Episode 1: Unwelcome VisitorsJostling for a decent position among the other new recruits you glance up and notice for the first time just how high the ceilings are. It almost makes you forget how many hundreds of metres underground you are. Men and women are rushing to and fro everywhere carrying an assortment of different equipment. It's amazing how quickly the whole multi-national organisation has been put together. Still not quickly enough though you remind yourself as you hear a crash as one of the many engineers rushing about spills his tools all over the floor. Almost immediately one of his superiors is hovering over him yelling abuse. Poor guy you think. Something is pressed into your hand and you are forcibly snapped from your daydreams. Your eyes meet briefly with one of the men from mission control. "Good luck rookie" he says, clasping you firmly on the shoulder and before you even have a chance to respond he has already stepped aside and collared another recruit. You look down to the object in your hand...
"It means In vigilance I trust." offers a nearby woman holding the same badge. You realize that she must have read your puzzled expression and you consciously resist the urge to let yourself redden in embarrassment. "Of course, who doesn't know that." You reply trying to regain your composure. "I didn't until I overhead some other guys talking about it" the woman laughs. Her eyes betray more than a hint of amusement. Realizing that you must now seem both ignorant and rude you open your mouth to properly introduce yourself but as you do a hush falls over the recruits and all eyes fall upon the stage. Commander Ronin, the leader of the entire XCOM outfit has stepped up to the podium to speak, his steely gray eyes are resolute and betray nothing but you wonder if the beads of sweat on his brow are from the stage lights or something else.
"Men and women of XCOM... Much of what I am about to tell you is strictly classified. You are here because you are the best of the best. Your responsibility is nothing less than to safeguard humanity from total extinction. In roughly 3000BC the first recorded unidentified flying object landed in Wiltshire, England."
A slide appears on a board behind the Commander:
"The sanitised records that we allow the public to have access to suggest that Stonehenge was built as a site of worship by druids. The truth is that it was built as a marker to possibly the first spot that an extraterrestrial vessel landed on Earth."
The hall fills with mutters of disbelief and wonder but the Commander ploughs on ahead.
"We do not know why they arrived or why they left yet but we do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were there. During 1947, in Roswell, New Mexico a UFO crash landed and several extraterrestrial bodies were recovered by the US Army. Samples of limestone dating back to 3000BCE were also taken from the vessel as well as several other intriguing artefacts from various periods throughout human history. Initially this sole alien spacecraft was not viewed as a threat, no weapons were retrieved from the craft and we were unable to confirm any other visitations from extraterrestrial life. Many of our findings brought about by examining the alien technology helped us shape the USA into the superpower that it is today. But as of February, 2015 it appears that the aliens have returned".
The slide on the board changes flickering through a series of disturbing images:
"And it appears that their intentions are hostile. We were caught completely unprepared and many civilians across the world have already been abducted or killed. The leaders of the world convened and hastily authorised the creation of a new multinational force known as the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit or XCOM for short.
As of today, March the 1st, 2015 humanity begins to take the fight back to the aliens."
Several of the new recruits cheer including the woman that you were speaking with earlier. Your stomach turns and you remain quiet.
"From our initial reports we know that the aliens have far superior technology to us but the one thing those motherf***ers are not counting on is angels of death to descend upon them and unleash righteous motherf***ing biblicical fury... In time they will come to know these angels as XCOM... And when they tuck their disgusting alien progeny into bed at night they will first check under the bed for XCOM. OORAH!"
The hall is drowned out in cheers this time and you even find yourself joining the chorus.
"We will never be caught unaware again... Vigilo Confido!".
"VIGILO CONFIDO!" The hall thunders back.
Right then an alarm goes off over the stage and for a moment time stands still. All of a sudden the base explodes to life as equipment is tossed back and forth between men and women:
"Ah f***, where are the medkits?" You hear a man shouting. "No time." Another man screams back "Get to the Skyranger NOW!" You glance over and see a squad of rookies strapping on equipment:
One woman is hopping while trying to put on a boot and another is fumbling with a magazine. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" you hear as you are roughly shoved aside by a guy in a combat vest. They rush forward toward the hanger as you hear the sound of thrusters warming up:
You wonder how many you will see again, alive.
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Topic: Re: XCOM: Enemy Unknown - The Long War [Bay 12 Goes to War] Episode 2 (Read 12358 times)