Just a note before this post really begins, i am playing on experienced difficulty
I sat down at my desk and had a look over the finances of the base.
I had several million dollars to work with but after looking at the storage report I realized how little that really was. I purchased a heavy weapons platform, specifically a rocket launcher tank, to accompany the ground team. I decided to order in some more ammunition for the heavy cannon and auto cannon as all we had available were armor piercing rounds. Night missions would be difficult without any light sources so I also ordered in a full set of electro flares. At this time it appeared that the storage facility would be too full to accommodate more equipment so I had a look over the list of equipment. It appeared much of the space was being taken up by extra aircraft weapons and a few heavy weapons. I marked them to be sold, we especially didn't need the rocket launcher as soon we would have a much more efficient tank for that purpose. I decided to follow the wishes of the interceptor pilots and purchase a few additional avalanche missile launchers but had no room to store additional missiles.
After putting away the equipment and storage reports along with a filled out purchase and liquidation form I turned to the base design itself. Having already spent half the savings on equipment I decided we needed more room for future equipment. With more personnel we could get work done more efficiently and give the soldiers some downtime as they were all on call at all times. The ufo detection technicians had sent me a formal request stating the need for additional radar coverage. They wanted 5 new radar arrays of varying cost but it was simply too expensive. going over their reports for far too long I compromised and ordered for a new short range and a long range radar facility to be constructed. Lastly the scientists asked that I allow them the funds to create an "alien containment" facility so that they could safely study any live aliens the ground forces could bring back. I scoffed at the idea, wondering if the scientists were in on this elaborate war game I had been assigned to. Funds were running low but I decided to play along, if this were a war game i would be scored on how well prepared I was in theory and live prisoners offer more information than dead prisoners. I winced as the available funds dropped down past 1 million dollars but i felt the base was now prepared for anything. Besides, it is better to be ready than it is to be rich.
I had a quick look towards the funding we were receiving from the United Nations. The most notable funders were the US and Japan. Many of our funders were in Europe though so I will need to expand my coverage to these places as soon as possible to impress them and secure more funding.
I took some aspirin and downed it with some cold water, rubbing my eyes for a few moments remembering how much I hated paper work. After a moment, far too short, I hear an urgent call over the intercom asking for the commander and command officers to report to the command center immediately, a ufo had been detected.
Sleep would have to wait, I snatched my cap and hurried to the command center. Within minutes I stepped into the command center, everyone was buzzing with activity. I demanded someone to report to bring me up to speed and an assistant to the radar technicians stepped up.
"Sir! we have detected a very small ufo traveling southwards in Canada traveling at about 3000kt/s." I ordered my first interceptor to fly and take it down. We watched the interceptor fly towards the craft on the radar. it looked like a couple of symbols buzzing around the screen to me. I asked my if our interceptor was going at it's maximum speed as i watched the ufo outrun it at every turn, "yes" was the response I got. If this was a war game, how could they have something more maneuverable and faster than the best technology we have.
My inner thoughts were cut short as I heard a sudden beeping from another radar technician's console. As I looked over he piped up
"another ufo spotted, analyzing!"
I walked over to look over his shoulder. "What do you have here?"
"Its another one commander, this time its a bit larger, traveling at 1500Kt/s"
"Alright, lets get to work..." I turned to the other commanding officers "Scramble the remaining interceptor and take down that ufo. Get the ground soldiers prepped and ready to go on a moment's notice."
Hopefully a third wont appear while the interceptors were out. I moved back to the radar technician's screen. The first ufo was still evading the first interceptor with ease but the second interceptor was catching up quickly. tense minutes went by as I watched the four symbols move slowly across the screen. The first ufo suddenly jumped a few centimeters across the screen. "whats going on?" I asked the technician as it did so again
"I don't know commander, it appears to have accelerated to 4000kt/s!"
"That's not possible! keep looking for it. someone get me an open radio channel with that pilot." I know that no human technology could get to that speed.
"This is interceptor 1. did you guys see where that ufo went? its disappeared from my sensors."
The radar technician responded "It appears to have outrun you interceptor 1." he muted the channel and turned to me" commander, what is your order?"
The technician un-mutes the channel for me. "Patrol the ufo's last known location for 20 minutes then return to base if we don't spot anything"
"Acknowledged commander, heading to ufo's last known location"
I look back over to the second interceptor and see that it has chased the second ufo south to Mexico and over it's coast. The radio crackles as a channel is opened with the second pilot. "I have visual confirmation of the ufo. That's not one of ours... its a rounded square disk, no visible engines. orders commander?"
"It wont respond to our warnings?"
"negative commander"
"take it down interceptor 2"
The fighter jet accelerated, pulling in close to the ufo, the pilot calls out "Sting 1" and launches a stingray missile. I watch the missile advance across the screen and collide with the ufo. "Hit but its still going. Sting 2" he calls out as he launches another. It glides across the screen as well and connects. The ufo decelerates slowly and drops from the screen as the pilot cheers "ufo down! you owe me a drink Roy!"
"damn you man, I "had" to get the fast one, figures."
"cut the chatter, return to base interceptor 2. we need you refueled and armed as soon as possible."
