Xcom: Enemy Unknown

Chapter 1

Operation Burning Heart

"Commander?" said the voice, awakening him from more of a daze than sleep. The Commander grumbled, trying to make it go away.

"Commander." Said the voice, a little clearer and harder now.

"I'm up, I'm up, what's the situation?" the Commander asked.

"This is Mission Control; we have more activity on the ground. Alien Activity to be specific. Get up here, double time." Said Isaac, our head in Mission Control.

"Get the team ready, and get me mission info." The Commander said, quickly getting dressed. Since Germany, this was one of the few times the aliens had shown their faces. The abductions were getting more and more frequent now, but whenever Xcom showed at the scene, everyone, and everything – was gone.

"Mission info is already prepped, and your coffee is warm, thank the research team for that. The aliens are sticking around this time, or at least that's what the satellite's say. Hopefully they're correct for once, and the team is already on route; via Skyranger."

We have them now, Niner Skirata, Commander of the Xcom project thought, grinning.

Atin sat in the Skyranger, polishing his rifle as he always did while he was on route to Alien Activity sites. "It's really boring, isn't it?" Atin thought, "We spend hours going around the world, ready for action, just to arrive and get no action at all. One day, those aliens are going to get sloppy, and when they do, Xcom will be ready." He grinned. "When that day comes, I hope that it's me they send, I need to get my kill rate up."

To his left, was Darman Skirata, a heavy soldier, bearing a nice, repeating, light machine gun. He laid there, eyes closed, either sleeping or calming himself, Atin could never tell. Some say the only reason he made it into Xcom is because his brother is the CO. HAH! Atin had seen the guy shoot. That guy probably would have been better off as a sniper; Darman could hit a target 100 yards away. Atin, and the rest of his squad, had gotten used to calling him 'Sleepyhead' or 'Dar' though, because he was always so calm before missions that they couldn't tell if he was awake or not and now was no exception.

Across from him, also on the left, was Fi Bennet. The man knew nothing except jokes, and was a support soldier, but everyone knew that he was the best medic ever recruited into Xcom. Atin, Darman, Niner, and Fi had all known each other since childhood. The squad always called him 'Cookie', because in training he always said "Your healed, just don't ask for a cookie, I ran out last week." Seeing 3 members of Delta Squad die on first engagement with the alien scum had… changed him. He was different, quieter, and when he was alone he seems much more sullen. He wasn't the good old cheery Fi, and Atin missed him. But Atin would make sure he got him through this.

Across from Atin, on the right side, was Kelly Havoc, the self-appointed sergeant of the team. Not that Atin cared; he'd rather stay back and snipe anyway. Leave it to the others to be in charge, as long as he got a nice shot in. She was also an assault trooper, matched only in her insanity by a girl named Kuumba. The squad had gotten accustomed to calling her 'Loco', because she was as likely to give out orders as she is to charge any target head on screaming her head off firing a shotgun. Atin admitted a long time ago he… liked her. He 'admired' her as his dad had put it. She definitely had impressed him, and heck, the whole squad. As least she wasn't a nut case like all the other assault troopers, she at least grabbed some cover after charging.

"Where do I fit in anyway?" Atin thought. He was the sniper, and a darn good one, and he was only 2 of a kind in the Xcom project. The training process for snipers was a hard thing, probably the worst and hardest specialization training in the whole Xcom project, which explained the fact there were only 2 snipers in the whole project. Heavy's stayed back and shot anything that moved, Assault troopers got to run up and murder everything with their shotguns before they could get a shot off, and Support was such a general specialization, they only got Marksman and Medicine training. With sniping, you had to know which enemy to shoot, which friendly to help, and find the best vantage point before the battle began, and the trainers for that make all of that seem like rainbows and sunshine. The rest of the squad tended to call him 'Cyclone', as he tended to leave nothing standing after he got enemies in his sights. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the radio chirped over the HUD.

"This is Mission Control to Zeta Squad, copy Zeta Squad?" said Isaac over the radio.

"Zeta Squad here, we copy. Go ahead control." Kelly said.

"Yah, what do we get sent at this time? Dead aliens?" Fi joked.

"Someone really ought to update those satellites… we're just wasting time here anyway." Atin grumbled. Darman, as always, stayed in his normal position where the squad couldn't tell if he was sleeping. He knew the score though. He knew what he had to do.

