XCOM: The Unknown Menace

by Hobbes

This is my take on the story of the First Alien War (1999-2003), following the plot of UFO Defense. THE STORY IS COMPLETE - Warning: Some of the reviews contain major spoilers!

6. Small Cat, Bug Mice

X-Com – The Unknown Menace

Chapter Five – Small Cat, Bug Mice

February 12th, 1999

New York City, US

The redaction room of the New York Times was almost deserted at two o'clock in the morning, but Evan Blake didn't care too much about company or how late it was. He had been assigned to cover the terrorist attack on Los Angeles the week before, but so far he had come up with almost a complete blank relating to the subject. The whole area was still being cordoned off by the military, on the basis of the possible existence of chemical weapons being left over by the terrorists. While the justification seemed to please most people around, Blake wasn't fully satisfied by it. He had flow the day after the attack to the city and talked to inhabitants of the area who had given him terrifying stories about extraterrestrials and their war machines, in a way that reminded Blake of the descriptions made by H.G. Wells on his novel War of the Worlds. While the victims he interrogated were still in a state of shock and their accounts could be easily dismissed, others were more disturbing. A couple of connections on the LAPD and the California National Guard had admitted, off the record, that there had been some strange events that night but declined to further comment on the issue, claiming matters of national security. He had also been informed that a special anti-terrorist task team had deal with the attackers and that the aircraft were they arrived and their weapons where something never been seen by the government officials involved. Later inquiries with the Department of Defence, FBI, The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and DEA had come to zero, with all agencies denying the existence of such a force. From where was that team then, he asked. And where did they go afterwards?

He adjusted his glasses and looked at the computer monitor in front of him. Two military officers could be seen outside a jet aircraft the likes of which Blake had never seen on his career. Other images showed men helping out wounded comrades board the aircraft, which was parked on a regular street, carrying some strange looking weapons. He had their existence confirmed on film. Although there wasn't any pictures or footage of the attackers, since all had been confiscated by the military or the folks in the area had been too busy surviving than having the time to take a photo, a news crew from a local television station had filmed the departure of the team. It had been aired, but in the middle of all the confusion surrounding the attack, the media and the public had simply looked at it with no greater significance. Even his editor had dismissed the images, telling Blake to worry more about next day's paper and not to pay attention to crackpot alien stories.

But there was more to the eye here than it seemed, Blake had decided. The news agencies and the media in general hadn't really picked up the subject yet, but the Web was full of reports of UFOs all over the world. The subject had been deemed with a mere curiosity from the media, as a last resort measure to fill up the remaining spot in a news program or a small article in the last page of the paper. But they were pilling up and this just seemed like more than tabloid press stuff.

When his computer beeped, letting him know that he had just received an email, Blake let go of a comment: "It was about time!" None of the few reporters in the huge room care to take notice of it. At that hour in the night if you were in the room it meant a huge amount of work to be done and everyone was well familiar with the occasional moments of desperation.

He had sent the images to a friend he had on the Department of Defence in order to get an identification of the military and weapons involved. Now the reply had arrived, it seemed. He used the mouse to open the email and took a deep look at the monitor. It read:

"From: magicdragon@rocketmail.com

Date: Friday, February 12th, 1999

To: eblake@nytimes.com

 Subject: Take a look at our web pages – Completely free!

Evan,

I've checked the items you have sent me against available records. I could have gotten myself into a lot of trouble, so next time don't even ask for it. The craft present in the pictures have been identified as a Yak-155 Skyranger, the latest Russian transport aircraft, capable of vertical take-off and landing. It isn't supposed to be in service yet. And both the large weapons are latest Russian personal infantry cannons. The white circle with a red X that was visible on the craft painted on its side wasn't been identified as any known insignia of any army or unit.

One of the two officers in the images has been positively identified as Colonel Erwin Johnson, of the US Army. He is a Green Beret Special Forces operative, with a tour of duty that includes Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, Somalia and Bosnia. Last information available reported him as being the executive officer of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, presently based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky. The other officer is Lieutenant Leonard Hunt, of the Navy SEALs, assigned to the unit based on San Diego Naval Base. His insignia of Captain on the photo suggests he's been attached to an Army or Air Force unit and have been given the correspondent rank on those services.

K."

Well, well, well, what have we got here, Blake asked. Two elite American officers leading into combat an unknown military force equipped with Russian equipment? How and why did that happened? After a moment of thought Blake picked up the phone. He made one call; got the number he wanted from the operator and then made another to Fort Campbell. After some seconds the connection was established an a female voice appeared on the other side of the line:

"Fort Campbell main desk, how can I help you?"

"Good evening, I was trying to reach Colonel Johnson. We have did service together a couple of years ago, and I just arrived at Memphis. I would like to try to see him again"

"Colonel Johnson is not at the base right now, sir"

"I see, well will he be back tomorrow or is there a way to contact him? I'm staying for the weekend"

"Sir, Colonel Johnson is on extended leave. I'm sorry but I can't provide you with more details about his location at the moment. But I can take a message for him if you want"

"Well, in that case, don't worry. I will try to get in contact with him later. Thank you very much, good night" Blake then hang up the phone, after knowing all he wanted.

