RP X-Com Role-Play Missions

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Caged Hero - Prologue

The silence between Ayame and Atka after the latter had entered the building was broken as Atka’s voice rang through the speakers frantically.

“This is Specialist Atka Ipiktok. I am in the Tomorrow Square building, on the 50th floor. I need immediate extraction, the enemy has discovered my presence. I repeat, the enemy has discovered my presence and has prevented my escape.”

“You’re not allow to be in here!” shouted a non-descript computer tech as Ayame entered mission control.

“Bite me!” was all Ayame said, pushing past and approaching the holo-globe.

Morrigan and Bradford turned to see what the commotion was. “What are you doing here?” Bradford asked, taking an angry step forward. “Do you want to go back to a cell?”

“Save it, I don’t care,” Ayame practically snarled. “Atka’s in trouble, and I don’t have time to wait for your red tape.”

Morrigan immediately turned to Bradford, the look in her eyes saying she had either been expecting this, or had been on pins and needles in fear of this. “I want a strike team on a Skyranger, ten minutes ago. Make sure they have their weapons and gear waiting for them by the time they get to the hanger, or I swear, heads will roll.”

Bradford nodded, and quickly got to work finding the appropriate team. Ayame walked to Morrigan’s side, handing her a phone. “Get her home.”

Morrigan nodded, and sent the call, biting her lip so hard as she waited for it to be picked up, a trickle of blood fell to her chin.

After a few seconds that seemed to last for an eternity, the call was answered. “Ayame?” Atka asked quietly. “You still there?”

“Atka!” Morrigan cried out. “What’s happening? Are you safe?”

“Morrigan?” Atka said, forgetting to call her “Commander” or “sir” for the first time. Still in a low tone, she continued, “Keep your voice down, they’re searching for me right now.”

Morrigan fell back, Ayame having to quickly move a chair to catch her. In a low voice, she asks, “What’s your status? Where are you?”

“I’m on the 51st floor, hiding in a lounge...with someone. There was a complication. Apparently Huojin here…”

The Chinese man held up his hands. “I got worried about you, Xifeng...if that’s even your name,” he said with an eyebrow raised.

“Quiet,” Atka shot back. “The point is, one of the people I got information from followed me up here saying he was with me, taking the next elevator. He’s gotten himself mixed up in this, and I don’t think we can move from here. The rest of them are probably going to get to the 50th floor any minute now. The second jackass I killed set off an alarm.”

“Alright.” Morrigan’s eyes darted back and forth in thought. “You… you’re gonna have to lay low. Needless to say, it’ll take a while to get to you. But the team is on its way.” She glared at Bradford. “Right?”

Bradford nodded. “Taking off now, sir. Your monitor displays the team.”

Morrigan turned away from him, hiding her face from the others in the room. “Listen, I know this might sound like common sense, but I’ll say it anyway. Do NOT engage the enemy if at all possible. Hide. Just… hide. I don’t care if you have to hide in the vents like in a cheesy action movie. And make sure that civilian understands that his survival depends on the two of you not being found.”

“I understand,” Atka said, moving to find a better place to hide with Huojin. She noticed he had a standard pistol with him. “Give me that, you can have this. No recoil, more punch,” Atka explained, offering Huojin the laser pistol. “Hopefully you won’t have to use it.”

The two exchanged standard pistols so that Atka had the SLP and a ballistic pistol, and Huojin had the laser pistol and the smoke grenade. “We’ll do our best to lay low...just…” Atka voice wavered. “Please hurry.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Caged Hero - Part 1

Modya Dragomirov checked his gear as the Skyranger speeded towards its destination. Heavy Laser Rifle for the punch. Heater for the same. Kestrel Armor for a much-needed grapple. Two HE grenades, thanks to his custom grenadier pack, and reinforced armor, a balance between mobility and defense. What have you gotten yourself into, Atka… he thought with worry.

Desmond looked around the Skyranger, at the people he commanded and went over his gear once more. He was carrying Scatter Laser for the close encounters, not his preferred weapon but it would work better. A Heater for the mobility. Kestrel Armor, just in case. Two AP grenades due to his promotion to Engineer. Finally, a reinforced armor plate for better protection.

Jainina tapped her foot uneasily. “Central told us we have two options. We can either enter from the bottom or the roof. We’re going to have to fix the elevators and deal with civilians if we go from the lobby, and we’ll lose time. If we go from the top there’s a good chance they’ll shoot at us, but it would save us time and trouble.”

Everyone shifted in the Skyranger, but Desmond spoke clearly. “If we do go in through the bottom I could most likely get the elevators working in a short amount of time.” He looked over at Modya. “Any suggestions?”

Modya wrung his hands uneasily, not enjoying being put on the spot. “We...we would still have to detail with civilians though. That’s going to slow us down, and we don’t know how much time Atka has…”

“Every minute counts,” Sarah said simply, cold as usual, but she was clearly anxious like everyone else.

Desmond’s face hardened. “Either way, we will have to deal with civilians. Either we land below and contain them so they can’t be used as hostages or we go in through the top and risk it.”

Kevin spoke up next. “I say screw the civilians. They are not our objective, Atka is…”

Christel looked over the crowd. “I think so too…” she said in a low voice, barely being able to be heard.

“It’s looking like the vote is for going in from the top. I think it would be safer for all of us if we went in through the bottom, and for the civilians as well, but if that’s not what everyone wants to do…” Kris said.

Desmond looked around the crowd once more. “Well then we go in from the top. Everyone make sure you are checked and good and strap in, we have an operative to save.” Desmond walked to the front of the Skyranger, letting the pilot know the LZ.

2:47 A.M., Shanghai:

Atka’s voice came in, it was a very quiet, harsh whisper through the speakers of the Skyranger, and to Morrigan’s cell. “Shit..I hear one of them rummaging around in here. Maybe more.”

She went quiet, and the sounds she was talking about were audible. They stopped for a moment, and there was the sound of a closet being opened, followed by the blast of an SLP. “Connection lost,” an automated voice informed the listeners.

The Skyranger filled with voices of concern. Everyone wondering what had happened. Everyone was already on edge from the stresses of getting one of their own. Whatever had happened, they had to get there quick…

Back on base Morrigan rubbed her eyes. Ayame, having refused to be kicked out of mission control, stepped forward, blocking the sight of the rest of the staff from seeing the worry on Morrigan’s face. “I might have sent one of my best soldiers on a suicide mission. And a couple more of my best soldiers on a pointless and suicidal rescue mission.” The cynicism practically dripped from Morrigan’s mouth.

Ayame thought, trying to come up with something to say. Suddenly remembering her ear-piece, she reached up to it and whispered, “Atka… are you still there. Come on, girl, give me something.”

“...bastard nearly shot Huojin’s head off when he found us,” Atka’s voice responded.

Ayame grinned widely. “Damn, you lucky, beautiful bitch.” Morrigan looked up, giving a hopeful glance, and the two women’s heads swerved towards the holo-globe, showing the Skyranger on its final approach to the dropzone. “Keep your ass covered, Atka. Help is almost there.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Caged Hero - Part 2

“This is Big Sky One, approaching the LZ now,” the Skyranger pilot said in his usual, business-like tone. “Central, I’m pretty sure there’s someone on the roof. I’m picking up movement.”

Bradford tapped his fingers against the desk. “Be careful, Big Sky.”

“Roger th-” There was a streak of smoke and fire past the Skyranger, almost hitting it head on if it were aimed up a few feet. “They have RPGs!” Big Sky yelled out, as a streak of laser from a sniper rifle followed up, scathing the side of a wing, damaging it.

“Everyone buckle down, the LZ is hot.” The pilot said in alarm.

The Skyranger made a sharp turn, not far from the helipad. On the ground, a sniper hiding behind the light-sphere was taking potshots, and a rocketeer was readying another shot. A support tossed a smoke grenade for extra concealment, while an infantry was ready to fire should the transport successfully land.

Another rocket screamed at the Skyranger, and this time Big Sky did not have the room to dodge. With a thunderous explosion, it connected with the right wing, blasting past the alien alloy plating and dealing heavy damage to that portion of the plane’s structural integrity. The aircraft wavered, and then landed shakily on it’s wheels, small fires billowing smoke up from the right side.

“Get out there and take them out before they blow us off the roof!” Janina shouted in warning.

Desmond got up and chose Modya and Sarah to help provide fire. Desmond pressed the button and the door opened slowly. Sarah laid down back behind in the Skyranger and set up to fire, while Desmond got on a knee next to her calling out targets. Modya grabbed the rocket launcher on his back and got ready for the order. The plan was to draw them out with a rocket and have the sniper pick some off. Desmond nodded and Modya sent off the rocket at the other rocketeer. It hit, blowing up his armaments and caused the clones to scatter.

While they ran in all directions, Desmond called out the support that was moving to better cover. Sarah shot him down with a laser punching through his back.

The EXALT infantry opened fire with a vengeance, forcing Sarah behind cover. It wasn’t true suppressing fire, as he was aiming wide, but it was effective enough with the limited room the XCOM forces had to work with. The sniper held his fire, waiting for an opportunity.

Sylvia ran out in the open, drawing the fire of the troops and got behind a decent piece of cover.

Janina popped out of cover as she did. “You’re open, ya copycat.” A laser from her heavy rifle streaked into the chest of the enemy infantry, dropping him.
The support soldier pulled out a flashbang and hurled it to the group, landing it next to Kevin and Smith. Dorian took a few pot shots but missed the soldier narrowly.

Kevin closed his genetically-enhanced eyes. “God dammit!”

“Sylvia, don’t let him get away!” Janina called out to the scout.

The scout nodded and ran out of her cover in pursuit of the support. She stopped and shot at the soldier nailing him in the leg, causing him to stumble. His weapon skidded away and when he tried to take out a sidearm she kicked it out of his hand. “Got a live one!”

“Someone needs to stay behind with him and to protect Big Sky…”

Sarah quickly walked over to the EXALT operative, and slammed her weapon’s blunt end into the operative’s head, knocking him senseless. “I’ll take care of it. Go find Atka.” Modya was to leave his rocket launcher behind.

The squad headed past the pools and spas and headed into the indoor garden, looking for a staircase they could move down. They found it on one of the corners on the greenhouse and made their way down the first flight of stairs to the 55th floor. They moved together as they checked the small floor. They found computers and communication relays but they all were wiped or somehow destroyed.

“We were too late.” Nash said but Desmond shook his head.

“All we needed was the intel that Atka retrieved.” He said.

“Don’t we have a connection to her? Should we attempt to let her know we are here at least?” Sylvia brought up.

“She’s hiding right now, we could risk revealing her… we should just keep moving,” Janina said quickly.

The rest of the squad nodded in turn and they got ready to move out but another group of three came up from the floor below. “Get down!” Someone managed to get out as the three opened fire. From what Desmond could make out, one was a gunner, another an assault, and the last was a medic.

Modya ducked behind the desk as the gunner laid down suppressing fire. “HE, then AP?” he asked quickly, pulling out one of his grenades as the other EXALT troopers took cover as well.

Desmond nodded as he pulled out his grenade. “After you there Modya.”

The assault was getting dangerously closed as Modya pulled the pin and rolled the grenade, blasting apart the feeble cover the medic and gunner were behind, harming them as well. The assault rounded the table to find the barrel of Kevin’s scatter laser staring back at him. “Bye, bye,” Kevin taunted, and blasted the clone into the wall, making him quite dead.

Simultaneously, Desmond pulled the pin on his AP and lobbed it with his left arm, causing the grenade to sail next to the two, effectively blowing them away. “All clear.” He called out as he stood up. “Nice job Modya…” He said putting a hand on his shoulder.

