Victory Through Unity! (Planetary Annihiliation Self Insert Multicross)

[Flameal15k]

Fifteen minutes earlier........

"Command, we've got two bandits coming out of the gates. Designs match those of the transport and escort class ships. Shrike Seven and Goshawk One moving to intercept."

"Well, hurry up and shoot them down! We've already got enough trouble cleaning up the mess from their last incursion, and Superdynamics is still angry about how much damage their factory took. Smoke these bandits before they cause anymore problems."

From her headquarters, Commander Amanda Walters sighed. This was the third incursion this week, and it was still Sunday! It seemed their incursions into the alien dimension had really kicked the hornet's nest, as they'd responded with forces unlike anything XCOM had seen before. Though, in hindsight, this wasn't at all surprising: among the structures they'd demolished was what appeared to be the Alien's food supply, as well as the incubation chamber for all of their eggs. It was likely desperation was beginning to set in. MARSEC and Megapol were starting to take a beating, which was not doing XCOM any favors. While the Council continued to fund XCOM and was indeed willing to increase said funding in no small part due to XCOM's successes in the Alien Dimension, things were starting to look bleak. Larger ships had already been deployed to the city, and the past two incursions had consisted of the aliens attempting to raze large parts of the city, likely just out of spite or in an effort to turn public opinion against XCOM. While the damage had been mitigated, it was likely only a precursor of what was to come.

There was a way out of this, though: according to the labs, they'd determined the next structure in the alien dimension that they needed to destroy was the Aliens' Command and Control Center. Analysis indicated that it would be staffed with Psimorphs, meaning that they'd need to be cautious or risk losing their men to the minds of the aliens. IF the mission was a success, though, organized resistance from the aliens would likely collapse. If it did, then XCOM would likely have an easy time destroying the Dimension Gate Generator, which would halt the invasion in its tracks. Of course, mused Walters, they'd need to blow up every other building in that dimension, so that the aliens would never come back to haunt them.

"Command, this is Goshawk One, we have a visual on the transport, moving to engage...um, Command, we have a problem."

That was odd. Rather worrisome, too.

"What is it, Goshawk One?" questioned Walters.

"We've got a.......red light in front of us. It's big, glowing, and looks like some kind of psychic rift."

"....What? We aren't getting any reading-"

"Commander, the engineering team just called , they're picking up two huge energy signatures in the city, unlike anything we've ever scene. One of them is located exactly where that light is."

Oh, you have got to be KIDDING ME!

"This is Shrike Seven, we've got eyes on another light, but this one is gold. Does it match up with the location of the other energy signature?"

"Examining your location now......Results are in: you are looking at the second energy signature."

"What do you want us to do, sir?" asked a nearby member of the support staff. "We need to deal with the UFOs, but these energy signatures need to be addressed as well."

"Before I decide on our next course of action, I need to know what those energy signatures are. Immanuel, your team determine what we are dealing with?"

"Were still analyzing it, but based on the readings we're getting, it's some kind of.....portal."

".........................A portal. Another portal. Are saying that we may be dealing with a second possible invasion?"

"No way of knowing for sure, commander, unless something comes out of it. I would suggest quarantining them for now. Squads four and six, load up into a Bio-Trans and get ready to move-"

"Um, Commander, we have a problem," interrupted Goshawk one.

"What is it?"

"The transport I'm following? It's headed straight for the portal."

"....Pursue it. I don't care where this leads, we cannot afford to let it escape. I will not allow the aliens a chance to subvert anything on the other side of the portal."

"Sir, this is Shrike Seven. The escort is heading toward the gold portal, permission to pursue."

"Permission granted. Be careful, both of you: once you've dealt with the ships, head back home. We don't know how long these portals will stay open. happy hunting."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I stared on with stunned silence as the mushroom ships engaged in a duel with the warplanes. Only the purple one seemed to be able to damage its attackers, but the pink one assisted by firing some kind of explosive that could freeze a ship in space. As neither ship had much real firepower on them, though, this only delayed their inevitable defeat. Soon, the burning husks were falling out of the sky while the planes began to circle overhead.

I noticed that the planes (which I knew were Retaliator fighters from XCOM: Apocalypse) were apparently broadcasting on public channels, so I didn't need to expend much to access their comms.

"You got any idea where we are?"

"Nope. I'm surprised we ended up on the same planet. Come on, we need to get back to MegaPrimus before the portals close."

"Attention unidentified aircraft, you have entered Chiron Airspace. Identify yourselves or face destruction."

"......Wait, was that human?"

"I think so. I guess were on a planet where a Seeding Mission arrived."

"Unidentified aircraft, please identify yourselves now or we will attack. This is your last warning."

"Do we answer them?"

"OF COURSE WE! They're going to shoot us up if we don't, and we can't make it back to the portals before that happens!"

"My designation is Goshawk One/Shrike Seven. I am a member of the organization XCOM."

"......You're with XCOM?"

"Yes......"

A moment of silence followed, then a new voice spoke up. One that I recognized.

"This is Captain Ricardo Torres of the Chiron division of XCOM. Welcome to Chiron."

"........What?" I noted that the pilot who said this was a man, was the pilot of Goshawk One, and that he spoke in an Australian accent (reminding me of the DCEU version of Captain Boomerang), but other than that, I couldn't determine any details on him. The helmet he wore didn't allow for me to examine his face through the cameras onboard his Retaliator, and I didn't have anything nearby that could scan his face through the ship, at least not without being assumed hostile.

"Sorry for the rude welcome. It's just that nobody expected anyone from Earth to come through the portals. At least, not yet."

"...I have a feeling this is gonna be a long story."

You and me both, Goshawk. You and me both.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Roughly half an hour later, we'd finally told her what had happened on Chiron up until now. All colonial leaders were here, as were Torres and his squad. The ships proved to be no problem to deal with, as all of their crew had died on impact. I'd sent in forces to pick them up while everyone else was too stunned to act, though no one seemed inclined to stop me - they just wanted to know what had happened on Earth.

