X-COM Enemy Unknown - Season 3 - JOURNALS

[Lethbridge_Gin]

Name:Booker Conan
Current Rank:Sergeant
Mission Name: Falling Apollo
Mission Objective:

• Locate and neutralize all enemy forces
• Locate and gain access to the UFO

Kills This Mission:3
Total Kills since joining XCOM:10 Dead
Status: Healthy
Promotion:Sniper Class -Disabling Shot

Audio Missions Logs
Falling Apollo Log:

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Name: Ayame Kasagi
Rank: Trainee
Sex: Female
Age: 20
Place of Birth: Central China
Nationality: Chinese/Japanese
Height: 150 cm (4 ft, 11in)
Weight: 42 kg (94.5 lbs)
Hair Color: Black
Hair Length: To the small of her back
Eye Color: Heterochromia (One Dark Brown, One Hazel)
Known Relatives: None (All Deceased)
Place of Residence before joining X-COM: None

Status: Even deeper in thought

Audio Log [Translated from Mandarin]

Another mission, another fallen comrade. A month ago, I would have cared little for this. In fact, a month ago, I did care little for a loss. However, my dealing with my fellow soldiers has left me reevaluating such a view, and this time, I believe I will offer my condolences at the memorial, both for our recent victim as well as the first.

In the meantime, the little dinner party X-COM is offering us has unfortunately turned from a reward to a morale booster, and for a minute, I considered not talking to Anna. However, I decided I was only making excuses, and I asked Anna if she wanted to eat together on the day in question. She said yes, as I suspected she would, but it still put a much needed smile on my face. If nothing else, we'll get to spend time together. I know she is worried about me and my dealings with the men on base, but I'm more worried about her. She works so hard helping to build things, something she doesn't have to do but she feels she must. Whats worse, I told her she is merely tossing in her sleep, but I would actually say she is having night terrors. And she hasn't said anything, likely not wanting to burden me with her troubles, but I noticed she hasn't gotten a letter from her cousin, Marx, in a while. He's a fine person, one of the few men I've ever met that I have respect for, and she cares deeply for him, so she must be hurting to not hear from him.

Jorn Lemonade, one of the soldiers who went on the mission, was injured and is in the infirmary. After the harsh things he said about me to the other soldiers, and the even harsher things he said to me in person, in the showers of all places, I should be compelled to hate him, and to want nothing to do with him But when I think of what he said, and how he said it, I realize that he was more concerned about the team then insulting me. He.....he even sounded remorseful when he realized how upset I was. So maybe...maybe I'll drop in on him in the infirmary. It'd be nice to confront him in a situation in which I'm not terrified that he could grab me at any moment and take advantage of there being no one else around, and maybe it would be nice to find someone I can talk to, so I don't have to burden Anna every time I have a bad day. As I said, she has enough problems of her own with out having to act as my therapist.

At any rate, I need to take out a bit of aggression. Maybe I'll head to the gym. I grow tired of sparring with inanimate objects, though. I have had little luck finding a good sparring partner. Everyone either refuses to lower themselves to fighting a little girl, has no real hand-to-hand combat training, or is intimidated by what happened with the swords, even though I keep telling them that I have sparred regularly in martial arts. (Sigh) Maybe today will be different...

 

[Aristeus]

Name: Jorn Lemonade
Current Rank: SQ.
Mission Name: Falling apollo
Total kills this mission: 2
Total Kills since joining XCOM: 5
Promotion: Yup a Cpl. now!
Location: In the infirmary.

Audio Log #4:
You hear breathing as the Audio starts, after a few seconds of breathing and silence you hear. "Why do I always get the new ones?". It's quiet again, you hear some movement and...
--] End of log


Audio log #5:
"Seriously why do I alwas get the new ones? Why is it always a surprise for me! And my team mates but you know...
First a 7ft tall man in a blue suit who kinda looked like my english teacher from high school hmhmmmhm, then a spider at the size of a small horse with clawes for legs, and now a fucking flying piece of scrap metal! Oh well, my question 'How does it feel getting hit by plasma bullets' answered. I was pretty lucky there, did not do a whole lot of damage. So I'l be back in 4 days.The first of april is supposed to be a day of jokes. What happend to Presariov was no joke, and right in front of my eyes too, my hands started shaking after that and I coudn't aim well." A silence follows "Only the dead have seen the end of war. Rest In Peace."

"The infirmary is so boing, they really need to cheer up this place. A boring sad looking chamber with boring white beds. You only need some sad people around you and it's like you're on your own funeral." Jorn chuckles.
"I hope Colin comes along with a chess board, I still need to take revenge, I think he was just toying with me the whole game, But I'l show him! But even if he did, he's still a really nice guy, and German...Jahwoll, Nein, Ich bin ein Deutscher. To bad no one else is here to laugh at my bad jokes."

"Maybe Shaojie comes to visit me here. He looked like a pretty serious guy at first, asians always have that serious look, and the scar finishes it of. Poor guy, he is marked as ultra-serious-asian-man for life, but he is actually a really funny guy, I can have some laughs with him. yes yes yes, fun fun fun." Jorn lets out a moan of boredom "I would rather die from exhaustion than boredom." He says with a sigh afterwards.

"I haven't seen Ayame since I spoke with her. I have to say that I imagined her a lot different, she is actually very shy, instead of rude and up in your face. She still has a pretty big problem with her past, It keeps haunting her, just like me. I always choose to ignore it, but she puts all that energy in aggression. Our pasts are not that diferent probably, if the same what happend to my sister and mother happend to her" Jorn is quiet for a second "god...I wonder how young she was....Beter not think about it." Jorn sighs "Maybe even she will visit me, who knows."

"Well I guess it's time to sleep again, is the only thing I can do here. I will see how it all playes out. I got that alien back that shot me though, so I'm glad about that, and the other one was for Daniel." Jorn yawns "Well I going to sleep now. I need to train more when I got out of here. Jorn Lemonade out"
--] End of log

 

[BMPixy]

[Same message as previous logs applies here.]

