RP X-Com Role-Play Missions

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Alien Abduction Mission

Operation: Valkyrie's Charge, March 13th, 2018

Location: 881 Seventh Avenue, New York City, New York, USA
Time: 2200 Hours, Local Time

Mission Details: At 2000 hours in New York City, an alien craft attempted the mass abduction of the attenders of a play at Carnegie Hall. X-COM Interceptors were able to shot the alien craft down, stranding it's invasion party within the building. A mass of NYPD officers and local army officers have surrounded the building, cutting off their escape.

With the alien ship hovering over the music hall, it is evident that the aliens did not send a large number of attackers to obtain their defenseless human prey. We can use this to our advantage. On the other hand, the building has plenty of places for the aliens to hide, so exercise extreme caution. We learned the hard way last time how tricky this enemy can be.

Number of soldiers for this mission: Twelve (12), divided into three groups of four.

Soldier's names:
Pvt. Townsend, Devin
Pvt. Brankino, Pastel
Pvt. Jacobs, Scarlet
Pvt. Harnet, John
Pvt. Summers, Holly
Pvt. Shake, Letz
Pvt. Volodarskii, Harvey
Pvt. Palmer, Ermen
Pvt. Christel, Sylvia
Pvt. Wheeler, Madison
Pvt. Yamazaki, Ryan*
Pvt. Lovikov, Randall

*Squad Leader

Gear: Player's character will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either an Assault Rifle, Assault Carbine, SMG, or Battle Rifle

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Pistol or a Machine Pistol

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, ceramic plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, a HE grenade, a flash-bang grenade, a smoke grenade, or a High-capacity magazine.

Terrain: All entrances and exits to the building have been secured by local police and soldiers, save for one. After making contact with the civilians outside, your team with enter the building's rear through a sewer entrance.

Setting a charge at the designated point in the sewers, you will find yourself in the piano room at the north end of the buildings basement. Upon exiting, you will find a long hallway before you. On the west side of the room you will find three doors leading to medium sized dressing rooms, as well a fourth door farther down leading to the janitors office/supply room. On the east wall are two more doors leading to dressing rooms, as well as two sets of double doors leading to the north and south side of a rather large room meant for holding theater supplies.

The hallway leads to a turn heading west. This leads to a set of stairs and a small supply elevator leading to the rear of the main stage. The rather spacious stage is blocked from the rear by a large red curtain. The stage has several large, wooden props that can act as hiding spots, but would make for lousy cover as they would likely be destroyed by on or two shots by the aliens weapons.

The chairs throughout the main hall at the base of the stage offer no shortage of low cover, but the only sources of high cover are the support beams along the sides of the room and the two abduction pods that were launched through the ceiling and crashed amongst the seats. There are well over a dozen bodies covered in the green substance, as well as nearly a dozen more corpses covered in plasma burns.

You'll have to use your advantage of surprise to counter the alien's main advantage; the balcony. If need be, engage any aliens up there from below, but considering their height advantage, it would be within your best interest to make it to the entrance hall opposite the stage so you can access the stairs leading to the balcony.

Enemies:
Two units containing three (3) sectiods each
One unit containing three (3) drones
One unit containing a sectoid and two drones
A single sectiod acting a Squad leader. Slightly stronger then the rest, but still a regualar sectoid

Conditions to complete mission:
(1) Eliminating all of the enemies

or

(2) Retreating from the mission site by returning to the dropship.

Civilians: U.S. Army soldiers and NYPD officers can be found on the outside of the building. In addition, there is a single civilian, an actor dresses as a clown, within one of the dressing rooms.

Notes from the Commander:

"We got them right where we want them this time," Bradford says, cautiously optimistic. "And hopefully the element of surprise will be on our side."

"Aye, but we must still be cautious." The Commander stares intently at the hologlobe as it tracks the dropship. Hitting the Comm for the dropship, she says, "Alright, lads and lasses. We have 'em trapped, but a cornered fox can be more more dangerous then a free one. We'll be supporting you from here, sending you floor plans and letting you know what we see on the security cameras that still work. Most of the aliens are clustered in the main hall, so we need to attack from the rear. We'll be using the sewers. Be careful, we don't cameras down there. We know what we're facing now, so I'm looking for zero casualties this time. Make me proud." She exchanges a hopeful look with Bradford, and the pair stand in silence as the ship approaches America's eastern seaboard.

 

[Zain Shah]

Operation Valkyrie's Charge

The team of 12 were dropped off 2200 hours local time at New York City where an alien abductor ship had been shot down. Madison Wheeler was amongst the 12 soldiers at the ship wreck. The team had been assigned three separate groups: Group Alpha, Beta and Gamma; the squad leader, Ryan Yamazaki, would command Alpha whereas Madison and Randall Lovikov would lead Beta and Gamma respectively. Firstly, the full squad of 12 were sent to the rear sewer entrance to the building to try to catch the aliens by surprise however, once the squad had entered the sewers they were immediately engaged in a firefight with 3 sectoids. One of the less experienced privates, Holly Summers, immediately threw a High Explosive Grenade which, unfortunately only managed to hit 2 of the sectoids however Ryan Yamazaki quickly killed the last one with some Assault Carbine shots to the sectoid's big, bulbous head.

The team quickly made it up to the building and started to hear the faint cries of a civilian within the building. Ryan ordered them to split up into the groups and search the area. Alpha checked the three rooms on the left side of the hallway whilst Gamma searched the rooms on the east side and Beta team would go further down the hallway for some reconnaissance. Alpha quickly found the source of the crying in one of the dressing rooms, a clown with his make-up washed from all his tears; Alpha leaded him to sewer entrance where he exited the building and was handed to the US army soldiers. Gamma team found a group of mechanical drones in one of the dressing rooms but the close range allowed two SMG wielding soldiers, Scarlet Jacobs and Ermen Palmer to make quick work of them.

The teams regrouped and headed out to the main stage where they found 5 sectoids and 2 drones. One of the sectoids was unusually larger than the rest and was the first one to spot the soldiers. Ryan took cover behind one of the props onstage whilst most of the team took cover near the chairs in front of the stage. The aliens immediately focus-fired on Ryan, destroying his cover and giving him a good shot of plasma to the shoulder. Madison and Randall popped out of cover and began shooting, both there Assault Rifles quickly killing a sectoid each. The drones started to advance and managed to flank Holly Summers, who immediately got up ran however this proved to be a worthy distraction as she managed to draw most of the fire from the aliens which allowed Sylvia Christel to fatally wound the sectoid. The last normal sectoid decided to play it safe and started firing from his cover but luckily the shot missed all of the squad, the squad then returned fire, unfortunately, none of them hit. This firefight went on for some minutes before John Harnet just managed to clip the sectoid's head, killing him.

The only sectoid left was the big one and he bolted for the exit but fortuntely, one of the more "aggressive" privates, Ermen, ran straight up to the sectoid and emptied his entire SMG clip into his body, certainly killing him. Ryan still lay on the main stage with a plasma burn on his shoulder but luckily, Sylvia was carrying a Medikit and managed to ease the pain. The drones were hovering around at this point, unsure of what to do, allowing all the soldiers to pump them with bullets to the point where no one knew who actually killed them.

The group was informed that X-COM does not detect any more hostile life signs in the area and were picked up by the skyranger.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Non-Player Missions
Alien Abduction Missions

Operation High Voltage
Operation Hell's Highway
Operation Dirty Deeds

Date: March 18th, 2018

Locations:
Warsaw, Poland
Venice, Italy
La Serena, Chile

Mission Details:
Maybe they were trying to catch us off guard after the previous mission. Maybe they wanted to overwhelm us. Maybe they were testing us. Whatever the reason, the aliens launched three abduction attacks at the same time. Not one to back down to a challenge this early in the game, X-COM sent a team to each site, each containing nine soldiers accompanied by one of our new S.H.I.V.s.

Each team encountered numerous units containing sectoids and drones. Despite being spread thin and being forced to fight on the alien's terms, all the missions were successful. In total, soldiers took out 20 sectoids and six drones.

We did not win without a price, however. Four soldiers were injured, one seriously, though all are expected to recover. One of the S.H.I.V.s was destroyed after a malfunction caused it to be stranded out of cover. Our S.H.I.V. techs have assured us that this was a one time mistake that will be rectified before their next use, and its destruction distracted the aliens long enough for our soldiers to flank the enemy, so all in all, we feel it did it's job. Aside from that, we had a single casualty. Pvt. Vickers, Brad, panicked during a shootout, and attempted to flee recklessly, opening him up to a shot to the back. His loss will be mourned, but hopefully we can learn from him. Remember that Central can monitor the mission site better because of a live feed from all soldiers' mission cams, and if a retreat is necessary, you will be guided to safety.

While not as plentiful as we'd like due to the use of explosives, our four successful missions have left our labs with plenty to do. They are currently hard at work studying the alien alloys and weapon fragments in the hopes of using them to improve our own weapons and armor, as well as studying the recovered alien bodies in an attempt to see what makes them tick.

Finally, rumors have been floating around the base of an unusual orange substance found in a container at one of the mission sites. We can confirm this is true, but we have not fully analyzed it yet. In light of the other three projects, this one has been put on the back burner, but it is being looked into. For now, it is unknown what this substance is exactly, whether it is some sort of poison, a food source for the aliens, or has a purpose all together different. Staff will be updated on a need-to-know basis.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Counsel Bomb Disposal Mission

Operation: Averted Devastation, March 24th, 2018

Location: Hankyu Railway Station, Kyoto, Japan
Time: 0100 Hours, Local time

Mission Details: Like Berlin, Kyoto was the sight of one of the first alien attacks. Also like Berlin, a team was sent in to investigate the site, but this team returned safely with no reported sightings. Despite this, the site of the attack has remained evacuated for the sake of civilian safety.

However, reports have come in from civilian looters operating in the area that individuals resembling tall, lanky humans in suits have been operating in the area, and less then an hour ago, we received several strange power readings. Investigation into the actions of the recon team suggest that they may have, in their haste to search the area and evacuate citizens at the same time, missed a major subway terminal during they're investigation, so it is highly likely the aliens could still be operating in that area.

Furthermore, Dr. Shen's analysis of the energy readings has led him to believe they might belong to a devastatingly strong explosive. The fact that one of the signatures is significantly stronger then all the others leads him to believe we are dealing with a single explosive surrounded by nine power sources, power sources that are providing the bomb with enough energy to destroy the subway system, along with half of Kyoto.

Our Japanese members of the Council of Nations have threatened departure from the X-COM Project should we fail to protect such an important Japanese transport system. Needless to say, we can not let that happen. Investigate the site and, if Dr. Shen's findings are confirmed, disable any explosives you find.

Number of Soldiers for this mission: Fifteen (15), split into three units of five, each accompanied by one (1) S.H.I.V.

Soldiers Names:
SPC. (Sniper) Clark, Issac (1)(2)
SPC. (Support) Townsend, Devin (2)
PFC. Imahara, Grant
PFC. Stewart, Jack (2)
PFC. Campbell, William
PFC. Orlov, Nika
PFC. Fischer, Amelia
PFC. Cross, Ammelia
PFC. Wayne, Damian
PFC. Trapp, David
PFC. Lopez, Steve
PFC. Andrews, John
PFC. Driver, Karen
PFC. Griffith, Nicolas
PFC. Reston, Jay
S.H.I.V. Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
S.H.I.V. Unit 2: "Jubjub"
S.H.I.V. Unit 3: "Bandersnatch"

(1) Squad Leader
(2) Unit Leader

Gear: Player's character will be equipped with the following supplies:

- Primary weapon: Either an Assault Rifle, Assault Carbine, SMG, or Battle Rifle

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Pistol, a Machine Pistol, or a sawed-off shotgun.

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, ceramic plating, a battle scanner, an AP grenade, a HE grenade, a flash-bang grenade, a smoke grenade, or a high-capacity magazine.

