From The Ashes of Temples

Chapter Twenty: The Hidden Hand

"Commander Bradford, I need to speak with you."

Bradford had heard that phrase more times than he would have cared to count. The last time, in fact, had been a scant ten minutes ago, when Cpt. Kim had returned from interviewing Annette Durand. While the ship diagram Lcpl. Dobrynin had produced had been an unexpected windfall, the additional information that came with it was also something of a mixed blessing. As if the presence of a giant alien destroyer threatening one of their largest council nations was not enough, the situation was now complicated by the fact that there were very valuable abductees on board.

In the end, it came down to how the joint air strike performed in the plan. Part of him suspected even if they wanted to, they weren't going to be able to bring down the Dreadnaught with their combined fleet of Interceptors. Working on that supposition, they had come up with Plan B: the air attack would serve as a distraction and they would attempt to board the Dreadnaught and disable it from within.

Somewhere in the less desperate part of his mind, it occurred to him that this was not exactly the most viable of plans. But it was always like this: two options, neither anyone in their right mind would want to pick, and regardless of his final choice, people were still going to die.

So this time he wasn't feeling particularly eager to humour Lt. Cheng Pan, who had approached him right after the war meeting. He had a fair idea of what the man was going to say, and part of him was getting exceedingly tired of the security chief's paranoia.

"If this is about not deploying Durand and Dobrynin with the boarding party, it's not up for discussion, Lieutenant. I've already taken the requisite precautions and Durand won't even be deployed unless we are able to board the Dreadnaught."

"I am aware, Commander. I'll keep it short: I hereby resign from my post as XCOM security chief."

Bradford paused and stared at the man. Now? But as he studied Lt. Pan closer, he realised that it wasn't a bluff or a bizarre temper tantrum. This was some sort of calculated move on Pan's part, one explicitly made with the aim of getting his full attention. Bradford scowled. He really didn't have the time or patience to play power games right now.

"Lieutenant, I think you'd better explain just what the hell is going on."

Lt. Pan's expression remained an emotionless mask. "Yes, sir. You may wish to summon Cpt. Kim, she'll need to hear this too."

The XCOM pre-mission briefing room was packed.

Every single available field operative on the roster had been called to duty. There were also several other new faces who had previously been wearing the uniforms of the base security personnel.

It bothered Bradford more than he would care to admit that on scanning their faces, he couldn't remember their names. He used to be better at this; when The Commander had been in charge he had been the one who helped her keep track of who was who. But now, with a thousand names, faces, and details all demanding and overwhelming his attention, he just couldn't do it anymore.

Then again, there were just a lot of things he couldn't do anymore. With the bombshell that had been dropped on him earlier, everything had changed.

"All right, we have only one chance at redirecting the Dreadnaught, so pay attention!" Bradford's dark thoughts were put on hold as Captain Kim addressed the gathered personnel and began her briefing. All eyes focused on her. She waited for the nervous chatter to die down before continuing. "We will be fielding three ops teams: Strike, Reaper and Vengeance.

"Strike will scout out the area and secure the train. Reaper will then go in and place the transponders— Lt. Zhang here has the most familiarity with the transponder device and will lead. Vengeance Squad are our support team and will act as the rearguard for both Strike and Reaper.

"Team assignments are as follows: I will lead Strike Team with Sgt. Carlock, Cpl. Kotsi, Spec. Zervas, Canaan and Van Dyke.

"Reaper squad are Lt. Zhang, Cpl. McLeod, Lcpl. Jaitely, Butler, Connolly and Levine. Any questions? No? Good.

"Sgt. Valdez, Lcpl. Dobrynin, Durand and the rest of the reserve troops— that's Hall, Sugiarto and Aqilan, will be in Vengeance, and they'll be on standby until Commander Bradford gives the go ahead. Durand stays in the Skyranger until we board the Dreadnaught. Commander Zhou, callsign Headhunter, will be directing the local army forces to go in as needed."

"Is Sgt. Valdez leading Vengeance Team?" Annette asked, giving the Argentinian a nervous look.

Kim hesitated. She had been obviously been dreading that question, but before she could respond with the no doubt controversial answer to that, the 'controversial answer' itself beat her to it.

"No," said the figure who had been sitting quietly in the corner during most of the briefing. "I am."

