Chapter Nine.

"Many years ago certain people in the governments around the world discovered something. The Alien attacks that everyone ridiculed were not all lies. The truth was Aliens were visiting earth and that they were not friendly. At Roswell the Americans managed to shoot down one of the craft. Among the wreckage they found proof of vile experiments and what amounted to torture. They set up an initiative to assess and combat the threat.

It was only years later that other countries admitted that they too had set up such organisations. Japan, France Australia, all of them had seen some evidence of the Alien menace and all of them were becoming aware of its growing intensity. The big change occurred in Africa. Harare was attacked, live aliens were seen terrorising the populace, rounding them up wholesale and burning what they didn't take. The secret organisations set up by the governments of the world moved in. With the complicity of the county's dictator the whole thing was passed off as a plot by the former colonial powers.

The change in tactics by the aliens forced a change by the agencies, they banded together, first informally and then as part of the first global defence initiative, Xeno-Command, X-Com.

Each agency leant their aid and expertise they built Interceptors that could fly halfway around the world and equipped them with state of the art missile systems, packing more punch than anything else in service. They built the first "Skyranger" a true air-mobile personnel carrier. Their infantry weapons were harder hitting than anything in service, firing lethal bolts of molten metal. They built infantry support weapons, from personal missile launchers to super-light auto-guns. The soldiers themselves were quietly siphoned from the cream of the alliance's special forces. When the first team went in, having managed to shoot down an enemy flyer, they were the best the world had ever made.

It was a massacre. Standard infantry tactics just couldn't cut it. The aliens shot first and better, they were all but immune to even the newest weapons and they ignored personal safety in favour of killing even one of the team. The Skyranger lifted off within five minutes, of the fourteen souls that landed only two survived to base. The whole scheme was almost scrapped there and then, only the stubbornness of the base commander gave them another chance.

Things did get better. The next flyer was a lot smaller and more heavily damaged, as a result casualties were few and X-Com had its first real land-based success. Things did improve steadily but at the same time they got worse. The enemy were becoming more numerous, stronger forms were turning up, and they were still better armed.

­ ­­­­­­New tactics were made to combat the threat. The problem was that they were 'asset intensive,' requiring agents to do things that held little chance of survival. Interceptor pilots were asked to attack in number, in the hope that one craft would survive long enough to bring the invader down. Rookie agents took part in what became known as "reconnaissance by blood," moving ahead of the fire teams to force the aliens to give away their positions by firing on those same agents. The first rule of ship entry remained "first in, first down." The roll oh honour grew by the day.

Unfortunately so did the intensity of the attacks. Even with the constant recruitment skilled agents were tiring, making mistakes. The hectic pace of training and missions meant even the best were starting to get sloppy. As a result X-com started to lose even advanced agents, by the end of July not a single soldier remained from the initial draft. To combat this the doctors prescribed a new generation of pharmaceuticals, tailored to the extreme physiologies of X-com's elite. Jean Paul told of terrible side effects, but said that even that was better than losing concentration on mission. Life expectancy had gone up, now it was measured in weeks not days.

Things changed again when Saotome and Xian Pu came on board. At the same time they did the main base in West Africa was raided and all but destroyed. The result was something approaching a re-genesis of the whole organisation, for the first time X-Com expected eventual victory. The change in morale and fighting spirit was a key factor in changing the face of the movement.

I wish I could tell you more but Jean-Paul didn't get the chance to break any more promises." Louisa finished.

"That's okay" Nabiki replied, still digesting what she had heard. "You have been a great help.

"The only other thing I can tell you is that the organisation was starting to sell some of its new technologies through blind companies. If you want to get closer they might point a way." Louisa suggested. "I'll see if I can dig out where he said they were, come back tomorrow and I should have more."

For the first time since Ranma turned up Nabiki felt she was really starting to understand the world he was part of and it scared her more than she cared to admit.

Worse was to come the following day. Nabiki returned clutching a newly recharged mobile for recoding what she was to hear. Only Louisa wasn't there, her door bore a new lock and Nabiki quickly spotted two Inspector Cleusoux types watching Louisa's porch.

Nabiki turned and walked, hurrying away, back towards the crowds. Louisa's warnings running through her head Nabiki had to strain not to break into a run. Every step she expected to feel a hand on her shoulder, hear a voice demanding she stop.

None came. Nabiki reached the subway and quickly lost herself in the Paris crowds. Her heart-rate steadied and she finally allowed herself to relax, stopping in a small café with a good view of the street she bought a coffee and took the time to collect her thoughts.

­­­­­­­­

"So we let her walk?" One figure said to another. Both were standing across the street from Nabiki's café. They were dressed unobtrusively, like ordinary Parisians, but the clothes only disguised their heavy physiques. Their faces held little compassion and even less refinement. Whatever these men really were "nice" was not a word that sprang to mind.

"Them's the orders." Replied the second figure. "Zap her lift her wallet and let her go."

"Pity," said the first.

"Hey we work for the good guys now." said the other, breaking into a smirk. His compatriot just smiled as if at some fine joke.

Nabiki lifted her phone to change her flights, only to find it dead. That in itself was odd, but when she checked her watch it too had stopped. A quick search showed only that her wallet was also missing. Her blood chilled and she slowly raised her head to check around again. She spotted nothing out of the ordinary, two big guys sharing a joke and a few other Parisians moving about their daily business. There was however little doubt she had been tagged. She surreptitiously reached into a secret belt, took out enough to cover the bill and left, fast. This time she ran, by the end of the first block she was running as fast as her long legs could carry her.

Nabiki did not return to her hotel, she figured she was worth more than a little luggage. She ditched the phone and bought a whole new set of clothes. The next day she was on her way to London by train, running away from that terrible chill. She quietly swore never to try again.

It was a lie, not at the time of course, but having found a small slice of the truth she just could not let it go.

It took another couple of weeks but her contacts came through again. Nabiki found herself working a short contract for O'Neil Cybersystems. They were rolling out a new generation of processor, one that dwarfed anything that had come before. The company itself had come from nowhere and was set to change the way the world operated. To Nabiki it had screamed X-Com front company and so here she was, deep in their HQ using one of their newest models to pry into places she was not allowed.

The passwords had been tough to get but hardly impossible for her surveillance skills. Clearing a security slot had been tougher but Nabiki was nothing if not persistent.

>Personnel files open
>Query?
>Subject not found. Retry?
>New subject found.

O'Neil, Samantha, PhD, Msc, Bsc

CEO O'Neil Cybersystems

Marital status: Married

>Continue?
>File is secure. Open anyway?
>Password accepted.

Demobilised 9/10/98

Exit Rank Colonel

Missions 78

>Details?
>Continue?

"Found what you need?" a voice came from behind Nabiki. She whirled heart leaping in her breast. There behind her was Doctor O'Neil herself. "Don't panic, see no guns." Samantha said, showing her hands. "I am just here to talk." Samantha may not have been large, but she was certainly imposing. Blond and pretty but everyone in the company knew she was one of the smartest people alive. Nabiki had already ascertained that the doctor had had a successful career in the USAF and at the pentagon before she disappeared, presumably to X-Com.

"Doctor," Nabiki acknowledged. "I seem to have underestimated you."

"Not really, we were sort of expecting you. After sec-services picked up Louisa-Marie we did a little checking into what it was you were up to. Your name turned up in some very confidential files." Samantha informed. Nabiki asked the question with her eyebrow. Samantha smiled and sat on a desk, waving a hand for Nabiki to sit herself too. "Personnel files pertaining to our operatives."

"Ranma and Tofu" Nabiki filled in. Samantha nodded.

" Seems that both of them have a very high opinion of you. So we did some more checking. To be honest I don't think they do you justice. Now this isn't really my field but I am willing to bet that our lot only scratched the surface, and even that got me interested." Samantha said in a strangely friendly tone.

"What now," Nabiki asked, "somehow I doubt you would be being so open if I was walking out of here a free woman." Samantha nodded, playing with her wedding band.

"I am sure you knew the risks when you got into this. And yes you are right, we can't just let you go anymore. But you are by no means the first person we have caught and contrary to popular opinion we don't just waste talent like yours out of hand."

"So I'm hired?" Nabiki asked already knowing the answer.

"That depends," Samantha answered. Nabiki again gave her characteristic eyebrow raising. "You can still chose option B." But there never was a point in asking Nabiki's heart had lifted, her mind racing. Ever since she had found out about the menace she had wanted to do something. Being impotent was not on Nabiki Tendo's to do list. This was her chance to play in the big leagues and she knew it. Just from looking at her Sam knew Nabiki's answer.

"Good to have you aboard miss Tendo." Sam said smiling.
"Nabiki" Nabiki insisted.
"Fine, Nabiki it is. Now do you fancy some coffee?" The two of them walked out of the dark office into a brighter future.