Terrain: Because of how expansive the subway lines are, and because of how spread out the signals are, the only way we can ensure that we'll be able to stop the bomb in time is to divide the area into three sections and send one unit into each. As such, expect the soldiers in the other units to be too busy to provide much back-up if you get into trouble.

The terminal you'll operate in will have three platforms, one on the east and west sides and one in the center, with four sets of tracks between each platform for a total of eight. The terminal you'll be investigating extends from the north to the south for approximately 400 meters. There are three Hankyu 9300 series trains on the south part of the west platform, the north part of the east platform, and the center of the terminal by the center platform (on it's west side).

The trains are comprised of eight cars, each car being 18.9 meters in length, 2.8 meters wide, and 4.1 meters tall. They are all in relatively intact, though the one in the center of the room has seen better days, with most of it's windows destroyed and bullet and scorch marks covering it.

Cover shouldn't be too much of a problem, as there are a number of benches a plants to act as low cover, and a number of support beams, alien pods, and tall advertisement and directional boards make for great cover.

The issue is, you can't afford to stay in cover for long. According to our estimates, you'll only have approximately twenty-five minutes to find the bomb. Stopping at the power nodes and deactivating them will give you more time, but the main explosive device must be deactivated.

Special Terrain Note: Your team will come across three power nodes. Whether the bomb is deactivated by your team or another team is your choice.

Enemies:
- Two units containing three (3) sectiods each
- One unit containing three (3) drones
- One unit containing two (2) sectoids and one (1) drone
- A Thin Man working on one of the power nodes, and one near each of the other two
- Three (3) Thin Men that appear when the bomb is deactivated (regardless of which team deactivates it)
Total: 18

Special Alien Note: Thin Men will be have the appearance of Japanese men, and be dressed as vagrants, making it possible to mistaken them as homeless civilians. They can speak Japanese and English.

Conditions to complete mission:
(1) Deactivating the bomb and eliminating all threats

(2) Deactivating the bomb and returning to the dropship

or, should you fail to deactivate the bomb

(3) Retreating from the mission site by returning to the dropship within five minutes of the bombs activation.

Civilians: None. The area is completely evacuated.

 

[Adrammalech]

This is a collaboration between Adrammalech, Frostlich1228, and ZombieSplitter53.
Emily Fischer / Ammelia Cross
Operation Averted Devastation Staging Ground
Kyoto, Japan
1:12 AM JST

The Skyranger’s speakers crackled to life.

“Touchdown in 90 seconds. Alpha squad, prepare for deployment.”

A few soldiers jolted to life. They got to their feet, checked their sights, and slapped each other’s pads. They were led by the unit leader, Specialist Clark. He looked like a tough guy, but neither Emily nor Ammelia even knew of him. The Skyranger rumbled and thumped against the ground, the door whipping open like a metal beam falling from the sky. With a thunderous slam, the soldiers ran out the door, running into the first cover they could find outside the train station.

“Touchdown in 60 seconds. Bravo squad, prepare for deployment.”

The process repeated for the second group, the Skyranger doing an extended bunny hop from one entry point to the next. The soldiers looked over their equipment, given to them in nondescript duffels right before they boarded. Some soldiers seemed surprised that the gear wasn't generic, but rather picked for them individually. The second squad was led by a Corporal named Townsend, who signaled them all out of the ship as it clunked against the ground. Nika watched him with an almost creepy fascination as he ran out of the metal ramp.

“Supports, they get all the fun toys,” she mused.

“What do you mean?”

“Every soldier gets a specialist training once they’ve got some kills. Supports get the best gear. Grenades, shock guns, modded rounds, you name it.”

“Why would anyone want to be anything else, then?”

“Rocket launchers. Billy already has one, he’s destined for heavy, no matter what happens today.”

The door whipped back closed as the Skyranger touched off again. The clunk of the metal and the whir of the engines flooded through the bay. The speaker clicked to life again with the voice of their nameless pilot.

“Touchdown in 120 seconds. Delta squad, prepare for deployment.”

Billy pulled out the massive metal tube strapped to his back, examining it over as if he was seeing it for the first time. His fingers ran over various dangerous looking buttons and safety warnings.

“Dern sure,” Billy laughed, “Don’t get me wrong, missies, you’re beautiful, but this machine…hoo-wee.

Emily looked over her equipment. It was fairly generic, a mix of power and utility, but it was certainly tailored to her in a small way. She was told this “AP Grenade” was one of the most tactically significant, and that her carbine would allow her to aim better even on the run. Even with her contentment, it was clear X-COM tailored to everyone. She had less firepower than Billy, less precision than Dallas, and less utility than Nika. Her equipment wasn’t unlike Ammelia’s loadout, but she had an even smaller gun.

Emily thought Ammelia in particular was looking a little ghastly, but it could’ve been her imagination. She knew she was being doting on her roommate, but hoped that she could handle the pressure of her first mission. She nudged her playfully as the engines whirred down around them.

“Feeling alright?” Emily asked.

Ammelia let out a heavy breath, “Yeah... Just nervous…” She gently rubs the side of her Sub-Machine gun, examining it from top to bottom.

“Just stick with us, stay calm, remember your training,” Emily replied.

Ammelia looks up at her and smiles slightly, “Alright, I will…”

The Skyranger rumbled as it pushed against the ground. The door slammed against the floor with a plume of dust. Dallas jumped out of his seat and shook his arms. “Everyone ready? Let's go kill some ETs,” he said.

Everyone ran out of the Skyranger, the pads and equipment clinking together as they stacked on the entry point. A boxy robot rolled through the entrance, the wheels buzzing cutely as it passed the team.

“The S.H.I.V. will do scouting for us for these open areas,” Dallas explained. “Once we get a good idea it's safe, everyone fan out into the sturdiest cover you can find.”

Inside, there were several posts with electronic signs showing static or warning messages, waist-high metal benches and trash cans, and most importantly, a train laying quietly on its tracks.

As she examined the landing zone, Ammelia immediately noticed a lot of highly energized particles floating around in her vision. They seemed to be leading somewhere, but she couldn’t tell exactly where. “Hey guys...” She says over the intercom, “I'm noticing a lot of energy just floating around out here. I think it might lead somewhere…”

Suddenly, one of the other units came onto the radio. “This is Alpha Squad, we've just found a strange machine. Private Wayne is attempting to defuse it.”

“This is Central, our scientists say that these are power nodes that feed into the bomb. Disabling these won't defuse the bomb, but it should buy you about 5 more minutes. All squads keep a look out for these.”

“Alpha Squad, aliens just ambushed us at the node, seems like they patrol the node points. Private Wayne is injured, but we're working on it.”

Dallas slapped Ammelia on her shoulderpads with a smile. “Good looking out, soldier.”

Ammelia smiles, “Thanks!” She pointed ahead. “I think there's another one in the train.” She griped her gun and took cover behind one of the metal benches, being careful not to leave any part of her body vulnerable.

The group fanned out near the train, a few yards around it. Dallas pulled out a plastic and metal box covered in dim colored lights. “I'll scan the area. Everyone, hold position.”

He threw the little box overhead, the plastic shell clacking across the ground on the other side of the train. He looked pensively as he received the data. “There's three greys on the far side of the train. Any approach would risk us being seen out of position, but we could try to stay low and flank them.”

“Wait, is there one of those flashing signpost things on the other side?” Emily asked.

“Yeah, a couple. One's far on the other side, the other one is right behind where they're standing. We'd never get to them without getting detected.”

“Stay here and watch my back,” Emily said.

She quietly ran from cover to cover near the wall, until she reached a pillar that was parallel to the train. She pulled out the grenade she was given and pulled the pin, throwing it hard to the post behind the aliens. The post suddenly burst, the delicate screens exploding into a shower of shards and sparks. The aliens scurried through the train, taking cover as they prepared for an entry from the wrong side.

“Howdy, ya'll!” Billy yelled as the barrels of his, Dallas', Nika's, Ammelia's, and the robot's guns all train on them.

The sectoids panicked and scampered in different directions as they turned to see the soldiers. A hail of bullets fired down the platform, splatters of yellow-green blood spraying against the ground and train car. The odd alien squeaks from around and inside the train stopped all at once.

“Heh, I think I got one,” Billy said, tipping his hat.

“We're going to have to go to the tape for that, cowboy,” Dallas scoffed.

Emily jogged back to the group.

“Good thinking, Emily. Now, we have a node somewhere in this train to secure. Ammelia, you have the affinity for these, so you take the lead.”

Ammelia nodded in Dallas' direction, heading towards the train and taking cover outside of one of the windows. She readied her gun and scanned the train for targets.

She saw a large box in the middle of the train that seemed to be acting as a antenna for the particles, absorbing them and sending them off into distance somewhere beyond the SAaIDA's sight range.

Ammelia spoke over the comms, “Yeah, I think I see one of those nodes in the train here!”

“Alright, good work!” Dallas replied, “We'll send the S.H.I.V. in first, just hold position.”

Ammelia began to duck back behind cover when she saw a tall, humanoid figure appear from the gap between the train cars.

“Guys, I think I found a civilian, he came out from the space between the cars…” The figure seemed to hear her, and readied his weapon, pointing it straight at Ammelia.

 

[Adrammalech]

The S.H.I.V. suddenly surged forwards, raising itself as high as the little platform could as it rushed in front of Ammelia, absorbing the blast as it lanced out of the man's gun. The fake human tried to slip back away, but Emily shoved her gun into his hiding place and shot the thing until it stopped moving. She looked perplexed as a green gas spilled out of the wounds, instantly filling the air with a horrible smell. Emily coughed defensively and pulled away quickly.

“Everyone back away,” she shouted.

The squad fell back to cover, regrouping behind the end of the train. Emily peeked out to see the robot sitting in the cloud. The gas had stop spreading, hovering in a neat cloud between the cars.

“What the hell was that?” Nika asked.

“It was some kind of alien,” Emily said, “Sunny mentioned something about tall aliens that looked like normal people when I talked to her.”

The earpieces buzzed to life. “Delta Squad, we have this species designated as a 'Thin Man.' From the S.H.I.V. data, we can see the gas is poisonous, but can only spread to a certain radius and subsides after a short time. We'll know more later. For now, proceed with caution. All units, be aware of human-looking hostiles.”

“Damn, it'd be good to know about this stuff beforehand...” Dallas hummed.

The S.H.I.V. buzzed around the corner, rejoining the rest. Emily tapped the camera on its 'head', whispering “good work” to it.

“How should we continue?” Emily asked.

“Maybe we could skip this one?” Ammelia says, considering the situation carefully, “I’m detecting quite a few more up ahead, we’ll just have to hurry.”

“Alright everyone, let’s move,” Dallas said.

The group ran to the right side of the train, keeping low beneath its windows, and looping wide around the resident poison cloud. Various beeping and booping arose from the center, accompanied by beams of light pointing through the windows of the train.

“Looks like some kind of drone, not ours,” Dallas quietly pointed out. The flashlight beams spread out around the train. “There’s three of ‘em.”

“The S.H.I.V. would be best to take these down,” Nika replied. “Its mechanical targeting would be superior against an enemy like this. We should plan around that.”

“We’re short on time and any shots on these would be tough,” Dallas explained, “Let’s keep moving forward and take shots on them to keep them at bay while the S.H.I.V. moves in.”

Everyone checked their guns as they got ready to fire. The S.H.I.V. started backtracking towards the nearest train door to get to the other side. Emily turned towards Ammelia.

“Do you have anything special that would make shooting those easier?” she whispered to her.

“Wish I did…” She whispered back, “The SAaIDA helps me see things, not shoot them.”

“Alright. Well, we can still try to shoot, at least.”

The group pulled up their guns through the window and sprayed on the drones, their bleeps becoming louder as they zipped around erratically. They shot back quickly, small and quick bullets clanging against the train. The group continued moving further down the train, waiting for support from the S.H.I.V., they began to pop up in random intervals between reloading.

