The XCOM Project [DEAD]

1: Operation Empty Mother

"Having detected clearly nonterrestrial objects inbound towards populated areas, and per the sudden spike in internet traffic followed by the jamming of civillian communications... it is clear that [extraterrestrials] have attempted to make planetfall... and that their intentions are... threatening"
-extract, mission briefing for Operation Empthy Mother

The Skyranger was loud, but a few yells were audible over the jets. "Why Dehli?"

"What do you mean?" responded the large American. His nameplate said Roberts, and he cradled the overlarge assault rifle to his chest like it was an old friend. The twang in his accent sounded Texan.

"Why Dehli? Why not a larger, more developed city? Like Shanghai? Or even New Dehli?" responded the man opposite. He was, like Roberts, heavily built, with the extreme muscles that came of too long training, but unlike him, he was Asian. Maria couldn't place it, but his accent sounded Chinese, as did his name, Zhao.

"Not sure," responded Maria. "We will find out if we must." Her eyes betrayed no indication of curiosity.

Roberts looked back at her as though for the first time. "Where'd you get an attitude like that? KGB?"

She rolled her eyes. The KGB were spies, not soldiers, and anyway they were defunct, rolled into the FSB. Outwardly, she said, "Spetsnaz GRU. Well, ex-Spetsnaz."

"Ain't no such thing, Kun-zesty, any more than there's an ex-Marine."

A moment of disbelief considered crossing her face, before deciding to die queitly instead. "It's pronounced Kuznetsova."

For the first time, the other woman in the Skryanger spoke up. "If we're done playing stereotypes, any idea what we're going to find down there?" Her nameplate said Larsen, and her accent was hard to place. Germanic, though, rather than Slavic or Russian, or Maria would have been able to place it.

The pilot cut into the conversation via their earpieces. "From the looks of it, its mostly intact. I'm getting us front-row seats." He sounded the part of the fighter jock. The airframe swung around almost a full half-circle. "Hatches down shortly."

The area was, indeed, mostly intact. A few alien artifacts; small, blocky things with glowing hatches almost as large as a person; littered the street. "I'm showing no indication of chemical weapons or nuclear radiation. It should be safe."

"Assume the worst. There's nothing we can detect," answered her mouth automatically.

"Not much we can do at this point. CBRN gear isn't survivable enough for combat use," responded Larsen.

Zhao and Larsen covered the doors while Kuznetsova and Roberts dashed forward into cover behind a parked car. "This is Command," interrupted a voice on their headpieces, "based on thermal readings there are less than ten contacts in the area, concentrated in that shopping center."

"Copy," responded Roberts, dashing to a pillar. "Moving now."

Zhao trailed him, looking through a window into the building, and did a double-take. Accross the showroom, behind the counters, were a pair of tiny... things. "Contact!" he yelled, dashing behind past the corner and towards the wall.

Roberts ran parallel to the wall, past the main entrance and towards another of the large windows. "Flanking... Hold on, up the street!" Another pair of the little beings were skittering down the street towards them.

They were tiny, with a similar basic body plan as a human, but the size of a tiny child. Its head was absurd, almost as massive as its own body. It was grey, save for oversized, orange-yellow, pupilless eyes. He dived behind a pillar as Larsen ran up to his position, huddling behind cover. She levelled her weapon at the aliens and fired.

"Killshot! exclaimed Roberts.

From behind, however, he heard his Russian counterpart yell. An alien advanced downstreet, firing on her position. A purple glow emanated from its forehead, giving her all the more to aim at. From the corner of the taxi, a handful of the oversize rounds drilled into it, but it showed no signs of stopping. From behind a counter, it levelled fire at her. The glowing, absurdly hot projectiles heated the air around her, but they flew wide.

A second alien, the one that Zhao had first sighted, popped from behind the counter and again tried to hit her, but Larsen had taken the intervening moments to dash through a window and level another burst. "Advancing!" yelled Roberts, at the same time as Kuznetsova yelled for cover fire. Zhao drilled a series of rounds into the alien downstreet. It finally dropped, but its fellow loosed iridescent green rounds at the advancing Russian.

"I've got you!" yelled Roberts, drilling the last of his ammo into the alien.

"Blyat!"