X-Com – The Unknown Menace
Chapter Nineteen – Star Chariot
June 23rd, 2000
Area 51, Nevada, US
Standing immobile while the technician finished checking his power suit, Johnson was looking at the other troopers on their preparations for the upcoming fight. They were standing in the Ready room under the hangars that housed the Skyranger transports, where the teams would get ready for a mission. Before X-Com had moved into the base, it had been used before for storage of fuel and lubrificants. Now the technicians had placed gantries from where the armored suits were hanging limp a few feet above the ground, suspended by metal chains that connected the electronic cocoons where the suits where housed to the ceiling. The lights were dim and yellow: no one had bothered to replace the overhead lamps that hung from the ceiling with more potent ones.
All around the technicians were busy, trying to avoid the oil pools on the floor and fixing the white suits into the soldiers and making sure that there wouldn't be any glitch that could go against the trooper in battle and provoke his death. Already they had to bring down two other suits to replace faulty ones that had failed the diagnostic tests that they were running on them. Others were bringing in weapons racks in carts from the base armory, holding a variety of laser and plasma weapons, together with the special crates designed to store the Elerium ammunition clips. As each soldier finished up getting into his power suit and powering it, he or she would pick up the necessary equipment and leave for the assembly area.
Looking around for the members of his squad, he saw that White had already went up to start manning the communications console. Patterson was also on his way upwards and Crossett was nearby and almost ready also, flexing his arms to look for quirks in the exoskeleton. Two strong taps on his Johnson from the technician told him that the suit was fully operational. He increased the power of the small Elerium engine that powered it and took a step forward. The electric tension-actuators located underneath the armor on the legs multiplied his effort a microsecond later and the limb performed the movement with the same speed and balance as a natural step.
Moving to the weapons racks he picked a heavy plasma weapon that was resting upwards. Everyone seemed to be having a liking for the heavy plasma lately, since the extra weight of the weapons was encountered by the additional strength provided by the power suits. It was the deadliest weapon they possessed for now, at least until the scientists had finished researching the portable missile launcher used by the aliens on the attack on Complex YY-18. Experience had taught everyone the value of downing an alien with just one shot. If you needed two, the alien might fire back. And the amount of clips recovered from crashed UFOs meant that they could use the weapons without ammunition problems, because unfortunately the aliens also seemed lately to be equipping all their troops with the heavy plasmas. He checked it to see if there were any exterior signs that might indicate any possible unreliability but besides a dent on the grip, the weapon seemed to be on its proper condition. Moving to a close armored box, he retrieved a banana shaped blue ammunition clip for it and jacked it into the opening on the body of the weapon were it was meant to fit. A small vibration told him that the clip had been properly inserted and the weapon was now energized. Johnson looked at the small diode panel that the X-Com technicians had installed on all plasma weapons to show the available charge on the clips: it marked 99 per cent. Satisfied he picked up another clip and checked it also, afterwards grabbing also a couple of grenades and a medikit. Closing his helmet, he then moved towards the elevator that would lead him into the above hangar, with the sounds of his steps on the concrete floor being echoed by the ones made by last remaining troopers who had only now gotten ready. Crossett was nearby and had just finished getting his gear ready and was waiting for Johnson, but the Colonel whisked the bodyguard off and upstairs.
Johnson and another trooper were the last ones as he had gotten to the grated door of the cargo lift. Seeing that there wasn't enough room for he waved the troopers inside to go ahead, leaving him and another soldier waiting side by side for the next elevator ride. He had also his helmet down and was holding a plasma rifle instead, pressed against his chest. When the lift finally came back after a slow ascent and descent, the trooper moved and opened the metal grid and Johnson entered, followed afterwards by the other soldier who then closed the door. He slapped a big red button on the sidewall and they started going upwards.
The trooper then moved his hand to his helmet and unlocked it, bringing the faceplate to an upward position and turning then to Johnson. Seeing Markovitch's face, he brought his own faceplate upwards, making a devilish grin and saying: "The suit nearly fooled me, but I was almost damn sure it had to be you".
She put her armored gloves on his shoulders and moved her mouth to his. Johnson held her on the waist while both their lips were connected in a kiss for a couple of seconds before parting. "Yeah? How come?" She spoke to his left ear or tried to, since it was inside the helmet and both of their faceplates collided in the process. "Although that replacement suit doesn't have a Captain's double bars, it still has the markings for Second platoon. Your platoon is always the first to get ready".
She replied his smile but suddenly looked upward in frustration as she saw that pretty soon the elevator would be arriving at the hangar as the floor of the hangar appeared upwards. "Speaking of which…". She removed herself from her arms and picked up her plasma rifle. As she was lowering her faceplate back down her eyes sought his and finding them she spoke on a whisper: "Love you", before closing shut the helmet and sealing it.
The entire team was aligned in the front of a Skyranger, with each squad making a column leaded by the commander. As Johnson and Markovitch stepped out of the elevator, they moved towards the formation, which looked as an army of giant monsters. The suit's typical carapace protected the front torso with shoulder and breast section, together with a lower section that connected the abdomen to the legs. On its the back, the armor offered less protection and it was also where the power system, air purifier and electronic equipment that allowed the X-Com troopers to carry several times their weight in weapons and armor was installed. The front of the suit was strong enough to take a heavy plasma shot on specific conditions, but was also responsible for some bad base jokes related to the troopers wearing them and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Markovitch moved to her position as commander of Zeta squad and Second Platoon while Johnson went to the front of the formation where Major Patterson, White and Crossett were waiting for him on attention, together with a smaller figure clad in the older blue personal armor. That puzzled Johnson, since the older suits were only issued to the training squads and the security forces. The Major saluted him and reported: "Sir, all combat squads present and ready. The team is ready for your orders, sir!" The noise of all the troopers standing in attention almost came close to the sound of the Skyranger's engines being warmed up.