“Now I know what it feels like to be in a shooting gallery!” Billy shouted.

One of the drones landed a hit, leaving a smoking hole in the back of Ammelia’s ceramic plate armor. When she felt the blast hit her back, she turned quickly and sprayed bullets in its direction. One of her bullets found its target, sending the drone spiraling into the ground, creating a small explosion on impact.

The S.H.I.V. was well out of sight underneath the other side of the train, but it announces its arrival with a hail of bullets flying up at the drones. The shower of focused lead chases after the remaining drones individually, clipping them and sending them flaming to the ground.

“Guess you can shoot them after all,” Emily said with a smile, looking Ammelia over. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I don’t think so…” Ammelia said, finding the hole in her armor with her fingers. “Looks like the plating absorbed most of the hit.”

“Sounds like you owe someone at the armory a thank you,” she replies cheekily.

“Another group down, good work everyone.” Dallas said in relief. “Ammelia, can you tell if there are any more power nodes nearby?”

“There are two more up ahead I think,” she said, reloading her sub-machine gun, “The closest one is in the next train car.”

“Alright, let’s move forward, stick together and check every corner. When we get to the car, we’ll set up a perimeter and Ammelia will go in and see if she can disable it.”

The squad moved together carefully, encountering no resistance for the short walk. Dallas and Nika both posted up on the train, and Emily and Billy played lookout for the outside of the train. The S.H.I.V. accelerated up to the car from the other side of the train, the cameras “looking” around each and every way.

Ammelia slowly walked up to the node, her gun raised. When she reached it, she examined it up and down, trying to find some sort of off switch. She came across a small button near the bottom of the node and pressed it down, causing it to lose power.

When she did, a Thin Man dropped down from the roof of the train and started firing at her. She scrambled behind one of the seats and started firing back, hitting it several times in the chest and causing it to fall backwards, a green gas leaking from it’s wounds. The squad got away from the train car again, the green gas filtering out of the windows as it formed into the same cloud as the last one.

“Good work, Ammelia. That’s two for you,” Dallas said reassuringly.

“There’s only one car left up ahead,” Emily said. “The last node must be somewhere on the tracks.”

The squad moved forwards, the S.H.I.V. rejoining them on the right side. Emily walked up the end of the train, peeking out from the corner across the center platform and the empty tracks on its other side. She saw the weird, undulating node in the middle of the tracks, as well as another group of sectoids loitering in the center platform.

“Over there,” she whispered.

“There’s not enough high cover for a full-scale fight,” Dallas replied. “Best to grenade them. Nika?”

Nika stepped forward to the corner, Dallas and Billy setting up behind them. She tossed the grenade with a perfect pitch, the little ball clanging loudly into the group. The sectoids squeaked loudly, two of them diving out of the way, the last being consumed in the loud explosion. Dallas and Billy rushed forward towards the edge of the train tracks, ducking behind the small step and shooting the two survivors as they clambered to their feet.

“Fan out, everyone. Let’s be ready for whatever shows up as we get this one,” Dallas said.

He took cover behind a large alien pod, like the ones they use for abductions.

“Dallas! Get away from that!” Emily said.

“It’s ok, they’re one-shot kind of things. It’s probably been dormant for days, and they make good cover.”

“If you say so,” she said worriedly.

The group spread out around and in the train tracks, taking whatever cover they could find. Emily walked forward and lifted up the node, clicking the button on the underside. It powered down with a low thrum.

“Good work, Delta Squad,” the radio said. “You should have about five minutes left with those nodes down, but you gotta keep moving. The other teams have not found the bomb.”

A squeak came from a rafter at the top of the subway station, another node guarding thin man dropping down. Billy and Emily both shot at it immediately, eliciting a large spray in the air as it fell limply to the ground. Dallas stood up and looked at the cloud hovering in the air.

“Hope that gas isn’t heavy,” he said. “We’re getting close to the end of the platform, still no trace of the bomb?”

Ammelia looked around, “It could be on the other side of the tracks, I’m not sure though…”

“Let’s start crossing th–”

A few shots of plasma rushed past the squad as a couple more sectoids and another drone rushed over from the far platform. The drone shined its light at their heads, trying to blind them as they crouched back into their covers. The drone hovered higher up as it closed in, shooting across the platforms and trying to snipe into their cover. The squad tried to return fire, but the sectoids shot at anything which raised out of cover.

 

[Adrammalech]

“Billy! You’re up!” Dallas shouted over the noise.

“Just what I wanted to hear!”

Billy took the metal rocket launcher off his back, pulling the back out to its proper length. He waited for a break in the suppressing fire and popped out with the launcher on his shoulder, a plume of smoke blasting out from the back. Another explosion rocked the platform on the other side as the rocket hit right between the sectoids, their bodies flinging in separate directions. The S.H.I.V. behind them locked onto the drone as it tried to get even higher, blasting it out of the sky.

“Yeehaw!” Billy yelled, laughing madly.

“Nothing in the way now,” Dallas stated “Let’s get to that bomb before it’s too late.”

The squad clambered over the tracks, vaulting over the steps between the platforms. After the second pair of train tracks, they arrived on the far platform, taking a look around. With nothing obvious visible, a couple of them turned towards Ammelia expectantly.

Ammelia looked around, “There! “ She pointed to the Train, “It’s got to be on the other side of the train! “

The squad rushed towards the train on that side of the platform, stopped halfway between the station and the outdoors. As they got into the car, the bomb sat in front of them, a small and glowing pillar popping out of the top and spinning rapidly.

“Uh, that doesn’t look good,” Nika said.

“How do we turn it off?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know…” Dallas stated. “I think its activating…everyone get back!”

Suddenly, the pillar slinked back into the bomb, the sound from it coming to a stop.

“Alpha Team found and deactivated another node,” Central said calmly.

The team sighed in relief.

“Who knows how to deactivate alien bombs?” Nika inquired.

“I’ll give it a shot, I guess,” Dallas said. “I know a bit about explosives.”

“Great, ‘a bit’,” Nika sneered.

Nika and Billy walked out of the train car as Dallas knelt before the bomb, inspecting it intently. After a few motions, the glowing cylinder popped back up again, shooting out of the top along with a couple random pieces of metal. The rest of it fell apart around the middle, collapsing into a heap of indistinguishable scrap.

Central chimed in. “Attention all squads. Energy readings at the site are negative. Good work everyone, mission accomplished. Pack it in and come on home.”

“Wow, you did it,” Emily said.

“Good guess?” Dallas said nervously.

They file out of the train car to rejoin the other two. Nika points to the rafters.

“We’ve got company,” she states.

Everyone runs into cover as three thin men fall to the ground, landing effortlessly on their feet. Two of them look at Emily and Ammelia, who are the furthest ones out, and start making a sick sound as they wind-up. They fire their green gas towards them, causing them to flee towards each other, hiding in Dallas’ spot.

“We’re running out of cover,” Emily shouted.

“They’re too far from each other for a grenade to take them out,” Dallas noted.

Ammelia tries to keep herself calm as she tries to think of something to do, “Nika, maybe we could cover the squad with our smoke grenades, then we can send the SHIV in to deal with the aliens.”

“I have a flashbang too,” Emily says, holding it out.

“On three!” Nika shouts. “One, two…”

The smoke grenades fly out from their cover, clinking around in front of the squad. A burst of smoke comes from in front of them, forming a wall of pink and purple mist. The thin men start firing randomly inside of it as the flashbang goes off at their feet, causing them to stumble and squeal angrily.

The bright flash of the grenade overloads the SAaIDA’s Infrawave detection system, blinding Ammelia, she grips her gun tightly as she fires blindly at the Aliens, hoping to give the SHIV some covering fire.

Through the brilliant light, the S.H.I.V. rushes forward, on a clear suicide charge. The bright light stuns the Thin Men long enough for one to be taken out, but the others quickly recover, opening fire on the rolling machine. Pelleted again and again, the S.H.I.V.’s armor finally gives out against the onslaught of plasma energy. With a brilliant spectacle of flashes and sparks, the machine winds to a stop, immobile as pillows of smoke rise for it’s still frame.

Dallas and Billy charge at the remaining two, weaving between cover as the thin men turn to fire inaccurately at Ammelia’s gun. Billy sprays down one as Dallas hammers the other with his shotgun. They both collapse with shrill shrieks.

“That’s it,” Nika smiled. She looked over to the smoking metal. “Should we grab the bot?”

“We need to clear out before backup arrives,” Dallas said.

“Sorry, Jubjub,” Emily whispered.

The squad ran back through the subway tunnel, watching their backs as they got to the Skyranger. They all jumped into the cargo bay and radioed in. As the door closed, they broke out into cheers.

“We did it!” Emily shouted excitedly.

“Great work everyone!” Ammelia says with a smile.

“Dern sure we did, and no one left behind,” Billy said.

“We’ll all be up for promotions after that,” Nika stated happily.

“You did great, everyone,” Dallas said modestly, smiling towards everyone else.

The Skyranger lifted up, hopping to the other entry points to pick up the other squads. The other soldiers quickly joined in the celebrations of success before the plane lifted off to return to headquarters.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Non-Player Mission Parameters
UFO Crash Mission

Operation: Dragon Strike
Date: March 31st, 2018
Location: Outskirts of a Dhaka, Bangladesh

After a heated aerial battle that took place all over Asian airspace, and the near loss of two of our fighters, interceptors were successful in bring down a small UFO. Upon examination of the crash site, however, the alien ship was found to be in relatively solid condition. Not wanting to risk there being survivors, bor wanting to pass up a chance at valuable resources, and team of two soldiers, accompanied by our one undamaged SHIV, was sent to the site.

As expected, there were few survivors of what was likely already a small crew. The team only encountered a few sectoids and drones, and spent most of their time helping civilians evacuate from the devastated area.

However, upon entering the alien craft, the team was attacked by an unknown alien, a being that appeared humanoid but was made of pure energy. Strike team was caught off guard by the beings surprising tenacity and constitution. Not only was it an impeccable shot, it also seemed to regenerate after being injured. In all, the being succeeded in killing one soldier and injuring two more, one critically, before it was eliminated. Despite this, we gathered valuable data on it, data we hope to put to use for future encounters.

The Labs and Engineering are hard at work analyzing the undamaged computers and power sources recovered. Engineering has informed us that they likely have new armor available for the next battle.

Additionally, more of the substance know as meld was recovered. As testing on the material has gone well, we are being construction on two facilities specifically for the purpose of utilizing this material. Expect them to be up and running around the middle of April.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Priority Council Mission

Operation: Valiant Crusade, April 10th, 2018

Location: Cermak Plaza, Cermak Road & Harlem Avenue, Berwyn, Illinois, USA
Time: 1700 Hours, Local Time

Mission Details: We have been recently informed that an unauthorized American military convoy through the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois was attacked by unknown aggressors. As the nature of the attack seems to imply it was done by humans, it would normally be a case for local authorities. However, our intel indicates possible alien activity in the area. This draws into question exactly what the convoy was transporting, but the American military is claiming ignorance, stating that soldiers in the convoy were acting without consent.

Despite their silence on this matter, the Council is still compelled to investigate the site, as we rely heavily on America's participation in this initiative for funding related to the building and upkeep of our interceptors. Investigate the site of the attack, determine what the convoy was carrying if at all possible, and extract any survivors you come across.

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

Soldiers Names:
SPC. Ipiktok, Atka (Scout)*
SPC. Van dam, Scarlet (Scout)
SPC. Wong, Sarah (Sniper)
SPC. Roosevelt, Jonathan (Engineer)
SPC. Ortiz, Amanda (Medic)
SPC. Smith, Kris (Gunner)
SPC. Adolfsson, Janina (Infantry)
SPC. Nash, Kevin (Assault)
SHIV Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
SHIV Unit 2: "Bandersnatch"

*Squad Leader

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

- Primary weapon: Either an Assault Rifle, Assault Carbine, SMG, Battle Rifle, Shotgun, or Marksman Rifle

- Armor: Phalanx Armor

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Pistol, a Machine Pistol, or a sawed-off shotgun.

