Bay 12 Games Forum

First Terror mission and you're doing it in the daytime? Lucky!

ehahahahaha no

no its gonna be quite dark when I get there, that's am on that clock

seeing how this game defaults to superhuman after every load, I think i'll need it

well this is why it takes a month to research medkits. superhuman is doable but requires tons of min/maxing

Anya Snow's Experiment Log 1

Personal Log of Dr. Marcus Gabelman

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Jan 10, 2040

Finally, my research is paying off. I just said farewell to a nice young man from the Navy. He informed me that Navy Brass had read a number of my papers, and had several research programs that they would like me to head.

I will be packing my things up soon, and in two days I will be arriving at Norfolk, where I imagine a number of non-disclosure agreements will be awaiting me. Ah well. Things were getting boring here anyway.

Jan 13, 2040

Well, this was unexpected.

I am on a submarine, headed for a top-secret, underwater military base. I will be joining a team of scientists already there, and together we are going to save the world.

Because they're back.

I remember, as a child, being disappointed that I would never be able to get my revenge on the extra-terrestrial aggressors. Now it appears I may do so, if only by giving others the weapons and armor needed to win the day.

Perhaps my original research may be continued here. I'll have to talk to the base commander...

Jan 15, 2040

I officially hate my idiot colleagues.

Cuttlefish... ugh.

Jan 20, 2040

I attended the funeral today, for the brave soldiers who died in the last raid.

It's sad. So much death, for no good reason.

This war needs to end soon. I pray we can keep it under raps, and away from the public, as much as possible. We lost so much to the last Alien War, we we're finally getting back into things. And now they've come back.

I talked to the base commander about my research. He told me to take one of the personal subs, and get whatever I needed. I hope there's enough room for the tanks. They prefer to stay as a group, I couldn't bear to separate them...

Jan 23, 2040

Oops.

One of our dead heroes had a sister. A sister that managed to find out how he really died. A sister that managed to sneak aboard my sub. A sister that has demanded to be allowed to fight.

And I've been put in charge of her training.

I suppose I should have seen that coming eventually. They were bound to know about my early experiments, and their successes, and then the black-ops work the government had us do, when my friends and I were found out.

Not sure why they would think an assassin would make a good soldier trainer, but I'll certainly do my best. I can probably train a decent scout, at least.

Who knows? Maybe she has the Talent, and I can show her far more of the universe than she could imagine.

If so, perhaps she will eventually find peace. I can feel her rage, bubbling red-hot, all the way from the brig.

Time to introduce myself, I suppose.

The events of Jan 25th, 2040

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

In a distant corner of the underwater base, a glass-steel dome poked out. Originally designed as an underwater training area, it was seeing slightly different use this day. Almost three-quarters full of water, a figure in a bulky diving suit floated in the center.

The figure breathed slowly. Most, he knew, found diving suits of this variety bulky, and claustrophobic.  It made it difficult to feel that there was a physical world beyond the suit.

Which was precisely what Marcus intended. Closing his eyes, he opened his mind.

He found the dolphins first. he had released them from their travel tanks, as soon as the room was filled to his satisfaction. They had spent most of their time at first exploring, testing the boundaries of the new room. It was much larger than anything they had been used to back at the labs. They were soon playing with the many toys he had scattered around the room.

He marveled at their minds. They were so alive. Joy sang through every thought, as they chased each other, passed balls back and forth, and leaped above the water, seeming to challenge the others to slap their tails playfully against the ceiling.

They had names of course, but none that he had given. Bright-Song. Ripple-Wave. Brown-Water. Deep-Friend. These were the names they knew themselves by. Dolphin naming conventions were sometimes tricky to understand, but there was always a meaning. Deep always tried to see how far down he could swim, before returning to the surface. Marcus remembered the first time he'd given Deep and oxygen tank and a special-made breathing mask. He didn't think she'd ever return.

Brown-Water, sadly, was named so because of his gastro-intestional issues. He did often leave a trail of his name-sake. Most dolphins and divers quickly learned to swim up-current from him.

