X-Com – The Unknown Menace
Chapter Four – The Cold Weather Front
February 2nd, 1999
Rocky Mountains, Colorado, US
Another UFO had been forced to land by the second interceptor F-22. After the initial detection by NORAD, Captain Tyrell had scrambled and managed to get a couple of solid hits into the craft, using Phoenix and Amraam missiles, until it had been forcesd to land in the middle of the Oregon wood florest. Again, satellite reconnaissance was down, although Johnson had good maps on the location, and the Washington National Guard, who had established a one-mile perimeter around the UFO to prevent any aliens from escaping, was cordoning off the area. But what worried more Johnson was the craft itself. Instead of being the classic flying saucer or the smaller Apollo type capsule, the type of this UFO had never been encountered before. According to gun-camera photos taken by the F-22, this one had the shape of a Celtic cross and was larger. Which probably mean for a larger crew. God, how many men will die this time, Johnson wandered. While their two previous missions had been a success, with all the aliens killed and the UFOs retrieved, so far casualties had been very high. The best armour available to Earth's forces was like paper tissue to the alien's weapons.
He looked around his seat in the Skyranger. All of the team was wearing standard issue forest uniforms, although it wasn't really known if the aliens saw in the same wavelength as humans, which could make the camouflage useless. His men were apprensive but by now most of them could be called seasoned after having survived two missions against the aliens. The team was arranged into the usual four squads, with himself and King filling up the last remaining slots. Hunt had been left back at the base. The high rate of casualties had forced the team to leave one of its senior members safe, so that in the even of a bad mission the North American team wouldn't become leaderless.
The raid up north to the crash site at Washington State, near Mount Shasta would take them one hour more. Until that time Johnson tried to relax and rest a bit. They would need all their energies in the incoming fight.
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US
"Where did that came from?" General Bigelow asked the officer in charge of the Air Defence board.
"Sir, it probably dropped from space in the Pacific and now it must be heading towards some target near the Mexican border. See its speed? They usually start to desaccelerate near their area of operations, so if we ready an F-22 out of Dreamland, it should get it still in California, before it crosses the international border."
"Very well. Alert Area 51"
Near Catalina Island, Pacific Ocean
A recreational sailing boat was on its way to the archipelago of islands situated in the Los Angeles bay, hoping to get to the port before sunset and the weather front that was about to hit Southern California soon arrived. Suddenly a noise started to be heard by the crew, coming from the west. They looked at that direction but they never managed to see the UFO, only the condensation trail it left on the air. Moving at Mach 5 speed, the craft continued on its intended path to its target.
Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, US
"General? We might have a situation here!"The voice of the controller was apprehensive.
"What is happening?"
"Well the UFO simply disappeared off radar coverage over the Los Angeles metropolitan area."
"It didn't reduce its speed?"
"No, and we have just compared the radar tracks of it with the other ones we have recorded. This fast mover is bigger than anything we ever saw"
"Oh my God!" Bigelow reached for the direct line to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
White House, Washington D.C., US
President Winston was sleeping when the phone on the side table next to his table started ringing. His wife turned to the other side and tried to fall into sleep again. After the third ring he picked it up and answered. He listened to two minutes, and then gave some orders before rushing out of bed.
Skyranger 1, over Washington State, US
Johnson was going through the last minutes instructions and checklist when his radio cracked alive.
"Colonel Johnson, please acknowledge, over"
"This is Johnson. Who is speaking?"
"Just a moment sir. Patching you through to the President"
The President? What was going on? After some sounds in the channel a voice came on.
"Colonel Johnson, this is President Winston. I'm afraid we're having a big problem right now that will require X-Com's assistance."
"What is it, sir?"
"We picked up an UFO that rushed to the Los Angeles area, stayed there for some 15 minutes and afterwards immediately took off again to outer space. We immediately alerted the local authorities. Then, after some minutes, the Los Angeles Police Department started to report some serious gunfight then in downtown LA."
"The aliens?"
"Yes, from what we are receiving they are attacking and killing all people in the area, policemen or not. They have to be stopped Colonel. I've put into federal service the California National Guard and ordered it to try to contain the aliens to the area. We will also try to keep the media out of this, although some television reports of the massacre are starting to came out"
"Very well sir. My team will proceed to LA at once"
"Thank you Colonel and good luck. All forces available at the location are at your disposal. Just stop the aliens. Out"
The radio came dead and he called the pilot.
"Harris, turn this thing towards the direction of LA and get us there as fast as possible. Also call Area 51 and have them connect to me with General Smith and Captain Hunt"
"Yes sir"
After two minutes the radio become alive again.
"Hunt here Colonel. The General is also listening"
"Gentlemen, we are facing a serious situation. The aliens have launched an attack against downtown LA. I'm turning the Skyranger around to respond to it, but I will need reinforcements. General, I need to borrow your fastest plane so that the members of the team left at the base can link with us at LA".
"Colonel, are you nuts? Except for Captain Hunt the other two team members are all rookies. They will be bait for the aliens and you remember the discussions we had about you deploying your full force"
"General I won't discuss this any further. Right now it seems that LA is a war zone and I will need any available asset at my disposal. If you don't like my orders complain to the President"
"Colonel, you will get your plane and your men, but I can assure you that we are going to have a long talk when you get back. Smith out."
"Hunt, load up the troops with the heaviest equipment they can carry. Also bring some of those flares we had decided to use and some spare ammo. We don't know what we will need to take them this time"
"On the double. Hunt out"
Los Angeles, California, US
After a mad rush down the Pacific coast the Skyranger landed on a driveway in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood in the middle of the night. The landing had been rough, because of the rain clouds that had just hit Los Angeles and were dropping their water load over the city. Johnson had decided to find out first what they were dealing with and coordinate his efforts with the local authorities. When they left the craft fully armed they were met by the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Major in charge of the National Guard unit that had been deployed to the scene. Since X-Com was a covert operation they couldn't identify themselves as such, but they had a number of options to choose. Johnson moved forward.
"I'm Colonel Field of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force."
"Glad you arrived. We just didn't knew what else to do" The Chief looked exhausted.
"What is the situation?"