"Roger that, securing radio channel. Roger, secure. Sending you mission details Zeta. We're heading into Argentina for this one, this seems to be the most recent and pressing." Isaac said. After a long pause, he continued "We've picked up a local broadcast within a major metropolitan area. We should get down there and eliminate any hostiles. Otherwise, short but sweet; this is an Alien Abduction zone. Aliens haven't been this cocky since we sent Delta Squad in and they got slaughtered. The site is currently clear of civilians and multiple hostiles appear to be present. Collateral damage is not a concern, but do know that the research team, led by Doctor Vahlen, has discovered using explosives further damage alien artifacts such as weapons and organic material, and requests that you use restraint when using them on the aliens, if encountered at all. Good luck Zeta, you'll be landing at the site in 10. I'll transfer you to Commander Skirata now." Isaac finished. There was a crackle of static, and Niner was on the radio.

"This is Niner. No heroics team. We're not losing more than half of the team like Delta did back in Germany. I want to see all of you, nice and healthy when you get back to HQ. Another thing Zeta, when you come back safe, I owe all of you a round at the bar. Good luck people."

The team all prepped their weapons and made sure they had enough ammo to complete the mission. They pulled on their helmets, and heard the familiar hiss as the armor sealed up, hopefully blocking any poison the aliens might have, while also providing a full heads up display, or HUD. Then they heard the familiar thud of the Skyranger setting down, nodded at each other, and Atin and Darman burst out of the doors, weapons raised. Atin then signaled for Kelly and Fi to move up. The Skyranger lifts off without them and Atin felt he was exposed as it flew away. Everyone else continued moving up, but he stayed still for a moment and plotted his surroundings. As far as he could see, there was a building on both sides and a narrow, close quarter's street cutting them in the middle. Atin knew if he got caught down here, things would get ugly and fast at that. He figured that the best place to setup was…

"Alright Zeta, we have satellite coverage. Drop in point appears clear, but the signal scrambles inside the buildings, so I recommend checking there first, it either is part of the crash or we have aliens. But first things first, let's get you into cover. Darman, move up to that window to left building, we need a visual. Atin, see if you can find a way on top of one of those buildings, and cover those streets and the rest of Zeta. Kelly and Fi, move into the building on the right side, be prepared for a door breach." Atin chuckled. Niner really knew he loved rooftops, and he read Atin's mind. They're the dream for any sniper really, but it gave him a view of Kelly and Fi, and he could give support if things got ugly, and it would mean that he probably wouldn't be a part of any of the firing down there, unless the aliens got a fix on his position. He found a ladder up to the left roof and began climbing. He knew he didn't have to watch Darman though, 'cause Dar could handle himself. Anyone could when you had huge lumbering cannons…

Darman moved up to the window and peered in. There weren't any lights on, so he couldn't see what was home in there. He nearly turned on his flashlight, but decided against it, deciding it would only let them know where he was. But there was a whole lot of wreckage, it seemed like the entire 2nd floor had collapsed for some reason from what he could make out. "Do the aliens have control of grenades?" Darman asked over the radio to no one in particular, "Because if they do… this will probably get ugly, and quick."

"I can see the room. It looks like something definitely collapsed it Dar, but the reports say, or at least Delta's contact report, indicate they had no grenades and they are waste height. It is possible that they didn't use them on Delta's contact, but we searched the bodies, or, at least the ones that didn't get away. There may be other variants of these aliens that use grenades, such as we have assault troopers and then we have snipers." Niner told him over the radio.

"Hate to split up the family dinner but I'm hearing noise in my building. Permission to tell the neighbors to shut it?" Fi joked over the radio.

"Permission granted, turn on your recorders and use spot lamps, we need a visual. Going with the quiet approach is not something we need right now."
"Roger that, I'll see if I can turn on a light for you sir. Ma'am, let's break down this door shall we?" Fi said. Atin and Dar could see their progress in their own HUD as well. They could see Havoc counting down on her fingers, Fi opening the door nice and quiet. "Ladies first…" and their spot lamps began looking over the rooms' interior. Darman didn't notice anything unusual at first, in fact, it looked clear. But that was until he saw something jumping over the desk in the corner.

"A real live alien…! We are witnessing something never before seen in recorded history!" Doctor Vahlen said over radio.

Fi, who had despite his joking, had moved in first and was frozen. Even Dar could see him over the HUD just stuck there staying riveted to the spot. Then the thing started to raise a weapon and Havoc ran to Fi, and just in time.

"Fi, MOVE!" Havoc yelled, pushing him to the ground and getting hit full in the helmet with plasma shot from its deadly pistol. Atin cursed, and raised his weapon, while Dar was stuck looking at the HUD images.

"Crazy Assault troopers, stupid Fi for freezing up" he thought. I can't say that… these are my friends dammit… Should he move to help? "Not unless you get an order to do so" He told himself.