"What is going on here? Where are you Colonel and what are you up to? An unofficial operation using Russian hardware on US soil? That will sure need some serious explanation tomorrow. Better yet, on Monday". Blake then turned off his computer and went home to get some deserved sleep.

February 17th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Commander Illyuschenko remembered some of the old Communist party officials and for a moment, wished that they were here. Dealing with Dr. Chevereux had proven to be a task a little harder than impossible. Although he was willing to bend his ideas sometimes and admit he was wrong, that only happened through a very detailed, precise logic, or at nearly gunpoint. While Illyuschenko didn't have to bring out his handgun anymore after his recruitment of Chevereux for the team, he sure had felt the need a couple of times since the Doctor had moved to Mother One.

"I'm telling you Commander, my engineers and scientists can't be working at three projects at the same time!"

"Dr. Chevereux, we desperately need both the advanced armour and the new laser weapons at the same time! You have seen the casualty rate of the Los Angeles mission. We can't sustain more heavy losses like that!"

The doctor simply shook his head. "We need to maintain the Elerium research. This element can revolutionize Earth's science! It can close the gap between our and theirs technology!"

"That won't do us a good damn thing if we only learn how to use it at the moment of our defeat sir!"

"You have seen the evaluation and progress reports. The next planned experiment will sure allow us to test our theories."

"And how many more reports will it take until you finally know for what good is that thing? And after that, how many more reports until it has some practical use?"
"Science is slow bringing answers, Commander"

"Yes, but in some areas the advances can come quickly. You have almost actually recreated the alien alloys, but suddenly you removed most of the scientists and assigned them to Elerium research. And when the first laser papers came from Area 51 you hardly paid attention to them."

"The basic research is done. We only need now to test it and start building prototypes"

"Which you hadn't so far, leaving our troopers under gunned!"

"Commander, from what I know, our weapons can kill the aliens"

"And theirs can also kill us, but more easily!"

They both paused, Illyuschenko taking a pause to look around on his office, and hoping for the discussion to have an end.

"General?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"I know about the men who are on the base infirmary still, after their first mission, with burned limbs. If you agree I will augment the research of protection, and afterwards direct the scientists to weapons. But I will also retain a valuable part of our resources directed to physics and Elerium."

Although an agnostic, Illyuschenko thought about heaven and said a blessing.

February 19th, 1999

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia, US

Williams was having a bad time knowing who to trust with the information he had just learned about the existence of an Earth undercover movement that had been hiding the aliens existence for decades, if not more. The whole thing looked to him as the perfect surprise attack. Before moving your military units you took over of the enemy's intelligence services, confusing them to hide your real intentions. In the intelligence business that was a well-known tactic, to slip false information to confuse the enemy's assessments and evaluation of your own plans.

In this case it was much worse. The existence of such a wide cover-up could only mean that all of the intelligence and military agencies were infiltrated at a very high level. While the leadership of the CIA or the NSA or even the Pentagon might not be directly involved, the men in charge relied on their subordinate's work to make decisions. Which meant that this could not be dealt with in the official and proper channels. The power of the conspirators would be more than enough to eliminate any threat to them and silence the delators before they could even prove anything. Williams suddenly realized that his life, and the ones of the men assembled in front of him, was already in danger just for knowing the existence of the traitors. But his assessment team would not know for now the full implications of his discovery. Their work would still be based on the assumption that there was an alien infiltration of human society. They just wouldn't know that a group of humans were actively dealing with the aliens for decades, possibly centuries, with a secret agenda to the rest of mankind.

But the release of the laser technology showed also one thing: there must be different factions inside this secret group and that one of them had decided to give X-Com's a hand. But for what purpose? Williams couldn't just believe that they had turned suddenly sympathetic towards their fellow humans. A conspiracy of such an order would have mean that those men were ruthless, possessing a cold logic and not letting such feelings interfere. But the incident also assured him that the aliens weren't in charge of the group through their mind control powers. Although there might be some influence by them, if they had full control it was highly unlikely that such an event would pass undiscovered and the traitors punished. Unless, of course, there was also different factions between the aliens, some opposed to the war. Stop! This speculation is meaningless unless it can be supported with evidence, he thought.

He had decided that first he needed to spot out any infiltrators in the evaluation team. And also that he couldn't trust his superiors. The book said that he should have informed his superior, the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, but the implications of his discovery had pointed him as one of the most likely suspects since he reported to the Director of Central Intelligence and thus, to the President itself. The other members of the committee were also considered by Williams as untrustworthy. The entire team gathered all the intelligence work of the several agencies into several research areas. They decided what information was important and what could be dismissed. Which put them as most likely suspects, but the list was already too big.

