That was…until they weren't. Proximity sensors tripped alerting those within to interlopers on the property…lots of them. The alarms inside woke everyone, prompting quick trips via elevator or escape trunks to the basement. Kazak and Vaukt were quick to don their armors. Cameras picked up…armored figures, definitely human, but wielding what looked like chunkier versions of the standard MP5 and M4 Carbine.
"What you think?" Vaukt asked Kazak as the Scout Sniper studied the camera footage as the large group of humans made their way up.
"Low threat. Break out the Browning or the Maxim. That should be more than sufficient to scare them off."
"Works for me."
The rude awakening and pending reality of being compromised saw Zha and Tak taking to their own stations. As Vaukt and Kazak prepared to defend, they immediately set into motion securing the base and going into total lockdown. All points of entry secured, sensitive data encrypted, and the very real possibility of bugging out looming, appropriate measures were taken.
"Scare them off?" Tak stayed her feet in passing at the pair, looking between them. "You're going to shoot at them?"
"How else do you intend to repel an attack?" Zha reasoned to her query.
"We don't even know if it's an attack! Trespassing, sure. Both of you idiots threatened what passes for Internal Affairs earlier today so it's no surprise they'd escalate the matter."
"All the more reason to stand our ground. We give into their demands, they'll find out who and what we are in short order."
"So they can call in reinforcements and exponentially more hardware than we could hope to muster between the four-"
"Six!" Red interjected much to her annoyance."
"...four of us."
"And they don't know what they're messing with." Vaukt spoke out of his armor's vox caster as he and Kazak went upstairs. The fully armored and masked sniper took his position at the front door, a Beretta 38A SMG in hand and loaded with a 40 round magazine. Vaukt himself continued upstairs and then up to the attic, opening a firing slit installed by Kazak as he broke a Browning 1919A4 out of its nearby safe, securing it to the tripod, and loading a cloth belt of ammo.
Down below, a dozen armored agents moved through the open, not much to do given the lack of cover towards the ranch house. It put them as a great disadvantage but there was nothing that could be done to close the distance. Plus they were supposed to be asleep inside.
"Generalissimo," Kazak spoke over the radio, "let 'em have it."
"Coming right up." A quick adjustment to the sight for distance and the Browning opened up. A rain of lead poured down on the unsuspecting agents, followed quickly by bursts of fire from Kazak at the door. The rounds flew over their heads, forcing them all to quickly fall prone in response.
"Command, these fuckers got automatics! How do you want to proceed?!" One of the Agents asked over the radio.
"Close in, damn you!" Adams yelled back over the radio.
"Confirmed!" The agent in armor rose, taking several shots center mass from Vaukt's machine gun, falling backwards, only to sit up. He groaned, "Pour fire on them! Advance!"
Gunfire then poured through the windows, the open door, and towards the attic where Vaukt was firing. The General himself took a couple of hits to the left shoulder. Hits that actually stung…these weren't typical weapons.
"Kaz! These guys got fucking mass drivers!" Vaukt yelled down, leaving the machine gun to retreat to grab his own plasma rifle.
"How can you tell?!"
"You want to see the dents in my armor?! These guys also got some good armor. One of them took a few bullets from that MG like it was nothing!"
"...Oh shit." Kazak quickly slung his Italian SMG and switched to his Vortian SMG. "Tak, Zha, these guys aren't the usual fare! Armored up, mass drivers! I thought they didn't have this sort of tech!" He poked out around the door slightly for a look before suppressive fire forced him back. "Using similar tactics to us!"
"Almost like someone told you this was a bad idea!" Tak screeched at him, instinctively ducking after the fussilade of returned fire perforated the wall and shattered the glass windows.
"Cease fire!" The agent in command, previously hit, called out as the agents surrounded the ranch house at a safe distance but in a tight perimeter. Thirty seconds…that was fast…impressive performance for a lesser species. The sudden silence gave way to the distant, steady, thumping drone of helicopter props. They came beyond prepared…expecting, even.
Adams, himself armored up, spoke through a vox caster with increased volume. "You asshole Irken hear me in there?!"
Just as the not-Invader was set to lay into Kazak verbally once more, the voice from outside brought her to a standstill. Her blood ran cold, violet eyes searching the Scout Sniper's obscured visage in his helmet.
"...did he just say "Irken"? Do they know?!"
"...He said Irken," Kazak was equally stunned. Silent for a few moments before yelling out the door, "And who the fuck are you?!"
"CIA!"
"That's their Internal Affairs!"
"Ah shit," Kazak muttered. "Well what do you want?!"
"We need to talk! Now! No guns me, no guns you! Your one opportunity! You refuse, I blow you and your friends right to kingdom come!"
"What's kingdom come?" Tak hissed, confused.
"Human euphemism that he's going to vaporize us probably," Kazak replied.
Her expression tightened, brows knitting in contempt as her attention snapped to the door from her own hunkered position across the frame from Kazak.
"You're bluffing! You types don't like attracting attention! Explosions attract attention!"
