Victory Through Unity! (Planetary Annihiliation Self Insert Multicross)

[Tolerdi]

Nicely paced, with situation that is not easy to solve by overwhelming robo-firepower. I like it.

 

[White Lantern]

If his connection to the commander doesn't work? Then how does his armor camera's work

 

[Flameal15k]

If his connection to the commander doesn't work? Then how does his armor camera's work

Click to shrink...

It's glitchy right now, but it DOES work. Also, Melissa might be using her powers to improve the connection. If she is, though, she ain't telling Flame that and will keep him under the illusion it is still glitchy.

 

[Flameal15k]

A hail of laser fire streaked passed me, causing a nearby wall to light up from the heat. Seeing the damage made me wonder just how much cover the metal pillar I was hiding behind really provided me. Additionally, another question plagued my mind, one that was far more pressing than my cover issue.

WHY DID I AGREE TO COME HERE IN PERSON? HOW DID THE GENETIC HEROES CONVINCE ME TO DO THIS?!

Well, no use crying over spilt milk. For now, it was best if I just focused on surviving. Though, I did wonder what was happening to heroes and the XCOM team I'd entered this ship with. I assumed they were under attack, but they were probably handling things better than me, what with having actual combat experience and training.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Zrin rammed his burning fist into the beetle, causing it to explode. The grisly charred remnants of the beast fell to the ground as another took its place, trying to claw out the Sun-Fist's eyes. This one, though, was swiftly gutted by a watching Viper, who quickly moved on to attacking other beasts with his poisoned blades. A Raptor-Bug that had tried to take a bit out of him now lied on the ground, dying from ingesting the poison that coated his skin. Nearby, Revenant was using his powers on a Makara, brutally killing the giant alien.

All around the trio, their companions were inflicting great casualties on their foes, piling the dead so high that the newest arrivals to the battle actually had to climb over their own casualties before they could join the carnage. The humans were no slouches here, either: they were picking off the creatures the heroes of the Crogenitor Resistance had missed, picking them apart with mechanical efficiency.

Zrin had to admit, he'd thought humans were a rather soft-looking race, one that mad him question why the new Crogenitor chose their Avatar to be a human. Now, though, he could see that beneath an assuming appearance, humans could be just as strong as the mightiest of predators, and united, they went beyond even that. Granted, that was a trait that could be applied to most sentient beings, but that was besides the point.

Idly, he wondered where Commander was, or if he was even still alive. Hopefully, he was. Zrin didn't really want to go look for another master, plus nobody paid him as good as the Commander did, even if most of the payment amounted to a nice home and lots of good food.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yeah, they were probably fine.

Another barrage of lasers blew right past me, returning my focus to the battle at hand. Okay, I needed to find a way past these guys. Maybe I could get them to fall back a bit if I shot at them? Well, I had to try something, anyways.

I turned around the corner and opened fire, managing to take out a few of the turrets before the shock of my retaliation fades and my foes return fire. I was quickly hiding behind the pillar, again, desperate to avoid the laser fire. My pulse was racing, my teeth were chattering, and I was shaking beyond belief. I still couldn't believe that I'd let myself be talked into going into battle in person. All I wanted now was to be back in the safety of my home. My EARTH home, not my tower on my hub world, not my starship, but the home I'd grown up in. I just wanted to go home and cry in joy at finally being back home.

Eventually, though, I managed to regain my composure (granted, only after a few laser shots flew right over my head) and returned to the battle. The only way I stood even the slimmest of chances to get back home was finding some way to force Melissa to send me back, and that would probably take a great many universes to discover. If I wanted to get to just another world, though, I had to win this battle.

Calming myself, I quickly turned around the corner and opened fire, knocking out the remaining gun turrets before I was forced to take shelter once more. The robots, noticing the disabled turrets, advanced on me, meaning that I didn't really have any way to exploit the losses that I'd inflicted.

Or so it appeared. As the robots shot at me, I watched as some kind of tank ruptured from stray fire, spraying fluid over a walkway and several robots. A scanner I'd put inside my Avatar told me (through a hailstorm of glitches) that this fluid was water, and that this water would be conductive. Problem was, I didn't have a taser or electric weapon on me.

I did have electrokinesis, though.

Making sure not to touch any pig the other metal surfaces in the room, I put my left hand over the water, thankful that some of it was close enough to me that I could attempt this without breaking cover. Then, I concentrated on my hand, filling it with electricity. When it was full of charge, I pressed it into the puddle.

With a flash, a third of the robots were overloaded by the charge, causing them to explode. Some of their remains impacted the others, being the total number of bots down to three-fifths their starting number. The others seemed to lessen their firepower for a moment, unsure how to proceed.

A fatal mistake for them.

I used my gravitic attack to flatten five robots, before attacking the rest with my necrogensis ranged attack, which left me with only one machine to face. To my surprise, it charged me, and was swiftly cut down by my sword.

Wow. That was easy. Apparently, adrenaline is very helpful for me.

Then one last robot dropped out of the ceiling. This one was bigger and more heavily armored than the others, and appeared to lack melted weapons. The minute to got up from its hard landing, it turned its gaze to me.

Oh joy.

Idly, I wondered how hectic things were getting outside the Deadzone I was in.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Within the Avenger, the head of XCOM sighed. Things were getting out of hand. The aggressive wildlife been overwhelming the colonial forces around the impact sight through numbers alone, forcing everyone to call in reinforcements to hold the line. XCOM had contributed quite a few teams to assist them, to the point that it would be impossible (or at least difficult) to hide the organization from the public eye after this battle was over.

Not that this was a bad thing. XCOM had been operating int the shadows for so long that people had forgotten it had even existed, forcing them to operate in ways that were questionable at best. If the public knew about them, and was willing to accept them as a sponsored force, then maybe they could drop their most questionable methods of obtaining income.

The XCOM Commander soon turned his attention to the coast nearby the impact site. Here, XCOM was dealing with a hoarse of flyers and agree sea beasts. Backing them up was a hydra carrier and its aircraft hitch belonged, apparently, to their newest neighbor. He wondered how well the ship would fare in the battle.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Hydra-One watched the battle above it with emotionless curiosity. The insects above it were no longer attempting to intercept the aircraft it had sent to kill them, and were now focusing on trying to kill it.

A quick volley of flak and SAM fire obliterated them, but more were already moving to take their place. This time, though, they made sure to split apart, so that flak shots would not work on them. Granted, they were soon laid low by rapid fire anti-air machine guns, but their capacity to strategize was impressive.

A strike to its side alerted Hydra-One to a Sea Dragon trying to breach the ship's hull. A swift blast from the ship's deck guns (a special modification added by the commander to all his carriers) reduced the dragon to food for scavengers, but more were coming.

Sensing the need for assistance, Hydra-One connected to its commander's node network and began calling for reinforcements. Linked to its allies and its prior experiences, the ship was able to draft up an idea on how to fend back this assault, and gave the orders. The plan was soon put into action, with a 90% chance of sucess.

Despite this, though, the machine felt what could best be described as anxiety, for it could not be sure that the plan would succeed, and even if it did, more bugs were on the way. The feeling was novel, but chalked up to overtaxing of its systems. Soon, it would be gone.

Preferably after the bugs were dealt with.

XXXXXXXX

I jumped back, avoid a slash by the giant bot. I tried to make my own attack on it, only to be forced back.

I was mostly fighitnon instinct now, my body reacting to the assault on it without any conscious thought. When I could block, my carapace power activated, shielding the target area from harm. Problem was, i was still getting tired, even if I could block all of the attacks on me, meaning that eventually, the bot would win if I didn't find a way to beat it.

I had a plan for that, though: I was going to lure toward the puddle, shock it, then press on for their based off whatever my instincts told me. Hopefully, it would work.

