Cattle, People, Anything Seems to Go

Argentina reported of an unusually large UFO landing on their soil. Reports recalled that soon after the phenomenon was detected, people and animals started disappearing. Silently, but all the same. XCOM sent their best to observe, Megawatt had recovered from her wounds and was replacing the gravely wounded El Fenrir.

Skyranger dropped the squad onto a plateau on which the giant rectangular alien ship was looming in the distance. Harmony Lad found himself a position shoot and the squad spread out. Sureshot found the muton patrol first, but again, the fight was terribly one sided. Squad was well-spread and the big aliens found themselves in a fatal crossfire. The last remaining one tried to flee back towards their safety, but Harmony Lad ended its life by planting a laser beam through the back of its head. After the patrol, everything was silent. Much too silent; Sureshot thought. The aliens must have been waiting for them already.

Entering a large ship like this when it had just landed on its own, with its crew ready to unleash hell, was nervewracking. The squad made short spurts at a time and took cover behind containers, that seemed to have abducted humans in them.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

Megawatt: Oh my God, what are these doing to humans? Their eyes look oblivious, but somehow...not dead.

Sureshot: They could be capturing us for food. Or for poking and probing around, like we tend to do to them.

Ironside: Ahem, becoming sentimental now? Hang on, I call Proxy.

Sureshot: Go ahead an call Mad Marl as well, you almost killed Proxy yourself a few months go.

Harmony Lad: Guys! Focus. I seek a camp on the perimeter, just outside the platform behind these first containers. Hipster, take right ramp. Megawatt, take left ramp.

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Sureshot and Broden advanced to the rightmost huge door, past the center corridor. Nothing came crashing down from there. Broden nodded and Sureshot opened the huge loading bay door on the front platform. It housed two mutons and another of those big, unarmed mutons that had got the nickname "berserker", for very obvious reasons. Hipster hit one muton with a heavy laser blast, that was art in itself. The muton staggered for a moment, after which it timbered down. Another was caught by Sureshot's laser beam, but it did not fall. Ironside waited until it roared through the doorway and cut it down with his scatter laser. Broden stood still and waited what the berserker was about to do.

It did exactly as the squad had hoped: it ran to doorway, into a relenting crossfire. Barely standing, but still formidable as ever. Broden panicked and buried his head into his knees, but Sureshot stood up, in decision to try to stun it. There was momentary cheering, unless Sureshot and Ironside glanced at each other and then the other loading bay door on the left. Quickly taking position, Ironside opened the door. There was a group of thin men, but Harmony Lad made short work of them all from his perfect post.

Hipster climbed the right ramp and advanced slowly. He could see through both bays that were now filled with corpses and poisonous gas to the other side where Megawatt was making similar progress. He continued along the corridor, and caught something in the corner of his eye: a group of mutons and thin men emerged from the center corridor and spread out to the left cargo bay and to the left corridor. All of a sudden Megawatt was swarmed with enemies out of nowhere and got badly shot several times. Hipster could not tell how many of those hit, but he felt nauseous.

Harmony Lad had a perfect bead from his position to the mutons that were emerging through the center corridor and the left bay. He nailed one of those, and Broden nailed another. Third was hiding somewhere around the corners. Sureshot rushed to the top to help Megawatt and two of the thin men died, leaving only a thin man and a muton. The muton ran directly into the firing line of Ironside and fell right there. The last thin man decided to retreat, but Broden terminated those plans prematurely.

The battle had ended and the squad continued to comb through the corridors of the gigantic ship. They came across to a small hall, that had more of those abduction containers laying around. In front was what seemed to be the bridge, and by now, the team already knew that the bridge was always housing an outsider. Manning all the doors and opening the main hatch revealed two, neither of which did not have time to react. The abduction ship had been secured and also one berserker had been stunned for bringing back for further examination.

Chasing Dragons Even Further

India was the first stop for our efforts to restore order in the panicking states. This was a standard abduction mission, which also started pretty standard, but soon after the initial skirmishes things escalated. A group of mutons entered the fray, but they had also brought a friend.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

Harmony Lad: Whoa, what is THAT?

Sureshot: It doesn't seem to carry any weapons either, but it's certainly much bigger than those mutons.

Ironside: Maybe it uses harsh language as a weapon?

Harmony Lad: Perkele, bring it! Täältä pesee!

Ironside: I didn't get any of that, but I'm sure we're on the winning side if that's the case.

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

A much bigger and an unarmed version of a muton was not only hideously difficult to kill, but also bothered with anger management issues. It would charge anyone who fired a shot at it, and while steadily barging through the vicious crossfire, it was also terribly close to the squad. Visibly hurt and resembling more like a Halloween party guest from hell than anything normal. Unfortunately, it was also too close to Broden, who rushed in, stuck his scatter laser onto its face and pulled the trigger. The behemoth fell like an apartment block, earth trembling when it collapsed.

In an instant, a familiar whirring noise filled the cemetery. Another cyberdisk - that's what the researchers had decided to call this unholy marriage of metal and organic matter it carried inside - rose to the sky from behind  the mausoleum. It spew around a few drones, and the squad took advantage of the opportunity.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

El Fenrir: Nailed a drone!

Harmony Lad: Missed perkele!

Sureshot: Missed!

Hipster: Nailed another drone!

Broden: Taking cover, moving to...um, where I think its flank is...

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

The cyberdisk did something unexpected. It transformed into a scorpion-like robot form and lobbed a plasma grenade at Broden, El Fenrir and Sureshot. Bright green explosion illuminated the cemetery and the silhouettes of the two soldiers could be made out against the glow. Armor was melting and fabric was burning, but their equipment held.

Harmony Lad finished the other drone and scored a solid hit on the robot. Ironside broke off from the squad, rushed to flank the heavy metal monster and blasted twice. The malignant green light of its "eyes" faded, it whirred down and exploded. Mission accomplished.

Later on, another abduction shopping trip was stopped in Tokyo in a vicious fight that almost tore down a complete pizza restaurant block. El Fenrir almost bought it on this mission, but managed in the end with an extended trip to the infirmary.

Buenos Aires: 8.7 Million Dead

Proxy's death and constant injuries brought Hipster back to action, and also new recruits were needed. Talia "El Fenrir" Poulos-Åström, a feisty heavy weapon specialist filled the gap and cut her teeth in an UFO landing in USA and abduction incident in Mexico City. Not long after, Argentina needed help. Buenos Aires was on fire and alien terror troops rampant on the streets. First encounter was within a small warehouse with a group of mutons. The same species had taken Proxy, but that was not the case today. Mutons were dispatched quickly, and then came the chryssalids. Those terrible arachnid-like enemies swarmed in circles around the squad, but none of them could get closer than ten meters. Back in the back alley, more mutons emerged along with floaters, but the mutons ran all too close to Svensson and Ironside to stand any chance. The floaters were ripped apart by Sureshot and Harmony Lad. It looked like the squad was back with vengeance and the alien resistance seemed to abate, but then something else happened.

