"I wasn't saying that occasionally, some must be sacrificed for the good isn't something that needs to be done. I was saying that you must feel the weight of the world on your shoulders before and after, or else you are a monster." Jackalyn gives the woman a piercing stare. "You seem to be feeling the weight." The sniper gets up the leave, then turns around. "I won't think twice about joining you. Whatever... that was, in Basra, it needs to be stopped in case it gets worse. I have one condition: that you let my family stay in whatever base that whatever operation that you're selling me is located. That's probably the safest place on Earth right now. That is all."
Jackalyn walks stiffly out of the interrogation room, and collapses into one of the couches.
Gavril exits the interrogation room without any more words, and takes a seat in one of the other couches, across from Jackalyn. He gives the woman a nod and a half-smile. "They gave you the hot poker too, eh?"
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Jacob shakes his interviewer hand and smiles before leaving.
Sitting in the waiting room, he greets the rest as they come. When Gavril says that, the irish laughs hearthily.
"We shared a couple pints, talked about the past and discussed the matter of strange tech and its potential danger. All in all a damned good mate, if ya ask me."
Jackalyn nods and blows out a sigh. "I don't know about whatever organization that they're trying to recruit me for. They were too ready to completely bomb out Basra. But..." Jackalyn pauses and runs her hand through her hair. "I don't think I have any other option, honestly. These... aliens, I suppose, pose a massive threat. I can't just say, 'no, I won't protect Earth,' simply because I object on moral grounds, especially when I have the capability to help. Only condition I'm setting is that they get my family into the base if they accept me in. I don't want them out in the open if they attack again."
Borax walks out of his meeting room with a look conveying little emotion. He joins the others, leaning against the wall and simply listens.
"Join an organization? Heh." Gavril gives a sound somewhere between a grunt and a laugh, and settles back in his chair. "They just wanted to make sure I would keep quiet about things. Maybe they assume I'll work for them no matter what." He stretches his shoulders and sighs. "If it means protecting people, I guess they're right."
Rosa emerges from her room last, simply moving to take a seat and sighing. "This is going to be a mess. I just know it."
As you all sit out in the quite sterile feeling waiting area, little conversation is exchanged before the lieutenant and the pilot leave their respective rooms. They exchange pleasantries, but otherwise the group sits in silence until yet another man in a black suit appears from down the hall. "I'll need you all to follow me, if you don't mind." He leads your entire group down a corridor and into an elevator; the ride takes an exceptionally long time, and the man doesn't seem to have anything to say. Finally, the elevator dings and the man steps out, indicating for you to follow him. He leads you down a few corridors, before stopping in front of a set of mild-mannered double doors. "Through here, please," he says, before pushing them open. Beyond the double doors waits a woman with a clipboard and an earpiece, who gives a nod to your escort. The area you've been led to is old and dusty, with cobwebs lining machinery too dimly lit to make out. She leads you back through a doorway, where stands an older man in military dress--once you get closer, it's evident the man is, or at least was, a US Army General--who seems to be observing a large, holographic projection of the Earth. A few other men, dressed in uniforms of some sort, although they aren't military, stand nearby as well. The woman approaches the general before handing him a few papers, and excusing herself to the side. He sifts through them for a moment before motioning for you all to approach.
"You're the team from Basra, then?" he asks, without any introductions. "The one that managed to obtain the corpses, and defended your fellow Peacekeepers during their withdraw? I've been reading a lot about you, you know; been looking at your dossiers, service records, had some members of my team interview you... although I appear to be missing one," he says, looking at Borax in particular. He shrugs, before dropping the clipboard to his side. "Tell me, how much do you all know about Roswell?"
Jackalyn shrugs. "Not much. Born and raised in the U.K. But from what I've gathered, it was just a bunch of conspiracy nuts that were making something out of nothing." Her forehead crinkles and she grimaces. "But now? Well, if I'm not in the middle of a psychotic break, I'd have to say those nuts got it right in one way or another."
Rosa looks around as they get off the elevator, her expression somewhere between being impressed and just sick and tired of the b-movie sh*t. "At this point, I'm not surprised that you bring up Roswell. Let me guess. It was real, you guys were formed to cover it up, you're the men in black, et cetera et cetera, b-movie standard government conspiracy to hide aliens from the public."
The band? Kristophe seems confused
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Jacob can't help but laugh at Rosa's outburst "You've outdone me, señorita. I'll give you that." says the irish as he does a bow towards Rosa.
Turning to their interloper, Jac smiles "Look, mate, I know nothing of Roswell, but I think it's time for some real exposition. So go on, I think everybody in here will be paying full attention."
"You're quite forward, aren't you?" the man says to Rosa, clicking his tongue. "I expected that kind of outburst from the Irishman... either way, it's not exactly what you described. I'm not expecting some of you to know this, considering you're not Americans, but in 1947 a balloon from Project Mogul crash-landed in a field outside of the city, on the Foster Homestead. A foreman and his family collected the crashed balloon and we managed to retrieve it, but a conspiracy about extraterrestrial life was born and continues to persist there to this day." He grins, even chuckling for a moment, before he shakes his head. "What the foreman collected was in fact a balloon for Project Mogul; we crashed the balloon on purpose, in order to draw attention away from the strange aircraft one of our test pilots encountered while flying an experimental craft. Given the altitude the craft was flying at, it was originally assumed to be some sort of Soviet spy vessel, and was shot down." The general walks towards the large holographic image of Earth, and moments later the image shifts to blurry, black-and-white photos of some sort of destroyed aircraft. In the pictures to come, you all recognize something you saw in Basra; one of the strange, gray humanoids who assaulted you. Its body is partially crushed by debris, and its head seems slightly larger than the ones you saw, but the resemblance was unmistakable.
"Project Mogul was an acceptable loss; advancing in seismographic detection and testing for nuclear fallout were far more cost-effective ways to dealing with Soviet nuclear tests. The corpse and the wreckage itself were taken to Edwards Air Force Base, specifically the section commonly referred to as 'Area 51'. The body was dissected and examined, and the technology was given to the brightest minds of the time. Almost nothing about it was decipherable, but what little we gleaned from it moved our own technology forward by decades. If it weren't for that, we probably wouldn't have reached the moon for another ten or twenty years." He clicks a small device in his hand, and the picture skips again to a group of scientists in hazmat suits dissecting the body. "Regardless, it was clear what we were dealing with. We kept the discovery to ourselves, for a while, but eventually it seemed prudent to bring the issue before the United Nations. In the process of a clandestine meeting, the first iteration of this project was founded. We were dubbed XCOM; the Extra-Terrestrial Combat Unit. We were tasked with further analyzing the technology recovered in order to reverse-engineer it, in case whatever creatures that encountered us decided to return. As the years dragged on, we managed to glean less and less from what we had remaining, and no new confirmed sightings or encounters were brought before us. Eventually, over the decades, we received less and less funding until the program was effectively scrapped. The program still existed, in theory, but we were forced to close down all operations due to a lack of funding; this was the last operational facility, and it closed in 1998. Other programs continued minute research and retrieval of supposed extra-terrestrial artifacts in other government departments, but eventually their budgets were spread too thin as well."
"Basra, though, has changed all of that. As you well know, some of the creatures you encountered there were clearly the same as those in the crashed aircraft outside of Roswell, and this time they weren't alone. The minute those corpses were state-side, we had scientists digging into their guts. Any scavenged technology is already in the process of being broken down. All of it was compared to what we found outside Roswell, and I'm sure you won't be surprised to learn it was virtually identical." He clicks again, this time to a live feed of men and women toying with what looks to be the debris of the crashed spaceship that was scavenged before your departure. "More importantly, an emergency U.N. summit has re-opened the XCOM initiative, and I've been put in charge. I've been tasked with gaining the cooperation of any and all surviving Peacekeeper personnel, while selecting those who show promise to be drafted into the program." He clicks again, and the holographic globe returns, and with another click and wave of his hand a series of lights switch on to reveal more of the room you're in, which appears to be some sort of control room. "You all proved yourself in Basra; you'll still need to pass a psychological evaluation, but you've all been selected for the XCOM Initiative. You can refuse, of course; many of you have promised your silence, and we have reason to believe the rest of you will cooperate. If you wish to return home and leave this knowledge behind, no one will blame you. A number of your fellow Peacekeepers have been extended this offer, and have decided to return home to their families with a healthy pension." He eyes you all for a moment, looking for a sign of weakness. "Still, you all are different; you stayed behind and risked your lives against an unknown enemy to save your fellow soldiers. You aren't the kind to back down, are you?"
