11:04, 22 March 2084
Command Center, PHALANX HQ
Turkey, GEU
I sputtered and slammed down the phone. "FUCKERS! Are they trying to kill us?" My venting carried across the entire room, causing some of my subordinates to wince. “Someone tell me who I have to kill to get Russia's Mil-spec Radar hooked up to ours!”
This was the order of the day. The nations of the world, united in their common cause of destroying the Alien menace, was shutting out the very organization dedicated to that goal above all others.
I had hoped to get the Ulster Radar array in England tied to our own here in the base, and maybe the one in Lisbon, Portugal in order to finish covering the Greater European Union with our Radar net. But I was blocked. PHALANX was blocked as each nation shifted to secure their own territory and be damned what the rest of the world needed.
They were going to kill us all. At least the budget in 9 days should allow me to easily finance our own private array. But seriously, fuck them all. This is because I left New York unprotected, and the SecGen is still pissed, right? It has to be.
On the bright side, work on the EM guns is advancing smoothly. E-mails forwarded to me by SirNitram, the second in command of the R&D department show that PHALANX's old documents indicate that they ran into materials technology issues; that is, the materials sciences a century ago couldn't do what we can do now. So they figure a couple weeks max before they have a working model. It's just redoing the math and conducting the experiments.
Maybe I can use our first native PHALANX weapons to show the world that we can be trusted. Let us do our job, please!
Well, I went back to the grind of paperwork.
10:30, 26 March 2084
Command Center, PHALANX HQ
Turkey, GEU
“This is Barnest2! Taking off!”
I watched as the symbol for our interceptor – as well as it's projected engagement envelope – appeared on the Geoscape. I heard a voice call out that interception was projected for 70 minutes.
Longest 70 minutes of my life.
11:39, Turkish Airspace
Barnest2 enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. This custom interceptor hungered for alien blood, and he was only too glad to partake. His own radar showed his target in Iraqi airspace, and what he would be doing here would have been an act of war in another age.
Just as the enemy crossed effective weapons range, he fired the Shiva cannon. The semi-guided gyro-jet rounds accelerated to over Mach12 and ripped across national borders. Finger off the trigger, he jinked to the left, throwing him out of the way of the lack of return fire.
Lack of?
He checked his radar and visual surroundings. No return fire? Then his radar beeped – indicating a change in attitude of his target. Augmented vision turned an eye towards the Alien craft, which he now saw was bellowing smoke and descending quite rapidly as Gravity took hold.
With a whoop, he reported that he had shot down the alien craft, and plotted an escort course to make sure it stayed going down.
The ship crashed at 11:45 AM on the 26th of March. Barnest2 is credited with the first ship kill in PHALANX's war against the alien menace.
PHALANX HQ
RomanRepublic shoulder checked to make sure that all 8 troopers were strapped in, then gunned the engine on the dropship to leave the hanger and make for the crash site. Hopefully they would get there before the scavengers do.
He noted to ask the director to have the Firebird in the air behind the Stilleto to make for a quicker reaction time to the site.
In the command center, someone wondered where the Director was.
Crash Site 1, Middle Eastern Alliance
13:15, 26 March 2084
“I have the crash on visual!” RomanRepublic called out to HQ and to his passengers. “It's come down on the edge of a village of some sort. No Military response yet. Entering combat zone.”
Dave, having been given command of the squad due to drawing lots on the trip yelled back forward. “Where you going to set us down?
Roman Republic grinned.
“Less than 5 meters away. HOT LANDING! Two aliens spotted! Civvies spotted! HOT
HOT HOT”
The side doors on the ship opened and the eight troopers jumped as the Firebird touched down, spreading around in a tight perimeter.
OmegaChief: “Alien spotted! He's got his back to me! Engaging!”
OmegaChief: Second Xeno spotted! Purging the first!”
(
sounds of Machine gun fire)
(
sounds identified as alien being hit and dying)
OmegaChief: “Down! Look'it that! They bleed red!”
