The Farm

The scanner in the doorway revealed the Seeker wave before the invisible cyborg squids could get in close to strangle the team. A massive volley from the squad evaporated them before they got close. The last one spiraled out of control into the wall as a burst of plasma destroyed the drive and stabilizers in its tentacles. Kislewski immediately reloaded, and heard three other soldiers do the same. James Winston, a scout, had been killed by a Thin Man on the previous wave. Van Doorn had gotten to his body and tossed the scanner when they heard the whispering of Seeker drives. The situation room was utterly holed by plasma fire. The back wall resembled Swiss cheese which had had additional holes poked in it. Everyone was at least slightly wounded. Kislewski herself had a nasty gash on her face and a plasma burn on her left calf.

The screech of Chrysalids warned her of another wave. The footsteps following the skittering insectoids were certainly not Chrysalids though. Plasma fire began suppressing the XCOM troopers as the pack swarmed in, hungry for blood. At close range, Van Doorn smashed one in the head with his plasma cannon and then blew a second to pieces with a single shot to the thorax. Plasma fire crashed into his armor and he staggered, but he didn't seem to be too badly wounded. Kislewski focused on taking down the 'lids in front of her, completely decapitating one before slapping more ammo into the plasma rifle. An explosion from the left rocked her from her feet and as she got up she saw the Chrysalids kill the other two soldiers who had survived thus far. One, a rocketeer whose signature weapon had long spent all of its shots fell when a claw rammed straight through her armor into her gut and a second pierced her collar from above. The second, an engineer, managed to drop one grenade at his feet and throw the second at the rocketeer. Kislewski ducked again as they both went off. The result, she saw, returning to her feet, was that the bodies of the soldiers were obliterated, as were the Chrysalids. There would be no rising from the grave for those two. Kislewski listened to the hallway, but everything had gone deathly silent. Her gun balanced on a console, she trained it on the door. Van Doorn did the same, grim resolve twisting his face. And then the Ethereal floated through the entryway, silent and pristine in its robes. Both soldiers pulled their triggers simultaneously, sending blast after blast of glowing plasma straight at the Ethereal. The creature reflected each one into the wall behind it. Then it spoke to them, not out loud, but telepathically. Kislewski heard the words, but there was something different about them that told her they did not exist outside of her head.

"You have lost. You two are all that remain. Goodbye."

A psychic rift blew apart Kislewski's cover as she managed to dive out of the way. She looked up and saw van Doorn, his armor now badly damaged, lifted into the air by telekinesis. He struggled and fought, but the Ethereal's grip immobilized him as he was lifted towards the ceiling. The voice came again, "You thought you would have all the fun. You shall watch as your comrade dies."

Suddenly Kislewski was grabbed by what felt like a steel hand and lifted next to van Doorn in the air. The steel mask of the Ethereal gazed at her, but in her peripheral vision she saw van Doorn fidgeting, his hands moving behind his back. As the Ethereal turned back to the former U.N. General, the chem grenade he had been priming went off, consuming him in a cloud of green acid that also coated the Ethereal. The screaming began in her head from the Ethereal and out loud from van Doorn as she dropped to the floor and dove for the heavy plasma cannon van Doorn carried. She picked it up and held down the trigger. The shots thudded into the Ethereal, shredding through its armor and connecting with the flesh of the alien. Van Doorn's scream was abruptly cut off as a rift tore his body into pieces and threw them around the room. Kislewski kept firing. The Ethereal advanced towards her, slowed by the impact of plasma. It wasn't enough. Her last shot nearly decapitated the creature, but it managed to grab her arm with a last shudder.

A bright flash of purple light lit the room as the Ethereal's death requiem vaporized Kislewski. The light went out, and all was dark.

Outside

The aliens were definitely some sort of Sectoid. They were much, much taller though, and seemed much closer to human. Kevin fired off a burst at one that popped up out the trees and fired at the group. The plasma went high, but one of the shots from the burst caught it in the neck and its head snapped back. Shaking off the wound, the Sectoid disappeared into the brush again. A shout from his left as one of Lily's people went down to a blast of plamsa to the chest. Then Kevin saw something truly unbelievable. A purple glow touched the soldier and he rose and leveled his gun at Lily. Before he had a chance to yell, a pistol barked six times behind him. The reanimated soldier went down again, perforated by bullet holes. Kevin swung around and saw Bradford, his gun propped on the entrance to The Farm.

