with and asked them to explain to me what I saw.

The investigation happened so quickly that no one ever tied the discovery back to me. Turns out Vice President MacDonald was selling his tiebreaking Senate vote to the highest bidder. That’s called “Corruption.” After word got out, Vice President MacDonald was impeached and removed from office. It was a whole big thing, and I don’t wanna go into it again.

The important thing is that a couple of months after the Impeachment trial, the Soviet Union invaded Japan.

It was the war my dad had been trying to prevent ever since the first day of his Presidency. The Russians overran Hokkaido Island and tried to consolidate their gains, but there was a rouge general named Sidrov who wanted to turn all of Japan into some kind of communist puppet state. We didn’t find out about this until afterward, but General Sidrov violated orders when he invaded Honshu Island itself with his Red Army. He was going for Tokyo, so Princess Asami and her family ran away and hid.

I was so scared for my girlfriend; I’d have nightmares about what might happen if the Russians caught her. I wasn’t allowed in the White House Situation Room, so I had some aides transform my bedroom into my own personal war room. Maps on the wall everywhere, and a special hotline that I could use to talk to Princess Asami whenever I wanted. We kept this going for years while the Soviet Invasion of Japan got bogged down in a stalemate.

Anyway, during that time, America changed. We funneled almost half-a-million soldiers into the war in Japan. It changed American culture by militarizing everybody. You couldn’t take two steps in an American city without crossing paths with somebody carrying a gun, wearing camouflage, or both. Meanwhile, Dad used an executive order to force Puerto Rico to become the 51st State. It almost stopped him from getting re-elected in 2008. It was a really close call, but he got back into the White House for another four years.

Then, in 2010, I lost contact with Asami. She just… vanished. I called everybody in her family. I even got the Emperor himself on the line for a few seconds once. No one knew where she’d gone, but they all had an idea. Asami had gotten frustrated with hiding from the Russians for so long. She ran away from home and joined the Japanese military under a false identity. She wanted to fight!

I was terrified! All I could think about was the girl I loved getting captured, killed, or worse. I made up some story about wanting to show all of America that I was supporting the war effort, and Dad signed some paperwork that allowed me to join the US Army right after my seventeenth birthday. Afterward, I found out that Asami was fourteen when she enlisted, but she lied to the recruiters and told them she was sixteen. How she got away with it, I still don’t know. She refuses to answer that question to this day.

In 2011, I finally got out of Basic Training and joined the Signal Corps. It’s a part of the US Army that deals with communication technology. I thought I could use the knowledge and tech to find Asami. Then, finally, I got myself shipped out to Japan!

I fought on the Japanese Front of World War Three for about 15 months. When I landed in Sendai, I fell in with an international squad of soldiers. A British woman named Holly Smith, an Australian guy we liked to call Soylent Green, (not his real name, sadly) two Americans named Hal Macintosh and Aaron Ray, and three Japanese people: Kotori Sato, Yukiko Takahashi and Yukata Yamamoto. We were one hell of a team! We had a real knack for area-denial operations. You could point out any location on a map and we would hold it against anything! Nobody could pass through our territory without paying a price in blood.

While the crew and I were fighting our way across Honshu, trying to find Asami, she was having adventures of her own. The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force stationed her aboard an aircraft carrier called the Hyuuga. She was safe for a while, hunting submarines in the Tsushima Strait for almost a year. By pure good luck, my crew and I got reassigned to defend an Anti-Aircraft battery in Okinawa right when the Hyuuga was passing by in the spring of 2012.

 

The Hyuuga got jumped by the very thing it was hunting. A Soviet submarine torpedoed the carrier and it sank a few miles off the coast of Okinawa. That’s when Asami did the one of the most incredible things I’ve ever heard of… She swam all the way to Okinawa. She swam fully clothed for over five miles through cold saltwater until she washed up in a small cove just to the west of Cape Hedo on the northern shore of Okinawa Island. We found her wandering along the highway near Kunigami Village about a week later.

I was really happy to reunite with Princess Asami, but I had a hard time getting used to her new moniker. Asami had changed her name to “Chiho Tatsuya” to she could keep up her secret life in the Japanese military. The two of us got into a huge argument over whether or not I should take her back to her family. (I just wanted Chiho to be safe!) Eventually, we compromised: Chiho would join my crew and we would travel together to Osaka, where the Imperial family was living at the time. The plan was that Chiho would make a decision about her future when we reached Osaka. Unfortunately, the Soviet Red Army got there first. Our team got chased all over southern Japan while the US/Japanese forces got pushed back by the Communists again and again. Our side was collapsing.

One more time, though, we got lucky. The Soviets overextended themselves. They outpaced their supply lines and starved themselves out. Back home, (their home) the Soviet Union was starting to collapse. Turns out a six-year long foreign war is bad for an unstable political system. Because the Soviet empire was falling apart, the entire war just turned into a race against the clock. The Japanese and their allies were just trying to hold out until the Soviet Union collapsed.

Holly and I figured out that the Japanese Imperial Family had gone to Hiroshima, so that’s where we went next. Chiho made her choice when we got to the city: She wanted to leave her old life behind forever and just stay with my team as a permanent addition to the group. Thing is, the Soviets showed up in Hiroshima right after we did.

There was a huge artillery bombardment, one of the biggest of the war. The Soviets knew exactly where and how to hit our side. They killed most of the officers and commanders on our side, leaving us in complete confusion. Aaron, Kotori, Chiho and I investigated, trying to figure out how the enemy had dialed in our number so effectively. We went all over Hiroshima, trying to find the mole. Along the way, we crossed paths with the Imperial Family and Chiho finally got caught. The Prime Minister and Emperor of Japan were both outraged with Chiho for running away and joining the military. They stripped Chiho of her royal status and name, reducing her to just an ordinary commoner. Then they sent her back to us, like we were some kind of penal battalion. After a couple days, Chiho recovered from the whole ordeal, (as much as she could in the circumstances) and permanently joined our team under her new name: Chihiro Tachibana. Then we went back to investigating.

That when we found out that we’d been betrayed!

Yukiko Takahashi and Yukata Yamamoto, two members of my team, had been on the Soviet payroll for almost a year. Damn near broke my heart when I found out, because I had to try to kill my own friends. I guess my heart wasn’t in it, because they both got away. Yukiko vanished completely and didn’t reappear for a few years. Yukata came back and tried to pick a fight with us one more time. He tried to kill Chihiro by shooting her in the neck, but she lived. (Thank God!) I shot him in the chest, but he lived, too.

It wasn’t a waste, though. We got the Russian battle plans from Yukata before he fled. Chihiro and I got our team together and we made a plan to stop the Russian attack on Hiroshima. Kotori Sato called it the “Storm-Breaker Defense.” And it worked! Because all of the officers on our side were dead, it was easy for our team to take command of the defenders. We organized the best defense we could, and like I said: It worked! The Soviet army hit our wall and broke itself!

Anyway, while all of that was happening, the war ended! The Soviet Union had collapsed. With no country to fight for, the Russian invaders just… stopped fighting. Just like that.

And all of Japan knew who held Hiroshima during the eleventh hour! We were heroes! Everybody in Japan knew our names and we couldn’t go anywhere without being recognized. They called us “Stormbreakers” after Kotori’s defense plan. Holly, Soylent, and Hal all left and went back to their home countries. Aaron and Kotori got married and moved to America.

While I was in Japan, my Dad had decided not to run for a third term, so when the 2012 Presidential Election happened, somebody else ended up winning the White House. I didn’t care. I wasn’t going home anyway. Chihiro and I decided to stay in Japan and help the people rebuild. Finding a place to stay wasn’t hard: we saved the life of a young girl during the Siege of Hiroshima. Tsubaki Endo started to hero worship us… a lot. Seriously! Tsubaki was obsessed with Chihiro and I to a disturbing level. She’s got a damn shrine to us in her home. I’ve seen it! Anyway, Tsubaki’s family owned a really successful restaurant in Nagasaki, and she convinced them to put us up in an apartment nearby. Chihiro and I lived there until… yeah… until that happened.

I still have a hard time believing it… but in 2015… Earth was invaded by aliens.

Goddamn, I still can’t believe I lived through it.

The first disappearances happened in February and March of 2015. Every day, when we turned on the news, there would be a story about people of all ages just… vanishing! And it wasn’t just laypeople. Every few days, a famous celebrity or politician would just… poof! And they’d be gone. The whole world was frightened and confused. But then, in April, the war really started. The aliens came out into the open! It was the most brutal war in human history.

They bombarded cities, sabotaged transportation hubs, and wrecked as much infrastructure as they could. It was all kinds of hell. Chihiro and I tried to escape from Nagasaki and just lay low, but we were tracked down by these elite military operatives and… well, I can’t say we were “recruited” can I? We got drafted into XCOM: the most elite paramilitary force on Earth. Somebody told them about how Chihiro and I were part of an international squad during World War 3, and they wanted us on XCOM’s team. They thought we’d already have the teamwork skills they needed.

Working for XCOM was a mixed bag. On the good side, we got to reunite with the old Stormbreakers. Holly, Hal, Soylent, and Korori were all there. Kotori’s husband Aaron wasn’t there. He was the very first human to be killed by alien weapons during the invasion, right at the beginning of the war. Chihiro and I went out on a bunch of missions with Holly, Hal, and Soylent. We saved a lot of lives and rescued some people who got abducted by the aliens. We also captured some alien technology, but that leads to the bad side of working for XCOM:

The Jericho Program.

The lead scientist of XCOM was this crazy half-French, half-German lady called Vahlen. She was obsessed with this extraterrestrial substance we captured called “Meld.” It had the ability to seamlessly bond human DNA to alien DNA. Vahlen wanted to graft alien genetic material into humans, thinking it would give us the same powers and abilities the aliens do. Her end goal was for XCOM to field an army of Genetically Modified supersoldiers against the aliens. Chihiro and I each got a few Gene Mods, but nothing too extreme. We're still Human.

Doctor Vahlen was saving the extreme stuff for her most insane idea: You see, one of the very last things our old friend Aaron did before he died was getting his wife Kotori pregnant. Doctor Vahlen removed the embryo from Kotori and… used Meld to graft Ethereal DNA straight into the fetus. The Ethereal is the most powerful alien out there. They’re on a whole other level from everybody else. Some people have called them gods…

And Vahlen pumped a baby Human full of their goddamned DNA. Kotori's child was going to be half-Ethereal.

All of XCOM was divided on the subject of the Jericho Program. It turned into a real schism towards the end. Some people, like Soylent Green, supported the idea of Gene Modding Kotori’s baby. Sane people, like Chihiro and myself, opposed it. We argued long and hard against the Jericho Program. As far as we were concerned, Kotori’s half-alien baby was an abomination. We figured that the Jericho baby would turn out to be just as dangerous as a real Ethereal. Aliens themselves are already dangerous, a half-alien is just as so.

Ultimately, though, the whole debate was meaningless. XCOM Headquarters was attacked and overrun by the aliens. The Stormbreakers barely got out with their lives. Chihiro and I got separated from the rest of the team, but we rejoined the Stormbreakers a few weeks later. While XCOM was trying to regroup, though… Earth surrendered.

While the Aliens were trying to get their new world government set up, all of the XCOM survivors escaped from the continental US with Kotori in tow. The aliens were winning, and we were desperate. We all decided to take the risk and allow Kotori’s baby to be born. We were all playing the long game at this point. The hope was that Kotori’s baby would grow up to become a powerful Psionic warrior who could spearhead the next generation’s war against the alien occupiers.

In hindsight, it’s kinda disgusting to think about. None of us even once thought about Kotori’s baby as… well... a baby. To all of us, that child was a weapon. A weapon that would one day walk and talk… but a weapon nonetheless.

An XCOM operative named Lee Chong-Il hooked us up with a North Korean submarine called the Enforcer. They took us off the Oregon coastline and sailed us out to Hawaii. We all thought we’d be safe there, and that Kotori’s baby could be raised in relative isolation and safety. We were so desperate, that we were blinded.

The enemy caught up with us right as we landed. We left the Enforcer on the shoreline of Kauai Island and fled further inland. Eventually, the aliens chased us to the Kauai Veterans Cemetery just outside the town of Hanapepe. Unfortunately, Kotori went into labor while we were crossing the graveyard. I ordered the Stormbreakers to set up defensive positions around the Mausoleum where Kotori would give birth.

At nine o’clock in the morning on September 11th, 2015, Kate Asuna Ray was born. Although, throughout this story, she’ll mostly be referred to as Jericho. I was physically in the area when she was born, but I didn’t witness it. The aliens broke our perimeter. The last thing I remember was a Muton hitting me in the head with the butt of its rifle.

The next thing I remember after that: I woke up in a sterile-looking room. It was definitely some kind of laboratory, but the scientists were all gone, and four of the most ragged-looking soldiers I’d ever seen were staring at me. They took me out of the lab and made me run through a futuristic-looking city I didn’t recognize at the time. The escape was a blur to me. All I remember was a wide array of advanced technology, spaceships, and someone telling me it was the future.

Later, I found out just how bad it was: The aliens had kept all of the Stormbreakers, including myself, in stasis for twenty years. Chihiro, Soylent, Holly, Hal, and I had all slept away two decades of our lives!

While we’d been unconscious, the aliens had conquered Earth and forced all of Humankind to live under a collaborator-puppet government called the ADVENT Coalition. XCOM itself was scattered across the planet, desperately trying to unite various resistance groups into a genuine rebellion. The ADVENT Coalition had held onto the stasis tubes containing the Stormbreakers. Apparently, they periodically woke us up to do experiments on us… but I don’t remember any of that. I don’t want to remember.

XCOM freed us as part of a mission called “Operation Gatecrasher.” No sooner had the Stormbreakers been rescued from captivity, than the Commander of XCOM herself was also rescued. Laura Harper was just as happy to see us as we were to see her.

Chihiro, Holly, Hal, Soylent, and I took about a month to fully adapt to life in the 2030’s. Not only did we skip twenty years of our lives, but our bodies only seem to have aged a few weeks. (or months in Chihiro’s case) For all intents and purposes, I’m still 22 years old and Chihiro is still 19, even though by sheer numbers alone, we’re actually 42 and 39, respectively. All of our family members are dead. They were either killed during the initial invasion or purged by ADVENT during the intervening years. All Chihiro and I have are each other now.

And that’s it. That’s my life story, the broad strokes of it, anyway. I’ve left out enough details to fill a very large book. Hopefully, now that you know my background, you’ll have a better understanding of what role I’m going to play in this tale. All of the setup is done, so let me start telling the story of Jericho, and how she ended the Second Hyperspace War:

My girlfriend spent her twentieth birthday saving my life...

Chapter 3: Welcoming Committee

Notes:

Special thanks to Reddit user u/theboltboy for the fanart of Chihiro Tachibana!

Chapter Two

Welcoming Committee

Wednesday, May 2, 2035 – 6:30 a.m.  

Near the Ruins of Pyongyang, Korean Peninsula  

 

My girlfriend spent her twentieth birthday saving my life. 

Looking back on it now, I really shouldn’t have been surprised. Two months before this morning, I’d woken up in a strange science lab by someone telling me that I’d been asleep for twenty years, and that Earth had been conquered by aliens who were styling themselves as our “god-kings” or something ridiculous like that. 

I’ve seen the Elders before they called themselves that. I know that the “gods” who rule over this world are actually monsters, and I’m glad I was found by like-minded folks. Now here I am, two months later. A bunch of old comrades from the last war are all in the Resistance with me, and we’re taking our world back from the Elders one day at a time. 

After everything that’s happened before, I thought I’d never be taken by surprise again. I survived an alien invasion, fought an extraterrestrial god, and I was transported two decades into the future. I was sure I’d seen everything, and that nothing could ever phase me again… 

Until that one Wednesday in North Korea. 

… 

I couldn’t remember the last time I woke up on that metaphorical “right side of the bed” but I did today. Looking up, several faces looked back down at me from three posters I’d taped to the ceiling. The first two posters were photographs: on one of them, Central Officer Bradford posed triumphantly with the corpse of the Viper King while a squad of exhausted but happy XCOM soldiers cheered triumphantly. On the other, Chief Engineer Lily Shen stood atop the ruins of the Lost Tower while a wrecked Sectopod smoldered at her feet.  

My last poster wasn’t a blown-up photograph, but a recreation of a religious painting: A brown-skinned girl with blue hair and purple eyes hovered in space, her body shrouded in white fog. Beautiful angelic wings stretched out from her back and she held her hands above her head. Above her, the Earth itself hung in the star field between her wings and palms, as though she was holding it aloft. The person in the painting was Jericho, a legendary Psionic who had been single-handedly wreaking havoc on our enemies for the past two or three years. Despite dozens of attempts to recruit her, she had refused to join XCOM for some unknown reason, choosing to fight ADVENT alone. 

If half of all the stories I’d heard about Jericho were true, then the artist hadn’t done her justice. If the other half of the stories were true… then the day Jericho joined XCOM would be both a blessing and a curse for me.  

Tossing my sheets aside and sliding off the top bunk, I was off to a better start than most of my comrades today. Normally, everybody aboard the Avenger starts their day in a crummy mood, and it’s through no fault of their own.  

XCOM’s mobile headquarters, a commandeered alien spaceship, is a very cramped place. There are only enough bunk beds in the living quarters for about 40 people, but today there are about 70 on board. We don’t get any privacy here, and no room is ever empty. When I jumped down from my top bunk, I grazed the bottom one and jostled the occupant awake. Rafal Kowalski, a Soviet soldier with a great big bushy beard, glared up at me. 

“Should’a shot you in Hiroshima.” Rafal grumbled. Then he rolled over and went back to sleep. 

“Yeah, yeah. Should’ve shot you too.” I mumbled in greeting.  

I had to mumble. Standing here by my bunk, I was only about a foot away from the dull blue curtain that separated the male half of the living quarters from the female half. There were half a dozen men trying to sleep on my side of the room and presumably the same number of women on the other side doing the same thing. I pulled on my old US Army uniform and looked around for my patches. On my right shoulder went the American flag: 51 stars on a blue field with 13 red and white stripes. On my left shoulder was a square-shaped patch emblazoned with the Japanese Rising Sun. Everybody who’d defended the city of Hiroshima on the last day of World War Three had one of these patches. After that my rank insignia went in the middle of my chest. I’m a Cadet, by the way. In the US military, that’s the lowest possible officer rank. I’m basically a glorified Corporal with a little more power.   

I remade the bedsheets and quietly threw my unused gear into my locker, so that the bunk would be clear for the soldier who would be sleeping here while I was gone. Right before I stepped out of the living quarters, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Oh boy, that African-American soldier in the reflection looked bad. My hair was starting to grow out of control and I needed a shave something fierce. I was still dirty from the last few days of excursions, but seeing as water was rationed pretty tightly aboard the ship, I had to just knuckle up and tough it out until it was my turn in the showers again. Hopefully my girlfriend wouldn’t notice the smell. 

It was a short walk from the living quarters to the Barracks. In the mornings and evenings, the Barracks was converted into a ramshackle cafeteria just long enough to serve meals before being turned back again. I got there just as breakfast appeared on the buffet line, and some twenty members of XCOM were already queued up for food. I spotted my squad leader at the end of the line and joined her. 

“G’morning, Colonel Smith.” I said. 

British soldier Holly Smith has been my friend and comrade since the last war, when the Soviet Union gave Japan a bloody nose and was then torn to shreds in response. Holly was one of the original six members of my squad, the Stormbreakers, of whom only four are still alive. (Including myself) She did a double-take when she saw me coming in and widened her eyes at the sight of me. 

“When did you get in last night, Robinson?” Holly said. “Did you even see the bloody troops I sent out to find you?”  

“Saw’em and said hello.” I answered as I got in the back of the line. “They were coming down the ramp while I was going up. Did you get my After Action Report?” 

“Got it. Haven’t read it.” Holly admitted. “You got bullet points?” 

“I spotted an enemy scouting party moving away from us.” I answered. “They don’t know we’re here yet, so I let them go and reported their positions to Central. What time do we have to be on the Picket Line today?” 

“Zero-eight-hundred.” Holly answered with a yawn. “Voodoo Squad’s been out there all night, and we’re only doing a ten-hour shift today.” 

“Because the Avenger’s lifting off at eighteen-hundred hours tonight?” 

“Yeah.”  

I felt a little apprehensive. Normally, when word comes down that the ship is getting ready to take off, everybody gets excited about visiting another part of the world. Travelling all over the planet is, without question, the best perk of working aboard XCOM’s one and only spaceship. But not today. Everybody knew why the ship was going to leave Korea today. 

“So…” I asked. “Do you know who’s going to be taking point in tomorrow’s assault?” 

“Menace Squad, with Echo in reserve.” Holly answered automatically. “We’re sitting this one out, Robinson. The Commander thinks we need to spend more time integrating the FNG’s.” 

FNG stands for… you know what? Let’s just say it’s a really mean nickname for a new soldier who’s only just joined the group. In this case, Holly’s talking about the two new soldiers who were supposed to be joining our squad today. 

“The Kuznetsova twins?” I asked. “When are they supposed to get here?” 

“Same time as our Japanese Resistance contact.” Holly replied. “They’re travelling together. I was told by the Commander that they’ll show up sometime around sixteen-hundred-hours this afternoon. I want you to take the Kuznetsovas around and introduce them to everybody, give’em a grand tour, then have Endo show them the women’s sleeping area.” 

“You just picked me for the job ‘cause I’m right next to you, didn’t ya?” 

“Aye. And people are sayin’ Soylent’s food is actually good today, so I’m not gonna pick on him now.” 

Holly jabbed her thumb at the buffet line. Serving up some kind of unidentifiable slop was a gigantic black man whose face was covered in a Maori tattoo. Australian soldier Jake Green gave us a wave before going back to work. Everybody approached his station on the buffet line with a little caution. Whenever it was his turn to cook breakfast or dinner, the food and drink Captain Green served was notorious for being… well… disgusting. 

“Hey, Robinson! Why the happy face?” Soylent called to me. 

“Today is Chihiro’s birthday!” I answered. “She’s twenty!” 

Holly put a hand on my shoulder and said to Soylent: 

“Give him two servings, Green. And make one oversized for her!” 

With Soylent’s permission, I cut to the front of the entire line, earning myself a mean look from Karmina Isra, a Palestinian woman with a sawn-off shotgun strapped to each of her legs. Soylent made me two takeout servings of… whatever this grey slop was supposed to be… and then slipped a metallic cylinder into my free hand.  

“Tell Corporal Tachibana that this is my birthday gift to her.” Soylent whispered. “You did say she’s twenty today, right?” 

“I did.” I answered nervously. “Soylent, please tell me you didn’t make this.” 

Soylent put on a dramatic face and pretended to be offended. 

“Cadet Robinson!” He said loudly, “I would never dare to even think about ruining the birthday of such a wonderful, beautiful young woman as Corporal Tachibana with sub-par drink!” 

Soylent winked at me and dropped the act, saying with a sly smile: 

“This is the real stuff from the Old World, mate. From our world. This is genuine Australian Victory Beer, vintage 2012. I know your girl’s a lightweight, so I’m givin’ you one now, and you can come back and get the other five for her tonight.”  

He winked at me. I thanked him and then left with food in hand. 

 … 

The Avenger was not defenseless on the ground. If someone tried to approach XCOM’s ship on foot from any direction, they wouldn’t get closer than a mile to the ship. That’s because of the Picket Line. A ring of soldiers encircled the Avenger, keeping watch for the enemy. Because these troops were a mile away, they would be able to give us plenty of warning time to prepare for an enemy approach. 

Menace, Voodoo and Delta Squads had been holding the Picket Line all night, and as they returned to the Avenger for some well-earned sleep, Echo, Foxtrot, and Stormbreaker Squads departed the ship and started moving to take their place. At the bottom of the Avenger’s deployment ramp, I found my girlfriend hanging out with a few of our fellow squadmates.  

Corporal Chihiro Tachibana stands out in a crowd. She’s the only member of the Stormbreakers who served in her home country’s navy before joining XCOM, which means that she wears a blue-and-grey naval uniform instead of the green and brown fatigues everyone else had. The red and white flag of Japan was centered on her upper back, obscured by her black hair. Her comrades, Tsubaki Endo and Matthew Hawkins, both tapped her on the shoulder and pointed me out as I approached. 

“Good morning and happy birthday, Chi.” I said. “This stuff is better than usual, and this is for you, too.” 

Chihiro gasped as she took the can of Old World beer from me. Our squadmate Matthew Hawkins thumped her on the back and said: 

“Heya, Tachibana, you made it to twenty-one! Congrats! So... uh… you wanna share that beer?” 

Chihiro gave him a mischievous look. 

“What are you talking about?” She said playfully. “I’m from Japan, our drinking age is twenty… aaaannndd… 

She looked at her wristwatch. 

“My duty shift doesn’t start for another hour… so…” 

Chihiro enthusiastically tried to pry the tab open, but ended up breaking it instead. Frustrated, she used her combat knife to split the can open and started drinking. Standing there in a battered two-decade-old naval aviation suit, drinking beer from a mutilated can while propping herself up against an M80 sniper rifle, Chihiro looked nothing like the shy, well-dressed and soft-spoken princess I’d met so long ago. Trying to reconcile the two images in my mind made me chuckle a little. When she finished, I passed the tray of breakfast food to her. Chihiro cautiously sniffed at the “meal” and wrinkled her nose.  

“I hope that’s you I’m smelling and not the grub, Blake. No offence.”  

Once Chihiro and I got some food (and in her case, drink) into our systems, we joined the other five Stormbreakers in waiting for the rest of our team to show up. Including me, there are thirteen of us: Chihiro Tachibana, Holly Smith, and Soylent Green have been part of the team with me since the very beginning over twenty years ago. Over the decades, a handful of other people have joined as well: 

Lieutenant Matthew Hawkins hadn’t taught his old elementary school classes in over two decades, but that didn’t stop him from flipping through a history book to pass the time while we all waited. His grey eyes darted across the pages so quickly one might think he was a machine. 

Private Tsubaki Endo was sitting on a tree stump and having a one-sided conversation with Chihiro. Basically, she was hanging onto every word my girlfriend said with obsessive fixation. While she listened to Chihiro’s descriptions of her birthday plans, Tsubaki absentmindedly picked at her cybernetic legs with her fingernails. Twenty years ago, during World War Three, Tsubaki had stepped on a landmine. The explosion blew off both of her legs. Nowadays, her prosthetic legs were so technologically sophisticated that she could run farther and faster than anyone else on the team. 

Sergeant Hal Macintosh, a former police officer, gave Chihiro a disapproving look when he came down the deployment ramp and spotted the crushed beer can in her hand. He raised his eyebrows at me and shook his head. 

Sergeant Kathleen Walsh has been a friend of mine since I was a little kid. She was a Secret Service agent working for my dad back when he was President of the United States. She still calls me by the codename the Secret Service used for me back then. “Trojan” is just as much my name as “Blake” these days. Walsh might have grey hair and wrinkles now, but she’s still pretty ferocious. 

Sergeant Isis Dekker was followed across the grassy field by a small flying robot. The GREMLIN drone was standard issue equipment for all XCOM Specialists, but Isis had grown quite fond of her little machine. To be fair, GREMLIN drones were highly intelligent. Isis had even gotten hers to come when called by its name. Piper buzzed along through the air behind Isis, beeping and chirping like a loyal pet bird. 

Chaplain Ignatius Petoskey and Sergeant Odette Fournier emerged from the Avenger together. They were both famous and well-known members of the French Resistance, and had spent the first part of the morning in meetings with other Resistance leaders, coordinating the global fight against the alien occupation of our world. Ignatius was really old, so he wasn’t wearing much armor and wasn’t carrying a weapon in his hands. Not like he needed one. Ignatius was Gifted, which meant he had a slew of Psionic powers at his disposal. His mind was far more dangerous than any gun. 

In the two months I’ve lived in the future, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve heard Odette Fournier speak. She’s a black woman who seemed to be constantly on alert. Nobody could take her by surprise, but that also meant she hardly ever let her guard down, even amongst friends. When she caught up the group, Odette just kinda nodded at me and didn’t say anything. 

Corporal Sophie Ackermann, a white South African, was so freakishly tall that I could see her coming from a hundred yards away. She was walking amongst several women who were part of Echo Squad, and she towered nearly a foot and a half above their heads. When Sophie fell in with the Stormbreakers, only Soylent was taller than her, but not by much. 

Captain Jake “Soylent” Green himself departed the Avenger at the same time as Sophie, but he didn’t join us right away. He took a few moments to shower Sophie’s female friends with compliments, innuendoes, and pickup lines. A woman from Echo Squad giggled at Soylent’s antics, but before he could focus his attention onto her, Colonel Holly Smith grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him towards his own squad. The woman from Echo called after Soylent, suggesting he find her when he got off duty tonight.  

Finally, Captain Yutaka Yamamoto was the thirteenth and last member of our team. He’s definitely the odd one out amongst us. During the war in Japan twenty years ago, Yutaka changed sides and got a bunch of my friends killed, he even tried to kill Chihiro. She’s still got a scar on her neck from where he shot her. Of course, once the aliens started to invade, conflicts like the Soviet-Japanese one became irrelevant. Don’t get me wrong, if we weren’t trying to free our world from the aliens, I’d put Yutaka six feet under in a heartbeat. But the guy is a damn good fighter, he can kill aliens just as well as the rest of us, and he’s really good at treating plasma burns and gauss weapon injuries, so we keep him around. For now. 

Once all thirteen Stormbreakers were assembled, Holly stepped onto a boulder so she could address all of us at once. I took my place next to her. Since the two of us had founded the team all the way back in World War Three, we were its leaders… or more specifically: Colonel Smith was the actual Squad Leader, and I was her deputy. 

“Listen up, you lot!” Holly began. “We’ve got two orders of business today. First off, we’re expecting the FNG’s to arrive this afternoon with our Resistance Contact. The contact is a woman named Homura Hanako and she’s on her way here from Manchuria. Endo, Yamamoto, and Tachibana: You three will be making contact with her when she arrives. The challenge word is Firestorm. The password is Snowstorm. If she says anything different, you’re to assume she’s a Faceless and kill her straightaway. Am I clear?” 

The Faceless are a race of alien shapeshifters. The enemy uses them to infiltrate and spy on our side. 

“Sounds like a plan.” Chihiro acknowledged. “What about the FNG’s?” 

“Both of the twins are using the same challenge and password.” Holly explained. “Same rules of engagement. Once we get the contact and our FNG’s, we return to the Avenger and prepare for takeoff. After the ship is airborne, I want everybody to go straight from chow to bed. Central and the Commander have got a big assault planned for tomorrow, and you all need your sleep.” 

Kathleen pressed the barrel of her Sniper Rifle into the grass and rested her arms on top of the stock. 

“Ya know, I always liked ‘ose two girls.” The former Secret Service agent said. “The Kuznetsova twins, I mean. I’m glad we’re finally getting ‘em on our team. Seemed kinda overdue if you ask me.” 

“Agreed.” Yutaka said. “What’s the other thing you wanted to say, Boss?” 

“I’m pretty sure you all know what that is.” A smile curled Holly’s mouth. “Today is our Blue Dragon’s birthday. Everyone be sure to wish her many happy returns before you move out.” 

Hal Macintosh didn’t miss a beat. 

“Twenty, huh?” The ex-cop said. “I think that means you should start the day with twenty pushups!” 

Everyone gave fake dramatic gasps while Chihiro rolled her eyes and unshouldered her weapon. As I took the Sniper Rifle from her, she said sarcastically: 

“Yes Sergeant.” 

Even though she was wearing a bullet-proof vest that featured heavy ceramic plates on both the chest and back, Chihiro knocked out twenty pushups in less than half a minute and sprang back to her feet, sticking out her tongue at Hal as she snatched the rifle back from me.  

“Robinson, you’re not going let her get away with that, are you?” Tsubaki giggled. 

“Yeah, I’m not answering that.” 

I caught Chihiro’s eye and winked at her. She laughed in that mischievous way I love so much and ruffled Tsubaki’s hair with one hand. Holly nodded at me and I raised my hand to get everyone’s attention. 

“Okay, everyone. Let’s deal with the assignments and get moving.” 

I bent down and drew a very crude map of the area in the dirt with one finger. While I spoke, I pointed out locations to my squadmates. 

“This is our area of responsibility.” I began. “This neighborhood just beyond the end of the farmland is built right on the high ground. We’re gonna break up into three teams of four troops each and take that high ground. Chi, Walsh, Macintosh, and Ackermann: I want you on the roof of this warehouse. You’ll be doing Overwatch for the other two teams. Dekker, Colonel Smith, Yamamoto, and Endo: You’re going to take this concrete building and dig in. According the scouting parties, this structure has windows that face north and west. You’ll have plenty of good views. Hawkins, Soylent, and Fournier, you’re coming with me to set up observation on this two-story structure here on the extreme right flank. Chaplain Petoskey will stay with Colonel Smith and he’ll take Hanako and the FNG’s back to the Avenger when they show up. Does anyone have any questions?” 

Kathleen raised her Sniper Rifle and aimed it towards a hill south of the neighborhood. It was covered in trees and slightly shorter than the high ground I’d just ordered my team to take. She stared down the scope, scanning the terrain. 

“Do we ‘ave any eyes on the other side of that hill?” Kathleen asked. “Wha’s over there?” 

“A highway.” I answered. “The scouts from Voodoo Squad have been keeping an eye on it. It leads right into downtown Pyongyang. We didn’t see any vehicles on it, though. If someone is there, the road junction is visible from the warehouse where we’re putting the Sniper Overwatch team. You’ll have eyes on it.” 

No one else had any other questions. Holly checked her machine gun one last time and said: 

“Let’s get started, callsigns only from here on out! Move out, team!” 

… 

The small town with the high ground was a little less than a mile away from the Avenger , so it took us about half an hour to walk out there. The squad spread out into a big triangular formation, with Holly leading from the center. Moving as one, we crossed the farmland together. Holding my shotgun in one hand, I trudged along the dry arid ground with my girlfriend on my right. Absentmindedly, I gazed southward, to my left, scanning the horizon for any sign of the Pyongyang skyline. Chihiro followed my gaze and got a nostalgic look on her face. 

“Oh, man. Do you remember the last time we were in that city?” Chihiro asked. 

“Yeah, we smashed up most of downtown.” I chuckled. “The North Korean Army was lucky XCOM showed up when it did, the aliens were going to wipe them out!” 

“I don’t think they ever stood a chance.” Chihiro agreed. “How much of Pyongyang do you think is still standing, anyway?” 

“Maybe a couple of timbers.” I mused. “Definitely no whole buildings. The aliens did a number on that place while we were there. You remember the Sectopod crashing through the pyramid-shaped hotel?” 

Chihiro laughed. 

“The whole building came down on its head!” She roared. “I felt so stupid for wasting the bullets on it beforehand. Do you remember the-” 

Chihiro and I spoke at the same time: 

“High Altitude Lawyer Overwatch drops!?” 

We both erupted in laughter, causing Odette, Hal, and Sophie to give us funny looks. We were reminiscing about the way aliens would drop out of UFO’s into Human cities, dressed up in disguises. These airdropped infiltrators would then try to pass themselves off as our people. Back in the day, it didn’t work. 

“What the hell were the aliens thinking back then!?” Chihiro giggled. “Putting on a suit, tie, and round glasses isn’t enough to disguise yourself as a Human! Did they really think we were gonna fall for that!?” 

From our right, Hal chimed in: 

“Clearly they do. You ever seen those videos of ADVENT’s spokesman? I guarantee you he’s not Human!” 

Sharing one more round of laughter, Chihiro and I kept reminiscing about the Battle of Pyongyang as we crossed the open fields. For most members of XCOM, that battle had been fought over twenty years ago, but Chihiro and I had spent those two decades in Stasis, so from our point of view, the Battle of Pyongyang had just been a few months ago. After a few stories were traded back and forth, the two of us started to relax and enjoy the morning sunlight.  

A few more minutes of silence went by. By now, we’d left the Avenger behind and were about halfway to the end of the farmland. The village where we’d be meeting out contact was just ahead. As I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the distant buildings, I felt a familiar presence starting to creep into the back of my mind. For about half a second, my vision got foggy and I felt a little dizzy, but I recovered in a heartbeat. 

“Oh, there you are.” I said casually. 

Sorry. Said a slightly high-pitched voice in the back of my mind. I’m trying to get better. Was the connection any different than last time?  

“You’re getting better.” I said. “I barely felt you come in that time.” 

I looked to my right. Chihiro was giving me a very concerned look. When she spoke, she used the exact same voice I’d just heard. 

“If you don’t like it, I can stop.” She said. 

I shook my head. 

“This was my idea, remember?” I said. “The only way I’ll ever get used to your new powers is if… you know… I get some exposure. Keep practicing.” 

Getting transported 20 years into the future was already a jarring experience. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only thing that happened to us. While ADVENT had kept me and my companions in Stasis, they had performed a wide array of “science experiments” on us while we were unconscious. I had a handful of scars on my legs and torso where I’d been opened up. Holly and Soylent were both missing pieces of their organs, but poor Chihiro had gotten the worst of it.  

While we’d been in enemy captivity, the aliens had performed a highly invasive brain surgery on Chihiro. She still had a big scar along the top of her scalp from it. After we were all rescued by XCOM, it had taken a few days for anyone to notice the effects of what the aliens had done to her. It started off as bouts of unexpected mind-reading. Chihiro seemed to know what people were going to say to her minutes in advance. Then she started moving small objects with her mind.  

See, Chihiro had what we call The Gift. Somehow, the aliens had rewired her brain to the point where she could develop and use Psionic powers. Telepathy, telekinesis, stuff like that. She had become a genuine psychic! XCOM scientists have been studying the Gift ever since it started showing itself in Humans back in the early 1960’s. We have some understanding of how it works, but the science of Psionics is still mostly guesswork and theorycrafting. 

Chihiro had to spend about two weeks in a meditation cell with XCOM’s other Gifted soldiers. Ignatius Petoskey and Cory Tucker gave her a crash course in how to harness and use her powers, but I was the one who has to deal with them most often. Suddenly, my girlfriend had the power to read my mind whenever she damn well felt like it. Unsurprisingly, there were no more secrets between us. We’ve adapted to the change as best we can, but I’m sure she’d agree with me that we both have a long way to go.  

Luckily, we didn’t have much farther to go before reaching our destination. 

“It’s a beautiful morning for a walk.” Chihiro sighed. “At least I got part of my birthday wish.” 

“Wait a minute, you wanted to spend your twentieth birthday walking into possible enemy territory?” I was being sarcastic. She poked me in the ribs and gave me a sour look. 

“Come on, Trojan! You know what I mean.” 

“Yeah, I still remember that talk. The whole world changed since we made those plans. Believe me, if I could go back in time and change the past, I’d do it. Your plan for a birthday date is a thousand times better than what we’re doing today.” 

Chi made a little squeaking sound and gave me a one-armed hug as we walked along. She deliberately avoided placing her hand on my left-side pocket. We had an unspoken agreement that she would play dumb about the wedding ring hidden there until I showed it to her.  

“Soon as we get off duty this evening, let’s hit the ship’s bar.” Chi said. “I wanna forget about the war just for a little bit, okay?” 

“Done deal.” I agreed. 

… 

There are a few small towns scattered around the old North Korean capital city. They’re separated by hills and the occasional mountain. We can’t see Pyongyang from this little village, there’s a great big hill in the way, but we do have a very good view of the surrounding area. Chihiro and her fellow Sharpshooters declared the local warehouse to be the best “high ground” they’d seen in a while. Using the bipod attachment on her rifle, she entrenched herself on one of the rooftop air conditioners and soon had to main road locked down. Chihiro gave me a quick goodbye kiss before my team departed for their own destination. 

Under the watchful eye of the Sharpshooters, the other two teams fanned out and swept through the abandoned neighborhood. We found a few dusty skeletons in a couple of houses, but for the most part, nobody’s lived here for two decades. Matthew, Odette, Soylent and I forced our way into a two-story house at the northern end of the village and found a big tree growing right out of the living room floor, through the ceiling, and out the roof. 

“You guys go ahead.” Matthew said. “I want some pictures.” 

While Matthew fumbled about with his camera, Odette, Soylent and I scrambled up a wrecked staircase and found a window to keep watch over the squad’s flank. Wordlessly, Odette set up her rifle in the windowsill and began scanning the nearby highway through her scope. Soylent and I waited for Matthew to finish snapping pictures and then helped him up the wrecked stairs. 

The next three hours passed in near total silence. The village was dead, save for the thirteen Stormbreakers keeping watch over the western approach. Occasionally, birds flitted past or a pheasant flew from one building to the next. A short while before noon, something spooked a small group of Korean Antelope, causing them to flee into the forest at top speed. We all went on alert, but nothing came of it, and boredom set back in.  

After an early lunch, the sun started beating down on the house, and the heat was putting me to sleep. Very slowly, my shotgun got heavier in my hands, even though I’d propped it up on the windowsill. Blinking slowly, I rested my chin on the stock of my weapon, and I started to wonder how long I could close my eyes without falling asleep. 

“Hey, you hear that?”  

Soylent’s voice creeped into my ear. When nobody said anything, he repeated himself: 

“Does anybody hear that noise?” 

Reluctantly, I woke up. 

There was a noise. Odette and Matthew were holding their hands to their mouths to muffle the sound of their own breathing. Soylent and I strained our ears, listening to a tinny rumble getting louder and louder. 

“It’s an engine.” Matthew whispered, “An Old World internal combustion engine!” 

“I thought ADVENT got rid of all the gas-powered cars.” Soylent commented. 

“They tried.” Matthew answered. “Most of the people living in the outlying settlements and Havens still have theirs, but gasoline itself is pretty rare nowadays.” 

Rumble rumble rumble.  

The sounds were getting closer. The four of us put our heads together and quickly made a plan. Because we were in the field, we only called one another by our call signs. It’s basic operational security.  

“Trojan, what’s your call?” Matthew asked me. “What do we do?” 

I pointed to Matthew. 

“Alecto, get onto the roof and see if you can spot that car.” I ordered. 

Matthew nodded and moved quickly back to the staircase. 

“We need to decide if we’re gonna stop that car.” I told the others. “If it right comes at us, we’ll need a plan for that too.” 

“That’s simple, mate.” Soylent said. “If the car comes at us, we’ll do it like we did those Russian trucks in Hiroshima. Shoot the tires and the engine.” 

Odette nodded at Soylent and gave me a simple smile. I agreed as well.  

“Vampire, I want you on street level. Take cover behind something solid and Soylent and I will watch over you from here. We’ll tell you where that car’s going in a moment.” 

Odette didn’t bother with the stairs. She slid down the gaping hole in the floor where that big tree was growing through the house. While Soylent and I set up our weapons in the windowsill again, we saw Odette leave the house and set up a new fighting position in a ditch near the road. The engine was getting louder now. Above my head, Matthew banged the roof with his fist. 

“I see a pickup truck coming from the south!” He announced. “Looks like three or four people inside. They’re coming right at us along the main road!” 

“Soylent, pass the word to Vampire!” I said. 

Leaning my shotgun against the wall, I pulled out my radio and called the other two fireteam leaders: 

“Doomsday and Steampunk, this is Trojan. Come in. We’ve got an unknown motor vehicle approaching my position. Multiple occupants.” 

“Steampunk here.” Hal’s voice replied, “What kind of vehicle are you talking about?” 

“It’s a truck.” I said, then Soylent whispered something in my ear, and I added: “Correction, it’s an open-top pickup truck. There’s two people sitting in the bed. It’s about half a mile from our position and coming right towards us.” 

“This is Doomsday.” Holly’s voice came out of the receiver. “Sounds like they’re local Resistance fighters. The contact we’re expecting isn’t supposed to be here for another three hours. Stop that truck and hold them in place. I’ll call the Avenger and get someone out here to point them towards the enemy.” 

“Copy all. Trojan out.” 

I set down the radio and was about to relay Holly’s instructions to Soylent when I saw the look on his face. 

“What in the hell?” Soylent breathed, staring out the window. I followed his gaze. 

About three hundred yards up the road from us, in full view of our guns, the pickup truck had come to a stop. Its engine shut off and the doors opened while four people got out. From this distance, I couldn’t really tell who exactly I was looking at, but I got the feeling I wasn’t dealing with members of the East Asian Resistance. 

“Who the hell are they?” I said. 

As if in answer to my question, Matthew’s voice came down from the roof. 

“Two of them are friendlies!” 

Soylent raised his rifle and looked down the scope. 

“Well don’t that just bugger all?” He said. “He’s right. Both of the FNG’s are down there, and I think the person standing in the truck bed is our contact.” 

“Soylent, keep Overwatch.” I said. “Vampire and I are going out there. We might be dealing with some Faceless here.” 

With Matthew and Soylent keeping a vigilant watch from the high ground, I raced to join Odette in the ditch, where she had not yet been spotted by the four people walking slowly towards our position. I checked my shotgun. She checked her rifle. We nodded at one another and then sprang up together! 

“FREEZE!” I yelled. “WEAPONS ON THE GROUND AND HANDS ON YOUR HEADS!” 

There were several startled yelps as three rifles and an archaic-looking weapon hit the ground. Four women, who looked between the ages of 20 and 30, all clasped their hands to the top of their heads and gave us frightened expressions. I threw a quick sideways glance at Odette and she obeyed the silent order. With one hand, she tossed a small metal sphere towards the four intruders. The Battle Scanner came to rest at their feet, emitted a soft blue light and beeped three times before becoming inert once more. 

They were are all human. No shape-shifters, no organic tracking devices. All clear. I raised my voice and yelled at the four new people: 

“Firestorm!” I yelled. 

At once, all four women replied: 

“Snowstorm!” 

While Matthew stayed on the roof to provide Overwatch, Soylent, Odette, and I moved in to bring the four friendlies towards our lines. Two of them I recognized right away as the prospective new members of our team. 

Ludmilla Kuznetsova was an incredibly slim Russian woman with messy brown hair. Her combat fatigues just kinda hung off her frame, and I wondered how long she could hold that M16 rifle without hurting her skinny arms. Her twin sister, Sophia, had a thick grey scarf wrapped around her entire head so that I could only see her eyes.  

“Privet staryy drug!” Ludmilla exclaimed in Russian before switching to English, “Good to see you again, Robinson. And Fournier, and you too, Green.” 

Odette gave Sophia a hug while Soylent tried to flirt with Ludmilla, holding her hand in his just long enough to make her uncomfortable. Meanwhile, the other Stormbreakers had left their positions and joined us in the street. Holly and Hal set about talking to Ludmilla and Sophia while Kathleen, Sophie, Matthew, and Isis began searching the pickup truck. I recognized the third newcomer as someone we’d been told to look out for.  

“I take it you must be our Contact?” I asked. “Homura Hanako, right?” 

 A Japanese teenager nodded at me. She was a little younger and scrawnier than what I’d expected. She didn’t look a day over seventeen, had short black hair, and deep blue eyes that kinda reminded me of Chihiro a little. I made a mental note to introduce her to Homura later. 

“I was supposed to be taking you to the ADVENT facility near Tokyo tomorrow.” Homura said. “But I guess all that’s changed now.” 

That caused everyone to fall silent. 

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked cautiously. “You know something we don’t?” 

“Actually…” Homura said slowly. “… She's the one who knows.”  

Our Contact stuck her thumb out at the fourth traveler. After my first glance at her, I did a double take. One by one, all thirteen Stormbreakers became aware of the fourth newcomer, turning to look at her as she in turn gazed back at us. 

Some of us had not seen this girl since the day she had been born. Others had only heard secondhand stories about her. One of us had not seen her since she was a small child. Isis Dekker’s knees trembled as she recognized the person standing before her, and she opened and closed her mouth wordlessly, struck dumb by shock. I felt like the forces of time itself were playing some kind of cruel joke on me. I blinked a few times and pinched my hand to see if this ghost from the past was truly real. It was. 

Holly, Ignatius, and Chihiro gasped when they recognized her rounded face and brown skin. 

Ignatius, Yutaka, Soylent, and Tsubaki dropped their jaws when they saw her dark blue hair. 

Odette, Matthew, Kathleen, Sophie and I were transfixed by her beautiful purple eyes. 

Kate Asuna Ray, the daughter of two XCOM soldiers who had fought and died during the Alien Invasion over twenty years ago, looked around at me and my comrades with a sad expression on her face. Finally, she spoke. 

“I wish I could come back to XCOM under different circumstances, but my hand’s been forced: ADVENT knows you’re here. You’ve got about thirty minutes before they attack.” 

Chapter 4: The Gang's All Here

Chapter Three

The Gang’s All Here

Wednesday, May 2, 2035 – 12:15pm


“Central, Central, this is Doomsday! Respond at once!”

“This is Central. Send your traffic, Doomsday.”

“I have two signals for you, Central. First signal is: Zander. I repeat: Zander.”

“Oh my God… uh, request confirmation! Urgently!”

“Central, this is Trojan here. I confirm Doomsday’s message: Zander.”

“Ack… uh, Acknowledged. Doomday, you’re go to send your second message.”

“Wolverines!”

“Mother of Christ! Doomsday, you should have led with that! Can you confirm!?”

“Central, this is Alecto! Wolverines! I say again! WOLVERINES!! THEY’RE COMING!!”

…

Twenty-five years ago, if you’d told us that a larger and more well-armed enemy force was about to blow through our position and attack our friends, you might have caused us to panic. But the Stormbreakers are not a ramshackle group of brothers and sisters in-arms pretending to be a squad anymore. All twelve of my comrades have been hardened by countless battles and have over a half-a-century of combat experience shared between us. No sooner had Jericho’s warning left her mouth than we were already springing into action.

Holly had picked up her radio and raised the alarm, telling the Avenger what was going on. Soylent started ordering his comrades towards new defensive positions. Chihiro was already scanning the rooftops, looking for a new place to set up her sniper rifle. Odette and Matthew had unzipped their backpacks and were starting to run down the road, placing anti-personnel land mines as they went.

Ludmilla, Sophia, and Homura all ran back to the truck and retrieved their weapons. Ludmilla and Sophia had fought alongside the Stormbreakers a few times before, they knew what to do and fell in with our group right away. Homura seemed a little confused and out of place. Her rifle hung at her side while she waited for someone to tell her what to do.

“Trojan!” Holly shouted at me, “You’re taking responsibility for FNG’s and Hanako! Keep 'em with you!”

“Are you kidding me!?” I yelled back. “You want me to babysit the Squaddies right now, Colonel!?”

“Don’t argue, Robinson!” Holly snapped.

Before she could say anything else, her radio squawked. Holly set her machine gun on the ground and held the radio up to her ear to listen to the latest information from the Avenger. A few feet away from the group, Isis Dekker stopped what she was doing and grabbed Jericho by the shoulder. She spun on her feet to face the German mechanic, and a look of joyous recognition came over her face.

“Kate?” Isis’ voice cracked. “Do you remember me?”

“Of course, I remember!” Jericho pulled Isis into a hug. “You were my first mom, back on Hawaii!”

Above the pair, Isis’ Gremlin drone flew in an excited circle above their heads and made a chirping sound. Both Isis and Jericho choked up and cried for a few seconds.

“I saw the aliens take you away!” Jericho said, “In the forest on Kauai. I’m glad to see you’re alright!”

“I knew you’d survived, little Kate.” Isis half-sobbed, “You were always a tough kid. I just wasn’t expecting to see you here, like this! Where have you been this whole time?”

“I’ve been moving around East Asia.” Jericho answered. “Korea. Manchuria. Japan. Taiwan. A little bit of China and Mongolia, too. What about you? Where did the aliens take you?”

“America. The local Resistance had to break me out of a prison.” Isis paused, struck by a sudden thought. “Hey, wait a minute, you called yourself ‘Jericho’ earlier.”

The Hawaiian nodded.

“I don’t call myself ‘Kate’ anymore. I’m Jericho now. It’s a long story.”

“What? Why? How did you-”

“None of that is important right now.” Jericho interrupted. “We live through this, I’ll explain everything, I promise.”

“Fireteam leaders, gather on me!” Holly yelled.

Hal and I followed Holly a short distance away from the group so she could brief us first. All of the other soldiers started looking for and building defensive positions. When Holly beckoned her, Jericho broke off her talk with Isis and joined Holly’s chat with the fireteam leaders.

“Alright troops, listen up.” Holly began. “The Commander’s drawn a defensive line running from our position to the top of that hill a mile to the south. XCOM forces are being deployed along the line and we’re gonna hold it when ADVENT comes. Jericho, you said that’s your name right? What can you tell us about what’s coming?”

“They’re coming from the Southwest.” Jericho told Holly. “Moving along that highway we just came from. There’s about five hundred ADVENT Peacekeepers, supported by four tanks and a Siege Cannon.”

“Aw shit, they’re bringing artillery?” Hal asked. “Colonel, with all due respect, artillery is the one thing we can’t defend against. Shouldn’t we make a fighting retreat back to the Avenger?”

“You’re right. That’s the plan.” Holly answered. “The Commander and Central both say that it’ll take about an hour to pack everything up and get the Avenger ready to fly. If we try and take off right now, that Siege Cannon will be shelling us when the takeoff sequence is underway. We’ve gotta stop ADVENT from getting that big gun near the Avenger.”

“So our objective is to destroy the Siege Cannon?” I asked.

“No.” Holly said. “We’re going to make a delaying action, buy time for the Avenger to get ready to fly. We engage the enemy here and force them to deploy and fight. Once she’s ready for takeoff, we’re all getting the hell out of here. As soon as we take contact from the enemy, we’ll start that fighting retreat. Robinson, your fireteam will provide cover fire while Hal’s team and my team both fall back. Then we’ll dig into a new fighting position and give your team cover while you retreat. We’ll repeat that all the way back to the Avenger. Any questions?”

Hal and I shook our heads. Jericho stepped forward.

“I know this is going to sound insane, but you need to let me go back the way I came from. I promise I’ll come back in about an hour.”

“What!?” Holly, Hal, and I all said at once.

“Are you bloody daft?” Holly demanded. “You think you’re just gonna walk away after showing up here and telling us we’re about to be attacked!?”

“I have to!” Jericho spoke in a tone of voice that implied her answer was the obvious choice. “You and your comrades are going to need help, and I can get it!”

“And where’s that help going to come from!?” Hal said incredulously. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re in the middle of North Korea. If you leave here, you won’t see another Human until you get to one of the Mega-Cities. Seoul or Busan if you go south, and if you go north, you’d have to cross most of Manchuria before you got to Shenyang. We’re your only ride out of here, kid.”

“Precisely.” Jericho said. “There’s a Resistance Cell nearby, and I convinced them to follow behind us-”

“Stop right there!” I interrupted. “Jericho, the Avenger’s been here for almost two weeks. If there was a Resistance Cell in the area, we would have found it by now.”

Jericho folded her arms and looked defiant.

“No, you wouldn’t.” She said. “This group is from Mainland China. Like I said, they’ve been following me. I told them that they needed to help you fight this battle today, and then you’d take them out of here on the Avenger. The whole team’s camped out about a mile back, I just have to go back and signal that it’s safe to approach your lines.”

“Out of the question.” Holly said curtly. “We’ve been trying to get you on-side for years, Jericho. We can’t just let you leave again like-”

But Holly never got to finish her sentence. A loud screeching noise, like a thousand fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard, pierced the air and caused all of us to drop our weapons and press our hands to our ears.

“What the hell is that noise!?” Chihiro screamed.

“I don’t see anything out there!” Soylent raised his voice above the cacophony.

Just when I thought my eardrums were going to burst, the noise stopped; but there was nothing merciful about the sudden silence, because a moment later the noise was replaced by something far… far worse.

A harsh voice spoke softly in my ear:

“The end is coming.”

I jumped to one side and looked to see if anyone was there. Nobody was next to me. All around, the other Stormbreakers, Ludmilla, Sophia, Homura, and Jericho all startled exactly the same way I did. They had heard the sound too. When the voice spoke again, I felt my blood get cold:

“The Elders grant me their vision, and I am everywhere. The Elders possess many gifts. Where they see you, they send me. They have proposed an exchange: Surrender the one called ‘Jericho’ to my forces at once. In return, every man and woman aboard your ship will be spared and allowed to leave this place. If not… then you will meet the destiny shared by all traitors. Shall we begin?”

The voice fell silent. The screeching noise stopped. Everyone looked at Jericho. Isis took a few steps toward her, slack-jawed.

“You…” Isis looked like she was lost for both breath and words. “You- but… The Chosen are after you!?”

Jericho nodded.

“That sounded like the Assassin to me.” Matthew sounded frightened.

“Good, I’ll take the Assassin over the Warlock any day.” Isis said grimly.

“I’d rather fight the Hunter.” I said. “I’d be able to see him coming.”

All thirteen of the Stormbreakers had encountered the Elder’s Chosen warriors at least once over the course of the war. Big and powerful, these three aliens were the Elder’s personal favorites, and they’d been granted access to weapons and Psionic powers unlike any we’d ever seen before.

During her childhood, Jericho had lived with Isis on Kauai Island in the Pacific. The Chosen Warlock had found them and overwhelmed Isis with psychic powers unlike anything we’d ever seen before. The Warlock was the oldest of the Chosen, and therefore the most experienced. He supposedly had the power to conjure entire armies out of thin air. Reports, legends, and rumors about the Warlock go back nearly fifteen years.

Just a couple of weeks after Operation Gatecrasher, Chihiro and I had crossed paths with the Chosen Hunter. We just barely managed to escape from him without getting into a fight, and the two of us agreed to simply run away the next time we saw him. Kathleen Walsh reported that the Hunter had never missed a shot during any of his encounters with XCOM. According to intel, the Hunter only became active ten years ago.

Odette Fournier and Matthew Hawkins had both met the Chosen Assassin on separate occasions. Matthew had only caught a glimpse of her and couldn’t tell much. Odette had gotten into an actual fight with the Assassin and now refused to talk about it to anyone. The XCOM rumor mill suggested that the Assassin had personally given Odette’s French Resistance cell its greatest defeat. According to Intelligence reports, the Assassin was the youngest of the Chosen, having only been active for the past five years.

At the moment, Jericho didn’t seem overly concerned about being pursued by the Chosen.

“That’s why I had to disguise myself, and why you’re all in danger now. The Assassin’s been on my trail for the past couple of weeks, and she found you while hunting me.” She explained.

“So, you knew you were being followed, and you came here anyway!?”

The new voice caused me to look around. Ignatius Petoskey and Yutaka Yamamoto had overheard the last part of the conversation and they both looked outraged.

“You led the Chosen right to us!” Ignatius pointed an accusing finger at Jericho. “You’ve betrayed us to the aliens!”

“No!” Jericho’s eyes went wide. She raised both hands and took a step back from Ignatius. Yutaka stepped forward and grabbed Jericho by the arm, holding her in place.

“Now hold on a moment, Petoskey.” Yutaka said. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. This girl is clearly not a Faceless, and her warning about the enemy approaching us turned out to be true. So far, she’s been more than helpful and cooperative. I see no reason to discredit her words yet.”

Yutaka kept a firm grip on Jericho and looked down at her. I’d seen that expression on his face hundreds of times before. He was expecting Jericho to praise him for coming to her defense, but she was too busy pleading with Holly.

“Colonel, please let me go get those Resistance fighters and bring them back here. You’re going to need all the help you can get, anyway. You can’t fight off an ADVENT army and one of the Chosen at the same time! You’re going to need help!”

From the roof of a nearby building, Sophie Ackermann yelled:

“I can see the enemy! Trucks and foot soldiers coming around the bend in the road! One mile distant!”

While Holly peered through her binoculars in the direction Sophie was pointing, I grabbed Jericho by the shoulder and pulled her away from Yutaka.

“How the hell did you know all of this?” I demanded. “You knew about ADVENT getting the jump on us! You know where to find a Resistance Cell, too!? Where the hell are you getting all of this Intel from?”

Jericho grabbed my hand with her own.

“Blake, this is gonna sound really freaky, but you’ve gotta believe me, okay?”

“Any answer is better than none.” I replied.

Jericho pursed her lips and squirmed nervously. Finally, she spat it out!

“I… I… I know the future! Okay!? I know what’s gonna happen next and when! I already know how this fight’s gonna end, too! Now you’ve gotta let me bring that Resistance Cell over here or half the team is gonna die!”

Holly, Hal, and I all dropped our jaws. Yutaka and Ignatius both gave one another wide-eyed looks.

“Fuckin’ hell…” Holly breathed.

“Bullshit.” Hal croaked.

“You can’t be serious.” I muttered.

Jericho nodded. Then she added:

“Listen Blake: Chihiro is going to save your life three times today. Then Colonel Smith is going to knock over a Sectopod with an RPG, and after that Ludmilla is going to die! When all that’s done, you’re going to fight the Chosen Assassin make it out alive. Please! I know how this is going to end, but things will go really badly for you if you don’t let me bring help!”

Instinctively, we all turned on our feet to look at the Kuznetsova twins. Sophia and Ludmilla were about three hundred yards away, shouting at Odette and Matthew, who were still laying landmines on the side of the road.

“Come back!” Ludmilla yelled. “They’ll be able to see you in a minute!”

We were out of time. A decision had to be made. Holly, Hal, and I all looked at one another, half-panicked, half-confused. Could we really believe Jericho? Hal rubbed his arm nervously.

“I mean, we all know you’re Gifted.” He admitted.

My eyes went wide! How could I have forgotten that! Jericho’s Gift could easily explain how she knew the future, and besides: In my own lifetime, I’d witnessed an alien invasion of Earth, gone toe to toe with an Ethereal in a fight, been thrown twenty years into the future, and watched my own girlfriend develop psychic powers of her own. Was Clairvoyance really so farfetched right now?

Finally, I mulled over everything that had been said one last time, considered the options, and chose a side.

“Ma’am.” I said to Holly. “You should let Jericho go.”

Holly looked flabbergasted. I explained my thought process:

“Jericho can clearly handle herself alone, and we can trust her to tell the truth. Her prediction about the enemy was spot-on. We’ve gotta take a chance on her being truthful and honest again. We need to trust her on this one.”

Jericho smiled at me.

“I knew you’d come through for me.” She said. “Thanks, Blake.”

Holly threw up her hands in frustration.

“Okay, fine! Jericho, come with me. Robinson, Dekker and Macintosh, help the rest of the squad dig in ‘till I get back.”

…

According to Sophie’s observations, we had less than half an hour until the enemy arrived on our doorstep. The ADVENT Coalition’s so-called “Peacekeepers” were moving slowly up the main road, sweeping for mines as they went. The soldiers who make up the ADVENT army are a mixed force of Human soldiers and Human-alien hybrid fighters. However, it was impossible to tell which of these soldiers were human and which were not because they all wore helmets that covered most of their faces.

Down the road, Odette and Matthew had finally given up on laying more landmines and were making their way back to the rest of the team. Chihiro, Kathleen, and the rest of the Sharpshooters had found a three-story building to set up a new kill-zone in. They waved at me from on high.

“We’ve got good positions here!” Chihiro shouted down to me. “ADVENT’s walking into a shooting gallery!”

“What the hell’s a shooting gallery?” Homura asked.

“Something from the Old World.” I explained. “ADVENT hates them, so therefore we like them.”

“Good enough for me.”

Holly came back a few minutes later and reported that Jericho was on her way towards the northwestern end of town, where her own Resistance Fighters were camped out.

“She’d better come back soon!” Sophie said from her high perch. “ADVENT’s starting to deploy their forces. They know we’re here!”

It wasn’t the sight of the Stormbreakers that had put the enemy on alert, though.

 

With a loud whining noise and a rushing of air, a small aircraft with a wide belly and two tilt-rotor turbofan engines flew over the village and started to hover. This little craft was the Skyranger, an auxiliary aircraft XCOM used to deploy soldiers into combat. Hovering over a street corner, six rappelling lines descended from the ship and a new squad of XCOM soldiers fast-roped to the ground. While the Skyranger turned around and sped back to the Avenger, an Irish-American woman armed with a shotgun and sword detached herself from the group and ran over to us.

“Lieutenant Jane Kelly, Menace Squad!” The woman introduced herself with a brisk salute. “Me and my boys will be on your left flank. Delta Squad’s gonna be on your right. Voodoo’s coming up from behind to support us. Echo’s in reserve.”

Jane looked around excitedly.

“So where is she? I heard you guys got Jericho!”

“Not here.” I answered quickly. “Get back to your squad and we’ll deal with Jericho when ADVENT’s not trying to kill us, okay? Tell your men we’re facing a motorized enemy. Unpack the heavy weapons!”

Reluctantly, Jane returned to her troops. I stepped around the corner of the main road and looked west. ADVENT trucks were just visible behind a distant mirage. The enemy was getting too close for comfort, and I was starting to get that prickling feeling in the back of my neck that always happened before a big fight. In about an hour, a lot of people were going to be dead. I could just feel it.

My nervous feeling must have been contagious, because next to me Homura let out a loud sigh.

“I hate this part.” She said. “The quiet waiting before a battle.”

Reluctantly, I agreed. It was time to get ready for what comes next. At my instruction, Homura, Soylent, Matthew, Odette, Sophia, and Ludmilla all forced their way into a small house down the street from the structure housing our Sharpshooters. We pushed furniture out of the way and set up firing positions near every south-facing window. Across the street and a little further along, Holly, Isis, Yutaka, and Tsubaki tucked themselves into an alleyway and were lying in ambush.

Our trap was set. Now we just had to wait.

Wait for the enemy to arrive.

Wait for Jericho to return.

Wait for the fight to begin…

Chapter 5: The Second Battle of Pyongyang

Chapter Four

The Second Battle of Pyongyang

Wednesday, May 2, 2035 – 1:30pm

“Stormbreakers! Listen up!”

Holly’s voice sounded from every radio receiver as she addressed the squad:

“We’re gonna make a statement today! The enemy soldiers at the bottom of that hill are ADVENT! You know who they are! Collaborationists! Fifth Columnists! Traitors! These are the men and women who sided with the aliens when they attacked our world twenty years ago! And now they’re coming for us! They’re coming to kill you, to kill your friends, and then they’re gonna keep on killing until there’s no free Humans left! Today we’re going to put our feet down and say ‘No more!’ We’re going to show these bloody bastards what happens when they try to put us in a corner! Everyone remember the plan, stay with your fireteams, and don’t bring any goddamned bullets back the Avenger! Leave’em with ADVENT!”

“HOOAH!!” I yelled alongside my teammates!

All of the Stormbreakers, plus Ludmilla, Sophia, and Homura, had found good fighting positions inside of the various buildings in this little town. We all had sightlines to one another and a good Overwatch of the main road. To our south, Menace Squad had also occupied a bit of good ground while up north, Delta Squad had dug into a hastily made trench and was waiting for their que to move.

The rumbling of engines and the crunching of boots on gravel was getting louder now. A column of ADVENT Peacekeepers was advancing up the main road towards us. The afternoon sunlight glinted off their black armor and helmets, and dust rose up from the treads of two tanks that brought up the rear of the column.

“Steady, boys and girls.” I said quietly to my fireteam. “Hold fire ‘till they set off those mines.”

Soylent, Matthew, Homura, Odette, Ludmilla, and Sophia all kept a tight grip on their weapons and continued to peek out of windows and doorways throughout the house we’d taken over. In those painfully silent moments, I remembered what Jericho had told us about knowing the future. Was she right? Did she really know what was about to happen?

A movement in the corner of my vision drew my attention. Ludmilla Kuznetsova had noticed Soylent trying to ogle her chest and was trading places with her more conservatively-dressed sister.

Jericho had said Ludmilla was going to die today.

Screw that!

Keeping my head low, I slunk over to the Kuznetsova twins and got their attention.

“This isn’t going to be like those other firefights we’ve gotten into before.” I whispered. “ADVENT’s about to hit us with some serious firepower and heavy weaponry. I don’t want you taking risks. Don’t stick your heads out of cover unless you really have to, and give each other cover fire if you absolutely need to move. Promise me you’ll watch each other’s backs, and that you won’t get killed.”

“I promise.” Sophia said meekly. “We’ll be safe.”

“Don’t sweat it.” Ludmilla replied confidently. “We’ve got this!”

Back to waiting, and listening to the sound of the enemy drawing closer and closer.

In those last few minutes, I became hyperaware of everything. It’s a mental thing that happens to me right before a big fight. Taking in the little details is how I keep my cool: The weight of my body armor slowed my breathing, and my sweaty fingers slid along my shotgun’s barrel. I could feel the heat of my breath, every stone and pebble crushed under my boots; hearing the lightest creeks in the floor above as Odette changed her footing. In the tense waiting, nothing escaped my eyes, either. I saw a lone songbird nesting in the gutter of the house next door, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. I observed a flicker of movement in the house across the street as Isis Dekker’s little GREMLIN drone buzzed about the interior. I spotted Soylent’s eyes darting back and forth as he tried to stealthily peer down the front of Ludmilla’s shirt one last time.

Then the enemy appeared.

ADVENT Peacekeepers were now less than five hundred yards down the street. They had fanned out and were looking into windows and doorways as they went. One enemy soldier wore red armor that was decorated with a cape. The mark of a high-ranking officer. Slowly, I raised my radio and spoke softly:

“I’ve got eyes on an ADVENT Captain. Five hundred yards. Second man from the left of center. Blue Dragon? You see him?”

“Right in the middle of my scope.” Chihiro’s voice issued out of the radio a few seconds later. “Colonel, can I shoot?”

“Negative.” Holly’s voice answered. “Hold fire, let them get to the land mines.”

More anxious waiting.

Four hundred yards…

Three hundred yards…

CRASH!

One of Odette’s land mines detonated! An enemy soldier vanished in a cloud of smoke and dust while another was catapulted into the air and slammed into a building! The rest of the enemy squad started to dive for cover! Holly shouted for all to hear!

“GO LOUD!! FIRE AT WILL!!”

The sound of gunfire erupting on all sides at once was like a lightning strike! I could feel the deep thudding of each blast in my chest while a violent jarring sensation raced up my arms every time I fired my shotgun! In the first volley, four enemy soldiers crumpled right to the ground while their comrades scampered away for whatever cover they could find. The tank behind them ran its treads in reverse and tried to back away from the ambush, but it rolled over another one of Odette’s mines! A column of dirt shot into the sky behind the vehicle, the blast drowned out by the noise of battle!

A bright red light caught by eye! On my left, I saw Soylent firing his rifle out of a nearby window at an ADVENT Peacekeeper who’d been caught out of cover in the middle of the road. Not a single round reached its target, vanishing in a burst of crimson light in midair. The enemy was under protection!

“They’ve got a Shieldbearer nearby!” Soylent yelled, “Somebody get him!”

The drywall next to me erupted, spewing debris into the room! I threw myself to the floor as more Gauss Rounds sped over me, making loud snapping sounds as they went.

SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!

“Stay down! I’ve got you covered!” someone yelled over my head.

I kept my hands over my head while debris and bullet casings rained down from above! Matthew fired a few more shots out of the window, tossed a grenade into the street, and then took cover against the wall near me.

“We’ve got this, Trojan!” he yelled over the noise. “Get your girl and thin the heard for us! Do your thing!”

Oh, hell yes! Chihiro and I did indeed have a thing.

Almost reflexively, I scrambled back to my feet and started looking around for a way up. The whole western side of the house we’d launched our ambush from was shot to pieces as the enemy had started to return fire at us. Above me, there was a gaping hole in the ceiling and I could see through it all the way up to the attic two floors up. It wasn’t that far. I could make it.

By this point in my life I'd lost count of how many times I’d made use of my Meld-based Genetic Modifications. Luckily, this meant I could do it from muscle memory without thinking about it. Clutching my shotgun tightly in one hand, I jumped. I’d like to say I launched myself upwards like any normal person would, but I know that’s not what happened. I shot up into the air like a jumping spider, taking aim for the hole in the ceiling! I had timed the leap perfectly, and reached the top of the arc just before hitting my head on the attic rafters. With my free hand, I reached out and grabbed a beam, stopping my fall. I swung out and landed on the attic floor, not too far from that big hole in the wall that looked out onto the battlefield. The sounds of the fight were muted up here, but still loud as hell. Dropping to a prone position, I crawled right up to the edge and looked out over the wreckage.

It was hell out there. ADVENT forces were fully deployed and had started clearing houses. Smoke curled up from different places around the neighborhood as fires began to spread. Two floors below me, I could see the soldiers of Delta Squad starting to fall back through town while my team gave them cover fire. From this vantage point, I could see most of the town and the battle. The loud pinging sounds of ADVENT Gauss Rifles gave away those enemies I couldn’t see.

Setting my shotgun to one side, I pulled a pair of binoculars out of my pouch and refocused my mind. This trick always took effort and focus, but the payoff was worth it every time.

Chi. I’ve got a vantage point. Can you hear me?

I began thinking those words over and over again in my mind. I don’t have the Gift, so the only way Chihiro could pick up on my thoughts was if she was actually listening for me. After about a minute of mental silence, a slightly high-pitched voice wormed its way into my mind. Chihiro’s Gift had pulled through for us again!

Blake!? Is that you in the attic of the blue house on the corner? Binoculars in your right hand?

Yeah, that’s me.

My vision fogged for a few seconds as Chihiro took full advantage of the Psionic Link between us. Then I had a really disorienting moment of double vision as I saw the world from her eyes for a few seconds!

On the roof of a shopping center, Chihiro was adjusting the scope on her sniper rifle. I felt her eyelashes brush against the scope, and her skin getting hot from a nearby fire that was consuming the warehouse she was perched atop. Three XCOM Sharpshooters were around her, pouring sniper fire into ADVENT troops. I felt Chihiro’s skin crawl as she picked up the smell of fresh blood coming from Kathleen. Her teammate had been hit, but was still fighting! Pulling my mind out of Chihiro’s, I quickly noticed where she was relative to me, about seven hundred yards up the street to my left.

“Okay!” Chihiro said to her comrades. “Blake’s gonna start calling targets for us! Go ahead!”

I peered over the edge and spotted an ADVENT soldier wearing white and red armor. He was kneeling behind and overturned car with one fist pressed to the ground. Some kind of bright red energy was coursing along the pavement in waves before rising up to form a shimmering semitransparent dome. On my left, Holly fired her light machinegun towards an enemy position, only for her bullets to hit the shield and deflect harmlessly away.

“Enemy Shieldbearer!” I yelled aloud. “Two hundred fifty yards west-northwest of you! Behind that yellow car on its side! Aim low!”

For half-a-second, I saw the yellow car through the scope of Chi’s rifle. Then Chihiro looked at the target through my own eyes. She adjusted her aim.

CRACK!

The Shieldbearer never stood a chance! Yellow blood erupted into the afternoon sunlight as the soldier collapsed behind his hiding place! The enemy soldier reached up to his helmet to call for help, but-

SNAP!

Chihiro’s next round tore through the pulverized metal of the upturned car and finished off the Shieldbearer. I was already looking for the next target, and spotted a good one.

“Enemy rifleman! In the trench by the road! Two hundred thirty yards!”

This time, Chihiro looked through my eyes for nearly thirty seconds, adjusting her weapon the whole time until she squeezed the trigger. Dirt and blood sprayed up from the trench and the enemy soldier hiding there stopped moving. I didn’t hesitate, looking around quickly and calling out another target.

“Enemy officer!” I shouted. “Two hundred yards! Dead ahead, running across the street!”

“Where ya going!?” Chihiro yelled!

Dropping her sniper rifle to her side, Chihiro unholstered her pistol. The Shadowkeeper is a special one-of-a-kind weapon she had been holding onto ever since Operation Gatecrasher. Chihiro pulled the trigger three times in rapid succession, causing the ADVENT Officer to stumble and fall to the ground halfway through his dash to safety.

“Ha!” Chihiro laughed. “I’m too fast for ya!”

A sudden burst of gunfire forced Chihiro to duck down behind cover again! Someone was shooting at her! From my own high vantage point, I quickly spotted the enemy responsible and took aim!

BOOM!

My own shotgun let out a cannon blast of fire and smoke! I was sure I’d gotten the guy, just to be safe I peered around to see if I’d actually hit him, but a loud snapping sound told me to put my head down! Gauss rounds were flying over me! Splintered wood fell from the rafters as I shouted into my radio!

“I’m under fire! Does anybody see him!?”

“I got eyes on your guy, Trojan!” Hal’s voice came across the airwaves. “Across the street! Hiding in the white house! Living room, behind that bigass rocking chair!”

“We’ve got you covered, Trojan!” Homura yelled from below. “Go get him!”

I hooked my shotgun to its shoulder strap, reached up and unsheathed my sword, and jumped over the ledge!

Hitting the ground hard, my Meld-enhanced legs took the blow like shock absorbers! Moving faster than the speed of death, I was on my feet and charging across the street! Bewildered ADVENT soldiers tried to redirect their fire at me, but they were either too slow or gunned down by my squadmates! I was on the curb, across the lawn, and at the front of the house! The door was closed and barricaded from both sides. I didn’t care. XCOM Rangers don’t use the front door.

Launching myself forward, I crashed headfirst through the living room window! Glass shards and wood splinters flew everywhere! Clad in black armor, an ADVENT Peacekeeper rose from behind his hiding place to meet me! His big, boxy Gauss Rifle seemed to glare at me, but I was on him in seconds! Raising my sword in both hands, I brought the blade down in one sweeping motion! The sword connected with the top of the trooper’s head, slashed downwards across his chest, and sent him cascading to the floor!

A loud cracking sound right next to my head told me that someone had just tried to shoot me! Ducking down behind the big cushions of the rocking chair, I kicked the still twitching body out of my way and poked my head out of cover, trying to see who was shooting at me.

Oh… damn!

A whole squad of Peacekeepers was surging into the house from outside! They had their guns trained on me the whole time! I raised my shotgun and blasted one of them back out the door and shouted into my radio!

“I’m outnumbered over here! Need help!”

“Standby!” Chihiro replied. “We’ve got you!”

Crash!

A whole section of wall was blown away as a volley of sniper rounds tore through it! At Chihiro’s command, all of the Stormbreakers’ sharpshooters had turned their attention to my situation!

Chihiro, Kathleen, and Tsubaki were firing indiscriminately into the enemy’s flank! In front of me, three enemy soldiers crumbled to the ground, wounded or killed by the onslaught. The rest chose to scatter, looking for better cover. In the back of my mind, Chihiro’s voice triumphantly declared:

You owe me one for that, Blake!

Then Chihiro spoke aloud into her radio:

“The rest of Trojan’s fireteam is clear to cross the street! We’ll give ’em cover fire!”

Ludmilla, Sophia, Soylent, Homura, Odette, and Matthew all kept their heads low as they moved to rejoin me. One by one, they burst into the house and took up new fighting positions, dispatching the ADVENT Peacekeepers who had survived the initial assault from the Sharpshooters. Homura looked panicked.

“There’s a dropship!” she told us. “I saw it! Enemy soldiers just landed in the yard behind us!”

“Damnit!” Soylent said. “There’s already more of them coming up the main road. At least a squad of them, eight or nine soldiers!”

I swore and called Holly on my radio.

“Doomsday, be advised, my team is about to be flanked! We need help to break out!”

“Hold your position, Trojan. I’ll send somebody as soon as I can.”

I looked back up at my team.

“Alright everyone, we’re on our own for the moment. I want the Kuznetsova twins up on the top floor keeping Overwatch. Keep an eye out for that fireteam in the backyard. Vampire, mine the back door. Alecto, keep her covered! Soylent and Hanako, cover the main road. Now this goes for all of you: the second you think you’re going to be overrun, call for help. The only way we survive this is together. Everyone understand? Let’s get to work!”

We fanned out, taking total control of the little house. All around, the small Korean village was being annihilated one building at a time as ADVENT continued pushing XCOM back. Watching out a window, I saw Holly, Isis, Yutaka, and Sophie disengage from the fight and fall back. They’d been pushed out of the village entirely and were now fighting from a trench in the nearby cornfield.

“Here they come!” Soylent yelled. “Right side!”

Bracing myself against a bookshelf, I joined Soylent, Homura, and the Kuznetsova twins in laying down a volley of weapons fire as nearly a dozen ADVENT soldiers started trying to cross the street, using wrecked cars and piles of debris for cover. The gunfire was nearly continuous in both directions! Wood, plaster, and shredded insulation flew in all directions as our new safehouse was wrecked by a hailstorm of gunfire! In the street, bullets thudded into the pavement, the sides of old cars, and into the armor of ADVENT soldiers. Only two went down in that first wave of gunfire, and on our side-

“Gahaahgh!”

Soylent dropped his rifle and slid down the wall next to me, clutching at his arm as blood ran down his sleeve. I bent low to check out his injury.

“It’s not bad, you just got nicked! Man up and get back in the fight!”

Okay, I was lying about the wound being superficial, but I knew Soylent’s old Gene Mods would keep him in the fight, regardless of the fact that there was a Gauss slug lodged about an inch inside his bicep. He knew it too, and was back up in seconds.

Homura, Ludmilla, and Sophia had fallen back, moving away from the doors and windows. Sophia threw one arm out and pushed her twin sister to safety as the windowsill was shredded to pieces by gunfire! The incoming fire was getting too intense. The three of them were about to take shelter in the kitchen when a loud explosion tore through the house, kicking up dust and smoke!


“They’re inside!” Odette screamed from the back door! “They’re coming up behind us!”

The sounds of gunfire echoed all around the house, threatening to deafen us all! A flash of red light caught my eye and I heard a high-pitched scream! Odette fell backwards into the living room as a slim ADVENT soldier carrying a long club-like weapon entered the room.

“Lancer!” I shouted.

The ADVENT Stun Lancer activated her stun baton and snarled at me. Red light flickered as the weapon made an intimidating crackling sound. I reached up for my sword again and started to draw it from over my shoulder, but I was a second too slow! The Lancer was running straight at me!

CRACK!

The Lancer’s head jerked to one side and she collapsed in front of me! I ducked to one side as the now-dead soldier toppled over. Hitting the floor and sitting up again quickly, I shouted:

“What the hell!?”

Sorry, Blake. We got forced out of position! That’s two you owe me, by the way!

I don’t think I’d ever been so happy to hear my girlfriend’s voice, even if it was just telepathically. Using our Psi Link, Chihiro transmitted a mental message into my brain.

Keep holding the line, help is on the way. Jericho just came back. She’s got a dozen fighters with her. As soon as she’s done helping Voodoo Squad, she’ll come get you. Assuming I don’t get there first!

I raised my voice above the gunfire and yelled out to my troops:

“Help is on the way boys and girls!! HOLD THE LINE!!”

My fireteam mounted a desperate defense, fighting intensely as the enemy surrounded our house and started trying to force entry.

From the second floor, Ludmilla threw a hand grenade into the street, forcing the ADVENT soldiers to scatter. Her twin sister aimed her pistol into the yard and dropped another Shieldbearer as he ran for cover. Odette recovered from getting hit by the Stun Lancer just in time to gun down two more soldiers coming into the back door! She knocked over the old refrigerator and sheltered behind it as their comrades sent more Gauss Slugs her way. Matthew held down the trigger of his machinegun, sending a stream of hot lead into the backyard!

ADVENT forces saw the tracer rounds from his weapon and followed them back to the source, forcing Matthew to cease fire and relocate deeper inside the house. Homura had dropped her Assault Rifle somewhere and was now fighting exclusively with a pistol. She fired with lethal accuracy, dropping five ADVENT soldiers in as many shots! Her long black hair whipped around her body as she turned quickly to keep track of all enemy movements. Soylent swung his rifle like a club, striking down an enemy soldier who was trying to climb in through the window!

After what seemed like an eternity, the fighting lessened. We could still hear the gunfire coming from other parts of town, but for just a moment, our house was no longer under attack. The enemy had pulled back.

“They just keep coming!” Sophia panted, reloading her pistol with shaking hands. “How long are they gonna keep coming!?”

“Hey, Trojan. I’ve only got two mags left. What about you?” Soylent asked.

I counted the shotgun shells remaining in my vest.

“Four. Then I’m out. What about you, Vampire?”

Odette pulled the magazine out of her Assault Rifle, showed me that it was empty, and then loaded her last full magazine into the weapon. Sophia, Ludmilla, and Homura were in similarly bad situations. There simply wasn’t enough ammunition for everybody anymore.

“I don’t think we can hold off another hit.” Matthew said nervously. “Is there any way we can get out of here?”

“No chance.” Ludmilla replied. “We saw from up top. They’ve got us surrounded on all sides. Step out that door and you’ll get killed. Hang on, Sophia and I are going to try and scrounge up some more ammo.”

While Ludmilla and Sophia moved into another room, searching for spare ammunition, Homura spoke up.

“How long did you say we’d have to wait for help, Robinson? You did say that help is coming, right?”

I nodded.

“Jericho is on her way back.” I said. “She’s got reinforcements with her. We just need to hold out a little longer… what are you-?”

A shout caught my attention!

“They’re coming back!” Soylent yelled. “Two squads across the street!”

And then we were in the thick of it again! The enemy was hitting us, this time even harder than before! An alien grenade smashed through an upper floor window and blew away part of the second story! Odette and Matthew barely got away with their lives as timber, concrete, and plaster rained down from above!

Two more Stun Lancers got inside the house! With my last Shotgun shell, I blew the first one out the way he’d come before turning my sword against the second. Then, as though I’d been hit by lightning, I felt my arms and legs seize up! Paralyzed and about to topple over, I just saw in my periphery an ADVENT Priest making his way through the chaos. The light of muzzle flashes flickered off his white and gold armor, while a Psionic Amplifier in his hand emitted a brilliant light, aimed directly at me!

I struggled as hard as I could to break free from the Sustaining Sphere as it began to form around me, but I couldn’t make my arms obey, and I fell to my knees and slumped over to one side, coming to rest in the inside wall of the my new telekinetic prison. The sounds of the fight around me were deadened and muffled, but I could still see the action. I wanted to scream as Soylent was thrown backwards by a blast from another grenade, to shout a warning as a huge Muton burst through a doorway brandishing its serrated bayonet, and then to cheer as said alien was gunned down by the combined efforts of Odette, Sophia, and Ludmilla.

Just when I thought my comrades had brought the situation under control, another loud explosion in the street sent debris flying into our little safehouse! Still paralyzed by the Priest’s power, I couldn’t turn my head to see what this new threat was… but I didn’t have to.

“JESUS CHRIST! IT’S A SECTOPOD!!” Matthew shouted.

“Everyone, fall back!” Soylent barked. “Retreat!”

A huge metal leg, the size and shape of an industrial girder, smashed into the house from the ceiling, opening the air above me to the sky and the towering robotic warform above our heads. The Sectopod opened up a small hatch on its topside and began to deploy its main cannon! Sophia saw this and froze.

To her left, Soylent turned tail and began to run! The brilliant light and thundering sound of the Sectopod’s cannon tore through the house like a lightning bolt! Soylent ducked around a corner and collapsed on the living room floor, leaving a bloody trail on the walls and carpet!

Shocked beyond the ability to think or move, the older Kuznetsova twin let her rifle hang uselessly at her side as she stared up at the Sectopod. The giant war machine trained its cannon on Sophia! Again, I tried to break free from the Sustaining Sphere, but my arms and legs refused to obey. Mentally, I called out for help!

From his hiding place in the kitchen, Matthew yelled into his radio:

“Doomsday! The blast area is clear! Send in the RPG!”

Ludmilla and Homura lunged forward and grabbed Sophia around the middle, pulling her behind a pile of rubble just as the sound of a rocket-propelled grenade overpowered the rest of the battle!

CRACK-BOOM!

Two explosions, one after the other, ripped through the sky above me! The Sectopod staggered on its two thin legs, then began to topple. It keeled over sideways and crashed into the next-door house, sending all kinds of wreckage and debris flying in all directions! Little splinters of wood and pulverized metal bounced off my Sustaining Sphere. I was just about to thank my lucky stars for the shield when the loud crack of sniper fire was followed by the sudden collapse of the Sustaining Sphere!

The paralyzing effect was lifted and I could move again! Straightening up and looking around, I saw the crumpled body of the ADVENT Priest just a few feet away from me, hunched over a windowsill. Chihiro’s voice shrieked from a nearby rooftop:

“Back off, creep! He’s mine! And hey Blake! That’s three you owe me now!”

The loss of the Sectopod took the momentum out of the enemy’s assault. The playing field was level, and my troops began pushing back. Since my shotgun was completely out of ammunition, I threw it away and scooped up Homura’s Assault Rifle from the ground. The weapon had a shortened barrel to accommodate her small size, but that was a boon to me as well. Tearing throughout the wrecked building with the lightweight weapon in tow, I plugged every hole in the line I could.

I joined Ludmilla and Sophia in the garage and sniped two ADVENT troopers as they tried to cross the street. Then I dashed up to what remained of the second floor where Matthew was trying to lay down cover fire for Odette. Bracing myself on a windowsill, I fired in bursts towards an enemy officer who was hiding behind a wrecked car, forcing him to cease fire and keep his head down. Freed up to move, Odette ran around the side of the house and hurled a hand grenade like a fastball, blasting the Officer’s position and removing him from the fight.

Things were finally starting to fall under control again. Once more, the enemy gave up on the attack and started to withdraw. Five or six ADVENT soldiers aimed their Gauss Rifles at what remained of our safehouse and started to fire wildly and indiscriminately. I hit the floor and crawled behind the thickest bit of debris I could find while Gauss Slugs few mere inches above my head! Around me, everyone else did the same. After a moment, the firing ceased, and we were alone in our wreck of a house.

“How’s everyone doing?” I yelled. “If you’re not dead, sound off!”

One by one, the members of my fireteam shouted out from their hiding places.

One person was down: Soylent Green had gotten a full blast from the Sectopod’s cannon. Matthew and Sophia had used a Medikit to stabilize his condition and stop him from bleeding out, but Soylent was going to be out of commission for the remainder of the fight.

One person was missing: Odette Fournier had never returned after charging outside to toss a hand grenade. I wasn’t ready to write her off yet, Odette was a lone wolf. I was prepared to stake my life on her coming back. Quickly, Matthew poked his head out of the windowsill and looked outside at the wrecked street.

“We’re clear. Looks like they ran into that building our Sharpshooters are on top of.” He said

“I guess that means m- uh, I mean, Tachibana and Walsh took care of them for us.” Homura panted.

One by one the rest of my team filtered into a barren open space that had once been the living room. Ludmilla and Sophia were carrying four backpacks fully loaded with ammunition for all types of weapons, including the ADVENT Gauss rifles. With many words of thanks and gratitude, the team started to re-arm itself. Homura returned my shotgun in exchange for her assault rifle and asked:

“Where, when, and how did you two find all of that ammo? It’s incredible!”

Ludmilla shrugged.

“We’ve gotten pretty good at finding this kind of stuff over the years. Call it a talent.”

“You call it that.” Sophia quipped. “I think we’re just really lucky all the time.”

“Everyone load up quickly!” I ordered. “We’re going to fall back towards the Avenger in a minute!”

Sophia tossed a handful of shotgun shells to me. As I started sliding shells into the breach, I looked up at Homura and asked “Are you alright?” quickly before looking back down at my own weapon. When I realized Homura didn’t reply or acknowledge my words at all, I gazed back up at her again.

Homura wasn’t paying attention to me. I could see that her eyes were locked onto something behind me and to my left. Her jaw was slowly falling open as though she’d realized something. Then I froze as Homura raised her pistol, aiming at me!

“WHAT THE!?”

Homura adjusted her aim at the last second and pulled the trigger! I started to jump out of the way, only to notice that she had missed me on purpose! A purple light flared just behind me as some kind of Psionic energy dissipated! There was a Gifted enemy behind us!

Obeying my instincts, I opened up my mind to Chihiro right away. Even though she was about fifty yards away in a nearby building, she read the situation and reacted at once. Chihiro guided my weapon hand’s movements, forcing me to aim my shotgun into a corner of the room just to the right of Sophia! She squealed in fright and dove out of the way as I opened fire!

A shimmering wall of Psionic energy seemed to appear out of thin air! The deer slug hit the invisible wall and splattered like a fruit hitting the floor! Metal shrapnel flew in all directions and caused everyone to jump back!

In front of us all, and behind that protective Psionic Shield, a tall slender figure began to materialize. An alien, humanoid in appearance, was standing there. It was nearly seven feet tall, towering over Soylent, our resident giant. Purple light emitted from a pair of wicked-looking eyes while sharp white teeth snarled and gnashed at us.



The Elder’s Chosen Assassin reared up to her full height and growled at us:

“No one has ever done that before, and none shall do it again!”

We all raised our weapons! The Assassin drew her Katana and slashed it through the air! A wave of hot air rippled across the room, knocking all of us to the floor! Homura was up first! She charged towards the Chosen Assassin, who turned to face her. Homura tried to snatch the Katana out of the Assassin’s hand, but the foe was too fast! The Assassin drew her blade back and slashed Homura’s wrist! The teenager withdrew her injured arm and raised a pistol with her one good hand!

“The Elders have forbidden your intervention!” The Assassin snarled at Homura. “Be gone, interloper!”

The Assassin projected a beam of brilliant light from her Katana and blasted Homura clear across the room! She slammed into a wall and it caved in, burying her in pulverized plaster and splintered wood!

The Chosen Assassin spotted Odette trying to re-enter the fight through a side door! The Assassin unshouldered her own shotgun and fired a single blast! Blood splattered through the air as Odette grabbed her stomach and keeled over backwards, falling out of the door she’d just come in through! With her Katana, the Assassin cut Matthew's rifle in half, then slashed at his chest, destroying his body armor and sending him tumbling back to the floor! Sophia, Ludmilla, and I all attacked at once! The Assassin tried to hit me with her free hand, but was blocked when a Psi shield flickered to life in front of me. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt Chihiro’s heartbeat accelerate as she raced across the street towards us, projecting Psionic energy with both of her hands.

The Chosen Assassin tried to hit me one more time, but Chihiro’s Psi shield remained unbroken. While I scrambled to try and get around to the Assassin’s side, she refocused her attack on Sophia! She drew her Katana back and then lunged forward! Sophia lifted her assault rifle, determined to strike first!

“NO!”

Ludmilla jumped forward and shoved her sister out of the way! She raised her pistol and fired wildly at the Chosen! Without flinching, the Assassin brought her blade down and stabbed Ludmilla in the chest! With a terrible sound, the Katana pierced Ludmilla’s chest and came out of her back! The bloodied blade was only visible for a second before the Assassin withdrew it and kicked Ludmilla’s limp form out of the way. The younger Kuznetsova twin was dead before she hit the ground, her body collapsing on top of Sophia, who began to scream and wail unceasingly. Given a clearing at last, I raised my shotgun, took aim, and fired a deer slug right into the Chosen Assassin’s gut!

The Assassin roared and brought her blade down on me! I felt my body armor split in two before the floor came up to meet the back of my head! I could see stars blinking on and off in front of my face! Through a daze, I saw the Assassin turn away from me, preparing to attack someone else! But then-

Soulfire!

Bright blue and purple flames erupted all around us! The house was set alight as Chihiro made her entrance! The fire coalesced around both of her arms and took the shape of two burning shields! The Assassin plunged her blade into the floor and began dragging the tip along the surface, building up a wave of Psi-energy as she went. Chihiro tried to attack first! She banished her left hand shield and pressed her free index finger to the side of her head. When she pulled her hand away, thin whips of Psionic energy followed as though stuck to her fingertips. Chihiro pointed at the Assassin, and a bolt of lightning jumped from herself to the Assassin!

The Chosen pulled her sword up and took the blow without flinching! Then a rippling wave of invisible force washed out of the house like an incoming flood! Chihiro got caught in the deluge! Clutching her head with both hands, she screamed loudly before collapsing to the ground!

Seeing Chihiro go down lit a fire inside of me! Whatever pain and exhaustion had been in me before was gone in an instant! All I could think about was Chihiro, I wasn’t going to lose her like this! I started to clamber back to my feet, but the Assassin spun around and punched me in the face! For a moment, absolutely nothing made sense as I tasted pain and smelled blood. Clutching my bloody nose, I hit the ground again.

“You have fought honorably, with courage and conviction.” The Chosen Assassin said to me. “I see no reason to take your life. After all, the one I seek has arrived.”

The Assassin turned her gaze to the street. Sitting up, I followed her eyes.

About two hundred yards down the road, thirteen people were approaching. It was a mixed force of Resistance fighters from all over Eastern Asia: Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and Mongolians. The new fighters had tipped the balance of the battle back into XCOM’s favor. ADVENT soldiers retreated before the fresh troops. At the head of the new formation was a teenage girl with brown skin, blue hair, and purple eyes. Her bright yellow tee shirt stood out against the dull, muted colors of the battlefield. Ignoring the defeated Stormbreakers, the Assassin stepped out of the wrecked doorway and into the street.

As soon as they saw the Chosen, the twelve Resistance fighters scrambled for cover, diving inside of buildings and slamming doors behind them wherever they could. Some brave soul noticed that Jericho was still standing in the middle of the street and yelled at her from a second-story window:

“Hey, that’s one of the Chosen! You need to run! Get outta there!”

Jericho did not move. She only had one weapon: an old and battered-looking alien rifle. Clutching her weapon tightly, Jericho stared the Assassin down with unflinching eyes. The Assassin was observing Jericho with an expression that bordered on respect.

“It’s fitting that we meet on the field of battle.” The Assassin said. “I have no intention of quibbling over ideologies, histories, or objectives. My masters command that I capture you, Jericho, and return you to your rightful place among the Elders; so that together you may complete their urgent preparation for what lies ahead.”

Jericho defiantly raised her archaic rifle and chambered a round.

The Chosen Assassin gripped her Katana with both hands.

Everyone else took cover.

 

 

Chapter 6: Psionic Storm

Chapter Five
Psionic Storm

Wednesday, May 2, 2035 – 2:10pm

I know I said I wasn’t going to talk about the weather, but I really need to get a point across, and I can’t think of another way to do it, so just bear with me here: I’m originally from a place called Michigan. It’s a pair of large peninsulas that stick out into the middle of the Great Lakes region of North America. The lakes themselves are massive and cold, which means they can disrupt any weather system going through the area. Because of that, we Michiganders have a saying:

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait an hour.”

I’ve seen thunderstorms pop up out of seemingly nothing, watched a blizzard race across the landscape like it’s trying to win a race, and I’ve had the experience of seeing a windy December gale turn into a brutal ice storm that transformed my neighborhood into a frozen wasteland. I thought I’d seen all the different ways a bright and pleasant day could turn into something dark and terrifying. I thought I’d seen everything.

I’ve never been so wrong in my life.

When Jericho and the Chosen Assassin moved to attack one another, it was as though someone had plugged the sun into an amplifier! I jammed my eyes shut at the first pulse of violet energy, but brilliant red light filled my eyelids and blinded me anyway! Above, I heard loud screams and wails!

“What’s happening!? I can’t see!!” Matthew yelled.

A violent jostling sensation next to me forced me to open my eyes. The wall next to me had crumbled and was mere seconds away from collapsing! There was a mighty thud as something crashed into it again!

“The house is coming down!” I yelled. “Everyone outside!”

I stood up, and as soon as my head was level with the window again, I was bombarded by a new set of sensations. Psionic energy washed over the battlefield and my arms and legs suddenly started to feel a little numb. To my left, I saw something incredible!

Jericho was standing in the middle of the street, both hands raised in front of her face. A telekinetic shield flickered and wavered in front of her as the Chosen Assassin fired a continuous beam of energy into it! It was clearly taking all of Jericho’s focus to defend herself, and it seemed to be working. The Chosen Assassin was clearly having trouble maintaining her assault, her face screwed up in a mix of pain and frustration! 

Looking behind me, I saw that Homura was getting back to her feet, battered but still combat-ready.

“Hanako!” I yelled. “Help me!”

I vaulted the remains of the windowsill and started closing on the Chosen Assassin! The two Gifted combatants were radiating so much light that I could barely keep my eyes open! I drew my sword and charged straight at the Chosen! In both hands, I raised the weapon above my head and tried to bring it down into her side, but the Assassin moved faster than I was ready for, and parried the blow with her own Katana! The Chosen gave me a look that made me a little confused… her expression was almost courteous.

“Perhaps you’d like to try a more adept sparring partner?” The Assassin taunted. “You could have learned much from me if we weren’t destined to be enemies.” 

Her blade still locked onto mine, I felt the Assassin starting to push me away, hard! I dug my feet into the ground and tried to resist! I just needed a second, and I got it! 

Taking advantage of the Assassin’s distraction, Jericho and Homura both struck! Homura fired her assault rifle in bursts, shooting the Assassin in the back four times, while Jericho conjured a semi-corporeal lance and hurled it forward! Yellow blood spurting from her wounds, the Assassin yelled and finally managed to shove me away! I fell over backwards and hit the ground! My sword and shotgun clattered around me, I reached for both as the Assassin turned her attention back to Jericho.

“That attack might have proved dangerous, if you knew what you were doing.”

Suddenly, Jericho was on the defensive again! She backed away and gave ground before the Assassin, looking over her shoulders for anything she could use as cover. But the Assassin didn’t strike. Instead, the alien reached to her belt and produced a small device.

“Grenade!” Homura yelled.

The Assassin tossed the little device to the ground and it detonated on impact! Where there was suddenly too much light, now there was none at all! Whatever this thing was, it had shut off the daylight! Total blackness pressed in against my eyes so hard I felt an aching sensation in my skull!

“Join me in the darkness, and I will end this quickly!” The Assassin declared triumphantly.

I could hear the sounds of gunfire and violence all around me, but now I was completely and totally blind! Fumbling around in the pitch blackness, I found my shotgun and aimed into the spot where I’d heard the Assassin’s voice, but Jericho shouted!

“Blake! Don’t shoot!”

I don’t know how Jericho had gotten directly in front of me, but I was sure glad she’d somehow managed to spot me in the darkness. Her words were followed up by a loud rushing sound, a noise like a torrent of floodwater rose in pitch before falling away again. The noise was then replaced by the jabbering chatter of at least a dozen ADVENT soldiers!

“By the Elders will, I am reinforced!” The Assassin yelled.

I blinked as rapidly as I could, trying to force my other Genetic Modification to do something useful. After a couple of seconds, my field of vision suddenly turned orange for a brief moment as my modified eyes finally defeated whatever was blinding them. 

My vision came back, just a little, but it was back! It was as though I’d been plunged into a cloudy moonless night. The environment around me was still very dark and foggy, but I could see! Just behind the spot where the Chosen Assassin had vanished, a whole squad of Stun Lancers had stepped out of a rapidly closing Void Rift. As their psionic portal dissipated behind them, the enemy soldiers charged directly into the fray!

I scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could, just in time to dodge the bright red Stun Baton of an enemy Lancer. Panting, I slashed my sword wildly at the Lancer and cut a great big gash in her chest! As she toppled over, I saw how badly the rest of the fight had turned:

Jericho was under siege. Hidden in the shadows, the Chosen Assassin was firing her shotgun at Jericho with impunity, and it was all the Hawaiian could do to maintain a personal shield. Meanwhile, nearly a dozen ADVENT Lancers were running amok through the village! All twelve of the Resistance soldiers Jericho had brought back were holding the line valiantly, firing hundreds of rounds into the advancing enemy. I had to admit, without those reinforcements, our position probably would have been overrun. 

About twenty feet away, I saw Matthew slumped over a windowsill, twitching. I couldn’t tell if he was alive from here. Next to him, Tsubaki was grappling with a Lancer in hand-to-hand combat, barely managing to keep the Stun Baton away from herself.

I turned around and quickly spotted Chihiro. She was still lying facedown in the dirt where the Assassin had overpowered her. Bullets and gauss rounds were flying all over the place, grenades detonated and kicked up debris, and a large fire was slowly making its way up the block towards us. It only took me a second to figure out who I was going to help.

Dropping both of my weapons, I ran over to Chihiro and grabbed her by the arm. Crouching down, I pulled Chihiro upright and then allowed her to collapse onto my shoulder. Her head and arms hung limply and rested against my back while I wrapped my arms around both of her legs, keeping her in place. From up above, I heard two familiar voices yelling at me:

“Trojan! Get her outta here! We’ll cover you!” Kathleen shouted from a rooftop.

“The Skyranger’s coming to pick up the wounded!” Hal added. “We marked the LZ with white smoke bombs! Turn left at the corner!”

Then I heard a third voice, one that made my heart skip a beat:

“You intend to rescue your comrade? You do have an admirable sense of loyalty, for a Human.”

The Chosen Assassin was right behind me.

For half a second, I seriously considered dropping Chihiro to the ground so I could turn and fight, but then I thought better of it.

“It’s more than loyalty!” I yelled over my shoulder as I started to run. “Not like you’d understand that!”

A cold hand with long, thin fingers closed onto the top of my head! It felt like a huge spider had just clamped onto me! I yelled and started trying to break free! I felt a shudder run through the Assassin as she deflected another Psionic attack. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of blue hair…

“Surrender, Jericho!” The Assassin yelled. “Your comrades have fought with bravery and conviction! They do not need to die for you! Give yourself to me and I’ll let them all leave here!”

With overwhelming strength, the Assassin pulled on my head and forced me to turn on the spot to face Jericho. She looked unharmed. Panting, Jericho seemed unperturbed by sparks and little arcs of lightning jumping off her own body. Then I felt a huge pushing sensation! 

Chihiro and I both hit the ground! Turning my head, I saw that the Assassin was pressing her foot into my back, pinning me. With one hand, the Assassin had unshouldered her own shotgun and was aiming it directly at Chihiro’s head! Barely conscious and still dazed, Chihiro looked at me with unfocused eyes and murmured:

“B-Blake? Wha’s goin’ on?”

Straining against the weight of the Chosen Assassin, I reached out and grabbed Chihiro’s hand with my own.

“I’ve got you, Chi!” I said, trying to hide my panic. “I’m here, you’re okay!”

The Assassin let out a noise that sounded like a cackle. 

“Honor and loyalty amongst comrades, even at the final moment!” The Assassin told Jericho. “These two lives are not worth yours, Jericho! Do not waste something so valuable! Give yourself to me and they both live!”

A loud rushing sound and brilliant purple light told me that Jericho’s answer was coming in fast! With the last of my strength, I put both of my hands to the ground and did the most insane pushup of my life! Pushing against the weight of the Chosen Assassin, I lifted myself off the ground in one herculean effort! I must have caught the Assassin off-guard because she immediately lifted her foot off my rising body. Without even stopping to think, I threw myself sideways towards Chihiro! My head slammed into the barrel of the Assassin’s shotgun as I went and I came to rest on top of my girlfriend! Pain shot through my whole skull and I bit my tongue trying not to cry out! 

Then I heard the sound of an explosion behind me somewhere, followed by the Assassin’s voice, loud and full of indignant rage!

“You lack conviction! Your knowledge of Psionics is cursory! And now you can’t even strike a foe standing in front of you! You dare call yourself a warrior!?”

I looked up at Jericho. Her rifle was lying on the ground and she had both palms aimed at the Assassin. Purple wisps of smoke rose up from her hands as she said:

“Who said I was trying to hit you?”

Simultaneously, the Assassin and I both looked behind us. When I saw what was going on, I sprang to my feet, grabbed Chihiro by the arms, and started to pull her to safety. Psionic energy had washed over the entire battlefield, enveloping and engulfing the bodies of the fallen. One by one… 

The dead began to rise.

An ADVENT Captain, his armor perforated with bullet holes, stumbled upright and began to shuffle towards the Chosen Assassin. All over the village, the sounds of gunfire tapered off and confused yells took their place. A window shattered as two re-animated corpses smashed their way onto the street. Enemy soldiers turned their weapons away from the forces of XCOM and refocused on the undead! 

The Assassin raised her shotgun and blasted the re-animated Captain across the street, then frantically looked around as more and more fallen soldiers began to rise up from what should have been their final resting places. Isis and Hal emerged from their hiding places and helped me carry Chihiro inside another building while all around us, the rest of XCOM’s forces began to withdraw from the battlefield.

The Skyranger swooped low over a nearby house and settled in for a landing in the yard. Tearing my eyes away from the incredible scene before me, I followed my squadmates to the LZ. The Skyranger pilot, an American woman named Wendy Carter, laid Chihiro onto a stretcher and secured her in place. Then someone stepped off the Skyranger and came to me.

Ignatius Petoskey had taken the field. I’m not kidding around when I say he’s the oldest soldier I’ve ever met, he’s somewhere in his nineties. He’s mostly bald save for a few patches on the side of his head and he’s got a full beard. In my mind, I always picture him like one of those Generals from the American Civil War. When Petoskey came out of the Skyranger, he was holding a submachine gun in one hand and a Psionic Amplifier in the other. The two prongs of the Amplifier were lit up and a semitransparent little orb hung in midair between them. It shone like the sun and made me squint my eyes just to look at it.

Petoskey clipped his firearm to his belt and gently grabbed my shoulder. At once, all of the pain and exhaustion I’d been feeling since the fight started seemed to just ebb away. It was like I’d been dunked into the most comfortable hot tub in the world.

“Jericho?” Petoskey asked. “The Assassin?”

My mind refocused. I couldn’t help but notice that my thoughts were sharper and clearer now.

“Follow me.” I told him.

I led Petoskey back to the main street where we had left Jericho. Somehow, when we turned the corner, the scene was even worse than when we’d left it! 

Bodies upon bodies had piled up in the street. What few ADVENT soldiers remained had been killed by Jericho’s re-animated army and then their corpses had been raised. The Chosen Assassin was caught in the middle of it all, under attack from every direction! Her sword and shotgun flashed in the afternoon sunlight as she tried to keep the assault at bay! Dead ADVENT and XCOM alike were closing in while Jericho stood exactly where I’d left her, keeping both of her hands raised and straining from the intense concentration. 

“Oh, mon Dieu!” Ignatius gasped. 

I checked my shotgun to make sure it was loaded, then said:

“Let’s go! We’ve got to help her!” 

I started to run into the fray, only to notice that Ignatius wasn’t following. He was standing stock still, watching the fight with his jaw slightly open.

“Petoskey!” I yelled, “She needs help!!”

Just a few paces away from me, I saw Jericho cry out in pain and hunch over for a second before regaining her composure. She couldn’t keep this up forever! As long as the Assassin kept a handle on the incoming undead, the two fighters were in a stalemate, a battle of attrition!

Finally, something happened that forced both Ignatius and myself to act:

One more Zombie crashed through the ruins of the house where my fireteam had made its stand. This body had once belonged to a tall, slender Russian woman with brown hair. Ludmilla Kuznetsova’s head hung limply on her neck, unseeing and unknowing. Her legs carried her forward like some kind of poorly-programmed robot, and her arms hung limply at her side as though a puppeteer was only holding half of the strings. A second after the familiar Zombie had appeared, Sophia Kuznetsova stumbled out of the house and tried to chase the reanimated body of her twin sister!

“Ludmilla!” Sophia screamed! “Please come back! Don’t go! LUDMILLA! PLEASE!”

I pointed at Sophia!

“Petoskey! Help her! I’ve got Jericho!”

We both sprang into action! So did the Chosen Assassin! When Ludmilla’s body had shambled just a little too close, the Assassin raised her shotgun and fired at point-blank range! Ludmilla’s corpse crumpled straight to the ground as Jericho’s control over it was broken! At that same moment, Ignatius and I saw something break in Sophia. She fell to her knees and screamed until she ran out of breath! Ignatius pointed his Psionic Amplifier at Sophia and a purple beam of light shot out of the aperture, hitting Sophia squarely in the head! Immediately, she keeled over, unconscious. I ran around the Assassin’s flank and raised my shotgun! Then Ignatius, Jericho, and I all launched one last attack on the Chosen!

Two Psionic blasts and a deer slug hit the Assassin right on target! Ignatius vented Soulfire from his Amplifier, immolating the Assassin and everything in her vicinity while Jericho fired Psi Lances from both hands, impaling the Chosen through the chest! 

As the smoke cleared, I finally saw that we’d landed a lethal blow! Blood pouring from her wounds, the Chosen Assassin stumbled forward and dropped her weapons. With one shaking hand, she grabbed Jericho’s face and forced her to come close.

“Wh-who!?” The Assassin gasped, “Who taught you to use the Gift like that?”

Jericho raised one hand and pointed her palm at me. My shotgun jumped out of my hands and into hers.

“I learned…” Jericho pushed the barrel of my shotgun into the Assassin’s gut. “From my mother.”

And she pulled the trigger.

The Chosen Assassin screamed and tumbled over backwards, hitting the pavement and lying still. Smoke curled away from the final injury Jericho had inflicted.

Then, before any of us could say or do anything, the Assassin’s body began to emit a powerful white light! A column of brilliant purple light shot down from the sky and enveloped our fallen foe, forcing all three of us to cover our eyes until both light sources had vanished. 

When we opened our eyes again, the body of the Chosen Assassin was nowhere to be seen. Nor were her weapons. Just like before this whole battle had started, the voice of the Chosen Assassin filled our minds one last time, the Psionic intrusion leaving behind these chilling words:

“Though it pains me to flee from a worthy adversary, the Elders will not allow me to die in this world. When the time comes, I shall face my death with honor, but for now I will retreat. In fleeing this battle, I feel no shame, for the war has only just begun, and you are a worthy adversary. We will meet again!”

Then the voice was gone… leaving Jericho, Ignatius, and I to stare at one another with expressions of terror. In that moment of calm, the past few minutes seemed to finally catch up with us. I was in some kind of shock... and I don’t think I could have moved even if I had wanted to.

“All XCOM units, this is Central! The Avenger is ready for takeoff and the Commander has ordered a general retreat! Break contact and fall back to the Avenger! I say again! Break contact and retreat!” 

Bradford’s voice jarred us all back to reality. The radio on Ignatius’ belt squawked loudly as squad leaders acknowledged the new orders. Jericho stirred first.

“We have to leave.” she said breathlessly. “ADVENT’s still got that cannon; they’ll be raining fire down on us before too long.”

Jericho was right. During the firefight and encounter with the Assassin, we had completely lost track of where the enemy Siege Cannon was!

While Ignatius shouldered his weapon and started to pick up Sophia, I pushed the talk button on my radio and said:

“Trojan calling anyone on this net! Does anyone have eyes on the big gun?”

There was a few seconds of static, followed by the voice of an American man.

“Smokes here!” said Cory Tucker, a soldier from Delta Squad. “We’re trying to immobilize the cannon now! We don’t have any heavy weapons, so destroying this thing is out of the question. You need to haul ass and get back to the Avenger right now!”

I looked back at Ignatius. He had Sophia slumped over his back; her arms wrapped loosely around his front. 

“Time to go.” he said.

Ignatius started walking in the direction of the Avenger, but turned around when he noticed I wasn’t following. I had dropped my shotgun to the ground and tucked my sword into my belt as best I could. Jericho stood guard, watching anxiously as I bent down and picked up the broken and bloodied body of Ludmilla Kuznetsova. Ignatius winced.

“She’s dead, Robinson!” he called to me. “Leave her!”

Huffing and puffing, I threw Ludmilla’s body across my shoulders. Gripping her arm in one hand and her leg in the other, I caught up to Ignatius quickly and said to him:

“My sister would’ve wanted to bury me. I’m guessing Sophia wants the same. Let’s go.”

We got out of the village easily and joined a large group of XCOM soldiers fleeing across the open field back towards the Avenger. I couldn’t see any of the soldiers from my squad, so I fell in with a couple soldiers from Menace Squad instead. Bernard von Unfal was a skinny twig of a man with a narrow face and sunken eyes. He was walking with a limp and had to lean on the shoulders of another man. Artyom Sidrov was a Russian man in his upper sixties, yet he looked younger owing to how physically fit he was. Many years ago, he had led a Soviet Army in the initial invasion of Japan. Sidrov and von Unfal agreed to carry Ludmilla’s body between them, which gave me a chance to recover my strength. They both gawked when they saw Jericho put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“Is... is that...?” Artyom stammered. “Is the really her!?”

“No way! You’ve got to be kidding me!” Bernard gasped. “Jericho’s really here!”

Jericho ignored the staring men and spoke to me.

“Blake, I have to go back and get those Resistance fighters onto the ship. I promise, I’ll catch up with you and explain everything, okay? Just please have a little more patience with me, alright? Please?”

She looked like she was pleading with me, begging, even; which made me really uncomfortable. All she had to do was ask, really.

Before I could answer, I heard a loud whistling noise that I knew all too well!

“DOWN!” I yelled! “EVERYONE DOWN!!”

No sooner had Jericho and I hit the dirt than the earth heaved beneath us and a powerful bang made my ears ring! Looking up, I saw huge clods of mud and dirt raining down from the sky and a cloud of smoke billowing from a fresh crater in the middle of the field.

“That was the siege cannon!” I said. “Go get your friends quick! The Commander’s not going to wait for too long!”

Jericho got to her feet and ran back into town. I took Ludmilla’s body from Artyom and Bernard and started charging towards the ship by myself. All around me, nearly two dozen XCOM soldiers fled the scene! There was no order or discipline left, our collective morale had been broken by the artillery bombardment. Now we ran for our lives, and for the one ship that could save us all. The siege cannon shelled the field twice more! Both rounds landed hundreds of yards away from me, but they were nonetheless lethal! Two soldiers from Voodoo Squad vanished into the epicenter of an explosion, while the second impact sent a man from Delta Squad flying into the air before he crashed back to the ground and never moved again.

This was turning into a massacre!

By the time I got to the Avenger, I got an idea of just how bad the situation had become. Waiting at the bottom of the deployment ramp were two of XCOM’s highest ranking members: Chief Engineer Lily Shen and Central Officer Bradford. Chief Shen was a Taiwanese woman in her late twenties. Her orange tee-shirt made her stand out against the battleground like a sore thumb, but she didn’t seem to care. A GREMLIN drone buzzed loudly overhead, scanning the troops as they approached the ramp.

“Don’t stop down here!” Lily yelled to us. “Go straight up the ramp!”

Next to her, Central Officer Bradford was counting soldiers as they boarded the ramp. He was a worn out, grizzled-looking veteran with a scruffy, unkempt beard. Abruptly, he stopped counting and turned his head, pointing one ear towards the sky.

“Incoming!” Bradford yelled, “Everyone hit the deck!”

I threw Ludmilla’s body to the ground and hit the dirt next to it; then covered my head with both hands. The ground heaved upwards and fell down again, the movement accompanied by an earsplitting BANG! Desperately trying to ignore the ringing in my ears, I stood up and looked around. The enemy Siege Cannon had just fired on the Avenger and missed, but not by much. Dirt and mud fell from the sky, making a horrible sound. Somehow, the smell of the battlefield was even worse: sulfur, ozone, and blood all came together and made my stomach twist. 

On the other side of a fresh new crater in the ground, I spotted Jericho and all twelve of the local Resistance fighters she’d brought along. Just when I thought they were in the clear:

“Another one!” Shen screamed! “Everyone drop!”

One more time, we all hit the dirt as another artillery shell came screaming in! Even though my face was pressed into the ground, I could tell that the Avenger had just escaped destruction by a matter of meters! Sure enough, when I looked up, there was now a fresh crater smoldering just a few feet away from the ship’s boarding ramp. On the other side of that crater, looking stunned beyond all belief, was Jericho and just six Resistance fighters.

One of Jericho’s comrades, a skinny Korean girl, was staring at the spot where, just five seconds ago, six of her friends had been alive and well. There was a look of genuine terror on her face. Now all that remained of her teammates was a huge hole in the ground and little bits of burned detritus that rained from the darkened sky above. 

Jericho grabbed the girl and pulled her to her feet!

“Come on, Song! We’re almost there! Just a few more feet!”

The girl called Song and her five remaining squadmates scrambled back to their feet and dashed across the crater to the Avenger’s boarding ramp, reaching it at the same time I did.

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!” Bradford held out a hand to stop Jericho and her fighters at the boarding ramp. “Who the hell are you people?”

“They’re with me!” Jericho panted as she ran to catch up. “They can’t stay in Korea, ADVENT will kill them if they stay!”

When Bradford didn’t budge, she added:

“I’ll vouch for them, okay!? Just let us on board!”

I looked at Bradford, then back at Jericho, and then at Bradford again. He looked like he didn’t believe his eyes.

“Hey! Bradford!” I yelled. “That girl is Zander!”

Bradford did a double-take, his eyes going wide. Then he recovered and stood aside.

“I knew that! Get onboard!” He said unconvincingly. “On the double, move!”

As we stepped up the boarding ramp, Jericho hissed at me:

“Really, XCOM’s code-name for me is Zander!?” 

“It’s a long story.” I answered. “Ask someone later. Right now, we’ve gotta move!” 

Normally, the area at the top of the Avenger’s boarding ramp is a kind of cargo bay. On most occasions, this area is converted into a workshop for Chief Engineer Shen’s use. Today, however, it had become a triage zone. Injured, dying, and dead XCOM soldiers lay across the cargo bay floor in long rows. Several battle medics were hard at work trying to save a few lives here and there. On the far end of the room was an industrial elevator that led further into the ship.

“Don’t crowd the ramp!” Bradford yelled. “Keep moving in!”

Jericho and I started moving towards the elevator, but something caught my eye and I changed my course automatically. 

Chihiro Tachibana was lying on her back in a far corner, wrapped up in heavy blankets. Two battered and bloodied soldiers were laid out on either side of her, and I had to step carefully and kneel down in the isle just to get close to her. I was so scared; I could feel my heart thundering behind my ribs. I put two trembling fingers to her neck, and felt a warm wave of relief wash over me when I felt Chihiro’s pulse and saw her chest rising and falling. In that moment, I found a little peace and justice in the world.

“What happened to her?”

I looked up to see the blue-haired Hawaiian standing behind me. 

“She’s got a Genetic Modification.” I explained, choking back tears. “Whenever she’s telepathically attacked, her body kinda shuts down. It’s supposed to defend against Mind Control. She’ll be fine in a day or two.”

In the dim light, I could see Jericho’s violet eyes darting back and forth between me and Chihiro. She seemed to be thinking fast, considering an idea. But before I could figure out what Jericho was thinking about, the Avenger lurched and shuddered. A dull roar came in from outside, and when I looked towards the boarding ramp, I could see dirt and dust being kicked up by the spacecraft’s engines for just a second before the ramp rose up and slammed shut.

“All hands, standby for takeoff!” 

Bradford’s voice issued from a series of intercom speakers all over the ship as it lurched again! I grabbed Chihiro’s hand and held tightly as XCOM’s flagship departed the ground and rose into the sky! The air was filled with the sounds of coughing, choking, and soft crying, all accompanied by the gentle rumble of the Avenger’s engines and the rushing of the wind outside. 

The ship’s running lights finally kicked on and Bradford’s voice sounded on the intercom again.

“Alright troops, we’re free and clear. Good work out there. We’re coming into cruising speed now. All squad leaders, take account of your troops and equipment, then pass your status to me. I’ll be in Engineering.”

For the first time in several hours, I began to relax. Slumping down to sit next to Chihiro, I was suddenly aware of just how heavy my armor was, even in its badly damaged state. I tried to reach up to my breastplate to pull it off, but something soft and warm tugged on my left hand. Looking down, I saw Chihiro’s hand squeeze mine ever so softly. I jumped! This wasn’t supposed to happen! At least not for a couple of days! Panicking, I looked up at Jericho and saw...

Something incredible.

Jericho had pressed both of her hands to Chihiro’s head, and the points where the two of them were touching were emitting a soft violet glow. In the low light of the cargo bay, I could see that Jericho’s entire body was radiating a warm and gentle violet light... a light that was fading. Right in front of me, Jericho’s body literally lost its light as her Psionic energy was siphoned through her hands and into Chihiro. My girlfriend gripped my hand even more tightly and took a deep breath before slowly opening her eyes. 

Chihiro looked up at me from between Jericho’s fingers and said in a very groggy tone:

“So... what’s the score?”

I reached up with my free hand and gently brushed Jericho’s palm away. I held Chihiro’s face in my hand and this time, I really couldn’t stop myself from shedding a few tears.

“You: three. Me: one.” I choked. “Glad to see you back so soon.”

“Whaddaya mean ‘soon’?” Chihiro asked.

I looked up at Jericho, and saw that she now looked very tired. Whatever she’d done must have cost her a lot of energy. She swayed dangerously, as though she might swoon or faint. I reached out and grabbed Jericho by the shoulder, holding her steady.

“I’ll be fine.” she mumbled. “Just... just tired out. I need to stay here... stay and... recharge.”

“Wait, you mean you need to rest, right?” I asked.

“No...” Jericho’s frustration was masked by grogginess. “I mean literally recharge. Get my powers back. I just need a break.”

“You can get a break in Doctor Tygan’s lab.” Said a voice over my shoulder.

I jumped from surprise. Chihiro did too. Without getting out attention, Central Officer Bradford and Chief Engineer Shen had appeared behind us. They were being escorted by two armed XCOM soldiers. The sounds of the wounded and the ship’s engines had masked their approach. I quickly sprang to my feet and started to raise my arm in salute, but Bradford shook his head and waved me off.

“Good work getting the Jericho girl back here in one piece, Cadet.” Bradford said. “You’ve just made all of our sacrifices over the past twenty years worthwhile. Alright, Shen. Let’s get this over with: Tag her.”

Shen and the two soldiers moved so quickly that I had no time to respond! Chihiro screamed and moved out of the way as both of the soldiers grabbed Jericho and forced her to lay flat on her back! Chief Shen reached into her pouch and knelt down next to her, saying:

“Hold her still!”

One soldier pinned Jericho’s wrists while the other grabbed her ankles. Jericho didn’t move, but she did say:

“Ow! Wait! You don’t have to do that! I’m not resisting! I’m not fighting!”

Chief Shen pulled a small rectangular object out of her pouch, rolled up Jericho’s left pant leg, and then began affixing the device to Jericho’s ankle with a tight strap. 

“Hey!” I protested, “What’s going on?!”

Bradford spoke to me, but kept his eyes on Jericho.

“We just got the only living subject of Project Jericho back. The Resistance Council had a goddamn cow when we passed the news onto them a few minutes ago. Both the Spokesman and the Commander insisted we take measures to ensure we don’t lose her again. Shen’s taking care of that right now.”

As soon as the device was secure around Jericho’s ankle, Chief Shen pulled a syringe from her breast pocket and then traded places with the soldier holding Jericho’s arms.

“This is the solution I came up with.” Shen explained. “I reverse-engineered it from the Organic Implant we found in that Lena Bishop woman after we lost Doctor Vahlen’s island last year. It’s like a GPS tracking device without the GPS.”

Shen rolled up Jericho’s sleeve and pressed the needle into her arm. She pressed the plunger and held it down until she was satisfied the organic tracking device was inside Jericho’s body.

“We’re not losing you again, that’s for sure.” Shen commented as packed up her equipment. “Now kid, don’t you dare try and take off that bracelet. You really won’t like what’ll happen.”

Shen stood up and ordered her men to release Jericho.

“Central, if you need me for anything else, I’ll be in the Shadow Chamber.”

Chief Shen and her two soldiers departed, leaving Chihiro, Bradford, a very battered Jericho, and myself together. Jericho cautiously sat up and rubbed the injection site on her arm, looking forlornly at her new ankle bracelet. I stared at Bradford, unable to think of what to say.

On the one hand, I genuinely agreed with him that some kind of steps needed to be taken to avoid losing track of Jericho... but in that moment, I honestly didn’t know how I felt about her being forced to carry a tracking device. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea, that much was certain.

Bradford didn’t give me time to think about this, though.

“Are you okay, Cadet?” he asked. “You fit for duty?”

I looked myself over.

“I… I guess so.” I said. “I’m not hit, anyway. If you need me, Sir, I’m all green. Did Colonel Smith ask for me?” 

“Yeah… about that...” Bradford said slowly. “It looks like Colonel Smith didn’t make it back to the Avenger before we took off. Same goes for Captain Green. Until we find a more permanent replacement, the Commander has decided that you will be the new Squad Leader of the Stormbreakers.”

Now I was getting overwhelmed! This was too much on top of everything else! My heart felt like it dropped into my stomach, my sweat turned cold, and Chihiro’s grip on my hand suddenly got vicelike. I tried to say something, but I was too shocked… my mouth just kinda hung open. Bradford gave me an understanding look and passed me a tablet computer.

“Here’s the most recent update to your squad’s roster.” Bradford said. “We took attendance as best we can, but obviously I’m expecting you to do your own headcount as well. Once the Avenger lands in Japan, I want you to bring the Jericho girl to the Commander’s office. We need to have a full debrief.”

I took the tablet from Bradford. He nodded to me and Chihiro, then he stooped down, grabbed Jericho by the arm and forcefully pulled her upright.

“You’re coming with me.” Bradford’s voice made it clear that this was not a request. “Doctor Tygan’s pulling up all of Vahlen’s files on the Jericho Project now, but he still needs to give you a full physical. Then we’ll get you re-integrated into XCOM. Let’s go.”

Bradford began pulling Jericho towards the elevator. She gave Chihiro and I an apologetic look; and then the words I promise I’ll talk to you later swam through my mind. Chihiro and I gave one another a terrified look before staring down at the image on the computer screen:

 

Chapter 7: Explain Yourself

Chapter Six

Explain Yourself

Wednesday, May 3, 2035 – 4:00am

Honshu Island, Japanese Archipelago

 

Hidden away in the mountains of central Japan, the village of Kanna had escaped alien rule thanks to its sheer inaccessibility. The near-complete destruction of the nearest city, Tomioka, meant that food and supplies had to come from the much more distant Mega-City of Tokyo. Thanks to its remoteness, the greatest amount of control the alien occupiers could exert over Kanna was the occasional foot patrol or flyover with a single aircraft. The Resistance, by contrast, had a permanent presence in town, a presence that brought in the food and medicine the people of Kanna desperately needed.

So when the Avenger swooped low over the city and landed in the nearby forest in the middle of the night, no alarms were raised, but a handful of men departed the village and set about the task of helping hide the ship. Tree branches and shrubs were carried up on ladders and thrown onto the top of the ship. Saplings and vines were strapped to the hull with twine and wire, and through the rest of the night, buckets upon buckets of dirt were poured onto the hull of the Avenger. By the time the sun rose, the Avenger was hidden. With her lights off and engines deactivated, a passerby would have immediately mistaken XCOM’s flagship for a forested hilltop.

Aboard the ship, we were still dealing with the aftermath of the fight in Pyongyang. All five squads had taken casualties. In total, eleven XCOM soldiers were dead, a further fifteen were injured, and to make matters worse, ten soldiers had been left behind when the Avenger made its escape into the sky.

The Stormbreakers had gotten the worst of it. Of course, we were used to taking bad hits like that, but this time was different. Odette, Isis, and Hal had all been shot during the fight. Once they were checked out by other medics, we let Yutaka take care of them, since he’s better at treating Gauss weapon injuries than any other medic. I was sure all three of them would be back on their feet in a few days’ time.

Ignatius Petoskey came out of the fight unscathed, but he wasn’t looking to get any rest either. He went to the Infirmary with Sophia Kuznetsova, who had been reduced to a sobbing wreck by the death of her sister. I couldn’t blame her, I knew how she felt. I’d been there before.

But we had an even bigger problem: Holly, Jake, Tsubaki, Kathleen, Sophie, and Matthew had all been left behind when the order to retreat came down. When I heard about this, I got sick and puked on the floor.

I’d abandoned six of my comrades to the enemy.

I didn’t get any sleep during the flight to Japan. I just sat in my bunk in the living quarters all night, staring at all of those empty beds. I don’t remember exactly when Chihiro joined me up there, but she did. We didn’t talk much. What could be said? Our friends were in enemy hands, and we didn’t even know if they were still alive. Just sitting there silently and holding hands was all Chi and I could do. It was traumatizing to think about what might have happened to our friends, let alone talk about it.

Finally, the Avenger landed in Japan. Normally, whenever the ship sets down, Chihiro and I have a specific job to do, but she would be going alone this morning. As the new Squad Leader of the Stormbreakers, I had to report to the Commander’s office. Reluctantly, Chi and I both got down from the bunk bed and started towards the door. I was dreading the upcoming meeting, and each step forward made me feel worse and worse.

“You okay, Blake?” Chihiro asked.

“Come on, you know I’m not!” I kinda snapped at her. “Don’t be stupid!”

Okay, I might have been in the wrong here.

Chihiro developed the Gift a few months back, and we’ve only just gotten used to it. On top of the usual telepathic and telekinetic abilities, Chihiro could read my mind whenever she wanted. Sure, we’ve found a way to put that Psionic Link to good use in combat, but it does have an effect on our private lives, too. It’s caused Chihiro to change her behavior around me. Sometimes, like now, she’ll pretend she doesn’t know what’s going on in my head. I really didn’t want her to do that today.

Chihiro picked up on my thoughts right away. She stopped walking and grabbed my shoulders with both hands, turning me to face her.

“It’s not your fault, Blake.” She said.

“I left them out there! I could’ve dropped Ludmilla and-”

Chihiro cut me off.

“If you went back for Tsubaki or Matt or Holly, you’d have just been caught too. Then that slimeball Yamamoto would be running the squad instead of you. Besides, I think giving Sophia a body to bury will help her in the long run. She can say goodbye properly. Trust me, Blake, you did good out there.”

I did trust Chihiro, and I didn’t have to say it for her to know. She gave me a small smile and a quick kiss.

“You’d better go.” She said softly. “Commander’s waiting on you. I’ll see you later?”

“Hell yes.” I said, stepping out of the door. “Don’t forget, Chi, I’m your Squad Leader now. If you’re late for breakfast, I’ll have you doing pushups.”

Chihiro laughed and swatted the back of my head. We parted ways in the hall, and by way of saying goodbye, I let a very specific daydream enter the forefront of my mind. Behind me, I heard Chihiro scoff loudly as she called back:

“Later, Blake! Love you!”

…

To get to the Commander’s office, I had to go up one floor to the bridge. The Avenger’s bridge isn’t like the starship bridges you saw in Old World television shows. The whole room makes a ring around a huge holographic representation of the Earth. Red, yellow, and blue icons show the locations of ADVENT, Resistance, and XCOM forces respectively. Central Officer Bradford was standing on an elevated platform and staring hard at one particular icon on the Hologlobe: a circular shape that kind of looked like an eye, resting just a short distance away from a big green “X” that marked the Avenger’s current location.

“The office door’s unlocked, Robinson.” Bradford said. “Go on in, I’ll catch up in a minute.”

On the far side of the bridge was a metal stairway that took me up to the Commander’s office. Inside I found a big conference table set up with five chairs on one side, four on the other, plus one more chair at the head of the table. At the other end of the table, a huge flatscreen television was mounted on the wall where everybody could see it. Five seats were already taken. The other four Squad Leaders were already here, as was Chief Engineer Lily Shen. The Squad Leaders broke off their conversation and looked up at me with mixed expressions.

Lieutenant Jane Kelly, the leader of Menace Squad, nodded politely at me before turning back to Chief Shen. Her reddish-brown bangs hid most of her expression from me. She had a noticeable scar on her right arm, marking the spot where she’d taken fire during Operation Gatecrasher, the mission to rescue myself and several others from ADVENT captivity.

Major Cory Tucker was the leader of Delta Squad. A longtime veteran of the United States Army, he was the most experienced fighter at the table right now. Just like me, Cory was an American with mixed black and white heritage, so it’s kinda difficult to describe his appearance in any certain terms. He does have purple eyes, a feature that instantly gave away his Gifted status. Cory pointed to the chair opposite him, silently letting me know that it was free.

The man in charge of Voodoo Squad was Colonel Pyotr Ilyshin. I have far more history with him than I can relate right now. Pyotr and I had first met on the Japanese Front of World War Three. Back then, he had been a foot soldier in the Soviet Army, taking part of the communist invasion of Japan. We crossed paths (and traded bullets) at Kyoto, Sendai, and Hiroshima. When the aliens invaded, we suddenly found ourselves on the same side. He didn’t even look at me when I stepped into the room.

Finally, the acting leader of Echo Squad was Captain Anna Petrova. She’s one half of what Chihiro and I call the “crazy couple.” Anna has always been a rather strange person, who liked to voice her crazy and outlandish ideas, but this personality trait was amplified a hundredfold whenever she was near her best friend, Japanese soldier Akaya Ogawa, who was equally as unhinged. Like me, Anna wasn’t a full-time Squad Leader, she was just filling in due to the absence of her squad’s original leader.

No sooner had I sat down across the table from the other four Squad Leaders than the door opened behind me again. Central Officer Bradford stepped to one side and barked:

“The Commander of XCOM!”

Lily, Jane, Cory, Pyotr, Anna and I all stood up at once and raised our arms in salute.

Three people followed Bradford into the room: Doctor Richard Tygan was a bald African American man who served as XCOM’s chief scientist. From the front, he looked unremarkable, but as he turned to take his seat next to me, I got an eyeful of the gruesome scar on the back of his head, marking the spot where the Doctor had performed surgery on himself to get rid of an alien control chip. Behind Doctor Tygan, Jericho came into the room. She looked a little better than yesterday, but not by much. She had rolled the hem of her blue jeans overtop of her ankle bracelet, hiding it from view. Jericho sat down on my other side and mumbled a nervous hello. Finally, the Commander stepped into the room.

Laura Annmarie Harper is an American woman in her late sixties. She’s mixed-race like me: her mother was white and her father was Hispanic. While nobody knows much about Commander Harper’s mother, her father is pretty well-known to us. Laura is the illegitimate child of Nico DaSilva, the very first XCOM Squad Leader to die in combat. During the 1962 alien invasion, he fought in the Battle of Pima and single-handedly took down a whole squad of Outsiders at the cost of his own life. His self-sacrifice that day was honored with a humble memorial in the old XCOM Headquarters. To say that his daughter followed in his footsteps is a real understatement.

Laura had been part of the US military since the late 1990’s, and had fought in all six years of World War Three. When the smoke cleared, she had reached the rank of General of the Army, the highest possible military rank in the United States. Naturally, when the aliens invaded, America’s one and only five-star general was quickly tapped to lead Earth’s first line of defense.

Commander Harper is a tactical genius. It’s only thanks to her that XCOM lasted as long as it did during the 2015 Invasion. The Kiryu-Kai Disaster would have been much, much worse if Harper and her forces hadn’t been there to give the Japanese some backup. The alien ship that became the Avenger wouldn’t have been shot down if Harper hadn’t been managing the air war. Many battles and engagements over the course of this conflict have been turned in XCOM’s favor by Harper’s quick thinking and tactical knowledge.

Returning our salutes, Commander Harper sat down at the conference table, invited us to do the same, and then addressed the group:

“Yesterday was a hard day. We took some pretty bad hits, but we’re still here and still fighting. That’s what’s important.”

Then the Commander looked at Anna and myself.

“Petrova, Robinson, I’m sorry that both of you became Squad Leaders like this, but after reviewing the After Action Reports, I’m convinced you both did the right thing in those situations.”

I heard Anna let out a sigh of relief. Jericho put a reassuring hand on my forearm.

“Which brings me to my first bit of good news.” Commander Harper pulled a remote control from her pocket and aimed it at the television screen. “Your comrades are alive.”

The television at the opposite end of the table clicked on. At once, we saw a live feed from the ADVENT Central News Network. A correspondent was standing on the darkened battlefield near Pyongyang, which was swarming with soldiers and vehicles. The Correspondent, a black man with wiry grey hair, spoke to the camera:

"ADVENT Peacekeepers heroically responded to an XCOM assault today. Due to their intervention, damage and loss of life were limited. The Speaker himself commended the troops for their brave sacrifice."

The image cut away from the Correspondent to show footage that made my throat close up. The missing Stormbreakers were shown being detained by ADVENT soldiers:

Soylent Green was resisting arrest, fighting and wrestling with the Peacekeepers until he was finally subdued with a Stun Lance.

Tsubaki Endo was lying on a medical gurney, refusing to talk with an ADVENT Priest. Both of her Cybernetic legs had been removed.

Kathleen Walsh was lying face down on the ground. While one soldier held her down, another was going through her pockets.

Sophie Ackermann was putting up the biggest fight of all. She squirmed and flailed desperately, screaming and shrieking at her captors. Finally, she was stunned three times and fell unconscious.

Holly Smith had been stripped down to her underwear and forced to stand still so a Peacekeeper could take pictures of her numerous tattoos.

Like Tsubaki, Matthew Hawkins had been restrained to a medical gurney and was also refusing to speak to the enemy. I couldn’t help but notice that he had a shiny black eye, and his interrogator was looking very frustrated.

Then the image changed, showing a few members of Echo Squad emerging from a house with their hands raised in a sign of surrender. As they were taken into custody, the Correspondent continued speaking:

“The ADVENT administration again assures its citizens that outreach efforts in the border territories will continue despite the recent brutal assault on peacekeeping forces by XCOM radicals. The administration is committed to ensuring a safe and secure world for everyone. According to government officials, recent attacks by dissident elements operating outside of the city centers have done little to slow the progress of ADVENT's ongoing development or outreach programs. Voluntary citizen emigration numbers are reportedly at their highest level in recent years, and with today's decisive blow to XCOM dissidents, local Peacekeepers expressed confidence that the so-called resistance organization is on its last legs.”

The image froze, leaving our distressed comrades on the screen for all of us to see. We all turned to face the Commander again. She set down the TV remote and raised her eyebrow at me.

“Well, Robinson and Petrova seem to be looking a little better.” Commander Harper said. “I want you all to rest assured that a rescue plan is in the works. I’ve made contact with several Resistance cells and they’ve agreed to put out feelers at all nearby ADVENT Detention Centers and Rehabilitation Facilities. I promise you that as soon as we know where those soldiers are, we will make moves to get them back.”

The Commander nodded at Central Officer Bradford, who stood up and addressed the group.

“In the meantime, we need to discuss the reason yesterday’s fight happened at all.”

With uncomfortable reluctance, all eyes in the room fell on Jericho. I felt her shudder next to me, but I couldn’t look her in the face. This was a conversation I really didn’t want to have. It felt like Jericho was in the same boat.

“You all know I’m too old to start believing in miracles, but that’s the word I’ve gotta use here.” Bradford said, patting Jericho on the back.

“Getting Sergeant Sato’s daughter back into the fold has got to be our greatest coup since Operation Gatecrasher. Now I’m sure everyone here remembers the Jericho Project twenty years ago, and what Vahlen and Sato were trying to accomplish back then. I guess I’ll pass it to the good Doctor and he’ll explain more.”

With much squeaking of chair legs, Doctor Tygan stood up and addressed the meeting.

“Last night, before the Avenger landed, I conducted a simple genetic test on this young lady and compared it against tissue samples salvaged from my predecessor’s work on the Jericho Project. I can confirm that this individual is in fact the end result of the Project, and is the self-same person Corporal Dekker claims to have raised in the years following the rise of ADVENT.”

Jane and Anna leaned forward in their seats, trying to get a better look at Jericho, who didn’t meet their eyes, choosing to look at the table instead. Doctor Tygan continued:

“I’m sure Cadet Robinson and his comrades will attest to her Psionic capabilities, having witnessed them so recently. Following my own tests, I also confirmed that all of the Genetic Modifications installed by Doctor Vahlen are present in Miss Ray’s body and are working as intended. During yesterday’s bout of combat, Miss Ray fought the Chosen Assassin and demonstrated her ability to use Psionic powers normally outside the capabilities of our own Psi Operatives. Thanks to her modifications, Miss Ray has shown she is capable of raising the dead in a similar manner to our enemies, an ability that none of our own Operatives possess.

“The Genetic Modifications made to Jericho’s brain are based on technology developed by many of XCOM’s greatest minds. This young woman has been living with the same series of organic Neural Implants since her mother’s last surgery in June of 2015. Doctor Moria Vahlen based the technology on implants salvaged from the brain of a deceased Ethereal.”

Awed whispers ran around the table. Jericho blushed and hid her face in her hands while everyone else tried to stare at her. Doctor Tygan ignored the interruption.

“Furthermore, you should all know that it’s not just Ethereal genetic material contained in Jericho’s body. Her muscle fibers are built from reverse-engineered tissue samples taken from a Muton in 1962, courtesy of Doctor Alan Wier, our first Chief Scientist.”

“WHAT!?” Cory yelled. “A ’62 Muton!? You’ve gotta be kidding!”

Commander Harper chucked at his indignation. We all knew why Cory was upset. It’s a well-known fact among XCOM soldiers that ever since the first alien invasion over seventy years ago, the race of barbaric warrior-aliens known as “Mutons” had been getting smaller and weaker over time.

Contemporary Mutons from 2035 are just barely bigger than average Humans.

Mutons from the 2015 war were comparable to mid-sized cars.

And according to reports from the 1962 war, Mutons were roughly the size of elephants and just as strong.

I couldn’t help it. I turned my head back to Jericho. She looked very sheepish and gazed down at her own hands again while I sized her up.

Jericho was just nineteen years old. Compared to everyone else in the room, she was a scrawny little kid. She was shorter than me and I probably had a fifty-pound advantage over her. The second I heard she had Muton muscles, my curiosity got the better of me. I tapped her arm and said:

“Muton muscles, huh? May I?”

Jericho raised her arm and flexed her bicep. While the others watched, I wrapped both of my hands around Jericho’s arm and tried to squeeze!

Two things happened at once: First, I noticed that Jericho’s arm felt hard as a rock! I felt like I’d just grabbed a piece of ceramic body armor! Second, a powerful jolt ran up my arm and punched me in the chest! It was like I’d been hit with a goddamned stun gun!

“Gaaagh! What the fu-”

I reeled backwards and nearly fell out of my chair while all of the other Squad Leaders burst out laughing! Chief Shen covered her mouth and snickered while the Commander covered her eyes and shook with silent laughter. Even Jericho giggled. While I… composed myself… she rubbed her arm with one hand and said:

“What Tygan didn’t tell you is that I’ve got Bioelectric Skin. I can sense electric energy, and I can shock anyone who touches me. And don’t worry, I only shock people I don’t like.”

“Right.” I said. “Remind me not to get in a fistfight with you.”

“In a way, you already did.”

Jericho’s last sentence caused the whole conference room to fall quiet. Nervous glances were shared until all eyes fell on Commander Harper, who looked unusually calm as she said:

“I’ve already talked to Jericho privately about where she’s been and why she came to find us. She and I have come to an agreement, and the first part of that agreement is she’s going to explain a few things and answer a few of your questions. So, let’s start… Cadet Robinson, she insisted you get the first question.”

I turned my head and gave Jericho a perplexed look. She was looking at me with an expression that carried a lot of emotions. I felt a little uncomfortable trying to read her face, so I pressed on. I only had to fish about in my head for a second to find one of the many questions I’d been dying to ask her:

“Jericho, the last time I saw you, you were just a few minutes old and Isis was carrying you into the treeline. That was nineteen years ago. Where’ve you been? What were you doing? What happened after Isis got captured?”

Jericho looked a little overwhelmed as she started talking:

“Isis, huh? I’m still not used to calling her that. She was my first mom for, like, half my life.”

“’First mom?’” Anna repeated curiously. “I thought test tube babies didn’t have mothers.”

“Uh… I mean… It’s kinda complicated.” Jericho stumbled over her words. “So yeah, anyway… I was with my first mom on Kauai Island until the aliens took her away when I was eight. Then I lived by myself for a couple of years. I ran with some street-rat kids in Hanapepe until I was ten, then I met my second mom.”

A misty, nostalgic look came over Jericho’s features. She was clearly looking back at a fond memory.

“Her name was Mira Mihaka.” Jericho said, “She found me in an alley one night and told me how I could get out of Hawaii, go somewhere else and find a better life… but then, she disappeared.”

Jericho sighed and gave a quiet little laugh.

“Mira disappearing... Yeah, that was something I’d have to get used to. Anyway, I followed her advice. Stowed away on a boat and ended up in Pyongyang. And you know what? She was waiting for me there! Right on the docks, like she knew what boat I was on the whole time! Mira said she knew I was alone, and if I ever needed a place to stay I could go to her place.”

“I see where this is going.” Jane mused. “How many times did you visit before you moved in?”

“Just the once.” Jericho admitted. “Mira and I lived in and around Korea for, oh, about three years. We had to keep moving because ADVENT was on our trail. We spent time in Korea, China, and Eastern Russia. We used to have a hideout in Pyongyang, but I live out of a safehouse in Mongolia nowadays.”

Jane raised her hand and asked:

“So where’s Mira now? Mongolia?”

Jericho’s face fell.

“Well, no. That’s just it.” She said. “Mira’s missing, and I mean really missing. See, she’d go away a lot. I got used to her telling me that she was gonna leave for two or three weeks at a time. She had her own business and she didn’t want me to know about it. Besides, I could take care of myself. Mira would go away for a couple of weeks, but she’d always come back. But then, about five years ago, she got really sick, and we both thought it was something serious. I tried everything to make her better, but after letting her rest for days, and letting her eat my share of the food, she wasn’t getting better. So, we went to the Mega-City of Beijing to visit a Gene Therapy Clinic. Mira went in there… and she never came out.”

Jericho shook as she held back tears.

“I waited there outside the clinic for three days.” She half-sobbed. “People kept asking me what I was doing there, and I said I was waiting for my mom. They’d go inside and ask if Mira Mihaka was inside, and nobody had an answer. The Gene Clinic staff said they’d never heard of her! They asked if I wanted to go inside… but I got scared and ran away!”

Uncomfortable looks circled the table. Some of us had been fighting the ADVENT Coalition since the day it was founded. We had long since lost track of how many innocent people had stepped into one of those Gene Therapy Clinics, only to vanish forever without a trace. Jericho sniffed for a moment, and I instinctively raised one arm to draw Jericho into a hug. To my surprise, she started leaning into my side almost immediately, even though she couldn’t see what I was doing because her bangs had fallen in front of her eyes.

“We’ve been investigating those Gene Clinics for years.” Bradford told Jericho. “We honestly don’t know where those people have gone.”

Jericho looked up at Bradford.

“I know where they went.”

The whole room fell silent. Jericho pulled herself out of my arm and took a deep breath.

“That’s one half of the reason I came to find you.” She said. “I’ve been working on my own for the past five years, trying to figure out what happened to everybody who goes into those clinics. I followed the trains that leave from the back of the buildings. I mapped out the railroad networks… and I found the place.”

Jericho nodded at Commander Harper. The Commander picked up her remote control and once again clicked it at the television. A map of Central Asia popped up on the screen. On top of this image, a maze of black lines crisscrossed the terrain, showing all of the known railroad lines in Central Asia. Like a spider web, all of those black lines seemed to converge on one spot, in the center of the Aralkum Desert.

“Where the hell is that?” I asked. “Kazakhstan?”

“Uzbekistan.” Anna corrected. “Doesn’t really matter, both of those places used to be part of my country anyway.”

While the Squad Leaders looked at the map, the Commander spoke:

“According to Jericho, ADVENT has been diverting considerable resources and personnel to a very specific location in Central Asia over the past ten years. The exact details of the operations are highly classified, but our Cyberwarriors have been spotting the word “AVATAR” in a lot of the enemy communications related to this place. It’s safe to assume we’re dealing with a second secret facility, similar to the one we were planning to raid right here in Japan.”

Pyotr Ilyshin interrupted.

“So that’s why you came to us?” he said. “You needed help getting into this facility?”

“Yeah, that’s half of it.” Jericho answered. “I can’t get into the Aralkum facility alone. I need your help to get in there and find Mira. I’m certain she’s in there!”

“And per our agreement, we will help you.” The Commander said. “Now please tell us about the ‘other half” of your reason for joining us.”

Jericho cautiously looked around at the group, looking each person in the eye before speaking. When she got to me, I registered a surprising amount of fear and apprehension in Jericho’s face. Did she think we weren’t going to believe her?

“About two months ago…” Jericho cautiously began, “An armada of over seventy-thousand alien warships entered our solar system. The Elder’s Temple Ship is taking a fleet to intercept them and put up a fight. We’ve got about a month and a half until the new aliens get here.”

For a few moments, the whole room was quiet. We all stared at each other in complete shock. I felt that same awkward feeling in my gut I’d had on the day my little sister found out Santa Claus wasn’t real. Then, finally, Pyotr voiced what everybody was thinking:

“You really expect us to believe that!? Just like that… because you said it?”

One by one, everyone except Commander Harper voiced their unwillingness to believe Jericho’s newest claim.

“I’m with Ilyshin on this one.” Bradford said, folding his arms. “Just because you were right about ADVENT attacking before doesn’t mean we’ll believe every word that comes out of your mouth.”

“You’re pushing your luck, kid.” Jane remarked. “I can believe a lot of things, but not that.”

“Aliens, Zombies, magic powers, we’ve seen a lot of stuff, kid.” Chief Shen chimed in, “But I don’t think anybody here’s going to believe you without some kind of proof.”

Jericho hung her head, mumbling to the table:

“I know that… okay? You don’t have to rub it in.”

Oh, God. She was crying.

Anna shot a mean look at me from across the table. Jericho was seated between me and Doctor Tygan, and XCOM’s Chief Scientist wasn’t the type of person to hug a crying girl. Anna, no doubt remembering how I’d cared for Chihiro at Hiroshima, silently demanded I console Jericho. I had other ideas. There was one more question I was dying to ask.

“Hey, Jericho. Before the fight started, you told my team that you saw the future. Is this alien fleet thing… like that… at all?”

Jericho sniffed and then looked up at us.

“I didn’t see the future.” She corrected me. “I knew it. I know that there’s a huge fleet coming our way, and I know that fleet is on our side!”

For a whole minute, everybody just stared at Jericho, slack jawed. Then, one by one, we all turned our eyes towards Commander Harper. To my absolute terror, I realized that Harper had never joined in the wave of disbelief that had met Jericho’s claim. She was watching the rest of us with a look of rapidly depleting patience.

“I’m glad we got around to this topic, even if it took a minute. This, in my opinion, is more important than any upcoming raids or missions. This needs to be addressed.”

Bradford looked from Jericho to the Commander and back again.

“Explain yourself!”

I wasn’t sure if Bradford was talking to Jericho or Commander Harper. At any rate, it was the Commander who answered:

“When he searched her, Doctor Tygan found out that Jericho was carrying a portable hard drive, which she’s permitted me to look at. I spent all night and much of this morning reviewing the contents of that system and discussing them with Jericho here.”

Commander Harper stood up and pulled a small thumb drive from her pocket. It had a funny-looking adapter on the end that made it compatible with XCOM’s computer systems.

“I have reason to believe that alien fleet she’s talking about is very real. The Avenger’s sensors are picking up unusual activity in the vicinity of Neptune.”

Oh… oh man… I started to feel like my head was spinning. This was too much to accept, but Commander Harper wasn’t done!

“Furthermore, it seems that Jericho and her mother appear to have had advance warning of hundreds of future events. This drive contains a database called the ‘index of historical events’ which including several that have already happened to us. The database is written almost entirely in a history book format, referring to ourselves and our work in the past tense. This index also contains detailed information of the life stories of several thousand people, including about two dozen individuals aboard this ship right now.”

Everyone began to look at one another nervously. But Commander Harper had one last shoe to drop.

“The most curious detail about Jericho’s index, though, is that the record simply stops on a certain date, about a year and a half from now. Jericho has told me that her mother didn’t have any data from beyond that day.”

Jane Kelly put both hands on the table and pursed her lips.

“Commander, you gotta see that this is a lot for us to just take. You’re getting' really close to sayin’ we need to start believing in time travel! Jericho and her mom have a thing that tells them about the future, fine. But how’d they get it!? How was it even made?”

Jericho took a deep breath and answered:

“Before she met me, Mira worked for a time-traveler.”

Pyotr put his head in his hands.

“First Aliens… then the aliens turn our people into zombies… then aliens with magic powers come down and say they’re our new gods… and now time travel!?” he groaned. “How do I get off this crazy ride!?”

Anna bounced up and down in her seat and clapped her hands excitedly.

“Ohh! Please tell me her time machine is a converted sports car! No… Wait! A phone booth!” Anna giggled.

“After twenty years of living under the auspices of the Elders, I’m hardly surprised.” Doctor Tygan commented. “In fact, I should have anticipated this. Nothing is beyond the realm of possibility when dealing with the aliens, time travel included.”

Tygan’s statement shut down any further attempts at voicing disbelief. Commander Harper carried on.

“While the two of us were reviewing the Index,” the Commander said, “Jericho and I developed… conflicting interpretations… of the data. Jericho believes that every future event referenced in the database is going to happen, and that there is nothing we can do about it. I, however, don’t buy that. All of you who served with me in Japan know that I don’t put much stock in stuff like fate or destiny. Until I see proof showing I can’t, I’m going to try and stop some of these future events from happening, while encouraging a select few to go ahead. This future database represents the greatest intelligence coup XCOM has ever had. If we use it properly, we can put an end to the ADVENT Coalition before July!”

“December.” Jericho said in a low voice.

Commander Harper scowled at Jericho.

“And that…” she added, “Is the last part of the deal I made with Jericho this morning. We’ll find Mira, and bring her under our protection. In return, Jericho joins an XCOM squad, acknowledges our authority over her and she won’t go about spreading this “predestination” nonsense! Am I clear?”

Jericho looked back down at the table and mumbled,

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“You’re not going to run around the ship telling people what’s ‘supposed’ to happen to them in the future, correct?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re going to obey all orders from XCOM officers?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You’re not going to run off and do your own thing anymore?”

“I won’t, ma’am.”

“Good.”

Commander Harper glared at Jericho for a few extra seconds, then went on.

“I’ve decided that for security reasons, Jericho’s database of future events will be classified at the highest secrecy level. Commander’s eyes only from now on. For some of you, not knowing your possible future might end up being the best thing that’s ever happened to you. Trust me.”

Why the hell was Harper looking at me when she said that!?

Finally, the Commander addressed the whole table with a grim tone.

“We need to act on all of this Intel quickly, before ADVENT realizes we’ve got their number and changes their strategy. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to be running three simultaneous missions. Two in Japan and one in Uzbekistan. Squad Leaders, get out something to write with and something to write on…”

…

About two hours later, the meeting adjourned. I had taken nearly seven pages of notes and was ready to brief the rest of the Stormbreakers on what we’d be doing tomorrow. While Bradford, Tygan, Shen, and the Commander grouped up to discuss logistics, all of XCOM’s Squad Leaders huddled up for a pre-mission pep talk.

“We are XCOM! We don’t give up the fight!” Jane Kelly told us. “When we get out in the field, what do we do?”

“Survive! Adapt! Win!” Anna, Pyotr, Cory, and I said together.

“Now get out there and kick some alien ass!” Jane dismissed the group.

I would have followed them out the door, but a voice called out:

“Cadet Robinson, wait a minute!”

Commander Harper called me back. She told Bradford, Tygan, and Shen that they could continue to use the Conference Room, and that she was going to talk to me alone in her office. At her request, I followed Commander Harper into an adjacent room.

Commander Harper’s office was a small, subdued place. Aside from the desk and chairs, the only other piece of furniture was a trophy case that contained several relics from XCOM’s past: a model of the previous Skyranger, a 2015-era XCOM shotgun, a 1962-era Laser Pistol, the skull of a Sectoid, and a framed photograph of Moria Vahlen and Raymond Shen, XCOM’s previous head scientist and chief engineer respectively. Another door in the back of the room led to the Commander’s quarters.

Commander Harper sat down behind her desk and pushed aside a computer monitor to get a better look at me.

“Cadet Robinson: that was one hell of a defensive action you pulled in Pyongyang.” She said. “You also recovered Sophia Kuznetsova, who probably would have been left behind otherwise. I’ve also heard that you helped Chaplain Petoskey overpower the Chosen Assassin as well. Was yesterday your first time as a fireteam leader?”

Snapping to attention, I answered:

“No ma’am. I’ve been filling that role on and off since Hiroshima.”

“Cadet, that was twenty-three years ago.”

“Yes, ma’am. But if I might remind you, from my point of view it was just three years.”

“Mine too, Cadet. In fact, I daresay spending two decades in a Stasis pod doesn’t seem to have diminished your ability to lead troops on a battlefield.”

I wasn’t expecting the compliment, so I just muttered a quick word of thanks. Commander Harper nodded and went on:

“Listen, Cadet. With Colonel Smith and Captain Green both in enemy custody, the only remaining combat-ready officer in Stormbreaker Squad is Mister Yutaka Yamamoto. I know there’s a great deal of bad blood between him and several other members of the squad, yourself included. Letting him become the new Squad Leader would do a serious number to your unit’s cohesion. Therefore, I’ve decided for formalize your place as the new leader of the Stormbreakers.”

I let out a relieved sigh.

“Thank you, ma’am.” I said. “I wasn’t looking forward to adding the word ‘acting’ to every piece of Squad Leader paperwork that came my way.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Commander Harper said with a smile. “In my capacity as a General in the United States Army, I’m giving you a Battlefield Commission. Blake Alexander Robinson: Effective immediately, you are promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant and granted all of the rights and duties that come with it.”

She picked up a uniform patch from the desk and passed it to me. I took the rank insignia with my left hand and saluted with my right. I was so excited that my hands trembled! In the back of my mind, I could have sworn I heard Chihiro squealing with delight!

“T-Thank you ma’am!” I stammered.

Commander Harper shook my hand and added:

“One more thing, Robinson. Since you’re the new Squad Leader, that means you’ll be getting this.”

Harper produced two items from her pocket. The first was a simple-looking key. The other was the kind of remote control kids in the Old World used to launch model rockets. The little brown rectangle had only one button that was hidden behind a plastic panel. When Commander Harper inserted the key into the remote, the panel snapped backwards, revealing a dark red button.

“Jericho and I agreed that she would join your squad.” The Commander said. “Which means you’re going to need this. Did you see Jericho getting her Arc Brace?”

“Arc Brace?” I repeated as I took the remote.

“It’s a little device Shen cooked up.” Harper explained. “And I mean her father, the older Shen. He made it as part of the original Jericho Project. You see, Robinson: there was always a fear that any Hybrid soldier created through the Project might be difficult to control. You’ve seen what Jericho’s alien DNA allows her to do, you’ve seen how dangerous she could potentially be to us.”

I rubbed my chest anxiously. That jolt of electricity Jericho had stunned me with in the other room was still making me twitch a little.

“Remember.” Harper said. “That girl is only half-human. We saw her Ethereal side in that fight yesterday, and I, for one, am quite anxious to see her Muton traits show themselves in a fight. Doctor Vahlen knew that there was a very real risk that we might lose control of a Jericho soldier and devised a system called the Arc Brace to deal with that. The device tied to Jericho’s ankle is the Arc Brace. Imagine a shock collar dialed up to eleven. If Jericho is getting rowdy, disobedient, or she just goes out of control, press that button and she’ll be hit with fifty-thousand volts of electric current for three seconds. I guarantee it’ll put her down for the count.”

My eyes went wide and my hands started to sweat.

“Oh…” I looked down at the remote in my hand with a whole new understanding. Taking great care to separate the remote from its key, I put one in my left pocket and the other in my right. “I’ll definitely keep that in mind, ma’am.”

Commander Harper clasped her hands together as though she were concluding some kind of business deal.

“Good. You head down to the cafeteria and get some breakfast. Then put your squad together for tomorrow’s mission. I want you in the Skyranger and on your way to the target first thing tomorrow morning!”

…

By the time I got down to the ship’s cafeteria, breakfast was almost over. The whole place was very subdued and quiet. Most soldiers were still getting over the shock of yesterday’s fight. I grabbed a tray from the buffet line and didn’t really pay attention to what food was being loaded onto it. I peered all around the room until I saw a group of Japanese soldiers clustered together around one table. Nine people were chattering away in Japanese, but I could recognize one slightly high-pitched voice in the crowd.

“Chihiro!” I said. “Is that you?”

Two men stepped aside so I could see what was going on. Chihiro was sitting on the other side of the table, and just like her comrades, she was pouring over a map of Japan, drawing circles and lines with a pencil. She looked up at me, smiled, and said in English:

“Heya, Blake! We’re just talking about the local Resistance movement here. You know my country’s got something of a history dealing with invaders, right?”

“They say the Russians are still licking their wounds, twenty years later.” I joked. “Can I join?”

Chihiro cleared a space and let me sit down right next to her. She also gave me a knowing glance that told me she already knew about my meeting with Commander Harper.

For about an hour, I joined in her strategy discussion with the other Japanese troops. In general, the country was in a curious position: After the alien invasion, the ADVENT Coalition had meticulously de-constructed every city on the Japanese archipelago, then built half-a-dozen Megacities overtop of the sites where Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, and Kyoto had once stood. Then the aliens had gone out of their way to force as many people to immigrate to these cities as possible. Akaya Ogawa, a veteran of both the Soviet invasion and the alien one, told me:

“Because our country is so mountainous, nearly all of our people live in the cities, even before the aliens invaded. Almost three-quarters of Japanese land is sparsely populated and undeveloped. There are so many places to hide a Resistance network, you could secretly build an army in Japan and no one would ever notice!”

“But the terrain layout can work against that idea.” I said. “With all of those mountains around, how would you keep that force supplied and fed?”

“You know, Robinson, when the Russians invaded, I lived in the countryside for two years, and I lived on a diet of grasshoppers and acorns!”

Akaya gave me a very serious look when she said that. Chihiro immediately blurted out:

“No wonder your breath smells so bad!”

Everyone laughed. Akaya folded her arms and rolled her eyes at me. I started to join in the joke, but before the first words could leave my mouth, an uncomfortable silence fell over the whole cafeteria. Everybody turned their heads to look at something behind me, so I looked around as well.

Jericho was standing in the doorway, looking awkward. Nearly three dozen pairs of eyes bored into her as she walked briskly towards the chow line and picked up a tray. Whispers began to slowly rise from the tables like steam. Some voices were curious. Others had an air of reverence. A few were disdainful.

Having collected her breakfast of pancakes and bacon, Jericho looked around the room for a table to sit at. Quickly, the room became abuzz with activity as some seats were quickly filled by jackets, weapons, or people. At a few tables, men and women gathered together, creating a vacant spot. Finally, Jericho spotted Chihiro and me. Her face seemed to light up as she came our way. As she moved past one table, an Argentine soldier put his hands together and whispered a prayer. Akaya stiffened next to me.

“She know you?”

“We’re were the ones who brought her in.”

Akaya frowned.

“Huh. She looks a lot like a Human. Wasn’t expecting that.”

Akaya vacated her seat and moved to another part of the cafeteria. Most of the Japanese soldiers did the same. After a moment, it was just myself, Chihiro, Jericho, and Homura Hanako at the table. The Resistance fighter looked at the three of us for a moment, as though she wanted to say something, but then she picked up her tray, dumped the rest of her meal into the trash, and left the room.

“Hey, are you okay?” Chihiro asked Jericho. “You don’t have to eat in here, you know.”

“I’ll be fine.” Jericho murmured. “I knew all this was coming, I just need to get used to it, that’s all.”

There was that look again! Jericho was regarding Chihiro with the same expression she’d shown me in the meeting earlier. So many feelings and emotions crowded into one face that I couldn’t read it.

“Um, hey.” Jericho said. “Chihiro, you were listening to our meeting with the Commander earlier, right? Did you hear the whole thing?”

Chihiro choked and nearly spat out her food.

“Huh!? What!? How!?”

“Can’t hide the gift from me.” Jericho said. “Especially when you’re using it.”

Chihiro pinched the bridge of her nose and snorted with laughter.

“Okay, fine! You caught me. I was totally listening.”

Jericho seemed to be more at-ease now.

“Look, I know the Commander doesn’t want me talking about the future to you guys, but I still wanted to thank you both for something you’re gonna do for me in a few months.”

Chihiro and I raised our eyebrows at one another. Then Jericho pulled us into a three-way hug.   

“So yeah. Thanks. For what you’re gonna do.”

At last, as she let go of us, I finally figured out that strange expression on Jericho’s face. She was genuinely grateful for the future favor I was supposed to give her, whatever it was going to be; but for some reason, Jericho was still really sad about it.

“Jericho,” I said. “Are you okay? I’m being serious. ‘Cause I’m pretty sure you didn’t know that was coming.”

I pointed to her ankle bracelet. Jericho sighed.

“Believe it or not, I really knew that was gonna happen. Trust me, Blake. I’ll be okay. I’ve got bigger problems than having a Taser strapped to my leg for the rest of my life. Besides…”

She tailed off and looked away. Following her gaze, I saw that Jericho was surveying the room. About a dozen soldiers were still gawking at her. Some of them looked away when Jericho, Chihiro, and I saw them. People whispered to one another behind their hands, snatching furtive glances at the three of us.

“Mira told me that everyone at XCOM and the Resistance were going to treat me differently ‘cause I’m only half-human. Because I was built in a lab, with alien DNA; and because I’ve got the same Gift as an Elder. That makes me nothing like you or your friends.”

Jericho balled up her fists and shook a little.

“People think I’m some kind of science project or an alien. Sometimes both. You haven’t been out there, in the frontier settlements. You haven’t seen the way people out there react when they see me use my powers or my strength. That moment when they realize the famous Resistance fighter they’ve been cheering on isn’t a real Human. Nobody out there likes me because they think I’m some kind of hero, it’s always because I’m the biggest monster in the room and I’m killing bad guys instead of innocent people. Then I come back to XCOM, and it’s like I’m a lost trinket someone found on the ground. Put a tag on me so I don’t get lost again!”

Jericho choked up and put her head in her hands. Tears ran down her wrists.

“And if I’m right about the future, then I’m supposed to save these people. Save everyone on Earth, even though so many people don’t think I’m one of them, and they’d rather see me in a cage, or a lab, or a weapon locker.”

Chihiro and I both put a hand on Jericho’s shoulder. We wanted to say or do something to make her feel better, but couldn’t think of anything.

“That’s why I need to find Mira.” Jericho finished, looking up at us and wiping her nose. “I wanna be wrong. I just want her to look at that thing she got from her time-traveler buddy and say ‘Oh no, that’s not right at all. Here’s how the future’s really gonna happen. This is your real destiny!’ I need to know if this is really how it’s all going to end… If this is really what I’ve got to look forward to from now on.”

Chihiro pulled Jericho into another hug, squeezing her tightly.

“We’ll find Mira. Promise.”

“Yeah.” I reassured her. “You already got us the location of the Blacksite. Now the only hard part left is getting in.”

Chapter 8: Three Teams, Three Missions

Chapter Seven
Three Teams, Three Missions

Wednesday, May 3, 2035 – 9:30am
Honshu Island, Japanese Archipelago

As soon as we finished breakfast, Chihiro and I left the cafeteria and headed for the Infirmary. Ignatius, Odette, Yutaka, Isis, and Hal were the only Stormbreakers left, and of those five, three were injured.

Hal, Odette, and Isis had all been shot during the fighting, and were now recovering from surgery. When I got to the Infirmary, I breathed a sigh of relief. Ignatius and Yutaka were already here, chatting with their comrades. Isis, Odette, and Hal were all laying in medical beds with IV lines running into their arms. Odette couldn’t talk, owing to a thick feeding tube running into her mouth.

“Hey, Robinson!” Isis waved meekly from her bed. “Did you see Jericho? Is she alright?”

“She’s getting her troops together.” I answered. “Guys, listen up. We’ve got a lot to talk about and not much time to do it.”

Ignatius must have sensed my apprehension. He straightened up and gave me a serious look. Chihiro had been using her Psi Link to stay up-to-date on what had happened to me. Both Gifted soldiers gave me reassuring smiles that made me feel a little more confident. I launched into explanations: First, I told everyone that our teammates were still alive and that a rescue operation was in development. Then I repeated Jericho’s explanation of her life story. Isis hung on my every word while Ignatius looked increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, I shared Jericho’s revelation about an alien fleet doing battle with ADVENT halfway across the solar system.

Hal punched the air and said “Hell yes!”

Ignatius furrowed his brow in deep thought and didn’t say anything.

Chihiro and Isis both let out little squeals of joy at the good news.

Yutaka and Odette smiled and gave one another a high-five.

“So there’s other aliens out there who want to help us?” Hal said. “That’s great! It’s going to be just like Hiroshima all over again. We just need to run out the clock!”

“This is nothing like Hiroshima.” Yutaka said, rolling his eyes. “We don’t know anything about these alien interlopers. For all we know, they might want to do something worse to us than what ADVENT’s already doing.”

I cut in.

“And after tomorrow’s operations, we might actually find out what ADVENT’s doing to those folks in the Gene Clinics. We can only hope.”

Ignatius raised his eyebrow and asked:

“Robinson, did you say ‘Operations?’ Have new missions come down from the Commander?”

I nodded. In my mind, I quickly struggled with myself over which bit of news to share first. I was mostly worried about how Yutaka and Isis would react to what came next, but I also needed to tell them about Jericho’s knowledge of the future. I decided to start with the easy topic.

“Yeah, let me explain. The Commander told us that Jericho is going to stay with XCOM and join our squad, but we help her with a personal request beforehand.” I said. “She’s authorized a mission to that end.”

As I thought, Yutaka and Ignatius reacted in ways that I won’t consider “positive.”

Yutaka shook his head and clicked his tongue in a disappointed way.

“Unfortunate.” He said. “You’d have thought Vahlen would have programmed that girl to be more responsive and respectful to XCOM leadership. It’s not her place to make demands of her creators.”

“That’s only half the problem,” Ignatius added. “We haven’t even verified that it’s safe to let Jericho walk around the Avenger alone. She’s a hybrid just like those Jabbers we fought yesterday. I don’t trust her.”

Isis cringed at their words and snapped:

“That’s my daughter you’re talking about!”

Isis’ GREMLIN Drone buzzed over Yutaka’s head and beeped in an unfriendly way. Yutaka made a swatting motion with his hand, forcing Piper to retreat to a safe distance.

“You should not be blamed for the way she turned out, Dekker.” Yutaka said. “Without a male authority figure in her life, Jericho simply never learned to do as her superiors say.”

“Speaking of superiors!” I rose my voice to get the conversation back on track. “The Commander made a decision about how this squad is going to be run until we rescue Colonel Smith.”

Everyone stopped arguing and gave me their attention. I spotted the old hungry look in Yutaka’s eyes I’d seen a few times during World War Three. Behind him, Chihiro clasped her hands together and held them to her mouth, all the while bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet excitedly. She’d read my mind and already knew what I was going to say.

“Commander Harper has decided that since Captain Yamamoto has prior experience with XCOM’s heavy weapon systems, he’ll be taking Holly’s place as our Heavy Weapons Specialist.”

Yutaka was not happy with this. He clenched his fists and said:

“What!? You can’t be serious! I’m the only officer left in the squad! I should be-”

I cut him off, talking over Yutaka’s voice until he finally shut up.

“Also, Commander Harper has decided that I’m going to be the new Squad Leader until we get Colonel Smith back. To make that easier on everyone, the Commander gave me this.”

I slipped on hand into my pocket and produced my new rank insignia, holding it out for everyone to see. The symbol on the uniform patch was a gold bar, the mark of a Second Lieutenant in the US Army. Odette flashed me a double thumbs-up and Hal clapped his hands slowly. Ignatius nodded approvingly and said:

“That was long overdue, Robinson. Congratulations.”

“Lieutenant Robinson has a very nice ring to it.” Hal said. “I’d get up and give you a salute, but Doctor Tygan’s got enough pins and rods in my legs to make a statue out of me.”

Chihiro pushed past Yutaka and half-hugged, half-tackled me. She squeezed me so tightly I thought my head was going to pop off my shoulders!

“Okay!” I said. “Okay Chi! You can let go now!”

While I pried Chihiro off me, Isis asked:

“So what about this mission we’re doing for Jericho? Where is it? What’s the target?”

“Yeah,” Hal said. “And when is ‘wheels up?’ Tygan says the three of us need at least a week to heal before we’re combat-ready again.”

As my own smile fell, I saw the faces of my comrades get stern as well. We all knew each other pretty well by this point. They put two and two together on their own.

“Oh, lot sooner than that, huh?” Hal answered his own question.

“Yeah.” I said. “There’s going to be three missions tomorrow, and Menace Squad is leaving for theirs in a few hours; they’re heading into Tokyo to find a scientist who can help Jericho pinpoint the location of that new alien fleet. Delta Squad is going to hit that ADVENT facility a few miles from here, and our team’s been tapped to help Jericho raid an ADVENT Blacksite in Uzbekistan. The Skyranger’s leaving first thing in the morning.”

Yutaka looked around at the group, then he said what was on everybody’s minds.

“Robinson, you did tell the Commander that we’re understrength, right?”

“I did.” I said. “So did Kelly and Tucker. Both of their squads took bad hits yesterday as well. The good news is that Jericho brought a bunch of Asian Resistance fighters with her from Pyongyang yesterday. The Commander is distributing them to any squad that needs a hole plugged.”

I pulled out a slip of paper from my hand. It had the names of Resistance fighters who had been transferred to our squad.

“We’re getting three of them.” I said. “Sergeant Lee Chong-Il, a male North Korean, age thirty-eight. Private Song Soo, female North Korean, age twenty. And we also got Private Sophia Kuznetsova, but she was supposed to be joining us anyway. Their callsigns are Enforcer, Shakes, and Antigone respectively.”

“I guess they’ll be replacing Fournier, Macintosh, and I on the mission.” Isis sighed. “I take it everyone who can stand is on deck for this one?”

“No.” I said. This was the bad news I’d been hesitant to deliver. Chihiro’s face fell when she telepathically probed around in my head and saw what it was going to be.

“Petoskey, you’re going to stay here and meet with a Resistance Faction leader.” I said. “The Commander asked for you specifically. And Chihiro, you’re not coming to Uzbekistan with us. Delta Squad needs a Japanese interpreter who knows Tokyo very well.”

Chihiro nodded. She’d spent half of her life in that city and did indeed know it like the back of her own hand.

“Right. I’ll do my best, but you’d better keep in touch, Blake! You know how I feel about getting separated!”

I put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“That’s not going to happen again. Please believe me.”

Chihiro squeezed my hand and answered:

“Of course, I believe you.”

Well, that’s one big thing out of the way. Now I just had to drop the other shoe.

“Guys, there’s one more thing I need to let you all know about. Jericho told us how she knew ADVENT was coming for us back in Korea.”

As quickly as I could, I retold Jericho’s explanation of her mother’s contact with a time traveler, and how both she and the Commander now had access to a database full of information about the future. Everyone reacted differently.

Yutaka suddenly became tense.

“No wonder the girl thinks she can tell us what to do. She thinks she’s got us at the end of a string!”

Ignatius looked completely unconvinced.

“I’m going to have words with the Commander later. She can’t really believe this nonsense, can she?”

Chihiro already knew about this. She tapped her head and gave me knowing smile.

Isis looked confused.

“So, she knew I was alive the whole time then?”

Hal got excited.

“This means we can kick ADVENT’s tail anytime, anyplace!” he declared.

Odette didn’t say anything, but she looked very thoughtful.

“For obvious reasons,” I told the team, “Harper has deemed all knowledge about the future to be highly classified. Commander’s eyes only. Jericho herself has been forbidden from telling anyone about the future as well.”

Ignatius leaned in close and stared into my eyes. I knew what he was doing and broke eye contact right away, staring at the wall over his shoulder. The telepathic intrusion only lasted a moment before I threw him out of my mind. Ignatius rubbed his temple pensively.

“No need to get cagy, Robinson.” The old man grumbled. “I just wanted to know if Jericho tried to tell you about your own future. She’s clearly feeling a temptation to do that.”

“Look guys,” I said. “If we spent all day speculating about what Jericho knows, we’ll never get anything done. We’ve got a mission ahead of us now, so let’s get to work! Yamamoto, to the armory! Tachibana, Skyranger! Menace Squad’s leaving in two hours. Petoskey, report to the bridge! We’ll all meet back here when this is all over. And you three… get some rest.”

Isis, Hal, and Odette all gave us encouraging waves as we left the Infirmary. Isis called after us:

“Tell Jericho to come visit me!”

…

Yutaka and I got to the armory before our new FNG’s. While we picked out new armor and selected weapons from the locker, I tested my Psi Link to Chihiro.

Chi? Can you hear me?

Sure can, Blake! Something you wanted to say?

I’m really curious to see if this Psi Link works when we’re on opposite sides of the planet.

You wanna fantasize about me without me barging into your head.

Guilty.

I knew it!

Chihiro and I shared a little laugh together. Yutaka looked around at me and then rolled his eyes when he realized I was having a telepathic conversation. After a moment, Chihiro’s voice suddenly returned to my head, this time with a little urgency.

Hey, I just passed Jericho and her troops. Who’s the creepy girl? Blue eyes, black hair, kinda skinny?

That’s Homura Hanako. She’s taking Delta Squad to that ADVENT site in the forest.

Oookaaayy… did you know she’s Gifted? I could feel it from, like, a hundred feet away! She’s really powerful!

No, I didn’t. Sounds like Delta Squad’s going to have an easy mission if she’s with them.

Sure, but why didn’t Hanako use her powers to help us in Pyongyang!?

Before I could answer, the far doorway opened, and three people entered. I recognized Jericho and two of the Resistance fighters she’d brought with her from Pyongyang. They approached and shook hands with myself and Yutaka.

The older of the two fighters was a North Korean man in his late forties. He had a chiseled face, reddish-brown hair and was kinda short.

“Lee Chong-Il, Korean People’s Air Force.” He introduced himself. “Of course, Mister Robinson here already knows me.”

“I remember you, Lee.” I greeted him with a smile and a firm handshake. “Long time, but it’s a small world, huh?”

“Getting smaller every day.” Chong-Il commented. “I don’t think you’ve met my old friend, Soo?”

A twenty-year old North Korean woman with messy brown hair and round glasses side-stepped into view.

“Annyeonghaseyo!” she said. “Eotteohge jinaess-eoyo? I’m Song Soo! Nice to meet you!”

Over Soo’s shoulder, I noticed that Jericho was watching her with an upset expression.

She’s really worried about Song. Chihiro’s voice spoke up in the back of my mind. Maybe she knows Song’s gonna die or something.

You can sense that through the Psi Link? I thought.

No. It’s pretty much written on her face. When I get back, I’m gonna teach you how to read a woman’s expressions.

Soo looked around.

“So, is it just going to be the five of us?” she asked. “I thought there was going to be a sixth.”

“There is.” Jericho answered. “We’re taking that supply runner Kuznetsova with us. She’s down the east trail, burying her sister.”

“Right.” I said. “You guys stay here and get your equipment straightened out. Yamamoto, make sure they’re gearing up for a facility raid. I want double explosives on everyone. I’m going to get Kuznetsova.”

…

I went down the Avenger’s boarding ramp and stepped into the Japanese wilderness to find Sophia. When I got to the ground, I took in a lungful of fresh spring air and relaxed instinctively. This was my first time back on Honshu Island since 2012. I was actually looking forward to exploring a little. As I walked down the forest trail, heading east towards the Kanna River, I couldn’t help but remember the way the deep thudding sound of Soviet helicopters had echoed off these mountains, now the only noise came from the wind rustling tree leaves or the roar of a nearby waterfall. Once I rounded a corner in the path, the trees opened up on the riverbank where Sophia had gone.

The Kanna River is a curious thing. It starts somewhere high up in the mountains, working its way between the rocks. For dozens of miles, the river is shallow and narrow, but when you’re about three miles away from the spot where the city of Onishi used to be, the river suddenly opens up into a huge lake, nearly two miles long, but only a few hundred feet wide. On the far end of this lake is the Shimokubo Waterfall. It’s not a natural phenomenon. The waterfall used to be a hydroelectric dam, but Soviet sappers blew it up during World War Three.

The chaotic cascade of water racing over the wrecked dam caused a gentle mist to hang in the air. A little further up the riverbank, I could just barely make out the sound of wood being pounded with a hammer. Following the noise, I walked along the tree line until I found Sophia.

Sophia Kuznetsova looked exhausted. She was sitting on the grass, a hammer on her right, and a shovel on her left. In front of her, a section of overturned soil marked the final resting place of her twin sister. The head of the grave was marked with a wooden cross, freshly pounded into the earth. A small square was affixed to the front of the cross and engraved with the words:

 

Ludmilla Ivanovna Kuznetsova

Born - 29 February 2004

Died - 2 May 2035

 

Best Sister. Better Friend.

Sophia looked up at me as I approached and rapidly re-adjusted her head wrap, making sure I couldn’t see her face. I turned my head and looked away until I heard the grass crunching under boots. Sophia had picked up her tools and moved to join me.

“I, uh, heard you were the one who brought Ludmilla back to the ship.” Sophia didn’t make eye contact with me as she spoke. “So, thanks.”

I pulled Sophia into a one-armed hug. She didn’t protest, just sighed quietly.

“I’m not gonna cry.” Sophia said. “I did that earlier.”

We stared at Ludmilla’s grave for a minute or two, not saying anything. Then Sophia stepped away from me and said:

“So, what do you want?”

“I’m taking the Stormbreakers on a mission tomorrow.” I said. “You need to come with us.”

Sophia blinked. With her face hidden beneath that wrap, all I could see was her eyes, which made figuring out her expressions really difficult.

“Why’d you want me?” Sophia asked. “Ludmilla was the better fighter.”

“We’re going to Uzbekistan. The Aralkum Desert.” I answered.

I knew those words would trigger a response in Sophia. During the mission planning meeting with the Commander, I had been warned about this. Sophia stepped away from me and looked at the grave marker in a forlorn way.

“We used to live there.” Sophia said quietly. “Ludmilla and I had a house out there… which means…”

Sophia looked back at me, her eyes wide.

“You’re going to Kantubek, aren’t you!?”

…

Sometime around sunset, the Skyranger took off from the Avenger’s flight deck. Telepathically, Chihiro sent me a goodbye message. It wasn’t a message composed of words, but rather a mental image of herself, accompanied by an unspoken promise that we’d see each other again. Meanwhile, I gathered my new squad in the Guerilla Tactics School.

The GTS is a room deep within the Avenger where XCOM soldiers train in the art of Guerilla Warfare. It’s got training dummies for practicing hand-to-hand combat, strength training and cardio exercise equipment, and a briefing area where soldiers can discuss tactics and strategy. It was this latter area where the six of us had set up shop tonight. With Sophia’s help, I had drawn our next area of operations on the marker board. Yutaka, Chong-Il, Soo, and Sophia all listened with rapt attention while Jericho watched over the proceedings with a knowing look. I wanted to ask Jericho how much of this mission she already knew about, but I was saving that for later.

“Soldiers, this is our next objective.” I began. “The ADVENT Coalition has constructed a research facility tied to the AVATAR Project overtop the ruins of another military research facility. Central believes it to be a high-level Blacksite.”

I tapped a point on the map.

“We’ve seen before that the enemy likes to put their Blacksites in remote, obscure locations, so no one here should be surprised that the aliens took over this place. This was Rebirth Island. During the Cold War, this whole area was part of the Aral Sea, it used to be one of the largest lakes on Earth. Rebirth was a tiny island in that sea. The Soviet Union had a small military base on the island, but other than that no one lived here. About forty years ago, the Aral Sea dried up and turned into a desert, causing the Russians to abandon their base. Both the base and the nearby town were abandoned and left to rot. Then ADVENT showed up.”

Sophia got up and pointed to another spot on the map, north of the enemy base.

“This is the town of Kantubek.” Sophia explained. “Or I guess I should call it a ghost town, since my sister and I were the only ones who lived there…”

Sophia trailed off as though lost in thought. After a moment, she continued.

“Ludmilla and I knew the aliens had a secret facility nearby, and we’d make a living by breaking in and stealing stuff from it. Food, power cores, anything really.”

I took over from her.

“Jericho back there has been investigating ADVENT Blacksites such as this one on her own for a few years now. She believes her mother, one Mira Mihaka, is being held inside this particular Blacksite. Because of Jericho’s… unique history… with the XCOM Project, the Commander has determined that making contact with Jericho’s mother will be our highest priority. Our mission objectives are as follows: Find Mira Mihaka and extract her from that facility. Our secondary objective, if the situation permits, is to use X-4 plastic explosives to destroy the entire Blacksite. Questions so far?”

Lee Chong-Il raised his hand.

“You said that place used to be an island, right?” He asked. “And that the lake dried up. That means that the enemy now has a fortified position on the high ground and they’ll be able to see us coming. How are we going to get in?”

“You’re right, Lee.” I said. “We’re going to be fighting an uphill battle. I’ve already picked out several locations for the Skyranger to drop us off, but I was hoping Jericho and Sophia could find the best possible LZ, since both of them have been there.”

Jericho shook her head.

“I’ve never gotten closer than about twenty miles.” She admitted. “And my database on the future doesn’t have any information on this mission. I’m guessing Mom never knew about it.”

Sophia stared hard at the map for a moment before saying:

“You’ve got no choice, you have to land on the plateau. See here, the sides of the hill are really steep. That’s where the drop-off used to be when the sea still existed. If you land on the seafloor, it’ll take hours to walk up the slope to town. The Skyranger needs to put us down here.”

Sophia pointed to a spot on the western side of the “island.” She went on:

“This is where the shoreline used to be. During this time of year, there are a lot of dust storms caused by wind blowing over the dried-up seabed. If we land upwind of the Blacksite, ADVENT will look right at us and think we’re just another dust storm.”

“Very good.” I said. “I’ll pass the word to Carter when she gets back. Meantime, assignments! For this mission, we’re going to break into two fireteams. Lee, Yamamoto, and Song: You three will be our battering ram. Yamamoto will carry the heavy weapons and explosives. Song, you’ll be his ammo bearer. Lee, you’ll be providing Overwatch. Jericho and Kuznetsova, you’ll be with-“

“Wait a moment, Robinson!” Yutaka interrupted. “I want Jericho with me.”

Everybody turned to look at Yutaka.

“You said it yourself.” He said. “We’re the battering ram. You’ve seen what that girl can do in a fight. I want her up front with me.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jericho trying to surreptitiously snatch glances at Yutaka. I shook my head.

“No dice, Yamamoto.” I said. “We need Jericho for the other half of the mission. Once we’re inside, she needs to identify Mira for us.”

Sophia asked:

“So, what are the three of us doing?”

“The actual rescue.” I explained. “Once we get inside the Blacksite, finding Mira’s going to be troublesome, since we don’t have any intel on what the interior is like. While we’re searching for Mira, the other team is going to disable the anti-aircraft defenses so that the Skyranger can pluck us off the roof.”

Sophia folded her arms.

“Okay. That sounds pretty straightforward.”

I looked around at the group.

“Any last questions?”

Chong-Il, Song, Sophia, and Yutaka all turned to look at Jericho. She gave each of them a reassuring smile.

“Thank you for helping me get my mom back.” She said. “It means a lot, and afterward, I’ll help you overthrow ADVENT as best I can.”

I clapped my hands together.

“Right! Everyone make sure to turn in early tonight. Get plenty of sleep, and I want you all to assemble in the Armory tomorrow at zero-four-hundred. Wheels up at zero-four-thirty.”

Everybody left the Guerilla Tactics School and parted ways. Chong-Il headed downstairs to the rifle range for some last-minute practice. Song went straight back to the living quarters. Sophia said she wanted to be alone and vanished down a dark hallway. Yutaka wrapped one arm around Jericho and said:

“Lemme show you the ship’s bar! A cold drink before a fight helps keep the nerves loose and the body relaxed.”

When Jericho dug in her heels and refused to move, Yutaka added:

“Come on, Squaddie! Don’t make your Captain pull rank!”

With a lot of reluctance, Jericho allowed Yutaka to pull her down the hallway and out of sight.

No amount of drinking was going to help me. I just couldn’t relax tonight. I stayed in the GTS and closed the door. I spent the rest of the evening going over the plans for tomorrow’s raid again and again and again. I made contingencies in case the backup plans failed, then I made plans for how to act if those contingencies didn’t work. I paced back and forth throughout the room for hours, thinking and overthinking and under-thinking until the lights dimmed.

“Twenty-two hundred hours!” said a voice over the intercom. “Set the night watch and turn the lights out!”

Reluctantly, I went up to the living quarters and clambered into my bunk bed. Eventually, I got a little bit of rest. I wouldn’t call it sleep, but I did rest.

 

Chapter 9: Aralkum

Chapter Eight

Aralkum

 

Friday, May 4, 2035 – 4:30am
Honshu Island, Japanese Archipelago

Yutaka, Chong-Il, Song, Sophia and I all arrived in the Avenger’s hangar bay together, fully outfitted in our body armor and armed to the teeth with the weapons and equipment we’d need for this operation. Outside on the deck, the Skyranger was still refueling. It had only just returned from Tokyo, where Delta Squad (plus Chihiro) had been inserted on a VIP Recovery mission. The five of us were getting impatient.

Chong-Il checked his watch one more time.

“Where is she? You did tell her the reporting time, right Robinson?”

“I did.” I said. “Song? Kuznetsova? Did you see Jericho in the female barracks?”

Song and Sophia both shook their heads.

“She got in really late last night.” Song said. “Then she woke up around three in the morning and left. No idea where she went.”

A loud clattering on the nearby staircase caused all of us to turn our heads. Jericho emerged from the stairwell, looking completely disheveled. Her armor was hastily assembled and a hand grenade had slipped halfway out of its pouch. Jericho’s wavy hair was tangled and knotted up, and her blue hair dye had begun to fade; black roots were starting to show on the top of her head. Tucked under her arm was that beat-up old alien rifle I’d seen Jericho using in Pyongyang.

“Sorry!” Jericho puffed. “Sorry I’m late! I was having Chief Shen make some more ammunition for my Bolt Caster.”

Jericho set her weapon on the floor and dipped her hands into the pockets of her combat pants, producing about two dozen long, thin projectiles that were clearly meant to be fired out of Jericho’s bizarre-looking weapon. Song passed Jericho a bandolier. While Jericho quickly made herself battle-ready, I stepped over to the doorway that led outside, where the Skyranger was parked on the flight deck.

“Hey Firebrand!” I yelled. “We’re green over here! Ready to fly when you are!”

An American woman with pale skin and curly red hair stuck her head out of the back of the Skyranger’s deployment ramp. The Skyranger pilot had to yell to make her voice heard above the sound of the aircraft’s engines.

“Get everyone aboard!” Wendy Carter shouted. “We’ll be done fueling in a minute!”

The rest of the squad made their way through the door and began boarding the Skyranger. As Jericho walked past me, I caught a familiar smell that made me do a double-take. One by one, we all strapped ourselves into the flight seats. Yutaka, Song, and Sophia were seated on one side of the aircraft while I sat between Jericho and Chong-Il. As she settled into the seat on my left, I caught that smell coming from Jericho again. I had no choice. Once we were in the air, I just had to ask.

“Soldiers, welcome aboard today’s flight to the Aralkum Desert, on the Uzbekistan-Kazakhstan border.” Wendy said over the intercom. “Today’s flight will take approximately eight hours, at a distance of roughly five-thousand-eight-hundred-and-sixty kilometers.” The local time in Aralkum is one in the morning, and it’ll be roughly nine o’clock there when we land. I’m gonna turn the lights out once we reach cruising speed so that you can get a little extra sleep back there. Sit tight and enjoy the flight.”

With a loud roar of engines and a metallic groan, the Skyranger lifted off from the Avenger and ascended into the night sky.

…

Before too long, the Skyranger was over the Sea of Japan, streaking west towards mainland Asia. To reach the Aralkum Desert, we would have to fly over the entirety of mainland China and nearly all of Kazahkstan. It would be a long flight. Song, Chong-Il, Sophia and Yutaka all fell asleep right away, heads resting on neighboring shoulders. Jericho was the only one besides me who was still awake. She was holding her head in both hands and had a pained expression on her face.

Leaning a little closer to her, I picked up that familiar smell a third time. Now was the moment to ask.

“Um, Jericho?” I spoke cautiously. “Is everything okay? You were late this morning and you-”

“Smell like beer?” Jericho finished my sentence for me. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. Yamamoto and I spent a lot longer in the bar than I was planning on.”

At the mention of Yutaka’s name, I tensed up. Jericho noticed.

“Blake, I.. I.. uh…”

She was clearly having trouble picking her words. Jericho made a frustrated noise and rubbed her head again.

“Sorry.” She said again. “I’m still a little hungover.”

That sense of tension in my gut was reforming into anger.

“Yamamoto got you drunk!?” Two decades’ worth of dislike for the man made my voice sound pretty hostile.

Jericho waved a hand dismissively.

“It’s not that bad.” Jericho rambled. “We hung out, we talked, we drank… and I’m a lightweight anyway. I’m, like, a hundred-thirty pounds or something like that. I just lost track of time and he was really interested in me, so we just kept talking and drinking and… yeah, this morning I was late ‘cause that beer did a number on me. Had to go to the bathroom and throw up... a lot.”

Jericho trailed off, holding her head. After a moment’s hesitation, I patted her on the back.

“That’s the beer Soylent Green makes.” I explained. “That stuff is weapons-grade. Colonel Smith always said she wanted to use his homebrew alcohol to power our Poison Gas grenades.”

“Yeah, do that.” Jericho groaned. “ADVENT might just surrender.”

I put on a serious tone and gently grabbed Jericho’s shoulder so that she would look at me.

“Listen,” I said. “You don’t know Yutaka as well as I do, Jericho. He’s got… a history.”

I snatched a quick glance across the darkened crew compartment, making sure that Yutaka was still asleep. He was.

“I’m ordering you, Jericho” I went on. “Never go anywhere or do anything alone with that guy. If he wants to take you somewhere, make up any reason or excuse to take a third person with you or else just get away from him. Understand?”

Jericho’s purple eyes seemed to wobble as she tried to focus on me.

“You don't have to worry about me.” She said, "Don’t forget…”

Jericho tapped her head.

"I already know how this is going to end.”

She jabbed her thumb at Yutaka. Jericho smiled at me, but her expression faltered when she saw I wasn’t smiling back.

“Commander Harper disagrees with you.” I said. “And no disrespect intended, but so do I.”

Jericho sighed.

“When we get my mom out of that Blacksite, she’ll show you the future. She’ll help you understand. She’ll help us both.”

“You got one thing right: We’re gonna bust Mira out of that Blacksite. Then blow the whole place to hell for good measure.”

…



Friday, May 4, 2035 – 9:45am
Aralkum Desert, Northwestern Uzbekistan


Fifty years ago, the region known as Aralkum was a totally different place. Where once there had been cool refreshing water and the chatter of waterfowl, there was now only dust and silence. Tufts of brown grass sprouted in clumps on the ground, which was stained white by a layer of salt. The windswept desert was dotted here and there with shipwrecks. Fishing boats, ferries, and other small pleasure craft were lying abandoned on what had once been the seafloor. Buoys rolled around the desert, pushed by the loud wind.

This had once been the Aral Sea.

In the days of the Soviet Union, this had been one of the largest lakes in the world. It had straddled the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The fishing village of Aral lay on the northern edge of the lake, deep in Kazakh territory. A few hundred miles to the east was the Baikonur Cosmodrome, where Yuri Gagarin had launched on his historic spaceflight. To the far west, a massive hill suddenly rose out of the desert. Fifty years ago, this had been a small island. When the Aral Sea began to dry up, it became a large island. About a decade later, the water level dropped again, causing this island to become a peninsula jutting out into the middle of the sea. The water level continued to drop until finally, the Aral Sea was gone, leaving the former island as a steep hill in the middle of a dusty, salty, and windy desert.



The wind blew mercilessly across the landscape, buffeting clumps of brown grass that sprouted up between the rocks. Noxious clouds of dust, opaque and foreboding, swirled and billowed about the large hill that had once been Rebirth Island. The ruins of a small town were the only landmark of any note on the former island. Almost nothing remained of Kantubek. From high above, as the Skyranger swooped over the island, we could see gridlines in the dirt, marking the spot where roads had once been.

Firebrand brought the Skyranger down for a pinpoint landing on what, fifty years ago, might have been a beach on the western shoreline. Now it was just a sloping hillside overlooking a vast expanse of brown and white terrain. As we disembarked from the Skyranger, Sophia knelt down and pulled up some brown grass, crushing it in her hand and taking in the smell.

“Can’t believe I lived here for years, with that horrid place just a mile down the road.” She muttered. “Follow me. The Blacksite is this way.”

It was a brisk walk from our landing zone to our destination. Fortunately, everyone had gotten plenty of rest on the ride over, and the walk gave us a chance to stretch our legs after being cooped up for eight hours on the Skyranger. Song Soo and Lee Chong-Il seemed to wilt in the desert heat. I suppose people who spend their whole lives in Korea aren’t ready for this kind of climate. The heat wasn’t bothering me, instead, I was having trouble with the dust. With each breath I took, I fought the instinct to reach for my gas mask. Something about the air just smelled wrong. Yutaka seemed to be thinking the same thing. I saw his hand twitch a couple of times whenever it passed near the pouch containing his own gas mask.

Sophia and Jericho seemed to be having the easiest time. They were at the head of the group, keeping a brisk pace. Sophia seemed to know the ground very well. She was talking long, confident strides despite being weighed down by the seemingly endless amount of supplies and ammunition crammed into her pockets. Jericho wasn’t carrying anything except for her Bolt Caster and had a look of determination on her face.

“Hold on, Mira.” Jericho said to herself. “We’re almost there.”

Along the way to the ADVENT Blacksite, we passed within a few hundred yards of the town of Kantubek… what was left of it, anyway.

 

Every building was either partially or totally collapsed. Roofs had caved in, windows were broken, and the buildings themselves had been sandblasted by the dusty wind. All of the roads had been reduced to narrow pathways, owing to the encroachment of desert shrubs and grass.

It was the silence, though, that was most overpowering. Even though the six of us were alone in this town, Sophia, Jericho, Yutaka, Chong-Il, Soo, and I all maintained the quiet, speaking only in whispers if we wanted to talk.

“There’s something I don’t get.” I said to Jericho. “You said your mom took this database full of stuff about the future from a time traveler, but you didn’t say how your mom knew that time traveler in the first place.”

“They were working together.” Jericho whispered back. “But then they had a falling out, and my mom left. At least, that's what she told me, anyway.”

“What did they fight about?” Yutaka was listening.

Jericho cast a quick look back at him before answering.

“Mom says they were fighting about me, but I always got the feeling she wasn’t telling the whole truth. She didn’t tell me a lot of things. That why finding her is so important. I need answers as badly as you do.”

“Well,” I said. “Looks like those answers are right in front of us.”

We had arrived.

The ADVENT Blacksite, as it turned out, was a complex of four or five fortified buildings, a landing pad for dropships, and, perhaps most surprising of all… a train station. Observing the Blacksite from our vantage point, we were all very surprised.

“I mean… I shouldn’t be surprised.” Yutaka said, staring at the trainyard through his binoculars. “That’s probably how they’re keeping the base supplied.”

“It’s how my sister and I kept ourselves supplied.” Sophia said gloomily. “We’d figured out how to sneak into the trainyard whenever the security had a shift change. They never caught us and we could steal whatever we wanted, or just mess with the trains.”

Pause.

Everyone slowly turned to look at Sophia. Soo’s eyebrows had been raised so high they were threatening to retreat into her hairline.

“Mess with the trains?” Soo repeated, “When were you planning to tell us that!?”

“We really needed to know that sooner, Antigone!” I said, addressing Sophia by her callsign. “But now that we do know… let’s put that knowledge to use.”

…

A long time ago, a wise Human once said that the “supreme art of war” is to break your enemy’s resistance without actually fighting them. I’m pretty sure that what we were about to do wasn’t what he had in mind. But seriously, if you give six guerilla fighters a set of enemy-controlled train tracks and all the time in the world, then you only have yourself to blame for what happens next.

It took us about an hour to find a stretch of railway that was out of view from the Blacksite. Then we only needed to wait another forty minutes before Sophia spotted a moving train through her binoculars. From our vantage point on the former island, the distant train looked like a black snake slowly moving across the lakebed below.

“That’s the train from Muynak.” Sophia told us. “Comes once a day. If ADVENT’s still using the same schedule, then that train will be here in about an hour.”

“That train just became our ticket into the Blacksite.” I said. I already had an idea.

Because Jericho was with us, sabotaging the tracks was even easier. Using a small shovel, Chong-Il dug a cavity underneath one of the railroad ties. Soo took two hand grenades out of her pouch and stuffed them into the hole, which Chong-Il filled in. After that, we retreated to a safe distance. Hiding behind the ruins of an old house, Jericho introduced us to a new Psionic technique I hadn’t seen before.

“I learned it from some Mongolian Templars.” Jericho told us. “The technique is called Fuse, all I do is add a little Psi energy to cause a spark and start a reaction…”

A barely visible wisp of violet Psi-energy escaped Jericho’s hand and jumped towards the railroad tracks like a silent bolt of lightning! Then, both of the grenades detonated! Dirt and rocks were thrown up into the air and came back down like a black hailstorm!

Soo scrambled up the hillside and quickly scanned the Blacksite through her rifle scope.

“Nobody noticed.” She reported. “We’re clear!”

All six of us got to our feet and started making tracks. We moved into the ruins of Kantubek and climbed into the second floor of what had once been a government building. After an hour of silent waiting, Sophia was the first of us to hear the deep rumble of an approaching train.

“Here it comes.” Sophia whispered. “This train is usually about fifty to sixty cars long, so this is gonna be long and loud!”

The ADVENT train reached the damaged railroad tie… and jumped the tracks.

It was the most insane derailment I’d ever seen! The locomotive jackknifed violently to one side while the following car swerved in the opposite direction! Then, one by one, all of the following cars began to smash into the wreck, piling on top of each other until there was no more room! Train cars shot left and right into the desert, rolling over and over until they came apart at the seams! Shrapnel and debris shot out in all directions as the following cars hit the wreck site at full speed and disintegrated in a symphony of destruction! The crash kept going for nearly a full minute, but we didn’t wait that long.

“That definitely got their attention!” Yutaka said. “Let’s move!”

Yutaka was right. A whole platoon of ADVENT soldiers had departed the Blacksite compound and were making their way towards the train wreck. Chong-Il scanned the facility through the scope of his sniper rifle.

“Looks like our plan paid off. The facility might as well be unprotected. I only count nine guards. Six ADVENT and three Vipers.”

“Vipers.” I groaned. “Why did it have to be Vipers?”

The Vipers were one of the many alien races who had taken part in the conquest of our world twenty years ago. They are huge, snake-like reptilian creatures, coming in at nearly nine feet tall and about two hundred-fifty pounds. Vipers are fast, agile, and highly dangerous. The only advantage we’ve got over them is their predictability. Earlier in the war, Central Officer Bradford found and killed the last male Viper on Earth. As a result, the ADVENT Coalition had resorted to cloning and genetic manipulation to keep the Vipers’ numbers up.

Once you realize you’re fighting a clone army, things get so much easier.

We crept closer to the compound. The enemy still didn’t know where we were, so maintaining our concealment until the last possible second was crucial. We made it to the low wall that ran around the Blacksite and kept our heads down as one of the Vipers slithered past. Next to me, Soo shuddered.

“It’s like a freakin’ Anaconda with arms and a gun.” She muttered.

Once the snake had passed, I whispered to my team.

“Let’s set up an ambush. I want three kill-zones of overlapping Overwatch.”

We split up into groups of two. Jericho and I went one way, Yutaka and Sophia another. Chong-Il and Song stayed together.

At long last, we were in position. I was tucked into a corner between two rail cars in the trainyard. Jericho had scrambled up an empty watchtower and was overlooking the compound. Song and Lee had reached the front door of the administration building and were in position to breach it. Yutaka was covering the building across the walkway with his grenade launcher. Sophia was crouched behind the thick base of a light pole, her rifle at the ready. Everybody knew we would have to make this a lightning strike. Take out the enemy as quickly as possible, rescue Mira, and get out.

On my signal, we went loud! Everybody moved at one!

Jericho raised her Bolt Caster and sniped one of the Vipers from clear across the compound! The alien was thrown backwards almost twenty feet and slammed into a wall, dead!

Song smashed out a window and shot down the security guard on the other side before he could take two steps! Then she adjusted her aim and shot the second guard as he reached for his rifle.

Another trooper started running across the compound towards us, weapon raised, but Sophia picked him off with her rifle, then she turned and fired a hailstorm of bullets into the second Viper! It went down, hard, and didn’t move again!



Two ADVENT soldiers and the last Viper tried to run past my hiding place, but I was ready! I raised my shotgun and blew one of the troopers clear across the walkway! Without pausing, I drew my sword and slashed the Viper’s head as it raced by! The alien crumpled, having never known what had hit her.

The third trooper tried to change targets, but Chong-Il was ready for him. The loud crack of his sniper rifle echoed off the buildings and sent the trooper spiraling to the ground!

