//------------------------------// // Chapter 10: Old World // Story: Xcom: Alien Unknown // by Bronycommander //------------------------------// Chapter 10: Old World “That one...stung...a bit...” Toby managed to say before he slowly collapsed, James caught him and put him on the passenger seat. He then slammed on the accelerator, driving out of the outpost as fast as he could, Dinky and Fletcher used their most advanced healing spells on Toby, it would keep their friend from outright dying out due to blood loss. However, that didn't stop him from dying from shock or something else, as he was bleeding badly from the chest. “We got ADVENT on our tail!” Midnight yelled as sirens blared and squad cars chased them. “Keep them off!” Jessie yelled as he tried to keep the van steady as he entered the roads, Lukas, Wolf and Midnight opened the rear doors and opened fire in the pursuers, again aiming for the tires or drivers. One squad car came dangerously close, so Midnight used his wings to jump over to it and rammed his blade into the engine, then flew back to the van. The engine started to smoke, then exploded and the driver lost control, crashing into a pole, creating a blockade for the other cars, preventing them from continuing their pursuit. “I think we lost them!” Lukas was relived as James drove into a forest, near a mountain. “Good, but we need to be careful, it will be just a matter of time before they search this forest and they won’t give up quickly,” Jessie warned as he stopped his expressions became confused. “A dead end?” “Something’s not right…why would a road end at a mountain that way?” Midnight wondered and tapped the mountain, hearing a metal sound coming from it. “Hmm…” He walked from one side of the rock to the other and found what appeared to be an encrypted pad, hidden under fake moss. “Would you look at that.” James in return used his pad to get activate the system, he wasn’t as skilled as his friend, but still managed to do it as the pad flashed green. They all stepped back in awe as the rock formation slid upwards, while the ground beyond it tilted down. The sound of old generators greeted their ears as it opened up, revealing a clean, concrete tunnel going down into the mountain itself and long, fluorescent strip lights in the middle of the roof blinked on, at least some of them. “Wow…” The Sniper mumbled before turning towards Dinky and Fletcher, barely catching sight of Toby's ragged breathing. “How is he?” “Critical, but stable. We must hurry.” Fray replied as the GREMLIN gave out a warning beep, meaning there was no time to waste. They got into the van and entered the mountain, rocks slid down and water emerged from the end, as if a stream had suddenly decided to flow through. And soon the ravine was partially flooded, and there was no sign of an entrance ever being there. Inside, Günther carefully down the ramp all the way down into the roots of the mountains, eventually coming to a large garage big enough for tricks, having a loading bay. There was another exit, collapsed, next to it a large, broken glass tube. The half opened door, half-melted, half-collapsed, hinted there had been a battle some time ago, but faded papers that had become part of the floor, abandoned boxes and abandoned equipment on tables hinted the place was left in a hurry. “Where are we?” Dinky asked as Wolf and Midnight opened the door, so she, Lukas, James and Fletcher could carry Patch in. “I don’t know, but it’s very old and not from ADVENT as far as I can tell,” James replied as he looked around and saw a table with medical supplies and a stretcher. “Perfect!” They carefully placed the injured man on the stretcher. “I’m afraid he lost a lot of blood, he needs a transfusion,” Fletcher told him with concern. The sniper smiled weakly. “Good thing that he and I have the same blood type, and the supplies are old, but still have everything we need.” “Okay then, I will do the procedure,” Fletcher said as Günther pulled his sleeved back and Dinky gently held his hand in order to calm keep him calm as Fray injected the needle. “You’re doing great.” The filly’s voice was calming as James’s expression was slightly one of pain, yet smiled at her words until it was done. “That should it. Let’s pray he makes it.” Fletcher sounded concerned as he finished. “Yes...He will need him to contact the Avenger, this place looks like it has barely power.” James noticed that the lights were flickering, “We need power to get a strong signal.” “Agreed. Question is where is it located, we have to wait until Toby wakes up.” They