Ranger
Chapter 12: Merit
By Wanderer D
The screen showed multiple videos at the same time: An overview of the area, from the cameras on the Skyranger; Psychic network scans from the engineering and science teams, and body cameras from all four XCOM agents in the battlefield.
All of them were paused, except for one.
The first-person view showed a quick dash across a small span of forested area, going around a small fence, over a few crates and stopping behind an old, burnt-out car. The video's audio was muted, but several metrics were on display on it: cardiovascular scans, a voice modulator, GPS location in relation to the other team members, as well as a picture of the soldier, with their name, rank, nickname, and specialization.
Currently, the screen identified the soldier as Sunset Shimmer, Squaddie, Aka "The Commander", Specialization: Ranger. The camera followed her movement, coming around the front of the car just as the large, armored mass of muscles that was a muton, came charging at her.
The display showed her raising her gun. The biometrics marked an increase in her heartbeat and her hands lowered a little, a clear indication—from previous experience—of an incoming panic attack… provided she survived.
The camera captured the muton rearing back to slice down with the bayonet-like edge of its weapon… but then it stopped, as if reconsidering. The biometrics increased less than a second later, the shotgun was being moved up to aim straight at the muton's face.
The video stopped.
"Thoughts?"
Bradford and Tygan exchanged a look, while Lily simply shrugged.
"I don't know what to tell you, Commander," she said. "This is definitely not my specialty, but my dad never mentioned a muton hesitating to kill."
"Miss Shimmer," Tygan spoke after, glancing at the Commander, "has always had some sort of calming effect on aliens. Other soldiers have remarked on her uncanny ability to be dismissed as a threat when we were performing infiltration missions prior to your… release."
"I'm still not sure how this is possible," the Commander spoke up. "We have no explanation for her… how her powers work, why aliens instinctively trust her, or where she came from. From the reports, Pratal Mox met her in the remains of a small city infested with Lost…"
"Any tests so far performed on her, which are standard for all soldiers have revealed nothing strange about her…" Tygan began. "Except…"
"Yes?"
"If we go by Mox's first impressions, she was too clean to have come from a Native Settlement, and she had no previous experience with weapons before the Skirmishers taught her the basics," Tygan explained. "This would indicate an origin from a more peaceful environment, such as one of the new cities. However, she has no chip inside of her, and is missing the scars that would accompany such a removal, had it been performed."
He adjusted his glasses. "Furthermore, her education does not match standard New City fare. Her mathematical skills and language skills are very advanced, but her history is spotty from conversations we've had, and all she has learned of technology has been on the go." He coughed under the commander's expectant gaze. "Her learning ability is… certainly well above average."
The Commander leaned back. "Could she be one of Vahlen's experiments? We know the good doctor was… less than morally ambiguous when it came to those, and she did get her hand on some of the Valkyries before everything went to hell."
"I saw no indicators of such a thing, Commander," Tygan said slowly.
"I don't see what the problem is," Lily spoke up. "Look, Sunset's been with us for a couple of years, she's gone out on several missions trying to find you, Commander, to bring you back. She's never given us a cause for alarm… I-I understand why you'd wonder about her, given… well, all we've seen, but so far she's proven to be trustworthy." She motioned at Bradford. "Not to mention, she's traveled with Central all over the world. I'm sure he'd have seen something by now to make him doubt her if there were."
Bradford made a face at being put in the spotlight, but sighed and straightened up. "That's true, Commander, I can understand your hesitation, but she's been a loyal soldier, not to mention that she's been instrumental in building trusting relationships with all three of the factions—I'd say that as much as aliens like her, Skirmishers, Reapers and Templars all seem to do so as well… for different reasons."
"Oh?"
"Skirmishers, I'd fathom have the same reaction to her as aliens," Tygan said, raising an eyebrow. "But what about the other two?"
"Templars have… a lot of interest in her," Bradford said. "They are convinced she's psychic, which could explain at least why she has that calming effect on aliens. Geist once told me about a power certain psychics have been able to achieve, which basically calms anyone nearby in a small radius."
"That's indeed an interesting development," Tygan said, nodding. "And worth looking into. I can foresee several potential uses for such a power, if she possesses it."