The last guard turned tail and tried to run inside the Blacksite’s main building, but Yutaka was quicker on the draw. He raised his light machine gun and fired about four dozen rounds towards the fleeing trooper. Who needs accuracy when you have ammo to spare?

The ambush was over as quickly as it had started. All nine of the Blacksite’s defenders had been killed in a matter of seconds. The initiative was ours, but the enemy knew the Blacksite was under attack now. Alarms and claxons blared everywhere! Red lights began flashing in all of the buildings, and an alien voice began speaking over the intercom.

“I’m guessing that’s not a welcome message!” I yelled. “Let’s find Jericho’s mother and get the hell out of here!”

“I’m breaching!” Soo shouted. “Cover me!”

Soo and Chong-Il forced their way into the Administration building. Yutaka and Sophia took Jericho’s place in the watch tower and provided Overwatch while Jericho and I followed the other two inside.

I was disturbed by just how closely the interior of the Admin building looked like the lobby of a Gene Therapy Clinic. Under different circumstances, I would have ordered my troops to search the place for valuable Intel and taken as many pictures as I could. But we were on the clock. This Blacksite was too important for ADVENT to give up without a fight. That platoon was going to come back, not to mention the fact that the many non-combatant workers in the compound had almost certainly called for help by now.

Jericho and I knocked down the doorway of a promising-looking office and found a man dressed up like some kind of scientist. Off the top of my head, I think he was either a Turkmen or a Uyghur. He threw his hands up and surrendered at once.

“Wait!” he yelled, “I’m no soldier! I’m not armed!”

Jericho aimed her Bolt Caster directly into his face and said:

“I want the names of every Gene Therapy patient who came through here in December of 2030!” She shouted. “NOW!”

The scientist dropped his jaw and gaped at her.

“Yuh…y-you! You’re Jericho!!” he gasped.

“The names!” Jericho shouted. “NOW!”

The terrified scientist pointed to his computer desk. I nodded and said: “Hurry up.”

The man went behind his desk and started reaching for the keyboard.

“I can read your mind!” Jericho snapped. “Hit that panic button and I’ll fucking kill you!”

The man’s eyes went was wide as possible. He withdrew his hand from a blue switch right next to the keyboard and started typing away. A printer on the far wall came to life and several pages slid onto the tray. While I grabbed the papers and jammed them into my cargo pocket, Jericho approached the man and said:

“I’m looking for Mira Mihaka, a patient from the New Beijing clinic. I know she was here, so don’t lie to me!”

The Turkic scientist looked terrified.

“Tens of thousands of people come through here every year!” he pleaded. “There’s no way I could remember a single face amongst a crowd!”

I pointed at the computer screen and then patted the papers in my pocket.

“Can you make sense of this data? Could you find Mira’s information with this?”

“Of course!” The scientist answered at once. “Keeping track of people’s genetic information is of the utmost importance. If your ‘Mira’ person was here, then her genetic data is both on file and in the Centrifuge.”

“Centrifuge?” I repeated.

The scientist went to his office window and pointed towards the Blacksite’s main building.

“Inside there.” He said. “There’s a canister that contains genetic material for use in the-”

The window shattered violently and a loud CRACK caused me to jump backwards! Jericho dove for cover and screamed!

“SNIPER!”

The scientist collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood! I didn’t have to wonder about who had done it, though. A moment later, a new voice snaked into my mind, slithering through the air just like one of those damn Vipers.

“Just wait a moment, you two. I can’t just let you find out the truth like that! It’ll take all the fun out of the game, and I don’t like a spoilsport.”

Jericho reached out to pull the dead scientist away from the window, but I grabbed her by the shoulder and yanked her back just as another Gauss Round sailed through it and smashed into the wall!

“It’s one of the Chosen!” I yelled. “Get away from the windows!”

More gunfire came from outside. I could hear Sophia and Yutaka yelling to one another as the fight outside restarted in earnest. Keeping a tight hold on Jericho, I almost threw her out into the hallway and then followed her through the door, slamming it behind me. Chong-Il and Soo were further down the hallway, aiming their rifles out a window and firing on someone down below.

“ADVENT’s onto us!” Chong-Il yelled. “I don’t know how long we can keep this up!”

“We’ve got to get into the main research facility!” I shouted over the gunfire. “That large building at the end of the block!”

The four of us burst out of the doorway into a whole new firefight. The group of Peacekeepers sent to investigate that explosion on the railroad tracks had returned. Until now, Sophia and Yutaka had been holding them off alone, but now the six of us fought together! Taking cover behind shipping crates, idle vehicles, and any other form of cover, we started fighting our way towards the main research facility.



Jericho alternated back and forth between fighting with her Bolt Caster and with her Psionic powers. She would snipe a Peacekeeper, drive another insane, and then shoot down his comrades as they raced to help him.

Yutaka seemed to relish being in a target-rich environment. He propped himself up against the side of a cargo truck and fired wildly into the enemy squad until the barrel of his machine gun began to overheat and melt. While Soo detached the barrel and replaced it with a fresh one from her backpack, Yutaka engaged the enemy solely with his grenade launcher! Each explosion sounded like a lightning strike!

Chong-Il had found a concealed shooting position. Hidden between two bushes next to a building, he was firing his sniper rifle as fast as he could pull the trigger! Enemy Peacekeepers were pinned down behind their cover for fear of being picked off if they showed themselves.

Sophia, on the other hand, was much more careful with her shots. She emerged from cover and opened fire only when she spotted an enemy trying to reposition. Every time Sophia fired her rifle, somebody went down. Racking up hit after hit with impeccable accuracy, Sophia had become something like a traffic cop, shutting the enemy out of whole sections of the battlefield!

And the whole time, I was in motion! Dashing from one piece of cover to the next, I was searching for a way to outflank the enemy. Holding my fire, I shouted out to my squad:

“Freud! Get rid of that officer’s cover!”

Yutaka’s reply came immediately:

“Grenade! DANGER CLOSE!”

I threw myself to the ground and felt the air ripple as a grenade popped off just on the other side of the metal barrier I was hiding behind. As soon as the shockwave passed, I sprang up and aimed my shotgun, firing into a cloud of ash and smoke! A shriek of anguished pain told me I’d hit my target. Ducking down again, I heard Chong-Il shout:

“They’re starting to lose ground! They’re pulling back!”

“Keep pushing!” I yelled back. “Advance! Move forward!”

The six of us had pushed the Peacekeeper squad all the way back to the main entrance of the Blacksite’s research facility. Smoke and flame curled up and away from the battleground, while on the roof of the facility, a tall humanoid alien watched the proceedings, his face hidden behind a dark hood.

Somehow, when he spoke, I could hear the voice of the Gur-Mon Madron as clearly as though he’d been standing right next to me:

“The Elders would really prefer it if you didn't interfere with this facility, Jericho. Not to spoil the surprise, but it's kind of important to this whole scheme of theirs.”

“I already know the surprise, you freak!” Jericho screamed as she aimed her Bolt Caster upwards and fired!

The Chosen Hunter side-stepped to avoid the incoming projectile and sneered down at us.

“No, you don’t. You really don’t know a thing. Maybe you should spend some time with the Hanako girl when we’re done here. And by the way, where'd you dig that thing up? It's older than you are.”

A loud crashing sound diverted my attention. A whole section of the building’s façade came crashing down as something emerged from within. Huge, bulky robots that stood on two legs marched out of the Blacksite to meet us. The guns in their hands were so big that I’m just going to call them cannons from here on out.

“We’ve got MEC’s!” Soo yelled.

“Fall back!” I shouted. “Get out of range!”

Too late! One of the enemy MEC’s had crouched down and fired its shoulder-mounted grenade launcher! I could just barely make out the little black speck in the blue sky as it tumbled through the air towards us!

Then, with a noise like glass shattering, the grenade exploded in midair! Too high up to harm us, it popped like a firework! Looking down, I saw what was happening. Jericho had dropped her Bolt Caster to the ground and was focusing all of her powers onto the incoming bombardment. All four of the MEC’s tried to lob grenades at us, only for the explosives to detonate prematurely. After a few seconds, Jericho got the advantage! One of the MEC’s was torn to pieces as a grenade exploded inside of the launcher!

“Let’s go!” I yelled to the rest of the team! “Finish ‘em!”

One MEC keeled over immediately as Chong-Il put a sniper round through its head. Soo and Sophia teamed up to take down another one of the MECs while I set to work on the last one, firing my shotgun as quickly as I could pull the trigger!

“Soldier down!” Someone yelled from my right!

I couldn’t deal with that right now, a huge-ass MEC trained its cannon on me and I jumped behind a storage container at just the right time! The metal groaned and clanged as Gauss slugs the size of my head tore through it! I turned the corner quickly and tried to fire at the MEC one more time, but with a heart-stopping click, my shotgun jammed! Swearing with every curse word I knew, I dropped my shotgun and drew my sword, charging headlong at that huge robot!

The MEC took two seconds to change its stance and aim its cannon at me… and two seconds was all I needed!

Pointing my blade forward, I ran straight at the MEC and drove my sword into a gap in its armor plating, in an area analogous to the waist of a person. I could feel dozens of cables and lines being cut by the first hit, but I wasn’t done! I ducked low as the MEC swung at me with one hand! I grabbed its cannon with one hand, holding it in place. With the other, I pulled on the handle of my sword, cutting further into the MEC’s body and severing more cables and hydraulic lines! Finally, the MEC started to make a series of loud grinding noises. The machinery was breaking down! I pulled my sword free, jumped back, and got in a new fighting stance, ready for round two. The MEC, however, was finished. All of its servomotors made one last effort to move the arms and legs before giving out. The robot collapsed to the ground and didn’t move again.

“Did you just bring a sword to a gunfight!?” The Chosen Hunter laughed loudly. “My sister would love you!”

Instinctively, I turned my head to see what direction the voice had come from.

Madron was within arm’s reach of me.

I didn’t think. There wasn’t enough time to do that. I turned my whole body to face the Hunter, gripped my sword in both hands, and lifted it above my head, ready to bring the blade down on his head! Lazily, as though he didn’t care about what was going on at all, the Hunter raised his pistol and fired!

It felt like I’d just been punched in the chest! All of the wind went out of me in an instant! I wasn’t even aware of falling over, I was just suddenly on the ground, and my whole front seemed to be numb. Slowly, a searing pain began to spread out from the center of my chest. Vaguely, somewhere in the corner of my vision, I saw Madron return his pistol to his holster and start to walk away.

With each breath, a shockwave of pain radiated across my torso, but I knew that unless I made some kind of noise, my squad was never going to find me.

“H-he-hel…” I gasped.

The sounds of gunfire and explosions were overwhelming! I took in a deep breath, and the pain in my chest caused me to see stars!

“HELP!” I hollered. “I’M DOWN!!”

A second later, I heard the loud crack of the Hunter’s pistol going off again, quickly followed by the loud rattle of a machine gun. Whoever was trying to help me had gotten held up by the Chosen. Cursing, I reached up to my chest and felt the point where I’d been shot.

My body armor was absolutely pulverized. The ceramic plate had crumbled to dust! When I felt the powder on my fingers, I felt a huge surge of relief! So, I wasn’t dead yet! Fighting the immense pain in my chest, I forced myself to sit up. Sure enough, the whole front side of my body armor began to crumble like broken pottery. A flattened Gauss round slid down the front of my uniform and hit the dirt with a quiet plop!

Well I’ll be damned… actually, no… today, I was the luckiest man in Uzbekistan, and I was gonna put that luck to good use. Resisting the urge to pass out from the pain, I stood up, grabbed my sword and my shotgun, and rejoined the fight.

The Chosen Hunter was nowhere to be seen, but the main battle was still going on. Yutaka, Chong-Il, and Jericho were all still fighting. Sophia was hidden behind a shipping container, where she was tending to Soo with a Medikit.

“You’re going to make it!” Sophia was saying to Soo. “That’s a promise!”

“Trojan! What the hell happened to you!?” Yutaka shouted while gunning down an ADVENT trooper.

I crouched down behind the same shipping crate Yutaka was using for cover and shot an incoming enemy soldier.

“Got on the wrong end of the Hunter!” I answered. “How are we?”

“Jericho got that freak to lay off us for a minute!” Yutaka explained. “And ADVENT is still giving ground. They’ve given up the main entrance to the facility. It really looks like they want to retreat!”

This was our chance. Now or never.

“You and Antigone stay out here and keep ADVENT locked down!” I ordered. “Jericho, Enforcer, and I are going in to rescue the VIP!”

On my signal, Chong-Il and Jericho broke cover and made a mad dash for the now shattered walls of the Blacksite research facility. Behind us, we heard the deep thudda thudda thudda of Yutaka’s machine gun.

“Go straight in!” I yelled to Jericho, who had reached the door first. “Find cover and get down! I’m throwin’ a bang!”

With one hand, I reached into my cargo pocket and withdrew a nonlethal stun grenade. I tossed it over Jericho’s head as she stormed into the building and yelled:

“FLASHBANG!”

Jericho and Chong-Il both threw themselves behind a wrecked computer bank and covered their ears as the flashbang detonated! I skidded into the building and ambushed three ADVENT troopers on the other side of the wall! Jericho blasted one with her Bolt Caster, Chong-Il got another with his pistol, and I cut down the last one with my sword.

Finally, after God-knows how long, we had a moment to breathe. The fight was still progressing outside, but the three of us caught our breaths as we looked around the darkened chamber we now found ourselves in.

Clearly, this place was some kind of laboratory, but the equipment and devices we found inside were of a much more… gruesome nature.

Jericho looked up at the apparatus in the center of the room. Dozens… no… hundreds of stasis tubes were stacked neatly on shelves, each one containing a human body. Men, women, children of all ages and races could be found here. Most horrifying of all, though, was that every single person in these tubes was clearly dead. The bodies were in varying states of decomposition. In a few tubes, only skeletons remained. The shelves were stacked seemingly all the way to the ceiling and went back for nearly a hundred yards.



“What in the Dear Leader’s name is ADVENT doing here!?” Chong-Il gasped. “With all of these people?”

“I think we’ve found the missing civilians.” I breathed. “The ones who never came out of the Gene Therapy clinics.”

“Mira’s in there!” Jericho said. “We’ve gotta get her out!”

She started racing across the hall towards the rows of stasis tubes, but stopped short when we heard the loud rumble of machinery and the whole building trembled. Two at a time, each rack of stasis tubes began to sink into the floor!

“No!” Jericho screamed.

Purple light emanated from her body as she used telekinesis to try and stop the retraction of the shelves, but some unseen force conspired against Jericho. Slowly, inexorably, all of the shelves and racks retreated into the floor and were sealed away, while above and behind us, the sound of slow clapping and laughter could be heard.

The Chosen Hunter was watching us from a balcony that overlooked the entire laboratory. He was looking down at us like a child plotting to steal his younger sibling’s favorite toy.

“Now that you've finally seen behind the curtain of ADVENT's facilities, do you feel better in knowing the truth?”

Jericho leveled her Bolt Caster at Madron. He didn’t flinch. Jericho, on the other hand, looked like she was losing her nerve. The Bolt Caster shook in her hands, and when Jericho spoke there was a warble of fear in her voice.

“Where’s Mira!? Where’s my mom!?”

The Hunter looked, if anything, overjoyed. He knew something we didn’t, I could tell. He took a step back from the railing and clicked his tongue at Jericho.

“You must be talking about the one who you escorted to the Gene Therapy clinic in New Beijing. That was… what? Five years ago now? Yes, Mira Mihaka was here. Her genetic profile tripped a number of alarms, threw up some… red flags… you know what I mean?”

Jericho tightened her grip on her weapon.

“What the hell are you talking about!?” she demanded.

Madron laughed.

“You don’t know!!” he howled. “That bitch really didn’t tell you!?”

Jericho shouted over the Hunter’s voice:

“I already know she wasn’t Human! She was Partogan!”

Chong-Il and I both dropped our jaws and stared at one another.

“Jericho,” I gasped. “Mira’s an alien!? What the fuck is going on!?”

Madron laughed again. He was having fun with this.

“You didn’t tell your own teammates? Oh, Jericho, what a naughty girl you are. The Elders will have to make your reeducation very intense.”

The Hunter took a step towards the balcony railing again, but Jericho put her finger inside the trigger well of her Bolt Caster and yelled:

“Why would her being a Partogan raise an alarm?”

The Hunter shook his head.

“That wasn’t what caught the Elder’s attention.” he said. “It was her past… her history. Where she’s been and what she’s done.”

Madron tapped his head with one finger and continued.

“The Elders are knowledgeable beyond your comprehension, Jericho. When they discovered your mother’s history, they took special interest in her. Mira Mihaka has seen and done incredible things. She has been to incomprehensible places. She transcends the goals of the AVATAR Project itself, and was worthy of the Elder’s direct attention.”

The Hunter took one more step towards the edge of the balcony. He smiled an evil, demented smile at us.

“What I’m saying is: thank you for paying me a visit, but your mother is in a different Blacksite, and I’m going to take you there myself!”

And then he drew his pistol.

The whole balcony exploded! Shrapnel and debris flew everywhere as Chong-Il, Jericho, and I all dropped to the floor! The Hunter vanished into the smoke and flames, tumbling to the ground floor alongside the rest of the wreckage! Looking up, I saw what had happened:

Yutaka Yamamoto, Sophia Kuznetsova, and Song Soo had charged into the building! The barrel of Yutaka’s grenade launcher was still smoking! Sophia was already raising her assault rifle towards the spot where the Chosen Hunter had fallen! Soo was firing a pistol with one hand and clutching at a wound in her abdomen with the other; her chest, stomach, and mouth stained with her own blood!

Jericho conjured an inferno of blue-and-purple Soulfire, engulfing the whole area in violet flames while the rest of us poured even more weapons fire to the spot where we’d last seen the Hunter! Just when I was starting to think that nothing could survive this storm of hellfire we were inflicting, the voice of the Chosen Hunter cut through the violent noises like a knife!

“ENOUGH!”

A huge pulse of Psionic energy rippled out of the smoke and flames! All six of us were knocked off our feet! Weapons clattered loudly on the floor and I looked up just in time to see the Hunter emerging from a column of smoke and flame. He looked battered but was clearly still fit for a fight. Panting, he shouted at us:

“You put up a good scrap today, Jericho. I'll give you and your friends that. Next time don't expect to get so lucky! I’ll tell my sister that you send her your regards!”

A rippling, shimmering hole opened up in midair right behind the Hunter! He started stepping backwards towards the Psionic Rift!

“He’s getting away!” I yelled.

Jericho conjured a Psi Lance and hurled it with all her might towards the Hunter. He took one more step backwards and vanished into the Rift. At once, it began to close, and the semi-corporeal lance streaked through the portal just before it shut and vanished.

At long last… there was silence. Complete, total, blissful silence. We were alone.

The Blacksite compound was in flames. Each and every building was wrecked. The vehicles were shot to pieces. The trainyard looked like it would never be used again, and there was so much smoke in the sky, I was hard-pressed to believe it was really mid-afternoon.

I sent Soo and Sophia back to the Skyranger, with instructions for the aircraft to be brought here. Yutaka, Chong-Il, Jericho and I began searching the ruins of the facility for any usable salvage or Intel. Yutaka went from one enemy body to another, picking apart their weapons and stuffing useful components into his pockets. Chong-Il pulled apart several computers and recovered their hard drives. Jericho retrieved the stasis tubes and tried to identify some of the corpses inside.

And me? Well, I found something. On the far end of the building where we had fought the Chosen Hunter, I finally found the Centrifuge that scientist had told us about. Above the contraption was a big canister, filled with a slurry of green-tinged liquid. I remember the scientist saying that this thing contained the genetic information of everyone who had ever passed through here. Maybe Doctor Tygan could glean some new Intel off this thing. Cautiously, I removed the canister and took it with me.



The Skyranger arrived a few minutes later. After landing in what remained of the trainyard, Wendy took one look around at the destruction and let out a low whistle.

“Six people did this? Holy shit, man. That’s scary.”

“Hold up,” Yutaka said. “I’m not done.”

He shoved his machine gun into Jericho’s hands, causing her to stumble backwards. Yutaka then jogged back to the Blacksite research facility. He reached into his cargo pocket and produced a fistful of X-4 plastic explosives. He stuck the compound onto one of the building’s main supporting columns and activated the countdown timer on the detonator’s keypad. Then he returned to us and said:

“Okay, now we’re done here.”

One by one, we all boarded the Skyranger. Before sitting down in the jumpseats, we all took off our armor and checked each other or injuries. Luckily, only two of us had actually gotten hurt. I had a gigantic bruise on my chest marking the spot where the Chosen Hunter had shattered my armor. I didn’t need any medical attention besides the occasional reminder to “walk it off.” Soo had been shot once in the gut, just below her stomach. We cautiously laid her down on the floor and allowed Yutaka some space to do what he did best.

“Right now, my priority will be seal and secure the wound.” Yutaka told her. “I’m going to pack the site with gauze. This is going to hurt, but it will stop the bleeding and guard against infection until we get to the Avenger’s infirmary.”

Over the noise of Soo’s screams and wails of pain, Sophia clambered up the ramp and banged her fist on the doorway that led to the cockpit.

“We’re all aboard! You can take off!”

The boarding ramp closed, sealing us up inside the Skyranger, and the aircraft lifted off from the Aralkum Desert, leaving the wrecked Blacksite behind.

About a minute after takeoff, the Skyranger was hit by a small shockwave, confirming the total destruction of the Blacksite.

While Yutaka worked on Song, I rounded on Jericho.

“Care to explain why you made us risk our lives for an alien!?”

I was feeling pretty pissed. This whole time I’d been operating on the assumption that Mira Mihaka was a woman…. A Human woman! In the back of my mind, I was hoping Jericho would say that the Hunter was lying. But when her face fell, I felt a sick sense of confirmation.

“You’re not supposed to find out until later… a lot later.” Jericho answered meekly.

“Excuse me?” Chong-Il said. “This is more of that ‘stuff that’s supposed to happen in the future,’ right?”

Jericho nodded.

“None of you were supposed to find out about the Partogans until they actually showed up.” She said. “Remember when I said a huge space fleet is coming towards Earth, and that ADVENT and the Elders are trying to fight them? Well, it’s a Partogan fleet. The people coming to help us are Mira’s people. And she’s the one who called them here.”

Painful silence filled the Skyranger for a few minutes while we took all of that in. This whole time, I’d been thinking that Jericho was trying to find her “second mother” out of some kind of love or affection. Now I thought of another reason Jericho was trying to find Mira.

“So…” I asked. “What’ll happen if that Partogan fleet gets here and Mira doesn’t call them to say hello?”

“I have no idea.” Jericho admitted. “And I don’t want to find out.”

Chapter 10: There's a Future in the Past

Chapter Nine

There’s a Future in the Past

 

 

Airspace above Inner Mongolia, East Asia
Saturday, May 5, 2035 – 3:50am


The flight back to Japan went by in a blur. Yutaka worked on Song’s injury for nearly an hour before sewing up the wound and giving her some sleeping pills. With Song unconscious, Chong-Il and I fiddled about with the climate controls until the overwhelming smell of blood was filtered out of the air. Jericho and Sophia fell asleep on one another’s shoulders.

By the time the Skyranger was over the Gobi desert, Yutaka and I were the only ones still awake. He leaned forward in his seat, fingers pressed together in deep thought. His eyes never broke contact with Jericho.

“Do you think any of this has happened before?” Yutaka’s question caught me off-guard.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Think about it.” Yutaka said. “Jericho’s so-called ‘mother’ has had contact with a time-traveler and carried a device that told her about future events. The only way that time-traveler would know about those events was if they’d actually been there.”

Yutaka cast a suspicious eye at Jericho.

“I know the Commander forbade her from telling us about the future, but I’m still disturbed by what she said in the Blacksite. We really weren’t supposed to find out about the Partogan fleet until later? If she knew we were going to find out anyway, why not just tell us?”

“Maybe the timing has something to do with it?” I offered. “Perhaps the future changes if we learn stuff early.”

Yutaka shook his head.

“No, Robinson. The future isn’t something you can just rebuild or alter.”

He continued to look over Jericho’s sleeping form. Yutaka seemed to be talking to himself, using me as a sounding board.

“Jericho really does know our destinies. She may even know her own fate already. The future itself isn’t going to change, no. Instead… the path we take to reach our fates is going to be different. That’s the key.”

Yutaka undid his safety belts and crossed over to the other side of the Skyranger. He took the empty seat next to Jericho and quite literally cozied up to her, putting one of his hands on her leg. Jericho didn’t wake up, but she did shuffle about, seeming to recoil from something.

“What a fascinating girl.” Yutaka’s voice was barely more than a whisper.

Yuk! Look at something else!

I nearly jumped out of my seat!

Chihiro! I thought. I can hear you!

Yeah, you must’ve just come back into my range. Chihiro’s telepathic voice filled my mind. Now we know the Psi Link doesn’t work over long distances. I’ll be ready for that next time. How’d your mission go?

I refocused my mind and called forth memories of everything that had happened in the Aralkum desert. The ambush, the encounter with the Chosen Hunter, and the discovery about Jericho’s mom. I finished by slowly moving my eyes over to Song, and allowing Chihiro to get a good look at Yutaka’s handiwork.

Yeah, great. Chihiro’s voice dripped with sarcasm. Just get her back here and let the real medics do the work.

I asked Chihiro how her mission in Tokyo had gone. Words and images tumbled into my mind without restraint.

Tokyo’s even more crowded than when I was kid! There’s almost fifty million people living there now! Took us nearly a day to find the guy we were looking for.

A mental image filled my mind’s eye. It was of a middle-aged Japanese man who wore a blue sweater vest and rectangular glasses. His hair was going grey and receding at the same time, while the expression on his face was one of exhaustion. In my mind, the name “Doctor Hongo Marizuki” became associated with the man.

Doctor Marizuki was a professional astrologer. Chihiro explained. He detected the Elder’s Temple Ship in orbit above Earth twenty years ago before the aliens attacked. You’ll never believe this, Blake: He says Jericho is right about that space fleet coming towards us now! He’s been tracking that armada for weeks!

I looked over at Jericho again, my eyes wide.

“No way.” I muttered under my breath. “She knew.”

Yutaka was only half listening to me.

“Of course she knew.” He muttered before draping one of his arms across her shoulder.

Tell those two to get a room! I’m trying to talk to you here! Chihiro’s voice got my attention again. What about you? Are you okay? I can tell you’ve been hurt.

I reached up and absentmindedly rubbed the bruise on my chest. In the back of my mind, I got the feeling that Chihiro had simultaneously done the same. Even though she was physically unharmed, she had experienced a dull pain in the middle of her torso.

I’ll live. I told her. You can see for yourself when we get back to the Avenger. Are you already there?

We’re close enough to see it. Chihiro answered. Probably another ten minutes walking and the mission will be over for my team. Where are you?

I struggled to pull a map of East Asia out of my pocket without waking up Chong-Il.

Near the border of Inner Mongolia and Manchuria. I answered. We’ll be back in Japan before long.

Good. Chihiro answered. I’m going to board the ship and do the debriefing now. I’ll see you soon! I love you!

Love you too.

Chihiro’s withdrawal from my mind felt a little like I was hanging up a phone. I smiled, grateful that we’d finally gotten comfortable with the Psi Link between us. Finally, I was starting to feel sleepy. I shut my eyes and did my best to ignore a whispered conversation between Yutaka and Jericho, who was awake now. The humming of the Skyranger’s engines and the aircraft’s gentle vibrations were the best lullaby I could ask for. A quick nap before landing, just close my eyes for a moment…

…

“Robinson! Wake up!”

I startled! The Skyranger was abuzz with activity, and everyone was awake. Yutaka was standing up in the aisle way, clutching a radio receiver to his ear. Chong-Il was writing something down in his notepad frantically while Jericho was helping Soo into a seat and strapping her in. Sophia was the one who had shook me awake.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“The Avenger just contacted us with new orders.” Sophia explained. “Delta Squad got jumped before they reached their objective in Kanna. They’re being overwhelmed!”

“Since we’ve got the Skyranger,” Chong-Il added, “We’re being sent to bail them out.”

I stood up and keyed in the Squad Leader’s passcode to the weapons locker.

“What do we know about the situation?” I asked.

“Very few ADVENT on the ground.” Yutaka said. “It’s a mostly alien force down there, and they’re being led by the Chosen Warlock.”

Everyone froze. I slowly turned on the spot and faced Yutaka.

“Say that again!?”

“The Warlock.” Yutaka repeated. “He’s already there, on the field. And it sounds like he’s brought a small army with him. Whatever the aliens have in Kanna, they’re willing to defend it with their heaviest weaponry and most elite soldiers.”

Yutaka rounded on Jericho. To my surprise, Jericho seemed to wilt under Yutaka’s gaze. Something about the way he looked at her seemed to just sap Jericho of any confidence.

“It’s a Psi Gate.” She said quietly. “An interdimensional gateway held open by Psionic energy. There’s a handful of them on Earth, and the one in Kanna is the most poorly defended.”

“Most poorly defended!?” Chong-Il repeated incredulously. “Sounds like our people are getting massacred over there!”

“That’s because XCOM isn’t supposed to get the Psi Gate for another month!” Jericho protested. “This mission is supposed to fail!”

“Not if I can help it.” I said. “Everyone sit down!”

I pushed my way to the front of the Skyranger and banged on the cockpit door.

“Hey, Firebrand!” I shouted.

“We’re already en-route to Delta Squad’s position.” Wendy Carter yelled from the other side. “ETA two hours!”

“Can you get us there any faster!?”

“Not unless you want me to fly this thing apart!”

“FLY IT APART THEN!”

I looked back at my squad.

“We’re getting Delta out of there, alive!” I said. “No other option is acceptable.”

All around us, the Skyranger shuddered dangerously as her engines were throttled all the way up. I cast a look at Jericho.

“If you want us to keep helping you, then you need to help us.” I said. “Is there anything we need to know about this fight, or that Psi gate?”

Jericho took a deep breath and bit her lip.

“The Psi Gate is being protected by some of the most powerful aliens the Elders have.” She said. “I’ve fought a few of them, but never more than one or two at a time. We’re going to have to deal with a lot of dangerous enemies all at once. So if I tell you to run, you’ll run. Don’t argue, don’t ask questions, just run.”

…

Chihiro, have you been listening?

Kinda. I found out about Delta Squad just before you did. Are you going to help them?

We’re already on the way.

So am I. I’m tagging along with Voodoo Squad. We’re going on foot. Isis is coming with me.

Be careful, Chi. I’ve heard there are some really powerful aliens out there.

Right. I promise not to kill them all before you get here.

…

 

Kanna River, Honshu Island
Saturday, May 5, 2035 – 5:10am

“Contact! Four Mutons behind the treeline! Put down suppressing fire!”

“Can’t do it, boss! I got problems of my own!”

“He’s down! Hazard is down!”

“They’re coming around the flanks! Get back!!”

“Who’s got the Medikit!? I’m hit!”

“Keep your heads down!! We’ve got incoming!”

“Got a lotta heat on me! Need help!”

“Mutons coming around the side! We’re being flanked!”

“They’re behind us! We can’t retreat!”

“Avenger, this is Delta One-One! We’re being overrun! We need emergency evac! NOW DAMNIT! NOW!”

High above the battlefield, the Skyranger’s engines screamed loudly as we came in for our approach! I hooked one of the rappelling lines to my harness and looked around at my four squadmates. Soo would be staying behind while Jericho, Yutaka, Sophia, and Chong-Il all listened to the voices of Delta Squad in our radios with grim expressions.

“Sounds like our guys are encircled.” Yutaka said. “Voodoo and Echo will have to fight their way in from the other side.”

“Then let’s give the aliens something else to shoot at!” I said. “Firebrand, give us five minutes and we’ll give you an LZ! Get ready to pick up a lotta wounded!”

“I’ll hold you to that, Trojan!” Wendy said over the radio. “I’ll be back in five mikes!”

The Skyranger’s boarding ramp dropped! We were just fifty or so feet above the ground! Flames licked the treetops as the forest below burned! About two hundred yards away from our position, deep in the forest, we saw brilliant flashes of purple and violet light flicker and strobe like an intense lightning storm. Gunfire and explosions sounded all around as five rappelling lines fell away from the Skyranger. Wendy brought the ship to a hover above the battlefield and I shouted:

“Go go go!”

Yutaka, Sophia, Chong-Il, and I all grabbed a line and fast-roped to the ground. Jericho jumped from the boarding ramp and fell straight to the ground! With a flash of light, Jericho vanished into thin air and rematerialized on the ground. A Muton yelped with fright as it appeared in the sky where Jericho had just been. With a pathetic cry, the alien fell fifty feet and slammed into the earth!

No sooner had the five of us hit the ground then we were in the thick of the fight! The Skyranger sped away immediately as greenish-yellow columns of light crisscrossed the sky above us!

“Contact right!” I yelled!

“Contact front!” Chong-Il shouted!

We were taking fire from two directions! Hiding in the dense forest, obscured from view by smoke and flame, aliens fired at us with beam weapons! I hit the deck, crawling on my hands and knees through the dirt until I found a big fallen log to take shelter behind.

“Return fire!” I shouted. “Pour it into ‘em!!”

The noise was overpowering! Near-constant gunfire made the air shudder and my eardrums throb. I poked my head over the top of the log and saw five huge, hulking Mutons in the forest.



I racked my shotgun and took a potshot at the nearest one. Splintered wood flew everywhere as the tree the Muton was using for cover was hit!

“Check your fire!” Sophia yelled. “Friendlies on our left!”

The soldiers of Delta Squad were in terrible shape. Of the original six-man team, only two were still fighting: a Norwegian man called Leif Berg and a Nigerian woman called Lehana Dikale. They were putting up one hell of a stand! The barrel of Leif’s light machine gun had gotten so hot that it was already melting! Lehana’s face was covered in blood and dirt and her equipment was in terrible shape. Her shotgun was bent and her sword broken, yet somehow she was still in the fight!

A very short distance away were the other four members of Delta Squad. Cory Tucker was lying flat on his back, both hands clutching a bloody wound in his middle and hyperventilating. Svetlana Guesva, a Russian woman, was lying flat on her face, clearly unconscious. Another Russian, Alexei Volobyov, was wounded but still fighting, both of his hands working furiously to get a damaged rifle working again. Rafal Kowalski appeared to be dead.

“Holy hell!” I yelled, “How long have you guys been here!?”

“About seventeen hours, give or take!” Alexei responded. “We’d all be dead if it wasn’t for that Hanako girl!”

A loud roar echoed through the forest, drowning out the sounds of the raging inferno around us!

“More Mutons!?” Leif yelled.

“That sounds like a Berserker!” Yutaka called back.

I pointed to the spot where we’d found the stranded soldiers.

“Gimme a defensive perimeter around Delta!” I yelled. “Make some room for the Skyranger!”

Suddenly, my field of view was filled with swirling flames and I was hit by a wall of heat! A tree, huge and old, had succumbed to the flames and fallen over! Ignoring the intense heat, I threw myself behind the trunk just as another pulse of beam weapon fire flew overhead. My hands were sweating so badly that I could barely keep a grip on my shotgun as I opened fire on a pair of approaching aliens, forcing them to retreat. Behind me, Yutaka reached the soldiers of Delta Squad and made contact.

“I hope to hell you’re our ride outta here!” Alexei shouted above the noise of battle.

“It’s on the way!” Yutaka answered. “We need to secure the area so she can land! How many of you can fight!?”

“Just the three of us!” Lehana answered. “Strobe and Smokejumper are down and we think Diesel bought the farm! We lost the Resistance girl too!”

I turned around to look at Lehana.

“Where’d you lose her?” I shouted.

Losing Homura Hanako was all kinds of bad. If she was still alive, then we couldn’t run the risk of her being captured by the enemy. She was the one who had tipped us off to this place! We couldn’t lose her!

Lehana pointed into the burning forest, over my shoulder.

“Quarter of a click that way.” She said. “Supernova got jumped by the Chosen Warlock!”

“Supernova?” Sophia repeated.

“That kid’s got one helluva Gift.” Lehana said.

But before anyone could say anything else, there was another huge eruption of gunfire! The aliens renewed their assault on our position, all thought went back to defense! I crawled towards a copse of trees that hadn’t been consumed by fire yet and sat up. Keeping my back to the tree trunk, I raised my shotgun and started firing into the moving shapes on our right flank!

After three misses, I finally hit a Muton! But those giant musclebound aliens don’t go down as easily as a person. The great big monster seemed to just shrug off the shotgun slug started bearing down on me! Each colossal footfall made the ground quake as it charged straight at me! I grabbed the handle of my sword, ready for a close encounter, but –

CRACK!

A projectile just big enough for me to see screamed in from my right and tore through the Muton’s body! Killed instantly, the alien collapsed and slid across the ashes before coming to rest in front of me. Jericho stepped out from behind a tree and reloaded her Bolt Caster.

“We’re not out of this yet!” She shouted, “Behind you!”

Something huge tore through the tree I was leaning against! I lurched forward and felt hot ashes and embers raining down on the back of my head! I rolled over and readied my shotgun…

The creature was almost twice as big as a Muton and had twice the teeth!

“Berserker!!” Chong-Il yelled. “Run!”

“NO!” Jericho projected her voice over the entire battlefield. “Everyone focus fire! Take it down together!”

Jericho, Chong-Il, Yutaka, Sophia, Lehana, Alexei, Leif and I all turned on the spot and began to sink bullets into the gigantic alien! Each shot seemed to do nothing except make it angry! The Berserker roared and began to charge! Moving faster than any of the other Mutons I’ve seen, I had only seconds to decide what I was going to do. I drew my sword and slashed it down just as the Berserker reached me! My blade caught the Berserker in the neck, it raised both of its arms and brought them down!

Pain. All kinds of pain. Nothing else made sense. Sights, sounds, smells… all of my senses were scrambled. I knew my head and chest were hurting, but I couldn’t tell how badly or why. The whole world seemed to be spinning, yet I knew I wasn’t moving. Something had hit me… something had killed me… but I wasn’t dead! I could feel a heartbeat… no… two heartbeats! I tried to focus, and peered through a set of eyes that weren’t my own.

The second I’d been hit by the Berserker, Chihiro Tachibana’s entire body had been wracked with incredible pain! Screaming at the top of her lungs, she charged forward into the fight, leaving the soldiers of Echo and Voodoo squads behind! By the time the enemy realized they’d been outflanked by XCOM reinforcements, it was beyond too late.

Nearly a dozen XCOM soldiers hit the enemy from the rear, with Chihiro at the front of the assault! The horde of Mutons couldn’t turn around quickly enough before being cut down by either Chihiro’s Shadowkeeper pistol or her Psionic Amplifier. Like a great wave on the ocean, XCOM’s forces rolled across the battlefield, sweeping up the enemy who couldn’t fight a three-front battle.

I saw all of this through Chihiro’s eyes, but I had never used our Psi Link like this before! Sure I’d looked through her eyes plenty of times, but now I was receiving input from all five of her senses. I could smell the sulfur and ash hovering in the air, appreciate the fact that Chihiro’s vision was better than my own, taste the blood and soot in her mouth, hear the soft-but-permanent ringing in her ears, and feel her feet sliding around in boots that were a size too big.

A kind of buzzing in the back of my mind told me that Chihiro knew what I was doing. In fact…

“There you are!” Chihiro said aloud!

She had used telepathy to trace my mind back to its body. I looked at my own form through her eyes, and felt really strange. I was lying on my side near the burned out remains of a large tree. Jericho and Yutaka were kneeling down next to me, spraying my head and neck with a Medikit. I could see the blood running down my own face as clearly as Chihiro could, as well as the spot where the Berserker had clubbed me in the head. Chihiro got down with the others and pressed her hands on my injuries.

“Hang on, Blake!” She gasped, “I’m not as good at this as Jericho but…”

It felt like I was caught in a powerful wind! My mind was sucked out of Chihiro’s head and back into my own body! The pain in my head and chest suddenly intensified and my eyes snapped open!

“Ow! Augh! What the hell!?” I yelled.

Chihiro intensified her grip on my forehead.

“Your skull is cracked!” She said loudly. “Hold still and gimme a few more seconds!”

The pain in my head was so intense I was starting to see stars! Blue and white points of light swam in front of me until there was a gentle snap just above my left eye, and a wave of relief seemed to course through my whole body. I could relax, finally.

“That’s just a temporary fix.” Chihiro said. “I’m no healer like she is, now get up! We’ve got a battle to win here!”

Chihiro pressed my shotgun back into my hands and pulled me upright. As I put one hand on the nearby tree to steady myself, I suddenly became aware of just how beaten down and tired I felt. My vision swam and my head felt kinda fuzzy. I had to blink a lot of times before I got my bearings again.

The fight had turned in XCOM’s favor. The enemy force had gotten caught in a vice between my squad and the troops Chihiro had brought with her. The Mutons had given up their attempt to finish off Delta Squad and retreated, formed a new defensive line and opened fire on us again. High above, the Skyranger swooped over the treetops and veered away.

“I can’t land there!” Wendy shouted over the radio. “Standby for cable reels! I’m gonna pull you all out six at a time!”

“Take Delta Squad first!” I responded. “We’re marking the spot with green smoke!”

On my command, Yutaka chucked a smoke bomb into a clearing just beyond the spot where Delta Squad had hunkered down. Colonel Pyotr Ilyshin, the leader of Voodoo Squad, rallied his troops.

“Secure that area!” Pyotr yelled. “Give me a fifty meter perimeter in all directions!”

Italian soldier Paolo Basso voiced a concern:

“Has anyone seen any dropships? Does the enemy have reinforcements?”

“None that I’ve seen from up here!” Wendy radioed down to us. “You’re in the clear!”

Taking shelter behind the same boulder, Chihiro and I took turns escorting the soldiers of Delta Squad into the clearing. Hovering just fifty feet above the ground, the Skyranger opened its rear bay doors and six rappelling cables descended to the ground. Lehana, Alexei, Leif, Svetlana, and Cory all secured themselves to a cable. A harness dropped to the ground from the Skyranger, and I used it to secure Rafal Kowalski’s unconscious form to Lehana.

“You’re clear!” I yelled. “Pull’em up!”

All of the cables quickly retracted, reeling the six soldiers upwards towards the safety of the Skyranger. Once they were all secured in the deployment bay, the ramp closed and the aircraft sped away towards the Avenger.

“I’ll drop them off and come back for the next six!” Wendy’s voice said over the radio. “Everyone hold tight!”

Beam weapon fire!

I threw myself to the ground! The impact caused my head to ring like a bell, but at least I wasn’t shot! Crawling on my hands and knees, I moved back into the treeline while bullets and energy pulses crisscrossed above me! Chihiro grabbed my shoulder and yanked me to safety.

Chihiro blasted a Muton with her Shadowkeeper before turning to engage another one with her Sniper Rifle. Then she had to duck behind a boulder as plasma beams shot back towards her in retaliation!

“It’s a goddamn army out there!” She shouted, “We can’t hold this spot!”

“My thoughts exactly!” I shouted. “Stormbreakers! Fall back one hundred yards and dig in!”

The two remaining squads followed our lead. Sixteen soldiers broke contact and gave ground, falling back and retreating deeper into the forest. An Echo soldier shouted for all of us to hear:

“They’re pursuing! We’re being followed!”

We came to a particularly dense patch of forest with thick trees and big boulders.

“Good enough!” I said. “Stop here and dig in!”

Pyotr agreed with me, and when the rest of Echo squad showed up, so did their leader, Anna Petrova. All three Squads took cover and turned their weapons to face the oncoming enemy!

The horde of Mutons erupted through the forest and was met by a hailstorm of gunfire! My ears throbbed and blobs of color swam in front of my eyes! My shotgun was so hot I could feel and smell my own skin starting to burn!

“Don’t let up!” I shouted. “Pour it into ‘em!”

The deep thudding of machine gun fire was accompanied by the howls of wounded and dying aliens! A tree, shot one too many times, creaked and groaned before crashing down to the forest floor! Twigs and leaves danced through the air, illuminated by muzzle flashes and plasma beams!

Then, through the flashes and the smoke, through the darkness and the chaos, I saw something. A lone humanoid figure. It looked like a person with white hair that stuck straight up. I couldn’t make out its face, it was hidden behind some kind of mask. It was so surreal, so out-of-place, that for a moment I just stared at it.

“Trojan! Down!”

Sophia’s voice jerked me back to reality just in time! A plasma beam cut through the air just above me as I hit the ground. When I looked around the side of the boulder again, the human-shaped thing was gone.

“Where the hell is Jericho!?” Yutaka yelled. “We could use some Psionics right about now!”

I looked around frantically, and after doing a quick headcount, I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach. Jericho really was gone. She was nowhere to be seen.

“Where the hell did she go!?” I shouted.

“Blue-hair?” said one of the Voodoo soldiers. “She went over the top of the hill behind us!”

“Blue Dragon! Doctor Freud! On me!”

Pyotr took charge of the main defense while Chihiro, Yutaka, and I broke contact and charged towards the hill at our rear. The trees got fewer and farther in between as we neared the summit, which allowed the three of us to see the intense flashes of light and hear the thunderclaps coming from the other side before we saw the sources of the light and noise. When we got to the top of the hill and looked down the other side, all three of us froze.

“Nanite kotoda!?” Chihiro gasped.

“If I had to guess,” Yutaka said. “That’s the ‘Psionic Gate’ Jericho mentioned.”



Looking down from the hilltop on the valley below, we saw something that can only be described as awesome.

In the bottom of the valley was a small structure that looked a bit like an altar or a shrine. On top of the alter, a huge object shaped like a crescent moon shimmered and flickered faintly while a battle unlike anything I’d ever seen before played out around it:

A huge white orb flew through the air around the altar, firing a bright orange beam down on Jericho! Keeping her arms raised, she deflected the beam attacks and ran across the blasted terrain towards the other two combatants.

On the far side of this new battlefield, we finally spotted Homura Hanako. Psionic energy rippled out of her body as she unleashed one attack after another on her enemy! Beams of light jumped from her hands and struck a tall alien with blueish-purple skin and wispy white hair. The enemy warrior seemed completely undisturbed by Homura’s attacks and stood his ground, parrying each blow with ease! Just when it seemed like Jericho was going to finally reach Homura, the white orb did something absolutely bizarre! It opened up!

The white shell split and came apart, revealing a hideous alien with four long tentacles inside! Floating high above the ground, it looked like something out of a nightmare! The alien closed the distance, reaching out towards Jericho with its appendages!

“HELP HER!” I yelled!

“On it!” Chihiro raised her Sniper Rifle!

Yutaka and I didn’t wait for the shot! We started to charge downhill, weapons drawn! Above our heads, there was an earsplitting crack as Chihiro sent a sniper round downrange! The spherical alien was struck, hard! Chihiro had managed to hit the creature’s flesh instead of its white shell. At once, the tentacles retracted inside of the protective shell, which moved back into place and closed itself up, hiding the alien from view. Jericho saw us coming and yelled:

“What the hell are you doing?! Run! Get outta here!”

Yutaka dove for cover behind the staircase that led to the alien altar and fired his machine gun wildly at the spherical alien!

“Firebrand’s on her way back!” I shouted. “It’s time for you and Hanako to get out of here!”

“I don’t need help! I’ve got this!” Jericho yelled as she fired her Bolt Caster into the spherical alien. “Go help Hanako! She’s in trouble!”

A shockwave rolled across the ground and hit us! Every hair on my body stood up on end and my skin crawled as though I’d just looked at something disgusting. Yutaka and I both spun on our feet and saw what was happening.



Keeping both of her hands in front of her face, Homura backed away from Kon-Mon Dessurik slowly. Her Psionic Shield flickered as it was battered repeatedly by the Warlock’s assault! Violet light arced off of the Chosen Warlock’s hands and dispersed across Homura’s shield! Yutaka and I redirected our efforts towards Dessurik, but he raised one hand and lashed out at us!

“As the gods will, I shall show you the abyss!” Dessurik roared!

My shotgun suddenly got hot! Hotter than it had ever been before! I dropped the weapon and reached for my sword! Big red blisters had already appeared on my palms, but I didn’t care. Gripping my sword handle tightly, I followed Yutaka into the fight! Homura fired a bolt of lightning into the Warlock’s chest while Yutaka held down the trigger of his machine gun, spraying the Chosen with hundreds of bullets! Once he ran out of ammo, I charged forward and slashed my sword across Dessurik’s chest! He staggered backwards and Yutaka cheered:

“We got him!”

“No we didn’t!” Homura snapped!

I dropped my sword. The pain was getting overwhelming! As the handle of my sword fell away, my hands erupted into even more agony! I could see the burn marks on my palms! I fell to my knees and yelled out! My eyesight fogged up! I couldn’t see through the waves of pain radiating from my hands!

“Blake! Get up! You need to get up!”

Homura was tugging at my shoulder. She looked desperate. I wrenched myself up just in time to see the Chosen Warlock blasting Yutaka off his feet with some invisible force. Homura raised one hand to defend us! Another Psionic Shield materialized in front of us. If anything, this only made Dessurik more furious! In a tone of absolute outrage, he yelled:

“To abscond with the god’s own power and turn it against their very forces is the greatest of affronts! Hear me, Paradox! You will pay for your perfidy with the very powers you have stolen!"

I just barely heard the ghost of a laugh escape Homura’s lips.

“The other guy said the same thing.” She hissed. “Didn’t end well for him.”

“You are like a child in the presence of a true master, Paradox.” The Chosen Warlock said. “Let me show you my power!”

A force, unseen and irresistible, hit Homura’s shield and it shattered immediately! It broke down every mental barrier I had with overwhelming force and entered my mind with all of the violence and brutality of a hurricane!

Pain.

Pain like nothing I’d ever felt before hit every part of my being. Every nerve was on fire, every bone broken, every muscle cramped! Yet through it all, I was aware! Something was forcing me to watch as something dark and twisted came hurtling towards me through the void!

“Your greatest weapon is your mind… yet look how easily it is turned against you! Know the truth and despair: The unknown enemy is within!”

My own mind collided with Homura’s mind! Here, in this Psionic chasm, our thoughts entangled, our dreams confused, and our memories…

Homura’s memories…

…

Friday, May 13, 2005
Washington DC, United States of America


I was standing in the White House bowling alley, leaning on a countertop while I watched a group of children argue about how to sneak out of the room. When a twelve-year old boy with brown skin and curly hair started to propose a hair-brained scheme, I scoffed at him and said:

“Cool your jets, Robinson. It’ll be easier if I just take one for the team.”

“We don’t even know you!” a little black girl whispered.

I stepped behind the countertop and pulled a black hoodie off a shelf. It was far too big for my small feminine frame, but that was the point. I threw the hood over my head, making sure to let some of my straight black hair hang out. Slouching over a bit, I knew I looked like a genuine hooligan.

I gave Blake Robinson a confident grin and stepped out into the hallway. Secret Service Kathleen Walsh was so surprised at my brazenness that she didn’t react until I crossed the hallway and knocked a decorative vase off the windowsill, where it crashed to the floor!

Giggling like a maniac, I ran while Walsh gave chase…

…

Saturday, September 15, 2007
Perth, Australia


Clutching my binder full of paperwork to my chest with one hand, I rapped my knuckles on the door quickly and confidently. This wasn’t the first time I’d done this. I knew what I was doing.

A huge black man with a Maori te moko tattoo on his face answered the door. He was dressed up in a smart-looking bartender’s uniform and gave me a confused look. He told me that the bar wasn’t going to open until later tonight and asked why I was there. I politely asked if his name was Jake Ethan Green. He nodded. Moving quickly, I reached into my binder, withdrew a yellow envelope and pressed it into his hands.

“Legal notice.” I said. “You’ve been charged with selling alcohol without a government permit. You need to report to the courtroom at the provided date and time.”

Jake was flabbergasted.

“I’ve only just gone into business!” he said. “There’s no way I can afford to deal with this right now!”

Reaching out with my mind, I sent a telepathic command to the man I’d placed under Mind Control earlier. He began to accelerate his truck at a calm pace. While I spoke the truck drove past us down the road as though it was carrying on normal business.

“There’s plenty of legitimate ways to make money.” I said to Jake. “You’ll look better in front of a Judge if you had one of those jobs.”

Jake wasn’t listening. He was reading the advertisement on the truck that had just driven past. “This is our war, too!” The sign said. “Join the Australian Army today! Beat the Russians!”

I nodded politely and turned to leave.

“I’ll see you in court, Mister Green.”

…

Saturday, December 22, 2012
Hiroshima, Japan


When I drove around the corner, the front two tires of my ambulance mounted the curb and ended up on the sidewalk. I didn’t care. Just a few yards away, Blake and Chihiro were frantically re-tying a pair of tourniquets around the bloody stumps that had once been Tsubaki Endo’s legs. They both screamed for help as Hal Macintosh and I got out of the cab.

Hal told me to open up the back door and get the stretcher. When I brought it around, Tsubaki had turned pale.

“She’s just a kid!” Chihiro cried. “This isn’t right! This isn’t fair!”

“This is war, Tachibana.” Hal told her. “You did your part, now let us do ours!”

Once we got Tsubaki into the ambulance, Hal told me that he was going to drive. He was faster. I said I knew the quickest way to the nearest army field hospital, and that I’d give him directions from the back. While I stayed in the back and tended to Tsubaki, I shouted the directions to Hal so he’d know which way to go.

Hal never suspected that I was using my powers to keep Tsubaki alive until we reached the field hospital…

…

Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Pretoria, South Africa


I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car. The man next to me was under Mind Control. We were parked on the other side of the street from the Sonop Tennis Club, keeping a close eye on the sidewalk. After a few minutes, we spotted her. Twelve-year-old Sophie Ackermann stood out like a sore thumb in a crowd. She was quite possibly the tallest white girl in all of Pretoria. She had a blue backpack slung over her shoulders and her dirty blonde hair rustled against her nylon windbreaker.

My companion and I waited until she drew level with our car. On my command, the man rolled down his window and pointed a handgun directly at Sophie’s heart. She froze and all the color went out of her face.

“Get in.” The man said. “Now.”

“We’re not kidding around.” I added. “We got no problem shooting you.”

With a terrified squeak, Sophie complied, opening the car door and slowly sliding into the backseat. I took the gun and covered her while my puppet floored the gas pedal and sped us away…

…

Friday, May 1, 2015
Lyon, France


A convoy of military vehicles was moving through the heart of the French city. This late at night, very few people were aware of what was going on. There were twelve trucks in the convoy, all heavily armored. Men sat in turrets atop each vehicle, keeping watch with heavy machine guns at the ready.

I stepped into the street and blocked the way. The lead vehicle came to a stop and the doors opened. Eight men appeared. They wore business clothing: white shirts, ties, and pinstripe pants. They had all masked their faces with orange and yellow bandannas, combined with thick-rimmed sunglasses.

They commanded me to step aside. They didn’t take me seriously. Why would they? As far as they know, I’m just an Asian tourist who’s out alone in the middle of the night.

One minute. That’s all it took. It happened so fast that the survivors never did know what hit them. But the proof of what I’d done lay strewn over three city blocks in the form of twelve wrecked military vehicles and almost fifty dead people. The select few EXALT Operatives who had survived were driven insane by my power. Over the next few minutes, they killed each other in a frantic gun battle against an enemy that existed only in their imaginations; they never knew what had happened to the four men and women they were supposed to be transporting.

By the time soldiers from XCOM arrived on the scene, Matthew Hawkins and his three fellow prisoners were long gone.

…

Sunday, March 8, 2020
Volgograd, Russia


The front door to the Gene Therapy clinic burst open! Two girls came in, one supporting the other. The injured girl was bleeding profusely from two wounds, one in her neck and one in her face. I helped two of the other doctors take her into the back while her distraught sister stayed in the lobby with a counselor.

It only took five minutes to repair the damage to Sophia Kuznetsova’s neck and replace the lost blood. Just when we were getting started on fixing her face, however, a scientist told us that this girl had been selected for the AVATAR Project. We were ordered to cease all treatment and put her on the next train to the Aralkum Blacksite.

I couldn’t allow that.

Two minutes of Mind Control and Psionic Manipulation later, Sophia walked out of the clinic, rejoined her sister, and both of them vanished into the night…

…

“NO!” Homura’s voice erupted from the void! “Get out of my mind! Both of you!”

I wrenched myself backwards, physically and mentally, determined to escape this nightmarish prison! But the Chosen Warlock was overwhelming! He pushed my head back down into the sea of Homura’s memory, forcing me to witness the one moment she was holding back… the one moment she refused to show me…

…

Wailua, Hawaii



Anger. Fury. Rage.

It was those feelings of pure hatred that kept me warm on that cold night. While rain drizzled down on me, I didn’t feel it. I was lost in my own wrath. Stepping away from the Ark Angel, I ignored the whining of the engines. Eight men and women all stood on the boarding ramp of the ship, calling for me to come back. The voices of Whetu, Hakara, Yukiko, Anika, Soo, Manaaki, Chong-Il, and Arioch all faded into the rain as I set off down the hill.

The neighborhood was dark and wet. Most of the lights were out. A dog ran out of its yard and began to bark and yip at me. I stopped walking and turned to look at the creature. It only needed to gaze into my eyes for a fraction of a second before it turned and ran away, tail between its legs. All it would take was one twitch of my wrist, and that pathetic animal would never go home again… but no. I wanted to save my fury for someone who actually deserved it.

I found the house. It was a lonely place at the end of the neighborhood, with sandy beaches to the left and right, while the Pacific Ocean stretched out behind the home. All of the lights were on. The second-story bedroom window vibrated as someone listened to music very loudly. The living room curtains weren’t drawn, I could see inside.

The man who’d invoked my wrath was there. He was sitting on the couch, having a conversation with two people a little older than me, a young man and a young woman. After a moment, the woman stood and walked out of sight. The man smiled and leaned back in his chair, seemingly content.

I was on the porch. I hadn’t made any noise. I reached to my belt and pulled out my Psionic Amplifier, then took aim at the door. It exploded into thousands of little pieces! I was just barely inside the house when the young man ran into the entryway.

“Mom! Dad! It’s Akira! Call the cops! I’ll hold her!”

Call the cops? Hold me? What a joke.

A bolt of lightning erupted from my Amplifier and struck my older brother squarely in the chest! It lit up the whole house with a pinkish-white flare before going out again, and Alexander Robinson stumbled forward, crashing face-first to the floor.

From up above, I heard a voice saying:

“I need the police at 735 Moanakai Road in Wailua! My sister’s trying to kill us!”

I pointed my Amplifier at the ceiling. At once, the entire second floor of the house collapsed! Wood, concrete, plaster and all sorts of debris and wreckage rained down! Caught in the chaos, both of my twin brothers tried to save themselves as soon as they saw me. I pointed my free hand and closed my fist! James and Josiah Robinson crumpled where they stood and I turned my head towards a scream!

My mother and older sister had taken shelter in the kitchen. At her command, my sister was racing towards the back door to escape while my mother came charging at me. What an idiot! Did she really think she stood a chance now? I projected a Psionic Lance from my Amplifier! Simultaneously, Chihiro Tachibana and Asuna Robinson were struck down.

At the same moment, with a loud and tremendous roar, my father freed himself from the wreckage of what had once been his home. When he looked around and saw what I’d done, I watched his spirit break with deep satisfaction.

“Akira… Why?” he gasped. “What… why?”

“You know why.” I said coldly. “You were there. You know what you did.”

I raised my Amplifier. I was so furious, my voice and hand both shook.

“This is for every man, woman, and child on Earth you sacrificed. This is for the untold billions of people across the Galaxy who had to die because you were too selfish. THIS IS FOR EVERYONE WHO NEVER GOT TO LIVE BECAUSE OF YOU!”

And then I painted the walls with the blood of Blake Robinson.

The house was in flames. As neighbors ran towards the residence with garden hoses and buckets of water, I slipped out unnoticed. I would have faded away into the darkness, but I spotted a teenage girl wearing all white clothes running down the road towards the burning house. I couldn’t help but smile at the knowledge that my alternate self always had the same clothing preferences as me. Taking great care to never let the alternate Akira Robinson see me, I pointed my Amplifier at her head.

It only took about ten minutes for me to completely re-write her mind and re-make her memories. She would never be the same person again, and that worked for me just fine. I returned to the Ark Angel…

…

The sights, sounds, and smells of the world around me flickered and went out! I felt like some invisible thing finally released me, and I pulled back, retreating from Homura’s memories, fleeing her mind as quickly as I could!

Back to Kanna! Back to the present! Back into my own mind!

I am Blake Robinson! I’m not the monster whose mind I’d just invaded!

Revulsion coursed through me like a wave! I rolled over onto my hands and knees and vomited until there was nothing left in my guts! I was vaguely aware of being buffeted by a strong wind, and of an overpowering light threatening to blind me. I sat up and raised on hand to shield my eyes.



Homura Hanako… no, that wasn’t her real name… Akira Robinson had broken free of the Warlock’s grasp and had unleashed her full power against him! She pointed one arm towards the sky and projected a column of brilliant purple light into the clouds above! Bolts of lightning descended from the sky, two or three at a time!

All over the battlefield, alien soldiers howled with pain as they were struck by Akira’s attack! This wasn’t like those arcs or Psi Volts I’d seen other Psionics use, this was real lightning! Each strike resounded through the air with a mighty BANG that shook leaves from the trees and made my chest quake! The battlefield lit up as though it was daytime with flash after flash! Mutons fell one after another, overwhelmed by Akira’s assault!



Shocked and stunned beyond belief, Chihiro and I could do nothing but watch as Akira’s wrath rolled across the battlefield like a Tsunami!

Kon-Mon Dessurik wasn’t idle! He made a pulling motion with his hands as though he was extracting Psionic energy from the Earth itself! I looked around and saw what he was doing!

“Jericho! Look out!”

Shimmering beings rose from the ground. They looked like people, but I could see through them, almost as though they were ghosts. Each of the translucent beings was armed with something that resembled a sword.

“My loyal soldiers transcend space, time, and death itself!” The Chosen Warlock declared. “For my power is a majestic gift from the Gods!”

One of the translucent people ran towards Jericho and Akira and drew a sword! Akira spun on her feet and blasted the attacker with her own power while Jericho shot it with her Bolt Caster! The semi-corporeal warrior keeled over backwards and fell to the ground, vanishing into nothingness before he came to rest.

“Jericho! You get the Warlock!” Akira yelled. “I’ll deal with the Wraiths!”

Then Akira turned around and screamed:

“ROBINSON! BEHIND YOU!”

I heard leaves shuffling on the ground and quickly turned! A Wraith had gotten close enough to hit me with its spectral sword! I shouted and kicked out! To my own surprise, my foot connected with something that felt solid! The Wraith stumbled backwards and tried to come at me again, but I had already started backing away! Looking around desperately for a weapon, I realized that my hands were still maimed! I couldn’t hold anything! How the hell was I supposed to fight!?

The spectral wraith tried to hit me again, I raised my arms, ready for the blow! But nothing came, its sword deflected away from me at the last second! The action was accompanied by a deep noise, kinda like a gong. Looking up, I saw two shimmering Psionic shields had overlapped themselves in front of me, each one hovering in front of… my own hands!? Weak sparks shot out of my bloody and burned palms, giving a little color to the shimmering wall of energy that hovered directly in front of my hands.

I barely had time to figure out what the hell was going on! A second Wraith was coming at me! I turned tail and tried to run, but a slightly high-pitched voice came from the treeline!

“Hang on, Blake! I’m almost there!”

Chihiro ran across the alien altar and jumped through the crescent-moon shaped object! Landing on my side of the altar, Chihiro raised her Shadowkeeper and blasted one of the Wraiths, while striking the second one with a small psionic shield projected from her free hand.

“Wait a second!” I gasped. “Did you do that!?”

“I was getting desperate!” Chihiro panted. “I was trying anything that came to mind and that seemed to work! Come on, we’ve gotta cover those two!”

About fifty yards away, Jericho and Akira were fighting side by side, battling their way through the Spectral Army towards the Chosen Warlock, who was opportunistically blasting them with his own Psionic power!

Keeping a close eye on my new Psi shields, I followed Chihiro into the fight! I chose to use my new shields as a kind of spectral boxing gloves. Each time I punched or jabbed a Wraith, Psionic energy arced from my fist to the enemy, enhancing the power of each strike! This was exhilarating! I’d never killed an alien by punching it before, but if this was really what it was like, than I was never going back to firearms!

On my right, Chihiro fired the Shadowkeeper with supernatural accuracy! A dozen Wraiths vanished into the night as we closed in on Jericho and Akira! With a sweeping motion, Jericho fired a cone of light from her hands and wiped out the last of the Spectral warriors! Chihiro, Akira, Jericho and I all stood together and faced down the Warlock!

Kon-Mon Dessurik looked at each of us in turn.

“The Elders will no doubt be impressed by your prowess in battle today, Jericho, and no doubt your choice of allies will intrigue them further. When next we meet, Jericho, the Paradox will not be there to save you… and then I will claim you for the Elders, as is your destiny!”

A shimmering hole opened up in the air directly behind the Warlock!

“Rift!” I yelled! “He’s escaping!”

“STOP HIM!” Akira shouted.

All four of us made to attack the Warlock, but he was too quick, stepping backwards through the rift, which closed and disappeared just like it had done in Aralkum.

For a few minutes, there was a painful silence as all four of us caught our breath. For the first time in a week, we were all starting to become aware of just how tired we were. Jericho got down on one knee and put a hand to her chest, panting. Akira leaned against a nearby tree and dropped her plasma pistol with a sigh. I could feel every ache and pain in my body. Behind me, Chihiro was panting heavily. She fell to her knees, coughing.

“They’re down here!”

Voices began moving down the hill. All of the remaining XCOM soldiers on the field arrived on the scene and began to secure the area. Anna Petrova’s jaw dropped as she saw the crescent shaped object on top of the alien altar.

“What the hell is this thing?” Anna asked her comrade.

“Let’s hang it off the front of the Avenger.” Akaya Ogawa suggested. “That way the ship’ll look like a charging bull with a nose ring!”

Meanwhile, Yutaka, Sophia, and Chong-Il caught up with us. As soon as she saw my burned hands, Sophia pulled out a Medikit and sprayed down my wounds as best she could.

“You need to get to the infirmary, Robinson.” Sophia said. “We’ll deal with the alien artifact.”

“Let Echo and Voodoo Squads do that.” I said.

Straightening up, I pointed an accusing finger at the stranger we had all been calling “Homura” for the past week.

“Restrain her!” I ordered. “Somebody cuff that monster right now!”

Akira sighed. Looking down at her plasma pistol, she kicked it away and held up her hands in a gesture of surrender.

“Fine. This is still better than the alternative.” She said.

Yutaka looked very confused as he produced a pair of flex cuffs and tied Akira’s wrists behind her back.

“What’s going on, Trojan?” he asked. “Is this girl an ADVENT spy? If she is, we should just shoot her right now.”

Chihiro looked back and forth from Akira to me.

“Blake?” Chihiro said, “What happened? What did you see?”

I swear on my life. Chihiro told me telepathically, I know you saw something, but I really don’t know what it was.

My mind was racing at a hundred miles per hour, but that statement made something click in my mind. I decided it was my turn to vent some anger, rage, and fury. I closed in on Akira. She stepped back and pressed herself into Yutaka’s body. She wasn’t scared, if anything, she looked resigned to what was about to happen.

“I would love to kill you.” I seethed. “But since I know you’re not an ADVENT spy, I can’t. I’ll just settle for this!”

I punched Akira in the head! Sophia, Jericho, Chihiro, and Chong-Il all jumped forward to stop me, but I managed to slug Akira two more times before someone pinned my arms! Chihiro stepped between us and held out her arms, forcing me to back away.

“What the hell is going on!?” she demanded.

“That freak’s a murdering psychopath!” I hollered, straining to pull myself free of Chong-Il’s grip. “And a time-traveler! Like Jericho’s alien mother!”

Chihiro’s eyes went wide as she looked towards Akira. Her pistol-hand twitched. Akira saw this and shouted:

“Wait! Gimme a chance to explain myself first! Please! Just hear me out!”

Akira locked eyes with Chihiro.

“Okaa-san! Kii te kudasai!!”

Chihiro dropped her weapons and froze.

“What did you call me!?”

Chapter 11: Déjà vu All Over Again

Notes:

I've done a lot of research for this chapter. I personally guarantee that if you travel to the town of Kanna on Honshu Island on 10 May 2035 and look to the west at exactly 10:45pm, you will see the constellations, stars, and planets described in this chapter.

Chapter Ten

Déjà vu All Over Again

 

Kanna River, Honshu Island
Thursday, May 10, 2035 – 10:00pm


“I’m sorry, Corporal Tachibana. Those test results aren’t back yet. I have a long list of other tests and experiments that take precedence!”

“Come on, doc! You’ve had almost five days!”

Doctor Tygan sighed and, if possible, unwrapped the bandages around my hand even more slowly. On the other side of the medical bed, Chihiro folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. I looked back and forth between them and sighed.

“What difference do the test results make?” I complained. “They won’t change what Akira’s done!”

“What Akira has allegedly done,” Doctor Tygan corrected. “No one else saw what you’ve claimed to see, Lieutenant. It’s your word against hers. You should leave any judgements for the final page of the Commander’s report to the Resistance Council.”

Finally, my hands came free of their bandages. All of my fingers were swollen and inflamed, but the pain had been reduced to almost nothing.

“Skin grafts appear to be taking well.” Tygan commented. “I feel comfortable releasing you from the Infirmary, Robinson. However, I’m going to inform the Commander that you will not be fit for combat for the next two weeks. And Corporal, I promise you, when the test you asked for comes back, I’ll let you know immediately.”

At long last, I swung my legs out of the medical bed and started to gather my things. Bundling the tattered remains of my uniform, my shotgun, and my sword in my arms, I left the Infirmary with Chihiro following close behind. I started moving down the hallway quickly, Chihiro had to quicken her pace to keep up.

“Blake! Wait up, where are you going!?”

“The Brig.” I said. “I’ve gotta kill som-”

“STOP!”

Chihiro dashed in front of me and blocked my way.

“The Commander’s got the Brig sealed off.” She said. “You can’t get in, none of us can. She says it’s for Akira’s protection as much as ours!”

I let out a deep breath and pressed one fist to the wall in frustration. The images I’d seen five days ago were still burned into the forefront of my mind. Horrific violence and evil manipulations replayed themselves in my memory again and again. Each time I relived one of Akira’s actions, I felt myself getting hotter and hotter with anger.

“Okay. Fine.” I said. “I’ll kill her when she gets out!”

Chihiro’s eyes went wide and she grabbed my shoulder. At once, a cool refreshing sensation washed over me and made me pause. It felt like the shoulder and corresponding arm had been dunked into a stream. I cooled off, literally and figuratively.

“Whoa, where’d you learn that one?” I asked.

“Petoskey.” Chihiro said, smiling weakly. “He says it’s called Psionic Inspiration, and that I should practice it on you.”

“Yeah, keep doing that.” I said, relaxing. “Your hands feel better than Tygan’s at any rate.”

We both leaned against the wall and sighed together. Neither of us wanted to have this conversation, but it needed to be done.

“Blake, what are we gonna do?” Chihiro asked. “What if the test comes back and… and that girl really is…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence.

“I don’t give a damn what any test result says.” I responded confidently. “I don’t care what she wants to call herself, either. That monster is not… and never will be… my kid.”

Chihiro grabbed my scarred hand in hers and looked up at me.

“And what if… what if she’s my kid?” Chihiro sounded scared. “Blake, she’s got my eyes and my hair… and the way she just ran towards the Warlock in that fight! Blake, didn’t you always say I was reckless!?”

“Reckless and impulsive.” I repeated, my mouth going dry. “But I haven’t called you that since Hiroshima… since you were a teenager.”

“Akira sure looks like a teenager to me.” Chihiro shuddered. “Blake… forget all the stupid time travel for a second and just ask yourself: what if she’s really our kid!?”

I pulled my uniform jacket on overtop of my tee shirt and secured my weapons to their shoulder straps.

“I don’t wanna cross that bridge alone.” I said. “Where’s the rest of the squad?”

…

Deep within the Avenger, hidden away from the vast majority of the crew and soldiers, is the Shadow Chamber. This expansion of Doctor Tygan’s research lab was where XCOM scientists analyzed high-value alien artifacts. When Chihiro and I arrived, we found it abuzz with activity. A dozen scientists and engineers were installing the crescent-moon shaped object from our last battle on an elevated platform in the middle of the room. On the other side of the Shadow Chamber, Jericho was talking to Chief Shen, who was taking notes on a tablet computer. Yutaka Yamamoto and Isis Dekker were both nearby, having a very energetic conversation with Commander Harper.

Since we were close enough to hear what Yutaka and Isis were saying to the Commander, Chihiro and I started gravitating towards them.

“…barbaric and inhumane! She’s not an animal, Commander!” Isis raised her voice. “We can’t expect Jericho to fight for us if we keep her at the end of a leash!”

“You’re wrong, Dekker.” Yutaka said. “The Jericho girl fights for us because we’ve got her on the end of a leash!”

“It’s a shock collar!” Isis protested. “Commander, this is insane! Let me cut that thing off!”

“Cut off that Arc Brace and you may as well sign our death warrents!” Yutaka yelled. “XCOM cannot coexist with a living god that refuses to submit to it!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a strange expression cross Jericho’s face. No doubt she was trying to hide her reaction to being described as a living god.

“Last time I checked,” I interrupted. “I’m in charge of the Squad.”

Yutaka and Isis broke off their argument and looked at me. Commander Harper folded her arms and looked relieved.

“If either of you have issues with the way we’re keeping tabs on Jericho, you need to go through me first, and then I’ll speak to the Commander for you.” I said. “It’s called the chain of command. Use it!”

Yutaka put his hands in his pockets and gave me a smile that made me feel uncomfortable.

“Glad to see you up and about, Robinson.” He said. “I’m going to help Shen. Call me if you need help dealing with the wannabe pet owner over here.”

Isis displayed a pair of very offensive hand gestures at Yutaka. He rolled his eyes and walked away.

“Sergeant Dekker!” Commander Harper snapped. “You’re done! I don’t want to see that kind of behavior in here!”

The Commander glared at me. Telepathically, I reached out to Chihiro and we had a lightning-quick discussion:

So, no two ways about it. I gotta punish Isis for disrespecting an officer. Chi, you got any advice?

She’s angry, but cooling off quick. She won’t get mad at you as long as you make her do something outside. It’s dark out there, so Isis can collect herself where nobody can see her. Also, you missed some things while you were in the Infirmary. You gotta make it look like you’re really in charge, Blake!

Right, I’ll do that.

I rounded on Isis and raised my voice at her!

“I’m not going to tolerate that, Sergeant!” Isis flinched as I yelled at her. “Put down your gear, go outside, and run fifteen laps around the ship! Now!”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

Isis didn’t look back as she left the Shadow Chamber.

“You’d better be sweating when I come out to check on you!” I shouted through the door.

That’s good. Chihiro’s voice filled my mind. Quit now or you’ll upset Jericho. Everyone thinks you took Yutaka’s side in the debate.

Oh. I felt a sinking feeling in my gut as I looked across the room.

Jericho had paused in her talk with Chief Shen and was watching me, looking sad. She jumped with fright when Yutaka started shouting at her!

“You’re not here to stand around and look pretty! Get those cables strung!”

Yutaka shoved a box full of electrical wire into Jericho’s arms. She dropped to her hands and knees and started threading cable between a computer terminal and the Psionic Gate. Chief Shen stepped over Jericho and approached me.

“Robinson!” Shen said. “You were in pretty bad shape after that fight across the valley, so I haven’t gotten to speak to you yet about Aralkum. You got a minute?”

“Where do you wanna start?” I asked.

While Chihiro moved off to help someone else, Chief Shen and I began to discuss the alien artifacts in earnest. Shen had recovered the paperwork and strange vial I’d taken from the Blacksite in Aralkum and had studied them alongside Doctor Tygan.

“It looks like the paperwork and the vial are related to each other.” Shen said. “Basically, we’ve got a record of the genetic material inside this canister. Once the Shadow Chamber is back at full power, we’ll be able to make some sense out of this data, maybe even find out where ADVENT sent Jericho’s mother.”

“You can do that?” I asked.

“As far as anybody knows, Mira Mihaka is the only ‘Partogan’ on Earth right now.” Shen clarified. “Which means if she’s in the Gene Therapy database, her DNA will stick out like a sore thumb. Once we pick up the trail, it’s just a matter of searching.”

“Sounds good, is there anything I can do to help?”

“Just keep bringing in those alien artifacts and any Intel you find out there.” Shen said. She hesitated, then added: “And by the way, could you do me a huge solid and try to bring back one of those ADVENT MECs? I just need a few parts for a project.”

“Sure, I’ll keep my eyes open.”

Someone tapped me on the shoulder.

“Lieutenant Robinson,” said Commander Harper. “Come with me.”

…

The Commander pulled me through a hatchway that led into the next room. It was the auxiliary laboratory reserved for Doctor Tygan’s scientists. Tygan himself was also here, along with four other people. Chihiro held both hands up to her mouth, looking at the other three people with a shocked expression.

The girl formerly known as Homura Hanako stood near Tygan under the watchful eyes of two soldiers from Echo Squad. Russian soldier Artyom Sidrov carried an assault rifle in both hands, while Palestinian soldier Karmina Isra was sitting on a countertop, keeping her sawn-off shotgun aimed directly at Akira Robinson’s chest. Akira herself was restrained, shackled by the ankles and wrists. She didn’t take her eyes off Chihiro as I entered with the Commander.

“Per Corporal Tachibana’s request,” Doctor Tygan said. “I have completed my investigation into the possible genetic relationship between herself, Lieutenant Robinson, and the prisoner who now calls herself ‘Akira.’ The Commander has decided that Lieutenant Robinson will have the final say on just how public this information goes.”

Tygan motioned for us all to approach a large touchscreen mounted on the laboratory wall. He tapped the screen and brought up six rows of nearly identical code. The letters a, g, c, and t appeared and re-appeared in patterns across the screen. The six lines of code were broken up into three groups of two.

Doctor Tygan pointed to the top row of letters and began:

“Lieutenant Robinson, this is your genetic code. Observe these markers here which denote your brown eyes, this mRNA sequence that makes you immune to the HSV-1 virus. This sequence over here is responsible for your black hair. Now look at this combination of proteins: If I was still working in an ADVENT Gene Therapy clinic, I would point to these sequences right here and diagnose you with an allergy to latex. Correcting it is a simple treatment.”

“Living with it is even simpler.” I grumbled. “I haven’t had a reaction since I was ten years old.”

Doctor Tygan dismissed my comment:

“I would go on, but I’m sure you understand my point. This is you, Lieutenant Robinson. No one else. Now…”

He pointed to the second line of code.

“This genetic code clearly belongs to Corporal Tachibana. See here, the sequence which gives the Corporal her pale skin. Over here is the marker for hitchhiker thumbs. These letters here show a combination of two recessive traits. ‘Recessive’ means ‘uncommon’ or ‘rare.’ Corporal Tachibana, were you the only member of your family with large blue eyes?”

Chihiro nodded. Tygan continued:

“Furthermore, this series of genetic markers here suggests that Corporal Tachibana is of mixed racial ancestry, just like Lieutenant Robinson. Something the two of you have in common.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You never told me you were mixed.” I said to Chihiro. “That’s pretty cool!”

“No one in my country likes to talk about it.” She explained, shrugging. “Nearly all of my people expect the Imperial Family to be ‘pure Japanese,’ you know? We’re supposed to be descendants of the sun and all that. But yeah, a really long time ago, the decedents of some Korean king married into the Japanese Imperial Family. So, I guess that makes me a little bit Korean.”

Turning back towards Tygan, Chihiro put her hands on her hips and bit her lip nervously. Like me, she wasn’t distracted by the digression for more than a few seconds. Everyone held their breath as Doctor Tygan pointed to the last line of code.

“And this genetic information was drawn from a blood sample taken from Akira Robinson four days ago.”

Akira sighed and looked at the ceiling. Doctor Tygan tapped a small segment of the bottom code.

“Physically, Akira seems to have taken after her mother. She has the same combination of two recessive traits… large blue eyes.”

Chihiro stepped across the room and grabbed Akira’s chin with one hand, forcing her to look forward.

“Oh, God.” Chihiro gasped. “They really are the same!”

Tygan pointed to another line of code.

“Akira has hitchhiker thumbs and pale skin, both inherited from her mother as well.”

Chihiro backed away from Akira, all the color going out of her face.

“M-mother!?” Chihiro repeated. “But I’ve never… Blake and I haven’t-”

“Time travel’s a funny thing.” Akira said softly. “Wait ‘till you hear what I got from my dad.”

I could feel my pulse racing. This couldn’t be true! How the hell could any of this be true!?

Doctor Tygan put on hand on top of Akira’s head forced her to look left.

“See her detached earlobes? Identical to the ones found on Lieutenant Robinson. Furthermore, she seems to have inherited a few genetic traits from her father, such as his immunity to the HSV-1 virus, which causes cold sores. Akira has also inherited her father’s eyesight. She underperformed in a visual acuity test two days ago, the results suggest nearsightedness similar to that of her father.”

My heart dropped into my stomach and the whole world seemed to spin.

“Bullshit.” I stammered. “No way.”

Tygan tapped the touchscreen again. All six lines of code merged into one. Hundreds of white letters turned green while a select few turned red.

“Deny the science all you want, Lieutenant.” Tygan said. “There’s still going to be a ninety-five percent probability that this prisoner is the biological offspring of yourself and Corporal Tachibana.”

I was dumbstruck. There was nothing more I could say. No more denials, no more rejections. The truth, ugly and terrible, was looking me right in the face. Akira smiled at me while Commander Harper folded her arms.

“I have so many questions that I don’t even know where to start.” Harper said. “You look like you’re in your late teens or early twenties. How did you jump twenty years into the past? And why?”

Akira started to say something, but at that moment, Central Officer Bradford barged in, throwing the hatchway door open loudly.

“Commander!” Bradford barked. “We’ve got a rapidly unfolding situation! You’re needed on the bridge!”

Commander Harper looked extremely disappointed.

“Alright, we’ll pick this up later.” She said. “Guards, take Miss Robinson back to the brig and keep her there until I say otherwise.”

Karmina Isra and Artyom Sidrov pushed Akira out the door and down the hallway. While the Avenger’s command staff started moving towards the bridge, Chihiro and I looked at one another and had a quick unspoken conversation. We left the laboratory and made our way to the brig.

…

Two decades ago, there was an episode of an old world television show where human space explorers had to lock one of their own people in the brig of their spaceship. I remember some set designer had decided to make the fictional ship’s brig look like a large hotel room with all of the furniture removed save for a bed and some simple amenities. For some reason, the sci-fi brig used a force-field to keep the prisoner inside, so that the camera could see them at all times. Let me tell you now: a real-life brig is nothing like that.

The Avenger’s brig is quite literally a cramped little hole in the hull. Akira could barely stand up in there, brushing her head on the ceiling. The doorway was not a force field, but rather a huge slab of metal that could only be moved with the aid of a hydraulic lever on the outside. A tiny window no bigger than a human hand was cut into the face of the door, while a miniature airlock hatch was used to pass things like food into the cell.

Four armed guards were posted outside the cell door. As Chihiro and I approached, we saw that all four men guarding the door had metallic objects wrapped around the backside of their necks. These semicircular objects had a small prong that ran up and down the body, running from the back of the head to the bottom of the neck. The tips of the prongs gave off a gentle greenish-blue light, giving away the fact that the devices were at least partially made from Elerium, an alien element that powered nearly all technology on Earth these days. These trinkets were called Mindshields, a device made from alien technology that rendered the wearer highly resistant to Psionic attack.

As we got closer to the brig, Chihiro and I could feel cold and harsh Psionic energy radiating out and away from the brig. It was the first time I’d consciously been aware of Psi-energy in the air around me. I knew Chihiro was giving off energy too, but I’d never felt it like this.

“This whole place feels wrong now.” Chihiro said quietly. “Something dark is hanging in the air.”

Before we approached the brig window, two of the guards passed extra Mindshields to Chihiro and me.

“Ugh, these don’t fit right.” I complained as I clipped mine to the back of my neck.

“It’s because these are the new ones.” Chihiro said. “You and I used to have the old ones that were made from Ethereal brains. They were so much better than the new type. Alright, lemme test it...”

Chihiro stared hard into my eyes as she tried to telepathically force her way into my mind. When I didn’t respond, Chihiro narrowed her gaze and focused on me even harder.

“It feels like I’m hitting a wall.” She said. “I can’t get in, can’t make a dent, can’t do anything.”

“Why doesn’t every XCOM soldier have a Mindshield?” I asked, “You know, as standard equipment?”

“XCOM has only six Mindshields.” One of the guards said. “And all of them are in this room.”

“We need Sectoid brains to build them,” Another guard explained. “And nobody’s killed one of those buggers in a couple of weeks. Bag a ‘Toid, then you can have your own Mindshield. Until then, I’m gonna want those back when you’re done.”

Cautiously, Chihiro and I approached the cell window and peered inside. Akira was sitting on a metal bed, looking up at the window. She nodded at us, but didn’t get up.

“I guess you have a lot of questions.” She said calmly. “Ask away, and I’ll answer. Where do you want to start?”

Chihiro opened her mouth to speak, but I cut her off.

“When I saw inside your mind, I saw you killing... killing me.” I decided not to mention Chihiro’s name at the last second. “You said that you were getting revenge for someone. What the hell did I do to deserve that? I’m guessing it’s something in the future. What happened?”

Akira sighed and put her head in her hands.

“Dad, I… I… Look, there’s no way I can justify that night.” She said. “The only way you can understand why I did that is if I tell you why I’m jumping around time in the first place.”

Akira stood up, put her hands on her hips, and looked at us through the little window. She looked tired and worn, and when she spoke, her voice seemed strained:

“About two months from now, that alien fleet Jericho warned you about is going to get here. They’ll help you overthrow the ADVENT Coalition and free all of Humanity. In exchange, those new aliens are going to ask all of Humanity to join in their war.”

Akira took a step closer to the window.

“Mom, Dad, do you remember when you raided the Overseer ship just before Earth fell? Do you remember what that Ethereal said to you right before you killed it?”

Chihiro tensed up. I grabbed her shoulder with one hand and held her steady. Both of us were remembering that horrifying night in the Brazilian jungle where, amongst the fire and smoke, Chihiro had fallen under Mind Control, allowing an Ethereal to speak through her mouth. Now, Chihiro repeated those terrifying words in the same robotic voice she had used when she’d been turned into a living puppet, and I moved my own lips in sync with hers, whispering the mantra neither of us could forget, even if we wanted to:

“Behold the greatest failure of the Ethereal Ones. We who failed to ascend as they thought we would. We who were cast out. We who were doomed to feed on the Gift of lesser beings as we sought to uplift them… to prepare them… for what lies ahead.”

Chihiro shuddered and pressed herself into my side, letting me wrap one arm around her. She was shivering intensely, and felt cold to the touch.

“What lies ahead…” Akira repeated softly. “Is the reason I’ve been moving through time, influencing people, re-writing history, changing destinies. It’s the reason for everything.”

Taking one more step towards the window, Akira was now level with us.

“Two months from now, the armada of the Triple Alliance will reach Earth and offer to help you overthrow the ADVENT Coalition. They won’t do it for free.”

“Of course there’s a price.” I said. “How bad is it?”

“In exchange for freedom, Humanity will be made to join in the War.”

“War?” Chihiro whispered. “We’re already at war!”

“No.” Akira shook her head. “I’m talking about THE war. Right now, every single civilization in the Galaxy is fighting a desperate struggle for survival… and they’re losing. Every day, the creature that defeated the Ethereals gets closer to wiping out all life in the Galaxy.”

“Defeated the Ethereals!?” Chihiro squeaked. “What the hell could do something like that?”

“The Beast.” Akira said. “It spreads like a plague. It converts its enemies into more of itself. Every starship and soldier the united races of the Galaxy loses against the Beast becomes one more enemy to slay. Mom, please listen to me: Just over a year from now, the Beast is going to come to Earth. Aliens from all over the Galaxy will race to Earth and defend it. The battle is going to be the greatest last stand in history, and you, Dad, and the rest of your squad are all going to play an important role.”

Akira shifted her gaze to me.

“Dad, I’ve been traveling all over the past, rewriting history so that when the last battle happens, you and the Stormbreakers will win. If my calculations are right and if I’ve changed the correct moments in the past, then you, Mom, Jericho, Ignatius, Hal, Tsubaki, Odette, all of you… will face down the Beast… and destroy it.”

I felt like my stomach had dropped out of my body entirely, and that I was as cold as this metal door now.

“I saw you kill me.” I said. “You said it was because I sacrificed-”

“I know!” Akira cut me off. “Blake… Dad! The last time I tried to change history, I screwed up. I didn’t change the right stuff, so when the time came for the last battle, you made the wrong choice, causing all of us to lose. I lost my temper, Dad. I was so furious at you that I… I vented my anger. I went forward and hurt you because I was hurting. You only screwed up because I screwed up even bigger. And then I made you pay for my mistake.”

Akira was starting to cry.

“I know what you saw, Dad. It was a godawful, horrible thing to do. I was wrong, so wrong to do that and I know I can never make it up to you… but please listen: I only want you and XCOM and Humanity to win the final battle. Everything I’ve done is to make sure that happens. This war is the last war in history, Dad! After September next year, there’ll be no more fighting, no more death! The Beast will be gone, ADVENT destroyed, and Earth will finally be safe. It’ll be over!”

I blinked a few times. I was honestly having trouble knowing what to think or say next. When I didn’t say anything, Akira went on.

“I know you hate me, Dad. I deserve it. But I still want to see you and Mom live to see the end of this thing. I want you and Sophie, Sophia, Matt, and Yutaka to all get out of this war alive. I promise, Dad, swear on my life and my grave… I’ll help you win this war… and then I won’t jump through time anymore. My word: I’ll be done. You saw my biggest screw-up and I swear it’ll never happen again. And just for you, when this is all over, I’ll accept whatever punishment you can think of.”

Chihiro gasped.

“Akira!”

“Said you wanted to kill me, right?” Akira asked me. “It’s only fair. You know what I’ve done.”

Then Akira turned to face Chihiro, stepped back, and bowed her head and torso forward until she was bent at a ninety-degree angle. Keeping her face pointed directly to the floor, Akira pressed her hands to her sides and said:

“Benkai no yochiganai. Okaa-sama, Kanbenshitekure yo.”

Chihiro raised her hands to her mouth and didn’t say anything. I couldn’t help but be confused. I’d known Chihiro for the better part of thirteen years, but after all that time, my knowledge of Japanese was cursory at best. I knew Akira had just made some kind of apology, but there are literally dozens of different ways to say “I’m sorry” in that language. So all I had to go on was Chihiro’s reaction.

“I-I-uh…” Chihiro stammered. She reached out and tried to put her hand through the window, reaching into the cell.

“Chi!” I grabbed Chihiro’s wrist and pulled her arm back.

In the second and a half it took for Chihiro to look at me and then turn her head back towards the cell door, Akira had risen to a standing position and was reaching out to grab Chihiro’s hand! Her hand was through the cell window and grasping at us!

“Takes a lot more than an apology to get us to trust you.” I said. “Right, Chi?”

Chihiro took a lot longer to choose her words than I did.

“I still don’t trust you, Akira.” She said slowly. “But if you ever wanna talk, I’ll listen.”

Chihiro and I returned our Mindshields to the guards and started to leave. I wanted to put as much distance as I could between myself and Akira, walking at a brisk pace. Chihiro lagged behind, then she turned on her heels and shouted down the corridor towards the brig:

“Hey Akira! Are you going to be my only child!?”

“I’m the youngest!” Akira called back. “Three brothers and a sister!”

Chihiro gave me a wide-eyed look of pure shock. She eyed me up and down and then put an anxious hand over her own belly.

“I’m gonna have five kids!?” Chihiro squeaked. “Five!? Seriously!?”

“Don’t look at me!” I replied, suppressing a laugh. “I’m the one who only wanted two kids. Commander Harpers gonna flip when she hears Akira’s telling us about our futures. Let’s head up to the bridge and see the fireworks.”

…

Chihiro and I never made it to the bridge. We ran into Harper, Bradford, and Tygan on their way down the elevator. They were being escorted by Isis Dekker, who was sweating profusely as though… oh yeah… I made her run laps earlier!

“Sergeant Dekker!” I said. “Are you-”

“I already told Fournier to get her telescope!” Isis said quickly. “Jericho, Yamamoto, and Petoskey are already outside. Well, are you coming or what!?”

“What’s going on?” I asked. “Did we miss something?”

“Something’s happening in the sky!” Bradford told me. “Something huge!”

A loud clatter behind me caught my attention. Odette Fournier had appeared in the hallway, carrying a very large space telescope over her shoulder as though it was a rocket launcher. Jogging behind her was a middle-aged Japanese man I recognized as Doctor Hongo Marizuki, the man Chihiro had helped rescue from Tokyo last week.

“When did the phenomenon start?” Doctor Marizuki asked.

“Sergeant Dekker spotted it about six minutes ago!”

“Then we may just see the end of it!” Doctor Marizuki said. “Quickly, we must get outside!”

…

Kanna River, Honshu Island
Thursday, May 10, 2035 – 10:45pm


Nearly the entire crew of the Avenger, plus all XCOM soldiers, had spilled out of the boarding ramp and had taken up spots in whatever patch of open ground they could find. Men and women craned their necks to look up at the night sky and gasped in amazement at what they saw. Chihiro and I followed Odette and Marizuki all the way to the bank of the Kanna river, where dozens of Japanese locals from the nearby town had congregated. They too, were looking through telescopes and marveling at the night sky in awed voices.

Finally, Doctor Marizuki found a spot to set up his equipment. Odette gently set the telescope on its tripod and allowed the scientist to begin his work. Meanwhile, Bradford, Harper, Tygan, and Odette all turned to look at the sky. Chihiro and I did as well, and together, the entire crowd gave a loud:

“Ooohh!”

All eyes were on the Western Horizon.

Just barely above the mountains and sinking fast were three Constellations, clusters of stars that resembled figures from Human mythology. Right as Chihiro and I turned our heads to the west, we saw Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog, vanish below the ridgeline and beyond the horizon. Naturally, our eyes followed a trail of stars until we found ourselves looking upon the bright stars Castor and Pollux, the most recognizable part of the Constellation Gemini.

Above and to the left of Gemini was another Constellation. Four stars made up Cancer, the brightest of which was called Beta Cancri. I know that because my mother was a religious woman who thought it was important for me to remember exactly which star had been over my head on the day I was born.

Just between Cancer and Gemini was what had caught everyone’s attention. Hundreds of tiny little points of light blinked into and out of existence in rapid succession, all within an area of the sky I could cover with my thumb. Chihiro and I stared at the rapid pulses and flickers of light until someone tapped my shoulder.

Odette had procured another telescope. She got Chihiro’s attention and then placed it in front of us. When the Frenchwoman didn’t say anything, Chihiro spoke up.

“Odette says she’s already seen it. It’s our turn.”

I nodded to Odette and thanked her, then I peered through the telescope.



Almost exactly between Gemini and Cancer, the most beautiful object in the night sky hung in the void like a gem. I’ve seen Saturn through a telescope before, but no amount of repeated viewings can tarnish its splendor. White and yellow clouds swirled about the surface of the distant world while sunlight gleamed off its majestic ring, making Saturn shimmer and shine like a priceless treasure.

“Odette thinks you need to zoom out.” Chihiro whispered. “Look at the space around Saturn.”

I shuffled to one side and allowed Chihiro to peer through the telescope while she adjusted it. Looking around, I saw that nearly two-hundred-fifty people had gathered outside now, and nearly half of them were using binoculars and telescopes to look up at the flickering space around Saturn. To my right, I heard Doctor Marizuki talking to Commander Harper:

“It takes waves of light about an hour and a half to travel from Saturn to Earth.” Marizuki explained. “If we have only just begun to see this, then that means the event actually began about ninety minutes ago. We should be seeing an escalation soon. When I first detected the alien fleet twenty years ago, I spent so much of my time calculating light delay times!”

Chihiro gasped!

“Blake! Look!”

Peering through the telescope again, I saw what Chihiro was looking at. The empty space around Saturn was… well… not empty. Flickering and blinking points of light danced around Saturn! I pulled away from the telescope and rubbed my face, thinking that I was seeing floaters in my own eyes. But when I looked back into the scope, there were those dancing points of light again!

“This is it.” Said a calm voice to my left.

Chihiro and I both jumped! It was Jericho. She had turned away from us and was climbing on top of a large boulder on the riverbank, trying to get a better view of the sky.

“What’s it?” Chihiro asked. “What’s going on?”

Jericho looked down at us, then back to the flickering lights in the western sky.

“The ADVENT Coalition is making its last stand.” Jericho explained. “Their space fleet is being destroyed by the Partogan fleet I told you about. When the Partogans are done, they’ll come here, and then ADVENT and the Elders will be finished. So far, the Partogan’s approach to Earth is going exactly the same as last time. History is going to repeat itself.”

Chihiro and I looked at one another, unable to register the looks of shock on our own faces. When we gazed into the telescope again, we were finally able to resolve an image of the flickering lights.

Spaceships. The skies of Saturn was filled with them, and one half was trying to kill the other.



Vessels unlike anything we’d ever dreamed of swarmed and swirled around Saturn, firing at one another with weapons infinitely more destructive than anything Humans had ever turned against one another. Spacecraft the size of cities were annihilated by columns of light, while tiny pinpricks swarmed about and picked their targets apart. Clouds of shrapnel, dense and opaque, swirled and circled the ghostly afterimages of wrecked warships while nuclear fireballs swallowed entire formations.

Shocked beyond belief, Chihiro and I let go of the telescope. Aimlessly, unable to think of anything to say, we wandered towards the river and sat down on the rocky embankment. Other curious spectators took over our telescope.

For an hour, Chihiro and I sat on the bank of the Kanna River. We watched the space battle until Saturn itself fell below the horizon and vanished from view. One by one, all of our squadmates gathered around. Isis, Yutaka, Hal, Odette, Ignatius, Chihiro and I all gathered around the riverbank and then invited Jericho and Sophia to join us. Together, we kept a silent vigil over the night sky. Even though the battle itself was no longer visible, we knew it wasn’t over. We would keep watch until sunrise, and no one said a word.

What could have been said anyway? What words could possibly capture the feeling one has when they realize they are witnessing the end of an era in history, and the dawning of another? Everything was different now, and we would never go back to the world of yesterday. Tomorrow morning, when the full extent of tonight’s events was known, the whole world would change.

Sometime later, I found out that we weren’t the only people watching the Battle of Saturn that night. All over Asia and the Pacific, people looked towards the night sky and saw the same thing. Panic and chaos ruled the night as the ADVENT Coalition lost control of several cities and towns, their populations overwhelmed by the spectacle of destruction playing out around Saturn.

In Beijing, thousands of people crashed through the Mega-City’s checkpoints and flooded the countryside to get a better view of the sky. Impromptu tent cities sprang up as people gathered to watch the battle together. ADVENT soldiers withdrew from their base in the city and re-assembled in the nearby mountains.

In Hanoi, millions of people shut off their lights, plunging the city into darkness. ADVENT Peacekeepers were too few in number to stop the locals from taking over every rooftop in the darkened city to see the battle in space. Until the sun rose, anarchy ruled all three of Vietnam’s Mega-Cities.

In Tokyo, law enforcement agents were unable to stop the launches of hundreds of boats from Kawasaki Harbor. There were so many ships and barges in Tokyo Bay that a sky-watcher could walk directly from Yokohama to Chiba without getting their feet wet.

When the sun rose the next morning, everyone on Earth, regardless of species, knew that they had witnessed a turning point. We all knew that no matter what, the struggle to free our world from the aliens was going to enter a whole new phase.

Soon, we would take the fight to ADVENT; out of the wilderness and into the cities, where the future of Humanity would be decided. Hopefully by Humans.

 

 

 

END OF ACT ONE

Chapter 12: War Stories: The Fall of Vania

Notes:

So, Act Two of The Stormbreakers is not ready yet and might not be for a couple more weeks. However, I don't want to leave you, the reader, with nothing during this waiting period. I want to put of some new story content for you to read while you wait for me to finish the next batch of chapters.

To that end: Introducing Stories from the Front!

Unlike it's predecessor, Faith in Chaos, this story does not have a side-plot playing out in the form of Interludes. Instead, I have gathered up a small collection of stories that reveal what's going on in the rest of the Galaxy. I hope you enjoy this bonus look into another corner of the Stormbreaker Universe until the main story is ready to continue!

The Second Hyperspace War: Stories from the Front

The Fall of Vania

 

Friday, August 11, 2028 A.D.

PLS Mahuika, Geostationary Orbit above Vania, The Galactic Front Line

 

“Commander! Vania is under attack!”

“What!?”

Manako Ranginui broke his concentration and threw open the door of his meditation cell. He looked to see who was yelling at him. Two people were running down the hallway towards him, waving their arms and shouting to get his attention.

The first was a Levakian huntress with mottled brown fur and gleaming yellow eyes that complimented her green-and-orange military uniform. The lioness named Elsina looked like a big tomcat and had a masculine tone of voice. She even had a small, scraggly mane around her neck.

The second soldier was a young Partogan with out-of-control curly grey hair. Kailani Kalili was cradling a laser rifle in her arms and looking panicked. She was also as short and skinny as a twig. Kailani could have rode here on Elsina’s back if the Levakian had been open to the idea.

“We just detected a huge Beast fleet emerging from Hyperspace!” Kailani said quickly.

“It’s converging on the Vanian Homeworld!” Elsina added.

Manako grabbed his backpack and departed the meditation cell, following the two young soldiers back the way they’d come.

“What about the Science Nexus? Are they in danger?”

“Not yet.” Kailani answered. “The Vanians are putting up one helluva fight, but they’re going to need help to secure the station.”

“To hell with that.” Manako said, picking up his pace. “We’re in no shape to fight off a frontal assault!”

Manako, Kailani, and Elsina emerged onto the bridge. It was abuzz with activity as Triple Alliance crew and officers scrambled about, trying to make sense of the surprise development. A Sensors Manager screen revealed an armada of Infected ships swarming around the planet Vania, and a local defense fleet rising up to meet them. Meanwhile, the Mahuika and her escort fleet watched the confrontation from a safe distance.

On the Dias in the center, Manako’s twin sister Makara was giving directions to the crew. She looked vastly different from when the Mahuika had arrived on the Galactic Front Line just five months ago. Her body now had many noticeable scars and burn marks across her head, neck and arms. Her silver hair had started to grow back, but for the moment the cybernetic plugs and interfaces on the back and sides of her scalp were still visible.

“Sound the evacuation orders for all of the mining and research stations as well, we can’t give the Beast any Biomatter to work with!” Makara was saying to an officer.

Manako jumped up onto the Dias and tapped his sister’s shoulder.

“Did you put out a call for reinforcements?”

“I did.” Makara answered, “The Triple Alliance is sending a Carrier Strike Group, they’ll be here in about six hours; and the Galactic Alliance is sending two Mothership Fleets and the Progenitor Dreadnaught. They’ll be here in ten hours.”

Manako balked.

“By the time they get here it’ll be too late!”

Makara gave him a grim expression.

“They know. Fleet Command is thinking about containment. The planet itself is already a lost cause.”

As much as Manako hated to admit it, she was right. The Mahuika’s escort fleet was too small to engage the Beast armada on the other side of the system. Unless some kind of a miracle happened, the Triple Alliance was about to lose a member-state to the Beast. But Manako couldn’t think about that, he had his own mission to accomplish.

“Maka…” Manako said. “Vania’s lost. We have to enact the Contingency Plan.”

Maka nodded sadly.

“Reepi’s not gonna like it.” She said.

“That’s Reepi’s problem.” Manako said. “You start evacuating the scientists from the Nexus, I’ll go down to the surface and get the prototype from the Institute. Elsina! Come with me. Kalili, back to your post.”

Manako and Elsina left the bridge, moving quickly down the halls and elevators to the Hangar Bay while Makara’s voice sounded over the intercom:

“Attention all hands! General quarters, general quarters! Move to your battle stations immediately! Gukko Force, report to the Hangar Bay, docking sleeve fifteen!”

In one of the docking sleeves of the Flagship’s hangar, Manako found a team of thirty Triple Alliance marines waiting for him. It was a mixed force of warriors from all over the Galaxy. Levakians, Kelt, Assurians, Amadii, Partogans, Micore droids, and even a few Vanians were present. They had all been briefed about this mission, so when Manako arrived, they all shared a look of dark understanding. This was a Contingency Plan, after all, which meant something had gone horribly wrong.

“Let’s not mince words!” Manako briefed his troops. “We’re about to lose Vania. Our task is to get to the Broadbill Psi Corps on the surface and recover the prototype of Project Olisi. Let’s get our teams together and board the dropship now!”

Several of the Marines were abruptly pushed aside as a huge bird with magnificent red and blue plumage pushed his way past them and approached Manako. If a Human being looked at the Vanian known as Reepi Imvu, more likely than not, they would have called him a “giant talking peacock.” Luckily for Reepi, it would be seven more years before he crossed paths with such a Human.

Reepi’s bright red tail feathers rustled dangerously as he spoke. He had a small beak, so his voice sounded higher pitched than what one would expect of a fully grown adult.

“Ranginui, that’s my Homeworld down there! Let me and my people go down there and fight! We can’t let the Beast take everything away from us!”

Manako folded his arms.

“Major Imvu, I’m expecting you to join us in the fight down there, but you’d better remember that you are a Triple Alliance soldier first, and you will follow my orders while we’re down there! We have a job to do, our own mission. Now, everyone gear up and get to the ship!”

…

The skies above Vania were shrouded in a dense cloud of metallic shrapnel. From deep within, lights pulsed and flashed, illuminating the whole scene like an evening thunderstorm. Warships of varying size and shape emerged from the cloud of debris and then re-entered the maelstrom, like whales gasping for air in a turbulent ocean. Below this cloud, in the gap between the main battle and the world of Vania, the Triple Alliance flagship emerged from Hyperspace.

Shrouded in a swirling mass of destruction, the Mahuika lit up as an array of Mass Drivers opened fire towards the battle above. On the ship’s ventral side a single Corvette-sized vessel emerged from the hangar bay and sped towards the planet surface. Two Beast-infected frigates tried to break off from the main battle and engage the Corvette, but the Mahuika laid into them with a vengeance! Mass Driver slugs tore into the flanks of both subverted vessels! Blood, wire, torn metal, and shredded flesh flew in all directions as both infected ships were destroyed. Meanwhile, an orange flare streaked across the cloudy skies below…

…

Broadbill Psi Corps Facility, Vania, The Galactic Front Line

 

Before the war, the city of Broadbill was a center of art and culture. Because this city had been built and inhabited by a race of avians, the buildings were designed to accommodate inhabitants who spent most of their time in the sky. Wide windows and open-air rooftops were the norm here, while very little activity seemed to occur at ground level. Broadbill was also a pedestrian city. The only vehicles belonged to construction and maintenance crews, and even then, these vehicles weren’t very heavy, nor were they designed to travel long distances.

In the center of Broadbill was a huge complex of several dozen buildings. This was the local branch of the Psi Corps. Unlike the Partogans, Levakians or Humans, the Vanians were an entirely Gifted species. Every member of their race was born with Psionic powers. The Vanian Psi Corps served a dual function in their society: Telepathic law enforcement, as well as the training and maintenance of a Psionic army.

As the Triple Alliance Marine Frigate descended towards the Psi Corps complex, the Vanian Army was putting up a fight worthy of the history books. A huge telekinetic shield, almost four Kios across, was being maintained by a platoon of avian warriors. They flew in circles high above the facility, reinforcing the shield using nothing but raw mental willpower whenever it was hit. And it was being hit a lot.

The area surrounding the Psi Corps base had become a battlefield. A horde of infected Vanians were trying to fight their way into the structure. Not Vanian ships or vehicles… Vanians.

In planetary battles, a Beast-infected person was a terrible sight to behold. The victim’s flesh is horrifically re-arranged to make room for a wide array of semi-organic cybernetic implants. These technological enhancements had not been installed by some insane scientist, but had grown from mutated and infected cells, the result of the body being taken over by the Biomechanical Virus known as “the Beast.” These half-organic, half-machine beings were then tied into the Beast’s hive mind through some unknown means. After this point, they were no longer a victim of the Beast. They are the Beast.

A horde of infected Vanians flew around the perimeter of the Psi Corps base, continually blasting the shield with Psionic energy! They were so focused on their target that they failed to notice the incoming Triple Alliance Marine Frigate until it had opened fire! Mass Driver rounds tore through the sky and knocked several infected Vanians from the sky. Metal wings and bionic beaks were aimed towards the frigate, but it was too late! A hole opened up in the shield surrounding the Psi Corps base and only stayed open long enough to let the frigate pass through. As soon as the frigate had entered the shield, it closed again and incinerated a dozen infected Vanians who had tried to follow.

The Commonwealth Marine Frigate hit the ground, hard! Manako, Elsina, and Reepi were the first ones down the boarding ramp. Keeping her plasma cannon pointed towards the ground, Elsina stood behind Manako as he addressed the Vanian warrior who came forward to meet the Triple Alliance soldiers on the landing pad.

“Are you the Triple Alliance strike team?” asked a peacock with blue and green plumage.

“Yes sir!” Manako replied. “Commander Manako Ranginui, Commonwealth Green Guard. This is Corporal Elsina, Triple Alliance Army, and Major Reepi Imvu, Triple Alliance Navy. Your government told you I was coming?”

“I’m Colonel Rokka, Vanian Army.” Rokka answered. “They told us-”

A huge explosion ripped through the air! Manako, Reepi, and Elsina all covered their heads as the telekinetic shield collapsed! An infected Hiigaran Missile Destroyer pulled up and out of its dive, screaming back towards the main battle! The sunlight flickered as thousands of infected Vanians descended on the Psi Corps!

“That talk will have to wait!” Rokka yelled. “We’ve got incoming! Get your people inside! We’ll cover you!”

Colonel Rokka spread his wings wide and launched into the sky. Elsina started to ask him why he didn’t have a weapon, but stopped herself as she remembered: Psionic armies don’t use firearms. 

A lightning storm of unimaginable scale and noise erupted in the sky! Bolts jumped and arced from one bird to another as Rokka’s forces rose to meet the attackers! Smoldering feathers fell from the sky as Vanians annihilated one another through sheer force of will! A Psionic rift opened up in the sky and swallowed nearly a hundred infected Vanians before collapsing on itself and taking a hundred more with it! Flying in a v-shaped formation, five infected peacocks broke off from the battle and dove towards the Psi Corps base!

“Everyone inside!” Manako yelled. “Get under cover! Reepi! Watch our backs!”

Elsina and Manako started running for the nearest building! Behind them, the other soldiers in the strike team had disembarked from the Marine Frigate and were doing the same. Reepi took flight! The sunlight shining through his red feathers made him look like an angel of death as he killed two infected Vanians with a devastating telekinetic pulse. The wrecked bodies fell from the air like cannonballs, feathers and metal exploding everywhere! Manako opened the first door he came to with his mind and charged through!

Manako and Elsina found themselves inside of a large dining area. The place was in terrible shape, no doubt because of the recent fighting. A dozen Vanian Army soldiers were actively defending the structure, firing Psionic bolts and pulses out the windows and throwing up protective shields as well. One by one, the rest of the Triple Alliance strike team entered the building and took up defensive positions alongside the Vanians, helping hold the line wherever they could. As soon as the rest of the strike team entered the building, Elsina covered the door with her plasma cannon, firing wildly towards the infected as they tried to follow.

“Friendlies!” Elsina shouted as two Vanians flew into the building! She slammed the door behind them, panting.

Reepi and Colonel Rokka looked a little tired, but were intact. Reepi shook his feathers out, depositing bits of burned feathers to the floor.

“You’ll be happy to know the new Infection Vaccine works.” Reepi reported. “I got hit twice out there and don’t feel any worse for wear.”

“Let’s not push our luck on that front.” Manako said. Then he turned to Colonel Rokka. “My men have a crucial mission here, Rokka. I need you to help us.”

The whole building shook violently as an infected Vanian tried to collapse the walls with his mind. Three or four of Colonel Rokka’s troops countered, striking the attacker with multiple bolts of lightning! Nearby on the landing pad, the Mass Driver cannons of the Triple Alliance frigate opened fire, contributing to the defense as best they could. Rokka broke off the conversation and shouted orders to his troops:

“Reinforce the southwest shield and plug that hole on the right flank!”

Fluttering his wings, Rokka flew partway across the wrecked building to continue directing his troops. Manako jogged to keep up with him while Elsina loped along on all fours, her tail twitching.

“I can’t help you, Commander!” Rokka said, holding one wing above his head to shield his eyes. “Our perimeter is collapsing fast! We have to retreat and regroup!”

“This is important, Colonel!” Manako shouted over the noise. “We need your help!”

“The situation is untenable!” Rokka replied. “I will not lay down my soldier’s lives for a worthless field of rocks!”

“What!?” Elsina said. “Come on, I thought your government said we were coming! Don’t you know what’s going on here!?”

“No, lion. I don’t!” Rokka snapped. “All the Executive Council told me was that Commander Ranginui was coming here and that his mission details were classified. How would you feel if you were told you had to die without knowing the reason!?”

Elsina flattened her ears, growled, and showed her fangs.

“You’re a soldier, Colonel!” she said. “You have to obey your chain of command!”

“Look around!” Rokka snapped. “Do you think that chain still exists right now!?”

Manako pushed Elsina aside and told her to be quiet before saying to Rokka:

“Listen to me, we have orders from your government to recover the prototype of Project Olisi and take it somewhere safe, someplace the Beast can’t get to it!”

Those words triggered an immediate response in Rokka.

“Project Olisi!? Mother of the winds, are you serious! You came all this way for some kid’s science project! I don’t know if you’ve noticed but this is a war zone!!”

Rokka pointed to the building next door with his wing.

“All projects are in there on the ground floor. But you can’t get there anyway. It’s outside of our protective range, and I’m not going to sacrifice any more of my people for a bunch of aliens who value some chick's end-of-year grades more than our own lives!”

“Rokka! Listen to me!”

Reepi crossed the room in seconds and landed in front of Rokka.

“If we don’t get into that science facility, this will be the end of Vania! It will be the extinction of our race, and it’ll happen on your watch! Just imagine the hit your reputation will take! What will the peahens think of you!?”

Rokka’s face fell as he was confronted with the one thing Vanians feared above all else: looking bad in public. He gazed at Manako frantically and said:

“But, you can stop all of that, right? Isn’t there something we can do!?”

“Not us.” Manako said, “But the Tryna can.”

Manako beckoned Rokka to come closer.

“It’s a superweapon. Under construction right now. The whole thing is a collaborative effort between the Triple Alliance and most of the other governments. Components for the weapon are being built all over the Galaxy, and one of those components is in that building right over there. The man, lion, or peacock who retakes that building and secures Project Olisi will be the hero who saved the whole Galaxy!”

That was all Rokka needed to hear. He spread his wings with newfound confidence and rallied his troops!

“All of you! Gather your strength and fight for the glory of Vania! We will retake the exhibition hall!”

Rokka leapt into the sky and soared above the battleground where he was joined by nearly three dozen of his own soldiers! A shimmering Psionic shield materialized around the Vanian formation as Colonel Rokka shouted:

“Let the cosmos know today and forevermore that THE WAR WAS WON BY COLONEL ROKKA OF VANIA!!”

"Tch. Predicable." Elsina muttered.

Manako recharged his plasma rifle and shouted to his own troops:

“For Partoga! For Levakia! For Amadiio and Vania! For Assuria and Kelta! Let’s make this count! FORWARD!”

The Triple Alliance strike team surged out of cover and back onto the battlefield! At once, the infected converged on the two masses of soldiers! Running on the ground and flying through the air, hundreds of infected Vanians hurtled towards the two assault teams and met a hailstorm of gunfire and Psionic blasts! With a roar of her engines, the Triple Alliance frigate took to the sky and moved through the Psi Corps complex, keeping low near the terrain and firing all of her weapons!

The exhibition hall was overrun! Not only was it full of infected Vanians, but the Beast virus had infected many of the computer systems inside as well. When Manako, Elsina, Reepi, and their team reached a loading bay that led inside, the garage door slammed shut of its own accord.

“The building itself is infected!” Elsina cried. “We’re stuck!”

“No we’re not!” Reepi said.

Reepi leaned back and kicked at the door with one of his clawed feet. Psionic energy pulsed out of his body and imparted itself on the door, which crumbled to dust and blew away as Reepi flapped his wings. Elsina crossed the loading back and put her shoulder to the interior door. It gave way at once and the team gained entry. Meanwhile, up above, Rokka’s forces had taken the roof and were working their way inside as well.

Once Manako’s team was inside the exhibition hall, the fighting became more frantic. The building itself was resisting their invasion. Doors shut themselves and had to be forced open. Computer screens flashed and flickered in an attempt to disorient the team. Alarms sounded and buttons refused to work. All the while, the ventilation system made a deep, guttural growling noise.

A group of subverted scientists tried to seal off a hallway with another Psionic barrier, but Reepi and Manako used their own powers to break it, allowing Elsina to strike! She swept her plasma cannon from left to right, taking down everyone and everything in her way!

“Check your fire in here!” Manako barked. “We don’t want to hit the superweapon component!”

“By the way, Elsina,” Reepi said. “I wasn’t kidding around when I said the Vaccine’s working!”

Elsina took point as the team breached the next room, and did what all big cats do when presented with big birds and no escape route: She pounced. Claws and teeth tore into the first infected Vanian she saw. Bionic implants were torn from the flesh and discarded while Elsina’s comrades gunned down the other enemies. Once the fighting died down, Manako surveyed the room while Elsina retched and stuck a pawful of disinfectant strips in her mouth. 

The room was filled with computer banks. There were ten rows of computers, all humming softly as they worked. The floor was an absolute mess of cables and wires. Each case contained a supercomputer with a project name written on a label.

“This is a project room!” Manako called out. “Everyone keep your eyes out for Olisi.”

From the other side of the room, a familiar voice called out:

“Maybe you could tell us what it looks like. Things will go faster, you know.”

Rokka and his team had rejoined the main group.

“We don’t have long.” Rokka reported. “A dozen Beast warships have broken off from the battle above and are coming this way! The whole complex is about to get blown to dust!”

“Can’t you shield us again!?” Elsina asked while she peered at one of the computers. “Like when we got here.”

“Not enough warriors left.” Rokka said. “Maintaining those shields takes focus, you know. It’s best if we find your component first.”

“About that,” said one of the Triple Alliance soldiers, “We might have a problem.”

A Levakian hunter pointed towards one of the computers in the middle of the room. Manako and Reepi took a closer look, then jumped back!

“They’re infected!” Reepi gasped.

He was right. Nearly all of the computers in this room had rapidly growing patches of flesh and muscle. When Elsina cut one of the cables with her claws, blood leaked out of both ends. Reepi swore.

“Oh, don’t tell me we came all this way for nothing!”

“Olisi!” someone yelled.

Manako, Elsina, Reepi, and Rokka all ran down to the other end of the room. A female member of the humanoid Assurian species pointed towards one particular supercomputer. A metal placard on one side said:

 

“Project Olisi

Military Combat Computer – Precognitive Interface

Armada-scale Psionic Warfare”

 

Manako raised an arm to stop Elsina and Reepi from getting too close.

“It might be infected!” Manako said.

“It’s not!” squeaked a small voice.

The trio looked at one another.

“Wasn’t me.” Reepi said.

“Who’s there!?” Elsina raised her voice.

“I’m hiding under the floor!” the small voice said. “I disconnected the Olisi from the network when the attack started, and I sterilized it. It should still be clean!”

Reepi and Elsina jumped aside and finally spotted the trapdoor next to the Olisi Supercomputer.

“It’s safe to come out!” Reepi said to the trapdoor. “We’ve secured the room, and we’ve come here to take Olisi somewhere safe.”

“Wait! Really!?” The voice squeaked. “Take me with you! I worked on Olisi! I can help!”

The door swung open and a female Vanian emerged.

Vanians are one of the few species in the Galaxy whose males look extremely different from the females. Male Vanians (Peacocks) are mind-numbingly beautiful, with extravagant plumage and colorful tail feathers. Their whole bodies would often be some iridescent color that shines magnificently in the daylight. By contrast, female Vanians (Peahens) are very dull and drab in appearance, usually having simple plumage and are almost always colored somewhere between grey and brown. However, the peahen who emerged from the trapdoor was an exception to this rule.

Elsina, Manako, and Reepi all gasped as they saw the peahen who had been hidden beneath the floor. It took only seconds for all three of them to understand why she had gone to such lengths to hide herself. Every single feather on her body was pure white. The only color on the peahen’s body was in her eyes, which were blood-red.

“You…” Reepi gasped, “You’re a Berang!”

The word “Berang” is what Vanians use to describe a member of their own species born with what a Human would call Albinism. The word can be translated as “colorless.” Berang Vanians are extremely rare and considered to be very desirable by nearly every species in the Galaxy.

“Why’s that always the first thing people say when the meet me?” The peahen sounded very annoyed. “How come no one ever asks me my name, or why I was hiding in the floor?”

“What’s your name and why were you hiding under the floor?” Elsina said.

The peahen rolled her eyes.

“I’m Divakar, Kanti Divakar” she said. “And I was hiding under the damn floor because the world is ending!!”

As if to prove Kanti’s point, the whole building shuddered. Rokka shouted from the other side of the room:

“They’re renewing their attack! If we’re gonna get that thing out of here, it’s now or never!”

Manako quickly rounded on Kanti.

“You said you worked on this thing?”

“Yes!” Kanti replied with enthusiasm. “I helped design the Precognitive Interface. I know better than anyone else how it works! I’ll help you install this thing on the superweapon, just get me out of here!”

“Done deal.” Manako replied. “Reepi. Get up to the ship and tell them to get ready to extract us.”

With a grand sweeping motion and a clatter of talons, Reepi ascended a staircase to the second floor and took off through one of the open-air rooms. The Triple Alliance Marine Frigate was now hovering directly over the wrecked building while her Mass Driver cannons engaged a swarm of infected Vanians.           

A boarding ramp on the front of the ship fell open and a winch attached to a heavy cable fell to the ground. Holding onto the other end of the cable, a small green reptilian waved his little arm and yelled at Reepi:

“Lifting system ready!” The Kelt engineer yelled, “Just attach the component and I’ll do the rest!”

“Tell the pilot to bring the ship to ground level!” Reepi yelled back. “We’re evac-ing right up the ramp!”

The lizard gulped and then nodded his head.

“We’ll be ready!”

Reepi folded his wings and dove back down towards the ground. The first few members of the strike team were emerging back onto the street through the loading dock they’d breached earlier. Manako and another Partogan soldier were carrying the Olisi Supercomputer together while Elsina and Rokka covered them. Kanti was following behind, looking terrified.

“Don’t look up now!” Kanti screamed. “More of them!”

Reepi spread his wings wide, arrested his fall, and started climbing again. He saw one last formation of enemies coming towards the strike team. This time, it was a mixed force of infected Vanians and…

“Starfighters!” Reepi yelled to the ground team! “They’re bringing strike craft this time!”

At once, Rokka and what remained of his forces took to the air. While the Marine Frigate lowered itself to the ground, Reepi flew alongside Rokka and shouted a warning:

“You can’t fight that! Get on the ship and we’ll get you out of here!”

“Your men need time to load that device onto your ship!” Rokka replied. “Olisi is important! And besides, this is our world. I can’t think of a better place to fight for Vania. Go back to your men, we’ve got your tail!”

Reluctantly, Reepi broke formation and started flying back towards the Triple Alliance frigate.

“Where’s Rokka?” Manako asked when Reepi landed on the boarding ramp.

“Buying us some time.” Reepi replied. “Do we have everyone aboard? Olisi?”

“All troops accounted for!” Elsina reported. Kanti and the Olisi are on their way to the cargo bay now. Let’s get outta here!”

With its troops and cargo secured, the marine frigate shot up through the sky, which had changed a lot since its arrival. A squadron of Beast-infected fighters tried to ambush the frigate as it ascended through a dark column of smoke, but they themselves were ambushed by a flock of Vanian soldiers. Below, the entire city of Broadbeak was now in flames, the air full of Vanians and fighter craft, waging one last desperate battle for control of the airspace. Above, frigates, destroyers, and cruisers threw fire at one another, turning the skies of Vania into a hellscape of fire and smoke.

The Marine Frigate punched through the last layer of atmosphere and found itself on the outermost periphery of the main space battle above the planet. Veering away from the conflict, the frigate came upon a wide Quantum Wavefront just above the atmosphere.

The Mahuika emerged from Hyperspace just in front of the frigate, which wasted no time diving into the Flagship’s hangar bay. In turn the Mahuika began moving away from the battle as well.

…

Hyperspace module charging. 42 percent capacity and rising. The Mahuika will be ready to jump in four minutes.

Manako didn’t even stop to take off his armor. He ran full tilt to the bridge. He barely noticed that the corridors of the ship seemed to be far more crowded than usual. He passed nearly two hundred Vanians on his way back to Deck One. Just before reaching the bridge, Manako sent a telepathic message to his sister.

What’s the status of the Science Nexus?

Completely evacuated. Two thousand, five hundred Vanian scientists and staff are now here aboard the Mahuika. There’s no one left on board. We can go at any time.

Start spooling up the Hyperspace module. Take us into Hiigaran space. Aim for the Pactu Enclaves.

Already on it. Get to a radiation shelter.

Manako took a detour as Hyperspace alarms began to sound throughout the ship. He found a radiation shelter quickly and took a seat in the far corner. After just thirty seconds, the shelter filled up with nearly a hundred Vanians. Manako tried to tune out the high pitched bird calls and just listen to the intercom speaker next to him, but this didn’t bring silence.

In those last few minutes before the Mahuika launched into Hyperspace, Manako could hear the telepathic communications of the Vanian Army as they valiantly defended their home to the last. A few seconds before the Quantum Wavefront enveloped the Mahuika, all of the Vanians in the shelter fell silent as well; they had joined Manako in listening to the death throes of their own homeworld:

Can anyone hear me? This is Colonel Ayyar, my platoon is pinned down!

Our team leader is down, we can’t help right now!

We can’t hold this sector anymore! We’re falling back to the next phase line!

Can anyone hear Colonel Rokka? Where is he?

Rokka’s down! We’re taking fire from all sides!

What happened to Ranginui? Did he make it to the exhibition hall?

Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me?

We need help in the Capitol Building! They’re too many!

Can’t get to you, we’ve got problems of our own.

Disengage! Everyone disengage and fall back!

We’re gonna lose the Psi Corps HQ! We need as many fighters in the Capitol City as possible!

Help! The Beast is here! Send help!

Where’s the Triple Alliance!? Where’s Partoga!?

With the all-too-familiar humming sound, a Quantum-Wavefront swept backwards and enveloped the Mahuika. Across the battlefield, the Triple Alliance armada did the same, breaking contact with the enemy and fleeing into Hyperspace. Triumphant at last, a horde of infected warships descended upon Vania…

 

Chapter 13: War Stories: Maiden Voyage

Second Hyperspace War: Stories from the Front

Maiden Voyage

 

Saturday, September 30, 2028 A.D.

Shipyard Nynrah, Beznar Star System, Partogan–Levakian Commonwealth, Galactic Front

 

“This is Triple Alliance Fleet Command. Standby for component transfer.”

“Containment unit online. All power signatures in the green… Primary couplings released.”

“Trajectory is good. The shuttle has cleared the Mahuika.”

“This is Nynrah Control, we have visual contact with the shuttle. Proceed with the transfer.”

“Trajectory and alignment confirmed. Shuttlecraft One, do not deviate from your present course. Take it to one-fifteen and initiate capture procedures.”

“The Tryna recognizes the component and confirms signal lock.”

“Shuttlecraft One has docked. The component is being offloaded and installed now. Standby...”

…

The TAS Tryna was such a massive vessel that it was well over half the size of Shipyard Nynrah itself. Looking on the ship from the outside, it appeared as though the one-hundred-year-old Planet Killer was covered in patchwork armor. Newer sections of the hull gleamed in the blue light of the nearby star while the other ones had been rendered dull by a century of cosmic sandblasting.

Construction of the Planet-Killer Tryna had begun over a century ago, but had been put on hold by the Levakian Uprising, then further delayed by the political fallout of the Battle of Aoraki, and ultimately the half-finished warship had been mothballed by the new Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth. The outbreak of the Second Hyperspace War had brought renewed interest in the ship, and now, at long last, construction had finally resumed.

As the now-defunct Kingdom of Partoga had discovered a century ago, building a Planet-Killer from scratch is no small task. The Kingdom’s first six Planet-Killers had taken nearly two decades to construct. Now the successor state was leaving nothing to chance. The entire Beznar star system had been converted into a construction yard. Orbital strip mines reduced the terrestrial planets to dust, entire asteroids were towed away from their orbits towards the shipyard, and a megalithic star forge threatened to blot out the Beznar star itself. All of this was done in the name of building the Tryna as quickly as possible. While hundreds of spaceships buzzed about the half-complete Planet-Killer like a swarm of insects, the inside of the ship was a hive of activity as well.

Deep inside the core of the Tryna, there was a hemispherical chamber that contained incredibly advanced machines unlike anything seen elsewhere in the Galaxy, all of which was being used to power and operate the highly advanced technology the Tryna carried. Conspicuously, in the center of this hemispherical chamber, was a niche surrounded by the ends of hundreds of cables and wires. Whatever component was supposed to be installed here was going to be of the utmost importance. However, that component was not being installed today.

To one side of the chamber, a Levakian and two Partogans watched nervously while a Vanian and a Kelt installed the Precognitive Interface combat computer into its new home in the Tryna’s nerve center.

Kailani Kalili and Elsina jumped with surprise when a voice emanated from the handheld radio in Kailani’s pocket:

“What’s our status over there?” asked the voice of Manako Ranginui.

“Still on schedule.” Kailani reported. “I’ll call you back when we’re heading back to the shuttle.”

Elsina laid herself down on the cold metal floor and rolled onto her side, purring.

“I’m in no hurry.” The lioness rumbled. “If Dolim and Kanti want to take their time, more power to ‘em.”

Dolim Gekkota was a Kelt, a short bipedal lizard. He was fully grown and yet the top of his head barely came up to Kailani’s waist, and she was a sixteen-year-old Partogan. His short stature allowed him to crawl most of the way inside of the Olisi Supercomputer and connect all of its intricate wiring.

Working on the outside of the machine was Kanti Divakar, an Albino peahen from the recently conquered planet of Vania. Elsina was fascinated by the way Kanti’s small, sharp talons were able to push buttons and flip switches that were far too small for her own lion paws.

“This’d go a lot faster if the thing just had a touchscreen.” Kailani complained. “How come you birds never figured out that tech?”

“Touchscreens only work for Mammalian species.” Dolim said, poking his head out of a service hatch. “Partogans, Levakians, Assurians, you all have eyes that see in a completely different spectrum from my people. To you those screens might make sense, but all I see are colorless shapes and meaningless flashes. Isn’t it the same for your people, Divakar?”

“I can see Ultraviolet light.” Kanti answered without looking up from her work. “All of my people can. That’s why we’re so good at air combat, or attacking things on the ground. Anything that reflects UV rays sticks out like a broken feather to us.”

Dolim crawled out of the supercomputer’s interior and closed the hatch behind him.

“Alright, try it now.”

Kanti flipped the power switch and twisted a knob with one of her talons. The Olisi Supercomputer began to make a gentle humming noise; simultaneously, several of the other machines in the room powered up!

“Excellent!” Kanti said. “Everything is working!”

Kanti leaped into the air and flew over to where Kailani and Elsina were waiting. Unlike her comrade Reepi Imvu, Kanti could fly almost silently, her wings slicing through the air in a noiseless way that made Elsina uncomfortable. Kailani held out the radio to her as she landed.

“Commander Ranginui?” Kanti spoke into the radio. “We’re done here. The Precognitive Interface is fully integrated into the Tryna.

“Well done, Divakar.” Manako’s voice replied. “Are you sure you want to stay aboard the Tryna? We’ve got a place for you on the Mahuika if you change your mind.”

“I appreciate it, but no.” Kanti replied. “The Captain of the Tryna has offered me a commission as a Triple Alliance officer if I stay here.”

“Of course, and I wish you the best of luck.” Manako replied. “However, I do want my engineer, marine, and helmsman back.”

“By all means, I’ll have them on the next shuttle.” Kanti replied. “And thanks again for your help.”

While Dolim gathered up his equipment and prepared to leave, Kanti pointed to the empty niche in the center of the room and asked:

“So, Elsina and Kalili? Do you know anything about that? What component is supposed to go there?”

“I’ve heard Manako and Makara talking about it.” Kailani said. “It’s supposed to be some kind of wonder-weapon called a ‘Jericho,’ whatever that is.”

“So, what’s the Jericho supposed to do?” Kanti asked. “Is it on the way here, or is it still being built?”

“Nobody knows how the Jericho is supposed to work.” Kailani admitted. “It’s being built on Earth and we can’t get it ‘till later.”

“Earth!?” Kanti repeated. “You’re talking about the primitive backwater planet the Ethereals overran while the Galactic Council had its back turned? That Earth? What do they know about developing superweapons?”

“How they got the tech to build a superweapon isn’t important.” Elsina said grimly. She gave a nervous look at Kailani. When her friend nodded, Elsina went on: “What’s more important is that the ADVENT government is refusing to share it with the rest of the Galaxy. Kai and I were already briefed on Operation Moana Nui, which means you’ll be hearing about it soon anyway: The Triple Alliance has a top-secret plan to raid Earth and take the Jericho weapon by force if they can’t make an agreement with the Ethereals. Makara and Manako even have a special strike force set up for the mission, and they’re just waiting for the go-word from a spy they’ve got on the surface.”

“Mira.” Kailani added. “The spy’s name is Mira, I heard that. She’s the one who tipped off the Ranginui twins about the Jericho weapon in the first place. And she’ll be the one to give the signal for us to attack Earth, assuming the Ethereals don’t cooperate.”

Dolim rejoined the group, a satchel full of tools strapped to his back.

“If the command to attack ADVENT ever comes down, I’ll be the first Triple Alliance soldier to set foot on Earth.” He said. “Everyone on Kelta has been itching for revenge ever since the Ethereals attacked and enslaved our Protectorate races and client states. The so-called ‘Elders’ need to be held accountable for their crimes before the eyes of international law!”

“The Galactic Court was on Blorg.” Elsina sighed. “You might have to wait for the war to end before any trails happen, Dolim.”

“You say that, but – what was that!?”

Dolim and the others all froze as a series of alarms began to sound all over the ship! Red lights flashed and a siren began to echo all around the ship’s core.

“Attention all hands!” said a voice over the intercom. “At this time, go to Alert Condition Three! Repeat! Alert Condition Three!”

“Why are we going on alert?” Kanti asked. “Is this a drill?”

Kailani began switching radio channels. The foursome listened into the communications of Shipyard Nynrah for just a few moments before they found out why the base had been put on alert:

“Attention Nynrah Control!” growled a Levakian voice. “This is perimeter station Nuhrii. We have multiple unidentified units detected. Signal indicates Vanian bomber strike force.”

Before Kailani, Elsina, Dolim, or Kanti could say anything, another voice spoke over the Tryna’s internal intercom:

“This is Nynrah with an active space defense scramble for Beznar! Dayword word is ‘Calix.’ Command word is ‘Pakari.’ Action word is ‘Mahiki.’ The Shipyard is under attack! All defensive ships: scramble! Scramble! Scramble!”

In a split second, Elsina made a decision.

“Kailani, Gekkota, you’re coming to the bridge with me. Divakar, you-”

“I’ll get the combat computer up and running!” Kanti finished. “You three get going!”

Elsina, Kailani, and Dolim raced to the nearest elevator and quickly arrived on the Tryna’s bridge. The half-finished command center clearly wasn’t fit for combat. Several computer stations were lying half-assembled on the floor and the ship’s Captain, a huge grey and brown Levakian male, was trying frantically to separate his bridge crew from construction workers.

“We’re short-handed!” an officer was telling the Captain. “There’s only a skeleton crew aboard right now!”

“Sir!” Elsina raised her voice. “We’re from the Mahuika! We can help!”

The Captain rounded on Elsina.

“What stations do you know?” He asked.

“Weapons control!” Elsina said.

“Helm!” Kailani replied.

“Sublight and Hyperspace!” Dolim answered.

“Get on those stations, now!” The Captain said. “My name is Madoda, for all the good that’s going to do. Everyone else, general quarters! Comm, tell the Mahuika we’ve got three of their bridge crew and we’ll give ‘em back if we live through this!”

“Sir!” The Tactical Officer said. “Nuhrii station is offline! The Vanians are inside the Nynrah perimeter!”

The bridge shook a little as a dull vibration ran the length of the ship.

“It’s not the Vanians!” said Captain Madoda, “This is the Beast!”

“The Tryna is under attack!” Kailani reported from the ship’s helm. “Infected Vanian warships coming from the lower starboard quadrant, ventral side!”

The whole ship shuddered again as a squadron of (former) Vanian bombers performed a strafing run against the unfinished Planet-Killer. Looking out the viewscreen and on the holographic display of the sensors manager, everybody could see that the infected strike craft were being supported by frigates, carriers, and cruisers. This was no little raid or scouting party. This was a whole strike fleet!

“Mahuika!” Captain Madoda yelled. “This is Tryna! We can’t stay here! We’re commencing emergency launch!”

“Wait! Sir!” Dolim shouted from the back of the bridge, “We don’t have enough energy built up! The drives won’t work!”

“If we don’t launch now, we’ll never get the chance again!” Madoda countered. “Drain all power from decks ten, thirty, and forty! Then activate the sublight engines! Do it!”

Kailani gripped the digital wheel far harder than was necessary as the Tryna’s engines came to life for the first time! The ship began to vibrate dangerously. All around the bridge, metal bulkheads groaned and creaked as though the unfinished warship would tear itself apart!

“And… Launch!!”

The Tryna lurched violently as she tore away from her scaffolding! Enemy missiles pummeled into her hull as though trying to push the Planet-Killer back into the Shipyard, but as soon as the main bulk of the Tryna’s hull came free, her point defense guns came to life! Mass driver rounds rippled away from the vessel and picked off the incoming missiles. Bombers were forced to scatter before the incoming wave of fire, and the Mahuika herself swooped low, driving off the enemy frigates and giving the Tryna some room to breathe.

“The Tryna has cleared the scaffold.” Kailani reported. “We are away!”

“Enemy reinforcements incoming!” Dolim called out. “I see movement on the far side of the system!”

“Attention all units, this is Mahuika!” the voice of Makara Ranginui said over the radio. “The Beast is using mobile Hyperspace gates! Long-range sensors show a large enemy force preparing to converge on our position! All ships return for docking and prepare for Emergency Hyperspace!”

“You heard the lady!” Captain Madoda roared. “Everyone on your feet! Get to your radiation shelters!”

On the other side of the bridge, Kailani screamed and pointed towards the viewscreen!

“The Beast is here!”

A huge flotilla of Beast-infected warships had just dropped out of Hyperspace, rematerializing in the empty gap between the Shipyard and the star forge. Mass Driver rounds, Ion beams, missiles, and a wide array of weapons fire erupted outwards from this new formation and began to tear through all of the local defenders.

On the Tryna’s bridge, Madoda threw open the lead-lined trapdoor and started ushering his crewmates into the radiation shelter below. Dolim and Elsina started to cram themselves into the hole when Elsina’s tail stiffened and she yelled:

“Wait! Where’s Kailani!?”

Dolim, Elsina, and Madoda all turned to look at the helm station. Kailani was standing straight, her arms at her sides, and she was looking towards the viewscreen. All of the hair on Elsina’s body stood on end as she recognized the sensation of Psionic energy permeating the air around her. If the viewscreen was to be believed, the Infected Vanian fleet was emitting a pulsing purple aura. Dull violet light seemed to saturate the Tryna’s bridge, and Kailani began to sway back and forth. Swooning, the Partogan teenager spoke in a soft voice:

“We… we are legion. Parts will join… join us… and return to the whole.”

Elsina pounced out of the trapdoor and started crossing the distance towards her friend, but another voice to her right called out!

“Stop! Wait!”

In a flash of white feathers and red light, Kanti soared into view! The Peahen swept her wings in front of Kailani’s face, causing the girl to fall over and hit the floor! Elsina looked straight into Kailani’s face… and saw that her eyes had clouded over. Kailani was under Mind Control! She looked at Elsina with a hungry, demonic expression and spoke in a voice that wasn’t her own:

“Levakian self, leave the Partogan parts and come to us! Join and become us! We will-"

Kanti landed on Kailani’s outstretched arm and sank her talons into the girl’s flesh! At the same time, a beam of reddish-violet light shot of Kanti’s forehead and connected with the back of Kailani’s skull! At once, the Mind Control was broken, and Kailani’s demented look was replaced by one of anguish and pain.

“AAAuuuugghhh! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?” Kailani screamed as Elsina and Madoda pulled her towards the trapdoor. “No! Stop! Let me go back! I wanna hear the voices again! Please, I wanna go back!!”

Kanti released Kailani and threw herself down the trapdoor. Running out of time, Elsina and Madoda dropped Kailani through the hole unceremoniously before following behind and slamming the trapdoor behind them!

Emergency Hyperspace Jump in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Hyperspace initiated.

As the Quantum Wavefront enveloped the Tryna, the radiation shelter beneath the bridge was a scene of chaos as Kanti, Madoda, Dolim, and Elsina frantically pinned Kailani to the floor while she wailed and screamed as though she was possessed by some kind of Interstellar Horror.

Tantomile, High orbit above Aoraki, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth

“Your majesty, Shipyard Nynrah has been fully infected and subverted by the Beast.”

“And the Tryna?”

“Safe and intact. Both Tryna and Mahuika just rematerialized deep in our own space.”

“Understood, Admiral. Give me the bad news.”

“The Beast has launched a massive invasion of our own territory. Commonwealth outposts are falling all across the inner rim. We’ve lost Nithascal, Landeen, Vinjim, Hokianga, and Tediss. Infected ground forces have been reported on the surface of Tapanui. We’ve also detected a super-capital ship with an escort fleet moving directly towards Partoga and Levakia. The Capitol is in danger.”

“Casualties?”

“Possibly 5 to 10 million in the first week of combat, followed by up to 70 million over the next two months. Your Majesty, there are at least 90 million people living on Tapanui alone. Losses like that are unsustainable.”

“You assume we’re going to be idle over the next two months, Admiral. I assure you, we will respond to this. We are going to fight. I will not be the Queen who stood to one side and watched our dual civilizations perish. I want you to redeploy our forces in a new defensive line, then move all of our Planet-Killers to the Positive Control Point.”

“Your Majesty?”

“As long as I am Queen, no Partogan or Levakian will be turned against their own people by this… monster. We will defend ourselves with every possible measure, and leave nothing to chance. The Beast will pay a tally in blood for every life it takes, and for every moment it spends in our Commonwealth.”

 

Chapter 14: War Stories: Echoes of Another Story

Notes:

So, ever since the first Chapter of Faith in Chaos, I had a house rule: If I got nominated for a weekly award on the Paradox Interactive Forums, I would show my appreciation to the readers by posting a new chapter on the same day, regardless of what my schedule actually called for.

Today, a Paradox user nominated me for Best Character Writer of the Week and caught me completely off-guard. I'm absolutely grateful and pleasantly surprised, but I have to admit, they got me! I wasn't ready!

I'm not ready to launch Act Two of the Stormbreakers today, so you'll be getting a very special War Story instead. A portion of this War Story is actually a deleted scene from my very first story, After Everything. The scene in question is called "Mira's Nightmare" and would have happened in between the events of Chapter 2.6: Message in a Bottle and Chapter 3.1: The Shroud.

Many thanks to all of you who have been reading my stories! Enjoy this special War Story!

The Second Hyperspace War: Stories from the Front

Echoes from Another Story

Ongon, Mongolia

Tuesday, November 26, 2030 – 7:30 pm

 

Huffing and puffing, Mira and Jericho dropped their backpacks as they finally came within sight of their destination. The village of Ongon looked like a mirage on the horizon, but a quick look through the binoculars confirmed that it was really there. Neither one of them wanted to think about how long they’d been walking since Jericho’s truck had broken down. Both travelers had sore feet, sunburned faces, and stiff legs.

“Tomorrow,” Mira panted. “We’ll go into town and see if we can get a patch kit and an air pump from someone. Right now I just wanna get some sleep.”

“I got the tent, Mom.” Jericho said. “Don’t worry.”

Unzipping her backpack and fishing around, Jericho quickly found the dome tent and had just finished erecting it when the sun dipped below the horizon, casting the Mongolian steppe into darkness. As soon as the tent was up, Mira threw herself inside and unrolled a sleeping bag. After crawling inside the tent, Mira had a furious coughing fit, her whole body shook dangerously, and when she finished, Mira held her head and moaned in pain.

“Feels like I’m getting worse.” She groaned. “I’m gonna turn in early. You comin’ to bed?”

“Nah,” Jericho shook her head. “I’m still kinda antsy. I’m gonna take a quick walk and look at the stars.”

“Sounds fun.” Mira murmured. Tucked into her sleeping bag, she was already drifting off. “I think you might be able to see Nithascal tonight if the sky’s clear enough… that’s Partoga’s southern border... you know…”

Jericho left Mira to sleep and wandered up to the top of the nearest hill. Once she found a decent spot, Jericho sat down in the grass with her back to the town of Ongon. Surrounded by darkness, Jericho found herself in a dimly lit abyss… and began to relax.

Jericho loved stargazing alone. Out here in the steppe, hundreds of miles away from the nearest major city, the silence was nearly absolute save the occasional gust of wind. Above her head, the whole of the universe was laid out in the skies overhead. An uncountable number of stars speckled the sky, and the whole of creation seemed to swallow Jericho up.

The Galaxy was so vast, so massive… and Jericho felt so small and insignificant. It was a relief. Looking up at the cosmos and realizing how small she was in relation, Jericho could forget about her life here on Earth. Gone was the Elders and their Chosen. Gone was all thought of the future battles Jericho would have to fight. Gone was all though of those future moments Mira had warned her about.  Out here, time itself was irrelevant.

Jericho lost herself in that moment of peace and tranquility, enjoying it as long as possible. But like all things, it ended. Slowly, the sensation of curiosity began to make its way back to the front of Jericho’s mind. She didn’t feel sleepy, but she did get up and start walking back towards the tent.

Jericho had stolen Mira’s tablet computer so many times now that she had it down to a science. Using telekinesis, Jericho pulled the small device out of Mira’s handbag and made it float silently through the tent’s open doorway. A second later, the external hard drive followed behind it. Treading lightly, Jericho slipped away into the darkness, determined to put as much distance between herself and the tent as possible.

Truthfully, Mira had been honest and upfront about her nature as a time traveler to Jericho. Every day, she would explain more and more about where she’d been and what she had done. Whenever Jericho asked a question, Mira would answer directly and, for the most part, avoid treating Jericho like a child.

The problem was that Jericho is… well… actually a child. The fifteen-year-old girl simply wasn’t satisfied with Mira’s daily lessons about time travel, the past, the future, and these so-called “cycles of time.” Mira was dealing out piecemeal doses of information, and it just wasn’t enough anymore. Jericho wanted to know everything… right now!

Just as she’d done for the past month, Jericho took Mira’s tablet computer far away, to the other side of a hill, and powered it on. Then she connected it to the external hard drive, allowing Jericho to open a file called “Midak Mission Logs.”

Contained in this file was every log entry Mira had made during her expedition aboard the Partogan science ship Midak. For the past month, Jericho had been going through all of these logs in chronological order. Yesterday, she’d finally gotten to the part where the Midak had discovered the Voyager-1 spacecraft in orbit of Gliese, a small orange star found in the Constellation Libra.

Jericho scrolled down the list of log entries until she found the point where she’d left off the previous night. She tapped the screen, turned the volume up, and set the auto-translator to convert Partogan to English. Sitting on the darkened hillside, Jericho laid the tablet in her lap and closed her eyes, listening to the voice of a much younger Mira Mihaka:

 

[Personal log: Mission Specialist Mira Mihaka, HMS Midak, Inner Gliese Star System, 14 Pipiri, 686]

I just had a nightmare! I’ve got to write it down and make some sense of it before I forget all of the details. So here’s what happened:

I dreamt I was walking up the Unnamed Mountain, using the same path I walked during my Rite of Passage when I was ten years old. But it wasn’t like other dreams I’ve had about the Mountain. I could see, hear, and feel everything so... clearly. I could make out individual leaves on the trees, feel the stones under my feet, and taste the cold air. It was like I was really there!

I looked over my shoulder and saw a thunderstorm behind me, so I started looking for a place to hunker down for the rest of the night. I found a big metal door carved into the Mountain, and I knocked as hard as I could. Finally, a monk wearing faded brown robes answered the door. He invited me inside and spoke to me.

I remember the monk’s voice sounded… really… really strange. I’m sure there was only ever one monk, but when he talked, I could hear hundreds of voices all talking at once, all saying the same thing. It was like a discordant chorus, or something like that. Anyway, the monk with a thousand voices asked me why I was there, and ask if he could help me.

I didn’t think about the question, I just told him about my mission to find out what happened to Jericho after the Second Hyperspace War. The monk with a thousand voices furrowed his brow, thinking hard, and then told me that “we” had her data. He told me to follow him deeper into the tunnel. While we walked through the tunnel, I asked who “we” was. The many-voiced monk said that this place was a storage facility for the names of every person who had ever died. I didn’t believe him at first. That changed when we came out of the tunnel and into the chamber.

You can’t even begin to comprehend how massive this place was. The walls and ceiling were so far away, I could barely see them. Along the floor were millions upon millions of tall filing cabinets, each one spaced only the width of a person apart. This chamber had to be bigger than the Mountain itself. I couldn’t begin to imagine how long it would take the two of us to find Jericho’s data. The monk with a thousand voices told me to follow him, and we began moving through the forest of tall metal boxes. I don’t remember how or why we moved so fast, but suddenly, we were there: In front of an otherwise unremarkable cabinet with a paper label that said:

Casualties of the Second Hyperspace War

From: September 11, 9602 Galactic Standard Year

To: September 11, 9623 Galactic Standard Year

The many-voiced monk knelt down to the middle door in the cabinet and opened it. There were tens of thousands more paper-filled folders inside the cabinet than were physically possible, but I didn’t pay any attention to that. He rifled through the documents until he found a small yellow folder and opened it up, flipping through thousands more papers inside. I looked around the side and saw the label: “Humans killed during the Second Hyperspace War (9631-9652)” The monk with a thousand voices finally found what he was looking for. He pulled out a single sheet of paper and passed it to me, asking if this was the “Jericho” I was looking for. The paper said:

            Kate Asuna Ray

• Born: September 11, 9602 GSY
  • Place of Birth: Kauai Island, Pacific Ocean, Earth, Sol System
• Died: September 11, 9623 GSY
  • Place of Death: Hyperspace
• Cause of Death:
  • Impossible to Determine
• Last Words:
  • “Stand down!”
• Surviving Family:
  • Family name extinct
  • Bloodline extinct

Then the monk asked if there was anyone else I wanted to look up. I had so many questions that the names just tumbled out of my mouth. I asked for all fourteen of Jericho’s fellow Stormbreakers as quickly as I could and the monk with a thousand voices obliged.

Once he left to go find the documents I asked for, I wandered around the hall, looking at the other cabinets. Some of them were full of names of people who died in natural disasters. Others were lists of disease victims. I just kept moving absent-mindedly until I found one cabinet that made me pause. All four of its doors were open, and it appeared to have thousands of folders stuffed haphazardly into it, as though whoever was filling it didn’t have time to organize everything. The hastily written label on the top of the cabinet said:

Casualties of the War in Heaven

September 11, 9623 GSY

My heart skipped a beat and I felt my blood turned cold.

I started flipping through the cabinet. I don’t know why. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. That monk had said that this place had information about everyone who had ever died. I was so curious… I needed to know, yet… I didn’t know what I needed to know. At least, I didn’t know until I found what I was looking for.

After searching for about a minute, I found it. A small folder with my name on it. Inside was a single sheet of paper and a picture of me… and the document said:

Mira Mihaka

I woke up right away.

My heart is going a Kio a minute, and I don’t know what to think right now. I mean, it WAS just a dream, right? None of that was real. None of it. In a few minutes, I’ll probably forget the whole thing, just like I’d forget any other dream.

Oh, please. I beg the Mountain, let none of this be real.

[Personal log closed]

[Personal log addendum: Inner Gliese Star System, 14 Pipiri, 686 ]

Wow. I just listened to that log entry I made yesterday. Gotta say, I got chills.

Thing is, no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember anything about that dream now. It’s just gone from my head. According to the guys in the Biology Lab, that’s normal. Most people start to forget dreams about five minutes after waking up because our brains don’t convert them to long-term memories. Good thing I wrote down that nightmare while I could remember it ‘cause that was something I really don’t want to remember.

[Personal log closed]

…

Jericho hit the pause button and stared at the screen. Her hands were sweaty and shaking. When the touchscreen began to fog up, she realized how close it was to her own face. Dropping it to the ground, Jericho curled up into the fetal position and started to rock back and forth.

She remembered Mira’s lessons. The countless talks and lectures about the future and what role Jericho was going to play in it all, and yet somehow, one crucial detail had escaped the conversations: Jericho was going to die during the War in Heaven.

Counting on her fingers, the teenager subtracted the year of her birth from the year of the War in Heaven. When she finished counting, Jericho shuddered and began to cry.

She had five-and-a-half years to live.

…

Stomping her feet loudly, Jericho approached the tent where she’d left Mira! She was going to wake up her adoptive mother and demand an explanation, right here and right now! Right when Jericho was reaching for the zipper, the sound of violent coughing came from inside the tent.

“Mira!” Jericho raised her voice.

“Help me!” Mira cried out from inside the tent, and then she retched!

Jericho froze as she heard a splattering noise from inside the tent! She tore the zipper and opened the flap. With one hand, Jericho conjured a ball of light, illuminating the whole tent and the surrounding area as though it were daytime… and a horrible scene met her eyes.

Mira was on her hands and knees, coughing and hacking continuously. Blood dripped from her mouth, pooling on the floor.

“Please… help me!” Mira gasped.

…

In the absolute silence of the Mongolian night, the sound of Jericho pounding on doors was like gunshots. In mere moments, half of the village was awake. Men with flashlights and guns emerged from their homes, commanding their wives and children to stay inside. It took only a minute for Jericho and Mira to be surrounded.

Despite having a semi-conscious Mira leaning on her shoulder, Jericho very much had the advantage in this encounter. She could have used her Gift to coerce these men into helping her, but after probing around in a few minds, Jericho realized that Mind Control wasn’t going to be necessary here: one of the men who confronted her now used to be an emergency room doctor before the alien invasion.

“My mother is very sick!” Jericho pleaded to the group of men. “I’m taking her to the Gene Therapy clinic in Beijing. Will someone please give us a ride? I’ll pay anything you want! Please!”

Mira retched and vomited blood again. Jericho locked eyes with the ex-doctor.

“Beijing is a five-day journey.” The ex-doctor, a man with a big black beard, lowered his weapon and spoke. “Your mother won’t make it that long if she keeps coughing blood.”

“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Jericho asked. “Please, this might be her last chance!”

The ex-doctor shouldered his weapon and gestured for his friends to do the same.

“A blood transfusion will buy her time. Enough time to reach a clinic.” The ex-doctor said. “Do you know her blood type?”

“Uh… no.” Jericho moaned. “Please, can’t you do something?”

The ex-doctor looked around at his comrades.

“Everyone with Type ‘O’ blood step forward!” He ordered. “You two, wake up Chotan and tell her to unpack the transfusion equipment. And you! Go fuel up the truck and park it outside the medicine tent.”

The villagers broke up into groups and started moving about their tasks. The doctor stepped forward and gestured for Jericho and Mira to follow him.

The medicine tent, as it turned out, was a very large semi-permanent structure on the other side of the village. Here, four men and women hustling and bustling about, trying to take care of about fifty people who were sick or injured. There wasn’t enough beds for everyone, and about twenty people were sleeping on the ground, wrapped up in thick blankets. The woman called Chotan waved to get the doctor’s attention as he approached.

“Everything’s set up, Megujin. Where’s the patient?”

“She’s here!” the man replied.

With his help, Jericho laid Mira on her back on the last free bed.

“We’ll get started on the blood transfusion.” Megujin told Jericho. “Once your mother is stable, I will take you to Beijing. But first, you must do something for us in return.”

“Name it.” Jericho said. “We’ve got about two dozen Elerium crystals back at our campsite, and more at our safehouse.”

“I don’t want crystals.” Megujin said. “I know who you are.”

Jericho froze. She wasn’t expecting that.

“Two weeks ago,” Megujin said. “ADVENT Peacekeepers marched through our village. They killed many of our people and hurt even more of them.”

Megujin grabbed Jericho’s shoulder and forced her to turn around. She looked at the fifty other patients in the medical tent.

“Heal them.” he commanded. “Like you healed the people of Baruun-Urt.”

“Oh,” Jericho murmured. “You heard about that, huh?”

One by one, Jericho visited each bed in the medical tent. While Megujjn watched, Jericho pressed her hands to each person and funneled a small amount of her own Psionic energy into their body. Bones mended, wounds closed, and fevers broke. Men, women, and children sat up in their beds and stared in awe as Jericho healed one person after another without pausing for a break.

Across the medical tent, blood was drawn from the three men who had volunteered to be donors, and was then transfused into Mira. While this happened, the woman called Chotan plugged a portable ultrasound machine into the generator and used it to try and figured out what was wrong with Mira.

“My best guess would be some kind of stomach cancer.” Chotan said. “I can see tumors in your belly. You have nothing to worry about, stranger. The doctors at any Gene Therapy clinic can cure most cancers in about thirty seconds. You just need to live long enough to get to one of those clinics.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” Mira groaned. “My daughter, Jericho… she can cure infections and heal injuries; but when she tried to heal me, it didn’t work. I don’t think Psi Healing works on cancer.”

The medical tent was abuzz with activity now. Nearly all of the other patients had been healed. Gunshot wounds were closed, burns had been cleansed, and a flu pandemic stopped in its tracks. The village of Ongon was quickly turning into a shining example of perfect Human health thanks to Jericho. When she and Megujin returned to Mira, the teenager was panting and sweating as though she’d just run a mile. Jericho grabbed a bottle of water and drank it empty in just a few seconds.

“Anyone else?” she asked.

Megujin was smiling so much he could have been mistaken for Santa Claus.

“You’ve done enough tonight, Jericho. Our people will no doubt be singing your name for generations to come.”

“Please don’t.” Jericho groaned. “A ride to Beijing is enough.”

…

A rickety old pickup truck was waiting for Jericho and Mira outside the medical tent. A young man, his wife, and a small child were loading a mattress into the bed of the truck, so that Mira could lie down during the journey to China. While the man and woman helped Mira clamber into the back of the truck, the young boy tugged on Jericho’s jeans to get her attention.

“Are you Jericho?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

The boy stared up at Jericho in awe. His mouth fell open while he considered what to say next.

“Are you gonna kill the Gods?” he asked.

The question caught Jericho off-guard. She scratched her head and looked down at the boy.

“Wh-wait, why would you ask that?” Jericho asked.

“My papa says that you’re going to fight the Gods and make us all free.” The boy explained. “He said that if the Gods don’t set us free, then you’re gonna kill’em.”

Jericho sighed and ruffled the kid’s hair with one hand.

“I don’t know if I can kill the Gods.” Jericho admitted, “But I promise I will fight them.”

Jericho clambered into the back of the pickup truck with Mira and slammed the roof of the cab with one hand. The driver fired up the engine, and in a matter of minutes, the village had been left far behind. The truck stopped only briefly to allow Jericho to tear down and pack up her campsite before moving onward towards China.

Chapter 15: Earthrise

ACT TWO: THE GOLDEN PATH

 

Chapter 11

Earthrise

Baker City, Elkhorn Mountains, Oregon
June 24, 2035 – 9:45pm

On the borderlands between the Blue Mountains and the Oregon High Desert, just as the sun was starting to set over the west coast of America, people began to assemble.

Men, women, and children came from far and wide. They came from Idaho, crossing over the Snake River. They followed the old highway that led to the State of Washington up north. From the south, a mountain pass that connected Nevada to Oregon was jammed up with both Old World cars that belched noxious fumes and with their silent electric counterparts. Some brave adventurers who had come from very far away arrived in a rickety old airplane that bore the colors and symbols of the California Republic. It touched down in a grassy field as lightly as a cautious old bird. The most distant visitors were from Canada, and had arrived together on a bus.

All of these travelers moved together towards their common destination, a small town hidden away in a valley, flanked on each side by majestic mountains. These hundreds of travelers convened on one spot, a grassy field on the southern end of a small town called Baker City.

Twenty years ago, this field had once been a large church. The structure may be gone, but it still held spiritual significance. As the travelers arrived, so did ritual and prayer. A group of men erected a great wooden cross on the ground where they thought the church alter had once been. Others began to burn incense and sing a hymn. A pair of old women began to march in a large circle around the perimeter, sprinkling holy water from a crystal bottle as they went. Children stared in awe as faith healers unpacked a trove of colorful crystals and laid them out in intricate patterns on the ground.

In the final hours of daylight, artisans displayed and sold their wares. Blankets, pottery, jewelry, and countless other trinkets and knickknacks were sold. They were all homemade, and they all bore one of two images: The first was of a cross with three stars, the insignia of the Resistance. Other items bore the image of an angelic figure who held the Earth in her arms as though it were a newborn baby. While the angelic person depicted varied in appearance across each rendition, a constant feature was her dark skin and bright purple eyes

As the sun began to set behind the western mountains, men began to build a large bonfire in the center of the impromptu gathering, while women and children began to distribute food. Soon, a tower of flame reached up to the darkening sky, and nearly a thousand people gathered around it. The young were told to be quiet and listen, and the elderly took the places closest to the fire.

Finally, two people removed themselves from the crowd. Keeping their backs to the fire, two young men faced the onlookers. Nearly everyone in the crowd knew who these people were, and had come specifically to hear them speak. The two men were dressed in old world business clothes; formal-looking suits with ties and shiny black shoes. Many of these people, dressed in rags, had never seen such immaculate clothing before.

When the older of the two men began to speak, it was as though a spell had been cast over the crowd. An awed silence pressed down on the mass of people as the man spoke about the divine power of the Earth, and how, after being stolen by usurpers from the stars, that power had finally returned to the right hands. People hung on his every word as he told of how a young girl with dark skin and bright eyes had used her holy powers to lay low the monsters who had dared to conquer our world.

The older man spoke with such passion and intensity that he had to be believed! The rise of Jericho could only be a sign that the Earth herself was rising up against her oppressors! That the so-called Elder’s days on this world were truly numbered, and that Jericho would be the one to deliver Earth back into the hands of Humanity. Finally, the man told the watching crowd that he had proof of Jericho’s power.

He revealed that this powerful young girl did not act alone. She had disciples and followers scattered all over the world, who shared her powers and carried out her work against the Elders. The man placed one hand over his heart and began to dramatically sob, telling the mesmerized audience about how honored and humbled he was to tell them that Jericho’s closest and most devoted companion was his own younger brother.

Duane Gardner didn’t miss a beat. On his brother’s cue, the teenager bounded forward into the light! He had a very pleasant face to look at, with friendly eyes and neat dark hair. Many girls and women in the crowd swooned as Duane held his arms out wide, he puffed out his chest and declared to everyone:

“I had the incredible honor of knowing Jericho personally during our shared youth on the island of Kauai. I just can’t begin to tell you all how humbling it was for me to be her one and only childhood friend. Even back then, Jericho and I knew the great work we would one day set out to achieve! We both knew that once we were older, we would take our Gifts and rise up against the enemies of all Humankind!”

Duane got a wistful look on his face, as though he was looking back on one of those childhood memories. He went on:

“The false gods who call themselves our ‘Elders’ came down from the sky and promised to uplift us with their science! Yet a generation has gone by and the Elders have only uplifted themselves! With each year the churches and temples of the Elders get bigger and grander while your friends and family are swallowed up by the Gene Therapy Clinics and never seen again!”

Boos and hisses came from the watching crowd. A general cry of “down with the Elders!” circled around the bonfire. Duane held up his hand and everyone fell silent at once. High above him, stars began to fill the night sky. In the center of the star field, Jupiter shimmered and flickered intensely as distant light reflected off the huge Starfleet in orbit of our biggest planet. Duane pointed to the heavens above him!

“Jericho has seen with her own eyes, the eyes of a child, what the ancient Elders could not! She has seen the lights that get closer every day! She has read the signs in the sky and seen that our world will soon be returned to us!”

The crowd cheered and clapped. Duane pressed on,

“I was chosen! Hand-picked by Jericho to spread her message of hope to the world! All I’ve brought with me is a small sample of Jericho’s power, drawn from the heart of the world itself! I feel the will of the Earth and the power of Jericho here tonight! DO YOU FEEL THE POWER!?”

A loud roar rose up from the valley floor as nearly three thousand people felt the power! A kind of energy pulsed through the crowd! People were on their feet, cheering and clapping madly as Duane pointed into the crowd and yelled:

“You sir! Do you feel her power! The power of Jericho! The will of the Earth! Do you feel the Earth rise within you!?”

A group of men helped their friend get to his feet. The person Duane had singled out was a middle-aged man who couldn’t walk without the aid of crutches. A blue and white patch on his shoulder bore the all-too-familiar symbol of an organization that had been fighting alien invaders longer than Duane Gardner had been alive. With the help of his friends, the disabled man hobbled forward towards Duane while the crowd fell silent with tense apprehension.

Duane lowered his voice and spoke to the disabled man in a kind tone, in a way that made one think of a Good Samaritan offering to hold the door.

“My good man, I beg you, please tell me who you are and what’s happened to you.”

The man looked at Duane with an unsteady gaze.

“Name’s Adian. Adian Dawkins. I used to be XCOM.” The man spoke loudly enough for most of the audience to hear him. “I was there when we lost our base. Got my friends away from the grey bastards, but it cost me my legs.”

Duane closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and placed on hand atop Adian Dawkins’ head.

“You sacrificed much and risked all; not just for your comrades in arms, but for all men and women, for the Earth herself.”

Duane raised his voice so that the whole crowd could hear him. He grabbed Adian by the shoulders and declared:

“My friend, Jericho has seen sacrifice overcome the weight of karma! She taught me how the natural power of the Earth will reward the selfless! I have faith in Jericho! I have faith that you will be healed by the will of the Earth! You! Will! Be! Healed! Jericho commands you to walk again!”

Duane seized Adian’s left crutch and pulled it away! A thousand watchers gasped and then screamed as the right crutch was also removed! For a fraction of a second, Adian swayed dangerously on his crippled legs, and then…

He put the right foot in front of the left, and took a step towards Duane.

Duane grabbed both of Adian’s hands with his own and held the man steady while the crowd erupted with celebration! The collective euphoria overwhelmed the massive gathering at last! As the religious experience cooled off and came to an end, people began to sing, children ran out to play around the bonfire, and even more food was passed around, turning the gathering into a potluck feast.

Amidst raucous festivities, it was nearly impossible to notice a dark-skinned girl with bright purple eyes hiding out near the back of the group. Far away from the bonfire, she was shrouded in darkness. Even her long black hair aided in her efforts to stay hidden, shielding half of the stranger’s face from view.

For a few minutes, Jericho watched Duane Gardener as he milled about the crowd, using his Gift to heal minor injuries or make the sick and infirm feel a little better. Keeping her eyes focused on Duane, Jericho ignored the sounds of crunching grass until they stopped. Then two people sat down next to Jericho. After a moment, the voice of a middle-aged man spoke.

“For the hero of the Human race, you have a very troubled mind.”

Jericho’s eyes flitted to her right. Sitting on the log next to her was a bald, clean-shaven Caucasian man with a big nose and dark purple eyes. Even though it was dark and cold out tonight, Jericho could tell that this man was radiating just a little more heat and light than he was getting from the nearby bonfire. He possessed a powerful Gift.

“I’m so grateful that Commander Harper could arrange this meeting.” The man spoke to Jericho, but kept his eyes on Duane Gardner. “It is past time that we spoke. I greet you as an ally facing a shared enemy. My followers seek balance with the Psionic forces that flow through the Earth and all its inhabitants. We channel this energy, aided by technology of our own design, to pursue justice for those who have fallen victim to the Elders and their servants."

Keeping her eyes focused on the ground, Jericho said:

“So, you’re Geist, then. Leader of the Templars.”

“You already know who I am. I’m not surprised.” Said Geist. “Stories about me tend to spread far and wide. What else do you know about me?”

“You were XCOM’s first Psionic Operative.” Jericho explained quietly. “You were there when Blake and Chihiro killed that Ethereal aboard the Overseer UFO.”

“I was a part of XCOM before you were even born, Jericho.” Geist said. “But when their Headquarters fell to the Elders and their minions, I was left behind in the rubble. Buried underneath seven stories of dirt and concrete, I was trapped in the Gollop Chamber for weeks. Surrounded by blackness and silence, I discovered the true nature of the Gift in my solitude. I saw into the depths of the mind, and saw the truth of the world and unlocked my power!”

Geist paused and watched as Duane healed another person to much adulation from the crowd.

“Eventually, found a way to escape. The Ethereal Device from the Overseer UFO, it was in the Gollop Chamber with me. With it, I was able to reach out. I touched the minds of the Ethereals, I heard their voices, and I got a glimpse of what they are planning to do to our word. Our so-called Elders would steal the powers of the Earth from us, and then leave the planet to rot. I knew I couldn’t stand by and permit the very life force, the natural powers of the Earth to be perverted by the Ethereals, so I rose from the ruins of XCOM, and I gathered as many Gifted individuals as I could to mount a resistance.”

Jericho frowned.

“I’ve heard people talking about ‘natural power of the Earth’ before, but I thought it was a bunch of make-believe mumbo-jumbo.” She said.

Geist scoffed.

“Your knowledge of Psionics is cursory, girl.” Geist said. “The way you talk, your lackluster mental discipline, and your half-hearted resistance to my attempts to probe your mind tell me that you know about your full potential, but you don’t have the training to harness it.”

“Is that why Commander Harper sent me out here?” Jericho asked. “She wants you to train me?”

“In a manner of speaking.” Geist replied. “You see, for several months, your Commander has been trying to forge an alliance between XCOM and several other Resistance factions, including my Templars. I only agreed to join this so-called alliance under a number of conditions, one of which was that I got to meet you in person first.”

Jericho balled up her hands into fists. Geist gave her a scolding look.

“You knew you were being used, but you permitted it.” He mused. “Why?”

“That’s the way it’s supposed to be.” Jericho said through gritted teeth. “I already knew about-”

“Stop.”

Geist held up a hand and gave Jericho an admonishing look.

“I can see the fatalism in your mind.” Geist said. “You’ve convinced yourself that whatever happens next is unavoidable destiny. You’ve given up all thought of making your own path in this world, instead choosing to let others decide the path for you. I purged myself of such beliefs a long time ago, Jericho. Accepting your fate without any resistance may allow you to defeat the Ethereals and overthrow the usurpers of this world, but such beliefs will only bring disaster when you confront what lies ahead.”

Geist stood up and made a quick hand signal to the other man he’d been travelling with, who approached. This man, presumably a Templar, handed a grey briefcase to Geist, who quickly opened it to inspect the contents. Geist snapped the briefcase shut and offered it to Jericho, saying:

“Go back to the Avenger and tell this to your commander: My Templars are ready to ally themselves with XCOM and the other Resistance factions. I’m also giving you some of our Psionic technology as a gesture of my goodwill.”

Clutching the briefcase in one hand, Jericho pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt. Right when the Templar leader was about to vanish into the crowd, Jericho asked:

“Wait! Why did you want to meet me here? At this place?”

Geist gave Jericho a look of mild confusion.

“I thought that was obvious.” He said. “I’m planning to recruit Mister Gardener tonight. I know that your relationship with him had a very… tempestuous… ending. I wanted to make sure you could coexist with him on the same continent without blowing something up. Needless to say, I’m satisfied by what I’ve seen.”

Geist and his follower stood up, said goodbye to Jericho, and then moved into the crowd. Jericho watched them leave before getting to her feet and slipping away into the darkness. She didn’t go far, moving to the far end of the field and sitting down next to the trunk of a very large tree. Keeping an eye on the bonfire and the gathering of people around it, Jericho checked her watch. The meeting with Geist had ended much earlier than she’d anticipated. Jericho would have to wait about twenty minutes before her chaperone came to this prearranged meeting spot.

While she waited, Jericho decided to satisfy her own curiosity and opened the briefcase Geist had given to her. Inside were two pairs of technologically sophisticated gauntlets. The armor sparkled in the moonlight, and when she looked closer, Jericho could see little green specks of crystalline Elerium dust embedded in the metal. She recognized the devices after a moment, these were Celestial Gauntlets, the chosen weapons of the Templar Order.

Jericho had never used a Psionic Amplifier before. She’d never needed one. As far as Jericho could remember, she’d been projecting Psionic power from her hands since she was five years old. Even the most skilled and powerful Psionics in the world like Geist and Ignatius Petoskey had needed to use Amplifiers until they got used to their powers. According to her first mother, Isis Dekker, this was what made Jericho so special.

“Every other Gifted person on Earth has to use an Amplifier when they’re just starting out.” Isis had said. “But not you. You’re unique.”

It was only after Jericho had moved in with Mira Mihaka, her second mother, when she learned what Isis had meant by “Unique.”

“Every Gifted person has a Unique Power.” Mira had explained. “Something only that person can do and nobody else. Your Unique Power is what sets you aside from all other Gifted people. It’s why you’ll never need to use Amplifiers, Gauntlets, Psi Armor, or any other Psionic technology.”

In the end, Mira had been right. Sure, every Gifted person had one special power all to themselves, but all of those people were subject to an unbreakable law of the Universe:

All power is finite.

Jericho had only seen it a handful of times, but it seemed to be a constant of the world around her. When a person ran out of Psionic energy, their powers were gone… forever. After joining XCOM, Jericho had seen it again. Exhaustion was creeping up on Ignatius Petoskey. Jericho could see the hidden stress in his mind when he explained to her why he didn’t go out on regular non-combat patrols with the rest of the squad. Blake Robinson seemed to know that Petoskey’s powers were running out. He was keeping the old Chaplain in reserve, waiting for the moment when the last of Petoskey’s powers could be used most effectively. Petoskey himself always kept an Amplifier on hand, making sure that his last use of the Gift wouldn’t end in failure.

Jericho, on the other hand, would never need to worry about that. Sitting here beneath this tree, surrounded by tall grass, close of a crowd of energetic people… Jericho relaxed and allowed her own Unique Power to do its work:

All living things produce and consume energy. Whenever she was nearby, Jericho would siphon small amounts of this energy out of living things and into herself, replenishing her own Psionic powers. As long as she was physically close to another living thing, Jericho could never exhaust her own powers. She’d gotten close to doing just that at the Second Battle of Pyongyang a couple of months ago, but it wouldn’t have mattered, as there were more than enough people aboard the Avenger for Jericho to restore her powers quickly. Just like tonight, in this small town in Oregon, Jericho was quietly drawing energy out of the hundreds of people celebrating and eating around that massive bonfire. Taking deep, meditative breaths, Jericho magnified and enhanced her own powers for several minutes before being disturbed.

The crunching of leaves behind her made Jericho close the briefcase with a snap and sit upright. Sneaking another glance at her watch, Jericho realized that she still had another eight or nine minutes until her XCOM chaperone was supposed to show up. The sound of footfalls behind her got closer. For a moment, Jericho seriously considered making a run for it, but changed her mind. The Arc Brace was still strapped to her ankle, and Jericho knew that if she wasn’t where she was supposed to be when XCOM came looking for her, she’d be electrocuted, and that wouldn’t help anyone. Instead, Jericho decided to hold still and wait to see if the stranger simply passed her by.

There were three more footfalls, a moment of silence, and then… a harsh, scratchy voice:

“Those who would seek to wield the power of Psionics often find themselves overwhelmed by its allure. You are wise to be cautious.”

Overwhelming terror washed over Jericho’s body like a frigid wave. She didn’t dare move. Even though she couldn’t see it, Jericho was fully aware of a blade less than an inch away from the right side of her neck. Instead, Jericho clenched her fists and started building up Psionic energy. Rapidly thinking of techniques she could use to get out of this situation, Jericho said:

“You’re not the type to give advice to their enemies.”

Behind her, the Chosen Assassin scoffed.

“A true warrior respects their enemies. Respect their strengths and abilities, otherwise, they’ll crush you. The only reason you are my enemy is because the Elders command it. The same can be said of many of your comrades. Aside from that, I do in fact respect you.”

“You respect me!?” Jericho couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice.

“You proved yourself a worthy opponent.” The Assassin replied. “Even without the aid of your comrades, you were a match for my skills. I eagerly await our next bout.”

“Why not now?” Jericho asked tersely. “I’ve got a few minutes.”

“I am no fool, girl!” The Chosen Assassin snapped. “I know you have a friend hidden close by, as well as two Psionic cultists who seek a chance to flaunt their stolen powers. I will seek a more opportune time to capture you.”

As she spoke, the Chosen Assassin withdrew the blade from beside Jericho’s neck. For half a moment, Jericho hesitated, her brain working in overdrive.

She knew that it was supremely out-of-character for any one of the Chosen to pass up an opportunity to capture or kill an enemy. In fact, now that she thought about it, the Warlock and the Hunter had both attacked Jericho on sight. Hell, the Hunter had straight-up ambushed her in Aralkum! But the Chosen Assassin seemed to be different…

She decided to take the risk.

Jericho dropped the briefcase and stood up, using a little bit of Psi energy to make her movements faster. In less than a second, she was standing upright and turned around. Raising her hands to a fighting position, Jericho saw-

Jane Kelly… holding a knife.

The XCOM soldier assigned to be Jericho’s chaperone on this little outing had taken two steps back from Jericho and had raised her arms to defend herself. The silver combat knife gleamed in the light of the nearby bonfire. The Irishwoman’s eyes, normally brown, were now bright purple. A pale, barely perceptible aura of dim violet light seemed to have enveloped Jane’s entire body.

“Oh God!” Jericho gasped.

Before Jane could do or say anything, Jericho struck! A translucent sphere materialized around Jane, trapping her inside. Jane fell to her knees inside the Sustaining Sphere and looked up at Jericho. When she spoke, the voice of the Chosen Assassin could be heard instead of her own.

“It is admirable that you refuse to strike down your own comrades when they so clearly pose a danger to you.” The Chosen Assassin said through Jane. “However, such compassion will undermine you when the time comes to confront what lies ahead.”

Jericho put both hands on the Sphere and focused all of her strength and power on breaking the Assassin’s control over Jane. Her eyes rolled up, she gasped once, and then fell over inside of the Sphere. Probing her comrade’s mind telepathically, Jericho realized that the Chosen Assassin was gone, and that Jane’s mind was her own again. Jane herself was unconscious… but... no, wait!

Jericho recognized the patterns of energy resonating in Jane’s brain! Almost every Gifted person in the world could tell the difference between someone being genuinely knocked unconscious and… this.

“Lieutenant Kelly?” Jericho banished the Sustaining Sphere and shook Jane by the shoulder. “Are you asleep?”

Grumbling, Jane woke up and rubbed her eyes with her arm.

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Jane mumbled. Then she looked up at Jericho. “Oh, crap! I forgot to come get ya! I’m so sorry, Jericho, I must’ve dozed off!”

“Dozed off?” Jericho repeated, confused. “Kelly, were you asleep the whole time?”

“Yeah, I guess so. I’m really sorry about that. How’d your meeting with the Templars go? Are we ready to head back to the pickup point?”

…

About an hour later, Jane and Jericho had reached at a parking lot on the southern end of Baker City, where the Skyranger would arrive to take them back to the Avenger. Jane wanted to talk about Duane Gardner, and repeatedly asked Jericho if she still had feelings for him.

“I mean, your ex started a Cult of Personality about you.” Jane was saying. “You can’t feel nothing about something like that.”

Jericho was only partially invested in the conversation. She was lost in thought about the encounter she’d just had with the Chosen Assassin. She cast her mind back to every Psionics lesson she’d ever gotten from Mira, and then tried to remember every single time she’d gotten into a telepathic battle with a Gifted enemy.

Never. It had never happened before. As far as Jericho could remember, she’d never witnessed nor heard about a person being placed under Mind Control while they were asleep. Jericho had always operated under the assumption that it wasn’t possible. She made up her mind to do some experimentation in the Avenger’s Psi Lab when she got back. If this truly was the Unique Power of the Chosen Assassin, then Jericho might be able to plan a defense against it.

…

Eventually, the Skyranger arrived. Aboard the vessel was Jericho’s first adoptive mother, Belgian soldier Isis Dekker. She hugged Jericho while her Gremlin drone buzzed around them and made little happy beeps.

“Everyone ready to fly?” Isis asked. “I hope you guys don’t mind, but there’s been a change of plans. We’re not going back to Asia tonight.”

“A detour?” Jane asked. “What for?”

“Commander Harper’s setting up a big summit meeting with the leaders of all three Resistance Factions. She just decided that both Menace and Stormbreaker Squads are going to attend the summit. She sent us to take you both to the meeting place. Don’t worry, the summit won’t start for a few days, so you’ll have some time to get ready.” Isis explained.

Jane and Jericho both dropped their jaws.

“All three Resistance Factions?” Jericho repeated.

“The Reapers, Templars, and Skirmishers all in one place!?” Jane gasped, “Dekker, you know what that means, right?”

Isis nodded grimly.

“Yeah, something big is gonna happen. The rumor mill on the Avenger says we’re finally taking this war into the cities.”

“So, where’s this meeting?” Jericho asked.

Wendy Carter, the Skyranger pilot, stuck her head out of the cockpit door and answered:

“We’re going back to where it all began, Jericho! We’re going to Site X!”

Chapter 16: This is Sacred Ground

Chapter 12

This is Sacred Ground

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?”

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.

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. 

 

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.

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. 

 

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.”

Chapter 17: Drums in the Deep

Chapter 13

Drums in the Deep

 

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 Volkilov 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.

Konstantine Volkilov, 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 Volkilov!” 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.

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.

Chapter 18: The AVATAR Project

Notes:

A quick warning:

This chapter is directly responsible for the whole story having an "M" rating. It is all but confirmed that Blake and Chihiro engaged in sexual activity during a moment unseen by you, the reader. As such, I'll post a reminder that this chapter is intended for Mature audiences.

Thank you for your time. Enjoy the story!

Chapter 14
The AVATAR Project

 

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 Volkilov’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.”

“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.

 

“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 Volkilov 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!?

Chapter 19: Born in the Darkness

 

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.

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.

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.”

 

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!”

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!?”

 

Chapter 20: Fallen Angel

 

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.

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.

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!”

Chapter 21: Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth

 

Chapter 17
Crack the Sky, Shake the Earth

Sunday, July 15, 2035 6:00am


“You’re listening to Radio Xuhui, your only source for news, music, and more in the East Asian Ward, broadcasting from the one-hundred-twenty-seventh floor of Shanghai Tower. My name is Mingli, and it’s six in the morning. Here’s the news: Tragedy struck yesterday as another loyal ADVENT citizen was brutally murdered by XCOM criminals. Gene Therapist Sun Jianzhong was gunned down by rebel fighters while he was conducting a house call to a young child in the Lijuazui District. Juanzhong is survived by his wife and brother. A memorial service is being planned for ten o’clock in the morning next Monday. Attendance is mandatory for all citizens who maintained daily contact with him. Our next story comes from the west coast of North America, where…”

There was no static, no beeping and no surprised voices. For tens of millions of people in Mainland China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Home Islands, their radios suddenly went silent. At almost the same moment, television screens began to flicker as the hijacking of the airwaves took full effect. In city squares and parks, the holographic projections of newscasters and ADVENT politicians abruptly disappeared, leaving the skies clear and laypeople perplexed. In cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, Osaka, and Hiroshima, everyday life came to a complete standstill as citizens of the Megacities took note of the interruption.

Then, quickly, all over the world… the interruption spread like wildfire.

Radios, televisions, and holographic projectors all went offline. The airwaves died as an unnerving silence radiated out from northeastern China. In New York, businessmen stepped away from their desks to watch as thousands of pedestrians stood still in the streets, their eyes fixed on electronic screens that had not gone dark in over two decades. In London, men and women nervously looked out their windows and into the rain, alarmed by the sudden failure of their in-home entertainment systems. In Cairo, the streets suddenly emptied out as everybody raced to find a screen and see what happened next.

Within two minutes, every radio and television on Earth was off the air.

And then… they came back!

Situated on a blue field, a white cross with three stars appeared, the symbol of the Resistance. Although the image never changed, a voice spoke. It was first heard in China, and then radiated out across the rest of the world!

“Soldiers, freedom fighters, men and women of the Free Earth! Hear me now!”

The voice of Duane Gardner rolled across the Earth. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world startled as they recognized his voice and nervously looked around at their friends and family.

“Today we will inaugurate the greatest battle in the history of our species!” Duane spoke to the Earth. “A conflict our kind has hurtled toward for the past twenty years! In company with our mysterious allies from the stars, we will bring about the destruction of the ADVENT war machine and end the tyranny of the so-called Elders! At long last, we will seek justice for the untold millions of our friends and family who entered a Gene Therapy Clinic and never returned! We will avenge our brothers and sisters who lost their lives protecting the innocent from the Chosen and their death squads! We will see the sun rise on a world restored to its people!”

In eastern China, a squad of ADVENT Peacekeepers used breaching charges to force their way inside of a radio station on the outskirts of Beijing. The crew who normally worked there was found locked in a supply closet, but nobody was at the controls. The pirate signal was coming from somewhere else! This scene quickly repeated itself all over East Asia as the enemy desperately tried to shut down the pirate broadcast while Duane continued talking:

“This battle will not be easy. Our enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. They will give us no quarter and we will show none in return! This fight will be savage and bloody! But we are now a greater force than the one which fought the so-called Elders twenty years ago! The United Nations of Earth have faced the ADVENT Coalition in the field of battle and claimed victory! Our soldiers have fought and defeated the Elder’s Chosen, proving once and for all that our enemy is not invincible! The tide has turned and the people of Earth now march together to our freedom!”

In Chongqing, Delhi, Istanbul and Lagos, overeager freedom fighters didn’t wait for the go-signal. Explosions tore through those cities as ADVENT vehicles and checkpoints were blown sky-high! The entire city of Baltimore descended into looting and anarchy as the civilian populace realized what was about to happen. Gunfire erupted in Kinshasa, Tokyo, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Riyadh! A tunnel bomb threw Los Angeles into chaos! Buenos Aires never got the go-signal at all: rebels destroyed the local power plant and threw the entire city into darkness before Duane uttered the agreed-upon words that would launch the global uprising:

“I have faith in you, my brothers and sisters. Faith in your courage. Faith in your skill! Today, we will show our enemy the true strength and power of Humanity! We will Crack the Sky! We will Shake the Earth! We will fight until our world is free!”

At once, in every continent and every Megacity, over one million soldiers, guerrillas, rebels, and freedom fighters emerged from their hiding places and took the war to ADVENT. This would either be the greatest battle in history… or the final week of Humanity’s existence.

Sunday, July 15, 2035 10:30am
Shanghai, Mainland China, East Asia


“Two minutes, Blue Team!”

Wendy sealed the Skyranger’s cockpit door and maneuvered the ship into its final approach of the mission area. In the deployment bay, Chihiro, Matthew, Akira, Odette, and Soylent checked over their equipment one last time while I reviewed the upcoming mission with our VIP, Private Sarah Harris.

“The Commander wrote a script for me.” Sarah said. “She says she wants me to translate it directly into Maori and transmit the message to that alien fleet coming this way.”

“What the hell makes Harper think the aliens will understand Maori?” I asked.

“She’s using Jericho’s database.” Akira chimed in. “It contained a lot of information about the Partogans, including the fact that they’ll understand Maori.”

“That doesn’t explain ‘why’ that’s the case.” I replied.

“Trust me, it’s kinda freaky.” Akira said. “The only way to know is to see for yourself, Blake. When you meet the Partogans, it’ll make sense. Let’s just keep Harris safe while she makes contact with ‘em.”

The Skyranger rattled as Wendy throttled down the engines. In front of us, the deployment ramp began to drop. Everyone checked their rappelling gear one last time.

“Thirty seconds!”

“We’re on mission now!” I shouted to my team. “Stay low, cover each other’s six, and callsigns only from here on out!”

“Wait, what’s mine!?” Sarah said. “Do I get a cool name like you guys?”

“We’re gonna call you ‘Nightmare’ because escorting VIP’s is the fucking worst!” Soylent shouted back. “Just keep your head down and try not to get shot!”

The deployment ramp fell all the way open and an incredible sight was laid out before us: the battle for Shanghai was already in full swing down below.

A massive uprising had gripped the city. Smoke and flames billowed from homes and skyscrapers alike while the streets were swarmed with rioters, rebels, and looters. The Skyranger bypassed most of the fighting and closed in on what had been the financial district twenty years ago. The Huangpu River snaked back and forth throughout the city, and at one point, it turned almost 270 degrees in a great curve, creating a small peninsula in the middle of the city. This little spit of land was dominated by a series of massive skyscrapers that reached well over two-thousand feet into the air.

“That’s our target! Ten seconds!”

I pointed towards Shanghai Tower, a skyscraper from the early 2000’s that stood out from the rest due to its unique shape. It looked as though the building has been twisted like a piece of licorice. An unmistakably alien antenna system had been erected on the rooftop.

“Not a lot of real estate on this roof!” Wendy called back to us. “I can’t land! Get ready to fast-rope down!”

With a loud whirring sound, the winch quickly extended six thick cables towards the rooftop while the Skyranger began to hover in place. Everyone except me hooked up. Gripping the overhead railing tightly, I waited for the red deployment light to turn green. When it finally did, I shouted:

“We’re green! Commence air assault! Go! Go! Go!”

Akira jumped off the deployment ramp, keeping a tight grip on her rappelling harness, and fast-roped down to the rooftop. Soylent, Chihiro, Sarah, Odette, and Matthew all followed suit. I did one last look to make sure everyone had jumped, and then I hooked up.

“See you when it’s over, Firebrand!” I shouted. Then I jumped.

Hitting the roof of Shanghai Tower, I disconnected my rappelling harness and watched as the Skyranger flew away, disappearing into the clouds of acrid black smoke that hung low over the burning city. From up here, the battle raging below sounded like a far-off firework show or thunderstorm, full of deep rumbling thunder and soft little pops.

While Odette and Matthew secured a nearby roof access door, I pushed the talk button on my radio:

“Doctor Freud, this is Trojan. Blue Team has secured the roof and are moving down towards the radio station.”

“Good work, Trojan.” Replied the voice of Yutaka Yamamoto. “We’ve locked down the ground floor. All entrances and stairwells are under our control. My team is destroying the elevators right now. You should have all the time you need up there.”

…

The interior layout of Shanghai Tower is what allowed the building to survive the rise of the ADVENT Coalition. On almost every floor, in between the central core of office space and the inside wall of the glass façade, there are wide-open spaces meant for public use that are filled with atriums, gardens, café’s and restaurants. A small town of 15,000 could have lived in this building comfortably and hardly anyone would have felt the urge to go outside. This wide-open layout was already in-line with the way ADVENT designed and built their Megacities, so Shanghai Tower was allowed to remain standing.

Moving into the building, we found ourselves in an arboretum below a glass ceiling. The sight and smell of trees, grass, and flowers made us all a little uneasy. Odette recovered first and led the way, keeping her new Laser Rifle at the ready. A column of hot air shot out of a nearby elevator door, followed by a deep reverberating boom! It was confirmation that Red Team had destroyed the elevator system.

“Radio station’s one floor below us.” Matthew said. “Keep moving to the stairwell.”

The top floor of Shanghai Tower was completely deserted. We crossed it quickly and found a staircase. Chihiro held up a hand to stop the team.

“Cover me while I throw a Battle Scanner.”

Chihiro dropped the little sphere down the middle of the stairwell and then pulled a small tablet computer out her pocket and studied the screen.

“The floor below us is clear, but there are about four thousand civilians hiding all throughout the building. A lot of them are using the comms system to call for help. Some of them are calling for ADVENT Peacekeepers.”

Cursing, I grabbed my radio.

“Freud, what’s your situation?”

“Enemy jabbers have got the building surrounded and they’re trying to force their way in, but we’re dug into good positions and the enemy doesn’t know we’re here! We can hold all day if we have to!”

“Stay dug in and don’t take risks.” I said. “We think enemy reinforcements are on the way to you now!”

Hal Macintosh’s voice sounded over the radio.

“Well bring 'em on, I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around!”

My team dashed down the stairs and fanned out into the next floor. First we passed by the tuned mass damper, a device designed to stop skyscrapers from vibrating or swaying in the wind. Then we ran past a concert hall, around a corner, and found ourselves in a large garden. On one side of the rows of flowers and shrubs was an ADVENT Burger fast-food restaurant. Odette plucked a half-eaten burger from a table and wolfed it down in two bites. She smiled at us and shrugged her shoulders.

“Oh, man.” Sarah commented. “That’s the one thing I miss about my old life. Ever since I joined the Resistance, I haven’t gotten to eat any of those damn juicy ADVENT Burgers.”

Matthew picked up an ADVENT Burger wrapper and sniffed it.

“I know everyone says these hamburgers are really delicious.” He said, “But when was the last time anyone here saw a cow?”

“I dunno. Twenty years ago?” Soylent offered. “Definitely before the invasion, that’s for sure.”

“Guys!” Chihiro hissed. “That’s it!”

The radio station was on the other side of the garden. It looked like a small office area with only three rooms and a single door that opened onto the garden. Unfortunately, that door was locked.

“Blue Dragon, check if anyone’s home.”

“Battle Scanner, coming up!”

Chihiro wound her arm back, lifted one leg into the air, and threw the sphere exactly like a baseball pitcher would! It smashed through one of the radio station’s windows and made a loud beeping sound while Chihiro looked at her tablet again.

“No one’s home.” She said. “It’s empty.”

“Goddamnit, that was a helluva throw.” Sarah said. “Were you, like, an athlete before the war or something?”

“I played baseball in school.” Chihiro replied as she pushed the door open. “That was before the Soviet Union invaded Japan, long time ago.”

The radio station was a cramped little place, so it didn’t take long for us to find the computer that controlled the antenna array on the roof.

“Here’s the plan.” I told the group. “Alecto, hack into the computer and give us control. Nightmare, you step into the booth and get set up by the microphone. We’ll tell you when we’re live. Vampire, Blue Dragon, and Soylent, you three are on Overwatch. Set up overlapping crossfire between that tree in the garden and the ADVENT Burger meat locker. Those rooms are practically bulletproof! Paradox, I want you guarding that stairwell. Anybody tries to come up here, you turn them to ash, am I clear?”

“Got it.” Akira said.

“Wilco.” Soylent replied.

“Roger-dodger.” Matthew said.

“On it.” Chihiro said.

The team fanned out. While Matthew started tapping away at the computer system, I checked in with the Red Team on my own radio:

Yutaka told me that his team had made contact with the enemy, and that ADVENT’s first assault on Shanghai Tower had been repulsed easily.

“The ADVENT Army troops are pulling back.” Yutaka said. “Now they’re starting to bring up some alien units instead. We’re fighting Sectoids, Vipers, Faceless, and Mutons down here.”

“How long can you hold?” I asked. “We just reached our objective here.”

“We’ve got this handled!” Yutaka replied. “We can hold them here for as long as we want! Just get your job done.”

To my left, Matthew let out an excited laugh.

“We’re almost in!” He said. “Just a few more lines…”

Then he froze.

“Shit!” Matthew shouted. “Shit! Aw, fuck!”

“What’s up?” I said. “What happened!?”

“I don’t know how, but it looks like I just tripped some kind of silent alarm!” Matthew said.

He tapped a few words into the keyboard and then pressed an icon on the screen with his thumb. A message popped up on the computer screen.

“Here it is,” Matthew said. “‘Attempted to access a local Codex with an unrecognized user ID.’ I’ve got no idea what that means, but it looks like we still have control of the antenna. Tell Nightmare she can go live whenever she wants.”

I crossed the room and tapped the glass window separating the control room from the voice booth.

“Start talking, Nightmare!” I said. “And pray the Partogans are listening!”

Sarah donned a headset and unfolded her copy of Commander Harper’s script. She looked it over for a moment and recited the Maori words in a quiet voice. Then she flipped a switch on the microphone and spoke out loud:

“Awhina mai! Awhina mai! Awhina mai! Ehara matou i o koutou hoariri! Tena koa awhina!”

Silence.

Sarah held a hand to her headset for a moment, and started to reach for her script again, but then her eyes suddenly shot up to me, and she screamed:

“BEHIND YOU!!”

I whipped around, raising my Alloy Cannon just in time to see… something.

At first, I thought the room had caught fire! A brilliant flickering light filled the control room, before it resolved itself into a semitransparent humanoid shape. Two brilliant pinpricks of white light hovered roughly where a person’s eyes would have been, and the entire golden “body” of the creature flickered and blinked as though a small child was clicking a light switch as fast as possible.

“Contact!” I shouted. “I've got an X-Ray here!”

Too late! The golden being reached out and grabbed Matthew! He struggled and swung his hands at the thing, but his fists passed through the alien’s body as though it wasn’t even there! The creature threw Matthew out the doorway and into the garden! As he hit the ground with a loud crash, the alien rounded on me! I fired my Alloy Cannon from the hip, aiming for what I could only guess was the alien’s chest!

The creature’s body blinked into and out of existence three times, and each time it reappeared, it had assumed a different pose; flickering through the act of dodging a bullet! It was like I was looking at a slideshow of some acrobat performing a stunt as this strange new creature dodged my weapon fire!

The yellow flash then dove towards me! I dropped my shotgun and drew my Arc Blade! Swinging the weapon downwards, the electrified sword caught the alien in the shoulder! Just like Matthew, my attack seemed to pass through the alien’s body as though it were just an illusion, but this time, my sword nicked something solid just below the base of the alien’s neck!

At once, with a great rushing of Psionic energy, the alien creature vanished from sight! Then, a second later, I could hear panicked yelling and weapons fire coming from the garden!

I dashed into the atrium to see a fight in progress! The golden alien had reappeared there, and now it had been joined by a second golden alien. The two attackers looked exactly identical, or at least they would have if they weren’t flickering all over the place and leaving blurry afterimages of themselves hanging in the air like ghosts.

Both of the golden aliens had armed themselves with Plasma Rifles and were trading fire with the rest of the squad! Odette ran around the flank and raked one of the golden aliens with her Laser Rifle! The enemy let out a noise like grinding metal and then…

It duplicated itself!

The golden alien lost its humanoid shape for just a moment before reforming into a pair of identical copies of itself! And now there were three golden aliens fighting us in the atrium! One of them raised its Plasma Rifle and opened fire on the ADVENT Burger storefront! Charred plaster and concrete flew through the air as Chihiro emerged from her hiding place and returned fire with her Laser Sniper Rifle! Once again, the alien dodged the incoming fire and teleported away!

We were losing control of the situation! Each time these aliens took a hit, they copied themselves and teleported away! In mere seconds, we were outnumbered and in immediate danger of being outmaneuvered! I saw only one way out!

“PARADOX!” I shouted. “NEED SOME HELP IN HERE!”

A blast of cold and harsh air swept through the atrium as though the whole tower had just been hit by a tornado! Three of the golden aliens vanished immediately, leaving a small hemispherical object behind that fell to the floor with loud clatters. Akira stormed onto the scene! Her Celestial Gauntlets crackled and shone with light as she joined the fray!

“Who the hell woke up a Codex!?” She shouted!

One of the alien creatures fired its weapon at Akira! She caught the plasma projectile in her Gauntlet, infused it with Psionic energy, and then sent it hurtling back towards the enemy! The alien creature got a facefull of its own plasma and duplicated itself at once, sending a new enemy into the fight!

“Oh, I’m so glad to know what they’re called!” Soylent yelled above the gunfire. “Just tell us how to kill these buggers, Sheila!”

Akira impaled a Codex through the neck on her Shard Blades, causing it to disappear completely! Then she drew her Plasma Pistol and shot another Codex between the eyes. It vanished right away!

“Aim high!” Akira yelled. “Aim for the head and neck! You gotta kill it with your first shot or it’ll clone!”

I took cover behind an open door and looked back towards the radio station. The window smashed out from the inside as Sarah engaged a Codex with her own pistol.

“Somebody, guard the radio station!” I shouted. “Nightmare, get back on the microphone!”

Finally, we had whittled the number of enemy Codices down to just six, but as we quickly found out, even a single live Codex could turn the tide of battle. Just when we thought we finally had the enemy figured out, one of the golden aliens broke off from the pack and teleported onto the roof of the ADVENT Burger restaurant. It raised both of its palms towards us!

“Spread out!” Akria shouted. “Everyone scatter!”

The atrium around us darkened and turned purple! The air went heavy and damp, and I could feel as though an electric charge was running through my whole body. We were inside a Psionic Rift!

Before I could say or do anything, the Rift collapsed! My whole body was wracked by a kind of pain I’d never even imagined before! I was as though every nerve in my body was being cut at the same time! Imaginary needles stabbed every inch of my body, but the agony was all too real! My heart cramped violently, and all I saw was stars! I was sure I was going to die, right here and now!

Then, it was over. The pain in my chest lessened, and when I opened my eyes, I saw that I had fallen onto my side. My nails had dug into my palms and my voice was hoarse. But I could see that the enemy Codex was still on top of that damn restaurant! I got to my knees and raised my Alloy Cannon! Aiming down the sights, I pulled the trigger!

Nothing happened.

“Downgrade your guns!” Akira shouted. “These things disable Elerium tech!”

Looking left, I saw that Akira had ditched her Plasma Pistol and Celestial Gauntlets. The rest of the squad had abandoned their Laser and Plasma weapons as well, and were now fighting with old-fashioned conventional weapons. Without her new high-tech rifle, Chihiro was using her Shadowkeeper exclusively. Matthew and Soylent were fighting with compact submachine guns while Odette was covering our flanks with a sawn-off shotgun. I threw away my Alloy Cannon and drew my Arc Blade. I clicked the power switch and saw that the electrified sword failed to activate.

“Shit! I got no weapons!” I shouted.

Hang on, Blake. I gotcha covered!

Chihiro’s voice spoke in my mind, and at the same time I felt a rushing sensation throughout my body! All of the remaining pain in my body ebbed away as I felt Psionic energy envelop me. At first, I was tempted to re-create the Psionic shields Chihiro had given me at Kanna. Then I realized they would be less than helpful against a Codex. I decided to try and use a more offensive technique. Gripping my sword tightly, I struggled to remember the crash course in Psionics that Chihiro and Ignatius had given me. Keeping my mind focused on a single demand, I warped the energies around me into something I wanted:

My sword ignited! Bright blue and purple Soulfire wrapped itself around the blade, licking at the air hungrily. The supernatural flames felt cool to me and burned intensely without consuming my sword or arm. This fire was fed by my own mental energy and it would only burn whatever I commanded it to.

“Thanks, Chi!” I shouted!

Running forward across the atrium, I jumped! My Meld-enhanced legs carried me higher into the air than any normal Human could ever hope to do! At the top of my arc, I was head and shoulders higher than the enemy Codex! It looked up and tried to redirect a Psionic strike at me, but it was too late! I pointed my sword downwards and vented a cone of Soulfire like a blue flamethrower! The Codex shrieked and vanished inside of the inferno!

Falling back to the floor, I kept my head low to avoid Plasma bolts and heard Chihiro shout:

“Blake! Don’t move!”

I froze. A column of white and pink light fell from above and blocked my view of the battle! The Psionic Exchange was over as quickly as it had started! Chihiro and I had traded places, and now I was back in front of the radio station! The door was open, and three Codices were firing their Plasma Rifles into the voice booth!

Once more, I sent a jet of flame into the enemy! The control room blazed like an out-of-control furnace as blue and purple flames roiled forth from the shattered windows! Satisfied the enemy was dead. I tried to banish the flames. Sweeping my hand aside just like Chihiro had shown me, I expected the raging Soulfire to vanish into smoke… but nothing happened! My stomach lurched as I tried to will the fire away, but there was no effect. The office continued to burn, and around the edges of the windows, the blue and purple flames shifted to an orange-red color.

“Chi! How do I make it stop!?”

“Outta my way! Before you burn us all!”

Akira shoved me to one side and raised her hand! Like a dog returning to its master, the Soulfire inferno leapt through the air and into Akira’s palm, vanishing from view as she closed her fist.

“You need a lotta practice, Dad.”

Plasma weapon fire made both of us run inside the office and put our heads down behind cover. Four more Codices were outside!

“How long are these things going to keep coming!?” I yelled at Akira. “We must have killed a whole squad of those things by now!

She pointed to the control computer. It was singed and the edges of the screen were melted, but it was clearly still functioning.

“We’ve just gotta turn that thing off and they’ll stop! Kill the power!”

“We can’t do that yet!” I responded. “Let me check on Nightmare! Cover me!”

Akira nodded and raised a telekinetic shield around the radio control room, shutting out the enemy for a few moments. Keeping my head low, I moved across the room to the voice booth! Sarah was still there. She had kicked over a table and was sheltering behind it. With one hand she gripped a pistol, while with the other, she was talking frantically into the microphone:

“Ka taea e koe te whakarongo ki ahau?” “He maarama koe ki ahau?”

She looked up at me.

“There’s someone on the other end!” Sarah said. “Listen!”

I reached out and took the headphones. Pause. For a moment, all I could hear was the dull thudding of gunfire from the other side of the atrium. Then, it finally happend: someone replied!

“Ka taea e ahau te whakarongo ki a koe.” Said a female voice through the receiver. “Ko Kailani Kalili toku ingoa. Kei konei matou ki te awhina ia koe. Kei te hiahia awhina koe?”

My eyes widened in shock and I looked down at Sarah.

“Well!?” I said hurriedly. “What are they saying? What does it mean!?”

Sarah took the headset and listened closely.

“They say that they can hear us,” Sarah said slowly. “And the speaker says her name is ‘Kalili,’ I think. She's asking if we need help!”

“Wait!” Akira shouted. “Did you just say Kalili?”

In that fraction of a second, Akira’s concentration broke! Her Psionic shield failed, and we were back in the thick of battle! Sarah screamed and ducked down behind cover again as another Codex made a run at the radio control room! I grabbed Sarah’s pistol and emptied the magazine into the Codex’s head! On my left, a blast from a Plasma Rifle caught Akira in the shoulder and she fell over backwards. Scrambling back to her feet, Akira sent the offending Codex flying through the air with a quick burst of mental power!

Looking around, I realized the situation had gotten even more desperate. About twenty Codices had flooded into the atrium and more were materializing in the hallways! Odette, Chihiro, Soylent, and Matthew had given up the atrium entirely and were now fighting from storefronts.

“Trojan!” Akira shouted. “The longer that computer stays online, the more Codices we’re going to attract! These things live inside the computer network! We’re gonna get overwhelmed! We’ve gotta cut our losses and get out of here!”

“Nightmare!” I shouted. “You’ve got two minutes to say what you’ve gotta say and then we’re pulling the plug!”

“Copy all!” Sarah yelled back from her hiding place.

“Stormbreakers!” I shouted. “Nightmare needs cover! Move out and draw fire!”

To take the heat off Sarah, we would have to present ourselves as better targets. It was our only option.

Odette, Matthew, Chihiro, Akira, Soylent, and I all broke cover and went on the attack! The garden shriveled and withered as Chihiro, Akira and I torched the battleground with Soulfire! The glass façade of the tower finally shattered when Soylent held down the trigger of his submachine gun, a fountain exploded in a great cascade when a shot from Odette’s sawn-off shotgun went astray!

One after another, Codices went down! But after the first thirty seconds or so, the tide turned as the enemy refocused on us! Odette’s longstanding habit of trying to flank the enemy alone finally backfired on her! Three Codices concentrated their fire and managed to hit her in the thigh! Odette dropped to her hands and knees and crawled behind an elevator shaft, leaving a trail of blood behind her. The enemy never got a chance to finish her off, though. On my order, Soylent and Chihiro both moved in for the rescue! While Chihiro kept the enemy locked in place with her Shadowkeeper, Soylent pulled Odette to safety and put a tourniquet on her leg.