all nodded and had some rations, looking over Spring, who was now breathing easier, his pulse stable, and his skin now looked much more healthy, with his GREMLIN monitoring him. Jessie sighed. “I really hope he makes it. I can’t imagine what to do without him.” “I hear ya.” Midnight replied with a weak smile as he looked at them, they returned it. "I know we aren’t in a good situation, but I am sure the others will look for us” Lukas sounded confident of it. “We can only hope and pray for the best, staying positive,” Dinky added as they heard Patch groan, slowly opening his eyes. “Ugh...Bloody teenage drivers...Is it time for tea, mum?” He mumbled as Jessie helped him up with a smile. “No, and we need a have a talk about those magazines I found under your bed, young man,” Jessie replied with a faked English accent, trying to sound female, yet failed miserably, not that the others minded. Patch leaned heavily on the table, half-chuckled, half-coughed as he replied, “What, Warhammer?” He laughed, then winced, placing his hand on the side of his torso. “What happened?” Dinky was maybe too young to understand but something told her not to ask them what they meant with magazines as James answered his friend’s question. “When you were jumping into the van, a lucky stray shot got you in the back… I think it went right through you…” Upon hearing this, Toby winced and lifted his shirt, confused, yet relieved to see no scar. “The healing spells I and Dinky used prevented any permanent marks.” The green unicorn explained and he and the others found themselves in a hug by the specialist. “You saved my life…” His voice was soft and one of gratefulness. “We only did what was right, helping a friend in need.” Dinky smiled at him as he let go and looked around. “Where are we anyway?” “Some kind of underground base. And this room appears to be a locker room.” Lukas replied as he took notice of a looker with his surname, looking at it in awe as he saw the first name. “No…It can’t be…” The others wondered what was wrong until they saw the name too. Nils Barber. “F-father…” Lukas mumbled in disbelief. “So…we are at the old XCOM base, who thought of that?” Jessie commented at the sight upon realizing. Lukas couldn’t describe the feeling that went through him as he walked towards the locker, opening it as it was unlocked. Inside was a diary, completely fine, free from dust. He couldn’t help himself as he opened and read it, the first entry was on 1st March. Just got accepted into XCOM. I feel excited, yet a bit scared, but I can’t let it happen that my family gets abducted or killed by the invaders. I have to stay strong for them. The others said nothing, they understood Lukas’ feeling to want to know what happened to his father as he read about the first mission of his father My first mission, preventing an Alien Abduction, went better than I have expected, no causalities. If we can keep this up, the aliens will never know what hit them. The former trooper flipped the side, reading the entry that was made in early April. The aliens attack civilian targets. We must stop them before casualties get too high. God…I hope my family is safe from those…Chrysalids… Lukas smiled weakly, he luckily never had encountered a Chryssalid during the invasion, yet understood his father’s worry. “Mother and I were safe in a shelter back then…” He mumbled then read the next entry. It appears we found a base of the Aliens. Hopefully, it’s infiltration will put a stop to this invasion, or at least delay it. The name of the operation…’Operation Health’. Where the hell do they come up with these names anyway? After action report. Captured enemy commander and a device of unknown purpose. We also found some of the abducted victims, getting experimented on. God…makes me even more worried about my family’s safety. It made Lukas relived that he never was victim of the abductions back then, yet it made him realize that the gene clinics served the same purpose as he read the next entry that was made just a few days later. The Aliens somehow managed to find our base and attacked it, but we managed to repel it. Now we have to find out how they managed to do this. We got also reports about alien sympathizers, called EXALT. If it isn’t bad enough, now we have to fight each other? Once this is all over, I spent time with my family, for sure. “Sadly, it never happened, dad… Lukas let a tear escape as he read the next entry that had been made in late May. We recovered a prisoner held by EXALT, a French woman called Annette Durand, apparently being able to wield the same powers as those Sectoids…This just gets better and better. 