10:12, 1st March 2016
The Ethereal hung silently in the bridge of the spacecraft, the heavy helmet atop its robes turned towards the display before it. The ship’s control room was surprisingly empty, with only a single Sectoid dutifully monitoring the controls.
Two thundering footsteps followed by the electric sound of the blue screen of light covering the entrance dissolving signalled the arrival of a Muton. The Ethereal turned to witness this, and noted the presence of the Found One alongside the guard. Good. The Found One approached as the Muton stepped sideways, taking up position beside the door and waiting.
It always surprises me, the Found One messaged while walking towards the Ethereal, how a room so full of lights can be so dimly lit.
The Ethereal did not turn to consider the holographic displays and glowing stripes around the ship’s bridge. You are more cheerful, it observed.
The Found One nodded. I have rested well, the reply came. Do I have a mission?
No, the Ethereal replied, we thought you may wish to witness this. Our newfound ally is about to make their presence known.
They have moved quickly, the Found One noted, stepping towards the display with interest. So we see how our enemy would fight themselves, with no risk to our own forces.
With little risk, the Ethereal corrected. Our ally requested that we give reason for our common enemy to arrive.
So we provide the bait, the Found One noted with distaste. This had better be worth it.
***
“Listen up, Strike One,” Officer Bradford’s voice sounded over the Skyranger’s radio, “A small group of hostiles has been reported by a local security force in Cape Town, South Africa, on a pier in the docks. No abductions have taken place yet, but we’ve got MELD signature readings from the site. They’ve tried to affect water supplies before, so we aren’t taking any chances. Eliminate all hostiles, recover the MELD, and stay on station to protect the investigation team the Council is putting together to find out what they’re up to.”
“Do we have a crew roster for the vessel responsible, Sir?” Sergeant Kozlov queried.
“We’re not receiving any signals on the Relay from the area. Eyewitness reports are limited to Sectoids and Floaters, but keep your eyes open.”
“LZ in sight, touching down,” the pilot’s voice filtered in. “The pier is too densely built up, I’m going to drop you off in a yard nearby.”
Fireteam Oscar donned their helmets silently as the Skyranger landed. The whole team was equipped with a heavier variant of Carapace armour, for all-around protection and better resistance to flying shrapnel and debris. It was designed specifically for fighting in built-up areas such as the pier ahead, but also made fast-roping from the Skyranger dangerous due to the increased weight.
“Copy that, Big Sky,” Kozlov confirmed. “Strike One, we’re heading south towards the pier. Barnes, take point. Cho, follow him up.” ‘Cobra’ Barnes simply nodded as he moved ahead, scatter laser in hand.
Cho’s rifle swept the narrow road between the first two buildings on the dock as the squad wordlessly crept into it. ‘Dozer’ Bryant’s grunting under the weight of all his equipment, along with the heavy clatter of the squad’s armour, kept them from being perfectly silent.
“Bryant, I still don’t get it,” Ajram whispered through his helmet’s radio, “you could get muscle density gene mods to help with all that. Half the rest of us have them just for our armour, you’ve got a rocket launcher to carry around on top of that.”
“Can’t,” Dozer grunted. “Hate needles. Strong enough anyway.”
“Good thing the medikits are a spray, then,” Ajram quipped, only to be shushed by Kozlov.
The squad passed the first pair of buildings, taking a moment to sweep the gap between them. This second step of alleyway was a little wider, with a fire escape running down the outside of the left building. The right one seemed to be still under construction, the upper level unfinished and a tall crane looming over it from the opposite side. Mancini, the squad’s sniper, held a hand up. The squad paused, waiting for a few moments in utter silence.
“Mancini?” the squad leader prompted.
The sniper shook his head. “Thought I heard talking.”
Kozlov considered this. “Alien chatter?” he asked.
Mancini drew breath to reply, only for a definite *click* to cut him short. Kozlov turned to track the noise, spotting a door into the building on the left of the two they were about to walk between. The Ukrainian quietly held up three fingers of his left hand, held the hand palm down over his head, and placed it back on his weapon. Barnes followed close behind as he began walking towards the door, the rest of the squad moving into cover as a precaution.
Kozlov tested the door handle and found it unlocked. He twisted it, scanning the revealed and dark room with his rifle’s flashlight as the door opened. Crates and metal drums were stacked throughout the room, which had a high roof but a first-story gantry running around the edge. The sergeant hesitated; there could be a hundred things in here that might make a click.
“Barnes, thoughts?” he whispered.