Sure enough, when the robot reached the puddle, it stepped in and found itself dealing with an overcharge. It recovered faster than the others, though, but not before I sent a blast of Flame into it, which heated the armor to a molten state. After that, my instincts (which I was starting to believe were some echo of the hive mind of the Darkspore) told me to strike with my Thorn whip, follow up with a shoulder charge-

XXXXXXXXX

"Go Dad!"

"COMMANDER FLAME! COMMANDER FLAME!"

Melissa smiled as she watched the children (including her own daughter) chant the Commander's name.

"Looks like you were right: this is more entertaining."

XXXXXXXXX

-punch head, use vampiric claws, jump back, obliterate now weakened armor with gravity attack, then strike chest with teleport attack to end the battle.

I end ed up driving the giant hot through a wall my last attack, ripping out its power supply in the process.

As I got up and finally noticed how tired I was, I noticed a nearby key, along with a hold for it nearby and, lost suprising of all, a little label next to it: To shut down security protocols, insert and twist key.

Was it really that easy?

Well, apparently, it was, because following the directions caused the room I was in to darken, and also got rid of the signal that was causing me interference.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

XXXXXXX

From its control center, the vessel finally relaxed. It was fortunate that the security shut-down key had come lose within easy reach of the new arrival. Now, the bloodshed would end.

XXXXXXX

AN: Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Tolerdi]

(...) It was fortunate that the security shut-down key had come lose within easy reach (...)

Click to shrink...

Hah, fortunate indeed.

As if some ROB idly caused the key to be in reach.

 

[Flameal15k]

Hah, fortunate indeed.

As if some ROB idly caused the key to be in reach.

Click to shrink...

The key being in reach did not involve any ROB's involvement whatsoever.

 

[Flameal15k]

Zrin was surprised. One moment the bugs had been attacking them, the next they had been decided to retreat. What had caused this change, he didn't know. Perhaps the Commander had found a way to stop the beasts' madness? Maybe whatever mechanism was driving them berserk had worn itself out?

Well, how this had happened didn't matter, the fact that it had happened did. The native fauna were retreating, leaving the Genetic Heroes and their allies alone.

With nothing left to fight, the healers among the motley team had begun treating the wounds of the comrades, attempting to deal with problems that could not be treated in the heat of combat. The humans were apparently calling their superiors, likely to ask for someone to pull them out now that the battle was over. As for Zrin, he began to search the area for anything to loot. While the Commander would probably gut this ship for all of its technology, Zrin wanted to have some trophy to remember this battle by, preferably a mechanical one in addition to the stuffed body of one of their foes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

With the security systems down (which, apparently, also made the wildlife calm again), I was almost ready to leave the ship. First, though, I wanted to see if there was an artifact onboard. There was one problem, though: I had no idea where it might be, and the ship was likely a labyrinthine mess that would be difficult at best to navigate. Maybe there was a directory somewhere that I could use or-why is there another set of glowing arrows on the wall, and where are they pointing toward?

Wait, the last ones had led me to the security shutdown room, so maybe these ones would lead me to safety. Or to the artifact I was looking for. I doubted they would lead me to a trap, but I gripped my laser rifle tighter all the same. One day, I'd look back on this find it ironic that this whole fiasco was one of the least intense situations I'd been involved in, but that would be far away for now.

So, with no other choice, I began to follow the arrows.

XXXXXXXXXX

Finally, the ship thought, things are as they should be. The new one would follow the light and find the memory-holder, and its task would be done.

XXXXX

The ship I was on was absolutely colossal, so navigating it was a hassle, even with the assistance of whoever was putting the arrows on the wall, and it took me quite a while to reach my intended destination.

Most of which was spent idly chatting with my allies, subordinates, and Melissa. Especially Melissa. My kids and subordinates could only gush about how awesome I'd been, which was both gratifying and kinda annoying. As for my allies (currently amounting only to XCOM), well they, didn't have too much to say.

XXXXXXXX

"Greetings, Commander."

"Hello, Comammndr Flame. It seems your actions have managed to stop this catastrophe."

"I'm flattered, but your people certainly proved themselves today, holding back the horde of crazed wildlife."

"The compliment is appreciated, though I'd rather not talk about my men at them moment. We've just finished tallying our casualties."
"Oh. I' sorry...... forgive me, but how many men did you lose?"

"None, actually, though we have twenty soldiers in critical condition. Unbelievably good for us, given the circumstances."

I'd almost forgotten that wounded and missing personnel were considered casualties in addition to the dead.

"True. I'm browsing the planetary communications right now, and your men are showing up on a lot of major media outlets."

"We were forced to battle several drones and enraged ground organisms that ended up attacking nearby stations and cities before the impact site could be properly surrounded and quarantined."

"Fair enough. How do you plan to proceed?"

"My own superiors put that to debate and decided that we are to go public on the XCOM project's continued existence."

"Really?"

"Yes. My superiors are all members of the colonies on this planet and have had to work very hard to secure funding from their own sponsors for the XCOM Project without being noticed. They believe going public after our recent actions will make it easier for us to secure funding, and hopefully allow us to return to our level of strength from before the great mistake."

"Interesting. I apologize if I sound prying, but what caused the Great Mistake?"

"I am not at liberty to tell you all of the details, but it involved the Tasoths and a crisis in the Middle East."

"Fair enough. Have a nice day."

XXXXXXXX

With XCOM busy preparing to go public, the genetic heroes trying to get trophies to remember this glorious battle from, and my son/wards/other subordinates gushing about my battle prowess, I reluctantly decided to converse with Melissa until I reached wherever the arrows were leading me.

"So, was that interesting enough for you?"

"Yes, actually. Bravo."

"Thank you," I responded. I doubted her last remark's sincerity, but it was probably best not to make her mad.

"You're welcome. Didn't expect you'd actually last long in a physical fight. Guess I was wrong."

"I take that as a compliment. Though, these machines certainly put up a hell of a fight."

"No kidding."

"Yeah.... um, do you know who might have sent these Machines? I can tell you dislike them, so perhaps I could deal with their creators for you?"

I really wanted to know what made these artifacts, and if Melissa had a grudge against them, I could exploit that to learn their identities.

"I have no idea who made these things. Though, if I did, I would tell, no strings attached."

"Really?"

"Definetly."

"Why?"

"Um, because you're my entertainment? Because I put you in a Commander? Because I don't like others messing with my possessions? Only one multiversal entity is allowed to interfere with you actions as a Commander, and that is me. Don't forget it."

"I won't. Though, regarding my earlier question, do you have any possible guesses as to who made these Machines?"

"No, unfortunately. The technology doesn't match anything I've seen from examining the multiverse. It also doesn't match up with any technology that might have been innovated by a Commander like you. It's an anomaly, and one that you won't find an explanation to."

"Oh. Well, thanks for the advice. I do have on last question, though."

"And that is?"

"How long are you going to stay in the same universe as me?"

"Until I get bored."

"Oh. Ok."

Oh joy.

With that, I terminated the communication. I did not want to have to deal with Melissa for much longer. Things were tough enough as is.

Oh, and I had run out of arrows to follow, leaving me just outside a rather large door, which immediately began to open in my presence. Cautiously, I entered it.

The room behind the door was, for the most part, empty. All that was in it was a glass tube containing a pedestal. On said pedestal was gigantic dodecahedron.

One that was covered in symbols that match up with the other artifacts I'd found.

Looks like I'd found my Artifact.

Before I could retrieve it, though, a hologram appeared in front of my, startling me. I jumped back and aimed my gun at the hologram....which now to the form of several words written in English.

GREEETINGS

"....um, hello. What are you?"

I AM THE INTELLIGENCE OF THIS SHIP. YOU COULD SAY THAT I AM THE SHIP.

"I see. Did you lead me here?"

YES

"Thank you. Why did all of the wildlife attack?"

