23:25, 10/31/2015, UNKNOWN LOCATION
The room was dark and almost devoid of furniture, save for an almost featureless desk and chair. The room might have been mistaken for a long-forgotten office or storage room were it not for the lack of dust combined with the well dressed man who stepped into the room. Out of long-ingrained habit he sat in the seat after straightening his tie. His posture was ramrod straight as he pressed a seemingly random spot on the desk before tapping in front of him as though he had a keyboard.
The wall across from the desk flickered as power fed into a monitor hidden in the darkness. Text began to scrawl as the system powered up.
>>SYSTEM ACTIVATION
>>LOGIN/PASSWORD REQUIRED
>>”0”
>>”********************”
>>USER AUTHENTICATED
>>ESTABLISHING SECURE CONNECTION
>>SECURE CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
>>0 IS NOW IN ATTENDANCE
>>CURRENT ATTENDANCE INCLUDES 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
>>ALL MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE
“Good evening, gentlemen,” the man known as Zero said to the empty room, and his speech appeared as text on the monitor. “You all have had time to review the operational reports compiled by Commander Bradford on the XCOM project’s performance, its public reception as well as the state of our Equestrian allies. The first order of business to discuss is the ongoing investigation by Senator Goleman.” More lines of text appeared and were followed by a synthetic voice as the other members of the Council spoke.
5: I’m pleased to report that Goleman’s committee is proving to be an unmitigated success in furthering our goals. I admit I was skeptical about leaking information to him, but Goleman’s meltdown on live TV has framed anyone critical of the XCOM project as taking the side of a frothing lunatic. Shining Armor’s performance leaves a bit to be desired but we couldn’t coach him without raising suspicions in our manipulation of events.
1: International opinion is swinging in XCOM’s favor regardless, and Shining Armor’s performance has painted him as ‘no nonsense’ and ‘down to business’, which is something Americans find sorely lacking in their politicians as of late. We made the right decision in letting Goleman take the bait we laid out for him. If Prime Minister Renfield’s investigation wasn’t overshadowed by the senator’s showboating, we would have a real problem on our hands.
2: Agreed. After that debacle on the tele, Renfield is distancing himself from the investigation and Goleman, and he’s taking a more moderate stance on XCOM.
16: At this point I think Goleman has outlived his usefulness. Perhaps it is time for the good senator to have some well documented financial transactions with the Cartel. Even if he weasels out of prison time, his career will be over.
4: There’s another option. If Goleman has a shift in opinion as well as temperament, he could become more useful than as a single use blunt instrument.
14: Redemption? I think you’ve immersed yourself too much in the Equestrian culture.
4: There’s nothing stopping us from trying this method. Furthermore, even if it fails, we have a backup plan to thoroughly discredit him.
14: Before we decide Goleman’s ultimate fate, It should also be noted that Commander Bradford has not given any indication that he is aware of our manipulation of these events. Whatever powers he may possess, they do not provide him with information that he does not have reasonable access to. Despite his performance strategically and tactically, he isn’t omnipotent.
13: Yet.
10: Or it’s possible he agrees with our tactics and just hasn’t seen any reason to fight with us on the matter. He’s been very vocal in his criticisms of Goleman if nothing else.
8: He’s critical of all politicians, which will likely include us if he’s ever made aware of this. Do we have contingencies in place if he has to be removed by force?
2: None that we’re willing to even test yet. If he does possess the power of foresight as sensitive as we suspect, then I don’t know if there’s a way that we can remove him.
1: Gentlemen, we have an emergency. Mission reports have come back from the volunteers that were sent to help the Equestrians. I’m sending the files now.
[10 minutes of silence pass]
12: You have got to be kidding. Half the gear malfunctioned? These things aren’t pork barrel military contract equipment or cheap knockoffs I can get from Hong Kong! Everything was tested before the trip through Kaleidoscope, not to mention a nearly flawless operational record beforehand. Was there a malfunction with Kaleidoscope over such a long distance?
9: There are greater concerns to address. A hamlet outside of the Equestrian capital was almost completely leveled in the fighting and most of the property damage was caused by one of our Strike operators. A Captain… Matthew Harris. Damn it, who had the bright idea to let the Butcher of Basra loose?
