//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 Discovery // Story: Xcom: Alien Unknown // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 7: Discovery Dinky dreaded to imagine what had happened, fearing the worst a she looked around the corner, her heart was breaking at the sight and she was filled with grief. The young boy was kneeled over a dead woman, lying in a puddle of blood, there was nothing that could hint how she had died. “Mommy…” Edward cried. While shocked herself, Dinky wasted to time to get over him and hugged him in an attempt to comfort him. The filly saw out of the corner of her eye how The Knights and XCOM operatives had their heads lowered, Patch made a cross gesture, a sign of respect, the ponies recognized. “Shh, I’m here, Edward…” Dinky whispered and the boy looked slowly up with tear filled eyes. “She’s dead…” Toby walked towards him, his expression was one of sympathy. “I’m so sorry, Edward. She was a good mother and a good friend.” He took the crying boy on his arm and patted his back as he walked towards the Skyranger. Dinky then noticed how the other held one ADVENT trooper at gunpoint, he held his hands up in surrender, looking strangely at her. He tried to say something in his alien language, becoming distorted and suddenly… “D-Dinky?” The trooper asked in a slightly distorted voice with a German accent, making the filly recognizing him. “L-Lukas? Is that really you?” She asked in disbelief, the others lowered their weapons, looking at each other in confusion. “Y-Yes. Or what ADVENT made out of me…” He replied, sounding slightly shocked. James’ hand went for his radio. “Central, we got something interesting…Yes, sir, understood.” He then looked at Lukas. “You’re coming with us.” The former human nodded, not saying a word for the entire time until they reached the Avenger. “Is this the ADVENT soldier you reported?” Central asked and they all nodded. “Get him to Tygan.” He said without emotion as Dinky saw how Toby brought Edward to the infirmary for a checkup. Lukas barely entered the lab as he saw a familiar face. “L-Lena…” “Lu-Lukas? Is that you?” She asked in surprise. “Yes…I missed you.” He replied in a shaken voice before Tygan interrupted. “I hate to break this moment, but could you please take your helmet off?” The Trooper nodded and did as told, Dinky. Lena, the Knights slightly gasped at what was under the helmet. Lukas was naturally bald, and had ears that folded back instead of protruding as is normal. His eyes were silvery and lacked pupils, similar to the eyes of a Sectoid. “Oh my…Lukas…” Lena hugged him with tears. “Shh…It’s still me.” He said with a weak smile before the scientist exanimated him, becoming quite surprised. “Fascinating, it appears the explosion short-circuited the neurochip, thus disconnecting you and let you regain your memories.” Lukas smiled. “It’s surprising how a small coincidence can change great things.” He and Lena then shared a kiss, everyone smiled at the sight. “It’s an honor to meet you, Eternal Knights.” He then did a salute. “We are grateful that you helped Dinky,” Fletcher replied. Central then walked in, eyeing the trooper with distrust. “What did you found out, Doctor?” “An explosion short-circuited the neurochip of this trooper, disconnecting him. He was forcefully recruited.” “Is that so? What is your name?” The elderly man asked. “Lukas Barber, Sir.” He replied and Bradford’s eyes went wide in surprise. “Barber. We had one soldier with that name back in the day. Are you…” “Yes, I am his son. And I am willing to continue his legacy.” Lukas replied with pride. Bradford was silent for a moment. “If that is your wish, so be it. Your father was one of the best and most motivated soldiers back then.” Edward was released from the infirmary, being unharmed. Yet, he didn’t know what he should do. It was understandable. His mother was gone and he hadn’t any other relative, or so he was told by Rosie. All others were busy, so he had no one to talk to and frankly, he didn’t want to. He just hugged his knees in the corner of the barracks and sobbed. “Hey…Edward…” A familiar voice said and he looked up to see with a weak smile. “Why? Why had she to go?” The boy asked in a sad voice. “She was everything I had left.” Toby let out a sigh. Over the years, he had little experience with children. Of course, there was the thought of having a child with his girlfriend back then, but being so young, they naturally wanted to wait until older. Now he was almost forty years old and still had no experience. “I wish it had never come this way. Your mother was one of the best friends I had back then. She was a good woman and mother. Sadly, our fate cannot be changed. That there is no good answer ever. Like when I and James lost everything in the invasion. It took a long time to get over it. We carried on with the good memories; the songs, touch, advice and laughs.” “The death of your mother was