A hush settled on the room as Lt. Cheng Pan moved forward to join Kim in front of the briefing room. He no longer wore his security uniform, and instead was fully kitted out in Skeleton Armour.

"What?!" Sgt. Valdez blurted out the word before checking himself. The feeling was clearly not limited to Sgt. Valdez. A wary expression had appeared in Lcpl. Dobrynin's eye at the announcement, while Annette fearfully tried to fade into the background.

The overall lack of enthusiasm from the existing field operatives didn't escape Lt. Pan's notice. "No one should be surprised. It's my country that's at stake here," Lt. Pan said pointedly. "I intend to put my life on the line for it. I will be joining you all on the battlefield."

"Lt. Pan will be leading Vengeance, " Cpt. Kim confirmed, and it was a testament to the level of self-possession she had that she managed to keep her voice cordial and professional. She hadn't been as calm earlier, and frankly, neither had Bradford. But now was not the time to brood over just how much of a cluster fuck Pan's earlier revelation had been. Still, if it hadn't been for the urgency of the Shenzhen Dreadnaught hanging over their heads right then, Lt. Pan would have had so much more to answer for.

Not everyone in the room was in the mood to strangle Cheng Pan, however. One of the reserve troopers actually cheered at the announcement, pumping his fist in the air.

"All hail da chief!"

Lt. Pan scowled. "Aqil, I've stepped down as security chief. Don't call me that anymore. Now shut up and listen to what Captain Kim says."

"Yes boss!" chirped the reserve trooper, a shit-eating grin still on his face. Lt. Pan scowled even more, but chose to ignore the display of irreverence from his subordinate in favour of focusing on Kim as she resumed her briefing.

"We're all not going to fit on the Skyranger, but the good news is, we have additional dropships from our allies, including a new Skyranger, in the local army coming in for pickup. I expect nothing but teamwork and professionalism from all of you regardless of differences." Kim's voice was stern, and with good reason. The sullen expression on Sgt. Valdez's face did not bode well for how well Vengeance Team was going to be able to function as a cohesive unit.

Bradford was well aware of the tension between Pan and Valdez and how no Commander in their right mind would have put them in the same unit. In any other situation, it certainly wasn't something he would have done by choice. But knowing what he now knew, it was the only thing they could do to keep their heads above the water. As the troops filed out of the briefing room, he wondered just how many more of them were going to be sucked into the whirlpool of death that was this goddamned war.

"You'd better keep your word," he heard Kim growl to Pan when they were done and all the troops had left.

"I'll be fair to Valdez, if that's what you're worried about," Cheng Pan replied shortly. "The girl and the Russian too. I know you don't trust me, but I know what I am doing."

"Then you'd better make sure they come back alive."

"Providing they follow my orders and don't do anything stupid." Pan paused, met Kim's intense glare, and redirected his gaze to his feet. Despite his earlier cockiness, his tone had become uncharacteristically subdued. After Kim had left, a sudden thought occured to Bradford.

"Lt. Cheng Pan," Bradford called out. The other man, also on his way out, stopped mid-step and looked at him.

"Yes, Commander Bradford?"

"You owe me a full explanation when this is over." Cheng Pan's face set into the stony expression Bradford recognised as the one the man put on when he didn't want to appear fearful. "Make sure you survive to give it."

The Hologlobe, currently overlaid with a patchwork of vid-windows, glowed with myriad colours. Each vid-window showed the view from a different field operative's armour-cam. From their visuals so far, the train station looked to be deserted. Bradford had no illusions that this wasn't going to change soon enough.

"This is Headhunter," Commander Zhou's voice came over the comm. "My forces have evacuated civillians and secured the outer perimeter. Strike and Reaper are clear to move in now."

"We copy, Headhunter. Strike-1 has secured the area around the train. No contact so far. Reaper, commence with delivery."

"Understood, Central. Reaper is on the move with the Package."

Central Officer Richardson flagged his attention. "Commander Bradford, we have a new contact on the Hyperwave. Medium-sized UFO, altitude: N-O-E. Approaching the A-O, fast!"

Bradford cursed under his breath. Had the aliens detected the transponder already?

"Central, this is Reaper-1. A new development has occured. The alien object appears to be... activating on its own."

That answered his question, then. Bradford exhaled slowly. The alien-transponder was still supposed to be shielded in a specially fabricated casing of Shen's design, but it appeared to not have done the job.