13. June We just rescued some prisoners that can also wield Psionic powers. Dr. Vahlen is confident they can use those powers for XCOM, I hope it will be worth the risk we took. 29. July We managed to take down a UFO that appeared to be a command ship and captured an enemy leader, called “Ethereal” or “Elder” by Dr. Vahlen. Something tells me we will regret this. 2..August I know it. A big alien ship appeared at the coast of South America. But we managed to locate the HQ of EXALT and bring it down for good. I doubt the remaining forces will be a problem. Now it’s time to finish on the Aliens again. Lukas started to shake as he read the last entries. It is time, I have been selected to the team that will assault the mothership of the invaders. Annette volunteered to use the device we recovered to get on the ship. If I should not survive, my dear wife and son, I love you with all my heart. I do this for you. We did it. We defeated them. But Annette sacrificed himself, so the ship wouldn’t destroy Earth as it was about to explode. I will never forget her sacrifice. This is the end. Several more of those motherships appeared, we are under attack and the Council ordered us to stand down. I’m so sorry, my dear family, so very sorry… I failed. Now, the man started to sob at what he had read, the others looked at him with sympathy and James spoke up, “Your father was a great man, he did everything to protect you, sacrificing himself. Thanks to him, Earth survived. Dinky hugged the former trooper. “He will always be with you in your heart.” Barber slowly started to smile, stroking her mane. “You’re right, he did a brave thing. Now, let’s find a way to contact the Avenger.” “We are in luck, I found a switchbox just around the corner, I might be able to get it running again. Patch explained and walked up to it, inspecting it. It was dented, apparently having been hit in the attack. “This could take a while, Fletcher can you give me a hoof?” “Sure thing.” Dinky looked around, wondering how many had survived or died before she heard two screams of pain, seeing sparks coming from the direction the box was. “Okay…still has juice…” Toby said with a pained voice before the light switched on. “Nice job, now let’s take a look around.” Midnight suggested and stepped out into the hallway, and suddenly screamed and the others heard dull thumps. They turned into the direction, seeing a staircase. The echoing of a throat and hoof steps sounded, seeing the grey stallion coming out, fine but out of breath. “Guys…found a…containment facility…At least I think it is one…” “Well then, let’s take a look, there must be a communications device somewhere.” Toby suggested and they walked down, coming to a room with a big glass tube in the middle of it. “I think this is where they held captured aliens, possible even interrogated them somehow.” He added and pressed some buttons on the console and a video activated. It showed a man wearing a blue suit, his eyes hidden by sunglasses, his hair was short and black hair, looking unimpressed at two arms that extended out to his left and right, then walked calmly towards to the wall before a gate blocked the view and it ended. “That was….creepy…”Dinky said with fear in her voice. “Yeah, those were the Thin Men back then. Makes me kinda think of you, Midnight.” James pointed out and the stallion looked in confusion at him. “How that?” “Well, I guess you would react just like the Thin man if you would be in his place. Plus, if you had to take your old form as a disguise but still have the white eyes, sunglasses would help to hide it, just like the Thin Man.” He explained and Midnight chuckled. “It did work, actually...For over sixty years. The Bizarre Demi-Blindness of Professor Dusk Shine...Someone even wrote a book on it. No-one thought to actually take off the glasses.” “I took a look at the layout.” Toby interrupted them, “Turns out the Engineering and laboratory are right next to it.” The group decided to check the Engineering out first, the room looked like a small factory, robotic arms and conveyor belt took the major of it, several white-colored weapons with a red glow and weapons with a green glow were scattered on the tables, along with corpses of Engineers, causing Dinky to look away. “Poor guys. Bradford mentioned how the mountain housing XCOM headquarters is the final resting place of many XCOM operatives.” James said with pity and sadness in his voice. “But I am pretty sure those Laser and Plasma weapons