RP X-Com Role-Play Missions

[ZombieSplitter53]

“Oh… oh God,” Reston muttered, the rapid turn of events catching the team off guard.

“Dammit!” Albert shouted, “Keep up the fire!” But despite the words, the laser fire petered off, both for ammunition reasons as well as psychological.

Amanda grit her teeth, clenching her metallic fists. “Get your shit together…” She raised her laser lance, sparks flying off her damaged arms and central armor, and fired off a blast at the remaining Sectopod. Her fire was joined by two Plasma Rifles still containing ammo, as Atka and Modya sought to avenge Grant Imahara along with Amanda. The other members of Delta could do little but slightly add to the crescendo of outgoing fire with their much-weaker laser weapons.

Albert grimaced as he fired off a pair of bursts at the Sectopod, his unfamiliarity with the weapon merely resulting in glancing hits across the hull of the alien robot. “C’mon you nimrods! Biggest Chryssie in the world doesn’t shake you, but one man going down does!?” The words had some effect on the shaken soldiers, and their assembled weapons added to the laser and plasma hell barreling down on the titan.

Finally, after absorbing far more fire than necessary, the Sectopod’s armor failed it, and it’s internals were ravaged by the combined arms of the force, the behemoth collapsing under it’s own weight as its reactor was breached and power failed. Blasts shook its hull as it met its end, shattering the chassis.

Atka shakily held a hand up as an unnerving silence fell over the wrecked central hallway. “That...should do it...Titans down. C-confirm that we have two K.I.A., s-someone.”

Ayame nodded. Rushing over to Wilhelmina, she didn’t have to examine her for long to know she was gone. She snatched up the medspray, and turned to Janina. “N-not losing you to girl. God… I’m sorry I wasn’t…”

Janina smiled weakly. “Yeah… me too.”

Ashley walked over to the fallen MEC. “Damn, how the hell can I fix this one, I’m trained to heal bones and flesh not wires and mechanics.” Ashley checked his pulse, “Well that’s fucked the MEC is dead. Dammit. Great our main tank is dead, but the suit might be salvageable and I guess that’s what matters.” Ashley rubbed her head. “And we’re not even done yet, we still have God knows how many aliens left. Ashley walks to Atka. “Well how was your day?”

Atka gave Ashley a rather cold look. “Not really funny right now...this is not how I was hoping this mission to go.” She glanced back at the other two entrances. Veda and the others from behind the cloning lab were hesitantly coming out, though the chryssalid hybrid Buniq II remained behind the mechanized human Isitoq II in nervousness. From Beta squad’s section Inderpal and Qamut slowly lead their fellow abductees out.

“That was...intense…” Qamut said hesitantly. He looked over at the Inuit scout. “Atka?”

“Hey, why are you out here? It’s still dangerous and the rest.” Ashley looks at the remaining troops. “What’s left of the troops could still shoot you.”

“Right, what she said. I told you guys to hang back and wait for us to evac you,” Albert said as he and his squad joined the assembled soldiers.

“We were supposed to follow a distance back,” Veda said with an eyebrow raised. “Though I don’t know what you told the people you found.”

“It does appear you have terminated any threats in the room at the current time,” Isitoq II added mechanically.

Qamut rubbed the back of his neck. “Well...I wanted to make sure the other abductees are okay…” His eyes darted between Isitoq and Buniq. “Dear God…”

Ashley rubbed her neck. “Fine, stay out here I’ll tell the other soldiers not to shoot you”.

Atka ignored the ongoing debate and walked over. “Is there an Inuit girl, sixteen, among any of you? Looks sort of like me? Have you seen her, Qamut?”

The hunter shook his head. “No...I think the aliens took her to the back…did you find…?”

Atka swore. “I found my mother, but not Nouja. Dammit, we need to get there now, before they decide to execute their captives or something.”

Albert looked between his soldiers, muttering something between them. After a moment of this, Albert turned to Atka and said, “While morale and ammo is a bit low on our end, we’re ready to follow you wherever we need be.”

Eva rubbed her head. “Yeah nothing like a suicide on top of a suicide mission to boost morale.”

Atka gave Eva a glare. “Are you implying we should just back off? We came this far, I’m not abandoning those other abductees after we just defeated what is likely their strongest troops!”

Yaralria walked over. “I should inform the seven of you that your Plasma Rifles and the remaining Alien Grenade will self-destruct in thirty seconds.” She grimaced at the ensuing ringing in her head. “Save your conversation for later, this poses an immediate danger to me since I am close.”

As soon as the words ‘self-destruct’ were out of her mouth, Albert had already tossed the plasma rifle away, and the others quickly did the same.

“Right, so what’s our game plan for the rest of the mission ma’am?” Albert asked to Atka.

From a nearby broken-down drone, Cheshire’s voice said, “Atka… can you hear me?”

“I can, cat. Make it quick, we need to move soon,” Atka replied swiftly, ignoring how strange the source of his voice was.

“I’m afraid you are right about that, my irritable friend,” Cheshire said with a hint of cynicism. “I can detect a large power source powering up on the north end of the base. The energy signal is the same as those from the UFOs. I am afraid someone is planning to leave.”

Atka clenched her fist, spikes of psionic ice forming around it. “So those bastards are trying to escape, huh? Alpha, Beta, Delta, let’s move! Civilians, follow a good ten or twenty meters behind us.” The scout took a deep breath, and ran ahead, Delta following after a moment of surprise.

Albert muttered disgruntledly, “Never got a game plan.” With a quick hand gesture, the remnants of Beta followed the lead team into the depths of the base.

Maximillan had Alpha team follow, and the three squads formed up, heading into the base. They came to a lower platform overlooked by an upper platform. Three Mutons under the direction of the base’s second in command, the Thin Man “Samuel Wilson”, were destroying all the data they could...with plasma rifles. “Why does that...utter...coward...leave me to do his dirty work…” He glanced down at the approaching XCOM troops. “...dammit. Kill them!” he ordered, though began to back off, knowing the Mutons would be able to do no such thing.

The leader of the two Mutons, named Ogedei, seemed to realize this as well. He set up as if to open fire, but when Atka directed fire at the three Balmadaar, he stepped back, turning his weapon towards Samuel.

“What are you doing? Shoot them!” Samuel said, and then remembered which brute he was dealing with. “You...filthy…” he rolled to the side as Ogedei fired his rifle, dodging a potentially deadly hit with the enhanced speed of his body armor.

Albert’s step hitched a bit at the sight of the traitorous Muton, and he nearly stumbled as a result. More traitors? he thought, before dismissing the thought for another time as he opened fire at the non-traitorous Muton, scoring damaging hits across the alien’s form but failing to take it down.

Delta will go for the abductees. Beta and Alpha, clean up here and find the base’s leader. I’m pretty sure this Thin Man is only second. Atka conveyed telepathically to the two squad leaders. And...don’t kill that Muton. My sister made a valuable ally, it seems.

Right. Never do that again, Albert mentally replied, unnerved at his mind being laid bare so easily. “Right, Beta, Delta, let’s bag these assholes and get moving!”

The two Mutons, just now realizing what Ogedei was doing, started to back off from the railing, considering their options. Ogedei himself ducked behind cover, and shot again at Samuel. The Thin Man took a hit to his armor, but pretended as if the hit was glancing to get the brute to stop attacking him. Once Ogedei’s attention shifted to his former kinsmen, he started to slink towards the Abductee holding room.

One of the other Mutons charged Ogedei, tackling him to the ground. The two quickly started punching each other, seemingly forgetting about their weapons.

Both Ashley and Eva kick the third Muton before he can fire. Eva: “What are you doing?”

Ashley: “Hey, an alien that has a sense of honor in it. How can I not defend it?”

Eva: “Ash, I appreciate the help but I got this. You're a regular human. I’m augmented and can take more of a hit. You help out the others.”

There was a loud crack as Ogedei smashed in the face of the Balmadaar he was struggling with. He stood up, beginning to wonder how he was supposed to communicate with the humans without telepathy.

Atka’s team ran past towards the Abductee holding room, unaware Samuel had gone inside.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

As for the Thin Man in question, he was leveling his plasma carbine at Nouja. “Such a shame, really. You all had so much potential…”

Nouja gave him a cold stare. “So my sister came then, and they’re winning?”

Samuel’s expression twisted in fury, and he went over, grabbing the insolent human by the throat. “Do you want me to make your death even more miserable? Because I can grant that death wish.”

The door slid open, and Atka’s gaze of fury locked onto Samuel. The Thin Man slowly turned his head. “Oh. Shit.”

A mindfray helix shot at the Thin Man’s head, causing him to collapse in agony, dropping his weapon. Atka did not let go of it, forcing him onto his knees and then his back. Stay...away...from...her…

Modya laid a hand on her shoulder, the uncharacteristic hatred in Atka’s eyes being unnerving. “We should probably take it as a captive. No need to kill it, we could learn a lot from the second and command, right?”

Atka glared at Modya for a moment, but her expression softened after a few moment. “Fine, but this is one of the only times I would advocate torture.” Atka let the others seize Samuel as she undid her sister’s restraints and embraced Nouja tightly. “Told you I’d come…” she whispered.

The remaining aggressive Balmadaar reached out as the rest of the team aimed at it, grabbing Eva by the neck and lifting her into the air. Its expression seemed to be one of smug satisfaction.

Eva kicked the aggressive Balmadaar in his face. She grabbed Balmadaar and lifted it over her head. The infantry then slammed it on it’s head and neck and kicked him in the back.”

“You know what I’m really annoyed right now. Ever since I joined X-COM, I was told to hold myself back. What we have here is a rare opportunity for me to finally lose it, Here let show you something. Release restriction to level 1.” Eva’s body seemed to slightly change showing that she put on some muscle.

Ogedei watched, seeming impressed, but turned back to the matter at hand. He stared at Albert for a moment, weighing his options. He slowly put his Plasma Rifle down, though seemed hesitant to part with the weapon.

“Right, listen,” Albert said, cautiously walking up to the Muton, while ignoring the fight in the background and trying his best to seem none too threatening. “If you understand English, nod your head. If not, just ignore the Arc Thrower I’m lifting.” Gently he raised the glorified taser to eye level with the Muton.

Ogedei gave the only form of communication it could without an empath around: a nod of the head and a sigh.

“Alright, then I’ll be able to explain what I’m going to do,” the Amero-Anglican said, nervousness evident, “We at XCOM have a track record of taking in aliens unconscious, both for security reasons and because that’s the only way we can get you guys to come with us. Now, I’m going to hit you with this giant taser, and you’ll flop to the floor and pass out. Nod again if you understand.”Albert gave a slight, uneasy chuckle at the absurdity of the situation.

Ogedei nodded again. Nouja will defend me later, he supposed. Repayment.

Sighing, Albert pulled the trigger on the Arc Thrower, releasing the several hundred thousand volts of electricity into the Muton’s body. Although it stood still, and he could aim it well, it still was barely enough for the imposing Balmadaar, which fell to its knees, and then on its back finally, drifting into unconsciousness.

Eva looks at the knocked-out Muton. “Well it looks like it’s one on one. So come on you worthless alien entertain me.” The remaining Muton growled angrily, enraged to be challenged by the smaller being. It threw a heavy punch directly at Eva’s face.

Eva got a big smile on her face. “Thank you sir, may I have another?” The Muton backs up slowly. “Sigh, well that’s a bloody shame. Eva rushes the Muton and punches it in the bringing it to one knee. Eva looks at the muton in disappointment. What a shame Eva grabs the muton and viciously punches it in the face and in a minute the muton’s face is no longer there. What a damn shame I thought you aliens were supposed to be our superior, but you just as weak as us you nothing but worms. Well i’m done I better lay down before I over do it”. Eva lays down on the ground and she returns to normal. “ Well that was a waste of time and my strength.”

“Right, Beta, Delta can handle clean-up! Let’s move and grab the commander before it books it!” Albert yelled, signalling his team to follow him further into the base.

After a couple minutes of sprinting down the halls, the team finally came across the hangar bay housing the escape craft, roughly the size of the Scout class UFOs. Just outside stood two normal Sectoids, and something… other. It shared the form of the Sectoid, but it’s skin was a deep red rather than the normal gray of the Sectoids, and it’s cranium was enlarged to absurd levels.

With a skittering cry, the Sectoids scattered into cover, as Beta team did the same behind the various crates and chest-high walls. Plasma and laser fire shot back and forth across the hangar, though the presence of so much cover resulted in no injuries on either side.

“Alright, plan!” Albert yelled, “Lovikov! Flash out on the Sectoids!” With an affirmative, the Scout stood up, and tossed the grenade at the clustered Sectoids. The big brained one saw what was coming, but before it could react the grenade went off, the grenade’s namesakes blinding it and the Sectoid beside it. A lance of light from Townsend took down the excess Sectoid.

“Reston, suppressive fire! I’m moving in for a cap on the weird one!” Albert shouted, and he sprinted forward, flashes of light to his side as Reston’s Laser LMG lit up the hangar. A secondary barrage from Bandersnatch tore apart the other vanilla Sectoid, and Albert slid up next to the last remaining alien, Arc Thrower at the ready.

And then the X-Ray looked into Albert’s eyes, and a tendril of purple light flashed forward, connecting the two at the head. Albert recoiled at the sudden mental attack, and he could feel the alien trying to force it’s dominion over him.

No! G-Get out of my head! Albert shot back mentally, doing his best to force the hostile out of his brain. Flashes of memories went through his mind as the Commander did it’s best to throw off Albert’s retaliation. A quiet funeral, sun high as if taunting those below for their mourning. No, you will not have me! The gnawing of hunger as he did his best to clean off the excess food from the table. Dammit, no further! A few whispered words. “There were no other survivors.”

With that last image, Albert’s defenses failed, and the alien took control of the Infantry’s body, twisting and contorting it as it got used to the new form. And then the alien decided to test the fingers.

With the last charge, the taser released it’s shocking payload, the current consuming the Sectoid Commander in a hail of sparks, sending the alien drifting off into unconsciousness and releasing Albert from it’s control, who fell to the floor, gasping in breath.

