The X-Project

[to] Xavier, Charles
[from] USMC Overseas Procurement Office (USAC200-4500B) - Karachi div.

Professor,

I apologize about the seemingly duplicity, but I'm trying to bury this email off channel, and the Marine Corps outdated and exceedingly busy and boring procurement system is the least monitored and secure method I could find.

I received a private message from Lilandra Neramani through, let's just say, 'unofficial' channels. As she noted in her last letter to us, as a result of her involvement the re-acquisition of Lhendup Rimpoche Lhatsun, her brother organized several high level ministerial appointments under her initiative, and has shown increased trust in his sister.

Thanks to Lilandra, apparently a Sikh politician named Mankaran Singh Shahraj has finally started to organize some effective opposition of Neramani's leading coalition, and has been putting together a plan to curb what he terms as a 'reckless and unnecessarily antagonistic foreign policy'. In short, he's the only man on the table in their Parliament with the connections and pull to hope to counterbalance Prime Minister Neramani's increasingly worrisome aggressive stance.

Shahraj has been on a working vacation in Chharabra, putting together some kind of coalition strategy to present to the other parties that are considering joining his cause. We just got word that a group of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists have seized the Wallflower hotel, and taken every one in it hostage. Including Shahraj. According to some information that Lilandra was privy to, she believes that her brother is going to use this incident (he might have even had a hand in orchestrating it), to make sure that Shahraj is an unfortunate victim when Indian authorities retake the hotel.

Charles, I realize this is starting to edge towards a lot of bounderies for you, but this is a state-organized assassination designed to take the last controls off a man with territorial ambitions, nuclear weapons, a massive military and a mutant strike force of significant power. It can't be allowed to happen.

The Unitied States can't do anything. Even if they knew I was in touch with Neramani, there's no way State or the Joint Chiefs could put together a feasible operation even if they wanted to. But you can. I still have a lot of friends who owe me a lot of favours in the service, and if you're willing, I think I can arrange to get your people in and out of Northern India secretly.

I will completely understand if you say no, Charles. There's nothing to like about this, and it involves risking you and your own in a major fashion. But this is important, and if not us, who?

--Lt. Gen. William Bastion