2025 Post (It’s XCOM)

The Viper slid out of the transport, followed by two Advent troopers. She scanned the area, a small supply depot in a lightly forested region on the outskirts of a small city, set on a road across from a row of pre-coalition houses. Her tongue, flickering out of her mouth, picked up the scents of power cells and mag rounds. A short wall, made of the standard black Advent polymer material and topped with a red holo-barrier, ringed the depot and set it apart from the city. The supplies were stacked neatly near a small building alongside boxes of construction materials, and a patrol of Advent troopers stood nearby.

Move to waypoint.

The order sounded in her head, and the psionic network made a red marker appear in her mind, hovering near the edge of the depot grounds. She started to slither towards it, her two Advent troopers stomping slightly behind her. In the month following the Unification Day bombing, Resistance activity had sharply increased, with multiple highly effective raids being carried out by groups of well armed insurgents. These attacks easily outmatched the Advent peacekeepers and demonstrated a level of competence rarely seen since the start of the occupation. Advent had yet to determine where the groups were getting their equipment and training, so the local commanders had started to deploy their combat forces to probable resistance targets.

Patrol through waypoints.

Thus, the Viper, a veteran of many skirmishes and three raids on Resistance hideouts, found herself patrolling down an old, tree lined road next to an insignificant supply depot. She wasn’t enthusiastic about the task; base defense was supposed to be the domain of the Advent forces and she was two meters of scaled muscle whose purpose was to disrupt enemy formations and eliminate priority targets. Yet, she did as commanded.

It was cool and a slight wind moved the branches of the trees. The viper looked up at the overcast sky, the clouds hiding the warmth of the sun.

The houses on the other side of the road seemed to be in decent condition, occupied by human citizens who likely worked in the city. Two humans, children by their size, were kicking a ball at each other. One kicked the ball high, and the other jumped, trying to hit the ball with his head but missed. The ball flew over a low fence and bounced across the road, right at the Viper’s patrol.

Disregard. No threat.

One of the Advent troopers had turned towards the children but resumed moving when the order came through the psionic network. The Viper could see that the ball would bounce into the depot, which was forbidden for citizens, so she lifted her tail and sent the ball flying back to human children with a satisfying thwack.

DISREGARD. No threat.

The Viper received a jolt from the network, a punishment for disobeying orders. She suppressed a hiss of pain, as the children were cheering and waving at her, then gave a small wave back before catching up to the Advent troopers. Whoever was commanding her in the psionic network wasn’t much higher than she was. Someone four, or even three, levels higher would have recognized that the Viper was clearly not trying to attack the human children, only saving them from losing the ball to a restricted area.

The patrol continued along the perimeter of the supply depot, off the road and back again, with the Viper completing two full circuits. Her mind was beginning to wander, having seen the surrounding terrain and had determined likely avenues of attack, the monotony getting to her. She supposed the Advent troopers were designed for guard duty, not vipers like herself. The patrol had passed the playing children when an explosion and the sharp cracks of gunfire erupted near the entrance to the depot. They all turned to face the sound, but the Viper didn’t see anyone.

Patrol through waypoints.

The Viper hissed in confusion, but her Advent troopers turned and continued to the next waypoint, away from the sounds of battle, which now included mag weapons fire. She had never been part of a defensive operation before, why would her commander not want her to assist with the battle? The tactical skill of the commanders of her previous battles may have been inconsistent, but at least they deployed their entire force. She continued to patrol with the sounds of battle continuing behind her. Perhaps there was a possibility of a two-pronged attack; she had taken part in those before.

They reached a waypoint and were starting to move to the next one when movement down the street caught the Viper’s attention. It was a human, wielding some sort of magazine fed rifle and wearing yellowish body armor, running to take cover behind a low panel that made up the wall to the supply depot. She hissed an alert and spun around, repositioning herself to face the attacker.

Move to engage.

The patrol split up, each member finding nearby cover. This alerted the insurgent, who turned and pointed her gun in their direction. The Viper reached a tree and drew herself up so that she was protected, but no fire came her way. This was interesting, most resistance fighters panicked when flanked, wasting their ammo on unaimed shots or abandoning their position. Not panicking was commendable, but it did leave the human open.