Modya just nodded, not wanting to waste any time. The squad headed towards the next floor, the rooms. Not surprisingly, there was no one here, as they have been vacated by the clones when the alarm went off. As the XCOM forces got near the staircase, one of the rooms opened, and an EXALT engineer with grenades strapped to him ran at them in a dead sprint.

“Get back, he’s a-” Kris yelled, and everyone fell back towards the stairs as the EXALT operative pushed a button on his belt. There was a deafening explosion, and the SHIV and Kevin were hit by the explosion. Kevin took a hit to his armor, though the chitin plating and Kestrel armor took the brunt of the blow. From the bottom of the stairs, however, an infantry and a scout opened fire with laser rifles.

One shot hit the roof, as the blast offset the scout’s aim, but the infantry landed a hit on Dorian’s leg, who had been pushed to the front. He grimaced in agony. Modya looked like he was about to panic in this situation.

Desmond yelled an order. “Take them down!” He pointed his Scatter Laser down the staircase and sent a blast at the infantry hitting him in the arm and Janina finished him off with a shot to the chest and Sylvia went to pursue the retreating scout. “Hold on, don’t leave the group!”

Janina knelt down next to Dorian, borrowing his medkit to spray over the wound. The blue structure spread over the wound, temporarily sealing the wound and removing the pain. Though, with the advancements, it would help the wound heal a bit faster on its own.

“Glad they made those insect bastards work for us,” Kevin said, tapping his damaged chitin plating, and then ran after Sylvia. The scout took one step into the library, and rolled back as four shots from the upper rungs shot down at her, nearly turning her to ash. The enemy scout disappeared behind a bookcase as the two XCOM operatives fell back.

“They set up an ambush in the library...there’s five of them in there now,” Sylvia reported, catching her breath between words.

“Damn it you should have waited.” Kevin whispered to himself as everyone ran to the library.

Atka’s voice came through again, very quietly. “I hear explosions from the floor above...is that you guys?”

Desmond put a hand to his ear to respond. “Yeah it’s us. We are moving as fast as possible.” Another shot flew by his head and he got low. “Alright, Smith, lay down suppressing fire so we can move up. Sylvia, move to the left and draw fire while the SHIV draws fire from the right. The rest of you move down and fire at who you can hit.”

The SHIV stoically prepared, and then rolled into the library. It unleashed a hail of suppressing fire from it’s turret, blasting apart the bookcase the scout had hidden behind. A sniper shot, two infantry blasts, and finally a gunner blew poor Taqukaq to bits. The last one on the higher level of the library was suppressed by Kris, an EXALT engineer.

The EXALT scout tried to run, but shots from the rest of the squad were too much to dodge. One hit him in the leg, and another followed up to the back of his neck.

“Take the rest of them out!” Janina yelled.

Modya took a deep breath, reassured by the calm of the infantry next to him. He and Janina ran behind cover, and shot in opposite directions. Janina blew the floor out from under the EXALT sniper, and her second shot punched through his prone form on the ground.

The Russian took careful aim with his heavy rifle, trying his hardest to keep his cool as the EXALT infantry started blowing holes in his cover. With a determined expression, Modya clenched his fingers around the trigger, and shot the clone straight in the head.

Dorian opened fire on the gunner from the library entrance, but he was fatigued from the wound he took. While he was kept busy by Dorian, however, Kevin quickly climbed up the ladder, and blasted the enemy gunner off the upper level, nearly knocking the chandelier down with him. “Boom!”

“This one’s yours, sir!” Kris shouted over the roar of his autolaser as the rest of the squad was fighting their marks, referring to the engineer he was suppressing. “Don’t let him do one of those goddamn kamikaze things!”

Desmond nodded and he ran towards the clone. The clone realized this and was about to press the button on his belt when Desmond scooped up a large book and hurled it at the engineer. It caused the engineer to fall back and Desmond yanked himself up the ladder in a flash. He put a foot on each arm. “This is what you get for messing with my squad.” He pulled the trigger and put the engineer down.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Caged Hero - Part 3

Atka’s voice came through again, frantic. “Oh God, I hear them coming towards this room. I can’t stay in here, I’ll be trapped! Come on, Huojin!” she ran out of the gym, and they rounded a corner as shots flew at them, barely missing thanks to the corner providing full cover. All except for one. One shot grazed Huojin’s shoulder, causing him no small amount of pain. The covert operative did not stop running, supporting Huojin as best as she could. Atka headed towards the pool as both groups of three EXALT operatives on Floor 53 converged on her location from either side.

Everyone heard the message and they converged at the library’s exit, starting towards the next floor. They ran down the stairs and passed the track ring, coming out into a large pool area.

On either end of the pool, EXALT troops had, 3 on either side, surrounded Atka almost completely. She slid to a stop when she realized this, her and Huojin pincered by the enemy. A spray of fire resounded from the 6 clones. They showed no sympathy.

Many of the shots went wide as Atka tried to move out of the way. Huojin got hit in the left arm and fell into the pool. An sniper shot went clean through Atka’s arm, stopping her for a split second in profound agony. From the side the squad had come out on, the EXALT infantry sent a blast from his laser rifle that hit Atka square in the chest, and she collapsed onto the floor.

Desmond’s eyes went wide as the girl collapsed and he screamed, “Atka!” He and the rest of the squad went full sprint as they got into positions and fired at the troops with everything they had. The ones they had flanked, including the infantry that had shot Atka in the chest, went down without a chance. The sniper, gunner, and scout on the other side were joined by the scout that had fled, and they opened fire on the XCOM troops, pinning them down.

“Someone...draw...their fire…” Modya growled, pulling out an HE grenade.

Desmond ordered Modya to stop. “You might hit Atka! Just keep it away for now! Sylvia get their attention. Dorian with me, I have an idea.”

As Sylvia drew attention to her and the rest were firing at the operatives, Desmond aimed his grapple at one of the low lying supports. “Dorian, up and over.” He let the grapple fly and he soared to the support beam along with the medic. When they pulled themselves up the pair started to fire on the group of EXALT, drawing them away from Atka. When he figured there were at a safe distance, he yelled the order. “Modya, throw it now!”

Modya spun his arm and hurled the grenade as far as he could, blowing up the wall and chairs the four surviving EXALT operatives were hiding behind. Then, the rest of the troops opened fire with a vengeance, lasers filling the air without restraint. When they stopped firing, not a single EXALT soldier remained standing.

A hand reached up through the water, and Huojin pulled himself up to the side of the pool, his face awash with agony from the laser wounds he had on his arms. He looked over and saw Atka lying on the floor, momentarily forgetting the pain. “Xi-xifeng…”

Modya ran over to Atka.

Kris shook his head as he did. “Modya...they hit her square in the chest...you’re not going to like what you find.”

“I don’t give a damn,” the Russian shot back.

Desmond and Dorian grappled back down and they made their way to Atka. Dorian sat next to her and flipped her over. The laser shot had burned through her clothing and the alloy plating underneath, damaging the skin. Dorian felt her neck with two fingers. “...I don’t think it went any further than the skin. She’s still got a pulse.” He pulled out the medkit, and started applying the nanite solution to Atka’s wounds. Both of them.

Desmond let out a sigh of relief as the squad moved to get a look at her. They moved around her but Desmond’s face hardened. He moved back to the stairs the squad had come down from and made his way back up to the roof. After the long climb he had finally made his way up and Sarah was walking around near the Skyranger with their little friend. “Atka was hit but she is doing fine. You can head down, I will keep an eye on him.”

The sniper nodded and ran off, leaving the two alone except for the pilot. Desmond squatted down and looked the man in the face. “You are going to have a lot to answer for...and I will make sure it is long and painful.”

The clone grinned at him. “You can try.” With that the clone started to convulse and went limp seconds later.

Desmond narrowed his eyes and stared at the dead clone. You will pay for this Viktor, in time.

Big Sky stared at the clone. “Jesus…” he said, and then clicked on the communications. “Uh, yeah. This is Big Sky One. The captive just...died. And we’re going to need a flight home, Ms. Ipiktok is in bad shape,” he explained. “Wing’s completely broken, gonna take days to fix…” the pilot muttered in frustration.

Desmond looked over to the pilot. “A small price to pay for Atka’s life, nice flying out there…”

Big Sky One nodded. “Thanks...and speaking of whom…” he looked over behind Desmond. Atka was being carried over, and she was awake, if only barely. “...h-hey, Desmond…” Atka said in a weak voice, barely a whisper. They laid her down in a stretcher contained on the plane, Huojin following anxiously.

Desmond knelt down next to Atka. “Good job out there, now I guess I am the one who has to visit you in the hospital now.”

Atka forced herself not to look over at her arm, even though it was bandaged. “Hopefully...I don’t need...a new one…” She took a deep breath. “I-in my jacket...I finished something...for you. T-thank Ellie, she came up...with the idea…”

He smiled at her, taking the little carving out of her jacket and wiping it with his finger. “Nice job...I hope I don’t have to do one for you because I suck at art…” He continued to smile and put a hand on her. “Thanks.”

Atka nodded, and closed her eyes, quickly drifting out of consciousness again, though she was stabilized for now. The medkit’s spray would start to break down only after several hours.

The squad sat down around the helipad waiting for the new Skyranger. Desmond looked over at the Asian man and looked at Wong. “Find out what he knows. If anything important comes up let me know.”

Sarah nodded, and pulled Huojin aside, conversing with him in Mandarin calmly. Houjin seemed exhausted from the ordeal, but answered her questions as best as he could. After about fifteen minutes, the sniper walked back over to Desmond.

“He says that he met Atka as “Xifeng Li” about two days ago, and she was asking around about the convoy attack. His friend Keung showed her where he thought he saw an alien, which I’m guessing was one of the EXALT operatives. Atka had promised to visit the club last night, and when she didn’t show up he went looking for her here, and followed her upstairs,” Sarah explained.

“In short, he doesn’t know who we are or what EXALT is, but we can’t just send him back after all of this. We’re probably going to have to take him back to base,” she finished.

Desmond sighed and looked over at Huojin. “Good work, go keep watch and get ready to go.”

He walked away and looked over at the city. He put a hand on his ear, calling in his report to Central.

Sarah started to walk to a better vantage point in case there were any EXALT left alive. She stopped walking past Huojin, holding out her hand.

“What?” Huojin asked in Mandarin.

“You know what,” Sarah replied.

Huojin sighed. “Fine…” he handed Sarah the EXALT laser pistol sadly, and the sniper walked off silently.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Mini-Mission

Date: May 16th, 2018
Location: Houston, Texas, USA

Mission Details: Local Law Enforcement is struggling to deal with a small group of alien forces that have barracked themselves in the main library of the University of Houston. While the alien forces are only comprised of a couple Thin Men and half a dozen sectoids, it is believed that there are a number of students trapped in the library as well. Investigate the University, and neutralize all alien threats, taking care to rescue as many civilians as possible.

Soldiers: Eva Aegerter + seven more soldiers

Alien Forces: Two Thin Men & Six Sectoids

 

[Dahlexpert]

X-COM Mini Mission

So this assignment was a small one, the local law enforcement is having trouble with the aliens in a local University, apparently the aliens are hold up in the library and apparently they are holding some of the students hostage because that never failed them before.

So we went in and we searched the campus and thankfully we found the Library, now because there are civilians in this enclosed area grenades are a no go here, we moved into position and we spotted the aliens our sniper lined up his shot and took out a thin man, unfortunately the aliens scattered and went into cover. the aliens started to suppress and keep us pined down, our assault scout and gunner went around the aliens and attempted to flank them thankfully the planed worked and they fired at the aliens when the aliens try to retreat me our medic and engineer fiered at the fleeing aliens and took them down, so by my count that's one dead thin man and three dead sectoids.

We moved to the computer room were the the civilians and the res of the aliens were hiding, We moved in and I told the civilans to hold there breaths as I shot and killed the then man, that proved to be a good detraction since the sectoids are not immune to the poison, the civilians ran out the and I told our medic to go and check on them, the remaining sectoids were easy to take down since we out numbered them, we killed the sectoids and took the civilians to the sky ranger and they were poison free, all and all a very simple mission and no casualtys and no dead civilians, all and all good work on every ones part.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
UFO Mission/VIP Escort Mission

Operations:
Silent Threat
Twisted Vengeance
May 22nd, 2018

Location:
Abbott Laboratories, Dublin, Ireland
Outskirts of Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland

Time:
1500 Hours (Local Time)

Mission Details:
Our Satellites discovered a medium sized UFO on it's way to Irish airspace. By the time our Interceptors arrived, it was already attacking Abbott Laboratories in the Capital of Ireland.

With the recent improvements of our Interceptors' arsenal, we succeeded in shooting the UFO down, but not before the ship dropped off a small attack force.

We have reason to believe the aliens are targeting Geoffry O'Reilly, a scientist that has been secretly assisting X-COM in the tracking and monitoring of UFO activity. Dr. O'Reilly is invaluable to this project, knowing our tracking equipment better then anyone. However, we cannot ignore such a large UFO wreck, as plenty of the crew were likely to have survived, and this might be the opportunity we are looking for to capture an Outsider. Thus, we shall be sending a squad to both sites.

Number of Soldiers for this mission: Eight (8) soldiers, accompanied by two (2) SHIVs

Soldiers Names:
Silent Threat
SPC Foulke, Albert (Infantry)*
SPC Harker, Wilhelmina (Support)
SPC Reston, Jay (Heavy)
SPC Temple, Sharron (Rocketeer)
SPC Lovikov, Randall (Scout)
SPC Palmer, Ermen (Assault)
SPC Summers, Holly (Engineer)
SPC. Trapp, David (Gunner)
Alloy SHIV Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
Alloy SHIV Unit 2: "Bandersnatch"

Twisted Vengeance
SPC Wheeler, Madison (Infantry)*
SPC Malkovich, Johnathan (Support)
SPC Brankino, Pastel (Heavy)
SPC Ortiz, Amanda (Guardian)
SPC Camilo, Victor (Scout)
SPC. Fujioka, Airi (Engineer)
SPC. Lopez, Steve (Gunner)
PFC. Raiden Black
Alloy SHIV Unit 3: "Jubjub"
Alloy SHIV Unit 4: "Taqukaq"

*Squad Leader

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

- Primary weapon: Either a Laser Shatterray, Laser Carbine, Laser Rifle, a Heavy Laser Rifle, a Scatter Laser. a Laser Sniper Rifle (Sniper), Laser Strike Rifle (Sniper, Marksman), AutorLaser (Gunner), or Gatling Laser (Gunner)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor or Carapace Armor

- Secondary Weapon: Laser Pistol, a Heater, or a S.L.P. (Scatter Laser Pistol)

- 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:

The Dropship will drop the UFO party near the crash zone, then bring the escort party to the laboratories. Upon completion of this mission, it will then return to the crash zone.

Operation Silent Threat takes place amongst a large set of research buildings at the end of the labs. The Dropzone will land on the north end of the area. There are two large laboratories on the Northeast and Southeast part of the area. Additionally, there is a small supply building in the center on the west side of area. There is a helicopter pad on the northwest part of the area with a destroyed helicopter on it.

Cover outside of the buildings will come in the form of several supply boxes and tanks, as well as a large truck near the supply building. You will find the target in the south east building. Once found, you will have to escort him back to the dropship. Local satellite imagery and reports from survivors suggest that the aliens scattered as the dropship arrived. It is likely that the aliens are having difficulty finding the target, or they are unsure which human he is. Expect them to remain in hiding, using you to find the doctor and then attacking when you head back to the dropship.

Operation Twisted Vengeance will take place in a small forest just south of Thurles in Tipperary County. Naturally, cover will come in the form of logs and trees on the why to the ship, at least those that were not destroyed when the ship crashed.

The ship itself is set up as an extended corridor. We believe these to be ships for the purpose of abduction because of the pods found within containing humans in various conditions. It is smaller then most Abductors, but is still rather large in its own right. After entering a large bay meant for the loading and unloading of cargo, you will find to large rooms with various unknown equipment and supplies, separated by an upper catwalk in the center, with one on the other sides of the rooms. Through another set of doors, you will find a large room containing the abduction pods, some still containing living humans. To the left and right of this room are a pair of large engine rooms.

Through a final door, you will find the bridge, which as an upper section overlooking a larger lower section, all containing a variety of computer equipment. It is here that you will find the Outsiders.

Please note that the UFO crashed near a cliff, with part of the ship hanging off the edge. The stability of the craft on the edge is in question, so do not take too long on your mission.

Enemies:
(Silent Threat)
Two (2) units containing three (3) Thin Men
One (1) unit containing four (4) Floaters
One (1) unit containing two (2) Seekers and a Drone
One (1) unit containing a Cyberdisc and two (2) Drones

(Twisted Vengeance)
Two (2) units containing a Mechtoid and two (2) Sectoids
One (1) unit containing two (2) Thin Men and two (2) Floaters
One (1) unit containing two (2) Seekers and a Drone
One (1) unit containing two (2) Outsiders

Conditions for Completing the Mission:

(ST) Successful extraction of the target to the dropship.

(TV) Elimination of all alien forces.

Special Completion note: While not necessary for the completion of Twisted Vengeance, it is HIGHLY recommended that at least one of the outsiders be brought in alive.

Civilians:
There are four scientist in the lab with the target, but for their safety, it would be for the best to leave them behind, at least for now. The aliens are focused on the target, and bringing more civilians across the battlefield would put them in unnecessary danger.

You will find a dozen humans in the UFO's abduction pods, though not all of them will be intact enough to survive. Those amongst those who can be extracted include a middle-aged Caucasian male, a middle-aged Hispanic man, a adult African-American male, two adult Caucasian females, a male Caucasian in his late teens, and three Asian females in their early teens.

 

[BMPixy]

Operation Silent Threat
2018-05-22‭ ‬1512‭ ‬Local Time
Abbott Laboratories,‭ ‬Dublin,‭ ‬Ireland

Specialist Albert Foulke
Part One: Ice Cage‭

I circled my hand,‭ ‬signifying the Squad to form up on this door.‭ ‬Since the Northeast building was clear,‭ ‬we had to presume that the doctor and his peers were in here.‭ ‬A peer through the glass doors spotted nobody,‭ ‬but there were a few doors that didn‭’‬t have corresponding exits,‭ ‬so we had to assume they were in one of the side rooms.

Gentle palm movements indicated a soft breach.‭ ‬Didn‭’‬t want to spook the doc or alert the X-Rays to where we were.‭ ‬Lovikov nodded,‭ ‬a gently swung the door open,‭ ‬as I did the same on my side.‭ ‬Another motion told the Scout to perform his name-sake,‭ ‬and as he jogged in,‭ ‬carbine at the ready,‭ ‬I tapped Jabberwock and indicated for it to follow.‭ ‬Trapp moved to fill the gap left by the Scout,‭ ‬and he and I kept overwatch as the Alloy SHIV and Specialist cleared the central room.

‭“‬All clear,‭”‬ Lovikov said,‭ ‬loud enough for us to hear.‭ ‬Right,‭ ‬time to get everybody else in.

‭“‬Palmer,‭ ‬Summers,‭ ‬and Reston,‭ ‬get inside.‭ ‬Bandersnatch and Trapp,‭ ‬take up overwatch positions on this doorway.‭ ‬Temple and Harker,‭ ‬get on the North entrance and cover us from there,‭”‬ I ordered,‭ ‬motioning for the others to file in.‭ ‬Keeping my laser rifle scanning the roof and outside,‭ ‬wary of ambushes,‭ ‬I waited for the squad to fulfill their orders before moving in myself.

‭“‬Lovikov,‭ ‬clear the supply closet,‭ ‬Jabberwock,‭ ‬you‭’‬re with me in clearing the break room,‭”‬ I said,‭ ‬as I pushed forward towards the next set of doors.‭ ‬The SHIV rolled up obediently in front of the door,‭ ‬waiting for me to push it open.‭ ‬Unfortunately,‭ ‬the lack of a push bar indicated otherwise,‭ ‬and I motioned for the drone to roll back so I could pull open the door.

Inside was‭…‬ wait,‭ ‬why‭’‬d they barricade a door that opens outward‭?

“Doctor O‭’‬Reilly‭?‬” I said,‭ ‬calling out into the room,‭ ‬“We‭’‬re XCOM,‭ ‬we need you to come out.‭”

“Right right,‭”‬ I heard a heavily accented voice say from inside the room,‭ ‬“Just let us clear this out.‭ ‬Stupid idea,‭ ‬in hindsight.‭”

“Do you have any wounded in there‭?‬” I asked.

Stepping into my line of sight and beginning to tear down the stack of chairs was a gaunt,‭ ‬short man,‭ ‬clearly on the wrong side of the hill,‭ ‬dressed in a lab coat,‭ ‬a shirt referencing some obscure sci-fi show,‭ ‬and jeans,‭ ‬and he said in that thick Irish accent,‭ ‬“Doctor Bastille sprained his ankle on the steps,‭ ‬but otherwise we‭’‬re unharmed.‭”

Three other scientists came out from hiding and began tearing down the barricade,‭ ‬and while I waited,‭ ‬I called out to the squad,‭ ‬“Alright,‭ ‬we found the Doctor and his companions,‭ ‬help them tear down this barricade while I get Big Sky on the horn.‭”

With some affirmatives,‭ ‬Palmer and Summers moved over to my position,‭ ‬and I moved towards the center of the building,‭ ‬flipping on my commbead as I did so,‭ ‬saying into it,‭ ‬“Big Sky,‭ ‬the doctor‭’‬s been secured.‭ ‬We‭’‬re gonna be moving back towards exfil,‭ ‬so be ready to grab us as soon as we get there.‭”

“Roger that,‭ ‬give me the signal once you‭’‬re in sight of the extract zone and I‭’‬ll make my descent,‭”‬ the Skyranger pilot replied,‭ ‬and I thumbed my commbead off.‭ ‬Turning around,‭ ‬I spotted four of the five scientists in a...‭ ‬heated discussion with Palmer.‭ ‬Muttering to myself,‭ ‬I approached the group.

‭“‬What,‭ ‬you can‭’‬t just leave them here‭! ‬There‭’‬s aliens around here‭!‬” I heard O‭’‬Reilly shout.

‭“‬I apologize sir,‭ ‬but the mission details specifically said that we were only to retrieve you,‭”‬ Palmer replied.

‭“‬So,‭ ‬what might be the problem here Doctor‭?‬” I asked,‭ ‬imposing myself between him and the Assault.

‭“‬Your compatriot just said that my colleagues would have to stay behind while you took me‭! ‬This is unacceptable‭!‬” The scientist replied.‭ ‬I fought down the urge to palm my forehead,‭ ‬and instead crossed my arms and leaned to the side,‭ ‬shooting a glare through the thankfully opaque helmet.‭ ‬I motioned for him to step aside with me,‭ ‬out of earshot of the other scientists.