10: Major Fujikawa chose him as a second in command and Bradford did not object. We did not object either as it was our hope that his relationship with Princess Twilight Sparkle would solidify our alliance with her government. I suppose it was too much to hope for that he’d get himself killed during the engagement. We could have used him as a martyr to gain sympathy with the Equestrians and cement Twilight’s support for the war.
9: Relationship with Twilight Sparkle? I thought she was kept in a cell during her time on Earth.
1: A development your predecessor was aware of. She developed affection for Matthew during her stay here, though it was one-sided. We chose not to intervene in that development and it paid off when Twilight became the most vocal proponent for supporting us.
4: Thank God for Stockholm Syndrome.
7: We’re getting off track. What I want to know is how Captain Harris managed to level a town without air support or explosives?
4: That is the right question to ask, and I think it may be related to why the majority of our equipment failed. Elerium reacts significantly when in the presence of a Gifted individual while on Earth, and the same is true for their world. The difference is the Field that the Gifted individuals draw their power from is significantly more fluid there which allows for easier access. Elerium exponentially increases an individual’s ability to draw and manipulate that energy. Their bodies often cannot withstand the strain.
3: Where are you getting all that intel?
4: After Captain Harris was retrieved from the field, the Equestrians went to Major Fujikawa and Nathan Hamil, the Chief Engineer for the volunteers in the field. After impressing upon them the alarm they felt at the situation, Hamil explained our findings about Elerium and its relation to the material they identify as ‘Arcanite.’
7: That was kept confidential for a reason! Twilight Sparkle stated that use of the material was banned and that all the stockpiles were destroyed. The knowledge that we use it for just about everything might jeopardize our relationship with them.
5: Considering they built their capital on top of a mountain made of the stuff, I think it might be a safe assumption that the common story that their Arcanite storage was destroyed was spread to dissuade the ambitious from looking for it. On that note, we need to figure out how to pry that loose from the Equestrians. If their world is as rich in the material as alluded to in these reports, we may no longer have to strip the alien ships for every ounce of Elerium just to make ends meet.
4: That’s a topic for another time. The Equestrians expressed some horror at the news of our using Elerium in our devices but Hamil also explained that the aliens use the stuff in virtually everything they build. This begs the question, why haven’t they experienced any of the problems with their hardware that we have?
1: I suspect you already have a theory. Skip the rhetorical questions and get to it.
4: There’s terabytes worth of data on all the alien machinery we’ve torn apart, and while we have been able to identify and replicate about 75% of it, the small percentage of the machinery that we couldn’t find any plausible explanation for was stripped out of our prototypes and production models.. Charles Shen and Moira Vahlen agree that at least some of this unidentified machinery must act as some form of regulator that ensures a proper amount of power flow.
15: That’s a plausible explanation for why our gear is malfunctioning. If it has the same amplifying powers as Arcanite, then it would explain Captain Harris’s skyrocketing abilities. What I want to know is why he did what he did. Go listen to his radio logs. That laughter will haunt me to my grave.
4: There is an explanation for that too. Given the Equestrian’s reaction to the events, fear of our equipment and sympathy for Captain Harris, I strongly suspect that something like this may have happened in their past. Their mythology describes a ‘King Sombra’ as a unicorn that went power mad and nearly destroyed his own kingdom, which was known for its crystal formations, I might add. There’s also Princess Luna.
6: Princess Luna? Do you think she and her sister use Arcanite to move the sun and moon around the planet?
4: Unknown at this time, though during her two attempts to usurp her sister and assume sole leadership of her world she was described as a pitch black alicorn as opposed to the blues she currently has now. Sombra apparently no longer has physical form but is described as a ghost made out of black smoke and energy. Before this is dismissed as mythology or campfire tales, both Sombra and Nightmare Moon were encountered and witnessed by dozens of Equestrians within the last two years. It sounds a bit too much like what was happening to Captain Harris.
1: Sergeant Jenkins reported Captain Harris’s body was in the process of being consumed by black fire. Substantial trauma was sustained to his left arm in the process. Are you saying he might have been turned into something like those creatures if left to his own devices?