“Fire, now!” the Viper hissed over the psionic network, addressing the Advent trooper in cover just ahead of her. She didn’t need to talk to send orders psionically, but she found that it helped focus her thoughts. The trooper did as he was ordered, taking aim and shooting the insurgent just as she started to vault over the depot’s wall. The Viper saw some of the magnetic projectiles hit their target, but the human continued running, saved by her body armor.

These insurgents must have the new equipment, as the Viper had not seen resistance fighters survive a hit like that before. She doubted it would stand up to her beam rifle, and decided it was probably a decent strategic decision to deploy her to this supply depot.
With the human running around a stack of supply crates, the Viper looked for a place to move. The battle was for the depot, so she was going to order a movement when she saw the human children huddled behind the picket fence. They had to get away.

“Move to the civilians!” she said to the trooper closest to the children, and he started running down the concrete path next to the road. The Viper moved across the street after him, keeping herself low to the ground, but none of the insurgents were shooting in their direction yet. The Advent trooper crouched down by the fence and spoke, his free hand pointing away from the battle. By the time the Viper reached the fence, the children were already running off the battlefield.  She looked at the windows of the house. Human children were rarely far from adults.

Move to waypoint.

A red waypoint marker appeared on the roof of the house and the Viper smiled. She could fire down into the supply depot from above. Sliding over the picket fence, she tried to see if the house was occupied, pausing at a window before lifting herself up on the tip of her tail and pulling herself on top of the building. The house looked lived in, but she saw no one inside.

Once on the roof and behind a brick chimney, she could see the battlefield. The resistance forces were inside the base, trading fire with Advent troopers and someone had thrown a red reinforcement flare. She directed her troopers to move into flanking positions, to fix the insurgents in place and allow the reinforcements to catch them in a crossfire.

An Advent dropship flew close and dropped an Advent Officer and two more troopers into the battle, but instead of holding their position or shooting at the new arrivals, the insurgents moved towards the Viper and her troopers. One appeared from behind a burning vehicle, dashing forwards with a primitive looking blade, closing the distance to the Viper’s forwardmost trooper and cutting him down before he could get a shot off. The Viper hissed and fixed the swordsman in her vision. He had switched the blade for a gun, but had not moved, so she had a clear line to grab him with her tongue. She wouldn’t need to put him into a bind, as she could just let him drop to the ground. If he survived the fall, she could just shoot him.

Fire upon marked target.

The Advent Officer had marked a different resistance fighter. Even with the target information appearing in her vision thanks to the psionic network, she didn’t think it was as easy a shot as the one she wanted to do. Yet, she was ordered, so the Viper aimed her beam rifle at the target, feeling it charge and form a green lance that impacted on the wall the fighter was hiding behind, leaving a trail of burning green particles. With her order completed, she immediately tried to find the swordsman, but he was in motion again, heading for her remaining trooper who was busy firing on the marked target. There was no time to grab him, so the Viper put him in her rifle’s sights and pulled the trigger, but the beam flashed just behind the human. She caught a burst of movement and saw a different human, holding a large, boxy weapon that reminded her too much of a MEC unit’s grenade launcher. It made a soft thump and the Viper saw a small object flying in an arc towards her, clearly a grenade. She coiled herself, ready to dive away from the roof, but she heard the voice in her head.

Tongue lash and bind target.

The target was the swordsman she shot at earlier, but she shivered, feeling a wave of cold flush through her body. The Viper had to move, the grenade was coming closer and the order would stop her from moving. She watched it fly, and then it fell short, smashing through the window below her. The Viper flickered her tongue, her commander must have seen it would fall short-

The grenade exploded and she felt molten hot stings of pain across her lower tail, then the roof collapsed from under her and she fell. The Viper could only make a desperate hiss before she hit the ground and all went black.