A silvery floating disc roamed around the corner, accompanied by humming and whirring noise. Harmony Lad was in perfect position to take a bead on the thing, which nobody really wanted to figure out what it's capable of doing. The disc advanced a bit further - into a devastating crossfire. Laser beams cut it like a knife and finally it spiraled down to the ground and exploded on a great fireworks, splattering shrapnel around. Nobody in the team took a single hit during the whole terror mission, as if they were protected by force field. Post-mission briefing produced three colonels at once: long-time veterans Sureshot, Ironside and Harmony Lad were all promoted into the highest rank attainable. There was no shortage of spirits in the canteen.

Then came the Council news: Egypt and Australia had withdrawn their funding and resigned from the project. Either they had been disappointed by our efforts, or taken over by aliens. Whichever was the case, the clock was ticking even faster now. To top this, Japan, France and India were already in a state of panic.

Chasing Dragons

That's what the job in the middle of solving research issues and trying to balance funding between better coverage and better equipment had become. Countries already on the brink of panic were pushed harder than ever by the aliens and XCOM had to rush to stop the shops. The next stop would be in Cape Town, South Africa.

[SKYRANGER CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Proxy: All right, we are nearing a fairly large grocery store. Pilot, drop us by southeast of that, it looks like a decent spot with some good cover to start from. Let's make this swift.

Harmony Lad: Looks like there are higher locations for sniper fire as well. Hope they don't get any.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The team nears the grocery store and it looks empty. Harmony Lad hauls himself on top of a delivery truck and sets up a camp in there. Proxy continues north on the street and takes cover behind a sedan. Then he hears some crashing and stomping from inside the grocery store and he deemed he's hearing voices; the store was just observed by five soldiers from different angles that there is not even a single cockroach moving inside. Somehow two of the those 250-kilogram mutons the squad had encountered already earlier had managed to hide there well enough and long enough to lure the squad too close. They took immediate positions along the shelves and Proxy was all exposed on the street. Behind a car, yes, but absolutely flanked from the supposedly empty store. Svensson and Ironside rushed onto the grocery store windows and opened furious laser fire. Ironside turned his scatter laser in the face of the nearest muton, which let out a terrifying and intimidating roar of pain, while getting rendered into an unidentifiable hulk of burning and searing flesh and formidable killing machine driven by unearthly rage by Ironside's scatter laser. It stood its ground. Svensson missed with his scatter laser from a short range. Proxy was readying his heavy laser, but it took terribly long time to get into full operation.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Harmony Lad: Targets! I need targets!

Ironside: Um, one right in front of me, staring at me in the eye.

Harmony Lad: Can't get a visual from here, hang on I'll get into a better posit--

Sureshot: Popping smoke!

Proxy: AAAA--

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The mutons were much more intelligent than they looked. Sureshot's smoke screened both Ironside and Svensson and this made the mutons turn their attention to Proxy in an instant. Both hit him squarely. First hit rendered his armor into a molten pulp and the second one turned the team's absolute leader and a true survivor into a casualty.

Sureshot managed to finish the nearest muton by the window and something snapped in Ironside's head. He jumped through the window and hurled himself in motion, beyond point of caring. The only image he was seeing on his eyes was the other muton.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Ironside: YOU. UGLY. FATTY.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The other muton was turned into nothingness in an instant, from point-blank range. It did not bring any of Proxy back, but at least the threat was neutralized for now.

The rest of the mission was executed in a silence that could be heard echoing in itself. The team sweeped through the area in silence, but it looked like they were reading each others' minds and operating only on the necessary hand signals. Nobody spoke a single word even when they boarded the Skyranger again and nobody at the Central spoke a word either to congratulate the squad on a successful mission that should secure South Africa for a while. The price had been already paid in full.

The Hunt for an Outsider

Catching one of these things had become a priority in order to find out the next piece to the puzzle of where these aliens are coming from. Germany was on the spotlight once again for a downed UFO and a team of five seasoned veterans and rookie Megawatt made a quick clearance of the German woods from any wandering visitors. Fortunately the UFO was loaded with lesser species that the team had learnt to dispatch efficiently and without much problems. Luring the outsider into a gunfight with Proxy and Ironside opened up the perfect slot for Megawatt to rush in and hopefully bag this missing piece for the abacus-wielders back in the base. Megawatt stepped up at the back and clicked on the unholy alliance of a calculator and a common taser.

The outsider trembled and shook violently and then collapsed back to its crystal form.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Megawatt: I...uh, did something to it. It does not certainly move.

Ironside: It's not like they ev--

Proxy: Just keep aiming at it and be ready to give it another shot if it wakes immediately up.

Megawatt: It does not look like that--

Ironside: Well I was saying that they do som--

Proxy: Come ON Ironside, even though I don't like missions in Germany, it does not mean that you have to paint demons on the wall.

Harmony Lad: I heard THAT!

Proxy: All right, bag him and if he moves...well, that's gotta be another story.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Back at the base this crystal was put under the microscope immediately and research went to hard work. It indeed brought results fairly quickly and analyzing what the outsider-crystal was communicating with left the mission control room silent and devastated.

These things were inhabiting Earth. Deep in the middle of Siberian wilderness in Russia, the aliens had barbeque party at their backyard and it was instantly very obvious, how they can pinpoint their shopping and other activities so well. The crystal acted as some kind of an access method for the alien base and a skeleton key was needed to build to go see if it opens doors. Before that, more and more satellites was needed on the sky to keep the supporting countries in the game in the middle of all the alien ball and also men and women needed better equipment. With laser-based weapons, sure, things were better off than with conventional firearms, but the missions were too often balancing on the ledge. This would be some supermaster-level resource juggling contest from now on.

Megawatt did another very good job in Cologne. This time it was not about raiding warehouses or checking UFOs our Interceptors had shot down. This time it was about saving some Council's puppet from the thin men and whereas Megawatt was already solid with how this squad works and guided Thomas Hutch to safety, she was more than once just a second away from putting a laser beam right through the arrogant VIP. XCOM soldiers combined had not whined about the "food" they get served at XCOM Central as much as this brightest star on the sky was complaining about his almost-impending demise. Plasma was flying around from the weapons of the agile thin men and he kept on going about things taking too long and his three-piece getting dusty.

