The Skyranger lands in an empty plot next to a small warehouse, a home and a gas station along a street. The ramp falls and the team is ready to get to work.
Mario immediately spots a floating disc next to the gas station. "Take it out Mario. We need to get the troops out of that drop-ship and we cant have them all getting gunned down." I commanded.
Mario moves down the ramp and locks onto the floating disc. As he moves however the floating disc takes a few shots at him. The tank takes a beating but the damage is mostly superficial and on the weapon turret.
While Mario moves into position the team passes an armed smoke grenade along, tossing it out the back of the Skyranger. Mario launches a rocket and it hits it's target. The area is quickly filled with smoke.
Mario moves slowly through the smoke and spots a sectoid in the gas station, setting it's sights on a civilian trying to flee the scene.
Mr. Apple steps out of the drop-ship and fires at the alien. The laser just misses it's mark and flies past the alien.
Archangel moves in behind Mr. Apple and fires off a few rounds. One hits the alien, dropping it to it's knee. "Good shot!" Mr. Apple exclaims as he motions for the civilian to hurry over to the team.
The civilian changes direction and runs for the safety of the smoke but a green flash cuts her escape short. The blast catches her in the back and explodes through her chest. She died before she hit the ground.
"Damn it. Careful guys, there's one around the corner here." Archangel commented over the radio.
Mario meanwhile attracts all hell on himself but the thick armor of the tank shrugs it off with ease. Mario supplies the needed distraction that allows the ground team to assemble outside the Skyranger. In the distance many alien weapons can be heard as well as a loud explosion.
"What was that?!" Asked Tiberius.
"Hell if I know." Replied Cerapa. "I may be a demolitions expert but I can't identify the things by sound."
"Whatever it was, we need to take out that alien quickly." Roll Fizzlebeef comments as he takes aim.
Roll Fizzlebeef and Archangel fire several shots at the sectoid and Roll Fizzlebeef finally gets the kill shot.
"Alright! That's how we do it where I'm from!" He cheers while Mario continues to widen his scouting sweep. He spots another floating disc across the street and relays it's location to the rest of the team.
"OK team. Lets take down that alien mobile armor. Fire at will!" Calls out Cerapa as he raises his auto cannon and starts spinning it's barrels.
Sarah Newman had taken initiative while Cerapa called out his orders. She carefully aimed her rocket launcher and fired off a heavy rocket. The rocket twisted through the air as it traveled to it's target, scoring a direct hit!
The disc remained however. The rest of the team began firing their weapons at the floating disc from the safety of the smoke screen. Gogandantess, Argatson and Cerapa fill the area with their explosive rounds. Gogandantess and Argatson manage to destroy the lamppost with their stray shots. Despite Cerapa beginning to hear things he can't explain, he lands two solid hits on the floating disc.
Steve takes aim and fires 5 rapid shots. One manages to hit it's target but the floating disc defiantly continues to hover and search for it's assailants.
"Mario. We cannot afford to let that target roam. If you can, take the shot." I ordered as I watched the team fire all they had at the disc's thick armor.
"Got it commander. Locking on target..." He replied. His computer began beeping intensively for a moment before he fired his rocket at the floating disc. The rocket like Sarah Newman's twisted through the air towards it's target. The rocket slams into the floating disc and explodes. The floating disc crashes to the ground and fails to explode a second time.
Mario cheers and turns to continue scouting out the area. He spots a sectoid in an ambush position near the gas pumps.
"Spotted one around the corner guys. Be careful." Mario cautions.
"If anyone should be worried, it should be them. Tiberius, Set-up an ambush position on that warehouse corner!" Ashley Smith commands.
"Yes Sergeant." Replies Tiberius as he begins moving into position. He stops short however. "Another one, just past the storage shed ahead of us." He called out quietly.
Cerapa's hands begin to shake as he sees visions of swarms of the floating discs, coming out of the nearby large warehouse. He fails to contain his panic and drops his weapon. "T-Too many!" he calls out as he stares at the building.
"Whats wrong Sergeant Cerapa?" Asks Archangel who turns to look at Cerapa.
"Floating discs everywhere, Hit the dirt soldiers!" Cerapa shouts as he tosses himself to the ground to dodge weapons fire that isn't there.