As the squad leader of Beta team recovered, the three squads regrouped, along with a large amount of abductees. Atka had her sister at her side, and looked over at the Sectoid Commander. “Well, I suppose that accounts for everything.” She reached a hand up to her ear, and tried to contact Gamma squad. Nothing. The Corporal became rather pale. “Gamma isn’t responding...what in the world happened up there…”

Modya frowned. “I hope we do not have to go through any more fighting...I think we have done enough for awhile…”

Atka nodded. “I sincerely hope so. Alpha, Beta, Delta, form up again...be careful, we’re going outside together. Civilians, stay behind us, and do not come up until we give the all clear.” She nodded at Nouja. “You’ll be safe soon, don’t you worry…”

With the captives and civilians in tow, the XCOM platoon headed back through the base, and towards the elevator in Delta team’s conquered engineering bay. They walked past the ruins of a hovertank and a Mechtoid that once had a flamethrower, before reaching the elevator that took them to the surface.

As the team made their way out of the base, they were awestruck by the chaos around them. Both Dropships were heavily damaged, though looked like they could still fly. What probably couldn't fly was the alien ship, the section of it that had once been its engine nothing but glowing rubble.

The sand around the area was stained red with the blood of Gamma squad, as well as the blood of nearly two dozen Sectoids, Thin Men, and Mutons. The shattered remains of two Cyberdiscs and three Mectoids sparked rapidly.

In the center of the death and destruction, standing on wobbly feet, was Lt. Brea. She was splashed here and there with blood and fluids of all different colors. Both of her arms were covered in third and fourth degree burns. She looked over at the returning soldiers, smiling weakly, before violently vomiting blood and collapsing to the ground.

Atka rushed over to her side. “Dear God...what happened up here?” she muttered. “M...medkits?”

One of the Indian abductees, Chandra, knelt down beside Aya. “I...I can heal her, a little at least.” Her eyes glowed a soft green, and she used biokinesis to supplement a medic’s medkit with more lasting healing.

Albert simply stood outside the elevator exit, mind failing to cope with the recent events and the scene presented to him. Slowly, he began walking towards the dropship, helmet hiding the blank look on his face.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Mini-Scout Mission

Operation Preemptive Defense

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Date: June 19th, 2018

Time: 1200 Hours

Details: EXALT forces have been cited in Tokyo, Japan. It is possible that they are aware of our divided attention and are trying to take advantage of it. We can not afford to let them do so, as showing weakness will open us up to a more bold approach by EXALT.

Take a small team to Tokyo, and find out what EXALT is up to. If you find any EXALT forces, remove them from the area by force, or eliminate them.

Soldiers:
CPL Walker, Desmond (Engineer)
CPL Wayne, Damian (Scout)
CPL Palmer, Ermen (Assault)
LCPL Temple, Sharron (Rocketeer)
CPL Brankino, Pastel (Heavy)

Terrain: You will be deployed in the Akihabara district. EXALT troops will be found spreading rumors amongst the people of Japan, informing them of the existence of X-COM and doing what they can to discredit us. It is recommended that they be followed out of the area. Engaging them here will only prove their point.

Upon following them back to their hideout, you will find the EXALT forces preparing to move out again, this time dressed in uniforms nearly identical to those used by X-COM. It is probably obvious what their attentions were. Take them out, and prove no one tries to frame us.

Enemy forces:
Half a dozen EXALT Forces, using laser weapons.

 

[MarineAvenger]

Operation Preemptive Defense
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Time: 2000 Hours JST

The Scouting team was sent out in the late hours so they would arrive in Japan in the night and begin the op in the morning to track and follow the Exalt agents back to the Forward Operations Post (F.O.P). They landed unseen outside the city of Japan in a town just a couple of miles away. Finding the place that was their designated safe house, the changed out of their armor and into more appropriate attire. With weapons hidden and minimal gadgets they synced up their comms and one by one took different routes into the city. Desmond and Pastel took the crowed morning train into the city while the other three took the local bus line. Each of the five took different sectors they had mapped out and swept the area for suspicious activity.

1200 Hours
Damian reported a suspicious looking man near GiGO arcade, talking to any onlooker that would listen, mostly the younger boys. Desmond acknowledged the man and said to tail him to see where he would go. A couple of hours past until movement was confirmed and it had been in fact an EXALT agent behind the spreading rumors of XCOM. He met up with another of his operatives and the two moved out shortly after meeting. The squad converged on the spot where the two Exalt were moving and followed them on the train to another town that was somewhat close to the one they were currently staying. Before they found the exact location of the F.O.P, Desmond pulled the squad out, realizing the two were not the only operatives on the train.

1800 Hours
The following night, the team assembled and went over the plan for the evening. Desmond and Damien would go into the town to scout it out meanwhile, Pastel, Erman, and Sharron would stay behind for the order to move out. Equipping themselves with Tac Vest that they had been permitted to bring and the set out, Desmond with a Laser Carbine and Damien with the Laser Strike Rifle. Upon entering the town they found a large warehouse in the backstreets of the town and upon looking inside, sure enough EXALT operatives were getting ready to deploy. Instead of their usual attire it appeared that they were wearing armor that looked almost identical to XCOM's. Desmond called in the reinforcements and they staked out the warehouse until the three rejoined with them an hour later. EXALT ready to deploy, they proceeded to pick the lock of a back door and entered into the a back storehouse. They opened a door out of the store house and EXALT was loading up.

Sharron pulled out her rocket launcher and set one at the front truck, blocking the exit for the enemy forces. The team moved in, Damien taking cover near by at three barrels in a corner of the room that gave him room to cover the entire warehouse ground level. Pastel moved slowly towards the second truck, laying down suppressing fire so that no one could leave the truck as Sharron loaded in another rocket. Desmond and Erman proceeded up the metal stairs to the second floor of a metal walkway. Desmond threw an HE grenade into the foreman's office and blew up the entire room, killing anyone inside. Erman had tackled an EXALT sniper training in on Sharron and after a struggle, Erman managed to throw him over the side of the walkway that killed him as soon as he hit the ground.

The second rocket loaded, she sent it at the second truck. The rocket land slightly short of where she intended and just grazed Pastel with shrapnel after the truck exploded, his armor luckily catching the fragments. Sharron checked on him but from behind the wreckage of the first vehicle, an engineer like the ones he had fought in Shanghai went running towards the pair. Disaster struck as Damien's Laser had malfunctioned and was not working and Erman could not reach with his shotgun or his pistol. Desmond had been out of ammo from laying down support with Pastel and without a second thought he threw himself from his vantage point on the stairs and landed with a roll with his right side on the concrete floor. Coming out of the roll he threw his knife at the near approaching suicide bomber's leg and it grazed his leg causing him to stumble. That stumble was what he needed as he ran up kicking the operatives chest sending him backwards. He jumped behind the wreckage of the second truck just as the clone preformed his deed. A little jarred from the proximity of the explosion but otherwise unharmed the squad pulled out via an extract from Big Sky.

The pair of troopers thanked Desmond on the way back but he wasn't listening to them. Confronted by Pastel, Desmond only gave the response. "Nothing. It is just my shoulder." Pastel didn't believe him but decided not to pry as they headed home.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
UFO Landing Mission

Operation: Unlikely Colleagues

Location:
Monument Valley, Colorado Plateau, USA

Date:June 25th, 2018

Time: 1400 Hours

Details:
A large alien UFO, what we believe to be a supply barge, has landed on top of one of the mesa's in Monument Valley. Considering it's approximation to a number of possible attack targets, we need to attack them before they have time to move out, or else we will have to guess at where they are attacking. Get to the sight, and take out that ship. With our current lack of personal, due to the mission in India, we are supplying you with as many soldiers as we can spare. Note that they are relatively new, but considering the CO's experience, we have high hopes for them.

Number of Soldiers for this Mission: Eight (8) Soldiers, accompanied by One (1) SHIV

Soldiers:
Capt. Brea, Aya (Scout)
LCPL Papadoupolous, Fedor (Engineer)
LCPL Wilson, Laurent (Medic)
LCPL Kwan, So Ji (Gunner)
LCPL Wagner, Christine (Rocketeer)
LCPL Stewart, Jamie (Assault)
LCPL Lopez, Alicia (Infantry)
LCPL Martinez, Sergio (Sniper)
Alloy SHIV "Griffon"

Gear: Players' characters' will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either a Gauss Stuttergun, a Gauss Carbine, a Gauss Rifle, a Heavy Gauss Rifle, an Alloy Cannon, a Gauss Long Rifle (Snipers), an Alloy Strike Rifle (Scout, Sniper), a Gauss Autorifle (Gunner), or a Gauss Machine Gun (Gunner)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor, Carapace Armor, Banshee Armor, or Aegis Armor

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Gauss Autopistol, or a Scatter Laser Pistol (SLP)

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, Alloy plating, Reinforced Armor, Chitin Plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, a HE grenade, a flash-bang grenade, a smoke grenade, a chem grenade, a high-capacity magazine, a targeting module, or an Arc Thrower.

(Chameleon Suit available for Scouts, Shredder Rocket for Rocketeers)

Terrain:
Outside of the ship is a large Mesa.

The alien ship itself is a standard supply ship, but with most of the cargo replaced with alien troop. In the center is a large cargo room, with a engine room containing a energy core on either side of it.

Enemies:
Alien Squad 1 - (1) Outsider, (3) Sectoids, (3) Mutons, (3) Seekers

Alien Squad 2 - (1) Outsider, (3) Thin Men, (3) Mutons, (1) Mectoid w/ (2) Sectoids

Alien Squad 3 - (1) Outsider, (3) Floaters, (3) Mutons, (1) Cyberdisc w/ (2) Drones

Command Pod - (1) Sectoid Commander with (1) Outsider assistant, (2) Sectoid pilots, (4) Drone assistants, (2) Muton guards

Conditions for Completing Mission:

(1) Elimination of all alien forces

or

(2) Evacuation back to the Dropship

Civilians: None in the area.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

ZombieSplitter53 and DarkGemini24601: “Operation: Unlikely Colleagues”

Monument Valley, United States of America
1400 Hours, June 25th, 2018
Colorado Plateau

Part 1

As the dropship rocked back and forth due to the turbulence outside, Aya scanned the room at the various soldiers before her. She had worked with each one in training, but most only had a single mission under their belt, two at the most. After what had happened in India, even Aya’s confidence was a bit shaken, but she wouldn’t let that show, nor would it stop her from bringing these men and women home alive.

“So, um.. Captain?” Christine Wagner, the team’s rocketeer started. “I’ve never been on one of these UFO missions before. Any advice?”

“How about don’t get shot?” Alicia Lopez, the team’s infantry, chuckled.

“And don’t blow up the big, green columns of energy,” added So Ji Kwan, gunner.

“They’re right,” Aya said, “Even if they sound like they’re messing with you.” She smiled at the rocketeer. “Just keep your head down, stay in cover, and follow orders, and you’ll be fine. And keep those rockets at the ready.”

“And… the green things?” Christine smiled back.

Aya shrugged. “Dr. Vahlen would like the, and would Shen, but if an alien or two is stupid enough to get near one, don’t hesitate to make them regret it.”

“All right, blowin’ shit up!” Fedor Papadoupolous laughed, tapping the grenades on his chest.

The dropship began its descent, and the team lined up at the door. “Not much cover here,” the pilot shouted back. “I’ll drop you off, then fly a little ways away. Don’t worry, though. I won’t be more than a couple minutes away.”

“Sounds good,” Aya answered. As the team prepared to disembark, the Captain knelt down next to the SHIV in the back and said, “Now, this is an older model, but it was upgraded before she left. Just watch our backs, and you’ll do just fine.” She received a nod from the turret, and walked to the head of the group.

The teamed jumped down to the large mesa, the large aircraft before them. As the dropship took off, Aya scanned the area with a bit of apprehension. “Strange…” she mumbled. The cargo hold of the ship was open, but no aliens were in sight. Turning to her troops, she said, “Listen up. These ships are usually meant for supplies, but it is obvious something is wrong. I can’t help be feel suspicious. This could be a trap, like the one I fell into in India.”

Jamie Stewart, team assault, bit her lip. “So, what do we do Captain. Surely, we’re not gonna… um…”

“Walk into it?” Aya sighed. “We don’t have much of a choice. But if they think I won’t be prepared, they’re mistaken. If we’re careful, the fact that they don’t know we’re expecting this could be our advantage.” She turned and pointed to the ship. “Approach in a line formation. There isn’t any cover, so be prepared to fan out if we encounter any resistance.

The soldiers marched forward, all prepared for the worse. They knew the risks, and all had a bit a fear, but they were hopeful Aya knew what she was doing. Aya was hoping the same thing.

“Strike One...come in. There’s a complication,” Central said over comms.

Aya slowed her stride, and placed her finger to her earpiece. “Copy, central. What kind of complication?”

“We just picked up three helicopters heading towards the LZ. No discernible markings or identification, but they’re definitely military aircraft. They’re probably a minute or two out,” the central officer explained.

“Helicopters?” Aya’s eyes darted around in confusion. “Are they American military, central?”

“Not that I can tell. They’re painted gray and black, and...I think the small machine guns mounted on their chassis are laser weapons. Not conventional armaments.”

“Damn.” Aya mentioned for everyone to follow her and shouted, “Into the cargo hold, now!” Everyone ran forward, taking cover amongst the various crates and computers in the ship. “Lopez, Kwan, Martinez. Watch the ship entrance for activity. The rest of you, we have incoming. Possible hostiles. Keep low, and don’t fire unless we get the order. They could be friendlies, but I doubt it.”

“Who… else could it be?” Sergio Martinez, team sniper, asked slowly.

“EXALT…” Aya readied her weapon, waiting for the incoming helicopters to arrive.

Sure enough, three unmarked helicopters flew nearby, and faced the large alien craft. Their weapons were definitely lasers, but they did not immediately aim at the XCOM forces. They instead came to a landing, the force of the rotors flattening the nearby brush. “This is 157, we have military forces here already. Unclear if the ship is cleared, over.”

“Do not engage...I’d like to avoid an altercation if possible, Emma,” Elene responded over comms. “Avanix, have Legion get out first, then Emma and the Adams will follow.”

One of the Legion robotic troopers surrendered direct control to the A.I. She slid open the door, and stepped out, followed by five more of the automatons. Avanix turned on the external speakers. “Who are you?” she asked, the rotors ceasing their movement so her female, yet mechanical voice could be heard.

