"As you know, ever since Greg told us about his experience in Genosha several of you have been assigned to investigate them from various directions." Xavier looked around the table at the other X-Men. "I have been receiving your reports singly over the last several weeks, and the picture they paint is very disquieting. I don't want to influence your judgements yet, however. I'd like you to share your reports first, and see what you conclude, before I reveal my own suspicions. Rogue, you start, if you please."
"Ah was put on Genosha's 'Geology an' History up to WWII'." The others snickered a little at the overdone impression of the Professor. "Not much to be found, though, and I hit lots o' libraries." Rogue grimaced a little. "Couldn't you just assign me to do a thousand push-ups or somethin' next time?" she asked plaintively.
"Your patience needed exercise, not your muscles. In the future, stay in your assigned position until ordered to attack - no matter how tempting a target you're presented. I expect you all to take Danger Room sessions as seriously as real missions." Xavier looked very smug.
She glared in response. "Anyway, there's not much to tell. Occupied off an' on by Indian and African explorers. Finally settled by preacher Nathaniel Hammer in 1710 as a colony for his flock. Thought the world was too corrupt. Basically Calvinist, with a heavy emphasis on predestination and hard work as the way to salvation. English is still the primary language, Caucasians the majority."
"It's a decently big island, north and east of Madagascar, and less than a quarter the size of it. About 150 miles long by 60 miles wide. Mostly weathered rock except for Hammer Bay in the southwest. That's why nobody else wanted it. The colonists had tough times, some famine. Not much arable land to farm, so they supplemented with fishing. Eventually they became kind of a trading center to make ends meet."
Rogue brought up a graphical map. "After WWI they found iron ore, and a little silver and bauxite. Trace amounts of other minerals like gold, but nothing commercial. Not even semi-precious stones. They've been exporting iron and silver ever since, and once aluminum caught on they started mining bauxite, too. They used the money to buy food and fertilizers and stuff."
"Couple minor distinguishing features in their history. Piracy was kinda common down there, with the trade going on, so they had a small navy to defend shipping. Got a reputation, mainly by being awfully ruthless to pirates they came across. Also, they had women in their military from way back - apparently 'cause of the small population, they needed 'em."
"One interesting story - in the 1840's one of their sailors reportedly had the ability to 'turn the sea to glass', and freeze enemy ships in the water. They took out a bunch of pirates until he got clipped by a cannonball. From what I could gather, it's a safe bet he was a mutant."
"That's about it. The Germans set up a refueling base there in WWII. I dunno how much to read into that, though. The Genoshans probably couldn'ta put up much resistance, but from a couple editorials I read, they maybe didn't want to. Oh, well."
Xavier glanced in Kitty's direction, and she began. "I looked over their history post-WWII. Fairly normal for a while, population grew quite a bit once they could sell ore. After that it's pretty weird. Ten years ago, their mining production jumped by an order of magnitude, and they started selling processed metals. High-quality stuff, too. I did some digging into satellite photos - there's no signs of strip mining or anything. In fact, they filled in the strip mine they did have."
"Then I noticed something from the images. Here, let me show you." She turned and tapped briefly on a keyboard, and the big screen lit up with an aerial shot of the island. A brief slideshow began, timestamps in the lower corner. A collective gasp rose from the group.
"Yup, they've pretty much doubled their cultivated land every year for the last six. This is even more amazing when you notice that they've stopped buying any significant quantities of fertilizer or pesticides. They actually export some grain to neighboring countries now."
"So what are they doing with the money they were spending on food?" Nightcrawler asked.
"Construction. A lot of new buildings, homes, roads. Weapons, too. They seem to like having well-equipped armed forces. Computers, other high-tech things. Pharmaceuticals. Finished products, and also stuff to build an industrial base - they apparently want to be self-sufficient. But looking at their economy, there are things that don't make sense, and I'd say a lot of money is missing. It doesn't add up."
"Thank you, Kitty," Xavier said. "Storm, if you please?"
"I hadn't heard much about Genosha, even when I lived in Africa." She paused, thinking. "I asked some questions when I was there recently." The group listened attentively; Storm had returned with a healing head wound she didn't talk about. "I really only learned two things. Fishermen from neighboring countries give them a wide berth; boats that come too close to 'their' waters tend not to come back."