April First, Two Thousand and Fifteen
Dear Onkel,

I apologize for not writing to you recently, I have been fairly busy around the base. Took a few preliminary classes at the Officer Training School. I almost feel bad for the Triad in charge, it is only him teaching the classes, and from the manner in which he spoke, only recently learned it himself. I would offer my services there, considering I was an Oberstabsfeldwebel before I was redeployed here, but I have a feeling the higher-ups would prevent me, because I am ‘only’ a Rekrut in their eyes.

Of course, such matters are trivial at the moment, considering today was a mission day. Funktionsweise Falling Apollo, the recovery of a landed Unbekanntes Flugobjekt. I watched the scope and helmet cams for the soldiers, and it was a massive, what is it the Americans say? A SNAFU, I think it was. There was a big screw up, nearly everything that could go wrong did, you understand? Combat Sniper missed easy shots, one Jorn ‘Lemonade’ took a bolt of plasma, and an ‘up-and-coming’, in the Commander’s words, Heavy Weapons Specialist, Presariov Astaeri, died. All things considered, it could have gone abysmally worse. Everybody could have died. It just goes to show that one shouldn’t get complacent on the battlefield. One lucky shot on the wrong person, and the whole operation goes sideways. We’re downright lucky it only has only happened to people with little training, and as morbid as that sounds, I hope that when somebody does die, it is one of those, so the people with experience can keep the fight going. Yes, even if I am the one with the least experience. I have no qualms with whether or not I survive this war. I live, I return to Germany and work the restore the monarchy. I die, I am reunited with you. Either way, I win.

Though, backing up a few thoughts, it is still a sad day when somebody dies. I can tell that even though not many knew him, Astaeri will be missed. Oh, that reminds me. You recall that knife that drunkard tried to cut my eye out with? I decided to leave it at the Memorial. I suppose there is something symbolic about a knife jutting out of the table underneath the memorial, but I merely consider it my little contribution to the growing collection of photos and shot glasses assembled there. I just hope nobody takes the knife. Otherwise I might have to show them how I earned it, personally. He tried to take my eye, I taught him how to do it properly. The memories come flooding back. For once, good memories, unlike some....other time I could mention.

Apparently, the Stasi were recording the fatal confrontation, all those years ago. Unfortunately, I could not bring myself to delete it. Even if it is your death....it is still you. After my ‘parents’ so selfishly abandoned me as soon as I was off my mother’s breast, you were the one. You took me in, when you could have simply said you had no nephew. You raised me as your own, and then one day, the State takes you away. I like to think that as your port-mortem wrath, you took down the State the next year, but even I know that that is far-fetched.

Usually these letters serve to clear my head, but now I am a mess of emotions. No way for me to be. Perhaps I shall head down to the gym, beat on a bag, or maybe a person, for a while. Yes, that sounds good.

May we meet again as I pass the veil,
Leon

 

[Dahlexpert]

Location Shooting range 19:30 pm

Axton grabs an assault rifle and shoots three shots,two hit the heart and the third hits the head,"Great I still got it, even though I haven't shoot any real guns in a while OK next shot." Axton shoots seven shoots two hit the ribs three hit the head,and two hit the heart. "OK enough fun and games".Axton switches the assault rifle from burst fire to full auto. "OK lets have some fun" Axton fires the rifle and holds the trigger until the clip is empty,the practice dummy is filled with led "sweet not a single miss.


"Wow your pretty good with a rifle"

Axton tuners around and sees a beautiful women picking up a hand gun


"Thanks it comes from many years of training,and hunting."
"So were did you train in your america military"

"Not even close I was never military"


"So were did you train"

"If you don't mind I weather not say"

"Fair enough"

the room is silent for a minute,the women fires her weapon and half of her bullets hits the target.

"Wow you gotten better in a very short time"

"Excuse me"

"I us to watch you shoot and I have to admit your aim sucked and you could not hit the broadside of a barn"


"Wow next thing your gonna tell me is that I don't belong here like most of the men here when my back is turned."




"No you do belong here,You that chines chick both of you belong here we need all the help we can get and I don't have the lechery to denied help,or be a sexiest."

Anna gives Axton a weird look (is this guy for real)

"You are a very weird guy you know that"

"That's the kind of man I was brought up to be.And I can tell by looking at you that you never shot a gun before."

"How did you"

"Your eyes told me"

"My eyes"
"Yea you don't have the eyes of a killer like most of the people hell you probable never killed any one ether and if so you are probable the most normal person here"

"Um thank you I guess i'm normal us to making guns not shooting them'

"Relay that's pretty amazing are you one of the engineers"

'I wish i'm was a sighed as a solider but I help doctor sheen with some of the miner things around the base like making weapons satellites and armor"

'Well if you can do all that your probable the most important person here"

(Anna once again gives Axton a weird look is he being serious does he mean what hes saying or is he lying I can't tell)

"Thank......thank you for your kind words'



"Any time,whelp this was a good talk ill be seeing you"

"by"

"O yea by the way my name is Axton what's your name"

"Anna,Anna Stone"



Axton leaves the shooting range.


Anna is standing in the shooting lost for thought "what is with this guy hes an american they normally lairs and deceptive,but him he was honest and truth full and.

(Well if you can do all that that probable makes you the most important person here)

"Did he relay mean that or was he lying ugh I don't have time to think about this ill keep my eye on him see if he relay is this nice guy or you typical American douche bag.

 

[thef]

Name:Thef Rebell

(Examiner)Hello welcome we are going to take a small examination
(Thef) ok well what are we going over?
(Examiner)Mostly small stuff shall we begin
Q: What is your favorite color?

A: Yellow

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Q: What is your favorite animal?

A: Wolf

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Q: When you get promoted what for the first time, which one of the solider classifications would you want?

A: Support or a assult

------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Do you have any hobbies?

A: I like to blow shit up

(Examiner*raises eye brow*) why?
(Thef) I was a combat engineer in the rangers I like blowing stuff up.

