//------------------------------// // 04 -- Worst Case Scenario // Story: Mente Materia // by Arad //------------------------------// “I am reporting live from the United Nations building in New York City, where the diplomatic community is still reeling from the revelations that have come from United States Senator Goleman’s committee. From what I understand, there is a flurry of communications going between the diplomats here and their respective governments around the world on just how they should react to the alien that has claimed to have allied itself with David Bradford’s organization. Not all are convinced of its apparent benevolence, especially Senator Goleman and his supporters. “Still more are dissecting every word it said during its one and only appearance. It admitted to being related to another of its kind that apparently found itself on Earth, but it didn’t say how this other creature found itself here. Its apparent resemblance to mythical ‘unicorns’ leads some to state that its species may have visited Earth in the distant past. Still others have expressed disbelief at what was clearly stated as an ‘immortal ruler’ and the use of ‘magic’ to silence Senator Goleman during his own hearing. This has fueled a massive amount of speculation, from apparent translation error despite its fluency, to religious belief. “Only one thing is certain at this time. With ‘Shining Armor’ disappearing shortly after the interview and David Bradford nowhere to be found for the last two days, the people of the world are left waiting for answers and hoping that this isn’t the herald to a new wave of invaders. “As for Senator Goleman, after recovering the ability to speak, he publicly denounced ‘Shining Armor’ as an imperialistic bully while vowing to continue his investigation into ‘XCOM’ and its apparently alien benefactors…” ------ 12:02, 10/29/2015, SURFACE TRAINING FACILITY, XCOM BETA SITE Matt Harris watched the timer slowly count down before glancing to the other spots on his HUD. Armor systems are okay, PSI is collecting power, everyone else is reading green, he thought before looking back to the timer. Come on, come on, come on… The timer finally struck zero and a loud buzzer filled the training area. The overhead lights cut out and the night vision in Matt’s helmet activated as he rose from his kneeling position. One hand dug into the pouch at his side and produced six small tungsten projectiles. The HUD instantly highlighted them and after a mental command they all rose out of his palm to hover just behind his left shoulder. “Alright, kids, you know the drill,” Matt addressed the others in his squad. His eyes flicked to the corner of his vision and a small semi-transparent circle appeared along with blinking dots indicating the positions of his team. “Your priority is to link up with each other before going after Shiny. If you’re caught on your own, retreat and report his position. Understood?” A chorus of acknowledgements answered Matt and he slowly began to stalk into the maze. Vague memories of the Army’s urban fighting ‘slaughterhouse’ training tickled at the back of his mind and the feeling was certainly helped by the M4A1 in his hands. It was of the shorter CQBR variety, but it fit his grip like a glove. Matt rounded a corner and was halfway to the next turn when a shout through the radio and a burst of gunfire assailed his ears, followed by Yuri Romalov’s light flipping from green to red along with a not so helpful [DISABLED] label. So early, too? Ah damn it. “Zhang, start scanning and report Shiny's position,” Matt ordered as he continued to advance around the next corner and spotted a familiar figure. “Finch, I’m coming up on your back.” Jack Finch’s armored form didn’t react as Matt came up behind and tapped his shoulder. “All quiet here, boss.” He rose from his kneeling position while keeping his rifle trained further down the corridor before asking, “Does Zhang have the target?” Before Matt could answer the question, another report came through the radio. “Harris, Jenkins. I’ve got Victor with me and we’re heading to where Yuri got taken out— wait. I’ve got eyes on the prize, but he’s moving fast. I just spotted him moving through a corridor parallel to our current path.” For a brief moment a yellow spot appeared on the minimap on Matt’s HUD, and despite himself he couldn’t stop a small smile from creeping up on his face. “Good work, Jenkins. There’s a hub that your corridor empties into north of your position, and his path should head that way too. Finch and I will double time to you and we’ll set an ambush.” Both Lana and Victor acknowledged the orders as Matt began to sprint in the direction he had indicated, with Finch close behind. “Contact right!” Victor announced, and the sound of rifle fire heralded the collapse of Matt’s impromptu plan. Several shots rang out only to abruptly end just as Victor’s light flipped from green to red. Again the yellow light appeared