"How soon can we get one of the planes back from DC?" Mulder asked, when the cameras were switched off.
Skinner shrugged his shoulders, "They've all been called in for med-evac and relief efforts. I think there's a Twin Otter stationed in Canada. They hold it for Arctic repatriation, I doubt they'd have hauled that in for aid just yet"
"Can you arrange it for a pick up? We need to get Scully and the vaccine over to the mainland. We'll scramble a larger plane to evac the rest of the crew here as soon as one becomes available"
"I'll get on it."
"Thanks, Skinner"
Scully stood in the doorframe having watched the conference call at a safe distance.
"That went better than expected" She smiled.
It was the first time he'd seen her smile in a long time. There was colour back in her cheeks, a reminder that she was human just like the rest of them. She'd come pretty close to 'mindless drone' at times when squirrelled away in the lab. He'd tried to keep tabs on her, make sure she was eating and sleeping but she'd often have scooted him out of her hair.
"You mean you were expecting them to disregard us and our theories?" He said sarcastically.
"You just resisted the urge to say 'I told you so'. You played nice… well, sort of"
"Guilty as charged." Mulder put his hands up in the air, "… It only took them twenty damn years to listen to us, Scully"
"I know, and you never gave up"
"Neither did you."
He planted a soft kiss on her forehead and smiled as her eyes met his.
"You did good, Scully. You saved us, all of us."
Across the room, the female technician rolled her chair away from the computer monitor.
"Umm, Sir…" She glanced warily to her co-workers, "There's a craft appeared a few kilometres outside the boundary fences"
"What the hell?" Skinner rushed to the screen to see for himself, "What's it doing there, and how'd it move so quickly without showing up on the systems sooner?
Mulder and Scully joined the crowd hesitantly.
"I don't know, Sir, but there's definitely something close by" She pointed out the blur on the screen, "Look, it's moving"
"At a hell of a rate" Mulder chimed in.
Warning signs flashed up all over the computers.
"They're past the perimeters"
"Oh my God, they're after the vaccine. They know it's been a success…. Set off the emergency warning systems, we need to let everyone know what's happening" Scully's hand hovered over the switch.
"Wait!" Skinner grabbed her wrist, "We'll throw everyone into panic" He lowered his voice, "We don't have enough man power or weapons to hold our own. If they get in here we don't stand a chance."
"If they get in here, mankind doesn't stand a chance" Scully eyeballed her superior, "We fight, with everything we've got. We have to protect this. Our future is riding on it"
Skinner faltered before releasing her hand.
On the screen, the craft had deployed a dozen creatures, all making their way menacingly to the main steel doors. One of the creatures glanced at up at the security cameras in a half mocking manner before throwing its full body weight against the barricade. The vibrations echoed through the complex.
"Scully! Do it!" Mulder yelled, as her hand slammed the warning switch and sirens resonated throughout the base.