–

Rynyr “Whi” Rychtyr [Ren-ier “Y” Rich-tier] had heard a plasma rifle firing, followed shortly by a grenade explosion and a loud secondary sound of a roof crashing to the ground. That would have been the grenadier, [Charles Samnz] Sam, who was tasked with clearing the Viper. A quick glance at the house revealed a large chunk missing, and no Viper hiding or shooting out of the smoke and debris. He was relieved that Sam had only needed a single grenade, but he should have dealt with the viper before it was able to shoot.

The explosion had alerted the trooper he was running towards, so the ranger brought his shotgun up and fired. It wasn’t quite point blank, but the force of the shot knocked the trooper backwards before it could bring its gun around on him. He grinned, right on target, center mass and while moving.

That was a risky shot, Whi. Reload quickly, we’ve been one step behind all mission.

The ranger settled into a crouch where the trooper had stood and started stuffing shells into his gun. The commander had ordered him to kill the two troopers with his sword, clearing the pod before the Advent reinforcements had been able to flank them, but he had use his shotgun on the second one, and that meant he was now reloading instead of shooting.

One step behind was true. The XCOM squad had approached and ambushed an Advent pod, but some missed shots meant only one member of the pod was killed outright. Camber had run into a second pod while moving to flank and had taken a few shots, then, just as they finished the first pod, Advent reinforcements had arrived.

“Heavy fire here!” called [Madeline Raymond] Camber. She was crouching behind the bed of a truck, the magnetic rounds punching holes in her cover. Her armor was damaged from absorbing impacts and she was bleeding from her arm, Rychtyr didn’t think she could survive another hit.

Advent is trying to focus us one at a time. Rychtyr, Sam, move and bring down the troopers.

The Commander was always correct. Advent had already downed one squad member with through sheer volume of fire. The Ranger peeked over the wall, spotting one of the troopers before ducking back down again, then he leaped over the wall and started running.

Crates on your left, go there.

He swerved to the crates the commander pointed out. They were stacked higher than he was tall, and once he settled behind them, the ranger saw that he had a perfect flanking shot on the Advent trooper. One blast from the shotgun was enough.

“There’s one left! Bring him down!” yelled Sam, and Rychtyr was up and running again. He only had a general idea where the Advent Officer was, but he needed to advance and apply pressure. A burst of magnetic rifle fire from the Advent building pinpointed the target, and he slid to a stop behind another crate. It wasn’t the best angle, but the Ranger raised his shotgun and fired. The Officer pulled back behind the wall just in time, with some of the shot skipping harmlessly off his armor and the rest missing entirely. He wasn’t safe for long, however, as fire from Sam’s cannon and Camber’s rifle tore into him, and he collapsed.

The battlefield became quiet as everyone looked about for more targets.

“Menace 1-5, all hostiles neutralized.” Said Central over the comms, “You’ve got a ten minute window to load the Skyranger.”

“Roger, Central” said Rychtyr as the XCOM squad came out of cover. “Okay people, you heard him. We’ll grab the alloy sheets first, then the corpses, then the supplies. Camber, you good?”

“I’ll live.” The rookie was tying a bandage around her arm, pulling it tight with her teeth.

He nodded, hooking his shotgun to the back of his vest, and went over to the fallen XCOM operative. Harris “Sheep” Pamilton didn’t look good, his body and gear torn up by magnetic rounds, and on the ground in a similar state was his Gremlin. Rychtyr sighed, Samilton had been with XCOM for longer than anyone else on the squad, longer even than many of the soldiers back on the Avenger. The increase in intensity of the missions since the Commander had been rescued was taking a heavy toll on the soldiers.

“Menace, Firebrand. I’m on approach, landing to your south.”

The roar of the skyranger’s engines steadily increased as Rychtyr rolled Samilton’s body over and grabbed the medikit. Locking the medikit to his own belt, he lifted the body over his shoulder and started heading south.

The Skyranger settled onto the ground, the door to the hold dropping down. Rychtyr entered, followed by Camber and Sam, who were carrying a long alloy sheet between them. He gently placed the body onto one of the chairs, then pounded on the door that separated the skyranger’s hold from the cockpit.

