X-Com – The Unknown Menace
Chapter Twenty-Seven – Chaos
July 21st, 2001
Mother One, Black Forest, Germany
"What do you think Eva?" Pierre Lejeune's voice distracted Eva Johannes from the sight of the black painted craft that she was seeing in the main hangar of the European base. Turning away from it, she looked at the French scientist and thought that he looked as a child that just had got a new toy to play.
But there was nothing innocent about the plane next to them that had two thirds of the length of a Boeing 737. It had been spawned from the production line at the weapons and aircraft factory at Complex YY-18, X-Com's base in Japan. And it had just taken less than two hours to cover nearly halfway across the world on its way to Mother One, in a journey that most people would consider as impossible with the current technology. That is, if one refused to believe that extraterrestrial life forms existed and that they were already on Earth.
To all members of the Scientific Bureau of X-Com based at Mother One, the craft that now was landed on the subterranean hangar was more of a legend that had became true. Their boss, the also French Dr. Chevereux, had fed them all impossible dreams of a human-built spacecraft based on the findings that they had extracted from the retrieved alien technology.
At the beginning most people had the same reaction as the physicians recruited to built the A-bomb on the Manhattan Project probably had: skepticism about the feasibility of the idea. If then they had heard of the time scale that the project would take, they would probably have pure and simply laughed, dismissing it.
However, Chevereux's vision now unfolded before their eyes. It had taken more than two years of full-time research and some serious teamwork involving nearly twenty research facilities scattered by the globe. And not to mention the dozens of troopers that had died as they fought to capture downed and landed UFOs.
Whoever had designed it had tried to give a deadly appearance to a boxy shape. Its main body, a rectangular shaped section, nearly one hundred and fifty feet in length, rested upon a landing gear that was retractable for atmospheric operations. Inside, a specially designed Elerium engine powered the craft to a maximum of fifty-four hundred miles per hour in the Earth's atmosphere. It could also be used to maneuver the craft in Earth's atmosphere but details for that flight profile were classified. And its cargo bay could hold twenty-six fully armored and equipped troopers, allowing it to deploy two platoons of X-Com's infantry to anywhere in the world in less than two hours.
Connected to it there was a smaller cockpit area capable of housing comfortably the two-man crew that piloted the craft through the use of the control systems developed using alien technology. And from the front of the craft antennae and sensor pods stood out, giving it a sleek appearance. Finally, from both sides of the central body two small wings sprouted out currently empty.
She had been looking at those and she now turned to Pierre, pointing at them. "Are you sure that you gave the right data to the engineers? Those things look too frail to stand the weight of the launchers".
"Probably it's from the reinforced armor that they used all over the rest of the plane. But we should know when they start the evaluation and firing tests". She still wasn't convinced. The scientist team at Mother One had been tasked months ago to develop a weapon system similar to the personal blaster launchers to mount on advanced X-Com aircraft. Combining the basic principles of nuclear weapons and Elerium detonation. After running a number of experiences they had discovered that the E-115 could be used to create a massive gravity wave by coating it with pure carbon, in the form of artificial diamond. The material would contain the matter-antimatter reaction for a fraction of a microsecond, before its crystalline structure would collapse under the immense force that it had concentrated for that time.
The front of the ball-shaped projectile would then release the wave, which would crush anything. Or at least anything that man had built. In one of the firing tests a Firestorm had been equipped with the fusion ball launcher and launched a round at an old cruiser vessel of the British Navy that had been towed to the North Sea. When the submarine robot reached the sunken wreck its cameras showed that the vessel had simply been sandwiched into a five thousand tons plate that had quickly sunk into the bottom of the ocean.
The weapon worked, but they had developed it to be placed inside a craft, not on weapon pods outside. They would still need to work in that area since the original specifications had stated that it would be carried by a craft specially designed for it. It had turned the other way around. "Here comes Dr. Chevereux and the Commander". Both Johannes and Lejeune watched as a small group of men approached the craft and stood fifty feet away from it.
"So this is the half-breed we all have been eagerly expecting". Illyuschenko was looking at the craft with a mist of achievement and caution. He and his staff had wanted two separate crafts, a heavy fighter capable of engaging the alien Battleships, something that the current Firestorms lacked, and a heavy transport that would allow X-Com respond quickly to any threat in the world.
Instead, the Council had only agreed with the development of a new craft that would combine both functions, which lead into some serious doubts if the new Avenger could properly perform both. But, unknown to the Council, the most important capability of the craft was still present: it could operate in deep space and transport troops to Mars.
"Our Avenger, oui Commander". Chevereux just stood in gaze at the craft, with the look of a proud father. "But this is only the beginning of real space travel to mankind. Soon we will travel to another stars". Illyuschenko dismissed the other man's amazement and pride. "Congratulations Doctor. However, I don't know if this beast will do its work. And, unlike the fat cows we had at the kolkhoze back in Russia, I don't think this one will give out any milk".
"Commander!" Illyuschenko ignored the other man's indignation with the remark. Moving closer to the craft he looked at X-Com's white circle with a red X insignia painted on the main fuselage. He couldn't understand why they had painted the craft glossy black, since it would make it highly visible on daylight operations.
Pacing towards the front of the craft, he noticed some lettering underneath the pilot's viewport at the cockpit. When he reached it, he realized that the Japanese engineers had also taken the care of painting the name of the craft: The Avenger.
The Black Angel of Death, Illyuschenko suddenly realized. It sounded like something mysterious. A bad omen for the aliens since he had learned to trust the mechanical concoctions developed by Chevereux and his people. If the thing worked, then his pilots and soldiers would practice until exhaustion 'til they learned how to use it properly. But he also had the feeling that something bad in general was going to happen.
