He slightly remembered losing his car. That was lame. Though apparently his new paycheck would easily cover that. Rubbing his neck he wished it could have been handled differently. At some point after that, he awoke on a couch in a small room, dimly lit, and had got his bearings. There was nothing in the room except the couch and a small lamp on a coffee table. He hadn't remembered where he had been, he just remembered having some strange dreams. Before he could think to much the door opened and a man in a business suit addressed him.
"Hello. I'm sure you are wondering where you are," the man said in a polite tone. "My name is Gerald Johnson. May I have a seat?" Tyson nodded groggily as he looked him over. He was an older man, and seemed to have a butler style to him. But, along with that butler look came the look of a hidden agenda. Certainly not something you want your butler to have.
"As you may recall, you had been asked to attend a meeting on January 29th, with the Citizen Defense Initiative." Tyson did remember that. He and Kevin had both been asked to attend the meeting on the same day.
The Citizen Defense Initiative was a relatively new program. From the early ads he had read, the purpose of the program was to train citizens in defense and military tactics. There was quite a push for enrollment in it, but it cost quite a bit of money. At the university there had been a program for it, which was discounted but still expensive. Though the program had been around for about a year, Tyson had received an email telling him that he would be able for free enrollment in the program. It also went through additional trainings that would be offered. The program began switching from more simple self defense and some combat training to enhanced military tactics and training. Apparently the company, which had initially been not-for-profit, had signed contracts with the military, which allowed a broadened scope of training and options for those in the program. Technically it would be more contracts, the CDI had started under some military or government mandate, in an effort to not only make cities safer but to prepare citizens in the event of a 'call-to-arms.' At first it had the potential to become a mandatory program, but politics had seen an end to that. Eventually it had enough customer base and military backing they began charging for programs.
After that email about the free enrollment, in all of the programs aspects, Tyson had met with the leader of the local chapter. Not only would it be free, but it would also be flexible with whatever time he had. The lady had told him he was accepted into the free program because of his involvement with certain military testing that he had went through over a year ago. He hadn't thought much of it, it had been a requirement to go along with the computer course he was taking. Regardless, he wasn't even asked for a credit card number so he signed up. Later that day he learned that his friend Kevin had received the same offer and also accepted.
"When you joined the CDI, and in previous meetings you learned that you may be chosen to participate in whatever may be required for you to do." That was true. In the 3rd meeting they signed a contract dictating as such. The meeting had been very serious, a military sergeant had told them that they could be asked to serve, and that signing the contract was completely optional. He told them not to sign unless they intended on following through with their signatures on the page. Also, he said that only the most pressing issues would cause a use of their names in this circumstance, and that those weren't likely. Tyson had been there with Kevin.
"This is the catch!" Kevin said. "I knew there was something coming!" Tyson had agreed. Initially Kevin didn't want to sign, but Tyson had pressured him into it. Telling him that nothing had ever happened before, and if it did, it wouldn't be that bad. They had both signed the contract that night, though in reality, both were somewhat unsure about it.
Gerald continued, "Due to your previous training, as well as your current standing you have been selected to operate in complete secrecy. You will be cut off from your family, to them you no longer exist. At the completion of this operation you will be permitted to return to them. We need your full cooperation in this involvement. Will you agree?" Agree without even knowing what you are doing?
"So, what kind of operation is this?" Tyson was playing the diplomacy card. Basically the one that he always played.
"That's relatively classified, but be ensured your services are needed and you will be fulfilling every measure of your training." Did that mean combat? "We will bring you up to speed at our next stop. The helicopter is departing in ten minutes. Do I have your cooperation?" Gerald slid a small paper with an X and a line at the bottom towards him on the table.
"What if I say no?" Tyson stared Gerald straight in the eye. His head hurt, which made him feel particularly apathetic about the whole situation.
"I'm afraid that isn't really an option anymore." Gerald definitely knew more than he was letting on. And he was letting on a lot.
Tyson took the pen from the table and hovered over the small paper. It brought back to mind the paper he signed that got him into all of this. And brought back the reasons he decided to sign that one.
Gerald picked up the signed paper. "Well done then. Your friend has just woken up, perhaps you can help him make the correct choice you have just made." Still slightly groggy, but now quite alert, Tyson had followed Gerald out of the room.
"We will be landing in 5 minutes! Passengers prep for landing." That was the lingo for fasten seat belts, or at least that was what Tyson assumed. He looked over at Kevin, who was sitting a seat down the row looking out the window. "Hopefully everything will work out alright."
Five minutes later they were alongside a large ocean of water, the sun beaming straight down, and a massive desert extending away from the coast. The helicopter flew to what looked like an abandoned point and landed in a opening in the ground. Tyson's excitement began to over ride his nervousness.
"You two! This way!" The copilot marched past them and signaled with his hands. Tyson and Kevin started at each other, then jumped up and followed.
The inner landing area was large, racks with missiles and ammunition lined the walls. Two large fuel canisters sat in the corner. The rooftop above was sliding shut, and the room was growing dark. "You've got 20 minutes to refuel, then you've gotta move. We've got an interceptor heading back in to land," a flight tech was telling the pilot. "You two, help unload that stuff." In a few minutes they had moved several boxes off of the helicopter, when the roof opened again, and the helicopter ascended into the scorching bright sun.
"You two the new soldiers? I guess, come with me." The flight tech led them through some doors into a large hallway. The area was fairly deserted, but from above there were quite a few sounds.
"To the left is your living quarters, you've got the radar area down that hallway to the right. Food is straight down there." They continued down the corridors.
"So, where are we?" Tyson figured it was worth a shot. "And what are we doing?" Kevin was more bold.
The guy glanced back at them. "As far as where you are, North East Africa. As far as what you are doing, well, that's what they're going to explain in a minute." They walked a little farther. "My name is James, by the way. I'm in Hangar 3."
