In response to RAM's question: Yes Anya is on the Interceptor as including her, there were exactly 6 available soldiers, the rest were dedicated base personnel who had soldiers only to help defend the base (such as Zilvara and Manny)
also boo-yah! two story posts written in one night. They may have been short but they are still done. good night everybody! let me know what you thought ^.^
----------------------------
We suited up and stood achingly from our tiny little seats and folded them up. We did a last check on our equipment. Mac was having a little trouble with his load-out but quickly got himself setup. When ready I ordered for the ramp to be lowered. As the ramp dropped, Mr. Apple pointed out that an alien was waiting in ambush already!
Argatson lifts his auto-cannon quickly and fires a few rounds off but fails to strike the flotaing alien. Mr. Apple takes aim with his laser pistol and takes the alien down in a shower of hot laser pulses.
Darkwind takes her smoke grenade and deploys it as the team assembles outside of the Interceptor.
The team and I kept a close eye on the area as the Smoke grenade began spreading it's smoke screen. Once we were well obscured we began to spread out slowly and take stock of the situation.
I cough gently as I move through the smoke. "Try to take shallow breaths while in the smoke commander, It takes a little getting used to." Darkwind comments through the radio quietly.
"Thanks." I reply quietly and begin breathing like she directed and found it much easier on the lungs.
"No problem commander. Now onto business, I've spotted another alien to the north east. In the wheat field." She switched gears seamlessly as she narrowed her eyes to see through the smoke better.
Mac draws his auto-cannon and fires off a few rounds quickly towards the alien. His first bout of shells travels too high and misses completely. He corrects his aim and manages to land a solid hit on the alien. As the smoke thins however the alien manages to continue floating upright.
Darkwind takes aim and fires at the alien as it begins to turn itself towards the group. She lands the shot and introduces the alien to the ground, killing it quickly.
After a minute of looking around through the smoke, the team was unable to spot any more aliens. "Ok team, we don't have a lot of soldiers to work with so we're going to need to move together and carefully. I want Mr. Apple to scout ahead while Mac and Argatson guard the rear." I explain. The team acknowledges me within an instant and I smile at their professionalism. Let's head to the north and clear the surrounding area, one direction at a time."
After a few minutes we make our way to where the second alien had been shot down. We moved slowly, making sure none of the tricky flying creeps snuck up on or surprised us.
We came up to a hedge wall with a small section missing. Mr. Apple moved up close and gathered his wits before quickly moving through. On the other side was an orchard full of blind spots. The rest of us waited patiently while he cleared the orchard. He called it clear and we began to move into the orchard behind him.
We moved quietly through a small crop field on the far side of the orchard. On the far side of the crop field was another hedge wall with a similar opening. Mr. Apple again moved through the opening into another orchard. He quickly checked the blind-spots and cleared the area.
We decided to wait for a moment and survey the situation. We had not heard of seen any sign of the aliens for several minutes. We decided to begin heading south but the area was riddled with a network of fences, walls and hedges. In order to continue advancing quietly we decided to take a path directly south of the small crop field the team was currently in.
As we slowly moved into the path we setup an advancing defensive line that would cover our flanks as we advance. It was quiet, it felt like we were being watched.
As we neared the UFO we saw that it's east side had a huge mangled hole in it. Apparently it didn't take the landing too well.
With Argatson hanging back to watch the opposite end of the UFO for ambushers, we moved up close to the north east side of the UFO.
With Mr. Apple being the most experienced breacher in the team, it was decided he should peek around the edge of the hole into the UFO's interior. He edged up carefully and took a quick look. The inside of the UFO had not fared too well and an interior wall was all but demolished. Mr. Apple spotted an alien inside the center of the UFO in what appeared to be a small room with an examination table in the center.
Mr. Apple quietly stayed his ground, watching the alien as he waited for Darkwind to get into position. The alien began to turn towards the hole however and Mr. Apple fired at the floating alien twice, missing both times before he moved back out of it's sight. I spotted a hedged section of the area to the south east that could hide several potential aliens. Fearing a possible flank ambush I ordered Sarah Newman to fire a rocket into the area.
