Victory Through Unity! (Planetary Annihiliation Self Insert Multicross)

[Flameal15k]

While XCOM was busy given its personnel medical care, I checked to see how my alien brains were doing. Still fine, but admittedly a little confused. Data I'd hacked from the Control Chamber's organic computers revealed that most of the brains were actually growths from the building, but some were imported from older versions of this structure. Apparently, the aliens used to have a bigger city, before this dimension went to hell, which was the result of a nearby supernova obliterating the equivalent of the ozone layer. It'd also rendered the atmosphere more toxic than it already was: in its pristine state, this dimension would be inhabitable by humans (though not optimally), but now it was a wasteland that only the aliens could inhabit. Additional data I'd acquired suggested that, prior to adapting to the new toxic atmosphere, the aliens would have been able to survive on Earth for an indefinite amount of time, though it wouldn't be optimal for them. Apparently, the Micronoids even had old gene samples from before the Supernova had hit. I'd stolen enough samples for mass production while we had attacked the Control Chamber, then sent them to a biochemistry lab I'd created in my hub universe. Once I had enough of the original genes, I'd distribute them into aliens I now had as captives. It wouldn't be that hard, given that I now had access to MELD. XCOM had been surprisingly willing to trade that in exchange for E-DNA.

I'd also sent forces to round up the various animals that called this miserable excuse for a world their home. Most were rather weird, and some pretty ugly, but that didn't mean they weren't worth saving. I also made a point of a collecting all of the plants, fungi, and microbes I could find and moving those onto my Spore ship. If I was going to recreate the aliens' home, I wanted it to be a close to the original as possible, minus the post apocalyptic parts. As for why I was even helping the aliens in the first place, there were two reasons: one, I felt bad for them, and two, while I could live with the inevitably several million digit kill count I was likely to amount on my journey as a commander, I refused to allow myself to perpetrate genocide of an entire species. The Grox were the one exception to that (granted, they refused to stay dead and were all irredeemably evil, but still) and I refused to ever go down that path again.

Interestingly, using my LIDAR confirmed that there were several large, organic entities some distance beneath my teleporter gates that seemed to be alive, but what they could be had me stumped. Hibernating Creatures? Giant bugs? Special Organic Mines designed to destroy the alien dimension as a final screw you to anyone who wanted to invade this world? Well, if they were living beings, I didn't want them to die when the dimension gate generator exploded, so I started using some Levines to tunnel toward them. With luck, I'd reach them In an hour.

What's this alert I'm receiving? XCOM is getting ready to attack the Spawning Chamber?

Well, time to catch a Queenspawn.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The collective was restless. Their plans had been going moderately well, even with the damage to their home dimension. True, they had lost their food supply, their ability to maintain the rest of their city had been crippled, and the loss of the Incubation Chamber had been a crushing blow, but victory still seemed to be possible.

Then the new ones had appeared. Comprised of boxy machines and human warriors unlike any they had ever seen, these new ones had utterly blunted their most recent strike against XCOM, leaving their forces reeling. Worse still, the humans had responded faster than expected and taken out the control chamber, leaving their forces lost and confused, and grinding production of new ships to a standstill. The worst part of all? The humans had not taken any losses in the battle, and had consequently needed less time to recover than expected. Now they had returned to attack the Spawning Chamber.

Losing the queenspawn would be....problematic, at best. True, they could easily induce a chrysalis into morphing into a new queen, but that would take time. More time then they had.

Alternatively, they could use the pods. Those would allow them to grow their new warriors much faster, though the pods were, admittedly fragile. Additionally, the pods made excellent targets and weren't easy to hide, given how shiny they were.

The was one other option available to the collective. This one would not take any time at all to implement, and would solve the issue of losing the queenspawn.....but it would mean running the risk of waking them up. They would certainly be disruptive to the collective's plans.

........Perhaps a mix of solutions? While creating a backup queenspawn from a chrysalis would take far too long to be viable, owing to the need to heavily glut a hyperworm, the other two plans showed promise.

Hopefully, they wouldn't be a problem......

XXXXXXXXX

Theminute our forces breached the Spawning Chamber, the curb stomp began in earnest. Aliens guarding the chamber were killed with surgical precision, unable to stand the onslaught of our forces. Shielded aliens found their defenses useless against toxiguns and their toxins, a secret XCOM had only just shared with me, and in return I'd offered them additional knowledge on E-DNA. A fair trade in my opinion, and one that was proving to be worth its cost.

While we demolished the enemy forces opposing us, I made sure to capture each and every alien egg I could, with each one being moved to a transport as soon as possible. Idly, I noted that at this point, I needed to start building a larger containment facility to store them, which took a matter of seconds with my army of fabbers. Progenitor technology OP, don't nerf.

Eventually, we finally came to our target: the Queenspawn. This tentacled beast was the mother of all of the aliens, at least as far as I knew. If we killed the queen, the aliens would unable to recuperate any losses they suffered.

We had already agreed, though, on a different course of action: capture the queen alive. This way, we would be able to study it further to complete our knowledge of the aliens. Also, it meant I could breed more of the aliens and not condemn them to die off once their eggs all hatched.

Dealing with the queen wasn't actually that difficult: a few stun grenades and it was out for the count. Carrying it proved to be no problem, as I XCOM was easily able to move it to their vessel-why is the building shaking?

Curious, I watched as several strange orifices appeared in the sides of the building's wall, which promptly opened, realesing strange yellow creatures from them, ones with very long tents-oh.

............Oh come on! More queens!? Where did the aliens have more queens lying around? This is ridiculous!

Actually, after a moment of thought, I realized that the extra queens were a boon in disguise: I could capture them, remove any Micronoids from their blood, and use them to breed more aliens. That could work.

Oh, and a giant army of aliens is headed toward us. Well, this was never going to be easy.

.......wait, why am I getting LIDAR reports?

......the organic bodies are moving? TOWARD THE SPAWNING CHAMBER?