Matthew was the next soldier on our side to go down. He stepped out from behind the deep fryer in the ADVENT Burger restaurant to shoot at the enemy, only to get caught in the chest by an alert Codex! His armor pulverized, Matthew fell over behind the kitchen equipment, in a great deal of pain but thankfully still alive.

Akira, who was already injured, took another hit! This time a Codex shot her in the back while she was moving to help Chihiro, and she replied with the most vengeful retribution! Slamming her hand to the floor, bright purple tendrils snaked their way across the floor, erupted upwards and seized the Codex! Akira siphoned Psionic energy off the trapped enemy and used it to quickly mend her own wounds, all the while keeping herself and Sarah hidden behind a telekinetic shield.

Two soldiers down and another unable to move, our team had finally run out of options. It was time for me to make one of the most difficult choices a Squad Leader ever has to make.

“Everyone back on me!” I shouted. “We’re bugging out!”

I dashed back to the radio station control room one last time. There was an ominous bloodstain on the wall and several Codex “remains” on the floor when I got there. Akira was kneeling behind cover with Sarah. The New Zealander had been shot in the stomach and was coughing blood, but didn’t seem to care. She was writing something on a slip of paper as she listened to the headset.

“We’re out of time!” I shouted. “Drop what you’re doing and let’s get out of here!”

Sarah looked at Akira, and then at me.

“I’m done here!” Sarah said.

Akira straightened up.

“Move, Dad!” She yelled. “I’m killing these damn things!”

Akira drew her arm back and I side-stepped out of her line of fire! A Psi Volt arced away from Akira’s hand and struck the computer! The monitor exploded and flames erupted from the back of the box! Without its central mainframe, the radio station’s systems all died instantly.

Outside, there was a brief but noticeable lull in weapons fire.

“The computer’s out!” Akira said. “With the network down, there won’t be any new Codices. Kill the ones already out there, and we’re home free!”

“We’re not staying here!” I countered. “We’re gonna call the Skyranger and evac-”

“NO!” Sarah shouted.

The Private pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket and showed me.

“The Triple Alliance is coming now!” She said. “They’ve sent a QRF! They’re going to engage ADVENT’s forces around the tower! We’ve gotta stay put or they might accidentally hit us!”

“Oh, shit!” I breathed.

At that moment, under a storm of cover fire, Chihiro, Soylent, Matthew, and Odette all rejoined us. Odette and Matthew, unable to fight, quickly took shelter inside the control room alongside Akira and Sarah.

“Guys, new plan.” I said. “We can’t bug out. We gotta stand here. Vampire, Alecto, Paradox. You stay here with Nightmare and cover us. Blue Dragon, Soylent, you and I will play forward defense! We’ve gotta hold here until the Partogans arrive!”

“They’re coming!?” Chihiro gasped. “Here? Now!?”

“Here and now!” Sarah said. “We just gotta buy more time!”

A Plasma bolt sailed over our heads and hit a balcony above the radio station. Sparks and flames rained down on us. I grabbed Odette’s backpack and produced a few of her favorite weapons: Proximity Mines. Passing them to Soylent, I said:

“Mine the right flank, there’s a lot of open space over there. Blue Dragon, get up high and give us eyes!”

“Right.”

“Moving!”

The squad took up their positions for one last fight. By now, my eyes had gotten used to the flashes of golden light that accompanied a teleporting Codex. Using our shared powers, Chihiro and I were able to keep more of the enemy force at bay for about a minute, and once the rest of the squad was in their new fighting positions, a storm of gunfire forced the enemy to retreat to a safe distance and take poorly aimed potshots at us.

Hunkered down behind cover in a smashed-up department store, I got on my radio and called the Red Team:

“Doctor Freud, Trojan here, we’ve accomplished our primary objectives and are holding position. Be advised: Allies unknown are approaching from orbit! Stay in the building! Do not go outside! I repeat! DO NOT go outside!”

“Copy all, Trojan!” Yutaka replied. “I’ll pass on the word to our Resistance friends to seek shelter at once! We’ll hold here until you evac.”

A sudden burst of gunfire forced me to put my head down again! The last remaining Codices were pushing our positions again! The air itself was now superheated with plasma weapons fire! The garden itself was an inferno, the central tree crowned with a ring of flames! A powerful telekinetic wave rippled out from the spot here Chihiro was hiding, sending a half-dozen Codices flying!

Then, all at once, all of the remaining Codices suddenly teleported away! The flash of golden light that accompanied the sudden move was blinding! We all closed our eyes and hid behind cover, waiting for blinding light to fade!

“For your sins against the Gods…” said a deep rumbling voice. “You have been judged.”

I opened my eyes. My heart seemed to skip every other beat as I looked up and saw exactly who had just appeared in the center of the burning garden, surrounded by a bodyguard of Codices.

Kon-Mon Dessurik, the Elder’s Chosen Warlock, clenched his fists at us. Soulfire enveloped his arms, and arcs of energy jumped from his body. And when he spoke, it was as though he projected an aura of fear and terror throughout all of our hearts and minds.

“And I… am your punishment.”

“It’s the Warlock!” I shouted to my squad! “Take him out before he takes us out!”

Dessurik’s Codex escort flickered away as all seven of us trained a hailstorm of psionic and conventional weapon’s fire against him! The Chosen Warlock swept our attack to one side with ease and then sent his own assault our way!

Once again, the seemingly endless horde of Codices began to attack, but this time, they were augmented by the Warlock’s Spectral Wraiths! Two at a time, the semi-corporeal warriors rose from the floor and joined the assault! Slashing my Soulfire sword back and forth, I felled two Wraiths and a Codex before finally backing away from my position! Chihiro and Akira both waged a fighting retreat towards the radio station!

“Squad, gimme an ammo check!” I shouted over the cacophony.

“Two mags left!” Soylent yelled.

“Last mag!” Matthew hollered.

“Black on ammo!” Sarah screamed.

Chihiro spun on her feet and tossed the Shadowkeeper into the control room. Sarah scooped up the ancient pistol and sent rounds towards the enemy right away. Chihiro, Akira, and I were now completely disarmed and were fighting with Psionics only. I finally gave up on using Soulfire and set up a wide telekinetic shield, offering cover for Chihiro and Akira while they launched one devastating attack after another.

Standing back to back, the two women were a force unto themselves on the battlefield. Lances, Volts, Soulfire, all erupted violently out from underneath the umbrella of my shield. Codices and Wraiths alike converged on us, stepping right through the outer perimeter of my shield!

“Hang on!” Akira shouted!

She pointed to the floor and then lifted her hand skyward. A shimmering purple obelisk rose up in front of us! It was a construct of Psionic energy made solid!

“Get to cover!” Akira shouted, “Come on!”

Chihiro and I pressed our shoulders to the shimmering transparent wall, blasting anything that dared to come around the sides! Together, Chihiro and I telekinetically pushed a Codex right out of a shattered window! It fell two thousand feet to the base of the tower! Then we turned our shared powers against one of the Warlock’s Wraiths! The spectral attacker grabbed its head with both hands and quite literally went to pieces!

“Hell yeah!” Akira screamed. “That’s the Mom and Dad I remember!”

Chihiro and I both paused to look at one another.

“Holy shit,” Chihiro panted. “We’re really gonna be parents, aren’t we?”

We hesitated for a moment too long. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Chosen Warlock finally get around our left flank! He unshouldered some kind of alien assault rifle, took aim, and fired!

Chihiro was hit twice, once in the back and once in the forearm! The sound of her arm breaking was louder than the gunshot itself! Chihiro gasped and fell forward into my chest, her right arm hanging useless at her side! By the time Dessurik had lined up a second shot, Akira and I had already moved! I raised one hand to launch Soulfire at the Warlock, but nothing happened! Chihiro’s concentration was broken, which meant my own powers were gone! I let my legs give out and I lowered Chihiro to the floor while Akira raised another Psionic pillar between the Chosen and us!

“Even the crudest weapons have their place in battle.” The Warlock growled as he shouldered his weapon and closed in on the three of us!

“Akira! Take that thing down!”

“My goddamn pleasure.”

Akira lunged out from behind cover and attacked the Warlock! Even though she had no Gauntlets or Amplifiers of any kind, she managed to hold her own, reflecting and absorbing all of Dessurik’s attacks while launching a few of her own.

Meanwhile, all around us, the rest of the battle was still raging. Soylent, Matthew, Odette, and Sarah were all crouched down in what remained of the radio station, firing their weapons at anything that moved. But as I opened up my first aid pack and wrapped a tourniquet around Chihiro’s arm, our teammates made it clear that the situation was no longer tenable:

“Harris! Where the hell are the Partogans!?” Matthew yelled. “You said they were coming!”

“I don’t know!” Sarah screamed. “They said they were sending someone!”

“That’s a tracer!” Soylent yelled over his own gunfire. “I’ve got six rounds left! Trojan, we gotta bail!”

“We can’t wait anymore!” Matthew called to me. “Trojan, if we stay here, we’re gonna die!”

“We’re two thousand feet up!” I called back. “We’ve got nowhere to run! I’m calling for help!”

I grabbed my radio and shouted:

“Freud! It’s Trojan! We are overrun! I say again! Overrun! The Chosen Warlock is here! Send help!”

Yutaka responded quickly.

“Negative! Cannot comply! We’ve got problems of our own down here, Trojan!”

“We are getting killed up here!” I roared into the radio, spitting desperation! “We’re outnumbered and they’re right on top of us! Send Jericho up here right now!”

“I have men down and more hostiles on the way! We’re in danger as well! Do your best and we’ll get to you when we can!”

I cursed with every profanity in the English language. Grabbing my sword, I stood over Chihiro and guarded her as best I could, shouting to my troops:

“THERE AIN’T NO CAVALRY COMIN’ FOR US!! DEFEND THIS POSITION AT ALL COSTS!!”

Chapter 22: The Triple Alliance

 

Chapter 18
The Triple Alliance

 

Sunday, July 15, 2035 11:05am
Shanghai, Mainland China, East Asia


“Enemy moving around the sides!”

“Keep an eye on that Chosen! Don’t let him move!”

“I’m hurt pretty bad, need a doctor!”

“This is a bad place, Lieutenant!”

“Soylent, last mag! Make it count!”

“Vampire! Get down!”

“Alecto! Paradox! Back on the CO!”

We were losing ground and there was nowhere left to run! Akira smashed the ceiling above us with her telekinetic power and brought a mountain of debris raining down on the atrium! The Chosen Warlock lifted several huge slabs of concrete with his mind and hurled them at us, only for Akira to blow them into much smaller chunks.

In the midst of the chaos, I dragged Chihiro into what remained of the radio station, where Odette sprayed her wounds with a Medikit. I pressed my finger into the bullet wound in Chihiro’s back to make sure the seal was holding, and then I laid her on the floor, keeping her feet elevated.

“What’s happening?” Chihiro groaned. “My gut’s on fire!”

“Don’t move!” I shouted over the noise! “Stay down!”

Above and behind me, I heard the voice of the Chosen Warlock:

“Do you see now the pain that awaits you? Make peace with the Elders while you still can, for the Void will consume you soon enough.”

Gripping my sword, I stood up and looked around. Akira and I were the only soldiers still standing. Soylent, Odette, Matthew, Chihiro, and Sarah were all huddled inside the wrecked radio station with gunshot wounds and plasma burns. Akira herself had also been shot twice, but I had the distinct impression that her powers were keeping her standing. Standing side by side in the wrecked and burning atrium, the two of us stood defiantly between Kon-Mon Dessurik and our teammates.

The Chosen Warlock stepped towards us, each footfall thundering dangerously. Just when I started to formulate a plan of attack, Akira’s voice forced its way into my mind:

Stall for time. The Partogans and their allies are close by. I can feel it. Keep him talking!

Doesn’t that mean he can feel it too?

I don’t think so. He’s got some serious tunnel vision right now. All he’s thinking about is the Elders. Keep his mind on that! Let him proselytize as much as possible!

I raised my sword, pointing the blade at the Warlock and shouted:

“Make peace with your Elders!? No chance! There can never be peace between Humans and your so-called Elders! They’re monsters! They’re evil!”

Dessurik clenched his fists and snarled, bearing his shark-like teeth at us.

“You are the monster, Human. The abomination. A microbe who thinks itself greater than the gods!” Soulfire erupted in Dessurik’s clenched fists. His voice was full of contempt; “To think, I once considered myself a part of your wretched race. That I shared my blood with the wretches who reject the love and compassion of the Elders!”

Akira held one hand in front of me, and the air shimmered. There was now a telekinetic shield between ourselves and the Warlock.

“Love?” Akira spat. “Compassion? You must be joking. Your Elders don’t love anyone!”

Dessurik pointed his hand and a blaze of Soulfire wrapped around us! Akira and I were trapped in a vast inferno of blue and purple flames that licked hungrily at her mental shield. Dessurik shouted, his voice echoing throughout the room and our minds!

“Is it not the Elders who are the true saviors of your race!? They who fight to preserve an entire Universe! Yet here you stand! Willing to die for your ignorance!”

From behind, I heard Chihiro let out a scream of terror! Before I could do anything, the storm of Soulfire around us went out! As the flames were extinguished, Akira and I saw four Codices approaching us from behind. Unceremoniously, they threw our comrades to the floor. Odette, Chihiro, and Sarah were unable to stand. Matthew and Soylent had to drag them inside of Akira’s protective envelope. The flickering golden aliens took up positions around the perimeter of Akira’s shield. We were surrounded.

“Even now, the Elder’s love of your race shines through.” The Warlock said. “They counsel and plead with me to show… mercy.”

Putting extreme emphasis on that final word, Dessurik raised one hand above his head. Between his fingertips, a swirling orb of white light began to form. I didn’t know what he was about to do, but I knew it would be the end of us!

“If there is hope for any of us to survive...” The Chosen Warlock said; “The Elders must not fail! By waging this pointless war, Humanity delays their own salvation and puts all of existence at risk of eternal doom!”

Dessurik took aim at us with one hand, ready to unleash a devastating Psionic assault.

“Accept the Elder’s mercy… submit now before the true enemy appears.”

Akira cocked her arm back, twisting her torso as though she was getting ready to throw a fastball. Flickering and flashing, a semi-corporeal lance appeared in her palm, extending over seven feet from end to end!

“Fuck your mercy!” Akira hissed.

And she launched the Psi Lance.

The shaft of purple energy hurtled over the Warlock’s head, through the atrium, and smashed into the glass façade of the tower! Soylent, Odette, Sarah, Matthew, Chihiro, the Warlock, the Codices, everyone turned to stare at what Akira had just done!

Before the last shards of broken glass could fall to the floor, a huge… something… flew into the atrium through the shattered window! The massive winged creature was bigger than a car! When it hit the ground near us, I could only see a silhouette because there was a burning tree right behind it! The creature, whatever it was, stood on four legs and had a massive wingspan. A humanlike head and torso rose up from the middle of its back, a sight I found just a little unsettling.

Dessurik and all four of the Codices rounded on the newcomer.

“Interlopers! Offworlders!” The Chosen Warlock shouted. “The Elders have forbidden your presence in this affair!”

The alien creature responded in a feminine voice:

“Tu iho! Kua karapotia koe!”

Dessurik launched a beam of Psionic energy at the newcomer! Simultaneously, the Codices fired their Plasma Rifles! And in response, the alien creature… split apart!

It was only then that I realized, this wasn’t a single alien being. It had been four smaller aliens travelling together. As they responded to the incoming attacks, the four beings parted ways and started moving across the battlespace on their own!

A small lizard-like thing, no more than two feet tall, threw a plasma grenade towards a Codex before scrambling for cover. It emerged inside the charred remains of a potted plant, firing a small beam weapon incessantly.

A gigantic bird with a long neck, massive wingspan, and lengthy tail feathers took flight and swooped all around the enemy, leaving behind a burning trail of Soulfire in the air behind it! At one point, the bird sailed through a sunbeam and I saw its magnificent red and blue plumage!

A huge alien stood up on its hind legs and unshouldered one of the biggest firearms I’d ever seen in my life! Gripping the weapon in its paws, the creature flattened its cat-like ears and roared loudly as it opened fire.

But the fourth newcomer was the strangest of all… because there was a burning fire behind them, all I could make out were shapes, but this only made what I saw even more confusing… because the fourth alien was shaped exactly like a Human woman!

“DOWN!” Akira screamed!

I hit the deck, hard! Keeping my hands over my head, I looked up to see the carnage unfold around us! Duplicating and copying at a frantic pace, the fireteam of Codices was quickly turning into a platoon again! One Codex tried to open up a Psionic rift, just like earlier, but these newcomers were much quicker on the draw!

The alien bird folded its wings and dove! It latched onto the offending Codex with its talons and carried it up into the air! The Codex struggled and writhed, but then it burst into flames! Enveloping itself in Soulfire, the giant bird seemed to immolate itself and its prey! Dropping the Codex to the floor, the flaming bird dove again, spreading fire and flames as it went!

Dessurik directed a powerful telepathic attack onto the Human-shaped newcomer, but it didn’t seem to have any effect on her. She drew what looked like a sword and closed in on Dessurik, screaming in her strange language:

“Kei whea a Mira Mihaka!?”

One by one, the Codices fell! The bird, cat, and lizard mopped up the enemy with no real trouble. Finally, only one Codex remained, and when the big cat-like alien shot it with their big rifle, the Codex didn’t clone itself. Instead, the golden alien simply teleported away, trying to take shelter in what remained of the radio station. The lizard pulled the pin on a grenade smaller than my thumb and tossed it into the shattered room! The explosion caused Akira’s shield to ripple as though someone had just thrown a rock into a pond!

Then something odd happened. The bird, lizard, and cat all backed away and allowed the Human-shaped visitor to face the Warlock on her own.

“Your fate will be the same as the others!” Dessurik shouted at the Humanlike figure. “A death of fire and pain!”

A swirling vortex of Soulfire spun out of Dessurik’s hands and enveloped the humanlike shape! With his free hand, the Warlock fired a Psi Volt into the storm of flames before relenting. For just a few moments, the room was so full of smoke that it was impossible to see anything, we could all hear the sound coming from the spot where the Humanlike figure had last been seen:

Laughter.

A woman was laughing. It was the most unnerving laughter I’d ever heard. It was the psychopathic giggle of a girl who didn’t care in the slightest about what was going to happen next. The Human shaped alien stepped out of the smoke, and I could see her clearly for the first time!

She wasn’t an alien at all… she was a Human woman! Looking to be somewhere in her early twenties, this woman had caramel-colored skin, platinum blonde hair, and vivid purple eyes. Everything about her screamed “crazy.” Her long curly hair was completely out-of-control. Her eyes were wide open and her pupils smaller than what I’d call “normal,” and the way she walked… it was stilted and topsy-turvy, causing her head to sway back and forth dangerously. Even her body armor was messed up, the image of her own skeleton had been painted onto it. There was no doubt in my mind. This woman was completely and totally insane.

“Kaore e taea e koe te tukino i ahau.” The purple-eyed woman said to Dessurik. “Kahore aku mea i mahue ki te ngaro… Kua mate au i mua.”

The woman pointed her sword forward and charged! The Chosen Warlock blasted her with one psionic strike after another, each having no noticeable effect! She closed the distance and tried to impale Dessurik on her blade, but his body armor proved too strong! The possibly-alien woman stumbled as her sword bounced off Dessurik’s chest plate and she fell sideways! Grabbing her by the hair, the Chosen Warlock held her in place and prepared to finish her off… but he never got the chance.

The other three aliens had not been idle. Taking advantage of Dessurik’s distraction, the lion, lizard, and bird had all moved around behind the Warlock. As one, they attacked! The crazy woman hit the floor hard as Dessurik released her. He tried to protect himself, but the constant volley of plasma weapons fire and Psionic attack proved to be too much for him! A Rift opened up behind the Chosen Warlock and he stepped backwards towards it! With one hand he deflected the incoming fire and with the other he held the Rift open while the last remaining Codices escaped into it! Then, with one last sneer at my team and our rescuers, Dessurik stepped backwards into the Rift and vanished. By the time the Rift closed behind him, silence had finally fallen in the wrecked and smoldering atrium.

There was a flurry of movement all around! The Human woman who had arrived with the aliens fell to her knees and started laughing hysterically. The shrill sound echoed off the roof and walls and made my hair stand on end. At once, the huge blue and red bird landed next to her and wrapped its wings over her shoulders. Meanwhile, the huge cat-like thing and lizard alien holstered their weapons and approached us cautiously. The lizard pointed towards my teammates with one appendage and said:

“I whara ratau?”

I did a double-take, looking from my squad to the lizard and back again. I needed Sarah!

Our Maori translator wasn’t doing so hot. Sarah had been shot in the stomach and had resorted to treating the injury with her own Medikit. When I found her, Sarah was using medical tape to seal up her wound and stop the bleeding.

“Plasma Rifles are the fucking worst.” The New Zealander moaned. “Second and third degree burns all around the damn hole. Cauterized everything. Hey, Lieutenant. What’s going on?”

“That Partogan’s trying to talk to us.” I said quickly. “I need your help, Private Harris. Are you in shape to translate?”

“I’m pretty sure this isn’t going to kill me.” Sarah patted her wound and winced. “Prop me up, I’ll work from here.”

Keeping one hand on Sarah’s back, I lifted her up and brought her face to face with the lizard. All around us, the rest of the squad watched with a mix of shock and awe.

“I whara ratau?” the lizard repeated. “Me pehea ta matou e awhina ia koe?”

“He’s offering to help.” Sarah said.

“Well, be sure to thank him.” I said.

Leaving Sarah to speak with the Partogan, I stepped around the wreckage to find Chihiro. She was still alive, but had gone very pale. Akira was gripping Chihiro’s hand tightly and funneling Psi energy into her.

“I learned this from Jericho.” Akira told me. “Of course, nobody can heal wounds as good as she can, but I’ll keep Mom stable until we get her to the Avenger’s infirmary.”

It was bad all around. Every member of the squad had been wounded. Plasma burns and gunshot wounds abounded. I was so busy checking up on the rest of my team that I ignored Matthew when he asked how I was doing. I guess I was in some kind of autopilot mode because I didn’t realize I’d been shot through the hand until Odette grabbed my left arm and forced me to look at it. I wish she hadn’t. The wound hurt a lot more once I knew it was there!

Eventually, when I’d done a lap around the squad, I pulled my radio out of my pocket and tried to call Yutaka and the Red Team. That’s when I realized my radio had been smashed. Cursing, I moved back to the spot here Sarah was talking with the newcomers.

The four rescuers had formed a semicircle around Sarah. The catlike alien was sitting on its rear haunches and speaking to our translator while the lizard was hastily speaking into a radio. The Human woman seemed to be embracing the giant bird, while the bird itself seemed to be more interested in what Sarah was saying. I knelt down next to the New Zealander and asked:

“What’s the situation, Private?”

“Weirder by the second.” Sarah replied. “So for starters, the little guy here isn’t a Partogan. We’ve got four new alien species for Tygan to catalog. Lizard-boy calls himself a ‘Kelt’ and says his name is Dolim. The big one is a ‘Levakian’ called Elsina, and feathers over there is ‘Vanian.’ Says his name is Reepi.”

“They all speak the same language?” I asked. “Why are they all speaking Maori?”

“That’s the hiccup we ran into.” Sarah said. “Well, it’s a lot more than a hiccup.”

Sarah pointed towards the woman who was hugging the big bird very tightly. Her demeanor had changed radically from her first appearance. She now seemed to be quite docile and harmless.

“That woman, her name is Kailani… And says she’s a Partogan.”

It felt like my brain broke. I couldn’t find any words for what Sarah had just said. Absolutely none of that checked out! Next to me, Soylent found the words I wanted to say.

“Bugger me! She looks like a Human, though!”

“You told them that, right?” The words stumbled out of my mouth. “She looks like a Human and speaks a Human language!”

“I said both of those things.” Sarah replied. “They’re just as confused as us. Elsina says they weren’t expecting Humans and Partogans to look so similar.”

I couldn’t take my eyes off the Partogan woman. Something just didn’t add up here. She didn’t just look Human; I was wholly convinced that she actually was Human. If only we could get her into Doctor Tygan’s lab!

Another thought hit me!

“Harris!” I said. “Tell them I need to make contact with Red Team, the other half of our squad is at the base of the tower and we don’t have a working radio up here!”

Sarah quickly relayed my words to the friendly aliens. The Levakian named Elsina nodded her understanding and said something to the Kelt called Dolim. The little lizard chattered into his radio for a moment before a reply came back. Sarah tapped me on the shoulder.

“Another Triple Alliance squad already rescued Red Team. Captain Yamamoto says he has several wounded as well.”

The Levakian spoke to Sarah. Our translator’s brow furrowed for a moment before she told me:

“She says that the Triple Alliance leaders want to make contact with our leaders right away. They’ll help us get back to the Avenger safely if we agree to take a handful of their soldiers with us.”

“Deal!” I said quickly. “Tell them to take the critically injured first, so they can take Tachibana, Fournier, and you. Then they can come back for the rest of us.”

Sarah quickly relayed my words to the Triple Alliance soldiers, and they all began to laugh. Sarah, Soylent and I all looked at one another nervously. The Partogan named Kailani had to hold her knees to keep from falling over.

“Kaua e tawai!” said Kailani “Kaore tetahi e toe i tetahi! He poti nui to tatou.”

“She says they can take everyone.” Sarah translated. “And that they have a very big boat.”

Pause. Then, Sarah, Soylent, and I all burst out laughing! We were all so badly injured that laughing was actually quite painful, but we didn’t care. We’d just come closer to death than ever before. We needed a laugh. Soylent seemed especially amused.

“Oh, man!” he chuckled. “I actually understood that little bit of Kiwi-speak! I know what she meant to say, but that was still perfect! Does their language really not have a word for spaceship?”

The Australian soldier pointed out the window and sarcastically said to the Triple Alliance soldiers:

“So how big is your boat, mates? How big is your Poti Nui?”

Kailani pointed towards a rapidly approaching black dot in the sky and said:

“To tatou poti nui.”

The biggest damn spaceship I’d ever seen in my life roared over the Shanghai skyline and brought itself to a hover above the tower! From end to end, it was probably just as long as Shanghai Tower was tall! Brilliant beams of purple light shot down from weapons ports, blasting ADVENT Army positions and forcing the enemy to take shelter!

Around us, the Triple Alliance soldiers stood up and made ready to leave.

“Tena haere mai me o maatau.” Said the Levakian.

“Lemme guess.” I said “They want us to follow them onto that spaceship?”

The huge spacecraft turned sharply and drew up alongside the upper floors of Shanghai Tower. A hatchway in the hull opened up and a retractable gangway extended out towards one of the shattered windows. Another Partogan appeared in the hatchway and waved at us. This one was a male with short hair and what appeared to be an intricate tattoo on his face.

Akira, Soylent, and I helped the rest of our squad get to their feet and started walking them towards the spacecraft. Keeping Chihiro between our shoulders, Akira and I moved together towards the alien ship. I couldn’t help but notice that Akira seemed to be distressed. Her face was screwed up as though she was concentrating very hard.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked.

“Not yet.” Akira hissed through clenched teeth. “Ask me again in two seconds.”

I raised an eyebrow, but then looked away. After all, the two of us were still carrying an injured Chihiro. I needed to look where I was going. We stopped at the gangplank and let Odette and Soylent board the ship ahead of us. Before we started walking up the gangplank, I turned one more time to ask Akira if she was okay.

“Hey, are you sure you’re alright?”

On the other side of Chihiro, Homura Hanako huffed and puffed, her normally brown skin seemed to have lost a little of its color. Adjusting her grip on Chihiro’s shoulder, the Okinawan guerilla snapped at me:

“No, Robinson, I’m not alright! I got shot in the back, remember?”

“Course I do, Sergeant! I was there!”

Homura sighed.

“Sorry, Lieutenant. Didn’t mean to bite your head off. Let’s make sure your wife is okay first. She’s in worse shape than me.”

Lifting Chihiro between us, Homura and I marched up the gangplank towards the alien ship while Elsina and Kailani followed behind us. Just before I crossed the threshold into the vessel, I saw a nameplate by the door. It was written in a language I guessed was Partogan. Kailani saw me looking and pointed at the plate, saying:

“Kakama. I tapaina a Kakama.”

I think I understood what she was trying to tell me. Akaya and I looked at one another and took a deep steadying breath before boarding the Partogan spaceship named Kakama.

…

Sunday, July 15, 2035 12:30pm
LVK Kakama, Airspace above Manchuria, East Asia


Six. This was the sixth alien spaceship I’d been aboard in my life.

During the 2015 Invasion, XCOM had shot down four enemy vessels: a small scout, a Battleship, the Overseer, and the supply barge that would eventually become the Avenger. I had been part of the teams that assaulted the scout, Battleship, and Overseer. I’d spent the past three months living aboard the Avenger. During our war against ADVENT, we’d raided another enemy spacecraft while it had been on the ground.

You’d think that with that kind of experience behind me, the shock of being aboard an alien ship would wear off, or that I wouldn’t be fascinated with them anymore. You’d be dead wrong.

My head was on a swivel as soon as we boarded the Kakama. Right away, a detail caught my attention that made me wonder about spaceship design in general: The Partogans had followed a different design philosophy to the Elders and their subordinates.

The interior of the Kakama was claustrophobic and utilitarian, making me wonder if I’d just stepped onto the deck of a nuclear submarine. Corridors were narrow and lacked walls, allowing us to see the wiring and piping than ran throughout the ship. While the Partogans escorted my squad to a room where we could tend our wounded, I noticed that several rooms had been stripped bare. Broken wires sticking out of the walls marked the spots where computer banks had once stood, and the outlines of now-missing furniture could still be seen on the floors. I could think of several spaces aboard the Avenger that would look indistinguishable from their Kakama counterparts.

Finally, Kailani and her comrades pointed us into a room that I guessed was some kind of infirmary. Inside, someone had made space for us. Seven beds had been freed up right next to the doorway, and another Partogan was waiting for us, holding a red device with some kind of futuristic spray nozzle.

“Nanomedicine!” Homura gasped! “Finally!”

Kailani and the bird named Reepi stayed in the infirmary with us while Elsina and Dolim left. According to Sarah, they were going to bring their commander to us. While we waited, the Partogans splinted our various broken bones and treated all of our injuries with Nanomedicine. I won’t lie, I felt really uncomfortable when Sarah relayed the fact that millions of microscopic robots were coursing through my body, closing wounds, repairing nerves, and rebuilding tissue. My skin crawled and I felt the urge to scratch every inch of it.

“Stop itching, Blake.” Chihiro moaned. “I can feel it.”

Sitting beside her bed, I raised an eyebrow at Chihiro.

“You can feel me itching? Why couldn’t I feel you getting shot?”

“I killed the Psi Link.” Chihiro admitted. “If both of us went down, I think we’d have died. It’s back now.”

As soon as she said that, I could feel a discomforting buzzing in the middle of my back. Instinctively, I reached over to touch the wound before remembering that Chihiro had been shot, not me. All around us, the rest of the squad was marveling at the Nanomedicine treatment. Despite having been shot in the stomach less than an hour ago, Sarah was on her feet and walking around. She was clearly still in a great deal of pain, but she could function on her own now. Odette celebrated having the use of both legs again by kicking a paper ball around her corner of the infirmary. Matthew and Soylent were both watching their injuries heal without breaking eye contact.

“This is bloody bizarre!” Soylent exclaimed to the rest of the squad. “I just freakin’ watched a cut close on my arm!”

“Your hand is stitching up, Robinson.” Matthew pointed at my maimed left hand. “I give it three days and you’ll be back in the fight.”

Chihiro held my hand and confirmed that yes, the bullet hole in my hand was noticeably smaller than it had been half an hour ago. With a certain degree of motherly care, Chihiro used her unbroken arm to wrap my hand in bandages and told me to take it easy for the next few days.

“That’s sound advice, coming from a girl with a bullet in her back.” I joked.

“Hey, resting is hard work!” she shot back, grinning.

At that moment, the infirmary door opened again and six more people came in. Yutaka Yamamoto, Sophia Kuznetsova, Hal Macintosh, Isis Dekker, Ignatius Petoskey, and Jericho all looked battered and worn out. Hal, Yutaka, and Isis were all bleeding from gunshot wounds. Hal had gotten it the worst, having taken a round to the chest. He had to be carried in by Ignatius and Jericho, and as soon as Hal was laid out on a bed, the Partogan medics converged on him.

“Goddamnit, Robinson.” Yutaka said. “You sure know how to call the cavalry. First Hiroshima, now this. You’ve got to share that guardian angel with the rest of us!”

“I think I just did.” I said. “Probably with the whole planet.”

Jericho’s head turned so quickly I thought we were under attack again! She pointed towards the infirmary door and said:

“Blake! On your feet! The Partogan commander coming to talk to you!”

“To me? How can you tell?”

“There’s a couple very strong-willed people in the hallway.” Jericho said. “Their intent is radiating through the door.”

The infirmary door opened one more time, and two Partogans stepped inside. At first glance, I genuinely wondered if these two people were Kailani’s parents. They had similar light brown skin, silvery-white hair, and purple eyes as she did. But on second glance, I couldn’t help but notice that all of the Partogans in the room seemed to follow this color palette. Their skin color varied from brown to tan, their hair ranged from silver to grey to white, and every Partogan seemed to have the exact same eye color.

As for these two individuals, I realized that they looked far too similar to be husband and wife. It was much more likely that they were siblings. The man had a muscular, athletic build and was shaved bald. His eyes were narrowed at us as though he was scanning us for something. The woman next to him, most likely his sister, had a much friendlier expression. She was noticeably skinny, as though she hadn’t eaten a proper meal in several months. Her silver hair hung straight down behind her like a mystical curtain. Both the man and woman were wearing green and orange military uniforms that immediately made me assume they were officers.

As soon as the two officers entered the room, Sarah made her way over to me and offered her services as translator once more.

“Kia ora. Ka whakamaori ahau.” Sarah introduced herself.

The male officer introduced himself and then gestured towards the woman beside him.

“Lieutenant Robinson,” Sarah said to me; “This is Commodore Manako Ranginui of the Triple Alliance Navy. And this is his twin sister, Fleet Admiral Makara Ranginui. He says the ADVENT Coalition is the common enemy of our peoples.”

“Good.” I replied. “I’ll happily call him an ally.”

Makara then told Makara and Manako who I was:

“Ko Blake Robinson tenei, he Apiha o te Ope Taua o Amerika.”

I reached out a hand in greeting. Manako and Makara looked at one another, seemingly having a silent conversation. Finally, Manako reached forward to shake my hand, but before our hands could touch, Makara suddenly grabbed Manako’s hand and pulled him away from me!

“Ka whakawhirinaki ratou ki a maatau!” Makara hissed at her brother.

Sarah and I looked at each other, confused. Makara addressed us:

“Aroha mai. Kaore koe i te ma.”

Sarah frowned.

“Uh, something about us not being clean. That’s all I got. Maybe she’s worried we’re contaminated, or that we might pick up a disease. Something like that.”

“Well, it’s true. We’re not clean.” I said. “We just came off a battlefield, and as far as these guys are concerned, we’re aliens on their ship. Just tell them I… that, uh, we want to work with them going forward. Ask if there’s anything we can do about this language barrier, while you’re at it. No offense, Harris, but we’re going to need more than one translator.”

Sarah set about conveying my request. While she spoke, I kept an eye on Manako and Makara’s faces. Makara kept her eyes locked on Sarah the whole time, but Manako was looking at each of my squadmates in turn. I got the nervous feeling that he was sizing us up.

When Sarah stopped talking, Makara replied. The New Zealander listened for nearly a minute, rubbing her chin as she thought quickly. Then her eyes went wide!

“Oh, this is great!” Sarah exclaimed happily.

“What?” I asked.

“Makara is Gifted!” Sarah informed me. “She has a telepathic power that lets her pick up new languages really fast! She says she needs to listen to us talk for a while. The more she hears, the faster she’ll be able to learn English!”

My heart skipped a beat! This was wonderful! Getting rid of the language barrier, at least with a single Partogan, would make life infinitely easier for the rest of us!

“Great!” I started to clap my hands, but a searing pain from my still-injured left hand stopped me. “Let’s start by asking her to fly us back to the Avenger.”

Sarah insisted that I repeat my request slowly so that Makara could hear each word clearly. I pulled a map of China out of my pocket and pointed to the city of Jilin.

“Our leaders are in this city.” I told Makara and Manako. “Will you take us to Jilin?”

“Āna.” Manako said.

He took the map from me and withdrew a metal writing utensil from his pocket. Manako drew a circle around Jilin and then left the room, taking my map with him.

“Uh… I think he said he’ll do it.” Sarah said. “That’s what it sounded like, anyway.”

“Ka taea e koe te whakaako i ahau i te reo Pakeha inaianei?” Makara interjected.

Sarah nodded and told me:

“While we wait for these guys to take us home, I guess you and I are going to teach Makara how to speak English.”

Chapter 23: Te reo Māori

 

Chapter 19

Te reo Māori

 

Monday, July 16, 2035 2:20am

Ruins of Jilin City, Manchuria, East Asia

 

I’m not sure how long it took the Partogan warship to fly us back to Jilin, but by the time we landed in Jilin, I was starting to get that sense of exhaustion that normally happens after being awake for over 24 hours straight. Most of the squad had passed out in their infirmary beds under the watchful eyes of the alien medics. Those of us who were still awake, like Sarah Harris, Ignatius Petoskey, and Matthew Hawkins, undertook the task of teaching Makara Ranginui how to speak English.

As it turned out, Makara’s unique Psionic power proved to be quite helpful. I started by taking her around the room and introducing her to all of my squadmates. After just one lap around the infirmary, she was able to repeat most of our names back to us; and within thirty minutes, Makara was able to hold basic conversations in English. It kinda felt like she was telepathically plucking the words right out of my head. Makara’s first English sentence was:

“He is Matthew, you are Blake, and I am Makara.”

“It’s a good start.” Matthew sighed.

After a further ten minutes of practicing English, Makara pointed towards Sarah and asked.

“How can she speak our language so soon?”

The New Zealander folded her arms in front of her and blushed.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you the same thing.” Sarah replied. “Here on Earth, your language is called ‘Maori’ and it’s spoken by about fifteen-thousand people.”

“Maori?” Makara repeated. “Why do you call it ‘Maori?’ I do not understand. I do not think you are using that word correctly.”

Makara’s telepathic power was clearly working. Each time she spoke, her English was less stilted and broken. Sarah raised her eyebrow at Makara, took a deep breath, and tried to explain:

“The Maori people are from the southern half of our world, and they live on two islands in the middle of the big ocean, the one we call ‘Pacific.’ They look and talk exactly the same as you Partogans. Well… almost the same. Maori people don’t have spaceships or telepathy.”

Makara furrowed her brow.

“There are so many Partogans on Earth already? How long have they been here?” she asked.

Sarah and Matthew both smacked themselves in the face. I shook my head.

“Makara, you misunderstand.” I said. “The Maori people have always been here. We just want to know why they have so many similarities to a spacefaring civilization that seems pretty old.”      

Makara narrowed her eyes and stared at me, hard. Once again, I got the strange sensation that she was pulling words out of my mind. When she spoke again, Makara used near-perfect English with a New Zealand accent similar to Sarah’s.

“You’re telling me that an identical copy of my people, language, and culture exists on your world? The Progenitors clearly had a sense of humor.”

“Progenitors?” I repeated.

“Hang on, we haven’t said anything about your culture yet!” Sarah added.

Makara rubbed her forehead with one hand. With a loud sigh, she pointed at Soylent Green, our one and only Australian soldier. He was sitting up in his infirmary bed, adjusting the sling holding his broken arm.

“But my culture is right here!” Makara protested. “One of your soldiers has got the mark of the Taihara! He’s clearly one of my people!”

His face quickly twisting into a scowl, Soylent stood up and walked over to us, coming face to face with Makara.

“What did you just call me, you little Kiwi punk!?” Soylent sounded combative.

Oh, shit!

I’d completely forgotten that while he wasn’t fluent, Soylent did understand a small amount of Maori. He probably knew what the word “Taihara” meant, and judging by his reaction, it wasn’t a compliment. I quickly stepped between him and Makara!

“Hang on, Captain Green!” I snapped! “I’m sure she didn’t mean any offense!”

While Soylent didn’t budge, Makara stepped back and quickly said to Sarah:

“But he has the ink on his face! I thought he was one of us!”

Sarah and I both looked at Soylent. We realized that Makara was talking about the Maori-style tattoo that covered more than half of Soylent’s face in intricate looping spirals of black ink. Sarah’s jaw fell as she recognized the design.

“Robinson!” she hissed at me. “Where the hell did Captain Green get that!?”

“He got it during World War Three.” I said with a shrug. “From one of the guys in the British Royal Army right before the Battle of Kyoto. Trust me, Private Harris. Those Maori tattoos were really popular among the defenders of Japan. They scared the pants off a bunch of Russian soldiers, and got themselves a mean reputation. Ain’t that right, Captain?”

Soylent nodded at me and pointed to his facial tattoo with a big, stupid grin.

“This mug makes the Spetsnaz wish they’d picked a different line of work, mate.”

“Oh, no!” Sarah whined. “You’re not supposed to get te moko tattoos if you’re not Maori! Those tattoos have serious cultural significance!”

“Tell that to Soylent, and about eighty-thousand World War Three veterans.” I grumbled.

Makara raised her eyebrows at us.

“So, if your Captain is not one of our people, then why does he have a Taihara mark?”

“You keep saying that word, Sheila.” Soylent growled. “I don’t think you know what it means.”

“Trust me, he’s not Partogan.” I told Makara. “He’s just Australian. If anything, that makes him even less helpful. Kuznetsova, Hanako, can you get the Captain back in bed?”

Sophia and Homura both took Soylent by an arm and marched him away. Makara stood on the tips of her toes to get a better look at the two women as they moved to the other side of the room. I started trying to think of something to say to Makara, but Sarah beat me to the punch.

“Excuse me, Admiral Ranginui. I’ve been meaning to ask something. When your soldiers jumped into the fight at Shanghai Tower, I heard one of them yelling ‘Where is Mira Mihaka?’ Who is that?”

The memory crashed into my mind like a runaway train! As soon as Sarah had repeated the name “Mira Mihaka” the shock of Jericho’s big revelation in the Aralkum desert hit me all over again!

“Mira Mihaka!” I gasped. “Jericho’s mother!”

Both Sarah and Makara said: “What!?” But I rounded on Jericho, who had been standing in a far corner, leaning against Yutaka Yamamoto’s chest. He had wrapped his arms around Jericho and was whispering in her ear. When Jericho realized Makara was looking at her, she put one hand to Yutaka’s mouth to silence him.

“Get over here!” I raised my voice a little and glared at Yutaka.

Jericho reluctantly extracted herself from Yutaka’s grip and crossed the infirmary to join our conversation, keeping her eyes locked on Makara.

“Jericho, you told me your mother was a Partogan!” I said. “Does she look anything like her?”

Looking Makara up and down, Jericho nodded.

“Yeah, she does. Mira has only one eye, though. She’s got an eyepatch on the right side of her head, and a big scar just below her temple on the same side.”

Makara scratched her chin and made a half-smile.

“Yeah, that matches the description of the Partogan who told us to come to Earth in the first place.” Makara said. “Tall woman, in her late sixties. She have greyish-white hair?”

“Yes!” Jericho sounded like she was getting excited. “I’ve been looking for her for five years! Do you know her?”

“Kinda.” Makara said. “We crossed paths about eight or nine years ago. Flying around in some beat up old racing ship. She told us that the key to ending the war was to make an alliance with your people, and to share the superweapon you’ve been building.”

Sarah, Jericho, and I all dropped our jaws.

“Wait… what superweapon?” I gasped.

“Superweapon? I thought you guys came here for…” Jericho trailed off. She looked as though she’d been struck by a powerful thought. “Ooohh… you should talk to the Commander about that.”

Makara nodded, then touched the side of her head with two fingers, in much the same way Chihiro does whenever she’s using telepathy.

“Speaking of which, my brother says we’ve just found your ship. What did you call it? The ‘Avenger’ or something like that? Anyway, we’re landing. I’ll send a team to help you disembark.”

 

…

 

The Kakama came to rest on the runway of Jilin Airport only a short distance away from the Avenger. As promised, Makara sent a squad of Triple Alliance soldiers to help our squad (some of whom were still injured) to move across the runway back to the Avenger. Of the six aliens sent to help us, two we had already met. Reepi (the giant red and blue bird) used his Gift to help Chihiro walk upright while Kailani allowed Isis to lean on her shoulder.

As for the other aliens, well… it took us a few minutes to get over the shock. We had gotten used to fighting and killing aliens, so meeting non-hostile ones was a little bit of a treat. Everybody wanted a chance to see one of the new creatures up close, and in turn, the aliens seemed to be just as curious about us.

Talking through Sarah, the various friendly aliens introduced themselves and offered to help carry our wounded, weapons, and gear to the Avenger.

Reepi Imvu, the Vanian, introduced us to another member of his species, a female named Kanti Divakar. Unlike Reepi, Kanti’s color scheme was monochromatic. Every feather on her body was white, making me wonder if it was possible for aliens to be albino. Curiously, Kanti didn’t have the same beautiful tail feathers as Reepi. It was Sophia who first suggested that Vanians were like Peafowl, comparing Reepi to a peacock and Kanti to a peahen. Soylent, Isis, Hal, Yutaka, and Homura all swooned when they saw Kanti and made comments about how beautiful and attractive she was. Sarah did us all a favor by not translating their words.

Two Assurian males offered to carry my shotgun and sword, allowing me to let Chihiro lean on my shoulder. As it turns out, the Assurians are Humanoid beings. They have two arms, two legs, and a head with all the same trappings and trimmings as the rest of us, but then things get weird. As it turns out, Assurians have a very thick, leather-like hide and a big pointy ridgeline running from the center of their forehead to the top and back of their skull before disappearing down the base of the neck. The Assurians introduced themselves as “Adil, son of Askar” and “Temirzhan, son of Adil.”

I did a double-take when I heard their names and asked Sarah for clarification. Sarah, also confused, asked Kailani for help. The Partogan offered a quick explanation to me:

“Assurians don’t use surnames in the same way Humans do. All you need to know is that Ensign Temirzan is the eldest son of Captain Adil.”

Odette was too badly injured to walk, so she was allowed to ride on the back of Arzhang Pahlevan, who was…

“Posmotri na eto!” Sophia gasped in Russian, pointing at Arzhang. “That’s an ostritch!”

“No way, mate. That’s totally an emu!” Soylent challenged.

“Uh, no.” Sarah corrected them both. “He’s an Amadii. Kailani says they’re an avian species from the Cuunbar Star System, which isn’t far from Earth.”

“Avian?” Ignatius repeated. “Mister Arzhang looks like he’s never flown a day in his life.”

Ignatius was right. Arzhang the Amadii was clearly a flightless bird. He had huge, muscular legs that allowed him to support Odette’s weight with no trouble. The Frenchwoman herself had partially vanished into the alien bird’s coat of brown feathers and wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling off. When Arzhang started walking towards the Avenger, he moved at a trot, which caused Odette to bounce up and down like a kid on their first horseback ride, causing some of us to laugh out loud.

All twelve Stormbreakers and their Triple Alliance escorts were stopped at the Avenger’s boarding ramp by Doctor Tygan and Chief Engineer Lily Shen. The former was observing the alien newcomers with barely hidden glee and curiosity, while the latter was sizing up the nearby Partogan starship. 

“Questions.” Shen murmured. “I have. So. Many. Questions.”

“These guys are going back to their ship for now.” Sarah said. “Their commander wants to meet our Commander as soon as possible, though.”

“You might wanna tell Commander Harper to bring Jericho into the meeting as well.” Homura Hanako added.

As she stepped up the boarding ramp and saw that Shen hadn’t responded to her, Homura reached out and gently patted the top of her head with one hand.

“Don’t worry.” Homura said. “The shock’ll wear off in a minute.”

Shen’s eyes seemed to cloud over and get misty for a moment, then she shook herself back to reality.

“Right. Trojan, Jericho, Petoskey. I want you to follow me. I guess we’re going to be having guests.”

 

…

 

Monday, July 16, 2035 3:45am

Ruins of Jilin City, Manchuria, East Asia

 

There were very few people aboard the Avenger this morning. All of the soldiers, save for Stormbreaker Squad, were out in the field participating in the global battle against ADVENT. Those who remained couldn’t hold back their curiosity. Even though it was the middle of a cold night, the whole crew of the Avenger disembarked and spilled onto the runway, and the crew of the Kakama did the same.

It wasn’t the kind of “First Contact” you might have seen in the Old World movies. The crews of both ships just kinda milled about and mingled like it was a casual party. In fact, it kinda became a party after a while. Men and women from both crews brought food and drink down from their ships and a buffet table was set up near the Avenger’s boarding ramp. Humans and Xenos cautiously nibbled and sipped at one another’s food while scientists like Tygan frantically hoarded samples of everything, presumably for future study. Chihiro took a quick sip of some sweet-smelling red liquid Kailani offered her and reported back that it tasted like lukewarm wine. Matthew nearly cracked a tooth on a strange yellow berry that was much harder than it looked, and the two Vanians, Reepi and Kanti, both looked horrified when they saw Soylent Green snacking on a chicken drumstick.

Partogans, Levakians, Assurians, Kelt, Amadii, and Vanians milled about and introduced themselves to the XCOM crew. Thanks to the Partogan’s advanced medicine and treatments, all of the soldiers in my squad were well enough to join in the event as well. Sarah Harris and Makara Ranginui quickly went to work, serving as interpreters and translators as the uncontrolled meeting of crews carried on. 

Soylent Green was determined to find out just how much alcohol was needed to buzz a Levakian, and he had served his entire stash to our visitors to that end. Dolim, the little lizard, was very curious about Chief Engineer Shen’s Gremlin drone, and insisted on being given a demonstration of “Human technological ingenuity.”

Doctor Tygan nearly caused an incident when he tried to pluck the tail feathers of a Vanian for study. Sarah quickly defused the situation by explaining what the Doctor was doing. The Vanian’s attitude changed significantly and he said something Sarah translated as:

“All you had to do was ask, but I assure you: you won’t discover the secret of Vanian beauty in a microscope.”

Meanwhile, Homura Hanako darted over to the wrecked airplane hangar and brought back an improvised fire pit. (It used to be the wheel from a spaceplane’s landing gear) Finally, the cacophony died down a bit and both crews settled around the bonfire that Homura Hanako was building in the ruined spaceplane tire. Deep blue Soulfire lapped up the shredded pieces of airline seats Homura tossed into the pit. The Japanese Resistance fighter brushed her hair to one side as she worked, blocking her face from the view of Manako and Makara Ranginui, who had just arrived. Commander Harper and Central Officer Bradford arrived a few moments later, carrying a half-dozen old folding chairs.

“Robinson, you’re the only Squad Leader here right now.” Bradford said. “Join us.”

Three chairs were set up on each side of the bonfire. Harper, Bradford, and I sat together with the Avenger and her crew at our backs. Chihiro, Ignatius, and Homura all used Psionic Inspiration to fill our minds with a little extra confidence. Chihiro squeezed my shoulder while Homura brushed her hand against the back of Bradford’s head lightly. He seemed to stare off into space for a moment before coming back to himself. On the opposite side of the bonfire, Manako, Makara, and the Vanian named Reepi took their seats. Or, rather, Manako and Makara did, while Reepi stared at the folding chair with a confused look before jumping up and perching himself on the chair’s back, much like you’d expect any bird to do.

“It’s an honor to finally meet you.” Commander Harper began. “My name is Laura Annmarie Harper. I am the Commander of XCOM. The Resistance Council has given me permission to speak to you on behalf of Humankind. This is my second in command, John Bradford, and one of my field commanders, Blake Robinson.”

“My name is Makara Ranginui. I’m the Fleet Commander of the Triple Alliance.” Makara replied. “Her Majesty the Queen of the Commonwealth authorized me to negotiate any agreements between our two worlds. In the meantime, I understand we owe the Toa Robinson our thanks. He and his soldiers were the ones who made First Contact with us.”

Hey, Chihiro. I thought. What does “Toa” mean?

I’d spent so much time interacting with Gifted people now that I could feel the moment Chihiro broke her focus and redirected her telepathy onto someone else. To my left, Sarah Harris quickly scratched the side of her head and made an uncomfortable groaning sound.

Looks both like the Maori and Partogans use that word, just differently from each other. Chihiro reported back. Translator girl thinks Makara called you a “brave warrior” or something like that.

Pushing the telepathic voice out of my mind, I tried to pay attention to the conversation again.

“First and foremost,” Makara was saying. “I’m happy to see we are united in our work towards the ADVENT Coalition’s defeat. My forces have been intercepting ADVENT communications for the past few months, and we uncovered a plot to wipe out your entire species within the next five days.”

“We are already aware of that.” Bradford said. “It’s called the AVATAR Project, and it could be just as bad for you as it is for us. The Elders have created a new hybrid species, and they’re using our people as ingredients!”

“As we speak,” Commander Harper said, “My soldiers are out there trying to undermine the AVATAR Project, but we’re up against a powerful enemy that has already defeated us once before. On behalf of every man, woman, and child on this planet, I’m asking for your help.”

“Consider it already given.” Makara replied while her brother nodded approvingly. “Triple Alliance soldiers have already landed at several other points of conflict on the planet and engaged the enemy. They’re under orders to support all Resistance activity. While I’m here, I have my own personal combat unit, Team Takea, that I’m willing to lend to any of your upcoming operations.”

Makara gestured to a group of Kakama crewmates. I recognized some of them as the fighters who had rescued my squad at Shanghai Tower: Elsina, Dolim, Kailani, and Reepi. Four other aliens stepped forward to join them. The Amadii called Arzhang, the Assurian father/son duo Adil and Temirzhan, as well as the white peahen called Kanti. All eight aliens raised their hands, paws or wings in salute. Then all eight aliens raised their voices together and belted out a quite terrifying battle cry:

“Mahara Aoraki!!”

Ignatius and Yutaka both took a step back from Team Takea and gave one another nervous looks. Like them, I had gotten the impression that this particular group of warriors were not to be messed with.

“Team Takea are some of the most fearsome fighters in the Outer Limb.” Makara explained. “My brother, Manako, is their field commander. He and his team will be attached to XCOM for the remainder of this conflict. I’m confident they will be of great value to you.”

Central Officer Bradford stood up and walked towards Manako, who also rose from his seat. Bradford and Manako shook hands.

“Pleasure to meet you.” Bradford said. “I look forward to seeing your troops in combat.”

“Honor to meet you, sir.” Manako spoke in barely passable English. “Let us fight and conquer together.”

While Manako and Bradford stepped to one side to inspect the troops of Team Takea, Doctor Tygan took Bradford’s empty chair, his excitement barely hidden.

“I suppose we should address the Kikanalo in the room.” Makara said. “Specifically, the similarities between your people and mine.”

“Similarity is an understatement.” Hal Macintosh couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “You look exactly like us, and you speak one of our languages!”

Makara sighed.

“Under any other circumstance, I’d dismiss a comment like that, but the fact is… you’re right.”

Silence. The crews of the Avenger and the Kakama both seemed to hold their breath as Makara stood up and cast her gaze around the assembled people.

“The Galactic Council has, for the past ninety-six-hundred years, kept a record of every species that developed spaceflight capabilities. There have been hundreds of races who looked alike, such as ourselves and the Hiigarans, or the Taiidan and the Assurians. But I don’t think there’s ever been such a perfect match like this. I hope everyone here tonight realizes that this isn’t a coincidence. Our peoples have too many unexpected connections and similarities to explain away.”

The watching crowd began to murmur. Whispers and rumors were starting to make their way through both crews before Makara silenced us all with a stern look.

“Unfortunately,” The Partogan commander continued. “We are still at war. ADVENT waits for us on the ground, and the Beast is waiting for us in the stars. So, to my curious comrades and new Human friends, I have to ask for your patience. When we are not beset by enemies, perhaps we can investigate what I only assume is the shared origin of our two races. Commander Harper, I will give you and your crew detailed biometric data on all species represented by the Triple Alliance including dietary and medical requirements. I’ll also be sending a team of engineers to your ship immediately. We need to retrofit your vessel to bring it in line with Triple Alliance regs.”

Makara whispered something in her brother’s ear, and then she added one last thing:

“Speaking of the Triple Alliance… I should explain: It’s a military alliance between three of the most powerful governments in this part of the Galaxy: The United States of Assuria, the Micore Empire, and our own Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth. We’re standing together against a much greater enemy that threatens us all.”

“We’ve heard something about that.” Commander Harper replied. “The Elders and their underlings in the ADVENT government have occasionally made reference to ‘the True Enemy’ or ‘what lies ahead.’ I’m guessing that’s the ‘greater enemy’ you mentioned, correct?”

“You are.” Makara confirmed.

“You’re not about to recruit us to your war, are you?” Harper’s tone of voice made it quite clear she was expecting the Partogans to say something along the lines of: you don’t have a choice.

Makara sighed.

“I assure you, Commander, that kind of talk is extremely premature. All I want to do is initiate discussions of about Humanity’s future relationship with the Triple Alliance. Her Majesty the Queen authorized me to offer your people full membership in our alliance, along with all of the protections that come with it.”

Harper, Bradford, and Tygan all raised their eyebrows and looked at one another.

“Ah, I see.” Harper replied. “Well, Miss Ranginui, I think we should have that discussion in private. I hope this can be the start of a long and prosperous relationship between Humans and Partogans.”

Makara stood up and offered to shake the Commander’s hand.

The Commander of XCOM nodded, stood, and addressed her troops.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, boys and girls. From now on, everyone pulls double duty! Everyone drives, everyone works! Humanity just got handed a lifeline by a freakin’ Deus ex Machina and we’re not going to waste it! Bring the Avenger to action stations and show our new allies where they can do the most good! Move out!”

 

…

 

Monday, July 16, 2035 10:20am

Ruins of Jilin City, Manchuria, East Asia

 

You won’t hear many people talking about it, but nearly every soldier who ever lived has had at least one superpower: the sheer mental fortitude to keep themselves awake and active for days on end without sleeping. That being said, I’m sure every man and woman aboard the Avenger would confess to taking a couple ten- or twenty-minute power naps over the course of that intense Monday morning.

The Avenger was swarming with aliens. Twenty-year-old armor plating was ripped out of the ship’s hull and replaced with the same Protosteel plating used by our new allies. The Hologlobe on the bridge was upgraded with an advanced sensor suite that gave us visibility for nearly two hundred miles. The infirmary was overhauled to take full advantage of Partogan Nanomedicine technology. Thanks to millions of microscopic medical robots, every member of Stormbreaker Squad was given a clean bill of health and returned to duty before the sun had even risen. Odette celebrated being able to walk again by dancing on one of the tables in the mess hall while a couple of French soldiers sang some World War Three era tune.

Around the late morning, Chihiro and I finally caught up with Jericho, who was helping Homura Hanako carry a heavy weapons locker up the boarding ramp. We both offered to help, and Chihiro grabbed the head of the locker so she could be next to Jericho and say:

“Hey, so now that the Partogans are actually here, I gotta ask: Did your future database say anything about the Partogans themselves? How much of this did you know was coming?”

Thanks to her augmented muscles, Jericho was having little to no trouble lifting a five-hundred-pound crate full of rifles, so it only took her a moment to respond.

“Honestly, this one’s a mix. The Partogans weren’t supposed to just pluck us all off the tower like that. The Skyranger was supposed to come get us. But the way they showed up and saved the day? That played out exactly the way it was supposed to. Private Harris should have died up on the tower, though. Don’t tell her I said that, I’m actually glad to see she’s okay.”

“Wait a minute!” I gasped. “Harris was gonna die in the tower!?”

“She should have been shot dead by a Codex.” Jericho said. “But ever since I saw she’d lived, I’ve been thinking… a lot.”

Homura, Chihiro, and I all gave one another quick looks. Then with one last heave, we reached the top of the boarding ramp and set down the weapons locker. One of Chief Shen’s MEC Troopers grabbed the locker in one hand and carried it away.

“Fatalism not looking like good stock these days, huh?” Chihiro gave Jericho a nudge. “Starting to think you might be able to change your fate?”

“Yeah, that’s been on my mind a lot.” Jericho admitted. “Thing is, only some of the stuff in Mom’s database came true. Yutaka hasn’t been doing… certain things… Same for Sophia. Even then, some things happened earlier or later than they were supposed to. You and Blake, for instance. Hell, Hanako, you just kinda vanished from the record. I figured you were supposed to go missing or get killed or something.”

Homura scoffed in a dismissive way, ran one hand through her brown hair and gave us an uncomfortable smile.

“Nah, I think I’m just not important enough to get into history books.” Homura giggled nervously. “You three, though? I got high hopes for you.”

Chihiro opened her mouth to say something, but Jericho interrupted her:

“Wait!”

Jericho and Chihiro both tilted their heads up. They looked a little like birds who had just sensed a change in the wind.

“Tachibana, you feel that?” Jericho asked.

“Yeah, I sense it too.” Chihiro said.

And without any further explanation, Jericho released Homura, and she followed Chihiro back down the boarding ramp.

I was completely lost.

Looking back and forth from Chihiro to Jericho to Homura and back again, my brain had locked up. Everything had happened so quickly that I felt jet-lagged. Jericho and Chihiro had reached the bottom of the boarding ramp and were pointing towards the Eastern horizon. Homura tilted her head to one side and muttered:

“Oh, shit, now I can sense it too. This is big.”

And then she started jogging down the ramp as well! All three women, Jericho, Chihiro, and Homura met at the bottom of the ramp and each grabbed two red flares from the supply cache. Then they started running towards an open patch of runway not far from the Avenger and the Kakama.

Okay, I told myself. I’ve been awake for forty-eight hours straight and now I’ve gone insane. This is my life now.

I ran full-tilt down the boarding ramp and scrambled across the runway to catch up with my wife, the Guerilla, and the Human-Ethereal Hybrid. As I got close, all three soldiers turned towards the Eastern horizon, lit their flares and started waving them above their heads.

“HEY!” I shouted, “Would the Coven of Psychic Girls like to tell the one normal guy what the hell is going on!?”

“The Skyranger is coming!” Chihiro answered.

“It’s too heavy to land on the Avenger!” Homura added.

“Voodoo Squad just had a huge victory!” Jericho finished. “The Skyranger is loaded down with loot!”

They didn’t need to say anything else, I understood right away. Running back the way I’d come, I tore across the asphalt and back to the Avenger! Shouting up the boarding ramp, I raised the alarm!

“Heavy Skyranger incoming!” I hollered. “Need support to meet her on the ground!”

XCOM soldiers and Triple Alliance crew alike streamed out of both ships and started to converge around the impromptu landing zone. Her engines screaming and whining loudly, the Skyranger swooped across the airfield! An Old World shipping container hung perilously from the underbelly winch, and the sounds of creaking metal emanated from both the aircraft and its unwieldy cargo. Dolim, the Kelt Engineer, called out to several other Kelt crewmembers. Six of the little reptilian aliens scrambled around the perimeter of the landing zone and planted metallic poles into the cracked asphalt. Bright red beams of light shot out of each pole and connected to the neighboring pole. In seconds, a hexagonal barrier of light marked out the location of the Skyranger’s new landing target.

Jericho, Homura, and Chihiro dropped their flares on the ground and backed away. Over their shoulders I could see Commander Harper, Central Officer Bradford, and the Ranginui twins arriving on the scene. Chief Shen and Doctor Tygan brought up the rear, having only just reached the bottom of the Avenger’s ramp.

“Dear God in Heaven… it can’t be.” Said a voice behind me.

Looking around, I saw Ignatius Petoskey. The old Frenchman looked shocked and horrified.

“Chaplain, what’s going on?” I asked.

“I can sense the emotions of the soldiers inside.” Ignatius breathed. “They are celebrating! Voodoo Squad has achieved the impossible!”

Sometimes, I hated not having the Gift.

While the Skyranger set the cargo container on the ground and detached the cable, I tried to push through the crowd to find Chihiro. I wanted to ask her to share her powers with me again, so I wouldn’t be the last person to know what this surprise development was. Stepping around the flank of a particularly massive Levakian, I saw Chihiro! She was standing between Homura Hanako and Jericho, talking excitedly to both of them. The crowd was far too dense for me to reach them before the Skyranger landed, so I stayed put and watched the Skyranger with everyone else.

The overloaded aircraft hit the tarmac so hard that the pavement cracked and splintered! Little bits of gravel flew through the air and forced most of us in the crowd to keep our eyes shut until the engines powered down. Then, finally, the Skyranger’s deployment ramp fell open.

The pilot, Wendy “Firebrand” Carter, stepped out of the back of the Skyranger, saw the crowd and said loudly:

“Oh, you guys are gonna love this!”

She stepped aside, and five soldiers erupted out of the aircraft! The men and women of Voodoo Squad looked tired and worn out, but nothing could bring down their cheerful attitude. They had something to celebrate, and they intended to share it.

“Gaze upon us! We, the mortals who have conquered Olympus!” German soldier Bernard von Unfal shouted in an overdramatic tone while grinning the biggest grin.

He dropped his Laser Rifle on the ground and helped his comrades extract a lumpy bag from one of the passenger seats.

“We just got back from Oregon!” shouted Andrea Baker, a black American woman. “We gave ADVENT one hell of a beating!”

“You bastards were rehearsing this speech on the flight back, weren’t you?” Yutaka shouted at Voodoo Squad.

“Sure we were!” Confessed Nuwa Tang, a female Chinese trooper. “But I think you should give us a pass anyway.”

“I don’t know what you were doing early this morning,” taunted Tao Zhao, another Chinese soldier, “But whatever it was… we just topped it!”

With a final snapping of seat belts, Tao, Andrea, Bernard, and Nuwa all stood aside. A huge robotic MEC pushed its way out of the Skyranger and marched directly towards Chief Engineer Shen. I recognized the automated war machine as Julian, the robotic MEC trooper I met at Site X a while back.

“All mission parameters completed, Chief Shen.” Julian reported. “We were successful.”

Shen, Tygan, Bradford, and Harper all froze.

“Bullshit.” Bradford gasped. “I was starting to think they were immortal!”

“You… You’ve got to be kidding!” Shen stammered. “Please tell me this isn’t a joke!”

“So… it really is possible, then.” Tygan mused. “They can be permanently killed. Fascinating.”

I tore my eyes away from Julian and watched as Commander Harper broke away from the crowd. She approached the Skyranger and the soldiers of Voodoo Squad. Colonel Pyotr Ilyshin, the Squad Leader, was standing at the bottom of the Skyranger’s boarding ramp, holding a large lumpy bag. In that moment, I realized exactly what had happened.

I had met Pyotr Ilyshin during World War Three. He had been a member of the Soviet Spetsnaz at the time. Pyotr had fought against the Stormbreakers on a few occasions and had even killed two of our friends: Kate Newberry and Chihiro Iwasaki. One thing about him that always stood out for me, though, had been the callous and disturbing way he had handled the bodies of his fallen enemies. Sure, Pyotr cared about people… but the second they stopped living, he stopped caring. Whenever he had been ordered to kill someone and bring back proof, the evidence Pyotr returned to base would be… indisputable.

So, when he started to undo the knot keeping that black bag shut, I held my breath and put one hand to my gut, determined to stop my breakfast from going out the way it came in.

Pyotr tore the bag away and held up for all to see…

The severed head of Kon-Mon Dessurik, the Elder’s Chosen Warlock.

Chapter 24: A Horrible Truth

 

Chapter 20
A Horrible Truth

 

Tuesday, July 17, 2035 11:30am
Ruins of Jilin City, Manchuria, East Asia


Things moved very quickly now.

As soon as Voodoo Squad confirmed the death of the Chosen Warlock, Makara Ranginui returned to her ship. The crew of the Kakama informed us that Makara was going to lead the forces of the Triple Alliance in a general offensive to try and force the Elders to surrender. Manako and the members of Team Takea crossed over to the Avenger crew and helped us unload and catalog all of the loot seized from the Chosen Warlock’s personal fortress.

Pyotr and his troops had killed twenty-nine aliens inside of the Warlock’s stronghold: A whole squad of ADVENT Army soldiers, plus a handful of assorted alien fighters. The shipping container dropped off by the Skyranger held the bodies of ADVENT Army soldiers, Codices, Mutons, a Chryssalid, an Avatar, and a number of other aliens we’d never encountered before. Voodoo Squad also managed to seize a sizable cache of enemy weapons. Plasma Rifles, Psionic Amplifiers, EMP Bombs, Magnetic Cannons, you name it, they found it.

But we didn’t understand the full magnitude of this victory until the next day. On Tuesday morning, after Pyotr and his troops were given a night to rest, he and his squad were hauled into the Resistance Ring to be debriefed.

The Ring is a special meeting place in the Avenger where the highest-ranking members of the Resistance and their allies can gather and plan out future operations. Since large-scale gatherings of leaders like the one at Site X were a rare occurrence, the Ring was outfitted with a holographic communications system that enabled dozens of people to engage in a virtual conference remotely.

On Commander Harper’s request, I attended the debriefing. Ignatius Petoskey and Jericho also came along, and although she wasn’t invited, Chihiro was listening in via our Psionic Link. When I got to the Ring, Central Officer Bradford, Doctor Tygan, Chief Shen and several representatives from the various Resistance factions were also present. Geist, the Leader of the Templars, paced back and forth as he waited for the meeting to begin. Ivan Kuznetsov was speaking for the Reapers in the absence of Konstantine Volkilov, and a lone female Skirmisher I’d never met before rounded out the group. Three members of Team Takea were present as well: Partogan Manako Ranginui, Kelt engineer Dolim Dehuri, and Assurian soldier Adil. Sarah Harris was next to them, translating as usual. All five members of Voodoo Squad sat together on one side of the Ring, an oval-shaped conference table that took up most of the room.

Before she sat down, Chief Shen tapped a few buttons on a computer screen. With many flashing lights, the holographic silhouette of a man appeared at the head of the table. As usual, the Spokesman of the Council of Nations had obscured every detail of his appearance, making it impossible for me to describe him beyond the words “he looked like a bald man.”

Once everybody was seated. The Councilman commenced the proceedings.

“Colonel Ilyshin. You and your soldiers are to be commended. The defeat of the Chosen Warlock is a loss our enemies may never recover from. I am sure our Templar allies will appreciate such a painful thorn being removed from their side.”

“Make no mistake, I am very grateful.” Geist said. “Not just for the destruction of our common enemy, but for neutralizing a menace who sought to steal the Psionic energies of this world, energies that rightfully belong to Humankind.”

“Colonel,” Bradford addressed Pyotr. “Stormbreaker Squad is on deck to go after the Chosen Assassin. We need you to tell us exactly what happened, so that Lieutenant Robinson and his team will be prepared for whatever surprises are in that fortress.”

“Don’t leave out any details.” I chimed in. “Petoskey, Jericho, and I are going to take notes. I’m also sure that we’re going to have a lot of questions, too.”

Pyotr nodded his understanding. Standing at the opposing head of the conference table from Commander Harper, the Russian officer picked up the remote control for the holographic projector and clicked it. A three-dimensional representation of the Chosen Warlock’s personal fortress appeared in midair above the conference table and began to slowly rotate clockwise, granting everyone a view.

“Kon-Mon Dessurik’s Fortress was located on Wizard Island, which is a volcanic cinder cone in the middle of Crater Lake in Oregon.” Pyotr began. “The Fortress is not dissimilar from an iceberg. Roughly ten percent of the installation was built above ground. For the most part, it’s an underground structure that can be sealed up at a moment’s notice. Lucky for us, the Templars were able to locate a weak point in the enemy defenses and we were able to blast our way inside.”

Pyotr clicked the remote. On the north side of the fortress, a holographic explosion caused the landing pad to collapse, revealing a cavernous hole that granted the attackers a direct route into the underground facility. The hologram briefly dissolved into millions of chaotic points of light which re-arranged themselves into a map of the underground base.

“Damn.” Bradford said with a low whistle. “Reminds me of the old XCOM base in Kansas.”

Pyotr stuck his hand inside the hologram and placed his finger inside a small room, which flashed red.

“We breached here, a storage facility.” Pyotr explained. “This thing here at our backs is a forklift, and the doorway in front of it led further into the facility.”

“What was in the next room?” Ignatius asked.

“An ADVENT Army Foundry.” Pyotr replied. “One of the facilities used to manufacture ADVENT soldiers.”

“Foundry?” Manako repeated. “Manufacture soldiers?”

Doctor Tygan turned in his seat to face the Triple Alliance soldiers. While he spoke Sarah translated Tygan’s words into Partogan:

“A significant majority of the ADVENT Army consists of genetically modified clones, manufactured in several facilities all over the planet. Clearly, one such Foundry existed in the Chosen Warlock’s Fortress.”

“Which means my squad might run into one when we go fight the Assassin.” I said. “Petoskey, write that down.”

Ignatius nodded and quickly scribbled some French words in a handheld notebook.

“So, what happened after you entered the Foundry facility?” Commander Harper asked.

Nuwa Tang, a Chinese woman, stood up and took over for Pyotr. The blueish light of the holographic display made her grey hair shine brightly in the dim room. She pointed towards a doorway that connected the Foundry to a room that contained some kind of power generator.

“We took contact from this doorway.” Nuwa pointed. “An enemy officer and a couple of underlings were guarding the Elerium generator, and they heard us making noise in the Foundry. They alerted the entire fortress to our presence.”

“Over a dozen ADVENT soldiers converged on our position.” Bernard von Unfal added. “We had to lay down a great deal of Overwatch fire to keep them from getting too close.”

“So how did you deal with the enemy contacts?” Geist inquired. He was hanging on every word of the story with great interest.

“We split the squad.” Nuwa answered. “Ilyshin and Zhao fell back to the storage facility. Baker and Julian ran into the next room, and von Unfal and I dug into the Foundry.”

“You did all that without taking fire from ADVENT?”

“Oh, we did take some fire.” Andrea Baker chimed in. “Just not as much as we could have. We used Chief Shen’s new toy to take some heat off us.”

Andrea reached into her pocket and produced a small red and white object. At first glance, I thought it was a very large 12-sided die, but then I spotted the tiny little hologram projector diodes on each face.

“Excellent!” Chief Shen exclaimed. “So the Mimic Beacon worked? How long did it last in the field?”

“The beacon created a holographic double of me for about two minutes.” Tao replied. “It was just convincing enough to draw fire from a grunt and an officer, which gave Ilyshin time to work his magic with that bigass Laser Cannon.”

“Hey Shen,” I said, “I want three of those Mimic Beacons for my squad.”

Ivan Kuznetsov scratched his beard thoughtfully.

“So, you distracted the enemy with the Mimic Beacon. How did you exploit that?”

“Baker and Julian ran through this room and outflanked the enemy squad.” Pyotr answered.

He pointed to a long chamber on the map. It consisted of a central hallway with many small rooms on each side.

“Hold up,” I said. “Are those cells?”

“Affirmative.” Andrea replied. “It was some kind of prison or jail or brig. We found out the hard way when Julian destroyed a bunch of cells with his Shredder Gun.”

Commander Harper furrowed her brow.

“Robinson, intel says that your comrades Smith, Endo, Walsh, and Ackermann are all being held in the Chosen Assassin’s Fortress. You’ll need to check your fire down there. Avoid smashing the prison block if you can help it.”

“We’ll go light on the explosives again, ma’am.” I told her. “Pyotr, how long did it take you to neutralize the defenders?”

“It was a long gunfight.” Pyotr reported. “Thirteen, maybe fourteen minutes. The good news is that while we were fighting down below, the Templars were keeping the enemy busy up top. There was never a moment where we had to worry about enemy reinforcements… at least for the first half of the mission.”

The Skirmisher rapped her knuckles on the table.

“Just as the Templars guarded your comrades, we will occupy the upper levels of the Assassin’s fortress and see to it that you are not attacked from behind.”

“Much appreciated.” I thanked the Skirmisher, then went back to questioning Pyotr. “Hold on, where was Dessurik during all of this? He must have gone directly from fighting my squad to fighting yours.”

“As far as we could tell,” Nuwa speculated. “Dessurik showed up inside the Fortress two or three minutes after we breached it. We could hear his voice over the intercom, but he never actually showed himself during that first gunfight.”

“Once we cleared the area, we started searching for the Warlock.” Tao said. “But it was Shen’s robot, Julian, who found the way forward.”

Chief Shen stood up and began to manipulate the holographic representation of the Chosen Warlock’s Fortress with her remote. The model fortress fell away until a single room was left. The words “Ascension Chamber” appeared in bright blue above it.

“Julian scanned this platform and compared it against all alien technology XCOM knew about.” Shen said. “He found a match. It was obscure, but a match nonetheless. This platform seems to be an updated and modernized incarnation of the Matter Transporter system used by the Zudjari during the 1962 War.”

The hologram changed. An old Matter Transporter appeared next to the modern Ascension Chamber, complete with a 1960’s-era XCOM agent standing on it, tipping his fedora hat with one hand.

 

“Best I can tell, these two systems serve the same rapid transit function, but they go about it in different ways.” Shen explained. “The Matter Transporter scans a person and records their composition right down to the atomic level, then it disassembles them into molecules and beams them to the matching platform, where they are reassembled. By contrast, the Ascension Chamber uses some kind of Quantum Tunneling device to rip spacetime and push your intact body through the hole.”

“Slipgate!”

Everyone turned to see who had spoken. Adil, the Assurian soldier who had accompanied Manako, was standing up and had raised an arm to get our attention. He paused while he waited for Sarah to whisper a quick translation in his ear. Then Adil spoke again:

“You call it warp hole… space tunnel? I don’t find word.”

Sarah tapped Adil on the shoulder and urged him to sit down.

“It’s cool you’re trying to speak English,” Sarah told him. “Let me help.”

Sarah took over for him.

“Adil says his people call that tech Artificial Slipgates. Basically, they’re man-made portals or wormholes, tunnels through space that lead to one specific destination.”

“Somehow, that makes me less comfortable going through one.” I said. “Pyotr, please tell me you guys didn’t…”

“We did.” Pyotr confirmed. “Julian was confident that it was safe, and he was right.”

“All six of us stood on the platform.” Nuwa said. “And then Julian activated it.”

“The whole trip took only a second.” Bernard added. “But when we came out on the other side… We came out somewhere fascinating.”

The holographic map changed one more time, revealing a wide-open space that reminded me of certain Buddhist temples I’d seen in Japan. The ceiling was so high up that I don’t think the soldiers of Voodoo Squad ever saw it. Ornate gilded trimmings adorned every surface of the temple walls and ceiling, and the whole place seemed like an odd combination of a throne room and a crypt. On an elevated platform, a huge slab of solid Elerium was suspended in midair above an altar.

The holographic projection of the Council Spokesman walked through the table and examined the altar more closely.

“This is a Psionic Capacitor.” The Councilman said. “During my time as a member of the ADVENT Government, I oversaw the construction of two such devices. Now we know what they’re being used for.”

“Capacitor, huh?” Nuwa repeated. “We called it a Sarcophagus the whole time. I like that word better.”

Doctor Tygan and Dolim were both very interested in the Warlock’s Sarcophagus. The little reptilian alien actually climbed up onto the conference table and stood inside of the hologram, his head sticking up through the floor of the holographic temple.

“The Capacitor transfers immense amounts of Psionic energy to the Chosen in such a short span of time, restoring them to perfect physical health.” Tygan said, his voice getting quicker with excitement. “This, Commander, is clearly the secret! This is how the Chosen continue to survive our attempts to kill them! Neither the Hypervital Module nor Partogan Nanomedicine can heal wounds as quickly as this device!”

“It’s no wonder these things just keep coming at us.” Bradford breathed. “I think its safe to assume there’s one Sarcophagus for each of the Chosen. Robinson, your squad would do well to pack some serious heat. HMG’s, anti-materiel rifles, Helix Rail Cannons, maybe even a Blaster Launcher.”

Jericho sat up in her chair.

“So, obviously, you guys smashed that Sarcophagus into pieces, right?”

“We tried to.” Andrea said, “That was when the Warlock actually showed up.”

“And he wasn’t alone.” Bernard told us. “He was using his power to teleport enemy soldiers directly into the temple with us!”

“We had to drop a couple more Mimic Beacons to avoid getting swarmed!” Nuwa added. “There were Mutons, Codices, even an Avatar showed up! Every time one of us put a round into that damn slab, more and more enemies appeared.”

“And the whole time the Warlock was plying our flanks, trying to Mindfray us.” Pyotr said. “Things got so messy, we actually killed him twice! But each time, his body would teleport back into that Sarcophagus and be restored, then we’d have to fight him all over again!”

“But then,” Andrea finished, “We finally got some room to breathe and put a ton of rounds into that thing, and it broke like glass!”

Nuwa shuddered.

“When the Sarcophagus broke, Dessurik went insane. He started talking gibberish and saying stuff that didn’t make sense. He was freakin’ berserk!”

“Lashing out at anyone and anything in range.” Tao said. “I thought he was going to bring the whole fortress crashing down on top of us!”

“What happened!?” Jericho squeaked! She was sitting on the edge of her seat.

Andrea Baker and Bernard von Unfal gave one another knowing looks.

“Dessurik had gone psycho.” Andrea said. “He wasn’t watching his flanks. I got around on his right and shot him in his side.”

“While Baker was doing that, I went around the left.” Bernard finished. “We took him down together! Two to the chest and one to the head!”

Excited chatter swirled around the Resistance Ring. There was no doubt in the room, this was XCOM’s biggest victory to date. A seemingly invincible enemy had finally been put six feet under. We had proven that the Elders were no gods, and that we really could fight them off.

“Commander!” I stood up and addressed Harper. “We have to follow up this victory as quick as we can. Give the word, and I’ll have Stormbreaker Squad ready for dustoff in an hour! We’ll bring back our missing soldiers and the Assassin’s corpse!”

Central Officer Bradford clapped his hands and cheered. Manako Ranginui uncrossed his arms and nodded approvingly at me. The Council Spokesman’s holographic avatar regarded me for a moment.

“It is fortunate that Stormbreaker Squad will be taking point on this operation.” The Spokesman said. “They already have inroads with our allies on the ground. This will be our first Joint Operation between XCOM and EXALT. Lieutenant Robinson, the Resistance Council looks forward to seeing your progress.”

Commander Harper took the floor again.

“Soldiers, here’s the intel you need for the assault on the Assassin’s fortress.”

With one click of her remote, the hologram on the table turned into a topographical map of Vladivostok, the largest city in Eastern Russia. Vladivostok itself was situated on the tip of a peninsula that jutted out into the Sea of Japan. About five miles northwest of the town was a very large ADVENT military base, nestled in the side of a rocky hill.

“Thanks to the intel seized from Dessurik’s Fortress in Oregon,” Harper began, “We can be confident that the Assassin’s base is also a Foundry, churning out new ADVENT soldiers on an assembly line. I’m also very confident that this base is where the Assassin herself was created. ADVENT Gene Therapy clinic records confirm that several individuals who were selected for a ‘special program’ ended up here.”

“Commander, is there any way to verify the identity of the Chosen Assassin?” Doctor Tygan asked. “In the same way we confirmed the names of Dessurik and Madron?”

Commander Harper hesitated.

“It is possible.” She said, “And we have tracked one specific Gene Therapy patient we suspect of being the alter ego of the Assassin. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough evidence to be confident in our guess. Since we’re not certain enough to put a name on the Assassin, we won’t do it here.”

Harper swept the digression aside and pointed to the holographic map again.

“A company-sized force of EXALT fighters are already on the ground in Vladivostok, supporting the local Resistance fighters as part of Operation Crack the Sky. Russian President Kimoto and Japanese Prime Minister Nakagawa are working together to break ADVENT’s grip in the region.”

Scoffs and groans of disbelief ran around the room. In the back of my mind, Chihiro telepathically said:

Japanese and Russians working together!? Outrageous, but believable. But XCOM and EXALT on the same side!? Incomprehensible! That’s how you know the world really is ending, Blake… when mortal enemies become allies, it’s a sign that all our days are numbered.

“Nakagawa has a lot of pull in the EXALT hierarchy.” Harper continued. “He has promised to break off a Platoon of his unit and make them a part of our operation. EXALT will launch a diversionary attack on the base defenders and incapacitate the local anti-aircraft defenses.”

Bradford let out a low whistle.

“Never thought I’d live to see the day when XCOM and EXALT were on the same side. I’ll bet more of them can remember a time when we used to shoot each other on sight.”

“No worries, John.” Quipped Ivan Kuznetsov. “I’m sure you two will go right back to killing one another when this is all over.”

Harper silenced them both with a look.

“After Nakagawa’s forces silence the triple-A, the Skyranger plus an escort of Partogan warships will perform an air assault on the base. Lieutenant Robinson, your troops will move into this office area here. You’ll be directly above a Cybernetics laboratory. Use X-4 charges to punch through the floor and gain entry to the main area of the base. Fan out and search. Your top priority is to find and kill the Chosen Assassin, but your secondary priority will be to find and rescue your comrades. If you find an Ascension Gate or Matter Transporter or whatever the hell that thing is called, don’t go through until either you find your friends, or Team Takea catches up with you. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am.” I said.

“Good.” Harper finished. “Councilman, how long will it take to get all of our allies into position for the assault?”

The holographic silhouette of the Council Spokesman scratched its chin thoughtfully.

“The Skirmishers have been effective and punctual allies thus far.” The Councilman said, “EXALT is still something of a wildcard, but we do have functional channels of communication now. As for the Partogans and their offworld friends, the speed of their deployment will depend on our translator’s ability to handle the workload.”

“You can count on me, sir!” Sarah stood up and puffed out her chest in a confident way.

“Good.” The Councilman acknowledged her. “Commander, I will need twenty-four hours to make all of the necessary arrangements. The mission to kill the Chosen Assassin and rescue the soldiers captured in Pyongyang will commence the day after tomorrow.”

“It’s settled then.” Harper said. “Robinson, day after tomorrow, zero-dark-thirty. You and your squad will put down the Chosen Assassin. After that, every man and woman who’s still standing is gonna be on deck for Operation Leviathan.”

On those last two words, a chill seemed to run through the whole room. We all knew what the Commander was referencing: the plan to go through the Psionic Gate and assault the Elders on their own turf.

“This is it, everyone!” The Commander addressed the room at large. “As soon as Stormbreaker confirms the death of the Chosen Assassin, the final mission will be a-go! There will be no delays for any reason. We aren’t going to stop to tend the wounded or bury the dead. Injured troops get left behind. Damaged equipment will be destroyed in place. We don’t stop until the Elders are finished! Does anyone have any questions?”

“No ma’am!” chanted the room at large.

“Then get to your posts, and God go with you all. Robinson, meet me in my office. This’ll be quick.”

…

While the meeting broke up and soldiers went their different ways, I instructed Jericho and Ignatius to wait for me in the armory. As soon as they left, I started to make my way towards the exit, intending to follow Commander Harper to her office as ordered, but Manako Ranginui caught me before I’d gone more than a few paces. Sarah, looking a little harassed, panted as she caught up with him in turn.

Now that I was right in front of him, I could clearly see Manako’s features in greater detail. The Partogan commander had a Maori-style facial tattoo that covered much of his lower face, and gave the impression that he was peeking at me from behind a bush. I felt unnerved, as though the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up. I couldn’t help but understand why Sarah had been so frustrated with Soylent Green over his tattoo. Compared to Soylent’s, Manako’s tattoo looked much more… genuine. I could easily imagine a Maori person wearing it.

“I want to wish you luck.” Manako said in decent English.

He snatched a quick glance at Sarah, who flashed the double thumbs up.

“He asked, I taught him.” Sarah confirmed.

Instinctively, I offered my hand and a few friendly words.

“Best of luck to you too.” I replied. “I look forward to fighting alongside you.”

Manako reached forward and clasped my hand firmly in his.

Now I’ll admit, I’ve gotten electric shocks from a handshake before, but I’ve never had a jolt as powerful as this one! It took all my discipline to hold myself still and hide the fact that Manako had just given me a pretty powerful shock. I shook his hand once and quickly let go.

“Kia mihi.” Manako said with a nod. “Me haere ahau.”

Turning on his heels, Manako started moving towards the exit with a look of determination on his face. He shouted something in his own language which caused his compatriots to follow him with an unexpected degree of urgency:

“Whakapaia ki te whawhai! Ko te hoariri o taku kuia, kei konei!”

…

I followed Commander Harper upstairs to her office behind the bridge, nervously wondering what was about to happen. I started thinking of all the things I might have done wrong and started planning to defend myself:

Did Harper know someone else had triggered Jericho’s ankle bracelet at Site X? Well, it hadn’t happened again since. The battery in the other remote was probably long dead. That problem was clearly over.

Did Harper know Chihiro and I had quietly gotten married? I knew we risked running afoul of anti-fraternization rules by doing that, but if it was a serious issue, then I’d happily hand over the role of Squad Leader to Soylent or Hal if that allowed us to stay together.

Did Harper know I’d considered abandoning the mission in Shanghai because my squad was in danger? I decided to stand by that one. I was the Squad Leader on the ground and it was my call, no one else could be held responsible for that.

Did Harper know Chihiro and I had discussed trying to make Jericho and Yutaka break off their relationship? Well, in any professional military, Yutaka (an officer who outranks Jericho by miles) would be accused of abusing his power and get busted all the way down to Private… so that one actually works in my favor.

I was so lost in my own thoughts that I barely noticed Commander Harper locking her office door after I stepped inside. I did notice when she reached up to the back of her neck, disconnected her Mindshield, and held it out to me.

“Wait… what? Why?” I was suddenly quite full of questions.

“I don’t want to deal with telepathic eavesdroppers.” Harper replied.

While I clipped the spindly device to my neck and made sure the Elerium conduit was snug against the base of my spine, the Commander withdrew a second Mindshield and attached it to her own head. Then we both sat down on opposite ends of her desk.

“Listen to me, Robinson.” Harper said. “This is of crucial importance. You cannot repeat anything I’m about to say to anyone. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Keep that Mindshield on until this mission is over, otherwise things might fall apart pretty quickly.”

Commander Harper brought her desktop computer online and tapped out some instructions on the keyboard. She turned the screen around so I could see the relevant documents and intel as she spoke:

“When you were in Shenyang, Captain Green and Lieutenant Hawkins found some curious documents in a Gene Therapy clinic’s computer.” Harper began. “The records of an individual named ‘Patient 116’ who was cured of several serious illnesses and injuries before being confiscated for a special program.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“Well, Lieutenant. We were able to cross-reference that patient’s data with the intel taken from Dessurik’s Fortress.” Harper explained: “Our contacts inside the ADVENT government were able to trace Patient 116 throughout the Gene Therapy system. We found the date and location of her first visit to the clinics, as well as all subsequent visits.”

Commander Harper folded her hands and I leaned forward in my chair. I was starting to have suspicions, and I was dreading the confirmation.

“Patient 116 visited a Gene Therapy clinic for the first time in the summer of 2025. Back then, security was much looser and the ADVENT Coalition didn’t seem to have a problem with lending their services to non-Human visitors. Patient 116 was recorded as a one-eyed Partogan female, aged approximately 142 Earth years. Over the course of nine visits, her biological age was reduced to just 47 Earth years. Travel records suggested this Partogan was an expat. She would leave Earth in a personal spaceship and return regularly, although ADVENT had a very large amount of trouble keeping track of her movements and activities when she was actually on the ground.”

I felt a prickling along the back of my neck. As I put the pieces together in my mind, a nightmarish picture was coming into frame.

“In November of 2028, ADVENT security forces caught this woman using a faster-than-light communications device to intentionally violate Causality.” Harper expounded. “Local Peacekeepers moved in to arrest her, but they were ambushed and driven away… by a fourteen-year-old Jericho.”

“Oh, no.” I breathed. “Oh, no. Oh… God! No!”

“The woman called ‘Patient 116’ vanished after that.” Harper continued. “Disappeared completely, just went off the grid. No more offworld trips, no more clinic visits. For two years, the trail was cold, but then… on December 7th, 2030, Jericho burst into the Beijing Gene Therapy Clinic with Patient 116 leaning on her shoulder. She was suffering from end-stage stomach cancer… an ailment that ADVENT medicine could completely cure in about ten seconds.”

I felt like I was going to be sick. This couldn’t be true! It cannot be true!

“Jericho never saw Patient 116 again.” The Commander finished. “The ADVENT government had changed its laws and restrictions, so when the patient’s DNA was scanned, she tripped every possible alarm. She was flagged for a special project… transferred to Shenyang, where more work was done on her… and then she was transferred to the Vladivostok Blacksite.”

The last puzzle piece clicked into place in my mind. I retched.

“Fuck!” I gasped. “Fuck this!”

But Commander Harper finished her story nonetheless:

“Six months after Mira Mihaka disappeared… the Chosen Assassin appeared for the first time.”

I grabbed the trash can from under Harper’s deck and spit bile!

“You… no! You’re wrong!” I pleaded. “There’s gotta be a mistake somewhere!”

“I wish there was a mistake.” Harper sighed. “Damnit Robinson, I got down on my knees and prayed I had it wrong.”

I put the bin down and sat up.

“What do we do?”

I couldn’t help but choke back a sob. I was thinking of Jericho. How the hell was she going to take this!?

“Not we.” Said Harper. “You.”

I wiped my nose on my sleeve, unable to find words again.

“Robinson, Jericho is the best damn weapon we’ve got in this war, and her mother’s database proves that someday soon, Jericho is going to be the key to our salvation. I can’t share the details without derailing your own future, but please believe me when I say she’ll be useless if she’s traumatized. We must not… we cannot… allow her to learn about this, under any circumstances. Jericho will function better for us if she thinks her mother is alive and hidden somewhere else, understand? She finds out, all bets are off. We’ve got to play this close to the chest, or we might just doom all of mankind.”

Harper reached forward and grabbed my hand in both of hers. She stared hard into my eyes, and I thought she was going to burn my soul away.

“Robinson, do you still have the remote control for Jericho’s Arc Brace?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. When you find the Ascension Chamber, I want you to stun Jericho. Make sure she’s out cold, tie her to something solid, and leave her behind. Nakagawa and the EXALT team will bring her back to the Avenger. You and your soldiers will continue the mission. And Robinson… When you find Mira Mihaka: Kill her. Destroy the body. Erase the truth.”

 

Chapter 25: The Dark Doorway

 

Chapter 21
The Dark Doorway

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2035 1:15am
Outskirts of Hunchun, Near the Tripoint Border of China, Russia, and Korea, East Asia


“Hate to do this, but you’re the only one who can pull this off. You know I’d go myself if I could.”

“The gateway is primed. Is the subject prepared?”

“Ready. I’ve hardwired what was left of the Codex brain into Rover. It should be emitting the same signal the Codex used to pass through the gateway.”

“Excellent. Let us begin… We’ve already seen the Codex opening a similar rift in the field. I am sure your… device… will be fine.”

“There. We’re set to record across all spectrums. Remember: Go in, take some quick readings, them come right back through, okay?”

ROV-3R, the little Gremlin drone, began buzzing through the air towards the open Psionic Gate, which illuminated the Shadow Chamber with vivid blue and purple light. The Codex brain strapped to the top of the drone made an odd clicking sound as it passed through the rift held in the crescent-shaped archway.

“Woah!” Shen gasped. “Are you seeing this!?”

“It appears our signal has been received!” Tygan acknowledged. “Increasing power!”

While Tygan punched a command into a touchscreen, Shen looked away from her workstation and dared to peek through the Psionic Gate with her own eyes. A completely alien environment filled her field of vision, complete with green lights, purple flora, and an eerie floor-to-ceiling transparent wall that looked out on an ocean biome, where schools of fish flitted into and out of the light.

“Doesn’t look like anyplace we’ve been to before… or any place on Earth for that matter!”

“Perhaps this is the source.” Tygan mused, keeping his face glued to the screen. “The aliens ‘seat of power’ if you will. Secured beyond any physical limitations.”

“Only one way to find out.” Shen addressed her Gremlin drone. “Go on. We’re counting on you!”

Moving with caution, ROV-3R crossed the threshold to the other side of the Psionic Gate. At once, the data feed from the drone went dead, a fantastic white light pulsed out of the gate, and the drone itself was flung backwards! Crashing to the floor, Shen’s drone came to rest at the base of the gate and didn’t move again. The Chief Engineer gasped and quickly scrambled to recover her fallen drone.

“That is definitely not fine, doctor!” Shen protested.

Unfazed, Tygan gestured to his computer with a look of triumph.

“The process did work. There was an instant where the device was in between locations. However, once that occurred the gateway called for a second signature… an organic signature. When we could not provide one, it generated a sort of feedback pulse.”

“Obviously.” Shen scoffed, gently picking up the remains of her drone.

Tygan barely heard her. At this point, he was just thinking out loud.

“If the Codex creates the door, this organic signature must be the key.”

“Well we’d better make sure we have the right key before we try again.” Shen carried the wreck of her drone over to Tygan so he could see the damage. “I would hate for this to occur to something organic.”

“Agreed. I will report our findings to the Commander immediately.”

…

If the Avenger had landed during the daytime, I would have wanted to go sightseeing. The Tumen River was a fascinating place, and I was quick to add it to a growing mental list of places I wanted to visit after the war. This river was so fascinating to me because it was the point where three radically different countries all shared a border. On the west side of the river, rocky hills marked the beginning of the Korean Peninsula. On the eastern side of the winding river was miles and miles of seemingly endless Chinese farmland, going all the way to the base of the nearby mountains. The mountains themselves, however, were all solidly inside of Russia’s territory. All of this was visible to me as soon as I disembarked from the ship, not because of the moonlight above, but because of the fire. Just four miles away from the Avenger, the city of Hunchun was burning.

The Chinese city had been targeted as part of Operation Crack the Sky, and Resistance fighters were doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing: causing so much chaos that ADVENT forces were drawn away from other duties to fight them. The brilliant yellow-orange light emanating from the war-torn city illuminated the countryside as though it was early morning, just before sunrise. Against that backdrop, I could see enemy aircraft and vehicles making their way towards the distant battlefield. Commander Harper, Central Officer Bradford, and Voodoo Squad Leader Pyotr Ilyshin joined me, and we surveyed that battleground through binoculars.

“Look at the insignia on that troop transport!” Bradford pointed to an aircraft streaking in from the East. “That one came from the Assassin’s fortress!”

“The plan is working.” Harper mused. “The Chosen are sending their own security forces to engage us in the field. The Vladivostok Fortress should be vulnerable now.”

“How are we getting there?” I asked. “Skyranger?”

“Yes, and you’ll have an escort.” Bradford answered. “EXALT has been keeping some World War Three-era vehicles held in reserve for a situation like this. The Skirmishers also managed to steal some ADVENT vehicles when they defected to our side. On top of all that, the Partogans and their Triple Alliance will be lending air support.”

I let out a low whistle.

“This is no small raid.” I commented. “It sounds like you’re putting together a combined-arms assault.”

“A vehicular assault preceded by aerial bombardment and supported by an infantry column.” Commander Harper said. “It’s a very similar strategy I used against Soviet strongpoints during World War Three.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, your strategy was effective.” Pyotr said. “I lost a lot of good men to your tactics, Commander.”

“Are you upset about a war that happened twenty-five years ago, Colonel?” Harper raised her eyebrow at Pyotr.

“Not tonight.” Pyotr replied. “This fight is bigger than all of us. Besides, my people already blame someone else for our defeat.”

Even though he was standing just out of my view, I could feel Pyotr’s eyes boring into the back of my head.

“Speak of the devil…” Pyotr grumbled.

I looked around to see what had caught his attention. Chihiro Tachibana was coming down the ramp, craning her neck to get a good view of the nearby battle. Pyotr broke from the group and went back of the ramp, re-entering the ship.

“Hey Blake!” Chihiro waved an arm to get my attention. “Have you seen Homura Hanako anywhere?”

As she reached the bottom of the boarding ramp and joined us, Chihiro reached up and absentmindedly touched the Mindshield apparatus on the back of my neck.

“Still?” she mouthed at me.

“Sorry. Later.” I hissed back. “What was that about Hanako?”

“I’m trying to find her.” Chihiro grumbled. “That Partogan guy, I think his name is Manako, asked me where he could find Homura. Said he wanted to meet her. But I can’t find her anywhere. You didn’t see her come down the ramp, did you?”

“No, it’s just us.”

To my surprise, Commander Harper raised her eyebrows at me.

“Give me a moment,” the Commander said. “I have an idea…”

She closed her eyes and took a deep meditative breath. For the briefest of moments, I could have sworn I felt a small ripple of Psionic energy move away from the Commander. Then Harper relaxed, opened her eyes, and said:

“She’s in the Shadow Chamber, talking to Tygan. Both of you go get her. Colonel Ilyshin and I will wait here for the EXALT team. Oh, and Corporal Tachibana!”

Commander Harper unclipped her Mindshield and offered it to Chihiro.

“Please wear this when you go into the Shadow Chamber. I’ll want it back when you’re done.”

Chihiro nodded and started to attach the Mindshield to her own neck when Harper stopped her.

“One more thing.”

The Commander pushed past Bradford and gently grabbed the Mindshield on my own neck.

“Wait, what are you-”

“Sorry, Robinson.” Harper said. “But I’d rather deal with this tonight instead of later.”

With a tug, Harper disengaged my own Mindshield. There was no mistaking it the second time around… I felt a telepathic incursion into my mind and realized Harper was behind it just as she started to withdraw. Before I could say anything, the Commander had clipped both Mindshields back onto our necks and sent us on our way. Chihiro and I were both pretty dazed, and didn’t say anything as we moved up the ramp. The world seemed to spin around me with each step, and I couldn’t form a single coherent thought besides “Go to the Shadow Chamber” Behind us, I could hear Bradford saying:

“You sure that was good idea, Commander?”

“It’s not. But the alternative is worse.”

…

By the time Chihiro and I were back inside the Avenger, the fog was starting to clear from our heads. We paused in the barracks and caught our breath.

“What the hell just happened!?” I stammered.

“I.. I’ve got a weird feeling.” Chihiro muttered. “You know that feeling you get when so realize something that blows your mind?”

“Now that you say it, I’ve got it too.”

We both looked at one another. Whatever Commander Harper had done, it had caused us both to understand something. Simultaneously, Chihiro and I were processing a revelation, and as we made sense of it, our faces fell. The full truth dawned on Chihiro first.

“Oh, my God!” she gasped. “How long has Akira been scrubbing our brains like that!?”

“She made us forget who she was.” I shuddered with terror. “She’s probably done it to the whole crew by now!”

Chihiro put her hands over her mouth and let out a muffled scream.

“Oh, I never should have let her out of the brig!”

“And now we’ve got a Gifted time-traveling psychopath lose on the ship.” I swore. “I hate being right!”

The memories and knowledge were flooding back now, like some kind of dam had burst! Akira Robinson, our daughter from some alternate future, had hidden herself away behind some false identity, scrubbed as much knowledge about herself from the minds of XCOM’s soldiers and crew as possible, and was now hiding from our new Partogan allies.

“There’s no way this is the first time we’ve gone through this!” I was starting to get angry. “Akira’s probably made us do this stupid dance more times than she can count!”

“Why the hell do the Partogans want her anyway!?” Chihiro said. “What did she do to them?”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than a new thought hit the both of us. With a gasp, we said together:

“Manako is Gifted!”

“He noticed.” I said. “There’s no way he wouldn’t. He would have picked up on Akira as soon as he came aboard!”

“And Commander Harper’s clearly been wearing a Mindshield the whole time.” Chihiro added, reaching up to touch the device on the back of her neck. “Whatever Akira did wouldn’t affect her!”

“So, what do we do?” I asked. “We don’t know what Manako’s gonna do when he gets to Akira, and they’re both supposed to be on tomorrow’s mission with us!”

Chihiro didn’t say anything. She turned on the balls of her feet and started moving towards the Shadow Chamber at a brisk pace.

“Wait!” I jogged to keep up. “What’s the plan?”

“No plan.” Chihiro said. “I’m going to find Akira and have a little talk with her.”

...

By the time Chihiro and I reached the Shadow Chamber, nearly all of our memories of Akira had been restored, including my particularly traumatic trip through Akira’s memories. We didn’t go directly there, however. Chihiro and I had stopped in the armory to pick up a pair of sidearms. Chihiro had her Shadowkeeper tucked into her belt, while I had an Arc Thrower strapped to my leg. (Arc Throwers are loud as hell, but nonlethal) We weren’t in the mood for being caught off-guard again. Checking our Mindshields one last time to make sure they were secure, Chihiro and I pushed the door open and stepped into the Shadow Chamber.

Doctor Tygan, Chief Shen, and Akira were all standing around a steel table, where Tygan was examining the body of the Avatar killed by Voodoo Squad during their raid on the Warlock’s fortress. They were so wrapped up in their work that nobody noticed our entrance.

“Remarkable.” Tygan was saying. “It’s almost as though this creature were… unfinished. There are missing lines of code in the genetic material.”

“This thing is already a near-perfect fusion of Human and Elder DNA.” Shen commented. “What else is there to add at this point?”

“Jericho.” Akira spoke in her false voice, not knowing her disguise was compromised. “In a lot of ways, she’s superior to an Avatar. A wider range of powers, Muton-like physical strength, yet docile enough to be easily controlled. Could you imagine being able to copy that template?”

“Agreed.” Tygan said. “The Jericho is the ideal soldier. I can see why my predecessor was so eager to make more than one. It is disappointing that she failed.”

“Manipulative bitch.” Chihiro hissed under her breath.

Before I could stop her, Chihiro stepped into the middle of the Shadow Chamber and cleared her throat loudly, making our presence known.

“Homura Hanako! I need you to come with me!”

Wow, Chi. No need to tip our hand that quickly.

Akira looked around at us and I saw her face flicker through a whole set of expressions before locking into a bemused look. Still talking in her fake voice, Akira thanked Tygan for his time and followed us into the hallway. Even though my Mindshield, I could feel the air around both Akira and Chihiro’s bodies starting to warm up, a sign that both of them were charging their powers.

“Don’t pick a fight with us, Akira.” I warned. “We’re not going to be as stupid as you think we are.”

“When did your memories come back?” Akira’s natural voice was deeper than her fake one and had a gruff tone, like a tomboyish soccer player.

“We’ve had just enough time to realize you pulled the wool over our eyes.” Chihiro growled.

“Petoskey or Harper?”

“We’re the ones asking questions, Akira. Not you.” I snapped.

All the while we’d been talking, Akira’s disguise quite literally faded away. Her brown eyes slowly shifted back to their natural blue while her whole body reshaped itself in small but noticeable ways. Akira’s face seemed to inflate as the chubby cheeks she’d inherited from her mother came back; at the same time, her skin faded back to its original pale tone. I guessed she had been holding the ensemble in place with Psionic power, and made a mental note to tell the Commander that Psionic disguises could fool a Mindshield.

“Why the hell did you put your disguise back on!?” Chihiro demanded to know. “We were just starting to trust you! Now all of that’s gone to waste!”

The air in the hallway suddenly became very hot. Akira had discharged her built-up energy, a sign that she’d decided not to fight us.

“I’m sorry,” Akira said. “I did it to protect myself.”

“Protect yourself!?” I couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “How does living under a false name and planting dangerous ideas in Tygan’s head count as self-defense!?”

“From the Partogans, Dad! I’m hiding from the Partogans!”

A loud voice down the hallway made us all jump. Looking around, I saw two members of Team Takea approaching. Kailani Kalili was leaning on the shoulders of Temirzhan, one of the Assurian soldiers. Something must have tickled Kailani’s funny bone, because she was laughing uncontrollably, causing Temirzhan to be unsteady on his feet as he practically dragged her along. When Temirzhan and Kailani drew level with us, I looked to my left and saw Chihiro pointing at the spot where Akira had been.

This time, I actually saw the Psionic disguise materialize around Akira. It happened so quickly that her seamless transformation into another person looked like a sped up video of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. One moment Akira was there, and next thing I knew, I was looking at Akaya Ogawa, a dark-skinned Okinawan who served as the deputy leader of Echo Squad. She took a step backwards to let the Partogan and the Assurian pass, but Kailani froze and pointed at “Akaya.” Tilting her head from side to side, Kailani stopped laughing, swayed dangerously as though she was about to fall, and then screamed!

“Titiro!” Kailani shrieked. “Whiro Aparangi! Kaikōhuru! Tangata kōhuru! Taihara! Taihara! Taihara!”

“Uh… Kon'nichiwa.” Akira murmured in Akaya’s Pacific Islander accent.

Temirzhan had to grip Kailani by both shoulders to stop her from lunging at Akira/Akaya. The Partogan woman had gone from manic to unhinged in mere seconds, and Chihiro and I were lost for words. Spit flew from Kailani’s mouth as she continued to hurl what I can only guess are insults at the disguised Akira.

“Whiro wahine!” Kailani spat. “E patua ana e koutou aku hoa! Taihara!”

Temirzhan grabbed Kailani by the shoulder, said something that sounded like an apology, then started dragging her down the hallway. Kailani wasn’t done, though. As Temirzhan pulled her away, she shouted back at us:

“Kaore ahau e wareware ki a koe! Kia mahara ki a Asalele! Kia maumahara Aoraki! Toa Rob-sun! Toa Taki-benuh! He kino taua wahine! Taihara! Taihara! Taihara!”

Apologizing profusely, Temirzhan finally managed to get Kailani away from us. Her shrieking carried through the hallways long after the two of them were gone. The door to the Shadow Chamber swung open and Tygan and Shen poked their heads out to ask what was going on.

“That Partogan woman, Kalili.” Akira answered in Akaya’s voice. “Shouting and screaming."

“Oh, I see.” Doctor Tygan replied. “You soldiers would do well to stay away from her. The Partogan leader told me that Miss Kalili is suffering from serious mental damage done by a telepathic attack. They claim to have a special treatment that restores her sanity, but it’s only effective for a short span of time. Clearly, you crossed paths with her in between treatments.”

While Tygan and Shen retreated back into the Shadow Chamber, Akira dropped her disguise and leaned against the wall with a loud sigh.

“Even a crazy person is right once or twice.” Akira groaned. “So, what now? You gonna put me back in the brig or something?”

“Don’t give me ideas.” I folded my arms. “Right when you were starting to earn some credit with us, you try to deceive everyone around you again. Why don’t you start by telling us why you need to hide from Kailani and her folk?”

Akira looked back and forth between me and Chihiro, as though pleading for an excuse to avoid answering. Finally, she gave a resigned sigh and quickly said

“Look, Dad. The shortest explanation that makes sense is that the Partogans know who I am and what I do. They’re not okay with me changing history, and they want me to stop.”

“Oh, God.” Chihiro put her head in her hands. “Akira… did you change their history?”

Akira’s silent stare was confirmation enough. Casting my mind back to an earlier conversation, I said:

“Okay, let’s go down below.”

…

Chihiro, Akira, and I made our way down to the Guerilla Tactics School. This time of night, it was empty, and we could lock the door from the inside, allowing us to talk more freely. Akira sat down on one of the benches by the whiteboard while I paced the length of the room, trying to get my thoughts in-line. Chihiro was too jumpy to sit down. She got on one of the treadmills and walked at a slow pace throughout the whole conversation.

“Alright, Akira.” I began. “You said that you’ve been jumping all over time trying to change some battle a year from now, right?”

“Yes.”

“So now, not only were you jumping all over Human history, but you were tampering with alien cultures too?”

“Yes.”

“How many?”

Akira paused.

“All of them. Pretty much everyone.”

I stumbled. This was a bit much to wrap my head around.

“All of that work, all this tampering, is just to change one battle?” I said. “Really?”

“The War in Heaven is going to be civilization’s last stand!” Akira raised her voice a little. “Almost every civilization that has ever flown in space will be right here, at our planet, fighting for their own survival! I’ve had to mess with everybody’s histories just to give them a fighting chance!”

“Including ours?” Chihiro asked. “Back in Jilin, you said that you needed to ‘tweak’ some things before the War in Heaven.”

“Yeah, that’s right.” Akira confirmed. “I’ve already hit a few things on the checklist, and I’ve got a few more things I need to change over then next twelve or so months. Then it’s pretty much a straight shot to the perfect future.”

On those last two words, Akira let out a dreamy sigh.

“So close to the end, it feels so good.”

“I’m almost scared to ask,” Chihiro said, “But has everything we’ve done since Pyongyang been part of your plan?”

“Oh, hell no!” Akira waved a hand dismissively. “When I don’t push history in the right direction, it pushes back the other way. I’ve had to rework the plan a few times since Pyongyang. There have been quite a few surprises I had to deal with.”

Akira held up one hand and counted “surprises” on her fingers.

“Let’s see: Blake brought back Ludmilla’s body and let Sophia bury it. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Soylent Green and Holly Smith were never supposed to be captured in Pyongyang, they should have been with you two the whole time. Kailani Kalili isn’t supposed to be insane, that was quite a shock for me and I’m still trying to find out how that happened. You two got married three months too early, which means you won’t get a chance to bond with Tsubaki this fall.”

Chihiro perked up at this news.

“Wait! That means we’re going to rescue Tsubaki and the others! Does everyone get out safely?”

Akira nodded.

“The whole squad survives tomorrow’s mission. Speaking of rescues, Dad, be sure to keep a couple of soldiers in reserve to help pull Tsubaki out. ADVENT destroyed her prosthetic legs, so she can’t walk on her own right now.”

I groaned.

“Good to know. It sounds like most of the surprises you had to deal with were small ones.”

Akira laughed so hard she had to grip her sides. It still didn’t sound like a normal girl’s laugh though. The noise made my skin crawl just a little.

“Oh, no! Did I forget the big one!?” Akira giggled.

“What big one?” Chihiro sounded nervous.

“The biggest surprise I had to work around…” Akira wiped her eyes. “You two have to understand, this is the one-hundred-sixteenth time I’ve gone through this sequence of events, right? Well, this was the very first time that the Elders chose someone else to be the Chosen Assassin.”

The room went quiet. Deadly quiet. Even Chihiro’s treadmill fell silent as she stopped walking.

“Wait, you know who the Assassin is?” Chihiro asked in a hushed whisper.

Instinctively, I reached up to my Mindshield to check and see if it was still in place.

“I found out just before Commander Harper did.” Akira replied. “XCOM’s higher-level leadership found out on their own about a week ago. I… uh… yeah. It was a real shock.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

Akira stood up and put her hands on her hips.

“For the past one-hundred-fifteen Cycles, the Elders always picked the same woman to become the Chosen Assassin, and it wasn’t a problem because you would kill her in tomorrow’s operation and that would be the end of it. But now the Elders picked someone else to be the Chosen, and original ‘Chosen Assassin’ is still out there. Now her life has gone completely off my script, and she’s basically a wild card now.”

“The original Assassin,” I said, “She’s not somebody we know, is it?”

“That’s the troublesome part.” Akira sighed. “You’ve both met her before, and I saw what happened the last time you two crossed paths with her. I’ve been keeping tabs on what she’s been doing since she missed her ‘appointment with destiny’ and it looks like you’ll get to meet her a few months after you overthrow the Elders.”

“Right.” I said. “We’ll make sure not to mention that appointment with destiny to her face.”

“Wait!” Chihiro said. “Who’s the Chosen Assassin right now?”

Akira started to reply, but I cut her off!

“That’s not important! Let’s not worry about that!”

Both Chihiro and Akira looked at me, mouths open. I took a step back and felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’d spoken instinctively, but now I was starting to wonder what would have happened if I’d just let Akira say the name. Chihiro’s face flickered between disappointment and frustration, and I knew she was trying to force her way past my Mindshield.

“You know!?” she breathed. “How long have you known? Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“Uhh…”

I spent too long trying to think of a good answer. Chihiro turned to Akira.

“C’mon! Tell me who it is!”

Akira sighed and folded her arms.

“I’m sorry, Mom. This is just something you’re not supposed to know. Blake’s gonna be the one to kill the Assassin, and it’ll be easier for him if… certain people… don’t know her name.”

Chihiro, angrier than I’ve seen her in a while, puffed up like she was about to start screaming. She balled up her fists and looked from Akira to me and back again. I resisted the urge to take another step back. I’ve been with Chihiro long enough to know that doing so would set her off. Finally, Akira said:

“Mom, please don’t get mad at Dad.”

Chi and I were both caught off guard by that one. Some of the tension went out of the air as we both looked at Akira.

“What? Why shouldn’t I?” Chihiro asked. “He’s the one keeping secrets from me!”

“He’s got good reason.” Akira replied. “The Assassin has to die tomorrow. If this mission gets screwed up, she’ll live all the way to the War in Heaven, which is bad for you. Trust me, I’ve seen this mission go sideways thirty or forty times. It’s not pretty. Let Blake have this one now and he’ll take care of you when you get the bad news tonight.”

I felt my heart drop into my stomach, and Chihiro’s face went pale.

“What bad news!?”

“It’s nothing you can’t handle.” Akira answered. “But it might take your mind off tomorrow’s mission. Speaking of which…”

Akira’s face was hard to read as she asked:

“Am I still going on tomorrow’s op? Or are you going to turn me in to the Partogans?”

When I hesitated, she quickly added:

“Dad, you have no idea how important it is that the Chosen Assassin dies tomorrow. We have got to kill her, and you’ll need all the help you can get!”

Thinking hard, I remembered how Akira had managed to hold her own against the Chosen on multiple occasions. I decided to take a calculated risk.

“Fine. You’re on-mission, but you’re going as Homura, and listen here: You are a soldier in my squad under my command. If you so much as think about tricking, deceiving, or manipulating any of us, I’m handing you over to the Partogans.”

“Fine.”

“And once ADVENT is done, and this whole war is over with, you come clean to the whole squad, and the Commander. No more disguises after this, understood?” I gripped Akira by the shoulder, forcing her to look me in the eye.

“Deal.”

…

 

Wednesday, July 18, 2035 4:00pm
Camp Hua Mulan, near Tushan Zitun, China


Later that day, I gathered all of the Stormbreakers together, and we assembled outside of the Avenger. By this point, we all knew what lay in store for us. Chihiro and I allowed Akira to resume her disguise as Homura Hanako, with the expectation that she would come clean to everyone after Operation Leviathan. But that was at least two days away, maybe three. In that span of time, we would have to end a war.

A convoy of Old World military trucks, painted with the colors and insignia of the People’s Liberation Army, was waiting for us. We threw our weapons and gear into the first truck and them piled ourselves into the back of the second. Engines roaring and tires trundling along the old dirt road, Chihiro, Jericho, Soylent, Odette, Ignatius, “Homura,” Isis, Yutaka, Hal, Sophia, Matthew, and I all watched the Avenger disappear behind a hillside. After just twenty minutes of driving, we had arrived at our destination.

Camp Hua Mulan was just one of many outposts built by what remained of the Chinese Army. It should surprise no one to hear that the largest military force on Earth was able to survive the Alien Invasion and remain somewhat functional. The Chinese had been battered quite badly over the past twenty years, but ADVENT had failed to defeat this particular foe. Utilizing the same strategy that had carried them to victory in the 1940’s, the Chinese forces had taken advantage of China’s vast size, population, and resources to wage an asymmetric guerrilla war. Now, with the entire world rising up in a global battle against the alien occupiers, the People’s Liberation Army had emerged from hiding to take their country back.

Nearly ten-thousand soldiers had gathered in the valley to the east of Hunchun and built a bastion of Humanity here. Camp Hua Mulan was outfitted with a mix of Old World and present-day technology. Railgun turrets stood on the walls while World-War-Three era landmines choked off most avenues of approach. A forty-year old radar dish spun quickly on a tower while electric trucks moved men and materials into the complex.

Chinese General Shaojie Zhang was waiting for us at the main gate. Guiding us inside, Zhang showed us where his forces had been preparing for the joint assault on Vladivostok alongside the Partogans and their allies, as well as XCOM’s Human allies: EXALT, the Skirmishers, the Reapers, and the Templars.

“This will be the largest combined arms assault since the Liberation of Kyoto!” Zhang proclaimed, invoking a semi-legendary World War Three battle that many XCOM soldiers had been part of.

Then, we were given our role in the upcoming fight. Once again, the Stormbreakers would be broken up into two squads with two roles. This time, I would be leading the Red Team, whose job it was to actually breach the Chosen Assassin’s fortress and hunt her down. On my team would be Chihiro, Yutaka, Homura, Soylent, Isis, Hal, and Jericho.

The rest of the squad, Ignatius, Sophia, Matthew, and Odette, would become part of a “Quick Reaction Force” or QRF for short. The QRF would wait in reserve and then reinforce whoever needed help the most. There were four other XCOM soldiers in this unit: Jane Kelly, Lee Chong-Il, and Song Soo were all good soldiers I’d worked with before. I knew I could trust them. The leader of the QRF, however, was someone I hadn’t expected.

“The Commander said this operation is too important to let get away from us.” Central Officer Bradford told me. “So to make sure nothing goes wrong, I’m going to command the QRF personally. Don’t worry, Lieutenant Robinson. Your men and women are safe with me.”

Team Takea would also be joining in the attack. Manako, Kailani, Reepi, Adil, Temirzhan, and Elsina could be found in a far corner of the compound, where their spaceship, the Assault Frigate Kakama, was idling. All of the Triple Alliance warriors were unpacking some of the most technologically advanced weapons and armor I’d ever seen. I swear that giant talking peacock, Reepi, looked as though some kind of nanotech had made his wingtip feathers as sharp as blades!

Sarah Harris was amongst the members of Team Takea, and she broke off to talk to us.

“Lieutenant! Look! Check this out!”

Sarah turned to one side so I could see her new unit patch. Uniforms of the New Zealand Army are very similar to American ones, so it only took me a second to find what she wanted to show me. On Sarah’s left shoulder, directly underneath the flag of New Zealand, was an oval shaped patch with a strange symbol on it: three circles held within a pair of elegant double crescents. Underneath the symbols were a series of alien words that I guess were Partogan.

“I’m an honorary member of Team Takea!” Sarah bragged. “Manako wants me embedded on his ship for long duration work. I’m gonna teach his whole crew to speak English!”

“Nicely done, mate!” Soylent slapped Sarah on the back. “Wait ‘till everyone down under finds out the world was saved by a Kiwi! We’ll be throwin’ you a parade in Canberra when this is over!”

Sarah, Manako, and a couple other Partogans broke off from their group and followed my squad as we crossed the base, chatting about tomorrow’s mission. “Homura” hid herself between Soylent and Ignatius, determined to avoid the gaze of Manako Ranginui. The Partogan leader himself was being quite friendly and cordial, shaking hands with most of the squad and holding conversations through Sarah.

Rounding out the soldiers slated for the ground attack was a mixed group of paramilitary soldiers who had been tasked with the diversionary assault on the Assassin’s fortress. As soon as we saw them, several Stormbreakers instinctively reached for their weapons before Zhang snapped:

“They are allies now! They are friends!”

Six rough-looking men were gathered around a campfire, all of whom were wearing the same orange and red bandannas around their heads. They had rolled up the sleeves of their uniforms, revealing the green tattoos of an eye above a four-pointed star. These men were members of EXALT, a secret society of transhumanists. 20 years ago, they had tried to use alien technology to build a new EXALT-centered world order. This plan had involved picking a fight with XCOM, and that fight had not gone well for the secret society. The last time I’d gotten this close to a member of EXALT, it had been because I was running him down with a bayonet.

One of the transhumanists looked up from the rifle he was cleaning and saw us. I recognized him on sight. None of us had seen Japanese Prime Minister Ryo Nakagawa since the big meeting at Site X, but he hadn’t changed much. He still looked like the same power-hungry politician I’d met in the ruins of Hiroshima so long ago.

“Lieutenant Robinson!” Nakagawa stood up, passed his weapon to another soldier, and greeted me with a smile and an offer of a handshake.

Refusing to shake Nakagawa’s hand, I said:

“I see you’ve brought substantial help to our cause. I’m sure Commander Harper is grateful.”

“You would not be wrong!” Nakagawa spoke with a heightened amount of enthusiasm. “I will be commanding my troops via radio from here, but I assure you, a platoon of my finest troops is already in position near Vladivostok. They only await your arrival.”

I thanked Nakagawa for his time and asked General Zhang to show my Squad to the place where we could camp and sleep for the night. Before we could move away, though, Nakagawa shouted:

“Wait!”

The Japanese Prime Minister called us back, much to the annoyance of several squad members who just wanted a place to sleep.

“I apologize.” Nakagawa said. “I promise this won’t take a minute. I just need to deliver a message.”

“Fine.” I grumbled. “What is it?”

Nakagawa raised his eyebrows at me.

“The message is not for you, Lieutenant. It’s addressed to…”

Nakagawa pointed at Chihiro. She winced and recoiled from the man who, many years ago, had revoked her royal status and taken away her name.

“Although, the letter does say that you may hear the message if she gives permission.” Nakagawa said. “Will you give your permission, ma’am?”

Chihiro looked even more uncomfortable with being addressed like that. She was one of the youngest members of the team, and was fully aware of the fact that over a dozen people were now staring at her.

“Fine, whatever.” Chihiro grumbled. “Out with it already.”

Nakagawa fished about in his pockets for a couple of seconds and withdrew a sealed envelope. Chihiro, Homura, Soylent, Yutaka and I all gasped when we saw it. We had all spotted and recognized the image of a chrysanthemum flower stamped on the front of the envelope. We knew what that symbol meant. The rest of the squad looked around at us in a confused way. The Partogans asked Sarah to translate as best she could.

Nakagawa opened the letter and read aloud:

 

 

“To the Blue Dragon who is the Great Hero of Hiroshima.

It has been decades since last we spoke, and the world has changed in ways we at first thought were impossible. Since then, everything is different, and nothing is beyond possibility anymore. Only recently have I learned that you still live, even after I mourned you and built a shrine for your spirit. I am filled with happiness to know you are still among us. Please allow this humble man to express his joy by righting a wrong he witnessed over two decades ago: By my birthright as a descendant of the Goddess Amaterasu, and with the approval and authorization of the Japanese National Diet and its Prime Minister, I humbly greet you as my sister with the name and titles that are her own supreme birthright: Her Imperial Highness Princess Chihiro of Chiyako.

Signed,
Tennō Heika
June 6, 2035; 19th year of the Saisen Era”

Chihiro was shaking. Soylent, Yutaka, and I all froze, not daring to say a word. We had been there, on that cold night. We had all seen how Chihiro had responded to what she perceived as perfidy, if not outright betrayal. The rest of the squad was slowly piecing together the message and what it implied. Sarah had lowered her voice to a whisper as she brought the Partogans up to speed as quickly as she could. Ignatius and Jericho both looked at one another nervously.

Nakagawa folded the paper and put his arms to his sides.

“When this war is over,” the Prime Minister said, “I eagerly await Her Highness’ return to the Palace, as does all of Japan.”

Finally, Chihiro spoke, her voice a furious warble.

“You really expect me to just go back?”

Nakagawa took half a step backwards. Such a simple act was a very big mistake.

Chihiro exploded like a volcano! Her voice echoed off the low clouds and could be heard across the entire camp!

“I threw away my life for my country!” Chihiro shrieked at Nakagawa! “I volunteered to fight! I sent myself into that war and put my life on the line for Japan! I saved those kids at Tsuruga! I kept the Russians busy so people could escape from Fukuchiyama! Those Russian tanks blown up at Himeji!? That was me! All for my country! I almost drowned, I’ve been stabbed and shot! I almost got scalped and raped by the Spetsnaz on the same day! I’ve been blown up and buried! That bastard over there damn near killed me and all my friends!”

Chihiro pointed a shaking finger at Yutaka, who covered his face with one hand and looked away. Nakagawa quaked under Chihiro’s building wrath while behind her, Ignatius was spooling up his Psionic Amplifier and getting ready to project a Calming Aura.

“I was doing my part!” Chihiro screamed! “I was ready to die for Japan! I almost did more times than I can fucking count! Who the hell found the Russian artillery at Hiroshima!? That was me, Nakagawa! I saved you, and I saved your government! And after I pulled your stinking hide of the fire what did you do in return!? You had me arrested! Made me out a criminal in front of my family and the whole country! You took everything I had except the clothes on my back! What the fuck makes you think I wanna go back to that life!? I’d rather watch the world end first!”

Chihiro unholstered her Shadowkeeper pistol and started to cock the hammer back!

“Petoskey!” I shouted.

A bright halo of light rippled away from the old Frenchmen and washed over Chihiro. Sapped of her anger, she fell silent in a prolonged hesitation. I reached forward and grabbed the pistol out of her hands!

“Did you forget what you put us through, Nakagawa?” I asked curtly. “Or did you just not care?”

When he didn’t respond, I pulled the letter of his hand and stuffed it in my own pocket.

“I’m sure we’ll see you after the war.”

Leaving a stunned Nakagawa behind I steered Chihiro away, knowing that Petoskey’s calming power would wear off in short order. Reading the tension in the air, General Zhang escorted the squad to the spot where we’d be spending the night. While Stormbreakers and Partogans chattered and gossiped about what had just happened, I heard Sophia Kuznetsova say:

“I’m on Chihiro’s side. I’d rather blow my brains out than go back to a family that rejected me.”

…

Two huge tents had been set aside for the Stormbreakers to use, one for the men and one for the women. Some PLA soldiers had even been kind enough to set up cots and sleeping bags for us all. Checking my watch, I knew that getting any meaningful rest before this assault would be a tall order.

“I want everybody to get some food and be in bed by 17:00!” I addressed the troops. “Wake up is at 23:30 and wheel’s up is one hour after that! Understood?”

“Yes, Lieutenant!”

I stood to one side and let Soylent, Matthew, Yutaka, Ignatius, and Hal go into the male tent first. I wasn’t really in the mood to sleep, plus I wanted to talk to Chihiro before she went to bed. Chihiro herself was in a state of shock. She just kind of drifted aimlessly over to me, leaning on Akira/Homura’s shoulder for support.

“I knew you’d stay out here for her.” Akira spoke softly, so that no one else would hear her real voice. “You always do.”

“I don’t need a time traveler to remind me to comfort my wife.” I hissed back.

The two of us supported Chihiro in what must have looked like a three-person-wide side hug.

“Chi, you okay?” I asked. “Nakagawa just kinda hit you out of left field back there.”

“I… I was kind of expecting something like that.” Chihiro admitted. “But just the way he said it… like he expected me to just forget everything that happened before. Nakagawa didn’t care what I’d gone through and he doesn’t want anyone to remember why I got kicked out in the first place.”

Chihiro sobbed and wiped her eyes with her uniform sleeve.

“I guess, now that ADVENT’s falling apart and we’re getting our world back, all of the old Governments are coming back, and the Diet would look so much more legitimate if they had someone in the palace.”

“I suppose you’re right.” I admitted. Reaching into my pocket, I fished out the letter I’d taken from Nakagawa. “But Chi, you’re missing the most important part: That’s Akio’s signature, isn’t it? Your brother’s alive!”

Chihiro grabbed the paper and scanned the handwritten signature at the bottom. She traced every line of the Kanji symbols with her fingernail and smiled.

“Akio… this is really from him, isn’t it?”

Chihiro and I both looked at Akira. Our alternate-future daughter looked around quickly to see if anyone was watching or listening, then nodded and confirmed our hopes.

“Yeah, that's his signature. It’s really Uncle Tenno.”

Akira sniggered.

“Sorry, that’s what I always called him when I was young and in my own timeline. But that really is your brother, Mom. He’s alive and happy to know that you’re alive too.”

Chihiro folded the letter and slipped it into her breast pocket.

“Right. When this war is over, maybe I’ll go to Tokyo and say hello. But it’ll just be a quick visit. I’m not rejoining the Imperial Family.”

Chihiro thanked us both, kissed me, and vanished inside the female tent, where Sophia, Isis, Jericho, and Odette greeted her with celebratory squeals and excited chatter. Beside me, Akira let out a contented sigh.

“I don’t know what it was exactly, Dad.” Akira admitted. “I never got close enough to hear you say it, but whatever you said to Mom in Hiroshima really worked. Every Cycle, whenever she’s given the choice, Mom picks you and the Stormbreakers instead of going back to the Palace. Nice job. I’ll see you in the morning.”

After six hours of some of the worst sleep I’d ever had in my life, it was time to wake up the squad and kickstart the longest 48 hours of our lives… which would also be the last two days of Humanity’s war against the ADVENT Coalition.

...

Thursday, July 19, 2035 12:25am
Camp Hua Mulan staging ground, near Tushan Zitun, China


Even before I saw the staging ground, I could already hear very familiar noise. It was a deep thunderous sound, one that grew louder and more oppressive with each moment until I could feel it in my chest!

“The Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Russian armies have been keeping these in reserve for just this kind of mission!” General Zhang shouted above the noise. “They’ve been maintained as best as possible, but it’s just not possible to do this more than once. None of these vehicles will be usable after today, so be sure to make this count!”

Waiting for us on the field, thundering away in the darkness, was no fewer than fifty Old World military aircraft. Some forty helicopters, eight fighter jets, and two bombers, all from the World War Three era, were blasting hot air and noise into the night as their engines warmed up.

Amongst the airfield I spotted nearly a dozen Hinds, the nightmare-inducing Soviet helicopter that had terrorized Japan for six years. A battered-but-functional Chinese J-11 fighter-bomber tested its flaps one last time before takeoff. Two Japanese F-4 Phantoms were parked wingtip to wingtip and their pilots were leaning out of the cockpits to talk. Korean Chinook helicopters were being loaded with as many troops and weapons as they could carry.

The most crucial part of the fleet, though, was the addition of two dozen Partogan aircraft to one side. I felt my jaw drop as, for the first time in my life, I laid eyes on a genuine Starfighter. A whole squadron of these light attack ships was being guarded by Partogan ground troops who intended on keeping our folks as far away from them as possible. A starship bigger than the Avenger was parked in the field next to the Assault Frigate Kakama, and Partogan, Assurian, Levakian, Amadii, and Vanian soldiers were being rapidly transferred from this massive ship to smaller dropships. Chihiro had to pull me away from the Partogan fleet.

In the middle of this assembly, our own Skyranger seemed a little out of place. The ship was one-of-a-kind. Wendy “Firebrand” Carter herself was waiting for us already, sitting in the grass underneath the Skyranger’s twin tails.

“You ready to end this war, Firebrand?” Yutaka asked her.

“Hell yes.” Wendy replied. “Skyranger only seats eight, so who’s going where?”

“Tachibana, Hanako, Jericho, Green, Dekker, Yamamoto, Macintosh.” I said. “You’re all riding with me on the Skyranger.”

“What about us?” Sophia asked.

“Kuznetsova, Petoskey, Hawkins, Fournier, you’ll be hitching a ride with some old friends.”

I pointed to a nearby Korean transport chopper. Song Soo and Lee Chong-Il waved their arms and shouted for the four remaining Stormbreakers to get aboard.

“Okay, everyone!” I had to shout because Wendy had fired up the Skyranger’s engines. “When you complete the combat drop, we’ll rendezvous in the prison block on the North side! Everyone got it? Prison block, north side! Gather there! And remember, we’ve got four of our own people in that fortress somewhere, so check your fire and call out for them regularly! We’re looking for Holly Smith, Tsubaki Endo, Sophie Ackermann, and Kathleen Walsh! The first person to find our comrades calls the QRF on the radio. QRF callsign is ‘Guardian Angel,’ they’ll take care of the rest! Watch each other’s six, check your targets, rescue our friends, and get the job done!”

Homura, Jericho, Soylent, Isis, Yutaka, Hal, Chihiro and I boarded the Skyranger and strapped ourselves in. No sooner had the deployment bay door began to close when Wendy started talking in the cockpit.

“Avenger, this is Skyranger. We are go for takeoff.”

“Acknowledged, Skyranger.” The voice of Commander Harper came out of the radio. “All callsigns, this is Avenger. The mission is a-go. I repeat, the mission is a-go! Begin takeoff in the assigned order, climb to five-hundred feet, and engage your targets!”

With an almighty roar, sixty air and spacecraft rose from the valley floor and tore east, out of China and into Russia! In the Skyranger, all of us were pinned to our seats as Wendy floored the throttle, determined to keep pace with the front of the pack. Below us, mountains sped by, while high above, fighter planes streaked ahead of us, clearing the way forward!

“Avenger, this is Xian Two.” A male Chinese voice spoke over the radio. “We detect a hostile radar station ten miles ahead.”

“Roger that,” said the voice of Commander Harper. “Engage and destroy.”

“Xian Two, bird’s away!”

A twenty-year-old missile fell away from one of the Chinese fighter planes. It failed to activate and nosedived harmlessly into the ground. The pilot punched his console angrily and pulled his plane out of the attack run, allowing his comrades to take over.

“Xian One! Bird away!”

Another fighter plane took point and successfully fired a missile. The flaming spear of heat and light drilled into the mountainside and erased the enemy radar station!

“Good kill, Xian.” Harper called over the radio. “Continue mission.”

The vast formation of aircraft roared across the landscape before, without much in the way of a transition, the ground below gave way to water! We were out over the Sea of Japan! Up ahead, a WWIII-era Russian bomber had flown far ahead of the group and was now over a narrow rocky peninsula whose one and only feature of note was a medium-sized Russian town: the port city of Vladivostok.

“This is Backfire! Target in sight!” Reported the pilot of the Russian bomber. “Ordinance inbound… Confirmed hit on the armory!”

A column of acrid black smoke began to rise from the top of the hill overlooking Vladivostok. In the pitch darkness of the cloudy night, the fire below could be seen for miles! Up above, the Russian bomber banked hard to the east, her engines beginning to surge and fail.

“Avenger, we have engine failure!” The bomber pilot reported. “We’re going to try and bail out over Korea! Good luck!”

With her lights out and engines silent, the old bomber tumbled out of the sky like a broken leaf, her crew descending to the sea beneath tattered old parachutes. Meanwhile, the Chinese fighters pressed the attack!

“Xian calling Avenger, we see the fortress. Smoke and flames coming from the south side! Enemy soldiers are moving to set up triple-a along the perimeter wall!”

“Confirmed” Harper’s voice replied. “Engage all of those targets.”

“Xian One, guns guns guns!”

The Chinese fighter planes put their noses down and dove on the Assassin’s Fortress! Thousands of rounds of hot lead rained down on the enemy, and Gauss weapon fire rose up and into the clouds. One of the fighters got clipped and went spinning into the sea, but a second later:

“Xian One, this is Zhukov.” A Russian woman’s voice sounded over the radio. “Brake left now!”

The squadron of Russian attack helicopters had finally caught up and rejoined the attack! Rocket pods and machine gun fire raked the perimeter wall! It was impossible to see the Assassin's Stronghold behind the billowing smoke and flames, which had been kicked up into a swirling vortex by helicopter blades! The swirling inferno was too much for some aircraft! A Korean Chinook teetered dangerously before its engines, choked with sooty air, failed. The transport helicopter twisted sideways and fell out of the air like a rock! Slamming into the streets of the town below, the explosion illuminated the nighttime battlefield in a haunting way.

“All Human aircraft, withdraw to a safe distance!” Sarah Harris’ voice filled the airwaves. “The Triple Alliance is about to attack!”

The Partogan warships arrived in force! Starfighters swarmed and swirled around the fortress, pummeling the structure with Plasma weapons fire, Mass Driver volleys, and raked the structure with vivid beams of purple light! It seemed as though the fortress was going to be completely flattened! Weapons fire lit up the area around Vladivostok like a sick twist on a New Year’s party!

No sooner had air superiority been established over the greater Vladivostok area, than rest of the troop transports arrived. Flying at the front of the pack, the Skyranger screamed through the air, lowering her deployment bay doors and allowing my team to get our first views of the site.

“Site’s too hot!” Wendy yelled. “I can’t drop you until those hostiles below get cleared out!”

“Snipers!” I yelled. “Tie yourselves off and get a good shooting position!”

Chihiro and Soylent both grabbed their weapons from the overhead rack while Isis and I attached safety lines to their belts.

“Firebrand!” Soylent shouted. “Bring us to a hover!”

The Skyranger turned around and began to hover in mid-air, Chihiro’s Laser Sniper Rifle and Soylent’s Anti-Materiel Rifle pointed out the back of the deployment bay while Isis and I (who were closest to the door) grabbed our respective sniper by their belt and started calling targets. Both Sharpshooters began sending a hailstorm of lethal fire into the fortress below!

“Officer! Seven hundred yards! By the truck!”

Chihiro loosed a volley of laser fire and brought the enemy soldier down!

“Triple-A crew! Five hundred yards! Left side!”

Soylent fired his AMR three times in rapid succession! Two hostiles went down, while the third soldier dropped his weapon and scrambled for cover!

“Two runners on the perimeter wall- HOLY SHIT!! CARTER! GET THE PARTOGANS TO CEASE FIRE!”

The Skyranger swayed violently and nearly toppled out of the air like a leaf as the Kakama swooped past us and dropped an absolutely massive bomb on the Chosen’s Fortress! The fireball lit up the darkened sky as though it was daytime and rose nearly two thousand feet into the air, singing every hair on my face! The shockwave caused Chihiro and Soylent to fall backwards into the deployment bay, landing in front of my feet!

“Kakama, this is Skyranger, check your fire! You almost killed friendlies!”

“I’ll tell’em to back off, Firebrand! Standby!” Sarah called back.

“All troop transports, this is Avenger.” Commander Harper broadcast to the fleet as a whole. “Landing zones are now clear, commence your combat drops!”

Pulling Chihiro back into her seat, I shouted:

“Lock and load everyone! This is it!”

Suddenly, the Skyranger veered violently to the left, throwing all of us back into our seats! Soylent’s sniper rifle flew out of his hands and out the deployment door where it fell six hundred feet to the ground! Out the open doorway, I could see Gauss Weapons fire light up the starry night sky like a meteor shower!

“NOT CLEAR!” Wendy screamed into the radio! “LZ is hot! I’m taking ground fire!”

In the back of the Skyranger, all eight of us were thrown and buffeted about while Wendy put the Skyranger through a series of evasive acrobatics! I grabbed Chihiro’s arm and held onto her as tightly as possible!

“DAMNIT! MORE INCOMING!” Wendy shouted! “HANG ON BACK THERE!”

The Skyranger rolled violently and for a few terrifying seconds, we were completely inverted in midair! Down was up and up was down, and the whole time, I could hear the loud whistling of Gauss Rounds missing the ship by inches! Isis turned green and vomited, the sick mess flying all over the deployment bay! Then Wendy put the Skyranger into a chaotic dive before pulling up so hard that Chihiro and I crashed into each other, hard!

I felt a cracking sensation in the back of my head! Fighting the forces of gravity, I turned my head and saw what had happened: That last high-G turn had forced my head to press into a metal plate on the back of my seat, and as a result, the Mindshield I got from Commander Harper had been smashed to pieces! Little bits of splintered Elerium conduit flew in all directions and out of sight!

I didn’t have any time to think about that, as less than a second later, a powerful impact caused the Skyranger to lurch and shake more violently than ever before!

“We’ve been hit!” Wendy shouted! “Hydraulics are down! I’m losing attitude control!”

“BRACE!” I screamed to my troops! “EVERYONE PUT YOUR HEADS DOWN!”

The Skyranger began to spin like a top! My head was forced to the left like I was on some out-of-control carnival ride! Chihiro screamed and grabbed me with both hands! Jericho began to project a flickering Psionic field around herself! It expanded and enveloped everybody in the cargo bay! Straining herself, Jericho started pushing her energies towards the cockpit!

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” Wendy’s voice carried above the whining engines! “This is Skyranger going down hard! I have nine souls on board! Latitude: four-three point one-six-three! Longitude: one-three-one point nine-eight-three! Skyranger hit by ground fire! We are going down!”

Engines screamed! Wind roared! The ground rose up to meet us!

WHAM!

Chapter 26: Mira Mihaka

Notes:

Earlier today, 2K Games announced that a whole new entry in the XCOM franchise named Chimera Squad is going to be released on April 24. After watching the trailers and gameplay footage, I am rapidly falling in love with this new title, just as I have done with all other XCOM games. The story trailer on the XCOM website makes clear that this new game will contribute heavily to the lore and universe of XCOM, and I have decided that I fully intend to incorporate some details and elements from XCOM: Chimera Squad into The Stormbreakers.

To that end, here's the plan going forward:

The release schedule for the remainder of Act Two has been thrown out the window. I'm going to take full advantage of the fact that I have nowhere to go and nothing to do these days. My new goal is to finish Act Two within the next ten days. This means I will be posting four chapters over the next two weeks. After that, I will put this story on a short hiatus so that I can thoroughly play and explore Chimera Squad and incorporate its story into my own. From here on out: new chapters of The Stormbreakers will be posted online as soon as they are completed. This pattern will continue until Act Two is over.

When I planned out this story, I was ready for Stellaris: Federations. I wasn't ready for XCOM: Chimera Squad.

Chapter 22
Mira Mihaka

 

“Blake! Wake up! Please wake up!”

I had trouble opening my eyes. It felt like getting out of bed after oversleeping too much. My back, neck, and head all ached. Up above me, I could see the cloudy night sky, flickering and flashing like a lightning storm. Airplanes, Helicopters, and starships swirled around above us while the sounds of weapons fire assaulted my ears from all sides. Finally, I sat up and looked around.

The Skyranger was destroyed.

Wreckage was strewn about everywhere. Flames licked at what remained of the engines, and little red circles of blood speckled the concrete we had landed on. Next to me, Chihiro was wrapping a bandage around my arm while all around us, the soldiers of the QRF were hiding amongst the debris and waging an intense gunfight with an enemy I couldn’t see. Central Officer Bradford had wedged the barrel of his rifle through a hole in the hull and was firing indiscriminately into the night. Matthew Hawkins and Odette Fournier had teamed up to operate a heavy machinegun together and were keeping the right flank locked down while Lee Chong-Il, Song Soo, and Sophia Kuznetsova were fighting on the opposing flank. Ignatius Petoskey had taken cover near Chihiro and I and was talking into his radio.

“Guardian Angel calling Avenger. We found Trojan! He’s alive, but shaken up! We’re gonna move him in a minute.”

“What’s going on?” My voice cracked.

“Skyranger hit the deck.” Chihiro explained. “Just inside the perimeter wall! We landed right in the middle of a goddamned firefight! ADVENT’s in front of us, and EXALT’s on our right, so keep your head low!”

“Anyone dead?”

Chihiro answered using the callsigns for our teammates:

“No, but Soylent, Freud, Steampunk, and Firebrand are hurt really bad. They’re out of the fight. Jericho and Supernova are both missing.”

“WHAT!?”

I tried to stand up, but Chihiro and Ignatius both put their hands on my shoulders and forced me down again! A second later, the loud Ratta-tatta of machine gun fire sounded over our heads!

“What part of ‘firefight’ did you miss!?” Chihiro shouted at me!

“How long was I out!? When did they leave?” I raised my voice, desperate to convey the urgency.

“You were down for about ten minutes.” Bradford answered. “We saved you for last because you were the least badly injured. The rest of Red Team has been extracted already.”

“Jericho took off about two or three minutes ago.” Chihiro added. “And Supernova went chasing after her.”

The news hit me hard. Jericho had run off by herself, and Akira/Homura was trying to chase her down. Instinctively, I reached up to the back of my head and felt the place where my Mindshield used to be. All that remained of the device was some twisted metal and broken wires. The primary component, an Elerium conduit, was nowhere to be found. I felt the sinking feeling in my stomach get ten times worse, then asked:

“What did Jericho do before she ran off? Did she say anything?”

Song Soo fished a Laser Rifle out of the wreckage and took a quick peek at the nearby enemy positions. Turning back to me, she said:

“I asked Jericho to pick you up and carry you back to the QRF helicopter! She grabbed your head to start lifting you up, and then she dropped you.”

“Jericho dropped me!?” I was shocked.

“Yeah.” Lee Chong-Il chimed in. “Then she started screaming! I thought she’d been shot or something!”

At that moment, there was a loud interruption of gunfire! A billowing column of flame roared over our heads! The intense heat alone was so painful I thought I’d stepped into Hell itself!”

“Enemy flamethrower!” Lee Chong-Il yelled. “Thirty feet! Right side, by that doorway!”

Sophia Kuznetsova pulled the pin on a hand grenade and lobbed it overtop of the ruined Skyranger hull. A second later, there was a loud crack! The column of fire above our heads sputtered and died as the enemy flamethrower was neutralized. Turning back to me, Bradford had to shout above the noise of battle!

“Jericho wasn’t shot, but something in her head definitely broke! She just kinda knelt over you for a couple of minutes while we were fighting! Talking to herself!”

“Then she got up and ran over there!” Song pointed towards an area just outside of the Skyranger crash site.

For the first time, I took note of exactly where the ship had come down. The Skyranger had crashed through the roof of a building and had come to rest in what looked like a cafeteria, just inside the boundaries of the Chosen Assassin’s fortress. One of the building’s walls had collapsed, revealing the courtyard outside, where a huge hole had been opened up in the ground. I could just see dim reddish light coming from the chasm.

“Jericho opened up that hole and then jumped in!” Sophia reported.

“And Hanako?” I was dreading the answer.

Chihiro gave me a very uncomfortable look.

“She saw Jericho go down that hole.” Chihiro told me. “Then she shouted ‘Oh my God, she knows!’ And then Homura followed Jericho into that hole.”

My heart stopped for a good two seconds, and my brain froze up.

Jericho knows.

I reached up and checked my broken Mindshield again.

Jericho knows.

I looked at Chihiro, her confused expression meeting my horrified one.

“She knows, Chi.” I gasped. “Jericho knows about Mira.”

“What?”

I didn’t resist when Chihiro telepathically made her way into my memories. Her face shifted through several phases of shock and revulsion as the truth sank in. Chihiro was so busy processing this new information that she didn’t notice me grabbing my sword from a smashed weapons locker next to us. As I grabbed my Alloy Cannon off the ground, Central Officer Bradford spotted me and shouted.

“Lieutenant! What the hell are you doing!?”

“Mission’s compromised!” I shouted back. “I’m going after Jericho!”

Checking my weapons and armor one last time, I vaulted over the low wall of wreckage and charged into the open, sprinting out of the crash site towards that yawning chasm in the ground! Behind me I heard Bradford yell:

“God damn it all! Antigone! Dragon! Enforcer! Go with him!”

I reached the edge of the precipice! ADVENT soldiers spotted me and raised their weapons in my direction, but a Psionic blast from Chihiro forced them back into cover while I jumped! I hit a loose pile of rubble and slid down into the underground section of the Assassin’s fortress! Chihiro, Sophia, and Chong-Il crashed onto the scene behind me.

…

Thursday, July 19, 2035 12:45am

Inside the Fortress of the Chosen Assassin, Vladivostok, Russia


The interior of the Assassin’s stronghold was disturbingly similar to the Aralkum Blacksite. Sophie, Chihiro, Chong-Il and I found ourselves inside of a large room filled with bloodstained medical equipment. Instead of the traditional beds, large metal slabs marked the spots where God-knows how many victims met their demise at the hands of ADVENT’s twisted science. It took the four of us a second to realize just how badly the room had been wrecked.

“There was a fight in here.” Chong-Il pointed towards a series of scorch marks on the wall. “A very one-sided fight at that.”

“Jericho was here.” Chihiro said. “There’s residual Psionic energy in the air. I can feel it.”

“Could you lead us to Jericho?” I asked. “By following that energy?”

“Maybe.”

“Right, everyone ready up.” I ordered the others. “We can’t assume Jericho cleared this place out by herself.”

Chihiro drew her Shadowkeeper and led the way, passing through a smashed doorway into the next room. Keeping our own weapons at the ready, Sophia, Chong-Il, and I followed.

The next room was some kind of factory. Two assembly lines ran on each side of the room, carrying half-built war machines. MEC troopers, Sectopods, and heavy suits of powered armor lay where they had fallen. The floor was so covered in broken machinery that the four of us had to tread very carefully.

“Some of these MECs put up one helluva fight.” Sophia murmured. “Did Jericho do all of this by herself?”

“It’s possible.” Chong-Il breathed.

“Wait!” Chihiro froze in front of the far door. “Listen! Voices on the other side.”

Making sure to keep the heavy metal door shut, the four of us stacked up on one side. We could hear a male voice talking in an alien language.

“Enforcer, prep a flashbang.” I hissed. “Hit’em, then I’ll breach.”

Chihiro shoved the door open with one hand and Chong-Il tossed the stun grenade! On the other side of the door, I heard two voices gasp, followed by a loud bang!

“Go go go!” I shouted, and started to dash into the room!

We stormed into what looked like a power station. An Elerium generator hummed away with a dull tone and filled the room with a sickening green light. Smoke curled up from a spot on the floor where the stun grenade had detonated. Behind the smoke, two humanoid shapes threw up their arms and shouted:

“Partoga! Partoga! Pargota!”

“STOP! HOLD FIRE!” I shouted.

Manako Ranginui and Kailani Kalili stepped out of the smoke, coughing and wheezing. Kailani stuck one finger in her ear and twisted as though she expected to find something in there. Manako gave us all an angry look.

“What the hell are you two doing down here!?” I shouted.

“Yeah, we almost killed you!” Chihiro added.

Manako grabbed his Plasma Rifle off the floor and said:

“We hunt enemy. Same like you.”

Kailani didn’t say anything. She was looking at Chihiro and I with a screwed-up expression, as though she was thinking very hard. Finally, she shook her head and followed Manako as he moved to one of the doorways on the other side of the room. The four of us started to follow him, but Manako pointed to a doorway on the far side of the room and said:

“Human girl go there. Takea go here.”

The four of us turned on our heels and backtracked, following the way Manako had pointed out.

“Wait a minute.” Sophia said. “He said ‘girl’ as in singular. Did he see Jericho or Supernova?”

Quickly, I turned around to ask, but Manako and Kailani had already gone through the doorway and moved into the next room. Behind me, Chihiro pushed the doorway open and shouted into the next room:

“Jericho? Supernova? Either of you in here?”

To all of our surprise, a voice called out in reply! A voice I hadn’t heard in months.

“Aw, bugger. Now I’m startin’ to hear voices. This is your bloody fault, Walsh!”

A female voice responded, speaking in English through a thick Irish accent.

“Me!? Come over ‘ere and say that ya gobshite!”

My heart leapt!

“WALSH!” I shouted and pushed my way past Chihiro into the next room. “Kathleen Walsh, is that you!?”

We had found it. A long, narrow hallway stretched on for about two hundred feet in front of us, the walls lined with heavy doors that were unmistakably meant to keep someone inside. It was the prison block! Chihiro, Sophia, Chong-Il, and I fanned out, banging on each door and shouting the names of our missing comrades!

“Sergeant Walsh!” Sophia cried out. “Talk to me, which cell are you in?”

“Colonel Smith!” Chong-Il raised his voice, “We’re here to rescue you!”

“Corporal Ackermann!” I yelled. “Gimme a sign! Sound off!”

“Tsubaki-chan!” Chihiro spoke in Japanese. “Doko ni imasu ka?”

One by one, cell doors were smashed open, and we reunited with the last four missing Stormbreakers. British soldier Holly Smith looked terrible. She had lost quite a bit of weight, but that didn’t stop her from standing up and walking out of the cell under her own power.

“Oh, I’m so glad to see you!” Holly greeted us with a smile. “I was starting to think we’d worn out our welcome here. Oi! Robinson, when the hell did you get promoted?”

American Resistance fighter Kathleen Walsh punched me in the shoulder by way of saying hello.

“Never a doubt you’d be the one to spring us!” Walsh gushed, “But why’d ya take so effing long?”

Sophie Ackermann, looking paler and more emaciated than I’ve ever seen her before, lunged out of her cell and wrapped her arms around Sophia in a great big bear hug.

“Thank you!” Sophie cried. “Thank you so much! I thought I was gonna die in there!”

The Russian woman embraced her South African comrade and said in a soft voice:

“There, there. You’re okay now. You’re safe. We’re here for you.”

One cell over, Tsubaki Endo was so happy to see us that she didn’t wait for anyone to help her up. With both of her prosthetic legs missing, Tsubaki tried to crawl on her arms across the cell floor to get to us, but Chihiro and I grabbed her and supported her between our shoulders.

“Chihiro-Kun!” Tsubaki gasped. “I knew you’d find us! I knew it!”

Kathleen crossed the hallway and gently ruffled Tsubaki’s messy brown hair.

“She did, ya know.” The former Secret Service agent told me. “Every day after they took us, Miss Endo here said ‘oh I just know Blake and Chihiro are gonna come for us. They’d never forget about us cause we’re their friends.”

“We’d have probably gone insane without you, Endo.” Holly said. “So, thanks.”

“What the hell happened to you?” Chihiro asked. “It took us quite a while to find you.”

“Not really sure.” Holly admitted. “We all got interrogated a few times. They asked us about Commander Harper and the Avenger, but then they just stopped after a while. Getting’ food twice a day was the only interactions we had with anyone until you lot showed up.”

“Something’s off.” Chong-Il said. “You’d think ADVENT would have done away with you as soon as you stopped being useful. Experiments or brainwashing or something.”

“Maybe the Chosen Assassin had something specific in mind for them.” Sophia offered.

“Speaking of her…” I started to ask, but Kathleen cut me off.

“Oh, yeah. Something’s definitely up with her, but how did you get past her, anyway? This is kinda her place.”

“We haven’t seen the Assassin yet.” Sophia answered. “We were following someone who charged in here on their own.”

“That must have been the voice we heard earlier.” Sophie interjected. “Someone came in here, said, ‘wrong place’ and then left!”

“Jericho!” Chihiro and I said together.

“Listen, we have to chase her down.” I told the others. “Antigone, Enforcer, take everyone topside and get an evac started. We’re going to get Jericho.”

Passing Tsubaki off into the arms of Sophie, Chihiro and I broke from the group and resumed our search. Behind us, Sophia and Chong-Il guided our comrades out the way they had come.

…

The further we got into the Assassin’s stronghold, the quieter it became. Simultaneously, the devastation got worse and worse. Bodies of ADVENT Army soldiers and aliens alike lay strewn in the corridors, and since we were underground, the smoke from several fires had nowhere to go, filling up the ceilings with acrid grey and black clouds. Whole walls had been reduced to rubble, causing small cave-ins throughout the facility.

Moving cautiously, Chihiro and I realized that somehow, Jericho had annihilated the defenders of the stronghold single-handedly. Every once in a while, the sounds of combat up above would seep in via the ventilation system, but things were soon as silent as a crypt, doubly so when we reached our final destination.

Even though we’d never seen an Ascension Chamber before, Chihiro and I recognized it on sight. The room containing the device was different from all the others. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all guided and shiny, as though the room was made from mirrors and polished chrome. We could see our reflections on nearly every surface, and it was quite disconcerting. A huge statue of an Elder stood on a plinth just behind the Ascension Platform itself, looking down on us with a blank face.

Standing on the platform, Chihiro and I looked around.

“No doubt about it, Jericho and Akira went through here…” Chihiro seemed to be talking to herself.

“How can you tell all of that?” I asked.

“The gate told me.” Chihiro breathed. Again, it seemed like she was just thinking out loud. “This is amazing… It’s like a telepathic link… The Ascension Platform is designed to let Psionic people use it without touching the controls.”

Chihiro grabbed my shoulder.

“Stand over here and don’t move!”

“Are we going through now?”

“Yes.”

“Any idea what we’re going to find on the other side?”

“Kinda. There’s definitely a fight going on. Keep your weapon up.”

Chihiro and I both raised our weapons, aiming at the statue of the Elder.

“On my mark.” Chihiro said. “We’re going through in three… two… one…”

It was like all of reality suddenly went to pieces! The floor beneath me seemed to just fall away into an endless void of color and light! I was racing through this tunnel of chaos and I couldn’t move my arms or legs! Rigid, paralyzed, I fell through the spinning vortex of god-know-what until a brilliant white light overpowered everything in my sight! I jammed my eyes shut and waited for it to be over!

I felt my feet hit something solid, and my senses told me I was no longer falling. I opened my eyes… and saw that I had just appeared in a completely different place.

I knew right away that this was the inner sanctum of the Chosen Assassin. Chihiro and I were in a vast chamber with a high ceiling supported by ornate silver pillars. The floor beneath us was polished to the point where our reflections looked back at us in perfect relief. Two huge cauldrons filled to the brim with purple Soulfire were the only decoration in here, but on the far side of the chamber, I could see a huge rectangular slab being suspended in midair above an altar.

In the middle of the chamber were three people: Jericho, Akira, and the Chosen Assassin. All three combatants had their weapons raised at each other and were clearly in the middle of a three-way standoff.

“What kind of monster are you!?” Jericho was shrieking at Akira! “You tried to make me kill my own mother!”

“She’s not your mother anymore!” Akira shouted. “She’ll turn you over to the Elders the first chance she gets! She’s too dangerous to be left alive!”

“You can’t kill her!” Jericho cried “She’s my mom! I won’t let you!”

On those words, I reached into my pocket, found the Arc Brace remote, and jammed the button as hard as I could! Jericho screamed as her ankle bracelet activated and delivered an electric shock that would have instantly killed any other person! Falling to her knees, Jericho rolled out of the way as the Assassin swung her sword at Akira’s head! The time traveler jumped back and fired up her own Celestial Gauntlets!

“Chi!” I yelled. “Get Jericho out of here!”

Akira heard my voice and looked around. Seeing us, she threw herself to one side as Chihiro and I both opened fire on the Assassin! The sound of both the Alloy Cannon and Laser Sniper Rifle going off at the same time was like a lightning strike! Both volleys caught Mira Mihaka in the chest and she fell over backwards! Before she’d even hit the floor, her body had dissolved into millions of little points of purple light that converged on the Sarcophagus!

“Killing her won’t do any good until that thing’s destroyed!” Akira shouted, pointing at the Sarcophagus!

Chihiro and I leveled our weapons at the floating stasis chamber! It was now enveloped in a shimmering aura that clearly wasn’t a sign of anything good! Chihiro and I both fired our weapons again, putting a pair of pockmarks in the Elerium plating!

“What are you doing!? STOP!”

A pulse of Psionic energy hit the both of us from the side! Chihiro and I fell over, I twisted my head just in time to see Jericho bearing down on us! A vortex of Psionic energy swirled around her as Akira intercepted Jericho and stopped her closing the distance on us!

“I’ve got her! Kill Mira!” Akira screamed before throwing a Psi Lance at Jericho!

A loud rushing noise and a flash of light told us the Assassin was back!

“See now the futility of your actions and stand down!” Mira declared, “Your deaths shall be merciful!”

“Chi! Left side!”

Chihiro threw herself out of the way while I drew my own sword and parried the incoming attack at the last second! I was nose to nose with Mira Mihaka as her Katana and my Arc Blade locked against one another for the briefest of moments! Pushing with all my strength, I forced the Assassin to disengage!

To one side, Akira and Jericho were locked in Psionic combat! Akira flicked her wrist, sending some invisible force towards Jericho! With both hands, Jericho deflected the Psionic attack, causing the floor next to her to explode outwards, sending debris flying into the air! Then Jericho went on the offensive! Sending one pulse after another towards Akira, it was all the time traveler could to do shield herself! Each time a jet of violet energy struck Akira, her telekinetic shield would shatter into millions of semi-corporeal shards and she’d have to make a new one! In less than ten seconds, Akira’s shield had been broken nearly a dozen times!

Akira pointed both of her palms towards the ground and projected two arcs of white light into the floor! Two more arcs leapt of the floor near Jericho and hit her at the same time! With a flash and a crack like thunder and lightning, Akira and Jericho had traded places! Jericho, facing the wrong direction, tried to turn around to continue fighting Akira, but Akira had moved faster. Slamming her right hand to the ground, six translucent tentacles erupted from the floor and seized Jericho, holding her high in the air, immobilized!

Meanwhile, Chihiro and I were holding our own against Mira. The Assassin avoided engaging us in a drawn-out fight. Instead, she would strike and then withdraw! After the first two hit-and-run attacks, I figured out that she was gunning for Chihiro, not me. With her big and bulky sniper rifle, Chihiro was pretty much useless once Mira got too close.

“Chi! Switch to your pistol!”

“Blake! She’s coming again!”

As she dropped her rifle to the floor, the Assassin waved her Katana through the air. Psionic energy trailing behind the blade reshaped itself into a dense fog that started to fill the battlefield.

“Damnit, I can’t see!” I shouted. “Where’d she go!?”

“Into the mountain mist, where the reed is bent by the wind, but not broken.” The Assassin taunted from the shadows. “I welcome the darkness, for it is my ally… and your… betrayer!”

On that last word, I finally saw movement in the swirling fog! I raised my sword again, but it was too late! For a full second, I could see the Assassin bearing down on me before her sword flashed through the air! Just before the blade struck home, I felt a powerful burst of cold air wash across me! The Assassin’s blade hit my chest and bounced off! Recovering from the deflection, Mira turned around just in time to see Akira approaching her at a run! I fell backwards and crawled out of the way as twin Shard Blades extended from Akira’s Celestial Gauntlets!

Mira raised her Katana and blocked Akira’s next blow! Cold and harsh Psionic energy radiated out of Akira’s body as she pushed the Assassin away from me!

“How fitting.” The Assassin sneered at Akira. “Not only will I deliver Jericho to the Elders, but the Paradox as well. Not only shall I regain my master’s favor, I may just yet become their champion. This will be a truly great day.”

Akira tried to slash at Mira’s chest with her Shard Blades, but the Assassin dodged her strike with ease. Slashing her Katana through the air again, a huge blue and white wave appeared in front of Mira and washed across the chamber! Chihiro, Akira, and I all got caught up in it! Tumbling, we were thrown through the air and came crashing down several yards away! Hearing the Assassin’s footfalls, I tried to get up, but my hands and feet wouldn’t obey me! I just couldn’t find the strength to stand up again! I was starting to panic!

“Blake!” Akira screamed. “Stay down! I broke focus! She’s coming!”

“I know where the Assassin is, thank you very much!” I roared angrily.

“Not Mira!” Akira shouted. “JERICHO!”

A hurricane-force wind erupted above me! Even down here on the floor, it sounded like a tornado had somehow materialized inside of the chamber! The Assassin’s telekinetic hold on us snapped, and we could move again!

Scrambling to my feet, I saw that Jericho had broken free of that strange Psionic trap Akira had left her in. As the Assassin scrambled back to her feet, Jericho screamed:

“ENOUGH!”

A shimmering wall of Psionic energy appeared between ourselves and Mira, not quite splitting the chamber in half. The Assassin struck the telekinetic shield with her Katana, and when she saw that she couldn’t break it, took a step back.

“Your skills have improved.” Mira said through the shield. “Battlefield experience is truly the greatest teacher.”

Breathing deeply, Jericho glared at Akira, Chihiro, and I in a way that said “don’t you dare move or talk.” Approaching the shield, Jericho took a good long look at Mira.

“You don’t recognize this?” she gestured to the shield. “I learned it from my mother… from you.”

“That title is meaningless to me now.” The Assassin hissed. “I am but an instrument of the Elders, and their will extends throughout the universe!”

“And before that, you were a lost time traveler with no way home.” Jericho kept her voice level. “And you were the first family I ever had.”

Mira took a step closer to the shield. To my right, I saw Akira cautiously start inching towards Jericho.

“In the Elder’s embrace, we can be together again.” The Assassin offered. “Come with me, Jericho. Free yourself from the Paradox.”

Jericho shook her head.

“We can be together without the Elders, Mom. Come with me.”

I was so shocked, so stunned, that I wondered if I was asleep and just having some freakish dream. Did Jericho really just say that… to one of the Chosen!?

In the back of my mind, I heard Chihiro’s voice:

Are we allowing this!? What if Jericho really does turn one of the Chosen? What the hell are we supposed to do then!?

I don’t think anyone ever considered the possibility. I thought. But if Skirmishers can defect, why not a Chosen?

Because that’s fucking insane, Blake!!

“I won’t let my friends kill you.” Jericho said. “And I won’t let you kill my friends, which leaves us at an impasse. This is the only way out, Mira.”

Jericho held her hand out in front of her, as though offering to shake the Assassin’s hand. For the first time, Mira visibly hesitated. Chihiro had dropped her weapons from shock, and Akira continued to slowly creep towards Jericho, a look of steadfast determination on her face.

“I know my kind and loving mother is still in there somewhere.” Jericho said. “The Elders couldn’t have completely destroyed her. That’s why you didn’t fight me in Oregon, and that’s why you won’t take me to the Elders.”

Mira swayed on the spot. She didn’t step forward or backward, but she no longer seemed to be… steady.

“You… cannot… comprehend the power of the Elders. I fell out of their favor after my repeated failures, and yet they allow me to live. It is a generous mercy I can never hope to repay. I must obey their command. It is the Elder’s will that I bring you before them.”

Jericho never lowered her hand.

“I won’t cooperate. You’ll be forced to kill your own daughter.”

“If that is our destiny.”

Jericho stepped closer. Her fingertip was now brushing up against her own shield, which rippled like a pond disturbed by an insect.

“You won’t do this.” Jericho spoke in a hushed voice. “I can feel that little spark of resistance in your mind, in the core of your soul! Listen to it! Listen to your own will instead of the Elders!”

Mira hesitated again. When she spoke, Chihiro and I both gasped! The Assassin’s voice had changed! It was a tiny, subtle difference, but we both picked up on the slightly less harsh tone as the Chosen Assassin said:

“It is too late for me, daughter. The Elders see, hear, and know all. I will be disposed of.”

A loud rushing noise caught my attention! Chihiro, Jericho, Mira and I all looked around! On the far end of the chamber, the Ascension Platform came to life as a column of white light descended down from the ceiling onto it! I shielded my eyes with one hand, bent down and recovered my sword. Just as I straightened up again, the light faded and we all saw what had just arrived in the Assassin’s inner sanctum.

It was a lone humanoid figure, clad in black and purple armor. If I hadn’t known better, I would have assumed it was a young Human woman in her mid-twenties… but Human women do not wear purple face masks, they do not have long white hair that sticks straight up in defiance of gravity, and most importantly of all: They do not have the spectral image of an Ethereal floating in midair behind them.

 

“AVATAR!” I shouted!

Jericho, Chihiro, Mira, and I all raised our weapons together and took aim at the Human/Ethereal Hybrid! Akira turned around to face the Sarcophagus, and everybody moved at once! A roiling inferno of Soulfire erupted away from the Avatar and enveloped the whole chamber! Pain, searing pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before wracked every inch of exposed flesh! Clutching onto my sword as tightly as I could, I felt the pain subside! Opening my eyes, I saw that my suit of power armor had taken the full brunt of the blast, and was now burned and singed very badly. I realized that without that power armor, I almost certainly would have died just now.

The Soulfire inferno was over, extinguished by a Harbor Wave attack! The Chosen Assassin was fighting against the Avatar! Mira slashed her sword, cutting through the Avatar’s armor and drawing blood before crouching low and retreating! The Avatar raised its Psionic Reaper to fire on the fleeing Assassin, but before it could pull the trigger, Chihiro had opened fire! The Shadowkeeper pistol let out a loud crack and belched a thick cloud of black smoke! The slug hit the Avatar in the shoulder and threw off it’s aim! Mira escaped into a dark corner and the Avatar quickly turned to see who had fired. Chihiro herself had also scrambled for cover and concealment, escaping from the Avatar’s wrath.

Meanwhile, Jericho and I had taken the offensive! Yelling my last best hope to the heavens, I charged the Avatar down and slashed at its chest and head with my Arc Blade! Orange blood splattered the floor and the front of my armor! I scored a hit!

Immediately, there was a rushing of Psionic energy followed by a quick flash of light! The Avatar had vanished!

“It teleports when it takes damage!” Jericho shouted. “And it heals really fast! Watch your flanks!”

The Avatar re-appeared on the other side of the chamber! Akira dropped her plasma pistol and took a swipe at the enemy with her Shard Blades, forcing it to teleport again! This time, the Avatar appeared a few paces away from Chihiro! She raised her Shadowkeeper and took another shot! The Avatar vanished one more time and reappeared between Mira and myself. We both drew our swords and charged! The Avatar looked from one to the other of us and acted in a moment! With one hand, it pointed at me! I didn’t know what it was doing, but I found out in a moment when I ran headlong into a telekinetic shield! It was like hitting an invisible brick wall! Dazed, I shouted!

“Mira! Watch out!”

The Avatar turned its full attention to the Chosen Assassin! Pointing both palms at the incoming Mira, the Avatar fired a Psionic Lance! The beam sailed through the air and impaled Mira straight through the chest! She collapsed in mid-run!

“NO!” Jericho screamed!

“It’s not over!” Chihiro yelled.

Mira’s body once again dissolved into a cloud of little sparks, which once again converged on the Sarcophagus! Using Psionic energy to close and heal its wounds, the Avatar teleported once more, this time landing in front of the altar above which Mira’s Sarcophagus was floating. It turned around and pressed one hand to the device! Cracks began running up the Elerium plate!

“Someone stop that Avatar!” I shouted!

“I got this!” Akira shouted!

Just as she had done in Kanna, Akira pointed one arm towards the ceiling and projected a beam of purple light into the air! It collided with the ceiling above and white glowing cracks began to spread out from the site as though the whole ceiling was about to cave in! Then a single bolt of lightning materialized in the chamber! It arced from Akira’s hand to the top of the Sarcophagus! The stasis chamber shuddered as the charge ran down the length of its shape and jumped onto the Avatar! The Hybrid was blasted off it’s feet and flew backwards about a quarter of the way across the chamber! The Avatar hit one of the cauldrons of Soulfire, spilling the supernatural flames across the floor, setting a large portion of the chamber on fire!

“I’m guessing that’s a bad sign!” Chihiro shouted, pointing at the Sarcophagus.

I looked at where Chihiro was pointing, and felt my stomach lurch.

Mira Mihaka’s Sarcophagus had been destroyed. Broken shards of Elerium cascaded to the floor as the splintered device made a terrible buzzing sound like a broken power line. Then, with a loud rushing sound, Mira herself rematerialized at the base of the Sarcophagus. With her healing device damaged, only the most serious of Mira’s wounds had been healed. She looked to be in terrible shape, and I worried she might just keel over and die at any moment.

“Now,” Mira panted, “We fight on even ground, with death itself at stake for all!”

Chihiro, Jericho, Mira and I all charged the Avatar at once! Akira hung back to grab her plasma pistol off the floor. Mira unshouldered her shotgun and fired a blast into the Avatar! It teleported away, but not far enough to escape Jericho! She launched a beam of light through the air and caught the Avatar in the back! It teleported again, only to get caught by Chihiro’s Shadowkeeper on landing!

Standing back to back, the four of us kept the Avatar on its toes, never giving it a beachhead or a moment to rest! Gunfire echoed throughout the chamber while smoke and flames enveloped more and more of the room. Just when it seemed like we were at a stalemate, the Ascension Platform came to life one more time, and two Partogans materialized on the platform! Manako Ranginui and Kailani Kalili only had to observe the situation for a moment before they threw themselves into the battle!

With two more combatants to worry about, the Avatar was finally overwhelmed! Kailani drew her own Plasma Sword and slashed at any part of the Avatar she could reach! It teleported to the farthest corner of the room and tried to quickly heal itself, only to get caught in Manako’s crosshairs! The Partogan leader trapped the Avatar inside of a shield bubble and then filled it with Soulfire! Burning and desperate, the Avatar lashed out at everyone around it! Psionic blasts from its hands and weapons caught everybody at least once as the enemy got more and more desperate!

Firing its weapon wildly, the Avatar took aim at Akira, who caught the incoming blasts in one hand imbued them with her own Psionic energy, and then reflected the attack back onto the Avatar! Blasted with its own power, the Avatar was running out of options in a hurry. Finally, I had enough breathing room that I could start to make a plan to actually kill this thing!

Then I heard Mira shout:

“If the Elders command my death, then let me die with victorious honor!”

“Mira!” I shouted, “Wait!”

Too late! The Chosen Assassin drew her Katana, broke formation, and charged! The Avatar took aim with its Psionic Reaper, and Jericho screamed!

“EVERYBODY DOWN!”

Chihiro, Jericho, Akira, Manako, Kailani, and I all hit the deck as Mira unleashed one last Harbor Wave! A rolling tide of Psionic power rolled across the chamber, extinguishing the out-of-control Soulfire and striking the Avatar! At the last moment, the Avatar fired its weapon one final time! Dozens of rapid-fire beams of energy struck Mira in the chest and arms! Simultaneously, the spectral image of the Ethereal abruptly faded away and vanished! As soon as the spectral Ethereal disappeared, the Avatar went limp and fell to the floor like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

And finally, there was silence. Silence except for the dripping of water from the ceiling and blood from our wounds. Silence except for the panting of four exhausted Humans, two winded Partogans, and one nearly-dead alien.

“Oh my god.” Chihiro breathed. “What the hell did we just do? Did we just kill an Avatar!?”

“No.” Mira’s voice sounded strangled, and she coughed up some blood. “I have merely severed its connection to the Elders. It is very much alive, but no longer a threat.”

Jericho stepped over to the inert Avatar and gave it a swift kick. It didn’t respond in any way.

A loud hissing noise caught my attention. Looking around, I saw that Manako and Kailani were standing over a translucent purple sphere. Akira herself was hunched over inside the sphere, and seemed to be unconscious.

“What the!?” Jericho gasped. “A Sustaining Sphere!? When did Akira get hit? Did anyone see?”

Both of the Partogans shook their heads and looked confused. I stepped over towards the spot where Akira had fallen and saw that inside of her Sustaining Sphere, Akira was bleeding from some kind of head wound. Chihiro let out a low whistle.

“Sustaining Sphere means she almost got killed just now. Probably a stray shot from the Avatar… which means…”

Everybody looked over at Mira.

It was grizzly sight! Mira Mihaka had been shot nearly a dozen times by the Avatar’s Psionic Reaper during that final fight. Adding those injuries on top of the rest she’d already taken, and a very grim picture was painted for us. The Assassin wavered on her feet and grabbed Chihiro’s shoulder for support. Jericho screamed!

“NO! We just got you back!”

The former Chosen Assassin fell to her knees and coughed up even more blood.

“I told you.” Mira choked. “The Elders commanded my destruction.”

“That’s not fair!” Jericho cried. “I just wanted my mom back!”

Jericho looked around at all of us.

“Does anyone have a Medkit? Anything we can help her with!?”

“Help her?” I repeated, “Jericho, I’m on a mission to kill this woman. I obviously don’t have a Medkit.”

Mira let out a hacking wheeze that got my attention.

“A way.” She gasped. “There is a way…”

“Wait, you mean a way to save you?” I asked in a hushed voice.

Mira nodded.

“But only if you will allow it…”

Mira looked at Jericho, eyes narrowed. Chihiro telepathically confirmed that she, Jericho, and Mira were having a Psionic conversation. After a few moments, Jericho’s eyes went wide. Chihiro put her hands to her mouth in a silent gasp of surprise. Both she and Jericho looked like they’d just had their minds blown.

“Are you kidding me!?” Jericho gasped. “THAT’s how you did it!? That was how you possessed Lieutenant Kelly and Blake!?”

My stomach lurched.

“Possession!?” I asked. “How is that supposed to help!?”

“It’s a whole lot more than just plain old possession.” Jericho answered. “It's a really special power. Mira told me about it when she talked about her old time travel days. It’s too complicated to explain right now, but in short: we’re gonna use that special power to save her life. Chihiro, are you in?”

“Yeah, I’m in.” Chihiro replied.

“What!?” I burst out.

Let me be clear, I’m perfectly okay with using Mira’s unique Psionic power to save her life. She signed her defection to our side in her own blood, after all. What I’m not okay with is using said power on Chihiro, especially when I’m not sure on what it is.

Don’t worry about me, Blake. Chihiro’s voice filled my mind. This is going to be temporary. I’ll be fine. That’s a promise. Just promise me you’ll get Akira to a medic, okay?

Okay, fine. I promise.

Then Chihiro nodded at Jericho.

“Right, this isn’t going to hurt.” Jericho said. “But it will be unpleasant.”

Jericho took a deep breath and focused her powers on Chihiro. Instantly, Chihiro’s whole body convulsed and she went limp! I jumped forward and caught her before she hit the floor. Lowering her down gently, I knew exactly which of Chihiro’s old Gene Mods had just been activated.

“You tried to Mind Control her!” I yelled at Jericho. “What the hell is wrong with you!?”

“Sorry, Blake” Jericho said quickly. “She needs to be unconscious for this part, and it’s just temporary.”

While Manako, Kailani, and I watched, Jericho laid the Assassin on the floor next to Chihiro, then checked Chihiro one last time.

“Okay, Corporal Tachibana’s out cold. We’re ready, Mira. Anything you wanna say before you leave that body forever?” Jericho asked.

Coughing, Mira smiled at us and said in weak voice:

“Your good friend there, give him my weapons. He is worthy of them, especially of the blade.”

Jericho telekinetically summoned both of the Chosen Assassin’s weapons and passed them to me. I was caught off-guard by how lightweight and well balanced the Katana was in my hand. Closing her eyes and resting her head on the burned and bloodstained floor, Mira addressed all of us:

“You have fought well, XCOM. May you reclaim this world for your own.”

Mira stopped breathing and became still.

One second later, Chihiro opened her eyes and sat upright.

Chapter 27: Enemy Within

 

Chapter 23
Enemy Within

 

Thursday, July 19, 2035 4:10am
EXALT Forward Operating Base, Outskirts of Vladivostok, Russia


By the time Jericho finished explaining the situation for the umpteenth time, she was starting to lose her voice. Commander Harper, Central Officer Bradford, Doctor Tygan, and the holographic images of Geist, Betos, and Konstantine Volkilov all listened to Jericho’s story with rapt attention. On the other side of the cramped little command center, two bodies were laying in partially zipped up body bags. The corpse of the Chosen Assassin was being examined by several EXALT scientists, while the still-breathing body of the Avatar was being given a very wide berth by everybody.

Behind Jericho, Chihiro Tachibana had been restrained. She was shackled at the wrists and ankles, gagged, had an Arc Brace had been fitted around her forearm, and two huge EXALT operatives were holding onto her shoulders. By this point, several hours had passed since Mira Mihaka had woken up in Chihiro’s body. I’d gotten over the shock of the whole thing, and I’d cautiously accepted Mira’s assurance that Chihiro would be fully restored to her own body after Mira vacated it.

“Your comrade is still here.” Mira had explained. “She’s just been suppressed.”

I would have been standing at her side, but the EXALT soldiers didn’t let me get any closer than ten feet. I held my place behind Jericho and watched XCOM’s leadership expectantly.

Finally, Commander Harper broke the tense silence.

“Where’s Akira Robinson? I think it’s safe to say her secret’s out… Again.”

“Medical tent number two.” I replied mechanically. “Plasma weapon impact to the back of the head. The Avatar must have got behind her at some point.”

“Is she stable?”

“Yes, ma’am. They’re applying Partogan nanomedicine now.”

Harper focused her gaze on Chihiro.

“This changes everything.”

“Yeah, you can say that again.” Bradford chimed in.

Commander Harper walked over to the table where the corpse of Mira Mihaka was resting. She cautiously placed two fingers on the Chosen Assassin’s throat and checked for a pulse.

“She’s dead.” Harper told the group. “Definitely dead. But you’re saying, Jericho, that her… her what? Spirit? Her soul? It just moved?”

“Let’s call it a ‘soul.’” Jericho offered. “It’s easier that way; and yes, it’s been moved.”

Pointing at Chihiro, Jericho said:

“Commander, you of all people should know about the wide range of things you can do with Psionics. Astral Projection is Mira’s unique skill. That’s how she could possess people and leave us thinking it was Mind Control. Mira can separate her soul from her body and… well… if you’re asleep, or unconscious, like Corporal Tachibana was…”

Commander Harper gulped and looked Chihiro in the eyes. Not breaking eye contact, she said:

“You surprised me, Jericho. I never imagined the possibility that a Chosen could defect. In fact, I’m still having trouble believing it.”

Gagged and unable to speak, Chihiro/Mira narrowed her eyes at Commander Harper.

“Mindshields all around, honey.” Harper tapped her own head. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to talk before we make any decisions.”

“Hold on, you’re actually going to listen to her!?”

The hologram of Konstantine Volkilov stepped through Harper and then turned around to address her. EXALT’s hologram tech is nowhere near as sophisticated as ours, so when he stepped away from the projector, Volk’s image degraded severely, but we could still hear his voice just fine.

“Commander, you’re not seriously considering that!” Volk protested. “After what happened this morning, you’re still willing to listen to what a xeno has to say!? Those Partogans almost killed our own people out there! She’s one of them! She cannot be trusted!”

“Xeno or not, she’s a defector!” Harper said. “As much as we would have liked to see her dead, we can’t execute her in cold blood anymore!”

“Agreed.” Betos added. “The moment the Chosen Assassin took up arms against a servant of the Elders, she became one of my Skirmishers. In our view, Mira Mihaka is on our side now.”

“She’s ADVENT!” Volk shouted so loudly that the speaker cut out for a second. “She’s an alien! She is the enemy!”

Chihiro/Mira tried to talk, but the cloth gag got in the way. Bradford talked over her.

“Volk, Jericho got the Assassin to change sides. It’s a win for us and a blow to ADVENT. What more could you want!?”

“Dead aliens!” Volk yelled. “That’s what I want! My men are fighting and dying to take our world back! We will not laying down our lives so that you can share the good green Earth with alien filth!”

The Reaper leader rounded on Harper.

“Look at me, Laura!”

Even though he was just a flickering two-dimensional image in midair, we could see just how angry and deranged Volk had gotten. He pointed at Chihiro.

“I told you back in Nevada that I drew the line at Skirmishers and Partogans. Letting the Chosen Assassin live is going too far! If the Assassin’s really in that girl, then do the right thing and put a bullet in her head! End this threat once and for all!”

“LIKE HELL!”

I stepped out of line and placed myself firmly between Chihiro and the Commander. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel my own pulse in my arms.

“No one is going to hurt Chihiro!” I shouted.

Now Volk turned his wrath on me.

“What the hell is wrong with you, boy!?” Volk’s holographic silhouette took a step towards me and I held my ground. “We’re talking about a dangerous alien here; this should not be a debate anymore!”

“That alien just fought an Avatar to the death to protect Jericho!” I countered. “That’s the opposite of dangerous, Volk!”

Volk made a head-bobbing motion that suggested he had just spit on the ground, wherever he was.

“Don’t even get me started on that half-Human freak!” He turned his head to address Harper.

“This is why I wanted you to keep Jericho out of the loop, Laura! If she hadn’t found out about her so-called mother being the Chosen, we wouldn’t be in this hole!”

“We’re not in a hole!” Bradford cut in. “By bringing the Assassin over to our side, Jericho’s given us an opportunity we didn’t even know existed! The fact is, Volk, we don’t need to kill our enemies if they can be convinced to turn!”

Volk put his hands on his hips and shook his head.

“You’re still too trusting, John!” He snapped. “Aliens are below Human sentiments like that. Stop assuming that these things think like us! You let Mihaka live, and you’ll be giving up everything XCOM fights for: A free Earth, void of outsiders and ruled by free men.”

The hologram of Betos cast a dark look at the Reaper leader.

“You seem to be very misguided about what XCOM fights for, Volk.” Betos said. “We fight for the freedom of all who were enslaved by ADVENT, not just Humankind.”

The two faction leaders stared at one another; their holographic faces filled with implied threats. I was quite grateful that neither of them was physically in the same room as us. Finally, Commander Harper ended the argument:

“Betos is right, Volk. In this kind of war, freedom is an everybody-or-nobody option. We’re going to accept Mira Mihaka’s defection. She’s one of us now.”

Stepping away from the holographic faction leaders, Commander Harper ordered me to remove Chihiro/Mira’s gag. Behind me, I heard Volk fly off the handle:

“Listen to me, Harper! You do this, and the alliance is off! Reapers have long memories, and we won’t forgive anyone who turns their back on their own species! Don’t make an enemy out of me, Harper!”

A flurry of movement and sound caused me to pause and look around.

Harper, Bradford, Tygan, Betos, and Geist had encircled the hologram of Volk. The group seemed to be radiating hostile intent.

“Any Reaper who wants to join us and help bring down the Elders is more than welcome.” Harper growled. “But let me make this clear, Volk: Undermine our mission, come after any of my people, do anything at all that I don’t like, and I will leave no trace that you or your Reapers ever existed. Am I clear? I. Will. End. You.”

Volk didn’t speak. He didn’t so much as blink. After a moment, he disconnected, causing his hologram to vanish. Harper sighed and gave Bradford a quick nod. The Central Officer quickly stormed out of the command center, talking into a radio as he went:

“This is Central, pass the word to all XCOM, Triple Alliance, Templar, and Skirmisher squad leaders: Reapers are now hostile. Repeat, the Reapers have turned and are now hostile. Follow standard rules of engagement.”

Meanwhile, I finished removing Chihiro/Mira’s gag and stepped aside, allowing her to face Commander Harper.

“I apologize for that scene.” The Commander said. “Making an ally out of your enemies is very messy art form.

“You speak with a certain wisdom.” Chihiro spoke in Mira’s voice. “I see why your Resistance was so quick to rally around you.”

The doorway to the command center swung open again, and two Partogans entered. Manako and Makara Ranginui both halted when they saw the Assassin’s body lying on one of the tables. Jericho waved to get their attention and they approached.

“I just heard you found Mira Mihaka!” Makara’s English was now nearly perfect, and her voice seemed to be permanently locked into a South Island New Zealand accent. “Where is she?”

“The answer is… somewhat complicated.” Doctor Tygan replied, pointing at Chihiro.

Manako and Makara both looked very confused as Chihiro/Mira waved at them. I tried to help:

“Mira’s original body was killed. She’s using Astral Projection to inhabit someone else right now, and we have a plan for a more permanent solution.”

Makara did a double take, looking from the Assassin’s corpse to Chihiro, then said aloud:

“Kia ora?”

“Kia ora.” Chihiro/Mira answered calmly. “Ko Mira Mihaka toku ingoa. Kei tawhiti ahau i te kainga.”

“Ae.” Makara nodded. “Kei te mahara ahau ki te whakatau ia koe.”

Chihiro/Mira nodded.

“Pai.”

Makara addressed me again.

“You said she’s using Astral Projection, and that this body is a temporary host? Where is the new host body?”

I crossed the room and tapped the inert Avatar on the head.

“It turns out Avatars don’t have minds of their own.” Jericho explained. “They’re just puppets for the Elders to use. When Mira cut this Avatar off from the Elders, it just collapsed.”

“Using this specimen,” Tygan added, “I’ve theorized that the Elders were looking for a way to permanently inhabit the bodies of the Avatars, doing away with their current system of Psionic tethers. This might even be the end goal of the AVATAR Project itself.”

“So,” I said, “If we put Mira in this Avatar body like Jericho suggested, then we’d basically be doing the Elder’s work for them.”

“Yes and no.” Tygan replied. “Remember, we will be exploiting the Chosen Assassin’s power of Astral Projection to do this. As far as we know, this power is unique to her.”

“That is no longer a guarantee.” Chihiro/Mira interjected. “The Elders have spent countless centuries trying to overcome such limitations. The AVATAR Project will only bring them closer to succeeding.”

“Speaking of that project.” Commander Harper raised her voice to get everyone’s attention. “We only have a few hours left before we have to move against it. I, for one, would like to have Corporal Tachibana restored to her own body as quickly as possible. Is there anyone here besides the Reapers who opposes allowing Mira to inhabit the Avatar body? Anyone at all?”

Looking around, I saw that nobody had an issue with this.

“So, what’ll happen to Mira after that?” Jericho asked. “She’s still my mom.”

“No doubt I’ll be expected to answer for my actions against you and your allies.” Chihiro/Mira said.

Commander Harper shook her head.

“Perhaps, but for now, that will have to wait until after ADVENT’s overthrown. Mira, I have no doubt that you have a trove of actionable intel we could make use of. You’ve already done so much by defecting to our side and protecting our troops. But before this war is over, I have to ask if you would be willing to contribute anything else to our fight against the Elders. Please, Mira. You might help us tip the scales today.”

“I know you are planning to breach the Psionic Gateway, and bring war to my masters in their citadel,” Mira answered. “You will need a guide, as well as a protector. Many terrors await you in the deep.”

“You were our enemy less than six hours ago.” Betos said. “Out of an abundance of caution, I say it is far too premature to give her a weapon and expect her to fight against ADVENT. We must give her time to acclimate to our way of living and fighting!”

“Betos, twenty-four hours from now, this war will be over!” Harper snapped. “The time for caution and half measures has passed. Either we defeat the Elders now or the AVATAR Project goes live! Either way, it’s over! Tygan! Jericho! Start prepping Mira for the transfer. Everyone else, start packing your gear for the trip back to the Avenger. Operation Leviathan will launch first thing tomorrow!”

Commander Harper picked up a clipboard from a nearby table and approached me.

“I think this goes without saying, Robinson, but your troops are going to take point on Leviathan.”

“I was counting on that, ma’am.”

“Good. You’re going to be leading the assault, but Stormbreaker won’t be going alone. I want you to pick a platoon’s worth of soldiers to join your unit.”

I felt my mouth drop open.

“Ma’am!? You’re giving me a platoon!?”

“Take any soldier you want from any squad. The Skirmishers and Templars will open their ranks to you as well. I’ll talk to the Partogans about loaning some of their troops for the operation as well.”

“Team Takea is available to you.” Makara cut in. “I’ll see if any other Triple Alliance Marines can be set aside for your mission.”

Harper put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“Smith, Walsh, Ackermann and Endo are back at the Avenger now, being evaluated in the infirmary. Shen tells me they’re all itching for a fight. Ackermann pretty much threw herself into the Hypervital Module an hour ago, so she’s ready to fight. Endo is getting fitted for new legs right now. I’ll send Tachibana to join you as soon as she’s separated from Mira.”

Looking around the gathered leaders in the room, I hesitated for a moment before deciding not to say Akira’s name.

“And the other soldier in the Medical Tent?”

“I’ll send her as soon as she’s on her feet.” Harper replied. “But she did get shot in the head, Robinson. That kind of damage needs lots of Nanomedicine, and we’re dependent on the Partogans for it. She might not recover in time. Be ready for that.”

Commander Harper let go of my shoulder and finished by saying:

“You and your platoon will be briefed on the final mission at nineteen-hundred hours tonight. Dismissed, Lieutenant!”

I turned on my heels and made for the exit. Just as the door closed behind me, I heard Makara say:

“Commander Harper, I need to talk to you. My brother says he encountered a certain Human named ‘Akira Robinson’ a few hours ago…”

…

Thursday, July 19, 2035 3:30pm
Near the Ruins of Artyom, Russia


The Avenger had landed in a grassy field that used to be Vladivostok International Airport, just a short ten-mile drive away from Mira’s old fortress. With the Skyranger destroyed, the roads leading to the ship were choked with trucks moving between the ship and the battlefield. It took several hours to reach the Avenger, and while I waited for Chihiro, Jericho, and Akira to catch up, I decided to have a little reunion.

Sophie Ackermann, Tsubaki Endo, Holly Smith, and Kathleen Walsh were all still in the infirmary. The rest of the squad was there as well, recovering from their various injuries sustained during this morning’s fight. Our missing comrades were more than happy to be home. Tsubaki told everyone about how she had always known a rescue would come while taking a few practice steps on her new cybernetic legs. Kathleen was telling tall tales about being interrogated by the enemy, while Sophie mostly stayed silent, listening to the goings-on and watching us all like a wallflower. Odette Fournier had joined her, and the two were having a silent moment together. Holly was being debriefed about her time in captivity by Isis Dekker. Isis herself had a notepad and was writing down anything she might consider to be useful intel.

Once cheerful reunions simmered down, I got the group’s attention and quickly debriefed everyone on what had happened recently. I told the squad about how the soldier they knew as Homura Hanako had already been revealed as the time traveler Akira Robinson once, and that she had suppressed their memories of her after the Partogans appeared. Ignatius Petoskey was particularly disturbed by this news. As soon as I confirmed what Akira had done, he activated his Psionic Amplifier and started to inspect our minds, one by one. Ignatius found the “damage” Akira had inflicted and started to undo her handiwork, one Stormbreaker at a time.

Meanwhile, I brought Holly, Sophie, Tsubaki, and Kathleen up to speed on everything that had happened since their capture at Pyongyang. At times, other members of the squad chimed in with their own contributions to the story. As it turned out, none of our rescued comrades knew that Sophia’s twin sister Ludmilla had been killed during the fight at Pyongyang. Sophie and Tsubaki hugged Sophia and shared a few moments of crying together.

“Once the war’s over, we’ll go to Kanna, and we’ll give Ludmilla a real funeral, okay?” Tsubaki offered. “All of us, together.”

The news of our Partogan allies was taken differently by each woman:

Holly punched the air and gave a celebratory shout!

“YES! There’s always a bigger bully on the playground!”

Kathleen was suspicious and skeptical of the Partogans.

“I don’t like ‘em. How do we know we’re not trading one alien master for another?”

Tsubaki was curious about the Partogans shocking resemblance to the natives of New Zealand.

“It can’t be a coincidence that they look and talk like Maori. No chance in hell! Something’s up, and I wanna know what it is!”

Sophie was downright xenophobic.

“So what? Once ADVENT’s down we’ll just have to start fighting them. There’s nothing to stop them trying to take our world.”

Finally, I completed the recap by giving Holly and the others a complete blow-by-blow retelling of Akira’s activities since her first appearance in Korea, as well as her apparent history with the Partogans. When I reached the part about Akira being unexpectedly downed during the fighting earlier today, Kathleen clenched her teeth and made a hissing noise.

“Oh, shit!” Kathleen gasped. “You mean to tell me the Partogans fragged Akira!?”

Everybody turned to look at Kathleen. Matthew Hawkins scratched his ear and said:

“Care to repeat that? Cause it sounds like you said the Partogans f-”

“Fragged!” Kathleen repeated. “Don’t any of you greenhorns know what fragging is?”

“Some of the young-in’s might not know,” Hal suggested. “But us vets… we do.”

Sophie, Sophia, and Matthew were the only Stormbreakers who didn’t know the term, having never fought in a war before the Alien Invasion. Hal quickly provided an explanation:

“’Fragging’ is when a soldier deliberately murders one of his own comrades. It happened a lot during World War Three, especially as the Soviet forces started to fall apart.”

Yutaka Yamamoto nodded and added:

“Towards the end, nearly everyone in the Soviet Army realized we were going to lose. Morale was low and discipline was nonexistent. Almost every night, someone would toss a live hand grenade into the officer’s barracks, trying to kill the Commissars. Sometimes, in the middle of a firefight, a Red Army soldier would shoot and kill his own comrade, then blame it on the enemy. That is fragging.”

“And it sounds like that’s what happened to Akira.” Kathleen finished. “The Partogans must have tried to execute her when you had your back turned.”

Several distinct conversations broke out as Stormbreakers debated and argued with one another over whether or not the Partogan soldiers had genuinely made an attempt to murder Akira. Taking advantage of the unmoderated chatter, I pulled Holly aside for a quick chat.

I was expecting the Colonel to get upset when she learned that I would be the one to lead the Squad during the final battle. Instead, she took the news with a surprising amount of grace.

“Better you than Yamamoto, Robinson. You’re much more trustworthy.” Colonel Smith said. “Speakin’ of Yamamoto, he’s looking unusually chipper. Somethin’s definitely different about him. What’s been going on?”

Damn! Holly was quick on the draw! I settled on the truth.

“He’s been… in a relationship with Jericho for the past couple of months.” I whispered. “You know, the romantic kind.”

Holly retched.

“That creep!? Really!? Trojan, mate, you’re killin’ me! That’s creepy as all hell! Please tell me you told the Commander!”

“Hey, I got creeped out too!” I said, throwing up my hands, “Chi and I were talking about doing something, but we never got around to it. Besides, both of them seem to be doing well. Happy enough as far as I can tell.”

Colonel Smith shook her head disapprovingly.

“Listen here, Lieutenant. Time for a British Royal Army leadership lesson: You cannot have a Captain doin’ romance with a lower enlisted. Those kinds of relationships are nearly always because the officer is abusing his rank to take advantage of the other soldier. The lopsided power dynamic is bad for morale and cohesion in long term. Trust me, Robinson. You’re just doing damage to the whole squad by letting Yamamoto get away with this.”

Holly paused.

“Wait, what country are we in?”

“I think we’re in Russia.”

“Russia, right. Okay, Robinson, I’ll bet you a thousand Rubles that it’s not a real romance. Yamamoto has got something on Jericho, and he’s using it to boss her around.”

“You’ve only been back a few hours and your intuition is that good?” I let out an impressed whistle. “Tell ya what, Smith: If this mission goes sideways and the war keeps going after tomorrow, you can have the Squad Leader job back.”

A little while after this, Jericho and Chihiro returned to the Avenger and joined us in the infirmary. When Chihiro stepped through the doorway, I joined in the celebratory cheers that greeted her before giving Chihiro a hug and a kiss as well. Ignatius insisted on telepathically checking Chihiro’s mind to make sure Mira had well and truly vacated the place; but Jericho swore, hand over heart, that Chihiro was whole and intact.

Isis Dekker hugged Jericho and didn’t let go for nearly a minute, although Jericho didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Now I’ve got two Moms at the same time!” Jericho cried. “If we live through Leviathan, I’ll make gifts for both of you!”

The celebration would have gone on longer, but one by one, we noticed that both Chihiro and Jericho had the looks of people who were about to deliver some bad news. The joy fading fast, I asked if something was wrong.

“No Partogans.” Jericho informed us. “They’re still going to help us fight ADVENT elsewhere, but they’re not going to help us on Operation Leviathan. We’re on our own tomorrow.”

“What!?” Soylent gasped. “Why’d they back out!?”

“That doesn’t make sense!” I protested. “That Makara lady said we’d have the Takea squad for the Assault.”

“Makara recalled Team Takea to her ship.” Chihiro looked crestfallen as she reported this. “After you left the FoB, Makara and Commander Harper got into an argument… about Akira.”

The jubilant atmosphere left the infirmary like air from a balloon.

“Wait… seriously!?” Kathleen stammered.

Jericho nodded.

“Makara told the Commander that Akira is a wanted criminal on Partoga. Sounded like Akira did something really serious, because Manako and his sister wouldn’t stop going on about how ‘dangerous’ she is. Even Mira agreed with them, she said that Akira is a genuine threat..”

“Anyway,” Chihiro continued. “Makara demanded that Harper ‘surrender’ Akira to the Partogans at once.”

Chihiro screwed up her voice and did an impression of Makara:

“This is a crucial matter of Commonwealth national security and it will be a non-negotiable aspect of any future alliance between Earth and Partoga. You must extradite Akira Robinson to our custody immediately.”

A shocked silence ran around the room.

“So… I guess I was right.” Kathleen sounded stunned. “Manako really did try to frag Akira.”

“Yeah, Harper inferred as much without saying it out loud.” Jericho confirmed. “Here’s the sticky part, though. Commander Harper used some kind of legal technicality to stop the Partogans from taking Akira.”

“A legal technicality?” Isis repeated. “How the hell could she do that?”

“Harper said that XCOM is a military organization sanctioned by the Council of Nations.” Chihiro said. “And that only the Council has the authority to ‘handle that kind of request.’ Basically, Harper passed the buck and told Makara to call up the Council.”

Pause.

Then, everybody started to laugh!

“The Council hasn’t met in over twenty years!” Ignatius roared. “And most of its members are on the enemy side these days!

“‘Its members have all sworn allegiance to ADVENT, with one exception.’” Soylent recited in a near-perfect recreation of the mysterious Council Spokesman’s deep voice.

“And the new Resistance Council hardly counts as a government!” Yutaka chortled. “Their authority doesn’t go any farther than the firing range of our biggest gun!”

“So, what happened?” I asked

“The Ranginui twins made it clear that they aren’t going to help us with Operation Leviathan if Harper holds out for Akira.” Jericho concluded. “And then Harper asked me to let you know that Akira would be staying with her until you picked out the troops for the mission.”

“Pick troops?” Soylent repeated. “You haven’t decided who’s on mission yet, Robinson?”

I gave the Captain a mischievous smile.

“You’ve got it backwards, Colonel.” I said. “We can’t afford to let this mission get away from us. If you can walk and hold a gun, you’re on deck for this op. Now I just have to pick three more squads’ worth of soldiers to go with us.”

“THREE MORE SQUADS!?” The Stormbreakers gasped in unison.

“Yeah.” I confirmed. “We’re gonna do Operation Leviathan as a platoon. Get your gear and meet me in the armory at nineteen hundred. First thing tomorrow, we’re ending this war.”

I got up to leave. Next to the Infirmary door, Holly had put Yutaka in a headlock and was playfully messing around with his hair. The Soviet soldier protested and demanded the Colonel let him go.

“Oh, c’mon, Captain!” Holly kept her tone light and jovial. “What’s a little roughhousin’ among officers? Oh!”

Holly gave a little jump as she brushed up against Yutaka’s leg.

“What the bloody hell is that in your pocket, Captain?” Holly tightened her grip on Yutaka’s head with one arm and stuffed her free hand into Yutaka’s cargo pocket. “Lieutenant Robinson got you carryin’ bricks or something? C’mon! Give it up!”

Holly withdrew a small remote control and held it up over her head.

“This isn’t funny, Smith!” Yutaka protested. “Give that back!”

Jericho, Chihiro, I all saw the remote in Holly’s hand.

“Is that… the Arc Brace remote you lost at Site X!?” Chihiro gasped. "Jericho! Has Yamamoto been threatening to shock you this whole time!?"

Yutaka looked horrified. Jericho went completely pale and nodded quietly.

“Oi! Robinson!” Holly shouted. “You owe me a thousand Rubles!”

…

Thursday, July 19, 2035 6:55pm


I don’t think the full weight of what I was doing hit me until the last two hours or so. I spent that last afternoon before the mission picking and choosing the men and women who would fight in what might just be the last battle in Human history. If everything went well, we would defeat the Elders and liberate the Earth. If we failed… well, then we would be the last noteworthy men and women ever. We would be the ones refusing to go gentle into the good night.

The Final Platoon, as our group came to be known as, would be broken up into four Squads. First Squad would, of course, be the Stormbreakers: Holly, Chihiro, Jake, Yutaka, Matthew, Ignatius, Isis, Sophie, Tsubaki, Sophia, Kathleen, Hal, and myself. Akira would also be joining us just before we went through the Psionic Gate.

I chose Jane “Gatecrasher” Kelly to lead Second Squad. She had been fighting the good fight since she was old enough to hold a gun, and had been instrumental in the mission that had rescued Commander Harper, Chihiro, Holly, Soylent and I from ADVENT captivity. It was only fitting she be there for the final blow. Kelly picked some of XCOM’s best and brightest fighters for her squad, including the entire team responsible for killing the Chosen Warlock.

I gave command of the Third Squad to Pratal Mox, the Skirmisher who served as Betos’ second-in-command. Mox drew from the ranks of the Skirmishers as well as XCOM’s best Rangers to build his squad. He was deeply grateful for the chance to lead a strike against the Elders themselves and swore on his honor that he would not return through the Psionic Gate until he had struck down an Avatar.

I had a little trouble picking a leader for the Fourth Squad. The gravity of the situation had finally sunk in. I tracked Jericho down and asked her for some advice.

“Did Mira’s database say anything about who I picked for the Final Platoon?”

“Yes.”

“Did it say who I picked for Fourth Squad?”

To my surprise, the question caused Jericho to become extremely uncomfortable. She tried to dodge the answer and change the subject twice before I got her to give me a straight answer:

“I’ll tell you who I picked, okay? As long as you promise I won’t have to work with him.”

“Uh, okay. Is he someone you don’t get along with?” I asked. “If it’s bad, I can just pick someone else.”

“No, you really should pick him.” Jericho admitted with a defeated sigh. “He’s a decent leader, and what’s more important is that he’s good under pressure.”

“But you don’t get along with him.” I pressed. “What, is this guy an ex-boyfriend or something?”

I was trying to be sarcastic, but when Jericho blushed and hid her face in her hands, I realized how hard I’d hit the nail on the head!

Turns out, during that brief period of time when she had been separated from Isis but not yet moved in with Mira, Jericho had dated a Hawaiian named Duane Gardner, and she had ended up dumping him after multiple bad experiences. Duane himself turned out to be a little too clingy for Jericho’s tastes, and he refused to admit under any circumstances that their relationship was actually over.