“Straight to the point, huh?” Aya whispered to herself.

“What should we do, Captain?” Laurent Wilson, team medic, asked. “We’ve received no news of back-up, and I doubt they’re American. I’m not sure what they are.”

“They do look a bit off.” Aya examined the troops. She couldn’t help but feel something weird about them, like they were somehow soulless. “But they left themselves open to an attack.”

“Should we take advantage of that?” Wilson readied his weapon.

“Not yet.” Aya raised her voice, shouting. “We are a special forces team acting directly under orders of the Council of Nations. I am Captain Aya Brea, commanding officer of this mission. Please identify yourselves, and your intentions.”

XCOM. We meet at last, Elene thought to herself. “Emma, go out there carefully, and introduce yourself.”

158 nodded, and slid open the doors on her own helicopter. She stepped out, followed carefully by 5 male troopers. She looked at the Legions and Adams. “Lower your weapons slowly.” After hesitation on the human soldiers’ parts, but they complied.

“We are an organization called Legion. We defended Lucas Heights in Australia against an alien attack, and our intention was to claim the salvage from this craft. We were unaware that it was occupied,” Emma explained. “I serve a woman named Elene. Some of the higher-ups may know who that is, though I cannot say more without confirming that you have access to that information.”

“Elene?” Aya thought for a moment. She considered mentioning EXALT for a moment. Instead, she asked, “What government are you associated with? Who do you answer to?”

“We are not affiliated with any government or nation. Elene is the highest authority I answer to,” Emma responded.

“If you serve no nation, then what is your purpose here?” Aya scoffed. “Surely you don’t expect us to just stand aside and let some unknown group take the materials we use for the defense of the planet for their own personal use.”

“If Lucas Heights did not make this apparent, we use this technology to defend humanity as you do. However…” Emma paused for a moment, listening to a suggestion from Elene. “We do not want to be bound by the politics of the world, for the sake of it, and in order to advance technology. That is our purpose, not too far off what it seems XCOM wants. I believe we could work together, rather than risk a three-faceted battle,” Emma proposed, assuming the aliens were not cleared out yet, and waited to see if she was correct.

“That we can agree on,” the Captain answered, but kept her leveled. “If we can trust you. The problem is, I never identified us as X-COM. That means you have some pretty high up knowledge, putting us at a disadvantage. We’re a military organization, and follow certain rules, such as not firing at those we aren’t in conflict with. But what reason do we have to believe you won’t shoot us in the back and add our technology to your… ahem, defense of humanity?”

“If you know who I serve, you know we have no intention of doing such a thing… I don’t see why-” Emma grimaced beneath her helmet as multiple contacts came into range of her bioelectric skin. “We have enemies nearby!” she warned, and the Legions immediately snapped to attention, bringing their weapons up to bear where Emma was pointing. The Adams followed suit when they processed what had been said.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Unlikely Colleagues, Part 2

“They’re engaging,” Stewart shouted. “Fire, Captain?”

“Negative, weapons on the ship entrance.” Aya swung around, taking aim towards the ship. She knew she might be setting herself up to be shot in the back, but she decided to trust her instincts. The other soldiers reluctantly followed suit, turning towards the large energy doors in anticipation for the attack.

From the energy doors came a full force of aliens, enough for a terrestrial squads of ten. The first squad ran forward, using a Mechtoid with a telekinetic bubble like a tank. His two ‘suppliers’ were hidden behind the door. Three Mutons ran forward, and immediately took shots at the XCOM forces, while the three Thin Men jumped up on the cargo bay roof, lining up sniper-esque shots. An Outsider went to the middle, commanding the squad.

The total of eight Legion troopers sprung into action, jumping up onto the ship with their mechanized legs, and scattered in the open, drawing the enemy fire. One of them was heavily damaged, and fell back, while the others got away with no damage or grazing from the initial plasma volleys. They took their own shots, some scoring hits on the Mutons, and one robot in particular never seemed to miss. The seven Adam troopers, accompanied by Emma, ran towards the ship for cover with the distraction in place.

Watching as the Legion troopers fought, and noting the sparks on the damaged one, Aya shouted, “Covering fire. Assist them in distracting those aliens while the rest…” Another energy door burst open, and a whole other squad ran out. “Damn, I knew it!” Sharing the other squads Mutons as well as three floaters, this one also had a cyberdisc, complete with a pair of drones. A second Outsider ran in, and immediately fired at Christine, gazing her arm and making her duck down in pain.

“Son of a bitch!” she yelled out, her pain seeming masked by her rage. “Captain! Permission to blow them to hell!”

“Do it!” Aya shouted back. The rocketeer loaded up, ignoring the burning in her arm as she took quick aim, firing a rocket that obliterated the outsider, as well as a Muton and most of the doorway.

“The Thin Men!” Emma shouted to her own rocketeer. “Ready aim, infantry, gunner suppress!” Her soldiers compiled as she lined up her own shot. The EXALT rocketeer ran to the side of the other cargo bay roof as the EXALT scout helped the Legion troopers draw enemy fire, and leap up more than a dozen feet to cover atop it. He quickly took aim, and blasted a rocket into the alien alloy cover of the Thin Men on the opposite roof. While not killing them, they tried to flee. A laser shot through the head of one from Emma’s sniper rifle, and the infantry and gunner scored kills on the other two.

The Mechtoid turned towards the troublesome EXALT robots, and fired off its plasma cannons at one, blasting it to pieces. Avanix, annoyed, switched to a new frame, and ordered the others to concentrate fire on a specific spot on the telekinetic shield of the alien mech. Their laser blasts rang out, and the combined pressure was too much for the Sectoids, who were forced to lower the shield or risk feedback.

One of the Mutons lobbed a grenade, and the Legions dashed forward to avoid taking a direct hit. Rather than seek cover, they went straight for the surprised Mechtoid, and four of them hit it with an overcharge, overloading its circuitry and making it collapse. The Mutons menacingly turned towards the robots, however, who were counting on XCOM to cover them once they got this close.

“Don’t you dare!” Aya yelled, suddenly worried about the people she had previously been prepared to fight. Her eyes glowing a blueish green, she snapped her fingers, and a wall of flame erupted in front of them, blocking their view of the approaching forces. She grimaced in pain as two small energy beams struck her in the side, and she looked up at the two drones, taking aim to fire again as the cyberdisc opened up.

“Captain!” Wilson quickly reached for his med-spray.

“Fight first, heal later.” Aya pointed at the cyberdisc. Take aim, but hold fire. Wilson nodded, and he and Fedor aimed at the large disc-shaped machine. As soon as it was fully opened, Aya shouted, “Fire!” The soldiers complied, and the accelerated ballistics from their weapons tore into it. The drones rushed forward into the line of fire, and quickly fell as the cyberdisc quickly closed itself.

Two floaters rushed forward as the third covered them. Alicia fired at them, taking down one but having to duck to avoid fire. When she looked back up, she saw the barrel of a gun in her face. Her life started to flash before her eyes, but stopped as the floater dropped to the ground, filled with the ammo from an alloy cannon blast. “Th-thanks…” she muttered to the soldier next to her.

“No problem,” Jamie answered. “You’ll get the next one.”

The Legion troopers had used the flames as an offensive and defensive bonus, falling back while shooting down the singed Balmadaar troopers. “Take down that disk!” Emma ordered, and her EXALT gunner opened fire, blasting a hole in the side of it. The EXALT engineer took careful aim, and then tossed a HEAT grenade with his strengthened bicep muscles, the explosive lodging inside of the machine, and shredding its interior. It exploded in midair, and the husk dropped to the ground.

Seeing this, the two cowardly Sectoids decided it might be better to run for help, and disappeared into the ship. The Outsider leading the group was nowhere to be seen, until it reappeared with a flanking shot. It targeted the one it had determined to be the hostile leader, and a series of plasma bolts screamed into Emma’s helmet as she turned. She managed to drop to the ground before she was hit by all of them, but her helmet was ruined. The clone ripped it off before the plasma dripping off it could scorch her skin. “K-kill him!”

“You heard the woman.” Aya ran forward, the scout’s training allowing her avoid the shots from the remaining Mutons. The Outsider turned to her, but a few glancing blows from the X-COM and EXALT troops threw off its aim. Aya leveled her alloy cannon, blowing the things head into pixels. As it writhed on the ground, desperately trying to reform itself, Aya pulled out an arc thrower, and blasted it in the chest.

Seeing its Commander about to be captured, one of the Balmadaar pulled out a grenade, deciding to take out the Outsider and Aya at once. It raised its hand, and the grenade exploded, completely obliterating its hand and part of its face, and damaging the Muton next to it. As the second alien tried to get its bearings, it suddenly dropped to the ground, a nice round hole in its head.

“Bitches,” Sergio mumbled to himself, a stoic look on his face.

The rest of the team turned their weapons in the lone floater, desperately looking back and forth for something, anything, it could do.

“Jarone, give the arc to Hernan,” Emma ordered as she regained her calm composure. The scout nodded, and tossed the arc thrower to the rocketeer. He leapt into the air with his modified leg muscles, and filled the Floater with electricity, putting it to sleep. Emma brushed back her long, dark blond hair, and looked over at Aya with lizardlike eyes. “I doubt that was all of them,” the clone of Elene stated.

“Agreed.” Aya winced in pain. Laurent ran to her side, and she waved a dismissive hand. “Save it for…”

“Please don’t be difficult… um, sir.” The medic pulled out the med-spray and healed the Captain.

The blond woman looked into Emma’s unusual eyes. “Um… thank you. They might have ambushed us if you hadn’t warned us.”

“The only gratitude I need is your trust. I hope I have earned that, for the sake of my sister and myself,” Emma responded. Her forces formed up, mostly unscathed. The repair servos on the Legions had repaired the damage from the grenade, but one was completely lost, and the damaged one surmised that it should remain behind.

“You have it, for now.” Aya looked around at the group before her. “You have access to Meld, don’t you? And cybernetics. Just like…” she thought for a moment, but decided not to make unfounded accusations with their temporary ally.

“We have made use of the Tz6, yes. I would not have been able to predict the enemy presence, otherwise,” Emma affirmed. “I’m sure it's apparent that the Legions are fully mechanical. You need not concern yourself with their safety too much...though they are expensive to replace,” she added, sighing at the wreck of Legion-7.

“Um… don’t worry, I’ll try to keep them sa… um, intact.” Aya mentioned for her troops to follow. “Come on, let’s not give them time to regroup. We’ll take point.”

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Operation Unlikely Colleagues, Part 3

“Are you sure that’s wise, Captain?” Jamie asked once they were out of earshot. “Weren’t you afraid they might…”

“They need our assistance for now. Whether it is to help us or to use us, I’m confident they won’t fire.” She placed a hand on the assault’s shoulder. “But we can’t expect trust if we don’t show it. So we’ll give them that chance to shoot us in the back. I’m… prrrretty sure they won’t.”

“Emma, I have another suggestion for you once you complete the mission,” Elene said through one of the Legions as the EXALT troops followed behind, not able to use 158’s helmet any more. “Allow them to have the intact Mechtoid. We already recovered one, and giving them equipment like that will go a long way, I think. Even if it puts us at risk.”

“I understand,” Emma replied. “Though it is not easy placing trust in this XCOM, even if Mr. Cross said we could trust their leader. The squad leader’s previous reservations suggest suspicion.”

“I don’t enjoy guesswork and luck,” Subject Negative Zero responded. “But lately...I’ve found that placing trust in people isn’t always a bad idea. If David trusts them, then I’ll do the same for now.”

The X-COM troops walked into a large storage room, filled with a number of strange machines and devices, though not as many as one would suspect. “So this was a trap, which means there is probably another squad somewhere, maybe two.” Aya made a few hand motions, and the group fanned out. Aya took cover behind a rise, and motioned for Emma to join her.

The EXALT squad leader complied, kneeling down beside the half cover. “Do you think they’re in here, or the bridge?” the clone questioned.

“If I was them, I’d say they’re here somewhere. This was a set up. If you weren’t here, I’d be retreating with what’s left of my troops. Any thoughts?”

Emma nodded. “That is logical...but if they’re going for a retreat, they might try to lure us off the ship and then take off. We didn’t destroy its engines…they could take off right now if they wanted to, considering there’s almost always a set of Drone assistant pilots for the larger ships.”

“Then maybe we should make sure that doesn’t happen.” Aya looked left and right, noting the two side rooms. “Those are probably where the power cores are. If we disable…” The ship rocked beneath them, and they could feel it start to rise from the ground. “Crap, too late.” The Captain turned to the nearby SHIV. “If we get to the bridge, do you have the knowledge to fly this thing?” The SHIV’s turret slowly nodded up and down. Turning back to Emma, Aya said, “Alright. We need to take control of this ship. But we also need to keep an eye on those power cores. I wouldn’t put it past these bastards to destroy them mid-flight and send us all plummeting to the ground.”

“I could leave one of my squads behind for that purpose,” Emma suggested.

“Okay. We can check the two rooms, and if no one is there, we’ll leave one of your squads here while the rest of us head for the bridge. Sound good?”

The clone nodded. “We should hurry.” The XCOM-EXALT platoon headed towards the first room, and upon opening the door revealed a third squad. There was an Outsider commanding 3 Mutons and 3 Seekers, as well as a total of five Sectoids, two being the ones that fled. The Sectoids scattered, and attempted to panic whoever they could. The Mutons steadied shots, while the Outsider provided cover, and the seekers went invisible.

“Spread out, and watch that power core.” Aya ran into the room, finding quick cover before anyone could get a bead on her. She was joined by Sergio and Jamie, as well as Alicia thanks to Griffon taking a shot for her. The rest of the squad had to take cover near the door.

“Captain, permission to use an HE,” Fedor yelled out.

“How confident are you that you won’t hit the core?” When Aya didn’t get a quick response, she added, “Permission denied.”

The group took aim. Knowing their new weapons could severely damage the power core, they all hesitated, and had to duck down to avoid a volley of plasma round. “Damn it, they have us pinned, and they’re the ones cornered,” So Ji laughed at the irony.

“We could toss a volley of flashbangs and then have the forward troops rush in while we provide cover,” Emma suggested, nodding to her medic.

