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"Yes sir... just don't blow this one's head away, all right?" Private Mike Thornside grinned slightly.
Thornside pulled a pair of latches and lifted the helmet free to reveal the familiar purple face of a muton. The alien's face bore no expression. The troops held their fire. The Captain lowered his rifle, walked up to the powered armor suit which stood almost a foot taller than him, and rapped his fist on the muton's head.
"Knock Knock!" He chuckled "Anybody home? Big bad muton can't move?" Wychin looked at the assembled troops. "These bastards are of no use to us. Mike, get them out of their armor - then we'll frag 'em."
The troopers looked back and forth at each other. The Captain, sensing a delay, quickly finished his sentence. "Move! Poole, Bowman, cover Mike. This isn't a democracy, people! This is the United States Army, Delta Force team three!"
Wychin watched as the two troopers moved in and pointed their rifles at the alien. He knew he could count on the two veterans of his team to follow orders - most of his team had been built from the ground up, made of men and women who knew the meaning of teamwork and following orders. He looked around at the rest of the troops and scoffed inwardly. A bunch of mercenaries, assassins - generally, the kind of people Wychin would have been ordered to hunt down only two years ago. They were still shuffling back and forth, probably uncomfortable at the killing of a helpless prisoner, even if it was an alien freak. Wychin watched as Mike Thornside fiddled around with various latches on the powered armor. Soon, the armor opened up like a door, and the muton collapsed outward, sprawling all over the ground and twitching.
Wychin slowly walked up to the muton, and pointed a pistol at its head, rolling the large creature over with his foot. "You, my alien friend," Wychin stated flatly "are in direct violation of the borders of the United States of America. Seeing as how we are currently in a state of war, you will be executed immediately. You have the right to scream before you die, alien motherf^cker."
The other troopers simply looked on as Wychin fired his pistol directly into the muton's head.
2nd Lieutenant Julius Heide, Captain Sam Wychin, Lieutenant Kevin Harrison, the Russian tank commander, and a RADAR operator were all cramped inside a Russian command tent. The RADAR sweep was superimposed over a map, which outlined the general terrain.
"... and if I remember correctly, sir, there was a small X-Com research & manufacturing base at these coordinates." Heide finished his sentence. "It housed about six hundred personnel, mostly scientists and engineers. It was dedicated to the manufacture of personal equipment and ground combat vehicles. I'm not sure if the aliens ever discovered it - but it would certainly be worth checking out"
"How would you know this, tovarisch Heide?" Replied the russian tank commander.
"X-Com had longer fingers than even you can imagine..."Heide said absentmindedly. Then he shook his head. "It no longer matters - X-Com is gone, the people it was created to protect are mostly gone... and the need to keep those same people ignorant of the truth is gone. Such is the truth behind all secret activities. The people do not need to know - for what they don't know can't hurt them."
A silence descended over the command tent - all those present had been a part of the massive coverup - but most of them only knew bits and pieces. Finally, Wychin spoke.
"You're right, Heide. It's irrelevant now. What matters is survival. Our survival." He turned towards the Russian. "I'd appreciate it, commander, if me and my troops could get a lift and some backup on-site.
"I will comply, Captain." The Russian responded. "Anything is better than staying here and waiting to die. How soon do you want to leave? "
"Before sunrise. I want to be there just as it turns light." Wychin turned to Harrison. "I want you to stay here with the rest of the troops. We can't have all of our commanding officers die at the same time." He grinned.
With a chorus of 'understood' and 'yes sir', the tent emptied. Wychin walked alongside Heide towards the cave.
"So you knew all about it - all about the aliens, X-Com, and what really was going on. You're right... X-Com had long fingers - I don't even remember how you ended up in my unit. But I suppose it wouldn't have made a difference even if I knew about the aliens." Wychin shook his head.
"I doubt it would have, sir. X-Com had the cooperation of all the higher levels of control. If anyone who wasn't supposed to know about the war showed himself, X-Com would know. They would watch. And if the person proved to be a threat, they were given a choice - join us, or die. I was watching your team, Captain. You showed great potential for recruitment - but you know what happened before we could recruit you." Heide ran a hand through his hair. "Sir."
The two of them reached the cave entrance, and walked past a saluting guard. "All right, Julius. Let's hit the sack - we've got a big day tomorrow. I don't want you crapping out on me 'cause you didn't get enough sleep." Wychin said as he turned towards his second XO.
Heide nodded. Soon, the cave was filled with slumbering Cold Force troops, resting in order to face another day.
Written on October 29th by Andrew Pokrovski AKA Captain Samuel Wychin