X-COM: Enemy Unknown is an old (old) computer game, and still one of my all-time favorites. Fortunately, there’s a fan-run project called “Open X-Com” that has repackaged it so it will run on modern PCs. I’m playing it again for the first time in years, and enjoying it.
This is what happens when you arrive to put down an alien Terror Mission (they land and act like Antifa in Portland, only much better armed). My guys landed and found themselves surrounded by four alien “tanks” (flying saucers) and a bunch of sectoids (classic big-eyed, gray aliens).
I defeated the aliens--but it was a pyrrhic victory. Most of the civilians were killed, and all but one of my ten-man squad got killed doing it. The sole survivor?
Newly-promoted CAPTAIN Pon “I ain’t got time to bleed!” Yu.
Meanwhile, the construction of my base Laser-Fab One continues. (Once I’ve researched how to build laser weapons, I devote considerable resources to setting up one of my bases solely to manufacture and sell laser weapons. They’re extremely profitable, and once I’ve ramped up production, I can earn tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, far exceeding the paltry two, three, maybe four million dollars per month that I’m budgeted by the nations of the world. At that point, money is no object and I can maximize my research and development and equip my team with the very best weapons, tools, and armor available.
“This is Operative Stokoff. All explosives are in place. Now evacuating remaining civilians.”
Felix nodded to himself as he heard the news, responding with an eye on the sky from the nearby café. He was surprised that he could get away with this… Perhaps his assumptions were right - security was focused around the executives and those they were trying to evacuate - rather than protecting the smaller people that Nightwatch themselves were instructing to leave. It was disheartening to see them match up exactly to his expectations.
He spoke into the comms. “Do you know which helicopter the target’s in?”
Static came over the reply in his ear for a moment, and he cringed over his coffee. Some stranger looked his way and raised an eyebrow.
“Positive. The sniper has been informed and is in place to strike.”
“Very good. Carry on.”
He righted himself, and shot a glare to the stranger, who quickly lost interest.
Ten…. fifteen minutes passed before he could see helicopters, lights dim but visible through the Fog. They would land on the building’s roof. It wasn’t long now.
He’d arranged for a meeting, at this time, in this very café. He was going to meet with Holst himself…. such a pity that it didn’t look like the man was going to turn up now… Especially as he would’ve been able to see one of his Board of Directors die.
Yes, it was a shame.
Another minute passed, before flames lit up the sky. Felix took a sip of his coffee, and watched the flaming metal carcass of the helicopter spiral towards the ground, everyone around him staring, far more shocked than he was.
Once he’d been informed that the Nightwatch were out, and all remaining civilians safe, he gave the go-ahead, finished his coffee and stepped outside, crossing the street into the one which gave him the best view.
There, he could watch the explosives go off, rattling the building itself before it crumbled, floor after floor crashing to the ground and spraying dust, rubble, debris everywhere. People were screaming again, though this time they had not witnessed Nightwatch operatives tearing through security, but they had seen the destruction of an entire building.
Felix left the scene as the dust began to settle. He had done his job.
Two men manned the security desk at full alert, working on overdrive as they attempted to keep watch of the three hostiles on the lower floors, working themselves higher and higher, to a beat that security couldn’t match. Helicopters had been arranged, managers and executives to be herded on and taken away from the danger that loomed below.
In the darkness behind them, two half-rings of bright blue appeared, light shining in on the two as the Wolf in blue opened the door.
“Kakogo cherta …?”
Both of them turned, backing up against the desk, one reaching for the firearm behind him. The other shook his head and grabbed the first’s hand… Clearly he knew better.
“You- You’re the Soulstealer- don’t-”
“I won’t, as long as you give me that gun.”
He stepped in, and shut the door behind him, eyes intent upon the weapon so close to the men he faced. Seconds passed, looks exchanged by the two, before shakily, the gun was quickly picked up and handed out to him.
Felix reached for it. And the first man to reach for it took it off the second, and spun it around. Felix was not fast enough to respond before it had been fired. He stumbled back, arms outstretched, and fell against the door. Eyes quickly shifted to murder, and he raised his hand to the guard who now wore the smug grin of power.