"I see movement. Three unknown humanoids are near the tracks." The comm ID showed that the call had come from Strike-3— Cpl. Kotsi, who had stationed himself on top of the bullet-train. "They appear to be trying to act 'natural'." There was a pause and a barely audible snort of disdain. "Trying."

"All civillians have been evacuated from the area. I have men stationed at the cab controls but they'd have no reason to be on the tracks." There was a pause as Zhou communicated with his own men. "Confirming those unknowns are hostiles, Strike Team. "

It was then when Cpt. Kim shouted a warning. "Second group, hiding in the train! Weapons free!" From the vid, flashes of laser fire and clouds of green gas began erupting as a firefight began in earnest.

"Strike-1 to Central, confirmation of Thin Men in the area. Two are heading towards Reaper's location. Zhang, heads up!" Even as she said that, there came what sounded like a cheer from the Engineering team.

"Jay just bitchslapped one before it knew what hit it," came the call from Cpl. McLeod. "Holy shit, are those MEC suits badass!"

"All hostiles are neutralized," chimed in Cpl. Kotsi's call as he picked off the last Thin Man with a headshot. Strike's decisive offense proved to be the right course of action, and both teams reported clean kills and no casualties.

"Good job, Strike and Reaper. I'm pretty sure that won't be the last of them. Keep your guard up."

"What Commander Bradford said. Kotsi, keep overwatching from the roof. I want Van Dyke up there with you too. Carlock, scout the right platform with the SHIV and spot for Kotsi and Van Dyke. Zervas, take the left platform and cover the snipers. Canaan and I will check the other carriages." A chorus of acknowledgements followed, but as it turned out, the aliens weren't quite content with sending just infiltration units.

"Central, Headhunter. My forces are reporting new enemy contacts. Multiple Chryssalid pods are trying to break through the perimeter. We can hold for now."

Commander Zhou's voice sounded as though he was just reporting some minor inconvenience, but then, that was classic Han Zhou all the way. Back when he had been an XCOM operative, the man had been reknowned for his apparent inability to a) miss a shot and b) panic in the worst of combat situations. Even that bastard Harris had admitted that once the fighting started 'by God does that Zhou have steel for nerves.' Colonel Spencer had dubbed Zhou 'Headhunter' for holding the record for most headshots at that time, but that bastard of a Major Harris had given Zhou another less then flattering nickname too. At least, he had until the Commander had caught wind of it. Ha, now that had been an interesting incident report to process. 'I meant to reference Msgt. Zhou's ability to locate, ah, chinks in the invaders' armour, ma'am', indeed!

"Richardson, status on the Dreadnaught?" Bradford asked, redirecting his attention to his central officer.

"It's continuing its course and moving towards the city. The small one seems to be scouting for it. Even if we request Wing-Commander Thompson divert some of his air forces to try and intercept the smaller UFO, they're not going to get there in time." Richardson kept her eyes fixed on the air-control screen. "Strike and Reaper, watch out, Hyperwave scans show large numbers of alien troops on that UFO."

"Reaper, we need that transponder in position and that train moving ASAP!" At the back of Bradford's mind, the memory of the Abductor strafing the French dam was replaying in an endless loop. He shook his head a little to get rid of it. That wasn't going to happen this time. "Headhunter, we're going to need that backup surprise of yours soon."

"Already on it, Central. We may have some trouble holding the line if I have to divert forces. Have your reserves on standby in case anything slips through."

"We've got it, Headhunter. Vengeance, you're up."

"We copy, Vengeance moving out now. Covering Reaper's six." Lt. Pan's voice betrayed no sign of rustiness or nervousness despite his long stint away from the front lines. Bradford just hoped to hell that this wasn't just false confidence and that acceding to the lieutenant's request to be allowed to lead the team wasn't going to prove a horrible error in judgement on his part.

"Central, Headhunter. Bad news: we just lost all contact with our men who were stationed on the train. Nothing has got through our outer perimeter so far, so they're either stealth units, or there were other alien forces already hiding inside."

"Acknowledged, Headhunter. Strike Team, check it out. Reaper, keep setting up those transponders." Bradford glanced at the cluster of vid-windows from Team Reaper. Lt. Zhang's team were still hard at work planting the transponders on the secured sections of the train. Dr Shen and the Engineering team were busy guiding them on a separate comm channel. He shifted his gaze to the vid-windows from the Strike Team, just in time to hear shouts and the report of gunfire. Kim was quick to update with the situation.