4: The changes in physical appearance are the least of our concerns. As I mentioned, Sombra tried to destroy his own people, though he sounds like a typical tyrant trying to consolidate his power. Apparently Luna became Nightmare Moon when she felt unappreciated because she ruled the night rather than Celestia’s day. According to their records she attempted to plunge their world into ‘eternal night’. Worst case, this could mean she tried to instigate an extinction level event by pushing the star away from the planet.
8: Mother of God. How is she still in power?
4: It all ties back to Elerium and Arcanite. We don’t have CAT scans or anything to refer to, but I suspect that the cost of such increased power results in the suppression or damage to the impulse control centers of the brain. She was apparently freed from the influence of the substance and returned to her normal self. Until we can get more information, that’s the only explanation I can think of.
13: All those theories are sound but there’s one thing that is still unexplained. Captain Harris wasn’t the only one using Elerium-enhanced equipment that’s controlled by his Gift. Sergeant Jenkins currently utilizes a prosthetic limb that operates on the same principles as our other equipment as well as the MEC units. She hasn’t reported anything out of the ordinary yet and there haven’t been any observed malfunctions near her either.
2: That is an excellent question. We really should get both Sergeant Jenkins and Captain Harris back to Earth for a more thorough examination. If we can find a way to take advantage of the power that Captain Harris demonstrated with whatever resistance Sergeant Jenkins is capable of then we’ll be able to corner the market on WMDs for the next generation. Imagine soldiers with the capacity to alter the fabric of reality. That’s the future, gentlemen.
1: That’s not going to be possible, I’m afraid. Princess Twilight Sparkle has taken personal responsibility for Captain Harris’s care with Princess Luna’s approval and I suspect if we attempt strong arm tactics in this situation, we’ll lose any good will we have with the Royalty. Sergeant Jenkins’ familiarity with Twilight would also make her removal from the situation problematic. We may need to simply wait and pray that if they die in the field, enough will be left for us to study.
9: I’m also seeing some preliminary findings from Dr. Shen and Dr. Vahlen on the energy field surrounding Earth and the Equestrians homeworld. With the rate in which the energy field is becoming flexible here, from the aliens or our own Gifted individuals, they predict that unless we solve the regulator issue with our own Elerium-based technology we might start seeing similar malfunctions in five years or less.
10: That is certainly a problem but we do have a more immediate one. The Strike volunteers are currently stuck with last generation weapons, and even if we unpack the Carapace armor from storage they will be hard-pressed to match the elite troops the aliens are deploying. If we can reverse engineer whatever components the aliens use in their hardware that allows them to use their equipment without side effects, that will immediately help the volunteers and will hopefully solve the long term problems that will show up on Earth.
>10 has called a vote: Redirect research and engineering resources to develop regulators for Elerium tech.
>Yes votes: 17 total, No votes: 0 total, 0 abstain
>Proposal Accepted.
“Excellent,” the man known as Zero stated. “While the injuries sustained by Captain Harris are unfortunate, his performance in the field has opened up several new possibilities for the future development of XCOM personnel and technologies. I am also confident our relationship with the Equestrian government can be strengthened, but only if further incidents of this nature are curtailed. Chief Engineer Hamil’s decision to disclose the secrets of Elerium resulted in further developments, but sharing such information should not be allowed in the future.
4: I have to agree, I’m afraid. The Equestrians are forgiving but I suspect even that might reach its limits if they ever find out what we do to the aliens we capture. The MEC systems are just barely skirting this side of legal in their courts, and I suspect if we end up deploying them in the field it will cause some controversy.
“If there are no further topics, then this meeting is concluded. Efforts will be made to steer Senator Goleman to a more moderate position or remove him from power if he resists. Research will be made to ensure the safety and stability of Elerium technology on both theaters of operation. Orders will be passed down ensuring strict secrecy to prevent any conflict with our allies. Are there any questions?”
One by one the Councilmen disconnected without a word, and Zero followed suit. The moment the disconnect message appeared on the screen, he tapped another place on his desk before clasping his hands before him.
“Good evening, Commander.”