------------------------------------------------------------------


Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters?

A: Yes all the people in this facility

------------------------------------------------------------------

Q:Which one of X-COM's weapons do you prefer?

A: Lmg or the Assault riffle don't mind your sniper rifles ether

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: Unicorn

(Examiner) Really... That's ... Ok lets continue
(Thef *with a smirk answers* ) Ever had unicorn it's good but taste rare

------------------------------------------------------------------

Q: Which do you prefer: day or night?

A: Night

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Q: How old are you?

A: 23

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Q: What do you think the Commander's tactics so far?

A: Good but lacks the attack high in defense he needs to balance more

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Q: What is your favorite movie?

A: Star ship troopers

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Q: If you could go any were in the world, were would it be?

A: Maby back to America or try to restart my farm in Ireland not big on traval.

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Q: Did you ever own a pet?

A: Yes a lepercon name bob

(Examiner) Why don't you answer honestly

(Thef) Maby I am you don't know if I had a lepercon

(Examiner) you don't like me do you
(Thef) No

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Q: What do you think of the co-ed showers.

A: Ussed to it but you never know what soldiers will do. I try to keep a eye on every one and if eney one get's hurt we will have one less person

(Examiner) Speak from experience.
(Thef) No but I have seen things as a merc

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Q: Do you have favorite board game?


A: Not monopoly

(Exeminer) so what game
(Thef*with a annoyed sarcastic face*) shoots and ladders

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Q: Do you have any friends on base? If so who?

A: No I'm not often talked to

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Q: Out of all your family members,who would you say is your favorite of them and how old are they?

A: Thear all dead or gone

(Exeminer) sorry that is it.
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[Brycart]

Surveillance Video #289-78958

Project X-COM Gymnasium/Physical Fitness Center

Ayame Kasagi repeatedly strikes a dummy with her fists. She targets the body, then the head, then the body again and again. After a while, she begins adding kicks into her barrage of attacks, shaking the target with every blow. Once the target begins to wobble, she rears back to gather her strength and delivers a kick to the head that knocks the dummy on its side.

"Sheesh," Ayame lowers her fists and turns towards the voice. Joel Freeman stands near the door, leaning against a wall. "He make fun of your height or something?"

"How long have you been there?" Ayame questions.

"Long enough to see you know what you're doing." Joel walks towards the ring and steps into it. "Care for more of challenge?" He tosses Ayame a pair of MMA gloves and slips on his own.

Ayame sizes him up and then steps into the ring herself. "I don't go easy," she warns, and begins putting her gloves on.

Joel smiles, "Good, 'cause I won't." He sticks out his hand in front of Ayame. She jumps for a moment and then gives him a quizzical look. "It's tradition here to touch gloves with your opponent before you fight." Ayame shrugs and taps Joel's hand. The two of them quickly back up and lift their fists.

They slowly begin moving around the edge of the ring, waiting for the other to make a move. Both of them circle the ring in opposite directions, examining each other. Soon, Joel begins closing the distance. He opens up with a straight jab that Ayame sidesteps and counter with a high kick of her own. Joel blocks it with his forearm and goes for another punch. The two take turns attacking and defending, becoming faster and faster after each strike. "Not bad," Joel smiles as he blocks one of her blows. "But it won't be good enough."

Then, almost immediately, Ayame drops to a crouch and dashes under one of Joel's punches. She rapidly moves to his exposed side and brings up her knee towards the stomach. He seems shocked by her speed and barely manages to lift his arm and deflect her attack, but she doesn't slow down. Instantly, she throws another kick that, again, Joel narrowly escapes. He keeps this up for a while, but soon his opponent's speed proves too much. Ayame delivers a sweep that manages to knock Joel off of his feet, and onto his stomach. She pounces on his back, pinning one of his arms to the mat with her hands. She holds the other against his back with her knee.

Confident that Joel is unable to move, Ayame asks "Yield?" Joel struggles painfully against her grasp, attempting to push himself off of the ground, but his strength isn't enough. "Yield?" she repeats, but once again receives no answer. Worried, she begins loosening her grasp on his arms. The moment her knee comes off of his arm, Joel rotates his body and delivers a abnormally violent elbow to her ribs. Ayame recoils in pain and falls onto her back. Before she can react, Joel jumps on top of her and holds her arms down with his shins. Ayame immediately responds and strikes his back repeatedly with her knees as hard as she can, but he doesn't seem to notice. He lowers his hand towards his hip, and begins unsheathing his combat knife. As he pulls it out, Ayame notices and yells "Yield!".

Joel freezes and a panicked look spreads across his face. He notices the blade in his hand and quickly throws it aside as he rises to his feet, stumbling backwards across the mat. Ayame jumps to her feet and moves away from him. "Im sorry... I didnt..." Joel collapses into a corner, burying his head into his hands. "Not again..." he mumbles to himself. "I need to... I need to go..." Joel quickly jumps over the ropes and runs out the door. Ayame holds her ribs as she bends down to pick up the knife. She stares at it for a moment and then steps out of the ring herself, heading for the door.

 

[Captn]

Name: The Captn
Rank: Trainee
Total Kills Since Joining X-Com: 0
Status: Healthy

First Journal entry.

I've been in the XCOM HQ for a few days, but only now I got to make my first journal entry.
I have to admit: at first I didn't really like the idea of writing in a journal. It sounded to me like a thing american teen girls like to do. Nothing for an overly manly man like myself!

But as I recently heard, people are dying out there. The last one was a guy named Presariov. I think he was russian, didn't really know him. But that got me thinking. What if I were to die on a mission? I have no family, no friends. My comrades here don't even know my real name!
So I figured... I should write something down so people would know who I am after my death.

Some of the guys in the main squad even got nicknames now, like Dewitt and Brownnose. I'm not really a popular guy here. I guess you have to prove yourself before people begin to trust you. I think that's how the real world works, you have to earn your friends. I used to "buy" friendship, but that didn't go very well for me, did it? Lost half my fortune because of those false friends.

