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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5169281" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 20 (September 8, 2008)Chapter 81“Should be an interesting briefing,” Catalina said, shooting a wry smile at Vasily, who merely grunted as he held open the door for her and Jane.  They felt human again, or at least close to it, washed and fed if not rested.  They’d gotten back late from Dallas, well after midnight, and it was still early in the morning in Nevada, although it was hard to keep track of time this far underground and the chaotic schedules that HQX kept. The briefing was just the department heads and Alphas.  Drake was there, and she met them with a hard look as they took their seats. “So, we met somebody,” Catalina said.  “Someone we had met before, only now she has a name.”“Yes?” Garret asked. “Enough playing games,” Drake hissed.  “If you have something to share, just say it.”Catalina’s look said that she was enjoying the chance to torment Drake.  “A ‘friend’ of Agent Drake, referred to her by first name.  We found her in Dallas locked in a room.”“Vala,” Jane said.  “Said her name was Vala.”“Vala was there?” Garret asked, looking at Drake. “She claimed to be involved with other… agency investigating aliens,” Vasily said. Drake let out a heavy sigh.  “So.  You’ve met my sister.”“Not first time we…” Vasily was saying, but he trailed off at Drake’s words.  “The plot thickens,” Catalina said, her lips twisting. “Yes.  Her name is Vala Night,” Drake said.  “She’s a sellout.  Country and service weren’t good enough for her, no, she took her talents to the private sector.”Catalina leaned forward in her seat and put her elbows on the table.  “See, we were wondering how your department was going to feel about the fact that we found a potentially interstellar spaceship based on American design.”Drake’s eyes narrowed, but Catalina kept pressing.  “Did you know you were in a glass house when you started throwing bricks the other day, Agent Drake?”“I am not responsible for the actions of my… sister,” the other woman returned. “I think an apology might be nice, considering remarks made in recent conversations.”“I have nothing to apologize for.  You Alphas have been reckless, and even dangerous, in your behavior.”Catalina opened her mouth to respond, but Vasily rose from his chair, and cut her off.  “Enough, both!  Can we not talk about important things now?”The two women subsided, although the look between them could have ignited a match.  Doctor Wagner brought up an image of the ship in the warehouse on the big screen.  “We’ve been looking at the blueprints you brought back,” she said.  “Apparently they’ve been working on a ship design that had been abandoned a few years back, during the post-9/11 budget cuts.”  “Who is ‘they’?” Vasily asked.  “Cannot believe aliens just decide to do this.”“We hope to have more information about what the aliens were trying to accomplish once we’ve had a chance to study the data you brought back,” Garret said, “We’re also working on the collaboration angle and will have more to report soon, hopefully.”  He looked at Wagner, who nodded.“We’ll find the traitors and deal with them,” Drake said.  Grace, leaning back against the table, looking at the display, nodded to herself.  “Actually, it makes sense, in a way.  All of the alien ships we’ve encountered thus far, they are system vessels, nothing more.  No way they could make a distance beyond our solar system.”“The report from the captured alien navigator indicates the same,” Wagner said.  “Our latest assumption is that the aliens are operating from a base somewhere inside our solar system.”“Could it be a larger ship?” Catalina asked. “We don’t know,” Wagner returned. “We have very little capability to scan the system right now.  We lost Hubble, along with every other Earth-orbit satellite, during week one of the invasion.”“We need to decide what we’re going to do with this information,” Garret said. “There’s something else,” Wagner said.  “From the files on the navigator interrogation.”  Once all eyes had shifted to her, she brought up an image of the planet, with glowing traces indicating the tracks of alien ships that had been detected by X-COM or other global agencies.  “Between what the creature told us, and what we’ve been studying in the tracking data, we think we’re getting closer to locating a terrestrial alien base.”  She pressed some keys and highlighted several of the traces.  “There’s been an active pattern of alien activity over the southern hemisphere.”“Now we talking,” Vasily said. “Any chance the new data from the captured ship will help us get there?” Catalina asked.  “We won’t know for sure until we analyze all the data, agent De Farrago,” Garret said. “Thus far, we’ve assumed that they have bases on Earth, but without satellite cover, and limited ability to challenge the aliens in the air, we haven’t been able to pinpoint one.”“Try China, or France,” Drake said. “Uh, not in southern hemisphere, I pretty sure, Agent,” Vasily said. “Anything in their biology indicate favored environs or climates?” Hadrian asked. “Some of them seem to like warmer ones,” Jane noted.“Might help narrow down areas for native environ bases here on Earth,” the Marine concluded.“A good idea,” Garret said.  “But thus far,” Wagner said, “the alien species we’ve found seem to come in a broad range.  They seem to be highly adaptable.”  “Mmm, they may not go outside,” Catalina said. “If there’s anything I’ve learned about this threat, is that we can’t expect them to be predictable,” Garret said.  “Thus far, the aliens have shown us plenty of surprises.” The others shared a long look around the table, but no one disagreed.</blockquote>

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