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

Terrain: Your team will be moving across the massive parking lot from west to east. To your south is a four lane, two-way road. To your north, a series of stores.

The plaza has several pieces of modern art pieces in front of the stores, from paintings to sculptures. There is an elaborate Rube Goldburg Machine called the Goodtime Clock, using a vertical maze for steel balls to roll down before being brought back to the top, encased in a ten foot tall transparent case. The most prominent piece of art is Spindle, a fifty foot spike with eight cars impaled on it near the center of the parking lot.

Reconstructed in 2017 after it's dismantling ten years prior, it includes, from top to bottom:

A 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, red
A 1976 BMW New Class, silver blue
A 1981 Ford Escort, blue
A 1974 Mercury Capri, green
A 1978 Ford Mustang, white over blue
A 1981 Pontiac Grand Prix, burgundy
A 1980 Ford LTD, light yellow
And a 1979 Mercury Grand Marquis, black

There are over a hundred abandoned vehicles throughout the parking lot, presenting a double-edged sword; there is no shortage of low and high cover, but the aliens could easily hide and sneak up on you, and blowing up one car will likely set off several more around it. As such, a rocktreer has been excluded from this mission, and soldiers are advised to only use grenades if absolutely necessary.

There are three armored US military transport vehicles, one on the street and two in the lot near the center. One of the two in the lot contains equipment suggesting whatever was being transported was alive, but little else can be ascertained.

There are three more unmarked armored vehicles on the east side of the lot, but they tell you nothing of the attackers other then that they were well armed.

You'll find a survivor, an Asian woman in her early thirties, on the east side of the Walgreens Drug Store on the east side of the lot. Her attire suggests she is a combatant, but she will refuse to give you her name or tell you who she works for. Upon finding her, Central will insist on taking her alive for questioning. Although she will be defiant, the woman is injured and will reluctantly agree to be escorted to the dropship .

The area has been evacuated, but the owner of the plaza has requested that we keep collateral damage to a minimum. Keep this in mind, but not at the cost of safety.

Special Terrain note: I am aware that Spindle was removed from the plaza in 2007, that it why I wrote it back into existence. Anyone who tells me it isn't there anymore ain't being sent a Pizza Roll.

Enemies:
Two units containing three (3) sectoids each
Two units containing three (3) Thin Men each
One (1) sectoid and one (1) drone that come out of hiding (from stores) three minutes after survivor is found
Two (2) Thin men every three minutes there after
Total: 12 initially, plus 2 every three minutes until extraction

Special Alien Note:
Thin Men appear as white males. All can speak English.
A single unknown alien can be seen hovering in the sky at the start of the mission, but immediately flees beyond the stores before the team can fire at it.

Conditions for Completing the Mission:

(1) Finding and successfully extracting the survivor.

or

(2) Retreating to the dropship after the survivor is found and dies. Failure to extract the survivor will be considered a failed mission.

Civilians:
A white male (Mark, 17) and a Black female (Cindy, 17) are looting, and can be found examining one of the American armored vehicles. A family of three, all white, consisting of a father (Joseph, 30), a mother (Veronica, 32), and a son (Francis, 9), are hiding amongst the parked cars, having been caught in the attack while shopping.

Successful extraction of civilians is not necessary, but is encouraged and would look good with the Council, particularly our American members.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

ZombieSplitter53, Dahlexpert, DarkGemini24601: Operation Valiant Crusade (Portent)

Alarms rang around X-COM, and Scarlet heard her name over the intercom.

Lilith: “Well, looked like we finally get to go out again.”

Scarlet: “Yeah, about time. I can't wait to be myself again, and start decapitating those aliens again.”

Lilith: “Wait, we have S.H.I.V.S on this mission” right?”

Scarlet: “Damn, that means Sunny will be watching us, we better go talk to her.”

Scarlet went to engineering, and shouted, “Sunny, where are you, I need to speak to you.”

Sunny looked up from her computer, as does everyone standing around her. “Um...yes?” She asked timidly.

“Sunny, did you hear? I have a mission today, and I need to tell you something.”

“Uh…” Sunny glanced at Shen. He held up two fingers, and she nodded. Jumping down from her large chair, she approached Scarlet and gave her a questioning look.

“Sunny, do you think I’m a nice person, or kind in any way?”

Sunny scratches her head. “W-well, y-you were nice to me, so I think so. But I d-don’t know you very w-well.”

Scarlet got on one knee and put her hands on Sunny’s shoulders. “Okay I want you to keep that nice and kind image of me in your head, because you're about to see another side of me that I don’t want you to see, and when I come back from this mission please don’t be terrified of me alright”.

Sunny nodded. With a serious look, she said, “I-I’ve seen death before. I-I live with s-someone who… w-who has to kill sometimes. Don’t worry about me.”
“Sunny, the way I kill things is very different than the other person, just promise me that you won’t judge me alright”.

Sunny nodded nervously. “I-I’ll try.”

Scarlet gave Sunny a big hug like she may never see her again. “Okay, I’m heading out. I expect you to keep my team alive Sunny, and thanks for the kind words”.

Sunny nodded again. Shen clears his throat, and Sunny gives a wave goodbye before running back to her position at the S.H.I.V. computer.

Scarlet grabs her battle rifle, a machine pistol and her grenade launcher. She grabs a AP grenade and a high-capacity magazine. “Well now that that’s done let’s go and have some fun”.

The other soldiers on the mission enter the Skyranger along with Scarlet. Among them is Atka, who introduces herself along with the other soldiers. “I have been designated as the squad leader, so I’ll be in charge for this one,” Atka explained.

Scarlet got a confused look on her face. “Wait a minute, who the hell are you?”

“As I said, my name is Atka Ipiktok. Scout Specialist and I will be the squad leader for this mission.” This is already going poorly…

Lilith and Scarlet: “What? Wait a minute you never been on a mission or killed an alien so how is a rookie promoted to a scout and she did nothing”.

“I served as a lieutenant in the Canadian military, and it was command’s decision to promote me…” Atka replied.

Kris Smith: "Wait I was a major in the navy and I started out as a rookie, so how did you get promoted?”

“As I said, that was command’s decision…” Atka said, frustration evident in her voice.

Lilith: ...so a rookie that never been on a mission and never killed an alien is some how promoted to specialist. This is very weird I don’t like this.
Atka sighed, sitting down and not wanting to press the issue further. She checked her equipment: Marksman’s Rifle, Phalanx Armor (Thank god we have better armor now…), Sawed-Off Shotgun, Alloy Plating, and a Flashbang Grenade. That should be good.

Scarlet stayed suspicious. You know what if she got killed not my problem, as a matter a fact if she dies that problem will solve itself. . Scarlet got on the Skyranger.

The Skyranger flew to its destination in Illinois, while Atka outlined her plan of action with the information she had available. “I’m going to want our sniper and gunner to be in the back of our formation...the sniper can operate better back there, and the gunner will be there to cover her. Myself, Scarlet, and Kevin (the assault) will be in the front, while the SHIVs can guard our flanks. The rest, our infantry, medic, and engineer, can be central to the formation.”

Kevin: “Fuck that, I’m not working with that psycho.”

Scarlet: “Aw, what’s wrong? Afraid that I’m going to do better then you, or are you just scared that I’ll show you up?”

Atka shakes her head. “Enough, both of you. We need to trust each other on this operation, and you need to trust me. Otherwise we’re not going to be successful.”

Scarlet: “Yeah, I’d rather trust my own gut then trust any of these pathetic and cowardly men.”

Atka: “You may not care about their lives, but I do. For all our sakes, you’re going to have to.”

Scarlet got right in Atka face. “I’m going to have to what?”

The Inuit woman seems undaunted. “You’re going to have to follow orders and trust your fellow combatants like a normal soldier.”

“Ha, I’m not like these mindless soldiers. I’m a mercenary and we do things our own way and that’s that”.

“You’re not a mercenary anymore, or have you forgotten? You’re part of the bigger picture now, Scarlet,” Atka replied.

“The last time I checked I was getting paid by the body. So that makes me a mercenary despite what you think.”

Atka: “Scarlet, you can either act like you’re part of a squad, and a soldier like the rest of us, or you can stay on the Skyranger. If you won’t follow my orders, then you’re a liability.”

Bradford (from central): “The pilot is reporting a lot of commotion. Is everything alright?”

Scarlet got a big smile on her face. “Oh everything is just perfect back here, hey pilot we nearly there yet.”

“I need an answer, Scarlet. Are you going to follow my orders or not?” Atka asked,
looking unconvinced that everything is “just perfect.”

Scarlet ignores Atka. Hey Brad for how many alien we have down there also what is the terrain like?”

Bradford: “The area is a large shopping center. Most of the fighting occurred in the parking lot. Alien activity is unknown, but keep an eye out. Just follow the orders of you commanding officer, and keep an eye out for any survivors that might be able to tell us what happened there.”

Scarlet: Alright men listen up the area is a shopping center which means plenty of cover now everyone on Atka’s plan is a solid formation but keep one eye open and watch the shadows. The aliens love sneaking up on us Sunny keep one SHIV with the sniper and the gunner in case things get too hot, now me.

Thanks for parroting my entire plan, Van Dam... “The SHIVs will keep an eye out on them, but they’ll be guarding our entire flank, not just the back section. They can’t really be flanked, so that’s why they’ll do such a good job at that,” Atka chimes in.

Scarlet looked back at Atka. “No problem ma’am, Now listen up a lot of you may not trust me and to be honest I can care less what you think of me just trust that I will get you back home in one piece alright.”

Her mood sure changed quickly, Atka thought to herself. Let’s just hope it stays that way.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

After a more quiet lull in the flight, there was the sound of landing gear coming out, and the Skyranger touched down in Cermak Plaza in Illinois.

Atka stepped out of the plane first, getting a bit of distance while the others filed out and got into formation. “Alright, we’re going to advance slowly...keep an eye out, those demons are going to want to flank us with all these cars around.”
Janina pointed up. “What is…?” There was a flash of engines and gray metal mixed with flesh near one of the buildings, and then it was gone.

Scarlet: Wong go to the roof top that way you will have a view of everything Smith go with him if you see that thing again shoot it.

“No, we stay together. I don’t want her alone up there, the gunner doesn’t have that sort of range. Once we start moving Wong will be left behind if we do that…” Atka protested.

“Fine, what is your plan for our sniper, huh?”

“Sarah can stay with the gunner in the back, and try to get near cars where she can have a view of the whole parking lot, but be safely with us. Other than that, our formation remains the same as I specified until complications arise. Strike One, let’s head into the lot.” Atka started moving forward on the right, while Scarlet was the forward piece to the left, and the assault took center. The rest of the formation followed behind them.

A small shadow went past Scarlet. Scarlet got a big smile on her face. “Aw where do you think your going you insect. “

Lilith: “Scarlet that sectoid might have back-up we can’t go and beat the shit out of it”.

“He’s going to have friends, Wong, get a bead on him. Smith, get ready for suppressing fire...the rest of you be ready to fire when they show again,” Atka ordered quietly over comms, setting up her marksman’s rifle on the door of a car to steady it. The soldiers took cover in preparation.

Scarlet saw a small shadow right next to her. “The sectoid is right next to me what should I do?” she said to Atka.

“Flip around the corner, stay in cover, and shoot at it. Sunny, get one of the SHIVs to back her up incase his friends are waiting there.”

“Better idea.” Scarlet turns around and grabs the sectoid by the throat. “How about we silently kill this thing. A purple stream came out of the sectoid’s head forcing Scarlet to drop the sectoid.

Atka looked confused. “What are you doing?”

Jainia opened fire at the sectoid with her assault rifle. “Their mind powers, maybe?” Sarah for her part was lining up a shot in case the infantry didn’t hit the gray.
Two more sectoids rushed into sight, telepathically alerted by the first one.