"Superstitious non-sense". He mumbled to himself before turning to Dr. Chevereux. "Doctor, start the tests at once". Giving it a last look, he felt and surpressed a shiver down his spine. "And try to hurry as much as possible. Area 51 needs to be relieved as soon as possible and I'm going to send it to them as a present". He didn't realize that unconsciously he also wanted to be as far away from the Avenger as possible.
August 15th, 2001
Alameda, California, US
"That's it!" Major Patterson nearly ripped the earset off his head in frustration. "That tight-up ass Army commander in Alcatraz just forbade us from flying downtown and warned us to leave these facilities or they will send someone to lock us up".
Johnson sighed as he heard the news. They were both inside the Avenger, the craft that had been deployed to Area 51 days ago and had just been immediately pressed into service as the aliens had launched a terrorist attack on San Francisco. The hyperwave detector on the base had tracked the flotilla of UFOs as they moved towards the city and they sent a transmission warning Jackson at the West Virginia base but it had been too late for anyone to mount a proper defense.
Their messages to the US leadership offering aid to contain the aliens hadn't been even acknowledged. Nevertheless Johnson had decided to deploy to the area to an abandoned Air Force facility to try to give assistance to the US forces. The Avenger and the two Lightnings were now parked close, surrounded by a perimeter of X-Com troops in power armor to guard them against any interference.
Standing close to it, White also turned to Johnson and added: "I know why he warned us against moving to the city. Major Prescott just called from Area 51 informing that Landon has cracked their latest communications. They just lost control of downtown San Francisco and right now are just trying to contain them in the peninsula".
Moving close to one of the windows built into the fuselage of the craft, Johnson pressed a button and the reinforced armor covering it slid away, showing him the San Francisco Bay. On the other side of the bay, the skyscrapers of the city could be seen, with a reddish glow marking them against the night. "The Golden Gate and Bay bridges have been blocked by Army barricades", White continued speaking, "and Jackson and his team seem to have been cut off somewhere in the Castro neighborhood and are moving to rejoin US forces".
A pair of Army helicopters moved over the bay, their silhouettes briefly lighted from the fireball of an explosion coming from San Francisco International. It was quickly followed by other blasts and Johnson realized that the planes parked at the airport must have been hit by gunfire.
His impatience and frustration were nearly impossible to endure. "Patterson, White, start monitoring all of the police and military channels to see if we can find us a fight".
Golden Gate Bridge
"Move!" Captain Halloway of the 7th Regiment, USMC, couldn't believe that there were still civilians alive and trying to cross the bridge into the safety of his lines. Placing the megaphone next to his mouth he kept on shouting commands: "Everyone hold your fire! Civilians are coming our way!" His company had been tasked to hold out at the northern end to serve as a tactical reserve while the two other companies from the battalion that had traveled with him from south had entered the city. He hadn't heard from the Major in one hour and he was starting to worry.
He wondered how they had managed to survive the aliens, as he watched them now racing between the jammed packed cars that had been abandoned and now littered the entire bridge.
As the first reached his position, he saw that most of them were injured and bleeding from their arms and heads. A young woman reached one of his soldiers and threw a crying child into the troopers' arms. She then collapsed on the ground as the marine dropped his M-16 to catch the infant.
A man on his fifties that seemed to be in shell shock simply kept running past the lines and down the highway, without even stopping at the provisional medical facility that had been deployed hours ago. Looking back at the woman, a corpsman was on his knees simply shaking his head.
An explosion coming from the other side of the bridge brought his attention back to the conflict. The marine carrying the radio that was standing next to him was trembling as he passed on the receiver to him.
Picking it up, he heard on the other side. "Golf Bravo, are you still there, over? I repeat, this is Romeo Fifteen. The aliens have started to move across the bridge. We are being fired upon and are….".
Static suddenly filled the channel and an airborne fireball told Halloway that the helicopter that was watching the other end of the bridge had been shot down. "Everyone assume your positions! The aliens are coming!"
Alameda
When the television crews started to arrive to the main entrance of the abandoned fence and join the policemen already present, Markovitch simply tried to ignore them. Someone in the small crowd that was curiously watching them must have called one of the major networks and she had to worry about the reporters.
For a moment she wished she had brought one of the psi-amps so that she could use them to make the police disperse the crowd. Four of her troopers were standing by at the entrance carrying stun launchers in case they got too close but the Colonel had given orders to avoid a confrontation at any cost. Already the sight of their power suits had caused angry shouts from the crowd, branding them as aliens, until she had ordered one of her men to remove its helmet and reveal to them that they were human. The local cops also weren't sure to what to do. The sergeant in charge had radioed back the precinct asking for instructions but it seemed that they had other things to worry about.
For the time they seemed happy to make a security line to contain the civilians, as Markovitch had suggested to the Sergeant.
One man was standing in front of her talking to one of the law enforcement officers. After a couple of minutes he turned his back on the policeman, who turned his attention to another side.
Suddenly, she saw the figure speeding past the officer and making a dash towards the entrance. One of her man raised his stun launcher in response. "Captain…." He spoke, waiting for an order. "Hold your fire!" She suddenly called, recognizing the man. Blake!
The soldier kept his weapon as the journalist moved next to them. His face was unshaven and his dark hair a mess, with bloodshot eyes visible behind the glasses that he was wearing. "Who's in charge here? I need to talk to the Colonel!"
"What are you doing here Blake?" Markovitch asked, waving off the soldier.
He looked surprised for one second that the armored figure in front of him who know his name. "Captain? Captain Markovitch? What's going on around here?"
She wanted to kick his ass out of the place since the only thing the man would do was to get on their way. "Blake, beat it. We are extremely busy down here".
"Hey, I'm on your side!" More likely his own side, she thought. "I just flew from Washington to LA and drove for hours to get here. Nobody knows what's really going on inside since there's a major news blackout".
