XCOM: Omega Six
Chapter Three
The Skyranger was racing across the upper atmosphere under a full moon after switching into supersonic mode, with its variable wings swept and the combined thrust of its five turbojet engines allowing it to cross the airspace between Australia and Africa in a matter of minutes rather than hours.
The SR-77H 'Skyranger' had been originally designed as a spin-off black project designed for a Global Strike requirement of the United States Air Force with the objective of introducing a mission package anywhere on the world in a matter of minutes. It carried the same (S)trategic (R)econnaissance designation as the famous SR-71 'Blackbird' and it had already broken a few records set by that aircraft, although this version had been designed not to carry bombs or reconnaissance sensors but instead to deploy a small strike squad using its Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) flight mode. To develop it, the designers had combined off the shelf components such as the VTOL mechanism developed for the F-35B 'Lightning II' fighter and the high-performance engines of the F-37 'Raven' fighter and placed them on a new fuselage. It allowed that with a couple of commands the pilot could switch from horizontal to vertical flight by switching the thrust of its jet engines to two large lift fans build on the base of the wings. The switch was known to its pilots as the 'hiccup' due to the aerial maneuver involved.
The original project had been canceled more than a few years ago but NASA had kept the original prototype flying for additional upper atmosphere testing and when the XCOM Project had been activated it had been assigned immediately to the unit, although requests for additional aircraft were impossible to satisfy on the short term – only a single prototype had been built and had never entered mass production and nearly all of the machinery used to built it was gone or destroyed to prevent intellectual theft. Except for the engines, but even if spare parts for those were easy to get by, NASA's engineers had kept the Skyranger flying by using it sparingly and with a lot of improvisation from its engineers – most of the craft's components had been already replaced one or more times and it had went through a series of internal adaptations to carry scientific equipment. After being assigned to XCOM it had to be re-adapted again, this time to carry a small strike squad, as it was intended for its original role.
The aircraft was the size of a bus, with the single pilot seated on a separated cockpit area with no access to the cargo area of the craft, located at the end of the craft, with the engines and fuel tanks taking up most of the middle and space available for the craft. The Skyranger's engines were huge guzzlers of jet fuel either on supersonic or vertical mode and Central had to recalculate the take-off weight and the distance to the drop zone on every mission and every single extra pound or mile would make a difference on its range.
Inside the cockpit the pilot wore a pressure suit and helmet in case he had to eject while on the high altitudes required for supersonic flight. But through his visor he could see below him the cloud cover over the Indian ocean. "Central, we have dry feet and we'll arrive soon, Big Sky out".
The Skyranger pilot's voice made Dora remove the comlink from her head, along with the black cap and goggles she was wearing. Which also prevented her from listening to the pilot's next words: "Alpha Four, hang it there. We'll be home soon".
She was the only one seated on the cargo area of the Skyranger. Opposite her Patrick was laying on a stretcher placed over the individual chairs and Rollins and Okabe rested on two black bags on the metal grated floor. The injured soldier was semi-conscious when Dora had found him next to the ruin of the exploded car but had passed out while they were evacuating him to the aircraft.
Shaking her head she then released the safety straps holding her to the seat, still trying to calm herself as the adrenaline and shock of the combat deployment were wearing off. Her mind was racing from a million details of the experience until the words suddently came out of her mind: "they were expecting us this time!". On the first combat mission the aliens seemed to have ignored Delta squad after they had wiped out the German special ops team deployed in advance and had only reacted to XCOM's presence when the team had found them. This time they had reacted to the Skyranger's arrival by setting up an ambush for Alpha squad that had left two of them dead and Patrick on its way to join Meskes at the infirmary.
The first encounter with the aliens seemed to have affirmed to everyone that their intentions were neither friendly or peaceful but now this reaction confirmed that they saw humans as a threat to their objectives. They wanted her killed, burned to death by their plasma weapons.
It's killing time. Her own voice had scared her even more than the sight of the Sectoids. Hearing those words during the battle had held and driven her to survive and for the first time to feel alive after seeing Gunnar die.
Opening her hands on her lap, she realized the soot and caked blood on the palms before closing them into fists.
It's killing time.
She then leaned her body forward and after slowly resting her closed eyes on her hands started crying, with her low sobs becoming inaudible on the cargo area of the Skyranger.
The Sectoid's head is a lot higher than normal and it has a human mouth implanted into its jaw that moves as it speaks while standing on top of the table on the Situation Room. It is wearing a Research lab coat as it paces the floor in front of the projection screen, its abdomen glowing with an orange light. The ghoul points to the electronic wall where a naked figure is laying on an examination table whose top emits an opaque white light.
"The dominant species of this planet." The human being displayed looks eerily familiar until I realize that I'm looking at myself naked – but the sight doesn't sound weird for some reason – until I realize all the old belly scars are gone. "While individualistic this trait can also give them an interesting mix of self-preservation and allegiance".