Yeah.. Money doesn't really matter anymore.
I just hope I get a chance to prove myself in the main squad soon.


Okay, now I'm going to pay my respect to Presariov at the memorial. Even if I didn't know him that well, we all own it to him..he was a good soldier and killed a lot of freaks.

Captn OUT

 

[PrismaCube]

Name: Colin Weger
Rank: Rookie
Total Kills since joining XCOM: 0
Status: Deep in thought

Journal Entry #4

You know, something I never really talked about in my Journals are the Aliens we are fighting. There seem to be many diffrent kind of aliens, recently a new alien appeared, the hover alien "Floaters" is what everyone calls them. It shows us that the enemie has more in stalk for us, its clever, shows us they have strategies. But the mistake is that we are adapting to there changes, taking there inventions and turning it against them. They can't really use anything from out planet since they seem to be more advanced.

But anyway what I acctually wanted to get at here was how there are diffrent kind of aliens. What I noticed is that they have aliens for a specific tactic, so it makes me wonder, what do they have for a heavy? Maybe its an alien we have not seen yet, that is something I wonder, and the floaters clearly show that advancement of aliens. Its technically a Cybrog, if they achivet that, let me be the first to say that I wont be suprised if the have Robots. Uh just listen to me, I'm deep in thought right now, it's what I was tought to do always expect the unexpcted.

Two alien in particular stand out for me at the moment. The Human like alien "Thinman" I think they call it, I wonder how long they have been on our planet without anybody noticing it, for an infaltration unit they are very well made...wait or did they evolve that way? If you think that trying to find out Human history is hard, thinking about something like aliens will be even harder. I hope when this is all over, we can learn something from where they come from, why they are doing this, and how they evolved. Maybe just maybe we will find answears to some of Humankind biggest questions, What if they are somehow related to us? You know a good movie that I once watched "War or Worlds" that was some intressting stuff that happend there, but this is diffrent this aint a movie, I remeber this one scene where one of the alien pods came out of the water, wonder if they also have some sort of water-aliens, I mean it could be possible that they hide in the most unexplored place on earth. I'm getting carried away in thought again.

Spiders! I loved them, others are afraid of them I on the other hand love those creatures, and the Spider alien, not so diffrent, what do the scinetis call it? "Chrissalis"? "Chryssalid"! yes, fasanatinc. Dont get me wrong its still scary, I mean those huge claws and legs that can pierce metal in seconds probably... and that speed, by god. Alright I need to take a break thinking about this, I have to stay aleart, next mission is in Germany Berlin, I'm worried about my wife and daughter, I hope the commander takes me with him on the mission, I mean everytime we get called down, he always picks atleast one new person but never me. I'm afraid that I will miss this entire war if this goes on. Alright enough jokes, my turn will come too someday.

 

[pete60750]

<RECORDING>
<INFO>
Ainm (name): Peadar Mac Lochlainn
Stadás (status): Slántiúil (healthy)
</INFO>
<EXCERPT FROM CLASS>
Peadar Mac Lochlainn: Dia duit.
Aaron Bryant: Dia is Muire duit. Cad é mar atá tú?
Peadar: Tá mé go maith. An bhfuil tú go maith?
Aaron: Tá brón orm, arís?
P: An bhfuil tú go maith?
A: Sorry, I'm not sure I understand.
P: An bhfuil tú go maith. It means the same as cad é mar atá tú.
A: Oh. Tá mé go maith.
P: Good. That will be all. Slán go foill.
A: Slán
</EXCERPT FROM CLASS>
<JOURNAL>
So, Aaron Bryant is not advancing as fast as I had anticipated, although maybe my hopes were set too high. He has the basics down alright, but he can't seem to grasp the fact that Munster Gaeilge is different from Ulster Gaeilge is different from Leinster Gaeilge is different from Connacht Gaeilge. Maybe it's the fact that I sometimes use the ceathair interchangeably, and maybe I should just stick to a haon. But, you know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and a forty year-old dog is sure old. Slán.
</JOURNAL>
</RECORDING>

 

[Zain Shah]

Journal 5

Sergeant Zain "BrownNose" Shah
Kills: 8
Missions: 4
Support

I started visiting the gym but I saw Booker in there as well so we started to talk and it turns out, he is a quite a nice guy; he's the first person I talked to in private and to be honest I needed to because pretty much everyone else had already started becoming good friends especially Anna and Ayame. I'm also concerned about the none of the team having helmets which would mean more armor, more safety and less deaths, I may have to pitch the idea to the Commander. Luckily we have enough supports for the next mission because I'm not going anywhere with those wounds but it would be kinda cool to get those weapons from the aliens so that we can also deal that kind of damage. I've heard around base that snipers and supports are usually safer in the Commander's hands, although I feel bad for the assaults and heeavies they do still get those cool shotguns and light machine guns. I'm starting to worry about my perception by the other recruits because so of them are animal lovers and my job is certainly won't make them happy but maybe if they get to know me better, they may understand why I do this.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Name: Ayame Kasagi
Rank: Trainee
Sex: Female
Age: 20
Place of Birth: Central China
Nationality: Chinese/Japanese
Height: 150 cm (4 ft, 11in)
Weight: 42 kg (94.5 lbs)
Hair ColorHair Color: Black
Hair Length: To the small of her back
Eye ColorEye Color: Heterochromia (One Dark Brown, One Hazel)
Known Relatives: None (All Deceased)
Place of Residence before joining X-COM: None

Status: Perplexed

Video Log [Translated from Mandarin]

Ayame looks solemn as she stares into the camera. Silent for several moments, she finally lets out a deep sigh, and says, "I visited Lemonade in the infirmary, or Jorn, as he asked me to refer to him. We didn't have a lot of time to talk, what with the doctors insisting he get his rest, but that was for the best for now. He said he was surprised to see me there, and I said I was just as surprised to be there. He told me he was equally surprised when we first met, expecting a rude, in-your-face hothead, and I said I was expecting an arrogant fathead with a superiority complex. He commented on the dangers of first impressions based solely on hearsay, and I agreed.:

"I asked him how he deals deals with his pain, how he is able to push it out of mind, and he said he just tries to see the world from a different point of viewpoint of view, and thinks about the good things that has happened to him, so he forgets the bad. And that if those bad memories come back, you should just let them pass and don't think about it and just be alone for a while. As the doctor pushed me to leave, Jorn told me he was sorry for being so harsh the other day, but I insisted that he was right to be, and that I need to think about what it would be like to be on the receiving end of one of my lapses in control."