Tyson had lost focus on the word 'Africa.' "Wow, that is a long way from home. Had we been flying that long?" They approached a large grey door, which opened and led up some stairs. James knocked on the door. It slid open, and he had a hurried conversation that Tyson caught little of. He looked at Kevin.
"Africa?" Tyson rose his eyebrows.
"I know it's crazy man. Crazy." Kevin looked around. "This is quite a base."
"Alright, looks like they aren't ready for you in there yet, um, follow me." James led them across the hall to a small room. There were chairs, a table and a type of boombox sitting on the table.
"Take a seat. Here's some reading material. They are going to be back down here shortly, so they'll get you taken care of. Uh, yeah. See ya around." James half smiled and left. Tyson opened the black folder he had given him. Inside was complimentary welcome, or congratulations, or whatever you would call it. Behind that was a map of the base, 'Euro COM,' some information about something called the X-COM project, and diagrams for different weapons. Tyson began reading the opening letter. Signed General William Grey. Sounded familiar.
"Check this dude. It's a recording or something." Kevin held up a CD. Written on the front was a large #1 followed by 'Radio recording.'
"Let's try it out," Kevin said. He opened the radio, pressed play and they both took a seat. The CD began playing:
-Begin transcript, 3,2,1.
"We're about to touch down, get ready to deploy!"
"Alright boys, get ready!"
Tyson looked in the back of his folder. One paper said 'Transcript of Combat, Mission #1' With some data underneath. The words on the CD were verbatim with a letter code next to them. Tyson began reading along.
B1-"Got something over here!" Then a burst of machine gun fire, followed by some very loud sounds that fizzled into a high pitch, as well as static. More gunfire. B1-"Holy smokes!...I got him!" More loud noises. They sounded almost like psuu, but amplified like a cannon with a high screech.
Kevin stopped the CD. "Look at this. It says this mission was after 'UFO-2, sighted over Egypt at 1859, Jan. 1. UFO, what?" Tyson looked in his folder. "Check these pictures." There were three pictures of an Earth map.
UFO 1, very small size, with I-1 en route to waypoint east of target. waiting to engage.
UFO-2, small size, sighted over Egypt. I-2 sent to engage.
UFO-2 shot down over south west Egypt. Skyranger sent to engage ground forces.
The pictures didn't make much sense. UFO's? What? Kevin hit the play button again. Tyson glanced back through the pictures. There was a segment of map like ones, apparently indicating the movement of the soldiers across the battlefield. Though not comprehensive, it certainly could help him decipher some of what was going on. Along with it was the names and positions of the soldiers involved in the fighting.
A1-"Clear that LZ" Alien weapon blasts.
B3-"Plasma from up the hill! I can't see it, no lights out here!"
A1-"Steven advance! Get out there and cover fire! Let's move!"
C1-"Covering you Steven." B3-"I still can't see anything. Pulling a grenade!"
More alien shots C3-"Steven is down! That shot just hit him in the face we have a man down!" B2-"We're taking fire from the north! Can't see it!"
A1-"Taylor, advance up the hill, we'll cover you! Bravo engage-" Gunfire.
C1-That alien is down. Moving to the UFO."
C3-"On top of the hill, can't see-"Alien weapon again. "Whoa, taking fire!"
A1-"Taylor advance, we're covering you, the rest of you go north to the UFO!"
C3-"I've see him!" Machine gun fire from multiple weapons. A1-"Todd, take him down with the grenade launcher!" Two deeper shots, then the sound of an explosion. C3-"You got him!"
B2-"Lining up sight on the UFO. He-"More alien. "Head's up, grenad-" A huge explosion sounded and the recording was silent for a minute.
A1-"Taylor is that alien down?" C3-"Yeah, he's down. That thing was flying!"
B1-"I'm gonna toss a grenade into that hole on the UFO, take out the aliens inside."
More Alien weapon fire. What was that? A1-"Another one to the east! I see him, floating!" Machine gun fire. A1-"I got hi-"
-Transcript ended. All aliens were neutralized. One operative KIA.
As the tape ended, Tyson started realizing what they just heard. Was this a joke?
"It's not a joke, gentlemen, that actually happened on January 1st." Tyson and Kevin whirled around. "I'm General Grey. I'm sure you'd like to hear about our operation. Here, come with me." Tyson and Kevin again glanced at each other, the slowly rose and followed the General out of the room.
Ok, so there's the story. I know, not very much relating to actual game play. Never had two UFOs on the first day like that. That was really crazy, also to have a mission...unreal. And it went unreally well. That plasma was flying, it was crazy. And I get it, you kinda missed out. I'm sorry, I'm tired from all the storytelling. This is a storytelling episode. Once Tyson and Kevin get in on this action it will amp up. And as for whether we die or not...well, let's leave it up to the great mind of X-COM. And leave me to figure out a decent plot. It will be fun. If only you could know the end from the beginning...
Actually in game it is only Jan 14 I think. I'm not sure, it might still be the 2nd. I had to start over since the first one didn't save. The first one had 2 missions, no deaths. Pretty cool. This one isn't that bad either.
I started research on laser weapons. I kinda want to go with some human stuff rather than rushing to laser rifles or pistols right off. Also, bought a cannon tank, just for ole' times sake and to try it out. I'm not quite as by the book as I was but I still remember most of the military tactics. I think I'm better than some of those Libian rebels. I saw a video of them...we are blessed to have war games so that if we ever get into a war we can actually use some fancy moves we learned from games. Not XCOM though, TomClancy. Socom maybe, I don't know. Also started large radar, living quarters and alien containment at the base. Good good!
One final thing, check out this picture:
Thanks for reading. More action in the next episode, for sure.
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