"Well, the terrorists have been confined to the area in front of us. My men are trying to patrol the roads surrounding them, but it's a dangerous duty since they have to get cover to avoid being killed the whole time. Colonel, what are those things? I've been hearing some strange reports from my troops"
Johnson knew this was coming. "Gentlemen, I can only tell you that this will have to remain as a secret for matters of national security. We are taking over the situation now, so just fall back your men to safe positions and avoid confrontation. If we require your assistence I will ask for it, meanwhile, please stay out of the way"
"We are already doing that Colonel. The gunfire you are hearing is not from them"
"What is going on then?"
The Major looked at the Chief, who answered the question:
"Have you ever heard of South Central, LA, Colonel? Well, I couldn't ever think of any reason why a terrorist would attack such a neighbourhood, but that's what they are doing. They just stepped into the territory of some of the nastier gangs that exist in the whole freakin' country. And the boys sure don't like strangers into their territory."
White House, Washington D.C., US
CNN was one of the first networks to report from LA. Winston and his staff were listening to the live coverage. A female reporter was nearby the scene, talking to the camera.
"So far authorities have called it a terrorist attack. The media and everyone else is being forbidden to enter the area and all survivors are being transported to hospitals as quickly as they reach a military control checkpoint, with the police keeping the reporters away from them. But some telephone calls have been received from inhabitants of the area claiming that monsters from outer space are killing everyone. This information has not been yet confirmed by other sources. And, meanwhile, an unknown plane has landed nearby the area, in a sealed off road. Polices sources say that federal forces are taking over the matter, but have refused to provide more information…"
"Let's wish them luck gentlemen," Winston whispered with a sigh.
South Central, LA, California, US
Hunt and the two rookies had been divided into the other squads, reinforcing them. As the team approached the National Guard checkpoint in the middle of the road, they could see a blown up military truck that was being used as a barricade, in the middle of a large avenue. Other wrecked and abandoned cars littered the asphalt, completely blocking the way of any vehicles in or out of the perimeter. As he reached the trooper's line Johnson asked:
"I'm Colonel Field. Who is in charge here?"
A Captain approached them, navigating through the makeshift barricade and careful to keep his head down.
"That would be me sir, Captain Novalis of the California National Guard"
"What's the situation?"
"Well, we have them contained, more or less. Sometimes one of the gang members comes running down the avenue, even shooting at us but we take him down with no problem. The trouble starts when the things appear. They have ray guns or whatever they are, that blow everything in their path"
"Are you talking about 5 or 4 feet tall men?"
"I wouldn't call them exactly "men" sir. But no, those ones are easy to take down if we can spot them on time and concentrate our firepower on them while taking cover. The problem is the machines"
"What machines are you talking about?"
The Captain suddenly become alarmed and looked to the direction of the shootings, his face in terror. "Those ones!"
A sound could be heard from the north, the direction to where the avenue led. As Johnson turned to his right to see what the Captain was talking about, he blinked make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
A low dome had appeared and was slowly coming towards them. He first thought it was some sort of tank, but then as he looked better he saw that it was disk shaped and floated in the air. It looked as if it was an UFO in miniature. Completely polished and smooth, with only a red band on the middle of it.
"Take cover" The Captain called.
The North American team needed no further encouragement. One second afterwards, the machine started to spit balls of green fire that punched big holes in the houses and blew up the cars jammed in front of them.
"Squads, everyone fire at the thing!" Johnson ordered.
"It's useless" The Major replied. "The bullets from our rifles and machine guns have no effect on them"
"Let's try something different then. All men equipped with Cannons switch to HE rounds and fire at the thing!"
After two seconds, on which the cartridges on the weapons were exchanged, a stream of high explosive fire started to come out of the human line. The rounds made big holes in the street and its surroundings. When the first one hit the disk it looked as if it hadn't affected it. The machine kept on firing back, dispersing his firepower towards the different attackers. Then, after some more rounds had hit it, it begun to move backwards.
"It must be damaged. Everyone keep on firing at the thing!"
The remaining members of the team and the National Guardsmen added their weapons firepower. The disk kept on replying, when suddenly, after being hit by an auto cannon round, it stopped spinning. It then dropped like a rock to the asphalt and, after a second, blew into pieces, the noise deafening all humans.
"Jesus Christ! What was that?" Someone asked.
"I don't know, but I hope it was the last one. Sergeant Hopkins, get Big Momma ready. I think we might have some use for her". Although the name of the heavy weapon made it technically a he, everyone on the team had by now adopted the name given by the Sarge. His M72 LAW anti-tank weapon had been replaced by a more advanced M3 Carl Gustav launcher. Unlike the LAW, which was a one shot only weapon, the M3 could be reloaded. "Captain, get on the radio and call for some heavy firepower to be brought down here. All squads move out! Let's get this thing over with".
After clearing the barricade, the team advanced down the avenue carefully on its sides, looking out for possible snipers. After walking one block down they reached an intersection with another major street. Johnson activated the team's radio circuit and talked into his mike.
"Gamma, take the East road. Alpha, the West. Beta take point. Delta and I will follow Beta. If something serious shows up, call for backup. Try to protect any civilians but if they refuse to follow your instructions and fire at you use all necessary force to protect yourselves. King, get yourself to some high place and start reporting what you see." After hearing the instructions the team quickly split into squads and began patrolling their assigned areas.
Captain Hunt and the rest of Alpha team had been moving for some five minutes until they reached an area of low buildings which looked deserted, with only dark coming out of the shop's windows. He made the team stop and checked the situation. Apparently there was no activity so he had the squad moving again, only to make them stop after some seconds when they started smelling a strange scent on the air.
"Captain" Trooper Dennis called "There's a dropped bug up in the front. I'm going to check him". The sectoid was lying against a phone booth on the right side of the street, bleeding profusely of bullet wounds all over his body. The rain was washing, a green trail coming off the alien and travelling over the sidewalk, and moving towards a drain. A gun was lying next to him, the ozone smell still patent, mixing with the foul stench of the alien's inside. "Looks like we might have some help dealing with these creeps"
"Dennis, take cover! We have some movement up front!" Hunt heard the warning from one of his men and rushed to one of the shops on the left side of the street. When he reached it he kicked the door open and checked for possible hostiles while dropping to his knees and turning to face the approachers. All over the street the men of Alpha were imitating him at the same moment, taking positions in both sides.
"Kowalski here. Humans approaching. I repeat, humans, not aliens"
"Everyone hold your fire but stay alert" Who were these people up ahead, Hunt thought.
