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XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 169: Chapter 167: Disaffected

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Ranger

Chapter 167: Disaffected

By Wanderer D

"It is with our deepest regrets that we find ourselves here, at ground zero, of the New Appaloosa Massacre, where many of our brave, innocent, citizens died at the hands of extremists like XCOM."

Behind the Speaker, Rarity stood, hands clasped, lips pursed and tears trickling down her chin.

"We all have lost so much, including all our friends in the New Appaloosa ADVENT Network Station—the same location where our beloved Sweetie Belle transmitted her daily News show—when it was destroyed. We have disturbing video of the whole tower collapsing with all employees accounted for inside. Not content to let the remains stay unmolested, these terrorists obliterated what little was left with armament capable of destroying a small city, as they did."

Sweetie Belle muted the video. The Speaker continued his diatribe, probably accusing the wrong people of the wrong thing. Again. That was at least one thing that hadn't changed much from what she remembered of the world before the invasion. Politicians, alien or human, never changed.

And neither did, apparently, the masses that just believed what was fed to them. Never mind that the free press had been all but obliterated and they now only got their information from ADVENT-approved sources.

It would be so easy to discredit them by doing a live transmission.

Sweetie leaned back, imagining the scandal. It would be a brand new Watergate. Except, that ADVENT could just twist it around if it was so brazenly done. Sweetie would be accused of being part of the terrorist attack. New "proof" would emerge of her being responsible for something or other that tied her to the loss of life of her coworkers.

Not to mention her sister's life would be forfeited if she did that.

Sweetie studied Rarity's face. Her sister was a master of makeup. There was no hint of scales, and she must be wearing contact lenses of some sort that hid the slitted, almost reptilian pupils. She looked a lot more human than the Speaker.

Not that she wasn't. For the most part.

Rarity was tough. There were videos of assassination attempts against the Speaker where she had quite publicly decimated the attackers. It was surreal, seeing her like that, and knowing that it was her sister, prissy, nervous, creative, dramatic Rarity, efficiently dispatching a man twice her size.

The Speaker hadn't even noticed, and if he had, he had pretended it was a fluke.

Whatever they had been, EXALT had been no slouches when they trained their prime forces, and Rarity had outlived them all, and now had the additional advantage of state-of-the-art ADVENT rejuvenation technology on top of her own formidable meld-created regeneration and redundant systems.

If she had been psionic, Sweetie believed she would be a match for Annette.

Sweetie bit her lip. Having her sister think she was dead… was not a good thing. Now that she wasn't just held back by the threat to Sweetie's life, it was only a matter of time before she took off on some sort of ill-fated attempt at revenge. Her sister could hold a grudge like nobody's business. But what could she do? It wasn't as if she could just send her a message, or call her.

She reclined even further back, studying the metallic ceiling of the drab little office she had been assigned. It actually felt like it was just built, which was entirely possible. Besides her radio show, which Rarity would never listen to, and few people in cities ever did, how could she contact her?

She tapped her chin, glancing around. Other than the computer and pad, her desk, the TV and some basic broadcasting equipment, she didn't have anything around for inspiration. She needed plants or something. Paint the walls. Hang some posters.

She paused, eyes narrowing, inspiration nagging at the edge of her consciousness. Slowly a smile spread on her face.

"Ideeeea!" she sang.

She leaned forward, standing up excitedly and clenching and unclenching her fists with anticipation. Yes.

"Yes! That could work!" Sweetie exclaimed, pumping her fist up. "Now I just need to talk to the others!"

"We already have a PR campaign against ADVENT," Shen stated, "We have those posters we make with the troops."

"Yes," Sweetie said nodding, "And now everyone and their mothers know what Sunset "The Blood Witch" looks like."

Tygan leaned back with a smug smile on his face.

"Don't you dare say anything!" Shen growled.

"Wouldn't dream of it."

"So, what are you proposing, Miss Belle?" Chrysalis asked, eyes narrowed. "I assume you wouldn't come to us with just a suggestion."

"Nope!" Sweetie said, her smile steady. "I have a plan!"

She waited for them to run off like Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, or some of her coworkers had done in the past. When they didn't, she continued, "So far your war has been entirely militaristic, hence the propaganda posters with the soldiers. I understand that you want to inspire people with them, but the problem is that it makes your forces known to your opponents more than it does any good in recruitment."

When Chrysalis opened her mouth to say something, Sweetie interrupted.

"I checked." She pulled out a pad, and passed it to Chrysalis who frowned and looked down at it. "We can do better. And we can extend our reach beyond the occasional poster. What I propose is a PR war."

Chrysalis leaned back, arching an eyebrow. "You know we also have a plan. We cannot make your face public yet."

