Main Research Lab

The Main Research Lab is where all primary research is being conducted by X-COM.

On the first day of his visit a nervous Professor Hideyoshi is lead around the place by a young fanatical girl. He quietly observes the entire room and takes notes on his tablet as miss Hotham dashes around the place detailing just about anything that got her attention. Four other scientists are in the room, hard at work bent over white tables, peering in microscopes or inspecting changing graphs on a giant monitor. None seem to take any note of Katy's otherwise energetic performance.

Katy says:

"" Is this not cool Professor? Should I call you professor? Should I call you Hide maybe? Oh professor, we currently have a team of soldiers on route to investigate an "presumed" alien artifact. I can't wait till they bring something back so we can unleash all these toys upon it! Quick question: When it is time to cut open an alien, may I please do it? ""


<Hideyoshi suddenly laughs heartily at Kathy's enthusiasm.>

Hideyoshi says:

"" Purease justeh carroh me purofessor fo' now, I preferuh to keep things a' purofessiona' as possuburu on the~ah work-furor. Anno, when the~ah time come, you may surery assistu me on the~ah opuration on the erien. ""


Katy smiles and nods as she picks up her bubbly speech about whatever came to her mind in that moment. All the while, the professor slowly calms down as he gets more comfortable with the environment that he will call his home for a while.
Suddenly Kathy stops her talk, she looks up with her big eyes and then sprints off to one end of the laboratory. Hideyoshi, somewhat confused, observes her from a distance as he side-lings greets one of the other laboratory assistants. Right after they formally exchanged names, Katy runs in return, closely holding a tablet computer to her chest as if it were precious to her.

Katy says:

"" Before I forget Professor, take a look at this. I have made a basic report for your welcome on the status of your research team! ""

Department: Research

Number of scientists employed: 5

Current budget: 110$

Current budget received: 30% of all X-COM funding

Number of labs: 0

The professor looks at the screen and gives a confirming nod.

Katy then takes the tablet away again.

Katy says:

"" Oh... yes... You should now, we will have to work together with all the other departments here in X-COM. Engineering can build new labs for us so we can increase our research speed/ We will also need engineering to construct specific things for us if we need them, other then that we will need to communicate ALLOT with them. Anything we can think of... they can build! Isn't that cool? We will also need to speak with tactical. They are in charge of all ground forces... and the ground forces need to be instructed not to blow everything they see up... because then we cannot examine it... we need everything whole! If you need more funding you will need to speak with the commander. Great. Everything clear? ""


Hideyoshi opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything Katy says:

"" Cool! Now let's see if I can design a camping gear and survival kit in a matchbox tool-belt! ""


And with that Katy dashes off into a messy corner of the laboratory, presumably her personal work-space, picks up a marker and adds numerous scribbles to the a giant glass whiteboard that was already filled with scientific calculations.
Hideyoshi smiles warmly at the sight, as if suddenly reminded by some distant memory, and lets out a sigh of happiness. He turns around and gazes at the busy lab. This was all his now, and the sense of opportunity made his heart swell with pride. For though he had worked hard his entire life, he knew that this was the first time that he had serious responsibilities.

The entire laboratory was a large open area, that was only broken up by large glass display panels, that functioned as intersections in the room. Hideyoshi stood there for a while, taking it all in, he closed his eyes to listen to the sounds of the lab. The place was a quiet as a library, yet Hideyoshi could hear a symphony in the works. His ears picked up the comfortable droning of the orange TL lights on the ceiling, the soft whispers of lab assistants asking questions on some puzzling calculation, thousands of soft beeps and buzzes of computers slowly processing data, the fluent squeaking of Katy's marker on the whiteboard and all the while the steady breathing of the ventilation shafts above his head.

He opened up his eyes and they immediately landed on a small curious room that stood near to the entrance of the laboratory. It consisted of three matte glass walls, reaching from floor to ceiling surrounded a matte glass door. Hideyoshi slowly approached the door, and his heart skipped a beat when he read the name on the door. There, written in white cursive letters stood the title "Professor Hideyoshi Kasurou", subtitled, "Head of Research Department".
He opened the door and looked in a small square room, that was well lit and held a firm working desk, a black office chair, some sort of filing cabinet and a simple green plant in the corner of the room. A glass monitor hanged over the table, and next to it stood a brown box, labeled "For Office of Head of Research - Warning! Handle with care.". As he opened the box, he saw that it contained most, if not all, personal items of his last working place.