"Gas leaks are common in this country! You really wanna test that theory?!"
"Test it with what?!" Kazak added, "You guys don't have any heavy artillery and those helos don't have the firepower!"
"Strike Eagle and a thousand pound JDAM, courtesy of Uncle Sam! I'm authorized to use whatever force necessary! I use force against my own countrymen for the sake of national security, you think I'm going to show mercy to little green space men?!"
Tak's attention snapped to Kazak. "What's a JDAM? Some kind of weapon?"
"Guided bomb," Kazak answered her before yelling back out. "I don't hear one!"
Adams turned down his vox caster to speak into a radio. "Sapphire One, do a fly-by, over."
"Sapphire One copies."
Things were quiet for a minute before the roar of a supersonic twin engine jet fighter passing by overhead soon filled the air. The apparent "Strike Eagle", a military aircraft loaded to bear. Kazak blinked, they weren't kidding. They were seriously going to use a bomb.
"...Tak…they ain't bluffing." He spoke quietly.
"So what's it gonna be?!" Adams yelled back to them, his point clearly made.
Tak looked to Kazak, swallowing nervously. Did they take their chances and attempt an escape before the fighter jet circled back and unleashed its payload or comply? Neither seemed promising.
"...they haven't killed us. Yet. If they wanted us dead they wouldn't open a dialogue. They want something. Question is…what do they want in return?"
About that time, Zha made her appearance from the basement. What little protection of data and assets they could manage had been done. All that remained was how this was to play out with them being at a severe disadvantage.
"By the sounds of it the alternative is certain death. At least our chances of survival improve by hearing them out…and tell Vaukt to get his c'hurta down here before they take more potshots at him. You two are done playing soldier tonight."
Vaukt was actually coming down the stairs right as she mentioned him. "These armors are good…not surviving thousand pound bombs good."
"Yeah," Kazak sighed, putting his Vortian weapon on a nearby table. "All right, fine! You like coffee?!"
"Not in there I don't!" Adams replied as he looked to one of the nearby agents, "Bring our additional cargo up here."
"Yes, sir."
The agent ran back, Adams moving forward and handing his sidearm off to one of the others. At the ranch house, Kazak handed his Beretta over to Zha as he and Vaukt walked forward, both still having their armor at the very least. Tak, however, had no armor…Kazak needed to make a mental note to get her some made at some point. They met Adams out in front of the house near Kazak's parked cars.
"So," Kazak lifted both arms, gesturing to Tak and Vaukt, "let's talk."
The figures appearing from the house as requested provoked action on the would-be aggressors. Adams' men quickly closed in, weapons trained steadily, and formed a loose perimeter. Their behavior and equipment let on more than what was visible. These men trained and prepared for them…not unlike Spec Ops would have. Humans! It didn't seem possible, not on a primitive backwater world like Earth. The outpouring of lethality clearly bristled the alien visitors, agitating tensions further.
"Helmets off, lose the skin suits. They look itchy." He casually issued, gesturing his head towards Tak's glowering disguise. "I know what you are and where you came from. It's why we're having this discussion and I'm not leveling this house."
"Armor isn't coming off, but," Kazak reached up, pulling off the mask, revealing the silver eyed Irken's face. Vaukt's helmet likewise retracted into his armor with the black eyed General now visible to Adams. "Safe to say you'll suffice with that since you still got your own fancy hardsuit on."
"You too." He pointed to Tak. "Drop the tough girl act. Anything you got planned, you'll look like moldy Swiss cheese before you hit the dirt."
Soured expression still, she haughtily fiddled with her "watch" until the disguise fizzled and faded away, revealing her emerald skin and violet eyes filled with a murderous glare.
"Now…" the apparent leader of these humans began, gesturing to the recently-arrived thermos and cups by another agent. "Coffee? It isn't poisoned. If I wanted you all dead, you would be."
"Cut the crap." Tak snapped at him. "Why are you here? What do you want?"
"To-the-point. I like you. More than the idiotic one in the suburbs."
She blinked, caught off-guard at his casualness.
"...Zim?"
"Yeah. Zim. Interesting case study, he's been."
"I'm surprised some of your G-men haven't tried to lure him into shooting something up. Or maybe that's you stopping the FBI from doing that?" Kazak pointedly asked as he took one of the cups and took a sip.
Adams gave a single laugh.
"They gave their best effort in weaponizing him being a social outcast despite overlooking the fact he has green skin and no ears. I can see why you all got so complacent here thinking we're all stupid. Some of us are smarter than you think…and you are not as smart as you think."
Kazak shook his head. Who was the dumber one? Zim or the FBI? Amazing. "Well considering the sort of lackadaisical fucking way we did with no disguises on the ranch and having the son of one of your smartest people here all the time, I'm not surprised. So, you know what we are. Let me guess, want to know why there's now more of us instead of just the one retard?"
"I see your acclimation to Earth and our vernacular is rubbing off on you." Adams casually observed with a suppressed chuckle, sighing. "...here's the deal, Kazak…you're Kazak, right? I know she's Tak, attends school with the stupid one…and this would be General Vaukt, yes?"