Johnson snapped off a salute in reply before turning to the smaller figure, which he now had recognized as being Dr. Johannes, the German scientist from Mother One. "What's the meaning of this?" He asked to both of them. Patterson's eyes flicked back towards the Colonel and he started. "Sir, the Doctor says that she has the right to come with us on the mission, I tried to explain to her that…"
She flatly spoke: "General Order One-Zero-Five, Colonel. I have every right to be here". Trying to hide his puzzlement and irritation, he kept staring at her. "Excuse me, doctor?" She crossed her arms in front of her and shot back. "According to the regulation, Colonel, a member of the scientific branch may accompany a combat mission, in order to serve as a technical consultant and as to immediately start preparing the research of any alien craft, life forms or artifacts recovered".
Johnson opened his eyes. "You have to be insane, doctor. There's no way I'm going to bring a civilian in a combat zone". Her coldness struck him as she ignored him and kept talking. "The presence of the scientific personnel is dependent upon the authorization of the senior military commander in charge of the mission".
He placed his arms on his sides, as if giving her a lecture, while several of the troops tried to hide their grins. On the ranks, Jones leaned forward towards Rodriguez, who was standing in front on him and spoke in a whisper. "Gezz, the lady must have Floater brains". Rodriguez let go of a small laugh and Jones continued: "or maybe she just likes to be into that tight armor". That brought grins on all the male soldiers around who heard it, but somehow Sergeant Baker, who was in the front ranks overheard the whispered comments and let go of a low grumble that made them both shut up.
"However, in specific situations, such as the possibility of recovery of new artifacts that might enhance research regarding alien weapons, propulsion or other vital research areas, the decision of the commander can be overridden through the next level of the chain of command". Suddenly Johnson wasn't so amused anymore and White moved closer to him, almost afraid to speak. "Sir, I got the call when you were arriving. Commander Illyuschenko has approved her inclusion into the mission".
Johnson felt he was getting nearly close to burst like a grenade. "You mean you just decided to went over my head?!?!" The scientist tugged her lips, clearly taking pleasure on the situation. "Like you said to me before, there's a Terror Ship out there on the ground, a type of craft that we have never examined in close detail before. I just took the necessary steps to make sure that we are able to recover all the data we can from it, so that you can have all the nice weapons you like".
Johnson turned his head towards everyone else around him. Patterson wisely kept his mouth quiet, Crossett simply shrugged his shoulders and White looked as if he wanted to say something, but decided otherwise.
"Very well. But you are going to keep yourself right back at the landing zone until we clear the place out of aliens". He turned to the Major. "What's the status of Skyranger Four?" Patterson shook his head. "Two, possibly three more hours. They still haven't fixed the hydraulic leak".
"We can't wait. Fourth Platoon stays behind and follows after us when it's ready". The Major nodded since he had already arrived to the same conclusion minutes before. He turned to the troops and ordered them to start boarding the Skyrangers. "All teams board their craft. We are leaving!"
New Mexico-Colorado border, US
When the flight of X-Com craft was performing their descent through a clouded section of the sky into their target area, a sudden turbulence shaking everyone inside the cargo area of Skyranger One. The troops handled it quite well: the majority of them quickly got hold of the handlers next to their seats the plane and used them to steady themselves. However for Johannes the event didn't go so smoothly since she was unused to the Skyrangers. She tried to grab the arm of the soldier closest to her but her hand slipped over the metal surface of the suit and she found herself being projected to the other side of the 'Ranger as the plane suddenly jerked on the air to the other direction.
The trooper seated in front of her dropped his heavy plasma on his lap and grabbed her shoulders with both his hands, stopping her motion. She found herself looking directly at his helmet, which was roughly shaped as a skull. It was round on the top where it had large dark viewports, one larger than the other, while at the thinner mouth area there were two metallic pertrusions. "Danke", she muttered and quickly let go of his grip to get back to his seat. The X-Com soldier used one of his now available hands to hold himself again but reached for something on his neck with the other. A hiss followed after the faceplate went upwards and Hopkins looked carefully at her, replying. "You're welcome". She turned her face from him and waited for the landing.
Later, Private Jones was looking at the crashed UFO through the magnifying visor on his helmet and couldn't stop wincing as he thought what might be lurking on its inside. The craft had landed close to a ridge, on a dry riverbank. The Skyrangers had first performed a flyover over the craft to determine its exact position and afterwards had landed the other side of the elevation to avoid detection by the aliens. Since Johnson didn't know on which side the doors of the craft were located, he had the three platoons forming a line and moved towards the UFO in a direction parallel to the craft's length.
After moving for a quarter of a mile with no aliens spotted yet, the scouts had finally found the UFO and determined the side on where the doors were located. The craft had a circular tall middle section from where two lower sections where connected. The team had reached the UFO at the one of those smaller parts, where the doors had been found out. He ordered Second Platoon to dug in and watch over those entrances, while the First would circle around through the back of the craft to sweep for any lurking aliens and reach to the doors that presumably where at the other end. His own platoon would swing around the Second's position and move over the ridge to cover both doors while the First got itself on position to storm the UFO.
The first encounter with the aliens occurred when Hopkins' squad point man got suddenly fired upon as they approached the ridge. Two of the plasma shots missed him and the third hit the Beta trooper fully on the chest but the suit protection saved him from serious damage. Third Platoon immediately dove for cover while trying to discover the unseen alien responsible for the shots. It didn't took too long: the moment the alien moved to fire again, the snipers of Omega squad immediately detected him and King killed it with a well placed shot from his heavy laser weapon.