"What about the Reapers?" Lily blurted out, curiosity getting the better of her.
Bradford smirked. "The Reapers find her endearing because, and I am quoting Volk, 'she looked like a rabbit surrounded by wolves that decided to go hunting with them only to discover that Elk are strong enough to toss you over them, and yet managed to get up and try again.'"
"And I… hesitate... to point this out, but I fear it is a factor worth bringing up, given that we are analyzing Sunset Shimmer's performance, loyalty and reliability," Tygan spoke up, "but, if we are doubtful of her loyalty to XCOM, why is it that she is given considerable more freedom with her team than the others, Commander?"
"What do you mean?" Lily asked.
"Surely you have noticed that the commander has not spoken to Sunset at all. In the field, the other teams have all been coordinated directly by the commander. And while Squaddie Sunset Shimmer might be known as 'the commander', she is not The Commander."
The three watched the commander contemplate Tygan's words. "I want to see how she does," the commander replied eventually, waving a hand at the video. "We all saw her confrontation with the Assassin, and her command on ground level hasn't been bad. I am a little concerned with her reaction to the muton, although it is… understandable. We all know that, as Jane Kelly put it, she was 'gutted like a fish'. I would expect anyone to have issues with aliens approaching them with sharp objects. On that note, Squaddie Kelly seems to trust her, and her psychological profile pretty much guarantees that's a tough sell."
The Commander paused and sighed. "I see a lot of myself in Sunset, and that is a major factor in my… trust of her… I'm very curious about how she will grow. Some are simply born to lead, and she is a diamond in the rough from my perspective. So far, she's proven herself capable. I find myself willing to give her this chance."
"That's more than enough for me, Commander," Bradford said, smiling a little.
At that moment, a transmission beeped on the commander's desk, and the familiar silhouette of a bald man appeared on a screen. "Hello, Commander," the Council Man said. "It is… good to see you again. As you imagine, there are many issues to be addressed, but I am forwarding you two items of… some importance."
The console beeped again, indicating files had been received.
"Until we meet again, Commander."
Sunset noticed the trembling first. "Uh, Shintaro?"
Her teammate was shaking in his seat, nervously moving his legs up and down while he held both hands tight together under his chin. He kept glancing at Paula's unconscious body, then away, only to look back at her.
When he heard her speak his name, he almost jumped. "What?"
"Are you okay?" Sunset asked. "You seem very distressed," she added as Jane walked back from the cockpit to take a seat across from them.
"Of course I'm distressed," he whispered. "Just a week ago, you were gutted in front of me. And today you're joking about your nickname as if nothing happened, and Paula got almost shredded in half by a grenade, and now you're acting as if everything is fine!"
"Hey, keep it down, soldier," Jane spoke up, glaring at him.
"No, no, I can't," Shintaro said, gulping as he looked from one woman to the other. "I can't. What if I end up like her?" he asked, pointing at Paula. "Or like Sunset? What if I get chopped in half by the Assassin?"
"Well, Sunset's here, alive and kicking, and Paula survived too," Jane pointed out. "What do you expect will happen? Weren't you part of a resistance group? You helped already on a couple of missions wh—"
"It was never like this, okay?!" Shintaro snapped, fidgeting in place and unwilling to look at them in the eyes. "It.. it was never like this. We sprung traps on small groups, we hunted them from full advantage… now we're… we're literally jumping into death-traps. A city full of zombies, and Sunset here just strides in, cracks jokes about movies and fights an invisible assassin!"
He looked up, eyes wild. "I couldn't see her! I couldn't see where she moved, or hear her or react! But Sunset caught her every time! And the reaper shot it before it even appeared, and the skirmisher threw a grappling hook at her before I could even raise my gun! And by the time I could, you," he pointed at Jane, "and the other two had killed that monster… only, we can't really kill it!"
"Shintaro, we just have a bit more experience with—" Sunset started to explain, but Shintaro just started shaking his head, not even letting her finish.