"So," began the pilot of Shrike Seven, a woman by the name of Victoria Denver, "you all landed on this planet, started settling, met each other, found alien ruins, then a man in a robot bigger than anything we've ever faced before showed up, started building things, gave you advanced technology, fought a crime syndicate, and stopped an army of aggressive native bugs. Then a giant flower of sorts you built on this planet opened and hooked everyone up to the mind of the Planet. Then, you found out the aliens who built the ruins on this planet weren't all dead, and let them settle here. THEN, we showed up."

"That's the gist of things," remarked Torres.

"...........Can someone please get my a shot?"

"You will have time to drink off the surprise later. We've told you what happened here, now you tell us what's going on back on Earth."

"Very well. After the Seeding Missions were launched, everyone still left on Earth turned toward trying to repair the rest of the world, or at least make it more habitable. They started up a project to focus on creating Megacities with their remaining funds, with the plan being to concentrate Earth's population into those cities so that ecological damage could be repaired without having to worry about displacing too many people. Mega-Primus was the first of those cities to be completed, and has been running smoothly for a couple hundred years."

"Until now. See, another group of aliens decided that they want Earth for themselves, cause as terrible as Earth is, their homeworld is even worse. Apparently, they're from another dimension and until a few weeks ago, we couldn't even enter it. Now, though, were taking the fight to them, but the problem is, they're hitting back even harder. We can still win, but the city is probably going to be wrecked."

"Maybe not," countered Torries.

"What do you mean?" asked Goshawk One's pilot, whose name was Angus Fletcher.

"XCOM swore to defend mankind and Earth from alien invaders, and we have never forgotten that directive. Now htat we can access Earth again, I don't see nay reason why we can't go back to fulfil our original duty."

"Well, it would be nice to finally have some additional backup here," noted Fletcher.

"You'll have plenty," responded Reginaldo.

"How can you say that?"

"Earth is the cradle of mankind. It's where we all came from, and hopefully, it will always remain ours. I would rather die than let monsters from another dimension conquer it, and I'm sure everyone else on this planet would agree....well, everyone but the Progenitors."

All of the other colonial leaders nodded at this. They'd had a psychic chat while listening to Denver's abbreviation of what happened on Earth, and were already in agreement before Reginaldo spoke.

"Actually, you are wrong there," remarked Councilor Hyo. "I will not endanger my people in a human conflict, but I am willing to offer other forms of aid, so long as your kind do not drag my people into this war of yours."

Well, it looked like I was the only one in the room who hadn't offered a show of support.

"I will assist you as well," was my reply. "I do not want the people of Earth to suffer anymore than they already have."

"So it seems we are all in agreement?" asked Elodie.

"Perhaps, but I must ask one last question: are you sure peace is not an option with these beings?" asked Hyo.

"They've been mind controlling people into allying with them and ate another race of completely sapient aliens for food. I don't think they want peace."

"That is.....unsettling. I will see what I can do to assist you."

"I believe that this meeting is adjorned," remarked Hutama, with no one choosing to question him there."

With that, everyone split off to prepare their forces to head to Earth. It was time to enter the Third Alien War.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Oh? Commander in Action? I look forward to people's reaction to Commander Flame's military power.

 

[Flameal15k]

Thanks. It will be epic.
First, bough, he's going to need to reverse engineering an XCOM hybrid craft that can enter the Alien dimension without getting bombarded with antimatter.

 

[Flameal15k]

The beach was oddly quiet. No birds, no people, only the crashing of waves and the buzzing of insects to break the silence. On occasion a lizard would snatch up one of the bugs, or an aircraft would fly over head, or some drone would examine the beach, but other than that, the beach was empty and lifeless. This left it a golden strip of sand, its emptiness broken only by the jagged pieces of Aqua Plastics that dotted its shore.

This was Chicxulub, the home of the crater where the meteor that had ended the Age of the Dinosaurs had landed. At least, people had assumed it was a meteor, until a few centuries ago, when said meteor had come back out of the waves. There, it was laid bare for all to see: the meteor was really a mighty ship known as T'leth, home to an entire collective of aliens who wished to colonize Earth. FI that meant the annihilation of the natives, then so be it. A war had been fought, ending with the ship's destruction, but the aliens had had the last laugh, as the ship's destruction had ended up polluting the Earth, exacerbating the Holocene Mass Extinction that humans had started in their recklessness. The beach had been hit hard by this disaster, as it had been at Ground Zero when the ship blew up. The fish had died, as had many of the birds and most of the native mammals and amphibians. Only the bugs, the reptiles, the crustaceans, and a few lucky mammals had remained, though the birds had eventually returned, but never in the numbers they had before the ship has been destroyed.

The cataclysm that had followed the ship's destruction had prevented XCOM from harvesting the leftover Aqua Plastics, allowing huge components of he ship to dot the beach for centuries. Gradually, desperate vagrants and ambitious corporations had taken the remnants, hoping to make a fortune off of them. Eventually, XCOM had returned to clean up its mess, but a few pieces had remained intact, including, amazingly, an intact survey ship.

The ship had been among the last to escape T'leth before it had exploded, and while it had avoided the pyroclastic wall that followed the explosion, the blast wave had sent it crashing into the shore, where its surviving crew, unable to unearth it, had abandoned the ship and searched for rescue, eventually being picked up by a cruiser. Without anyone to unearth it, the ship had gradually become buried, until only its bow remained visible. Erosion had kept them from being covered. Still, for all intents and purposes, the ship was dead in the sand It's Zrbite reserves had almost completely decayed, though they could still give it an hour's flight from what remained.