Sweetie smiled. "Of course not, but I, or rather Pleasant Chime can cover a much wider area now. And we need to do a report soon, before people interpret our silence as claiming responsibility for what happened in New Appaloosa."

"Hm."

"Look, it's a matter of creating reliability and relatability," she explained. "You already hold sway over the outskirts and the natives. But they are far from the cities and centers of power. It's fine to get soldiers from there, but your informants, your sources and your political voices will be in the big cities themselves. You need to sway public opinion; give them something to trust before your big reveal.

"Putting a poster on the wall with the phrase: "The Blood Witch needs YOU to join the fight!" is not conductive to this purpose. You need a different message. You want people to pay attention and for it to remain in their minds that they should stand against ADVENT, not proliferate the fact that you actually have a soldier nicknamed "The Blood Witch"."

"She has a point, Commander," Shen said.

Tygan simply smiled, nodding in agreement. "Validation. At last!"

"So how exactly would we do this?" Chrysalis asked, apparently warming up to the idea.

"Simple, in addition to making it possible for me to be able to jump on the air more frequently…"

"Shen?" Chrysalis asked.

"That… is possible. We'd need to have the communications guys make sure to mask the source of the transmission." She hummed. "I believe we could do the opposite of some of the underground missions we've done before; rather than destroying a Psi-net booster, we can install underground transmitters that will make the frequency reachable to some cities."

"That would require some planning, but it's doable," Chrysalis said. "Probably something that Dragon Team can handle."

Shen nodded. "Definitely up their alley."

"Continue," Chrysalis said to Sweetie.

"In addition to that, we need quick and dirty ways to post our message even in the middle of the city. It doesn't matter if it is something that will be erased later. What we want is impact. We want the message to stick to people because it draws their attention to them."

"Hm, we could… I'd have to check how difficult it is to make them…"

Everyone turned to face Shen, who was already doodling designs on her pad. "Lily?" Tygan asked.

"Oh! Sorry… but I do have an idea, based on the GREMLIN protocols we used to paint the Avenger when we were fixing it."

"It is going to use a lot of our resources?" Chrysalis asked.

"No… it shouldn't."

"Besides!" Sweetie spoke up, "We're not going to be the only ones doing it."

Tygan tilted his head, frowning. "We're not?"

"Of course not, if we're the only ones with a presence, people will distrust us. They'll think we're just discontent militants. We need to pass this technology over to the other resistance groups, big and small. They already support us, so their message will be at least similar in spirit. One thing we want to make sure is to have them mention Unpleasant Truths and Resistance Radio, as we're going to be the main source of real information to everyone.

"We can continue our call for allies and soldiers and informants and for humanitarian help for locations in need," Sweetie added, "But we'll be gaining more reach, and more listeners. Not everyone in the cities is content with ADVENT."

"We have seen civilians take notice of us and, rather than raise the alarm, they just walk away," Shen pointed out.

"I'm starting to like this plan," Chrysalis said with a grin. "Shen, Tygan? Can we make this so?"

The pair shared a look, before looking at the commander. "Yes, ma'am."

"Good, I've been planning a mission for Dragon… I want your designs and devices ready if possible by then."

A few Days Later

Rarity stood by the Speaker, half listening as he gave a speech at a recent site of XCOM incursions. People were scared, looking up at him with hope, eating every word he said, not knowing he was just as bad as XCOM, if not worse.

"...and no matter what they do, we must always remember that it is by the will of the Elders that—"

There was a scuffle, and something flew out from the crowds, arching over them and rolling on the stage.

Immediately everyone jumped out of the way, civilians screaming, and ADVENT troopers shouting. Rarity hit the deck just as there was a loud bang, followed by a hissing sound of some sort. She held her breath, confident that her modified lungs could keep her alive for almost an hour if worse came to worst, so if it was poison gas, she'd survive.

She turned around, trying to figure out the damage, but everyone seemed to be alive. She glanced around and her eyes widened. She had to stifle a gasp, and force herself to look uninterested.

On the wall behind them, painted in colorful, bold letters, much like the graffiti she had seen in her youth, was a message.

"ADVENT is like liquid toast! ~Unpleasant Truths"

Chrysalis looked at the picture. "I don't follow."

"It's anti-establishment, disaffected graffiti!" Sweetie said.

"Liquid toast."

Sweetie nodded.

The other woman chuckled. "Fine. I'll let you know when your sister reaches out."

Sweetie blinked. "What-how?"

Chrysalis shrugged. "I'm the Commander. Now, go do your job, Communications Officer."

Sweetie meeped, hastily saluting. "Y-yes, ma'am!"

She was almost to the door when she stopped. "Wait, since when do I have a military title?"

Chrysalis tilted her head. "Didn't you get the memo?"

o.0.o End Chapter 167 o.0.o

Next Chapter: Chapter 168: Absence Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 2 Minutes
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