Just as he knew them, they knew him. He remembered when he'd first met this pod. He'd retired from black-ops, burned out from so much death. The mental death-screams of friends and enemies had left him drained. He'd turned back to research in hopes that it would relax him.

The first time he'd felt the stangely human-like thoughts of a dolphin enter his mind, he'd been rather shocked.

His own mental powers had come from much study with his friends, long ago in college. They'd gotten hold of an amplifier, but instead of using it like an exoskelton, letting it do the heavy-lifting, they'd used it like a piece of excercise equipment. Evntually, they'd learned how to do simple things like this, without needing the amplifier at all.

Reaching out, he located one specific mind in the pod. Applying a slight mental pressure his whispered in the dolphins mind. :Sleek.:

He felt his target loop around lazily, and hover before him. Softly, Shining-Sleek's thoughts tickled his mind. :Hello, Mar-cus.:

:How does your pod like their new home?:

Sadness colored the next thoughts. :We miss the open ocean. We can see it, beyond your walls, but we cannot hear it sing.:

:I know Sleek. I could have the sounds pumped in if you like.:

This perked the dolphin up :You could do this?:

:Yes. I could even make it so you could talk back to the ocean. Would you like that?:

Fierce joy rolled over Marcus. He thought he felt the dolphin bump his with his nose. :Yes, Mar-cus. We would like that very much.:

Now they had come to the difficult part. He wondered how Sleek would react. :Sleek, they've come back. Did you know that?:

Now the thoughts were tinged with fear, anger, and sadness. :The Destroyers?:

:Yes Sleek. They attack the ocean.:

Now the feelings had given way to rage. :You are trying to stop them?:

:Yes Sleek. And I think you can help.:

:How?:

:I think I know a way to enhance your songs. You would be able to sing the Destroyers to death.:

There was nothing intelligible in the reply. It reminded Marcus, disconcertingly, of the feeling he got from the pod when they had a school of fish surrounded, and were picking them off, one by one.

:Sleek. I may return with another, soon. She might not be able to talk as we talk, but perhaps some day. Would you like that?:

:Yes, Mar-cus. Bring your pod-mate.:

And with that, Marcus's audience aparently over, Sleek returned to his pod, and Marcus left to meet with a certain angry young woman.

Okay, so my dolphins think english. I took a little creative license. Sue me.

I wonder if i would notice your developed psychic ability, as i would have something similar...

So there was no room for the clone in the roster, eh?  Much more new recruits than I thought there were.

zchris, I have tried that before and it has backfired horribly before.  'Course, not to say I didn't keep trying it . . .

you were waiting on a clone? why didn't you say so. i have a redshirt that hasn't been named yet. Whats clone number 1's name? Steve 2?

I chose some new recruits to take on this mission rather than only more experienced members because they were fresh and needed to be field tested. Of the experienced soldiers I sent Cerapa, Tamunshin, Spartan, RAM 1 and Heridden Barbarossa. With them I sent Archangel, Darkwind, Ashley Smith, Roll Fizzlebeef and Dash Gunmetal who had a hissy-fit when we told him that he would be arriving at sunrise. He clamped up when he was told that the sooner he went, the less bright it would be.

When the drop-ship arrived it was still quite dim outside but at least it was not black. I watched closely as Mario started up his tank remotely.



He moved out of the Skyranger and looked around. He found the ufo quickly enough but he couldn't find any hostiles. He identified the ufo as the cross shaped ufo they had encountered before but this time it was covered in smoke. He went further checking the Skyranger's flanks but found nothing.

The ground team exited the Skyranger and formed a circle at it's ramp's base. While Mario ventured further. Suddenly a green blast came at Mario's tank, deflecting off the turret into the sky harmlessly. Mario traced the shot to a group of nearby trees between two hills. Ashley Smith and Archangel climbed a nearby hill to get a better vantage.



Spartan, meanwhile, moved out in-front of the Skyranger onto another hill that overlooked the other side of the ufo. He setup a sniper position to cover the breach team as they moved up along the ufo.



Mario spotted the little gray man who had shot at him earlier. He watched it dash over the hill on the far side of the small group of trees.



He moved closer to the alien but stopped when he spotted the shadow of another alien waiting in ambush behind the ufo.