Monthly report proved slightly problematic; whereas XCOM was still doing a decent job, half of Europe was on the brink of panic and so were some other countries from Americas and Africa. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Major Improvements

Proxy had done really good job leading his men. As mentioned, after the disastrous first contact and losing Mad Marl - all this happening on German soil - the squad had been staying on the winning side in a war that seemed each passing day more and more becoming a lost cause. He was promoted to the rank of major and sixth squad member was added. Sureshot and Ironside were recovering from the previous mission's wounds, and the squad was introduced some new blood, to mix things up a little. Meghan "Megawatt" Watt joined XCOM in the beginning of May and her being a natural sprinter, a support role fit her perfectly. Alien abductions continued plaguing the world and there was only so much XCOM could do about it. More and more countries were on the brink to enter panic mode even though abductions were stopped in India and Brazil. Team's snipers were built skeleton suits to give them easier access to higher ground by the built-in grappling hook system. Harmony Lad had been working like a horse before, but now things had escalated to whole new level. Kills were racking up at a rapid pace now, and so were his ranks. Even another new species did not stand a chance against him and his laser sniper rifle. The new species were carrying plasma rifles and whereas they were formidable, hulking opponents weighing in at around 250 kilos, Harmony Lad cut them down like grass.

An unusually big UFO was detected in Argentina. Intel estimated that if it was to be shot down, our Interceptors could not possibly do it. XCOM had no other option than to ignore it and perhaps hope it to land at some point. Soon after its appearance, Argentina was severely shook by series of alien assaults and people were panicking. Hotline to XCOM was flooded with angry words, and we could not but swallow. The UFO disappeared and another large scout appeared in German airspace. The country was almost panicking due to continuous alien attacks and it was just a matter of time before they would be unable to support XCOM any more. For Proxy, this option would probably have been the more preferable one, but he could not choose. Interceptor shot the UFO down, now routinely, and another Skyranger mission onto German soil was launched.

Harmony Lad Says No to Shopping

After the Ottawa mission the candle light had started to waver. Even though the aliens were pushed back on that time, it was clear that no force of men could keep up with this level of rigor and stress, except perhaps Harmony Lad. After his near-death experience with the floater in Paris, he had somehow been more silent and become also much more attentive to small details in the environment. Melding as one with his sniper rifle and seeing virtually everything. Aliens put up an abduction shop in Tokyo, but the hero of Sapporo dealt enough damage to swiftly stop that kind of activity. Harmony Lad was becoming a legend within the team.

Council called for the monthly report for April and the news were good. Only South America was on the brink of total panic, but all the other countries were in good shape, given the circumstances. Still, while Proxy was browsing through the report, he couldn't stop thinking about capturing the next specimen. It had to be done.

Soon after, Interceptors shot down a large scout UFO in China. The team of five (Sureshot, Snake Catcher, Proxy, Ironside and Harmony Lad) came back somewhat wounded, and empty handed. Capturing those outsiders was not an easy task, because all of the squad's efforts were barely enough to bring the men back alive. XCOM had lost no soldiers after Mad Marl, but there had been numerous close calls.

Ottawa Burning on the Night of Terror

As if the results of the interrogation the floater had not been disturbing enough, the visitors started all of a sudden displaying the reason for the relative silence. They had been preparing ways to break us mentally, to eradicate entire cities. Bombing from the sky and sending terror troops to slaughter civilians. They were not here to negotiate and days for the mankind started to look very much numbered. XCOM got an emergency call from Canada: Ottawa was burning. XCOM had no other options but send its best men to deal with it, to show the aliens that they have no business here.

Skyranger dumped Broden, Sureshot, Ironside, Snake Catcher and Proxy straight in the middle of all hell broken loose. Distant screams could be heard from everywhere and the night was filled with foul-smelling smoke, random gunfire and chaos. The squad started their advance towards the first administrative building with extreme caution and saved a few scurrying citizens from their inevitable doom. Proxy and Snake Catcher took the side door, while the other three advanced towards the front. Inside, a handful of floaters noticed them and started to ploy their own attack to keep their ground. Laser rifles cut them down like butter, but this proved to stir something much more evil. Arachnid-like creatures with long and sharp limbs, three meter long and a meter and a half high rushed through the office doors inside. They were fast, much too fast for easy negotiation. Cutting the civilians in the room in half, they both rushed towards the front door.

Numerous shots were missed on these elusive and menacing new enemies. Judging by the way they dismantled poor civilians, it started to look that they can rip apart trained soldiers with equal ease. One had already crashed through the front door and was quickly advancing on Sureshot, who was kneeling on the grass behind the front terrace, ready to take aim. Sureshot hit it square on its head, its chitinous skin gave way and was severely seared by the laser beams, but it did not take a single sidestep. Lifting its foreclaws high in the air and looming above Sureshot things were one Proxy away from taking a serious turn to south. Proxy hit the alien's head spot-on, it roared and fell next to Sureshot, just second before shredding him to pieces.

Inside, something had woken up from the corpse of a civilian. A horrifying zombie-like rendition of what was your average enter-hitting office Joe had tried to start making its way towards the squad, but it was cut down after a lengthy volley of fire while Proxy was negotiating with the skittering threat. Obviously these creatures were able to spawn something inside their victims and use them as cocoon for additional terror forces. A woman was slaughtered on similar manner to the front door by the other alien, who seemed to be wounded and bleeding, but completely unhindered by any damage it had already taken. Ironside was crouching beneath the terrace line just three meters away from it.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

Ironside: I'm three meters off this whatever it is, should I consider stunn--

Proxy: NO!

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Ironside unloaded a laser beam at it and cut it in half. What he did not notice was another zombie-like creature, that had risen from where the young woman was torn to shreds. It grabbed his head and it was too late to realize that the zombie-like creature was much too strong for a man. He felt like his neck muscles were giving way, tearing up in the zombie's grasp and his vision went all blurry, red and black. Sureshot ended the zombie's second life, but Ironside was already oblivious to this, having passed out from the immense amount of pain.

After that, aliens seemed to retreat and Ottawa was saved from the aliens without any losses, although things were balancing on the ledge for most of the night. Ironside ended up all right, although hospital stay was to be extended. The zombie had literally almost ripped his head off, after all.

April Fools

Things continued to develop slowly. Laboratory and engineers did their best to extract any useful information out of the dissected bodies of our "new-found friends" and pieces of equipment that was salvageable, but too many days went uneventful. The greater plan to build more uplinks and satellites proved to be more strenuous than first expected and that only added up to the urgency. According to the recent developments, or rather lack of, something terrible was going on beyond the burning skies.

The only combat event for this long stretch was to stop abductions in Paris, France, where Harmony Lad all but bought it by ending up in the firing line of a stray floater. Fortunately Sureshot was with the team on site, so the sniper did not end up toe-tagged. This mission also saw the baptism of fire for young rookie Pontus "Broden" Svensson, who had an immediate impact and got promoted into assault role.

Another week passed by and April was already almost three weeks through. Engineers made a breakthrough on weapons and could already manufacture two laser rifles! Our satellite in China caught an unwanted, unclassified object on the sky and Interceptor was launched in hopes to at least fend it off. It was tougher than the previous one, but still it went down hard and heavy. Due to Harmony Lad's extended recovery from his near-fatal wounds, Broden's mission streak continued. Also Snake Catcher caught some extended action, and the mission was successful. The laser rifles seemed to pack more punch to conventional assault rifles and this was welcome news as the opposition was steadily becoming harder to handle.