‭“‬Tell me,‭”‬ I asked,‭ ‬“Do your fellows know what services you provide for XCOM‭?‬”

“No,‭ ‬I only give them the co-ordinates to‭ ‬look at with the telescope,‭ ‬and I keep an eye on all outgoing data personally.‭”

“Right,‭ ‬then why do you think the‭ ‬aliens‭ ‬are here,‭ ‬rather than some place like,‭ ‬I dunno,‭ ‬the massive city nearby‭?‬” I could see the look of shock come across his face as the realization dawned upon him.

‭“‬They‭’‬re here for me‭…‬” he said,‭ ‬trailing off.

‭“‬Right,‭ ‬and they‭’‬ll know you‭’‬ll be leaving with us.‭ ‬If we leave your comrades here,‭ ‬they‭’‬ll most likely be safe.‭ ‬But if we try to bring them with us,‭ ‬especially with the wounded,‭ ‬there‭’‬s a‭ ‬big chance some of us will die saving your asses.‭ ‬Now do you understand,‭ ‬Doctor‭?‬”

“Y-yes,‭ ‬I do.‭ ‬Alright,‭ ‬I‭’‬ll be along.‭ ‬Just me.‭”

“Good on ya doc.‭”‬ I patted him on the shoulder,‭ ‬and stepped back over to the north side of the hall,‭ ‬which was elevated slightly,‭ ‬giving me a position to speak from.

‭“‬Alright everyone,‭ ‬Doctor O‭’‬Reilly will be coming with us.‭ ‬Those of you eggheads who don‭’‬t have that name will be staying here.‭ ‬Just keep quiet,‭ ‬and the X-Rays won‭’‬t be on your asses.‭ ‬Everybody else,‭ ‬we‭’‬ll be moving out.‭ ‬We‭’‬ll be taking the same route we came in,‭ ‬out the south entrance,‭ ‬along the east wall,‭ ‬and swing around the north-east building‭ ‬until we hit the evac zone.‭ ‬However,‭ ‬once we hit the north-east building,‭ ‬Reston,‭ ‬Trapp,‭ ‬and Lovikov will take the staircase up and give us overwatch from up there.‭ ‬We‭’‬ve been lucky,‭ ‬and haven‭’‬t run into any xenos on the way here,‭ ‬but that‭’‬ll probably change on the way out.‭”‬ I paused for a moment,‭ ‬making sure my orders were coming through clear and to figure out a formation,‭ ‬before I continued.

‭“‬Lovikov,‭ ‬Palmer,‭ ‬and Jabberwock will be up front.‭ ‬Harker and the Doc will be in the middle.‭ ‬Make sure the Doc gets to the evac,‭ ‬no matter what.‭”‬ The Support nodded grimly,‭ ‬understanding the‭ ‬importance of her role.‭ ‬“Temple and Bandersnatch will be on left flank cover,‭ ‬Trapp‭ ‬and‭ ‬Reston‭ ‬will be on the right flank,‭ ‬with me and Summers covering the rear.‭ ‬Everybody clear‭?‬”

A chorus of affirmatives confirmed their understanding,‭ ‬and I continued,‭ ‬“Alright,‭ ‬let‭’‬s get a move on,‭ ‬we‭’‬ve got a VIP to evac‭!‬”

Boots pounded across the tiles,‭ ‬as we hastily got into formation.‭ ‬Right,‭ ‬everybody‭’‬s in position.‭ ‬A quick wave of the hand,‭ ‬and we advanced out of the building.‭ ‬Laser‭ ‬Rifle in hand,‭ ‬I scanned the rooftops behind us,‭ ‬alternating with Summers.‭ ‬Things were quiet as we reached the corner of the building.‭ ‬I tapped the Engineer of the shoulder,‭ ‬signaling‭ ‬that I would be moving ahead,‭ ‬and I slid up towards the front of the pack to oversee the crossing.‭ ‬This would be the most dangerous part of the journey,‭ ‬as the‭ ‬only cover within twenty meters was a delivery truck and the buildings.‭ ‬Hmm,‭ ‬maybe‭…

“Jabberwock,‭ ‬take a‭ ‬position‭ ‬six meters ahead,‭ ‬Bandersnatch,‭ ‬twelve meters ahead.‭ ‬Stay‭ ‬there until ordered to move.‭”‬ With a nod of the turret,‭ ‬the mobile cover rolled out,‭ ‬and began scanning for threats.‭ ‬“Right,‭ ‬Lovikov,‭ ‬Palmer,‭ ‬begin crossing,‭ ‬use SHIVs as cover.‭ ‬Temple,‭ ‬Trapp,‭ ‬give them overwatch as they advance.‭”

The Support and Rocketeer slid into positions,‭ ‬bringing their Carbine and Autolaser to bear as the Scout and Assault sprinted across the gap.‭ ‬After a few tense moments,‭ ‬the pair reached the other building and set up an overwatch position.

‭“‬Summers,‭ ‬Reston,‭ ‬you‭’‬re next.‭ ‬After that,‭ ‬Doc and Summers go.‭”‬ A nod,‭ ‬and the‭ ‬Heavy and Engineer dashed for Jabberwock,‭ ‬sliding into position.‭ ‬A pause to let Summers get to the next piece of cover,‭ ‬then,‭ ‬out of nowhere,‭ ‬the side door of the delivery van burst open,‭ ‬six Thin Men sprinting out to take up firing positions.

‭“‬Contact front‭!‬” I heard Summers yell,‭ ‬and a‭ ‬barrage of laser fire flew across the gap.‭ ‬I lifted my rifle to fire at one of the Thin Men,‭ ‬heading for the building we had just exited,‭ ‬but a blast of fire from Trapp cut it down.‭ ‬Quickly switching targets,‭ ‬I locked my sights on another,‭ ‬sliding behind‭ ‬the front of the van.‭ ‬Lining up the sights and pulling the trigger,‭ ‬the familiar beam lanced out,‭ ‬spearing the Thin Man in the chest and sending it spiraling back in a cloud of poisonous gas,‭ ‬signaling‭ ‬its death. Scanning the area,‭ ‬I spotted that the last three Thin Men were clustered behind a single‭ ‬tank of some sort.‭ ‬Oh those idiots‭…

“Temple,‭ ‬rocket on those X-Rays‭!‬”

“Got it,‭ ‬firing rocket‭!‬” I ducked away from the Rocketeer as she lined up the rocket.‭ ‬“Back-blast clear‭!‬” she shouted,‭ ‬and I turned from the impending fire.‭ ‬With a‭ ‬woosh of igniting propellant,‭ ‬the rocket flew straight,‭ ‬impacting just behind the Thin Men‭’‬s cover,‭ ‬blasting the infiltrators to kingdom come.

‭“‬Nice rocket‭! ‬Now c‭’‬mon,‭ ‬let‭’‬s get a move on before the rest of the X-Rays start coming out of the woodwork‭!‬” I ordered,‭ ‬and the procession of crossings continued.‭ ‬Wait,‭ ‬is that something coming out of the smoke there‭?

I hastily yelled,‭ ‬“Hold position,‭ ‬possible contact front‭!‬” Oh shit,‭ ‬Summers is out of cover-

 

[BMPixy]

Specialist Albert Foulke
Part Two: White Noise

The shape in the smoke shifted,‭ ‬and a pulse of fire shot out from the cloud,‭ ‬striking the exposed Engineer in the chest,‭ ‬and sending her‭ ‬spiraling behind the north building,‭ ‬a cry of pain following her.

‭“‬Dammit,‭ ‬hostile front‭! ‬Open fire‭!‬” Lasers pulsed‭ ‬forward,‭ ‬however the smoke must have‭ ‬dispersed‭ ‬the beams somewhat,‭ ‬and most missed.‭ ‬A laser pistol from Palmer struck the... whatever that is,‭ ‬and it‭ ‬‘staggered‭’‬,‭ ‬if that word could be applied to a flyer,‭ ‬and returned to its previous form,‭ ‬an enormous disk.

With nary a sound,‭ ‬the disk flew forward,‭ ‬a picture of grace.‭ C’mon, need a plan here. Three drones approaching, an escort to the flyer. Snap rifle up, take a couple potshots, miss, duck back into cover. Think Al, think! We’ve got a critically wounded soldier on the other side of the alley, the medic is over here, and we’ve got some alien mechanized support packing a whole lot of firepower between the two.

‭As I clenched my eyes shut, trying to figure out a solution, I heard Trapp yell, “Grenade! Get down!” Snapping me out of my reverie, I saw the projectile arcing towards us, a trail of green light emanating from it. Training took over, and I leaped further behind the building, scrambling to get away from the grenade. With a mighty thwoom, the grenade exploded, the pressure wave shoving me a few dozen centimeters forward, shrapnel pinging off my Carapace armor.

‭A quick scan around saw that everybody had been able to get out of the way or were far enough away that they only took shrapnel damage, but the corner of the building was shot to hell. Adrenaline pumping through my veins, I began to push myself up, to get back into cover, but everything seemed oddly slow, and my movements sluggish. Over what seemed like minutes, I managed to get up, and I noticed that everything was in the same state as I. I could see each tendril of flame from the blast lick it’s way up the building, the slow turn as Temple moved to open fire with her Carbine onto the disc, the ponderous cycling of the Gatling Lasers on the SHIVs as beams of light scored out and struck down the Drones.

‭Oh, right, tachypsychia. Everything’s not slow, it’s just my brain is working faster, causing time to appear slower. Right, now that I have the time to think... Hmm, now that we have that hole into the South building, ah-ha!

‭Have Temple and Trapp rush into the building, and flank the enemies from the North entrance. Summers had a smoke with her, and I have one as well. Have Lovikov use that Chameleon suit to safely retrieve the smoke, and he and I will pop them to cover Harker’s advance to stabilize Summers. Trapp suppresses the disc, while Temple fires a Shredder. Jabberwock, Reston, Bandersnatch, and Palmer bring it down.

‭As the orders slowly echoed across the battlefield, my arm reached back, ready to drop the smoke once Lovikov slogged his way over to Summer’s wounded form. Temple and Trapp advanced through the flames, and prepared to open fire once the Gunner stabilized his SAW and the Rocketeer prepped her Shredder.

‭I heard Lovikov yell out and toss the smoke, and I pulled the pin on mine and tossed it into the alley, the smoke slowly filling it. A tap on Harker’s shoulder, and she went sprinting across the way. A quick look back to check on the Doc- Oh shit!

‭Tendrils slipped around the Doctor’s neck, as the form of a Seeker dropped out of cloak. Laser rifle was slowly brought up, as the scientist realized his fate. Flip on laser sight, lock Seeker’s head, fire!

‭The beam of light pierced the creature’s head, sending a shower of sparks cascading across the ground. Something important must have been hit, as the tentacles loosened and fell away, and the Seeker fell to the ground.

‭A blast echoed from behind me, signifying the Shredder firing, and a barrage of laser fire poured out from the building, keeping the disc pinned. A glance, and Harker was spraying her medkit over the Engineer’s prone form, keeping her from bleeding out on this particular field.

‭A barrage of whatever-it-is shot from the disc, but it merely scored across the ground near Jabberwock. The SHIV responded in kind with a more accurate remark, and the alien lurched back, returning to its disc form, smoke pouring out of it’s damaged internals. Palmer shot out from behind cover, Scatter Laser at the ready, taking cover behind the truck the Thin Men had poured out of. A blast of weaponized light burst out of the gun, and the disc finally fell to the ground, exploding upon impact. Shrapnel shot out from the wreck, but it struck no one, except for- wait!

‭“Seeker!” I yelled, as the damaged Seeker dropped it’s cloak. Immediately, Bandersnatch’s turret bounded up, and with a series of cracks of ionized air, struck down the alien.

