Bigger Things

Firestorm proved its worth once again. Solid funding from the Council allowed us to equip the already-powerful Firestorm with more and more crazy armament and proof of its worth came into realization as soon as it took off to chase what was the biggest UFO seen on the sky yet. The supply ship looked like a small dog's home comparing to it. Two or three shots from the fusion lance and the UFO went down in USA. Swift and hard, plowing acres and acres of forest in its wake, finally grinding to a halt. The alien craft was so big that Skyranger had to land on a platform on top of it to drop the squad in.

Inside, the squad operated swiftly and efficiently on the corridors. Not really knowing which way to go for the jackpot, they chose to start the sweep from the left side. Not too far in the first two groups of mutons appeared. The squad was so airtight that the mutons decided to fall back after getting almost completely decimated in a matter of few seconds. The falling back mutons were chased down, but this brought chryssalids and muton elites on the scene. 44 had accustomed himself to Harmony Lad's and squad's ways of working so amazingly well, that even this committee of hostility got dismantled as soon as it emerged. Working tandem from top of watchtowers did not leave the aliens any changes. Not even the dreaded sectopod, that rumbled on through a corridor, trailing a handful of chryssalids. Chryssalids ran directly into Broden's alloy gun as he kept on pumping alien metal in return mail as fast as he could and the sectopod met its end in the crossfire of Harmony Lad's plasma sniper rifle and Ironbay's alloy gun.

The ship was huge, but that actually worked on the benefit of the team as the snipers could see everywhere, picking off majority of the aliens that were trying to offer resistance. After September's disasters, this seemed like a whole different ballpark for what it came into the squad's effectiveness. All of a sudden, things started to look up, once again.

Not even aliens launching terror in Cordoba, Argentina, a berserker punching Hipster's gut in or the accompanying cyberdisc distracted the squad even in the slightest. Hipster surely needed a new titan armour, but survived with seven broken ribs and a collapsed lung. Midnight abduction shop in Tokyo was closed down with the aid of another new recruit - Tommi "Goose" Hourula - who quickly became a support stunt for Megawatt. Another mission saw also a reinforcement from to join the ranks from a mission in Mexico: support specialist Petri "Helldorado" Paananen.

October rolled on and the Council report was again favourable. Now it was definitely time to roll for the next big step - the alien base deep in Siberian ground in Russia.

Accumulated stats over eight and a half months of campaigning would look like following:

Col. Michael "Ironside" Ironbay (assault) - ORIGINAL 4 - 55 kills
Col. Artturi "Harmony Lad" Kyrömies (sniper) - 81 kills
Col. Pontus "Broden" Svensson (assault) - 41 kills
Col. Martin "Hipster" Bedard (heavy) - 32 kills
Col. Meghan "Megawatt" Watt (support) - 17 kills
Col. Jason "44" Black (sniper) - 15 kills
Cpt. Chris "Snake Catcher" Cockburn (sniper) - 11 kills
Cpt. Petri "Helldorado" Paananen (support) - 0 kills - no field action yet
Sgt. Ellen "Branca" Williams (assault) - 5 kills
Sgt. Tommi "Goose" Hourula (support) - 3 kills

Sq. Marlon "Mad Marl" Wihlborg (sniper) - 3 missions - 1 kill - ORIGINAL 4 - KIA on Mar 15, 2015
Maj. Sébastien "Proxy" Pacetti (heavy) - 15 missions - 25 kills - ORIGINAL LEADER - KIA on Jun 5
Col. Frédéric "Sureshot" St.Laurent (support) - 23 missions - 26 kills - ORIGINAL 4 - KIA on Aug 18
Cpt. Talia "El Fenrir" Poulos-Åström (heavy) - 9 missions - 9 kills - KIA on Sep 6
Cpl. Hilda "Hildifer" Lidén (assault) - 4 missions - 3 kills - KIA on Sep 22

Wake Me Up When September Ends

Or sooner. The whole September had been one constant bad dream. Soldiers had been lost again and missions seemed to roll on like a slow moving train, a neverending death scene in a horror movie. Russia reported about a surveillance outpost that had been infiltrated by the aliens. Not very close to their base in Siberia, but Harmony Lad knew this region fairly well. It was close to his home country Finland, after all.

The site itself was easily swept and dispatched of thin men and other infiltrators. A group of scientists offered their permanent help to XCOM as a token of gratitude for saving them and that also marked the end of September. Alien invasion had been ongoing now for 7 months and whereas the situation with the council countries had been stabilized, actions needed to be taken to drive the aliens off from our home. That would still have to wait for a while more. Perhaps a month.

Yet Another Light Dims

Soon it was time for more regular missions. Megawatt got back from the infirmary and Firestorm got another UFO downed in Canada. Squad was sent to mop up the scene and routinely they did exactly that. Firestorm is such a beautiful craft that it can keep up with the enemies much better and its armament is superior to anything we've seen on conventional aircrafts. Researching and reverse engineering alien technology certainly had its benefits on the sky. After Canada, people from Mumbai called. Aliens were abduction people nearby gas station and the team was sent to investigate. What started as a standard abduction mission ended up as something completely different.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Ironside: Approaching the gas station in the middle, watch the flanks.

Megawatt: I can see movement inside, it's three mutons and a berserker!

Ironside: Posting by a gas pump, hope they don't decide to shoot anywhere near...can you get a shot from the top 44?

44: Negative, I'm pinned down by suppressive fire and this whole structure is falling apart.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The berserker raged on on the gas station yard like maddened bull. It tried to reach for everyone at once, but the squad's relentless crossfire tore into its thick armor and skin and shredded it into an unidentifiable hulk. Still, it rushed dangerously close to Ironside, only to meet the wonders of a new technology that the eggheads called "alloy gun". Technically, it was a shotgun, but it fired alien metal shrapnel at outrageous speeds, rending anything less than a tank. Including berserker - it fell down at Ironside's feet with a loud thump.

Then something else stirred in the back section of the gas station. A pair of heavier-looking floaters emerged and took position from the back alley. They proved also a lot better shooters than anything the squad had met this far as Hildifer was taking cover behind a car far in the front and still she fell in an instant to a direct hit. She did not even see where the shot came from and Megawatt, seeing all that from close range, was close to inspect the wounds.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Megawatt: Checking Hildifer, that did not certainly look good.

Hildifer: *groaning*

Ironside: Can anyone have a shot at that bastard?

44: Negative, it moves too fast. Megawatt, what's the status with Hildifer?

Megawatt: She seems to be reviving, I'm taking cover and checking the bogey.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Hildifer came back to her senses, eyes blurry and everything was seen in various hues of red. Instinctively, she took cover behind the car, reloaded her weapon and everything went black again. The heavy floater had struck her again and this time there was not much to revive as half of her head simply disappeared. Megawatt caught the wounded heavy floater with a solid hit and that marked the end of the abductions in India for now, but still the aliens had managed to sow destruction among the XCOM ranks, much to Central's dismay. Technological advancements had still proved nothing on the survivability front.

Final Scepter?

USA was in deep trouble. They were in trouble before, but this was something way bigger than seen before; eyewitnesses described it as if a huge apartment block had landed from the sky. This called for A-Team.

[SKYRANGER CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Broden: I have a very bad feeling about this.

Hipster: Hey, who's the new guy?

Harmony Lad: They thought two snipers would make sense on this so Black is tagging along.

44: Does "tagging along" mean a vote of confidence?

El Fenrir: Does "they" mean a vote of confidence?

Ironside: Come on now, back to business. Intel says it's like an apartment block that fell from the sky so expect anything.

Hipster: Explosives are no-go, then, if it's not shot down? Council puppeteers want new toys...

Ironside: We'll see how it goes.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Indeed. The landed UFO was big. Really big. Skyranger dropped the squad nearby what the pilot expected to be the loading bay. He was right; the loading ramp was down and from this close this looked like a huge cargo ship of a kind. A supply ship for what? Aliens seemed to be strengthening their invasion for real and nobody had any idea what to expect inside. All other doors and walls were sealed as the team touched down in the woods.