“Got it,” Jamie pulled out a flashbang. Trading a glance with the EXALT medic, the two tossed their flashbangs, and the room erupted in light. Aya rushed forward, followed closely by Jamie, and the two took out a sectoid each while the rest of her squad repositioned into closer cover.

Three Legion troopers went in, and used their mechanized strength to smash the Muton’s faceplates and shoot them in the face. The blinded Balmadaar didn’t have time to react. The EXALT scout and assault took out two more sectoids, but the last one had shielded its eyes. It raised its hand, and the EXALT engineer gripped his head, terror filling his eyes. He tried to run back, but passed through the line of fire of the Outsider and a readied seeker.

A Legion trooper took the hit from the plasma carbine for the engineer, but the seeker was out of reach for all those but Emma, who had been able to discern its rough location. The plasma shot hit her armor, and managed to go through slightly, causing the shadow operative to grimace in pain. She raised her laser strike rifle, and blasted the offending Seeker down.

“Martinez, take out that sectoid before it can do that again.” Aya looked around when she didn’t get a response. She noted the sniper’s legs before they disappeared behind a large machine on the side of the room. “Son of a… cover me!” Aya ran back, a grazing shot from a cloaked seeker grazing her side. She stumbled a bit, but continued forward, determined to get to her sniper before it was too late. The Outsider fell to the others.

“Focus on the other one,” Avanix intoned from her Legion frame, and then sprinted after the XCOM sniper. She grabbed the machine with her metal hands, and strained the Legion trooper’s servos trying to pull the seeker off, sending a minor electric shock into the stealth robot to weaken it. She managed to pull its head back, which was glowing with a readied plasma shot, and then smashed the face in with a powerful punch. The alien robot spasmed, and Avanix stepped back, finishing it off with a pistol shot to the damaged area.

Aya knelt down by her sniper, who was desperately gasping for air. Looking up at the android soldier, she said, “Thanks. That’s two I owe you.”

Avanix shrugged, as the EXALT medic went over to Emma’s side, who had her eyes closed and was breathing quickly, sweat glistening on her skin. Despite the fact that the wound was minor, she had never felt pain before, certainly not like this. Only the soothing med-spray saved her from further agony.

Aya got up, and ran to the other side of the machine. Coming up behind the sSectoid, she rushed forward. The alien turned in time to see the scout tackle it to the ground. The Sectoid’s eyes glowed violet. “Not a chance,” Aya muttered, and knocked it out with a swift headbutt, crude, but effective against the physically weak alien.

As the troops slowly looked around, Aya shouted out, “Wilson, attend to Martinez. Griffon, Kwan, keep on overwatch. That other seeker is around here somewhere. The rest of you, out into the cargo room. I don’t need another squad sneaking up on us.” Kneeling by Emma’s side, the Captain looked her over. “Are you okay? How bad is it?”

Emma slowly got to her feet, the medic helping support her. “It’s not...that bad...just...never been wounded before…” Emma explained slowly.

The engineer walked over to the squad leader. “Forgive me, Lady Emma…” he said guiltily. “I shouldn’t have…”

Emma shook her head. “It’s not important right now. We need to keep moving, fighting this squad wasted enough of our time. Avanix, have one of the Legions check the other room, and have another give us an idea of how high up we are.”

“Understood,” the A.I. replied. Two of the robots ran off while the rest of the EXALT forces regrouped.

Aya smiled at the other woman, letting out a sigh of relief. “Alright, let’s move out,” she said to her troops. “You alright, Sergio?”

“Fine, just fine.” The sniper looked more angry then injured. “Just ready to shoot something.”

Aya nodded, and stepped forward. She looked in the cargo room, then back at Emma. “I’m afraid to move on with that machine around here. Do you… feel anything?”

Emma closed her eyes. “I…” she suddenly swiveled, training her laser strike rifle on the top of the doorframe, and shot at it. A seeker was revealed with a burn mark, and was quickly taken down by a few surprised shots from the Colombian clones. “Consider it dealt with,” Emma concluded.

The two Legion troopers returned. “The second core room is clear,” affirmed Legion mechanically. From the other, it added, “And we are likely several thousand feet up. Not cruising altitude quite yet, but despite the durability of these ships, it is not advised to be in a crash at this height regardless, my lady.”

“That would be bad,” Alicia mumbled.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Unlikely Colleagues, Part 4

“Then let’s get this ship under our control.” Aya stepped out the door, but was quickly stopped by Laurant. At the look of irritation on the medics face, Aya rolled her eyes and waited for the med-spray to do its job. She then took point on the way to the bridge stopping outside the door, she turned to Emma and asked, “So… ideas?”

“HE grenade?” the X-COM engineer offered hopefully, and got a disapproving glare in response. “Just an idea…”

“I would advise snipers, infantry, and gunners on the door. We can’t allow them to destroy the equipment if we plan to land this ship,” Emma responded. “We should shoot whoever is a threat and ignore the pilots until after the dangerous enemy is dealt with.”

“I can assist in landing us once the enemy is cleared out,” Avanix added.

“Good.” Aya nudged her head towards the SHIV. “I’m sure our SHIV operator could handle it if she was here, but I don’t know how much I can trust her ability trying to link to the ship through the SHIV.”

Sergio, Alicia, and So Ji took their place on the left side of the door, with Griffon by their sides, and the rest of the X-COM in nearby cover. Alicia placed her hand up to the door, waiting for their ally troops to say they were ready.

Emma nodded, and the door was opened. Inside, a frustrated Sectoid Commander and his two Muton bodyguards looked at the enemy as the door lowered. Two vanilla Sectoids were typing on the flight computers, and the Outsider in crystal form plus four drones were electronically piloting the large UFO. “Take out their leader!” Emma shouted, and fired off a shot that cut through the Sectoid Commander’s shoulder. He managed to duck under a flight computer to avoid Infantry fire, and the two Gunners took down the Mutons.

The powerful Sectoid reached out, and a spiral of violet energy reached out, going into Emma’s head. Her eyes were rimmed with the same color, and she aimed her weapon at Aya’s head.

“Crap. I hate having to do this.” Aya ducked down and charged forward, tackling the EXALT troop leader to the floor. Pinning down the woman’s arms, she looked up, noting the looks from the EXALT soldiers and legion troops. “Um… I can explain…”

The clone soldiers started to lift their weapons. “Cease your attack of Lady Emma,” one of them demanded. Avanix tried to process why Aya would suddenly turn on them, while the Sectoid Commander’s eyes went wide with glee, the mind control going better than expected. Who knew they were on thin ice with each other? In the meantime, the two Sectoids ran forward, and shot Legion Troopers. One hit the frontal armor, and another dropped one with a lucky shot to the neck, severing the head.

“Motherf…” Aya raised one hand while trying to hold down Emma with the other. “You don’t understand, she’s being…” She caught her soldiers turning their weapons out of the corner of her eye, and shouted, “Forget about me, focus on the aliens!” The soldiers reluctantly complied, and the sectoids went down in a spray of fire from Alicia and Griffon.

Aya’s eye darted back and forth, sure the only reason she wasn’t dead yet was because they didn’t want to hit Emma. She rolled to her side, and pulled Emma’s arm behind her back. Using her other arm, she wrapped it around the woman’s neck, and held Emma between herself and the EXALT troops in a sitting position. “Take out that Sectoid Commander, or I swear, I’ll snap her neck!” In a lower voice, she said, “Come on, Emma, get control of yourself before they blast me…”

“You…” Avanix said with anger apparent.

“D-do what she says, Avanix…” Elene said shakily.

The A.I. had Legion focus on the Sectoid Commander. Another shot wounded him, and she prepared to run for him, but the alien had one last gamble.

“...k-kill her…” Emma said, her words not her own.

“Emma, what are you…” Elene muttered to herself.

Avanix looked between Aya and the Sectoid Commander. Trust, huh? “Your actions are illogical, my lady,” she decided, and ran at the disappointed Sectoid Commander, shocking him into unconsciousness. The glow faded from Emma’s eyes, and she looked at the Adams that seemed on the verge of firing. “W...what are you...stand down!”

Aya quickly released Emma. “Are you okay? Sorry, I was… you were…”

As the sound of laser fire confirmed the deaths of the Drones and Outsider unable to defend themselves echoed from the bridge, Emma shakily asked, “W-what did it do to me?”

“Psychic mind control.” Aya pointed towards her head. “Apparently, the more bulbous headed one can control your actions if they set up a link. Luckily, we’ve already seen it happen, which is why I didn’t shoot you. Of course, keeping myself from getting shot was a horse of a different color.” Aya smiled sheepishly, realizing she’d have another fight on her hands if Emma didn’t believe her.

“It...used me like a puppet…” Emma hung her head, biting her lip. “I-in my weakness...I nearly...I could have lead to the deaths of my soldiers and yours...and ruined everything Elene had worked so hard for,” she said, her voice quivering.

Aya shook her head, and placed her hands on both of Emma’s shoulders, leaning in close despite how the EXALT and Legion troops might have reacted. “Listen, falling for something you didn’t know about, something that you’d have know way of knowing about or preparing for, is not weakness. It could have taken any of us. It probably targeted you because you were strong, not because you were weak, and it wanted to control the strongest person.” Aya took her hands away, realizing she was giving a sister-like pep talk to a complete stranger. Still, she gave the woman a reassuring smile.

Emma looked up at her gratefully. “Despite...all of this, I hope we’ve proven we aren’t an enemy to XCOM, and that you can trust us.”

“Beginning descent with the aide of...whoever is piloting this automaton,” Avanix called out from the bridge.”

Aya tapped Emma on the shoulder. “Not my decision to make, but you’ll be getting a good word from me.” Standing up and turning towards Griffon and Avanix, she asked, “So, um… any idea where we are?”

“They were heading over towards Phoenix...we’re about 30 miles out from that city,” Avanix intoned. “I suppose we should hurry with the descent, lest the American military collectively panic.”

“Agreed.” Aya shook her head. “So much for a few minutes away.” Speaking into her earpiece and flipping open a wrist mounted computer, she said, “Dropship, this is Capt. Brea. We’re gonna need a pick up. Sending you new coordinates.”

After a few minutes, the dropship pilot answered, “What the… how the hell did you get to Arizona?!”

“Long story, just get over here. Somehow, I don’t think you’ll miss us.” Turning back to Emma, Aya asked, “You guys gonna need a ride somewhere?”

“As your base of operations is secret, so is ours,” Emma explained. “Though there is the question of how we plan to split the spoils.” She held up her hands defensively. “I am content with just taking some things from here. If you want to keep this ship, I can take some of the corpses, captives, and any excess materials that won’t compromise the ship’s integrity. I doubt we have a ‘garage’ big enough to hold something like this, anyway.”

“Um… Captain, I don’t think Bradford…” So Ji started, and was silenced by Aya’s raised hand.

“If he has a problem with it, we’ll just say we were outnumbered.” The Captain sighed, and rubbed the back of her neck. “Commander probably isn’t gonna be that happy either, but I’m not going to fight you over this, not when you’ve been so accommodating.” Aya extended her hand, and winked at Emma. “Besides, there isn’t a whole lot of materials here anyway. I’m sure it wouldn’t be surprising if I didn’t mention some of the stuff you take as not being here in the first place.”

Emma smiled slightly, shaking Aya’s hand. “Thank you. And…” she glanced at the Sectoid Commander. “We’ll have a way to prevent future problems with those things...not to mention, I get a little payback. Don’t worry about the Mechtoid though, we already pulled that trick once, we don’t need two of them.”

Aya nodded in agreement, and looked back at the Sectoid Commander with a look almost resembling sympathy for what she was sure he was in store for.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Alien Barricade Attack

Operation:
सशक्त प्रतिकार

Location:
Outskirts of New Delhi, India
June 28th, 2018

Time:
1215 Hours

Mission Details:
The remaining aliens throughout India have congregated into the capital of India. Why the aliens have chosen to do this instead of simply fleeing is unknown. It is possible that they have some hope of regaining full control of the country. However, this would require a healthy supply of reinforcements, and as we have yet to see any alien ships bringing supply, it is possible the main alien leaders have decided the country is lost. This likely means they are establishing another base elsewhere. We'll have to deal with that later on. For now, we worry about India.

The aliens have put up makeshift barricades around the city using the same technology used for the energy-doors we have found in the alien ships. So far, attempts to open them, either through destructive means or hacking have come to naught. However, these were makeshift barricades, and they have their weakness.

On such weakness has been found in a smaller area to the east. Dr. Randolf will hack the door, and a small X-COM force, backedup by a troop of Indian soldiers, will enter the breach and head for a small nearby command center. The energy readings coming from that area, as well as the energy being projected towards the main barricades, implies this is the location of the main barricade generators. Take out the command center, and destroy the generators, leaving room for the main military forces to enter the city.

Number of Soldiers for this mission: Six X-COM Soldiers, accompanied by one SHIV, per unit. X-COM will also be accompanied by two dozen Indian Military soldiers.

Soldiers Names:
Unit 1:
*Lt. Stewart, Jack (Assault)
LCPL Anderson, Sven (Sniper)
CPL Fischer, Amelia (Support)
LCPL Orlov, Nika (Heavy)
CPL Lopez, Steve (Gunner)
CPL Camilo, Victor (Scout)
Alloy SHIV Unit "Bandersnatch"

Unit 2:
*Lt. Ipiktok, Atka (Scout)
CPL Dragomirov, Modya (Rocketeer)
CPL Kasagi, Ayame (Gunner)
LCPL Griffith, Nicolas (Medic)
CPL Summers, Holly (Engineer)
LCPL Beckerr, Maggie (Infantry)
Alloy SHIV Unit "Taqukaq"


*Squad Leader

Gear: Players' characters' will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either a Gauss Stuttergun, a Gauss Carbine, a Gauss Rifle, a Heavy Gauss Rifle, an Alloy Cannon, a Gauss Long Rifle (Snipers), an Alloy Strike Rifle (Scout, Sniper), a Gauss Autorifle (Gunner), or a Gauss Machine Gun (Gunner)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor, Carapace Armor, Banshee Armor, or Aegis Armor

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Gauss Autopistol, or a Hand Scatter Cannon (H.S.C.)

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, Alloy plating, Reinforced Armor, Chitin Plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, a HE grenade, a flash-bang grenade, a smoke grenade, a chem grenade, a high-capacity magazine, a targeting module, or an Arc Thrower.

