X-COM Ponies

by Sneaky Breeze


Shadows.

Chapter 20: Shadows

-Area 51. William Carter’s office.

Director Carter sat in his office, his old yet strong hands rested motionless on his desk as he read summaries of Xcom bases around the world and the state of the world in general. He felt a mixture of anger and unease over himself which was no different than usual but it was more noticeable than usual.

“Dammit,” he hissed through clenched teeth as he read about riots that had broken out in Florida when martial law was declared and the National Guard was forced to arrest close to two-hundred people and used tear gas to disperse the crowds. It wasn’t much better elsewhere. In China their government was enforcing harsh curfews to deal with possible panic. In other parts of the world people just disappeared, likely going into hiding and abandoning their homes, which did not bode well for the world economy or war effort.

Carter rubbed his aged temples as he thought on what to do next. He knew what he could do to at least lower the amount of panic, as speaker for the council he was granted a unique level of insight into what the various members and protectorates of the United Earth Council did, and could plan his actions accordingly.

“They may not like me intervening but it’s not like they can stop me.”

What the other council members did not know was that Carter had been a member of the original Xcom and had more experience in defending the Earth than they could ever dream. During the first invasion many small towns were either infected by a deadly virus or simply disappeared entirely, the losses had been close to two thousand. But back in the day it had been far easier for the government to hide things from the people, whether truly for their own good or not.

After the war ended with the destruction of Mosaic, the enemies leader, Carter did his best to keep Xcom alive. He feared the day that other alien races would came to Earth with ill intentions, but as time went along Xcom became tied up in red tape as more local dangers made themselves known on earth. Hostile nations, religious extremists, anarchists, economic collapse. Carter began to fear that mankind would destroy itself before the aliens returned, if ever.

So in response he created his own shadow operations group. International like Xcom but truly secret, armed with technology that made them more dangerous than any other unit in the world. While he did his best to keep Xcom alive, Carter felt that his new organization, dubbed “Majestic 12”, after his old squad from the secret invasion, could do things that Xcom could not. And had pull with every country on the planet to varying degrees. Their strength was doubled with aid from an unexpected, but not unwelcome, source.

Carter then heard his cell phone ring and picked it up from his jacket to see who it was. After a quick glance, Carter’s heart began racing as he recognized the number as one reserved for Majestic operations from a specific region. Without a moment's hesitation he answered the phone.

“This is Majestic zero, zero, zero, C,” Carter said, referring to his codename. On the other end a majestic agent looked over missions specs as he reported to his superior.

“Sir, we have a contact of unknown make,” said an agent hidden at the SETI program. Since the invasion by the aliens the resources of SETI had been repurposed to help track and monitor alien space craft.

“Where is it headed?” Carter asked while quickly turning on his computer to tell the staff handling AURORA to be prepared.

“Unknown, Sir. It is entering the atmosphere now. It matches no known make or style of the aliens so far. Sir, it was also picked up accidentally, we didn’t know it was even there until the ISS module we placed caught footage of it. It just seems to be hovering right now, possibly scanning frequencies.”

Carter’s heart skipped a beat. They were usually able to detect the aliens when they approached the planet and even had better detection systems than Xcom. If this one ship could slip past without their noticing...

“Acknowledged. Forward me the information and keep scanning for it, try everything and record anything you find.” Carter didn’t wait for a response as he hung up and sent a message to the AURORA team.

‘Watch the skies, the aurora is rising.’ Carter sent the message before giving them data sent to him by SETI.



-Wolf’s den, Alaska.

Alarms began sounding throughout the underground facility as the orders were handed out. The joint US/Majestic owned base was the keeper of many secrets and technologies that could tip the balance between victory and annihilation in this new war.

Pilot Tim Choi wasted no time in getting into his flight suit, which looked eerily similar to a slimmer version of a space suit with a strange power pack on it and if one looked closer at the materials it was made of, they would have difficulty identifying it. Tim had just grabbed his helmet when he turned to see a tall thin alien in a similar suit. Its skin was a dark green gray that seemed to have a dry look about it. The alien’s eyes were black, save for red pupils that had an other-worldly glow about them but its most striking feature was its lack of a mouth, until the mouth revealed itself by openening vertically in an alien like smile.

“I see you are ready.” The alien said in a voice that echoed as if multiple people spoke at once.

“Come on, Zak. We got the call,” the Korean American said as he slapped the shoulder of his co-pilot.