The idea of alien infiltration had been mainly dismissed by his superiors, claiming that they didn't saw ET's walking down the street and taking pictures of Capitol Hill. But the recent data from Los Angeles regarding the aliens' psionic powers had suddenly given it a lot of credibility. The footage taken from the X-Com's team helmet cameras had more than impressed everyone who saw it. The first measure taken had been to deploy a fully equipped armoured brigade to the outskirts of Washington, along with an F-15C Eagle fighter squadron to Andrews AFB and full time protection for all major governmental officials. It had been decided that the danger of alien abduction and brain washing had suddenly become too real.

MacAllister's face showed just that. They were both in Williams' office at the CIA headquarters and he had just finished seeing the footage of Colonel Johnson's camera, the image of Lt. Parkenson's face impressing the DIA men with its void eyes at the moment he was attacking the Colonel. And the bullet from Jones that stopped it.

"Yikes. This ain't good Williams"

"I know. The DCI and the Chairman are already informed, and a full briefing is scheduled for tomorrow with the President and other superior officers"

"We could be in serious trouble. The abduction reports we have received show that the aliens must have some sort of suppression memory for the abductees. With both of them combined, they could order any man to do their commands and afterwards have the memory erased."

"Well, it actually isn't that problematic. The debriefing from the LA engagement shows that they need to be close in order to actually control anyone. That doesn't bode well for espionage operations. If they wanted to control anyone inside Langley they would actually have to get inside and it seems highly unlikely, at least since the conflict has started, that they would be able to do that"

"Yes, but still we have to take it into account this factor"

"Yes, that's why I fully supported the recommendation of the National Security Adviser, when she was informed of the problem, for an investigation into our intelligence and military circles. The President should authorize the decision when he is briefed on the subject".

"Very well" MacAllister paused for a minute and then asked: "Why isn't the rest of the team here Williams?"

"I will be meeting each one of them separately on the afternoon to show them what you just seen and to give them their instructions about the investigation"

"Their instructions about the investigation? Shouldn't this be assigned to the FBI in the civil investigations and to the Defence Security Service in the military?"

"My recommendation is that each agency conduct its own enquiries about the other."

"You are nuts man!"

"From what we know, we could have mole agents lurking around these same corridors, with them not knowing that they are working for the aliens agenda. If they have been undetected for years, it means that they know our investigation procedures and that they will be useless on this case. Which means we will have to bypass the normal channels and procedures"

"But this is impossible to achieve. Interagency rivalry will only hamper the investigations. Everyone hates internal affairs folks, and if they are from another organization, the feelings get even worse"

"They will just have to understand"

"And you think Congress will understand? The CIA Act passed by the Hill specifically states that the Agency is forbidden to undertake espionage operations on US soil. And the NSA officially doesn't tap communications on American citizens or entities"

"Both Houses majority and minority leaders, along with the Supreme Court will be consulted before the President taking such a decision. If necessary, the Congress will be asked to pass legislation accordingly. But from what I have heard the legislators who are informed of the alien menace have been deeply shocked by the attack on LA. I think the public outcry would be more if it was known that we are not doing all we can"

"Williams, this is bad, in any case". And you don't know the full extent of it, Williams thought. Or do you?

"The investigations will be focused and directed. Your job will be to advise the DIA's, and specially the DSS efforts. They will receive orders to check the NSA. Since they have a double military/civilian role, the repercussions should be less"

"Very well. What should we look for?"

"Evidence of a cover-up. The aliens must have distracted in one way or another our intelligence community. You will need to research who could have forged or destroyed records of their existence"

"More easily said than done. Most folks won't be that cooperative"

"This will be a very secret operation, officially it will even be done under some other motive, so that we don't spook our pray into hiding. But if you need, well stick the Presidential order on their face if you have to. From the moment he signs it, it will place the counter-intelligence efforts into national security area. If someone deliberately hampers the investigations they can be put into trial for treason"

"Jesus! Isn't that a bit excessive?"

"Well, if you ever have the chance, please ask the aliens if they don't think their attack on Earth is a bit excessive"

"Ok, ok. By the way, who will check me and the DIA?"

"The FBI."

"Jesssus! Not that pain in the butt. Who will check them, by the way?"

"The NSA. They will also verify the CIA, so your job in checking them is most important."

"The boys up in Ft. Meade will have a blast on that one, after decades of being placed into a secondary role to the CIA"

"Necessity is the mother of invention", Williams added with a grim smile.

Later in the day his smile turned into a frown when Assistant Director of the FBI Mark Davis walked into his office. This was probably one of the hardest decisions he had to make to his entire life and he felt that the destiny of Earth could be decided right here.

Davis and him exchanged greetings, but the look on each man's face was a bit less than cordial. The FBI man sat on a chair and instantly said:

"Ok Williams, cut the crap. Why aren't the other team members were? What is going on, because I don't like driving for hours from Washington to here for nothing. I already received the investigation orders before from my boss and we are ready for when the President signs them"

"I have a special job for you. Far more important than your orders. The one you are trained to do"

Davis expression suddenly became crossed with a mix of curiosity and scepticism.