In the meantime, "scientists" had been interrogating the captured floater. It was seething with rage and extracting neuroelectrical patterns from its brain was not an easy task. Finally, Harmony Lad got to witness the results from the screen by his hospital bed. The first image was very blurry, but its silhouette could not be mistaken. It was a sectoid, and therefore uninteresting. The second image was, however, much more terrifying. X-Com Central suggested equally blurry figure on it to be of similar kind to the terror that had bagged Mad Marl earlier in Germany. Getting one of those alive could as well be the next piece in the puzzle. What a great piece of news for Proxy, who was already returning from burning Chinese countryside with his men...

Touchdown in Germany

Now it was obvious, that X-Com was trailing after the first month of apocalypse. Not 3-0, but maybe 2-1 and news channels remained silent. Sparse satellites relayed a whole lot of emptiness, until after way too many days the whole board went blinking red. An UFO had been reported to touchdown in GERMANY. Proxy stared at the screen with his jaw open and shook his head. Now with Harmony Lad having taken a big role in the team, the usual bunch was sent to investigate, this time with orders to capture something live instead of shooting everything to bits. Laboratory had put together a few arc throwers, which were basically pieces of plastic duct taped together with a battery and one could almost imagine the Star Trek phaser sound it makes. Jokes aside, the arc thrower assignment was under serious discussion and Ironside was the voice of reason and saying, that he will have to do it because he will rush with a shotgun anyway. Looked like these defenders of humanity were more and more accustomed to the huge boots they had to step in when everything started going south.

It started all wrong. Everything the squad had planned in the Skyranger approaching the landing site on German countryside was forgotten as Harmony Lad took a few too brisk moves to find a suitable spot in the woods.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Proxy: Harmony Lad you are too far!

Harmony Lad: Taking cover, looks like a good spOH SHIT DEAR GOD!

Proxy: Come again?

Harmony Lad: *scuttling and crackling noise* Two, three, four SIX enemies at 10 to 12 some 30 meters away! Sectoids, th--

Proxy: FALL BACK FALL BACK

Sureshot: I got an idea.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

From the saucer - which was remarkably bigger than the crashlanded one, albeit designated as "light scout" - all of a sudden emerged all kinds of horrors Proxy had told the men to avoid. Sectoids, thin men and some flying creatures that seemed to consist of an organic upper body attached to some kind of a flying device. Proxy was sure, that Germany was ten seconds off to claim another sniper from his team. Three seconds from that, he saw Sureshot throwing something at Harmony Lad's direction. Purple smoke started to emerge from Harmony Lad's location and all of a sudden everything was crystal clear. Proxy commanded Ironside to follow him into the smoke to take positions and began to assemble his rocket launcher on the run. Unable to see much through the smoke, he simply fired the rocket to where he thought to see movement. Horrible shrieks filled the air, and this cacophony was soon accompanied by Ironside's shotgun blues and Harmony Lad's sniper fire. He could hear only gunfire and chaotic scuttling and shrieking and after the rocket explosion had finally faded, he realized that this plan seemed to have worked. The smoke cleared and the terrain in front of the saucer was like from world war trenches. Barren and bodies scattered everywhere. A lone sectoid was hurrying back towards the saucer as fast as it could, when Harmony Lad ended its life as well.

Ironside and Proxy continued towards the saucer's open entry hatch and while Proxy was covering Ironbay's advance, another floating alien roared around the corner and shot him from the flank before retreating back beyond the saucer hull. The plan must have worked much better than expected if these aliens were actually experiencing fear and retreating from combat. Although Proxy's armour held together, Sureshot had his hands literally full while bandaging. Proxy had been so severely punished over the past month that his survival, let alone his battle prowess was already much bigger medical miracle than rock star Ozzy Osbourne's venerable life.

Inside the saucer, Ironside advanced carefully in the middle of the alien structures and caught something moving just outside the rear hatch. He was told to use the arc thrower at point blank range, but he was not sure if he ever could reach that close before getting liquified by alien technology. His heart was pounding just a little bit too loud and just a little bit too fast and he tried his best to refuse thinking about possible scenarios if the plan fails. Grabbing the arc thrower, he sneaked around the corner, hoping that the welcome committee is not expecting him.

It wasn't. Ironside caught the alien from behind, lifted the latest hope of Earth technology up towards the horrifying creature and pulled the trigger. Loud static buzz was followed by a bright arc, which met the floating thing. While the current met its system, it started to twitch and tremble, and finally fell down. Hopefully still alive.

Ironside: Bogey down, at least for now.

Cheering filled the comms, and now it was time to wrap this present and introduce it to its new home, the brand new alient containment facility.

Harmony Lad's Return to Sapporo

Not too soon after leaving Sapporo, the reason for relatively silent times became clear. Aliens had been playing cat and mouse with us and as we hadn't been able to elect more electric spies into the orbit, news started to pop when it was too late. Choosing between Canada, Argentina and Japan, we chose Japan. It was time to return to Sapporo to a construction site to stop the abductions. Veterans had healed up, and as upon tragedies it's someone else's turn to step up, Finnish marksman Harmony Lad had done exactly so. On the previous Sapporo mission he killed two aliens and showed remarkable battle grit and it was very obvious choice to make him the sniper, hoping his sniper career would last longer than Mad Marl's. He killed another two on this simple mission that threw "only four sectoids" against us. Here is a picture of Harmony Lad connecting the dots once again.

The end of the month saw many advancements on the research side, with biologists starting to understand a bit, what sectoids and thin men were about. On the equipment side, body armor should see dramatic improvement very soon to up the odds of survival; the forthcoming months can't be anything else but much harder. Satellites for better coverage are a must.

Big Bada-Boom in Japan

Pacetti found himself thinking about Germany more and more, how all of the short straws seem to be found right there. The days in the hospital became long while he was rolling back and forth in the memories of the Japanese doctor, Russian big bear, laid-back Swede and now Mad Marl. Across the room, Ironbay was not much more talkative either as he had really liked the cheeky infiltrator. St.Laurent paid them daily visits and one day told that he's got to go to Japan to make the Council happy. He'd insisted that he's not leaving his veteran buddies behind, that can't Council wait for a while, but the answer was a steep NO.

[SKYRANGER CREW CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Sureshot: *sipping from his scotch* "Some wiseass named this mission as Lost Jester. Let's make sure it's going to be a victory lap for the jester we lost in Germany."

Martin 'Hipster' Bedard: "You having scotch on a mission? We don't even know yet what's the deal."

Sureshot: "Yes."

Chris 'Snake Catcher' Cockburn: "Guess there's a reason."

