{"id":37143,"date":"2017-02-22T02:04:14","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T07:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=37143"},"modified":"2017-02-22T02:04:14","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T07:04:14","slug":"unfit-for-xcommand-finale-after-the-black-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=37143","title":{"rendered":"Unfit for XCOMmand Finale: After the Black Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfit for XCOMmand: Afterword<\/strong><\/p>\n

by the Commander<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s warm for an East Asian winter. Maybe that’s the aliens, maybe it’s global warming–maybe it’s just a nice day. I’ve got just a few minutes to sit on the exterior loading canopy with my legs dangling down over the stomach-churning foot-tingling drop to the beach. There’s gauzy clouds over the waves, but the sun beats through them and bathes the honking seabirds in orange-white fire. It’s a good view to drink my warm water to. It’d be even better for drinking anything else.<\/p>\n

Our strike on the Black Site completed twenty minutes ago. Bradford will be briefing our remaining few soldiers on it right now. There’s of course the possibility of a redo, and if we have time, I’m sure it will be necessary to put together as complete a team as we can and take another run at it. That’s if we’re not forced into another operation that completely finishes us off. We’re not setting the tune these days, we’re just trying to remember the steps.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I finish my glass of water. For a second I have a very clear picture of letting it slip through my fingers–watching it tumble and shrink soundlessly and unstoppably toward the dirty gravel and break into a hundred pieces, permanently reducing the number of human drinking glasses by one. But I just get up and go back inside.<\/p>\n

Bradford’s left a note on my desk. The council wants to know what you’re going to do different next time. <\/em>I put the whole thing in my scratch paper file. Of course there’s no answer I have for that. We deployed at the Black Site. I mobilized my men in a tight, organized formation. They engaged an Advent patrol. And then another squad of Advent troops came out of nowhere, and it was no longer a winnable fight, and as quickly as we’d begun everyone on the team was dead or captured. So what would I change about that plan?<\/p>\n

Naturally, I had made a mistake. I had arranged Menace 1-5 incorrectly–or else I wouldn’t have ended up fighting a battle on two fronts. To argue otherwise would be an insult to the science of military tactics. I must assume charitably that it had been possible to triumph. But apparently–frankly–not a single person left on Earth <\/em>could give me any hint as to how. And yet everyone has an opinion by the time the funerals start.<\/p>\n

Was it worth giving everyone a speech?<\/p>\n

How about an apology?<\/p>\n

No. That’d be the worst thing I could do. It’s the least courtesy I can give these brave people–to act like I believe in myself.<\/p>\n

That’s what I’m here for, isn’t it? Everyone here wanted a fight and nobody believed they were up to leading it. Everyone thought, let’s get the expert. The expert will take care of it. Let’s get the Commander back from those alien kidnappers and put this project back into the right hands. Surely Commander won’t lose again.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m genuinely glad to read this thing and see there’s been some doubts all along. I’m sure anyone who hasn’t figured out I’m a fraud never will, not even when the Advent troops are sweeping these very hallways. That’s almost a comfort.<\/p>\n

I’m ending this book right here and now, in part because that means I get to write something nobody after today will: a happy ending. Here it goes.<\/p>\n

For the weeks to come, what remained of mankind’s resistance put up a heroic battle against their alien oppressors. Though the odds were stacked against them in every way, they fought terrible battles far from home and laid down their lives for the future of their species. They gave all even knowing that victory was impossible. They were in every way strong, courageous specimens of humankind.<\/p>\n

Unless it turns out the aliens really do just want to put in strip malls. In which case, I guess I feel really fucking stupid. Either way, I’m burning this book.<\/p>\n

It looks like we’re probably not going to need it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unfit for XCOMmand: Afterword by the Commander It’s warm for an East Asian winter. Maybe that’s the aliens, maybe it’s global warming–maybe it’s just a nice day. I’ve got just a few minutes to sit on the exterior loading canopy with my legs dangling down over the stomach-churning foot-tingling drop to the beach. There’s gauzy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[242],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lets-play"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37143\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}