"Strike-1 to Central, we found Seekers in the cab of the train. They must've ambushed the guards. We killed three of them, but we were too late to save Zhou's men."

Bradford could hear Commander Zhou curse in his native language. "It's as I feared. Thankfully, the bullet train is fully-automated and can be driven remotely once the autopilot is activated. Once the transponders are up and the UFO takes the bait, you'll just need to hit a switch and we can take it from there." There was a momentary pause, then: "By the way, Kimchi, thank you for making the aliens pay for that."

There was a sputter and a short period of silence from Kim, then a chuckle : "I'm giving that callsign a pass just for old time's sake, Headhunter."

"Sorry, couldn't resist. Thanks for not using the other callsign."

"I'm merciful. You know we both suffered horribly thanks to Major Harris and his nicknames."

"May that bastard rest in piece." A brief moment of nostalgia from the former Strike team sniper. "You know what? When this is over, you, me and the Doc need to meet up for— oh, fuck!"

"What is it?" Bradford asked, feeling dread creep up his spine, but Zhou was currently ignoring him and issuing orders to his forces in rapid-fire Mandarin.

When Zhou finally got back to him, his tone was grim. "Central, something big broke through our perimeter and whatever it was, it managed to wipe out a full squad of my troops, including a tank, in less than fifteen seconds." There was a pause, then he continued: "A number of my men have been zombified. I have enough men left to take out the zombies before they turn into new Chryssalids, but I can't go after whatever it was that got through."

"We copy, Headhunter. Vengeance team, get ready to intercept. Whatever the hell it is, keep it off Reaper!"

"Understood. Ready to engage. I have a visual..." Lt. Cheng Pan's voice abruptly fell silent, then— "Vengeance Team, hold your fire and fall back now. Do not engage the creature! I said fall back now!"

Bradford cursed, half at himself and half at Lt. Pan. Damn it all! He should have seen it coming. He should have known better than to put a man he had never fielded before in charge of a squad, regardless of the man's military record, conduct during the security breach, or the extenuating circumstances. Pan had buckled under the pressure as soon as he sighted a Chryss–

"—the hell? "

"Commanders, the medium UFO is..." Richardson's voice was saying something in the background. But Bradford paid her words little attention. His attention was now solely focused on the video feed from Lt. Cheng Pan's armour-cam which was being displayed on the Hologlobe screen.

"You've got to be shitting me," came a croak from one of the techs sitting behind him on realising the same thing. Bradford couldn't blame the man. His own eyes were taking in the images on the screen but his brain was steadfastly refusing to believe what it was processing. Mirrored across the many vid-windows from the Vengeance team was something that never in his wildest dreams he'd ever imagined he would see.

At first glance, the Chryssalid the Vengeance team were retreating from, looked just like any other Chrysallid, except for one thing: the scale of it was all wrong. It towered over the roofs of the bullet train station, which was at least two stories tall. To add to the surreality of it all, skittering behind it were at least twelve other normal-sized Chryssalids.

"What the fucking fuck?!" one of the Vengeance Team members could be heard whispering frantically in the background. "Why the fuck is that 'Lid so big?"

There was an off-mike reprimand from Lt. Pan, before the team leader's voice came back over the line. "Central, Vengeance-1. Are you seeing this?"

Bradford found his tongue again. "I see it, Vengeance-1. Good call. Do not engage them at close range."

"The big one and her brood are headed right for the train. We don't have the firepower to take them all down at the same time. Also, I checked: the bugs won't be susceptible to Vengeance-3's 'abilities'."

Bradford's mind was racing. Pan was right, the squad's combined firepower might be able to take out all the smaller Chryssalids, but that would just result in the big one closing in and slaughtering them all once it got in range. On the other hand, if Vengeance and Reaper focused fire on the big one first, they might be able to take it down, but that would leave the swarm of baby Chryssalids free to slaughter the nearest squad instead.

"Commander," came the hoarse voice of Lcpl. Dobrynin. "If you permit, I can snipe one of the small ones from long-range while the rest of Vengeance pull back. The small Chryssalids will then come after me and I can lead them away. It will buy time so the rest can concentrate on the big one first."

"We're not looking for dead heroes here, Vengeance-3," Bradford reminded him.