In its inactive state, the survey ship had become a magnet for basking lizards, as it provided an easy place to warm up while still being able to see any incoming predators. Right now, a horde of iguanas, descendent from run away pets that had survived the Great Mistake, had taken up positions along the sub's exposed bow, sunning themselves in the morning light. Tow were dueling each other for the best spot, pushing and shoving each other, and occasionally grappling in a manner that resembled a hug. Nearby, a group of hermit crabs was feasting on some fallen fruit, enjoying the sweet taste of their meal.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The dueling lizards halted their struggle, while the hermit crabs retreated toward a nearby set of crags, where they would be safe from any predators that could pull them out of their shells. Soon, the basking reptiles began to head for the trees as the shaking caused the sand and earth covering their basking spot to fall away, exposing the ship to the elements. Eventually, the dueling lizards followed them, and not a moment too soon: the minute they got off of the sub, it shot into the air, engines ignited, before circling around and plunging beneath the waves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several miles out, at the bottom of the sea, the battered remains of T'leth had settled on the sea floor, undisturbed by the movement of the continents and the actions of sea life. Only recently had the area become livable again for marine animals, so the few creatures that inhabited the area consisted of some wandering fish and the odd crab - with no nearby hot spots, creatures that lived sea vents could not thrive here. XCOM patrols had occasionally entered the area to try and acquire any technology that might have been missed during the Second Alien War, but for the most part, the ship's wreck was lifeless.

But not anymore.

As the survey ship zoomed across the Ocean Floor, it had to navigate around several other subs, among them several heavy cruisers looking for ores and fish to collect. Smaller cruisers patrolled the area, guarding the ruins from invaders. As for the wreck itself, lights were now emanating from it, and green shapes could occasionally be seen emerging from it, traversing the ocean floor to acquire and move the shattered fragments of T'leth back to the ship's main body.

The sub zoomed past them, until at last it reached its destination: the heart of the wreck. There, it would be refueled and repaired, but after that, the future was uncertain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Beneath all of the wreckage, it wondered what had happened. How long had the ship been wrecked? How long had it been dreaming?

The ship had crashed on this world eons ago, but only a few centuries ago had it begun to awaken, only to be struck down by the new rulers of this world. These beings were the ones to inherit it after the Gill Men had died out, except for those who had made a pact with its servants. In only a few thousand years, they had gone from living in caves to landing on this world's moon.

Perhaps they could have been the strongest of its servants, outmatching even the mighty Tasoths, but that was not to be - they would never serve another being, and had made that point all too clear when it had tried to awaken several centuries ago. It vaguely remembered starting to wake, hearing screaming, feeling pain, then a sense of falling, then darkness came once more.

Now, a new force awakened it. It had sensed a strange power coming through to this world from another, one that was tangentially familiar. A world very different from this one, one that it could not easily access, but given time, it could go there.

It had sensed new beings coming to this world, to claim it as their own.

And it would not allow this. The natives, mankind, had managed to best its servants. Perhaps they could serve it as well, one day, but for now, they had earned their reprieve. Perhaps one day, they would pierce the barriers that would lead to its home world, and challenge its people to battle. Perhaps.

Until it thought otherwise, though, it would not allow mankind to fall under the command of another. They had earned their freedom.

There was also another reason it wanted mankind to survive: the relic.

It had found the relic before its vessel had crashed into this world. The relic had been adrift in space, floating between this world's star and the next closest star. The relic was covered in cables, wires, metal, and stone, but strangest of all was that it was, to some degree, organic, but more importantly, it was alive and had a soul. For eons, it had examined the relic, having plenty of time until its host vessel reached this world, but it never truly could find an understanding of it, nor had it received any kind of reaction from the relic.

Then, a month ago, that had changed. The relic had released a pulse, burning an image into the mind of the one examining it. It had not been able to make out a lot of details, but it could recognize some of them: the image was of a human, young, with curly black hair. It could also sense things about this being's soul, which surprised it, as few images could convey these. It felt that this being was on a journey, and would soon arrive here.

When the being came, maybe, finally, the Great Dreamer's question would be answered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had found the artifact many centuries ago. It had been floating close to the star Proxima Centauri. They had studied it over the centuries, but those studies had not gone anywhere, and had eventually been shelved in favor of finding a new home.

Then they had received the call: the humans of Earth had called out to their colonies, asking for help in facing a new threat. They had debated for a few days, before deciding to head toward Earth; they owed mankind too much to abandon them. It would take them a few days to reach Earth, but mankind had proved itself resourceful enough to endure Origin's invasion, so they could likely stand this one.

Then the relic had activated. When it did, it had burned an image in their heads, that of a han who commanded mighty Machines. After it had burned the image into their heads, it had dormant once more.

Though they were unsure what to make of the image, they had decided to advance onwards toward Earth, where hopefully, they would find answers to that question.

Besides, mankind deserved their help. They owed that race for freeing them from Mosaic.

XXXXXXXXXXX

AN: Things are going to get crazy on Earth pretty soon.

Dedicated XCOM fans will know who the second set of beings were.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Oh shat, them aliens gon be demanding answers from Commander Flame? Or perhaps once they saw Flame's warmachines in action they'll brand him as enemy? Either way things are starting to become fun.

 

[White Lantern]

Only played xcom enemy unknown and watched 2 so I'm a little lost to put it lightly.(still good though)

 

[Flameal15k]

Only played xcom enemy unknown and watched 2 so I'm a little lost to put it lightly.(still good though)

Click to shrink...

Spoiler

The Great Dreamer is the final boss of the second game in the Original XCOM series, Terror from the Deep. Originally, it was supposed to be dead at this point, until I learned that it is apparently unkillable.

The second race are the Zujari (Outsiders) from The Bureau: XCOM Declassifed.