tragic, Edward,” Dinky said in a comforting tone as she joined them. “She loved you with all her heart, wanting you to be safe. She will always be with you in your heart, remember that.” The boy hugged Dinky, still crying but less desperate. “Thank you, Dinky. You are really a great friend.” “Your mother and I were really good friends. She trusted me, if everything should happen to her, I should take care if you. And I will carry out that wish.” Toby added and the boy hugged him too. “T-thank you…” Fletcher couldn’t tell how fast time had passed after the Retaliation strike, having helped out with another Autopsy, deciding to check on Dinky. He had to smile at the sight. The little filly was sleeping, hugged by Lukas and Lena in their sleep with smiles. He also saw Edward was sleeping peacefully with Toby. “They really mean a lot to her and him.” Bianca whispered as she joined Fletcher. “Yes, she’s like the child they always wanted. And to be honest, after all they went through, I think they earned it.” Fray replied. “Couldn’t agree more. I think you would be a great father.” The unicorn looked at her surprised. “Well, I did help raise my relative Wagensroll and he sees me like a brother, does that count?” The woman grinned. “I’d say yes. You know, James, Patch and Abstraction served longer with XCOM than any of the others in our squad, due to being born before the invasion. Jessie…” She started to blush, “He’s a real gentleman, you rarely see that nowadays. I found out he likes history as I do and likes Italy very much. I think I…” Fletcher held up a hoof as he realized what she tried to say. “You wanted to try your luck with him?” He shrugged. “I know the signs.” “Okay,” The woman shuffled in awkwardness. “So...any advice?” Fletcher smiled. “Be yourself, look out for him, do the best you can whenever you can and patience is key. Always worked for me.” Bianca was surprised. “Really? So you have a...well...a mare back home?” “Not currently but let's say I've had experience.” He replied and the woman started to smirk. “Really? How many?” “You don't want to know.” Now, Bianca grinned. “No, I think I do. Go on, spill...” Fletcher took a deep breath, trying to remember everything. “Well, I loose count. Let's see... There was Goldenchain after Lunich; Frasie de Bois at the Reinland; Sugarsnap, Camas and Ditanny when I came to Equestria; there was Lord Saunter's wife before the Civil War; Domino, mustn't leave her out; Hawkeye the Griffon; Flower-Hour over in Ib'Xian; the Trestila Sisters-“ “Sisters?!?!” His interlocutor exclaimed in shock. “Yeah, all seven of them...They insisted.” Fray replied calm. Bianca now looked dumbfounded at him “...okay...So you got all that by 'being yourself, doing the best you could and being patient' then?” Fletcher shrugged with a smile. “Like I said, it's worked for me.” “Well…Thank you, I give that a try.” Bianca replied slightly unsettled, forcing a thankful smile “You know, you kinda look just as handsome as him with the blonde mane.” The stallion chuckled. “I don’t deny that, but I got ways dealing with attention. Funny enough, for some mares, my and Midnight’s pupilless eyes were mesmeric, if you get what I mean.” Now the woman giggled. “Oh, I do.” It was early morning while Dinky was still asleep, the Knights, together with the Barbers, Jane and Heavy reported to the hanger as they were called to a mission. “What is your request?” Midnight asked Bradford. “We got a mission located in China from the Spokesmen and the commander thought you are most suiting for this. Lukas, due to your condition, you can react as a double agent in the field.” He saluted. “I will not fail you.” They then went on board and Central gave the briefing on the way. “The spokesman has sent word of an alien collaborator moving through this area in an ADVENT transport. Apparently the loss of this individual would be a serious blow to the aliens – so we’re moving in to take care if ‘em. Locate the transport vehicle, and neutralize the VIP along with any resistance. They’d prefer we bring the target in alive, but use whatever means necessary.” The Skyranger then dropped the squad on a building in the City Center. “Menace 1-5, target location confirmed, move to engage. Eliminate all hostile contacts.” Only now, they all took notice that Jane was wearing what appeared to be the scales of the Viper King. “What?” She asked as they looked at her in surprise. “Nevermind.” Lukas said as he scouted ahead, walking down the road towards the VIP, spotting an ADVENT Officer along with a trooper that was wearing a pure white withangular helmet, it was together with the pauldrons adorned with a white and gold patter. He took also notice that the rifle was colored white and the soldier carried also a Psi Amp. At first, Lukas was nervous, fearing they might notice he was disconnected as he came closer. Fortunately, his fear didn’t come true as they greeted him, he returned it before