The team spread out quickly and it took whole three seconds for the first chryssalids to appear. They rushed through the doors high on the side, straight into the murderous crossfire and that encounter ended as soon as it started. Harmony Lad was suspecting more visitors straight off so he took off to the sky in his archangel suit and landed on top of the ship. From the rooftop he had perfect 180-degree view as Hipster took post on the mid corner and the rest of the team went in the ship. A group of floaters and mutons appeared as soon as Ironside approached the side door and it felt like the ship was swarming with extraterrestrial life. Mutons and floaters got dealt with equally fast and the team of four advanced inside.

Hipster had a terrible post by the mid corner. He was hugging the deep corner as tight as possible and trying to make himself as small as a human being in a titan armor can. He heard terrible grunting and stomping nearby, but he held his ground. The noise grew louder and got nearer, and then he heard the familiar sound of a plasma sniper rifle gaining momentum. Just as the silhouette emerged around the corner, it was met by a bright green flash and disintegrated in a blink of an eye and Hipster knew it's Harmony Lad who's gone to work from his rooftop post. The pair of mutons met their end practically on the same spot.

Inside the huge hangar, El Fenrir and 44 supported the assault duo of Ironside and Svensson. Methodically moving from corner to corner, wall to wall and section to section, the hangar side proved clear of any further resistance. There was a door leading to another part of the ship and stayed behind to have a bead at anything that moved beyond. Ironside and Broden manned the upper platform, while Harmony Lad made his way on the roof towards the same edge. All of a sudden three heavier-looking muton soldiers emerged from a corridor ahead and threw a few shots at the doorway. 44 took a direct hit from seemingly heavy plasma rifle, but his armor held. Assault duo hurried around corners to seek opportunity for crossfire. El Fenrir missed with her heavy plasma gun and 44 took another direct hit. This time his armor cracked and he fell to his knees behind the rail.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

44: I'm taking heavy fire, cover me!

Harmony Lad: Can't get a shot from here, how's El Fenrir?

El Fenrir: Trying to flank them around.

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

44 managed to down one muton elite and other two decided to retreat to the same side El Fenrir was heading to. Suddenly, the muton elite decided to drop off the platform into the ground and it was El Fenrir who became flanked. The muton elite roared, brandished its heavy plasma rifle at El Fenrir and let go. El Fenrir's armor was reduced to a sticky fluid in an instant and she fell down in a smoking and bleeding heap. Hipster nailed the muton elite from his post, but the damage was already done.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

El Fenrir: Hheeelllp mm--

Ironside: Medic, we need a medic!

44: I can't really move, I can't feel my legs or anything and I hear noises ahead. Try to cover me, I try to get up and going. Is she bad?

Ironside: I'd elaborate with something like well done...move it Black, double time!

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

44 tried to stand up, but immense bolt of pain sent him back to the floor. He was deemed to keep an eye on the corridor ahead of him while El Fenrir was bleeding to death. Ironside and Broden advanced along the rails on both sides of the apparent cargo section, that was constructed from six big compartments. Waving at each other at each end the last pair proved the source for the noise. Broden stumbled on the slope directly in the middle of something totally unexpected. Two flying drone-like robots were patrolling around the compartment and the corridor was guarded by the last of those muton elites, but majority of Broden's visibility was blocked by the biggest robot he had ever seen. It seemed to move on two legs, have missile launchers and Broden reacted in an instant. He unloaded at it with his scatter laser twice, but the result seemed to be far cry from the usual. Laser beam clusters cut into the metal, but it was too thick to break. Then it responded by shooting something from its chest. Ironside could see the red glare to the far side of the platform and Broden was engulfed in fire and death. His armor dissolved and should that still have been the old carapace model, that would have been the end of Broden. Titan armor is made of something else and it barely held together.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

Broden: Jesus Christ I'm out of here! This hurts like hell and laser does nothing to it!

Hipster: Get out of there and bring it in the crossfire!

Harmony Lad: Got a bead on the corner if you just get it here, go go go!

El Fenrir: *unintelligible groaning*

Ironside: Can't you 44 reach?

44: Negative, can't move.

