X-Com – The Unknown Menace
Chapter Twenty-Nine – "It's full of them!"
November 13th, 2001
Central America
The X-Com base at South America had detected an alien infiltration mission heading towards Colombia. It consisted of half a dozen of UFOs crewed by Sectoids, with most of the craft being smaller and medium craft with two Battleships on the mix. The base had immediately scrambled its lone Firestorm interceptor and two conventional fighters to deal with the smaller craft and had called Mother One for reinforcements.
Sitting on the pilot's seat, Harris was trying to get a picture of the aerial battle that was raging hundreds of miles away from him. Major Prescott had immediately launched him to assist in the confrontation but he was wondering what good would the X-Terminator do when he arrived. One alien Large Scout and a Supply Ship had already been downed. However, a conventional fighter had been shot down by a large UFO with the pilot failing to bail out.
The artificial image that he was seeing displayed in front of his eyes only showed the darkness of night, with the cloud cover glowing white below the X-Terminator. He was speeding towards his target at the craft's maximum speed, more than four thousand miles per hour. Switching his attention to the sides of the display unit he saw that his plasma cannon blinked a green "READY" while the words of the fusion ball launcher showed instead a yellow "STAND BY".
He was about to engage the Terror Ship that had earlier shot down the F-22. From his previous experience he knew that a number of solid hits would be enough to bring down the craft. And he was thinking of better uses for the powerful fusion missiles anyhow. "Firestorm Two-One. Target has slowed down and is hovering. Engage at will". Good, Harris thought as he moved arms to adjust his approach vector towards the coordinates of the first UFO.
Vostok Base, Antarctica
To Johnson, the clean up of the alien base buried two miles underneath was over. The Challenger had already took off towards Area 51, carrying the injured soldiers and the captured Ethereal Commander, who was still unconscious. The plane was due to arrive in a little more than half an hour and Dr. Mantell was getting ready the special containment facility that had been built and used for the Sectoid leader.
All of the platoons had managed to reach the lift towards the safety of surface, although in one case they had to use blaster bombs to blow the containment doors that the aliens had dropped to contain the flooding. Most likely there were still live aliens at the massive base, in sections that hadn't been filled by water but they hardly mattered any more. The control section of the base had been destroyed and the troops guarding the lift had reported that it had stopped to function an hour ago, becoming only a pit two miles deep that even the aliens would have trouble to climb its empty walls.
Standing next to the Avenger, Johnson watched as the troops and the hovertanks who had survived the assault boarded it and the Skyrangers. Crossett was also standing next to him, still holding his heavy plasma. "I could order you to relax and put down that thing", he told him.
The armored shoulders of Crossett's power suit almost lift an inch as the man dismissed the comment. However he turned away but still kept the weapon ready. Johnson gave him one last look before facing towards Captain Jerrel, who was approaching him with tired steps.
"Colonel, the squad guarding the lift could use a replacement but I have no men available".
"They will have to wait. We're almost done here and we can use one of the Skyrangers to pick them up". Jerrel rocked backward and forward and Johnson realized that he must be on the edge of mental and physical exhaustion. "Yes sir". Raising his head he looked back at him. "Colonel, can I ask you something?"
When Johnson nodded in affirmative, he looked hesitantly, unsure of how to say it. "After this mission I'm starting to loose count of the number of men and women that I've lost since I've started fighting the aliens". He looked towards the distance, to the frozen white landscape. "I just don't know..:.".
"What Jerrel?"
"Was this whole thing worth it sir? I mean, capturing that son of a bitch down there? We've lost an entire platoon worth of soldiers doing it. Henley, Bradley and Bearpaw are dead, with Pershing having fifty- percent chances of making it. And more and more it seems that we are going nowhere and the aliens only get bigger no matter what we do".
Johnson wanted to tell him about Mars and the importance of the alien that they had just captured but he couldn't. "It will be Jerrel. Trust me".
Over the Andes Mountains, South America
Locking his hand into a fist and pressing on it with his thumb Harris fired another plasma volley at the already battered Terror Ship that was showing on the display. The craft was more than thirty miles away but he had increased the magnification so that he could see it falling down the sky towards the terrain five thousand feet below.
The UFO shook again when the energized particles hit its main body, with metal fragments releasing from the fuselage. Harris knew that it was good as dead and if there were still any live aliens inside, the fall into the mountains below would kill him.
Pushing backwards his left hand, the sensors built into the gloves detected the motion and ordered the Elerium engine to bring the craft into a halt. The fingers on his other hand started dancing over the control panel at his waist level as he checked the remaining Elerium on his craft with his eyes. He was still at more than seventy per cent fuel left, he realized with satisfaction, as his hand called up the data on his next target from the central base.
But as he searched for the arrow that would indicate him the direction of another UFO, he found that he could only see the indicators for speed, altitude and direction projected upon the liquid crystal display. "This is Firestorm Two-One, I've downed the Terror Ship and require another target". He called on the radio and waited for an answer.