An arc of light, blue and electric, crossed from Felix’ fingertips, to the desk and the two men leaning against it. The Soulstealer stood as they began to convulse, and stalked closer as they began to sink to the ground, watching as the electricity he was generating raced over their features. When he finally cut the magic, he looked over to the techmaturgy keeping the camera system in order.
All fried. Oh well. It didn’t matter much. A finger pressed to one of the panels on his forearms.
“Operatives? I can’t provide a camera feed. Kit’s fried. Proceed with caution, but do not change your objective.”
He cast a look down to the dead men, silent now in their unfortunate mistake. He took both their souls with haste, but without thought, before exiting the room.
Screams echoed throughout the building as the pack of Nightwatch wolves tore through it. Three agents wreaked havoc on an office floor, dipping in and out of cubicles as they confronted internal and external security. Gunshots and the sound of shattering glass - an explosion - rocked the rest of the building, and kept people busy.
Underground, Felix himself weaved through the piping and the cool, misted towers of server rooms. Guards, men in suits, still patrolled the grounds here - The distraction above had been anticipated as being just that.
One of them yelled as Felix ran right past and turned a corner, and the thunder of two pairs of footsteps confirmed pursuit. The assassin could feel it, though he couldn’t quite hear it.
Soulstealer took another corner turned as cue to drop and twist, turning in place to raise a firearm that was already in hand. As the two pursuers pressed themselves up against a corner and out of line of sight, Felix fired anyway. He couldn’t hear the aftermath himself, but the sound of the unsilenced gun startled the men around the corner, left loud ringing in their ears.
It was the perfect cover to dive forward, one of them leaning around to fire back- promptly ending himself with two bullets courtesy of Felix. Getting back up into a crouch, the Soulstealer grabbed the late agent and hauled him up, a shield to round the corner and finish the other guard - who had been taking off in the other direction, a radio to his mouth.
Another deep rumble from a grenade above.
Dropping the literal dead weight, the Soulstealer inhaled, eyes glancing over his hand as it began to glow, green ether and wisps of pale blue-green taking over what was once leather and flesh. Around him, he could sense the burn of the souls above, light tainting his vision where they sat in the floors where the dead now lay. The ephemeral hand sunk into the guard in front of his crouching feet, withdrawing the ball of misting light.
“Advocate guide you…”
The soul melted into his deadhand, and rising up from his haunches, Felix looked out to the other man lying twenty metres away. The surge of power coursed in, and hair stood on end, -the soul at the end of the hall seemed to glow brighter.
Felix Jaye looked away from the temptation there, before breaking into his run once more and abandoning the soul to natural forces, rather than Advocate’s Isler influence.
Repairs at XCOM HQ have been proceeding apace; fortunately the damage was relatively minimal, but we have had to close some sections off - particularly the MEC bay in Delta Section, due to the... liberal use of high explosives during the final assault.
We didn't think the aliens would give up after their assault on the base, though, and we were right - they dispatched a terror squad to the commercial district of Volgograd, which Strike-One neutralized with their usual efficiency.
Operation: PURPLE DAWN
Alien Terror Attack - Volgograd, Volgograd Oblast, Russia
Troops deployed:
Col. Christophe 'Bull' Leroy
Col Gabriel 'Delta-2' Flores
Col. Ye 'Hex' Song (piloting MEC-2 'Sentinel')
Cpt. Jacques 'Magic Man' Moreau (piloting MEC-2 'Sentinel')
Cpt. Anatoli 'Twitch' Korba
Cpt. Emily 'Cairo' Johnson
The aliens hit the commercial district in the early evening; Strike-One hit the ground shortly after the first reports of alien activity came in.
Upon deployment to the AO, the squad sighted five civilians in close proximity to their LZ; Cols. Flores and Leroy began evacuating them to the Skyranger, while the rest of the squad provided cover.
During the initial evacuation, Strike-One was ambushed by five Chryssalids and two infected civilians (colloquially referred to as 'zombies' due to their slow pace and seeming lack of higher brain function; ref. AAR: Operation: Flying Line); this initial attack was easily repulsed, with the squad killing three Chryssalids and injuring two, and neutralizing both infected humans.