"Don't give me that crap, Sunset!" He all but growled. "You've been at this, what, four years? At most? I've been doing this since… since I was twelve! You can't tell me you have more experience, but you… you just deal with this weird shit all the time! Ex-ADVENT? You know them! People that eat aliens? You know them! Psychic warriors from a temple in the North of Asia? You goddamned know them! Immortal goddamned assassin from hell? You chat! The boss of the town we just ran in to save has a Viper and you flirt with it!"
He looked almost desperate. "Am I the only one that thinks that's not normal?" He wrapped his arms around himself. "Look. I'm not too fond of the idea of jumping into a gunfight, okay? And that's what we're doing. This wasn't a planned ambush, this was running into a firefight! We have lesser weapons, and our armor might as well be made of tissue paper for all the good it does against freaking plasma bolts!"
He seemed to realize he was shouting and slowly huddled into a rocking figure.
Sunset felt her breath catch when looking at the pitiful figure. Should I tell him how I panicked? That thinking of the Assassin makes me want to puke?' She shook her head, and looked up at Jane, who was glaring at Shintaro with something akin to disgust.
It was then that she caught herself thinking the last thing she thought she would think. 'What would Celestia do?' She shook her head. Celestia would be all smiles and encouragement. She'd tell this little pony, or human, that it was okay to be afraid, that he could do better.
What would her Gryphon teacher say? Certainly not something as inane and potentially disastrous as a pep talk. She took a deep breath. "Shintaro, when we get to the Avenger you're going straight to talk to a medical specialist. I'll recommend that you don't go into battle at all until you are deemed fit and willing… if you don't want to return…" she shook her head. "Then I will recommend Bradford reviews your skills. Maybe combat is not for you after all."
Shintaro slowed down his rocking and closed his eyes, sobbing a little.
Sunset could only hope that had been the right answer.
o.0.o End Chapter 12 o.0.o
Wow. ok. Shintaro is in full on emotional and mental breakdown mode. alright. fine.
I'd say it is, at the very least, not a wrong answer. A psychiatrist is trained to deal with these kinds of problems, Sunset is not. If Shintaro ends up being declared unfit for combat duty, XCOM may have lost an combat member but said member will still be alive, not dead because of an ill-timed panic attack.
The Great Commandy One speaks! And Sunset reminds her of herself... I get the feeling Human!Sunset was older than the Humane Five.
I like how this puts a point on the new Will points and psychological complex systems in War of the Chosen. Shintaro's a roughly twenty-year vet who's always fought ADVENT one way -- hit, run, hide. Now that they're moving into actual firefights, though, and against such insanely powerful opponents whose preferred method of fighting is pitched battles like that, I can see how it'd be enough to test any guerilla soldier's resolve. Every nerve in their bodies would probably scream at them to run away, hide, and play it safe, like the Resistance trains pretty much everyone to do.
That being said, I think he'll be fine, as long as he's willing to go through training and work with people to adapt to this new, hard-and-fast style of fighting. Personally, I'd send him on a Covert Op with the Skirmishers. He can fight from long range in the shadows, and they handle things up close and personal, giving him room to breathe and watch a real close combat crew in action. Maybe they could even cross-train him to use one of their Bullpups for close quarters. At the end of it he may come back with a promotion, higher Will score, or a higher combat intelligence rating. Any of which would be great to round out the poor guy.
The Stress of Battle gets them. But Sunset Handels it Pretty well. And Sunset would make an exelent templer
8731128
I think a few more points and questions would have been raised if sunset had the same name and appearance to the commander
Hm. . .I know just about everyone has their ideas on who the Commander is, so I'm going to put mine in the ring now that we have some evidence from the story itself.
Exhibit A: Whoever it is knows Rainbow Dash and was old enough to be a part of the military when the invasion began, while being placed into XCOM. Assuming the staff of Canterlot doesn't have any major players of the Empire in this version of the Equestria Girls world, that would knock Sombra off the potential list, and really only limit it to two named characters. You all can probably guess who they are.
Exhibit B: From this chapter, it is a small detail, but look at this paragraph:
On the surface, it doesn't seem important. Until you look at the word choice.
.
