June 12, 1999 - 40.5N, 31.8E - Köroğlu Mountain Range - Bolu Province, Turkey

The V-22 Osprey’s rotors began to spool down as the aircraft hit the ground with a thump. The assembled passengers began releasing straps and buckles to disembark and begin preliminary work on what would become one of the largest secret undertakings in the world. Talanova Ilyinishna looked around at the other members of the engineering and planning crew. As head of the construction and design it was her responsibility to do things right, and nothing would let her bring shame to her Mother Russia.

Tala hurried down the back ramp and immediate starting to assess the landing area for a place to put up the temporary shelters for the initial wave of people coming to work on the project. Another V-22 was scheduled to arrive in an hour and would contain most of the geological sciences team to assess the selected mountain site. Then more crews would be arriving with heavy duty mining equipment, demolition teams, and more headaches than she cared to think about. This was a huge undertaking, and trying to keep it all a secret was going to be both an exercise in patience and a challenge in organizational skills.

“Get the tents set up over there under that tree line, and start piling the supplies out of the way. The science team will be here soon and the rest of the prefabs will be delivered over the next 24 hours,” she shouted to the group. Everybody hustled to get things moving so the Osprey could lift off. The pair of soldier deployed with the engineering team, a US Air Force Combat Controller and a Combat Weatherman, moved off to get setup and prepare the area for night landing operations.

Satisfied at the lack of complaints directed toward her, Tala went to the supply crates at a brisk walk. Rummaging through one of the boxes with her name on it she dug out a theodolite to get to work.

Several hours and two transports later the site was starting to take shape. Many of the prefabs were up and most of the camp was set up and ready for use. Already the science and engineering teams made progress in determining the best approach to construction on the base. The mountain was primarily igneous in nature so heavy mining equipment would be required to bore into the mountain and get the foundation started. The site had promise for internal non-nuclear power due in large part to the highly volcanic area around the tectonic plates.

As darkness closed in, the on-site team gathered for an evening meal of military MREs which yielded no small number of complaints from people accustomed to eating ‘real’, prepared food. Dr. Kayode and Dr. Opeyemi were in a heated discussion about thermal power generation, while Dr. Ishikawa stared off into space, her MRE untouched. Tala leaned over and nudged her shoulder. “Penny for your thoughts?”

Dr. Ishikawa blinked a few times glancing at Tala before staring at her MRE. “I was hoping for a lollipop for after dinner, but I forget to pack any and this,” she paused “food, doesn’t have a desert option. Is this normal for soldiers? No sweets?” Tala stared at her for a moment before releasing a full belly laugh. She patted Dr. Ishikawa on the shoulder, “Aiko, I’ll make sure some lollipops are in one of the next supply shipments.” Aiko smiled mirthfully and turned to eat her dinner. “I still have to say. This is quite an exhilarating experience is it not? On the frontier of something like a grand adventure into the unknown.”

Tala smiled before nodding. “It sure beats working back in the homeland that’s for sure. Did you have to leave any family behind?” Aiko shook her head, “No, that’s partly why I was a selection candidate. Most of my family has passed on and I never had the interest to start a family of my own. There’s always too much to learn and do and never enough time.” Tala nodded knowingly, “I think that’s the case with most of us. No ties to the world that could jeopardize the Project. Still, it would be nice to have some comforts from home.”

Aiko looked ponderously for a moment before asking, “Well why can’t we? Are we also responsible for design of the project? Who’s to say we don’t need some comforts from home. Everybody needs some time to relax. I’m sure the soldiers are used to living in a barracks with little to entertain them. What’s wrong with setting aside some space for rest and relaxation?” Tala thought for a moment before standing up, “I’ll be back in a moment.” She went into the first prefab that had been set up as a headquarters for the building and construction teams and grabbed the initial draft of the blueprints and took them back to the mess tent. “If we make some adjustments here, and here we could probably set up something like a commons.” The two talked into the night as they made plan after plan.

January 3, 2001 - 40.5N, 31.8E - Köroğlu Mountain Range - Bolu Province, Turkey

“I have to say, using the rock we’ve mined out of the mountain and crushing it locally to make concrete has made this project a hell of a lot easier.” Dr. Alfred Broughten said to Tala. “If we had to ship in the amount of concrete we’re using, the cost would have been exorbitant.” Tala grunted in agreement. “We’re already over our yearly budget and we still haven’t finish constructing the damn thing. You’d think after nearly two years we’d have more progress than we have.”

Alfred nodded, “We’re behind schedule significantly. On top of that we only have a single platoon of soldiers as our base security, and no real ability to defend against anything dangerous.” Alfred frowned as he gazed at the tunnel entrance. “We still aren’t even remotely close to getting the catapult systems built since that section of the mountain hasn’t even started to be cored out.” He turned to Tala, “For being a first strike capable installation, we’re failing in every respect. The Omega Council is breathing down our necks to get everything finished, and yet here we are, still unable to start brining in anything beyond construction equipment.” He spat on the ground.