"What do you think? Instead of taking flowers in their hats, the aliens decided to bring plasma weapons in their hands and destroy San Francisco".
"But why are you still here? You haven't been clearance by the military?" She was about to answer but she realized that she should keep her mouth shut and leave any answers to Johnson.
He pressed on, seeing her refusal to respond, nearly grabbing her. "Captain, get me to the Colonel please! I need some answers!" Don't we all? Markovitch told herself.
***********
"Fire at will!" Captain Halloway had been before under attack by enemy armor in Iraq on 1991 but he never had faced the mechanical beasts that were attacking his end of the bridge. Two tanks on legs were walking into his position across the bridge, crushing the jammed cars under their armored feet.
The things were firing indiscriminately at his direction from barrels located under their red ovoid front. Each green blast would either transform one of the vehicles on the bridge span into a fireball or completely burn a man into cinders. A machine gun emplacement to his right started to cover one of the tanks with heavy-caliber bullets. The rounds failed completely to penetrate the hull of the mechanical monsters and they either felt flat to the floor of the bridge or were deflected.
Stopping its movement, the alien tank turned its plasma cannons to the emplacement and fired back. A moment later an explosion sent sandbags and pieces of the weapons and the marines manning it flying through the air, followed by the discharge of the ammunition. Halloway dropped to the ground as bullets started to fly everywhere, some of them hitting the other marines on the barricade.
When the shower of lead ended, he turned to a team of marines that was beneath them, crouched by a Humvee jeep that was still intact. "Get that TOW firing right now!" The soldiers looked upward but hesitated, unwilling to step into the fire.
"Move it Marines!" The anger of the shout sent both troopers to the back of the Humvee, where a tube launcher stood, its barrel parallel with the top of the vehicle. It was quickly loaded by one of the soldiers while the other manned the guidance position.
When the missile left the tube, Halloway thought that he could see the guidance wires that controlled the projectile over his head, as it covered the space between them and one of the tanks. But the mirage only lasted for one second, before he dropped into the cover of the abandoned car that they were using in the barricades.
The TOW guided missile had been developed to penetrate the armor of Soviet battle tanks. Its head consisted of a shaped explosive charge that, upon contact with the tank would spread itself over the surface of the armor before being detonated. The resulting explosion had been designed to crush the plating and allow for some of the blast to penetrate the inner compartments.
The missile hit one of alien tank's legs before detonating. When the smoke of the blast dissipated, Halloway saw that the machine seemed to have been damaged, since it seemed to be limping. But it was still as deadly as before.
Turning its plasma cannons in the direction of the weapon that had just hurt it, the alien Sectopod promptly cut down the launcher and one of the Marines manning it with two plasma blasts. The second Marine tried to exit the Humvee but another round of plasma hit him on the side, igniting his combat fatigues. The man simply dropped to the ground from the top of the jeep, giving away a smell of burned flesh and clothing.
***********
Things were starting to go out of control, Markovitch thought, as she saw an Army truck driving down the road toward their direction. She informed Johnson of their presence and waved off Blake.
"You better get out of here. We might be about to get evicted and my armor stops bullets better than your body".
His eyes rolled over but suddenly they opened wide. "I think you won't be lonely when leaving!". He pointed to somewhere behind her. "Look!"
She turned into the direction of the city and saw what he meant. A number of white and yellow large lights could be seen slowly ascending close to the skyscrapers. Graciously they hovered in the air, until suddenly they shot off upwards, quickly becoming nothing more than moving stars against the dark sky. "Johnson!" She called but he had been already alerted and was on the back ramp of the Skyranger, looking at the distant lights in the sky
August 18th, 2001
Area 51, Nevada, US
"Good evening. Today, both Houses of Congress have approved the Kieloff-Ashbury Act, authorizing President Vaughn to take all of the necessary steps regarding the protection of US citizens and interests against any acts of aggression by extraterrestrials or their human allies.
This measure is one of the latest developments regarding the attack on San Francisco three nights ago. The attack resulted in thousands of casualties and the destruction of the city's downtown and of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was deliberatly blown in order to prevent the aliens to cross to the other side of the peninsula.
However, even before the voting the measure has already been deeply criticized. To talk about this matter we have here Representatives Roger Wilkes of Colorado, who voted against the act, and Linda Kierloff of Virginia. Honorable Wilkes, we will start with your views on the subject
"Thank you Riley. I believe that Congress should have declared a state of war immediately against those 'aliens' and their allies here on Earth. The reports from the witnesses and the news footage are quite clear: their intentions are clearly hostile. We need to act fast and fully mobilize the country for a war that is looming on the horizon".
"With all of the respect for my esteemed colleague, I can't possibly agree with those ideas. The White House and NASA have stated a number of times that the aliens are refusing to establish any communications with our government. We can't either know their true intentions or the amount of cooperation that they are receiving from their 'allies'. So far we have only seen isolated incidents and we should not take any aggressive steps that can endanger any attempts of establishing peace between our country and these visitors"
"Mrs. Kierloff, the President has said that our intelligence community has determined that a number of countries are collaborating with the aliens. We can't simply wait for the aliens to extend an olive branch to us. We need to think of the lessons from the past and remember Europe and Hitler in the Munich Peace Talks in 1938".
"This Act takes that into consideration Mr. Wilkes. President Vaughn now has full authority to deter any further aggressive actions by the extraterrestrials or any nation who wants to have us harmed".
"But what has the White House done so far since Vaughn announced the existence of aliens? Nothing! Besides criticizing the previous administration's policy, we haven't seen any practical results. And the top-secret unit whose existence was revealed yesterday by the Secretary of Defense did not seemed to do anything in San Francisco".
"Mr. Wilkes, you mean the Joint Alien Task Force whose departure was recorded by one of our associate stations in California?"
"Exactly Riley. According to the available reports they were kept out of the main fighting. What good is for us that we have such a unit we are not going to use it?"