‭Oh thank god, that’s all of them. Alright, deep breaths Foulke, just gotta get that adrenaline down. Imagine you’re comfortable, that your breath is radiating peace into your chest, activate that para-whatever nervous system.

‭Time began to flow once more at it’s usual pace. Trapp and Temple returned from their firing position, and we finally took the Doc across that damned alley.

‭“How’s Summers holding up?” I asked as I approached Harker.

‭“She’s stable, but unconscious. We need to get out of here fast,” the Support replied.

‭“Right, working on that,” I replied, before turning towards the others. “Change of plans regarding exfil! Trapp, you take Summers and stay in the center with Harker and the Doc. SHIVs take the back, Reston and Temple on the right flank, and everybody else up front with me! Let’s get a move on, we got an evac to meet!” I finished with a shout, and everybody rushed towards their positions.

‭As I passed Harker and O’Reilly, I heard mention of ‘UFOs’ and ‘secret research’, but it sounded mostly like mindless blather come of stress. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep safe after we get him out of here.

‭Flipping on my commbead, I said, “Big Sky, this is the extract team, VIP has almost reached evac zone, prepare to come in for a landing. Be warned, we do have a critically wounded soldier with us.”

‭“Roger that, ETA of three minutes. See you at the EZ,” the Skyranger pilot replied, and I flipped off the radio. With a wave of the hand the team advanced around the building, and towards the clearing that was our evac zone. Holding up a hand, I motioned for Lovikov to slide along the chest high wall extending out from the edge of the building, to make the most of his Chameleon suit.

‭With a whisper, the Scout said, “Four Floaters, grouped together about twenty meters ahead. Looks like they’re investigating the firefight.”

‭“Right,” I muttered. “Reston, see if you can bag ‘em with a rocket. We need to hurry and get out of here.”

‭“Roger that,” the Heavy said, as he slid up to the edge of the wall and prepped his launcher. “Backblast clear,” he said as loud as he dared, and the rocket launched out, impacting with a blast.

‭“Three of them are down!” Lovikov shouted, as the Floater blasted it’s way towards us. I heard a carbine shot from the Scout fire off, but from the curse that followed it missed. Sliding out into the chest-high portion of the wall, I raised my rifle as the cyborg continued to jet towards us. Pulling the trigger, the beam pierced the creature’s jetpack, sending it careening to the pavement in a barrage of sparks and alien blood. From the silence that followed, the wounds combined with the impact must have killed it.

‭Then the roar of jet engines overpowered all noise in the area, and a look confirmed the source: the Skyranger.

‭Finally, it’s over, and nobody died under my command. Once more, I was glad for the opacity of my visor, as a warm wetness trickled down my face. For once, an op I ran where nobody died. Nobody will follow Richie, unless it’s me. That I will do my best to ascertain.

‭Right, better stop hanging around and get on the Skyranger. Everybody else is almost finished loading.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Twisted Vengeance (Written by Euan, Edited and Modified by DarkGemini24601)
Part 1

"ALERT. ALERT. UFO DOWN. FOLLOWING TROOPS, REPORT IMMEDIATELY FOR DEPLOYMENT: WHEELER, MADISON; MALKOVICH, JOHNATHAN; BRANKINO, PASTEL; ORTIZ, AMANDA; CAMILO, VICTOR; FUJIOKA, AIRI; LOPEZ, STEVE; BLACK, RAIDEN."

The alarm woke everyone in Raiden's barracks, but only him and another - Camilo - had been called. They walked together, not talking. Camilo kept glancing sideways at Raiden, who ignored him and kept strolling straight ahead. They were the last to arrive, awkwardly shuffling in as the squad leader was already relaying the brief to the team.

"So, after we've dropped in, we'll have no cover besides rocks and trees, most of which will barely cover your legs. We need to get in that site and eliminate all hostiles. Go where I tell you, don't miss a shot, and you'll be fine. Now go get your stuff. We leave in two minutes,” Madison said, with an eager grin on her face.

Raiden went straight for a carbine. As he reached for a sidearm (thanks for the reminder, Dragomirov), he overheard a two of his fellow troops talking.

"Don't listen to everything she says," one nodded at Wheeler. "She's mad she is. Charges in without thinking twice. The rookie could be a better squad leader than her."

"You really think so?"

"Yeah. She's bonkers."

"No, I think you’re wrong about that. You think the rookie'd be good?"

"What? Oh - No chance. He's already been on a mission and aint got a promotion. He must be awful. I was just saying..."

Raiden's shoulders fell a little. He grabbed his kestrel armour and a flashbang, and hurried to get on the dropship.

The Skyranger took off, heading towards the crash site of the UFO as Albert’s team took off to rescue the Irish scientist.

...

"Alright, we're almost there. Crash zone group, you’re off,” Big Sky Two intoned.

It was daytime, yet beneath the trees it was dark. There were flames flickering to the left of the dropzone, and the SHIVs were sent first. Victor and Raiden were sent after them, the rest of the group following them.

"You thinking of being a scout?" Victor asked, pleasantly.

"Maybe. Ideas were thrown up, anyway." Raiden muttered.

"Sorry about your promotion man. Or - no, that's what I meant. I mean-"

"Shut up."

"Ok."

"Looks clear," Fujioka the engineer reported. "SHIVs through to the site, no hostiles spotted."

"Stay alert," Wheeler warned. “I’m not gonna lose anyone here, so you guys better be careful.”

The SHIVs followed faithfully, acting as guards to the flanks of the advancing squad. The MEC “Guardian” Ortiz went in front.

"Camilo, scout ahead for us. We need to know in case something-"

A plasma bolt shot from behind them, splitting the group into two. Two floaters emerged from above, and two thin men from below. All four took shots, and three hit - Camilo. One in each arm, and once in the left leg. Each shot melted his flesh, burning his skin and sizzling into his limbs. He cried and went down.

Raiden lifted his Carbine and aimed at a floater. There was a faint click, and a judder."Wh- Shit! Weapon jammed!"

"Take this!" the support threw him a medikit. "Try and help him!"

Madison took her shot. Right in the head. The floater fell to the ground, crushing the thin man beneath him. "Brankino, you're on the other floater."

"Got it," he muttered as he fired his rifle, clipping the other floater's engine.

"Malkovich, the last one's yours." The thin man fell, and his gas sprayed out, blocking their route back to evac.

"Has he said anything?" Malkovich headed to help Raiden.

"One word - 'Seekers'," came Raiden’s reply.

"Great,” Malkovich said.

"Keep an eye out, everyone. Raiden, take Fujioka's rifle till she gets your carbine functional again. You'll protect her, understood?” Madison said.

"Yes, miss,” Raiden replied.

"Good. Ortiz, Brankino, Lopez. You're all with me. Malkovich, escort Camilo back to evac, then catch up with us,” Wheeler said to everyone else.

"Why not get Jubjub to do it?” the rookie suggested.

"Yes, of course. Malkovich, can you do any more for him?"

"Not really. He'll pull through, but there's not much more help without the medbay," Malk said sadly.

"Alright, Jubjub’ll carry him back. Move up everyone, and watch out behind each other,” Madison said, as Sunny sent one of the SHIVs back to the Skyranger with the wounded scout.

The group slowly advanced towards the crash site. Nothing happened. Just as they were about to break through the trees, however, a gasp was heard escaping Lopez's mouth.

"There's one!" called Fujioka.

Raiden aimed his pistol and fired an accurate bolt straight through the seeker's metal bodyframe. Then a second appeared behind him.

"Mine!" Malkovich yelled and hit the seeker square in the face. The bolt carried on and scraped against Raiden's right cheek, leaving a burning line diagonally across it. It stung, but no real harm was done.

A drone fly out pathetically, trying to dodge shots with all its speed back to its ship. Taqukaq sent a spray of laser fire that blasted it out of the sky.

"There's no cover here! We'll move round. Stay in the trees!" Madison commanded.

They did. All seven troops stuck to the treeline, keeping the UFO to their right. Finally there was enough cover to safely approach the craft.

"Black! Got your weapon back online!"

"Cheers. You can have this back,” Airi said, tossing Raiden the laser carbine.

"Shh! We need to be quiet! Or else-" Ortiz was cut off as a powerful plasma blast - much unlike the rifles other troops used - knocked her to the ground, a spray of sparks shooting up from her robotic suit as it frantically tried to minimize damage.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Twisted Vengeance (Written by Euan, Edited and Modified by DarkGemini24601)
Part 2

Raiden's cover was blown out from next to him, and he could barely see through the smoke. As it cleared, he saw it."What the f..."

There was a huge robot, standing in the open. It had thick metal armour, near black in colour with very few markings. It was plated all over. The face though - it looked like a sectoid. A sectoid in a mechanical suit. With plasma cannons for arms. It was terrifying.

"It's a... robot!" cried Lopez.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking!" called Ortiz from the ground. She spat bits of leaf and dirt from her mouth. A holographic board appeared over eyes, one side detailing damage: Heavy damage to suit, minimal damage to operator. The other set up targeting systems, highlighting the Mectoid.

"You can take the first shot then!" It was taken, but the Mectoid took a glancing hit, its alloy armor holding.

"I'll flash it!" Raiden called and tossed out his flashbang. However, a screen went up in front of the pilot’s eyes and it was ineffective. At the same time, two sectoids accompanying it seemed to concentrate their mysterious powers, and a shield of psi energy went up around the mechtoid.

Ortiz growled, running at the robot from the left as Taqukaq hit the Mectoid with a spray of laser fire from the right. The contraption on her fist pushed itself backwards, its chyrssalid claw and alloy spikes seeming to tremble eagerly. Amanda punched forward, and it cracked the shield. The Guardian pushed harder, and the mix of telekinetic force and machinery-generated shielding collapsed into shards, the punch having enough momentum left to damage the front of the suit and send the enemy mech stumbling back.

"Aim for the head!" Madison called as Raiden prepared to shoot again. He nodded, and aimed down his sights. three shots hit the thing in the head, two more in the armour above it. Madison took her final shot in the mag, and finished it. With a wide blast of electricity and plasma detonations, it collapsed onto the ground, spent. "Good job guys. Nice shots, rookie. Move up!"

As the group entered the crashed UFO, Malkovich caught a flicker of movement to his right.
"There are those Sectoids!" he shot one of them down. "Other's left hand side, through that doorway!" he pointed.

"On it!" Raiden called and dived through the pink glowing field and sprayed, hitting the sectoid once, twice in the head. It went down with next to no resistance.

Raiden head back out into the main corridor, and only now saw the tanks filled with orange and green liquid. And was that... could that be a...

"They're... they were... experimenting... on us?" Lopez stammered.

Fujioka rolled her eyes. "Yeah, duh. What does it look like?"

"I just didn't... these are people! Real people! Innocent civilians!" Lopez said desperatly.

"I know it's shocking but... try to keep moving." Madison coaxed the soldier. "Come on. Almost there. We got this."

The group pushed through the corridor. There were none branching off. It was one route down to what seemed to be a large bay. They halted, silently, at the door. Malkovich threw a battle scanner through the door, and reported "no life signs."

"Let's be careful," Madison warned. "Just in case."

Brankino reached for a grenade to breach with.

"No!" Madison warned. "This stuff's too valuable to be blown up. No missed shots. No explosives. Let's go. Push in together, on me. Three. Two. One."

The group charged in and looked around. No one was found. "Keep moving. Ignore the tanks."

"This is Big Sky. We are ready to extract you whenever you need, strike 1."

"Thanks, Big Sky. We're almost done here. Just the central command room to go."

"Be quick, strike 1. That UFO's balanced on the cliff. we don't want to take any risks."