Nash started to run over, leveling his shotgun at them, while the gunner opened fire, trying to pin the new contacts down.

Scarlet was still in cover and had a faraway look on her face like she is not there.

Jonathan shook her shoulders vigorously. “Snap out of it, dammit, this isn’t the time for daydreaming!”

A sniper rifle shot sounded from Wong, and blasted a hole in the first sectoid’s head. “X-Ray down,” she said coldly. Kevin blasted at the second, scoring a hit and causing it to collapse, bleeding out. The third was still unaccounted for, as shots from the others were not hitting it.

Scarlet snapped out of her trance with tears in her eyes she saw the sectoid going into a building, Scarlet let out a loud growl.

“DIE YOU PIECE OF SHIT,” Scarlet opened fire on the last sectoid and shot it in the back watched it bleed out but Scarlet continued shooting the dead corpse.

“Scarlet, calm down,” Atka said in warning. We’ve probably stirred the hornet’s nest…

“This is central. Report.”

“We’ve engaged the enemy, a group of sectoids, but we’ve probably got more hostiles converging on us with all the noise we made, over,” Atka replied.

“Copy that. Keep those eyes open”

Scarlet still in a trance punched Atka and puts her feet on both of Atka’s arms leaving her pinned..

“What in god’s name are you doing?” Atka yelled at her, after crying out in pain from the punch. “Stand down!”

Janina leveled her gun at Scarlet a bit fearfully.

Scarlet snapped out of her trance and saw she had Atka pinned with her gun pointed at her head. She got off Atka. “What just happened?”

Atka got to her feet, and grabbed her dropped rifle. “You’re insane...what in god’s name do you think you were doing?”

From behind Atka a group of three thin men burst out of a cluster of cars, and leveled their plasma carbines at the enemy. From the other side where the sectoids were a second group of them show themselves as well, effectively pincering the XCOM forces.

Scarlet pushes Atka into heavier cover and loaded her grenade launcher. “Someone mind telling me what just happened to me?

The thin men on the right flank saw Scarlet loading the explosive weapon, and opened fire on her, while the left flankers started to suppress the Gunner, Infantry, and Assault, keeping them pinned.

“If you fire that you’re going to set off-” Atka had time to say just before all hell was unleashed.

Scarlet put her grenade launcher on her back and reloaded her gun. She started shooting the Thin men. “Sunny do you see the thin men?” Amanda threw up a smoke grenade to cover the others, while Wong started lining up a shot on one of the left thin men, needing to free Kevin up to charge ahead.

Smith laid down suppressing fire on the Thin Men, keeping them pinned down. “We need to find better cover. I doubt this truck can take much more”.

“If we move one of those shots will nail us…” Atka took aim with her marksman’s rifle, and blasted one of the unsuspecting thin men in the head. One started suppression on Scarlet, while the other remaining spit poison onto Atka.

The SHIVs began to move into position to flank the thin men, and cover the humans.

“Fuck,” Scarlet sees the SHIVs, “Hey, Smith, keep them pinned down.” Scarlet ran out of cover forcing the Thin Man to focus on her, and with her heightened reflexes, he missed his suppression shots. “Kiss my ass, Thin Man.” Scarlet took cover in front of Atka and Smith.

The SHIV on the left, Bandersnatch, took a direct hit, but being robotic, was undaunted, and blasted the offending thin man into the blackness of death. Wong shot another on that side, leaving one remaining on the left. The SHIV on the right dealt with the Thin Man that had spit on Atka with a hailstorm of bullets, and the no-longer suppressed Janina started shooting at the other, though the dexterous alien did well to dodge her shots.
Scarlet started shooting the Thin men Keeping it pinned, “Hey Jonathan do you have a sh-” once Scarlet said that, the Thin Men shot Scarlet in the stomach. “Dammit!” she exclaimed in profound agony, nearly collapsing from the pain.

Kevin grimaced, took a deep breath, and then dashed at the offending Thin Man. “Annnnd” -he blasted it in the chest with his shotgun- “Touchdown!”

The parking lot was again silent, though plasma marks all over the area attested to the ferocity of the battle. Amanda went over to Scarlet’s side and started patching up her wound with a medkit. The poison had already run its course on Atka, and she was breathing normally again, though she could feel her lungs were not all right from the virulent toxin.

Scarlet slapped the medkit away from her. “Ignore me, this is a flesh wound.” Looking at Atka, she said, “She has been poisoned”.

“She can heal both of us,” Atka said, frustrated, and coughed from the rising of her tone. Amanda did as ordered, and Atka walked over to Scarlet. “Now, you listen here...this wouldn’t have gone so poorly if you had followed orders and dealt with the sectoid like I told you to. One more act of insubordination and you can sit this one out with Big Sky, am I clear?”

“Bite me, I thought I could kill the thing without shooting my gun and alerting the other aliens.”

“On the battlefield, I don’t care what you think in the heat of the moment, you need to follow orders like you’re supposed to,” Atka shot back, and started having the rest of the squad form up again. “I don’t care what my orders are, you obey them or you’re off the mission, Scarlet.”

Scarlet got up and moved forward, ignoring everything Atka said.

“Give me an answer, god dammit! Do you understand, Scarlet?”

Scarlet turned around. “Are we going to just sit and argue, or are we going to save some civilians?”

“She’s the NCO here, don’t be stupid...just say okay...” Kevin said to Scarlet, while Janina gave a nod to affirm his words.

“Scarlet, are you going to follow my orders or not?” Atka questioned, on her last nerve.

Scarlet spat on the ground. “Fine I’ll follow your orders.”

Good grief, was it really that hard to say that? Atka nodded. “Let’s keep moving, hopefully we thinned their numbers significantly…” The XCOM forces reached the two military vehicles in the middle of the lot without further trouble, and Atka had her squad set up a perimeter while she checked to see what was inside.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

“Nothing significant in vehicle A, sir,” Kevin reported.

“I’ve got something…” Atka announced. “There’s food in here...as well as what you would expect of a place to store a person...their cargo might have been a person of importance.” She exited the vehicle and glanced over at the spindle. “Interesting…”

“Hey, commanding jackass, did you notice the dead bodies?”

Atka gave her a cold look. “Of course I did, but that doesn’t mean whoever they were transporting was among them...we should keep searching…”

“Well if you paid better attention to them they weren’t killed by the aliens”.

“Central told us so much...but if the aliens took an interest in this then there must be something strange about whoever the Americans were transporting,” Atka countered.

Suddenly, there was a clanking noise from the other nearby military vehicle. It came from the inside, and sounded like someone moving things around.

Atka raised a hand for everyone to go silent, and approached the vehicle, whipping around to the side in which it was open and leveling her sawed-off shotgun inside, ready to fire if necessary.

Two people in their late teens, and man and a woman, were looting around through the various military equipment inside. The man lifted a large rifle and whispered, “What ya think? Does this make me look badass?”

“I think it makes you look like an idiot stumbling into a combat zone,” Atka said with an eyebrow raised.

The pair of looters swirled around to face Atka. The male glanced at Atka’s shotgun and with a wide-eyed look, immediately dropped the rifle and raised his hands. The female followed suit, shouting, “Whoa, man, don’t shoot. We’re sorry. We were gonna give it back, honest.”

Atka put a hand to her headset, holding the shotgun with very little aggression. “Central, I found two looters in one of the vehicles, what do you recommend I do with them?” *to the looters* “I’m not going to kill you, but I damn well thought you were aliens when I heard you, so maybe coming here wasn’t the best plan.”

“I told you this was a stupid idea,” the female muttered.

“Screw you, it was your idea,” the male responded.

Central: “Copy that, strike team. We can try to extract them if it’s safe. You can send them to the Skyranger, have someone guide them back, or take them with you if you feel they won’t get back safely without you. The Commander has ordered to leave it to your discretion.”

Scarlet took pictures of the dead security guards and sends it to central. Scarlet then found the team talking to looters.

“Roger that.” Atka looked over them. “I’d rather keep you two close...if you see any aliens, tell us, and then get into cover and stay hidden. They won’t shoot at you if you’re not a threat, but I can’t risk sending you back without knowing the combat zone is clear,” the Inuit Scout told the two looters.

“Fuck that,” Scarlet said out loud. “We can’t have two civilians in the combat zone. The Skyranger is not that far a SHIV will escort them there.”

“I risk splitting my forces doing that, but you know what, fine. Go with Jabberwock back to the Skyranger, and take them with you.”

Scarlet got right in Atka’s face “We do not risk civilians nor do we bring them into the combat zone with us we’re here to save them.”

“And I’m telling you fine, have it your way. Go with the SHIV back to the Skyranger with these two, and stay there. I’m done arguing with you.”

The sound of gunfire was heard, as a sniper rifle, light machine gun, and assault rifle went off. “Got an unsuspecting pack of sectoids, sir,” Janina confirmed, lowering her gun as the three were dead.
“And that accounts for what I’m hoping is all of them. Take the civilians back to the Skyranger, Scarlet. That’s an order,” Atka said.

“Fine, and if you find any other civilians you better bring them my way, because if I find out that you willingly took civilians into the combat zone... Well you better bring the civilians to the Skyranger, Come on you looters.”

Atka said nothing, letting the four of them head back to the ship, and then opened a channel to the Central Officer, and said quietly, “Please tell the Commander I want to speak with her when I return to base, Bradford. Thank you.” The squad leader then had the remaining six of them move forward, heading towards the east side of the lot to secure it.

As the team moved forward, Nash noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Something was hiding behind a large truck near him.

Atka noticed soon after, and motioned for the squad to circle around with weapons drawn. Please let this be something other than aliens, I’m sick of these siquttipaa… She flipped around on the right, with Kevin on the left, shotguns drawn.

A woman in her early thirties let out a shrill scream, tightly hugging a young boy in her hands. A man raised his arms to block the two. Seeing humans, he slowly and cautiously lowered his arms.

Atka and Kevin lowered their weapons, both breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s going to be alright now, we’re going to get out of here. Come with us, and keep your heads down.” I can’t even considering sending another group back, 6 is already a dangerously small number.

Scarlet on the Skyranger: “Look you to I’m going back out there now can you two stay here and not go any were”.

The two looters cautiously nodded. They took a seat, and exchanged a nervous but relieved look.

“Okay, it’s still dangerous out there so if you leave here you will die.”

Atka and the squad pressed on. I’m starting to wonder if the person we’re looking for is still alive or not, but it seems like the aliens didn’t make it to this side of the parking lot with all the civilians we found here…

Scarlet kept moving to the squad's last position. “Damn it, where the hell are they? Hey central where is the rest of my squad?”

“This is central. The rest of the squad is nearing the east side of the parking lot. Keep moving quickly and you should reach them by the time they get to the other side of the drug store, but move with caution, we’re not sure what is still out there.”

“Thanks central”.

Atka and the squad finally reach the east side of the massive parking lot, and start to head around the corner of the drug store to make sure the area is secure, the family being heavily guarded by a SHIV, the infantry, and the medic. The sniper and gunner hung back, while Kevin was still at Atka’s side.

Damn it where the hell are they. Scarlet got a flashback of a civilian she could not rescue. Not again. Scarlet double timed it to the squad’s position.

As the squad rounded the corner of the drug store, they came across several more armored vehicles, similar to the American ones but unmarked. There were several bodies around, mostly men and a couple of women, all dressed as combatants, but again, they showed no markings to indicate who they were affiliated with. Leaning against the wall is an Asian woman, about 5’9”, in her early thirties. She was alive, holding her side tightly, a pained expression on her face.

Scarlet reached the squad's last position. She saw the soldiers guarding three civilians. “What the hell is this shit?

Atka had Amanda and Kevin cautiously approach the woman, and turned around after hearing Scarlet’s voice. “I told you to remain at the Skyranger! Why the hell are you here?”

“THE FUCK AM I DOING THE HELL ARE YOU DOING I TOLD YOU TO BRING ANY CIVILIANS YOU FOUND TO ME NOT BRING THEM FURTHER INTO ALIEN TERRITORY!!!”