 

[Flameal15k]

Once everyone decided to assist XCOM in defeating the Micronoids, they quickly began drafting up the best of their forces to send to Earth. This wasn't exactly easy, in part because some of the more powerful units that any of the affinities could bring to Earth would probably cause far more damage to Mega Primus than the alien did (well, unless they used a mothership or battleship, or dropped an overspawn on the city). Additionally, most of the hybrid units harmony used couldn't be sent to Earth, on account of the differences in atmosphere. While those powers had acknowledged this and bred strains that could survive on Earth, only a token amount of the unmodified creatures native to Chiron could join this battle.

Of course, that still left the natives with a ton of viable units to send back to Earth, among them battlesuits, CNDRs and packs of domesticated aliens. Already the forces of each faction had mustered up in preparation for the battle, with tanks lining up to enter the portal, infantry escorts close behind them.

As for me, well, everything that I was using could easily enter the portal, even my Commander, so I didn't really have any limits-what's this message I'm getting from.....XCOM!?

Confused and shocked, I opened it, revealing the contents to be the schematics of some kind of ship, along with a note:

"Seeing how you wanted our technology, we deemed it likely that you would desire that of our foes. To get it, though, you'll need a way to take the fight to them, so here's a nudge in the right direction."

What was he talking about-OH!

I re-examined the designs and smiled: they matched those of the dimension prove, the first craft XCOM could send to the Alien Dimension. Combined with the relatively intact alien ships I had in my possession, it would be relatively easy to engineer a vessel that could void death by antimatter when it entered the alien dimension.

I was getting ahead of myself, though. First, I needed to prep up my forces to head to Earth.

Turning my attention toward my facilities on planet, I ordered the production of new tanks, bots, artillery, and aircraft, as well as several dozen fabbers. I also ordered my existing fabbers to start building several teleported gates: once I arrived on Earth, I'd need to setup a beachhead. From their, I'd set up factories, power generators, and ab innovation I made out Spore tech: matter coree. These could synthesize matter out of energy, and since I could violate the law of conservation at will, well, I didn't really need to ever worry about running out of resources anymore.

With my forces being prepared, I turned my attention briefly back to my charges. The kids were starting to take their psi lessons, which were rather humorous to watch. Intwrnally, I was glad that XCOM would only teach them to control their powers, not use them offensively. That was a disaster waiting to happen.

"So, it looks like you'll finally be going to battle again, won't you, my pawn?"

Ugh, not now.

"I assume you'll stay to watch me battle the Micronoids? It will likely be awesome to behold."

"Well, since this is your first big battle since Xylem, yeah, I'm staying. Though, may I suggest one thing?"

"I'll allow it."

"You might want to see just what you can get from these aliens. There tech isn't like any that you've encountered before. I mean, most of it is alive."

"I know. I hope to acquire all of it."

Dimension traveling technology? Disruptor weapons? ANTIMATTER RESISTANT AIRCRAFT?! I wanted it all. With it, I'd grow in strength far faster than I was already, and could rapidly speed up my mission to find the rest of the artifacts in this universe. The weird ones, anyways.

Melissa merely responded by smirking at me. "Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens, so though it may sound odd, good luck."

".......thank you."

XXXXXXXXXX

It only took an hour for everyone to muster their forces and make their final preparations. My forces were intermixed among those of the natives, but a fair amount of them composed what would be the first wave of the forces sent to Earth. My units were expendable, people were not.

At long last, the order came to for the assembled armies to advance. My forces charged through the portal, ready for battle.

On the other side, though, things were relatively calm. Our guests had called in to their headquarters to inform them that friendly forces were coming through the gates, which was the only reason the forces circled around the portal did not fire on us. Once they were sure that we were friendly, they let us continue on.

Lining the streets were the citizens of Mega Primus. Many were staring on in stunned silence, never expecting this to happen. A few players takkng pictures. Idly, I noted the presence of a few androids and alien hybrids, likely preventatives of the Mitant Alliance and S.E.L.F.

We didn't have long to enjoy our arrival, though. Merely ten minutes after the first of my bots entered the portal, three dimension gates opened, spewing out roughly two dozens UFOs. Their designs matched what I remembered were the ones of the Destroyer, Bomber and Assault Ships, along with a couple of escorts.

Well, fine with me. Let the war begin.

XXXXXXXX

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

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Are you going to write war-scenes or a mixed of that and summarization?

 

[Flameal15k]

Mix of war scenes and summarization.

 

[january1may]

Random weird typos...

they matched those of the dimension prove

Click to shrink...

dimension probe?

vessel that could void death

Click to shrink...

avoid death

and ab innovation I made out Spore tech: matter coree

Click to shrink...

an innovation I made out of Spore tech: matter cores

A few players takkng pictures.

Click to shrink...

taking pictures

Intwrnally, I was glad

Click to shrink...

Internally

Other than that - interesting story so far!

 

[Tolerdi]

Good story.

One more typo

[...] Idly, I noted the presence of a few androids and alien hybrids, likely preventatives of the Mitant Alliance and S.E.L.F. [...]

Click to shrink...

There should probably be representatives, but I think autocorrect prefers preventatives

 

[Flameal15k]

My first wave of units immediately opened fire on the alien force, practically disintegrating an escort vessel, which wasn't really a loss for me. I mean, yeah, I lost the tech within the ship, as well as any chance of examining the crew, but I already had one back on Chiron to, in the words of Mark Watney, 'Science the shit out of'. Besides, the escort was a bigger threat than the bombers, destroyers and assault ships, as while they did more damage, they weren't likely to hit my fast units unless the escorts' stasis guns locked my troops in place.

The shock of my first attack quickly wore off, though, as the ships began to scatter and return fire, attempting to obliterate my forces with massed fire. I could on smirk at this as their attacks were stopped in mid air by my troops: since most of the weapons on the ships I was facing consisted of bombs or missiles, I simply blasted the projectiles out of the sky. I did have to dodge the disruptor beams, though; I couldn't defend against those yet.