Artturi 'Harmony Lad' Kyrömies: "I don't need a reason, isn't that a reason in itself?"

Snake Catcher: "Finland, I presume?"

Harmony Lad: "How did you guess?"

Hipster: "Vodka, sauna, knives?"

Harmony Lad glares at Hipster less harmoniously.

Sureshot: "Ok, here's the Council deal. We bend over and go disarm some bombs in Sapporo and they give our boss money for that. I'm going to be perfectly honest with this and saying that I'd much rather be on this trip with the guys in the hospital, but I have no choice. Act like men, that's all I ask."

Harmony Lad: "What the...wanna go?"

Snake Catcher: "Yey for a tourist trip to Japan!"

Hipster: "Leave it, I hear what you're saying and I know. Now, let's just get done with it."

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The mission was simple: enter the train station and disarm the bomb that has been planted somewhere within. Or that was how Sureshot presented it to the rest of the squad of greenest soldiers he had ever seen. He had never been more nervous about a mission than today, after the alien attacks started. Fortunately he had got his scotch on the trip. More information was available as soon as they entered the Sapporo station. The bomb was hidden somewhere and had to be charged before it could be detonated. It turned out that aliens were using some kind of recharging technology to feed the bomb with energy from separate nodes, that would buy them more time. All of a sudden it was a race against the clock with a team that had zero experience in fighting with any of the aliens he'd met. Despite the scotch buzzing in his veins, he was nervous as they ascended on the train platform the bomb had to be located on. Sweeping the station gave them no movement, nothing, so this was the last resort.

From the final stairwell they could see an abandoned train standing majestically still by the platform. Silence could have been cut by a knife as they ascended the final steps. Hipster saw some faintly glowing structures along the platform and started making his way behind timetables and benches with Snake Catcher towards them. Harmony Lad jumped down to the tracks and Sureshot kept guard at the corner for all three, thinking about modern day kindergartens. He was hoping to that guy he doesn't believe in that this didn't turn into a bloodshed.

Hipster got by the first object. It was metallic, cylindrical with some kinds of legs, pulsing green light and buzzing on a slowly ascending pitch. He tried to figure out how does it work and then caught his eye on a suspicious-looking knob. He hesitated for a second, drew deep breath and grabbed it. It turned out to be a slider, and moving it into downward position shut down the pulsing light and the buzzing fainted.

Hipster: "Ok got it how these things work. Slide the knob down and it should shut down, possibly buying us more time."

Snake Catcher: "All right, following you, let's go check the other two further ahead."

Harmony Lad jumped on the platform across the tracks and saw something in the corner of his eye, on top of the train. Something somersaulted down faster than he'd ever seen and disappeared onto the tracks around the corner of the train. "What the h--" as plasma bolt broke the silence, missing Sureshot just narrowly and destroying several windows far behind in the station wall. Harmony Lad pulled the trigger and this unreally thin and tall figure shrieked, disappearing in a green cloud.

Sureshot: "Thin men! Look out, they are fast!"

Hipster and Snake Catcher deactivated another alien generator and Sureshot followed Harmony Lad to the other side of the train, peeking through the windows constantly for additional threats. Sureshot advanced past two flower boxes and caught something behind. It was a sectoid. Knowing how these small aliens can behave, he didn't hesitate and spattered burst fire through the orchids, fatally hitting the sectoid. Harmony Lad flanked to the right behind information desks and panels and saw another sectoid further down where the previous one died. To his misfortune, the sectoid saw also him and fired away. He was partially hidden by a vending machine, but it turned out that did not provide much cover. The plasma bolt seared through the vending machine like a drill and hit him on the side. He crouched in agony.

On the other side, Hipster saw the firefight that started on the other side of the train. He vaulted through the train glass and fired a burst at the sectoid, glancing it. Snake Catcher did the same, jammed his assault rifle through the window and planted a point-blank into its skull. Hipster jumped back to his original timesink, to try to deactivate more of the generators. He had no clue if this worked or not, but he had no choice. Snake Catcher stayed on the other side and Sureshot covered Hipster instead.

Advancing further, two more generators were found and finally Harmony Lad saw also a bigger object by some information table. That had to be the bomb. Limping towards it he hoped he could figure out what to do with it, and that not too many enemies appear from somewhere. It had looked like just a couple of whatever-these-were would be dangerous enough. He reached the object and noticed that there were several knob-like constructions on its surface. After a short while of fiddling the knobs without exactly knowing what to do, the humming the object had been emanating faded off and he heard a crash behind him. One of those thin men jumped through the window, vaulted onto the top of the train and jumped over, without him being able to react at all, so fast they were. Then he heard brief assault rifle bursts becoming longer and saw another jumping through the train at him. He pointed his assault rifle at it and hit home. Green cloud appeared again.

Sureshot: "We got two over here, report on the other side?"

Harmony Lad: "Bagged one."

X-Com Central: "Looks like that was it. Good job with the bomb. Council will be happy."

Sureshot: "I never thought to say this, but this went well. Good job, boys. Lost jester was found and can now rest in peace."

Raid Over Germany

After rescuing the doctor and pushing back a significant alien force on Australian soil things became surprisingly silent. Research kept busy analyzing the salvaged items and engineering built an alien containment so that we could capture one of them alive and "try to understand them". Days passed by and all of the wounded veterans made full recovery, just in time before the news: some unidentified and unpredictable movement has been detected in the German airspace! Interceptors were launched and the dogfight was short and sweet. The saucer - yes, it looked like a saucer - finally took a wild spin and plummeted into German woods, crashing through the treeline, burning or plowing everything in its wake and finally grinding to a halt. Initial recon had detected remarkable activity, so apparently the thing had crashlanded in one piece. Quite an impossible concept, so we sent the Skyranger to investigate. Battle-hardened veteran team was good to go, and while Sureshot got promoted to a support specialist, Mad Marl had been promoted into a sniper, apparently both men very well deserving the lovebombing.

Skyranger took down at the edge of the forest and approaching the site the suspicion was confirmed: against all odds the alien aircraft was still in one piece. Splintered trees and debris was all around, burning and pillowing heavy smoke, but the saucer was intact. Proxy was staring at the looming figure in the distance while Skyranger descended towards designated dropzone and he thought he saw something light blue shimmering along its hull.

[SKYRANGER CREW CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Proxy: "Germany. I have nothing good to say about Germany these days."

Ironside: "I'd like to hear what happened in Cologne, just for reference you know?"

Proxy: "Maybe we'll see an encore here at the German countryside..."

Sureshot: "In that case I want a scotch before I die! Marl?"

Mad Marl: ...

Pilot: "Sorry Marl, seems like you've got a job cut for you once we're done with this saving-the-world stuff, serving coffee and guiding ladies across the street."

Proxy: "Cut the crap, guys!"

Ironside: "Whoa, he really doesn't like Germany."