Ayame picks up a large combat knife, looking it up and down as though judging its quality. She examines it's length, it's weight, it's balance, and even pokes her finger to test it's sharpness. "As with Jorn," she continues, still looking at the knife, "I should be angry, mortified even, by what Joel did to me. Ironically, I loosened my grip because I was afraid I went too far again.That was a serious blow to my sides; if I hadn't shifted my weight at the last second, I surely would have a few broken ribs, but even now I'm a really achy. And needless to say, I was petrified when he pulled this knife out."

Ayame continues examining the knife for a few more seconds, then puts it down and looks at the camera again. "But I'm not mad, I'm....I suppose the best word would be concerned. After what I did, I know it was an accident, and I'm sure he'll be remorseful. What worse, I fear what others might say about him, considering what they said about me. I'll have to give him time to cool off, but once I'm confident he'll want to talk, I'll be sure to tell him that I understand."

Ayame picks up the knife again, briefly looking it over before placing it in a drawer. "Anyway, I have something to do in the meantime." Ayame says, her tone suddenly sounding ecstatic. " Anna told me a new female arrived today, and I ant to meet her. I haven't been able to talk to the female soldier that was here from the beginning, what with her being seriously injured right away, but maybe I can find this new woman, see if she wants to bunks with Anna and I if she hasn't already been assigned a room. Better head out now."

With a big smile on her face, Ayame reaches forward a shuts off the camera.

 

[Dahlexpert]

Name: Axton Van Dam

Status: A little put off

Journal entry number 10#

Well it's been a interesting few days so what happened,I met this pretty hot chick a few days a go gorgeous looking in the shooting range,now this is not my first time seeing her iv seen her around the base and manly talking to that Chinese chick,but I finally talked to her in the shooting range and I told her straight up that she us to suck at shooting, but apparently when I was goon she improved her aim by like I would say eighty five percent and that is a huge improvement in a very short time, and who ever thought her thank you for that because her shooting in the past was terrible and i'm glad some one helped her instead of just laughing in the corner, so we continued to talk and she had this weird look on her face like she couldn't believe that some one is being this honest with her,she told me her name was Anna now will I continue to talk to her maybe but time will tell if I do or not.




So what else,I have still not talked to that Chinese women yet man I relay need to talk to her at some point,but I can wait I don't real need to talk to her thing will just happen and well see. O yea that officer training school is finally open, and it is mandatory that ever solider goes there,now I have never been to school ever I was home schooled and even then I never relay read the books the government gave to us,English I speak the language I through that book out,History don't care about the racism days I through that book out,Math keep the boor for the basic stuff adding subtracting etc,science keep the book gave some more ideas on how to kill people,and the rest some I keep others went to the grinder.So i'm not good with school and it's gonna be interesting for me try this school thing and that's it nothing else to say.


Transmission off#

 

[BMPixy]

[The same message as previous logs applies here.]

Limited Biographical Information In Use. To change this, go to the Options menu!
Name: Leon Ensslin
Internal X-COM Rank: Trainee
Age: 39
Height: 1.91m (6' 3”)
Weight: 90 kg (198 lb)
Nationality: German

Status: Is this row even necessary? After all, I will be explaining it in the entry.

Well, it seems carrying around a few Euros was useful. One of those laboratory technicians decided that he wanted a slightly larger bank account in exchange for a ‘favor’. Little did he know, I took his ID card while he was showing me how to operate this piece of confounding machinery. At least he showed me how to secure it with a passcode. For that, I’ll anonymously return it to the Commander. It might seem petty, but he charged me eight Euros for every ten minutes he spent teaching me. Forty-eight Euros, down the drain. It is not my fault I was not raised by a computer, unlike the youth of today. When I was a boy, the toys you played with were what you could find in the garbage!

I sound like a man of the Triad’s age. I suppose in some ways I am, considering that stress ages your body and forces you to mature faster. But, off the tangents. On to the reason I decided to pay someone to teach me how to use the accursed machine. One, I figure that Onkel would not like the horde of letters I would send him as this shadow war progresses, so I figured out how to use this recorder to help alleviate the load a bit. Two, the psychologist has been....insistent that I start talking about my past. They don’t understand that I am perfectly over what happened, but they threatened to have me bumped down the recruitment roster for ‘psychological reasons’ if I did not comply.

Anyways, this is the part where I use this log recorder for it’s intended purpose, recording daily logs, starting with what happened yesterday after I finished my letter to Onkel. I reached the gym, beat on a heavy bag for a while, witnessed an Asian girl and an American brawling in the sparring ring. Seems they lost themselves to the battle-lust, as the fight started to get a bit brutal towards the end. I would have said something, but I know better than to interfere with such a fight. Though I was ranked third in my platoon, the battle-lust is a powerful force.

Hmph, sound like some sort of coward. It is not the truth, obviously, but.... It is another matter, to be dealt with at another time. After I finished with the bag, I returned here, and started on another chapter of my analysis of the aliens, specifically the new breed, the Schwimmer. More proof towards my hypothesis regarding their overall tactics. In fact, I’ll even read an excerpt of what I have written regarding it.