“Firebrand, Samilton’s KIA and Camber’s wounded, so we’re going to need an extra pair of hands.”

She responded over the radio, “Central, are the scopes clear? Request to assist recovery efforts.”

“You’re all clear, but the clock is ticking.”

The door slid open and Firebrand exited, “Looks like I get to loot with the ground pounders.”

Rychtyr smirked and turned to leave the Skyranger, “I’ll make sure to save the best for you.”

“Menace One” said Chief Engineer Shen, over the radio, “It’s a long shot, but if you see an a/d/p signal transformer, be sure to pick it up.”

Shen described the component she was looking for as the XCOM squad and pilot continued their recovery efforts.

–

The Viper slowly faded into consciousness and wished she hadn’t. Her entire tail stung, she had a massive headache that pounded against the back of her skull, her ears were ringing louder than an explosion, and her right arm hurt. To top it off, she felt odd, like she was standing on a transport that couldn’t stay level. She opened her eyes, her surroundings were unfocused and seemed to slowly blur by.

The Viper was moving. She glanced up and saw a human female pulling her by her shoulders. The human’s clothing looked somewhat like an Advent uniform. The two of them were in some sort of room which looked to be made of modern alloy that was also vaguely Advent built, but something was off. The Viper couldn’t think or see straight. She groaned and tried to will her tail to coil under her, causing the human to gasp and let go. The Viper barely stopped herself from collapsing to the ground and tried to get her bearings. There was a stack of alloy sheets, a few supply crates, and a pile of dead Advent troopers. She tried to think through the pain. Was she still in the supply depot? If there was dead Advent, then she had to be in an Advent facility. The human who had been dragging her was probably a target for the Resistance forces, but the Viper didn’t remember if she was told of anyone important in the area.

There was nothing from the psionic network, but she didn’t think she’d be able to hear it through the headache. Whoever the human was, if so many troopers were assigned to guard her, she was probably more important than her. She was not meant to be a guard, but given how the mission had been going, she had to be better than anything else.  Where was her beam rifle?

The human was looking horrified and backing up, so the Viper twisted around. Some distance away was a pair of insurgents, carrying a supply crate between them. She glanced back, “Hide, I’ll try to draw them off.”

The Viper tried to move, but her tail did not want to obey her and lances of pain caused her to stumble into one of the stacks of crates. The stack was not stable, however, and toppled over, carrying her to the ground. She had to move, the enemy soldiers would have heard that, and shook her head to try to lessen the pain. Another heavy object landed on top of her, and everything went black again.

–

Rychtyr heard the crash and dropped into a crouch, letting go of the crate while Camber did the same. The sound came from the Skyranger, where he saw Firebrand yelling and sitting on her hands and knees atop a haphazard pile of supply crates and a viper corpse.

“Menace! This snake isn’t dead!”

He immediately bolted towards the Skyranger, drawing his sword, as Firebrand was too close to risk gunfire, shouting and waving, “Get clear! Get clear!”

Firebrand dived off the pile as Rychtyr closed and swung at the Viper’s exposed head, but the unstable pile of crates chose that moment to collapse, and his strike was battered aside by a falling crate. He kicked it away to re-expose the Viper’s motionless head. [DODGE: GRAZED!]

Camber appeared on the other side, leveling her rifle at it. “Did you get it?” she said.

The Viper remained still. He looked at Firebrand, who was now standing in the back of the hold. “You sure you saw it move?”

“Yes!” said Firebrand, “It stood up and talked to me!”

“It talked to you?” said Camber.

Firebrand had grabbed her PDW from the cockpit and approached the pile, “I guess it was confused? It’s dead now though, right?”

The radio cackled while Rychtyr pulled the sword out of the Viper, “Menace One, please confirm, is there an Alien combatant in the AO?”

“Central, Menace 1-5, The viper wasn’t properly cleared. I am going to clear it again.”

“Menace, I suggest you wait. Commander, this is an unprecedented opportunity.” The science lead, Dr. Tygan, said over the radio, “If we were to capture an alien specimen alive, the amount of knowledge we stand to gain is immense.”