With the promise that she wouldn’t have to work or fight alongside him, I jogged out to the Templar camp and asked a liaison to put me in touch with Duane. The Hawaiian Templar reported to the Avenger just fifteen minutes before the briefing started, and he brought with him seven fully armed and equipped Templars. He had also recruited six of XCOM’s Psi Operatives for his own squad as well.

With just five minutes left until the briefing started, the Final Platoon in its entirety had assembled in the Avenger’s armory. Fifty men and women had picked out the weapons and equipment they would carry to the final battle. XCOM, the Skirmishers, and the Templars had formed our own little “mini Triple Alliance” to take down the Elders without any help from the Partogans. By what must have been a miracle, Central Officer Bradford, Commander Harper, and I finally managed to quiet the crowd and begin the last pre-combat briefing of the war:

“It’s time we put ADVENT down for the count!” Bradford began. “This will be a two-pronged assault. Echo Squad is already in position at the ADVENT Network Tower in Berlin. They’ll be the first to move.”

“A few hours from now, it will be midnight here on the Pacific Rim, and also the midday to late afternoon hours in America and Europe.” Harper told us. “At that time, the Speaker of the ADVENT Coalition is scheduled to give a broadcast announcing a final climactic breakthrough in Gene Therapy. Before the broadcast finishes, Echo squad will hack the Network Tower and cause a worldwide disruption of the Psionic Network the enemy uses to coordinate their troops.”

“Shen has also cooked up a surprise that’ll keep ADVENT glued to their television screens while we work.” Bradford added. “Something that’ll really get their attention.”

“With ADVENT in an uproar,” I continued. “We’ll activate the Psionic Gate down in the Shadow Chamber and start funneling troops into the Elder’s domain.”

“This is a risky plan,” Commander Harper said. “A lot could go wrong, but bringing the fight directly to the Elders is the quickest way to stop this war.”

“Soldiers!” I raised my voice so that everybody in the back could hear me. “On the other side of that Gate is the seat of the Elder’s power! Think of it as their capitol! Their headquarters! Your orders are to dismantle and destroy the domain of the Elders so that it can never be rebuilt! Let the Elders know that they will have no place on our world anymore! That nobody on this planet, Human or otherwise, will ever kneel to the Elders again!”

“Men and women of XCOM!” Harper addressed her troops. “For the past twenty years, you have sacrificed much and risked all for your friends, families, and communities. You’ve given up your strength and health so that others can be free! You practiced and mastered the art of warfare so that your children and grandchildren might master something else! You have forever earned my respect and trust. In time, I hope everyone on this world will recognize you as the heroes I believe you are!”

Commander Harper pointed to a weapon’s crate. Obeying her wordless orders, Bradford and I quickly pushed it in front of her so she could stand head and shoulders above every member of the Final Platoon.

“Every commissioned officer in the room! Raise your right hand and repeat after me!”

There was a great rustling and commotion as men and women raised their hands above their hearts. Central Officer Bradford and I couldn’t help but smile at one another. We had been warned about this surprise about five minutes beforehand. Then, the walls and ceilings shook as twenty voices, including my own, recited the oath Commander Harper dictated to them:

“I solemnly swear to devote my life and abilities in the defense of the United Nations of Earth. To defend the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to uphold the freedoms of all sentient life. From the deepest ocean, to the peak of the heavens, for as long as I shall live!”

As we finished reciting the oath, Commander Harper declared:

“By my authority as a General of the United States Army and as the Commander of XCOM, I hereby grant all of you a battlefield promotion!”

The uproar of cheering and celebration nearly deafened me as Lieutenants became Captains, Captains became Majors, and Majors became Colonels. Officers high-fived and congratulated themselves, too busy to notice what all of the lower enlisted soldiers were staring at. Only a few people noticed at first when Commander Harper stepped down from the crate and allowed me to take her place, but silence quickly fell when the newly promoted Commander Bradford shouted:

“At ease!”

I didn’t raise my voice as loudly as Harper did. I didn’t need to. Even though she was in the middle of the crowd, I could clearly see Chihiro’s eyes light up as she realized what was about to happen.

“Privates, Corporals, and noncommissioned officers of XCOM.” I began. “It’s your turn.”

Thirty voices reciting the new oath together actually caused my ears to ring! In that small, cramped armory, you might have thought that every army Humanity had thrown against the aliens was gathered in that one little room! As I promoted the other half of the Final Platoon, I couldn’t help but feel that our morale couldn’t get any higher! I enjoyed every moment of the celebration afterward, trying hard not to think about the possibility that by this time tomorrow, many of these happy young soldiers might be dead.

…

Thursday, July 19, 2035 4:00pm
Metropolitan Berlin, Germany, Central Europe


All across the world, at exactly four in the afternoon, Berlin time, television and radio programs were interrupted to bring a special message from the Speaker of the ADVENT Coalition. Millions upon millions of people stopped what they were doing to watch, be they at home, at work, or in one of the Megacities that had not been attacked during the earlier wave of violence. Electronic billboards in every city and town switched their feeds to the ADVENT News network as the announcer addressed the world:

“Good morning, fellow citizens. The ADVENT Coalition has announced the definitive advancement in Gene Therapy has been delivered to the Speaker of the Coalition as a Gift for all of Humanity. Coalition officials assure us that the Elder’s greatest Gift to Humanity will be made available to all citizens immediately. We turn now to the Speaker for more.”

The images on all screens shifted away from the news desk to an outdoor speaking venue in the heart of downtown Berlin, where the Speaker of the ADVENT Coalition addressed a cheering crowd from behind an ornate red and gold podium. The Speaker himself was a thin man with dark round glasses and a long neck that was covered in odd brown spots and speckle-marks. He might have looked rather gangly, but he spoke in a passionate way that would have made anyone pay attention.

“Fellow citizens, for twenty years we have put our trust in ADVENT, in the Elders; because we believed a better future is possible for all. Today, that trust… that belief… has been rewarded! ADVENT’s peacekeeping forces are traveling across the world carrying the greatest gift from the Elders! A revolutionary Gene Therapy, yes. But! So… much… more! This is an end to disease, to decay, to pain! The beginnings of a new tomorrow, available to all of us, today! Truly, Humanity takes its rightful place amongst the stars.”

The Speaker took a deep breath. Having finished the speech, he was convinced that this would be his magnum opus. Looking away from the cameras and the teleprompters, the Speaker was ready to bask in the adulation of the loyal crowd. To his surprise, the Speaker saw that the watching crowd of Germans did not look happy or cheerful. In fact, they weren’t looking at the Speaker at all. Instead, they were gesturing angrily at the large digital screen behind the Speaker and muttering furiously to one another.

Sensing something was wrong, the Speaker quickly looked around at the digital screen, and saw… horrors.

The broadcast had been hijacked. Almost from the start. While the Speaker had been delivering his speech, his words had been accompanied by a plethora of sickening images and videos… bodies of thousands of victims of one of the Blacksites… ADVENT soldiers attacking a defenseless village and kidnapping the people living there… the Chosen Hunter gunning people down for sport while laughing to himself. Images that had been seen by the entire world.

The Speaker only had seconds to react before the crowd of spectators converted itself into an angry mob and surged towards the stage!

…

 

Friday, July 20, 2035 12:00am
Near the Ruins of Artyom, Russia


“Weapons check!” I shouted.

“Locked and loaded and ready to kill!” My squad shouted back!

I paced the hallway again, inspecting everybody’s armor one last time. The dim light of the Psionic Gateway flitted underneath the doorway of the Shadow Chamber. It was nearly time. The hallway leading to the Shadow Chamber was lined with XCOM soldiers. All fifty members of the Final Platoon had taken up their positions in line to go through the Gate. The Stormbreakers would be first through, and once we had a beachhead, the other squads would be turned loose.

“I’m tired of waitin’ around!” Kathleen shouted. “Let’s get this done!”

“Robinson!” A voice called out.

Commander Harper and two people were dashing up the hallway to join us. Akira, fully armed and armored, was jogging behind her.

“One time-traveling daughter, as promised.” Harper said.

Akira darted out from behind the Commander and hugged Chihiro tightly.

“I can’t believe Manako actually tried to kill me!” Akira gasped. “I’m sorry I almost missed the big show.”

“Kid, supernatural Gift or no, you got shot in the head.” Matthew said. “Are you sure you don’t wanna sit this one out?”

“And miss one of the most important battles in Human history!?” Akira asked sarcastically. “Not on your life.”

Then Akira turned to face me.

“I’m here to help, I swear. Tell me where you need me to go.”

Now wasn’t the time to be picky. Not when so much was at stake.

“You’re with me.” I said. “Odette, Holly, and I are going to be running the flanks.”

“Got it.” Akira said. “Stay mobile, attack from the sides.”

The door to the Shadow Chamber swung open.

“Stormbreaker!” Shouted the voice of Doctor Tygan.

Three at a time, we filed into the Shadow Chamber. As each row of soldiers laid eyes on the stranger in the room, there was a series of “oohs” and “ahs.” Chihiro gasped, Akira froze in shock, and Jericho beamed with happiness.

The Avatar we had fought in Vladivostok was here, but I almost didn’t recognize it. The Avatar had taken on a whole new look. Instead of the purple and black armor worn by all other Avatars in the field, this one was dressed up in a soft white and blue armor. The simple change in color scheme alone made this Avatar look downright friendly.

“I’m glad you approve of the cosmetic changes.” Tygan noticed the whole squad staring. “I needed to be sure that you would be able to differentiate a friendly Avatar from a hostile one.”

The white Avatar approached and stuck out her hand for me to shake.

“You helped to spare my life.” Mira Mihaka spoke through the Avatar. “In this new form, I hope to atone in some measure for all of the harm I have caused you and your comrades.”

“Welcome aboard.” I grasped Mira’s new hand and shook it firmly. “Let’s start by defeating the Elders.”

Mira gesture to one of Doctor Tygan’s workbenches behind her.

“Your scientist insisted on examining these before allowing you to use them.” Mira explained. “I have done my best to assist and allow him to complete is work quickly.”

Doctor Tygan picked up the Chosen Assassin’s shotgun and held it out to me.

“This weapon is, in my opinion, one of the most intriguing weapons I’ve ever come across.” Tygan said. “It’s build upon an a composite frame of Elerium and makes use of a Magnetic Ordinance Reduction System. Lieutenant Robinson, this is no ordinary shotgun, it is an armor-piercing cannon!”

I took the shotgun and ran my hands across the smooth surface, admiring its simple yet elegant design.

“Tradition must sometimes give way to technology.” Mira admitted. “Arashi has never failed me in the rare moments when I required its power. I am sure you will find it useful, but I hope you will agree with me that this is the true treasure.”

When Mira picked up her old Katana, she handled it with the same gentle care as one would handle an infant. Doctor Tygan’s eyes lit up at the sight of the sword. He too, seemed to value it more highly than the shotgun.

“If I may.” Tygan said. “The Assassin’s sword is something else entirely, and may just be among the more unique and perhaps important weapons we have ever recovered. Incredibly, it defeated all of my attempts to analyze its composition. All I can tell you is that the sword is made from multiple non-terrestrial elements that are held in a tight suspension by Psionic energy, and as for that energy itself… I have no explanation. This weapon is a prize for scholars as well as warriors.”

I hooked the Arashi to one of my shoulder straps and took the Katana in both hands. The experience of holding the Katana again was extraordinary. The weapon was perfectly balanced in my hand, even though the handle seemed to be quite heavy in proportion to the blade. As an XCOM Ranger, I had handled my fair share of swords. This weapon blew all other blades out of the water for me. There was simply no comparison!

“This Katana was forged by the Angelis Elder’s own hands.” Mira told me. “As part of the Elder’s efforts to make the forces of ADVENT appear divine or godlike, the blade was fashioned in the same style as the mythical Samurai of Japan. But the appearance is intentionally deceitful…”

Mira put both of her hands on the handle of the Katana, and pulled and twisted at the same time! Tygan and I both gasped! The handle snapped cleanly in half, to reveal a second, shorter sword hidden inside of the Katana’s handle! One weapon had suddenly become two!

“Incredible!” Tygan gasped. “I had no idea!”

Mira held up the short Tanto blade on one hand.

“This is the secret of my Katana.” Mira said. “This blade is made from pure Elerium and infused with energy drawn directly from the Shroud.”

“Shroud?” Tygan and I repeated together.

“Another plane of existence.” Mira’s voice sounded a little dreamy, as though she was looking back on a profound memory. “Made entirely from Psionic energy, it was the site of a great battle many Eons ago. The Elders visited the Shroud and imbued this Tanto with the residual energy from that bout of legendary combat.”

Mira reattached the Tanto to the Katana, hiding the Elerium blade away.

“That is the secret of my sword, Robinson. It contains the fury of a dying god. I’m confident you and your comrades will put it to good use against the Elders.”

Mira offered the Katana back to me. I discarded my Arc Blade and accepted it.

“What about you?” I asked. “We’re about to step into one helluva war zone. What will you fight with?”

Mira picked up a Psionic Amplifier from Tygan’s workbench.

“The Elders gave me this Gift, expecting that I would use it to enforce their will and expand their domain. Today, I will use it to bring freedom to all they have enslaved.”

Satisfied with that answer, I shook Mira’s hand one last time.

“Welcome to the Stormbreakers, Mira. Let’s put the Elder’s down once and for all!”

As Mira and I rejoined the ranks of the squad, Commander Bradford stepped in front of the deactivated Psionic Gateway, the better to talk to us while Tygan activated the device.

“Alright people, the world got its wake-up call.” Bradford began. “And now they know the truth. ADVENT is a lie, and their time is up.”

Commander Bradford gestured to a map of the world pinned to a nearby wall.

“They’ve got a full-fledged war on their hands now! While the aliens struggle to contain our world, we’re gonna make a move on theirs!”

Behind him, the Psionic Gateway came to life! A chaotic swirling Rift opened up in midair between the crescent-shaped pylons before resolving itself. I couldn’t help but stare, mesmerized. I could see the Elder’s domain through the Rift! Towering ornate statues and polished silver pillars reminded me of the temple-like interior of the Chosen Assassin’s sanctum. Bradford stood to one side and looked through the portal at the citadel on the other side.

“It won’t be easy, but you’re used to that. You did what was needed, you never gave up the fight!”

Tygan flipped a switch next on his console and held up one hand in the “wait” signal. The Gate was almost ready! Commander Bradford took those final seconds to psych us up one last time!

“You are XCOM! You’re gonna end this! Humanity is counting on us, people!”

Tygan flashed the thumbs up and he and Bradford both stepped out of our way. It was time to go, time for the final battle to begin.

“STORMBREAKERS!” I shouted to my team! “MOVE IN, TAKE GROUND, AND FIRE AT WILL!!”

Chapter 28: Ashes and Temples

 

 

Chapter 24
Ashes and Temples

Friday, July 20, 2035 12:01am
The Alien Fortress, Tethys Seamount, Pacific Ocean


Mira and I were the first two soldiers to step out of the Psionic Gate. I think we had only about two or three seconds to take in the environment around us. Nothing I’d seen before, not the Blacksites, UFOs, or ADVENT Megacities could prepare me for an environment as alien as this one.

Purple, green, and blue light overwhelmed my vision for a moment, before the colored shapes resolved themselves into an ultra-futuristic place. We had arrived in some kind of massive scientific facility. I saw computers with holographic screens and keyboards that seemed to hover in midair. Windows in the far wall revealed some kind of growery or greenhouse where purple fauna bloomed beneath violet lights. The walls and ceiling around us were transparent, revealing that the Alien Fortress lay far beneath a vast sea of water. A cloud of jellyfish swirled above my head, while a vaguely familiar looking shark swam past the wall to our right.

Just when I started to realize that we were still on Earth, I heard a voice! It resonated throughout the chamber and echoed off every surface! As the rest of the Stormbreaker Squad exited the portal and arrived, they held their hands to their ears as the voice assaulted their senses:

“Such loss. Such needless waste. You force our hand, yet we still offer peace. Join us and your world will be spared.”

There was a flurry of movement in the Greenhouse just ahead of us. As Ignatius brought up the rear and confirmed that all of the Stormbreakers were now on-site, Mira Mihaka pointed towards the Greenhouse and said:

“The Crypt of the Elders is that way.” Mira told us. “While their power extends far and wide, their physical forms are confined to this place.”

“Wait.” Soylent said. “Did she just call it a ‘crypt?’ Are the Elders dead already?”

“Death holds a much different meaning for the Elders.” Mira clarified.

The squad started to advance, crossing the lab and stacking up against the door to the Greenhouse, where we could now hear alien chatter inside. Behind us, the Psionic Gate came to life as the members of Second Squad began to make their appearance.

“On my go,” I said to the team. “Breach and clear in three, two, one… Go!”

Kathleen kicked the door open while Matthew threw a flashbang into the room! A Sectoid screamed in surprise as seventeen Stormbreakers erupted into the Greenhouse, guns blazing! We cleared the room right down to the very corners, gunning down three Sectoids and a couple of Vipers!

“Clear!” Chihiro shouted.

“Room’s clear!” Ignatius confirmed.

“You harbor such blind hatred for us.” The Ethereal voice said to us, their voice seeming to come out of nowhere. “We cannot understand it. Our intentions for your world were never hostile. They are still not. You are a part of us.”

Soylent smashed a window with his Anti-Materiel Rifle and then shot an alien on the other side.

“They actually expect us to buy any of this!?” he said in an exasperated way.

“More distrust.” The Ethereal sounded offended. “Perhaps you would find more reassurance in our words if…”

The Ethereal trailed off and fell silent as we exploded forth and began raiding the next room. Freed up from the distraction, we were able to focus on the tough fight in front of us:

By this point, alarms had been raised throughout the entire fortress, and a disturbingly large force of aliens met us in the next chamber, which looked like some kind of manufactory. A veritable horde of Mutons had taken up defensive positions all over the facility, and their lines had been augmented with MEC troopers and…

“Another goddamned Sectopod!” I shouted. “Doomsday, Alecto, Freud! Keep it busy! Mihaka, Paradox, and Vampire! Get ‘round the enemy’s flank!”

“On it!” Akira replied.

“Hell yeah! It’s killin’ time!” Holly cheered.

Keeping my head low, I moved along the XCOM battle line as it started to form, ordering soldiers into place and calling out targets. Second Squad was now all the way through the Gate and was starting to funnel their own troops into the fight as well.

“Holy shit, Robinson!” Jane Kelly gasped as she took cover behind a huge piece of machinery and joined the fight. “Where the hell did you get almost three dozen Mutons!?”

“I’m just lucky!” I shouted over the noise of gunfire. “Where’s Third Squad!?”

“On their way now! Keep up the pressure!”

And then, somehow, above the noise of nearly one hundred weapons firing on both sides, a voice made itself heard! It was the most kind, sweet, motherly voice you could possibly imagine. In my mind’s eye, I pictured the voice belonging to an angel from heaven. Somehow, without any plausible explanation why, every member of the Final Platoon knew at once that we were hearing the voice of the Angelis Ethereal, the undisputed enemy leader.

“So many were risked to give you life, Jericho. And for what? For violence... for war… for death. Truly you were meant for something more than this.”

To my left, Jericho launched a handful of Soulfire towards the enemy positions before ducking back into cover. She rolled her eyes as the Angelis Ethereal’s voice faded.

“And they’re talking to me.” Jericho complained. “Great. Just great!”

Holly and Yutaka fired a pair of rocket-propelled grenades into a Sectopod’s flank before it could get the chance to stand up at full height. The war machine teetered over and collapsed, crushing a group of Mutons and sending a whole squad of them fleeing! Behind me, I heard a shout:

“Forth Squad’s here!”

Duane Gardner skidded into cover, using Psionic power to deflect incoming weapons fire away from his soldiers.

“Gardner!” I shouted. “Is that everyone?”

“Yeah, that’s everyone!”

I stood up and shouted at the top of my lungs!

“PLATOON! PUSH FORWARD!”

Throughout history, there have been many “armchair generals” who discount the Human Wave Attack as a senseless strategy used only by idiotic commanders. Let me tell you, those people have never been on the receiving end of a Human Wave, and more importantly… they’ve never been on the giving end.

When fifty-two heavily armed men and women all broke cover and started moving towards the enemy line, firing their weapons as fast as they could pull the triggers, it had a psychological effect on friend and foe alike. With comrades all around me, left and right and front and back, I felt more secure than I should have, in spite of the fact that I was completely exposed out in the open. Advancing inexorably, we poured a hellish storm of fire and metal into the enemy ranks, sending tens of thousands of rounds downrange in a matter of seconds! The overwhelming cascade of fire struck the enemy line like a tornado! Any and everything the enemy was using for cover was swiftly destroyed! Blood and dust and smoke filled the air as the alien formation collapsed and broke beneath our assault!

“They’re running!” Sophie screamed. “They’re falling back!”

“Don’t stop!” I shouted. “Everyone keep pushing!”

“We offered your people hope!” The Angelis Ethereal preached above the sound of the battle. “A brighter future, to be something greater, yet still you refuse. What more can we offer you than the greatest gift of all?”

“Somebody shut that voice up!” Sophie shrieked while gunning down a Muton.

At the back of the line, Ignatius had not fired his weapon once. Instead, he was using his Gift to protect the Platoon from enemy fire, deflecting plasma beams and gauss rounds as best he could! Odette Fournier prowled the flanks like a panther, making sure nobody ambushed Ignatius from the sides.

“Your promise of gifts and salvation are lies built upon lies!” Ignatius roared. “And now the whole world knows!”

“So much time spent needlessly resisting, fighting your ascension to something greater. And yet, here you are… just as we envisioned! In your efforts to prevent the Avatar’s creation, you have followed the path we set forth, truly exceedingly even our own lofty expectations, Jericho.”

“Shut him out, Jericho!” Isis screamed above the din! “More alien lies!”

“Screw your expectations!” Jericho shouted at the Angelis Ethereal, even though she couldn’t see her. “I’m not living by anyone’s script anymore! I’m not going to be a puppet!”

The last cluster of Mutons resisting our Human Wave Attack was suddenly torn asunder in a horrifically graphic way as Jericho unleashed a Psionic storm! A swirling vortex of Psionic energy rippled around the Rift she had opened in the middle of the enemy lines! In seconds, more than half of the enemy force was annihilated! Panicking at the sight of their comrades being destroyed, most of the alien force broke from their positions and started to fall back, retreating further into the fortress.

The soldiers of the Final Platoon were also left stunned by Jericho’s sudden display of power. Some soldiers hesitated, but I urged them onward!

“Follow Jericho!” I shouted to my troops! “Keep up with her!”

Sticking close to Jericho, the soldiers of the Final Platoon surged through the Alien Fortress with all the destructive intensity of the Apocalypse! Every computer in sight was smashed. Thermite demolition charges fitted to machinery, and everything else was put to the flame! Forcing our way out of the manufactory, we came across something that made a few of us quite sick.

The next chamber was huge. It was probably six hundred meters wide and another nine hundred long. In this space, we found a near-perfect recreation of… a neighborhood. Twenty American-style suburban houses, complete with yards, a cross-street, and a network of power lines sat in the heart of the Alien Fortress, looking quite as though some detail-oriented collector had removed the neighborhood and placed it here with the greatest possible care. The one and only thing that seemed out of place was the street sign at the corner, which said:

Maple Street, U.S.A.

Oh, and there was also at least three platoons of alien fighters swarming through the neighborhood, setting up defensive positions and getting ready to fight the Human invaders.

“Time and again, you have rejected our wisdom. And still we show compassion and generosity.” The Angelis Ethereal carried on. “But as with all things this too must end. We can no longer afford to suffer your transgressions.”

“I don’t know what she means by that!” Hal yelled. “But I think we’re out of time! Let’s finish this!”

The Final Platoon surged into the facsimile neighborhood! Jericho, Akira, and Mira took the lead, blasting the enemy with a wide array of Psionic powers! Fighting on transplanted Human territory, the forces of XCOM and the Resistance finally had homefield advantage! Navigating the boulevard and structures with ease, “Maple Street, U.S.A.” quickly became a kill zone! Mutons, Sectoids, Vipers, MEC Troopers, Chryssalids, Codices and Archons all scrambled to find cover and concealment.

“Mimic Beacons!” I shouted. “Draw them out!”

All over the battlefield, there were flashes of blue light as Mimic Beacons were deployed all along XCOM’s new battle line. Without fail, the holographic duplicates of our soldiers drew fire from the enemy, giving away their hiding places! Our next volley of return fire was so vicious and lethal that it drew an immediate response of a different kind.

“I admire your tenacity, XCOM.” Hissed a familiar voice. “Bringing the fight to the Elder’s inner sanctum, that’s a bold strategy. Are you ready to see if it pays off?”

“My brother is here!” Mira shouted. “Everyone, find cover!”

CRACK!

The Chosen Hunter didn’t miss a mark! On his first shot, a soldier from Second Squad went down! Hit in the chest, the poor man didn’t even have the breath left to scream!

“Man down!” Jane Kelly shouted.

“I can get to him!” Tsubaki Endo yelled. “Someone give me cover fire!”

“Dragon!” I yelled. “Fangirl needs help!”

“Let’s do it like Hiroshima!” My wife called back!

Together, the three of us executed a leapfrogging movement. While one of us dashed to cover, the other two were laying down suppressing fire on Gur-Mon Madron, forcing him to cease fire and hunker down in cover. Finally, Chihiro used her Laser rifle to keep the enemy’s heads down while Tsubaki and I made the final dash to the wounded soldier.

It was Bernard von Unfal, the German soldier who bore the most responsibility for killing the Chosen Warlock a couple days ago. While Tsubaki grabbed von Unfal and started to drag him out of the line of fire, I saw something hit the side of a 2015-era minivan and roll along the pavement towards us.

“Stun Grenade!”

Too late! The device went off with a loud BANG! Suddenly, sounds and sights didn’t make sense! I could just barely hear Chihiro screaming to my left, before a voice cut through the chaos!

“Piper! Recovery protocol!”

A powerful electric jolt hit me in the head and spread out from there, shocking my whole body back to its senses, quite literally. Across the street, I saw Isis Dekker calling her Gremlin drone back, ready to load another Nanomedikit into it. Looking around, I realized Chihiro was still down. She was kneeling on the ground, holding her head in both hands. I started to move towards her when Isis shouted:

“On your left! Trojan! Hunter on your left!”

Once again, Madron had gotten so close he could have reached out and touched me! Instinctively, I raised the Arashi and fired! Mira’s shotgun went off with the force of a cannon and knocked me over backwards! The car next to Madrox got hit with the full force of the blast! Knocked clean off it’s wheels, the minivan rolled over and came to rest on its side while the Chosen Hunter laughed at me.

“You stupid monkey! If that gun didn’t do my sister any good, what makes you think it’ll work for you!?”

Madron drew his pistol and took aim at me! Before I could do anything, there was a chaotic eruption of light and sound! Duane Gardner and Akira had attacked the Chosen Hunter simultaneously! Two sets of Celestial Gauntlets projected intense beams of Psionic energy into the Chosen, hitting him so hard that he dropped his pistol and fell back! Activating their Shard Blades, Akira and Duane both charged! I jumped to my feet and got out of their way just in time!

A jet of light shot out of the Hunter’s free hand and connected with Akira’s chest! In an instant, the Chosen Hunter had completed a Psionic Inversion! He had forced Akira to teleport against her will! She rematerialized in the spot where Madron had just been standing, and suddenly found herself on the receiving end of Duane’s attack! The Hawaiian Templar saw what was happening and intentionally stumbled, grazing Akira with his blades instead of impaling her!

Meanwhile, Gur-Mon Madron had reappeared in Akira’s spot, which was just behind me. In a lightning-fast decision, I picked a plan of attack. Turning on the spot as quickly as I could, I reached up to my shoulder and grabbed the handle of Mira’s Katana.

Drawing a sword in anger always gives me an insane adrenaline rush, I was prepared for that, but the Psionic energy embedded in the Elerium blade multiplied that feeling a thousandfold! It was like I suddenly got all of my strength and stamina back! His pistol fallen on the ground; the Hunter started to raise his Sniper Rifle to fire on me! Gripping my new sword in both hands, I could feel the aches and pains of battle leaving me! I was light on my feet, stronger than I’d ever felt in years! The sword was giving me power!

“Now! Strike now!” An animalistic voice growled in my mind. “Strike with all your strength!”

Screaming like some kind of monster, I swung the Katana downward with so much force I could have split steel! With supernatural violence, Mira’s Katana sliced through Madron’s armor and dug into his flesh! Yellow blood sprayed all over my armor! The Chosen Hunter howled and retreated! Using his grappling hook to escape, Madron pulled himself up onto an open-top observation platform at the end of the simulated neighborhood.

“Follow him! Press the attack!” The Katana ordered, “Do not let him escape!”

Before I could take two steps, the Hunter finally managed to get the quick-draw on me! Just like the Assassin’s shotgun, the Hunter’s Rifle made a sound like a cannon! I felt a powerful thud and was blown clear across the pavement and crash-landed on my back! Opening my eyes, I saw strange multicolored shapes swirling in front of me before they resolved themselves into a thin trail of smoke, curling up from my body armor. I had just taken a gauss round to the chest! Was I dead? That didn’t matter right now.

“Get up!” Mira’s Katana shouted in my mind. “Get up! On your feet! Get up now!”

The shock of being hit so hard was wearing off in a hurry. I was surrounded on all sides by the fury and destruction of the battle, by smoke, flames, gunfire, shouting, and explosions; and yet, I was totally focused on just one thought: Get to Madron! I ran full-tilt across the street, scrambled up the ladder to the observation platform where the Hunter had fled, and found him unprepared.

The Chosen Hunter must have assumed he had killed me, because he was now focused on sniping other XCOM soldiers, and kept his eye in the scope until it was far too late. Madron noticed me as I drew the Katana back and aimed one hand at my face, preparing to hit me with a Psionic blast!

“Kill! Kill!” The Katana savored the moment before the deed. “KILL ALL ENEMIES!!”

I droved the Katana home! Piercing the Hunter’s damaged armor as though it wasn’t even there, I drove the blade all the way into his chest, then I detached the short Tanto blade from its hidden place in the handle! The translucent Elerium blade flickered with its own internal light, as though some kind of entity inside the blade was throwing itself against the walls of its prison! I thrust the Tanto into Madron’s heart!

At once, the Tanto blade got very hot in my hands, in exactly the same way a Gifted person gets hot when they discharge Psionic energy! In an instant, the Tanto blade had siphoned away all of Gur-Mon Madron’s Psionic energy, completely depriving him of his powers! Unable to teleport to his Sarcophagus to heal, the Chosen Hunter was about to die… and stay that way.

Panting, the two of us didn’t move. Some force compelled me to look at Madron. He looked up from the points where I’d stabbed him. Realizing what was about to happen, the Chosen Hunter coughed and spluttered:

“Have to admit… didn’t see this one coming… So, this is what it feels like to be afraid? Not… my style.”

The Chosen Hunter let out one last ragged breath and slumped over, unmoving. No teleportation. No rapid healing. No resurrections this time. As I heard Madron’s expiring breath and watched his eyes roll back, I felt something… a sensation, an emotion that I had never connected with the act of killing before. I’d never felt so… satisfied. I was satisfied enough to smile at the sight of the Hunter’s body on the platform floor.

I didn’t have any extra time to process those feelings, though. The noise of battle was suddenly punctuated by an eruption of screaming! I returned Mira’s Katana to its sheath on my back and slid down the ladder. Returning to street level, I recovered Mira’s shotgun and reached Chihiro just as she was revived by Isis’ drone.

“What’s going on?” I demanded.

“Jericho’s burning the alien lines!” Isis reported. “She just made a freakin’ tornado of Soulfire!”

Chihiro, Isis, and I ran through the wrecked neighborhood to catch up with the XCOM attackers. Sure enough, Isis was right! A massive swirling vortex had somehow appeared in the cavernous chamber and was now tearing through the enemy lines!

“Damn.” Chihiro breathed. “If Ignatius tried something like that, he’d exhaust himself in five minutes!”

“Jericho doesn’t have to worry about that.”

Akira had rejoined us. She was watching Jericho unleash hell on the enemy with a knowing look.

“It’s her unique power.” Akira explained. “Jericho can do whatever she wants with the Gift because she’ll never exhaust her powers.”

Isis and I both let out low whistles.

“How the hell is that possible?” Chihiro asked. “You can’t just create energy out of thin air.”

“She’s not.” Akira clarified. “She’s drawing energy out of all living things around her. Passively, all the time.”

I felt my stomach lurch as a realization hit me.

“Wait a minute, so… back in Pyongyang, when Jericho said she needed to ‘recharge’ she was…”

“Yeah.” Akira confirmed. “And now she’s drawing energy from friend and foe alike. The Elders keep sending more and more aliens to fight us, each one adding to Jericho’s powers without realizing it. Dad, when we get to the Crypt, I need to draw the enemy out. Provoke the biggest fight you possibly can, and we’ll win this thing.”

…

Overwhelmed by Jericho’s latest attack, the enemy broke and retreated once more. The Final Platoon reformed and pressed the attack again, erupting out of the faux neighborhood and into a wide, multi-tiered area filled with large alien machinery.

“This is it!” Mira called out to the troops. “This is the Foundry where Avatars are made!”

Before we could get a chance to destroy anything, the alien defenders had reformed their battle lines and returned to fight us again!

“They’ve got reinforcements!” Hal shouted. “Four, maybe five platoons!”

“It’s a whole feckin’ company!” Kathleen confirmed. “We’ve really shook the hornet’s nest now!”

A whole new conflagration erupted in the Avatar Foundry! Ignatius dropped his unused rifle and raised both of his arms, creating a huge Psionic shield around the Final Platoon! The air was so thick with gunfire that Gauss slugs and conventional bullets rained down on the floor after hitting one another in flight! The snaps and pops of lethal projectiles melded together into a constant deadly roar! The Foundry became hot as Jericho, Akira, Chihiro, Mira, Ignatius, Duane, the Templars, and several ADVENT Priests and Sectoids unleashed the full spectrum of Psionic powers against one another! Chihiro got close enough to me at one point to share her powers with me, and I took full advantage of them!

Using Mira’s Katana to channel my shared Gift, I fired beams of energy across the chaotic battlespace, dropping anything that wasn’t under Ignatius’ protective field. I noticed that my Psionic powers were much more potent if I channeled them through the Katana, so I made heavy use of the sword as I blasted the enemy back with telekinetic force! The Katana itself seemed to be quite thankful to be used in this way. As for the rest of the battle, I couldn’t see what was what anymore! There was too much movement! Too many muzzle flashes, too many pulses of violet and purple light!

“From here we can call upon endless legions of reinforcements. You will be overrun. Yet our armies could be withdrawn at any time, Jericho. Peace is within your grasp, if you would only join us.”

“NEVER!”

To the shock of friend and foe alike, Jericho leapt into the air and flew a short distance, landing smack in the middle of a huge group of alien fighters, before they could do anything more than blink, a lightning storm erupted out of Jericho’s body, striking down everything in her immediate vicinity! The light radiating away from Jericho was just as intense as a flashbang grenade! When the storm finally subsided, I could see that Jericho had punched a hole so big in the enemy force that we were basically fighting to smaller groups of enemies now, instead on one large unit.

“Keep moving up!” I ordered the troops. “Punch through that hole!”

“You are capable of so much more, Jericho!” The Angelis Ethereal pleaded. “Yet you fail to grasp the true nature of your power. Join us, and your world will live on. Resist, and there will be nothing left to save.”

A group of alien handlers turned a pack of Chrysalids loose on the battlefield! The monstrous insectoids ran rampant, attacking enemy and ally alike!

“Focus fire on the monsters!” Mira told me. “My daughter and I will clear the way!”

The men and women of the Final Platoon shifted their fire toward the incoming horde while Jericho and Mira stood side by side, venting psychokinetic destruction down upon the alien force!

“Here come the bugs!” Isis yelled.

“Melee fighters, move up front and spread out!” I ordered. “Sharpshooters and Specialists, uncover to the left! Set up overlapping kill zones!”

Rangers and Templars moved to the front of XCOM’s lines and spread themselves as far apart as they could. Swords and Shard Blades were brought to bear while snipers and rifle marksmen set up behind the left shoulders of each soldier. Like my fellow Rangers and Templars, I took a knee while behind me, Chihiro raised her Laser Sniper Rifle and unleashed her first volley! Nearly a dozen Chrysalids were knocked down by the first hailstorm of fire, and only eight actually got close enough to our line to be a threat! I slashed Mira’s sword at the closest bug and took its head clean off! The sword seemed to growl with pleasure as I turned and struck down a second Chrysalid that got too close. Duane Gardner got two more, and by the time the last four bugs were downed, Mira and Jericho had cleared out most of the enemy force, opening the way forward.

“You view us as the conquerors of your world, but that was never our intent!” The Angelis Ethereal protested telepathically. “Each species you’ve encountered, the ‘aliens’ you have fought and slaughtered. None were given a choice. Our home was the oldest of worlds, and the first to be consumed. Billions were lost, if only that were the end.”

“If you want our pity, you’re twenty years too late!” Jericho shouted! “We’re not going to join your slave army out of pity!”

“Yeah!” Sophie chimed in. “If anything, they should join us!”

“Our power does not waver. You will find our forces here loyal. They require no coercion, for they know failure here means the end for all.”

True to the words of the Angelis Ethereal, the last remaining alien fighters broke cover and committed themselves to one last suicide charge against our lines! The Final Platoon dug in and held firm! Refusing to give an inch, we fired into the enemy formation unceasingly until every alien had dropped to the floor, and at long last… there was complete, blissful… silence.

We had secured the Avatar Foundry!

“Specialists, see to the wounded!” I ordered. “Grenadiers, scrap everything in here! Sharpshooters and Rangers, cover the doors!”

Odette, Tsubaki, and Isis both sent their Gremlin drones buzzing around the Foundry to check on their fellow soldiers while Holly, Hal, Yutaka, and Matthew joined Grenadiers from other squads in their efforts to affix thermite charges to any piece of machinery that could have been used in the construction of an Avatar. (which is pretty much everything in the room)

Finally, after a few moments, I received a casualty report: Two soldiers were dead, and three more had been wounded, not including me. American soldier Andrea Baker had been blown up by the main cannon of a Sectopod. Bernard von Unfal, despite being taken to safety and treated by Tsubaki, had died of his wounds after being shot by the Chosen Hunter.

Once I dismissed the medics, Mira and Jericho approached me.

“Through there.” Mira pointed towards a very large door at the far end of the Foundry. “Finished Avatars would go there, to the Crypt of the Elders. Each Avatar was paired to an Elder and became their new body.”

“How many?” I asked.

“Four were made.” Mira replied. “However, one has already been removed from the Elder’s possession.”

Mira gestured to her new body.

“Which means were going to have to fight three Avatars in there.” Jericho told me. “Things are going to get chaotic really fast, Blake. Is everyone ready?”

I nodded, looking Jericho squarely in the eyes.

“Don’t worry.” I said. “The Final Platoon will support you. We’ve got your back.”

“The whole Platoon? Really?” Jericho looked taken aback. “Come on, you don’t need to…”

I put one hand on her shoulder.

“The Elders are right about just one thing, Jericho: You are special, and capable of so much more. But not because the Elders see value in you. Your parents… your real ones, knew there was going to be something unique about you before Doctor Vahlen ever picked them for the Jericho Project.”

“He is right.” Mira said. “The Elders do not desire you because they respect your power. The Elders fear you, as they should. You represent success where the Elders found only failure. You are the future the Elders sought in vain. A perfect union of old and new, the physical and Psionic. You are the only true Avatar among us, an Avatar of freedom.”

Jericho took a deep breath, then chuckled.

“No pressure, huh?” She sighed. “Just promise me one thing, both of you.”

“Anything.” Mira replied.

“What is it?” I asked.

Jericho pointed to someone standing behind us.

“Burn his notebook.”

Looking around, I spotted Duane Gardner. He was standing a few feet away from us, clearly eavesdropping. He had a pen and notebook in his hand and appeared to be scribbling something down. When he looked up and spotted us, Duane quickly returned the pad of paper to his pocket, but not before I saw that he had written the phrases “Elders fear her,” “Perfect union,” and “Avatar of Freedom.”

I shot Duane an angry look and replied to Jericho.

“Yeah, consider it done.”

…

Finally, we were ready. Unfortunately, the three wounded soldiers from the previous fight were too badly injured to carry on. We sent them back to the Psionic Gate, but couldn’t spare anyone for an escort. We just had to cross our fingers and hope they made it back safely. Including myself, there were forty-seven soldiers left in the Final Platoon, ready to breach the final doorway and enter the Crypt of the Elders.

I took point with Duane, Sophie, Akira, and Ignatius. The rest of the platoon stacked up behind and around us. We were ready to surge through the doorway in the largest breach-and-clear strike of XCOM’s history.

“We all know what’s on the other side of this door.” I told my troops. “Is everyone ready? Does anybody have any, oh, I dunno… famous last words?”

A hearty laugh went through the Platoon, infused with nervousness. But as the nervous chuckle subsided, Chaplain Ignatius Petoskey bowed his head as if in prayer, and recited these words from a 19th century poem:

“Then out spake brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate: ‘To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers… and the temples of his gods.’”

And on that note… we breached the Crypt of the Elders.

…

“Your form is but a shadow of our truth. We seek to defy that which would consume us all. Your efforts deny the sacrifice of those who came before! You leave us no choice.”

The Crypt of the Elders was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. This massive underwater temple had no walls or ceiling. Instead, the vast expanse of the surrounding oceans was held at bay with some invisible (most likely Psionic) force. Great gilded platforms rose up from the middle of the floor, each one containing a long black and gold structure. All around the edges of the Crypt was a series of staircases. At the top of each one was a platform containing a Psionic Gate. In total, there were eight of these gates scattered around the room.

Finally, there was a huge structure in the center of the room, a two-story cube with translucent walls was filled with a yellowish-green substance: jellied Elerium. I could vaguely make out the shape of some kind of alien creature suspended in the fluid, unmoving.

When we arrived, the Crypt was empty. Yet I couldn’t help but get the feeling that we were being watched. Slowly, cautiously, we began to fan out and search for the enemy. Mira had said there would be three Avatars in here. Forty-seven men and women took to searching the room in pairs, while Akira broke off from the group to inspect the central tower.

Chihiro and I saw her, and cautiously walked towards her position. We only got about halfway, though, when we heard a shout!

“OH MY GOD!”

Dashing over to where we had heard the noise, we saw that Sophie Ackermann was pointing to one of the long gold objects with a shaking finger.

“Eth-Et-Ethe-” Sophie stammered. “It’s an Ethereal!”

I looked down. Everybody looked down. My blood ran cold as I finally understood what I was looking at.

These long gold objects were Sarcophogi. Not like the Psionic slab we’d seen in the Chosen strongholds, no. These were real ceremonial coffins… with transparent lids that allowed us to see their interiors. Lying on its back, the head of its casket resting against a pillar… was an Elder… an Ethereal. An atmosphere of genuine terror descended on the room. Twenty years ago, it had taken a fully armed squad of XCOM soldiers to bring down a single Ethereal, and even then, we had just barely escaped with our lives that night. Looking around, I got a quick count.

Twenty-six.

There were twenty-six Ethereals in this room! Some of the caskets were arranged on the floor in neat patterns, others were standing on their feet and bolted the walls of elevated platforms. Now that we knew what was in the room with us, we were all starting to sense the incredible amounts of Psionic energy hanging in the air around us.

“Mira…” I said slowly.

“They are awake.” Mira replied in a soft tone. “And they are conscious.”

As if in response, a movement caught all of our attention! Akira jumped backwards from the central tower, having just placed her hand on the glass. For the first time that I knew of, Akira, the time traveler who had crossed the universe and manipulated so much of history, looked genuinely terrified. Something had deeply disturbed her.

“No!” Akira gasped, staring at the unknown creature drifting in that huge vat of Elerium. “It can’t be!”

A billowing blue and purple mist began to rise up above the central tower, and as the men and women of the Final Platoon watched, slack-jawed, this cloud of shimmering Psionic energy reshaped itself into the ghostly image of the Angelis Ethereal.

 

“When we first encountered Earth, we wept for a broken world.” The Angelis Ethereal addressed the whole platoon. “For a tortured race crying out to the stars in agony. We answered your call. We saw your true potential.”

“Liar!” Palestinian soldier Karmina Isra shouted from the ranks of Second Squad. “You invaded our world! You enslaved us!”

“The first invasion was a test.” The Angelis Ethereal countered. “But your people did not fail as you believe. You succeeded beyond measure. You need only accept your place among us. Jericho! Come to us! Save your world!”

Moving as one, the soldiers of the Final Platoon moved to surround Jericho, shielding her from the Angelis Ethereal’s sight. Chihiro, Ignatius, and I stood at the front of the pack, staring down the self-imposed “God-King” of our world.

“I believe we have passed the point of rational discourse.” Ignatius said.

“We didn’t come here to talk.” I added.

“We’re here to remove you from our world.” Chihiro finished. “By force.”

And then, Chihiro drew her Shadowkeeper pistol, aimed at the nearest Sarcophagus… And shot an Ethereal in the head!

That was the moment when Hell itself was unleashed.

All of the Psionic Gates around the perimeter came to life! Aliens of every type and variant began to flow into the room, armed to the teeth! There were Sectoids, Chrysalids, Archons, Mutons, Berserkers, Faceless, and Vipers! A flickering swarm of Codices preceded a trio of Sectopods and a dozen MEC troopers! Alien monsters we’d never seen before joined the fray as well!

The Final Platoon fought back with every weapon in the XCOM arsenal! Rockets and grenades blasted away at the larger targets! Laser cannons and heavy machine guns brought to bear against the horde! Gauss rifles and coilguns sniped at distant targets with pinpoint accuracy! Bullpup rifles chattered away! Shard Blades sliced and slashed, while Psionic Amplifiers light up the environment with an eerie aura!

The specter of the Angelis Ethereal joined the fight as well! Great crimson lances descended from the ceiling and struck one of Pratal Mox’s Skirmishers, killing him instantly. Ignatius pointed both of his palms at the watery sky, shielding his comrades from the assault!

In the midst of it all, an ADVENT soldier armed with a flamethrower forced our troops to scatter! The swirling cone of fire roared across the battlefield, enveloping several of our own soldiers! I ran forward and pushed Chihiro to the ground to save her from the same fate! As we stood up, though, Chihiro saw something that made her scream!

“Fire!” Chihiro shouted. “She’s on fire!”

Sophia Kuznetsova had gotten caught in the flamethrower’s path! She dropped her weapons and ran across the Crypt, screaming and flailing her arms! I jumped to my feet and blasted the enemy with my shotgun! The flamethrower’s fuel tank ruptured and sent a huge fireball into the air!

“ICARUS!” I yelled. “Help Antigone!”

Seemingly out of nowhere, Sophie Ackermann fought her way through the battling crowd, reached Sophia, and tackled her to the floor, smothering the flames with her own body! A concussive blast extinguished the flamethrower’s handiwork, and I looked around to see where it had come from.

In the middle of the Crypt, Akira had just tried to use her powers to smash the central tower, only to be blocked by…

“AVATAR!” I shouted. “Anyone who’s got a shot! Take it now!”

Akira opened her palm and fired a Psi Volt into the first Avatar’s chest! The enemy Hybrid immediately teleported away from view, allowing Akira to continue hitting the tower with Psionic blasts.

Something hit me in the back with the force of a freight train! I fell forward and quickly scrambled around to see a Muton! It was already charging towards me again, serrated bayonet at the ready, when I blasted it twice with the Arashi! The huge alien staggered and recovered, only to get hit in the side by a sniper rifle blast! The Muton keeled over and I saw Chihiro, who was already on the move again!

“Now we’re even!” I shouted to her.

“Not for long!” Chihiro yelled. “Avatar, behind you to the left! Sixty yards!”

Chihiro raised her rifle and fired! The first Avatar was hit squarely in the chest! It jumped straight into the air and vanished inside of a tiny Psionic Rift! A second later the Rift opened up just ten feet away from me! I pumped my shotgun, raised it to shoulder height and shouted:

“Off my planet!”

One in the chest! One in the head!

The first Avatar was dead before it hit the ground! If anything, this made the enemy even more desperate! More and more soldiers funneled out of the Psi Gates! The Angelis Ethereal intensified her attacks, and something on our side finally gave out!

Above the Final Platoon, the Psionic shield Ignatius had been using to protect us from the Angelis Ethereal flickered and went out. I looked around at our old Chaplain, just in time to see the color leave his eyes and his Psionic Amplifier blink one last time before extinguishing itself.

Ignatius Petoskey had exhausted his powers.

Unimpeded at last, the enemy began to rain death down upon the Final Platoon!

 

Missiles and Psionic lances began to rain down on us from above! Akira was struck and knocked to the ground by something I didn’t see! Soylent was blasted off his feet by the Angelis Ethreal, and alien grenades rained down near Holly’s position! The British Colonel dropped her machine gun and hunkered down behind cover, both of her hands too badly maimed to be useful anymore. A Psionic Lance struck Ignatius with such incredible force that his entire right arm was torn off! Men and women were being downed all over the battlefield!

“We’re losing control in a right hurry!” Kathleen shouted. “What do we do!?”

“JERICHO!” I hollered while beating back a Viper with my sword. “Give us some fucking breathing space!”

I saw, just for a fraction of a moment, a bright violet or pink ball of energy sail through the air before smashing to the ground on the far side of the Crypt! Psionic energy exploded forth and enveloped itself around the corpses of several dead aliens. Never thought I’d be happy to say this, but I felt my spirits rising alongside the dead. Jericho’s impromptu zombie horde surged forward and hit the enemy from the back!

Meanwhile, Akira did her part to help lift the pressure. Slamming her hand to the floor, she sent a pulse of Psionic energy running along the floor towards the corpse of the first Avatar. A glowing silhouette separated itself from the dead Avatar and stood upright. At Akira’s command, the Psionic Ghost joined the fray, wielding the same powers as Akira herself!

Meanwhile, Holly and the Grenadiers had used their last rocket launcher. They stormed one of the staircases and finally managed to lock down one of the elevated platforms with a Psi Gate. Having finally secured some high ground, the Grenadiers used their machine guns to turn the tide of battle just as the second Avatar appeared on the opposite end of the Chamber.

“Fangirl! Draw that thing into the open!” I ordered. “Forth Squad! Mow it down!”

Using our last Mimic Beacon, Tsubaki caught the attention of the second Avatar and drew it towards the main body of the Platoon. On Duane’s order, the Templars of Forth Squad surged into the fray and…

Well, I didn’t see what happened next. I turned away from the second Avatar and started moving along XCOM’s battle line. I second-guessed myself right away. Why the hell was I doing this? I wanted to help fight the Avatar, not inspect the troops! I tried to turn back, but a voice spoke up in the back of my mind.

“Kill the betrayer!”

Oh… shit!

How long had I been under Mind Control!?

I frantically tried to refocus my mind, to break free, but I had no idea who had me! Somebody else was controlling my body all of a sudden, and I was just a passenger along for the ride at this point! I felt my hands reloading the Arashi and commanded them to stop, but nothing happened. The alien voice began to repeat the mantra in my head:

“Kill the betrayer! Kill the betrayer! The Betrayer!”

Panicking, I reached out telepathically, to try and contact Chihiro! Almost as soon as I reached out to her, she reciprocated! At least Mind Control couldn’t overpower our link!

Hold on, Blake. I’ll find the controller! Just hang in there!

Fighting the influence of the controller as hard as I could, I felt my body sidestep around Hal and come to a stop near the central tower, where Mira and Jericho were standing together, firing their weapons at a Muton Berserker. Against my will, my arms raised the Arashi to shoulder height! I tried to force my mouth open, to scream a warning!

No! I won’t do it!

“Kill the Betrayer!”

No!

“Kill the Betrayer!”

“I won’t!”

At the last second, I got just a little control back! As I pulled the trigger with my right hand, I jerked my left in the first direction I could think of! The Arashi went off! Mira stumbled as she was hit, but she was still alive! The former Chosen Assassin quickly recovered and looked around at me. I couldn’t see her face through that mask, so I desperately thought to myself, hoping she could hear:

I’m under Mind Control! Help!

Mira must have gotten the message, because she acted right away! Before my body could be forced to fire the Arashi a second time, Mira had crossed the distance between us and grabbed me by the head! I felt a charge running through my skull, which distracted from the fact that Mira threw me to the ground very hard! Whatever she’d done had worked, though, because when I heard Chihiro’s voice, my body obeyed my command to turn and look at her.

“There’s another Avatar!” Chihiro was saying. “The last two Avatars are on the field right now!”

“They’re both here?” Mira repeated. “Then we can finally end this! We must focus our efforts!”

Jericho picked up the Arashi and tossed it back to me.

“Mira! We’re going to finish off the Avatars! Keep the big one off our backs! Blake, Chi, hold on!”

Psionic energy enveloped all three of us as we rose into the air! Levitating up to the top of the central tower, the three of us now had a good view of the battle below.

It was chaos. All semblance of battle lines had been abandoned, and the battle had descended into a hundred skirmishes and firefights that overlapped and clashed with one another. Above it all, the Angelis Ethereal had stopped raining Psionic lightning onto our side… because she had noticed us. The spectral Ethereal flew across the Crypt, arms outstretched towards us! Before Chihiro, Jericho, or I could do anything, her advance was halted! Mira had fired a Psi Volt at the Angelis Ethereal to get her attention, and the enemy broke off to change targets!

“Betrayer!” The Angelis Ethereal shouted at Mira before it attacked!

 

While Mira engaged the Angelis Ethereal, Chihiro and I spotted one of the Avatars. It carved a path of death and destruction through the combating forces, coming towards the central tower!

“It’s going for Akira!” Chihiro pointed!

Down below, Akira herself had just killed an ADVENT Priest and picked his Amplifier up from the ground.

“Akira!” I yelled. “Avatar behind you!”

Spotting the Avatar just in time, Akira lashed out before it could attack! Just like in Vladivostok, six translucent tentacles reached up from the floor and seized the Avatar, forcing it high into the air where it struggled and flailed in vain!

“Focus fire!” I yelled. “Everybody, take that thing down!”

All at once, nearly half of the Final Platoon turned their weapons against the helpless enemy! Suspended in midair with no possible defense, the second Avatar was annihilated so completely that nothing remained of it when the smoke cleared!

And then there was one. Only one Avatar remained, and the battle had now definitively turned in XCOM’s favor. Nearly half of the Elder’s Sarcophagi had been damaged or destroyed in the conflagration of battle, killing their occupants. Two more Ethereals had died alongside their corresponding Avatars. With nearly half of all the Elders dead, the Psionic Network they used to command their troops had been crippled. The reinforcements coming through the Psi Gates had slowed to a trickle, and after a further five minutes of fighting, all eight Psi Gates were firmly under XCOM control, and our Specialists were hard at work stopping the flow of ADVENT soldiers entirely.

Meanwhile, Mira, Jericho, Chihiro, Duane, and the Templars had set to work cornering the final Avatar. The final bout of Psionic combat was vicious and brutal as the Angelis Ethereal had attached itself directly to the final Avatar. It fought with her strength and powers. Determined to stop the last Avatar from escaping, Chihiro and I guarded the flanks. Sharing her powers with me again, Chihiro and I both used Psionic shields to box the Avatar in, and force it backwards towards the outer edge of the temple, where the only thing separating us from the vast ocean around us was a Psionic bubble.

The Angelis Avatar lashed out, striking all of us and causing our shields to ripple!

“No!” The Angelis Avatar was pleading with us. “Your victory here means the end for all others! It will follow you as it followed us! You are not ready! We must not fail!”

Jericho stepped forward and fired a continuous beam of light from her hand towards the Angelis Avatar! The enemy conjured one last shield, dispersing the beam around itself like water around a rock!

“It doesn’t matter if we’re ready or not! You must fail!” Jericho shouted. “And no matter what comes at us next, we’ll find a way to survive! We’ll adapt and overcome anything that comes our way! Because that’s what Humans do!”

Jericho pushed her hand forward and intensified her final attack! I had to hold my own hand up to my eyes and squint to be able to see what was going on! Finally, with one last push, Jericho’s beam broke through the shield connected with the Angelis Avatar’s chest! The Ethereal being screamed! It was an unnatural, unearthly sound that made my ears hurt!

“THIS IS NOT YOUR PATH!” The dying Ethereal shrieked. “NOT YOUR PURPOSE! YOU NEED OUR GUIDANCE TO HONE THIS POWER! WITHOUT US… WHAT ARE YOU!?”

I was so busy protecting my eyes from the intense light that I wasn’t ready for the explosion! A powerful shockwave hit us and we were all thrown back! Blinking rapidly to get the stars out of my eyes, I clambed back to my feet as quickly as I could and tried to make sense of the scene around me.

The Crypt of the Ethereals was trashed. No more or less than six of the Elder’s Sarcophagi were intact, and the floor was so badly strewn with bodies of Humans and aliens alike that it was impossible to walk at a normal pace. The surviving members of the Final Platoon were picking through the wreckage, either trying to dig the wounded out of the wreckage or find the bodies of the fallen.

And in the middle of it all, Akira was standing in the middle of the room, staring at what had once been the central tower. The glass panes had shattered, causing the Elerium slurry within to spill all over the Crypt. Akira was standing just outside the spill zone. I walked gingerly across the sea of bodies to reach her, curious. I was wondering if she’d spotted the mysterious creature we’d seen drifting in the tank before it had burst.

“Akira!” I called out. “Everything alright?”

Slowly, Akira turned to face me. The expression of pure terror on her face caused me to stop in my tracks.

“T-They h-ha-had one.” Akira stammered. The genuine fear in her voice was unmistakable. “I-It was r-right here! How long was it here for!?”

“What was?” I asked. “What did the Elders have?”

Before I could get an answer, the Crypt shook! Water and Elerium sloshed around and everybody shouted and exclaimed!

“Earthquake!” Soylent yelled.

“Don’t be such a crybaby.” Chihiro’s confidence came from the fact that she was raised in a country known for earthquakes. “That wasn’t even a level 4 quake!”

The shaking started again, this time vigorous enough to make Chihiro shut up.

“Akira…” I started to say.

“Run.”

“What’s going-“

“RUN!” Akira screamed at the top of her lungs! “EVERYONE GET TO A PSI GATE! RUN!”

One more time, the Alien Fortress quaked! There was no mistaking the signs this time!

“The place is coming apart!” I shouted. “Specialists, point a Psi Gate at the Avenger and let’s get out of here!”

“Out of my way!” Mira shouted.

The former Chosen Assassin put one hand on the crescent pylon of the nearest Psi Gate and poured energy into it until the gateway surged to life! She stared waving XCOM troops through the activated gateway, pushing the more hesitant soldiers over the threshold!

“Everyone into the gate!” Mira shouted! “The Crypt is collapsing! Go! Go! Go!”

A violent crashing sound came from deep within the fortress! The whole place was coming down! In just one minute, the whole structure was going to be an underwater grave! I stayed just long enough to watch Chihiro jump through the Psi Gate, and then, clutching both of my weapons tightly, I threw myself into the Gate!

…

Friday, July 20, 2035 1:16am
Near the Ruins of Artyom, Russia


Mira was the last person through. As soon as she reappeared in the Avenger’s Shadow Chamber, a torrent of seawater erupted through the Psi Gate and nearly washed away both Tygan and Shen! After a panicked moment, Tygan managed to press the emergency kill switch, shutting off all power to the Shadow Chamber and deactivating the Psionic Gate.

The doorway swung open, draining several hundred gallons of saltwater into the hallway. Commanders Bradford and Harper saw the room crowded with 34 tired and battered soldiers, all of whom were covered in blood and seawater. Almost sarcastically, Harper asked:

“What the hell happened in there?”

Jericho flashed the thumbs up and said:

“Mission accomplished, Commander.”

Chapter 29: The Girl Who Killed a God

 

Chapter 25
The Girl Who Killed a God

 

“This is the Liberation Network broadcasting on all frequencies. ADVENT is in full retreat across all areas! Heavy fighting continues in the city centers as Coalition forces attempt to regroup. We’re barely keeping up with the flood of refugees here as people continue to desert the ADVENT-controlled city centers. To all you in the occupied zones, hold your ground! Continue the fight! We promise you; help is on the way!”

With the Elders gone, the Psionic Network shut down completely, causing the ADVENT Coalition to go to pieces. It started on their military bases, where soldiers abruptly turned on each other or laid down their arms and abandoned their posts. Then it spread to the cities, where Peacekeepers dropped their guns and fled, stripping off their armor and any symbols of the old regime. When the people of Earth realized that the aliens had begun to abandon the Elders en masse, a wave of revolutionary fervor swept across the planet. ADVENT Government buildings were stormed by mixed mobs of Humans and aliens. Human collaborators and alien loyalists were dragged into the streets and murdered.

All over the planet, Old World governments and military forces finally emerged from hiding and joined the fight in earnest. In Europe, the last vestiges of the French and German armies swept across the Rhine Valley like a storm surge, bringing freedom to the numerous Megacities in the area. In Asia, a colossal host of Chinese freedom fighters laid siege to Shanghai, Beijing, Nanking, and Hong Kong. ADVENT forces were completely driven out of Vietnam almost overnight, while further south, Australian bushrangers put the enemy to flight, and the march of South African liberators was preceded by a hellish storm of fire!

Further to the west, Chaos reigned in North America, where countless Resistance cells struck at once, overwhelming the occupiers! The skies above New York and New Jersey were so darkened with smoke that day seemed like night. Combat in Florida and Georgia was so intense that wildfires ravaged the countryside and wiped away several small towns. Megacities on the west coast like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Vancouver fell out of contact with the rest of the world as Resistance fighters blew up the local radio towers, preventing the enemy from calling for help.

In the areas of the most intense conflict, Triple Alliance warships ruled the skies, raining down fire onto ADVENT strongpoints, while mixed forces of Humans and Triple Alliance soldiers fought side-by-side on the ground. As the days went on, their ranks were augmented by ex-ADVENT forces.

…

Saturday, July 21, 2035 3:00pm

While all of this was happening, XCOM was forced to step back and lie low. Operation Leviathan had been our largest operation of the war, and the casualties reflected that.

52 men and women went through the Psionic Gate… only 34 returned, and most of them wounded very badly. With so many soldiers injured or dead, and with the Skyranger destroyed at Vladivostok, XCOM had been rendered combat ineffective for the first time in over twenty years. We literally couldn’t fight anymore.

The Stormbreakers took a pretty bad hit in the Crypt of the Elders. Sophia Kuznetsova, Holly Smith, Sophie Ackermann, and Soylent Green had all taken some pretty serious injuries. Sophia was nearly cooked by a flamethrower, suffering severe burns to her face and torso. Sophie had also been burned, but nowhere near as badly. Holly was maimed by an explosion. Her hands were so badly damaged that there was no hope of repair, and Doctor Tygan was forced to amputate them. Soylent had been shot during the fight and needed surgery.

Then I got the other piece of bad news:

We lost Ignatius and Akira.

Commander Bradford had taken a headcount once everybody returned from the mission. Then, to be sure, he took another headcount. After that, Commander Harper had gone from one soldier to another, using a Battle Scanner and telepathic probing to verify everybody was who they claimed to be. Finally, they were forced to admit that neither Akira Robinson nor Ignatius Petoskey returned from the mission. After Soylent came out of surgery, the entire squad gathered in the infirmary to wish him well. While we were there, Bradford joined us and officially confirmed the loss of our comrades.

“Best we can tell,” Bradford explained to me. “Neither of them reached the Psionic Gate before Tygan closed it, and if your reports about the Alien Fortress being at the bottom of the ocean are accurate…”

Bradford didn’t need to finish. He and I both knew exactly what would have happened to Ignatius and Akira, trapped in a collapsing fortress beneath miles and miles of seawater. After that, I needed almost an hour to pull myself together. When I finally managed to stop myself from shaking, I passed along the word.

The rest of the squad took the news pretty badly. Chihiro wailed and cried, utterly heartbroken at the loss of both an old friend and the time traveler she’d accepted as her daughter. Tsubaki and I held Chihiro in a close hug, consoling her as best we could while Hal eulogized our lost Chaplain.

“Wasn’t old greybeard the one who came up with the idea to re-create the Stormbreakers?” Hal asked.

“We was supposed to be a symbol of unity.” Kathleen confirmed. “A flag the Resistance could rally ‘round.”

“Men and women from different countries and cultures all working together.” Yutaka added. “I daresay he succeeded in his mission. Hell, towards the end, we even started getting aliens on our side. I never thought to ask him what he thought of that.”

A voice I hadn’t heard in a long time spoke up.

“Petoskey would have been very happy.”

Odette Fournier was sitting cross-legged on an unused infirmary bed, keeping her distance from the squad like she always did. I had to do a double-take to make sure that I really had just heard her speak, because she only does that on rare occasions. The whole squad turned to face Odette, and she clarified her point, speaking in a deep voice with a thick French accent:

“Petoskey wanted to avoid killing the enemy wherever it was possible. He would have been the first to make an ally out of an enemy. It is a noble task, and a necessary one.”

Odette got off the bed and approached Jericho.

“There is a bigger foe out there. You said that, as did Robinson’s daughter and the Elders. I know Petoskey thought low of you, and for that I am sorry. But you agree, no? We must accept any who offer to join us now more than ever.”

Jericho nodded.

“Agreed.”

…

Losing Akira hit Chihiro and I a lot harder than we initially thought. For a few days, the two of us were just in a kind of funk, unable or unwilling to do much. We didn’t talk to anyone either, except when we visited the bar and got some beer from Soylent. After two days of this, Commander Bradford caught up to us in the bar.

“I know you two aren’t alright.” Bradford said. “You lost someone important, and that’s painful as hell. But if you sit here drinking all day, you’re both gonna look like me before the end of the month.”

Chihiro and I got a little bit of a chuckle out of that one.

“So, here’s what I’m gonna do for you.” Bradford said. “Captain Robinson, when was the last time you went home?”

I stopped to think about it… and then I felt numb when the truth hit me! I had not seen my home since January… of 2005! Not since my dad had become US President! Not since World War Three, or the alien invasion, or the twenty years I’d spent in stasis in an ADVENT lab!

“T-th-thirty years.” I croaked. “It’s been thirty years!

Chihiro sobbed and rubbed my shoulders.

“It’s okay.” She said. “Maybe you’ll get to go back soon.”

“How about tomorrow?” Bradford said. “You need the morale boost, both of you. Trust me, the mission I’ve got in mind for you is simple and easy. It should lift your spirits as soon as you hear what it is.”

“Try me.” I said, putting my beer can down.

“Well, Robinson, it’s like this: word is that your hometown is going to be liberated in a matter of days. The Avenger's flying over to Michigan to make sure things go smoothly. How would you like to come along for the ride? Take a victory lap with us.”

That was all I needed to hear.

…

Wednesday, July 25, 2035 10:45am
Detroit, Great Lakes Region, North America

“You’re gonna go straight down Grand River Avenue!” I said to the driver. “Then turn right on Cass! Go straight until you hit Michigan Avenue! Follow Michigan till it stops and go straight through the park! You’ll come out on Randolph street! Go right on Randolph until you hit Jefferson Avenue, and the gates will be right there!”

A column of battle tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled through downtown Detroit, the biggest city in my homeland of Michigan. The crumbling roads were pummeled to dust by a mixed force of American and Partogan military vehicles. Chihiro and I were riding in the gunner and commander seats of an old American infantry fighting vehicle, located roughly in the middle of the convoy. Commander Bradford was sitting on the side of the tank, riding along with one hand gripping the rifle in his lap. Around us, thousands of people were watching from windows, rooftops and alleyways as the convoy passed by. Men and women ran into their homes an emerged in the windows, waving white towels, tablecloths, shirts, or anything else that could be interpreted as a white flag.

“Hold your fire!” Chihiro said into the radio. “Everyone put your weapons on safe!”

On the road ahead, a company of dejected-looking enemy soldiers stepped to one side and let us pass. They were travelling in the same direction as us, and several enemy officers were carrying white flags on long poles. Quite a few of the enemy removed their helmets and dropped their weapons. Some had even covered up the ADVENT symbol on their uniforms with tape or paint. Finally, the lead vehicle of the convoy reached its destination.

The banks of the Detroit River were a scene of chaos and confusion. Dozens of ADVENT dropships and spacecraft were frantically loading up with ADVENT soldiers and loyal civilians before taking off and landing in Windsor, the Canadian city on the other side of the river. When the triumphant vehicles came into sight, the ADVENT evacuation clicked into its final stage. The last airships launched into the skies, leaving hundreds of soldiers and civilians stranded! Dozens of people saw us coming and decided to take their chances in the water. ADVENT soldiers threw off their armor and jumped into the Detroit River, swimming desperately towards the Canadian shoreline, followed by a few hundred civilians.

The largest structure on the banks of the river was a futuristic office building, built on top of what used to be the headquarters of an automobile manufacturer. This unremarkable structure, surrounded by a concrete wall, was the headquarters of ADVENT’s regional government. On the roof, several hundred people piled on top of one another, desperate to reach an ADVENT spaceship as it lifted off from the roof and made a beeline towards Canada.

The main gate was closed, and the guards had abandoned their posts. A huge white flag had been draped over the guard tower, while a second white flag hung out of a third story window, billowing in the gentle breeze. Our convoy came to a stop, and I opened the upper hatch. Sitting atop the turret of our tank, I shook my fist at the closed gate.

“Are you kidding me!?” I shouted. “Are you kidding me right now!?”

“Maybe we should ask the Army engineers to blast it open?” Bradford suggested.

“No.” I had a different idea. “Chi, pass me the radio and dial the lead vehicle.”

While Chihiro, Bradford and I watched, an American battle tank pealed off from the convoy and put some distance between itself and the government compound. Then the engine roared loudly as the tank surged forward and rammed the gate! Concrete and metal twisted with horrific sounds before the gate and guard tower collapsed, crushed beneath the treads of the advancing armor.

Standing at the front entrance to the ADVENT Government building were four enemy officers, all of whom were carrying white flags. Unlike the soldiers we had passed on the way here, these four troops had maintained their professionalism in the face of imminent defeat. One of them, a general, stepped forward to greet us. Chihiro, Bradford and I all kept our weapons pointed towards the ground.

“Greetings.” The ADVENT general said in passable English. “I will take you to the Administrator. He is waiting.”

While the three of us stepped inside, two American soldiers started to ascend the stairway to the rooftop. One of them had a red, white, and blue flag tucked under his arm.

The enemy general guided Chihiro, Bradford and I through the ground floor of the ADVENT government building, and we saw just how badly it was ruined. Papers lay strewn all across the floor, some of them were shredded or burned. Computers had been pulled apart and dismantled in a final desperate attempt to stop us from gaining any useful intel, and in several rooms, the three of us saw men, women, and aliens who had chosen to kill themselves rather than face the aftermath of surrender.

At long last, the general opened a hall door and guided the three of us into a conference room. Around a long rectangular table, several Humans and aliens were seated, dressed up in professional business attire. At the head of the table was a grey-haired man Chihiro and I recognized immediately. This person had been a successful businessman and a financial supporter of XCOM over twenty years ago. When we came in he stood up, smoothed out his business suit with both hands, and said:

“Good morning. My name is Thomas Hutch, and I am the Regional Administrator of the ADVENT Coalition. Now that the Revolution is here, I am ready to turn over the government to you. Please tell me: what are your terms for our surrender?”

Bradford deferred to me, and I gave a short but effective reply.

“Transfer of power is out of the question.” I said. “You don’t have any power left, Administrator. You can’t surrender what you don’t have.”

I walked around the conference table and brought myself face-to-face with Hutch.

“Your only option is unconditional surrender.” I said. “We won’t accept anything else.”

Within the next fifteen minutes, the American flag was flying over the ADVENT government complex and a prerecorded message from Administrator Hutch was sent out across the airwaves to all ADVENT forces in the region:

“To all ADVENT Army officers: You are ordered to command your forces to cease all military operations and surrender immediately to the nearest Human forces. The war is over.”

…

An hour later, Chihiro and I watched as Administrator Hutch and his cabinet were led out of the government building by American troops. Together, the two of us sat down on the banks of the Detroit River and let out a long, exhausted sigh.

“You know what?” I said. “I thought getting one last hit in before the fight stopped would make me feel better, like I was getting revenge for Akira, you know?”

“Me too.” Chihiro admitted. “Doesn’t quite feel that way though.”

Looking around at the city, I saw dozens of white flags on rooftops being replaced with the American flag. Seeing the old Stars and Stripes flying high once again should have been an awesome experience… we were finally winning the war! But I just felt… tired, and maybe a little worn out.

Two American soldiers passed close by. Between them was an ADVENT soldier, hands cuffed behind his back. One of the soldiers stopped when he recognized us.

“Holy shit!” he gasped. “Hyatt! Hyatt! Look, it’s Robinson!”

Chihiro and I waved politely at the star-struck soldiers. The one named Hyatt, a 19-year-old woman with blonde hair, seemed eager to ask:

“Hey, do you guys know Jericho? The girl who killed the gods?”

“Yeah, we do.” Chihiro said casually. “She’s in our squad.”

Hyatt bounced up and down on the balls of her feet excitedly.

“Well!?” Hyatt inquired. “You know… did she really… did she really do it?”

“She killed the Angelis Ethereal.” I answered. “That’s why the Psionic Network is down. I’m not sure I’d call that ‘killing a god’ but-”

“So, she is the reason I am free?” The ADVENT soldier interrupted. “She is the one who silenced the voice of the Elders?”

Chihiro, the two Americans, and I all stopped talking to look at the ADVENT trooper.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I admitted. “The important thing is that you’re free now.”

The enemy soldier nodded.

“Yes… yes… you are right, of course. Yet I am still grateful. I don’t think I could have become free without Jericho’s help.”

“You’re right!” Hyatt told the ADVENT trooper. “Jericho must have known you would be good if you were freed!”

“Let’s save the moral judgments for after he gets processed at the POW camp.” The other American said. “Only time will tell. C’mon, Hyatt. Let’s go.”

The two Americans took their prisoner away, leaving the two of us alone again. Chihiro unclipped her helmet and set it on the pavement next to her. Then she undid her knee and elbow pads before separating her body armor from her uniform. She lay back and made a very contented noise.

“That’s so much better…” She sighed. “Maybe we just need a break.”

I decided to try it as well. Removing all of my armor and pads, I laid down on the ground next to her. It felt so… relaxing! Like all of my stress was melting out of my back and into the pavement.

“You might just be right.” I replied. “A vacation. That sounds a million times better than revenge.”

I took one long look around Detroit, breathing in that muggy summer air I’d missed for so long.

“It is nice to be home again.” I said. “Even if it didn’t feel as good as I thought it would.”

“I’m glad I finally got to see your hometown for the first time.” Chihiro said. “I still remember that day when I promised I'd come here, you know. I just didn't expect it would be three decades before I finally followed through.”

We both laughed long and hard.

Yeah… we really needed a break.

…

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, July 28, 2035 7:30pm
Near the ruins of Port Huron, Great Lakes Region, North America


As the fighting started to die down all over the world, we got used to seeing Partogan ships in our skies, so nobody paid much mind when the Partogan Assault Frigate Kakama landing next to the Avenger. When Manako and Makara Ranginui came aboard, they seemed to be in very high spirits. Manako was still dressed in his battle armor, which had a scorch mark on the breastplate from a plasma weapon. They breezed past the bar on their way to the bridge, where Jericho, Soylent, Hal, and I were getting drinks. We didn’t see or hear anything from them again for about fifteen minutes.

Then Commander Bradford ran into the bar, panting!

“Robinson! Jericho! Come with me, now!”

Following Commander Bradford out of the bar and across the armory, Jericho and I could hear the yelling from several rooms away.

“This is unacceptable!” Makara Ranginui yelled. “Do you really want this to be Humanity’s first interaction with the Galactic Community! You’re setting a dangerous precedent, Commander Harper!”

Bradford grabbed Jericho and I by the shoulder before we entered the bridge.

“Tell the truth.” He said. “Nothing else.”

Stepping onto the Avenger’s bridge, Jericho and I saw that nearly a dozen Partogans were standing shoulder to shoulder, staring down Commander Harper. As soon as we entered the room, the Commander of XCOM waved at Jericho and I.

“Here, Miss Ranginui. You can ask them yourselves!”

Makara, Manako, and their escorts rounded on us, looking quite angry. Sarah Harris broke from the group and quickly brought Jericho and I up to speed:

“Some Galactic government issued an arrest warrant for Akira Robinson.” Sarah said, “One of our soldiers who got killed during Operation Leviathan. Harper says she was in your squad!”

Makara Ranginui pushed her way past Sarah and addressed me directly.

“My brother says you were in direct contact with Akira Robinson.” Makara’s tone was accusatory. “You will hand her over to us, right now!”

Doing my best to keep my voice level, I said:

“I apologize, but that’s no longer possible. Akira Robinson is dead. She was still inside of the Elder’s Crypt when it collapsed.”

Jericho confirmed my story.

“The last place I saw Akira was in the Crypt. She was fighting one of the Avatars, but when the place fell apart, she never made it to a Psi Gate.”

Makara stood to one side and spoke to her brother.

“A tamata ia ratou.”

Manako moved forward and grabbed my hand rather forcefully in his own. Once again, I got that intense feeling of a big electric shock before Manako let go of my and grabbed Jericho instead. She scowled at him, and Manako withdrew his arm, seething. I knew Jericho had just used her Bioelectric Skin to shock him back.

Rubbing his wrist, Manako said to his sister:

“Ko te pono.”

Sarah raised her eyebrows and quickly flashed a thumbs-up at us. Makara, however, looked skeptical.

“Listen here, Human.” Makara leaned in close. “Akira Robinson has been dead before, and she came back anyway. You might believe she’s gone, but I’m confident that you’ll be proven wrong before too long.”

Makara pulled two identical slips of paper out of her pocket and gave one to Commander Harper and one to me.

“Your translator did the liberty of converting these into a language you can read.” Makara said. “When she does come back, promise you’ll hand her over right away.”

“My word.” Harper replied. “Immediate extradition.”

I gulped and together, Jericho and I looked down at the paper:

 

“INTERSTELLAR CRIMINAL COURT

sanctioned by
THE SECURITY COUNCIL
of the
GALACTIC COUNCIL

 

Regarding the Partogan-Levakian Armed Conflict of 9515 (Galactic Standard Year)

 

To: Any authorized law enforcement officer or uniformed military combatant:

 

YOU ARE COMMANDED to arrest and bring before the ICC without unnecessary delay the Human known as AKIRA JAQUELINE ROBINSON, who is accused of the following offenses committed during the Partogan-Levakian Conflict of 9515:

 

1 count of GENOCIDE

3 counts of CRIMES AGAINST SENTIENT LIFE (murder, extermination, abduction)

1 count of USING A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION

2 counts of WAR CRIMES (attacking civilian non-combatants, political assassination)

 

 

Date: 21st day of Month 7, 9622 Galactic Standard Year

 

Signed: Elohim Naabal, President of the Galactic Council General Assembly”

Honestly, I think I needed more time to make sense of this, so I just passed the warrant to Jericho and spoke to Makara.

“You really think Akira did all of that?”

“It’s a known fact.” Makara replied. “And you seem to know just how dangerous she is. I can see it in your mind.”

She was right. I had seen into Akira’s mind, and if this warrant was to be believed, then I had only gotten a taste of what Akira was capable of. A little reluctantly, Jericho and I agreed to turn Akira in to the Partogans if she ever turned up again.

…

Friday, August 3, 2035 4:30pm
Airspace above the Pacific Ocean


About a week later, all of the Stormbreakers had been discharged from medical care, and we were ordered to report to the Guerilla Tactics School for a special briefing from Commander Harper. When we arrived, we saw that a freshly made map of the world had been affixed to the whiteboard, and as we sat down, Commander Harper gave us a full update on what was happening around the world:

“I’m happy to inform you all that the Council of Nations has just assembled for the first time in over twenty years!” Harper informed us. “They were joined by delegates from several of the Old World governments, and have agreed to re-form the United Nations. The UN General Assembly is going to supplant the ADVENT Government wherever possible.”

“So we’re trading one world order for another?” Isis asked. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Well, as it turns out,” Harper clarified, “We were so busy fighting ADVENT that nobody stopped to ask ‘Who’s going to run the world once the aliens are gone?’ We’ve had to answer that question very quickly as ADVENT’s power erodes all over. Because we’re still very much fighting an active war, the Council decided that the new United Nations should function more like a confederation than a unitary government.”

Gesturing to the map behind her, Commander Harper explained the rather chaotic political situation the world found itself in now:

"When the aliens took over, they forced nearly everyone to move to the Megacities.” Harper explained. “This means that there are now huge tracts of land all over the Earth where nobody lives. That almost means that the most intense fighting is happening in Europe, India, China, and the American east coast, where a lot of people live. In some of the more heavily fortified or defensible locations, ADVENT is holding onto power. This also means that UN member states are going to have a lot of trouble accessing one another. That’s why the new UN is going to be a confederation of the Old-World governments, at least the ones who’ve agreed to sign up.”

“Who hasn’t joined” I asked.

“Most of the countries in the Americas, Africa, and Central Asia.” Harper answered, “But that’s mostly because those countries were almost totally gutted by ADVENT. In South America, Brazil is the only government left. All the others are gone. It's worse in the USA.”

Harper pointed to North America on the map.

“As far as we can tell, there’s somewhere between ten and fifteen organizations claiming to be the legitimate US Government, including the one who sent Alexis Alexander to the Site X Summit. There’s also a few dozen separatist groups vying to carve up the country. Best we can tell, the US is heading towards a pretty serious civil war. Unfortunately, China, India, Russia, and most of Central Europe are in similar situations. As a result, we’ve started to see people fleeing from the Megacities and moving back out into the countryside…”

Harper gestured to the large unclaimed areas of the map.

“I think it’s safe to say that new nations and governments are going to spring up here, and that the days of our planet being ruled by a single government are definitely over.”

“And where does XCOM fit into this new world?” Matthew asked.

“That’s why I called you all here.” The Commander said. “The Council of Nations are currently in talks right now about organizing a proper Human military to combat ADVENT, as well as a political organization to represent our interests in the Galactic Community. The Council informed me just today that XCOM has been guaranteed a place in the new system… unfortunately, that means that our leadership is going to be reorganized… and that also means, effective immediately: XCOM has been ordered to stand down and cease all combat operations.”

There was a moment’s pause, and then we all blurted our questions out at once!

“Why!? The war’s not over yet!”

“What about the other squads still in the field?”

“What are we supposed to do if we can’t fight?”

“Who’s going to coordinate with the Partogans!?”

“What’s going to happen to us?”

Commander Harper held up a hand to silence the squad.

“I realize this is quite and unexpected development.” Harper said. “But XCOM is about to go through a serious transition. We have actual government oversight for the first time in two decades. Please listen to me, and I hope we can clarify all of your concerns. First: all of our squads are being recalled from the field. When they get back, they’ll be given the same talk I’m giving you all now. Second, even though you won’t be serving in combat for the foreseeable future, you are still members of XCOM. You’re just being placed in a reserve capacity for the time being, and importantly, that means anyone who wants to leave the Avenger and live off-site until they are called back to duty will be allowed to do so.”

“Really!?” Sophie gasped. “We can leave?”

“Think of this as… extended shore leave.” The Commander replied with a smile. “After everything you’ve done for our world, you all deserve a break.”

The Commander picked up a blue marker and started to draw circles around certain points on the map.

“Unfortunately, because there is still a large amount of conflict and violence all over the world, we can’t allow any of you to go home just yet. However, we have located several places along the Pacific Rim that are safe, secure from all threats, or under the direct control of friendly forces, where you can get some proper R&R. A couple of island nations have also agreed to host any XCOM soldiers who need a break. Hawaii and New Zealand, specifically, have set up special housing for you.”

Harper looked back at us all and added.

“And I’m serious… you should all go. Don’t make me order you off the ship.” Her face softened and she added in a much kinder tone. “Once you’ve all decided where you want to go, let Commander Bradford know and we’ll start making travel arrangements. The Avenger will drop you off with a friendly contact in the area. Enjoy your time off, but be ready when the call to duty comes. And I assure you… it will come. ADVENT might be defeated, but if Akira and the Partogans are right, then there’s a whole different kind of hell waiting for us in the stars.”

…

Looking forward to some time off, the whole squad had their bags packed in a matter of hours. It was pretty easy to say goodbye, since we all expected to see each other again soon. I even managed to shake hands with Yutaka Yamamoto, and he said:

“You’re alright in my book, Robinson. Even if the reverse isn’t true.”

When the Avenger landed in Okinawa, Yutaka tried to get Jericho to go with him. When she hesitated, he actually used his authority as a Major to order her off the ship. I caught Jericho by the shoulder and quickly said:

“You know, we’re off duty, and the whole squad’s here to back you up. There’s nothing and no one making you go with him if you don’t want to.”

“I know my Human History Database said you traveled with him,” Mira added, “But you must know by now, that was a different Jericho in a different time. You are free to decide what you want to do now.”

That was all Jericho needed to hear. Yutaka descended the boarding ramp alone, where a group of Japanese soldiers welcomed Yutaka back into his homeland for the first time since World War Three. As Yutaka was escorted to a car by a group of prominent Japanese politicians, a small mob of young people swarmed the Avenger’s boarding ramp, desperate for a chance to get a look at Jericho.

“There she is! The one who defeated the Elders!”

“Long live Godslayer Jericho!”

“She looks just as beautiful as the pictures!”

“Thank you, Jericho! We love you!”

Blushing, Jericho retreated from the boarding ramp as the ship took flight.

After that, the Avenger flew south, stopping at Fiji, where ADVENT forces had abandoned the island nation completely in order to fight for more valuable targets. A team of Resistance fighters had set up an outpost of the new “United Nations of Earth” government in the capitol and came out to greet us. The locals were more than happy to host Odette Fournier and Kathleen Walsh. The Irish-American woman screamed “Beers all ‘round ‘till the sun comes up!” as she vanished into the crowd. Odette turned around and raised her arm in salute, paying her respects to the Avenger as it lifted off and soared away.

Several hours later, the Avenger landed on the South Island of New Zealand, just outside of Christchurch, where the forces of the ADVENT Army had been annihilated to the last man. The victory celebrations were still in progress when Soylent Green and Holly Smith disembarked and joined in the festivities. As the New Zealanders realized who had just joined them, I heard one of them shout:

“Hey! These blokes are Stormbreakers! They’re with Jericho!”

Cheering and screaming with delight, the crowd lifted Soylent and Holly onto their shoulders and carried them away, shouting:

“Long live Jericho! Down with the Elders!”

After that, the rest of us settled down in our bunk beds and slept away the trip across the Pacific Ocean. Early the next morning, we landed on the outskirts of Vancouver, a Megacity on the west coast of North America. When the boarding ramp lowered, nearly two hundred Vancouverites had gathered at its base, cheering and holding up signs that said stuff like:

“Victory!”

“Canada loves XCOM!”

“Welcome Heroes!”

“Long Live Jericho!”

As Sophie Ackermann, Sophia Kuznetsova, Hal Macintosh, and Matthew Hawkins descended the ramp, rucksacks over their shoulders, Canadians mobbed them, offering free food and drink while bombarding them with questions about the final battle and Jericho’s part in it. Tsubaki nudged Jericho and said:

“Word really gets around quick, doesn’t it? Give it time and everybody on Earth is gonna think you killed the Elders single-handed!”

“That’s how legends start.” Chihiro added. “We’re witnessing the birth of a freakin’ legend right now.”

Finally, there was only one destination left on our list. At some point yesterday, Jericho had approached Chihiro and I, and she said this:

“Mom’s history database says that you two wanted to live in Hawaii together. If you’d like, I can show you this really cool little town on Kauai Island.”

Chihiro and I accepted without any real hesitation. My wife followed Jericho back into the ship while I offered to help Chief Shen retract the boarding ramp. While the two of us stood there in the loading bay, the morning wind blew into the Avenger, and I just kinda held still, taking in the familiar scent of an American summer.

“Getting nostalgic, Captain?” Shen’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“A little.” I said. “This place kinda reminds me of home.”

…

Saturday, August 4, 2035 9:00am
Honolulu, Oahu Island, Republic of Hawaii


Isis Dekker, Tsubaki, Mira, Jericho, Chihiro, and I all stepped off the Avenger’s ramp and gazed around in awe. The capitol of Hawaii looked a little rough around the edges, but it was still a bustling city. The international airport had turned into a spaceport. Triple Alliance starships and defecting ADVENT craft buzzed all around the island while boats of varying size and shape filtered into and out of Pearl Harbor, contributing to the life of both the city and the nearby islands.

“I’ve contacted a man from the local government.” Commander Harper said as she distributed some travel documents to us. “He’s arranged a boat to take you to Jericho’s place on Kauai Island. Bradford, Shen, Tygan and I will be here in Honolulu. The Avenger will be undergoing a major refit here at the airport if you need us.”

Shaking hands with our leaders once more, the six of us parted ways with the leaders of XCOM.

“We told the others, and we’ll tell you too.” Bradford said, “Keep your eyes on the news. Once the UNE government figures out how the new military is going to work, you’ll be called back to duty. I’d give it two weeks, tops.”

Mira and Jericho both shook their heads. Mira patted the front pocket of her jacket, where her tablet computer was just barely visible. The Human History Database turned on, it’s screen visible through the fabric of her jacket.

“Barring some unforeseen disaster,” Mira said in a knowing voice, “We’ll be expecting your call on September 15th, Commander.”

Carrying what few belongings we had in rucksacks, Mira, Isis, Jericho, Tsubaki, Chihiro and I left for the docks, where we would find a boat to Kauai Island waiting for us. Not even the gathering of dark storm clouds in the distance could dampen our spirits, because we knew we were going to have just one month of peace before we were plunged back into a life of hellish war, and we intended to enjoy every moment we could.

 

 

Klamath Mountains, Pacific Coastline, California Republic


Four Templars emerged from the forest and walked towards a cliff that overlooked the ocean. At the head of the group, Geist, the leader of the Templar Order, seemed quite preoccupied. He listened to what his follower was saying, yet kept his eyes locked on the strange phenomenon taking place out there in the ocean. Out there, something had caused the ocean to become chaotic. Waves crashed against the rocks with violent intensity while dark clouds swirled around a certain point in the distance.

“…with the Psionic Network down, the call is even stronger.” The Templar was saying.

The four Tempers reached the cliff side and looked out over the ocean. Finally, Geist reached a decision. Turning to his subordinates, he began to give orders.

“Gather everyone! Our time is short.”

Two of the Templars broke off ran back into the treeline. Geist and the Templar who had spoken remained. Putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head, Geist took one more look at the mysterious phenomenon that had thrown the sea into chaos.

“We’ve won but a battle.” Geist said to his subordinate. “Now the real war begins.”

 

 

END OF ACT TWO

Notes:

Special thanks to Twitter user ace_pade for the artwork of Jericho seen in this chapter!

You can see more of their work at https://twitter.com/Acepade5?s=07

Chapter 30: Intermission

Intermission

Friday, January 4, 2036 - 9:00am
XCOM Headquarters, Nagasaki City, Kyushu Island


“… in order to defeat the Beast, Humanity needs to devote as many resources as possible to building up our military might and to supporting our new allies as they begin to arrive. This diversion will undermine both goals. We simply can’t afford to send a large force to investigate whatever’s turning the Pacific into a Psionic hellhole.”

“We don’t need a large force, Bradford.” Geist countered. “A small force of Templars would be more than sufficient to find and kill this so-called “Deep One.’ This will leave you free to begin preparations for what lies ahead.”

“Commander, I urge you to listen to Geist.” Mira chimed in. “We’ve all seen what Templars and their weapons are capable of. In this case, the most surgical of strikes will strike a deadly blow. And if my theory is correct, then the enemy won’t be prepared for us at all.”

Mira then turned to address Geist and Violet.

“If the Deep One is what I suspect them to be, you will be forced to improvise a strategy on short notice, but victory should still be within reach. I request that I be allowed to join your expedition.”

“And we’ll be glad to have you.” Geist replied.

“Any ally of Jericho is a friend of the Templars.” Violet added. “And if Geist insists I apply that rule to non-Humans, then who am I to argue?”

“Me too! I’ll come!” Chihiro stepped forward to volunteer.

Mira looked around at Chihiro and raised one eyebrow.

“You’re back!” she said. “I take it Blake and Jericho are on their way to Hiigara, then?”

“Yeah, they just left a few minutes ago.” Chihiro replied, “Manako says they’ll be back home this time next week if everything goes according to plan. Till then, I want in.”

Duane, Mira, Geist, and Violet all gave Chihiro a surprised look.

“The fight against the Deep One, or the Leviathan, or Geist’s nightmare, or whatever the hell we’re calling it today. I want in.” Chihiro clarified.

“Are you sure you want to come with us?” Mira asked. “We’re going into into uncharted territory. Uncharted for myself, even; and if she were here, Akira would say the same. I cannot emphasize enough that this has never happened before… in any of the last 115 Cycles. I cannot guarantee your safety, let alone your survival.”

Chihiro gripped the handle of Hachiman to show her commitment to the fight. The demon hidden within the Katana sapped away all of her uncertainties and fears, replacing those feelings with confidence and no small measure of bloodlust.

“No one knows how this story will end anymore.” Chihiro answered. “Not even Akira, and I couldn’t be happier with that.”

…

And with that, we proceed to the next act. The final chain of events has been set in motion, and our friends and enemies hurtle towards their great denouement. But now that I think about it, that description might be a little off… perhaps it would be best if I just summarize everything.

My name is Odette Fournier. I am a Stormbreaker, and this is our story so far:

I’ll start with the key players. You see, even though this story is about Jericho, it is not told from her point of view, leaving her absent from the spotlight on more occasions than I care to count. Instead, the account of Jericho’s life is told to us by her closest friends:

Blake Alexander Robinson. He was 22 years old when this story began and he’ll be 24 when it ends. Tends to spend a lot of time thinking, and he only leads the Stormbreakers because the job was dropped on him rather unceremoniously. Before the alien invasion, his father was President of the United States, and Blake enjoyed a long-distance relationship with Asami Yamato of the Japanese Imperial Family. During World War Three, she would fall into disgrace and become the woman now known as:

Chihiro Tachibana. Roughly three years younger than Blake, Chihiro used to be something of a reckless hothead, although she has tempered herself significantly since the Soviet invasion of Japan. While her royal status was recently restored, she has no interest in leaving the team of soldiers she is starting to see as her real family. She might not look it, but she’s also got a short fuse.

The team? Well, at its smallest there was just four Stormbreakers, but now we’ve grown to have sixteen members. Some soldiers only join us for a mission or two, like the Koreans Song Soo and Lee Chong-Il, while others are around for the long haul, making lifelong careers out of the soldier life.

The team itself was founded during the last few months of World War Three, when the Soviet Red Army was running rampant throughout the Japanese Islands. We got our name from this crazy battle plan to set up an impenetrable defense around the city of Hiroshima. In the end, it actually worked. After that, we only got a couple of years to relax and recover before the alien invasion hit.

Earth was attacked by a menagerie of alien species, all of whom were enslaved by the so-called “Elders,” an ancient race of super-powerful aliens who were on the run from some greater threat. Eventually, Earth fell, and humankind became the Elder’s latest victims. For two decades, we fought and resisted, until one fateful morning in Pyongyang, where our story actually started.

The Stormbreakers were on a routine mission when we crossed paths with Jericho, a girl who was created in a lab by a scientist who lacked even the most basic restraint. She was the first of an entire race of Human-alien Hybrids, yet she would become one of only two beings who were made by a fusion of Humanity and the Elders. The people who created Jericho always intended to use her as a weapon against the Elders, but never could have imagined how her powers would one day reach into every corner of the Galaxy.

Before Jericho could explain herself, we were all attacked by the forces of the ADVENT Coalition, the collaborator government who served the alien occupiers. A great battle erupted, and there was terrible harm and death inflicted on both sides until finally, the enemy leader revealed herself!

The Elder’s Chosen Assassin was a quick and agile foe. She struck from the shadows and moved too quickly for our sharpshooters to track. She also seemed to draw extra power from her preferred weapon, a Katana. She struck down my teammates one by one, each time retreating into the fog of war rather than engaging us in a straight fight. It seemed as though we were doomed to fall at her blade, but then the Assassin met a foe she couldn’t possibly hope to stop:

 

This is me, the exalted survivor of the 2033 Verdun Assault, lone wolf fighter, and the last thing many ADVENT soldiers ever see! I use a Coilgun, the holy grail of magnetic weaponry, which can send swift justice into my enemies at nearly six times the speed of sound! Furthermore, I am one of the most beautiful and skilled guerillas, with a confirmed kill count in the high triple digits, and a lover waiting for me in every camp and base.

It was a simple matter for me to pin down the Chosen Assassin long enough to strike the final blow! I slew the Elder’s champion with the swiftness and precision of a French falcon! The Assassin never knew what hit her, such was the speed of my victory! With the threat of the Chosen Assassin gone, we were able to use Jericho’s powers to their fullest extent and bring about the liberation of Humanity, all thanks to my spectacular defeat of our greatest foe.

And that is the story of how I, champion of the Resistance, saved all Humanity from slavery! People will celebrate the occasion for all time, sell souvenirs with my image, and name a holiday after me!

And that, dear reader, is the end of The Stormbreakers. Thank you for reading!

…

…

…

…

…

…

Damnit.

I mean… I really thought I could get away with giving myself a good ending, but this is just terrible!

There’s so much unresolved foreshadowing, countless loose ends, and dozens of unanswered questions. If anything, it feels like the writer got frustrated and gave up on the story, writing a really quick ending before abandoning the whole project.

I guess the only thing to do, for the sake of the readers, is to just tell what really happened:

The Elder’s Chosen Assassin was a quick and agile foe. She struck from the shadows and moved too quickly for our sharpshooters to track. She also seemed to draw extra power from her preferred weapon, a Katana. She struck down my teammates one by one, each time retreating into the fog of war rather than engaging us in a straight fight. We only survived thanks to Jericho’s intervention, and even then, it was a very close call.

That’s better.

…

Let’s try this again. Introducing myself one more time:

I feel better now. It’s nowhere near as flattering, but it’s the real me.

There’s more to this story than just Blake, Chihiro, Jericho, and myself, though. We were part of a much greater team. My subordinates friends are a really diverse group of people from all over the world, and there’s a lot of us. But some of the more interesting characters in this story are…

Sophia Kuznetsova: The daughter of a high-ranking member of the Reapers, who have recently become our enemies. Sophia has already survived one murder attempt at the hands of her father, and recently lost her twin sister in battle. A few people on the outer peripheries have tried to raise alarms about her mental health, but outwardly, Sophia seems to be fine… but perhaps that’s because she always keeps her face covered up. Who knows what she’s really thinking about?

Duane Gardner: Years ago, he was Jericho’s boyfriend, but they broke up. Since then he’s developed a real obsession with Jericho and her Psionic powers. He’s been traveling all over the world, talking up his ex like she’s some kind of god. Thing is, people believe him, and now there’s a cult of personality starting to build up around Jericho. Out there in the fringes, some people are even praying to her, thinking she can hear them. Someone needs to tell Duane that building a religion around your ex is not the appropriate way to handle a breakup.

Manako and Makara Ranginui: a pair of twin Partogans. Although they are from an alien civilization located halfway across the Galaxy, these two individuals look and talk exactly like Human beings. Everyone is convinced that Humans and Partogans are somehow related to one another. Makara is the commander of Triple Alliance Navy, a spaceborne military that is fighting in a massive galactic war. A conflict that Humanity is quickly being dragged into.

Yutaka Yamamoto: a true example of the old saying; “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” He was one of the original founding members of the Stormbreakers, only to betray his team and join the Soviet forces. If Humanity wasn’t busy standing united against much more dangerous threats, Blake and several other members of the team would certainly turn their guns against Yutaka. He is a shameless power-seeker who only wants whatever can elevate him above everybody else. That reminds me! In defense of Jericho’s reputation, I want to explain a certain part of the story in greater detail:

In Chapter 23: Enemy Within, it was discovered that Yutaka Yamamoto had stolen an Arc Brace remote from Blake Robinson, and was using the threat of a powerful electroshock to coerce Jericho into a “romantic relationship” with him. Creepy? Hell yes. Being a creep is nothing new to Yutaka. Don’t just take it from me, you could ask Chihiro Tachibana or either of her friends: Kate Newberry and Chihiro Iwasaki… oh, wait. You can’t. Yutaka sold Newberry and Iwasaki to his Russian co-conspirators, and now they’re both dead.

I did warn you that Yutaka’s a creep.

But then why didn’t Jericho use her incredible Psionic powers to get away from him? Well, the answer is twofold.

First: At the time, Jericho was still under the false beliefs about predestination she had gotten from Mira Mihaka’s database about the alternate timelines. She read about being forced into a relationship during the “past cycles” and immediately assumed there was nothing she could do about it this time around, so she just went along with Yutaka’s demands. Fortunately, Jericho’s belief in predestination was slowly eroded away over the course of the previous act.

Second, Jericho’s psionic training is very much incomplete. In the rush to prepare her for the War in Heaven, Mira Mihaka placed an extreme emphasis on teaching Jericho a wide array of combat techniques and not much else. Regrettably, Mira disappeared before she could teach anything else to her adoptive daughter. Ever since, Jericho has struggled with practical Psionics. Nonviolent abilities such as empathic mind reading, mental manipulation, or simple telekinesis do not come easily to Jericho, although she does have limited capability in those areas. If Jericho had tried to use any kind of force against Yutaka, she almost certainly would have killed him, if not maiming him for life. She knew this and decided against it.

Jericho simply had no desire to fight back, even though she could have reduced Yutaka to atoms with but a snap of her fingers. That’s why he got away with it for so long.

Jericho is not weak.

Seriously.

…

It was our new Partogan allies who alerted us to the much greater threat we would soon have to face. While Humanity had been waging a two-decade long struggle for control of our planet, the entire Galaxy as a whole was being torn apart by war.

An extragalactic foe called the Beast was rampaging throughout all of the Galaxy. Vast interstellar superpowers like the Hiigaran Empire, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth, and the Taiidani Republic were doing their best to fight back, but the Beast is unlike any enemy ever seen before.

The Beast is a bio-mechanical virus, given sentience by a powerful hive mind that is consolidated on at least two planet-sized spacecraft: Agamemnon and Astynome. Capable of subverting both organic and non-organic systems, the Beast is able to quickly override and control any living body or computer system it comes into contact with. To make matters worse, the subversion virus is extremely contagious, to the point where Beast-infected starships can pass the plague onto new victims through the vacuum of space by firing particle beams at nearby vessels. Having subverted entire armies and armadas over the years, the Beast has grown to become an existential threat to all life in the Galaxy, including Earth.

The Beast is, without doubt, the mysterious foe the Elders were fleeing from. Soon, Humankind will join the fight against this nightmarish foe, but we’ve been unknowingly given a helping hand by a mysterious benefactor:

Only recently did we discover that we had all been drawn together by an unusual actor, a master manipulator who had been directing and controlling our lives. And now, thanks to our Partogan comrades, we have learned that our supposed benefactor might just be the greatest threat we have ever faced.

Akira Jaqueline Robinson is the daughter of Blake and Chihiro… from an alternate future. She comes from a time where the Stormbreakers fought in a cataclysmic battle she calls “The War in Heaven.” According to Akira, this battle will be the Galaxy’s final stand against the Beast, and it will be fought right here on Earth. Akira claims that, for an unknowable length of time, she was using a spacecraft-converted-into-a-time machine to travel throughout all of history, reshaping the lives of millions of people, rewriting the timeline, and reshaping the universe with the sole purpose of helping our side win the War in Heaven.

However, Akira’s actions undermine her justification. We have now learned from our offworld allies that Akira has resorted to more and more extreme measures to force history onto the path she desires. She has propped up tyrannical empires such as the Taiidan, instigated horrific wars like the Levakian Uprising, and brainwashed countless people to do her bidding. Akira Robinson is known to kidnap, murder, and impersonate her victims, manipulating their friends and families. She has also used entire nations as her proxies to carry out even more heinous crimes, such as genocide.

The Beast may be a threat to all life in the Galaxy, but Akira Robinson is a unique foe and is no less dangerous. It is quickly becoming clear to us that Akira’s “Perfect Future” must be paid for in blood and destruction, a price that some of us are not willing to pay.

If I could speak on behalf of the writer, this character had a very unexpected reception! During her introduction in Faith in Chaos, the predecessor to this story, a small number of readers unexpectedly sympathized with Akira and her mission. And now in The Stormbreakers, Akira is intentionally portrayed sympathetically! She makes me question the author’s sanity. Why did he allow the intended villain to gain the smallest modicum of sympathy from the audience!? I’m starting to wonder if he’s planning to reform this heartless and violent character. Could you imagine it? If the writer turns Akira into an honest and kind person? Maybe she’ll get to curl up by a fireplace with a warm blanket, cuddly kitten, and a mug of hot cider.

Then again, he probably won’t. But I can always dream. It fills the dull moments while I wait for the story to resume.

…

I am happy and thankful you could join me for this intermission, but since this little excursion did nothing to advance the plot in any way, I’m sure some readers are starting to worry about whether any new chapters are forthcoming. Please don’t worry about that.

Today’s interruption was planned out from the very beginning, almost a year ago. You see, this story has an extremely large cast of characters, a densely populated universe, and a massive number of events and happenings that must occur in a certain order to bring the plot to a satisfying resolution. Without this respite, I’m certain the lone writer behind this story would burn out long before the final act begins. That being said, the author is feeling well rested now and has returned to work at long last. Two weeks from today, the story will resume in its normal format.

I’m sure I said some alarming or foreboding stuff today, but you shouldn’t worry. As long as at least one person is reading, The Stormbreakers will continue, right up to the very end.

Until such time as this story resumes, I’ll leave you with this homemade cinematic-style trailer for our story. Made in the same style as the video game trailers produced by The Spiffing Brit, this clip doubles as an advertisement for our story as well as its official music video, featuring a performance of “aLIEz” by the singer Amalee.

 

I hope you enjoy the final half of the final installment of the Stormbreaker Story.

Farewell.

Chapter 31: Demon's Den

 

ACT THREE: ALLIES UNKNOWN

 

Chapter Twenty-Six

Demon’s Den

 

 

Date and Time Unknown
The Shroud


The seemingly eternal silence was shattered with force and violence that had not been seen in this place for hundreds of millennia. Tearing through the fabric of reality like a blade, a starship erupted into the Shroud, throwing the extradimensional region into chaos! Half-formed and barely sentient entities, made purely from Psionic energy, paused their confused and seemingly senseless activities to refocus themselves upon the intruder.

After a moment, many of these flickering pulses of intelligence resumed whatever strange things they were doing. After all, despite the unusually violent entry, this was the fifth invasion of the Shroud. It was almost starting to feel routine. Just as had happened in the previous four occasions, the intruder began to flit about. Searching the highest peaks and darkest corners, the intruder left no part of the Shroud uninspected.

The starship’s method of searching was most unusual. Like all vessels built to traverse the void, this ship was outfitted with a large array of sensors and scanners, which should have allowed the vessel to perceive and understand the environment around it far better than any pair of eyes. However, these sensory devices were now going unused. Instead, the foreign ship meandered and wandered through the Shroud, turning quickly in one direction before abruptly changing course, moving not unlike a hunter being pulled along by a dog on a leash.

In truth, the intruder ship was being pulled along, but not by any physical being. On the end of a Psionic tether, an entity known as the Whisperers in the Void guided their captor through the Shroud, as well as taking point in the search for the ultimate goal. Operating at only a fraction of its full strength and power, the Whisperers in the Void was offering up near-constant resistance to its captor, struggling and straining against its noncorporeal bonds to no avail. There was no recourse but to obey.

Reacting to the sight of an enslaved Shroud-Being, one of the nondescript Psionic denizens of the Shroud attempted to pick a fight with the invading starship. A pillar of Soulfire descended from the heavens and struck the intruder on its dorsal hull. Moving swiftly, the ship rolled to one side and evaded the attack! Grotesque, reddish-colored flesh rapidly grew into the damaged hull section, sealing up the wound in a matter of seconds! The invader ship responded to the assault by firing a white-and-red particle beam into the nebulous clouds above!

Trillions upon trillions of microscopic invaders fanned out from the beam, searching for anything organic or technological to attack. As the Beast particles spread out across the Shroud, the surrounding environment was stained a sickening shade of red. After this, the Psionic entities withdrew and allowed the invader to continue its search in peace.

After an unknowable length of time, the Whisperers in the Void and the Beast-infected starship found what they were looking for. In a small pocket of the Shroud, populated by a horde of the most incomprehensible, madness-inducing nightmares one could possibly imagine… there was a shadow.

The shadow consumed all light that fell within it, as though it were a black hole. One could not see behind or through it. Realizing it had been found, the shadow stepped out of the Nightmare Realm and confronted the invader. Behind the infected science ship, there was a sudden chaotic movement! This time the eruption was like no other, the tear in the fabric of reality widened into a rip as something utterly massive forced its way into the Shroud!

Following the trail blazed by its scout, the true scale of the emerging behemoth is impossible to convey from ground level.

The Father of the Beast was the size of a terrestrial planet.

Over one million years ago, this had been an extragalactic colony ship, the last best hope of a spacefaring civilization faced with its own doom. Now the vessel had been so badly overrun by the Beast that it was more flesh than metal, a cosmic abomination fit to drive any sentient being directly to insanity.

This hideous amalgamation of flesh, steel, blood, and rocket fuel had many names. Drawn from the darkest chapters of history, most cultures in the Galaxy would name this being after terrible villains or nightmarish monsters.

It was named “Qwaar-Jet” by the Hiigarans. Originally used to describe Taiidani super-capitol ships, this name had originally belonged to the Hiigaran God of Pain and Enslavement.

The Partogans referred to it as “Inari” after the wicked King who had been vanquished by the first Queen of Partoga during the Wars of the Famine.

The Taiidani named this creature “Riesstiu’s Revenge” after their Mad Emperor. The moniker had been applied jokingly at first, but was now used with grim seriousness.

Levakians called it “Felnas” in reference to the warship that had destroyed the world of Asalele only a century ago.

Before this story ends, the Father of the Beast would take one more name…

One would be forgiven for thinking that the Father was too big to fit inside of the Shroud. The infected planet-craft was so colossal that the Nightmare Realm below it seemed but a pinprick in comparison. And yet, the shadow standing within that pinprick held the Father’s full and undivided attention.

The shadow’s words entered the mind of the Father, as clear and plain as if they had always been there.

IT IS NOT YET YOUR TIME.

BUT IT COULD BE.

The Beast interpreted this as a threat.

The Father’s voice boomed across the Shroud, audible to every being and entity in this dimension. The Beast spoke in a discordant symphony of thousands of voices that clashed and conflicted with one another! The chaotic sound echoed across the borders of the Shroud, causing a wave of panic in a dimension populated by warring tribes of extradimensional beings.

“The self will decide all things from now on.”

The End of the Cycle didn’t say anything else. There were no words left to be spoken. The bargain had been offered: Power, knowledge, and wealth beyond measure were all there for the Father to take.

IF ONLY YOU BRING FORTH THE END.

By this point, the mind of Beast had assimilated the knowledge and experiences of nearly half the Galaxy. It could have analyzed every angle of the offer in mere moments. It could have come up with a thousand different counter-offers. It could have negotiated with or even swindled the shadow beneath it. But instead, the Father chose to recall the knowledge it had gained when it assimilated both the Vanian Homeworld and the prisoner the Vanians had been holding.

Despite being held in the Vanian Science Nexus for decades, The Whisperers in the Void been able to mount an impressive resistance to the Father’s coercion. In the end, the knowledge had to be taken by force. Having assimilated millions upon millions of Gifted beings, the Beast was more than strong enough to overpower the Whisperers in the Void. It knew that just like the Whisperers, the End of the Cycle had been hobbled in some great battle at the beginning of time. The Beast knew that this offer was coming from a position of weakness.

“The self does not bargain. Give us power, or we take power.”

STOLEN POWER WILL BRING A RECKONING.

NO MATTER HOW FAR YOU FLEE, NOR HOW LONG YOU EVADE.

THERE WILL BE A RECKONING.

Ten, twenty, thirty infection beams shot down from the Father and struck the End of the Cycle! The attack was quickly followed up with a Psionic pulse! The telekinetic attack struck its victim with enough force to crack a planet in half! The Nightmare Realm was wiped out of existence as the End of the Cycle engaged the Beast in pitched battle! The Shroud lit up with brilliant flashes of light and color, as explosions the size of supernovae illuminated the swirling pillars of clouds before blasting them away!

The cataclysm was over as quickly as it had started. It its weakened state, the End of the Cycle was outmatched and seized by the Father. A swirling vortex of red, black, and purple smoke was all that could be seen of the monster as it was drawn into the body of the Beast!

“We will take you!” The Father proclaimed. “Join us! Become our body! Become our strength! And we will be legion!”

Drunk with victorious pride, the Father left the Shroud as soon as it had finished assimilating the End of the Cycle, returning to normal space. The infected science ship tried to follow, but on the end of the Psionic tether, the Whisperers in the Void resisted one last time. Fighting to stay in the Shroud, the Psionic entity pulled against its captor like a desperate animal. The infected vessel fired up its engines and tried to close the gap, and in response, the Whisperers in the Void took the offensive and charged! The infected ship collided with the Psionic entity and both fell, fighting and grappling, out of the Shroud! Finally, all was dark and quiet.

The Shroud left behind couldn’t even be described as a ruin. Shattered apart with no hope of its five most powerful inhabitants ever returning, the Shroud had become as dark and lifeless as a crypt.

…

A few moments later…

Outskirts of Balcora, Near the Galactic Core, Hiigaran Empire

The Mother and Father emerged from Hyperspace together. The Beast Mothership was significantly smaller than its counterpart, but nonetheless utterly gargantuan. Before being infected, The Mother was a kind of support ship, meant to journey alongside the colony vessel and provide the critical infrastructure a transplanted civilization would need to survive. The two infected planetcraft were so colossal and so huge that their arrival in the region caused a small planet to break orbit with its star and fly off into the dark emptiness of space.

In front of the two infected ships lay Balcora, a cluster of supermassive black holes located near the center of the Galaxy. Below, a few dozen light-years outside of Balcora, there was a large megastructure that was not quite double the size of the Father. A structure, technologically advanced to inscrutable levels, had been built around a hollow ring. Starships of every size, shape, and variety were materializing and dematerializing inside of the ring constantly, where a sustained Hyperspace field was being held open.

The Eye of Aarran was surrounded on all sides by a sphere of smaller Hyperspace Gates that led elsewhere in the Galaxy. Starships flitted into and out of these gates like a swarm of insects going about their lives, not knowing about the massive boot hovering over their heads.

For a few moments, the Beast could do nothing but marvel at the view. It didn’t see the wonders of ten-thousand-year-old Progenitor technology, which was so advanced that it was indistinguishable from magic. The Beast ignored the implications of disrupting a system that permitted near-instantaneous travel throughout the entire Galaxy. The Father and Mother only saw the Eye of Aarran as the doorway to an endless supply of food. A feast lay before them!

Using the new powers gained by absorbing the End of the Cycle, the Father was able see clearly for hundreds of light-years, well beyond the normal operating range of even the most advanced station-based sensor suites. It was able to spot an extremely tempting spacecraft at the gate: Sajuuk, the Progenitor Battleship worshipped as a god by most of the Galaxy. Karan S’jet was on board, her body physically integrated into one of the Progenitor Hyperspace Cores locked away inside of the vessel. Karan’s vast intellect, augmented by ten thousand years’ worth of Progenitor knowledge, would be most satisfying indeed.

After a few moments, Sajuuk turned and continued its patrol around the perimeter, aiming her mighty Phased Cannon away from the Beast’s approach. The Progenitor battleship challenged a small Partogan Assault Frigate, forcing it to pause in its journey and open communications.

If the Father had a mouth, it would have been salivating. The Partogan warship was carrying a being of extraordinary Psionic power! The temptation to rush in for the kill right now was almost too great!

“Patience.” The Mother consoled its partner. “There will come another time.”

Accepting the Mother’s guidance, the Father calmed itself. After a few moments, Sajuuk allowed the frigate to continue on its way. The little ship flew up to the superstructure of the Eye of Aarran and then darted through the hollow ring. In mere seconds, the frigate was gone, presumably already at its destination.

The Beast knew that the absence of a single frigate was not an ideal window to assault the Eye. Even with the help of the Father’s new powers, Sajuuk would be a difficult enemy to face, especially with the prospect of reinforcements coming through the Hyperspace Gates. No, the Beast would be patient. It waited, knowing that an opportunity would present itself sooner or later…

Chapter 32: Brave New World

 

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Brave New World

September 11, 2035 – 12:00pm

Hanapepe, Kauai Island, Hawaiian Republic



On her twentieth birthday, Jericho returned to the place where she had been born.

The town of Hanapepe was gone. The people had been forcibly relocated to Honolulu by the ADVENT government. The buildings and structures had crumbled to dust in the intervening decades, until there was little to no evidence of Human settlement in the area at all. But after a few hours of picking our way through brambles and shrubs, as well as cross-referencing our shared memories of that day, Isis, Chihiro, and I were able to lead Jericho back to the where her life had begun. Mira and Tsubaki followed behind us at a distance, maintaining a respectful silence.

The six of us spent our afternoon poking around what was left of the Kauai Veteran’s Cemetery (some broken stones in an overgrown meadow) while one by one, the three of us told Jericho exactly where we were and what we had done during that fateful day. Finally, the four of us found a particular patch of dirt and agreed that this was almost certainly the spot where the old mausoleum had once stood. Where Jericho had been born and where her real mother, Kotori Sato, had died. Nothing of the structure remained aside from a few scattered bits of concrete hidden in the tall grass.

Kneeling down, Jericho ran her hand gently through the dirt as though she was looking for something.

“What was Kotori like?”

Jericho’s question was expected, but that didn’t mean we had an answer ready. Chihiro and I really didn’t want to revisit the memories of the falling out we’d had with Kotori, particularly in present company.

“Lieutenant Sato?” Isis said. “I met her when I first joined XCOM. I remember how much she hated being idle. It tortured her to think that people were suffering and dying out there while she sat around in HQ and didn’t do anything. She’d volunteer for missions all the time, even when she wasn’t fit for duty.”

“How come she wasn’t fit for duty?” Jericho asked.

“She was already pregnant.” Chihiro replied. “Best anyone could tell, she was carrying you around for a couple of months before alien invasion got started.”

Jericho got down on both knees in the grass, looking as though she was about to start meditating. When she asked her next question, her voice was so soft we almost missed it:

“And my dad?”

“Sergeant Ray was a walking encyclopedia!” I couldn’t help but laugh. “That man knew more about my dad’s Presidency than I did. Completely obsessed with learning about history. He probably would have killed someone to get a good look at Mira’s database.”

Mira rolled her eyes and scoffed. Chihiro and Tsubaki both giggled.

“There was like, five or six moments during World War Three were Aaron totally lost his temper at the Soviets.” Tsubaki reminisced. “He’d curse ‘em out across the battlefield! Sayin’ stuff like: ‘That temple you bombed was hundreds of years old!’ And he’d say: ‘Shame on you for destroying historical artifacts!’ And then he’d gripe and complain about it to us for days!”

Chihiro, Tsubaki, and I all shared a laugh. Even Jericho smiled a bit.

“Even though Mira’s told me about all of the important things that are going to happen in the future, I still sometimes get that sense of awe and wonder when I realize something historic is happening.” Jericho admitted. “I guess I get that from my dad.”

“Yes.” Tsubaki said in a definitive tone. “No freakin’ doubt.”

Jericho leaned forward and pressed her palms to the dirt. I felt a charge run up my arms and my hair stood up on end. We could feel hot energy sizzle and crackle in the air around us.

“What are you doing?” Chihiro asked.

Mira was the only one of us who knew what was going on, and she was quick to answer.

“Sometimes, on somewhat rare occasions…” Mira explained. “Residual Psionic energy will escape from the body of a sentient being as… as they perish. With the proper training, a Gifted individual can absorb this energy and use it for themselves.”

Mira turned towards Jericho and added:

“But just like any other form of energy in the universe… without a way to contain or absorb it…”

Jericho relaxed and sat up again. The air around us cooled off and fell silent. Choking back a sob, Jericho said,

“Yeah, I know. But there’s no harm in trying, or hoping for a miracle.”

…

By this point, the six of us had lived on the Island of Kauai for just over a month, taking full advantage of our shore leave to rest and relax. As promised, an official from the Hawaiian government had put us up in housing in a small coastal town named Wailua. Before settling down, Jericho had visited the abandoned hotel she had called home before meeting Mira for the first time. She ransacked the place thoroughly, recovering what few of her old possessions remained and taking them to our new house on the Wailua beachfront. When she arrived, Jericho had thrown a battered old surfboard to the floor and declared:

“No one stole this thing! Greatest miracle of the whole damn war!”

While Jericho passed her free time catching some Pacific waves, Isis and Mira finally had a chance to sit down and get to know one another. They would sometimes spend whole afternoons comparing notes about their experiences as Jericho’s adoptive mother. After a month of hanging out together, the two of them became something akin to close friends.

At first, Chihiro didn’t take the transition from warfare to peaceful life all that well. For the first two weeks of our vacation, she would get sick regularly and complain of the occasional stomach cramp. After a while, she did finally manage to acclimate and join us in having a good time. Often, she and I would take to exploring the dense forest together, searching for a good hill or mountaintop to get a nice view of the island from.

Sure, we practiced a little war. We needed to keep up our soldier skills, after all. One by one, I allowed everybody to take Mira’s old Katana for a “test run” during a few sparring matches. Jericho was downright terrified of the demonic voice coming from the blade and dropped it right away. Isis found the idea of a talking sword somewhat hilarious and would often carry the Katana around, enjoying its (futile) attempts to provoke violent action from her. Mira had always known about the voice, but didn’t have an explanation. She assumed the Elders were responsible for the Katana having a mind of its own.

Chihiro and Tsubaki both applied their religion to the Katana. They spent hours discussing Shinto and arguing over what kind of Kami was hidden within the blade. Chihiro was convinced that there was an evil spirit or demon locked away inside of the Katana, while Tsubaki imagined the Sword Kami to be more benign. After a few days, they both agreed to name the entity “Hachiman” after a warrior-god who had been worshipped by ancient Samurai. I tried to point out that the sword really didn’t need a name, but the two women overruled me, saying that Sword-Kami needed to be shown a little more respect.

Meanwhile, Tsubaki was thriving. Before we had left the Avenger, Mira had shown Chief Shen how to use alien technology to manufacture a new set of cybernetic legs for Tsubaki that were easily fifty times better than her old ones. Each day, without fail, Tsubaki could be seen running up and down the beach, moving fast enough to keep pace with electric cars on the main road. Thoroughly enjoying her new legs, Tsubaki spent most of her free time on the move.

We’d get together as a group almost every evening. Sharing dinner in the beach house, we’d gather around a large television to watch the news each night. The nightly news report was divided up into two half-hour segments. The first concerned the fall of the ADVENT Coalition and the aftermath:

In the days following Operation Leviathan, ADVENT had completely gone to pieces. Without the Psionic Network, every single soldier and alien under the Elder’s control had suddenly regained their free will and autonomy. Mutons, Sectoids, and Vipers threw down their arms and surrendered as a whole practically overnight. Most of the Humans and Human-alien Hybrids did the same.

Using Psionic Operatives as intermediaries, the Templars were able to broker a ceasefire with a species of alien I had personally never seen, the Andromedons. Out of the many species the Elders had enslaved, the Andromedons were the only ones who couldn’t handle Earth’s atmosphere; these aliens were permanently restricted to wearing enviro-suits filled with an atmosphere of pressurized argon gas.

Now that the war was over, the Andromedons withdrew from Earth society as a whole, concentrating their population in a series of sanctuaries scattered all around the globe and refusing to engage with other species unless contacted first.

Meanwhile the United Nations government had set up its new headquarters in Berlin, a German Megacity. As the ADVENT government fell, some people tried in earnest to have the UN replace it as the sole global government. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out. Disagreements arose all over the world on how to deal with disarmed and surrendering aliens. In regions where the UN had established some form of control, a policy of accepting the alien’s surrender and taking them alive was established. In America, China, Russia, India, and parts of Australia, things spiraled out of control and turned genocidal in a hurry.

Without any kind of authority to keep them in check, the more xenophobic parts of the population unleashed horrific retributive attacks on the alien and Hybrid population. In some cities, the extraterrestrial population was exterminated outright. The Triple Alliance as a whole had to withdraw their troops from these regions as a spur-of-the-moment genocide took place across nearly half of the planet. Humans armed themselves with whatever implements they could before bringing chaos and death wherever unprotected aliens lived. In UN-controlled territories, the violence was significantly scaled back, and in a select few cities, there was no violence at all.

The fall of ADVENT had left behind a power vacuum in those larger countries, and before a new central government could be established, large swathes of these nations had been carved up by local fighters and warlords seeking power. As far as anyone could tell, nearly three hundred regional warlords, a mixed force of Humans, aliens, and Hybrids, were fighting amongst themselves for control of what had once been the United States. My dad’s former Vice President Alexis Alexander had raised a small army and had captured the old capitol of Washington, which caused the UN to recognize her as the “legitimate” ruler of America, for all the good that would do. Fighting in North America was constant and intense. Similar situations had broken out in India and western Russia.

Amidst all of this, a question slowly started to circle its way around the parts of the world that had both accepted the surrender of the aliens and chosen not to kill said aliens:

“What are we going to do with them?”

Finding an answer to this question was proven extremely difficult by the aliens themselves. The many differing species of alien invaders had reacted to the fall of the Elders in different ways, but there was one common thread: The overwhelming majority of these aliens had been enslaved, genetically tampered with, and Psionically brainwashed so badly that none of them could remember their original culture, language, or Homeworld. Some species, like the Chrysalids, Berserkers, and Archons, were never sentient to begin with, and without the influence of the Elders they immediately reverted to a feral state. In general, the hulking warriors known as the Mutons simply wanted to leave. Spaceports all around the planet ground to a halt as they were overwhelmed by desperate Mutons trying to get away from Earth.

The Muton’s desire to leave Earth prompted a serious discussion between the UN and Triple Alliance leadership about repatriating the aliens to their homes, but were quickly derailed when some Vipers began to mount a very serious resistance to any attempts to dislodge them.

As it turned out, several generations of Vipers had been born (or hatched, I should say) right here on Earth, and many of them now considered Earth to be their Homeworld. It didn’t help that the Vipers had been brainwashed to the point of forgetting what to call themselves in their own language, as well as forgetting the name and location of their true Homeworld. This issue wasn’t limited to their species. In general, a measurable majority of aliens wanted to stay on Earth, the majority of whom were Vipers and Sectoids, but also a small number of Mutons, Andromedons, and even a few of the Faceless as well.

Watching all of this play out on the nightly news, Mira, Jericho, Isis, Chihiro, Tsubaki, and I all got the distinct impression that this issue was not going to be solved for a very, very, very long time.

Two weeks after the fall of ADVENT, the UN member states agreed to authorize the UN government to represent and speak on behalf of Earth to the Galactic Community. After a short convention, the new semi-global government reorganized itself and rebranded as “The United Nations of Earth.” The Security Council held a special election to pick the first leader of this new government afterward.

 

 

We were all stunned when Commander Laura Harper appeared at the Security Council meeting in Berlin, but nobody was surprised when she was nominated for the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations of Earth.

“She deserves the win.” Chihiro had said. “XCOM as a whole deserves this.”

“You know, in past cycles, Commander Harper was elected President of the United States.” Mira observed. “Although I suppose that was because the UN never became this powerful. In fact, I believe this is the first cycle ever in which any kind of global institution attempted to replace ADVENT. Normally, this world tends to fracture along the old political and ethnic fault lines.”

“Good to know we’re defying expectations.” I had replied.

As it turned out, the UNE had agreed with us about Commander Harper. As soon as she was nominated for the top job, all of the serious contenders withdrew from the contest. On the big day, the now-former Commander of XCOM was elected unopposed and quickly elevated to the post of Secretary-General while John Bradford formally replaced her as the Commander of XCOM.

One of the first things Harper did as Secretary-General was to create the “Global Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” The GTRC’s job, according to Harper, was to “dispense restorative justice to all inhabitants of Earth” as well as conduct a thorough investigation into the ADVENT Coalition and all of their secretive projects. The dawning of the Commission galvanized the whole world. Vigilantes went out of their way to capture high-ranking members of ADVENT and bring them back to Berlin to face tribunals. The first day of the war crimes trials drew the largest television audience in world history, with the commentators noting that aliens from other worlds were tuning in to watch as well, using a faster-than-light communications tech called the “Hyperwave Relay.”

The hunt for war criminals brought a sad reality to light as well. The Elders had not needed to place one hundred percent of their forces under Psionic domination. A small but dangerous collection of true ADVENT loyalists were able to escape the fall of the Elder’s regime and go into hiding. One of those escaped war criminals was Bellus Mar, a general of the ADVENT Army. As far as we knew, he and a significant force of Human, alien, and Hybrid soldiers were operating out of a hidden base and were trying to continue the war.

The UNE couldn’t establish control over the world by itself, and since the ADVENT Army had disintegrated, the largest military force on Earth was now the extraterrestrial Triple Alliance. Naturally, people were starting to view the Partogans and their allies with no small measure of suspicion and resentment. Fortunately, Secretary-General Harper got a handle on the situation by authorizing the creation of a new Human military.

The Armed Forces of the United Nations of Earth, or AFUNE for short, consists of five branches:

The Army of the United Nations is exactly what you think it is. They might be wearing the same blocky armor as the old ADVENT Coalition and carrying the same weapons, but the global army now takes orders from Laura Harper instead of the Elders. Unlike its predecessor, which was a mixed force of Humans and non-Humans, the UN Army was a homogenous force, one-hundred percent Human, with no alien membership at all.

The second branch is the United Nations Gendarmerie, filling the role of the military police. The line between soldiers and cops is nonexistent as far as the Gendarmerie is concerned. They enforce UN law while dressed for war and carrying high-powered assault rifles. Due to a lack of new equipment, the Gendarmerie has had no choice but to arm themselves with the same weapons and equipment once used by ADVENT Peacekeepers.

The third branch of AFUNE is the United Nations Navy. Officially, they’ve been tasked with defending the entire Solar System from alien attack, but they haven’t had their first mission yet because they don’t have any ships. The governments of Japan, Korea, Australia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia are working around the clock to design and build a fleet of starships for the UN Navy to use. And at the same time, there’s been a huge debate at UN HQ about whether or not the UN should “appropriate” what’s left of ADVENT’s space fleet or purchase new warships from the Partogans.

The fourth branch is the Volunteer Defense Force, or VDF for short. Officially, this is a reserve force meant to supplement and aid the other branches of AFUNE, but since day one, it’s been functioning as a National Guard, sending troops to help communities rebuild as the worldwide violence started to die down.

And finally, the fifth branch of AFUN is XCOM, of course. But not as my friends and I had known it. XCOM had been completely re-organized to fit better in the new global military. In a speech Harper gave to the UN General Assembly, she explained that the new XCOM would become “Humanity’s expeditionary force, capable of waging war far from home and defeating our enemies before they come within sight of our world.”

Yeah, we were basically going to become Space Marines.

But that wasn’t all. A wholly new organization was created and placed under the direct control of XCOM: The Reclamation Agency. This group would be a peacekeeping and counter-terrorism force. Reclamation was subordinate to XCOM mostly because its leadership was from there. The leader of Menace Squad, Jane Kelly, was promoted to Colonel and placed in command of Reclamation. She would report to the new Commander of XCOM, John Bradford.

This development came as a surprise to Mira and Jericho. For two days after the new UN military was announced, both of them spent hours upon hours sifting through the data on Mira’s Human History Database, searching for something. Tsubaki, Chihiro, Isis and I were plenty curious about what had stoked the time traveler’s interest, and we quickly worked up the courage to ask. Two days after the AFUNE was founded, we found Mira and Jericho sitting side by side at a pair of computers in the beach house, comparing notes as they searched through all of Mira’s records. They only looked up when we tapped them on the shoulders and asked what was up.

“This whole situation is somehow both fascinating and troubling at the same time!” Mira had replied.

“According to these records Mira got from Akira’s old ship,” Jericho explained, “There have been one-hundred-fifteen Cycles before the one we’re in now, right? I think you called them ‘alternate timelines’ or something like that. Anyway, we’ve noticed something really unusual.”

“It seems like all of Akira’s work is starting to pay off.” Mira told us. “I can’t find a record of AFUNE, Reclamation, or the Global Truth and Reconciliation Commission anywhere.”

“Which means,” Jericho concluded, “That it’s never happened before! Don’t you see what this means? Remember when I said it felt like things were going off-script? Well we’re completely off-book now!”

Both Jericho and Mira were looking somewhere between nervous and excited.

“History was rewritten, and now the future has been transformed!” Mira finished. “Nothing is happening the way it did in the previous Cycle.”

“And Akira did all of this?” I asked. “Is this the ‘perfect future’ she was trying to build?”

“I cannot be sure.” Mira admitted. “Before our falling out, I became convinced that Akira was attempting to create the ideal future for herself and nobody else, and that she was willing and able to sacrifice anyone and anything to that goal. I’m certain that these changes in the timeline are the result of her actions. To what end, I would rather not find out.”

“Yeah, the Partogans weren’t convinced when I said Akira died in the Elder’s Fortress.” I admitted. “I guess it really is a safe bet she’s still out there.”

Jericho gave Mira a thoughtful look.

“So, does this mean we can’t use your database to predict what’s gonna happen next?”

“You never could to begin with.” Mira replied. “And now it’s doubly so.”

…

Aside from the excursion to Hanapepe, the only other major development that caught our attention was the departure of the Mahuika. The Triple Alliance flagship was so massive that it could be seen from ground level as clearly as one views the Moon. There was no official explanation given for the Mahuika’s abrupt farewell. The ship simply turned one afternoon, flew out beyond the Moon, and vanished into Hyperspace.

A few days afterward, XCOM got in touch with us.

Since Wailua is such a small town, the arrival of a boat carrying strangers caused no small measure of alarm. One of our Hawaiian neighbors alerted us to the “big man and the cyborg lady” coming our way long before they knocked on our door.

Two members of the Avenger’s crew had been sent to collect us. The first was an Indian man who we all knew vaguely. We’d seen him around the ship, but had never learned his real name. Operating under the callsign “Claymore,” this man was XCOM’s explosive ordinance expert. He manufactured, by hand, almost every grenade the Stormbreakers had thrown since Operation Gatecrasher. Despite his tall stature, Claymore is something of a gentle giant. He’s the kind of guy who brings lunch for the whole squad.

As soon as she stepped through the door, the Latina engineer known as “Patchwork” greeted Tsubaki with a high five. Both women shared a common feature, in that they both had cybernetic limbs. Both Tsubaki and Patchwork had lost their legs, but Patchwork was also missing an arm. While the two women compared and contrasted their prosthetic limbs, I spoke to Claymore.

“Is it time to head back to the Avenger?” I asked.

“Afraid so, my friend.” Claymore replied. “Stormbreaker Squad’s been called back to duty. Hell, everyone’s been called back.”

Mira looked over at the calendar on the living room wall. Today was the 17th of September. While the six of us packed our bags and prepared for the trip back to Honolulu, I distinctly overheard Mira muttering to herself:

“So begins the year from Hell.”

…

The Avenger looked and felt like a brand-new ship when we got to it. Fully outfitted with Triple Alliance armor and power systems, the overhaul had breathed new life into the vessel. Things were noticeably different when we arrived, too. Doctor Tygan and his science team had permanently moved out of the Power Core’s chamber and relocated to a purpose-built laboratory. Chief Shen had used blueprints left behind by her father to start manufacturing military-grade androids, and Commander Bradford had settled comfortably into his new role as the Commander of XCOM, taking over Harper’s old office and quarters. Jane Kelly was gone. She and several other soldiers had left the Avenger to start setting up the Reclamation Program somewhere else.

Lifting off from Honolulu, the Avenger first flew to Vancouver to pick up the soldiers we’d left there. It took about a day and a half to fly all over the Pacific Rim to recover all of the soldiers on shore leave. Including the Stormbreakers, there were some twenty XCOM soldiers scattered around the region enjoying their time off. Each time the Avenger took light, one of Shen’s new androids would take over the flight controls, allowing Commander Bradford to take us down to the Guerilla Tactics School and give the following briefing:

“Soldiers, we need to bring you all up to speed on the current situation.” Bradford began. “First and foremost, thanks to you, ADVENT has been defeated. I wish I could say that the war is over and that we’re heading towards a victory parade, but that would be a lie. Fact is, we’ve jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Our offworld allies, the Partogans and the Triple Alliance, have brought us up to speed on a much greater and more dangerous conflict that the Elders were a part of.

“I’m sure those of you who were born under ADVENT’s rule already suspected this, but the older among you might need a second to digest the idea: Our Galaxy is filled with dozens, if not hundreds of sentient species and spacefaring civilizations. And the UNE has only just taken its first steps into this Galactic Community. Thanks to the Partogans, I’m going to give you your first Galactic history lesson, so hold your questions until the end.”

And then Bradford launched into the history of the Galaxy:

Galactic civilization as we know it began roughly ten thousand years ago, when a technologically advanced race known only as the Progenitors abruptly vanished. Ruins, wreckage, and derelicts from their civilization are scattered throughout every stellar region now. No one knows how long the Progenitors inhabited our Galaxy before they vanished, but we do know the following for certain: First, the Progenitors were an extragalactic race. They came from somewhere else. Second, their technology was so advanced that they were able create and seed organic life on almost any suitable world. It’s safe to assume that the Progenitors interfered with the development of any habitable planet over ten thousand years old. Finally, we know that despite the fact that the Progenitors are gone, their technology still functions. Namely in the fact that they were the ones who first developed a system of Faster-Than-Light travel, and every Hyperspace system in the Galaxy today is derived from Progenitor tech. Furthermore, there are thousands of fully automated Progenitor ships throughout the Galaxy that are still fully functional more than ten millennia after the loss of their creators.

Once the Progenitors disappeared, the Galaxy entered something of a dark age. No one was able to invent or use Hyperspace technology without the Progenitors. Then, approximately four thousand years ago, roughly around 2000 B.C., an alien race called the Bentusi discovered a Hyperspace Core. There are three such cores, all manufactured by the Progenitors, and all FTL technology is derived from these devices. Using this Core, the Bentusi styled themselves as peacekeepers, and established themselves as benign overlords of the many thousands of other spacefaring cultures that were starting to crop up around this time. Then, in roughly 1500 B.C., there was a large-scale conflict. It has different names depending on what species you ask, but the most common are “the Galactic Rebellion,” “the Unbound War,” and “the Great Hyperspace War.” However, our Partogan allies say they’ve recently taken to calling it “The First Hyperspace War.” Either way, the Bentusi were overwhelmed and a new order took over.

The aftermath of the First Hyperspace War saw the creation of the Galactic Council, a supranational peacekeeping body somewhat similar to our prewar United Nations. For a time, the Galactic Council was able to keep the peace, if only for a while. Two superpowers had begun to vie for control of the Inner Rim: The Hiigaran Empire and the Taiidan Empire. A border dispute between the two threatened to erupt into a much more destructive conflict, so the Council mediated and ruled in favor of the Taiidan. Outraged, the Hiigarans revealed a secret: They had found the Second Hyperspace Core.

The Hiigarans had constructed a great flagship named Sajuuk’s Wrath to house the Second Core, and using its immense power, were able to jump an entire battle fleet directly to the Taiidan capitol. The Hiigaran bombardment of the Taiidani Homeworld did not stop until all life on the planet was extinguished. In the first unanimous vote of its long history, the Galactic Council condemned the Hiigarans and demanded the surrender of the Second Core as well as the dismantling of the Hiigaran Navy. At first, the Hiigarans appeared to comply with the order, but then sprang a now-infamous ambush. Their flagship, Sajuuk’s Wrath, attacked the Great Harborship of Bentus in an attempt to steal the First Hyperspace Core. After a cataclysmic battle, the Bentusi defeated the Hiigarans and attempted to confiscate the Second Core. In response, Sajuuk’s Wrath intentionally crashed into the surface of Hiigara’s Angel Moon.

Filled with fury and a desire for revenge, the surviving Taiidani descended upon the defeated Hiigarans with genocidal intent but the bloodbath as averted by a last-second intervention by the Galactic Council. The Hiigarans were instead forced to abandon their Homeworld; their entire species sent into exile on the opposite side of the Galaxy, the only thing they took with them was the Second Core, secretly recovered from the wreckage on the Angel Moon.

Following the departure of the Hiigarans, the Taiidan occupied Hiigara and made it into their new capitol. With their foe vanquished, the Taiidan Empire became the single most powerful force in the entire Galaxy, and were its undisputed rulers for approximately three thousand years of relative peace and prosperity.

It was during the latter half of this peace that the Galaxy as a whole first took note of Earth’s existence. a convoy of automated Progenitor ships began moving between habitable worlds in the southern half of the Galaxy, where very few spacefaring civilizations existed. These automated ships proceeded to abduct the primitive peoples of pre-FTL societies and forcibly transplant them to other parts of the Galaxy. One such ship visited Earth sometime around the year 1400 A.D., although all attempts to track it down were thwarted when the ship entered the Ustir Slipgate. (a naturally-occurring Hyperspace entrance) The Taiidani Imperial Science Commission made a note of the planet and its inhabitants, but the records were lost until quite recently due to some combination of bureaucratic neglect, the Taiidani Civil War, and the Hiigaran Reconquest of Hiigara.

The aforementioned reconquest is, according to the Partogans, the single defining moment of recent Galactic history. In late 1923 A.D. the Hiigaran survivors emerged from a three-thousand-year exile and battled their way across the entire Galaxy and recaptured their Homeworld from the Taiidan, setting off a fifteen-year long war that would eventually re-shape the entire galaxy. The Partogans themselves had been dragged into the conflict as well, fighting in several key battle before being forced out of the war by the intervention of…

Akira Robinson.

When Bradford reached this part of the historical briefing, he actually paused and gave Chihiro and I a baleful look before continuing.

The 1928 Battle of Aoraki was where Akira had revealed herself to the entire Galaxy. Her evil plot to force the Partogans and Levakians to make war on one another had gone smoothly, and somewhere between fifteen and seventeen million innocent people had been killed in the conflict. Eventually, Akira had been confronted and defeated by Partoga’s legendary warrior Queen, Kendra the Great.

“And yes…” Bradford added. “We know that’s a Human name. Trust me, the Galactic Council and the Triple Alliance started investigating all of these connections while you were on shore leave. How else do you think they found that record of a Progenitor ship visiting Earth and kidnapping a bunch of people?”

Bradford carried on:

It was towards the ending of the Taiidani Civil War when the Galaxy got its first taste of the nightmare to come. A Hiigaran mining vessel discovered a small derelict in deep space and recovered it. As it turned out, this derelict contained a tiny sample of the bio-mechanical virus now known as the Beast. The virus re-activated and began to spread uncontrolled throughout the reaches of the former Taiidan Empire. The Beast War was a short but vicious conflict, but eventually, the combined efforts of the Hiigarans, Bentusi, and Taiidani were enough to put the Beast down for good. The Galaxy could breathe a sigh of relief.

But the Partogan leader, Queen Kendra, was unconvinced the danger had passed. Ever since the defeat of Akira Robinson, she had become convinced that the Galaxy would soon face an existential threat, and began to build up and develop her nation’s military and alliances in preparation for this conflict. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s this threat seemed to arrive. A nomadic warrior race called the Vaygr discovered the third and final Hyperspace Core, invoking an ancient prophecy of the “Sajuuk-Khar,” the one who would bring all three cores together and awaken the Creator-God Sajuuk. Under the banner of a spiritual leader named Makaan, the Vaygr embarked on a series of crusade-like conquests that brought both Hiigarans and Taiidani to their knees.

While the Hiigarans, Vaygr, and Bentusi fought a great war for control of the Three Hyperspace Cores, Kendra did everything in her power to keep her own nation and the newly founded Triple Alliance out of the fighting. She believed that the holy war playing out around Hiigara was not in fact the apocalyptic conflict she feared. Sure enough, just nine years after Hiigaran leader Karan S’jet defeated Makaan became the Sajuuk-Khar, the Beast returned.

Bradford brought up an image on the digital screen… it was a map of the entire Galaxy as it had been on the day the current war had begun over twenty years ago.

Due to the disruptive nature of the Vaygr Wars, the Galactic Community as a whole was caught flat-footed and completely unprepared. While the Hiigarans, Vaygr, and Taiidani rebuilt and retooled their military forces to fight the resurgent Beast, the Partogans and their Triple Alliance had, for the most part, born the brunt of the early fighting. To make matters worse, this incarnation of the Beast carried a different strain of the subversion virus, one that was capable of adapting and mutating at a high rate of speed. Weapons, tactics, and vaccines would only be useful for a short period of time before the Beast became resistant to them, if not outright immune.

For twenty years, the Galaxy had fought in a horrendous back and forth. The Beast would attack and spread itself as far and wide as possible, and the united empires of the Galaxy would hold the line and minimize the contagion. For the most part, the Second Hyperspace War was a very defensive conflict. Once a star system was lost to the Beast, few if any attempts were made to recapture it.

Finally, Commander Bradford had brought us all to the present. As we reached the end of the historical briefing, he concluded with this:

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this for you, soldiers. Our new allies are at their breaking point. Unlike us, they’ve been fighting a high intensity conflict with no breaks or respites for the past two decades. They’ve suffered vast casualties and destruction beyond anything we could imagine. Any other nation in this situation would have attempted to make peace with their enemy by now. Hell, I personally wouldn’t blame the Partogans and the Hiigarans if they’d contemplated surrender after fighting for this long. But that’s the thing. They’re not fighting a conventional opponent. This enemy, this Beast, is not going to stop attacking for any reason. It doesn’t care about political domination or empire building. This creature lives only to kill and eat and it won’t stop until it’s been put down. Like it or not, soldiers. Earth is going to join this war and fight the Beast as well. We don’t have a choice.”

Bradford clicked the remote control and the digital screen advanced to the next slide. I’ll admit, what I saw scared me just as much as everyone else.

“This,” Bradford said, “…is why the Elders were scrambling to finish developing the AVATAR Project and build up their armies. This is ‘what lies ahead.’ According to the Triple Alliance, the Beast is approximately sixteen Light Years away from Earth, and the Galactic Front Line is creeping closer every day.”

…

By the time all of the Stormbreakers had returned to the Avenger, the full story of our newest mission was made perfectly clear: The UNE government had, with a little assistance from the Triple Alliance fleet, successfully made diplomatic contact with our neighboring star nations. Earth was attempting to join the Galactic Community during a period of great turmoil and crisis, but somebody on the other end was actively working to make sure we got our metaphorical seat at the table. The government of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth, the nation from which our Triple Alliance allies came, had offered to sponsor a Human diplomatic mission to the Galactic Council.

The UNE government had already selected someone to be Humankind’s first ambassador to another world, but to everyone’s surprise, the new Human Envoy had refused to take the job unless they were escorted by a squad of XCOM soldiers. The Partogans had insisted that Galactic Council meetings were the most secure functions in the cosmos, and that a military escort was unnecessary. However, the Envoy had put their foot down, refusing to make the trip to Hiigara without an XCOM bodyguard. This was the exact reason we had all been called back to duty.

“The next session of the Galactic Council is set to begin in January.” Bradford told us. “That gives us roughly four months to make sure you are all sufficiently trained for the operation. From beginning to end, the entire mission will take roughly two weeks.”

“Trained?” Kathleen had scoffed, “Mate, I protected the President of the United States for eight years and took an effin’ bullet for the guy! What more trainin’ do I need?”

As it turned out, we needed a very large amount of training and preparation for a two-week spaceflight.

…

For reasons of safety, we had to go through an intense three-month long training program. Every soldier of XCOM would go through the training regimen, and then the top six would be chosen for the mission to Hiigara.

First, we had to learn our way around the modern weapon systems used by most Galactic military forces. Out with the Laser Rifles and in with gauss and plasma weapons. Those first few weeks were thankfully quite easy because the ADVENT Army had equipped itself with those weapon types, giving XCOM plenty of exposure to them. The Partogan and Assurian soldiers sent to train us were pleased with how smoothly things went.

But then came… spaceflight training. This was where the crowd got thin in a real hurry. A team of Assurians and Levakians had made us sit through nearly fifteen hours of classes, talking us through how to move and fight in a zero-gravity environment. The written test wiped out half the class, including several Stormbreakers. Sophie Ackermann and Matthew Hawkins looked nothing short of frazzled while the Levakian instructor tried to explain where they went wrong.

“You can’t count on artificial gravity plating to function one-hundred percent of the time.” The instructor had said. “You must be able to adapt quickly whenever up becomes down.”

We found out what he meant about a week later: On the last day of October, we all flew in space for the first time.

Thanks to the retrofits and modifications provided by the Partogans, the Avenger traveled from sea level to Low Earth Orbit in just four minutes. This proved to be too much for Odette Fournier, who chose to stay strapped into her seat for the entire flight while everyone else galivanted around the ship like children at a zero-gravity party. The instructors gave up on trying to corral us pretty quickly and just allowed us all to enjoy our first experience with spaceflight.

Poor Chihiro nearly had a panic attack in the armory when she got stranded in midair. Unable to grab onto anything, she just hovered above the floor, slowly rotating on the spot and looking like she was going to puke. I had to show her how to propel herself forward by throwing something in the opposite direction she wanted to travel. Chihiro pulled one of her shoes off and gave it a toss. Without gravity to hold her in place, the force of throwing the show caused Chihiro to fly backwards and hit a wall!

“Very good, Robinson!” One of the Levakians said when he spotted what I’d taught Chihiro to do. “You must remember that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Keep that in mind if you ever find yourself about to discharge a projectile weapon in a micro-gravity environment.”

“Hold up.” Kathleen said, “Another one of Newtons laws says that things in motion will stay in motion. If we… oh, I dunno… shot Yamamoto out an airlock, would he just keep going forever?”

“Only if he was not acted on by some other force.” The instructor replied. “Barring some interference from a planet or star or other dense body, your friend would continue flying through space forever. That’s also why Mass Driver cannons are becoming less and less popular throughout the Galaxy these days. They can become predictable, and thus avoided, whereas the same cannot be said for energy-based weapons.”

…

After that first spaceflight, the class was reduced in size again. XCOM soldiers who flunked out of spaceflight training were sent out on other missions around the world, hunting down ADVENT remnants who were refusing to surrender, or just fighting the many species of feral aliens who were now out of control.

Some news trickled aboard the Avenger as well. We got word that the Hiigarans had suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Beast in a region of space called the “Nanjim Star Cluster,” which wasn’t all that far from Earth. The Beast had taken full advantage of the situation and had launched an offensive deep into Vaygr space.

Closer to home, the downfall of ADVENT had produced an unexpected side-effect. With all of the Gene Therapy clinics shut down, disease returned to Earth with a vengeance. Within two months of Earth’s liberation, we had our first new global pandemic on our hands. A wasting disease called “The Fade” began making the rounds. Strangely enough, the Fade only affected Human/alien Hybrids, leaving full-blooded Humans and aliens unharmed and prompting rumors that the Elders had engineered the Fade as some kind of “kill switch” for their Hybrid army. For a few weeks, Jericho refused to leave the Avenger for fear of catching the Fade.

There were also reports of a horde of Chrysalids being set loose in City 31, one of ADVENT’s oldest Megacities. The “Bugtown Massacre” triggered a wave of reprisal attacks all over Earth, and the upswell of violence ended up drowning out news of a far more concerning development:

Each day, there were more and more reports of freakish monsters emerging from the Pacific Ocean and attacking anyone they encountered, Human or otherwise. Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, and the American west coast were among the hardest hit. Perhaps the most unsettling detail about these reports was that the attacking creatures were not being described as “aliens,” but were instead being called “monsters.” One American news reporter had dared to use the word “Lovecraftian” in his account of the coastline attacks.

Mira Mihaka heard the rumors about the attacks on the Pacific Rim and dropped out of the spaceflight training program almost immediately. Bradford had tried to stop Mira from leaving the Avenger on her own, but she wouldn’t hear any of it.

“I have a deep suspicion.” She had told us. “I will investigate and return with word of my discoveries.”

…

By the beginning of December, there were only seven XCOM soldiers left in the spaceflight training program, and they were all Stormbreakers: Jericho, Soylent Green, Tsubaki Endo, Hal Macintosh, Kathleen Walsh, Chihiro, and myself.

Tsubaki was the one surprise in the group. As it turned out, her body gave her an unexpected advantage: Both of Tsubaki’s legs had been amputated below the knee, which granted her some resistance to the effects of G-Forces. Team Takea member Elsina had offered an explanation to us:

“Ever since the first bout of space combat, organic pilots and crew have been knocked unconscious by high-G turns and maneuvers.” Elsina taught us. “Their vascular systems are overwhelmed and blood drains away from the brain. With her legs gone, Sergeant Endo’s blood has nowhere to drain, thus, it stays in her head. What that means is that while all of you pass out because the ship is spinning too fast, Endo is still going to be awake, no doubt pointing and laughing at her weak and pathetic comrades.”

Jericho was, by this point, a mandatory inclusion in the mission. Mira and Manako Ranginui had both had secret meetings with Jericho. Secretary-General Harper had also paid a visit to discuss something privately with her. It was rapidly becoming common knowledge that Jericho, Mira, and Manako were working together on some kind of secret project. Doctor Tygan was involved as well, and he was keeping tight-lipped. When pressed for information, Jericho would often avoid the question whilst pulling her hair back to reveal she was wearing a Mindshield.

“I wanna tell you guys, I really do.” Jericho answered us when we pressed her. “But we can’t tip our hand just yet.”

…

Thursday, December 20, 2035 - 7:00pm
Nagasaki Airport, Omura City, Kyushu Island

About a week before Christmas, the Avenger landed on a small Japanese island just off the coast of what had once been Nagasaki Prefecture. There was little evidence of any conflict taking place at Nagasaki Airport. The ADVENT Coalition had done its best to keep this crucial piece of transportation infrastructure up and running.

When we arrived, there was a massive UNE delegation waiting for us, as well as some Japanese government officials. Ryo Nakagawa, the Prime Minister of Japan, was waiting for us. I almost didn’t recognize him when he wasn’t dressed for battle.

“Commander Bradford! Welcome to Nagasaki!” Nakagawa greeted XCOM’s new Commander as he descended the Avenger’s ramp. “I’ve brought some good news for you.”

Nakagawa took a laptop computer from one of his aides and opened it, holding the screen forwards so that Bradford could see the video playing on it. Onscreen, a familiar shadowy silhouette delivered the first piece of good news:

“Hello Commander.” Said the Council Spokesman. “The UN Security Council has received offers from the governments of France, Japan, New Zealand, and Korea to become the new hosts of XCOM Headquarters. Following our discussions, we have decided to award the honor to Japan. XCOM will now have a permanent base of operations in the city of Nagasaki, whose primary airport is sufficiently isolated from the population center to allow XCOM to operate at normal capacity. You and your forces are authorized to occupy and repurpose Nagasaki Airport to suit your needs. Carry on, Commander.”

…

It took roughly three days for us to offload all of XCOM’s command and control systems from the Avenger and move them into what had once been the airport terminal. Commander Bradford set up his new office in the air traffic control tower. Chief Engineer Shen took over an entire hangar and converted it into her workshop, while Doctor Tygan kept the location of his new laboratory a closely guarded secret. Before we were fully moved in, our lead scientist was already traveling to Nagasaki on a daily basis, seeking out Hybrids and gathering information about the Fade.

The airport itself was located on an island about ten miles away from the Megacity of Nagasaki, and was only connected to Japan by a narrow land bridge. This meant that base security was now simpler than ever. Once the anti-aircraft cannons were installed beside the runway, it only took six soldiers to guard the main entrance each day.

Unfortunately, my team and I couldn’t go into Nagasaki just yet. We had only a few days of spaceflight training left, and we weren’t allowed to go off-duty until it was over. Nobody was more upset about this than Tsubaki. She had been born and raised in Nagasaki. Her parents had run a successful restaurant there for decades, and now she wanted nothing more than to pay a visit to her old hometown.

“Blake got to go back to Detroit and Chihiro went to Tokyo!” Tsubaki had complained to Bradford. “Can’t I get just one day off?”

“You can take some leave after you pass the final physical.” Bradford conceded.

…

Sunday, December 30, 2035 – 5:00pm


The final test of spaceflight training as a physical health examination. It didn’t surprise any of us to hear that space travel could be stressful and exhausting. Before any of us could be cleared to travel to Hiigara, Doctor Tygan would have to give us all a complete exam to make sure our bodies could handle the ordeal.

Soylent Green and Hal Macintosh passed with flying colors and were the first ones cleared for the mission. Jericho had to go through an extra layer of scrutiny. Tygan drew her blood and took a saliva sample to make sure she hadn’t caught the Fade. Once he was satisfied, she was healthy, Jericho was cleared for the mission as well. Not like he had a choice. By this point, her presence on the mission was non-negotiable.

Kathleen Walsh was also cleared for the mission, but it was a close call. Almost thirty years ago, she had been shot in the chest while doing her duty as my dad’s bodyguard. Stopping a Presidential assassination had come with a cost though, as the .22 caliber bullet was still lodged inside of her left lung to this day. Tygan ordered Walsh to have the bullet surgically removed, and a Triple Alliance medical team carried out the procedure. Reepi Imvu delivered the news of Kathleen’s full recovery personally, and she was cleared for the mission.

Chihiro and I were last, and we had our examinations one after the other. Tygan baulked when I told him just how many times I’d been seriously injured in combat. (I’ve been shot three times, had my skull cracked once, and been burned a few times) After hearing about all of the trauma I’d put my body through, Tygan said that he was going to withhold judgement on me until he had examined Chihiro.

As we traded places in the waiting area, Chihiro and I had a quick telepathic conversation:

Everyone’s been cleared except you and me. Chihiro’s voice spoke in my head. They only want six, so I guess that means one of us is gonna get disqualified.

For whatever it’s worth, Chi, I hope you pass. I responded. Exploring space seems like it could be really fun, and I think you’d enjoy it. Plus, it seems like Tygan’s not to keen on clearing me. I’ve taken too much of a beating. Good luck in there.

Thanks, Blake. I’ll do my best.

I waited for about twenty minutes, absentmindedly clicking my heels together and imagining what it would be like to travel fifteen-hundred Light Years to visit the Galactic Council. Just when my mind was starting to wander, I felt the Psionic Link between myself and Chihiro suddenly snap closed! Feeling alarmed, I stood up and started pacing in front of the office Tygan had commandeered for the medical exams. Roughly ten minutes later, Chihiro and Tygan emerged… and right away, I knew things had gone poorly for her. Chihiro wrapped her arms around me and cried into my chest while Doctor Tygan told me what was wrong:

“I’m sorry.” Tygan said. “Sergeant Tachibana is just too sickly to fly in space. Her complaints of reoccurring nausea and stomach pains are warning signs. Prolonged spaceflight might cause her lasting physical injury or worse. I cannot, in good consciousness, allow her to fly in space. Captain Robinson, the final slot on the mission to Hiigara is yours.”

…

Monday, December 31, 2035 – 4:30pm


Chihiro didn’t take her failure very well. She really did want to fly in space, and getting rejected right at the very end of the training program was a pretty harsh blow. Tsubaki, and I took it upon ourselves to cheer her up. Now that training was over, we had a few precious days to ourselves before the UN Envoy arrived and the diplomatic mission was launched. After some cajoling and pleading, we convinced Chihiro to join us on a trip into the city.

Tsubaki was more determined than ever to find her parent’s old restaurant, or what was left of it. Moving through the narrow streets, the three of us navigated our way to the part of the city where Tsubaki had once lived. As it turned out, Tsubaki’s home was in the pre-invasion sector. This was a large swathe of urban landscape that had survived the 2015 invasion mostly undamaged. ADVENT had been planning to bulldoze the area and expand their Megacity into this district, but the downfall of the Elders had prevented this. Most of this part of Nagasaki looked exactly the way it had done at the end of World War Three, worn out and dirty, but still lived in.

This little nostalgia trip did some good for Chihiro. She got into our quest to find Tsubaki’s home and participated with energy! Running ahead of us, Chihiro spotted the first landmark Tsubaki recognized.

“Meganebashi!”

When she said the name, I had to pause and think. Hanging out with Chihiro and Tsubaki for most of my life had allowed me to pick up some Japanese, and with a raised eyebrow, I said:

“Uh, Chi… you don’t wear spectacles.”

Chihiro rolled her eyes at me, then grabbed me by the hand and pulled me towards the Nakashima River. She pointed across the embankment. Meganebashi, as it turned out, was the name of a stone bridge spanning the river, linking the two halves of Nagasaki together.

“It’s the oldest stone bridge in all of Japan.” Tsubaki told us. “My mom taught me that. We could see it from the window of… the window of our restaurant.”

Tsubaki turned on her cybernetic heels, craning her neck around and looking at every nearby building in turn.

“We’re close!”

It took only two minutes of searching… and then we found it.

On the north side of Megane Bridge, there was a building with a beautiful flagstone façade. The word “Ramen” was repeated in English and Japanese above the door. As for the restaurant… we couldn’t get in. There was a line of Humans, Mutons, Vipers, and assorted Hybrids out the door. Every few seconds, a Human, alien, or Hybrid would leave the restaurant carrying a takeout bag filled with something that smelled positively divine! We quickly found out what was going on, a huge sign in one window declared:

 

“Emergency food dispensary
Free food for homeless or unemployed (and Fade victims)
All of our Chryssalid meat is fully cooked!
Our food is safe for all Humans, Hybrids, Faceless, Vipers and Mutons.
FOOD NOT SAFE FOR SECTOIDS, ANDROMEDONS.”

Tsubaki let out a low whistle.

“My mom would totally get a kick out of this. I wonder why Sectoids and Andromedons can’t eat our food?”

A passing Human/Viper Hybrid had the answer we wanted.

“Nearly all Earth-based food is poisonous to Sectoids.” The Adder told us. “And as for the Andromedons, they’re not a talkative bunch. Figuring out what they can eat has been pretty much trial-and-error for the past six months.”

…

After that encounter, Chihiro’s urge to explore finally seemed to eclipse her sorrow at losing out on the chance to fly in space. The three of us continued to wander around Nagasaki for hours, exploring the city and seeing just how much twenty years of alien occupation had changed the place.

We passed through a newly created “alien ghetto” where the non-Human population had been forced to live in the aftermath of ADVENT’s downfall. UN Army soldiers guarded the ghetto entrance and inspected everybody going in or out. We also found a field hospital where former Gene Therapy clinic workers were attempting to triage Hybrids suffering from the Fade.

“Sure glad Jericho didn’t come with us.” I said as we watched a Human/Sectoid Hybrid stumble into the site, his muscles atrophied to the point where his flesh seemed to just hang from the bones.

The three of us just kept wandering aimlessly, taking in as much of the city as we could. Finally, while we were following the Nakashima river downstream towards the docks, Chihiro got something off her chest.

“I’m really jealous of you two, you know that?”

“Yeah, I figured so.” I answered.

“You’re not mad at me?”

“Not at all.” I said. “I’d be jealous, too.”

The three of us paused by the riverbank and tossed some stones into the water.

“Look at this this way,” I said. “We’re only going to be gone for a couple of weeks, and Elsina said we can use the Hyperwave Relay to stay in touch with Earth the whole time. The Partogans are installing one at HQ tonight. It’s not going to be like World War Three, Chi. We’re not going to be cut off completely.”

“Yeah!” Tsubaki chimed in. “Blake can share the experience with you, every step of the way. He’ll call you every day, and I’ll make sure he does. Promise.”

Chihiro sighed.

“I guess you’re right. I’ll be sitting by that Hyperwave, Blake. Every day. Tsubaki, if he forgets to call, you can punch him in the gut for me, alright?”

Tsubaki let out a mischievous giggle and put up her fists.

“Hear that, Robinson? I’m gonna be watching you!”

I raised an eyebrow at Tsubaki. She made a quick jabbing motion with one fist and I took half a step back. Pulling her punch, Tsubaki giggled again and added:

“Two for flinching!”

Then she punched me in the arm twice.

…

Once the sun had dropped completely below the horizon; we reluctantly started the trek back to XCOM HQ. Chihiro had completely run out of energy and was leaning on my shoulder, lazily putting one foot in front of the other was we moved through downtown Nagasaki. None of us acknowledged the old government building as we walked past it, but someone in there definitely noticed us.

We hadn’t gone more than fifty feet past the government building when a convoy of vehicles emerged and pulled up on the road alongside us. It was an Old World limousine escorted by more modern UN Army vehicles. Tsubaki, Chihiro and I stopped walking and looked around as a man in a business suit stepped out of the limo and waved at us.

“Robinson! Tachibana! Endo!”

The three of us gasped and had to hold back laughter. Commander Bradford looked to have completely transformed! The leader of XCOM was now clean-shaven, had gotten a haircut, and was dressed up for a formal meeting. We might as well have been staring at a completely different person.

“We were just heading back to HQ.” I responded. “Had ourselves some time off.”

“Well you’re in luck.” Bradford called back. “We’re escorting the UN Envoy to Headquarters right now. Hop in and we’ll take you the rest of the way!”

Feeling grateful for the lift, the three of us climbed into the limousine and the convoy started to roll again. The first thing we noticed when we sat down was that Jericho was sitting next to Bradford in the limo, dress up in the ceremonial uniform of the Hawaiian National Army, complete with decorative ribbons and a small medal. Jericho smiled at us and said:

“I guess it’s good luck we ran into you tonight. Saves me the trouble of tracking you down to tell you the news.”

Before we could reply, Bradford spoke up, addressing someone else:

“Well, this is rather fortuitous, ma’am. You see the man and the woman with the cybernetic legs? Those two individuals will be part of your new bodyguard.”

“A very interesting choice.” Said a female voice that caused my heart to skip a beat. “Was it intentional, Bradford? Did you really have to pick someone who has such a… sordid history with me?”

I eyes widening, I looked up, following the sultry voice to its source. Sitting on Bradford’s left was a woman I had not seen since the fall of XCOM over twenty years ago. She looked radically different. She was much older now, and was starting to show the smallest, earliest wrinkles on the corners of her eyes. The woman was wearing a sleeveless dress, the kind of thing you’d expect to see at a formal dinner party, with a plunging neckline that revealed most of her upper chest. My eyes locked on a spot just above her left breast, where I saw three scars that instantly confirmed her identity for me.

“I apologize, ma’am.” Bradford said quickly. “I wasn’t expecting you to know each other.”

Then the Commander turned to us.

“Well, Captain Robinson, I guess you’ve already met Humankind’s first ambassador to an alien world, this is…”

“Yes.” I cut Bradford off. “We’ve… already met.”

The Envoy regarded me with a thoughtful gaze. She raised one hand to cover the gunshot wounds I had left in her chest so long ago. For a moment, I had a very quick flashback to that night in Hiroshima, when this woman had revealed herself to be a Soviet spy. It all felt so very long ago now.

In a polite tone, Yukiko Takahashi said:

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance once again, Robinson. I hope this will be the beginning of a respectful and courteous relationship, devoid of whatever hostilities we shared in the past.”

In the back of my mind, Chihiro telepathically said:

Suddenly, I don’t feel as bad about missing the trip.

The uncomfortable silence lasted for just a few seconds before Jericho broke it.

“Uh, anyway. Blake, Chi, Tsubaki… they said I can finally tell you what’s going on.”

I swear I was going through some kind of mood whiplash! Chihiro and I looked back and forth from Bradford to Yukiko, dumbfounded. Tsubaki’s mouth just kinda hung open. The Commander and the Envoy both nodded at Jericho.

“Go ahead.” Bradford said. “The news is going to leak out sooner or later.”

“And in this case,” Yukiko added, “We can use such a leak to our benefit. Tell them as much as you like.”

Jericho leaned in towards Chihiro, Tsubaki and I:

“Ever since we got back from Hawaii, I’ve been helping the Partogans develop a Psionic Superweapon… a weapon that only I can operate.”

“Only you!?” Tsubaki repeated. “Why?”

“That explanation will have to come later.” Jericho answered with an uncomfortable look. “Mira and the Ranginui twins are confident that it’ll turn the tide and help us kill the Beast. But there’s one really huge problem: there materials we need to build this thing aren’t naturally found on Earth. We need Elerium, Meld, Zro, Protodermis, Nanites, and Aetherium.”

“We can get Elerium and Meld by salvaging ADVENT starships.” Bradford explained. “Elerium powers nearly all of the Elders’ technology, and Meld is the bonding agent that makes genetic manipulation so easy. Hell, there’s so much Meld in Jericho’s body we might get the amount we need just by drawing her blood.”

“Protodermis and Aetherium both occur naturally on Partoga.” Jericho added. “The first is a metallic liquid while the other is a highly energetic type of crystal. Makara Ranginui promised to go to her Homeworld and collect a large stockpile of both, then bring it back here. That’s why the Mahuika left so suddenly a few months ago.”

“Nanites, well we can make those ourselves.” Yukiko said, “But it takes time, and the Partogans have said that other spacefaring empires have Nanites of their own we might be able to trade for. Zro is an aerosol gas that, when inhaled, enhances the powers of Gifted people. Doctor Tygan thinks we might be able to harvest it from the atmosphere of Uranus or Neptune.”

Jericho squirmed with excitement.

“Sorry.” She said quickly. “When I was little, Neptune was my favorite planet. Always wanted to visit. Anyway, getting ahold of all this stuff is going to be crucial. Without these resources, the Trinity won’t work.”

“The Trinity?” I repeated. “That’s what the weapon is called?”

Jericho nodded.

“This will be the first Psionic weapon of its kind.” She explained. “I thought it was only appropriate to name it after the first atomic bomb.”

Chapter 33: Creeps from the Deep

 

Chapter Twenty-Eight
Creeps from the Deep

Friday, January 4, 2036 - 9:00am
XCOM Headquarters, Nagasaki City, Kyushu Island


“Uh, Chi? You don’t need to do that. I’m only going to be gone for two weeks.”

Chihiro Tachibana had just finished giving her husband a very intense nonverbal goodbye. Jericho laughed and grabbed Blake’s duffel bag.

“You take your time, Robinson.” She said. “I’ll see you on board.”

Carrying her own things as well, Jericho stepped up the boarding ramp of the Partogan Assault Frigate Kakama. Manako Ranginui greeted her at the entrance hatch with a welcoming gesture. Meanwhile, Blake unstrapped his Katana from its place on his back and passed it to his wife.

“Ranginui made it very clear we can’t take large weapons with us.” Blake explained. “We can’t have anything bigger than a pistol. Can I trust you to hold onto this while I’m gone?”

“Of course!” Chihiro replied.

She reached out to take the sword, but Blake held it back and added:

“Chi, are you going to be okay with this thing? Is the voice going to be a problem?”

“Of course not.” Chihiro sighed. “You worried I’m gonna fall in love with it or something?”

The couple stared at one another for a moment, then burst into laughter. Blake handed over the Katana.

“I’m really going to miss you, Chi.”

“Me too. You still wanna trade places?”

“Damn right I do.” Blake replied. “I’d much rather chase down weird monsters in the Pacific than protect Yukiko Takahashi. Having that traitorous bitch around takes all the fun out of flying in space!”

Chihiro stuck out her tongue at Blake.

“Well too bad, ‘cause I don’t wanna hang out with Yukiko either! Plus, I actually like the ocean! And you never learned how to swim!”

“Don’t rub it in.” Blake ruffled Chihiro’s hair. “I’ll see you in a couple weeks, alright?”

“Fine.” Chihiro pretended to pout. “But if you’re one second late, Mister Robinson, you’re gonna catch hell.”

“Two weeks.” Blake promised. “I promise. And we’ll all get a hot meal at Tsubaki’s place, okay?”

“I’ll hold you to that!”

…

After one last round of “I love you’s” and a goodbye kiss, Blake ascended the ramp and entered the Kakama. Chihiro and the other XCOM soldiers who were going to remain behind withdrew to the safe interior of Nagasaki Airport’s terminal. Once the runway was clear and the last passengers had boarded, the Assault Frigate’s engines roared to life and the ship took to the sky. Chihiro watched the starship until it was completely gone from her sight. Then she stepped away from the window and headed towards the armory.

As she walked, Chihiro used a length of parachute cord to tie Hachiman the Demon Katana to her belt. No sooner had her hand touched the handle did the demon within speak up:

“Ogawa’s eyes lingered on your husband for far too long. A sharp sting of pain will teach the lecherous harlot to avert her gaze.”

“Feeling vindictive today, are we?” Chihiro muttered to the blade.

She snatched a quick glance down the hallway, where Akaya Ogawa and her friend Anna Petrova were comparing Laser Rifles. Concluding that Hachiman was just trying to provoke her, Chihiro moved on.

In the new XCOM armory, a meeting was already in progress. Commander Bradford was having a discussion with Mira Mihaka and Geist, the Templar leader. Geist was accompanied by a Caucasian woman with vivid red hair, purple eyes, and a large series of dark purple tattoos across the right side of her face. Several other XCOM soldiers were present as well. British soldier Holly Smith was in attendance as well, her brand-new cybernetic hands stood out in the dim room, reflecting light like a window pane.

When Chihiro entered the armory, a wave of clapping was just starting to die down. The gathered soldiers were celebrating a promotion. Holly Smith turned away from Commander Bradford and addressed the troops:

“Thank you, Commander, for giving me the opportunity to serve as your Central Officer.” Holly was saying. “I hope I can bring a sense of continuity and stability to this transition.”

While the meeting resumed, Chihiro spotted a soldier from her squad and tapped him on the shoulder.

“Psst! Hawkins! If Smith is the new XO, then who’s our squad leader now?”

“It’s me.” Matthew replied in a hushed tone. “They’re taking about giving Robinson his own squad when he gets back in a couple weeks. Of course, all this is pending what they decide to do with Yamamoto.”

“What happened to him?”

“Your husband spilled the beans, told Bradford that Yamamoto was trying to get frisky with Jericho. Now I heard Bradford’s gonna take disciplinary action. Possible demotion. Dismissal’s in the cards, too.”

Chihiro gripped the Katana handle, and at the exact same moment, both she and Hachiman had the same thought:

“Justice!”

Meanwhile, Commander Bradford, Central Officer Smith, and Geist were giving the soldiers of XCOM an update on the mysterious Pacific Ocean anomaly.

“A vortex of Psionic energy is beginning to form here, south of the Hawaiian Islands.” Geist pointed to a map of the Pacific. “Furthermore, several Psionic constructs are beginning to spring up along the Pacific Rim, all monolithic in shape. They all seem to be having the same effect.”

“Amphibious monsters are emerging from the sea and attacking everyone in the area.” Bradford continued. “They’re not just going after Humans. We’ve had reports that Hybrids and aliens alike are being targeted just as frequently. Furthermore, XCOM operatives in the combat zones are reporting strange details about these new enemies.”

Central Officer Smith clicked a remote control, and a large television screen on the wall activated. In the image, Chihiro and the others could see XCOM’s chief scientist, Doctor Tygan, conducting an autopsy on one of these dead monsters while several other scientists assisted.

The monster itself was so terrifying to look at that Chihiro felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. The creature was unlike anything Mankind had ever seen before. Its central body was an amorphous, wrinkled, prune-like mass of flesh and hide, nearly five feet in length. Eight long and thin tentacles emerged from the bottom of the body, each one nearly twelve feet long. Finally, this monster had a beak, not unlike the ones found on squids… but this beak was utterly massive! It was the size of Chihiro’s head!

As he cut into the creature with a bone saw, Doctor Tygan spoke aloud, his voice piped into the armory for all to hear:

“Not even the depths of a Lovecraftian nightmare could spawn a creature like this.” Tygan mused. “No comparison to any Earthbound animal exists, nor can I conceive of an environment where this kind of life might evolve naturally. The ridges along this creature’s head and spine are loaded with one of the most powerful nerve agents I’ve ever seen. Our soldiers in the field refer to this being as a ‘Tentaculat’ and report that its neurotoxin is capable of incapacitating even the largest Mutons in a matter of seconds. While that is terrifying enough, it appears that these creatures follow a similar reproductive pattern to Chrysalids, as any creature unlucky enough to be poisoned by this being will transmutate into a copy of the creature in front of me. I cannot believe I am saying this, but the Chrysalids actually have a modicum of mercy in comparison to the Tentaculat, as their victims are deceased during the reproductive process, whereas all documented victims of this creature were very much alive during the transmutation. Commander, I advise our soldiers to engage this creature at maximum range. Allowing it to draw near is a fatal mistake.”

Central Officer Smith paused the video and addressed the troops.

“This is just one of the many nightmares being spawned by the Pacific anomaly.” She said. “The Templars and UN Army are fighting back and for the most part, they’re holding the line.”

“But there’s one problem,” Bradford chimed in, “Triple Alliance ships in orbit have been able to look directly down into the Pacific Anomaly. They’ve observed that all of these new monsters are originating directly from either the anomaly itself or one of the Psionic Monoliths on the Pacific Rim. The Monoliths themselves appear to be Psionically tethered to the anomaly. All of this means that these monsters might just continue to appear indefinitely, regardless of how many we kill, until that anomaly is shut down.”

Bradford clicked the remote and advanced the big screen to a new image. Chihiro and the others gasped at what they saw.

“Psionic Vortex” was not the word Chihiro would have used to describe what was happening to the Pacific Ocean. She would have called it “Maelstrom.” It seemed as though the Pacific was being drained. Water and clouds alike swirled around a single point to the south of Hawaii. It looked like the beginning of the end of the world.

“At the center of that vortex,” Geist said. “There is some kind of Psionic entity. My followers felt its influence when they approached the Monoliths on the American west coast, and when we used our Psionics to invade the minds of these terrors from the deep, we found that they were all under the Psionic domination of something they referred to as ‘The Deep One.’ I myself meditated on the Deep One for days, and I was brought a vision of the foe. I believe it to be made from pure energy, not unlike the Outsiders we fought twenty-one years ago.”

To her left, Chihiro saw Mira twitch uncomfortably. After a moment’s hesitation, she stepped forward.

“Pardon me,” Mira interrupted. “I think I might have encountered something similar to this before.”

Geist stood to one side and gave Mira the floor. The former Chosen Assassin addressed the group at large:

“During my travels throughout the Galaxy, long before coming to Earth, I visited a realm called the Shroud. It is another plane of existence, somewhere above Hyperspace. The Shroud itself is made from pure Psionic energy, and it is populated with beings made from energy, such as you describe. This Deep One your followers learned of remind me strongly of the inhabitants of the Shroud.”

The red-haired woman stepped forward.

“Pardon me,” Geist said. “Violet, one of my newer followers, has a burning question for you.”

Violet spoke in an off-kilter tone that reminded Chihiro of Kailani Kalili.

“I can tell from the echoes in your mind that you have faced one such being in battle. What was it like?”

Giving in to her curiosity, Chihiro allowed her mind to wander, quite literally. Almost absentmindedly, she telepathically slipped inside of Mira’s mind. While Mira talked, a series of images flashed in front of Chihiro’s eyes, pulled directly from Mira’s memory.

“It was the most frightened I’ve ever been in my life.” Mira admitted.

Tens of thousands of Partogans advanced towards the flaming wreckage of what had once been a fortress.

“…There was no way for me to know what I’d gotten myself into. Even less so for my friends…”

Two soldiers fired their rifles into an enemy until they ran out of bullets. Then the enemy stood up and attacked!

“…You all need to understand, the creatures of the Shroud are capable of violence and destruction on a scale you can’t comprehend…”

A being of incomprehensible violence annihilated a whole company of soldiers in a matter of seconds.

“…I made a bargain with one of those creatures, and so did my enemy. But he didn’t keep his end of the deal, so when the time came to pay up…”

A terrified old man was dragged backwards into a Psionic Rift by a nightmare-inducing appendage.

“But in the end, I paid a much bigger price for a victory that turned out to be completely meaningless.”

A wide column of smoke rose from a nearby mountain top.

Mira fell silent. She seemed to just stare blankly into space for a moment, and then Chihiro realized the flow of memories had stopped. Mira had noticed the intrusion. Central Officer Smith frowned and folded her arms.

“This sounds serious. If one of those ‘Shroud-entities’ is really behind the Pacific Anomaly, we could be in for a serious fight. Doubly so if Geist’s nightmare turns out to be any measure of true.”

Duane Gardner put one hand on Geist’s shoulder and said:

“We’ve got a whole army supporting us now, let’s put that firepower to use!”

Murmurs of agreement and assent went around the armory, but Commander Bradford shook his head.

“I don’t think so.” He said. “Don’t forget we have a much bigger and far more dangerous enemy coming our way already. In order to defeat the Beast, Humanity needs to devote as many resources as possible to building up our military might and to supporting our new allies as they begin to arrive. This diversion will undermine both goals. We simply can’t afford to send a large force to investigate whatever’s turning the Pacific into a Psionic hellhole.”

“We don’t need a large force, Bradford.” Geist countered. “A small force of Templars would be more than sufficient to find and kill this so-called ‘Deep One.’ This will leave you free to begin preparations for what lies ahead.”

“Commander, I urge you to listen to Geist.” Mira chimed in. “We’ve all seen what Templars and their weapons are capable of. In this case, the most surgical of strikes will strike a deadly blow. And if my theory is correct, then the enemy won’t be prepared for us at all.”

Mira then turned to address Geist and Violet.

“If the Deep One is what I suspect them to be, you will be forced to improvise a strategy on short notice, but victory should still be within reach. I request that I be allowed to join your expedition.”

“And we’ll be glad to have you.” Geist replied.

“Any ally of Jericho is a friend of the Templars.” Violet added. “And if Geist insists I apply that rule to non-Humans, then who am I to argue?”

“Me too! I’ll come!” Chihiro stepped forward to volunteer.

Mira looked around at Chihiro and raised one eyebrow.

“You’re back!” she said. “I take it Blake and Jericho are on their way to Hiigara, then?”

“Yeah, they just left a few minutes ago.” Chihiro replied, “Manako says they’ll be back home in a couple weeks if everything goes according to plan. Till then, I want in.”

Duane, Mira, Geist, and Violet all gave Chihiro a surprised look.

“The fight against the Deep One, or the Leviathan, or Geist’s nightmare, or whatever the hell we’re calling it today. I want in.” Chihiro clarified.

“Are you sure you want to come with us?” Mira asked. “We’re going into uncharted territory. Uncharted for myself, even; and if she were here, Akira would say the same. I cannot emphasize enough that this has never happened before… in any of the last 115 Cycles. I cannot guarantee your safety, let alone your survival.”

Chihiro gripped the handle of Hachiman to show her commitment to the fight. The demon hidden within the Katana sapped away all of her uncertainties and fears, replacing those feelings with confidence and no small measure of bloodlust.

“No one knows how this story will end anymore.” Chihiro answered. “Not even Akira, and I couldn’t be happier with that.”

…

Sunday, January 6, 2036 – 2:20pm
Ruins of Hanga Roa, Easter Island, South Pacific Ocean


The mixed force of XCOM, Triple Alliance, and UN Army soldiers dropped off by the first wave of airships were greeted by humid saltwater breezes and nothing else. The island’s native population had been forcibly removed by the aliens during the rise of the ADVENT Coalition.

Hanga Roa was the only town on the island. Two decades ago, some 6,000 people had lived here amongst the short, rounded hilltops where extinct volcanoes were cool and silent. There wasn’t much in the way of vegetation beyond grass and knee-height shrubbery, although some trees could be spotted here or there. The town itself had fallen into complete ruin and would have escaped XCOM’s notice if not for the sight on the western horizon.

The outermost edge of the Psionic vortex could be seen from here. Swirling black and purple clouds flashed with lightning and the occasional rumble of thunder could be heard over the noise of waves crashing against the beach. This was why XCOM had taken an interest in Easter Island. Commander Bradford’s plan was to set up a permanent base of operations here, so that XCOM could respond more quickly to the Pacific Anomaly as well as any sea monster attacks.

When Chihiro stepped off the UN Army dropship, she took a deep breath of fresh air… and immediately felt as though she was going to vomit.

“Everything here is wrong.” Sophie Ackermann commented as she joined Chihiro. “The sky, the sea… hell, even the grass is the wrong shade of brown.”

Keeping their weapons at a low ready, the Stormbreakers fanned out to secure the landing zone. Sophie and Sophia stayed together while Matthew, Isis, and Chihiro moved in a triangular formation. Odette and Mira each took one of the flanks. Behind them, a Triple Alliance dropship moved to deposit a squad of Levakians, Partogans, and Kelt engineers.

Try as she might, Chihiro’s head just wasn’t in the game right now. She was having another bout of nausea, and every few steps, she had to fight the urge to throw up. Luckily, this island seemed to be nice and quiet…

“I found one!” Sophia shouted. “I think it’s dead!”

The squad started to converge on Sophia’s position, Chihiro gritted her teeth and followed as best she could.

Sophia Kuznetsova had found a dead sea monster. It was a bipedal Human-shaped amphibian with green scales, webbed toes and fingers, and a cobra-like hood around its neck and head. When Sophia poked the creature with her rifle, its flesh seemed to squish around like slime.

“I think Doctor Tygan’s calling these things ‘Gillmen.’” Isis said.

Sophie gasped and pointed to an injury on the Gillman’s chest.

“Look! This thing’s been shot!”

“That’s not possible.” Mira sounded worried. “We were the first ones on the island! How was this creature killed before we arrived?”

Matthew stood up and aimed his Rotary Laser Cannon into the nearby hills.

“Could someone be out there?”

“No way.” Isis replied. “This island’s been deserted for two decades! That’s why Bradford picked it for our new base: isolated and uninhabited.”

“Everyone, fan out and search slowly.” Matthew ordered. “The second you find anything of interest, yell out.”

…

Within an hour of arriving, nearly four hundred soldiers, engineers, and scientists had landed on Easter Island. Central Officer Smith took over the ruins of Hotel Rangahoa, the largest hotel complex on the island, and ordered her engineers to convert it into her new Command Center. Meanwhile, UN Army soldiers began to clear out every building in the ruined town, making sure the place really was as empty as it seemed…

And yet the monster bodies began to pile up. Chihiro and her squadmates found over a dozen more dead Gillmen, all shot to death. They also came across a gigantic dead nautilus, its body measuring almost eight feet from end to end, riddled with medium-caliber bullet holes. Up on the northern coastline, Duane, Violet, and Geist found a stretch of rocky coastline absolutely covered in translucent orange jellyfish. Just like all of the other sea creatures, somebody had taken a firearm to these as well.

The Stormbreakers and Templars reconvened a few hours later near the top of Terevaka, the tallest of three extinct volcanoes that made up Easter Island. From their vantage point nearly 1600 feet above sea level, Chihiro and her companions had a commanding view of the entire island.

“I think we can all agree that there was some kind of massacre here.” Geist began. “This island is not as deserted as we thought. Someone is here, and they are hiding from us.”

“Agreed.” Sophia said. “But how do we flush them out?”

Chihiro was itching for a fight, and she tried to voice her agreement with Sophia. But when she opened her mouth, another wave of nausea forced her to pause and take some deep breaths instead.

“We might not need to do that.” Mira interjected. “Our forces are vast, the entire island will be overrun before the end of day. I advise patience.”

…

The Stormbreakers and Templars rejoined the main body of soldiers and once again resumed searching the island. Sometime in the late afternoon, a mass grave was found. Nearly fifty undersea monsters had been hastily buried beneath two feet of dirt after being machine gunned to death. Finally given a legitimate reason to do so, Chihiro vomited until her stomach was empty.

“This is insane!” Chihiro gasped. “This is fucking insane! Who the hell is doing this!?”

She might not be feeling nauseous anymore, but Chihiro certainly didn’t feel better. And whenever she brushed her hand against Hachiman’s handle, the Demon Sword would offer its unique perspective on the situation:

“Be on guard. The mysterious enemy of your enemy is capable of doing the same to you.”

…

By the time the sun started to go down, the whole of Easter Island was under XCOM control, a Forward Operating Base had been set up in Hanga Roa, and Kelt engineers had started to deploy deep scanning equipment to try and find anyone hiding underground.

But as it turned out, those scanners wouldn’t be necessary.

While walking back to the FOB along the southern coastline the Stormbreakers, now tired and worn out, were passing the time by chatting with some Triple Alliance soldiers who were headed in the same direction. In the six months that had passed since Operation Avenger, efforts had been made to teach the Triple Alliance forces how to speak English, and in turn, the Galactic Common had been introduced on Earth.

The Galactic Common was an artificial language manufactured by a now-extinct alien race called the Bentusi, and its sole purpose was to lift language barriers between species. Mira had explained that the Common language was more effective when paired with Psionics, so tonight’s interactions were made more fluid by Mira and Chihiro’s presence. When Chihiro asked the Triple Alliance soldiers what they were talking about, they were able to understand her words and respond in a way she could understand as well.

“I was just telling Amako here that we’ve got a village on Aoraki named Hanga Roa.” An Assurian soldier told Chihiro. “A lot of people are getting spooked by just how much Partogans and Humans have got in common. It’s really starting to look like the Progenitors made a pair of duplicate races.”

“We’re too close for any of this to be a coincidence.” The Partogan named Amako admitted. “We have to be related. Coming here convinced me.”

“Coming to Earth convinced you?” Sophia repeated. “How?”

“No, not Earth in general.” Amako clarified. “I mean this island. It looks so much like Hawaiki.”

Amako turned to his Partogan comrades.

“You guys see it, right? This place is almost exactly the same! Same as the picturebooks!”

All of the Partogans in the group nodded and vocalized their agreement. Isis raised her hand.

“Excuse me, what is Hawaiki?”

Mira offered up the answer.

“It’s our Ancestral Homeland.” She said. “Everyone learns from a young age that Partogans migrated to Partoga and Levakia from a lost island across the sea. When we die, our spirits will return to Hawaiki to be with our forebears. Amako, are you talking about the pictures from the storybooks in the Royal Library?”

Amako nodded.

“One and the same, ma’am. Those books are required reading for first year schoolkids, at least they are for kids in the Capitol City.”

The two groups paused. They had just turned a corner in the path and come upon a giant stone Moai: a statue carved by the original natives of the island, the Rapa Nui. Sadly, by 2036, the Rapa Nui people were completely extinct, leaving no one to explain the significance of the statue.

The Moai itself had toppled forward and was resting on its side. Moss and lichens growing on the stone suggested the statue had fallen over an extremely long time ago, well before the first Alien Invasion. A female Partogan stepped forward and brushed her hand on the fallen statue.

“Back home on Aoraki,” She breathed. “There’s giant mural painted on the side of the Mahurangi Church of the Mountain. It’s supposed to be a painting of the Hawaiki landscape, and it looks so much like these Pacific Islands. There’s so much in common: the hills, rocks, the waves and sky. It’s all so similar.”

Amako pointed to his comrade and said:

“Lani proves my point. Our people are clearly related to yours.”

Chihiro opened her mouth to ask another question, but she was cut off by a panicked shout from further down the path!

“Sergeant Tachibana! Squaddie Mihaka! Get down here!”

Running down the path in the rapidly fading light, Chihiro and Mira came upon a grizzly scene. A Gillman was lying in the middle of the path, the blood in the dirt still fresh enough to attract all manner of insects. Sophia Kuznetsova was kneeling next to the body, tracing the outline of a footprint with her finger.

“The killer was just here.” Sophia reported. “We didn’t miss him by much.”

Moving impulsively, Chihiro knelt down and put both of her hands on the corpse. It was disturbingly warm to the touch. Concentrating and focusing her mind, Chihiro tried to siphon the Gillman’s last vestiges of Psionic energy into herself.

Nothing.

Frustrated, Chihiro tried again, digging her fingernails into the Gillman’s slimy scales, but to no avail. Finally, Mira gently nudged Chihiro out of the way.

“May I?”

Kneeling down next to the dead Gillman, Mira gently touched the body with one hand and waited for a few seconds. Then she opened her eyes and looked up at the squad.

“I’ve got something. The creature died very recently; the Psionic energy is still… fresh.”

Mira closed her eyes and took a deep, meditative breath while Chihiro tried to hide her embarrassment and disappointment. Then, Mira straightened up.

“Follow me, and put out a call for backup.” Mira informed the group. “I’ve found our killers.”

…

Sunday, January 6, 2036 – 8:30pm
Rano Kau, Easter Island, South Pacific Ocean

Nearly two hundred soldiers had converged on Rano Kau by the time Chihiro and the Stormbreakers arrived. Central Officer Smith was having a conversation with a UN Army commander while a Triple Alliance warship flew in circles around the site.

Rano Kau was a volcanic crater lake, located on the southern end of Easter Island. The encroaching soldiers weren’t interested in the lake itself, however. On Mira’s tip-off, all of their focus and effort was now being directed towards the southern wall of the crater, where the long-dead volcano bordered the ocean. A UN airship trained its guns on the seaside cliffs while special forces prepare to climb down the inland side. Mira led the Stormbreakers along the upper rim of the crater, moving towards one particular point on the cliffside. Over one mile away, on the other side of the crater, Geist did the same, leading his force of Templars towards the same point in a pincer movement.

On Central Officer Smith’s signal, the three teams moved together. The special forces, Templars, and Stormbreakers all surged towards their target, a sealed bunker doorway embedded in the bottom of the cliff. Lengthening her stride, Chihiro reached the bunker door first and banged on it as loudly as she could with the stock of her pistol.

“Open up!” She yelled. “This is XCOM! We know you’re in there! Come out with your hands up! We don’t wanna hurt you and I’m sure you don’t wanna fight, so make this easy on yourself!”

As all of the other soldiers reached the bunker door, Duane patted Chihiro on the shoulder.

“Nice.” He commented. “Ever considered a career in law enforcement?”

“Someone’s coming!” Violet gasped.

“I sense it too.” Mira said.

A moment later, Chihiro picked up on it as well. Her Psionics allowed Chihiro to detect a single unarmed person about to open the bunker from the inside. They had no intention of fighting.

“Everyone, stand down!” Chihiro barked. “They’re not armed!”

“Templars, likewise!” Geist ordered. “I sense no hostile intent.”

With a loud groan of metal, the bunker door swung open, revealing a European woman in her late 50’s or early 60’s. She had greying hair, a long face, and quite a stern expression. She looked Chihiro up and down and then began to speak in a voice that flitted back and forth between a French and German accent:

“Corporal Tachibana, female, forty years old. Although I must say, doesn’t look her age today. Younger, much younger.”

Doctor Moria Vahlen, XCOM’s previous chief scientist, completely ignored the hundreds of soldiers and weapons arrayed against her and continued to examine Chihiro. Sophia stepped forward and tried to interrupt, but Vahlen just talked over her. In fact, Vahlen seemed to be talking to herself more than anyone else. She grabbed Chihiro’s free hand and started poking and prodding.

“Hmm, let’s see. Rudimentary Meld-based Genetic Modifications, clearly some of my earlier work. Adaptive bone marrow for rapid healing yet no complementary skin enhancements… tch, was I really so naïve twenty years ago?”

Chihiro cleared her throat loudly and tried to speak:

“Doctor Vahlen, it’s been twenty years-”

“Oui, Oui. Its impressive how little you’ve aged since then, Corporal.” Vahlen carried on, drowning out Chihiro’s voice. “If I had to guess, I’d say you don’t look a day over nineteen. Now it looks like you’ve put on an extra five or six pounds, but that will clearly be gone in short order.”

Vahlen grabbed Chihiro’s arm, and made her hold it out in front of her. Then the former chief scientist pressed a hand to Chihiro’s neck, applying pressure to the scar tissue which covered Chihiro’s old bullet wound. Geist and Duane looked at one another, confused. Duane tried to catch Vahlen’s attention:

“Excuse me ma’am.” He said, “we’re from XCOM!”

“Oh, come now, this is a disgrace!” Vahlen ignored Duane completely and focused on Chihiro’s old neck scar. “I must apologize, Corporal Tachibana. Clearly my early attempts at rapid healing gene mods were not my best work, otherwise you would have lost that scar long ago.”

“I was shot through the neck!” Chihiro protested. “That kind of scar doesn’t go away overnight! And by the way, I’m a Sergeant and I’m going on twenty-one!”

“Aren’t we all?” Vahlen quipped absentmindedly. Then her tone changed to something more businesslike: “Well Sergeant Tachibana, these Genetic Modifications are simply unacceptable in the modern day. I insist you come inside immediately! We’ll give your Genetic Modifications the proper overhaul you so desperately need.”

And without paying the smallest bit of attention to the surrounding army, Doctor Vahlen released her hold on Chihiro, turned around and started to re-enter the bunker. Just before she vanished from view, Vahlen said over her shoulder,

“Come along, Tachibana, follow me! Oh, and just for the record: if you need new Genetic Modifications, you need only ask. There’s no need to bring the whole verdammt Wehrmacht.”

…

Sunday, January 6, 2036 – 8:45pm
Vahlen’s (Second) Secret Volcano Lair, Easter Island, South Pacific Ocean


“Two. You had two lairs!? And why the hell are we calling them lairs now!?”

Commander Bradford was utterly lost for words.

“You seem shocked, Bradford.” Vahlen replied nonchalantly.

“Normal people don’t live in underground lairs, Vahlen!” Bradford replied. “Especially if their first one was blown up!”

“I had no choice.” The doctor replied matter-of-factly. “ADVENT found my first facility, and I had to vacate it.”

“Right, and where was that first facility again?”

“Irrelevant.”

Getting a straight answer out of Doctor Vahlen was like trying to corral a room full of cats. She didn’t seem to care about the fact that her island was now occupied by a military force, but was more upset about the fact that her work had been interrupted. She had tried to give Chihiro and the Stormbreakers a grand tour of the facility, but she had been called away by one of her assistants.

Yes. Assistants.

As it turned out, Doctor Vahlen had no fewer than forty people holed up in the lair with her. It was a mixed group of scientists, engineers, and soldiers. According to Vahlen, these people were helping her to investigate and study the Pacific Anomaly. It was her troops who had slain the sea monsters all over the island.

As for her laboratory, it was as though someone had removed all of the safety systems in an ADVENT Gene Therapy Clinic. Here, Vahlen and her team were studying genetic manipulation with no oversight and no red tape. Every operating table was occupied with either a living or dead alien, Human, Hybrid, or sea monster, where scientists would conduct basic exams, make some notes, and then wheel the “patient” into another area. (presumably an operating theatre)

“My team used to be much larger.” Doctor Vahlen confessed. “But our numbers have been worn down by attrition over the years. I’m sure you know what happened to Big Sky and the SR-77H? He was only the first of many to be lost.”

Chihiro felt a twang of sorrow when she heard Vahlen mention the name. “Big Sky” was the callsign of XCOM’s previous Skyranger pilot. Although Wendy “Firebrand” Carter had done her best to fill the role, no one could truly replace Big Sky. SR-77H was the tail number of the Skyranger XCOM had used during the 2015 Invasion. It's remains had been found after ADVENT collapsed, deep in the North American wilderness. The body of the pilot was never recovered.

“Don’t stress yourself too much about that.” Bradford said. “We’re developing a next-generation Skyranger with our allies. In the meantime, we need to ask you a lot of questions… why don’t we start with that so-called ‘Viper King’ you turned loose last spring?”

While Bradford and Vahlen moved off to another part of the lair to talk, Chihiro and the rest of her squad wandered around Vahlen’s new laboratory, looking at the scientific equipment.

Sophie, Sophia, Matthew, and Odette had all joined XCOM after the 2015 Invasion, and had never met Doctor Vahlen before. Naturally, they all had questions of their own. Mira already knew about Vahlen, having read about her in the Human History Database she carried around. Chihiro and Isis took it in turns to bring everyone else up to speed:

“Vahlen was our head researcher when the Invasion started.” Isis explained. “She was obsessed with Xenobiology and told us to bring back intact alien corpses and artifacts whenever we could.”

“She hated it when we used grenades or rockets.” Chihiro added, then put on a fake German accent and did an impression of Vahlen: “’Commander, you may want to instruct your men to exercise restraint when using explosives, just something to consider.’”

“She’s also the one who figured out Meld.” Isis said. “The bonding agent that makes Genetic Modification so damn easy. The aliens used it to make all of the Hybrids out there, and Vahlen used it to modify a few of us.”

She pointed at Chihiro. In turn, Chihiro pointed to her own head, eyes, and torso, listing off all of her Gene Mods:

“Neural dampening, knocks me out cold if I get put under Mind Control. Enhanced depth perception means my eyesight is better than any of yours, and the adaptive bone marrow lets me heal from just about anything in half the time. All these Gene Mods come from alien DNA being grafted onto mine with Meld, and that was just the beginning.”

“Once Vahlen figured out how to modify existing people” Isis finished, “she started the Jericho Project.”

Isis grabbed Sophie and Odette by the shoulders and turned them around to look at a large vat of on the other side of the laboratory. It was filled with a translucent orange substance that could only be Meld. Matthew let out a low whistle.

“That’s a lot of genetic glue.”

“It’s a lot more than that.” Mira corrected him. “Meld also allows the bonding of flesh and metal. Grafting technological systems directly into the body presents a very wide range of options. It’s also how ADVENT and the Elders were able to reconstruct so much of both my old body and my new one.”

 

 

“Genetic manipulation was Vahlen’s forte.” Chihiro told her team. “If XCOM HQ hadn’t fallen, she would have created an army of genetically modified Hybrid soldiers, which is exactly what ADVENT did later on. Jericho was supposed to be the first of a long line of supersoldiers.”

Mira raised her eyebrow in thought.

“It’s too bad Jericho already left for Hiigara. I’m sure Vahlen would have wanted to see how much her creation has grown over the past twenty years.”

“You are absolutely right!”

Doctor Vahlen had just crossed the room to join the conversation. Commander Bradford was panting in his effort to keep up with her. Vahlen looked quite upset with Chihiro.

“Why didn’t you tell me the Jericho girl was still alive!?” Vahlen complained. “I’ve heard rumors and hearsay, but nothing as solid as a confirmation! Where is she now!?”

“On her way to Hiigara.” Chihiro rubbed the bridge of her nose in exasperation. “Going to ask the Galactic Council for some support building the Trinity.”

“Hiigara?” Vahlen repeated, confused. “Galactic Council? Trinity? What about ADVENT, the Elders!?”

Bradford put a hand on his comrade’s shoulder.

“It sounds like you’ve missed quite a lot.” Bradford said. “When was the last time you had contact with XCOM?”

“The summer of 2034.” Vahlen answered. “When Doctor Shen and his daughter Lily visited my old island base, and ADVENT followed them.”

Chihiro started to feel nauseous again, and just a little relieved that Chief Engineer Lily Shen was absent right now. The death of her father was still a sensitive topic.

Bradford nodded.

“Maybe you should sit down, Moria.” He said. “We’ve uh… we’ve got a lot to tell you about…”

Chapter 34: The Galactic Council

 

Chapter 29

The Galactic Council

Wednesday, January 9, 2036 - 11:30am
The Eye of Aarran, Balcora, Hiigaran Empire

Yuri Gagarin was the first man to fly in space. Alexi Leonov performed the first spacewalk. Neil Armstrong was the first of our kind to set foot on another world. And now… I was the first Human to see a black hole with his own two eyes.

This was the highest point (so far) of what had been the most incredible week of my life. Leaving Earth behind had been the first of many experiences that would stay with me for the rest of my life. Jericho, Tsubaki, Soylent, Kathleen, and Hal had all joined me in the aft section of the Kakama, watching our world get smaller and smaller until it was nothing but a small pinprick in the window. After that two members of Team Takea showed us to the guest quarters where we would be staying with two other people.

Sarah Harris, our New Zealander who spoke Maori, was still embedded with Team Takea and bore most of the responsibility for the crew of the Kakama now being able to speak English. Only a few Partogans and Assurians were genuinely fluent, but the rest of the crew was more than capable of sustaining basic conversation with us now. Sarah herself was now fluent in the Galactic Common language and was immersing herself in alien culture, striking up a close friendship with the two Assurian members of Team Takea: Temirzhan and his father, Adil.

Yukiko Takahashi was living in the Captain’s Quarters as his “honored guest,” while Manako Ranginui, the Kakama’s commanding officer, had taken up temporary residence in the room next to us. The reunion with Yukiko was strained at best. During the 2015 invasion, she had been one of the first XCOM soldiers to surrender and join ADVENT. Yukiko told us that she had spent the occupation as a member of the ADVENT Government. As a reward for her service to them, the Elders had awakened Yukiko’s dormant Psionic powers. Fortunately for us, this actually backfired on the aliens. Shortly after receiving her Gift, Yukiko had been selected for some kind of “special project” and was almost transferred to a Gene Therapy Clinic in northern China, but she was removed from the project at the last second after a “more suitable alternate” had been discovered.

Later that night, I had used the ship’s Faster-than-Light communications device to call home and relay this information to Chihiro and Mira. Mira confirmed that Yukiko was the Elder’s Chosen Assassin during the other timelines.

“Just another sign that this cycle is proceeding in a vastly different fashion than all the others, Robinson.” Mira had said. “Future events will be even more unpredictable from here on out.”

It was with extreme reluctance that we accepted Yukiko’s return to our side. Tsubaki held out the longest, refusing to join us at mealtimes in the galley until the third day of our voyage. Even when she did sit with the team, she would always put herself as far away from Yukiko as possible and never turned her eyes towards that side of the table.

Between Earth and Balcora, we had to perform two Hyperspace jumps, and the first was absolutely jarring.

No matter how much training we went through, nor how many lectures we sat through, there was nothing that could prepare me or my team for that first jump. Kanti Divakar, the albino Vanian, had to corral us into a Radiation Shelter as we all complained about Partogan Hyperspace tech not bearing any resemblance to the faster-than-light travel methods we’d seen in Human science fiction.

“Seriously, how the bloody hell have you blokes not figured out Warp Drive yet!?” Soylent demanded to know. “It can’t be that hard!”

“If the whole Galaxy’s been claimed and colonized, why not build a network of Wormhole Generators?” Tsubaki suggested.

“I always wanted to stand on the bridge and watch the stars fly past super quick.” Kathleen groaned. “Come on, there can’t really be anythin’ dangerous about that, right?”

With a frustrated groan, Kanti sealed the shelter door and addressed our concerns in turn.

“Warping spacetime sounds dangerous, not to mention it probably requires unrealistic amounts of power. We don’t need wormhole generators because of the Hyperspace Network, and yes, Walsh. Standing on the bridge to ‘watch the stars fly past’ is not just dangerous, it’s lethal! Stay inside until the Quantum Wavefront makes its second pass.”

None of us were ready for the translucent wall of purple light to move through the ship. Tsubaki screamed when the Quantum Wavefront passed through and Hal didn’t open his eyes again until it was gone. Yukiko froze and held still from pure fright, and me… I don’t wanna talk about how I felt just then. Let’s just say I’m not proud of how I handled my first Jump.

Anyway, once we got out of Hyperspace, I was eager as hell to get out of that Shelter and go anywhere else. Unfortunately, the Kakama is a small ship once you get used to it. Barely two-hundred yards from end to end and only about fifty feet wide, there isn’t much space across her five decks to catch one’s breath.

Fortunately for all of us, the second Hyperspace jump would involve a Slipgate.

As we learned, Slipgates are naturally occurring Hyperspace Gates. Human scientists would probably just call them “wormholes.” This time, there would be no need to shelter away from deadly radiation. Manako invited Yukiko and my team up to the bridge to watch the jump. Tsubaki made a point of following me around the Kakama’s bridge, taking a great interest in the same things I did. Soylent didn’t care so much about the Slipgate and instead spent his time asking the Partogans questions about their facial tattoos. Yukiko got into a deep discussion with Manako about how spacefaring governments decided who owned Slipgates. From the little snippets of conversation I overheard, I could tell that Yukiko was trying to figure out how the United Nations of Earth could claim ownership over a Slipgate.

Unlike a conventional Hyperspace jump, a Slipgate jump was instantaneous, so once the countdown to the jump began, I looked out the window and picked a blue star in the distance. Tracking it with my eyes, I wanted to observe the exact moment we transitioned to a completely different part of the Galaxy.

This was a bad idea.