Another loud explosion can be heard to the north east as Mario takes another shot. Thankfully the alien weapon fails to land a solid hit and deflects off his armor. He moves his tank closer to the gas station to try and get a better fix on the alien's positions. As he does so the alien around the corner fires at him several times. The shots sink in but fail to do any significant amount of damage. One of the shots destined for Mario veers off course and destroys a section of the wall west of the ground team. No one is injured but Ashley Smith quietly orders Tiberius and Mr. Apple to make use of the new entrance.
Archangel turns his attention to an Alien that had come out of it's cover behind the storage shed.
He fires once and strikes the sectoid in the leg, forcing it to the ground. His second shot catches it in the face and finishes the job.
Tiberius breaches the new hole in the wall. He spots a sectoid chasing a civilian. The civilian had managed to dodge the alien's weapon. It stops for a moment and lifts it's weapon, turning to face the quick human target.
Tiberius raises his pistol and shoots the alien in the shoulder.
It reels from the wound howls in pain. Tiberius takes cover behind a crate while Mr. Apple follows him into the building. He steps up and takes a shot but the bolt of light went too high and struck the civilian.
He curses his aim and fires again, taking the alien down.
Mario continues to scout ahead of the group and spots a sectoid across the street.
Steve adjusts his position and fires rapidly at the alien. Spraying the area with 12 bolts of highly concentrated light he strikes the alien once. the laser wounds the alien but fails to kill it.
Argatson takes aim and fires an explosive round towards the alien but it falls short and strikes the street.
Gogandantess attempts to take the alien down as well and fires two high explosive rounds. Both fly past their target and explode against a building past the plot of land the alien was standing in.
Sarah Newman drops her empty rocket launcher to the ground and pulls out her laser pistol. She fires a few times at the alien and lands another shot. The alien howls in pain but remains standing. "Tough bastard isn't it?" She comments.
The alien stumbles about, it's many wounds taking a toll on it. Cerapa clears his head and picks his weapon back up. "I'm OK guys, sorry about that. Lets finish this mission up." He speaks in a calm voice, a tone of weariness weaved into it.
"I think this one is on to us Mr. Apple. It's just around the corner from you." Tiberius whispered into his microphone as he stares at the unaware sectoid's valuable weapon.
Meanwhile Archangel fishes his mind-probe out of his backpack. "Let's see what we can do with this thing." He speaks softly as he touches the cold, smooth sphere.
He focuses on the wounded sectoid. Feeling the orb buzz and stir to life he mentally commands it. "Identify that sectoid." He commands it. In mere moments it transfers a wealth of information into Archangel's mind. Information streams into Archangel's mind as he unwittingly continues to make commands as he absorbs the information. Derivative question after derivative question flys by in a manner of seconds. Suddenly the orb stops as Archangel gasps for air as if for the first time. "Sergeant I think we should capture that one." He finally speaks into the microphone.
"Why Archangel, what did you see?" Responded Cerapa.
"E-Everything Sergeant." He exclaimed quietly.
"It's hard to explain but I know it is a navigator for the alien UFO's and that it knows everything about their system of communication, the commander will probably want that. He replied.
"He's right Cerapa." I interjected. " I do want that sectoid alive. We need to know how to intercept their communications.
Mario moves across the street into the open. "I'll make sure it's on it's own before you send someone over to stun it." He explains as he pushes forward and scans the area for hostiles. The Alien spots him and opens fire with it's pistol. The shot misses by a wide margin and soars into the smoke screen that had been obscuring the team. The section of wall next to Mr. Apple burns and melts away.
It fires a second time and hits Mario's tank but fails to cause any significant damage.
While Mario moves across the street Steve moves through the smoke into the storage shed of the gas station to the north. The wall had collapsed so he had no problem moving into cover.
He peers through the shed door and spots two civilians hiding in the gas station's store.
Ashley Smith waits for Mario to move into position before advancing. She takes a moment to look at the house the Skyranger had landed next to. Two civilians were cautiously sneaking through the front yard towards the Skyranger.
"You two, get out of here!" She directs them to the south west. "The area is clear in that direction. Get to safety!" She feels she's wasting her breath. What are the chances these people would know English in this part of the world.
"OK we'll go, please save our home!" One of the civilians replies. Ashley Smith had not known that the official language of Singapore was English.