A group of men slowly appeared under the rain. They were all carrying firearms. Hunt did a quick survey and recognized AK-47 assault rifles, Uzi submachine guns, M-16s and a lot of other rifles and automatic weapons. He knew them all from his training. After the large group approached X-Com's position a bit more, one of them in the center, that was carrying an MP-5 submachine gun, made them all stop and then shouted:
"You know where you are, motherfuckers?"
Hunt replied: "Federal agents! Drop your weapons and leave this location now!"
Their leader, who was only using a tank top, in spite of the rain, and had his arms covered with tattoos. He probably was on the edge of overdosing from whatever drug , Hunt thought, because his eyes and face looked as if possessed by some unnatural strength. He took a step forward and answered: "Kiss my ass, motherfucker! This is our territory! You get in here, you gotta pay. You got something to pay pig? See this is not a place for toy Army soldiers to be at! Ask the little asshole over there. He now knows not to screw with us!"
"You are in danger! Leave this place at once!"
"Did you get me wrong you fucker?"
A new voice interrupted over the radio circuit. "Captain, King here. I'm at the top of the 7th floor parking building in your two o'clock position. I can see some alien movement towards your direction"
Shit, Hunt thought. Not only I have to deal with these idiots but also the bad guys are coming. He turned to warn the gang members "Listen to me! Terrorists are approaching this location. Get outta here now!"
"Say what motherfucker? You think you can give us orders? Why don't you try a taste of this?" He turned the MP-5 into Hunt's direction but never fired. The blast from the alien weapon coming from behind that hit his back answered him, while his face contortioned with pain. He was dead before he crashed into the street. The rest of the gang quickly started firing back in all directions, including X-Com's. The squad hold back their fire and just took cover. More bolts cut some more gang members down, but they just kept firing, the drugs in their metabolisms making them ignore any fear.
Then something unexpected attempted. Hunt watched as one of the gang bangers froze for one second, standing motionless, his eyes staring at a void. He then turned and started firing at his companions. He took down many of them until the remaining ones noticied him and shot back, managing to kill him. The green fire also added to the carnage, cutting down further the members of the gang. "Alpha, move out! Let's try to find them while they deal with the gangsters".
"Captain, this is Johnson. Hold our positions. I'm sending Delta to hit the aliens from the flank. Prepare to move when they hit".
All of the squad waited in impatience while the rest of the gang still kept trying to fight the aliens. Hunt looked. Not only most of them didn't bothered to take cover, but they also were unable to concentrate fire on the locations of the aliens. By now he could see that there were some four aliens, two on each side of the street. He couldn't guess where the ones on his side were, but they must be some five buildings away, he calculated, looking at their fire. More green bolts came, one of them going through the remains of the expositor and melting some of the remaining glass. He ducked back into the wall and tuned into Delta's radio frequency.
"Delta, this is Hunt"
"Garcia here, we are approaching your position"
"There are some four aliens, two on each side of the street. Not many gang members left. The ones in your side are in the first floor of a warehouse, shooting through the windows. Take them. Me and Kowalski will try to keep them occupied."
"Roger"
Hunt moved closer to the window and raised his M4A1 to his shoulder, aiming for the windows of the warehouse.
"Dennis, you and Evans try to find out where the other two aliens are located. Keep your heads low"
Hunt then selected full auto fire mode into his weapon and started shooting. After a second Kowalski joined him. They both fired several bursts until the aliens started to change their fire from the remaining gang members to them. A green ball of fire hit the wall right next to Hunt's position and he felt a jolt of heat on his face.
"Delta, where are you?"
Garcia and the other members of Delta where approaching the department store from its rear section. After locating a fire exit, a kick on the door opened it wide open, the squad members pointing their heavy weapons at the entrance. The noise of the kick was muffled by the explosions and gunfire coming from the parallel street where the confrontation was occurring. They proceeded into the store carefully, checking all corners.
After securing the ground floor, the squad found a set of lifts and a stair.
"Lee, cover the lifts. Anything comes down them you take it down". The new addition to the squad positioned himself. "The rest of us, let's get upstairs to give a hand to Alpha"
"How about if we give ourselves a diversion?" Andrews asked. He went to the lifts and pressed the button to the first floor on one of them. Garcia understood his intentions. By the time the automatic doors were closing, they were already running up the stairs, their cannons ready.
Hunt had to get into cover again. The two aliens were concentrating their fire on him and Kowalski. The other trooper had been already had a scratch wound on its shoulder. He was cursing when suddenly the alien gunfire coming from the store ceased, followed by explosions that could have only come from Delta's cannons.
When Garcia and the other troopers from Delta got to the first floor, the aliens were starting to respond to the movement of the elevator. He saw them moving away from the shattered glass windows and taking cover behind some clothes stand, their weapons trained to the doors of the lift that were opening. Garcia's first shot from his heavy cannon missed the stand and went through the window, exploding to the other side of the street. He corrected his aim and shot at the counter where the aliens were hiding. The explosive round hit the plastic furniture straight on its center and exploded it. Both aliens were thrown backwards without having a chance to react. One of them still managed to get up but a series of AP rounds from Andrews auto cannon brought him down before it even had a change to discharge its rifle.
Hunt's radio cracked: "Garcia here. Two hostiles down in the store."
"Very well, but just don't sit on your butts. There's still another two on the other side of the street"
Hunt looked over the street. All the gang members had been killed or injured. His troopers on the other side were taking cover.
"Dennis, Evans. Have you located them?"
"One of them seems to be in a convenience store fifty yards away from your position. The other one has stopped firing"
"Captain. Garcia here. We have located both buggers. One of them must have been hit by our fire. The other has taken cover on the store. I don't think we can hit it"
"Kowalski, get a grenade ready. On my mark we dash in and take it out of its cover. The rest of you give us cover. If the ET pokes its head out take him"
"Roger"
"Three, two, one. Go!"
Both soldiers got up of their concealed positions and started running down the street, on the direction of the convenience store where the alien was hidden. When they were reaching the entrance gunfire suddenly started coming on their direction and they had to take cover on another store.
"What the fuck?! Who is firing? Delta, hold your fire dammit!"
"Garcia here. None of us in the first floor have fired, but Lee is not responding to my calls."
"Get someone down there to see what is happening and to make him quit firing!" Hunt screamed. "Lee what's your status?!" Hunt kept on barking queries on the radio until an human scream was heard on the channel. He froze for a second, then his training kicked in.