“If there is a line between animal and machine, the Schwimmer represents that line. Little more than a torso with a flight-capable engine grafted into the chest, it is fast and durable, capable of flight that lasts an indeterminable length. It carries a ‘light’ plasma rifle, if a weapon that can burn through two meters of rock and kill an armored soldier on the other side can truly be called light. It is very aggressive by nature, and from the one recorded encounter at the time of this writing, is prone to charging ahead with little thought of the quality of cover.”​

Gah, my voice is getting sore. I suppose that is a sign I should end this log. Ach, no how do I turn this thing off? Ah, here we-

-End recording.-

 

[Brycart]

CLASSIFIED Video #2526-78481
Subject: Joel Freeman
2008
Chicago, Illinois

"...hurry up, Alex. Your brother's gonna be here any second." A man's feet come into view. "There we go," Alex responds and turns the camera towards himself. A black haired, clean shaven man of about 21 smiles at the camera. He then puts an index finger to his lips, as if to silence somebody, and sets the camera down on a table, facing the front door. A few, repeated "shh"s can be heard as the lights in the room are shut off. A few seconds pass before several knocks can be heard, and Joel's muffled voice comes from outside...

"You there, Maya? Alex? It's me." he shouts and begins to open the door. "I just wanted to congratu..."

"SURPRISE!" the lights jump and Joel stands near the door, in front of a crowd of people in party hats. Joel just sighs, shakes his head, and smiles. The crowd starts clapping and cheering as Alex approaches Joel. The two stand face to face for a moment without talking, and the cheering slowly comes to a stop.

Alex starts to smile and then says, "Happy Birthday." They both laugh and clasp each other hands, pulling themselves into a hug. A woman comes into frame and walks towards Joel. She appears to be the same age as Alex, and has long brown hair tied into a ponytail.

"Hey, Maya." Joel smiles as he sees her.

"I lured you into my trap!" she laughs as she hugs him and plants a kiss on his cheek.

"Can I see it?" Joel asks. Maya blushes and lifts her hands up to him. A wedding ring, that appears to be brand new, sits on her finger. Joel grabs her hand and lets out a 'wolf whistle'. He lets go of her hand and asks "How'd he pop the question? Spaghetti dinner? Big screen at the baseball stadium?"

"Bottom of the champagne glass," she smiles.

"Wow, never knew my brother was so smooth with the ladies," Joel turns towards Alex and lifts an eyebrow.

"You kidding me? I've got the ladies chasing me." Alex laughs and wraps his arm around Maya. She lets out a sigh and rolls her eyes. "Anyways..." Alex picks up a beer and hands it to Joel before grabbing one for himself. "Happy Birthday!" he exclaims and lifts his drink for a cheer.

(The camera turns black for a moment and then clears... it is night time now; Joel and Alex are walking along a sidewalk. There doesn't appear to be anybody on the streets. Joel continuously tosses a large, black combat knife, catches it, and tosses it again.)

"You like it?" Alex asks. Joel nods his head, but doesn't take his focus off of the knife. "Grandpa gave it to me a while ago. He told me to hold onto, but I figured you'd get more use out of it than me."

Joel quits throwing the knife and looks at Alex. "Sorry I couldn't get to the wedding..." he apologizes. "I was supposed to be back before it, but you know how the Army is."

"It's alright, Joel." They continue walking in silence for a few seconds until Alex taps Joel's shoulder and turns towards an alley. "We'll cut through here."

As they approach the center of the alley, a man steps out from the darkness wearing a balaclava mask. He begins approaching the duo and pulls out a handgun. "That's far enough," he warns them. Joel immediately stops, and halts his brother with an arm. After a moment, there is the shuffle of footsteps as 2 men emerge from behind Joel. He turns to see if they are armed; they both carry pistols. The first man aims his gun. "On your knees, hands on your head," he commands. Joel nods to Alex and they drop to their knees. "Drop the knife... and the camera." The camera spins for a moment and then lands near the wall, pointing towards Alex. The knife lands in front of it.

"What are we gonna do?" Alex whispers.

"Nothing." Joel responds.

"I'm not gonna let them just..." Joel shoots Alex a serious look and he silences.

The three men close in until they are only a couple feet away from Joel and Alex. "Empty your pockets, slowly," one of the men orders. Joel begins digging into his pockets; his brother follows soon after. Alex eyes the knife. Then, as he reaches for his lowest pocket, he quickly grabs the blade and lunges at the man in front of him. He manages to cut the man's arm, but he is quickly immobilized by a shot to the leg. Joel attempts to rise, but is kicked onto his stomach by one of the men. He tries to get to his feet again, but the man shoves his foot between Joel's shoulder blades to keep him down.

"Mother fucker!" the wounded man yells as he grabs his arm. He turns towards Alex, who is on the ground, holding his shattered leg. "You little shit!" He lifts his weapon towards Alex's chest and fires.

Joel quits struggling. His eyes widen, and his lip begins to quiver. "What the hell, Eddie?" the man holding Joel down is shocked and starts to lift his foot. Joel's twitching stops and he clenches his fists. He jumps to his feet before the men are able to react. One attempts to raise his gun, but Joel grabs the barrel and twists it. His opponents grip immediately loosens and he slams the weapon into the man's nose, knocking him onto his knees. Joel lifts the man by his neck and holds him as a hostage. The other two men aim their guns.

"Drop 'em now!" Joel yells and aims the weapon at his hostage's head, "or he dies." The initial shooter drops his weapon immediately, but his partner hesitates. Joel shoots him the chest twice and he collapses to the ground, dead. He turns back to the other man, "Kick it away." The man does as he is told and slides the weapon across the floor. Joel shoots him once in each knee and the man falls to the ground in pain. Joel turns his weapon back to his hostage's head and fires.

The last man attempts to crawl back to his pistol, but Joel kicks it further away. The man holds his hands up, "Please don't..." Joel shoots the man in the head and drops the gun on his body.

Joel drops to his knees next to Alex and desperately attempts to put pressure on his wounds. "You're gonna be alright bud, it's not that bad," Joel attempts to convince himself. "Just hang in their a little longer..." His eyes start to water. "You'll be fine, I swear." He breaks into tears. "C'mon Alex, you can't leave me like this."

