It was calming flying back to Congo for Tatyana. The sky was soft. The thin, wispy clouds that hung high in the atmosphere seemed to follow her Lightning all the way home. They were a welcome sight, for she knew that soon she would trade the bouncy little clouds in the blue sky of Earth for the cold, white dots in an even colder black starscape on the Moon. She had watched as a child as American Astronauts landed on the Moon and felt proud, even though they weren't her countrymen. The astronauts back then had no idea that aliens would soon be planning to construct a base on Mars that would be used to attack and conquer the people of Earth. "Oh," she thought, "If only they had continued with their Space Exploration. They could have discovered the alien threat back then. We may have had more time to prepare for them. Needless to say that if Earth would have been aware of the alien threat, we would have united in the common goal to thwart the alien invaders. Maybe our whole society would have been changed. Who knows? But, hindsight as they say is 20/20. We have this one last chance for survival. Although, I think the astronauts who first landed on the moon had a better chance of finding a McDonald's there than we do of making this last ditch plan work. Kimall said trust him. Trust in the fact that he was from an ancient race with hyper-advanced technology. Oh, I don't have any doubts in his sincerity. He genuinely is on our side and hopes to free his enslaved people, but it's difficult for me to fathom how such an advanced race of beings could be conquered by rampaging sectoids controlled by an ego-maniac like the Master. Maybe we're putting all our eggs in one basket. I don't know." "Tatyana!" Tatyana jumped as she came back to reality. The Lightning was approaching Congo base. "Uta, you scared me." "I've been trying to get your attention for the last minute or so. We're ready to land. You told me you wanted to be informed." "Yes, thank you Uta. I was just thinking." "About what may I ask?" "About life and the choices we make along the way." "Sounds interesting. Tell me about it sometime." "Sure." Lightning descended over Congo and went into hover mode. "Congo base, this is Lightning-1, ready to land." "Lightning-1, you are cleared to land in Hangar-1. Welcome home." The shining hull of the Lightning glistened in the African sun. Tatyana thought to herself again. "It's sad that the craft that had given us this last chance opportunity would not even be used in the final conflict. Of course, if we were to succeed, Lightning-1 would be placed in a museum. That's assuming that Earth's governments would finally tell the people what had been going on for the past few years. After all, if it was possible for one group of aliens to invade Earth, it was possible for others to pay a visit as well."

Uta disengaged the anti-matter inducer, and the alien power supply that had been retrofitted into Lightning slowly grew dark. "Tatyana, we're home. You can get out now." "Oh, yes, of course Uta." Tatyana stepped off Lightning onto the platform and then onto the cold pavement of the Hangar. She knew that this would be the last time she would see Congo for, maybe, a long time. She looked around and breathed in the air and the smell. This had been her home for over a year. Her family couldn't even be told that she was going to be leaving Earth for the Moon. Uta walked by her and smiled. "Coming Tatyana?" "I'll meet you at Ops Uta. I have something to do." "Ok." Tatyana walked out of the Hangar and headed for her personal quarters. She opened her door and found that she had left her computer console on. Just the same. She had to use it anyway. "Computer, open new e-mail message. Begin dictation. I'm writing to you to tell you that I love you and that I know you worry about me. Being on assignment for the newspaper has been really fulfilling. We've gotten a lot of shots and stories. Victor says hello and that he loves you." Tatyana started to cry. She hated lying to her parents like this, but they couldn't know what had happened to Victor. She gathered herself. "Computer, edit out the sound that I just made. Continue dictation. I'm going to be gone for just a few more months. I promise I'll try to get back as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to your pot roast when I get home. Love ya, Tat. Computer, send message and encrypt with 128-bit protection." "Commander, may I ask where you are going?" "Of course. We'll need you to help us prepare for departure. I also need you to calculate my odds of survival." "Please state parameters." "With the help of the Ethereal Commander Koras Kimall, All of X-Com, including everyone at this base, will be launched in two personnel transports from Europa base to the Moon. There we will construct a fleet of warships and attack fighters and invade Mars three months from now. Over 200 Behemoth Class Battlecruisers will attack us in Space along with numerous Large Scout support vessels. We will then land on Mars as a distraction while a covert ops team infiltrates the huge, underground alien city, locates the Psionic Amplifier, destroys it and the Master." The computer churned for a few seconds inside, no doubt putting all those Megahertz to good use, and then returned an answer. "Odds of mission success: 1 in 30. Odds of your survival: 1 in 50." "Well, it could be worse." "You are correct Ma'am. Without the help of your alien compatriot, the odds worsen by 100 times. It would seem that you have a fighting chance." "That's correct. We sure do have a chance. That's not really saying much though. Anyway, I want you to make sure everyone takes everything with them. Get on every terminal, and bark at everyone until we're gone. We're on a tight schedule here." "You wish for me to imitate a canine?" "No." Tatyana smirked. That last comment cheered her up. "Just make sure that everyone has everything they need. We're going to a place that doesn't exactly have a local quicky-mart." "I understand. I will wish you luck as I know you believe in it." "Thank you computer. Take care of Congo until I get back." Tatyana gathered up everything she would need on the Moon and placed it into a large gym bag. She left her quarters and headed for Ops.

"Attention, this is a base-wide message. Gather up everything you need for the Moon mission and stow it away aboard your designated transport craft. You have 15 minutes to comply. This message will repeat itself every 3 minutes." Tatyana walked into Ops and saw her friend Uta sitting in her chair. "I thought you didn't want a command position." "I don't, but I you never told me how comfortable this chair was." Uta got up and walked to her console. Tatyana sat her bag beside the chair and sat down for the last time, at least for awhile. Tatyana tapped in a few commands on her chair that opened up the internal base communication speaker system for her use. "This is Commander Tatyana Torban. I want to tell you all how much of a pleasure it has been working with you all here at Congo. Together, we've protected the African continent and the Middle East from the alien invaders. We've gone through good times and bad alike, and now we stand before a door. On the other side is victory. To open it and go through, we're going to need all of you to give your best. This is it people. This is our last chance. If we lose, humanity loses. The aliens won't assimilate Earth if we fail. They will simply kill everyone and be done with us. They will then go to the next planet and do the same to them. So, it is up to us and the rest of X-Com to stop them. The line must be drawn here. They invade our world because they think we can't defend ourselves. Let's show them that not only can humanity DEFEND itself, but we will take them by their atrophied grey, green, purple, or whatever colored throats and say in one voice: We will fight you until the last human falls. We will not quit or run away. We will live on; we're going to survive. YOU CANNOT INTIMIDATE US ANYMORE!" Everyone in Congo base, including the computer system, cheered loudly after Tatyana's heartfelt speech. Tatyana felt that a hint of Independence Day would be appropriate here. After all, they won.

X-Com soldiers, scientists, and engineers boarded the 4 skyrangers while Tatyana and her squad stepped aboard Lightning for, hopefully, the last time. The computer wished them all luck as the Skyrangers departed. Uta looked to Tatyana, and she nodded. The Lightning's Anti-Matter engine throbbed again, and it slowly started to hover. Tatyana looked back on her monitor at her home. "Goodbye Congo, wish me luck." "Ma'am?" "Oh, nothing Uta. Take us back to Europa." The Lightning blasted off as the Hangar Bay doors of Congo closed. Tatyana looked forward and closed her eyes. "It is a far better thing I do. It is a far, far better place I go to."