"They seemed to have some rather impressive hardware: according to military analysts that saw the footage, the armor, weapons and planes were never seen before. Mrs. Ashbury, do you care to comment on that?"
"Not at this time Riley".
The television image suddenly turned into black as Williams touched the off button on the remote control he was holding on his hand. Next to him, Colonel Robinson looked thoughtful for a second, before swiveling his chair towards Williams. "You know, I always thought that Americans had a touch of both ingenuity and madness on them. Seeing this makes me think that I have made an underestimate".
Williams' mouth contorted before agreeing. "Wilkes got elected into Congress because of his anti-alien rhetoric and after his district suffered a significant number of cow mutilations. He probably haven't been informed about X-Com yet".
"There are some weird ironies in life. According to them, we are a part of the US military. They just plainly ignored the fact that several witnesses saw that Johnson's team was clearly evicted from the installation were they had landed".
"Yes, but at least as long as we are mistaken by the official alien team headed by Jackson can serve to hide our identities".
"Another one of your black and white cover-ups, although this one was quiet unplanned". Williams nodded to the comment. In the US military machine there had been a number of top secret planes that had been designed using a mix of white and black projects. The white project would be the public face of the technology, usually an experimental plane operated by NASA or a less conspicuous agency. But at the same time a hidden "black" project would also be running under total secrecy to put the same military technology into practical use.
"We'll Jackson get all of the credit, although I think some might be sore about it. Still, we are still better off without any publicity".
"I'm curious: what does your journalist friend think about all of this?"
"Nothing. He has agreed to keep his mouth shut for the moment about X-Com or Area 51".
"How did you managed that?"
"Johnson promised to him on San Francisco that he would give a full interview when the time was right".
"Which might not be too far away. I do not believe either your President or we can keep our existence a secret for much longer. Everyone else already knows about it".
"There would be a lot of political and military careers at stake in Washington if the truth came out. I think for now it's in everyone's best interest to maintain it this way".
"And in ours also. You do know we have been declared an illegal organization in a number of countries and that our personnel are to be considered armed and dangerous? Their law enforcement agencies and military have orders to use deadly force in case they encounter us".
"I guess I will just have to tell my wife that the trip we wanted to make to Italy is out of the question now".
September 25th, 2001
Area 51, Nevada, US
Moving over the intelligence estimates piled up upon his desk, Williams wished that the bad news wouldn't end. There were strong indications that Canada was about to join the alien's side since a number of suspicious flyovers had been recently detected. He was dreading for the next Council meeting, scheduled to begin in five days, since it seemed that it might confirm the prediction written on the piece of paper in front of him.
His computer beeped once, distracting him from his work and making him turn to the monitor. He found an invoice symbol indicating that he had just received an email and he double clicked on it to read it.
When the message popped up on his monitor, he found it strange that it didn't had the identity of the sender. It made him immediately thought that it was something coming out of Mother One or any other base but what he read next froze him into place.
It consisted of a single line: "Please take steps to assure your physical integrity today. A friend".
"What?" His question made everyone else in the room turn back and look at him.
**********
At the same time, on another side of the base, another message was also being typed.
"X-COM – TOP SECRET
Report Number: ______________________
Author: Dr. Young, Xenobiology Dpt., Area 19
To: Cmdr. Illyuschenko, Commanding Officer
Col. Robinson, Intelligence Bureau Chief
Dr. Chevereux Scientific Bureau Chief
Subject: Analysis of Alien Reproduction and possible uses of the technology
The analysis of the cloning chambers retrieved from the captured alien Supply Ships confirm the suspicions already formulated in Dr. Mantell's original report on the Sectoid species. The presence of undeveloped alien fetuses on the chambers confirm that the sustainability of their species rely on laboratory assisted reproduction.
DNA samples taken from a number of Sectoid bodies give further proof of this claim. As it is possible to see in the appropriate appendix, the DNA is restricted to about twenty genoprints, pointing that the Sectoids that we have encountered seem to be all clones of that number of original members of the species.
Those twenty genetic lines range from the most basic trooper to the leader captured in New Mexico and there are some particular lines that we haven't been able to match with their social position inside the Hierarchy. Most likely they correspond to social niches not yet determined upon their hive-like society.
Our testing process here at Area 51 has also proven that the new race encountered, the so-called 'Ethereals', since they haven't been assigned yet a proper scientific name, also use this process for their own reproduction. However, the DNA samples taken from the available bodies have surprisingly shown that the genetic lines are less diversified than the ones of the Sectoids.
While this can be attributed to our general lack of knowledge towards these species and the few bodies recovered, it is also possible that their DNA has become more stable, allowing them to focus on the growth of a selected number of 'safe' genetic lines.
We have found no indication yet that the technology is behind used for the cloning of the species called 'Muton', 'Snakemen' or 'Floater'. However, the process could certainly be used in large scale reproduction of these species, allowing the aliens to field an impressive army in short notice.
Moreover, there are clear indications that the chambers can be used to grow humans or" Young stopped for one second as he realized the implications for himself of what he was about to write. "alien-human hybrids. On the former case it seems the most logical choice for reproduction, due to our biological assumptions regarding mating between different species. Most of the offspring born from such crossings are infertile and are thus unable to propagate the new specie, although our research work on the alien's biology has shown results that defy some of the major biological paradigms.
But in relation to Homo sapiens, our preliminary work using human ova has shown that the multiplying rates of cell division experience during the initial weeks on the uterus can be maintained through the use of such chambers. Which has leaded us to speculate that it might be possible to grown a full-sized individual in weeks using human DNA.
Such an experiment brings up ethical questions that can only be decided upon by the Council or any high-ranking leadership. However, this possibility can't simply be ignored.