"Guys, it's Mario here, I'm a few meters away from an ambush, I spotted an alien in the east corner of the ufo. Can anyone get at it for me?"
"Actually, I can." Replied Dash Gunmetal, Heridden Barbarossa looked at him strangely



"How? that's the other side of the ufo." Barbarossa crossed his arms.
"Like this." Dash Gunmetal grabbed his grenade off his belt and armed it, tossing it over the ufo.
Barbarossa grabs his face in disbelief. "Why didn't I think of that?"



Dash Gunmetal's grenade explodes and smoke pours out from around the corner of the ufo. Mario moves in for a visual conformation when smoldering green blasts come at him from the smoke.
"Shit, he's still up!" Mario reels in his chair, firing a rocket towards the alien. The rocket hits the side of the ufo, covering the area in smoke. The alien still stood within the thickening smoke.



"I don't know how many more of these things can bounce off my tank before one sinks in..." Warns Mario.
RAM 1 looks at Dash Gunmetal carefully. "You have a good idea Dash, but I think I see what you did wrong."



RAM 1 pulls the grenade from his belt, arms it and pauses before throwing it, calculating his aim before tossing it over the ufo.



Mario watches the grenade hit the alien through the billowing smoke. The grenade explodes and a shrapnel filled alien collapses to the ground.
"Holy crap RAM 1! Direct hit!" Exclaimed Mario.
Dash Gunmetal sneered at RAM 1 for stealing his thunder.

The team had setup a good perimeter, Darkwind had joined Spartan overlooking the one side of the ufo while Cerapa and Tamunshin Watched over the other side.

Mario moves up the nearby hill to find the alien that had given him the slip. He quickly spots it in a small valley between two hills.



"Found it, There's an alien just over the hill, I'll draw it's attention." Mario broadcasts as he moves across the alien's field of vision. The alien see's him and opens fire, none of the shots manage to land on Mario's tank.

Archangle grabs his grenade, arms it, and tosses it over the hill. It explodes and rips the alien apart from behind. One could say that it was "super effective".
"Target down, nice throw Archangel." Comments Mario.



Meanwhile Heridden Barbarossa carefully moves around the edge of the ufo, spotting another little gray man in the south corner.



"Found another one over here." He whispers into the radio channel. "Can anyone take him out?"
"I have a shot" Calls out Spartan as he lines up his rifle on the alien.



A bullet screams out of his rifle and in an instant the alien falls to the ground.
"Thanks Spartan. Now lets set up a breach and finish this." Commanded Barbarossa. I didn't think much of him when I met him but he is quickly becoming a good team leader.

The breach team moved up along the ufo as Spartan and Darkwind brought up the rear.
"It played possum!" Shouted Dash Gunmetal as he noticed the alien Spartan had just shot, up and running away.



"It's unarmed, I'll get it!" He shouted as he took off in a sprint towards the wounded alien. He was fast and managed to close the distance quickly.



The alien slipped past him though and changed directions suddenly. Dash Gunmetal cursed at the little gray man and continued his pursuit.



Dash quickly closed the distance again and lodged his stun rod between the alien's shoulder blades, it screamed a slight and hollowed scream as it spasmed and fell to the ground.



After a quick check of the southern side of the ufo, all that was left was inside the downed craft. At Darkwind's suggestion, she and Spartan joined the breach team at the front of the ufo.



Dash drew the short straw and was selected to breach the ufo first. "Fine I'll do it." He mumbled, unhappy with the result. He popped the door open and dashed inside, immediately seeing an unarmed little gray man across the wreckage and smoke of what used to be the engine room of the ufo. He stepped closer and noticed that a heavily armed alien was using the first as a meat shield!



He dashed for the cover of the still standing interior wall and spoke to the team members outside "Shit, there's two aliens at the far side of the entrance, one is using the other as a shield!"
"I got it!" Darkwind called out as she jumped inside, firing off a few rounds quickly, dropping the first alien.



Spartan followed her in and layed down some cover fire, managing to hit the second alien before Barbarossa stepped into the doorway, lined up a shot with his pistol.
"Go to hell you piece of shit." He growled at the alien as he put a bullet in it's brain.