While the Third was getting slowed down, Jones and the rest of Gamma squad at the extreme left of the formation, the closest to the alien craft. Despite the distance, they had come quickly by the right side of the UFO, rushing to mount a guard over the twin doors on the left 'wing' of the craft. His platoon hadn't found any aliens yet as they were moving through the plains, but the Third had bumped into a couple of Snakemen as they moved through a series of gullies, on their way to the top of the ridge that overlooked both wings. The news about the identity of the aliens they were facing made everyone shiver: Snakemen were known to use Chrysallids when performing terror attacks. That made everyone particularly cautious as they advanced across the dry land, making sure that none of the devilish aliens could be hiding by the small parches of bushes and small trees. The number of troopers assigned to rear and flank guard had been increased but even still everyone showed nervousness, especially if they felt something touching their backs, even if it was just another soldier.
They finally spotted the other smaller section of the UFO, standing right close to where they expected, more than fifty yards away from the base of the small plateau, gleaming orange as the slow moving Sun rose on the horizon, right over the craft. The Captain had just ordered the whole platoon to dug in and wait, while the remainder of the team got into their positions to the right. No one spoke a word as the troopers rushed to find any available cover.
On the center, Third Platoon had just now finished clearing a large patch of thorny bushes almost impossible to pass until they used lowered discharges of the plasma weapons, which cut the tangled branches like a razor going through paper. The delays were troubling Johnson, who wanted to raid the UFO as quickly as possible, before the Snakemen inside got too heavily entrenched inside their craft. Then suddenly a call came on the tactical radio. "They are coming!"
The doors on the section of the UFO that Markovitch's squad was facing suddenly opened without a sound. However the first alien didn't even managed to put his tail out on the dry terrain before a heavy plasma blast fired by Sergeant Krenon took it down. The Snakeman stopped on its tracks for a second before falling on the ground and keeping the door open. The next alien to step into visibility made Markovitch's neck hair go upwards, as a black oily shape jumped out of the UFO and started heading towards their position at a speed impossible for a human to attain. "Chrysallids! Shit!" The only response she had was Krenon's answer: "Heavy plasma on their way Cap!"
To Jones it seemed that the situation was getting too freaking close: the platoon was still moving towards their positions as three Chrysallids burst out of his side of the UFO and start to race towards them. He hit one of them with his laser rifle but it seemed to have no effect on the monster. Kneeled-down next to him, Pershing tried to aim at the fast moving figure, who seemed to be taking leaps towards their position and had already closed half the distance but his snap shot went wide, hitting the side of the UFO. His squad had been taken by surprise by the aliens' kamikaze attack and only a couple of soldiers had managed to take a couple of shots at the ghostly figures who now were getting too damn close to their position. He swore and pointed again at the aliens.
Letting go of a full automatic laser and plasma burst from their weapons, Jones and Pershing finally killed the dark gray Chrysallid while it was only ten yards from their position. But they didn't have time to fell any relief. A human scream from their right iced Jones' blood and made him turn to that direction.
A Chrysallid had reached Delta's position and was standing right before Private Martin, with one of his claws hooked on the chin of his helmet and using it to lift him to his feet. The soldier dropped had dropped his weapon and was trying to dislodge the sharp limb with his metal arms, with no success. In a swift movement of his other limb, the alien slashed the front of his armor with its other claw, ripping through the reinforced alien alloys and the flesh inside, drawing an even louder scream from the soldier it cut through his muscle and the sternum.
Jones thought that the trooper had bought his six feet under, but the alien had other intentions. The ovipositor in his abdomen unwrapped itself and shot through the human's chest, piercing the flesh while it moved to drop its obscene cargo. Martin immediately released himself from the alien's limb and brought his hands to his head, taking out the helmet. His mouth became wide opened as if he was screaming but no sound came and his eyes seemed to be almost jumping out of their sockets.
"Take it out Jones!" The call came from behind him, but he hesitated before shooting a fellow trooper. Confusion broke into the X-Com's ranks as the aliens suddenly breached their formation. The now zombie trooper grabbed the nearest soldier and started to use his own armored arms as clubs to beat him, regardless of the damage he was inflicting to itself. Satisfied with his work, the Chrysallid moved towards Delta's commander, Lt. Hanley, who was trying to use its own plasma rifle to disentangle the trooper.
Using his left hand, Pershing shoved Jones out of his way and to the side, trying to shoot at both the Chrysallid and the now zombie trooper, holding his heavy plasma with only his right hand. The blackened muzzle of the weapon flashed three times in a quick succession, with mixed results. Two of the shots hit the Chrysallid directly on its back, burning through its tough hide and showing its green and purple entrails. The other one hit the Lieutenant on its leg, the superheated atoms cleaving towards the armor and nearly chopping off his right limb.
The scream of the injured officer snapped Jones back into reality. Searching on the ground for his laser rifle, he found it laying close to him, but as he was aligning it towards the zombie, the Captain and Rodriguez came by his sides and shot the zombie at point blank range, scorching the now dented and burned power suit it was still wearing. Jones saw the human figure-dropping limp to the ground as he was getting himself up to his feet, looking for the remaining Chrysallid. An all clear sign from Alpha squad told him that it had been already taken care of and he stood watching as trooper Kyle brought out his medikit and started to contain the massive bleeding on the Lieutenant's leg. Suddenly he detected movement coming from the body that used to be private Martin. Two pointed spikes thrust themselves of the armored back of the zombie, cutting through the metal. A quickly enlarging gash appeared, together with the small and still immature head of a newborn Chrysallid. "Fuck!!!!!" Jones screamed as he drew his laser rifle towards the alien that was hatching out of the X-Com trooper's body, continuously firing on its head until it was nothing more than a smoking lump, coming out upwards from the shell of the power suit.