Sarah Newman nodded and took aim, firing a heavy rocket into the hedge wall, vaporizing the small wall in a fiery explosion. If anything had been hiding behind that wall it was certainly dead now.
Darkwind adjusted her position forward a bit to get into an optimal firing range of the small room. Looking through her sights she spotted a second alien in the small room.
Darkwind noticed that the aliens had spotted her as well and began to raise their weapons. Without anyone else in the team being in position to assist her, she acted quickly and opened fire first. Her shot flew true and melted a hole in the closest alien's metallic core.
The second alien opens fire but fails to hit Darkwind as she keeps close to the ground. She moves her laser rifle with practiced precision and fires a second shot at the remaining alien. The alien caught the concentrated burst of light in the face and fell to the ground a headless squirming corpse.
"Take that assholes." She commented as she relaxed her shoulder for a moment before getting comfortable with her sights pointed at the empty room. "I got this place covered commander, anything comes in here and I'll send it back to it's creator in a casket."
"Great job Darkwind!" I replied excitedly. She may not have been the most friendly soldier on the team but she was an alien's worst nightmare with a decent weapon in her hands. "Mr. Apple, I want you to clear that section Sarah Newman fired on. I don't want any surprises. Once done I want you to head around the south side of the UFO while Argatson moves around the north side to help you clear out the south western section." I paused for a moment. "Sarah and Mac. You'll setup with me and Darkwind in our new shooting gallery."
Mr. Apple quickly made his way through the smoke and debris of Sarah's rocket's explosion and cleared the area. No aliens to be seen anywhere.
With mostly the south area un-scouted, all that remained was the UFO interior. I ordered for Sarah Newman and Mac to switch to their laser weapons as I didn't want to damage the UFO more than we had to.
"Uh... Well commander, I kinda left my laser pistol in my jet... Sorry commander, Give me a minute and I'll go get it." Mac explained embarrassed.
"Here I'll get it. Take mine for now Mac." Sarah called out as she tossed her pistol over to Mac.
"Why didn't you bring your pistol Mac?" I asked, trying not to sound too offensive.
"Well, The auto-cannon is really heavy and I needed to lighten my load a little. Sorry commander." He replied as he set down his auto-cannon and armed Sarah's laser pistol. I shook my head softly and focused on covering the interior of the UFO.
Argatson moves along the north edge of the UFO while Mr. Apple approaches the south edge.
Suddenly an alien moves through an interior door of the UFO and right into our sights. Darkwind made short work of it before either I or Mac could manage to turn our attention to the new target. Darkwind's shot grounded the alien as it shrieked out it's last breath.
As Mr. Apple moved along the south edge of the UFO he spotted the outline of it's normal entrance. He relayed this information and I ordered him to setup an ambush position outside it in-case an alien should slip past our watch.
As Argatson scouted the south west side of the UFO he spotted another hole in the UFO. It was large enough for one of the aliens to squeeze through.
Once he was finished clearing the area he moved back to the hole and setup an ambush position and guarded the additional exit.
Sarah Newman retrieved the laser pistol from the Interceptor and left her rocket launcher behind. She moved around the south west side of the UFO to meet up with Mr. Apple and assist him in breaching the front door. With the area around the UFO cleared it was time to descend on the UFO.
As we neared the UFO however, Darkwind spotted another alien that had just entered the exposed interior room.
I spotted it as well and fired several times quickly. I managed to gun it down and felt the adrenalin rush through me as I took it's life away.
Another alien moved through the spot that I had just fired into. Mac, Darkwind and I opened fire and showered the area in white hot death. Mac managed to get the killing shot however.
"Like shooting fish in a barrel." He exclaimed with a chuckle.
I agreed quietly as Mr. Apple and Sarah Newman breached the front entrance. They quickly cleared the entrance and began sweeping through the ruined rooms.