(Chameleon Suit available for Scouts, Shredder Rocket for Rocketeers)

Terrain:
Upon breaching the defenses, you'll find yourself approximately two city blocks from the command center. Most of the aliens will either be in the Main Command Center at the center of the city or at the frontlines of the main battle, but don't let you guard down. There may be aliens patrolling the area, especially if they know of the weakness in their defense, and satellite imagery has located what appears to be a tank. It might be an abandoned one, but in case it was commandeered by the aliens and reinforced, you will be accompanied by two of you own. Unfortunately, your entry way to the city may be too small for them to go through, so you might have to hold off the aliens until

The command center itself is structured much like a larger scout UFO, and may very well have been converted from one. The main generators are located in the center of the structure, and are using the same means of electromagnetic wave conversion to transmit the energy to the front lines as seen during the mission in Hawaii, so simply cutting some power lines will not be enough. The generators themselves must be destroyed.

The main squad will divide into two units, entering the base through its north and south entrances. A simultaneous assault on two sides will cause enough confusion to make it through what will likely be a heavily guarded structure.

While they have not received the same training as X-COM soldiers, the Indian Military forces are there to help, and are willing to give everything to retake their capital. Do not forget to utilize them to bolster your numbers.

Enemies:
One Squad containing Three (3) Sectoids
One Squad containing Three (3) Thin Men
One Squad containing Three (3) Floaters
One Squad containing Three (3) Seekers
One Squad containing Two (2) Sectoids and two (2) Incubators.

(In Base) Two (2) Outsiders, One (1) Sectoid Commander, and One (1) Muton.

Conditions for Completing the Mission:
The destruction of the power supply for the main energy barricades blocking the military forces from entering the city.

Civilians: The buildings are still occupied. We can only hope that the civilians have the sense to stay in doors.

 

[Adrammalech]

This is a collaboration between Adrammalech and DarkGemini24601.
Emily Fischer / Atka Ipiktok
Operation Strong Resistance Staging Ground
New Delhi, India
June 28th, 2018 – 12:15 PM

Outside the outer walls of New Delhi, sixteen Indian soldiers and six X-COM soldiers all convened at a weak point in the wall. Emily, Nika, Sven, and Dallas were all there and sporting brand new armor and weapons, as well as two other X-COM soldiers, Victor Camilo and Steve Lopez. The Indian soldiers looked at each other with some level of fear but an even greater degree of zeal, happy to risk themselves to free their homes.

“What’s the plan, Lieutenant Stewart?” one of the more presentable Indian soldiers asked.

“We wait here on this wall until Sun–Dr. Randolph opens the door. Once we’re clear, we rush to the highest cover, and we’ll scout from there.”

“Dr. Randolph says that the doors should be going down in thirty seconds,” Bradford stated over the comms. “Be prepared.”

The group readied their weapons and stacked onto the walls. After ten seconds, everyone was ready and itching to move. After twenty, the SHIV Bandersnatch’s ‘head’ arose from its idle position, the controls being grabbed by Sunny from afar in her safe room. After thirty, the door crackled and whined, a pathway opening up in an alleyway off a main boulevard. The alley split off right away with a thin strip of ground behind a grouping of buildings and a large pathway towards the boulevard, holding the tank that was seen in the satellite image. In front of them was a slightly damaged coffee shop and a towering office building, most of the windows broken from impacts or looters.

“Everyone dash up to the walls of that office, don’t stay in the open too long,” Dallas commanded.

The X-COM soldiers rushed to the wall, the side of a back-alley door being crowded by three twitchy soldiers each. The Indian soldiers quickly followed suit, rushing behind the building and coffee shop behind safe brick walls.

“X-COM will breach here and take cover in the building to scout out the boulevard and surrounding buildings. The Indian company will stay behind us and cover our movements. No one panic and no one get jumpy and we’ll all make it home.”

The Indian soldiers nodded nervously, from grizzled veterans to some looking like teenagers in costume. Emily stepped forwards and kicked in the door, rushing behind a filing cabinet and looking around quickly.

“No one in here,” Emily noted. “Just computers and desks.”

“Fan out, secure the floor,” Dallas ordered.

Nika, Lopez and Camilo all moved in as well, looking for any sign of aliens between the short desk arrangements and cubicles. Three or four Indian soldiers followed in, assisting the search. Sven took up an advantageous position on top of a desk, placing his rifle onto a half-wall that had been placed in front of it.

“We’ve got a tank in the street,” Sven noted. “Not moving.”

“If we’re careful, we might be able to get the jump on anyone near there.”

The X-COM soldiers moved through the building, hiding behind window sills and walls facing the boulevard, preparing to strike.

“Emily, you’ve got the grenades. A chem on that tank will stop any would-be heroes from using it.”

“Not a problem.”

Emily pulled out her green and gray grenade, twirling it in her hand confidently. With a pull of the pin, she hurled the little cylinder with perfect precision, coating the front of the tank in the green-blue poison of the reptilian aliens. In response, four little thin men heads popped out, all wearing local hats and sunglasses, smiling at the ineffectiveness of the venomous assault.

“Of course it’s them,” Dallas sighed.

From behind them, a loud clatter came from the back-alley door on the other side, three Indian soldiers rushing away from a kicked in door.

“Contact, contact!” one of them shouted before being shot in the back.

The thin men on the boulevard rushed forwards, firing randomly with their light rifles as they sprinted towards cover. One jumped high in the air and landed artfully in the turret seat, twirling the large machine gun towards them. Sven blasted a hole in one of the thin men, the reptilian sneak bleeding profusely from the massive wound before crumpling over.

“Fall back, make them funnel through here!” Dallas shouted.

The SHIV rushed forwards into the back of the building, gunning down a Sectoid that was walking through the door. Two more quickly hid behind the doorway as the X-COM soldiers ran by, rushing back to their exit point with two panicked Indians in tow. Sven got outside and clicked the wristplate on his Banshee armor, firing the grapple onto the sign on top of the coffee shop.

“The SHIV and I will handle the sectoids. You guys have the thin men.”

Emily nodded towards him and aimed her rifle down the building’s kill zones, firing at the thin men as they hid throughout the front of the building. Dallas ran down the alleyway, watching another Sectoid get shot through the wall of the office building. He lined up his shotgun with the last intruding Sectoid, blasting him into a shredded mess of a being.

Nika walked forwards into cover and fired a suppressing barrage towards one of the thin men, the targeting data quickly being sent to the others. As it popped out to fire back, Emily quickly blasted it in the head, sending it flying back against the wall. Emily then threw a smoke grenade towards the back of the building, blocking the turret gunner’s view from the battle. Realizing the terrain had turned against them, the remaining two thin men fell back, one of them being drilled in the back by Nika’s massive machine gun and the other disappearing into the smoke.

The X-COM soldiers pushed their advantage with a handful of Indian officers, leaving most of the local soldiers behind to calm down and nurse their injured. As the smoke cleared, the thin man gunner locked onto the scrambling soldiers. A bolt from the blue blasted through his body from the right, a green splattered body stuffing the gunner’s nest.

The last thin man leaped into the tank’s rear, scrambling for the esoteric controls. Nika raised her gauss launcher and blasted it at the front of the tank, causing it to lift slightly. The front plates looked mangled and charred, but the tank’s cannon still revved to life. Already pointed in the wrong direction, it turned towards X-COM before clicking and whirring pitifully, unable to push past the bends in the steel from the advanced rocket shot. The treads were incinerated at the front wheels, rendering it immobile as well.

The Indian officers advanced past the windows, moving towards the stuck tank with Dallas and Emily. Suddenly, a loud warping bang was heard from their side, a green explosion wrapping up two of the Indians and flinging them aside. The cackle and engine bursts of the Floaters was heard from a nearby rooftop as they swooped towards the boulevard. One of the Indians tried to grasp his fallen comrade before Dallas pulled him by the shoulder.

“Move, get back to the buildings!” he shouted angrily.

The X-COM soldiers fell back towards the coffee shop’s entrance as the Indian soldiers rushed into the office building, creating a firing squad in the windows. They fired their conventional and borrowed laser weapons at the floaters, killing one instantly and sending another spiraling to the earth with a trail of oil behind it. Camilo took up a position next to Sven and fired a loud shot directly through the last floater’s chest.

The tank continued to whine as the huge cannon’s disk shoved its way up the warps in its armor, reaching a pinnacle and sitting with the barrel facing directly at the roof of the coffee shop. A thundering shot blasted into the concrete of the building, the roof rupturing and cracking apart beneath Sven and Camilo. Camilo quickly shot another grapple towards the back of the roof while Sven lost his footing, falling with the rocks into the floor below. Dallas shoved a huge piece of rock off the sniper’s leg and pulled him through the rubble, pulling him towards the back of the building where Camilo dropped from above.

“This building’s done,” Nika stated.

“We need to find sturdy cover before the second team finds this monster, it’ll have no problem aiming at them,” Emily replied.

“The Indians have good positioning in the office building,” Dallas said firmly, pointing down the alley.

“There’s a ruin just on the other side of it, there should be enough cover to hold out for a few minutes there.”

“What if they don’t get there in a few minutes?” Emily asked.

“We’ll just have to hope,” Dallas said firmly.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Adrammalech and DarkGemini24601: “Operation Strong Resistance, Part 2”

“Gonna have to go with ‘not big enough’,” Ayame remarked at the small door. The alloy SHIV Taqukaq rolled up to the side of the door, connecting to the control panel. There was a flurry of alien symbols on the small holo-pad, and the metal slid to the side, barely big enough for the SHIV, though it fit humanoids just fine.

“Alright, remember what we’re going to do. Lieutenant Stewart’s team is going to be facing the brunt of their forces, we’re going to wipe out whatever is hanging back, and flank the enemy. Then we take out the shield generators together,” Atka reminded her squad of six, along with eight Indian troopers.

“I am looking forward to the second part,” Modya said, relishing the thought of using his ‘recoilless’ gauss rocket launcher. The Indian troops gave their assent in Hindi or English. Atka nodded in approval, and then lead the way, going into the city.

The second XCOM unit advanced quietly, keeping their weapons up with caution. Many of these outer buildings were in state of disrepair, though it was unclear if there were civilians within. If there were, they were keeping silent, and that was ideal for the soldiers.

“I guess unit 1 is keeping them busy…” Nicholas muttered, glancing over in their direction, though he could not see what was going on due to the buildings and abandoned vehicles, plus distance.

“It’s good for us,” Holly replied, shrugging. “Means our job will be much easier.”

“Don’t get cocky…” Maggie warned. “You never know...they might have detected our entry.”

“Yeah, it’s certainly possible,” the engineer replied. “Not like they’re working with stone age tech.”

There was a clattering of stones, falling off the side of rubble. Atka held up a hand, and then all of the squad members aimed their gauss weapons at the source of the disturbance. Two Sectoids reared their heads from around a corner, and their eyes bulged when they saw the humans. The two aliens dashed inside the building.

“That looks like a trap if I’ve ever seen one,” Ayame advised. “Maybe we should just ignore those guys and watch our back.”

Atka shook her head. “There might be civilians in there, we can’t just let them run amok. We enter that building carefully…” She took out her Hand Scatter Cannon and started to advance slowly with her forces. Once they had gotten past the ruined entrance, they heard two telepathic voices.

Foolish humans, thought one.

Ah, so you’re the leader, psi-ed another to Atka in particular.

The XCOM squad looked to either side of the room, seeing two strange-looking white cats with beady red eyes. They reared back, and then seemed to swell several times in size, becoming ferocious, hairless beasts. The first leapt at an Indian soldier, bowling him over like a pin and tearing apart his flesh. The other went straight for Atka.

The lieutenant did the first thing that came to mind, naturally raising her H.S.C. to fire. However, the Incubator was faster, and swiped the weapon from her hand. Going to use a psi attack, are we? the abomination teased just before blue energy started to swirl around Atka’s hand.

How did… Atka had time to think before she launched her mindfray into the creature’s head. It seemed to have diminished effect, as if the creature was psionically strong and had prepared for her attack. The Incubator slammed a paw into Atka’s chest, dealing damage to the Aegis armor and bashing her into the wall painfully. She slowly got to her feet, pulling out her alloy strike rifle, and fired, but the gigantic alien cat danced to the side.

Next you’re going to say…’How...how do you keep predicting my actions?’ the Incubator thought to itself.

How...how do you keep predicting my actions? Atka thought with surprise and fear. The Incubator lunged at her, predicting that the XCOM troops would open fire on it. However, it couldn’t dodge all of their shots, and Modya’s erratic heavy gauss rifle lodged rail-accelerated alloy bullets into it’s side painfully. Atka took the opportunity it gave, and the alloy strike rifle scored a hit on its neck, drawing a spray of blood.

Devour...you! the Incubator thought ferally, and lunged at Atka with murder in its eyes. It pinned her to the wall, and raised a clawed paw to slash her neck open. The monstrosity, in its rage, only realized its mistake too late. An ice helix shot through its throat, followed by a spray of bullets to its back, and it slumped to the ground.

The Indian forces had not fared as well. The first one was quite dead, and when he ceased his terrified thrashing the second Incubator jabbed a paw into his chest, using him as a shield temporarily. It ripped out the man’s heart, and plopped it into its mouth like a candy. The abomination bit down, and blood flowed from its mouth all over its jaw, a grin spreading across its hideous face.

The Indian troops screamed in terror, fear, or anger, and opened fire. The Incubator knew where each shot would land, and moved accordly, though the actions driven by instinct were harder to dodge. One of them did graze its leg painfully, but it didn’t stop, going for another juicy human.

A spray of lasers from Taqukaq arrested its progress, and the Incubator screamed unnaturally in pain. It reared back, trying to figure out how to deal with the robot, and decided on a course. It continued its dash for the humans, using them as a visual screen while the SHIV tried to find a better firing position to compensate. Another behemoth punch destroyed the neck of another Indian soldier, claiming a second casualty.

It was then that Ayame filled its skull with a spray from her autorifle, and it collapsed into death, not having foreseen the additional threat. The Sectoids scampered out from a hiding place, trying to escape with their powerful pets defeated. Maggie didn’t let them, tossing an AP grenade at their feet and filling them with shrapnel.

