Part 14

We now go to the MegaPol news conference

MegaPol Chief: Ladies and Gentlemen, members of the press - I am here with members of X-COM to discuss the recent events in the city, namely the attack made upon the Senate. As we have all seen in the videos, soldiers appearing to be members of X-COM attacked and damaged the building. We have analyzed the remains of the soldiers who died during this attack, and have discovered who was responsible. It appears that the criminal gangs operating in the city are to blame, and have attempted to divert the focus onto X-COM.

*murmers from the crowd*

Reporter: Do you know which gang?

MegaPol Chief: Osiron.

Reporter: What proof do you have?

MegaPol Chief: The weaponry and armor used in the attack had serial numbers and quantum identification dots. While almost all traces of these IDs were removed, we uncovered enough evidence to link a suit of armor to a police officer killed in the line of duty while policing an Osiron raid. Other items and weapons were eventually linked back to those used or captured in Osiron raids.

The soldiers used in the attack were former members of the Cult of Sirius. The leadership of the Cult have provided us with extensive information on these people in exchange for assistance in rebuilding their temple. These previous Cult members were excommunicated from the Cult for being too violent, and eventually hired and supplied by Osiron for the attack.

Reporter: Then why did X-COM attack their Temple?

MegaPol Chief: They have their reasons, that's all I can say.

Reporter: What does the city intend to do about Osiron?

MegaPol Chief: Our officers and even some X-COM agents have joined us in the search for Osiron's leaders, and will prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

----

Tuesday March 14, 2084, 21:15

*BEGIN RECORDING*

I have included the last two recordings for completeness purposes.

I was very worried when the Government practically forced us to have a civilian reporter follow us around for a day. Sensovision has always been an alarmist and propaganda distributer hostile to X-COM. I was not surprised when they found a way to twist their footage to match their views.

Good news came from the MegaPol investigation. We've essentially been cleared of the Senate frame-job, but we have a new enemy to worry about.

It's unlike Osiron to do something so blatantly aggressive, especially if it could be traced back to them. The other two major gangs in the city are reportedly eager to help MegaPol in locating Osiron bases, in exchange for various compensation.

X-COM has good relations with certain Diablo members as they manufacture and sell excellent incendiary grenades.

There has also been two other good pieces of news that came in today.

A shot from the Sensovision report shows, in the bottom right, an encounter between Soup-Bot and a brainsucker. Soup-Bot was able to confirm that the brainsucker did not react to him in any way whatsoever, even at this close range.

The second piece of good news is that our attack on the Cult of Sirius hurt them financially so much, that they are desperate for aid, even to the point of fully cooperating with MegaPol. We did confirm that the Cult had no involvement with the Senate attack, and many of our soldiers suspect they didn't bomb our base either. It was very nice of the MegaPol chief to lie to the reporters for us when they asked for a reason why we attacked the Cult temple.

Even with only a partial rebuild of their temple going on, they're already financially ruined. We shouldn't expect anymore problems from the Cult.

*END RECORDING*

Thursday March 16, 2084, 12:00

*BEGIN RECORDING*

It's been very nice to have two quiet days in a row. We've been able to catch up on some research.

After examining the alien eggs, our scientists have a theory - that all the aliens and their technology, might somehow be all related to each other.

They are investigating.

Yesterday this transport ship came through the dimension gate.

We were expecting another large incursion, but only two scout ships came as escort.

Our new Hawk Air Warrior, named "Justice" by Tupperwarez, helped destroy the scouts in its first combat engagement.

It also made quick work of the transport. No ship was allowed to drop any aliens into the city.

The UFO attack was routine with no casualties. New recruits Xmas Future, SynthOrange and lilljonas were hired to fill in for some of our injured soldiers. Two important events did take place inside.

Soup-Bot once again proved androids can be highly useful...

...by finally capturing a live popper. It would be a great benefit to discover the explosive nature of this creature, and weaponize it into a more powerful grenade.

A few of the Anthropods inside were using a new weapon instead of the brainsucker launchers they had been carrying before.

This new weapon appears to be some kind of powerful organic plasma weapon. Reverse-engineering alien weaponry was a huge reason we were able to win the previous two wars, and I can't wait for our scientists to get a look at this gun.

Examining the alien weapon will have to wait though.

Strangleglove finished researching the alien propulsion system. His report went way over my head, but he believes he's close to being able to open the dimension gates for our use. We have no ship or weapon we could sent through yet, but it's a great start. The big problem is that Strangleglove has been getting jealous of all the work being done on the new Biochem lab - he's wanting his own larger, more equipped lab. Wir need ein neues laboratory! Zee qvantum microdiscriminator arbeitet NICHT GUT! and so on is all I hear out of him lately. I gave him the same deal I gave the biochem guys - design me a better lab yourself, and we'll build it.

*END RECORDING*