The team searched the rest of the wreckage for remaining aliens. Satisfied that none remained they called in the clean up crew and closely guarded the unconscious alien.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!





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

Character updates:

Cerapa:
Rank UP! - Sergeant

Spartan:
Rank UP! - Squaddie
TU's + 4
Health + 4
Firing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 1

RAM 1
Rank UP! - Sergeant
Kills + 1
TU's +3
Stamina + 4
Health + 1
Firing Accuracy + 1

Dash Gunmetal:
Rank UP! - Squaddie
TU's + 3
Stamina + 1
Strength + 1

Heridden Barbarossa:
Rank UP! - Captain
Kills + 1
TU's + 3
Stamina + 1
Firing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 4

Archangel:
Rank Up! - Squaddie
Kills + 1
TU's + 1
Health + 1
Firing Accuracy + 1
Strength + 1

Darkwind:
Rank UP x 2! - Sergeant
Kills + 1
Stamina + 1
Strength + 2

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

Accolades:
Spartan: reach out and touch somebody - shot an alien from across the map
Archangel: blind faith - killed an alien without line of sight
RAM 1: mr. knowitall - used a technique someone just failed at to kill an enemy

Negative Accolades:
Spartan: damn possums - shot an alien not so dead
Dash Gunmetal: dud - grenade totally failed to harm enemy
Mario: oh snap! - badly aimed reaction fire

The next day I attended Steve's and Razorwire's funeral service. it was quiet and foreboding. Were these deaths just accidents or were there many funerals to come? Or not enough funerals to come? What if this was just the tell tale signs of the main invasion? What if tomorrow  earth as we knew it would crumble under the heat of green fire?

We would stop them at any cost. Each soldier standing before the two closed caskets, listening to the base chaplain wanted another chance to give the little gray men their pay back. I hope each and every one of them fails to disappoint.

A couple days later the new soldiers arrived. The first on the list was Roll Fizzlebeef.



He was generally a good soldier but suffered bouts of shouting, dancing and careless firing when under stress. His nickname is "Samity Sam", it doesn't help that he has the mustache for it.

The Second was "Archangel".



A soldier more at home in the air than on ground. He scored generally well on all his tests.

Next was Ashley Smith.



She scored well on all her combat testings. She has no official training and was only recruited because of a clerical error that allowed her to go onto the testing phase. Once she completed her tests she was admitted based on her merits despite a complete lack of official training. It said on her history report that she was previously a janitor for a military base in the US.

The fourth soldier on the list was a strange soldier who goes by the codename "The Chosen".



His reaction time is particularly notable but his history report meets all our standards to the letter.

Next on the list is Argatson.



A very professional soldier who prefers using heavier equipment. Argatson is unique in the he is one part soldier, one part scientist and has shown great interest in the laser based weapons we have planned to develop.

Lastly we have Darkwind.



An associate of Razorwire. She has made it clear upon recruitment that she is out for alien blood. It appears her connection to Razorwire was quite strong. Nerveless, Darkwind's precision with both firearm and grenade are amazing. Perhaps she and Razorwire trained together.

Restless days go by as each soldier practices and prepares, preening their skills and nerves. I check with the radar technicians daily to see if they have seen even shadows. Nothing.

On the 17th I receive a report detailing the completion of the new living quarters. This would be great news if not for the complete lack of funds.

On the 19th the scientists had contacted me. They had made a breakthrough on the laser weapons project.



They sent me reports in great detail on how they managed to develop a light focusing array along with a new power source in order to produce lethal bursts of light. The light waves were accelerated past the gamma spectrum and sustained for a few fractions of a second on target, burning a hole through steel. The only remaining problem is creating the power source to be fast, powerful and compact enough for use by a soldier on the field of combat. I told them to continue working on that hurdle after looking over some theorized solutions, one involving fusion/fission hybrid mini-reactor.

More days go by. It was maddening. What if they were thwarting our radar technology? What if they were impersonating our own air traffic? What if? Best not to dwell on "what if's"

On the 23rd I check my finances again and they are projected to red-line within a couple days. I mull the problem over with the other leading officers.