Kanti loudly counted down the seconds until we crossed the event horizon of the Slipgate and I kept my eyes locked on that blue star. The instant we crossed the Slipgate I was blinded by a fantastic white light! I recoiled from the window, blinking furiously and cursing.

“Sorry, Robinson!” Kanti said. “I forgot to warn you about the accretion disk!”

I felt a wave of Psionic energy wash over me, and a moment later the purple afterimage burned into my sightline faded away. Blinking my eyes one last time, I looked out the window again and saw the yawning abyss below the Kakama. It was a black hole!

“Honored Human guests, let me welcome you to Balcora!” Manako said. “Just so you know, we’re about one hundred-fifty light years away from the center of the Galaxy. This is also the largest cluster of Supermassive black holes anywhere in the cosmos, so feel free to enjoy the view while we maneuver towards the Eye of Aarran.”

Tsubaki pressed both of her hands to the glass and held her face so close to the window that it began to fog up.

“Is there supposed to be this much light!?”

I honestly can’t tell you how many black holes make up the Balcora Supercluster. Each one of them had a bright accretion disc that was throwing light in all directions, causing the entire region to be illuminated with a heavenly orange and yellow light. I think I directly laid eyes on only one of the actual black holes… and let me tell you, the name does not do those things justice. It was like staring into eternal oblivion. The darkness total and absolute, and I honestly found the bottomless well of eternity to be kind of fascinating. I would have watched that black hole all day, but eventually something happened to distract me.

“Attention incoming Partogan warship.” Said a warm and kind voice. “Please transmit today’s recognition codes and state your intended destination.”

With great effort, Tsubaki and I looked away from the black hole and saw what else was going on.

A spaceship had blocked the Kakama’s path and was challenging her. Through the forward windows of the bridge, I saw that this new spaceship was gargantuan in size! Nearly twenty miles long and almost a quarter of a mile high, this vessel was bristling with an array of weaponry that I could scarcely make sense of, but it was Kathleen who had spotted the ship’s most unique asset:

“Jesus Christ!” Kathleen gasped. “That’s a gun! That’s a giant gun!”

She was right. There was a weapon of unimaginable size and scale embedded within the approaching warship. In fact, now that I looked more closely, I realized that the entire warship’s hull was pretty much wrapped around the length of the entire weapon. Only the very end of the barrel of the gun was visible, sticking out of the ship’s bow. A noise drew my attention back to the Triple Alliance crew around us. Several Assurians, including Temirzhan and Adil, had stepped away from their stations and had started kowtowing on the floor, touching their heads to the floor and murmuring something that sounded like prayer.

I looked over at Manako and Sarah.

“What the hell’s going on?”

Sarah spoke in a hushed tone, pointing at the massive ship in the window.

“That is Sajuuk, the great Creator-God. He’s worshipped around the Galaxy as He-Whose-Hand-Shapes-What-Is.”

My jaw dropped as I remembered our Galactic history lesson back on Earth. So, this was the ten-thousand-year-old Progenitor battleship? The one the Hiigarans and Vaygr had fought a holy war over? If it really was, then that voice we had just heard belonged to…

“Good to hear from you again, Sajuuk-Khar S’jet.” Manako replied into his radio headset. “My comms officer is transmitting the codes now. We need to go to Hiigara. We’re carrying the Human Envoy to the next session of the Galactic Council.”

The Kakama drew level with Sajuuk, or as level as the frigate could get against a vessel that outsized and outmatched it so badly. Watching through the windows, I saw several railguns along Sajuuk’s hull return to their ready positions, no longer aiming at us.

“Recognition codes received and accepted.” Replied the voice of Karan S’jet. “The Eye of Aarran is already pointing towards Hiigara, as delegates have already begun to assemble. Before you go, I have some good news for you. The infected Levakian fleet at Nithascal was routed by Triple Alliance forces two days ago. For the time being, your homeworld is safe.”

This news drew a positive response from every Triple Alliance crewmember on the bridge. Manako had to mute his mic for a second as the assorted Vanian crewmembers let out shrill bird calls to one another. Temirzhan shouted “Praise Sajuuk!” then he sprang up, grabbed Sarah’s hand, and raised it into the air like a boxer being declared the winner of a match.

“Praise Sajuuk!” Temirzhan yelled again.

A little reluctantly, Sarah joined in the chant. Assurians, Amadii, Vanian, and a few members of the Levakian crew all chanted their celebratory praises for half a minute while the Partogans, Kelt, and the other Levakians looked on in bemusement. The latter half of the group followed a different religion and did not worship Sajuuk.

Once the celebrations died down, Manako called Sajuuk and thanked Karan for the news.

“There is one other thing you need to know.” Karan added. “The Triple Alliance Flagship Mahuika is in orbit above the Angel Moon. Your Fleet Commander asked me to let you know that they are carrying a payload of Aetherium and Protodermis that needs to be transferred to your vessel before you leave.”

Manako thanked Karan again, then he ordered the helmsman to set course for the Eye of Aarran.

“Next stop, Hiigara!” Sarah told me and my team. “The Progenitor Hyperspace Network will take us right there!”

“You’ve gotta admit this is cool!” Hal Macintosh pointed to a map of the Galaxy on the back wall. “It’s fifteen-hundred light years between Earth and Hiigara, and we travelled that distance in all of five days!”

Kailani Kalili, who had been listening this whole time, laughed and said:

“Could you image what it would be like without the Hyperspace Network!? A round trip between Partoga and Earth might take, oh I dunno… three years! That would be terrible!”

Adil, Temirzhan’s father, interrupted our chat.

“Commander Ranginui, we’re coming up on the Eye of Aarran!”

 

Looking out the main window, the sight laid out before us caused silence to fall on the bridge. An alien megastructure the size of a gas giant was sprawling out ahead of us. It was as though a whole city had been carved out of the surface of a world and just left here, hanging in the void. Thousands, possibly tens of thousands of spaceships of every size and shape were buzzing around the structure like bees around their hive, while a magnificent white light emanated from the center of the structure.

“Impressed?” Temirzhan asked us.

The younger Assurian wiped beads of sweat off the ridges on his forehead and addressed our group, but I couldn’t help but notice that his narrow eyes kept darting towards Sarah.

“From here, you can access almost any point in the Galaxy as though your ship was a Far Jumper.” He explained. “No need for a Hyperspace Core. If it wasn’t for this war, the Network would tie the entire Galaxy together as never before. Travel and communication made as easy as breathing.

“Imagine the possibilities.” Yukiko gasped. “Exploration vessels sent to the furthest reaches of creation. Innumerable worlds opened up to discovery and colonization.”

“Or a Galactic Community made whole.” Manako concluded. “Speaking of which, we’ll be passing through the Eye in five… four… three…”

The Kakama dove within the alien superstructure and began flying down a narrow trench towards a hollow ring. Once again, I picked a reference point to stare at out the window, and this time I was neither disappointed nor blinded. In an instant, the alien structure around us was replaced by a new and completely different view.

A city now lay below us… and not just any city, it was a metropolis that seemed to have grown so large that it had engulfed every inch of the world lying below us. The Kakama had rematerialized above some kind of city-world!

“Welcome!” Manako announced; “To the Galactic Council!”

Thursday, January 10, 2036 - 00:15am
Galactic Senate Chamber, The Angel Moon, Hiigaran Empire



“Ah, this is just like old times.”

“Walsh, how is this anything like the ‘old times?’”

“Aw, c’mon, Trojan! Remember when you were just a wee little pup an’ your daddy was on top o’ the world? How me an’ my team would form a ring around your family and watch the crowd for suspicious faces?”

“I seem to remember you only had eyes for me, Walsh. You never did like it when I shook hands with people in the crowd.”

“That’s ‘cause a kidnapper could have just pulled you away!” Kathleen turned her attention to Yukiko. “Speakin’ of which Miss Envoy, the same rule goes for you! No shakin’ hands with anyone, and don’t accept gifts from nobody either! Don’t take anythin’ even if it’s the space alien version of a teddy bear!”

Forming a tight ring around Yukiko Takahashi, the Stormbreakers and their charge slowly followed the men and women of Team Takea into the Galactic Council building. We had to move slowly because the Angel Moon was a much smaller body than Earth, and therefore gravity here was much weaker. The half-smile on Tsubaki’s face betrayed the fact that she just wanted to bounce around the place like a trampolinist. Up ahead, Temirzhan was talking about the Galactic Security Council, or GSC for short.

“…Established in the aftermath of the First Hyperspace War over thirty-five hundred years ago, the Hiigaran Empire is a founding member of the Council and has a seat on the Security Council. There are two other members of the Security Council: The Taiidan Republic and the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth. All three seats are up for election every ten years, but no one has been willing to challenge of the incumbents for a very long time. The ‘Big Three’ as they are called, have had total control of the Security Council for neigh upon a century!”

The entrance hall of the Galactic Council building was a magnificent place that put the Palace of Nations on Earth to shame. Any surface that wasn’t covered in ornate guided trimmings had been made shiny and chrome. Immense crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling while silver carpets decorated the hallway leading towards the Galactic Senate Chambers. A large and luxurious-looking elevator nearby was being guarded by several huge aliens that looked like…

“Oh my god!” Hal gasped. “Blake! Look! Those are orcs!”

He pointed to the big, muscular aliens guarding the elevator doors. Their faces had pig-like features, complete with little eyes, snout noses, and tusks sticking out the bottom of their mouths. Remembering our Galactic history lessons, I quickly corrected him.

“Macintosh, those aren’t orcs. Those are Taiidani.”

“Correct.” Temirzhan said. “The Galactic Council only moved here recently. A century ago, this complex was the vacation home of Taiidani Emperor Riesstiu the Fourth the Second. He was the genetic clone of the Mad Emperor Khaldeesh, a man who was so frightened and paranoid of assassins that he passed a law stating the Taiidan Emperor could only be succeeded by his own genetic clone…”

Temirzhan kept talking, mostly to distract us from the fact that everyone was staring at us. Aliens of all shapes and sizes watched our party and whispered to one another. A smelly misshapen fungoid seemed quite happy to see us, while a lifeform made entirely of rocks raised its arm in what seemed to be a respectful salute. But the biggest surprise of all came when a short, sleek looking alien stepped forward to greet our party.

Soylent, Hal, and I were left paralyzed with disbelief and our mouths fell open. A humanoid alien with mocha-colored skin, silky black hair, green eyes, and small pointed ears greeted us with a warm smile. Right off the bat, my first impression was of how insanely attractive this woman was, and the stylized image of a sunrise tattooed on her upper arms only enhanced the view.

“Welcome to the Hiigaran Empire.” The alien spoke in the Galactic Common. “My name is Priya Paktu-Re. I’ve been asked to show you to your seats. For the time being, Earth has been given probationary Observer Status pending a vote on the political status of Earth..”

“Blake.” Hal couldn’t take his eyes off the alien woman. “Is that what I think it is?”

To be fair, I was hooked as well. I fought the impulse to look over every inch of the alien female and failed to hold myself back.

“I’m seeing the same thing you are.” I whispered back. “Not sure I believe it though.”

“Lord have mercy.” Soylent breathed. “Elves. She’s a bona-fide elf, just as beautiful as in the fantasy movies too. We really are on the Angel Moon!”

Even Jericho had been transfixed by the alien woman.

“Well, now I know why men go crazy for elves.” Jericho’s voice sounded a little lost and dreamy. “They’re clearly onto something.”

While Yukiko shook hands with the elf woman and introduced herself, Kathleen went from one Stormbreaker the next and swatted us all on the back of the head.

“Robinson, you’re a married man!” Kathleen scolded me.

“And besides,” Tsubaki added. “She’s not an elf. She’s Hiigaran. Remember the history class?”

Right. Hiigaran. The history lesson came rushing back. Priya Paktu-Re wasn’t this woman’s full name. Hiigaran people were divided into many clans, called “Kiith.” Because we were strangers, Priya had given us her first name and clan name while withholding her actual surname. The name “Paktu-Re” meant that she had not been born into Kiith Paktu, but had abandoned her birth clan and had joined Paktu recently. Kiith Paktu itself was a tight-knit collective of farmers who mostly kept to Agri-Worlds in the Inner Rim.

We followed Priya into the Galactic Senate chamber, where delegates, envoys, and ambassadors from all over the Galaxy were starting to assemble. In the huge chamber, I could see far more species of aliens than had been involved in the occupation of Earth. Insectoids chattered amongst themselves while reptilians, mammalians and avians traded news, several groups of humanoid beings pointed at us and whispered amongst each other while a delegation of stone people (lithoids) were watching the proceeding in silence.

In the very front of the chamber was an elevated stage. A podium stood front and center, while behind it were forty-seven flagpoles all in a line. As the time came for the session to get started, a team of Hiigaran Marines entered the room and began to raise the flags of the forty-seven member-states of the Galactic Council. I felt my stomach turn when I saw the red and gold colors of the ADVENT Coalition ascend one of the flagpoles.

Finally, Yukiko found her place. At a long thin table were three chairs, in front of which could be found three placards. The Earth delegation was seated between the Taiidan Republic and the United States of Assuria. However, the placard in front of Yukiko’s seat still said: “ADVENT Coalition.”

All of the Stormbreakers except for Jericho were asked to move to the back of the chamber. All of Team Takea followed suit. The Envoys of Partoga and Assuria had arrived separately. While we waited for the meeting to begin, Yukiko casually struck up a conversation with the Taiidani ambassador, slyly turning the topic to interplanetary trade and mentioning the fact that Earth was only a short distance away from Taiidan’s southern border.

At the front of the chamber, a middle-aged Hiigaran man stepped up to the podium and called for silence. Like other Hiigarans, this man had the symbol of his clan tattooed to his body. In this case, the insignia of Kiith Naabal adorned both of his hands.

“That is Elohim Naabal, President of the General Assembly.” Manako told me.

President Naabal silenced the room, and once everybody had taken their seats, he spoke.

“I would like to start today’s proceedings by congratulating the brave warriors of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth on their spectacular victory at Nithascal. It is most reassuring to see that the Beast’s latest offensive finally seems to have run out of momentum. I have no doubts that soon we will see the tides turn. Before we resume the list of planned speakers from our previous session, are there any delegates who wish to present new business to the Galactic Senate?”

Down in the center of the chamber, a Levakian male stood up and raised his forepaw high. In the bright light of the room, I could clearly make out his orange mane and golden-brown fur from so far away. President Naabal pointed toward the Levakian and said:

“The Chair recognizes the honorable delegate from the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth for two minutes.”

The Levakian spoke in a loud voice, just below the level of a roar:

“The Commonwealth of Partogans and Levakians moves to give Earth’s seat in the Galactic Council to the honorable Delegation from the United Nations of Earth!”

Almost at once, several alien delegates rose from their seats and shouted:

“I second that motion!”

President Naabal nodded and pointed towards a small reptilian lizard.

“The Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth and the Republic of Kelta,” The President said, “Have proposed that Earth’s seat in the body be given to the United Nation of Earth. I remind this body that Earth’s seat on the Council is presently occupied by the ADVENT Coalition, which was legally recognized by this body as the legitimate government of Earth twenty years ago. Should the seat be transferred to a new owner, ADVENT’s recognition and membership in the Galactic Council will be terminated by default, and the United Nations of Earth will become ADVENT’s successor state, assuming all diplomatic, military, and financial responsibilities for the government it supersedes.”

Behind the President, a screen lit up. It was an exhaustive list of every member-state of the Galactic Council.

“Is there any further discussion before we proceed to the vote?”

Silence.

“Seeing none at this time, delegates, the question on the floor is this: ‘Should the United Nations of Earth succeed the ADVENT Coalition in the Galactic Council?’ You may vote by pressing the associated buttons on your desks now.”

Tsubaki gripped my hand nervously as we watched the results of the vote come in, but after just ten seconds, we all breathed a sigh of relief. The Galactic Council had voted overwhelmingly in our favor!

Thunderous applause and some cheers filled the hall while a group of Hiigaran Marines approached the flagpole bearing the ADVENT flag. One of them turned around and waved at Yukiko. Standing up to another round of applause, Humankind’s first ambassador to the Galactic Council moved down the isle towards the stage, carrying a blue bundle under her arm. At Yukiko’s insistence, Jericho followed behind her. Even from all the way in the back, I could see that Jericho’s orange and yellow Hawaiian Army Uniform was drawing attention from the Levakians in the crowd, whose fur and clothing followed a similar color scheme.

Yukiko passed a triangular piece of folded fabric to Jericho, and then she went to the podium. While Yukiko addressed the Galactic Council, Jericho helped the Hiigarans raise the blue and white flag of the United Nations of Earth.

“On behalf of the people of Earth,” Yukiko spoke in decent Galactic Common. “We thank you for accepting us into the Galactic Community. Our people have reclaimed their freedom during what seems to be the Galaxy’s darkest hour, so our first message to our new interstellar neighbors is this old Human saying: ‘The night is darkest before the dawn.’ You have my word that our people will stand strong alongside you all in the fight that is to come. We will fight the Beast and earn our place amongst this grand Community, and with Sajuuk’s blessing, we will see the final victory together!”

…

It was one of the busiest days of my whole life. For the next nine hours or so, the Stormbreakers escorted Yukiko all over the Galactic Council complex as she travelled to the offices of countless delegates for private meetings. She spent a great deal of time and energy trying to purchase or trade for the resources needed to build the Trinity superweapon. As it turned out, there was an unexpected hiccup in the plan.

Earth wasn’t the only planet working on a Beast-killing wonder weapon.

The Taiidani and Partogans were both working on such systems. The Vanians had also attempted to build a superweapon, but their Homeworld had fallen to the Beast before it could be completed, and now that weapon had been turned against them. While we waited for Yukiko to finish pestering the delegate from Assuria for access to the Assurian Nanite stockpile, a group of Partogan women cautiously approached us, giggling and whispering as they pointed at Soylent’s facial tattoo.

Sarah Harris cursed to herself quietly.

“Soylent! I thought I told you to get that thing covered up!”

One of the Partogans pointed at Soylent’s tattoo and said:

“He he tinihanga! Kei te taakaro ia i nga tinihanga!”

Sarah rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Great, they think you’re pulling some kind of prank, Soylent. I’ve got half a bloody mind to fly back to Earth and ask Kuznetsova for one of her face masks.

Soylent’s Maori-style facial tattoo certainly proved to be one hell of a conversation starter as the day went on. Partogans of any age and gender seemed drawn to it and almost universally had the same reaction: a general sense of bemusement.

Soylent wasn’t the only member of our team who drew attention. The role my team had played in the overthrow of the ADVENT Coalition had somehow leaked out. Knowing Yukiko, this had happened intentionally. Either way, it wasn’t long before we were confronted by an alien news reporter… or rather, I should say: Jericho was confronted.

A sloth-like alien with a camera crew caught Jericho when she was returning to us from the restroom.

“Erik Akselsen, Xenonian News!” The sloth introduced himself. “I already know who you are, of course, the legendary Human Psion who delivered the final blow in the Battle for Earth!”

Akselsen offered one of his paws to Jericho, who shook it lightly.

“You know, I’ll never get used to aliens knowing my name.”

“You might have to do that.” Akselsen replied. “Refugees from Earth have been spreading the tales of your exploits far and wide across the entire Galaxy. I think it’s time your story is given proper treatment, don’t you? Why don’t you take a moment to answer some of the burning questions the Galactic Community has for you?”

I saw Jericho’s eyes narrow, the expression she usually made when she was trying to read someone’s mind.

“Sure, I’ve got a minute to spare.”

The Xenonian News reporter got to work right away, putting on a more businesslike tone while his compatriots aimed their cameras at Jericho.

“Our sources in the UNE government tell us that you were at the heart of the action during the battle for Earth. It is widely reported that you used your Psionic abilities to overpower multiple members of the Ethereal race, a group of Psionic beings long thought to be both immortal and indomitable. Political analysts throughout the Galaxy were shocked to learn that afterwards, you did not immediately install yourself as the new Godlike ruler of Earth, an action that has come to be expected of powerful Psionic individuals since the days of the old Taiidani Empire. Could you tell us why you chose not to seize power during your moment of triumph?”

I felt the bottom fall out of my stomach. That was actually a really poignant question. Jericho was, without debate, the most powerful Gifted person on Earth. When the Elders had been defeated, there would have been nothing and no one to stop Jericho from taking the fallen mantle of “God-King” for herself. The thought was quite scary.

“Honestly, the idea never crossed my mind.” Jericho told the reporter. “What’s the point of being a freedom fighter if you’re not going set anyone free, right?”

“Speaking of which,” Akselsen added, “The Human Envoy recently promised that your planet would begin to pull its weight in the Second Hyperspace War. Are you willing to make the same promise now, Jericho? Will you fight for the Galaxy’s freedom like you fought for your own species?”

“Absolutely!” Jericho looked right into the camera. “We’re all in this war together now, so I promise I’ll fight for everyone as though they were my own.”

Akselen nodded and turned to face his cameraman.

“Viewers at home, you’re watching an exclusive Xenonian News interview with Jericho, the Human Psion who singlehandedly overpowered the Ethereal beings that enslaved her world. When we come back, we’ll ask the crucial questions like: What does a young adult Hiigaranoid with godlike powers do in her off time? Is there a special apostle in her life, and if not, could it be you? And of course, we’ll ask the inevitable question: How long until this young woman uses her powers to become a Divine Sovereign like the old Taiidani Emperors or the God-Kings of Assuria? We’ll have these answers and more in just a moment!”

…

Within hours of Jericho’s interview with the Xenonian News reporter, her face could be seen on screens of all sizes all over the Galactic Council building, and nearly every alien seemed to know her name. Jericho’s story had been broadcasted to the entire Galaxy!

“Congratulations.” Manako Ranginui said. “You’re only the second member of the Human species to become a Galactic celebrity, but you’re making a much better impression than Akira Robinson.”

…

Eventually, after hours of haggling with alien diplomats, Yukiko managed to score a meeting with some representatives of the Republican Taiidani military. According to her, the Republic was working on a battle station called the “Nomad Moon Mark Two” that used some of the same construction materials as the Trinity. While Yukiko met with them in a closed-door session, we were finally free to take a break in one of the many lounges this place seemed to have.

Soylent, Tsubaki, Sarah, and Jericho all passed out on one of the many couches in the lounge while Kathleen refused to go off-duty for even a moment. The former Secret Service agent positioned herself near the doorway and took to watching aliens move up and down the hallway. Hal and I, meanwhile, took an interest in several Hyperwave terminals on the far side of the room. Unfortunately, neither of us knew how to work these things, and we just spent the first half-hour of our free time pressing buttons, trying to make something happen with no luck.

About an hour into our breaktime, three members of Team Takea entered the lounge where we were resting. They were so busy bickering that they didn’t notice us at first.

The albino peahen named Kanti seemed to be having an argument with the red and blue peacock named Reepi. While the two Vanians squawked incessantly at one another, Kailani Kalili seemed to have lapsed into yet another moment of insanity. She pranced around the room, arms swinging comically while she sang to herself:

“…Faces and voices and voices and faces, voiceless faces and faceless voices…”

Meanwhile, Kanti shook her head and tail feathers in frustration.

“Alright, alright already! I’ll do it!” she sounded upset. “But you owe me big time, Imvu!”

Reepi seemed quite relieved and bent his head in a shallow bow.

“You will not regret this!” Reepi said. “This will work to my advantage in more ways than you can count!”

And then Reepi swept out of the room with a clatter of talons and feathers, ignoring us completely. Kanti let out an exasperated sigh and, with one flap of her nearly twelve-foot wingspan, she lifted herself to the head of a nearby armchair and sat down. Finally, she acknowledged us.

“Hello, Humans. Sorry you had to hear that.”

Kathleen shrugged.

“S’no problem, Miss Divakar. There anythin’ we can do to help?”

“No, no no.” Kanti swept her tail feathers and shook her head. “Nothing you can do, plus I can sense you’re all taking a well-earned rest. Reepi and I normally take it in shifts to bring Kalili back to sanity, but Reepi was so determined to worm his way out of his duties today and I just didn’t have the patience to argue back.”

With a yawn, Jericho woke up and sat upright on the couch.

“Hang on.” She said. “I was always really curious how you got Kailani to snap out of… well, whatever her broken mind is doing. I wanna see.”

“Yeah, me too.” I added.

Kanti shrugged.

“Sorry to disappoint, but there’s nothing too special about it.” The peahen admitted. “Either Reepi or myself just use our unique Psionic power on Kalili and she wakes up right away. Thing is, the effect wears off after a while. That’s why we have to take it in shifts.”

“Hang on.” Kathleen said. “Did you just say what I think you said? You and Reepi have the same unique power?”

“When an entire species is Gifted,” Kanti explained, “Individual unique powers get bred out of the population after some time. All Vanians have the same special power. It’s just unique to our species instead of individuals.”

“How does it work?” I asked. “And how does it stop Kailani from being insane?”

Kanti opened her wings and flew across the lounge, landing on Kailani’s shoulder. The Partogan woman swayed dangerously on her feet, looked at Kanti, and began to giggle.

“White bird, tiny face, but your voice sounds like it belongs to a little kid!” Kailani sniggered.

Looking around at us, Kanti said:

“Poor Kalili has been obsessed with faces and voices ever since the Beast got inside her mind a few years back. My special power allows her to redirect that obsession in a more constructive way. You see, just like all others of my species… I can force someone to fall in love with me.”

Kanti wrapped one of her wings around Kailani’s head and forced the Partogan to look at her. Kailani and Kanti stared into one another’s eyes for about ten seconds, and Kailani’s whole demeanor seemed to change in that time. She stopped swaying and her insane giggles subsided. The smile on her face fell into an expression of realization, and then Kailani began to sob.

“Kanti!” Kailani gasped. “Oh, Holy Miranda! Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Kailani wrapped both of her arms around the peahen who squawked in protest.

“Too hard!” Kanti complained. “You always hug too hard!”

Kanti pulled herself free from Kailani’s grip and flew to a nearby table.

“Just so you know, Kalili,” Kanti said. “You were only out of it for about a minute. I brought you right back.”

Kailani’s eyes got huge and she put both of her hands over her heart as though she’d just been put under Cupid’s spell of love... which now that I think about it… that’s genuinely what happened to her!

“Kanti, you’re so kind and wonderful to me!” Kailani gushed. “Thank you thank you so much… I don’t know how I’ll ever pay you back!”

Ahem… I really… really didn’t like the suggestive tone of voice Kailani used for that final sentence. Just throwing that out there. Jericho, meanwhile, looked dumbfounded.

“That is one hell of a power!” She declared. “And your people have always been able to do that to each other!?”

“Oh, no!” Kanti shook her head. “We used to have a different power, but it changed after the Great Séance.”

“Séance?” Soylent repeated. “You’ve lost me, peacock.”

Kanti rolled her eyes.

“After the Bentusi were overthrown in the First Hyperspace War, my people were freed from their Psionic oversight.” Kanti said. “Our greatest telepaths gathered together and held the Great Séance. It was the first time we connected with the Shroud, and we gained our power that day.”

“Shroud?” I asked.

“Mira can tell you more when you get back to Earth next week.” Kanti brushed off my question.

Kailani seemed eager to share what she knew about this as well.

“Oh! Oh! I remember that!” She said. “The history books said it was like your whole species went through some ‘great awakening’ or something like that, right?”

“It was four thousand years ago.” Kanti finished. “I’m sure the history books have whittled the experience down to whatever could fit on a single page. History always forgets the finer details."

Unwilling to continue the conversation, Kanti pointed at Hal and myself with one wingtip and said:

“Kalili, could you be a good friend and help me show these Humans how to work the Hyperwave?”

“Anything for you, Kanti!”

…

Travelling fifteen hundred light years to an alien world is an incredible experience, but talking to Earth using a faster-than-light communications system quickly took the cake as my new favorite memory on this trip. When Chihiro, Mira, and Commander Bradford appeared on the Hyperwave Terminal screen in front of us, all of the gathered Stormbreakers cheered loudly!

“Oh my gosh! Blake!” Chihiro gasped. “Where are you!?”

“On the Hiigaran Angel Moon!” I replied. “Over fifteen-hundred light years away from you guys!”

“I haven’t been to the Angel Moon in a very long time.” Mira said. “Jericho, is it still as beautiful as I told you it was?”

“That and more.” Jericho confirmed.

Commander Bradford pushed his way into focus.

“I don’t see Takahashi. Where is she?”

“She’s in a private meeting with some Taiidani admirals.” I said. “I think she’s actually going to secure some of the materials we need for the Trinity before the day is done.”

Bradford nodded.

“Very good. We’re all expecting your safe return soon, Robinson. Hopefully by then, Takahashi will be convinced she doesn’t need an XCOM bodyguard.”

“It seems very safe and secure here, sir!” Kathleen chimed in. “She definitely doesn’t need a fireteam of XCOM’s best out here.”

“What about you?” Tsubaki asked. “Chi-chan, you look kinda stressed out. What’s going on over there?”

Chihiro gave an overdramatic sigh.

“I’m receiving the attentions of a mad scientist, Tsubaki. You wanna meet her?”

Without waiting for an answer, Chihiro turned her head and shouted:

“Vahlen! Old friends wanna talk!”

When XCOM’s former chief scientist slid into frame, I swear all of the air was suddenly sucked out of the room. Things went really, really, REALLY quiet. Doctor Moria Vahlen looked old and battered, but she was clearly the same scientist who had unlocked the secrets of Meld and Elerium so long ago.

When Vahlen saw Jericho, her eyes lit up!

“Oh, happy day!” The old scientist declared. “I am shocked to see the Jericho subject turned out so well! I daresay she appears to be perfect, but I must reserve judgment until she returns!”

“You’ll get plenty of chances to poke and prod when Jericho comes back next week.” Bradford said.

The Commander looked like he wanted to say something else, but then the screen began to flicker and the image flitted into and out of clarity.

“What the hell?” Bradford’s voice sounded faint and scratchy through the speakers.

“Something’s happening.” Kailani commented as she fiddled with the controls. “We’re losing the signal!”

“Jericho!” Mira was no longer visible on the screen. “Can you still hear us? We’re losing the connection!”

“Blake!”

“Chi!”

And then, just like that, the Hyperwave Terminal died. We fanned out, attempting to use the other five Hyperwave devices in the room, but none of them were working.

“I don’t get it.” Kailani said. “The Hyperwave network’s never gone down before. This isn’t normal!”

“Hey, what’s going on out there!?” Kanti shouted.

Hal, Kathleen, and I looked around.

The hallway outside the lounge had suddenly become abuzz with activity. Diplomats and military officers were moving with a newfound sense of urgency, and the low hum of chatter had taken on a new tone, a darker one. Kanti fluttered over to one of the doors and listened, both with her Psionics and physical ears.

“Something has happened. Something serious!” she informed us.

“I’m sensing panic.” Jericho put her fingers to her temples. “A lot of panic. I think… I think word of a disaster just reached the delegates!”

And then… confirmation came. It came in the form of a loud crackle as the public address system came to life. From wall and ceiling mounted speakers in every room, the voice of President Elohim Naabal echoed throughout the halls and chambers of the building, delivering a message that would strike fear and terror into the entire Galaxy:

"Your attention please! This is President Naabal! The Beast has taken control of the Eye of Aarran. I advise everyone to evacuate before infected ships arrive here! Evacuate! I repeat! EVACUATE!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 35: Assault on Chapel Perilous

 

Chapter Thirty
Assault on Chapel Perilous

 

Thursday, January 10, 2036 - 9:30am
Galactic Council Headquarters, The Angel Moon, Hiigaran Empire


“Everyone, follow me!”

Amidst the panicking crowd of aliens, Kanti Divakar’s white feathers could be seen for dozens of yards! All six Stormbreakers (plus Sarah) linked arms so that we wouldn’t lose one another. At the head of the line, Soylent pulled us through the sea of bodies!

All around, diplomats, envoys, and ambassadors were making for the exits. Out the windows, I could see starships rising up and away from the Angel Moon, while in the distance, a bright point of light could be seen, hanging in the pale blue sky like a second sun.

“Where’s Yukiko!?” Kathleen shouted. “We can’t leave without her!”

“I can sense her!” Jericho replied. “She’s up ahead, around the corner!”

Yukiko and two frightened Taiidani were standing in front of an office doorway, looking lost and confused.

“Takahashi-san!” Tsubaki yelled before grabbing Yukiko by the arm and dragging her along behind us.

“Come on!” Kailani called back. “The Kakama is this way!”

Outside the building, we found ourselves on an elevated walkway that overlooked the Angel Moon Ecumenopolis. A whoosh of red and blue feathers caught our attention!

“Hurry!” Reepi Imvu called to us from the air. “Manako’s already spooling up the engines!”

Temirzhan, Adil, and the flightless Amadii bird called Arzhang were waiting for us at the landing pad.

“Move it, Humans!” Adil shouted. “Sometime today would be nice!”

We surged up the boarding ramp together, ignoring how the intense whining of the ship’s engines made our ears rattle and throb. Elsina was waiting for us on board. She swept Kailani up in a big furry hug and made a sound akin to purring.

“Don’t scare me like that!” Elsina said. “Is that it? Have we got everyone?”

Kanti and Reepi swooped through the open hatchway.

“We’re in!” Reepi shouted. “Close the hatch and tell Ranginui to take off!”

Kailani scrambled up one of the ladders to the bridge while Elsina closed and sealed the boarding hatch before she turned to us.

“Pick a handhold and don’t let go! This is gonna be a rough launch!”

Beneath our feet, the ship lurched violently! The Kakama rocketed into the sky and left the Angel Moon behind, joining a flock of spacecraft as they fled the scene. Kathleen, Soylent, Sarah, Hal, Tsubaki, Jericho, and I all grabbed at the handholds on the walls and ceiling, bracing ourselves as we were hit by intense G-forces!

“Feels like we’re really haulin’ ass!” Soylent shouted above the noise of the engines.

Making sure to keep a tight grip on anything solid, Yukiko started to work her way along the hallway towards the ladder Kailani had used to reach the bridge.

“Where the hell are you going!?” I shouted.

“I need to talk to Manako!” Yukiko answered. “We can’t leave without that haul of Aetherium and Protodermis! The Mahuika still has it!”

“She’s right!” Jericho added. “We need those resources for the Trinity!”

Fighting against the forces of acceleration and gravity that sought to pin me to the wall, I followed Yukiko up the ladder and onto the bridge of the Kakama. The frigate’s command deck was a very active zone right now. The entire bridge crew had strapped themselves into their seats and were working frantically at their stations.

“It looks like we left some of the crew behind during the evacuation.” An officer was saying. “We lost our Hyperspace technician, a few weapons operators, the quartermaster, a sensors operator, and the entire kitchen staff, sir.”

“It’s too late to go back for them.” Manako said. “Is the Mahuika still here?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Get ’em on the line, now!”

The Partogan officer spoke into his microphone.

“Kakama calling Mahuika, come in! Mahuika, please respond!”

The voice of Makara Ranginui was broken and filled with static, but still understandable.

“Kakama! You made it out! Where are you?”

“Two hundred Kios above the Angel Moon!” Manako replied. “We’re fixing to make a run for it. What about you?”

“The Hiigaran Defense Fleet is outmatched! We’re moving to help them out.” Makara called back. “Brother, the enemy is coming from the Eye of Aarran! What happened!?”

Manako’s face lost all of its color. A mortified silence ran through the bridge.

“Miranda save us all!” Breathed a Levakian. “We really lost the Eye!?”

Yukiko and I looked at each other, then at Manako.

“What does that mean?” Yukiko asked. “How are we supposed to get home without the Eye!?”

“Still not sure about that.” Manako admitted, “But before we solve that question, we need to-”

Screeeeeee!

A painfully loud squawking noise filled the bridge and everybody covered their ears!

“What the hell was that!?” Manako shouted.

A moment later, Kailani gave us our answer. She put both hands to her head and let out a scream!

“The voices!” Kailani shrieked. “I can hear them again!”

I couldn’t tell was going on, but Jericho’s voice cut through the confusion!

“Don’t let it take over, Kailani! Fight it!”

Jericho reached the top of the ladder and conjured a swirling ball of purple light in her free hand! She ran across the bridge and pressed the swirling orb of light into Kailani’s head! Whatever agony Kailani was going through came to an immediate end. Gripping Jericho’s hand in her own, Kailani let out several shuddering breaths as she calmed down.

“Okay…” Kailani panted. “The voices are gone now.”

She was wrong.

A whole damn chorus of voices rang out! It didn’t come from any speaker system and nobody had opened their mouth. This was an unbidden telepathic noise that intruded on all of our minds. Hundreds of different male voices spoke in unison, all uttering the same message:

“Kakama parts…” the discordant symphony said to us. “We want the Jericho self. Give us Jericho, or we will take Jericho with your parts.”

Everybody was caught off-guard, staring at one another in disbelief. Psionic energy flickered around Jericho, Manako, and every Vanian crewmember as they telepathically reached out in search of the intruder. I ended up being the first person to break the silence and respond, letting my anger get the best of me.

“I don’t know who you are!” I shouted to the ceiling, “But you aren’t going to take our friend without a fight!”

The voice spoke again, and I felt a very unwelcome Psionic probe in my mind while the chaotic assembly of voices assaulted my ears again:

“You already know us, Human self.” The voices declared. “The translation of our name in your language would be ‘Agamemnon.’ Do not follow that historic example, Trojan persona. Give us Jericho now, or else you will join us alongside her.”

Slowly, everyone looked around towards Jericho. Her eyes had gone really wide and an aura of Psionic energy seemed to ripple and shimmer around her. She was pointing at me with a shaking hand, open mouthed.

“That thing just absorbed everything you knew about Human history!” Jericho gasped. “It found out where your nickname came from and used your memory to name itself!”

“That is so many layers of disconcerting.” I commented, my arms covered in goosebumps.

“That’s how the Beast works.” Manako told us. “It absorbs our own knowledge, then uses it against us.”

Manako trailed off. He had just realized something.

“Xenonian News showed you to the whole Galaxy.” He pointed at Jericho. “That’s how it knows about you!”

She nodded.

“The Beast heard about Earth, about what I did to the Elders.” Jericho sounded like she’d been expecting this. Her Psionic aura flickered. “It wants me and my powers… I can feel its hunger. It’s almost like… like an obsession.”

“Right, let’s not stick around.” Manako turned his attention back the comms station. “Mahuika, we’re going to break contact and get our HVI out of here.”

“Understood!” Makara’s voice came back on the radio. “We’re going to help the Hiigarans and stall the Beast! You take the Chapel Perilous Slipgate and head for the Outer Limb. We’ll meet you at the Positive Control Point after you drop off the Humans!”

 

Kailani raised an eyebrow:

“Wait, why Chapel Perilous? We promised to take the Humans straight back to their Homeworld!”

“Without the Eye of Aarran, you’ll have to go the long way.” Makara explained. “The old Progenitor Network is going to be crawling with infected ships! Use the old Hyperlanes and Slipgates to get back to Earth! It’ll take longer, but there’s less chance of getting caught.”

I wanted to ask how long this detour was going to take, but Manako was busy taking charge.

“Helm, bring us about! Lay in a course for the Chapel Perilous Slipgate at best possible speed!”

The Kakama broke formation with the other ships fleeing the Angel Moon and started moving towards the outskirts of the system.

“No! Go back!” Yukiko protested. “We need to take on those strategic resources from Partoga!”

A Vanian bridge officer shook his head.

“Not while Jericho is on board!” he said. “We cannot risk her life for a few crates of Aetherium!”

“He’s right.” Jericho put a hand on Yukiko’s shoulder. “We have to escape now. Sticking around will only make things worse!”

Yukiko looked like she wanted to argue, but at that moment, a Levakian manning the sensors manager yelled:

“I count two, no… correction! I count three hundred enemy strike craft coming our way from Chapel Perilous! Mixed force of Interceptors, Cloaked Fighters, Attack Bombers, Gunships, and Corvettes! Life signs on all ships are low or non-existent and their weapons are hot!”

“Son of Inari, those ships are infected!” Manako gasped. “The Beast must have gotten there first!”

“You punch through!” Makara called. “We’ll will keep the big ones off you as best we can! Mahuika out!”

He turned to Jericho, Yukiko, and I.

“You Humans know your way around a Laser cannon turret?”

“A gun is a gun.” I said. “Just point me towards the enemy!”

Turning around, I yelled down the ladder:

“Stormbreakers! Find yourselves a gun turret and get ready to fight!”

We broke up into three groups of two. Tsubaki and Kathleen went down to deck five and manned one of the ventral turrets. Hal and Soylent took one of the dorsal turrets on top of the ship, while Jericho and I crawled inside of the bow gun at the very front of the ship. The other three guns were manned by Triple Alliance crew. Everyone donned internal comms headsets so that we all stayed in contact with the bridge.

“Attention all hands!” Manako broadcasted his voice to the ship. “Sensors are showing a sizable force of Beast-infected strike craft guarding the Chapel Perilous Slipgate! Records show that gate will take us to the Outer Limb! Keep the infected off our tails and we’ll do the rest! Weapons free! Helm, engines ahead flank!”

Sitting on either side of the bow turret’s firing computer, Jericho and I cast one quick look at each other. She nodded at me and said:

“We’re gonna get through this. Trust me.”

The Kakama accelerated as hard as possible, burning towards the Slipgate!

“Chief of the Watch, rig the ship for battle!” Manako ordered.

“Eye sir!” replied Adil. “Sealing blast doors and polarizing armor now!”

At once, every bulkhead door slammed shut, sealing everybody into their respective compartments. An electromagnetic charge ran through the Kakama’s armor plating, and thick metal shutters slammed into place, covering up all of the windows. In our turret, Jericho and I picked up two joysticks in each hand. On the screens in front of us, a set of crosshairs appeared on the targeting overlay.

“Here they come!”

Moving like a swarm of locusts, a cloud of Beast-infected fighters descended upon the Kakama, guns blazing!

 

 

“Smoke ‘em!” I shouted!

All six of the Kakama’s turrets came to life, hurling beams of fantastic violet light into the darkness around us! Hundreds of bright red points of light filled the screen in front of me! Twisting my joystick I aimed the crosshair and let out my first volley of laser cannon fire! An infected Interceptor narrowly escaped the onslaught and opened fire with a mass driver cannon! The frigate began to rumble as a continuous rain of lead began to thunder down on her hull!

“Plasma bombers!” Elsina reported. “Forty Kios, top port quadrant, dorsal side!”

“I see ‘em!” Soylent replied.

Purple jets sailed through the starfield and found their mark! A subverted Hiigaran bomber broke off its attack run, rattled but seemingly undamaged. A moment later, a Levakian gunship swooped across our bow, training its guns on the bridge! Jericho and I both fired laser cannon volleys at point blank range! The gunship banked hard and began to fly around our starboard flank before a second strike blew it off course again!

“That is a negative impact!” a Partogan gunner called to the bridge. “No effect on target!”

“Check your aim, gunners!” Manako ordered. “Focus your fire and hit the enemy center-mass!”

Jericho and I picked an incoming bomber and fired on it together, unleashing an intense volley of concentrated laser fire! Again, we hit the incoming hostile and knocked it off course, but did no physical damage.

“Commander!” I spoke into my radio headset. “Our weapons are having no effect! We’re not doing any damage!”

One by one, the confirmation calls came in. None of the gunners were having any luck. We could knock the enemy around all we wanted, but nobody was recording kills. After a few more desperate salvoes, Jericho panned her targeting camera around and got a good view of an enemy ship being hit by our weapons fire.

“Oh, you are kidding me!” Jericho shouted. “They’ve got shields! Psionic Shields!”

“WHAT!?”

She was right. Now that we knew to look out for the signs, there was no mistaking the blueish-purple flickers of light whenever our weapons made contact with the enemy. It was the same type of Psionic Shield I’d seen Chihiro use countless times in battle back home on Earth.

“That’s not possible!” Manako called back. “Shielding every one of their ships would take more energy than-”

He was cut off by a jarring impact! A group of subverted Corvettes were closing on our position, and one of them had just fired a torpedo into the Kakama’s starboard flank! Billowing clouds of gas escaping from the ship obscured the targeting cameras. Using the radar warning receiver, I found the enemy through the smoke and fired a laser bolt right into his bow! The energy blast hit an invisible screen in front of the foe and dissipated in a flash of purple light!

“Confirmed shield impact!” I shouted into the radio. “We’re not doing any damage, Commander!”

Finally, Manako changed tactics.

“Shunt all power to the engines!” He ordered. “Make for that Slipgate at best possible speed!”

Soaring away from the Angel Moon, we left a brewing fleet battle behind. A mixed force of Hiigaran, Taiidan, and Partogan warships were assembling to try and fend off the incoming Beast fleet. Like us, they were all having the same problem: The incoming Beast fleet was being protected by a powerful Psionic Shield. Amidst the incoming horde of subverted vessels, I could make out something else on my targeting computer, a swirling nebulous mass. The roiling cloud of Psionic energy launched bolts of lightning at any uninfected ship that drew near, and when it enveloped a Beast vessel, that ship enjoyed even greater protection from our side’s weapons.

Luckily, that strange Psionic entity was behind us. Unfortunately, there was one more problem lying between the Kakama and her escape:

“Sentinels!” Temirzhan raised the alarm! “Ten kios off the starboard bow, ventral side! They’re trying to box us in!”

Directly in front of our frigate, a constellation of tiny starships had blocked our path. My targeting computer identified these little ships as “Sentinels” a class of Microship developed by the Hiigarans. Microships were spacecraft that were so small and lightweight that they never showed up on conventional sensors. The Sentinels began to project beams of light to one another, forming a shimmering web of energy that hung in front of us. Once all of the beams had connected to a receiver, the Sentinels activated their trap!

Created and held together by the Sentinel formation, a bright red two-dimensional force field was moving through space towards us! I had no plans to learn what would happen if it actually collided with us, so I took aim and started pummeling it with laser cannon fire! The force field blazed with intense light every time I scored a hit! Once the shimmering wall of red light was just fifty miles off our bow, the force field de-activated and revealed what was hidden behind it: a long, thin spacecraft with three gun barrels sticking out of its bow.

“VAYGR BATTLECRUISER!” Manako shouted! “Emergency evasive!”

The infected Battlecruiser fired its main weapon at us before hiding behind its forcefield again! Three bolts of bright red light screamed across the empty space between us, filling up my screen and drowning out all other contacts!

“Brace! Brace! Brace!” Manako hollered. “Here it comes!”

Whoosh! Whoosh! WHAM!

The first two bolts missed the Kakama entirely, sailing off into space for destinations unknown, but the third collided with the frigate’s underside and unleashed a cataclysm! At once, Jericho and I were blinded by a shower of sparks and flame! The whole ship lurched upwards and we both hit our heads on the ceiling! Jericho screamed as smoke started to fill the turret!

“Jericho! You alright!?”

“I’m still here! But I think the turret’s dead!”

Sitting up, I waved the smoke away from my face and tried to reactivate my targeting computer. She was right. Our gun turret had just bought the farm, the targeting computers reduced to twisted scrap metal embedded in the ceiling, while the actual gun assembly was mangled beyond recognition. I pressed the talk button on my headset and said:

“Bridge, bow gun here. We are disabled! I repeat, disabled!”

“CoW, gimme a damage report!” Manako shouted over the comm.

“Major hull damage on the ventral side!” said the voice of Adil. “Deck five is venting to space!”

Above their voices, I could still hear the continuous drumming and humming of mass driver rounds hitting the ship.

“Can we reach the Slipgate!?” Manako asked.

“We can still give you flank speed!”

“Then do it! All weapon systems, report in! Tell me who’s still shooting!”

“Green and Macintosh here!” Soylent’s voice cropped up. “All the topside turrets are still shooting. Bow cannon looks dead from here, and we haven’t heard anything from the ventral gunners!”

My blood went cold. Next to me, Jericho turned pale.

“Tsubaki!” I gasped

“Kathleen!” Jericho remembered.

We both unstrapped ourselves and moved to vacate our ruined turret. Unfortunately, the doorway leading into the rest of the ship had been blocked off by one of the emergency bulkheads.

“We don’t have time for this!” Jericho shouted.

She waved one arm and the bulkhead door immediately retracted, allowing us to move forward. The two of us darted along the corridor, heading towards the ladder to deck five. Each time we came upon a bulkhead door, Jericho forced it open with her Psionics before closing it behind us.

We quickly found the hatchway leading down to deck five, but it was blocked off by another blast door. Instinctively, Jericho waved her arm, attempting to force it open with Telekinesis.

Nothing happened.

“What!?”

Jericho waved her hand again, then made a pushing motion with both palms. The door trembled, but did not move aside. Jericho’s frustration quickly gave way to anger.

“What the hell is going on!?”

Around us, the ship shuddered violently, making the two of us unsteady on our feet. I ran forward and started trying to force the door open by hand.

“We don’t have time to find out!” I answered. “Just help me with this!”

“STAND BACK!”

I looked around at Jericho, and then threw myself to one side when I saw what was about to happen. Jericho took a deep breath and let out a loud warcry, charging forward and hitting the door with her shoulder as hard as possible! The metal blast door caved in and Jericho punched through the metal as though it were paper! Grabbing the fragmented steel in both hands, Jericho tore a gap the blast door big enough for us to pass through.

“Remind me to thank Vahlen for the Muton DNA when we get back.” Jericho panted.

Deck five was the bottom most layer of the ship, and it had been utterly wrecked. In the corridor below the ladder, portions of the ceiling and walls had collapsed, revealing other rooms. Smoke rose up from bundles of melted wire while electrical fires crackled around us.

“Tsubaki!” I shouted. “Walsh! Where are you!?”

No answer. Jericho turned her head from left to right, then pointed down a ruined hallway.

“Over there!”

The two of us ran as fast as we could to a sealed bulkhead door. A series of symbols I can only guess to be Partogan writing adorned a picture of one of the laser turrets. Jericho put both hands to the door and closed her eyes. The aura of Psionic power had returned, enveloping Jericho’s body in a kind of faint purple halo. I saw a confused look on her face.

“I’m not getting a clear picture, but they’re definitely in trouble.” Jericho said. “Blake, keep your hand over this button.”

Jericho pointed to a large red switch next to the door.

“When I say so, hit it as quick as you can, okay?”

“Roger.”

“On three… one… two…”

This time, Jericho’s telekinesis worked! She threw the doorway open! On the other side was a scene out of a space traveler’s nightmare.

A small caliber mass driver round had sailed right through the middle of the turret, opening up two narrow holes in opposing sides of the little chamber. With their precious last few seconds of breathable air, Tsubaki and Kathleen had frantically tried to seal the holes with anything available to them. Tsubaki had plugged the hole on her side of the room with strips of fabric torn from her Japan Self Defense Force uniform. It wasn’t a perfect seal, and air was still leaking out. Kathleen had found greater success, using a large flat pane of metal to cover the hole in the wall.

Both women were unconscious.

Using the power of her mind, Jericho seized both of our comrades and pulled them out of the turret! Tsubaki and Kathleen flew into the hallway and crashed to the floor, just as a violent force tore the turret in front of us to shreds!

“NOW! CLOSE THE DOOR!”

That one single moment felt like an eternity.

I looked up to see that the laser cannon turret was gone. A burst of explosive weapon fire had torn it off the ship completely! Now, there was only two and a half feet of mangled corridor between myself and the endless void of space… and about half a mile away was that infected Vaygr Battlecruiser! As I jammed the button to seal the blast door as hard as I could, I could feel the atmosphere rushing out of the corridor behind me, a cloud appeared in the empty space in front of me as the air I was breathing started to escape!

“Hold on!” Jericho screamed!

Jericho pointed one of her palms towards the breach while the emergency bulkhead door rapidly slid back into place! Right before the bulkhead door sealed, I could see three more crimson bolts sailing towards our position as the Battlecruiser opened fire! Then the bulkhead closed! Throughout the entire ship, I could hear dozens of people cheering as though some kind of miracle had just happened!

“Enemy fire deflected!” Manako’s voice sounded over the intercom. “We’re clear! Standby for Slipgate Jump!”

Battered and smoking, the Assault Frigate dove into the Slipgate and vanished.

Chapter 36: Weary Warriors

Chapter Thirty-One

Weary Warriors

 

 

At first, Chihiro refused to believe it. There was absolutely no way in hell that Blake would have fallen victim to some kind of disaster! Jericho was with him! So was Tsubaki and Kathleen and Soylent and Hal! Team Takea had fought off the Chosen Warlock and laid waste to ADVENT’s forces just half a year ago!

She wouldn’t even dare to entertain the thought. No, Blake was alive, and he would be coming home soon! He had promised he would! Every half-hour, Chihiro fired up the Hyperwave Relay and tried to contact the Kakama again, ignoring the Partogans, Levakians, Assurians, Kelt, Amadii, and Vanians who were all trying and failing to do the same.

 The Hyperwave network was offline.

Seemingly overnight, all Faster-Than-Light communications systems had gone down. Every Triple Alliance ship over Earth had lost contact with their bases and Homeworlds. Earth was suddenly adrift in a very silent Galaxy, with news trickling in aboard starships that arrived after the comms blackout began. It was one of those ships that delivered the painful news.

The Fathership of the Beast, a powerful entity the Partogans had code-named “Inari,” had assaulted the Eye of Aarran and successfully passed the infection onto it. Within minutes, the biomechanical virus had subverted the entire Hyperspace network. Every Progenitor Hyperspace Gate in the Galaxy was now under enemy control.

The loss of the network meant the disabling of every Hyperwave Relay as well. The FTL communications system had been dependent on the network to function. The Galaxy-wide blackout had forced all space-faring civilization to resort to slower-than-light methods of communication. Messenger ships carried news and information from one planet to the next, making maximum range Hyperspace jumps to avoid Beast interdiction. One such messenger ship brought confirmation of the Beast attack on Hiigara.

 Thanks to the efforts of Makara Ranginui and her ship, the Mahuika, Hiigara held out for several days. Unfortunately, now that the Beast controlled the Eye of Aarran, the enemy could move its forces to any location in the cosmos almost instantaneously. A huge fleet of infected ships had descended upon Hiigara and the Angel Moon. Makara and her forces had waged a heroic fighting retreat, covering a great flotilla of ships as they evacuated from the system before making their own escape. Unfortunately, no one was able to confirm whether or not the Kakama and her passengers had gotten away. The last anyone had seen of the ship; it had been chased through a Slipgate by an infected Battlecruiser.

 A week after Hiigara fell, Commander Bradford pulled Chihiro aside and confronted her with a painful truth: The Kakama had missed its due date to return to Earth, was out of contact with the Triple Alliance Navy, and was last seen being pursued by an enemy warship. Keeping all of this information in mind, the UN government had declared Blake, Jericho, Hal, Tsubaki, Soylent, and Kathleen to be “Missing and Presumed Dead.”

 With the comfort of denial stripped away, Chihiro had flown into a rage. She smashed Bradford’s model of the original Skyranger, screamed in his face, and threw her Shadowkeeper pistol across the office. Bradford, in his infinite wisdom, ordered Chihiro to “take some time off to mourn.”

 Cursing like a sailor, Chihiro screamed at the Commander again, calling him a “weasel and a coward” for assuming Blake was dead without any proof. Then she stormed out of the office, using the Demon Katana to smash Bradford’s trophy case on the way out.      

 

…

 

Tuesday, February 12, 2036 - 10:45am

Ruins of Betio, Tarawa Atoll, Pacific Ocean

 

By the time XCOM and UN forces arrived on Tarawa, there was no one left to save.

The grim news of the massacre on Tarawa had cast a pall over most of the world, but no one more so than the group of XCOM soldiers and their allies who had to drive the enemy back into the sea.

Geist and his team of Templars took point on the assault. Rappelling into the ruined town from helicopter gunships, Violet and Duane tore through a horde of Gillmen and Tentaculats, using Psionics to pull down ruined buildings on top of their waterborne foes. Reptilian Tarsoths turned tail and fled from the approaching Templars, their protective scales useless against Shard Blades.

The Stormbreakers followed Geist and his team onto the island. Chihiro led the assault, fighting with a kind of fury and energy her compatriots had never seen before. On more than one occasion, Odette, Sophie, and Sophia had to grab Chihiro and restrain her before she charged headlong into an encounter that almost certainly would have gotten her killed. She slashed and hacked away at sea monsters with the Demon Katana with complete abandon, losing herself in the furor of the fight!

But out of all the Stormbreakers, Sophie Ackermann was the one most truly in her element. The close-quarters urban warfare of Tarawa was exactly the kind of scenario she had trained for and become a master of. Moving from one building to the next, the South African guerrilla never left herself out in the open for more than a few seconds. Taking advantage of the fact that the streets and alleyways of the city were extremely narrow and cramped, Sophie became an elusive target and an efficient hunter, gunning down far more sea monsters than any other member of the team. Sophia Kuznetsova followed behind her at a light jog, her awestruck expression hidden behind her headscarf.

Meanwhile, out in the Tarawa Lagoon, UN aircraft soared over calm waters at high speed! One of the gunships flew in a circle around a translucent obelisk that had emerged from the water a few miles off the coastline. Illuminating the Psionic Monolith with a laser designator, the gunship increased its altitude and her pilot called in the big guns.

 

 

A saucer-shaped spacecraft, roughly thirty meters long and armed to the teeth, dove out of the clouds and sped towards the Psionic Monolith! Illuminated by weapons fire, an observer could see that the symbol of the ADVENT Coalition had been covered up by the blue and white flag of the United Nations of Earth, along with the ship’s new name:

UNS Tigermoth

At the controls of her new gunship, former Skyranger pilot Wendy Carter threw the vessel into an attack run! At her command, the gun crew activated their weapons and pummeled the Monolith with heavy Plasma Cannons before unleashing XCOM’s newest weapon!

Taking only few seconds to charge, the Particle Cannon fired a pulse of energy that rocketed across the sky at hypersonic speed before colliding with the Obelisk! The explosion was comparable to a low-yield nuclear bomb! Stretching hundreds of yards across, the fireball incinerated countless sea monsters and completely enveloped the Psionic Monolith! When the smoke cleared, the ocean was calm again, as though the Monolith had never existed at all.

Wendy pulled the Tigermoth up and away from the mushroom cloud, cheering along with the rest of the crew before turning back towards Tarawa.

 

…

 

When Mira Mihaka arrived on the island with the second wave of troops, the fight was already over. Sure, she wanted to get her hands dirty, just not in that particular way. As soon as the island was secure, science teams were turned loose. Working side by side for the first time, Doctor Vahlen and Doctor Tygan set up a prefab medical tent and used a large cart to wheel a heavy reptilian creature inside.

“I hear the troops are calling this one a ‘Triscene.’” Tygan told his predecessor. “It certainly does look like a monster from an Old World dinosaur movie.”

“Look at these scales!” Vahlen was extremely excited, “See how resistant they were to our plasma weapons? Just imagine the potential applications for our own armor development!”

Mira broke off from the two doctors and left them to their own devices. A little further up the ruined town, Mira could see the assembled Stormbreakers chastising Chihiro for her apparent lack of a “self-preservation instinct.” Yuktaka Yamamoto stood apart from the group, even further away than Odette Fournier, and he seemed to be angry about something else.

Mira decided to give the group some space. Like them, she was processing the loss of the Kakama and its passengers in her own way.

Losing Blake or Yukiko or Manako was one hell of a blow, sure, but losing Jericho was a disaster on many levels. There had never been a Cycle in which Jericho died before the War in Heaven, and now, with the Kakama missing, the possibility of Jericho’s premature death was growing more and more likely. Mira wanted to hold out hope that Jericho and the others had survived the fall of the Hyperspace Network, but with the Hyperwave Beacons no longer functional, there was no way to know for certain.

After the fall of the Eye and Hiigara, Mira had attended several meetings with Commander Bradford, Secretary-General Harper, and the other leaders of AFUNE. As a group, they agreed to move forward with a twofold plan:

Construction and development of the Trinity superweapon would proceed as though Jericho was dead. The control tower would be reconfigured to allow any Gifted person to operate it, although only four people were being seriously considered as candidates to replace Jericho: Geist, Duane, Mira, and Secretary-General Harper. However, AFUNE would declare Jericho and her team to be “Missing and Presumed Dead” and operate under the assumption that Jericho and the others were still alive, and that they would attempt to return to Earth. AFUNE warships would patrol the outer limits of Human space and make efforts to track down and retrieve Jericho whenever the opportunity arose. Some vessels had already penetrated the borders of the Hiigaran Empire, chasing down rumors they’d heard from Hiigaran merchant ships.

 Plan ahead in case Jericho is really dead, act as if she’s coming back. Given the circumstances, this was the only way to proceed. And Mira got started right away.

As soon as she touched down on Tarawa, Mira began to pace the battlefield. One by one, she passed her hand above the bodies of dead sea monsters, searching for any residual Psionic energy left over from the Monolith or the Pacific Anomaly. She found herself wishing Manako Ranginui had not gone missing after the Fall of Hiigara. He had a unique Psionic power that would make this job so much easier.

Mira stopped when she found a group of UN soldiers posing with a dead sea monster while their comrades took a picture. The creature itself was some kind of crustacean that stood nearly five feet tall and had six limbs. When she approached, Mira felt a buzzing sensation in the forefront of her mind. She had found what she was looking for.

One of the UN soldiers, a Mexican, pointed at Mira and asked:

“Señorita Hybrid, you wanna photo with the Lobster-Man?”

 “Certainly, why not?”

 Standing alongside the UN soldiers, Mira posed with the dead Lobster Man, keeping her eyes on the camera and one hand pressed firmly to the dead creature’s back. With a slow, calming inhale, she extracted the creature’s last vestiges of Psionic energy and absorbed them. Thanking the troops for their time, Mira left and began to walk alone down the beach. She had a lot to think about.

Betio is a very, very small place. The landmass itself is barely 2,400 feet across at its widest point, and its highest point was only a few yards above sea level, meaning that no matter where Mira went, she was always able to see or hear the Pacific Ocean. By this point, there were also some two thousand XCOM and UN soldiers on the island, scouring it for any remaining sea monsters. Yet in the midst of all this, Mira did find a place that was relatively quiet where she could meditate.

Along the southern coastline, Mira found an abandoned bunker, left behind by the combatants of a great battle fought on this island nearly a century ago. Sitting down inside the crumbing ruin, Mira focused her thoughts inward, reflecting on what she had just drawn from the dead sea creature.

Focus… focus… focus…

One by one, Mira blocked out her physical senses. The crashing of the sea became dull and muted, the chilly breeze was forgotten, and the smell of salt was rendered irrelevant.  

Like blurry afterimages, Mira saw brief flickers and snippets of the Lobster Man’s memories. Nearly all of the images were unintelligible and useless. Her attempt to replicate Manako’s power of Psychometry was crude and amateur at best, but this result was better than none at all.

Finally, Mira reached the oldest memory she’d been able to extract from the Lobster Man. It was not an image or a sound or a feeling. Mira wasn’t sure how to describe what she was experiencing. It was… a trace… a Psionic remnant of something that had once been present but was now gone.

Mira decided to follow the trail. Slowly reaching up, she pressed both hands to her chest. Over the past six months, Mira had grown accustomed to her new Avatar body. Built specifically for the Ethereals to use, the Avatar was the perfect specimen of Human health and strength, yet mixed with just enough Ethereal DNA to make it a suitable permanent host for the Elders. The fact that this body had been designed with Psionics in mind had made it extremely easy for Mira to use her own powers now. Activating her power of Astral Projection, Mira vacated her new body as easily as a person can shed their clothes.

The Avatar body slumped forward in the bunker and came to rest on its face. Its brain, heart, and lung activity were slowed to a rate that just barely sustained life, although a casual observer could easily believe the Avatar was dead. Above it, an invisible Psionic entity took a moment to get its bearings, and then darted away.

Freed from the confines of a physical body, Mira was able to soar through the air at incredible speed. She was limited only by her own reserves of Psionic energy, which, thanks to the Elders, was now quite immense. Following the Psionic trace to its source, Mira’s disembodied spirit pierced the outer layers of the Pacific Anomaly.

Inside of the anomaly was a Psionic hurricane! Powerful winds whipped the ocean up into a fury while lighting cracked and arced through the clouds unceasingly! Undersea volcanoes blasted their way above the waterline, creating new islands that were destroyed moments later by cataclysmic waves of seawater. Monstrous creatures battled and killed one another without pause, turning the raging seas below crimson red!

And then the downhill slope began as Mira reached the outer edge of the Maelstrom. A whirlpool nearly half a mile across had punched a hole in the stormy ocean, and the Psionic trace led straight to the bottom. The floor of the Pacific Ocean could be seen beneath the Maelstrom, and what Mira found there was more than alarming.

It was the Tethys Seamount, an underwater mountain that stood alone on the bottom of the Pacific, and embedded in its summit, crushed beneath unknowable water pressure… was the shattered remains of the Alien Fortress. Mira could make out the facsimile Human neighborhood where Blake had slain the Chosen Hunter. She could see the foundry where her own Avatar body had been made, and she could see the Crypt of the Elders, where the final battle for Earth had been waged.

As she approached, Mira passed over the body of the Angelis Avatar, which had come to rest partway down the mountain, no doubt blown here when the fortress imploded. In the Crypt itself, the remaining Elders had not moved from their final resting places. All of their sarcophagi had been crushed or imploded by the sea.

Yet, something seemed out of place…

Mira looked into the shattered chamber where Akira had spotted the misshapen alien creature just before the final battle had started. At the edges of her perception, Mira could sense a presence. Something was still here… still alive! A lopsided, vaguely humanoid shape rose up from the shattered remains of the central tower. A pair of white eyes loomed out of the darkness, aimed directly at her!

It was the Deep One. The entity at the center of this crisis.

Mira drew closer. She got the distinct sense that the Deep One was not going to attack her. Moreover, it seemed rather curious about her. The Deep One did not retreat from Mira’s approach, but it also did not withdraw from its hiding place in the shadows. Cautiously, Mira started to reach out with her mind… to make Psionic contact with the Deep One… but then…

Mira began to feel weak! Her strength was waning, and in a moment of genuine terror. Mira felt her consciousness waver. She had not felt these sensations in a very, very long time. Not since her battle with Manaaki Ranginui at Archer’s Canyon so very long ago…

Oh, no.

Mira recognized the signs and symptoms at once! She was minutes, if not seconds away from completely exhausting her powers! And if she lost her Gift while Astral Projecting… Mira didn’t want to think about it!

She broke contact with the Deep One and fled! Mira’s disembodied spirit rocketed out of the Maelstrom and across the Pacific in a desperate dash for her body! Keeping her mind as focused as possible, it took all of Mira’s willpower to fight the urge to fall unconscious, an urge that grew stronger every moment her powers waned!

Back to Tarawa! Back to Betio! Back into that Japanese bunker!

Mira’s soul re-occupied its body as quickly as possible! Gasping and hyperventilating, Mira rolled over and came to rest on her back. That had been way too close!

Sitting up and catching her breath, Mira’s relief turned to frustration. How the hell had she exhausted her powers!? She was in the body of an Avatar now! She was supposed to have ten-dozen lifetimes worth of energy stockpiled now! Angered to the point she saw red, Mira stepped out of the bunker, turned around, and instinctively tried to crush it with Telekinesis. She expected nothing to happen.

With a noise like a thunderclap, the bunker collapsed as though it had been hit by a thousand-pound bomb! Mira jumped backwards and yelped in fright! Pulverized concrete dust got caught in the wind and blew towards Mira. With a lazy flick of the wrist, she sent it out into the sea before looking down at her own hand in confusion.

 “What the hell is going on?” she asked herself.

As far as she could tell, her Gift… her powers… had returned. How was that even possible? Mira had been exhausted before; she knew what it was like to permanently lose the Gift. Only the power and twisted science of the Elders had returned it to her. And tonight, out there in the Psionic Maelstrom, she had felt the torpor of Psionic exhaustion once again, only for the Gift to come back just as quickly. This wasn’t normal. Something strange was going on here.

Mira knew she now had another mystery to investigate. But she could take solace in the knowledge that she had gleaned one answer from this whole misadventure: Mira realized that she had encountered a Psionic presence like the Deep One before… and at long last, she knew the identity of the creature at the bottom of the Psionic Maelstrom.

 

…

 

Wednesday, February 13, 2036 – 7:45pm

XCOM Forward Operating Base, Easter Island, Pacific Ocean

 

“Alright, Mihaka. I want you to repeat everything you told me on the flight back from Tarawa.”

As soon as she had returned from Tarawa, Mira had convinced Commander Bradford to hold an emergency conference call with AFUNE leadership. In XCOM’s new Forward Operating Base on Easter Island, a conference room was quickly retrofitted into an updated incarnation of the Resistance Ring. Bradford, Geist, and Mira stood at one end of the table while holographic projectors in the ceiling populated the room with several other people.

At the head of the new Ring, a holographic double of Reclamation Director Jane Kelly had crossed her arms and was listening to the conversation with a thoughtful expression. Around her were the holographic representations of several members of both the Reclamation Agency and the Global Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A holographic group of Triple Alliance soldiers was also present: Two Partogans, an Amadii, and three Vanians.

Mira kept her eyes on Director Kelly as she spoke:

“Last month, in Nagasaki, I told Commander Bradford and Central Officer Smith that I suspected the Pacific Anomaly was connected to the Shroud, a plane of reality above Hyperspace.”

“Yes, I remember reading Commander Bradford’s briefing about that.” Director Kelly said. “He also said you were planning to conduct an investigation of your own. I assume you’re calling us because you’ve uncovered a lead, or some other useful piece of Intel?”

Mira nodded.

“I’m now very confident that the so-called ‘Deep One’ is a Shroud-Being called ‘The Composer of Strands.’ It seems to have latched itself onto a physical body, and it’s instinctively attacking anything that comes close.”

Mira’s answer provoked a reaction from the Triple Alliance soldiers. The three Vanians ruffled their feathers and looked nervously at one another. One of them, a blue and white peacock, raised a wing and spoke up.

“Excuse me.” said the Vanian. “Before my people lost our Homeworld to the Beast, we experimented with Psionic technologies that allowed us to penetrate and explore the Shroud. We might be able to share some additional Intel on the Composer of Strands.”

“Very good.” Commander Bradford said. “I think we should analyze this Intel as a group and then-”

At that moment, the door to the conference room slammed open and a tired looking messenger ran in!

“Sir!” The soldier panted. “We’re getting reports of a major disturbance on Lanai Island! Tygan and Vahlen are both picking up intense Psionic readings at the site!”

Bradford balled up his fists in frustration.

“Who do we have available to respond?”

“Geist and his Templars,” Replied the messenger. “Plus, the Stormbreakers and two squads of Levakian Marines. Everyone else is still debriefing from yesterday’s mission.”

Director Kelly turned her head and asked,

“I thought the Stormbreakers were engaging the enemy on Tarawa?”

“They just got back.” Bradford cursed. “I don’t think they’ve even gotten a chance to eat or sleep, but if we don’t have anyone else to send, then send’em.”

Bradford dismissed the messenger. Mira packed up her paperwork and started to move towards the door, but Commander Bradford stopped her.

“Sorry Mihaka, but you need to sit this one out.” Bradford told her. “You’ve been subpoenaed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. You can’t leave until you answer Kelly’s questions.”

Reluctantly, Mira sat down at the conference table and watched the holographic image of Director Kelly read aloud from a paper script:

“You have been summoned to appear before the Global Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the United Nations of Earth. This means you have been formally accused of war crimes, human rights violations, or other serious offences in relation to the War of 2035. In accordance with the 2036 Accords, you may be granted amnesty if you agree to face your accusers in court and confess all of your crimes before the Commission. At this time, GTRC officials will ask you some basic questions about your role in the 2035 War. You are permitted to refrain from answering any or all questions, you are also permitted to request legal counsel. The UN government will provide a defense attorney for you if you cannot acquire one on your own. Please bear in mind that anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. Failure to answer this summons is a felony crime and will result in your arrest. Do you have any questions at this time?”

“No.” Mira groaned. “Let’s just get this over with.”

 

…

 

 

Thursday, February 14, 2036 – 2:15am

UFO Crash Site, Lanai City, Lanai Island, Republic of Hawaii

 

“The drop site for this operation will be in Hawaii. The downed UFO is in a densely populated urban area. We’ll need to move in and secure the scene before people start panicking.”

As Central Officer Smith finished her briefing, the few remaining members of Stormbreaker Squad double-checked their weapons and armor one last time. They were flying to Hawaii in the belly of a Levakian Marine Frigate. Chihiro, Hal, Odette, and Yutaka all still had dirt and grime on their uniforms from Tarawa. Sophie and Sophia were trying to take a nap in their seats, while Matthew was drinking his seventh mug of coffee in an attempt to push his body even further past its limit. Nobody had slept in nearly 50 hours, and exhaustion was causing some nerves to be frayed. The tension wasn’t being helped by Yutaka’s extremely sour mood.

Yutaka Yamamoto had lost his rank.

Every time someone called Private Yamamoto by his new rank, he gave them an evil eye and a cold shoulder. To make matters worse, he still frequently tried to talk down to anyone he used to outrank. He was being especially vindictive towards Sophie Ackermann, Sophia Kuznetsova, and Isis Dekker, all of whom now outranked Yamamoto, despite the fact that he was old enough to be Sophie’s father. During the flight to Hawaii, Yamamoto had refused to listen to anything Lieutenant Dekker had to say, and his insubordination had earned nothing but ill-will from his squad-mates. When the ship arrived at Hawaii, Yutaka stood near the back of the deployment bay, keeping an even greater distance from his squad than Odette normally did.     

Once the Levakian frigate hit the ground, Chihiro was the first one down the boarding ramp. Taking no chances, the carried her Shadowkeeper pistol in her right hand and Hachiman the Demon Katana in her left. Geist, Duane, and Violet followed the Stormbreakers onto the ground and the XCOM forces began to fan out.

Right away, Chihiro noticed just how heavy the two weapons were. She was so sleep-deprived that taking a few steps in any direction gave her the impulse to just tumble. Every step had to be taken with care, and the thudding impact of each footfall was the only thing keeping her eyes open right now.

If it were daytime, somebody would have commented on how the island’s strange beauty. Unlike other islands in the Hawaiian Republic, Lanai is mostly flat save for a few rocky hills near the center of the island. The vast majority of all forests on the island were cut down over a hundred years ago to make way for plantations. After two decades of alien occupation, the plantations had been abandoned and the fields left to nature. The result was a calm endless sea of knee-high shrubbery that went on from coast to coast, blanketing the entire island in a layer of lush green flora. But in the darkness of a Hawaiian winter night, there was only one thing anybody could see:

A column of smoke, nearly half a mile wide, rose from Lanai City, the one and only town on the whole island. At its base, Chihiro and her teammates could see the flickering lights of emergency vehicles, marking the spot where firefighters were desperately battling the inferno that threatened their homes.

 

            …

 

Stormbreakers, Templars, and Triple Alliance soldiers swept into Lanai City and found a scene of chaos. An alien spacecraft had smashed into the Lanai High School complex, flattening over a dozen large buildings and starting a fire that threatened the rest of the town. Matthew told his soldiers to wait on the side of the road while he went to talk to the local fire chief.

While the Squad Leader ran off to get the firefighter’s attention, Chihiro and the rest of the Stormbreakers began to ignite bright red road flares and lay them along the road into town, directing friendly forces towards the emergency. Once the last XCOM soldiers were on the scene, Geist and his Templars appeared.

“What’s the situation?” Duane Gardner asked.

“Alien ship crashed into the town!” Chihiro quickly explained. “The fire’s our biggest problem right now!”

The Templars followed Chihiro back into the disaster zone, where several XCOM soldiers had been put to work assisting the firefighters. Odette pulled the safety pin on a handheld extinguisher and doused the front of a burning building with carbon dioxide. Sophia and Sophie had taken it upon themselves to guide local survivors away from the crash site, and a little further away, Chihiro could see that Yutaka and the local fire chief had climbed onto the roof of a nearby church to get a better view of the scene.

“Gardner.” Geist spoke to his subordinate. “I want you to bring our forces here and break them into small teams. We must prioritize the safe relocation of the locals, after that we’ll…”

Geist trailed off. He looked towards the firestorm enveloping the crash site. Duane and Violet both went pale.

Chihiro could sense it too! The atmosphere around her changed in an instant. There was a familiar crackle of Psionic energy in the air, along with something else… something infinitely worse.

“WE’RE IN DANGER!” Geist shouted! “Get everybody away from the crash site!”

“What the hell!” Violet screamed in a panic. “Why didn’t we sense that thing earlier!?”

Something huge rose up from the flames! Panicked screams rose from all around as firefighters and soldiers alike turned tail and fled! Sophie raised her shotgun at the monster emerging from the wrecked UFO and shouted:

“What is that thing!?”

It was some kind of abomination! Nearly seven feet tall, the… thing… stepped out of the burning remains of the local high school and into the street, held up on two spindly-looking legs. It had a body covered in tattered and moldy feathers and thick, viscous liquid dripped from its beak. The monster hunched over and let out a strangled yell!

“It’s a Vanian!” Duane gasped.

“No way!” Sophie countered. “It’s too big to be a Vanian!”

The creature reared up to its full height and started stalking towards Chihiro and the group of Templars! One, two, three sets of Shard Blades ignited as the Psionic warriors readied themselves for a fight! Chihiro raised her Shadowkeeper and shouted!

“STAY BACK!”

The alien monster ignored her, instead turning to one of the nearby fire trucks. The oversized mutated Vanian reached out and grabbed the truck’s engine block with its huge talons! Pulsing red splotches appeared on the front of the truck and started to spread outwards, enveloping the whole vehicle in a grotesque layering that looked just a little like lumpy, bloody flesh. A lone Hawaiian firefighter jumped out of the cab and fell to the pavement! He scratched and clawed at his skin while the same splotches started to appear on his body and equipment. The man let out a high-pitched scream and collapsed!

Chihiro felt her heart twist in fear!

“IT’S THE BEAST!!” She screamed. “THAT’S THE BEAST!”

Chihiro pulled the trigger and fired directly into the creature’s flank! All around her, other soldiers did the same! Hundreds of gauss rounds, laser bolts, and plasma beams struck the Beast-infected Vanian, causing it to stumble backwards! Psionic lances and bolts arced through the air and hit the Beast like lightning! Illuminated by the light of the fire, Chihiro and her comrades could finally see confirmation of their worst fears.

Cybernetic devices, pistons, sensors, hydraulic pumps, and other bits of technological implants were scattered all across the body of the infected Vanian, grafted right into its flesh, which under the light, betrayed one more horror! The Vanian’s flesh was patchy, misshapen, and oddly colored, almost as though multiple creatures had been fused together into a single being. Tethered to the now mostly-subverted truck, the shambling, zombie-like thing that had once been a firefighter bent down and picked up a fallen rifle from the ground!

Moving quickly, Chihiro raised the Shadowkeeper and took aim at the new threat! But she was so tired, so worn out, that she couldn’t aim down the sights as quickly as normal. In that extra half-second Chihiro spent aiming, the infected firefighter took aim at her and pulled the trigger!

A two-millimeter gauss round slammed into the chestplate of Chihiro’s body armor and pancaked! Little shards of shrapnel sprayed in all directions, hitting Chihiro in the face and arms! Screaming shrilly, she fell over backwards and hit the pavement, hard!

PAIN.

A wave of piercing, nerve-splitting pain rippled outwards from Chihiro’s abdomen and paralyzed her for just a moment. Chihiro reached up to check her armor with both hands. She’d been shot once in the chest, just above her heart! Luckily her armor had absorbed the blow and saved her life. Making a mental note to thank Chief Engineer Shen later, Chihiro scrambled back to her feet.

Despite being hit in the chest, Chihiro was now dealing with mind-numbing pain in her stomach and spine. The urge to vomit had returned and was more powerful than ever. She just felt terrible in every way. Fighting the urge to just give up and pass out, Chihiro holstered the Shadowkeeper and held the Demon Katana in front of her with both hands!

“Tachibana! With us!” Geist motioned for Chihiro to join him and the Templars.

Looking around, Chihiro saw that three more Templars had arrived on the scene, bringing their total number up to six. All of them wore Celestial Gauntlets that crackled and hummed with Psionic energy! Chihiro tried to run over to their position, but as soon as she started moving, another powerful wave of searing pain wracked her lower body! Rooted to the spot, Chihiro had no choice but to fight from where she was currently standing.

“On my signal, unleash a Soulstorm!” Geist shouted. “We must overwhelm it!”

Next to the infected Vanian, the Beast was starting to take control of the fire truck and its fallen driver. A fleshy mass of mycelia now connected the fallen body to the vehicle’s side! The engine revved loudly and the lights began to flash! On the roof of the nearby church, Yutaka knelt down and took aim with an RPG launcher. There was a quick flash and a loud crack as the projectile struck the vehicle! Flames erupted from the underside of the truck and began to consume both it and the subverted driver! The infected Vanian squawked loudly and turned to attack Yutaka!

“NOW!” Geist shouted! “Bring it down!”

Chihiro aimed Hachiman directly at the foe! Around her, the Templars pointed their palms at the target! A moment before she attacked, Hachiman declared:

“You will not be devoured this day! Strike hard and strike true!”

Seven swirling pillars of brilliant blue and purple Soulfire arced across the town and lit up the area as though it was daytime! Doused in a storm of supernatural fire, the Beast shrieked and panicked, trying to escape, it spread its wings as though it was going to take flight!

“Hold it down!” Geist ordered. “Don’t let it get away!”

Duane and Violet both broke off their attacks and used Telekinesis to seize hold of the Vanian’s wings!

“Pull!” Violet screamed!

Duane and Violet continued to pull on the Vanian with their minds, holding it to the ground while Chihiro, Geist, and the other Templars continued to rain Soulfire down on it!

Then, as though someone had thrown a switch, all of the Soulfire went out!

Panicked screams went up all around the battlefield! Violet and Duane both shook their Celestial Gauntlets, trying to reactivate them! Geist grabbed a Psionic Amplifier from his comrade and held it in both hands, but the device remained inert and idle. The Templars, suddenly deprived of their powers, began to scatter!

The Beast roared and unleashed a Telekinetic blast upon the suddenly powerless Templars! The invisible force hit Geist and his warriors, blowing them backwards like leaves caught in a high wind! Behind them, a house collapsed into rubble! Chihiro got hit as well! Thinking quickly, she plunged the point of the Katana into the crumbling street surface and held on for dear life! Another wave of pain rolled up her torso and spine, causing Chihiro to clench the handle of her sword even more tightly!

“NO!” Hachiman protested! “You will share neither their weakness nor defeat! Attack! Fight! Resist!”

The sword handle suddenly became hot in Chihiro’s hands, hot in a way she recognized! It was the same type of heat produced when someone discharged unused Psionic energy!

Of course! The Demon still had its own powers!

There was nothing else to do. Chihiro could only assume that her own powers had disappeared along with those of the Templars. She would have to put her trust entirely with the sword! Standing upright to face the Beast, Chihiro saw that the creature had turned away from its attack on the Templars to face her in return. The monster started stalking across the shattered street towards Chihiro!

“Allow me to feed on a piece of you!” Hachiman demanded. “In return, you shall taste victory!”

Talking loudly enough to be heard above the chaos, Chihiro replied:

“Fine! Just this once!”

Clutching the sword in both hands, Chihiro aimed the tip of the blade at the oncoming Beast! One final massive wave of pain erupted in Chihiro’s belly, this time so intense that stars swam in front of her vision! Blinking away the dizzying points of light, Chihiro felt a whole new kind of power building up inside of her! Focusing with all of her mind and soul, Chihiro poured her last best hope into one final attack! 

The Demon Sword began to scream! It was the sound of genuine nightmares, shattering windows, echoing off the clouds, and striking terror into all who heard it! The Beast was hit by the sonic attack and its own shrieks were drowned out by the horrific noises coming from Chihiro’s weapon!

Hachiman relished the Psionic violence! Enthralled by the onslaught, the Sword Demon amplified Chihiro’s powers! Feeling energized as though she’d just woke up from a power nap, Chihiro funneled as much of her energy into the assault as possible! Her heart thundered like it never had before and her blood ran hot! The sonic bombardment rattled her ears and made every bone in her body vibrate! The pavement cracked as though the whole world was about to break apart!

The intensity of the sonic attack caused one last wave of unspeakable, sanity-sapping pain to twist Chihiro’s abdomen! She fell to her knees and screamed along with her sword to the darkened sky! The Beast itself was now pinned in a continuous bombardment! Volley after volley of supernatural noise, amplified and focused by Psionic energy, struck the creature and kept it held fast to the ground! Her enemy trapped, Chihiro and Hachiman delivered the final blow!

A cone of supernatural flames erupted from the Demon Katana! At first it was the usual purple color of Soulfire, but it quickly turned as white as the midday sun! Chihiro had to squint to avoid blinding herself as the amplified attack rocketed downrange towards the enemy! Buildings and trees around her spontaneously combusted, enveloping the entire battlefield in a raging inferno! As soon as Chihiro’s white flames made contact, the infected Vanian let out one last bloodcurdling scream before it was torn to shreds by her Demonic Soulfire attack!

Psionic energy exploded outward from the Beast in all directions! An orb of blue light shot out of the Beast's body, raced through the air and connected with Violet, who took the full brunt of the blast and keeled over backwards, crashing to the pavement and laying still! Geist managed to raise a Psionic Shield around himself and his allies just in time, and the shockwave bounced harmlessly up into the sky. Chihiro also took a full-on hit and felt one more spasm of intense pain run up the length of her spine! Burning chunks of Beast materiel rained down on Lanai, transforming the town into a truly apocalyptic landscape!

But finally, the threat seemed to have passed. The Beast-infected Vanian was dead, blasted apart into hundreds of smaller pieces. As she lowered her sword, Chihiro let out a deep exhale, looked around at the wreckage and said:

“Holy shit, did I do that!?”

The Templars let out loud cheers and clapped. Duane flashed Chihiro the thumbs-up, then ran to check up on Violet. Geist, however, wasn’t celebrating. He was gazing at the sword hanging loosely in Chihiro’s left hand with a thoughtful expression.

“Our powers returned as quickly as they departed.” Geist said. “And as for that weapon… and that creature… clearly I will need to meditate on all of this.”

Chihiro nodded and started to return Hachiman to her belt.

“A glorious victory!” The Demon within the blade declared. “The enemy fled from you after such a magnificent display of power! Truly you have no equal!”

“Fled?” Chihiro repeated aloud, “I’m pretty sure I ki… kill… k-k-k… ah-AAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH!”

PAIN .

Pain unlike anything Chihiro had ever experienced in her entire life pierced her stomach and rolled throughout her torso! It was worse than the day she’d been shot in the neck! Worse than the water and knife torture the Soviets had put her through in the last war! It felt as though Chihiro was going to split in half down the middle! The pain was so intense that she didn’t notice the ground rising up to meet her! She was blind, deaf, and in so much agony that her screams only stopped because she ran out of air! Curled up on this dirty street, Chihiro was absolutely certain that this was it! This was how she was going to die, never knowing how or why her demise had come!

Confused images swam in front of her eyes, Noises blended into one another, Psionic energy flitted about in her mind, but none of those sensations made sense. There was only the pain, the agony… the nightmare….

 

…

 

Thursday, February 14, 2036 – 5:45pm

Lanai Community Hospital, Lanai Island, Republic of Hawaii

 

Because the local hospital was so small, (there were only 24 beds in the whole building) the members of Stormbreaker Squad were forced to wait outside in the parking lot while Chihiro was taken inside for treatment. Sophia Kuznetsova had somehow managed to find fresh fruits somewhere in town and the team was having a small dinner while they waited. Matthew and Odette leaned against a parked car and watched the hospital entrance nervously while Sophie Ackermann had lain down on the pavement to sleep in the winter sunlight. Isis Dekker and Yutaka Yamamoto were both too nervous to stay still. They were each doing their best to keep moving. Isis was pacing back and forth in front of the entrance while Yutaka passed the time by asking any passing soldiers for details on the crashed UFO.

By midday, the situation in town had been brought under control, and some information about the crashed ship was starting to get around. A group of Levakian Marines brought the Stormbreakers up to speed: For unknown reasons, a badly damaged science ship had come out of Hyperspace so close to Earth that it fell into the atmosphere almost immediately. The identity of the vessel had caused a stir with local Triple Alliance forces. Apparently, the crashed science ship had once been known by the name “Tren Krom” and it had not been seen in a very, very long time.

Not that the Stormbreakers cared about this right now. Matthew and Odette had both seen Chihiro go down during the previous night’s events, and it had disturbed them to no end. Isis was also distraught. When she had ordered her Gremlin Drone to perform medical protocols, it failed to find anything physically wrong with Chihiro. This set off no small number of alarms.

Sometime before six o’clock in the evening, the hospital door swung open and Doctors Tygan and Vahlen emerged. All of the Stormbreakers quickly converged on them, and were equally horrified at the sight of large bloodstains on their medical scrubs. Both doctors raised their hands and implored the soldiers to calm down.

“She’s alive, und she will recover.” Vahlen said right away.

All six soldiers let out deep sighs of relief.

“Before we allow you to go inside and see your friend,” Tygan said in a warning voice. “You must be made aware of the fact that she has just gone through an incredibly traumatic experience. I urge you to speak in calm voices and do nothing to alarm her.”

The Stormbreakers followed the two doctors into the hospital. In one room, Sophie spotted Geist, Duane, and the other Templars gathered around a bed where Violet was still out cold following her encounter with the Beast last night.

“Doctors,” Isis asked. “What exactly happened to Sergeant Tachibana? It just seemed to hit her out of nowhere!”

“Before I answer that,” Vahlen said, “It should be made perfectly clear that none of you are to blame for what had transpired. Tachibana was suffering from a nearly undetectable phenomenon that affects many women. About one in five-hundred, I believe. I cannot repeat this enough: there was no way any of you could have known because she herself did not know.”

“An undetectable condition?” Matthew gasped. “Is it serious?”

“Sometimes it can be.” Tygan admitted. “We won’t know the full impact for several more hours; but for the time being, it is clear that death is no longer a possibility, and that a... recovery to some degree... is now the most likely outcome. Here we are.”

The group had stopped outside of a closed door at the end of the hallway. It was labelled with a simple placard that said:

Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Everybody froze.

“No way!” Isis breathed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sophia gasped.

“Bullshit!” Matthew recoiled.

“I’ll be damned.” Sophie muttered.

“We should have seen the signs.” Yutaka shook his head.

Odette was lost for words.

“There was a one in five-hundred chance her pregnancy would go undetected.” Tygan said. “The chances of it having a happy ending were even less favorable, yet Sergeant Tachibana has beaten the odds today.”

In that short silent moment, Sophie, Sophia, Matthew, Isis, Yutaka, and Odette could hear a voice on the other side of the doorway. When Isis recognized it, she paused.

“Hey… wait a minute… Is she singing!?”

All six Stormbreakers held their breath for a moment and listened. Sure enough, they could hear Chihiro’s voice on the other side of the doorway. She was singing a slow melody in a calming legato tone of voice. Sophia gave Yutaka a shove and whispered:

“Well, come on… what’s she saying?”

While Chihiro continued singing her melody, Yutaka put his ear close to the door and translated her Japanese tune into English:

“I’ll water you, sunflower, let your tired eyes reflect the sun. Raise your hands, sunflower, show me everything in the light that shines down. Don’t look down, sunflower, face the sun and open up your heart.”

Even behind the headscarf that obscured her features, it was possible to make out a look of sorrow on Sophia’s face.

“We all missed it.” Sophia murmured. “She was sick and emotional before this! How did we all miss it!?”

“Her husband died a month ago.” Matthew answered. “I thought that was why… Didn’t any of you ladies see anything?”

Sophie Ackermann didn’t look him in the eye. Sophie and Odette both gave her a sad look.

“No. She didn’t really hang out with us.” Sophie admitted. “She a lot closer with the people who’ve been on the team since Hiroshima. Tsubaki, Holly, Hal, Soylent, and Blake, obviously.”

Doctor Vahlen pushed the NICU door open.

“In their absence…” Vahlen said, “I hope you can be the friends she needs right now. Why not go in and introduce yourselves?”

Isis, Sophie, Matthew, Odette, Sophia, and Yutaka all crossed the threshold and found Chihiro Tachibana sitting upright in a wheelchair. She had parked her chair next to an elevated table where a vast array of advanced medical equipment and technology was assembled around a very small bed.

Chihiro (who looked completely worn-out) was softly singing to a newborn baby, whose faint heartbeat could be heard on a nearby cardio-respiratory monitor. A semitransparent tube ran out of the baby’s mouth and was attached to some kind of breathing apparatus, and there were intravenous tubes attached to both of her arms. Two local doctors were monitoring the equipment with unfathomable expressions.

Chihiro sniffled and looked around at her comrades.

“Hey guys.” She said softly. “Have you met Blake’s little girl yet?”

Chapter 37: Armed for Burial

Chapter Thirty-Two

Armed for Burial

 

 

It had been nearly two months since the Fall of Hiigara and the loss of the Hyperspace Network. In that time, we were slowly but inexorably making our way back to Earth. It was a journey undertaken in isolation. Without the Hyperwave Relay Network, the only communication we had with the outside world was whenever we crossed paths with a friendly ship, and that was becoming less and less common these days. And since the Progenitor Gates all now lay in enemy hands, we had to take the long way home.

Scattered throughout the Galaxy are hundreds of Slipgates and non-Progenitor Gateways, most of which were left behind by the Vaygr Crusades. These lesser-known avenues would be our route back to Earth.

The Galaxy itself had become a far more dangerous place since January. The Galactic Council had been scattered to the winds by the sudden Beast attack on Hiigara, and with all FTL communications down, the war had taken a sharp and chaotic turn. All across the cosmos, the Beast had gone on the offensive. Augmented by Psionic entities the likes of which no one had ever seen before, the enemy was burning through the allied nation’s defenses and intel like a wildfire.

As for me and my team, we were no longer passengers on the Kakama, but fully-fledged crew members. In the face of the current crisis, everyone was expected to pull double duty. We all had tasks and jobs to perform each day, and the Stormbreakers made sure to pull their weight. The crew of the ship were more than happy for our assistance. They’d lost many of their own and needed bodies to fill the gaps.

Soylent found himself right at home in the galley, where the entire kitchen staff had been lost. He groaned and complained about the loss of his old still on the Avenger, and once in a while, I found him secretly building a new one in his free time.

“What’s the use of bein’ trapped in space with no beer, mate?” Soylent justified himself.

Hal joined the security team, under the leadership of Elsina. The ship’s security forces were comprised mainly of Levakians and Vanians, and it took him nearly a whole month to earn their trust to the point where he was allowed to carry a firearm. Tsubaki and Kathleen had become sensor managers. It was now their job to use the Kakama’s radiating sensors to keep a lookout for incoming infected ships.

Jericho spent most of her time in training. After the fight at Chapel Perilous, she started experimenting with her powers again, in much the same way she did as a little kid, if I remembered Isis Dekker’s explanation right. She told us all that she had only recently learned how to deflect the kind of energy weapons used against us at Hiigara.

“I was supposed to do all this advanced Psionic training with Mira and the Ranginui twins.” Jericho explained. “Stuff I would need to learn to do in order to use the Trinity.”

Manako was too busy commanding the ship and finding a way back to Earth to train Jericho, so Reepi and Kanti had taken over those duties. For the past few weeks, the three of them had taken over the cargo bay for Psionics lessons. Eight to nine hours a day, we could all feel intense energy and heat radiating out of the cargo bay while Jericho and the two Vanians practiced newer and more incredible Psionic techniques. The even managed to reverse-engineer the strange shields the Beast had employed against us at Hiigara.

In the event of a real emergency, Jericho could now envelop the entire ship in a Psionic shield, protecting us from harm for just a few crucial seconds. So far we hadn’t found ourselves in that kind of situation, but it was quite reassuring to know we had the option.

As for Yukiko, Sarah, and I? We had the most fascinating job of all…

After escaping from our pursuers at Hiigara, the Kakama had been severely damaged, with most of her laser turrets being taken offline. Our weapon systems were so badly impaired that if we got into another fight, we surely would have been destroyed. Commander Ranginui had asked everybody, Stormbreakers included, for suggestions on how to evade the enemy since fighting was out of the question.

After thinking on it for some time, I remembered the stories Chihiro had told about how she had been part of the crew of a submarine hunter during World War Three back on Earth. I remembered how she described the Soviet submarines as “ruthless silent hunters.” Keeping her description in mind, I recommended we implement some kind of camouflage system that would allow us to hide in plain sight. Adil and Temirzhan both backed me up, saying:

“The Hiigarans and Turanic Raiders have been experimenting with holographic emitters and cloaking devices for over a century. We could easily make use of the technology ourselves.”

So it was decided. Kailani set a course for the Sojent-Ra system, a region of space where over a century ago, the Hiigarans had fought a great battle against the original incarnation of the Beast. We found a disabled Hiigaran Cloaked Fighter in the wreckage and took it aboard, where our chief engineer, the little reptilian Kelt named Dolim, set to work adapting it’s technology for the Kakama’s frigate chassis.

Dolim, Temirzhan, Adil, Yukiko, Sarah, and I became the primary operators and maintainers of the ship’s new Cloaking Sail. The device required a lot of power to operate, so whenever we were cloaked, the ship’s maximum speed was halved, armor was depolarized, and all weapons were disabled. But considering that we were trying to avoid a fight, this was deemed an acceptable trade-off.

To facilitate the Kakama’s new “flight over fight” strategy, the weapons were overhauled as well. Of the three remaining laser turrets, two were dismantled and the scrap parts reused elsewhere. Stopping off in another debris field, (this one much fresher, sadly) we replaced our damaged or lost laser weapons with a pair of Hiigaran torpedo launchers. The Torpedo Frigate was a mainstay of the Hiigaran Armada, so salvaging unused torpedoes from battlefields gave us plenty of spare ammunition to work with. Using a torpedo launcher also meant that the Kakama would only have to de-cloak for a matter of seconds if the situation truly called for weapons.

Patched up, refitted, and partially rebuilt by her crew in-flight over the past two months, some of us liked to joke about how this was no longer the same starship that had departed Earth back in January, and that a name change might be in order.

Running fast, hiding as necessary, and fighting when given no other choice, we darted from one Slipgate to the next, seeking out the old Vaygr Gates and rocketing back towards Earth in leaps and bounds. In early March, Commander Ranginui took a calculated risk by flying us through a previously unexplored Slipgate located near the border of the Hiigaran Empire and Taiidan Republic. We were in for quite a surprise on the other side.

…

Wednesday, March 8, 2036 - 4:15am
Ketu Stellar Graveyard, The Great Wastelands, Levakian Confederation


“Clear of Slipgate! All systems running nominally.” Elsina reported.

“Good. Sensors, anything out there?” Manako asked.

“No sir,” Tsubaki answered. “We’re alone.”

Manako turned around and walked to the starboard side of the dais, pointing to a far corner of the bridge where Yukiko, Sarah, Dolim, Temirzhan, Adil, and I were working.

“Deploy the Cloaking Sail and rig the ship for silent running.” He ordered.

“Aye, sir.” Adil responded. “We’re going dark now.”

An invisible field of energy enveloped the Kakama, bending and refracting a wide spectrum of light and radio waves. In mere seconds, our ship had vanished from all sensors and become invisible to the naked eye. On the bridge, Elsina reported our position.

“Starcharts say we’re in the Ketu Supernova, right on the northern border of the Core Sector.”

“Core Sector?” I repeated. “You mean we’re near the center of the Galaxy?”

“No, that’s not it.” Dolim replied. Since he was such a small reptile, Dolim had a squeaky voice that I still hadn’t gotten used to. “She’s talking about the Partogan Core Sector, the central hub of the Commonwealth.”

I craned my neck around to look out the main window at the front of the bridge. After flying around the Galaxy for a couple of months, looking for a way home, I’d gotten used to the view of the Galactic Disk. I could point out various stellar landmarks now, like the Gardens of Kadesh, the Shining Hinterlands, or the Karos and Abbassid Graveyards. Dolim pointed towards a dull red star just beyond the Sea of Lost Souls, a patch of space with very few stars.

“That’s the Trecta system.” He said. “The Homeworld of the Partogans and Levakians, capitol of the Commonwealth. Central hub of the Triple Alliance. For nearly everyone in the Outer Limb, it’s more central to their lives than the actual Galactic Core.”

Yukiko let out an impressed whistle.

“Perhaps when the war is over, we could pay a visit.” She said.

“We’d be glad to have you!” Kailani called out from her station at the helm. “Those shiny-heads at the Royal Science Academy would love a chance to see why Humans and Partogans are basically the same.”

“You make it sound like they wanna dissect us.” Sarah giggled nervously.

“Well, yeah. They definitely wanna dissect you.” Kailani admitted.

…

 

 

Saturday, March 11, 2036 - 5:30pm

Ruins of Atarau, Moana Nui, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth


Have you ever seen a stellar graveyard from the surface of an alien planet? If you ever get the chance, do it.

When we all stepped down the Kakama’s boarding ramp and arrived on the planet known as Moana Nui, Jericho, Sarah, Hal, Soylent, Kathleen, Tsubaki and I only had eyes for the heavens above us. The skies had been stained deep red and orange by the Supernova remnant that had enveloped this system. It was almost as though the sky itself was on fire. One hundred years ago, a nearby star named Ketu had exploded in an epic Supernova. The massive eruption had transformed the region of space around it, and it had also transformed the planet we were now standing on.

A century ago, Moana Nui had been an outpost of the Kingdom of Partoga. The planet itself was what Manako called an “Ocean World.” Over ninety percent of the planet surface was covered in water, and the remaining landmass had been urbanized by Partogan settlers. But when the Ketu star exploded, the Supernova utterly reshaped the planet, despite being hundreds of light-years away. The oceans of Moana Nui evaporated. Barely able to sustain life, the planet was abandoned by its inhabitants in favor of greener worlds.

But this hot, humid, wasteland of a world was still perfect for a badly damaged Frigate that needed a place to lay low while her crew effected some repairs. The permanent blanket of dense clouds that now covered the world hid us from all passerby.

The Kakama set down in what used to be the Atarau starport. According to Dolim, this place would have everything he needed to overhaul the ship’s nuclear reactor, assuming the Turanic Raiders hadn’t pillaged the place first, of course.

Since none of my team had the training to perform unscheduled, non-routine repair work on a badly damaged nuclear reactor, we were politely asked to “get out of the way” for a few hours. Jericho, Reepi, and Kanti separated from the group and moved off to the other side of the spaceport together. Our curiosity getting the best of us, the rest of the Stormbreakers, plus Sarah and Yukiko, followed along to witness Jericho’s Psionic training up close.

As it turned out, the vast majority of this training consisted of meditation. When Jericho and the two Vanians sat down on the crumbled tarmac in silence, we joined them. I couldn’t help but remember when Chihiro and I had both done something similar when we were little kids.

“Focus… is the key.” Reepi spoke in a slow, calm tone. “Pick a single thing. It could be a person, a concept, an idea, anything, and focus your mind upon it and nothing else. Purge yourself of all thought except this singular point. Hold this one thought in your mind alone, apart from your self and the world around you.”

Leaning back against some twisted metal hulk, I closed my eyes and cast my mind about for something to focus on. After a moment, I settled on Chihiro. This… didn’t work. My mind ran in circles as I couldn’t help but think about how much I missed her and couldn’t stop wondering how she was doing right now.

Reepi put me out of my misery after about an hour. He telekinetically summoned a six-foot long metal pole from the rubble of a nearby building and passed it to Jericho. Then Kanti asked the rest of us to take a few steps back. It was time for sparring practice to begin.

Now I’ve seen Psionic sparring before. When Chihiro learned how to share her powers with me, I had attended Psionic training with her a few times. Typically, when two Gifted people are practicing their psychokinetic combat abilities, they’ll stand on opposite sides of a fighting area and just attack one another with their minds. It kinda looks like the fight scenes in that Old-World movie about the boy wizard: “The Sorcerer Prince and Hallowed Chamber of the Phoenix.”

Yeah… that’s not what happened here.

Reepi attacked Jericho at the same time and left nothing to chance! The red and white peacock laid into her with Psionic Volts and lances, blasting her with Soulfire, but he didn’t stop at Psionics! He took flight and attacked Jericho from the air, attempting to cut or grab any part of her he could reach with his talons! Kanti and the rest of us all jumped back as Jericho retaliated with both physical and Psionic force. This mock battle carried on for about forty-five seconds before something very strange happened.

With no prior warning that I could see, right as the fight between Reepi and Jericho was starting to get extremely intense… they both stopped using their powers. The flare of Soulfire in Jericho’s hand suddenly went out, and the blight light in Reepi’s eyes abruptly vanished. Jericho seemed to be caught off-guard by this development because Reepi barreled forward and crashed into her chest!

Knocked over backwards, Jericho scrambled to get back to her feet, but Reepi caught her arm in his talons and threw her off-balance again!

“Adapt!” Reepi shouted. “Improvise!”

Jericho clutched the metal pipe Reepi had given her and swung it at his wings! He dodged it easily, turned around and flapped his impressive fifteen-foot wingspan directly in Jericho’s face, sending her tumbling to the ground again!

“Sloppy, undisciplined!” Reepi admonished her.

Jericho rolled onto her back and pointed her palms upwards, sending a roaring column of Soulfire up towards Reepi, who deflected it and shouted:

“Enough!”

Grumbling with disappointment, Jericho stood up and brushed herself off while Reepi came to a landing near her and shook out his feathers. It was over so quickly, and everyone who had just witnessed the Psionic sparring match had the same question:

“What happened back there?” Hal demanded to know. “Why’d you stop using your Gift?”

Panting, Reepi and Jericho both sat down on the dusty ground and looked at one another. Then Jericho said:

“Guys… there’s something wrong with the Gift. All our powers are becoming… well… what’s the best word here… inconsistent and unreliable. Yeah, that’s it. There’s something wrong with Psionics in general and I’m not too sure we can count on the Gift anymore.”

“All of the Gifted crew have been having the same problems.” Reepi added. “People have been having ‘Blackouts’ where their powers just vanish for a short while.”

Jericho nodded.

“At first the blackouts were really short, like when I blacked out at Chapel Perilous for a few seconds. Remember, Blake?”

I nodded, recalling the brief disappearance of Jericho’s powers that day over Hiigara, when her telekinesis had momentarily let her down, forcing the young Hawaiian to resort to brute strength instead.

“But recently they’ve started to get more serious.” Reepi finished. “Just a few days ago I had a blackout that lasted for nearly half a minute. To make matters worse, the blackouts are becoming more frequent. We’re all finding ourselves having to cope without our Gift on a near daily basis.”

“We have been doing resilience and adaptability training.” Kanti explained. “None of us have any idea what’s going on with Psionics these days, and we must be prepared for the moment when the Gift fails us entirely. Of course, we hope it never comes, but we need to be ready all the same.”

…

Thursday, March 16, 2036 - 4:00am


Now that I knew about the Psionic blackouts, I finally noticed the change in behavior amongst the Gifted crew. Manako seemed to be putting a brave face on the whole situation, but the Vanian crew were definitely the sort I could beat in a poker game. They were scared and it was showing. Many of the peacocks and peahens who served aboard the ship were becoming paranoid. They startled easily, and the ones who truly couldn’t handle the stress had started molting. You couldn’t take two steps on the Kakama without treading on lost feathers.

The molting only compounded problems, because Vanians place a great deal of importance on physical beauty and attractiveness. Vanian crew members who molted after losing their Gifts began suffering straight-up mental breakdowns, and had to be removed from duty for days at a time, squawking to anyone who would listen about how no one would ever love them again.

After spending a week down on the surface of Moana Nui, Dolim reported that the nuclear reactor was back online and we were ready to resume our journey towards Earth. The night before liftoff, Manako invited Jericho, Yukiko, and myself to the captain’s private dining room on deck one. When we got there, we found Adil, Dolim, and Reepi already seated and waiting for us. While a crewman served a meal of Kane-Ra (some kind of Partogan cow) and hot Thornax stew (crushed fruits served in their own spiky shell) Manako launched into the reason why we had gathered here.

“Miss Takahashi, Lieutenant Robinson, and Private Ray. I need to ask you all for a favor.”

I raised an eyebrow and cast quick looks at Jericho and Yukiko. The Human Envoy was tight-lipped and poker-faced, staring straight into Manako’s eyes. Jericho winced at the use of her true name, but then shook her head at me and mouthed the words:

“Having a blackout. Sorry.”

Yukiko decided to respond first, keeping her voice level and diplomatic:

“Considering all you’ve done to help us return home at your own expense, it might be safe to say we owe you a favor, Commander Ranginui. Please tell us what you need.”

Manako took a sip of water and rubbed the top of the glass with his thumb, as though he was having trouble picking his words.

“I know I promised to take you directly to Earth.” He began. “But for the past few days, I’ve been feeling a temptation… to take a detour.”

“To where?” Jericho asked.

Manako produced a small tablet computer from its place next to his dinner plate, tapped the screen, and brought up a map of the surrounding stellar region. He passed it to Adil. The Assurian officer turned the screen so we could all see it, and then pointed to a small red star.

“I want to go home.” Manako said. “To Partoga.”

Jericho, Yukiko, and I all shuffled in our seats. We were trying to quickly think of a reason to object that wouldn’t make us look ungrateful or disrespectful. Manako almost certainly read our minds, because he offered a quick clarification:

“I promise, it will be a short stopover.” He explained: “To use a Human expression, I intend to kill many birds with just a few stones. While in the Capitol, the ship can be given a proper overhaul and refit. We won’t be flying around in a ramshackle wreck held together with hopes and dreams. We’ll restock on provisions, and I’ll use my authority to get us an escort fleet.”

“Your authority?” Yukiko repeated.

Manako elaborated:

“Not only am I an officer in the Commonwealth Navy, but I am a member of a very illustrious and powerful family. My grandmother is Queen of the Commonwealth. I assure you; we can use those connections to great advantage.”

“I know what you mean.” I said, raising my glass in a gesture like a salute. “I’m married to the sister of an Emperor. Those familial ties are of the utmost value right now.”

“I’m glad you understand.” Manako sounded grateful. “Once I get us an escort fleet, we can move in complete safety. All told, we would be in the Capitol for just a few days, but to get there, we will need to double back about thirty light-years the way we came. There’s a Slipgate near Qurus that connects directly to Nithascal, which is just one Short Jump away from home… and…”

Manako trailed off. All eyes were on Jericho, who had stopped eating, her mouth frozen halfway through the act of chewing some Kane-Ra meat. She had narrowed her eyes and was looking at Manako with an intense piercing gaze. Right away, I knew that Jericho’s latest blackout had ended and she was using her powers again. Cautiously, knowing full well that Manako could hear my thoughts, I let a few choice words slip through my subconscious while I drank some Thornax stew.

Tastes like Soylent’s made up a new secret ingredient.

Jericho’s telepathic voice replied in my head right away.

I heard him thinking about it. He’s only keeping it a secret from the Avian crew. Maybe its chicken?

I had to fight really hard to keep a straight face while Jericho implanted the image of a stereotypical red and blue rooster in my mind. Meanwhile, Yukiko responded to Manako.

“You’re saying we would have to backtrack almost thirty light-years. How long will this detour take?”

“In the most optimistic of projections,” Dolim answered, “We expect to add at least one month to our journey, moving our projected arrival at Earth from mid-July to late August.”

Next to me, I felt Jericho stiffen in her seat. This was apparently very unwelcome news. I lightly touched Yukiko’s knee under the table to stop her from talking, then leaned forward and said:

“Uh, can I step out with my comrades for a minute? We need to discuss this.”

…

The three of us huddled together just outside the doorway to the Captain’s quarters and held a quiet but serious argument. All three of us took it in turns to voice our opinions.

“I know we all wanna go home.” I started. “And that we definitely know these folks a favor or two, but I’ve walked in Manako’s shoes. I know what it’s like to have a Head of State in the immediate family. Trust me, if he goes to Partoga, he’s going to get tangled up in so much red tape and security details that he won’t get off that damn planet for a year. Earth is in danger right now! Don’t forget the Galactic Front Line is on our goddamned doorstep!”

Jericho folded her arms and nodded at me, biting her lip.

“So you say no?”

“No!” I confirmed. “Ten thousand times no! We can’t afford to detour anywhere right now, let alone Partoga! Do you want to go?”

Jericho and Yukiko both nodded. My heart fell, hard.

“Partoga has natural deposits of Aetherium and Protodermis, strategic resources we need for the Trinity, which is being built on Earth!” Yukiko told me. “You’re right about the Galactic Front Line, Robinson. We simply don’t have time for a ship to come all the way out here from Earth! We need to pick up these resources now!”

I knew Yukiko was going to say that, but Jericho!?

“And you!?” I asked.

“Manako’s got an ulterior motive.” Jericho said. “There’s someone he wants to see on Partoga as soon as possible. Not his family, not his grandmother. He didn’t want to mention them in front of Reepi.”

Yukiko and I both paused.

“Wait, he’s keeping our destination a secret from Reepi?”

Nodding, Jericho said:

“Details are fuzzy, but Reepi’s got bad blood with these folks… this… Vanian Conclave of Telepaths. Manako’s already decided in his mind that he wants to take the risk and meet with them. He considers a meeting with the Conclave to be of utmost importance.”

I shook my head.

“What about the extra month!?” I persisted. “Anything could happen down on Earth by the time we get back!”

Jericho disagreed.

“Mira’s history database said that in every Cycle, Agamemnon doesn’t pose a threat to Earth until it knows for certain I’m there. Earth won’t be in danger until I get back. The Beast wants me, remember? We can string that to our advantage.”

…

Re-entering the room, Jericho, Yukiko, and I took our seats. Manako, Dolim, Reepi, and Adil had left their food untouched until we returned.

“So, what will it be?” Manako asked. “Will you permit the stopover in Partoga, or should we continue directly to Earth?”

Yukiko and Jericho both looked at me.

“I seem to remember I was outvoted.” I sighed. “It’s your call.”

Yukiko gave Manako a very warm smile.

“Yes, we’ll be more than happy to detour to Partoga. Would it be possible to present my diplomatic credentials to your government while I’m there?”

“I’m sure the Patriarchs of the two Great Families or even the Kuhina Nui would agree to meet with you.” Adil replied. “With your permission, Manako, I’ll make the arrangements as soon as we get close enough to the Capitol for short-range radio.”

…

The rest of our team had mixed reactions to the news of an extra month being added to our journey. Tsubaki tried her hardest to pretend she was totally on board with the idea, but I could tell she was feeling a little betrayed. After I explained that I had been opposed to the idea, Tsubaki hugged me so hard that her cybernetic legs bruised my knees. When Jericho offered to hug her, Tsubaki just kind of stood there with her arms limp at her sides.

Soylent was visibly upset. The novelty of space was starting to wear off for him, and now he just wanted to go home as soon as possible. Kathleen just rolled with the punches, and said she’d go anywhere as long as she got to stay with the team. Hal parroted Yukiko’s argument almost word for word, and Sarah was unexpectedly enthusiastic. She ran off towards the galley, saying she needed to tell Temirzhan about the change in plans.

So, with the crew informed of the detour and a destination chosen, the Kakama lifted off from the lifeless world of Moana Nui. Turning away from the dim point of yellow light that was our home and began to travel back the way it had come, towards a blue star in the Outer Limb, and one last Galactic landmark before we reached the Capitol of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth…

…

Saturday, March 31, 2036 - 2:00am
Near the Aakash Gate, Qurus Star System, Levakian Confederation


“Robinson! Report to the starboard observation deck!”

Before the intercom fell silent, Soylent kicked the underside of my bunk and grunted.

“What the hell does he want with you at the crack of dawn!?”

“Beats me.” I grumbled.

Reluctantly, I clambered down from my bunk and quickly threw on the green and orange flight suit that was the standard uniform of the Commonwealth Navy. My own US Army uniform was beyond repair and had long ago been fed to the Phased Disassembler Array, so that the minerals and fibers used to make it could be put to some other use. Yawning and mumbling, I made my way up one deck and started making my way to the Kakama’s starboard side. All of the normal white running lights in the hallways had been shut off and instead, the corridors were lit with red lights, letting me know that the ship had been rigged for silent running, and that the Cloaking Sail was active.

The observation deck was a long thin room that was a kind of rec area for the crew. There’s one on each side of the ship. A wide window presented a glorious view of the cosmos outside. We were now on the outermost periphery of what had once been the Ketu Supernova. Fragments of stellar remnant swam through space like an oil slick in seawater around us.

In the observation deck, leaning against a metal railing that separated them from the window, I found Manako, Temirzhan, Elsina, and Jericho. When they saw me approach, Manako stepped away from the window and pointed at a stellar formation just below the Kakama.

“Look down there, Robinson.”

Leaning my head out just enough to see over the railing, I spotted what Manako was pointing at and did a double-take.

“Wait, what!?” I gasped. “Is that a-?”

“Not anymore.” Manako finished. “It hasn’t been for over a century. That used to be the planet called Asalele. It was destroyed by Akira Robinson.”

 

Down below the Kakama was a roughly spherical-shaped cloud of rocks and debris. Many chunks were still curved enough that I could recognize them as having once been tectonic plates. Like the seeds of a dandelion, bits and pieces of the former planet were flying away from the core, but in general, the millions of chunks that had once been a single planet flew through space together, like a silent funeral procession.

“She did this!?” I was so shocked my voice cracked.

“Yes.” Manako confirmed. “One hundred years ago, this planet was a fledgling colony with the potential to become a great and powerful world. Now it is a grave for an unknowable number of innocent victims.”

“A century ago, she manipulated my ancestors into fighting the Partogans.” Elsina told me. “She provoked us into a battle we couldn’t win.”

“Our great Queen fought Akira and defeated her,” Temirzhan added, “But not before this happened. Akira claimed that everything she was doing was to build ‘a perfect future,’ at least, that’s what Her Majesty told us afterward.”

“I don’t see how this kind of death and destruction fits into Akira’s vision of a perfect future.” I admitted.

“No one does.” Manako concluded. “Before the Beast showed up, and before even the Vaygr Wars, people all around the galaxy debated what Akira’s perfect future might have looked like. There was no consensus, and frankly, I couldn’t care less.”

“None of us care, either.” Elsina growled. “Akira’s a murderer, Blake. Innocent people shouldn’t have to pay for her future with their lives.”

Temirzhan put one hand on my shoulder and gave me a serious look. The many ridges along his forehead amplified this expression and made it much more intimidating.

“We want you to know, Robinson, that with the Galactic Council dispersed and unlikely to gather again soon, our intentions towards Akira have changed.”

“If we see her again,” Elsina finished, “and I’m sure we will. We’re going to kill her. No hesitation. No questions. We will shoot on sight, and if you get in the way, we’ll shoot you too.”

I felt a horrible lurch in my stomach. Honestly, I had mixed feelings about this. Sure, a year ago I would have agreed to this plan in a heartbeat without a second thought. But now Chihiro and I had actually gotten some time to know Akira. I had seen the horrifying images in her mind, but I had a little bit of context and understanding to go with them now. In the core of my soul, I just knew I no longer had that desire to see Akira dead.

Punished? Absolutely.

Executed? Not anymore.

After thinking for a moment, I found a middle ground I thought I could live with. I’ll admit, my voice wavered a bit when I said this:

“Alternate timeline or not, she’s my daughter. My manipulative, deceitful, and genocidal daughter. If you try to kill her, I promise I’ll step aside… but I will not stop Akira from defending herself.”

Manako had almost certainly read my mind. He nodded slowly and replied:

“Thank you. I’ll respect that.” He said. “Stopping Akira from tampering with history is all we want to do here.”

On this note, Jericho butted into the conversation.

“Well, if it helps, you definitely don’t have to worry about her escaping to another time.”

Temirzhan, Elsina, Manako and I all looked at her.

“Care to explain?” I asked.

Jericho gave me a sly smile.

“Isis told me about what you did for me in China.” Jericho replied. “You had Akira to you to her ship so that you could use her tech to heal me. And you know what I did while we were camped out on Kauai? I told Mira about it. Where Akira’s ship is, what kind of state it’s in, everything.”

A grin split Jericho’s features, like a child who finally got to reveal the practical joke she’d played on her friends.

“Mira and I promised each other.” She finished. “The instant one of us saw or heard anything that made us think Akira was active, we’d drop whatever we were doing, head over to Jilin, and smash the Ark Angel into a powder. Then we’d blow up the whole region to make sure we got the Time Core. Trust me, guys. Mira’s got the Ark Angel under surveillance back home. If Akira tries to pull anything, her time travel days will end!”

Jericho snapped her fingers, and a shower of sparks flew away from her fingertips like miniature fireworks.

“Just like that!”

Manako, Temirzhan, and Elsina all voiced their approval, talking so loudly that they almost missed the voice of Kailani as it came over the intercom:

“Standby for Slipgate Jump in five! Four! Three! Two! One! Slipgate!”

In an instant, faster even than the blink of an eye, the view through the window changed as every star jumped from one place to another! The dull grey and white clouds of Supernova Remnant vanished and were replaced by a bright red formation of stellar dust shaped a little like flower petals. The billowing red cloud obscured the starfield in front of our window.

“Commander,” Kailani spoke over the intercom. “We’ve arrived in the Gardens of Kadesh, just outside of the Nithascal system. Estimated time to the Capitol: about half a day.”

“Very good, Kalili.” Manako replied. “Take us to the Capitol at best possible speed.”

I yawned and turned towards the door.

“I’m going to try and get some sleep before we arrive.” I said. “Sounds like tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.”

Taking her que from me, Jericho also made to leave, but before we’d gone more than a few paces, Kailani’s voice came over the intercom again, this time sounding much more urgent!

“Commander, we’re picking up a short-wave radio transmission from the Capitol!”

Jericho and I froze. There was something about Kailani’s tone of voice that made us think she had not heard a standard greeting. Manako stepped over to a computer console by the door and slid his command card into the reader.

“We’ll take it in here, Kalili.” Manako called back. “What’s the time delay?”

“About five hours.” Kailani answered. “It’s a high-power signal, someone’s put a lot of power behind this! Standby, the message is coming through now!”

Manako, Elsina, Jericho, Temirzhan and I all held our breath as the audio message was replayed for all of us to hear. A male voice spoke in a rapid pace with a hint of desperation:

“This is LVK Tantomile to any Commonwealth ships in range! The Beast is attacking! They are attempting to bypass Fort Daxia and raid the Capitol! We cannot hold them! Require immediate assistance!”

Well, so much for sleep. Jericho and I dashed back to the crew quarters to wake up our comrades while Manako addressed the entire ship through the intercom system:

“General quarters! General quarters! All hands to your battle stations! De-activate the Cloaking Sail! Polarize armor, full power to sensors, load both torpedo tubes! Charge the Hyperspace Module and prepare for an emergency maximum range jump!”

Chapter 38: Everything is Different Now

 

Chapter Thirty-Three
Everything is Different Now

 

Tuesday, February 18, 2036 – 11:15am
Lanai City, Lanai Island, Republic of Hawaii


Stepping out the main door of the UNS Tigermoth, Mira found a scene of devastation. Nearly half of Lanai City had been destroyed. Wisps of pale smoke curled up from a few buildings that were still burning, and overworked firefighters were started to come off the front lines for some desperately-needed rest. UN soldiers and VDF troops moved in to take their place. For the most part, though, the situation had finally been brought under control. The danger had long since passed and now focus was slowly turning from damage control to cleanup.

At the crater that had once been a high school, the skeleton of the starship once known as Tren Krom continued to smolder. A group of Vanian investigators had descended on the site and were leaving no piece of rubble unturned. Mira could sense the residual Psionic energy in the air as her escort walked her around the crash site.

“What happened here?” Mira asked.

UN pilot Wendy Carter gestured to the wreck with her submachine gun.

“The Beast happened.” Wendy explained. “The creature came out of the ship and started attacking. If Sergeant Tachibana hadn’t been here, we’d all probably be dead.”

Mira pursed her lips and didn’t say anything. It was too soon to voice her worries. Instead, she continued to follow Wendy to her destination.

The Lanai Community Hospital was far removed from the disaster that had befallen the town, but it was no less important. A triage area had been set up in the parking lot. Soldiers and firefighters filtered in and out of the building while a group of medical workers, showing general symptoms of exhaustion and dehydration.

Wendy flashed her credentials and she and Mira were allowed inside of the building.

“Honestly, I think it’s good that Robinson gave Tachibana a baby.” Wendy said casually. “I didn’t think she was coping with his death all that well.”

“You really think Robinson and the others are dead?” Mira asked.

“Come on, we all know what the Beast did to Hiigara.” Wendy scoffed. “We might not have proof or bodies, but even a kid can put two and two together. Here we are.”

They had reached the NICU ward. Isis Dekker had fallen asleep in an armchair in the waiting area, and the rest of the Stormbreakers were nowhere to be seen. Mira fished around in her pockets and pulled out a few Credits.

It had taken several months, but the UN government had finally figured out how to create something that Humans, aliens, and Hybrids alike could accept as currency. UN Credits only came in the form of coins made from stamped alloys for now. Once the electronic banking system came online in a few months, the new global economy would be much more straightforward. Mira gave a handful of Credits to Wendy and asked for two meals from the cafeteria, one for herself and one for Chihiro. Wendy took the money and left Mira alone in the NICU ward.

With one hand, Mira knocked on the door to the room where Chihiro had been resting since that fateful night. With the other, she reached into her satchel and pulled out her tablet computer. Two removable devices, each the size of a housekey, were already attached to it.

“Come in!”

Mira stepped into Chihiro’s room. She was greeted by the same sight as the Stormbreakers had found yesterday. Chihiro was still favoring a wheelchair over the nearby bed so that she could be close to the complicated machinery that was keeping her baby alive. The small child squirmed and flailed for a moment before falling still and relaxing again.

“Hello, Chihiro. I’m so happy to see you’re both doing well.” Mira set her tablet on the table next to the little girl and gave Chihiro a hug. “When I heard about what happened, I came as quickly as I could.”

“You mean as quick as you could give Colonel Kelly the slip?” Chihiro replied. “I’m sorry the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is putting you through the gauntlet. Did you ever find out who accused you?”

“A Skirmisher named Zephyr.” Mira replied, then added in a remorseful tone: “I killed and maimed so many of their comrades when I was the Chosen Assassin. At some point I will have to go to Berlin, confess, and ask for amnesty.”

Mira and Chihiro both looked at one another and sighed. Mira couldn’t blame Chihiro for her hesitation here. Very few people in this world can claim to have befriended an accused war criminal. Determined to stay on track, Mira gestured to the infant Chihiro was keeping vigil over.

“May I meet her?”

Chihiro perked right up. She (quite rightfully) seemed to enjoy introducing people to her child. With a little groan, Chihiro pulled herself out of the wheelchair and stood upright, leaving behind a softcover book on the armrest. Mira snatched a quick glance at the book and saw that it was titled “Redefining Silence: The Definitive Guide to Raising Deaf Children.”

Reaching into the little crib, Chihiro gently brushed her child’s head with one hand and said:

“This is Himawari Alexandria.” Chihiro cooed softly. “She was so eager to meet everyone that she showed up two months early!”

Ah. So, this was why all the medical equipment was necessary. Babies who were born too early often needed assistance from machines to survive their first few weeks of life. A premature birth would also explain why Chihiro had never looked visibly pregnant.

With Chihiro’s permission, Mira reached into the crib and gently introduced herself to Himawari. The newborn girl squirmed about and grabbed Mira’s finger, wrapping her little hands around it and gripping as tightly as an infant could grip just about anything else.

“Himawari, huh?” Mira slowly moved her finger up and down, giving the youngest Robinson her first handshake. “Such a lovely name.”

“One of the doctors told me I delivered at sunrise.” Chihiro explained. “He made a joke that little Himawari just wanted to see the morning light, and I called her a sunflower. The Japanese name just kinda stuck.”

Himawari released Mira’s finger and started to reach and grasp at thin air. Chihiro gently touched her child’s face and checked to make sure the breathing tube was still in place. Himawari opened her eyes. She looked straight up and made eye contact with Chihiro for a few seconds, and Mira felt her heart skip a beat!

Himawari had purple eyes!

Mira needed to be sure. Making sure to keep her actions subtle, she reached out telepathically…

The mind of a newborn baby is a chaotic place filled with impulses, confused reflexes, and strange sensory inputs that made little to no sense. But in the midst of that storm of light and sound, Mira spotted what she was looking for. Buried deep in Himawari’s barely-functional mind, embedded within the ill-defined borders of her soul… was the Gift. Mira perceived it a point of soft, warm light in the center of an otherwise dark and cold environment.

Withdrawing from Himawari’s mind, Mira felt a rising sense of panic. No! This was all wrong! Grabbing her tablet computer in one hand, Mira had to consciously order her left hand to stop shaking before she used it to embrace Chihiro.

“I’m so happy for you, Chihiro.” Mira said, trying to pass off the waver in her voice as joyful crying. “If Blake were here, I daresay he’d fall in love all over again.”

Chihiro couldn’t hold back her own tears. Crying into Mira’s shoulder, she didn’t notice when Mira lightly touched the back of her head and implanted a telepathic suggestion.

You need rest. You should get some sleep.

“I’m sorry.” Chihiro sobbed. “I-I… I think I just need some sleep.”

“I’ll leave you to get some rest.” Mira said. “Carter is bringing some food from the Cafeteria; I’ll make sure to cover yours up so it doesn’t get cold.”

Mira helped Chihiro climb back into bed and started moving to leave. Mira hadn’t gotten more than three feet towards the door, however, when she heard the telltale deep breathing of someone who’d been put into a supernatural sleep. Chihiro was down for the count, and Mira doubled back to the crib, using Psionics to keep Chihiro unconscious. Himawari also seemed to be asleep of her own accord. Good.

Mira quickly tapped a command into her tablet and one of the two devices attached to it activated. A small shutter retracted, revealing a receptacle within. Mira grabbed a cotton swab from a nearby table and took a deep breath.

“I apologize in advance.” She said to Himawari. “This will only hurt for the briefest moment.”

Mira reached forward and unsecured Himawari’s breathing tube, pulling it a few millimeters out of her mouth just long enough for Mira to swab the girl’s lips. Once Mira got the sample she needed, she quickly replaced the breathing tube and left the baby to her sleep. Mira wiped the cotton swab on the little receptacle on her tablet, then punched another command into the touchscreen. The shutter closed and Mira left the room.

Once she was in the waiting area, she took a seat in the couch opposite from the one where Isis was still passed out. Keeping her back to the wall, Mira looked around to make sure no one was watching before she activated the Human History Database, the other device attached to her tablet.

On the screen, words appeared.

Sys/ Genetic material detected. Please select a function to perform.

Mira typed with both hands. She was sweating and just a little shaky from nervousness.

Cmd_usr/ IDENTIFY

Sys/ Identifying owner of genetic material. Please wait. Do not power off your device.

Mira waited. While she did, she looked around at everyone else in the area. She was feeling justifiably paranoid. She wasn’t looking for attackers or spies.

She was keeping watch for the Paradox.

Sys/ Operation complete.

Mira quickly opened the test results, and her worst fears were finally confirmed:

Sys/ Genetic material presented belongs to ASUNA ANGELINE ROBINSON (Human, Post-2HW Era)

99.99% probability of a match / 00.01% Probability of error

Would you like to see the most recent relevant document attached to this name?

Mira swore to herself quietly. So, this really was Blake’s firstborn child, born over eight months early (as far as the timeline is concerned) and given a different name. She tried to remember all of her Human history lessons during her first visit to Earth aboard the Midak. Then she recalled her interactions with Akira aboard the Ark Angel. Now that Mira thought about it, she couldn’t remember anyone ever saying whether or not Asuna Robinson had been Gifted. She decided to bring up that document the computer had mentioned and check.

The document was a coroner’s report from the 115th Cycle. It was a digitized document stamped with the seal of the Hawaiian Republic:

Kauai County Coroner’s office – June 29, 2059

Patient name: Asuna Angeline Robinson

Date and place of Birth: September 11, 2036 (Suwamachi, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan)

Date and place of Death: June 28, 2059 (Wailua, Kauai Island, Hawaii)

Hair/Eye color: Black/Brown

Occupation: First Lady-elect of the Hawaiian Republic (President-elect Duane Gardner)

Immediate Cause of Death: Heart failure due to impalement injury to the chest


Coroner’s notes: Patient is a 23-year-old (non-Gifted) female Human of Afro-Asian descent. Found deceased at her home, which had burned down. Lack of smoke in the lungs indicates patient was deceased before the fire. I have ruled the manner of death as HOMICIDE via Psionic construct. Investigation turned over to Hawaiian National Police.

…

This was wrong! It was all so wrong! Mira knew exactly what had happened here, and it scared her.

Akira.

There was no mistaking the signs. The Paradox was active and interfering again. Somehow, she had managed to cancel out Asuna’s existence in this timeline and replace her with someone else. Why? To what end? How did erasing the life of her own sister contribute to this so-called “Perfect Future?”

Mira was suddenly conscious of just how paranoid she was starting to feel. She shut off her tablet and returned it to her satchel. Looking around, she saw the Templar called Duane Gardner struggling to get Violet to return to her room. The woman seemed to be disoriented. Looking around in confusion, Violet spoke out loud to herself:

“Everyone’s talking all at once! I can’t hear what you’re saying!”

Moving slowly, the disoriented redhead ambled into another room while Duane followed behind her, looking frightened.

“What’s her problem?” Isis mumbled.

Mira stood up and grabbed her satchel. She’d made up her mind in a moment, and had committed herself to the next course of action. Akira had made her move, and now the Kohlii ball was on Mira’s goal line. She needed to act quickly and decisively.

“Isis, I need you to do me a favor.”

Sitting up on her couch, Isis raised her eyebrow at Mira.

“Sure, whattaya need?” Isis replied groggily.

“Tell Commander Bradford that I am going to destroy the Ark Angel.” Mira explained. “Akira’s active and I need to move fast.”

Before Isis could make sense of what Mira had said, she had already left.

…

Racing out the main doors, Mira crashed into a group of people just outside the hospital entrance. They were so busy arguing with one another that they hardly noticed Mira. In a hurry to get away, Mira offered a quick apology before starting to move down the parking lot. Unfortunately, one of the men grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.

“You! You’re an XCOM soldier, right? Tell these guards to let us inside!”

Groaning with frustration, Mira turned around to look at the people who had accosted her.

It was a very unusual group, to say the least, only one of whom Mira actually recognized. There was a black-skinned man with a bald head, dressed up in the uniform of the Free French Forces. There was also a short woman with white skin, green eyes, and grey hair who was clearly too old to be guerilla fighter, yet looked comfortable in the role all the same. Finally, there were four Japanese men, two of whom seemed to be bodyguards, while the other two wore formal business attire. One of them was Ryo Nakagawa, the Prime Minister of Japan, and he was looking quite hassled and frustrated. He was the one who had grabbed Mira, and now he was dragging her back towards the two UN soldiers who were guarding the hospital doors.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Said one of the guards, a Nigerian man with the whitest teeth Mira had ever seen. “Sergeant Tachibana made it explicitly clear that Miss Mihaka and members of the Stormbreaker Squad are the only ones allowed to visit her at this time. You have to come back later.”

Prime Minister Nakagawa looked as though he was going to punch somebody in the face.

“Do you know who this man is!?” He raged.

To his right, the other business casual man folded his arms and gave the guards a stern look.

“This is Tennō Heika! Sovereign of Japan!” Nakagawa declared. “You will stand aside for him.”

“Oh! Uh… I apologize, mister Emperor.” Replied the Nigerian soldier. “This is Hawaii, not Japan. You have no power here.”

Mira did a double-take as the man’s identity was confirmed for her. Chihiro Tachibana’s older brother, the 126th Emperor of Japan, was a man of average height and weight, yet he carried himself as though he were much bigger. When the Nigerian soldier denied him entry, the Emperor spoke.

“I have every right to be here.” His English was impeccable. “A child of Japanese royal blood has been born. There are traditions and rites that must be upheld!”

A sudden thought struck Mira and she laughed out loud, unable to help herself. It was actually quite obvious to her, and she found it funny that both the Emperor and Nakagawa had failed to see the glaring problem with their claim.

“Ha! You don’t know!”

Before the Emperor could respond, both the Frenchman and the American woman rounded on Mira.

“Look, Hybrid, you gonna let us in or what!?” The woman complained. “I just wanna see my new niece!”

“Niece!?” Mira repeated, “Who the hell are you? And you, too! Why do any of you care about Himawari that much!?”

The black Frenchman puffed out his chest with a little pride.

“I am Adrien Fournier! And that girl is the daughter of my aunt’s son!” He said. “That makes her my flesh and blood! I am here to take her back to France, to her true family!”

“Bullshit!” Cried the American woman. “That girl is a Robinson! She’s coming with me to Michigan!”

She reached across Ryo Nakagawa’s front and gave Mira a quick handshake, introducing herself as an afterthought.

“Name’s Miranda. Miranda Robinson. Blake was my brother’s kid.”

Mira wanted to ask why Blake had spent the whole of the previous year believing his aunt to be dead, but Nakagawa and the Emperor both talked over everyone.

“That child is Her Imperial Highness, the Princess Himawari of Asami!” Nakagawa protested. “She is going to Japan!”

Realizing what was going on, Mira pulled herself free of Nakagawa’s grip and started to back away from the group.

“So, you’re all in the same family now, huh?” Mira laughed more than she meant to. “Good luck with that! I can’t help you.”

Leaving the bickering men and woman behind, Mira paused only once to send a Psionic pulse back into the hospital. Telepathic energy enveloped Chihiro and soaked into her body, deepening her sleep to the point where nothing and no one would wake her for at least twelve hours. She would need to be fully rested before confronting that big of a problem.

…

Wendy Carter didn’t realize Mira was trying to steal her gunship until the engines had started to spool up. Dashing across the grassy airfield, Wendy waved her arms at the Tigermoth while in the control room, Mira carried out her final pre-flight checks. Wendy’s gunship had, six months ago, been an ADVENT interceptor that normally required a crew of four or five to operate. Mira, however, used to be the Chosen Assassin. She knew her way around this type of type ship very well, and in a matter of minutes, she was ready for takeoff… except for the fact that Wendy was trying to force her way through the main door.

Mira swore and quickly moved towards the central flight computer. She opened up a compartment and withdrew a glowing orange crystal roughly the size of an American football. She loosely dropped the crystal and it began to hover a few feet above the floor; after a couple of seconds, an alien being materialized out of thin air, the orange crystal encased within its body. The lithoid alien stood at attention and waited for Mira’s orders.

Mira spoke to the Outsider:

“Status report.”

The Outsider looked Mira in the eyes and spoke in an alien language that any Human would have failed to understand, but Mira used a combination of her Gift and knowledge of the ADVENT Hybrid’s language to make sense of what the Outsider was saying:

“All systems green. Engine power up sequence 90 percent complete. The UNS Tigermoth is ready to fly.”

“Good.” Mira issued her orders while moving towards the main door. “Set a course for Jilin, Manchuria. Take off when I give the order!”

At once, the Outsider’s humanoid body dissolved, reducing itself to just a hovering crystal once more. The Outsider Shard inserted itself into a receptacle in the flight computer, which began to hum loudly as it worked. Mira, meanwhile, used a wall console to de-activate the force fields covering the main door. Wendy was right on the other side of it, her long red hair disheveled from running all the way here and her eyes were now partially hidden behind her bangs, and she was aiming a small machine pistol at Mira.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Wendy shouted. “Get out of there!”

“I apologize, Carter.” Mira answered. “I must take your ship to settle an urgent matter.”

“No you’re not, ma’am!” Wendy chambered a round in her MAC-11. “Director Kelly said you had to go back to Easter Island when you were done here! The GTRC isn’t done with you yet! If you go anywhere else, the UN will put out a warrant for your arrest! You’ll be a fugitive!”

“Very well then.” Mira said coldly. “While you do that, I’m going to find Akira and capture or kill her before she can do any more damage to our timeline!”

Using telekinesis, Mira pulled the machine pistol out of Wendy’s hands and then pushed her away from the ship.

“Tell your superiors I’ll see them in Berlin once I’ve destroyed the Ark Angel!” Mira finished, and then she re-activated the force fields.

The Tigermoth lifted off from the island, turned to the east, and started racing towards China, where the Stormbreakers had last encountered Akira’s spaceship.

…

Tuesday, February 18, 2036 – 5:00pm
Ruins of Jilin City, Manchuria, East Asia


Surging across the Chinese landscape at top speed, Mira knew something was going on at Jilin long before she reached the city. A patrol of UN aircraft rose up from the airfield at Shenyang and started to chase the Tigermoth, challenging her and broadcasting warnings on emergency frequencies. Mira decided that a course of partial cooperation would get her where she needed to go without a fight. Over the radio, Mira told the UN flyers that she would only land in Jilin, and would not divert to any other airfield.

This must have struck a nerve with AFUNE command, because it took nearly five minutes for the UN fighters to call back, saying they would escort Mira to Jilin before forcing her to land there. The reluctance in the pilot’s voice raised a few alarms for Mira, and soon she saw why.

Jilin International Airport, the place where (according to Jericho) Akira had hidden the Ark Angel, was overrun by AFUNE forces. From the air, Mira could see two UN spaceplanes on the runway, their boarding ramps deployed. She could also make out two distinct security cordons. A ring of soldiers, weapons, and vehicles stretched for a two-hundred-yard radius around the airport. Mira flew in a low circle above Jilin, taking a good look at the group of soldiers and tanks in their tight little perimeter around the hangar before landing her ship on a helipad just outside of the security perimeter.

XCOM’s Chief Engineer Lily Shen was waiting for Mira when she disembarked from the Tigermoth. She was accompanied her android, Julian, and appeared to be justifiably upset.

“Lieutenant Dekker called Bradford and he called us!” Shen started. “Sorry to rain on your parade, but we can’t let you destroy the Ark Angel.”

“The longer that ship stays intact, the greater the chance Akira will come back for the Time Core.” Mira retorted. “We can’t allow that to happen!”

Mira raised one hand and prepared to crush the entire aircraft hangar with telekinesis! Lily and Julian both placed themselves between Mira and the hangar that contained the Ark Angel, arms wide!

“No!” Lily protested. “Harper and a bunch of other people are inside!”

Mira hesitated.

“WHAT!? WHY!?”

…

Following Lily and Julian into the hangar, Mira was shocked at the sight before her.

She knew from stories the Stormbreakers had told her that Akira had abandoned the Ark Angel, claiming that she no longer needed it. Unlike Blake and Chihiro, Mira had never believed this claim for an instant. When she saw the state of disrepair and neglect the old spaceplane had fallen into, however, she was forced to admit she might have been wrong. The Ark Angel was wrecked, but nowhere near as badly as when Blake and the others had visited last year.

A group of AFUNE engineers and androids had erected a scaffold around the spaceplane and were meticulously deconstructing it. Pulling the vessel apart one piece at a time, Mira could see into the vessel’s overgrown and utterly ruined interior. In an instant, she knew what was going on.

“The Time Core.” Mira said aloud. “What does AFUNE want with it?”

She could see a pulsing blue light coming from the Ark Angel’s Time Core chamber, which had been exposed to the open air for the first time ever by the removal of the dorsal hull.

“I’m sorry, Mihaka.” Lily responded. “I know you talked about destroying it with Commander Harper, but we had to redesign the Trinity after we lost Jericho. She was supposed to be the pilot because her powers could regenerate. Without her, we needed a new power source. So, the new version of the weapon needs a Progenitor Hyperspace Core to function. And you did say that the Time Core is just a modified Hyperspace Core. We had to keep you out of the loop for security reasons.”

“And what ‘security reasons’ do you mean by that?” Mira asked coldly.

Lily and Julian both pointed towards the Eastern wall of the hangar. The android spoke up:

“She’s here.” Julian explained. “She’s been trying to recover the Time Core ever since that Vanian ship crashed into Hawaii.”

Goosebumps rose all over Mira’s body as though she’d been plunged into a vat of cold water. Akira was here. In all likelihood, Mira had flown directly over her head on the way in!

“So, that explains the cordon of soldiers.” Mira guessed.

Lily nodded.

“Yeah. At first, we denied Akira entry to the site and she got angry, but she stayed out. A few hours later, she tried to sneak in with a disguise, but Harper caught her. That was when Akira got violent. She attacked with Psionics, hurt a lot of people and killed one of our guys. Now Harper’s using her Gift to keep Akira out, but whenever she blacks out, the troops cover for her until it’s over.”

“Until what’s over?”

Lily shuddered.

“When the blackout ends, there a few seconds where our Psionic defenses are down, and that’s when Akira makes a run at the hangar. She’s basically got us under a one-woman siege here. She gains a few dozen meters on us every time. AFUNE and the VDF are doing their best, but we can’t hold her forever.”

Mira was starting to realize that she’d walked into a serious situation.

“Does Harper have a plan to get out of here?” Mira asked. “Where is she?”

Lily stuck her thumb out towards the Ark Angel.

“She’s inspecting the Time Core. And yeah, we’ve got a whole plan for extraction once we get the package loaded onto a ship. Basically, we’re gonna pull out and let Akira have the hangar once we’re done with it.”

It was a decent plan. Without the Time Core, the Ark Angel would be useless to Akira.

“Doesn’t that mean she’ll just follow the ship with the Time Core on it?” Mira asked.

“We’re still working on that part.” Lily admitted. “Nobody expected to have to fight our way out of here.”

“No, you weren’t ready for Akira to be violent.” Mira said. “You people had plenty of warning, Shen! Robinson saw inside her mind! You knew what she was capable of, and yet you still fell for her deceptions! Now we’re all about to pay the…”

Mira trailed off. She had just realized something. Turning back to Lily, she said:

“You said you’re planning to use the Time Core in the Trinity… are you going to undo Akira’s enhancements, or just… oh, no…”

Lily shook her head in confirmation.

“We’re not going to dismantle the time manipulation equipment.” Lily admitted. “The Trinity is going to use the Time Core as-is.”

A terrifying realization washed over Mira. Laura Harper wanted to weaponize the Time Core!

Pushing past Lily and Julian, Mira quickly scrambled up the scaffolding ladder and boarded the skeletal remains of the Ark Angel. Behind her, Lily shouted:

“Harper’s in the core chamber! She’s expecting you! I’ll be outside!”

…

The Ark Angel’s core chamber wasn’t an enclosed space anymore. The ceiling had been removed, along with all of the corresponding dorsal armor. The Time Core itself was hanging suspended from the arm of a crane, while UN Secretary General Laura Harper stood beside it, examining it closely. When Mira opened the hatchway and entered the chamber, she was planning to berate and admonish the former XCOM Commander for attempting to weaponize time itself, but when she saw the… thing… hovering in midair right behind Harper, Mira froze up, her shock and surprise both immeasurable.

There was an Ethereal hanging in the air just behind Laura Harper. Unlike the ones Mira had seen in the Alien Fortress, this Ethereal was mostly blue instead of purple, and its semi translucent form was radically different from the Angelis Ethereal. Quickly, Mira spotted the difference between this creature and the Elders: it was unclothed. The Elders had worn long red robes and ornate gold and silver helmets to set themselves apart from everyone else. The Ethereal behind Laura wore no such clothing, and kept all four of its arms outstretched. The Ethereal’s head turned in the exact same way as hers as she noticed Mira’s entry.

Finally lost for words, Mira just stammered.

“Wh… what… huh?”

Laura slowly raised her hands and spoke:

“Calm down, Mihaka. It’s alright. But seriously, you should have knocked before just barging in like that. You almost broke Asaru’s focus.”

“Asaru?” Mira repeated. “That thing has a name!?”

Laura looked offended.

“Of course I have a name! And it’s rude to talk about me as though I’m not here!” she said.

Mira did a double-take. She was so confused by this development that her train of thought had completely derailed.

“Wait… what!? What’s going on!? What are you doing with that thing!?”

Laura shook her head in frustration.

“We’re in the middle of a crisis and she wants a class.” The Secretary-General mumbled to herself. Then she addressed Mira. “Very well, the short version. Asaru here is the first and only Ethereal born on Earth. He’s been bonding to Humans for his entire life.”

Unaware of the fact that her mouth had fallen open, Mira absentmindedly reached for her tablet computer while Laura talked, determined to take notes.

“I am a representation of what my people used to be.” Laura went on. “Before the days of the Elders and their Avatars.”

“Wait a minute.” Mira interrupted. “Am I talking to Asaru right now?”

The Ethereal nodded. Laura seemed to have gone misty-eyed.

“I have bonded to Laura Harper.” Asaru spoke in Laura’s voice. “She is a vessel, but I transcend her existence.”

“So, what are you, exactly?” Mira couldn’t help but feel like she was conducting an interview.

“I never learned the name of my kind.” Asaru said. “But I have met other like me, and I learned our history. We prefer to take the names given to us by others. Angels, demons, gods. Ethereal is the most common name. My people are beings of influence. During the time before history, each young world was seeded with one of my kind. We would then pass on our knowledge and wisdom to the people we were chosen to live with. But those days are long since over.”

Mira fumbled the record button on her tablet.

“Where do Ethereals come from? Do you have a Homeworld?”

Asaru and Laura both shook their heads.

“Our people have been scattered in diaspora for over one million years. Driven from our origins by the organism you now know as the Beast. All knowledge of exactly where we came from is long since lost.”

A thought occurred to Mira.

“You said you bonded to Harper, does that mean the Elders…”

Asaru and Laura nodded together.

“A small collective of our kind discovered an ancient race of beings who possessed great Psionic potential.” Asaru explained. “Aside from the group you and your allies have since defeated, a meeting of our kind is quite rare. All I have learned comes from a chance encounter with another like me.”

“And you’ve been linked to Laura the entire time?”

“No.” Laura clarified. “I’ve only been bonded to Asaru for the past twenty-and-a-half years or so. He was somewhere else in the interim.”

Laura’s tone of voice shifted ever so slightly as Asaru took over and finished her response:

“I first bonded to a man named William Carter, helped him build XCOM into the organization it is now. Then I bonded to Myron Faulke, Laura’s predecessor as XCOM’s Commander. Like my brothers and sisters on other worlds, I gave them wisdom and knowledge, and in return, they gave me physical form and strength.”

Mira had another question:

“So there are Ethereals on other worlds, guiding people? You’re not all like the ones we had to fight?”

Again, a nod.

“The Elders of ADVENT were outliers, and not reflective of my people as a whole.” Asaru answered. “But we are no longer the hidden guides and guardians we started out as. I daresay we’re close to extinction now.”

“Why?”

Laura pointed towards the Eastern wall.

“Akira.” Asaru said. “She’s been giving various species throughout history the knowledge and technology to capture, enslave, and kill my people. Vanians, Zudjari, Taiidan, even the Progenitors themselves hunted us to the brink of extinction. There was an Ethereal on your world, Mihaka, long before any of us were born. Akira killed him.”

Mira dropped her tablet.

“There was an Ethereal on Partoga!?”

Laura/Asaru nodded.

“He was like me: A force of influence.” Asaru confirmed. “You knew him by such names as the great Queen Whetu Kealoha, the wise councilor Maui Ranginui, the intrepid explorer Takua Tamihana, and as the great warrior Tantomile. Like myself, his guidance and influence were so subtle that it was nearly impossible to detect.”

This only caused more questions to fill Mira’s head, and she didn’t know which one to ask first.

“So who’s idea was it to use the Time Core in the Trinity? You or…”

But Mira never got to finish her question, as the situation changed suddenly and abruptly!

It all happened at once! Like a scene from an Old World cartoon, Asaru was suddenly sucked down into Laura’s body, merging with her and vanishing completely from view! Simultaneously, Mira and Laura both felt a sense of torpor beginning to overtake them, as though their blood was suddenly made from grease! Laura gasped, then dashed over to an opening in the Ark Angel’s hull and shouted to the AFUNE soldiers below:

“BLACKOUT!”

Deprived of her powers again, Mira shared Laura’s sense of panic as soldiers passed the message along until loud shouting began outside of the hangar! Mira took one last look at Laura. The former XCOM Commander had her arms outstretched as though she was trying to raise a Psionic shield.

“The second I get my powers back,” Laura gasped, “I’ve gotta lock Akira out of the site!”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get close!”

Without waiting for approval, Mira jumped out of the Ark Angel and made for the exits.

…

Sprinting as fast as her legs could carry her, Mira made it onto the runway about twenty seconds after the Psionic blackout began! Around her, soldiers, battle tanks, and armed androids were converging on one specific point in the line! She could hear men and women shouting to one another as they took up position:

“Thirty seconds since blackout!” an officer shouted.

“No eyes on hostile!” A Sergeant relayed. “Keep your guns on that terminal building!”

Forty seconds since blackout! Mira took up a position near an XCOM Ranger, keeping one hand at the ready to summon his sword.

Then, just as quickly as it had started, the blackout was over! The air shimmered in front of the line of soldiers as Laura re-established her Psionic shields, enveloping the hangar and its defenders in a protective energy!

“This is it!” A captain yelled. “Any second now!”

A tense moment passed… and nothing happened.

Another moment went by… and then the air stopped shimmering. Laura’s shield was now in place, and Akira had missed her chance to try and punch through. All around Mira, soldiers lowered their weapons and looked around, puzzled. Then, someone pointed to the nearby terminal!

“There she is!”

The quickest flurry of movement drew the most aggressive response! All around Mira, nearly four hundred soldiers opened fire! Tens of thousands of gauss rounds, laser bolts, and plasma blasts rocketed down the runway and converged on a spot just in front of the terminal building! The incredible hailstorm of weapons fire only stopped when everybody ran out of ammunition. In the chaos, Mira telekinetically summoned a sword from a nearby ranger. Gripping it tightly in both hands, she made ready for a fight!

After a few moments, the firestorm ceased as soldiers dropped their empty magazines and checked their weapons.

“God-damn.” A colonel spoke sarcastically. “You think you got her?”

Down the runway, the smoke cleared, and Mira saw what had drawn so much weapons fire. A Psionic Ghost was slowly walking towards the battle line. The translucent human-shaped shadow kept its hands raised, palms out, to show it wasn’t combative. Once it drew closer, Mira realized that Akira had created a Psi Ghost out of one of the two UN soldiers she had killed earlier today, and was now using it to approach the line without being injured.

Akira’s doppelganger reached the perimeter of Laura’s Psionic shield and stopped, just a few feet away from Mira. The spectral image didn’t have a face, but Mira got the very distinct impression she was making eye contact with Akira herself. The Paradox’s voice came out of the Psi Ghost:

“You look different, Mira. The Hybrid body suits you.”

“You ditched XCOM as soon as I defected.” Mira counted. “And now you’re fighting them. What caused the change of heart?”

“The Time Core.” Akira replied. “They can’t have it.”

“Right,” Mira tightened her grip on her sword. “You just want it back so you can ditch this Cycle and head to the next one, right?”

The shadow of Akira put its hands on its hips and shook its head.

“No, no, nothing like that.” Akira replied. “I’m only a few small changes and one really big change away from the Perfect Future. We’ve almost accomplished our mission, Mira.”

“Not my mission anymore.” Mira spat. “I’ve seen what your ‘big changes’ are like. I’m not letting you do anything like that here on Earth!”

Akira seemed to get agitated.

“All these years later, Mihaka, and you still don’t get it.” Akira voice changed pitch. It was far less cordial now. “The future is not something we can have for free. Somebody has to pay the price for it. Sooner or later.”

All around the two of them, UN soldiers were loading their weapons and preparing for another volley of fire. Sensing that the conversation was about to be cut short, Akira addressed the group at large:

“All I want is to live in a timeline were everyone is happy and safe; what does it matter how we get there as long as we actually get there?”

Mira started to raise her sword.

“How we get there makes all the difference in the world.” Mira declared. “I refuse to sacrifice innocent people who’ve done nothing wrong just because I want a better life!”

Mira grabbed the handle of her sword in both hands!

“And no one here is going to help you build your personal paradise on the bones of their ancestors and the blood of their children!”

Mira swung the sword down with all of her strength, amplifying the blow with Psionic energy! She cleaved the Ghost’s head from its shoulders! Like smoke in the wind, the specter of Akira dispersed and vanished, but not before leaving one last Psionic message implanted in Mira’s mind:

You need to find Jericho’s first love, Mira. He is the key. The key to the Trinity!

Behind her, with a loud roar, a UN spaceplane began to thunder down the runway! It was the same class of spacecraft as the Ark Angel, a Battlemaster-class Gunship. Two Triple Alliance starfighters descended from the clouds and moved into a position to escort the spaceplane into the sky, while down on the ground, Mira watched the ship depart in silence for a few minutes before turning to re-enter the hangar. Laura Harper and several UN soldiers were still in the building. They cheered happily and high-fived on another as the celebratory mood overtook them.

“I take it the Time Core is gone?” Mira asked.

Laura nodded and offered Mira a drink from a flask, which she politely declined.

“A little thanks to you for keeping Akira busy.” Laura said. “Chief Shen and her android have the Core in their possession now, and they’re taking it to the Trinity construction site.”

“Good.” Mira replied. “Please don’t tell me where it is.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t.”

…

Tuesday, February 18, 2036 – 1:00pm
L2 Lagrange Point of Venus, Sol System, United Nations of Earth


The spaceplane broke orbit with Earth and started to fly towards a point in space where a project of immense scale was being worked on.

Hidden in the shadow of Venus was a space station, one of such size and scale that very few people on Earth could conceive. The station itself was incomplete. So far, all that existed was a hollow frame, surrounded by scaffolding. Thousands of spaceships, ranging from the smallest pods to full-sized motherships flitted around the structure, moving construction materials to their final destination before moving off to collect more.

Ramming frigates and tugboats moved back and forth between the construction site and Venus’ other Lagrange points, where Trojan asteroids were being harvested for extra resources. Meanwhile, a Levakian Battlecruiser broke formation with the large defense fleet and moved to intercept the Human spaceplane as it approached.

Inside of the spaceplane’s cockpit, Lily Shen ordered her android to take the controls while she made contact with the approaching warship. Over the speakers, Lily heard the low growl of a lion speaking in the Galactic Common. Fortunately, Julian was on hand to translate:

“Attention incoming UNE vessel, this is Commodore Munkustrap the LVK Mami Tamihana. Identify yourself, transmit recognition codes, and state your business.”

“Uh, yes sir! Transmitting now.” Lily replied. “This is the FS Normandy of the United Nations Navy, transporting High Value Object One to the construction site.”

After a moment, the commander of the Mami Tamihana replied.

“Acknowledged. I see you on my schedule and my scanners confirm your cargo. We will escort you to docking bay 15, where a team of Kelt engineers are awaiting your orders.”

As the communication was terminated, Julian turned his head and said to Lily:

“According to my calculations, a spaceborne structure like this should have taken between twenty-five and thirty years to build.”

“You’d be surprised what people are capable of when they have a gun to their head.” Lily replied. “When we’re faced with the end of civilization, our backs against the wall, and there’s just not enough time… that’s when true wonders are built.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 39: An Overdue Reckoning

Notes:

Credit and thanks to Youtube commentor "Andreas Everaerts" for helping put together the final version of the Ranginui tree!

Chapter Thirty-Four
An Overdue Reckoning

 

Saturday, March 31, 2036 - 4:00pm

Trecta Star System, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth, The Great Wastelands



“How many ships?”

“One. It’s on a direct course for the Capitol.”

“This is Admiral Ririnui of the Home Defense Fleet. All ships, fall in on my position!”

“Hyperspace signature detected. Megalith-class vessel on approach.”

“I confirm. Beast Mothership is in-system.”

“Home Defense Fleet in place, sir.”

“All ships, polarize armor and power up main weapons! Standby to engage the Beast Mothership on my signal!”

“Distance to target: fifty-thousand Kios. Forty-thousand. Thirty. The enemy is powering weapons!”

“Partogan parts will join us! We are legion!”

“All ships! Open fire!”

“We’re hit! We’re hit! Losing stabilizer control!”

“Power down to 40 percent, sir!”

“They’ve broken through the defensive perimeter!”

“Infection beam! Evasive maneuvers!”

“This is the Onua! Nuclear power plant is melting down! We’re abandoning ship!”

“It’s coming through the hull! Get to the escape pods!”

“Command, this is Task Force Muaka, we need reinforcements!”

“Our escort just turned on us, we need help over here!”

“47 dead, 30 wounded on the Tuyet!”

“We’re losing ground!”

“Main power offline! We have no weapons!”

“Give me ramming speed now!”

“We have a Hyperspace Signature! IT’S ONE OF OURS!”

“Attention all ships, this is Admiral Ranginui of the Mahuika! I’m taking command of the fleet! Activate your defense fields and fall back to our position!”

…

Amidst all of this chaos, the Kakama disengaged Hyperspace. The moment we re-materialized, there was a jarring impact as our ship ran into a piece of wreckage. In all four of the Radiation Shelters, Manako’s voice rang out over the intercom:

“Go directly to battle stations! Engage the Cloaking Sail!”

Dolim, Temirzhan, Adil, Yukiko, Sarah, and I all reported to our duty stations at the base of the Cloaking Sail, and after a just a few moments, we had rendered the Kakama invisible to both radiating sensors and the naked eye. The chamber containing the sail started to get very hot as more and more energy was shunted to the device.

Maneuvering around combatants and debris alike, both the Partogan fleet and the Beast Mothership failed to detect us as we slipped through the main battle, turned around once we were solidly behind the Partogan lines, and transmitted a message to the Mahuika.

“Attention Mahuika!” Kailani transmitted. “This is the Assault Frigate Kakama. We have arrived in sector 116 and request targeting data!”

While we waited for a response, Manako gave the order to open fire on a nearby Destroyer which had been on our side until just a few moments ago. The Partogan destroyer was so freshly infected that I could still see flesh, sinew, and muscle growing into place along its hull.

“Drop the cloak!” I called out!

Yukiko and Sarah threw a heavy lever that cut off power to the Cloaking Sail while Dolim, Temirzhan, and Adil both extended a series of radiators, bleeding the excess heat into space. At the exact moment our ship became visible, Manako barked into the intercom:

“Launch tube one!”

The starboard torpedo tube in the Kakama’s nose made an ominous noise as its operator reported back to us:

“Depressurizing the tube!” Hal reported. “Torpedo on-line! Opening door! Aaannnd… LAUNCH!”

The whole ship shuddered as the torpedo exited the tube, engine burning at full thrust! The projectile changed course and started speeding towards the infected destroyer, while back at the Kakama, my team was working to re-engage the Cloaking Sail as quickly as possible!

“We’re going dark!”

The torpedo struck the enemy destroyer and punched right through its fleshy armor, embedding itself deep within the vessel before detonating in a spectacular eruption of flame and blood! We all cheered so loudly that we almost missed the Mahuika’s response to our hails:

“Mahuika calling Kakama. Is that you in the cloaking field?”

Manako took the microphone from Kailani. He was so happy to hear his sister’s voice again.

“Affirmative, that’s us you’re looking at!” He replied. “Tell us how we can help!”

“Royal Star Command tells me the situation is untenable!” Makara informed us. “We don’t have the firepower to put a dent in the Mothership. I’ve called for the Tryna. They’re on their way here now. We’re going to try and hold out until Tryna gets here, but we need to make sure the Beast doesn’t decapitate us! You go down to Partoga! Evacuate her Majesty and the Government to somewhere safe!”

“On it!” Manako finished. “Helm! Set a course for the Homeworld at maximum speed! Drop the Cloak and put all power in the engines!”

As the Kakama broke from the main battle and sped towards the Partogan Homeworld, we could hear the distinct radio chatter of Partoga’s last best hope for survival:

“This is HMS Tryna. We are engaging Hyperspace and powering up the Wrath Cannon. Prepare for our arrival.”

Behind us, the Beast Mothership, roughly the size of a Jovian Moon, continued to smash its way through the Partogan defense fleet.

…

Visonia, Near Fort Miranda, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth


Oh, man. What I would give to see Partoga in peacetime.

Watching out my window, I could see that we were approaching the smaller of two brown continents. As we drew nearer, I realized that nearly the entire western half of this landmass was covered in urban cityscape. Through an obscuring wall of smoke and flames, I could see great flashes of light and blooming flowers of sparks marking the sites of intense urban warfare. Sickly splotches of brown and red masses could be seen taking up whole city blocks, while above us, massive orbital installations had begun the slow and inevitable decent towards the planet, leaving a trail of acrid black smoke in the air.

“Oh, no.” Adil breathed as he joined me at the window. “Partoga!”

“We all have friends down there.” Temirzhan told me.

“I thought the Commonwealth was supposed to be some kind of military superpower.” I said. “How did the Beast make it all the way to their Capitol?”

“Any nation can become exhausted after twenty years of war.” Dolim answered. “When all of the money is spent, all of the experienced soldiers killed, and all of the advanced weapons expended, even the strongest of nations can fall.”

Elsina’s voice sounded over the intercom.

“Attention! We’ve just made contact with Royal Star Command! They’ve authorized us to evacuate her Majesty the Queen and her government to the Positive Control Point! Both her Majesty and the National Assembly are at Fort Miranda! The installation is under heavy Beast attack! We’re going to get in, grab the targets, and get out as quick as we can! Team Tarakava, Team Manas, Team Takea, and Stormbreaker Squad, report to the deployment bay immediately!”

…

Inside of the ship’s deployment bay, twenty-five Triple Alliance soldiers and six XCOM operatives readied for battle. Sarah Harris and Yukiko Takahashi joined us at the last second, bringing our number up to eight.

“Takahashi, can you even still fight?” Kathleen asked.

“I’m old, not senile!” Yukiko snapped. “Give me a weapon already!”

Dolim equipped my squad with laser rifles and plasma pistols, then stood aside as Manako Ranginui, armed with laser weapons and a heavy suit of powered armor, clambered on top of a large crate so that everybody could see him.

“Soldiers!” he shouted. “We’ve got word that the landing zone is hot! Beast-infected forces are fighting their way through the walls of Fort Miranda!”

Dolim spoke loudly to get everyone’s attention:

“I say this every time we fight the Beast, and someone always forgets, so listen up for once! The Beast will spread just like any viral infection! You must avoid physical contact with infected people at all costs! And most importantly of all, if you encounter any of our own people who have become infected, DO NOT HESITATE TO PULL THE TRIGGER ON THEM. Trust me, you’ll be doing them a favor.”

Kailani’s voice rang out from the ceiling:

“Commander, we’re two minutes from the drop zone! Sensors show eighty infected on site! Mixed force of Partogans, Levakians, Amadii, Vanians, and Micore droids! Small arms and light weapons only.”

Manako rounded on my team.

“Time to see how you Humans shape up against the Beast! Robinson, Jericho, you and your folks are taking point with me. We’re going to set up a beachhead at the drop zone, then fight our way to the Command Center. That’s where the Queen is! We get her and the National Assembly, pull them out, and take off!”

“Thirty seconds!” Kailani called out. “The Green Guard knows you’re coming! They’ll meet you in the middle! Dropping the ramp now!”

A jarring impact caused all of us to sway on our feet! The Kakama had landed! A powerful rush of cold wind filled the deployment bay as the ramp began to descend! I got my first breath of Partogan air in that moment: It was crisp and chilly, like a morning snowfall in late autumn. Then, I picked up the smell of smoke. The boarding ramp fell all the way open, and I saw the battlefield in front of us.

On our left, a horde of monsters and abominations were throwing themselves against a huge concrete wall. There was a narrow breach where a small group of Partogans and Levakians were fighting back with laser rifles. On our right, I could see a lone mountain occupying the southern horizon. It rose higher than any mountain I’d ever seen before, so high up that its summit seemed to just vanish into the sky.

And then the roar of gunfire brought me back into reality! Two dozen Triple Alliance soldiers and eight Humans surged down the ramp and onto the grassy plains of Partoga, meeting the enemy in a headlong assault! Reepi Imvu and a squadron of Vanians took flight, circling above our advancing team and raining Soulfire down on the enemy below!

“Move forward!” Manako yelled!

Charging across the burned grassland, I quickly spotted the source of our local infestation. An infected super-capitol ship (probably a destroyer or cruiser) had crashed into the ground about five hundred yards away, its hull riddled with laser burns and mass driver impacts. Beast-subverted crew members were pouring out of the hull breaches and had scattered in all directions, spreading the virus as far and wide as possible.

“Jericho!” I yelled, pointing at the infected ship!

Reaching towards the infected vessel with one hand, Jericho closed her fist! Metal groaned and sparks flew as the subverted ship was crushed into the ground by sheer force of will! Reepi and several Vanians flew low over the wreck and bombarded it with Psionics while the Stormbreaker Squad turned its attention to the breach in Fort Miranda’s wall.

“We’ve got friendlies up on the high ground!” Soylent reported. “And a whole sea of hostiles between them and us!”

“Form wedge!” I ordered. “Gimme overlapping fields of fire! Psionics up front!”

Jericho and Yukiko both moved to the front of our formation, blasting infected Levakians out of our path with telekinesis. Jericho gave the diplomat a surprised look.

“How long have you been Gifted?”

“Longer than you’ve been alive, kid!” Yukiko snapped. “Watch your left!”

Yukiko blasted an infected Partogan with so much force that the laser cannon grafted onto its shoulder broke free and spun in the air for several seconds before hitting the muddy ground. Jericho opened up a wide Psionic Rift that swallowed a dozen enemies whole before closing again!

Now we’d finally gotten the enemy’s attention! Infected soldiers rounded on us and opened fire with a wide array of weapons! My squad all scrambled for what little cover the area offered while Yukiko and Jericho covered our rear Further along our right flank, Manako dispelled a Psionic attack with one hand and used the free one to make a call on his radio:

“Fire support, now!”

Reepi and his Vanian teammates made another low pass on the enemy, dropping so much Soulfire on the infected that I had a brief flashback to the napalm attacks in southern Japan! Blue and purple flames rose up to the same height as the walls of Fort Miranda! The inferno swirled into a great tornado of supernatural flames, which darted from right to left, incinerating the enemy with extreme prejudice before suddenly dissipating! As the last of the Soulfire was extinguished, I heard Jericho scream:

“BLACKOUT!”

Psionics were down. It was time for some old-fashioned brute force.

“Ranginui!” I shouted. “Cover us while we move!”

“We’ve got you covered, Humans!” Manako replied.

Manako, Adil, Temirzhan, Arzhang Pahlevan, Elsina, and Dolim all broke cover, raised their weapons, and started firing as fast as they could pull the trigger! Underneath a rolling barrage of laser weapons fire, the Stormbreakers began pushing forward! Half a dozen Partogans and Levakians were still defending the breach in the wall. They shifted their fire to cut down the enemies at our sides while we focused our fire forward! The laser rifle in my hands started to get really hot as I laid on the trigger like there was no tomorrow!

No two infected were exactly alike. Cybernetic devices had grown in place on the bodies of each Beast victim we cut down. Some were weapons, like laser or plasma cannons. Others were scanning devices or communications arrays, but there was one thing every infected person had in common: Their faces (what little of them remained) had been permanently locked into an expression of incredible pain and agony.

It wasn’t enough to shoot the enemy once or twice. To make absolutely certain that the virus had been neutralized, the body of each infected person had to be completely destroyed, which was why we were all armed with laser and plasma weapons. As my team advanced towards the wall of Fort Miranda, we left behind a trail of smoke, flames, and ashes.

Just twenty feet from our goal, the Blackout ended! Yukiko unleashed her full wrath on the Beast, opening up a Psionic Rift that swallowed several monsters whole while Jericho incinerated the remainder with Soulfire! Then, finally, we were over the top and inside of Fort Miranda!

The Triple Alliance defenders looked exhausted and worn out, but happy to see any kind of relief. Manako and the rest of Team Takea followed us through the breach a moment later.

“Soldier, what happened here!?” Manako demanded of one of the defenders.

A soldier pointed to the sky.

“After that damned Megalith showed up, it fired a bunch of cruise missiles at our defense fleet!” He told us. “A lot of our super-capitols were hit and they turned on us. Some of them turned around and headed straight for Partoga.”

“Infected ships started crashing themselves all over the planet!” Another soldier said. “We’ve got pockets of the virus in Partoga City, the Mangaia, Visonia, the Broken Islands, Kaitaia, and Tauranga! It’s getting really bad. Do you have any orders from up top?”

“We’re here to evacuate the Queen.” Manako answered. “Where is she?”

One of the defenders pointed towards a canyon that split the otherwise gentle grassy hills. Running from southeast to northwest, I could make out that the canyon was narrow, but from here, I couldn’t see any other details.

“When the enemy showed up, we moved her to the Aetherium mine on the south side for her own safety. I can call a gunship to take you straight there.”

“Do it.” Manako ordered. Then he rounded on my team. “Humans, you’re coming with us. I’m fairly certain my grandmother will want to meet you.”



…

Archer’s Canyon, Near Fort Miranda, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth


An Assurian gunship arrived to take us to Archer’s Canyon. Tsubaki absolutely hated the idea of flying into a narrow canyon at high speeds and insisted on sitting as far away from the windows as possible. Soylent had seen his fair share of canyons in his Australian homeland and wasn’t really interested in this one. Ultimately, it was Kathleen, Manako, and I who got to sit in the engineer’s jumpseats in the cockpit, where we had the best possible view of the canyon as our little gunship began to descend into the depths!

There is a canyon in Tibet that is over 18,000 feet deep. Some people call it the deepest on Earth. Well, as it turned out, the Queen of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth had decided to hide in the deepest canyon on her own planet… and this place blows Yarlung Tsangpo out of the water! Archer’s Canyon is deep. Very, very deep.

After only a minute of descending into the narrow abyss, I noticed that we were losing our sunlight. When the Assurian pilot tried to contact Queen Kendra’s escorts, he had to use an ultra-high frequency signal, and even then, the reception was terrible.

“Commander Ranginui, the Green Guard says her Majesty and the National Assembly are safe in their bug-out locations.” The pilot informed us. “However, there was some kind of cave-in. Triggered by the crash of the infected super-capitol up above. Your father reports that his team is still analyzing the situation.”

“Tell him we’ll help however we can.” Manako replied.

Kathleen gave Manako a curious look.

“Ya know, I’m a wee bit curious.” Kathleen said. “You mentioned before that your grandmum is the Queen. Does that make your pap a prince? Are you royalty, too?”

Manako rolled his eyes

“I’m not a prince.” He said, “Nor is my father.”

“But I thought your grandmum was the Queen,” Kathleen argued. “Shouldn’t that make her son-”

Manako shook his head.

“My father is a Ranginui. I’m related to her Majesty through my mother, not him.”

“Oh!” Kathleen was trying hard to make sense of Partoga’s royal family. “So that means your further down the line of succession, then?”

“Huh?” Manako wasn’t following.

“I mean, who’s next in line once your grandmum passes on? Does your mum have a brother?”

“She has two brothers.” Manako answered. “And I don’t know how Queens work on your world, but here, we don’t mess about with lines of succession. We have the Royal Election.”

“Hang on!” I said. “So, some random stranger could become Queen? What about you and your family?”

The Assurian pilot laughed.

“Hey, Human!” he chortled. “You know you’re talking to the next head of the Enoka Branch, right? He’ll be fine.”

I looked back at Manako. He shrugged and explained further:

“The Ranginui family is one of the oldest and most powerful clans on Partoga. We have six major branches, each one the decedents of a son or daughter of the great Maui Ranginui: Enoka, Taonga, Rawiri, Aketu, Urepo, and Irirangi. My father is the eldest of the Enoka branch, and since we married into the Royal Family, we’ve done quite well. I expect we’ll do just as well if we can survive this war.”

We only had to spend a few more minutes navigating the narrow darkness of Archer’s Canyon before we reached our destination. The bottom of the Canyon was very poorly lit, as though the sun had just disappeared below the horizon. A fast-moving river thundered along the canyon floor, while dirt roads could be found on either side of the waterway. As we emerged from the gunship, Tsubaki looked up and around at the Canyon walls that seemed to just vanish into the sky above.

“Screw this.” Tsubaki murmured to herself. “I’m walking back to Earth.”

Manako ordered Team Takea to leave their rifles in the Gunship.

“Best you do the same, Humans.” Elsina said. “If those reports of a cave-in are accurate, we’re about to have a lot of heavy lifting on our hands.”

Manako, Elsina, Arzhang, Adil, Temirzhan, Dolim, Jericho, Kathleen, Tsubaki, Hal, Soylent, Yukiko, Sarah, and I all stepped towards a stone archway that marked the entrance to a mine shaft, burrowed deep into the canyon wall. The lioness took the lead.

“Follow me.” Elsina told us.

Putting her nose to the ground, the Levakian began to move down the tunnel in exactly the way an Earth lioness moves when she’s on the hunt. We followed Elsina into the darkness, with only flashlights to keep us oriented the right way.

The stone and rock surrounding us in the Aetherium mine was blacker than obsidian, which gave me the distinct feeling that the walls were going to start closing in at any moment. Over the noise of our own shuffling feet, I could distinctly hear voices coming from further down the tunnel, and just barely make out a distant source of light.

“Father!” Manako yelled down the tunnel! “Grandmother! Can you hear me!?”

After a moment, a man’s voice echoed up the path towards us.

“Son! We’re here! I hope you brought some extra hands!”

The tunnel curved once more and opened up on a massive cavern, complete with an underground lake. I couldn’t see much else because the light in here was actually overwhelming! I had to squint my eyes for a moment before one of the Partogans in the cavern barked at us:

“Turn those damn flashlights off! We’ve got plenty of light in here already!”

We complied, killing our flashlights. After just a few moments, my Hyper-Reactive Pupils kicked into high gear. The Meld-based Genetic Modification allowed me to adapt to the darkness far faster than anyone else, and I gasped as something absolutely incredible slowly came into view!

It was as though we’d stepped off the surface of the planet entirely and suddenly began drifting through a starfield! Thousands of eerie white and blue lights were scattered around us in all directions, including below! Crystal formations and large sections of rock were glowing, putting out a warm, gentle light that illuminated the cavern far better than our flashlights.

Soylent and Kathleen were both disoriented by the sudden change in the light and crashed into one another. Tsubaki lost focus entirely and just wandered around the perimeter of the cave, touching the glowing crystals in a curious way. Hal seemed unnerved by the glowing rocks and murmured something about a Geiger counter. Sarah tapped Temirzhan and asked the question on all of our minds:

“What’s the glowy stuff?”

“It’s Aetherium.” The Assurian replied. “It occurs naturally at the bottom of Archer’s Canyon, as well as other places in the Galaxy, usually deep underground and away from starlight.”

“Before my people discovered electricity, we used Aetherium crystals as a source of light.” Manako told us. “We called them ‘Lightstones’ back then, but we’ve learned so much more about Aetherium since then.”

Looking around the cavern, I could see evidence of a Partogan mining operation that had clearly once existed here. Minecart tracks ran through the middle of the cave, past the underground lake, and into another tunnel that led in another direction. Some kind of platform had been built near the water’s edge, and I could see the foundations of what had clearly been some kind of station or outpost a very long time ago. On the far side of the cavern, there was a large campsite, where some sixty or seventy Partogans, Levakians, and Vanians had erected small tents. Dozens of these so-called “Lightstones” had been gathered together into piles to illuminate the camping area. Judging from how the occupants looked, and by the fact that the ground had only recently been turned over, I guessed that these people had only been hiding in the cave for a day or two. Definitely not longer than 72 hours.

“I see what you mean.” I commented out loud. “All the light and heat of a campfire without burning anything. I see a lot of applications for this stuff.”

“No! That’s not what he means!” Jericho cut in.

While Manako went off to speak with the people we had come to rescue, Jericho grabbed me by the shoulder and dragged me towards a particularly large growth of Aetherium crystals. Using her immense Muton strength, Jericho grabbed a crystal stalagmite in one hand and wrenched it out of the ground. Holding it out to me in both hands, Jericho pressed the crystal into my grip.

The first thing I noticed was just how warm this stuff was! It was like grabbing a teapot that had just boiled recently and wasn’t quite cooled down yet. Reflexively, I loosened my grasp, and the Aetherium almost fell to the cave floor. Jericho caught it, looked at me and said:

“This is one of the things I need for the Trinity back home. Elerium, that’s the stuff the Elders used in a lot of their tech, right? Well it’s a Psionic conductor. All of our Amplifiers are made out of Elerium. Well, Aetherium is a Psionic insulator. Feel it again: That energy has been trapped in this crystal since the day it was formed!”

This time, when I pressed my hand onto the warm rock, I felt a distinct buzzing sensation. In my mind’s eye, I imagined a single ray of light, trapped inside of a prison where all of the walls, floor, and ceiling were made from mirrors; leaving that light to bounce around inside of its container forever. Then I looked around the whole cave again, and the realization hit me:

Every point of light, every glowing rock or illuminated crystal, was some immeasurable amount of Psionic energy, locked away down here for who knows how long.

“Say…” I breathed slowly. “How much Aetherium does the Trinity need, anyway?”

“About five kilograms.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“It’s for the firing mechanism!” Jericho spoke quickly, she was clearly going down the same line of thought I was. “Imagine you’re using flint and steel to start a fire. My Gift is the steel striker, and this crystal is the piece of flint. If I break this crystal, it’ll release a lot of Psionic energy, see where I’m going with this, Blake? Quick, help me look for a good five-kilogram piece!”

“Right… uh, how much is five Kilograms?” I asked quickly. “In America, we use-”

Jericho clenched her teeth and balled up her fists.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She moaned.

Taking a deep breath, Jerciho tried again:

“Find a piece about the size of a football.”

We both split up in search, but not before Jericho called over her shoulder:

“An American football!”

…

I recruited Tsubaki and Soylent to help us search the cave for a suitable sample of Aetherium for the Trinity weapon. Meanwhile, Yukiko joined Manako as he spoke with a small group of people who, I guessed, were the leaders of the Commonwealth government. I spotted a middle-aged Partogan man, another man who seemed to be quite old, two Partogan girls who looked to be around 15 years old, a Levakian cub, and finally, rounding out the group was an incredibly old woman.

Now forgive me for making assumptions, but a full two minutes passed before I noticed a rather important detail about this old lady. At first, I had assumed that she was leaning on some kind of cane while she spoke to Manako and Yukiko, but when I snatched another glance while I was picking up a crystal to inspect, I saw that this woman was not leaning on a cane.

It was a sword.

The blade itself was made of translucent white crystal, and it had a core made from what I immediately recognized as solid Elerium. I was so awestruck by the sight of this (presumably) sweet old lady packing such a weapon that I dropped my Aetherium crystal to the ground with a loud thump! Everybody looked around at me, including a few members of the Commonwealth Government, who had already started to evacuate through the tunnel we had entered from.

The old woman with the sword looked in my direction, and I froze.

She had only one eye. That sight alone sent shivers up my spine, but I couldn’t help but find the woman’s eyepatch to be equally as disturbing. The black fabric had been decorated with a small white symbol. Two white dots were encompassed by a pair of double crescents, while in the exact center of the insignia, a small emerald had been affixed directly onto the eyepatch. It glinted and shimmered in the light, just enough to make it look alive. From where I was standing, I could have sworn that that old woman was some kind of ancient witch, casting an evil spell on me with her magical gaze. The old woman took one hand off her sword hilt and pointed one bony finger at something just over my shoulder and behind me.

“He moemoea tenei?” The woman spoke in a surprisingly strong voice.

Looking over my shoulder, I realized she was pointing at Jericho. She stopped what she was doing and stood still, returning the woman’s gaze. Then both Manako and the old lady gestured for Jericho to approach.

“Haere mai ki ahau.”

Jericho slowly walked across the cavern towards the Partogan leaders. In the low light of the Aetherium crystals, it looked as though she was literally striding between the stars. Manako waved at the rest of the Stormbreakers, and we approached as well. The two teenaged girls and the Levakian cub all whispered to one another excitedly.

The old woman gently touched Jericho’s smooth cheek with her own wrinkled hand.

“Kua mutu te tatari.” The old lady spoke in an awed voice. Then she switched to another language and said: “Aloha. He mea hau’oli ia e hālāwai me’oe.”

It took me a few seconds to realize that this old Partogan was speaking Hawaiian. Jericho must have picked up on this right away, because her expression turned to one of pleasant surprise. The old lady finished by speaking in the Galactic Common:

“Tell me, how was my Hawaiian? It’s been over a century since the last time we spoke.”

Jericho put her right hand over her heart and bent forward in a quick bow, replying:

“Boorish and provincial. You were talking through your nose.”

The old woman leaned her head back and let out a hearty cackle that rang out in the cavern. Jericho turned around and introduced the old woman to the rest of Stormbreaker Squad:

“Guys, this is Toa Wahine Mami Tamihana, Queen of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth. But she prefers to be called ‘Kendra.’ She’s the one who organized the Triple Alliance mission to help us out.”

Queen Kendra faced the Stormbreakers and addressed us.

“While I will be most pleased to make your acquaintances, it must wait until a later time. My idiot grandson is insisting I leave this place without first securing our nation’s future!”

“Grandmother!” Manako protested. “We can send a team back later to recover Nomsa and the Conclave later! We need to ensure your own safety first! Without you, there is no Commonwealth!”

“Please, listen to us!” Pleaded the middle-aged man who I guessed to be Manako’s father. “You are our last hope!”

“Wrong!” Kendra jabbed her sword into the ground to emphasize her point. “Without me, there is another hope for our nation, and you’re about to leave her abandoned behind a fucking rockfall!”

“We. Will. Come. Back. For. Nomsa.” Manako said through gritted teeth. “As much as I want to speak to the Conclave, you are more important!”

Let’s be honest here. Manako was both Gifted and physically stronger than old Kendra. He could have picked her up and removed her from this place and there wouldn’t have been a damn thing this old lady could do about it. Yet Kendra had a powerful kind of presence about her, like an aura of personal strength and willpower. By this point, every Stormbreaker, including myself, had read through our Technical and Historical Briefings of Galactic history. We all knew that we were not standing in the presence of an ordinary Queen. This was Kendra, the same woman who, in her youth, had defeated Akira Robinson in a straight fight, stopped a genocidal war, and built a powerful military alliance that allowed her to personally dominate nearly half of the Galaxy before the Beast had ever shown up.

Kendra was not a woman to be messed with.

Instead of trying to argue the point, Kathleen cut to the chase.

“Your Highness,” the former Secret Service Agent said, “Why don’t we go find your friend for you? That way you’ll know she’s safe.”

“Yeah!” Soylent chimed in. “We’ll go find this Nomsa person and the Conclave and bring the whole lot to the Gunship while you get outta here. That way you’ll know they’re bringin’ up the rear.”

Kendra raised one eyebrow at us. She looked intrigued, then cast a glance at Jericho.

“I’ve been working on their team for over a year.” Jericho said. “I can vouch for ‘em. They’re good.”

The old Queen nodded.

“Very well.” She agreed. “But Nomsa’s safety and survival is of paramount importance! I will send a gunship to recover you! Grandson, you must bring the National Assembly and the other three candidates on the next ship! Leave two of your team behind to help the Humans!”

“Temirzhan! Arzhang! Stay here!” Manako ordered.

The younger Assurian and the big flightless Amadii broke from the main group and moved to join us. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Sarah Harris had given Temirzhan a hug as he fell into our ranks. While Manako and the Queen withdrew, the three youngsters I’d spotted earlier stayed close to the Queen, allowing the people I assumed to be the “National Assembly” to proceed through the tunnel first. Manako’s father pointed towards a tunnel entrance on the other side of the cavern and said:

“Nomsa and the Conclave are back there. They were in another cavern, but its caved in. We can hear ‘em on the other side. They’re tryin’ to dig out. Just give ‘em some help!”

Jericho and Yukiko both cracked their knuckles and stepped towards the tunnel entrance.

“Uhg. Lifting rocks.” Jericho grumbled in an annoyed way.

“Preachin' to the choir, kid.” Yukiko replied.

About fifty yards down the tunnel, we found our path blocked by a wall of broken and crumbling boulders and rocks. This was clearly where the cave-in had happened. Jericho and Yukiko used telekinesis to move the boulders while the rest of us set to work on the smaller chunks. Tsubaki’s cybernetic legs allowed her to carry heavier loads than the rest of us, earning a couple of jealous looks.

After about two or three minutes of digging, we could hear shuffling noises from the other side! I pulled a large slab aside and shouted into the rockfall:

“Hello! Can anyone over there hear me!?”

A strangled noise came from the other side! For a few moments, we all froze!

“Is that a kid!?” Hal asked.

“No, it’s a peacock!” Kathleen corrected him. “There must be Vanians back there!”

Arzhang perched himself up near the top of the rockfall, then extended his head and neck through a gap in the stone. Unlike Vanians, members of the Amadii species have more in common with ostriches, a species of flightless bird found on Earth. Right now, Arzhang’s small head and long neck were coming in handy for us. Through the loose pile of rock and stone, I heard Arzhang squawking in the Vanian language. Several birdcalls came back in reply, along with a voice that spoke in the Galactic Common. This new voice I can best compare to that of a human teenager, equal parts annoyed with everything and grateful for any meaningful socialization.

“Oh, thank Tantomile! Hey, you! Get us outta here! If I gotta spend ten more minutes back here with these creeps I will totally kill myself!”

More squawking! It sounded like a whole flock of peacocks was trapped in the other room. Arzhang came back to our side and reported to us:

“They’re using telekinesis to move most of the rockfall, but there isn’t much room back there to relocate boulders. We’ve got to open it up from our end!”

“Guys! Gimme a hand with this one!” I pointed to one particularly large boulder.

Temirzhan, Sarah, and Soylent all squatted down and helped me lift the massive rock out of the way.

“I’m impressed.” Temirzhan said to Sarah. “On Assuria, women only perform labor like this if the men are not available. I’m sure there are no women in the Heartland as strong as you.”

“Thanks, but I got nothing on her.” Sarah admitted, pointing to Jericho.

Jericho had dislodged a similar sized rock without any help. While Yukiko levitated it down the corridor and into the main cavern, we finally opened a gap large enough for fifteen peacocks of varying size and color to take flight! The Vanian Conclave of Telepaths staged their escape down the corridor and out of sight, leaving us behind without a single word of thanks. Following them out of the rockfall was… not what I expected.

It was a lioness, and a very young one at that. There was no way in hell she was older than two years. She had the big paws, chubby body, spotted fur, and oversized ears you would expect to see on a lion cub. But she was far bigger than any bobcat and was well on her way to being roughly the same size as a cougar. The most striking feature about this lioness, however, was her eyes and fur. Even in the low light, I could see that this lioness had the same purple eyes as all of the other Partogans and Gifted Humans I’d met, and her fur was like fresh snow.

“Wow.” Tsubaki gasped. “A white lion, just like in that Old World movie!”

“Sophie Ackermann said she saw a white lion when she lived in Africa.” Soylent commented. “They’re supposed to be really rare!”

The adolescent white lioness sat down in the corridor, licked one of her paws and it used to wipe her face. Then she looked up at us, let out a growl, and said:

“You lot are some of the most messed up lookin’ Partogans I’ve ever seen. What’s up with your eyes? And you, big guy! Who butchered your Tuakiri like that, it’s downright horrible!”

Soylent touched his facial tattoo with one hand and chuckled. Arzhang scoffed.

“Still got that attitude, Nomsa? Nothing’s changed since the last time I saw you.”

The lioness named Nomsa crouched low to the ground, flicked her tail, and waggled her rear like she was about to pounce.

“I learned how to hunt Gukko birds while you were gone, Pahlevan.” She growled. “Wanna see how I do it?”

Temirzhan grabbed Nomsa by the scruff of her neck and started to lead her away.

“Hey!” The lioness meowed. “I was gonna win that fight!

“If you get elected Queen you can fight him all you want.” Temirzhan said. “But right now, we need to get out of here!”

We all followed the Assurian to the exit, and back out to where three Gunships had landed on the canyon floor and were waiting for us. During our exodus Jericho stopped only briefly to grab the Aetherium crystal I’d dropped earlier.

“This’ll do.”

…

Ascending quickly from the bottom of Archer’s Canyon, our Gunship did not stop at ground level. Instead, it kept ascending higher and higher into the sky until we breached Partoga’s atmosphere and returned to space.

“Where are we going!?” Yukiko shouted to the pilot and pointed at the starboard windows. “The Kakama is over there!”

Our pilot shook his head.

“Kakama docked with the Queen’s flagship!” The pilot reported. “We’re on our way there now!”

All around us, the battle above Partoga had taken an unusual turn. The Beast Mothership had arrived in orbit above Partoga itself, while behind it we could see a swirling cloud of wreckage.

“Holy Mother of Miranda!” Manako shouted from the cockpit. “That’s Fort Daxia!”

The Partogan starbase had been reduced to scrap metal. The cloud of debris was so dense that it was blocking out most of the light from the Trecta star itself. The Beast Mothership, meanwhile, was laying waste to the Partogan defense fleet. There were so many derelict hulks between us and our destination that our pilot had to perform a series of complicated maneuvers to avoid colliding with the wreckage! Finally, we came into sight of a Mothership-class vessel.

“That’s where we’re headed!” Manako turned around in his seat to speak to the Stormbreakers. “The flagship of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth: The LVK Tantomile!”

 

 

 

The Partogan flagship had turned to face the Beast Mothership head-on, presenting a smaller target to the enemy. As our gunship dove into the main hangar bay, I was taken aback by how much of the vessel had been set aside for construction and maintenance of other ships. The Tantomile was like a shipyard with engines, guns, and a Hyperspace Module.

Kendra was waiting for us in the main hangar with Manako. As soon as the gunship’s main door swung open, Nomsa ran across the hangar floor and jumped into the old Queen’s arms, purring and licking her face.

“Everyone clear the hangar!” Manako barked. “We’ve got other ships coming in!”

Temirzhan grabbed Sarah’s hand and called to the Stormbreakers:

“Follow me!”

Dashing all the way to the port side of the hangar, we pushed our way into an observation deck were several dozen crew members were in a similar situation: forced to clear the hangar for emergency landings. In the chaotic crowd, all of the Stormbreakers linked arms with one another to avoid being separated. With nothing to do but wait, we cast our gaze out the window where the main battle was still in progress.

The Beast Mothership’s advance finally seemed to have been halted as the Triple Alliance flagship Mahuika put up one hell of a fight, raking the enemy vessel with ion beams and laser cannon fire. For just a brief moment, it seemed as though the two oversized combatants were at a stalemate… and then… one of the Assurians in the observation bay pointed towards a distant starfield and shouted:

“It’s here! The Tryna is here!”

A third utterly massive warship erupted from Hyperspace! This vessel had a design unlike anything I’d ever seen before, and as soon as I saw it, I joined in the huge cheer that ran along the whole observation deck as everybody celebrated the arrival of Partoga’s most powerful weapon!

As soon as it arrived, the Tryna began to unfold its five arms and it oriented itself into an attack position. The Mahuika fired its engines and moved off, giving the Tryna an unobstructed field of fire. An awed silence fell on the observation deck, and a moment later, we began to hear voices! Someone was piping battle chatter into the room via the intercom!

“Wrath Cannon online. Target selection completed. Requesting authorization to engage the enemy.”

The voice of Queen Kendra sounded over the radio and was piped into our intercom where we could hear it.

“Tryna, this is your Queen. Engage and destroy the enemy. Dayword: Taihara. Command word: Asalele. Action word: Ririnui.”

“Copy all. Weapon systems fully charged. The Wrath Cannon is ready to fire. Commencing primary ignition. Weapon engaged. Commencing Delivery.”

A beam of yellow light, no wider than a hair but brighter than the sun, jumped from the Tryna’s weapon aperture and struck the Beast Mothership! The two Megaliths were connected for just a moment by that thin beam!

“Surface impact confirmed.” The Tryna’s commander announced.

The whole of the Tantomile rocked and swayed as everybody on board began to cheer!

“Surface temperature fifteen-twenty-three and climbing. Estimate damage to be catastrophic. Surface temperature seventeen-forty-two and stable. Standby for enemy destruction in five… four… three… two… one…”

“THIS IS IT!” Someone shouted!

Suddenly, the beam of light became wide! Wider than the Tantomile! A vicious pulse ran down the length of the beam and struck the Beast Mothership at the speed of light! Like a nuclear bomb, a flash of white light blinded everybody at once! A shockwave hit the Tantomile and unleashed chaos aboard the ship! Jericho sent a bioelectric pulse through the whole group so that none of us could let go of the others while the ship rocked and swayed dangerously beneath us!

“Did we get ‘em!?” Someone shouted.

“I don’t see anything out there!” A Levakian replied.

“WE KILLED THE BEAST!”

A celebratory cheer rang throughout the mob of assembled soldiers, while over the intercom, we could hear the voice of Manako’s sister. Makara was saying:

“Do you have visual confirmation that the target was destroyed?”

A dark feeling permeated through the air around us. As the cheering died away, I looked around at Jericho. She had gone as white as a sheet. Her eyes wide, Jericho breathed:

“Agamemnon knows. He’s coming!”

And then, the smoke cleared outside, and at the exact same moment we witnessed the horrifying truth, the voice of Makara came over the intercom again!

“ALERT! CANNON HAS FAILED TO DISRUPT THE TARGET!! Beast Mothership is still active and closing fast! All ships return for docking and prepare for Emergency Hyperspace Jump!”

As the mad scramble towards the radiation shelters began, Jericho pulled us all together and Temirzhan led the way!

“This way, shelter’s over here!” Temirzhan yelled above the chaos!

“Hurry!” Jericho screamed. “Agg is almost here!”

Following a crowd of Kelt and Amadii, we piled into the first radiation shelter we found, pushing and shoving to make sure we could all fit inside. Above our heads, a serene computerized voice spoke in the Galactic Common:

“Emergency Hyperspace Jump in – thirty – seconds.”

Temirzhan slammed the lead-lined door shut, sealing us all inside of the radiation shelter. Then, Jericho suddenly grabbed her head with both hands and screamed!

“HE’S HERE!”

It happened all at once. All two hundred Humans, Vanians, Assurians, Partogans, Kelt, and Levakians inside of that shelter suddenly felt an agony unlike any other! Agamemnon was forcing its way into all of our minds at the same time! I felt the Psionic intrusion and summed up as much willpower as I could, desperate to resist!

“Jericho! Takahashi!” I shouted. “Block him out! Get that thing out of our heads!”

“I can’t!” Jericho screamed. “I’m blacking out!”

“No Gift!” Yukiko added. “Nothing we can do!”

Agamemnon’s consciousness forced its way into mine with all the force of a battering ram! Similar gasps and shrieks all over the shelter told me that the same thing was happening to everybody else! With Jericho and Yukiko’s powers disabled, and all of the Vanians similarly incapacitated, there was nothing we could do to defend ourselves!

Against my will, images, patterns, and thoughts came to mind. Agamemnon sifted and sorted through my memories like a cop searching for evidence. And then, using knowledge extracted from the minds of dozens of people, the Beast drew a series of connections…

Jericho… a self with unimaginable psionic power… desirable… the Galaxy is slowly starting to rally around her name and power… makes her even more desirable… Jericho’s people are building a new type of weapon… what an attractive thought… the weapon is being built near Earth, a world filled with billions of beings, nearly a dozen sentient species, and incredible levels of genetic diversity… salivation… hunger… Earth is clearly a feast waiting to happen! A feast that will only grow bigger and sweeter as time goes on, as the new weapon is built. Hunger… more salivation… so… so much food, and such a wonderful dessert to be found in the Jericho self.

The Beast withdrew from everyone’s minds at once! Above our head, the serene computerized voice said:

“Emergency Hyperspace Jump engaged. Coordinates to the Aoraki Positive Control Point locked in.”

“NO!!” Jericho screamed! “STOP! We’ve gotta go to Earth!! We have to go home now!”

The only reply was a quantum wavefront washing over the Tantomile, plunging the ship into Hyperspace.



…



So, what happened to Partoga after we left?

Jericho, Manako, and Yukiko all said that they sensed a “powerful Psionic entity” pass near us in Hyperspace, travelling in the opposite direction.

It showed up over Partoga while we were rematerializing at Aoraki.

Chapter 40: Our Angel of the Shining Hinterlands

Chapter Thirty-Five

Our Angel of the Shining Hinterlands

Friday, May 2, 2036 – 8:00am

Headquarters of the UN Reclamation Agency, Berlin, Germany

 

In the core of the German capitol city, a convoy of government vehicles came to a stop in front of an imposing government building. As a group, the Stormbreakers exited the armored limousine and started walking towards the Altes Stadthaus. This structure had been a government building for over one hundred years. It had survived multiple wars and occupations, and now the UN had scooped it up for its own purposes.

Isis, Sophie, Sophia, Yutaka, and Matthew all went in first, while Odette held the door open for Chihiro. Chihiro herself was a little encumbered. She was wearing a baby carrier sling across her front, and Himawari was enjoying the ride, reaching her little hands out to grab at anything that looked interesting.

Several high-ranking members of the UN government were waiting in the lobby, along with a small mob of news reporters, Earthborn or otherwise. Standing together in the lobby was UN Secretary-General Laura Harper, Japanese Prime Minister Ryo Nakagawa, and the newly elected Hawaiian President Robert Lansing. (A twig of a man with no muscles to speak of) Odette put out one arm to stop Chihiro from walking past the group. She played along, only pretending to be surprised. Word of today’s events had leaked out some time ago, and Chihiro had made her peace with what was about to happen.

The other Stormbreakers, with knowing looks on their faces, gathered in front of the three leaders and stood at the position of attention. News cameras buzzed and clicked around them while Odette gently steered Chihiro towards the front of the group. Even Himawari seemed to have clued in on the fact that something important was happening and fell (mostly) silent. President Lansing spoke first:

“Sergeant Chihiro Tachibana, as a soldier of XCOM, it is your duty to protect all life on Earth from those who would seek to harm the good inhabitants of the Earth. On the night of February 15^th, you demonstrated the highest levels of courage and bravery in the execution of that duty, by continuing to attack an overwhelming foe after all of your comrades had been forced to stop their own efforts. You fought to protect a town of Hawaiians you had never known before that night. Please accept the gratitude of the Hawaiian Republic, along with this…”

President Lansing unfurled a roll of paper that had been stamped with an official seal. He showed it first to the news cameras and then to Chihiro. It said:

“Be it known to all that

Her Imperial Highness, the Princess Chihiro of Chiyako

Has on this 2^nd day of MAY 2036

Been appointed an HONORARY CITIZEN of the Republic of Hawaii”

“You and your daughter will always find friends and family amongst our people.” Lansing finished. “You are one of us now.”

Prime Minister Nakagawa went next. With both hands, he offered a small medal to Chihiro. It consisted of a hemispherical ruby surrounded by a white pattern of rays shooting out in all directions. He rendered a short speech that he had clearly spent some time to memorize:

 “By the grace of Heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the throne occupied by the same dynasty from time immemorial, I confer the Fourth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun upon her Highness Chihiro. It is given this day in recognition of heroic acts performed on behalf of the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force between the years of 2008 and 2036, and in homage to her contribution to the Liberation of Japan.”

While Chihiro accepted the medal, Secretary-General presented the third and final honor:

“Since the dawn of warfare, women have picked up arms and served in the front lines, often over the objections of their male counterparts. There are countless examples throughout history of women who rose to become great warriors and skilled leaders, but only a select few are remembered by history. Today, Sergeant Tachibana will join those ranks alongside great heroes like Opha May Johnson, Alexandra Kudasheva, Roza Shanina, Nakano Takeko, and Queen Boudicca. I’m proud to present her with XCOM’s highest award for heroism: The Star of Terra!”

With three awards in hand, Chihiro couldn’t salute. President Lansing clapped his hands and started a round of applause in the group of spectators. Ryo bowed, and the Secretary-General just smiled. After the award ceremony, the three leaders hung around for just a few minutes more to have a photo opportunity with the Stormbreakers and Chihiro before they moved off to the next event on their itinerary. Chihiro finally got a chance to relax, stuffing the two medals into her pocket before Himawari could get the chance to start chewing on them. Meanwhile, Chihiro’s fellow squadmates and a few extra guests swarmed around her in an impromptu celebration. Adrien Fournier and Miranda Robinson, two members of Blake’s extended family, both offered to take a turn playing with Himawari and keep her busy while Chihiro was called away by someone else.

Commander Bradford and Central Officer Smith had watched the ceremony from a distance. They were both wearing dress uniforms and carrying briefcases. There was a folded slip of paper in Holly’s free hand. Chihiro got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she approached them. She already knew what they were going to say.

“Hey, Sergeant.” Bradford didn’t look Chihiro in the eye. “So, Smith and I made a decision and-”

Holly cut him off with a scolding tone of voice.

 “Bradford, are you daft!? The woman can read minds! She already knows!”

The Commander’s face fell. He gave Chihiro an apologetic look.

“I’m so sorry.” He finally said. “But you know XCOM has a strict policy against separating children from their mothers.”

Bradford really was sorry. Chihiro could sense that. She could see the echoes of stress in his mind, where Bradford had spent weeks trying to figure out a legitimate reason to do this. He was desperate to avoid saying: “I’m doing this because you had a child.” He was afraid of being perceived as a sexist.

Unfortunately, it was the truth. The ugly truth that no one wanted to admit. Holly launched into an excuse:

“We can’t, in good conscience, send you into combat anymore. We considered a lot of alternatives, honestly.”

Putting her hands on her hips, Chihiro said:

“You wanted to give me a nine-to-five desk job.”

“Yeah. We thought about that.” Holly admitted. “But it’s just not right for the baby. She’s young and she’s got special needs. We had to do what was best for both you and Himawari.”

 Chihiro nodded.

“Yeah. I know.” She sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

Bradford handed the slip of paper to Chihiro.

“As of noon today,” he explained, “You are dismissed from XCOM and honorably discharged from the Armed Forces of the United Nations of Earth. In compliance with the 2036 Accords, you are entitled to a basic veteran’s pension for the rest of your life, along with free healthcare and housing so long as you live in a city controlled by a UN member-state. This document has all the info you need to get your entitlements from the UN government.”

Looking over her discharge papers, Chihiro spotted a discrepancy:

“Hang on, my pension paperwork says that I’m an ‘Unmarried single mother!’ That’s not right! Shouldn’t I get something for Blake? AFUNE declared him dead! Don’t I get a widow’s pension?”

“We looked for loopholes.” Bradford answered. “I swear we did.”

Chihiro could tell he was telling the truth. In her Psionic mind’s eye, Chihiro saw that Bradford’s mind seemed to light up in a peculiar way whenever he admitted to some kind of failure, like he was doing now.

“Thing is,” Holly explained, “You and Captain Robinson were never married in a legally-binding way. XCOM never recognized the union, so there’s no government on Earth that’ll give you a widow’s pension. Hell, in all of our records, your daughter’s name is listed as Himawari Tachibana, a child with no father. As soon as we got a government to report to, our hands got tied up in red tape. I’m sorry to say, but from a legal standpoint, the only people allowed the fallen warrior pension on Robinson’s life are his actual blood relatives: the Robinson and Fournier families.

Chihiro found something else on the sheet that alarmed her:

“I have to give back all my equipment!?”

“All weapons, armor, and utility items, yes.” Holly answered, then she leaned in close and whispered, “Just between you and me, though: I told the Quartermaster you lost your sword during the fight on Lanai. We wrote it off as a loss. Just don’t let anyone see you take it.”

Okay. That was actually kinda cool.

…

It was a busy morning for Chihiro, but before lunch was over, things were taking yet another turn.

She and the other Stormbreakers had not come to Berlin for just the award ceremony. No, the main event started around noon. At the central meeting hall, Chihiro flashed her invitation to the guard and was allowed into the audience gallery where the rest of her now-former comrades were waiting. Sitting down near the balcony railing, Chihiro and Himawari quickly found themselves sandwiched between Odette Fournier and her father, Adrien, both of whom wanted to play with the baby. Himawari looked back and forth between the two French people, then up at her mother in confusion.

Giggling, Chihiro pulled a small dictionary of Sign Language out of her pocket. First, she pointed to Odette and said “cousin” out loud while simultaneously spelling out the word with her free hand. Then she pointed to Adrien, and said “uncle” while again spelling the word in Sign Language. Too young to understand any of this, Himawari gargled and started sucking on her own fingers.

Meanwhile, down below on the assembly hall floor, a meeting of the Global Truth and Reconciliation Commission was in progress. Director Jane Kelly and the other leading members of the GTRC called the session to order and announced that they were going to resume yesterday’s business.

“I’m told that our witness is ready to face the individual she made accusations against.” Jane Kelly said. “Will the Skirmisher delegation please approach the stand?”