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The team hit the ground and spread out, Mad Marl taking the treeline, where it was slightly higher above the ravine the saucer had plowed. Proxy took the left flank and Sureshot advanced in the middle with Ironside. Mad Marl found his sniper rifle a bit awkward in the bushes, but found finally a good post for popping anything that moved in the ravine.

Three brave veterans approached slowly, keeping their angles clear and began to realize the proportions of the saucer. It was maybe thirty meters wide and both sides - judging by the still functional force field of a kind in the middle - were scraped open by the terrain while the craft was grinding to a halt. Proxy spotted two sectoids on the left side, scuttling next to their saucer and then something odd happened. The other sectoid stiffened and went almost motionless, while the other was crouched behind a pile of debris. It looked as if the other was guiding the other, like a radio-controlled toy car. Proxy wondered this turn of events for a moment too long as the apparently mind-controlled sectoid fired a burst of plasma from an open angle. It glanced Proxy, but it also hurt as usual. Proxy took cover behind a thick wall-like structure, that looked like it had got ripped apart from the alien craft. Sureshot and Ironside took quick shots behind the covers, but missed their targets. Mad Marl saw things escalating and moved a bit forward on the right flank, slowly towards the saucer, but keeping the sectoids on his firing arc.

Proxy peeked from the cover and fired a quick burst on the crouching sectoid that was now a bit more open for a shot. Burst of full metal jackets hit their target and the sectoid now decorated its means of arrival and departure as a permanent painting. Ironbay was the closest to observe its friend's head suddenly explode and he could not wrap his mind around the whole scene. Small, ball-headed guys shooting weapons that surpasses anything he has ever seen, controlling each others minds and all that made him feel dizzy. The terrible thought of one of those controlling him - or worse - one of his squadmates planted a firm seed somewhere beneath his imagination-laden writer's skull. That thought was cut short as two more sectoids spurted from the wreckage further to the left, hitting him on the edge of the helmet. He could feel a trickle of something starting to make its way down his face, and while his ears were ringing and humming weirdly, he tried to keep focused. Sureshot responded with a burst that split the other sectoids head in half. Proxy and Ironside scattered their bullets across the German woods, and Sureshot finished also the other newcomer.

Mad Marl had slowly advanced towards the saucer's right flank, which was ripped open as well. He decided to move into a better position to see inside and took cover behind a fallen tree in the treeline when something stirred inside the saucer. It sounded like a thousand million - that's a billion - insects woke up and saw some figure moving in the front part of the saurcer, beyond the gaping hole but close enough for him to make a quick decision to get the hell out of there. He spurted as fast as he could behind a pile of unassorted and largely unknown alien aircraft gear it had left trailing and tried to peek out. Something much bigger than the thin men they met in Australia emerged from the hole in the saucer wall, when Sureshot stepped from behind the cover and let go with his assault rifle...

The bullets clattered on the saucer hull like a bucketful of marbles poured in a bathtub, missing their intended target. The creature carried a rifle-like weapon that looked much bigger than those of the sectoids of the tin men, and it fired a bolt at Mad Marl. The cover Marl was hugging offered no protection at all as the plasma bolt hit him full-on, cooking his brains instantly and reducing what was visible of him to something that was not so visible any more. Ironside lost it completely. He started roaring something in gibberish and firing all over the place, just barely missing Proxy. After that, he fell to his knees and could not do anything else but stare at Mad Marl's remains, the trickling something now also partially obscuring his vision. Proxy stood up from his cover and had the perfect flanking position towards this monstrosity. He hit it with a sharp burst and to his relief, it fell down. He kept on aiming at it for a while more, but it stayed down.

X-Com Central: "What the hell was that?"

Sureshot: "Shouldn't you tell us?"

Ironside: "We're going to miss the kid, he's got some character."

X-Com Central: "That's for sure. Sureshot, bag the baddies, loot the area, bring him back home and give the other guys a hand. This looks like tough business from now on."

Ironside: "For a change?"

Proxy: "I told you. Germany sucks ass."

Can Anna Sing?

The Baltimore mission was a resounding success, especially when compared to Cologne. China got unfortunately the short straw, and abductions continued uninterrupted. However, getting more research material for better weapons, armour and learning about these...species was still one step forward on the path to greater success; sometimes you just have to sacrifice some to save many more. Running X-Com is not the most comfortable job in the world, but at the moment it's the only one that matters. Material from the Cologne mission enabled us to build better scopes for the weapons, making the whole team aim a bit better.

Next step would be gathering the world leading minds together to find means to end this madness that is only beginning. Recon report came in: a famous scientist named Anna Sing was pinned down on an alien-infested urban area in Brisbane, Australia. The job was not the easiest one - Dr. Sing had to be rescued and escorted back to safety. Oh well, what the hell.

Proxy was accompanied with the same fellows from the last mission. Ironbay had been promoted to squaddie and assigned to assault duty to hone even further his ability to run and gun more effectively than any other footman. Transcription from the crew cabin during the transit has been omitted due to its questionable nature.

Brisbane was silent and the evening was late. The team was dispatched by a small park between two roads and the mission target was located somewhere on the other side of the park. Sureshot took the left road and scuttled for cover behind one of the abandoned cars by the sidewalk. He was amazed that he still wasn't served any scotch on the Skyranger and felt a bit shaky, as usually before combat missions. Proxy and Ironbay proceeded towards the first low stairway and took cover behind high flower boxes made of solid concrete. Proxy felt very much unsure, if the concrete would stop the green plasma. Mad Marl took the right road and took cover behind an abandoned taxi with its front door open. That would be nothing else but a visibility blocker, but Mad Marl did not know that yet.

There was another wide and low stairway leading to a central pedestal that had a huge fountain on it, blocking any possible vision beyond and producing uncomfortable noise. Ironbay covered the angle and Proxy proceeded towards the second flower box. All of a sudden a jet of green plasma came to be from the other side of the fountain. Proxy was still in motion to take cover and the searing plasma hit the edge of the flower box, mostly splattering across it, but unfortunately Proxy also got his share of it. Smell of burning skin and flesh filled his mind, but with his soldier instincts he had managed to return fire at something, that was no sectoid. It looked like a two-dimensional projection of a tall figure, moving very fast. Even so, Proxy caught it well. An off-world scream filled the air and the movement stopped. Ironbay immediately moved to secure the fountain area and oversee that the whatever-it-was stays down. It did. Proxy was definitely hurt, but still on this side and up to the task ahead.

Mad Marl noticed a school bus with a ladder behind and climbed on top of it to have better visibility of what's going on, hoping to locate Dr. Sing before it's too late. Unfortunately, he slipped from the edge that was slippery with something he did not have time to note and fell down from the bus roof. Killing the momentum by slamming the roof on the go, he managed to fall down unscathed and startled by the noise he made, jumped inside the bus. He started slowly making way towards the front, where he would have better visibility of what's ahead, but hopefully get enough cover to not get noticed.