“Finally a chance to see if the Aurora can handle the stress of battle," the Zudjari pilot named Zak’tel, affectionately nicknamed Zak by his human allies, replied as he followed Tim to the hangar where the experimental plane,‘Aurora’, was located. The plane looked like a cross between an F-22 Raptor, a shrunken version of an SR-71 Blackbird, and a UFO. It had no cockpit glass, no visible engine or exhaust ports, and was hovering in the air under its own power. The only breaks in its perfectly curved body were where the flight crews where injecting fuel into it or where a ladder was connected to allow the pilots entry.

“Good hunting.”

“Good luck.”

“Go get some!” Where some of the many cheers and well wishes given to the two pilots who had been training for this day for a long time. Zak’tel had trained for it nearly all his life.

A small entry way opened up in the side of the plane where a ladder was placed to allow the pilots entry, Zak’tel at the pilot’s seat and Tim manning the electronic surveillance equipment and laser weapons.

When the two pilots were seated they sealed their helmets onto themselves and strapped in. The ladder was pulled away and the fuel injector disconnected.

“What is our load out?” Zak’tel asked as he began the preflight checklist, paying special attention to the inertial dampeners and the antigravity matrix, for if those failed then their deaths would be quick and very messy.

“We have six Avalanche Air to Air missiles, and two laser cannons loaded up and ready.” Tim replied to his friend while pulling out a small photo of his wife and daughters, taping it to the console before him where it wouldn’t interfere with the many switches and buttons.

‘I promise I'll keep you safe,’ Tim mentally said, knowing full well that Zak’tel was a low level psionic and could possibly hear him.

The ‘tower’ called into their radios with the confirmation they needed as large doors opened up over the underground hangar.

“You are clear for launch, coordinates of target are being uploaded to your onboard computers,” a Zud’jari officer said as he drank some coffee and looked at a holographic screen before him. “the target has not moved since last we saw it, you should still be able to catch it Aurora-1.”

“Understood. We are launching in T-minus ten, nine, eight....” The countdown continued as flight crews made sure everything was in order and cleared out as the Aurora began floating into the sky by its own power. The large craft turned its ‘nose’ towards the general direction of the enemy ship and with a sudden sonic boom it was gone, moving faster than any mortal eye could track. The staff at the base saying prayers or well wishes to the two as they took the Aurora on it’s first actual combat run.



-Edge of the Stratosphere, faster than the speed of sound.

The Aurora raced at speeds so fast that its two organic crew would have been shredded and destroyed, had it not been for their specially crafted flight suits which aided them in withstanding the mind boggling G-forces they faced. Despite this it was relatively quiet inside of the Aurora. The only sounds where that of the pilot's own breathing and various readings from their sensors.

“We should be approaching the unknown craft now, reducing speed.” Zak’tel breathed out and ran his hands along the touch sensitive screen in front of him while also adjusting their height to level them out with the UFO.

“No visual sighting yet,” Tim replied, scanning a live feed image of the area before them while the Aurora flew over the earth. Tim switched through various modes of viewing until their computer warned them of communications being jammed with Earth. Tim and Zak paid no mind and activated their own Zud’jari made jammer so the UFO could not report their presence.

“Target located, reducing speed to twenty percent power. Begin charging weapons,” Zak ordered his co-pilot while quickly activating the various recording equipment as well in case they were forced to retreat they would still have something of value.

The Aurora closed in on the unknown ship, it looked like a medium class UFO, only of a different color and the materials seemed to almost make the craft shimmer. Most of the scanning results were coming up empty, save for the Zud’jari material scanner which recognized some of the metals used in the manufacturing of the craft. Within a minute the Aurora flew past the UFO without any reaction, grabbing pictures through modified fiber optics along the belly of the ship and running scans of every type one last time.

“They didn’t do anything? They must not think of us as a threat.” Tim smiled while watching the readouts for the laser weapons turn green for a full blast.

“That or they cannot detect us. Either way they will soon be no more. Prepare to engage, use Avalanche missiles first,” Zak’tel ordered and rerouted some of the ship's systems to see if he could use the material scanner to help get a lock-on for the missiles. Once he did that the Aurora was turned around and heading straight for the UFO, small pods opening on either side of the plane and on the bottom.