“It’s too dangerous, Doctor,” said Central, “We don’t have anywhere on the Avenger to keep it. It’s a viper- a lethal threat even without a weapon, and we still don’t know if Advent is able to use their network to track live soldiers.”

“Central, I have had to perform two exceedingly risky surgeries in order to remove Advent implants, and I predict I will have to repeat the procedure in the future. I believe it will be beneficial if I were to practice this removal procedure on a live subject, without the pressure of requiring the subject to remain alive.”

“With all due respect, Doctor, if we’re going to kill the thing, I’d rather do it in the field.”

Rychtyr glanced at Camber. They were standing, tense above the trapped Viper, weapons waiting. Camber shrugged, but kept her rifle trained on the alien’s head.

“I do not intend to kill it.” Said Dr. Tygan, “If nothing else, I will be able to compare the chips provided to the alien soldiers with the ones used by Advent. Still, the possibility of learning how an alien species behaves disconnected from the influence of the Elders could outweigh the dangers.”

“My father left some schematics for the old XCOM alien containment facility,” said Shen, “I think I can rig a smaller version that will fit the viper in a few hours, if needed.”

Central sighed, “I still don’t think it’s a good idea, but if you think we can pull it off, I’ll get some of the soldiers ready for when Menace returns. It’s your call, Commander.”

The risk is worth the reward. Bring the Viper in. Menace, can you make sure it survives the return trip without waking up?

Rychtyr crouched by the Viper. He could see that the blood was slowly spilling out of a cut on its neck. It was still alive, barely.

“Commander, it’s bleeding out. I guess the medikit could stabilize it?” He couldn’t see the rest of it, as the pile of crates was still in the way. Sam had returned, so he directed the two soldiers to move the crates off the alien while Firebrand returned to the front of the Skyranger.

Try it, Rychtyr.

He pulled the medikit from his belt, making sure he had his shotgun covering the alien, but still, he hesitated, wondering if the plan would really work. Did medikits even work on aliens? The commander always said to focus on the long war, perhaps something good could come out of it. Yet, the Ranger didn’t think the alien soldiers knew anything except killing.

His pressed the trigger on the medikit and a blue aerosol sprayed out. He directed it across the Viper’s body and watched as the spray floated down, seeping into the gouges in its scales and stopping the bleeding.

“Medikit appears to be effective. Let’s… get this secured.”

There wasn’t enough time to puck up any more materiel, so Rychtyr and the XCOM team ended up leaving the unconscious Viper laying in the middle of the Skyranger, having shifted the cargo to one side and sat themselves on the other so that they could all cover the alien without putting the others in their line of fire, even if Rychtyr was worried about ricochets.

“You’re almost there, Menace. Keep the Viper alive, but remember, we don’t have another Skyranger, so don’t hesitate to put it down if it becomes a danger.” Said Central as the Skyranger lifted off.

The return trip was tense and stressful, with the Ranger having to keep him self from jumping every time the Skyranger hit turbulence and shook the hold. Even small movements from the Viper made him think it would spring up and fill the hold with poison, and with the medikit used on the alien, none of them would likely survive the rest of the trip if it did so.

Each minute felt long, and he noticed Camber become increasingly tired as she had to keep her weapon ready despite her injured arm. Sam seemed to become agitated, occasionally spinning the barrels on his cannon.

“Menace, we’re beginning our approach.”

Rychtyr softly sighed in relief. The hold shook as the Skyranger settled onto the deck of the Avenger, and then shook again as the elevator started bringing the dropship into the interior of the ship. The ramp was lowered, revealing the armory and another fully armed XCOM squad.

“All clear?” asked [name], the leader of the other squad.

He nodded, and [name] waved forward two more soldiers who were carrying a stretcher between them. Sam and Camber helped them lift the viper onto the stretcher, then the fresh XCOM squad escorted it out of the armory. This left Rychtyr’s squad to wearily deposit their armor and weaponry and head to debriefing.

