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UCHUUJIN TAISEN: PROLOGUE
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Prologue: The Blank of 90 Years, Part 1
- Unspecified Location -
"So it's finalized then. Effective December 27th, 2015, the Kiryu-Kai will be dissolved, and all assets thereof, including research data, will become the property of X-Com. In exchange for this, the Kiryu-Kai base beneath the city of Tokyo will be designated as one of the first two operational X-Com interception bases. I take it that these terms are acceptable?"
The room was small, very nearly claustrophobic, with its only ventilation coming from a small ceiling vent. Its lighting was institutionally bright, the only furniture inside being a table and two chairs. Outside the door, two armed guards in different uniforms occasionally cast wary glances at each other.
"Certainly, Mr. Smith. We will be most happy to comply."
The man named Smith brushed a stray hair absently from the lapel of his dark grey suit. "And as for the black assets..."
His opposite number, in a similar grey suit, appeared surprised. "What black assets?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Yamada," Smith snapped, rising to his feet. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Yamada stood up as well, his fists clenched. "You're bluffing and you know it. If your superiors told you we had any hidden assets, they were lying. They are trying to find out whether we have any such thing, and I am telling you we don't."
Smith looked hard at the Japanese representative. "Very well - then let me tell you why you DO have those assets. We were briefed well. Mossad, CIA, GRU - they all work with X-Com now. Each of them has independently corroborated our findings. We know everything about your unit, Yamada, including its previous incarnation and the little "black project" you people undertook after the Boston Convention was signed. Are you still prepared to deny it?"
While the room had been swept for bugs, the representatives themselves had not undergone anything more than a metal-detector scan; both of the guards could hear the entire discussion through wireless listening devices. The glances they were exchanging became increasingly suspicious and tense.
Yamada's face crinkled into a hard-edged smile. "Very well. However, if the information were to leak out..."
Smith returned the smile. "I assure you it will not. It should be obvious that we have vested interests in keeping it a secret."
"Very well, Mr. Smith - I assume that's not your real name, but that hardly matters now, does it? We, and our respective organisations, have just become partners in crime. The black assets will be transferred together with everything else - I take it they will be deployed in Tokyo?"
"Naturally. There's a certain symmetry in that, don't you think?"
"Of course." Yamada perused the document on the table briefly - it was, after all, a mere formality, as the entire meeting had been recorded by two independent and tamper-proof closed-circuit camera systems - and scribbled his signature at the bottom. "Now - shall we adjourn for drinks?"
The guards outside heaved a sigh of relief as the representatives passed between them and headed down the corridor.
UCHUUJIN TAISEN: PROLOGUE
=========================
Prologue: The Blank of 90 Years, Part 1
- Unspecified Location -
"So it's finalized then. Effective December 27th, 2015, the Kiryu-Kai will be dissolved, and all assets thereof, including research data, will become the property of X-Com. In exchange for this, the Kiryu-Kai base beneath the city of Tokyo will be designated as one of the first two operational X-Com interception bases. I take it that these terms are acceptable?"
The room was small, very nearly claustrophobic, with its only ventilation coming from a small ceiling vent. Its lighting was institutionally bright, the only furniture inside being a table and two chairs. Outside the door, two armed guards in different uniforms occasionally cast wary glances at each other.
"Certainly, Mr. Smith. We will be most happy to comply."
The man named Smith brushed a stray hair absently from the lapel of his dark grey suit. "And as for the black assets..."
His opposite number, in a similar grey suit, appeared surprised. "What black assets?"
"Don't play dumb with me, Yamada," Smith snapped, rising to his feet. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Yamada stood up as well, his fists clenched. "You're bluffing and you know it. If your superiors told you we had any hidden assets, they were lying. They are trying to find out whether we have any such thing, and I am telling you we don't."
Smith looked hard at the Japanese representative. "Very well - then let me tell you why you DO have those assets. We were briefed well. Mossad, CIA, GRU - they all work with X-Com now. Each of them has independently corroborated our findings. We know everything about your unit, Yamada, including its previous incarnation and the little "black project" you people undertook after the Boston Convention was signed. Are you still prepared to deny it?"
While the room had been swept for bugs, the representatives themselves had not undergone anything more than a metal-detector scan; both of the guards could hear the entire discussion through wireless listening devices. The glances they were exchanging became increasingly suspicious and tense.
Yamada's face crinkled into a hard-edged smile. "Very well. However, if the information were to leak out..."
Smith returned the smile. "I assure you it will not. It should be obvious that we have vested interests in keeping it a secret."
"Very well, Mr. Smith - I assume that's not your real name, but that hardly matters now, does it? We, and our respective organisations, have just become partners in crime. The black assets will be transferred together with everything else - I take it they will be deployed in Tokyo?"
"Naturally. There's a certain symmetry in that, don't you think?"
"Of course." Yamada perused the document on the table briefly - it was, after all, a mere formality, as the entire meeting had been recorded by two independent and tamper-proof closed-circuit camera systems - and scribbled his signature at the bottom. "Now - shall we adjourn for drinks?"
The guards outside heaved a sigh of relief as the representatives passed between them and headed down the corridor.