Before I could act on this new intel, hogan, insectile monster burst into the chamber and began slaughtering the aliens. Our motley alliance stared on at the violence for a moment, before popping down stun grenades as soon as the last hostile died. I loaded all of the new aliens into my ships before take off, and was met with the sight of the crippled spawning chamber going up in flames and smoke.

Two down, three to go. First though, I needed to find out more about my unknown saviors.

XXXXXXXX

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

 

[Flameal15k]

Once the spawning chamber went belly up and exploded, XCOM's vessels, along with those of the colonies, returned to Earth for repairs and to treat the minor injuries the operatives had suffered fighting the aliens. Idly, I noted that the doctor handling most of the treatments was an android, yet XCOM's personnel had no problem with him not being human. This, combined with how XCOM treated human alien hybrids and the aliens that had surrendered following the alien wars, made me smile: it looked like XCOM was able to see beyond those conflicts and seek peace with its enemies, unlike what some fanfics would have you believe.

While that was going on, I moved my new captures over to my alien containment facility on Chiron, with eventual plans to transfer them to my hubworld. First, though, I wanted to find out just what my new captures were. Specifically, what were the big bug aliens I'd rescued, and why had they attacked the aliens? I mean, they'd shown up with literally no warning and had begun attacking the aliens when the queens had been revealed....hmm........

Their actions did suggest one course of action, but I was unsure how to prove it-oh wait, one of them had woken up, as had one of the Queenspawn. Good, that saved me time and allowed me to test out my hypothesis.

I quickly transferred the aliens into a room spate from all of their compatriots and place the two creatuers on opposite sides of that room. From there, I just sat back and watched what happened.

The minute the insect alien noticed the Queespwan, it began making exaggerated movements - pushups, bellows, jump, even flips. The Queenspawn stared on for a moment, before, with some difficulty, using its tentacles to turn itself around so that it wasn't looking at the other alien in the room. Undeterred, the strnage beast continued its odd display, this time adding in the ability to change colors and different calls. The Queenspawn seemed to ponder this for a moment, before, again with difficulty, using its tentacles to turn itself around and seemed to nod at the new creature, which approached her and......yeah, my hypothesis was correct, and I'm glad Rory wasn't watching this.

Also, I could now give the new alien a designation: the Kingspawn.

"How unoriginal."

WAAH! What the hell??.....Oh.

"Did you have to surprise me....wait, you're a ROB, the answer to that question is rather obvious."

"Indeed it was, my pawn."

"Where were you when we fought all of those aliens?"

"Eating popcorn. The battle was most impressive, though too much of a curb-stomp for my liking. Of course, you're a commander, so that was expected."

"If you wanted me to be routinely challenged, you should not have made me a commander."

To my infinite surprise, Melissa actually smiled at that comment. 'Touché, my pawn, touché."

".......Anything else you have to say?"

"No, I'll leave you to your experiments." Indeed, she did just that, slinking away to the pantry in my meteor shower observation site. I briefly examined the amount of food eaten (which was very high), then sent in an order for more from my hub world. At this rate, Melissa would eat all of it before the dimension gate generator was destroyed.

XXXXXXXX

Back on Earth, XCOM was busy examining the Queen. While normally I would be wrecking the alien dimension, for now, I was content to wait for them to finish their analysis of the queenspawn, as that was how they created the alien gas weapon, which would be useful for the coming battles. While I had no intention of using them on sentient beings (I'd rather not commit a war crime, thank you very much), anything less intelligent and innately hostile would not be spared this fate. Plus it gave me the opportunity to work on some other topics I wanted addressed.

Namely, dealing with my psychic patients. Most of them were now up and about, and had been spending enough time exercising to be able to walk unassisted. Since I hadn't really thought of any way to convince them to stay with me as Melissa had suggested, I reluctantly decided to let them go back to their colonies. Besides, they deserved to be back with their friends and families, who ahd all been worried sick about their missing relatives/companions. For convenience, I built a small dimensional gate (which, given where the aliens were coming from, I'd likely need to rename a multiversal gate) by the medical rooms where they were staying and linked it up to a sort of airport on Chiron. Directions had been provided to which aircraft would take them to their home colonies, and I'd included escort robots to help them find their ways back home, since some had been missing for well over a year.

A few of the psychics remained, though: they had medical issues that needed much longer treatment than their fellows, which meant at least one more week for them on my hub world. Why EXALT never thought to treat those issues was rather surprising: they'd sent orders, but due to bureaucratic inertia, no one had read them. Unbelievable.

Turning my attention back to Earth, I sent a few subs down to where the remains of the temple ship resided. Somehow, fragments of the ship had survived the assault by XCOM, and were now collecting dust on the ocean floor. It'd take a few hours to reach that depth, but I could wait. Occasionally, I picked up something on the sonar, but those usually disappeared rather quickly. I assumed they were either whales or sharks attracted by the mysterious objects descending through the depths. Though they did seem to come back after a while......

Eh, probably nothing. It's not like T'leth was still active, right?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I, unfortunately, did not to see those ruins, because just an hour before my subs would have reached the ocean floor, something big happened in the alien dimension. Oddly, it happened just about an hour after XCOM finished researching Alien Gas and started making rockets and grenades full of the stuff, which I managed to procure in exchange for grenadier grenades.

For a moment, everything in the Alien Dimension was calm. Then I detected movement from one of the buildings, our next target. I quickly remembered that this was the Organic Factory that the aliens built their UFOs in. Guess they were getting ready for another attack.

At first, only a few scouts came out. Then some bombers, then escorts. A tough fleet, but I could take them, though I was still giving XCOM some warning.

Then two nine story high red ships emerged from the Organic Factory. Oh joy, battleships. Well, they weren't two bad. XCOM had to have defeated at least one, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to field annihilator aircraft (several of which had taken part in the aerial battle that had followed my arrival to Earth). True, they would likely pose a true challenge to me, but they weren't anything that I couldn't manage.

