So apparently there is this rumor going around that I own the original works. All I have to say to that is, you should know better than to listen to rumors like that... That was how the whole Taco Incident happened. Wait, that wasn't you? um...I said nothing?
Quick note before I begin, this story was inspired by the brilliant Road to Cydonia. If you have not read this yet, do so.
In a room that was both there and not, removed from the normal flow of space/time, Sailor Pluto stood watching her post. As guardian of the Gates of Time it was her job to prevent anyone from disrupting the timeline. "No time travel" was the first rule, though it had been broken more than once. It wasn't that the timeline couldn't handle it, more that the law of unintended consequences and of course Murphey's law made it very dangerous to do so. Even if you had the Gates to help you plan, not all effects of a decision could be foreseen. The rules said nothing however about looking at the future possibilities and planning ahead.
Now the time had come, as she knew it would, when the Princess would have to grow up. Pluto had put this off as long as she could safely do so, as her Princess's happiness was a treasure to her. "All good things…" she murmured to herself, double-checking the next day's encounter. Sighing softly, Pluto allowed herself a wry smile, 'She will not be pleased I kept this from her.' After her preparations were complete, she raised her staff and teleported to Earth. It was time to go to war.
High above the Aleutian Islands, a small circular craft moved silently across the sky. Originally drawn to this world by a distress call from a ship that had crashed, It's masters had found a gem of a world. Teeming with life suitable for their purposes, primitive enough to be little trouble to conquer, the blue-green world below would fall in mere months. Laughing at the attempts at detection by the native's reflective scanners, the single occupant of the Scout class saucer carried out his mission with almost mechanical efficiency. It had the run of the planet, having scouted a half-dozen base locations already today. The next phase was beginning.
The alarm that sounded was only loud enough to draw the pilot's attention, glancing up from his survey scan he hesitated briefly over what he saw. It shouldn't have been possible. The primitive scanners the natives used had actually penetrated his stealth fields. How had THAT happened? Calling up the local airspace on his screens, the pilot was relieved that he would be able to finish his survey before the nearest aircraft could intercept. His mission would be completed, his data transmitted. After that it didn't matter what happened to him.
The early afternoon sun filtered through the trees of the outer grounds of the Hikawa shrine. Cold and dry, the late January weather had been calm of late. The extra warmth gained from climbing the stairs to the shrine proper from the street below helped keep the three girls warm as they chatted amongst themselves. All in all a small group of girls visiting this shrine was not an uncommon sight, charms sold at this shrine had a better reputation than most at being effective and young girls were always looking for a little help on exams or with boys. This particular group of girls was not here for charms however.
The tallest of the three was a brunette with her hair done in a ponytail. A yellow sweater and long pants were joined by a thicker blue jacket to stave off the cold. Her steps were assured, and showed no sign that the heavy basket of food she carried was anything more than a light load. Her bright blue eyes sparkled with amusement as her companions related a story from the day before.
Speaking animatedly, her blond friend reached the end of her story. Her long hair was tied in the middle with a ribbon, and it swayed with the motions of her arms as the tale of the misadventures of one Usagi Tsukino and PE class. Bright blue eyes sparkle with mirth as giggling broke out among the trio.
The third girl's laughter was more subdued than that of her companions. There was almost a resigned side to it, as though this was not something she felt she should be laughing at. Her short hair was an astounding shade of blue. This was something that her mother, a doctor, had been unable to explain. It had, in past years, caused her teachers to think that she would be a troublemaker…until the first assignments were handed in.
Reaching the top of the steps and crossing under the large arch, the three girls headed not to the shrine proper, but to the house of the resident caretakers. A tall girl with knee length black hair and dressed in the traditional robes of a Miko was sweeping the front porch as they approached. Hearing the three call to her she looks up from her daily chores and smiles widely. With a wave she directs the three girls to join her inside and opens the door. Over the next thirty minutes more girls would arrive and be shown inside as well.
Usagi Tsukino was late. This was not unusual. What WAS unusual was it actually wasn't her fault. One of her mother's cousins had come by the house quite unexpectedly that morning, and Usagi had been guilted into playing hostess by her mother. Boy did her mother know how to guilt. She was going to have to talk to Ami too, she'd been forced to promise her mother a passing grade in math to be released to go "visit her friends". Luna wasn't around when she left, probably having gone on ahead. She supposed that made sense, it hadn't looked like she would get away at the time.
When she did arrive, breathing heavily from the run up the shrine steps, She found the group ad split off along fairly predictable lines. Makoto had set up the food she had brought and was sittind at the central table sipping tea with Ami and Minako. Rei was seated at the far end of the table with a small plate of food. Haruka and Michiru were sitting on the couch that sat against the left wall, and Hotaru was seated in front of them blissfully eating a slice of cake. Luna, having indeed gone ahead to let everyone know Usagi might not make it, was sitting on the corner of the table nearest Rei along with Artemis. "Sorry….Mom's cousin…got out…soon as I could." Panting after every few words, Usagi slumped down next to Rei and began making a plate of food while Makoto poured her a cup of tea. "Thanks Mako-chan!" Usagi beamed at her friend.
No sooner has she taken the mug from Makoto's hands than Setsuna teleported behind her and spoke in a mild tone, "Hello Princess." Deftly moving to the left to avoid the splash of tea from the startled girl in front of her, Setsuna's only reaction to the deadly glare was a small smile.
"STOP DOING THAT PLUTO!" Usagi's Shout seemed to fall on deaf ears as Setsuna turned to face the others on the couch. She was closer to Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru not just because she lived with them, but because they were a team. Their role (as Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn respectively) was the defense of the solar system against outside threats. If they had been at their original levels of power from the Silver Millennium this new threat wouldn't have been a problem, but as things were…it could get complicated.
Maintaining an expression of complete calm, Setsuna nodded towards her teammates, "Thank you for coming as well. None of you are going to be happy about what I have to say today. I will admit to putting this off for some time." Turning once again to Usagi, "Princess we are being invaded by Aliens from outside the solar system."
The reaction to this simple sentence was surprisingly varied. Most of the girls seated at the table wore shocked expressions, The blue haired Ami being the exception. Ami's face was relaxed in patient thoughtfulness. Hotaru was scared, but looked at Setsuna with complete trust. Michiru was also relaxed and serene, although she usually looked like that anyways. It took a lot to shake her. Haruka on the other hand was furious. "Why are you just NOW telling us about this. This is our JOB, we don't need to involve them" this with a wave of her hand at the younger girls at the table, "we could have handled this ourselves!"
Allowing a small amount of resignation to show on her face Setsuna turned to her teammate, "No, we can't. If the Royal Navy was at it's peak then perhaps we could, not a guarantee mind you, but with just the four of us? We would die within a month." A facial tick was developing on Haruka, and Hotaru was letting more of her concern show, "Even with the help of the Princess and her guardians we will not last the year without more help. These creatures are not like the other threats we have faced. They will not come to us, as Japan is but a corner of the world to them. We cannot be everywhere, even with the Sailor Teleport." Fuming and looking to the side Haruka began muttering under her breath. Ami had opened her Mercury computer and was taking notes.
"When will the invasion begin, Setsuna?" All eyes turned to Ami in surprise as her voice betrayed no fear at the prospect of facing another enemy. It reassured them to see the calm resolve on her face.
Sighing Setsuna gave a small shrug and replied, "Actually it began three weeks ago, or at least the scouting missions did. Until now there was nothing we could really do about it so I let you enjoy life. Without the resources of the Moon Kingdom we are forced to fight on the ground. The aliens have spacecraft of enormous power and speed. Fortunately the military technology of this time is somewhat effective against them."
This last statement reversed the sinking expression on Usagi's face. "So, we let them handle it! If we can't stop their ships then we can't do anything right?" This earned her Doom Glares from the rest of the "Inners" at the table.
Rei's face was red as she leaned over the table and shouted, "You COWARD, we can NOT sit by and do nothing about this. Show some backbone for once meatball head!" Rage gone as quickly as it arrived, she turned thoughtful, "So, what can we do?"
Pointedly ignoring Usagi's outburst over Rei's yelling, Setsuna cocked her head slightly to one side, "The alien goals are not clear, but I do see several ground battles over the course of the war. And make no mistake girls, this IS war. Right now the enemy has the upper hand. I can't get much on them with the gates, their psionic powers are scrambling my scrying."
Usagi's outburst seemed to vanish as she stared wide eyed at the princess of Pluto. 'She never called it war before, attacks yes, enemies always…never war.' Still unsure what was going to make this different from the past, the blond sat in a rare moment of quiet thought. The rest of the table began to discuss the issue at length. Most of the girls were convinced it was serious simply by the fact that Setsuna was giving them straight answers, in fact it was agreed among the inners that this was a sure sign of the apocalypse.
'If they only knew how close they could be to right.' Pluto thought.