"Understood."

They reached the final room.

"Split?" Raiden suggested.

"What? No. We push in together, same as before," Madison shut him down.

"There's a second entrance over there," Raiden pointed. "If we enter together but from two entrances, and we'll have the chance to flank."

"He has a point," Malkovich admitted.

"We're pushing together, same as before. No questions. Ok?" Madison said, trying to keep them together to minimize ambush.

"Alright," Raiden conceded. "I'll go first."

Raiden reloaded, readied himself, and sprinted into the room. It was filled with green glowing things - frameless screens, interface terminals, flight controls, and two golden glowing humanoids. He could barely look at them, they were so bright.

"Outsiders!" Ortiz gasped.

"Go go go!" Madison rushed in. Malkovich and Lopez shared a look and rushed in after her. "Take the one on the left first!"

Malkovich weakened the first outsider, Raiden took some shots and hurt it some more and Fujioka finally finished it. Lopez took a shot at the second, but missed and destroyed a terminal.

"Careful!" Madison called.

The outsider threw a grenade and it exploded, destroying the terminal Raiden and Malkovich were behind and knocking Lopez forwards, towards it. Raiden responded, spraying down the outsider with bodyshots. Fujioka took out her pistol but couldn't hit for much damage. Madison took a shot and it staggered back. She fired again, but it still didn't die. Instead, it returned fire by suppressing Fujioka but Raiden could take the final shot and finish it off.

"No life forms detected. Good job, strike 1,” Big Sky Two said, impressed.

"Copy that, Big Sky. Heading to evac now,” Madison said. “Sorry we couldn’t bag one of those glowing guys, but we couldn’t take the risk this time with two of them.”

Information shared in debrief:
No fatalities. Camilo sustained heavy injuries, but is expected to recover.
Ortiz’s MEC suit will require repairs, but the pilot herself seems unharmed.
All remaining alien technology extracted, though not long after the ship tumbled into the canyon. Helicopter recover teams would be useful to recover the remaining alien alloys and elerium.
Mission success.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Amendment to after-mission report:

We have discovered that about 55% of the alien craft that was not recovered before it fell into the canyon is missing. It is highly unlikely that the durable alloys were destroyed, and all explosive components such as the elerium generators were already removed before it fell. Local authorities reported seeing dropships and helicopters in the area, and assumed they were ours.

Supposition: Our new enemy EXALT beat us to acquiring this percentage of the alien alloys and elerium. It is unfortunate, but was likely unavoidable.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Written by DarkGemini24601 [Thanksgiving Backlog]

XCOM Player Mission Parameters (Miniature)
UFO Landing Site

Operation Lazy Shield

Location: Australian Outback

Date: May 31st, 2018

Time: 1600 Hours

Mission Details:
A small scout landed in the Australian outback not far from a ranch. Clear out the alien craft and put a stop to the aliens’ attempts at abductions and research.

Soldiers on this Mission: 8

Soldier Names:
LCPL. Ipiktok, Atka
SPC. Weller, Wade
SPC. Beckett, Maggie
SPC. Gregory, Ryan
SPC. Mallory, Quinn
SPC. Driver, Karen
SPC. Kasagi, Ayame
SPC. Jacobs, Scarlet

Gear - Player’s Characters will be equipped with the following items:

- Primary Weapon: Either a Laser Shatterray, Laser Carbine, Laser Rifle, or a Heavy Laser Rifle. Walker may also use a Scatter Laser

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Heater, or a S.L.P. (Scatter Laser Pistol)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor or Carapace Armor

- 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.

Enemies:
-1 Outsider
-3 Sectoids
-3 Thin Men
-3 Floaters

Civilians: Ranch staff, as long as the mission goes smoothly they should be in minimal danger.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

Written by DarkGemini24601 [Thanksgiving Backlog]

Operation Lazy Shield – Atka Ipiktok, Ayame Kasagi, and Ryan Gregory

The Skyranger touched down at the LZ, forming a barrier between the UFO and the ranch. The squad took cover behind large, scattered rocks and rock formations as the aliens exited their own craft.

The 3 Sectoids took cover behind the larger rocks, while the 3 Thin Men ducked behind half cover. The 3 Floaters flew to the right, going for a flank. Surprisingly, the Outsider was already active and seemed to be commanding the other 9 aliens.

The seasoned squad leader Atka made sure everyone kept a level head. She ordered Ayame to suppress a Thin Man to foul up its aim. Quinn took the initiative to toss a high-explosive grenade and blow apart the cover of the other two sharpshooter aliens and a Sectoid. The sniper killed one of the uncovered Thin Men, but Karen missed the other one.

The Floaters were rapidly moving towards a flanking position. Atka ordered Scarlet and Maggie to fire at them. The scout shot one of the flying aliens out of the sky with her laser strike rifle. Scarlet coldly took out another, while a mind-merged sectoid psi-panicked Maggie. It started to work, but as Maggie hunkered down Atka started to bring her back to reality worriedly. Ryan ran close and shot the last Floater to cover them.

The cowardly Sectoids tried to flee back to the UFO, while the two Thin Men lined up shots, unable to move. Ayame and the Thin Man missed each-other, while the one aiming at Quinn seemed like it was going to hit him to Maggie’s trained eyes. The infantry shot the offending Thin Man before he could eliminate the engineer.

The Sectoid that had lost its cover not long before perished to a precise shot from Scarlet, and Ayame finally got her Thin Man, destroying his cover with the sustained laser fire. The last 2 Sectoids and the Outsider took cover in the back of their ship.

Atka had Ayame and Quinn go to the left, while Karen and she went to the right. The other 4 soldiers took cover at the front of the UFO, firing at the 3 aliens inside to keep them occupied. Karen flanked and killed one of the last 2 Sectoids. Atka dashed into the room, expertly dodging reaction fire, and was soon joined by Quinn and then Ryan inside.

The assault blasted the last sectoid, making short work of it, while Atka severely damaged the Outsider with her SLP. Quinn ran up to the energy-being and captured it with his arc-thrower.

Overall, the mission was a textbook success. There were no casualties, and all the soldiers performed well under their more experienced NCO. Ayame and Ryan received valuable field experience on a simple mission. We captured an Outsider.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Alien Abduction Mission/Sabotage Mission

Operations:
Rising Heat
Spoiled Break
June 4th, 2018

Location:
Kilauea, Hawaiian Island, USA (RH)
Queen Zenobia, Mediterranean Sea (SB)

Time:
0730 Hours, Local Time (RH)
1930 Hours, Local Time (SB)

Mission Details:
Alien forces have been detected around the vacinaty of Kilauea, an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. Because of the large amount of equipment they have with them, and the signals coming off said equipment, we believe the aliens are tapping into the thermal energy from the active lava flow and sending it elsewhere. This is a great opportunity to subvert the alien's efforts, instead of the other way around.

However, an attack on a Cruise Liner on the Mediterranean Sea has just been reported. We can not miss our first real chance to sabotage the aliens, but we also can not ignore the call for help by a ship full of defenseless civilians with no where to run. Thus, we will be sending a squad to both sites.

Number of Soldiers for this mission: Eight (8) Soldiers, accompanied by Two (2) SHIVs

Soldiers Names:
Rising Heat
LCPL Stewart, Jack (Assault)*
SPC. Anderson, Sven (Sniper)
LCPL Roosevelt, Jonathan (Engineer)
LCPL Amelia Fischer (Support)
LCPL Christel, Sylvia (Scout)
LCPL Smith, Kris (Gunner)
LCPL Orlov, Nika (Heavy)
LCPL Adolfsson, Janina (Infantry)
Alloy SHIV Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
Alloy SHIV Unit 2: "Bandersnatch"

Spoiled Break
LCPL Desmond Walker (Engineer)*
LCPL Ammeilia Cross (Sniper)
LCPL Nash, Kevin (Assault)
LCPL Driver, Karen (Medic)
LCPL Wayne, Damian (Scout)
LCPL Connor, Megan (Rocketeer)
LCPL Imahara, Grant (Marauder)
LCPL Volodarskii, Harvey (Infantry)
Alloy SHIV Unit 3: "Jubjub"
Alloy SHIV Unit 4: "Taqukaq"

*Squad Leader

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

- Primary weapon: Either a Laser Shatterray, Laser Carbine, Laser Rifle, a Heavy Laser Rifle, a Scatter Laser. a Laser Sniper Rifle (Sniper), Laser Strike Rifle (Sniper, Marksman), AutorLaser (Gunner), or Gatling Laser (Gunner)

- Armor: Kestrel Armor or Carapace Armor

- Secondary Weapon: Laser Pistol, a Heater, or a S.L.P. (Scatter Laser Pistol)

- 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:

Operations Rising Heat will take place on the side of Kilauea, a shield volcano 1,277 meters high and still actively erupting.

After the difficulty landing during the extraction mission in China, the Dropship has been outfitted with tactical ASM launchers. We will initiate an attack on the area and, during the confusion, drop the unit off as close to the alien camp as possible. While this is expected to do well for dropping us off, it will not work as well for leaving, so most if not all aliens will need to be eliminated before extraction will be possible.

Cover will come in the form over the various alien equipment as you move through the camp. Be wary of any equipment that appears to be for storing energy, as they could be explosive. On the other hand, it is expected that the aliens will be wary of hitting their own equipment, at least at first. On the other hand, feel free to be as destructive as you want. The only equipment you should avoid damaging is an type a relay computer, as it may help us find out exactly where the energy was being sent to.

Naturally, soldiers are advised to stay as far away from any active lava flow as possible. Your equipment has been fitted with special temperature control units, but they will only protect you from the heat to a certain, degree, and won't do much for you should you actually come in contact with the molten earth.

Operation Spoiled Break will take place on a luxury cruise liner known as the Queen Zenobia on the Mediterranean Sea.

• Tonnage: 148,000 gross tons
• Displacement: 90,000 tons
• Length: 335.8 m
• Beam: 52.3 m
• Height: 93.97 m
• Propulsion: Electric diesel propulsion
• Crew: 1094 officers and crew
• Passengers: 2200

The squad will be dropped off at the bow of the ship. Due to the adverse weather conditions at the site at the moment, the squad should quickly move into the ship. Investigation should proceed through the crew quarters near the front. The ship features a fully decorated guest quarters designed to look like an expansive (and expensive) mansion. It also features a large indoor heated pool, and a fully functional casino, a large Solarium, and a sizable promenade hall. After moving through here, you will need to search through the maintenance area of the ship.

Complete evacuation of the nearly 2000 crew and passengers currently on board would be practically impossible, so the only other option is to search the ship and eliminate all forces. Security footage through out the ship will help you locate the aliens and make sure you know when they are all gone. Be careful, though, as Chryssalid activity has been confirmed on board.

Enemies:
Rising Heat
Two (2) unit containing three (3) Sectoids each (one unit wearing large, awkward thermal suits)
Two (2) units containg three (3) Thin Men each (one unit wearing large, awkward thermal suits)
One (1) unit containing two (2) Floaters and one (1) Drone
One (1) unit containing three (3) Mutons
One (1) unit containing one (1) Cyberdisc and two (2) Drones

Spoiled Break
Two (2) unit containing three (3) Thin Men each
Two (2) unit containing four (4) Chryssalids each (as well as zombies, depending on when and where they are found)
Two (2) units containing two (2) Seekers each
Two (2) unit containing three (3) Mutons each

Conditions for Completing the Mission:

(RH) The destruction of the alien's Thermal Energy Generator camp

(SB) The Elimination of all alien forces on the Ship.

Special Completion note: The aliens in Rising Heat do not have to be all eliminated to complete Rising Heat, as long as the camp is destroyed, but it will make evacuation a lot easier.