Over the pacific ocean near the west coast of Mexico, a small ufo dives towards the ocean surface, spinning out of control. It slams into the water, it floats for a moment, cracking under the weight of the crash against the rigidity of what would feel like concrete before sinking quickly under the water. Water pours into the ufo from the several cracks and holes, replacing the smoke with sea water. Nothing could have survived this.
The first ufo never reappears and soon the excitement dies down. I order the ground troops to stand down for now but to remain on base at all times before i head back to my quarters and finally call it a night. I was asleep before I hit the pillow.
I wake up 6 hours later when I hear my computer tell me the familiar message "You have mail!"
"Ugh... tell me we don't have AOL..." I pick myself up and walk over to the computer, 14 new messages. Going over the messages though I find that 10 scientists and 3 soldiers have reported in and i have been sent their file. The funding nations work quickly apparently. The last message is from the storage facility reporting that they have received all the equipment i have ordered.
The first thing i do is assign the new equipment to the skyranger drop-ship and have the heavy weapons platform assigned a remote pilot on base. I turn my attention to the e-mails from the new personnel. The scientists all express their profuse gratitude to be included on this project, I assign them along with the on-staff scientists to start developing a field medi-kit. I had received some of the medi-kits that are available currently and I must say, I am not impressed. They are either too large and cumbersome or only useful for field dressing of wounds. Even in the hands of a skilled surgeon the portable versions would be of little use to more than a gunshot wound. That is not acceptable if we were to "really" be up against aliens who's weapons we don't expect. I want the scientists to design a far more efficient and compact medi-kit that will alone make this war game a worthy endeavor.
I moved my attention to the new soldiers. Reading their messages as I stripped out of my night clothing. Heyreddin, Dash Gunmetal and RAM 1. They seemed pretty strange from their messages but I would wait until I met them before making a first impression. I stepped into my shower and prepared for another long day.
I decided to visit RAM 1 first. He was tending to his equipment in the hanger, making sure his stun rod was fully charged. I came up behind him and stated "Your request for a stun rod and a grenade are denied." Before he could argue I handed him a pistol "Not one of my ground troops will be without a ranged weapon, it endangers the unit. You will learn to use this or you will be a liability." He looked me in the eye for a moment, processing what I had said. "Yes sir" he replied and took the pistol, turning to bring it to the firing range. Strange man, but i had a feeling the best was yet to come.
Next on my list was Heridden Barbarossa. He was a martial artist and track star before joining up with X-Com. He requested no equipment. I thought that was odd but when I saw that he had brought none of his own equipment, save an expensive pair of running shoes, I was puzzled. "so how do plan on contributing to the ground forces?"
"With my FISTCUFFS sir!" he replied.
"I don't think so grunt, if you want to get close to your enemies, you'll be holding these" I handed him a stun rod and a pistol. "learn them, practice with them, I i hear you went into combat without them, your on the first plane back to wherever you came from. that is all" I left without giving him a chance to respond. Stopping at the door way I turned my head. "If you want any respect from me you'll bring back results. don't weigh your team down." And with that I left for the last new soldier's quarters.
I opened the door to the new recruit's room and found the mattress of his bed leaned up against his wall, covering his sun lamp. I had them installed to raise moral and on the advice of the base doctors to facilitate underground living. On his bed lay a wooden coffin with a skull emblem. I held my head in disbelief, where did we get these guys? I flip open the lid of the coffin quickly and Dash Gunmetal stared at me with wide eyes. "What are you doing?! Don't you know what time of day it is?!"
"Can it soldier, I know you must think this is all a big joke but around here we take assignments seriously!" I threw him a stun rod and a pistol.
"You dare interrupt a vampire's rest?!" He stared up at me, wearing a cowboy hat, leather jacket and boots.
"You'll also be wearing our uniform out on missions, no exceptions."
"But the sun! I cant go out in the sun!" he hissed and fumbled with the objects I tossed on him
"You wont have to worry about that for awhile, I've placed you on reserve until your actually needed" With that I closed the coffin lid, turned and left him to his hissing and swearing. His bio stated that he was a mental case who thought he was a psychic vampire cowboy. He was deathly afraid of the sun for sure but his one saving grace was that he was fairly accurate with both firearm and grenade, it didn't hurt that he was built like a rock, the doctors were confounded by his sheer durability.
I walked through the hanger on the way to the control center to watch the mechanics fit the heavy weapons platform to the sky ranger. at least one competent soldier arrived today I thought to myself. Days went by afterwards with no new information or happenings of any kind. My ground soldiers trained efficently, my scientists worked relentlessly towards my objectives and the radar technicians kept their eyes peeled but found nothing out of the ordinary. The storage facility had finally been expanded and i had sent for a stockpile of avalnche missiles to be ordered as soon as possible.
The next day I woke in the wee hours of the morning to an alarm coming from my computer. All the commanding officers were needed at the command center, another ufo had been detected...
TO BE CONTINUED!
sorry for the delay, i didn't get as much done as i had hoped, I am quite surprised at the wall of text i created and i haven't even gotten to the combat mission! please let me know if you enjoyed it ^.^, or if you didnt
-edit: doh i totally forgot about the pictures for the whole ufo 1 and 2 thing. and i havent uploaded them yet! so i'm going to have to wait till i have some free time at home to add them in. whoops ^.^;
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Topic: Anya's x-com LP - UPDATED! Augest 17th (Read 90866 times)