With the high attrition rates being experienced by our combat forces and the time it takes to replace them with properly trained personnel, this technology could give us a way to face personnel shortages.
The increase of alien activity and the possibility of an alien invasion should give us enough reasons to continue our work on this area. But in that event, there are also a number of possibilities that must be considered, namely the time that would take for the training and the possible emotional unbalances coming from such an upbringing, since human growth is based upon societal experiences.
My most immediate recommendation would be for DNA samples be taken from our best combat personnel and stored…"
A loud warning klaxon made Young turn his head away from the monitor. Moving his right hand to pick the phone, he dialed the number of the desk officer. When the call came through he asked on the receiver. "Lieutenant, what's going on?"
"Doctor, please stay in your office and wait for further instructions". His voice showed apprehension. "The Colonel just informed us that the aliens are about to attack the base".
**********
The UFOs flight paths were marked on red on Area 51's control headquarters, looking like the spokes of a wheel, with the center right on Nevada. They all showed the same marker: "ETHREAL/RETALTN/NAMERCA".
When Johnson saw the air defense board again, after a quick trip to get on his power suit, he grimaced as he noticed the additional red dots that had been detected while he was away. They now had three confirmed alien Battleships plus the same number of smaller ships all heading towards Area 51. A timer in front of him showed the time before the aliens would arrive: less than five minutes now remained.
"Major, what's the status?" Prescott turned from talking to a technician at the sound of his voice and moved to join him. He was clad in full blue armor and wearing a laser pistol as a sidearm. "All of the planes and men here have been moved underground. We managed to get two Skyrangers out of Papoose before we had to shut down the evacuation flights".
"Who's still there?"
"Two platoons of security troops and a number of personnel that we just didn't had time to evacuate". With nothing more than body armor and laser weapons to defend themselves, Johnson concluded with a shiver. "Any HWPs in the area?"
"Two, but they are of the old type, only equipped with lasers. The plasma hovercrafts are here and ready. They are overhead with the combat troops". A flashing sound told both of them that there wasn't much time left. Looking at the board, Prescott said. "Base defenses are about to be activated".
**********
Sliding doors had opened the hill overlooking the dry lakebed on which Area 51's runway and buildings had been constructed. Close to the top of the elevation, they revealed three chambers built on its side, from where gun barrels were poking out at the sky.
Moving on their mounts the weapons started to search for their targets on the dark horizon, patiently waiting until the alien crafts had reached optimal range. Finally, when the UFOs were at a distance of fifteen miles, a pair of plasma cannons discharged their destructive power. The high-energy particles traveled swiftly over the hangars of the base, briefly revealing the concealed troopers dug out between the buildings.
Leaning against one hangar's wall, Major Patterson traced their path with the sight on his helmet as the round hit one of the two Battleships that were approaching the base. The energy of the plasma engulfed the side of the UFO and made the craft visible in the night sky. The craft faltered for one second but it kept its course.
And flying right into the course of the rounds fired by the two remaining base defenses. Another pair of plasma balls three feet in diameter hit the Battleship, carving through one of its legs and breaching the armor. As some of the high-energy particles reached the inside of the UFO they vaporized one unlucky alien that was standing next to one of the craft's engines. They also reached the Elerium stored inside the engine, igniting it on an uncontrolled reaction that nearly blew off the compartment from the main section.
But it was the fusion ball launchers that made the worst damage. A larger version of the ones developed for the Avenger spacecraft by the scientists at Mother One, they traded range for firepower. The two carbon-laced Elerium balls glowed fiercely in the dark as the diamond cover reflected the light of the previous explosions, before they added doom to the alien craft.
The force of the gravity wave created by their detonation crushed the hull of the Battleship and some of its internal structures. One of those was the bridge and all of the aliens inside. Devoid of any control, the craft started spiraling down towards the ground, as the loss of one engine and no subsequent compensation by the others made it unbalanced.
The closest squad of X-Com troopers found themselves a bit heavier for one moment as the gravity wave from the fusion balls' detonation moved past them. It also sent tremors across the buildings, making windows tremble and opening a couple of fissures on the hardened parts of the runway. A loud blast was heard a few seconds afterwards, as the Battleship crashed into the ground and exploded. Cheers followed it from the troops in the general channel.
"Command, one UFO down". Patterson reported, still seeing the shapes of another Battleship plus two other large craft approaching the base. They were already less than five miles from the base and there wouldn't be any time for the weapons to recharge and fire again.
"Tell everybody to get into cover". The voice of Johnson replied. "The aliens are about to get a surprise".
As the three remaining alien ships got to one mile of the base they started slowing down and making their descents to deploy the troops inside them. The troopers braced themselves for the assault that was about to come.
Suddenly Patterson felt as if a major weight had been put upon him, an invisible hand that made it impossible to stand, despite of the additional strength provided by the power suit that he was wearing. He found it impossible to withstand and felt to the ground, with the rest of the troopers nearby him.
Thinking that the aliens must be deploying a new type of weapon, he looked upwards into the direction of the UFOs. Only to see something that made every human present on the surface to open their mouths in amazement. The three crafts all of the sudden simply bounced upwards as if they had hit a safety net on their descent.
They climbed more than a hundred of feet before the alien pilots got the motion corrected. Then, as they started to race down again, the base defenses fired again, destroying one of the smaller craft and crippling the other.
The airborne explosion sent metal fragments raining down the base, filling the area with crashing noises as they hit the buildings and the troops close by. Patterson found that the increased weight had disappeared. "Command what was that?!!" He was dumbfounded by what he had just seen.
***************
Everyone inside the operations center of the base was closely watching the results of the second volley fired by the weapons. Turning away from the screen that was displaying the images caught by the outside cameras, Johnson felt relief. The gravity shield had worked in repulsing the alien craft for the seconds necessary for the base's defenses to reload and fire back. Buried close to the main runway, .it created a gravity 'bubble' on the area above the ground that couldn't be breached by vessels above a certain mass for a brief period of time.