I'm seated directly opposite the alien and I notice that the rest of the table's seats are occupied by the rest of my unit: Dora is to the left and she's wearing a red dress that shows tanned and muscular shoulders but her face is missing the lower jaw and instead I can only see a fleshly hole below her upper lip. All the others are missing their mouths as well – Meskes on its XCOM combat uniform, Okabe in a dark green tuxedo and purple tie, Rollins dressed with the black leather jacket he was wearing at the airport. Above them the world map is completely lit in bright red while the squares of the Doom Tracker are completely lit and glowing in a multicolored flash that is projected on all polished surfaces inside the room.
"These lifeforms should be approached with extreme caution and eliminated if required to achieve the mission's objectives". Another Sectoid joins the first one but this one is wearing XCOM body armor with a white arctic camouflage pattern, with the knees and elbow pads sticking out from the middle of its limbs. Unlike the second one it has no mouth but it is wearing a headset with a glowing red light by the mouthpiece and is holding an X-9 Assault Rifle on its hands. The mouthed Sectoid glares at it in hatred both rushing for cover amongst the weapon lockers and crates of equipment that are surrounding the chaired area.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and when I turn my head I see Vahlen standing next to me and she's naked but her body features reflect are those of a Sectoid, with no visible genitalia or other human features, her skin having been switched to a whitish tone and a blank chin where her mouth would be, but I still manage to hear her words.
"Recovering specimens for further research is critical for our research efforts – we need take any actions necessary otherwise the survival of our species will at stake".
As Vahlen moves on the aisle between the rows of chairs all of the other members of the combat team slowly turns their necks, or what's left of them, to face her.
With the exception of Dora, which now is standing, her naked shoulders standing out against the deep red robes that cover her completely except for the head, which is covered in a red and golden tiara. She moves over following Vahlen and I see her royal red cape sweeping empty bullet cartridges on the floor of the Armory aside.
The Sectoids look scared at Vahlen as she takes their place but don't move anymore and are also waiting. She has the XCOM shield insignia over her flat bare chest. "Starting in 1989 there was a wave of UFO sightings in Belgium that a posterior top secret NATO investigation failed to properly explain since the end of the Cold War had removed the most likely source for those reports."
"Why?" The question comes from Dora, who has stopped right in from of Valhen, who keeps speaking as we all hear in silence Vahlen's words again. "On the following years there were other incidents spread throughout the world, with the 1996 Varginha case in Brazil and the 1997 Phoenix Lights in Arizona being the most publicized.
"Why had we ignored their presence for sixty years!?" Dora's accusation makes Okabe mouth suddenly erupting in a pool of blood and his hands move upwards towards his throat as he starts falling towards the ground. "Why no one ever thought of this before?!"
The Sectoid Vahlen stares back at her and the two other creatures lurking in the back making skittering sounds.She snares back at Dora. "But we haven't ignored... you".
HUMAN-ALIEN INTERACTION SCENARIOS
1st CONTACT (Beneficial Mankind/Altruistic Aliens)
* Communication
* Cooperation
REALPOLITIK (Beneficial Mankind/Egotistic Aliens)
* Trade
* Competition
* Coevolution
* Expansion
HUMAN THREAT (Harmful Mankind/Altruistic Aliens)
1. Threat to the 'natural order'?
2. Mismanagement?
3. Higher aim?
All of those scenarios at the same time point towards a developed logic on the part of the extraterrestrial intelligences that must be understood in order to see if it is possible to achieve a compromise or to determine why our existence
* Deliberate isolation
* Interference
* Premptive Attack
* Annihilation? (unlikely - if that is their intention then they would have achieved this by now we will either be powerless to stop it)
TARGET EARTH (Harmful Mankind/Egotistic Aliens)
Earth as resource and/or prey?
* Migration
* Exploitation
* Domination
* Extermination
OTHER FACTORS
Situational Hazards
* Cultural Shock
* Physical/ Biological Hazards
* Incompetence/ Error
Individual Dangers
* Intentionally Hiding
* Outside Context Problem
"Recovery crew, please report to your stations. Big Sky ETA one-five minutes and counting". The computer generated voice was announced throughout the base and paused for a second before repeating itself down the corridor outside the lift and further throughout the XCOM base. "Recovery crew..."
As the lift doors closed Dr. Vahlen's eyes barely glanced upwards over the top of her datapad and spoke. "Central, Hangar".
"Yes, Dr. Vahlen". The Artificial Intelligence set the lift moving and afterwards the computer voice was heard but she ignored it as she kept contemplating the notepad in front of her.
We've confirmed their existence but we are still struggling as to the reasons of their presence on Earth – both encounters confirmed their interest on us but also their inherent hostility if we try to approach them or somehow disrupt their activities. But to what overall objective? They are clearly not interested in sharing their technology and if we want to learn we'll have to discover that information ourselves, despite their reservations in keeping their advanced knowledge away from us.