DAMAGE TO THE SECURITY SYSTEM CAUSED IT TO SAIDNALL NATIVE WLIDLIFE INTO A FRENZY IN ORDER TO PROTEXT THIS SHIP. THIS VESSELCWAS DAMAGED BU THE METEOR SHOWER AND WAS UNABLE TO SHUT THE SECUROTY SYSTEM OFF. THAT IS WHY YOU WERE DIRECTED TOWARD THE SHUTDOWN ROOM. THE SHUTDOWN KEY LANDING NEAR YOU WAS UNEXPECTED, THOUGH.

".......how do I know you aren't lying?"

....... YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY WAY TO KNOW THAT.

That, I could believe.

"Who made you?"

I CANNOT TELL YOU THAT.

"Why?"

YOU ARE BETTER OFF NOT KNOWING.

"Fine .Can I have the Artifact?"

THE MEMORY HOLDER? OF COURSE!

Memory Holder? Well, now I had a name for that device.

"Okay. One last question: are there any more artifacts in this universe?"

I'd already found two, so it was reasonably likely there were more.

YES. THERE ARE SIX IN TOTAL. ONCE YOU ACQUIRE THIS ONE, THE NEXT ONE WILL BECOME ACTIVE.

I could deal with that. Also, I did want to know why they activated sequentially, but that was not a question I needed answered now.

"Okay. I'm sorry, but I lied earlier. There is one more question I want answered: is there anyway I can remove you from this ship?" After all, this was my first real source of intel on who made these artifacts.

To my surprise, instead of a reply, a new pedestal emerged from the floor, containing a machine on it.


MY MIND IS BEING DOWLOADED INTO THE PORTABLE COMPUTER ON THE NEW PEDESTAL. YOU MAY TAKE IT WITH YOU.

Well, that was easy.


I decided to approach the Artifact pedestal, only slightly surprised when the glass retracted to expose the contents of the container. I quickly grabbed it, then moved to acquire the computer. Once I had that, I prepared to leave, only for anothernhologrka to appear.

DO NOT LEAVE THIS ROOM. I WILL GET REMOVE IS FROM THIS CAVITY.

Then, to my surprise, the ceiling folded into the walls as the room began to move upward. Neat: a loft room.

When the room had finished its ascent, I noticed that I was not alone: another room had ascended, this one containing the genetic heroes and the XCOM team who'd followed me into the ship.

I stared for a moment, then called in a transport. Right now, all I needed was a break.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: Read and Reivew! This is Foameal15k, signing off!

 

[Tolerdi]

Well, some garbled text in this update was probably intentional, but I doubt all of it was.

 

[Flameal15k]

I was up late last night and posted the chapter just before I end to bed, so yeah. Sorry about that.

 

[Flameal15k]

The return trip to my territory on Chiron was uneventful. Once we had landed, the genetic heroes hastily began unloading things they'd taken off the ship, which they planned to make into trophies. I could really blame them, especially since I'd sent a few fabbers and CNDRs to pick up the remains of the bot I'd smashed through the wall for similar reasons. Idly, I noted I'd need to add to the trophy room to include a mount for the remains. Said remains would likely end up being the only remnants I'd have of something I defeated with my own two hands.

I was wrong about that last part, but that is irrelevant for now.

Once the genetic heroes had gone to their quarters, I turned my attention to examining the Artifact I'd recovered. The children had been taken by their tutors to begin learning how to command their powers, while Rory had fallen asleep. The sight of him curled up on a couch was too adorable to disturb, so all I did was drape a blanket over his sleeping form. As for Melissa, well, she was busy helping herself to my pantry along with her daughter, leaving me alone for the time being.

This provided me an opportunity to examine both the Artifact and its accompanying AI unmolested, something I was looking forward to doing. Previous artifacts had given me visions, but with nothing else to provide context. Maybe this one would be more helpful? Given that it couldn't tell me who had created it, though, that helpfulness might be limited.

Well, time to get to work.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: In the following exchange, Flame's responses will be written in normal text, while the AI's will be written in all caps.

Hello.

GREETINGS.

Nice to see you active again. Could you answer a few questions for me?

OF COURSE, BUT ONLY IF MY DIRECTIVES ARE NOT COMPROMISED DOING SO.

Okay. First off, what is the purpose of the memory holders?

ELABORATE.

Is there a meaning to the visions they send?

THEY PROVIDE A WARNING.

A warning?! A warning of what?

MY CREATOR'S ENEMY. I CANNOT TELL YOU WHO SAID ENEMY IS, ONLY THAT IT IS POWERFUL.

I see. Are you from a different universe than this one?

YES.

Okay. Since there are six artifacts in this universe, does each one carry it's own memory or do the carry the same one?

ASSUMING THAT YOU ATE TREATING ARTIFACTS AND MEMORY HOLDERS IN THAT QUESTION AS SYNONOMOUS, BOTH, TO A DEGREE. EACH ARTIFACT CONTAIN'S A PORTION OF ONE MEMORY, AND YOU WILL NEED ALL SIX TO SEE WHAT IT IS.

Noted.

DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS.

Not yet.

THEN I WOULD LIKENTO POWER DOWN FOR THE TIME BEING.

Very well.

GOODNIGHT.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Well, that wasn't exactly too helpful. However, at least now I had some goal to shoot toward, besides helping people: finding the rest of the artifacts in this universe. Of course, that would be easier if I knew what to look for.

I pulled up the schematics for the ARKYD and started tinkering with them. First off, I added in larger scanners and power sources, as well as some advanced cameras I'd obtained from examining the orbital telescopes on Chiron. Additional radio telescopes were added to improve its signal tracking capacity, with extra computers added in to assist in data analysis. Lastly, I added in a couple of small weapon system onto the satellite, to deter pirate craft from attacking it, then tuned the radio telescopes to track the signal I was looking for. Boom, a tracker for the unknown signal. Until I had a better name for it, the satellite design would be designated ARKYD-rho. I set a couple of them up to build so that I would be able to scan the galaxy for the artifacts' signals. Once I found them, I'd figure out how to retrieve them.

With that out of the way, my attentikn turned back to something I'd almost forgotten about: the people I'd rescued from the Blind Eyes. Apparently, they still hadn't woken up. My bots and the various members of my creations who had medical training had been forced to start giving them physical therapy to keep their bodies fro atrophying. If they weren't all on IV drips, they'd probably start to get really slim right about now.

I noted that most of these people had been missing for some time, at least according to public records. Most had been forgotten, due to lack of blood relatives and close friends, but a few of them did still have families who were still searching for them. Among them was a mother who's husband now had to try and care for their three kids all on his own. Reading those records just made my heart break.

I decided to examine the intel I'd stolen from the base when I'd rescued these people to see just why they'd been kidnapped. While something related to psychic powers was most likely, considering the children's plight, I needed to be sure.

XXXXXXXXXX

'To my concerned Board of Directors,

I apologize over the lack of results, but it is rapidly becoming apparent that our attempts to create a psyonic group mind are not working. The individual minds cannot be forced to subsume themselves to the whole, meaning that, at best, we may need to retire the subjects before long.

I do have a theory that might explain this issue, though. The minds may be rejecting the unification attempts because they are too mature to be subsumed. We may yet be able to create our psyonic gestalt if we focus on younger, more pliable subjects

Additionally, using younger subjects will allow us to teach them skills that would make them far more effective as operatives. Children have a far greater capacity to learn than adults, so infiltration, advanced mechanical skills, and high end calculus, among other skills, would be easier for them to come to grips with then it would for older agents.

I have already created a program to seek out potential candidates that would make a psychic gestalt a reality. If this plan is given the green light, I do not believe it will be hard to recruit these people.

Your Chief Scientist,

Dr. Harold Tragger.

Glory to EXALT.'

XXXXXXXX

Really? That's why they wanted these people? They wanted to build an army of hive minded psychic soldiers? That was ridiculous!

Also, it looked like the Blind Eues were a front for EXALT. That needed to be addressed.

I started searching for businesses that the Blind Eyes owned. Once I found one, I redistributed most of its wealth to charities, leaving only a modest sum of money behind. Gradually, I could use this to wear them down, but outrigjt ruining them financially wasn't going to be easy: any stock-based assets they owned could have transactions canceled remotely, so those assets were on ice. As a counter, I began to distribute nanites into their facilities via orbital drops from satellites. Once the nanobots were in position, they began to eat away at the buildings, weakening their supports. It wasn't enough to cause the buildings to collapse, but it would force EXALT to close the building a down for repairs, further emptying their pockets - what's this alert?

Aplrentaly, the levels of mental activity in the people I'd rescued was returning to normal...which meant they were likely to wake up in the next few hours.

Oh joy.

XXXXXXXX

AN: Sorry for any mistakes, I'm typing this up on my phone.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[january1may]

Well, those are the mistakes I noticed immediately...

Spoiler: Assorted Mistakes

It didn't no what was going on.

Click to shrink...

didn't know

Making sure not to touch any pig the other metal surfaces in the room

Click to shrink...

any of the other metal surfaces (?)

Hello, Comammndr Flame.

Click to shrink...

Commander (?)

On said pedestal was gigantic dodecahedron.

Click to shrink...

was a gigantic dodecahedron

only for anothernhologrka to appear

Click to shrink...

only for another hologram to appear

Other than that... an interesting story. Poor ship though!

 

[Flameal15k]

She blinked.

'I'm awake!?'

Surprised to be awake, Sandra tried to move, only to be forced to stop due to soreness. Her back ached, as did her arms and legs. Dimly, Sandra wondered how long she had been asleep. She'd just returned home from a swim when...

Surprise transitioning to worry, Sandra looked around, trying to find anyone that was watching her. So far, though, she didn't see anyone observing her. She did, however, find that there were other people in the room with her. All of them were on beds, like was, with IV drips attached to them.

There were well over a hundred people in the room with her.

Sandra just stared on in silence. 'What the hell happened? What did I get involved in?'

A whirring sound quickly snapped her out of her thoughts and caused her to twist around, wincing in pain as her body told her it wasn't ready to move that fast.

Standing (or, rather, floating) a few feet in front of her, was some kind of drone, with a display screen attached to it.

GREETINGS

Sandra stared at the screen for a moment, before attempting to respond. This proved difficult at first, as her vocal chords were just as sore as the rest of the muscles in her body.

"...h...he....Hello," she choked out.

IT APPEARS THAT YOU HAVE AWAKENED.

"....So it seems."

Sandra was confused when a metallic tentacle emerged from the machine and deposited its tip on her shoulder. Confusion soon became shock and pain as an electric shock was emitted by the tentacle.

"Ow. What the hell?!" she yelled, or at least did the closest her vocal chords would allow her to do to yelling.

I WANT TO PROVE TO YOU THAT YOU ARE AWAKE. YOU CANNOT FEEL PAIN IN YOUR SLEEP

"Well at least give me some warning."

MY APOLOGIES. WOULD YOU LIKE SOMETHING TO EAT?

".......yes?" she said, slightly unsure that the machine was being serious.

To her surprise, a pedestal emerged from the floor nearby her. On it was a container of yogurt.

Sandra stared at the yogurt for a moment, then looked back at the machine, then at the yogurt, then back at the machine.

YOU HAVE BEEN ASLEEP FOR A LONG TIME, AND MOST OF YOUR GUT FLORA IS DECEASED. YOU WILL NEED TO EAT SOMETHING TO REPLENISH IT BEFORE I CAN OFFER YOU ANY OTHER FOOD.

Sandra stared at the machine for a little longer, then took the yogurt and provided spoon. A moment later, she was enjoying the dairy product. A moment after that, she froze up in silence, before turning back toward the machine.

"How....long...Have I been out?"

.....APPROXIMATELY 87 DAYS.

Sandra paled. Eighty seven days. How was her husband doing? Were her kids alright? How were her parents? WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?!

"What happened to me?"

.....BASED ON AVAILABLE EVIDENCE, YOU WERE KIDNAPPED, TIED UP TO A MACHINE, SUBJECTED TO EXPERIMENTS REGARDING PSYCHIC POWERS, RESCUED BY INFERNUM FORCES, BROUGHT TO THIS LOCATION, AND THEN YOU WOKE UP AND WE STARTED HAVING THIS CONVERSATION--I APOLOGIZE, I MUST GO.

Before Sandra could process all that had been said, the text on the screen vanished and was replaced with an image of a young man with glowing brown eyes and curly black haired, which was rather oddly tinged red, yellow and blue at the ends.

"Greetings. I am Commander Flame of the Infernum Federation. I...apologize for that conversation. The machine I sent to greet you hasn't had all of its bugs ironed out yet."

"....I can tell," replied Sandra, too shocked to put any emotion into her voice.

"Well, my sincerest apologies for how awkward the conversation was. I had hoped your awakening would have been less stressful for you. As is, do you feel alright at the moment?"

"...yes."

"Splendid, miss......Peters. Sandra Peters. That's your name, isn't it?"

"....yes....How do you-"

"Your captors kept a list of the names of everyone they kidnapped, as well as a short biography. I took the liberty of reading it so that I would have an easier time answering any questions you all might have when you awaken."

"Though, before you ask, your children and husband are fine, and the authorities are still trying to find you. I've informed your families, friends and the authorities that I am caring for you, and that you will be returned safely when I am sure that you are physically healthy."

".....um....well, thank you for telling my family that I am fine, but may I leave this room?"

"No, not yet. I understand your issues with being my guest, especially given the circumstances that resulted in you being my guest, but I would not like you to leave this room just yet. You haven't been exposed to physical activity for almost three months, so every muscle in your body will likely be aching right now. I would suggest waiting a few hours and maybe doing some sit-ups in your bed first before you consider leaving this room, otherwise you might fight yourself unable to move."

".....I....I see."

"Thank you for understanding. Have a nice day."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, that went well.

With the abducted colonists dealt with for the moment, I turned my attention back to Chiron, specifically the news. Already, people were setting up memorials for those who had been killed by the enraged insects. Oddly, though, Harmony associated groups weren't experiencing too much backlash for their beliefs. Apparently, a fairly large amount of people who had been hybridized with the native aliens had undergone horrific headaches and migraines roughly around the time the ship had crashed, while the mind flower had been mentioned as shaking and twitching in pain. Apparently, everything associated with planet had felt the power of the ship.

Well, that was interesting, but I had other things to attend to. Namely, my expansion fleets. My new colonies were finally up and running, providing me with new bases to begin expanding my forces. All of the worlds I settled were barren of life, because I didn't really need to make them habitable to use them. Additionally, I refused to alter the destiny of any living species except to save it from extinction. For now, I was following a (self imposed) non-interference clause.

While this was going on, more of my guests were waking up. Sandra helped keep them calm, and I occasionally popped in to talk to them, but overall, they weren't interesting. I really felt bad having to keep them from their families (if they had anyone left, as some had lost everything prior to EXALT kidnapping them), but the fact was that they weren't ready to leave. Spending roughly a month motionless is bad for your health and your mobility. Even with the physical therapy and muscle stimulation my bots and medical staff had applied, they'd need a while to get back to normal levels of movement.

That, though, soon faded from my attention when I returned the focus of my thoughts to the broadcasts around the planet. It appeared people were finally moving their focus away from the attack and toward the mysterious soldiers who had helped them. Everyone was wondering who the soldiers with an X on their armor had been, and already wild speculation about their organization had begun to form. I wondered how long this would last before XCOM decided to make its debut.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turned out, the answer was 'not very long at all'

Roughly half an hour after the first debates started, planet wide broadcasts began to be replaced with static, until, eventually, every channel was filled with static. Rather amusingly, telecommunications were filled with complaints about the fact that all visual broadcasts were glitching out.