"What is happening there?"
"Andrews here. Garcia took three bullets and he's down, still alive because the Kevlar vest stopped the bullets, but he's going to need some medical attention. Lee shot him when we were coming down. He didn't respond to our demands to put down his weapon so we took him down"
"Did he go nuts? What happened with him?" Hunt then got his answer. He felt a presence on his mind, a foreign consciousness that started to creep him, giving him a cold shiver down his spine. As he was trying to make any sense of it he felt it trying to command his body. He fought the presence, but it kept getting stronger.
"Aarrrrgghhhhhhhhh!" Kowalski looked at him dazzled by what was happening. Hunt could see its arm beginning to move by its own. He then realized who was inside his mind, trying to control his body. Making a over human effort he tried to speak: "Kowalski. Kill. Alien. Now!" The trooper looked at him for a second and pulled the pin off the grenade he was holding. He jumped out of the broken window, approached the door in the next building with caution and threw the grenade into the convenience store. Hunt immediately felt the presence go away. The grenade bounced for some seconds then went off with a bang. Hunt didn't pay attention. He started to feel back his body, to be in touch with the outside world. Then a voice interrupted him.
"Captain, are you all right?" Kowalski was looking at him, his rifle pointing on his direction.
"Yes Kowalsky, I think that now I am, thank you"
"Sir, then could you please then put the pin back into the grenade you are holding?" Hunt looked at his hands. He hadn't noticed that the force that had taken over him had made him pull the pin. Fortunately, the alien had been killed before it had forced Hunt to drop the explosive.
"Yes Kowalski." He disarmed the grenade and then he remembered: "The alien?"
"Blown into pieces sir"
"Very well" He turned into his mike. "Delta and Alpha, let's regroup. Andrews, how is Garcia?"
"I have stopped the bleeding but he needs evacuation right now"
"Can he walk?"
"Yes, he's conscious and swearing as hell. I think I would prefer if he stayed out"
"And Lee?"
"Dead. We had to take him down, since he refused to lay down his weapon and surrender"
"Ok, Andrews, bring Garcia down. Kowalski, you and Garcia head back into the police perimeter to get some medical attention. All the others let's check the gang members to see if there's any survivors".
Kowalski turned to Hunt, still unsure of that his superior was completely recovered from the ordeal: "Captain, what in Earth happened to you, Lee and the gang member that we saw cutting down his comrades?"
"I think the aliens might possess some form of mind control, Kowalski. We need to alert the other squads". He keyed his mike. "Colonel are you there? Over"
While Alpha and Delta where fighting the gang and the group of aliens, Gunny Hopkins was considering the options for his squad. King had given a warning on the radio that he had spotted two of the alien's flying disks approaching Beta's position. He quickly gave orders to the remaining members of the squad to set an ambush on the enemy forces that where approaching.
Beta squad was in an area of low-income houses, in a typical street of the area, with wire fences separating the houses, broken phone booths and walls full of graffiti. Some lights could be seen in the inside of the houses, but overall the place looked deserted and trashed. A lot of vacant parking space told Hopkins that the majority of the people who lived on the street had probably been able to flee the area when the fighting begun. Others weren't so lucky and their bodies still laid on the sidewalk, hit from behind by the alien's weapons as they tried to escape. The stench of burned human flesh was terrible and some abandoned dogs were already feeding themselves on the bodies. Hopkins wanted to drive them away, the repulsion getting to him, but the aliens were just too close. From the indications King had given him, the logical route for the alien machine to enter this urbanized area would be through a side street that connected it to a major avenue on the left. He had set himself and another member of Beta on a front yard where the bushes that made the fence would give them some cover. The other two members of Beta had dashed along the street to set themselves on the other end, with the side street between both teams. When the disk entered the street they would get its attention by shooting at it, at King's signal. Then he would bring Big Momma into action and those damn aliens would see how harsh she spoke when angry.
"Talk to me Jones, what to do you see?"
"Colonel, the gas station looks as good as dead. I can't see any movement"
Johnson had sent Delta to support Alpha some five minutes ago. For now he had no reserve firepower available and while the gas station in front of him looked deserted, he had a creepy feeling going inside him that told him that something might be hidden in there. The aliens must have hit some power lines in this area, because the streetlights were completely out, he thought. And their superior night vision would only give them an advantage that Johnson disliked very much. In front of them, the street they had been walking on for some time ended in a T crossroad some 90 yards away, with a gas station on the top left side of the T. The area again showed signs of urban decay and behind the station he could see what looked like abandoned warehouses. Some cars were still burning on the street, in spite of the rain that now had turned into a small shower, and that was the only light available. He was reluctant to sent a scout ahead because he knew how good the aliens were at picking up the point men. Or worse, they could wait for all of Beta's squad to be out in the open and drop them without any effort or warning to his squad. He was considering if he should call Gamma and Hopkins' Big Momma to give them some real fire support.
"Colonel, I've just picked alien movement at 2 o'clock" King's voice was almost imperceptible. Johnson became tense. They could be heading into a major confrontation and he knew that he was lacking firepower to deal with the situation.
"How many and what's their direction?"
"Two disks. I've lost them now, but they were heading towards Gamma position"
"Warn Hopkins to get ready"
"Yes sir"
"Colonel?" Johnson recognized Rodriguez's accent to the squad's radio channel
"Yes Rodriguez?"
"Sir, me and Jones just had an idea to see what's hiding over there"
"Tell me about it"
"Well, I could get into one of the cars on the street, start it running and sent it over on that direction. The aliens would sure react to it if some one of them is hiding over there"
"And where would you get the keys?"
"No need for that sir"
"Very well, you and Jones start working on that. Me and Parkerson will give you cover."
Both troopers approached a 1970's Cadillac that was parked on the right side of the street. Rodriguez tried the passenger's door and, after seeing it was locked, used the butt of his M4A1 to smash the glass. He then unlocked the door and rushed inside the vehicle, while Jones waited outside, using the door as cover. After some seconds where Johnson couldn't what was happening inside, he began to hear Rodriguez starting up the engine. Johnson worried that the noise would alert the aliens, but no reaction came from the gas station. Rodriguez exited the car and both troopers began to push it to the middle of the street, pointed towards the station. The Hispanic trooper then ripped a long piece of cloth from his uniform and used it to secure the driving wheel, while Jones brought a big rock that was standing in a lawn.