still work.” “Very likely. I wonder what the lab has in store.” Toby wondered and they all took a look. Like the Engineering, it wasn’t a pleasant sight. Corpses of scientists were scattered around in the lab with typical lab equipment. There were also wrecks of what looked like flat saucers and spider-like robots laid around, together with squid-like robot wrecks and massive bipedal robots wrecks with round, grey, skull-like heads. “If I remember correctly, Central told once those saucers and spider-like robots are called cyberdisc, the squid robots are Seekers and those massive wrecks were the previous models of the Sectopod,” Toby explained. “Sounds like the Aliens were well equipped back then,” Fletcher commented with a hint of fear in his voice. “Yes, they were, but so was XCOM. Seeing all this reminds me of something…” Jessie mumbled as he slowly started to grin. “Bradford told us a lot what he went through to rebuild XCOM. One of his stories was to recover an ‘artifact of power’ in a stasis pod and…you will never believe what it was according to him.” “Well?” The filly got curious. “The sweater he wore during the invasion.” He replied and the Knights and Lukas shook their heads in disbelief. “You've got to be kidding! That’s ridiculous!” Wolf said, trying to hide a chuckle. Günther shrugged. “That was what he told us all, I guess he hit his head or was drunk back then.” “I guess we will never know the truth.” Patch added, “Anyway, we might be able to send a message from the Mission Control in the top part of the base.” The bat pony pointed to the floor. “Lead the way.” They moved out, walking past the hanger, seeing a wreck of a fighter jet and of a saucer-like interceptor, appearing to be a hybrid of human and alien technology. “Those were the interceptors of XCOM during the invasion, shooting down UFOs. The first is called Raven, it was the standard Interceptor by XCOM, armed with Avalanche missiles that were upgraded with Earth's best targeting software. They engaged the aliens in the sky for quite some time successfully.” James explained and pointed to the other interceptor. “And this is the Firestorm, the product of the reverse-engineering of many of the aliens' UFO technologies and integrating them into a hybrid fighter craft. They engaged the heavier and bigger UFOs.” “Sounds like those pilots did quote a brave work. Wonder though why the Aliens never dismantled the base and left it that way.” Wolf mumbled. “I guess they never saw reason in that with XCOM destroyed.” Patch suspected as they took the stairs up, reaching their destination. Similarly to the Avenger, there several terminals and a big screen on the wall, along with a real-time holographic representation of the Earth In the middle that flickered as the power turned on. Also, corpses were scattered around. “Sorry, mate,” Toby said as he pushed a body of a console and started to use it, Gyro buzzed as he did so for a few seconds. “Got it, message’s out and received, they are on their way.” “That’s good to hear.” Dinky smiled, then remembered something. “What happened to your old friend?” Toby smiled weakly. “I vouched for him to be sent to a settlement. It was the least I could do for him.” “Did he know anything about your girlfriend and family?” The filly asked with hope. “His smile faded as his lowered his head. “Sadly no. My girlfriend’s hometown was wiped out by the fog pods, so she’s mostly like deceased. And since SAS was disbanded after the surrender, even he couldn’t find out anything.” Suddenly, an alert ringed and tore them out, the screen blinked red and Spring took a look. “Bugger it, ADVENT found us! We won’t have much time.” “Agreed. We should arm ourselves with the plasma weapons, they are better than the magnetic ones.” Günther suggested. “And we could use the wrecks of the alien machines for traps to delay them,” Fletcher added. “Good thought. I also looked at the layout, the entrance we used is the only one in, all others have collapsed.” Patch replied and they prepared everything. They placed the wrecks along the tunnel in several defensive lines, taking position on a balcony on the mission Control, having a perfect view. It didn’t take long for ADVENT to arrive and move in, a few Mutons and Chrysalids were with them as the scanners showed, causing Toby to shiver. “Why have it to be Chrysalids? James gently patted his shoulder. “Calm down, Toby.” “I've seen what they can do...I've seen what they leave behind...” The Specialist exclaimed with an uneasy voice and expression. “Calm down! Focus on the mission. We