"Let me make sure I follow," Rosa says slowly. "Roswell was real, and you are the men in black. But it was also a weather balloon because you crashed a weather balloon to distract people from the real flying saucer. And the grey aliens from all the old movies are in fact actual aliens that you've been waiting for for something like fifty years, but they're only just now showing up. And they're significantly more hostile this time by all accounts. And you're now looking to recruit us to help you fight the alien menace. Fantastic. Absolutely f*cking fantastic."
Rosa sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. "Fine. I've spent my entire life running into fire to keep other people safe. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I went home knowing that I was walking away from something that could put the entire world in danger."
Borax looks as if he's heard this speech before.
"You said the tech found at Basra is virtually identical to that found in 1947. Does that mean they haven't advanced in over 50 years?"
Kristophe smiles Who would turn down a chance to shoot at aliens? Not this one ja? his grin is huge.
Jackalyn nods. "I'm in." Before the man can open his mouth, Jackalyn holds up a finger. "On one condition: my family gets inside this base too. From what I've seen at Basra, the aliens could easily be conquering the planet right now. Maybe they're just testing out their new superweapon. I don't know. The point is, we've got tiny sliver of time before all hell breaks loose, and I want Evalyn and my parents as safe as possible before that happens. This is non-negotiable."
"I'm ready for orders," Gavril says, nodding. He jerks his head to gesture at Jackalyn. "She has a good point, though. I want my family safe, and comfortable. I'm guessing this job means I wouldn't have much leave to see them."
"I'm not convinced that Basra was an adequate look at their abilities; after all, something they piloted crash-landed into the city, so it's possible some sort of malfunction caused a crash that wiped out the city," the general says. "I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing, though. As for your families, they'll be well taken care of. I can't speak for the amount of leave you'll have, but realistically you'll only be out in the field when we have a need for you. While our other centers of operation are currently on standby, once they're operational again I can have your families relocated there, if you wish."
Jackalyn nods. "That will work, yes." She looks at the hovering, holographic globe of the planet. "So, where do we start?"
"Let's get started."
"Excellent, I'll make the arrangements," the general says, motioning for you to follow him. He leads you past the holographic globe towards what looks to be some sort of research and development lab. "As for you question about their technology, Bohan, we're not sure. It could be that the technology's so advanced we can't really tell how they've improved it, or that they've hit some sort of plateau. Hell, it could be that it was just an old ship; it did crash, after all. Still, this is where all the work on what we recover will be taking place, at least for now. Hopefully, we'll manage to scavenge some useful parts..." After a moment, he leads you again towards what is obviously the barracks; the rooms are well-furnished and maintained, although they are quite spartan in all other respects. "Other facilities will likely have identical accommodations, or near enough. You'll likely be sharing the space with other soldiers, when others are present. As we comb through the list of Basra survivors, we'll likely see that grow."
"You'll find new uniforms, both for combat and for formal occasions, in your bunks. Lieutenant Kristophson will be remaining in command of your unit, with Petty Officer Bohan as his second-in-command. Lieutenant Winger here will be your coordinator here at Central Command, and Sergeant Whitaker will be operating as your pilot," he says, gesturing to your two comrades. "That is, when the situation allows for it. I understand Lieutenant Kristophson was a helicopter pilot, correct? Our aircraft isn't exactly a... well, I'll show you soon enough. As for when you get started, you'll be headed back to the Middle East soon enough but for the time being you all are being given an opportunity to settle in, ask questions, and take care of any loose ends you might need to tie up before you head into the field."
Jackalyn nods along, remaining stoic as Central leads her and the rest of the squad through the base and all of the insanity within. She examines the barracks, and relaxes almost imperceptibly at the familiar surroundings. "Yes, sir. If I may, sir, may we get some rack time before rolling out? It's been a long day."
"Not too different from the academy," Rosa says under her breath, examining the room. "Where are your medical facilities?" she asks. "If we're going to be in conflict with these things, we're going to need to be ready for some nasty injuries."
As the group is introduced the facility, Borax inquires as to the location of the R&D area.
"I'd like to learn as much about their tech as possible."
