"...Good luck, Commander."
The video ended. The communique from the Security Council had been brief, but decisive, an impossibility appropriate for what may well have been the end of the world. Sadly, it took an alien invasion to get the diplomats to do anything.
Even more sadly, the aliens looked hostile. No matter what was beamed into space, regardless of the band, pattern, or source, nothing came back. All that uncertainty was enough to send the higher echelons of the diplomatic world into a tizzy, even enough to get XCOM some funding, a blanket Authorization for the Use of Military Force against extraterrestrials, and approval to appropriate whatever they shot if anything fell to Earth. Hopefully, nations would even respect those particular pieces of paper.
The Commander of XCOM picked up the phone in his office and dialed Central. "X-Cent-actual. Bradford speaking, Commander."
"Bradford, we just got the AUMF. I am now going to order you to disperse our troops and fighters to adjunct bases."
"Oh, thank you sir. I'll pass that order on, because I didn't pass it on just after the Council went to a vote, and I definitely didn't just receive confirmation that all the troops are on round-the-clock fiftteen-minute alerts."
"Good. I'm very glad you aren't prescient. By the way, that AUMF came with a few checks. Grab the department wishlist: I'm calling a senior staff meeting in half an hour."
"Will do. Er, stand by, sir. What? Yes? Are you sure?" A long breath escaped the young officer. "Perhaps you should come out, sir. We've got a contact. Pheonix Team is inbound from our Germany base."
"Are you sure about Phoenix team?"
"They're professionals, sir."
"Very well. I'll join you in the Central momentarily."
YOU ARE READING
The XCOM Project
Science FictionAliens have landed. Their motives and objectives are unknown. Against them stand the men and women of XCOM: humanity's first, last, and best line of defense. They are elite. They have the best of the world's science behind them. And they will not be...
