Green Fields (Game)

[thehonorablebat]

Summary: The second story I ever posted.

Before XCOM's victory over ADVENT, there was twenty years of struggle. Bradford isn't sure how he survived it.

A loose collection of snippets, pre-X2.

--

 

It was Bradford who taught the Commander how to play chess. Sort of.

When Bradford had asked if he knew how to play—expecting for the answer to be yes—the Commander smiled a little and said he only learned to play Risk as a kid. That was how they found themselves using a bit of their rare peace and quiet in the Commander’s tiny little office.

He remembered every lesson getting sidetracked with off-topic conversations that ranged from the Commander’s own brand of philosophy, to movies, to tales from past battles. Bradford’s stories were always about logistic oddities and screw-ups, while the Commander’s had been undercover work. The way he told them would make an excellent spy novel if most of what he heard didn't sound very classified. So classified it made Bradford squirm inside because none of it felt like things he should know about at his pay grade. The Commander never seemed to care. It was just the two of them in a quiet, cramped room. The war outside always felt like such a distant thing then.

Bradford remembered that feeling, but he could no longer recall the conversations. As the years went on he wished it were the other way around.