The voice of the operator replied to him afterwards. "Firestorm Two-One, return to base. The area has been cleared of hostiles".
"What??" He couldn't believe what he had just heard since he knew that there were still two Battleships in the area. Controlling his anger, Harris tried again. "Base, there are still two UFOs in the area. Have they been intercepted?"
"Negative Firestorm Two-One. All of the remaining fighters have been recalled also".
Banging his right hand into the metal surface of the Firestorm, Harris swore. He had to quickly bring it back since the craft started to move sideways as the control mechanism interpreted the motion and translated it to be a command for the engine.
They weren't even going to try to bring down the Battleships! The commander of the interception was sticking to the damn stupid rules and ordering the fighters to get back and leave the UFOs unscathed.
Violently shaking his head, Harris considered his options. The controller would never transmit him the information he needed to engage one of the Battleships. The Firestorms had been equipped with simple radar systems since there wasn't much space available on the craft, unlike the Avengers, which had state of the art detection systems. And even those were only used for navigational purposes. The pilot depended on ground centers to give him the information he needed.
However, there was something that he could try to do. Bringing up an overhead display of the area he recalled the last indications of the Battleships that he had heard over the radio. It would be a long shot, especially if the UFOs had made changes on their bearings but it could be possible.
Minutes passed, as he cleared the Andes Mountains and moved in a northwestern course. A number of times he moved down up the cloud cover to seek there for the alien craft. Once he misidentified a civilian 737 for it but fortunately he decided to zoom before he fire any of his weapons.
Finally he found what he was looking in Venezuela. The UFO apparently had just finished disgorging his belly of aliens and was starting to return back after having accomplished its mission. The radar picked the huge craft at more than a 110 miles range, with its speed slightly increasing and gaining altitude. Both the Firestorm and the UFO were already above the cloud cover and heading towards the deep light blue when Harris fired one of his fusion missiles at the alien craft.
With the help of the tracking devices carried by the Firestorm, his aim was good and the fusion ball detonated only twenty yards away of the craft. The following explosion made the impossible to happen. The huge five footed craft actually shook in the skies. Something that Harris had never seen been done on the few reported engagements before the prohibition. These craft only had the plasma cannons to strike at the craft. And it put them at a great hazard, since the UFO had a combination of plasma weapons and something similar to X-Com's fusion missile, making it capable of the destroy the smaller craft with a couple of its shots. In any of the two confrontations the Firestorm ever managed to seriously damage the craft before being destroyed.
And now, as he pressed his thumb into his locked fist again, he knew that he could bring the alien craft down.
The second round also hit true, however it only detonated more than a hundred yards to its still intact side. As a result of the spread of the blast of the fusion missile, the destructive shock wave that hit the Battleship was considerately less than the results of the previous shot. The armor plating designed by the aliens endured most of the blast although there were reported hull breaches. The aliens quickly sealed them before the openings could make more damage to the insides of the ship.
Meanwhile their counterattack had already reached Harris' Firestorm, in the form of a double explosion of plasma beam and E-115 explosion that blanked momentarily the entire length of his virtual display unit. Leaving him in the utter dark as he motioned his arms in the air, trying to control the spinning motion that the blast gave to the craft.
A couple of moments later he was finally capable to assess the damage suffered by his craft. The sensors were reporting major malfunctions, especially on the detection sensors and transmission equipment: he found it that he could still hear the X-Com's combat channel. However he found out that he couldn't transmit anymore before using the normal frequencies: his hyperwave radio was disabled. The fusion cannon also was offline but that didn't matter to Harris too much since he had run out of rounds for it.
That only left his plasma cannon to finish the craft, providing that he could dodge the craft's next counterattack. Harris knew that the next shot would kill him: he would never be able to bail out in safety if the next shot only damaged the Firestorm more and not kill him right away.
He found the UFO by a visual scan of the horizon, already starting to look as if it was in the edge of the black that started to mark the exit from the atmosphere to the cold void that surrounds all planets on the Solar System. However, to his dismay, the craft seemed to be gaining distance at him, even though he had the Elerium drive at full power to try to place the large disk back into his remaining weapons' range. As his determination rose, he failed to notice when a loose paper flew from one of his flightsuit pockets. And it wandered off in the zero gravity that was slowing being felt and reflected the outside environment.
Vostok Base, Antarctica
"Colonel, Captain Clark is asking you to join him at the front". Johnson was surprised by the request forward by the co-pilot who was shivering in front of him, standing with only his flight suit in the middle of the extreme cold weather.
Following him, he climbed the ramp of the Avenger and crossed the main section of the craft until he finally reached the hatch door that connected it to the craft's cockpit. "Thanks for coming Colonel". He pointed to the co-pilot's chair next to him. "Please have a seat. Mother One wants to talk to you". Clark passed him an earset after Johnson managed to put the bulk of his power suit on the seat and put it over his head. "Johnson here".