"All ready sir and I've rigged the car with a grenade. When it hits something, the thing will go boom and hopefully take some of them with it"
"Do it then Rodriguez"
"Roger that". He engaged the gear and put the rock on the accelerator pedal while he and Jones begun to move alongside the car, using the open door to give them some cover. Johnson and Parkerson waited with their weapons ready. As the Cadillac was halfway a green light suddenly erupted from one of the windows in the gas station heading towards the car. It hit the vehicle on the front, close to the driver's door, but didn't alter his course or speed.
"Get out of there both of you! Take cover!" Johnson screamed as he and Parkerson begun pouring automatic fire from their weapons. The bullets flew the distance between their position and the alien's and started pocketing the walls and inside of the store with holes. More hellish green fire began to come out of the area, now from other places in the station.
"King here. I've just took down one of them that was on the roof hidden and that started to move when he saw the car. There must be two or three more inside the station". Johnston barely paid him any attention as he was trying to direct his fire in response to the alien's. Another green bolt hit the car on the windscreen and another in the driver's door, now ripping it out of the car. The Cadillac's trajectory begun to change after some seconds it hit a immobile minivan that was near the station and had been burning since they arrived at the scene. The grenade went off some moments later, completely ripping the inside of the car. Johnson was about to start giving orders when he sensed Parkerson on his side suddenly get up and start firing in every direction. He looked at the lieutenant. The man had a livid expression on his face as if he was panicking. "Parkerson, hold your fire dammit! You will hit Jones and Rodriguez if you continue like that!"
The lieutenant simply ignored him and Johnson threw himself on his figure, knocking him down and making him drop his weapon. "What's the matter with you?" We wondered what could have made Parkerson panicking like that, especially since the man had combat experience and never had shown an inclination of losing his control.
"Are you better now?"
"Y….yes s…sir"
"Good. Get your weapon and give me a hand here then!" Johnson then turned into the station's direction and was looked at the situation. The aliens were pretty much trapped into the building, unless it had a back door. He needed to get his men close and use some grenades to dislodge the aliens. He almost disregarded the click of a pistol being armed right next to him. As he turned to look back into the Lieutenant he only saw the barrel of the junior officer's M9 pistol pointed directly at him.
Hopkins only had to wait for some tense seconds until the first alien disk appeared coming off the side street as he had expected it to. The second disk was nowhere to be seen and he decided to wait. "Everyone hold your fire and stay put!" The disk had stopped in the middle of the street and Hopkins could imagine it to be assessing the situation. After some tense seconds it started to move again, this time in his direction. "Shit!" He thought. In a few more seconds it would get too close to him and Taylor, who were hidden behind a passenger car. He only had one option.
He clicked his squad's channel. "Deck, Miller, get his attention". Both troopers started firing at the disk from their concealed positions at the Sarge's order. When the first bullets hit the machine it stopped moving, as if it was assessing the threat. Hopkins could see it through the aiming sight of Big Momma, simply ignoring Beta's automatic fire as if it had no effect on it. He trained the weapon into it and checked the range: 60 yards. A bit too close for what he would have liked, but still inside the minimum safety range. He pressed the trigger while shouting to Taylor to duck.
The 84-milimeter rocket ignited and flew out of the M3 launcher taking less than a second to hit the disk. When the shaped charged warhead it the alien machine it moulded itself for a millisecond on its surface before igniting. The explosion whooshed over the area and for one second the disk looked as if it was still operating, before it suddenly dropped off the air and hit the asphalt making a clank sound. Hopkins raised his head to see it better. It looked the rocket had penetrated the inside of the disk and wrecked it. But what about the second one?
Johnson thought that he was going to die when suddenly Parkerson's head exploded as a 7.62 caliber bullet crossed his skull from one ear to another, with blood and pieces of his brain coming out the exit wound. The lieutenant's body dropped to the ground, lifeless. Johnson was speechless for one second, the shock of seeing the pistol's barrel so close paralysing him. Until a voice on his radio brought him back to reality.
"Colonel, are you all right? What happened?"
"King, did you dropped the lieutenant?"
"Yes sir. I had noticed him when he went into bezerk and started firing everywhere. When you decked him I kept paying attention and as I saw him taking his pistol out of the holster and starting to point it at you I took him down as fast as I could"
"Thank you King. I don't know what happened to him, but you saved my life". A new voice came into the channel: "Rodriguez here! Jones just dropped his weapon and started running away!"
"What the fuck is going on?" Johnson swore, feeling that the situation was getting out of his control. A blast nearby his position told him what he needed to do, to get his priorities straight. First the damned aliens on the gas station. Then they would discover about the rest. He looked at the place. There were still aliens inside, and while they must be trapped he also now couldn't just storm the place because half of Gamma squad was dead or missing. If Hopkins was here they could just send him a rocket and blew the place apart. But he hadn't communicated since when the disks had been seen approaching his position so he assumed that he could be also in trouble or with his hands too occupied. Then Johnson had an idea. He started ordering his men as he pointed his rifle.
"King, Rodriguez, start firing on the gas hoses. Make them blew up!" The string of automatic fire from X-Com changed from the inside of the station to the gas meters outside. After a few seconds one of them began spitting gas. A spark from one of the bullets hitting the pavement did the rest. The fire quickly spread in the gasoline that was pouring out of the meters. When the flames hit the underground deposit tank the whole place went up in a massive explosion, with the shockwave throwing cars around and making Rodriguez fall into the ground. While Johnson was wait enough to not be affected by it, he still could feel the heat of the explosion as it expanded across the air, despite the light mist that was still in the area.
"Jesus Christ!" King had left his mike opened. "Anyone cares for some roasted alien for supper?"
"I sincerely hope none of them managed to get out of that inferno alive" Johnson added. "Rodriguez link up with me. Let's try to find Jones or its remains"
The second disk suddenly appeared on the air out of nowhere, near Deck and Miller's concealed position, and positioned itself over the house where both troopers had taken cover. Hopkins tried to give a warning in the radio but it was too late. He couldn't either use Big Momma since the thing didn't had any rocket loaded into it and the thing was too close to his men. He saw a green fireball coming out of a concealed weapon on his surface and hitting the area behind the fence where both troops were hidden. Gunfire started coming from that position and hitting the disk but it had no effect on it. After a second fireball had left the machine and hit the same area, the firing stopped. Hopkins didn't waste time mourning the loss of his men. He picked up another rocket and reloaded Big Momma.