"I have a plan, Commander," Dobrynin replied calmly. "There is a high-tension tower at the end of the terminal, and a transformer sub-station beside it. The electromagnetic field they generate, it disorientates the Chryssalids. They do not like to go near them. If I can get to there before they reach me, I will be able to evade them there until we have time to finish them off."

Bradford sent Dr Vahlen, who up till then had been quietly observing the operations, a questioning glance. She actually looked surprised to hear Dobrynin's assertion herself. "This is the first we've heard of an electromagnetic field having this effect on the aliens, lance-corporal," she said at last.

"How certain are you of this?"

"Enough to bet my life on it, Doctor. In Moscow, I used this knowledge to survive."

Bradford took a split second to check on Reaper's progress- they were just about done with the second-last transponder beacon. One more to go, and then all Strike had to do was activate the train's autopilot. As fast as Chryssalids were, they still weren't fast enough to catch a freaking bullet train. But they still needed to protect the train before they could move it, and they no longer had any more time. This whole operation with the Dreadnaught was pretty much a game of speed chess and lives on the ante.

"All right, Vengeance-3, stand by. Strike, Reaper, continue securing the train controls and setting up the transponder, but send your heavy hitters to assist Vengeance in taking down the big Chryssalid. Vengeance-3, do it."

In acknowledgement of his order, there came the red flash of a laser on the Vengeance team vid-screens. One of the Chryssalids burst into a mass of cooked flesh and carapace.

The reaction from the swarm was instant, and even before the dead Chryssalid's corpse hit the ground, the remaining alien spiders scuttled to a stop and began fanning out in search of the attacker. The giant Chryssalid too, stopped its approach towards the train and scanned its surroundings. A loud roar, magnified by the size of the monster, rent the air. The swarm of smaller Chryssalids, which had previously been searching in random directions, all stopped dead in their tracks, then redirected their pursuit to uniformly charge towards the direction of the fleeing Lcpl. Dobrynin.

"This is... unprecedented. We'd concluded that the Chryssalids were all simply mindless killing machines, but the large specimen appears to be a higher form of the species... something like a hive queen." Dr Vahlen had a frown on her face. "It appears to be... giving orders."

Bradford reflected they seemed to be learning a lot of new things about Chryssalids all out of a sudden.

There was a sudden exclamation from Dr Vahlen. Bradford turned to see her staring at the video feed, eyes wide. "Commander Bradford, observe the way the smaller Chryssalids are moving."

"What about it?" Bradford squinted at the video feed. Now that she had mentioned it, something did seem off. Then it clicked. The Chryssalids weren't swarming...

"They're moving in formation... and making use of cover." A chill ran down Bradford's spine at the realisation. They'd previously feared the Chryssalids for being mindless killing machines. But the idea of the creatures showing signs of intelligence and tactical thought turned his stomach into a churning pit of dread. He really hoped Dobrynin was right about those electromagnetic fields...

"This is Strike-4, I am moving in with Strike-7. We are almost at Vengeance's location."

"We copy, Strike Team. Reaper-3 and 6 are on their way to assist," Lt. Zhang added, even as the rest of the Reaper Squad moved in to the next transponder point.

The giant Chryssalid was about to follow in the wake of its progeny when a single rocket slammed into the right side of its head. It shrieked in pain and whirled around, but unbelievably, the damage to the creature's head appeared at most, minimal.

"Vengeance-2 has shredded the target," Lt. Pan could be heard saying over the line. "Vengeance squad, open fire!"

The battlefield was now a cacophony of noise. The hisses of laser fire were drowned out by the shrieks of the Chryssalid Queen. The Vengeance Team focused every ounce of firepower they possessed onto the advancing giant, bathing it in beams of ruby energy. Spots on its carapace glowed red and charred black as they cooled, but though the creature seemed to be feeling some measure of pain, it did not so much as deviate from its course: the Vengeance Team.

"Are we even slowing that alien bitch down?!" swore Lt. Pan. "Sugi, Hall, keep up that covering fire and fall back when I give the signal. Don't let that thing get in range or we're all dead. Valdez, rocket! NOW!"

The hive queen screeched as the sergeant's remaining rocket scored another direct hit. This time, it actually seemed to make an impact. The giant Chryssalid reeled back and stopped for a moment, allowing the Vengeance Team to put a little more distance between them and the monster.

It was about then when Bradford remembered just what he had been about to respond to before the giant Chryssalid had showed up. "Richardson, the UFO?"

