Ok, UFO-40, here we come!
"Hey, check this out." Kevin and Tyson were in the Hyperwave decoder room. They were checking out the equipment, though really they didn't know why. They had scoured everything before, and the whole mess was so confusing that it didn't make any sense. Really, they were just waiting for another UFO.
"What is it?" Kevin asked, leaving a game of solitaire.
"Look at this. UFO-40, species, Ethereal. Wonder what that is."
"Well, the word means highly advanced, or refined."
Tyson eyed him. "Kevin, how do you know such things? You're my go to guy for anything vocabulary related."
"Ha ha. Alien terror, central Asia. Must be a scouting craft for a later terror mission." They had started to realize that the missions these aliens were doing weren't just out of the blue, they actually had several parts to them, several craft involved in each.
They both started heading for the hangar when multiple alarms went off. The standard UFO sighted lights were on, but now nearly every light was flashing. They arrived in the hangar in a midst of confusion. Everyone was wondering what was going on. Why such excitement over a small UFO? A different species, sure, but still, not bad enough to be classified as a terror attack. Kevin noticed the general, speaking to some men wearing dark trench coats, and sunglasses.....Contributors? He had seen others like them, but they had business suits on, very diplomatic like. These guys were straight from the matrix.
Before he could get a better look they left the General and headed for the hanger exit. Kevin wanted to follow them, but before he could, the General grabbed him. "Come over here. Have you seen Natalie anywhere?"
Kevin didn't answer, but simply followed, watching the coated men leave the room.
General Grey stood on the Skyranger's dropped launch ramp. "Ok, everyone, calm down." The volume quickly dropped. "We've spotted a UFO, with a race called Ethereal. We have specific instructions to engage at all haste, the interceptor is already gone and we need to launch this as well." This was fairly normal. What he said next, was not. "Instead of doing the regular attack, we are going to use only a select few to engage this UFO. Kevin D., Natalie C., Zen Halen, Ajay, and Devyn. You five will be engaging the enemy. The flight suits and everything you need is on the Skyranger, we need you all to leave now."
Only those five? Kevin wondered what made him so special. He was the best soldier, but you would think that the commander would also get to go, or something. Tyson was approaching the General right then, and Kevin followed.
"What are you doing? I thought I decided who went on these attacks," Tyson said angrily. The General stared him in the eyes.
"You do not need to go."
"What? I'm the commander of all these forces, shouldn't I get to see what is dropping down from the skies first hand, so I will know how to deal with them?"
"The Contributors are in complete control of this mission. Kevin, please hurry on the Skyranger, we need to leave as soon as we can."
With that the General pushed past them. "What on earth? I really don't know what's going on here."
"Yeah, it all is pretty weird to me too. Why am I one going?"
"Well, you are the best soldier out of all of us. I just don't like these Contributors. What's different about this UFO than the other ones? We've never met these aliens before..."
"Maybe they know something we don't..." They both looked at each other, thinking the same thing. The Skyranger's engines began to fire up. Tyson clapped Kevin on the shoulder. "Good luck."
The Skyranger took off. Both of the tanks were on board now. They had given them names, the flying one Howard, the rocket tank Bessie. It was somewhat odd, Kevin thought. Both tanks had their names stenciled into their sides. It did make communication easier, though. Natalie, Ajay, Zen and Devyn. Interesting choices. All of them had experience, that was certain. But some, like Courtney J. or Tyson, who also had experience and skill, were left out. It was all very strange.
Shortly after the Skyranger left, the UFO was lost. It had been heading south, towards India. The Interceptor was a few hundred miles ahead of them, it would arrive within the hour and scout. The Skyranger was a supersonic craft. But that didn't make the ride seem any shorter. They could communicate with the base, though usually nothing happened until they were landing on the ground. They were still about an hour away when the interceptor reported finding the UFO. It was landed in central India. No one congratulated them on the discovery from base, which Kevin found odd.
As they neared the Indian Coast, the crew began looking for weapons. All that was left on the Skyranger was stun launchers, medi-kits, and some smoke grenades. They assumed they were going to have to capture the entire alien force. Though they had plenty of ammunition. Then they received a communication from command.
"Hello? Hello?" Kevin didn't recognize the voice, but there were plenty of guys at HQ that could be speaking to them.
"Yes, command, we read you."
"Ahh, yes. Colonel Kevin, I assume."
"Yes command, I read you. What do you have to tell us?" everyone could hear this communication.
"Colonel, you and your crew are going up against the toughest aliens out there. I'm assuming you've been wondering why you've all been chosen to go on this mission? Well, the aliens that you're going up against have similar mind powers as the ones you've experienced, only stronger."
How did they know this? The aliens had only barely entered the atmosphere. "Umm, affirmative, command..."
"Yes. Well, we have a special mission for you. The UFO is on the ground. You may have realized that you have a load of non-lethal stun weapons. Your goal for this mission is to capture one of these Ethereal aliens alive..."
Kevin mouthed to Natalie, "Who is this guy?" to which she just shrugged. Capturing the aliens. Well...that was a plan from before. Though only if it was a commander. And they were only in bases. Kevin interrupted. "Uh, command, what do you mean capture? Are we going for the ships captain, or-"
"No, colonel. Your goal is to capture at least one of these aliens. You are then ordered to pull out. Allow the tanks to do the spotting, and then you will capture the alien and bring it back to the Skyranger and return to base as soon as possible."
