The end of the month is a busy time for XCOM. The council of funding nations convenes, and almost universally approves of XCOM's progress against the invaders.
Flush with cash from the spoils of the large UFO and the cash injection from the council, XCOM decides to funnel more resources into R&D, expand Sector 1 to accommodate XCOM's increasing size, and invest in setting up a second base of operations.
On February 4th, the first UFO of the new month is detected over western Iran.
It is caught by an XCOM Interceptor just before crossing the Red Sea into Africa, and makes a crash landing along the coast of Saudi Arabia.
Laura Rola and dreamowd join the squad, and the rocket launchers are issued to Mara Schaeffer and Hikaru. Production of laser rifles is humming along, and seven are issued to the squad's most accurate shooters.
TechnoSam and Shotgunner, the squad's most veteran remaining soldiers, are first down the ramp.
Ah, the open desert, how we had (not) missed you.
TechnoSam spots the first alien without difficulty over the flat, barren terrain, forward and to the right of the Skyranger. The XCOM soldiers exit swiftly and pepper the Sectoid's position with laser beams and gunfire, but the target is seemly protected by a probability-bending field of invulnerability. Even Hikaru's rocket sails past.
Finally, LaserArrow breaks the streak, nailing and killing the alien.
Last but not least, the new recruits jog out of the Skyranger and past their kneeling comrades to scout the area. Laura Rola heads directly right, and dreamowd forward along the Skyranger's left.
In retaliation, two expertly aimed blobs of plasma appear from out of sight range, both connecting with TechnoSam, killing him.
dreamowd, XCOM's fastest runner, cuts diagonally in front of the Skyranger to find the shooter.
Find it he does, far to the other side, and Mara takes aim with her rocket launcher. One more enemy of the human race eliminated.
Everyone proceeds across the dangerously open desert.
Hm, correction: make that two enemies of the human race eliminated!
...which, unfortunately, turns out to be one too few. Incoming!
dreamowd moves forward again, spotting the next Sectoid, outside its spaceship.
SearchingLyoko fires with deadly accuracy, killing it with a pair of hits.
Unsurprisingly, dreamowd is the first one to the UFO door. XCOM finds itself strung out over the flat desert sands as the scouts jog forward and the main body cautiously advances. Rather than wait to a Sectoid to pop from the door and give him a dose of plasma, dreamowd enters the UFO immediately... to find no one home. The others follow as fast as they can.
Then, things go sideways. Queue a grenade-happy Sectoid!
dreamowd doesn't react in time, and Tsunamix, The Pikachu Master, and Soul Jelly are all consumed in a fiery explosion. dreamowd, near the edge of the blast, is wounded and rendered unconscious.
momoire-blanche enters, and standing over Tsunamix's body, takes revenge for his teammates.
Half a dozen members of XCOM enter the smoke-filled chamber and cover the two doorways, praying no more aliens appear.
Contacts left! An alien darts through the left door and stops suddenly, as if surprised to find the room filled with angry and very much-still alive XCOM operatives. Through the doorway, a second Sectoid is briefly visible before the opening snaps shut again. ArgentDandelion closes to point blank range and shoots the Sectoid dead.
She, SearchingLyoko, and LaserArrow prepare to confront the Sectoid still behind the door. Meanwhile, memoire-blanche runs to and immediately opens the right-hand door to find the control room empty. Strangely_Scott and Shotgunner42 follow her in.
The second Sectoid walks out through the left door, turns, and kills ArgentDandelion.
It next approaches LaserArrow, but before it can claim anyone else, SearchingLyoko pulls the trigger on his laser rifle and brings an end to the final extraterrestrial aboard.
The UFO is secure; although dreamowd survives to see treatment at Sector 1 and will someday fight again, was the cost too high?
---
Mission Recap and Debriefing
SearchingLyoko: 2 kills
Mara Schaffer: 2 kills
LaserArrow: 1 kill
memoire-blanche: 1 kill
ArgentDandelion: 1 kill
New Sergeant: Strangely_Scott
New Squaddies: SearchingLyoko, LaserArrow, memoire-blanche, Laura Rola
TechnoSam: Sergeant, KIA on his 5th mission with 4 kills - most successful trooper to die to date
ArgentDandelion: Squaddie, KIA on her 2nd mission with 1 kill
Soul Jelly: Rookie, KIA on her 2nd mission with 0 kills
Tsunamix: Rookie, KIA on his 2nd mission with 0 kills
The Pikachu Master: Squaddie, KIA on his 2nd mission with 1 kill
The team was overdue for a mission to go wrong. =( Goodbye, TechnoSam the First, XCOM will miss ye. In addition to capturing more alien gear, this mission was about training up more rookies. Fortunately a good number of y'all are decent shots, but nobody is exactly what I'd call a sharpshooter. Benoni, Searching, jaccobbeahm, and dreamowd are all tied for the title of XCOM's all-time best shot; one of them is now dead, and two are stuck in the medical ward. Hopefully we'll have some hardened troopers (and some better gear!) ready for the next time we tackle something the size of a Terror Ship. (the UFO from a couple missions back - you'll understand the name later)
P.S. and if only Searching hadn't been so darn protective, we coulda hog-tied that Sectoid and brought it back with us for some good old-fashioned interrogation. A gold star for reacting in time and possibly saving lives (unlike a certain trooper this mission...), and a demerit for not letting her die and allowing XCOM to capture an alien. =P
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