"Yeah? Let's hope you are not asking me to create something like the X-Files on my department?"

"Actually no. I'm asking you to search for humans. That must stand for trial one day for treason"

"We will be doing that in no time, Christ!"

"No. These ones actually know that they committed treason. In fact, they are still doing it, interacting with the aliens for their own purposes"

Davis became shocked. And angry.

"This better not be a joke or a big blunder from you intelligence boys!"

"Unfortunately know. I will tell you what has happened for me to come up with such conclusion. I haven't shared my thoughts about it with anyone yet. And afterwards you will judge if I'm right or if I've been thinking too much in conspiracy terms". Williams started talking, telling the whole laser incident and how he related it to the arrival of the aliens. We was stopped by Davis a couple of times, who asked for some more explanation in some of the details. When he finished everything, including the reasons why he had not told anyone else, the FBI man asked:

"Then why are you telling me all of this? How come you believe I'm not actually one of that alien fifth column?"

"Because you are a big pain. You have questioned everything from the first place. You drove nearly everyone on the team nuts with your sceptical observations. If you were one of them you wouldn't do that. You would remain in passive stance, but secretly working to gain more influence over things"

"But what if I did it just to confuse more the research? To keep the deception?"

"Unlikely again. After one year of recorded intense UFO activity, the group knew they just couldn't keep the lid opened"

"True. But if it eliminated anyone that had came up with your conclusion, they would remain anonymous. What if I pulled my gun out this moment and killed you? If I have such power I could probably walk out of here with nothing happening to me" He reached for his holster and drew out his service pistol, pointing it at Williams. "Would you have anticipated this?" He then asked.

Williams turned cold for a second. He breathed and said: "If that happened, then I would be the most terrible mistake I had ever made"

Davis looked straight at him and Williams just gave up for one second, suddenly aware of the great darkness that would involve him in the next second.

The FBI man put his gun away and sat back down.

"You got yourself a believer now. For you to be so afraid it means you actually believe in that shit. And it sounds true to me also. What you want me to do?"

"Fuck. You got a way of doing things!" Williams's legs were shaking, with the chair keeping him from falling into the floor.

"Sorry, but I needed to be sure this wasn't a spy game and that I was just a pawn"-

"Well, please don't do that again" He regained his thoughts.

" No one besides us must tell this to anyone. I know no one else I can fully trust."

"Me neither. The Bureau must be like an old house full of mice just wondering around".

"The FBI will be involved anyways in every investigation, so I want you to see how your men do things. Observe them without them knowing. See if they report back everything or act like they should. See what the folks from the other agencies do also. If you find one, let me know".

"We follow it?"

"Yes. We track everything about him."

"My line of work. You got yourself a deal".

February 22nd, 1999

Vicinity of Marrakech, Morocco

The UFO had been detected by the Spanish Air Defence Command as it crossed the Iberian Peninsula, entering it through the northwest and crossing the whole of Spain. The Ejercito del Aire, or Spanish Air Force, had been asked to stand down by Mother One and not try to intercept the craft as it crossed Spanish territory. The reason for Commander's Illyuschenko decision was simple, Colonel MacTaggert thought. The research and engineering team had both asked for a bit more contention with the interceptions, to allow the recovery of all the alien materials present on the craft. And also, the European Command wasn't yet equipped with an F-22 Interceptor, since the funding available had been used into equipping the base and to pay for the brand new Skyranger that the X-Com team was now using to race to their target before it took off.

The midday sun was striking the plane's, going through the windows and making everyone on the craft hot, since the Black Forest at this time of the year was cold, wet and cloudy. As the Skyranger moved across the Atlas Mountains, MacTaggert looked by the window and saw a city of white buildings and blue roofs standing in the middle of a small elevation. All around the village the terrain was dry and arid, with rock and sand mixing up.

"Why would anyone live here, Pearson? At least the Highlands have plenty water," he asked to the second in command at the mission. Captain Pearson, formally a Lieutenant in the Special Air Service, who had been promoted because of casualties in the last mission, looked and sighed.

"Well sir, I'm not used to such terrain, but I can sympathise with the water concept. Things here are just too dry".

The rest of the team said nothing, trying to relax or doing a final check on their weapons. MacTaggert still had its doubts about the whole thing. The fourteen men embarked on the Skyranger had came up from five different countries, each speaking a different language and with a different culture. His executive officer at Mother One was German. His superior was Russian. And the damn science chief was a pain in the arse Frog. They all spoke English, of course, but some of them with an accent that made MacTaggert almost cringe every time he heard it. European Union, my arse! He thought. Look at what they are doing with the bloody language!

"Colonel, two minutes till target" his radio came alive, the Dutch pilot showing no trace of emotion. "The Americans have spotted it on their reconnaissance satellites and have pointed us the location. It is a…Celtic cross type".

"About bloody time! Everyone load up your little firecrackers and prepare to deploy."