Atka shakily got to her feet, and before she could see the corpses Ayame stepped between them and the lieutenant. “Two of them are gone...better...if you don’t see…” the Asian woman said, horrified at what she had seen.

The Inuit scout nodded. “...right...let’s just...keep moving…” As the XCOM squad ventured further, three plasma shots nearly hit them, one glancing off Maggie’s armor. As they swiveled to the three directions to see the enemy, the Seekers started to take evasive maneuvers before their cloaks could be used.

“I’ve been waiting for this, you damn squids…” Maggie muttered, firing just to the right of the Seeker that shot at her before it drifted in that direction. It was riddled with bullets, and fell out of the sky with a defeated burst of fire.

The other two went invisible, dodging the incoming fire. Not going to lose anyone else. “Get ready,” Atka said, and then aimed her wrist into the air. A battle scanner shot out with a ‘tink’, projecting a field that outlined the Seekers in blue lines. The XCOM and Indian troops immediately opened fired, and the Seekers, not expecting to be found so quickly, were quickly dealt with.

Maggie pumped a fist triumphantly, and Atka laid a hand on her shoulder. “Sorry, sir,” she started to say.

“Don’t be. You did well, glad to see those drawings of yours came in handy,” the lieutenant replied. “Now let’s go catch up with Unit 1, if there are no more things trying to jump us…”

If there was, the offending party gave no response, and Atka’s team trekked further into the city, towards the other group.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Adrammalech and DarkGemini24601: “Operation Strong Resistance, Part 3”

The X-COM squad rushed through the office building where half a dozen Indian soldiers continued to drill the tank’s armor with whatever weapons they had. The cannon’s disk continued to moan as it tried to aim past the coffee shop towards them. A burnt-out brick shell occupied the space next to the office, and the soldiers grabbed whatever cover they could. Dallas grabbed his battle scanner and hurled it across the boulevard, landing on the far side of the road. The radar barely noticed a few friendly blips rushing towards the road.

“Alright everyone, we need a big boom to give the second team a chance,” Dallas broadcasted to the Indian soldiers. “Any of you men that have been issued explosives, ready them and pepper that tank on my mark.”

Dallas watched as the little arrows of the second team reached the end of the buildings and the edge of the boulevard.

“Bombs away!”

No less than a dozen pineapple grenades hurled from the window of the building, clacking across the road and plinking against the steel of the tank. Each of them blasted with a loud bang and a shower of shrapnel, causing the tank’s cannon to pull towards the Indians even harder, pushing its engines to their limits.

No sooner did Atka’s group near the other then did they hear the thunderous explosion of grenades on the tank. “Modya, get over there, now,” Atka ordered.

“Time for the thunder. Got it,” the Russian said eagerly. He lifted his rocket launcher, and dashed to cover, coming within sight of the tank. He took aim, using the recoilless launcher’s sights. “Show me what you can do…” He let the rocket fly, and the HEAT gauss rocket slammed into the tank’s armor, blasting a massive hole in it. A hail of gauss and laser fire accompanied his attack, and the tank was reduced to a smoldering heap.

The Inuit scout ran over to the other team when she confirmed that the coast was clear. She quickly discerned that Unit 1 had taken quite a few losses with their additional troops. “Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier, Stewart. You have no idea what we ran into...these goddamn...cats that turned into monsters, and ripped two of the Indians apart. From what I can tell, they seem to be able to predict our moves in advance...and they have telepathy, perhaps mind reading…”

“Psychic cat monsters?” Dallas asked. “Do you know if they can disguise as anything else?”

Atka shook her head. “From what I saw, they were cats, then brutal predators. I don’t know if there’s anything else they can do, but between the mind-reading and precognition we were barely able to kill them with overwhelming numbers.”

“So if they predict bullets, it sounds like explosives is the way to go.”

Atka shook her head more vehemently this time. “They can predict anything, movements, shots, even what psionic abilities I was planning on using. Almost as if they can see into the future...it’s crazy.”

“I guess we’ll just have to be prepared to see them...we have 30-so men against a cat...it has to count for something.”

Modya looked at the smoking wreck that was once a tank, and nodded with approval. “Should we keep moving?”

“Right,” Atka responded. “Let’s go take out those generators.”

“Mhm, we’ll breach the north part and you take the south part. Watch for friendlies, but equipment damage isn’t an issue.”

Lieutenant Ipiktok nodded, and then lead her squad towards the southern end of the base. Unit 1 went to the north, and both entered the facility. A series of extensive elerium generators, reminisct of turbines, lined the small alien shield hub. Any technicians that were there had fled, and all that was left was a set of Outsiders, a Muton, and a Sectoid Commander.

“Gunners, lay down suppressing fire on those Outsiders! Indian troops, kill that Muton, and the rest, take down that Sectoid before it can cause any trouble!” Atka ordered, and pulled out her H.S.C., running towards the Sectoid Commander in question and dodging incoming fire from the Muton. Ayame began to pin down the first Outsider, while the Indian troops destroyed the cover of the Balmadaar soldier with a maelstrom of laser fire.

The Sectoid Commander took higher cover, and reached out a hand, a spiral of violet energy going into the head of an Indian soldier. He turned and shot at Ayame, damaging her armor.

“The hell are you…?!” Ayame growled, having to duck behind cover. As some others went to restrain the Indian, however, he pulled out his pistol and shot himself in the head.

“Jesus!” Nicholas yelled, unaware that the freed-up Outsider had turned its aim onto him.

Emily trained her rifle on the energy being, firing calculated bursts into its cover. She adjusted for every movement it made, ready to fire the second it popped out.

Atka rounded the corner, training her H.S.C. on the Sectoid Commander. “Got you, bastard,” she muttered, and fired off the alien alloy spike into the creature. It burst into fragments upon piercing the extraterrestrial’s body, hemorrhaging it, but it wasn’t quite dead; it had moved at just the right moment. The Inuit scout rectified that with an icy helix that shot into its skull, finishing it off.

The Outsider Emily was suppressing ran out of cover, meaning to pay Atka back, but in doing so opened itself up to the support’s fire, and took several hits. As it recoiled from the gauss rounds filling its body and tried to regenerate, Dallas rushed forward and blasted it with his alloy cannon, tearing its artificial body apart.

The other Outsider fell to the combined arms of India and XCOM, and the Muton seemed to accept its fate, charging forward and falling to rail-accelerated bullet and laser alike.

Atka reloaded her H.S.C., stepping back out into the open. “Area clear. Heavies, Rocketeers, Engineers, I leave the fireworks to you.”

Holly pulled out her HE grenade with a smile on her face. Modya stepped back from the generators, readying his rocket launcher as he went over to Nika. “Ready to blow these things ‘sky high’, as they say?”

Nika pulled the shredder rocket off her back, aiming the barrel towards a brick of servers. “Let’s do it,” she said coldly.

The XCOM troops released their ordnance, and with booming thunderclaps, the generators they targeted were destroyed. Typical of the volatile elerium, this caused a chain reaction that claimed the rest of the power sources, and blasted apart walls and a good portion of the roof.

All around the city, the defensive force-fields that had been erected to keep the humans out flickered for a moment. The Indian, Russian, and XCOM forces held their breath, hoping. The shields fell, and the city was opened up to attack. The alien defenders on the walls realized their plight quickly, some falling as they could not stop the Russian tanks from barging into the city and laying waste to enemy forces with massive laser cannons. The Indian infantry forces charged in behind them, using the tanks as mobile cover and pushing into New Delhi.

Back over at where the strike team had entered, the gate there fell and the two tanks, accompanied by Russian and Indian forces, entered the city and went to join the others.

Atka nodded, having turned on her headset and heard the resulting cheers and verbal confirmation of their success. “The shields are down. Well done, everyone. We’ve breached the city.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Siege of New Delhi (I)
1900 Hours, June 28th, 2018
Interior Basecamp

“Oh come on, the night’s still young,” Megan Connor complained. “Don’t tell me you want to sleep already!”

Scarlet Jacobs sighed at her bunkmate, and then looked over at Modya, expecting at least a shred of sympathy. She can be so childish sometimes…though she is 19. Modya just smiled awkwardly at the frustrated Scarlet and rubbed the back of his neck helplessly.

Megan peered down at her from the top bunk. “You could tell us about your life. You are the most experienced rocketeer,” the 19-year-old suggested.

“Nice way of calling me old.”

“You’re only 31,” Megan refuted.

Scarlet stared at Megan impassively. Seeing the younger woman’s determination, she sighed in defeat. “It’s a boring sop story anyway.” Megan bit her lip, growling softly. “Oh, fine!”

The eldest XCOM rocketeer sat up. “Well…it may not be too apparent, but my parents were something of an unusual couple. My dad was a Welsh ambassador to the Palestinian peole, and my mother was one of them. They were nice enough parents, I guess…”

“You guess?” Megan asked in confusion.

“Mom died early on to stupid Israeli soldiers, my dad in a car crash in the U.K. when he returned there with me after the so called ‘misunderstanding’.” She looked away from the other two. “And before you say ‘I’m so sorry’, I don’t care. I never knew them that well, so it doesn’t hurt that much.”

“You do not hold that against Sharron, do you?” Modya asked carefully.

“She may be a former Israeli soldier, but I reserve my judgment until I hear that she did anything like that,” Scarlet responded.

“And…just because you didn’t know them, doesn’t mean you can’t miss…” Megan began.

“And get myself down for no reason?” Scarlet shook her head, facing them again. “Not a chance. The rest is just me growing up in an orphanage, never getting adopted, and then joining the military since it was the only real path for me.”

“You’re not even trying to tell the story anymore,” Megan said sullenly.

Scarlet clenched a fist. “What, do you want to hear about how I got called a terrorist and other stupid shit growing up, or how the only thing I ended up being good for was a shred of diplomacy and killing people?”

“Those things aren’t true, though,” Modya insisted. “None of us would treat you like that, or lump you in with people like Scarlet Van Dam. We have made that clear.”

“We’re your friends, Scarlet…” Megan added gently.

“You going to say something really fucking sappy like ‘we can be your family’ next?” Scarlet shook with anger and frustration. “Any of you could die at any moment…I can’t…” her voice broke.

Megan hopped down, and sat beside Scarlet. “I’m not going anywhere, and neither will Modya. We’ve got things we have to live for. I imagine you do, too.”

Scarlet grabbed the side of Megan’s shirt, looking down. “You put more stock in me than I deserve…”

The usually cheery rocketeer shook her head. “It just sounds like you’ve been afraid to open up to people.”

“Don’t you dare die…” Scarlet muttered, hugging Megan. “You stupidly happy bitch…the world would be a lot worse off without you.” Modya smiled slightly with amusement and relief.

“You want to join in on a group hug?” Megan asked. Scarlet glared at both of them.

“I think both Jessica and Scarlet would have my head; I’ll pass,” Modya returned. He turned over, and went to sleep.

0730 Hours, June 29th, 2018

The Russian rocketeer woke up to an alarm, and turned over slowly. He froze when he saw Scarlet staring at Megan with mounting frustration. Connor had fallen asleep half-splayed over the older woman.

“Meg…an…!” Scarlet growled.

The younger woman woke with a start, realized her predicament, and fell back with a red face. “S…sorry…”

“I’m not your sister, don’t get that friendly with me…” Scar snapped.

Well, she is back to normal. Lyudi strannyye… Modya thought to himself.

City Streets

“Building clear,” Karen Driver called out, and then rejoined the main XCOM force. They were marching along a main road, heading deeper into he city. There were signs of alien fortification, but nothing serious yet. Additionally, all of it was made of conventional metals.

I guess their supply of alloys isn’t endless… Modya mused.

“Seems like they are only offering token resistance…” Scarlet stated cautiously.

“They do seem uncoordinated,” Megan affirmed. She noticed Modya looking at the modified Russian tank accompanying them with approval. “Fan of the heavy cavalry, huh?”

The Dragomirov nodded. “My family has a history with tanks. Most of the people on the male side of the family have piloted one over the decades. My father showed me how…though it has been awhile.”

“Yet you’re an infantry trooper. Long story?”

Modya chuckled. “It is a long story involving a slightly differing interest in how to blow things up, and an adamant Volkova, yes.”

“Floaters!” Lieutenant Atka Ipiktok called out as five of the jetpack-equipped cyborgs flew around the right corner at the approaching intersection.

“Give me a targeting shot!” Modya said back to her urgently. Atka took aim, hitting the leader of the pack, and blue lines outlined the target. The Dragomirov looked through his launcher sights. “Bukh,” he uttered, and sent a rocket at the highlighted Floater, blowing it and all but one of the fliers out of the sky.

The injured cyborg tried to back off, but bullets with distortion trails hit it in the back. Megan lowered her gauss carbine with a triumphant smiled as the Floater crashed to the ground, its jetpack blown apart.

A cyberdisc hovered out from behind the right side of the intersection, and unfolded, using its ‘tail’ to reach for an alien grenade. Lopez shot it up severed the appendage after the grenade was already armed. Scarlet took aim. Her HEAT rocket soared into the cyberdisc, detonating itself, the grenade, and the hover-bot itself. “Get fucked!” she exclaimed as the dangerous robot was blown to pieces.

However, another accompanied by 4 drones rose over a nearby wall, flanking the anti-armor troops and charging up its own gauss weapon. That’s where the Russian tank came in. A massive laser screamed out of its turret, equivalent to an XCOM laser cannon in combat power. The cyberdisc was blasted back, and exploded onto its escort, destroying them as well.

The XCOM forces made sure there was no more trouble, and then Atka held up a hand for them to take a break. She stepped off to the side, and turned on her comms, notifying Central Officer Bradford of the encounter. “The National Museum, you say?” Modya looked over as she carried on her conversation. “Yes. I can do that, sir, if you’re sure they won’t be freaked out. You’ll notify them? Understood. Got it, I’ll be over there as soon as I can.” She took off her helmet, getting a breath of fresh air, and brushed her black hair back.

“What was that about?” Modya inquired, walking over to his friend.

“I gotta take out some aliens using the National Museum as a bunker. They’re impeding our progress, and the military doesn’t want to just bomb it.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Well, I get more practice with my powers,” Atka said, smiling. Her eyes were now visibly blue, the brown having faded to simply make the blue slightly darker. “And you know what they say about practice…besides,” she continued, her expression turning serious. “Hopefully this time I won’t lose people.”

