Major Damage stared at the team. They might have succesfully captured their first alien craft, but the way they did it was a total disaster - nearly half of the troops will be confined to the medbay for a while.
He considered abandoning the assault on the remaining UFO, when a beep out of one of his uniform pockets interrupted his thoughts.
He quickly took out his omniphone to answer the call.
Phone: *unintelligible gibberish*
Mjr Damage: "Really?"
Phone: *more gibberish*
Mjr Damage: Excellent. Send them right in."
Phone: *gibberish*
Mjr Damage: You're lucky - our newest reinforcements have just arrived. I hope you'll manage the next UFO better than this one...
Three figures walk through the door into the briefing room.
The first one marches in at a brisk pace - obviously picked up in the military. What nobody was expecting is that the first soldier... is a woman.
She stops in front of Major Damage and throws a professional salute.
Arete: Recruit Arete, reporting in! Sir!
The Major nods.
Mjr Damage (to Arete): At ease, soldier.
Mjr Damage: Arete is your team's new heavy gunner. I'm sure you'll get along just fine...
Mjr Damage (to Arete): But I'd appreciate if you never again do what you did to your last commanding officer.
Arete (to Major): The slime deserved it, sir.
Mjr Damage (to Arete): I'm sure he did, but there are proper... procedures for this... sort of thing.
Mjr Damage (to Arete): If one of my men tries anything like that, just report it to me. I don't want any of them ending up... like that.
Arete (grinning innocently): Yes, Sir!
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The second recruit stands next to Arete.
AlumiuN: Recruit AlumiuN standing by, Sir.
Mjr Damage: Another Autocannon operator. May not look like much, but he's a decent guy.
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The third recruit is a bald-headed Hybrid.
Fortis: Recruit Fortis here. Just point me at whatever you want brain-dead.
Mjr Damage: Fortis was just transferred from Psi-Corps. They see him as some sort of wonder-boy there, apparently. Guess it's time to see how much all this vaunted psionic power will actually be of use in combat.
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Mjr Damage: As of now, you're going after the second UFO. And when I say "going", I mean "like the devil himself was after you". Got it?
Mjr Damage: Frag those aliens. Dismissed.
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Mission: Another UFO clearance
The area is pretty large.
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We split to cover both entrances to the craft.
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Capo storms in first and gasses the aliens.
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And then gasses them some more.
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We storm the upper level
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There is a shootout, Tervez is injured.
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More gas. Team Charlie (Arete, Fortis, Data) flanks the aliens and together all three teams mop up the surviving aliens.
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That's it for the mission.
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Remainder of the day passes out calmly, mostly because majority of the team is too messed up to do anything crazy.
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Around midnight, we receive a request from Sanctuary Clinic to check one of their buildings for a suspected infestation.
Location: Utopia Mansions (again)
The squad starts spread out. Team Alpha switches to Stun Grapples to capture any possible live specimens.
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First alien contact spotted by AlumiuN
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We close in, and Anthropods come out of hiding.
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Team Alpha gets both of them...
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...which concludes our mission.
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Here's the score.
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According to Eagle of Fire, who just reviewed the video logs of the alien incursion, the UFO which escaped hovered briefly over one of Megapol rescue stations. Who's going to bet a dollar it wasn't for sightseeing?
So off we go... again.
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Location: Rescue Three
The area we enter is the station's vehicle bay - pretty spacious, so clearing out the aliens shouldn't pose a problem.
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Team Alpha Secures the entrance to the central tower, while Team Bravo combs the ground floor for any aliens. They notice a Spitter on the tower, but leave it intact for the moment.
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Suddenly a series of energy bolts erupts from somewhere between the parked vehicles, missing the leading soldier by mere inches. Someone should tell that alien about the difference between bad and suicidally bad ideas. The lead soldier is Arete, and when someone messes with her she's all too eager to mess them up in return.
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Alpha terminates several advancing Spitters and Hyperworms.
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Bravo joins in. When the aliens stop coming, both teams move in to the tower and switch to stunners
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Just in time, because a blue chicken-like freak we've seen on our recent missions approaches from the top floor.
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We stun it, then Arete enters the control room and wipes out the aliens still remaining in there. This ends the mission.
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Score:
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The biotech guys thank us for the new specimens, but mumble something about lack of a live Spitter in the "freakshow" (as the base's alien containment unit is informally known).
I'm sure we'll be able to fulfill their wish soon - we've encountered plenty of these things!
Brainsucker research completes on 9:00.
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The other xenobiology team finishes their analysis of the Alien genetic structure two hours later.
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Things pass smoothly until 18:15, when we have... yes, ladies and gentlemen... A NEW UFO ALERT!
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Unfortunately, we only manage to down one of the UFOs - an unmanned scout. The other two outrun out vehicles and make it back through the Dimension Gates relatively unharmed. Sigh.
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We recover the Scout and prepare to make a round through all buildings the UFOs may have dropped aliens in. The Xenobiology wants us to find a live Spitter and an intact Hyperworm Egg, so this might be our chance to bag both critters.