Eight hours ago, the X-COM base in Chicago had detected a very small UFO moving rapidly westward across North America. Immediately, Interceptor 2 had been launched. After persuing for hours, the Interceptor succeeded in catching the UFO over Quebec - and had brought the UFO into weapon range.
The X-COM ground assault squad in Chicago had no idea what was happening in the skies over Canada's forests until they were summoned to the Skyranger - their troop transport aircraft. The troops were told by Gil Tefts, the base's commander, that a UFO had been downed over Quebec. The X-COM troops were take off immediately in an attempt to investigate the crash and bring back any alien artifacts, bodies - and possibly - survivors.
Patrick Bailey smiled at the French-American's predicament. Dreyfuss had impressed the trainers at Fort Bragg so much that he was recommended for X-COM training, but Dreyfuss had no way of knowing just how impressed his superiors had been. Because of their recommendations, he now sat in the back of the Skyranger, near the door, serving as the squad's leader.
Normally, any soldier would be thrilled to be the commander, but there were a few strings attached. Dreyfuss's biggest worry was his position in the aircraft - in the back, by the unloading door. This required him to be the first one out of the door - and the first one to be shot at.
Now, Patrick Bailey gently rubbed the smooth contours of his pistol. It was a standard pistol, but it was meant only as a sidearm. Bailey went over to the weapon rack, to his real weapon - a rocket launcher.
The X-COM rocket launcher was about the same as a standard bazooka, but it did differ slightly. It was a multi-use weapon, designed to be reloaded quickly, in the heat of combat. But the main difference was the weapon's size - it was nearly twice as big as the bazookas he was used to.
Patrick Bailey had always been the commando type - light on his feet, quick, agile. He relied on his dexterity and his shrewd mind - not his strength - to keep him alive in a vicious battle. He was used to traveling lightly, now this rocket launcher and its heavy ammunition would neutralize his most valuable asset - his speed.
Bailey returned to his place in the Skyranger, and sat down, trying to doze off and prepare for the upcoming mission. He always needed some time to clear his mind before a mission. Now, he leaned against the braced titanium alloy of the Skyranger's fuselage, closed his eyes, and relaxed.
He snapped back to consciousness as his left cheek suddenly was pressed down by something cold. Opening his eyes, he saw Christel Esser, a German transfer, standing over him. Pushing the offending cold object off of his face, Bailey gave Esser a perplexed look. He turned red as she said, with a strong German accent, "Don't forget these, meditation boy." She smiled as she threw another rocket down onto him, next to the first. "And get ready, our ETA is in fifteen minutes."
Looking around, Bailey saw the mood in the Skyranger had changed. The locker room posturing and the big tough guy talk had subsided, replaced with a terrified sense of urgency. Catherine Bryant knelt next to him, loading her heavy cannon. He was surprised she had requested the weapon - Bryant looked more like a light - on - her - feet commando type. To his right, the soldiers in the rear of the Skyranger were attaching grenades to their leg clips, loading their rifles, and inserting 'bulletproof' Kevlar plates into their jumpsuits. Bailey knew the routine - the Kevlar was tough, but when it came down to it, it could stop very little. He knew from firsthand experience - he had been at a practice skirmish when a "fake" grenade had gone off. The actual blast didn't harm him, but Bailey needed a month to recover from the bolt that had ripped through his vest.
The other soldiers had been thinking similar things. Gudrun Esser, Chrystal Esser's twin sister, asked for the umpteenth time, "What good are these dumb pieces of scrap metal against a halfway armed alien?"
Dreyfuss shot Gudrun a harsh look and started to say something, but Maria Evans, another American, answered before Dreyfuss had a chance to. "Shut it, Esser. You know that one of these pieces of 'scrap metal' could be the difference between a month in a med bed and a long stay in a box underground."
Gudrun started to make another comment, but Astra Shalimov started passed her one of the remaining grenades, ending the argument.
The pitch of the Skyranger's engines changed, signaling that the Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft was preparing to touch down. Dreyfuss shouted out a final warning, as well as a final bit of briefing. "Okay, the Interceptor pilot estimated there wasn't more than one alien aboard, but don't start celebrating after the first one goes down. That's a good way to get shot - or worse, get all of us shot. You know the commands, rely on your training, and don't do anything stupid." On a final note, he added, "Try not to blow the aliens into too many pieces. We don't know much about them, so the more things we can recover, the better." He waited a until the Skyranger's floor shook with the impact with the ground, then shouted, "Here we go!" Then, he punched the door switch, and the ramp started moving downward.
As the ramp swung slowly downward, Bailey strained his neck, trying to see out. He and Catherine Bryant were in the very back, since the heavy weapons couldn't move very quickly and could easily get mowed down before they even started to move. Through the gaps between the other soldiers, Bailey could see the Canadian forest, consisting mainly of coniferous trees, the same pine trees he had seen for years, but much bigger - they could easily be walked under.