"The other story I heard was more disturbing. Apparently, about four years ago a woman showed up at the French embassy in Mozambique, saying she had fled Genosha and begging for asylum. A group of soldiers in Genoshan uniforms appeared out of nowhere and rolled over the security guards. The man I talked to said the woman defended herself with some kind of energy blasts, but she was taken down and the whole group vanished."
Kitty broke in. "Maybe that explains one of my economic anomalies. For a few years now they've been selling bauxite to France at well below cost. Smells like a cover-up of a diplomatic incident to me."
A confused murmur began, but Xavier overrode it. "Logan, perhaps you should inform us what you discovered."
"I've been leanin' on some contacts in Madripoor. Apparently, for the last decade or so, if you have black market military tech to sell, Genosha is a good buyer. The more exotic the better." He frowned. "It took some real persuadin', but I got some interesting info out of somebody."
He paused. "He'd been on the docks, loading crates and paid good money to forget he was ever there. He saw a group of guys, the sellers and buyers, talking. The buyers were Genoshan, and the sellers seemed to be Latverian."
"Doom's pet country?" Peter asked, aghast.
"Yup. There were a lot of crates goin' to Genosha, big ones. Only a few headed back, though. He said they were real heavy." Logan frowned, glancing at Rogue. "Guess they found a way to extract that gold."
Rogue looked worried. "Maybe, but I don't think Doom would care about that. He might be interested in their pitchblende, though." Now everyone else looked worried, too. Dr. Doom and uranium formed a bad combination however you looked at it.
"So. Does anyone have any theories to tie these facts together?" Xavier asked, looking around the table.
"With what happened to Greg, it's pretty clear. They're exploiting mutants. I bet with pitchblende around they even have a higher-than-normal percentage of them." Phoenix sounded bitter. The future she had escaped from hadn't exploited mutants, it had exterminated them. The others around the table nodded.
"Even so, there would have to have been some awfully powerful mutants born there to make so many changes. That's a lot of luck to account for." Kitty seemed thoughtful.
"Unfortunately, they may not have needed luck." Xavier looked concerned. "I share your conclusions. However, I had my suspicions earlier. I once knew a man named David Moreau, an expert in my own field, genetics. He came from Genosha."
Xavier paused, remembering. "He was genuinely brilliant, though in my opinion, not concerned enough with the moral implications of his work. He only published four papers, but they are still cited regularly today. The first three were on genetic theory, but the fourth one detailed some advanced techniques in gene manipulation."
"Shortly after that paper was published, 12 years ago, he vanished from the scientific scene. I asked some colleagues at the time; they said that they had received emails from him. He was moving back to his home country." Xavier looked up. "I do not think it a coincidence that strange things started happening in Genosha within two years."
"So, what are we to do about it, Professor?" Peter asked. "Are we ready to overthrow a country?"
"Certainly not, at least at this point. Clearly, we need more information. A survey mission is called for. Storm, you are of course field leader, and the ultimate decision rests with you, but I have some suggestions." He paused, and she nodded for him to continue.
"I propose landing here, on the eastern coast, near the town of Vigilance." He indicated a harbor community on the map. "You and Logan are the most experienced at reconnaisance and infiltration. You should be able to work your way to the capital, observing as you go. And if they have Cerebro-like technology for detecting mutants, you, regrettably, have a very good chance of passing unnoticed." Storm again nodded, no sign of her sadness showing.
A botched government operation to capture Rogue had accidentally stripped Ororo of her powers to control the weather. Nothing short of a detailed DNA analysis would indicate she was anything but a normal human. But she remained intelligent, well-trained, and ferociously determined. She had won leadership of the team fair and square from Cyclops, and no one had any reservations following her.
"I agree. The others remain with the Blackbird, ready to back us up should we encounter trouble. Once we have a clearer picture of what we face, we shall decide on a course of action." She frowned. "There seems no indication that there is an immediate threat; I propose we leave Sunday night. If we time things correctly we can be lost in the Monday morning commute there."
Rogue looked to Xavier. "You thinkin' of breakin' Greg in on this one?"
Xavier and Storm exchanged glances; they had discussed Fortress earlier. "I do not think so," Storm replied, noting Rogue's frown. "If all goes well, we shall not need him. His schedule, at least until his term ends, is not as flexible as ours. And, finally, you know how he feels about Genosha. I'm not sure he would... show the proper restraint."