The blank screen was replace by a picture of a human, albeit an armored one. Surprisingly, I recognized the armor as the one the Commander wore in XCOM 2. Maybe it was a ceremonial or a sign that whoever wore it was the head of XCOM.

"Greetings, people of Chiron. You may not know who I am, but you have certainly seen some of my subordinates. I am the leader of the XCOM Project.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a military barracks in Brasilia, men had and women had halted their training to observe the speech, eager to learn who their mysterious saviors were.

"We have existed since the start of the third millennium AD, and have acted as mankind's guardians against threats from beyond our world. We have faced enemies who sought to take Earth as their own, and make it theirs to rule."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Atop a mighty skyscraper in a floating city belonging to the North Sea Alliance, twelve figures stared at a screen showing the same broadcast, faces curled in expressions of both anger and curiosity.

"But they were not our only foes. Among mankind were traitors, who wished to you the power of the aliens to advance themselves at the expense of others, or work with them in exchange for power. Though the invaders were defeated, the traitors still remain, still grasping for power...."

"Well, it seems XCOM has decided to go public. That's rather bold of them," noted one of the observers, an old man by the sound of his voice.

"True, but with their recent successes and their secrecy being blown by what happened yesterday, that might actually be to their benefit, Harlan."

"Fair enough. We made need to increase our level of secrecy in acquiring new test subjects."

"Agreed," responded the remaining voices.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"We will not lie, we have not always been successful in our goals. Our own actions against the invaders contributed to the Great Mistake, which lead to the fragmentation of our organization. But we have strived onward, to ensure the survival of mankind among the stars."

Sandra and her compatriots were entranced at the sight. Some of them had heard the tales from their elders about how a group had existed that had fought aliens, but to have it confirmed was a surprise beyond belief. The fact that they had learned about it just a short while after they had awakened had only added to the shock.

"In time, we rebuilt, and grew strong once more."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Members of our forces were present on all of the Seeding Missions. As more colonies arrived on this planet, so too did we grow stronger. The strength of all the great powers on this planet, united in the name of ensuring our survival as a species."

The various leaders on Chiron had been holding an emergency meeting to discuss what had happened when the broadcast had begun. What they had heard was rather alarming: a clandestine organization formed underneath their noses, and no one had noticed? The implications of that were alarming.

At the same time though, the leaders felt a sense of relief from this: the organization had proved itself to be friendly to all of them, and had already helped them deal with yesterday's incident. Perhaps the XCOM Project was not a danger?

Either way, they would wait before acting. More observations were needed to decide what the best course of action was.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"To those on this planet who have never heard of us before, you need not fear us, for we seek only to protect mankind."

The kids stared on, entranced at the broadcast, while their tutors merely smiled in amusement. This was what XCOM was.

Melissa, meanwhile, couldn't help but crack an amused smile. "Impressive speech, I'll give you that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"But to those who would seek to dominate mankind, either from within or from without, we offer a warning: cease your plans, or we will do whatever it takes to defeat you."

Aboard the ship, the strange beings could not understand what the human was saying. The fact that they received the broadcast at all, though, was worrisome.

Long ago, they had colonized many worlds, built a great empire, one to rival even the Ascended Ones. Yet time had caused it to fragment, wars had bled it dry, and civil unrest had shattered it, until only remnants remained. Now, these remnants sought a refuge where they could rebuild and start anew. They had heard detected the signals from this planet and assumed another remnant of their empire had survived. Now, though, it appeared the signal had come from these new beings, who had likely begun to examine their technology and reverse engineer it.

Perhaps they could seek peace with these new ones. Perhaps there would be war. But until they reached Planet, they would never no.

Thus, the last remnants of the Progenitors continued their course to Planet, ready to greet their new neighbors.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"People of Chiron, we are XCOM. We are Watchful. We are Needed. may you all have a nice day."

Then the transmission cut out.

Well that was a nice speech.

.............................Why weren't the broadcasts going back to normal?

AND WHY WERE MY SNESORS STARTING TO GO HAYWIRE?

Confused, I tried to get the sensors working again, but to no avail. However, some of them were still working. Curious, I examined the data I was getting from them to see what I could discover. Oddly, they were all ones I had in the Africa Union.

Which was where the mind flower was. In fact, all of the sensors (which included cameras and audio recorders) were around the Mind Flower

................................................................................

............And it had just opened........

Then a shockwave of sorts hit me, and everything went white.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Yep, big cliffhanger.

Regarding Harlan: someone made a joke that scientist acted a lot like Harlan Wade from F.E.A.R. And that not naming him as such was a wasted opportunity.

My response was that Harlan would probably be a member of EXALT's board of directors.

Anyways, read and review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Well... Having a Psi-based Avatar-chassis backfired on ya.

 

[Flameal15k]

Possibly...

Wait and see.

 

[Killtime101]

Gonna need more mind shields...

 

[Flameal15k]

I'll admit, I didn't think I'd transcend beyond just being a Commander this early in my adventures. I did eventually expect that this would happen, but this was still a surprise. Fortunately, things ended up working out in my favor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When my vision finally returned to normal, I found myself alone in a great field, which extended as far as the eye could see. The only things to break up the monotony of this field were a few scattered trees, all of which seemed to be glowing. Interestingly, while everything in this world was bathed in light barring what the trees covered, I couldn't find the source of the luminance. NO sun, no moon, not even a single star in the sky.

Any further attempts to examine this world were halted when I heard a strange set of noises, as if someone was trying to dig through something. Soon, I noticed a large mound of soil and plant matter rising up in front of me, with the strange sounds emanating from them. I pondered whether I should stay near it or bolt, but before I could, a scythe-like limb emerged from the mound, followed by the rest of the creature. To my surprise, it appeared to be a Wolf-Beetle, albeit one that was glowing rather brightly with blue-green light.

For a moment, we just stared at each other. Then, to my surprise, the Beetle spoke.

"So, you are the most recent arrival to my body. I was expecting someone........ taller."

.........What?

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"My apologies. I have many names, but you may call me Planet."
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
......................................................
...............Oh.

"Oh. Hello. Nice to meet you."

"Your shock is understandable, so don't try to hide it."

"Oh. Sorry about that."

"No need to apologize. I admit this was rather unexpected, but I felt now was a good time to open up to mankind, what with XCOM descending to leave the shadows," was her reply, in a strangely angelic voice.

"True....wait, how do you know about XCOM?"

"I am Planet. I know about everything that happens on my body. Nothing on this world escapes my sight."

I felt a growing sense of paranoia at that remark.

"No need to be paranoid. I will not abuse that power unless your intentions are vile."

Wait, how did she know what I was thinking?

"After the mind flower opened, all intelligences on this planet were linked. So long as we are in this realm, your thoughts will be plainly visible for me to see."

Then how come I can't see yours?

"This field is merely one of many. I am holding conversations with everyone on this planet, in fields much like this. They are merely representations of the realm of thought that your a within at the moment. If you tried to read my mind, the various different thoughts going through it would likely burn out yours."

"As for how I can talk to everyone on this world, I am a planet-spanning conscious. My capabilities transcend anything normal humans are capable of, and even exceed your capabilities. Though I must admit, your capabilities are beyond anything I have seen before, barring a few others."

"..........I see. Is there any reason we are all alone?"

"Well, yes. There is something I wanted to tell you something."

"And that is?"

"Thank you."

"................For what."

"For disabling the signal that came from that ship. It was very......painful......to listen to. I am relieved that it is now gone. I am aware you did it mostly to save the colonists on this world, as well as acquire something within the remains of the ship, but your actions are appreciated all the same."

"I see.....wait, how much do you know about me?"