"Papoose reports that their UFOs have landed and are deploying their troops. They are encountering a mix of Mutons and of the alien tanks, the 'Sectopods'. The Army forces in the area are providing assistance". Johnson looked back at Prescott.
That struck Johnson as odd, since alien species had never performed joint operations. "Any Ethereals in the area?"
Prescott's face turned grim for one second. "They have just gone off the air".
****************
Corporal King and the rest of Omega squad had occupied the observation level of the deserted control tower that stood in the close to the western main runway. One of the alien craft, a Terror Ship, had landed between that runway and its parallel eastern one. They could see now the access doors on each end of the craft illuminated as light from the ship' inside.
Below them, the men and women of Fourth and Sixth Platoons were starting to engage the aliens as they rushed out of the UFO and fired back. So far four Sectopods had deployed from the ship, along with nearly the triple of that number of Mutons. And there were also some Ethereals, although it seemed that they preferred to stay inside the ship. King and Omega had been tasked into bringing them down, but the aliens only popped into sight but a brief number of seconds before vanishing again.
The fire of the X-Com soldiers was slowing down the green aliens' advance but the Sectopods were proving themselves impossible to stop. Their speed made them difficult to target even by the soldiers holding blaster launchers, the only weapon that seemed to make a dent into their thick hull. Looking through the corner of his eye, King saw one of them taking several heavy plasma hits into its ovoid shape but moving scathed as if they had no effect.
The alien tank simply raced on its massive legs and approached the position of the soldiers who were trying to take it down. One of them tried to move away on his flying suit but he was too late: the Sectopod' shots found him as he had started to leave the ground, killing him. The second trooper managed to keep his courage and fired back at the metal monster with his laser rifle, the red bolts hitting in a number of locations.
The machine staggered, to King's surprise and he turned to see better the tragedy below him. The soldier was on his knees, still pointing the laser rifle at the Sectopod who had now turned to face him. They fired at the same time.
King grimaced as he saw the soldier dropping to the ground. Then, much to his astonishment, the alien tank also came crashing down, hitting the hardened surface of the runway with the front of his armored carapace.
Next to him, Rumpole shouted. "King!" She turned to him and her voice showed consternation. "What are you doing? You had a clear shot at that Ethereal!"
"Hold on. Just checking something". Slowly moving his Mk VI improved heavy laser along the edge of the open glass window, he caught one of the Sectopods on his sight. Aiming towards the back of the alien machine, he fired a single laser shot at the junction between its body and leg.
When the golden light hit the Sectopod precisely at the place that he had targeted, the leg of the machine stiffened. The speed of the tank considerably slowed as it started limping towards the X-Com line. However it's attention was elsewhere than the troopers on their hastily dug foxholes. Scanning for the origin of the shot that had just hurt it, the plasma cannons of the Sectopod moved upwards in the direction of the control tower.
Switching the heavy laser into full automatic mode, King quickly fired again at the tank before it could respond. The first shot hit it squarely on one of the red eyes, burning its inside and ruining the machine's aim. The plasma round that it fired in response went wide off the tower, the energy bleeding harmlessly into the atmosphere after it had illuminated the inside of the room where the members of Omega were standing.
The Sectopod never had a chance of trying to correct its aim since the following shots from King managed to burn through the armor, destroying the circuits that controlled it and leaving only an dead mass of alien metal on the runway.
**************
Up in the northern hangar area, First Platoon was on the process of retreating from their positions after the aliens from the Battleship had launched a vicious attack. Rodriguez and Jones were racing down the space between two hangars, as they had been ordered by Major Patterson to fall back to the second line of defense.
One of the new hovertanks had been posted to them to provide fire support. The machine used an Elerium engine to be able to move faster that by threads and it also could fly, with a plasma cannon mounted on its top. None of that had mattered in stopping the alien horde, and its burned hulk was now releasing smoke as it tried to cover their retreat.
As they reached halfway of the distance both of them stopped and dropped to the ground, covering the retreat of Pershing and the Captain, who now had left their positions and were running into their direction. A pair of Mutons appeared seconds afterwards, only to be greeted by plasma fire.
Firing his plasma rifle to keep the aliens under cover, Rodriguez saw Pershing suddenly stopping on his stride towards him and start to point his heavy plasma upwards.
The warning only came afterward he had jumped to his side. An Ethereal had just popped on the roof of the hangar, in no doubt using its flying ability to surprise the X-Com soldiers. A black spot suddenly appeared on the ground where Rodriguez had just been standing, as the alien fired its plasma weapon, missing the trooper by inches. The shots from Pershing made the Ethereal scream in pain before it dropped off the edge of the roof.
Alpha must have already completely withdrawn from our flank, Rodriguez realized. Then, the four men all started running down towards the end of the hangars before the aliens could encircle them.
****************
"This is it". The lieutenant in charge of the last line of defense had a bloody rag around his left arm and his hair looked burned. The aliens had already overrun the upper levels of Area 19, crushing through the security troopers. The remaining humans had barricaded themselves in the subterranean levels.
Young looked around to the impromptu barricade that had been made using metal desks and chairs. Less than a dozen of Theta security troopers remained, armed with laser pistols and rifles. The rest of the guards were posted on the emergency stairs, which had been blocked although that would just slow down the aliens a couple of minutes. All of the three corridors that lead into the elevators had been blocked and they were now waiting for the aliens to got down the shaft into their direction. Holding a laser rifle on one hand, the officer reached Young. "Either we hold them out here or we're as good as dead".
Young realized that the bravado that the officer was putting was more meant for the others to hear. There was no way that they could hold out the aliens after they had already failed to hold one in the upper levels. Reaching for the holster on his belt, the officer drew out a laser pistol and passed it to Young. "Wait until I give the order". Then he moved towards another corridor to check the remaining barricades.