"Jones! That's enough!" The voice of the Captain made him stop, still standing over the dead remains of both alien and human. Kyle was close to him, with his power suit all covered in crimson blood coming out of the sliced femoral artery on the Lieutenant's leg. He pressuring the nasty wound with his hands to avoid that the X-Com officer would bleed into dead, while Pershing was trying to carefully remove the armor from the leg of the Lieutenant, so that the other trooper could properly apply a tourniquet. Bradley was lying close, his helmet already removed but his eyes closed. Jones couldn't tell if he was dead or just unconscious. He felt the Captain's arm on his shoulder and turned to him, his arms shaking slightly. "You killed it. Let's go. Pershing and Kyle are staying behind to take care of the injured. We need to get inside the UFO and give a hand to Second Platoon". Giving a last look at his X-Com comrades, he moved towards the twin doors of the UFO.
On the other side of the UFO, when the Chrysallid started to rush towards their position it was immediately killed halfway by three well placed shots by Zeta and Phi squads. Markovitch felt a little of satisfaction on the reaction of her soldiers, but an orange figure on the doorway of the UFO suddenly made a swing of its arm too familiar to her. "Grenade!" She immediately called on the radio but the call came too slow. An egg-sized object flew through the air, landing on the middle of Kappa's squad and exploding a second later. The sound wave from the explosion made Markovitch wince, while a large fireball engulfed the location of the squad right afterwards, throwing human figures around and burning the few patches of vegetation. Two other X-Com soldiers responded in the same fashion: taking profit of the dead alien who was preventing the twin doors from closing, each of them readied an alien grenade and threw it towards the UFO. One sailed over the dead Snakeman while the other hit the wall on the side of the door with a metal clank and rebounded backwards. Markovitch and the rest of her platoon didn't bother to look for the blast and all of them dove to the ground.
The twin explosion sent smoke and debris coming out of the opening in the UFO, while the pure power of the Elerium detonation simply obliterated the body of the alien on the doorway, leaving only on the ground the heavy plasma it was carrying. With the removal of the obstacle that was activating the entrance's mechanism, the doors closed themselves a second afterwards with a low sound.
Getting upwards, Markovitch readied her plasma rifle for any alien on the inside that didn't had enough yet. Her squad and Phi did the same also, covering the door, but there were no signs of Kappa. "Digriz!" She called on the platoon channel. "Are you alright?" A human figure rose on the location of Kappa and started to move in a low position towards her, walking as if he was still shaken.
Reaching her, she noticed that the helmet's radio antenna had been destroyed while the Lt. raised the visor. "Captain, Donnaly bought it. He jumped right on top of the grenade as it landed. There's nothing much of him left to bury. Bartfast and Sharkley have some minor injuries, but they still can fight". She raised her visor also and replied: "You are going to stay here. Watch out for any alien stragglers that decide to get back to the UFO. We are going inside".
As White finished telling him reports from both confrontations, Johnson simply suppressed the wish that things had gone better so far. They had dropped two Snakemen while moving around in a semi-circle designed to cover the ground close to the UFO. But that had lagged them and he wondered if he could have done differently, so that his own platoon could have given some assistance and avoided the number of casualties. There were two dead troopers already, Hanley would die unless they flew him immediately back to base and three others were injured. He still had more than enough men and women to finish the job but two squads would be out of action for a while. Putting out such thoughts, he started issuing orders to White: "First and Second Platoons secure the UFO. Epsilon squad, link with Second Platoon and assist them. Hopkins, the same with First. Patterson, contact the Rangers and tell one of them to come back here to immediately fly the injured back to the nearest military medical facility".
As he finished, he looked around. Crossett was close to him, keeping a watch over any possible threat. The troopers from Omega were doing the same, hidden in concealed positions. No Snakemen or Chrysallid would be able to miss the snipers and sneak on them. Patterson moved closer. "Colonel, the Skyranger is about to lift off and join us, but the pilot says that the scientist has boarded the plane and is insisting to come along and refusing to leave". Suppressing a chill of rage, he wanted to tell her to piss off but he thought otherwise after a second. "Tell him that she can come but at her own responsibility and drop her off at the location of the First. It's time she sees what we do here".
As soon as the order came, Zeta and Phi squads had already closed with the twin doors on their 'wing' and were standing close by the entrance, the troopers and their weapons ready to get inside. Markovitch gave a nod to Krenon, who was on the other side of the doors, and the platoon sergeant used his metal hand to activate the doors of the UFO. With a whooshing sound, they disappeared upwards, revealing a small chamber filled with reddish smoke. Three dead Snakemen were lying on the ground, their bodies wrecked by the grenade explosions, together with the remains of some sort of alien equipment on the side opposed to the doors. Looking closer, Markovitch saw that the wing was connected to the main body through a large corridor, in no doubt the arm that linked both sections. With a hand sign, she ordered the rest of her squad to move inside and cover the passageway. The X-Com soldiers quickly rushed and when they reached their positions, Markovitch followed them.
Looking over the corridor to the main body, Prune signaled her that it looked clear. She nodded and he quickly dashed to the other side of the chamber, keeping a crouched position as he crossed the entrance. The X-Com Captain moved over to his former position and looked. The lower middle section of the UFO had apparently suffered extensive damage on the crash, since the whole area showed signs of massive explosions. There were few remaining walls that where standing up, while there was no sign of the propulsion systems. The only piece of equipment that seemed to be intact was the elevator to the upper level, whose violet light was burning brightly on the middle of the craft, indicating the location that the aliens used to move through the levels of the UFO.
