In 2015, a number of objects descended from orbit and made landfall near a major metropolitan area in Germany. Over the coming months, cities across the globe would come under attack as well. In response to the unprovoked incursion by the extraterrestrial threat, a council of nations convened to activate the only serious contingency for such a scenario: the XCOM project. The humble paramilitary force composed of the best soldiers, pilots, scientists, and engineers at first made limited progress in impeding the aliens attacks. As XCOM deployed more advanced weaponry reverse-engineered from alien technology, the aliens heightened the scale of the invasion. Before the end of the year, a daring assault on the alien Temple Ship by an XCOM strike team brought an end to the war. The entity known as the Uber Ethereal, the mastermind behind the invasion and linchpin of the alien psionic hivemind, revealed the truth: the conflict was a test of humanity's abilities, one which it had ostensibly passed, for a coming trial facing our species. Six months later, the initative was declassified, which came as a shock to few. The intervention of mysterious multinational operatives at sites of alien terror sprees were a documented fact but the true motivation of the invasion would stay buried. With the war over, XCOM was scaled back, being stripped of funding and personnel by the Council before being decommissioned entirely in 2019. For the last few years, XCOM acted essentially as a consulting agency for alien salvage operations by its client states. Seeing as the exotic materials the aliens technology was entirely dependent on were neither naturally-occuring or replicable, Elerium, Alien Alloys, and MELD were strictly rationed among vetted institutions. The small amount circulating the black market in quantities too small to weaponize were ransomed for exorbitant prices. Still, the sheer scarcity meant the dream of revitalizing the space industry and taking after the stars were swiftly dashed.
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