The assault glanced around the warehouse. “Metal sheets lashed to the walkways’ railings seem a bit suspect,” he noted.
“Poor man’s repair work?” Kozlov suggested.
“How poor?” Barnes asked, a little skeptical.
“South Africa,” Kozlov answered. Barnes was probably frowning at him now, but didn’t speak up.
The walkway creaked as something moved on it. Barnes’ weapon was sweeping the room in an instant, Kozlov’s a little behind.
“We’re not alone in here,” the leader whispered into his radio. “Bryant and Cho, other end of the buildings. Mancini and Ajram, fire escape. Keep quiet.”
A few hushed ‘Yes sirs’ followed.
A second passed.
Barnes stepped up behind a big crate, his scatter laser still pointed up at the walkway.
A duller creaking of metal entered through the wall.
The radio whispered twice.
“Macini, in position.”
“Ajram, in position.”
Kozlov nodded. “Ajram, ready a smoke,” he ordered.
Two seconds passed.
“Cho, in position,” the radio whispered again.
Bryant would be a little slower, of course.
One second.
Two.
Th-*CRACK*
Kozlov swung to face the door as Bryant began shouting over the radio. Apart from the panicking heavy, everything was silent for a moment.
“Sir!” Barnes yelled, firing his weapon at the walkway. Kozlov had enough time to turn and see a human figure stood up from behind the metal sheeting before ducking for cover, as the concrete floor behind him was pockmarked with heavy gunfire.
“Hostiles!” Ajram’s voice came over the radio, accompanied by the sound of more gunfire coming through the wall. “Lots of hostiles, in the other building!”
“First floor, this building!” Barnes replied.
“Ajram, Macini, in here and off that walkway!” Kozlov ordered, shuffling sideways to behind a new crate as the previous one began to splinter. The upstairs fire escape was kicked open, and a narrow red beam of light came through, striking the gunner. He and his machine gun hit the walkway, only for the sergeant to notice another two men with assault rifles. “Barnes! Your flank!”
The assault span around, taking another hasty shot as the man on the walkway behind him took aim. The laser blast missed, and the return fire of the assailant’s assault rifle struck Barnes across the torso and head.
Ajram ran onto the walkway, pausing to fire a snap shot at the man as Kozlov took a more careful shot. Both managed to hit, and the man dropped, his skin blackened and his clothes smouldering.
“Still up,” Barnes grunted, now ducked behind his ample cover, “no armour penetration.”
“Cho, Bryant, what’s happening?” Kozlov shouted into his helmet’s microphone.
“Cho, in combat, rear of building!” the answer came, “Maybe six hostiles, ground level and-”
“Rocket!” Mancini shouted on the radio as he jumped into the room. Everyone within ducked as the wall exploded, bits of bricks flying into the room and smashing against crates and floors as the missile hit the fire escape outside. The sniper fell to the ground as the walkway beneath him buckled under the pressure and heat, grabbing onto the railing to prevent himself falling into the newly-made hole. The last attacker in the room took his chance to fire a spray of shots at the marksman, his assault rifle chattering.
“Barnes, take that guy out!” Kozlov shouted, the radio letting him be heard over the now roaring fire. “Bryant, report!”
“They’re everywhere!” the heavy shouted in reply. “Get me outta here!”
“Cho, moving to support!” the radio crackled as Barnes broke cover and began sprinting towards a nearby ladder. “Hostiles on the opposite roof an- gah!”
“Cho!?” Kozlov shouted, firing his rifle at the attacker on the walkway. The man ducked behind his cover, giving Barnes time to scramble up the ladder.
“Sniper on the crane!” the riflewoman replied. “Missed me, but I can’t get to Bryant!”
Mancini’s pistol sounded, three distinct cracks as he quickly retreated away from the hole in the wall now that he’d got to his feet. The man on the walkway stayed sat in cover as the shots hit the wall overhead, before standing to take aim with his rifle. Instead, the stock of Barnes’ scatter laser met his chin and knocked him sprawling, before the assault grabbed the Arc Thrower off of his hip and zapped the man with it. “Hostile pacified, thanks Mancini. You alright?”
“Bruised like a prune, but I’ll live,” the sniper replied, watching Ajram fire at a target through the wide hole in the wall. “Bryant, calm down; they’re using conventional ballistic rounds, zero armour penetration.”
“You sure?” the heavy’s voice came through, sounding hesitant.
“Mancini, cover him. Barnes, move to support Cho,” Kozlov ordered, “I’m moving back out the door to cover Bryant.”
There were a handful of affirmatives before the squad moved, Mancini edging closer to the hole in the wall as Barnes swung himself over the walkway’s edge and dropped to the ground floor. He and Kozlov kicked open the doors on opposite ends of the building at the same time, stepping outside to support. Ajram’s rifle fired again, and a man fell from the opposite building, the striped bandana covering his face falling loose.
“Oh God!” Bryant shouted as the body hit the ground a stone’s throw away from him, “These guys aren’t fully human!”
“Copy that,” Ajram concurred, “it’s taking two shots to kill. These guys are tougher than just flesh and blood.”
“Central, this is Strike One, we’re under fire from hostiles,” Kozlov reported into his helmet’s microphone as he aimed another shot, missing as his target ducked behind a bundle of concrete pipes. “Hostiles appear as unarmoured humans, but are significantly tougher, please advise.”
There was a shriek as Barnes’ scatter laser sounded again, out of the sergeant’s viewpoint. There was a brief pause before Cho’s rifle fired, its red beam striking the front of the building.
“Cho, see if you can get eyes on that sniper!” Kozlov shouted, “Barnes, hold your ground and keep Bryant covered! Central, Strike One under fire from human hostiles, please advise!”
A spray of bullets hit the ground besides Kozlov, and he flinched back behind the corner of the warehouse instinctively. Ajram’s rifle retorted, and Kozlov saw his attacker struck square in the chest by the beam, hunching over as his shirt caught fire and his skin blackened. The man dropped back behind the wall he was using for cover as another burst of gunfire sounded, accompanied by a loud yell from Bryant.
“I’m hit!” the heavy screamed. “Somebody get me outta here!”
“Sergeant, I’m going to get Bryant,” Barnes radioed in.
“No!” Kozlov shouted in response, “Hold position until Cho finds that sniper! Central, respond!”
“Got him!” Cho shouted as her rifle fired, before continuing, “Suppressing target. Barnes, move!”
Kozlov watched as Barnes ran into his field of view, heading for the panicking heavy as the sergeant scanned the opposite building for hostiles. “No targets spotted,” Ajram called in, matching Kozlov’s observation, “what are they-”
“Shoot!” Mancini called out, “footsteps! There’s someone on the roof, our side!”
Barnes quickly vaulted over the stack of steel drums Bryant had been using for cover as the heavy spun around, looking up at the warehouse’s roof. He didn’t yell. He didn’t scream. He didn’t so much as gasp, as a roar and a rushing of air drowned out all other noise.
The rocket slammed into the steel drums, cratering the tarmac beneath and sending metal slag flying. Kozlov ducked as the wave of heat rolled over him, before daring a glance at the alleyway again. Bryant and Barnes were both lying half-in the crater, and neither was moving.
Cho screamed something, firing her rifle at the rooftop. Ajram was yelling. Mancini wasn’t saying anything.
“Squad, hold it together!” Kozlov ordered, “Cho, keep that sniper covered! Ajram, medical, Mancini, cover him! I’m covering the roof!” With that, the sergeant stepped out into the alleyway, quickly turning and surveying the rooftop. The man on the roof was still there, but Cho’s shot had found its mark - he was badly burned, his launcher dropped, and he seemed to be trying to pull the machine gun strapped to his shoulder up with one hand. A second shot from Kozlov avenged the two XCOM soldiers.
“He’s moved!” Cho shouted, “I don’t see-” The support stopped talking as she yelled, accompanied by a sharp *CRACK*
“Cho, report!” Kozlov shouted, already running toward her position, his path taking him just past Ajram as the medic exited the warehouse.
“Hit bad, right shoulder,” Cho replied, sounding weaker than before, “He’s dropped onto the other roof!”
“I’ve got him!” Mancini shouted, the piercing whine of his charging rifle penetrating the air. The other sniper broke cover and ran along the rooftop as the italian fired, hitting him in the right shoulder in kind. The attacker dropped, hitting the bare concrete floor of the unfinished building as Mancini started charging his rifle again.
“Central, Strike One!” Kozlov radioed again. “We have been engaged by human hostiles and have two men down! Resp-” He cut off as more bullets rattled against his armour, still failing to penetrate. Ajram ducked too, before turning from the downed men he had been about to inspect and firing into the ground floor of the unfinished building. A gurgling cry and the clatter of a dropped weapon accompanied the sizzling sound of his laser rifle’s bloom.
Mancini’s rifle fired again, and the sniper radioed in the kill. Silence followed for a second, before Ajram spoke, “You think that’s all of them?”