The navigator sectoid continues to fire sluggishly at Mario. It's pistol continuing to be mostly ineffectual, it's blasts either deflecting or failing to hit sensitive spots. As he moved closer however he spotted another sectoid inside the large warehouse.
Moments after he also spots a floating disc.
"You guys might want to hurry. This sectoid might have friends on the way. I'll try to distract them while you get the navigator." Calls out Mario as he continues to take shots from the distracted alien.
"Got it Mario, I'm on my way." Replied Steve as he hurries across the street towards the distracted sectoid.
Tiberius moves up behind the sectoid that had been waiting in ambush for Mr. Apple. Like a ghost Tiberius fails to make even the slightest sound.
The alien never knew what hit it as several lasers strike it from behind. "These things are more like SMG's than pistols." He comments as the alien expires from it's wounds.
Mr. Apple moves through the building towards the gas station. He moves into the doorway and spots a civilian running from the gas station's store in a panic.
The navigator continues to fire shot after shot at Mario's tank. Each shot deflects harmlessly or misses outright.
After a few moments Steve arrives it behind the alien and thrusts his stun rod between the alien's shoulder blades.
Steve pulls the trigger and sends a stream of electricity into the wounded alien's spine. The alien howls out in a hollow voice as it jerks and squirms, falling to the ground. As Steve crouches to gather up the wounded alien, Mario checks behind the large warehouse. He immediately spots a sectoid heading towards him!
"Mario, we need Steve to get that alien back alive. Take out that sectoid!" I commanded as I watched through his front camera.
"Understood commander, getting a lock on it..." Mario responds.
Mario locks onto his target and launches a rocket at the alien before it can open fire. The rocket slams into the alien and reduces it to a lifeless husk. The explosion shakes the area and leaves a large circle of smoke.
Tiberius and Mr. Apple move into the gas station's store with the intention of clearing it before the rest of the team descends upon the large warehouse. Archangel moves out of cover to join Tiberius and Mr. Apple but as he steps out of cover an alien fires at his flank! The shot lands sinks into his shoulder and ribs!
"AHHGH!" He yells out as he reels from the shot, feeling the green fire, burn and smolder slowly deeper into his skin. He is hit with a powerful jolt of adrenaline and moves back into cover before his ambusher can fire again. "H-Help! I need help in here! I'm hit!" He calls through the radio as he stumbles over a tire. He squirms and tries to get back to his feet as he can hear his flesh crack and char.
"I'm on my way Archangel!" Calls out roll Fizzlebeef as he jumps into action, sprinting into the smoke filled shed, med-kit in hand.
Cerapa turns to face the alleyway that the shot had come from. While he couldn't see the alien that had fired on Archangel, he could still lay down some explosive cover fire.
He squeezed his trigger. It took only a moment for the auto cannon to spin up before the alleyway was littered with small explosions.
(My game seems to be glitchy when it comes to explosions actually leaving behind destruction. kinda hit or miss when it happens or not)
Argatson moves around the east side of the shed to try and flank Archangel's attacker. He spots a sectoid down the street.
The alien opens fire as he takes cover behind a lamppost, he returns fire but both combatants fail to hit their targets. Argatson takes careful aim at the sectoid.
He fires off a round and it catches the alien on the right side, knocking the life out of it.
The floating disc in the warehouse meanwhile fires at Mario. It scores a hit and knocks out Mario's primary camera. "Crap, it got me!" He exclaims as his screen fizzes out and returns a "Signal lost" message. He presses a few keys however and his screen comes back up. "Don't worry, the backup system is working. I'm still in the game." He reports with relief as his heavy weapons platform responds to his commands.
Steve slings the unconscious and wounded sectoid navigator over his back and starts carrying it back to the Skyranger.
Roll Fizzlebeef gets Archangel calmed down enough to get him to lay down for a moment. The damage to his arm is pretty bad but he was lucky that the shot didn't penetrate further.
Roll Fizzlebeef proceeded to patch Archangel up. Adding a painkiller in for good measure once Archangel's adrenaline started to wear off.
Mr. Apple moves into the gas station's store and quickly calls it clear. He spots a civilian outside the back door on the ground. She was dead but her eyes were frozen open in fear, her arm outstretched as if reaching for the open door's handle.