have to keep Dinky safe, we came this far, we can’t fail now.” “I can still hear the screams...” “Take a deep breath and calm down, we have to keep her safe. Push everything else out of your mind. Focus!” His friend advised and he took a deep breath. “Alright, damn it. Alright.” The ADVENT soldiers never knew what expected them as one of the Sectopod wrecks fired its powerful chest canon, the extremely devastating attack killed several soldiers that moved in groups, surviving stragglers got strangled by the Seekers, choking them unconscious, while the Cyberdiscs fired their beam weapons, punching even right through the Muton armor, killing them instantly. Other Sectopods fired barrages of explosive mini-bombs, killing or delaying the enemy even more. Still, they slowly pushed forward but it gave the defenders the time they needed and Patch exclaimed, “Let’s give them a proper welcome!” as the first enemies closed in. The door exploded and all defenders opened fire as ADVENT moved in, getting mowed down. Dinky stayed in cover, resupplying them with ammo and called out enemies, seeing how Toby fired a plasma rifle the Bolt caster on his back. Midnight and Wolf flew through the hostiles, slicing them with their melee weapons. A Chryssalid tried to leap onto the balcony, James shot it midair with his pistol and it fell dead to the ground. “Nice try!” He taunted. “Don't let your guard down! These ones are pissed!” Toby commented as the attackers came wave after wave. “Doesn’t look any different than they are in any other fight we had!” James replied. You don't know them like I do! You don't see the rage in their eyes! They're mad, trust me!” “Focus on the battle at hand, and allow us to do the same!” Jessie yelled, slightly frustrated as he scored a headshot on a Stun Lancer. “Okay, Okay! No more angry Jabberers, just a bunch of very obedient henchmen, colt and relentless…” “Toby, please pay attention to the battle at hand!” Günther reminded him as he reloaded. “Gotcha!” Before Dinky could react, she saw something flying out of the entrance, blinking green. “Grenade!” She yelled and instinctively dived out of the way, the explosion deafened her hearing and her vision was blurry. The filly groaned in pain, barely able to look up as she saw that all her friends had been blasted off the balcony, lying dazed on the ground, the hostiles surrounded them. Wolf attempted to grab her Alloy Cannon, the plasma version of the shotgun but a trooper kicked it out of her hoof, holding her at gunpoint, Fletcher and Midnight stayed down, Lukas, Jessie and Toby knelled, their hands behind their heads. Dinky watched in shock as the officer shouted out orders, she knew she had to act fast, but couldn’t take on every hostile, looking frantically around for a way to help her friends. It can’t end that way! It can’t! She closed her eyes, waiting for the shots that would end, it, flinching at the sounds and bodies, hitting the ground. “Looks like we got here just in time!” The voice of Kyle sounded in her ears and she slowly opened her eyes, seeing all hostiles dead, Kyle, Heavy, Lena, Bianca and Jane stood at the entrance, their expressions were one of relief. Only now, Dinky noticed that Bianca was wearing red colored armor with the same helmet and wings of the flying red enemy they had defeated earlier, hovering in the air before landing next to James. “Are you okay, my love?” She asked concerned as she helped him up. “I am fine.” “Lukas, you’re okay!” His wife was happy as she hugged him. Now, Dinky also took notice that the squad was now also armed with Plasma weapons, visible by the green glow they emitted. Bianca then looked up to Dinky and in a swift motion, she vaulted up to her. “Ae you hurt?” “I’m fine. “The child replied as the woman gently picked her up and jumped down. “Let’s get out of here.” The flight back to the Avenger was quiet, the Skyranger repaired, they all were glad to be back in one piece, as Central looked after them. “Welcome back, I had feared the worst.” “Yes, Bradford, it’s nice to be back. I found the diary of my father.” Lukas explained and the elderly man showed a brief expression of sadness. “You can be proud of your father. He fought with determination to keep you and his wife safe at all costs. I can’t remember much when we were attacked, but I think he saved my life back then.” “Of course I am proud.” He then, together with the others went to the bar to drunk something, Dinky played with Edward as he asked his friends, “Any idea how they found us so fast? “I can only think of that they