VortexEmpire: “Advancing! I see the alien! Damn, that's a wicked knife in his hand! Fire in the HOLE!”
Edi: “Nice going, dipshit. The 'nade
bounced past it and into that ditch.”
Vortex: “Hey, fuck you! My aim was perfect! It was the wind.”
JonB: “Nothing but grasslands out this way guys, I'm swinging around to support.”
ForceLord: “Director? What the hell you doing out here and not at base?”
JonB: “Regs call for an anti-armor weapon in all deployed squads, and I was the only one qualified on the AT-14 Rocket Launcher. Everyone fights, no exceptions.”
EternalFreedom: “Hey! I'm qualified! Don't give me that shit, sir!”
JonB: “Stow it! You skipped re-qualification yesterday and it was scheduled for later today. I'm not going to get us shut down because of that. Besides, everyone fights.”
EternalFreedom: “Yes sir.”
(
This UAV shot shows the two remaining aliens taking cover. PHALANX forces advance as a unified line to the starboard of the Firebird, ready to react to motion from that alien, while two more PHALANX cover Forcelord and Shuwei Mubarak as they advance into the alien wreckage. Director JonB is highlighted off to the right.)
Forcelord: “NADE!”
(
unknown sound from 'behind' Forcelord and Mubarak. AAR reports 'plasma fire'.)
(
OOC: Sorry guys, missed capping the Alien tossing a 'nade over the wreckage and the explosion.)
Forcelord: (
screams)
Mubarak: (
screams)
EternalFreedom: “You see that? Blue flames! But they're still alive! The 'nade bounced! HAH! YOU MISSED!”
(
OOC: Yep, the grenade bounced a couple squares past those two. If it blew up closer... well... this is an X-COM type game. 
)
Dave: “I see him!” (
Sound of Sniper Rifle being fired.) “Got'em! He was trying to hide in the wreckage! EF! Come help me with the injuries!”
OmegaChief: “Hey! You stood still! Advancing! Shooting! Fucker didn't go down!”
VortexEmpire: “Airburst round! Firing! Kill!”
JonB: “Civvies say that's all of them. Everyone, spread out and secure the area. See if anyone has collected any 'souvenirs', and confiscate them.”
All: “Yes Sir!”
I took off the helmet, leaning against the inside bulkhead of the Firebird, the radio in my ear. “Sir, we don't have space to store the alien craft. However, the various nations are offering to take it off our hands, paying us a bounty. Over.”
I thought about it. “One second. Over.”
“JonB to all points. Strip everything you can carry from the alien craft in five minutes and hide it on your self or in the Firebird. Over.” I was pleased to hear plenty of affirmations before turning back to my second back at HQ. “Sell it to the highest bidder. As is. And allocate the funds for a victory party. The guys earned it. Over.”
“Yes sir. New Africa bid highest at just over 9 grand. They're sending people to collect it now. Over.”
“Over and Out.”
I got back to my office, having returned the gear I used to the armory. I could hear the party already starting, and I wasn't going to stop it unless a second alien craft showed up. There were three new messages in my e-mail, and I clicked to open them.
They were from the R&D department. Three messages highlighting the only usable salvage from our mission. First was the melee weapon that was carried by two of the aliens. Academia was calling it a 'kerrblade' based on the sound it made while he swung it around. I winced at the image. Second was the plasma grenade that put two of my people in the hospital with serious wounds. Thirdly was the three bodies themselves. They wanted to autopsy the things ASAP to develop better weapons and tactics to use against them, and maybe figure out how to capture them alive.
I sent a message back telling them to finish working on the EM rifles, and once that was done, I would consult to decide the new research focus.
I visited Forcelord and Shuwei in the hospital. 2nd degree burns across their backs. Melted armor and cloth. The doctors tell me that another few feet closer and they would have been in the morgue instead.
We got lucky. Really, really damn lucky.
I can't let my guard down. This war was just beginning.