"Colonel, this is Colonel Paqua. We have a situation here. One of your fighter pilots has just gone rogue and has performed an unauthorized attack on a Battleship". The name of the pilot came immediately to Johnson's mind. "It is Harris?"
"Yes. He was assisting the South American base at fending off an infiltration made by the aliens and had been ordered to return to base. Instead, he managed to discover the location of one of the Battleships deployed by the aliens and has engaged it".
"I'm going to bust his head the minute he lands back at the base. Where is he now?"
"That's the problem Colonel. Apparently he wasn't pleased enough to damage the UFO. A radar station on Antarctica has picked both craft exiting the Earth's atmosphere and going into space!"
Earth's orbit
When Harris finally noticed the zero gravity inside the Firestorm, his left hand fingers flashed on the keyboard in front of him. He had never been instructed that these files even exist and the higher commands would never have allowed that he was looking now at the instructions that popped on his view. Somebody at the software development must have made a major screw-up: typing some commands in succession, he diverted a fraction of the reactor's output into the creation of a miniature gravity field around his craft, centered on his feet. He immediately felt back the height of them. The instruction had been specifically designed in case the Firestorms went outside of the Earth's atmosphere. Only then Harris realized what sort of pressure must have been made by the Council for Illyuschenko to forbid their use against Battleships. The dates on these files predated on more than three months the order set the ban. The General was probably dying that he couldn't use the Firestorms against the Battleships. But he also had heard that the Russian was strange, of the kind that actually cared about their men. That had gone against the stereotypes of Soviet officers that Harris had listened to more than twenty years. Sometimes he would prefer that that impression from him was false and he was nothing more like a butcher like himself.
Johnson, on the other hand was more natural, the kind of officer that was only trying to do his job and that sounded a lot weaker attitude. However, Johnson's actions had taken Harris to respect him, although he preferred a more aggressive attitude. Pity that the Colonel couldn't decide to be more hostile in military actions like he was being at the radio transmissions that he was hearing from them.
He had ignored the first call, the Firestorm and the UFO already in space, with the craft looking as if it wanted to circle Earth. An extra display showed Harris the view underneath and he recalled the first thrill he had the first he had ever taken the controls of a plane and flied. Continents and seas would pass by, sometimes covered by clouds. When he flicked the radio on again he heard Johnson's voice again. "Harris! Get back to base! That is an order!"
He chose to ignore him and kept his concentration into the point of light ahead of him. As both of them passed the Middle East he realized what was the UFO's destination: it was flying straight to the Moon. Checking his fuel reserves he became amazed of how the rate of consumption of Elerium on the engine had dropped.
Automatically he decided to check the airspeed, or now his space speed. He found it amazing that he was travelling at more than a hundred million miles per hour with the speed still increasing as there was none of the air attrition of the Earth's atmosphere. Still he couldn't tell if he had E-115 enough to go to the Moon and get back. I didn't matter: he only needed to get there and close enough to that UFO.
Moon's Far Side
Inside the alien fleet's commanding ship, an Ethereal Commander looked at the Muton next to him on the command bridge. The massive and muscular alien was clad in red clothing, instead of the green that they used. They were both standing at the middle of the craft's bridge and the Muton looked in surprise at the other being.
The Ethereal had been warned directly by other members of its species of the Sol Three'craft that was on a path directly to the location of the fleet. When the general quarters warning was transmitted to all crewmembers he was already aware and designing a formula to reply to the action. But the fact that it was something that he never had expected confused him momentarily. The same sensation that had only come once: when he had heard the news about the loss of the base in Antarctica.
It was something that the creature dismissed quick, however. And in response, four Battleships that were parked in several locations on the Moon's orbit started to move from their positions on the fleet.
Moon's orbit
The first warning that Harris had about the presence of the four additional craft was a blast from a Battleship's weapons that detonated just barely outside of the damaging range. The Firestorm shook to one side but he easily controlled it and kept his chase of the damaged UFO. At the same time he activated other views of space surrounding the craft and discovered two of the attackers. They had passed his position and now were racing to catch him on the range of their weapons.
He still had some seconds left before they could gain enough distance to fire.
And, much to his surprise he saw that the injured Battleship was slowing down. In three seconds between both craft diminish enough so that he fired his plasma cannon. The green round cut through the damaged section of the UFO like a razor sharp blade. One Elerium engine was completely destroyed and the upper level suffered a critical structure stress as the vacuum of space wrecked havoc inside the ship. The aliens on that level were completely sucked into space and the pilots who died would quite powerless to prevent the catastrophe that happened. The rest of the Elerium engines suffered an overload. Powerless and devoid of any control, the Battleship started to follow towards the Moon as the gravity of the satellite was already exerting its attraction here.
Sure of his kill, Harris finally broke the chase leaving him now more room to avoid the blasts of the four pursuing Battleships. He brought his craft closer to the surface of the room in a series of tight turns. Flying less than a hundred feet above a cratered landscape that was barren of any oxygen he managed to get some room between him and the Battleships as he dodged the walls of gigantic craters. After some seconds he noticed that he had flown into the far side of the satellite. Most of the features on the ground turned black as the Moon's body obscured the light coming from the Sun.