"Some basics of your journey: that you were taken from all you ever knew and loved by a great being, that you were placed in the great metal beast I have seen through the eyes of the animals on this planet, that you have journeyed across creation to find new powers and technology, and made allies along the way. How you know so much on this world eludes me, for my powers in this realm fail me when I attempt to see that part of your mind. I suspect the one who put you on this journey is preventing me from seeing those reasons. She's also in a realm like this, before you ask. An interesting woman, no doubt, but rather selfish and annoying."

Looks like some things would never change.

"So, are there any other reasons you're talking to me?"

"Actually, yes. I wish to ask you a favor?"

"And that would be?"

"Well, you see, there are more beings like me in this galaxy. More planet sized minds, waiting to awaken. Some are older than me, others younger, but I am the first to be able to express myself in ways you humans could understand, and with that, feel sensations that you take for granted. It is an.....incredible experience, and one that I would like to share with others like me."

"So you want me to build mind flowers on what would amount to your siblings?"

"I suppose that would be the best way to word my wish, so yes. I am willing to offer you compensation for this, should you oblige."

Even without compensation, I was willing to help planet. After all, she seemed rather nice. The fact that she hadn't tried to kill me was a plus.

"Well, you haven't given me any reason to antagonize you. In fact, I find you rather likeable as well, considering that you go out of your way to try and mitigate the ecological impact of your actions. Adding forests to limit the already minor amounts of pollution you create is rather kind of you, as is your willingness to allow my native inhabitants to live in and around your base."

"Well, you do offer plenty of good incentives against pollution and ecological damage."

"True...... I sense you would like to return to your body soon."

"I would. This place just feels...odd."

"I understand. Before you go, though, I have one last thing to tell you."

"And that is?"

"I can sense things that are within this solar system, so long as they are close enough, and I can feel something very large headed toward this world. You will likely be able to detect it once you return to your mortal shell, given all of the things you have orbiting around me."

"....Well, I didn't expect that. Thanks you for the advice, though."

"You are welcome. And farewell."

Then the Beetle put the end of its right limb on my forehead and everything went white again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When I came to, I was surprised to find that I was still standing.

That, though, was nothing compared to my shock when I saw a Raptor Bug standing right in front of me, with several more of its kind nearby, all carrying organic sacks in their mouths. Oddly, a part of me felt calm in their presence.

Before I could react, they began setting the sacks down in front of me, then leaving. By the end of this, only the one in front of me remained. It placed its sack on the ground, then nudged it toward me. Curious, I opened it and found myself looking at a what looked a lot like a shrimp, albeit one that was clearly alien. It did seem to have crystalline traits, though-oh. It's a Crystal Shrimp.

Quickly, I counted the remaining number of sacks. Sure enough, the amount I had matched the amount of Alien Relics I had yet to acquire. I quickly ordered a CNDR to move them to my hub world, and attempt to breed the living relics. In the future, I would combine them into artifacts, but for now, best to try and make more of them. Mentally, I thanked Planet for the gifts, and was surprised when I received an echoing reply of you're welcome.

With that task complete, I turned my attention to the stars and began cycling through the probes I had in this solar system. Planet had given me warning that something was coming, and I intended to heed it.

At first, I saw nothing. Then, I began to notice space debris, which, while interesting, wasn't what I was looking for. As I turned my attention to my last set of probes, though, I found what I was looking for.

It was a ship. A big spaceship. So why did it look so familiar-wait. No. It can't be.

No, it is. I just checked my memory backs. The ship's aesthetics matched up with those I'd seen in the Progenitor city.

I guess the Progenitors aren't dead after all. Though, considering you could win the game by contacting them, that wasn't surprising.

Quickly, I started commissioning more warships and combat units, in the event first contact went south. I would have informed the natives, but one of their orbital satellites had already seen the ship. Already, they were trying to draft up a diplomatic team to meet them. Apparently, they'd already assumed the progenitors weren't dead and tried to send out a signal to contact them. This ship must be the reply.

Hopefully, they came in peace. Because I did not want to go to war. Not now.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Well, yet another cliffhanger. Sorry.

Just for reference, Planet sounds like the Angelis Ethereal from XCOM 2. I was going to have Flame make the connection, but Planet probably would've noticed this and started getting curious, so I omitted it.

So, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[White Lantern]

why doesn't Melissa just rob her way out of the mudflows link thingy

 

[Flameal15k]

why doesn't Melissa just rob her way out of the mudflows link thingy

Click to shrink...

She was bored, and her response to the Ascent to Transcendence 'well, this is interesting'.

We will get to see her conversation with Planet, BTW.

 

[Flameal15k]

It took surprisingly little time for everyone to prepare for the arrival of the Progenitors. Though, considering that everyone on Planet had undergone ascent to transcendence, that wasn't surprising. Especially considering what I discovered right after I became aware of the Progenitors' continued existence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Okay, the Progenitors are alive. What do I do next.

Maybe we should prepare for war.

What?

Peace would be more preferable.

Huh?

I have to find a safe place for my kids now.

Who?

Time to go to my doomsday bunker
Prepare for battle
Seek Peace
Hide
Run
Fight
Talk
Kill
Die
Go/help/speak/strike/swipe

What the hell?

Live. Die. Eat. Breath.
Fight Strike Cut Kill
Run Hide Cry Beg
Try to talk to the new aliens
Our last two meetings with Aliens ended badly, why assume this will be different.
Maybe they could be our allies
We could profit off of them
MaybeweshouldkillthemWemustseekpeacePrepareforbattleGetthekidstoasafeplaceojdjeucjejcuricjfiejvjejvjtisjfkwjftk-

MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!!!!

That seemed to do something, because then the voices in my head stopped. Well, all except for mine and one other.

Oh. Sorry about that.

What?

Oh, well, Transcendent Beings who inhabit my body can share their thoughts. I can block out someone's access to this hive mind, which I did to most of the people on this world, but I allowed you one way viewing into it.

WHY?

Um, I thought you could handle it. You do command an army of robots and receive huge amounts of input from them, don't you?

THEY CANT THINK COMPLEX THOUGHTS OR FEEL EMOTIONS! PEOPLE CAN!

Oh. Yeah. Right......um.....hehe.....sorry.

Your apology is appreciated.......Is anyone else sharing thoughts right now?

.......only the leaders of the colonies on this planet. I believed it would have been useful for them to share instant communication.

As long as it doesn't drive them insane.

Hey! I'm sorry!

Apology accepted.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yeah, Transcending Beyond Mortality did quite a few things that the game didn't tell you about, since Transcending was a winning condition. Whatever happened after you transcended was irrelevant if you won the game.

There were quite a few advantages to a shared consciousness. Right now, one advantage in particular was pretty obvious: instant communication between the heads of state all over planet. Conversations could be held at the speed of thought, with the language barrier being a nonissue; people could, apparently, understand foreign thoughts even if they didn't understand foreign languages. This made conversations that would normally take a couple of minutes to happen due to translators need if to do their jobs happen in seconds. Idly, I noted that it meant they'd never need to meet face to face again if they wanted to hold a diplomatic action.

The immediate benefit of this was that it didn't take long for the 'United Colonies' to fill out the holes in the diplomatic mission roster. One representative from each sponsor would be sent, as well as assorted translators, engineers, security, and, in case all else failed, XCOM personnel.

Oh, and they wanted me to come along as well, just so that the Progenitors wouldn't assume anything suspicious regarding the Machines whose overlords they hadn't met. I could make do with that: building bridges was important. Plus it provided me an easy opening to steal the rest of their tech with computer Worms.

That wasn't all the Council of Colonies wanted me to do.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Let me get this straight," I said for the third and last time, " you want me to give up the Progenitor city in my territory - which I have just begun to examine in detail - to our new neighbors."

"Yes," was Fielding's blunt to response, "we do."

"Please understand," intoned Barre, trying with some sucess to be the voice of reason, "tjey were the first rulers of this planet. Their civilization thrived here long before we even knew this world existed. We really have no right to withhold what was once their technology from its original owners."