I launched a second barrage of attacks on the aliens, downing another escort. I swiftly moved to mob it with my forces, eager to eliminate any resistance I encountered. A Megaspawn emerged from the wreck, ready to destroy my forces, only to be fried by a squadron of Icarus drones. I swiftly moved in a few fabbers to build restraints for it, while my commander began building a containment facility within my territory. Examining a living weapons platform might give me insight into making better tanks and bots.

Around this time, the second wave of forces from Chiron arrived. Tacjets of all sorts began to open fire on my enemies, managing to down a bomber on their own. A destroyer attempted to return fire, only to be reduced to what could best be described as barbecued mushrooms (since they were, essentially, mushrooms). The aliens that survived the crash soon found themselves being swarmed by robots, humans in battlesuits, and packs of very hungry wildlife from Chiron. The results were......messy.

It was around this time that XCOM's native aircraft finally made themselves known by levelling an Assault Ship. The ship exploded on impact with the ground, making it pretty obvious that there were no survivors from the crash. Still, I sent in a few bots to make sure that was the case.

Idly, I wondered just how well the battle was going. I mean, the aliens had lost more than a fourth of their assault force (which I noted was larger than any force you would face in a normal game of Apocalypse), but so far, I hadn't taken any losses, and according to the communications I was listening in on, neither were my allies. Civilian losses were something I couldn't keep track of, so I wasn't counting them for now.

So, this was what a curb-stomp really felt like.......

Eh, I'd get used to it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

On the other side of the city, Alexis peered through her binoculars to watch the unfolding battle. The new arrivals were laying waste to the aliens, utterly devastating the mushroom shaped ships with their machines. Occasionally, she could also make out regular soldiers fighting side by side with the machines, along with the occasional giant bug.

Life had been hard since the aliens came. It wasn't uncommon to find a section of road fine one day only to be filled with craters the next. Occasionally, a city block might find itself without power, or a food shortage would occur. Then there were the aliens. You never knew when they would come, but when they did, things got bad. She'd seen people end up on the wrong end of their weapons, and it was messy. She still had nightmares of seeing someone from Diablo be at ground zero when one of those fat, two legged aliens exploded.

Oh god, that was so...so......

As if that wasn't bad enough, this crazy cult had shown up, claiming the aliens to be our saviors and that resisting them was wrong. This, while people were being melted by acid, sometimes right in front of the cultists. Worse still, sometimes the cult took part in the aliens' attacks, helping them take over buildings and try to sway corporations to their side. She'd heard the rumors that Transtellar was working with the aliens, but she doubted that - at least, for now.

True, people had fought back against the aliens. Strange soldiers with Xs on their armors attacked the aliens, and they often won, as did Megapol, but to Alexis, this seemed to be a losing battle. Even if the strange new soldiers were attacking the aliens on their home field, something she'd heard her classmates talk about, time seemed to be running out, and it was only a matter of time before the aliens won.

Now, though? Not so much. Whoever had come from those portals clearly had no love for these aliens and was quite keen on fighting them. Out of the two dozen ships in the sky, she'd already seen half of them destroyed or disabled.

Whoever the new arrivals were, Alexis would have to thank them. Maybe, just maybe, mankind could now win this war.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tobias ducked into an alley as a stream of disruptor fire whizzed past him, barely a meter from his face. It was followed by whooshing sound, followed by a gurgle and thump as something hit the ground. Daring to put himself in danger to see what had happened, he found himself staring at the freshly made corpse of a skeletal creature. He stared for a moment, before quickly returning to the sheltered alley; now was not the time to be taking risks. Let the soldiers and aliens fight it out, and move only when they had moved on.

Tobias was not a stranger to hardship - his father had been injured during a protest against the A.R.C. that had gone violent (despite the best efforts of the A.R.C. manager there, who apparently did care about his workers, unlike most business executives these days) and been stuck in the hospital for a few weeks. Shortly after that, his mom was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo surgery. Combined with his dad still recovering from having his spine cracked during the protest, and Tobias had been forced to take up the role of breadwinner for his family. His grades had taken a hit, but assuming he kept them where they were right now, he could still graduate high school with A's and B's.

Then the aliens had shown up.

Life had gotten steadily worse after the appeared. The hospital his mother was in had been invaded by the aliens, and while the had been dealt with, it had meant that her treatments had been delayed.
He still held on to the belief that she could recover (which, granted, was fairly likely), but it wasn't exactly easy to hold onto that optimism. Gang wars had become all to common, criminals exploiting the chaos to expand their territory and make power plays, and while the police were able to fight back (especially since some third party had decided to oppose the aliens), it was an uphill battle. The cult attacks hadn't helped either.

Tobias had seen people killed by the aliens, including a few acquaintances. Yet while he wanted to make them pay, the rational part of his mind always discouraged him from trying to fight them: he wasn't likely to win, and if he died, no one would be around to care for his sisters and parents. He did not want the gangs to take advantage of his sisters, especially considering how both of them were less than ten years old. It was for this reason that he never usually went near UFOs and avoided the aliens when possible. If he stumbled across their tools by accident, though, he wasn't above stealing them; the strange soldiers paid well for some of them.

Only when he heard the sounds of footsteps passing by did Tobias dare to peer out again. He saw soldiers charging onwards, clearly looking for more aliens to fight. Sensing that it was safe to move, Tobias broke from his cover.

He barely had time to walk before a long, sinuous form slammed into him. Quickly recovering, Tobias turned to face his assailant and want pail: it was a giant worm with sharp teeth. He'd heard people call them multiworms, because if you killed them, smaller worms would emerge from their corpses. Panicking, Tobias looked for a way to escape, but found one. Desperation beginning to overtake him, he pulled out a pocketknife he kept in case of emergencies, though he knew it was a futile gesture. Incensed, the worm charged.