"I took the liberty of co-ordinating the situation with Commander Zhou sir," she replied primly. "Their countermeasures are in place."

Bradford gave her a nod of thanks. "What's the status on Vengeance-3?"

"Lcpl. Dobrynin managed to kill two more of the small Chryssalids," Dr Vahlen supplied helpfully. "He has eluded them with hit and run tactics so far, but they have him boxed in and he is in hiding now. If they find him... well, let us hope that he is correct about the electromagnetic fields intefering with their senses."

As Bradford turned his attention back to keeping the ground teams alive, he hoped so too.

The Chryssalid Queen had recovered from the rocket hit and had resumed her pursuit of the Vengeance Team, braving the storm of covering fire from their gunners. It only pulled up at the sight of the reformed XCOM defensive line. The Vengeance Squad had been reinforced with the new arrivals from Strike and Reaper. Instead of apprehension, it seemed to show a kind of curious bemusement, mostly at the two unfamiliar silhouettes who stood in the vanguard: the MECs of Spec. Zervas and Lcpl. Jaitely. It seemed to take them in for a moment, then let out a roar of defiance and charged.

In response, a withering gout of flame erupted from Spec. Zervas' improved flame thrower, bathing the monster with what Dr Shen had described in his progress reports as 'a jellied form of elerium'. Whatever it was, the alien had clearly never experienced anything similar before, because not only did it abort its attack and back off—

"Son of a bitch, it's actually panicking!" said Lt. Pan.

Never in his career in XCOM had Bradford ever seen a Chryssalid come close to showing fear, but there was no doubt that the hive queen, whose carapace had actually ignited, had lost control of itself and was frantically scrambling away and crashing into nearby structures in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

"That's right, bitch! Burn!" Spec. Zervas shouted after it, before adding: "Ha! I have always wanted to see a Chryssalid run for its life. Feels good!"

Jaitely simply shrugged his shoulders, a human gesture that looked odd when interposed on the bulky mechanical body of a MEC, then trained his oversized gun and wordlessly opened fire at the fleeing hive queen. The rest of the defensive line followed suit.

The jellied elerium had finally burned itself out. The Hive Queen, its carapace warped and blackened, seemed to have regained its senses and emitted an ear-splitting screech as it turned back around and retraced its steps.

From the corner of his eye Bradford noticed Lcpl. Dobrynin's armour cam showing the small Chryssalids immediately abandon their search for him and make a beeline back to the hive queen's location. So it had called for reinforcements, then. "Ground team, the rest of the Chryssalid swarm are headed back your way. Finish it off before they get there!"

"On it!" There was a reverberating boom as Spec. Zervas fired her railgun. The Chryssalid Queen reeled from the shot, but still that was not enough to down it. It did, however, cause it to stumble, providing the perfect opening for Jaitely's red MEC, which had closed the distance, to plant its kinetic strike module into the still-smoking section of carapace.

Bradford wasn't sure who in the Engineering team had first come up with the idea of the kinetic strike module, but he did know Commander He had been the one who had initially approved the use of it. He'd had his reservations about what was basically a rocket-powered fist as a serious weapon for close range combat, but as Jaitely's MEC-fist punched through the weakened chitin armour and clean through to the other side, he conceded that he'd been wrong about that one.

The Chryssalid Queen's deathcry was cut short when a second strike from Jaitely's MEC crushed the creature's central nervous system. The rest of the giant body teetered and crashed to the ground, narrowly missing the now gore-splattered MEC. A cheer came from the Engineering Team again.

"All our hard work and you get the credit for that kill, Jay?" Zervas complained jokingly as she and the rest of the troops reloaded their weapons.

Jaitely simply flashed her a somewhat smug grin and a thumbs-up sign with his oversized rocket fist.

"This is Reaper actual. The last transponder booster is in place. We are ready to proceed."

"Good work, Reaper. Strike Team, you're clear to activate the autopilot. Big Sky will handle your pickup from the train once it's underway."

"We copy, Central. Headhunter, I'm hitting the switch, standby!"

Bradford trained his eye on the vid window, expecting to see the bullet train start moving. But after a full twenty seconds, nothing seemed to be happening. He was about to comment, but Kim beat him to it.