“Cheer up Alfred, it’s me they’re yelling at. I’m sure you’ll get the facility finished before the Aliens invade and destroy everything. I hope anyway.” She glance to the sky nervously. Can you believe it’s been almost 8 years and there still hasn’t been a second recorded incident? That ship is still in orbit around Saturn. What could they be waiting for I wonder?” Alfred joined her gaze at the sky. “I don’t know Tala. I just don’t know. What ever it is, I’m sure it’s going to be bad for us. All the more reason to get this project finished. I’ll see you at lunch?” Tala nodded with a smile. “Lunch it is, dosvidaniya.”

February 16, 2003 - Adi Ghar Cave Complex - Kandahar Province, Afghanistan

“Sir, you really need to see this.” Shouted Specialist Nathan Green as he motioned with his rifle toward a stack of crates. “What did you find Green? More weapons?” asked Staff Sergeant Alan Parsons. The Specialist shook his head, “No sir, I’m not exactly sure what this is I found, but it is definitely out of place.” Parsons walked over and inspected the crates. “I don’t see anything unusual here, Green. What are you referring to?” Green pointed behind the crates, “Back there, sir.”

Green moved the top crate out of the way and pointed to Parsons. “That, sir.” Green was pointing at a skeleton, but the proportions were all wrong and the skull looked very misshapen. “We probably shouldn’t touch that. That looks like something a scientist would fiddle with, not a soldier. Catalog it as unusual remains and continue with your work.” Parsons walked back out toward the mouth of the cave and pulled out a satellite radio. Looking around to make sure he had privacy he dialed up the only number the phone would connect to. “Switchboard” came the reply on the other end. “X-Ray One Actual. I think we found it, and how it got here I have no idea. Co-ordinates are attached.” “Noted, secure and detain.”

Parsons grimaced at the order. “Yes, sir. X-Ray One out.” Parsons re-entered the cave and moved back to the crates. “Green,” he said, “have you shown this to anybody else?” Green nodded, “Just the rest of our squad. Why?” Parsons sighed and shook his head imagining the nightmare this was going to cause. “Green gather the squad and bring them all here. Say nothing other than I said get here on the double.” Green nodded and ran off. “Just my luck that out of all us read into the program, I’d be the one to find the damn thing. At least it isn’t alive.”

Green came back with the rest of the squad a few minutes later. “All present and accounted for sir,” said Green. Parsons nodded, “All right here’s the situation. This area is now under a NATO lock down. We’re lucky this is just a small tunnel used for storage so it’s going to be easy to secure. As of right now our sole mission is to prevent anybody from coming into this cave branch until a specialist team arrives and authenticates themselves.” The soldiers glance around to each other.

“Sir, why?” said Private First Class Yates. “Because of what was discovered behind this crate. I can’t say more than that because you all don’t have clearance, but because you were all told by Green here, you’re all considered contamination of information.” Everybody gave nervous glances around before Green spoke up. “Did I fuck up something? Sir?” Parsons shook his head while keeping an eye on the tunnel mouth. “No son you didn’t, but your life, all of your lives, are going to be a lot more interesting from this point forward.”

Green peered behind the crates, “Sir what is it that we found?” Parson stared at the specialist long enough that Green didn’t think he was going to get an answer before Parsons finally spoke up. “Something that isn’t from earth. I won’t say more.” Excited murmurs came from the squad before Parsons quited them down. “Don’t attract more attention over here than is necessary. There isn’t anyone else on this mission with clearance for this. And settle in boys. We probably won’t be returning to base.”

February 20, 2003 - 40.5N, 31.8E - Köroğlu Mountain Range - Bolu Province, Turkey

Lieutenant Colonel Marcus Feltcher looked at the squad seated around his desk. Most of them looked nervous and kept glancing around to each other. The squad leader however sat casually. He must be the one read into the program. Marcus leafed through the report on his desk before addressing the soldiers. “By now you’ve all figured out that you’ve stumbled into something sensitive enough that you were unable to return to your regular unit before a debrief. Most of you already have secret level clearance as part of being in Special Operations, but this issue goes beyond Top Secret. You’re lucky that your Squad Leader, Parsons, not only holds the correct clearance, but was already a part of the program.”

“I’ll break this down as simple as possible. You found the remains of an Extra Terrestrial that we’ve been trying to find for almost 10 years. Yes, like an alien. As in from outer space. Or as I suppose the scientists here like to remind us grunts, Extra-solar entities.” A small round of nervous chuckles went around the room. Marcus smiled as the tension in the room seemed to drain with that remark. “So it comes down to this. All of this is obviously classified at the highest level, so you have a choice. The 9 of you besides Parsons can return to your regular units and never speak of this again, or you can join the Program. Let me be clear, if you opt to join the Program you’re going to think all the special training you took to earn your place among the special forces was a walk in the park. Our failure rate makes BUDS look easy by comparison.”

Marcus grinned, “And for the 7 of you who haven’t already qualified as a SEAL, you will go through BUDS along with every other special tactics training offered by the best militaries in the world.” He glanced at Parsons, “This means you as well.” Parsons blanched before agreeing, “Yes sir.” Marcus nodded, “Then you all are dismissed for the time being. There is a small commons down on level 3 with a cafeteria and other luxuries. You are not to partake in the luxuries but get some food and think it over. You have until 20:00 local time tonight to make your decisions.” The squad stood, saluted and exited to office. Marcus spend a moment looking after them before sighing and turning to the paperwork this was going to generate.