El Fenrir: Hhehhh--

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Broden was out of the compartment back towards the mid section as soon as he had got there. His titan armor smoldering he rushed past dying El Fenrir and the robots started moving. The small ones flew out directly out into Hipster's and Harmony Lad's lines of fire, but the big one took a big step backward and rushed into the center corridor and turned to face the immobile 44. The muton elite jumped back straight at Ironside, who managed to down it with two well-placed shots, but the big robot was on the move towards terrified 44, who kept on firing at it and missing. By the corner of the first compartment - it was surprisingly fast for such a humongous construct - it turned towards Broden at the end of the compartment and fired its big cannon again. Broden felt the rushing heat scorching his face, but that's all the missed shot did. That was also everything 44 needed. He drew a deep breath and finally placed a perfect shot in the head of the robot. It stumbled for a while and then crumbled down on the corridor. It was over. At a cost, but still. Over.

New Blood

[SKYRANGER CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Hilda 'Hildifer' Lidén: Japan! Why can't we go to Japan?

Megawatt: Because we're going to South Africa.

Hildifer: But I want to go to Japan.

Ironside: Don't worry, you'll get there. Given that you don't die in South Africa.

Ellen 'Branca' Williams: I feel safer already going with you guys.

Harmony Lad: Branca? Which is that, the Fernet one or the chick in the Heinlein book?

Branca: You can actually read?

Harmony Lad: To the contrary, yes, and apart from the usual stuff also science fiction and sociology. I haven't had much need for sci-fi recently, though.

Broden: Yeah, the herbal sniper reads and the assault guy writes. I will be the next Pope after this gig is over.

Ironside: Haven't had much time for writing these days, although you should check my blog about this world saving affair. I was going for a vacation, but duty called. Check the blog anyway when you have time.

Branca: I'm sure I get good enough picture first-hand.

Pilot: All right, we're approaching. Make sure Hildifer does not die here.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

Blom...Blomef...that South African city was burning. Of course it was. The aliens had decided to detour us a bit, but this terror business had become a routine for XCOM. As a matter of fact, routine enough to collect sky miles for the fresh recruits. South Africa proved no different to standard mop-up of chryssalids and mutons. Harmony Lad carried the workload and with experience, he'd become more and more the key force in the sky, hovering around in that shiny archangel armour, calling shots and seeing everything. Branca noticed this immediately, that Harmony Lad sees literally everything, as one of the mutons was split-second from melting her face in. Not under Harmony Lad's watchful eye.

After South Africa, the detour tour took the same squad to Japan, to Hildifer's great delight. Abduction business involved only a handful of thin men and a few mutons, but all this strengthened the battle prowess of the newer members. Japan was actually so happy of this XCOM intervention, that they sent one of their more experienced snipers to fight for a better tomorrow.

[SKYRANGER CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Jason '44' Black: Konnichi-wa!

Harmony Lad: You look like a bad-ass. Have you ever been mistaken for one?

44: No. But it kinda goes with the profession.

Harmony Lad: ...that is?

44: Let's leave it at that. Glad to be on board with you folks.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

As said, the remote Nagoyan construction site was quickly stripped of any extraterrestrial threats and the squad escaped unscathed for the second time in a row. However, all recent developments burned in the back of Ironside's head. Everything could change in a heartbeat. One missed shot at a wrong place, one wrong turn from the building corner, one step too far into the darkness could mean the end for even the bravest of soldiers. Memorial plaques for Mad Marl, Proxy and Sureshot reminded of this every time the troops were having off time.

Late summer came and went. August report proved steady going, but the ever-strengthening alien armada kept the clock tight. Squad needed better equipment, but the threat in Siberia had to be also shut down, sooner or later. Who would know, what kind of horrors each of tomorrows brought along?

Boyscouts Do (and Get Done in) America

A trail of smoke soared down the mid-eastern evening sky. If you took a really close look, you could notice that it was from something bigger than a plane, but not much. A large scout had decided to scout the neighbourhood and XCOM Central was alerted. Skyranger took off immediately.

[SKYRANGER CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]

Sureshot: Hell yeah, another scout mission. Hey Hipster, better keep those rockets and frags in locker since we want this pile of hardware intact.