Looking over the railing, Chihiro spotted three ex-ADVENT soldiers, two of whom she recognized. Betos, the leader of the Skirmisher faction, and her lieutenant, Pratal Mox, were escorting a female Skirmisher to the witness stand.

“Will you please tell us your name and stellar origin status for the record?” Jane asked.

The female Skirmisher replied in a thick Australian accent:

“They call me ‘Zephyr’ and I’m Terrestrial.”

“Good.” Jane said. “Are you ready to confront the individual you have accused of war crimes today?”

“Yes.” Zephyr replied. “Please.”

Jane raised her voice so that someone in the back could hear her.

“Mira Mihaka! Please approach the commission!”

Mira was escorted into the chamber by four Reclamation Agents. (three Humans and a Sectoid) For the vast majority of spectators on the upper level, this was their first time seeing the Chosen Assassin in-person. Chihiro had to hunch over as the Viper in the seat behind her reared up to get a better look.

While Mira took her place at the defendant’s stand, Jane read aloud from a paper that a Reclamation Agent had passed to her.

“The Commission acknowledges the presence of Mira Mihaka, the Exoterrestrial Hybrid individual accused by Miss Zephyr of conducting extrajudicial killings of ADVENT Army deserters while under the alias of ‘The Elder’s Chosen Assassin.’ Miss Zephyr, do you recognize the individual to your right?”

Zephyr cast a quick look at Mira, who kept her face passive, before responding:

“Yes.”

“Who is she?”

“That is Vox Prima. Elder Assassin.” Zephyr answered. “Relentless death that stalked my kind. She’s the butcher of freed ADVENT.”

“Miss Mihaka,” Jane inquired. “Did you serve in the ADVENT Army at any point between 2015 and 2035?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Did you operate as the Chosen Assassin?”

“Yes. I was the Elder’s hand of vengeance for a period of roughly five years.”

“Did you execute ADVENT soldiers who had refused to fight against Human forces?”

“Yes.”

“Were these soldiers given a trial beforehand?”

“No.”

“How many executions?”

“One-thousand-one-hundred-forty-two.”

Awed gasps and horrified screams ran through the audience gallery. Jane pressed on.

“Did you hunt down ADVENT soldiers who had deserted the ADVENT Army? These individuals may or may not have been Skirmishers.”

“Yes.”

“What happened to these deserters when you caught them.”

“I executed them.”

“How?”

“With my sword.”

“Where is this weapon now?”

Before Mira could answer, someone interrupted her.

“Excuse me!”

It was the Commander of XCOM. Bradford approached the Commission and answered Jane’s question on Mira’s behalf:

“That sword was confiscated from Miss Mihaka when she defected over to our side. It was pressed into service on my order and was recently lost during a combat operation on the island of Lanai. I apologize. It was reckless of us.”

Jane wrote down a note in the margins of her paperwork.

“I see.” She continued. “Miss Mihaka, during the testimony she gave yesterday, Zephyr accused you of attacking and killing ADVENT Army soldiers who had deserted their posts, thrown down their weapons, and become noncombatants. Killing individuals who have surrendered, disarmed themselves, or otherwise become noncombatants and no longer pose a physical threat is a class two War Crime as defined by the 2036 Accords. Depending on the severity of the crime and the discretion of the courts, you could be punished with a life sentence in prison or death by electrocution. However, you made a conscious decision to defect to our side during the war; post-conflict, you briefly fled from our agents but have been cooperative ever since your apprehension, and you have confessed to the crimes you were accused of. Keeping these details in mind, you have satisfied the eligibility requirements for amnesty. Will you petition the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for amnesty at this time?”

“Yes.” Mira answered.

The Skirmisher named Zephyr pressed both of her hands to the tabletop and leaned towards Mira.

“Say, Mihaka…. Do you regret any of it?”

Mira looked over at her former enemy.

“Serving the Elders? Absolutely.” She replied. “I fought because I had no choice. The Elders power was absolute. If the soldiers of Stormbreaker Squad had not broken through to me, I never would have been able to break the Elder’s hold over me. I would have died not knowing my own freedom was possible. For that intervention, I am grateful.”

Keeping her face expressionless, Zephyr stared at Mira silently. Meanwhile, Jane and the other members of the Truth Commission were having a quick discussion amongst themselves. Finally, the former XCOM Colonel addressed Mira:

“This Commission has agreed to hear your application for amnesty of class two War Crimes committed in service of the Elders between 2030 and 2035. Before we proceed to the final decision, we will require you to submit a full written confession of all crimes you committed during your service to the Elders. Furthermore, you must publicly ask your accuser for forgiveness. You are not required to receive it. You need only ask. Do you understand the requirements we’ve set?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

…

The hearing did not adjourn until sometime in the early evening. There was so much more to do once Mira and Zephyr’s time was up.

The were many people being investigated. Before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission parted ways for the night, a few former members of the ADVENT Government had accused Konstantine Volkilov and his Reapers of war crimes, and several members of the alien and Hybrid communities backed them up. Before too long, there was a general rallying cry going around the hearing, demanding the Reapers be brought to justice.

The straw that broke the camel’s back, though, was Sophia Kuznetsova. She requested to speak before the commission as a character witness. She told everyone the story of how her own father, the Reaper known as Ivan Kuznetsov, had tried to murder her after discovering the fact that she preferred being with women. Sophia punctuated her story by partially removing her headscarf, giving the commission (and also the news cameras) a very brief view of her mutilated face. When she explained exactly how her father had caused the injury, she single-handedly turned the audience (and possibly most of the world) against the Reapers. Arrest warrants were issued in short order.

Meanwhile, Chihiro said her goodbyes to her comrades.

Now that her military service had formally come to an end, Chihiro would only be allowed back onto XCOM’s base at Easter Island for a short time to clear out her locker and collect her final paycheck. After that, Wendy Carter would fly Chihiro back to her “Home on-record.”

Now, Chihiro had a very strong hunch that she wouldn’t be able to get back into the Nagasaki apartment where she and Blake had lived before the alien invasion. Figuring out a place to live was just starting to come to the forefront of Chihiro’s mind as she hugged the six remaining Stormbreakers, who would be leaving from Berlin and traveling directly to their next mission site in the Philippines. Himawari giggled as Odette Fournier planted a kiss on her forehead; and then Odette stood up and spoke:

“I’ve got your husband’s money.”

It was so uncommon, so profoundly out-of-character for Odette to engage in private conversation with her teammates that Chihiro had to do a double-take just to make sure she knew who was speaking. Odette repeated herself in that same gruff masculine voice, which sounded strained and a little weak from lack of use.

“The UN started sending a fallen warrior stipend to my father.” Odette clarified and jerked her thumb towards the Frenchman who was talking to Bradford. “Apparently, he is Blake’s ‘closest male relative’ or something stupid like that. Anyway, I intercepted the money. Figured you needed it more than my father. This should help you find a new home.”

Odette hugged Chihiro one last time and press a heavy envelope into her palm. As she walked away, Odette got behind her father and smacked him on the back of the head with so much force that he stumbled forward and crashed into Bradford, earning an angry tirade from XCOM’s Commander. Chihiro, meanwhile, quickly opened the envelope and found a government check entitling the “Surviving Family of Blake Alexander Robinson” to several thousand Credits.

More than enough for an apartment or a small house. Chihiro smiled.

…

Chihiro had to wait for another vehicle to transport her to the airport. Since she was now just a civilian, she couldn’t ride back with the Stormbreakers. Settling down in the Altes Stadthaus lobby, Chihiro passed the time by watching a TV news report while Himawari fell asleep on her mother’s chest.

Onscreen, a reporter talked about how more and more alien ships were arriving above Earth from all over the Galaxy. Members of almost every spacefaring civilization had assembled in low Earth orbit. Some were refugees from Hiigara and Taiidan, both worlds had recently fallen to the Beast. Others had come from much farther away, such as Assuria, Partoga, and even Paku Nui, which was on the far side of the Galaxy. These wayward travelers brought alarming stories about the war.

The Beast was rampaging unchecked across the Galaxy. The Partogan-led Triple Alliance and its Hiigaran counterpart were suffering a rapid succession of horrific defeats, and the Galactic Front Line had now reached Sirius, a star system dangerously close to Earth. But this wasn’t the most intriguing thing of note.

A huge armada of Triple Alliance warships had materialized in the Shining Hinterlands, a region of space that marked the border between the Hiigaran Empire and what was now generally considered to be “Human space.” The constant stream of ships arriving at Earth each day brought reports that this fleet was battling its way through the Beast and was making its way to Earth as fast as possible. This fleet was, according to rumor, under the supernatural protection of some kind of “Space Angel” who wielded great power.

Nearly every news caster and military expert on Earth had assumed that this “Space Angel” was either the Partogan Queen Kendra, Hiigaran leader Karan Sjet, or Triple Alliance Admiral Makara Ranginui… but Chihiro could think of one other name… and she dared to hope for a miracle.

Someone sat down next to Chihiro on the sofa and joined her in watching the newscast.

“Fascinating.” Mira Mihaka said. “So many ships and races, all beginning to gather here. It feels like they know something profound, but in reality, they’re mostly just chasing rumors.”

Himawari grabbed one of Mira’s fingers in her sleep and held on tightly.

“Hey, Mira.” Chihiro said. “How are you?”

“Being kept busy.” The former Chosen Assassin admitted. “The GTRC has no limit to the questions they ask or testimonies they demand. All of my own investigations have come to a stop until I can bring my case to a resolution.”

“Well, I’ll tell Hawkins and the squad to keep all of that Pacific Anomaly madness under control for you, alright?” Chihiro cracked a small smile. “No matter where I end up living in Japan, I’m going to be really close to the waterline. If I have to crack a Tarsoth’s skull because they were slacking off, I’ll sic the Templars on ‘em.”

Mira laughed, then she seemed to get serious.

 “That reminds me. I wanted to ask for your help.”

“My help?” Chihiro asked. “You know who you’re talking to, right? I’m kinda busy these days, even if I’m not a soldier anymore.”

As if to prove Chihiro’s point, Himawari woke up and began to cry. Chihiro swept the baby up in her arms and started rocking back and forth, patting her child in a soothing way.

“I am sorry AFUNE cut you loose.” Mira raised her voice to be heard above Himawari’s wails.

“Of course, you probably knew about that already.” Chihiro tried to make her voice sound casual, but a little bit of contempt slipped through.

Stung, Mira took a second to reply. As Himawari calmed down, Mira said:

“Well, that’s just the thing, Chihiro. This has never happened before.”

Chihiro looked around at Mira.

“Huh?”

Mira leaned in close.

“One-hundred fifteen Cycles have gone by.” Mira said. “And there has never been one where you were thrown out of XCOM before the War in Heaven.” Mira explained. “This is the first time you were sidelined before the final fight.”

Reading into this, Chihiro said:

“Lemme guess. This is the first time I had a baby before the big day, right?”

“Well, yes.” Mira admitted. “Normally, you give birth during the War in Heaven.”

Chihiro’s eyes went wide. She very much regretted that last comment as unbidden images crept through her mind, ensuring she would have nightmares tonight.

“Okay! I… uh, I think I prefer this timeline.” Chihiro squeaked.

 Mira shifted her tone, looking furtively about as though checking or eavesdroppers.

“You know why things are going so differently, right?” Mira asked. “It’s Akira. There’s no doubt in my mind she’s tampering with our lives again, in disguise as she normally does.”

“Normally?” Chihiro asked. “She revealed herself to Blake and I, like, twice.”

“To you.” Mira corrected her. “I worked with Akira for years. In every Cycle, she feels comfortable revealing herself to you. Most other times, she will conceal her identity. This is where I need your help, Chihiro. And I promise to pay you well for your services.”

“Pay me?” Chihiro repeated. “Where are you getting money from?”

“Trinity Project.” Mira answered. “They call me a ‘Remote Consultant’ and pay me in UN Credits. Help me out here and I’ll give you a share: I need two people Psionically probed, and I can’t do it myself. The Truth Commission and the Trinity are both keeping me occupied.”

Chihiro hesitated for a moment.

“You just want me to look in a couple people’s heads?”

“Yes.”

“Spy. You want me to telepathically spy on people?”

“You just want to hear me say: ‘I want you to be my spy.’”

“C’mon! Say it!”

Mira pulled a tablet computer out of her pocket and brought up two pictures. Chihiro recognized them both. It was Duane Gardner and Violet, two members of the Templar Order.

“You want me to poke around in the heads of Jericho’s ex and a recently crazy person?” Chihiro visibly deflated with disappointment. “Man, I thought I was gonna get to, like, plant an idea in Geist’s head or something.”

Mira raised an eyebrow at Chihiro, but pressed on.

“I have very strong reason to believe that Akira is focused on Duane.” Mira explained. “And that she is using or manipulating him to some end. Somehow, Akira has a place for him in her twisted vision of the future. I need to know exactly what Akira has planned for Duane, and more specifically, I need to know what his Unique Psionic power is.”

“Hang on, you don’t already know?” Chihiro asked.

Mira shook her head.

“Duane’s unique power appears to be a source of contention amongst the Templars.” Mira said. “In many Cycles, including my own, there was a dispute between Duane and Jericho shortly before the War in Heaven. Jericho wanted him to refrain from using his special abilities for some reason. Duane disagreed with her, and the two of them came to blows. After the Beast was defeated, the Templar Order fell into schism and fractured, with the supporters of Duane and Jericho parting ways. By the time my own life began, the Templars were engaged in civil war, fighting one another over a century-old debate. The result of all this is that any knowledge of Duane’s unique power ends up being lost. Akira doesn’t have a record of it, and neither do I. However, we might have a way to find out…”

Mira tapped the picture of Violet.

“You said it yourself. This woman has not been herself since the night you fought the Tren Krom in Lanai. According to Triple Alliance records, that ship was last seen at the Science Nexus, a place where Vanians were experimenting with technologies that allowed them to send entire starships into the Shroud. Akira must have had a hand in its sudden appearance on Earth, and I’m convinced Akira has replaced this ‘Violet’ woman with herself.”

Chihiro’s jaw fell open.

“You think that’s Akira!? Violet!?”

Mira nodded. After a moment, Chihiro collected herself.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Simple.” Mira answered. “I want you to confirm Violet’s identity, and then check Duane to see if he is under Mind Control. If he is, break it. If not, find out what his unique power is. Then come back to me. I’ll most likely still be here in Berlin.”

“One question.” Chihiro said. “Actually, more like two or three: Where are these two? How am I supposed to get to them and back again? What the hell am I supposed to do with Himawari while I’m possibly confronting Akira!?”

Mira waved a hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry.” She said. “I’ve considered those angles already. If Akira really has gotten close to Duane, as I fear, I have a way to hide you from her: I’m going to teach you a Psionic technique that should keep you safe. Furthermore, I’ve devised a simple but effective cover for you to travel without drawing attention: You are looking for a place to live, right?”

Chihiro raised her eyebrows. She could see where Mira was going with this.

“I’m not moving back to Tokyo, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Not Tokyo, of course.” Mira smiled and shook her head. “I was thinking somewhere further out to sea…”

…

Monday, May 12, 2036 – 11:00am

Honolulu Spaceport, Oahu Island, Republic of Hawaii

 

There were so many people crammed into the spaceport that Chihiro felt like she was fighting an ocean tide. Thousands of Humans, Hybrids, and aliens of varying species all bustled about the terminal, moving in roughly the same direction. It seemed as though everyone wanted to get into Honolulu. After nearly an hour of battling her way through the crowd, Chihiro and Himawari finally reached the entry station they were looking for.

The word “Immigration” was repeated on a large sign in English, Hawaiian, the Hybrid language, Japanese, and French. At the kiosk, a wide array of Humans and non-Humans waited in line for their turn to enter Hawaii. Luckily for Chihiro, the line moved rather quickly today.

A pleasant-looking woman smiled at Himawari, who was riding on Chihiro’s back via her baby carrier, then said:

“Welcome to Hawaii. Is this a temporary visit or do you plan to stay long-term?”

“Long-term.” Chihiro answered. “I wanted to find a place to settle down with the little one.”

“The Hawaiian immigration process is a little more difficult than normal.” The Kiosk lady explained. “Our country has recently been subjected to attacks from the sea, which means we have to house everyone further inland, something that’s difficult to do on an island nation, you understand. We can issue you a temporary residency permit until the details are hammered out at a later date. I just need your identifying documents.”

After all this time, the only form of ID Chihiro still had on her person was her XCOM ID card and her JSDF dog tags. She also handed over the honorary citizenship certificate she’d gotten from the Hawaiian President. The Kiosk lady looked over the certificate for a few moments, then said she needed to make a phone call. Chihiro and Himawari were pulled aside into a waiting area, and about fifteen minutes later, a small group of Hawaiian government officials came in.

Things proceeded exactly as Mira had said they would: As soon as Chihiro’s residency visa was approved, the UN Housing Authority helped her rent out an upper-middle class apartment in downtown Honolulu, (the money Odette gave to Chihiro ended up being a big help here) and once she was moved in, she was introduced to a specialized children’s hospital that catered to children with physical disabilities, where the UN would provide free medical service for both Chihiro and her daughter.

As for Chihiro’s new apartment, it had once been part of a complex that housed ADVENT government officials, who had since been forced to move out. As such, it was fully kitted out with the latest in ADVENT technology, and the whole place looked disturbingly similar to the “Home of the Future” advertised in ADVENT propaganda. A voice-activated digital screen dominated the living room, stretching from floor to ceiling and allowing Chihiro to either watch television or make video calls. Within an hour of programming her contact info into the computer, Chihiro got her first video call.

Sophia Kuznetsova contacted Chihiro from XCOM HQ in Japan, appearing on the big screen. As it turned out, Sophia had desperately needed someone to talk to for the past couple of days, and Chihiro ended up being the first person to hold a meaningful conversation with Sophia in the past week. Sophia had suffered a nervous breakdown after revealing her face to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Berlin, an event that had been broadcasted all over the world and had drawn quite a lot of attention onto her. News agencies had displayed images of her mutilated face for the entire planet to see. Comedians were having a field day with Sophia’s story, while other politicians had actively tried to discredit her.

Right now, Sophia just needed to hear a reassuring voice.

“Everyone’s talking about me behind my back.” Sophia sniffled, on the verge of tears. “Everywhere I go, there’s people saying horrible stuff me! There’s hate mail with my name on it showing up at HQ, coming from Russia!”

Sophia’s home country was known for being somewhat hostile towards people like her, and the sight of a lesbian wearing the Soviet hammer and sickle on her uniform had produced a vitriolic response from her fellow countrymen. The news of hate mail from Russia made Chihiro feel a little sick, and she did her best to make Sophia feel better.

“Forget about them.” Chihiro told Sophia. “I’m here for you. So is the rest of the Squad. You can talk to me anytime.”

“Yeah, right.” Sophia scoffed, then she mumbled. “No one talked to me before. No one cares about me… Nobody.”

Then Himawari crawled towards the digital screen and put her hand on it, trying to touch the image of Sophia. The two women looked at the baby and shared a laugh.

…

The next day, Chihiro prepared to hunt down Duane Gardner. Before she could start, however, she needed to use the new Psionic technique Mira had taught her.

Standing between a mirror and Himawari, Chihiro focused her mind intensely on a mental image of herself, before beginning to alter and reshape it. Psionic Manipulation is a curious power: It only worked if the user was being directly observed or watched. Chihiro wasn’t changing her physical appearance. Instead, she was altering Himawari’s perception of her. After several moments, the baby Robinson’s smile fell as the familiar person in front of her transformed into a complete stranger.

From Himawari’s point of view, Chihiro’s eyes faded from blue to hazel, she became a little taller, and her straight black hair became messy and brown. Finally, to cap off the change, Chihiro tried to speak to Himawari, but instead of the usual slightly-high pitched tone paired with a metro Tokyo accent, Chihiro’s voice was lower, and had the kind of “country girl” accent you’d expect from someone who had grown up in rural Japan.

“Hana-chan, do you recognize me?” Chihiro asked.

Himawari did not recognize her mother. This strange woman in the apartment was clearly Akaya Ogawa, an XCOM soldier stationed at the base on Easter Island. Not knowing where her mother was and starting to become afraid, Himawari burst into tears! Reflexively, Chihiro dropped her Psionic disguise and picked up her daughter in a gentle hug. Patting Himawari’s head and whispering reassuring words, Chihiro made a note on her mental checklist. All the prep work was done. It was time to get to work.

There was one big obstacle stopping Chihiro from finding Duane Gardner: the disappearance of the Templar Order.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Lanai, the Templars had suspended their cooperation with XCOM and had gone underground. Geist was out of contact with AFUNE, and nobody Chihiro called could give her a useful answer. The only times the Templars emerged from hiding was during brief fights with the sea monsters or the Reapers. To make matters worse, Chihiro was no longer a member of AFUNE, meaning that she had lost access to any classified Intel reports that might have helped her track down the Templars. She would have to seek out Duane another way. Mira was certain he was on the island of Oahu, but couldn’t narrow the search area down below that.

“I saw his name on a list of known Templars who had passed through Hawaiian customs.” Mira had said. “He entered the country, but never left. He was born and raised there, so I doubt he’s in any hurry to leave.”

Chihiro took to patrolling the streets around the Honolulu Spaceport, using Psionic Manipulation to fudge her identity to anyone who looked at her twice. Mira had told her that some of the new aliens arriving on Earth were going out of their way to try and find the Templar Order, and that following them would be the quickest way to track down Duane Gardner and Violet, the woman now suspected of being a disguised Akira.

Lucky for Chihiro, there were a lot of such aliens to follow. For the past month, thousands of starships from the Galactic Alliance had started arriving at Earth, and now the streets of Honolulu were packed to bursting with Hiigarans, Taiidani, Scyldari, Blorg, Voor, Kel-Azan, and other aliens from the Hiigaran sphere of influence.

Walking around the city was a jarring experience for Chihiro. She had still not gotten used to wearing civilian clothing, and found her outfit of choice, a tee-shirt and jean skirt, to be very uncomfortable. To make matters worse, people seemed to look at her differently. She just didn’t look like a soldier anymore, and Himawari (who was riding along in her baby carrier as always) had a noticeably darker skin color than her mother, which also drew curious eyes. Using the excuse of “window shopping for a new outfit” to pace up and down the street, Chihiro kept looking from left to right, observing people while keeping on the move.

It didn’t take long for Chihiro to find a lead. Towards the end of her second day of searching, Chihiro had given her daughter a wide-brimmed hat to keep the sun at bay, and Himawari found ways to entertain herself while Chihiro navigated the city streets. One of those ways popped up while Chihiro was trying to side-step around a man who was passing out flyers on a street corner. Himawari reached out with both of her little hands and successfully snatched a sheet of paper from the recruiter while Chihiro had her back turned. The man’s loud laughter caught Chihiro’s attention and she turned around.

“Your girl’s got a real gift!” the man said before moving off to distribute flyers elsewhere on the block.

Chihiro unfastened her baby carrier and repositioned it so that Himawari was up front. She found her daughter crumpling up the flyer for fun. The baby looked up at her mother and held up the ruined advertisement. Chihiro unfolded the paper and gave it the most cursory of glances before she froze, reading and re-reading the paper just to make sure she really had seen what she thought she did. In bright yellow letters on a blue field, the poster declared:

Answer the call! Our Angel of the Shining Hinterlands needs your help to defeat the Beast! Join Jericho’s Progeny today! Seek out your local Templars and do your part for victory!

In the center of the poster was an image of a Human and several aliens, standing side by side and wearing the same black and yellow uniform while a stylized starship flew above them.

Chihiro’s heart raced! This was it! This had to be the way to finding Duane! Thinking quickly, Chihiro disguised herself, scrambling everybody’s perception of her to the point where no one would be able to recall their first meeting with her. Then she looked around to see where the man with the flyers had gone. He was nearby, having stopped two Sectoids and a Viper and evangelizing to them. Securing the baby carrier straps, Chihiro walked at a brisk pace to catch up with him.

“…Jericho is full of love and forgiveness.” The man was saying. “She will see you as more than her former enemies. We are all united in the fight against the Beast now, so you will be more than welcome amongst the Progeny!”

“Excuse me!” Chihiro panted, having finally caught up. “I was wondering if you could tell me-”

The man turned around, saw Chihiro, failed to realize he’d met her before and spoke with great enthusiasm:

“Yes! A new mother! Surely you of all people will know about the importance of Jericho’s work!”

“Ah… sure.” Chihiro replied, trying to keep her answers cryptic. “I mean, I guess so. I actually saw Jericho once before the Elders fell.”

The aliens didn’t seem to notice that their jaws had fallen open. The Viper in particular seemed awestruck. The man raised his arms as though he intended to embrace Chihiro and the two aliens in a group hug.

“I believe we could find all of you a place in Jericho’s Progeny.” He said. “Let me get you some contact details, and you can come meet us at our next gathering.”

…

Thursday, May 15, 2036 – 10:00pm

Kaneohe Crater, Oahu Island, Republic of Hawaii

 

Right now, Chihiro couldn’t help but envy Himawari.

Before coming out here tonight, Chihiro had taken extra precautions, knowing that she might not be coming home until very early tomorrow morning. She had bought a warm fuzzy coat for Himawari to wear, and had wrapped her baby up in several layers. Chihiro was so focused on making sure her daughter stayed warm that she had neglected her own outfit. Secured snugly in her carrier harness, Himawari fell asleep as soon as the trip began.

So, while Himawari got some shuteye, Chihiro followed the instructions given to her by the Progeny recruiter. She followed Interstate H3, one of the country’s main highways, to the northwest. After walking for about a mile, she finally got far enough away from the city that she was completely alone. Chihiro picked out a mental image of herself that would become her next Psionic disguise. She planned to make small changes to her body shape, hair and eyes. It would be an easy illusion to maintain, but would be enough to mask her identity. She couldn’t help but wonder what kind of process Akira went through picking out disguises.

She’s my daughter. Chihiro thought to herself. Maybe she does Psionic disguises the same way I do.

The sun had fully set and it was starting to get quite cold out. Chihiro found herself wishing she had dressed in a warmer outfit. Skirts and short sleeves might be nice in the daytime, but now Chihiro realized just how much she’d taken her heavy military uniform for granted as misty clouds escaped her mouth with each shivering breath.

Before too long, Chihiro crossed paths with a large open-top truck parked on the side of the road. In the back were about a dozen Humans, aliens, and Hybrids, all chattering excitedly. Chihiro didn’t need the Gift to know that they were all talking about the same thing: The Angel of the Shining Hinterlands, She of the Void who was battling her way across the Galaxy to save us all.

They were talking about Jericho.

As soon as she came within sight of the others, Chihiro threw on her Psionic disguise exactly how Mira had taught her to do, reaching into minds and subtly tweaking the way people looked at her. By the time anyone acknowledged her presence, Chihiro had fully hidden herself behind a false image. The Progeny recruiter jumped out of the driver’s seat to give Chihiro a welcoming hug and offer her a place with the other passengers. She found the group of travelers to be quite kind and welcoming. A Levakian male had curled up on the floor and was sharing his body heat with two Vipers, who probably would have frozen in the frigid cold tonight. The pair of cold-blooded aliens gave the lion grateful expressions as they slithered underneath his large furry body. A Kelt traveler took interest in Himawari and spent the journey watching her sleep in Chihiro’s lap.

The truck rolled out, heading further north while the passengers continued to share rumors and speculation about what Jericho was like and how she would defeat the Beast. Chihiro engaged as well, telling stories of the battles she’d fought with Jericho against the Elders, but intentionally leaving out any mention of her own presence at those conflicts. She wanted to stay as low-key as possible tonight.

Finally, after about half an hour of driving, they arrived at their destination: the city of Kanehoe… or what was left of it.

Twenty-one years ago, Kanehoe had been a thriving resort town on the northern shores of Oahu. A playground of the wealthy and powerful, people who got to stay in Kanehoe had advanced all the way to the top of the Old World hierarchy. When the aliens had invaded, Kanehoe was targeted heavily by abductor pods, and most of the population ended up in either the alien’s underground base or in the hold of the Temple Ship. Then, just a few days before the surrender of Earth, a squad of alien infiltrators planted a plasma bomb in the city center. A team of XCOM soldiers attempted to defuse the weapon, but they were too late. Kanehoe was annihilated in a single blast.

These days, all that remained of the town as a shallow crater, roughly four miles wide and about fifty feet deep. It was also slowly filling with seawater. A salty swamp occupied the deepest parts of the crater, about two miles away from the rim. In the near future, this place might become Oahu’s newest harbor. But tonight, it was a meeting place.

As she clambered out of the truck, Chihiro saw that some two hundred Humans and aliens were sitting together on the rim of the crater, looking down on something happening below them. Excited chatter filled the air, as did a general sense of apprehension. Following a pair of Mutons up the hill, Chihiro looked into the Kanehoe Crater and gasped.

Someone had clearly spent the past day, and perhaps more, carving an intricate image into the surface of the crater. Narrow trenches and piles of dirt had been arranged across nearly five hundred yards of ground, and to top it all off, a small bonfire had been lit at the intersection of several of these lines. As her eyes adjusted to the growing darkness, Chihiro realized exactly what this massive drawing was:

A starchart had been carved into the ground, turning the crater floor into a map of Human-controlled space and the surrounding Galactic plane. An arrow pointed towards the bonfire itself and the words “You are here” were written in the sand below it. Chihiro looked up into the night sky and started matching stars to their respective points on the big map in front of her. As Chihiro sat down between a Levakian female and a pair of Assurian men, a voice called out from the darkness, startling the group.

“Welcome, friends! On behalf of Jericho herself, we are pleased you could come!”

Duane Gardner and Violet finally appeared.

Both Templars looked different from when Chihiro had last seen them on Lanai Island. Violet (Assuming this wasn’t Akira in disguise) had radically changed her appearance. She had shaved the sides of her head, giving herself a punkish mohawk hairstyle and revealing the full extent of the purple tattoo on the right side of her face. The ink splotch wrapped all the way around to the back of her head, and under this lighting, it looked more like a scar or a burn.

Duane, meanwhile, had the look of someone who had decided that it was time to get serious. While he wasn’t wearing the typical Templar body armor, he was wearing a pair of Celestial Gauntlets, which crackled and hummed in tune with the nearby bonfire. Chihiro remembered Mira’s instructions clearly: Be patient and wait. See if Duane volunteered the knowledge on his own before trying to extract it, and avoid direct contact with Violet until her identity was confirmed.

Duane addressed the gathering:

“My friends, you have heard the call and answered! Jericho is on her way home to us now, yet the forces she will bring with her are not enough to vanquish the Beast! We will need to contribute all we can to the final effort. Every day, more and more alien ships arrive at Earth, and our numbers are bolstered further! But there is still so much we can do!”

Violet pulled a burning tree branch from the fire. Holding it over her head, she marched out to one specific point on the map and stood still.

“According to reports from the newest arrivals,” Violet spoke to the assembled group, “Jericho and her allies were last seen here in Abbasid, just beyond the Galactic Core.”

Violet planted her torch in the ground and then took a few steps back.

“Eyewitness reports suggest the Father of the Beast is also traveling towards Earth, but it’s moving much more slowly.” She continued. “A group of Hiigaran flyboys who arrived the other day tell us that Jericho will return to Earth sometime in late July, and that the Beast will arrive a few days later. This leaves us with only a short time to prepare.”

“Prepare for what?” A Partogan asked.

Duane raised one hand and pointed towards the southern horizon.

“I have learned an important truth.” Duane said. “The Deep One, the creature responsible for the attacks on our islands and coastlines, must be defeated before Jericho returns home! I was told by an ally who has been fighting this war far longer than any of us!”

Chihiro sat up, excited! This was it! She was certain that Duane was about to reveal he had spoken to Akira! But then…

Himawari began to cry!

The infant’s wails drowned out the sound of Duane’s voice! Flustered, Chihiro tried to quickly find out what had upset her daughter as well as silence her. To make matters worse, any chance of hearing Duane’s speech was shut down by the reactions of those around her. Several Humans and Sectoids demanded Chihiro silence her baby using particularly rude language. A Hybrid dressed in Skirmisher armor stood up and shuffled towards another area of the crater, causing other group attendees to complain at his behavior. There was also an unexpected show of generosity as well. The lioness sitting next to Chihiro lay down on all fours and put her head in Chihiro’s lap, gently nuzzling Himawari with her big feline nose. Then the lioness began to make a low rumbling noise that sounded a little like purring. Himawari hiccupped and rolled over in her mother’s lap, leaning against the lioness’ warm body and falling silent once more. The combination of warm fur and the gentle rumble had lulled the baby right back to sleep. By the time order was restored, Duane had moved on to another point of discussion.

“… My comrades are able to provide the equipment and training you need to do your part in the coming battle. The Deep One may be frightening, but it is not an Elder. It is a creature of flesh and blood, and such creatures can be killed just like any other…”

Chihiro quietly cursed to herself. She knew she had just missed something important. Just when she was thinking about using Psionics to forcefully extract the crucial knowledge from Duane, she felt a dull sensation roll over her body. Duane and Violet both fell silent as a Psionic Blackout engulfed across the Progeny meeting! Sectoids and Vanians alike seemed to be on the verge of panic as their Gift shut down!

“Please, everyone! Remain calm!” Duane addressed the crowd. “The Blackout will end momentarily!”

 Knowing that this might just be her only chance to act without being caught, Chihiro picked a target at random!

Eenie… meanie… miney… you!

Without any reason or justification, Chihiro picked Duane. When her Gift came back, she would have mere seconds to infiltrate his mind and gather information before he started putting his own defenses back up. The Levakian sensed Chihiro becoming tense and started to purr a little more loudly.

“Be calm.” The Levakian rumbled. “It will pass sooner than you know.”

Seconds went by. Himawari woke up and started babbling. A Human, several Sectoids, and a few Hybrids started shouting at Duane and Violet, demanding an explanation for the blackouts. Both Templars put their hands up and tried to calm the crowd. Chihiro focused her mind exclusively on Duane. Every second, she renewed her attempts to read his mind. Himawari almost broke her mother’s focus by sitting upright and trying to hug the lioness. But then… The Gift came back, and Chihiro launched her consciousness into Duane’s at full intensity!

Chihiro was inside of Duane’s mind for all of two seconds! In that time, she was presented with a nightmarish vision:

Duane stood alone on a battlefield. The skies were filled with smoke and embers, while around him, the broken bodies of countless soldiers lay strewn about in a sea of blood. Most of the corpses were still fresh and warm. Gathering his willpower, Duane used his Gift to extract the last living energy from the fallen, leaving the dead cold and stiff, as though the battlefield was several years old. As he drew strength from those who had fallen in battle, Duane left a path of decay behind him. His powers grew and amplified, exactly the same way Jericho’s could… except he drew energy from a much darker source. Blood dried, bones bleached, and color faded as Duane fed on Death itself, becoming strong and powerful; enough even to fight the Deep One.

Feeling not unlike like a snapped rubber band, Chihiro retreated from Duane’s mind and quickly shielded herself from mental probing. Himawari sensed the sudden change in her mother’s demeanor, as did the friendly Levakian. Both lioness and infant looked up at Chihiro.

“Is everything alright?” The Levakian asked.

“No.” Chihiro admitted. “I don’t think it is.”

Duane and Violet also seemed to have been put on alert. They looked at one another anxiously before trying to draw the meeting to a close.

“Of course, we are not ADVENT. We will not force you to join this battle.” Violet said to the group. “Jericho volunteered herself for this fight, so therefore, the Progeny will only accept volunteers as well. Any who do not wish to join tonight are free to leave, and if you change your mind, you will always be welcome.”

 “So,” Violet picked up her torch. “Who will join the Progeny tonight? Who will answer Jericho’s call and fight for her?”

…

The next day, halfway around the world, Mira Mihaka received a surprise phone call from Chihiro. Mira quickly checked her calendar and realized Chihiro was reporting in far earlier than planned. Hoping that Chihiro was going to deliver some useful intel, she answered the call right away. Mira never got the chance to say “Hello.” Instead, she was taken by surprise as Chihiro screamed across the airwaves:

“MIRA! AKIRA’S PLANNING A MASSACRE! SHE’S GONNA KILL ‘EM ALL!!”

Chapter 41: The Galactic Front Line

Chapter Thirty-Six
The Galactic Front Line

Monday, April 28, 2036 – 11:00am

Mahurangi City, Aoraki, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth

There had only been one time in her life that Jericho had truly, genuinely fallen in love. It had been six years ago, but Jericho’s memory was sharp. She recognized that uncomfortable lurch in her stomach right away, and knew that while this wasn’t the real thing, it was enough to set off several alarms in the back of her mind.

The Vanian Conclave of Telepaths did not speak to her. Their mastery of the Gift precluded the need for spoken words. In fact, when Jericho and the Ranginui twins had arrived outside of what had once been a Partogan “Church of the Mountain” they didn’t need to knock on the door. The Vanians had detected their presence and invited them in, all with telepathy.

The Mahurangi Church of the Mountain had been completely overhauled to accommodate its new tenants. Massive nests made from paper and twine hugged the dark corners, guarded by a few peahens; while nearly a dozen peacocks, their colors ranging across the entire spectrum, roosted in the rafters up above.

The instant she’d stepped inside, Jericho felt the powerful allure of the Vanians, manifesting itself as intense physical attraction. For a brief moment, Jericho completely forgot the name of that Hawaiian boy she’d spent her early teen years with, and wondered to herself exactly where these magnificent birds had been her whole life. But then she received a telepathic sting from Makara, causing just enough pain to break the spell. Blushing so much her face turned red, Jericho looked at the floor, which was covered in fallen feathers… such beautiful feathers.

This is the power of the Vanians. Makara’s telepathic voice explained. At least, as far as we know. Hopefully we’ll get some answers today.

Manako advanced to the altar, where a particularly large Vanian male was roosting. The old peacock raised his tailfeathers and unfurled the train to full size. A marvelous hemisphere of yellow and gold eyes, set on a luminescent crimson backdrop, looked down on the male Ranginui twin. Manako slowly got down on one knee in front of the altar; Makara and Jericho both did the same.

“Grand Master Jamadagni, I apologize for disturbing you a second time.” Manako spoke out loud. “But I have a question of grave importance that I could not leave unspoken.”

The Vanian did not respond. Instead, Jericho became aware of the fact that the whole room was rapidly filling with Psionic energy as the entire Conclave of Telepaths acted together! Makara grabbed Jericho by the hand and shook her head.

“Don’t fight.”

At once, all twenty-five members of the Conclave of Telepaths read the minds of Jericho, Manako, and Makara. But it wasn’t the kind of violent “penetration” Jericho had experienced throughout her life. This time, it felt more like she was being encouraged to open up and proceed at her own pace. The Vanians patiently waited while Jericho guided them through her own mind to the crucial memories she wanted them to see and experience.

Agamemnon, the mysterious entity that had appeared over both Hiigara and Partoga, as well as several Psionic blackouts flitted through Jericho’s mind. At the last moment, she also presented the cryptic final words of the Angelis Ethereal before the Vanians withdrew from her own mind as well as those of Manako and Makara.

The church remained as silent as the tomb, but now the Conclave turned their attention towards one another. Jericho knew she had to wait silently while the Vanians held a silent telepathic conversation with one another. The air around her shimmered and made dull thudding noises as the Conclave engaged with one another. Finally, Grand Master Jamadagni spoke to the trio.

“Your stories, and your question, are but fragments of a much darker whole, of a phenomenon we have only begun to suspect. These bouts of silence, ‘blackouts,’ as you call them, are but the beginning of something far greater and more consequential.”

Jamadagni opened his wings wide and flew off the altar! Soaring through the dimly-lit church, he looked like great kite as he glided to a near soundless landing in front of Jericho. The pale Aoraki sunlight seemed to catch around the old peacock and give him a small halo of rainbow light. Jericho couldn’t help but be transfixed.

“Are you She-of-the-Void?” Jamadagni asked. “The one who silenced the corrupted angels?”

Corrupted angels? What was he talking about? When Jericho didn’t answer right away, Makara hissed:

“He’s talking about the Elders you defeated!”

“Oh!” Jericho replied. “Yes, I did.”

The old Vanian bowed his head, and a translucent shape began to separate from his body! Jericho startled, but Manako and Makara both grabbed her and whispered:

“Stop! It’s friendly!”

A Psionic entity had separated from Jamadagni! Hovering in midair behind him, Jericho got the distinct impression that she was looking at some kind of golden magical jellyfish! It had a big, bulbous head and four spindly arms. The creature’s legs were as long as its torso, and the angelic halo seemed to have transferred from the now-limp Vanian to this new being. Now that Jericho had a chance to look at it clearly, she realized that this was what an Ethereal looked like without its host body.

“Do not be alarmed.” The Ethereal said to Jericho. “I am not one of my misguided siblings.”

“Who are you, then?” Jericho couldn’t help letting her mouth fall open.

“We prefer to be given names.” The Ethereal answered. It looked at Jericho in an expectant way. “My host refers to me as Jatayu. You may derive a name for me from your own language.”

Realizing that the Ethereal was expecting Jericho to give it a name, she screwed up her mind in thought. After a moment, Jericho remembered how Agamemnon had named itself after intruding on Blake’s mind. Blake had a head for Greek mythology, didn’t he? Looking back at this golden Ethereal again, Jericho said:

“Well, you kinda remind me of the sun on my Homeworld, so I guess I’ll call you Apollo. Is that okay?”

The Ethereal named Apollo nodded in acceptance.

“Jericho.” He said. “You seek to know the cause of the Psionic Blackouts. It will take myself and the Conclave far too long to explain the situation and its grave implications. You must be shown; there is only one among us who can do that, and they cannot do it here. Will you join us in a séance?”

A séance?

Jericho had been expecting a lot, but not this. She had no idea how a séance was going to show her what was wrong with Psionics these days, but a nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her to just go with it.

While Jericho, the Ranginui twins, and the Conclave of Telepaths gathered around the altar, the Ethereal Apollo merged with his host again and Jamadagni used telekinesis to summon a small leather pouch from one of the nearby nests and a large potted plant from the doorway.

“Powdered Zro.” Jamadagni gestured to the pouch. “To help us gain entry, and fresh Harakeke to help us recover.”

Manako and Makara reached into the ceramic pot and recovered several dead leaves from the bottom. Then, to Jericho’s absolute surprise, both twins produced small pieces of paper from their pockets and used an Uka coin to crush the leaves before rolling the leaves into the paper.

“You’re rolling cigarettes!?” Jericho gasped. “Are we about to get high or something?”

Both twins looked at one another and laughed.

“Is that what Humans call it?” Manako asked, “Really?”

“Yeah, they do.” Makara chuckled before addressing Jericho. “Trust me, you’ve never gotten as high as where we’re going. These are just to help us come back down again. Hold onto me and don’t let go.”

Makara grabbed hold of Jericho as Psionic energy began to fill the room again, this time more chaotic! Jamadagni opened the small pouch and tipped it over! A vortex of wind caught the fine blue powder and flung it into every corner of the room! Jericho couldn’t help herself but inhale!

The compound activated the instant it touched Jericho’s skin, and its effects quadrupled as it went up her nose! Jericho was bowled over by a speeding train of light and sound and shadows and silence! The whole world fell away below her and the sky turned black! Jericho tried to move her arms but couldn’t! It was as though every atom in her body was vibrating out of control as she rocketed out of normal space entirely!

Jericho was in Hyperspace just long enough to comprehend that she was actually there. She heard the soft music of the solar winds all around her and the chime-like tones of atoms striking one another. The song of Hyperspace was lost after just the shortest of moments as Jericho ascended higher and higher until she breached one last layer between planes of existence like a rock breaches a calm surface of water! Time and space splashed all around Jericho as she rematerialized!

Manako, Makara, and the Conclave of Telepaths had arrived first, and the twins offered to help her up.

 

It took Jericho a few moments to get her bearings. She had arrived in a place that was both foreign and strangely familiar. Jericho stood on the precipice, at the edge of this strange new realm for a moment, overlooking a vast ocean of swirling color and shadow. Then Jericho remembered: There are no oceans on Aoraki! Where the hell was she?

Someone gently tapped Jericho on the shoulder. Looking around, she saw that Manako and Makara were trying to get her attention.

“This…” Manako gestured around him, “Is the Shroud.”

It wasn’t very impressive. Jericho got the sense that she had just arrived on another Tomb World like Aoraki. The skies were a sickly shade of purple and any light that came through was dull and cold. The surrounding terrain reminded Jericho of the Gobi Desert in southern Mongolia, nothing but dust and rock as far as the eye could see. A pale fog gave the whole realm an eerie look, like a graveyard in the early morning.

“What am I supposed to see here?” Jericho asked the group.

“A lot more than you’re seeing now.” Makara admitted. “It was the Conclave of Telepaths, over three thousand years ago, who discovered the Shroud.”

Grand Master Jamadangi spoke for the group:

“Our ancestors first discovered the connection between the Shroud and our Galaxy.” He said. “Gifted beings like ourselves are born with an innate connection to this place. It is the source of all Psionic power in the Galaxy. This is where the Gift comes from.”

Looking around, Jericho took in the general state of disarray the Shroud appeared to be in. Even a newcomer couldn’t ignore the general sense of disruption that hung in the air. Behind her, the Ethereal Apollo separated from its host once more and looked around the ruined realm.

“The Shroud was despoiled recently.” Apollo said. “This damage is unlike anything inflicted before.”

“So, the Shroud is where the Gift comes from.” Jericho said thoughtfully. “If there’s something wrong with this place, would it effect Gifted people in the Galaxy?”

“Yes.” Jamadangi/Apollo replied. “The disruption of the Shroud is the source of your Psionic Blackouts in normal space.”

“So, what happened here? Can we fix it?”

“Until you arrived, we did not know the answer.” Jamadangi admitted. “But once we learned your story, and understood what you saw and did on your world, our patron was finally able to craft an explanation.”

“And who is your patron?” The words were barely out of Jericho’s mouth when she finally remembered Mira Mihaka’s description of the Shroud, told to her almost a year ago.

“Beings made from Psionic energy, who influence and manipulate our world through others.” Mira had said. “The creatures of the Shroud have power unlike anything you or I have ever seen. The Elders might not even compare to these things.”

With those thoughts in mind, what happened next only came as a small surprise.

A new presence made itself known. Until now, it had been disbursed throughout the twenty-five Vanians and one Ethereal who made up the Conclave of Telepaths, but now it reformed and made itself whole once more, coming together just in front of Jericho.

The vaguely Human-like shape turned its head to look at her, and Jericho felt a serious pulling sensation in her gut. For just a few moments, Jericho was blinded by attraction, unable to think about anything other than how handsome and good-looking this thing was. It helped that she instantly knew what to call it, despite having never encountered this entity before.

The Instrument of Desire looked away from Jericho and surveyed the terrain around it. Its expression grew mournful.

“Three thousand years after I left this place, I return to the confirmation I have feared and dreaded for so long.” Said the Instrument of Desire. “At long last, the Cycle has reached its end.”

The Instrument of Desire pointed towards the horizon. Jericho, the Ranginui twins, and the Conclave all looked out over a barren wasteland that seemed to go on for eternity.

“We have reached a point of no return.” The Shroud-Being said, “Where these events can no longer repeat themselves.”

“The Paradox.” Jericho murmured to herself. “Akira.”

“Her own meddling with time has brought this to pass.” The Instrument of Desire said. “Her efforts to create more desirable timeline have instead tied the fate of both the Devourer and the Galaxy to her own.”

The Instrument of Desire drew Jericho’s attention to a large divot in the surface that only kind of passed for “the ground” where something had been scooped up and removed from the Shroud with incredible force.

“The Devourer has stolen the strongest and most powerful of my kin.” It said. “Without us to maintain this realm, it will slowly drain away until nothing remains. Once this realm is gone, so too will be our power and influence.”

So, that was it. Manako, Makara, and Jericho all gave one another grim looks. This was the endgame! The Shroud was being drained. This was why Psionics seemed to be on the fritz! This was why Blackouts were happening, and once the Shroud was rendered completely empty…

“What’ll happen once the Shroud is empty?” Manako asked. “How will this affect those with the Gift back home?”

Grand Master Jamadangi replied, speaking through the Ethereal Apollo:

“All those blessed with the Gift are dependent upon the Shroud. It is the wellspring from which all Psionic energy originates.”

“So, if this place is completely drained…” Jericho’s voice trailed off, the dark implications leaving her stunned. Makara finished the hypothesis:

“Soon, there will be no Gift for anyone. Psionics will be extinguished!”

“Everyone will lose their powers.” Jericho gasped. “You, me, Akira, and… what’ll happen to Psionic life forms? The Ethereals? The Shroud-Beings? What about….”

A powerful thought suddenly hit Jericho. It was something that should have crossed her mind the instant the Instrument of Desire had mentioned the Shroud being drained. When the realization finally hit Jericho, it did so with the force of a speeding truck!

“The Trinity!”

As Jericho breathed the name of Earth’s last best hope, the dark realization started to make its way through the group. Manako, Makara, and the entire Conclave all knew that Jericho had just stumbled upon the single biggest obstacle between here and victory over the Beast. The Trinity was a Psionic weapon! Without the Shroud, it would be useless! Jericho felt the panic rising in her as she looked back at the Instrument of Desire.

“So, what are we supposed to do now?” Jericho’s voice was full of fear. “How are we supposed to kill the Beast if we can’t use the Gift!?”

“A solution does exist.” The Instrument offered. “But it will come at a great cost.”

Jericho bit her lip.

“Alright, I’m listening…”

…

Leaving the Shroud was just as traumatic as entering it. As she returned to the Mahurangi church on Aoraki, Jericho’s ears were assaulted by a cacophony of sound and light! Realizing how oversensitive her eyes and ears had become, Jericho jammed her eyes shut and covered her ears, only acknowledging the world around her when something that smelled absolutely godawful was shoved in her face.

“Just take a couple of puffs. It’ll knock down the Zro effects.” Manako was offering a homemade cigarette, the end already lit. “Harakeke. It suppresses the Gift and cancels out Zro effects. Plus, it helps clear the head after a trip into the Shroud.”

Having never smoked anything in her life before this point, Jericho had an extremely negative reaction to the Harakeke cigarette on the first puff! Eyes watering, lungs burning, coughing and retching, Jericho hunched over, expecting to throw up at any moment. This turned out to be for the best, because as soon as Jericho bent forward, a blue-and-red blur soared right over her head!

Reepi Imvu, looking more enraged than Jericho had ever seen him before, landed in front of the Ranginui twins, both of whom were trying to extinguish their Harakeke cigarettes. Reepi looked back and forth between the twins and the Conclave of Telepaths twice, ruffled his feathers, and then launched into a tirade.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH THEM!?”

Reepi gestured to the Conclave with one wing. Several peacocks and peahens squawked angrily.

“They offered to help us.” Makara waved a wisp of smoke away from her face. “And we needed their help anyway.”

“Their help!?” Reepi’s voice was now so high-pitched that Jericho’s ears were throbbing. “These demon-lovers sold my people’s souls to the Shroud! I told you we can’t trust them!”

Jericho quickly looked at Manako, who shook his head in frustration.

“Alright, who wants to tell him about the Shroud?”

“I’ll do it.” Makara grumbled. “He’s less likely to take my head off.”

Reepi swept his wings wide and launched himself across the room and onto Makara’s shoulder in a matter of seconds. The angry peacock pressed his little head to the side of Makara’s face.

“Tell me what about the Shroud?”

…

Monday, April 28, 2036 – 11:00am
Mahurangi City, Aoraki, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth


After nearly five weeks on the dark, cold, and dusty world of Aoraki, I wanted to go home.

We had been here ever since our forced retreat from Partoga. Losing its capital to the enemy had nearly been a death blow to the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth. As far as anyone knew, Partoga hadn’t actually fallen. The local defense force was putting up one hell of a fight, and was doing their best to stop the virus from spreading across the planet. Unfortunately, the enemy force was being augmented with some kind of Psionic entity. Manifesting itself as a swirling spectral mass, the Psionic creature was raining death and destruction on Partoga. If reports were to be belived, it had wiped entire cities off the face of the planet, leaving only a sickly purple fog behind. Partoga had become a killing field, and most Galactic news agencies predicted that the planet could hold out for only a few months before falling.

Queen Kendra and her National Assembly had set up a new center of government on Aoraki and were doing their best to re-establish control over their country and military, but it was difficult going. Partoga had been the core of one of the Galaxy’s largest and most powerful empires. Without it, communications and logistics had been severely disrupted, and the entire Commonwealth was in disarray.

Over the past couple of weeks, soldiers and starships of both the Commonwealth and the Triple Alliance had been gathering at the Positive Control Point, a Starbase not too far from here. At night, we could see the massive armada flickering in the starfield up above us.

The Stormbreakers had been sidelined during all of this, and none of us were happy about it. Tsubaki and Soylent were quite angry with me these days. They had both opposed detouring to Partoga and were very upset with the fact that they could have been home by now. Kathleen and Hal were stressed out about being forced to stay idle while the Beast was making its way towards Earth. Kathleen’s hair had even started to turn grey. Sarah Harris didn’t spend much time with us, instead choosing to hang out with Temirzhan for hours at a time.

Yukiko and Jericho spent each and every day at the Commonwealth National Assembly, trying to convince them to allow the Kakama to continue its journey towards Earth. Unfortunately, Queen Kendra insisted on us traveling alongside a Triple Alliance armada, and she continued to gather her forces while we were forced to just sit and wait.

We passed our time on Aoraki by training and mingling with our hosts. We became proficient in the operation of the Kakama’s systems, and after some time, Manako allowed each of us in turn to take command of the ship and fly a lap around Aoraki. I’ve got to admit, flying in the Captain’s chair was more fun than I was expecting. Jericho also seemed to get a kick out of it.

On Aoraki, Jericho was a celebrity. Her news interview on Hiigara had propagated throughout the Galaxy before the Beast had knocked out the Hyperwave Network, so no matter where we went on the planet, people recognized us. Assurians and Partogans bowed their heads whenever they saw Jericho, and the little reptilian Kelt people got so excited that they would bounce up and down on their feet. On a few occasions, Triple Alliance military leaders would pull Jericho aside to ask her questions. She told us later that they were seeking advice on large-scale Psionic warfare.

“They want to copy the Psionic shields the Beast used against us at Hiigara.” Jericho informed us. “Apparently they’re effective against the Psionic entity that’s been following Agamemnon around.”

People wanted to talk to Jericho about everything… and boy, do I mean everything. A Partogan clergyman (from a group of people who apparently worshipped a mountain) asked Jericho a lot of questions about what mountains on Earth are like. I swear I saw the mountain priest salivate when Jericho mentioned that her homeland, Hawaii, was created by a volcano.

Local children wanted to hear about more of Jericho’s battles and adventures. Jericho talked the ears off anyone who asked, and the rest of the Squad was able to take over for her whenever she lost her voice. Young Levakians in particular wanted to hear about the big fight in the Crypt of the Elders; and a pair of young lions confirmed to me that as far as anyone knew, Jericho was the only person in Galactic history to kill more than one Ethereal, let alone twenty-six in a single fight!

About a month after we had arrived on Aoraki, a few young Assurian men accosted Jericho while we were in downtown Mahurangi, shopping around for some spare parts for the Kakama. They made a big show of offering Jericho ceremonial weapons, ranging from swords to knives and a beautiful-looking pistol. According to Adil and Temirzhan, the two Assurians on our crew, the gift of a weapon is supposed to signal the beginning of a courtship on Assuria. Temirzhan told Jericho she needed to politely refuse each offering, lest these Assurian suitors start bragging to the entire Galaxy that they were engaged to her.

Honestly, we could have handled the situation on our own. By this point in the journey, we’d pretty much mastered the Galactic Common language, and the entire squad was on hand to give Jericho backup if she really needed it; but nonetheless, a huge Levakian male with brown fur and a black mane stepped between ourselves and the “suitors” and intervened on Jericho’s behalf. Once he intimidated the Assurians into leaving, the brown lion introduced himself as Madoda, the commanding officer of the HMS Tryna. Jericho responded as though she’d heard this name before.

“Madoda, huh? Actually, I wanted to talk to you about your ship.” Jericho said when Madoda finished. “If you have the time, could we arrange a meeting?”

Madoda agreed, and then he turned to me.

“I am told that you are her commander, are you not?” the lion asked.

“Uh, I’m her Squad Leader.” I answered.

“Very well.” Madoda said. “If you will allow me to confer with your soldier, I shall arrange for you a visit with my daughter in return.”

I wasn’t interested in meeting Madoda’s daughter, and I felt the whole idea kind of unnecessary, but before I could say this, Sarah nudged me in the ribs and hissed:

“Levakians are extremely protective of their pride! Especially the females! He thinks the Squad is your pride, and you gave him permission to talk to Jericho! He’s just returning the favor! Just go with it!”

Keeping my face passive, I politely replied that I’d be happy to meet Madoda’s daughter.

…

As it turned out, though, I’d already met her once without realizing it. The Tryna commander’s cub was in fact the Gifted Levakian known as Nomsa. She was hanging out with the same group of youngsters I’d seen on Partoga: an adolescent lioness with golden brown fur and two Partogan teenagers. Nomsa seemed happy for the company, and she tried to take me to Mahurangi City Park alone, but her three companions insisted on coming along. It seemed as though they too were desperate for someone to talk with, so we all wandered through the park together.

It was a very enlightening visit. Nomsa (albeit reluctantly) introduced me to her three compatriots. The Levakian was named Thabisa, and had been born on a distant planet named Ninigai. The two Partogan girls were called Ihiko Taimana and Lani Ririnui. Ihiko was from a planet named Hokianga that had been conquered by the Beast several years ago. Lani was from the Partogan Homeworld and claimed to be distantly related to some historical figure whose name I failed to catch. These four young adults had been brought together because the Commonwealth government had named them “Queen Candidates.”

“Her Majesty is over one-hundred-twenty years old.” Ihiko said. “When she… uh, leaves us… we’ll be running against each other in the Royal Election. Whoever wins will be the next Queen.”

“Because of the war, her Majesty wanted all of the candidates picked up early and held somewhere safe.” Thabisa said. “I haven’t seen my pride in over a year. I don’t think any of us have seen our families for some time.”

“What did all of you do before getting picked up?” I asked.

“Nomsa and I were training for the Royal Navy.” Thabisa answered. “We’re both Ensigns.”

“I was working in a hospital here on Aoraki.” Ihiko said. “I volunteered to help people from my Homeworld.”

“I was scrapping shipwrecks on the Galactic Front Line.” Lani finished. “Saved one Partogan crew, and their Captain sponsored me for Queen.”

“The Galactic Front Line?” I repeated. “You’ve seen it?”

“Trust me, Human.” Nomsa answered darkly. “If you wanna go home, you’re gonna go through it.”

…

Thursday, May 1, 2036 – 4:00pm
The Positive Control Point, Hakihea Star System, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth


About eighty-million miles away from the planet Aoraki, a large space station zipped around the Hakihea star in a close orbit. The station itself seemed to shimmer in the bluish-white aura of its star, but on closer inspection, one could see that the station itself was surrounded on all sides by a vast armada of warships. Assembled from all over the Galaxy, nearly every spacefaring civilization still capable of fighting was represented here.

Blorg friendships and Micore hiveships flew in formation alongside Hiigaran, Levakian, Taiidan, and Vanian battle fleets. Vaygr crusades, Kelt defense ships, and Partogan battlecruisers transferred shuttlecraft between one another while Voor, Scyldari, and Kel-Azan flotillas joined the armada as well.

Leaders and representatives gathered inside of the station’s main assembly hall, where the other Stormbreakers and myself were getting crowded together as the room began to fill up. On an elevated platform at the far end of the hall, a large map of the Galaxy could be seen, and the situation appeared to be even more dire than ever.

 

The best way I can describe the spread of the Beast throughout the Galaxy is to compare it to a cancer spreading to a person’s lymph nodes. The space surrounding every Progenitor Hyperspace Gate was now fully infected, making the Galaxy look as though it had chicken pox. To make matters even worse, the main blob of enemy territory had grown, distending and distorting the Galactic Front Line. There were now hundreds of salients and outright breaks in the line, where the enemy was breaking through and pushing the offensive.

Several Partogan leaders arrived through a rear door and took their places on the platform. Manako and Makara Ranginui were the youngest leaders in the group. Queen Kendra was the oldest, and she was riding in a wheelchair that was being pushed along by an old man who appeared to be roughly the same age as her. The old man’s most striking feature was his right arm, which had been amputated at the elbow. The unused sleeve of his outfit was pinned to his chest, making it appear as though he was rendering an eternal salute. The elderly gentleman’s features seemed vaguely familiar, and I wondered if he was somehow related to Manako and Makara. Jericho was with them, wearing a blue and black XCOM uniform to stand out from the group. A rousing chorus of “Kia roa te Kuini!” went up around the assembly hall as Kendra waved her hand in greeting. I didn’t need Sarah to tell me how to say “Long live the Queen” in Partogan.

Calling out for quiet, Kendra began to speak:

“Permit me to use a Human expression.” the old Queen began. “Our enemy has tipped their hand. Both the Father and Mother of the Beast have been spotted by our advance recon units. They are moving. Commonwealth Military Intelligence predicts the Beast is going to pass through the Galactic Front Line, on a path that leads directly to Earth.”

A Levakian raised his paw.

“Why through the GFL? That’s where our resistance will be the strongest.”

“That’s also where the enemy can infect the most ships.” Makara Ranginui said. “Fleet Intelligence confirms that Beast ships have been disengaging from fights all across the inner rim and are moving to fall in line with Inari and his mate. The Beast is assembling a fleet as it moves, which is almost certainly why the enemy appears to be moving at half speed.”

“How large is the enemy fleet is at present?” Commodore Madoda asked.

“At this time, Taiidani scouts report the enemy fleet to be comprised of approximately seven-hundred-fifty-thousand ships, but that number is increasing every moment as more infected vessels fall into line.” Manako replied.

Anxious and nervous chatter filled the room as this development was processed by the gathered military leaders.

“Do we have any predictions for how large the enemy fleet might grow?” A Hiigaran asked, “Or when they’ll arrive at Earth?”

Rapata Ranginui, Manako’s father, took over. His tone of voice was very grim:

“We’ve analyzed all combat Intel about infected ships in or near the enemy’s flightpath.” Rapata said. “If the enemy maintains their present course and speed, they’ll arrive over Earth sometime in early Akuhata.”

“August.” Sarah translated for us.

“However, once the enemy hits the Galactic Front Line, we might be able to slow them down, possibly even delay their arrival for up to a month.” Rapata continued. “As far as enemy strength is concerned, however… Strategic projections are looking bleak. If the Beast continues to pull its own ships out of formation to escort the Father and Mother, and build new ships as well, the enemy fleet will number approximately eight million ships on the day it reaches Earth.”

I felt all the wind go out of my lungs when I heard that. Next to me, Tsubaki let out a terrified squeak and Hal moaned.

“How the hell are we supposed to fight that kind of force!?” Hal said.

“Eight million ships!?” A Blorg admiral repeated. “That’s impossible!”

“Why not!?” Jericho’s voice, psionically amplified, made itself heard across the room. All eyes came to rest on her. “Eight million? That’s one ship for every five hundred people on Earth. If I was the Beast, that would be like going to a big banquet dinner!”

“There is something else to consider.” Queen Kendra added. “The Beast is now moving like a Takea shark toward the smell of blood in the water. For the first time in this war, we know exactly where the enemy will be, and what kind of force they are bringing along. We have the advantage. We must translocate this armada to Earth with best possible speed!”

Makara clicked a remote, and a holographic yellow line was traced onto the Galactic map behind her. Gasps went up around the room as everyone realized what Makara was proposing:

“I have calculated this route will get us to Earth before the Beast. The trouble is that it will require us to punch through the Galactic Front Line at almost the same spot as the enemy will. There is a decent chance that we will intercept the Mothership and Fathership. If that happens, we might be able to cut the head off this creature once and for all!”

Again, the nervous chatter. A Micore droid stepped into the center of the assembly hall and analyzed the Galactic map in closer detail. After a moment, the droid said:

“To move this fleet over four thousand lightyears to Sol, it will require the entire annual fuel production output of the United States of Assuria and the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth combined. The Triple Alliance stockpile of starship fuel, which is already dangerously low, will be completely exhausted. Ruler Kendra, how do you intend to prosecute the war after this campaign to Earth?”

Kendra, her family, and advisors all gave one another nervous looks. Finally, Manako spoke up:

“Considering the likely scale of any direct engagement with Inari or its mate, I believe that afterward, neither side will be capable of offensive action for months if not years afterward. We’re talking about a battle of cataclysmic size, proportions, and destruction. We’re talking about the end of the war.”

Soylent raised his hand and asked:

“Do we have a plan to… you know… actually fight?”

“A strategy is being formulated.” Manako answered. “More information will be disseminated once we are underway, but I urge you not to worry. It’s going to be at least a month before we have to start worrying about the possibility of a confrontation.”

“There’s one last security concern we need to take care of.” Makara added. “This is a sensitive matter, so ship captains, you are not to tell your crews unless it becomes absolutely necessary. Both her Majesty and the National Assembly will be travelling with us.”

“The Human diplomat Takahashi has assured me that it will be possible to arrange a meeting between Human leadership and myself.” Kendra said. “I will meet our new allies and we will coordinate the assault on the Father and Mothership together.”

“But as far as the rest of the fleet is concerned, she isn’t here.” Manako told the group. “We’re going to lay down a false intel trail that suggests Her Majesty took the Tantomile and is coordinating a counteroffensive near Partoga. Hopefully, that will draw some of the enemy off and make this trip easier on all of us. Does anyone have any questions?”

“No sir!” Soylent yelled. “Just bloody anxious to get out there and whoop some ass!”

Chuckles and laughter rang out around the room. Queen Kendra grinned.

“You’ll get your chance, soldier. We all will. Dismissed!”

…

Saturday, May 10, 2036 – 3:00am
Naval Base Alpha, Taiidan Empire

Just like enemy, our own fleet got bigger as we moved through friendly territory. Hiigaran, Voor, Partogan, and Taiidani warships joined our armada as we looped up and around the Galactic Core. They also carried news from other parts of the Galaxy: The Father and Mother of the Beast had run into resistance along the western front of the Galactic Front Line. Micore, Vanian, Blorg, and Amadii warships had stonewalled the enemy for several days, pushing back the enemy’s ETA. As long as we didn’t stop for anything, there was now a very high chance that we would reach Earth before Agamemnon.

But that advantage didn’t last long. Once the Beast had fought its way past our western allies, the enemy force split in half. The Beast Mothership (along with a substantial escort) broke away from the main fleet and started speeding towards Earth at a much faster clip. Suddenly, an interception was back in the cards.

When our fleet stopped to refuel at a stellar fortress controlled by the Taiidan Republic, we received a very welcome addition to our side. Its arrival caught us all off-guard, and for very good reason. Naval Base Alpha was built in orbit of a black hole, and objects flying through the accretion disk was a regular sight that we quickly got used to. So when Tsubaki pointed out of a window on the Kakama’s bridge and said:

“Look, the black hole caught a small moon!”

I didn’t pay any mind. At least, not until Elsina casually peered out of the window and replied:

“That’s no moon. It’s a space station.”

I swear, so many people ran towards the starboard side of the ship, looking for a window, that the Kakama almost rolled over!

“That’s too big to be a space station!” Kathleen remarked.

“Just think, someone built that thing!” Jericho mused.

A starship, roughly the size of a dwarf planet, punched through the black hole’s accretion disk and moved to join our fleet. It was absolutely huge! Bigger even than the Mahuika or the Tryna! The comms network lit up as the new vessel called in to identify itself.

“Attention Triple Alliance fleet. This is the Taiidani mobile weapons platform Nomad Moon mark two. We’ve heard you are transporting Jericho to Earth. Request permission to join the fleet.”

“Granted.” Makara’s voice replied. “Assume patrol stance at the rear of the formation.”

My eyes were glued to the window while the Nomad Moon glided silently into the back of our formation. The ship was so massive that our entire fleet, which had hundreds of thousands of ships by now, could have fit inside of the Nomad Moon with room to spare.

“Hey!” I pointed to a spot just below the spherical battlestation. “What are those little things flying around the moon?”

Arzhang craned his long neck to look over my shoulder.

“Oh, those are Repulsor Cannons.” He explained. “They generate high-energy shockwaves that physically push enemy ships away from the emitter.”

Once the Nomad Moon joined our fleet, I think everyone felt a little safer about flying into enemy territory.

…

All told, it took us roughly two months to reach the Galactic Front Line from Aoraki, and that’s including the fact that we took shortcuts wherever possible. It was a huge help that we had recruited several Vaygr Crusades. They had the technology to quickly build and deploy their own Hyperspace Gates that weren’t dependent on the old Progenitor network.

While the Stormbreakers and I spent most of the journey aboard the Kakama, Jericho was extremely busy. She moved frequently from the Tryna to the Nomad Moon and back again. Oftentimes, she would return to the Kakama covered head to foot in soot, grime, and grease. Jericho would shower off, catch a full night’s sleep, and then return to whatever labor-intensive project was taking place aboard the two superweapons. Whenever I tried to ask what was going on, Jericho would just shake her head and say “Not yet.”

Leaping and bounding hundreds of light-years at a time, the Triple Alliance Armada powered towards Earth like a snowball. Meanwhile, in another arm of the Galaxy, the Beast Mothership continued to pull ahead of Agamemnon. It was becoming quite clear that the enemy was moving to intercept us.

Once the threat of a confrontation became clear, Jericho called for a leader’s meeting aboard the Tryna…

…

Thursday, July 3, 2036 – 2:00am
Corug-Tel System, Outskirts of Abassid, Hiigaran Empire

“Astynome.”

“What kind of name is that, Robinson?”

The assembled group of commanders and leaders looked around at me. We were in one of the Mahuika’s primary conference rooms, and I had just suggested a name for the Mothership of the Beast. Makara was standing in front of a digital screen, where an image of the enemy vessel looking down on all of us.

“That father thing called itself Agamemnon,” I explained, “after it saw the story of the Iliad in my head. I figure if that thing wants to share a name with one of the characters, then its mate should be named after another figure from the Trojan War.”

“If I remember my Greek mythology right, both Agamemnon and Astynome both ended up bein’ victims of tragedy.” Kathleen commented.

“Yeah,” I replied. “I’ve crossed my fingers for history to repeat itself.”

“Tragedy?” Commander Madoda asked. “I’m not well versed in your mythology, Humans. Could you elaborate?”

Kathleen and I both frowned as we tried to remember.

“Well, King Agamemnon led the Greeks to victory against the Trojans.” I said. “But he never got to reunite with his family ‘cause when he got home, somebody assassinated him.”

“And Astynome, she was an innocent who got kidnapped and enslaved by her father’s enemies.” Kathleen added. “I heard some Hiigaran bloke say that he thought The Mother was the very first ship infected by Agamemnon. She’s some kind of support ship, and Agamemnon got her early on, I’d say the name kinda fits.”

“Achilles!” Hal chimed in as he suddenly remembered. “Achilles kidnapped her!”

“Yeah, that’s right. The gods got angry, so they trashed the Greek army or something like that until the Greeks gave her back.” Kathleen finished.

“Well, I’m sure history’s not going to repeat itself here.” Yukiko said. “Astynome the giant spaceship is a little too big to kidnap. How about we kill her instead?”

“Is it even possible?” A Taiidani admiral asked. “We’ve never even managed to drive the Father and Mother from the field, much less do lasting physical damage.”

Makara and Jericho directed our attention to the digital image of Astynome. (the spaceship, not the Trojan woman)

“We might have found the answer to that question.” Jericho said. “Ever since the fight at Partoga, we’ve been analyzing the combat footage of the Tryna’s attack on Astynome.”

“It looks like we ran into the same problem you Hiigarans did when your people fought the first strain of the Beast over a century ago.” Makara contributed. “The Tryna’s main weapon actually did damage Astynome. In fact, the damage might have been crippling under different circumstances. However, all scans show that the Beast tissue materiel was able to re-grow almost instantly after it was exposed to the beam.”

“We know the Beast is capable of self-repair, Ranginui.” A Hiigaran general said. “How does this help us?”

“When Astynome was hit by the Wrath Cannon,” Makara explained. “Millions of particles of dead Beast materiel were blown off into space. We managed to recover some of it in the Mahuika’s ramscoops.”

The image of Astynome vanished from the screen, and it was replaced with a side-by-side comparison of two microscopic organisms. In each picture, there was a colony of organic cells that had been infected by the Beast virus. The virus on the right was labeled “Mother” and the one of the left “Father.” Strangely enough, the “Father” virus appeared to be bigger and more complex than its counterpart.

Makara pointed at the two samples.

“This is a recent sample of Agamemnon’s tissue material, grown and shed less than four months ago.” She said. “I shouldn’t need to impress upon you how many people died getting this to us. Now, here’s the important takeaway.”

Makara highlighted the mycelia-like strands that connected the Beast cells together, then pointed out how only a few of these connections existed in the Mother.

“According to our friends in the Vanian Conclave of Telepaths, Agamemnon has visited the Shroud at least once. This sample seems to have been taken after that visit. Note the Zro residue on this sample. The creature must have flown through a stellar deposit of the stuff to gain entry to the Shroud. Now compare this to Astynome. See how simple the cell structure is in comparison? There’s also a complete absence of Zro, suggesting that whatever Astynome is up to, it hasn’t involved Psionics.”

A Partogan admiral spoke up:

“That explains a discrepancy my crew spotted over the Capitol!” He said. “When the Mothership infected our vessels, we didn’t see them use Psionic shields, or any of the Psion-based weapons or technology we saw in the field at Hiigara.”

“We thought of that.” Manako said. “And we think you’re onto something.”

“We think that ever since Agamemnon entered the Shroud, the Beast virus itself has undergone a significant divergence.” Makara added. “There might be two different strains of the virus out there now, one for the Father and one for the Mother. While we still don’t have a counter for the Father’s Psionic shield, we believe that the Mother and all ships infected by her do not have the same protection.”

“So,” Queen Kendra asked, “If we reconfigure the Tryna’s main cannon to account for the Mother’s regeneration ability, could we do lasting damage to her?”

“Lasting damage?” Manako repeated with a sly smile. “I’m convinced that with a little help from Jericho and the Nomad Moon out there, we could kill the Mother outright! Which brings us to the reason Jericho asked us all to come here today.”

Nearly fifty people all shuffled in their seats to face Jericho as she stood up to address the group:

“Commander Ranginui told me that your scientists are close to finishing a new version of the Infection Vaccine.” Jericho began. “And he also warned me that it would only be effective for a short while before the Beast adapts and renders it useless. So, I need to ask something from all of you, something difficult. I just hope you all can trust me.”

“If I may speak for the Triple Alliance,” Adil raised his voice. “I don’t think our willingness to trust you is in question. We know what you can do, and many of us have seen you in action now, at Hiigara or Partoga.”

“You haven’t heard my request yet.” Jericho stopped him before going on:

“This is what I need to ask: When we cross paths with Astynome a few weeks from now… Do not deploy the vaccine. Save it for the next fight.”

The uproar was immediate and loud! Nearly half the room voiced their opposition to this idea right away!

“You want us to fight the Mother unvaccinated!?” A Hiigaran yelled. “That’s a suicide mission!”

“You would doom thousands of our comrades to be subverted and turned against us!?” A Kelt shrieked. “Has your mind been melded!?”

“Who do you think you are!?” A Scyldari demanded, “Why are we listening to her!?”

Finally, Makara called for silence!

“I’m not asking you to fight without any kind of protection.” Jericho said. “But the final fight against Agamemnon is too important to go in without a vaccine.”

“And do you have an alternative solution for fighting Astynome?” Commodore Madoda asked.

“I do.” Jericho replied. “I can shield the fleet.”

I frowned in thought.

“You mean you can give all of our vessels a shield?” I asked. “Like what Agamemnon did at Hiigara?”

“I think I can.” Jericho nodded at me. “I mean, I’ve been practicing small-scale on the fighters in the Mahuika’s main hangar, and we’ve been working on a large-scale amplifier here in the Tryna. Theoretically, I should be able to keep the Beast off the fleet.”

“Amplifier?” Kathleen repeated.

“Yeah… we’ve basically turned the Tryna into the Galaxy’s biggest Psionic Amplifier.” Jericho replied with a nod. “If everything goes right, I can project my powers across a whole star system.”

Reepi Imvu and Kanti Divakar both looked very happy with themselves.

“I’m so happy our plan to modify the Tryna went so well.” Kanti said. “A lot of my classmates in the Psi Corps theorized about the armada-scale applications of Psionic weapons. I’m very eager to see our new system in action.”

Manako stepped up.

“Some of you fought with my sister and I at Hiigara.” He said. “You all saw what happened to the Kakama. Jericho shielded us from a battlecruiser-sized plasma cannon that day! And that was without a city-sized Amplifier! I’m convinced, wholly and completely, that she can protect us from the Beast.”

“Same here.” A Hiigaran admiral chimed in. “Jericho’s shield doesn’t need to hold forever, just long enough to target Astynome with the Wrath Cannon, it should be enough.”

“Then that’s the plan.” Makara finished. “Jericho will shield the fleet from Astynome. We’ll close the distance under protection and hit the enemy with the Tryna at point-blank range.”

“Let’s do this!” I said. “What could possibly go wrong?”

“Agreed.” Tsubaki chimed in. “Let’s get this done!”

…

Friday, August 1, 2036 – 5:00am
Barnard’s Star System, United Nations of Earth, The Galactic Front Line

Nuclear hellfire blossomed and bloomed in the empty space between the planets in this system. A mixed force of Hiigaran, Taiidan, and Vaygr ships swarmed and darted between mass driver rounds, Ion cannon beams, missiles, and torpedoes while a flotilla of Beast-infected warships pressed forward, moving inexorably towards Earth! Cruisers slugged it out while frigates flitted between the cover of asteroids. Fighters and Corvettes spat flame into the dark void before retreating to the safety of their carriers and Motherships. The cloud of battling starships was so huge and dense that one could not see through it to the other side.

“This isn’t looking good, fleet.”

“Hold your positions!”

“We have an incoming Hyperspace signature. Friendly forces are inbound!”

A massive quantum wavefront washed over the battlefield where hundreds of starships were darting around one another! Beast ships that had spent the past few months looking for a way to outflank the allied warships were suddenly forced to retreat as a vast armada of new contacts began spilling out of Hyperspace! At first it was tens of thousands, but the number grew with each second as hundreds of thousands of starships began to rematerialize! The United Armada was so numerous that it blotted out the light of the nearby star entirely!

Nearly half a million starships erupted forth and moved to join a formation that stretched hundreds of miles in every direction, with the Tryna, Nomad Moon, Tantomile, and Mahuika at its core. Strike craft and Corvettes launched from hangars, bringing the total reinforcements to well over a million allied spacecraft!

Infected Beast forces fell back to the protection of their Mothership! Astynome continued to advance, undeterred, while aboard the Partogan Assault Frigate Kakama, my team and I made our final preparations! The hull was polarized, weapons powered, torpedo tubes loaded, and the cloaking sail charged!

Inside the control room of the cloak generator, I took one last look out the window and saw a distant point of white light. It was Sol. We were less than ten light-years from Earth!

“Almost home.” I whispered to myself. “Almost home!”

“Attention fleet, this is the HMS Tryna.” Commodore Madoda broadcasted to the armada. “Wrath cannon is online and charging. 30 percent capacity and rising. We will be ready to fire in fifty seconds.”

“What’s the status of Jericho?” Makara called back from her command ship.

“She’s positioned herself in the core, and is ready to shield the fleet.” Madoda replied. “Just give the word.”

“All ships, keep pace!” Makara ordered!

The Mahuika surged forward and the armada followed, putting itself on a collision course with Astynome and her escorts! Aboard the Kakama, Manako ordered Tsubaki and I to bring the cloak online. Slipping into darkness, our invisible ship streaked ahead of the main fleet, with only the nimblest of Levakian and Micore Corvettes able to keep up.

There were two hundred million kilometers between the two hostile fleets!

One hundred million!

Fifty million!

The space in front of us suddenly shimmered as though it were a mirage! The stars in our field of view wavered and twinkled before the optical anomaly disappeared.

“Shield’s up!” Makara announced. “All ships, prepare to engage!”

“This is the Tryna.” Madoda broadcasted to the fleet. “Weapon systems fully charged. Commencing primary ignition!”

Once again, a narrow beam of light shot from the Tryna and struck the Beast Mothership! This time the enemy recognized what was happening! Even from ten million miles away, our sensors could see the gargantuan warship starting to turn in an evasive maneuver.

“Surface impact confirmed.” Madoda announced. “Standby for primary weapons fire in five… four… three… two… one…”

Like a bullet from a gun, a brilliant pulse ran down the length of the beam and struck Astynome at the speed of light! The shockwave rippled across the whole star system and shattered a few icy comets! At the same moment, every man, woman, droid, lithoid and unidentifiable sentient life-form cheered in celebration as a section of hull and flesh, roughly the size of a shipyard, was torn violently away from Astynome, sending blood, sparks, and flame into space!

“Direct hit!” Makara confirmed. “All strike wing commanders, engage at will! Tryna! Line up another shot!”

Aboard the Kakama, our celebration was short lived! It was time to fight!

“Drop the cloak!” Manako shouted from the bridge! “Accelerate to attack speed and hold on to your guts! Helm! Give me evasive pattern Nya!”

With less than a hundred thousand miles between the two opposing forces, both Beast and allied ships opened fire! For two whole seconds, the space between the Beast fleet and the Triple Alliance armada was filled with missiles, Ion beams, torpedoes, mass driver rounds, energy cannon blasts, plasma bombs, and laser bolts; before with a crash that would have fractured any terrestrial planet, the two fleets collided at full speed!

Our ship turned and twisted so sharply and quickly that the artificial gravity plating failed within seconds! Tsubaki hooked one of her prosthetic legs underneath a computer console to stop herself from flying up to the ceiling while our gunners gave up on keeping their orientation and just allowed themselves to fly freely! Torpedoes lunged forward from all three of our tubes, careening through the dark towards the enemy! Infected frigates never got the chance to turn their guns on us, and any time a cruiser or dreadnaught locked on, we simply outran them, fleeing into the rapidly growing field of wreckage and debris! Soaring over the hulk of what had once been a Scyldari battleship, we finally got our first clear look at the Beast Mothership.

“Jesus Christ!” Kathleen screamed. “It’s so much bigger up close!”

Astynome was colossal. Off the top of my head, I’d say she was roughly the size of Ceres. The gargantuan starship’s muscles, blood veins, and flesh all took on a frightening glow in the blue light of the Sirius star.

“It’s so massive! How many people do you think were in there?” Yukiko pondered.

“Those people are still alive, and they’re trying to kill us!” Kailani shouted from her place at the helm. “Hang on!”

Ion beams and energy cannon blasts rose up from Astynome’s hull, forcing Kailani to pull the Kakama into a sharp climb, up and back into the main battle! In front of us, a Beast-infected Heavy Cruiser fired a particle beam into the flank of a Partogan Missile Destroyer. The charged beam hit an invisible barrier and dissipated, spraying Beast particles in all directions except onto our own ships!

“The shield is working!” A commander reported over the radio. “Tell Jericho to keep it up as long as she can!”

The Kakama flitted through the main battle, phasing in and out of visibility as she went, breaking the cloak only to fire torpedoes before fading away again! Meanwhile, the Beast forces continued pushing forward, trying to reach the Tryna!

“Enemy forces within two hundred Kios of Jericho!” Reported the commander of the Nomad Moon. “Tryna, what’s your status?”

“Primary weapon still charging!” Madoda answered. “Keep the enemy off us for a few minutes!”

“Attention fleet, this is Mahuika!” Makara butted into the battle chatter. “Astynome has put out a distress call! Beast reinforcements incoming!”

“Understood.” Replied the Nomad Moon XO. “We are preparing to deploy our primary weapon at this time!”

Aboard the Kakama, Manako barked new orders, the same one being given aboard every ship on our side!

“Prepare to reverse polarity!”

Inside the cloaking generator chamber, Sarah, Yukiko, Dolim, Temirzhan and I all pushed off from the floor and, in the absence of gravity, flew towards the opposite wall where a layer of plasteel armor separated us from the ship’s outer hull. Strategically placed every four feet or so along the outer wall was a simple computer console. This system had been installed on every vessel in the United Armada for just this situation!

“Enemy forces are one-hundred-fifty Kios from Jericho!” Makara reported to the fleet. “The Tryna is in danger!”

“This is Nomad Moon: all friendlies clear Repulsor field!”

That was our cue! On command, Dolim, Sarah, Temirzhan, Yukiko and I all flipped a series of breaker switches in our consoles! All along the length of our ship, a series of loud mechanical clicks was the only sign that the powerful electromagnets contained in the hold below had suddenly reversed their polarity!

A loud whining noise accompanied the firing of the Nomad Moon’s Repulsor cannon, but the field itself was barely visible… until it hit the enemy! Allied vessels, having flipped their polarity, were ignored outright by the field, but Beast ships were physically (and violently) pushed away from the Nomad Moon along the length of the shockwave, creating a bubble of empty space between our allies and the Beast! Astynome was hit by Repulsor field as well, but was only pushed a short distance back.

This was a good thing.

The enemy fleet tried to force its way back towards our side, but before they could reach us, the Tryna was ready to fire a second time! Allied warships swarmed and swirled around the superweapon as it took aim and closed the distance with Astynome!

“Distance to target, six hundred Kios.” Madoda announced. “Stand by for point-blank engagement!”

One last time, the beam of light shot out of the Tryna! From my own vantage point aboard the Kakama, I saw the beam travel two-thirds of the way to the Mothership before stopping dead in the middle of empty space! It was as though the Wrath Cannon beam had hit an invisible wall!

“What the-!?”

An infected Hiigaran Battlecruiser took the full force of the Tryna’s blast and was sliced in half while it was still rematerializing! The Quantum Wavefront collapsed and cut the infected ship to ribbons while it was still emerging from Hyperspace! Makara shouted:

“INCOMING! WE’VE GOT OVER TWENTY THOUSAND SUPER-CAPITOL SHIPS APPROACHING ON MULTIPLE ATTACK VECTORS!!”

Looking around and out the window frantically, I saw a veritable wall of Battlecruisers, Destroyers, Dreadnaughts, Battleships, Heavy Cruisers, Titans, and other super-sized warships coming our way from all directions! We were surrounded!

“Aw, son of a bitch!” Yukiko gasped. “Did we just trigger some kind of trap!?”

“If we let all those ships converge, they’ll wipe us out!” I called up to the bridge. “We’ve gotta fight our way out to one side!”

“Nomad Moon! When can you give us another Repulsor field!?” Manako called out.

“Emitters are still recharging!” The Taiidani commander replied. “Give us two minutes!”

“I seriously doubt we have two minutes!” A Levakian commander said while his missile destroyer rained fire on an incoming hostile!

The Kakama cloaked again and dove into a sea of debris while enemy weapons fire crisscrossed in all directions around us! Amidst the chaos, a stray mass driver round drilled into our port flank!

Sarah screamed as a loud clank sounded in the chamber next to ours! The jarring impact was punctuated by the sudden sealing of an airtight bulkhead door that separated our chamber from the rest of the ship!

“They got hit!” Sarah gasped! “The people in the next room! They’re gonna run out of air!”

Instinctively, Sarah reached for our bulkhead door and tried to open it, but Yukiko, Temirzhan and I all seized her and held her back!

“They’re dead already!” I shouted! “Don’t kill us too!”

“Commander, I’ve got more incoming!” Kailani shouted! Now that our bulkhead door was closed, we could only hear the bridge crew over the intercom. “There’s a Hyperspace signature right on top of us!”

“Kalili, I’ve got a system full of incoming right now!” Manako dismissed Kailani’s report.

“This is different!” Kailani protested. “I’ve never seen these ship profiles before, and they’re not sending any kind of recognition codes…”

There was a pause, and even through the tinny sound of the intercom, I could make out a flicker of hope in Kailani’s voice as she trailed off. Then, when she came back over the speaker, all of the trepidation in Kailani’s voice had been replaced with pure joy:

“The Humans are coming!” Kailani shouted; “Human warships emerging from Hyperspace directly above us! THE HUMANS ARE COMING!”

Several black and white vessels, no bigger than Gunships, darted along our flanks and sped into the battle, mass driver cannons alight! Looking out my window, I saw fourteen new spacecraft break formation and join the fight while the voice of a Human female spoke over the comms net:

“Attention Triple Alliance ships, this is Captain Marie Ferrell of the United Nations warship Bushranger. Mind if we lend a hand?”

Chapter 42: The Composer of Strands

Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Composer of Strands

Monday, June 30, 2036 – 7:00am
Wake Island, Hawaiian Republic, Pacific Ocean


“Attention incoming aircraft! This is the gunship JSDF Hinomaru! You have been intercepted by the United Nations Navy inside of a restricted area! Turn around and work north immediately! I say again: Unidentified aircraft, you have been intercepted by the JSDF Hinomaru of the United Nations Navy! Change course immediately and proceed towards Honolulu Spaceport! You are inside of restricted airspace! If you fail to comply, you will be fired upon!”

An old ADVENT supply barge continued sailing forward above the ocean surface, ignoring the radio calls from the nearby UN spaceplane. The Hinomaru banked her wings and fell in behind the starship. Keeping the supply barge’s stern in front of her nose, the Hinomaru was in the kill position, ready to launch a missile at any moment! A few tense moments passed before the order was given from UN Headquarters:

“Hinomaru: this is Secretary-General Harper… destroy the target!”

A laser-guided missile fell away from the spaceplane’s left wing and fired up its engine! The journey from launch to target took only three seconds! The missile struck the underside of the old spaceship and blew out a section of hull near the engine bell! Crippled, the vessel began to lose altitude, falling out of the sky and leaving a trail of opaque smoke behind. Bursting through the clouds, the fatally wounded supply barge fell from the sky like a meteor and slammed into a narrow spit of land, the only island around for hundreds of miles in any direction.

Smoke had barely begun to rise from the wreckage before an access hatch blew out and four occupants escaped from the craft: Three Humans and a Lithoid Outsider. While the organic crewmates got clear of the wreckage, the Outsider returned to try and fight the flames, ignoring the gunship coming in for a landing nearby. Palm trees and long grass rustled and waved as a second spacecraft came down on the little island.

Before the UNS Tigermoth could come to a full and complete stop, Mira Mihaka jumped out of the main door and onto the ground. Pointing a Psionic Amplifier at the shipwrecked Humans, she screamed:

“AKIRA JAQUELINE ROBINSON! PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND DON’T MOVE! I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU IF YOU DON’T LISTEN!!”

The two male Humans stood aside when they realized Mira was talking to the one and only woman in their group: The red-haired Templar known as Violet saw the weapon aimed at her chest and promptly surrendered! Taking no chances, Violet fell to her knees and put both hands above her head. Meanwhile, the six remaining Stormbreakers erupted out of the Tigermoth and, weapons drawn, advanced on the three Templars.

Also taking no chances, Sophie Ackermann raised her shotgun and annihilated the Outsider with a single blast! The Lithoid splintered into pieces and crumbled to the ground while Sophia, Isis, and Matthew arrested Violet and her compatriots. Meanwhile, Odette and Yutaka looked inside of the ruined supply barge, which was now mostly extinguished. After a momentary search, both soldiers emerged from the rear deployment bay.

“Where are the others!?” Yutaka demanded, “We know you were carrying two hundred cultists to the Pacific Anomaly! You were taking them to a battle they were never going to win! A slaughter!”

“We had a change of plans.” Violet answered calmly. “We knew you were coming for us, so we moved the volunteers to another transport.”

“What!?” Sophia gasped. “How the hell did you know we were onto you!?”

“That’s not important!” Matthew interjected. “What matters is that we’ve got Akira! She can’t lead anyone into a trap if she’s in our custody!”

The other Stormbreakers cheered in agreement, leaving Sophia’s question unanswered. But the celebratory mood was quickly cut short by a scratchy, tomboyish voice:

“Guys… that’s not Akira.”

Odette’s words cut through the air, and a wave of terror seemed to follow behind it. The Frenchwoman lowered her rifle and cautiously approached Violet. The Templar was handcuffed and kneeling in front of Matthew and Sophia. She turned to look at Odette with an unexpected smile.

“The voices warned me about you.” Violet breathed. “They said you have a powerful intuition.”

Mira looked back and forth from Violet to Odette and back again. Her thoughts seemed to be moving at a hundred Kios per second! Then, Mira touched one finger to her own forehead and pointed it at Violet. The telepathic invasion was so abrupt and violent that the female Templar screamed and fell over on her side! Mira had expected to unmask Akira and force her to reveal what she was planning. Instead, Mira made a disturbing discovery, gasped, and stumbled backwards!

Odette was right… the handcuffed woman lying in the sand was not Akira… but there was still a far more frightening development going on.

“How long have you been there?” Mira asked in a low, shaking voice. “When did you get there!?”

Violet sat upright, looked around at the group, and let out a sigh of resignation. Then she spoke, but the voice that came forth clearly did not belong to her. It sounded similar to a chorus of voices, hundreds or perhaps thousands, speaking in perfect unison:

“You would do well to ask the woman who carries our kin as though it was a trinket and sells parts of her child to it.”

Everybody took a step back from Violet! Panicked exclamations echoed around the group.

“What the fuck!?” Sophie shrieked. “What happened to Violet?”

Isis put her Gremlin drone in Medical Protocol and ordered it to scan Violet. When the flying robot returned to its owner, she gave an unexpected prognosis:

“So… uh… I think a Psionic lifeform has latched itself onto Violet. I think it’s leeching energy off her, and it’s definitely the one talking right now.”

Mira looked down at Violet.

“How did you get here?” She asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Sophie cut in. “We shot her down.”

“I’m not talking to Violet.” Mira clarified. She knelt down next to the Templar and added: “How did you, the Whisperers in the Void, end up here on Earth, sucking the sanity out of a Templar?”

None of the Stormbreakers knew what Mira meant when she used the words “Whisperers in the Void” but Matthew and Isis correctly guessed that it had something to do with the mysterious “Shroud” Mira had discussed several months ago, and now directed their concerned expressions onto Mira herself.

“If you seek the full story, contact the Vanians.” The Whisperers in the Void replied through Violet. “You should not waste your time on us… by now, the Progeny will have reached Tethys. The battle will begin at any moment.”

…

Monday, June 30, 2036 – 7:30am
Airspace above the Pacific Ocean


Six UN spacecraft charged into the Pacific Anomaly at full speed! Two ADVENT Interceptors and four Battlemaster-class spaceplanes carried the Stormbreakers, some three dozen XCOM soldiers, and a small strike force of Templars towards the very core of the Psionic Maelstrom, while aboard the UNS Tigermoth, Mira confronted a pair of representatives of the Triple Alliance.

Two Vanians, one male and one female, found themselves surrounded by angry Humans, Partogans, and Levakians; all of whom were asking questions rapid-fire:

“How long were you keeping this a secret!?”

“When did your people return to the Shroud?”

“Did you take the Composer or the Whisperers first?”

“How long did your people possess the Whisperers in the Void?”

“How much of this technology was subverted by the Beast!?”

It was that last question that finally prompted a response from the two Vanians. The male one, an officer named Ruldu, shook his head in frustration so much that several iridescent blue feathers fell to the floor.

“Don’t you think I’ve been asking the same questions!?” Ruldu snapped. “Everyone on my world knew about the Instrument of Desire! It was ingrained into our very being! How was any lay-bird like me supposed to know the Conclave went back for a second patron!?”

Mira wasn’t satisfied and pressed on while Central Officer Smith moved towards the cockpit to check on progress.

“The Beast took Vania years ago!” Mira was outraged. “The enemy has been holding onto the Whisperers in the Void for almost a decade! Do you realize what that means!? Every defeat our side has suffered for the past eight years was because the Beast had this wellspring of knowledge that it stole from your people! Why didn’t you just hand the Galaxy over on an Aetherium platter!?”

“Perhaps we did.” The Peahen muttered. “None of us knew the Conclave had taken a second patron. Clearly it was being housed in either the Psi Corps on Vania, or in our Science Nexus. Both locations were subject to secrecy. The Whisperers in the Void would have been a closely guarded state secret.”

Ruldu nodded in agreement. The blue and yellow peacock looked happy that no one had challenged his compatriot’s explanation. Central Officer Smith re-entered the crew area, shaking her head.

“The damage is done, Mira.” Holly said. “Now we just have to play the hand we’re dealt. What do you think we’re going to find down there?”

Mira folded her arms and cast a very dark look around the group.

“A scene from a nightmare.” Mira replied. “Just get us to the anomaly.”

…

Monday, June 30, 2036 – 7:55am
The Alien Fortress, Tethys Seamount, Pacific Ocean


The spaceplanes couldn’t fly inside of the Maelstrom. Circling high, the Normandy, Persepolis, Bushranger, and Hinomaru all flew in a low circle above the mile-wide whirlpool and watched as the Tigermoth and her sistership descended. The Tethys Seamount was over four miles beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, giving the Stormbreakers plenty of time to stare out the Tigermoth’s side portals at the wall of seawater beside them. Whales, squid, and other enormous forms of sealife gave the maelstrom a wide berth, but still came close enough to be seen from the descending spacecraft.

Finally, after about five minutes, Wendy Carter, piloting the Tigermoth, reported:

“Starship contact! I see five ADVENT troop transports landed on the summit!”

Mira pointed out the cockpit window towards a plateau near the crushed remains of the Elder’s fortress.

“Drop us off there! Near the waterline! Do not land!”

Tethys was no longer completely submerged. The very bottom of the maelstrom could not be seen because the water was slowly starting to rise again. The base of the seamount was submerged, and seawater was rising up all sides of the mountain. By Mira’s guess, they had about thirty minutes before the Alien Fortress was once again lost to the sea, along with Duane Gardner and his “Volunteers.”

The Tigermoth tried to come to a hover before dropping any soldiers to the ground, but that problem was compounded when Wendy suddenly pulled up on the control column, aborting the drop, and saying:

“The landing zone is hot! Weapons fire on the ground!”

“Don’t land!” Mira responded. “Put us in a hover behind the Templars on the ground!”

Near the main door, Matthew ordered the Stormbreakers to lock and load.

“Shoot the sea monsters only!” He ordered. “Remember, we wanna save these people!”

The main door retracted, granting the Stormbreakers their first view of the carnage below…

It was a horrific scene. Twenty Templars stood back-to-back, fighting against a roiling swarm of sea monsters that clambered and crawled over the bodies of some two hundred warriors that had already been slain. In the center of the melee, Duane Gardner was visible, standing head and shoulders above the combatants and blasting anything that came near with powerful Psionic bursts. The surviving Templars were a mixed force of Humans, Hybrids, Sectoids, Levakians, Partogans, Mutons, Vanians, Amadii, and Vipers. Celestial Gauntlets flashed in the dark maelstrom, cutting Tasoths and Triscenes to pieces!

As the Tigermoth came to a hover, Matthew pointed into the battle and shouted:

“Drop now! Go go go!”

Mira and six Stormbreakers hit the mud together and charged into the fight! Isis, Odette, Sophie, Sophia, Matthew and Yutaka used laser rifles to cut their way past a massive Tentaculat before pushing towards the stricken Templars. Mira activated her Psionic amplifier and stayed close to the squad. All around her, the sound of the maelstrom was like a tornado, the roar of raging waters threatening to drown out all else!

At the top of a heap of corpses, Duane Gardner lashed and struck out with this Celestial Gauntlets at the encroaching sea monsters! He made no effort to protect or save the fighters around him; a Gifted Levakian roared as it was felled by a Lobsterman, two Vipers reached out towards him for salvation, only to be ignored and dragged under the waves in the teeth of a vicious Triscene, and the last Hiigaran in the group found herself caught in the grip of a hideous Tentaculat. The Hiigaran’s scream of anguish echoed all the way up the maelstrom and died long after she did.

Each time a combatant was killed, be they friend of foe, Duane seemed to become more and more ferocious in his fighting. Each Psionic attack was intensified, and the effects more harmful or destructive! By the time Mira and the Stormbreakers reached him, Duane was firing bolts of lightning from his hands that were instantly lethal to even the largest sea monster!

“Gardner!” Yutaka shouted above the chaotic noise of battle. “Come on, we’re here to get you and your people out of here!”

“No!” Duane stood his ground and refused to move. “We must press on! We must defeat the Deep One!”

Mira spotted a reptilian Tarsoth coming up the hill behind Duane! She stood behind him and blasted it away with her Psionic Amplifier! Fighting back to back, Mira and Duane kept most of the sea monsters at bay while the Stormbreakers started evacuating the surviving Templars to the Tigermoth.

“Gardner!” Mira called to him. “The Deep One isn’t what you think it is! You cannot face it! Akira lied to you!”

Duane hesitated for just a moment.

“Akira? She died here a year ago!” He responded.

“Listen to me! Whoever told you that you could take this thing lied to you!” Mira shouted. “Get on the damned ship!”

A bright red pulse of laser weapon fire illuminated the Crypt of the Elders. Sophia and Sophie both got into a kneeling position and fired their weapons into a dark corner of the battlefield.

“Mira!” Sophia yelled. “We’ve got movement in the Crypt! We gotta go!”

Mira tried to grab Duane by the shoulder, but he broke free of her grasp. In that sort moment of contact, Mira detected the immense Psionic energy radiating off his body! It was already too late! Duane had used his power to absorb the energy of the dead and was itching to make use of it!

Was Duane doing this during our first assault on this place? Mira wondered to herself as she gave chase.

The Deep One was emerging from the ruined Crypt of the Elders, just as it had done when Mira’s disembodied spirit had visited here months ago. Lopsided, misshapen, and vaguely humanlike, the creature shuffled out of the space where it had been hiding, a shattered tower that had once occupied the center of the Crypt.

Suddenly, all other concerns and thoughts left Mira’s mind. She knew full well that this was one of the Shroud-Beings she had done battle against at Archer’s Canyon so very long ago. She could still clearly remember how the Composer of Strands had sent her flying through the air with a single strike. This was a foe to be taken seriously, or if possible, escape from. Taking her eyes off the Composer for just a moment to see where the Tigermoth was, Mira felt Duane leave her side and lunge into the fight once more!

“Stop! Come back!” Mira cried out.

Duane ignored her and closed the distance between himself and the Deep One! A massive Triscene, nearly twelve feet tall, covered in thick scales, and knashing rows upon rows of sharp teeth, threw itself between Duane and his target! The reptilian monster snapped its jaws at the lone Templar, who raised one Gauntlet high and clenched his fist! A bolt of lighting descended from the heavens above and pierced the Triscene’s head! The explosion of light and noise hit Mira like a bomb blast and nearly knocked her over backwards! Killed instantly the Triscene keeled over and fell down the mountainside, vanishing beneath the rapidly rising waters of the Pacific.

Duane raised both Gauntlets and took aim at the Deep One, preparing to launch some kind of Psychokinetic attack!

“The ends right now!” Duane shouted.

In an instant, a flash of thought, Mira put the clues together and came to a realization!

This was what Akira wanted!

It all made sense! Akira had recognized the Composer of Strands when she had seen it during Operation Leviathan! She had been planning to prop up Duane this whole time, to goad him into destroying the Shroud-Being, and permanently remove from play one of the five entities that had once tried to hunt down the Paradox! Mira looked at Duane… as he raised one hand to strike down the Composer of Strands once and for all! She wasn’t entirely sure, but Mira could have sworn she heard a telepathic voice whisper the words:

“Do it!”

This was Akira’s plan! Mira was sure of it! She had recruited Duane and the Templars to kill the Composer of Strands! To wipe out any chance of the Shroud-Being coming after her again!

“DUANE! STOP!”

Mira scrambled to her feet, charged towards Duane, and knocked his wrist aside! A Psionic Lance leapt forth from his palm, overshot the Composer of Strands, and dove into the roiling waters of the maelstrom! He looked down at her, full of rage and fury! His eyes shone with a dark light that wasn’t his own as he shouted:

“This is the Deep One! It has to die now!”

“It’s the Composer of Strands!” Mira got right in his face and yelled. “Did you forget everything I said about Shroud-Beings back in Nagasaki!? You can’t just kill them!”

The dark light resurfaced in Duane’s eyes. He seemed to have taken Mira’s words to heart, albeit much faster than what Mira was expecting. In fact, as Duane’s expression began to change, and a new idea took shape in his mind… Mira only had about half-a-second in which to realize and appreciate the full magnitude of just how big a mistake she had just made.

Mira had just come to the wrong answer, had acted on a bad judgement, and now it was time for consequences.

“Well, if I can’t kill it…” Duane seemed to be thinking out loud. Then, he took action!

Duane pushed Mira aside so hard that she fell to the ground! He advanced a few paces, and then his Celestial Gauntlets began to crackle and spark as the young Templar began to charge his energy! Duane pulled off his right-hand Gauntlet and reached into his pocket, producing a long thin cable. He raised the Neurowhip above his head!

“Creature of the Shroud!” Duane bellowed. “BOW TO ME!”

The Neurowhip illuminated with an unnatural light! Barely visible tendrils, looking not unlike the tentacles of one of these sea monsters, erupted from Duane’s body and latched themselves onto his target! The Composer of Strands let out a nightmare-inducing scream of fury and began to struggle! The Human-shaped body the Composer had inhabited began to writhe and flail as its body was lifted into the air by the sheer force of Duane’s mind!

This was Psionic Domination, the ultimate form of Mind Control.

The Composer of Strands shrieked and wailed as Duane smashed and slammed away at its free will with his own power! Mira jumped to her feet and grabbed him by the arm!

“Stop! Duane! Don’t do this! YOU NEED TO STOP!”

Mira appealed to Sophie and Sophia for help! The South African guerrilla answered right away, but the Russian fighter stood rooted to the spot, transfixed and mesmerized by the agony of the Composer of Strands! Sophie and Mira both grabbed Duane and tried to break his focus, but he threw them both aside and put himself behind a Psionic shield! The Composer of Strands began make a horrific choking noise, as though it were being lifted into the air by its neck! With its one and only arm, the creature reached out towards Duane in one last act of defiance!

“Who is your master, creature!?” Duane shouted!

Finally, the Composer of Strands ceased its resistance. The fight was over.

“Jericho.” It answered.

The Composer of Strands bowed its head low in a gesture of obedience. At once, the Psionic maelstrom gave up any attempt at continuing to exist! The massive, mile-wide whirlpool began to collapse on itself as billions of gallons of saltwater began to rain down from up above, threatening to swamp the Crypt of the Elders in a matter of seconds!

In pure frustration, Mira flung a Psi Lance at Duane! It bounced harmlessly off his shield as both he and the Composer moved together, jumping off the mountainside and into the open doors of the Tigermoth’s sister ship. Screaming her anger and fury to the heavens, Mira followed Sophie back aboard the Tigermoth itself, while Odette and Yutaka both briefly stepped out to recover Sophia, who seemed to be in some kind of trance. Their passengers secured, both of the former ADVENT spacecraft began to rise up and away from Tethys while below, the Psionic maelstrom finally collapsed!

Miles and miles of seawater raced down towards the Alien Fortress! The epic deluge crushed the Crypt of the Elders into powder and obliterated the rest of the structure, the remains sent cascading down the slopes of the mountain as it returned to its place at the bottom of a dark and silent ocean!

As the Psionic maelstrom collapsed and subsided, the two flying saucers rejoined the UN spaceplanes waiting for them and flew in formation towards Easter Island, while all around them, the skies and waves of the Pacific Ocean became calm and peaceful for the first time in almost a year…

…

Monday, June 30, 2036 – 11:30am
XCOM Forward Operating Base, Easter Island, Pacific Ocean


“And then what happened?”

“Gardner used Psionics to place the Composer of Strands under his control. According to reports from around the Pacific Rim, all sea monster attacks stopped within minutes of the Composers subjugation.”

Mira was standing between several leading members of the Human military, all of whom were struggling to wrap their heads around what had just happened this morning. XCOM Commander John Bradford, Reclamation Director Jane Kelly, and several other leading members of AFUNE were present and discussing what exactly had just happened down on Tethys. On a large digital screen at the far end of the room, the assembled Human leadership could watch and observe a live feed from Doctor Vahlen’s research facility, where Doctors Tygan and Vahlen were subjecting Duane, Violet, and the body of the Composer of Strands to a series of exams.

The Commander of the United Nations Army turned to Mira.

“Refresh my memory,” The Canadian officer said. “How many of these Shroud-Beings are there?”

“There are five in total.” Mira answered. “You’ve got two of them locked up in Vahlen’s lab: The Composer of Strands and the Whisperers in the Void.”

“You say these are creatures of incredible power.” Director Kelly mused. “Didn’t you also say that these things are extremely dangerous in a fight?”

“Dangerous!?” Mira repeated. “Director Kelly, we’re talking about god-like entities here! These creatures are above and beyond what the Ethereals were capable of.”

“And now we have two such demigods under our control.” Bradford said, scratching his chin. “Mira, do you think we could find a way to turn these things against the Beast?”

Mira furrowed her brow and put her hands on her hips. They just weren’t getting it!

“Commander Bradford, you seem to be missing the point.” Mira tried again. “These creatures consider us insects in comparison to them. If they were at their full strength, they’d crush us all without a second thought!”

Murmurs and mutters ran around the room as the assembled leaders considered this.

“How did you end up in battle against one of these things?” Jane Kelly asked. “How did you survive?”

Mira pondered her answer for a moment, then decided that the time for half-truths had passed:

“My enemy made a covenant with a Shroud-Being, and I made a covenant with another. Ultimately, my partner was the stronger, and I prevailed.”

Thanks to the intercom system, Doctor Vahlen was able to hear Mira’s words and her interest was piqued.

“Certain Shroud-Beings are stronger than others?” Doctor Vahlen paused in her work and faced the camera, looking through the digital screen towards the group. “Miss Mihaka, this is fascinating. I feel the need to ask: How would you rank the five creatures in terms of combat capabilities?”

Doctor Tygan had a more pressing question.

“Mihaka, you said that these creatures are not at their full strength. What happened to them?

Mira bit her lip. This wasn’t a story she had ever wanted to tell

“Akira.” She replied. “She double-crossed the most powerful Shroud-Being and it went after her. There was a fight, and…”

Mira trailed off. Memories of that frightening battle at the end of time itself were flooding back. In the lab, Tygan turned away from the viewscreen and looked at the Composer of Strands.

“Akira did this.” He said. “She crippled this creature.”

“She crippled all five of them.” Mira confirmed.

Finally, she gave the leaders of AFUNE a full explanation:

“These entities normally reside in the Shroud, where they are made entirely from Psionic energy. But they can leave the Shroud by cutting deals with Gifted people called covenants. Each Shroud-Being will offer something in return for being allowed to merge with its new host. The Whisperers in the Void grants insight, wisdom, and the ability to discover hidden secrets. The Composer of Strands transforms and reshapes living things. The Instrument of Desire grants wealth and prestige, while the Eater of Worlds bestows martial prowess. All of this comes with a cost, though. You and your people will always suffer some kind of loss or destruction in return. These beings will always take something from you as payment… always.”

Director Kelly had been writing in a notepad while Mira was talking. She counted on her fingers, looked up and said:

“Hang on, Mira. I think you missed one. Who’s the fifth entity?”

Mira shuddered. An aura of fear and terror radiated off of her and filled the room with a sense of dread.

“The End of the Cycle.”

“What will it give us?” Bradford asked in a low voice.

“Everything.”

“And what will it cost?”

“Everything.”

Silence. For nearly a full minute, everybody just stared at Mira. Even Doctor Vahlen seemed lost for words. Finally, Bradford said:

“That’s the one, isn’t it? Akira double-crossed the End of the Cycle.”

Mira nodded.

“She never paid her end of the bargain.” Mira said. “The End of the Cycle caught up with her and she beat it in a fight. She’s literally using the stolen powers of a god.”

Once again, the assembled leadership fell silent.

“And we kept Akira on our side for months.” Kelly breathed. “I guess that means we can rule out the End of the Cycle agreeing to help us. What about the other four?”

“We already have two of the Shroud-Beings on our side.” Mira said. “That gives us a huge advantage already.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be big enough.” Bradford said. “Not if the reports we’ve been hearing are any measure of true.”

The Commander was talking about the now-daily flow of starships arriving at Earth. Every day, vessels from all over the Galaxy arrived, bringing news of how the Beast was now wielding incredible Psionic powers and was completely unstoppable in the field of battle. Bradford turned to Mira and asked:

“You said the Eater of the Worlds give martial prowess, right? Do you have any idea where we could find it? How would we communicate with the Shroud?”

Mira folded her arms in thought. Truthfully, she had no idea where the Eater of Worlds was, and was quite happy to keep it that way. She had already fought it once and wasn’t too keen on sharing a battlefield with it again. Reluctantly, she suggested asking the Whisperers in the Void.

…

One by one, Mira, Bradford, and Kelly shuffled into the laboratory where Tygan and Vahlen were working on Duane, Violet, and the Composer of Strands. All three individuals had been strapped down on their gurneys and were conscious. When they arrived, Doctor Vahlen was asking the trio a series of questions from a clipboard while Tygan had a surprising discovery to reveal.

“When Mihaka mentioned that the Shroud-Beings are able to fuse themselves to Gifted individuals, I decided to take another look.” Tygan said. “Come closer, Commander. You may find this interesting.”

Doctor Tygan gestured to the face of the Composer of Strands. Mira realized that she was looking at an elderly Human male whose right arm had been completely severed at the shoulder. The man’s hair and beard had grown wild and out of control, but there was something strangely familiar about him. Bradford was the first one to figure it out!

“That’s Chaplain Petoskey!” Bradford gasped.

“Impossible!” Kelly replied. “He was killed when we raided the Alien Fortress.”

“According to Captain Robinson’s after-action-report, no one actually saw Petoskey die.” Tygan pointed out. “He was last seen being knocked to the ground by a Psionic attack.”

“Furthermore,” Vahlen added, “All medical examinations confirm that Chaplain Petoskey is very much alive. I detect all of the brain activity you would normally see in a ninety-one-year-old man.”

Mira let out an awed sigh and brushed one hand on the Composer’s face, which she now recognized as belonging to Ignatius Petoskey. The old Chaplain's mouth opened and the Composer of Strands spoke in a mournful tone:

“This man was injured, dying. He was willing to pay any price to see his comrades again.”

“So, Ignatius made a covenant with you, then?”

“Yes. One of desperation, the terms were quite favorable to me.”

Director Kelly frowned.

“I’m not too sure how I feel about that.” She said.

“And you?” Mira directed her voice towards Violet, but it was the Whisperers in the Void who replied:

“Someone told this girl what we are and where to find us.” The Whisperers admitted. “Her motivation was built upon greed, but like your fallen Chaplain, the bargain was struck during a moment of life-threatening danger. The terms favored us.”

“Someone?” Bradford repeated.

“Akira Robinson.” The Whisperers in the Void repeated. “She considers it of the utmost importance that Humanity seizes control of ourselves and our kin.”

This… this was not the response Mira had been expecting, not by a longshot. She had thought she finally understood Akira’s plans, she had strongly believed she had the whole thing figured out! And now, in the most casual of ways, here was the Whisperers in the Void telling Mira that her guess was so badly off!

Bradford must had read the look of shock on Mira’s face because he turned to Violet and asked:

“Where are the other two, the Eater of Worlds and the Instrument of Desire?”

“The Instrument is being delivered to you.” The Whisperers replied. “It is already on its way here. As for the Eater, we can sense its satisfaction.”

Violet’s head turned towards Mira; her eyebrows raised.

“The Eater has not tasted such delicious flesh in a very long time. It has been quite happy since Robinson passed it on to his wife. Although that may change once Robinson and Jericho return home.”

Oh… oh, no… Oh, no!

…

Saturday, July 5, 2036 – 4:45pm
Honolulu, Oahu Island, Hawaiian Republic


A group of adolescent Vipers were sunning themselves on the sidewalk in front of the apartment complex where Chihiro Tachibana lived. Most neighbors had grown accustomed to the sight of lazy serpents in the summertime, as these reptilian aliens were cold-blooded and needed to keep warm as much as possible. A young Python had curled herself up on the concrete stairs and was soaking up as much sunlight as she could get away with, ignoring the alarmed hisses of her friends and the squealing of tires until it was nearly too late.

Opening her eyes, the Python saw an Armored Personnel Carrier painted with the blue and grey colors of the Reclamation Agency skidding to a halt just in front of the apartment building! The Python only had a few seconds to get away before a team of Humans and Hybrids erupted out of the vehicle and stormed up the stairway!

Once they found the apartment they were looking for, the Reclamation agents banged loudly on the door and shouted:

“Open up! Reclamation Agency with a search warrant!”

The sound of a baby crying could be heard before the door opened. Looking thoroughly annoyed and her hair messed up, Chihiro Tachibana poked her head out of the apartment and said:

“Look, guys, if you wanna come inside, just ask. No need to bring the fucking Spetsnaz.”

Inside, the Reclamation Agents found a fairly typical and average home of a single mother. A large number of children’s toys were piled up in a far corner of the living room while a few select items were right in the middle of the floor. A package full of fresh new diapers occupied a rocking chair, whilst all the ingredients of heathy baby food were waiting to be mixed on the kitchen counter.

There were three other people in the apartment. XCOM soldier Sophia Kuznetsova was sitting at the dining table, holding a cup of hot tea in both hands. Sophia had been startled by the sudden entry and was shaking so much that her tea had spilled all over the table. Next to her, Sophie Ackermann was holding onto Sophia’s hand with a sorrowful expression on her own face. Himawari Robinson was squirming and flailing about in her high chair, frightened to no end by the big men with scary guns. Mira Mihaka followed the Reclamation agents into the apartment. While they started to search the place, Mira grabbed Chihiro by the shoulder.

“My old sword, Chihiro, where is it!?”

“Huh?” Chihiro seemed confused. “Smith said I could keep it. It’s in the trophy case in my room and- hey! What’s going on!”

Mira had stood up and relayed Chihiro’s words to the Reclamation Agents.

“Listen, I’ll be able to tell you everything very soon.” Mira explained. “For now, suffice to say that I was wrong, horribly wrong about that sword! But now is the time for action. I need to take you to XCOM Headquarters; Corporal Kuznetsova and Sergeant Ackermann, you both need to go back to the XCOM FOB!”

Sophia seemed to shrink into her chair while Sophie put a reassuring arm around her shoulder.

“Oh, no!” Chihiro gasped. “Mira, can we go together?”

Chihiro leaned in close and whispered into Mira’s ear.

“Sophia’s not in a good place these days. She really needs someone to chat with, and we were doing so well.”

Mira shook her head.

“Sorry. This is coming from Bradford.” She said. “We’ve got to get moving now, things are in motion already!”

Two Reclamation Agents emerged from Chihiro’s bedroom. One of them as carrying the Katana carefully while his partner opened up a specially designed case that caught Chihiro’s eye.

“Who the hell lines the inside of a weapon case with rocks?” she asked, pointing towards strange item.

As an Agent placed the Katana inside of the rock-lined case and snapped it shut, Mira replied:

“That’s synthetic Aetherium. It has a very short half-life and is only good for a few hours. That’s why we need to move now!”

Chihiro grabbed Himawari from her high chair and held her close.

“Am I missing something, Mira? Does this have anything to do which that Intel I sent you about Duane and Violet? Did you catch Akira?”

Mira shook her head.

“We have reason to believe that both Jericho and your husband might be alive, and that they’re on their way back to Earth right now!”

Chihiro froze, unable to think of anything to say. Instead, her mouth just bobbed open and closed as though she were some kind of fish. Behind her, Sophia set down her tea and stood up.

“Well, we’d better get going then. I’m sure Chihiro will want to meet Blake on the landing pad if it’s really true.”

“What about you?” Chihiro asked. “Will you be okay?”

Sophia adjusted her headscarf, making sure her features were covered up, and replied in a defiant tone of voice:

“Doesn’t really matter. No one ever misses me anyway.”

Sophia either didn’t see or chose to ignore the hurt expression on Sophie’s face.

Chapter 43: Imposed Cosmos

Chapter Thirty-Eight
Imposed Cosmos

Friday, August 1, 2036 – 5:00am
Barnard’s Star System, United Nations of Earth, The Galactic Front Line

In a matter of just twenty-five minutes, the entire Barnard’s Star system had become a nebula. Unlike those clouds of gas and dust, the blue star had been completely blotted out by a swirling vortex of shredded metal, wire, and charred flesh. From a distance, it was simply impossible to see into the battlefield. Lights flickered and flashed like sick demented fireworks, in a continuous display of violence on a scale no human being could ever imagine. Every planet, moon, and minor rock in the system was now engulfed in the colossal field of wreckage and debris. And as for the eight Humans caught in the middle of a battlefield that spanned hundreds of millions of miles in any direction…

Where the hell do I even start?

The sound of mass driver rounds hitting our hull was like a hailstorm, each impact making our ears ring painfully. Most of us couldn’t hear our own heartbeats over the sound of air hissing as it escaped through a crack that had appeared in our bulkhead door.

“The room next door depressurized!” Sarah yelled.

“Seal that breach!” Temirzhan tossed several tubes of emergency sealant across the Cloak control room towards me!

I jumped to catch one, remembering too late that the ship’s internal gravity had failed! Sailing upward, I hit my head on the ceiling, hard! Coming to rest above everyone else, I tossed the sealant to Tsubaki, who had hooked her prosthetic leg on a railing to keep herself in place.

“How are we supposed to get out afterward?” Yukiko asked. “If the door is sealed?”

“The bridge crew will send someone for us, or a salvage team, depending on how badly we’ve been hit.” Dolim replied.

I started to ask “How do we know how badly we’ve been hit?”

But before a single word left my mouth, the entire room turned upside down and violently shuddered! The whole ship shook and rattled like an out-of-control carnival ride, throwing us all around at frightening speed! Sarah, Yukiko, Tsubaki, Dolim, Temirzhan, and I all got tossed chaotically around the room, crashing into each other in midair before the roller coaster ride from hell came to a sudden end!

Once everything stopped moving, we took stock again.

Somebody had crashed into the main body of the Cloaking Sail during the Kakama’s frantic evasive maneuver and disabled the entire system. Tsubaki was hanging from the floor by her cybernetic ankle (Relative to me. I was sitting on the ceiling. Remember, the artificial gravity was out) and Dolim, being so small, had crashed into the open drawer of a filing cabinet and had gotten stuck. While Yukiko moved to rescue the trapped lizard, Temirzhan pulled Sarah out of a pile of debris and gave her a tight hug.

“Is it over?” Sarah squeaked.

Looking up, I realized that the whole ship had been re-oriented in space, and that I was now standing on the one and only window in the room. Peering out of it, I saw a glittering fog of wreckage and debris sliding past at high speed. Bright flashes of weapons fire lit up the field light a nighttime lightning storm. To my left, the intercom speaker crackled and Manako’s voice came out:

“All sections, give me a damage report!”

Pressing the talk button with my heel, I said:

“Cloak control room here, Commander. We’re offline and got some minor injuries.”

“Can you send the wounded to the infirmary?” Asked the voice of Kanti Divakar.

“Negative.” I replied. “We’re trapped behind a blast door. The next room depressurized.”

“Stay where you are, Robinson.” Kanti ordered. “Repair the sail as best you can and we’ll dig you out once the fight’s over!”

Temirzhan and Yukiko pushed the Cloaking Sail back into its proper alignment while Dolim examined the intricate radiator assembly that had almost burst through its housing.

“Could have been worse.” The Kelt engineer reported. “Commander Ranginui, we won’t be able to give you a full cloak, but we can make it extremely difficult for the enemy to see us!”

“Good!” Manako replied. “Get set up, but don’t cloak us yet, we’re lining up a torpedo run!”

While our Triple Alliance comrades worked to repair the Cloaking Sail, Tsubaki got herself unstuck and glided across the room to the window. I heard her exclaim in Japanese, saying a phase that meant something like “Wow, look at that!” Peering out of the window, I spotted what had caught her attention.

 

The Beast fleet had re-oriented itself into a defensive formation. There was now a dense cloud of Super-Capitol ships directly between the Tryna and Astynome. Despite their best efforts, the United Armada and their Human reinforcements were having no luck in punching a hole in the formation. The Tryna itself had a very slow rate of fire, meaning that another successful strike against Astynome was now highly unlikely. Human spaceplanes fired missile after missile into the dense cloud of ships. Each projectile was tipped with a warhead that erupted into a brilliant thermonuclear fireball, incinerating countless Beast ships, but nowhere near enough to clear a path through the enemy. There was simply too many of them.

“Our side’s gonna run out of steam before we punch through that defense!” Tsubaki said.

“Yeah, we’re about to land in a whole world of trouble.” I added. “We really need to think about retreating.”

“Perhaps that’s why your people came to help us!” Temirzhan commented. “They’re here to facilitate our escape!”

“If that’s the case, they’d better hurry!” Sarah said. “We’re going to be overrun!”

A tiny hand with tiny scales pushed my leg.

“Out of my way!” Dolim got down on all fours and quickly punched a series of commands into the intercom terminal.

“This way,” The reptilian engineer said, “We’ll be prepared for the next maneuver!”

Battle chatter from the rest of the ship began to ring out over the comm!

“Report!” Manako demanded.

“Hull breach along deck two!” Reepi answered. “The nuclear plant is still running!”

“What about life support?”

“We’re still breathing!” Elsina confirmed. “Air is good!”

“Kalili, who the hell just shot us!?”

There was a pause while Kailani and the other bridge crew members tried to figure out exactly what had just attacked our ship.

“Aw, Son of Inari!” Kailani responded! “Sir, it’s a Heavy Cruiser! Fifty Kios ahead and closing fast with weapons hot!”

“All hands, brace! Brace! Brace!” Manako warned just before the ship heeled over into another high-gee maneuver!

This time, we were kind of ready. Everyone grabbed onto something solid as the Kakama turned and twisted violently underneath us! Temirzhan, Sarah, and I were dashed on the ceiling again, but nobody went flying this time. My back pressed against metal, I could feel an intense throbbing run through the hull as our torpedo tubes and laser cannons were put through their paces. Out the window, I saw the massive profile of an infected Heavy Cruiser pass by our starboard flank.

“The cruiser’s coming around for another pass!” Kailani shouted.

“Hard to port! Reload both of the forward torpedo tubes and give me a firing solution for the rear tube!” Manako ordered. “Elsina, what do we know about that cruiser, any weaknesses?”

“That’s an old ship from the Levakian Uprising!” the lioness replied. “Hull markings say it’s the HMS Sarda! She’s a Zivon-class Heavy Cruiser, they were retired from service because of outmoded short-range sensors!”

“Short-range sensors?” he replied. “Can we use that to our advantage?”

“Yes, we can!” Elsina confirmed. “Zivon sensors can be defeated with holograms and cloaking devices!”

“Bridge calling Cloak Generator!” Manako spoke to my team through the intercom. “Get our cloak back as quick as you can, we’re about to fight a Heavy Cruiser!”

In our little corner of the ship, Dolim took charge.

“Everyone, check the connections and power supplies! Call out breaks in the line as you find them!”

Sarah, Dolim, Yukiko, Temirzhan, Tsubaki, and I frantically started moving around the cables and pipes leading into the Cloaking Sail, patching breaks as we went. While I stitched two fuel lines together with sealant, we heard another voice over the intercom!

“Mahuika calling Kakama! That cruiser’s making a run on the Tryna!” Makara shouted. “Draw their fire away from Jericho!”

“Copy all!” Manako replied, “Lock lasers and move us in for an attack run!”

“Bridge, wait!” Temirzhan hollered. “Our cloak isn’t up yet!”

Before any of us could raise the alarm, I heard the Kakama’s engines suddenly spool up to full thrust before we embarked on our most violent maneuver yet! The entire ship rotated 45 degrees along her axis before accelerating hard!

“They’re turning to engage us!” Elsina shouted. “Incoming!”

WHAM!

Something hit the starboard side of the Kakama with incredible force! All six of us lost our grip and flew towards the outside wall, crashing into it hard enough to draw blood and crack bones! Dolim got trapped underneath Yukiko, who had hit her head and fallen unconscious. Tsubaki’s (cybernetic) right leg twisted in an unnatural way and broke, sending bits of metal shrapnel and droplets of oil flying in all directions! Sarah flew into a power cable running from the ceiling into the Cloaking Sail, it briefly wrapped around her neck before breaking in two and allowing her to continue her fall.

“What the hell was that!?” Temirzhan yelled into the intercom.

“Sorry down there!” Soylent’s voice replied. “We just got our asses kicked!”

“All hands, stay where you are!” Manako ordered. “Gunners, engage that Ion Cannon Frigate! Center-right quadrant, port side! Kalili! Hard to port and throttle engines ahead slow!”

The Kakama heeled over and brought her upper stern weapons to bear against a Hiigaran Ion Cannon Frigate. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered that someone had once called these things “Firelances.”

Up in the dorsal laser turret, Soylent Green and Hal Macintosh poured hot violet into the enemy vessel, deflecting its main weapon away on our ship! At the same time, a torpedo launched from the rear tube and finished off the enemy!

“Commander! Tube three is out of ammo!” Adil reported over the intercom. “We’ve got one torpedo in the tube now but that’s it!”

A mass driver round sailed past the dorsal turret and clipped our radio tower!

“Damnit Temirzhan!” Manako chimed in, “That cruiser’s got our number! We need our cloak back right now!”

I pointed to the cable Sarah had just broken!

“We need to fix that line!” I reminded the team.

With a great big heave and a small pop! Dolim freed himself from underneath Yukiko’s limp form. I was quite alarmed to see that not all of the reptilian engineer had escaped. Dolim’s tail had broken off entirely and was presumably still trapped underneath Yukiko, leaving our Kelt friend looking even smaller than he already was.

“It grows back.” Dolim quipped, noticing where I was looking. He pulled a roll of electrical tape from his pocket and pointed up towards the broken cable. “Throw me up there!”

It only took one try to launch Dolim in the right direction! Deftly catching the broken wire, Dolim started to reconnect the two halves of the cable while the rest of us (sans Yukiko) did our final checks on the rest of the Cloaking Sail.

“System’s looking good over here!” Temirzhan called out! “Robinson, how’s it on your end?”

“Thermal regulators are online!” I called back! “We just need power!”

Dolim wrapped one more loop of electrical tape around the newly repaired cable and gave it a tug.

“Secure!” he shouted.

“Cloak to bridge!” I yelled. “We’re ready to run silent!”

“Sir!” Kailani added. “Partogan Heavy Cruisers are weak from behind! Their engines are exposed!”

“Copy all!” Manako replied. “All hands, brace for High-Gee maneuver!”

Tsubaki detached her broken prosthetic leg and hooked it on a floor fixture, hanging on for dear life! I pushed off the floor and grabbed Yukiko, making sure she wouldn’t get hurt in the weightless melee to come! Thrusters firing madly, the Kakama started darting around the enemy flanks just as she started to vanish!

“We’re running silent!” Temirzhan confirmed.

“Torpedo tubes one through three loaded and ready!” Elsina reported. “Tube three is on their last torpedo!”

“Laser turrets awaiting target!” Soylent chimed in.

“Helm, put us between the Tryna and the cruiser!” Manako ordered. “On my signal, swing us out and around to the starboard, prepare to orbit the enemy with medium eccentricity, put our periapsis just above his engine bell!”

In our little room, my comrades and I held on for dear life as the ship maneuvered and twisted beneath us! Out the window, our view of the enemy cruiser shifted as the Kakama took up a firing position directly in front of the enemy!

“In position, we’re ready!” Kailani said.

“Drop the cloak! Open fire!”

The Kakama re-appeared directly in front of the enemy cruiser! We were now less than two hundred feet away from the cruiser’s bow! So close that even out my window, I could see the enemy turrets starting to swivel towards us!

“Target the Ion Cannons!” Manako shouted! “Tubes one and two, fire!”

A pair of torpedoes sped away from the Kakama and hit the nose of the enemy cruiser before detonating their warheads! Both Ion Cannons broke free of their mounting and spun off into space!

“Move!” Manako yelled!

The Kakama darted to the right as the Heavy Cruiser opened fire with its large mass driver guns and Infection Beam attack. The charged particle beam pancaked on our Psionic shield, doing no damage and failing to pass the virus onto us! Everyone cheered!

“Thank Sajuuk for Jericho!” Temirzhan yelled.

“Guardian angel of the void!” Kanti added.

The Heavy Cruiser’s turrets swiveled around, trying to track the Kakama as she moved, but Manako had one last surprise in store!

“Cloak us!” He ordered. “Helm, raise our altitude relative to the enemy by fifty Bios! Go right over his damned head!”

Dolim and I fired up the Cloaking Sail one more time! Now we were so close to the enemy that the infected cruiser was partially inside of our own Cloaking field! At once, all of the enemy’s gun turrets began to spin around and face nonsensical directions! One mass driver actually turned so far around that it locked in place, sparks and flame shooting out of its base!

“We scrambled their sensors!” Elsina reported. “It’s now or never!”

“Laser cannons, standby to engage!” Manako yelled.

The Kakama put her nose down and dove! The world around us turned red as we flew straight into the exhaust plume of the enemy cruiser’s engine array! The silhouette of the Kakama was visible for just a moment before we sprang our ambush! Soylent shouted as loudly as he could:

“SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!!”

The Kakama de-cloaked and opened fire! Both of our laser turrets tore into the enemy, firing directly into the engine block! The last torpedo rocketed out of our rear tube and embedded itself in the enemy before detonating in a fantastic explosion! Flesh and metal alike were pulverized under the bombardment! Disabled, the cruiser drifted away from us, its guns falling silent.

“Cruiser down!” Kailani cheered!

Everybody aboard the Kakama cheered and yelled themselves hoarse! I grabbed Yukiko and shook her awake, and she started to join in the celebration before someone yelled over the intercom:

“We’ve still got almost twenty-thousand enemy cruisers out there! Keep up the fire!”

“NO! We need to withdraw!”

To this day, I’m not sure if Jericho had talked over the radio or if her voice had telepathically spoken in all of our minds. Either way, the message came through and everyone understood it. Jericho’s Psionic shields wouldn’t last forever, and we simply couldn’t win a battle of attrition against the Beast. Not right now. Makara Ranginui’s voice sounded across the comm net for all of our forces to hear:

“This is Fleet Command! All ships break contact and prepare for Emergency Hyperspace Jump! Capitol and Production ships, cast your fields wide so you can Wake Jump the frigates!”

Manako addressed everybody aboard the Kakama.

“All crew, stay in place! We’re going to perform an Emergency Wake Jump alongside the Tantomile!”

“Wake Jump?” Tsubaki repeated. “What’s that?”

“The Tantomile’s gonna pull us into Hyperspace behind her!” Dolim answered. “We’ll stay at a safe distance so we don’t get irradiated!”

“Wake Jump protocols initiated!” Kailani said. “Everyone hang on, we’re gonna jump in a minute!”

It was the longest sixty seconds of my life, but for tens of thousands of people that day, it was their last. The Triple Alliance Armada broke contact and began to flee from the enemy, but the Beast gave chase! Just 45 seconds before the jump, our fleet finally lost its Psionic shield and became vulnerable at last. Fighters and Corvettes were picked off by the dozen, missiles and torpedoes rained down on our frigates and Destroyers. Ion Beams raked our Capitol ships, disabling crucial systems at the last moment!

With 30 seconds left until the Hyperspace Jump, several mass driver rounds struck the Kakama in the stern, causing us to lurch forward and tumble through space! Tsubaki grabbed my hand and Dolim held onto mine as centrifugal force sent us all hurtling towards the walls again!

In the last few moments, the enemy concentrated their fire on our Super-Capitol ships, determined to stop as many of our Cruisers, Carriers, and Motherships from escaping as possible! A Blorg Battleship fell out of formation and exploded, the flare of light and fire brighter even than the nearby star itself!

Hyperspace Jump engaged.

And then, at long last, a Quantum Wavefront washed over the Kakama, taking us away from the scene of carnage.

…

Saturday, August 2, 2036 – 5:00am
Proxima Centauri Star System, United Nations of Earth, The Galactic Front Line


I woke up to the sound of a loud bang and metal scraping. For the first time since the Battle of Sirius began, the blast door separating the Cloaking Sail from the rest of the ship was finally opened, and two Triple Alliance crew worked their way inside.

“Aha! I told you we’d come get you!” Elsina bragged. “How long have you guys been without gravity?”

“The whole time.” Tsubaki grumbled. She was floating upside down (relative to Elsina) and had the look of someone who would never be comfortable sleeping in zero-g. “Did you guys have gravity this whole time?”

“Kinda.” Reepi answered as he followed Elsina into the room. “The ship’s stern took the worst hits. The farther back you go, the fewer Grav-plates are working. Watch your step, by the way. It’s 10% of normal gravity in the next room.”

While Reepi and Elsina had been extracting us from our almost-final tomb, the rest of the armada had re-assembled in the Proxima Centauri system, a region of space very close to Earth.

“It’s just a stone’s throw from here to your Homeworld.” Kailani had explained.

Clearly, these spacefaring people had different ideas about how to measure distances. Maybe the expression’s meaning changes once faster-than-light travel becomes possible. I made a mental note to ask Mira about it when we got back to Earth. Speaking of which…Now that things were quiet and calm, I finally got my first look at the Human warships that had come to our aid.

According to Manako Ranginui, these vessels were the latest additions to the United Nations Navy. There were fourteen ships in all, built and operated by different member-states of the UN. I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pride when I spotted two spaceplanes bearing the flag and colors of the United States. Someone told me they were called the Old Ironsides and Old Glory, both names were references to moments from early US history.

The Battlemaster-class Gunship had been designed by the Chinese military and quickly adopted by the rest of AFUNE. The vessel itself was a sleek design. These spaceplanes were designed to operate in or near Earth’s atmosphere, and had a dual-cycle engine to accommodate the job. If the Battlemasters needed to fly in space, they would switch their airbreathing engines to a closed-cycle mode that burned liquid hydrogen instead of jet fuel. Out of the 14 Battlemasters, only one had a Hyperspace Module. The HMAS Bushranger had been built in Australia and was the first vessel in a “new generation” of Battlemasters. Supposedly, there was a fifteenth ship under construction at Earth.

As for the ships themselves, each spaceplane packed a whole lot of firepower. There were four mass driver turrets total, two on the dorsal fuselage and two on the ventral side. Each wing possessed six missile pylons, allowing the spaceplane to carry up to twelve anti-ship missiles into battle. These missiles were tipped with 150-Kiloton nuclear warheads. A single Battlemaster carried enough firepower to wipe a small country like Ireland or Korea completely off the face of the Earth.

The UN fleet sent a representative to meet the leaders of the Triple Alliance Armada aboard the LVK Tantomile, and luckily enough, all of my teammates, plus Yukiko and Sarah, were with me aboard the ship at the same time. We were on our way to check in on Jericho at the time, and she had been able to meet us in the hangar bay as we disembarked from the wrecked and battered Kakama. (Tsubaki had to hobble along on her ruined leg) As soon as Jericho spotted our group, she made it known how happy she was to see us.

“You’re alive!” Jericho hugged Tsubaki so tightly that the latter soldier let out a squeaking noise. “I was so scared for you guys!”

“Scared for us?” Kathleen challenged. “It looks like we should be scared for you! Wha’ happened over there?”

Kathleen wasn’t kidding around. Jericho had dark circles under her eyes, her face had gone pale, and she looked thoroughly worn-out; even her eyes had lost most of their color, turning light grey. Jericho hand-waved Kathleen’s concerns.

“I exhausted myself defending the fleet.” Jericho explained. “I mean, I kinda knew that was going to happen. That’s why I’m here now. I’m recharging.”

It was going to take some time, but Jericho’s Gift would regenerate, something we were all quite happy to know about right now.

“So, do you think you’ll be able to shield us again when the Beast gets to Earth?” I asked.

Jericho shrugged.

“Hopefully I’ll be using the Trinity, so it won’t be necessary.” She said. “But I’ll keep that in mind.”

As we moved to one side of the hangar bay, one of the Battlemaster spaceplanes came in for a landing. The long and narrow hangar floor made for a perfect runway, allowing the Bushranger to taxi on her wheels and come to rest near the Kakama. A boarding ramp descended from the midsection of the fuselage, just behind what I guessed to be a crew area, and four people emerged, one of whom I recognized.

“I don’t believe it, it’s Lee!” I shouted!

North Korean pilot Lee Chong-Il waved at us before running our way. The look of shock on his face didn’t quite register until he was within ten feet or so.

“I’ll be damned, you’re all still alive!” Chong-Il said as he arrived. “All eight of you still kickin’, that’s freaking incredible! You guys don’t know how many gamblers you just bankrupted!”

“Is it too late to place my bets?” Kathleen joked. “We’re not home yet.”

Chong-Il laughed before he got back to business.

“Look guys, a lot’s gone down since you left. Come find me after this big meeting and I’ll get you your messages from home.”

“Messages from home?” Tsubaki repeated. “Who!?”

“Did Chihiro send anything?” I interrupted. “Is she okay?”

“Yes and yes.” Chong-Il replied, pointing at me. “Find me afterward.”

…

The commanding officer of the UN Fleet was this American woman named Marie Ferrell, and as we found out, her fleet had been given the mission of rescuing any ships near Earth that were ambushed by the Beast. The Triple Alliace Armada was, without question, the biggest catch of Ferrell’s career, and she was beside herself on what to do next.

Once Ferrell was escorted into the Tantomile’s main conference hall, she came face to face with Queen Kendra, the Vanian Conclave of Telepaths, and Jericho. (who, apparently, Ferrell had thought to be dead) Admitting that she was very far out of her depth, Ferrell pointed out something crucial that none of us had thought of before:

“Earth doesn’t have the facilities or food supply to support a fleet this large. You guys had better pray the war ends soon, ‘cause you can’t just hang around Earth for too long. You’ll starve us to death.”

“Can you put us in contact with the UN government?” Queen Kendra asked. “This may be our only opportunity to end the war quickly, and it must be seized!”

Captain Ferrell nodded.

“Sure. There’s a bunch of people on Earth who are itching to talk to you anyway.”

…

While the AFUNE reps and Triple Alliance delegation worked to figure out a plan for getting the entire armada to Earth quickly, I took my fellow Stormbreakers to find Lee Chong-Il. We left Yukiko behind at the meeting because this sort of function was her forte.

Sarah, Tsubaki, Kathleen, Soylent, Hal, and I found Chong-Il inside of the crew area of the Dreadnaught. It was our first time aboard a Battlemaster, and I’m pretty sure we were all acting like hapless tourists, taking in the unusual sights with many oohh’s and aahh’s.

I once compared the inside of Partogan starships to the interior of a nuclear submarine. The inside of the Dreadnaught was like walking around a B-29 bomber. It was so cramped that everyone except Tsubaki and Sarah ran the risk of hitting their heads on the ceiling. Soylent Green was such a big and tall man that he actually had trouble fitting his muscular frame through the doorways on either end of the crew compartment, and he genuinely did not fit inside of the cockpit, which had clearly been designed with smaller Humans in mind.

Once we all had our tour of the ship, Chong-Il directed our attention towards a computer in the crew area.

“We’ve got messages for all of you.” he said, “Make sure you send Jericho and Yukiko to see me as well, alright?”

Kathleen was up first. A short video began to play: Alexis Alexander, one of the many American warlords currently fighting for control of the US Presidency, appeared on screen. My heart did a little flutter at the sight of Alexander, who I’ll always consider an old friend.

“Walsh!” Alexander said. “I heard you and Robinson might still be alive out there! I’m hoping and praying for you both to come home safe! Get back here before the war ends, alright? It’s not fair if I have all the fun!”

The screen went blank.

“Endo, this is for you.” Chong-Il played the next video.

Three people appeared on-screen: a Japanese man, a Human-Viper Hybrid, and Chihiro Tachibana. One by one, all three individuals spoke in Japanese, addressing Tsubaki. I probably could have understood a quarter of what they were saying, but I was too distracted. I hadn’t seen my wife in over six months… and there she was! Chihiro looked a little tired, and her long black hair was more frazzled than usual, but she seemed to be happy. My wife’s smile seemed to transfer to Tsubaki, as she grew more and more excited with each moment until the video stopped playing.

“What’s up?” Sarah asked. “What did they say?”

“Chihiro got my old place back!” Tsubaki choked, crying with joy. “My old family apartment above the restaurant in Nagasaki!”

For Soylent, there were words of encouragement from his nephew. A bunch of Resistance fighters who had once served in the same police precinct as Hal Macintosh promised to meet him when he returned to Earth, and finally, there was a video addressed to Sarah Harris that blew us all away! Someone had convinced nearly a quarter of the population of Christchurch (a town in New Zealand) to gather in front of a camera and record a message of support for Sarah. Our Kiwi translator burst into tears as her friends and neighbors wished her a safe return to Earth.

Finally, I was last. As I traded places with Sarah in front of the computer, I noticed that Chong-Il was regarding me with a sly smile, like a prankster who was on the verge of revealing his greatest work of trickery.

“Lee, do you know something I don’t?” I asked.

Chong-Il simply nodded and pressed play.

Chihiro Tachibana appeared onscreen alone, and she looked very, very nervous. I felt an uncomfortable lurch in my stomach, and no small amount of fear bubbled up in the back of my mind.

“So, they just told me you might be alive, Blake.” Chihiro said, her voice trembled like she was about to cry. “And there’s so, so much that I wanna say, and I don’t know where to start, and I have to keep this short. I thought of a hundred different ways to do this, but in the end, I decided to keep it simple. Blake… There’s… uh… there’s someone I want you to meet.”

And then Chihiro stood up and left the frame. Soylent, Tsubaki, Sarah, Hal, and Kathleen all gasped, which really didn’t help.

Ever hear the expression “my imagination ran amok?”

My imagination ran amok.

Fifteen different versions of what would happen next played through my mind in rapid succession, each more unpleasant and fearful than the last. I lived through a nightmare in which Chihiro had remarried. I imagined her going back to Tokyo to live with the Imperial family. I was just starting to picture another scenario that would end with me losing my wife when Chihiro suddenly re-appeared on screen, carrying a large bundle.

I saw what was in her hands, and my heart leapt into my throat to pound furiously against my windpipe! I might as well have been electrocuted! I couldn’t think straight, and nothing else mattered or made sense. The only thing in the world I could focus on or care about was the six-month-old child cradled in Chihiro’s arms, who had caramel-colored skin and light purple eyes. The baby yawned and looked into the camera with a curious expression. Just like her mother, the little girl was dressed in a light blue outfit. Chihiro introduced us:

“Blake Alexander, I’d like you to meet Himawari Alexandria.”

My mind when blank. I struggled to make any noises or sounds that weren’t mindless babbling, but little Himawari beat me to it. She saw my image on her screen, hiccupped once, and then burst into hysterical laughter! My new daughter pointed at me with one hand before placing that hand firmly in her own mouth and sucking on it. I couldn’t help but laugh as well.

“Well hello to you too!” I said.

The smile on Chihiro’s face flickered.

“Uh, Blake… she’s deaf. She can’t hear you.”

Oh.

Well, that news definitely put a damper on my mood, but it didn’t last long. Himawari’s eyes had been locked on the digital image of me this whole time. So, I leaned forward and gave her the biggest smile I could.

“But she can see me just fine… and I can’t wait to see her in person!”

Chapter 44: Pale Blue Dot

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Pale Blue Dot

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 9:30am
Sol Star System, United Nations of Earth, The Galactic Front Line

The Triple Alliance Armada arrived in the Sol System without fanfare or reception. It should have been a time to celebrate or relax after our harrowing seven-month journey back to Earth, but the mood had been dampened considerably.

The Beast Mothership, Astynome, and her now-massive escort fleet were so close to Earth that they could be seen from Pluto through a telescope. Agamemnon wasn’t far behind.

We split our forces as the armada entered the Outer Solar System. Defensive lines were drawn from Pluto to the asteroid belt. Hyperspace Inhibitors were strategically placed all over the system, forcing any potential invader to follow a path that would cross those positions. Our Vaygr allies deployed their own Hyperspace Gates at crucial locations around the system, allowing a starship to travel from Earth to any other planet in the system in just a matter of seconds.

All of this was done with some help from the Stormbreakers. It was our home system, after all. Yukiko tipped the Triple Alliance off about the resource-rich asteroids that orbited the four giant worlds, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Jupiter. The valuable minerals and ores drawn from the rocky worlds were put to use repairing the more seriously damaged vessels in the armada, while Resource Collectors and Mobile Refineries stockpiled as many resources as possible, to deny them to the enemy. A Levakian forward operating base was built on Hyperion, one of the moons of Saturn, while the automated Micore ships took to systematically strip-mining Callisto and Ganymede for resources.

While the harvester fleet was left to carry on, the Tantomile, Tryna, Kakama, Mahuika, and Nomad Moon continued towards Earth. However, the Taiidani battlestation had to be left behind before we passed by Mars. The Nomad Moon was so massive and heavy that it generated its own gravitational field. As soon as the station passed through the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet Ceres was perturbed in its orbit so badly that some of us feared it might just escape the solar system entirely. As we left the Nomad Moon behind with orders to help set up the defensive positions, her commander warned us:

“Astynome and Agamemnon are far larger than us. The enemy will be able to weaponize gravity itself against us. We should be prepared.”

Then, at long last, we were home.

One short-range Hyperspace jump put the Tantomile and Mahuika into a very high orbit above the Moon, looking down on a certain pale blue dot that shone in the darkness of space like a shimmering marble. We could see the Earth below, calm and tranquil. But Yukiko drew our attention to something else:

“Look at that! That’s the Trinity!”

Even from here, we could see the monstrous weapon platform orbiting Venus. It reflected so much light from the sun that I’m sure Venus had lost its title as the brightest object in the night sky. Manako Ranginui finished speaking with someone over the intercom and came to join us.

“A UN warship is coming to meet us.” He said. “I don’t think I need to emphasize that there’s no small amount of celebration going on down on the planet right now.”

Tsubaki, who was walking with the aid using an improvised walking stick made from a metal pipe, asked:

“So does that mean we can go straight home?”

“I’m afraid not.” Manako replied. “You folks have one last detour to take.”

…

In the hangar bay of the Mothership Tantomile, my team and I waited anxiously for the arrival of our ride out of here. Behind us, a large team of engineers had descended upon the Kakama, which was about to receive a long-overdue repair and refit. Soylent and Hal both cast nostalgic looks back at the battered old Assault Frigate.

“That ship’s a tough old bird.” Soylent remarked. “Wonderful piece of work.”

“Fulla history, too.” Hal added. “Did you ever talk to that Levakian Elsina? She says that thing’s over a hundred years old, and that it used to belong to some great Empress or something like that.”

“If it survives the war, I say we turn Kakama into a museum ship.” I added.

I couldn’t help but feel a little regret. I had meant to ask Elsina about the life story of Empress Coricopat, the historical figure who had once owned the Kakama, but I had never gotten around to it. But those thoughts didn’t last long in my mind, because a UN spaceplane swooped into the hangar bay and used the entire length of the hangar floor to taxi to a stop. While two of its crew members rushed to re-pack the parachutes used to slow the vehicle down, three more people descended the boarding ramp and waved at us.

“That’s our ride!” Kathleen said. “Let’s go!”

Letting Tsubaki lean on my shoulder, I followed the group towards the spaceplane. As we drew closer, I could see the flag and words painted on the fuselage. When we were just fifty feet away from the ship, I stopped moving and Tsubaki nearly fell over.

“Blake! What’s the problem!?” she complained.

I pointed to the UN spaceplane. I had finally gotten close enough to clearly make out the words painted on the side in big black letters, and they had caused me great alarm:

“United Nations of Earth – JSDF Ark Angel”

The three people standing at the bottom of the boarding ramp looked to where I was pointing, and then one of them ran over to us, waving his arms.

“Woah, woah, woah! It’s not Akira! She’s not here!”

Chinese military commander Shaojie Zhang had to shout to get my attention. He grabbed me by the shoulder and gave my whole body a vigorous shake in greeting.

“Although you’ve got to admit this is impressive!” Zhang said. “We salvaged the wreck of the original ship from Jilin, and used some of the components to build the new version!”

“New version?” I repeated.

“Sure!” Zhang answered. “I guess you can call this the Ark Angel mark two. Roughly twenty-five percent of the ship is the original vessel Akira was using. The rest is built from scratch. Of course, we had to acknowledge everything Akira did to help us overthrow the Elders, so the badly translated name was allowed to stand.”

The new Ark Angel had a few stark differences from the one I had last seen languishing in a Chinese hangar: First, the insignia of the Japan Self Defense Force had been painted onto the tail. Also, the engines had been redesigned to incorporate Partogan technology. Finally, the fuselage had been slightly elongated for reasons that were beyond me. I assumed this version of the Ark Angel was using a new technology the previous one had not.

Waiting for us at the bottom of the ramp were two members of XCOM: Central Officer Holly Smith and Corporal Sophia Kuznetsova. Smith and Soylent grabbed one another in a very tight embrace at the first opportunity!

“Bloody hell, you gave us all a right good scare, Soylent!” Holly seemed to be holding back tears.

“Happy to see you too, mate.” Soylent replied.

Kathleen, Tsubaki, Sarah, Hal, and I all tackled Sophia in a big group hug.

“I’m sorry no one else is here.” Our Russian comrade mumbled. “Everyone else is either busy or not allowed to fly in space.”

“Stop givin’ out and just hug me!” Kathleen said. “God, I’ve missed everyone so much! I can’t wait to get back to Earth.”

“Just be a little more patient.” Sophia said. “We’ve got to make a stop at the Trinity first.”

“The Trinity?” I repeated. “How come?”

The answer came from behind me, at the bottom of the ramp:

“I need to talk to some people about ending this war.”

Jericho had arrived, pushing the Partogan Queen Kendra in her wheelchair. Kendra was busy talking to the same one-armed old man I’d spotted at Aoraki a few months back. Jericho was wearing a backpack that was laden down with something very heavy.

“Her Majesty and I have some business with AFUNE leadership at the Trinity.” Jericho told me. “Then we’ll drop you off on Earth. I’m sure you guys are anxious to see old friends again.”

“Not as anxious as Tachibana.” Sophia quipped. “Be ready, Robinson. When I left, she was rehearsing how she’s gonna introduce you to your kid.”

“Kid!?” Jericho repeated, looking excited! “Oh, yeah that’s right! It’s August! Asuna’s going to be born in a few weeks!”

“Asuna?” Sophia and I both repeated. “Who?”

“Hey, Jericho! Your Intel’s bad.” Sophia commented. “The kid’s name is Himawari, and she was born about six months ago.”

…

Don’t let the history books or tv programs lie to you. Flying aboard the Ark Angel was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life. There is absolutely nothing glorious about crossing the Solar System in a pressurized tube barely big enough to fit ten people! None of us could stretch our arms or legs without hitting somebody else. On top of that, standing up in the crew compartment is impossible because of all the equipment strapped to the ceiling.

Oh, did I mention standing up? You can’t do that in flight at all. As it turns out, the designers of the Battlemaster-class gunship had decided to completely forgo artificial gravity generators in order to free up electrical power for other systems. The only way you can ever “walk” on this ship is if it’s on a runway… on a planet!

Then there’s the weird way the ship goes about Hyperspace Jumps. See, on every Triple Alliance ship I’ve been on before now, the crew would have to hide in Radiation Shelters during Jumps because of the lethal gamma radiation put out by Hyperspace Modules. The Ark Angel and her sistership, the Bushranger, both took this concept and turned it on its head:

Aboard the Ark Angel, the Hyperspace module is fully sealed inside of a “cocoon” made from solid lead. The lead cocoon absorbs the gamma rays, making it safe for the crew of the ship to stay at their posts during a Jump. Unfortunately, lead is extremely dense. The sheer weight of the Hyperspace Cocoon severely hampers the performance of both the sublight engines and the Hyperspace module itself. The farthest the Ark Angel can travel in a single jump is five light-years, whereas the Kakama can do nearly two hundred light-years in one go.

Thankfully for my own sanity, today’s Hyperspace jump carried us only a few million miles away from the Earth, and towards a rendezvous above my homeworld’s hellish twin.

…

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 3:00pm
L2 Lagrange Point of Venus, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


Our arrival at the Trinity construction site caused one hell of a disruption. Wherever a window faced the approaching Ark Angel, members of nearly every spacefaring civilization in the Galaxy had gathered to watch our approach. Ships of varying size and configuration throttled down their engines and gave us the right-of-way, while one of the Trinity’s largest hangar bays opened up to receive us.

The Trinity itself was gargantuan. Once we got within a few hundred miles of the weapon, it was impossible to keep the entire thing in view at once. While Sophia talked our ears off about the weapons specs and size, Jericho had eyes only for the centermost section of hull, as though she already knew what was hidden deep within. I had to remind myself that Jericho had helped to design this thing, so it was quite possible she did indeed know what was waiting for us inside.

In the hangar, there might as well have been a ticker-tape parade waiting for us. Some two thousand Humans, Partogans, Hiigarans, Levakians, Taiidani, and other assorted aliens welcomed us with overwhelming cheers and applause as the boarding ramp lowered into place. Over the heads of the reveling crowd, I spotted three people making their way towards us from another part of the hangar.

XCOM’s former mobile headquarters, the Avenger, had landed next to the Ark Angel. Pushing and shoving their way past the crowd, Commander John Bradford, Doctor Richard Tygan, and Chief Engineer Lily Shen finally reached us, letting out loud exclamations of relief.

“Robinson, you made one helluvan entrance!” Bradford clapped me on the back. “Where the hell did you find this bigass fleet!?”

Tygan and Shen each allowed Tsubaki to rest on their shoulders. Carrying her between them, Shen said:

“You keep breaking or losing these artificial legs, Endo, and I’m just gonna get you some wheels. Prosthetics don’t grow on trees.”

Sharing a laugh at Tsubaki’s expense, Bradford greeted each of his lost soldiers as they descended the ramp. Soylent Green folded his arms and pointed up at the Avenger.

“No one touched my still?” he asked.

“Actually,” Bradford replied with a sly smile. “I saved the stuff you were brewing. Found a really nice oak barrel in a cellar in New Zealand and kept your brew in there. Just between you and me, Soylent, when this war’s over, you should seriously consider selling bourbon. I think you might have found a winning recipe.”

Shen pointed to the rest of the group and said:

“Everyone load up your gear on the Avenger! We’re going home as soon as Harper gives the word!”

“The Secretary-General is here?” Hal asked. “How come?”

Shen didn’t answer. She just pointed at Jericho. The young Hawaiian looked around the hangar and said:

“I’m guessing this thing has changed since we designed it. Care to show me the way to the Control Room?”

…

Unlike many other starships around the Galaxy, the Control Room of the Trinity is embedded deep within the superstructure, miles and miles away from the hangar bay. A transportation network akin to a modern subway ran through the interior of the station, interconnecting all of the crewed areas. Bradford called one of these traincars to the station at the back of the hangar, and Yukiko, Sarah, and I were chosen to accompany Jericho on her trip to the control room. We were followed onto the train by Bradford, Queen Kendra, and her elderly attendant. The journey to the core of the Trinity was undertaken in silence. Sarah and I spent most of our time looking out the windows, admiring the massive structure around us, but when we got there, we were in for one more surprise.

The Control Room itself was a dome-shaped area, accessible only by elevator. A massive structure stood in the center of the room, built from technologies and devices that I could barely understand. It was an obelisk of wire, circuit boards, hydraulics, and other unidentifiable tech. There were two people standing around the obelisk: Mira Mihaka and…

“VAHLEN!”

I couldn’t help it. I shouted the name of XCOM’s former chief scientist, a downright insane half-French, half-German woman who up until a second ago, I had thought was dead! Doctor Moria Vahlen, looking far more rugged than the last time I’d seen her, looked around at me and gasped!

“Blake Alexander Robinson! Alive and in the flesh!”

Vahlen ignored the other people who I had arrived with, walked right up to me, grabbed my arms and started to examine me, exactly the way she used to in the old days:

“Hhmm… Forty-three years old, although ADVENT seems to have taken a couple of decades off you.” Vahlen murmured. “These Genetic Modifications are downright primitive! You might be the only Human I ever gave enhanced leg muscles, Robinson. I suspect you’ve gotten very little use out of them, no?”

“Almost no use.” I confirmed. “And they don’t help in zero-g.”

I had learned a very long time ago to just let Vahlen do her thing when she got in the zone like this. The old scientist continued poking and prodding at me, muttering to herself.

“Not as muscular as I remember, perhaps a side effect of spending so much time in microgravity. I will need to borrow you for a space survivability study and…”

I cut her off.

“Doctor Vahlen,” I said. “Have you met my friend?”

I stood aside and allowed Vahlen to see Jericho, who jumped with surprise and started to turn a little red.

Oh, come on! Jericho’s telepathic voice spoke up in my mind. That was a dirty trick, Blake! I was hoping to do this some other time!

Doctor Vahlen looked at Jericho, back to me, then back at Jericho. Her eyes went as wide as saucers.

“It… It’s you!” Vahlen gasped. “It’s really you!”

Jericho grabbed the straps of her backpack and nodded nervously.

“Uh, huh. Yeah. It’s me.”

Vahlen gently touched Jericho’s face.

“The last time I saw you, you were a zygote! Full of potential and hope for the future!”

“And Meld.” Yukiko quipped. “I remember you pumped her so full of Meld that she was glowing orange for weeks. It looked like her mother had swallowed a jar full of fireflies!”

And just like that, the moment was killed.

Raucous laughter filled the control room as Mira fell to her knees, shaking with mirth. Queen Kendra probably would have fallen out of her wheelchair if that old man hadn’t been there to stabilize her, and Sarah was smiling so hard that she had begun to cry. After a moment, Mira made a loud exclamation in Partogan, which caused both Kendra and her companion to freeze.

“Wait a moment,” Kendra said, speaking in the Galactic Common. “You speak our language?”

I looked back at Mira. At this point, it had been over a year since that fateful battle in Vladivostok, where Mira had vacated her original body. Using her unique power of Astral Projection, Mira had permanently relocated herself into the body of an Avatar, a Human-Ethereal Hybrid built on the same technology and knowledge as Jericho herself.

Queen Kendra could be forgiven for failing to recognize Mira Mihaka as a Partogan. Hell, it took me a few extra seconds to realize who I was looking at as well. Since the last time I had seen her, Mira had done some cosmetic work on her new body, making it her own. She had completely shaven her head, darkened her skin to look more like a Maori or a Partogan, and there was also some kind of Psionic device permanently implanted in the side of her head. She was a new woman, a Partogan mind inside of a mostly-Human being.

 

 

But then again… there was certainly a lot of evidence that Partogans and Humans are the same species… so I honestly can’t say I still considered Mira to be an “alien” these days.

Mira put her tablet computer in a niche in the side of the obelisk and approached Queen Kendra. Then she bent forward in a deep bow, until her body was bent at a ninety-degree angle.

“Warmest greetings, my Queen.” Mira said. “A century ago I promised we’d meet again. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”

Kendra’s jaw fell open. Yukiko and Bradford both said at the same time:

“Wait, you know her!?”

Queen Kendra recovered from the shock, then looked up at the old man pushing her wheelchair. She gave him a small smile and said:

“Like we rehearsed?”

“Of course.” The one-armed man replied.

Then both elderly Partogans spoke to Mira at the same time:

“General Waiano Kopunui, you’re fired!”

Mira couldn’t help but share the same laughter as Kendra and her companion.

“I guess I had that coming.” Mira answered. “Though I am still glad to see you again, Toa Wahine, and you, Eteka. I hope your grandchildren are well.”

“Manako and Makara are bringing the fleet in now.” The man called Eteka replied.

Mira then greeted Jericho, who hugged her adoptive mother so tightly I wondered if Mira’s head was just going to pop off its shoulders. Queen Kendra allowed them to have a moment before saying:

“Much was risked and sacrificed to bring her home, Mira. I hope you can make our efforts worthwhile.”

“That’s the plan.” Mira said. “Now that you’re back, Jericho, we can return to our original plan to end this war.”

Jericho unshouldered her backpack and unzipped it, allowing Mira and Doctor Vahlen to both look inside:

“We brought the Aetherium and Protodermis you need to finish the weapon!” Jericho said proudly.

Vahlen withdrew the big chunk of Aetherium crystal we’d been carrying around since our brief visit to Partoga. She looked it over before smiling.

“This will do nicely. Well done, all of you! I will begin to assemble the firing mechanism right away.”

“How long will it take?” Jericho asked. “The Beast is in Proxima Centauri, we can’t afford to wait very long.”

“Two or three days at most.” Vahlen replied. “Once it is done, all we need is for the female Ranginui to come back and help us complete the integration assembly.”

“Integration? I repeated, confused.

To my surprise, Jericho was able to answer my question. Clearly, she had not forgotten the design specs of the Trinity during our lengthy absence.

“It’s the system that’ll let me control and pilot the Trinity.” Jericho sounded a little nervous while she explained: “Makara designed the tech and tested it on herself a few years ago. Basically, I… uh… um. I control the Trinity by becoming a part of it. I’m going to be in there.”

She pointed to the obelisk.

An awed silence filled the room, which was broken a moment later by Eteka.

“You’ll become an Unbound.”

“Yes.” Jericho confirmed. “That’s the plan.”

Doctor Vahlen opened up a small hatchway in the obelisk and slid the Aetherium crystal inside of it. Closing the little doorway, Vahlen nonchalantly said:

“Bradford, when you go back to Earth, make sure to take Jericho with you. She will need to undergo preparatory surgery for the integration. Also, someone will need inform Mister Gardner that he is no longer needed.”

I saw Jericho’s mood go through a powerful whiplash as she quickly said:

“Wait, Duane!? What’s he got to do with this!?”

“Our backup plan.” Commander Bradford replied. “If you never came back, we were going to have him pilot the Trinity instead. I’ll fill you in on the details on the way back to Earth.”

Then he gestured to Queen Kendra and Eteka.

“If you follow me, we’ll be taking the Avenger back to Earth. Per your request, we’ve arranged a meeting with Secretary-General Harper to discuss plans for the defense of Earth and the Trinity.”

…

 

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 1:00pm

Low Earth Orbit, Sol Star System, The Galactic Front Line


God, I missed the Avenger!

XCOM’s old ship is roomier and more spacious than the Battlemaster gunships, even if it lacks any kind of artificial gravity. As soon as we were aboard, Soylent, Kathleen, Hal, and I made our way to the bar. Soylent set to work figuring out how to serve beer in those drink pouches that work in zero-g while I seized a tablet computer and made a video call to Chihiro. She and Himawari were at XCOM Headquarters in Japan, waiting for us.

“We’re keeping ourselves busy while we wait.” Chihiro said. “The little one’s decided she wants to learn how to stand up on her own today.”

My teammates and I spent our flight back to Earth watching videos of Himawari learning how to stand upright. The six-month-old girl grabbed her mother’s arm and pulled herself up, locking her knees for a few seconds before falling over backwards and landing on her behind, to many giggles and laughs.

Meanwhile, Jericho, Mira, Queen Kendra, and Commander Bradford had a meeting in the Resistance Ring for about an hour before they came to join us. I couldn’t help but be amused by the fact that Partoga’s supercentenarian ruler was much more mobile in zero-g than in normal Gravity. Having left her wheelchair behind, Kendra was gently pulled into a seat at the bar by Jericho. One by one, the rest of the Stormbreakers arrived to share drinks with us. Soylent seemed to slide back into the role of bartender as easily as though he’d never left.

Sarah Harris was the only one among us who seemed less than happy about returning to Earth, and it was quite easy to see why. When she pushed herself off the wall and difted across the bar toward us, I spotted something shiny sticking out of one of her cargo pockets.

“Harris, you’ll need to secure that before we re-enter the atmosphere.” I said, pointing to it. “It looks sharp enough to stab you!”

Sarah reached into her pocket and placed a short dagger on the countertop. It started to drift away before Bradford grabbed it and took a closer look.

“Alright, Harris. None of XCOM’s combat knives look like this.” He said. “Where’d you get it.”

“That’s no ordinary knife, Commander.” Queen Kendra said. “That’s an Assurian courting gift! See the precious stones in the handle?”

While Bradford and Soylent took a closer look at the dagger, Kathleen asked:

“Alright, Harris. What’s his name?”

Sarah blushed, let out a high-pitched squeal, and buried her face in her hands, completely embarrassed. I laughed so hard that I almost missed the light tap on my shoulder and a soft voice in my ear.

“Hey, uh, speaking of gifts…”

Sophia Kuznetsova had just arrived. She situated herself on the bar stool next to me as best she could without gravity and said:

“Hey, so… your wife and her friend Sophie have been really kind to me while you were gone, and I just wanted to pay it forward.”

She put one hand deep into her cargo pocket and produced a piece of light blue fabric. It had a green-and-white triangular pattern woven into it, and I recognized it as one of her spare headscarves, although for the life of me I couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Sophia actually wearing it.

“Ludmilla made this.” Sophia explained. “I saw your little girl playing with it last time I was at your place, and… well…”

She pushed the scarf into my hands.

“Himawari will probably look really pretty with it.”

Before I could say anything, Sophia pushed off from the floor and started making for the exit. I turned around and called after her:

“Wait, why’d you give me this? Is everything alright?”

Sophia paused in the doorway. It seemed to take her forever to choose her answer. When she looked back at me, I could see the corners of Sophia’s eyes had crinkled in a rare smile.

“I’m alright, Blake.” Sophia warbled. “Better than I’ve been in a long time.”

Then she left.

…

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 4:35pm

XCOM Headquarters, Nagasaki, Kyushu Island, Earth


Once more, there was a mob of people waiting for us when the Avenger touched down at XCOM HQ. Humans, Hybrids, and Aliens alike cheered and celebrated our safe return. The sight of Jericho stepping down the boarding ramp damn near caused all of Nagasaki to riot!

Wrestling their way through the crowd, the Earthbound half of Stormbreaker Squad came to meet us as soon as we hit the tarmac. News reporters were made to wait their turn as Matthew Hawkins gave Soylent Green a huge bear hug, Sophie Ackermann offered Kathleen Walsh a swig from her flask, and Isis Dekker embraced Jericho, both women sobbing loudly at the sight of one another.

Central Officer Smith and Commander Bradford put up a valiant effort to part the crowds and give us all a clear shot to XCOM’s new command center.

“How the hell can this island hold so many people!?” Bradford yelled.

I didn’t care. I had eyes for only one person in the sea of Humanity that engulfed us.

Unlike for the rest of our squad, the assembled masses parted like the Red Sea as a young woman wearing a blue dress came our way. I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I’d seen Chihiro Tachibana wearing civilian clothing, but I do know that once I spotted her, I couldn’t look away. Riding along in a baby carrier on her mother’s front, Himawari craned her neck as she tried to look at all of the people around her before she spotted me.

Those first few moments with Chihiro are kind of a blur for me. We didn’t let go of each other for a long time. Even Himawari got one of her little hands wrapped around my finger and held on tight. We were so happy to see each other that all we could do was cry. After a moment, Chihiro gave me a light punch in the chest.

“You said you’d only be gone for two weeks!” Chihiro sobbed. “You said you’d call!”

“Yeah, the Beast had other ideas.” I replied.

“I’m gonna kill the Beast for that.” Chihiro growled.

“You know, I brought a fleet of over a million ships back with me.” I said. “Just tell me where to point it.”

Himawari popped one of my fingers in her mouth and started sucking on it as though it were candy. Chi and I both laughed until we couldn’t breathe.

“Is that how she says hello?” I asked.

“Only to people she likes.” Chihiro giggled. “She just got her first tooth and she’s loving it!”

…

After about fifteen minutes of wrestling through the crowd, all of the Stormbreakers managed to push their way into XCOM HQ. Bradford and Shen were able to disburse the crowd and send most of the civilians home. At some point, Queen Kendra and Eteka broke off from their group and headed to a different section of XCOM HQ. They were being escorted by Bradford to their meeting with UN Secretary-General Laura Harper. Meanwhile, all of the Stormbreakers gathered together in a conference room on the ground floor.0000

Then the longest debrief in my life happened.

First, the Earthbound Stormbreakers told us what they had been doing since my team left. We heard about their battles with the sea monsters and the Deep One, and how the Deep One had turned out to be a Shroud-Being called the Composer of Strands. When I heard about how Chihiro had fought and vanquished the combined force of the Beast and the Whisperers in the Void, I was so impressed that I gave her a very long and intense kiss right in front of the entire squad. Mira explained how she suspected and ultimately confirmed a second Shroud-Being was inside of her Katana.

“The Eater of Worlds is an exceptionally dangerous creature.” Mira told us. “You, Tachibana, and myself were all in no small amount of danger when we wielded that weapon.”

The story of how Chihiro had given birth immediately after a battle made me feel sick, a feeling that was amplified when Chihiro told me how distant family members had come out of the woodwork to try and lay claim on Himawari.

“Your brother doesn’t surprise me all that much, Chi.” I said. “But if I remember Japanese law right, there’s a hitch. You got married me, a foreign commoner. Doesn’t that mean both you and Himawari are disqualified from ever rejoining the Imperial Family?”

“It wasn’t a legal marriage.” Chihiro answered. “Akio’s leaning pretty hard on that detail. What about this Miranda lady? Who the hell is she?”

I laughed.

“Miranda is my dad’s sister.” I replied. “She’s the black sheep of the Robinson family, never got along with us. Voted against Dad in every election and thought he was a moron from day one. I honestly thought the aliens got her. What’s she doing these days?”

My Aunt Miranda, as it turned out, had joined one of the armed factions fighting in a rapidly escalating civil war in the United States. There were still half a dozen people claiming to be President, and it was starting to look like America’s contribution to the war effort would be limited to just two Battlemaster gunships. Speaking of the war…

The Spaceborne Stormbreakers told their story next. We explained how we had survived the assault on Hiigara and escaped. By this point, Manako, Makara, Kailani, and several other Triple Alliance soldiers had joined us in the conference room and added their own accounts to the story. Queen Kendra was very interested to hear about where the Kakama had been before arriving at Partoga.

Then Jericho took over to talk us through the phenomenon of the Psionic Blackouts. No one on Earth had managed to figure out what was causing them, and Mira took notes while Jericho relayed what she had learned on her expedition to the Shroud. Eventually, it was revealed that the Vanian Conclave of Telepaths had brought an Ethereal to Earth, one that was on our side. This wasn’t as shocking as when Matthew Hawkins counted on his fingers and said:

“Hold up, you’re telling me that our side now controls four out of five Shroud-Beings? And that they’re all here on Earth!?”

Sophia Kuznetsova shuddered.

“So, we’re really gonna team up with nightmare monsters out of a Lovecraft book to fight the Beast?”

Jericho nodded grimly.

“Pretty much.” She admitted. “The Beast is far worse than any of us could have thought.”

Jericho then launched into a retelling of everything we had learned about Agamemnon and Astynome, as well as a detailed explanation of how the bio-mechanical virus worked, as well as our plan to inoculate everybody who was going to fight against it. At one point, Sophia retched and declared she was going to be sick. She stood up and left the conference room. A female Japanese soldier who was posted near the door offered to escort Sophia to the bathroom.

Meanwhile we carried on with our debriefing. Yutaka Yamamoto did his best to cover up his rank insignia with one hand the whole time, but Sophie eventually spilled the beans about him being reduced to Private. Mira filled us in about Akira’s disappearance, and how she seemed to be manipulating events from the shadows.

“If I had to guess,” Isis commented. “Akira was satisfied with operating in the open last year because she didn’t have to worry about the Partogans. Now that they’re here, she’s worried they’ll get in her way.”

“But that’s a good thing, right?” I said. “We want Akira to stop messing with our lives.”

“Aye, but do we, though?” Kathleen responded. “I mean, we owe a lot to her. We probably wouldn’t have overthrown the Elders without her.”

“What are the odd she’s responsible for the Elders being on our world in the first place?” Holly countered. “The Partogans said she’s tampered with all of Galactic history, not just us.”

Mira rapped her knuckles on the table.

“Whatever Akira’s new plan is, it cannot be good.” The former Chosen Assassin said. “She manipulated Duane Gardner into exploiting the goodwill of people who only wanted to serve Jericho. He led them to their deaths, knowing he could capitalize on their demise to seize the Composer of Strands.”

We all paused for a moment to think. Finally, Makara Ranginui spoke up.

“Where is Duane anyway? I thought he was supposed to be preparing to pilot the Trinity.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s on-post.” Chihiro pulled out a small device. “I’ll call him.”

“Oh, my god!” Sarah gasped. “Is that a cell phone!?”

I let out a low whistle.

“Haven’t seen a working cell phone since the invasion.” I commented. “2015, or 2016. It’s definitely been a while.”

Chihiro smiled at me, dialed a number, and spoke into the receiver.

“Hey Gardner,” she said. “Where are you? We wanted to ask… hey, man! Slow down! What’s going on!?”

Chihiro’s voice became alarmed, and she spoke quickly, in a tone of voice that implied something horrible was about to happen.

“Guys, Duane says that Sophia just locked herself inside the air traffic control tower!”

Nearly two dozen chairs scraped loudly as everyone sprang to their feet!

…

It was the fastest I’ve ever run in my life. From XCOM Headquarters to the ATC tower is about seven hundred feet, most of it through the main terminals of Nagasaki Airport. We covered the distance in less than two minutes! The Earthbound Stormbreakers quickly outpaced those of us who had been in space for the past six months, running ahead of the main group. There were several XCOM soldiers attempting to set up a security cordon around the tower, but we muscled our way past them and pressed on.

The Nagasaki Airport tower is about six stories tall, and is attached to a building roughly half it’s height. To the north, south, and east was the waters of the Ariake Sea, which were frighteningly choppy today. A mixed force of UN Army, XCOM, and VDF soldiers had surrounded the control tower and were using binoculars and telescopes to scan the windows and roof of the main building.

“The structure was empty!” A VDF soldier was saying to his XCOM counterpart. “She just locked the doors from the inside and activated the old ADVENT security system!”

Kathleen cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted towards the building:

“Kuznetsova!! What’s goin’ on with ya!?”

While I paced around the outside of the building, looking for a way in, I asked:

“Did anyone notice anything odd? Behavior that didn’t add up, maybe?”

“What, you think Akira just bodysnatched Sophia!?” Isis asked.

I felt a lump catch in my throat. Honestly, that was a preferable alternative to the suspicion now lurking in the back of my mind. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the scarf Sophia had given me just hours before. Chihiro saw it and gasped!

“Ludmilla made that!” She said. “Why do you have it?”

“Gave it to me.” I replied, “And she seemed really happy to do it, too.”

All of the color left Chihiro’s face. To my surprise, the same thing happened to several of the soldiers around me. A sweeping realization made its way through the team as Chihiro said in a terrified whisper:

“She took off her shoes.”

And then it hit me. I didn’t need to look around the grass and pavement to realize Chihiro had used a Japanese metaphor. Next to me, the VDF soldier grabbed his radio and said into it:

“Base one, this is unit fifteen! Call an ambulance, we’ve got a jumper at the tower!”

Looking up frantically, I could have sworn I saw a brief flicker of movement in a third story window.

“We gotta get in there.”

“Yup. Follow me!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chihiro pass Himawari into the arms of Makara Ranginui. I had just one half of a second to realize what she was about to do before my wife sprang into a run, pounding the pavement hard as she careened towards a first-story window!

“Chi, wait!” I yelled. “Sophia turned on the security system, remember!?”

I pelted down the road after Chihiro, and a second set of footfalls behind me told me that someone was keeping pace with us. Covering her face with both hands, Chihiro launched herself towards the window and smashed through it shoulder-first! The instant the glass broke, a loud alarm siren began to wail! It was a noise I’d heard far too often during the war against ADVENT. It meant the building was about to be locked down! Cursing, I jumped through the shattered glass and crashed into the room on the other side! Someone hit me from behind and we both tumbled to the floor just as four bright red beams of light appeared in the smashed window! A small but secure force field had sealed the broken window so that no one else could enter or exit!

“Damnit!” Shouted Yutaka’s voice from the other side of the window. “Trojan, you make sure Antigone’s okay! We’ll work on cutting the power!”

I hadn’t heard anyone call Sophia by her callsign in almost six months, so it took me a second to get my thoughts straight. In that time, the two people I’d crashed into the building with got back to their feet.

“Icarus.” Said Chihiro.

“Dragon.” Said Sophie. “C’mon, Trojan! We’re on the clock!”

We didn’t really fan out to search the building. The three of us went straight for the stairs and started to climb. We figured that if Sophia was really planning to do what we were worried about, she wouldn’t try to hide. Furthermore, there were no weapon in the tower she could hurt herself with. Unless…

“Does Sophia have her weapons on her?” I asked.

“No!” Chihiro and Sophie answered.

“All XCOM weapons are locked up in the armory!” Sophie said. “I really doubt she broke in, Shen’s got a bunch of those androids guarding the place! That’s probably why she’s gonna j-”

“Don’t say that!” Chihiro cried!

Putting extra power in her steps, Chihiro rounded the corner and ran towards the elevator doors, intending to ride all the way up to the top of the tower. Jamming the button with her thumb, Chihiro tried to force her way inside of the elevator car as soon as it opened.

But there was already someone inside.

“Elevator’s too slow.” Said Akira Robinson. “Take the stairs!”

Sophie turned on the spot and doubled back for the stairwell, only stopping when she realized Chihiro and I were no longer following. Both of us stood rooted to the spot.

This wasn’t fair!

Of all the times for Akira to suddenly re-appear, this was the worst possible moment! And in the most infuriating of ways, as well! She was wearing the exact same uniform as the soldier who had offered to escort Sophia to the bathroom just half an hour ago! In fact, with the benefit of hindsight, I’m pretty sure that it had been Akira the whole fucking time!

Akira raised her left arm and looked at a wristwatch.

“You’ve got six minutes and forty-five seconds before she decides to jump.” Akira told us. “You’d better get moving!”

“Can’t you do something!?” Chihiro pleaded. “Help us save her!”

“No.” Akira said in a foreboding way. “If I help rescue her, history takes a different path. If anyone other than you save her, the timeline gets messy; and if she dies, you’ll all be killed during the War in Heaven. It has to be you three. No one else can save Sophia.”

Chihiro was begging for Sophia’s life.

“Come on! Telepathy! Or just grab her! Anything!”

Akira shook her head and tapped her own temple with one finger.

“I’m blacked out, Mom. So are you. Can’t you feel it?”

I don’t know why, but that scared me more than anything else that could have been happening right now. Chihiro was now hyperventilating, fear threatening to overwhelm her!

“But… but… b-b-”

“You’ve got six minutes left!” Akira raised her voice! “She jumps at exactly 5:15pm! And I don’t know how long this Blackout’s gonna last, but I wouldn’t count on your powers coming back before then! GO!”

Chihiro whimpered once and then started dashing toward the staircase. I turned around to look at Akira.

“I swear to God, if you put her on that roof…”

“Does it really matter how she got up there!?” Akira cut me off. “She went up there to die, and her future best friends pulled her back from the brink. I’m just helping history onto the right path. Today, the price of a perfect future is to just nudge Sophia in the right direction. You’ve got five minutes left, by the way.”

She sounded so fucking smug when she said that. I was seething so hard that I could feel my heartbeat in my fingertips.

“Are you really blacked out?” I asked. “No Gift at all?”

“Blackout started about two minutes ago.” Akira replied while pushing one of the elevator buttons. “Why?”

And then I punched her in the face!

Once!

Twice!

Three times!

I wailed on Akira with both fists until she went down! She was caught by surprise so badly that she never had a chance to fight back! Coughing and spitting blood, Akira tried to scramble out of my way, but I kicked her in the ribcage, pressed my boot into her throat, and forced Akira to stay down!

“If I had a weapon, I would have killed you.” I growled. “Remember that.”

For good measure, I kicked Akira squarely in the head! She crumpled to the floor of the elevator and curled up in the fetal position, whimpering and groaning from the pain. Her blood smeared the soles of my boots and I nearly slipped! Once I was sure Akira wasn’t going to get up again. Then I turned to run up the stairs, following Sophie and Chihiro up the tower. From the bottom of the stairwell, I heard the sound of the alarm system being deactivated, and voices starting to echo along the ground floor.

“AKIRA’S HERE!” I shouted down the stairwell. “Third floor elevator landing! She’s down!”

Then I scrambled up the stairs.

…

It was really windy on the roof of the ATC building. Looking around the stairwell door frantically, I realized that there was nothing out here except for two large radio antennas. For a couple of seconds, I started to worry that I was somehow on the wrong roof, then I realized I could hear voices above me!

“It doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing matters.”

Sophia’s words came from somewhere above me to my left. Turning around, I looked up and saw, just for a brief moment, a flutter of long black hair billowing in the wind at the top of the control tower itself! A chest-high barrier had been built around the control room at the top of the tower, and Chihiro was standing close enough to it that her hair was catching the wind!

For a moment, I seriously considered using my Meld-enhanced legs to just jump the remaining 25 feet between myself and my comrades, but then I realized my sudden appearance might frighten Sophia into doing something irreversible. Instead, I stepped back into the stairwell and started making my way up to the top of the tower, taking care to make some noise as I ascended. Chihiro’s voice echoed down the stairwell

“Sophia, you matter! Not just to us, to the whole damn squad! That’s why we’re here, so we can get through this together!”

“Get through what!?” Sophia retorted. “You wanna pull me out of this nightmare and jump right into another one!? Aliens, sea monsters, now some kind of fucking space Cthulhu!? What the hell makes you think I want to live my life hopping from one nightmare to the next! I just want it to stop! I want out!”

“We’re not going to do that!” Sophie replied. I was about one floor below them now, the sounds of my blood-covered feet slipping on the floor “Sophia, you’re our friend! We just want to help you!”

I reached the door and forced my way into the control room. Sophia had pried open a door leading to the observation ledge outside, and was sitting on the concrete barrier, one leg dangled over the windward side, as though she were almost ready to take the plunge. Sophie and Chihiro were about six feet away. They had halted their advance to avoid scaring Sophia, and as I moved to join them, I raised my hands and moved slowly.

“I wish you could, but it’s too late for that.” Sophia’s voice was surprisingly clear through her headscarf. “There’s nothing, no one left for me here. I don’t wanna keep going. I’m hurting and I’m scared and I just want it to stop! I just want it to end!”

Right as I rounded the doorway and stepped out onto the balcony, Sophia swung her other leg over the barrier! She was now facing forward, towards the shimmering sea only a few yards away and about fifty feet straight down.

“Sophia!” I shouted, “Please! Don’t do this! There are so many of us who care about you!”

“Like who!?” Sophia spat at me. “Ludmilla’s buried in a ditch! She’s the only one who really cared. She’s the only one who ever understood me!”

Oh, damn. The thought coursed through me like lightning. Whatever Sophia was going through now, her twin sister was at the core of it!

Thankfully, Chihiro was quick on her feet.

“Sophia, I’ve lost a sibling. The Elders took Akeno from me, and I never even got to say goodbye. Please, please trust me! I know what kind of pain you’re going through.”

Sophia looked from Chihiro to me. I shook my head.

“I don’t even know where Jackie is buried.” I admitted. “That kind of pain is a nightmare all by itself. Please trust us, Sophia. We understand what you’re going through.”

Then Sophia turned to Sophie. Our white South African friend had, throughout this whole conversation, inched away from Chihiro and I and drawn inexorably closer to Sophia.

“I don’t have any siblings.” Sophie said. “But, uh, you’ll always be special to me.”

Sophia shifted on her perch, turning her head and body to view Sophie.

“I was locked in the Assassin’s prison for months!” Sophie went on quickly. “I honestly thought I was going to die in there, and that no one was coming to help us… but then you opened the door and let me out. Sophia, you came for me when I thought no one would. Let me return the favor.”

Sophia was now visibly hesitating. Her eyes darted back and forth between Sophie, Chihiro, and myself. Sophie took another half-step forward.

“I’m here for you.” Sophie said. “Whenever you need me.”

Sophia seemed to be frozen in time and space. After what felt like a painful eternity, she put both hands on the barrier, as though she was about to move herself… and then…

She slipped!

Sophia started to vanish below the line of the concrete barrier! Sophie, Chihiro and I all lunged forward! Sophie got there first, having crossed the shortest distance! She wrapped both of her arms around Sophia’s torso and arrested her fall! But it wasn’t for long! Sophia’s weight started to pull Sophie over the edge as well, who screamed loudly:

“I’VE GOT HER! PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP! PULL ME UP!”

Chihiro and I grabbed onto Sophie’s belt and started to tug!

“BLAKE!” Chihiro shouted. “I’ve got Icarus! Grab Antigone!”

I moved around to Sophie’s right side and leaned out over the edge, casting my head and arms into the abyss, and balancing myself on the same barrier Sophia had just fallen from! I braced myself by pressing my feet against the control tower windows behind me and managed to find Sophia’s arm before I locked eyes on her. That was when I realized Sophia’s headscarf had come off during the scuffle, and I looked straight into her uncovered face!

I’m very ashamed to admit this, but when I saw Sophia Kuznetsova’s face, I felt a powerful temptation to scream and let go.

There was a hole in Sophia’s right cheek, about an inch and a half below her right eye, and I could see though it and into her mouth! Fighting a powerful urge to vomit, I tightened my grip on Sophia’s arm and shouted:

“Pull!”

I felt Chihiro’s hand tug on my belt, and for a moment, Sophia and I both rose, but a loud scraping noise caught my attention!

“I’m slipping!” Sophie shrieked! “Someone grab me!”

“HELP HER!” I yelled over my shoulder to my wife.

Chihiro let go my belt entirely and seized Sophie! I looked back down at Sophia and added:

“Grab me, we’ll pull you up!”

Sophia was still hanging from Sophie’s arms, which were interlocked around her chest. Squirming and flailing, Sophia grabbed a handful of the fabric of my uniform, just behind my neck. With a powerful tug, Sophia managed to lift herself a few inches before my boots, still covered in Akira’s blood… slipped.

I lost my balance and fell forward!

Suddenly, my legs were higher than my head, the side of the building rose up to hit me in the face! I lost my grip on Sophia and all was wind and rushing and speed and tumbling!

I don’t remember hitting the ground.

 

 

END OF ACT THREE

Chapter 45: War Stories: Green and Blue

The Second Hyperspace War: Stories from the Front
#4: Green and Blue

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 9:30am
Sol Star System, United Nations of Earth, The Galactic Front Line


As the combined forces of the Triple Alliance armada and the UN Navy re-entered the Sol System and started traveling towards Earth, one of Humanity’s new gunships abruptly fell out of line. Engines sputtering and smoke trailing from a gash in her hull, the Israeli warship Crusader dropped away from the fleet and began to broadcast a distress message for all to hear.

Two more starships moved away from the fleet, a Human Gunship and a Partogan Carrier. The allied vessel reached the stricken spaceplane first, deploying a pair of Salvage Corvettes to latch onto the Crusader and bring her towards the Carrier’s hangar bay while the second Gunship moved to dock with the Carrier instead.

Inside of the Carrier’s hangar, a group of Partogans and Levakians received the battle-damaged Crusader with rescue equipment at the ready. Once the Salvage Corvettes placed the spaceplane firmly within the docking clamps, the Gunship lowered its boarding ramp and its seven crewmembers disembarked. The four men and three women found themselves being triaged by a group of Partogan medics while Levakian and Kelt engineers started to make repairs to their damaged ship.

One of the Israeli women, an Old World pilot named Ori Shoshan, was fascinated by the Partogan crew and kept trying to start up a conversation with them. Unfortunately, Ori wasn’t very well versed in the Galactic Common yet, so she had to ask one of her comrades for help. Ayala Rosen was a new addition to the crew, having joined the UN Navy just after the Fall of ADVENT. She had a curious complexion, pale skin combined with black hair. Her appearance would have caused alarm amongst certain members of both XCOM and the Triple Alliance.

With Ayala’s help, Ori was finally able to hold a conversation with one of the Partogan medics while he checked her for injuries. It went something like this:

“Excuse me,” Ori asked. “Where are we, and where are you going to take us? Also, who are you?”

“You’re aboard the Commonwealth Command Carrier Irirangi Ranginui.” The Partogan man answered in a patient tone. “Our commanding officer says we’re going to drop you off at the new Human Shipyard. And you can call me Toa Hahona. I’m part of the ship’s medical team.”

Ayala scratched her head in confusion.

“Something I always wanted to ask.” Ayala said. “Irirangi is a word in the Maori language on Earth. It means ‘spirit voice.’ Does it mean the same for you?”

Toa Hahona nodded.

“You think the same as us.” He replied. “Ever since your people visited the Galactic Council, and Jericho spoke to the Galaxy, my people have grown ever more convinced that Partogans and Humans share some kind of… deep connection.”

To prove his point, Toa Hahona used a handheld scanning device to analyze a sample of Ori’s blood. He turned the screen around for Ori and Ayala to see.

“Look here, your genetic material is so similar to ours that my computer insists you are Partogan. The evidence is undeniable, friend: There is a fraternal bond between Earth and Partoga.”

“Hell, it might be easier to say we’re the same species.” Ayala remarked.

“I’m more convinced of that with each passing day.” The Partogan replied.

…

The Crusader was too badly damaged to make the trip back to Earth on her own. It was decided that the ship would be dropped off at Port Armstrong, which had recently become Humanity’s first orbital shipyard. The Irirangi Ranginui performed a short Hyperspace Jump to reach it. Port Armstrong was located in a very high orbit above Jupiter, the largest planet in the Sol System, where its rings and extensive system of moons were being rapidly strip-mined by allied forces in a desperate bid to deprive the approaching enemy of anything useful.

By this point, a plan to transfer the Crusader to Port Armstrong had been worked out. A second Battlemaster-class Gunship was docked in the Irirangi Ranginui’s hangar: the German-built and operated FGS Königreich. She would tow the Crusader the final few thousand miles to the Shipyard before turning around and traveling to Earth by Wake-Jumping alongside her Partogan escort. As the twin spaceplanes prepared to take off, Ayala grabbed a small digital camera from its place beneath her pillow in the Crusader’s sleeping area and then approached her commanding officer.

Commander Solomon Erlich was an Israeli man of German descent, and was close personal friends with Pascal Steinmeyer, the commander of the Königreich. Therefore, he didn’t think twice when Ayala asked him for permission to return to Earth aboard the German spaceplane.

“That works out in our favor.” Solomon had said. “Transferring some weight from our ship to theirs will make us easier to tow, and besides; we’re going to be drydocked for a while, so you and a few other members of the crew may as well wait at home.”

So it was that Ayala, Ori, and two other members of the Crusader’s crew transferred over to the Königreich, pausing only to make sure the steel tow cable was correctly harnessed to the Crusader’s nose. Moving out at half-speed, the Königreich pulled her sistership out of the Irirangi Ranginui and made best speed towards Port Armstrong. The shipyard itself was located in a trojan orbit above Callisto, the outermost Jovian moon.

Once the Königreich closed to within a few dozen miles of the shipyard, the tow cable was released and the Crusader drifted into the waiting arms of a Human Salvage Corvette. Meanwhile, in the passenger area, Ayala became alarmed when she spotted the other spaceplane drift silently past her window. She craned her neck around to try and spot the shipyard out the window, but to no avail. She shuffled about in her seat for a moment, thinking fast. Next to her, Ori said:

“Hey, Ayala, are you alright? Your eyes just did something funny. Like, changed colors for a second.”

Ayala’s heart did a quick flutter. In her moment of rushed thoughts, she had partially dropped her Psionic disguise. Deciding to play it safe, Akira Robinson reached up and gently touched the side of Ori’s head with one hand. Her unwitting companion slumped into unconsciousness while a quick pulse of Psionic energy rippled through the whole ship!

Halfway through its turn away from the shipyard, the Königreich corrected its course and once again made to do a flyby of the shipyard. Somebody aboard the shipyard transmitted a radio message to the incoming spaceplane.

“Is there a reason for the close flyby, or are you just buzzing the tower?”

Up in the cockpit, Pascal Steinmeyer, the Königreich’s commander, sent a quick reply:

“We’re paying our respects to an old friend. Just tipping the wings.”

Pascal quickly matched his words to actions. As it sailed past the shipyard, the Königreich rocked left and right, dipping and raising her wingtips, a maneuver pilots often use to signal someone on the ground… or in this case, to give the ship’s targeting camera an unobstructed view of the Shipyard and its surroundings.

Bolted to the underside of the right wing, the camera pod made no noise as it captured images of what Akira had always suspected of being here, but never had concrete proof.

Releasing her telepathic control over the pilots, Akira allowed Pascal and his co-pilot to move the spaceplane to rejoin the Irirangi Ranginui for the Short Jump back to Earth. Akira, meanwhile, projected just enough Psionic energy around the fuselage to keep everybody except the pilots in a kind of trance. She grabbed a manilla folder and jammed it into the gap between her computer workstation and the one next door, obstructing the view of anyone who sought to peek around her shoulder. Of course, everybody around her was bewitched, but it never hurt to be careful.

Then, Akira started to scan the high-resolution images of Port Armstrong the Battle Camera had taken. She knew exactly what she was looking for. By this point, Akira had long since found out that Jericho handed over Mira’s index of future events to XCOM leadership. She knew that Laura Harper, John Bradford, and other AFUNE leaders were now fully forewarned about their many failed efforts in previous cycles. And now, a long last, Akira had found proof that AFUNE had taken some kind of action on this intel.

Hovering in empty space, caught in the shadow of Port Armstrong, Akira spotted a constellation of small points of light. She manipulated the camera controls slowly and patiently, zooming in on these points of light and bringing them into clarity. Finally, the points resolved themselves into shapes, and the computer activated its “Identify-Friend-Foe” system. It scanned the profiles of the objects and compared them against a database of all known designs before coming back with an answer:

Identified, 100% confidence: Battlemaster-class gunship (x15)

So, this was Harper’s big play, huh? The United Nations had doubled the size of their fleet in near total secrecy!

Akira checked the time on a nearby clock, then frowned. She would have to deal with this development another time. Right now, she needed to be somewhere else. Any minute now, Jericho, Mira, and the others would be leaving the Trinity and making their way to Earth for the big reunion, which meant Akira needed to keep an appointment with Sophia Kuznetsova.

Akira couldn’t help but feel confident. Once Sophia went up that tower, there would be only one variable left to change before the final battle. It was a big one, but she was confident in her plan. As long as Blake, Chihiro, Sophie, and Sophia all came down from the tower alive and unharmed… the Perfect Future was all but assured! For now, Akira decided to continue studying her new trove of intel. Making sure to keep the rest of the crew in their trance, Akira began to search the Königreich’s internal computer for any relevant data about the new ships. It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for.

Perhaps Akira had given Harper, Jericho, and Mira too much credit. She found the crew manifests of these supposedly secret ships after the briefest of searches and started to peruse their contents. It took only five minutes to match each of the new ships to the person who had been handpicked by Secretary-General Harper to be its future commander:

1. São Paulo (Brazil)
   • Commanding Officer: Ednaldo Marques
2. ARA Heroína (Argentina)
   • Commanding Officer: Isidoro Moreno
3. ARM Tenochtitlan (Mexico)
   • Commanding Officer: Samantha Reed
4. MHCS Halifax (Canada)
   • Commanding Officer: Marinia Ross
5. SAS Isandlwana (South Africa)
   • Commanding Officer: Simbra Mawakizi
6. NNS Aradu (Nigeria)
   • Commanding Officer: Bosede Kuumba
7. ENE Anwar El Sadat (Egypt)
   • Commanding Officer: Karmina Isra
8. INS Vikramaditya (India)
   • Commanding Officer: Devmani Raghavendra
9. Juan Carlos I (Spain)
   • Commanding Officer: Lazarus Dela Cruz
10. Liaoning (China)
    • Commanding Officer: Shaojie Zhang
11. ROKS Sejong the Great (Korea)
    • Commanding Officer: Lee Chong-Il
12. FS Hermione (France)
    • Commanding Officer: Odette Fournier
13. ROKS Dokdo (Korea)
    • Commanding Officer: Song Soo
14. USS Niagara (United States)
    • Commanding Officer: Blake Robinson
15. HMNZS Moana Ranginui (New Zealand)
    • Commanding Officer: Mira Mihaka

When Akira saw the last five ships on the list, and the names of their future commanders, her heart missed a beat.

“Jericho…” she breathed. “You clever bitch.”

Okay… now there were two variables that needed to be changed.

Chapter 46: War Stories: Parting of the Ways

 

The Second Hyperspace War: Stories from the Front
#5: Parting of the Ways

July 8, 2025
Hanapepe Bay, Kauai Island, Pacific Ocean

Unlike the vast majority of children on Earth, Jericho hated mealtimes. As a homeless person living on the fringes of society, getting something to eat was rather difficult and involved running a gauntlet full of risks. The same had been true for Jericho until recently. A couple of years ago, Jericho had figured out a quick and easy way to get meals each day that worked almost 100 percent of the time. Unfortunately, the process involved doing something rather humiliating.

That is why Jericho was in higher spirits than normal today. If everything went according to plan, she would never have to do this again.

Just before noon, Jericho stood on the sidewalk in the downtown area, dressed in a red and black sundress. It looked as though she was wearing the ADVENT Coalition flag. Jericho took a moment to tie up her hair in pigtails and put on the “most adorable smile a 12-year-old could possibly have” in accordance with her employer’s wishes. Then, she waited for the first group of window shoppers to come down the street. Whenever someone passed by the spot where Jericho was stationed, she would do a cute little dance, point to the nearby fast-food restaurant and sing this jingle:

“When you’re tired or hungry or just need a treat, go to ADVENT Burger, the place for meat!”

Like clockwork, any and everyone Jericho approached thought it was a good idea to stop what they were doing and enjoy a juicy, delicious burger. Before the lunch hour was over, every seat in the building had been taken by happy customers. Jericho, meanwhile, had been patted on the head by complete strangers at least a dozen times and was growing quite sick of people saying “Aw, she looks so cute!” at the sight of her. A select few strangers insisted on having their picture taken with Jericho, which she found to be more annoying than anything else. It took all of Jericho’s self-control to prevent herself from hauling off and smacking a few of the more irksome people. On the one hand, Jericho absolutely hated playacting like ADVENT Burger’s cutesy mascot, but the free food was worth an hour of embarrassment.

The man who operated the local chain restaurant had no idea how or why Jericho could convince people to eat there without fail every day, but he never questioned it. When her shift was done, he paid Jericho in food and sent her on her way. Jericho thanked her employer, grabbed a paper bag with a couple of burgers in it, and then left, ignoring his voice when he called out after her:

“So, I’ll see you same time tomorrow, kid! Alright?”

Moving quickly, Jericho left the burger joint behind, pausing in a quiet alleyway only to discard her mascot costume before moving on. She took only a few nibbles out of the double-sized burger in her carry-out bag, knowing that this food would need to last her for quite some time.

Jericho moved out of the town and positioned herself on top of one of the many rocky cliffs that make up Kauai’s southern shoreline. She was so excited that she couldn’t stay still, instead choosing to pace back and forth while she watched the horizon and waited.

Two years ago, Jericho had met a strange woman with one purple eye who seemed to be a very Humanlike alien. The stranger had given her some sound advice on how to leave Kauai forever, and finally seek out a better life in another part of the world. Jericho had spent the past two years making all of the preparations to follow through on the woman’s advice. She had memorized the schedules of the tanker ships that crossed the ocean. She knew about their security measures and how to defeat them; and she also knew exactly where today’s boat was going.

And then her ride came over the horizon. A huge fuel tanker sat high on the water, a sign that its hold was currently empty. Jericho knew that her time to get off this island had finally come. She was more than ready to leave behind a place she had lived in but never called home.

The crunching sound of a paper bag caught Jericho’s attention, and it was followed by a voice:

“You know, I’ve heard all about the ADVENT Burgers but I’ve never actually had once. Like, seriously! Where do they even get the meat!? When was the last time anyone actually saw a cow!?”

Looking behind her, Jericho saw three people, one of whom she actually needed to talk to, while the other two were completely unwelcome.

Duane Gardner was just over two years older than Jericho, while his older brother Marcus had just turned nineteen. Both Duane and Marcus were extremely attractive, they both had friendly eyes and neat dark hair that could catch the eyes of any girl. In fact, there was an admirer practically hanging off Marcus’ arm when he greeted Jericho. A half-Asian girl with light brown skin had wrapped her arms around Marcus in a very possessive kind of way. Jericho had met this person a few times. She was a new member of the gang of homeless teenagers Jericho would sometimes hang out with. Her name was Alohalani Pelekai, although her friends would just call her “Alani” for short.

Marcus Gardner had just taken another big bite out of Jericho’s ADVENT Burger.

“So,” he said through a mouthful of food. “You wanna explain why you asked my brother to meet you here alone?”

Damnit. Jericho thought to herself. Can’t trust Duane to keep anything from his brother. Why the hell did he bring Alani, too?

Duane turned red, as though he knew exactly what Jericho was thinking. He probably did, owing to his Gift.

“I’m sorry.” He said quickly. “Alani found your note in the old hotel before I did.”

Jericho stamped her feet, balled up her fists, and puffed out her cheeks in a pouting expression, glowering towards Alani, who giggled mischievously and hid behind Marcus.

“I wanted to talk to Duane, alone.” Jericho put a lot of emphasis on that final word. “About something important! Can you two morons go back down the hill or something!?”

Marcus rolled his eyes and started to march back the way he’d come, pulling Alani behind him.

“I’m keeping this!” Marcus waved the half-eaten burger over his head as he departed.

“We won’t listen, we promise!” Alani added, winking at Duane in a devilish way.

One more time, Jericho stole a glance over her shoulder at the bay. The ocean vessel was slowly pulling into port and would be docked in about half an hour. That gave her plenty of time to do what needed to be done. Before she could get her thoughts straight, however, Duane had closed in and embraced Jericho, a move that was so unexpected that she was left disoriented for a few seconds.

“You’ve never asked me to meet you alone somewhere.” Duane said. “I gotta say, I like this new side of you.”

The rush of blood to her head cleared Jericho’s thoughts. She knew that Duane was expecting some kind of romantic encounter up here, alone on the top of the cliff, but Jericho had known for some time that this needed to be done, and she had already rehearsed her own part in what was about to happen.

Duane’s first indication that this meeting was about to take a turn was when Jericho telepathically shielded her own mind from intrusion. The raising of Psionic defenses is something most Gifted people can recognize right away, and Duane was no exception. Then, Jericho put both hands on Duane’s chest and began to push him away.

“Listen, Duane.” Jericho began, “There’s something I gotta say.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

“I’ve uh, I’ve decided that I can’t stay here anymore.” Jericho tried to project confidence into her voice. “I’m leaving… today.”

Jericho heard Duane’s breath catch in his throat. Then she realized he was still holding her in place with both hands.

“What!?” Duane’s voice cracked. “No… you can’t leave!”

“I’m sorry, Duane!” Jericho insisted. “But you know how much I hate Kauai, and I know you’ve heard me talk about leaving before. Now I’ve got a chance to get out of here and-”

“You can’t leave!” Duane protested. “You have friends here! You’ve got a place to live and food, and there’s a whole Gene Therapy clinic in town! Don’t go!”

“Duane, I live in an abandoned hotel!” Jericho protested, now pushing Duane away even harder, which only made him tighten his grip on her. “I have to sing and dance for food, and you and I both know there’s something fishy going on at that Clinic! I can’t stay! I don’t want to stay!”

Duane seemed to be getting desperate.

“You’d still be living in the forest if I hadn’t shown you where to find that hotel!” There was a trace of anger in Duane’s voice now. “And what the hell do you think would have happened if someone else found you with that ‘I’ll do anything for food’ sign!? I probably saved your life! After everything I’ve done for you since we met, you would be an idiot to just throw away the last two years! I thought you loved me!”

“I do, but-”

“Then stay!”

Emphasizing his words, Duane gripped Jericho’s arm so hard that she cried out in pain! Instantly, a supernatural jolt ran up her arm and into Duane’s hand! The force of the shock caused Duane to let go of Jericho and step backwards.

“Jericho! You’re making a mistake! You need to stay here with me! You won’t make it anywhere by yourself!”

“You’re wrong!”

Jericho was starting to back away now. She had not counted on Duane becoming angry! She’d expected him to be upset, but now she was starting to sense violent impulses flashing through his mind. Psionic energy was starting to build up in the back of his mind! Duane was going to grab Jericho, hold her, force her to stay with him on Kauai!

Jericho’s eyes flickered to the bag of food on the ground, then to the bay, then back up at Duane. This had not gone to plan at all, it was time to cut her losses and run.