Col. Song and Cpt. Moreau were taksed with hunting down the survivors from the initial ambush, while the rest of the squad continued with the evacuation; Col. Leroy and Col. Flores proceeded through the wreckage of a bookstore into the restaurant next door, while Cpts. Korba and Johnson proceeded to the roof of the aforementioned bookstore to provide top cover - a move which proved fortuitous, as it allowed them to ambush and dispatch a pair of Floaters who were apparently overseeing the alien side of the mission.
After Col. Song and Cpt. Moreau neutralized the last two Chryssalids from the initial ambush, three more Chryssalids burst out of the rear of the restaurant; however, instead of engaging the MEC troopers as expected, the Chryssalids attempted to flee. Col. Song dispatched one with his railgun; he and Cpt. Moreau subsequently closed with the remaining two and engaged their kinetic strike modules, propelling the last two a good half-block down the street.
Strike-One then searched the AO for any further hostiles; while none were located, a third dead civilian was found in the wreckage of an appliance store, presumably killed by one of the two Floaters that had been overseeing the alien operation.
Promotions:
Cpt. Korba was promoted to Major.
Cpt. Johnson was promoted to Major.
Casualties:
Three civilian casualties; no XCOM operatives injured or killed.
Commander's Personal Note
What little we've seen of the Chryssalid species thus far would seem to indicate incredible aggression and a lack of regard for individual members of the species; thus, the behavior witnessed in the field today was remarkable, as what we know would seem to indicate that they would attack any entity they perceive as a threat regardless of the consequences.
So why, then, did they attempt to flee from Strike-One's MEC Troopers?
Could there be some kind of hive intelligence at work, one that would help them recognize patterns of events - and in turn, recognize that certain threats are too dangerous to engage on their own?
Holy fucking Bat-shit on a Bat-stick, Batman. We must have really been pissing the aliens off, because they hit back hard - they brought in a ship larger than anything we'd ever seen before and began bombarding Brasilia.
I couldn't very well leave the Brazilians to their own devices, but with several of my best troops sidelined, I wound up having to send a bunch of rookies into the fray.
All I can say is... we got damn lucky today. It could have been a slaughter that dealt the XCOM Project a serious blow, but instead it went the other way.
Operation: DEFIANT SLEEP
Alien Terror Attack - Brasilia, Brazil
Troops deployed:
Cpt. Christophe 'Bull' Leroy
Cpl. Ye Song
Sq. Gabriel Flores
Rk. Eduardo Suarez
Rk. Huan Yue Yuan
Rk. Ananda Bose
Strike-One was deployed to a large shopping center in Brasilia; the aliens had begun by bombarding the surrounding area from their ship, before sending in a squad of their troops to kill as many civilians as possible.
After landing, Strike-One split into two three-man fireteams; the first, led by Cpt. Leroy, proceeded up the front of the center, while the second (led by Sq. Flores) proceeded to the east, where they located several civilians.
After calming them down, Sq. Flores' team instructed the civilians to fall back to the Skyranger while Strike-One covered their retreat; this 'advance-and-evacuate' technique proved successful in drawing the alien forces out of hiding into a carefully-prepared ambush, where a withering crossfire (and several well-placed grenades) swiftly dispatched the attacking force, which consisted of four Floaters and two insectoid aliens of a type not previously encountered.
Promotions
Cpl. Song was promoted to Sergeant and assigned the callsign 'Hex'
Sq. Flores was promoted to Corporal
Rk. Suarez was promoted to Squaddie and assigned the Heavy classification
Rk. Yuan was promoted to Squaddie and assigned the Assault classification
Rk. Bose was promoted to Squaddie and assigned the Sniper classification
Casualties
No XCOM personnel were injured in this mission; however, there were several civilian casualties.
Commander's Personal Note
Despite the civilian casualties, the Brazilian government seems to be pleased with how our troops handled this attack on their populace. Good news for us, I suppose.
Also, for some reason Dr. Vahlen insists on calling the insectoid aliens 'Chryssalids'. I wonder why...?
