Update 7: Air SupportApril 7thWork is completed on some things, and so begins on another satellite uplink. I'm almost tempted to build another workshop instead, but the benefits of additional satellites can't be overstated.
Unfortunately, we also receive word of abductions in progress, in Brazil, Australia, and France. This makes for a difficult decision, as both Argentina and United Kingdom are rather nervous right now- strictly speaking, I don't think we can afford to ignore either one.
Alas, we've got no choice, so I go with Argentina based on gut. Hopefully ignoring the more densely populated continents won't have repercussions beyond United Kingdom going berserk...
This mission is also estimated to be difficult, as opposed to the other two sites which were gauged at moderate difficulty. Hopefully that means we're interfering with their strongest section and not just making a horrible mistake on risk
and reward.
Nydus is called up to lead the team. I want Darkmoon as well, but can't justify sending her on two missions in a row. Armok and Kirk are called in instead, as well as Ran'dum, our new recruit.
Operation Driving Flame
Hm, this looks strangely familiar somehow... well, no matter.
The squad advances slowly, seeing nothing for a ways, before suddenly noticing sectoids. lots of them. They scamper about, most retreating further but one skittering behind a motorcycle up ahead. The squad opens fire but can't hit it, and it soon receives an overcharge from one of its friends.
Two more scurry back into view, taking cover behind a taxi, and all three open fire on Nydus. She's fine, though a van behind her explodes under the onslaught.
I also... notice things in the distance. They haven't spotted us yet, but uh oh.
The rookie manages to wound the sectoid, giving me the idea to cap- just kidding! No, we're not capturing it. In fact, Armok moves to the other side of her van and finally gets a clear shot, killing it.
The remaining sectoids scamper about, one receiving an overcharge then fleeing, the other moving behind a police car and waiting for someone to make a move. Our flying cyborg friends move around but still don't engage. Maybe they think sectoids are stupid and panic over nothing.
Nydus manages to nail the sectoid behind the cop car, then reloads. The rest of the squad follows suit, banking on nothing coming out of the darkness. Nothing does, and they resume trying to advance a bit.
Unfortunately this just reveals thin men and brief sightings of the sectoids. The cop car they're hiding behind is soon on fire, forcing everyone to pull back. One poisons Nydus and the other wounds Kirk soon after. Ran'dum moves through the poison cloud trying to pull back even further, however, leaving us with two poisoned, one injured, and one medkit.
Kirk and Ran'dum then complicate matters by panicking. Kirk hunkers down, Ran'dum fires at the thin man but misses. Nydus fires at the thin man continuously but fails to connect, and Armok, unable to decide who needs medical attention the most, pulls back to her van and opens fire on the thin man, now in the open from her vantage point, killing it.
Plasma fire then streaks out from an unseen attacker, wounding Ran'dum further. He's okay though.
Then the car everyone was hiding behind explodes, killing Kirk and Ran'dum instantly and knocking Nydus to critical condition.
It wasn't even on fire.
Armok moves in to stabilize Nydus, but is soon left with a grim decision. She can certainly hoof it to the Skyranger, but she can't drag Nydus with her in the process [BS
]. On the other hand... at least one thin man, two floaters, and, oh, let's say three sectoids lurk in yonder darkness.
Deciding to at least try, she lies in wait for something to emerge. Soon enough, a thin man darts across the street, and she fires but misses. It returns fire, also ineffectually, before she scuttles to the other side of the car and blows it away.
Well... now it's just three sectoids and two cyborgs. At a minimum.
She lies in wait, and an overcharged sectoid scurries out of the darkness, weathers a missed shot, and scurries right back in. It then does it a second time, after a little while, and so Armok decides she can afford to advance out of cover a bit, reload, and then advance to the blackened car in front of her to take a shot.
Unfortunately, the overcharges sectoid was doing some lying in wait of his own, and hit Armok [2]. Even more unfortunately, this finally woke up those two cyborgs from before.
Deciding that she can't run far enough to get to cover or outrange her opponents, she throws down a smoke grenade and hopes for the best.
"The best" is not quite good enough. The sectoid fires are her and misses, but one cyborg flies into the sky and returns to cut her off, while the other tries to pin her down with fire.
Things are
grim. If she runs for it, she'll probably be gunned down by all three of them. If she moves behind the ruined husk of a car and point-blanks that floater, the overcharged sectoid will definitely gun her down and the suppressing one might.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Topic: Let's Play: XCOM [Update 7.2: Dead but with a descendant] (Read 19006 times)