on the map and Lana’s indicator began to shadow its movement. “Sorry, boss. Victor got caught in an intersection. I hope you and Finch are ready because you’re about to have company. Shiny is coming at you at full speed,” Lana reported between breaths as she no doubt sprinted to keep up. “I’ve got Wallflower running so once he slows down, he’s mine.” “Copy that. Finch, go right and find cover once we reach the hub,” Matt ordered as the pair sprinted down the corridors to the ambush site. Finch split off and took up a position near one of the cement support pillars while Matt crouched behind several boxes in the center of the room. When the yellow spot on his map approached the entrance to the hub, he pulled a smoke grenade and hurled it like a baseball. Matt’s HUD locked on to the thrown device and with a small tap from his magic it traversed the length of the room just as Shining Armor came into view. The unicorn was far from unprepared, however. The grenade was stopped dead as a blade held aloft by telekinesis spun into place and batted it out of the air with enough force to break the grenade in half. Just as Matt expected, the grenade’s expected stream of smoke came out all at once from the impact, and he began to move forward to capitalize on the reduced visibility. The advantage of the smoke screen wasn’t available for long as Shining Armor demonstrated his skills by sweeping the smoke away from him with the telltale glow of his magic, and Matt couldn’t help but curse. That curse died in his throat as his HUD picked up Lana’s IFF tag plowing through the smoke to engage Shining from behind. The only indication the unicorn gave that he was aware of the attack was a single ear flicking backwards, followed by a second blade swooping around behind him. Matt couldn’t see just what happened, but Lana’s colorful profanity followed by her indicator light turning red was enough for him to confirm that another part of the plan had fallen through. Not even Finch opening up on full auto was enough to slow Shining Armor down as a third blade snapped into position and oscillated wildly to deflect the incoming fire. The unicorn’s eyes were hidden behind operations goggles, but there was no mistaking that Shining Armor had locked on to Matt as two blades launched towards him. Time slowed to a crawl as Matt’s most temperamental ability finally manifested. He could see Shining Armor’s oscillating blade wasn’t blocking Finch’s shots through pure luck or blind flailing of the weapon. Each turn of the blade precisely blocked an incoming bullet without the unicorn so much as glancing in the direction of the incoming fire. As fascinating as that was to observe, what demanded Matt’s attention was the two blades that were rapidly approaching him. The first flipped up vertically and spun on its axis to try and force Matt to dodge to his right, while the second turned horizontally and came at waist level to deliver a knock-out blow. Both weapons were oriented so that their flat sides were leading, which gave Matt a depressingly familiar view of the intricate vine-and-clover etching that spanned the length of them. I think I know how you’re blocking Finch, Shiny, Matt thought, and he would have tried to grin if his body wasn’t just as restricted as the rest of the world around him. Extensive study on the few times he had been able to reproduce the ability had shown that the flow of time had not been affected but his mind somehow sped up to a point where it seemed like that was the case. In the grand scheme of things his body was still limited by the normal flow of time, which prevented Matt from performing inhuman feats of speed or dodging, but it didn’t stop him from using his other abilities. A dull ache began to creep into Matt’s mind as he gave the mental commands to the tungsten projectiles that were hovering beside him. Two projectiles targeted the first incoming blade as it turned while the next two targeted the other. The last two projectiles he sent after Shining Armor. If my theory is right… Time snapped back to normal flow without any warning. Matt’s impromptu defense did little more than knock Shining’s attack out of alignment, but it was enough for both blades to whizz past the human harmlessly. Matt’s counterattack came when his two remaining projectiles shot towards the unicorn, one immediately behind the other just as he opened fire with his own rifle. Just like with Finch, Matt’s shots were blocked easily but his sharp eyes caught the first signs of surprise on the Unicorn’s face. Any triumphant feelings were quickly lost when his feet flew out from under him as Shining Armor pulled back his blades. A half-second later, a buzzer sounded and the lights of the training area flooded the room with normal levels of illumination. “End ex, end ex. Shot confirmed connected on Shining Armor from Matt Harris. Good work, people,” the disembodied voice of Major Fujikawa announced through the