“Those…I think Sarah dubbed them ‘Incubators’, the people they killed couldn’t have been saved. We had no idea what we were in for…now that we know how they think, we can do better,” Modya tried to say optimistically, though he was fearful of the monstrous false cats.

“Right. Keep blowing stuff up, I’ll be back soon enough, ideally with no casualties on my end. Lieutenant Stewart’s in charge.”

“I’ll pass that off to the others. Good luck, Atka.”

“The same to you, Dragomirov,” Atka responded, and then went to round up a squad of Indian troopers to help her with the museum.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Minor New Delhi Mission

Operation Unconventional Tactics

Date: June 29th, 2018
Time: 900 Hours

Details: The Indian forces are having difficulty removing a small unit of aliens from the National Museum of New Delhi.

The idea to simply bombard the structure has been proposed, but the Indian government would like to avoid destroying one of the largest museums on India if a t all possible.

Where standard tactics have failed us, we hope to use some not-so-standard tactics to weaken the aliens. The squad leader will lead a small group of Indian soldiers into the rear of the Museum, and use her unique abilities to send panic and confusion into the alien ranks, leaving them open for the soldiers to clean them up. Do not fear using you abilities. The Indian troops have been made fully aware of what to expect, and will give you their full cooperation.

Soldiers: Atka Ipiktok, as well as a unit of twelve Indian troopers.

Aliens: Fourteen aliens, believed to be composed of Sectoids, Thin Men, and Floaters. Believed to have a single Mechtoid.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Unconventional Tactics - Atka Ipiktok
9:00 A.M., June 29th

Part One

“So you can use some sort of mind powers?” one of the Indians asked as the squad of 13 approached the back entrance of the New Delhi museum.

“In short, yes. I’ll be keeping in contact with you using telepathy, so try not to freak out if you hear my voice in your head. They do have one of those damn Incubators, though. Don’t mistake its voice for mine…if there’s any doubt, don’t listen to either of us telepathically,” Atka explained. They arrived at the back entrance, and the Lieutenant held up a hand for them to stop. She closed her eyes, testing out the ability she and Nouja had recently developed.

Atka could focus remote viewing with extrasensory perception only with sight, though it was the most useful of senses for scouting out the interior of the museum. She concentrated on the space beyond as best as she could, and discovered that a group of Thin Men were using the storage room as cover, though their backs were to the door at the moment. “When I open the door, go in and fire forward. There are four Thin Men in there.”

The Indian troops nodded their assent, and Atka went up against the door. The Inuit scout took a deep breath, and then pushed it open. The Indian forces dashed in, a storm of laser fire killing three of the Thin Men instantly. The remaining Thin Man was cut off from the door, and raised its plasma carbine, hoping to take down some of them if it should die here. However, it fell to its knees in agony as the last of the troops filed in. Atka’s mindfray had hit home, and scrambled its thoughts. A follow-up shot from a female Indian trooper finished the creature off.

Keep moving, we can’t afford to give them time to recover, Atka ordered, leading her troops into the museum and out of the storage rooms with Alloy Strike Rifle in hand. The Indian squad went deeper into the facility, and came to a large room with short display cases containing various artifacts. A group of four Floaters turned around in surprise, trying to take aim. First two in front, kill them. Atka stretched her hands out, letting go of the weapon, and twin mindfray helixes shot out of her palms. They stabbed into the skulls of the mutilated Balmadaar like ghostly spears, and they clutched their skulls, losing control of their jetpacks.

As the two disoriented cyborgs slammed into the walls in agony, the remaining two were gunned down by the Indian troops, who were struggling not to be in awe of the Inuit woman before them. Atka picked up her rifle, and shot one of two confused Floaters in the chest. “I leave the other to you, my friends.” An enthusiastic wave of laser fire was the response, felling the last Floater.

Atka felt her heart pounding with adrenaline and the use of her powers, but she wasn’t near her limit yet. The squad started sweeping the building for remaining enemies, though the Lieutenant adamantly refused a suggestion to split up. “We can’t risk it, not with a mech and monstrous cat still around.” The squad came to a ‘t’ intersection, and the former of the two. The Mechtoid aimed its plasma miniguns at the enemy, as a telekinetic field was projected around it by its two gray allies. It seemed confident in its ability to gun down the humans in close quarters.

It did not realize what Lieutenant Ipiktok could do. The Inuit psion spun to face the two Sectoids, and sent icy helixes arcing at them. The two telekinetic spikes punched through the brains of the gray aliens, and the resulting feedback caused the Mechtoid to waver in confusion and pain. Atka stepped back. Aim for the pilot! She instructed, before feeling a flash of fear. Something was behind her, and she sidestepped at the last moment, the paw of an Incubator swiping where she just was, before swerving to where she had jumped and punching her into the wall.

The Lieutenant stood up, grimacing from the pain. The Indian troops seemed to realize the situation they faced, and started to draw back in the opposite hallway to give themselves cover. The Mechtoid fell out of sight range, and they shot at the Incubator instead, two grazing hits landing. “Forget about me, fall back and deal with the Mechtoid!” Atka yelled.

Stupid female, you think you can beat me alone? Hm…you know of my kind…

So you can read minds… Atka thought with mounting fear, though she grit her teeth, knowing now was not the time for that. She crossed her hands, and sent twin telekinetic helixes firing off around the alien cat. It moved to the side rather than be trapped, but Atka had planned to sent them to either direction as well. The Incubator, reading her mind, already knew this, and stepped back further, then lunging. Realizing that it would have practical clairvoyance over her actions, Akta had the sense to step back, and cancel her telekinetic assault. Instead, she put up her arms, using the helixes to reinforce her armor by wrapping them around and adding to their solidity. The cats swipe shattered them, though, and caused the Aegis armor to spark as its outer plating was shredded.

You can’t win, you know this…not with your mind an open book, and your actions so easily predicted, the Incubator taunted. I wonder how you taste…

I can’t plan anything…I have to…

It won’t work! the cat thought, swiping its paws at Atka and making her jump back, though the creature continued its assault. Useless, useless, useless!

Atka ignored the Incubator, and did her best to not think at all. Her eyes glowed blue as she tried to mimic what the enemy was doing, drawing from that same perceptive warning that helped her predict the first attack. The icy helixes wound themselves around her hands, and she continued to step back, past a door and into a room showcasing weapons. She lifted her alloy strike rifle, but the weapon was swiped out of her hands and damaged badly. It would not fire again without repairs.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Unconventional Tactics - Atka Ipiktok
9:10 A.M., June 29th

Part Two

Rather than reach for her H.S.C., the Inuit huntress rolled backwards to dodge another swipe, and grabbed a spear off the wall, placing it in her hands. It felt more natural than a gun, ironically enough.

Oh, please…do you really think an archaic weapon like that would help you? You don’t honestly stand a chance…give up now and maybe I will just swipe your head off rather than devour you.

Atka lunged to the side, taking a stab at the cat. It danced out of the way. She sidestepped a bite of its grotesque maw, and blocked a swipe of the paw by extending an icy helix that stabbed into the palm. The Incubator growled in pain, not having expected the attack. The female was getting more and more difficult to predict as she fought by instinct. The Incubator gave up on reading her mind, and focused solely on its predictions.

The spear would be thrust at its heart, and then the female would try to puncture its lungs with the telekinetic attack. After that, she would go on the defensive, and then go for a sudden, desperate attack by wrapping her icy helixes around the spear and thrusting it at its mouth.

Knowing this, the Incubator dodged the first thrust, and then slid across the floor low when the two telekinetic helixes shot for its body. It used this momentum to force the female further and further back, ensuring that she would still use the attack of desperation. Sure enough, Atka wrapped her twin icy helixes around the Indian spear, and went for a thrust at the creature’s chest, her breathing elevated from exertion. The Incubator grinned widely. With one paw, it swiped the weapon from Atka’s hand, damaging the armor and drawing blood. With the other, it punched into the armor on her stomach. The claws dug through the heavy armor, and managed to go about two centimeters in. The creature relished its triumph over the troublesome human, and pinned her to the floor.

It grabbed the armor with one hand and tore a massive hole in it. Its hungry maw descended, preparing to feast. Though her hands could barely move, and her eyes were wide with terror, Atka reached down for her H.S.C, and angled it up at the Incubator’s head to the best of her ability. So focused on its victory, the Incubator turned to look at the barrel of the truncated alloy cannon, and ran a calculation. The alloy spike would pass down its throat, and kill it.

Unacceptable, the Incubator thought, and leapt back. Still, the alloy spike on its trajectory punched into the creature’s shoulder, and burst into fragments, drawing a gout of blood. It screamed in agony, clutching its destroyed shoulder that kept the arm hanging by threads of shredded flesh. Atka shakily started to push herself up, one hand reaching desperately for anything she could use. Her H.S.C. was out of rounds, being a single-shot weapon.

The enraged Incubator leapt at Atka, meaning to jab its claws into her heart, and tear into her throat with its maw. Atka closed her eyes, not able to get up from stark terror. It’s over, then… Her hands closed around the hilt of a weapon. The Inuit’s eyes snapped open, and she charged the Indian spear with as much telekinetic force as she could muster in the half a second she hand, hurling it up with murderous force. The spear went through the Incubator’s chest and out the other side, though the hilt was closed to snapping. The Incubator crumpled to the side, nearly landing on her if not for the sheer force of the strike.

Atka’s head fell back onto the marble floor, the scout breathing hard. Her forehead was drenched with sweat, and she shakily brought her armored hands up to her head and detached the helmet from what was left of her chestplate. It wasn’t functional anymore, anyway. Atka rolled the useless piece of metal and machinery to the ground away from her. Laying back down, she just tried to calm her breathing, sweat drenching her. Please, God…don’t let the rest of the enemy force find me now…

Footsteps sounded from the hallway, and Atka held her breath. She tried to get up, holding a hand over her stomach to stop the wound from bleeding too much. It was shallow, but still in a bad spot. A female Indian trooper walked in, and rushed to Atka’s side. “There you are, sir…” she glanced at the quite-dead Incubator while pulling out a medkit to treat the Lieutenant’s wound. “Wow…”

“D…did…”

“Everyone’s fine, you really shook up that armored bastard. We took him out, and handled a group of three grays on our own,” the Indian reassured Atka. She held the Lieutenant down to prevent Atka from getting up. “Just stay put, we’ll help you walk, no sense in hurting yourself.

Atka glanced over at the Incubator and the spear again, her head pounding. Really…overdid it, huh… “Hey… what’s... your name?”

“Gita.”

“Gita…could you put that….fine weapon…back where it…” Atka slipped into unconsciousness, the drain from her overuse of psionic abilities taking its toll.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Siege of New Delhi II
1745 Hours, June 29th, 2018
Secondary Headquarters within the City

Amanda Ortiz sat in one of the chairs in a makeshift infirmary, sighing in frustration. I wish I had been on that mission. Things would have gotten a lot smoother then. She glanced over at Atka, who was still asleep. The MELD had been used to seal up the wound across her hand and wrist, as well as the puncture on her stomach. The bruises would heal on their own. Still...the psionics had fatigued her. “But apparently they still need you badly enough to put you back on the field once you wake up.” The MEC Guardian sighed again. She knew that was not wise, but was not about to tell the Central Officer otherwise.

Ayame slowly walked up behind her, placing her hand on the cyborg’s shoulder. “How’s she doing, Amanda? Has she woke up at all?”

The blond MEC nodded. “A few times, but we’ve kept her asleep so she can recover. She should be fine soon, with the help of the MELD...though I’m not keen on the fact that she’s going back out there when she does.”

“She… why?” Sunny stepped forward from behind Ayame. “Hasn’t she gone through enough?”

Ayame gritted her teeth. “Because she’s a weapon. And once a broken weapon is fixed, it is used again, until it breaks for good and is discarded.”

Sunny shook her head. “I… I don’t believe that. I’m sure it’s just because we need her too much. The Commander would… never…”

“The Commander isn’t here.” Ayame stepped forward, and took a seat next to Atka, lightly brushing a strand of hair off her forehead.

The lieutenant slowly came to. “Hi, Ayame…”

“Hey, gorgeous.” Ayame smiled brightly. “You're the talk of the hour, you know. Taking on that cat thing by yourself. That’s pretty cool.”

“I honestly got lucky with it...had it not been overconfident and failed to use its predictions...I probably would be in that thing’s stomach right now…”

“Isn’t the saying ‘better to be lucky than skilled’. Either way, you’re still here, and you kicked its a… um…”

“Ass.” Sunny rolled her eyes. “Just say it already. Honestly, do you think Mr. Zero avoids swearing around me?”

Atka raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that is true...though I’m still nowhere near Desmond’s level. It practically knocked me out to make that spear into a potent weapon like I did, while he can blow holes in solid rock with orbs of energy. Though...he probably would have failed to consider the precognition of those Incubators.”

“How did you manage to compensate for that and the mind reading? More luck?” Amanda asked.

“That’s half of it...but I just stopped thinking tactically, fought with instinct more than anything, both to throw it off and to keep myself from running away,” Atka explained slowly. “I’m fairly certain now there is a limit to how far ahead the Incubators can see, but that means that you either have to fight like I did or think far in advance.”

“Then, we can use that knowledge for future fights with them.” Sunny walked to Atka’s side and smiled. “So no matter how you beat him, it was such a big help, you shouldn’t… shouldn’t…”

“Save it, kid.” Ayame shook her head. “I think one of the qualifications of these hero types is to refuse to admit you’re a hero.” Ayame grinned at Atka. “No matter what, she isn’t going to see how great she did. Well, as far as I’m concerned, that Desmond guy can stand in line, because I see you at the head of it.”

Atka smiled. “I do appreciate the confidence in me. I’m just glad I didn’t lose anyone else this time…” She shuddered at the memory of the other two Incubators, and what the Sectoid Commander at the generator base had done.

Ayame’s expression turned to irritation, and she scowled at Atka. “Please tell me that isn’t the reason you took that thing on alone. To protect everyone else. Because that’s a good way to get yourself killed.”

Atka looked away. “Not...the whole reason...it attacked me in particular; they seem to like singling out the leader. And the Mechtoid was going to come between me and the soldiers once it had recovered. If I had called them over for help, they’d be walking into a killing zone.”

