What follows is a journal written by one of the operatives in the second XCOM campaign, Alan Robertson. The accompanying video can be seen here.

Operation God Wheel – March 6, 2035

Well, I guess no downtime for me. During our last mission, Tygan (our chief scientist) has been working on finding out what the chip that was installed in the Commander was used for, and how we can use it to our advantage. As soon as we landed, Shen took the power converter and set to using it to power our base. Guess it turns out, this base is actually a helicarrier, and this power converter has allowed us to take to the skies and be mobile. This will greatly extend our reach in assisting other resistance cells and taking out the aliens.

Our next mission is title Operation God Wheel. We’re going to be taking advantage of our newfound mobility and get a surprise hit on an ADVENT train and recover what items we can from it. It seems that there data also stored on the train about the alien’s latest project and information on a missing engineer that could join us. We’re headed to the slums district, also known as “Mud Junction,” in Kano. Alongside Ranger Jane Kelly and myself are two new rookies, Daisuke Ishikawa and Asher Yosef.

As soon as we land Central advises us that the aliens have planted self-detonating charges on the train. So, we need to disarm them within seven minutes, or we’re not getting any data. Right away, Asher moves up into cover and spots a soldier and officer. We all move up and into cover to try and plan an ambush. While moving up further, Asher spots the package and more enemy units.

Being the sharpshooter, the squad readies their counterstrikes while I move up and take aim at a soldier with my pistol. I drop him in one hit, and the officer starts to run for cover. As he does, Daisuke hits him in the back with a shot, but he stays on his feet and runs behind the train into cover and by the other enemies, which appear to be a sectoid and another soldier.

With six minutes remaining now, Daisuke moves up closer to try to see what shot he can take. He flanks the soldier and drops him with one burst from his assault rifle. From my position, I can see the officer, but I don’t have the best shot. However, I decide it’s safer to try and hit him with the sniper rifle than to move up and take a shot with the pistol. Unfortunately, I miss my shot and crouch back behind cover. Jane moves up to another cover position and judges distance for a grenade shot, but then decides it is too far and heads to a cover position closer to the target. Asher takes a shot at the sectoid, but he misses his shot too. The sectoid then first his purple mind blast thing at Asher, but luckily he misses also. The officer moves into another cover position, and it looks like he is just waiting for one of us to make a move so he can take a shot as us.

We have five minutes remaining. I try lining up a shot, but I don’t like my chances of hitting. To help me out, Daisuke pulls out his grenade and tosses it at the officer’s feet. The ensuing shrapnel takes out the officer. We're all hoping that this lone sectoid is the only remaining enemy force. I see Jane pull out her sword and rush the sectoid and slice deeply into him. He’s still standing, but just barely. Sensing this, Asher runs up to flank and drops him with one rifle burst. Central confirms that they are not picking up any further contacts in the area, and that the site is secure. So, I make a mad dash for the container on the train.

With four minutes remaining, I disarm the detonator and retrieve the detonator. I’m very happy. We made it through the mission without any injuries today, and we all performed flawlessly. Both Daisuke and Asher are getting promoted. Daisuke is given a mini-gun and a grenade launcher. He is to be our first Grenadier. Asher is following in Jane’s footsteps and has become a ranger with his own shotgun and sword.

Shen immediately puts the new engineer we found to work in assisting her in clearing out debris from the lower level of the ship to help make room for new facilities.

Over the intercom, we hear Central tell the Commander that there is a secure comm coming through. Turns out, it is the mysterious leader of the previous coalition that assisted during the first XCOM operation. He advises that the coalition has sworn fealty to the aliens, except for himself. He has been feeding the resistance information in an effort to assist us. He has found word of an alien black site that seems to be hub of their operations, but he has not located it yet. He is hoping if we can make contact with other resistance cells, we can learn the location of this site and save humanity.

Author Heath Markley

I have been an avid gamer for 32 years now. It started with the Atari 2600 my parents bought me as a child (my mom still says she regrets that decision), and I have never looked back. For my gaming, I enjoy RPG and strategy games the most, but I will play almost all games. Besides gaming, I am a family man (beautiful wife and three wonderful children) and a healthcare IT professional. So, gaming time is a premium for me, but I make the most of every chance I get.

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