Meanwhile the second disk was already moving in the air, heading towards their position. Taylor suddenly got up, dropped his weapon and started running in panic towards the door of the house behind them. "Taylor, get back here dammit!" Hopkins barked.
He never made it into the porch. The disk stopped its motion and let loose another ball of green death that hit him in the back. The energy of the beam consumed the Kevlar vest of Taylor and his back, killing him instantly.
Hopkins looked at the thing, feeling that he was losing his control also. He took a deep breath and his motions went into automatic mode. Looking through the gun sight he checked the range, 35 yards and closing. His fingers released the safety and he gave a last look at the distance: 12 yards, almost inside minimum range. He then pressed the trigger, the blasts of the alien machine rocketing the car and almost making him miss his target.
The rocket barely had time to arm itself before it hit the disk. Hopkins tried to duck, but a world of light, heat and noise took him over and he passed out into the darkness.
By the time Johnson and Rodriguez had linked up they saw Jones coming out behind a garage building. Johnson ordered him to halt with his weapon trained on him before he arrived.
"What's the matter Colonel? It's me for Christ sake!"
"What happened back there trooper?"
"I don't know sir. I suddenly felt this panic that I couldn't control. Never in my years of service have I felt something like that"
"Are you all right now?"
"Well yes, I think so"
"We will talk about this later at the base then. Get your weapon and help out Garcia going through the remains of the station to see what we can salvage"
"Yessir". As Jones was walking back to his position to retrieve his weapon, Johnson's earphone become alive with a radio transmission.
"Colonel are you there? Over"
"I'm here Hunt. What's going on there?"
"All the aliens here are dead. And a lot of gang bangers also. We also lost Lee and Kowalski and Garcia are injured."
"Three casualties? What happened?"
"Sir, this will sound strange, and I hardly believe it myself, but the aliens seemed to be able to exert mind control on us. Lee just suddenly starting firing at us with no apparent reason. Garcia was luckily his bullet proof vest absorbed most of the energy of the shots but he still got hurt badly and was bitching as hell when I sent him back"
Johnson thought about it for a second and answered back :"After Parkerson tried to kill me here with no apparent reason also I'm a bit more open to that explanation than I would normally be, Hunt. But this will have to be discussed in debriefing, now we still have a job to do".
"Very well, sir. What's your orders?"
"Do a final sweep of the area and then fall back to the perimeter line."
"Yes sir. Colonel, any word from Gamma?"
"No" He chose the squad's frequency on his radio "Hopkins are you there?" The only answer to Johnson's call was silence.
February 3rd, 1999
The White House, Washington D.C., US
It had taken near ten hours of fighting to clear South Central of the aliens. But after X-Com's intervention, the Army had finally be able to deal with the few remaining aliens. A full brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division had been emergently deployed to the area and was now finishing the clean up, together with the LAPD and the National Guard units already deployed to the scene. The X-Com North American team was on its way back to Area 51 and Winston had already given his gratefulness to Colonel Johnson's actions and help, and his regrets for his lost men and women.
But the problems weren't by any chance near their end. Besides the military and police casualties there were the deaths of civilians. Hundreds, possibly thousands of inhabitants of the area had been killed, the majority of them simply gunned down by the aliens while trying to escape. The others had tried to put up some resistance, but their efforts had been unsuccessful. As he was looking through the television scenes together with its staff, Winston was numb, incapable of showing any reaction. A female reporter, her hair and makeup showing the number of hours that she must have been awaken up, was making a live transmission just outside the containment perimeter.
"So far the number of casualties is growing. We got word that all hospitals in the LA and Orange County area have been warned to receive large numbers of injured. Military authorities in the area are calling it the worst terrorist attack in the United States. But some of the survivors claim that this was an extraterrestrial invasion, no matter how absurd that claim might sound." After a second, the image of the female reporter was replaced by the one of a survivor. He was a man on his middle thirties that was wearing a rag around his head to cover an injury. The blood had ran down the side of this head and had made a large stain on his shirt at his shoulder. He was still in a state of shock and was speaking very fast.
"They just started coming down the street and shooting at everybody! They would go from house to house and kill everyone! And when we tried to run they just kept shooting!"
"Sir who were they?" The reporter's voice asked.
"Monsters! Extraterrestrials! Like the pictures of the ones who come on National Enquirer! Small with big black eyes! And their UFOs were also there shooting at people!"
Winston decided he had enough and turned the television set off.
"Sir, I just talked to the Army Commander at the scene" The Chairman of the JCS cut through the silence "He reports all the aliens have been terminated. Cleanup operations are starting right now"
"Casualties?"
"Too early to know for sure. They estimate thousands"
"And things will only get worse from here" The voice of the Adviser for National Security cut in.
"We all know that Candace, but we had no choice"
"In any case sir, we need to take measures to deal with the threat this represents. We need to distract the media from it"
"And who do we do that?"
"We offer them a logical explanation for what people think they saw. Link this to the end of the millennium and how people are getting anxious about it. Blame it to some extreme Arab group. It will be easier for the ordinary people to accept that than to acknowledge that aliens exist and that they are a threat to us. See the mention he made to the tabloid press? Normal folks will look at him thinking that he just got too addicted into conspiracy theories."
"And what when other events like this happen?"
"Sir, you know my opinion on the course of action that the UN decided to undertake. Not only this escalation could get into out of control proportions but we are also endangering our national security, by allowing X-Com to have so much access to our resources."
"I already know your opinion Candace, and quite frankly, I would still make the same choice of signing the X-Com pact today. Our regular forces aren't prepared to deal with such a situation."
"Nothing that couldn't be changed Mr. President"
"This discussion is meaningless. Right now we have a very political and emergency situation to deal with"
Area 51, Nevada, US
Johnson was still extremely tired. He had barely managed to get a few hours of sleep in the time after the arrival of the team at the base. He had been ordered by Commander Illyuschenko to present afterwards a full report on the engagement and he was about to do it right now by videoconference on the reunions room, together with Hunt. The electronic wall of the conference become lit and the half body figure of Illyuschenko appeared. They now all were X-Com uniforms, composed of black pants and jacket. Illyuschenko looked more sombre than ever on that suit. His salt and pepper hair gave him the look of experience and someone who looked at him from behind might have been fooled into thinking he was starting to be off his prime. But his blue Slavic eyes told exactly the opposite, carrying an immense will and power. On neck collar a simple insignia denoted his rank in X-Com. A mixture of a skull and the letter X, it had been personally designed by Illyuschenko and marked him as supreme military commander of the force.
