It’s the first day of my new assignment as commander of a secret paramilitary group known simply as XCOM and already things have gone to shit. The base is a fucking mess, only a handful of facilities at my disposal and months and months worth of grunt work clearing out debris to make room for new projects, all of which were needed yesterday. All I have to work with here is a head research scientist, a handful of engineers, and a bunch of “wet under the ear” rookies who’ve never actually seen alien combat before. I hardly had time to start reconsidering my career choices when word came down that there was another alien invasion located not from from base. Great, fucking great.
Apparently the powers that be saw fit to only give me about 10 rookies under my command. I was told I wasn’t expected to see combat for at least few months so I’d have time to bring in a few more recruits. That wasn’t the first of the lies they’d sold me and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I was almost ashamed that I hadn’t even bothered to learn their names yet. They’re just rookies after all, and rookies were a dime a dozen. No sense getting to know someone who’s likely going to be dead tomorrow. Let’s see if they survive their first encounter with the enemy, then we’ll see about learning their name.
My next gift surprise from the counsel was finding out that our only drop ship is currently outfitted to hold no more than four soldiers at a time. On it’s best day, the ship will hold six. That’s hardly going to be enough. Still, bitching about it now isn’t going to solve anything so I decided to get immediately to putting together an exploratory crew which I picked completely at random, doing my best to hide the fact that in my head I was saying eenie, minie, moe as I walked by tapping them on the head. My first squad consisted of three men and a woman. There’s no sexist bullshit in that choice. I’ve got nothing against women. They make fine soldiers of course. It was random. Just random.
I watched from command as the drop ship located a small grocery store on the outskirts of town that showed evidence of a small alien scout force. The team found two little greys hidden in and among the groceries. Not sure what they were looking for there and they were quickly dispatched in short order and without incident. I was concerned for a moment when the team split into two opposite directions but impressed that they gathered their shit together and reformed the squad before scouting the building next door. There was hope for this team after all.
Unfortunately the team didn’t come out so well in their second skirmish. One of my men seemed to get a bit overly aggressive and rushed blindly into the building only to get flanked on two sides. He was fired upon twice and took one serious wound that thankfully he’ll survive.
One of my jobs as commander is to assess my team’s performance in combat and then help develop their skills, putting them in roles that will best suit their natural talents and abilities. One rookie in particular made an impressive shot from considerable distance while demonstrating a natural instinct for cover and concealment. I later found out that squaddie’s name was Rich. Rich Ivanoff. With the squad’s first confirmed kill I gladly assigned him the role of our main sniper.
Another rookie who caught my attention on her first mission was a squaddie by the name of Shannon Crow. Apparently Shannon’s husband Mike is part of my team as well but I’d left him behind. I had no idea she was married and of course that’s the way it should be. A soldier needs to be ready when called upon and I don’t need marital bullshit being a factor. Shannon demonstrated swift, aggressive tactics on the battlefield which prompted me to assign her to role of assault class.
Another squadie by the name of Michael Handorf really caught my attention. He was a hulking brute of a man and appeared to carry his standard issue rifle like it was a toy gun far too small for his big frame and hands. I decided a squaddie that big would handle our biggest weapons with ease and therefore assigned him the role of Heavy Weapons specialist.
As for the last squaddie, he survived so that’s something. I almost didn’t want to learn his name…at least not until I was assured he was only going to be out a few days. I’m glad now that he made it. He seems a nice gentelmen with a gentle soul. His name is Burk. Burk Dowell. Even though he got himself injured, he still managed to kill one of those little grey bastards so he’s a warrior in my book. Still, maybe Burk would be best served in a role of our medic rather than putting him on the front lines.
After my brief visit with Burk in the med bay I ordered some of our other soldiers to began excavating one of the rooms of the base to convert into a power generator. Not a perfect beginning, but it was a start.