"Let these aliens have what is theirs," added Elodie, the xenophobia and unease in her voice plain to all. Somehow, I didn't feel that I'd be surprised if her actions started a Fourth Alien War. "It would make negotiations easier, and is a small price to pay for peace."

How she managed to reconcile her disdain of the alineswoth rational thoughts, I'd never know.

"Giving them back their city may also make achieving further technological breakthroughs easier," noted Vadim. I was thankful that I now had a measure of control over my acces to the new shared conscious on planet; it made this conversation much easier. "If the Progenitors think highly of us, they may be willing to share some of their advances with us."

"Additionally, our new neighbors may be inclined to share more with us than just technology," added Fielding. "We could be standing on the precipice of an untapped market of alien goods."

Her greed and ambitions were really showing through right now.

"Is profit the only thing you are interested in, Ms Fielding?"

"Whwhwhwhat?! No, of course not! The safety of everyone on this planet outweighs any material gains that could be made with the newcomers."

Oddly enough, she wasn't lying: my link to the hive mind of Planet told me that, while she was a rather greedy and ambitious woman, she valued other, respectable things, especially gender and ethnic equality. Given that she was a African American woman of Hispanic descent, this wasn't surprising at all.

"Must you needlessly antagonize Ms. Fielding?" questioned Moon, the disapproval evident in his voice.

I felt the tiniest modicums of anger at the man's remark, before calming and turning my attention back to Fielding.

"My apologies. That was uncalled for."

"Your apology is accepted."

"Thank you."

Then I turned my attention to the rest of the Council.

"All of your points are valid. I'm sending in some Machines right now to clean up the Progenitor city. I will notify you when they finish. Hopefully, it will be before the city's owners arrive. As for myself, my transportation has arrived. I will be joining the diplomatic team shortly."

"Thank you," responded the Council in its entirety.

I decided not to tell them that I would have given the city up even without their insistance. I needed them to feel that I wasn't going to hold their hands, that they couldn't depend on me to solve their problems forever. I could give them great innovations, but they needed to figure out for themselves how to use those innovations.

XXXXXXX

It didn't take me long to meet up with the diplomatic team. While some socializing did occur, mostly I was too busy monitoring the activity in orbit to attempt to make friends with the rest of the assembled diplomats. A large fleet was being formed to meet the arriving ship, mostly as a warning against aggression. I noted that the ships matched the one used in starships, albeit at the smallest size possible. Still dangerous, though.

It took another hour before the ship was finally close enough for the diplomatic mission to begin. The diplomatic team, myself included, was loaded onto an XCOM transport authorized for this mission, in part because those were one of the few ships that could break that atmosphere and still function. From their, it took and and ascended into orbit, eventually maneuvering itself aboard a space station that the fleet in orbit had focused around. A message was sent, asking the Progenitors to meet us on this station. The natives had managed to crack the Progenitors language, and my (currently limited) hacking spoils from the ship had proven that their cipher was correct. Now came the hard part: waiting for the response.

It took ten minutes, but eventually we received a response: the Progenitors would send an envoy to the station to negotiate with us, along with his aides. Half an hour later, they arrived aboard a insectile ship.

To my surprise, the Progenitors actually didn't look that surprising for aliens. The resembled the classical greys in physical appearance, though their heads were smaller, their skin tinged ground, and their bodies were far bulkier than the seemingly malnourished greys. The one who seemed to be in charge wore green and white armor, with some brown mixed in, while his aides were soft yellow and purple armor and his guards bright red and blue armor. The one in charge pulled up a seat while his companions either remained standing or took up guard positions.

A few minutes later, the lead Alien spoke.

"Greetings. I am Councilor Hyo. May I ask what your names are?"

"I am Mathis Bernard, representative of Franco-Iberia"

"Vladimir Sarov, representative of The Slavic Federation."

"Ethan Forest, representative of the ARC."

And so on, until, at last, the need for an introduction fell onto me.

"Commander Flame of the Infernum Federation."

I was surprised Hyp didn't press me further on the name.

"Now that introductionshave been handled, Councilor Hyo, may we ask why you came here?"

"Very well. My people have traveled the stars for a long time," he began, "and built an empire that span entire worlds. We created wonders that none had ever seen" I could sense a feeling of arrogance coming off of him.

The said feeling was replaced with sorrow.
"Yet as we spread, our civilization grew more conflicted and riven by factionalism. Colonies seeking independence would break away, uprising would occur, and soon our civilization collapsed. It's been......almost one thousand years.....since we heard from another of our colonies. We have been searching the cosmos, hoping that we could find another colony, one that could help us trace our heritage, for we have lost much of our past. When we discovered a signal in our language coming from this world, we assumed we might find our kin, who could tell us where we came from, and what our ancestors had been like.

"Instead. Our travels lead us to meet you."

"I see," noted Sarov. "Tell me, what do you intend to do now? Continue on your journey, searching for more of your kind, or settling down on this world and beginning anew."

"We wish to settle down. We don't really have another choice in that regard."

"Could you elaborate?" asked Forest.

"Our ship was.....damaged...by space debris...some time ago." His strange syntax confused me, until I realized he might be using translation equipment to talk to us and need to take break to let it work properly. "We cannot....remain in space.....for more than...a week. We must.....land soon...or we.....will die."

"........I see," noted Mathis. "Well, while I understand the urgency of your need to land, do keep in mind we will need to know where you intend to settle, so that we can prepare-"

"The South."

"-huh?"

"We can....still sense....what we built here. Old cities....in Southern part of Planet......still stand. We will.......settle there."

"..........I see."

Well, I guess I didn't need to give up my city just yet.

XXXXXXXXX

The meeting lasted about an hour. Everything from what to the Progenitors are to what territory they would claim as theirs was brought up, all of which was settled without much fuss. I was surprised how subdued this was, but I think people had stopped bein shxoked after Transcendence happened.

A short while later, the delegates left and returned to their ship's. An hour later, a colony lander began its descent to the Southern Hemisphere of Chiron, carrying the fourteenth colony to arrive on Chiron.

XXXXXXXXXX

AN: Read, Reivew, and point out typos! Going to bed now. This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[dragonhollow]

I was surprised how subdued this was, but I think people had stopped bein shxoked after

Click to shrink...

being Shocked?

I was surprised Hyp didn't press me further on

Click to shrink...

Is a this typo?

From their, it took and and ascended into orbit, eventually maneuvering itself aboard a space station that the fleet in orbit had focused around.

Click to shrink...

There?

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

I find it strange that the Progenitor didn't sense your Progenitor-based Commander technology, even diluted as yours - By not much of course - I figured they'd know.

 

[Flameal15k]

I find it strange that the Progenitor didn't sense your Progenitor-based Commander technology, even diluted as yours - By not much of course - I figured they'd know.

Click to shrink...

Progenitors from Civ:BE =/= Progenitors from PA, and Flame doesn't any native Progenitor tech on his Commander
yet. The sheer amount of game changers in the past week or so in-universe has prevented him from integrating the technology.

 

[Flameal15k]

I'll admit that I was surprised that this universe's Progenitors were willing to let me keep what I had looted from the city, which only increased when they revealed that they did not intend to settle in that city, instead choosing to build their home near the planet's Southern magnetic pole. Though, a quick examination of that area revealed a good reason for this: it turned out that that particular area also had some progenitor ruins in them, albeit ones that had seemed to be under constant assault by storms. Some data I'd surreptitiously obtained from my new neighbors confirmed that yes, these storms were caused by a piece of Progenitor technology, one that I was already making moves to acquire. A couple of nanites mixed into a rainstorm would be all I'd need to hack into their databanks and download the schematics for that device (which were only present on databanks already on planet - it was lost technology for the newly arrived Progenitors). Additionally, orbital scanning also noted that the area was fairly resource rich, which led me to another possible reason they wanted to inhabit this region: they wouldn't need to worry about resource shortages. All nearby natural resources in my territory were already being exploited by yours truly, so they probably assumed I might charge them for those commodities. Choosing a base location where all available resources were untapped meant no conflict for those resources, so they could focus on building up their civilization. I could respect that train of thought.