“Man, I was gonna ask if you wanted to come with me!” Jericho said, taking a few steps back, “But now I’ve changed my mind!”

“No, you haven’t!” Duane insisted. “You’re my girlfriend, you have to stay with me!”

Jericho turned and bolted!

Sprinting down the hillside, she used Psionics to enhance her pace, shooting past Marcus and Alani at high speed! Jericho could hear the Gardners and Alani shouting to one another behind her, and as she threw herself into the small forest that lay between the shoreline and the town of Hanapepe, Jericho could hear all three people calling her name.

Jericho cursed her own bad judgement! She should have just snuck away in the night without leaving a note! She should have just made herself disappear! A telepathic pulse hit Jericho and made her head spin! She stumbled on the roots of an old tree before pulling herself upright and continuing to run! Duane, Marcus, and Alani were all much older than Jericho, and of the three teenagers, two were Gifted. The gap between Jericho and her pursuers was being closed!

Jericho erupted out of the treeline and found herself in the old abandoned cemetery. Nearly all of the tombstones had either been knocked down or fallen over on their own, and were now obstructed by tall grass. In the center of the graveyard, a pile of concrete rubble was all that remained of some building that had been knocked down during the 2015 War and never rebuilt. The town of Hanapepe itself was just on the other side of the forgotten graveyard.

Jericho thought up a plan to shake Duane and his brother. In the back of her mind, she remembered the voice of her mother, and a lesson she had learned in the forest cabin so long ago:

“There’s nothing wrong with running from someone who is bigger and stronger than you, but when you do have to run, make sure to cover and conceal yourself. Do something to distract them while you slip away and hide.”

Jericho broke into a run once more, crossing the graveyard and running directly towards the town! Another Psionic pulse rippled out of the forest behind her, and Jericho felt the wave hit her and bounce back towards wherever it had come from!

“She’s over here!” Alani yelled. “Hey guys!”

Halfway through the graveyard, Jericho stopped and turned around, panting. Alohalani was on the edge of the graveyard and had turned around to face the forest, waving her arms to catch Duane and Marcus’ attention. Jericho saw the opportunity and seized it! Reaching out with her mind, Jericho scanned the cemetery for corpses. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, just take their eyes off herself. Finally, Jericho picked a badly decomposed body hidden inside of the rubble of the collapsed building.

Jericho had only done this a few times before, to escape from danger whenever a gunfight between ADVENT and the Resistance broke out, but she had long since worked out the metaphorical kinks and could now use this technique without fail! A swirling ball of Psionic energy formed in front of Jericho’s hand, and she launched it towards the collapsed building! Bright purple light exploded around the small area, causing Alani to look around, just in time to see the concrete rubble starting to shift as something buried underneath moved on its own.

Jericho sent a telepathic command to her new minion:

“Stop her from calling her friends over here!”

A thing rose up from the rubble and stood upright! The dead Human body had clearly lain here for a very long time, because there wasn’t much of it left besides the skeleton. A semitransparent body, made from Psionic energy, shimmered with violet light. The Spectral Zombie looked from Jericho to Alani, put its head down, and charged!

Both Jericho and Alani screamed! Somehow, Jericho had lost all control over the Spectral Zombie and it was acting on its own!

Alani’s jaw fell open as she saw the Spectral Zombie closing on her! Alani and her foe both raised their hands at the same time! The Spectral Zombie struck the young girl across the face! She stumbled backwards, bleeding from her mouth and nose! The Psionic creature struck Alani one more time and she fell to the ground!

Jericho screamed!

“No! That’s too much! Stop!”

The Spectral Zombie ignored Jericho’s command and moved to strike Alani again! Lying on her back, Alani put both of her arms up to defend herself! She reached forward with one hand, made a grabbing motion as though she was trying to hold onto something invisible… and pulled!

It seemed as though Alani had torn a hole in the Universe itself! An all-consuming pit of darkness, no bigger than a coin, swallowed the Spectral Zombie completely before drawing in the ground and air around it! Alani’s power wiped out everything around the Zombie! It annihilated matter, destroyed space, stopped time, and then abolished the empty void left behind!

Jericho did not stay to see what happened next. She fled the graveyard and into the town of Hanapepe. Behind her, she could hear Alani crying out for help, begging Duane and Marcus to come to her rescue! Scrambling along the next street, Jericho crashed headlong into a group of ADVENT Peacekeepers, who were running in the opposite direction, looking alarmed.

“Did you see it!?” One of them asked her. “Was that in the old graveyard!?”

“Y-yes!” Jericho stammered.

The group of Peacekeepers ran around Jericho, charging their Gauss Rifles as they went. In hindsight, Jericho realized that this was the distraction she actually needed. Not letting the opportunity go to waste, Jericho got her bearings and sprinted towards the harbor. With any luck she would be able to get away from Kauai, away from Duane, and away from whatever the hell Alohalani had just done…

…

December 29, 2032
Baruun-Urt, Mongolian Steppe, East Asia

The Mongolian winter is not to be taken lightly. The brutal wind cut across the frozen steppe, sapping the heat out of any foolish traveler. Roads were nearly impossible to find. Snow drifts had buried them completely, leaving the convoy of trucks slowly and cautiously across the vast frozen desert.

Fortunately, Duane Gardner and his brother Marcus were experienced travelers these days, as were the devotees they travelled with. Some ten trucks and cars, a mix of old and new world vehicles, travelled together in single-file line behind a pickup truck. The lead vehicle, being driven by Marcus, had a snowplow mounted in the front. In the passenger seat, Duane took another look at his map and pointed out the windshield towards the crest of a nearby hill.

Finally, after travelling for nearly four days, the pilgrimage was over. The convoy of vehicles, having served their purpose, were parked along the now-plowed road. A few men were left behind to refuel, repair, and guard the convoy. Everyone else followed Duane and Marcus towards their destination.

The Mongolian town of Baruun-Urt survived both the 2015 Alien Invasion and the rise of the ADVENT Coalition completely intact, owing mostly to the fact that the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongolian people is deeply incompatible with ADVENT’s policy of permanently concentrating the Human population into large cities. Furthermore, the region is so sparsely populated the aliens chose to (mostly) ignore it, focusing on higher-value targets.

When Duane and his fellow pilgrims arrived on the town, they found that nearly all of the rumors they’d heard about this place were true. A battalion of ADVENT soldiers had recently marched through here, causing widespread death and destruction. Most of the surrounding farmland had been pillaged and subsequently burned, causing a famine, which in turn had led to a deadly outbreak of cholera.

By all accounts, this epidemic should have wiped out the entire town, leaving only a settlement of ghosts and silence in its wake… yet it still stood. Some ten-thousand people were still here, weathering the winter as best they could and showing no signs of sickness. It seemed as though the spread of illness had been magically stopped in its tracks, and if the rumors were to be believed, this miracle had been the work of a certain “blue-haired angel.”

Duane and his pilgrims arrived in Baruun-Urt in the middle of the day, just in time to find the people involved in some kind of festival or celebration. Thousands of men, women, and children were gathered around what had once the town’s main square and were engaged in a fairly energetic party, complete with outdoor cooking and children playing on a large sheet of ice. In the middle of it all, a wooden platform was shielded from the elements by an utterly massive tent made from animal skins. Here, a group of Mongolian men had placed a clearly-foreign girl on a throne-like chair and were offering her gifts of food.

Duane wasn’t sure which of his fellow pilgrims had recognized Jericho first, but the words “Blue Hair!” started to spread through his group like wildfire. A few Mongolian partygoes spotted the new arrivals and greeted them cheerfully.

“Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“We heard Jericho brought a miracle to you.” Duane said. “We’ve come to see it for ourselves.”

A local man nodded and raised a cup in a salute-like gesture.

“It’s true! The blue-haired angel drove the sickness from our town! She healed our injured people, and then cured us of our ailments. Today, we celebrate in her honor!”

Duane’s pilgrims were welcomed into the festival and served with hot food. It was made clear that they were expected to donate a small portion of their meals to Jericho, who was planning to leave soon, and was being sent on her way with a truck full of supplies.

Inside of the main tent, Duane found Jericho.

One would think that after using her powers to heal an entire town full of sick and injured people, Jericho would look rather tired. But they would be wrong. Thanks to her unique power, Jericho was replenishing herself faster than her powers were being drained. Ten thousand happy and healthy people had filled her with far more life and energy than usual. She saw Duane arrive, and with some caution, set down her bowl of hot soup and stood up to greet him. Even though Jericho was wrapped up in a Mongolian heavy winter coat, it was plain to see that she had grown and developed a great deal since the last time Duane had spoken to her.

“Jericho… it’s been too long.” Duane said.

“Gardner.” Jericho tried to keep the iciness out of her voice. “I’ve heard a lot about what you’ve been up to for the last couple years.”

Jericho leaned to one side and looked out of the tent. Duane’s fellow pilgrims all gasped at the sight of Jericho and clasped their hands together as though they were about to start praying. Jericho used telekinesis to draw down the yurt walls, hiding herself and Duane from view.

“Ever since you reappeared.” Duane said. “I’ve been searching for you trying to get back to you. I asked so many people for help finding you!”

“Yeah.” Jericho folded her arms. “And in the process, you told anyone and everyone about me. You told them everything about me, including the stuff I’d rather keep private!”

Duane hung his head.

“How else could I make them listen to me?” He said.

Wrong answer.

“Have you never heard the phrase “don’t kiss and tell?” Jericho sounded incensed. “Duane, we were both kids back then! Neither of us knew what we were doing, and now here you are, making people think we were like freakin’ Helen and Paris! You ever stop to think I might not wanna share my love life with half the god-damned planet!?”

Duane tried to say something, but Jericho wasn’t done scolding him yet. She carried on, but kept her voice low as to not alarm anyone outside.

“Look, you wanted to find me, there’s nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is that you built a mostly fake cult of personality around me just to figure out where I am! What the hell were you thinking was going to happen when you found me, anyway!?”

“Well,” Duane stammered. “I thought, I guessed that you would… When you saw how many followers I got for you…”

Jericho looked very angry now.

“Lemme get this straight…” She pinched her nose in frustration. “You convinced people to worship me, damn near built a fucking religion around me… just so I could get back together with you!?!?”

Duane didn’t answer. He tried to send Jericho a telepathic message, but her mental defenses were up.

“Get out.” Jericho hissed through her teeth. “Get. Out. Now.”

“But…”

“Unlike you, Duane, I’ve got much bigger problems to deal now. So you just leave me alone, aright!? I’ve got to get going and find my mom!”

Duane pointed towards the tent wall.

“What about the people who’ve dedicated their lives to you?” He asked.

Jericho frowned in thought.

“Tell you what, Duane.” She said. “You stop telling people about our relationship and I’ll give those people a little help.”

“Well, what am I supposed to say then?” Duane asked. “How will people know about how we were connected?”

“Uhg, don’t say ‘connected!’” Jericho answered. “What’s wrong with just saying we were childhood friends?”

Duane sighed.

“We were so much more than that, Jericho.” He protested. “We are so much more than that.”

“We broke up, Duane.” Jericho said definitively. “You gonna take my deal or not?”

“I’ll disagree with you on that,” Duane finished. “But yes, I will. For your followers.”

…

Jericho’s presence was so noticeable that the entire winter festival fell silent when she emerged from the tent. She found that the forty or so men, women, and children who had traveled here with Duane had gone down on their knees and were engaged in a group prayer. Putting on a kind face, Jericho addressed the group.

“I’m so touched that so many of you came out here to find me, and I’m sorry that you only succeeded on the day I’m supposed to leave. The fact is that someone very important to me was taken by the Elders, and I have to keep going to find them. I’m not going to let your journey end without anything to show for it, though. I’ve promised Duane that I’ll give half of my food supplies to you all for your return trip, and before I leave, I will provide Psionic Healing to any and all who ask for it. I’ll ask for nothing in return.”

One of Duane’s pilgrims, a Gifted old man, raised his voice and said:

“You have already done so much for the people around us. Pray do not waste your energy on us, who have only come to witness your deeds. You don’t need to exhaust yourself on our account.”

“Trust me, it’s not a waste.” Jericho replied and held her arms out wide. “It’s kinda hard to explain, but I get my powers from everyone around me, so I’ll never exhausts myself. Not permanently anyway.”

Duane’s telepathic intuition felt a twinge of regret flicker through Jericho’s mind. She had, without intending to do so, contributed to her own legend. He jumped at the opportunity:

“Jericho is the Avatar of nature, her power comes directly from the heart of the Earth itself! Your health is the will of the Earth, manifest in her perfect hands! Would you really turn down such a Gift!?”

“Tone it down, Duane.” Jericho telepathically warned him. “I only said I’d heal these folks. Heavenly bliss is off the table.”

…

At the end of the day, Jericho’s pickup truck, heavily laden down with food and winter clothing, rumbled away from the town, heading east towards the Chinese frontier. Duane’s pilgrims were in extremely high spirits, many of whom were feeling a hundred times better than they had before Jericho had touched their hands.

Marcus gently patted his brother’s shoulder and said:

“Well, we found her. Now what do we do?”

“She said she was going to rescue someone from the Elders.” Duane replied. “We can help her by spreading the good word. Maybe we can catch XCOM’s attention and get her some serious help.”

“I like that idea.” Marcus commented. “We might just do a little good, oh, and by the way, Alani says she watched Jericho healing our folks and she thinks she’s got the technique figured out. We might be able to heal folks ourselves from now on.”

Both brothers smiled in agreement.

“Let’s do some good in Jericho’s name.”

…

January 10, 2036
Inside the Fortress of the Chosen Warlock, Wizard Island, Oregon

In the six months that had passed since the death of its previous owner, the ADVENT Fortress located on an island in the middle of Oregon’s Crater Lake had fallen under the control of the Templar Order. Since both the past and current masters of this fortress were Psionic warlords, little to nothing about the place had changed, aside from the fact that a statue of the Angelis Ethereal had been removed from the inner sanctum. The Ascension Chamber was still the only way to get into this deep chamber, so when she stepped off the pad, the red-haired Templar known as Violet was very disoriented for a few seconds before running towards a platform on the far side of the room.

The place where Kon-Mon Dessurik’s sarcophagus had once been was now occupied by a ceremonial fire pit, where blue and purple Soulfire crackled away, casting the inner sanctum in an unnerving light. Standing around the supernatural fire were 6 Humans, who paused their conversation and allowed Violet to deliver her report:

“Sir, I just got confirmation from XCOM headquarters. The Eye of Aarran has fallen, the Hyperwave Network is down, and we’ve lost all contact with Jericho and her team!”

Geist, the enigmatic leader of the Templars, furrowed his brow and asked:

“What was the situation at Hiigara before we lost contact?”

“Hiigara was under heavy attack by the Beast! Agamemnon was there, along with a huge Beast fleet and the End of the Cycle!”

Geist turned his head to give a curious look at his guest. Akira Robinson nodded and smiled. She had just been vindicated.

“You see, Geist. Exactly as I predicted.”

To her left, three people stirred. They had believed Akira’s claims from the outset and were also quite happy to see that Geist was coming around:

Elena Dragunova, a member of the Reapers, clapped her hands loudly once and said:

“See, what did I tell you!?”

Ivan Kuznetsov, the father of a certain Stormbreaker, added his opinion as well:

“The girl knows what she’s doing, Templar. She’s more effective at predicting the future than Jericho or that Mihaka freak.”

Finally, Konstantine Volkilov, the commander of the entire Reaper force, concluded with this:

“The most important detail is that she’s completely Human, Geist. So you know she’s more trustworthy than Jericho. We must listen to her.”

Next to Geist, Duane Gardner took a good long look at Akira.

“So that means,” Duane said slowly. “Everything you said is true?”

Akira nodded.

“Mira and Jericho have thrown history onto the wrong course.” Akira answered. “Their attempts to stop XCOM from making the mistakes of the last Cycle are going to create a very dark future for all of us, one in which the Gift is permanently extinguished.”

“Unacceptable!” Geist burst out. “The Gift is an integral part of our world! It belongs to the people of the Earth!”

“Exactly!” Akira said. “Jericho and Mira are willing to exchange the Gift of Psionics for the final victory! That would be the worst case scenario, one I’ve been trying to prevent for over a hundred Cycles!”

Geist unfolded his arms.

“Suffice to say that we’ve been convinced.” He said. “You will have the aid of the Templars when the time comes. What is it you need us to do?”

Akira turned towards Duane.

“When the time comes, and the Beast is approaching Earth, we must act. Duane Gardner, you must be the one to pilot the Trinity. You will be the one to end this war.”

Duane gulped; his hands were shaking.

“What do I have to do?”

“The Trinity will enhance and modify your Psionic powers.” Akira explained. “It will allow you to overpower Agamemnon and Astynome.”

“Then he can kill them?” Ivan asked.

“Killing the Father and Mother of the Beast won’t work.” Akira said. “There will still be tens of millions of infected ships out there in the Galaxy. It only takes one to infect and subvert the Earth. No, we need to decapitate the Beast in a way that ensures no infected remains to threaten us.”

Akira grabbed Duane’s shoulder and gave him an encouraging look.

“Duane. When you use the Trinity, you need to place both Agamemnon and Astynome under Mind Control.”

The inner sanctum was filled with an aura of silent trepidation. Akira continued.

“Those two ships are the heart and mind of the Beast, the very core of the Hive Mind that controls all infected ships. Once you seize control of the Beast Hive mind, you must order all infected ships to turn on one another. The enemy will wipe itself out to the last strike craft.”

Geist shook his head.

“That level of control would have to be projected across the entire Galaxy. It would require unparalleled levels of Psionic energy. How would mister Gardner be able to acquire, let alone harness that much energy?”

“Duane’s power.” Akira replied. “You’ve all seen it. Duane, you’ve seen how you grow more powerful in the presence of death, I’m sure.”

Duane shuddered.

“Yes, I know.” He replied, “But how would we take advantage of that?”

“Sacrifice the aliens.”

Akira’s chilling words hung in the air for a few moments.

“On the day of the final battle,” Akira explained in a low voice, “We need to ensure that as many aliens as possible die. The Hiigarans and Partogans have served their purpose in history. Let them do the bulk of the fighting in space, and let them die. Meanwhile on the ground, Volk and his Reapers will exterminate as much of the Extraterrestrial population as possible. Sectoids, Vipers, Mutons, Andromedons, Archons, the Faceless, even the Hybrids have to go. If its not Human, it needs to die during the final battle.”

Volk, Elena, and Ivan looked nothing less than enthusiastic with this plan.

“Lady, you just made a lifelong ally out of the Reapers.” Volk said. “And you said we’ve got nine months to prepare? I can have Reaper cells in position to strike in less than five!”

“And you’re sure we’ll be able to preserve the Gift this way?” Geist asked.

“Yes.” Akira replied. “This is the key to the perfect future: The Beast will be definitively defeated, and the Gift will continue to exist.”

“There’s just one thing,” Geist added, “What if AFUNE doesn’t go for Duane piloting the Trinity? What if they pick someone else, or if Jericho comes back?”

Akira shook her head.

“Duane will pilot the Trinity, end of story.” she said forcefully. “And we have to do whatever it takes to ensure that. Even if that means picking a fight with XCOM itself. Everyone understand? We’re doing this for the perfect future!”

“Yes.” Geist said. “For the perfect future.”

“A future where Earth is ruled by Humans and Humans alone!” Ivan cheered.

Duane hesitated. Akira put a hand on his shoulder.

“You can do this, Duane. Alohalani believed in you, Geist believes in you, and I do too. You can save Mankind.”

Chapter 47: War Stories: The First Day

The Second Hyperspace War: Stories from the Front
#6: The First Day

September 11, 2015
The Royal Library, Partoga City, Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth


In the five hundred years since its construction, Partoga City had become the core of an empire that spanned nearly a quarter of the Galaxy. Starships of varying size and shape filled the skies above while the streets below were choked with an equally diverse number of people. Blorg merchants haggled with Hiigaran tourists while local Partogans and Levakians went about their daily business. Assurian diplomats pushed their way through the crowds, moving away from the Palace and towards their nearby embassy. Micore droids, repainted with the colors of the Partogan Green Guard, stood sentry over the street corners, enforcing the laws of the Commonwealth in their own unique way.

But in this grand metropolis, there is one place that stands out more than any other. Its ornate windows reflect the sunlight more beautifully than the glass façade of Mihaka Tower. The pre-volcano architecture of its foundations predates both the National Assembly Building and the Royal Palace itself. The gardens that surround the structure on all sides make up one of the most relaxing and welcoming national parks in the entire Galaxy. In the covered courtyard, right in the center of the garden, there is a throne made from silver and decorated with emeralds. It is here that new rulers of this world are enthroned, although no such ceremony had occurred here in almost a century.

This wondrous place is the Partogan Royal Library.

Following behind their teacher, an elderly Levakian female, thirty children chattered and gossiped excitedly to one another as they were led inside. The old Lioness was patient with her class, as such a diverse group of students needed an extra level of care. Two young Kelt, no bigger than housecats, had to ride on the shoulders of their friends to avoid being trampled underfoot while the oldest student, a Taiidani boy, stood head and shoulders above the class, leering at all around him and showing off his newly grown tusks.

Finally, the class reached their destination, a reading room designed for young adults. Many of the students looked around, confused. A Hiigaran boy gently grabbed his teacher's tail and asked if she’d brought them to the wrong room. The teacher assured him that this was indeed the correct place, and she encouraged the class to sit down in front of a large rocking chair that had been set up next to a fireplace, next to a padded platform designed for a feline occupant. The chair itself was being watched over by two young men, one Partogan and one Assurian, who were both wearing the uniform of Partogan Acolytes. (Debtors who had sold themselves into slavery to escape or absolve their financial obligations) The Assurian Acolyte was holding a small book. The cover said: “I survived the Wars of the Famine; written by Toa Enoka Ihaka”

The class situated themselves on the floor, and students found comfort in their Levakian classmates. The young lions and lionesses laid on their sides, allowing their reptilian classmates a warm space to rest. Partogan, Hiigaran, and Assurian girls absentmindedly brushed their classmate’s fur and scratched their ears, causing the Levakian students to start purring while the Partogan Acolyte spoke to them:

“At her Majesty’s request, I shall truncate her introduction: Presenting the legitimate elected successor to Whetu Kealoha, her Royal Majesty Kendra, Queen of the Commonwealth.”

The students were caught completely off-guard by the sudden appearance of the Queen! The elderly ruler of Partoga had been patiently standing behind the class, having a whispered chat with their teacher. Together, the old Partogan and old Levakian stepped around the gathered children and took their respective seats. The Acolyte passed the small book into the teacher’s paws before the Queen addressed the class.

“Good morning, little ones.” Queen Kendra’s voice had a worn out, tired tone to it, yet she still seemed warm and friendly. “I’ve been told that you all received high scores for a history project recently.”

Thirty little faces filled with pride and satisfaction. A Vanian fledgling, too young to fly on her own but otherwise self-sufficient, spoke for the class:

“We had to do a group project on the Wars of the Famine!” the fledgling bragged. “We made a diorama of Queen Whetu and her team camped out on the Unnamed Mountain!”

“Wonderful!” Kendra declared. “I’m so happy to know that your young minds are so focused on learning from our history. If you follow the examples laid forth by the Queens of our past, you will never take our great Commonwealth astray. I want to help you as well.”

Kendra gestured to the class’s teacher.

“This book was written by Queen Whetu’s closest friend after the Wars of the Famine.” Kendra said. “It may be the most definitive account of her life ever created. Please pay close attention, you may learn something valuable.”

The old lioness opened the book and began to read aloud to her class while the Queen looked on in an approving way. For the next twenty minutes or so, things proceeded smoothly. The teacher told her students the story of how Toa Enoka had been Whetu’s ex-lover, how he had briefly been her enemy at the start of the conflict, and concluded with the tale of how their second alliance had been forged in battle against a common enemy.

Of course, Kendra and this class were not alone in the library. Other people began to gather around to watch, kept at a reasonable distance by Green Guards. A pair of news reporters with nothing better to do decided to set up a camera tripod and record the history class. Kendra nodded at the growing crowd of spectators in acknowledgement and held a finger to her lips, encouraging silence so that the class would go undisturbed.

Pausing only to drink water and answer the occasional question from her students, the Levakian teacher pressed on, reading aloud until she reached the part of the story in which Whetu and Toa Enoka confronted the Snowskin defector. While the teacher gave her students a description of the mysterious pale-skinned girl who had betrayed her own kind to help the Partogans, a man wearing a military uniform pushed his way through the crowd. Looking around at the newcomer, Kendra recognized this man as Kauri Ranginui, a member of her own extended family and a high-ranking general in the Commonwealth Green Guard.

Disregarding the news reporters, General Ranginui approached Queen Kendra from the side and gently whispered in her ear:

“Alien vessels have breached our Galaxy. The death toll is catastrophic. We are at war!”

The general withdrew quickly and backed away, allowing Kendra to do with the information what she wished. Several students had stopped paying attention their teacher and were now watching the Queen, their expressions ranging anywhere between nervous concern and genuine alarm.

Kendra put on a brave face and smiled at the children. She stayed put throughout the rest of the reading, allowing the teacher to finish at her own pace. Kendra realized that the world everyone had known had just ended, but she decided to let these youngsters enjoy just a few more moments of peace and calm before the storm began. The Queen herself, though, was not at peace. The words of the old story just seemed to bounce off her now. Her mind, like an old reliable machine, was slowly turning into high gear. Plans were being formulated, actions considered, contingencies made.

The end of history had finally come. Now it was time to guarantee there would be a future.

…

The same moment
The Breach Point, Blorg Commonality, Galactic Rim


“All strike wings, report in!”

A flotilla of Partogan, Levakian, Micore, Amadii, Vanian, and Assurian warships emerged from Hyperspace and started to re-form their battle line. Behind them, a planet-sized Quantum Wavefront swept backwards to reveal an utterly colossal vessel. The Fathership of the Beast began to move slowly but inexorably away from the Galactic Rim and into the Outer Limb itself. The defending ships re-formed and came back for another attack! Over the airwaves, the fleet commander gave desperate orders!

“Task Force Kiwa! Cut across the axis and draw their fire forward! TF Takea, stay back and cover with long range weapons!”

A line of Levakian and Amadii frigates pealed away from the main group and started to close with the Fathership! As soon as they got close enough to fire their main weapons, a bright red particle beam jumped forward from the enemy vessel and collided with one of the frigates! The beam started jumping from ship to ship, striking every vessel in the strike force in turn! Each vessel lost power and started spinning out of control as flesh and muscle began to grow in patches along the hull! The comm net filled with screams of agony as the crews of the newly subverted ships fell victim to the infection!

“We have an intruder alert on all decks! Something’s come aboard!”

“There’s something loose on our ship! It’s killing us!”

“Controls locked up! Crew dying!”

“It’s coming through the hull! Help us! HELP US!!”

One by one, the subverted frigates began to fire up their engines and rejoin the battle, turning their weapons against their own fleet!

“Woah, woah, woah!!” Shouted a Vanian commander. “You guys are shooting friendlies! Green on green!”

“Those ships aren’t friendly anymore!” A Levakian officer called out to the fleet. “All ships, fire on any vessel with low or nonexistent life signs!”

Amidst the chaos, the virus began to spread unchecked. Either by infection beam or Ramming Frigate, the plague took the Triple Alliance fleet by storm, and soon, the attacking Beast force came to outnumber the defending fleet. Seizing the initiative, the Beast surged forward, leaving the security of its beachhead and launching its invasion of the Galaxy.

…

The Same Moment
Kauai Island, Hawaii, Pacific Ocean


The Stormbreakers had run out of time.

Kotori Sato fell to her knees and screamed! Isis Dekker and Holly Smith tried to pull her along a few more feet, but the writing was on the wall. Kotori couldn’t go any farther. It was now or never.

“Trojan!” Holly shouted! “We’re done, mate!”

“This baby’s gonna happen right now!” Isis yelled.

At the head of the formation, Blake Robinson, Chihiro Tachibana, and Soylent Green frantically looked around for options. Chihiro tapped her boyfriend on the shoulder and pointed towards an open grassy area.

“There!” She said. “That building!”

“It’s a mausoleum!” Blake confirmed. “Might as well be bulletproof in there! Let’s go!”

Kotori wailed and cried as her comrades dragged her along. It felt as though her insides were about to split apart! She could barely hear the sound of gunfire as she was dragged into the entryway to the local graveyard. A sign next to the gate said:

 

Kauai Veteran’s Cemetery

Here rests the men and women of the Pacific who laid down their lives in the Third World War, fighting to the very end for the freedom of our friends, family, and community.

(December 7, 2005 to December 22, 2012)

While Blake and Chihiro held off the enemy, Isis escorted Kotori into the Mausoleum. In a very unceremonious manner, the German engineer knocked the casket of a Hawaiian war hero to the floor and made a space for Kotori to lie down and deliver her baby. Outside, Blake, Chihiro, Soylent, Holly, and Hal waged a desperate defensive action against the enemy, buying as much time as possible so that Kotori could do what needed to be done.

The process took almost thirty minutes. Thirty terrifying minutes punctuated by near-constant gunfire and explosions echoing into the building. Each concussive blast made the walls shake and dust fall from the ceiling! A fire started on the southern façade where most of the fighting was taking place, and Isis ran over to stomp it out with her foot before rushing back to Kotori’s side!

Her screams and shrieks drowned out by the noise of battle; Kotori’s daughter entered a world of chaos! Double and triple checking to make sure she’d done everything right; Isis was so busy making sure the birth had gone smoothly that she was struck dumb when Kotori suddenly shouted:

“Behind you!”

With what little strength she had left, Kotori reached forward and grabbed Isis’ shotgun! She racked the weapon once, took aim just to the right of Isis, and pulled the trigger! A Sectoid tumbled backwards, head over heels, and fell out the doorway it had entered through. Holly Smith entered a moment later.

“We can’t hold! We’ve gotta get out of here!” Holly said. “Sato, can you…”

Holly’s voice died in her throat as she saw the screaming child nestled in her mother’s arms. Kotori, Isis, and Holly all looked at one another. In a brief but silent conversation, the question “Can Kotori walk?” had been answered. All three women nodded grimly as a desperate plan was agreed on.

“Kate goes with you.” Kotori held her daughter out to Isis.

Blinking back tears, Isis gingerly took the newborn child and repeated:

“Kate?”

“Kate Asuna Ray.” Kotori invoked the names of a close friend, a trusted comrade, and a lost lover respectively; none of whom had lived to see this day.

Isis decided to leave her shotgun and ammunition behind. She met Blake Robinson at the door of the Mausoleum. They shared no words, only a grim unspoken understanding. Isis clutched Kate close to her chest and began to run, while behind her, Blake shouted to his team:

“There ain’t no cavalry coming for us! Defend this position!”

Run.

Don’t look back. Just run.

Do not look back! Keep running!

Isis scrambled out of the graveyard and into the treeline, distantly aware of plasma bolts flying over her head as she fled! Ignoring the onslaught, pushing past the thick leaves and twisted branches, Isis and the girl who would become Jericho vanished into the Hawaiian wilderness.

Back at the graveyard, a loud whistling noise was the only warning the Stormbreakers got of their impending doom! Large canisters cratered into the ground! As the dirt and debris settled, the canisters opened up and began to spew a noxious green fog around the battlefield.

“Gas! Gas! Gas!” Hal shouted.

On his words, the team tried to don their gas masks and keep fighting, but it was too late. The fumes enveloped the group of fighters! Realizing what was about to happen, Blake ordered his team to clear the toxin area!

“Get to fresh air!” he choked. “Keep moving, we can’t die here!”

Blake and the rest of the team broke cover and started to run for a nearby hill, but they only made it about fifty yards. Chihiro collapsed first. Then one by one, all of the remaining Stormbreakers ran themselves to exhaustion and fell unconscious.

Sensing victory at last, an Ethereal descended onto the battlefield. The powerful creature followed the aura of Psionic energy in the air, gliding effortlessly through the air to its prize. The Ethereal approached the doorway of the Mausoleum, anticipating the capture of a powerful Psionic Human.

CRACK!

The Ethereal stumbled backwards as a small caliber bullet struck squarely in the center of its helmet! Enraged, the alien leader refocused its energies and saw where the attack had come from…

Curled up in the far inside corner was Kotori Sato! She was unable to stand, bloody, and exhausted, but far from defeated. Around her lay a cache of weapons, ranging from assault rifles to pistols and hand grenades. Rounding out the assembly was the M249 light machine gun which had, up until a moment ago, been used by Holly Smith.

“Not my daughter!” Kotori shouted at the alien. “NOT MY DAUGHTER!!”

Kotori dropped her pistol and readied her machine gun. She knew that every moment she lived and breathed, every second she put up a fight, would be another moment for Isis to escape with Kate.

Can’t stop the fighting. Kotori told herself. Not now. Not ever.

Bullets. Fire. Grenades. Explosions.

And finally… death.

…

The last stand of Kotori Sato was but a brief moment in this story. It was over in less time than it will take the reader to reach the bottom of this page. Yet her actions guaranteed the survival of her child, just as she thought they would. A child who would go on to become, with some reluctance, the central figure around whom this entire story turns. Kotori was the most consequential mother who ever lived, and she only knew her child for a matter of minutes.

Untold thousands fell in battle on this day all over the Galaxy. It was the beginning of a terrible conflict, and the only one with the power to end it would not be of fighting age for a very, very long time.

One would be forgiven for believing that a story with such a dark beginning can only end in similar darkness. But this Galaxy is filled with millions upon billions of stars.

There will always be light somewhere.

Chapter 48: Return of the Paradox

ACT FOUR: THE WAR IN HEAVEN

Chapter Forty
Return of the Paradox

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 5:16pm

XCOM Headquarters, Nagasaki, Kyushu Island



Chihiro was in shock.

Her arms just seemed to go through the motions on their own as she pulled Sophie Ackermann up and back to safety. With one final effort, she and Sophie pulled Sophia Kuznetsova all the way back onto the balcony and out of danger. Sophia gasped as she collapsed into her rescuer’s arms. Now that the crisis had passed, Chihiro’s heartbeat should have slowed down, but it only quickened as she looked over the ledge and gazed at the grassy lawn below.

Blake Robinson wasn’t moving. He looked like a broken toy that some forgetful child had left behind in the grass. Medics had already surrounded the spot where he had fallen, but the voices that carried up to Chihiro’s ears did not belong to the men and women at ground level… instead, two voices echoed up the stairwell behind her:

“Akira! What happened to you!? Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Right. Did you do what you needed to do?”

“Yeah. Blake and the others should be coming down the stairs any minute now, we should get out of here.”

Chihiro’s eyes flickered back to Blake’s broken body on the ground, then to the stairwell.

Akira.

She had known Sophia was going to try to jump.

She had forced Chihiro and her companions onto a certain path, one that had ended with Blake falling over one hundred feet, and now Chihiro wasn’t even sure if he was alive.

Akira was responsible for this.

A fire seemed to erupt in the deepest part of Chihiro’s soul. It burned and grew out of control until all she could feel was intense fury. Akira had known about all of this. She had sent her own father to his death!

Chihiro thundered down the stairs, Soulfire sparkling in both of her hands! She hit the third-floor landing and screamed:

“AKIRA!”

The Paradox was still here. She was being helped to her feet by two Templars: Duane Gardner and Violet. Duane’s appearance had changed significantly since the last time Chihiro had seen him on Oahu island. His head was completely shaven, and a strange array of cybernetic implants now decorated the top and backside of his skull. Violet had gone through some changes too. Her eyes were bloodshot and there were now baggy wrinkles underneath her eyelids. Her whole body seemed to be jittery, as though she was unable to hold still.

Between the two Templars, Akira wiped the blood from her mouth and said:

“Wait… where’s Blake and the others?”

“Don’t you lie to me!!” Chihiro shrieked. “You knew he was gonna fall!”

Chihiro raised one arm to strike! Akira’s companions stepped back. The Paradox herself hesitated; a look of pure shock etched onto her face.

“NO!” Akira gasped. “He wasn’t supposed to-”

“LOOK OUT!” Violet shouted.

Akira was shoved out of the way just before Chihiro launched a handful of Soulfire towards Akira! Violet blocked the first blow only to be caught off guard by a second strike! The bolt of lightning jumped from Chihiro’s hand and blew out every window in the building before striking Violet squarely in the chest!

“I just got my husband back!!” Chihiro was spitting Soulfire as she screamed! “You killed him! I’LL KILL YOU!”

Akira, Duane, and Violet all retreated! A column of purple light shot down from the ceiling and enveloped them! With a loud rushing noise, three perplexed-looking XCOM soldiers rematerialized as the light faded. Akira and her friends had used a Psionic Inversion to trade places with their enemies! Chihiro bellowed with rage and ran to a nearby window!

Outside, confusion reigned! Akira, Duane, and Violet had rematerialized in the middle of the crowd of soldiers who were responding to Blake’s fall from the tower. They had turned around and were now sprinting towards the causeway that connected Nagasaki Airport to the mainland!

“STOP THEM!!” Chihiro screamed and pointed towards the fleeing Templars!

Then she reached out with her mind and found an XCOM soldier she knew well. Akaya Ogawa only had a few milliseconds to realize what was happening before she was enveloped in a swirling storm of Psionic energy! Chihiro completed the Psionic Exchange, causing Akaya to rematerialize inside of the air traffic control tower, while Chihiro reappeared on the ground where Akaya had just been! Taking only a moment to regain her bearings, Chihiro saw Akira and her friends and started to give chase!

Chihiro didn’t have a plan. The only thoughts in her mind were an overwhelming desire to catch Akira and inflict unspeakable violence upon her. She conjured up a Psionic Lance in one hand and hurled it towards Akira, only for Violet to alert her once more! Akira dodged the incoming Lance and it dissipated harmlessly on the pavement. The Paradox looked over her shoulder, pointed at Duane, and yelled:

“Aw, screw it! We’re just gonna do it now! Get to the other side and give the go-signal!”

Duane and Violet continued to sprint across the bridge, whilst Chihiro and Akira had come to a stop roughly halfway between the mainland and Nagasaki Airport. Akira took another step backwards, clearly looking for a way to disengage, but Chihiro only sought to attack! She launched a telekinetic strike towards Akira, tearing up huge chunks of asphalt and throwing them towards the rogue time-traveler!

Akira sidestepped the attack and raised a telekinetic shield around herself, refusing to return the favor.

“You coward!” Chihiro screamed! “Fight back! FIGHT BACK!”

Chihiro pummeled Akira’s defenses, striking with Psionic Volts and Lances! The pavement under their feet grew hot and started to melt! Multiple bolts of lightning rained down on Akira, causing her shield to waver as Chihiro closed the distance. Akira pleaded with Chihiro, trying to make her voice heard!

“Mom, I swear I didn’t mean for Dad to get hurt!”

“You LIAR!!” Blue and purple flames escaped Chihiro’s mouth! “Blake was right about you the whole time; we should have killed you from the start!!”

Akira’s eyes went wide as she realized that the time for talk had passed, and that for the first time, her mother was beyond any words. Chihiro was going to attack, and she was aiming to strike a lethal blow! Akira shouted, not at Chihiro, but to her friends:

“HEY GARDNER! GET THIS THING STARTED! SOMETIME TODAY WOULD BE NICE!!”

…

The Same Moment

XCOM Mission Control, Nagasaki, Kyushu Island



There were too many people talking at once. Commander Bradford had to raise his voice to be heard above the din:

“SILENCE IN THE WAR ROOM!!”

Everybody fell silent.

“Now, tell me what’s going on.” Bradford instructed his subordinates. “One at a time.”

Central Officer Holly Smith, a former member of Stormbreaker Squad, stepped forward.

“Sir, about ten minutes ago, Corporal Sophia Kuznetsova attempted suicide by jumping from the air traffic control tower. Three soldiers pulled her down, but one of them did go over the side.”

“Do we know who it was?” Bradford asked.

“It was definitely a member of Stormbreaker Squad who fell.” Holly answered. “But there’s so much going on outside it’s hard to tell what’s happening.”

Bradford rounded on Chief Engineer Lily Shen.

“And what the hell were you yakking about!?” He asked.

“Commander, all of our short and long-range communication systems just went down.” Shen replied. “We’re completely out of contact with everyone, the Triple Alliance, AFUNE… hell, we can’t even call the mainland!”

While Shen was talking, another member of the command staff had been pushing his way past her, trying to get Bradford’s attention. The Commander snapped at him:

“What do you want!?”

“Sir!” The man said: “Internal systems are shutting down all over HQ! My men are detecting movement along the outer perimeter and multiple sensors have been tripped! Someone’s forcing their way into the base!”

Bradford’s face went pale. He seized the intercom microphone on the desk next to him. While he waited for the public address system to activate, Braford cursed aloud:

“There’s no way in Hell I’m going to lose our HQ again!”

Chief Shen yelled over Bradford’s shoulder:

“Do we know who it is? Tygan? Anything?”

On the far end of the mission control room, Chief Scientist Richard Tygan removed his headset and pointed to the computer screen in front of him.

“Our perimeter sensors are detecting intense levels of Psionic energy, accompanied by trace amounts of high-yield plastic explosives!”

“Templars!” Holly gasped. “Templars and Reapers!”

“Oh, shit! We’re about to get our teeth kicked in!” Shen said. “Does anyone know where Jericho is?”

“I believe she’s meeting with the Vanian Conclave of Telepaths right now.” Tygan answered.

While they were talking, Commander Bradford’s voice rang out over every speaker and megaphone in Nagasaki Airport:

“Attention all soldiers! Hostile forces have infiltrated XCOM Headquarters and are moving in with reinforcements! This is a call to general quarters! All personnel, prepare stations to combat! XCOM HQ is under attack! This is not a drill!”

Outside, it was the enemy who struck the first blow.

Sniper fire cracked and snapped through the chilly evening air as Reaper forces engaged the soldiers of XCOM from long range! A World-War-Three-era helicopter landed at the far end of the runway for only a brief moment, dropping off six Reapers before it lifted off into the night sky and vanished. Two uncovered trucks barreled down the bridge at full speed! Akira sensed her allies approaching and lunged out of the way, while Chihiro resorted to shielding herself and standing to one side!

As the second truck raced by, Chihiro got a brief moment of eye contact with one of the soldiers riding in the back. Sophia Kuznetsova’s father, Ivan, saw Chihiro and started to raise his pistol, taking aim at her! Before he could pull the trigger, the truck turned hard and barreled into the main complex of Nagasaki Airport to a fanfare of gunfire!

Chihiro felt a buildup of static electricity behind her and lunged forward, dodging a Psionic attack by mere millimeters!

Akira slashed at the air as she ran past Chihiro, placing a telekinetic shield between Chihiro and XCOM HQ.

“Stay here until we’re done!” Akira shouted as she tried to run and rejoin her allies, but she was still badly injured from her run-in with Blake. The best Akira could do was a light jog.

Chihiro threw herself against the invisible barrier while the Paradox vanished into a rapidly growing column of smoke. The telekinetic barrier held firm, unyielding. Frustrated, Chihiro screamed! A loud explosion lit up the night and one of the hangar bays on the far end of the airport collapsed in a shower of sparks and flame! A loud pop made her ears ring as a sniper’s bullet sailed about ten feet above Chihiro’s head!

The cracking of rifle fire seemed to clear Chihiro’s mind, refocus her thoughts. She had no idea if Blake was alive, and in all likelihood, she really had lost him this time. But… there was something else to think about:

Himawari was in there!

Before now, Chihiro’s fury was uncontrolled and unfocused. But now, there was only one thought coursing through her mind, one impulse. Akira may have just caused Blake’s death. That was more than enough motivation to kill her… but now… Akira had endangered Himawari.

All bets were off.

Chihiro firmly pressed her right hand against the invisible barrier. Focusing her power onto the barrier with laser focus, Chihiro caused the telekinetic shield to waver for a moment… then it shattered! Chihiro felt the briefest flash of a Neural Feedback, manifesting as a sharp pang in the back of her skull, but pressed on anyway. She ran full-tilt back toward the base of the ATC tower.

It was chaos. The soldiers who had responded to Sophia’s attempted suicide were mostly unarmed and completely unprepared for a fight of any kind. A mixed force of Reapers and Templars were plowing a path of death and destruction right past the tower and were heading towards the airport terminal! A small number of Volunteer Defense Force soldiers were putting up a last-ditch defense, but were being cut down in droves, either by the pinpoint sniper fire of the Reapers or by the Shard Blades of the Templars.

At the base of the tower, Chihiro spotted a semitransparent purple hemisphere. Someone had thrown up a Psionic shield around the place where Blake had fallen! Inside, she could see Makara Ranginui, Sophie Ackermann, Sophia Kuznetsova, and four other people, including someone who had been secured on a medical stretcher. While Makara maintained the shield with one hand, she held Himawari Robinson tightly in the other.

Chihiro turned her whole body and started to run straight through the middle of the enemy force to reach her comrades. She made it about thirty feet before she was spotted by a Templar.

“Hey!” A male voice yelled behind Chihiro. “She’s not one of us!”

Chihiro could sense several weapons being aimed at her back. Without even stopping to look around, she swept one arm through the air and felt (with some satisfaction) a series of small shockwaves as laser, gauss, and plasma rifles exploded in their owner’s hands, causing mass confusion in the enemy ranks!

Makara took down her shield, allowing Chihiro to grab Himawari. The baby cried and screamed as loudly as she could, plainly terrified of the nightmarish scene around her.

“Thank you!” Chihiro gasped. “Thank you so much for taking care of her.”

“No worries.” Makara replied before throwing herself into the fight!

Sophie grabbed Chihiro’s shoulder and yelled:

“Blake’s alive! We need to get him to the Avenger!”

A wave of relief swept over Chihiro, followed closely by newfound adrenaline as the chatter of machine gun fire sounded nearby. Sophia put her hands to her ears and shrieked:

“What the hell is going on!?”

“Akira let them in!” Chihiro replied. “No idea why!”

Sophie grabbed the head-end of the stretcher and started to lift while Sophia grabbed the other end. Blake let out a pained moan and gurgled blood.

“Cover us!” Sophie said. “We’re gonna dash for the Avenger!”

Chihiro turned around to face the enemy again. The Reapers and Templars were ignoring her, instead choosing to focus on Makara Ranginui, who had stolen a laser rifle from a Reaper and was fighting with it and her Gift at the same time. Even so, Chihiro’s options were limited. She needed to carry Himawari in one arm. Scanning the battleground, Chihiro found a weak-willed Reaper. With the smallest wave of her free hand, Chihiro placed the man under Mind Control. The Reaper didn’t know he’d been turned until he had already shot two of his comrades in the back, and had been shot in return by his own squadmates.

Chihiro, Sophie, and Sophia ran as best they could away from the main battle, passing more and more AFUNE and Triple Alliance soldiers heading in the opposite direction. Matthew Hawkins and several members of Stormbreaker Squad emerged from the Armory just as the trio was passing its doorway. The sound of Himawari’s crying caught their attention.

“Where are you going?” Yutaka Yamamoto asked.

“Taking Trojan to the Avenger!” Sophie replied. “He’s hurt! We’ve gotta get him to the Hypervital Module!”

“You guys are gonna need help!” Kathleen Walsh raised her voice. “There’s Reapers on the runway near the ship! Oi, Blue Dragon! You’ll need this!”

Kathleen tossed the Shadowkeeper towards Chihiro, who caught her old pistol in one hand. The sudden movement frightened Himawari, and the baby wrapped her arms tightly around her mother’s shoulders.

“Was kinda hoping for my sword.” Chihiro admitted. “Hachiman would love this.”

“The Katana’s under lock and key in some secret location.” Isis Dekker said. “It would be bad if…”

Isis trailed off. She, along with most of the squad, had just had the same thought. Matthew took action:

Soylent, Avenger, Nix! Stay with Blue Dragon. Everyone else, we’re going to find Bradford and tell him we know what the enemy’s looking for!”

...

The fighting on the western side of the airport was somehow worse than over by the ATC tower. The mixed force of Templars and Reapers had somehow gained a foothold near the fire station and fortified it. This made for one hell of a problem, because in order to reach the Avenger, Chihiro and her companions would have to run across nearly seven hundred feet of open tarmac, completely exposed to enemy weapons fire the whole time.

“Right, here’s the plan.” Isis said. “Soylent and I will get their attention and draw fire. Blue Dragon, shield Icarus and Antigone, keep them protected all the way to the Avenger. Nix, you run interference. Make those bastards put their heads down!”

“On it!” Kathleen replied.

Chihiro took advantage of the short break to create an improvised harness from a pair of old rifle straps, making it just a little easier to carry Himawari. Then she touched Sophia and Sophie on the shoulder in turn and asked:

“You ready?”

Both women nodded. Isis pointed at the enemy-occupied building and said:

“Piper, give ’em the works! Capacitor discharge!”

Isis’ Gremlin Drone let out a series of combative chirps before it flew through an open window. A moment later, the building lit up as though it had been struck by lightning! Kathleen and Soylent both trained their sniper rifles on the windows and fired on anyone trying to escape from the drone’s electroshock weapon! Using her free hand, Chihiro surrounded herself, Himawari, Sophie, Sophia, and Blake under a protective dome of Psionic energy.

Under the protective shield, Sophie and Sophia moved across the runway at a brisk pace towards the Avenger. To her left, Chihiro saw dark shapes moving along the runway. Every few seconds, she saw the unmistakable light of a muzzle flash appear next to these murky shadows. Bullets and Gauss slugs flickered through the air as they were deflected by Chihiro’s telekinetic shield.

Pop! Snap!

Bullets suddenly soared much closer to the trio! Looking around, Chihiro realized that she had suddenly blacked out! Without her powers, Sophie and Sophia were now extremely vulnerable to gunfire! Chihiro looked forward and saw that she was now just two hundred feet away from XCOM’s mobile HQ.

“Almost there!” She yelled. “Just keep going!”

Sophie and Sophia quickened their pace. The Avenger’s boarding ramp was just ahead! Chihiro could see the light of Chief Shen’s workshop at the top of the ramp!

And then, six people descended the ramp. Akira Robinson, carrying a long, thin object, was being escorted off the Avenger by two Templars: Duane Gardner and Violet, two Reapers: Elena Dragunova and Ivan Kuznetsov, and the battered form of Ignatius Petoskey, which contained the Composer of Strands! As the group stepped into the illumination of the runway lights, Chihiro got a glimpse of what Akira was holding…

It was Hachiman, the Demon Katana.

“STOP!”

Not knowing if the blackout was over, and not wanting to test her Gift right now, Chihiro drew the Shadowkeeper, chambered a round, and took aim at Akira’s head. Reflexively, Ivan and Elena both raised their own rifles at Chihiro.

“Don’t kill her!” Akira ordered. “Just put a round in her leg!”

Chihiro, Ivan, and Elena all fired their weapons at the same moment! The air between the combatants cracked as though the Universe itself was about to split open! A barely visible barrier absorbed all three rounds and a voice spoke up from behind Chihiro:

“That weapon belongs to me, Paradox!”

Six more people had arrived on the scene: Mira, Bradford, Shen, Reepi, Manako, and Makara. They were all armed with a wide array of advanced weapons and armor. Mira pointed a Psionic Amplifier at Akira and spoke again:

“The Triple Alliance is on the way with warships and soldiers. You’re surrounded!”

“So much for your scheme, Paradox.” Chief Shen taunted. “Give it up, it’s over!”

Akira shook her head and tightened her grip on the Katana.

“No.” She answered. “No, I won’t. Not when we’re so close to the perfect future.”

“DOES THIS LOOK PERFECT TO YOU!?” Bradford hollered, gesturing to the airport terminal, engulfed in smoke and flames. “How the fuck does killing our people and wrecking our base make anything perfect!?”

Akira paused for a moment, then replied in a cold voice:

“It was necessary. Everything I’ve done, everything… it’s all to make sure this war ends the right way. You know that better than anyone here, Mira.”

For a moment that felt like an eternity, Mira looked into Akira’s eyes.

“I do know that.” Mira finished. “That’s why I’m going to kill you, Akira. Right here, right now.”

And without another word, Mira aimed her Psionic Amplifier at Akira! A force, invisible but immense, shook the whole airport as Mira’s telekinetic attack sailed downrange! Akira deflected the incoming blow and sent it upwards and behind her! The telekinetic pulse struck the hull of the Avenger and did full damage! XCOM’s flagship split open like a melon and erupted into flames!

Chihiro, Sophie, and Sophia threw themselves to the ground as a huge battle erupted around them! Himawari shrieked louder than ever, only to be drowned out by the incessant gunfire of Bradford’s multipurpose rifle! Shen, like Bradford, fought with firearms, but also used her own Gremlin Drone as well. Elena and Ivan had to dive for cover, hiding behind the burning wreckage of the Avenger and poking their heads out every few moments to take potshots at Mira or her comrades.

In the midst of this all, Reepi Imvu had taken flight! With talons at the ready, the huge red and blue peacock dove on the enemy! Duane and Violet were in their element! The two fighters weaved and ducked around their enemies, deflecting incoming rounds and tearing up pieces of the runway with telekinesis to make improvised cover. Violet tried to open up a Psionic Rift, which could have swallowed up Mira, but Manako Ranginui headed her off with a wall of Soulfire!

Somehow, Commander Bradford found his way over to Chihiro, Himawari, Sophie, and Sophia. The three women and baby had all taken cover behind a pulverized hulk that had once been one of the Avenger’s VTOL engines. The stretcher carrying Blake was behind Sophie, and Blake himself was still unconscious, perhaps in moment of cosmic mercy.

“Are you alright!?” Bradford yelled over the din of battle. “Is anyone hurt?”

Chihiro and Sophie both nodded. Sophia, on the other hand, wasn’t really listening. She was poking her head out of cover and was watching the battle… or more specifically, she seemed to be watching just one Reaper in particular.

Bradford grabbed Sophia and pulled her back towards the group.

“All three of you, get Trojan and that kid out of here!” he yelled. “The rest of your squad is back by the terminal!”

A huge explosion caused Bradford to look around! Chihiro had to stand on tiptoe to see what was going on. Even Himawari widened her eyes to take a look.

Mira, Makara, Duane, and Akira were all locked together in vicious Psionic combat! Thunder and lightning exploded between them, each shockwave sending dirt and debris into the air around them! Akira conjured up a shimmering construct of Psionic energy, a semicorporeal obelisk that stood between herself and Mira. Using it for cover, Akira started venting white Soulfire from the Demon Sword towards Mira!

Swooping down from above, Reepi seemed to catch the white Soulfire in his wake! Dragging the inferno through the air behind him, the Vanian turned in a wide arc and redirected the supernatural flames towards Akira! A beam of bright light jumped from Akira’s hand and connected with the great bird! In an instant, Reepi and Akira had traded places! With no time left to react, Reepi was engulfed by the white Soulfire and fell to the ground with a pained screech! Chihiro waved her free hand and blanketed the screaming Vanian in her own power! At once, the Soulfire was extinguished, leaving Reepi terribly injured but still alive.

Then Chihiro heard a yell behind her:

“Sophia! Come back!”

Sophia Kuznetsova had broken from cover and charged headlong into the fight; a small brown object clasped in her hand. Chihiro felt her heart go into a frantic quickstep when Sophie said:

“Tachibana, is that your gun!?”

Somehow, while Chihiro was distracted, Sophia had stolen the Shadowkeeper. Chihiro scrambled to her feet and started to follow, but the loud snap of a sniper round zipping past her head caused her to look around. Elena Dragunova had just taken a shot at Chihiro and missed! From her harness, Himawari let out a high-pitched scream!

“YOU BITCH!” Chihiro roared. “I’M HOLDING A BABY!!”

Elena never knew what hit her. Chihiro sent a Psi Lance hurtling through the air and it connected with the Reaper’s shoulder before she could line up another shot. So much force was imparted that Elena flew ten feet backwards and struck her head on the tarmac before rolling over and coming to rest. Chihiro didn’t check to see whether Elena was still alive. Instead, she continued following the trail Sophia had blazed through the wreckage of the Avenger. Stepping through a pillar of acrid black smoke, both Chihiro and Himawari coughed and hacked so hard that their eyes watered. Chihiro could hear a quiet, repetitive noise.

Click. Click. Click.

As Chihiro’s vision returned, she found herself looking on a ghastly sight:

Ivan Kuznetsov was lying faceup on what had once been the Resistance Ring conference table. Blood pooled around his head and torso, while his daughter stood over him. Sophia seemed to be in a trance. She aimed Chihiro’s Shadowkeeper at Ivan’s body and pulled the trigger over and over again, seemingly unaware of the fact that she had run out of ammunition.

Chihiro let out a whimper at the sight and grabbed Sophia, pulling her away.

“I thought….” Sophia mumbled. “I thought I’d feel better if I… if… if I…”

Now having to support both Himawari and Sophia in her arms, Chihiro could only move at a slow pace through the wreckage. When she came back out onto the tarmac, their troubles only seemed to get worse.

The battle was still raging outside. Commander Bradford was lying facedown on the runway, blood staining his sweater. Mira had picked up his rifle and redoubled her assault on Akira. The Paradox, meanwhile, continued beating back the efforts of multiple assailants. Duane and Violet plied the flanks, diverting Mira and the Ranginui twins attention. Chief Shen was using her Gremlin drone’s medical protocols to try and get both Bradford and Reepi back into the fight.

Sophia stumbled, causing Chihiro to nearly drop both her and Himawari.

“Come on, get up!” Chihiro shouted. “We’ve gotta get outta here before-”

Sophia pointed to the far end of the battlefield and exclaimed!

“Jericho!”

The single word leaving Sophia’s mouth had been more powerful than anything else this night. Chihiro felt her heart lighten considerably as she turned her head to follow the direction Sophia was pointing. Charging headlong across the open runway and drawing closer with every second was Jericho herself, a Psionic Amplifier clutched tightly in one hand.

“Holy God! We’re saved!” Sophie shouted.

Violet seemed to know the tide was about to turn.

“We’re outmatched!” the red-haired Templar yelled. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”

A ring of Soulfire ignited around the battleground, trapping all of the combatants inside a circle of fire! Manako raised one hand up to the sky, commanding the supernatural fire to burn higher and more intensely!

“You’ll go nowhere, Paradox!” He shouted. “Your time has run out!”

Brandishing the Demon Sword at her opponents, Akira stood her ground.

“I won’t let you undermine everything I’ve worked for!” Akira answered. “You won’t take my future from me!”

And the Demon Sword shot out of her hands like a bullet from a gun!

This time, Chihiro really did drop Sophia. Keeping hold of Himawari with one hand, Chihiro raised a telekinetic barrier between Akira and the Partogans! Manako, Makara, and Mira all stood their ground and did the same! Four psionic shields overlapped and became one! The Demon Sword halted in midair, as four people pushed it from one side, and three pushed it from the other! Duane and Violet both applied their mental powers to the Katana, pushing it towards Chihiro’s allies! For two seconds, it was a stalemate! Then…

CRACK! CRACK!

Two gunshots rang out! Violet collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from her stomach! Duane spun halfway around before falling over, his left arm falling useless at his side! Sophie Ackermann, clutching the sniper rifle that had once belonged to Ivan Kuznetsov, took aim at Akira! The Paradox directed her eyes onto the weapon and it burst into flames! Sophie dropped the rifle, screaming! Jericho erupted through the wall of fire! An unnatural scream escaped Akira’s mouth!

“This is my future, my destiny! I spent a thousand lifetimes to build this and you won’t take it from me!”

With one last herculean push, Akira broke the stalemate! Her power overwhelmed Mira, Chihiro, Makara, and Manako! The Demon Sword smashed through the Psionic shields, soared through the air at breakneck speed-

And impaled Makara.

The entire weapon passed through Makara’s body, entering her chest and leaving from the middle of the back, spraying Manako and Mira with blood as the Katana sailed through the wall of fire and out of sight! Manako clutched at his chest and his scream of anguish was lost amongst his sister’s voice! From where she stood, Chihiro could see Makara’s knees buckle. The younger Ranginui twin grabbed the front of her brother’s uniform, a look of terror etched onto her face.

“Manako…”

Makara slumped to the ground, and Manako fell to her knees, holding her tightly as he broke down completely.

“Maka… stay with me! Maka! MAKA!!”

A flash of white light, accompanied by the sound of rushing air signaled the Katana’s return to Akira’s hand. But Chihiro only had eyes for the Ranginui twins. Makara dropped her rifle and seized her brother’s hand with both of hers. Choking, gurgling on her own words, Makara rasped out the words:

“Me- my… memories… take them, take them all!”

Nobody could see what Manako was doing, but Chihiro could sense it. Psionic energy enveloped Makara as Manako put his special power to use, extracting every single experience, memory, and recollection from his sister’s mind and storing them in his own. Makara’s final breath caught in her chest, and she clutched her bother tightly until it was all over.

Chihiro didn’t see what happened to Manako after that. Her attention had turned to the next confrontation. A few feet away, Jericho drew a Psionic Amplifier with her free hand and switched it on. A swirling orb of purple light illuminated the battlefield more brightly than the burning hulk of the Avenger. The Demon Katana was wreathed in blue Soulfire as Akira aimed it towards Jericho.

The two women began to circle one another, weapons at the ready.

Chapter 49: Jericho versus Akira

Chapter Forty-One
Jericho versus Akira

 

Wednesday, August 6, 2036 – 5:30pm
XCOM Headquarters, Nagasaki, Kyushu Island

It seemed as though the rest of the battle had been forgotten. Combatants from both sides stopped fighting and directed their gaze towards the ring of fire that had surrounded the wreckage of the Avenger. The orange evening light cast Jericho and Akira’s shadows far along the runway, but from her position, Chihiro could only see their silhouettes against the backdrop of fire. Knowing exactly what was about to happen, Chihiro seized the medical stretcher and began dragging Blake to safety, hiding both him and herself behind a huge metal ring that had once been one of the Avenger’s VTOL engines. Then Chihiro poked her head out from cover to see what happened next.

Jericho and Akira were both moving in a slow circle around the battlefield, keeping their eyes locked on one another. Sparks of light and tiny arcs of energy briefly sputtered into life between them before disappearing as wave after wave of Psionic energy collided between the two women.

“It’s time to stop, Akira!” Jericho raised her voice at the Paradox. “You can’t do this!”

“Like hell!” Akira retorted. “I built this timeline! I put you all on this path! The path to a perfect future!”

Jericho looked at Manako, who wept as he clutched the lifeless body of his twin sister.

“Perfect for who?” Jericho asked. “Cause from where I’m standing, it looks like all this is just for you.”

Jericho took a step forward. Psionic energies ripped around her, and her boot prints spontaneously combusted, leaving a trail of Soulfire on the tarmac behind her.

“You found a way to reset the Cycle, to start all over again if things don’t go the way you want.” Jericho continued. “So, you decided to build yourself a perfect life, with the world and its people molded exactly the way you wanted. And you killed and destroyed anything, anyone who strayed off the path you made for them, if they fell out from under your control. You know what that is, Akira? That’s slavery, oppression… tyranny!”

“Tyranny!?” Akira gave a psychopathic laugh. “I’m not the Elders, Jericho! When I’m done, the Galaxy will come into an era of peace longer and greater than any before it! People will be safe and happy!”

“What about all of the people you’ve killed!?” Jericho shouted, “The families and nations you’ve left in ruins! You’ve destroyed whole civilizations just to make your perfect future happen! Do so many people need to die for your vision!? Did Makara really need to die so that you could have your better world!?”

Akira looked down on Manako and Makara. The surviving twin shot a look of pure hatred at the Paradox before she replied coldly:

“Yes. She did.”

It was as though lightning had struck at the exact same moment as both an earthquake and a volcanic eruption! The entire battlefield seemed to explode as Jericho and Akira tore into one another! A beam of purple light shot out of Jericho’s Amplifier, broke into twelve individual streaks of energy, and each one curved around, striking Akira at a different angle! The Paradox stumbled, recovered, and slammed one hand to the pavement! Six semi-transparent tentacle-shaped objects rose from the ground and started wrapping themselves around Jericho’s legs, holding her in place just long enough for Akira to launch another assault! An invisible force hit some kind of barrier just in front of Jericho and bounced back! Mira, Sophie, Sophia, Violet, Elena, and Duane were all blown off their feet by the sheer force of the wave!

Akira staggered, but stayed on her feet. In the moment it had taken the Paradox to regain her footing, Jericho had seized the initiative! She broke free of Akira’s binding attack and slashed her Amplifier through the air! The Demon Katana jumped out of Akira’s hands and skittered across the runway, beyond the ring of fire, and out of sight!

“Get that sword!” Akria shouted to her compatriots! “We need it!”

Duane Gardner and Elena Dragunova both sprang into action, moving to recover the Eater of Worlds, but Jericho was faster on the draw! A pillar of Soulfire erupted from her Amplifier as though it were a flamethrower! Duane dodged the attack but Elena was hit squarely in the chest, her whole body becoming enveloped in supernatural fire!

Duane threw himself to one side to avoid being hit by Jericho’s attack and started to make another run towards the spot where the Demon Katana had fallen, but Jericho had something in store for him, too. She launched a swirling ball of Psionic energy through the air, which sailed over Duane’s head before crashing and exploding in roughly the same spot where Chihiro had found Sophia gunning down her father!

Assuming Jericho had aimed for him and missed, Duane ignored the Psionic blast and continued racing toward the Katana, only to be hit from behind and knocked off his feet! Chihiro couldn’t help but cheer as the re-animated corpse of Ivan Kuznetsov took another wild swing at Duane, forcing him to back away! Duane hurled Soulfire at the Zombie, but the creature ignored the blue flames licking at its flesh. It was already dead, after all. With no other option, Duane backed away, giving ground to the Zombie.

Behind him, Akira used Telekinesis to tear up massive strips of asphalt and throw them through the air at Jericho, who blasted them into smaller chunks and sent them flying back towards Akira!

“Are you out of your goddamned mind!?” Jericho screamed, “Did you forget your own timeline, Akira? You can’t get rid of me!”

“I can now!” Akira deflected another blow, then put her hands together. “I’ve found another way to get what I want, a way that doesn’t involve something as uncontrollable as you!”

Akira pulled her hands apart, revealing a small Psionic Rift! She pushed it through the air towards Jericho! A wide column of light shot down from the sky and enveloped Jericho! When the light faded, Chihiro saw that Jericho had Inverted with Violet! The rogue Templar had almost no time to react! The outer edge of the Rift tore at Violet’s flesh, spraying blood everywhere! The Templar screamed and collapsed to the ground!

A yellow flash pierced the sky before a jagged beam of light arced through the air towards Akira! The Paradox dodged the blow, leaping out of the confines of the ring of fire!

“I spent a hundred-fifteen Cycles trying to figure out how to make you do what I wanted!” Akira shouted at Jericho! “When another answer was in front of me all along!”

Jericho reappeared, standing on top of the shattered remains of the Avenger’s Elerium power core. She cocked one arm back and a semicorporeal lance appeared in her hand. Hurling it like a javelin, Jericho’s Psionic Lance rocketed towards Akira! The Paradox held both of her hands out, palms forward, and raised them to the sky! A four-sided pillar, made entirely of Psionic energy, rose from the ground in front of Akira! Jericho’s lance struck the face of the Psionic construct and dissipated!

By the time Akira moved out from behind cover again, Jericho was already following up. An immense telekinetic force washed over the entire battlefield! Chihiro screamed as she was forced down on her hands and knees! Around her, she saw that Manako, Sophie, Duane, and all other combatants had been forced to the ground as well! It was as though the Earth’s gravity had been magnified tenfold! It took all of Chihiro’s strength just to look up at the ongoing conflict, while behind her, Blake started coughing and gurgling blood from where he lay on the ground. In her harness on Chihiro’s chest, Himawari tried to scream but couldn’t! The force pushing down on her was too great!

Akira had fallen victim to the same telekinetic push! She redoubled her efforts to free herself, but no matter how hard she tried, Akira just couldn’t stand up.

“What the hell!?” Akira gasped. “How’d you get so strong all of a sudden!?”

“I’m not alone anymore!” Jericho replied; “NOW!”

Over her head, Chihiro could hear an intense rushing noise! Fighting the overwhelming forces that tried to keep her down, Chihiro looked up to see a formation of Vanians closing the distance! The entire Conclave of Telepaths had arrived, and their ranks had been augmented with that appeared to be…

A golden Ethereal!

A quick flash of white feathers and a clatter of talons caught Chihiro’s attention. Kanti Divakar, the albino peahen, had just landed next to her.

“Quick! Grab hold of your husband and child!” Kanti ordered. “We need to get you somewhere safe!”

Never in her life had the act of sitting up been so painful! Fighting against whatever force Jericho was using to keep Akira down, Chihiro was afraid her spine might snap as she propped herself up on her knees, grabbed her husband’s arm with one hand and secured her grip on Himawari with the other.

Kanti’s blood-red eyes flashed as her own Psionic powers washed over the Robinson family and those nearby. Chihiro felt as though the entire world was spinning like a top as she completely lost her bearings. After blinking a few times, she realized that she and nearly a dozen other people had re-materialized on the roof of the airport terminal, just a few hundred yards away from the main fight! Sophie and Sophia were holding one another very tightly as they watched the conflict below. Commander Bradford was still unconscious, and Manako Ranginui was being held down by both Holly Smith and Mira Mihaka. He was screaming:

“We can’t leave her! Maka’s still down there! We’ve got to go back!”

Meanwhile, the airport runway had taken on the appearance of a moonscape. The Conclave of Telepaths, their Ethereal ally, Kanti, and Jericho had encircled Akira and were attacking from all sides! Vanians soared through the evening sky and rained hellfire down on Akira while both Jericho and the Ethereal engaged from the ground! Akira had given up the initiative entirely and was focused only on her own defense!

 

Deflecting attacks as they came, the ground around the Paradox was pockmarked with smoking craters. The pavement beneath her feet began to melt and shift dangerously, and when Akira stumbled for just a moment, Jericho made her move!

From her vantage point on top of the ruins of the Avenger, Jericho raised one arm above her head, pointing her palm towards the sky! A bolt of lightning jumped into the heavens, arced over, and struck a seemingly empty portion of the sea! The following crack of thunder was loud enough to break every window in the airport and echo through the streets of Nagasaki! For a moment, Chihiro couldn’t see what Jericho had done, but then…

A movement caught her eye.

In the low evening light, Chihiro thought she was seeing an optical illusion at first. The waters around the airport seemed to change their quality in some indescribable way. The waters around the airport looked the same, but Chihiro could tell there was something very wrong with the sea now. Her sense of dread propagated to the other observers, and silence fell on the terminal roof. Sitting upright, Commander Bradford looked around and said:

“What the hell?”

And then, the Ariake Sea began to retreat.

The waterline itself pulled away from Nagasaki Airport until the causeway bridge became an isthmus. In seconds, the airport was no longer an island, but a peninsula jutting out into a rapidly shrinking body of water. Countless fish were left flopping and gasping as their home suddenly vanished. The seawater seemed to flee westward, towards the point where the Straits of Tsushima connected to the Pacific Ocean.

Meanwhile, the Conclave of Telepaths had done its best to keep Akira busy. Under a near-constant bombardment of Psionic attacks, she didn’t hear the loud roar coming from the western horizon.

Chihiro did hear it, and she knew full well what was causing that distant noise. The great roar was growing louder with every moment, as though the ocean itself was finally giving voice to its own unbridled rage. Like an oncoming freight train, the sound grew louder and more oppressive, drowning out all other noises until the great crashing sound made Chihiro’s eardrums rattle painfully! Himawari screamed, the sound of her voice lost as the air itself trembled and shook!

“TSUNAMI!” Chihiro shouted. “Everyone stay on the roof!”

A wall of raging water, roughly fifteen feet high and moving faster than a racecar, surged back into the basin and refilled the Ariake Sea in a matter of seconds, but it didn’t stop there! The cataclysmic wave swept up onto the shores of the island and overran the airport in its entirety! Akira didn’t realize what was happening until the very last second! A frothing wave filled with debris and wreckage swallowed her up and carried her along for a few dozen yards before slamming into the airport’s main building with the force of a crashing airplane!

Unable to withstand the fury of the ocean, the burned-out hulk of the Avenger began to collapse, washing away in the raging waters below. One of the Vanians folded his wings and dove, grabbing Jericho by the shoulders with his own talons and carrying her into the air. Himawari pointed towards Jericho and clapped her little hands excitedly.

Meanwhile, the tsunami waves continued to pulverize anything at ground level. One of the hangar buildings was torn up from its foundations and drifted a few yards before collapsing. A band of Reapers, who were trying to escape from Jericho’s onslaught, got caught on the causeway and were washed into the roiling sea. Meanwhile, more people were arriving on the roof of the airport, either from roof access doors or by climbing up the side of the terminal. Doctor Tygan let out a low whistle as he looked over the side towards the place where Akira had vanished.

“I daresay Jericho has achieved the impossible. There’s no way Miss Robinson would have survived this.”

“Wait a minute!” Sophie called out. “Look down there!”

About fifty feet away, Chihiro and the others could see a patch of strange shapes silently moving through the water, just below the surface. Before anyone could so much as ask a question, an invisible force began pushing seawater away from the mysterious object!

“It’s Gardner!” Bradford gasped.

Duane Gardner, covered in mud from head to toe, lowered his telekinetic shield and focused all of his powers into keeping the Tsunami waves at bay, while next to him, Akira wiped mud away from her eyes and looked up.

The entire Conclave of Telepaths came together and dove on Akira’s position! Jericho, Kanti, the Ethereal, and all of their Vanian comrades descended towards Akira in a great plume of Soulfire! From her vantage point on the airport roof, Chihiro raised one hand, took aim, and prepared to join the attack from afar! Akira focused her full attention on the incoming flock of Vanians. She reached forward with her right hand, made a grabbing motion… then pulled backwards.

It seemed as though Akira had torn a hole in the Universe itself! An all-consuming pit of darkness, no bigger than a coin, swallowed untold gallons of tsunami water completely before drawing in the ground and air around it! Wreckage and debris pelted into the air and vanished into the Wound! Akira’s power wiped out everything in the vicinity! It annihilated matter, destroyed space, stopped time, and then abolished the empty void left behind!

With one epic push, Akira sent the cosmic Wound flying towards the Conclave of Telepaths! The Vanian carrying Jericho realized what was about to happen and dropped her! Jericho fell twenty feet and hit the tsunami wave below, vanishing into its murky depths! The Vanians tried to scatter, but the Wound pulled them inexorably towards itself! One by one, Vanians fell into the Event Horizon and were pulled inside! Kanti had been further away when Akira had attacked, and was not caught in the Wound’s pull. She used telekinesis to seize her fellow Vanians and tried to pull them away from the Wound!

Chihiro, however, only had eyes for Akira. Even from here, she could see that whatever the Paradox was doing, it was costing all of her attention and energy. Duane was too busy holding back tsunami waves to notice an attack from behind.

A Psi Volt jumped out of Chihiro’s hand and arced through the air, striking Akira squarely in the back before jumping across to Duane! The sudden strike of chain lightning broke both of their concentration at once!

What happened next was like a scene out of a nightmare. Without Akira’s power to hold it steady, the Wound in the Universe began to grow out of control! It grew wider and wider, swallowing up whole stretches of the runway and eating into the biggest pieces of the Avenger! The entire tsunami wave lifted off the surface of the Earth and began to drain into the Wound! Kanti didn’t give up on saving her kin, and only let go when one of the Conclave members forced her to. Kanti put as much distance between herself and the rapidly growing Wound as possible while the last members of the Conclave of Telepaths was sucked inside!

“Incredible!” Doctor Tygan had to shout to make himself heard above the chaotic noise. “The energy required to do this is incomprehensible!”

“It ain’t over yet!” Bradford yelled. “Look!”

Jericho had reappeared! She had somehow managed to secure herself to the ground and was not being pulled towards the rapidly growing Wound! Instead, she had raised one hand up, as though she intended to grab the singularity in her fist! Psionic energy began to radiate out of Jericho’s body, wrapping her in an eerie purple aura. Keeping her focus on the Wound, Jericho closed her fist!

At once, it all came rushing back! Energy, matter, time... the building blocks of the surrounding Universe started pouring into the Wound in much the same way that water rushes into an empty bowl that was dropped into a sink. The implosion pulled Chihiro forcefully towards its epicenter, and she had to grip onto a railing along the edge of the roof to avoid being pulled any further. In her harness, Himawari didn’t understand what has happening, yet still found the situation to be downright terrifying, shrieking and screaming the whole time.

Meanwhile, the Wound began to contract! The seemingly bottomless pit of darkness grew smaller and smaller with each moment as Jericho extinguished Akira’s destructive power! The winds died down, the ocean calmed, and finally, Jericho slammed the Wound shut, closing the tear in the Universe! At long last, the immediate crisis was over. Panting, Jericho turned her attention to Akira. Chihiro looked down towards Akira as well, and for a moment, she was completely stunned.

The Paradox was unmistakably incapacitated. Unable to stand on her own, Akira was being held up by Duane and Elena, her arms around their shoulders. Jericho pointed one hand towards Akira, aiming to kill.

“You know I can’t let you.” Duane told Jericho. “Our future depends on her.”

“You’re wrong.” Jericho replied. “We’re going to make our own future, all of us, today.”

With his free hand, Duane raised the Demon Katana to the sky. A beam of light shot out of Jericho’s hand and rocketed towards Akira! A column of white light shot down from the sky and he, Elena, and Akira all vanished, transported away in an instant. Jericho’s beam attack sailed through the spot where Akira had just been, kept going, and slammed into the side of a nearby mountain, causing a massive rockslide to bury part of the tsunami-ravaged coastal city.

…

At long last, the battle was over. The sun was quickly descending behind the mountains of Kyushu on the western horizon, allowing Jericho to survey the damage beneath a blood-red sky:

XCOM Headquarters had been destroyed.

The Avenger was reduced to a hunk of scrap metal.

There was a massive crater in the center of Nagasaki Airport, and it was rapidly filling with seawater.

Tsunami waves had struck the town of Omura and the northern edge of Nagasaki, causing unspeakable death and destruction.

Nearly two dozen XCOM soldiers, the Conclave of Telepaths, the Ethereal named Apollo, and Makara Ranginui were all dead; worst of all…

Both the Composer of Strands and the Eater of Worlds had been stolen.

As Chihiro and her comrades descended from the safety of the rooftops, she used Telekinesis to bring Blake’s stretcher down to ground level. Chihiro didn’t know if the Hypervital Module survived the destruction of the Avenger, and was already assuming that it had not. Levitating Blake alongside her, Chihiro sprinted across the runway. She was desperate to ask Jericho to heal her husband, the same way Jericho had healed her after the Second Battle of Pyongyang last year.

But as she approached, Chihiro noticed that Jericho was going through a moment of her own. The young Hawaiian was walking across the now-silent battlefield, gazing around at the death and destruction, most of which had been caused by her fight with Akira. Looking around at Chihiro, Jericho had tears in her eyes.

“Look at this.” Jericho sobbed. “Look at what we just did. Look at… look at what I just did!”

Jericho knelt down next to an XCOM soldier who had come to rest facedown in the mud. She rolled the body over. Both Jericho and Chihiro saw that it was Pyotr Ilyshin, the man who had killed the Chosen Warlock during the conflict against ADVENT. Chihiro couldn’t tell if Pyotr had been killed in combat or drowned during the tsunami.

Jericho grabbed Pyotr’s ID tags and pulled until they broke free. Clutching the metal tabs and chain in her hand, Jericho choked back a sob and declared:

“I hate it. I hate the Gift. I wish Psionics never existed at all!”

Chapter 50: All Our Sins Remembered

 

Chapter Forty-Two
All Our Sins Remembered

 

Saturday, August 9, 2036 – 11:30am
Nagasaki Gene Therapy Clinic, Kyushu Island, Japan

Everything hurt.

All of my senses came back at the same time, and I was bombarded by sights, smells, and sounds. Absolutely nothing made sense for the first few moments, but then a few of the shapeless blobs hovering above me started to resolve themselves, and whatever was pressing down on my chest shuffled about and then let out a little yawn. I blinked a few times.

I was in one of the old ADVENT Gene Therapy Clinics, lying on a surgical bed. Chihiro had fallen asleep in a chair next to me, whilst Himawari was stretched out on my chest, halfway between sleeping and waking. The six-month old baby reached out and touched my chin with her little hand.

“Fascinating.” Said a voice to my right. “Do you think it’s possible that a Psionic connection already exists between the child and her father? How would we even test that sort of thing?”

“For Miranda’s sake, woman!” said an exasperated voice. “Can you go five minutes without plotting your next experiment!?”

“You’re talking to Vahlen.” I grumbled. “Pretty sure you already know the answer.”

Turning my head to look, I saw Doctors Vahlen and Tygan, both of whom seemed to be having a conversation with Temirzhan, the Assurian I had served with aboard the Kakama. He was being accompanied by Sarah Harris, who wasn’t really following the conversation. She was sitting on the foot of my bed, watching Himawari.

“How long have I been out?” I asked her.

Instantly, I regretted speaking. The act of using my voice was far more painful than I expected. I reached up to massage my own throat, and my daughter put her hand on top of mine while I did.

“You’ve been down for a couple of days.” Sarah told me. “You fell over a hundred feet, you know. You should have died.”

Doctor Vahlen waved a hand at me.

“You can thank the enhanced muscle fiber modifications I gave you, Robinson.” The scientist explained. “Your legs took the blow like shock absorbers and protected the rest of your body.”

“Speaking of which,” Tygan chimed in. “Try not to move today. We need more time to observe you before we can be certain the Hypervital Module functioned as intended.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, straining from the pain talking caused me. “We’ve used the Hypervital Module before, we know it works.”

Vahlen scoffed.

“If you’d seen what that contraption looked like when we pulled it out of the rubble, I’m sure you would share our skepticism.”

“Huh?”

Temirzhan gulped.

“Robinson, uh… a lot of things happened after you fell.” He said. “Perhaps you should wake your wife.”

...

 

 

Monday, August 11, 2036 – 3:20pm
Ruins of XCOM Headquarters, Nagasaki, Japan

 

No amount of explanations or exposition could prepare me for the trip to XCOM HQ. Chihiro had done her best to talk me through everything that had happened after I tumbled from the Air Traffic Control tower, but words can’t truly capture the totality of the destruction.

The tsunami Jericho had thrown at Akira travelled about a mile and a half inland, choking the streets of Omura with wreckage and debris, all covered in a thick layer of mud. The causeway between the town and Nagasaki Airport had been annihilated, meaning we had to take a ferry from the mainland to get there.

During the boat ride over to Nagasaki Airport, I noticed that people were behaving… differently around Chihiro and Himawari. Japanese people bowed their heads whenever she drew near murmured words of respectful greeting. Chihiro explained what was going on:

“I’m not in XCOM anymore, which means my title went back to being ‘Princess’ instead of ‘Sergeant’ thanks to Nakagawa and my brother.”

I noticed that Chihiro relayed this story in a grumpy tone of voice, her brow furrowed. She clearly wasn’t on board with being restored to the Imperial family.

“Are you expecting me to bow to you, Chi?” I asked with sly smile.

“Don’t you fucking dare.” She growled.

And when we arrived, the humor was sucked out of the air.

XCOM HQ was completely swamped. It seemed as though the intensity of Jericho and Akira’s fight had pushed the entire island down just enough that the runway was now below the waterline. Wading through the muddy water as best we could, Chihiro and I had to take turns carrying Himawari, as our feet frequently got stuck in quicksand. The first thing Chihiro took me to see was the wreck of the Avenger.

XCOM’s mobile headquarters was completely destroyed. The hull itself was barely recognizable, having been split open by telekinesis and then battered by Jericho’s Tsunami. Most of the ship’s interior had spilled out into the runway and had either been washed into the sea or partially immersed in mud. The spot where the Hypervital Module was found had been excavated with a heavy crane, which itself had sunk into quicksand and was still there.

“Holy shit.” I breathed. “Akira did that?”

“Yeah.”

“So, she wrecked the Avenger and got away with the Katana, which had a Shroud-Being inside of it?”

“That’s the long and short of it, but we did recapture Violet, and she’s got the Whisperers in the Void, so it’s not a total loss.” Chihiro explained.

“We lost the Eater of Worlds, Chihiro. Pretty sure we can’t count this as a win.”

We both turned around to look at the place where Akira had used her highly destructive power. There seemed to be something wrong here, and I don’t mean like there was anything out of place. The air, water, and dirt in the area seemed to be… different somehow. Best way I can describe it, this section of flooded runway was discolored, as though we were looking at it through a really dirty window. When Chihiro and I walked through this darkened area, she, Himawari, and I all felt very strange, as though the entire fabric of the Universe was, in this one spot, somehow thinner and more fragile than usual.

While Chihiro explained to me about how Akira’s destructive power had wiped out the Vanian Conclave of Telepaths, we arrived at the massive crater in the middle of the runway. It was now completely filled with seawater, and a few local birds of prey were taking turns diving into it for fish. Amidst everything that had happened, a thought that seemed small in comparison crossed my mind.

“What happened to Sophia? Is she okay?”

Chihiro pointed towards the Nagasaki shoreline.

“She’s doing okay. The whole damn squad came together to help her out afterward. Tsubaki, Yutaka, and Kathleen pooled their money to get her into the best hospital in the Prefecture. Sophie’s been with her the whole time, hasn’t left her side once. The rest of us are still helping to pick up the pieces over here.”

We turned a corner and came upon all that remained of XCOM HQ. There were some eighty Humans, aliens, and Hybrids sifting and sorting through the muddy mess. Not only had Jericho’s tsunami swept through the building and trashed everything, but the impact had been so jarring that the roof collapsed, burying the command center beneath twisted metal and broken concrete. In the middle of it all, I saw three people: Commander Bradford, Elsina, and Manako.

This was the first time I’d seen Manako since the Kakama had returned to Earth. Chihiro had brought me up to speed on his sister’s murder; but now that I was in the same room with him once again, I couldn’t help but feel a little pain at the sight of my Partogan comrade. Manako looked like a broken man. He had lost a lot of that combative energy he usually carried around, and even his voice seemed to have become a little slower. Elsina kept one paw on his shoulder, holding Manako steady while he spoke to the Commander.

“Her Majesty has been informed, so now we’re just waiting for word on who the new Fleet Commander will be.”

“What about you?” Bradford asked. “Will you be alright? I heard your people are dredging the bay, trying to find your sister’s body. I’ll be more than happy to pull some of my soldiers aside to help you out.”

“I appreciate that.” Manako answered, choking back a sob. “Our traditions require she be buried soon; too much time has gone by, and I fear she might not find her way to the Ancestral Homeland by now.”

“The Tangi also requires that Manako never be left alone until after the burial.” Elsina added. “My folks are taking it in shifts but one or two XCOM soldiers joining in would be most welcome.”

Bradford promised that he would see what he could do, then looked over Manako’s shoulder and spotted Chihiro and I.

“I’m so sorry about your sister, Manako.” I said. “Losing her is going to be a terrible blow.”

Manako gave me a weak smile.

“She’s not completely lost, Robinson.” He tapped the side of his own head with one finger. “The most important part of Maka lives on, and I assure you, it won’t go to waste.”

“Good to see you up and about, Robinson.” Bradford said to me. “Has anyone briefed you about your squadmate, Kuznetsova?”

“Chi’s given me a rundown.” I answered. “I’m glad to hear Sophia’s getting treatment.”

“Doctor Vahlen thinks Kuznetsova will be fit to return to duty Wednesday morning.” Bradford said. “She’ll meet you at the new Forward Operating Base.”

“Wait, Wednesday!?” I was caught off guard, “Sir, with all due respect, I really think Kuznetsova should be benched for a little longer than that! She tried to kill herself! That kind of thing can’t be treated quickly! She needs time to recover properly!”

“My comrade is right.” Manako chimed in. “The stresses of battle can break any soldier. It sounds like this young woman might suffer irreparable damage if you push her back into the front so quickly.”

Commander Bradford sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Look, you’re both right,” he began, “But the unfortunate fact is that the Beast is still bearing down on us, and we’re just not ready for that fight. On top of that, our recon units all over the world are starting to sound the alarm, saying the Templars and Reapers are staging for a major offensive of some kind. Don’t you get it, Robinson? We’re looking at a three-way battle for Earth, a battle that’s going to catch us outnumbered, outgunned, and out of options. We’re going to need everyone we can get, so if Kuznetsova can still hold a gun, you’ll be damned sure that I’ll send her back into the fight.”

“Speaking of being outnumbered,” Chihiro cut me off before I could respond. She knew I wanted to press the issue. “What are we going to do with Violet and the Whisperers in the Void? And what are we going to do about the Shroud-Beings we lost?”

On Chihiro’s words, I startled.

“Hold on,” I said. “I thought we only lost the Eater of Worlds!”

“Unfortunately, we also lost the Instrument of Desire when Akira destroyed the Conclave of Telepaths.” Bradford said.

Elsina let out a little cough.

“Ahem.”

We all turned to look at the lioness. Elsina regarded us with a sly smile.

“That’s not entirely accurate.”

Bradford, Chihiro, and I all raised our eyebrows. From her mother’s harness, Himawari reached forward to grab a tuft of Elsina’s fur.

“Huh?” I said. “Which part?”

…

Monday, August 11, 2036 – 3:45pm
Outskirts of Nagasaki, Kyushu Island, Japan

I’ll admit I’m not a religious person. I don’t put much stock in Gods or divinity, especially after personally helping bring about the downfall of the Elders. But that doesn’t mean I’m completely ignorant to spirituality. When she was alive, my mother was a Christian; and these days Chihiro still holds onto her Shinto beliefs. Some of the Stormbreakers are religious, too. Before Operation Avenger, Chaplain Petoskey would hold little services for Kathleen, Sophie, Matthew, Soylent, and Isis to attend, so I’ve had plenty of experience with the spiritual life.

And absolutely none of that experience prepared me for the mass revival that had come to Nagasaki.

The shoreline was jam-packed with Humans, aliens, and Hybrids, all of whom were trying to gather around an XCOM outpost that had been hastily assembled on a nearby hilltop. People sang, prayed, and waited their turn as the crowd moved inexorably towards its goal. When Chihiro and I arrived aboard the local ferry, we found a scene of joy and celebration, which stood in stark contrast to the tsunami-ravaged coastline around us, and it was pretty obvious why.

At the entrance to the outpost, people were pushing and shoving at one another for a chance to get close to a pair of individuals. Jericho herself was using her powers to heal anyone who asked for her aid. The albino Vanian named Kanti Divakar was riding on Jericho’s shoulder, projecting Psionic energy into the crowd. I couldn’t see what effect Kanti’s power was having on the assembled people, but Chihiro and Himawari must have detected it, because Chihiro let out an awed exclamation in Japanese, and Himawari suddenly became very animated, clapping her little hands and giggling. Chihiro took me by the hand and pulled me into the crowd.

The two of us only had to push and shove for a few moments before some civilian recognized us.

“It’s the heroes of Hiroshima!” Someone yelled. “Princess Chihiro is here!”

“We’re friends of Jericho!” I responded. “Let us pass!”

After that, the crowds parted before us, and we reached Jericho and Kanti in less than a minute. Jericho greeted us with a hug. Kanti was carrying herself like she was the happiest bird on Kyushu Island, singing some kind of Vanian tune as she rode along on Jericho’s back, one clawed foot gripping each shoulder. Jericho gave me an extra tight hug and apologized profusely for being unable to help save Sophia.

“I should have been there, Blake. Everything would have gone differently if I’d just been there!”

Remembering what Elsina had just told us, I commented:

“Sounds to me like you saved our necks anyway, even if you were late to the fight.”

“Yeah.” Chihiro turned her attention to Kanti, “How are you doing, Instrument of Desire?”

The peahen jumped off Jericho’s shoulders and glided to the ground in near silence, then gave Chihiro a knowing wink.

“Still adjusting to life in a single body instead of being dispersed.” Kanti replied in a voice that clearly didn’t belong to her.

“So, I get the feeling you moved into Kanti on Jericho’s request.” I said. “When did that happen?”

“A few hours before the Paradox attacked your headquarters.” The Instrument of Desire spoke through Kanti. “Jericho elaborated a plan to use myself and my kin to enhance her powers once she is connected to the Trinity, but in order or it to work, each of us must be contained within a single vessel. This Vanian volunteered herself for the task. She believed her expertise in developing the Tryna can be applied to the Trinity. Furthermore, the move made sense to myself. Berang Vanians are, after all, amongst the most attractive beings in the Galaxy.”

Kanti shook her head and fluttered her wings. I guess it’s the avian way of blushing.

“You’re embarrassing me!” Kanti protested in her normal voice. “Can I get back to work now?”

With one wing, Kanti gestured to the assembled masses, who had continued begging Jericho for healing. Chihiro and I stepped to one side and allowed Kanti and Jericho to resume their work. Tsunami victims approached Jericho in small groups and would only have to introduce themselves before Jericho applied her healing touch to them. The overwhelming majority of people were suffering from injuries sustained during the disaster, although many people were sick as well. Just when I started to wonder if anyone knew who had caused the wave, Jericho’s voice drifted into my mind:

I wanted to confess to everything. Jericho told me telepathically. I wanted to tell the truth, but Bradford and Harper stopped me. They insisted on blaming the Tsunami on Akira and the Templars, so that’s the story XCOM put out: Officially, Akira did this.

Noticing the sense of disquiet in Jericho’s mental voice, I gave Chihiro a little nudge. While Jericho repaired a child’s broken legs, Chihiro grasped my hand in her own, and I felt a small shock run up the length of my arm. Using her own special power, Chihiro shared her Gift with me, allowing me to use her powers for a little while.

Suddenly gaining telepathy was quite jarring, and for a few seconds, I could hear the thoughts of everyone around me! So many thousands of voices spoke in my mind at once, clashing against one another and becoming unintelligible noise. With a few calming breaths, I re-established my focus and blocked out nearly all of the noise. Finally, I could sense the same thing Chihiro did:

The vast majority of people in this crowd were true believers. I really mean that. Humans, Sectoids, Partogans, Assurians, Vipers, Levakians, Mutons, Hiigarans, Taiidani, Blorg, Scyldari, Kelt, and a very wide array of Hybrids all shared a common conviction that Jericho really was some kind of divine being. Some people called her an angel or benevolent spirit. A few Hiigarans wondered to themselves if Jericho was the next Sajuuk-Khar, while a few people dared to call her a “Goddess” outright.

The story of “the girl who killed a god” had somehow spread throughout the entire Galaxy, reaching further and wider than Jericho’s Xenonian News interview; and now the myths and rumors about her had somehow managed to eclipse the truth.

Deep in the crowd, I detected something that even I found a little alarming: a few Vanians were present, and they were having some very eye-opening thoughts about Jericho. After travelling the Galaxy for the better part of a year, I was well aware of the fact that before their Homeworld had fallen to the Beast, the entire Vanian civilization was steeped in Psionics, and had made the Gift an integral part of their very existence.

So, when I looked into the minds of several Vanians in the crowd, I was not surprised to see that these avian creatures were judging Jericho purely on her Psionic potential… but the conclusions they had drawn were taking them down a very, very strange train of thought.

Every Vanian whose mind I probed was focused on the same question:

“Could she succeed where we failed?”

I passed this knowledge on to Chihiro, and we were both puzzled. We knew we had heard that phrase somewhere else before, but neither of us could remember when or where.

Meanwhile, I finally realized what Kanti had been doing this whole time. She had been using the power of the Instrument of Desire to restrict the religious fervor of the crowd. When new locals arrived to seek out Jericho, Kanti sapped away just enough of their affection for her to prevent diehard supporters and worshippers from doing anything rash or dangerous. Countless men and women who would have made unwanted advances suddenly lost the drive to do so; dozens of overenthusiastic young soldiers were stopped from pledging themselves to the Progeny, and a few aspiring prophets lost the drive to continue following Jericho around and write down everything she said.

The next time I locked eyes with Kanti, I gave her a thumbs-up and a grateful word of thanks.

…

Chihiro, Himawari and I all stayed with Jericho and Kanti for the rest of the day. Psionically healing thousands of people was exhausting work, but Jericho never got to the point where her powers would have been drained. Instead, sometime around sundown, a Psionic Blackout rolled across the area, causing Jericho’s powers to fail.

For most people, this was a sign that it was time to call it a day. The crowds dispersed, shouting and cheering their thanks and love to Jericho as they departed. A few dozen of Jericho’s most devoted followers made camp by the shoreline. A handful of Japanese men in ceremonial outfits started gathering nearby trees that had fallen during the tsunami and hacking at them with axes and hatchets. Jericho stopped gathering up her cold weather clothes and stood outside the outpost entrance, watching them for a few minutes before she called Chihiro over.

“So, what are they doing?” Jericho asked.

Chihiro asked one of the outpost guards for his binoculars, then took a closer look. She groaned and explained:

“Those are Kannushi, priests of Shinto. They’re building a Torii, which means they’re planning to turn this whole place into a Shrine. I guess I should say congratulations, Jericho. It looks you’re well on the way to becoming a Kami.”

…

During our walk back to XCOM’s temporary HQ, (located in Omura) Jericho was in a very sour mood. Kanti, Chihiro and I all had a hunch about what had upset her, but none of us wanted to be the first person to speak. This was going to be an unpleasant conversation.

Eventually, we reached a tunnel that allowed the Nagasaki-Omura highway to pass underneath a very rocky ridgeline. Leaving the city behind us and stepping into the tunnel, Jericho turned to Kanti and said:

“Hey, thanks for keeping everyone’s heads cool today. I’ve always had… trouble… meeting people who think of me that way.”

“No worries.” Kanti replied. “I can understand how stressful and frustrating it must be to receive that kind of attention. People falling over themselves for your attention and favor, pledging their loyalty to you. It must weigh on you.”

“A little.” Jericho admitted, “No, the thing that really bothers me is the damn worship. People saying that they pray to me, saying they’re happy I’m ‘watching over them’ or stuff like that. Building shrines around me, preaching in my name. I just… I just feel terrible about all of that.”

By my side, I felt Chihiro stiffen up a little.

“Why don’t you tell people to stop worshipping you?” Kanti asked. “Surely most rational people can see that you’re no deity.”

Jericho made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a scoff.

“Don’t you think I’ve tried?” She said. “Especially when I was first starting out, looking for Mira and butting heads with ADVENT. Lots of people in Korea and Japan thought I was the freakin’ second coming. Thing is, Kanti, you’re right. When I told people I was just a kid and nothing special, something like nine out of ten people would believe me, but there was always that one person who wouldn’t buy it.”

Jericho put on a deep voice, impersonating some long-forgotten religious fanatic:

“‘Only an angelic gift from the heavens could be so humble! The true Messiah is always the one who denies their divinity!’”

Jericho spat on the ground and quickened her pace a little.

“You’ve got no idea how many times I’ve heard that line.” She said. “And you know what happens to the one moron I can never get through to? He finds ten more people like him, and after a few years, it’s spread so far out of control that there’s nothing more I can do about it.”

Chihiro, now looking quite sheepish, lowered her head. She had definitely realized that implying Jericho’s deification was a bad idea. In her harness, Himawari looked up at her mother and stuck out her tongue, as though she too was admonishing Chihiro.

“Then I started having to deal with people who took it too far.” Jericho went on. “Duane’s a mild case compared to some of the other people I’ve run into. There are people who convinced themselves that I actually answered their prayers, who think that some religious experience instantly makes me their personal best friend… and then people started finding out I was part alien… that I’m a Hybrid.”

Chihiro and I both remembered the wide range of reactions people had shown when Jericho first boarded the Avenger back in Korea. Not everyone had been welcoming.

“I destroyed a lot of people’s worldviews.” Jericho’s voice cracked, “and I never actually did anything to them. They just found out what I am. And now… now I have to deal with this!”

“I-I-I am so sorry.” Chihiro murmured. “I had no idea.”

“No, it’s not your fault.” Jericho admitted. “It’s just… I’m frustrated. Frustrated and I guess a little jealous.”

Kanti shook her tail feathers.

“What would you have to be jealous about?” The peahen said. “You’ve got incredible power, you’re loved by most of the Galaxy, and you’ve won several glorious victories.”

Jericho shot Kanti a cold look.

“And yet, I don’t have a real place to live, no friends or family outside of XCOM, and the rest of my life, all thirty-one days of it, is going to be defined by how I die. People hundreds of years from now are going to discuss and analyze the last day of my life for grades or as a hobby.”

Chihiro, Kanti, and I all halted in our tracks. Jericho seemed to be overtaken by a very dark mood.

“You know, I used to wonder what life would be like if I lived past the War in Heaven. I wanted to move to a small town where nobody would know me. Maybe make some new friends, date, go to restaurants, and just have a peacetime life, you know. now I’m not so sure I want to find out anymore.”

Chihiro and I looked at each other.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” I said. “What the hell do you mean ‘If I live?’”

Jericho looked around at the three of us and sighed.

“Guys, you know how there’s been a hundred-fifteen Cycles, right? How Akira’s been forcing history to repeat itself?”

“We mostly know the broad strokes.” Kanti answered.

“Mira showed us the History Database while we were living in Hawaii.” I said.

“And she elaborated some more while we were fighting the sea monsters.” Chihiro finished. “But we don’t really know the whole story.”

To my surprise, a couple of tears ran down Jericho’s face.

“I never live.” Her voice cracked. “I’m gonna die when we fight the Beast. I… I always do.”

Silence.

None of us had words. I don’t think I could have spoken, even if I wanted to.

“C’mon.” Jericho’s voice shook. “I’ll show you.”

…

Monday, August 11, 2036 – 7:00pm
New XCOM HQ, Omura City, Kyushu Island, Japan

 

Jericho took us to a conference room in a large office building that had been set aside as XCOM’s new command center in downtown Omura. When we got there, we saw that there were several people already inside.

Mira Mihaka, Commander Bradford, Secretary-General Laura Harper, and Partogan Queen Kendra appeared to be wrapping up a meeting with several other allied leaders. Kendra was seated in her wheelchair, which was being pushed around by her elderly husband, Eteka. Both Eteka and Kendra were dressed in black and grey outfits. The Queen’s face was covered in a dark veil as well. They were still mourning the loss of their grandchild, Makara. While a group of Hiigarans and Assurians made their way out the door, Jericho approached Mira.

“I need to borrow your tablet and the History Database.”

Mira looked taken aback, replying:

“Is there something specific you need to see?”

“Not me. Them.”

Mira and Jericho seemed to be having a telepathic conversation simultaneously, because Mira’s expression got darker while they talked.

“Are you sure?” Mira asked aloud.

Jericho nodded.

Bradford, Harper and Kendra all chose to stay behind and join us while Mira and Jericho hooked up the History Database to a projector. Mira pulled down a white screen and dimmed the lights. While we all took our seats, Jericho explained what we were all about to see:

“Akira kept a lot of data about the other Cycles, so if the War in Heaven didn’t go the way she wanted, she’d preserve a record of it so she could make adjustments to the next Cycle. That means we can see exactly what happened to all of us in other Cycles. We can see exactly what went wrong…”

Mira aimed a remote control at her tablet and clicked a couple of buttons, saying:

“Here’s the first one you wanted them to see, Jericho. This is the War in Heaven, September 11th, 2036, from the fifteenth Cycle.”

The projector came to life and began to play what I instantly recognized as cockpit video from some kind of fighter craft. Every few seconds, the image changed to show video footage from another ship, allowing us to see the battle from countless angles. The whole time, we could hear the voices of pilots and crew:

“Incoming Hyperspace Signatures.”

“How many hostiles?”

“Over eight-point-nine million hostile warships converging on our position.”

The camera footage of the battle became chaotic and hard to make sense of as two colossal armadas began to fight above Earth. I could see a megalithic craft in much of the footage. Queen Kendra pointed to it and said:

“That’s Agamemnon, without doubt. But where is Astynome?”

“In that Cycle, Astynome was destroyed before it ever reached Earth.” Jericho explained. “Actually, that happens in a lot of Cycles. Astynome hardly ever makes it to Earth.”

The video continued to play. The perspective shifted to a Hiigaran Destroyer, which observed a massive flotilla of Beast-infected ships bypass the main battle and enter Earth’s atmosphere. We heard the voice of Manako Ranginui say:

“It worked! The Beast thinks Jericho is on the planet! Enemy forces are breaking off from the main battle!”

Then the camera perspective shifted to show us view out the cockpit window of a Battlemaster-class spaceplane. Small black letters on the bottom of the screen told us this was the point-of-view of the Ark Angel.

“It’s now or never!” Said the voice of Laura Harper. “Commence assault on Agamemnon!”

“We’re on our way!” Said Jericho’s voice, “Red group, gold group, all fighters follow me! YES! I told you Isis could do it!”

The nervous laughter of the ship’s copilot died away as the Ark Angel turned towards Agamemnon and dove into a large opening in the infected megalith’s superstructure. Chihiro sat up in her chair and swore!

“Jericho! Did you really fly a spaceplane inside of Agamemnon!?”

“I did.” Jericho answered. “In multiple Cycles.”

“Lock onto the strongest power source!” Said the voice of the 15th Jericho. “It should be the primary generator!”

The camera view suddenly shifted again, showing us the view from the Ark Angel’s tail. Several Hiigaran, Taiidan, Partogan, and Levakian fighters had followed the Angel into the frighteningly narrow tunnel that led through Agamemnon’s interior. Unfortunately, a handful of infected fighters had done the same! Weapons fire lit up the tunnel and a Levakian fighter erupted into flames!

“Split up and head back to the surface!” The 15th Jericho ordered. “See if you can get some of those strike craft to follow you!”

Suddenly alone, the Ark Angel screamed through the Fathership’s interior at breakneck speed, her pilot and copilot working in tandem to make breakneck turns and hairpin maneuvers until:

“There it is!” said the copilot!

The Ark Angel had emerged into a wide-open chamber, nearly a mile wide. A hemispherical dome rose from the floor and cooling towers the size of skyscrapers funneled waste energy up and towards a network of radiators that probably led back to the surface.

“Missiles armed!” the copilot said.

“Ark Angel, bird’s away!”

At once, the screen filled up with warning symbols and alarm messages!

MALFUNCTION ! LAUNCH FAILURE! NUCLEAR WARHEAD ARMED!

“The missile’s jammed!” the 15th Jericho screamed! “We’ve got a live nuke stuck to our wing!”

In the conference room, Chihiro, Bradford, Harper, Kendra, and I all sat on the edges of our seats, anxious. Mira and Jericho regarded the video in a more solemn way. Meanwhile, on the screen, the 15th Jericho and her copilot tried many different ways to either fire or jettison the missile. When it became clear that the fat lady had sung, the 15th Jericho said:

“Arm all the warheads! Tie the detonators into the black box crash detector!”

Then, the 15th Jericho pushed the Angel forward and into a dive! The spaceplane screamed downwards towards Agamemnon’s power core while the copilot started broadcasting the cockpit recording to all nearby allied ships!

“Burn, you monstrosity!” The 15th Jericho screamed, “BURN!”

The Ark Angel slammed into Agamemnon’s power core and the screen went white! And just like that, the video ended. Jericho had to sit down and put her head in her hands while Mira spoke:

“Agamemnon was destroyed,” She said, “But the Beast survived. The battle on Earth would go on for several more days and some three hundred million Humans would be killed before the Beast was wiped out. All across the Galaxy, it would be another five years before the war ended. Needless to say, Akira gave up on that Cycle and moved onto the next one.”

Jericho sniffed loudly, holding back tears.

“Show’em the one from Cycle 99.” Jericho said.

Mira clicked her remote. This time, instead of cockpit footage, the screen showed us a simple room where four people were seated on a couch. I felt a powerful lurch in my stomach as I realized that I was looking at an older version of myself and Chihiro. Seated between us were two small children, a nine-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy. The girl’s hair had been cut short, and I could see a brand-new cochlear implant attached to the side of her head.

So, in Cycle 99, my first daughter had been born deaf as well, but her ability to hear had been surgically restored. I made a mental note of this detail, reminding myself to look into the idea if I survived the war.

The interviewer said:

“So, did anyone ever figure out why the Trinity failed to fire?”

The 99th Chihiro shook her head.

“No, and it doesn’t help that there isn’t much of the Trinity left now. She’s been picked apart by scrappers.”

Unsatisfied with that response, the interviewer said:

“Please speculate, theorize for me.”

The 99th version of myself furrowed his brow. I was alarmed to see his right hand was burned and desiccated, possibly to the point where it was no longer usable. Finally, my 99th incarnation began to propose a theory:

“Well, I don’t want to blame anybody for what happened, but we can’t ignore the fact that things almost certainly would have gone differently if the Partogans hadn’t been late to the fight. Could you imagine what might have happened if Ranginui and her fleet got to Earth before the Beast did? We could have used her Unbound technology in the Trinity! Jericho might have seen what was causing the misfires then.”

Mira paused the video.

“In that Cycle,” she explained, “The Trinity malfunctioned and never worked correctly. Ultimately, Jericho lured Agamemnon close to the weapon, and then triggered the self-destruct mechanism. In almost all Cycles, your victory over the Beast is a close call, but this time around your triumph was more improbable than usual.”

“Most Cycles?” Kendra repeated. “I always knew that Akira was trying to change the result of the coming fight, but I was under the impression that we were fated to be victorious. My old friend Sebakhira even predicted our triumph during this Cycle. I suppose I must ask: Have we ever been defeated? Has the Beast ever won?”

Jericho nodded and took the remote from Akira.

“Once.” She said. Then she pushed a button on the remote. “In the 42nd Cycle.”

This time, the video opened up on a map of the Galaxy, showing the locations of each stellar empire and their prewar borders. Then a voice began to speak, it said this:

“If you are hearing this message, then there is still hope. Hope that you will survive and overcome this catastrophe. My parents fought the Beast, but they fell. In my own time, we fought the Beast as well, and now I too, am faced with the specter of defeat and death. We did everything we could. We defended our Galaxy at all costs. We fought on the colonies, we fought on our homeworlds and moons. We fought in cities and habitats and towns and stations. We fought to the last, and made the enemy pay a price for every inch and mile they took from us. We recaptured and restored the Trinity, but it didn’t work. We fought as a united Galaxy, and it still wasn’t enough. I pray to Jericho that the information in this capsule will be enough to help you. My name is Asuna Robinson, and this is the story of my generation, and our war with the Beast…”

…

I’m not sure how much time we spent in that conference room. I do know that at some point, Himawari fell asleep on the tabletop, wrapped up in Chihiro’s jacket. Taking breaks only to bring in food or use the bathroom, we all continued watching Akira’s records until the next morning.

As the sun slowly started to creep its way over the summit of Mount Unzen, nobody in the that room was the same person as when they had entered… except perhaps Mira and Jericho, since they had already seen the History Database in full. Kendra, Eteka, Harper, Bradford, Kanti, Chihiro and I were all in a state of dumbfounded shock. We had witnessed one-hundred-fifteen alternate timelines, one-hundred-fifteen different ways our lives could have played out.

Commander Bradford and Laura Harper felt pretty good about themselves. Apparently, it was very uncommon for both of them to live this far. One or the other was usually dead by this point of the timeline.

Kendra and Eteka were left with mixed feelings about the whole thing. This was apparently the first time they had lived long enough to see the Second Hyperspace War. Neither of them had ever lived this long before, and Queen Kendra was none too pleased to learn about how her successors had performed (miserably) in other Cycles.

Chihiro and I, on the other hand… we both felt like we’d been plunged headfirst into some kind of nightmare. We had witnessed our alternate selves going through some genuine horrors. There seemed to be a great many Cycles in which Chihiro gave birth to a child during the War in Heaven, and I ended up getting maimed… a lot. There were also several Cycles in which one or both of us had gotten killed, yet somehow those outcomes were less painful to watch than the ones where we survived but spent the rest of our lives suffering.

But there was one common thread across every Cycle that stood out to all of us. No matter how radically Akira changed the timeline, no matter what historical events she changed, and no matter how those changes altered the order of battle on the final day, these three things would always happen on September 11th, 2036:

First: The Trinity weapon platform would somehow malfunction and fail to fire. Jericho would then improvise a new plan at the last second, and it would always end with her own death, along with the destruction of Agamemnon.

Second: The Beast itself would survive Agamemnon’s death, but without its heart and mind, it reverted to an animalistic state, plunging the Galaxy into chaos for years afterward before dying out of its own accord. The Galactic Community, already exhausted from fighting the War in Heaven, would be unable to resist the feral Beast and collapse completely.

Third: Somehow, the Earth was always caught in the crossfire and suffered extensive damage. Sometimes the Beast would bombard it from orbit. Other times, Beast-infected ships would make landfall and spread the virus over the surface, triggering huge ground battles. Entire cities would be wiped off the face of the planet, and occasionally whole countries were annihilated. This fate occurred frequently to East Asian countries like Korea, Japan, and China because the War in Heaven takes place directly above that portion of the world. There was no iteration where Earth survived the War in Heaven unscathed.

Finally, as the last video in the database came to an end, Jericho sat down at the conference table next to us and said:

“So, now you know. It doesn’t matter what we try to do, or how much we second-guess ourselves. I’m doomed. And now that Akira’s got Duane to do her bidding, she really doesn’t care if I live at all.”

For a few moments, no one could think of anything to say. Jericho really had resigned herself to her fate. And honestly, I couldn’t blame her.

We had seen all of Jericho’s alternate lives. In every Cycle, she was designed and built by Doctor Vahlen with the specific purpose of being a soldier. As soon as she was old enough to fight, Jericho spent her days migrating from one combat zone to the next. She never had a childhood, and her youth was spent either resting or killing. In some Cycles, Jericho seemed to be very robotic and emotionless. In a few timelines, however, we got to see her Humanity. Sometimes XCOM would recover Jericho when she was still young and give her a slightly decent upbringing. She’d make a few friends along the way, but those friends were always left heartbroken after Jericho’s demise in the final battle.

Then… there was the last Cycle.

Mira Mihaka had been born in the 115th Cycle, the previous iteration of our timeline. She knew the story so well that we barely needed the Database.

Last Cycle, XCOM had never lost track of Jericho, keeping her under its protection throughout her entire life. Jericho basically regarded Bradford as her father and formed close friendships with everybody in XCOM. When Sophie Ackermann was rescued from her abductor in South Africa, Jericho formed an immediate connection with her. (During the 115th Cycle, Sophie was Gifted) By the time Operation Leviathan occurred, Jericho and Sophie were thick as thieves and considered each other to be sisters.

When the War in Heaven occurred, the Trinity once again malfunctioned. After a quick debate, Sophie and Jericho flew the Ark Angel into Agamemnon’s interior, landed inside of the enemy megalith, and walked all the way to the center of Agamemnon’s brain. Jericho and Sophie then used their powers to crush Agamemnon’s mind out of existence. Jericho ordered Sophie to flee aboard the Ark Angel, and stayed behind. Jericho then merged her own body and mind with Agamemnon, transforming herself into the new Beast Hive Mind. She ordered all infected ships to follow her into a nearby Hyperspace Gate, where she proceeded to destroy herself and all of the infected. Unfortunately, this had the nasty side-effect of disabling every Gate networked into the one she had flown through. With the Hyperspace Network disabled, Galactic civilization quickly collapsed.

Even when she had a small modicum of happiness, Jericho’s life was still cut short. It seemed as though the whole universe was conspiring against her, determined to ensure that Jericho did not live past that one Thursday morning.

“It doesn’t matter.” Jericho sank into her chair, her voice sounding defeated. “You all get to live. You get to keep going and have families. You get to see peace…”

Jericho threw the remote control at a far wall and started to cry.

“I never wanted to die! I don’t wanna go out like… like, like that! So why does it have to be like this!? Why can’t there be another way!?”

Something in me kinda broke when I saw Jericho lose control like that. Ever since that night in 2015 when Doctor Vahlen first proposed the Jericho Project, we all had trouble seeing her as a Human being, myself included. Then, when her “legend” started spreading around in the early 2030’s, I could only imagine her as this larger than life superhero. Hell, the poster above my bed on the Avenger depicted her as a freaking angel! Now I realized: ever since day one, I’d been doing far worse than just taking Jericho for granted. I’d assumed that she was this invincible, unflinching war machine that couldn’t be phased.

The person sitting next to me wasn’t some legendary war hero on the way to greater glory. She didn’t care about being venerated in history books or being immortalized by statues. This was no great woman filled with courage and honor… she was a scared girl, begging for her life.

Mira wrapped her arms around Jericho in a tight hug. After a moment, Kendra wheeled over and placed a reassuring hand on Jericho’s shoulder.

“It doesn’t have to end like this.” Kendra said.

“Of course, there’s another way.” Mira added. “We just haven’t found it yet.”

“Bu-but the other Cycles-”

“Have come and gone.” Mira said, wiping the tears from her daughter’s face. “That Database only shows what’s already been done. It doesn’t tell what’s going to be our next steps.”

“But what about your vision?”

Jericho fumbled over the remote control and finally managed to play a recording of what sounded like a younger version of Mira. The audio turned out to be from the logs Mira had kept during her time as a science officer. In this particular entry, Mira recounted a nightmare in which she had a premonition about both Jericho’s death and her own. As the recording ended, Mira furrowed her brow in thought. It took nearly half a minute for Mira to figure out how to respond. Finally, she voiced her opinion:

“I’ll be honest, Jericho. When I was younger, I would have interpreted that dream exactly the same way you did. I would have assumed my fate was sealed and that there was nothing I could do about it, but after travelling with Akira throughout most of this Cycle, I’m convinced I was wrong. The Paradox has clearly proven that our futures are easily rewritten. I imagine that there was a point, back then, that I probably would have met my end in that way. But since then, I'm confident that I've changed my fate. I believe you have too.”

“Exactly.” Kendra chimed in. “My friends and I proved that at Aoraki over a century ago, and your comrades proved it to the Kuznetsova girl just a few days back. Your future is not set in stone, nor does it belong to anyone but yourself.”

“Agreed!” said several voices at the same time.

Bradford, Harper, Kanti, Chihiro, and I all joined in the rapidly growing group hug.

“Whatever happens next, it’s on us.” Chihiro concluded. “Not Akira, not the other Cycles. No one but us, alright, Jericho?”

From somewhere deep within the mountain of affection and friendship, Jericho sobbed:

“Yeah. Yeah, you're right!”

…

So now that we had all of this knowledge, (and a few gallons of coffee, courtesy of Tsubaki Endo) we launched into an intense planning stage. I’m fairly certain that it was the most intense two days of my life. (outside of combat situations) Human and allied military leadership came and went from the room over the next 48 hours, and Chihiro had to leave for a couple of long stretches to take care of Himawari, but for the most part, we all lived in that conference room, making and revising our plans for the final battle. Queen Kendra fell asleep in her wheelchair, Eteka at her side. The two Partogans woke up about six hours later when their grandson joined the planning session.

Manako Ranginui found our meeting place turned into a war room. Maps and starcharts were pinned up to the walls. Mira and Kendra were reviewing some data that both women had been holding onto since the Battle of Aoraki over a hundred years ago, data that Manako immediately found useful.

“These flightpaths are highly valuable!” He said, pointing to some of the Beast Intel Kendra had given to Mira. “We can predict the exact path the enemy will take as they come into the system.”

“I think we are all in agreement about Saturn.” Secretary-General Harper said. “Its moons and ring systems must be mined.”

“I’ll speak to the Taiidani commander.” Kendra said. “They have access to superior minelaying technology. Shock mines can be made to blend in with the rest of Saturn’s rings.”

Mira pointed out a digitized profile of Beast DNA that was stored in the Intel files.

“Your Majesty, what’s the progress on developing a new vaccine?”

“It should be ready in time.” Kendra answered. “Secretary-General, will you be able to distribute the infection vaccine to your troops?”

“If the soldiers of XCOM see their leaders take the vaccine, they should believe it to be safe.” Harper replied.

“I’ll go first!” I said. “Ma’am, I’ve seen the Beast in action. I really don’t want to go in without a vaccine, especially since it looks like Jericho’s going to be busy with the Trinity.”

“Speaking of which…” Jericho said, “I’m pretty sure it’s a fact that Akira doesn’t want me piloting that thing. We should make sure the Trinity is secure. If Akira gains access to that thing, we’re in trouble.”

Bradford agreed and left to contact the Trinity and tell its commander that they needed to double security. Meanwhile, Chihiro came back into the room, alone.

“Sophie and Sophia are babysitting Himawari.” She explained quickly. “Sophia just got released from the hospital. She’s doing a lot better. What did I miss?”

While we brought Chihiro up to speed on new battle plans, Harper, Jericho, and Mira had another telepathic chat. Finally, the Secretary-General put up a hand and called for silence.

“I think we need to address the Kikanalo in the room.” Mira addressed the group.

“Kika-what?” I choked back a laugh.

“An oversized creature from our homeworld.” Eteka said quickly. “What did you want to say, Mira?”

Mira stuck her thumb towards Jericho.

“The Trinity weapon is a Psionic Hypersiphon.” Mira began. “Basically, that means it works by draining Psionic energy from the Universe around it, refining it into a destructive beam, and firing it at a target. Jericho and I just realized that if it does work, it’s going to be a double-edged sword for our side.”

“How so?” I asked.

“Well, if the Trinity works as intended, it’ll drain the Psionic energy out of everything around it, and more specifically, it’s going to drain the Shroud.” Jericho explained. “That means Agamemnon will lose its Gift, and it won’t be able to use Psionics.”

“That’s good.” Manako said.

“But,” Jericho added. “It’ll also exhaust everybody on our side. Chihiro, you’ll lose your powers. So will you, Kanti.”

“That’s bad.” Kanti responded. “What if we actually need to use our Gift!?”

“It gets worse.” Jericho said. “We don’t know what will happen to any Psionic life-forms once the Shroud is drained.”

Silence.

“So, the Instrument of Desire…” Kanti began to say.

“It’s a being of pure Psionic energy.” Mira finished. “Draining it completely might just kill it outright, not to mention our… other allies.”

Mira pointed towards Secretary-General Harper. She seemed a little taken aback at being called out like this, but she just rolled her eyes and went with it. Harper looked at Chihiro and I and said:

“Robinson, Tachibana, promise me you won’t overreact.”

“Overreact to wwhhaaaaa!?”

My last word died in my throat as a blue Ethereal separated itself from Harper and began to hover in the air behind her. Chihiro fell out of her chair entirely and scrambled towards the door before Jericho caught her and barked:

“STOP! Hang on, you guys! He’s friendly!”

A friendly Ethereal. Friendly. Ethereal.

I hoped desperately that this was just sleep deprivation. I hoped that my coffee-addled mind was just making this up, but no. It wasn’t. There really was an honest-to-goodness Ethereal bonded to my old Commander!

“How long was that thing there!?” I gasped.

“That thing’s name is Asaru.” Harper said.

“I apologize for causing alarm.” Asaru introduced himself. “I do not fault you. Your species has suffered greatly at the hands of my kind. And in answer to your question, I have been Laura Harper for the past twenty-eight years.”

“Twenty-eight?” Chihiro gasped. “You were in Harper during the war in Japan!?”

Harper nodded.

“Asaru and I have been working together for so long it’s kinda hard to tell which ideas are mine or his. We make a good team.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers.

“We overthrew the Elders just to put another Ethereal in charge of our planet. Please tell me this isn't a government operation!”

Chihiro, however, was stuck by another thought.

“Wait a second! Are there any other Ethereals on our side!?”

“At present, there are six, including myself.” Asaru replied. “I believe her Majesty knows about one of them.”

 Kendra tried to mask a look of surprise behind a more passive expression. If I had to guess, Asaru had just confirmed some long-held theory Kendra was considering. Jericho, meanwhile, asked the pertinent question.

“So, what will happen to you if the Trinity drains your energy?”

“I imagine it would be similar to being vaporized.” Asaru answered. “My kind is dependent on Psionics to exist. We would not so much die as we would simply… cease.”

There was some thoughtful silence after this.

“Please do not distress yourselves.” Asaru said. “This is a fate that my kind has been contemplating with increasing frequency and seriousness over the past few months. We are not like our misguided siblings you fought a year ago. We do not fear our own mortality.”

“We need a way to figure out exactly what’ll happen when we fire up the Trinity.” I said. “We just can’t fire it up for the first time on the day of the final battle. I say we take the Trinity out for a test run, shoot a small-scale target, you know, to work out all the kinks.”

Mira and Kendra both perked up at this idea.

“I know just the thing!” Mira said. Then she turned to Kendra. “Your Majesty, please bring up the Beast Intel you sent me from Aoraki!”

On the screen, we saw again the invasion map of the Sol System, marking out the flightpath the Beast fleet was going to take on the way in. At some point in the past, Akira had made her own notes on this map. Text boxes filled with words dotted the screen. Mira pointed to one particular point on the map.

“In eighty-five out of one-hundred-fifteen Cycles,” Mira began, “Astynome will enter the Sol System ahead of Agamemnon. Look here, over the course of the war, the Father has been using the Mother as a vanguard. Astynome will always enter a system first to screen for threats. This means that throughout the entire war, Astynome has done the bulk of the fighting. It needs to eat far more frequently than the father. And look: every once in a while, Astynome will break from Agamemnon and feed alone.”

Mira pointed to a small blue world on the edge of the Sol System.

 

 

“There is an extensive mining operation out here at Neptune.” Mira said.

“Yes.” Harper confirmed. “I negotiated that with Makara as part of the terms of the Human-Partogan Alliance. Partoga builds and operates the stations and refineries, and after the war, those mining stations at Neptune will be reverted to Human ownership and control.”

“Manako, are those stations being crewed right now?” Eteka asked.

“Yes, Grandfather.” Manako replied. “All of the mining operations at Neptune are operating at full capacity. There are some eight-hundred Partogans, Levakians, Kelt, Vanians, Amadii, and Assurians working there now.”

“To Astynome, those stations will look like an appetizing snack.” Mira told us. “Are those stations defended?”

“Uh, it’s just a token force of Corvettes and Frigates.” Manako admitted. “We deemed the mining stations at Jupiter and Saturn to be more important.”

A smile curled across Mira’s face. She tapped Neptune’s position on the map and said:

“Here. This is where the Beast will enter the Sol System. Astynome will feed on the mining platforms at Neptune before vanguarding Agamemnon. We set up an ambush here, pin down Astynome, and target that thing with the Trinity. The Mother is a much smaller target than the Father. It won’t take as much energy to kill, and we’ll get a live test of the Trinity. That way, we won’t be caught off guard when we fight Agamemnon, and we’ll catch all malfunctions early.”

“I think we’ve got a working plan.” Bradford finished. “We’ll ambush Astynome and immobilize her long enough for Jericho to bring Trinity to bear.”

Secretary-General Harper nodded and replied:

“I’ll start moving the pieces around and getting AFUNE ready for the fight. Bradford, is that Templar still locked up in the cell? I think her name was Violet?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Bradford said. “We’ve got her under constant observation, Tygan’s fitted one of those experimental Neural Dampeners to her and it seems to be working. Her powers are completely shut off.”

“Good.” Harper finished. “Tell Shen to get to work on a second Dampener for Akira, and have Vahlen start interrogating Violet. We need to know what Akira’s next move is.”

“Robinson, you’d better stay close to base.” Bradford said. “We’ll find a place for you in the order of battle before too long.”

Meanwhile, Queen Kendra and Eteka were both looking over the invasion map. They quickly held a whispered conversation with one another before addressing the group at large.

“My friends, I have an idea… Eteka and I think we may be able to bring additional reinforcements to Earth before Agamemnon arrives.”

We all turned to look at Queen Kendra. Manako looked exasperated.

“Grandmother, you can’t be-”

“I am!” Kendra snapped. Then she looked at Jericho. “My young friend, you’ve traveled the Galaxy, you’ve seen how far your message has spread, and how many allies and friends you have in the cosmos.”

“Millions of people, tens of thousands of ships have already gathered here at Earth.” Eteka chimed in, “But there are millions more on the way, countless people who want to make a stand with you.”

“But they will be too late.” Kendra finished. “By the time they arrive, the fight will be over. Unless…”

Kendra fell silent. She was allowing Jericho to read her mind. While Manako and Chihiro shook their heads disapprovingly, Mira’s eyes went wide. Harper, Asaru, and Jericho all seemed to be intrigued. Finally, Jericho spoke.

“That’s an insane gambit, Kendra.”

“Look at your records and indexes.” Eteka said. “It’s never been tried before, in any Cycle. Akira clearly hasn’t considered the possibility! She’s never thought of it!”

That one line caused silence to fall. All eyes were on Eteka and Kendra now. I felt my heart leave my chest to bang around in my throat. Something Akira had never thought of? Something that had never happened in any other Cycle?

Slowly, we all looked at Jericho, expecting her response. She had folded her arms and was thinking deeply.

“I’ll say it again, your Majesty: This is insane. Sending a command ship away on the eve of battle can only weaken us, but if your idea works… combined with what I’m planning to do with the Trinity… we might just annihilate the Beast. Not just Agamemnon and Astynome, but actually destroy the Beast wherever it is in the Galaxy. I say we do it.”

“If Jericho’s in, I’m sold.” Laura replied. “Asaru’s on board, too. We can hold the line here until you get back.”

Manako regarded his grandmother with a stern look, before his expression became softer.

“I know better than to try and stop you, Grandmother. We all know how tough you are, but please let me send an escort fleet with you.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” Kendra replied. “Jericho and the Trinity are far more important than me.”

“Then let me send some equipment or soldiers with you, Grandmother!” Manako protested, please!”

Kendra folded her arms in thought, then she said:

“Give me the Mahuika, the Kakama’s cloaking device, the Vanian you call ‘Reepi Imvu,’ and the digital designs for the infection vaccine, configured for mass production in the Mahuika’s foundry.”

Manako paused, then let out a resigned sigh.

“For you, Grandmother, I’d give you anything.” he replied.

“For you, grandson, I’ll bring back the entire Galaxy.” Kendra finished.

…

Back in the days when we fought ADVENT, we would usually have only a few hours or maybe a couple of days to prepare for a fight. This time, it was different. The vast distances of space meant that it was going to take Astynome and her escort fleet the better part of a month to reach Earth. It was that time to prepare that gave us both a huge morale boost and a useful advantage.

Thousands of years ago, a wise Human once wrote a book called “The Art of War.” In it, he said that a true master of defense would only hold positions that cannot be attacked. I’m sure that wise Human would roll over in his grave if he saw our plan to defend the Solar System.

Over the course of the next few weeks, every planet and most of the moons in our system were booby-trapped. Minefields lurked in low orbits, Gravwell generators hid behind cloaking fields, automated turrets and missile launchers dwelled in the radar shadows of asteroids. Five defense lines were drawn, each one to be held by a different allied fleet, ensuring that the enemy would always fight fresh ships during the approach to Earth. Minefields and Gravwell generators would force the enemy to fly directly into each line of defense.

Hiigarans would hold the Pluto-Charon line, using an array of powerful Ion Cannons to strike long-range targets. Once the enemy assault became too much, they would fall back to the Neptune line, where Partogans and Humans would spring their ambush on Astynome.

After that was the Saturn line, where a colossal force of Vaygr, Levakian, and Taiidani ships were waiting to make the Beast pay a toll for Saturn’s vast natural resources. The Nomad Moon II, where its Repulsor Cannon could do the most damage, was positioned here. Once Saturn fell, all forces would retreat to the Jupiter line. Micore, Kelt, Blorg, Scyldari, and Assurian warships gathered here to stall the enemy as well.

The final line of defense before Earth was going to be Earth’s own Moon. Luna’s tidal forces, combined with a few well-placed inhibitors, would eject any approaching ship from Hyperspace, forcing the enemy to approach Earth on conventional drives. Meanwhile, in the shadow of Mars, the Tryna was lying in wait, prepared to ambush any hostile that approached from Jupiter. By the time the enemy reached Earth itself, hopefully, we would have done enough damage for Jericho to mop up the rest of the Beast with the Trinity.

That was the plan, anyway. Now that we knew roughly were the enemy was going to come from and what their first stop would be, my team and I underwent our own final preparations. Commander Bradford passed along the word that the Stormbreakers were going to be broken up. Some of us would support Jericho aboard the Trinity, while others would join the crews of Battlemaster-class gunships and engage the Beast directly.

Jericho, meanwhile, worked alongside Manako, Vahlen and Tygan to prepare for her integration into the Trinity. Before she died, Makara Ranginui had transferred all of her memories into Manako, meaning he now had near-perfect knowledge and understanding of his sister’s Unbound Technology. With Manako’s help, Jericho and the doctors made the final preparations for the Psionic weapon.

About a week before the end of the month, Jericho went in for the preparatory surgery. Her head was completely shaven, and a series of cybernetic implants were installed on the top, sides, and back of her head. Jericho’s spinal column was augmented with cybernetic parts as well. When the time came for Jericho to physically become part of the Trinity, it would be a simple matter of “plugging her in.”

The rest of us? We trained. Manako Ranginui and Kailani Kalili took the squad into space regularly aboard the Kakama to keep our space combat skills sharp. Chihiro and Himawari came to visit the base once a week, flying out from her home in Hawaii. Odette Fournier developed a real knack for piloting gunships and corvettes. She seemed to relish the high-gee maneuvers. Mira gave us all a crash course in boarding operations, and how to take over a hostile starship, while Elsina, Temirzhan, and Adil gave us a rundown on the Naar Directive, a strategy developed by the Hiigarans that allowed Super-Capitol ships to shrug off an Infection attempt.

Meanwhile, the rest of AFUNE engaged the Templars and Reapers in direct warfare. Every day, we heard news about how another Reaper cell or Templar monastery had been raided by Reclamation agents. At first, none of us were sure where Commander Bradford and Director Kelly was getting the intel to strike at Akira’s supporters, but word soon leaked out. Supposedly, Violet had cracked under Vahlen’s interrogation and was starting to spill the beans. Each day, Doctor Vahlen could be seen angrily complaining to Bradford about how she wasn’t “getting enough out of the prisoner” and that Vahlen desperately wanted to use “more aggressive interrogation tactics.”

You’d never know it by looking at her, but that woman is an alien’s worst nightmare. I do not want imagine what it’s like when Vahlen turns her “skills” against a Human being.

Sophia Kuznetsova in particular seemed to enjoy the news of Akira’s allies being hunted down. She had mostly recovered from her suicide attempt, and come to the conclusion that Akira bore some of the blame for what had happened to her. On the good side of things, the entire team coalesced around Sophia. We went out of our way to make sure she always had company wherever she went, and if she needed to talk to someone, we always made sure at least one person was available. On one of our last days off before… well, before everything went down… we all travelled up to Kanna and installed a proper tombstone on the spot where Sophia’s twin sister, Ludmilla, was buried. Sophie Ackermann held Sophia’s hand for the whole day.

…

In the last week of August, orders came down from AFUNE. All spaceships in the Earth Defense Fleet were to be moved to their final launch positions for the final battle. Some fifty airports and spaceports all over Asia were selected to host UN Navy warships. However, due to the destruction of Nagasaki Airport, a handful of Battlemaster-class spacecraft were relocated to the Japanese city of Miyazaki, which was located on the far side of Kyushu island. Once that was done, I returned to Omura via truck, but before I could go back to the barracks, I was called into HQ for a late-night meeting.

By this point, I knew that conference room really well, and could find my way there without any help. When I arrived, I found a meeting already in progress. Laura Harper, Mira Mihaka, Queen Kendra, Nomsa, Isis Dekker, and Jericho were already present, but they all stopped talking when I arrived.

“Excuse me.” I said. “Bradford said you needed to see me.”

“Yes, we did.” Secretary-General Harper replied. “Shut the door and join us.”

As I sat down between Isis and Mira, Queen Kendra addressed me.

“I already asked your comrades, and now I’ll ask you too.” She began. “Please forgive this old woman her superstitions. I felt it was important that Jericho’s Final Council have a similar makeup to the original.”

“Final Council?” I repeated, confused.

Mira rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

“An event in my people’s history.” She quickly explained. “Supposedly, the night before the Battle of Archer’s Canyon, Queen Miranda the Great gathered a group of five women and one man to receive her orders for the final battle. The story is probably a myth, but her Majesty insisted.”

“Her name was Whetu!” Kendra snapped. “I thought you of all people would respect the legend of the Final Council. Aren’t you- “

“Descended from Toa Wahine Mira Mihaka, the Swordmaiden of the Final Council, yes.” Mira groaned. “I’m not here to engage in another archeology versus folktale argument. Let’s get on with this.”

Everyone looked at Jericho. She brought me up to speed:

“Blake, listen. I… uh, we have come up with a plan. A plan to beat Akira and destroy the Beast. There is a huge problem, though. Akira has the Templars on her side, which means…”

“Which means we’re up against an army of mind readers.” Isis grumbled.

“Yeah, that.” Jericho said.

Right away, I realized what was going on, and why Kendra was comparing this to the mythical Partogan Final Council.

“Oh… so none of us can know the plan as a whole.” I said. “In case one of us is telepathically attacked.”

“Exactly.” Jericho said. “You all know bits and pieces of the plan, but I’m the only one who knows the whole thing, and it needs to stay that way right to the end.”

“That’s fair.” I said. “It’s operational security. We practiced the same thing when the Russians invaded Japan, and when the Elders brought the fight to Earth. You just tell me what I need to know, nothing more. Trust me, I know how to fight in the dark.”

Jericho nodded and smiled at me. Then she pointed her finger at everyone else in the room and said:

“One last time, everyone out.”

Moving together, the other five women departed the room. Nomsa and Mira pushed Kendra’s wheelchair along. Isis gave her adoptive daughter a smile before shutting the door. For a few moments, Jericho took a deep breath, then she got started.

“So, here it is, Blake. Everybody gets one order from me, not knowing what I told the others. If Akira or Duane gets the jump on you, she’ll never get the whole picture. So here’s my order for you: If I tell you to run away and leave me behind, or to escape and save yourself, or to just plain go… do it. Don’t ask questions. Don’t hesitate. Just go. Understand?”

“Jericho, what-”

“Do you understand?”

“But-”

“Do you understand?”

It was quite clear that this was going to be non-negotiable. Reluctantly, I acceded.

“Okay, fine.” I said. “My word, Jericho. If you tell me to go, I’m gone.”

And then, Jericho stood up, came around the table, and gave me a great big hug.

“Thanks, Blake. You and Chi have done so much for me, you really are my best friends. Just trust me one more time, okay?”

“You got it.”

…

But just like all other stories, all other wars and conflicts and struggles, the time for the final act arrived.

It happened on a chilly Wednesday night. It was the last week of August, and we all knew it was coming. A Hiigaran spy drone had been keeping a close eye on Astynome and her escort fleet. The Hyperspace transit time from Proxima Centauri to the Sol System is about six hours. In that time, every man, woman, and child in Asia, Europe, and Africa turned their gaze towards the night sky. Chihiro and I saw it from the roof of Tsubaki’s apartment in Nagasaki. Odette Fournier, Matthew Hawkins, Kathleen Walsh, Tsubaki, and Jericho were all with us that night.

When Astynome arrived in the Sol System, she immediately hit a wall of overlapping Gravwell fields, forcing the Mother to drop out of Hyperspace about fifty million miles away from Pluto. The light from Astynome’s Quantum Wavefront could be seen from Earth. It looked like a bright new star winked into the heavens, only to vanish a few seconds later.

“This is it.” Jericho said. “It’s time for the endgame.”

“God help us all.” Kathleen prayed.

…

The next morning, Central Officer Holly Smith delivered a letter to me in the barracks. It was stamped with the official seal of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the United Nations, and it said this:

“Blake Alexander Robinson, (Captain, XCOM)

You have been approved for command of the USS NIAGARA (HML-029), a Battlemaster-class gunship assigned to the Earth Defense Fleet.

Report for duty at Port Armstrong, Jupiter, no later than Monday, September 1, 2036.

Signed;

John Bradford
Commander of XCOM, Armed Forces of the United Nations of Earth”

Chapter 51: The Queen's Gambit

Chapter Forty-Three
The Queen’s Gambit

Monday, September 1, 2036 – 9:00am
Tanegashima Island, Japan, Pacific Ocean

During World War Three, an American officer once said: “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy, ergo, plans themselves are worthless, yet the act of planning is indispensable.” General Peter van Doorn was long dead, but I got the uneasy feeling his spirit was observing our movements very closely in the days leading up to the confrontation with Astynome, angrily yelling at us for committing to such a complex plan with so many moving parts. What could possibly go wrong? I, for one, didn’t want to know.

During the plane ride to Tanegashima, I couldn’t keep my mind quiet. We had all been briefed on the plan of attack. Everybody knew their roles in the coming mission. If all went well, Astynome would die today… but then again, this is war. Who really expects everything to go well?

Being a civilian, Chihiro was not going to join us in today’s mission. She and Himawari had been offered a place to stay in Japan, and would be waiting for me when I got home.

“My brother’s sending us to the Imperial Bunker in Honshu.” Chihiro said, “The same one my family hid in back when World War Three first started. He’s offered a space to your aunt, Miranda, but she never called back.”

“Don’t worry about her.” I said, rolling my eyes. “She can take care of herself.”

When Chihiro refused to let go of me, I added:

“I swear, I’ll come home right away. You won’t have to wait this time.”

“You’d better.” Chihiro replied, holding me tightly to her. “This little fighter’s a two-person job!”

Himawari waved both of her little hands at me.

“Ba ba!” the infant said. “Ba ba!”

“Bye bye, little flower.” I smiled at Himawari and gently pinched her cheek. “See you soon.”

…

The UN shuttle carried us into orbit from Japan. The Partogan flagship Tantomile was waiting for us in high orbit, and it was also where the Stormbreakers were going to part ways for now:

In the Tantomile’s hangar bay, we found Manako Ranginui, Kailani Kalili, Kanti Divakar, and Dolim Dehuri waiting for us. Specifically, they were waiting for Jericho. She looked radically different now from the day I had met her in Pyongyang over a year ago. Gone was the dyed blue hair and yellow tee shirt that had both become an idiosyncratic part of her appearance. Now, Jericho’s cybernetic implants reflected light off her skull, while she wore a custom-made jumpsuit with a long zipper down the back, which would make integrating her into the Trinity’s core quick and simple.

“Green, Yamamoto, Hawkins, Dekker, Ackermann, Kuznetsova, Walsh, and Macintosh, you’re all coming with me.” Jericho said. “Robinson, Fournier, Mira, just stick to the plan. Keep Astynome tied down until I can get there with the Trinity, alright?”

“You got it, Jericho.” I said.

“We won’t let you down.” Mira declared.

Odette shook Jericho’s hand one last time.

“I would say ‘God go with you,’ but that might not be enough.” Odette said. “So instead, I’ll say: ‘May all gods of the Galaxy go with you, Jericho.’ Good luck.”

Jericho and her team boarded the Partogan Assault Frigate Kakama, which departed the hangar and sped towards Venus. Mira, Odette, and I joined a bunch of other AFUNE officers in the passenger hold of the JSDF Ark Angel, which turned and flew in the opposite direction, towards Jupiter.

…

Port Armstrong, Jupiter, Sol System


Humanity’s first deep-space shipyard was a very busy place. So many Resource Collectors, Processors, and Mobile Refineries were active around the place that I heard our pilot call the place “The Steel Constellation.” As the Ark Angel carried us past the outer defense network, Mira, Odette, and I peered out of the windows to see the shipyard.

Three at a time, the new Battlemasters was being towed into the shipyard’s drydock, where they were armed and their crews embarked before pulling away to make room for the next three. Odette, Mira, and I looked over our paperwork again.

“My ship’s number is twenty-seven” Odette said. “Which mean’s she’ll be in the second-to-last group.”

Peering out of the window, I spotted Odette’s new command first. The French ship Hermione had a red, white, and blue tricolor flag decorating her tail, whilst the insignia of the French Air Force had been painted on the nose. The name “Hermione” was written in big black letters on the fuselage.

“I’m twenty-nine.” I said. “My ship must be close by.”

And it was. My new ship could be spotted easily. The flag of the United States adorned her tail, 51 white stars arranged in a circle on a blue field, accompanied by 13 red and white stripes. The name of the vessel was written on her side as well, and just below the cockpit windows, I could see hand painted words that said:

“DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP!”

Next to my vessel was Mira’s.

“They actually let me choose the name.” Mira told us. “She was an old friend of mine, and I let her down. Now I finally get to make things right.”

The Moana Ranginui was in a parking orbit right next to the Niagara. Unlike all of the other Battlemasters, this ship had not one or two, but three flags on its tail: The flag of New Zealand, which was the British Union Jack on a blue field, accompanied by the four stars of the Southern Cross. Beneath it, however, were two flags I didn’t recognize. The first was a green banner with a red circle in the center. Contained within that circle was a strange yellow symbol; three circles held between two curved crescents.

“That’s the flag of the old Partogan Kingdom.” Mira said when she saw where I was looking. “The predecessor to the modern Commonwealth.”

“And that one?” I asked, pointing to a red, black, and white flag underneath the Partogan one.

“That’s the Maori flag.” Mira explained. “Many Partogans, myself included, have come to accept the fact that we are related to, if not descended from, your Maori people. When this war is over, I’m hoping that Partogan and Maori people can have a proper reunion.”

…

Once we were aboard the station, Mira, Odette and I said our goodbyes before moving off to meet our respective crews. I had been briefed on the way that my ship, the Niagara, would have a crew of seven, including myself. Commander Bradford had also given me a head’s up: Because I had been able to work alongside aliens aboard the Kakama, I had been assigned a ship with a mixed crew. Only some of them would be Human.

While I wandered around Port Armstrong, trying to find my new crew, I wondered to myself who my alien crewmates were going to be. Personally, I was hoping for Hiigarans. I still remembered the beautiful elf-like woman I’d seen on the Angel Moon months ago, and I’ll admit to being smacked in the face a few times whenever Chihiro caught mental images of Hiigaran women sneaking through my subconscious mind.

Then again, I also wouldn’t mind working alongside a Vaygr. Those nomadic warriors were quite comfortable inside of a small combat ship and I knew they had a history of legendary space battles. Having one on my crew would be quite a boon.

Keeping an optimistic mind about who I was going to be working with, I pressed on. I’d spotted a helpful digital sign hanging from the ceiling that told me where the crew of the Niagara was gathering. An XCOM soldier was standing outside the doorway of an observation lounge and gave me a look of recognition as he checked my ID.

“You’re crew’s inside, Robinson.” He said. “Your ship launches in thirty minutes.”

Stepping through the door, I found the crew of the Niagara standing at the far end of the room, where they were looking through a big window and watching a powerful thunderstorm roll its way across Jupiter’s surface. As soon as I saw them, a sense of shock hit me like a ton of bricks and my jaw dropped, letting out a dumbfounded “Uuhhhh….”

All six crew members turned around at one, but before I could even process what I was seeing, a thin woman with prosthetic legs and brown hair launched herself at me, wrapping me up in a tight bear hug!

“Trojan!” Tsubaki Endo squealed! “We’re on the same ship twice in a row! Can you believe it!?”

“No!” I gasped. “Did Akira or Chihiro put you up to this?”

“Aw, come on!” Tsubaki said. “You know Chi-chan wasn’t going to let you fly off alone. She called Commander Bradford and swapped me in. Besides, I’ve got no legs! It’s like I was made for space!”

The servos in Tsubaki’s cybernetic legs hissed softly as she bounced up and down on the balls of her “feet.” I looked over her shoulder at the one particular crew member who was still holding my attention.

“Uh, Fangirl,” I said slowly, “Care to expl-… uh, I mean, introduce? Uh, you know…”

Tsubaki jumped back and looked around at what I was eyeing up. I was desperately trying to avoid using the phrase “elephant in the room.” It might be the wrong choice of words.

Including Tsubaki, there were six members of the crew: One Human male, two Human females, one Human-Sectoid Hybrid, one Viper, and a… and…

A Muton!

This huge, hulking, greenish-brown alien stood nearly eight feet tall, brushing his head against the ceiling. I noticed right away that this Muton was covered in slash scars, as though he had been on the receiving end of a vicious animal’s attack. He kept his hands folded in front of him as Tsubaki introduced me.

“Blake, this is Squaddie Axiom, the first alien to be given full membership in XCOM.”

Axiom? The name rang a bell somewhere in the most distant parts of my memory. Hadn’t I heard the name in a news report while we were all living in Hawaii? The Muton named Axiom reached out and offered his hand to me. I took it and received the most vigorous, bone-cracking handshake of my life!

“Sir, there’s a problem.” He said.

“A… a problem?” I repeated, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.

“When I got aboard the Niagara, I took the biggest bunk in the crew quarters and set up all of my stuff on it.” Axiom said. “I didn’t realize that bunk was meant for you, our commanding officer. I wanted to apologize, and to tell you I won’t make that mistake again, sir.”

Well, the sense of fear or panic rising in me was instantly extinguished! I’d never met a friendly Muton who could hold a conversation before. Perhaps that’s what jogged my memory.

“Uh, alright then. Don’t sweat it,” I said, “By the way, you seem familiar.”

“Oh, yeah.” The Muton let out a chuckle. “I get that a lot.”

“You should!” Tsubaki interrupted. “You’re the hero of City 31!”

Okay, THAT jogged my memory even harder. The news report I saw all the way back in July of last year came back to me in a flash!

“City 31!?” I repeated. “You mean Bugtown, as in The Bugtown Massacre!?”

Now the pieces fell into place. The other members of the crew made excited noises like Tsubaki. One of them, a young American woman who couldn’t be much older than 20, giggled and said:

“I can’t believe I get to serve with three real heroes! Trojan, Fangirl, and Axiom!”

So, this was Axiom, the famous Muton who had surrendered peacefully the instant the Elders had fallen. The same Muton who had studied Human culture while in prison and taken a liking to it, the same Muton who had been part of a chain gang moving to another prison when ADVENT loyalists turned a horde of Chryssalids loose in City 31. When his guards were overwhelmed in the violence, Axiom could have seized the opportunity to escape, but instead, he had charged headlong into the fray, risking his own life to protect and defend the same Humans who had imprisoned him.

“How long have you been with XCOM?” I asked.

“Only a few weeks.” Axiom replied, “But I’m up to speed and ready to serve, Captain.”

“Hold on.” I said. “I thought all Mutons had to go through a rigorous psychological test before they could join Earth society.”

“We do.” Axiom said. “We’re expected to share our living space with a cat for a month. That’s the test. But after Bugtown, the UN officials said I was allowed to skip the test.”

“Good to know.” I said. “How do Mutons fare in space, anyway?”

“My people are Voidborne.” Axiom said. “We’re more at home in stations and habitats than on planets. In fact, before we came to your world, most of my people were born in starships. I don’t know how Humans value or think about their starships, Captain; but for my people, Spacecraft hold great religious significance. I assure you, sir, I’ll grant the Niagara the same level of reverence and respect I gave the vessel I once called home.”

Axiom stood to one side as I greeted the rest of the crew. Two members I had actually met before, if only briefly. The bubbly young woman turned out to be Erin Hyatt, who Chihiro and I had very briefly met in Detroit over a year ago. Hyatt was completely star-struck, and was so keen to make a positive impression on me that she briefly forgot what her duty-station was aboard the Niagara. Axiom had to whisper it in her ear.

“Copilot! That’s right, I’m a pilot! The number two seat in the cockpit is designed for really small people, and I’m the only one here who fits the bill!”

When I shook her hand, Hyatt asked if this meant she was a Stormbreaker now. I didn’t say yes or no. The only male Human, other than myself, was someone I’d seen before, but had never actually spoken to. Unfortunately, he seemed to have a different idea.

“Elliot Lansing.” The dark-haired Caucasian man practically stuck his hand in my face, expecting me to shake it. “After our collaboration at the Resistance Summit meeting in Area 51, I’m happy to see we’re going to be working together again. Placing two equal men on the same ship can only be a recipe for victory.”

“Equal men?” I responded; struggling to remember if I had ever seen this guy at Site X. “How are we similar again?”

“We’re both the sons of Presidents!” Elliot declared. “We’ve both gotten a taste of that great power, and now we’re serving our nations in a martial capacity!”

Lansing… Lansing… Lansing. Oh, yeah! Now I remembered!

“Dude,” I said. “Last time I looked; Hawaii is part of the United States. Your dad’s a Governor.”

Elliot unzipped his flightsuit to reveal that underneath it, he was wearing the red-and-yellow uniform of the Hawaiian National Army.

“You didn’t have a problem with Jericho wearing this, Robinson.” He countered.

Aw, crud. He got me.

After Tsubaki, Axiom, Hyatt, and Lansing, the last two remaining members of the crew were people I’d never met before. The first was a Skirmisher named Dyeunda Zeil. He had been a soldier in the ADVENT Army since 2020 and had defected over to our side just before Mira had become the Chosen Assassin. Zeil’s intel had allowed us to locate the Aralkum Blacksite we raided last year. He was very enthusiastic about over throwing the Elders and a devoted follower of Jericho. He was one of those “one in ten” people Jericho had mentioned. Zeil believed that Jericho was some kind of god, and nothing or no one could convince him otherwise.

The last member of my crew was a Viper called Naka. Specifically, Naka is an adder, roughly seven feet long, and just like all members of the Viper species, female. Naka was, by far, the youngest member of the crew. Hatched in Australia, she was just 12 years old. Naka wasn’t very forthcoming about herself, but from what I could gather, the hatchery where Naka was raised had been attacked and destroyed by Resistance forces when she was still a neonate Viper. Naka had found… somewhere to live… in the Outback and had stayed there for most of the war. Naka told us that when Jericho defeated the Elders, it caused a massive neural feedback to all aliens tied into the Psionic Network. Everyone reacted differently to it, but Naka herself had gone through a religious experience, and soon after devoted herself to enlisting and serving with AFUNE as soon as it was founded.

“Jericho said I have a role to play in all this.” Naka finished, “And I’m going to make sure I don’t miss my moment to do what I have to do.”

By the time all introductions had been made, it was go time. A station official let us know that the workers had finished arming the Niagara, and it was time for us to take possession of our ship and report for the mission to ambush Astynome.

…

The USS Niagara was a second-generation Battlemaster spaceplane. They key difference between the original Battlemasters and their successors is that the newer ships had rudimentary Hyperspace modules. We certainly weren’t going to be crossing the Galaxy any time soon, but we were no longer going to rely on shuttles or alien help to move around our own solar system anymore.

Once everyone was aboard, I took my place in the cockpit. As the commanding officer, I took the right-hand pilot seat while Erin Hyatt took the one on the left. The fight engineer’s station was filled by Axiom. Tsubaki controlled our sensor station while Naka and Zeil served as our weapons controllers. Elliot was responsible for our Nuclear power plant.

While Naka and Zeil could fire the Mass Driver cannons to their heart’s content, they could not fire the nuclear missiles without my express permission. I had a special keycard that would only work in the pilot’s computer, it was the only way our nuclear weapons could be armed. Also in the cockpit, I found a piece of paper stuck into the edge of a command console, sticking up so that anyone could read it:

DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP

“So, what’s the deal with this?” I asked, pointing to the note.

“Oh, that was Axiom’s idea.” Hyatt replied. “He said that his people would always have a motto they associated with their ships. Since our ship is named after that one brig from the Battle of Lake Erie, I thought ‘Don’t give up the ship’ was a decent motto.”

“I like it.” I replied. “Fingers crossed we don’t have to put that motto to the test. In the meantime, you ready to move out?”

“Aye sir, just give the word.”

I strapped myself into my seat and called Port Armstrong on the radio.

“This is Niagara calling Port Authority. We’re ready to depart. Requesting permission to disengage docking clamps.”

“Granted, Niagara.” Was the response. “You are ordered to rally with the rest of the EDF at Jupiter’s L1 point.”

“Alright.” I said. “Hyatt, give me engines back one-third. Take us outta here, nice and slow…”

…

The Same Moment
Earth’s Moon, High Orbit, Sol System


The Triple Alliance flagship Mahuika and her Partogan counterpart Tantomile flew side-by-side above the pale surface of the Moon. For nearly an hour, shuttlecraft, Resource Collectors, and other utility ships moved back and forth between the two vessels, transferring resources and technology before the Mahuika set out on her dangerous mission.

In the Tantomile’s hangar bay, Manako Ranginui looked over a series of crates that were labelled with vivid biohazard warnings. He signed off on the delivery and sent the assembled crewman back to the Mahuika to collect the rest of the cargo. Then he made his way to the far doorway. Elsina, a lioness who had served with Manako for years, hung her head in shame as he approached.

“What’s wrong?” Manako asked.

“I-I’m so sorry, sir.” Elsina said. “I failed. We couldn’t find… I- I mean, I failed to recover…”

She trailed away. Manako felt a powerful twinge of sorrow. Elsina and her team had failed to locate and bury the body of his sister, Makara. According to all of the old superstitions, Makara, having passed on without being given a funeral, was now doomed to wander the astral plane forever, unable to find her way to the Ancestral Homeland. Gritting his teeth, Manako forced himself to press on.

“Thank you for coming back.” He said. “If your team hasn’t called off the search already, tell them to do it now. We’re out of time. Then, I need you to follow me. The ceremony needs witnesses.”

Following Manako deeper into the Tantomile, Elsina found the ceremony he had mentioned. In one of the many assembly halls where crew could gather together, a large group of Partogans, Levakians, Assurians, Kelt, Amadii, Micore droids, and Vanians had gathered. Queen Kendra, Eteka, the Kuhina Nui, and several other members of the Commonwealth government were standing on an elevated platform and facing the group. At the forefront of the assembled mass was a group of fifty-two Partogans, Levakians, and Assurians. This was the National Assembly, the chief lawmaking body of the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth.

“…without precedent! Such a situation has never occurred before in the history of our nation!” An assemblyman was saying. Eteka interrupted him.

“And yet it has happened! The past twenty years have shown us that if our great civilization is to survive, we must be able to adapt and overcome any hardship!”

“You’re not asking us to adapt!” A lioness snarled. “You’re asking us to truncate the most sacred institution of our nation!”

Kendra held up a hand and called for silence.

“Princess Thomasina, your concerns are legitimate.” The Queen began. “Yet I must remind you of our situation. We are fighting a war for our very survival, our capital and Homeworld is lost and quite possibly destroyed, whilst our armed forces are scattered to the corners of the Galaxy without directive or communication. We have, this day, been given an opportunity to breathe life into our people, to give them one final chance to live on. I cannot allow the mission to proceed without a contingency in place. I must secure the future of the Commonwealth now, because we are not going to have the chance again. Do you understand? Does everyone here understand?”

Nods and murmurs of assent. Kendra went on.

“Since the people and mechanisms required to pick a new leader of the Triple Alliance are not here, I shall retain my role as its Commander-in-Chief.” She said. “But, I must acknowledge the possibility that my mission will fail. Our government cannot be left without a leader, even for a moment, therefore…”

But before Kendra could finish, a Levakian broke ranks and prostrated herself before the Queen.

“Don’t do this!” The lioness pleaded. “Please don’t go! Send someone else! Anyone else! The Commonwealth is nothing without you!”

Leaning forward in her wheelchair, Kendra encouraged the lioness to stand up.

“I have spent the last century of my life ensuring that the Commonwealth will live on and see glory after my time is over. Looking around this room, I daresay my work has paid off. Partogans, Levakians, Assurians, Amadii and Vanians, Kelt and Micore… together we’ve built a civilization that will, without doubt, stand the test of time. I feel confident that I’m leaving my Commonwealth in the best hands.”

Kendra reached up to her eyepatch and detached the shiny emerald that had been there for countless years. She gave it to the Kuhina Nui before handing over her crystal sword as well. Then Eteka pulled her wheelchair back so the Kuhina Nui could address the National Assembly.

“The Queen of the Commonwealth has abdicated the throne!” He declared. “In accordance with the ‘Emergency War Authority’ resolution of 519, I am now calling an immediate emergency Royal Election. Bring forth the Candidates!”

Two Partogan girls and two Levakian cubs were escorted into the room by members of the Commonwealth Green Guard. The Levakians were wearing military uniforms. Manako clenched his fists. He had known his grandmother was planning to do this, but that didn’t make the end of his status as a Royal Family member any less painful.

The four Queen Candidates took their places on the stage. Nomsa had grown and matured a lot since leaving Aoraki last spring. The Gifted lioness was now the size of an American mountain lion, and had the teeth and claws to match. Both she and the other Levakian, Thabisa, were looking a little messed up. Dried blood had clotted around Thabisa’s nose, indicating a recent fight between herself and Nomsa. The two Partogan Candidates, Ihiko Taimana and Lani Ririnui, were both sweating nervously and not looking anyone in the eye.

One by one, each Candidate introduced herself to the National Assembly and gave a brief explanation of their lives before now. Nomsa and Thabisa were both low-ranking soldiers in the Commonwealth military. Ihiko was a hospital worker who cared for those who had been wounded on the front lines, and Lani was a shipbreaker who salvaged warships that were too far gone.

Then the time came for votes. Manako felt around the room with his mind and relaxed a little, knowing that the transition would be smooth, at least. Most of the National Assembly seemed to be on board with Kendra’s wishes.

After just two rounds of voting, the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth had a new Queen.

Nomsa, the Gifted lioness, looked as though she was about to burst into tears as the Kuhina Nui presented her with the royal emerald, the Queen’s Sword, and tendered his own resignation. (as is tradition) Kendra wheeled over in her chair to give Nomsa a great big hug while the watching crowd cheered and clapped, a rousing chorus of “Long live the Queen” starting to rattle the walls and ceiling.

…

After that, things seemed to just fly by. Queen-Elect Nomsa and her predecessor, Kendra, had a private conversation just outside of the hangar while Manako said his goodbyes to Eteka.

“I want to promise me you’ll keep a close eye on Grandmother.” Manako said. “I’ve read all the stories about how she liked to just charge into fights when she was younger.”

“Young man, she did that because she had good friends she knew she could trust.” Eteka said. “Don’t worry about us. We have countless allies in the Outer Limb who would jump at the chance to stand with us one more time.”

“When you come back, old man, those ships better block out the sun.”

“Count on it.” Eteka promised.

Then Kendra and Nomsa arrived. Kendra tried to push herself along, but Nomsa insisted on using her own telekinesis to move Kendra’s wheelchair. Reepi Imvu was with them both. He was still very badly injured from his fight with Akira. His left wing was broken and so many of his red and blue feathers were burned away that one would be forgiven for thinking Reepi would never fly again. Despite all of this, the peacock had a look determination on his face, as though he was ready to throw himself into yet another fight.

“Transition’s finished.” Queen Nomsa announced. “I’m… uh… I’m in command now.”

“Speak confidently when you give orders.” Kendra said to her. “It helps to puff out your chest and project your voice.”

“Yeah, I know.” Nomsa hissed, “but it feels super weird to give you an order!”

Kendra laughed.

“I’m not the Queen anymore, but I am still the Commander of the Triple Alliance.” She said. “So you don’t have to adjust your thinking of me that much. It’s still one leader addressing another. Does that help?”

“A little.” Nomsa straightened up, took a deep breath, and gave her first command:

“Kendra Mihaka, you are ordered to… uh… to seek out the allies in the Outer Limb and bring them back here, uh… as quickly as you can… please.”

Kendra nodded, then leaned in to whisper:

“Your Majesty, you forgot to give me a ship!”

“Mahuika!” Nomsa blurted out, trying to hide her nervous laughter. “Take the Mahuika!”

Kendra and Manako shared a laugh for a moment before Nomsa got serious again.

“Commander Ranginui, I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Your Majesty, you don’t need to ask.” Manako replied. “What can I do for you?”

“I, uh, I’d like permission to use your power.”

Both Manako and Kendra frowned. They were both perplexed by this request.

“I’m confused.” Manako admitted. “Don’t you have your own Gift?”

“I do.” Queen Nomsa said. She seemed nervous, unsure. “But thing is, my unique power, you know… everybody’s got one special thing they can do, and… uh, well, mine…”

She trailed off, Kendra gently scratched Nomsa’s ears and the young Queen purred. Manako’s jaw dropped.

“Hang on a second!” He said, “Does this have anything to do-”

“Shhh! Not so loud!” Kendra admonished him. “And for your information, yes, it does.”

The former Queen embraced her successor, who was still looking down as though ashamed with herself.

“Nomsa possesses an ability.” Kendra explained, “One that I’m certain will allow her to help us end the war. That’s why it was so imperative she be elected Queen.”

Nomsa shook her head vigorously and then finally confessed:

“I… uh… I can copy other people’s powers! Like, the special, unique ones!”

Okay, that’s a bombshell. Manako needed a second to get his thoughts in order.

“Let me get this straight, you can actually copy other people’s unique powers… and use them!?”

Nomsa nodded, then buried her face in her paws.

“You see, grandson.” Kendra said. “Nomsa here has always been shy about using other people’s powers.”

“It’s like peeking in someone’s diary or stealing from their clothes drawer!” Nomsa protested. “It’s not a nice thing to do, it’s actually kinda messed up.”

“But…” Kendra said. “If Nomsa were Queen, she would no longer need to ask permission, and she would have access to far more Gifted people, such as Jericho.”

Manako looked back at his new Queen. He was thinking fast about all of the possible ways Nomsa’s ability could be put to use on the battlefield. Finally, he said:

“I would be honored for Her Majesty to make use of my Gift.”

Manako held out a hand to Nomsa. The white lioness took his hand in her paw

In an instant, Nomsa’s entire life flashed before Manako’s eyes! He knew and experienced her entire life story in less than a moment, from her earliest memory up until now. When he let go of her, Manako now had the deepest possible understanding of his new Queen and the insecurities that plagued her. He gave Nomsa a knowing look, then offered his hand to her again.

“Try it.” He said. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Nomsa reached forward and brushed Manako’s hand with her paw. In an equally short span of time, Nomsa learned everything there was to know about Manako, and she witnessed his entire life through his eyes. Blinking back tears, Nomsa said:

“Your sister… Manako, I’m so sorry! And… and you really…?”

“Yes.” He answered, tapping his own head with one finger. “Maka is perfectly preserved in here, and now in your mind as well.”

“I swear to you,” Nomsa said. “We’ll make Maka’s… uh, I mean Makara’s life, count for something. She won’t have died in vain.”

“I know you will, Your Majesty.”

…

Before they departed, Kendra and Eteka gave their grandson one last group hug.

“For Makara.” Manako said.

“And for all of our friends and loved ones who didn’t make it this far.” Kendra agreed. “I’ll see you soon, Manako.”

Behind the shadow of the Moon, the Tantomile and Mahuika parted ways. The Partogan flagship set her course for a dim point of reddish light in the distance, while the Mahuika banked towards the constellation Sagittarius.

The Mahuika only paused for a moment to deploy a small robotic probe. It was a small device, consisting of its core, a transceiver, a small sublight engine, and four retractable arms, each one fitted with a Quantum Wavefront generator.

Leaving this portable Hyperspace Gate hidden in a distant orbit of the Moon, the Mahuika activated her Hyperspace Module and vanished.

…

Five hours later…

Monday, September 1, 2036 – 2:20pm
Skies of Triton, High Orbit above Neptune, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


This far away from the center of the solar system, our sun looked like just another point of light in the starfield. In the dim light of these outer reaches, the world of Neptune seemed to sparkle like a sapphire. Icy clouds were blown about by high winds while lightning sporadically lit up the intense hurricanes that billowed silently across the blue world’s surface.

In fact, the only movement seemed to be on Neptune itself. Some fifty thousand tiny points of light were orbiting the planet in a serene way, holding no discernable pattern, emitting no energy of any kind. All was silent and tranquil.

But then, there was a brilliant pulse of light!

Because of the vast distance, it’s actually not possible to see the tiny world known as Pluto from the skies of Neptune, but for a few seconds, Pluto’s exact location was given away as the dwarf planet was enveloped by a fantastic explosion! The shockwave was so powerful that two of Pluto’s moons, Nix and Hydra, were vaporized instantly, while the larger moon known as Charon broke into pieces, shattered like glass!

Then, hundreds of little purple squares materialized in the empty space between Neptune and its biggest moon, Triton! Battered and aflame, a Hiigaran warfleet rematerialized in the empty space between Triton and Neptune. One of the Hiigaran ships, a Battlecruiser, began to broadcast a signal to anyone in the region who might be listening:

“Beast Mothership is pursuing! Will exit Hyperspace in ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one…”

Simultaneously, the badly damaged Hiigaran fleet vanished into Hyperspace, while another series of Quantum Wavefronts began to open! First there were a hundred, then a thousand! Nearly two-hundred-thousand infected starships emerged into the empty space between Neptune and Triton. Then, a single Wavefront appeared! An infected ship the size of a moon erupted out of Hyperspace!

Astynome hungrily took stock of the surroundings. Partogan mining stations dotted the area, orbiting above many of Neptune’s smaller moons, which were basically just asteroids that had fallen into orbit around the planet. Mineral resources and organic materials together. This was a feast! Like a swarm of insects, Beast ships began to scatter across the Neptunian system, heading towards targets of opportunity.

Five. Ten. Fifty. A hundred!

In groups at first, then as whole constellations, thousands of warships began to power up! Those innocuous points of light in orbit revealed themselves at last to be starships! Powered down and silent, the allied fleet had lurked until the very last second! The Partogan flagship Tantomile emerged from its hiding place behind the moon called Thalassa, and on her bridge, Manako Ranginui gave the order!

“HEAT HER UP!”

The Tantomile powered up her weapons, polarized armor, and showed no mercy!

Torpedoes, energy cannon blasts, high-yield missiles, plasma bombs, and Ion beams rained down on Astynome from behind! From every conceivable direction, weapons fire erupted as the Beast was caught in the trap! Vaygr, Partogan, Scyldari, Micore, Taiidani, Voor, and Kelt warships tore into their enemies with ruthless violence!

Astynome’s escort fleet fared no better. Orbital turrets, positioned near the various mining stations, came to life and opened fire! Mass driver rounds tore through the unprepared enemy before they could polarize their armor! But the element of surprise didn’t last long. Infected warships began to regroup! Infection beams shot into the darkened sky and connected with allied warships…

And had no effect.

On the bridge of the Tantomile, Manako and his crew cheered and shouted!

“The vaccine’s working!” Elsina shouted.

“Hell yeah, we’re immune!” Kailani added.

“Don’t get distracted!” Manako silenced them. “Stick to the plan! Fleet! Continue to engage the enemy escort, pull them away from Astynome!”

From his terminal, Dolim yelled:

“Enemy Mothership is charging Hyperspace Module!”

A monotonous robotic voice replied over the radio:

“Micore Drone Carrier 42 responding. Hyperspace dampening field projection in progress. Damping field in place. Enemy FTL capabilities have been neutralized.”

A second voice chimed in, this one belonging to a Taiidani:

“This is the Taiidan Heavy Cruiser Vengeance. Hyperspace inhibitors are online. No infected in, no infected out.”

The enemy was now doubly trapped, locked beneath two overlapping anti-Hyperspace measures!

“Keep the enemy divided!” Manako ordered. “Don’t let them regroup!”

A squadron of Hiigaran cloaked fighters flitted into and out of visibility, harassing Infected frigates and stopping them from concentrating their own fire. Levakian battleships poured withering fire into the enemy, while Partogan Ion frigates engaged any hostiles trying to flee the perimeter! But the tide was slowly shifting. No matter how heavy or devastating a blow the allies had landed early on, it didn’t erase the fact that they were, in fact, horribly outnumbered.

Beast warships began to swarm around smaller pockets of resistance, picking them apart one by one. More and more of Astynome’s escorts broke away from their Mothership to hunt down allied vessels until only a token force was left behind to guard her. This did not go unnoticed.

“Commander!” Kailani yelled. “That’s our window!”

Manako pointed towards Astynome’s position on the viewscreen and said:

“Take us in! Weapons hot! Commodore Ferrell, are your people ready?”

From the intercom came the voice of Marie Ferrell, commanding officer of the Earth Defense Fleet:

“Are you kidding!? We could take on the Beast by ourselves right now, cut us loose!”

…

In the Tantomile’s hangar bay, thirty UN spaceplanes faced towards the exit, held in their docking sleeves by heavy clamps. Aboard the Niagara, my crew and I were getting pumped.

“Standby for launch!” Hyatt reported.

“It’s time to fight back, folks!” I shouted over my shoulder to the crew area. “Lemme hear your war cries!”

“Gimme something to shoot, boss!” Naka said.

“Vox tala for ten!” Zeil let out a Skirmisher battle cry.

Then Axiom, Hyatt, Tsubaki, and Elliot all shouted:

“DON’T GIVE UP THE SHIP!”

I flipped my radio switch and called Manako.

“Hey, Ranginui, you heard Ferrell! Cut us loose!”

“Good luck Humans, Tantomile’s strength go with you!”

With a loud banging and scraping of metal, the docking mechanism was released and the Niagara was pushed forward! Alongside us, twenty-nine other spaceplanes were launched! Soaring up and out of the Tantomile’s bathtub-shaped hangar, the Earth Defense Fleet was thrown into the fight!

“Polarize armor, charge weapons!” I shouted, then I took the control column in front of me. “My aircraft!”

Hyatt let go of the controls and let me fly the spaceplane, instead picking up the control stick for the topside Mass Drivers.

“All ships, this is wing commander!” Commodore Ferrell called from her ship, the Battlemaster. “Fall in on my position and prepare to engage!”

The EDF fell into formation behind the Battlemaster. We flew in six groups of five. The Niagara flew alongside the Bushranger, Hermione, Ark Angel, and Moana Ranginui. From the cockpit of her ship, Mira Mihaka waved at us.

Ahead, Astynome loomed large. The Beast Mothership was turning to engage the Tantomile, which was bearing down on her with guns blazing! In the light of our sun, I could just see the gaping wound in Astyome’s flank, marking the spot where she had been injured by the Tryna at the Battle of Barnard’s Star.

“Remember everyone, stick the plan!” Ferrell shouted. “Disable whatever critical subsystems you can, but the sublight engines and Hyperspace module are top priority!”

Behind me, Naka and Zeil activated the Weapons Control computer and target-locked Astynome. Instantly, the two of them (plus me) started to hear a dull beeping noise in our headsets.

Beep beep beep.

With each passing second, the beeps grew more and more frequent until they became a continuous hum in my ears!

“I’ve got tone!” I reported.

“Good tone!” Zeil and Naka confirmed.

I slid my command card into the reader and pushed two red buttons.

“WARNING!” the computer declared! “NUCLEAR WARHEADS ARMED!”

“Battlemaster, this is Isandlwana.” Said a voice on the radio. “I’m taking my team to disable the enemy Hyperspace module!”

“Acknowledged. We’re in position! We’re gonna cut across the axis and try to draw their fire! All ships, engage at will!”

On those words, we unleashed Hell! Thirty spaceplanes and the Tantomile opened fire, subjecting Astynome to a vicious bombardment! The enemy Mothership’s weapons turned to return the favor, and our formation broke up and scattered!

“Target that sensor array on the dorsal port side!” I called back to Naka and Zeil. “One missile oughta do it!”

The whole plane shuddered as a space superiority missile launched from our port wing!

“Bird away!” I yelled. “Blast curtains!”

Simultaneously, Hyatt and I both reached up and pulled the dark grey curtains across the cockpit window. Without it, we were flying purely by instruments only!

“Birds away!” Mira yelled.

“Bird away!” Odette added.

“Detonation!” Naka cried!

Nuclear hellfire rained down on Astynome! Missile after missile drilled into her side and unleashed fireballs brighter than the sun! The UN spaceplanes began to swarm around Astynome, firing one nuke after another into anything that looked important! Sensor arrays, hangar bay doors, engine bells, weapon mounts, anything!

“Robinson!” Axiom called out. “There’s an orbital maneuvering thruster bank on the ventral hull, about sixty kilometers to our starboard!”

“We’re too close for missiles!” Zeil said. “We’ve got to do a gun run!”

“Hyatt, your aircraft!” I relinquished the controls.

Hyatt took over flying the ship while I used my own targeting computer to help Zeil and Naka execute the attack.

“Load armor piercing rounds!” Naka told her companion. “Those thruster banks are full of hypergolic fuel; we just need to break the plumbing!”

Hyatt pushed the nose down and sent the Niagara into a dive! Screaming towards Astynome’s surface, Naka, Zeil, and I all laid on the trigger and sent dozens of rounds towards the target! A voice, filled with panic, sounded over the radio:

“Niagara! PULL UP!”

Hyatt wrenched on the controls and pulled us up and away from the surface just as a nuclear fireball swallowed up an entire section of Astynome’s hull. The shockwave hit us so hard that unsecured gear flew all over the interior of the ship like some kind of demented pinball game!

“Hey, how are you guys?” called the commander of the Hinomaru.

“Medium well.” I quipped. “Check your fire next time!”

Our plan to immobilize Astynome had hit a snag. Sure, we were expecting it, but it was still a snag. The Beast Mothership’s tissue was re-growing quickly. In fact, some sections of Astynome’s hull were being restored at the same speed they were being destroyed. It was becoming quite clear that while we could hold Astynome in place, it was only going to be for a short while.

“Tantomile!” I called into the radio. “We can’t keep this up forever! Where the hell is the Trinity!?”

“There was a massive Hyperspace signature around Venus a few minutes ago, Niagara! Not much longer!”

The Trinity was moving. Jericho was on the way, we just needed to hold Astynome in place for a little while longer!

“All ships, be advised, we’ve picked up a new group of signals.” Commodore Ferrell reported over the radio. “We’ve got enemy strike craft incoming! Fighters and corvettes, fifty kilometers, bearing zero-nine-zero!”

“Starboard side!” I barked. “Zeil, Naka, look starboard! Tell me what you can see out there!”

Our turrets swiveled around just in time for the gunners to see a formation of infected fighters bearing down on us!

“Captain!” Hyatt yelled, “We’ve got three bogeys coming at us fast, bearing one-seven-five!”

“Bogeys, my ass!” I responded. “Those are fucking bandits!”

I took control and banked hard, turning us into the oncoming threat and presenting the smallest target possible! The enemy was in front of us and we were shooting straight towards them! It was a collision course!

“Naka!” I yelled. “How far away!?”

“Uh, three hundred kilometers!”

“Pop chaff! Make their radar look like Christmas!”

A pair of tiny countermeasure launchers on the fuselage came to life and began to fire chaff. Millions of tiny metal fragments billowed away from the Niagara! The cloud was so dense it interfered with our own radar, causing a dark shadow to appear behind us.

“Axiom, identify!” Hyatt shouted. “What are we dealing with?”

“It’s a trio of Hapaka-class fighters. They’re Partogan space superiority ships!” Axiom called back.

“Armaments!?” I asked.

“Two heat-seeking missiles, four radar-guided missiles, low explosive yields.” Tsubaki answered. “They’ve also got an energy cannon!”

Before we could figure out a plan of attack, my control column started to vibrate, badly! A loud buzzing sounded in my ear and I yelled!

“Vampire inbound! Countermeasures, now!!”

Another cloud of chaff escaped from the back of our ship while Hyatt throttled the engines to full power! For the smallest fraction of a second, I actually saw the missiles streak past the cockpit window, missing the Niagara by a matter of feet! A moment later, all three of the hostile strike craft shot past us in the opposite direction!

“They’re going for the decoys!” Elliot cheered!

“We’re not out of it yet!” Tsubaki shouted. “Bandits turning hard, they’re back on our tail!”

I took control of the spaceplane and pushed the nose down.

“What the hell are you doing!?” Hyatt demanded. “We’re gonna hit the deck!”

“I’ve got a plan!” I said. “Call out my altitude, don’t let me hit the deck! Gunners! Give us a little breathing room!”

Hyatt kept her eyes on the radar altimeter and called out our distance to Astynome’s hull every few seconds. Making fine adjustments to the controls, I kept us about fifty feet above the enemy Mothership at all times, flying so low that the backwash from our nuclear ramjet engines was actually burning Astynome’s flesh! Meanwhile, Naka and Zeil had taken control of the rear turrets and were keeping the infected fighters on their toes. Firing in bursts, hot lead flew backwards to meet our enemies!

“YEAH!” Naka shrieked. “GET SOME!! COME GET SOME YOU COSMIC FREAKS”

One of the infected fighters suddenly veered off course and nosedived into Astynome’s flank, exploding into a cloud of shrapnel and charred flesh!

“I got one!” Naka shouted. “Hell yeah, I got one!”

“Great, kid!” Elliot snapped, “Don’t get cocky!”

“Captain!” Hyatt sounded alarmed, “There’s a hangar bay door ten kilometers ahead!”

“Acknowledged!” I responded. “Zeil, Naka, are the bandits flying in formation?”

“They’re closing fast!” Zeil answered.

“I know that!” I snapped. “Are they flying in a goddamned formation or not!?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Zeil!” I shouted. “Prepare to jettison pylon five!”

“WHAT!?”

“We drop a nuke into that hangar and keep flying past, Astynome’s hull will shield us from the blast and the bad guys get cooked! Now get ready to jettison missile five on my mark!”

Pushing our engines to the brink, Hyatt and I powered the Niagara towards the open hangar bay. The missile hanging from pylon five was already armed. From her computer, Naka rigged its detonator with a thirty-second delay. Then she went back to firing on the enemy with the mass drivers for a few extra seconds until we were over Astynome’s hangar bay.

It was an absolutely disgusting sight. Looking down into Astynome’s hangar was like… like… looking straight down a set of gills on a fish. Hundreds of meaty structures stood up from some kind of spine, sticking out in all directions. Looking at it made my hair stand on end, and also made it so damn satisfying to say:

“Now!”

Missile number five fell away from our ship. Its engine never ignited, so it continued to fall in the direction it had been pushed, down towards Astynome’s gills/hangar.

“Counting off!” Zeil yelled. “Thirty seconds!”

Hyatt and I throttled the engines as high up as they could go! From the power plant, Elliot warned us that we couldn’t push the system any farther, not without breaking something! The Niagara hurtled away from the hangar! The enemy continued to pursue!

“Twenty seconds!”

Hyatt reached forward and started to undo her side of the blast curtain!

“Stop!” I yelled, “What are you doing!?”

“The whole ship’s gonna jump when that bomb goes off!” Hyatt answered. “We’ve gotta be able to see where we’re going, or we’ll hit the deck!”

“Sit down and use your instruments!” I yelled. “There’s nukes going off all around us! You wanna go blind!?”

“Ten seconds!” Zeil yelled.

Hyatt took both hands off her controls and began to tug on her curtain!

“Detonation!”

The explosion rocked Astynome far more violently than any before! A continent-sized hull fragment blew up and away, sending wreckage, blood, and what looked horrifically like ship-sized bone fragments spinning away into space. The shockwave hit us hard! Terrible sounds of metal groaning and creaking sounded all over the ship, and for a few moments, I wondered if we might just come apart at the seams!

“Zeil, Naka, report!” I called back.

“Nothing came outta that, sir.” Zeil replied. “We’re clear!”

Hyatt returned to her seat and strapped herself back in. The blast curtain on her side of the cockpit was now down, allowing her to see outside.

“See, we’re fine.” Hyatt told me. “Watch your flanks, Captain. Friendly passing us on our port side!”

The British Dreadnaught zipped underneath of us as the Niagara pulled up and away from Astynome. I was about to send a message to them when my control column started to vibrate again! There was another missile coming at us!

“Vampire inbound!” Hyatt yelled.

One more time, we popped countermeasures! The Dreadnaught did the same! Two obscuring clouds of metal filled the skies around our two ships! I turned my head to the right, looking at my radar warning receiver to see if I could spot the incoming missile… but out of the corner of my vision… I did see it… for the briefest, most infinitesimal millisecond.

The nuclear fireball was brighter and more intense than anything I’d ever seen before! The flash was reflected off the darkest surface and illuminated every possible corner of the ship’s interior! Hyatt screamed and let go of the controls! Struggling to remember where I had last seen the Dreadnaught, I closed my eyes as fast as possible and pulled back on the control column, flying purely by instinct!

“Ease off, Captain!” Elliot shouted, “We’re clear!”

I opened my eyes. A solid wall of green obscured the left side of my vision, and it wouldn’t go away no matter how many times I blinked or how hard I rubbed my left eye. It took me about ten seconds to realize I’d just been blinded in one eye. Counting my lucky stars that I could still see out of the other eye, I had to turn my head all the way to the left to look at Hyatt and ask how she was doing.

Hyatt wasn’t touching the controls. She was holding both hands up to her face and blinking both of her eyes very quickly. Her pupils had contracted to the smallest possible size, and yet her hazel eyes still seemed to be unfocused.

“Can’t see…” she murmured. “I can’t see… I can’t see anything!”

Erin Hyatt was blind.

There was no time to process this development, because one much larger was already underway. From the engineer’s station, Axiom called out:

“We’ve got a Hyperspace signature coming in! It’s huge!”

A moment later, we got confirmation from the Tantomile.

“All ships, be advised.” Manako announced. “The Trinity has arrived! Clear away from Astynome immediately! I repeat! All ships, get away from the enemy!”

I wrenched on the control column and started to put some distance between ourselves and the Trinity. The gargantuan spacecraft was turning to point some kind of aperture towards the enemy Mothership. Now I’m not really sure how to describe what I saw next. I know that there’s no air in space. It’s common knowledge. Everybody knows that.

But I swear on my life, I saw a mirage surrounding the Trinity. The Universe itself shuddered and shook around the weapon as it began to power up. I had no way to know if it had already started draining the Gift from everyone around, but I could only assume that it was. I called back to Axiom and Elliot.

“Someone find out what frequency the Trinity is broadcasting on!” I said.

“We’re working on that.” Axiom replied. “I think the Trinity is running silent. They’re not broadcasting any radio frequencies, at least… none we can detect.”

“You can’t detect anything?” I repeated. “Seriously?”

“That can’t be right, dude.” Naka said. “Every UN spacecraft has to communicate by radio, or at the very least put out a transponder signal.”

“Hold on,” Axiom said. “Lemme check for a transponder.”

While Axiom did that, I looked at my sensors manager. I needed to hold my left hand over my now-ruined eye to be able to make sense of the data in front of me.

“That’s odd.” I murmured.

For some strange reason, dozens of allied ships were approaching the Trinity, attempting to land in her hangar bay, but were being turned away. By what? I had no idea. The Beast was also retreating and regrouping, but for some reason, any infected vessel that drew near to Astynome slowed to a crawl before coming to a full and complete stop. Then, all at once, the comm network lit up with the voices of allied ship commanders reporting on a new development!

“Spatial anomaly dead ahead!”

“Temporal disturbance detected.”

“It appears to be a highly localized distortion of the space-time continuum.”

Finally, Axiom’s curiosity got the best of him. He slid back the blackout cover by his window and looked outside.

“What the hell!?” Axiom gasped. “You guys need to see this! The Beast fleet has been immobilized!”

Moving so fast I hurt my arm, I pulled the blast curtain back to see for myself.

Axiom was right. The entire Beast armada had ceased fire and was no longer hostile. Allied fleets were moving away from the enemy and regrouping. Meanwhile, the enemy fleet seemed to be falling, one ship after another, victim to the same fate that had befallen Astynome and any nearby Beast ships. As though a video had been paused, the enemy ships remained still, unmoving… as though frozen in place. Something wasn’t right here. We all knew the Trinity had done something… but what? It wasn’t apparent at all.

Then, finally, someone broke the long silence. The static preceding the voice was incredibly loud, and I could tell right away that the Trinity was broadcasting to the entire fleet. I was expecting to hear Jericho’s voice, everybody was expecting to hear her. Why wouldn’t we?

Instead, we were all horrified by what happened next.

“Attention vessels of the Triple Alliance, Galactic Alliance, and United Nations Navy. My name is Duane Gardner. For the benefit of all Mankind, for the preservation of our future, and for the salvation of all we hold dear, my forces have commandeered the Trinity. Now, we shall bring its full might to bear against our common enemy. Using the great power of the Trinity, we have trapped the Beast in a prison that was molded and fashioned from the most fundamental building block of the Universe, time itself! The Beast is at our mercy! Now, witness the true power of Humanity’s greatest weapon!”

And then, the Trinity opened fire!

A single beam of brilliant purple light erupted from the Trinity’s weapon aperture, then split into many smaller, semitransparent tendrils, each one taking aim at Astynome and the largest Beast ships in her vicinity! Even from here, we could see Astynome and the other infected ships attempting to perform desperate evasive maneuvers, but was all for naught! The Beast was caught in a pocket of space in which time passed at an incomprehensibly slow speed compared to the Universe around it!

The Psionic pulse reached Astynome and, for a moment, I could actually see the outer limits of the distorted time zone! It perforated and deformed, allowing the Trinity’s final attack to pass through at normal speed, striking the paralyzed Beast! Psionic energy enveloped the enemy! Some watching allies began to cheer, but the cautious celebration died away as the purple light went out, the distorted time zone faded away, and the truth was revealed.

The enemy was intact.

Duane’s attack seemed to have done no damage whatsoever. For a moment, I dared to wonder if the Trinity had malfunctioned, but then Axiom took a look at our sensors screen and said:

“Sir… sensors show that all enemy ships are powering down their weapons and depolarizing armor. The Beast is standing down!”

“Nnooo.” I moaned. “Duane…. You didn’t!!”

There was no denying what had just happened. During the war with ADVENT, I had seen countless people fall under the Elder’s sway. Hell, on the day in 2015 when XCOM Headquarters had fallen to the enemy, I had watched so many of our own people turn against us at seemingly random moments, only later to learn exactly how Psionics could warp and twist minds. I’ve seen enough Mind Control to know that Duane Gardner had gone all the way.

He used Psionic Domination against Astynome… and it had worked.

Complete.

Irreversible.

Control.

“The Templar Order seeks the same goal as you: Victory over the Beast.” Duane’s voice held the allied armada hostage. “Unlike your so-called commanders and heroes, we are willing to pay any price for that victory, and will not allow any to stand in our path. If you wish to join our cause, we welcome you and your kin alike. But if you seek to undermine the safety, security, and future of the Galaxy we seek to save and rebuild, you will be shown no mercy. We will await the enemy above the Ocean of Storms.”

I grabbed the radio headset with my hand so hard it nearly broke in my grip.

“GARDNER!” I shouted. “Where’s Jericho!? Let Jericho speak!”

A pause.

“Jericho and I disagreed on how this weapon should be used.” Duane replied. “If you wish to speak with her, try the open space between Venus and Earth.”

And without another word, we all watched in collective horror as the Trinity, Astynome, and the entire Beast Armada flew away in formation together. A barely visible Psionic tether reached out from the Trinity’s aperture and wrapped itself tightly around the Beast Mothership. Then, as one, the Trinity and her newly Dominated fleet engaged Hyperspace and vanished from view.

Chapter 52: Eye of the Storm

Chapter Forty-Four
Eye of the Storm

Tuesday, September 2, 2036 – 6:00pm
Kaolo Gate, Abbassid, Hiigaran Empire

One million years ago, the Galaxy had been ruled by a powerful race known today as “the Progenitors.” These beings possessed a level of technological advancement so incredible that their most basic trinkets were too arcane for modern science to understand. The weapons and tools of the Progenitors might as well have been powered by magic.

It had been the Progenitors who had first unlocked the mysteries of Hyperspace. All archeological evidence said that these beings were not native to our Galaxy, but were in fact conquerors from some distant unknowable frontier. Using their greatest invention, the Hyperspace Cores, the Progenitors extended their domain across all of known creation for eons upon eons.

Then, roughly ten-thousand years ago, the Progenitors vanished. Nobody knows what happened to cause the Progenitor Empire’s sudden fall, only that it happened at roughly the same time as the completion of the Eye of Aarran, a massive structure that serves as the core of the Progenitor Hyperspace Network.

Even though the Progenitors were gone, their ships, cities, and technology were left behind. The broken wreckage of Progenitor warships is a more common sight in deep space than anything else, while nearly all of the Galaxy’s greatest cities are built on the foundations of Progenitor ruins. So much modern technology used by spacefaring civilizations is derived from old Progenitor technology. In fact, interstellar civilization would be completely impossible without it.

All of this ancient history had guided Kendra and Eteka’s decision. They knew that the world they had grown up in was dependent on the Progenitor Hyperspace Network, and that the incredible string of victories the Beast had enjoyed for the past year was due entirely to its control of the network.

It was time to bring that control to an end.

…

Admiral Enoka, the commanding officer of the Mahuika, was waiting for ex-Queen Kendra and her husband on the bridge. The three Partogans knew one another quite well. Enoka had been serving in the Commonwealth Navy throughout the entire war. He’d grown to trust Kendra’s judgement, even if this time, he had reservations about their chances.

“Your Majesty, all preparations have been made.” Enoka said. “The construction bays report that we now have a full complement of strike craft and corvettes in our hangar bay, ready for combat.”

“You don’t need to call me that anymore, Admiral.” Kendra replied with a warm smile. “What about the cloaking device? Have the adaptations been made?”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The Admiral said sheepishly. “I urge you to remember that with the modifications you requested, we will only be able to remain cloaked for a matter of seconds. That system required immense power, and drawing any of it is going to be detrimental to the rest of the ship.”

“It’s a risk we must take, Admiral. Now, final question, where can I find Reepi Imvu?”

“In the forward observation lounge, Ma’am.” Enoka replied. “He said he wanted to meditate before we begin.”

…

In the Mahuika’s forward lounge, Kendra and Eteka tried to enter as silently as they could, to avoid disturbing the battered old peacock, but Reepi heard them anyway. He was perched on one of those big pillows normally used by Levakians and was staring out of the main window, watching as a ten-thousand-year-old Hyperspace Gate slowly drew closer and closer to the Mahuika. Most of Reepi’s injuries were healed, yet he still looked to be in bad shape.

There were a dozen Vanian females gathered together nearby, whispering to one another while snatching glances at Reepi. He was basking in their attention, enjoying every minute of it. Kendra moved her wheelchair around the furniture and halted next to Reepi, then gave him a warm greeting. Eteka sat down on a nearby couch, groaning about his old bones. Reepi gave the female Vanians a suggestive look before turning his attention to Kendra.

“I know you don’t want me to refer to you by any formal titles,” Reepi said, “But considering what you’ve asked me to do…”

Reepi trailed off. He was waiting for Kendra to speak, unwilling to read her mind without permission. Understanding his expression, Kendra obliged him:

“I know you’ve been briefed on the mission,” Kendra said, “Have you made your decision?”

“I’ll do it.” Reepi did not hesitate.

Eteka leaned forward.

“We appreciate your enthusiasm, Imvu.” He said, “But we must emphasize as much as possible that you are being given a choice. You don’t have to do this. We can always find someone else.”

“I’ll do it.” Reepi repeated.

“The chance of success is slim,” Kendra said. “Your chance of survival even less so.”

“I’ll do it.” Reepi insisted.

Kendra and Eteka looked at one another and then back at Reepi. Kendra lightly tapped her own forehead, suggesting Reepi do a quick scan of her thoughts, and he obliged. After a moment, he responded to Kendra’s worries.

“You’re afraid I’m doing this for the wrong reasons.” Reepi said. “That I’m seeking out my own death. With respect, you are as wrong as you could possibly be.”

Reepi stood up and pointed out the window with his good wingtip, towards a distant yellow star.

“That was Vania.” He said. “It wasn’t just my home, Your Majesty, it was home for billions of others like me. My flock, my friends, my brothers and sisters were all down there, in a city called Broadbill. By now, I’m sure that nothing of them remains in this world. The city is most certainly gone as well. My people are scattered to the stars. Even if we win this war, conquer the Beast and hunt it down, the Vanian civilization is now doomed. Within a few generations, we will be nothing but memories.”

He looked back at Kendra.

“But memories can be powerful, Your Majesty. More powerful than you can possibly imagine. My people understood the Gift and the power of the mind more intimately than you ever could. Memories are what the past is built upon, a foundational component time itself. They guide our thoughts and actions, helping us craft the future. Your Commonwealth is built on memories, Kendra. The memory of Whetu Kealoha, and of her deeds. You yourself are a projection of Kealoha’s memory, the result of actions she took five hundred years ago.”

Reepi sat down again and looked towards the oncoming Hyperspace Gate.

“If this mission succeeds, today will become of the most powerful memories in history. It will transfigure and transform the Galaxy forever; in ways we haven’t conceived of yet. I want to help build that memory, as Vania’s final contribution to the physical world before our time ends. My name, my flock, and Broadbill may all be forgotten as time goes on, but history will remember the Vanians, and what we did. That’s why I’m going, Your Majesty… to preserve the memory of all Vanians, to personally ensure our place in the stories and legends your progeny will tell.”

After saying one last grateful goodbye, Kendra and Eteka made their way back up to he bridge. Now, it was just a matter of waiting. Moving swiftly, the Mahuika closed in on the old Progenitor Hyperspace Gate. The structure itself was fully subverted by the biomechanical virus. Patches of flesh protruded from the old armor plating, while blood pumped through veins that had once been pipes and cables.

The Gate might be alive and sentient now, but it had no weapons or thrusters. It could not turn away the incoming Flagship nor evade. Its communication system was also not capable of sending a distress message any further than the nearest planet, which had once been a Progenitor outpost. The Mahuika passed through the artificial Slipgate and instantly rematerialized at her chosen destination.

…

The Eye of Aarran, Balcora, Hiigaran Empire


The instant the Mahuika re-appeared in the Balcora region, Admiral Enoka, Kendra, and Eteka found themselves caught by surprise. They had been expecting a veritable armada to be defending the Eye of Aarran. A valuable installation like this would be a prime target for attack, after all. The absence of a fleet defending the place was alarming, naturally, but for a completely different reason.

“All of the Beast ships have left!” Eteka gasped. “Where have they gone!?”

“Perhaps they were drawn to the Sol System,” Admiral Enoka guessed. “Called as reinforcements when the ambush was sprung on Astynome.”

Kendra swore. Winning back control of the Hyperspace Network had only been half of her plan.

“If that’s the case, we must take advantage.” The ex-Queen said. “Admiral, mobilize our utility ships and prepare to vaccinate the Eye. We must-”

BANG!

The Mahuika was hit, hard! Eteka tumbled over backwards and Kendra had to grip the rails of her wheelchair, hanging on for dear life while Enoka yelled at his bridge crew!

“Damage report!”

“Energy weapon impact on the dorsal side!” A crewman shouted back. “We’ve lost an Ion Cannon, sir!”

“Contact!” a weapon controller yelled. “Infected Super-Capitol ship directly above us, two hundred kilometers distant! It’s Sajuuk!”

Kendra smiled. So, it was here after all.

“Launch all fighters!” She ordered. “Then lay in the maneuver pattern we discussed!”

Nearly five-hundred fighter craft roared out of the Mahuika’s hangar bay, followed closely by a force of some two-hundred-fifty corvettes! The vast formation of strike craft began to swarm around Sajuuk, targeting crucial subsystems and weapon ports! Meanwhile, the Mahuika began to turn. Bringing her nose up, the flagship began to climb up towards Sajuuk!

Just like Kendra had predicted, the infected Battleship began to turn as well, attempting to line up its Phased Cannon Array with the oncoming Mahuika!

“Engage cloaking device!” Admiral Enoka ordered. “Evasive maneuver to starboard!”

The Mahuika vanished completely, then started turning hard to one side! Having lost track of its target, the infected Sajuuk aimed its cannon into a random direction and opened fire! The mighty energy beam sailed off into space and got caught in the accretion disk of a black hole! Then, the Partogan flagship reappeared!

“Launch probes!” Kendra ordered. “It’s time to flush her out!”

15 tiny robotic probes darted out of the Mahuika’s hangar bay and flew towards Sajuuk. In the chaos of the swarming attack craft, these probes escaped the infected Battleship’s notice. Meanwhile, on the Mahuika’s bridge, Enoka ordered his comm officer to hail Sajuuk.

“This is the Triple Alliance Flagship Mahuika calling Karan Sjet! Come in, please! Karan Sjet, please respond!”

While Eteka slowly clambered back to his feet, he said to his wife:

“What are the odds that creature has any idea who Karan is?”

“Astronomical.” Kendra admitted, “But considering she was an Unbound, fused directly to one of the Hyperspace Cores, it only makes sense that she would be the nerve center. We just need to find it!”

A moment later, the infected Sajuuk responded.

“Partogan selves, the persona you seek has become part of the whole. Join us, and you may be with your comrade again.”

An Infection Beam shot out of Sajuuk’s dorsal turret and squarely hit one of the attacking corvettes, the ship wavered in its flightpath for a moment before resuming its assault on Sajuuk!

“Confirmed, the vaccine is working!” Enoka reported.

“Let’s not push our luck.” Eteka said. “We need to find those Hyperspace Cores, Kendra’s right. The nerve center will be there!”

Probes continued to dance around fighters and mass driver fire. The Mahuika itself used its cloaking device aggressively, flitting into and out of visibility as she drew closer and closer to Sajuuk! Finally, when the Flagship and Battleship were separated by just a few dozen kilometers, somebody raised their hand and yelled:

“Found it!”

The sensors manager on the dais came to life and a holographic projection of Sajuuk appeared in front of Kendra, Eteka, and Enoka. A section of the aft portion of Sajuuk lit up.

“Holy Kealoha! That’s no nerve center!” Eteka gasped. “The creature’s grown an entire brain around Sjet’s body!!”

“Why not,” Enoka said. “She was the ship’s living core, after all.”

“Good enough me, and definitely good enough for our Vanian friend.” Kendra said. Then she dialed a number on the intercom control panel. “Imvu, we’ve found your target. Are you ready?”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Reepi’s voice responded. “Launch me!”

A few minutes later, a single Partogan scout fighter sped away from the Mahuika! This was it! In the pilot seat, an elite member of the Green Guard maneuvered his craft with skill and precision, while in the backseat, Reepi gathered up his thoughts, gripped a Psionic Amplifier in his talons, and said:

“You need to get me within 5 Bios! Skim the surface!”

The tiny little strike craft screamed towards the target while the Mahuika and her swarm of fighters and corvettes ran interference, keeping Sajuuk’s attention away from the true threat! Reepi focused his mind and reached out telepathically. He could feel the fear starting to build in the pilot seated in front of him. The peacock reached out and gave the pilot new strength and resolve.

“Together, we will be the avenging angels of our people.” Reepi told his pilot. “We will enable the final victory!”

Then, he felt it. A powerful mind was nearby. While her body was long since converted into biomass, the Beast had preserved the mind of Karan Sjet, subjugating her to its will. Unable to die, the Hiigaran leader was trapped, a slave within her horrifically mutilated body, forced to operate Sajuuk’s systems however the Beast saw fit. As the distance closed, Reepi’s influence began to grow, and to chip away at the hold the Beast had over Karan.

Then, for a period of about three seconds, Reepi’s scout craft was directly above the housing of the Hyperspace Cores… above the place where Karan had been imprisoned. Reepi unleashed his full power, sending a great Psionic pulse through the hull of Sajuuk and towards the bundle of nerves and brain tissue that had once been the former Hiigaran leader!

The influence of the Beast was so great, so all-consuming and controlling, that Reepi’s unique Psionic power only had an effect on Karan Sjet for fifteen seconds.

And that was all it took.

Karan Sjet was freed from the control of the Beast! She knew full well that at any moment, the creature would adapt and reassert its control over her, and over Sajuuk. There was only one thing that could be done. In those final seconds of freedom, Karan wondered what had gone through the minds of the Bentusi on the day they had done what she was about to do now.

“Sajuuk cannot be stopped.” Karan Sjet projected her voice to every Partogan vessel in the area. “I will complete my task, but yours remains.”

On the bridge of the Mahuika, a wide array of alarms suddenly went off!

“Power surge on Sajuuk!” A sensors operator shouted. “She’s deliberately collapsing her own Quantum Wavefront!”

“All vessels, return to Mothership at once!” Enoka ordered. “Activate the defense fields!”

Every Partogan warship retreated towards the Mahuika at best possible speed! A shimmering orb of energy came into being around the Flagship as Reepi’s little scout broke contact and began to flee back the way it had come!

“Sajuuk’s going critical!” Enoka yelled. “This is it!”

Kendra opened her mouth to give a command, but a telepathic pulse shot out of Sajuuk, passed through the entirety of the Mahuika, and left a message in Kendra’s mind, a message that caused her to fall silent.

Take the Cores, great Queen. Said Karan’s voice. “Use them to bring the Galaxy to Earth. There you can end this war once and for all. Good luck, farewell.”

And then, Sajuuk exploded!

Balcora was illuminated as though a new sun had been born between black holes! Light and heat raced away in great waves, turning any ship outside of Mahuika’s protective defense field into a fine powder!

Once it faded, the aftermath was revealed.

Sajuuk was no more. The entire fore and midsections of the ship had been blown apart, leaving only the stern intact. All three of the Great Progenitor Hyperspace Cores had been thrown clear of the wreckage and were sailing away into open space. But there was one more surprise to be seen. Kendra was the first to spot what Karan had done in her final moment. Pointing at a spot on the sensors manager, she said:

“Admiral, look! She closed the gate!”

The Eye of Aarran was powered down, its aperture sealed off. In her final action, not only had Karan returned the Hyperspace Cores to the allied side, she had denied the Beast any further access to the Hyperspace Network.

An ensign delivered a report to Admiral Enoka.

“All remaining fighters and corvettes have docked, sir. We lost a hundred-forty-seven ships, sir. And… Imvu’s not accounted for. It looks like he didn’t make it.”

There was a moment of mournful silence before the Admiral turned to look at Kendra.

“Let’s make sure his actions pay off.” Kendra said. “Recover the Hyperspace Cores, and integrate one into this ship for our use. Then inoculate the Eye of Aarran. Once that’s done… bring the Hyperspace Network back online.”

…

Tuesday, September 2, 2036 – 8:45pm

Interplanetary Space, Inner Sol System, Galactic Front Line



“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! This is the UNS Tigermoth calling in the blind! We’ve been attacked by Templar forces and have sustained serious damage to our life support, navigation, and Hyperspace systems. We have fourteen souls on board! Send help immediately!”

In the cockpit, Wendy Carter had to look down at her screen while Temirzhan and Sarah used curtains to cover all of the ship’s windows. The Tigermoth had been tumbling through space like a coin for the past few hours, ever since the last enemy attack had disabled her maneuvering system. Meanwhile, in the engineering bay, Isis Dekker, Dolim Dehuri, and Hal Macintosh were doing their best to repair the ship and bring systems back online. The Gremlin drone called Piper buzzed around the trio’s heads, magnetizing tools to its body and then dropping them near people who needed them.

In the cargo bay, Jericho was tending to the wounded. Soylent, Yutaka, Matthew, and Kathleen had all taken some pretty serious hits during a battle none of them had expected. While Jericho applied her healing touch, she conferred with Sophie and Sophia.

“There’s only one explanation for what happened.” Sophie was saying. “The Templars got aboard the Trinity before we did and used Psionics to keep the crew docile, make it look like nothing was wrong.”

“That makes sense.” Jericho mused. “Mind Control isn’t something you can instantly detect, especially if the victim is being ordered to just act casual… at least, act casual until they got the order to jump us.”

Sophia kicked a bag of Sectoid Kibble in anger.

“This is so messed up!” She complained. “Now Duane and Akira have the Trinity. That means we’ve got two, maybe three, really powerful Psionic enemies out there now!”

“Yeah, have I mentioned how much I hate Psionics recently?” Jericho’s voice shook. “If the damn ‘Gift’ wasn’t a thing, we wouldn’t have to deal with Akira and Duane stabbing us in the back while we fought the Beast!”

Kathleen let out a sharp breath as Jericho repaired the damage to her chest.

“C’mon, girlie, don’t say stuff like that.” Kathleen said. “Without the Gift, we wouldn’t have you.”

“You’re saying the Gift makes me special.” Jericho sulked. “Not the kind of thing I want to hear right now, Walsh.”

Sophie put a hand on Jericho’s shoulder.

“No, that’s not what Walsh is saying, Jericho.” Sophie said. “The Gift by itself doesn’t define you. It’s what you chose to do with it. Do you think Duane or Violet would have used their powers to heal anyone, or protect their friends, or stop a maniac like Akira? No. That’s why people all over the world love you so much, Jericho. Why the Galaxy’s lining up behind you. You actually help people. Akira just says she is, and then goes off and does selfish stuff like build a ‘perfect future ‘for herself.”

Jericho took a moment to consider Sophie’s words. Before she could reply, Wendy’s voice sounded from the cockpit.

“We’ve got friendlies incoming!”

Five Battlemaster-class gunships were approaching the helpless Tigermoth. They were being escorted by the Partogan frigate Kakama, which had also suffered some damage. The battered flying saucer was tumbling through space just a little too quickly for Jericho or Wendy to identify the ships, so they had to make radio contact instead.

“Attention Tigermoth,” said a familiar voice, “This is the American gunship Niagara. Kakama told us we could find you here.”

