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XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 139: Chapter 137: News

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Ranger

Chapter 137: News

By Wanderer D

Hey Twilight!

Or should I say sis? Of course it's okay to call me that. I was the one that said it first, right? Trust me, getting used to the idea of Tribe brothers or sisters is relatively easy, and sort of liberating. This is not family you're born with but family that wants you. Well, for the most part. And I do. Want you as my sister, I mean.

I'm sorry to hear about the Elements. It's funny though, a part of me… is glad the Element of Magic is not something I can try and steal anymore. Does that make sense? I mean, I guess it does. But… well, I'm not sure how to express it quite yet. On the other hand, it must be unnerving not to have your most reliable weapon at hand.

The spell would be an awesome thing! I like where you're going with "secretary" and "pandemic", both spells, in conjunction can cover for any future lack of paper I can foresee. I mean, it seems so obvious once you point it out, but it never occured to me!

We'll definitely want to experiment. Did you leave me a copy of your Trifurcation spell? I remember both of the others well enough to work on concurrent spellcasting. Oh, and that reminds me, did you ever work with Estella? She surprised me with her insight into magic, while we were finishing up packing the statue, which by the way we were able to move seamlessly thanks to your designs and a little tweaking of my own.

Regarding Celestia… I don't know what to tell you. For me it's always a bit of a… rush… to talk to her. I'm excited, but scared… especially with my relationship with her, and my inability to go visit, lest I go crazy and kill everyone. Did I tell you my official nickname is Blood Witch thanks to ADVENT and Aria? I'd rather not earn it fully, even if it would vindicate Luna's initial impression of me.

Alejandra de Griffon. Huh. I have to admit, that's… odd. I wonder if she has a middle name? Or if Alejandra is the middle name? Glinda Alejandra Acevedo. Glimmer Alejandra? Alejandra Gabriella Acevedo? I dunno. It's just odd. But wait, there's only one Griffon I know well enough for Celestia to bring up an… wow. Just. Wow. Do me a favor? When you meet him? Can you turn your camera on? I'd like to see his face again. Yes.

Anyway, Tala the Breezie is just adorable. And yet… terrifying. You don't know Tala quite yet. She has a bit of a temper, and worse, the ability to use it. I'm not ashamed to admit my record of wins against her is… particularly low, in comparison with other Skirmishers.

When it comes to dealing with your troops (and friends) getting hurt for your decisions, there's no easy way, Twilight. You'll probably benefit from talking to my Griffon friend about that. He has some experience that, well, I wasn't really able to appreciate back in the day, being the overconfident brat that I was.

All I can say is that, when they take orders, their trust in you is earned by the reasons and thought behind your decisions. It's… hard to explain. We know we're going to get hurt. We know that, shit can go sideways. Hit the fan. Ruin the carpet. But our troops will never be disposable. Our friends will never be alone, or dismissed to die or suffer. It's our responsibility as leaders in an army to take and weight the advantages of a decision that might put one of ours at risk… and it is our honor and duty as soldiers to take that risk because it will further our cause.

It's… not a civilian thing. You might get it, but you might also want to find better ways to explain this to your friends if it comes up. Anyway, I also know that didn't really make you feel any better but it's unfortunately the weight of command. On one level, I'm sure Chrysalis and Bradford and the others hate it when we go out… but they choose the teams to do these jobs based on the best expected results. And it probably hurts when things go wrong.

But we have to do it, because if not us… who else? And at what cost?

Anyway, I should get going. I took a moment to take a shower and write to you, but apparently there's something big happening, and they want Menace and Dragon in on it. It's probably a mission, so don't be surprised if you don't hear back from me anytime soon. give my love to my moth

Sorry. Say hi for me? I think I'll just write to her directly when I come back from this mission.

Stay safe, and you do everyone here proud!

~Sunset

The room felt a bit cramped, having a Viper on one corner on top of two teams, but they all took it in stride.

Sunset walked in, glancing around and was waved over by Ember.

"Hey Sunspot, you know what this is all about?"

"No idea," Sunset replied, leaning against the wall. "I was hoping you might have heard something. It's unusual that both our teams would be called over."

"Yeah, and I don't see all of your gang. Where's Annette and Laetitia?"

Sunset shook her head, biting her lip. "Annette is… more of a loaner, but Laetitia should be here, maybe I should—"

"Ten-hut!"

Immediately discussion ceased as Chrysalis, Bradford, Annette and Lily Shen walked into the meeting room.

"At ease," Chrysalis said after surveying the troops. "Take a seat, soldiers and direct your attention to the screen."

A world map appeared on the screen, zooming in to a familiar area for Sunset. Peavine Peak was displayed in all its glory, but the map didn't get any closer, rather marking the spot and New Appaloosa with red circles with small lines indicating the names of the places.

"Roughly at twenty hundred and seventeen hours, GMT, we received scrambled messages from two sources. One from New Appaloosa, the other from… our contacts at the old base," Central explained. "Satellite data has been scrambled and we are unsure as to what exactly is happening in the city, but we received this message… Shen?"

Lily nodded, playing the scrambled video of the female silhouette, followed by a male voice asking for help.

Sunset felt her stomach grow cold the silhouette looked familiar, although with the scrambling she couldn't tell.

"Soon after, we received another, non-broken transmission," Lily added, playing Sweetie Belle's video.

"Wait, wait," Bjorn "Breaker" Karlsen spoke, his Danish accent heavy in his evident surprise, but still understandable. "Is that the Sweetie Belle? As in, ADVENT's Sweetie Belle? The same news lady that keeps telling everyone that we've done several things we haven't?"

"Are we really going to trust her?" Greg "Trojan" Rose asked, grimacing. "This lady is partly responsible in all of us having a really hard time with civilians sometimes."

"It seems like a fools errand to help her," Elena agreed dryly to the muttered agreement of the other soldiers.

"She's not like that," Sunset spoke up, glancing around. "I know that it doesn't justify it, but she's aware of what she's doing and the only reason she is still following along with that is family, friends… and fear."

"Cowardly, you mean." Ember crossed her arms, unconvinced.

"If you want to see it that way, but she's not a bad person. She helped me and Jane organize the raid in New Appaloosa, and she hides a lot of… subtext in her reporting, when she can."

"Regardless, she and one other managed to escape New Appaloosa and got in contact with our allies in Peavine Peak," Chrysalis said. "She contacted us directly, and no other transmission has been sent out since then."

"Also, the transmission from the city…" Shen spoke up, glancing at Sunset, "I'm very certain it originated from Julian."

"Oh no…" Sunset's eyes went wide. "You don't think he's behind this?"

"I'm starting to feel lost here," Ember said.

"There's too much to cover right now," Chrysalis said. "The Avenger is already closing in near enough to the North America Quarter for the Skyranger to take you there. Given the circumstances, you'll meet with miss Sweetie Belle and see what she has to say."

"And I'll be going with you," Lily said. "My dad's work is down there, and with such a mechanized city, you'll need all the help you can get."

Ember smirked. "Between my team and the legendary Shen there should be nothing else to worry about."

She glanced at Sunset, with a small smirk. "But I guess… you can come along."

"Haha."

"Play nice, soldiers," Chrysalis said, making them all quiet down and turn to face her. "I don't want any losses. Once we have figured out the situation, we will communicate again. For now, gear up. You'll receive further info in your pads and on the flight. It's going to be a long night."

"Yes, ma'am!"

o.0.o End Chapter 137 o.0.o

Next Chapter: Chapter 138: Phrasing Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 58 Minutes
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