I was also able to use my advanced hacking software to determine another important tidbit of information about the newest arrival on planet: they really did want peace. Even the most militant of them wanted to use diplomacy instead of violence, at least for the moment. The reasons were simple: they lacked the numbers and resources for a conflict. While they did have a technological edge against most of the human factions on Chiron, reverse engineering from the ruins dotting this world's surface had narrowed the gap, meaning that unless the Progenitors had the element of surprise when they attacked, they would be forced into a war of attrition, which, given their numbers, was infeasible. Additionally, attacking one human faction would likely unite the rest against the supposed alien menace, which would make the number disadvantage even worse. For now, at least, the Progenitors preferred peaceful interaction to warfare. As long as thy stayed that way, I wasn't inclined to act against them, aside from stealing their tech, of course.

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With no conflicts to fight and no new people to meet and tech to steal besides that of the newly arrived aliens, I decided to spend some time integrating what technology I had into my existing forces.

First off was the Progenitor technology: thanks to my new acquisitions from the abandoned city (which the Progenitors had requested be turned into a museum and not exploited any further), I was able to begin creating several artifacts that could assist my forces. The first to exit the design area was the Tessellation Foundry. A marvel of engineering, it's in-game benefit allowed you to complete production of military units 30% faster than normal. Given that most of my forces counted as military units, and my already absurdly fast construction, the foundry ended up boosting my unit production rates to ludicrous speed. Plaid was unfortunately not yet attainable.

Additionally, I was able to start acquiring artifacts that were Old Earth in Origin. I think the arrival of the aliens caused the colonists to become more paranoid, because they started asking if I was willing to trade anymore of my technology. Ok, scratch thought, I knew they were getting more uneasy: having a shared consciousness has its benefits. Anyways, the 'United Colonies' were surprisingly reasonable about their requests: they'd offer me some technological item, specifically an Old Earth Relic, since they had plenty of those lying around from recovered resource pods and satellites, and would then ask me what I would offer in return. Additionally, all advances would be shared between every single colony on planet (including, eventually, the aliens, a point I made very clear to the human factions on Planet). Weapons technology was off the table for now.

This lead me to acquire a huge collection of Old Earth Relics (as in, all of them at least three times over) for the price of aa fair amount of my technology: basic Commander Orbital Sensor systems, gas harvesting technology, nanotech repair systems, and advanced energy storage from my baseline Planetary Annihilation tech-base, and various terraforming technologies from Spore. I had already begun to create artifacts out of all my assorted relics, and the results were awesome: my first Old Earth Artifact was the Pan-Spectral Observatory, which made using satellites significantly easier. For all their advanced technology, the Progenitors who built my Commander never bothered to add in any system to track solar winds, which can be an absolute mess on satellites. Though, that could probably be chalked up to most of their units straight up resisting the effects of solar winds, which was admittedly a nice thing to have. Unfortunately, I was having trouble adding this into my new satellites obtained from the colonist' designs, meaning my new Artifact was a lifesaver.

Another artifact I was able to create was the Ground-Penetrating LIDAR. Specially designed lasers that could map out areas below ground, they were absolutely wonderful to possess, as their range actually exceeded the underground detection sensors my Commander had, even if they weren't nearly as detailed. No surprise attack from Zerg or Locusts on me! The only reason I could build tis one was because I had all three types of relics, since it was created out of all three sets: it seemed that unity equaled power here.

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While I did make a few advances, I'll admit that things were rather slow going. No conflict was happening, I hadn't detected any additional planets where successful seeding missions (or surviving Progenitors) were present, and I wasn't exactly sure where Earth was from here, and while I wasn't going to slow at the tech integration, things were getting rather boring.

For the most part, I decided to work on getting my rescues back to their families. Now that they were free from EXALT, I was slowly reintegrating them with their families. Many of them could hardly walk, so I had to build a lot of wheel chairs and robots to push the chairs: it takes a while to re-acquaint your muscles with moving if they haven't been used in months. I hadn't yet allowed any to leave my base, mainly because I was worried EXALT would try to capture them again. I was not going to let these people get kidnapped all over again.

The rest of my time was spent training my psychic powers, my E-DNA powers, ordering up new fleets for expanding my influence, and examining my new technologies. For a time, it was peaceful.

Eventually, though, another big game changer happened. Or, rather, two game changers happened.

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I stared at two different screens, each showing the same thing: a picture of a giant gateway consisting of a glowing light in the center and four arms around it. One glowed gold, the other red.

In the peace following the aliens' arrival, industry had boomed. While the aliens had been a source of paranoia, they were also a new set of consumers, ones who had never been exposed to human goods. Every faction on planet had scrambled to start trading with the aliens, who had already begun to expand their territory. The colonies were also trading more with each other, which I could tell was supposed to help build up capital in the event a war broke out. With trade booming, industry began to thrive as well, and the increase in capital allowed the colonies to begin attempting projects that had been put on the backburner over lack of funds.

Among them were these gates. The gold one was the Emancipation Gate, meant to be used by the Cybernetic and Mechanical Forces of Supremacy to eventually conquer Earth and defeat the warlords who apparently ruled it. The red one was the Exodus Gate, meant to be used by those who wished to remain pure to Old Earth to bring pilgrims to this new world and make it more like home. With the arrival of the Progenitors, the two ideologies had decided their goals were not mutually exclusive and had worked together to assemble their gates. Additionally, the Purity aligned forces had managed to reestablish contact with Earth, and had passed on some detail related to it to the Supremacy forces. I assumed they were giving them a heads-up of who they would fight. Admittedly, it was mostly garbled up tidbits with the occasional piece of useful intel, at least according to my worms, but something was better than nothing.

Anyways, back to the gates: around the gold one, robotic and cybernetic warriors formed a perimeter, waiting for it to fully come online, and for the light to turn into the portal they would advance through. Purity aligned forces had circled around the red gate, waiting for the same thing. At both sites, hybrid affinity troops, XCOM, and followers of Harmony stood vigil, waiting to meet their cousins from Earth. Even the Progenitors had sent representatives, having never witnessed this technology.

The wait seemed to drag on forever as the gates slowly powered up. Finally, though, they reached full charge, and they activated, tearing great holes in the fabric of time and space, and making it possible to return to Earth once more.

"Common, Exodus One is Open."

"We repeat, the Gates of Conquest have opened."

Looks like it was time for me to go to Earth.

"Indeed it is," mused a feminine voice behind me.

I sighed. When would she finally get tired of this and leave? Couldn't she just be stunned silent like the kids were.

"Like I'd tell you that."

SHUT UP MELISSA!

"Mission Accomplished.....wait, were getting strange readings," remarked the guy monitoring the Exodus Gate (Exodus One).

Huh?

"Command, unidentified signals coming from the portal......Something's coming through."

What?

The guys were about to speak, only to go dead silent when beams of light began to shoot out of the portals, scorching the nearby ground. The gathered crowds stared on for a moment, stunned, before beginning a surprisingly organized retreat. They stopped, though, when the sounds of explosions began to come form the portals.

Not a moment later, a pair of crafts emerged from each portal. One was purple colored while another was pink in appearance, though both resembled classical UFOs, except that they looked organic. As for the other two, they looked like regular looking planes, of all things, albeit red and white.

............................................................................Oh. Didn't see that coming.

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AN: Read and Review! Please mark errors as well, because I have a bad track record with finding them. This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[White Lantern]

What are those? Something from Xcom maybe?

 

[Flameal15k]

They're the aliens from XCOM: Apocalypse, as well as the Earth Branch of XCOM.