hearing Tygan’s voice through the radio. “It would seem ADVENT has begun deploying their so-called ‘Priests’ into combat. Their implants provide significant enchantments to whatever latent Psionic energy they may have once processed.” Keeping that in mind, the former trooper stepped away from the patrol behind a wall as Fletcher aimed at the Officer and fired, scoring a headshot, killing him. This alerted the Priest, who crouched and held his head as if he could sense the XCOM squad before a Viper, Muton and trooper joined him. The Priest used his Amp and a purple beam headed towards the Muton, leading back to the Priest. Fletcher saw the Muton aimed at him and casted a shield spell, the plasma beam shoved him slightly back, realizing whatever the Priest had done, it improved the Muton’s aim, like Fray had done with James before. Lena moved behind a wall for cover, the white ADVENT soldier aimed and her and fired a rapid burst of six rounds, she pressed herself against her cover as it hit the ground next to her. “Don’t worry, I got him!” Heavy yelled as he climbed down and moved forward but the Priest also saw him and used his powers once more. This time, he aimed at the Russian and he suddenly felt tired as the beam hit him, crouching down, surrounded by a shield. “What just happened?” Lena wondered confused and surprised. “Some kind of Stasis I suppose!” Jade yelled as she charged forward but what happened next was unexpected. The Viper saw her and it’s expression became one of terror, moving behind a bench and fired at the Priest, killing him, then cowered behind cover. As soon as the purple glow stopped, the Muton flinched and fell dead to the ground, Heavy was also freed from the Stasis, getting up with a groan. Wolf then used her wings to flank the trooper and shot him right into the chest, his blood splattered in the wall of a building and Jane used a grappling hook mounted on her left arm to flank the Viper and sliced it with her blade. “X-ray down!” With the way free, the squad now moved along the road and saw something new. It looked humanoid at first, but was primarily black and reflective, with streaks of green within the creases of its armor. “What would appear to be a single entity is actually a swarm of tiny, robotic units working in close coordination to maintain a cohesive form.” Tygan commented on it. As it spotted the squad, the humanoid formed into a black cloud and moved towards the squad, it fired at the cloud but every shot missed. Fletcher barely could blink before he saw the cloud before him, back into the humanoid form again. From out his hands came a jet of black powder that whirled around his foe, forming what looked like a murder of crows around him, flickering bright jade-green. “Help!” He yelled as he got lifted into the air and suddenly everything became black. The others watched in shock as he fell unconscious to the ground, but a copy of him made out of green and black glowing nanomachines stood above him. Said copy aimed its rifle at the grey stallion and fired, he pressed himself against the wall, hissing as the shot grazed his left shoulder. “There must be a way to beat that thing!” Lena yelled and the French woman got an idea. She used her grapple hook to lash at the humanoid form, releasing a cold liquid, freezing it in place. The bat pony then teleported to it and used its own blade to cut the enemy in half. It fell dead to the ground, strangely maintaining its shape. Yet, the copy disintegrated and Fletcher started to stir, getting up with a groan. “What the hay was that?” He grabbed his rifle and used a healing spell in Midnight upon seeing the wound. “You’re okay?” The grey pony asked his friend. “I’m fine.” With that solved, they moved around the corner and saw another trooper with two Stun Lancers, behind them was a limousine, a man cowering behind the opened doors. The ADVENT soldiers opened fire to protect the VIP, yet Midnight quickly teleported between them and sliced one by one, then moved towards the target. The enemy VIP was a man being slightly short, his eyes hidden by large glasses, Oak-brown hair parted in the middle, wearing a grey ADVENT suit. He looked terrified at the stallion, who grabbed a syringe and injected it into the human’s neck, subduing him. “Looks like you’re coming with us.” Midnight said as he picked the man up. “Status confirmed, target package in custody.” Bradford reported on the progress as the team moved towards the EVAC point just across the street. A transport dropped another Officer and two Troopers but Lena, Lukas and Sasha shot then down the moment they jumped out, allowing Midnight to get without problem to the EVAC point and the all evacuated. “Status confirmed, mission accomplished.” On the way back, Midnight cuffed the knocked out man and brought him into a cell once they arrived. “Okay, we got him, what now?” He asked the Central officer. “We interrogate him for intel, I personally