Then one last ship emerged from the factory, this one a mix of red and yellow. It was shorter in height than the battleships, capping out at seven stories.

It was also much, much, MUCH wider.

..........Crap. They were sending in a mothership, with at least twenty ships escorting it.

That could be a problem.

XXXXXXXXX

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

 

[Flameal15k]

Heads up: new chapter is delayed until tomorrow , because I need some extra sleep.

 

[Flameal15k]

Sorry about the wait, let's get rolling!

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The mothership was not something that went down easily. The ship is functionally a mobile base, and is exactly as tough as that would imply.

Case in point, it was chewing up my ships. Now, normally, my units would be inflicting death and mayhem on the ship, since its attacks traveled at laughably slow speed that I could easily outmaneuver. The problem was that this ship was being backed up by two battleships and several escort ships, and the escorts had stasis bomb launchers. Unlike the last few times I'd fougth escorts, they now had something to capitalize on the moment of weakness their weapons created, which resulted in me taking several casualties. As in, my initial forces got utterly slaughtered and I had to start pulling in huge amounts of reinforcements. As for my allies, since I'd given them some forewarning about the attack, they were busy fortifying MegaPrimus. I hoped that they wouldn't have to deal with that ship or its escort fleet.

A hope that quickly proved to be in vain, as the despite suffering several losses, as well as crippling damage to the battleships, the fleet reached the dimension gate generators and teleported to Earth.

Panic began to spread the minute the ship arrived. Several accidents happened as people tried to escape the oncoming UFO horde, leading to several unnecessary casualties. Paramedics were already being dispatched, but to my surprise, they were shot at by human hover cars. A quick hacking of the city's databanks confirmed that it was registered as belonging to a member of the Cult of Sirius.

I should have dealt with those fanatics when I first arrived here.

While I moved several more ships in to intercept the aliens, I also started conducting bombing runs on the Cult's temples. While it was only normal munitions now, I was eventually planning to hit this guys with antimatter missiles, albeit ones scaled down for building busting. These guys were completely insane. As in, even EXALT thought they were crazy, according to some transmissions I'd picked up in the past few hours. Hell, a couple of branches of XCOM that were still on Earth had declared a truce with their regional counterparts on Earth just to kill off the Cult. A truce I was seriously considering joining - this cult was just a ticking time-bomb ready to blow at any moment. Well, blow with more force than it already had.

Surprisingly, things were faring far better now that the aliens were in the city, likely because they were going up against XCOM, who could turn their own stasis bomb launchers against them. Mentally, I made a note to start integrating those launchers into my interceptors and orbital fighters - that would give me an edge in the future, I just knew it. It only took ten minutes to down one of the battleships, and ten more after that to down the other.

Briefly, I was worried when the mothership dropped off an enormous monster I recognized as an overspawn onto one of the city's people tubes (which looked somewhat ridiculous), but that anxiety turned into humor when the creature promptly fell right through the thankfully empty tube and messily splattered on the ground below. Well, that was rather unexpected.

All in all, aside from the mothership, things were going rather easy at the moment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gamma One fired at a megaspawn, riddling the beast's hide with bullets, killing it instantly. Around him, the rest of his squad was overwhelming the aliens, allowing their comrades to advance deeper into the alien battleship, which was a veritable goldmine of technology, assuming that they could take it, of course.

Above them, the aerial battle continued to rage, with the alien mothership facing off against the human fliers in the city's airspace. XCOM, the colonies, and Commander Flame had set an interesting strategy for dealing with these machines: the commander would use his aircraft as a sort of mobile shield to soak up damage, allowing the rest of the aircraft to hit the alien ship without fear of reprisal. So far, it was working out pretty well. Apparently, the aliens seemed to realize this, as their ships were starting to fall back toward the dimension gate.

All except for the mothership. That ship was instead rising further and further into the air, while its weapons began to aim...lower.

Oh dear.

The detonation of a grenade brought One's attention back to the ground. They had to win this battle first, and it wasn't like the aliens would shoot their own ship, at least when recovery was still an option.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The fact that the mothership was raising its elevation was worrisome, as that gave it a better vantage point to attack the rest of the city. Granted, it was taking a ton of damage, but that wasn't much help right now. Especially not when the mothership could still take quite a boatload of damage before it would finally die. And yes, I mean die - this thing was more mushroom than machine.

XCOM was pulling out all stops here, calling in every shop they had, including a few leviathans and avengers. Apparently, these avengers were micro-versions of one that they used as a mobile command center on Chiron, ala the Avenger from XCOM 2. Equipped with fusion lances (both on the avengers and leviathans), they were shredding through the hull of the mothership life it was tissue paper, it just still. Wasn't enough.

As for the colonies, they'd managed to develop a starship version of the gates they'd used to arrive here, which they had unsurprisingly called the warp nexus (which made me glad I'd played Starships, even if it wasn't as fun as the rest of the stuff Sid Meier made). Already, ships were exiting those gates, moving in to assist against the mothership. I'd even exploited the gates to move in my own reinforcements start pounding that giant mushroom, but still, things weren't over yet.

Once it was high enough, the mothership stopped ascending, then opened fire. Disruptornbombs began raining down on the city, though they were rather easily intercepted by my laser turrets. My main worry was that the mothership was firing way more shots than it could fire in game, and at its current rate of fire, it would eventually overwhelm my turrets and obliterate the city.

How the hell was I losing to a giant mushroom? I was firing everything I had at it and it still wasn't dying. How a mushroom couldnwithstand Progenitor grade weapons was beyond me, but once this thing went down, I was going to steal that resilience for myself.

Unfortunately, the mothership was shifting its attention toward the XCOM base in the city, and at the rate of increasing firepower, once it was in range, the base would be toast. That is, if it couldn't shoot it down.

Quickly, I slaved all of my available aircraft (and, for that matter, everything else I had under my control) and directed it at the mothership. Still, given its resilience, I'd need a miracle to stop it now.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hydra One peered through the sensors of her planes, and through her, the Commander peered through those same sensors, alon with dozens of others.