tracked our signal.” Midnight suggested and turned to Jane. “What did we miss?” “Actually, not much. We found that those flying enemies are called Archon. Tygan managed to study the weapon they use and created a new Blade for us Rangers, the Fusion Blade. It can set enemies aflame.” Wolf whistled. “Sounds quite useful.” Suddenly the power cut out and the ship titled, causing the children to scream before Fletcher caught them with their magic and everyone held on. “What’s happening?! Edward asked scared. “I don’t know.” Toby hugged him to calm him down as Central’s voice sounded on the intercom. “We’re going down! UFO contact has disabled our systems! Brace yourselves!” Suddenly, the ship stabilized itself and red emergency lights went own. “That was close,” Kyle said as he stood up before the ship shook in regular intervals. “Menace 1-5, report at once!” Central’s voice buzzed on the intercom and they all did as told, Dinky, after taking a deep breath, grabbed her GREMLIN, thinking they might need her. “The situation is critical – primary Avenger systems are offline and hostiles are moving to engage. Shen, any updates?” Bradford asked her as she checked the systems. “Critical system failure – the Avenger is dead in the water. I’m diverting reserve power to the scanners- and they’re picking up a powerful radiation source nearby – we need to locate and destroy whatever it is disrupting our systems.” “There’s also a bigger problem. We’re picking up heavy comm. Traffic – dozen of ADVENT transports are inbound on our position – and they got battleships in tow. The Aliens are sending everything they got – we have to get this ship off the ground or we may not make it out of this one.” With that in mind, the squad moved down the ramp, seeing a yellow beam in the distance, raging into the sky. Dinky took position on the ramp with the three snipers, using her GREMLIN to take a look. Just down the first, next to a house was a huge needle-like device that generated the impulse that prevented them from escaping, guarded by three Chrysalids. The rest of the squad moved towards it, using the trees as cover as an Officer, together with a Shieldbearer and an Archon were in sight. The Officer pointed at the Grenadier and yelled out orders, firing a shot, but the Russian only flinched as the armor did its job. “Only a flesh wound!” Then the Shieldbearer deployed his shield to protect his allies and the Archon flew towards Sasha, only to panic as he spotted Bolster. The Shieldbearer could barely react as the Archon fired at him, killing him instantly and all shield collapsed. Jessie’s lover brought the Archon down with a headshot, James himself killed the officer as Dinky healed Sasha. “Frag out! He yelled as he shot a grenade between the Chrysalids, they let out cries of pain before Patch, Kyle and Midnight finished them off. Wolf and Jane the fired a few shots at the Disrupter, but it only sparked. “That thing is very robust!” “Not for long!” Fletcher charged up a powerful arrow and fired, the disrupter got destroyed in a big explosion. “Target destroyed. Excellent work, Menace 1-5. Shen, what’s our status?” Bradford asked. “Whatever it was, destroying it seems to have lifted the disruption field. Engine control systems are coming back online. We should be clear to take off within sixty seconds.” “Good, because the situation just got worse. Resistance outposts are reporting enemy transports on the move across this region. They’re getting ready for an all-out assault.” Bradford warned and the squad made its way back to the ramp as another a transport arrived, dropping off an officer and Priest, yet were shot by Fletcher and James as they jumped out. “We made it!” Abstraction raised a fist into the air as he cheered upon reaching the ramp. “We did all great. The Avenger lives to fight another day.” Dinky praised them. The green unicorn let out a breath of relief that it was over and they could go. “Help!” Dinky screamed and everyone turned around. “Dinky! No!” Fletcher yelled as he saw how she got dragged away, it was a Viper on a transport above them. The filly struggled as the Alien bound her, seeing how two ADVENT trooper suppressed the XCOM squad on the ground. Dinky’s vision slowly became blurry, she tried to breathe but the Viper had her tight in its grip and she blacked out. Kyle took aim and fired four shots but Midnight held his rifle down, causing him to miss. “We can’t risk it!” He then grabbed his radio. “Central, they got Dinky!” He reported and they were all forced to watch as the ADVENT transport flew away.