Keller arrived at the base tired as hell. It had been quite some time until the reinforcements had flown in to relieve them. A battalion sized unit of Army Rangers were now guarding the area around the downed UFO. Canvas tents had been rigged by base security personnel in order to keep the craft hidden and secret, but the word was already spreading like wild fire. Gossip flowed from mouth to mouth that some strange was happening.
        He chuckled inwardly. UFO wasn't the correct term anymore. They sure as hell knew what the U stood for. A young base security officer came to meet him.
        "General Sachs would like to see you right away, sir. He asked that you change first."
        Keller looked himself over. Admittedly, he didn't look so good. Ah well, the general could wait a few minutes.
        He stopped briefly in the locker room and then hurried to his quarters. A quick shower, an even faster shave and he changed into his base fatigues. When he stepped outside, the security guard was still there, a slightly apologetic look on his face. Guess whatever General Sachs wanted, was important. He hurried to the elevator, descended to level four and moved quickly to the General's conference room. He rapped on the door and stepped inside.
        "Captain Keller," the General waved him over. The room was richly decorated in mahogany paneling. Most of the walls were covered in memorabilia - photographs of friends, mates in the field, smiling comrades-at-arms, trophies, diplomas. A large bookshelf occupied most of one side of the room, stacks of books precisely ordered by subject, handsomely bound in leather some of them, rose from floor to ceiling. At the far end, behind a large desk, a large US flag flanked a portrait of the President. To the right, three leather sofas sat around a low glass table. Several people sat sipping drinks, their eyes towards him, assessing him.
        "Let me introduce you," said Sachs. "This is Colonel Hammett, the new base commander." Keller shook hands, and smiled a welcome. The Colonel was a large man but somewhat shorter than himself and thinner. Round spectacles gave him a slightly collegiate look, but Hammet's reputation preceded him. It seemed like the winds of change were sweeping into the base. Or maybe, of organization.
        "Senator Harmon, Special Defense Committee." He continued the ritual. "And Senator O'Donell, Armed Forces Committee." A lady, but seemed tough as nails. He murmured politely to everyone and sat down on one of the leather chairs. Keller had never been in awe of power, after all his father had been a US ambassador and he had frequently been in company of high ranking personalities from all over the world.
        "Captain," said O'Donell, leaning forward. "I believe we have to congratulate you on today's sortie." The Senator had long hair, but she wore it in a tight bun, very much in style with the rest of her gray suit. Stark, professional, hard.
        Keller just nodded. He knew that nothing else was expected.
        "Captain," Sachs was talking again. "The reason why you are here is that," Sachs paused, and looked down towards his drink, choosing his wording carefully, "critical decisions regarding the future of X-COM are going to be taken tomorrow. Senators O'Donell and Harmon will report back tonight to the President and the Joint Chiefs. They have some questions for you." A captain, thought Keller, interviewed by almighty senators. Watch out, this seems to be snowballing.
        "Captain, let me get you up to speed." Harmon sipped his coffee, and adjusted his overweight bulk in the seat. "As you are well aware, the United States, and a host of other countries, has been aware of the existence of extraterrestrial lifeforms over the past three decades. The Roswell incident, Hangar 5 are all true, of course. Personally, I find it amazing that the general public draws such a blind eye. Commercial and military pilots, men of science, armed forces personnel and many other learned minds, not just whakos off the street mind you, give constant testimony, but nobody really listens to them. We do.
        "I'm sure all of this has been explained, but bear with me. For the past thirty years we have analyzed thousands of data, contacts, and information about the aliens, without, I must concede, much success. We were never sure if the aliens were peaceful or, as many feared, came with rather more sinister intentions. As it turns out, the pessimists seem to have been correct. Obviously, it was a shock to learn that we are not alone in the Universe, but that wasn't too difficult to admit. Only a fool would not do so in light of all the evidence available. But, to think that a vastly superior race had aggressive intentions was unsettling. Rather, terrifying. Humbling. Made us feel tiny. But then again, we do a rather attractive planet." Harmon smiled. Strange.
        "So, the time has come to defend ourselves. We have a question for you, Captain, that requires a careful answer." Everybody in the room seemed to lean forward.
        "Did you, at any time, feel that the extraterrestrials were not attacking you? Let me explain. Could we have mistaken a defensive posture for that of an invader?"
        Keller froze. His mind shouted out a warning. Were they really dumping that much responsibility on his shoulders, or did they just need field confirmation? He thought hard, his mind wandering back six months to the dimly lit decks of an English cruise ship. Could he have gotten it all wrong, and forced the aliens to defend themselves? Doubt assailed him. And then vanished. No way.
        