will do it.” The squad, together with the others, followed to the cell the VIP was held and Patch stopped as he started to recognize him. “It can’t be…” He said in disbelief. “You know him?” Bradford asked confused. “Yes, we were best friends at school.” “In that case, you should question him.” “Give us some privacy, will you?” Toby asked and the elderly man stepped aside as the VIP started to wake up. “Rupert, you okay?” “..Define 'okay'? I'll live, if that's your concern”, the prisoner replied with a groan. Very good to know. Seems I'm a better negotiator than I thought.” Toby said and the VIP looked at him. Once he saw Toby, his expression was one of shock “Is that…really you?” “Yes, Rupert Summer, it’s me, Toby Spring.” The Specialist replied. “So, are you here to get me out?” Rupert asked with hope. Sheepishly, Spring replied, “Well, that's a bit of a loaded question. I'll have to know how all this came about and then, hopefully, I can square things with the 'lads', as it were.” Summer’s expression became dark. “What? Wait...you...You're with them?!” “XCOM? Well, yeah.” The Specialist tilled his head in bafflement. “Is that a problem?” “Are you bloody joking?! Of course it's a problem!” “Rupe, mate, calm down.” Toby spoke in a calming tone but his friend yelled, “No! I won't 'calm down'! It had to be you… Take away our global health, stable economy, lack of hunger and poverty issues, secure jobs and bring back the wars, petty squabbles and politicians working for money rather than nation.” “No, it isn’t like that, I assure you.” Toby tried to explain. “Oh, but it is. I thought you were dead over 20 years ago. And now you are here. I've seen them destroy a whole block of the city to capture someone, or kill ADVENT officers to sow chaos. A terrorist, that is what you are.” he said cold. Patch stayed silent with a slightly surprised expression, taking a deep breath. “No Rupert, I am not. We are helping those in need.” “Helping? You helped nobody. XCOM was the whole reason everything went down the drain 20 years ago…” Summer’s voice began to crack, his expression one of sadness. “If… if we hadn't resisted...” He started to sob ”If we hadn't fought back! Why didn't we ask for peace first?” Spring thought for a moment. “I don’t know. I have lost everything back then, nowhere to go…” Suddenly the VIP’s expression became angry. So did I! I'm stuck on this ship with a bunch of terrorists!” He exclaimed before suddenly taking a deep breath, shaking. “I waited for you. For years. Did you ever wonder what happened to everyone else? There were more of us, besides your immediate friends, you know?” He asked. “I had nobody over the years. Our home was destroyed. And it all comes down to XCOM. XCOM, who was the only force the aliens feared was enough of a threat to bring the world against you. XCOM, who was not there to save our town. It was XCOM who showed up in the news whenever death and mayhem happened.” Dinky noticed how he balled his fists. “Who defied the Elders? Who still fights them and forces ADVENT to even more retaliatory attacks? Bloody XCOM.” “Now, Rupert-“ “And you know what hurt worse? That the only person that I saw as my best friend, who I thought was dead, shows up years later with the guys who took everything from me. “Bloody XCOM.” He said with pure hate in his voice. “What kind of friend you are.” The Specialist stared at him, unable to process what he had just said. Suddenly, Toby turned around without saying a word. All others looked after him in shock before Dinky started to go after him, the Knights looked at Summer in disappointment, shaking their heads. Jan was helping out in the bar as she saw Patch walking in with a lowered head. “Had a bad day?” “Yeah. One tea please.” He said with a sad and depressed voice. The elderly woman did as told. “Would you like to talk about it?” Toby let out a sigh. “I just…saw a close friend I thought was dead for 20 years, only to see he’s with ADVENT, blaming me for having lost everything. A close friend of mine.” He explained as he saw Dinky walking in out of the corner of his eye. “Please, leave me alone.” “Toby, please. You have no reason to blame yourself. You have seen how he was emotional.” The filly said with a weak smile. “She’s right. I think it’ s survivor guilt.” Midnight added as he joined. “I know this feeling, having done something wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not. Give him time.” “Yes, Toby.” Jan said to him. “He was most likely confused upon seeing you, remembering how everything went down. I know how it is. After my husband died in a plane crash, I blamed myself for letting him on that plane. I thought I could have prevented his death. But eventually, I came to realize even if I had tried, it wouldn’t have changed anything.” The man slowly started to smile weakly. “Righto…I….just need sometime for myself.” “Take as long as you need.” The stallion said and walked out. Dinky gave Patch a hug with a smile before she left too. He then looked at Jan with a weak smile. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” She replied as he finished his tee and left for the cells. Upon arrival, he saw the ADVENT collaborator lying in his bed, turning towards him with a surprised expression. “Hey, Rupert.” The XCOM operative said with a neutral expression. “Toby…” Summer’s expression became one of regret. “If you are mad at me, I understand. I’m sorry, I lost my nerves, I never meant to insult you. I…the moment I saw you, the horrible things of the invasion started to come back in my head.” He lowered his head. “It’s fine. Listen, you always have been a great friend and I will vouch for you.” Spring had an honest expression. “But I still got my orders.” “Right…I actually know something that could be of use for you.” The enemy VIP replied before Toby held a hand up. “Before that, tell me, do you know what happened to my family and girlfriend?” Dinky played with Lena, Lukas and Edward in the living quarters while the Eternal Knights inspected their weapons. “I hope we could help him.” She sounded unsure. “I’m confident we have.” Midnight replied as Bradford entered. “Sorry to bother, but our prisoner gave us some intel for an important mission and the Commander thought you three should take it on yourselves.” “Alright. We see you later, Dinky.” The stallion said goodbye and left with his two friends. The Knights stepped into the Skyranger for their next mission, feeling sorry for Patch as Central gave the briefing. “We have a positive confirmation on the position of a facility conducting research crucial to the Avatar project in this region. The coordinates are locked in for a tactical strike. Move to the designated position and plant the X4 charges. Once they’re armed, move to minimal safe distance and we turn this place into rubble.” Upon arrival, The Pegasus and batpony used their wings to land, the unicorn rappelled down, having the facility in sight, looking similar to the Blacksite. “Menace 1-5, target coordinates are locked in, move to designated position and place the X4 charges.” The knights moved towards the facility, careful of enemy patrols, stopping at a hill overlooking it. Several soldiers patrolled around, a turret on the roof and a MEC was also patrolling around. “Let’s get to work.” Midnight Wolf used the clouds for cover, while Fletcher walked. He moved from cover to cover whenever the patrols had their back to him, quiet as a church mouse, stealth was their specialty after all. The stallion had no problem to get to the entrance, but had to stop as a trooper was around the corner, facing his direction. Knowing he couldn’t risk getting detected, Fletcher decided to cast a spell that created a noise behind the trooper. It worked as the soldier turned around to take a look, giving the unicorn the chance ti get in with his friends. The inside of the facility had several of those green containers stored. “Menace 1-5, you’re near the target.” Central informed. Midnight then placed the X4 on a support pillar. “Menace 1-5. Status confirmed, X4 charges are armed. Move to the extraction point for immediate EVAC.” Central added as the guards got alerted. The Skyranger got into position at on the roof where a skyline was. Wolf and Midnight flew through it, the MEC and turret missed them, the unicorn teleported on the roof and evacuated. “Menace 1-5, status confirmed, charges detonating.” The facility got destroyed in a giant fireball as the charges exploded, leaving only a big smoke cloud. Midnight grinned as he pulled out a fake cigar. “I love it when a plan comes together!” Back on the Avenger, Dinky welcomed them back. “You’re back, congratulations on your success!” She cheered with a smile. “Thanks, Dinky.” Midnight replied before Shen walked up to them. “Excellent timing. I and Tygan just finished analyzing the data from the Codex you’re disabled and discovered return coordinates. Bradford and the commander want to you investigate it. Also, he wants you to be equipped with something we I just finished to make.” She led all into her small factory, reveling several red colored vests. “May I show you: The Hellweave. It will return damage to any melee attackers and with Scorch Circuits made from the exoskeleton of a Chryssalid, it sets them aflame.” Wolf whistled. “That sounds interesting.” She then put it on with her fellow knights and reported to the hanger. Jane, Bianca, Kyle, Sasha, Lena, Lukas, James and Patch were already there, also equipped with the new vest. The Brit had a neutral expression, causing Dinky to ask him slightly worried. “Are you okay?” “I’m fine, let’s just get is over with.” He replied and Edward gave him a hug, Jan did the same with her son. “Be careful.” “Of course I will.” They then stepped into the transport and Bradford gave the briefing. “Shen and Tygan barely managed to pull these coordinates from that ‘Codex’ thing they had down in the Shadow Chamber. We’re guessing this may be its origin point, but can’t know for sure. Based on the fight it put up, I’d expect heavy resistance either way. Good luck there.” They rappelled down, finding themselves in a desert like area, sand as far as they could see, yet noticed Psionic particle in the air, floating around. "The Target coordinates are just ahead. Hostile presence is currently unknown, but expect the worst.” Central added. Lukas and Dinky scouted ahead, discovering an ADVENT patrol, consisting out of an Officer, a trooper and two Stun Lancers. The former human walked up to them and made a greeting gesture, they returned it. Then he saw a creature standing in the middle of the ADVENT squad. At first, he and Dinky mistook it for a Muton, but it was twice the size, the skin red as if there were only muscles, looking intimidating and animalistic, looking around eagerly for a fight, like it was in a constant rage. “Steer clear of those Berserkers – they can’t do much from range, but they’re lethal up close.” Bradford warned on the radio. Seeing that the others took cover behind a hut and some trees, Lukas walked away from the squad until he was at a safe distance before Heavy fired his rocket launcher at it. They all heard the screams of the AVENT soldiers and an angry roar, seeing to their horror how the Berserker had survived, slamming the ground before charging forward. The XCOM squad focused all fire on it, exploiting its weakness, bringing it down before it came far. “Kill conformed!” Lukas yelled. Wolf saw out of the corner of her eye how the Officer had survived with much luck and fired her Shard gun, killing him the moment changed position with a clear headshot, sending him backwards into the sand. The squad then carefully advanced, strangely encountering no other hostile as they climbed down the small elevation. “That is too easy. Let’s scan the area.” Kyle suggested and Lyra, Dinky and Gyro did as told. Terrible shrieks occurred and several inspect like creatures came out of the ground before them. “Chrysalids…I hate those things…” Toby commented with disgust and fear. “You and me both.” Wolf added in the same tone. One of the aliens leaped forward towards Fletcher and slashed his chest with its claws, he hissed in pain but luckily, his nanomites made him immune to the creature’s poison and the vest did its job. The Chryssalid was burning, flailed around before dying. “For once I’m glad about fire.” He commented relieved as Lena’s GREMLIN healed him. Another Chryssalid leaped at the mare, she stabbed it midair with her knives. “And stay down!” They slowly fight their through the aliens until they came what looked like a gate, the middle glowed purple from Psionic energy, causing the central officer to comment, “I’m not sure what we were expecting to find out of there, but this definitely looks promising.” The squad members couldn’t agree more as they looked at their discovery in awe as Shen added, “That’s not the same rift the Codex used when it appeared. This thing could lead anywhere, it may not even be pointing at Earth.” “As with most things, we’ll likely to need to bring it back to the ship for further examination.” Tygan said before the portal glowed brighter and a smooth spherical creature came out of it, looking like a white floating sphere with a yellow eye in the middle. “This one is uniquely graceful compared to some of the other species we’re seen – it also gives off very strong psionic readings.” The chief Engineer warned as Lukas fired at the shell, it didn’t even flinch. “The armor’s though!” In response, the sphere looked at Bianca and the eye started to glow yellow and a bright beam fired from it at her, throwing the woman to the ground with a cry of pain. “Bolster!” They heard Patch’s voice in a shocked voice and Dinky looked at him. His expression became one of fear, his eyes small. “This isn’t right! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!” He yelled in pain and started to cower behind a rock, trembling and breathing heavily. Suddenly, the white shell opened and a mass of flesh, looking almost purple glowing tentacles were visible, flower-like. Like a bud of many petals folding around each other. The arms started to form a ball of Psionic energy that shot towards Toby and exploded in a shock wave, throwing him over. “PATCH!” James yelled and let out an angry scream. In a fit of rage in a Berserker like state, he aggressively fired at the shell, it flinched and closed to protect itself from the bullets. “GREMLIN, Revival Protocol!” Lena pointed at Patch and her drone flew over to him. He was still alive, cowering on the ground as the GREMLIM released the healing vapor and he started to calm down, his breathing becoming normally. Dinky checked Bianca’s life sign with her GREMLIM, praying she wasn’t dead as she wasn’t moving at all. The filly let out a sign of relief as the scan