"Atin, you do NOT have permission to fire!" Niner told Atin. Darman could guess he had already begun sighting up with his sniper rifle on the aliens.

"With all due respect sir, screw you. Fi needs my help" Atin said and fired straight into the aliens head, nice and clean. Or at least it was, until its weapons exploded, and its guts spread across the room, a yellowish green.

"Dammit Atin, keep covering Fi, and Fi, get Havoc out of there and get her back up. Dar, this whole op is a bust, no more silent BS, and get into your building and give Mission Control a visual." Niner said silently, meaning he was ticked. Fi slowly carried Havoc and himself back through the door and started applying med kits to her head, silently cursing. Atin picked off another alien, and Dar knew that he was smiling. He could tell by the small laugh after he said "Target down, searching for more."

"Hey Atin, as much as I appreciate the help, you scare me some times."

"Apparently only when I'm saving your butt, make it any more and you owe me a beer."

"Damn, guess I'm just gonna have to even the score, eh?"

Dar shook his head, focusing himself, and kicked through the window and turned on his spot lamp, which definitely wasn't easy to do at the same time with a LMG. The armor, thankfully, mostly protected him from the bits of glass. However, that was the least of his problems when he saw it, them really, the four aliens staring right back at him. Then they decided to raise their pistols, and Darman saw this had been a really bad idea.

"Niner, it appears I'm crashing a party here…"

"Dar, get out of there NOW!" Dar didn't need to be told twice, and jumped out of the window quickly, plasma rounds firing right around him, with the distinct Whoosh as the green plasma streaks passed millimeters from his neck.

Dar got behind the window and covered the aliens in a steel rain of bullets, hoping to suppress them enough so they would stop firing at him. He was aware of Fi saying that he got Havoc up, and he could hear more guns firing in the distance, an assault rifle and a shotgun in perfect harmony.

"Atin, as much as I want to put you in the corner, Dar needs help right below you, he's got four aliens firing at him." Niner said.

"Roger that, coming down, hold on… ah dang it! I'm flanked here, got two aliens firing at me!" Atin replied. Dar's first instinct was to go up and help, and started making his way to the ladder, but then he was aware of a sudden burning sensation on the middle of his back. He sank to his knees in pain, and another hit him, and another, and he finally collapsed to the ground.

"Dar? DAR! Come on get up Darman! Zeta, you have a man down, Fi, get over there and revive him!" Dar heard, but it seemed really far away. His vision started going black, and he saw an alien toppling over him, looking down at him with orange, fiery, eyes. Then Fi came and shot him down, applying a kick to the head for good measure. Dar weakly tried to use his last strength to pull himself up with his arms, but it was no use. He only collapsed again, his stomach threatening to throw up.

"Dar? Come on speak to me man, Command is gonna be pissed if they lose ya. Speak up, come on!

"I'm hit… those darn aliens actually…" Dar muttered, before his vision finally went black.

Fi started up his standard medical drone, or SMD, but it was hard. Even with Atin standing above him, watching his back, literally, he couldn't seem to find where Dar had even been hit. The scanner said that he was fine, but he was drifting in and out of consciousness and mumbling mumbo-jumbo. Fi knew that he was definitely not fine, screw the tech. It was easier on Havoc; he had actually seen where she had been hit. If Fi just started applying med kits willy-nilly, he might actually kill Dar from an overdose, or just make it worse.

"Niner, this is Fi. I can't revive him, I'm doing all I can sir. He doesn't want to join the party we're having up here, which is a shame. We're having so much fun…" Fi joked, but he was really worried sick. He had known Darman since they were both kids, and he was his best buddy in this whole Xcom project. He couldn't lose Dar here, at least not on HIS watch. He'd never forgive himself.

"Roger that, I've already sent an emergency evac, but Isaac won't give the landing order until you clear the place of hostiles. Clean up there, and quickly, Dar's vitals are dropping like a paper weight. At this rate, he'll bleed out in 3 minutes. Die in 4." Niner confirmed.

"Hey Atin, lets hurry this up, shall we?"

"You ruin all the fun…"

Several painful minutes later, Fi had Darman stabilized and it looked like they had finished with the aliens. There wasn't any more firing, or casualties, thank god. Dar was breathing normally, but despite Fi's best efforts, couldn't be revived. Fi figured that he could do more inside of a lab, with entire cases of tech. But that was back at base, and he might not have that kind of time. The Skyranger began its landing procedure, and Atin and Havoc ran to it like mice to cheese. Fi was just about to drag Dar's butt back to the 'Ranger, until he saw more movement down the alleyway. "Oh god not again…" Fi thought.