One of the Sectoids charged, forcing the four remaining rookies to duck, but as it raised its arm to fire the plasma pistol, the gun sputtered and died. Lily, seeing a disadvantaged alien, charged with her entrenching tool raised. She swung hard and missed, but quickly recovered. Then the Sectoid jumped at her and she cracked its oversized head with the edge of the tool. The alien went down and Lily pumped a sustained. Looking up, Kevin saw a huge supply craft descending on clearing, trying to either take on or offload troopers. He slotted in a fresh magazine, then moved to a better position to shoot into the ship's door. As the ship descended, two front mounted plasma cannons blew apart the transports XCOM had arrived in. Kevin felt his gut sink as the transport landed, sinking into the ground slightly. He ran to the entrance of the Farm and looked down the ladder. Bradford shouted up at him, "We need to get out of here! We might have to foot it!"

"Do you hear the veterans?" Kevin asked. A flash of purple light and the sudden stench of charred flesh told him all he needed to know. He turned back to watch the ramp go down on the ship. But no one got off. Apparently the aliens weren't aware their strike force had been obliterated. A plan formed in his mind. Yelling to the pilot, Bradford, and The Commander, he shouted, "Let's get on that ship! It's the only way out of here. Immediately they began climbing the ladder out of the Farm. Kevin and Lily made their way onboard first, side by side, as they headed away from the ramp towards the front. The Commander, pilot, and Bradford followed, and the last two rookies brought up the rear. The ship was silent. Stepping into an empty room, Kevin slapped the door closed.

"Commander, what's the plan?"

The Commander moved to the table in the middle of the room. He put his hands flat on it, bowed his head, and thought for what seemed like an eternity. Fifteen seconds later he raised his head and began issuing orders rapid-fire. "You three to the cockpit." He pointed to Lily, Kevin, and the pilot. It should be piloted by humans, based on what roles this craft plays. The rest of us-" His hand moved and pointed at the other two rookies "Will be going into the other rooms on the ship and making sure that they're secure. Ricter and Desance will link up with us when the cockpit is secured."

After five minutes of walking through an absolutely silent ship. The pilot tapped Kevin on the shoulder. "We need to draw them out. If we have to go in there, we could destroy the controls." Kevin thought briefly for a moment and then reached over and knocked on the door. Then he and Lily pulled back down the hallway, around the corner, bringing the pilot with them. The cockpit door opened and a pilot in an Advent flight suit stepped into the hallway. Just as he turned his head to look at Kevin, Lily fired a burst. The shots caught the pilot in shoulder and chest, dropping him to the floor, dead. Then Kevin, with his rifle on the ground, charged the cockpit, pistol at the ready. He dove through the door low, and the shots from the second Advent pilot hit the wall in the hallway. Kevin's return fire was accurate and hit the pilot in the head, killing him instantly. Wrestling the body out of the seat, Kevin dragged it into the hallway while the XCOM pilot, whose nametag read "Gumball" began to prepare the ship for launch.

A loud noise from the hallway startled Kevin and Lily, and they immediately took positions to fire towards the corner they had assaulted the cockpit from. Then Bradford and the Commander appeared, running hard. Then something roared and Kevin knew it wasn't human. Rounding the corner after the soldiers was a huge red and white figure. There was blood on its claws. A lot of blood. Kevin began dumping rounds into the legs of the creature, blasting away at its thighs. Lily's rounds caught it around the chest and head but seemingly had no effect. As the beast closed to melee range, the ship suddenly took off, fast. It stumbled and Lily ran towards it. Before Kevin could even yell a warning, she had slammed into its flank and knocked it prone. She raised the entrenching tool over her head and brought it down on the throat of the monster. Blood spurted from the wound and Lily just managed to jump out the way as the claws sought her. Then Bradford dashed back in with a pistol and emptied the magazine into the head of the beast. It screamed louder, then died abruptly.

Four hours later, the ship was in flight above Europe, its transponder deactivated. Bradford, the Commander, Lily and Kevin were gathered in the room where the Commander had set out the plans to take the ship. There had been a brief stop in the countryside of Poland, where they had buried the bodies of the two rookies killed by the massive alien, which Bradford said resembled the berserkers that XCOM had fought 20 years ago. They had also dumped the corpses of the pilots and the berserker deep in a forest, hopefully to remain undiscovered.

Gumball came through the door and sat at the impromptu conference table. "It's on autopilot. What's our destination?"

The Commander was initially silent, then began to speak. "We have two options. We can land this ship somewhere, get off, and fade away. We could even autopilot it into the ocean. The other option is a much longer proposition. We can try to fight them. Bradford and I have done this before. Gumball was there too. We fought off hordes of them and we thought we won. But it wasn't over, and we're not even on square zero anymore. It's closer to square negative fifty. This is the road that I want. We can make it harder for them and they don't know that we still are carrying on the fight. We'll have to hit and run, recruit from people who don't trust the government, and wage war from the shadows. And until we get caught, we'll keep flying."

Kevin spoke first. "Sir, it would be an honor."

Bradford grinned. "Welcome back, Commander"

This concludes XCOM: Between the Wars