The rest of us held our positions while Mr. Apple and Sarah moved through the first floor of the UFO. Moral was high but we didn't want to slip up just because we were on a roll. We did not want to fly home minus our casualties.
Mr. Apple edged up to the end of an interior wall and quickly dashed across the width of the UFO's destroyed section, quickly clearing the north side of the UFO's ground floor. Sarah Newman remained behind to catch her breath and ready herself to do the same.
As Sarah Newman and Mr. Apple rounded the north west corner they spotted a strange pulsing section of the floor at the far south side. They crouched and observed it for a moment while Argatson moved into the UFO and cleared the south end of the hallway.
As Argatson moved in closer to the strange tile he noticed that the roof above it was missing.
After a minute of observing the opening he could not see or hear any activity above. He carefully stepped onto the tile and felt his stomach lurch. He was suddenly weightless! He fought down his sudden nausea and moved around a bit, getting used to the feeling.
"This is weird commander. like being underwater but able to breath and move freely. Actually that gives me an idea..." Argatson comments as he spins himself slowly. He tentatively begins to "swim" upwards up to the next floor. On the floor above he finds two circular hallways, devoid of any signs of aliens.
"Guys, you can swim through the air on this tile. Give it a try, I need another pair of eyes up here." Argatson finally commented.
Mr. Apple and Sarah Newman headed for the glowing floor tile while Argatson moved along the left path. The floor had been damaged and was hazardous to cross. He setup an ambush position in-case there was an alien on the other side.
Mr. Apple and Sarah Newman "swam" up to the second floor and focused on the hallway not taken. As they carefully round the hallway to the north Sarah Newman spots an alien facing away from her.
She quietly moves into position and squeezes the trigger of her laser pistol and burns a few holes through the unaware floating alien, dropping it to the floor.
She and Mr. Apple set up and breach the inner room and find a control center, devoid of any aliens. They carefully checked the room and found it to be clear.
"Commander Anya Snow to lieutenant commander Jack Bladestar. Mission is a success, no casualties." I smiled widely. "Send in the clean up crew, This time bring two flatbed trucks."
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
I tuned into the Skyranger's radio frequency and addressed the ground team and pilot on-board. "I know you guys are eager to get back to base but while your all the way out here I want you to take a trip to South Africa. We need some intel on the area since we have had no communications with the area ever since they signed that pact. I want to know whats going on even if they are no longer funding us, got it?" I stretched my neck as I returned to the Interceptor. "I know it sucks to be cramped in the back of a jet for so long but hang in there. After my second time accompanying the ground team I am extremely impressed with your skill and dedication to our mission. Good luck!"
-----------------------------------------------
Stat Changes:
Mr. Apple:
Rank UP! - Captain
Kills + 1
TU's + 2
Stamina + 2
Health + 3
Firing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 4
Tamunshin:
Rank UP! - Sergeant
Hugh Mann:
Rank UP! - Sergeant
Anya Snow:
Kills + 1
TU's + 4
Stamina + 3
Health + 3
Strength + 5
Ashley Smith:
Rank UP! - Captain
Darkwind:
Rank UP! - Colonel
Kills + 4
TU's + 1
Stamina + 1
Reactions + 3
Firing Accuracy + 2
Strength + 2
Sarah Newman:
Rank UP! - Sergeant
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Stamina + 4
Health + 3
Strength + 5
Mac:
Kills + 1
Health + 1
Strength + 3
------------
Accolades:
Positive:
Rampage! - Darkwind - Most kills in a single mission to date
She Got Better - Ashley Smith - Didn't let something like hospitalization get in the way of progress
Negative:
The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back - Mac - due to encumbrance, left behind a needed piece of equipment at the start of the mission
I Cast Magic Missile at the Darkness - Sarah Newman - The darkness never knew what hit it
Author
Topic: Anya's x-com LP - UPDATED! Augest 17th (Read 90939 times)