The Skyranger approached the UFO from the Northeast. The craft was standing in the top of an arid small plateau, without making any attempt to disguise itself. As the plane was moving close to the elevation and turning to circle it, MacTaggert could see figures suddenly stopping whatever they were doing in this God forsaken place and moving. He didn't like that, specially since they were not Sectoids, but a different alien race.

The Skyranger suddenly jerked to one side and everyone in the passenger compartment was thrown to the right.

"Bloody idiot! De Wuijers, what are you doing!"

"Colonel, the aliens are firing and have hit us with one of their weapons. Right side engine has ceased working. I'm still on control of the plane, but I will have to land it away from those things"

MacTaggert barked into the radio "Just get us down into one piece". "Attention everyone, the Landing Zone is damn hot! All teams prepare yourselves for deployment."

The Skyranger landed outside the plateau, in a valley formed by a long dried river that bordered it. Its left side landed first and for a minute the landing gear looked as if it wouldn't be able to support the full weight of the craft. The other wheels finally touched the ground and afterwards the loading ramp came down, the men of Blue team already running its length and deploying to cover possible hostiles nearby.

Gunfire erupted instantly as the troopers started to respond to aliens on the border of the plateau who kept a murderous rate of fire from their Elerium weapons at the team. While MacTaggert was waiting to deploy, the team's radio circuit become active:

"I'm hit! Medic!"

"Take the left one!"

"Where, I can't see it!"

"One of them is flying!"

"They got us pinned down!"

"Etienne is dead!"

"Bloody hell!" MacTaggert cursed "Gold, Blue and Red teams take cover! Grey team remain on the craft! De Wuijers, bring this bastard up and land us on the other side of them!"

"Colonel, we have taken a lot of damage"

"If we don't take care of them we will all be dead! Do it now!"

The whining of the Skyranger's engines became heard again and it lifted itself with difficulty. MacTaggert went up to the pilot's cabin to have a better look. De Wuijers was immobile on his seat, concentrating on keeping a stable flight path. He looked through the windows. The aliens on the ground and air were about two meters tall had a red and pink colour. They had a humanoid appearance with head and upper limbs, but instead of legs they had some sort of grey circular mechanical device like if it was a cyborg. The red cape they were and the pink horns that started on its temples but pointed downwards gave them a menacing look, like demons from the stars. And the eyes were black, almost expressionless, in opposition to the mouth, which showed some grey teeth and almost had no upper lip, the nostrils opening directly into it. 

"De Wuijers, ram that bloody idiot who is on the air spotting and directing fire into our troops!"

"Pardon, Colonel?!"

"Ram it! Point this thing at it and go over it!"

The pilot looked at his commander unsure of what to do. As the craft was getting close to the floating alien, MacTaggert grabbed the control stick and suddenly jerked it to the side. The cockpit in front of De Wuijers suddenly become filled with the pink face of a surprised alien, his eyes open wide. Then a thump suddenly removed him out of sight and the Skyranger shook a bit. Alien blood spilled to the Plexiglas, dotting it with green spots.

"Now land this thing on the other side of the UFO and lets get this over with!" MacTaggert screamed, while he went back to the exit of the aircraft, getting a machinegun on the way.

February 25th, 1999

Mother One, Black Forest, Germany

Eva Johannes was feeling miserable. While she had been more than thrilled when she was assigned to Ununpentium research, the initial excitement had been quickly changed into frustration. The element was just too exotic on its nature for Earth science to understand it, with certain qualities never heard of in physics. They were starting to unravel its secrets, but progress was painstakingly slow. And also dangerous. A whole lab chamber had been reduced to ashes during one of the experiments. Initial research of the weapons retrieved from the recovery sites showed the existence of a particle accelerator. Which led to the theorization that the device was some sort of a trigger for the discharge of the weapon. Based on that, the scientific team in charge of the Ununpentium had decided to bombard the element on laboratory with charged particles to test their theory. After extracting a small part of the element it had been placed on a special vacuum chamber and hit with charged particles beamed from an accelerator. It had produced the reaction they expected, a release of energy. But far greater then they would have imagined. The explosion had completely destroyed the test chamber, taking with it the monitorization equipment and the lives of the two scientists who were testing it. Since then strict rules over the use of Elerium, as the team was now calling it, after someone had mentioned the initial electricity present in the group, in experiments had been implanted. And with good reason, since the data that had been salvaged indicated that the element contained more energy on its mass than Plutonium. Which gave it an immense destruction potential. But they still didn't know what was responsible for such a reaction. No radiation had been detected, which meant that there was not a fusion or nuclear reaction involved.

But what caused the burst? Eva and the whole team were still discussing the subject. Some claimed the explosion had all the characteristics of a positive-negative matter reaction, but it still hadn't been tested. They where waiting for a special chamber to be built using alien alloys, which would be more secure and would allow to perform more experiences.

