Bay 12 Games Forum

Mac shifted his Interceptor's powerful engines downwards and began descending towards the UFO's crash site. Within moments the Interceptor touched down and the team's access ramp fell to the ground. It was time to go.



To the east was the downed craft. It did not appear to have taken much damage from the landing, only deep gashes in it's armor showed that it was damaged at all.



Hugh Mann looked over a house to the north. He immediately spotted a tall, wide, purple figure in the second story window. An ambush!



He raised his laser rifle and carefully placed his shot. The laser flew instantly through the air and burned a hole into the glass window with it's intense heat. It continued through the melted glass and struck the alien down with ease.



"Careful troops, it looks like they managed to setup ambush points before we could land." Hugh Mann cautioned.

"I'll go and see if I can spot any more of them." Offered Argatson.

"Go, I'll cover you with a smoke grenade in a moment." Replied Hugh Mann as he fished the grenade from his belt.

As Argatson stepped out onto the ramp he spotted another floating alien in a nearby orchard, hiding amongst the trees.



Argatson began to spin up his auto-cannon as he raised his weapon towards the hiding alien. He held down the trigger and high powered death spewed from the end of it's barrels. The orchard and it's surroundings were riddled with destruction but the floating alien remained untouched.



"Damn it!" called out Argatson as he ducked behind the Interceptor's ramp for cover.

"Everyone get ready to get out there, wait for the smoke." Hugh Mann directed as he primed his smoke grenade.



The team still inside the Interceptor moved closer to it's exit ramp and waited in anticipation for the smoke screen.



Samuel Grover, however, could not wait. He grabbed a grenade from his belt and began fiddling with it. Before he could be stopped he moved out onto the ramp, his eyes set on the exposed floating alien.



With one fluid motion he tossed the grenade high into the air before hopping off the ramp to take cover next to Argatson. The grenade soared gracefully through the air in an arc towards the alien, landing just behind it.



Hugh Mann hurriedly tossed his smoke grenade out the back of the Interceptor before anyone else could run out into the open.



Two explosions sounded at the same moment. The floating alien falls victim to Samuel's well placed grenade while smoke enveloped the back of the Interceptor.





Samuel scored his first career kill while the rest of the team began moving out of the Interceptor. Mac was the last out of the Interceptor but managed to spot something everyone else had missed. Two aliens were advancing towards the Interceptor.

One to the north, next to the farm house.



The other to the east, moving along the ruined orchard.



The team quickly lined up their shots through the smoke, relying on Mac's information to guide their shots. Hugh Mann took aim at the alien to the north.



He fired two bolts of deadly concentrated light and burned a hole through the alien to the north. The creature's death cries fell on the team's ears, boosting everyone's moral.



Sigvard and Steve took on the remaining alien. Sigvard was quicker on the draw but failed to hit his target, it appeared that Sigvard needed more practice with shooting at hidden targets with coordinate guidance.



Steve, however, appeared to have lost none of his knowledge and practice on the same subject from his recent death and was soon rewarded with the loud, alien, death-scream of his target.



With the team fully covered by the smoke, they began to carefully move through it and search for additional hostiles.



As the team moved through the smoke, Steve spotted another alien. This one had somehow moved in-front of the farmhouse without anyone noticing it, perhaps it had come from above. If it had, it was odd that it would give up it's vantage point to approach the smoke. It was possible that the aliens truly had no idea how to counter our tactics.



Steve quietly described the alien's location. The team turned to the alien's location and began lining up their weapons, checking to make sure they were not firing through friendlies. Mac was first to fire, his explosive round screamed through the air and pierced into the alien's metallic chest. The round exploded violently, spewing pieces of the alien onto the ground into a sticky mound.



The team continued to move slowly and carefully through the area. Within the hour the area was cleared and the UFO was breached. The ground team found no additional hostiles anywhere and the clean-up crew was called in.

MISSION COMPLETE!



While waiting for the clean-up crew to arrive I mused over my notes. The completion of the living quarters, in Europe and Asia, was approaching and the ground team would soon be separated into three forces. Most of the ground forces would remain here in North America and two small groups of soldiers, lead by two of our highest ranking soldiers, would transfer to the listening posts. The two remote teams would soon be supplemented with fresh soldiers. I decided to give the two high ranked soldiers second command of these bases, answering only to myself. I wanted to move some power away from Jack before he could get too comfortable with being the only second in command.

I had a look at my notes and decided to make the following promotions:



I would send Neil Stranek, Hugh Mann, Argatson, Samuel Grover and Sergi Danilev to Europe under the command of Commander Darkwind. Most of these soldiers have some history in Europe and would fit well there, I was sure that Darkwind would be up to the task.

Shigeo Okabe, Shu Bei, Dash Gunmetal and RAM 1 would go to the Asian base under the command of Colonel Ashley Smith, once she had recovered and was ready for travel and duty. Despite being in the hospital for an extended period of time and her lack of previous training; Ashley Smith appeared to be a very prodigious soldier. Ashley Smith had a great grasp of covert tactics and the scope of our mission. She displayed nothing but excellence in her service and did not allow her past to color her efforts. Ashley Smith did not accept defeat or death and because of all of this, I saw a little bit of myself in her. She would hopefully continue to excel as a base commander.

I must admit that with the counter intelligence I had been receiving about Shu Bei, I was eager to send him back to Asia. I wanted those he answered to, to have as little information as possible.

If all missions continue to go as smoothly as this recent one had, this conflict would be over in no time at all.

TO BE CONTINUED!
----------------
Stat Changes:

Hugh Mann:
Kills + 2
TU's + 2
Stamina + 1
Health + 4
Throwing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 3

Archangel:
Rank UP! - Sergeant

Ashley Smith:
Rank UP! - Colonel

Roll Fizzlebeef:
Rank UP! - Sergeant

Darkwind:
Rank UP! - Commander

Sarah Newman:
Rank UP! - Captain

Mac:
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Stamina + 5
Health + 1

Steve C2:
Rank UP! - Squaddie
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Strength +6

Samuel Grover:
Rank UP! - Squaddie
Kills + 1
TU's + 4
Stamina + 4
Health + 4
Firing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 1
-------------------
Accolades:

Positive:
Synergy - Samuel Grover - Gained a point in Firing Accuracy without firing his gun
You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry - Steve - 6 strength points gained in one mission with a single kill

Negative:
Missed The Barn - Argatson & Sigvard - Failed to hit his target even once in 6(Argatson) and 7(Sigvard) shots
Thick Headed - Sigvard - Earned no stat increases this mission
--------------------------------------------------------------
This was an incredibly easy mission o.o The aliens never even got a shot off! Congrats to Chaoticag and Muwahahaha on their characters being top dogs!