"I'm sorry, sir. The whole thing is just really confusing."
"Don't worry colonel we'll guide you through." The comm clicked off.
"What was that?" Kevin asked. Naturally no one had an answer. The Skyranger was only 5 minutes away from the UFO. They put on their helmets and got ready to move off of the craft. Kevin glanced over at Natalie. They were both in front, behind the tanks, at least. The Skyranger curved, and began it's descent. The craft hit the ground, and the hatch slid open. Bessie rolled off the back of the ramp. It was just before sunset.
"Alien located. Right side." The plasma tank moved off as well. Kevin looked at Natalie, who gave him a nod. He nodded back, then moved to the Skyranger's exit. "Colonel, your crew needs to stay hidden as best as possible. Don't let the aliens see you if you can help it." "OK, yes, sir." Howard had moved straight north, sighting the side of the UFO. Kevin flew out. The ground was covered with tall hedges, but his flying suit conquered that. Bessie had passed through a hole in the hedges. On the other side, Kevin saw an orange cloaked figure. It looked like Darth Sidious from Star Wars. Kevin aimed his stun launcher, and fired away at the creature. The bolt missed, but the explosion hit it and it fell down. "I've got it, it's down." Natalie had walked up behind him. "OK, I'm heading for it. Stay in cover." Kevin moved back behind the Skyranger's large thrusters.
Natalie walked across the field to where the Ethereal lay. The plasma tank continued to look around, but didn't see anything. "I've got it. I'm heading back." "Ok, we're covering you," Kevin responded. Though he only had a small launcher that wasn't even loaded. His map still showed all clear though. But then he heard the sliding of a UFO door.
"Bessie, make sure Natalie has cover," Kevin commanded. He checked his view, and switched it to Howard's. The tank was still 13 feet high. It turned toward the UFO. The large hedges covered it's view of the door, but on the side it located another cloaked figure. "This is Howard, opening fire." It shot the Ethereal, but one shot didn't bring it down. After the second one it fell, though.
Kevin looked over to Natalie. She wasn't moving very fast. "Natalie, do you need help?" "It's heavy, but I don't have far to go..." She was only about 15 meters away. She tossed her stun launcher in the direction of the Skyranger. Kevin hopped out to grab it. The unknown command spoke to them again. "As soon as the alien is on we're calling the tanks back and taking off." There couldn't have been more than two more aliens out there. They could grab the heavy plasmas and likely finish them. Natalie flew up the ramp, she was almost in, Kevin behind her lower down. She was holding the alien over her shoulder, it's hood still covered it's face. A very odd creature indeed. Then it flinched, and almost faster than he thought possible it jumped off Natalie's back, almost knocking Kevin off the ramp. Kevin could feel a mind blast, but it wasn't very strong. Though he could tell it came from the half-asleep alien in front of him. And if the other Aliens knew where they were....
A purple explosion covered the alien. One of the crew had seen it move and took a shot at it. It collapsed again. Natalie turned to Kevin. "Did you feel that?" He nodded, "Let's get out of here." She grabbed her dropped weapon, and Kevin hauled the alien inside, realizing that the alien was looking at Natalie when it did it's attack. Both tanks quickly returned into the Skyranger, and almost instantly the hatch was closing and the ship was taking off again.
"Well done, soldiers. Excellent job." The comm clicked off permanently. Kevin was slightly drowsy from the stun blast, but the tingling was subsiding. He looked out the window, to see the UFO begin moving as they flew away. Interceptor-1 noticed it, but was ordered to disengage. The fighter returned home 4 hours before the Skyranger. They noticed that the UFO was still tracking the Skyranger. "You think they want their friend back?" Kevin asked. "Possible." It was still about 100 miles away, but following the course of the Skyranger directly. Eventually it turned north, and returned to space. The Skyranger made it's way home.
Tyson was waiting as the Skyranger returned. He seemed anxious. "Kevin, what did you do?" "Well, we landed, stunned one of those aliens, and got back on and came home."
"They cut the comms here as soon as you hit the Indian Ocean. We had no idea what was going on."
"Really? We were getting briefed on the capture by someone before hand. I figured it was here, but...they did know all about these Ethereals."
"Contributors?" They looked at each other. It was most likely. "Yeah, that's my bet. He gave us orders, then cut the comms once they were done. I couldn't ask anything. They told us the aliens were very powerful psis. And to watch out. They masterminded this thing, and they know what they're talking about."
Tyson just looked confused. "Huh, we'll have to think about this later. What's up with those Ethereals?"
"I didn't really see them. They're fast though. I mean, they can react fast. We knocked one out, but it woke up, and I felt it attack. Not as strong as a Sectoid, but I think it was attacking Natalie. And it was half asleep, I was just standing right behind it."
"Wow. That doesn't sound good."
"And the tank shot one. Took two hits to bring one down."
"Well, at least everyone made it back fine. These things must be really important. I wonder what they expect to find."
"I wonder why they can't just tell us that themselves, since they know everything."
Tyson just shrugged. There wasn't much else you could do.
Sweet! Psionic research, here we come! Sure, we probably have an Ethereal terror mission in the works... but look at the glass half full. Short chapter but a great accomplishment. And since this counts as a mission on everyone's record, Natalie gets the MVP, and Zen gets the kill, as it woke up after Kevin shot it.
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