The individual in charge of our researchers comes up with an idea. "Why don't we sell some of the alien artifacts we have gathered?" He said.
"Are you insane? the general populace doesn't even know aliens exist, nor should we reveal them or ourselves." I replied.
"Yes but our funders know we exist. They have scientists who would flip over backwards for some of this stuff. even if we don't get any information out of their work we can at least auction off any excess items we have. It's a temporary solution at best." He explained.
"He's right. at least until our med-kit manufacturing gets into gear. I took the liberty of contacting several hospitals to discuss how much they would pay for such a device and the numbers look good. An average of $46,500. That leaves us with a profit of $18,500. If our engineers are not busy with something else, why not start supplying hospitals and countries with these devices?" He was trying to convince me. So far the engineers had not offered much towards the base save assisting the mechanics and technicians. They were in no real danger though, I knew they would soon be very valuable.
"OK then, lets call our funders and host a friendly auction. we'll offer a taste of our findings to the highest bidder. Lets also sell all but 2 of our med-kits to interested buyers. I think we should continue to manufacture med-kits once some capital has been generated." I decided. With the meeting concluded I returned to my quarters to look over our list of "spoils". I selected 1 of each weapon and accessory we had including a deep blue orb that looked more like a precious gem than a tool. I also told the scientists to choose a little gray man they wished to study once they had the free time, I choose the rest to be sold. Meanwhile I decided to sell off the extra avalanche missile launchers and the med-kits set aside for sale.

That evening I had two messages waiting for me on my computer. First the auction was a great success and along with our other sales we had managed to raise over a million dollars. Second, the scientists had already developed their fusion/fission generator and it was small enough to fit in the handle of a pistol!



Must have been a pretty good epiphany. I decided to pay the good scientists a visit. They showed me in person the efficient and effective laser pistol. I was impressed and promised them that we would make good on their work as soon as the current line of med-kits was finished production. They told me that they could increase the effectiveness of the laser pistol with more time. They predict that all they would need to do was make the weapon larger and heavier and they could create a more accurate and powerful beam.



I gave them the "go ahead" and left them to their work.

With the newly received funds in our account I decided to hire an extra group of engineers to join the team already in the workshop. The engineers had told me that there was plenty of room in the workshop and that more skilled workers could increase their productivity.

I awoke with a start as the alarm from my computer went off. I groaned as I saw the time, 1:30am. I closed my eyes again and nearly fell right back into sleep before I remembered what the alarm was for.
"All commanding officers to the command center, a ufo has been detected"
My blood ran cold as I jumped up out of bed, dressing myself quickly. Minutes later I arrived at the command center. The radar technician's assistant stepped up as I entered the room as she did the past 3 times. "The ufo that was detected is small and heading south-east at 1800 kt/s." She read from her clip board.



"Scramble Interceptor 1, Mac's bird. I want to see what he can do with those cannons." I ordered.
"I'm prepped already commander, receiving co-ordinates now." He replied through the radio.
"It's north of the border but its moving fast." Noted the radar technician as I set up my command console.

Several dozen minutes went by with very little chatter. The whole room including Mac was focused. Mac caught up to the ufo in the central US and managed to damage it with his cannons. He dodged two plasma beams before the ufo accelerated away. It appeared that Mac was living up to his reputation.

The ufo changed directions and started heading back towards Canada. Mac tailed it for an hour before being able to re-engage over the Yukon. Mac got in close but had taken a couple hits.



Mac held in there though, cursing and swearing at the ufo as he held down his trigger finger. In moments Mac took another hit and was looking bad enough for me to call him off but before I could the ufo lost altitude and smashed into the earth.



"Shall we send the ground forces commander?" One of the commanding officers asked me.
"No, not yet. let them sleep for two more hours then get them up and prepped. We strike at dawn."

TO BE CONTINUED

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

So I hope everyone is enjoying my story. please leave comments. I want to know if I waste too much time detailing the little things or if you feel I am leaving something out.

10 year-old commited suicide?

Great, now daddy can have a new nightmare about his munchkin.

Give her a good long hug then. don't worry as I believe it was a very dysfunctional family...