Sureshot was leaning at the car and saw something by the trash bin ahead, laying on the ground. It was a small bottle of scotch. He moved forward and picked it up, then continued along the line of cars, only to notice that the next cars were too tight together for him to fit to cover between them. A sectoid showed up from behind the front corner of the endless line of cars and he was completely exposed on the sidewalk. Frozen with a bottle of scotch on his other hand and his assault rifle on the other. The sectoid did not hesitate to shoot and Sureshot was hit on the shoulder. The scotch flew across the pavement, smashed on the wall and shattered. Sureshot returned the fire one-handed, instinctively, and the bullets clattered across the line of cars. The sectoid took cover behind the corner again and the whole situation for Sureshot started to look rather grim.

On top of the park stairs, Ironbay had perfect visibility to Sureshot's enemy. He moved as far as he could in the cover of the flower boxes, benches and low walls until he had a clear shot to the sectoid and let it go with his newly acquired shotgun. The sectoid shrieked briefly before it was cut to pieces across the street. To Ironbay's amazement, Proxy advanced to the pedestal, obviously pumped up by adrenaline, oblivious to the injury that looked like he was going to a Halloween party. Proxy continued even further and saw another of those "thin men" and took it down.

Inside the school bus, Mad Marl had reached the driver's seat and had a full view of the street ahead of him. In front of him, he saw an empty and badly damaged police car and had not much time to react to the blast of molten plasma that shot through the broken windows through the police car, hitting the bus' windshield and turning it into a melted mixture of safety glass. Ducking, he avoided most of the deadly mess splattering across the driver's cabin and the ceiling, but his back felt like he was dumped onto a barbeque grill his back first. Squealing like a girl he hit the floor and started recollecting himself. Turning around and rising to his knees, he saw from the edge of the windshield pane that it was a sectoid, crouching behind the police car. He took a careful shot through the broken police car windows and ended the sectoid's life. In the same instant as the sectoid died, he heard a shriek. A woman shriek. It had to be their target, somewhere ahead.

Ironside and Proxy heard the shrieks, too and took cover at the far end of the park, behind wide flower boxes. Sureshot continued past where his nemesis met its end to take cover behind a mailbox. Talk about safety. Mad Marl scuttled out of the bus, past the police car and saw a woman hiding in the middle of road construction signs. Trying to signal her to stay quiet, he approached her and told her: "We'll take you to safety, follow me." She was in no condition to exchange anything sensible, but started to follow Mad Marl back on the way he had come.

Sureshot heard a loud thump behind him, something had fallen on top of a nearby armored truck on the street. Turning around, he noticed the "thin man" and threw a few shots while trying to get back to the safety of the line of cars. He hit it and it fell down lifeless. Now it was definitely time to fall back and hope not much more enemies appear.

By the pedestal, Ironbay and Proxy started to fall back while maintaining visibility to Mad Marl and their rescue target. It looked like Mad Marl was doing a good job keeping things simple and instructing Anna promptly to duck down, when to move and so on. The journey back to the Skyranger took an unfortunate turn, when more enemies showed up near the corner. Behind exactly the same flower box as in the beginning, Proxy took another glancing hit from another sectoid's plasma rifle and he started to look really pale. He was still here, functioning and no apparent need for stabilization, although Ironbay could not be sure any more is Proxy even a human withstanding all that abuse. Ironbay shot the sectoid, while Sureshot continued behind the cars on the sidewalk and took out the two-dimensional horror down at the corner and the rest of the way looked clear.

Heavily wounded, but everyone alive and Dr. Anna Sing safe, the team climbed into the Skyranger and left Australia. Apparently everything, starting from animals of any kind is more deadly in Australia and just by sheer luck, the squad made it back. It could have equally well been a different kind of a story. Examining Proxy's, Sureshot's and Mad Marl's wounds, all three of them are out of business for more than a week, leaving assault specialist Ironbay to lead the reinforcements onto the next battlefield. Grim times ask for big steps upwards.

Hordes of Locusts

What happened in Cologne, sure as hell did not stay there. All kinds of shit hit the fan at the X-Com Central, Council was all over the place encouraging us to save everything, twice, and so on. The only tangible thing we got was a handful of weapons and a couple of bags of remains of something, that turned out to be called as sectoids. Small and harmless-looking, the business cards they seemed to have as their standard equipment drew a huge difference between the guts of a man and them. Sometimes literally so. Laboratory was busy ripping newly found evidence about the extraterrestrial life apart, and the military end of the X-Com company ended up getting busy. New recruits were needed and on this race, everyone started from the same line. Everyone has a fair chance to shine for the mankind. Council had some bright ideas about callsigns, that men don't need one before time - isn't it amazing, how important issues sometimes matter to the white-collar folks while the grunts crawl in the gutter? We decided that every man is worth a callsign, if that gives them the extra confidence to pull through. I'm sure Mad Marl will be one hell of a better soldier than rookie Wihlborg, so here goes.

Boss had news, both good and bad. Good was that the men did not have to entertain themselves in the barracks any more, but the bad was that they could be sent only to one location. Sounds like a start-up world saving company? Yep, that's about right. The next mission sent the folks to the docks at Locust Point, Baltimore, Maryland, US of A, where abductions were in progress.

[SKYRANGER CREW TRANSCRIPTION]

Pilot: "Aight, buckle up and let's go. Marl will tell you jokes and serve you coffee, could someone dance during the flight so you don't need a knife to cut through the suspense when we arrive?"

Marlon 'Mad Marl' Wihlborg: "What do you mean, jokes and coffee? Come on, Sal."

Sébastien 'Proxy' Pacetti: "Hey, proxy soldier, you heard the deal. Coffee, merci, with sugar and milk."

Mad Marl: "You don't want a coffee from me. Trust me."

Frédéric 'Sureshot' St.Laurent: "Oh yeah, while you're at it, can you pour me a scotch? I definitely need one to be able to shoot straight and you don't want me to do that on the field."

Mad Marl: "..."

Michael 'Ironside' Ironbay: "My name is Michael Ironbay and I'm a writer. I was about to go to a holiday, but duty called and wanted its brains back. For that sake, I would also need one cup of damn good coffee."

Proxy: "A writer? To me, you look more like that type of a standard sidekick guy in the movies that always delivers."

Ironside: "Gee. Anyway, I'm thinking this world saving stuff makes a wonderful setting for a book. Given that I live that far. Maybe I should write on the go so I don't forget everything afterwards?"

Proxy: "I was in Cologne, I don't think I will forget that very easily any time soon. Nor the fact that I'm going to save the America from the aliens with the help from folks who drink and write on the field."

Pilot: "Aight, stop your grinning and drop your linen, we're approaching the docks. It looks like...I mean, it doesn't exactly look like a party venue to me."