"The medical facilities are down that direction," the general says to Rosa. He gestures for one of the people milling about, before pointing in the same direction. "Just follow him, he'll take you there. I believe that Dr. Stein may still be setting up shop, so forgive the mess; the doctor can answer any questions you have. As for what we know about their technology, it's... not much. Research and Development is down just back to barracks, you'll find Dr. Mori and her daughter there. Her team has been re-analyzing the few bits and pieces we already have and comparing them to the new technology, looking for changes or gaps." The general gives a small smile to Jackalyn's request, before nodding. "I didn't intend for you to have such a quick turn-around. You'll have at least a day or two here to catch your breath and be informed of your next assignment before you're out in the field."
"Thank you sir. Best to familiarize myself with the facilities before we need them for something important." She gives a short salute and heads off in the direction that the general pointed her. "Hello?" she calls out when she arrives in the medical facility. "I'm looking for Dr. Stein." She fights the urge to sigh. "I can't believe their doctor is named Stein. They could at least try not to be the cast of a b-movie."
Jackalyn nods towards the man before looking at her bunk, up and down. As soon as he leaves, she spares no time in crashing into it, fully-clothed, snoring loudly before she even hits the bed.
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Jacob daydreams partially throughout the chat, but catches up when R&D is mentioned "Well, sir and fellas, if you want anything I'll be down trying to see what fancy alientech lies around... I hope that Dr. Mori likes questions."
Without waiting, Jacob heads to R&D. "Dr. Mori? Oi there, I'm new around. Engineer Captaen Jacob Farrell. Mind if I help myself to any abd all research notes you have on alien ammunition and its possible application on advanced, heat-inducing, thermical explosives? It's... ummm... to pass some time, I don't usually sleep much."
Kris nods smartly at the General and heads to the barracks. He needs to get a workout in before he hits the rack.
Borax joins Jacob.
Gavril nods and, once the team is left to do as they wish, he takes a quick tour of the facility, just moving from section to section in order to familiarize himself with the layout and briefly introducing himself to folks in each area. Once that's finished, he also hits the gym before getting some much-needed rest.
As Rosa enters the medical bay, she immediately spies a man in a lab coat standing a few feet away from a dissected corpse of one of the gray aliens. A little under six feet and very thin, the man barely fills the coat that hangs off his shoulders. The front of his coat is coated with viscera, as are his gloves; he takes a step back and pries the gloves off, brushing his platinum-blonde hair out away from his face. "Yes, that's me. You're... I recognize you. I believe I have you to thank for our little friend over there, don't I?" The man speaks fluent English, but has the slightest hint of a Canadian accent. "My name is Dr. Elliot Stein; I'm... well, I guess now I'm head of Biomedical Research. Is there something you needed, or were you just popping into say hello? I'm sure he'd appreciate it," the doctor says, nodding to the dead alien lying on the examination table.
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Borax and Jacob head through into a room full of what looks to be broken or discarded alien tech, and soon spot a middle-aged Asian woman examining a piece of wreckage from the crash. Next to her is a younger girl, perhaps in her mid-teens, watching with intense interest. The older woman looks up from her work, giving you a nod. "The name's Dr. Eliza Mori, can I help you all with something? I've got a lot of stuff to sift through in the next couple days, so..." The younger girl, presumably her daughter, elbows her mother before gesturing again to the two of you. "Wait, you two... you were in Basra, correct? You've signed on, then?"
"And thank god is first name isn't Frank. I would have had to hit someone at that point." Rosa offers a hand to shake once the man takes his gloves off. "Rosa Vasquez. I'm a medic and I wanted to come down and get a look at the facilities while I had a chance. Better to know what I'm working with before someone's bleeding." She glances past him at the alien, then shakes her head. "Somehow, I don't think that he'd be all that happy with me."
"I am interested in learning what you now about the tech."
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Jacob smiles and nods "Indeed we were, nasty bussiness that city... specially those thingies that passed as humans... but I suppose you've heard of 'em already."
The irish moves around the room watchinf the different parts and artifacts "To be honest, I was only half-joking about looking at your researchs regarding ammo and explosives, I am excited to try and reverse-engineer their toys... but I also wanted to know who I was going to work with. As an engineer I supposed the time I won't spend getting shot at by Alf, E.T. and friends, I'd be here."