She decided to take a pause, her eyes already tired of looking at all the calculations she had been making on her laptop. After a moment of thought she decided to go and get herself a cup of coffee at the automatic machine that was on the corridor. She looked around. No one else was at the laboratory, so she decided to check the time. One in the morning, great another night of four hours of sleep. She got up and went to the door. When she was getting a cup a voice came up.

"Mademoiselle, can you get me one also please?" She looked and saw Lejeune, one of the French scientists that were on the team.

"Sure, François. What are you doing up this late?"

"We are finishing the first field armour prototype. Tomorrow it will go to the ballistic range to be tested"

"Be sure to hurry up with that project. We are sure needing the special alloys to start doing our own experimentations on the Elerium"

"We will. Do you care to take a look?"

"Of course. I sure needed the distraction". Both of them got their coffee and when to a laboratory situated further down the corridor. As they entered, Johannes thought that her brother's room was even more organized. The whole place was filled with broken pieces of UFO's structure, with materials disassembled over research desks. She got down an picked up a piece of the alloy. It had a nearly rectangular form, with almost one feet of length and it was grey, with a bluish tone on it.

Lejeune turned to her and said: "Try to bend it". She grabbed it with both hands and applied strength to it. The material gave in and she become surprised as how easily she could mould it into an U.

"Now release it, but slowly, otherwise you might get hurt by its movement". She relaxed her right hand and as she gave away the strength, the material went back to its original position.

"We tried about everything on then. First diamond cutters, then the lasers that are used to cut crystals. Pretty soon Dr. Chevereux wanted to convince Commander Illyuschenko to conduct experiments with radiation on it. We discovered that under certain circumstances it would give in, namely the angle of entry of the cutter and so on, but we still couldn't mould it"

"What did you do then?"

"We almost gave up until the lab results arrived. They showed that, although it was a fabrication process never heard of, it could be repeated here on Earth using available materials."

"How do you give shape to it?"

"We use a electro-magnetic process on certain plastic and metal alloys combined together. Its unique capabilities came the mix of qualities present on both materials"

"Very well."

"Would you like to see the prototype?"

"Please, yes"

He led her into the back of the lab, where what looked like a mannequin was covered with a cloth. Lejeune then removed the white coverall to show a blue armour that had been placed on a test dummy model. It had a faint resemblance to the armours saw in the books and films about medieval times, but it didn't look as cumbersome. It was basically a section that covered the entire upper body, being designed to resemble a human torso. Some material that resembled plastic or rubber was used to the connection points for the plates that covered the arms and legs and also at the knee, elbow, ankle and wrist joints to allow for mobility. At least it didn't have nipples designed on it, Johannes thought, like the uniform they used for Batman at the movies.

"It looks impressive. When will it be available to be used?"

"The tests should take about more of a week."

"Why so much time?"

"Well right now we will test the resistance to penetration. If all works we shall then adapt the armour to allow it to be used in combat. We still haven't worked on the way of allowing the user movement. And we are still deciding on the helmet shape."

"And this would stop a discharge from one of their weapons?"

"We don't know. We will test it with lasers, but from what we have seen in the combat reports, it looks as if it will be more durable than any Earth material, but it will still have its limitations."

"Very well"

"Well, thank you. We were hoping that Dr. Chevereux would volunteer to use the armour on the first trials, but unfortunately it doesn't seem so". They both laughed at the suggestion. The Scientific Leader of X-Com had quickly built himself a reputation as an unforgiving and demanding character, nearly driving everyone nuts or into exhaustion.  Eva thought about the North American scientific them and how lucky they were.

February 28th, 1999

Area 51, Nevada, US

The conference room was crowded of X-Com troopers, all wearing their black uniforms. The group of military men was picking up their places to sit, the veterans naturally getting together and being more at ease, while the recent newcomers still refrained a bit, unsure of what to do. Johnson took a look at them and wondered how many of the rookies would die, if they would be able to survive more than their predecessors. More than half of the North American team members had, by now, been killed or injured. But the number of volunteers for X-Com had continued to rise, to a point where the number of new admissions had to be halted because there wasn't a need or means to deploy that much men. Apparently the rumours about the existence of X-Com had spread around the Special Forces community and it was seen as a honorous assignment. It seemed that the talk inside the military circles didn't include the casualties though. Johnson by now knew he was in command of one of the best units ever on his life, with all the men acting like professionals, on a team manner. Each new recruit, upon his assignment to a squad, would receive a crash but severe training course about the aliens and how to defeat them by its own section members. Usually, if he didn't learn enough quickly, specially on how to use the tactics on the battlefield, or if he was too stubborn or had a high opinion of himself, he would die. Survival of the fittest at its final, the human race against the alien race. Even Harris had quickly stepped into line, never questioning any command and being one hell of a fighter pilot. He looked over the scientific reports, analysing the data to look for possible weaknesses of their craft. He had been the pioneer of most of the aerial tactics they were using now. Although in many of the cases they involved high-speed suicidal chases lasting until the interceptor could get into range to use all of its missiles on the target before it had time to run away, it worked. That is, if you ignored the occasional damage suffered by the F-22s while dodging alien fire on the their attack runs.