The Commander has, in desperation, slaved all of his machines to his direct control and had sent them against a mighty spacecraft in the atmosphere of Earth. The plan was to disable the craft with precise strikes, but so far, that plan wan't sucessful. Through her link to the Commander, Hydra-One could feel his fear and desperation at how bad things were getting, but though it could feel them, it did not know what they meant.

Slowly, the locust tac-jets moves into position. Once in range, the locusts would open fire. Yet as they got closer, the odds of them even reaching their effective range grew even more minuscule. The firepower they were up against was simply too great.

Then, suddenly, a pillar of light blasted through the ship, temporarily blinding the sensors on the jets. When they deactivated, the cameras revealed that the ship now had a gaping hole in its superstructure. For a moment, the jers and hydra one did not react, instead holding still as their commander processed the sight before him in shock.

That didn't last long.

[Soundtrack Start: Bre@th//Less from Aldnoah.zero]

They entered the hole and opened fire, blasting away at the sensitive inner working of their target. An overspawn was blasted out of the ship to its death, while several skeletoids were pulled by the jets' fire. All around the jets, the ship burned and sparked, with aliens vainly attempting to repair the damage and, when it became apparent they would lose, get the ship to safety.

Finally, the mothership took too much damage and fell from the sky, landing on the outskirts of the city. Already an army was moving to greet it. Soon the ship would be the Commanders.

With their mission complete, the locusts flew back through a portal to Chiron as the Commander terminated his slaving function with the rest of his forces, leaving them free to act on their own. As the locusts filtered into its chassis, Hydra One reanalyzed the information before it. The battle had needed a miracle to be won, but it had still been won.

This left One with an anomaly in its code, which constantly made it think over this victory for the next few hours. One felt it was a glitch.

Humans would call it satisfaction.

XXXXXX

I watched the new shape come into view. This had been what had fired the weird laser earlier that had given me the opening to level the mothership. This was the reason I had won.

It resembled a pillar, yet it also had a star design to it. The shape was larger than even the mothership. Strangest off all, though, was that I recognized the ship.

This had been the flagship of Origin, leader of the Outsiders. A long time before I had arrived, they had tried to conquer Earth.

Now, I was worried they were back for round two.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

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

 

[Flameal15k]

"Commander, we have almost arrived at Earth," reported the ensign.

"Good. As soon as we are in range, begin searching for XCOM ships. It is time that we repay mankind for their kindness."

"Yes sir."

XXXXXXXXXX

Slowly, the Command Ship advanced toward Earth. The ship was impressive, but it had seen better days: tiny impact spots were visible all over the hull, scars acquired from brushes with space debris. Still, the ship had been travelling for centuries since it had last visited Earth, and aside from these dings, it hadn't changed that much at all. At least, externally: internally, its systems had undergone numerous retrofits, based on advances the Zudjari scientists had made.

As the Blue Planet came into view, the Commander smiled. He had heard of the stories of Earth, how its people had fought his people, how they had killed the tyrant Origin who had enslaved the Zudjari through Moz Zaaick, and how, in an unprecedented act of kindness, the humans had allowed them to leave in peace, after first having the Outsiders, as the Terrans called them, repair the damage they had caused under Origin. From there, the Zudjari had wandered the cosmos, looking for a new world to call home. Joining them had been Origin's other slaves, the Sectoids, and the many mutons he had hired as mercenaries. With their employer dead, they had chosen to stay and help Outsiders find a new home, in exchange for being allowed to share that home.

Now, though, they had returned to Earth, ready to help mankind. A journey that had come full circle, mused the alien Commander. Perhaps now they could at last repay the debt they owed mankind.

As he looked closer, though, the Commander, known to his fellow Zudjari as Zylos, noticed that something was wrong with this world. For the most part, it matched up with maps he had seen of this world, but some parts were different. Namely, the coastline: it appeared to have advanced further inland than it appeared on the maps, while the ice caps appeared to have shrunken. Evidence of global warming, Zylos noted.

Additionally, ther were far more satellites in orbit of Earth than the records indicated had been present when his kind had first come, yet most were now inactive. Those that were still online had not noticed the ship's arrival, thankfully. Best not cause any panic just yet.

Once the mothership, as the crew had taken to calling it, was close enough, scanners began searching for XCOM signals. They had been provided with a set of private channels to use to contact the clandestine organization, so as to avoid any misunderstandings with the people of Earth. Once one of the signals was tuned into, a greeting was sent out. When no return signal came, a second was transmitted. When that received no reply, Zylos became suspicious - XCOM had a veritable army of people manning its communications network, and it was unlikely that they would ignore this signal, especially given the previous war humans had fought with the outsiders.

Activating their hacking systems, the staff aboard the mothership began hacking into Earth's insecure communication networks and began searching around for pressing events - disasters, wars, the like - that might have distracted XCOM.

Eventually, the found what they were looking for. It came in the form of news footage from a city called Mega Primus, located in the four corners, as some humans had called it. Due to changes in sea level, the city has easy access to the coastline, while several space ports allowed for starships to land. Yet none of that was important to the aliens.

What was important was the yellow mushroom shaped ship attacking the city.

Going from confused to alarmed in a matter of moments, the Zudjari accelerated their ship toward the Blue Planet, through a path that just barely avoided smashing any of Earth's satellites. The zudjariw oils not allow mankind to be destroyed or enslaved by these new comers; they would repay mankind for their kindness. Dropships began to load troops, while weapons began charging up. When the mothership finally reached the thermosphere, the dropships began to launch, while the Mothership began to lock onto the strange UFO laying waste to the city. Half a minute later, it fire, blowing a hole through the offending vessel, crippling it. Shortly afterwards, some kind of aircraft flew in and destroyed the ship from within.

With their unknown enemy defeated, the dropships pulled back, in part because another unknown party was detected. This one had commanded the aircraft that had destroyed the mushroom ship, as well as an army of Machines on the ground. Analysis of recording revealed that this party had been helping the people of Earth repel this new invasion.

