Opening Note: So about a week ago, I read through Mass Effect: A New Past and shortly thereafter played through nuXCOM again, and this idea came to me. I've no idea how long it'll hold my interest, but I'm taking it for a ride at least. Let me know what you think.

XCOM: Second Contact
By: Agayek

Journal of XCOM Commander Samuel Ramses
November 11, 2015:
Temple Ship destroyed. Reports coming in of pieces raining down on half the Earth. Figures that the Ethereals can't even die peacefully. Hope this'll be the last of them.

The Colonel volunteered for it. It's not my

O'Connell saved us all. She will be remembered.

November 17, 2015:
Nothing from ET since the big one. Council's ready to call the war over; civvies have been partying since it was announced. 11/11 declared official holiday, recognized by all Council nations. Talked them into naming it after the colonel. Dunno what the official tag will be, but 'O'Connel Day' or 'Day of the Flash' were leading last I heard.

This don't sit right with me though. Colonel told me about a vision she had in the Gollop Chamber. Said the four armed bastards talked to her, something about us succeeding. I think they wanted things to work out like this. Dunno what they planned for after, but we've gotta be ready.

November 25, 2015:
Funerals are just about done now. Recovery will take longer though. 600 million deaths are a lot to mourn. Everyone lost someone. Don't know if the scars will ever fully heal.

Rebuilding's started at least. DC and Moscow the first to start putting the pieces back together. The rest of the major cities are planning it. The Ethereals could smash them, but they can't keep them down. One last 'fuck you' to the bastards. Humanity's good at that.

November 29,2015:
Vahlen conned 'Torch' into helping with her experiments. Don't think the Major knew what he was getting into. Paid off though. Can synthesize Elerium now. Couple ounces left Torch tapped out, could barely stand once he was done. Set Vahlen to examining pieces of the Temple Ship; Shen can handle E production.

Gotta find more psi's and turn up more of the materials, Astatine and Cesium whatever those are. Putting the word out now. Making this will ensure financial security for centuries. XCOM-South America isn't closing after all.

February 1, 2016:
Still no sign of ET. Been called paranoid once or twice. Can get them to play ball for now, public likes me too much to get canned. 'Savior of Humanity' I've heard thrown around. Don't much care for it, but small price to be ready for the next one.

February 15, 2016:
Vahlen's figured out how the Ethereals were popping things around on the Temple Ship. 'Psionic Wormhole' she calls them. Psi's can tear a hole between two points in space-time and send things through.

Maj. Rodriguez lost a bet and was the guinnea pig again, made a portal big enough for a Firestorm that reached over a mile. Vahlen says specialized amps may boost that to interstellar distances. Not sure I can believe it, but she's done the impossible before.

February 29, 2016:
Cracked the distance problem. First stable wormhole from XCOM-Europe to the moon* formed today, XCOM-Luna already in planning stage. Shen's happily busy for the first time since the TS.

Not going to be making galaxy-wide jumps anytime soon though. Furthest stable portal was 4 lightyears out, just shy of Alpha Centauri. Still, started planning for Hyperwave bases throughout the solar system. If they come back, we'll know it.

*Remind Vahlen to seal wormhole generator next time she opens portal to vacuum

November 12, 2019:
Finally got the Mars base set up. Hyperwave Relay going up in the next few minutes. Like pulling teeth to get the Council to cooperate without an alien invasion. Only managed it with civvie support.

November 18, 2019:
Got report of subsurface anomaly from Sentinel-1, near Deseado Crater. Strike-1 already en-route.

November 19, 2019:
I was right. Something else is out there. Strike-1 found an empty base and some hardware we've never seen before. Whatever left it behind, it sure as hell wasn't Ethereal. Set Vahlen and Shen to tearing it apart, should have answers soon.

November 26, 2019:
Shen's got some weird results from the mechanical pieces. Most of these machines shouldn't be possible. The forces involved simply don't allow it to work, but then why would they make something that doesn't function?

On the bright side, Vahlen figured out the monolith Strike-1 found. Apparently, it was an outpost for observing humanity by a species called Protheans. Best she can tell, last records are from at least 50,000 years ago though. Not sure what to make of that.

The public's made up their mind at least. Council hasn't been this free with funds since the War. Even seeing some new faces on the Council. Heh. All it takes is the threat of extinction to unite our species.

January 1, 2020:
Council's taken the last step to a real world-wide unification. The Protheans are out there somewhere, we can't be fighting ourselves when they come back. The United Earth Government aims to ensure we're never at risk like we were before. With XCOM as the sword and shield of humanity, I intend to do the same.

And the first step is colonization. We have the technology, it's time to go extra-solar.

March 7, 2020:
The son of a bitch did it! Shen has made a breakthrough easily on par with the discovery of Elerium. The Prothean artifacts we recovered from Mars aren't nonfunctional at all. When exposed to an electromagnetic field, their mass changes. Shen's already isolated the material that triggers the change, he's taken to calling it Element Zero. The labrats are already fighting each other over who gets to play with it next.

April 14, 2029:
Psi's are popping up faster than we can train them. Kids mostly, all of them born after the Temple Ship exploded. Dunno what it did, but puberty seems to be the trigger. Almost a quarter of the people born since the Day of the Flash have been psionic.

August 12, 2033:
The Protheans may be more of a threat than I had thought. Explorers on the edge of the solar system noticed something strange about Pluto's moon. Turns out it's some kind of Prothean station, buried in ice after they left it behind.

They built something the size of a goddamn moon. Gotta admit, this scares the crap out of me. We can't fight something that size. I pray to whatever god is listening that they stay away until we can.

December 13 2033:
The labrats have concluded that the Prothean station on the edge of our system is a transportation device. Somehow, it uses Element Zero to fling objects through space. It's almost as fast as our Wormholes, but is not limited by range.

Vahlen's already come to me about integrating the concepts with our wormhole technology. "Warpgates" she called them, devices that can be linked together and fling a wormhole through space. I like that a hell of a lot better than our long range options being dictated by the Protheans. She'll figure it out I'm sure.

November 11, 2056:
Today is my last day as Commander of XCOM. Humanity has come a long way since we first cowered in fear of the alien. Must admit, I'm terribly proud of what we've accomplished the last 40 years. Looking forward to where we go from here.

"Priority alert, Commander!" A voice barked, shattering the serenity of the office. The Supreme Commander of XCOM put aside the battered old diary and looked to his aide. The young man continued, "Shanxi's reporting a scientific expedition destroyed by an alien force. No survivors."

The Commander's face went white. "Is it Prothean?"

"Unsure."

"Damnit... 140 years of peace and now this..." A low growl echoed through the office. "Send word to the Coalition, then contact the O'Connell. Hackett will know what to do."