No Snakeman or Chrysallids were visible and she ordered Krenon to move inside as she and the remainder of her squad joined Prune, one by one on the other side of the chamber. Resting her back on the UFO's wall, she activated her radio. "Jerrel, where are you?" The response came immediately: "Coming through the other doors, no aliens on this chamber".
"There's an elevator on the middle. We are going to move toward it. Watch your fire". Padding Prune on the shoulder, she pointed him to move forward with her thumb. The squaddie moved carefully into the corridor, holding his laser rifle on both hands, step by step, followed by Dare and herself. She was halfway when she suddenly saw a green plasma bolt coming from the ceiling and hitting Prune's left shoulder. The soldier's legs faltered but he managed to keep standing up while bringing his laser rifle on the direction of the shot. Dare immediately looked upwards and saw that there was an upper chamber, where a Snakeman was standing on a platform ten feet above them. Both soldiers fired their weapons at the same time and the alien crashed to the ground level right in front of them.
Markovitch rushed forward and saw that there was a door on the higher chamber, in no doubt linking it to the rest of the upper level. It seemed to have been designed to ambush any intruders or at least it served that purpose perfectly. "Jerrel, watch out for the end of the corridor!"
Rodriguez was almost reaching the end of the corridor when Markovitch's warning came. He brought his laser rifle upwards and saw what the Captain meant. However, the platform on this side seemed empty. He relaxed his shoulders for a second, but the sound of something hitting the floor on his back made him shiver. He quickly turned, but the only thing he saw was a Chrysallid being hit on his side by a shot from the Captain's plasma rifle. The alien trembled and dropped the pointed arm that was about to cut through Rodriguez's back. Another shot killed it and the alien gave a terrifying shriek.
Looking over to the other side of the UFO, Markovitch had seen the Chrysallid leaping down, but before she could shout a warning the monster had already been hit. She tried to point her own weapon but refrained from shooting for fear that she might hit somebody from the other platoon. As the alien was finally killed, she looked upwards he saw that there was another upper platform on the other side, but only this one had no door. "How the hell did that thing got there?" The platforms were too high for a human to reach, so there was only one way upwards. "Krenon, join Captain Jerrel on the elevator. We are staying here to take care of Prune and watch those doors".
When the Sergeant reached the middle of the UFO, Captain Jerrel, Jones and Rodriguez were already standing close to it, with Alpha squad also remaining behind. One by one they placed themselves on the violet light and moved their arms upwards, and the antigravity device brought each of them upwards in a quick movement. When Jones reached the upper level he was on guard but he saw that they were in a small chamber, directly facing a door. He cleared the violet light and joined Rodriguez by the side of the entrance. Both soldiers then opened it and brought their weapons while taking a peak. Jones saw that there was a door standing directly in front of them, while they were standing in the middle of a small corridor, each side ending on a T. They started moving, leaving the door to the team members that were right behind them. When Jones reached its end, he ignored the right as the call came. "Chamber in front of lift clear. Door on each side".
Standing against the wall and looking over his shoulder, he saw the door that connected to the platform that they had seen on the lower level. He also saw the front chamber of the craft, with pink consoles and blue seats. And a couple of figures standing on their tails and holding weapons. A plasma shot grazed the wall of the corridor close to him. "Aliens on the front chamber!" He shouted.
"No kidding!" Rodriguez' voice was followed by sound of plasma fire coming from the other side of the corridor and he guessed the other trooper had also spotted aliens on that end. "Fire in the hole!" The Hispanic called and an explosion followed it.
Taking another look, Jones saw that the chamber was now filled with smoke and there was a figure rushing on his direction down the small corridor. He drew his laser rifle and fired a single shot. The Snakeman dropped to the ground with a garbled sound and the alien lay there, releasing a green fluid from several injuries on his body and with its slithered tongue coming out of his opened mouth. Jones moved forward the corridor and saw that Rodriguez's grenade had killed the remaining aliens on the bridge of the UFO. Two of them were standing on the ground among the wrecked consoles, together with three heavy plasmas. "Bridge clear!" He called and a feeling of relief came over him. As Captain Jerrel down the corridor to join him, the officer's armored feet stepped on the tail of the alien that Jones had killed. The Snakemen emitted a small sound and Jones pointed his weapon back at him, but the Captain ordered him to stand down. "Easy soldier. We just got ourselves a prisoner here". Jones dropped down the weapon and looked around; trying to calm down in spite of the adrenaline rush he was feeling.
A few minutes later, as the Skyranger landed right next to the UFO's left wing was opening its ramp, Sergeant Hopkins was right beside it, waiting to have the injured as quickly inside as possible. His squad was keeping a watch but he also didn't like to have civilians running around, although the UFO had already been secured. When the ramp was fully deployed, he saw the figure in blue onboard looking in shock as the X-Com troopers paid no attention to her and rushed their injured comrades to the inside.
He called to her. "Doctor, if you want to stay please disembark the plane. We are in a hurry to take those men to the nearest hospital". Eva Johannes moved down the ramp and as she approached the Sergeant he moved her to a clear position for the Skyranger's takeoff. As soon as the plane lifted itself and the engine's noise begun to disappear in the distance she turned to the Hopkins and asked, still in a state of dismay: "What has happened?"
The Sergeant gave her a careful look before replying: "War, doctor. We kill them, they kill us. It's as simply as that. Makes you think when you get this close, hum?"
She didn't reply to him and looked around at the direction of the UFO. He spoke to her. "It's clear already, but I'm afraid there's nothing much for you to see inside. See, m'am the crash kinda bounced the inside a bit and our troopers pretty much shot the inside to get rid of all the snakes inside". He gently grabbed her armored arm and brought her close to two forms covered by black plastic sheets. "However, as a scientist you might be interested on this". Grabbing one of the tarps he pulled it to reveal the remains of private Martin's remains, with the dead Chrysallid still sticking out of its back from where it was starting to emerge.