"Central, something's wrong. I've activated the switch but the autopilot's not kicking in. Something must have happened to the system when the Seekers got to the cab. I've got Carlock looking at it now. Strike, Reaper, watch our six!"

Bradford cursed. Too many things were happening at the same time. While the Strike Team were scrambling to get the train moving and Vengeance was preoccupied with clearing out the remaining Chryssalids, which had reverted to their swarming mentality on the fall of their Queen, the medium UFO had made its appearance. Over the comm, he could hear the voice of Commander Zhou, who was giving his own set of orders to his men: "...get ready. On my command... "

The medium UFO swooped the train station, only to be met with a volley of surface-to-air missiles from several mobile S.A.M.s that had been concealed around the perimeter of the station. Clearly the return of the Shenzhen Dreadnaught had allowed the far-sighted Zhou a bit more leverage in bargaining for resources. Caught by surprise, the medium UFO's advantage of superior speed and maneuverability mattered little; enough of the missiles scored hits on it to keep it from completely carrying out its objective. The UFO backed off and limped away, but not before dispensing of some of its payload.

"All ground teams, watch your back, alien reinforcements have managed to beam into the AO!"

Columns of silvery blue light were flashing all over the battlefield. As the light faded, dark shapes appeared to take the form of...

"Muton squads!" came the alert from Cpl. Kotsi, who together with Pvt. Van Dyke, were doing their best to pick off the new arrivals before they could get to cover. They managed to take down two, but the rest made it to cover and began laying down suppressing fire at the snipers.

With horror Bradford saw a flash of green swallow one of the armour cams, followed by a scream of pain and a total loss of the video input from Strike-6.

"Van Dyke is down!" Kotsi, now prone on the top of the still-stationary train, was exchanging fire with one of the muton squads that had managed to get to high ground. Green lances of plasma fire stabbed the air around him, some scoring hits on the train roof itself. "I cannot hold this position, it's too exposed."

"Understood," came the voice of Zhang. "We will cover you. Move when you see the fireworks.".

"Wait, I have visual on Van Dyke. " There was a pause, then, "Yes, he's still alive, but he took a bad hit."

Bradford glanced at the tracking monitors and noted the lack of any readings. Van Dyke had gotten lucky; the armour cam and tracker must have taken the burnt of the plasma blast.

"How bad is it?"

"He won't be able to move on his own. I can get to him and take him with me if someone does something about those mutons."

In response, Zhang fired a rocket out of the adjacent carriage window. The kiosk rooftop the Mutons had been stationing themselves behind promptly exploded. At the same moment, a cloud of smoke swallowed the train roof, allowing the two snipers to escape into the train carriage below. Reaper Squad's medic, who was already in position to receive the wounded in the carriage below, soon reported Van Dyke as stabilised, although the sniper would be spending the rest of the mission propped against the carriage wall before he could be evacuated.

"Good job, McLeod. Kim, what's your status?"

"We're holding our position. Carlock's still trying to find out what's wrong with the train controls."

The voice of Sgt. Carlock cut in at this point. "Good news. The power must have gotten decoupled from the autopilot system in the skirmish. I can fix it, but I'm gonna need more time." There was a pause as his words were drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

Kim's voice sounded a bit stressed when she resumed communications. "Central, we've got muton squads advancing on our position. Strike Team, protect the controls at all costs. Zervas, you and the SHIV need to get back here now!"

"Strike Team, go, we can handle this!" came the staccato bark of Lt. Pan in response to this. Bradford was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the Vengeance Squad so far, considering that other than Valdez and maybe Dobrynin, the rest of them were relatively untested on the field. But there was Pan, holding the frontline together with Pvt. Aqilan and the two MECs, while Sgt. Valdez, Pvt. Sugiarto, Pvt. Hall and Reaper Squad's Pvt. Levine laid down supporting fire with their heavy weapons. Lcpl. Dobrynin had emerged from hiding and was occupied picking off stragglers from the rear. They seemed to have the situation under control, so Bradford turned his attention back to the train crew, just in time to hear a single word that filled him with dread.

"Berserker!" came a sudden warning from Kim. "Heading straight for the train controls. Canaan, hold your fire, laser weapons won't do anything! Zervas, where are you?!"

"I'm almost there, Captain! I see it!" There was a loud boom from the MEC's railgun, and Bradford had the satisfaction of seeing the Berseker fly back and crash into a planter by the train. "Taken care of!'

"Nice work, Zee."