Directly behind the Skyranger, Bailey could see what he guessed was the alien spacecraft. It stood on four stiltlike legs - the fuselage of the craft was about a man's height off the ground, and a strange purple light reflected on the ground below the craft. The actual fuselage was somewhat like a pyramid. The Interceptor pilot had been right - the thing couldn't possibly carry more than one alien unless the passengers were dwarf aliens.
Bailey's awed stare was broken by a muffled explosion. As he tuned back in to his surroundings, he saw the interior of the Skyranger filling with smoke from Shalimov's smoke grenade. It was a good idea, actually, it made the soldiers harder to see - but Bailey wished that she had said something before scaring him like that.
When his temporary flash of anger subsided, Bailey saw the battle unfolding. As soon as the Skyranger's ramp hit the ground, Dreyfus and Evans jumped down, out of sight. No shots followed - either rifle or alien - as more soldiers poured out of the Skyranger. In a moment, Bailey and Bryant were the only two soldiers left in the plane, then they too moved down the ramp. About halfway down, both stopped and crouched, surveying the surrounding terrain carefully.
To his left, Bailey saw a ridge of hills running parallel to the Skyranger. Trees were scattered everywhere, with an occasional stump intermixed. X-COM soldiers were moving carefully, crouching, around the underside of the Skyranger. Dreyfuss and Jacques Bouissou moved away from the Skyranger, making sure that no aliens would get close to the landing ramp from the west without being sighted. Christel Esser moved with catlike steps toward the ridge, her rifle pointed ahead. At the same time, Bailey saw Maria Evans set out to flank the UFO, while Gudrun Esser covered her. Bailey brought his rocket launcher to bear on the UFO, making sure that nothing would come out and stay alive long enough to shoot.
Evans moved closer, her rifle pointed toward the UFO's underside, waiting for something to emerge. Bailey's chest grew tight as he saw her move up under the UFO, pointing her rifle up, waiting for some sort of hatchway to open. His tension was released, along with his breath, when he heard Evans announce, "UFO's clear. No corpse. He's still walking around out there."
Bailey moved his launcher to face the alien's most probable location. The X-COM soldiers were still moving along, keeping under cover, crouching when there was no cover to hide behind. They were almost to the ridge now. Dreyfuss and Bouissou reached the base of the ridge at the same time, Christel Esser was just a few steps behind.
"Bug west!" Chrystal's excited voice hissed over the comm. Bailey immediately scanned for the alien, seeing nothing except Esser diving for cover. Six rifle shots cracked from behind Bailey, four of which harmlessly hit the ridge Esser was taking cover behind. The fifth made a different sound, and Bailey's eye suddenly focused on the movement caused by the falling alien. It was too far away to be seen clearly, but Patrick Bailey could see all of the features that were present on the 'typical' TV show alien - a gray humanoid body, a large head, and two large eyes. As a sixth shot splintered a tree by the alien, it fell with a croaking scream into a gray heap on the hill where it had been standing.
Bailey glanced over his shoulder, seeing Gudrun Esser lower her rifle. Dreyfuss called over the comm, "Good shooting. That must be the only one. Move in, but watch out - he might not be dead."
Maria Evans was the first one to reach the alien. "It's dead, that's for sure."
For the next few hours, the victorious X-COM soldiers combed the area, looking for alien technology, but it was all in the ship or on the alien. Then, after packing the alien artifacts into the Skyranger, the X-COM soldiers took off and headed for their base in Chicago.
"You're lucky it's so small, or you would've had to cut it up to bring it back." Gil
Tefts, the base's commander, Gunter Krause, the head research scientist, and all of the
Chicago base's personnel stood around the UFO, examining it, staring at it.
"It was still a cramped fit in the Skyranger," Dreyfuss responded. "That thing's landing legs took up almost as much space as the command pod did. Now you've got one whole, don't expect too many others."
For the next few hours, the crowd around the UFO broke into groups which informally discussed individual things. Eventually, conversation moved to the strange purple field below the UFO, between the four landing pads.
Maria Evans brought it up first by saying, "What do you think that purple light is?"
"Well, it isn't a death ray or anything, cause you walked right under it," Bailey responded.
"Then what is it?"
"Maybe it is a transporter beam, like in the old Star Trek movies."
"Well, then how do you use it with only one person?"
"I dunno. It was just a thought."
"It probably has something to do with alien anatomy," Evans said thoughtfully.
Bailey responded, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Yeah, the alien just flops his nigit around and he gets beamed up."
"Very funny. It was just a thought." The last comment was in a higher tone, to make Bailey mad by echoing his previous excuse.
"Well, go try it. Maybe a human female has something that partially resembles an alien nigit."
For the next hour, Bailey and Evans tried everything imaginable to make
themselves go up the lift. Hand movements, leg movements, jumping, facial twitches, and
all sorts of other body contortions were tried. Eventually, Bailey came to a conclusion.
"Well, I guess neither one of us has a nigit."
"Either that or we haven't found it yet."