Nausea swept over her and she turned her head around in disgust. "Why are you doing this, soldier?" Hopkins put the cover back into the body and replied to her. "It's Sergeant Hopkins m'am. You are here because you wanted to. I'm only giving you a full tour of the show".
"Sergeant Hopkins, I'm only trying to do my work around here. If you and the Colonel don't appreciate it…." Hopkins stopped her in the middle of her speech. "You get the whole thing wrong, m'am. Every damn soldier on this outfit knows how important your work is. You gotta us the nice power suits and the plasma weapons and all the nice other little things that sure gave us more chances went facing this bastards. However, I've been listening to the complaints coming from the Colonel and other officers about you. We are not killing machines or mercenaries, miss Johannes. Like every man and woman on this base, I would prefer to sit back on my couch back at my home in Chicago and watch all of this on TV with a six-pack, instead of being here risking my behind fighting these things. We don't do this for fun but someone has to do it, even though it might mean that I can end up like poor private Martin here, let his soul rest now on wherever it might be".
She looked back at him, thinking. "I think I understand what you are trying to say, Sergeant". He grinned back at her. "You probably are, m'am. Dumbness doesn't affect just grunts, but at least rocket scientists have more practice in using their brains".
Johannes didn't understood immediately his verbal jab, looking back at him in puzzlement until a thin smile appeared on her lips. "Now, the boys inside the tin can have captured a prisoner and are bringing it out. Do you care to take a look at him? Don't worry, it's only one of the Snakes". She looked at the side, towards the doors of the UFO. A couple of minutes later they opened, revealing several human figures clad in power armor and the captured alien.
She had never seen before an alien, except the dead ones frozen in the containment vats back at Mother One. Her specialty wasn't xenobiology so she never had to do any work with extraterrestrial life forms, either live or dead. The orange and beige Snakeman that was coming out seemed to be big. Most of the soldiers on the base were taller than her and this alien was about the average height of the humans that were keeping it under restrain. She could clearly see from where the name had come. The alien kept an upright position through the lower part of his body, which seemed to consist of a very tough and muscular tail, sweeping the ground as it moved forward. However, it would tremble from time to time and slow its pace, indicating that it was probably injured.
The X-Com troopers had applied some sort of bondage across its chest to keep the arms restrained and where directing it through threatening movements of their weapons. The alien would occasionally turn its nearly triangular head and hiss back at them, showing its fangs and bringing out its slithered tongue. "Lord…." That comment made Hopkins turn back to her. "Nasty, aren't they? But don't worry. Any trained man in a power suit can physically overwhelm one of these. Mutons are another story, of course, from what we've heard on the attack on the Japanese base".
The X-Com troopers pushed the alien past her and she took notice of a disgusting, musky smell that almost overwhelmed her, making her frown. She turned to Hopkins: "Sergeant, can I now see the inside of the UFO?" He looked back at her. "Better if you get some respiratory equipment first. A piece of alien equipment near one of the entrances has released some sort of fumes after getting hit by a stray plasma blast. Our suits are environmentally sealed, but that old armor you're wearing won't do you any good in case the aliens were carrying nerve gas or some other nasty stuff inside those cylinders".
She shook her head in disbelief, since it would mean that she would have to wait for the arrival of the disposal team. Hopkins gave one last look at her and excused himself to get the squads ready to fly back to the base.
July 6th, 2000
Area 51, Nevada, US
The corridors near the section of the base that housed the alien containment were usually deserted of X-Com personnel, who preferred to take a longer route to their destinations than to come nearby the place. Occasionally a technician or soldier would pass by the armored doors and wonder in curiosity of what might be going on inside that section of the base, but since the entry it was restricted to the scientists or anyone possessing an special authorization from the base commander, he or she would simply look at the bored sentry sitting on a glass booth next to the doors and go on to where he was heading.
If someone possessed a clearance, the security trooper clad in black fatigues and wearing the Theta Greek letter that identified him as belonging to the base security company would carefully inspect it and confirm it through a series of calls. If the authorization was correct, the visitor would find on the other side of the heavily reinforced security doors two fully armed troopers in power suits to prevent that any of the enclosured aliens might escape. The section had been recently built and was completely isolated and it possessed its own power and air regeneration system. Its doors couldn't be opened from the inside and the personnel who worked inside had to contact the booth outside for clearance.
Presently there were a number of visitors inside, looking at one of the restrainingh areas where the captured Snakeman was being held through a thick glass panel. Dr. Mantell was giving a detailed explanation of their findings so far to the group, that included Johnson, Dr. Young, Pharris, Davis and Colonel Robinson, the X-Com's chief intelligence officer, and they were quietly listening to the explanation.
"Gentlemen, I've asked for your presence here because there seems to be more to this particular alien that is visible to our eyes", Mantell started. "Our initial findings merely confirmed what we knew about this alien species. It has a strong complexion, enabling it to resist extreme heat and cold. Most likely it evolved in an extremely tough habitat, where the reptiles, not the mammals came to develop intelligence. But of that we can't be sure, due to the fact that we have determined that these species are under the control of some sort of Intelligence. In other words, we can't be sure that their intelligence has come through a natural process or if it is the result of some sort of experimentation made by the aliens. Some of them have been found to have been surgically altered, such as the Floaters or the Mutons, whose relation between the mass of the brain and the body doesn't seem to allow them to have cognitive thinking".