Hipster: At the end of the day, if it's me or some box of cables and shit, it isn't a choice after all. Ask El Fenrir.

El Fenrir: Right.

Ironside: So, how is it, Sureshot? Scotch time soon?

Sureshot: Not now. Not since Proxy died.

*a long silence*

Pilot: We're closing in, dropping you on the edge of a small clearing.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The squad advanced according to practiced tactics like a well-oiled machine. Harmony Lad got everyone covered and the UFO was very close. Still no movement. All of a sudden, three floaters emerged from the woods on the left side of the saucer. Even though floaters can be terrific in flanking and causing general problems, they lack big time on the tactical side. All of them clumped, Hipster unloaded a rocket in the middle of them, sending pieces of flesh and machinery flying around in a macabre confetti. Still, no movement from within the saucer. Not until Ironside got too near. The front door popped open and three mutons emerged, alongside with a berserker and things were immediately out of hand. Sureshot and Broden got hit by an alien grenade, but their newly built titan armors held together. Still, the berserker was rampaging all over the place and the squad peppered it with everything they got. Sureshot advanced closer to the right side of the UFO to flank the mutons and two more appeared, accompanied with another berserker. Things looked grim as the aliens had obviously upped the ante in manpower. The squad and mutons exchanged shots and both Ironside and Broden got the short end by drawing extra attention from the mutons. Their titan armor was all but disintegrated in the fierce plasma fire.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Ironside: Come on DIE *scatter laser blast* DIE *another*

*roaring* *a loud thump*

Ironside: He's down. Sureshot watch the flanks, the mutons seem to group on you!

Sureshot: I got everything under contr-- *static*

Ironside: Sureshot? Talk to me!

El Fenrir: Oh my God, I saw him die, he's gone, they're everywhere, we're all dead! *plasma firing*

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

El Fenrir started shooting all over the place, now also mentally overwhelmed by the formidable opponents. Sureshot got squarely hit by two of the mutons from the flank and his carapace armor was dissolved in a blink of an eye. So was him and the stakes on each mission became high and clear. This heavy plasma rifle technology the aliens carried was vastly superior to the current XCOM equipment and experience played no role when facing raw laws of physics.

The other berserker was roaring towards Ironside. It steamrolled through the devastating crossfire and seemingly completely unable to feel any pain, it advanced next to Ironside in an apparent attempt to rip his head off.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPTION]

Ironside: Not today, fatso.

[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

The berserker fell and the rest of the mutons got caught in the crossfire. Still, the loss of yet another iron-hard veteran was scalding the squad morale. Ironside and Hipster were pretty badly banged up and new recruits were needed.

Master of Council Puppets

Here we go again. Another very important person to the Council - General Van Doorn - got lost somewhere in burning Baltimore, Maryland of the US of A. Since we had spare time from alien abductions, terror jobs and whatnot, it was an easy choice between yes and yes for an answer to this call. Aliens had bombarded a bridge halfway down and the general was pinned somewhere within. The team did not waste time and brought two snipers to go with. Snake Catcher needed field missions as well and this seemed the perfect job for that.

On the upper end things stayed relatively easy, and another military person knew as much as the general being in a tough spot somewhere within the collapsed middle part. Yet, he was easily located by Snake Catcher and quickly secured by Broden and Ironside.

[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]

Broden: Got him, securing the route back to the extraction point.

XCOM Central: Affirmative. Bring him in.

Broden: Sir! You have to reach that plateau, we will cover these thin men over here.

Van Doorn: Check that, on the move.

Broden: Sir! The high plateau, not the one in the open!

Van Doorn: What do you mea--

Sureshot: Popping smoke, cover him!

[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]

Sureshot covered the general with a smoke, but the thin man from far ahead and from higher ground did not miss. Van Doorn collapsed in the middle of the smoke and the mission changed from escort to extraction. A few thin men proved no resistance to the seasoned team, but getting back alive from Baltimore still meant answering to some of the Council's less attractive questions.

Council report for the month proved much more promising, however. European panic level had decreased , but the next hot area would inevitably be North America.