"Fi here, hold evac bird, I see movement." Fi sighed. As much as he didn't want to check it out and have anyone else wounded, if that thing got loose it would terrorize more civilians and Fi couldn't let it happen. He'd go alone, he was sure he could handle whatever it was.

"Atin here, moving on you. Lead on." Atin muttered over the radio.

"Negative, I got this one. Go ahead and keep talking to your girlfriend over there, I'll only be a minute. If you don't mind though, you can pick up Dar for me, you be the designated driver for once…" Fi joked. He began moving up the alleyway, step by step, rifle raised. That's when he saw…

"Uh Niner, I thought this site was clear of civilians. Why is there a man in a suit behind the garbage dump?" Fi laughed. The man had scared him to death for a second there. Fi still got in cover anyway, whatever this man had been through, he must be traumatized, scared, or panicked.

"It is, not sure how this man avoided the bus. Take him on the evac with you, find out what he knows. Be careful, he might be fragile." Isaac replied.

"Hey man, you aren't supposed to be here. We all need our caf, but this is a bad time. Come on out with us, we'll take you back to your home." Fi beckoned. The man peeked over the garbage dump and came out. Fi's first impression was that he was very tall, but very thin too. It nearly wasn't human. It looked like he hadn't eaten in days. Poor guy… at least that's what Fi thought… until he noticed the plasma sidearm on his side that his hand slowly edged too. Fi immediately raised his rifle.

"Hey! There has been enough casualties here sir, put the weapon down, on the floor, NOW!" Fi ordered. He immediately pulled off his helmet, and heard the neck seal hiss to show he was human like him. But if anything, this only made the man edge toward the alien pistol faster. "Sir, I'm human! Let's talk this out; I'll get the caf myself…" He grabbed the pistol, aimed at Fi's head, and made a hissing scream. It was almost like -

"Ah damn…" Fi sighed. This was going to hurt.

Atin heard the plasma shot and Fi's scream. He swore, and he immediately got out of the Skyranger and ran to the nearest cover. That… man… alien… thing, had shot Fi with a powerful plasma pistol, just like the others had been using.

"Doctor Vahlen, are you seeing this?" Isaac asked Vahlen over the radio.

"It appears that the aliens have adapted their genetic structure to make them look like humans! A very dangerous opponent indeed, it must be an infiltration unit of some kind."

"I don't care what it is ma'am, it just shot at us. I'm killing it, examine the body if you want but the rest is out of the question." Atin said angrily. He sighted up, and fired a projectile 75 meters from the target. The shot pierced the alien human's skull, and instead of blood, a bluish green gas was ejected, enveloping its body and Fi's.

Atin's first instinct was to run to it, but as soon as he went inside the cloud his eyes watered, his lungs were empty of air, and he couldn't stop coughing. He quickly backed out, nearly collapsing on the ground from the extreme exhaustion. It must be some sort of…

"Zeta, that seems to be a toxin cloud of sorts. Avoid contact. Extract now, one man isn't worth losing 2 more." Isaac ordered over the radio. But now the squad was ignoring him completely, and Atin and Havoc rushed into the cloud, competing to find which one of them could survive it longest and pull Fi out. Atin quickly pulled out yet again, but Havoc didn't. She never gave up until she grabbed Fi's arm and ran out of the cloud just as quickly.

"Aw… I knew you guys cared…" Fi coughed as he was pulled out, walking towards the Skyranger, coughing up a storm. But Havoc had her head back against a wall, helmet off, coughing like a maniac.

"Even I didn't have it that bad… must have been the longer exposure to it." Atin thought. "Aw hell Fi, what would this squad do without you? You owe be a beer by the way…" He laughed, and coughed.

"Ok, everyone on the Skyranger now. We'll get you all medical attention once you get back to base." Niner ordered, coming back over the radio.

"Never thought I'd be glad to hear your voice…" Fi joked again, coughing into his helmet.

"Get used to it, because you got to listen to it for a long time, and that goes for all of you" Niner told the squad. Atin was just glad to be outta there.

Operation Burning Sky Report:

Mission Successful, Aliens found at drop site

Aliens Killed: 7

Friendlies Killed in Action: 0

Friendlies Wounded: 3

Estimated Recovery time: 7 days

Comments: Commander, I recommend seeing me at the research labs if you get the chance. We're going to perform a few autopsies, see what makes the aliens tick. It would be better if you were there also, and I wish to learn of our troop's recovery. I'm so busy here I lose track of time, and I need someone to talk to that actually understands what I'm saying, my team can be so incompetent at anything besides genetics. Thank you for your time Commander.

~ Doctor Vahlen, Research Team Leader.