The team was splitting. Next day the other half would flew to their new base in the Appalachian Mountains and would become active the next day. The new recruits had been divided into each team and all of them had been training together for the past days, taking advantage of the almost zero UFO activity over the North American continent in the past weeks. They had devised a new organization based on the lessons learnt at the Los Angeles attack. Now there were four men by each squad, one of them carrying a heavy weapon, three sections in the Skyranger plus the sniper two-man team. And other changes were also coming along, this time some real advances in the war with the aliens.

After all men were seated, he and Colonel Jackson got up along with their respective executive officers. To replace Hunt he had chosen one of his former subordinate officers when he was placed at Fort Campbell, Captain Forrester. The man still looked a bit out of his place, but he was getting better after the initial shock of knowing about the alien invasion. But once he learned everything he would be the finest for this position.

He looked at the group of men in front of him, a multitude of black figures all looking for him. The dark colour reminded him of what would be the cost of defeat. Sometimes it made him scared shitless, but most of the time it would give him motivation. And while reading the reports from Mother One he had received the night before, he had felt both feelings also.

He picked out Hopkins in the crowd. The black man seemed to be fully recovered, although some scars wouldn't disappear. The blast of the destruction of the rocket launcher had left his hands and face with burns and they now showed the effects of it. "Scars are reminders of our own stupidity", he had said the first time he saw himself after the attack. Or at least that was the rumour on the base, since no one had the balls to ask him directly. Johnson suddenly realized that many of the veterans also had disfiguring physical scars, moulded by the blast of the Elerium weapons. Some like Tyrell's and Hopkins's were at plain sight, but others kept them hidden under their uniforms and flesh. He wondered about how good he was doing his job and if he would get a scar or a grave. Despite the serious tone of the meeting, he noticed again that some of the men were wearing unofficial patches on their uniforms. Colonel Jackson had supported the idea, but Johnson was still unsure about it. Identification with their unit gave the men some sort of belonging and motivation but it also could lead them into crazy acts. And he wasn't sure of liking the insignia the East Coast team had chosen when he looked at Jackson and saw the circular blue patch on his left shoulder. It depicted an white headed eagle looking for prey, with the words "North American" on top and "Wild Hunters" at the bottom of the circle. The design had been Jackson's suggestion, with no doubt, since he came from an airborne division. Somebody had come up with the West team's counterpart, which showed a wolverine with its claws and fangs filled with green alien blood, together with the words "Take Me To Your Leader". At least the West team had a sense of humour, and didn't display the wild bravado of the other one. He didn't knew how had drew it, but Garcia, Jones, King and some others had quickly adopted it. He noticed than none of the rookies were using the insignias. He guessed it was some sort of showing yourself: if you could do the job and survived the first encounter with the aliens you would earn the right to wear the badge. But, dismissing his thoughts, Johnson addressed the audience:

"Good morning all. This will be the final briefing before the day's exercises and the departure of half of you tomorrow. But before you all haul your asses to the training range and do as miserably as you can before the goodbye party scheduled for tonight," that brought grins on most of the men, "I have bad news, worse than bad news, could be better news and good news". The smiling faces were replaced by looks of attention.

"First, the really bad news" He signalled Forrester and lit up a laser pointer. An image of a large alien gun came up, together with the already known Elerium rifle. The white weapon was about five feet meters long, when compared to the four feet length of the rifle. The last third of the barrel had a rectangular bulge, probably the muzzle of the weapon since what seemed to be the trigger was on the other side. The substance from which the weapon was made gleamed white and a small blue clip was situated right at the end of the stock.

"This his the weapon responsible for the recent losses of the European team. In the Moroccan operation just one alien was armed with it and still it managed to severely damage the Skyranger aircraft and was responsible for the death of many fellow troopers. Like the rifle it is capable of sustaining auto fire and it is much powerful than it. If you seen an alien carrying one of this things, drop him. This is a very heavy and dangerous cannon, or whatever they call it". The mood of the room suddenly become more sombre.

"But the Science and Engineering Departments have good news". The images on the projector had been replaced by the one of a strange pistol. The barrel had an ellipsoidal shape and the whole weapon looked more as something taken from a science fiction movie.

"This is the Mark I laser pistol. One single shot from this weapon has a little more of the penetrating power of a 5.56 calibre round. It is capable of auto fire, although unlimited use of it will drain out the batteries after a while."

"Sir", Garcia interrupted, "we are going to use pistols that aren't that much better from our current weapons against those cannons? Doesn't look like even odds to me".

"I know, Garcia, and the magical science wizards fortunately saw that also, in a brief moment of inspiration and sense of reality. That's why they also developed this" The image of the pistol was replaced by what looked like a red cylinder with metals parts attached to it, forming a gunstock, hand support and a trigger.

"The Mark III laser rifle. This thing is almost as potent as anti-personnel round from one of our cannons, again with auto fire. From what I've been told, they have experimenting a lot of concepts with the laser technology they have just discovered, and this one is about to enter production."

