I sent a message to Zilvara. I wanted them to work on an armor system for our soldiers that could negate the power of the alien weapons. Zilvara responded and told me that they would need to first understand what they were trying to stop. She explained that in order to develop better armor they would need to understand the nature of the alien weapons, she compared this to the ineffectiveness of steel plate armor against early firearms. I agreed and gave her the green light.
Two more days passed with no major news of any kind. Maybe the aliens had moved on? I had no idea how wrong I had been thinking that.
Monday, March 22nd, at 5:30pm the PA system came to life. UFO detected, all commanding officers to the command center! I met up with Darkwind on my way to the command center and asked her to attend. She was a bit confused at my request but followed me none-the-less. Upon arrival I was met with a report from the radar technician's assistant.
"The UFO is classified as small, It is heading west at 2400 kt/s and was detected by our European listening station." She read from her clipboard.
"Finally. lets get to work, I want Mac in the air asap." I order as I sit at my command console. "Bring an extra chair for Captain Darkwind as well" I added.
"Commander, may I ask why you have brought me to the command center instead of letting me prepare for the mission?" She asked as a chair was brought to her.
"Because I want to begin accompanying the ground team on the ground and I need someone back at base that I can trust to keep an eye on things." I replied. "This is where I do all my work while you soldiers are getting ready to fly on a moment's notice." I point to my screen as I set the way-point for Mac.
"Here I'm setting the destination for Mac's on-board navigation. It'll take him about an hour to get halfway across the Atlantic, hopefully we can catch the UFO before it leaves the area." I instructed. Darkwind watched closely.
"It's a pretty simple setup you have here. A movable display of the world that allows you to command aircraft, a side system for monitoring the vitals of ground troops through their armor as well as the status of any HWP's. An e-mail client for sending and receiving messages and lastly a multi-video-monitoring program so you can see what the cameras see." She lists the functions of the command console.
"Amazing, where did you learn all that?" I ask in disbelief.
"Well this past 22 days have been really boring and I decided to take up reading again..." She trails off "Anyways. I feel confident I can sit in for you should the need arise."
"Good. I plan on attending the next ground mission." I stated. "I want a chance to take out some alien scum."
Hours pass while Mac moves to catch up to his target. He manages to close in and engages the UFO.
Her activates his after burners and weaves around the UFO's green beam weapons. He gets the UFO within visual range and unloads round after round after round of high powered cannon rounds into the alien hull. Mac takes a couple of hits but they deflect off his aerodynamic craft. The UFO suffers an explosion and falls to the earth on the west coast of Portugal.
"Excellent! good work Mac, head back to base." I call over the radio. "Darkwind, please assume temporary command over the base while I'm away. It better be in order when I get back." I warned playfully. I'll bet she thought I was nuts.
I leave the command center and move to the meeting hall where the ground soldiers were awaiting their orders to scramble. Each soldier had their load-out on and were ready to scramble.
"Where is Darkwind?" Mr. Apple asked Ashley Smith.
"I don't know for the third time, now shut up and wait!" She replied angrily.
"That's enough of that!" I bellowed as I walked up to the group. "Ashley Smith, RAM 1. You're up for this mission. I want a full breach team and a mobile team on this mission. We can leave most of the heavy weapons at home today but I want Tamunshin on this mission." Ashley and RAM 1 nod and reply "Yes sir!"
"Also, I will be accompanying you on this mission. I want you all on the Skyranger before I get to the hanger, got it?" I ordered.
"Got it sir!" The team replied. Tamunshin smiled, she was eager to get back at the aliens for messing with her head.
I left for the lockers to get suited up. I donned an armored jumpsuit and picked up a stun-rod. I looked in the mirror and suddenly realized why we had so many requests for better armor.
(art by DrCloud, not by me)
While the armor was supposedly excellent against conventional human bullet weapons; it looked and felt no more protective than cotton coveralls. I put the stun rod down and grabbed my laser rifle, a high explosive charge, a grenade and a med-kit. I headed out of the locker room and proceeded to the Skyranger's hanger.
The ground team was quickly selected. Mr. Apple, Dash Gunmetal, Tiberius and Steve would be lead by RAM 1. They had been practicing hard on their breach techniques and they were ready to see action. Gogandantess, Tamunshin, Archangel and myself would follow Ashley Smith as over-watch and scouts. It was amazing how professional Ashley Smith has been preforming in her duties, seeing as before this she was but a janitor at a military base. Each of my soldiers brought me a measure of pride, I wanted to see them in action myself. Myroc would be piloting the HWP this time around, he was eager to get back into the thick of things as well.
We all packed ourselves like sardines into the Skyranger. Despite it's speed the travel was long and painful. The others had began taking things to occupy themselves on the flight over. Books, music, games. Anything small and easy to to leave behind. I however had not thought of this and tried to occupy myself with conversation. I was told that the sectoids were not hard to take down once you had them in your sights but they were quick and had very good aim. They could also see much further than we could at night, thankfully we would arrive at day. 8am in Portugal:
The Skyranger easily spotted the downed UFO. Smoke was flowing up out of a hole in the roof. The Skyranger lands next to the UFO and the ramp falls to the ground. Myroc starts up the diminutive rocket tank and does a quick system check.