loudspeakers. Matt couldn’t help but grin as he removed his helmet and slowly tried to rise. An offered hand from Finch helped him get back on his feet. “Thanks. The Titan armor’s got its benefits, but I can’t help but feel a bit like a turtle on its back at times,” he said, which earned a chuckle from Finch as he removed his own helmet. The majority of the faceplate was black-tinted glass but unlike Matt’s, the British soldier had elected to include a ghoulish skull on the mostly featureless helmet. “Glad we finally got a win under our belts,” Finch grinned back. “Though there’s something I don’t understand. I’m laying into him with all the lead I’ve got and I don’t get as much as a glance. He sees you and half the blades come out.” His voice dropped down to barely a whisper before asking, “Did you do something to tick Shiny off, sir? He seems rather… focused on you whenever we have these training sessions.” “Well, I was Twilight’s number one student. Maybe he’s testing her teaching methods through me?” Matt lied smoothly, and Finch’s shrug was a good enough indicator that the explanation had been bought. “Excellent work, Captain Harris,” Shining Armor offered his congratulations with a sincere if somewhat grudging smile. A quick tug with his magic lowered the goggles to dangle around his neck where they tapped lightly against his matte black armor. “It all happened pretty quickly but if I’m guessing right, you had your two telekinetic shots split in different directions shortly before I moved to intercept? I got one but the other clipped me.” Shining turned to the side to show a scrape that ran along his armor shortly before it was obscured by his four blades returning to the holsters at his flanks. “That’s correct,” Matt confirmed. “After watching you block shots without having to look in the direction of incoming fire, I got to thinking about how you were doing it. You’re using a light shield that tells you when a shot is incoming and that lets you block with your weapons, right? My second telekinetic shot followed into the shadow of the first to try and get past that.” Shining nodded and Matt thought he caught what might have been a glimmer of respect in his expression. “It’s three shields, actually. Just one shield will tell me something is coming, but it doesn’t give me directionality or speed. Your bullets, even the rubber ones, move too fast for me to physically see them so I have to layer the shields to give me enough information to mount a proper defense. I didn’t spot your second projectile until the third shield.” Finch scratched his chin before asking his question. “Why not use a bubble shield? It seems less complicated with a smaller margin for error.” “It’s true that a bubble shield would provide the most comprehensive defense in most situations, but the power drain is far too great to maintain for long under sustained fire. Even using a directional shield with the same durability takes more energy than using light shields and a physical object with telekinesis to block. It’s a bit of a trade-off between efficiency versus effectiveness. The Clover Leaves certainly help with my energy efficiency in the field though, but blocking the enemy plasma shots with just those is less than ideal,” Shining explained, and Matt had to suppress a smirk. I wonder if their parents were like that, Matt couldn’t help but muse to himself. He reminds me so much of Twily when he gets to explaining things. He was just about to provide his own comment on the explanation when Lana walked into the hub with a surly look on her face. “What I’d like to know is how in God’s name did you know that I was behind you? I might not be very good at the whole magic thing, but I’m a master at using Wallflower. You shouldn’t have been able to do that,” Lana fumed. “You can blame Captain Harris for that,” Shining said with a good-natured smirk. “When I was clearing the smoke I felt the pressure of you plowing through it. Since your direction and speed were constant as far as I could tell, it was relatively simple task to take you out of the game.” When Victor came around the corner with his helmet under his arm, Shining perked up. “I also wanted to compliment you on your attempt, Victor. Teleporting the blade I sent after you directly behind me was a rather inspired move and it did almost get me. I’ve noticed that you’ve improved quite a bit in both your speed and accuracy every time we do one of these exercises.” “Thank you, sir,” Victor said without any real enthusiasm, and kept his gaze locked somewhere just over Shining’s head before support personnel began to filter into the area. Field medics checked each of them out in turn before turning to Yuri as he wobbled into the area while being supported by Zhang. His helmet had a spider web of cracks running across it and a dribbling flow of blood leaked down his face from a cut on his forehead. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” Yuri said as he tried to wave off the medics. A stern glare from a pink unicorn with a bandage and syringe flank mark made the burly Russian laugh nervously before surrendering to the medic’s help. “I ducked when I should have jumped,” he explained before wincing as the unicorn rather forcefully cleaned the wound and bandaged it. Shining Armor’s enthusiasm for the moment gradually dimmed and his expression assumed the poker face that Matt increasingly associated with bad news. “I’m glad we had as many of these training exercises as we could,” he started with a sincere note of regret in his tone. “You’ve all improved quite a bit…” Matt caught Lana and Zhang’s eyes with a wary glance. “I can sense a ‘but’ coming.” He said, and it was all but confirmed when Shining Armor’s stoic expression faltered for just a moment. “C’mon, don’t be like that,” Lana said cheerfully. “You’re letting that meeting with Goleman get to you. Despite what the politicians are saying, everyone with a brain knows the senator was laying it on pretty thick since he’s up for reelection this year. I hear Peter Van Doorn and a number of other highly placed folks in the armed forces are going public with the amount of help you and yours have provided.” When Shining Armor didn’t immediately make the connection, Lana continued. “Van Doorn? He’s the army general we picked up off the freeway overpass in Los Angeles a couple of months ago.” “Ah, I remember now,” Shining said after a moment’s hesitation. “Recent events have been distracting me lately. It seems like the only times I can focus any more are during exercises like these or when we’re out in the field.” When he caught the looks of concern from the assembled humans, he closed his eyes and sighed. “All your questions will be answered tonight.” Without another word he turned and exited the training area, leaving the humans to all share wary glances. ------ 17:11, 10/29/2015, MESS HALL, XCOM BETA SITE “Where did they all go? I haven’t seen Shiny or any of his people since the end of the exercise,” Lana asked warily as she leaned forward and lowered her voice. “They haven’t been this skittish since they first got here, and that was months ago.” Matt simply nodded and took another bite of his food while turning the issue around in his head to try and piece together just why Shining had acted the way he had and just where the other Equestrians had disappeared to. Shining’s always been rather duty driven, and he always makes a point of coming down to the mess hall after practice is complete. Are they even on base anymore? That thought led to the next question. Where could they possibly go if they aren’t here anymore? It’s wilderness for miles in every direction and they’d fare better than most if they had to go out there, but why would they? The only other ways out of the base are the Skyrangers or… “Zhang, do you know the Kaleidoscope schedules?” Matt asked as casually as he could. “I do not know the exact time but I do know there was a planned activation today,” Zhang answered plainly and his expression betrayed nothing, but the slightest pause in eating his own meal betrayed the fact that he had come to the same conclusion that Matt had. Lana apparently arrived at the same conclusion as she spoke again. “You think they all went home? I’m surprised none of them at least said goodbye. Do you think that… maybe they felt that their obligation has been fulfilled? I suppose I can see why they’d be reluctant to risk dozens of lives simply because we saved one of theirs.” Even as she finished her sentence, Lana’s tone made it increasingly obvious that she didn’t believe what she was saying. “Say, do you think their leaving is the reason for the emergency officers meeting in an hour?” When both Zhang and Matt turned to stare at her, she quickly backtracked. “I mean… uh… what officers meeting? Those are secret so I wouldn’t know about that.” “Wait here, I’ll be right back,” Matt said as he rose and made his way to one of the other tables. While there was no formal assignment of who sat at which table, more often than not each of the Strike teams tended to congregate at the same table every meal; same for the engineers and scientists. The Interceptor pilots and Skyranger crews studiously ignored each other but nevertheless chose tables that were side by side. The last table was taken up by the specialists under Matt’s command and was commonly referred to as ‘the spooky table’ when they thought he wasn’t listening. Strike One’s table was just as lively as Matt remembered, with everyone present laughing at one of the seemingly improbable stories that Sergeant Robert Sachs had shared. The table calmed as Matt approached only for Sachs to launch into another story for the benefit of the relatively fresh-faced rookies that sat on the far side. “This, boys and girls, is Captain Matt Harris. He kills the X-Rays with his mind.” The rookies’ reactions varied, as most had at least one deployment under their