“Scarlet, please shut up, and stand down. You’ve disobeyed my orders for the last time,” Atka growled back, though she tried hard to conceal her anger.

The woman wrapped her hands over the boys ears, and the man gave Scarlet a dirty look. “Can you not yell and curse around my son? He’s scared enough. She probably brought us with her because she was afraid of an ambush on the way back.” He squeezed his fist and gave a pained look. “Trust me, we saw the aliens gun down another family with our own eyes. Why else would we still be in this god forsaken place if we weren’t afraid of what was still out there?”

Amanda went over to the Asian woman. “We aren’t going to hurt you, let me go ahead and patch you up.” Kevin glanced over at the argument nearby, but was keeping a close eye on the mysterious woman, his weapon drawn just in case.

Scarlet looked at the kid and went near him. “Listen I know you're scared and you’ve seen some things a child should not see, but I promise to get you out. You have a name kid?”

The boy buried his face into his mother’s stomach, saying nothing

“Just...leave them alone, Scarlet,” Atka pleaded. “Finish this mission without causing any more trouble for us.”

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Kevin glanced back at the others again, hoping that things wouldn't get anymore out of hand. Amanda gasped, and Kevin turned back to find a handgun pointing at his face. “Back… the FUCK… off…” The Asian woman said, her expression livid.

Janina had her assault rifle up, but did not make any sudden movements. “Calm down...our medic just wants to patch you up so we can get you out of this hellhole, okay?”

Scarlet points her gun at the Asian women. “Put the gun down and let our medic treat you.”

The woman chuckled softly. “Let her treat me, she said. If you wanna help, leave the medkit and piss off. Otherwise, I’ll take this motherfucker down before you take me down.”

Atka sighed. “Look, if you kill him, it’s not going to help you, and threatening us isn’t either. I’m going to be honest, we want to know what happened here, and we’re going to be taking you with us to find out, but I don’t want to hurt you. I will do my best to personally guarantee your fair treatment, but I need you to put the gun down.”

The woman’s eyes darted between Kevin, Scarlet’s weapon, and Atka’s face. Her hand shook slightly, obviously struggling to keep the gun raised. Her eyes drooped slightly, and she let out a frustrated sigh. “I...don’t have...much of a choice, do I?”

Atka shook her head. “Not really, sorry,” the Inuit replied truthfully.

“Shit...then I’m gonna...hold you to your word.” The woman flipped the gun around, and Kevin cautiously took it from her hand.

Scarlet lowered her weapon. “Thank God for that.” Scarlet said to the civilians, “Listen up there is a plane in the parking lot that will get you all out of here, now civilians I want you to stay in the back with our sniper it’s probably the safest place you're going to be, now we might have others waiting for us in that building once we reach them it should be safe but stay in heavy cover any will tell you when to move.

“You’re not wrong, Scarlet...but let me make something clear one last time, since you seem to like giving orders,” Atka said. “I’m. In. Command. Here,” she stated bluntly, her face momentarily right in front of Scarlet’s. She then took out her marksman’s rifle and started leading the squad back towards the Skyranger.

As they walked, the Asian woman let out a pained laugh. “I can’t believe you let that loud mouth bitch off her leash like that. If she was part of my mercenary division, she’d have had a bullet in her head by now.” She glanced back at Scarlet, smirking maliciously.

Atka gave her a quick glance, and said quietly, “Oh, I’m tempted...but that’s not how I do things.”

Scarlet looked at the Asian woman “Oh, is that right how do you work for chinglish?”

The woman smiled, but before she could respond, Kevin shouted a warning. “Hey, we can settle this later! We’ve got company!”

Two thin men came out of hiding in some of the unexplored store buildings, brandishing their weapons, and opened fire.

“Damn things sure like to try and surround us,” Atka swore, and trained her marksman’s rifle on the right one, while Wong took aim at the left. Suppressing fire went up from the gunner on the left one, while Bandersnatch assisted Atka with her alien.

The family quickly ducked behind a large truck. As predicted, the Thin Men seemed to ignore them, focusing on the soldier firing at them

“Damn, I really don’t have time for this,” Scarlet pulled her grenade launcher out of bag. “Cover your ears, civilians,” Scarlet fires the grenade into the building.

The right Thin Man was blown to pieces by the blast, while a shot from Jonathan felled the other one. “Finally got one!” he shouted with enthusiasm. Amanda just gave him an amused smile. “I didn’t complain about not getting a kill…”

A heated blast from a drone nearly hit Sarah Wong’s head. “Uhhh...guys!”

“Are you bloody kidding me.”

Janina opened fire, but the flying drone evaded her shots. “Come on, you robotic coward! Land!”

A sectoid peeked up from behind a car, and with a thread of purple, transparent energy, forced Kevin to his knees. “Oh god...no...no…” He hunkered down behind his cover, holding his head with a horrified expression.

“Damn, we’re pinned.” Scarlet once again ran out of cover and makes the aliens focus on her and due to her lightning reflexes she dodges the plasma.

Atka does the same, swiftly dodging incoming fire from the drone and sectoid, further spoiling their aim with two target. She pulls out her flashbang. “Oh, be quiet, gray.” She tosses it onto the car in front of the sectoid, and blinds it.

As the aliens focused their fire on the two dexterous scouts, and the sectoid covered its eyes, the Asian woman snatched the shotgun from Kevin’s hands. “Give me that, you cowardly piece of shit.” She aimed at the sectoid and fired. The distance was too far to score a kill, but the sectoid recoiled in pain, injured.

Atka drew her sawed-off, and with a thunderous blast, finished the job. She glanced over at the Asian woman, and gave her a smile. “Thanks.” A succession of rounds from an LMG finished off the drone.

“Great we're letting civilians do our work, but in all seriousness nice shot. I expect no less from a mercenary.”

“Save your praise,” the woman scoffed, shoving the shotgun back into a recovering Kevin’s hands. “I only did it to save you so you could save me, no other reason.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the gesture anyway,” Atka said, sighing. “I think there’s been enough hostility for today, let’s get to our ship and fly out of here.” Atka lead the squad with increased haste to make a break for the ship.
Scarlet sees Sunny’s SHIV still guarding the two looters. Scarlet taps the SHIV. “Nice work, Sunny.”

Two thin men ran out as they were boarding the ship. Janina growled with frustration. “Kindly...piss...off!” she and the others opened fire, ending the lives of the enemy swiftly before they could take cover, and then the Skyranger’s hatch closed up.

“Tenacious little buggers aren't they, now that were free would someone tell me what happen to me when I gaged that sectoid.”.

The Asian woman chuckled. “Probably the same thing that happened to this wimp. I’d check to make sure I didn’t wet myself if I were you.”

Atka gave the civilians a reassuring smile, and then shook her head at the Asian. “Please don’t antagonize her, I don’t want to be sucked out of the ship when a hole got blown in it. This mission went without deaths, let’s keep it that way.”

The woman gave a devious smile, but kept her mouth shut, closing her eyes as Amanda took another look at her wound. The man looked up at Atka and gave her a look of appreciation, then turned to his family.

The teenage girl looked up and asked, “Are, uh...are we under arrest?”

“Not at all...we’re taking you back to base for now, but I’m sure you’ll go home soon after,” Atka replied gently. The teens exchanged a relieved look.

“Just make sure you don’t try and loot anything when the aliens arrive, okay?” The teens nodded.

“Good. Look, when the aliens come please run somewhere, or if you hear anything just hide some were ok.”

After a flight back, the Skyranger touched down once again, the long, arduous mission entitled “Valiant Crusade” finally complete.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Mission Parameters
Dual UFO Missions

Operations:
Rolling Thunder, April 19th, 2018
Explosive Lightning, April 19th, 2018

Location:
The Amazon Rainforest, Brazil, South America (RT)
Brazilian Atlantic Islands of Fernando de Noronha, off the Coast of Brazil (EL)

Time:
1200 Hours, Local Time (RT)
1300 Hours, Local Time (EL)

Mission Details:
After UFO Signatures were detected over the Gulf of Mexico, satellite reconnaissance confirmed two mid-sized UFOs. Not only facing a new, larger UFO then before, but having to engage two at once, caution was taken, and two North American and three South American Interceptors were sent to the sight.

After an intense dogfight that took place over the Gulf, moved over North Brazil, and final led to over the Atlantic Ocean, X-COM lost one interceptor (pilot successfully ejected and recovered) and suffered severe damage to two others, before finally shooting both UFOs down.

Both UFOs crashed on solid ground, one near the center of the Brazilian Rainforest, the other on the main island of Fernando de Noronha. Satellite imagery suggests that the UFOs are not only relatively intact, but there may be alien movements around them. Investigate the sites of the crashes, and neutralize any of the surviving crew you find. Please show caution to causing additional collateral damage to the aliens ships, as there may be important salvageable technology on board.

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

Soldiers Names:
(Rolling Thunder)
SPC. Arturo, Maximillian (Heavy) *
SPC. Welles, Wade (Sniper)
SPC. Brown, Rembrandt (Medic)
SPC. Mallory, Quinn (Engineer)
PFC. Foulke, Albert
PFC. Beckett, Maggie
PFC. Grey, Dorian
PFC. Fujioka, Airi
SHIV Unit 1: "Jabberwock"
SHIV Unit 2: "Bandersnatch"

(Explosive Lightning)
SPC. Shimizu, Megumi (Scout)*
SPC. Murphy, Kelly (Sniper)
SPC. Ivankov, Adrian (Support)
SPC. Connor, Megan (Rocketeer)
PFC. Dragomirov, Modya
PFC. Smith, Francis
PFC. Temple, Sharron
PFC. Camilo, Victor
SHIV Unit 1: "Jubjub"
SHIV Unit 2: "Griffon"

*Squad Leader

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

- Primary weapon: Either a Laser Shatterray, Laser Carbine, Laser Rifle, Heavy Laser Rifle

- Armor: Phalanx Armor

- Secondary Weapon: Either a Laser Pistol, a Heater, or a sawed-off shotgun.

- Equipment: Two (2) of the following; a medikit, Alloy plating, Reinforced Armor, 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.

Special Equipment Note: If one of players' characters does not take an Arc Thrower, assume one of the NPCs has one.

Terrain:
Rolling Thunder will take place deep within the Brazilian Amazon. Please note that not everyone on the strike team has experience fighting in this terrain, so those who do will be expected to back up the others and make sure they don't overexert themselves in the humid forest.

As you might expect, there will be plenty of high cover on the way to the site. Be cautious of both alien forces and the dangers of the rainforest itself, including the risk of illness from the local water supplies and insects, the risks associated with Aprils heavy rain showers, and the animal life, including jaguars, alligators, anacondas, snakes, piranhas, and leeches.

As you approach the site, expect your availability of high cover to diminish, as the crash destroyed a large section of the rainforest. You will have to rely more on makeshift cover caused by the ship's debris itself.

Explosive Lightning is a horse of a different color. The bushland leading up to the crashed ship offer practically nothing in the way of cover, with the exception of a small shack and an overturned truck. While this also means little cover for the aliens either, be careful of some of the smaller aliens hiding in the bushes, as well as flying enemies that could snipe you from above. Approach the ship with extreme caution.

The ships themselves are rather spacious, being much larger then the spacecrafts we encountered before. As you move through the ship, you'll find the different sections of the ship separated by large energy doors, completely blocking the view of the other room. We are still doing research on the alien tech and computer language, so we are still figuring out how to go through them without completely opening, so be aware that once you open the door, everything in the next room will be alerted.

The ship itself is circular in shape. While one side of the ship contains what we believe to be the main engines, thus implying this to be the back of the ship, the front of the ship contains two smaller engines, and two large computer terminals in both the front and back of the ship. This suggests that, while the ship is designed to fly in one direction most of the time, it can use it's four engines to fly in all four directions whenever the need arises.