When he finally looked up to check for a possible change of course back to Earth, providing that he could gain some more distance of the Battleships, he became paralyzed. "My God, it's full of them!" The comment came from his open mouth, as he was dumbstruck by the sight of the alien fleet parked on the Moon's orbit. Hundreds, maybe thousands of artificial lights could be seen, adding to the stars already visible and turning it into a view of a packed dense star field. And, on the middle of it a large shape could be seen just if as the Moon had gained a satellite shaped like a cigar.
He realized that he was seeing the alien Mothership, probably the first human to do so. Then a blast from one of the UFOs detonated next to the Firestorm and destroying most of the internal systems of the fighter, turning his whole world into darkness as the craft went down crashing towards the Moon's cratered surface.
Earth's orbit
"I don't care if I'm taking also an unnecessary risk Col. Paqua! Right now there's one of my men fighting out there on the Moon. The least I can do is give him some backup. And I don't intent to get in the middle of the alien fleet, even if I'm flying an Avenger craft!"
That phrase of the Colonel relieved Clark, who shared the same opinion of the Colonel. He wanted to get there and help Harris, but the man had done it to himself and clearly wasn't expecting to get back. Even he had tried to call him on the radio. Whatever Harris wanted to do it was completely the man's business, even a personal matter.
"Park us on Earth's orbit!" Clark and the co-pilot both looked at the Colonel, who stood behind and in the middle of them.
"Sir, what do mean by Earth's orbit? It could be anywhere from here to a million more minds. It even includes the Moon".
"Park it here then!" The snap came quick from Johnson and made both pilots turn forwards and comply with his orders. "As long as we stay here Paqua won't complain anymore. We have decided both not to even bring this discussion to Illyuschenko although he will undoubtedly know after. A telescope in Hawaii spotted the Firestorm on the Moon for a couple of seconds before losing it".
A couple of minutes later Harris last transmission was heard by Johnson, after a communications satellite had picked it up coming from the far side. It was a streak of luck that the satellite had been in position to receive any transmissions from that area. Johnson decided to wait to see if anymore was heard.
They stood in station for two hours but never saw any craft coming from the Moon or heard any transmission back from the X-Terminator, as it said the insignia painted on the saucer-shaped fighter. After that period had passed Johnson ordered the Avenger to fly back to Area 51. As Clark complied with the order he said goodbye to Harris, hoping that the other pilot had finally now found some peace.
November 21st, 2001
Unknown location, North America
The air of the underground secret facility seemed to have turned down a couple of degrees although it would be impossible due to the closed ventilation system. Still, as number Seven moved down its darkened corridors he felt that the temperature inside the secret facility had quite cooled since the last time he was there.
Moving along the facility, he hoped that he wouldn't face any of the hybrids that composed its crew complement or, even worse, one of the aliens that sometimes would be assigned as liaisons. Although they were supposed to be restricted to certain areas, the creatures just couldn't be trusted to do exactly as they were supposed. For that matter every inch of the base was under constant surveillance by thousands of security cameras and motion detectors. Too much inside needed to be hidden from the prying eyes of any intruders or of any alien that decided to ignore the agreement.
However, as he stopped by a heavy blast door he reached the only place inside the facility that wasn't under any type of surveillance. The motion of his legs hadn't fully stopped when the electromagnetic mechanism that controlled the door silently opened it to let him inside. Looking upwards he saw the rectangular shape of a camera, pointing directly at him with a steady red light close to the lens.
Stepping inside, a small corridor in front of him became suddenly lit by neon lights built into its sides, floor and ceiling. As he moved across it he felt a small tingle on his skin all over his body. There was another smaller door at the end of the corridor but this time it didn't open immediately.
A minute passed and his impatiently and tension started to increase. He looked for any knob or bell but the metal wall was completely smooth. Looking around at the walls he found them also empty of any buttons so he decided to step outwards and gesture at the camera. Only to find that the outer door had already closed silently, leaving him trapped.
A touch of panic started to frighten him caused by the fact that he had never been told of what had happened to his predecessors on the group. Well, at least it wasn't plain spoken, but everyone with two inches of a forehead could figure it out. But he dismissed those thoughts. He had very important information to present to number Two; he spoke to himself as a reassurance.
But a stroke of doubt made his fears grow even worse. Could it be that his information was already late? That he had been deemed as a liability for the project and had willingly placed himself into the wolf's mouth by coming to this location?
His face turned serious as he dropped any attempt to try to hide his fear. He considered trying to open the outer door in front of him and attempt to reach one of the entrances. But his logic told him that it would be a waste of effort although he couldn't resign to death in the next minutes.
Seven started to wonder how he would die.