A huge shape barreled into the worm, batting it aside and sparing Tobias from becoming its next victim. Slightly shocked, it took him a moment to notice his savior, which appeared to be some kind of robot. It had a huge body, with arms ending in drills as opposed to hands. It seemed to roar at the multiworm, daring the beast to attack it.

The worm obliged, only to be batted aside, then head-butt by the machine, knocking it out cold. Then, the machine turned its attention toward Tobias, who froze up. Slowly, the machine approached him, the teen too scared to retreat. When it was practically right next to him, it stopped and looked at his head. Dimly, Toby, as his friends called him, realized he a cut on his head.

Suddenly, a sewer lid burst into the air as another multiworm emerged from beneath the road and latched onto the machine, which flailed around for a moment, trying to remove its assailant. All for naught: the robot lacked hands, preventing it grabbing the worm.

Yet the robot was not out of tricks: when it realized it could not grip its foe, it charged forward and curled into a ball, timing it so that its 'head', and the multiworm biting it, hit the ground first. The multiworm was forced to let go as its jaw was crushed, leaving it stuck on the ground, bleeding profusely. Before it could move, another brought appeared, this one wielding a sword that seemed to be on fire. In a moment, it had plunged the blade into the worm, setting it alight.

So transfixed was he on the sight of the burning worm that Toby didn't notice the giant robot approaching him until it was right next to him. Surprised, he turned toward the bot, fighting not to fall. He was surprised to see it holding out its left arm, pointing to the East.

Then, it spoke.

"Go. There is a field hospital that way. Report there to get your wounds treated." All of that was said in a deep, sonorous, metallic voice.

Nodding, Tobias headed East. It was probably a good idea to listen to the robot that had saved his life.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Levine-01 watched the boy run toward the filed hospital, before turning its attention to back to the battle.

It knew that almost all of the alien vessels had been disabled, and the battle against them was going well. That left two priorities: mop up alien survivors, or rescue human ones.

It had been unsure, at first, which to choose. Defeating the enemy was a goal of greater tactical importance, but saving an innocents caught in the crossfire was of greater strategic importance. Hearts and minds were not so easily won as battles were, and only through public acts of good will could they be secured, but all the same, rescuing innocents was a moot point if they would be throw into the fray again.

Now, though, its mind was settled: rescuing civilians came first. Many had been injured in the fighting, though no fatalities had been reported, which was good. Some might even say that the news made the robot happy.

It wouldn't be able to explain why it felt happy, for the concept was alien to it, but, all the same, 01 felt some happiness in saving one citizen. Now it was going to see what it felt like when it saved more than one.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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

 

[ptbptb]

Spoiler: typoes

She still had nightmares of seeing someone fromfor Diablo be at ground zero

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it took him a moment to notice his savior, which appeared to be some kind robot.

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It was a kind robot, but I think you meant 'kind of robot'.

Grrr, I hate the 'too short' warning message when typing in spoilers.

 

[Flameal15k]

Spoiler: typoes

It was a kind robot, but I think you meant 'kind of robot'.

Grrr, I hate the 'too short' warning message when typing in spoilers.

Click to shrink...

Fixed.

And I know the feeling. The too short warning when spoilers are involved is ridiculous.

So, what did you guys like about this chapter?

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Honestly speaking? Too short. I personally would've like to see more 'reactions' especially from your allies' chain of command.

 

[Flameal15k]

Honestly speaking? Too short. I personally would've like to see more 'reactions' especially from your allies' chain of command.

Click to shrink...

That's for the next chapter. I decided to cut the battle scene in half: one chapter from the perspective of Flame, two random bystanders, and one of Flame's robots, while the other is focused on everyone else.

 

[Flameal15k]

The battle against the aliens was pretty lopsided in my favor: the aliens were caught so heavily off guard that the motley Alliance of XCOM, the colonies on Chiron, and my forces were able to down all of their ships without taking a single loss in return. Exactly half of the ship's we fought were outright destroyed in the fighting, leaving nothing to salvage, but the ones that did crash provided me with plenty of artifacts to research.

Well, after all the crew were dealt with, anyway.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Gamma One opened fire, downing an anthropod under a hail of plasma fire. Nearby, Two blew a hole through a psimorph with his sniper rifle, sending the beast hurtling toward the ground. Several multiworms found themselves being shredded to pieces by Three's shotgun, while an unlucky spitter found itself with a new hole in its chest due to a well aimed shot from Four's rifle.

All around them, aliens were dying in droves. Surprise was one cause, but a big part of it was the help they had this time around. No longer did they need to worry about allies who couldn't defend themselves; XCOM's newest allies could easily hold their own in a fight.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake, leading One to order his squad to seek shelter. A moment later, a building crumbled, revealing the monstrous form of a megaspawn, weapons primed and ready for combat. It opened fire, but its aim was off and the shot missed, hitting a (thankfully empty) taxi instead.

The megaspawn roared and tried to line up a second shot, only to take a huge green orb to its face, partially melting said face and killing the giant. Turning around, One noticed the sight of a manticore being directed by a handler, instructing it where to strike and when. Few of Chiron's native organisms could survive on Earth, but those that could were proving to be excellent allies in this battle.

How long that would be true, though, remained to be seen.

XXXXXXXXXX

A brain sucker flew through the air, only to be batted aside by the barrel of a rifle. A swift shot from the gun finished it off, while a second one killed the antropod who had fired the brainsucker launcher.

Behind his golden helm, Henrique Blackfire smiled. One Alien down, another couple dozen to go.

Hailing from Portuguese settlers who had been among those selected to be part of the Franco-Iberian Seeding Mission, Blackfire had long heard of the stories of Old Earth. The tales were varied in both tone and subject, but all of them had shared similar ideas: Old Earth had once been beautiful, but man's greed, wrath and shortsightedness had ultimately ruined the glorious cradle of mankind, forcing them into Exodus, unlikely to ever return.