showed that the woman was only unconscious and lightly wounded, being very lucky and released the vapor to heal and revive her. Midnight charged at the sphere and drew his blade, cutting it sideways, then used his blood magic to retreat safe back into cover as the sphere was slightly thrown back by the hit. “You're done here, you little curd!” Fray yelled as he cast a lance of Psionic energy towards the sphere and it started to rumble, glowing brighter before exploding, leaving only a wreck. “Well...that thing didn't go down easy.” Kyle commented in relief as Bianca groaned and slowly stood up. “Watch out!” James yelled as another Chryssalid leaped towards her, she instinctively held up her arms to protect herself before a loud shot reached in her ears and the alien fell death to the ground in midair. “Are you okay?” She uncovered to herself to see James in front of her with a worried expression. “I’m good.” She replied, grateful he had saved her life. “Status confirmed, all hostile contacts in the AO have been eliminated. The gateway is secure.” Central reported, “Status confirmed, Commander, we’re secured the Psionic gate and recovery teams are en route to the site. Now it’s up to Tygan and Shen to figure out what this thing does.” Once the teams arrived, the squad helped to load the gate into the Skyranger and enjoyed the relaxing flight back, Toby mumbled in disbelief, “Did I mess up there? Sorry...” Midnight patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay, it happens to everyone, even to us.” As the transport was finally back, Jessie left for a shower, the others relaxed in the bar as Bianca returned from the medical treatment. “Not as bad as I had feared.” Jane smiled. “Glad to hear it.” “Yeah. Reminds me, Jessie’s birthday is tomorrow, would you like to help prepare everything?” She asked the ponies and Dinky grinned. “Of course!” “It would be a pleasure.” Fletcher said, his two friends nodded. And so, Dinky, together with Bianca, Jane, Kyle, Edward, Sasha, Fletcher and Midnight decorated the bar, while Jan and Wolf prepared the food in the kitchen. The elderly woman was impressed by how fast and precise the mare’s cuts were as she made some strawberries to pieces for a strawberry cake. “Didn’t know you’re so good at cooking.” “I spent a lot of my time out in the woods with just my wits to survive. I...don't quite know how this led to me being so good at making strawberry cake but hey, forest survival has its perks.” Wolf relied before she shrieked. Jan turned around and gasped. Wolf stared at her left foreleg. Her hoof was gone. Then the sleeve of her cook clothing fell back, revealing her hoof was fully intact and the Pegasus let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, he will love it for sure!” Bianca said confident, grinning. The German awoke next morning, yawning and stretching himself, wondering where the others were as the living quarters were empty. I guess they went for a mission. He thought and walked towards the bar for breakfast. He opened the door and… “Surprise!” several voices yelled, startling him a bit. He then relaxed and smiled. “Ah, thank you, guys.” “Happy birthday, Jessie!” Dinky exclaimed as she and Jan brought the cake in, the woman smiled proudly at her work. “Thank you, Dinky.” “Happy birthday, my friend!” Toby said with a happy expression and pointed at the candles. “Make a wish.” As the sniper blew out the candles, Bianca walked up to him, slightly nervous. “I have something to say.” “And that this?” He asked curious “...See... w-we've known each other... for a while now... and, well... you and I... we've gotten to know each other... quite well…” She stuttered. “So... what I'm trying to say is...” She paused. “And, please don't take this the wrong way, but... I... I l-lo... I lov...” She couldn’t bring herself to say it. “What’s wrong?” He asked before woman grabbed him gently and pulled him close, kissing him in the lips, catching him off guard completely. “Happy Birthday, this is my gift you.” She said with an amorous glance. James blushed, slightly taken back. He slowly started to smile. “I love you too, that’s the best birthday gift I could ever wish for.” With that, they both kissed and everyone smile warmly at them. “Now let’s celebrate!” Kyle put on an old song. “That’s nice, a song about celebrating.” Jane commented as she enjoyed it and walked closer to Kyle. “Yep, a very good one back-“ He never finished as the Ranger kissed him, he blushed in response. “Indeed. Now, Mr. Abstraction, let’s celebrate.” She said, blushing herself and the man nodded with a slight surprised expression. The others smiled with happiness at the lovers and Edward asked Dinky, ”May I have this dance?” With a smile, she took his hand and they danced together. Sasha, Toby, Lukas, Lena, Jan and the Knights started to dance too, enjoying every second of this successful birthday party, knowing it would be something to remember.