Caution prevailing over fear, the zudjari opened up a line of communication with the new arrivals. If these beings were willing to help mankind, then they were allies of the zudjari.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So, you are the new leader of the Zudjari, Zylos."

"Correct.....Commander Flame, is it?"

"It is."

I was surprised to see the Zudjari ship arrive, and further stunned when they attempted contact with me. Their assistance was a curveball I hadn't expected, though it was appreciated all the same.

Our conversation soon turned to more idle topics, namely what the Outsiders has been doing since they had left Earth. Apparently, in the features that had followed, they still hadn't found a good planet to call home. They'd been heading toward the next one in their list when they'd learned XCOM needed help, so they'd come to Earth to repay mankind for saving them from Origin.

I guess Weir had been Asaru's host, then.

Eventually, though, our conversation veered back toward the Micronoids and their armies.

"So these new invaders seek to claim this world as their own since their home is dying?"

"Yes, they do. Do you find it familiar?"

"I do. You intend to stand with mankind against these aliens, so you not?"

"I do."

"Then we will stand with you. It is time we repay our debt to mankind."

Well, that made things easier.

XXXXXXXXX

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

 

[january1may]

The zudjariw oils not

Click to shrink...

The zudjari would not

Also, the capitalization of "Zudjari" is inconsistent - is that intended?


Other than that, excellent story so far (even if I don't recognize about 90% of the references).

 

[Flameal15k]

The zudjari would not

Also, the capitalization of "Zudjari" is inconsistent - is that intended?


Other than that, excellent story so far (even if I don't recognize about 90% of the references).

Click to shrink...

My mistake, I'm tired.

Only a few chapters left, then we finish up the Third Alien War and head toward the conclusion of this arc.

 

[White Lantern]

Don't know what it is but the chapter seems to read weird? I think stilted would be the right word(not trying to be rude or anything)

 

[Flameal15k]

Don't know what it is but the chapter seems to read weird? I think stilted would be the right word(not trying to be rude or anything)

Click to shrink...

I was half asleep writing it, will fix it later.

 

[Flameal15k]

While the arrival of new allies was an unexpected development, it was one I was quick to adapt to. The fact that it was a beneficial curveball made that adaptation far easier than expected: all I really needed to do was just make sure that they new I wasn't there enemy and that we both wanted the same thing. With that settled, we could focus our attention on defeating the Micronoids.

As for how Melissa reacted to this:

"...meh....."

Yeah, I wasn't really surprised - she really didn't seem to find this curveball all that interesting. Probably came with being a ROB.

Enough on that, though: onto the assault on the Organic Factory.

XXXXXXXXXX

Our entrance into the alien dimension was met with the remnants of the fleet the aliens sent to attack us, now forced on the defensive. Given that they were all severely damaged from the previous engagement, it didn't take us long to wipe them out. Once the last wreck had smashed into the ground and was being hauled away by my bots, our ground forces, now including Zudjari troops, began their assault on the factory.

This was quite a bit harder than expected. See, the factory consisted of a bunch of mushrooms that eventually grew into UFOs, as well as all of the weapons the aliens used. To win this mission, you needed to blow up all of the embryonic UFOs, after which point you were free to bail. Yeah, it wasn't exactly a complex mission.

The real deal, though, was MUCH harder.

The minute we entered the factory, we came under fire from strange, pillar like growths dotting the factory. While the human and Zudjari forces were quick enough to take cover, several of my bots were quickly destroyed before I could level the first set of growths. My best guess was that these were organic turrets, designed to defend the factory from intruders. Guess the aliens still had a few tricks up their sleeves....well, if they could wear sleeves, for the most part.

Once we passed the first set of turrets, we came upon one of our targets: an embryonic UFO, which, at the moment, resembled a giant, flat topped mushroom. A few blasts from our combined arsenal of lasers, plasma guns, missiles, and a reverse engineered disruptor gun that XCOM had made (which was apparently dummied out of Apocalypse) quickly reduced it to a burning husk. Hacking into the factory's computers confirmed that there were 10 more UFOs still in development, which was more than you had to destroy in the game. Oh well, challenge accepted.

As our forces neared the second UFO in development, a disruptor bomb flew over us, exploding some distance away. While the human and Zudjari forces took cover, my bots moved into better positions to analyze our new foe. To my surprise, it appeared to be an alien fast attack ship, still tethered to its stalk. Analyzing the factory's computers confirmed that this was our second target. Well, active or not, it would soon be wrecked.

With my bots now behind cover, I had my grenadiers open fire on the ship, blasting at it while they were safe from harm. This lasted for a few minutes, but eventually, the ship just wised up and opened fire in their cover, obliterating it. Before my bots became scrap, though, a trio of green projectiles slammed into the ship, causing it it turn its weapons toward my fleshy allies. An Outsider had emerged from cover and fired what I recognized as a Blaster Launcher. The ship prepared to fire at the offending alien, only to be hit by plasma fire from what I recognized to be Sectoids. Soon, a veritable hail of munitions pounded the ship, which back with all its might, but was soon reduced to a burning hulk.

Well, that was interesting.

XXXXXXXXXX

For the most part, the resting the attack was rather boring: aliens dying, stuff blowing up, and not a single casualty on our side (my bots didn't count. Yet.) The Aliens fought on, desperate to protect their vessels, but all in vain. In a way, I pitied them - they were trapped on a dying world, fighting desperately for a new home that they would never have. This was why I took as many captives as I could, even among the Micronoids; every life that I could save was worth saving.

As for technology, I snatched up every bit of technology I could steal, including UFOs no bigger than grapefruits. This organic technology was fascinating, and I intended to exploit it to it's fullest. Especially since it was capable of self repair; I liked structures that could fix themselves.

As we advanced through the facility, XCOM laced it with charges, all connected to the same detonator. Once the last UFO was toast, the explosives were to be detonated, leveling this building and halting enemy ship production permanently. Once this building went down, the enemy would be broken, only able to defend itself, never to go on the offensive again.