(The camera dies.)

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

(OOC: The following was put together as a joint effort between ZombieSplitter53 & Frostlich1228)

From the Personal Recorder of *Ayame Kasagi*

X-COM Primary Mess-Hall
5:47 p.m., Local Time

As the image comes into focus, we see the bustling cafeteria, the room alive with the sound of dozens of soldiers making small talk, sharing war stories, or simply laughing at corny jokes. The camera is set on the side of a table, fully showing Ayame and the empty chair in front of her. She already has food in front of her, but she ignores it as she periodically scans the room. She has a smile on her face, but her eyes reveal a sense of nervousness.

Her smile starts to wane, but is suddenly renewed tenfold as Anna Anna approaches, taking her seat across from Ayame. "I'm glad you could come," Ayame says in Russian, delight in her voice. "I feel like engineering is overworking you."

Anna places her tray flat on the table. On it is a large square slice of baklava that tips over slightly when she puts it down. Anna looks at Ayame and smiles, then continues to talk in Russian. "Don't worry, Engineering isn't overworking me... if anything, I'm overworking myself, those engineers need all the help they can get. Did you know there are only twelve of them down there?"

"I really am worried, though," Ayame responds, "I wish there was something I could do to relieve your burden."

"After everything that's happened to you recently, what makes you think I'm the one who needs help?" Anna picks up a fork and starts eating.

Ayame's smile gives way to a worried frown. "Its just, you look so tired, and..."

Anna places her fork down, a look of concern on her face. "And what?"

"Its...its the way you toss and turn every night. It worries worries me....scares me, even."

"They're just nightmares. I...I'm fine, you don't have to worry so much, really."

"Are...are you sure?"

"Of course," Anna says, picking her fork up again, "but thank you. Your concern is touching. Good food, huh?"

Ayame smiles widely, but again, her smile quickly fades. She picks at her food as the two chat about their time in X-COM. They discuss Persephone bunking with them. Ayame mentions how creepy she finds the Thin Men, while Anna briefly mentions her interest in the Chryssalids, though doesn't go into detail.

"Ayame, what's wrong?" Anna asks after a while.

"What do you mean?" Ayame avoids eye contact.

"Come on, now, how long have we known each other, two years? I think I can tell when somethings bothering you. Please, you know you can tell me anything."

"Its just...I..."

Anna gets up and takes a seat next to Ayame, She places a hand on Ayame's shoulder, saying, "Ayame, please."

"Its just, with everything that's been going on here, with all the new, deadly enemies we're facing, and the chance of one or both of us being lost to this war, I...I..." Ayame hesitates, looking into Anna's eyes. Anna gives her a reassuring smile, and Ayame continues, saying, "I'd just hate for one of us to die before...I...(ahem) I just wanted to be sure...I just hoped you know how much....I...love you."

"Oh, Ayame, is that all that's bothering you? Of course I know that. I love you too!"

Ayame's face beams, her smile spreading from ear to ear. "I-is that true? I...I can't tell you how happy that makes me!"

Anna cups Ayame's hands, saying, "Of course its true! I mean, you're smart and witty, very pretty, and you're one of the most kindhearted, compassionate people I've ever met. Any guy would be happy to have you, and now that you're giving them a chance, who know? Maybe we..."

Ayame's look of joy melts into a look of misery as her eyes dart back and forth, tears starting to well up.

"Ayame? Ayame, are you okay?" Anna grasps Ayame's chin, pulling it to look her in the eye, but Ayame looks away. "Ayame, what...oh...oh god, Ayame, I...I...you. I'm so..." Tears start falling from Ayame's eye as she jerks her head away. "Oh god, Ayame, I'm sorry, please, talk to me."

Ayame's eyes dart rapidly back and forth. She desperately suppresses her sobs so as not to draw attention, and tries to wipe her tears away, but to no avail. "Stupid," she mumbles to herself, seemingly oblivious to Anna's panicked look. "Stupid, stupid, I'm so....why, of course, why would I think, so stupid, I'm....I'm so, so stupid..." Anna reaches out to Ayame, but she violently jerks backwards. She falls back out of her seat, banging her head on the ground with an audible thump. Anna rushes to her side as half a dozen soldiers run over to offer assistance. Anna gently lifts Ayame to a seated position, examining her head all over.

Ayame gives a pained look, which only intensifies when she looks at Anna. She quickly climbs to her feet, stumbling as she exits the cafeteria. Anna slowly stands up, her expression a combination of distress and confusion. Someone asks her if everything is okay, but she says its fine, that Ayame just had a bit too much to drink, ignoring the fact that Ayame doesn't have a drink with her food. She sits down and places her hands over her eyes, mumbling to herself. After sitting alone for half an hour, she slowly stands up and exits.

The camera continues to record the bustling room for two more hours before finally dying.

 

[Jhon Markith]

Journal entry 8

 

[Sharkdragon96]

Name: Persephone
Date: 4/3/15
Current rank: Recruit
Status: conflicted
Mission: Off duty

The under-abundance of female soldiers here doesn't bother me very much. When I decided what I wanted to do with my life, I expected the profession I was going into would probably be a gigantic sausage fest anyway so I was actually relieved when I found out that there were as many women here as there were. Some of them seem like the kind of people I could get along with but I feel somewhat conflicted right now because ever since my late arrival I've felt completely alone and have had the urge to make new friends but ever since our most recent casualty with Presariov I have been reminded that from now as long as I am a part of this project any bond I form with anyone here runs the risk of me or someone else suffering from PTSD. During the few times I've been able to talk with Rose while she was in Afghanistan, she said one of the most traumatizing things she's had to witness was the sight of fellow soldiers she had grown attached to getting carried off the field in body bags. If I'm going to make any new friends around here I need to be cautious.

