Part 55

Time to blow up the Doomsday weapon and save Earth!

Piloting What Gravitas? with my Nova Bomb, I'll be able to annihilate the aliens!

The missing briefing was really long and boring, and I didn't really pay attention. I assumed I was supposed to go blow stuff up, fire my Nova Bomb and blow up a star.

It's time. Five of the most advanced X-COM fighters ever made, equipped with two Nova Bombs.

Showtime.

The black hole was guarded by a handful of ships. Nothing really to worry about when you've got tracking tracer cannons.

I blew up this one ship, and then it zoomed away from me. What's going on?

Oh, it's getting sucked into a black hole! You know, I respect that alien pilot. If I could choose how I would die, I would go down a black hole while listening to Johnny Cash. Scientists say that with gravity pulling things every which way that time would be so distorted, that the last second of a person's life would never come.

The rest of the alien's defense fleet was easily cleaned up.

I turned back to the MacArthur.

Once everyone else had docked...

...the MacArthur turned to let me dock...

...and set a course for the black hole.

The dimension jump drives activated.

And then we were gone. I didn't really feel the dimension jump at all, I only knew it had happened for sure once the MacArthur fired us all out of the fighter bays and I saw we weren't where we were before. We were in the aliens' parallel universe! That's when we saw it.

The Doomsday weapon. It's massive. My sensors showed it to be an infinite distance away, yet I could still see it.

It's so massive that even the space around it blacks out the skybox.

Oh, and there's a base nearby too. Permeator missiles easily deal with that one.

I nearly fired my banks dry.

But I got it!

I pulled up and began helping my wingmen clear the area.

Most were easily dealt with.

Even the fearsome Psilords in their Phantasms were no match for us!

It had looked like we had cleared out all the enemy ships when I noticed a strange trail in the top-left of my view screen. I went in to investigate.

A Shade! Even though it cloaked, it must have suffered some previous damage. It was leaking something, and the trail could easily be followed.

When it uncloaked, I pumped it full of tracer cannon.

And with that the last part of the alien defense was destroyed. I ordered my wingmen back to the MacArthur, and took aim of my target.

I established lock on the star designated "Oakley".

MISSILE AWAY! My computer chimed in:

Nova Bomb full velocity in thirty seconds.

I got a little caught watching the weapon, I'd forgotten how far I was from the MacArthur.

Nova Bomb has reached full velocity and is on course.

OH CRAP I'm eighteen clicks out!

Nova Bomb impact in thirty seconds. Escape is strongly recommended.

Afterburners, don't fail me now!

Nova Bomb impact in ten...nine...

eight...seven...

six...five...

four...

I turned around for one last look, and saw the Nova Bomb shooting off into the star.

three...

two...

one...


Below is the actual mission file from the final mission of the Frontier War. Since Tynam has seen it long ago, his imagining of the war turns out to be an accurate representation of our history.


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I had done it! They had fireworks for me at the base, HNN was calling me the greatest hero humanity has ever known, and the X-COM director himself told me that I was the greatest fighter pilot ever. I tell you, you blow up one star and suddenly everyone thinks you can walk on water.

Oh well.

I was never one for the spotlight though. All I really wanted to do was to get back to my room, update this journal, and take a well deserved rest. Even though Earth may be safe, there are still aliens in the Frontier, and I will be needed to intercept them.







The above was Tynam's last journal entry. He died peacefully in his sleep very shortly after writing it. I'm very glad that Tynam knew one last moment of happiness before his death, as the previous few weeks he's spent in the med-bay have been horrific.

We've lost many soldiers in this war, most of them gone and forgotten. But not Tynam. His sacrifice to X-COM will be remembered through my journals, and I hope will stand as a tribute to all our fallen soldiers who have died in this, and every previous war with alien forces.

You will not be forgotten.


-Otto Zander
June 10, 2084

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Barely

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Of course the part of the game they put the most effort into is the credits.

MEANWHILE, IN AN ALTERNATE REALITY:

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AND NOW, RETURNING TO OUR REALITY: