Chapter 18. The Wrath of Heaven.
"Mister President, madam vice president" Richard said warmly as he shook their hands. They greeted him just as warmly in return. Together they sat around the low table in the oval office. Richard had only returned to Earth less than six hours ago and had come straight here afterwards. He was ready to deliver his report, but dreading it at the same time.
Elisabeth Weir was intrigued, she had known Woolsey for years, and he had remained unfazed by some of the biggest shake-ups in political history but the man who walked into the oval office had changed. Woolsey looked somehow more alive, more driven, deeper. It showed in his voice too, the arrogant lilt that he had always spoken with was gone, replaced by a firmness that spoke of conviction. The old Woolsey had been a useful man to know this Woolsey was a man she wanted to get to know.
"Welcome back" said the president.
"Indeed, how was your trip?" Weir asked, picking up her teacup.
"Very… enlightening" Richard replied. "I saw far more than I ever expected."
"Was there trouble?" Weir asked noticing an undertone.
"Yes" Richard replied gravely, "An attempt was made on my life."
"What?" demanded Weir. "We'll get the proof and lock them all up!"
"I am glad to hear that" Richard replied, not voicing the 'but.' "They killed a friend of mine in my stead."
"Who?" Weir asked, wondering where Richard dug a friend up, let alone one as close as the dead person seemed to be.
"An agent who led one of the X-com teams" Richard replied.
"You turned one of their leaders?" Weir congratulated.
"No" he replied.
"But you said-"
"If I may" he interrupted. "The truth is I was ready to damn them all to the scrapheap of history but then they changed my mind."
"How?" asked Hayes, fearing the worst.
"By showing me the truth" he replied. "They pulled back the skin and let me see the beating heart of the organisation."
"Wow," Weir said "Why?"
"Because they felt it was the only way to avoid a war" Richard replied.
"A war?" Hayes blurted. "You can't be serious. What could they hope to achieve?"
"Whatever they had to in order to secure their mission" Richard replied.
"You are worrying me Richard" Weir added concern in her voice.
"I hope so" he responded, "because this is far bigger than we know and a lot darker."
"I think you better start from the beginning" the president prompted.
"I'm sorry Mr. President I can't do that" Richard replied. "Not until I am sure that this room is secure."
"You're sounding like one of them" Weir warned.
"That's because I am" he replied. "And I am honoured to be such."
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Lieutenant Colonel Bile was getting into his car when his world changed. He had just come from a rather enjoyable visit to his mistress and was about to drive home to his rather dull wife when someone grabbed his arm, pushed a pistol into his side and bundled him into his own back seat. Even as he fell onto the seat he noticed that his own sidearm had been lifted.
He was quickly joined there by a very hefty looking woman with another gun and his assailant. The car was started without his key and soon they were speeding off through the Washington streets. So far nobody had said a word and he was still trying to work out who they were.
"Mr Bile" said the oriental man who had accosted him, "we need a word."
"I have no intention of telling you anything!" he retorted, with a smug smile.
"Oh I think you may well change your mind Mr. Bile." The man replied. Then he placed the faces, these were X-Com agents, two of the survivors of the big battles. It was then that he realised he was in serious trouble.
"Sergeant Wain" you took an oath when you joined the Recon" he pleaded, "are you going to betray it now?" She hit him with the pistol butt.
"Screw you filth" she said, "You aren't fit to say their name."
"I am an Officer of the United States of America, and a loyal one" he retorted holding one hand against his forehead.
"Bull" she replied hitting him again. "You are a spy and a traitor to your whole race," she spat, "and once we are through with your self centred lying ass you will be an ex-spy and an-ex traitor."
Little did he know that the same thing was happening to nearly a dozen other CIA men across the Globe. If he had then he really would have crapped himself.
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In the basement of a suburban house Bile was introduced to two other men who had joined him in his conspiracy. Both were being carried in open bodybags. As he saw their faces he knew what the agents had found out. He didn't know how but the quick ends of his co-conspirators proved that they felt they already had enough information. Yet another lifeline was cut away and now Bile was really worrying.
He was seated on a metal chair, which in turn was on some blood splattered plastic sheeting and the traditional unguarded bulb was shined in his eyes. His mind went into overdrive, searching for something, anything that he could give these people to save his life. Unfortunately the smell of the blood and the bite of the plastic binders kept derailing his thoughts.
"Lieutenant Colonel Bile," Intoned a voice "You have betrayed your uniform, your country, your species and your planet! Do you have anything to say in your defence?"
"Y-y-yes," he replied, barely getting the word out around the lump in his throat. "I didn't know who I was working for when I started! I didn't know what he planned until I was in too deep to get out. Please you have to believe me I thought I was doing the right thing!" he was immensely relieved that the moment he stopped talking he wasn't shot.
"Who?" the voice asked.
"General Baur" he replied, "He wants the Whitehouse, he's trying to train his own psychers to take over, I DIDN'T KNOW!" There was a moment's silence and he began to hope that he had told them something they didn't know.
"Is that all you have for us?" the voice asked, and he replied by spilling all he knew of the conspiracy, from the attempts to develop fusion powered dirty bombs to the assassination plot on the X-Com heads-of staff.
"It's all in area sixty-one" he blubbed, "that's where Baur is hiding his base."
"You may have just saved your life" the voice said "All we need now is where you keep your copies of the information you helped steal."
"Anything" Bile begged, giving up his last hole-card in the hope of seeing daylight again. He never even guessed that he was being recorded, or that the bodies he had seen were in fact merely drugged and not dead. Combined with mentally induced terror the amateur theatrics had shattered his resolve without a finger being laid on him.
"Mr President, sorry to disturb you but we have some urgent news," An aide had barged in and was standing by the door with a paper clutched in his hand. Hayes excused himself and stood up to go o talk to the man. As he left Weir leant in to talk to Richard.
"Are you sure about this?" she asked.
"Beyond a shadow of a doubt" Richard replied. "My eyes are open and I don't think there is any other choice any of us can make."
"I'm not sure I can accept that," she replied. "What about the evidence you thought you had found?"
"It was planted" he replied, glancing over to where the president was talking.
"Who by?" she asked
"I think we are about to find out" he answered cryptically. Meanwhile the president was returning to his seat with a grave expression on his face.
"It seems something very bad is happening," he said as he sat. "CIA men are being snatched all over the place." Weir looked directly at Richard and the president soon followed suit.
"I think I can explain" Richard began. "Two weeks ago that friend I mentioned was shot and killed by a man who later turned out to be none other than a CIA Special Agent. He was trying to hit me, thus convincing everyone that X-Com had something to hide and forcing the UN to start closing them down. The people he was working for knew that they wouldn't go quietly and expect to profit from the efforts to control the fallout.
"However they made at least one big mistake. Agent Flag had to be extremely good to go so long without new orders, effectively he would be his own handler and responsible for his own independent action. Unfortunately for them this skill and ability allowed him to know far more about their operation than he was meant to. When he was caught he talked. X-Com has spent the last two weeks preparing their response to the attack.
"What you are seeing is Operation Clean Sweep. In one move the X-com agents are trying to collect up all the people that Flag fingered. From there they will be tried and sentenced."
"They will be given a fair trial and then shot?" Weir insinuated.
"As a good person once said to me, 'That depends on you'" Richard quoted.
"What do you mean?" Weir asked.
"They want you to sit on the bench" he replied. "In the interest of fairness they feel that the scum have the right to a proper trial with an impartial judge." Of course what he didn't add was that Nabiki was also hoping to sidestep the illegality of their actions and force Weir to try to be impartial about their case at the same time she judged the others.
"And if I refuse?" Weir asked.
"You won't" said the president. "I want you to do this." She nodded and it was sealed.
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In Alaska a lone soldier was pacing back and forth in front of a large metal door as the sleet came down. He was cold, wet and miserable and not really doing his job. Suddenly from behind him a snowy bush rasied up and pulled a wire taught around his neck. He fell to the floor, the knee locked in his spine ensuring that he had no chance for real resistance. Within a few heartbeats he had blacked out, a few more and he would never wake again.
Alpha commando rose from concealment around the base entrance. Their camouflage gillie coats having effectively hidden them in the weather. Two of them set charges and retired. The assault on area 61 was on.
Within two minutes they had seized the upper levels and were well on their way lower. The resistance had been very light so far and no match for the ferocity and momentum of the commando.
"Breach and clear" Ranma signalled with his hand, pointing at another barrack room. Then he turned to lead the others down the feeder corridor, moving inorexibly closer to the primary target,
From the corner ahead two snow camouflaged soldiers appeared, M16's at their shoulders. Gauss propelled rounds punched through their flimsy flak armour, leaving them flattened on the floor with gaping holes where their chests had been. Without a second look Ranma's team moved on.
They were now in amongst the labs, turning up the atrocities that the base had tried to hide. Men, women and children had been brought in and experimented upon. The vast majority had lost their minds under the amateur attacks of Baur's mind police. There were also hostages, family of men and women that Baur had 'recruited' or of people in important positions that Baur needed influence over. Nearly every room had its own explosive charge wired in. Alpha didn't even try to defuse them, if the control centre wasn't taken soon the whole base might be destroyed.
As they breached the final level a hail of automatic laser fire greeted them. One of the Commando members didn't get down fast enough and caught a triple tap. His armour stopped the shots all but completely, unfortunately that wasn't quite enough and when he reached cover he was in a lot of pain from the shot that got through, destroying the right side of his face. The room they were in was large, almost cavernous and over looked by the command centre, which in turn had blast shields over the windows. The room also contained a dozen of Baur's best killers.
Ranma waved his hand, signalling two commandos to lay down covering fire, and then tapped Laura and another agent on the shoulders, and counted down from three with his fingers. As the last finger dropped the three of them popped up and let rip. The crates and ammo boxes that their opponents were hiding behind were destroyed in glorious technicolor explosions. Baur's men tried to break for new cover but by then the other agents had joined in and not one of them made it.
With two more quick hand signals agents were detailed to 'check' the wounded and the others moved tactically towards the command centre.
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Laura kicked the bullet riddled door, knocking it wide. Ranma hurled himself past the opening in a crouch, snub-gauss-rifle leading the way. The six guards inside tried to track him with their own weapons but were suddenly stunned by a concussion grenade. X-Com weapons barked their defiance and the guards fell, twitching to the floor. The technicians threw themselves to the floor and covered their heads.
As it turned out one was shamming and popped up at the last moment with a .44 cal pistol, but Ranma's left-handed palm strike knocked him clear across the room and smack, headfirst into a wall. He went splat.
Alpha secured the room but were more than a little puzzled, why wasn't Baur here? With Ranma once more in the lead they carried on, leaving a pair of men to guard the room.
They found Baur in his office, smoking pistol still in his fist, his own brains spread across the wall behind him. There was no sign of why or what had prompted the action. For the time being Alpha didn't care.
Except Laura, she cared, she took three steps over to the body and stomped her boot firmly into his nuts. "Shit-head!" she swore "Hope those devils bugger you senseless!" She stomped him again, harder.
From there Alpha called in the support teams and began emptying the base of every last bit of data and every living soul.
Less than two hours after the first sentry died area 61 was destroyed by fire.