"How-"
"As I said…you're not as clever as you think. Not difficult to narrow down the source of communications jamming on frequencies we've never touched before on this planet and happen to triangulate this particular patch of the planet encompassing all known entities of your species."
"Oh, he's good," Vaukt admitted, impressed more and more.
"Suppose he is," Kazak nodded, "right, what's the deal?"
"The deal…" The agent opened, pausing to retract the visor of his own helmet with the intent of sampling coffee despite the conversation being held at literal gunpoint. "...is one Irken, however stupid he may be, is a curiosity. A failed Invader, Scout Sniper, two Chiefs of Staff, and your supposed leaders-in-exile coming here is beyond coincidence."
Tak, doing her best to remain composed despite the rampant paranoia and dread over this man knowing so much about them despite their best efforts to conceal the truth at-large, eyed Vaukt and Kazak's reactions before folding her arms and looking back to Adams.
"...yet you haven't killed us."
"Aside from being illegal immigrants, vagrants squatting on abandoned property, and in possession of illegal firearms, there's nothing to gain with your deaths. I've gathered there's…trouble back home from your communication exchanges. Trouble that has brought you here. I'm here to make sure you don't bring that trouble here to my home."
Adams set his cup down on the hood of the SUV, turning his attention back to Kazak fully as he was the apparent go-to as far as leadership among the three.
"...Zim isn't the first little green space man to come to Earth. My government's known about you Irken for decades."
"Wait, really? How? When?"
That was when a rather well muscled Irken Elite came walking up escorted by another agent. Clad in black clothes of a more local variety, tan boots, typical green skin, but dark green eyes. "Since we crashed back ages ago when our exploration vessel got lost." He looked the trio of them over, "You guys the rescue party? Only took you seventy odd years….Marshal Vaukt? Marshal of Special Operations Vaukt?"
"Clearly dating yourself," Vaukt replied.
"And…who are you?" Kazak asked him.
"Graak, was a Sublieutenant of the Elite, science escort. I've long since been the guest of these guys at Area Fifty One."
"...so all that garbage on the Internet about that place wasn't a bunch of made-up nonsense?" Tak struggled to comprehend what she was hearing and seeing. Another Irken! Here! On Earth! Working with the humans?!
"There's a speck of truth in every lie." Adams cryptically spoke, if not a little smugly. "We can get into details somewhere a little more secure away from prying eyes. Never know who is watching or listening in. All you need to know is we aren't enemies as far as my handlers are concerned. Don't give us a reason to make you enemies."
"Implying…?" Tak searched.
"All of you need to come with us. All of you, including the other three in the house still."
"Where?"
"To Dreamland."
"Yeah, I'm not abandoning my livestock." Kazak flatly spoke, "We have no intentions of being hostile to your species either, but I've grown a bit attached to some of the local wildlife here, namely the horses."
"Fascinating. This isn't up for debate." Adams chided. "I'm not relocating you. We'll leave handlers to tend to the animals until you return. I am going way out of my way to be considerate. Ask Graak what they did to him in Roswell. My methods are far kinder."
"What happened?" Vaukt asked the Sublieutenant.
"Are you familiar with the human term 'sodomy', Marshal? They, uh, had machines that did that... Probes."
Vaukt's head slowly turned to Kazak, "Do not have that happen to me or I will personally kill you."
"Not if I kill him first." Tak added, looking back to Adams. "So we go with you, then what?"
"That depends on the topics of discussion and what information is gleaned. All you need to know is we are looking out for our best interests and you aren't dragging your mess to my world. Until then, we're all on the same side."
"...Fine." Kazak relented. "Zha!" Kazak yelled back to the house, "Put the Beretta back in the safe, grab the two idiots, get out here!"
"And grab my kilt, boots, a shirt, and a vest for me, will you sweetie?!" Vaukt added.
Adams, relieved they weren't going to complicate matters further, keyed his radio as he watched the Irken go about making preparations under constant vigilance to depart.
"Dreamcatcher, Stargazer."
"Dreamcatcher copies, Stargazer. Send traffic."
"Six packages secured. Shipping first-class. Let the Postmaster know it's express."
"Understood, Stargazer. Dreamcatcher inbound. Postmaster notified."
"Stargazer out." Adams concluded, eyes tracking to the night sky as the hum of helicopter blades grew in crescendo, approaching their position His attention drifted to Graak. "Round everyone up, make yourselves scarce. Back to the 'Lake."
Graak nodded, signaling to the other agents to wrap things up and clean up the mess. He headed back to a vehicle, he had his own ride arranged back when they brought him back to the office for a quick debrief with the others. Zha came out with a bag carrying a change of clothes for herself, Vaukt, and Tak, knowing Kazak was probably going to demand to stay in his armor for the duration. Red and Purple followed. Military Blackhawk helicopters touched down in the yard, picked up Adams and the Irken, and then departed as quickly as they arrived.
Some night so far…