The XCOM Project

New Projects

"...and lastly, I'd like to reiterate that everything on this base is classified at the highest level. Now, please report to your department heads for a more detailed briefing."

The orientation ended, everyone rising and speaking with each other. Dr. Indira Janata, PhD, rose with them, grabbing her bag. It wasn't clear what all this cloak-and-dagger was about, but she didn't like it. It smelled of bureaucracy. Here she was, having just sworn off government work in favor of the private sector, and now working for what looked to be the biggest, most glacially boring bureaucracy ever.

Who had any use for an underground base except a paranoid politician, after all?

The corridors were industrial, with exposed metal supports and gantries and scaffolding all about. After filing through the various hallways and stairways, she found herself in a small room that wouldn't look out of place in a brand new university lab, with various tables, research implements, and the same industrial chic that seemed to be ever so popular with this particular agency, albeit with a cleaner, more airbrushed feel here.

Everyone stopped when she entered. For an awkward moment, she felt like the new student at primary school again until she started talking. "Good afternoon. Actually, it's morning here, isn't it? I'm afraid I'm still adjusting to the time zone." That began well.

A woman a little bit younger than herself walked up. She had light brown hair and was taller than average, but only by a few centimeters. "Hello. You're Dr. Janata, correct? Our new biochemistry expert?" Her accent was vaguely German, and she wore an off-white lab coat over a knitted turtleneck emblazoned with the XCOM seal that seemed appropriate in the lab, which was a bit colder than the rest of the base. A tablet, also with the XCOM seal, seemed grafted to her hip.

"I am. My apologies, but I wasn't given very much information to start with except the clandestine and cutting-edge nature of the work, so you have me at a disadvantage."

The woman laughed a small trill, even though it wasn't that funny at all. "My apologies. I'm Dr. Vahlen, head researcher at XCOM. I'll introduce you to the subject of study in a moment." They waited for a while, most of the old guard sharing looks and standing by their workstations, by the look of it either saving work or reviewing notes. Dr. Vahlen and she made small talk, exchanging credentials and history. Very little of substance seemed to come across until all the other new researchers had also arrived.

"All right," she said, motioning everyone towards a conference room. "Let's get this started." They filed into an annex beside the main research room, separated by a glass wall. Whiteboards covered the three other walls, as well as a projector. "I'm going to start by formally unveiling the nature of our work for our new fellows. A few months ago Kevyn here," she said, motioning to a bald scientist with thick round glasses, "detected a gravitational anomaly on course for Earth. A few days ago, hours after it was plotted to enter Earth's orbit, we detected an object inbound for Moscow's outskirts. An XCOM team found and killed this." She swiped on the screen of her tablet and set it down on the table, revealing a deceased, anthropoid organism.

"Three things bear saying: first, this is definitely extraterrestrial, we've done our homework, and we aren't wrong, but the details go beyond the scope of this meeting; second, we have been trying to establish communications since we found them, and it hasn't worked; they have displayed clear aggression towards humans, including use of lethal weapons by this... individual; third, the decision to keep this secret was made by the highest levels of international agreement, and right now, we have to trust those up the chain to make the best determinations of how to fight them. You're welcome to review everything we have on them, but it bears saying that we can't publish. Our objective here is to determine everything we can about the extraterrestrial threat." She paused, seeming to think for a moment. "You're going to want to take a moment to digest this."

Indira felt... she wasn't even sure how to feel. Shattered? She fingered her necklace. This was the holy grail of conspiracy theories, science fiction, and the collected hopes, dreams, and fears of humanity rolled into one. It was the end of all things and the beginning of the world.

And she was in the center of the maelstrom that was the future.

"Mother of God." It didn't matter who said it, because everyone, or at least the newcomers were thinking it. So much for boring government work

"Indeed," continued Dr. Vahlen, with not a bit of hesitation. "I'd like to start making introductions now, if you don't mind..." She motioned to various newcomers, giving their names, areas of expertise, and respective assignments. Indira absorbed this all in the background; there would be time enough for that when she wasn't trying to assimilate quantum leaps in her worldview. By the time Vahlen turned to her, she was aware enough to hear that she was doing complex molecule behavior analysis on some of the samples. In fact, she was even awake enough to give half an ear to Vahlen's closing spiel.

"Two things are clear: first, we are up against an enemy with tech far beyond ours, and it is up to those of us in this room to close that gap; second we will have to forget much of what we think we know about what we're dealing with and work from first principles: good, basic, exciting science. We are the best minds humanity has to offer and we're going up against the biggest problems humanity has faced to date. If you need help finding things, ask your peers. If you need more samples, check in storage before you put in a request with Ops. If you need tech or tools procured, I can talk to Management. Now, let's get to it."