Suddenly the interior neons went out, leaving him on a sea of darkness that made him turn his head on all directions in panic. But as he looked a second time to the inner door, he saw a thin light defining its shape that slowly increased as it opened. Approaching it carefully he took a step into the inner room.
The chamber was large; all covered with red and gold drape curtains that hid the bluntness of the rock walls. Number Two was standing on its middle, examining an object on his hands close to glass display cases that hung on the air, suspended by anti-gravity Elerium devices. He looked at Seven's direction and smiled but the younger man didn't felt any true sympathy on the grin. Still, it somehow gave him a sign of reassurance that he might not be killed today.
Pointing a statue-like object towards Seven, Two spoke as if he was holding a treasure: "Isn't it a beauty?"
Looking at it, Seven noticed that it represented a human figure with a snake's head, painted in white, orange and ochre tones. Its arms were crossed over its chest, holding baton like objects. Instead of legs it had a long tail, coiled underneath a massive torso and it was wearing a white and gold intricate headdress. Some of its edges of the statue had been worn out, including an arm that that been broken at the elbow. "Egyptian?" He asked casually, trying to relax.
"Close but no". Two placed it back into the weightless display case, where it stood straight on the air. "Actually predates the clumsy Pharaonic civilization". Giving him a stare he spoke in an almost harmlessly fashion. "But we're not here to talk of archeology are we?"
Almost jumping backwards, Seven tried to control himself and think of an appropriate answer. He failed miserably in both and hesitated several times before starting to articulate any words.
As he begun to mumble, Two spoke, with his voice elevated one tone. "Speak out! If I wanted you killed I would have done it by now!"
"There's unusual activity at the X-Com base". His response came hesitantly.
Two's attitude was one of nuisance. "Such as?"
"Over the past month there has been a number of indications that a top secret mission is being planned. Apparently only Johnson is privy to the nature of such a mission. None of the other officers seems to know anything about it".
"What does that matter? Soon, they will be crushed. Anything else?" Taking a deep breath, Seven murmured what could be the words that doomed him. "And Williams is alive".
Silence only greeted him as Two's eyes showed a blink of surprise. "I trust that you are sure about that information or you will joining him soon".
"I have confirmation from my own sources inside Area 51. Apparently since the attempt he managed to stay out of sight but he was spotted during the attack that destroyed a portion of the X-Com base in Nevada".
He started to move towards his desk with determination. "You have done well to inform this to me personally. Tell your men never to let Williams out of their sight or both you and them will pay for it. Wait for further instructions".
Nodding towards Three, Seven still felt compelled to ask a question. "And what about this mission? I heard our friends have been hit hard on Antarctica and that one of X-Com's craft even tried to attack their main fleet on the Moon".
"Inconsequential. They can't distract us. Now it's the time to cut all loose ends. And the ones that are out of our reach…. Well, our friends are already dealing with those…". His voice went trailing, leaving the threat unspoken. "We should concern ourselves more about our own affairs. I've received a communication from one of our associates: it seems that China is about to make their move".
"This soon?" Seven's voice showed concerned. "According to the plan this is two months before the scheduled. Four should know that".
"The Chinese leaders are growing impatient. In no doubt our friends are beyond this turn of events and have pushed them into action. But don't fear: we will be ready".
November 24th, 2001
London, United Kingdom
Standing at his office Number Two witnessed the smoke that still raced upwards from the parts of the city that were still burning from the alien attack five days ago. The whole town had been covered with a smog cloud since then and the heat of the fires was preventing any clouds to pass over by and help with their rain in the fire fighting that was going along.
In spite of a vigorous effort put by the Royal Air Force and X-Com two of the alien Battleships had managed to break through the aerial defenses and deployed their cargo of heavily armed Mutons. They were stopped in a couple of hours after the base on Mother One had deployed all of its available troops but they had enough time to wreck havoc on the city. The television sets were constantly passing images of the burning of Parliament building who now was nothing more that a smoking wreck.
Looking through the window, Two recalled a discussion that he once had concerning free will. Even if he had the means to avoid the attack on his city would he do it? The sound of the incoming call distracted him and he moved back to his desk, seating down before accepting the transmission.
The wall on front of his desk turned active and showed the face of Number Eight from a location on the United States. He seemed concerned and proceeded to the matter that was bothering him without further delay. "There's something strange going on Area 51. Johnson, Robinson and a number of other high-ranking officers are scheduled to leave the base for a meeting with Illyuschenko".
Two already knew what it was. He knew about the capture of the Ethereal Commander at Antarctica and its subsequent interrogation. And he also knew that the alien had revealed a great secret to X-Com. "I'm aware of it". He replied.
"X-Com seems to be planning a major operation from the indications I have. We should call an emergency meeting to discuss this".
He shook his head as he had already taken a decision about what should be done. This would be the right opportunity he had seen it the moment he was informed. The situation couldn't be better for it. As Eight heard what he wanted to do, the other man's face showed a little puzzlement.