I've read some other stories by Wanderer-not a lot-but, as far as I can remember, there's only one character with word choice similar to that. Celestia would most likely refer to Vahlen by name. My theory is that the Commander is Luna.
Or- and this also came to me-it's Celestia, Wanderer has no intention of Sunset going back to Equestria, and this is meant to be a surrogate for Sunset.
Needless to say, I'm hoping for the former.
My thought was that Twilight could be The Commander? She would be young, but she's also a genius, so it's possible. And Twi would see a lot of herself in Sunset.
Soooooo.......I have NO knowledge of the crossover series. Is this still a good read for the uninitiated?
8731407
Yep it's!
8731407
This fic operates under the assumption that the reader has good knowledge of xcom2 and some of xcom enemy unknown. So if you want to enjoy it, be willing to wiki names and alien species.
‘The commander’
... Tease.
8731407
You're gonna miss a bunch of references of course, but XCOM has always been fairly light on story so there ain't much plot to research.
For the most part, aliens invaded and XCOM is an organization that was assembled to fight them off. As of XCOM 2 (which this fic is based off of) the aliens succeeded and took over the planet. XCOM is now just one of many resistance groups trying to overthrow the alien rule.
That's the layman's.
8731109
Agreed.
Better a soldier reassigned to a support role (it's not like XCOM has a shortage of jobs for people), than dead. Or worse, possibly getting a whole squad killed because he panicked at the wrong moment.
And, I mean, he's not wrong. You definitely need to be a certain kind of crazy to serve in the XCOM front line. Hilariously outnumbered and outgunned at all times. A rich variety of gruesome deaths around every corner. Not everyone can stand up to a charging berserker, and anyone with a shred of sanity would declare "fuck this, I'm out" at the first sign of a chrysalid swarm.
Huh
So I guess they aren’t bringing FS and her Viper back? Would have been funny to see everyone else’s reaction to it
8731563
Hmm.... It reminds me of Season 2 of XCOM2 by ChristopherOdd...
First mission, Gatecrasher, one soldier panics and throws grenade... at himself and his squadmates. 3 dead, fourth killed by ADVENT. ;)
Shortest season ever. :D
That's XCOM, Baby!
8731374
I could buy her as a Vahlen (or more likely Tygen) replacement, she's a science genius. But no one would respect the 16 year old girl enough for her to be a commander, even if she were a tactical genius.
Poor Shintaro. The kind of crazy needed to fight a guerilla campaign against invading aliens isn't necessarily compatible with the kind of crazy needed to shoot them in the face.
As for the Commander... most mysterious indeed. I do look forward to Sunset finally meeting the Commander face-to-face.
8731407
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I know next to nothing about XCOM, and I'm having a good time reading this. Sometimes crossovers are fun because you don't have the "baggage" of knowledge from on franchise, so you have to take the author at his word. It gives you a fresh perspective and prevents assuming everything will be lock-step with canon. Plus, you can enjoy the mystery of it more.
8732039
Since I know very little about XCOM, I googled it. Seems no one knows who the commander really is, except that it's you- the player of the games. Some people say the commander is the most gifted physic, and if any human would be, Twilight's a good pick. Assuming all that is true, and since hardly anyone ever really sees the commander, Twilight would only need to impress a few individuals with her ability and could hide her age in the beginning by working through respected military officials. Once she's older, she could probably get away with saying that she looks young for her age.
Of course, I'm not married to the idea. It's just fun to guess at.
Why is it that this site always sparks my interests in things? About a year ago I read the story here "A Lowly Peridot" and it introduced me to Steven Universe, and I am very glad that it did. Now I read this story, and it sparks my interest. I start searching the XCOM wiki and watch videos of it so that I can learn what this game is all about, and I get even more interested. I wonder if this site will continue doing this.
You are really teasing us more and more on the commander, Wanderer.
Anyway, good response from Sunset. Better have Shintaro see a specialist and mostly have him reassign. In X-COM, at any moment things can turn sour and go to hell, so you better be kinda already crazy to willingly jumping in the fray. Although not too crazy and start stupid moves which undoubtedly get everyone kill.
Okay, so my theory that we were never going to see the Commander is wrong. You're such a tease.