"No, I imagine he wouldn't. Of course, I don't suppose he'd much like me poking around in his guts, either, so it seems we're both in the same boat." Dr. Stein grins, before shrugging off his lab coat and hanging it on a peg. Underneath the coat, the man dresses in fairly plain-clothes, the only defining feature being the small shield emblem stitched onto his black shirt. "The medical bay is surprisingly well equipped, truth be told. From what I understand, this program was very recently reactivated; I'm surprised they managed to get such advanced medical equipment in here on such short notice. But, I suppose that's the U.N. for you, eh?" He chuckles, before showing Rosa around for a bit. "I haven't gotten a chance to really work with any of this yet, but it's quite fascinating. I've been focused on your... friends you brought back from Basra. Their anatomy is really quite fascinating, if disturbing. Most of their internal organs are fairly atrophied, with the exception of its brain. The creatures are immensely physically frail, but possess quite astounding cognitive abilities. Perhaps you can answer a question for me; while fighting these creatures, did any of you by chance electrocute any of them? Particularly their heads?"
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"Ah, I see. Well, you're welcome to look around. I don't really have anyone working under me yet, so we're the only ones here. They'll show up in time, I'm sure, but even the U.N. can only transfer people so fast. I've been tinkering with everything we've got to look at, and comparing it to original samples. I'm not sure if they haven't improved technologically, or if this is just too far advanced for me to be able to tell them apart." Dr. Mori stands, brushing off her pants before prying off her work gloves. "Still, even small breakthroughs could be earth-shattering. Once I have a larger team than just Jessie here, we should be able to comb through all this faster. I wish I had more to work with, though; I've got to be careful not to damage any of these samples, since I don't have any back-ups. Once clean-up starts in Basra I might have some more, but until then we're out of luck."
Rosa chuckles. "I find myself not caring what he'd think all that much," she says. "But at least the UN managed to get this place up and running fast." She frowns at his description. "Err... no, I don't think that we had the opportunity. We were a bit busy trying not to be shot with their sci-fi laser weapons. I'll make sure to taze one of them in the head next time we're dealing with an alien invasion. Wait... did you say atrophied? Not just naturally weak, but actually atrophied? That... doesn't sound right. They were capable of fighting effectively enough to overrun our lines, but their bodies were in the middle of breaking down? What are these thing?"
Borax nods at Dr. Mori, "Please keep me informed of anything you learn, no matter how insignificant. I'll leave you to your work."
Borax then heads to the medical lab and catches up with Rosa and Dr. Stein. "Please continue on..."
Of course," Dr. Mori replies, before turning back to Jacob as she sits back in her chair, sighing heavily. She's clearly been working hard the last couple days, and seems eager to have a chance to talk shop, if only if it means she can have a good excuse to take a break.
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"Well, I ask because--" Dr. Stein begins, before Borax enters. He gives a nod as the other man speaks, before starting again. "Here, it'll be easier if I just show you." He motions for the two of you to follow him to the corpse, and he takes a fresh pair of gloves for himself. "Well, as you can see... yes, the creature's bodies are atrophying. From what I can tell, it seems as though the majority of their body's resources go towards powering their cognitive abilities, which leaves the rest of their bodies to slowly decay. I... can't be sure, but I highly doubt that this is natural." While the creature's anatomy is significantly different, after a moment Rosa confirms the doctor's claim of atrophied internal organs. "However, that's not what I wanted to show you. As you can probably tell, the brains of these creatures are massive. I cut open the creature's skull to take a look, and..." he places his fingers into a large incision along the creature's head, and slowly pries apart its leathery skin. Beneath, you can see he's already removed portions of the creature's skull in order to look at the brain matter. While the brain does look eerily similar to a human brain, that isn't what holds your attention; along the surface of the brain, you can clearly see what is a large scorch mark, not unlike the kind of pattern you might see from a lightning strike. The tissue was clearly destroyed, and Dr. Stein takes a scalpel and cuts deeper, revealing the scorching goes far beneath the creature's cortex. "I'm not sure what else might have caused this."