After he finished hearing it, he asked, trying to hide his skepticism. "Are you sure of what you want to do?"
"Yes". He said it certain of fact. Some decisions would have to be taken, no matter the cost. He had been informed previously of the raid on London but had decided to remain in the city, knowing that there might be a chance that he got in the middle of the fighting by accident. One way or the other the attack was going to happen. It was better to be at the front to try to steer what came afterwards. "Bring him in".
November 25th, 2001
Mother One, Black Forest, Germany
The UNSS Challenger Avenger craft was slowing descending into an artificial opening into the ground set in a clearing in the middle of the trees. The landing gear had already been deployed and the green and red beacons built into the wings of the Avenger were flashing, filling the area with an aerie light. Using its anti-gravity drive, the pilot carefully guided the plane down, with the weapon pods housing the plasma and fusion weapons built into the wings of the Avenger a good feet away from the metal doors.
When it finally cleared the entrance, the pilot carefully moved the Challenger inside the massive underground hangar. Following the instructions that were given to him by a flight controller that was on the ground; he landed the craft at the end of a flight line of eight Avengers and Skyrangers.
The Avengers were the most impressive, their size nearly the double of the venerable Skyrangers. The older transport planes could only be differentiated by the insignia they sported, telling from which base they had came from. But the spacecraft's origin could be told by their official names: Protector, Valiant, Defender and the Challenger.
All of the planes and spacecraft had made the travel between their home base and Mother One, carrying X-Com's regional commanders for their most important meeting since the unit had been formed.
Both the pilot and the ground crew were unaware of that. They could tell that something big was about to happen, since they had never witnessed such a concentration of military craft and of the top brass but the rumors were scarce. Some were correct in linking it to the recent success in Antarctica, claiming that X-Com was about to launch operations against the alien bases that had been detected elsewhere on Earth on the countries that had already been infiltrated. Another story said that a massive fleet was being readied to attack the aliens' craft stationed in orbit on the far side of the Moon. Both of them were wrong, of course.
However, two hours after the last Avenger had landed on the base, coming from Complex YY-18, all of the high ranking X-Com officers were watching the video beamed back from the Moon by Harris' Firestorm before its destruction. The fighter was high enough so that the men and women could see the Moon's curvature against a black sea of stars. But the majority of the bright dots shone larger and gave an unsteady light, dismissing any thoughts of them being stars.
As the flight path of the Firestorm brought the craft over the airless surface of the ships, some of the small blinks of light grew larger in size and their aspect resolved itself into the known types of UFO yet encountered by X-Com. With a notable exception: on the center of the formation a tube-shaped ship could clearly be visible, dwarfing even the largest Battleships stationed nearby it.
The image caught by Harris' Firestorm suddenly banked upwards, reflecting the pilot's attempt to avoid the UFOs that were racing to shoot him down. A few seconds the screen went blank as no further data was received from the craft and the lights in the room came up, with some of the officers blinking their eyes in response to the appearance of illumination. "As you might have heard in the last days, the Firestorm was shot down afterwards, killing the pilot. He paid with his life for his insubordination but his sacrifice wasn't completely worthless, since it brought us this disturbing image". Illyuschenko raised himself from the padded sofa where he was seated.
"We have compared the monster UFO with the images beamed back by Phobos more than ten years ago: it's the same one, unless the aliens have a fleet of them parked in the Solar system.
But there's more and it confirms our deepest fears. Colonel Johnson brought us the results of the interrogation made on the Ethereal Commander on Area 51. Amongst other things that we will discuss soon, it revealed that the aliens plan to stage their invasion somewhere in the next year. We are lucky if we have six months before they came down on us".
Shock filled the officers present in the room. Colonel Paqua, the French responsible for aerospace operations stood up and said. "Commandant, if the aliens use that ship, there isn't much that we can do about it, besides trying to use nuclear weapons, which I seriously doubt that we could successfully. Even our Avengers would be crushed like insects trying to engage it".
"I don't think that there's even a point in trying". Illyuschenko added. "The Ethereal gave us the information we want". He took a deep breath before speaking. "The alien Brain is indeed located on Mars, on an area called Cydonia Mensae, on the Northern Hemisphere of the planet".
Seated next to Illyuschenko, Johnson felt relieved when he heard the Russian speak the words. He had already known about the confirmation since they had used Landon, the former hacker to break into NASA's computers and use the Surveyor probe currently in orbit on Mars to confirm the claim of the alien. But the matter had also brought more confirmation of the suspicions that someone in a higher level had been covering the alien evidence. Upon examination of the pictures released some years ago to resurvey the area after the Viking probes had photographed it in the 1970's, it had been found that they had been deliberately altered to mask any signs of artificial structures in the area.
"The area mentioned by the alien there are a number of strange formations that most likely compose the base. The Ethereal didn't give us much information about the number of troops and UFOs based there or the actual place where the central Brain is located. But NASA is about to insert a probe in the end of last month that will give us more intelligence as soon as it completes its insertion upon the planet's orbit. However, we need to decide on certain difficult matters first and I would like to hear your thoughts first".