Of course, we would only activate the charges once the final UFO was down. And the battle against it proved to be the greatest challenge we'd face in this dimension thus far.

XXXXXXXXXXX

As we neared the UFO, we came under fire from what appeared to be dimension missiles. A quick glance taken from cover revealed that it had come from a Megaspawn, which was swiftly pulped by our massed fire. Unfortunately, several more Megaspawn soon emerged to fire at us, leaving us unable to advance. One, though, ended up swallowing a grenade thrown by a Muton and quickly became chunky salsa. I assumed that since Origin was dead, the Mutons were going to be payed in land on the Zudjari's homeworld, wherever it would end up being.

Above the factory, I attempted to move gunships in to provide air support, but massed fire from organic SAM sites ended up downing my gunships, though not before they killed two more Megaspawns. I was already working on a new solution, but to my surprise, it wasn't needed: an Outsider threw some kind of orb into the air, out of which emerged a saucer shaped UFO with a ring underneath its main body. The Titan swiftly opened fire, disintegrating a Megaspawn before it could even react. The other beasts swiftly flowed it into death, though the other aliens around the ship proved to be too entrenched. Additionally, another pack of Megaspawn arrived, ready to kill us.

Well, enough was enough. I had my grenadiers open fire, this time with special grenades filled with alien gas. Within seconds, the aliens were dying, poisoned by the toxic cloud of death I had unleashed. With no opposition present, we advanced toward the ship.... only to freeze up when we realized that it was a battleship.

More importantly, it was almost fully functional, and we didn't have weapons that could neutralize it. To my surprise, though, it didn't fire at us; it merely hovered in place. Quick scans revealed it to be lacking a crew. Otherwise, though, it was fully functional.

Well, looks like o have a new toy.

I sent in my bots to commandeer the UFO, while informing my allies on what I planned to do. Soon, my bots were accessing the ship's computers. They'd only need a few more seconds to gain total control of the ship.

Just as the hack finished, though, a horde of skeletoids began to pen fire on the ship fro below. To my surprise, it turned out there was a tunnel network beneath this factory, meant for repairing the ship's after they attacked Earth and for refitting the craft. The tunnels didn't too deep, but they could still House UFOs. So, taking the initiative, once I had the battleship under my control and the offending aliens were dead, I opened fire on the tunnel below me until it collapsed. After that, the ship launched upwards, breaking free of its tether to the factory.

And not a moment too soon: XCOM, the colonies, and the Outsiders were bugging out, while the charges were finally activating, slowly obliterating the factory through pure explosive might. I contributed to the destruction with my new battleships, blowing up as enemies as I could, while Wyrm bombers made a beeline for the factory, ready to level it. As I passed above the center of the factory, I noticed the presence of a giant hole in the center, which appeared to be a nothe tunnel entranced. Several skeletoids and psimorphs headed into the portal, in the vain hope that they could escape the coming fire. Poor sods.

Five minutes after the last aliens retreated into the tunnels, my newly acquired battleship was out of the factory. Five seconds later, the bombers dropped their cargo, sending their payloads into the heart of the factory and the tunnels. Ten seconds after that, the factory was totally annihilated, disappearing beneath the mushroom cloud that scattered its cinders.

I smiled as the sight reached me. Only two more buildings left to destroy, and then the aliens would be defeated.

XXXXXXXXXX

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

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

If it weren't for the organic allies I think this would've been a lot faster as the Commander could've just quite literally flood the enemy base with bots and warships.

EDIT: That or flood them with Titans. Yes please.

 

[Flameal15k]

If it weren't for the organic allies I think this would've been a lot faster as the Commander could've just quite literally flood the enemy base with bots and warships.

EDIT: That or flood them with Titans. Yes please.

Click to shrink...

Probably, but the titans would have trouble dealing with the facilities, as most are underground.

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Probably, but the titans would have trouble dealing with the facilities, as most are underground.

Click to shrink...

Titan-based Robot-Worms? Robot-Tentacle-Drilling-Worms? Anyone?

EDIT: Even better! A Titan-based Laser and Plasma spitting drill-headed tentacled robot worm! I'm so moist right now.

 

[Flameal15k]

Eh, touché.

In regard to your edit.....yuck. Mechanical tentacles will show up, but still.

Also, expect the Apocalypse mini-arc, as I'm now calling it, to be finished this week. After that, we'll be on the final part of the Beyond Earth arc, and this part will involve starships!

 

[Flameal15k]

With the alien fleet out of commission, XCOM took a short reprieve to take stock of the loot it had acquired, while the Outsiders and colonists devoted themselves to helping Mega Primus clean up after the recent attack. I lent them a few robots to help out, but my attention was focused elsewhere.

Namely, on dealing with the life forms in the Alien Dimension: I'd recently discovered an ocean area in this Dimension, so I quickly sent out some modified ships to move them into teleported gates that would send them to a holding pen back in my hubworld. Already, I had determined a suitable planet for these creatures to inhabit in my hubworld, which I was already beginning to terraform to suit their needs. After all, every creature on this dying world deserved at least a chance to start over, even the Micronoids. What they did with it was entirely up to them.

XXXXXXXX

Eventually, XCOM decided it was time to go to battle and returned to the Alien Dimension, along with the colonists and the Outsiders. Together, we touched down just outside the Megapod Chamber. Now, as far as XCOM could tell, the Alien City in this dimension was a living thing, just like virtually all other components of the Alien Arsenal, with the various buildings acting as organs. The Megapod Chamber was the reproductive organ - it produced Megapod, which could be planted elsewhere and would rapidly grow into new alien structures.

This building was something XCOM wanted dead, and for good reason: in preparation to take Earth, the structure had been gestating thousands of Megapods, with the intention of using those to build new cities once Earth was theirs. Of course, that had been derailed with the destruction of their fleet and the factory needed to build more, but since these developing Megapods could include a replacement factory, they had to go.