The men present nodded but kept silent and Mantell kept on with his explanation. "Regardless of that, our initial tests with this alien have shown some surprising results. Our biological and behavior tests have already determined that this species is somewhat intelligent in general, although it doesn't seem to match an average human. But this particular alien, however, is of a special breed. It has shown impressive mathematical skills and general reactions. We first thought it was one of their technicians, like the Sectoid captured by the Japanese team last that provided us with many of the data we know about the scout ships the aliens use. However, we are now inclined to think otherwise and that's why I asked for your presence here".
Robinson turned his head from the alien to the doctor and raised an eyebrow. "A commanding officer of some sort?" Mantell thought about that new possibility for a second and replied. "Unlikely. We made an extrapolation of a Snakeman officer physical and intelligence skills, based on the differences recorded in the case of the Floater officer captured and this specimen falls short in some areas. I concede these are more educated guesses than actual firm scientific evidence, but I'm still more inclined into other possibilities such as a pilot".
"One of their fighter jocks?" Johnson asked but the reply came from Dr. Young. "I think the more accurate term would be navigator". The two Colonels and Pharris now switched their attention to the other scientist and Robinson asked. "I thought your work was related to the Firestorm project, Doctor. How come you are involved into this research?"
That question brought concern to Johnson's mind. Beside himself and the hybrids, no other human knew about the secret that General Smith was hiding at Area 51 until his betrayal concerning Dr. Young and a number of the research personnel. He wasn't sorry for his decision since the hybrids had struck to their part of the deal and had proven their worth dozens of times in the research projects going on at the base. But it was all dependant on the fact that no one else knew of their existence and Robinson had been hired because of his ability to uncover secrets.
Young replied in a casual tone. "I have been involved because of my work regarding alien UFO systems. Dr. Mantell asked for my cooperation to develop tests capable of determining the skill of a particular alien since I fairly know the abilities necessary to run such systems". Robinson nodded and he continued. "We have determined that this alien has all the skills for a pilot, or a fighter jock, as the Colonel put it, but we believe that he is responsible for more than just flying an UFO around. Dr. Mantell and I then decided to request the service of someone experiment at conducting interrogations and we called for Mr. Davis help, since this was getting more into your department's area, Colonel Robinson".
"I haven't presented the full report yet sir because we only finished the interrogation last night Colonel. The briefing will be on your desk this afternoon". Davis added at Robinson's not very pleased look. "The information the alien gave us have merely confirmed what we already knew about the purpose of the terror attacks: they are being done to put political pressure upon Earth's nations and to convince them that any resistance is futile. We have seen already its results in the case of Nigeria: their withdrawal from X-Com resulted from the massacre the alien committed in Lagos when the Sectoids attacked that city. Not something that we didn't knew already".
Young picked up from Davis. "But what is more curious is that this alien had precise information about their target: the UFO had been ordered to strike at Dallas, according to the coordinates supplied by the alien. Now, the coordinates given to us are roughly correspondent to our own latitude/longitude but they must be using their own scale".
Pharris slowly exhaled in admiration. "Then they might be also in the alien's operating system and we now know what to look for. Pretty impressive doctor". The scientist smiled. "There's more: the alien also confirmed the existence of the transponder that your whiz kid Landon has hinted at. According to him the UFOs are in constant communication with one another, identifying one another and transmitting data".
"But where? No one has ever picked any alien transmissions! When this whole thing started, we at the NSA put the ECHELON system trying to listen to any noise made from them". Pharris was referring the US global surveillance system that had been originally designed and deployed in the Cold War to intercept Eastern Bloc communications.
Dr. Young shook his head. "I don't think they could. The system is designed to intercept and decode human communications, which are based upon the electromagnetic spectrum such as radio waves and laser bursts".
"And not to mention SETI", Mantell added. "The several groups involved have been listening for quite a white, trying to pick signals coming from an extraterrestrial civilization. If the aliens were using conventional wavelengths their transmissions would be picked up".
"Wait a minute", Johnson interrupted, "we know that the UFOs talk to one another. Why don't you just disassemble one of the UFOs and find out how they are doing it?"
"We have Colonel and there isn't anything like an emitter or receiver. This whole matter has puzzled us from ever since we captured the first UFO". Both Mantell and Young seemed frustrated.
"And even with Landon's help we haven't been able to find it out also. There are still a lot of things that we have no idea of what is their purpose. Hell, some of the stuff we can replicate by reverse engineering, but we don't know of how it works!" Pharris shook his head.
Robinson concluded the discussion. "These findings need to go into the UFOpedia at once. I will endorse that we shift more of our research efforts into discovering how their communication systems operate. We need that information".
July 10th, 2000
Charlottesville, Virginia, US
The City Hall of the town of Charlottesville had a special visitor, Charles Vaughn, the governor of NY who had won the Republican Party's ticket to the upcoming presidential election. In front of the colonial building the US flag was standing in a pole, waving as a light summer breeze eased the noon's heat, flanked by the flags of the state of Virginia and of the city. The event had been presented to the press as a political rally meeting and also that the Governor would make an important statement about his future security policies when he won the election.
A podium had been set on the top of the stairs that led into the building, in the front of a banner placed upon the classic columns that made the front of the city hall. Local police and members of the Secret Service were standing around, keeping an eye on the crowd that filled the parking lot, waving flags and holding support posters with Vaughn's face.
The Republican candidate political career had already been quite impressive. He had managed to get himself elected as governor of New York, a state traditionally more inclined to go for the Democrats. But a financial scandal had ruined his predecessor in the office and he had defeated his lieutenant in the elections a few months afterwards. More impressively than that, he had managed to get himself re-elected for a second mandate as Governor. And now it seemed that Vaughn had his eyes set upon the White House: he had won the Republican primaries without much effort, easily defeating the other candidates.