He swallows down his fear and moves around the right side of the building. He peers through the window for waiting ambushers but finds none. He motions for Tiberius to move in.
Argatson moves slowly up the street and spots another floating disc.
"Crap, there's another one of the sectoid's machines. I'll need some more firepower over here..." He quietly reports as he pulls back, hoping it had not spotted him yet.
"On our way Argatson. Team with me!" Cerapa calls out. Cerapa, Gogandantess, roll fizzlebeef and Archangel move into position and open fire on the floating disc. The distance proves to be a difficult obstacle though and only Archangel's shot manages to connect. Sarah Newman steps up with her rocket launcher and fires a heavy rocket. The rocket flies through the air and hits the disc directly! But as the smoke clears the disc remains.
The floating disc turns and fires at Argatson, blowing the lamppost in-front of him apart.
The team renews their efforts and shower the area with lasers and explosions. Cerapa cheers as he lands the killing blow. The disc explodes into a massive ball of fire and leaves nothing of it remains.
Mario meanwhile had been lining up a shot at the floating disc in the warehouse. He opens fire but the rocket falls short and hits a stack of boxes instead. The explosion fills the area with smoke.
Meanwhile, Ashley Smith had moved across the street and through the ruined park. Now in position she opens fire at a narrow target. She aims for the floating disc through a small window in the warehouse near Mario's tank. Her shot fails to hit it's target however.
Tiberius moves towards the back door of the gas station carefully. As he gets close to the door he catches something out of the corner of his eye. A torrent of green blasts come from the alleyway, destroying the wall next to Mr. Apple and striking Tiberius in the chest. Tiberius is knocked to the ground. Mr. Apple watches as Tiberius shakes and jerks, his face completely twisted in pain before he stops moving entirely.
"Man down!" Mr. Apple calls out over the radio. He quickly takes a peek through the destroyed wall and spots the ambusher, a floating disc had maneuvered into the narrow alleyway.
He moves back into cover and closes his eyes for a moment, He had just caught of glimpse of death itself. He opens his eyes and steels himself for the task at hand. He pulls out the high explosive charge he had been carrying on his belt and begins to arm it.
Steve returns to the Skyranger and sets his captive down, securing it to the wall of the drop-ship. The smoke screen had recently expired and the destruction in the area was more visible. Steve looks around and then looks back to the sectoid. "You better be worth it..." He snarls.
Roll Fizzlebeef ducks back around the gas station's shed and fires at the floating disc near Mr. Apple in an attempt to distract it.
Roll Fizzlebeef cheers as he hits it once out of three tries. "Wooo! come get me you mechanical piece of crap!" He calls out towards the alleyway. Archangel follows suit and lands a carefully placed hit on the floating disc as well.
Inside the large warehouse across the street Mario aims at the floating disc again.
He fires a rocket at the floating disc and scores a direct hit but the alien machine turns and traces Mario's rocket back to it's source and fires. The green blast hits Mario's tank and completely wrecks it. "Damn it!" Mario exclaims in anger. He stares at his screen for a moment, taking in the no-signal message. He quickly tries to reestablish a connection but fails.
"Mario, your HWP is fried." Commented Ashley Smith. "Your tank is in pieces, thanks for the support though."
"Thanks for the heads up Ashley Smith. I'm afraid you guys are on your own for now." He replied.
Sarah Newman joins Ashley Smith near the warehouse. The floating disc catches sight of her movement and fires. The green blast connects with the wall under the small window and blows out that section of the wall, leaving itself wide open for Sarah Newman to fire back.
Sarah turns towards the alien heavy weapon and takes aim with her rocket launcher. The rocket flies through the opening and slams into the floating disc, destroying it in an impressive ball of carnage.
Mr. Apple finishes setting his high explosive and sets it on the floor.
He proceeds to run for the front of the store. Stopping outside he takes cover behind the wall. "T minus 45 seconds guys, keep away from here." He shouts through the radio.
The team turns it's attention to the warehouse however and close in. Cerapa and Gogandantess head for the entrance while Ashley Smith and Steve move towards the damaged wall's new entrances.
A green bolt of fire shoots out of the warehouse and hits Ashly Smith in the shoulder. She yells in pain as she stumbles back and screams in pain.