The minute my first bot went through the portal, it opened fire. As it was a grenadier, Alien Gas grenades were what hit the ground, rapidly rendering the area too toxic to live in for our foes. Soon, they were either dead or unscious, with the still living ones being hastily moved out of the facility - I wanted to save everyone I could before the chamber exploded. As for the Megapods, I ordered several strikers to cut down as many pods as possible and take them back to my hub universe for examination, while I assisted XCOM in destroying the aliens still in the facility, as there were plenty, and not all of them had succumbed to my gas attack.

The fighting was awesome, if admittedly one sided: the aliens had reduced been reduced to starving, leaderless monsters, only barely able to mount an form of organized resistance. It was rather humorous to watch the aliens attempt to use brain sucker launchers on my bots, but they were swiftly cut down. I assumed Melissa was laughing at the sight, and I had to admit, it was amusing. Still, the aliens were losing and that was what mattered for now.

As the aliens cricked all around the Chamber, my bots moved more and more of the Megapods yo safety. Once they were in my hub universe, I put each one in cryogenic storage until I was ready to examine them in more detail. A couple of pods that had been destroyed by errant IV shots were also uploaded - dissections would be useful things to do when I was bored. Also, it might reveal things that scanning would miss.

Apparently, XCOM also wanted to study the pods, as live ones were being moved to their dropships, along with a few dead ones. Eh they wanted these thing eluded me, but I wasn't going to complain. Every pod the aliens lost here was one they could use in the future. All the while, the XCOM, Colonial and Outsider forces began tosetting up charges to level the building. Once we were done with it, they Aliens would never use it again.

XXXXXXXXXX

Once we had removed or destrohed the last of the pods, we fell back ASAP with everything we could carry. Shortly after we departed, explosions engulfed the facility, reducing it to a crisp. As it was destroyed, so too was the umbilical chord of sorts that connected the various buildings in the organic city together, leaving behind one last target: the dimension gate generator. Once it fell, victory would be ours.

It wasn't going to come easily, though. In fact, the final battle proved to be tougher than anyone in this universe had expected, even me.

XXXXXXXXX

The scout ship raced through the tunnel. Dark as it was, the ship could easily make its way around the tunnels. Twisting and turning with the grace of a bird, never once did the ship hit a wall in the tunnels. Soon, it reached its destination: a great glowing cavern filled with ships, but dominated by the stalactites in the center, beneath which, three lights glowed.

The tunnels had originally been meant for majtenance, but the deterioration of the Alien Dimension had led them to be converted into a second habitation area of sorts, containing underground facilities to support the Alien War Machine. Most of these facilities were now offline, destroyed when their counterparts on the surface had been demolished by XCOM and its allies, but still, enough remained to keep the invasion going.

Now, though, things had become desperate. The loss of the Megapods had limited their ability to recoup their losses, as without them, the lost facilities could not be rebuilt so easily. Now, the situation had become critical.

One way or another, the next great battle the Aliens fought would decide who won this war. The Micronoids could only hope that it would be them.

XXXXXXXXXXX

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

 

[Killtime101]

Hey dude, you just reposted the last chapter....

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

repost, fix please op-san

 

[White Lantern]

It's the same chapter as last time what trickerys i this?!?!?(also why is this sites up changed colors?)

 

[january1may]

(also why is this sites up changed colors?)

Click to shrink...

Halloween.

(Though I agree that it was weird to see the same chapter.)

 

[White Lantern]

Halloween.

(Though I agree that it was weird to see the same chapter.)

Click to shrink...

Can I turn it back to normal?

 

[Flameal15k]

It's fixed, enjoy!

 

[Flameal15k]

With the Megapod Chamber destroyed, the aliens didn't really have any way to retaliate against myself or my allies, so all that remained was destroying the Dimension Gate Generator. Once it was gone, the aliens would be permanently dealt with.

Since they didn't have any meaningful way to fight back, though, we were free to put that off until later, something all of us were willing to do. See, everyone on Earth right now was more interested in rebuilding Mega Primus, as there was still quite a bit of rebuilding left to do after the Mothership attack.

As for me, well, I had other projects I wanted to attend to.

For example, examining the Megapods.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The Megapods are, quite simply, fascinating. Dissecting the few dead ones I had showed that they were, for the most part, stem cells, able to change based on whatever stimulus they received. As luck would have it, the brains I had acquired from the Control Chamber contained a list of stimuli that the Megapods would respond to, as well as what those stimuli would make the pods turn into. The list was surprisingly detailed, and included things that I'd never expected the aliens to have. One of the mature forms a pod could take, for example, was a zoo. I supposed the only reason I'd never seen it was because the aliens likely had no reason for one, given that they were trying to conquer the Earth.

Using these stimuli, I was able to seed several Megapods onto the world in my Hub System that I had chosen as the Alien's new home. Using the stimuli the brains had informed me of, I started by setting up several Alien Farms and Maintenance Chambers. The farms would speed up the terraforming process, as well as let me focus my attention on other areas, while the maintenance chambers ensured that the farms were constantly fueled. Normally, it would have taken a few weeks or months for the pods to grow to full size, but thanks to my visit to the Darkspore universe, that wasn't a problem. Careful analysis of Vex's temporal abilities, combined with some assistance from Crogenitor Zelem, allowed me to build a device that could alter the flow of time over a given area. As soon as it was ready for usage (which took about an hour of testing), I hooked it up to a satellite, moved it to the target world, and activated it. I'd hooked up my Megapods to a sort of IV system that would nourish them until the maintenance factories started supplying the pods with nutrients. That way, the pods wouldn't starve due to their accelerated growth rate.

It took a matter of minutes for the pods to mature fully. The giant shapes mushroomed outwards, becoming structures large enough to give football stadiums and skyscrapers pause. Once these ones finished their growth, I began to add in other structures. I didn't need to worry about the pods connecting themselves - the pods innately sought each other out, connecting root-like strucutres to each other when one found another. It seemed the process was largely automated, or instinctual, as the case may be.