 

[PrismaCube]

Location: Infimary 2:18 PM
On my way to the infimary I ran into Ayame, I greeted her and she kindly greeted back, she seems to be happy today, really strange, its not like her, but I can't complain, I liked it, made me smile too. She was asking around for a new girl, sadly I coudnt help her with that since I havn't meet the new girl yet, anyway I wished her a well day and was off to see my new friend Jorn, who recently got injured in the battle. I arrived at the infimary and saw Jorn there.

"Hey buddy, man you are looking good today hahaha" Colin smiles about his joke.
"I brought the chess board, are you up for another round?"

"Ah yes!" Says He with exitement. "I was waiting for that. Not sure if the doctors are ok with it tough. But it probably will be ok, aslong as I don't move to much."

"Ah I dont think they will mind, plus it helps you focus and not get bored here, so tell me, how are you feeling?"
"Pretty good, apart from the molten skin and flesh. So it could be better, but the Doctor said that if it had been 4 cm higher I might not have made it. So I dodged a bullet there. Well notlike I dodged a bullet, I still got hit... but more like...nevermind" Jorn mumbled. "It will heal pretty quick."

Colin sets up the chess pieces
"Yeah you really are lucky, I don't even know why we have no head protection, I thought this was a highly advanced military operation, but we can't afforf protection for our heads hahaha. By the way man, I'm sorry about the loss, must be hard watching a fellow soldier die before your eye's"

"That is true, couldn't focus a while after that, and so sudden too. And now that I'm hit with one of those bullets... I don't think a helmet is gonna help a lot, or it has to be a really big one." Jorn looks at how Colin is setting up the pieces. "I'll be white" He says after Colin is done.

"Alright, white goes first, I'm not sure what you mean, do you mean it will burn through the helmets? I mean if its made from the same material as from our armour, we should be alright. But then again, I havnt feel that plasma stuff on my face, so you probably know better" Colin smiles.

"Yes it will probably go through the helmets, so we need to have pretty think ones for it to work." Jorn moves a pawn forward "ah!" Jorn says as soon as he moved the pawn. "It burns when I move my arm. Can you move the pieces for me?"

"Dang are you alright? Should I call a hot nurse for you?" Colin laughs a little with a worried face "Sure I will move it for you, just tell me what to move where." Colin moves Jorn's pawn. "You have to be more careful buddy, I'm looking forward to the day we battle together, can't be any help to me lying around in this bed. By the way how are you liking the new gun? Would you rather prefer your old shotgun?"
Colin moves also a pawn forward from his side.

"Thanks man I'm okay. I went to the commander and asked if he could give me a shotgun again. He said that he would think about it. And he wanted me to be more upclose and personal. So we will see how it turns out." Jorn looks at the board. "Could you move that pawn to f3?"

Colin moves Jorn's pawn and then moves his knight
"Ah don't worry buddy, you got people watching your back, and with a gun in the face the results all look the same. I do hope though that the commander researches new armor, because with this armor now, we will be lucky if we even survive one shot. Like you."

"Pawn to a3. Yeah, although I heard that Joel Freeman survived two. And new armour would be nice."

The two of them went playing for a while until the doctor said the visiting time was over. "We will continue later" said Colin "That is fine, I see you later. Thanks for the visit."

"Anytime Buddy" replied Colin

 

[Teaslurper]

Name: John Cooper
Rank: Trainee

Non-combat log 4:

John is sitting in the cafeteria, he appears to have just finished eating and is lighting a cigarette. He takes a drag and starts speaking.

"So its been a couple of days since my last log and I have to say a lot happened. The largest thing I guess was that a ufo ended up landing in US, heh...the mission there went tits up to say the least. According to the intel that the suits had, the ship was a small scout that was probably crewed by a skeleton crew. But that couldn't be more wrong, it was a fucking ambush from what I gathered on the replay. For starters the aliens were waiting for the guys on the ground,and with a new kind of alien to boot. The new alien was essentially a living jetpack from what I saw and they were packing heavier weaponry along with the weird energy...thing. Now that energy thing managed to squeeze off a burst before the guys plastered it on the bulkhead of the ship, unfortunately that burst manged to melt Presariovs face. He didn't get back up from that....I didn't really know the guy but its a shame, those buggers don't seem to have any sense of self preservation if they can get a shot off on us. Jorn was also hit, but I think he's gonna be ok."

John takes a long drag

"It got me thinking though, even though the..Floaters. I think that's what people are calling them. Are carrying heaver small arms, they are still not that heavy, at least compared to what we're carrying. From what I've seen the newer gun looks like a small PDW or submachine gun, But in that case, what the hell were they shooting at us with before? Fucking Pistols? Christ, if that's the case then we are going to have to pull off lots of miracles if we want even a hope of surviving. I mean in every mission xcom has been on, at least one person is injured, and with two people are dead already. And this is with the aliens not being bothered to properly equip their troops. We are being toyed with, We are fu-"

There is a sound of a loud crack shortly followed by John rushing out of his chair. lots of mumbling can be heard with Anna's voice making it self heard saying "she's just had too much to drink". After a while John returns and presses whats left of the cigarette into an ashtray.

" So Ayame just cracked her head against the floor, looked painful. Apparently she drank too much, though I don't believe that. I doubt Ayame would be in tears over a fall, even if she was drunk. That and its really hard to get anything to drink in here."

"Anyway moving on to the little that's positive, I did manage to actually talk to Ayame just after my last log and guess what, she didn't castrate me! In fact she wasn't anything like what the others had said, she was nice. well she was a little defensive about her shooting skills, but I cant blame her for that considering that everyone and their mum is offering to train her. Also the suits decided to be less stingy and give us proper food for once. It wasn't great food but it was better than the usual tripe we get, just shame it was only once. The techs here also manged to make some kind new optic that was used last mission to good effect. That's all to report for now so ill be heading towards the range to try out those new optics, I need to remain in the know on how to maintain and setup any new weapons and attachments that come from here. Considering I used to build and sell this stuff for a living, I guess some of the other trainees might come to me for tips on that sort of stuff. John out."