Civilians:
Rising Heat has no civilians. Spoiled Break has nearly 2000 civilians, the majority having evacuated to the crew quarters. Please note that any civilian located amongst the aliens has the potential to act as an incubator for the Chryssalids.

 

[Adrammalech]

Emily Fischer
X-COM Headquarters – West Wing
Siberia, Russian Federation
6:44 AM

Emily pressed her face against the glass, looking in as much as she could. She didn’t want to get caught in a generator room again since Atka found her, but she was so curious about these usually empty rooms. The giant glass sphere glowed powerfully in the center room with a warm orange, little blinking lights rotating around it slowly the same way it did the other one.

“Hmm…why is this one orange and not blue?” she asked herself. Her hand roamed onto the doorknob almost lustfully. “Looks bigger and brighter than the other one, too. Maybe I should just go in and…”

“Fischer!” the security guard down the hall shouted.

“Hi!” she gave a startled shout. “I was just…”

“Mission control! Double time!”

“Balls…”

She quickly got to Mission Control, the rest of her squad was there as usual, but Ammelia was missing again. One of the other faces was familiar from Shattered Wings, Janina, and the rest were unknown to her. She thought she might’ve seen one of them in the common area, but certainly didn’t know his name. Central Officer Bradford cleared his throat and pointed to the hologlobe, a large symbol hovering over the Pacific Ocean.

“We’re dropping you into Kīlauea, a shield volcano in Hawaii, USA. The aliens are running some kind of energy operation there, and your job is to do as much damage to their camp as possible. We are hoping to extract a relay computer that holds important information while damaging as many people and resources we can find. The Skyranger has been outfitted with weapons to further this goal, and you will be dropped in as the hostiles recoil from the initial attack.”

“So, we’re going in hot?” Emily smirked.

Dallas nudged her lightly, already getting into the leader mood.

“Your armor has been outfitted with additional regulators that will make you more resistant to the heat around the lava,” Bradford continued, “however, it won’t do much if you come in contact with it. In addition, you will be provided with respirators and full cover helmets to assure you’re safe from the elements. Other than that, your equipment is mostly the same as your last missions. Roll out!”


Emily Fischer
Operation Rising Heat Staging Ground
Kīlauea, Hawaii, USA
7:26 AM

The squad chat idly in the cargo bay, waiting to be dropped. The others coming along were Kris Smith, a heavy gunner; Jonathan Roosevelt, an engineer; and Sylvia Christel, a scout. Sven and Sylvia talked the most, comparing the intricacies of their classes with enthusiasm. Emily thought they were pretty much the same.

Loud bangs and rocking explosions burst out from below. From inside the sturdy cargo bay, it wasn’t unlike being inside with a battle raging just outside the walls. Clangs and sizzles hit the other end of the floor beneath them, rewarding another volley of explosions. The engines began to whir lower, signaling a descent.

“Initial bombardments successful. Beginning to descend towards the LZ.”

“So, we’re in America again,” Nika said as she looked towards Emily. “Got any insider information for us this time?”

“Volcanoes are hot.”

“Excellent.”

The cargo bay swung open, this time lowering more gently attached to a hydraulic pump. Dallas rushed forwards and tied a rappelling rope to a hook on the edge. As the dropship hovered over a large patch of black land, the S.H.I.V.s dropped onto the rock below, and everyone else used the short rope to slide down onto their feet. A couple of sectoids took cover behind two large containers, glowing with an undulating orange liquid inside. Another one slapped them and pointed backwards, the sectoids quickly retreating further across the volcano. The last soldier’s boots hit the ground and they began fanning into a formation, weapons ready.

“What’s this thing?” Smith said, prodding the glowing box experimentally.

“Looks like some kind of energy generator or something,” Emily replied.

“That’s correct, it seems they’re doing some kind of experiment based on energy storage and production across the volcano. These should be treated as unstable elements, and can be used to your advantage,” Central responded.

“Is that license for destruction?” Nika asked. “If only Billy were here now…”

“You’re the queen of destruction now,” Dallas said to her.

“Yeah,” she said, checking her belt full of grenades. “Let’s tear shit up.”

As they got to an opened up area, Nika shot up a couple of the energy storage units, causing them to explode. Thin Men dropped down from nowhere in response to the vandalism, trying to pull off an impromptu ambush. The first dropped down mere feet away from Dallas, who shot his shotgun and instantly fried it. The second, witnessing the first die so quickly, tried to scurry away and hide behind one of the energy boxes. Emily acted quickly and shot the box, blasting the slender little reptile into the lava, his shrieks causing a bit of disgust among the soldiers. The third tried to drop behind them, prompting Nika to fire mercilessly at it, filling its chest with dozens of red hot beams.

“They had to know they had no chance,” Emily said, confused.

“It’s possible they’re trying to slow you down,” Bradford said, “This is a rare opportunity that we get to strike directly at their research capability, they could be trying to preserve equipment or data.”

 

[Adrammalech]

They scanned around the area as they continued. Rivers of lava flowed and twisted in every direction, outlining several strips of sable land. Every time the land expanded to a large enough area, more of the glowing machines were placed near the lava flows. They ascended the massive volcano slope a bit until they saw that there were no more targets on their strip. They needed a way to cross the lava. Emily noted a small plate bridging over the rivers and walked over to it. She stepped experimentally on the plate of rock, the small sinking causing her to jump back.

“Old lava streams on shield volcanoes such as this one sometimes form an outer shell, creating a layer of rock with lava flowing underneath,” Vahlen explained. “It should be safe to cross one at a time.”

“Should?” Emily said nervously.

“Don’t be a baby,” Nika jeered.

“We have the robots, they should go across first.”

Sven dashed across the plate, each footstep causing it to sink a bit into the lava underneath. As soon as he was off, it returned back to its normal state, much to Emily’s relief.

“It’s fine,” he said coolly.

Emily ran across next, jumping her legs up high in a rather comical display, shuddering as she reached safe land. The rest of the squad followed one at a time, Sven and Emily watching the surroundings for any sign of trouble. As they moved forwards, they came upon a larger camp, with several impregnable crates and explosive energy tanks scattered around the ground.

“Deserted,” Kris pointed out, “maybe they are evacuating.”

In a flash, several off target lances of plasma whizzed at them, two floaters rushing in from near the summit and firing randomly. Everyone took cover where they could find it, most people squeezing two to a crate, giving little room to maneuver and staying dangerously close to the power generators. The S.H.I.V.s rushed forwards into strategic positions and armored up, providing more cover elements for the cramped soldiers. The floaters stayed high up in the air, rocketing above the battlefield to get lines of sight on the squad. Sven tracked one of them patiently, watching their erratic movements as they weaved up and down around the fire at them. One of them took aim at a generator near Janina before the other slapped it with the brunt of its gun, keeping it from shooting their equipment.

“Take cover behind the generators,” Sven stated.

“What? That’s suicide,” Emily said.

“It’s suicide not to move.”

One of them flew behind the cover of Janina and Jonathan, throwing a grenade right towards them. They both quickly dashed away and behind the generators, nervous at being close to the exploding boxes. The reckless one pointed towards them again until a laser blasted through his jetpack, several bursts ripping through his body. The other tried to fly near another cover, Emily and the S.H.I.V.s using their suppression to encapsulate it until it ran into the line of fire, blowing it out of the air.

“Definitely reeks of delay tactics,” Dallas pointed out. “That attack was reckless. There might not be anyone left but these scouts when we find the computer.”

“We’re going to have to cross the flow again, there’s some computers on the other side,” Sven said, looking around with his scope.

As they got to another strip of obsidian earth, it was clear that the operation was getting more robust the farther they went. Stacks of equipment and crates laid in large and wide towers, the generators became more frequent, and this particular camp had a couple of standing computer consoles linking between them.

The squad quickly got into cover as they approached the camp, a group of three Mutons banging their chests with their large rifles and roaring loudly. The increased amount of equipment meant more cover, but the Mutons quickly shot two generators, causing loud and disorientating explosions around the camp.

“Guess they’re not shy about their equipment anymore,” Emily grumbled.

Nika pulled the rocket launcher off her back, clicking her fingers onto the buttons that were required. She whipped out of cover and aimed it at a small cluster of tanks behind the Mutons, a scowl running across her face.

“This is for you, Will,” she whispered to herself.

The shredder rocket buzzed by one of the Mutons, blasting the generators apart. Shrapnel and shockwaves flew in every direction, rupturing more tanks and causing a chain reaction. One of the roaring Mutons instantly got ripped apart, another one being flung into the lava and screaming as it melted. The other stumbled onto its hands and knees, a large piece of the aliens’ metal stuck in its back. Some of the soldiers cheered at the spectacular rocket blast, and Jonathan rushed forwards with a silver pistol in hand, pressing its large barrel into the surviving alien and sending several blue shocks throughout its body. The Muton slumped onto the ground, grumbling angrily as it tried to move its unresponsive limbs.

 

[Adrammalech]

A group of sectoids rushed over, attracted by the noise and firing randomly much like the floaters did. Kris walked forwards with his Gatling Laser, a massive two handed gun bigger than a battering ram that fired an impossibly quick volley of beams towards them. The S.H.I.V.s joined in on the bullet storm, destroying every generator out of range of the squad. The carnage reminded Emily of Sunny back at the base, wondering what she looked like as she destroyed all of the aliens’ toys. Kris mowed down one sectoid and continued to fire, tearing apart a crate that the second was hiding behind. Nika pulled out one of the grenades on her waist and threw it behind the box, causing the sectoid to run into Kris’ line of fire and get blasted away by the Gatling’s power. The third hid behind the table, his head barely visible behind the thin computer console, cowardly poking his arm out and firing randomly at the group.

“Are these the computers we’re looking for?” Sven asked.

“Negative, these are expendable,” Bradford replied.

“Perfect.”

Sven fired a laser straight through the monitor, the sectoid’s body falling down lifeless on the other side.

“Nice shot, Sven,” Nika said happily.

“Just doing my job,” he replied modestly.

As they crossed the last river of lava, they reached a large circular platform surrounded by vents of hot gas and deep lava flows. At the far side of the platform, a huge blue computer was hooked up to several tall tanks at the end, sectoids and thin men in large white thermal suits tending to all of the equipment. One of the sectoids looked at them and gave a muted squeak through the glass of their suit helmet, the sectoid’s already disproportionate head looking even more comical with the massive protective headwear.

“That just looks ridiculous,” Nika smirked.

“Can we keep him?” Emily cheerfully added.

The squad opened fire as they rushed into cover, shooting the equipment as the aliens scurried to cover in kind. Explosions from laser shots and S.H.I.V. bullets whipped limp thin men corpses around, and the firepower of the XCOM squad far outweighed that of the alien survivors for once. Emily picked off one sectoid as it rushed towards the computer, trying to destroy or upload the data from the central computer.

“Not much of a challenge,” Emily remarked.

“This is the computer we’re looking for, it holds valuable data on what the aliens were doing here,” Bradford replied. “It’s possible that these suited aliens were a civilian wing, focused on research and not defense.”

“How anti-climactic,” she sighed.

“Can we get the Skyranger to pick us up, Central,” Dallas said.

“Big Sky is currently salvaging materials and the stunned Muton. Hold your position for extraction.”

“Roger.”

Emily looked intently at one of the generators, the only one left that wasn’t shot in the middle of the last gunfight. She watched little orange nodes circle around a tank of some oddly glowing lava, curious as to what it was. She remembered the generator in the base, and wondered if XCOM was actually close to surpassing the aliens’ knowledge. She smiled to herself at the thought.