        "Absolutely not, sir. We did not fire first. Sir, we lost that battle badly. We were retreating most of the time. The aliens weren't defending themselves. They were attacking us. They could have broken off at any moment."
        Sachs cut in. "Relax, Captain. We know you didn't jump the gun. As a matter of fact, the question is purely formal." He pointed at a large folder on the glass center table. "This afternoon, Rota Naval Base in southern Spain just got hit." Rota was a jointly operate NATO-Spanish facility that controlled most of the sea traffic through Gibraltar Straits, including submarines. The main ULS (Underwater Listening Station) controls the hundreds of acoustic devices anchored to the ocean bed, monitoring passage through the narrow corridor between the African mainland and Europe. "We lost the ULS and a radar station."
        "Additionally," O'Donell interrupted, "the St. Petersburg Naval base barely managed to repel a savage attack. The Russians haven't told us much, but initial satellite data indicates over two hundred dead and wounded and two nuclear submarines that were in for repairs destroyed."
        General Sachs stood up. "Thank you very much, Captain. Could you wait outside?" It wasn't really a question.
        "Yessir." He looked at everyone, pivoted and exited the room.
        Outside he stood stunned. Holy shit, so far three subs, two naval bases and countless men. Ho boy, this was getting to be much bigger than expected.

        Keller didn't have to wait long. Thirty minutes later, the two senators trooped out and General Sachs motioned him back in.
        "Well Captain, you're probably wondering what the heck that was about." "As a matter of fact, yessir." Keller sat down again, this time in one of the chairs in front of general's desk. Hammett sat in the other one. He look at the colonel. Sheesh, a living legend. Hammett had been pulled from active duty after loosing his right eye in a particularly nasty operation. The Army had promoted him and kept one of the best strategists in existence.
        "Contact, violent at that, seems to be escalating. But we don't know what the hell the extraterrestrials are up to. However, it's pretty obvious that human welfare is way at the bottom of their checklist. Looks like the guys in Washington are moving pretty quickly, though." He stopped, and leaned back. He picked a pitcher of water from a side table and filled three glasses, distributing them around.
         "The President is in constant contact with major world leaders. Armed forces all over the world are on maximum alert and, in short, everyone is real nervous. Which, of course, spells a highly unstable situation. Fact is that right now, a cow farts loudly and we could be in the middle of a war. All of this aggravated, or course, by of pals in the press. The President is pulling a lot of favors keeping the news people from creating wide spread panic. I'd love to see how they plan on explaining the Russian and Spanish attacks." Sacks shook his head and sighed. "But that will not last."
        "The initial plan," continued Sachs, "was to organize everyone under NATO. But, let's face it, right now what we don't need is beaurocracy. We need efficiency, flexibility and extremely agile operating capabilities. Hence X-COM."
        Keller nodded. Old stuff.
        "So it's not just us, sir?" he asked.
        "Nope. What we have here is an X-COM Alliance. So far it encompasses all of the NATO members. We are in contact with other major powers," Russia and China, no doubt thought Keller, "to see if we're capable of joining forces. But the politicos don't think that will happen anytime soon.
        "At the moment, we are the only operative unit of X-COM. Most European countries are diverting special ops people into their newly created X-COM teams, but combat-ready status for most of them is still a ways off. Let me get you up to speed, Captain, because right now we're in race against time. The way it goes is that combined command will be given to myself and General Moureau, of the French Armed Forces with regional commanders in each country. "I'll double as head of US operations and Colonel Hammett," he thrust his chin out, "takes over this base. A second base will be opening by the end of the month in up-state New York, small operation with a bare bones team to cover eastern and central US. By December," three months away, "I want it fully functioning. Six men from this base, the Delta Force guys, will transfer to the New York base. You get six more rookies from SEAL and they get six Deltas. We have and additional fourteen recruits coming in by the end of the month."
        Sachs pushed a large vanilla folder towards Keller.
        "Inside you will find reports of all alien contact within the last month, including the recent attacks. Study them well. The forces that countered the aliens, and you know this well from the Caribbean, were elite. Nevertheless, they were wiped out in every case."
        "I believe we gave some back today, sir," said Keller, somewhat annoyed. "Captain," cut in Hammett, "in no way do I intend to play down your actions of today but from what the field team is gathering it seems that it was some sort of reconnaissance vessel. The equipment that's being found on board points to a science mission. The Rota base had ample warning from radar that the aliens were arriving and still they were creamed. Our technology is much more primitive so we're gonna have to compensate with superior tactics and balls." Hammett normally spoke softly, his one blue eye nailed to yours. Keller though he caught sight of an iceberg in it. The other was covered by a black eye-patch.
        "How 'bout the science guys. I tried on this plastic protective armor today. They making any progress?" Keller was informed of all base scientific breakthroughs but he needed info on what was being developed in outside labs.
        "Yeah, ARPA labs are working round the clock," said Hammett. "The stuff we recover today will help them greatly, I'm sure, but don't hold your breath. Right now, we rely on what we have."
        Sachs leaned forward in his chair. "OK, I'd like to wrap this up. I'm sure you have a tight agenda, Captain. The bottom line is that chasing and shooting down the aliens is a bitch. Anticipating their moves is a game in guesswork and when we get there, things don't get better. What I want is the best fighting force on the planet. And," Sachs smiled reminding Keller of a photograph of shark he had once seen, "I'm sure you'll provide me with one."

Thanks!

The next chapters is:

• Base Operations:.