Ayame slowly nodded. “Okay. I just… I don’t want you sacrificing yourself because you’re afraid of others getting hurt. We’re all here to help you. We’re supposed to protect each other.”

“She’s right.” Sunny reached forward, grasping Atka’s hand. “We… w-we’re going to lose people. It inevitable. But if you are so afraid of losing people, it effects your actions, we’ll lose even more, including you. Please, we’re here to help you.” Sunny looked away, a familiar look of guilt on her face.

“I’m acquainted with the curse of being a leader. I’m not going to get myself killed...but at the same time I won’t just stand by and take zero risks to keep myself alive. I am a scout, after all,” Atka returned. She looked at Sunny, her expression lightning. “And you’ve been busy enough with the SHIV’s helping out on the main battlefield. If we had the forces to spare, I would have gone in with a better-equipped force. We handled it, though.”

Sunny looked back at Atka, smiling and nodding. Ayame placed her hand on Atka’s arm, and said, “Well, just because it sounds like I’m nagging, doesn’t mean I don’t have confidence in you. I trust you to make the right decisions. Just know that I’ll be right behind you, always ready to blast away anything that dares aim a gun at you. I promised, after all.”

“I’m glad to hear that...I’m guessing they want me back out there?” Atka asked.

“You would be right,” Amanda responded. “Apparently they think you’re good to go. I can sort of understand physically...but the psionics haven’t done too bad of a number on you, have they?”

Atka shook her head. “I’ll be fine...it’s not too hard for me to recover...though I probably need to practice with telekinesis more before I attempt another force javelin like that.”

Ayame nudged Amanda. “In the meantime, we’ll just be sure to blast away everything before she needs to use her abilities. That way, she can practice at her own leisure.”

“And I will be the shield, as always,” Amanda added. “Though I am the only MEC right now…” She shook her head. “We need someone else, even if makes people...uneasy.”

Sunny looked up at Amanda. “Actually, I was in contact with HQ before we entered the city. They said two of the new soldiers agree to undergo the cybernetics procedure. That… doesn’t help us much here, but at least it is something for when we win this and get back to base.”

“In the meantime...we’ll handle this with the combination of our MEC, demolitions expert, eager gunner, psionic wielder, and technology master...I don’t think it should be so hard with that sort of lineup,” Atka thought aloud with a grin.

“That’s the spirit.” Ayame grinned back. “I… gotta get back to work, but I’ll come by a little later. Come on Sunny, I’ll walk you back.”

“Um… actually, I need to talk to Atka about one more thing.” Sunny gave a reassuring smile. “I’ll have one of the guards walk me back.

Ayame shrugged, and nodded to the others before taking off.

“What did you want to talk about?” Atka inquired of the silver-haired engineer.

“Um… are you aware of a device they found at the base. Besides the one for communication. The one they think gave your sister and the others their abilities.”

“I was told a little about it, but no more than that,” Atka responded. “What about it?”

“Before I left, they were about to start construction on a new structure, on designed to utilize the device to give our soldiers psionics, just like you.” Sunny smiled. “Voluntarily, of course. I considered staying behind to assist in its construction, but felt my field of expertise was better of here.”

“More psionics, huh...are you worried about what that means for everyone?” Atka guessed.

“Um… a little bit.” Sunny rubbed her arm nervously. “You and Desmond have a handle of things, but… what if you were lucky. I’m worried about putting such incredible power in the hands of so many people. What if they can’t handle it?”

“It’s a fair point. The aliens certainly couldn’t…” Atka sighed. “I don’t necessarily disagree. The issue is, if we don’t, we’re putting ourselves at a further disadvantage. A lot of us don’t want to be MECs or have genetic modifications...if we shy away from psionics we risk losing as things escalate.”

“I know, it’s silly, sorry.” Sunny looked down at her hands. “It’s just… having some strange power… did… d-did everyone accept you when they found out about your abilities?”

“Not everyone...but that’s not surprising. Its stupid, but part of its is because our enemy had the same power first,” Atka explained. “Not to mention people fear what they don’t understand.”

Sunny stared at her hands for a few more moments, as if entranced. She finally looked back up at Atka and smiled. “Well, as long as people like you and Desmond are here, I’m sure we’ll be okay. And maybe if you use the new room, it’ll help unlock some abilities you didn’t know you had.”

“Maybe.” Atka tapped her fingers on the side of the bed for a moment. “Is there something that made you think of this? Or was it just the fact that they’re working on it?”

“I, uh… just what you said about how drained you were, and catching up to Desmond.” Sunny nervously scratched the back of her head. “I better head back before they come looking for me. I’m… I-I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Just don’t worry yourself too much about these things. That’s for us to worry about, you have enough on your hands as it is,” Atka cautioned.

“Right.” Sunny waved, and took off, looking back down at her hands as she exited.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Siege of New Delhi III
1045 Hours, June 30th, 2018
Outside of Alien Fortifications

“So this is what they’ve been up to all this time…” Atka muttered with a fair bit of awe. XCOM’s troops stood before the inner section of the city. A wall about 12 feet high stood in front of them, and the city beyond had been terraformed for the large part. Metal sheets reinforced buildings and turned them into labs, forts, or other structures, though many of the residential buildings had been left alone. The roads had been optimized as lanes for troop transport, as well as supply lines.

“Feels more like a war now, doesn’t it, Lieutenant?” Kris Smith stated grimly.

Atka nodded to the gunner. “Not like I’ve ever been in one before…glad we have tanks with us. I imagine we’ll need them…”

“I’ll just do what I always do,” Kevin said with a grin, hefting his alloy cannon proudly.

“You’d have to get past that wall first,” Janina returned, gazing at the fortifications. Not only was the wall high, but it was wide enough for troops. And there were alien troopers present, specifically Mutons, Thin Men, and even a few Outsiders. Perfect defensive soldiers. Not to mention there were turrets set up along the wall for this main road path. Below the walls, metal sheets of varying length stretched out, covering parts of the ground.

“It almost feels like we’re fighting the borg.” Atka said, a hint of mirth in her tone. “Well, shall we do this?” The soldiers behind her gave their assent with cheers or ‘yes sir’. “Alright, Wong, you and the other snipers get into those buildings over there with Ayame” she commanded, pointing at several abandoned civilian structures that had been reinforced with metal. Lucky for XCOM, not so lucky for the extraterrestrials, Atka thought to herself with a smile. The Lieutenant turned to her rocketeers and engineers. “You all, I need those turrets and ramparts taken out. Use the tanks as cover, and then blow the cannons and cover down with the help of the Russians.”

“Got it,” Modya affirmed with an eager grin that he and Megan shared.

“Understood, sir,” Scarlet said with only a little more restraint.

Holly, Airi, and Johnathan nodded their assent.

“Assaults, Scouts, get into Kestrel armor. I want you all to go up there with alloy cannons once the enemy is busy with everyone else firing at them. We’ll lay down enough fire that they won’t be able to target you all easily. Got it?” Atka finished.

“Oh yeah,” Kevin said with a grin. “What about you, Ryan?” he asked the fellow assault as Lieutenant ‘Dallas’ went to get Banshee Armor with a nod to Atka.

Ryan looked over at Atka and then back to Kevin. “I work in engineering, so strong arming things comes natural to me.”

“Good to hear,” Kevin said, grabbing Banshee Armor as well. “And I have no fear of getting shot in the back. Sarah practically never misses.”

“Practically doesn’t mean always, it never hurts to protect your more vulnerable parts.” Unlike his other assaults, Ryan chose a Aegis Armor and an Alloy Cannon. He looked over the gun and was satisfied with his inspection. “So how about we bust open the gates of hell Nash?”

“Ready whenever everyone else is,” Kevin responded with a dangerous grin.

Atka held a hand up to her helmet. “What is it, Ayame?”

“Killed a few damn Floaters that were hiding out in the building I went into with the snipers. No one’s hurt, but I’m glad we didn’t sent them up here without an escort. Ready to take out priority targets from here,” the Asian gunner said.

“Got it. Alright people, let’s put this plan into action,” Atka ordered. The Russian tanks revved up, and advanced forward into the line of fire first. The Thin Men were the first to open fire, but their shots seemed to be absorbed by the alien alloy armor on the heavy cavalry. Victor and Sylvia dashed out beside them as they came with Balmadaar range, dodging the shots of the brutal warriors...except for one. A blast caught Victor in the shoulder, and he grimaced in agony, ducking behind cover.

“Gonna have to go up there without me, or at least delayed…” the injured scout growled.

“Everyone else, advance behind the tanks. Driver, get over there and help out Camilo,” Atka continued.

Modya and his fellow rocketeers stepped out from behind the tanks as the heavy cavalry opened fire, blasting apart a turret and two Mutons unlucky enough to be near it. They aimed at different sections of the walls, and let their gauss rockets fly with rail-accelerated speed. The explosives crashed into the ramparts, blasting them apart, and injuring many of the Balmadaar troopers that were now uncovered.

A flurry of bullets accompanied the rockets from the infantry troops advancing on the ground, killing quite a few of the Balmadaar. The Outsiders ran up to act as living shields, having no concern for their own lives.

“Assaults, scouts, get up there, now!” Atka commanded as a medkit brought Viktor back into fighting condition. Dallas, Kevin, and Victor launched grapples up, and appeared before the surprised Outsiders, blasting them apart with ruthlessly effective alloy cannons.

Sylvia and Ryan ran up the stairs of a close-by abandoned building and made their way to the roof. They both looked at one another and ran across the top of the building and barely made it as they landed on the wall.

An Outsider, Thin Man, and Muton turned to face them, a turret nearby. The turret was damaged by a shredder rocket from Megan Connor that also harmed the Balmadaar and energy-being, and the turret itself was finished off by a HEAT shot from Kris Smith.

Ryan and Sylvia rushed to aid their friends but met resistance as a Thin Man spat poison to block their path. However, as the alien numbers began to thin, Kevin and the others flanked the enemy, and opened fire. The Thin Man fell to an alloy cannon, while the Muton had its head blown off. The Outsider took a hit from Victor, and fell off the wall, disintegrating before it hit the ground.

A squad of eight Balmadaar banded together, and advanced upon the five that had gotten atop the defensive in a last attempt to dislodge them. As the XCOM troops turned, two of the Mutons were killed by shots to the heart by the two snipers. A tank blast collapsed the rest of the desperate force. XCOM’s troops began to head towards the wall, using grapples or nearby buildings to scale it and claim it for their own.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

1245 Hours, June 30th, 2018
Atop Alien Fortifications

The soldiers huddled under tents as rain began to fall in torrents, monsoon season in full swing. Atka ate lunch with her squad, having started a small fire to keep everyone warm. “I do have to ask, Sarah...where did you learn to shoot like that? Kevin tells me you weren’t off in your aim at all while shooting those Mutons.”

The Chinese sniper looked at the Lieutenant for a moment, and shrugged. Wǒ tǎoyàn zhōngguó zhèngfǔ wúlùn rúhé. “I was formerly part of the Chinese special ops. In other words, we were assassins.” She gauged Atka’s measured, calm response. I was right to trust that she would not judge me based on my past, Sarah assessed. “They made sure our accuracy was the best it could possibly be, and I was told I had extraordinary talent, anyway.”

“You say formerly, so I’m guessing you quit?” Janina asked.

Sarah nodded, but said nothing further.

“What made ya decide you didn’t want to be black ops anymore?” Kevin added, taking a bite of his sub sandwich he had saved in a cooler for such an occasion.

Sarah tensed. “I am not sure that is any of your buisness, Nash…”

“We just want to know you better is all,” Janina said diplomatically.

“...Golin.”

“Family?” Janina guessed.

“In a manner of speaking. I...would rather not go into details, but he is my adopted son. I decided that I could not serve the Chinese government any longer when his father was killed for being a political dissident.”

“I can understand the sentiment,” Janina said gently. “I have an older sister and a younger sister that deserve a better life than the one they have in Berlin due to the invaders. Having a reason to protect the Earth that’s personal is more genuine than ‘I want to save the world’. No offense, Atka,” she said, realizing her mistake.

The Lieutenant shook her head. “Not at all. I joined up largely due to protecting my friends and my country. I don’t mind helping everyone else, but it was somewhat personal, and it’s now very personal after what they did to my hometown.”

“Right...I can’t imagine how I’d feel if my sisters were taken by them. It was bad enough that they attacked Berlin…” Janina growled. “Lost some good friends to the troops of Drones that swept through while they abducted people. Germany deserves better than to be tooled around by aliens.”

Kris nodded. “I think we all feel the same way...its not easy having family out there, at risk. It was noble of you to not tell us about what happened to your family until the base assault, Lieutenant.”

“Could be argued it was selfish of me to keep something like that from my friends,” Atka responded. “But I didn’t want you to worry...and now that they’re on base I see why Morrigan was tense about bringing Brigid to HQ.”

“For your family, it wasn’t by choice, and it came at a heavy price,” Janina adamantly returned. “And the Commander needs to keep herself together, her daughter needs to be safe.”

“Somehow I don’t see you having someone to take care of Golin,” Kris mentioned, looking over at Sarah. “How’s your son doing?”

The sniper nodded slowly. “I wouldn’t have joined if I hadn’t placed him with a trusted person. Mr. Burrick offered to let him stay at his home in Phoenix. He made the same offer to Megan Connor for her sister.”

“Did he now?” Janina returned with a sigh. “I wonder if I could get in on this…”

“I don’t think Tom needs his sister to be too swamped with people. Might go to Sofia’s head,” Atka responded with a light laugh.

“Oh, so you know him that well, huh?” Kevin said with a devilish grin.

Atka grit her teeth. “I don’t know how many people I have to explain this to, but Tom and I are just friends…”

Sarah rested her cheek on her hand, looking despondent. “You westerners...thinking that a woman being friends with a man automatically implies an intimate…”

“Didn’t you live in Japan? They’re not so much unlike that, either,” Nash shot back. “If you’ve ever seen anime…”

“As if that has basis in reality often,” Wong responded. “I...have no interest, but Golin does.”

“That so?” Janina teased. The infantry shivered at the icy stare that was the sniper’s response. “I see how you’d make a good secret ops agent…”