Well, now he had done the impossible, and had returned to the birth world of mankind. The joy he had felt, though, had been marred by his rage at the sight of the aliens attacking it. Why did they seek to rule this world? This was the seat of mankind, and it would never fall under the power of an alien ruler.

Four more shots came out of his golden rifle, felling the hyperworms that had emerged from the fresh carcass of a multiworm. Foul creatures these were, defiling the cradle of mankind by their very existence. Well, Henrique refused to let this happen, and if that meant killing every last one of these aliens, so be it.

A skeletoid surprised him when it charged out of an alley, knocking his weapon away and trying to claw him to death, only to receive a kick in return. Following up on this, Blackfire punched the Alien in the fast a few times, then lifted it up and slammed it back down, pulverizing its back.

Idly, Henrique noted how distrustful this would have looked, even to his allies. Few in Franco-Iberia believed in tampering with the human genome, but Blackfire believed it was necessary to do so if mankind wished to unlock its full potential. Sometimes, the Old did need to make way for the new.

With no foes on sight, Henrique reloaded his rifle and listened in on his comms. Wherever he was needed, he would go.

XXXXXXXXX

Well, this hadn't gone as planned.

The mission had been clear: damage as much of the city as possible, capture any sectoids in the slums to replace the lost crop, and, if possible, infiltrate Transtellar and convince them to ally with our forces. That was the plan the Micronoids had agreed on, just prior to the attack. The resulting damage would likely lower the funding of their foes, making it easier to destroy them.

Now, though, things were looking bad. Well, they would've if the micronoid had eyes. As is, it could tell that things were taking a turn for the worst. The bomber it commanded had been disabled by an unknown party, who had arrived through two giant portals that had emerged in the city. Now, the unknown party, joined by at least six other groups, had assisted XCOM in fending off the attack, much to the ire of the Micronoids. This mission had proven to be a disaster: they had lost so many forces, yet they had not inflicted a single casualty, not even to the populace of the city.

No matter. The rest of the Micronoids knew that this mission was a failure, and were already drawing up plans for a new assault. Having seen the battle through the cameras onboard the ship's, they would have had a chance to see the strengths and weaknesses of the new comers, allowing them to formulate a new pan of attack that would be more effective. And once the XCOM Project was destroyed, they could claim this world as their own.

Satisfaction filling the individuals who comprised it, the Micronoid puddle slunk away from the remains of its ship toward some nearby rubble. Hopefully, it could wait out the fighting and last until the next ship arrived in the city, after which point hitching a new ride would not be difficult.

That wasn't going to happen today.

The Micronoids were forced to stop when they encountered a pair of metallic feet. They had just enough time to realize that something was wrong before they felt a nasty shock and found themselves falling toward the calm oblivion of sleep.

XXXXXXXX

Carefully, I had my CNDR load up the Micronoids into a glass container, which would be transferred to a lab for study. Perhaps I could learn some things that may help me yet when facing the aliens.

Oh, and apparently, there were no human casualties during this fight. Score one for mankind

XXXXXXXXX

AN: @MasterG: hope you liked this chapter.

Everyone else, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[january1may]

slunk away from the remains of its sho

Click to shrink...

of its ship?

into a glad coanfiner

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container (and "glad" probably isn't right either)

Nice chapter, by the way! Though I'm a bit hazy on the plot by now

 

[Vianca]

of its ship?
container (and "glad" probably isn't right either)

Nice chapter, by the way! Though I'm a bit hazy on the plot by now

Click to shrink...

Smoot?

It's not the only one, a bit before he typed something different then face.
Also what the hell is uet?

 

[january1may]

Also what the hell is uet?

Click to shrink...

Well, it appears twice, so it might have been deliberate...

 

[ptbptb]

The resulting damage would likely lose the finding of their foes, making it easier to destroy them.

Click to shrink...

lose the finding? I think something went wrong in that sentence.

 

[Flameal15k]

All fixed. I was up late last night and went to bed right after the chapter was up.

 

[Flameal15k]

With Mega Primus back to normal (for the moment), I got to work analyzing the Alien ships I'd acquired. While XCOM had provided me everything I'd need to create a ship that could enter the Alien Dimension, they had offered nothing of note on the weaponry the ships used. Presumably they wanted to mantain some advantage over me, which I could respect. Of course, that wasn't going to stop me from examining the wrecks I'd recovered to acquire their weaponry.

The primary weapon the aliens used were derivatives of disruptor technology - essentially, they disintegrated their targets on contact, leaving no trace that it had ever existed. Granted, you needed a large disruptor to completely destroy a human body, but a small one could still kill a person easily. The ones mounted on ships, though, could easily level buildings. I kept that in mind as I pocketed away the data for later.

Next up was the dimension missile launcher. This thing could demolish practically anything, if used well. It involved firing missiles containing tiny amount of antimatter at the target and letting the obliteration of matter and antimatter do the rest. This meant that the rocket actually contained a tiny payload, with most of its internal structure being safeguards to avoid premature detonations. Once again, I filed away the data for later.

Finally, there was the Aliens' defensive tech. The personal shields, the telporters, the cloaking, all techs I had, but not to the level of refinement these ones did. I could already see numerous ways to integrate them into my arsenal, though for now, I was going to see if I could recreate XCOM's disruptor armor. It looked cool, and was still practical, according to the communications I'd heard during the battle, so I was definetly going to make a set for myself.

XXXXXXX

While I experimented with my new acquisitions, my fabbers began setting up teleported gates outside the city, allowing me to bring in a huge influx of reinforcements. From there, I began setting up show up Earth, taking care to clear things with XCOM and the seeding sponsors first.