Hideyoshi stood there with watery eyes as he experienced one of the most emotional moments of his life. He had done it, he had become a respectable someone. And he knew, that if he only just lived to this point, his father would surely have been proud of him.

Hideyoshi puts down his pen and lets out a long drawn sigh. A message just popped up on his computer monitor, saying that he is needed in the laboratory. He looks up from his desk and takes a moment to peer at the vague shapes beyond his matte glass walls. As he takes a sip from his now lukewarm coffee he realizes that it's been several hours since the alarm went off in the building and that he saw the stalwart soldiers marching out across the hallway to the hangar. He stretches in his chair, stands up and tells himself he should go out into the lab and see what the hassle is all about.

Katy Excitingly rushes forward when she sees the professor coming out of his office.

"" Professor, look, The soldier of the battlefield have gathered a vast amount of stuff! The rest of the team is excitingly awaiting on what we should begin researching first! ""


All the lab assistants are gathered around a number of tables, that are neatly lined up displaying alien artifacts recovered from the battlefield.
Katy leads the professor to them and stops at the fist table.

Katy says:

"" Here we have two "mysterious" (she says this in a way as if she is a ghost) containers. They seem to have some sort of energy fluid within them. I can't tell for sure, but they kind of remind me of the containers of nano machines we used to house in our laboratory. Maybe this is some kind of advanced alien nano machines... Who knows? ""


She then goes to the next table:

"" Weapon fragments! lot's and lot's of weapon fragments! I reckon we can begin testing this under a number of circumstances, maybe even find out what's inside! We do need to break down a few of them for that to happen.. of course. Maybe we can then even begin to understand what weapons they use, and later on implement that within our own weapon designs! ""


She proceeds to the third table:

"" We have also recovered a number of alien corpses! Although I would like to cut them open immediately, I think it is better if we first generate data on information we accumulated from the battlefield. That is to say, look at pictures and video's, in combination with these bodies. We can then develop a standard Alien physiology index. This already helps us immensely, and will make cutting into them much more profitable! For now, the bodies have been stored away and put on ice. ""

"" So professor, 3 research projects!. To make your choise easier, I have compiled a list of all the benefits on doing what, and the cost associated! ""

She hands the professor a tablet:

Available Research projects:

Xeno-Biology:
It is crucial that we gain a thorough understanding of the alien physiology in order to develop weapons and tactics better suited to combating them.

Research Cost: 40$         4 Days
Project Cost: 4 Unnamed alien corpses
Prerequisite for: Most Research projects


Weapon Fragments (Project):
These fragments are all that remain of the powerful alien weaponry we've encountered so far. Further study could lead to advances in our own weapons development programs.

Research Cost: 40$        4 Days
Project Cost: 5 Weapon Fragments
Prerequisite for: Most weapon related Research projects


Meld Recombination:
The invaders appear to have deployed canisters of this strange substance in human-populated areas, perhaps as an experiment. It might be a weapon of some kind. Further analysis could shed light on its potential dangers and applications.

Research Cost: 40$        4 Days
Project Cost: None
Prerequisite for: Unknown

"" Remember professor, we can only focus on one research project at the time. ""


Katy's eyes widen and glow as she says this, Hideyoshi then notices how all the other lab assistants are looking at him with great enthusiasm.

The professor thinks for a short while, all the while massaging his chin with his right hand.
He then lets out a sly smirk and looks Katy dead in the eyes.

" Did I not puromisud yu that we wirud cut up them~ah erien. So, my decision is made. Ret us aroh work hard on these~ah furesh erien body's everyone! Xeno-Biorodji, yorosh! ""

The professor gives several quick orders to his staff, sending them off to analyse the video images that were taken on the battle field, compile profile data from known sources, contact other X-COM research facilities and to make scans of the bodies.

Shortly after they received their orders everyone gets to work, leaving the professor behind with the remaining artifacts. He picks up one of the mysterious containers and closely inspects it. But he is abruptly taken out of his focus by the sound and vibration of his pager at his belt. He puts down the container, picks up the pager and reads that there is a urgent meeting in the Conference Room, and that all department heads are requested to attend immediately.

He grabs his tablet computer, tells Katy that she's in charge and walks out the laboratory with a quick pace, wondering what urgent meeting could possibly happen so soon after the return of the soldiers from the battle field. He then realizes that he hadn't even met any of the other department heads yet, let alone anyone of significance at this base. As his mind storms about awkward first meetings Hideyoshi notices how he has no idea where he is walking to. In fact, he doesn't even know where the conference room is...