The left and right sides of the crafts contain tall, green machines radiating with energy. These are believed to be the ship's main power sources. Please show extreme caution when engaging the enemy around these. Not only do we want to examine them intact, we are unaware of their stability after the crash. For all we know, further damage to them could simply leave them unusable, or they could destroy the ship and everything in the area. Use extreme caution.

The center of the ship contains the largest of computers on board, as well as several devices that seem to be for the purpose of distributing power throughout the ship. There is also a large storage device that seemed to be meant for weapon's storage, but said weapons are either in possession of the aliens, or have been destroyed.

Please be careful of a being we have classified as an 'Outsider'. Encountered on previous UFO missions, this humanoid creature seems to be made of almost pure energy, suggesting that it is some kind of artificial intelligence. These beings are extremely dangerous; on previous missions, a single outsider took an entire squad to put down. As the being seemed to appear when our previous teams entered the ships, we have reason to believe you might encounter another one here. Do not underestimate them.

Please note that your teams will each be equipped with an Arc Thrower, each capable of firing twice. Do what you can to try an capture at least one alien each, but do not put anyone into any unnecessary danger.

Enemies:
One squad of Three (3) Sectoids
One squad of Two (2) Thin Men & One (1) Drone
One squad of Two (2) Drones & One (1) Floater
Two (2) Outsiders, Located within the ship (Can be together or apart)

Special Enemy Note: Remember that the Outsiders are based on the ones from Long War, meaning more vitality and the ability to regenerate.

Conditions for Completing the Mission:

(1) Successful elimination of all alien forces

or

(2) Successful evacuation from the combat zone

Civilians: No civilians are located within the Rainforest. All civilians have been evacuated from the crash zone on Fernando de Noronha, but keep an eye out for any stragglers.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Explosive Lightning (Part 1)
Brazilian Atlantic Islands of Fernando de Noronha, off the Coast of Brazil. 1300 Hours, Local Time (EL).

There was an unsettling silence in Skyranger B as it flew towards Fernando de Noronha. Megumi had outlined the specifics of the combat zone: the lack of cover, the ships, and the likely presence of an ‘outsider’, a shock trooper and potentially pilot that had everyone nervous. Modya was worried too, and a bit upset that he had to go on a mission without a rocket launcher. He only had an AP and HE grenade to compensate.

Megan Connor broke the silence, nudging Modya. “So you’re an expert with explosives like I am, right?”

Modya nodded. “I am. You are better armed than I am, though…”

“Don’t sweat it, I’m sure you’ll be a specialist by the time we have this one in the bag.”

“Do not…what?” Modya asked, giving her a quizzical look.

“Oh, sorry. It means don’t worry,” Megan explained, rubbing her head with an embarrassed smile.

Ivankov gave his fellow Russian a slightly amused look, breaking his serious expression.

Megumi looked back at the other squad members. “Remember, I want you all serious once we get on the ground. We have to go through open fields and then the ship, they will have the upper hand at all times. I’m going to be up front with the SHIVs, everyone else needs to stay back and keep an eye out.”

“Yes, sir!” came the collective response from the soldiers there. Some of them said it in their native language; there was a ‘da, ser!’ from the two Russians.

1300 Hours, Local Time (EL), Fernando de Noroha

A Skyranger touched down on the island, not far from an abandoned shack and an overturned truck, the medium-sized UFO sitting on the ground. The foreboding, monolithic craft was about 30 meters away from the XCOM landing zone, or LZ. The two SHIVs rolled out, serving as guardians for Megumi. Once she had made it out of the aircraft, the rest of the forces, save for the sniper Kelly Murphy and the Russian support, followed her. Those two waited a bit longer, functioning better in the back.

A breeze touched the grass, picking up in intensity, and created a wavelike ripple across the brushland between the defenders of humanity and the downed UFO. It was deathly quiet save for the rainfall, and the sun was blocked from sight by the heavy rainstorm.

“I don’t likkke this…” one of the rookies, Francis, said nervously, clutching his laser shatterray with tense hands as the squad slowly advanced.

“Quiet, Francis,” Sharron and Victor said in unison. They were nervous as well, but also didn’t want him giving away their position.

An electronic thrum, followed by a croaking sound and soft engines, stole the eerily silence, if only for a moment. The XCOM operatives pulled up their guns, scanning the area frantically, but there was no sign of the source of the sound.

“I think that came from the ship…” Victor whispered.

“It could be something, it could be nothing, Keep moving, we need to get to cover…” Megumi responded.

There was the flare of engines through the falling rain, and from the side of the ship two metal objects, probably drones, and a horrifying cyborg with a built in jetpack shot out, moving to the side a bit.

Megumi help up an arm, and then knelt behind a SHIV. “Quiet.”

Trembling, Francis got down on one knee beside a stubby, tropical tree.

Modya did likewise, but was out in the open without anywhere to go. Sweat was starting to bead on his forehead, and he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself. Terror threatened to grasp his heart like a ghostly fist. They don’t see us…they don’t see us…

Kelly took aim, pointing at the floater slowly. See you in hell, abomination…

There was a clicking noise from the bushes to their left, and Kelly’s shot went off target due to the distraction, the laser beam shooting over the floater’s head and alerting it. It barreled towards them aggressively, backed up by the two drones, paralleling Megumi and her two SHIVs.

A thread of purple energy shot into Francis’s head, and he screamed in abject terror, dropping his weapon and falling to his knees in terror, his eyes wide and filled with tears.

“Jubjub!” Megumi said, “Give him some cover!” The SHIV loyally rolled over and shielded poor Francis from the incoming enemies, trying to also block from where the psychic attack had come from. Sure enough, plasma bolts sprayed in Francis’s direction, one of them missing, but the other damaged the robot’s armor. “Deal with the sectoids, let me and Kelly worry about the fliers!”

Ivankov threw up a smoke grenade, further increasing the cover the rainstorm provided.

Modya frantically scanned the underbrush, looking for some sign of the gray aliens, knowing their next round of shots was imminent, and tried to block out the sound of the floater’s engines. Another set of shots came in, and this time he could tell where they were coming from. Despite that, they barely missed Modya and Sharron, and he could take standing out in the open no more. The Russian soldier dashed for the shack, which was about 3 meters away.

“The hell are you doing?” Ivankov shouted over the rain, pinpointing the sectoids and taking aim at them.

The floater and its entourage reached the squad, and the drones took evasive action. They dodged the SHIVs expertly, but the spray of bullets blew up one while the spray from the Scatter Laser damaged the other. The floater itself swerved past them, and went straight for Ivankov. As a series of shots from the Russian support claimed the life of one of the sectoids, and Megan shot at another, missing, the floater closed the distance.

“Adrian!” Megumi yelled out, but it was too late. Adrian had enough time to look straight into the floater’s callous eyes before a series of plasma shots blasted into his chest, melting it. He was dead before he hit the ground.

While Sharron and Victor could not hit the floater as it attacked, they were pinning it down, and the smoke was dissipating. Modya’s eyes widened. “W…what have I…” he took aim at the floater, and clenched his fingers on the trigger. A blast from Modya’s heavy rifle shot through the floater’s chest, and it shared Ivankov’s fate.

Kelly shot at the remaining drone, taking it down, while two sectoids remained. They looked at each other, surprised by the human’s ferocity, and started to back off, the one in the front being strengthened by a mind-merge.

Francis regained his wits, and after breathing in and calming himself down, he ran after the fleeing sectoids, seriously wounding the one in the front with a shot from his shatterray. Megumi caught up with him as he charged, and went on ahead, dodging shots from the sectoids with her lightning reflexes.

Modya followed up by tossing an AP grenade into their midst, killing the frontal one and wounding the other as lightning illuminated the area. He stopped his assault when he saw what Megumi intended to do. The scout ran up the sectoid, which gave an expression of fear as Shimizu lifted up a strange, electric device. “Good night,” she said coldly, and electrocuted the sectoid, knocking it out cold.

Modya looked at the ground for a moment, and then went over to his deceased countryman, kneeling down, his head low. “Forgive me…” he said quietly, his voice breaking. I’m nothing but a coward….and it’s cost another life…god dammit!

Megumi joined him, and laid a hand on Modya’s shoulder. “He didn’t die for nothing. You need to stay focused, Dragomirov, or I’ll never forgive you for this.”

Modya nodded shakily, retrieved Ivankov’s medkit, stood up, and rejoined the others as they continued their advance towards the alien craft.

 

[DarkGemini24601]

Operation Explosive Lightning (Part 2)
Brazilian Atlantic Islands of Fernando de Noronha, off the Coast of Brazil. 1300 Hours, Local Time (EL).

The squad entered through a side door together, not finding anything initially. The SHIVs, Megumi, and three rookies lined up on the glowing door that lead into another room, while Modya remained back with the sniper and rocketeer. Megan glanced over at the flight computers with slight interest, but was mainly keeping an eye out.

The sound of cautious footsteps echoed, just for a moment, behind Modya. With a pale expression, not even able to make sudden movements to alert his comrades, he turned around, and flipped around the corner behind them. He and a Thin Man’s eyes met, and Modya pulled the trigger, his fear and tension actually giving him an advantage in this situation, as the Thin Man could not react in time. A shot ripped through its neck, and it collapsed like a gas bag.

Megan grabbed Modya by the shoulder and pulled him back before the gas spread to him. “Careful, that stuff can get in throu-” There were shouts from the other soldiers as the door opened on their side to reveal another Thin Man and drone.

Megumi reacted the fastest, swiveling around and blasting the thin man with scatter laser without a second thought. The rookies in unison sprayed the drone with laser blasts, aided by the SHIV’s superheavy lasers. The drone was reduced to a molten heap, but their victory was soured by Megumi’s hacking cough as the gas from the alien seeped into her pores and poisoned her.

Modya ran over to Megumi’s side, and helped cure the poison before it had a chance to really hurt the Japanese woman. She looked up at Modya with gratitude, her expression lightening. “Thanks, Dragomirov…” She seemed a bit guilty for what she had said early, but brushed it aside as everyone reloaded, knowing there was one last fight to be had. “They is probably an ‘Outsider’ in here somewhere, I want everyone with heavy weapons to get in front and charge them, I’ll draw their fire first with the SHIVs as backup.

The squad walked past the glowing elerium power systems, and prepared by the door, ready to breach. Megumi took a deep breath, and then ran through.

Two crystals expanded, forming humanoid shapes equipped with plasma carabines. Outsiders. Plural. Megumi looked surprised, and dodged the first barrage, but one of the next shots grazed her side, the plasma eating through her reinforced armor and phalanx, but wasn’t enough to burn her critically, though it was starting to hurt. She aimed at the first Outsider’s face and blasted it, nearly killing it instantly. The creature’s form wavered, but it did not go down just yet.

The SHIV’s were with her, and flanked the enemy from both sides shortly after, one of them missing the agile, fully healthy outsider, while the other unloaded into the dying one, the damage more than enough to compensate for the healing factor.

With a reassuring look from Megan, Modya and the rocketeer charged in behind Griffon, and both of them fired into the Outsider, dealing heavy damage. Before their eyes, though, it started to regenerate, and the two rocketeers ducked behind the computers as a retaliation shot went just over their heads.

Kelly shot it with his heater, but even that was not enough, and it blasted the SHIV infront of it. Both of the SHIV’s were damaged, and the surviving Outsider started to make a run out the other door.

Sharron and Victor fired together, their beams crossing in an ‘x’, and slew the Outsider before it had a chance to draw out the battle.

The area secured, Megumi Shimizu contacted central. “This is Specialist Shimizu, we’re secured the crash site.”

Bradford nodded to the Commander. “We’re receiving you. The teams will be there shortly to recover artifacts, head on home.”

Megan followed Modya as they headed back to the ship. “I think we’re even, I didn’t use my rocket launcher at all…Modya?”

The Russian glanced back at her, an expression of sadness showing that he wasn’t over the loss of Ivankov by any means. “S…sorry…” Megan apologized, and let him go on ahead.

