Hello again everyone, I'm back again with, what is really the first, chapter of the Ragnarok Protocol. I hope you all like this chapter better than the last one. Here it is, Enjoy! Disclaimer is in Chapter 1.

Thought for the day: As I try to impress on the young whelps in my charge these days, it isn't the scarlet sash and the fancy hat that makes you a commissar, it's the way you wear them. The troops you serve with are never going to like you, but if you can get them to respect you that can be almost as good. Remember, you're going to spend most of your career on a battlefield with them, and they've all got guns, so making them think you're a liability is never going to be a very good idea.

Across the galaxy, on billions of planets, long forgotten structures flashed with power, glowing with light. Throughout the structures, energy flowed into darkened rooms, bringing consoles to life. Billions of millions of coffin like structures brightened.

Deep within the the cavernous citadel on the third planet from the star in a system in the galactic west, more text appeared on the cogitators.

++Reviving Veterans++

++Mission Parameter Update: REQUIRED++

UPDATING

Update: COMPLETE

Hyper-Wave Network: INACTIVE

++Reactivate++

Hyper-Wave Power Up Signal: SENT

++Contact: Council Of Nations++

...

...

Council of Nations: DISBANDED

X-COM Command Body: REQUIRED

Solution: Council of Planetary Governors

++NEGATIVE++

++Corruption Level: UNACCEPTABLE++

++Size: UNACCEPTABLE++

Imperial Inquisition

++NEGATIVE++

++Corruption Level: EXTREME++

High Lords of Terra

++AFFIRMATIVE++

++Briefing Pack: SENT++

++Anti-Xeno Opperations: INITIATED++

Throughout the human empire, soldiers older than the Imperium of Man stumbled out of cryogenic and temporal stasis pods, disoriented from their time away from reality. Meanwhile, dozens of heavily scarred warriors with flourescent orange veins awoke from their medically induced comas.

Col. Van Doorn, better known to the soldiers of X-COM as the legendary 'General' stretched, popping his back before looking around for his squadmates. He could see Col. Padilla, Col. Klaus, Col. Wu, as well as Major Niemen, the only member of Shadow squad not to have reached hte rank of Colonel, quite the achievement after some twelve thousand years of service, albeit the last eleven thousand had been extremly peaceful.

"Major, what's our status?" Van Doorn barked, putting aside any sentimentality until they were off high alert. The Etherial War Veterans were only supposed to be revived if...'Well, shit,' was all that any of the soldier in the med bay could thnk as the same thing occured to all of them.

"According to the reports that I've been able to access sir, things are pretty dire." Niemen replied. "As you all know, we were only meant to be awakened in the event of the Ragnarok Protocol being enacted. For those of you who ddn't read the briefing," at this the rest of Shadow squad shifted nervously and avoided looking at her "the Ragnarok protocol was a contingency set in place as the last act of the League of Nations before we were put under. It would only activate if the chances of human survival dropped below 5%." All of the soldiers in the room winced at that, "As you probably don't know, that was the projected probablity of human survival during the Etherial war without X-COM."

With a screech that could only be made by an intercom activating for the first time in Millenia, the speakers in the corner of the room came to life "Shadow squad, please report to the Commander's office for briefing. Repeat, please report to the Commander's office for briefing."

Van Doorn looked at his squadmates. "You heard the man, double time it to the Commander's office!" They all looked a bit confused at that, each of them glancing at each other nervously. "Sir...where is the Commander's office?"

Van Doorn stopped short at that. Just where was the Commander's office? The Commander was a near mythical figure in X-COM, despite having never set foot on the battlefield. It was rumoured that the Commander had orchistrated every tactical opperation since X-COM's founding, what Van Doorn did know was that the Commander had stayed active while all but a skeleton force had gone into suspension. Van Doorn assumed that the Commander had convinced the Council to expand X-COM at pace with Humanity's colonies. He remembered the first time that he had encountered X-COM. It had been a few months after the alien invasion had begun, although niether he nor his men had know that, and his unit had been struck Hard. In the end, all but one of his men had fallen trying to protect him from the X-rays. Then a troop transport had flown overhead, landing just down the road from his position.

What came next was just a blur of running for the Skyranger, not that he had know that it was called that at the time, while the soldiers annilated the damned aliens. Even after thousands of years the loss of his entire unit still hurt. He read through their files whenever he started to forget them. After they had returned to the X-COM HQ in Europe, he had signed up immediatly, finishing X-COM training in record time. The rest, as they say, is history.

Van Doorn started, realising that he had let his mind wander, and snapped back to the matter at hand, finding where in the blue blazes the Commander's office was. But first thing first...

"SHADOW SQUAD! GET PRESENTABLE, I WILL NOT HAVE YOU EMBARRRASS YOURSELVES IN FRONT OF THE COMMANDER! IS THAT CLEAR!?" Van Doorn shouted, making sure to emphasize how serious this was by donning what Shadow squad had dubbed, 'The Serious Face'

"SIR, YES SIR" Shadow squad shouted in reply, each and everyone of then feeling extremely nervous. A quick dress and polish had all of them in their BDUs, to parade standard. Van Doorn stopped a passing soldier with a hand, asking "Could you tell me the way to the Commander's office?" not seeing the trademark peaked hat and black greatcoat.

"How DARE you touch me! What gives you, a lowly Guardsman, the right to ask me, Lord Commisar Van Helsing, for directions!?" The man, Van Helsing as they now knew, immediatly rubbed them all the wrong way.

"First of all, neither I, nor the rest of my squad, are 'a lowly Guardsman'" Van Doorn stated, making air quotes when he said it, "Secondly, I am Colonel Van Doorn and this is Shadow squad. We have not heard of the rank 'Lord Commisar' and we have no idea who the blazes you are. If you would just tell us how to get to the Commander's office, you would make my day so much easier." Van Doorn finished through gritted teeth, barly restraining himself from punching this guy's lights out.

"How dare you speak to me like that, I will have you dead for that!" was the Van Helsing's reply, pulling what looked like a miturised Alloy cannon and pointing it at Van Doorn's face.

I hope that you all enjoyed that chapter and that it was an improvement over the last chapter, that wasn't really a chapter. As you can see, We have introduced, what will probably be the main protagonists and they've met their first Imperial Citizen. What will happen next?

Any ways, tell me what you guys and girls think. Remember, Constructive criticism is accepted joyfully, flames will be relegated to heating my room while I write and those who posted them will be sent to Alfrost.