*************
Omega squad had managed to take two other Sectopods down using King's discovery about the effects of laser weapons upon the aliens. King was on the process of targeting the third alien tank when the floor between him suddenly shook, spoiling his aim. A loud wrecking sound started to be heard and Deschamps voice was heard. "Merde! They just hit the tower with a blaster. They know where we are!"
That sent the four-squad members racing towards the stairs that lead into the ground. But as Rumpole opened the door, she immediately stopped her race. Ahead of her the explosion had wrecked the side of the tower underneath and also the flight of stairs. "The balcony! Quickly!" King called.
The tower was already starting to collapse as they reached the door on the side of the tower that faced the buildings. With a punch of his metal glove Deschamps broke the reinforced glass of the door and they all rushed outwards.
Climbing over the metal railing, one by one the X-Com soldiers threw themselves into the air, activating the flight controls on their suits to control their falls. King barely had cleared the balcony when the tower finally collapsed from the damage it had suffered from the blaster round with the upper levels falling into the ground, including the room where they had just been.
**************
The soldiers of First Platoon had just cleared the area of the hangars, with the aliens on hot pursuit. Looking around as he continued to run towards the main administration buildings, Rodriguez saw that some of his comrades had been hit and were being helped by other soldiers.
All of them were racing across two hundred yards of open ground; most of it filled with dirt and sparse vegetation. Then Rodriguez noticed something that shocked him. "Where are Second and Third Platoons?" His call went unanswered and he realized that the situation must have gone sour if their backup was missing. They found fallback line unmanned as they reached the buildings. "Something is fucked up here, man!" Jones voice was his only reply.
The aliens had begun to move across the open space, with two Sectopods as spearheads, followed by Mutons brandishing heavy plasmas and Ethereals holding blaster launchers. Their numbers and firepower overwhelmed the platoon of X-Com soldiers now posed between them and the entrance to the subterranean levels.
Then a radio call was suddenly heard on the radio. "Fire at will!" Rodriguez realized that moment where Second and Third platoons were as plasma and laser fire started to hit the aliens coming from his left and right sides. Major Patterson had set an ambush, using the First as bait and moving the other two platoons to the sides of the route the aliens would take. Smiling to himself, Rodriguez started firing.
September 30th, 2001
Area 51, Nevada, US
The base infirmary was overfilled with the smell of antiseptic and the silent pain of the men and women that had been injured in the aliens' attack. Moving down a row of beds all full Johnson stopped by one, whose occupant was awake. "How are you doing Mike?"
Major Patterson had been gravely injured in the attack. He raised one hand to him but quickly put it down. "Great sir, although I can't pretty much move myself in this bed. But the nurses are nice and the food isn't that bad".
A white bandage was wrapped around right side of his head. Johnson had been told that Hunt had lost one of his ears when shrapnel from a blaster bomb had ripped through his helmet.
"I'm sorry about what happened, Mike. The doctors told me that as soon as your face heals they will conduct reconstructive surgery to give you back an new ear".
"I don't think I will have time for it now. Maybe when this whole thing is over". Johnson felt uncomfortable but Patterson raised a hand to stop it. "Colonel…Erwin, I appreciate the concern but please don't worry about me. For the moment I can live with this". Changing the subject, he asked: "I heard that Papoose got hit hard".
Johnson winced. "You better say that the area is now a complete loss. The aliens wrecked most of the facilities after they broke through the defense perimeter. There were no survivors".
"Ouch. But we are still OK to fight aren't we?"
"Yeah, they didn't do much damage here on Groom. And we were on the process of transferring most of the equipment from Papoose to here".
"How many died there?"
"Close to eighty men and women. Mostly from Theta security but some also from the Scientific Bureau". Hunt closed his eyes. "And here?"
"We got off light. The ground level buildings and hangars took some damage but the aliens were crushed before they could get to the levels before the surface".
"Good". Looking around on his bed he seemed assured. "You know, I can't think of any other place where I would feel more secure on this planet, if that is possible. Let the aliens or the Army try to get us again here".
Johnson shook his head. "Just get some rest". Dismissing himself he headed back towards the main operations exit. But as he was about to reach the door, one of the medical staff approached him. "Colonel, can I have a word with you please?"
The nametag on the chest of man's green vest read: "Porter".
"Anything wrong Doctor?" The man's expression grew more anxious and his voice grew into a whisper. "I was one of Billings, I mean Young's 'friends' here at the base".
One of the hybrids. Looking better at the man he noticed the scant on his eyes and also the rim of the contact lenses that covered his violet irises. He hadn't had time yet to deal with the hybrids after Young had been presumably killed in Papoose. Like many others, his body hadn't been identified but there a number of burned remains had been recovered.
"We better probably talk somewhere else". The hybrid nodded and led him into a supply room. After they entered and the door was locked, Porter begun. "Colonel, I don't know if you are aware but the majority of us was killed in the attack".
Of course, Johnson thought. The hybrids had been deliberately placed on Papoose from the time of their discovery to prevent that any human detected their true nature. "I'm sorry to hear that. I've learn to respect Dr. Young and your contributions, no matter how strange this whole matter seemed".
"I believe you Colonel. Young also told us that we could trust you to fulfill your part of the agreement. There are only six of us left now here on the base but we will still help as much as we possibly can. The ones who died were part of the only family I've ever had on Earth".
Johnson could understand it. The hybrids had no place in human society if they ever were discovered and their nature made them avoid social contact with humans to avoid any possibility of their presence ever being perceived. "What do you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Two days ago the remainder of us got together to remember the ones that died. We then decided that we want to do more against the aliens". His voice was determined.
"Just keep on doing your work to the best of your abilities".