 

[BMPixy]

Operation Rolling Thunder
April 19th, 2018
Somewhere in the Amazon Rainforest
1226 Local Time

PFC. ALBERT FOULKE
SHOREBIRDS

Splish. “Did I ever mention how much I hated the rain?” Fujioka moaned from behind me, as the drizzle poured down between the trees.

“About six times in the last eight minutes,” Quinn remarked. My Laser Rifle scanned the trees, trying to spot movement.

“Hey, not like I have a helmet to keep the rain out like you do Mr. Practical Problems.” Was that a Sectoid? No, no, just a particularly large bug.

“Then perhaps you should have taken one with you before you got on the Skyranger.” Wait, over there, did that bush move?

“Simmer down, we need to keep quiet,” Arturo said, and the pair finally shut up. No, it did move!

“Contact right!” I yelled, my nerves getting the better of me, and I squeezed off a pulse of light towards the offending bush. The laser punched through the shrubbery, igniting it, continuing until the rain and distance finally diffracted and diffused the beam. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the others moving into supporting positions, when suddenly an irritated bird flew out of the flaming bush. Oh god dammit.

“Never mind, just a bird...” I muttered shamefully, loud enough for the others to hear.

“Keep an eye on that trigger discipline Foulke, but good eyes. C’mon, let’s keep moving, crash site is another 60 meters ahead,” Arturo said, as the fire-team continued it’s advance.

Damn, my first shot with a laser weapon on a combat mission, and here I go botching it on a bird. That’ll probably get circulating around the base, Albert Foulke, bird hunter. I slipped out the partially used charge pack for a fresh one, mindful to stick the used one at the back so I wouldn’t grab it by accident. After all, how likely am I to use up all my packs on the mission? As the minutes rolled by and the rain fell, we trudged through the mud towards the target site. Occasionally Quinn would comm the other fireteam, and he’d pass on their status to Arturo. They were circling around the south-west side of the craft, and we would try to catch the X-Rays in a pincer attack, us on the north-east entrance, them on the south-west, and we would push towards the center. Suddenly Arturo held his hand up, signaling us to stop.

“Quiet, I think I see an X-Ray up ahead, behind that tree a couple meters ahead,” he whispered, “Looks like a Sectoid. Foulke, Quinn, circle around left, Fujioka, sneak up towards it, doesn’t look like he’s aware, I’ll stay here on overwatch with the SHIV.”

“Got it,” Quinn said, and motioned for me to follow him. Slowly we climbed through the undergrowth, pausing to keep track of Fujioka. After a tense minute, Fujioka finally spoke up.

“It’s dead,” she called out, “Wildlife got it, some kind of snake. Gonna put one in it’s head to make sure.”

“Roger that. Stay on guard, these guys usually come in packs. Quinn, Foulke, get on overwatch, I’m advancing up towards you guys.”

As Fujioka pulled her laser pistol to double tap the X-ray, I kept a close eye on the shrubbery. Bushes, moving again. I gently nudged Quinn, and pointed at the offending plant life. He shook me off, muttering something about me being jumpy and birds.

The sound of two lasers cracked the silence, and Fujioka said, “Alright, it’s dead for certain now. Orders?”

“Form up again, we’re gonn-” Arturo spoke, before being interrupted by a bolt of plasma shooting across the small clearing, striking the tree above Fujioka and gouging a deep hole in it. “Ambush! Get to cover!” the Specialist shouted.

Check ahead, nothing, left clear, right, movement! Damn, wasn’t the bushes, but there they are!

“Two sectoids, my right!” I yelled, as I poked the rifle out from my cover, taking aim at one of the aliens, standing up from a cluster of ferns. Flip on laser sight, bead on center of mass, squeeze trigger, and with a crack of vaporized air the beam shot out, striking the Sectoid in the torso. The xeno staggered, and stepped back, until another beam from Quinn’s Shatterray caught it in the head and took the X-ray out of commission. The second Sectoid gave a chittering cry, and moved to fall back, the attempted ambush thwarted already, however a hail of bullets from the SHIV cut it down before it could escape.

“Area clear,” Quinn called out, which was affirmed by Fujioka and Arturo. I calmed down my breathing, and stood up from my cover. Been a long while since I’d seen active combat, mostly just sitting back at company command.

“If that’s all of them, let’s get moving, we’re on a time-table here!” Arturo ordered, and we fell back into our previous formation.

As we closed the gap between us and the craft, the vegetation suddenly cut off, to be replaced by a scorched field with debris and shattered trees across the field. Up ahead was the craft, so alien, obviously, in it’s appearance. Arturo signaled me and Quinn forward to a particularly tall pile of debris, and there we took up overwatch as the SHIV, Arturo, and Fujioka leap-frogged forward.

Quinn put a hand to his ear when we were about fifteen meters into the crash site, and yelled out, “Hey, fire-team Foxtrot ran into a couple Thin Men with a drone. Their SHIV took a hit, but the X-Rays were taken out. They’re about twenty meters out from the craft.”

“Got it, tell ‘em good work, and that we’re at the crash site, thirty meters from the craft,” the Heavy Weapons Specialist replied, and Quinn echoed the reply to the other fire-team.

As we leap-frogged across the debris field, I got this nagging feeling that it was just too damn quiet. It’s probably totally unfounded, after all, all my other funny feelings or gut instincts today have been wrong. Finally, after three nerve-wracking minutes, we finally reached the door.

As we took breaching positions Arturo said, “Fujioka, you’re going in first since you’re faster. Jabberwock will follow, since it can take more punishment. Foulke and Quinn, once the door is open you pop an AP into there. I’ll lay down suppressing fire on whatever’s left, and Fujioka can try to nab anything that’s alive.” We all nodded our heads in affirmation, then Arturo raised a hand, counting down from three, as I prepped the grenade. Once the last finger was pulled down, he slammed the fist on the door, causing it to open. I hastily pulled the pin and chucked the grenade into the room, Quinn’s grenade following. Two explosions, followed by two smaller ones, and an unusual cry of pain.

No time to think, Fujioka’s in, ready to provide cover, and-

“Uh, room clear, I think?” Fujioka said, confused from her position behind a UFO console. I poked my head out to see the source of her confusion, and saw an alien torso, with some sort of cybernetic upgrades attached to it. It was clearly still alive, but it’s arms were dangling on by threads and it appeared incapable of movement.

“Stun it. It’s pretty wounded, but it’s something we haven’t seen before,” Arturo ordered. Fujioka slid up to where the alien laid, and the thing moved as if to bite her. With a quick yelp she pulled the trigger on the Arc Thrower, and a pulse of electricity took down the tenderized X-Ray.

“Right, let’s get ready, there’s another door ahead. Foxtrot team should be-” A nearby door collapsed, interrupting the Specialist, and we snapped up our weapons to see the familiar visages of Foxtrot team.

“Foxtrot, reporting in,” the fire-team leader said, giving a mock salute.

“You were waiting for that, weren’t you, Brown?”

“No sir, just good timing,” the Medic replied.

“Right, since we got everybody here, Wade, use that console as a sniping point, SHIVs by the door, Brown, Grey, and Maggie on the right side of the door, everybody else on the left side. SHIVs first, then Foulke and Maggie flash ‘em, then Grey, Fujioka, and Quinn get in there. Brown you stay back in case anybody gets hit, I’ll take care of suppression.”

We all filed into our positions, and I readied my flashbang. Once more, the three fingers went down, door opened, and the SHIVs rolled in. I slid out to ID targets, when I spotted them. Forming out of crystals of light came something bipedal, tall, and shining brightly. I chucked my flashbang at the one nearer to me as it moved towards cover, and I saw Maggie do the same, as ordered. I ducked back to let the grenades go off, and I saw Fujioka and Quinn run past me to get inside the room.

I heard the sound of plasma fire, and- wait, wasn’t there a wall here? Oh shit! I quickly sprinted forwards to a console, as the boom of Wade’s sniper rifle filled the UFO. Arturo slid in beside me, and hefted his gun, spraying fire across the room to keep the hostiles pinned. A quick look saw the one on the right staggering from a well-aimed burst of laser fire from Grey, the crystalline armor shattering, and I stood up to finish it off.

Suddenly, the armor began to reform, as I pulled the trigger. It hadn’t completely repaired the previous damage however, and the beam of light speared deep. A spray of machine gun fire from Bandersnatch struck it once more, sending it sprawling across the floor, however a pulse of plasma fire from the other alien struck it, and the SHIV exploded in a cascade of sparks.

“SHIV down,” I heard Fujioka yell, as I fired another pulse at the prone alien, however the shot went wide and struck a nearby wall. Slowly the X-Ray got up, it’s armor reforming once more. I quickly glanced over at the other alien right as a spray of buck-shot from Quinn’s sawed-off burst it’s torso open in a spray of orange light like a sledge-hammer to a can of OJ concentrate.

The Outsider raised it’s weapon once more, however a crack of thunder from Wade struck it in the arm, shattering the limb in a burst of light. More lasers flew as the wounded alien healed, and I lifted my rifle to fire. Pointer on head, steady, aim, fire!

The lance of light speared the alien though the head, and the alien finally fell.

Oh, thank god, it’s over. I hope.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Non-Player Mission Parameters
Abduction Mission

Operation: Broken Hammer
Location: Sydney, Australia
Date: April 21st, 2018

We were a bit caught off guard by a sudden assault at the Sydney Opera House, but we are always up for a challenge.

Much like the mission in New York, our soldiers infiltrated from the rear of the building and proceeded to clear it out the building. However, the aliens were better prepared this time, almost as if they purposely invaded the Opera house with the knowledge it would end the same as before.

Upon arriving in the main hall, the forces had the hardest time taking them out. The aliens had set up large stationary turrets. In the end, we received minor injuries to a third of our troops and major injuries to three more.

What's perplexing is that the alien forces were completely comprised of sectoids and drones, much like the earlier attack. But if they were expecting a fight, why did they send their most basic aliens?

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Non-Player Mission Parameters
UFO Landing Mission

Operation: Broken Hymn
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date: April 23rd, 2018

Our forces were sent to Alberta, right outside of Calgary, to investigate the landing of a small scout ship.

The alien forces were composed of sectoids and Thin Men. Again, the aliens seemed more concerned with the fight then anything else, obviously expecting a fight. This leaves us with the belief that they wanted to simply attack us for the sake of attacking us.

The aliens were relentless, seemingly more concerned with hurting our forces then they're own safety. We received three major injuries because the aliens simply ran out of cover to attack us. Even the outsider, using a being thought to have a decent level of intelligence, showed little concern for it's own safety.

The mission, in the end, yeilded little in the way of usable resources. Despite the ship landing on it's own volition, most of the machines and copmputers were destroyed. We were able to recover a decently size vat of Meld, though it looked as though we got lucky with that one.

What's more, we lost one soldier, a sniper left at the back of the squad. Oddly enough, she showed no signs of plasma burns. An autopsy is underway, but for now, cause of death appears to be strangulation, and whatever strangled her and a devastating grip.

 

[ZombieSplitter53]

X-COM Non-Player Mission Parameters
Abduction Mission

Operation: Dried Oasis
Location: Casablanca, Morocco, Africa
Date: April 25th, 2018

Another alien abduction mission, and another series of injuries. Catching on to the alien's recent tactics, damage to troops was left a minimum, but we are still put off by these usual attacks.

The aliens caused massive damage to the center of the city, seemingly wanting to cause as much damage as possible in addition to the abducting humans.

After a series of fire fights throughout the city, the aliens were eventually dealt with. It took longer then usual, as we needed to anticipate the aliens suicide tactics, and we are still learning how to fight the new 'floater' aliens. However, the Commander was more concerned with the safety of our troops then a speedy mission.

We found several more vats of meld, but only the one we found at the start was of any use. The timing mechanisms on the others left them unusable, but again, the Commander was more concerned with soldier safety.