Cerapa, Gogandantess and Steve dash towards the building and get into breach position on the green door while Sarah Newman doubles back to grab Ashley Smith's good arm and pull her over to cover.
"Sergeant's been hit!" Yells Sarah Newman as she looks over to Steve. "I need your med-kit now!"
"Ahhhhg! My arm! Damn it my arm!" Yells Ashley Smith as she writhes in pain.
Before Steve can pull his med-kit off to throw it to Sarah, a huge explosion can be heard and felt. The high explosive Mr. Apple had set explodes and rocks the area. The floating disc disintegrates from the impact.
Mr. Apple waits for the rubble to settle before dashing through the gas station's store. He quickly confirms the alien weapon's destruction before taking cover behind the far north building.
Sarah Newman grabs Steve's attention as he listens to the explosion. "I need it now soldier!" She yells.
Steve snaps out of it and un-slings his med-kit. He tosses it over to Sarah Newman.
Sarah quickly gets to work, forcing Ashly to the ground so that she could stop the burns and dress her wounds.
Sarah injects a pain killer to take the edge off Ashly's pain. "Th-Thank you Sarah. Let's finish this mission already." She rolls her head and tries to keep her arm still.
"OK Gogandantess, time for your first breach. Pop in there and take that sectoid down so we can all go home." Cerapa directed to Gogandantess.
"Got it sergeant!" He replied. He slammed open the door and moved inside, drawing his weapon on the sectoid inside who had turned to see what was going on.
Gogandantess squeezes his trigger and fires several rounds towards the alien but a stack of boxes between them took the brunt of the attack, shielding the alien. The alien fired back and caught Gogandantess in the face. He screamed, wide-eyed as he fell to the ground, weapon falling beside him as he reached for his face.
Cerapa moved in and with a cry of revenge he took aim.
Cerapa riddles the alien with explosive rounds, continuing to fire once it's down. He stops after a moment once he see's that the alien is no longer in once solid piece.
He looks down to his team member and struggles to hold in his lunch. Below him on the ground Gogandantess' warped face had melted and charred but his eyes remained untouched. They stared hauntingly at Cerapa. Cerapa looked away, certain that he would see those eyes again in his nightmares.
The team secured their wounded, mostly against their will, and moved on. They quickly cleared the remaining area of the warehouse and the surrounding buildings. Humanity had won this battle but there had been casualties. The clean-up crew quickly arrived on scene to clean up, relieving the ground team of duty and sending them home two men and a tank short.
(Suggested listening for how the team feels right now about friendly casualties: Silent Hill 4: The Room - Room of Angel at the following link:
http://dagobah.biz/flash/vip.swf )
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
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Stat Changes:
Mr. Apple:
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Firing Accuracy + 1
Cerapa:
Kills + 2
Health + 2
Bravery + 10
Firing Accuracy + 2
Strength + 2
Archangel:
Kills + 1
TU's + 2
Stamina + 5
Health + 1
Firing Accuracy + 1
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Wounds + 13 days
Ashley Smith:
TU's + 3
Stamina + 3
Health + 3
Reactions + 2
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 2
Wounds + 29 days
Roll Fizzlebeef:
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Stamina + 4
Health + 3
Strength + 3
Steve:
TU's + 2
Stamina + 3
Health + 2
Strength + 2
Argatson:
TU's + 1
Stamina + 2
Health + 5
Firing Accuracy + 3
Strength + 3
Sarah Newman:
TU's + 3
Stamina + 1
Firing Accuracy + 5
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 2
------------
Accolades:
Possibility:
Welcome to Earth, now get off! - Mr. Apple - unleashed the most devastating human weapon against the aliens first
Still Kicking! - Archangel - landed a shot while suffering from wounds
I'm the TANK, Bitch! - sat there at his computer and laughed at the silly aliens with their silly guns
The Arnold Effect - Archangel - took a cyber disc shot and lived to tell the tale
Negative:
Third time's a charm? - Tiberius - died before getting any stat increases a second time (I swear I'm not doing it on purpose XD)
Nya nya you can't hurt m-blargh! - Mario - shrugged off multiple hits before being owned by a single shot
Seriously? - Sarah Newman - fired multiple heavy rockets and got 0 kills but never missed