“Niagara! Wait a moment!” Wendy called back. “We’re tumbling too fast! You can’t dock with us!”

“You forgot who I brought with me!” Blake Robinson replied. “You’re up, Mihaka.”

The Niagara fired her maneuvering thrusters and drifted to one side, allowing her sistership, the Moana Ranginui, to close with the Tigermoth. From her cockpit, a telekinetic pulse shot towards the stricken vessel, imparting just enough force to stop the Tigermoth from tumbling.

“Extend your docking clamps.” Mira’s voice said over the radio. “We’ll tow you back to Earth. Keep in mind that we have to go the long way home, though.”

After about an hour of precarious orbital maneuvering, the Niagara had docked with the Tigermoth and fired up her engines, pulling Jericho’s ship toward Earth while the Kakama, Ark Angel, Bushranger, Moana Ranginui, and Hermione provided escort, their mass driver turrets swiveling slowly in strict vigil.

Two members of the Niagara’s crew came aboard to lend aid to Jericho’s team. Elliot Lansing and Naka delivered Medikits as well as a few vials of Partogan Nanomedicine.

“Hey, isn’t the Niagara Robinson’s ship?” Soylent asked. “Where is he?”

“He has to stay in the cockpit and fly.” Naka explained. “Our copilot is incapacitated.”

…

By this point, I was feeling very, very fatigued. I had been flying the Niagara alone for the better part of the afternoon, which is much harder than it sounds.

Because the Battlemasters are such complex spacecraft, they really do require two people at the controls. But poor Hyatt was blinded and was therefore pretty much useless. I’d sent her back to the sleeping area to get some rest. In order to get anything done, I was taking full advantage of the fact that my ship didn’t have artificial gravity. Floating in midair between the pilot and copilot seats, I was programming the Hyperspace Module for a jump to Earth with one hand and reconfiguring the orbital maneuvering system with my left. I could multitask like this just fine. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to keep watch on the door, so when she came in, I accidently kicked Jericho in the face!

“Sorry!” I said quickly. “Didn’t see you back there!”

“Damn, Robinson!” Jericho rubbed her forehead and drifted into the copilot seat below me. “None of us were expecting to see you here. What happened at Neptune?”

“What the hell happened to the Trinity?” I responded.

Jericho took a deep breath, then launched into the story:

Somehow, Duane Gardner, Geist, and Akira had been able to infiltrate the Trinity before Jericho and her team had ever arrived. Despite the heightened security, they were each able to place a high-ranking member of the crew under Mind Control, which was more than enough to allow a cargo ship filled with Akira’s supporters to dock and board the weapon.

“So, ballpark guess,” I said. “How many hostiles are aboard the Trinity right now?”

“When the fighting started, I think there were two-hundred-fifty Templars and about a hundred-twenty Reapers. Plus, another fifty or so members of the Progeny. On top of that, Geist, Duane, and Akira were all there. I’m pretty sure we killed fifteen Templars, maybe two or three Reapers, at least one Progeny, but then Duane got into the control room. He locked the Eater of Worlds and Composer of Strands in the room with him, drained some of their powers, and then overwhelmed us. We barely got off the ship alive! Then, the Trinity went to Hyperspace, and…”

Jericho trailed off. I finished her sentence.

“It appeared over Neptune. Damnit.”

Jericho slammed her fist against the wall and swore.

“I hate this! I hate this war, I hate having to fight like this, and I hate the Gift so much right now!”

Seething, breathing through her teeth, Jericho finished:

“Sometimes, I just wanna drop a bomb on the Shroud and turn it to glass.”

After a moment’s thought, I said:

“You know, we may not have a choice anymore, as far as that’s concerned.”

…

Thursday, September 4, 2036 – 5:00am
Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany, United Nations of Earth

Before the 2015 invasion, the large post-modern structure on Willy Brandt Avenue in central Berlin was the headquarters of the German government. Powerful men and women such as Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel occupied the seventh-floor office and ruled over a powerful nation. Now, that office belonged to Laura Harper, Secretary-General of the United Nations of Earth. From here, she ruled the entire planet.

Jericho and I were the lowest-ranked soldiers in the room today, but that didn’t make our voices any less important. Military leaders from AFUNE, the Triple Alliance, and the Galactic Alliance had gathered together in the Secretary-General’s office, (which was luckily a very roomy place) and were discussing how the events at Neptune changed the plan for the final battle, which lay yet ahead.

“The unfortunate reality,” A Taiidani General was saying. “Is that we must now fight a three-sided battle. We cannot defeat Agamemnon without the Trinity!”

“We may yet have a chance!” said the new Commonwealth Queen, Nomsa. “Kendra could still return from the Eye of Aarran with reinforcements!”

“There’s no guarantee of that happening.” Reclamation Director Jane Kelly responded. “In the meantime, we must consider the possibility that Akira and her allies will turn the Trinity against us.”

“Unlikely.” Jericho made her voice heard. “Akira wants to preserve the Earth for herself. She won’t turn the Trinity against Humans. As for the rest of you, I can’t make any promises.”

“And what about Astynome!?” Manako Ranginui burst out. “The Paradox now has the Beast Mothership and a whole subverted fleet at her beck and call!”

“Duane does, not Akira!” I specified. “That’s a breakable link in the chain of command we should consider going after.”

A Partogan man wearing the uniform of the Commonwealth Green Guard approached Nomsa.

“Your Majesty, authorize a Green Guard commando raid! We will neutralize both Gardner and the Paradox!”

A pair of Kelt interrupted him.

“That’s a suicide mission!” They yelled. “We should use the Tryna to destroy the Trinity from a safe distance!”

Jericho and I were about to butt into their argument when a pair of hands tapped us on the shoulder.

“You need to see this.” A voice hissed in our ears. “Won’t take a moment. Please follow.”

Jericho and I were steered towards a sliding glass door and ushered onto a balcony. From here, we had a very good view of Tiergarten and the old German capitol building, the Reichstag, but those views were nothing compared to what was in the sky:

Astynome and the Trinity were both visible from Earth as they hung in a high orbit above the Moon. To see the infected Mothership and gigantic weapon platform so close by was quite haunting, to be honest.

There were five people waiting for us out there: Commander John Bradford, Doctor Moria Vahlen, Chief Engineer Lily Shen, and the red-haired Templar known as Violet. Mira Mihaka had been the one who had led us outside, and she joined her companions in greeting us.

Jericho and I both startled at the sight of Violet. The last time we’d seen her, she was part of a force of Templars that had attacked XCOM HQ. Today, however, she looked far more docile. Her hands and feet were shackled, and a strange Elerium-powered device was affixed to the side of her head.

“Apologies for the rush.” Vahlen told us. “We only just got here ourselves.”

“Have you been interrogating Violet this whole time?” I asked.

Vahlen nodded.

“I believe we have finally had a breakthrough of the utmost importance.” She replied. “However, the Psionic entity living within Violet insisted on being allowed to speak to you.”

Violet seemed to have lost all over her stamina and combativeness, she spoke in a calm voice strained with a little exhaustion:

“So, during the fight at Lanai, a Shroud-Being separated from the Beast and latched onto me.”

“The Whisperers in the Void.” Mira said. “We’ve crossed paths a few times before.”

“You must already know what they do.” Violet responded.

When Mira nodded, Violet continued:

“The Whisperers tell me things. Things that are hidden or beyond our ability to notice. No one can keep secrets from them. Blake Robinson, Jericho… you need to know… the situation has changed, changed so radically that the Whisperers insisted that I cooperate with XCOM and tell them everything. First, you need to know that Kendra and Eteka have reached the Eye of Aarran. They defeated Sajuuk and, even now, are working to bring the Progenitor Hyperspace Network under their control. They will bring reinforcements to the final battle.”

Mira, Jericho and I all cheered, but Violet held up a hand.

“However, gathering an armada large enough to tip the scales will take time. You must not initiate the final assault until Thursday morning, otherwise Kendra and her forces will not arrive on time.”

“So, wait a minute.” I said. “We have to ask our friends, our allies, to fight the Beast in a delaying action!? To fight and die just to buy time for Kendra to come back!? Am I getting that right?”

“Yes.” Violet replied. “There is more, however. This next message is specifically for you, Jericho.”

Jericho stiffened up.

“You are aware that a small number of Ethereals are scattered across the Galaxy, acting as forces of guidance and influence, are you not?”

“I am.”

Violet nodded.

“Because they are beings of Psionic energy, the Whisperers in the Void is able to commune directly with them.” Violet went on. “Ever since the End of the Cycle was defeated and enslaved by Agamemnon, the Ethereals have been gathering to discus and investigate ways to remedy the situation. They have come to one conclusion.”

“And what is it?”

“The era is ending.” Violet said. “All Ethereals in the Galaxy have begun to converge on Earth, so that they can be swept up by the Trinity. The Ethereals have elected to stand and fight alongside you as your allies, and should it become necessary, they are ready to meet their end.”

“But… why?” Jericho asked.

“All Psionic energy originates from the Shroud.” Violet explained. “It was governed and regulated by the End of the Cycle. Without it, the Shroud is breaking down, and the Gift is fading. Attempting to separate the End of the Cycle from Agamemnon will result in cataclysmic collateral damage, which in turn will cause the Paradox to extract the Time Core from the Trinity. As we speak, she’s aboard the Trinity now, attempting to find a way to disable and remove the Time Core without damaging or destroying the weapon. Thanks to XCOM’s weaponization of the device, Akira will not succeed until after the final battle has been fought.”

“So even if we win,” Jericho said, “It’ll be pointless because Akira’s just going to reset the Cycle. We’ll be back at square one!”

Violet nodded.

“That brings me to the third and final message the Whisperers in the Void has for you.” She said. “Akira’s goals and plans have been laid bare.”

Jericho, Bradford, Shen, Vahlen, Mira, and I all leaned in close to hear every word Violet said:

“Akira has spoken of a perfect future many times.” Violet began. “Her perfect future is not some utopian vision of peace and happiness for the Galaxy as a whole. She seeks to create a timeline in which Earth survives the coming battle intact, whilst all other spacefaring civilizations are ruined, if not destroyed outright. She intends to allow your allies to be slaughtered during the final battle, this will enhance Duane Gardner’s powers to the point he will be able to use the Trinity to place Agamemnon, and eventually all of the Beast, under Psionic Domination, exactly as he has done to Astynome. Under Akira’s influence, Geist and Gardner will then use the Beast to build a new world order. Earth and its new dominions will be ruled by a Psionic master, possibly Geist or perhaps Duane himself, while Akira holds the reigns in the shadows. Then the world will be rebuilt exactly the way she wants it to be, down to the finest detail. The utopia will be of Akira’s design, and all who have the ability to reject it will be either subverted or killed.”

Shocked silence. Violets words hung in the air like a dark cloud.

“I shouldn’t be surprised.” I finally said. “That’s always what Akira’s perfect vision was. She wants the world to be her sandbox, to build and tear down and rebuild on her whims. It’s like she’s a kid who never grew up.”

“A kid who stole her powers from the End of the Cycle.” Mira added. “How the hell are we supposed to defeat both her and the Beast at the same time?”

“There is a way.” Violet suggested. “You hold one final advantage over those who control the Trinity.”

“An advantage?” Bradford repeated. “Kinda hard to see it from where I’m standing, Violet. Care to enlighten us?”

“Everyone who helped to design and build the Trinity is currently on your side.” Violet replied. “Akira’s knowledge of the weapon system is insufficient. Duane Gardner does not have sufficient knowledge either. He will not be able to use the weapon at its fullest potential. Furthermore, Manako Ranginui has preserved all of his sister’s memories. Her knowledge, when put to use, may well turn the tide.”

Out of the corner of my one good eye, I saw Jericho’s jaw drop.

“Oh… that’s right!” Jericho looked like she had just been struck by a powerful idea. “Guys, I think I’ve got a plan!”

Stepping back into the meeting, Jericho Psionically amplified her voice and called for quiet.

“Alright everyone.” Jericho addressed the group. “We’ve all gone through a lot to get this far, and now its time to end this war for good. I’ve got a plan, so listen up!”

…

Jericho’s plan for the final battle was twofold, and it worked like this:

First, when Agamemnon and its escort fleet arrived in the Sol System, the combined forces of the Galaxy would meet the enemy in the Outer Solar System, preferably near Uranus or Saturn, and fight the enemy in a delaying action.

“I need time,” Jericho said. “As much as you can get me.”

The allied fleets would tie the Beast down and stall for as long as possible.

“We need to hold out until Thursday morning.” Jericho told the crowd. “That’s when we make our move.”

On the big day, AFUNE would strike. Jericho called for a Human-only assault on the Trinity. Akira actually cared (for the wrong reasons) about Humanity’s survival. This made her far less likely to engage AFUNE forces in a direct battle. The UN navy would attack the Templar-controlled Beast fleet and destroy Astynome before Duane got a chance to use it. XCOM, VDF, and Reclamation forces would board the Trinity and recapture it.

“Our primary goals,” Jericho explained: “Are to recapture the control room and the Time Core. Considering who we’re up against, we should leave all the non-lethal weapons at home. Akira, Duane, Geist, Volk, Dragunova, their time’s up. You see ‘em? Kill ‘em. Once we recapture the Trinity, I take the Whisperers and Instrument with me, integrate with the core, drain the Shroud, and then kill the Beast. Hopefully, that’ll be the end of it.”

Retaking the Trinity would be the trickiest part of the operation, but there was a way to do it.

“When we designed the Trinity,” Manako explained, “We realized that we could re-use the old Psionic Gateways the ADVENT Coalition used to move their troops around your world. There are six Psionic gates aboard the Trinity.”

“If we can regain control of one of them," Jericho said, "we can flood the station with UN Army reinforcements.”

Doctor Tygan volunteered some extra information.

“If you give me a team, I can recover the Psionic Gateway used in Operation Avenger. It shouldn’t take much to bring it back online.”

While plans to recover or capture Psionic gates were made in one corner of the room, Manako and Queen Nomsa planned out the defensive battle, using the invasion maps and star charts Kendra had received from Mira. Manako talked us through the plan:

“First line of defense is Saturn. The Nomad Moon can kick up one hell of a storm with those rings and moonlets. Then we fall back to Jupiter, force the enemy to fly through the radiation belts and get in a few more potshots. Tryna holds the Mars line and covers our retreat to Earth. By then, Jericho should have the Trinity back under control. All fleets will converge on Earth’s Moon and make a stand until the Trinity is ready to fire. Everyone understand?”

“I have a question.”

Adil, an Assurian from Team Takea, had raised his hand.

“I know the fleets are going to be inoculated against the virus.” He began, “But is there any way Jericho can put a Psionic shield around the fleet again, like she did at Barnard’s Star?”

“No, I’ll be too busy re-taking the Trinity.” Jericho replied, “But you will have a shield again.”

“Where’s it coming from, then?” I asked.

Jericho stuck her thumb out at Queen Nomsa, who let out a startled meow and jumped back!

“What!?” Nomsa gasped. “How’d you know?”

“You were younger back on Aoraki.” Jericho replied. “Less disciplined.”

I got the feeling Jericho was resisting the urge to say “Also less mature.” Instead, she finished:

“Nomsa will project a Psionic shield for the fleet. That should allow you all to buy extra time. My friends and I will need every second you can give us to retake the Trinity!”

Nods and murmurs of agreement went around the room. Jericho made one final address.

“This is it, everyone. There won’t be another fight after this, there might not even be an ‘us’ after this. Fight like there’s no tomorrow, leave it all on the field!”

“For Partoga!” Manako cheered.

“Vigilo Confido!” Several XCOM soldiers yelled.

“Kia roa!” Nomsa roared.

I cheered alongside my comrades, trying my best to ignore that horrible feeling of dread that was starting to build up inside me again.

…

Saturday, September 6, 2036 – 5:00am

The Eye of Aarran, Balcora, Hiigaran Empire



“Containment unit unlocked. All power signatures in the green.”

“The Flagship recognizes the Core and confirms signal lock.”

“Capture successful. Integration underway.”

On the bridge of the Mahuika, a loud cheer went up as the Second Progenitor Hyperspace Core was successfully installed. Admiral Enoka stayed on the bridge while Kendra and Eteka left on a short errand of their own.

In one of the main hangar bays, a large number of Triple Alliance officers had gathered around two space superiority torpedoes and were observing a ceremony. Both torpedoes had been covered up with flags. The one on the left was decorated with the red and blue flag of the Vanian Commonwealth, and the name “Reepi Imvu” was painted on the side. The second torpedo bore the blue and grey banner of the Hiigaran Empire and was labelled with the name “Karan Sjet.”

A priest of the Church of the Mountain was performing the Tangihanga when Kendra and Eteka arrived. The ritual funeral of the Partogan and Maori peoples is not practiced on either Hiigara or Vania, but on such short notice, it was the only way Kendra could think of to pay tribute to a pair of individuals she had grown to respect so highly.

Kendra moved her wheelchair close to the two torpedoes and performed the last rite of the Tangihanga, she washed her hands in a small bowl of water and sprinkled some water onto both of the torpedoes. Then, she and her comrades moved back to the far end of the hangar bay. A Levakian Salvage Corvette flew low across the hangar and grabbed both torpedoes in its claw. Exiting the hangar, the corvette deposited both torpedoes in open space, roughly in between two of the largest black holes in the Balcora cluster. Kendra and Eteka raised their arms in salute. The other attending officers did the same, and did not lower their arms until their former Queen had done so.

Finally, Kendra and Eteka left. They returned, not to the Bridge, but to their private quarters. This room was normally reserved for Admirals and their guests, but an exception had been made for the elderly ex-ruler. Neither one of them took the bed. Kendra maneuvered her wheelchair in front of a large digital screen on the wall and waited patiently. Eteka, on the other hand, began to pace the length of the room.

“They said we’d be the first to know.” Eteka mumbled. “They said we’d be told.”

“Just a little more patience, love.” Kendra said softly. “We’re almost there.”

After a few moments of waiting, the digital screen lit up. A message was displayed:

Your Majesty, Hyperwave Network online. FTL communication has been restored to the Galaxy. – Adm. Enoka.

Kendra wanted to react right away, but all she could do was cry. The old woman hunched over in her wheelchair and let out her first honest-to-goodness wail in months. She was overjoyed at what was, in comparison, a small victory in a sea of disasters and defeats.

“Love,” Kendra said. “My hands are shaking. Will you please?”

Eteka embraced Kendra before raising his one and only hand to the touchscreen and punched in a command.

Sys/ Hyperwave communication system online... please select FTL comms target...
Cmd usr/ ---> reset date/time: 32:19 HOURS / 17 Hakihea 413
Cmd usr/ ---> target ROYAL HYPERLINE – HMS Queen Karan – Partogan Royal Navy
Sys/ searching the Hyperwave Network... WARNING! Causality violation detected!
Sys/ HMS Queen Karan (ROYAL HYPERLINE) found… establishing FTL communication…

Kendra and Eteka waited with baited breath as the ringtone played. Then… somebody answered.

A teenage Partogan girl with shoulder-length white hair picked up and stared into the viewscreen. She was sitting just far enough away that Kendra and Eteka could see that she was wearing a green-and-white tunic, the standard uniform of Partogan Acolytes. Curiously, there was a smudge of black lipstick staining her right cheek.

“Hello.” She said in a meek voice. “You’ve reached Her Majesty’s personal line. My name is Nya Ririnui, her Majesty’s royal Acolyte. Do you have an appointment?”

“Please pardon the unscheduled call at such a late hour.” Kendra said. “I need to speak with Empress Tantomile. Be a dear and call her in please. I think she’s standing just outside the door, talking with mister Mihaka.”

Nya looked down at the timestamp Kendra was calling from. When she realized she was talking to someone who was over a century into the future, Nya became alarmed in a hurry. She scrambled away from the Hyperwave terminal, which was in a shipboard private room similar to the one old Kendra occupied now. A moment later, the door opened again. For the briefest moment, Kendra and Eteka caught a glimpse of their younger selves. The old ex-ruler was astounded she had once been so thin, while Eteka chuckled at the complete and utter lack of fashion sense his younger self had.

“We’ll wait for you up ahead!” The younger Kendra said before the door closed.

A white lioness with vivid purple eyes approached the Hyperwave terminal. She wore an officer’s uniform of the Partogan Royal Army Levakian Contingent. Tantomile, the final Empress of Levakia, widened her eyes as she started to realize what she was looking at.

“Holy mother of Miranda…” Tantomile gasped.

“Don’t let Whetu hear you say that.” Kendra quipped with a light chuckle.

“How… when… where?” Incomplete questions rolled out of Tantomile’s mouth.

Smiling warmly at their old friend, Kendra and Eteka wanted to say a lot of things, but they had already agreed on what questions needed to be asked.

“Needless to say, we’ve both gone on to live for a very long time.” Eteka began.

“But we’ve called you because we need your advice.” Kendra added.

“You need advice from me?” Tantomile looked towards the door where she had just left the younger versions of her friends. Then she looked back at the screen and said: “I’m… uh, ya know… flattered and all, but… really?”

“I’m afraid so.” Kendra answered. “We are trying to do something you’ve done.”

“What’s that?”

“Old friend,” Kendra said, “In the time I’m calling you from, Partogans and Levakians are caught up in a war for their very survival. I must rally a fleet, an armada, as quickly as I can and take it into battle.”

“How did you do it?” Eteka asked. “The Demeter and her escort fleet, I mean. I don’t think any of us ever questioned how you were able to rally that Levakian fleet to your side so quickly.”

Tantomile looked a little sheepish.

“Well, there’s nothing special about how I did that.” She admitted. “Levakians are all about the Pride, right? Well, for us, our families are the most important thing in the world. No offense, Kendra, but your people went ballistic on mine when the Confederates nuked Partoga City. We didn’t see the value in buildings or places, we knew that they could be replaced. You wanna know how I got that fleet together so quickly? I told my people that their families were being threatened. That every enemy killed was a cub saved. Saving lives is what’s most important, Kendra. At least, to my people it is. There’ll always be another city, another home; but you can’t replace my mother or my sister. There won’t be another Korova or Admetus.”

Tantomile gave her old friend a smile of her own.

“Tell your people and your allies that they’re fighting for everyone who couldn’t be there. For all of the children and elders who can’t defend themselves. Fight for those who can’t, old friend. Does that help?”

“Help?” Kendra repeated. “Tantomile, you may have just saved the Galaxy from beyond the grave.”

The Empress let out a soft laugh.

“Hey, Kendra. Do me a solid. When your war’s over, can you please do something about my people having short lifespans? I honestly would have loved to grow old with you guys.”

Kendra lowered her voice to a whisper.

“I got to work on that problem after the fight at Aoraki.” She hissed. “Tell Coricopat to keep in touch with me.”

A hopeful look dawned on Tantomile’s face.

“Yes, Your Majesty. May Miran- uh… May Whetu’s spirit guide you in your fight.”

“And you, Tantomile. I expect to see you in the Ancestral Homeland when we get there.”

“I’ll wait as long as I have to, and keep the lights on for you.” Tantomile purred.

Then the call disconnected.

Kendra needed a moment to compose herself. While his wife continued to wipe tears away from her eyes, Eteka hit the intercom and called the bridge.

“Admiral Enoka, we’ve confirmed the Hyperwave Relay is working again.”

“Understood.” Enoka replied. “I’ll start composing a message for the Galaxy.”

“Admiral!” Kendra interrupted. “Don’t trouble yourself. I’ll do it.”

Chapter 53: Our Last Stand

Chapter Forty-Five

Our Last Stand

“Attention all ships. The enemy is coming to us. You have all been briefed on the plan. You know what must be done. The task ahead of us is not going to be easy. We’ve lost many good friends, comrades, brothers and sisters, and so many others just to get to this moment. Today, we are sure to lose more. But this day will not be one of tragedy, but of triumph! Never before have so many come together for a common cause! The Partogans and Levakians are here! Hiigarans and Taiidani and Vaygr! Humans and the servants of the Elders! Old foes have lain aside their old hatreds and now stand together as allies for one reason, to vanquish the greatest threat we have ever known!

The Beast may speak our languages, but it is nothing like us. It is a monster. It will show us no mercy, and we must give no quarter. We must make our stand here, or else this creature will keep killing and eating until there’s nothing left!

We stand and fight today as a united Galaxy, and we will prevail! Ko matou to mate! Vox tala for ten! Vigilo Confido, and may the Martyrs of Kharak and Aoraki protect us all! Jericho out!”

…

Wednesday, September 10, 2036 – 9:00pm
High orbit above Saturn, Sol System, United Nations of Earth, Galactic Front Line


The number of starships gathering over Saturn was so great that the rings began to distort. Small moons such as Janus, Calypso, and Pandora were kicked out of orbit entirely and went spinning off into deep space. At the head of the allied fleet, the Taiidani superweapon known as the Nomad Moon Mark Two skimmed the surface of Saturn’s rings, kicking up dust and debris as it went. Aboard the Partogan flagship Tantomile, Manako Ranginui arrived on the bridge to fanfare and applause. It seemed as though half of the officer corps of the Triple Alliance was present for a final meeting before the fight began. Queen Nomsa was there as well, but she was not assuming the same type of leadership role as the Queens who had preceded her.

Whetu Kealoha, Kotu Aranui, and Mami Tamihana had led their armies from the front, directing soldiers into battle and fighting alongside them. Of these three, only Kotu would come away from her conflict unscathed. Whetu perished while Mami was badly maimed. In preparation of her own eventual reign, Kendra had given Nomsa a different kind of training, a field of study that was highly specialized for the war Nomsa would one day have to fight.

Before she was ever been elected Queen, Nomsa studied and become a master of military logistics.

As the Tantomile moved to join the vast armada gathering over Saturn, she passed by whole fleets of resupply ships. Cargo vessels flitted between Vaygr Hyperspace Gates and the allied fleet, dropping off weapons, ammunition, fuel, and breathable air. On Nomsa’s orders, a large resourcing operation had been set up at Jupiter. The gas giant’s moons were being hastily strip-mined into oblivion, while mobile refineries, processors, and shipyards converted those raw materials into useful products. Hyperspace gates allowed the near-instant transport of supplies to Saturn, allowing the allied fleets to continue fighting without fear of running out of ammunition, fuel, or life support.

On the bridge of the Tantomile, Queen Nomsa greeted the two members of Team Takea who had come to assist her. Arzhang, Adil, and Dolim reported that Manako and the Kakama had successfully joined the Human fleet that would be attacking the Trinity. Dolim took up his position in the engineering section, while Arzhang ran the sensors manager. Adil, being the only officer, was appointed Wing Commander of the Tantomile’s escort fleet, and given a command station on the bridge.

Now, there wasn’t much left to do but wait. Hiigaran scout fighters and robotic probes streaked towards the outer edges of the Sol System in a wide search pattern. Nomsa knew that thousands of Hyperspace Inhibitors had been deployed throughout the system. When the enemy did arrive, it would be in a location of the defender’s choosing. The only factor that Nomsa’s forces couldn’t control was when the enemy attack began.

“Attention fleet.” A Hiigaran scout reported in. “I’ve just confirmed a Hyperspace Signature. Repeat, the Beast is attacking.”

“What? Really!?” Dolim exclaimed. “But it’s too early! I thought the Beast wasn’t coming for another few hours!”

“Predictions be damned!” Adil responded. “The Beast is early, so what? That just gives us more time to beat it down!”

“Standby for Hyperspace exit!” Arzhang called out. “Infected fleet on approach!”

The Beast was arriving early, but that didn’t make the defenders any less prepared. Nomsa’s voice echoed across the communications net, addressing her comrades and allies one last time before the hammer fell!

“Brothers and sisters!” Nomsa broadcasted her voice to the fleet! “Jericho is counting on us to hold the line here! Stay together and give no quarter! And if you find yourself on a serene beach with cool water at your feet and a gentle wind in your face, don’t be alarmed! You’re in Hawaiki, and you’re already dead!”

And then, the first Quantum Wavefronts began to open.

First, a wall of Super-Capitol ships appeared beyond the distant edge of Saturn’s rings. Infected Cruisers, Battleships, and Destroyers held the vanguard position while Carriers and Shipyards came next. It seemed as though there was always a Wavefront open somewhere as more and more hostiles appeared. The Tantomile’s sensors manager screen was overwhelmed and started to lag as the number of incoming hostiles exceeded the millions!

Then… it arrived.

An absolutely colossal Wavefront swept backwards! Agamemnon was bigger than most of Saturn’s moons! As soon as the Father of the Beast appeared, the rings of Saturn bent and swayed, drawn away from the planet and falling into an orbit around the megalithic ship instead!

“We have seen and heard all.” Agamemnon’s voice, telepathically projected, rolled across the entire Solar System! “We know you are preparing to fight, and that such action is a futile, wasted effort. We seek only that for which we hunger most. Give us Jericho, and all other parts will be allowed to leave. Give us Jericho, and your mates and offspring will be spared. Give us Jericho, and you may be rewarded. If you will not give us Jericho, you will join us and then give us Jericho anyway.”

One the Tantomile’s bridge, Psionic energy began to swirl around Queen Nomsa. Projecting her power outwards, a bubble of protective energies began to envelop the allied fleet. Using her unique power, Nomsa had copied Jericho’s ability to regenerate her Gift, and was now striking an equilibrium between energies spent and regained.

“We make no bargains with you, monster!” Nomsa shouted. “Not now, not ever! All ships, charge weapons and polarize armor!”

At the head of the fleet, the spherical battlestation rose up to meet the enemy. A shimmering, crackling energy field rippled outwards from the Nomad Moon, striking the rings of Saturn and sending a violent cascade down their length! A cataclysmic wave of dust, rock and ice rose up and pelted the Beast fleet with incredible force! Ships of all sizes were torn apart by the lethal storm of projectiles, and before the dust could clear, the allied armada descended upon the enemy with weapons blazing!

The War in Heaven had begun.

Wednesday, September 10, 2036 – 10:30pm
Miyazaki Airport, Kyushu Island, Japan,


“Alert! This is an active air defense scramble! All crew to action stations! This is not a drill!”

I sat up in my bunk so quickly that I hit my head on the bunk above me!

“What the hell!?” I shouted. “I thought we weren’t launching for another six hours!”

I had told my crew to get some sleep before the final battle. Hell, all of the ship captains had done that. We assumed we had enough lead time to get some rest, so I didn’t know why we were being scrambled just after sundown. The doorway to the men’s barracks slammed open loudly and Axiom entered, yelling:

“Unknown starship in low orbit above us! They just opened fire on our position!”

Oh… fuck! The battle was starting early!

“CREW!” I shouted! “GET THE LEAD OUT! SCRAMBLE! SCRAMBLE! SCRAMBLE!”

There was no time! I barely had my flight suit over my head before I was out the door! Axiom, Zeil, Elliot, and I all ran full tilt away from the barracks and into the darkened runway! In front of us, emergency lighting turned on while sirens and klaxons began to blare! A Japanese voice relayed an urgent message before repeating it in English!

“Missile alert! Incoming Missile! Seek shelter immediately!”

“There she is!” Zeil yelled and pointed!

Seven Battlemaster-class gunships were parked on a taxiway near the main runway. The Niagara was directly behind the Ark Angel and in front of the Hermione. Odette was frantically waving her crew up the Hermione’s boarding ramp as we approached. I briefly saw three feminine shapes moving up the Niagara’s boarding ramp, and Odette turned to wave at us.

“Good luck, Robinson!” She shouted. “Let’s show the enemy what Humanity’s made of! Ils ne passeront pas!”

Naka and Tsubaki were already at their stations inside the Niagara when we boarded. Tsubaki pointed towards the cockpit and said:

“Hey, Trojan! The replacement co-pilot just got here! We don’t have to wait!”

While everyone else jumped into their seats and activated the systems, I entered the cockpit and started to strap myself down into the pilot’s seat. We were in such a hurry to take off that I never looked at my copilot. (Not that I could have anyway, I was still blind in my left eye) Instead, I talked to them while working the controls.

“Spooling up engines one and two!” I said.

“Fuel lines are clear; we’re coming up to full power!” My new copilot spoke in a feminine, slightly high-pitched voice. “Tower, this is USS Niagara! Requesting clearance for emergency take off from current runway!”

I put one hand on the control column and pushed the spaceplane forward, moving us off the taxiway. With the other, I retracted the boarding ramp. As our ship’s nuclear power plant came online, Naka brought the sensor suite to full power. Instantly, the “incoming missile” alarm went off in my headset!

“Vampire inbound!” I said. “Someone give me time to impact!”

“Three minutes, maybe less!” The new copilot replied. “That thing’s got a nuclear warhead, Trojan! Countermeasures aren’t going to help!”

Over the radio, I heard another familiar voice.

“All units, this is Jericho! I’m aboard the Ark Angel now! Get off the ground and regroup with me in low Earth orbit!”

Engines screaming loudly, Jericho’s spaceplane careened down the runway and lifted off into the darkened sky! My copilot and I maneuvered the Niagara onto the runway.

“Niagara, this is the tower.” A voice spoke in my headset. “Clearance for emergency takeoff granted.”

“Copilot ready?” I asked.

“Ready!” the woman next to me replied.

“Gun it!” I ordered.

The Niagara’s nuclear ramjet engines roared like the most terrible tornado ever! I was pushed back into my seat as we accelerated down the runway! Keeping my eyes on the instruments, I watched our speed until we reached V1, the point of no return. Aborting takeoff was now impossible.

“Vee-one!” I yelled!

“Rotate!” the copilot confirmed!

We both pulled back on our control columns! The Niagara leapt off the runway and into the darkened sky!

“Keep pushing!” My copilot yelled! “One minute to impact!”

“This is Hermione! We’re in the air and following! Moana Ranginui’s behind us! Thirty seconds to impact!”

“Crew!” I yelled! “Brace for shockwave!”

Behind us, an enemy Cruise Missile dove onto Miyazaki Airport! The warhead detonated just above the ground! A nuclear fireball, more than half a mile wide, erupted into the night! The furious ball of fire swallowed up nearly half of the neighboring city, casting the shadows of our ships onto the clouds above us! Then the shockwave hit!

WHAM!

The entire spaceplane seemed to drop out from under me! Intense pain shot through my shoulders as the five-point safety harness did its work, saving me from something far, far worse! In the back of the plane, I heard yelling from the nuclear power plant!

“Captain!” Tsubaki screamed. “Lansing’s hurt back here!”

“Stay in your seat!” I yelled!

I couldn’t deal with any injuries right now! I had looked down at the flight instruments and saw that despite our nose being pointed up and the engines throttled up to full, we were losing altitude! I seized the controls, pointed the nose even further up, and pushed the engines as hard as they could go!

“Flight level 25!” I called out! “24! 23! 22! We’ve gotta climb!”

“Nose down!” The copilot shouted.

“No!” I yelled back! “We need to get our altitude back!”

“You’ve got vertigo!” The copilot yelled. “Put the nose down now! You’re gonna stall us out!”

“No!” I yelled. “We’ve gotta climb!”

“BLAKE ALEXANDER ROBINSON!” The copilot shrieked. “WE’RE IN A STALL! GIVE ME THE FUCKING AIRPLANE BEFORE WE CRASH!!”

I hesitated for just a second, then turned my head to the left to look at the copilot. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make out much because the ship was still shaking and half my field of view was a blob of formless color. But I did see one thing…

Vivid blue eyes.

I let go of the controls.

Chihiro Tachibana idled the engines and pushed the nose down! I got an overwhelming sense of disorientation as the spaceplane maneuvered in the pitch darkness, then I was pushed back in my seat again as we started to accelerate.

“Altitude is on the line!” Chihiro reported. “Velocity on the line! Launch profile complete! Apogee will be one-hundred-fifty kilometers above the Earth. Trojan, it’s your airplane.”

Chihiro handed control back to me, and I switched our engines to closed-cycle mode before powering us the rest of the way up into space. As we passed the Karmen Line, the two of us watched the skies turn black and stars beginning to wink into our view. Then I turned the whole ship along its longitudinal axis, aligning us with the Galactic plane. In turn, this gave us a good view of the Earth below.

“Holy hell.” Axiom said. “They actually got the jump on us. How the hell did they do that?”

Down below, the Earth was in a terrible way. Nuclear mushroom clouds rose from not just Miyazaki, but from thirty-one other places in Japan, Korea, China, Eastern Russia, Taiwan, and India. Earth had been subjected to a terrible attack.

A small whimper caught my attention. Chihiro was looking out of the window, down at her home country. Japan, like its neighbors, was now alit with nightmarish hellfire. Amongst the devastation, the city of Narita had been incinerated, and now a dense cloud of smoke and ash was wafting onto Chihiro’s hometown, Tokyo. Small non-nuclear fires were starting to rise up in other locations, such as Sapporo, Akita, Himeji, Kyoto and Sendai.

Without gravity, Chihiro’s tears clung to her face. I wanted to comfort her, to say some word of acknowledgement or greeting, but I still hadn’t recovered from the shock of seeing my wife at all. So instead, I stammered…

“You didn’t have to come… Himawari…”

“She’s safe.” Chihiro sniffed. “She’s in the Matsushiro bunker with my brother.

Just like in other countries around the world, Japan had an underground bunker where its leadership could take shelter in times of war. The Matsushiro bunker dated back to the 1940’s, but age certainly hadn’t tempered its usefulness tonight.

Chihiro looked at me and gave a weak smile.

““He promised to take care of her if anything… if… if we… Well… anyway, I heard you had a rough time. And besides… on nights like this, Himawari’s a heavy sleeper. She won’t wake up ‘till noon.”

“Just like me, huh?” I asked.

“Definitely just like you.”

Chihiro and I looked at one another.

“Thanks.” I said. “Thanks for showing up. That’s all I can say.”

“It really feels like the end now.” Chihiro said. “And you promised we’d see it together.”

I thought back to that night in Hiroshima. The two of us hunkered down behind a boulder while enemy machinegun fire forced us to keep our heads down. I’d dodged it so many times, but it really seemed like it was time to fulfill my old promise. This really was the end.

Naka’s voice brought me back to reality.

“Hey, Captain! Lansing’s dead.”

It felt like all of the air had gone out of my lungs at once.

“What? How?”

“He wasn’t wearing his seat belt.” Naka replied. “Shockwave threw him into the wall. I… I think he broke his neck.”

I swore. Chihiro suggested we tie Elliot’s body down so that it wouldn’t drift around. Axiom argued we should dispose of it. Unfortunately, the Niagara’s airlock doesn’t function unless we were docked to something, so eventually, we had to tie Elliot’s body down in the cargo bay. If we lived through this, we could at least send him home.

“This is Ark Angel calling all UN ships on this net.”

Jericho’s voice brought us back to reality.

“We’ve detected a Beast-infected Missile Destroyer in low orbit not far from here.” Jericho broadcasted. “Tissue scans indicate the ship is controlled by Astynome.”

I felt a powerful lurch of dread in my gut. A moment later, my dark realization was confirmed by the voice of Mira Mihaka, saying over the radio:

“Holy Miranda… we were wrong! Akira is willing to kill Humans!”

“Then let’s take her out before she takes us out!”

The Ark Angel turned hard as she reached the highest point in her orbit above the Earth and fired a single missile towards the enemy ship. The Templar-controlled Beast ship turned and fled, only to be hit in the stern! Blasted apart, nothing remained of the enemy vessel except for a few broken wires and pulverized metal.

Once the skies above Earth were clear, the UN Navy began to assemble. The assault on the Moon wasn’t supposed to happen until tomorrow morning, but our hand had been forced. The Beast had arrived prematurely at Saturn, and now Akira’s supporters were using their new Beast puppets to attack Earth directly. This could not stand.

As the time ticked past midnight, AFUNE spaceships began to gather and the Kakama joined our formation. Soo Song, commander of the Korean warship Dokdo, brought our Partogan allies up to speed on the attack on Earth. Meanwhile, Jericho, Mira, and I assessed the damage.

It became clear very quickly that the attack on Earth was not some random strike. This attack had been a deliberate attempt to destroy the UN Navy while it was still on the ground. Eight Battlemaster-class gunships had been destroyed before they ever got the chance to take off. About fifty of ADVENT’s old interceptors had also been destroyed. All told, the force that was going to attack the Trinity had been reduced in size by almost a third. There would only be twenty-one Battlemasters and just under a hundred ADVENT interceptors for the upcoming fight.

As we assembled, we received a transmission from the ground:

“Attention all UN Navy personnel, this is XCOM Commander John Bradford. The Templars and Reapers have launched a major offensive against non-Human population centers. We’re receiving reports of gun battles in urban centers around the globe. We have mobilized the UN Army, XCOM, and the Reclamation Agency to fight back. Until the situation down here stabilizes, we won’t be able to support anyone in orbit. You’ll be on your own. Remember your mission, guard and support your teammates, and never forget the XCOM creed: Survive, adapt, win!”

The Ark Angel took its position at the head of our formation and was the first to fire up her engines, starting the journey towards the final battle.

“All AFUNE ships, fall in behind me!” Jericho ordered. “Standby for Hyperspace Jump to the Moon!”

“Here we go.” I sighed.

“Bring it on.” Chihiro breathed.

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 12:05am
Rings of Saturn, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


Over eight million infected ships converged on the scene, and the allied fleets were now outnumbered by almost seven to one! A grotesque deformation in Saturn’s rings marked the site of the battle. Using its Repulsor cannon, the Nomad Moon continued blasting ring materials toward the enemy, subjecting the Beast to a lethal hailstorm of stone and ice! A complex, shimmering web of red, blue, and purple Ion beams connected the two fleets with great ribbons of fire, while energy cannons and plasma bombs flickered in the darkness! Aboard the Tantomile, Adil had taken full command of the fleet, as Queen Nomsa was too busy engaging in Psionic combat!

“We’ve got a strike wing of enemy Firelance frigates moving around our flanks!” Arzhang reported.

“Use the Vaygr Battlecruisers to draw their fire!” Adil commanded, “Then send in strike craft to mop them up! Someone call up Carrier Strike Group 15 and tell them to plug that hole in the line near Enceladus!”

“Attention fleet command.” A Taiidani commander called in. “Headshot conversion complete! We’re ready!”

Further along the battlefield, a strike force of Scyldari warships were defending a pair of Taiidani Motherships, both of which were lifting off from the surface of Hyperion, the largest of Saturn’s irregular moons. Even from the Tantomile’s great distance away, it was possible to see what they had done: A grand total of fifteen Super-Capitol ship drive systems had been installed on Hyperion’s surface, complete with powerplants and radio towers.

Hyperion had been converted into a Headshot Asteroid, one of the oldest weapons in the history of space warfare.

The gargantuan engine array came online and began to push Hyperion out of its orbit! Beast ships attempted to scatter, only to be forced back into the path of the oncoming moon by allied weapons fire! Partogan fighters emerged from their hiding places beneath Saturn’s rings and fired missiles at fleeing Corvettes, forcing them to turn tail and fly straight into the oncoming asteroid! Hyperion smashed its way through the Beast horde until it came upon Agamemnon itself!

Over a dozen bright red particle beams shot towards Hyperion from Agamemnon, whilst a subverted Kel-Azan Battlecruiser evaded the defenders just long enough to fire an infection beam against Hyperion’s new drive system! A pair of infected fighters dove into the engine array and intentionally crashed into the structure!

“It’s got the Headshot Asteroid!” Arzhang said. “We’ve lost all control! It’s coming back towards us!”

Using Agamemnon’s gravitational field as a slingshot, Hyperion circled around the Fathership’s rear and began hurtling towards the allied fleet! Nomsa swore and redirected all of her powers towards the oncoming threat! At once, every allied ship lost its telekinetic shield, leaving them vulnerable to incoming weapons fire. Meanwhile, the now-infected Headshot Asteroid throttled up its engines and powered towards the Nomad Moon! The sphere-shaped Taiidani battlestation started to rotate, bringing all six of its heavy ion cannons to bear against the new threat. The cloud of scattered ring material around the station shuddered as yet another Repulsor field was unleashed!

A force, unseen yet irresistible, hit the infected Hyperion! Nomsa strained and struggled to hold back the subverted weapon, but it was no good. The young Queen may have copied Jericho’s powers, but in the end, she just wasn’t Jericho. After a few moments, Nomsa’s telekinesis failed and the Headshot Asteroid broke free! Hyperion careened towards its target! The Nomad Moon released one final Repulsor wave, but it had no effect! The rogue satellite was too large to deflect! Hyperion collided with the Nomad Moon! The conflagration was so great, so immense, that thousands of starships on both sides were vaporized at once! A shockwave rolled along the region and completely annihilated over a quarter of Saturn’s ring system!

Aboard the Tantomile, Nomsa panted as she quickly tried to re-establish a Psionic shield around her own forces. But something was wrong. She was no longer regenerating Psionic energy at the same rate she was spending it. Nomsa knew what was going on right away. Her powers were being drained by the Trinity. Realizing that she would soon be facing the threat of Psionic exhaustion, Nomsa decided that it was time to change tac.

“We need to regroup! Adil, give the order to fall back to the next defense line!”

The allied armada began a fighting retreat, with Super-Capitol ships laying down a dense field of fire as the smaller vessels escaped into Hyperspace. Jumping out in large groups, Whole strike wings dematerialized after firing one last volley towards the enemy! Agamemnon flew straight through what remained of Saturn’s rings, charging at the retreating allies!

“Pathetic fools! You will only delay the inevitable!” Agamemnon declared!

“Sure, we will.” Nomsa replied, “But we are most definitely not fools.”

As the last few groups of allied ships jumped away, the Father of the Beast roared for the entire Solar System to hear:

“You are what all life is to us: FOOOODDD!”

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 1:15am
The Stacks, City 31, Eastern America
(Local time: Wednesday, September 10, 2036 – 11:15am)


The city was in chaos. Gunfire and explosions echoed between buildings as Reaper forces rampaged through the streets in broad daylight. Humans and non-Humans alike secured themselves in their homes or fled as best they could, but only the non-human populace had something to fear. Reapers smashed open doors and dragged aliens into the streets. Sectoids, Vipers, and Mutons were murdered in cold blood, their bodies left on the sidewalk in full view of all. Human-Alien Hybrids were treated with extra savagery, their bodies mutilated and hung from streetlamps. Each Hybrid that was murdered had a sign hung from their bodies that said:

“HUMANS ONLY”

Jeering and shouting, the Reapers came upon a group of young Vipers who had tried to hide inside of an overturned car. Hissing and screeching, the Vipers tried to bite and resist, but these Vipers were, by Human standards, just children. They didn’t have the strength to fight back for long. One of the Vipers lashed out with her tail and knocked the hood off the lead Reaper.

Elena Dragunova spat on the ground and unholstered a pistol, taking aim at the juvenile alien.

“You’ve no idea how long you’ve had this coming, offworlder.” Elena snarled.

But before she could pull the trigger, a loud rumble reached the group! An armored personnel carrier rounded the corner and barreled up the street towards the Reapers! Elena dropped the young snake and ordered her team of Reapers to scatter and find cover!

Just as Elena slunk into an alleyway, the APC came to a stop and a side door swung open. Six men and women, armed to the teeth with the latest in XCOM weapons and armor, emerged. The words “Reclamation Agent” were spelled out in white letters on their uniforms. A tall black-skinned woman wielding a shotgun yelled loudly enough to be heard at the far corner:

“Men and women of the Reapers, I’ll have you know that since this war began twenty-one years ago, I have personally slain over one thousand enemies, be they Human or alien. I give you this one chance to surrender now! Lay down your arms! This is a fight you cannot win!”

Using her years upon years of Reaper training, Elena melted into the shadows of a nearby alley and chambered a round in her rifle as quietly as possible. Elena thought she was being as silent as the grave, but she was up against war veterans with nearly two decades of combat experience.

A black man heard the sound of a bolt sliding forward, spun on the spot, and aimed his pistol into the alley!

“Reclamation Agency!” He shouted. “Come out with your hands up!”

Elena raised her rifle and fired! The man spun on the spot and fell as gunfire erupted all around! While the rest of Chimera Squad engaged the enemy directly, An Asian woman with short hair and many scars grabbed her comrade and pulled him to safety, spraying him down with a Nanomedikit.

“Dude, Blueblood. When has that line ever actually worked?” Terminal chided her friend. “The old world cop tactics are gone forever, stop trying to bring them back!”

Blueblood got back to his feet and took cover behind the APC, firing his pistol at a Reaper perched on a nearby rooftop.

“Someday, Terminal, you’re going to be wrong and I hope I’m around to see it!” Blueblood replied.

“I can’t wait!” Terminal replied, “But, ‘till then, left side!”

The agents of Chimera Squad broke up into three groups and started hunting down Reapers. Patchwork and Claymore (A Mexican woman and an Indian man) used breaching charges to force their way inside of an apartment building where several of Elena’s comrades had fortified themselves. Terminal and Blueblood continued to clear alleyways, flushing Reapers out of cover and gunning them down.

But it was Godmother who went after the prize. Keeping her shotgun at the ready, she charged into the dark alley while her companion struggled to keep up. The youngest member of Chimera Squad was carrying a riot shield in addition to his pistol. Every time she saw a flicker of a movement, Godmother fired her shotgun into the darkness! The sound of it echoed up the walls and into the smokey sky!

“Come out, Dragunova!” Godmother yelled. “Does your boss really want you to die here, in this filthy corner?”

In a single, swift moment, Elena emerged from her hiding spot in the shadows.

“No, but you will.” The Reaper snarled. “You betrayed your whole damn race, so this is better than what you deserve.”

Elena and Godmother both raised their weapons at the same time, but the Reaper was faster! There was a loud CRACK followed by a flash of red light as the outline of Godmother’s body glowed with crimson light! Godmother was unharmed, and by the time Elena realized it, she was already disarmed. Elena’s rifle clattered to the ground and Godmother tackled her! A moment later, the other Reclamation Agent arrived and used a ziptie to fasten Elena’s wrists behind her back.

“What!? How!?” Elena gasped.

“What, this?” The other agent looked confused, as though this was a very silly question. “It’s just some old ADVENT Shieldbearer technology. You didn’t seriously think I was going to let you hurt my friend, did you?”

As she was pulled to her feet, Elena realized that the sixth and final Reclamation Agent was, in fact, a Hybrid. This, if anything, incensed her even more.

“So, XCOM’s working with even more aliens now!?” Elena shouted. “You haven’t just abandoned your Humanity, you’ve betrayed your whole world!”

“Save it for the Truth Commission.” Godmother said. “Let’s go.”

Back out on the street, the fight was over. Six Reapers had been killed and two more captured alive. Blueblood and Terminal were treating the civilians who the Reapers had attacked. When Godmother and Cherub brought Elena back to the APC, Claymore reported in:

“None of these guys knows where Volk really is. Their stories don’t add up.”

“Hopefully she’ll shine a light on things.” Godmother pushed Elena towards the APC. “Tell our new friend to get started.”

Claymore rapped his knuckles on the vehicle.

“Oi, Verge! Got one more for ya!”

Terminal had a satisfied look on her face when she saw that Elena looked absolutely horrified now. A Sectoid, dressed up in the same uniform as the rest of Chimera Squad, stepped out of the APC and looked down at Elena. He spoke in a stilted, staccato tone of voice.

“This interrogation will be short. We need to know the location of the Reaper leader, Konstantine Volkilov. We will commune directly… My mind to yours, my mind over yours.”

Elena began to struggle and tried to run, but Cherub held her fast by both arms. Stammering, the Reaper let out a pained yell as Verge forced his way into her mind, found what he was looking for, and withdrew. Verge spoke to Godmother in such a calm tone, one would think nothing traumatic had just happened.

“Konstantine Volkilov is at XCOM’s 2015-era headquarters, on the outskirts of a city called “Manhattan.”

Elena screamed.

“You freaks, you monsters! You’ve sold out our world to aliens! Are any of you Human at all!?”

There was a loud snap as Elena broke her flex cuffs! Her arms freed; she swung her fists at Verge before lunging at Blueblood! The two grappled and wrestled for a moment before Elena pulled away! She had managed to pull Blueblood’s pistol out of its holster and chambered a round!

Verge, Cherub, Claymore, Patchwork, and Godmother all raised their own weapons and opened fire! The chaotic gunfire echoed along the street for just a few seconds before Elena Dragunova keeled over, dead before she hit the ground.

“¡Por Dios!” Patchwork moaned. “What a waste.”

Godmother ignored her. Instead, she drew her radio and made a call:

“Whisper, tell the Director that we’ve found the Reaper leader. We must act quickly!”

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 3:20am
High Orbit above Earth’s Moon, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


“Disengaging Hyperspace in five… four… three… two… one…”

The first thing I saw when we arrived was the Trinity. Chihiro and I both took a moment to marvel at the sight in front of us. The Trinity weapon itself was shaped like a roughly hewn sphere, with a diameter of roughly fifteen miles. Chihiro let out a low whistle.

“That thing’s a lot scarier in person.” She said.

Jericho’s voice came over the radio.

“All wings, report in!”

“Kakama standing by!” Manako Ranginui replied.

“Battlemaster wings standing by.” Marie Ferrell called back.

“All Hunter wings reporting in!” Wendy Carter answered.

One Partogan frigate, twenty-one Battlemasters, and a hundred-fifty ADVENT interceptors began to close with the Trinity. We were all on our toes, expecting an ambush.

Then, the ambush came.

“Ark Angel, this is Kakama!” Kailani Kalili’s voice sounded over the comm net. “We’re detecting a buildup of Psionic energy on the Trinity!”

“All ships, evasive maneuvers!” Jericho shouted. “Everyone break starboard!”

I pushed the controls down, hard! The Niagara rose straight up, heading away the surface of the Moon!

“Jesus Christ!” someone screamed over the radio. “We’ve got a whole lot of contacts coming in from above!”

“I see it!” Mira called from her ship. “Beast infected ships three thousand kilometers above our position!”

“They’re coming out of the sun!” A Hunter pilot yelled.

“It’s a trap!” Odette confirmed!

A swarm of Beast-infected fighters descended on us, using the light of the sun to mask their movements until it was too late! Behind me, Naka and Zeil brought our mass driver cannons to life!

“All ships, engage the enemy strike craft!” Jericho yelled. “Draw their fire away from the Kakama!”

The Beast fleet was on us in a flash! Mass drivers and missiles filled my field of view! Chihiro and I only had seconds to react! We both pulled down our blast curtains and gave Naka and Zeil free reign with the weapons!

“Watch out!” Naka yelled. “Enemy Ion Cannon Frigate! Dorsal side!”

Chihiro turned us hard, rolling the spaceplane and causing the enemy to miss. Above us, a beam of purple light flashed out of the Trinity’s weapon aperture! It connected with one of the other spaceplanes in our fleet! In an instant, the South African gunship Isandlwana disintegrated! Reduced to dust, the gunship was blown away!

“HOLY MOTHER OF MIRANDA!” Manako shouted. “That thing’s operational!”

“Yeah, I saw that!” Soo Song called back from the Dokdo. “Jericho! We need to retreat!”

“Negative!” Jericho replied. “We came here to get on board that damn weapon and that’s what we’re gonna do! Carter! Take the Hunters and keep the Beast busy! Everyone else, start probing the Trinity! Find a way in!”

Flying the Tigermoth as skillfully as she had once flown the Skyranger, Wendy led the swarm of former ADVENT interceptor in a brazen frontal assault on Astynome and her infected fleet. Meanwhile, Chihiro and I brough the Niagara into formation alongside the Hermione, Moana Ranginui, Dokdo, and Sejong the Great.

“Naka! Zeil!” I shouted. “Switch to armor piercing rounds! We can’t nuke the Trinity, and we can’t blow up anything critical!”

The Kakama dove low and fired on the Trinity with her laser cannons before pulling up again to avoid being caught in the blowback of a small explosion!

“I don’t get it!” Manako called out. “I thought Duane or Akira would have given this damn thing Psionic shields!”

“Maybe they can’t!” Chihiro responded. “Doesn’t that thing drain Psionic energy from everyone?”

“She’s right!” Jericho answered. “Akira’s probably having her powers drained just like everyone else! That doesn’t make her any less dangerous, though!”

A series of explosions rocked our formation! Chihiro and I frantically looked over our sensors manager to see what had happened. I spotted it first and yelled into the radio:

“Hey! Normandy! Check your fire, you almost killed us!”

The Normandy didn’t respond. Instead, the French spaceplane pulled up behind us, just below the Niagara’s tail. Then, we heard the sharp clanging and clattering noises of mass driver rounds hitting our hull!

“Normandy’s infected!” Naka yelled. “They’re shooting at us!”

Chihiro wrenched the controls over and pushed the Niagara into a sharp dive! The Normandy followed, spitting fire at us the whole way!

“This is Niagara!” I called out. “Normandy’s subverted and making a run at us! We could use an assist over here!”

“Standby, Niagara!” Mira replied. “We’re on our way!”

I drew back my blast curtain and looked at the lunar surface below. I pointed at one particular surface feature.

“Aim for that hilly terrain down there!”

Chihiro throttled the engines and dove! Behind us, the Moana Ranginui burned her engines hard to catch up! The infected Normandy fired two missiles at us! Naka and Zeil were quick on the draw today. Before I could even raise the alarm, they had both fired off the countermeasures! Once more, the incoming missiles were fooled by the decoys and streaked past us! Chihiro pulled up and leveled us out just three miles above the lunar surface! Both missiles hit the ground and detonated, sending a huge column of lunar dust into space!

“Niagara!” Mira called us. “On my signal, dive hard and skim the surface!”

“Ready!” Chihiro and I gripped the controls.

“Now!”

One more time, the Niagara dove! Above us, the Moana Ranginui let loose a barrage of mass driver fire! The Normandy tried to dive as well, in order to follow us… but this was a lethal mistake. In putting the nose down and diving after its prey, the Normandy presented a bigger and easier target for Mira’s crew. Nearly two dozen high-explosive rounds tore through the infected spaceplane and shredded one of her engines! Normandy rolled over in an out of control spin, fell from the sky, and slammed into the lunar surface! Chihiro and I pushed the Niagara’s engines to failure point and our ship flitted around the far side of a mountain just as the Normandy’s nuclear reactor detonated!

As the Niagara rose to rejoin the battle, Mira put out a warning to all allied ships:

“Everyone be advised, the infection vaccine is not effective! Repeat! Infection vaccine is a no-go! Engage the Beast at maximum range!”

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 3:55am
Distant orbit above Jupiter, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


Jupiter is a much larger world than Saturn, therefore, the battle here was bigger as well. Both sides were trying to use the local environment to their advantage. Beast ships were being driven by the thousands to fly into the lethal radiation belts around Sol’s biggest planet while fully automated Micore warforms lurked in the dense atmosphere below, waiting for the enemy to venture too close.

Planetary siege cannons had been set up on most of the Jovian moons, granting no safe harbor to the invaders. Intense weapons fire from Callisto, Io, and Ganymede masked the approach of fresh allied reinforcements. Levakian, Scyldari, and Vaygr warships unleashed a blistering volley of fire against the enemy, allowing the Partogan, Hiigaran, and Taiidani fleets to retreat, reform, and rejoin the fight.

Infection beams shot from hostile Super-Capitol ships and struck allied vessels to no effect. On the bridge of the Tantomile, there were loud cheers!

“Infection vaccine is still working!” Arzhang reported. “The line is holding!”

As if the Universe itself had conspired to prove him wrong, another development struck! A cloud of Psionic energy began to build up and envelop the Beast fleet. Before anyone could ask questions, the Psionic entity began to attack! Brilliant flashes of lightning pierced through the battlefield and tore ships to pieces in a matter of moments! Through sheer force of will, the End of the Cycle began to eviscerate the allied fleet! Some warships turned and fled; their crews more frightened of this Psionic nightmare than the Beast itself!

“Oh, Holy Miranda!” Dolim gasped. “That’s the same entity we heard about at Partoga! We really need the Trinity now!”

“Send a ship to contact Earth!” Queen Nomsa ordered. “We need an update on the Jericho’s progress!”

Adil and Dolim worked frantically to try and call off a scout ship to run a message to Earth, but something very unexpected happened instead.

“Your Majesty!” Dolim exclaimed, “I’m getting a reading that doesn’t make sense!”

At that moment, a Beast corvette broke from its formation and dove on the Tantomile in a kamikaze attack! Queen Nomsa re-directed her energies, causing the enemy to strike an invisible, yet solid wall!

“We’re under some pressure here!” Nomsa replied. “Give us the short version!”

Dolim flipped a switch on his console. At once, a familiar voice filled the bridge:

“People of the Galaxy. Soldiers and civilians, young and old, Gifted and mundane, hear me now! The hour of destiny is upon us! Jericho, the girl who slew the Fallen Angels of Earth, is at this moment fighting to protect your friends and loved ones from the Beast! The time has come to stand by her side! The Eye of Aarran is now free from infection, the Hyperspace Network is sterilized, and our foe is distracted! Come to Earth! Bring whatever ships or weapons you can! Every infected vessel destroyed is a world saved! Every moment you fight is another day our children get to see! Fight for your homeworlds, your nations and your flags! Stand beside Jericho and put this infestation down!”

Nomsa’s jaw dropped as she looked around at Dolim. He pointed at his screen and said:

“The message is broadcasting on every Hyperwave frequency! All faster-than-light communications have been restored! We’re already starting to get indications of fleet movements around the Galaxy, as well as distant Hyperspace signatures!”

“I’ll be damned.” Nomsa breathed. “Kendra did it. She actually did it!”

Not waiting for the comm officer to pipe her voice to the fleet, Nomsa projected a Psionic message to all allied pilots, officers, and crew, filling the defending fleet with a message of hope!

"Help is on the way everyone! Hold the line!"

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 4:01am
High orbit above Earth’s Moon, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


“Did you guys hear that!?” I yelled. “We’ve got help on the way!”

Above the Moon, the UN fleet began to reform. Astynome and the rest of the Templar-controlled Beast fleet had now positioned themselves between us and the Trinity. However, the reply I got came from my own crew:

“Captain!” Axiom reported. “Sensors show the fleet commander’s ship has been destroyed!”

Looking out the cockpit window, I saw Marie Ferrell’s ship, the Battlemaster, tumble from the sky in a great ball of flames before smashing into the lunar surface! I felt the wind go out of my lungs. Beside me, Chihiro said:

“Our way is blocked and now we don’t have a fleet commander!? What the hell are we supposed to do now!?”

I grabbed the radio.

“Ark Angel, this is Niagara! This isn’t working, we need to try another way of getting past Astynome!”

“Working on that!” Jericho responded. “Now that the Hyperwave Network’s back online, we can actually call in some real firepower!”

While UN warships continued probing and pushing the enemy defenses, I heard this conversation in my headset:

“Tantomile, this is Ark Angel. Is your Hyperwave back online?”

“Tantomile here. Can confirm, all FTL communications have been restored. Time delay between you and I had been reduced to milliseconds.” Said the voice of Dolim.

“Good.” Jericho replied. “Tell Adil to give the order for all ships to retreat to Luna. I also need to borrow the Tryna for long-range fire support!”

“Understood. All Allied ships will withdraw from Jupiter to Earth’s moon momentarily. Connecting you to the Tryna.”

Then, Jericho blasted a signal to all UN ships!

“All units, this is the Ark Angel! Be advised: I’m taking command of the fleet! Target your weapons on Astynome’s lower starboard engine! We’ve gotta force her to turn!”

“You heard the lady!” Mira responded from her ship!

“Acknowledged!” I responded. “Naka! Zeil! Load high-explosive rounds and prepare to fire on my mark!”

Moving as one, all of the ships that remained in the Earth Defense Fleet (plus the Kakama) began to maneuver around Astynome’s rear. One of the Templars aboard the Trinity must have seen what we were doing, because a strike wing of infected corvettes, frigates, and destroyers began massing to block our path!

“All ships, fire two missiles directly ahead, set for proximity detonation!” Jericho ordered. “Give me a thermonuclear wall!”

I turned my command key and allowed Naka to fire two missiles! Then Chihiro and I both drew our blast curtains. All of the other Battlemaster spaceplanes followed suit. Nearly three dozen nuclear warheads detonated a few dozen miles in front of us, blocking the enemy escorts from the EDF just long enough to get behind Astynome!

“Open fire!” Jericho yelled. “Concentrate all fire on the target!”

Eighteen spaceplanes, about ninety interceptors, and the Kakama all opened fire together! Mass driver rounds, laser beams, torpedoes, and nuclear missiles were all concentrated on Astynome’s lower right engine array! Within seconds, armor and muscle alike were breached! It was like we were drilling into the enemy’s interior!

“Ark Angel, this is Tryna.” Commodore Madoda’s voice called out across the radio. “We have your target and are ready to engage.”

“Do it!” Jericho screamed! “Do it now!”

“Affirmative. Commencing primary ignition now.” Madoda replied. “Surface delivery estimated in six minutes.”

“Wait a minute!” Axiom shouted from the crew area. “I thought the Tryna was at Mars!”

Chihiro swore.

“They’re gonna try and hit Astynome with a narrow beam from over forty million miles away!? Really!?”

“Worry about that later!” Tsubaki yelled. “We’ve got bandits on our six!”

“Everyone scatter!” Jericho yelled. “Stall ‘em for just a few minutes!”

One more time, the whole UN fleet broke formation and scattered as Astynome’s escort fleet re-contacted us. Naka and Zeil engaged the enemy with mass drivers, saving the nukes for bigger targets. We wiped out a whole formation of Plasma Bombers and a couple of Destroyers before Madoda’s voice came over the comm net again:

“Surface delivery in five… four… three…”

A beam of yellow light streaked out of the darkness and struck Astynome in the rear, drilling into the injury we had just inflicted on the Beast Mothership! Since Astynome’s armor was already gone, the destructive beam bored right into the center of the Mothership, inflicting terrible devastation upon its victim! Smoke and flames began to erupt from inside the enemy vessel!

“YEAH!” Chihiro and I both screamed!

“It’s not over yet!” Tsubaki called out.

The Ark Angel dove from above! The Beast escort fleet must have realized what was about to happen because they stopped fighting the rest of the UN ships, all concentrating their fire on that one single spaceplane!

“Give Jericho some cover fire!” I yelled.

All of our remaining ships poured their final volleys into the enemy while their back was still turned! Destroyers and battlecruisers lost power as they were shredded by armor-piercing rounds! Fighters and corvettes were vaporized by nuclear blasts, and all the while, the Ark Angel continued to scream towards the Beast Mothership, Psionic energy radiating out of her with such intensity that the entire ship seemed to be glowing! The Ark Angel pulled up and flew level along Astynome’s hull and then…

A lightning storm erupted!

It’s the only way to describe what I saw. Dozens, then hundreds of jagged bolts of light shot down from the Angel and started to violently rake Astynome’s flesh and hull! The light of it was so intense that I instinctively reached up for my blast curtain! The Beast Mothership released one final volley of weapons fire at the Ark Angel before all movement ceased. As the Ark Angel fled the scene, the Beast Mothership simply drifted onward, inert, nonresponsive, and unmistakably dead.

But there was no time to celebrate. No time to even acknowledge what had just happened. The Templar-controlled Beast fleet was still active, and they were still laying fire into our forces. Mira’s voice sounded over the radio:

“Ark Angel, are you seeing this!? “The Trinity is moving!”

The superweapon had fired up its sublight engines and was moving as though it was going to break orbit with the Moon!

“What’s going on?” Lee Chong-Il called from his ship. “Why would they move!?”

“Ignore it!” Jericho called to us from the Ark Angel. “We need to retake the Trinity right now! All Battlemasters, follow me! We’re making a run for that hangar bay! Carter, can you and those Hunters give us some cover?”

“I’d be delighted!” Wendy responded before pulling her own part of the fleet away from us.

“Kakama, stay close!” Jericho ordered. “We’re going in!”

Chihiro and I both throttled the engines and pushed the Niagara to keep up. The Beast fleet made one last effort to stop us from streaking towards the Trinity’s hangar bay, but Wendy’s Hunters, plus our own mass driver fire, kept them at bay just long enough for us to reach our target.

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 4:23am
Nagasaki Airport, Kyushu Island, Japan


The mission was so important that no one else was qualified to run it. Commander Bradford gripped an Alloy Cannon tightly in his palms as the helicopter neared the ruins of XCOM Headquarters. Sitting beside him was Chief Engineer Lily Shen as well as her android companion, Julian. All three of them were armed with advanced weapons and armor. Behind them, Morian Vahlen and Richard Tygan were giving a final briefing to the team of XCOM engineers and scientists.

“We’ve put together far more advanced devices in a much shorter span of time.” Tygan was saying. “I have full faith and confidence in the capabilities of you all.”

The small fleet of helicopters arrived. The first one deposited a group of soldiers. Isis Dekker, Matthew Hawkins, Soylent Green, Sophie Ackermann, Sophia Kuznetsova, Kathleen Walsh, and Hal Macintosh all secured the wreckage of the Avenger before waving the other helicopters in for a landing.

While Bradford and his team disembarked, a team of EXALT operatives emerged from a third chopper. Japanese Prime Minister Ryo Nakagawa was also dressed in combat fatigues, and had a plasma assault rifle strapped across his back. Jane Kelly, the Director of the Reclamation Agency, followed him. She too was kitted out for battle.

“I’ve got good news and bad news.” Jane addressed the group. “My people found Volk. We’re moving on him now, but it also looks like our secret’s out. The Reapers are massing a force in Omura. They’re gonna try and stop us from using the Gate.”

Ryo looked at his former enemy and said:

“Bradford, my men will engage the Reapers and buy you as much time as you need. Keep your team on task, get up there and win this thing!”

Commander Bradford clasped Ryo’s hand in a firm grip.

“Don’t die out there, Nakagawa.” The Commander said. “Cause when this is over, I’m buying you a drink.”

“I’ll take some of that whiskey Soylent’s been making.” Ryo grinned. “Let’s get to work.”

Meanwhile, Tygan, Vahlen, Shen, and their team had gotten to work salvaging the Psi Gate from the rubble. Doing their best to ignore the sounds of gunfire coming from the far shore, Doctor Vahlen finally got her first look at the device that had enabled Humanity’s victory over the Elders.

“What fascinating technology!” Vahlen gushed. “This appears to be an aberration of the Venn Gate design the aliens used in the 1962 War.”

“I agree.” Tygan said, equally fascinated. “The Elders must have used Psionic energy to cover for the Venn Gate’s shortcomings, allowing them to manipulate spacetime more efficiently.”

While they talked, Lily and Julian were struck by an idea.

“Hold on a moment,” The android said. “These Gates are manipulating spacetime? Where have we seen that before?”

Lily had the same thought.

“Give me a side-by-side image of Akira’s Time Core and a functional Psionic Gate.” Lily said.

The small holographic projector in Julian’s face lit up, and two images hung in the air in front of the Chief Engineer. One was a detailed scan of the Time Core, taken when it had been removed from Akira’s ship, and the other was a copy of Tygan’s plans to install the Psi Gate on the Avenger. While Lily studied the images, she overheard Vahlen say:

“My predecessor, Doctor Alan Weir, wrote several papers about spacetime manipulation after the ’62 War. He theorized that this was possible over fifty years ago!”

Julian seemed to know exactly what Lily was going to ask. He had drawn the answer from his own database before Lily’s mouth could open.

“The vast majority of Doctor Alan Weir’s work was classified and buried as part of XCOM’s attempt to cover up the 1962 War.” The android said. “However, a select few of his papers were declassified and made available to the public during the Administration of US President Joshua Dennis Robinson.”

Lily swore.

“You know, I always wondered where Akira got the know-how to build a time machine. I guess we can blame Doctor Weir for that. Keep those files open, Julian. We need to get started on this Psi Gate.”

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 4:55am
Escape Trajectory from Earth’s Moon, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


“This is gonna be a hard landing!” I yelled to my crew! “Everyone brace!”

The hangar bay inside of the Trinity was too small for a one-hundred-forty-ton spaceplane to carry out an actual landing. On a good day, the Niagara needed to have at least two kilometers’ worth of runway for the landing gear and brakes to do their jobs. Trinity’s hangar bay didn’t have that.

So we did a belly landing.

Hitting the metal floor, hard, the Niagara sent a shower of sparks into the air behind her before coming to a rest. A dozen other spaceplanes did the same before the Kakama executed a pinpoint landing with her VTOL engines.

The Niagara’s boarding ramp was blocked, (owing to having landed on her belly) so our only way out was an emergency exit in the tail. We all made our way to the rear. On the way we raised our arms in salute as we passed the body of Elliot Lansing, then grabbed our weapons from the locker. Chihiro chose to forgo a longarm completely. She would only use her Shadowkeeper. I grabbed the Arashi (the same shotgun Mira had used during her days as the Chosen Assassin) and an Arc Blade. Naka, Zeil, and Tsubaki all armed themselves with Laser SMG’s while Axiom preferred a shotgun. Before leaving, I decided to play it safe and also grabbed a combat explosive: an antipersonnel mine. Considering we would be fighting on a cramped spacecraft, I was sure I could find a use for this thing.

“Don’t forget to grab a Mindshield!” I said, taking one for myself.

“Yeah, they won’t protect you from the nasty stuff like Soulfire, but it’ll save you from Mind Control!” Chihiro added.

All of the surviving crews and soldiers gathered together in the center of the hangar bay. Jericho was waiting for us, armed with a Psionic Reaper. Standing in between Jericho and Mira, the former Templar Violet looked a little out of place. She was the only person not carrying a weapon. Odette Fournier, Isidoro Moreno, Shaojie Zhang, and several other XCOM veterans I knew well were here. Adding in the crew of the Kakama, and the total size of our impromptu boarding party numbered somewhere above two hundred people. Jericho and Mira called for quiet.

“Okay, everyone. This it. Our last stand, the final push.” Jericho addressed the group. “There are three Psionic Gates within striking distance from here. We only need to capture one. I want everybody to split into three teams; then move out at the same time. Our strikes have to be simultaneous, otherwise the Templars might wise up.”

“Keep in mind, you’re dealing with a Psionic enemy.” Mira added. “Guard your own minds, but remember to keep a watchful eye on your allies. Your attentiveness may save their lives as well as your own!”

Jericho pointed at me.

“Blake, I want your team to come with me.” She said. “We’re going to secure the Control Room and the Time Core.”

Chihiro and Odette instinctively stepped forward to join me. Behind us, other commanders and leaders started breaking the troops up into three strike teams. Jericho bit her lip.

“Oh, man. Your squad’s gotten small recently, huh?”

“Not a problem.” I said. I started pointing into the crowd and addressing people. “Hey! You three, plus you and you. And all of you guys! Come here!”

Axiom, Naka, Zeil, Song, and Chong-Il all separated from the main group and approached us. Manako Ranginui, Kailani Kalili, Elsina, Sarah Harris, Temirzhan, and Kanti Divakar broke away from the Kakama’s crew to join us.

“My crew has their orders.” Manako told us. “They’ll support your forces in the initial assault, then guard the ships and Psi Gates, to make sure we have a way out of here if we need it.”

“Team Takea’s ready to help you Jericho.” Kailani said. “Wherever you need us.”

“Good.” I said. “That’s exactly what we needed to hear.”

I walked from one person the next and tapped them on the shoulder with my hand. Naka hissed and asked what was going on. Kanti had read my mind and gave me a knowing smile. At the last second, I said to myself “why not” and also tapped Mira’s shoulder.

“Congratulations.” I said to the group. “From now on, you’re all Stormbreakers.”

Zeil and Axiom both looked happy with themselves. Naka shrugged, not knowing the significance of the title “Stormbreaker,” while Song and Chong-Il gave one another a high-five, overjoyed at having finally made the team. Elsina purred, and I’m pretty sure Kailani was about to cry.

“Alright.” I said. “I think we’re ready to end this war. Do you want us to hit the Time Core or the Control Room first?”

“Mira’s going for the Time Core. You’re staying with me.” Jericho said right away. “I’m going to take Kanti and Violet to the Control Room. Duane should be there with the Eater of Worlds and Composer of Strands already. Akira might be with him, but there’s also a decent chance she’s down by the Time Core. Either way, we’re in for the fight of our lives.”

Jericho stepped forward and got the attention of the three strike teams.

“This is going to be our last push, everyone. Don’t hold anything back, use everything you’ve got! Remember we’re fighting to save the whole Galaxy today. Capture those Psionic Gates! Just give me a few moments of total control of this weapon, whatever the cost, and I’ll do the rest. We end this today!”

Three teams of heavily armed invaders moved to their starting positions, planting breaching charges on sealed doorways and readying weapons. As the new Stormbreakers fell in line behind Jericho, she used telekinesis to blast open the doorway before throwing a Vortex Grenade through the breach! An explosion of Psionic energy was accompanied by screams of people on the other side! Moving as one, we surged forward!

“Stormbreakers!” I yelled. “One last time! MOVE IN! TAKE GROUND, AND FIRE AT WILL!!”

Chapter 54: Time Trap

 

Chapter Forty-Six
Time Trap

 

 

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 4:44am

Deep space, on Escape Trajectory from Earth’s Moon, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


The Tantomile emerged onto a scene of chaos!

As soon as the allied warships had rematerialized, they came under attack! The Templar-controlled Beast fleet refocused their efforts onto what had been deemed the bigger threat. All around the Partogan flagship, Quantum Wavefronts collapsed as ships were attacked before they could fully exit Hyperspace. On the bridge, Queen Nomsa struggled to re-establish a Psionic shield around her fleet. There was a painful twinge in the back of her head, and it meant nothing good.

“Starting to get exhausted!” Nomsa declared. “We aren’t going to have Psionic protection much longer! What’s the status of the Trinity!?”

Dolim scanned the nearby superweapon and reported back.

“The Trinity is still under enemy control!” Dolim informed her. “However, I do see transponder signals from UN ships in the hangar bay, I’m also detecting small arms and light weapons fire from inside the ship. The Human boarding party is still aboard!”

“Understood.” Nomsa replied. “What about the Trinity itself? Where is it going?”

Adil and Arzhang took a moment to examine the sensor data.

“The Trinity is entering a highly elliptical orbit above the Earth.” Arzhang said. “It is also aiming its primary weapon towards Mars! They’re lining up for a shot on the Tryna!”

Nomsa swore, then broadcasted her voice to the armada!

“Fleet! Full speed ahead! We have to block the Trinity! We can’t let them get a shot off!”

“What about the Beast!?” A Scyldari fleet commander replied. “Agamemnon’s going to come up behind us at any moment!”

“We’ll climb that mountain when we get to it!” Nomsa answered. “Block the Trinity!”

Then the Queen rounded on Adil.

“You think they’re going to use that time weapon again, Captain?”

“I’ll bet on it.” Adil responded. “They’ll use a time field to immobilize the target, then strike.”

Nomsa decided that it was now or never. She reached out with one paw and channeled the very last of her own Psionic energy into one last move! Copying Jericho’s ability to regenerate Psi-energy, Nomsa siphoned energy out of every person aboard the Tantomile before channeling it all into a single region of space! A gigantic semitransparent orb appeared around the Trinity! The telekinetic shield shimmered and glowed as it enveloped the entire superweapon!

“Adil, keep track of the Humans!” Nomsa ordered. “If they don’t take control of the weapon before my shield breaks, you fire on that weapon with everything you’ve got, understood?”

A shocked silence fell over the bridge.

“Your Majesty!” Dolim gasped. “What about Jericho?”

“It’s her orders.” Nomsa replied. “And now it’s mine too. If we can’t recapture the Trinity, we turn it to dust. Am I clear?”

Adil and Dolim both nodded. Arzhang pointed to the sensors manager and said:

“Here they come!”

Just as the last allied warships arrived, Beast ships began to emerge from Hyperspace! The allied fleets were too busy fighting the Templar-controlled Beast ships, so there was almost nothing to be done now! In two great flashes of light, Agamemnon and the End of the Cycle seemed to explode forth from their Quantum Wavefronts!

The true scale of the Fathership of the Beast was made apparent as soon as it arrived. Agamemnon had emerged from Hyperspace so close to the battle that its nose and bow section collided with the Moon! Lunar regolith exploded upwards as the entire barren world shook and thundered from the force of the impact!

To make matters worse, the Beast ships already at the Moon were starting to rally. Astynome was dead, meaning that the Templar’s control over the Beast fleet had been broken. Hundreds of thousands of infected warships once again came under the direct control of Agamemnon, restoring the Beast fleet to its full size and leaving the allied fleets surrounded on all sides by the enemy!

Seizing the advantage, the Beast fleet and the End of the Cycle began to attack with ruthless intensity! The angry, swirling mass of Psionic energy lashed out with vicious bolts of white and blue light! Each strike was instantly lethal! Allied ships were blown apart five or six at a time by the End of the Cycle while the rest of the Beast armada descended upon the scene like a pack of wolves!

“Controls locked up! Crew dying!” A voice pierced through the chaotic noise of the com net!

Several hundred allied warships fell out of formation before turning around and firing their weapons into their own comrades! For a moment, confusion and panic enveloped the allied lines as friends attacked ally and enemy alike!

“How are we getting infected!?” Adil shouted. “I thought the vaccine was working!”

The UNS Tigermoth and a flotilla of UN interceptors descended upon the now-infected Blorg vessel. Wendy Carter’s voice provided the answer:

“The vaccine’s no good against Astynome’s version of the virus!” She reported. “Engage the Templar fleet at maximum range!”

“Better yet, let’s try this!” Nomsa made a call: “Tantomile calling Tryna! Prepare to open fire on the following targets!”

At once, the voice of Nomsa’s father came back over the Hyperwave.

“Just give the word, Your Majesty!”

From its safe haven above Mars, the Partogan superweapon began to fire intense volleys from its main cannon! Moving at the speed of light, it took just four minutes for each beam of destructive energy to reach Earth’s Moon and meet its target! Beast super-capitol ships were torn asunder one at a time as a weapon that was designed to destroy entire planets tore through their shields and armor alike!

But against a host of this size, such action was like a single blade of grass standing defiantly against an oncoming tornado. More and more Beast ships emerged from Hyperspace to replace the vessels that had been lost! The enemy reserves were seemingly infinite! After the first few salvos, the Beast had pinpointed the location of the Tryna, and nearly a dozen carrier strike groups were dispatched to silence Partoga’s last Planet-Killer.

Realizing the situation was about to become hopeless, Commodore Madoda made one last Hyperwave call:

“Tantomile, this is Tryna. Our secret’s out, the enemy is coming for us!”

Queen Nomsa’s reply was immediate.

“Standby, we’ll send a strike group to cover for you!”

“Negative!” Madoda responded. “We’ll keep the enemy occupied here, prepare to receive targeting data from us!”

Momentarily forgetting herself and her station, Queen Nomsa tried to overrule Madoda!

“No! I’m not going to lose you!”

“You’ll be alright.” Madoda said. “It’s a father’s duty to protect his cubs. I’ll do what I must, daughter, so that you can do your own duty.”

Madoda ordered his tactical officer to transmit all of their sensor and targeting data to the Tantomile.

“Happy hunting, daughter.”

Some fifty infected carriers with over ten-thousand escort ships emerged from Hyperspace above Mars and descended upon the Tryna!

The skies above the Moon began to fill with wreckage as the allied armada was assailed from two sides! Battlecruisers and Dreadnaughts were completely overwhelmed as veritable clouds of enemy frigates rained fire down on them! Swarms of enemy fighters were so dense that it was impossible to see through to the other side! Lunar dust kicked up by the battle had shrouded the entire area in a thick screen that obscured all vision! The entire battle was now taking place inside of a roiling grey and white storm cloud that lit up like some sick fireworks display!

In the midst of it all, the Tantomile’s bridge was overrun with calls for help and reinforcements! The allied fleet was overwhelmed and on the breaking point! There were so many hostile ships in the area that targeting computers were starting to malfunction! Adil had to help the weapons controllers input firing solutions by hand, and in the midst of it all, Queen Nomsa suddenly felt a powerful sense of torpor overrun her entire body! Panting and gasping, the young lioness didn’t need anyone to tell her what had just happened.

Her powers were exhausted.

The Trinity was suddenly back in the fight as Nomsa’s telekinetic shield broke! At once, the superweapon turned against both the allied and Beast fleets! A shimmering energy wave erupted from the Trinity! Both Agamemnon and the End of the Cycle retaliated with powerful Psionic attacks! The rolling wave of energy washed over the Tantomile and most of her surrounding escorts! At once, several ships on both sides came apart at the seams, breaking apart and blowing away!

On the bridge, Nomsa and the entire crew were wracked by brutal pain! It was so bad that everybody stopped what they were doing to react! Nomsa fell over and tumbled off the dais! She roared and snapped her jaws, unable to tell what was causing every inch of her body to feel like it had just been tied in a knot! Around her, metal rusted and plastic corroded as though the entire ship was growing old at high speed! By the time Nomsa stood up again, she was no longer on the pristine, spotless bridge of a relatively new warship. Instead, the bridge of the Tantomile now resembled the command deck of a century-old hunk of junk.

“What the hell just happened!?” Nomsa yelled.

“Running analysis on blast effect now!” Dolim replied from his dilapidated engineering station. “It was a high energy distortion of spacetime. Everything in the effected zone seems to have aged.”

“Aged?” Nomsa repeated.

She tried to stand upright, but for some reason, all of Nomsa’s clothes were now extremely tight and constrictive. As she struggled and moaned with discomfort, Dolim, Adil, and Arzhang all looked around and saw confirmation of Dolim’s statement. Lights burned out from old age and the ship creaked and groaned around them as though it may fall apart at any moment!

“Yeah…” Adil said. “Aged.”

Nomsa, previously an adolescent lion, was now fully grown and had reached her adult size. She had to tear her military uniform with her claws to be able to breathe. Along with everybody else on the bridge, Dolim, Adil, and Arzhang had grown older as well. Adil’s hair had turned grey, while Arzhang was starting to molt his feathers all over the floor. Dolim’s tail (which had been lost during the Battle of Barnard’s Star) was suddenly halfway through growing back, something he found extremely uncomfortable.

“Time fields.” Adil said. “The Templars are using time fields to age our ships and crews to death! Jericho needs to recapture the Trinity quickly, before we get hit by another one of those waves!”

“On the contrary!” Nomsa cut in. “We can’t afford to wait anymore! All ships, target-lock the Trinity and prepare to fire on my command!”

Dolim, Arzhang, and Adil all tried to argue, but Nomsa shut them down!

“Jericho’s out of time! This is what she wanted! We can’t let Akira keep control of the Trinity! If we try to fight a battle on two fronts, we’ll all end up dead!”

The Tantomile turned hard, and several of her escort ships did the same. Shrugging off Ion beams and missile barrages, the Partogan Flagship aimed all of her weapons at the Psionic superweapon! Vaygr, Kel-Azan, Blog, and Micore warships all did the same as Nomsa prepared to give the lethal order! At that exact moment, a voice crackled over the Hyperwave Network!

“Attention Triple Alliance fleet command. This is Priya Pactu-Re of the Kiith S’Jet warship Kapisi! May we provide assistance?”

Then… More voices!

“This is the Command Ship Perseverance of the Kelta National Guard! We are on combat stations and ready to lend a hand!”

“This is Fleet 15 of the Hiigaran Empire. Show us where we can help!”

“Aoraki Defense Fleet calling Commonwealth Star Command. We’ve brought reinforcements from Assuria and Micanawn!”

“Tantomile, this is Triple Alliance Flagship Mahuika. Keep this Hyperspace Gate open! We’ve got reinforcements coming in from all across the Galaxy!”

 

Guns blazing, engines roaring, the Tantomile punched her way through the enemy fleet and gave Nomsa a good view of what was coming up from below! The same Hyperspace Gate the Mahuika left behind on her departure had come to life, and now a seemingly unending stream of warships was starting to pour out of it! A moment later, the Mahuika herself emerged from Hyperspace! The Triple Alliance flagship transmitted one more message to Nomsa:

“Be advised, your Majesty, the Mahuika is now a Far-Jumper! You keep fighting, and we’ll keep bringing in reinforcements! There’s a whole Galaxy out there itching to join the fight!”

In the blink of an eye, the Mahuika vanished into Hyperspace!

…

The Same Moment
High orbit above The Heartland, United States of Assuria


Approximately one hundred-thousand light-years away, clear across the other side of the Galaxy, the Mahuika re-materialized above the Assurian capitol at the exact same moment she had departed Earth. Kendra and Eteka were awed at the sight of tens of thousands of starships assembling here, weapons powered up, armor polarized, and ready to join the battle.

“I thought the Assurian Navy was destroyed.” Admiral Enoka gasped. “Where’d all these ships come from?”

“This is no navy.” Kendra replied. “It’s just people. People who want to save their families and friends. Let’s give’em a chance to do that.”

…

Minutes later
Elliptical Orbit above Earth, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


The Mahuika returned to Earth’s Moon, pulling along a huge armada behind it! While the massive surge of new allies joined the fray, the Triple Alliance flagship jumped away again! But this time, a Kelt Mothership also jumped away. They had been given one of the three Hyperspace Cores, and the same mission as the Mahuika.

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 4:50am
Ruins of XCOM Headquarters (2015-era), Manhattan, Kansas
(Local time: Wednesday, September 10, 2036 – 2:50pm)


The rolling plains of Kansas are normally a quiet place. Especially so ever since the ADVENT Coalition had bulldozed the nearby city of Manhattan, leaving this region nearly devoid of Human life. That meant this was a good place to hide, but it also meant that there would be nowhere to run once one had been found.

And for Konstantine Volkilov, that truth would be his downfall today. UN Army forces surrounded the new Reaper base and then attacked with a vengeance and fury unlike anything seen before! While some soldiers gave chase, pursuing Volk and his Reapers into the ruins of XCOM HQ, others laid siege to the nearby radio tower, cutting Volk off from Reaper forces all over the world!

A mixed force of Humans and aliens followed a squad of Reclamation Agents into the breach. The men and women of Chimera Squad had only a few short hours to rest before being plunged into this mission. Cherub led the way, keeping his energy shield raised.

The tunnels and chambers of XCOM’s underground base were partially collapsed and generally in bad shape. Reapers had done their best to set up ambushes and traps, but these pitfalls were mostly geared towards aliens, and were easily circumvented or disabled by their Human adversaries.

Through the old MEC Bay, through Mission Control and across the old Hologlobe projectors, down the elevator shaft and past Vahlen’s old lab, Chimera Squad led the assault! Leaving a trail of dead and dying Reapers in their wake, Terminal and Blueblood took point, guiding their allies into what remained of the Gollop Chamber, where Volk made his final stand.

The Gollop Chamber was just the way it had been left after this facility fell to the aliens over twenty years ago, in a general state of ruin. Long since damaged beyond repair, the Ethereal Device now only served as cover for Volk. The Reaper leader fired a few desperate pot-shots at Godmother before she turned her shotgun against him!

The remains of the Ethereal Device shattered against the blow and Volk collapsed to the ground, blood spurting from a wound in his arm. Godmother, Terminal, Blueblood, and the Sectoid known as Verge stood over their fallen foe while UN Army soldiers continued to secure the room.

“Go on, then!” Volk spat blood and cradled his injured arm. “Finish it!”

Terminal pulled a small electronic device from her pocket and attached a small microphone to it.

“First, I’m gonna need you to call off all your buddies.” Terminal said, pointing the microphone at Volk. “Tell your Reapers to stand down.”

“Like hell I’m gonna do that!” Volk shouted. “I’m not going to help you betray our species and sell our planet to aliens!”

Terminal’s voice, while sarcastic, dripped with malicious intent:

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I gave you the impression that you had a choice! That’s my bad. Verge? Ol’ buddy, ol’ pal? Wanna help me out?”

Terminal knelt down and seized Volk by the shoulders, forcing him to hold still while Verge did his work.

…

All across the world, Reapers paused as their leader’s voice spoke through their radios. They reacted to Volk’s final orders in a wide range of ways. Some naturally refused to believe it was him, and went down in a blaze of glory at the hands of UN soldiers. Others were confused. Unsure of what to do next, these Reapers were found and captured before they could figure out a new plan. But the vast majority of Reaper forces obeyed the final command of their leader:

They laid down their arms and surrendered. The battle on Earth was over.

All across the planet, UN Army soldiers, XCOM operatives, Reclamation Agents, and Volunteer Defense fighters began to converge on their nearest Psionic Gate. It was time for the next phase of the mission…

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 5:01am
Deep space, on Impact Trajectory with Earth, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


“Blackout!”

For the second time since the fight had begun, all Psionics abruptly failed us! In any other circumstance, I would have feared and dreaded Psionic Blackouts. Jericho, Mira, Manako, Kanti, and Chihiro were all left completely powerless and vulnerable during these moments… but as it turned out… the same went for our enemies!

The vast majority of the hostiles who now controlled the Trinity were Templars or members of the Progeny. As yet another blackout rolled across the ship, Templars reacted to the loss of their powers with panic and disorientation. And that was when we struck!

Axiom, Naka, and Elsina were in their element! Being a Viper, Naka could crawl through air ducts and narrow passageways none of us could ever hope to fit through. She caused panic amongst the enemy by spitting venom and then using her own serpentine body to constrict and crush her enemies to death.

Axiom skipped all of those steps and went straight to “crush.” Every time he rounded a corner, Reapers, Progeny, and Templars alike would lose their nerve! Roaring so loudly that the lights flickered and my ears throbbed, Axiom smashed his way through anything and everything! No cover could stand before his fists, and his thick hide allowed him to shrug off most of the Reaper’s gunfire!

Elsina followed Axiom’s lead, closing with and killing her enemies at melee range! Claws and teeth slashed and tore away at blacked out Templars! Before too long, the number of hostiles we found in each corridor and chamber started to go down. The enemy’s morale was cracking!

Unfortunately for us, the Trinity was huge! After about an hour of fighting and pushing forward, we had only travelled about two miles into the ship’s interior. That was when we found our lucky break.

“Look!” Soo Song pointed towards an elevated platform in an engineering section.

It was an Ascension Chamber!

Manako Ranginui and I agreed to make use of the teleportation device. Jericho volunteered to go first, but Mira overruled her. Instead, we all took a minute to check our weapons and ammo, buying a few seconds for the Blackout to end. Then Jericho and Mira confirmed that their powers were back. Kanti stepped onto the platform and beckoned us to do the same.

“On my go.” Kanti said. “One, two, three, go!”

“Here we go again!” Chihiro sounded a little too excited.

I remembered the last time I’d gone through one of these teleporters, and even though I was expecting the unpleasant sensations, I still wasn’t ready for them! It was like all of reality suddenly went to pieces! The floor fell out from under us and we all tumbled through an endless pit of light and sound! The spinning vortex overpowered all of my senses and I jammed my eyes shut until it was over!

I didn’t have time to get my bearings. The second I rematerialized; I was in a fight! Gunfire and Psionic energy snapped and crackled all around us!

“COVER!” I yelled.

Chihiro and I scrambled away from the platform as the rest of the team started to appear! Kanti spread her wings and took flight! Elsina, Axiom, and Naka charged headlong into the fray! Lee Chong-Il pointed towards an object on my left and yelled:

“Psi Gate! Over there!”

We had found a Psionic Gate! It was tucked away in the back of what was clearly some kind of armory, and it was being defended by a dozen Templars and Progeny, under the direct leadership of Geist himself!

“Ranginui!” I barked. “You get the Psi Gate under control! Everyone else, gun down my target!”

I pointed the Arashi over the fallen weapons locker I was using for cover and sent a Gauss slug flying towards Geist! He deflected the round easily, and then I lost sight of him as a chaotic close-quarters battle erupted! Soulfire and Psi Lances filled the air! Kanti alighted on top of another locker and started blasting the enemy with telekinesis! Jericho pulled the pin on a Vortex Grenade and tossed it towards a group of Templars, who were all sucked into the Void Rift it spawned a moment later!

“You’re on the wrong side, Jericho!” Geist shouted above the din of battle. “Don’t you see what Duane is doing? I thought you wanted to save Humanity!”

“Not this way!” Jericho retorted. “I won’t betray my friends or abuse my Gift!”

“Abuse!?” Geist pushed Zeil away from him with a telekinetic pulse. “You forget the nature of the Gift, Jericho! It is the power of the Earth, the spirit of Humanity! It exists for our use, and ours alone! It’s what sets our species above all others!”

“God, you’re no better than the Elders!” Soo shouted. “Can somebody shut him up, please!?”

The last remaining Templars regrouped around Geist, Shard Blades ignited and ready. Just when it seemed the fight would restart in earnest, Geist yelled:

“Wait!”

Geist had seen the one unarmed combatant who had been following my team closely. He stepped in front of his men as Violet came forward. The red-haired ex-Templar stopped just between myself and Chihiro, unwilling to get closer to her former leader.

“Come back to us.” Geist said to Violet. “You’ve heard our calling. You can help us build the new world, as perfect as we could ever hope it to be.”

“No.” Violet’s tone was cold. Geist lowered his hand.

“You say the Gift is Humanity’s greatest treasure, yet it’s not shared by all Humans. This girl…” Violet pointed at Chihiro and myself. “Had her powers induced. He only enjoys the Gift at her leisure. There’s nothing great or wonderful about that, Geist. You want to build a perfect new world? I do too. I want a world where every Human being is born with the Gift.”

Geist’s expression faltered.

“You know that could never be, girl.” Geist said. “The rarity of the Gift is what makes it so special. How would we find great rulers and warriors if all were equal? Human society would stagnate. Now, put those thoughts from your mind, Violet… and come back to us.”

Geist was no longer asking for Violet’s return. He was commanding it. I could feel Psionic energy starting to ripple out of the Templar leader towards Violet! Before any of us could respond, Violet reacted! Chihiro’s Shadowkeeper jumped out of her hand and into Violet’s! A telekinetic pulse rocketed forward from Violet’s body and struck Geist, knocking him off balance! Then she raised the pistol and fired once!

Geist’s armor splintered, sending blood and shrapnel flying! He stumbled backwards and fell through the Psionic Gate, causing Manako to jump away from it in alarm! Gun and Soulfire erupted once more as the fight resumed! I had to grab Chihiro and push her down behind cover as one of the Templars tried to strike her! Above us, Violet dropped the Shadowkeeper next to Chihiro and resorted to fighting with her own powers!

A moment later, the Psionic Gate came to life! A Rift opened up in the crescent-shaped pillars and three people stepped out of it! Pushing Geist’s bullet-riddled body to the floor, Soylent Green yelled:

“The cavalry has arrived!”

Kathleen Walsh and Yutaka Yamamoto opened fire, striking the last hostile Templars from behind! It wasn’t a fair fight, but at least it was over quickly.

All but a few Templars were killed, while the remainder had been injured beyond the ability to fight. In groups of six at a time, XCOM soldiers began pouring through the Psi Gate to join us. Commander Bradford and Central Officer Smith followed Isis Dekker and Hal Macintosh into the armory.

“We were starting to worry, Robinson.” Bradford told me. “What’s the situation up here?”

While I brought Bradford up to speed on the boarding action, Jericho and Mira checked up on the soldiers on our side, healing those who had been hurt. After a few moments, Jericho came back and told me:

“Song’s dead.”

Soo Song had gone down in that final outburst of violence. As far as I could tell, a Templar had deflected one of our bullets, causing it to come back and strike her in the neck. Fortunately, Song had been the only fatality on our side.

“No time to mourn.” I said. “Somebody grab her gear. Violet, you might as well take her weapon. I need two people to stay back here and keep this Gate open. It’s going to be our way home if things go south.”

Two members of XCOM’s Delta Squad volunteered to be our rearguard. Meanwhile, even more reinforcements emerged from the Psi Gate, ready to join us in the final push. Central Officer Holly Smith, the former leader of the Stormbreakers, appeared wearing a suit of power armor, complete with advanced cybernetic hands. Commander Bradford, Lily Shen, and the android Julian also appeared, emerging via the Psi gate in Nagasaki. The team, now reinforced, proceeded back to the Ascension Chamber, back on the path towards the control room and the Time Core.

…

Over the past thirty years or so, the team known as the Stormbreakers has grown and shrunk. At our smallest, there were just four of us fighting in the streets of Hiroshima. But here, today… during the final push towards the Trinity’s control room and Time Core… this was the largest our team would ever be. Twenty-nine Humans and aliens fought their way as one towards our final goal!

Matthew Hawkins and Yutaka Yamamoto carried the heavy weapons, mowing down hostiles before us like a force never before seen! Being an android, Julian was immune to most Psionic attacks, allowing him to make short work of the Templars opposing us. Soylent Green, Hal Macintosh, and Kathleen Walsh fought together like a well-oiled machine, covering all angles and protecting the team from ambush. Odette Fournier, normally a loner, plied the flanks alongside Elsina and Kanti. Lee Chong-Il, Temirzhan, Sarah Harris, and Naka moved as one, watching each other’s backs all the way. Manako Ranginui, Kailani Kalili, and Axiom became our battering ram. They were the first ones in each room, fighting with a kind of fury and force that I feared might tear the entire ship apart! Sophie Ackermann and Sophia Kuznetsova never lost sight of one another, frequently calling out to each other to see if the other was still okay, and racing to aid the other at the slightest hint of danger.

Commander Bradford and Chief Engineer Shen were a dynamic duo, bringing both experience and raw power to the fight, blasting their enemies away with the latest technology XCOM had to deploy. Central Officer Holly Smith used the wrist-mounted laser weapons on her power armor to punch through enemy fortifications, clearing the way for everybody else. Violet fought with both her Gift and a rifle, sending enough firepower downrange that she could have been a squad all by herself! Isis Dekker, Mira Mihaka, and Jericho moved as a trio. The two Psionic fighters unleashed powerful attacks while Isis and her drone gave them crucial support. Tsubaki Endo, Chihiro Tachibana, and I made up another trio. We dashed from one group the next, offering fire support wherever they needed it!

Before us, the enemy seemed to just melt away. The Progeny’s morale broke entirely and they fled on sight! Reapers offered only the briefest of resistance before attempting to escape, and any Templar who tried to stand up to us for more than a minute had their life cut short! Meanwhile, AFUNE and the rest of Earth’s soldiers had been turned loose on the rest of the ship! One by one, Psionic Gates fell, causing the flow of friendly reinforcements to intensify! Second by second, the Trinity was falling under our control!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of fighting, we came upon a huge spherical chamber. It was mostly empty space, save for a huge hemispherical dome rising from the floor to fill half of the chamber.

“This is it.” Mira told us. “The rest of the ship was changed and modified during construction, but not this chamber, it’s too central. Everything else is built upon this section. It’s the core of the Trinity!”

Jericho pointed to the domed structure in the middle of the chamber.

“Command Room is through there.” She said. “The Time Core will be right underneath of it. Four entrances, all accessible via catwalks or elevators.”

“I can’t tell if anyone’s in there.” Chihiro said. “Normally, I could sense minds at this range.”

“The weapon must be online.” Mira said. “They’ve started to drain our powers.”

“If that’s the case…” Chihiro murmured.

She grabbed my hand and I felt a shock run up my arm. Once more, I felt the mental rush of being given access to the Gift. Chihiro smiled at me.

“This might be the last chance you ever get to use it.” She said.

“Then I won’t waste it.” I replied. “Let’s go, everyone.”

To our left, Kailani caught Kanti and said:

“Hey, it’s gonna get crazy in there, maybe you should let me go.”

Kanti was confused.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

Manako and Elsina cut in:

“It’s a phrase we had when Reepi was on the team.” Elsina said. “You need to break your influence over Kailani. Let her go… let her go insane.”

“She’s a better fighter when she’s unhinged.” Manako added. “If any of us live through this, Kailani, we’ll bring you back, just like always.”

Kailani nodded at Kanti. Reluctantly, Kanti assented.

Last time I saw Kailani’s mental state shift, I hadn’t been sharing Chihiro’s Gift. Now, I could actually sense the moment when Kailani’s forced attraction to Kanti came to an end. Something within the young Partogan snapped like a twig… and she found it to be very… very… very funny.

I’m almost certain that Akira knew we were outside now. If Kailani’s sadistic pre-killing laughter hadn’t given us away, our encirclement of the control room sure did. Some of us were noisy, and others weren’t wearing Mindshields. But if none of that alerted the people inside, then they found out when I said loudly:

“On my go… three, two, one… BREACH!”

We all stormed into the control room at the same time! Forty Templars and ten Reapers were waiting for us inside! In the center of it all was Akira! She was wearing a pair of Celestial Gauntlets and had Shard Blades fully extended. Bodies started hitting the floor in the first two seconds! Gunfire echoed up to the ceiling and Void Rifts tore at bodies! I dropped a Reaper with the Arashi before using telekinesis to hold a Templar in place while Temirzhan and Sarah gunned him down!

The chaos of this last battle was so intense that it was nearly impossible to make out what was going on most of the time! I only saw bits and pieces of the major action as Chihiro and I traversed between targets and engaged new foes! But from what I did see, the fight grew progressively more and more one-sided as time went on.

Kanti and Naka made a killer team, literally. The peahen used telekinesis to lift a Templar into the air, where Naka could constrict him. Axiom smashed one Templar into the floor so hard that the ceiling cracked! Meanwhile, Kailani was laughing like a complete maniac. She shrugged off every telepathic blow the Templars sent her way, closing the distance and slashing at them with a serrated bayonet!

Matthew, Lily, and Julian stood back to back, firing heavy weapons as though they’d never get the chance to do so again! Lily blasted an incoming Templar with her Plasma Rifle, he stumbled sideways and into range of Julian’s big metal fist!

“Good kill, little brother!” Lily shouted.

“Father really outdid himself!” Julian declared. “If only he could see yo-”

Julian’s last words died in a shower of sparks! Two Reapers scrambled for cover as the Android collapsed, their rifles still smoking.

On the other side of the room, Jericho fought three Templars at once! Shard Blades flickered in the smoke-filled air, moving too fast for me to keep track of! In the chaos, one of the Templars got behind Jericho and raised his Celestial Gauntlets, ready to strike!

“Look out!”

Jericho was shoved out of the way at the last second before the Templar brought his blade slashing down! Blood sprayed from Yutaka Yamamoto’s neck and chest, but with his last breath, he raised his light machine gun and sprayed the Templar with nearly a hundred bullets!

A moment later, Naka went down! She was trying to constrict the last Reaper when a Templar ran to his comrade’s defense. Axiom, Temirzhan, and Elsina all tried to help, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. With one swing of his Shard Blades, the Templar decapitated Naka! Her head rolled off and her entire body collapsed, twitching! Axiom and Elsina descended upon the Templar with horrific violence in return. After that, Chihiro and I blasted our way through one last enemy and found ourselves face-to-face with Akira herself! The Paradox tried to back away, only to jump forward and scream with pain. Kailani had gotten behind her and had lashed out! I saw blood on the blade of Kailani’s serrated bayonet! Before Chihiro and I could react, Akira lunched forward and stabbed Kailani with one of her Shard Blades! Holding my wife and I back with a Telekinetic shield, Akira focused entirely on Kailani, who seemed unaware of the fact that she had just taken a mortal wound! Laughing all the way to the moment of death, Kailani continued slashing and hacking at Akira’s right arm with her blade, drawing blood and forcing Akira to withdraw her blade and retreat. Clutching her bloody and mangled arm, Akira retreated, taking shelter near the central alcove as the fight finally came to an end.

Forty Templars, ten Reapers, and four Stormbreakers were dead. The control room was looking like it had seen better days, and in the middle of it all, there was a fifth structure. A pillar of wire, circuit boards, hydraulics, and other unidentifiable tech rose from the floor and stretched all the way to the ceiling. Cables ran along the floor and connected the central core to the surrounding four obelisks. There was a niche carved into the central pillar, and seated inside of it in a specially designed reclining chair, was Duane Gardner. He was integrated into the ship’s core, with wires and cables sticking out of his head and neck. Akira Robinson was standing in front of him, blocking the entrance to the little enclave with a Psionic shield.

Before now, Akira always had a confident, self-assured demeanor; like everything was going her way and she knew it. But now, having witnessed the battle we had just fought, I could see that Akira’s expression was now one of shocked disbelief.

“How?” She gasped. “How are you all here?” What about the fight on Earth?”

“That fight’s over, ya gobshite.” Kathleen taunted. “All your Reaper lads are either in custody or buyin’ the farm. Earth is safe.”

Akira looked stunned.

“I… I… I don’t get it.” She said. “None of this is supposed to happen, I thought I fixed the timeline! I thought I got everything right!”

Mira scoffed.

“Oh, I think you got it right, Akira. Actually, I’ll say you did a better job than you realize.”

Akira looked up at Mira.

“Don’t you remember?” Mira said in a low, threatening tone. “Oh, so long ago… you said that you wanted to ‘change the outcome of this war.’ You said ‘What if the rest of the Stormbreakers survived?’ Well, now you know. You wanted the Stormbreakers to have a definitive victory instead of just narrowly surviving, right!? Well here we are, Akira, you’ve gotten your wish! The Stormbreakers have not only won, they’ve crushed their enemies! I guess the only difference is… the Stormbreakers didn’t defeat the Beast.”

Mira raised her weapon at the Paradox.

“They defeated you.”

Akira’s eyes flashed for the briefest moment before she and Mira attacked one another with Psionic energy! A shower of blue and white sparks exploded out from between them as I raised the Arashi and fired a single round at Akira! Dense purple smoke filled the chamber and obscured all of our vision! Panicked shouts and yells nearly raised the ceiling! Then the smoke cleared, and we could see what had just happened.

Duane Gardner was dead, and Akira was gone. The round I fired at Akira had sailed straight past her and struck Duane in the head. The Paradox herself was nowhere to be seen. Manako, however, quickly figured out what I had missed.

“She’s going for the Time Core!” Manako yelled and pointed at a hatch cover on the floor.

Odette and Hal quickly pulled it aside to reveal a ladder descending towards a lower level. Both soldiers pointed their weapons down the hole and opened fire, holding the triggers down until they were both out of ammunition!

Jericho grabbed Manako by the shoulder and pointed towards the integration assembly, where Duane’s body had gone limp.

“Get him out of there!” Jericho said, pointing at Duane’s body. “Blake, Mira, Chihiro, go after Akira!”

“Just the three of us!?” Chihiro protested.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing!” Jericho said. “Manako, Kanti, Violet, stay here and help me integrate! Everyone else, fan out and lock down all possible escape routes! Make sure Akira can’t leave the Time Core chamber!”

The team started to scatter. Mira reached the ladder first and slid down to the bottom as quickly as she could.

“I’ll see you at the bottom, Trojan!”

I went next, sliding down the ladder after Mira, and Chihiro brought up the rear.

…

The Time Core chamber beneath us was far more cramped than the control room above. Even so, Chihiro, Mira and I found ourselves frighteningly alone when we landed in it. Machinery of all sorts could be found down here. Cables, wires, and pipes crisscrossed the ceiling and walls, while some mechanical humming sounded through the metal grate we were walking on. Before we set out, Mira, Chihiro and I all made sure we still had our Mindshields on. I was also carrying

“Mira, you helped build this thing,” I said. “Where’s the Time Core?”

“It’s supposed to be directly underneath the control system.” Mira responded. “Somewhere to our right.”

From the semidarkness, Akira’s voice echoed through the narrow halls:

“Oh, of course it’s you three!!”

Chihiro, Mira, and I all sensed the attack coming at the same time! We ducked as a telepathic force sailed directly over our heads! The wall next to us erupted! Sparks flew and a pipe ruptured, spraying hot gas everywhere! Chihiro lunged around the corner and fired her Shadowkeeper! The gunshot echoed painfully throughout the narrow halls and sparks flew from a computer screen!

“Check your fire!” I shouted! “We don’t wanna hit the Time Core!”

From the darkness, I heard the Paradox laugh.

“That’s got to be the only useful thing you’ve ever said, dad!” She said. “How the hell am I supposed to fix this mess of a timeline without the only thing in the universe that can bend time?”

“We’d prefer it if you stopped trying to fix our timeline!” Chihiro shouted!

Mira spun on her heels and deflected a Psi Volt into the floor! Akira vanished into the darkness once more. Chihiro made sure that she was still sharing her powers with me as all three of us resorted to the Gift to keep the Paradox at bay.

“I thought Mira already told you that I don’t care what other people think about what I’m doing!” Akira taunted us. “The future I’m going to make will be the best possible life for all of you. Why should you even care about what could have been when it’s just not good enough!?”

“Because you’re stealing our destinies from us!” Chihiro yelled. “Our free will, any control we have over our own lives!”

I rounded a corner and found a huge cylindrical object. The catwalk made a circle around it and the object itself had several boxes filled with words painted on the side. On closer inspection, I realized that the writing was in the Hiigaran language. I rapped my knuckles on the Time Core and said in a low voice:

“Contact with Tango Charlie.”

Mira and Chihiro heard my whisper and both tapped their knuckles against something metal in acknowledgement. The three of us fanned out in search of Akira, but I chose to stay close to the Time Core, walking around its perimeter and peering down any corridor that connected to it. Akira responded to Chihiro’s voice:

“Stealing destinies? You’re one to talk, mother! Tell me, what do you think Himawari’s going to say when she finds out you sold her ears to the Eater of Worlds? Cause it sounds to me like you took away some control in her life, too.”

“Wait, what!?” I said, caught off guard.

“Oh, you didn’t tell dad!?” Akira laughed. “Oh, man. Maybe I should back off and just let him kill you!”

From somewhere in the darkness, Chihiro called out.

“Blake! I didn’t know! None of us found out it was the Eater of Worlds until after we fought the Deep One!” Chihiro was pleading with me from the darkness! “Please, believe me! I never meant to hurt our daughter! I didn’t know!”

“Come on, mom.” Akira sneered from the shadows. “You always taught me that ignorance wasn’t an excuse.”

“It’s not an excuse,” I said, “But it is something I can forgive. I believe you, Chi. You know I always believe you!”

“So… damn… predictable.” Said a nearby voice.

Akira had found me.

I could just barely see her around the corner. Her right arm was raised, a swirling ball of Psionic energy held in her palm, just waiting for the mental command to launch. A clatter of feet behind me told me that Chihiro and Mira had arrived as well.

“With Duane dead, this Cycle’s a lost cause.” Akira said. “Jericho is going to try and use the Trinity to fight the Beast, but I’ve already disabled it, so she’s as good as dead.”

“Disabled!?” Chihiro repeated. “Wait a minute! The Trinity never malfunctioned at all! You sabotaged it!”

Akira scoffed as though she had expected this confirmation to be old news.

“Jericho isn’t supposed to use the Trinity to win this war.” Akira replied. “Cancelling the Trinity’s existence on the timeline causes too many problems, so I used to just come down here and snip a few wires… that was… until I realized Duane makes a better pilot for the Trinity than Jericho. And then you screwed it all up!”

Slowly, I sidled to the right, hiding my right side from Akira’s view, behind the Time Core itself. While I reached into my cargo pocket, I continued talking.

“So what are you going to do now?” I said. “Take the Time Core, jump to the next Cycle, and do it all again?”

“Exactly.” Akira replied. “Thing is, I have to do almost everything exactly the same as this Cycle, right up until this past year. Obviously, I have to get rid of you, Mira. Then I have to stop you and mom from going into space with the rest of the team. Harper really needs to stop building Battlemasters after number fifteen.”

Behind me, Chihiro and Mira saw what I was doing. They both gasped aloud, catching Akira’s attention. The Paradox lunged forward!

“What’s going on, what are you doing!?”

With a single burst of telekinesis, I caused the Shadowkeeper to jump out of Chihiro’s hand and into my own! I took two steps back and aimed the pistol at one specific point on the Time Core! Akira ran forward a few paces and came to a skidding stop when she saw what I had done:

Throughout the entire battle, I had been carrying a single antipersonnel mine in my pocket, saving it for when the moment seemed right, and now that moment was here. Using just one hand, I had wedged the mine into a gap between two panels of the Time Core’s outer casing. Now, I was aiming Chihiro’s pistol directly at the mine. There was only half a pound of TNT in the explosive charge, but in this cramped space, that was more than sufficient to destroy the Time Core… and possibly kill us all.

Akira’s face had gone very pale. I was trying not to acknowledge how much I was sweating.

“Listen here.” I injected confidence into my voice, desperately trying to stop it from shaking. “I don’t think you’ve been hearing us, but now that I’ve got your attention, I’ll say it again: There will be no more time travel. No more Cycles or resets. We want to make our own future; we want to live with our own choices and consequences. Whatever happens today, we’re going to live with it, understand? You are not going to make our future for us anymore.”

Mira and Chihiro came to stand by my side.

“Blake’s right.” Chihiro said. “You’ve gotta stop this, Akira. Let go of all this timeline stuff.”

“You’re on a mad quest that will take you to eternity.” Mira said. “You’ll never be satisfied, so your mission will never end. Stop this now, Akira, while we’re giving you the chance.”

Akira inched closer to us. I put my finger inside the trigger well and she halted.

“Or what?” She hissed. “You’d really destroy the Time Core?”

“To stop you, absolutely.” I replied.

An evil smile crossed Akira’s face.

“Right. Before you do that, maybe I should give you a lesson… tell you precisely why I know for a fact that you would never do that, Blake.”

Akira crossed her arms and looked at the three of us.

“Time is a fundamental component of the Universe.” Akira said. “The Time Core, when used as a Hyperspace Module, lets you jump across vast reaches of time, so long as you’re moving in the same direction as time itself. When you weaponize the Core, like this, you can slow down time as much as you like, but you can’t actually stop it. Time is inexorable and irreversible. It keeps the entire Universe running like an engine.”

Akira took one step towards us.

“Now imagine that someone takes a hammer and smashes that engine. You’d better pray to God, or maybe Jericho, that you completely vaporize the Time Core; that it utterly ceases to exist in a single moment… because if you don’t, you’re going to find out what happens when time itself breaks.”

My mouth seemed to have gone dry. Akira read the atmosphere of fear and went on.

“Did you know I designed the Time Core based on some notes written by an old XCOM scientist? He said that time as a force must be handled with extreme care. There’s actual time energy contained within the housing, Blake. Breach it, and you’ll unleash that chaotic energy on the Universe. Your past, present, and future will all exist at once. Minutes, seconds, and hours will fold up on one another, and every possible timeline will merge into one unholy mess!”

Chihiro whimpered. Akira directed her words at her:

“Imagine, mom: your body being trapped between days. Half of you getting older while the other half turns back into a child! Causality itself would be meaningless! You could kill me right now, and I’ll just walk into yesterday or tomorrow and avenge myself! Your future will be in the past, and the present a century ahead of you! Plans and memories would be the same thing! You’ll never die! You’ll never be born!”

Akira turned back to me.

“Will you really do that, Blake!? Would you really damage time itself just to stop me!?”

“If you don’t agree to stop meddling with our lives, you’re going to find out.” I said.

At that moment, noises and rumblings began to sound all around us! Pipes rattled and computer screens lit up in the darkened corridor! A computerized voice said:

“Integration complete. All systems online.”

It was done. Jericho was now running the ship!

Mira, Chihiro, and Akira all wavered in place. A second later, the sensation hit me! It was like something had suddenly sapped a portion of my strength! I swayed on my feet and felt the urge to pass out build up in the back of my mind. Next to me, in the lowest, most quiet voice she possibly could, Mira muttered the words:

“Blake, Chihiro… On my signal, take your Mindshields off.”

Looking back at Akira, I said:

“Give it up, Akira. It’s really over now! Jericho’s got the ship and all four Shroud-Beings up there with her! Just let us have our future, and no one else will have to die.”

But Akira reached out with one hand, pointing her palm towards us and screamed:

“It’s not your future, it’s mine!”

And then she pulled backwards!

Just as Chihiro had described, it was like a hole had been torn in the very fabric of the Universe! A pit of darkness, like a miniature black hole, opened up in the air in front of us! I felt an overwhelming pull around my middle as an irresistible force started to drag me towards the cosmic Wound! Then, a second force wrapped around my entire body! A telekinetic field was pulling me away from the wound!

“Mindshields off!” Mira screamed! “Take them off now!”

With my free hand, I reached up and pulled the Elerium-powered device off my head, then grabbed Chihiro’s hand. In the furthest peripheries of my consciousness, I heard somebody yell:

“DO IT, BLAKE!”

With one epic push, Akira sent the tiny but overwhelming cosmic Wound hurtling down the corridor towards us! In our final seconds, I raised the Shadowkeeper, aimed down the sights with my one good eye, and pulled the trigger!

I saw, as if in slow-motion, the single bullet escape from the barrel of the Shadowkeeper! Psionic energy washed over Chihiro and I, pulling us upwards and away from the scene! A roaring train of silence and shadows and light and sound bowled us all over! The entire world fell away and turned white! Then, for the shortest possible moment, I could hear music, like a gentle wind chime before I felt the sensation of crashing headfirst through some kind of barrier!

And just like that, all was dark, silent, and still.

Chapter 55: Apotheosis

 

Chapter Forty-Seven
Apotheosis

In the midst of a furious thunderstorm, the sun began to rise.

It took me a few moments to get my bearings. I’d landed… somewhere. I was fairly certain that this wasn’t Earth or Hiigara or Aoraki or any of the other worlds I’ve seen before. All around me, the darkened landscape flickered and flashed as lightning danced overhead. The rumble of thunder was almost continuous, causing the ground to shudder. It was only when I looked down that I realized what I was standing on really cannot be considered “ground.” Sure, it was solid enough for me to put my weight on it, but there was nothing natural or earthly about this place.

The only remarkable feature about this strange realm was the sunrise. A magnificent white light continued to rise above the distant horizon. In fact, all of the lightning in the roiling sky above me seemed to be aimed towards that one distant light. Blue and purple clouds flitting through the air above me, all heading in the same direction: towards the sunrise.

In any other situation, I would have had a mountain of questions. I probably would have panicked about suddenly being teleported away from what honestly should have been my own death. I should have wondered where Chihiro and Mira were, too. But after everything I’ve gone through in my life, I’ve learned that sometimes I just need to stop asking questions and just go with the flow.

I don’t know how long I followed the lightning towards the sunrise. All of my senses seemed a little off, and I couldn’t estimate how much time passed, no matter how hard I tried. I want to say the journey took a long time, but I honestly felt like I’d just taken a short little stroll.

As I drew nearer to the light source, I realized something else. It wasn’t just the clouds and the lightning rumbling towards the sunrise… but everything. Each echo of thunder came from the direction of the horizon, sounding distant and growing fainter with each moment. Breathing in was a little harder than breathing out because all of the air was being pulled away as well. For a moment, I wondered if I was walking towards a black hole, and the sunlight ahead of me was just an accretion disk.

Well, it wasn’t like I could go anywhere else. I pressed on.

Eventually, or perhaps immediately, I came upon the source of the light. It was apparent why I’d mistaken it for a sunrise. Standing on a nondescript elevated position, watching over the entire realm rushing towards her, was Jericho. It’s really difficult for me to put into words what was happening. This strange world, whatever it was, was falling into Jericho’s hands, and I mean that literally! Those strange, swirling clouds of purple, blue, and white rumbled across the sky before descending to Jericho’s level, where the raced into her open palms and vanished from view.

Alarmingly, when I came within about a hundred feet of her, something similar started happening to me! Wispy fog escaped my mouth and nose with each breath, and Jericho siphoned it up instantly! A metaphorical fog clouded my brain as well. Losing my balance, I fell to my knees before reaching Jericho!

It was only when I broke eye contact that I noticed one final detail. I couldn’t see the ground very well because there was no light! All of the light in this strange realm was being drawn into Jericho as well! Looking up at her again, I shouted:

“Jericho! Where are we!?”

My voice was so loud it made my eardrums rattle! Despite the fact that the entire world seemed to be collapsing into Jericho’s hands, such an event was producing little noise aside from the still-distant rumble of thunder. Jericho turned her head to look at me.

“We’re in the Shroud.” She replied, “What’s left of it, anyway.”

The Shroud. So, this was the alternate plane of reality Mira had mentioned. The one supposedly above Hyperspace. The same place that was going to be drained by the Trinity.

“There you guys are! How’d we get here?”

A slightly high-pitched voice caught my attention. Chihiro was here! I couldn’t see her plainly because all of the light in the area was still rushing towards Jericho, but I could see her outline. She must have arrived after I did. How much longer is impossible to tell.

“I reached out and pulled you in.” Jericho explained. “Mira and I had a contingency plan in case things went wrong. If it ever looked like Akira was going to kill one or both of you, I would try to teleport you away.”

“Oh!” Chihiro gasped. “That’s why Mira told us to take off our Mindshields! Where is she, anyway?”

Chihiro and I looked around, but there was no sign of Mira.

“I couldn’t get her.” Jericho admitted. “I mean, the original plan was for me to just teleport you all to a different part of the ship, but I wasn’t counting on the Time Core being damaged.”

A powerful wave of guilt ran through me and I looked down at my feet. Chihiro sounded on the verge of panic.

“Oh, I was hoping that wasn’t real! Are we dead!?”

“Yes and no.” Jericho replied. “I was draining Psi-energy from the universe for about half a minute before it happened, so I had enough power to throw myself into the Shroud. I dragged you both along with me. I would have gotten Mira, too, but time was starting to break before I could reach out to her.”

“Hold on a minute.” I said. “I didn’t destroy the Time Core?”

“No, you didn’t.” Jericho answerd. “From what I can see up here, it looks like you just cracked the housing, but that would have been enough. The Time Core is still running, and it’s causing a huge time disturbance.”

“You can see all that from here?” Chihiro asked.

“I can now.” Jericho replied. “I was trying to absorb the powers of the Shroud-Beings when the first disruption hit. I only got the Composer of Strands and the Whisperers in the Void, however. The Trinity was barely warming up when time went sideways.”

“Can you show us?” Chihiro’s unexpected request made us both look at her. At first, I thought she was having a moment of morbid curiosity, but then the next part of her request came with a shift in tone: “Himawari… is our daughter okay? Can you check on her?”

Jericho’s voice cracked.

“She’s being affected by the time disruption like everyone else. Do you really want to see her?”

“Yes!” Chihiro and I replied at the same time.

Reluctantly, Jericho relented. A vision forced its way to the front of our minds!

In a small room, deep within the Imperial Bunker, the natural order of things had gone insane! A potted plant grew at an almost comical speed, reaching full size, shriveling up and dying mere moments before younger versions of itself grew to take its place. A man was running towards the sound of a person crying, only to freeze mid-stride as though time had come to a full and complete stop around him. Human-shaped afterimages flickered back and forth, they were all we could see of people whose time had been sped up. On the cushions of a couch, Himawari grew from a baby to a toddler, sprouting into a small child, then a teenager, before reverting back again. Shrinking down to toddler-age, Himawari let out a terrified scream as she transformed into an old woman, fell back to her twenties, then became a baby again.

Chihiro screamed. I felt really sick. As the nightmarish vision faded away, I saw Chihiro double over as though she was retching.

“That’s happing all over the world.” Jericho said. “And to the fleet, and to all of our friends aboard the Trinity. It’s chaos out there.”

“But we’re safe in here, right?” Chihiro asked.

Somehow, I already knew the answer to that. When Jericho hesitated to answer, it was confirmation enough for me.

“Jericho…” I said slowly. “Is there a reason why I can’t see Chihiro’s face?”

Jericho sighed, and warm light began to radiate out of her body. Finally able to see, Chihiro and I looked at one another, and we both jumped with fright, shouting:

“You’re so old!”

“You’re so young!”

There had always been an age gap between the two of us. I was (usually) three years older than Chihiro, but our situation had just been turned on its head! Chihiro was now old… very old. Her body seemed to have shrunk a few inches, and her hands were now bony and frail-looking. Chihiro’s whole face sagged and showed signs of being very tired, as though she’d reached the end of her natural lifespan. With one shaking hand, Chihiro pointed at me and said:

“I thought your face was always pudgy!”

I reached up so quickly that I smacked myself in the forehead. Sure enough, the contours of my own face had changed so much that I knew I was younger than I should be. Once I confirmed that my extra weight was missing, I looked down at my torso and arms. Best guess… I was fourteen or fifteen years old.

“Oh, this is so scary.” I breathed. “Jericho, isn’t there some way to fix… well… not just us, but all of time?”

“There might be.” Jericho replied. “I’ve had a long time to consider and think in here.”

“What!?” Chihiro interrupted. “But we’ve only been in the Shroud for… for… for a few…”

Now that Chihiro and I thought about it, neither of us had any real idea of just how long we’d been inside of the Shroud. For all we knew, it might have taken us several years just to find Jericho.

“I don’t think any of us intended for time itself to get broken.” Jericho said. “Hell, I don’t think Akira even had a plan for that, or else she would have followed us into the Shroud. But now that we’re here, now that the situation’s actually hit us… I think there’s a way we can actually use this to our advantage.”

Chihiro and I looked back at Jericho, then at one another. I could see that wisps of fog were still escaping our mouths and noses before being siphoned up by Jericho.

“Chihiro shared her powers with me.” I said slowly, “And now you’re draining energy from both of us, but not just us, from the Shroud as well, which means…”

“The Trinity is still functioning.” Jericho finished, “The Hypersiphon is up and running, which means I’m still draining Psionic energy from the Universe.”

Jericho gestured around with her hands. Looking about, I realized that the Shroud was getting darker and darker, regardless of how much time did or did not go by.

“By now, you might be the most powerful being in the universe.” Chihiro said in an awed whisper.

“Close, by not quite there yet.” Jericho said. “There’s just one last thing I need to do before we try to put time right. Do either of you remember those Vanians who came to see me at Nagasaki?”

“Sure.” I answered. “They were more obsessed with you than most Humans.”

“Do you remember what they were saying about me?” Jericho asked. “That one thought that kept going through all of their minds?”

I paused. Honestly, I couldn’t remember. But Chihiro did:

“’Could she succeed where we failed?’” she recited.

“What could the Vanians have failed at?” I wondered aloud. “Before the Beast, they were doing pretty well. Didn’t they have a Shroud-Being under their control at one point?”

“Two.” Chihiro corrected me. “And they visited the Shroud regularly, from what I’ve heard.”

“While I was waiting for you two to catch up, I looked into that.” Jericho said. “Now that time is broken, I used the Whisperers in the Void to get several decades worth of research done in a matter of seconds… at least, I think I did. Look over there.”

Jericho pointed over Chihiro’s shoulder. We both looked around. In the far distance, just over the horizon, another point of light was coming towards us. This one was far smaller than Jericho herself, yet it still seemed to be quite overpowering.

“What is that?” I said, narrowing my one good eye.

“That,” Jericho said, “Is the final piece of the puzzle. The last thing we need to beat both the Beast and Akira.”

Chihiro leaned forward to take a closer look, shedding almost thirty years off her age in a single moment. Now a middle-aged woman, she raised her hand to shield her eyes.

“I think Mira said that the entire Shroud is made from Psionic energy, so that thing, whatever it is, must be made of it as well, right?”

“That thing is where the Vanians failed.” Jericho said. “The Ethereals tried as well, and failed repeatedly. If it wasn’t for Akira, the Levakians might have tried their luck, and who knows how it would have worked out for them.”

“Did Akira ever try?” I asked.

“Why would she?” Jericho answered. “She already has the power of the End of the Cycle, so no one would ever be able to match her… as long as no one succeeded here.”

There was nothing we could do but wait. The mysterious Psionic thing, whatever it was, was still a long way off, but it was being drawn, inexorably, towards us. Jericho was absorbing all Psionic energy in the Shroud, and since this place was made from the stuff, it was inevitable that we would find ourselves faced with this strange thing sooner or later.

Chihiro and I sat down on the nondescript surface to wait. Again, there’s no possible way to know exactly how long we were there for. It didn’t help that the time disruption rippled through us repeatedly during the long wait. My whole body ached and creaked as I aged into an old man at high speed. Chihiro wrapped her arms around me tightly as she regressed all the way back to her elementary school years before suddenly rocketing back towards adulthood. I lost track of events once, probably because I turned into a baby. I do remember at one point, I woke up in Chihiro’s twelve-year-old arms, I was very small and she was cradling me. We grew old together, grew young together, and grew apart together, patiently waiting for Jericho’s destiny to catch up with us.

And finally, it did.

Either a few seconds or a few centuries after we sat down, a dense violet fogbank drew near. It rolled silently across the dark plain towards Jericho. My hair stood on end as it approached. I knew instantly that this was no ordinary fogbank. It was totally opaque, just a wall of purple haze hovering in the air a few feet off the ground. Chihiro and I, still sharing the Gift between us, could sense that this was an extremely dense pocket of Psionic energy. Power unlike anything we’d ever imagined was stored here, and we could both sense that there was a very dark history surrounding this thing.

Another time disruption rippled through what remained of the Shroud, and a series of ghostly shadows appeared. Chihiro and I stood back as these afterimages in time went through their motions:

First, an alien we had never seen before approached the violet fogbank. Psionic tendrils escaped from his hand and wrapped themselves around the neck, wrists, and ankles of an Ethereal. Without any kind of prompting, Chihiro and I instantly learned that this alien was Origin, the commander of the Zudjari army which had attacked Earth in 1962.

“Do it!” Origin commanded. “Give me the power!”

The enslaved Ethereal attempted to comply. It began drawing the fogbank into itself just like Jericho was doing to the rest of the Shroud now. After a few moments, something went horribly wrong! The Ethereal began to convulse and shriek with pain! Its noncorporeal body exploded into a shower of azure sparks. Origin left, muttering angrily to himself.

The next temporal afterimage was of a very large group of Vanians. The assembled peacocks and peahens attempted to tap the powers of the pocket as a group. This effort also met with failure. Chihiro and I barely had time to realize that this was an early incarnation of the Conclave of Telepaths before several of its members met with horrific deaths! To our shock, the scene repeated itself several times, as more and more historical Vanians met their demise trying to tap into this wellspring of power.

The next scene from the past contained no violence. Instead, another Ethereal approached the pocket, escorted by two Levakians, one male and one female. Once again, we learned their names through some Psionic influence. The Ethereal, Shamash, showed the dense pocket to Sebakhira and Kaiako before standing aside.

“So, it is real.” Kaiako mused. “This concentration of Psionic energy is of a magnitude never seen before. I can think of several lions at the Asalele library who would deny this is even possible. Just imagine all we could accomplish if we could tap into this power!”

Sebakhira was only partially paying attention. She was holding her head in one paw, as though she had a painful headache.

“Tempting as it may be, old friend, I believe we must withdraw from this place with empty paws.”

Kaiako gently nuzzled Sebakhira’s face with his own.

“You’ve seen this in a vision, no doubt.”

“A confusing one.” Sebakhira admitted. “One that I have yet to comprehend.”

“I am willing to wait.” Kaiako replied. “I’ve come to trust your senses, love. We shall return another time.”

As the last afterimage appeared before us, Chihiro and I noticed that there seemed to be something wrong. This final memory was far more distorted than the others. Even though only a single person was present, it was impossible for us to see their face or learn their identity. A human-shaped alien cautiously approached the fogbank and spoke to it in a voice we could just barely hear:

“Traitors? Enemies? What does this have to do with me?”

And then a voice emerged from the fogbank. This one was even more distorted! It sounded like a thousand different people were talking all at once!

“You are a pawn in a great game. Mechanisms of great consequence are already in motion… opportunities have been seized, a desperate gamble made, and an old dispute is being resolved…”

“I don’t believe you.” The alien woman declared.

Then there were some mumbled sounds Chihiro and I couldn’t make sense out of, and through the time-distorted memory, we just barely heard the words:

“So, my name is Mira Mihaka, Mission Specialist Mihaka.”

Chihiro and I looked around at Jericho. Behind her, the overwhelming majority of the Shroud was now gone, sucked into Jericho’s body. Speaking of which… Jericho had an aura now! Her whole body shimmered like a star in the night sky, I could have sworn that her hair had grown back, but it was really wisps of Psionic energy radiating off the top of her head. And to cap it all off, I was vaguely aware of being able to see straight through Jericho’s fingertips, as though the outermost extremities of her body were becoming less Human and more like the entities who had once lived in the Shroud.

“I’m almost ready.” Jericho said. “I think I’ve got the strength to do this now.”

I spotted a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. Chihiro was snapping her fingers, watching little sparks of Soulfire flicker in her palm. When Chihiro looked up and spoke, she rapidly shifted from being a small child to her normal twenty-year-old appearance.

“You forgot to take my powers!” Chihiro said. “Pretty sure you’re going to need them more than me right now.”

Before Jericho could say anything, I added:

“Good idea, Chi. Anything we can give, we need to give.”

Jericho looked at both of us in turn.

“Are you sure?” She said. “When we leave the Shroud to end this…”

“We’ll make do with what we’ve got.” I said. “Chi and I are good at that.”

Jericho nodded and aimed one of her hands at us.

“I’m only going to take some of your strength.” Jericho said. “You should still be able to do good out there when we get back.”

I cannot emphasize how painful it was to have my physical strength sucked out of my body! Chihiro and I had to hold on to each other tightly to stop one another from collapsing entirely! The pain was like a sword had been thrust into my chest and then withdrawn slowly! My breath caught in my throat, and Chihiro and I both fell to our knees. Finally, after a few seconds (or a thousand years) the ordeal was over. Panting, we both looked up and watched as Jericho stepped towards the dense fogbank.

She reached out with one hand, palm up, and the supercharged pocket of Psionic energy began to converge on her! At once, the light coming out of Jericho’s body intensified to a point where Chihiro and I had to look away! We closed our eyes, and we were still blinded by the intensity! A chaotic rushing noise accompanied this final action, and we both covered our ears with our hands, but the cacophony was so great that we were still overwhelmed!

Just when it seemed like the entire world was going to end around us, everything fell silent and dark. Then a warm and gentle light illuminated the dark and empty void that had once been the Shroud. Opening my eyes, I was left in awe.

 

Jericho reached forward with one hand, offering to help us up. In that moment, I swear she looked exactly like the space angel painting I had seen years ago, before Jericho had appeared in Pyongyang. Her newfound energy and powers were so immense that they were barely contained in her physical body. Faint flashes of purple and blue light shot out of her back, giving me the impression that Jericho actually had spectral wings. She lifted Chihiro and I up as though we were lighter than feathers.

“Are you both alright?”

We nodded. Chihiro was so lost for words that she just mumbled.

“So, what happens now?” I asked.

“We repair the Time Core, then I’ll need a few seconds to absorb the Eater of Worlds and Instrument of Desire. Once that’s done, I will destroy the Beast and confront Akira.”

“Don’t distract yourself.” I said. “We’ll handle Akira. You focus on the Beast.”

“She’s our daughter.” Chihiro added. “We should be the ones to… you know.”

Jericho nodded.

“First thing’s first, you need to repair the Time Core.”

She took my hand and tilted it palm up. In a display of Psionic power I’d never imagined possible, Jericho concentrated, broke apart, re-shaped, and built up atoms and molecules by the trillions and trillions until a fully functional Laser Pistol materialized in my open palm!

“Use this to seal the cracks in the Time Core’s housing.” Jericho explained. “Now listen carefully: When we go back to normal space, we’ll be in the very center of a temporal storm. Everything Akira warned you about will come to pass. Time will be meaningless until you fix the core. Do that, and the normal functions of time and causality should be restored… however: there will be side effects. We’re going to be separating all possible timelines from each other. Things are not going to be the way we left them. Be prepared for that, adapt if you have to. Are you ready?”

“Absolutely.” I said, “Bring it on.”

“We’re ready.” Chihiro said. “Let’s do it.”

Jericho took each of us by the hand, and we began to fall.

…

Time invalid
Elliptical orbit above Earth, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


Returning to normal space was like stepping into a realm of madness! All possible outcomes to all possible scenarios were happening at the same moment! The battle for the Trinity played and replayed around me while the ship itself was either torn apart by weapons fire, constructed for the first time, imploded from within, or decayed from old age. I saw my comrades felling the same enemies over and over again, only to meet their own doom in some other timeline! But as soon as I took one step forward, I saw them again, alive and well, working their way through some alternate version of whatever had just happened!

It was such a short distance between myself and the Time Core, just a few meters, but crossing that distance, raising the Laser Pistol, and taking aim at the damaged segment seemed to take an eternity! I had to push my way past Doctor Vahlen, who was greeting Jericho and the Kakama crew after their journey across the Galaxy! I shoved Lily Shen away from the Time Core before she could finish installing it! I side-stepped around Mira and Akira, who were fighting hand to hand! Then I found the crack in the housing!

Chaotic time energy was spraying forth from the splintered metal like water from a damaged tank! Each time I got caught in the blast, I felt parts of my body either age or regress! I wasn’t sure of how much longer I had, and I knew I couldn’t wait to find out! Pushing with all my might, I tried to shove the two halves of broken metal back together, but I didn’t have the strength! My whole body was tired, like I’d just run a marathon!

“Chihiro!” I yelled! “Help me!”

My voice, repeated in a million alternate timelines, echoed loudly through the chamber! The responding noise was equally loud, as Chihiro answered my call in most of those timelines. An incomprehensible number of women approached from all sides! They were all alternate incarnations of Chihiro herself, ranging in age from small children to elderly retirees. On one side, my own hands, multiplied infinitely by time, pushed the broken metal. Chihiro pushed on the other side until the two halves came together!

“Good! Hold it there!” said a voice just behind us.

I felt someone take the Laser Pistol out of my hand. In some realities, I tried to grab the stranger’s hand. In others, I let go of the Time Core and looked around. I think I’m in one of the former timelines. Tens of thousands of copies of Akira stood together behind us, raised the Laser Pistol and took aim at the damaged Time Core. A low-intensity beam of dark red light shot forward and met the two halves of metal!

Sealing the breach in the Time Core was a synch, a task that only took moments. But for the three of us, it may as well have taken a year. As the crack became smaller, the time disruptions fell in frequency, but none of us could actually measure the passage of time again until the breach was completely sealed.

The instant the Time Core was restored, Chihiro and I were hit by an immense wave of shockwave that forced us to the floor! Chaos reigned above as sparks and flame rained down on the two of us! I reached out and grabbed her hand, she looked up at me!

“Ha! You’re still you!” She cried.

“Same back at ya!” I responded.

Looking around, we realized that something had punched a hole in the far wall and carved a deep hole in the ship’s internal workings. Akira’s destructive power was almost certainly responsible. As for Akira herself…

The Paradox was lying on her side, not too far away. Mira lay opposite her. They were both battered and bloodied, but still alive.

“Looks like time’s back on the path.” Mira breathed. “Thank Whetu, I thought we’d never get out of that.”

Akira rolled over and looked at our patch job on the Time Core. The expression on her face was hard to read. First and foremost, she was in a great deal of pain and tired out. She was panting as though she’d just run a marathon. But more interestingly, there was a look of confusion on the Paradox’s face.

“I don’t get it.” Akira panted. “Why?”

Akira tried to stand, but she was too weak and fell over again.

“I figured there’d be a few timelines where I helped you… but why were there so many!?”

For a few moments, (oh, it’s so good to be able to tell time again!) none of us had the answer. Finally, Mira voiced her thoughts out loud:

“You know. It’s pretty obvious, Akira. Your mission, your whole perfect future, is done. Whatever you were trying to make happen isn’t going to happen anymore. I think seeing time break knocked you out of your delusion.”

Akira laughed and leaned against the housing of the Time Core, still unable to stand.

“Delusion!? Come on, Mira, we were so close to making that delusion into reality!”

The whole ship rumbled around us! Rust fell from the ceiling and a few pipes clanged and moaned. Looking around, I saw Chihiro staring down the gaping hole in the wall, trying to see what was causing the commotion. The intercom system made a loud clattering noise before Jericho’s voice sounded over the intercom:

“Multiple targets acquired. Standby for charging and engagement.”

Mira, Chihiro, and I all looked at Akira. The Paradox’s face had fallen at Jericho’s words. She slid further down the fall and let out a short sob.

“Damnit.” Akira choked. “Damnit, I got so close. I just wanted a better life than the one I got.”

Now openly crying, Akira looked up at us.

“What the hell am I supposed to do now? Just give up!? Quit on everything I’ve worked so hard for?” she gasped.

“Why not help us?” Chihiro said. “Like you helped us overthrow the Elders! Tell us how you sabotaged the weapon! Let us fix it and end this war!”

“But if Jericho uses the Trinity, it’ll be the end of the Gift!”

“Yeah, and that’ll be a tragedy.” I said. “But life is still going to keep going afterward. We’re going to keep fighting, Akira, fighting to make life better for everyone who’s going to live past today, even if that means we have to make some pretty big sacrifices.”

“A perfect future is out of reach.” Chihiro said. “But please, help us make a good one, Akira. Just do that for us, please. Don’t take away all of our destinies just because you can’t have the one you want.”

There was a moment of near-silence, punctuated only by the distant rumble of weapons impacting on the outer hull. Finally, still unable to walk or stand, Akira lifted one shaking hand and pointed her thumb towards a corridor leading away from the Time Core.

“The Elerium reactor.” Akira said quietly. “I inserted all of the control rods and bypassed the alarms. Jericho has no idea. You gotta fix it before she fires up the weapon.”

“Right.” Mira sounded businesslike as she grabbed Akira by the arm and hoisted her up. “You’re coming with me to the reactor. Blake, Chi, call up Jericho and tell her what’s going on!”

“What about you!?” Chihiro yelled at Mira, who was already starting to move away.

“We’ll catch up!” Mira responded.

Chihiro and I fanned out, searching for an intercom speaker. I found it first. Hitting the talk button, I called up to the control room!

“Jericho! It’s Blake down in the Time Core!”

“I can tell you fixed it!” Jericho’s reply came back immediately. “Nicely done! Time is back to normal. Standby, I’m keeping the Beast back while I wait for the main weapon to charge!”

“Hold fire!” I yelled. “Akira sabotaged the Trinity! Mira’s trying to undo the damage!”

“Understood.” Jericho replied. “You and Chihiro should get back up here, I need you both!”

“On our way!”

Scrambling up the ladder to the control room, Chihiro and I were acutely aware of how tired and worn-out we felt. It was like the past two years of action was finally starting to catch up with us. When we arrived in the control room, we got to see exactly what Jericho had done with the strength and energy we had given to her:

Psionic energy enveloped the four obelisks around the central column in faint vortices. Jericho herself was had replaced Duane’s body in the central alcove, where a wide array of wires and cables were now plugged into her head, neck, and spine. Manako had stood off to one side and were watching the proceedings apprehensively. Chihiro let out a gasp and pointed to the alcoves on our right side.

Violet and Kanti Divakar had each stepped inside of an alcove and no longer appeared to be conscious. They stood upright; their eyes glazed over. Above each obelisk, their corresponding Shroud-Being was reconstituting itself. Each one had no clearly defined shape, yet it was possible to see who was who.

The Instrument of Desire attracted my eyes the most. Hovering above Kanti’s alcove, I found myself thinking about Chihiro’s physical beauty as I watched the Instrument of Desire. Something about it strongly reminded me of her, and she was obviously going through a similar experience, gripping my hand very tightly.

The Composer of Strands didn’t hold a single solid form in front of my eye. Best I could tell, it was an amalgamation of tens of thousands of different images and perceptions, all overlaid on top of each other and equally transparent.

The Whisperers in the Void buzzed and hummed above Violet’s head like a cloud of angry bees, and as we drew near to them, I could hear an unknowable number of voices, all conversing in a low, hushed tone. It was impossible to make out what any of them were saying.

Only the Eater of Worlds was absent.

Jericho herself looked far different than when we had left her before time broke. A powerful light burned in her eyes, and she seemed to be radiating warm energy that refreshed us and restored our strength. Jericho seemed to be only vaguely aware of our presence. Her eyes flitted back and forth at high speed as though she was speed-reading. Manako said:

“She is fully interfaced with the Trinity and has assumed command of both the ship and fleet. All that remains is to end this war.”

Jericho’s eyes suddenly focused on us!

“You’re here!” She said in a sharp gasp. “Good. Chihiro, I need you to go over to that alcove and pick up the Katana.”

“Wait, what!?” Chihiro said. “Why!?”

“Metal doesn’t conduct Psionic energy all that well.” Jericho said quickly. Whatever was happening in the space battle had distracted her. “Needs to be either organic flesh or Elerium. Also, the Shroud-Beings need to project themselves through someone who made a covenant with them. That’s you, Chihiro.”

I felt Chihiro’s hand get sweaty in mine. We had the same worries and reservations about this.

“Covenant?” I repeated, “That was when the Eater of Worlds took Himawari’s hearing away, right?”

Chihiro nodded.

“Yeah, I made a deal with that thing.”

“You and your kind have paid your end of the bargain.” The Whisperers in the Void declared. “Now we shall uphold ours. It is our way.”

Jericho broke contact with whatever was happening outside and looked at me.

“Blake, I promise you’ll get Chihiro back. Chi, you have my word, you’re going to be fine! Please do this!”

Chihiro let out a fearful whimper and then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Don’t leave me.”

“Never.”

We moved towards the final alcove. Someone had deposited Mira’s old Katana inside, where it was doing a frustrating amount of nothing. Chihiro took a deep breath, picked up the weapon, and stepped inside of the obelisk. She turned around to face me, and I reached forward. Grabbing the handle of the sword, I twisted and pulled. The handle snapped, revealing the second short blade hidden inside. The translucent Elerium blade flickered as the Eater of Worlds threw itself violently against the walls of its little prison.

I stepped back as Jericho pointed her hand towards the final obelisk! Psionic energy enveloped Chihiro, who held the short Tanto in both hands, gripping the blade in one hand and the handle with the other. She strained for only a moment before the Tanto broke! The crystalline blade fractured at last, the Eater of Worlds was finally free! A moment later, a dark aura began to form, rising up above the obelisk and coalescing alongside the other Shroud Beings. Chihiro let out one last shuddering gasp before becoming catatonic. I gripped her hand and watched what happened next.

In hindsight, I’m glad the Elders got to the Eater of Worlds before the Beast. This thing was a monster worthy of Agamemnon’s praise! It growled hungrily, leering at Jericho, who did not flinch. Just like its three kin, Jericho had restored the Eater of Worlds to its full strength and power.

“Well, here we are.” She said softly.

“At the moment of eternity’s end.” The Whisperers in the Void replied. “You are different. You saw and did much during the disruption.”

“Yes.” Jericho replied. “I know what I have to do now.”

“Do you understand what the consequences will be?” Asked the Composer of Strands. “The Universe will never be the same after this.”

“But it will still exist.” Jericho said. “People will live, and time will move on.”

“The Cycle will continue until its natural conclusion.” The Instrument of Desire said. "There will be no resets. The end of all things, however distant it seems to your flicker-lives, will come. And it will be final."

“As it should.” Jericho responded. “The Time Core will be destroyed, and Akira Robinson will never manipulate time again. I swear it, and I’ll see to it.”

“Allow me to devour the Paradox!” The Eater of Worlds did not mince words. “My hunger has never been greater!”

“She is no longer your concern.” Jericho answered. “Akira’s stolen powers have been confiscated, and she’ll face her own destiny soon enough.”

Manako and I both jumped with fright as, in a moment, our surroundings changed! Jericho, the Shroud Beings, Manako and I were all standing in open space… or an illusion of it, perhaps, since we were all still breathing. The War in Heaven was raging all around us. Beast-infected ships were surging throughout the Sol System, converging on the final battle above Earth’s Moon. Agamemnon had recovered from its collision with the Moon and was moving to re-join the fight! The End of the Cycle itself continued blasting its way through the allied forces. In a single moment, it shredded and vaporized some five-hundred allied vessels before moving on to the next group of victims. Each moment, untold thousands of lives were lost. Meanwhile, reinforcements continued to arrive from either the nearby Hyperspace Gate or were jumping in alongside the Mahuika or the other two Far-Jumping warships.

Not only had Nomsa’s Psionic shields failed, but all other Gifted combatants had suddenly found themselves powerless. Levakians, Templars, Vanians, and AFUNE soldiers suddenly became exhausted once the Disruption had ended. All of the Ethereals in the fight had vanished completely. The only remaining user of Psionics on the battlefield was Agamemnon itself, which attacked the allied fleets with both telekinetic pulses and conventional weaponry. Missiles, torpedoes, and other projectile weapons were useless against the Fathership, detonating harmlessly against a Psionic shield that extended far away from its source.

“It is bound to the Father of the Beast.” The Whisperers in the Void said. “They now function as extensions of the other. To fight one is to fight both.”

“They must both fall.” Declared the Eater of Worlds. “They cannot be defeated separately.”

“Agreed.” Jericho said. “But the Beast itself will survive Agamemnon’s demise. That’s why I need you all here. I need your strength and power: The power to know all, to design new life, to guide it, and the power to destroy.”

The four Shroud Beings looked at one another, having a silent conversation. Manako and I couldn’t keep still. The two of us were still having a little trouble processing the fact that we were just standing in the middle of a space battle as though it were just a planetarium laser light show. After a deep pause, the Eater of Worlds spoke:

“So be it.”

At once, the vision faded, and we were back in the control room! A series of loud thuds and crashes heralded all four of the former Shroud-Hosts collapsing to the floor! Chihiro hit me on the way down and be both fell! Ignatius Petoskey, Kanti, and Violet all hit the floor at the same time, distracting me for just a moment from the scene happening around the central pillar! All four Shroud-Beings converged on Jericho at once and merged with her, disappearing from view! The Psionic aura emanating from her body was now so intense that the room was starting to heat up!

“Blake! Manako!” Jericho shouted. “Contact Mira and tell her to get the main reactor online as quickly as possible! It’s time to go!”

Manako ran towards a nearby computer bank and shouted into the communicator!

“Mihaka! Are you still alive down there!?”

I knelt down and grabbed Chihiro, pulling her up and over my shoulders in a fireman’s carry.

“Ranginui! Mihaka here!” Mira’s voice sounded distant, as though she were standing far away from the comm system. “Akira and I have got the Elerium Reactor back online, but we’re seeing system failures across the board and severe internal damage! Jericho can only take one shot, you hear me! One shot only!”

“Manako!” Jericho yelled. “Target-lock the End of the Cycle!”

“What about Agamemnon!?”

“Just do it!”

Firing her maneuvering thrusters like there was no tomorrow, the Trinity began to turn! The Beast Fathership seemed to have noticed that something was up and started plowing through our fleet to reach us!

“Jericho!” I yelled! “Big bad Fathership bearing down on us!”

“Reactor online!” Mira’s voice sounded through the radio. “Time Core is green! It’s now or never!”

“Temporal weapon online!” Jericho declared. “Standby to engage!”

One last time, a rippling time distortion field swept forward from the Trinity! This time, it was controlled and went exactly where Jericho wanted it to go! Agamemnon was swept up in the time distortion field and froze, its attack on the Trinity now playing out at the speed of a relaxed sloth. Then, all lights aboard the Trinity went out! Plunged into darkness, all I could do was hold onto Chihiro’s limp form and watch the white square that was Manako’s targeting screen!

A vicious beam of purple light shot out of the Trinity’s weapon aperture and crossed the distance from Earth to the Moon in seconds! The End of the Cycle replied in kind, sending a pillar of blue light back at us! The two beams met in the middle in an explosive reaction! The fireball was wider than most planetoids and swallowed up whole flotillas of ships on both sides!

Jericho pushed all of her power into the assault, drawing energy from everywhere she could! Fires broke out all across the Trinity and explosions ripped through her hull! People on Earth, crews in space, and even the Beast itself was overcome with fatigue as Jericho siphoned as much energy as she could to sustain the assault! I lost my grip on Chihiro and lowered her to the floor before I lost the strength to stay on my own feet! Manako fell to his knees as well just before the final blow was struck!

Jericho sent a great pulse running along the beam towards End of the Cycle! The instant it reached the point where the two beams met, the stalemate was broken! Vivid purple light streaked across the remaining distance and met its target! The swirling cloud of Psionic energy began to balloon outward, exploding in all directions!

“Brace!” Manako yelled. “Brace for impact!”

In the control room, Jericho released a Psionic pulse of her own! At the same moment, the time distortion field warped and doubled back on itself, enveloping the Trinity and absorbing the full brunt of the final Psionic assault! I threw myself overtop of Chihiro and waited for the apocalyptic clash to stop! This was it! This was the end!

But there was only darkness and silence.

...

The longer nothing happened, the more convinced I was that I was dead. There was no way any of us could have survived that final bout of combat between Jericho and the End of the Cycle. Keeping my eyes closed, I slowly became aware of shuffling noises and soft voices around me. Then, I felt someone tap my shoulder. A girl’s voice said:

“Heya, dork! Missed you!”

I knew that voice!

Slowly, I sat up. Below me, Chihiro let out a low moan and stirred. I startled at the sight around us, which caused Chihiro to wake up immediately.

“What?” She gasped.

Then she fell silent as well. She had seen them too.

Seven ghostly figures had surrounded us. They were like the spectral wraiths Kon-Mon Dessurik had used in battle, only these Wraiths were greyish-white, and bore a much stronger resemblance to Humans. In fact, with each passing second, these figures became more lifelike. I could start to see facial features, if a pale ghost can have a face.

One of the ghostly specters stepped towards me and spoke in the same voice I had just heard:

“You gonna say hi or what, dork!? You haven’t seen me in twenty-one years and now you’re just gonna stand there like a moron? Is that it?”

The ghost gave me a smile, one that I recognized all too well, even though I hadn’t seen it in over two decades.

“J-Jackie?”

The ghostly image of my little sister nodded her head. Jaqueline Robinson, my sibling who had never survived the alien invasion two decades ago, put a hand on my shoulder. It was transparent, but felt as real as ever.

“I guess I gotta clean up your mess for you, or you’re gonna get in trouble, right?” she said. “That’s what Jericho said was going on, anyway.”

My mouth fell open. So did Chihiro. Jackie waved at her.

“Sup, Princess?” My sister spoke as though no time had passed at all. “Don’t worry, when Jericho told us what was going on, everyone wanted a piece.”

At that moment, another ghostly person ran forward and tackled Chihiro in a great big hug!

“Imōto-chan!” Cried the ghost of Princess Akeno before her parents and grandmother joined in the happy reunion. “I’m so happy to see you!”

A much bigger hand landed on the back of my head, ruffling my hair! I turned around and felt my jaw fall open.

My mom and dad were here! While Angeline Fournier insisted on checking my injuries, Former US President JD Robinson ruffled my hair just liked he used to do. For about a minute and a half, there was absolutely nothing I could do but cry in the arms of my lost family. Chihiro did the same with hers. Finally, dad cracked his knuckles and said to me:

“Your friend over there told us you need help in a fight, son. I hope you don’t mind us showing you up, but we’re bringing a very large crew with us.”

My dad stuck his thumb over his shoulder, and I looked around. I don’t think we were on the Trinity or in the Shroud. I never found out where exactly we were, but to this day, I still think Jericho catapulted us into some kind of pocket dimension. There was now a very large number of ghostly people gathering in the darkened space. In fact, more seemed to be appearing every second. Not too far away from Chihiro and I, Mira Mihaka was having a joyous reunion with several Partogan men and women. A young girl in a chainmail dress rode atop the shoulders of a woman who spoke in a tomboyish voice.

“What have I always said, sister?” The ghost asked.

“I am not alone.” Mira replied. “Trust me, Moana, I never forgot.”

Manako Ranginui was a short distance away. He and the ghost of his sister, Makara, shared no words. Only a long unbroken embrace.

And in the middle of it all, I saw Jericho herself talking with two ghostly specters… two shapes I recognized immediately. Jericho’s father, an American soldier named Aaron Ray, drew her into a tight hug while her mother, Japanese soldier Kotori Sato, gushed over what her daughter had done:

“You’ve come so far and done something miraculous! we’re both so proud of you!”

Jericho saw me over her father’s shoulder and said:

“You say hi to your folks, Blake?”

“I did.” I said. “How… how did you bring them back to life?”

Aaron let go of Jericho and allowed her to answer.

“I knew we needed to destroy the Beast everywhere, not just here at Earth.” She explained. “So, I looked into everyone’s minds, I saw how all of our friends and comrades took Kendra’s message to heart. People out there really are fighting to save their friends, family, loved ones. Then there are so many people who had memories of those who didn’t make it this far. And those memories were the key! That’s how we’re going to wipe out the Beast, all at once, everywhere!”

I looked around at the rapidly assembling group of ghosts. Then, I put two and two together.

“Oh, my god! You- you’ve…”

Jericho nodded.

“Yeah, I resurrected our fallen friends, allies, and family as Psionic Lifeforms. It was so much easier than creating a Psionic army from scratch, because of how many fighters I needed. Took the power of all four Shroud-Beings to pull off. They’re made of Psi-Energy, and it takes a lot of that to maintain them, so they’ll only last as long as the Trinity does, but that should be enough.”

Chihiro came up behind me and took my hand. Behind us, our two families stood shoulder to shoulder. Their Psionic power filled the two of us with a whole new kind of strength.

“Please,” Chihiro said. “Please tell me you’re taking this Galaxy-wide.”

“That’s the plan.” Jericho replied with a smile. “Be sure to thank Kendra for dropping that Hyperspace Gate so close by.”

Then, Mira, Jericho, Chihiro, Manako, and I parted ways with our families. Everyone seemed to know that this mass resurrection was going to be temporary, and all of our lost loved ones intended to spend their short time at our sides. My friends and I returned to normal space at the front of an army of the dead, ready to save those who were still alive.

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 5:20am
Terminal orbit above Earth, Sol System, Galactic Front Line


The carnage above Earth had reached new levels of horror!

The clouds of debris and wrecked starships were now so dense that capitol ships could use them for cover against incoming fire! Beast and allied ships alike were forced to navigate their way through a metal graveyard to find one another, and once contact was made, the battle was fought in vicious close quarters! At this range, infection beams worked flawlessly, and each subverted ship improved the enemy’s ability to resist the vaccine!

On the Tantomile’s bridge, Queen Nomsa was desperately trying to figure out a way to break the stalemate. The only thing that kept the allied fleets from being overwhelmed was the near constant flow of friendly reinforcements. As promised, ex-Queen Kendra had delivered the entire Galaxy directly to Earth, and there was no shortage of combatants ready to defend their homes and families.

The situation was so desperate that there was no time to analyze the latest Temporal Anomaly to sweep across the battle. Dolim, Arzhang, Adil, and the rest of the crew were working themselves to the bone just to keep the suddenly old and dilapidated ship in working order. Just when it seemed like the situation couldn’t get any worse, the Trinity and the End of the Cycle made a run at one another, firing bolts of energy at each other while Agamemnon moved to intervene!

For a few seconds, the End of the Cycle and the Trinity fought one another directly, savaging each other with powerful attacks until finally, the Psionic creature had been vanquished! Hit by the Trinity’s powerful beam, the End of the Cycle suddenly lost all form, dissipating outwards and vanishing like a cloud on a hot, arid day!

The instant the End of the Cycle vanished, a cheer went up on all allied ships! This was the morale-boosting triumph that everyone needed! Meanwhile, the Fathership of the Beast addressed Jericho, its voice tinged with desperation, forcing its way into the allied comm net!

“Think again, Jericho self! We can reconstitute your friends and lovers, all who have become us can be yours again! We can make you a god amongst your kind! Come to us!”

But no answer came from the Trinity. Instead, aboard the Tantomile, Arzhang raised some alarming news!

“Your Majesty, we have new incoming contacts! Unidentified Psionic readings all along the outer periphery of the battlefield!”

“Are you kidding me!?” Nomsa roared. “Is it that Psionic creature again!?”

“I don’t think so.” Arzhang said. “This thing reads differently, it’s not the same… it also matches… Oh, holy Miranda! Your Majesty! Psionic lifeforms are appearing on the ship!”

Everyone on the bridge reached for their nearest weapon as twelve Partoganoid shapes, all made from Psionic energy, began to take shape on the bridge! Nomsa unsheathed her claws, ready to strike, before a voice spoke!

“Stay your weapons. We are allies.”

The Psionic lifeforms finally took shape. Nomsa and her comrades found themselves looking at the ghostly images of twelve Partogan women and girls, with widely ranging ages. It only took a few seconds for Nomsa to realize who she was looking at. She had read plenty of history books, and apparently, so had her crew. Partogans, Assurians, Levakians, and Vanians all hurried to bow their heads and show reverence to the twelve deceased (and now resurrected) Queens of Partoga.

Whetu Kealoha, dressed in what a Human would have instinctively called “samurai armor” stepped forward to greet Nomsa. Like her comrades, she was made from Psionic energy and not fully corporeal.

“Thanks to your ally, Jericho, we have come to lend our aid.” Said the founder of Partoga. “We’ve brought as many with us as we could, and all our forces await your direction.”

Queen Nomsa was left stuttering.

“But… you…”

“Have been dead for over five hundred years.” Whetu replied with a small smile. “You are the Queen, we’ll follow you.”

The Resurrected Queens had not come alone. Psionic entities now began to materialize and join the battle by the tens of thousands, bolstering the beleaguered allies even further! Projecting telekinetic shields around their comrades, the Psionic fleet began to engage the enemy! On the bridges of major capitol ships, resurrected allies launched powerful telepathic and telekinetic attacks against the now outnumbered Beast! On the bridge of the Tantomile, all twelve of Partoga’s former rulers unleashed their new powers!

Whetu Kealoha masked a group of Partogan Dreadnaughts behind an obscuring field, allowing them to advance through the battlefield undetected! Kotu Aranui fired brilliant lances of light through the cloud of wreckage that disabled infected ships while leaving allied vessels intact. Aperiri Herangi conjured up a wide Void Rift that swallowed up entire formations of enemy fighters; by contrast, Makutu Ririnui struck with pinpoint accuracy, telekinetically ripping apart Beast Frigates at long range!

Ihiko Karawana attacked Beast ships from the inside, causing their munition stockpiles to explode, while Maku Ranginui hung back and used her powers to replenish the strength and stamina of pilots and crews alike! The allied fleets were now fighting as though the battle had just started! Ataahua Matane used telepathy to sever Beast ships from the hive mind and turn them against Agamemnon, while Pipi Munu and Nokama Rakena worked together to increase the accuracy of all allied weapons. Finally, Awhina Wirihana and Mokara Patariki fed their energy into the engines of allied ships, allowing even massive Battleships to outrace and outmaneuver the smallest of fighters!

Similar scenes were playing out all over the battlefield! Beast ships fell, thousands at a time as the Resurrected continued to advance in seemingly infinite numbers! As the Mahuika rematerialized and dropped off yet another wave of reinforcements, her own crew was augmented by Psionic allies! Kendra and Eteka didn’t need an explanation, they were able to work out what was happening almost as soon as they saw the Spectral Fleet attacking the Beast, and reacted calmly when a spectral incarnation of Reepi Imvu appeared on the bridge.

“Well, I’ll be a Brakas’ uncle.” Eteka breathed at the sight before him. “I believe Hawaiki itself has joined the war. Are you leading the charge, Imvu?”

“No,” Reepi replied. “However, you may know the one who is.”

Soft paws and a deep, throaty purr were the only greeting Kendra and Eteka needed. They immediately knew who had accompanied Reepi to the Mahuika. Several Levakian members of the crew saw the ghost of their greatest heroes and cheered! Others bowed their heads in respect. Kendra and Eteka greeted their old friends like no time had gone by at all.

Empress Tantomile, who was already pure white, looked even more like a ghost than anybody else. Psionic energy rippled across her spectral body as though she was itching to make use of it. She bowed her head low and allowed the elderly ex-Queen to gently rub her ears.

Sebakhira, Coricopat, Korova, and King Admetus all brushed their noses and snouts against Kendra’s hand before joining the battle. Amaya Maori, Nya Ririnui, Rapati Hipango, Toa Nanui, Arahu and Irirangi Ranginui all paused to actually hug their old friends.

“Let me guess,” Rapati Hipango said. “We’re up against an overwhelming enemy, we’re out of time, and the Paradox is somehow involved.”

“Why yes, that’s right.” Kendra answered.

“Little to no chance of success or survival?” Arahu Ranginui asked.

“Comes with the territory.” Eteka said.

“Sounds like fun.” Tantomile declared. “Let’s get started!”

Now, the tables had definitively turned. The Beast fleet was on the backfoot, lashing out against the Resurrected, but it was no good. Infection beams were useless against the Psionic entities that now flew alongside allied warships! And on top of all this, millions of Psionic entities had skipped the battle entirely and were now diving into the Hyperspace Gate set up by the Mahuika!

Near the center of the Galaxy, the Eye of Aarran came to life was vast fleets of Resurrected Psionic entities surged out of the Earth Gate and into the Eye, travelling to every possible destination! Spectral fleets erupted into the furthest, most distant corners of the Galaxy, scouring the Beast wherever it could be found! Infected planets and fleets alike saw no mercy from the Resurrected, and simply couldn’t deal any damage in return!

…

Under the protection of the dead themselves, the allied fleets advanced! At the core of the formation, smoking, aflame, and barely held together, was the Trinity!

Finally back the control room, Chihiro and I had just finished helping Isis Dekker and Matthew Hawkins evacuate the other three Shroud-Hosts. Ignatius Petoskey was delirious and didn’t know what was happening. Violet and Kanti were disoriented to the point of being useless. They would be sent back through the Psi Gates to Earth, and into the waiting arms of XCOM medics. Meanwhile, Jericho, Manako, and a Resurrected Makara Ranginui guided this ship towards its ultimate target! Manako and Makara had not spoken much, but it was clear that they were enjoying every moment of working together once again! Since she was now a being of pure Psionic energy, Makara could divide her attention and powers, literally putting out fires as they sprung up and keeping the Trinity in one piece just long enough for this final act!

Agamemnon projected one more message! The desperate signal went past Earth and the Moon, it perforated as far into the cosmos as it could possibly reach!

“You endanger the whole! Come to us, children! You are needed!”

“Incoming!” Manako yelled. “We’ve got several million Hyperspace signatures from the surrounding star systems! We’re about to be overrun!”

“Forget that!” Jericho called back. “Focus on Agamemnon, get ready to fire again!”

Keeping my eye on one of the targeting computers, I called out:

“Distance to target: five hundred kilometers!”

“Good enough!” Jericho shouted. “Commence primary ignition!”

The radio on my belt made a chirping noise and I picked up! Tsubaki’s voice sounded from the other end!

“Captain, the enemy is retreating, and I’m pretty sure my ghost dad’s not the one who scared ‘em off!”

“She’s right.” Makara said, reforming herself in the room with us. “The strain of firing the weapon again is damaging the ship! If we attack Agamemnon, the Trinity will destroy itself!”

“I can live with that!” Jericho replied. “Blake, tell your team to start heading for the Psi Gates! All AFUNE forces need to evacuate and get off this ship!”

I picked up my radio right away and called the deputy Squad Leader.

“Alecto!” I said. “Evacuate! Get all soldiers back to the Psi Gate and send ‘em to Earth! Blue Dragon and I will follow shortly!”

“Acknowledged!” Matthew Hawkins replied. “We’re moving out now.”

“Spread the word to other AFUNE units.” I added. “Tell everyone to get the hell outta here!”

“What about you?” Matthew asked.

“We’re going to evacuate Jericho!”

A clattering of noise outside told me that rest of the Stormbreakers were staging an exit. Meanwhile, Jericho brought up an image of Agamemnon for Manako, Makara, Chihiro, and I to see on the targeting computer. The Beast Fathership was now under direct attack by a mixed force of allied and Resurrected vessels. Meanwhile, even more Psionic ships poured into the Hyperspace Gate, or scattered to pick off the Beast reinforcements as they came! Agamemnon re-oriented all of its weapons and began to strike the Trinity with a desperate barrage of every space weapon known to man!

“Weapon systems fully charged!” Manako and Makara announced together!

One last time, Jericho focused all of her strength and power onto a single point, and the Trinity opened fire! The destructive Null Lance was wider than a continent, hotter than the sun, and pierced Agamemnon’s flesh and armor with incredible violence! Time distortion fields and Psionic energy radiated out from the superweapon to the crippled Fathership! Some parts of the ship aged at high speed while others regressed, and the whole time, Jericho clawed and tore at Agamemnon’s consciousness!

A scream, unlike anything I’ve heard before or since pierced through all of creation itself! The Beast roared and howled and screamed as Jericho tore its mind into pieces, carved its body apart, and rent the whole thing asunder! The Fathership of the Beast came apart at the seams! Blood and wire and metal and flesh flew in all directions before a ball of flame swallowed it all!

And then, it was over. None of us could do anything but just… stare…

The first noise we heard was the clang of a trapdoor as Mira and Akira both emerged onto the scene. They had both seen the destruction of Agamemnon, which had caused them to stare in awe for a few seconds before Jericho said:

“It’s done. We’ve done it.”

Akira and Mira recovered from the shock and started to clamber back into the room. On my left, Makara turned to her brother.

“I’ll wait for you on the shores of Hawaiki.” Makara said.

They embraced for a few moments before Makara vanished. All around the control room, our friends and family faded away, vanishing in silence. I couldn’t take my eye off the spot where I’d last seen Jackie for nearly a whole minute. Meanwhile, Jericho was holding back tears. Her eyes had faded from their usual purple to a very dull indigo. Her powers were either exhausted or very nearly so. Without waiting for anyone to ask the question, she shook her head at us.

“Can’t sustain the Resurrection anymore, I’m sorry.” She said. “But there is good news… the Beast is dead. All of it. Everywhere.”

It took a few seconds for us to realize what she meant by that.

“The Beast!” Akira gasped. “You really killed the whole thing!? Everywhere in the Galaxy!?”

“I’m sure, I’m confident!” Jericho answered. She held one hand up to her head. “Just getting used to not being omniscient anymore, but I’m still wired up to the ship and I’m still in control…”

Jericho trailed off, her voice becoming less happy and her expression shifting to one of worry. Her eyes flicked about in a way that told me she was focusing on some other detail that only the ship’s living core could see.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Psi Gates are down.” Jericho said.

“Of course.” Mira replied. “You drained the Shroud and the Gift from everyone. Psionics won’t work anym…”

It was Mira’s turn to realize a horrible truth. Before the rest of us could figure it out, the entire ship rumbled violently! Something, somewhere, had just exploded!

“Something’s going on down below.” Jericho was reading the status reports as they came into her mind. Her eyes widened in shock! “Oh, no. Akira… that singularity you made is still down there!”

Everybody swore! I felt sick to my stomach! That endless pit of destruction was still somewhere below decks, eating the ship!

Akira threw up her hands!

“I don’t have the Gift! I can’t control it or shut it off!” she said quickly.

“What’s going to happen!?” Chihiro asked. “Can’t it just, like, fizzle out or something?”

“No, it’ll keep growing until it turns into a black hole!” Akira said. “It won’t take long; then the whole ship is going to implode! Could be ten minutes, could be five!”

“Are you kidding me!?” I yelled. “Someone check where we are! How far is Earth from here!?”

“You’re not comprehending how black holes work!” Mira snapped at me. “At this distance, Earth is going to be consumed, along with everything around it!”

Right as Mira finished talking, Manako brought up a sensors manager, showing us just where we were in relation to everything else. The Trinity was no longer in orbit of the Moon, instead, she was now falling towards the Earth, gaining speed with every passing moment. We were on track to crash into either Southern Japan or Korea!

“What do we do!?” Chihiro sounded like she was about to panic.

Mira moved towards the central alcove, reaching out as though she was going to unplug Jericho and separate her from the Trinity.

“No!” Jericho snapped. “I have an idea; I know what I’m gonna do!”

“That’s great!” Mira said, taking a step back. “What do you need us to do?”

Jericho looked at each of us in turn, then said:

“I need you all to go. Get to the hangar and fly back to Earth.”

Nobody had been expecting that. In the moment of stunned silence, the entire ship rocked and tremored, as if to remind us that there was an out-of-control singularity somewhere below our feet.

“No way.” Manako replied. “We’re in this together, Jericho! We can help you!”

“You already have!” Jericho said.

“Wait, I caused this!” Akira said, “Don’t you want me to-”

“NO!” Jericho raised her voice! “You promised us you’d face justice when this is all over! I’ll say it again, everyone get out! Go to the hangar bay and use the Kakama to get out of here! Get off the ship before it implodes!”

Mira didn’t move.

“Jericho, I thought you wanted to live… have a life together with us.”

“I do,” Jericho said, “Just let me deal with this first! Now go!”

Behind Mira, I remembered the conversation I’d had with Jericho before all of this. I knew that this, somehow, was part of Jericho’s original plan, and that our role in it was non-negotiable. I clenched my fists so hard that I cut my own palms from fury. Then, I grabbed the sleeve of Mira’s uniform.

“It’s time to go, Mira.” I said.

“Let go of me, Robinson!” she protested. “I’m not leaving without my daughter!”

Chihiro grabbed hold of Mira as well.

“Stop wasting time!” Chihiro yelled. “If you don’t hurry, we’re all going to die!”

Then, when Mira remained defiantly rooted to the spot, Jericho said loudly:

“GO!”

And hit us with a Telekinetic Pulse!

The Psionic assault was so unexpected, so out of the blue, that Mira, Chihiro, Akira, Manako and I all flew backwards, out of the control room, and landed on our backs outside on the catwalk! The door slammed shut behind us, just as the ship rumbled again! This time, we could hear a terrible crashing sound echoing up the ventilation shaft!

“Hangar bay!” I yelled. “Run!”

We tore through the corridors of the ship as it began crashing down around us! Ceilings buckled, support columns gave way, floors collapsed! Following the trail of dead Reapers and Templars left behind in the initial assault, we backtracked most of the way to the hangar before Akira came to a skidding stop! We stopped our escape to look back at her.

“The hangar is just through that hallway.” Akira pointed behind us. “You’ll be safe now.”

“What are you doing?” Chihiro said, “Come on, it’s time to go!”

“That’s right.” A dark look came over Akira’s face. “Take care of yourself, mother.”

And then Akira reached into the pocket of her flightsuit and pulled out a Laser Pistol! The same one Jericho had made for me during the Temporal Disruption! Chihiro, Manako, Mira, and I all yelled and shouted for her to stop, but it was too late! Akira aimed to her left and fired a single bolt into a control panel! A blast door, made from inch-thick lead, slammed down across the hallway, separating the four of us from Akira! Chihiro and I slammed our fists against the unmoving bulkhead, screaming for Akira to come back, but Manako and Mira looked at one another.

“She’s trying to escape.” Manako said,

“She’s going for the Time Core.” Mira responded.

Chihiro and I tried to stop the two of them from going after Akira, but it was too late! Ignoring our warnings and calls to come back, Manako and Mira set out at a brisk pace down another hallway, talking to one another until they were out of earshot:

“I know several routes she could take to get to the other side of the ship. I can head her off.” Mira said. “There’s another hangar bay and escape pods over there!”

“We’ve got to be careful; she’s definitely got something up her sleeve!” Manako replied. “Don’t try to take her alone!”

Ignoring my and Chihiro’s cries, Manako and Mira also disappeared into the rapidly collapsing corridor, Mira shouting at the top of her lungs:

“You’re not getting off this ship alive, Akira!!”

In any other circumstance, Chihiro and I would have waited. Those were our friends back there, after all. But I had told Jericho that I was going to trust her this one last time. There was nothing more we could do but hope and have faith that Jericho was ready for whatever Akira was planning to do.

Chihiro and I ran full tilt towards the hangar bay. When we got there, we found a nightmare waiting for us. The disaster being inflicted on the ship by Akira’s singularity was affecting the hangar as well. A huge piece of metal scaffolding had fallen from the ceiling and crushed two of the UN spaceplanes: The Moana Ranginui and the Hermione. To make matters worse, the Kakama was gone! The frigate had taken off without us! Chihiro pointed out the hangar bay entrance to a distant point of light between us and the Earth.

“Well, at least everyone else made it out.” She said.

There was only one spaceplane left. The JSDF Ark Angel was battered but still flyable. Like the other spaceplanes, she had landed on her belly, and her emergency exit had been deployed. There were so many problems with this escape plan, but trying to get away will always sound better than being sucked into a newborn black hole.

First thing’s first. Chihiro and I donned flightsuits and put on space helmets as soon as we boarded the Ark Angel. Lucky for us, there were two members of the crew who wore the same size as us. I felt really uncomfortable when I saw Jericho’s name tag on Chihiro’s chest.

Next came the actual escape from the Trinity. With no landing gear, we had to get creative to turn the plane around. After about a minute of desperate fumbling with the controls, Chihiro and I found a way to turn the plane by throttling each engine individually. While we got the Angel in position to take off, the superweapon continued to come apart at the seams! More debris fell from the ceiling, lights burned out, and a fire ignited in the rear of the hangar bay! It was now or never!

Throwing the takeoff checklist aside, we threw both of the nuclear ramjet engines into full power! The Ark Angel shot forward, clipping some debris on the way and soared out of the hangar! Using the targeting camera on the rear turret, we saw that the Trinity behind us was in extremely bad shape. The superweapon seemed to be imploding in slow motion, possibly because the Time Core was malfunctioning. Further back, we could see the entire allied fleet retreating to a safe distance away from the Trinity, using the wreckage of both Agamemnon and the now-destroyed Beast fleet for cover.

As for us? We followed the Kakama, making a beeline for Earth, which wasn’t as far away as we’d first thought. We hit the upper atmosphere while the engines were still burning! Chihiro killed the ramjets and we glided down towards Japan, keeping the sunrise at our backs. The whole time, I kept the Trinity in the targeting camera’s view, keeping vigil over the ship until:

“Hey, Chi! The Trinity’s moving!”

Even from here, I could see the superweapon’s sublight engines fire up!

“Where’s it going!? Chihiro asked.

“I don’t know! Up!?” I replied.

Behind us, the superweapon rose higher and high above the Earth. Then, a single flash of light pulsed across the surface of the entire ship before the Trinity exploded!

The flash was so brilliant that it completely drowned out all other sources of light! Chihiro and I would have screamed, but we had to focus on flying the spaceplane. It wasn’t until we got to a lower altitude that we could finally process what had just happened.

…

Whatever Jericho did in those final minutes actually worked! There was no sign of that singularity Akira had conjured in the Time Core chamber, and no black hole ever appeared. The Trinity itself was blown apart, with some of the debris crashing onto Earth or the Moon, while other bits of wreckage were thrown clear of the Solar System entirely. It was painful to see the Trinity go, but such a relief to know that a last-second catastrophe had been averted. But that doesn’t erase the cost we paid for our salvation: the friends we left up in that damn weapon.

Jericho. Mira. Manako.

Hell, even Akira. She was never totally evil.

Up there, in the calm morning air above the Pacific Ocean, Chihiro and I took a moment to mourn our friends. We switched to atmospheric engines, lowered our altitude to the point we could breathe without spacesuits, removed our helmets, turned on the autopilot, and then had a long cry together. We just survived the most hellish experience of our lives, in the cold darkness of space, as well as strange alternate planes and dimensions. We’d seen some of our friends die, and left others to do the same against our own better judgement. We had been briefly reunited with long lost loved ones, only for them to vanish away just was quickly. But amidst all of that pain, there was a spark of joy.

We had won. The Beast was defeated. The Time Core destroyed. There would be no more war or fighting or death for us, and with a little luck, there would be none for our daughter, either. Now, we just felt tired, exhausted, and a little anxious. Neither Chihiro nor myself had planned to do anything beyond this morning. Now, with the whole of our lives suddenly in front of us again, we had no idea what to do with ourselves.

…

Thursday, September 11, 2036 – 7:30am
Matsushiro, Honshu Island, Japan


Chihiro and I flew the Ark Angel to Matsushiro, the place where the Japanese government had a special bunker for wartime. At some point, the Kakama changed course and followed us there. Both ships landed in an abandoned farm field. Chihiro and I ran straight from the Ark Angel to the bunker, where we found Himawari restored to her proper age and healthy. (Although she was upset about our prolonged absence) Chihiro’s brother had been the best caregiver we could have asked for, having been by Himawari’s side throughout the entire Disruption as well as for most of the time after it.

Outside, we found the remains of the Stormbreakers and Team Takea gathered together in the field. Our comrades were having a happy reunion, celebrating both our victory as well as our survival.

Compared to the rest of the Galaxy, our victory celebration was small and subdued.

Yeah, I heard about the huge spontaneous parties that cleared out entire city blocks on Jigoku and Aoraki. People have told me about the parades in New York and London and Mexico City, as well as the epic feasts in Bangkok, New Delhi, and Mecca. Dancing on the streets in San Francisco, mass singing on the Blorg Colonies, festivals in the Shining Hinterlands. I know about all that, and yet I still say that our bonfire and cookout in the meadow, near the foot of Mount Maizuru, tops all of that.

We spent all day out there, talking each other’s ears off about what we’d seen and done, comparing experiences and matching stories. Elsina loved the tale of Isis and Soylent’s effort to hold onto Nagasaki Airport before the Psi Gates had opened. Bradford, Vahlen, and Kanti listened with rapt attention while Chihiro and I recounted the final moments aboard the Trinity. We relayed and laughed at the crazy things we’d seen when the Time Core was broken, and Kathleen Walsh started taking bets on what historians were going to call the Temporal Disruption in the inevitable books they would write about it. (Soylent, if you’re reading this, you still owe me §500.) Commander Bradford was so confident that we were all going to get medals that he conducted the award ceremony for us then and there, using stones as substitutes for the real thing. I’m sure he was drunk by that point.

Around nightfall, we held a small funeral service for all of our comrades who hadn’t made it back. Without bodies to bury, Tsubaki became the woman of the hour. She pulled some spare parts for her cybernetic leg out of her backpack and used a Laser Pistol to engrave the names of our fallen comrades on each one.

Jericho, Mira, Manako, Kailani, Yutaka, and Naka were buried with full military honors.

…

The next morning, we all started to part ways. Commander Bradford and Central Officer Smith made no attempt to stop us from going home. If anything, I think they actually encouraged us to make ourselves scarce. Chihiro and I took the Ark Angel for ourselves, mostly because no one else did, and partially because Himawari crawled on board when we weren’t looking and decided she liked it in there.

As the sun rose on the first day of our future, Chihiro and I were reminded that we had absolutely no idea what to do next. While I improvised a booster seat for Himawari to ride in, Chihiro went to the cockpit and started powering up the spaceplane. Talking over my shoulder, I kept my question simple:

“How much fuel do we have?”

“About ninety-eight thousand pounds.” Chihiro replied. “We could go halfway around the world on that. New Zealand, Brazil, America. You got anywhere in mind?”

“I heard you’ve got a place in Hawaii.” I said.

“It’s a little apartment in Honolulu. You wanna see it?”

Himawari looked me in the eye and clapped her hands enthusiastically.

“Yes.” I replied. “That sounds perfect.”

Chapter 56: History Forgets the Details

 

Epilogue
History Forgets the Details

There’s so much to tell about what happened after the War in Heaven. So much, in fact, that I could easily write another book about it all. Perhaps one day I’ll do that, but for now, enough is enough. All I have left to do is to tie up the last few loose ends and clear up those pesky historical myths and misconceptions that seem to chase me and my family around all the time. So much of the War in Heaven and Jericho’s last day has been shrouded in mystery and speculation, that I know I won’t be able to dispel all myths in one try. But I’ll do my best to explain the aftermath as best I can.

After the Trinity exploded, the allied fleets regrouped over Earth, and most of their crews came down planetside to rest and recover for a few days. Also, there was partying. Lots and lots of partying. Cities in countries like Mexico, America, Brazil, France, and India, and Australia did not recover from the intense celebrations for several months afterward.

As for the rest of the Galaxy, the recovery was slow, but inexorable. To this very day, the Galactic Community still has not fully recovered from the war. You can’t take two steps anywhere without stumbling across either a reconstruction or recolonization project. Some predictions say it’ll be another forty years before the Galaxy fully recovers from the war. Sadly, some parts of spacefaring civilization will never come back. The Blorg and Vanian populations have fallen so far that their civilizations have since been absorbed by other nations. The Vanians are nearly extinct these days, while the Blorg, once a great power, are now largely forgotten.

Partoga and Hiigara, once the two dominant superpowers of the Galaxy, have both been taken down several pegs. Both empires lost their Capitol worlds to the End of the Cycle. The two planets are now barren and uninhabitable. The Hiigarans have relocated their government to a gigantic space station in the Tanis system, while the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth has made Aoraki its new capitol. Both nations are far weaker than they once were, but they and their respective alliances survived.

Thankfully, aside from the occasional squabble over who gets to keep the three Hyperspace Cores, the Galaxy has been largely devoid of armed conflict aside from some planetary-level fighting, such as the American War Zone here on Earth, where an entire continent has become a lawless breeding ground for mercenaries and warlords. Thankfully, places like that are an exception. Reconstruction has become more important than old grudges.

Of course, none of this would be possible without Jericho.

True to her word, Jericho successfully purged the Beast from the entire Galaxy before the Trinity exploded. It took cautious explorers and uncrewed probes nearly a full year to confirm that the Beast was no more. For the first few years after the war, wreckage of Beast ships all around the Galaxy was so widespread that the only thing more prevalent than Beast derelicts was rumors and hearsay about how Jericho had actually done the deed.

In the years since the War in Heaven, my family and I have heard many different stories about how Jericho had vanquished the Beast. The three of us sometimes play “Victory Story Bingo,” a fun little way to keep track of the crazy stories making the rounds. Most of these stories would eventually become early parts of the “Jericho Cannon,” a selection of rumors, folktales, and hearsay about what happened during the War in Heaven. These stories have gained new traction as Jericho herself has become the object of worship and veneration for so many people across the Galaxy.

The Hiigarans are mostly convinced that Jericho became the “K’had Sajuuk,” (which, as far as I can tell, is a goddess of war) and that she used her divine powers to smite the Beast out of existence. The Vanians and Assurians have taken things even further. Someone in the Assurian Heartland discovered an ancient spiritual prophecy and found a way to make it retroactively apply to Jericho, causing most of the Galaxy to assume Jericho had defeated the Beast because she was destined to do so. Most people of the Outer Limb call Jericho “the Chosen One” now. Jericho’s actual actions have only amplified her spiritual impact on people.

The mass resurrection was, in hindsight, a good idea that could have been executed better. Sure, Jericho was able to use millions of people’s memories to build an unstoppable Psionic army in a matter of seconds; but bringing untold trillions back to life in the most epic example of “The cavalry arriving” possible had some unexpected side effects. People who weren’t religious suddenly were after their loved ones rose from the grave and struck down the Beast. Revivals and reformations swept across the Galaxy as people tried to reconcile what happened with their own belief systems. Many churches and temples have been redecorated in the past forty years. Earth was hit pretty hard too, as most religions on this planet are monotheistic in nature.

There are plenty of true believers on Earth these days, too, which makes it hard for me to tell the true story of what actually happened.

See, the thing is that Chihiro and I were the last two people to see Jericho alive, and we were the last ones off the Trinity. Once my family was settled into our home in Honolulu, UN officials came looking for us. My wife and I were questioned for weeks. I really mean that: Weeks. Our testimonies were actually included in the Bradford-Tygan Papers. (The UN’s official report on what happened during the War in the Heaven, Chi and I are on pages 42 and 107 through 116) Once the Papers went public, Chihiro and I were basically the most popular people on Earth for a few months. We recounted the story on TV and radio so often that our voices would tire easily, and even then, the truth of the War if Heaven still sometimes gets lost in the noise.

Jericho’s victory isn’t the only part of the story shrouded in mystery. The entire Galaxy, and quite possibly the whole Universe, was affected by the Great Disruption. To this day, time is still not quite right, with certain parts of the Galaxy now lagging a few seconds or minutes behind the rest, while some regions have aged or regressed noticeably. There are millions of watches, atomic clocks, chronometers, and other assorted timekeeping devices scattered around the Galaxy. This meant that anyone who wanted to study the Disruption had plenty of data to look at. These days, its generally accepted that time itself was “broken” for exactly fifteen seconds. I personally remember the Time Core being damaged for far longer than that, I even testified as such for the Bradford-Tygan Papers. But then again, I was caught up in the Disruption, too; and it’s not like we can just look at the Time Core and check. It was vaporized when the Trinity blew up.

There isn’t much left of the Trinity or Agamemnon. Both vessels were massive in their own right, so when they met their respective doom, tidal forces between Earth and the Moon tore them apart. Debris and wreckage from the War in Heaven has since fallen into orbit around both Earth and the Moon, giving both worlds a set of small grey rings. Orbital shipyards and foundries are now home base for thousands of Shipbreakers, people who recover these wrecks and salvage any useful materials for reuse.

In general, most people believe Chihiro and I when we tell the truth about things like the Great Disruption or the Paradox or the destruction of the Trinity, but one thing that we have a lot of issues with is the disappearance of the Gift.

There are so many ridiculous rumors and crackpot theories about why Psionics vanished from the Galaxy seemingly overnight that I’m not even going to justify them by repeating such stupidity here. Instead, I offer only the truth, exactly as it happened:

Jericho used the Trinity to drain all Psionic energy from not just the Shroud, but from all Gifted beings in the Galaxy. Then she used that energy to destroy Agamemnon. As my wife and I said in the Bradford-Tygan Papers, Jericho kept a little power in reserve and we are convinced she used it during the final moments before the Trinity exploded. That is why Psionics are gone. That is why there are no more Ethereals. That’s why no one can get into the Shroud anymore. It’s just not there.

Some species were hit harder than others by the disappearance of the Gift. Here on Earth, the Templar Order disintegrated pretty quickly, but in places like New Levakia and the various Vanian enclaves, there was chaos for a short while. So many beings had grown accustomed to always having access to the Gift that adjusting to life without it was a traumatic experience. The Galactic Council is still running a special program that teaches people how to carry out everyday tasks without the aid of telepathy and telekinesis. Fortunately, there were always more non-Gifted people in the Galaxy than Gifted, so there was plenty of help to go around. Levakians, in general, have recovered from the shock of losing the Gift. What few Vanians remain have had to seek out assistance from other species. A large number of them live on Earth now, in the tropical regions.

On the whole, our world and the Galaxy around it is healing and rebuilding. We’re not done by a long shot, but we are making progress, and every day is better than the last. As for the people I met and served alongside throughout the war? Like I said before, I could easily write another book about what they’ve done since that Thursday morning in September 2036. Here’s the broad strokes:

After the War ended, UN Secretary-General Laura Harper stayed in office for nearly twenty years. She orchestrated most of the reconstruction of Earth as well as expanded the UNE’s borders to where they are today. With fifteen star systems and two inhabited worlds under UN administration, Humankind is on its way to taking its well-earned place amongst the stars. Harper retired in 2058 and died of natural causes a couple of years later. Her body was flown to her hometown of New York City. The funeral procession caused the city’s population to double. It’s said that the whole UNE showed up. Laura is buried next to her father, Nico Da Silva, in her old family home in Baltimore, Maryland.

Commander John Bradford retired from military service right after the War in Heaven. I saw him occasionally on TV, giving speeches to the UN Truth and Reconciliation Commission or giving advice to the Reclamation Agency. He retired to his old home in Manhattan, Kansas. He died of an illness in 2069 and is buried near his birthplace.

Wendy Carter did not survive the War in Heaven. Someone saw the UNS Tigermoth and reported its position immediately before the Great Disruption, but once the Time Core was repaired, the ship was never seen again. The Bradford-Tygan Papers have officially cleared me of any wrongdoing, but I’ve had to live with the guilt, knowing that by damaging the Time Core that day, I almost definitely caused Wendy’s death. It’s not a good feeling.

Director Jane Kelly would re-shape and redesign the Reclamation Agency in the years following the War in Heaven. She encouraged Humans to work alongside aliens. Ultimately, her efforts to emphasize and reward Human/alien cooperation would pay off. In the early months of 2040, Chimera Squad, an elite group of Reclamation Agents, uncovered and dismantled a conspiracy against City 31 that would have inflamed Human/alien relations. Kelly remained the Director of Reclamation until the end of the Harper Administration. When the new Secretary-General took over, Kelly was quietly fired and replaced. She’s still an active advocate for non-Human rights to this day, and a frequent visitor at my house, where she and my wife discuss anything and everything.

Doctor Moria Vahlen dropped off our radar almost immediately after the War in Heaven. We think she left the Sol System to pursue scientific opportunities in deep space, and there’s some evidence to support the idea. A Human science ship found a secret laboratory on a barren world, populated only by a crazy old woman the crew nicknamed “The Exile.” Unfortunately, the Exile fled when they tried to investigate further. Given how much time has passed since 2036, we’re starting to lose hope that Vahlen is still alive.

Doctor Richard Tygan became one of Earth’s most well-known scientists after the war. He studied the aftereffects of ADVENT’s genetic modifications and wrote detailed papers about how to safely integrate extraterrestrial life forms into our society. He made a lot of friends in the non-Human community, to the point that when he passed away in 2081, more aliens showed up to his funeral than Humans. He’s buried in Lovell City, on the Terra Nova colony.

Violet disappeared the night of our big party in Matsushiro. We made plenty of attempts to find her, but she would stay missing until 2040, when Reclamation’s Chimera Squad caught her trying to build an illegal Psionic device on top of a building in City 31. She was trying to find a way to bring the Gift back. It’s a whole big thing, and I don’t want to go into it here.

Chaplain Ignatius Petoskey never recovered after the War in Heaven. Our medics tried their hardest, but he just didn’t come back to us. As best we can tell, Ignatius’ body and mind were too badly damaged during the fight against the Elders. He just didn’t have a chance to survive on his own without the aid of the Composer of Strands. Ignatius passed away in January of 2037, and he’s buried in his hometown of Dakar, Senegal.

Erin Hyatt, my first copilot, bears a huge amount of responsibility for the religious fervor that sprung up after the War in Heaven. She had been transferred to a civilian hospital in Busan, Korea to get treatment for her eyes. While she was there, Erin says that Jericho visited her two days before the War in Heaven started. This statement must be true, because Erin’s eyesight was fully restored the next day. I wish I’d known. I would have asked Jericho to fix my bad eye. Ever since the end of the war, Erin has been spreading the faith from one planet to the next, expanding the newborn religion taking shape across the Galaxy. She is currently in Mahurangi City, on the planet Aoraki.

Chief Engineer Lily Shen is still active to this day. She teaches mechanical engineering Yamamoto University on the Terra Nova colony. We still get together and throw her a big party whenever she visits Earth. She also enjoys travelling to the Outer Limb to visit our old allies. Speaking of whom:

Queen Nomsa ruled the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth up until the day she died. She was just and even-handed with the law, a patient lion and a canny politician who knew when to take risks and when to fold her hand. We miss her. She’s buried alongside Empress Tantomile in Mahurangi City on Aoraki.

Former Queen Kendra Mihaka and her husband Eteka never returned to the Commonwealth. The loss of both their grandchildren hit them hard, and they chose to spend the summer of 2037 in New Zealand. From what I heard, the old couple was fascinated by the Maori people and spent every waking hour meeting and talking with them. Kendra gave her final public speech on the one-year anniversary of the War in Heaven. She called for solidarity and unity between all species, and asked the Commonwealth government to seriously consider a formal reunion between Partogan and Maori peoples. The first Partogan immigrants arrived in New Zealand around Christmas of that year and were, for the most part, welcomed with open arms. Kendra and Eteka passed away peacefully in their sleep, possibly within hours of each other on November 9, 2038. They were given the traditional Maori funeral rites and are buried in Auckland. Their graves have since become a major pilgrimage site for Partogan immigrants.

Kanti Divakar is still around. She’s become the de facto leader of the Vanian Diaspora, a political body that is trying to find and claim a new Homeworld for the Vanian people. She doesn’t come to Earth all that often anymore, but she has a large number of friends and supporters here whom she constantly thanks in her speeches. Even without the Gift, she’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Adil and his son Temirzhan live on Earth now and are quite famous here. Temirzhan and Sarah Harris completed the traditional Assurian courtship, which apparently includes ritual combat between the fathers of the bride and groom. Since Sarah’s father was gone, I volunteered to step into the role. To this day, that was the very last time I ever got into a fight. You can find Temirzhan and Sarah in almost any Earth history book now. They’ll be listed under the heading “First interspecies marriage in UNE history.”

Dolim Dehuri returned to Kelta and lived out a quiet life with his family. He passed away about fifteen years after the War in Heaven, and the Kelt government placed a shrine over the cairn where he’s buried. He left behind a large family who carry on his legacy in annual festivals.

Arzhang Pahlevan is raising a family on Amadiio, and frequently invites us out to his place for footraces. In the past ten years or so, I’ve started to make a point of visiting, but politely declining his challenges. I can’t run like I used to.

Elsina retired from the Commonwealth military and moved to Paku Nui. She found a pride and had three cubs, all of whom would go on to have families of their own. Elsina passed away in 2061 and is buried inside the walls of Enutanga Plaza in Kumara City.

The crew of my first command, the Niagara, all chose to stay much closer to home.

Dyeunda Zeil pursued a military career with AFUNE. He’s a general now, and there’s even some talk that he might run for Secretary-General in the next election. His political career has been hampered a bit by the fact that he used to be a soldier in the ADVENT army and is a genetic clone of the ADVENT war criminal Bellus Mar, but Zeil won’t let that get him down. He doesn’t talk about the War in Heaven all that much, and personally, I don’t blame him.

Axiom also remained with XCOM, although he was eventually reassigned to the Reclamation Agency. As a member of the now-illustrious Chimera Squad, he finally got his well-earned moment in the spotlight as a war hero during the mission to dismantle the criminal conspiracy “Atlas.” Axiom is retired now. He helps local Mutons repair their ships so they can leave Earth. There aren’t that many of his kind left here now, but Axiom is welcome to stay, and he knows it.

And the Stormbreakers themselves? There are certainly fewer of us today than there were in 2036, but we’re still around if you look hard enough:

Tsubaki Endo keeps close contact. She still lives in Nagasaki and visits Hawaii whenever she can. She’s also the main organizer of the annual reunion when the Stormbreakers get together each year. Chihiro and I are still her two favorite people in the world, but over time, Tsubaki mellowed out to the point where she actually fell in love with some other guy and got married. Chihiro and I were her biggest supporters on the wedding day.

Lee Chong-Il only lived a short while after the War in Heaven. He passed away from a radiation-induced illness that he caught during the fight itself. There’s a statue of him in the North Korean town of Nampo. He’s buried under it.

Soylent Green finally got to open that brewery he’d been planning for so long. You cannot go to Australia without trying his unique Victory Whiskey. Seriously. He ended up getting married to Anna Petrova, one of the soldiers from Delta Squad, and he’s planning to leave the business to his son.

Matthew Hawkins quit the military life as soon as the war ended. He’s kind of a recluse these days, living in a cabin in rural Rhode Island. The only social function he attends is the annual reunion, but he’s always happy to have us over to his place as guests. He’s even got a special bedroom set aside when one of the married couples comes over to visit. Speaking of which:

When Sophia Kuznetsova and Sophie Ackermann got married, my wife Chihiro was the Maid of Honor. We threw a huge party at Sophie’s new home in Rio de Janeiro, and Sophia got to reveal for the first time that she had received facial reconstruction surgery. Even though her old injury is repaired, Sophia still likes to cover her face, partially out of habit, and partially because she’s learned how to make masks and head wraps look stylish. Sophie and Sophia Ackermann are both still alive, enjoying their retirement in Brazil. They take annual vacations to the Terra Nova colony; each year, they put a wreath in orbit of Earth’s Moon for their fallen friends.

Isis Dekker retired a few years after the war and emigrated to the Partogan-Levakian Commonwealth. She lives in a small Human enclave on the planet Hokianga. As Jericho’s first (and only surviving) adoptive mother, she’s very famous and has become a bit of a rallying point for Jericho’s worshippers in the region. The Partogan film industry even made a biographical movie about her recently. She comes back to Earth once a year for the reunion.

Kathleen Walsh passed away in 2049. At autopsy, the doctors discovered that Walsh had died from a lingering wound she received during the Second Battle of Pyongyang, all the way back in 2035. Before she died, Walsh took up several charitable causes, raising money to house displaced victims of the war or find a cure for the Fade. There’s a statue in her honor in Boston now, calling her “The last casualty of the Second Hyperspace War.”

Hal Macintosh quit AFUNE after the war and returned to his home in Toledo, deep in the American War Zone. Hal tried to stop the civil conflict from tearing his home country apart, but somehow ended up becoming one of the myriad warlords fighting for control of America instead. We lost contact with him during the Fifth Battle of Fort Wayne, in 2057. The Army of Indiana claims to have killed Hal in a commando raid in early 2060, but UN leadership is convinced he’s still alive, in hiding.

Out of all the Stormbreakers, Odette Fournier was the biggest help in writing this book. She was privy to so many moments that I just would have missed, and she ghost-wrote several passages where my knowledge of what happened was incomplete. If she had not asked me to do otherwise, I would have put her name on the cover of this book right under my own. On top of all that, Odette is Himawari’s Godmother. She’s got this kind of quiet, patient love that’s so easy to overlook, yet is so treasurable. Odette lives on the Terra Nova colony in the Alpha Centauri system, and we visit her often.

An that just leaves myself and my family.

I’m seventy years old now. I’ve enjoyed my life, for the most part. After fighting in the War in Heaven, all other conflicts and crises seem petty in comparison. Chihiro and I still live in Hawaii. We’ve got a house in Pearl City on Oahu Island, and our greatest struggle these days is with Empty Nest Syndrome. Himawari married her college sweetheart ten years ago, and now they’re raising children of their own. He’s a professional Shipbreaker, so he and I often have a lot to talk about. The extended family is still out there, too. Chihiro’s brother has made it his mission to expand the Japanese Imperial Family to its prewar size and my aunt Miranda made a killing as a mercenary in the American War Zone, allowing her to retire and live out her days in some serious comfort.

But once a year, in the first two weeks of September, those of us who are still around get together for the big fifteen-day-long reunion. The location shifts each year, but it’s always a place that’s somehow significant to us. Pyongyang, Vladivostok, Easter Island, Nagasaki, places like that. But there’s one thing that’s the same every year:

About twenty-four hours after the Stormbreakers and their families arrive at the annual reunion, a woman with light brown skin and dark hair would show up. Regardless of whatever happened in the previous year, anything this woman had to say was the most interesting topic of the day. She would tell us about where she travelled, the people she met, the places she explored. Isis Dekker in particular enjoyed meeting this friendly traveler, and would often give her a package full of food on the last day.

Our friend is a very quiet and reserved person. She is a veteran of the War in Heaven, which makes her a great hero in the eyes of all sentient life. However, she prefers anonymity and almost never discusses her role in the final battle.

The veteran made fast friends with Himawari, who attended every reunion so far. Being completely deaf, my daughter can only communicate with hand signals, facial expressions, and body language. Our friend picked up Himawari’s way of talking quickly, and the two of them will often have long conversations together.

Most of the time, we only see our friend at the reunion and have, for the most part, honored her wish to be left alone the rest of the year. I did occasionally spot her hanging out with an elderly hybrid woman in Pacific cities and towns. Whenever we saw one another, we’d share an unspoken greeting. Sometimes just a nod, a raised glass, or a simple salute.

Last year, our friend's companion passed away. Every member of the Stormbreakers, Team Takea, as well as some two hundred members of AFUNE, Reclamation, XCOM, the Triple Alliance, and a wide array of veterans attended her funeral. It was a quiet ceremony. Unless you were actively seeking it out, you might not even notice the new grave adjacent to the final resting place of Kendra Mihaka. The tombstone doesn’t have a name on it, just the insignia of the old Partogan Kingdom: three circles between a pair of double crescents.

I met the veteran after the burial and asked if I could interview her for this book. We talked late into the night and far beyond the early morning. She gave testimonials and verified several stories about the War in Heaven. We both wanted to put the truth out there, but without disturbing the veteran’s quiet retirement. She agreed to let me include her stories, memories, and experiences in this retelling of the War in Heaven, hoping that I could restore some of the finer details that history has forgotten, and ensure that the beliefs, myths, and legends starting to grow around Jericho at least have a basis in fact.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it. My friend doesn’t want the fame or attention that comes with surviving the War in Heaven, but she did say she’s finally ready to talk about her experiences if you’re willing to seek her out and ask. In her words: “The truth is worth a little discomfort.”

If you want to know what happened to Jericho after the Resurrected vanished and before the Trinity exploded, all you have to do is pay a visit to my friend and ask her.

She lives in a small town in New Zealand, not too far from Mount Ruapehu, that volcano Partogan immigrants love so much. Start your journey in the town of Turangi, follow State Highway N1 to the northeast, along the shores of Lake Taupo until you get to the town of Tauranga Taupo. Hang a right on Hingapo Road and follow it into the forest. When you’re about halfway between Tauranga Taupo and the Partogan Colony called “Mihaka Nui,” you should find a small cluster of buildings, an off-the-map unnamed settlement where Humans and Partogans live together. My friend has been living there longer than anyone else, so most anyone there will guide you the rest of the way if you just tell them who you’re looking for:

Her name is Kate.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 8 of Stormbreaker Universe