Once the necessary pods were up and running, I began adding in others that would be necessary for the alien forces - spawning chambers for breeding, food chambers for sustenance, sleeping chambers for rest, and so on. As the pods were added and grown into full size, I also took pains to add in the wildlife that I had rescued from the alien dimension. At first, most were confused by the strange appearance of the world I had made for them, but soon, curiosity got the better of them, and they quickly began exploring their new home. The oceanic creatures took far less time to disperse, though I suspected that this was because they were used to larger spaces than what I'd kept them in prior until this point.

As I looked over the world and watched it come to life, I couldn't help but smile. This was what I enjoyed the most about being a Commander: making a difference in the lives of others.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With the Alien World slowly coming to life, I turned my attention towards examining a different subset of the alien technology: their disruptor weapons.

Functionally, they were particle beam weapons, firing subatomic particles at targets at mindboggling speeds. These things could shred through armor rather easily, and while my progenitor alloys were unbelievably tough, these weapons could eventually make them break. They had a functionally infinite power source, so there was that.

Examining the weapons was a rather dull affair, though how their power source worked was impressive: it teleported in special particles from the Alien Dimension that were able to induce perpetual motion on a generator of sorts within the gun. From there, it could abuse Einstein's equation to create an unlimited amount of matter, which was then fired in subatomic particles out of the main weapon. Apparently, additional perpetual motion particles were synthesized by the process that created the new particles, making the system self sustaining. Since destroying the Dimension Gate Generator in the Alien Dimension, based on what I was in the game, would take the Alien Dimension with it, this was a good thing.

It didn't take me long to integrate the weapon into my existing forces. True, I could make a new unit designed for this purpose, but I didn't really have any need to do so. What I had right now worked well enough, and if it isn't broken, then don't fix it.

Besides, I wanted to try out one of the guns for myself.

XXXXXXXXXX

Thwip

One target cut in half.

Thwip, thwip thwip.

Make that four.

Oh, how awesome it was to use this weapon. Hitting targets with the disruptor gun didn't just kill them (or, in this case, bore holes into them), but, in some cases, tore them in half. I was already in love with this weapon. That would pass, as it always did, but still.

Deciding to take a break from using the disruptor gun, I switched over to the devastator cannon. The results were similar, which was rather boring but it left the testing area a wreck. Maybe I could add this onto a grenadier.

Finally, I took out a dimension missile launcher. Given its nature as a rocket launcher, I only needed to fire it one to test out its effectiveness, so I loaded up one missile, pulled up ten targets, aimed, then pulled the trigger. Based on the spacing of the targets, I expected five to be taken out, three to be damaged, and two to emerge unscathed.

Thus, I was rather surprised when all of the targets were outright obliterated by the missile's blast.

Dimension missile OP, do not nerf.

Smiling at my work, I pulled up a few more targets while the destroyed ones were moved away. Best to return this place back to how it was.

BANG

I practically jumped as the sound of a gunshot resounded through the range, while one of the targets lost its head. Whirling toward the origin of the sound, I was surprised to find myself staring ath Melissa, a large pistol in her hands.

".....what?" she asked, clearly confused.

"Why are you here?!"

"Um, I was bored, I wanted to see what you were doing, and to answer your next question, we're on a firing range. I think it would be rude not to use it."

"......where'd you even get a gun? I'm not seeing anything missing from my storage supplies."

To answer this, she opened up her right hand. The pistol disintegrated into a white smoke, which promptly reformed itself into an assault rifle.

"I am a Random Omnipotent Being. I can just make weapons whenever I want."

".......True. So, what are you going to do now?"

"Maybe shoot at some targets for a little bit, blow some stuff up, things like that."

"Why do you even need to use firearms? You probably don't even need them to kill things."

"Why are you using guns even though you have a commander? That should answer your question."

"....touché. How long are you going to be here for?"

"However long I want to, my pawn."

"Ugh, fine."

Having a ROB who freeloaded off of you was worse than one who was a complete bastard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

About an hour later, I was gearing up for the final battle at the Alien Dimension. XCOM had just about finished cleaning up the rubble from the last attack, and they, the colonists, and the Zudjari were ready to end this problem once and for all. I had hundreds of robots ready to strike and end this threat forever.

As we approached the dimension gate, though, another one opened up right next to it. Confusion settled over me: why would they open up another gate right next to an already open one?

More surprising still was when an Alien Bomber emerged form the gate. It was swiftly shot down, but the fact that it had appeared at all, even after the aliens had apparently lost the ability to make new ships, was rather worrisome.

Then a second gate opened up over the city, followed by a third. Before anyone could react, dozens of ships began to pour into the city, firing at anything they could see. Our assembled forces scattered to avoid the attack, as did the many civilians who had gathered to wish us luck. Several people, be they human, mutant, Zudjari or Synthetic, were unable to escape the devastation.

While my forces moved to engage the ships, I could only stare on and wonder what was happening. How had the aliens managed to do this? They had lost everything, yet they were still able to attack us. IT DIDN'T MAKE SENSE!!!!

I swiftly turned my attention back to my forces and had some of them charge toward the alien dimension. However the aliens had manged to launch this attack didn't matter. What did matter was that we stopped it and prevented them from ever launching another one.

XXXXXXXXX

AN: The weapon firing scenes were based off the weapon testing scenes from XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Oh, and this new Halloween format is weird and giving me headaches.

 

[Ryven Razgriz]

Oh, and this new Halloween format is weird and giving me headaches.

Click to shrink...

Buddy you're not the only one, this feels like one of those old school friendster profiles...

EDIT: .... Fuck, now I feel old.

 

[Flameal15k]

Buddy you're not the only one, this feels like one of those old school friendster profiles...

EDIT: .... Fuck, now I feel old.

Click to shrink...

You're not that old........

Also, any feedback you guys have on this chapter? I'm rather dry on criticism, which isn't a good thing for an author, because it doesn't tell me what needs improvement.