“Hope so,” Cho replied, “otherwise I’m going to have to learn to shoot left-handed very fast.”
“Ajram, go patch her up,” Kozlov ordered, “We still have to…” He trailed off as another noise began, a low whirring sound somewhere distant.
“Helicopter,” Mancini shouted, “transport, black, no identifying marks. Taking off from a low rooftop, maybe four hundred metres north.”
“That’s not far from the Skyranger!” Kozlov shouted, “Squad, we need to get back there!”
Mancini countered, “Not sure about that, it’s flying away. Looks like there’s some kind of device inside it though, with some kind of dish on it. Do you-”
“-report! Big Sky, report!” Officer Bradford’s somewhat panicked voice cut across the radio channel.
“Big Sky, reporting in,” the Skyranger’s pilot replied, “Been sat in radio silence for twenty minutes, what gives?”
“Strike One, reporting,” Kozlov called in, “Mancini spotted an unmarked black transport helicopter carrying what may have been radio equipment leaving the area just now, four hundred metres north of our current position.”
There was a short pause. “Copy that Strike One,” Bradford replied, now sounding a lot more confident, “We’re tracking that helicopter now. We saw you engaged by hostiles, what happened?”
“Ambush,” Kozlov replied, “human or transhuman hostiles, armed with conventional ballistic weapons. Cho’s been injured by sniper fire and… we lost Barnes and Bryant. Enemy rocket. Unsure if we’re in good enough shape to tackle the aliens,” he explained.
“Negative, Strike One,” Bradford responded, “alien hostiles are no longer present at the site, as of fifteen minutes ago. Meld reserves will have self-detonated by this point. Return to the Skyranger before anything else shows up.”
“Copy that,” Kozlov replied, “Barnes managed to take one hostile captive before… well, we’re bringing him in.”
“Good, I’ll tell Dr Vahlen to have a chamber ready for him. I’m sure she’ll have some luck getting him to talk.”
Kozlov glanced at the two fallen soldiers nearby, their shredded armour turned black. “Couldn’t agree more, sir.”
“I’m going to grab that sniper’s rifle while you boys haul the bodies,” Cho spoke up. Kozlov turned to argue, but she held her good hand up and pointed at the broad hole in the other shoulder of her carapace. “Conventional ballistics can’t get through this armour, and besides, no sense letting me go back empty handed.”
“Ajram, cover her, then grab Bryant,” Kozlov replied simply, stowing his scatter laser and walking towards Barnes’ body. “Mancini, secure the hostile, then we all get back to the ship.” The squad called their affirmatives, and set to work.
***
Two kills, the Found One noted, and it cost them seven of their own.
It cost us nothing, the Ethereal noted.
True, but our newfound allies’ weapons didn’t seem to do much, the reply was critical. If they had the same weaponry we possess-
Out of the question, the Ethereal interrupted, they have not yet demonstrated the fullness of their intent. We cannot afford to have our weapons used against us.
The Found One thought for a moment, before nodding. I hope these creatures prove themselves better with time, then. Even if their soldiers are not intelligent, losing seven of them must have hurt their controller.
Our foe has been noted to cope poorly with loss, the Ethereal concurred, it would seem reasonable that our ally would act likewise.
Thicker armour for their soldiers might help, the Found One replied. Theirs seemed so flimsy compared to the enemy. Even during my own mission, their shells weren't that thick…
And they still managed to cause more permanent damage, the Ethereal noted, earning himself a glare. Do you feel you have learned anything that would help in your next endeavour?
I think so, the Found One replied, Our enemy will find that I learn very quickly.
***
Twilight watched as the Skyranger landed, stretchers and medical staff already waiting in the hangar. The dropship landed, and the rear ramp opened. The four live soldiers walked out first, the medical staff immediately flanking one of them in case she needed help standing. She was escorted through to the infirmary as the other three turned, watching as four men with two stretchers entered the Skyranger.
The alicorn’s throat tightened as they re-emerged, two armoured bodies lying on the stretchers. An order was given, and the three survivors, along with the other two fireteams who had been on standby, snapped to attention, saluting the fallen warriors. Silence reigned as the dropship’s engines shut down, and the stretchers were taken out of the hangar. Another order was given, and the salute ended, before the three survivors followed their injured comrade into the infirmary.
Twilight was silent as the attending personnel dispersed. This shouldn’t have happened. The war was meant to be over, which means the dying should have stopped.
She had another combat test tomorrow.
They needed to know what she could teach them to do.