Porter moved uneasy. "But we suspect that we can do more Colonel. There were rumors among us of our mental abilities when Young tested some of us. He always dismissed then but he never showed us the results".
"Use of psionics has been discarded by High Command because of the damage done to the brain. Their use now highly restricted". Johnson dismissed the possibility.
"To the human brain, Colonel". Making a pause he then continued. "And the commanding officer can allow for psis to be used if there are volunteers for the mission. We have all taken the same decision: we are all willing to undertake psi training and participate in combat missions if you need us". Johnson looked at him, without knowing what to do.
October 25th, 2001
Mars's Orbit
Small as a grain of sand against the orange and brown globe that now filled most of the navigational camera, the car sized man-made probe had finally reached its destination. It had taken months to cross the 78 million kilometers that separated Earth from Mars, after being launched by the NASA facility at Cape Canaveral.
NASA had given it the name of Mars Odyssey, the same of the Greek epic written by Homer almost three thousand years ago narrating the journeys of Ulysses on his plight to return home after the conquest of Troy. Its mission was to study the radiation of Mars and perform a survey of any possible water signs, using a multitude of instruments placed onboard the probe.
It had also been designed to test a new form of braking when approaching a planet. Called aerobraking, the technique consisted of using the Martian atmosphere to slow the probe's approach speed, allowing it to be captured by the planet's gravity. The process had been designed with an eye on saving the Odyssey's precious fuel supply, allowing it to stay more time in Mars' orbit.
However, despite of all of the theoretical calculations made by the flight engineers, the flight control personnel back at Earth still had to fear two possibilities that could endanger the mission. One was that the craft wouldn't slow down enough and would fly past Mars into the void of space. The second was that the approach vector would be too steep, making it burn into cinders as the result of too much friction of the probe with the planet's atmosphere.
The Odyssey had just reached Mars the day before and flight control was now busy in giving the instructions for it to successfully perform its aerobraking. Since it took eight minutes for the radio commands to reach the probe, they had to plan carefully each maneuver by the Odyssey, since any mistake would be too late to correct.
However, although they had taken every possible failsafe to avoid any of the two possibilities mentioned earlier, they could do nothing about a third one that they never had considered. So, when the probe failed to respond to any radio instructions from flight control a lot of minds went into complete puzzlement and spent the next days trying to determine what had went wrong. Like Ulysses on the epic that was its namesake, the Odyssey had simply disappeared.
October 29th, 2001
MacMurdo Station, Antartica
The young officer in charge of communications during the night shift at the control center of the largest American facility in the polar continent of Antartica was bored to death. He had wondered several times during the past weeks of what had gotten into him to accept being posted at what was called 'the bottom of the world', as one poster in the habitation area said it.
There simply wasn't anything to do, besides receiving the regular check transmission back from the States and replying that everything was fine. Yeah, we are stuck on our butts on ice, snow and gusty winds that would kill you out in the open. How about you back there?
Some of the other personnel had told him that summer or what passed as it on this place was about to come. He had wondered if it was a joke or if it actually would be any improvement on the atmospheric conditions. Hell, even Siberia had to be nicer than this. The temperature would be constantly several dozen degrees below the water icing point. And to even get to work he would have to put on several layers of garments, designed to keep hypothermia away.
The boredom could be attenuated if there were any ladies around but even there he had struck out of luck. All the women at the station either were married to somebody else or they would confine themselves to a few exchange of words. Well at least I remembered to bring TDC3 along, he sighed and decided to go back to the computer screen and play a little to kill a bit of more time. It was his favorite computer game, the latest on a series of strategy games where the player was supposed to be leading the Terran Defense Command, an organization built to defend humanity and Earth from an alien invasion.
He had first started to play the first game of the series in college and quickly had gotten himself addicted to it, which almost had wrecked havoc on his grades. The third game of the series had just been released and he had managed to purchase a copy, in spite of the computer craze regarding it. The first edition had been sold out in hours, in no doubt due to the fact that it had started to be distributed two days after the alleged alien attack on San Francisco. But he had managed to purchase one before he caught the plane to the Station where he would spend most of his free time playing it. Some of the other personnel had commented that he should join the mysterious force that was supposedly fighting the 'little men from Mars' but he had told them to fuck off.
He had heard the stories about the mysterious lights in the sky that were going over in the media before he left, together with the state of emergency declared by Vaughn but he didn't believe them to be extraterrestrials for one second. All of that crap only exists here in my computer, he told to himself, as he watched on the screen an alien attack on his troops that caught his full attention.
A number of mouse clicks activated a number of his reserve units to respond to the new battlefield threat and we anxiously waited for the result of the confrontation.
Then a large red light started to blink on the radio in front of him. He ignored it for a second until realization of its meaning came to him. The emergency channel?
Who could possibly be using the emergency channel? He ignored the game running on the laptop in front of him and flicked on the radio, choosing the frequency reserved for it. "MacMurdo here, over".
Static filled the room with noise and nearly got him deaf until he remembered to disconnect the computer from the audio system and turn down the volume. "….Eagle….help us".
Eagle? He thought for a second, trying to remember to which outpost the callsign corresponded. After a second he came to a blank and he decided that it could only be one of the scientific teams out there in the open. He opened the logbook and checked: Eagle mission, a group of scientists somewhere in the middle of the continent doing their gimmicks. He looked at the weather report and saw that the conditions were fairly stable at their location. What was going on?
"Eagle, this is MacMurdo. I'm having problems receiving you. What's the emergency?" The static came back again. "…need help……were there!…..dead….escape….my head….i can feel….no!….inside me!"
"Eagle, I'm not understanding you, please repeat over". There was nothing more than silence on the channel and the officer started to wonder what was going on. Then he remembered the emergency procedure rules received months ago and called for his superior officer.
André Galvão, 2001