"Colonel, I know this is hard to do right now and I'm sorry for the loss of your men, but your initial report said some disturbing things"
"Yes General, pardon me, Commander. Captain Hunt and me strongly believe that the aliens have powers that allow them to panic our forces and even take mind control of humans. We had to kill two of our men because they suddenly started firing at us. And if they were previous infiltrators they could have done it in more suitable conditions that would probably make their actions undiscovered and blameable to alien action"
"I see."
"Captain Hunt says that he was affected to, but that when the only alien still alive on the scene was killed the interference he felt on his head disappeared. I've talked to Dr. Mantell about it. He will look at the remains of the aliens we brought back to see if there's some biological proof to that"
"But not all the aliens seem to present that ability it would seem them. It was the first time X-Com ever encountered anything like that"
"That is true sir"
"Very well, I shall issue warnings to all the teams. What about your losses?"
Johnson looked at Hunt, who was the responsible for the operations. The Captain sighted and started speaking.
"We had five men killed in action and three others injured. Gamma team was almost wiped out, with Sergeant Hopkins being the only survivor, although he has suffered burns and blacked out because he discharged his rocket launcher a bit too close. They still managed to kill two of the alien's cybernetic disks. Lieutenant Parkerson and Trooper Lee had to be put down by our own forces." He paused a bit "And two other men got injured, although one of them will be able to come back to active duty in a few days. Overall we only have ten men available right now, and that's including the Colonel and myself. I've started the recruitment procedures to fill up the losses, but it might take a full week before we are operational"
"What will you need from me?"
"Sir, we need better protection for our troops. Otherwise we are just sending cannon fodder on missions"
"I got a report from Dr. Chevereux a couple of days ago. Apparently his team have managed to figure out the composition of the materials that the aliens use. He said that he might be able to develop metallurgical methods to work the alloys into some form of body protection"
"That would be excellent sir. If those metals allow them to travel into space, they might also give us more protection against the weapons they use"
"That reminds me of the second part of his report. They have disassembled some of their weapons and are trying to figure them out, but so far they have no clue of how or where they should start."
"Protection for now will do fine sir. The sectoids and the disks can be killed by Earth weapons." The Colonel added. "But we don't know what surprises they still have so we need to be prepared to deal with them"
"Very well. Captain, now I have an assignment for you. After you are done with that I want you to present yourself to the new North American base. I just got off the phone with the UN Secretary who had before been talking to your President. Mr. Winston expressed him the need to activate the second North American team. And, quite frankly I agree with him, since the installations at the Appalachian Mountains are near complete".
Johnson was hearing it and didn't like that they hadn't asked for his opinion on that.
"Sir, if I might ask, who will command that base? I don't think Captain Hunt has enough experience for it, no offence meant there Hunt, even if he's a fine executive officer"
"I agree with that judgement Colonel, that's why your government proposed another officer to be responsible for it. They want it to be as fully operational as possible. The attack on LA scared a lot of people."
"And who is he?"
"Colonel Jackson of the your 101st Air Assault Division". Shit, Johnson thought. While he had heard of Jackson's reputation during the Gulf War when he was still a Captain, he also thought the men's actions were a bit reckless. And on this war they didn't have a military advantage like against the Iraqis.
"Sir, I don't know if he has the necessary attitude for this type of assignment"
"Colonel, as you know it's up to the national governments to propose military officers for the command of each base. While I can and will refuse the offers, if I strongly object the quality of the men sent to me, there's no reason to get ourselves involved into political arguments with our sponsors"
"But in his case his reputation precedes him, sir, if you're not aware"
"My reputation preceded me when I got picked for this job. I've seen Colonel's Jackson file and he seems to have all the necessary skills."
"Still, I wish to make an objection, sir"
"It will be taken into account. Anything else?"
"Sir, please consider it"
"Let me tell you what I'm considering right now, Colonel. About three days ago the Russian X-Com team successfully recovered its first UFO. You have seen the report. What you don't know is that the team of Colonel Boronin almost got itself into an armed confrontation with the forces of my country that were sent to help out the operation. As he told me, they were adamant in keeping possession of the UFO and tried to move it to another place. He only managed to resolve the situation, by, like you Americans say, making a bluff and telling my nation's forces that the craft was highly unstable and could explode if there weren't taken necessary precaution measures"
"Sir, I didn't knew that"
"I'm telling you this to let both of you know that political interference is already going over the limit of what I would have wished. Every damn country has its own demands and agenda, and some of them conflict ours. Now, although this man is a Cold War hardliner and with no doubt was chosen because of that, he is capable of the mission. If we start bickering about it, pretty soon you will find out that your armed forces may not be as cooperative as they were before"
"I apologize then, sir"
"Don't. It isn't necessary. My job is to deal with this sort of situation. Yours is getting your team ready and to help win this war"
February 4th, 1999
Mother One, Black Florest, Germany
The German government had given to the European X-Com's team complete control over a secret research facility located in the middle of the Black Florest. It had taken more than two months to equip it with the necessary accommodations for the military team, but the scientific elements of the unit where already in place and feverously working on the pieces of equipment retrieved from the initial crash sites in North America. The arrival of Dr. Chevereux had merely galvanized them more, if not for his work methods, which Eva Johannes thought they were almost tyrannical. Still he could listen to arguments and agree on them.
She had been invited to be a part of the team right after the Geneva summit, which she had immediately accepted. She didn't have yet much research experience because she had only finished her doctorate a couple of years ago in Particle Physics on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Still, she had been the number one student at her class in University and had finished her doctorate with one of the highest grades. They probably had picked her up also because she was young and open to new ideas. Which she desperately needed at the moment, because the alien technology didn't make any sense to human science.
The general consensus in the team about the role of the metal cylinders found on the UFOs was that they should be the propulsion system. But after disassembling one of them they discovered that there weren't any mechanical devices like the ones found on engines on Earth. Which mean that the energy generated by them should be some sort of anti-gravity system. They even had a clue about what was the source of the power: the golden crystals found in one of the sections of the engine. They had been also found inside what seemed to be the ammunition containers for each alien weapon. Still, they were waiting for the results of the examples sent to several research physics and chemistry labs all over the world to determine what were the crystals made of.