belt and had witnessed just what a unicorn could do in a fight, but few had the opportunity to see Captain Harris in combat. The lack of disbelief from the veterans at the table did more to quiet any disbelievers than anything Matt could have hoped to say. “I don’t mean to interrupt, I just need a word with the Lieutenant,” Matt said with a nod to Patrick Carlock and the former army engineer rose and joined Matt. “The meeting we’ve got in an hour… I think I know what it’s going to be about,” he whispered just loud enough to be heard over the general clamor of the mess hall. “If the worst case turns out to be true, can I count on you to follow my lead?” “Is that an order?” Patrick asked, not unreasonably. “No, it's not. I don't command Strike One any more, that's your job now,” Matt said to try and diffuse the tension their conversation was generating. “If this meeting is the worst case scenario I'm worried about, then you'll know what I'm asking.” Patrick gave Matt one last skeptical look before nodding. “I trust your judgment, Matt. You do realize that I'm going to spend the rest of this meal wondering what you're talking about, right?” The junior officer chuckled before finally asking, “Is there anything else?” “No, that was it,” Matt answered and he watched Patrick turn back to his team. I really hope it isn't the worst case... he thought as he turned back to his own team to finish his meal. ------ 18:00, 10/29/2015, BRIEFING ROOM, XCOM BETA SITE The murmur of hushed voices was absent in the briefing room as each of the Strike team commanders and their subordinates sat in complete silence. All were quick to notice the empty seats that were usually filled by their Equestrian counterparts. Wary looks were shared for several minutes before Commander Bradford stepped into the room, followed by Major Fujikawa and Shining Armor. Bradford's trademark glare was present but was slightly unfocused, while Shining Armor's expression was studiously blank. The unicorn was wearing the dress uniform he had brought from his homeworld and the Clover leaves were sheathed at his sides. Fujikawa trailed behind. Matt rose and saluted with the rest of the officers as Commander Bradford walked down the aisle to the center of the room. Shining Armor didn't so much as spare a glance as he passed, with his gaze locked firmly in front of him as he stood beside Bradford. The commander returned the salute and everyone took their seats. Once everyone settled in, Commander Bradford stepped forward and spoke. “I would like to offer congratulations to all of the Strike teams for their outstanding work over the past few months. Since June, we've seen a significant escalation in the aliens' prosecution of this war, but that has dwindled to levels not seen since January. We had first thought this was because of our stiff resistance, but that assumption may prove to be premature.” Bradford stepped back and Shining Armor stepped forward. The covers on the Clover Leaves unlatched and they swept to each corner of the room. Before anyone could raise a question, the four weapons pulsed with light and the drab briefing room disappeared only to be replaced with a battlefield frozen in time. A trio of alien ships loomed in the early evening sky and a pack of heavily armored Mutons fired at distant targets. What drew Matt's attention most was the white-robed Ethereal that stood serenely in the center of the mayhem. Son of a bitch, Matt couldn't help but think as he subconsciously went through his mental shielding exercises while trying not to think about the precious few times XCOM had encountered that specific type of alien. The first time had resulted in the loss of an entire Strike team. The second would have had similar results were it not for the Skyrangers, Interceptors and an excessive amount of close air support. Where did this happen? I don't remember hearing about any operation that has encountered one of them in at least two months, Matt thought as he wracked his mind for any detail he might have missed before he began to examine the settings that surrounded the Mutons. The battle itself took place on the outer edges of a hedge garden that was almost completely destroyed or on fire. Towers of white stone could be seen in every direction and colorful banners with sun and moon iconography could be seen hanging from them. Small packs of unicorns in gleaming armor lashed out with their magic but far more were suppressed by the Mutons fire and the ships in the sky. “This memory was provided by one of the royal guards currently stationed in Canterlot,” Shining Armor explained, and Matt knew the unicorn well enough to realize just how much effort it was taking to keep his voice neutral. The image began to shift and Shining Armor continued, “This memory was provided by one of the surviving weather team members of Cloudsdale.” The images finally settled on what would have been considered a fantastic city in the clouds were