"That... doesn't make any sense. Perhaps it's intentional in some way. Like a sort of like... organic overclocking. They burn out the rest of their bodies to make their minds more effective. But that seems to be unnecessarily risky on a battlefield." She follows the doctor to the table and looks over the creature's body. The resemblance to a human brain is a bit disconcerting, but makes sense in a way. Brain structures are somewhat universal between many forms of life on Earth, so another planet evolving with similar features is certainly possible. "Their skull must be paper thin to fit that much grey matter in there." She frowns deeply as she sees the scorch marks. "I'm not even sure we shot them in the head. We certainly didn't have anything that could do that. Maybe... their weapons were rigged to self-destruct. Could this be the same? Some sort of cranial implant to destroy parts of the brain and deny their enemies information?"
Borax nods at Rosa's last comment,
"Induced. From what you've told me, doctor, these creatures would seem to be expendable assets. Perhaps like an evolved biological drone. Engineered to have a limited life span and to self-destruct. What's not clear is if this damage is self-induced or triggered externally. We could be dealing with a hive mind. If any particular individual is cut-off, it pops. Doctor, we encountered several different types of E.T.s. Do they all posses similar brain damage?"
"If it's some kind of self-destruct implant, I haven't seen it. It looks almost... natural. Like some sort of cranial biofeedback, but how would that even happen? They certainly seen like expendable shock troops, but a creature like this could only last a few months without some sort of medical intervention, and a serious one. That means your troops can't really learn or adapt to new situations. Their weapons might self-destruct, but something killed this creature naturally. The few different species don't have the same kind of damage, and even others of the same type don't all seem to have it. There must be something they do that causes this; I'll have to poke around more and see what I find."
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Jacob takes a cigarette out but waits for permission before lighting it.
Observing the room, the irish allows Mori a brief pause before starting "As I said Major Haphazard before, I have serious concerns regarding the alien tech. Mostly about how it could be weaponized if it falls in the wrong hands, but also about how could we weaponize it. I mean, shooting the damned uglies is fun and all but their weapons pack a punch and penetrate our body armors like we were fighting naked, and I'd rather return them the favour. I'm curious, actually, as to what kind of weapons they use... I've seen a couple railgun prototypes but theirs didn't seem so. Hell, if I were half as crazy as people think I am I'd believe their guns fire some kind of compressed energy. And if that's what they do, I don't to be close to whatever they pass for explosives."
Crossing his arms, Jacob looks at thr engineer. "But the thing that itchs me the most is how their weapons seemed to go non functional when they die. You got any clue, Doctor Mori?"
"They did something... odd while we were fighting them. They had sort of... glowing eyes and they were able to coordinate and fight incredibly efficiently without any kind of obvious communication. I mentioned this when we were talking with the interviewers upstairs. It sounds like something out of a b-movie, but since I'm living in a b-movie now, I'm willing to suggest it. Could they have a sort of hive mind? Some sort of mental link? Injury or death from one of them may cause feedback to the others if they're all linked together somehow."
"Really? That's bizarre," the doctor says. "I... can't be sure, given the specimens are dead, but that could be the case. I could try and rig up some sort of experiment with the dead tissue, but I'd really need a living sample for something like that. Either way, that's... fascinating. I'll have to keep working with these, see what I can find." The doctor, while seemingly a fairly collected man, lets a small grin crack his lips as he drums his fingers on the observation table; he seems almost giddy, to tell the truth. "This... this could be a serious breakthrough. Given their similarity to human brains, imagine what this could suggest about--" the doctor turns to you, shaking his head. "My apologies, but I need to get back to work. I'll make sure to keep you updated if anything changes, or if I hear anything from another field team that might interest you."
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"I understand your misgivings on their technology, it's one of the reasons we've got clean-up crews in Basra after the bombing. As for what they're shooting, I'm actually fairly certain it's plasma. It's hard to tell from the broken bits and pieces that've been scavenged--I'd heard the weapon break with the buggers die, as if that isn't inconvenient as all hell--but that'd be my guess. Granted, that's all working off of hypotheticals; I've never seen a working plasma generator that'd work like that, but the science seems sound from what I've seen. As for their weapons breaking, I might have an answer to that." She pulls one of the broken weapons from the grey men out of a storage crate and sets it on the table upside down. She takes her hand and tugs at a small strand of wire-like substance protruding from the bottom, now frayed and blackened. "They've got some sort of bio-metric interface."