Myroc started moving out of the drop-ship and taking advice from Mario, checked his 3 and 9 o'clocks. "Nothing immediately outside guys, I'll keep moving." He reported as he rolled off the ramp and across the ground. The area was farmland, there was a house north west of the landing zone and several fields in the area. Myrco stops suddenly as a green blast ricochets off his tank. "Hostile spotted!" He calls out and turns his tank to face the alien.
"What is that?" Darkwind can be heard over the radio. "Commander, That isn't a sectoid, it's something different. Its a bit bigger than a human and appears to be... floating?"
"Thank you for the heads up Darkwind, we'll proceed with caution. OK guys lets get out there and take it down. we can ask it questions later." I commanded.
Mr. Apple was first out of the Skyranger and took a shot at the alien.
He missed and quickly moved out of the way for the rest of the team. Steve follows Mr. Apple and fires as well, I get up right beside him and crouch, firing a couple shots as well. Lasers fly past the alien at immeasurable speed but it's odd floating makes it difficult to hit. Archangel steps up and manages to take the creature down.
The ground team assembles outside of the Skyranger. The breach team moves towards the UFO while Dash Gunmetal and Myroc head around the back of the UFO to check for more aliens. The over-watch team starts to setup a perimeter around the Skyranger. Before we could fully get into position, an alien bursts through the house's front door and fires at the team. The smoldering green fireball impacts into Tamunshin's chest and she falls to the ground with a scream.
Gogandantess turns and fires two HE rounds at the entrance of the house. "FUCKER!" He yells as the explosions shake the house's foundation. The alien had managed to duck back behind cover before Gogandantess could react.
"We better get our asses in that UFO before the aliens inside can muster a flanking maneuver." Suggested RAM 1 as he and his team, with the exception of Dash Gunmetal who was scouting now taking up an ambush position on the house, moved up to the entrance of the UFO.
I dash over to Tamunshin and drop my rifle while I pull up my med-kit. Tamunshin's jumpsuit offered little hindrance to the alien weapon. The green fire had spread across her torso and was eating away at her. I hurriedly used distilled water to douse it out. Tamunshin was writhing in pain, the wind knocked out of her lungs as she tried to scream in agony.
The alien decided to try it's luck a second time. Ashley Smith opened fire and covered the area in scorch marks with her laser rifle. Dash Gunmetal however had the better luck and caught it in his cross hairs first. Dash's laser pistol knocked the alien to the ground. It stopped moving and for a moment there was no sound.
I used all of my limited field medic knowledge. With an expression of determination etched on into my face I managed to repair what I could. From what I could tell Tamunshin's lungs were intact, the fire had stripped away much of her skin and muscle on her chest. Her exposed ribs would have made me lose my lunch had I not had so much adrenaline coursing through my veins. Ashley Smith came up behind me and told me to step aside. She told me that she would take care of Tamunshin for me and that I needed to get this area secured asap. I was not the one to object to that plan and focused on quickly clearing the area.
Myroc approached the house quickly, trying to attract the attention of any other would-be ambushers. He spotted another of the pink freaks behind a tree in the yard of the farm house.
I spotted it as well once he pointed it out. I took aim with my laser rifle. "Eat this bastard!" The alien looks at me as my laser pulse travels into it's head faster than the strike of a lightening bolt. It crumples headless to the ground and twitches for a moment before going still.
Archangel, Myroc, Dash Gunmetal and I continue to sweep the area looking for more aliens while Steve breaches the UFO. Inside all he can make out through the smoke is complete carnage.
Three alien corpses greet him inside their ruined craft. That any of them had survived at all was amazing. However the clean up crew would have a hell of a time sorting through this mess.
The area was quickly cleared. I ordered that paramedics be dispatched immediately, the Skyranger was heading back two soldiers short. For a tense twenty minutes we waited. Only the sounds of Tamunshin's moans of pain and Ashley Smith's hurried work could be heard. The rest of the team waited with abated breath.
It wasn't fair, she had worked so hard to get back in the field and wanted to regain everyone's trust so badly. I learned that day that war was never fair. I would later realize that this conflict was nothing compared to what we would face in the coming months.
Ashley Smith went with Tamunshin to the hospital where she was placed in the emergency ward with 3rd to 4th degree burns covering her chest. Small pellets of various metals littered the burns. The doctors could only give a grim prognosis.
The return home was quiet and filled with regret. The team members who had been itching for a fight were now quite sated. The clean up crew required very little time to pack up the wrecked UFO and the alien corpses. Turned out the one Dash had shot managed to survive it's wounds and was being transported under heavy guard to the X-Com Base along with a rather meager amount of material. The mission was labeled a success but It did not feel like one.