Visually, his physical appearance was striking: the governor was tall and well built, with most of his hair already turned into white on the sides and back. His nose was straight and well defined and his eyes dark, with heavy eyebrows. Blake thought that he sure was appealing to the cameras, but that also applied to the Democratic candidate, the current Vice-President. He hadn't applied to cover this event, but the woman journalism assigned had called in sick this morning, leaving him to drive all the way to Virginia. He was standing in the front of the crowd, in the space reserved to the press that had been separated from the cheering spectators by lines.
When Vaughn finally appeared on the stage, after being presented by the local mayor, the whole crowd went wild and Blake wished that the whole thing would be over quick. The photographer from the Post who had come with him immediately went to work taking pictures, while the camera crews started rolling.
The Governor had chosen to dress casually for the occasion; a smart decision in Blake's opinion since the heat was making his life miserably, already his shirt was sticking with sweat to his chest and back. He waved backwards until reaching the small podium where he stood smiling and waiting for the noise to subside.
The most of his speech regarded declarations about the nation's economy, federal government and family values, and in Blake's opinion they added nothing new to what he had already stated several times in the past. Noting that Vaughn was reading from a typed speech he only made sure that his tape recorder was working properly, not bothering to take any notes since the campaign organizers would provide the press copies of the speech afterwards.
After half an hour, Blake wished that he had brought some refreshments because he was too thirsty. However his thoughts of getting some water or a soda dissipated as Vaughn stopped looking from the speech on the podium and turned to look directly at the assembly downstairs. "Now I must say some words about the insecurity that we are feeling as a nation. We have for long harbored the thought of extraterrestrial life may exist. The government since the fifties has spent millions of tax dollars. First to determine if the so-called UFO phenomenon did exist and later to see if we could be able to pick space signals from distant alien civilizations. Such past investigations have proven themselves inconclusive. But now there has been an official recognition of that there are unknown craft in our skies, of which we know nothing of their intentions or occupants. This description could apply to a lot of situations my fellow Americans, from reconnaissance flights from a hostile country, like the days of the Cold War or to the government line that extraterrestrial beings exist and are happily flying around over us.
This can't go on anymore, I say. Our government should fully explain this situation and what steps are being made to resolve it, without covering it in a cloud of secrecy. In no doubt there are national security interests involved, but this situation must be resolved so that we can go on with our lives, taking care of our families and improving our country. Thank you very much for being here today and for your support. God bless you all!"
The band on the side immediately started playing a merry music and everyone in the crowd turned to cheering, while the press members tried to pose questions to Vaughn, who simply ignored them and kept smiling and wavering back. Blake finally stopped shouting when he left the stage after a couple of minutes. What does Vaughn know? Could this mean that there really are no aliens involved? That it might be something like that government infomer told me, that the UFOs are the work of some country? He asked to himself and them started walking back to his car, wondering what was really going on.
July 12th, 2000
The White House, Washington D.C., US
To say that Longstreet was furious was to make an obvious understatement: when the Vice-President finally arrived at the Oval Office, Winston and May knew that the man had probably spend the last days keeping a steady and happy face for the cameras during his trip to the Western states as Vaughn's speech had been played over the major networks. But now he could finally get it all out and he did:
"That dirty sonofabitch! Who does he think he his?!"
"George, calm down", the President started, trying to do the impossible. "That was nasty for him to do, I completely agree with you, but…."
"No buts, John! He is saying that we aren't doing anything, when it's exactly the opposite and he knows it, he has been briefed! You need to go public on the existence of X-Com and what has happened so far! It's the only way that we can clear my campaign of those allegations!"
"Now, wait right there, Mr. Vice-President, this has nothing to do with politics". May cut him. "There are security and national needs for this course of action and we can't just throw them away to insure your victory in the election".
Longstreet threw a look at her that would have blasted through a rock wall. "I need something! I just can't brush off the reporters' questions anymore with your 'national security' excuses anymore!"
Winston let out of a deep breath. "George, I understand how you may be feeling and I share also of your indignation. In my entire career this has been of the lowest political tricks I've seen but I'm sure that you will be able to overcome it. You are a fighter George and you won't let this get you down".
Longstreet waved him off. "Oh, just cut it out John! You don't have anything to worry about because after January you will be able to nicely retire from politics after your two successful mandates. For me, it's either trying to get back to the Senate or I'm done also. It's all the same to you". He started heading towards the door.
"George, what are you going to do?" Winston asked him, as he was about to reach the door. "Don't' worry John, I know my duty first. And I sure hope that the bastard knows his also, because if he gets elected on the account of this, he will surely regret the whole mess he has gotten himself into". He left, leaving Winston with his thoughts.
After a second May turned to him and said. "You did the right thing Mr. President. You can help in later on the campaign but right now, there's nothing to do about this whole matter". Turning to her, Winston still tried to put his consciousness at ease. "But why can't we do like that CIA analyst said, to start revealing more information about the war and the aliens?"
"Mr. Williams' opinions are biased. He was spent too much time involved with X-Com and is unable to separate our own national interests from the ones of that force. Actually, I believe Governor Vaughn just bought us more time: sure, this affair has made it to creep back into the political agenda, but like now it has become more open at the same time and that will satisfy some of the voices that oppose our opinions. Everyone know will be waiting for the next President to be more involved on the subject and that will put the political pressure off us. There will be few incidents that get to the press but pretty soon people will start to pay less attention to them and get more into their lives, specially if the economy keeps on slowing down".
Winston sighed and nodded. She was right telling that in a few months time he would haven't to worry with the whole thing anymore. He only wished that he could enjoy his retirement from office afterwards.
André Galvão, 2002