It's definitely someone we know, which isn't a huge list. Not HumanSunset because there's a difference between 'remind me of myself' and 'literally is me from twenty years ago'...
Is it the human counterpart to Sunset's Griffon teacher? The one who Sunset specifically recalled in this chapter as teaching her about strategy and stuff? Or is he meant to be the Central counterpart?
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Reading Stardust is what got me into playing XCOM: EU/EW. Of course, while reading it, I had no idea what Central was supposed to look like. My mental image was basically a grizzled Nick Fury minus the eyepatch. Made for a bit of surprise when I finally saw him in his green sweatered glory.
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And as of XCOM 2 he's not too far off from looking like Nick Fury.
Amazing what 20 years does to a man huh?
8732039
Actually, Twilight in this story can't be sixteen because she's in the same age group as Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who are now near or are in their forties so the theory is still plausible of her as a technical successor.
Sunset is the kind of living legend that moves generations to fight. She walks among the greatest of warriors, she fights toe to toe with the greatest monsters, and she's a snek eater, if you know what I mean. I can understand Shintaro's reaction to her, she's simply too bigger than life for a rebel fighter like him.
I wonder if the discovery she's a magical unicorn pony from another dimension, made of floof and cute, would only serve to make that reputation grow even more.
8732821
I read Stardust too, but I guess I just find this one more interesting.
8732550
I'm personally thinking that she is either human Starlight Glimmer or Chrysalis.
8731109
That, and being in a position unfit for it could lead to other members getting hurt or killed. (Sorry for replying to something from a week ago, lol.)
poor shinny couldn't handle being part of the A-team...
8731331
Remember what Rainbow said about Canterlot's naming system being unique a few chapters back? If Human Sunset is as ambitious as Pony Sunset was at the beginning of this story, she probably would have changed her name ASAP. It's also possible that no one on XCOM knows the Commander's real name.
As for appearance, Bradford probably first saw the Commander when she was at least 30. Sunset was older then Twilight in Equestria, so that probably translates over to this world too. It would also give her time to achieve her rank and title. Assuming ADVENT didn't keep her in stasis for 20 years, she would appear over 50. In either case, she would only have a passing appearance to a teenage Sunset. At best, they would look like relatives, not twins.
I know your comment is way old, but I had to get my two cents in.
Intriguing tiny hints at the Commander's identity. I got a bit of a Celestia vibe from her word choice, even if I think that's not actually so likely; slightly reinforced by Sunset thinking about Celestia positively this chapter.
But the Commander's eloquent speech style, and particularly her choice of the "diamond in the rough" metaphor, makes me think Rarity. But that'd be rather asymmetric, to have two of the Mane 6 be moderately successful rebels and one of them be a secret member of XCOM as a teenager.
Very interesting choice that Sunset made of how to respond to Shintaro. Pretty sensible though, as other commenters said.
From now on, I'm just going to assume that the Commander is Wanderer D.
9219773
It might even be celestia
I continue to find myself puzzled at what you're gonna throw at us next ... carry on, good sir. Carry on...
drop the first 'skills', it's repetitive and unneccesary
considerably
This is what happens when you have a normal guy fight alongside a bunch of nigh superhuman to actual superhuman monsters. You’ve got the chosen and sunset who are casually on bullet timing levels of speed seeing as how they dodge and deflect actual bullets. Then you got psychics and crazies like the reapers who can actually keep up with those people. This normal joe is just way out of his league and should just step aside for his own safety.
Calling it here commander is either celestia or twilight
9693805
I counter (bet) you're "calling it" by saying that the commanders identity is never revealed. So as to create the idea that we all are the commander.
Like is done in the games.
That, or it's this worlds Celestia .
I like what sunset did for shintaro
9836354
I'm honestly betting it's the human celestia
boy you are really not going to acknowledge that maybe, just maybe, he has a point? Lmao
He's going cray cray.
To be fair Shintaro is right. He is the guy to play easy or normal, Sunset plays iron men mode on highest difficulty and taunts Elder with jumping jacks
When a red shirt character noticed plot armor from a main character.
Shintaro has a very rare ability usually only something readers have:
'Common sense'