The officers stood into an uneasy silence. Until, standing two chairs away from him, Yamashita stroke his mustache before asking. "Commander, the Council hasn't been informed of this?" The tone made the question rhetorical.
Illyuschenko shook his head. "I've decided that we need to present a military plan to them to deal with the threat of the alien fleet, otherwise they will just panic or refuse to believe such a possibility".
"Making them more inclined to leave X-Com and join my country or conduct their own negotiations with the aliens". Johnson sighed. "Exactly what I fear Colonel. We need to try to stay in control of the general operations regarding the effort to deal with this new threat. What I'm going to propose is that the Elerium and laser technology to be freely distributed to each country's armed forces".
"Commander, with due respect, that will be worthless". Yamashita added. "It would take years to build a large enough force capable of defeating the aliens that way. Even if we tried to double or triple the number of soldiers X-Com has on his ranks we would be left only with a couple thousand soldiers to face the alien invasion. And the aliens' attacks on our bases shown that they know about us. Most likely we will be the first targets to them".
"And no question of staging a bloody guerrilla warfare. We would have to abandon our bases and support. Most likely the buggers would simply wipe out and entire area full of civilians than trying to figure out who was our troops". MacTaggert's glibber made it hard to be understood. "We need to strike at Cydonia now!"
Not guerrillas! Not fighting in our own home again! Turning to all of the officers present, Illyuschenko looked at everyone. "I agree with all of your ideas, but we also need to gain time before the Council. Most likely we could give some information about the strike to some of the councilmen that would be more sympathetic to our ideas to gain their support, but without mentioning Mars".
"The alien fleet!" Paqua mentioned. "The images beamed to us by the pilot of Area 51 will make quite an impression on them". .
MacTaggert turned to him and asked. "Haven't you told us that it would be impossible to try?"
The Frenchman gave a devious smile to him. "We know that but they don't Colonel". Johnson considered it for a moment and then he spoke. "I believe the word for what you propose is ingenious, Colonel. It gives us an excuse to build as many Avengers as possible to take the maximum number of troops possible to Mars.
Indeed. Illyuschenko also started to see the possibility. "And meanwhile if we agree on the release of the technology, it will make them very satisfied". Some good came up from their decision of building the Avenger as a fighter-transporter after all, instead of building two different planes for each role.
Johnson added: "But how many time do we have? We need to strike before they invade otherwise we will be destroyed before we can take off for the mission. And how many troops will we need? If I recall correctly we only have six or seven Avengers operational at the moment. How much more will we need?"
"A very important question Colonel. Colonel Paqua, could you inform us more on this?"
"According to the original specs of the Avenger it should be able to make the Earth – Mars journey in two or three weeks, depending on the position of both planets at the time of the launch. However we can't simply pack the craft with troops. We will need to make space to bring along some supplies and life support equipment for the journey and for our duration on Mars".
"How long then before we can launch?"
"I will need to talk to Dr. Chevereux and his staff on this. We will also need to turn the factory on Complex YY-18 to full production of Avengers and equipment necessary for the attack". Running some mental calculations through his mind, he added afterwards. "We could probably keep the factory turning out two, maybe three Avengers each month. If we have twenty Avengers ready by the end of April we could probably send two hundred and fifty combat troops in the mission plus a number of armor".
"Two hundred and fifty combat troops!? What are we going to leave behind to defend Earth if we fail and sustain heavy casualties?!" Outrage filled the voice of Colonel Waartens, the South African commander. "And what about the Battleships? Right now our Avengers have trouble dealing one to one with them. What will happen if we sent away all of our Avengers and have to fight them with Firestorms and conventional planes?!?!" Some of the other officers also cringed at the thought.
"Is that even going to be enough?" Yamashita's question showed restrain. "Even if the aliens are massing their forces on the Moon they surely will leave a considerable force behind to act as a reserve".
The response to the objections and inquiries being made was already on Illyuschenko's mind. A gamble. To be played with Earth's survival. But if we fail it won't make a difference to those who are left back here. Or will it? What if the Soviet High Command had brought more men to fight the damn Afghanis? Or could we have recruited more men in the beginning so that now we would have armies ready to fight the aliens? Wouldn't it be just sending them to the slaughter like cattle since they didn't had the physical requirements that we impose now upon our troops? Will there be an end to this?
Shaking his head out of the gaze of his thoughts, he raised his hand and made the discussion rampaging on the room stop. "Like we have said before, if these soldiers and planes are here on Earth where they won't make a difference". He scanned each officer to see if anyone would make any objection. It's as simple as that. "We have discussed a plan. A military unit is not a democracy but on this case if we are to go along I will need you to make a compromise with this plan. You are free to refuse it. It that case the troops and planes assigned to you will remain here on Earth while I will personally take the others to Mars".