it not for the volleys of plasma fire and the gaping wounds they left behind in the city. A formation of four alien fighters bracketing a massive battleship dominated the scene, and Matt could pick out what appeared to be dozens of Floaters and Cyberdisks engaging Pegasi. The silence in the room as deafening as the implications of these scenes hit the humans, and Matt spared a glance at Patrick. The Strike One officer's face was pale and Matt didn't have to strain his imagination to know what he was thinking. This is the worst case scenario you mentioned, isn't it? “Both of these memories are from approximately two days ago,” Shining Armor continued. “Nearly ten thousand casualties have been reported so far and Cloudsdale's foundation has been damaged to the point where the vast majority of the city has crumbled and dispersed. The aliens were defeated but at this time we are not confident we can repel an attack of this magnitude again.” “How did your defenders repel this attack?” Someone asked, and Matt was too distracted by the horror of the scene around him to identify the speaker. “Even we would be hard pressed to win a fight like this.” “The weather teams at Cloudsdale were able to destroy one of the alien escorts before Princess Luna and her Sentinels arrived. While her Sentinels engaged the lesser enemies, she dispatched the battleship and two of the escorts. The remaining escort fled the battle.” The scene advanced to show Luna cutting the battleship to pieces in less than a second, but before any of the humans could consider the implications of such power the scene shifted back to Canterot. The scene had changed to show the Solar Princess in all her terrible glory facing down the score of Mutons and the Ethereal leading them. “Celestia defended the capital and banished the aliens and their ships to the sun, but she was gravely wounded in the process.” Shining tried to continue but his words died in his throat, not that anyone had noticed. The vast majority of XCOM personnel had heard of the levels of power that both Celestia and Luna were capable of, but most simply assumed a significant portion of what they attributed to the princesses as something bordering on religious fervor. Even Matt had his doubts as to just what they could do, but seeing a battleship cut to pieces caused him to revise his estimate upwards. Shiny didn't mention just how Celestia was wounded, but the fact that she took on dozens of Mutons, three ships and an Ethereal is shocking. When it became apparent that Shining Armor had nothing else to say, Major Fujikawa stepped forward and cleared her throat. “I've discussed all possible actions we can with the relevant parties and have come to a decision. Due to the lull in alien activity on Earth, combined with the support being offered by the governments around the world, Commander Bradford has tasked me with forming an expeditionary force to assist Equestria and its allies in their defense. We’ve made excellent progress on shoring up our defenses here, but we also are aware that a significant number of the troops will want to stay and defend their homes, so this assignment will be for volunteers. The next Kaleidoscope activation is scheduled for just under two days from now, so you have time to discuss who is willing to participate.” Matt stood as soon as the major finished, which drew all eyes to him. “Commander, Major, Captain,” he addressed the three at the head of the room. “I know the specialists under my command very well and I already know what their answers will be. The Mente Materia division volunteers for the assignment.” The core of Mente Materia was comprised of Matt, Zhang, Lana and Yuri, and they all had the privilege of knowing Twilight during her time on Earth and had been quite accepting of the Equestrian reinforcements. The new arrivals to the division had taken more time to adjust but were just as comfortable with their non-human allies as the veterans in the group. He knew just how they would react to this news. Well, all but one, but he isn’t in a position where he can refuse, Matt thought to himself, but any further musing was put aside as Patrick stood up. “I don’t like the idea of Shining’s people getting attacked because they helped us, and Strike One will agree.” Patrick said, his tone of voice edged with steel. Robert Sachs, his second in command, nodded and stood beside him. Once Patrick stood, the momentum steadily grew as each of the Strike leaders and their subordinates stood in turn until the entire assembly was standing. Major Fujikawa had the smallest of smirks on her face while Shining simply looked stunned, and both of them looked to Bradford with expressions that nearly screamed, you knew this was going to happen! If Bradford noticed those expressions, he did not react to them as he stepped forward and issued his orders. “Details on the assignment will be available shortly. If there are no questions, you’re dismissed.”