“I have a lock. Firing,” Tim said calmly said with practiced control as he tapped a button and felt the tell-tale shudder of the Aurora as two Avalanche missiles that raced out from the bottom of the Aurora and at the hovering UFO.

The missiles were only one mile away when the UFO suddenly dodged them, and with two short blasts of plasma it destroyed the missiles once it was safely away.

Not wasting any time Tim knew what Zak'tel was about to say before he said it. “Firing lasers! Full power!”

Two bright red beams of energy came out from the sides of the Aurora and straight at the UFO, too fast for it to dodge the UFO took both blasts and was thrown back, spinning somewhat as its unprepared shields were overwhelmed and its hull bore a charred scar.

“Direct hit,” Zak’tel confirmed with a proud smile as he brought the Aurora around for a strafing run, but the UFO had apparently had enough and began retreating away from earth.

“Shit, it's getting away,” Tim cursed but Zak was not through.

“No. Whatever it was doing is important to the enemy, and we cannot let them escape with the knowledge of the Aurora. We will pursue,” Zak decided and put more power into their engines, hoping they had enough liquid Elirium to keep up with the UFO.

“I just hope she can take it,” Tim replied and altered the mode of fire for the lasers to short bursts rather than one long continuous beam.

The Aurora, painted jet black, chased the glowing UFO through space, doing its best to keep pace with it as the circular ship began pulling off evasive maneuvers in the empty space between the Earth and the Moon.

“I can't trust the computer to get a lock. I'll have to it the old fashioned way,” Tim said, switching off his targeting computer and grabbing hold of a yoke in front of him, his trigger finger itching to fire. Tim kept his eyes on the screen before him and the highlighted form of the UFO moving around to keep out of his crosshairs.

“I will try to get closer.” Zak’tel increased their speed and tried his best to ignore the groans of protest from the bulkhead of the Aurora. The two ships chased each other when the UFO suddenly reversed course, flying directly at the Aurora, firing bright plasma bolts at the Earth made craft.

Zak dodged the bolts smoothly and did his best to avoid the green blasts of energy. The Aurora was constantly spinning and turning to get a shot out on the UFO, but it could not. It was then that Zak began to feel a noticeable haze in his mind, as if he had gotten drunk and could not think straight.

‘Ethereal?' Zak wondered and heard a response as the UFO was dangerously close to the Aurora and Zak felt the psionic fingers of an Ethereal forcing their way into his mind.

‘Zud’jari? Where did you come from? Why do you serve the humans?’ The ethereal whispered in Zaks mind as the Aurora began flying erratically towards the moon.

“Zak, what are you doing? We won't have enough fuel to make it back!” Tim shouted and Zak instantly defied the ethereal and turned the Aurora around one-hundred eighty degrees, pointing its nose and guns directly at the oncoming UFO.

‘Where is your base of operations? Are there more of this craft?’ The Ethereal asked and Zak felt his head begin to ache as he fought off the urge to think on Dulce’s location. The only other base where Zud'jari lived also contained more experimental models of the Aurora and other technology, but he couldn't let the Ethereal know that. Instead he focused on the mental image of the UFO blowing up.

“Guns hot!” Tim shouted into his helmet as he squeezed the trigger, and watched as the laser bolts silently shot out from the Aurora like bullets from a mini-gun. Several hundred laser shots hit the bulkhead of the UFO before its shields came back online and it sped directly at the Aurora.

“It’s gonna ram us!,” Tim mistakenly cried out as he kept firing more and more shots at the UFO. The ethereal in fact wanted to try and pry information from their minds to give to the master.

“Chicken,” Zak replied and flew at the UFO while he took control of the missiles. With near superhuman effort Zak ignored the shouts and psionic punches thrown at him by the Ethereal while he piloted the Aurora directly at the UFO, knowing who would turn first.

As he predicted the UFO began turning away and Zak moved the Aurora to fly in a 'C' shape as if to ram the UFO before he fired off the last four avalanche missiles directly at the UFO, aiming for the section they had damaged in their first blast. To avoid a collision Zak’tel instantly decreased the aurora’s speed to two percent and turned.

Neither pilot saw the impact of the missiles with the UFO but they both received confirmation when Zak turned the Aurora around in a full three-sixty degree turn that would rip any other craft to pieces.

The UFO had been moving too fast to avoid the missiles and had several dents and one hull breach to show for it. The UFO was now drifting into deep space, its lights flickering while it drifted aimlessly, tumbling end over end as bodies of Sectoids and snakemen were sucked out into space.