Just at that moment, the train lights came back on and the train engines seemed to be starting up.

"Central, Headhunter. Looks like Strike Team have done it! The autopilot's back online. Proceeding to phase two!"

"Good work, Strike Team."

"Thank god we had a combat engineer with us," said Kim.

"You're making me blush, ma'am."

Now that the train was functional and about to move out, the first phase of their mission was just about done. Bradford allowed himself a small smile of relief. Only one casualty on their side, though Zhou's forces had taken heavier losses. All in all, not too bad, considering just how many curveballs had been thrown at them. Then his smile died when he caught sight of Zervas' armour cam display.

The Berserker had, incredibly, survived the railgun blast, and was getting back on its feet. He was vaguely aware of Zervas' shout of warning and his own. In slow motion, he saw the monstrous Muton roar and charge, not at the distant MEC, but right at the foremost train carriage. The MEC trooper was in the middle of reloading her weapon and could not fire. Red beams of laser fire from the Strike Team struck the charging alien, but as Kim had said, they did nothing against the special laser-absorbing armour of the Berserker. The train had just began moving and was picking up speed...

Not enough to outpace the Berserker, which had bull-rushed right through the carriage wall of the control cab. There were shouts of alarm from the Strike Team and the sounds of futile gunfire. The hulking black MEC of Zervas was sprinting at top speed trying to catch up with the moving train, but the bullet train was too fast and had pulled out of the station with the Berserker still on board.

With horror, Bradford gazed helplessly at the Strike Team's vid-windows, all shaking angles and flashing gunfire as the three Strike Team members found themselves trapped at closed quarters with the physically superior Berserker and no way to take it down without destroying the train. The view from Canaan's armour cam whirled crazily, then crashed and showed an ominously still view of the carriage floor and the dead-eyed corpse of one of Zhou's men. Sgt. Carlock was backing way from the advancing Berserker, but there was nowhere to go, the train controls were at his back.

There came a flash of red as Kim opened fire on the Berserker's back. Predictably, it turned, roared, and charged right back at her. For a moment, Bradford thought she would be able to repeat her feat at the French dam, and trick the Berserker into throwing itself off the train, but then he realised that unlike the dam, they were in a narrow train carriage and there was no room to maneuver. What was she planning?

Kim was yelling taunts at the Berserker now, luring it away from Carlock. She seemed to be trying to get it to the inter-carriage gap, but before she could make it, the Berserker caught up with her first.

Everything after that happened too fast. The image of the armour of the Berserker filled up Kim's cam, so it was hard to tell what was going on there, but Carlock's point of view showed everything all too well. The Berserker caught Kim in a glancing blow, sending her reeling into the wall. She rolled to the side, narrowly missing the clawed hand as it gouged a hole into the floor of the train. It then yanked its claw free, then prepared for a second strike at its trapped victim.

But before it could go through with the kill, there was the sound of a grapple being deployed, and then, almost faster than the eye could see, both soldier and Berserker were violently jerked across the floor and out the giant opening at the side of the train the Berserker had created when it initially charged into the carriage. The input from Kim's armour cam winked out into a black screen.

Suddenly, a hush seemed to fall upon everything. There was no other sound or movement from the train carriage, other than the howl of the wind rushing through the train as it picked up even more speed and flew across the Chinese landscape.

'No signal', read the monitor for Cpt. Kim's armour-cam and tracker. Bradford cursed, and in doing so, found his voice again. "Strike-1, we lost your readings! Do you copy?" No response. He cursed again. "Strike Team, come in! What's your status?"

"This is Strike Team Actual. Train is secure," came the voice of Sgt. Carlock. His voice was shaky. "The Captain... the Berserker... they're both gone."

End of Chapter 20

Footnote: The most annoying thing about the Confunding Light mission was the bug that wouldn't activate the train if your operative didn't enter the box in front of the train controls on your blue move. I remember desperately rushing my foremost troop on the second last turn, only to have the win condition not activate. But that did give me an idea for this part of the story though!

It was New Year's Day and I wanted to rush this for the story's 2nd year anniversary, so sorry for the inadequate self-proofread. Special thanks to Setokaiva for sending me a list of SPaG errors they found in this chapter, which I've since gone through and fixed. Thanks for your patience!

Happy 2016! XCOM 2 coming in a little over one month! Are you excited? I'm excited! -4P