A number of gazes were exchanged between the men present before each one of them was asked to raise his hand if he agreed with the plan. After the same was done for the ones who objected it, Illyuschenko stood up again. "Thank you all for your confidence in me". He paused before speaking what he had already decided after studying the reports from every base on available troops and ships plus the state of the production line. "The attack date will be set to the end of February".
Chevereux nearly jumped on his chair. "Commander, that's too early! We are talking about sending a two hundred men and women in a space travel to a planet that we have never landed. We still need to do a lot of preparations!"
"And we will only be able to get twelve craft ready then, if we are lucky". Paqua was running mental calculations on his mind. "We have only six Avengers ready now, another three in several stages of production, and work has yet to begin on the tenth one, the Majestic".
"I beg to differ Colonel Paqua. The Majestic is the twelfth craft". Yamashita's short comment made Paqua turn to him. "Tenth, Colonel, in case you haven't read the latest report".
"Twelfth. There are other two Avengers ready for our use in the flight to Mars. But their existence isn't recorded anywhere". Now he had caught everyone's attention on the room, who was eagerly waiting for an explanation.
Moving uncomfortably on his chair, Yamashita exchanged a look with Colonel Oshika, the officer responsible for X-Com's manufacturing and deployment before proceeding. "My country has been diverting some of the output from the production plan for its own defense in case X-Com was disbanded. We have kept a number of craft stored in a separate hangar of our base as an assurance".
"What!?!" The room became full of cries of outrage and anger from the other officers. Some even stood up and waved fists at both Japanese Colonels. "This is just the excuse that the Council needs to disband us!" One called.
"Quiet all!" Illyuschenko's voice made everyone stood silent. "I'm not surprised a bit since I was the one who sponsored selling surplus equipment when we were running out of money. You didn't seem to complain too much when I did it". Some of the officers made embarrassed faces at the accusation".
"I can sympathize with Colonel Yamashita's reasons for what he did. And all of you would probably do the same to defend your own damn countries! But what matters now is that we have to prepare ourselves for the attack. And," he paused.
"We will just have to be ready by them and these extra craft can well make the difference. I'm not going to risk that the aliens advance their timetable and get us in the middle of our preparations". No one answered back.
Turning to all of the officers, he tried to put as much hope and determination as possible on his voice. "This meeting is dismissed gentlemen. Please go back to your commands: we have to prepare for a battle that we need to win". But what if the war is already lost even before we set for Mars?
December 7th, 2001
Area 51, Nevada, US
"Well, the only thing I can say is that the origin of this message is from inside our network". Landon was seated at Williams' desk and typing commands in the keyboard in front of him. Behind him, Davis and Williams were looking with attention, trying to figure out most of the computer jargon he was using.
"But the return path is wrong: it lists an address that is non-existent". Landon stopped typing and pointed at a line of alphanumeric text that seemed like all others to the two other men. "See?" He turned towards them.
"Landon, pretend that we are five year old kid. What does that mean?" The computer expert suddenly took a professorial air and Davis moved on his chair on annoyance.
"It's impossible to determine the physical origin where this email originated. It could have been sent from any of your bases". Satisfied, he then leaned back on his chair, which cranked a little in response to the movement.
"Could someone have broken into our computer system and placed the message there?"
"Yes". His reply came up immediately, but after a moment of thought he added. "If I was aware of the existence of such a network I wouldn't stop it I broke through".
"We're not talking about your illegal exploits Landon". Davis was getting very pissed at the arrogance of the college kid. "This message isn't just a hacker's way of saying hi!" The young man looked at both, unsure of what to do".
After a moment Williams added. "Landon, the email was sent to me by a purpose and this is not the first time that I have received such a communication. Could he do it from the outside?"
"Like I said before, yes. But the guy would have either to make a direct connection by gaining physical access to the mainframe computer or he would need to crack through the security codes. And that would be a tough cookie. And I believe that they are light years away from the ones used by the Pentagon since they use alien algorithms for encryption". He knew that for a fact since one of his tasks at Area 51 was to try find security holes in the network. And he had only managed to break once.
"What's the big thing about his message anyway?" He gave another look at the information printed in the screen. It only revealed the header of the email and the body was missing.
"Landon, I think that it will be all". Davis replied. "And keep your mouth shut about this". The last phrase made him want to tell the FBI asshole to shove it. Getting up, he decided that it was about try to make another attempt at breaking into the system. If somebody else from the outside had managed it, it was starting to feel as a personal challenge to repeat the feat.
As he got out of the office Davis looked at Williams, who was lost in thoughts. The rest of the message had been deleted by him before showing the email to Landon and was robbing his sleep in the last two nights. He now was only two days to flying to Mother One, as he had been called to participate in the top-level strategic planning that was going there.
The timing of the receptance of the email and his presence in Germany were too great for all of this to be a coincidence. The deleted part had proposed a meeting in less than two weeks in the high-speed train that connected Frankfurt to Berlin. It was signed: A friend.
André Galvão, 2001