And that's what all the team was now doing. Dr. Chevereux had just received the results and had call of them for a presentation in one of the base's laboratories.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that the golden material has been identified by our colleagues at the Los Alamos Research Lab in America and CERN at Switzerland. They were most anxious to know where it had came from but I managed to convince them it had been found in a natural status, which as you will see might be a bit unreal but its better than the real explanation" He paused. "As we had suspected but didn't have here the necessary equipment to prove it, it is a super heavy element, not found naturally on Earth and, to be even more strange, it is in a pure form, with no other elements."
"That is impossible!" Someone cried out
"If you recall it, the theory predicts that after a certain point in the periodic table these elements become stable and not decay immediately into lighter elements"
"Yes, but so far we have only managed to make a few atoms of those in lab conditions and it is months of work. It would have to be something completely heavier than we know right now"
"Actually no. The element present here is Ununpentium, that occupies the 115th position on the periodic table of elements."
"But scientists have already fabricated atoms of it and it quickly decays into lighter elements" The scientist argued.
"Yes, true. But in this case the atomic mass, or the number of neutrons it possesses, is different from the one that we artificially manufactured at a lab on Earth. And it has some chemical qualities that make it akin to carbon, which explains its ability to form perfect crystals."
"Do they have any indication on how it does release energy to move the craft or to fire weapons?" Eva asked.
"None. That's for you to discover. Somewhere on ununpentium lays the key to the human race survival and the conquest of the stars"
February 5th, 1999
London, United Kingdom
Number Two looked at the Thames River from the window at his office for a brief moment then considered his plan. While the X-Com's operation against the alien terrorist raid had seemed to please the faction that was against the force because of the heavy casualties it had suffered he saw things different. They had only proven to him again the validity of his plan, although they were too blind to see. If the problems with the quality of X-Com's equipment not matching up with the aliens could be resolved, or at least a bit minimized, the team could stand up better against the aliens and not suffer so much attrition.
But it would have to be done in such a way that could never be discovered by the Group. If they knew of X-Com receiving foreign assistance all eyes would be turned on him and he would be discovered immediately and killed.
February 10th, 1999
Area 51, Nevada, US
While waiting for Williams to disembark the jet plane that had brought him from Washington at his request, Johnson thought if the intelligence officer could be trusted. Although he still disliked the man's presence and his functions he tried to refrain from showing them and not letting them disturb his best judgement. He felt the man could be trusted, even if he might kept things a secret from Johnson as he pleased. Williams unbounded the craft and joined Johnson on the tarmac.
"Good to see you Colonel" He extended his right hand.
"Welcome back to Area 51 Mr. Williams" Johnson took it, still unsure of his decision to inform Williams of what had happened the day before. "This way please and let's get this done with".
Five minutes later they were into one of the underground cargo stores of the base. Johnson being careful to check if anyone was following their path. They were joined by Dr. Mantell a couple of minutes later. Williams was puzzled about the place for the meeting for a second but then he realized that something important had come up and Johnson wanted to make sure no one was listening.
"Mr. Williams, yesterday Dr. Mantell was approached by a stranger as he took a trip to the town of Nellis"
"Didn't he had a security escort?!"
"Yes he had, but he never actually saw the stranger, only took knowledge of his messages"
"What do you mean?"
"If I might," Mantell started "When me and the two escorts went to have lunch at a restaurant I noticed something written on my menu that intrigued me. It said, written in almost imperceptible letters, with every phrase written between items on the menu: "Package under your seat with valuable data. Don't tell anyone of how you got it. If you want to stay safe."
"What did you do?"
"I ignored it, thinking it was some sort of prank. We ordered and the food came, with nothing extraordinary happening. But when I got to see the bottom of the plate, after eating it off the food, there was another writing on it. It said: "It is not a joke!" When I saw that I dropped my arm and pretended to pick up something off the floor. But I instead reached underneath my chair. There was a package there"
"Jesus Christ, and you have no idea of who gave it to you?"
"No, I doubt the waitress had anything to do with it"
"What did you do?"
"I pulled it off and dropped it into a bag full of things I had been shopping in the town. I only opened it when I later reached my quarters"
"What did it contained?"
"A set of papers relating to laser technology"
"That's nothing extraordinary, we can make lasers for decades"
"Not this type of laser. If the theoretical assumptions are correct on the documents I received, we can make a laser powerful enough to be discharged in Earth's atmosphere and carry its destructive energy for miles"
"That was the one concept of Star Wars. The Russians have already managed to do that"
"But by having to use major installations and an immense use of electrical power. What this papers point out is solutions on how to built a laser that could be portable"
"That is unbelievable" Williams's mind was getting into full gear with what he was listening.
"Like I said, we are still checking the theory"
"We?"
"My scientific staff"
"They know about it already?"
"Only the technical aspects of it. I presented them with the basic theory and nothing else. Told them I had another one of my mad ideas. Some were thrilled; the majority thought it was the more usual wild goose chase. They are actually recreating all the work being done for those papers, but without knowing. It is a bit like to be teaching. When they are in doubt or error, you make then think again without telling the answer. They usually find the mistake in their logic and correct it"
"I still think that you should have waited. Who is this mysterious friend that suddenly has appeared? For whom does he or she work for?"
"Mr Williams", Johnson interrupted, "Dr. Mantell consulted with me first and I agreed with his suggestions. So far only the three of us know about this, plus Commander Illyuschenko. And if this works my troopers will be better equipped to deal with the aliens. Besides, if someone is helping us, why should we question it? I have better things to do than to play spy games, like winning a war for instance!" He was starting to feel a bit angry.
"Colonel, I too wish to win this war, but there's more here than appears to the eye, even for us spies. We might one day be at the brink of winning the war military only to discover later that they have won it in a scale what we didn't imagine. Why would someone in Earth possess such important information and it had never come out to public before?" And then it hit Williams straight on the head. Because someone had a deep interest in keeping Earth away from that technology the same way I tried to conceal the alien's operations for decades! Which meant that they had established contact with human society before and probably both sides still are interacting. But why releasing such information now?
"Mr. Williams are you all right?"
"I just came up with a most disturbing thought gentlemen. Unfortunately I can't share it with you for now. Like you said, you have better things to do than to play spy games. Those are for me."
André Galvão, 2001