“Crazy to think about volcanoes as a power source, you know?” Nika said. “We tamed this giant destructive force that could melt us to nothing in a flash. If we can tame that, maybe we could tame these aliens too.”

“Sounds impossible,” Dallas said.

“I bet they said that about volcanoes back in the day too,” Emily said wryly, looking up at the caldera, a couple flecks of burning hot ash sticking harmlessly to her visor.

Her eyes focused on something else, a faint yellow light blinking in the distance through the dark, soot-stained air.

“Hm...what’s that?”

 

[Adrammalech]

A flashing green light suddenly shot out from the yellow one, curling up into an arc and rapidly descending towards them. As it came closer to the platform, she realized what it was. Emily dashed towards Dallas and tackled him backwards as the alien grenade clattered across the platform, exploding almost instantly, taking away the last generator with it. Dallas and Emily both got up and rushed backwards, hearing the squad shout to them from behind two tall stacks of alien goods.

“Fall back!”

“Get back into cover!”

The squad quickly retreated into their positions, the only one being left near the cyberdisc being Nika, hiding low behind a waist-high alien device. A gigantic metal disc descended slowly from on high between the squad and the computer, a warm yellow light scanning across a ring in the center of it and two repair drones orbiting around it. It let out a low, warbling thrum, like something out of a 70s science fiction movie. Nika moved forwards and shot at it experimentally, causing the drones to fire blue beams at the disc to repair the damage. Afterwards, they shot towards her with short and sporadic single shots, including the disc with a small yellow laser.

“It seems this disc operates in a pattern similar to the drones,” Vahlen remarked. “They have powerful weapons but a very low rate of fire.”

Nika dashed across the ground, the disc suddenly cocking onto its side and rotating. Nika fired randomly at it as she ran to no effect. The disc suddenly cracked open, shining black circuitry hidden inside now visible. A glowing tail whipped out from the ring, firing some kind of explosive out as its mechanical legs and fringe burst out from every opening.

The impromptu grenade slammed hard into one of the energy tanks, instantly exploding both and blasting Nika far across the platform. Nika silently tumbled across the ground far away from cover, her limp body stopping close to one of the lava flows.

“Nika!” Emily yelled, turning out and firing a barrage from her carbine at the cyberdisc. The beams bounced off its body and into the obsidian.

“She’s unconscious, we have to get to her,” Dallas said.

Janina, Kris, and Jonathan all fired at the cyberdisc, several shots flying wide and between the odd legs of the automaton. One shot clipped one of the drones, causing it to explode and several bits of shrapnel to plink against its sides. The other drone quickly repaired some of the damage from the lasers, buzzing annoyingly around it. The disc’s cannon charged up again, firing three beams towards them. An explosion in front of them disorientated Dallas and Emily up close, and two beams hit into Janina’s leg and Kris’ chest. Janina quickly scrambled back into cover but Kris stayed on the ground, a splatter of blood around him.

Sven and Sylvia fired from the backfield, perfectly aimed shots searing right through the gangly metal part holding up one of its legs and its main cannon. The integrated gun clattered against the ground and burst into pieces, but more of the eerie looking fringe came out from the inside to replace its damaged leg. Emily rushed backwards and pulled Kris into cover, spraying her medkit over the deep wound across her shoulder, bringing her back to consciousness but no longer in condition to fight.

“That’s it, I’m switching to the big booms,” Janina said, pulling out a grenade.

He popped out of cover and threw the grenade underneath the disc’s “legs,” the explosion blasting out the last of its metallic legs and causing it to dip down in an almost sad display. Dallas dashed forwards like a race car, laser shotgun in hand, putting the barrel in point blank range. A blast into its center caused it to wail a loud and high-pitched mechanical tone, more pieces tearing off and spraying sparks beside it. It retreated its ebony limbs back into the disc form that it originally came in, several pieces missing from the normal silver sheen. He aimed a bit higher and fired again, the crumpled mass of it flying backwards and slamming into the ground, sparks and fire bursting from anything still open in its shape as the little yellow lights went completely dark.

The last remaining drone, still hovering and with nothing left to heal, aimed towards Dallas and fired a nail-like bolt into his shoulder. Sven fired another shot from afar, pushing it away and blasting it to pieces. Dallas pulled the bolt out of his armor, the shot completely absorbed by his alloy plating, but still leaving an irritating dent. Dallas and Emily rushed over to Nika, jarring her helmet to try to get her to respond. Dallas pulled off the plating around her wrist to try to get a pulse.

“She’s alive,” Dallas said, “we need to get her back to base. She needs proper medical attention.”

After a couple minutes, the Skyranger flew in from where they came, hovering over the large research station. The squad shot a few of the generators to clear the area, being careful to stay away from the explosions. The Skyranger touched down and the bay doors swung open, Janina and Jonathan carrying the valuable computer into the bay, and Dallas and Emily carrying Nika and Kris to safety. After everyone was loaded in, the doors closed and the Skyranger began to lift off.

“Operational objectives completed,” Bradford stated. “Excellent work, Strike One.”

“Thank you for capturing a live specimen as well, I look forward to the testing opportunities,” Vahlen excitedly added.

 

[MarineAvenger]

XCOM Base, Siberia (MarineAvenger and Frostlich1228)
June 4th, 2018

Desmond was in the Mess Hall, trying to consume what the chefs had devised for the troops and tried his best to convince himself it was food. He put his spoon down and noticed that Ammelia was walking around. “Hey Ammy, why don’t you come join me?”

Ammelia turned towards him, giving him a bright smile, “Sure, I’d be happy to.” She quickly made her way over to Desmond’s table, setting her tray down next to him and sitting down.

“So how you been holding up, I haven’t seen you in a while.” He pushed his tray away and turned to his friend.

“I’ve been fine, my Aunt recently passed away though...” She answered, “How’s your new arm working out for you?”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “I am not gonna smother you with fake sorrow but I am glad you are doing well. As for my arm, it has been doing better since I first got it.”

“Did you ever get that Chainsaw installed?” She said, jokingly.

He held up his hand and stated. “I am still trying to figure out how to attach it but let’s just say duct tape will be handy…”

“That’s the first rule of inventing, always use Duct Tape.” She giggled.

He smiled along with her but looked up as an alarm sounded over the speakers. Bradford went over the list of names to report to the armory and he heard his and Ammelia’s among them. “Looks like me and you are going out together.”

Ammelia quickly got up from her chair, “Looks like it.”

The two ran from the cafeteria and headed to the armory to grab gear. When the pair arrived, they appeared to be the last ones and looked over the equipment on the walls and tables. “Let’s go wild.”

Ammelia jogged over to the nearest table grabbing her Laser Sniper Rifle and Laser Pistol. Then, she took a few steps over to the equipment and picked up a Smoke Grenade and a Targeting Module. Finally, She picked up a suit of Carapace Armor and quickly flung it on.

Desmond looked over the weapons and grabbed a Heavy Laser Rifle off the wall and a suit of Carapace Armor. He slipped into the armor and slung the rifle on his back and grabbed a HE and AP grenade off of the tables. The pair ran over to the hanger and ran into the Skyranger.

As the Skyranger began to take off, Bradford’s voice came in over the channel. “You guys are going to a cruise ship off in the Mediterranean Sea called the Queen Zenobia. Reports say that the civilians are being attacked by hostile forces and are holed up in the crew quarters near the front of the ship. Chryssalids have been reported on scene and extreme caution is advised. Since evac is almost impossible for such a large number of civilians, your mission is to eliminate all hostile forces and secure the ship. Central out.”

Ammelia nodded, but was still partially distracted by the hulking MEC sharing the skyranger with them, especially considering that she remembered what he looked like before his operation.

Desmond sat down and looked up at Grant. “How does it feel, you gonna be alright in that thing?”

“I’ll be fine,” he replied in a voice that didn’t seem to match his new body.

He looked over the troops and told them to be at ease, as even though they weren’t far from the site, it would still be a while until they arrived.

Operation Spoiled Break
Queen Zenobia, Mediterranean Sea
1930 Hours, Local Time

After the hour flight on the Skyranger, the pilot called that they were approaching the ship. The rain against the sides of the plane were amplified on the inside and it indicated a heavy rain storm was going on outside. Desmond turned to the squad and informed them of the plan. “We are going to be landing at the bow of the ship. Since there is a mass of civilians near the front and our mission is to eliminate the aliens, we will make contact with the civilians, move slowly through and eliminate the hostiles till they are all gone. As stated, there are Chryssalids on board. Take your time aiming and make your shots count, they don’t leave room for a second chance. Any questions before we drop off?”

“If there are Chryssalids on board I guess we can expect a shit-ton of zombies,” Grant said, looking over the rest of his squadmates.

“Yes, depending on how many civies got caught, we can expect zombies as well, if you are engaged by one, they are slow and clumsy, use it to your advantage.” He responded to the hulking man.

“What are our orders for the civilians not zombified or with the rest?” Nash chimed in.

Desmond looked down. “Mission parameters just state that we are to make our way to the large group of them, I can only assume that if we find some on the way we either take them or have them stay behind and hide as the situation changes. That is the best answer I can give at the moment.” He looked around and asked. “Any others?”

Ammelia raised a hand, “What do we do if we come across any injured civilians? Do we stop and treat their wounds?”

Desmond looked at Ammelia. “If their wounds are too grave to treat… then we leave them. Anyone else we take with us. Ultimately, I don’t want the rest of the ship or our troops in danger for a lost cause. It may sound cold but that is the reality of the situation.”

Ammelia lowered her head, “Alright…”

He looked around and seeing no others, he gave the orders to touch down.

The Skyranger slowly descended to the ship, taking care with the weather conditions and landed on the bow of the ship. Slowly, the squad moved out of the Skyranger and into the ripping wind and downpour that was coming down. The clouds were black and it made it hard to see except for the multiple light scattered around.

Grant charged out of the skyranger and scanned the area for targets, finding none, he gave the signal to the rest of the squad that the area was clear.

Desmond was out of the Skyranger last and had to yell over the sound of the winds and waves. “Get inside!”

Ammelia quickly pushed the door open and rushed inside, making sure to hold the door open for the rest of the team.

The rest pushed in and the door was shut. “Alright so what is next?” Damian blurted out.

“We move down and find the civilians in the crew quarters and make sure they are safe.” Desmond answered. “Then we kill anything that is not human…”

“Mmhm”, Ammelia nodded, letting the two SHIVs take the lead with Grant following closely behind them.

They moved down the ship and found a flight of stairs to move down. “I guess we split up. Grant, you and the SHIVs find an elevator and meet us a few flights down. I don’t think you will be able to move down these stairs easily.” Desmond ordered.

“Alright,” He said, searching the floor for a elevator.

The moved down single file and after about five flights of stairs they saw a sign that indicated that the crew quarters were close by. They waited up for the mech and SHIVs to arrive and proceeded on. They spotted a man up ahead and ran up to him. He turned around and held up a pistol to them, his attire showing him to be a crew member. He spoke in a fast paced Greek dialect. “Anyone know what he is saying?” Kevin asked.

Harvey nodded his head and walked up to the man, responding to him in Greek. After a minute of going back and forth he looked back at the squad. “Says that most of the crew and passengers are located throughout this portion of the ship. The don’t know how many exactly but a rough estimate put it around most of the people on board.”

“So that means the Cryssalid haven’t got to them yet? That’s a relief.” Ammelia said, checking around the corners for aliens.

Desmond smiled and looked at her. “Then let’s make sure they don’t make any progress.”

Loud noises came from down the hallways and the squad turned to see three massive aliens charging down the hallways. Kevin started to panic and jumped into one of the hallways.