On the other side of the world a meeting was taking place in the basement of a bank. Well it looked like a bank, and in fact you could deposit money there and hold accounts. It was not just a bank however. First international bank of New York was a front institution for the UN security council. It was used when the council needed to discuss things best kept from the world as a whole. In this case the results of intercepting an unidentified Bogey over the Aleutian Islands the week before. More specifically what had been decided to be done about it.
A fully autonomous UN task force had been formed, the United Nations Xenobiological Defense Command. This was a team with the mandate to keep unwanted extraterrestrial involvement in the affairs of earth. The twenty nations that were cleared to know about this potential enemy were quite adamant that this battle be as far below the public's perceptions as possible, that they had insisted on a single base and complete operational secrecy, even towards the governments of the nations of the UN that were not a part of this expanded security council. In return the director of this program, a General in the USAF who was officially retiring by the name of Weber, would be allowed to select soldiers from the top military traditions of the entire world. Scientists from the top institutions, including those already working on top secret projects, were made available to the new team. Glances around the table spoke clearly, nobody thought it would be enough.
Monday morning came as it normally did. For all the predictions of doom from the meeting the day before, you couldn't tell the world was in peril. Students went to school, adults went to work, and the world continued oblivious to the recent events. Ami's Monday was less normal. She found herself in a quandary she had never before encountered. Having completed the next two months worth of homework in advance, she found herself reluctant to make further headway into her studies. Thoughts of the last meeting and it's topic weighed heavily on her mind.
It wasn't that she didn't feel it worth preparing for her future, nor did she believe there wouldn't be one. They had faced the end of all they knew before and come out on top. The feeling that the world was on the line fueled their efforts to defend it. They had fought enemies with unknown goals, and powers before. In fact nothing that they knew of made this any different than before, 'so why did Setsuna make such a point of mentioning it,' she mused, 'and why didn't she say when we would be fighting?'
The ringing of the bell to begin class interrupted her thoughts and brought her back to the present. 'I suppose I have enough to do now without borrowing trouble,' was her last comment on the matter before settling in for the morning lessons.
Morning also came to a run-down airstrip in the northwestern United States. The Hanford Nuclear Waste Storage Depot was the most secret base in the American military. What better cover than a site that had to be guarded, but was not safe to visit, or at least that's what they told everyone… Underground was not, as had been published, cylinders of nuclear waste from the decommissioning of cold-war era missiles. Instead a compact facility designed to ensure chain of command during a doomsday scenario was hidden. It had been thought that nobody would bother to target a site that had no outward sign of being useful to anyone.
Chinese Intelligence had not been fooled. It had come as quite a surprise to the American representative of the X-com budget meeting when his Chinese counterpart, a woman named Mei Li, had said that use of the top secret facility as the first base of operations was a requirement for Chinese funding. The cat already out of the bag, and thus the usefulness of the site compromised (it hadn't helped that the Chinese had made this demand in open deliberations and thus revealed the secret to all interested parties) the United States quickly agreed this site would be used for the X-COM HQ.
Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Zheng, Army Corp of Engineers, was a 5 foot 2 inch fourth generation Chineese American. Building things was in his blood. His great-grandfather had come to the United States as a young boy to help build the railroads in the "Great Northwest", his grandfather had built up the cities of Tacoma and Seattle, his father had built bridges and hydroelectric dams, and now he was building anything and everything Uncle Sam required. It was a fine tradition and he was proud to uphold it. It even looked like his eldest son was getting into Aeronautical engineering.
This latest project was interesting. He'd never built an aircraft carrier before, but the massive elevating platforms they used to bring planes to the flight deck were the basis for the work he was doing today. The brass hadn't explained WHY they needed to be able to bring a plane topside from an underground hanger, but then the brass never explained anything. They said dig, and he dug. They hadn't even told him where he was, the drive in being done in a blacked out transport. This sort of treatment screamed "You-Don't-Want-To-Know." In truth, he really didn't care. He was given a set of plans and told to make it a reality. They were pretty posh quarters they were building down there too, almost double the standard barracks size. Whoever pulled this duty assignment was going to be living in the lap of luxury, well for a soldier anyways. Still nobody would be living there until his crew finished building the damn thing.
'I still wish they had given me more time to finish. We are having to cut safety margins to the bone to make the deadline we were handed. I'll grant we're the best, but the last thing I want is for any of my boys to get hurt.' Noticing the large cargo trucks pulling up to the site, he headed off to the inevitable paperwork. 'Another day in the Corp...' he mused to himself.