"It sure as hell looks ugly sir. I still prefer my autocannon, Russian or not".

"And you will keep it for now. Apparently they are developing a heavier version, but power requirements deem that it will be without auto fire capability, which means that we will stick to the tactical versatility of the cannons for fire support."

"And when will this new zap gun be available to us sir?"

"Today you will all have the chance to test it at the range. We already have one unit available here at the base and Dr. Mantell and his men are calibrating and making the final checks on it at the moment". Several of the uniformed troopers grinned. "Now we kick ass!" Jackson shouted and the room was suddenly filled with roars. Johnson looked at Jackson with disapproval. Although they both held the same rank and Jackson was actually older and had more time in the service over Johnson, the West Coast commander had seniority on X-Com over Jackson.

"This might help, but remember to keep your ugly heads down and not jumping into heroics, you idiots! I would prefer to get back here in one piece, than having a medal on my chest replacing by burned out arm or having to share a ride to hell with the dead aliens!" Hopkins's voice shouted out the troops. Even Jackson kept his mouth quiet.

"Thank you Sergeant." Nothing like a senior non-commission officer to bring some sense into the troops, even the officers, Johnson thought. "Getting along, the development of body armour, as we have been vigourly requesting, is almost done". Another image showed up, of a dummy wearing some sort of blue body armour. Metal pads covered the limbs and torso, connected together by what seemed to be dark plastic. It even offered the head some sort of protection, with a curved plate covering the forehead and sides of the skull. This time shouts of cheer were more timid, fearful of the Gunny's reaction.

"This is the Type 17 body armour, built using alien techniques."

"Type 17?" Garcia asked, "why didn't we use the other sixteen types before they come up with this one?"

"It took them a lot of experimentations before they come up with this. I think it's an ugly name also Garcia, so feel free to give any suggestions. In any case, there are still some glitches on the movement parts but Dr. Chevereux says that they will be ironed out pretty soon."

"So we will use them pretty soon?"

"Unfortunately not. In order to allow for manoeuvrability, each of these things has to be built specifically for each soldier. Which means that they will all take our measures and then start fabricating the suits. The end result is that we will have to wait some more time, since they weren't expecting the manpower that is necessary to build these things".

"Meanwhile our asses keep getting fried up by the alien weapons".

"Nobody pays you to be sitting on the sun, marine, although the Corps have a long tradition of horsing around at the beach". Again uneasy laughter filled the room.

Forbidden City, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Major Chen passed through the security guards posted at the door that lead to the Politburo's reunion office without even caring to salute them. His presence was waited and he couldn't spend time with trivial formalities. As he stopped by the massive elaborated bronze door, one of them opened it and he moved inside, holding his briefcase even tighter.

Chairman Zhu was waiting inside, together with the Marshal that was the commander of the People's Liberation Army and one deputy that Chen never cared to remember his name. He saluted all of them and then spoke:

"Comrade Major Chen reporting, comrades"

"Yes Major, if you please tell us now what seems so important for you to fly over here and risk the political consequences of the X-Com council finding out about this meeting" The Marshall tone implied that he was stating an order, not making a request.

"Information just arrived through the X-Com information network that I believe of the severe importance comrades". He thought the Chairman might have risen and eyebrow. Since they were all silent, he continued:

"There is another race of aliens involved. They have been named Floaters, apparently due to their ability to hover unassisted on the air"

"Another race? Acting together with the so called Sectoids?" The Deputy queried.

"Yes. They use the same equipment which supposes that there's an alliance of some sorts between them"

"Is that your assessment also, comrade Major?"

Chen froze. One thing was to pass on the available information, the other was to make judgements for which he would become liable.

"I would say that there might be an agreement between both of them" he paused, unsure of if he should take the next step. "And the Party might find some use later on the future of that alliance, specially if there are divergences between both races"

This time, the Chairman looked at him directly, probing him but keeping in silence.

"The alien biochemistries are similar, but different. Analysis shows that the Floaters have been subject to massive surgery techniques, while the Sectoids are cloned. It could be assumed that one is the minor element of such an alliance, and as such, unhappy about its overall participation"

Zhu took some seconds before answering back. This was indeed an important development. He looked directly at the Major and finally spoke: "very well comrade Major. You have done well and your assessment, if right, might lead you well in the future. Anything else to report"

Chen stifled but decided to tell the other unpleasant news. "I have been unsuccessful so far on taking possession of any of the laser weapons X-Com has developed. Since the Chinese team is not yet operational, as by Party's orders, X-Com High Command has put the reequipment of my men into a low priority. And they are keeping a tight lid on the scientific information which is only available to scientists and top military leaders. All access to the computer net is heavily monitorized and our own laser technology is far less developed than the Russians or the Americans, which means that they apply the principles far more easily. We just don't have skilled professionals yet, comrades".

"Keep liasing with the Japanese and learn all their secrets. And finally upgrade our team to operational status. We will take care of the rest".

André Galvão, 2001