Over the next few days I continued to receive news of Tamunshin's plight. The doctors gave her less than a month to survive her wounds. She was on the best pain meds money can buy but she was still in agony. I had them send detailed information which I forwarded to Zilvara. Hopefully it would help with her research.
I withdrew from the social circles of the base and began working on my rather empty monthly report. We had made good progress on psionics and discovered much information about the sectiods but now we were up against another alien invader as well? The funding nations would want to know what we were up-to for most of the month and I had little more to say to them than "sitting on our hands".
On Friday 26th, construction on the larger radar facilities at the listening post bases were complete.
I had hoped that this would bring us more alien contacts in the remainder of the month so that we could have something to show the world. I came to regret that wish. Later that day I received word from the engineers that the med-kits I have mandated were complete.
I had Auraluna sell them and ordered for yet another batch.
The engineers complained again but I set them straight with a stern warning about their attitudes. Later rumor had circulated that I had a fetish for medical equipment.
At 9:30pm, as I was preparing to sleep for the night, the PA system crackled to life. I was needed in the command center again. I quickly redressed and headed to the command center. The radar technician met me at the door and filled me in. "a large UFO was detected over India, heading south west at 3200 kt/s" She reported.
"That's moving pretty fast." I replied as I entered the room and took my post at my command console. "Scramble Interceptor 2. I have a feeling cannon rounds wont be so effective against a larger UFO." I ordered. The interceptor was halfway to India when the UFO left our radar coverage over the ocean.
I had the interceptor try and locate it again in south Africa but we met with little success. The Interceptor was running short on fuel and needed to return to base. "Next time then... lets not let them get away again."
I was about to get up and head to my quarters for the night when the radar technician interrupted. "Another one commander! Detected near Sumatra in Indonesia. I-it's very large commander, heading west at... what?" He pauses for a moment to make sure his instruments are working correctly. "5-5000kt/s!" He stammered.
"What?! How can anything move that fast?" I asked as I sat back down in my chair. The more heavily armed Interceptor was already too low on fuel to intercept.
Mac would never be able to catch up and would likely be unable to take it down with his armament. "Watch it for now." I sighed. "We cant do anything for now." Within minutes we lost tracking on the larger UFO.
I stayed for an hour. I felt exhaustion setting in and we had not seen any more activity at all. The enemy had won this night but we would not give up. I instructed the air team to scramble Mac and have him go scouting for the aliens.
The air team picked up the very large UFO again over Europe.
again traveling at an ungodly speed. Mac tried to intervene but we again lost tracking of it over the Arctic circle before he could even get close. After a couple hours of scouting, Mac was called back to base.
There was no more activity for the rest of the month. The representatives came to the base one man short at the end of the month. I looked them over, not one of them looked happy to see me. "Where is the South African representative?" I asked, a bit annoyed.
"He wont be coming anymore. The South African government has signed a peace pact with the aliens and has cut their funding to the program. We have taken measures to contain him as he knows the location of your bases and we suspect that if in the hands of the South African government, he would jeopardize your mission." Replied the American representative.
"This is not a fate we wish upon ourselves. so we have to ask you commander. What the hell happened?" Asked the Japanese representative.
"Well... To be frank gentlemen. We don't know. We detected multiple large UFO's in that area but they moved so quickly that we were unable to track them." I replied, trying to retain a smidgen of composure.
"Three large UFO's commander! Three ran lose around the width of Africa, India and China! And you could do nothing?! Your incompetence is unacceptable!" accused the Chinese representative.
"Now see here sir, we have made great strides in our research this month. We have developed a way to study the aliens and have even begun to harness their psionic abilities for our own use." I replied indignantly.
"Moving pencils, pushing water, instant communication? DO YOU NOT HAVE WIRELESS HEADSETS ALREADY?! The Chinese representative screamed at me. I growled at his attitude but held my tongue.
"We are all in agreement commander." Interrupted the United Kingdom representative. "You had better step up or we'll shut you down." He threatened. He threw me a report and I adjourned the meeting early.
I rubbed my sore head firmly. I hated this day. We needed better everything. Hopefully next month will be better for us.
TO BE CONTINUED!
----------------
Stat Changes:
Dash Gunmetal:
TU's + 4
Stamina + 4
Health + 3
Firing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 1
Gogandantess:
Stamina + 4
Health + 3
Strength + 2
Anya Snow:
RANK UP! - Squaddie
Kills + 1
TU's + 4
Stamina + 4
Health + 3
Archangel:
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Stamina + 4
Health + 3
Strength + 1
-------------------
Accolades:
Negative:
What do you mean rubber bullets? - Dash Gunmetal - yet another solid hit that knocked an alien out instead of killing it
Revenge interrupted - Tamunshin - no matter how hyped up you get, you're still a squishy human
Positive:
They couldn't withstand my awesomeness - Steve's Clone - Breached a UFO full of corpses
Author
Topic: Anya's x-com LP - UPDATED! Augest 17th (Read 92737 times)