“Tim, full blast. Charge the lasers and let us return home.” Zak commanded and Tim obeyed. The UFO was destroyed soon after in a fiery detonation after being struck by two long beams of energy. Whatever data the UFO had been gathering was lost with its demise.

“Woohoo!” Tim shouted, pumping a fist into the air and quickly bringing it back when he struck the metal roof of the Aurora above him and wished the sharp stabbing pain away, but it did nothing to ruin his good mood.

“We are at fifty-two percent fuel, we might just make it back home,” Zak said and with a swelled up ego powered up the engines and returned home, being given a hero’s welcome by the residents of the base, both human and Zud’jari.
Back at Area-51 Carter paced back and forth in his office. He was a man of action and missed being in the field, but he knew that he was of much greater use in his current position. The allied Zud’jari greatly respected Carter for liberating them from generations of enslavement. They had arrived three years after his squad had eliminated Mosaic and dealt with the subsequent fallout of that.

Twelve ships filled to the brim with Zud’jari refugees who came in hope of being allowed sanctuary on Earth. When Carter came to the designated landing zone his former boss ‘Director Faulke’ had demanded that he eliminate them all, that all these aliens were a threat to humanity even if they weren’t armed. Their very existence was a threat, if so much as one of them was discovered then the panic would be uncontrollable.

At that point Carter knew he had to go his own way and put Majestic to the test. He faked the destruction of the Zud’jari ships and pretended to had gone through with the slaughter of the innocents, but in truth there was no way in hell that Carter would kill a bunch of refugees who simply were looking for a safe place to live.

With the help of the Zud’jari infiltrator back at the original Xcom base, Carter was able to get the refugees comfortably set up. Faulke would eventually find out, but Carter was more than willing and able to deal with it when the time came.

Carter’s computer chimed with the arrival of a message and, for the first time in what to Carter felt like months, Carter smiled and relaxed. The mission was a success and the scans taken by the pilots of Aurora-1 were invaluable to the science staff back at the base. From the report sent to him Carter was able to tell that the Laser cannons built into the Aurora were very effective against the enemy ship.

“It’s time I sent X-com a little gift then.” He smiled again and began typing up a message to the Majestic egg heads to send the schematics and plans for the laser cannons to the X-com command bases so that the Interceptors would have more firepower to throw against the invaders.

“Just give us more time you bastards, and then we’ll be fighting you on even ground.” Carter chuckled and opened a compartment in his desk to pull out some celebratory alcohol as he also brought up a report from his agents inside of ‘The Crow’s nest’ to see what was up with his neighbors.

“Let’s see what our extra dimensional ponies are up to.” Carter said as he downed the bourbon and instantly wished he hadn’t since he realized he could not actually remember when he had placed the bottle there last.

Discord meanwhile swiped some of it from the bottle and stabbed a straw into floating bubbles of the bourbon. “Mmmm, well it tastes fine to me.” He said and stretched.


“When I conquer all of existence I might leave a few people sane so they can keep making me products like this.” He mused to himself and slurped loudly as he drank the floating bubbles of alcohol that only he could see or interact with.
All was calm until discord flinched and covered his head with his arms when Carter suddenly rose from his chair, knocking over the bottle on his desk and drawing his handgun from his black jacket. He aimed the old .1911 pistol behind him as he turned, pointing the barrel directly where Discord’s ghostly snout was and for a few incredibly slow seconds the god of chaos was pale with fear before he reminded himself that he was in a form where nothing could touch him.

‘Right?’ He asked himself and refrained from moving until Carter lowered his gun.

“Jesus Christ that drink must be bad, no more booze for you old man. Your'e too important to go senile.” Carter said and broke into a near uncontrollable laugh at his odd moment. He picked up the bottle, which had been spilling its ancient contents onto the desk and placed his handgun back into his shoulder holster. He dropped the bourbon bottle into a trash can and left his office still laughing, forgetting about his cane and simply going to get some towels to clean his desk.

“That….was strange…and very interesting.” Discord said before looking to the readers.

“Well it looks like I may have found some very interesting mysteries here. So many things to ponder upon. Truly there are interesting times to live in, very interesting times to live in.” Discord rubbed his chin, his usual grin gone as he wondered if Carter really had sensed him in the same room, if it was something more than he was giving humans credit for, or if he was just jumping at shadows.