–

The Viper came to consciousness and became aware of a dull headache nestled in the back of her head.  Her tail was sore, but not the lancing pain of before.  She was on her back, and her armor was gone, replaced by a [medical gown thing]. It looked like she was in some sort of Elder facility as the ceiling seemed to be similar to the interstellar ships she had seen. Yet some thing felt wrong. She tasted the air, but only detected blood, disinfectant, and the arid tang of welding. The Viper shakily stood up, using the wall as support. A very Advent wall. Elder facilities used different materials than Advent and she had never seen them mixed. She looked around and found herself in a chimera of a room, with starship floors and ceilings, three walls of mixed Advent materiel, and a final wall made of glass and a door. Beyond the glass were two armored resistance fighters, pointing their guns at her despite the glass.

There was no nearby cover, the Viper was the only thing in the room and she didn’t trust the glass to stop the bullets. She tried to drop the ground to minimize her target area and perhaps buy herself some time, but her tail was weak and she instead collapsed to the floor, landing heavily. She looked up to find the humans laughing. Confused, the Viper readied her poison, perhaps she could throw it through the holes the bullets made. It wouldn’t save her, but she liked the idea of defiance.

But they did not shoot, so the Viper used the wall to pick herself up again. It was rare that she wanted direction from her commanders, but there was nothing from the psionic network. She couldn’t even feel the slight weight of the network through her headache. It was evident that she had been captured. Shouldn’t she be given instructions? There was no training for being captured, the insurgents had never before took non-human captives, so she expected the higher ups to tell her something. She stood, a hand on the wall, staring at the humans, but the network told her nothing.

“What is my location?” she whispered to herself, attempting to send the message through the network, but it didn’t work. She couldn’t feel the sensation in her mind that meant the network had received a command, nor did she see the map that the network usually projected into her mind when she asked that question. She only felt the headache, which seemed worse than it was before. She took a deep breath, trying to focus herself before asking again. Still nothing.

The humans still hadn’t shot her yet, so the Viper risked closing her eyes. ‘The network is a web. Form your thoughts into a strand’

“Trying to call your ‘Elders’?” It was a new human, an older one, with only a single knife at his shoulder, was looming in front of the glass. There were many more Humans outside the glass now, she hadn’t heard them arrive.

“We pulled a chip out of your head and now,” the human stepped forward and the Viper slid back, “You’re cut off.”

The Viper recoiled in shock, feeling the back of her head. There was a thin cut in her scales. Was the human telling the truth? Was she really cut from the psionic network? She tried to access it, but there was nothing. Who were these people? She nervously looked closer at the Humans. One of them looked like a technician, but she had a symbol on her shirt. A symbol she had seen in briefings before. Most of the other Humans had it too.

These people weren’t resistance. They were XCOM.

–

Rychtyr had never seen one of the aliens look so scared before. The aliens were usually either angry or stoic, even during firefights. He had seen surprise when he ambushed them and he had seen rage  or determination when he got close enough to use his blade, but those were exceptions. He didn’t even think the aliens were able to experience fear.

If Central was surprised, he didn’t show it. “We’re going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them.”

The Viper seemed to compose itself, but it still needed to use the wall for support. Its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth as its eyes jumped from person to person. Dr. Tygan had removed the alien’s implant and had made sure there was no way it could contact its superiors, but Rychtyr was still uneasy. The Viper was getting a good look at all of them, and if it escaped, they’d all be in the Advent network and be caught if they even thought about going near a city center.

“Let’s start off easy.” said Central, “Who are you and what is your position within the Advent or Elder hierarchy?”

The Viper stayed silent, looking at the people in the room. When it locked eyes on the Ranger, he ran his thumb across the ejection port of his shotgun and held its stare. He thought the alien was trying to look defiant, but there was nervousness in its eyes.

“I said,” Central had raised his voice, and the Viper broke eye contact, “Who are you and what is your position?”

“Light infantry.”

“That… is a position. Now, what is your name?”

The Viper shook its head, “That is who I am.”

“I know you aliens have names. What is it?”

“I have no name. I am light infantry.”

