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Update 6: Pink Balloons



The first UFO in the month of February came in the early hours of the morning, just hours after I had finished reading the briefing.

Predictably, the Interceptor was able to bring it down successfully, and we were dispatched to the crash site.




UFO-6 crash landed Feb 1 in Ukraine
Soldiers: Ol’ Stinky, Foley, Alan Davies, Richard Muller, The Poet, Phantom, Dr. Johannes, Frank Braeden, Mal Devios and Akam Babaganoush


Frank: Alright guys, spread out. If you see Sectoids, call for backup.

The Poet: Wait, what are “sectoids”?

Frank: The aliens we’re fighting. Didn’t you read the report?

The Poet: Aliens? What? No one said we’d be fighting aliens!

Frank: *sign* Just try not to get killed, okay?



Johannes: UFO sighted!



Frank: Okay everyone, surround the UFO. The last alien’s probably inside.



Foley: Wait, this isn’t a Sectoid!



Foley: Die pink floaty guy!




The appearance of a second alien species was disconcerting, but not entirely unexpected. Foley had sworn that the creature was hovering in the air before he plugged it with a few well placed shots, and the machinery implanted into the lower half of its body certainly suggested so. We named the new species “Floater” because of its ability.



The next UFO was detected over a week later, on the 9th. This time, it was on the ground, and we were sent to capture it.



UFO-7 landed Feb 9 in Turkey
Soldiers: Ol’ Stinky, Foley, Alan Davies, Richard Muller, The Poet, Phantom, Dr. Johannes, Frank Braeden, Mal Devios and Akam Babaganoush


Jeremy: Landing zone clear!



Foley: Floater to the east! I’ve got it!



Foley: I KILLED YOU ALREADY.



Foley: Stay down!



Phantom: Who volunteers to go in?

The Poet: I’ll go! After all, I’ve got the Stun Rod as a close combat weapon, which will be useful in the cramped parts of the UFO!

Phantom: Um, yeah! Good idea!



*pewpew*

The Poet: I got one! First room’s clear!

*ssstt*

The Poet: AHHH IT BURNS!



Phantom: Another one! You need to be more observant!



Johannes: Here, let me patch this up.



Richard: Well damn!



Alan: Both down!



Our first full-fledged mission against the Floaters had gone extremely well, with no causalities. We had hoped the Floaters were indeed the controlling race behind the alien forces, but as it turned out, they were merely the foot soldiers of a higher race.




Back at Evening Star, construction was proceeding apace on some new radar installation, and a group of scientists and engineers were scheduled to arrive in a few days.

Update 5: More Exposition

After the chaos of the Berlin mission, UFO activity seemed to come to a halt. On the 29th, three soldiers arrived to replace our losses.



Among them was Foley, who claimed that he had been Ramirez’s commanding officer back when he was in the Army Rangers.

On the 1st of February, I once again found another briefing waiting on my desk.

X-COM SOLDIER BRIEFING (JANUARY)
CLEARANCE LEVEL: CAPTAIN

Due to the pressing need for newer and more powerful weaponry, the Science Department has recently begun research into the previously impractical field of laser weapons.



The laser pistol is a miracle of modern technology. It is as light as a normal pistol, but also more damaging due to its use of laser technology. More notably, the laser pistol was made possible due to examination of alien power storage. In the past, handheld energy weapons were considered impractical, as the weapon would consume so much power that only one or two shots would be possible per reload. However, with the reverse-engineering of alien technology, the weapon does not even require reloading, due to the efficiency of power storage. In effect, the laser pistol has infinite shots over the standard duration of a mission.



The laser rifle is more powerful and more accurate than the pistol, but does not have the rapid fire rate of the pistol. We hope to make the laser rifle the standard weapon for all future missions.



The medi-kit was issued to soldiers for missions in the second half of January, but it has not seen much use for injured soldiers. This is because the aliens’ plasma-based weapons are very often instantly fatal, killing on impact. We hope that the development of more effective armor will rectify this problem.



Regarding the latest mission in Berlin, we have confirmed that the aliens were indeed targeting civilians, so as to affect the funding governments of X-COM. The German government has managed to round up all the civilians who have witnessed the attack, and the damage caused to the surrounding buildings has been repaired. In future, X-COM soldiers, especially those with explosive weaponry, are advised to be more prudent with the use of their weapons.



Thankfully, the German government was not discouraged by the attack, and has increased funding to X-COM as a sign of thanks for repelling the aliens.



An autopsy of the recovered Sectoid bodies has concluded. Many aspects of this being are vestigial or deformed, with all major organs placed in roughly the same order as that of humans. Noticeably, the Sectoids lace any reproductive organs, and DNA testing of the bodies has revealed that they share the same genome. This most likely means that the Sectoids are a genetically engineered and cloned race, which would explain the under-developed nature of their organs. What is more worrying, however, is the fact that their craft – detailed below – do not possess a cloning system of any sort. This suggests that the Sectoids may be just the servants of another alien species.



The interrogation of one of the captured Sectoids, who claimed he was an engineer, has provided insights into their organization. Their main purpose is to collect genetic material from Earth species so as to diversify their gene pool. The Sectoid interrogated claimed that their leaders were able to control the minds of others through “psionic” abilities. This should be taken with a grain of salt as it may be just fabrication, but soldiers are advised to report any mental discomfort after missions immediately. The information on their ships, as provided by the Sectoid, is detailed below.



The Small Scout vessel does not possess air-to-air weapons, and only measures four meters across. It has room for only one passenger, making it an unimposing craft.



The Medium Scout vessel is far larger than the Small Scout, measuring nine meters across. It also possesses air-to-air weapons, but their range is so short that our Interceptors should be able to outrange them with Avalanche or Stingray missiles. The craft has five seats, leading us to conclude that the vessel’s passenger capacity is five maximum.



The Large Scout is the largest UFO we have seen so far, and its weapons, although equivalent in power to that of the Medium Scout, have more than twice the range. The vessel contains only two seats, but recent missions turned up a total of nine or five aliens inside. Soldiers are advised to capture the “bridge” room of the vessel in a pincer movement, as aliens will wait in ambush on one side.

Although we have downed several of their craft, we still do not know how their weapons work, or how their power source. Our scientists are working to uncover these secrets, and we hope that they will have practical applications in the field.

Good luck in your battles, Soldier!

X-COM Commander,
Gen. Charles Brooke