Mega-Primus, Earth
06:15  7/3/2084

Airtaxi 168 floated quickly through the air towards a small government warehouse.  Both of the people in the taxi were a little stressed, the driver was on edge because the passenger had told him in no uncertain terms that should he talk about who he had in his taxi to any one else he would never fly again.  The passenger in the taxi was also stressed, she was starting a new job today, a very important job.  Almost as important was the expectancy of what she would be using.  Like a child before a birthday she was dreaming of a mind-bender of her own.

Tatyana Akira removed her sunglasses and stared at her rat, it stood up onto its back legs and danced to the background music of the taxi.  It drained Tatyana just to control a rat like this but soon she would have a mind-bender, a device that would let her control humans with ease. The driver turned back to Tatyana and saw he large jet black eyes, he jumped, this was not in his job description.  "Miss, we’re about to land".  Sure she was bald, but he had not even thought that his passenger was half-section, a bug-eye, in his cab ! He shuddered as he landed the taxi, as they passed though the hover-port a sign was visible on the side of the warehouse "Mega-Primus Central Academy Class of 2074".

Even after the incident yesterday, where a unknown craft of unknown origin buzzed main street, the government are still covering up.  Tatyana gathered up her bags and summoned her rat, it was time to punch in…

Thirty minutes later
Aboard Valkyrie 1

"None of us could have thought that so early into our service we would be required to fight, but now we are".  Tatyana looked around the craft, with everyone decked out in police armour they were hardly inconspicuous but it was good enough.  At the front of the ‘plane an android,  Dave Belov was making a speech, he was the temporary group leader, as the funding body had not allowed any experienced officers to be transferred out of   Megapol or Marsec, he had been chosen because he had the had the highest stats. of the group.  "We have been called to the luxury apartment block Eden Mansions, we have a number of distraught citizens, one of whom claims to have seen an alien life-form…".

Inside her helmet Tatyana felt the wash of unconscious anger.

"…Of unknown origin, the creature has been described as a pink coloured humanoid, about one and a quarter metres tall, it appeared to carry no weapons, but has a large tube-like head, from which it spits an acidic substance."  Murmurs passed around the squad as they realised what they would be facing.

"This is will be an important mission, important people are at risk and this will also be a shake-down for X-com and its troops".

Tatyana checked herself again, she had a Megapol lawpistol on each side of her belt and extra clips in her pack, four grenades hung from her belt waiting, and hanging perfectly on her back clip was a mind-bender.  Tatyana was ready.

One minute later
Eden Mansions

The doors swished open and Dave Belov stepped into the passage, the way ahead was empty so he and another android moved down the passage, checking each window as they passed.  On the ground Tatyana, Jones and Blake spread out, each took a building. Elsewhere three more agents did the same.

"I can see one" it was Blake, "it’s the pink thing, wait, it’s seen me!" Tatyana heard a horrible choking noise followed by a spitting noise, Blake cried out and Tatyana ran around the building to where the creature was.  The pink creature turned towards Tatyana’s pistols which knocked it to the ground with just a few shots.

"Blake, respond", Tatyana quickly scanned the area but found nothing.

"Oh shit" Blake got shakily up an tried to wipe the slime of his armour, "no damage, I repeat, I am not injured, did you kill it, Tatyana ?"

"Yes, they are pretty weak up close".  "Everyone continue patrol, there will be more".

Jones stepped out of his building "nothing to report" he signalled to Tatyana.

"Follow me" she replied.

The next building was larger, with a massive staircase in the hall, "Jones, hold the stairs, I will sweep the ground floor the we’ll go up".

Tatyana worked her way though a bar, then a lounge, and then into a Sensovision suite; all were clear, she was about to go back into the hall when Jones’s link opened.

"I’ve seen one, its just crossed across the top of the stairs".

The link stayed open and was filled with the sound of running "stop, wait for backup" Tatyana shouted back to Jones, but he was not listening.

Damn, thought Tatyana as she ran into the hall again, she was almost at the top of the stairs when she saw the creature, it was taller than the pink thing and blue, this mattered less than what it carried in its hand; it was from a different race, with different society and different tech but a gun is still a gun.

Jones stopped as it leapt out from one of the rooms, but before he could raise his laser rifle the blue creature fired, purple energy cut into his chest and he fell. At this range Tatyana could not hope to hit with pistols so she pulled the mind-bender off her back and trained it on the alien.  Their eyes met and the creature tried to ward off Tatyana’s influence, it failed and Tatyana grabbed hold of its mind.

<I am anthropod>
<Who are you>
<I am anthropod>

Tatyana took hold of the anthropod’s gun arm with her mind and pointed it at it’s own head.

<you are murderer> thought Tatyana and fired.

Jones was dead when Tatyana reached him, she took the anthropod’s gun and placed it in Jones’s arms, and then reported in.

The other three humans and Blake cornered some kind of giant worm, but when they killed it, four large snake type things slid out of its corpse, three of them were swiftly dispatched but one jumped on to Blake and injured him, the others then knifed it in till it stopped moving.  Meanwhile the two robots came up empty, and Tatyana panicked a pink spitter with her mind-bender, then killed it with a single lawpistol shot to the tube shaped head.

X-com base :Hope
Later that day

"Good Work, squad leader" Tatyana smiled with pride, she was now in control of any of X-com’s tactical missions that she was on now.  The mission was a perfect success except for the death of  Otto Jones and Blake’s injures.  No civilians were hurt or killed, and very little damage was done to the buildings.  The quantum physicists have started looking at the alien weapon and the biochemists were getting excited over alien DNA samples taken from the bodies, the corpses had started to decay as soon as the alien influence was removed from the area, and the Valkyrie was not equipped to handle the corpses but it would be soon, as work had started on a specialised cargo hold for both live and dead aliens.

All in all, a very interesting first day…
 

End one.