“If I may, Central.” Dr. Tygan stepped to the glass, “I personally know the names of three vipers. For what reason would they have names, but you do not?”

The Viper’s eyes flicked between Tygan and Central.

“Perhaps it is dependent on the task being performed, or perhaps it is a benefit of rank.” Said Dr. Tygan.

“I suppose,” the Viper answered, slowly, “There has been no reason for anyone to refer to me beyond, well, me.”

“Interesting. So we can infer that names are granted specifically for interacting with humanity and that the Elders do not use them. Perhaps the psionic network precludes the need to refer to someone with mere words.”

“Okay, so you have no name.” said Central, “Why were you deployed to the supply depot?”

The Viper widened its eyes, “To protect it from attack?”

“It that a normal post for light infantry?”

“Do you normally see Vipers defending supply depots?”

“In combat, are you commanded by Advent or the Elders?”

The Viper shakily drew itself up, using the wall to look down at the humans. It’s eyes were flashing with amusement. “If you had not removed me from the network, I could tell you exactly who commands me.”

“Advent or Elders. It’s a simple question.”

“I am part of a truly massive army; thus I have had many commanders.” It flicked its tongue with annoyance, “When I was captured, I was most likely under the command of an Advent officer. I doubt one of the Elders would have been defeated so handily.”

Central signaled to Shen, and turned away from the enclosure. After Shen switched off the microphone, he said, “I’m beginning to understand why Dr. Vahlen ended up killing all those captured aliens during the invasion. Doctor, are you sure we’ll be able to get anything useful out of this?”

            “Give it time. It would be foolish to assume the Viper would simply give us what we want. To be honest, I did not expect it to even speak to us.”

            “Shen, you said you might be able to replicate Vahlen’s mind probes?”

            The chief engineer frowned. “It’s possible, we don’t have the components or the power to run it yet.”

            Unable to hear the conversation, the Viper was slowly dropping back to its normal height, flicking its tongue nervously.

            “Okay. Doctor, keep trying to get something useful out of that thing. Shen, I’ll see if the Commander could look into getting you those components.” He stalked out of the room, but paused in the doorframe, “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of volunteers if that Viper needs some motivation.” Then he was gone.

            Rychtyr wasn’t exactly sure how someone was supposed to rough up a Viper, especially considering they could cough up poison gas whenever they wanted.

            “Actually, Shen, the fact that the Viper is not connected to the alien’s psionic network poses an interesting ethical dilemma.” Said Dr. Tygan.

            “It’s an alien.”

            “Yes, but the nature of the psionic network suggests that they may not have a choice in what they do. Our own soldiers could decide not to follow the Commander’s orders at any time, right?”

            The pause in the conversation made Rychtyr take his eyes off the Viper. The scientist was looking at him expectantly. “I guess. That’s not something anyone would want to do though. Chain of command and also, you know, the Commander is very good at [his/her] job.”

            “But the option is there. The question then, is whether the aliens have the same choice.”

            Rychtyr frowned at Dr. Tygan, “This one isn’t exactly jumping to disavow the Elders.”

            “No. But the fact that it answers our questions at all is intriguing.”

–

            It had taken a few weeks, but the Viper had gotten used to the absence of the psionic network. If anything, the daily interrogation sessions with the human doctor named Tygan were now her greatest worry. It was difficult to balance preventing XCOM from learning anything useful with giving out enough information to stay alive. Yet, she had to stay alive. She knew XCOM’s leaders and command structure, had a good idea of their supply problems, and had even seen their famed commander, out in the hallway.

            Not only did she have to stay alive, but she also had to stay ready. XCOM had reduced her guard to a single soldier. If the opportunity arose, she could disable it and escape, but only if she was fit for combat. There wasn’t much room in her box, but she had come up with a somewhat decent exercise routine. She had even traded information for a tattered, thin blanket to work out on. She thought she had the better side of the trade as well; who doesn’t know that psionic implants generated their energy from the user?