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Skyranger dropped the brave four into the docks, behind a large construction office, some cargo containers and crates. There were a lot of signs of struggle present, but no bodies. Abduction, indeed. Mad Marl had always thought that stuff existed in fairy tales and propaganda, but now it was time to renew the script. Proxy showed significant physical prowess by rushing to the construction office and climbing the rainfall pipe up, with a light machinegun and a rocket launcher on his back, agile as a squirrel. Sureshot took the left flank behind the cargo container, Mad Marl rushed to the building door and slowly opened it. Ironside moved behind some baja maja toilets by the office wall. Nothing caught their eyes, except the light rain. Again. At the end of the world, it's always raining.

Proxy advanced on the rooftop. Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" was ringing in his ears and he found a tall ventilation structure at the end of it and hit the cover just in time. At least so he thought; he could catch a glimpse of two sectoids behind a pile of crates and rubbish before hitting the deck. In the meantime, Mad Marl rushed to a small hallway and stood by another door, trying to listen if there is anything going on inside. Sureshot had advanced all around the cargo container, only to observe something move behind a pile of crates far to the right. Ironside continued behind another toilet, closer to the construction office corner.

A blast broke the silence. Half of the ventilation chute disappeared and for a split-second, Proxy was very thankful he had decided to hit the deck immediately. Ironside stormed to the right to flank the assailant and sprayed his assault rifle fire all over the place. "Damn dancing waiter, I'D NEEDED THAT SCOTCH!" he was thinking to himself. Ironbay reacted to the gunfire by popping around the corner and catching the other sectioid square in the forehead, like a boss. Proxy returned machinegun fire from the rooftop and nailed the other one. Mad Marl rushed through the window on the construction office to move forward towards more cluttered containers. From now on, it looked like close combat.

X-Com Central: "Good job, boys. Proceed with caution, there's some dangerous container arrangements ahead, looks like a perfect place for an ambush."

Proxy jumped down from the rooftop and continued forward, while others guarded his advance. Crouching behind another cargo container some twenty meters ahead, static broke in his headset.

X-Com Central: "It looks like there's a blockade ahead, could also be a makeshift fortress. Wouldn't be surpr...hold on, there are at least two more sectoids ahead. See if you can catch any of them with your rocket launcher, blasting that structure to bits would anyway be a good idea."

Proxy: "Affirmative."

BOOM!

Debris flew across to the sky and among them the remains of the two mentioned sectoids. Proxy had hit bullseye with his rocket launcher and both enemies caught the blast. Some payback from Cologne, at least.

X-Com Central: "Area secured. Good job, now get back home."

[SKYRANGER CREW TRANSCRIPTION]

Mad Marl: "Man, that was cool. Boom! Like a boss!"

Proxy: "..."

Sureshot: "Not bad, for a writer."

Ironside: "I guess I want to write to book bad enough. Good job, Proxy. Would have been an uphill run without you."

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Arthur C. Clarke Was Right

It turned out pretty soon, that this was, judging by the immediate impact on everyone's daily lives, the more terrifying option. Getting mugged, robbed or stabbed in the back alleys of Detroit would still inconceivably be the more preferable option to what we are facing right now. It all started in Cologne on one dark and rainy night.

Pacetti panted heavily, and his breath formed a swirling fog in front of his eyes. It was raining literally sideways and visibility was limited to epsilon, which equals to zero as much possible without being zero. Skyranger had dropped the team nearby toppled police car and another abandoned, battered display of German automotive industry. Orders were clear: find out, what happened to the German recon team just a few hours ago, quite soon after reports of mysterious metallic bulkhead-like projectiles rained down from the skies. Pacetti was leaning on a bus stop and noticed the wet pavement was glistening with uncomfortable amount of someone's blood. The course of action was to secure the warehouse building straight ahead and he took cover inside the bus stop, and that's where he found the source of all this blood beneath his feet. Judging by the armour - or what was left of it - this was one of the German recon team's members, split up like the sky on a severe thunderstorm, as if it had exploded from the inside. Pacetti had to think of something completely different in order not to throw up right there and then.

Pacetti: "I have no idea what this guy has encountered, but there you are. Enjoy the view."

X-Com Central: "Roger that. Proceed with caution, this is starting to look messy."

Three other squad members proceeded to the windows and advanced past the police car and a garbage disposal truck to the windows. They were lit, after all, albeit very dimly so. Pacetti rushed to the door and kicked it down, taking immediate cover behind the crates right at the door. Volkov, Tamashita and Larsson followed through their respective windows, securing their firing arcs. The source of the light was a lone workshop ceiling lamp, hanging very low, and there seemed to be a hulking figure standing behind it, just barely visible. Pacetti's heart skipped a beat as the silhouette struck his mind: the figure was motionless, but armed with a large pistol and a hand grenade.

Pacetti: "Drop your weapons, now!"

...

Tamashita: "Looks like he's in a great deal of shock. I suggest we keep him pinpointed and try to disarm him first. This does not look or feel any good."

Pacetti: "All right, Volkov, we got you covered. Approach him and try to disarm him. Go."

Volkov advanced towards the figure, that was visible only chest down due to the lamp hanging very low. No reaction, none at all. Volkov reached the figure, slowly grabbed the lamp hood and turned it towards the figure. "Oh my god, look at h..." BLAM! The figure's face seemed like it was under heavy degeneration process, like a zombie. In an instant, it had raised the pistol and blown Volkov's back of the head across the floor, followed by heavy scuttling from behind the crates further down the warehouse. The figure, which now obviously was to be recognized as another German recon team's member, fell down in a lump, like a puppeteer letting go of the strings. Two small and scrawny figures with unusually big and ball-shaped heads emerged and started shooting something green from their weapons. Larsson had exactly zero seconds to react before his chest armour and anything beneath turned into a pulp. The green plasma sure looked fancy, but it was nothing to do any closer business with. Tamashita hit the deck while the top of the crate disintegrated in a green spray and splinters. Pacetti shifted his aim, squeezed the trigger, and the other of the assailants toppled back and fell down. Lifeless, if the analogies for terrestrial life apply to these beings. Tamashita lurched around the cover from the left side and made the other figure meet Earthly steel at  a high velocity, just a second before getting hit in her right side.

Pacetti glanced quickly to the right and noticed, that third one had circled by far right behind the piles of crates and had hit the Japanese doctor square on her back. Spraying bullets in the enemy's direction, he hit it with two or three and it fell. Heart pounding like a rampant elephant, he tried to observe the rest of the warehouse, and things started slowly to settle down.

X-Com Control: "Team, report! Team, report!"

Pacetti: "Others down, three enemies down. Looks like the end of the action to me. I don't know what is going on or what are these lifeforms, and I don't want to spend here any longer than necessary."

X-Com Control: "Okay, head home with the fellows."

The thought of scraping his fallen comrades up from the scene made Pacetti throw up.