Apparently, while the ARC was the premier mega-corporation on Earth, others (like Transtellar) weren't far behind. A little bit of digging around showed that several of these companies had been involved in corporate warfare, along with several incidents of abusing human rights. Ironically, the A.R.C. was one of the least corrupt ones around, always managing to stay within the bounds of the law even as they tried to maximize their profits. Ironic, but rather heartening.

Also, Transtellar hadn't been infiltrated by aliens. That was unexpected, given that they sided with aliens rather quickly in most games, but it was appreciated. At least that meant XCOM didn't have to worry about transporting its stuff.

Now, back to work. I had my fabbers worm on constructing homes and other basic amenities who lived outside Mega-Primus. These people were living through Gaia's lament, which sucked, so I decided they deserved better. I set up stations to distribute excess food grown on in my hub universe, taking care to make sure they were safe for human consumption. The people who received my gernpsitu made my chest swell with pride, which was reward enough for this course of action.

Back on Chiron, my alien containment area was up and running. Within it dwelt all of the aliens I'd captured so far: 10 antropods, a trio of spitters, a popper, two skeletoids, a few psimorphs, a megaspawn, and a few micronoid puddles. For now, they would have to remain here, but eventually, I was planning to let them have a world of the own in my hub universe. With their own home dying, they're invasion was understandable, even if it did not justify all of the deaths they had caused. Of course, first I would need to remove the Micronoids in their bloodstream. A quick trade with XCOM, my FTL secrets for toxigun samples, was enough to solve this problem, as soon I would have a way to kill the Micronoids in the aliens blood.

With my immediate goals complete, I sent a few fabbers to assist in cleaning up Mwga-Peimus, whilst also hacking the Cult of Sirius' bank accounts and diverted it toward charities, keeping a small fraction of the payment for myself. I'd like to be able to buy some things for myself, so why not take it from he clearly insane cultists? They weren't going to use it. Not altogether, at least.

With all of that now finished, I began modifying my units for battle, creating new variations of all of the units I had so far that would be able to withstand travel to the Alien Dimension.

The Aliens had chosen to invade Earth, but now we were the invaders, and we would make them pay.

XXXXXXXXXX

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

 

[Flameal15k]

Exactly four hours down to the second after the first forces from Chiron arrived on Megaprimus, the counter attack on the Alien Dimension began.

The invasion itself was truly something to behold.

XXXXXXXXX

XCOM craft were the first ones to breach the Alien Dimension, followed by my aircraft (now modified to survive entering the dimension gates) and then by the craft of the colonies of Chiron. Almost immediately, we came under fire: mostly from alien ships like in the game, but also, to my surprise, from gun emplacements in the surface of the Alien Dimension. All of these tried to shoot our forces down. All of them tried in vain and were soon put out of their misery.

Once all opposition was eliminated, my forces split off into separate groups, all dedicated to different goals: My interceptors assisted XCOM's forces in mopping up the sky, my transports moved to find a suitable landing site for their cargo, while several fabbers I'd made vegan setting up teleported gates to allow more reinforcements to come through. If possible, I was drowning out these aliens with numbers. The gates were all I built in the Alien Dimension, though; this place would be leveled when the Dimension Gate Generator went up in smoke.

Speaking of which, the invading forces had finally reached their destination: the control chamber. XCOM had already destroyed half of the Alien City before I'd arrived, meaning that the Control Chamber was their next target. Destroying it would decapitate the aliens' commander structure, since apparently it was filled with giant brains the Micronoids used for generating strategies.

Not for much longer.

XXXXXXXXX

The great minds could feel the enemy coming closer. The minds knew that they were their enemy's target. Well, this could not happen. They would not fall. The Micronoids' plan, and with it their survival, would be assured.

All around them, alien forces moved to prepare for the coming battle. Positions were taken, mines laid, and traps set. XCOM and it's allies would fail, and before they could return, the brains' armies would conquer the humans beloved city and claim Earth as their new home.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Assault in the Control Chamber began with a Boom running into a wall and killing tencpippers. From here, more bots moved in, followed by XCOM personnel and colonial soldiers, all trying to find the alien brains. Once they were dead, the building would be destroyed, as the brains were connected to vital points in this living structure, and killing them would kill it.

Killing the brains wasn't a problem. Reaching them, on the other hand, was, or rather, would have been: hordes of aliens guarded them, equipped with the mightiest weapons that they could carry, ready to kill us. Fortunately, I had superior number and superior firepower, and the aliens were soon messy giblets all over the walls.

As for the brains, well, I had more interesting plans for them.

XXXXXXXXXX

The brain recoils as it felt its compatriots fall, shot, burned, stabbed, or severed from their cords. Those that were severed, it knew would suffer the most: having no way to secure new nutrients or air, they would soon suffocate on the floor, helpless, unless they were put out of their misery. It wished all of its companions quick deaths as it felt them fade away.

One by one, the brains faded away, until only one remained. Resigned, the Alien mind opened up the eyes connected to its head and stared forward, ready to face its killer, even if it was still scared. When said killer finally arrived, it took the form of a robot wielding a sword. It came as no surprise to the mind that its death would be the severing of its support chord, condemning it to death by suffocation.

What did surprise the brain was that it soon found itself stuffed into a large glass container, filed with fluid that provided it both air and sustenance. It attempted to examinine its new prison further, only for its thoughts to be disrupted by a distant explosions, followed by a second, then a third.

Worriedly, the brain realized the building was collapsing. Now, it wondered whether it would escape before the building gave way.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The last of the transports pulled out as the Control Chamber finally gave way, rendering the Aliens' Command and Control permanently out of commission.

While XCOM moved to recuperate it's loses, I moved the five brains I'd liberated back to Chiron for future study. Preliminary examination revealed that, like all other aliens in the Alien Dimension, they were enslaved to Micronoids, utterly unable to act on their own.

Well, I guess I'd have to fix that.

XXXXXXXXX

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