            The Viper was in the middle of a set of tail curls when two XCOM soldiers entered the room. They had long since stopped wearing their full combat gear around her box, instead wearing some sort of colored jumpsuit. She couldn’t figure out if the colors meant anything, as far as she had seen, they weren’t unique nor restricted to certain jobs. Today, it was the swordsman from that dreadful battle in his forest green jumpsuit, alongside a female in bright red. That one had never displayed a pleasant disposition towards the Viper, but now she was clearly angry.

            The female surprised her allies with her aggressiveness, pounding a fist against the glass and screaming loud enough that the Viper could almost hear it. Her guard stood, seemingly concerned, while the Swordsman set a tray of food down in order to put a hand on the red soldier’s shoulder. She shook it off and continued yelling, small blobs of spit landing on the glass.

            The Viper considered continuing her workout, ignoring the angry human, but she figured that she wasn’t in a position where antagonizing the soldier would be safe. She drew herself up to human height and merely stared at the humans, arms crossed. This made the soldier even angrier, enough that the Swordsman had to struggle to pull her away from the glass. The guard joined in, and the Viper watched as the two males tried to prevent the angry soldier from throwing herself at the glass again. Despite wanting to laugh at the soldier’s antics, the Viper managed to keep her face impassive.

            Once the humans had mostly calmed down, she slowly raised the tip of her tail to point at the switch to activate the microphone. That was perhaps a touch too far, the three humans did not look happy, but at least none of them attacked the glass. Instead, they held a short, animated conversation before walking to the switch. The angry one pressed it, and the Viper caught the tail end of whatever they were talking about.

            “-ill think you should wait for Dr. Tygan.” Said the swordsman.

            “You weren’t there. She stunned Alisher (Aybek) and Smith with some psionic stuff, then before I could get to him, she ran up, grabbed him, and teleported away! We have no time!”

            She stalked up to the glass, staring directly into her eyes, speaking aggressively,

            “Tell me about the Assassin! The Chosen Assassin!”

The Viper almost failed to hide her smile.

“The Chosen? You people have really made a mess of things now, haven’t you.”

“Tell me!”

“The Chosen are a special unit whose sole purpose is to seek and destroy those who threaten the rule of the Elders.”

“Where is their base? How do I find them!”

The Viper laughed. She couldn’t help herself. It was only a matter of time until she was free.

“You don’t need to find them. They will find you soon enough.”

The soldier punched the glass again, yelling profanities that must have been quite offensive to a human, but the Viper wasn’t quite sure what an elderberry was.

The green human slammed the microphone toggle and started the drag the other human out of the room. The guard didn’t give her the food, but she didn’t care. Soon, she would be free.

–

Rychtyr turned the corner and blasted the Advent Trooper, the force of his shotgun pellets throwing the trooper’s body off the makeshift balcony and it tumbled to the ground below.

            “It’s clear! Move!” he screamed as he swept the hallway. Behind him, Camber staggered into the room, Marenello’s unconscious body slug over her shoulder. The Chosen had done something to him, hitting him with some energy wave that left him dazed, then rushed up to him and read his mind. The man had just collapsed afterwards and now they had to carry him to extraction.

            Down the hallway, there’s another balcony.

            He dashed down the hallway and into the abandoned apartment at the end. Its balcony had a ladder that went all the way down to the ground. He took an overwatch position as Camber followed him in and struggled to get down the ladder while carrying Marenello, but thankfully the street was empty.

–

The Viper was in the trying to sleep, leaning horizontally against the side wall, when the lights flickered and were extinguished, replaced by red emergency lights and the blaring of an alarm. One of the soldiers who wore blue was her current guard, and he jumped up in time to be thrown to the wall as the entire ship shook.

This was it. The ship had to be under attack by one of the chosen. No one else could take XCOM by surprise.

[The Avenger is attacked by a chosen. In the commotion, the Viper escapes. However, outside the ship, the Viper is attacked by alien forces and is recaptured by the humans. She is more willing to help.]

[The Avenger is attacked by UFO. Facing a soldier shortage, the commander sends out the Viper, who helps. Afterwards, she is made an official XCOM soldier.]

[Smith is a soldier who is mentioned from time to time but is never shown/talked to/interacted with]