X-COM (updated M-W-F)

[Smart Alec]

Oddly enough, the vampires WERE servants of Orcus, as it turned out.

Anyhow! The 'Aliens' post. I think by this point I'd settled into Vasily's role as something dangerously close to an action movie hero parody, complete with Schwartzenegger dialogue, Bond one-liners, etc. I think the Aliens references were something of a moment of madness, but with that method in mind...

 

[Lazybones]

A note for my regular readers: those who have followed the various stories I've written over the years know that I have also written a number of novels in the fantasy genre. Some of my long-term readers have been very encouraging and have suggested that they'd like to see some of my works in print.

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to revise and edit some of my earlier works and self-publish them online. I am currently planning on releasing a book or two on Smashwords by the end of the year, and perhaps something on Amazon.com for the Kindle as well. The price would be minimal, a dollar or two for each novel-length book. I will update again when I have more details.

Obviously I cannot publish anything I've done on ENWorld due to copyright issues. Those works will remain here for anyone to read for free.

Thanks to everyone who has supported my writing. I do it as a hobby but I enjoy the feedback.

And now for your regular post:

* * * * *

Session 15 (July 21, 2008)
Chapter 50


Catalina was at her usual place in the lounge, her feet perched high up on the table. James was putting some dishes back into the cupboard when Vasily came in and grabbed a soda from the machine. “Unless you want to do another of your tactics exercises,” the doctor said, with a look at Vasily, “I’ll go check on the medical kit production.” He started toward the door, but it opened ahead of him, and Eleazar Perez came into the room.

Hey, Alphas. How’s it hanging?”

“Hey, bro!” James replied. “What up?”

The swarthy Latino grinned. “Heard you got Grace to fix us up some of those fancy ray guns you guys been playing with.” He mimed a gun with his thumb and forefinger. “I’m looking forward to roasting some squishies, man.”

Vasily leaned back against the counter as he drained the last of his soda. “Something like that,” he said.

“For you guys, only our best leftovers,” James added.

Without looking up from her magazine, Catalina said, “It was the least we could do, but you can thank us profusely if you wish.”

“Word of advice,” Vasily said, crumpling the can before feeding it into the recycling bin. “Not so good against the snakes. But for everything else, great.”

Eleazar seemed unconcerned. “Yeah, well, I need me some new boots. So bring them snakies on.”

Vasily’s chuckle was dry. As James took his leave, Eleazar crossed over to the mini fridge and helped himself to a bottle of water. “Anyway, promised Alyssa I’d help her tack out her new stealth rig. You blew your chance, Russkie.” After taking a swig from the bottle, he headed for the door. “Later, Alphas. Vaya con dios.”

Catalina waved after him with her fingers as the door slid shut behind him.
“Not upset, are you?” she asked Vasily, an eyebrow raised.

“Eh?”

“Miss Personality and the Latino?”

“Eh,” Vasily repeated, waving his hand in a vague gesture. “Not my type.”

“Here, console yourself and check this out,” she said, drawing the laser pistol hanging in its bulky harness at her hip, and sliding it across the table toward him. He picked it up, grunting as he evaluated its lighter weight and improved targeting system.

Both looked up as Chief Hallorand came into the room. “Oh, hey there. Cat, Vasily.”

“Hello,” Vasily said.

“Hey, when you see the others, could you let the know that Garret’s called a briefing in fifteen. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I hope you like croissants.”

“Hmm,” Catalina said, after he’d left. Vasily slid the weapon back toward her. “Guess we better go and find,” he said.

It took them a while to track down all of the members of Alpha Team, with Cat finally resorting to her xPhone to page Moshe Yahav. They were a few minutes late when they trailed into the room with the Israeli scientist in tow. Jane and James were already there.

“You’re late,” Agent Drake said.

“I hope you all have been practicing your French,” Joan Beauvois said, smiling from her seat at the end of the table.

“We go to X-COM Europe?” Vasily asked, as he took his own seat.

“Yes,” Garret said.

“Don’t worry, it’s not a permanent reassignment,” Doctor Wagner added.

“Oh, good,” Vasily said. “Because I would miss the luxury accommodation here.”

“The base is almost ready to come online,” Garret said. “The first defense personnel are already there. Scientists and engineers will follow.”

“You are going to be our liaisons and ensure that the base operations are set up properly,” Drake said.

“Think of yourselves as our envoys,” Garret said.

“Yes, that means to try to avoid blowing things up,” Joan added.

“Vas and Cat, diplomats extraordinaire,” James said.

“I make a remarkably friendly envoy,” Catalina said.

“You’ll meet our representative there, Jacques Nemot.”

Ken Yushi looked up from his tablet computer from his perch at the end of the table, opposite Joan. “Man, we’re looking at another long ride,” he said.

“Yes, but this time you can sleep through most of it, and you’re not facing a pitched battle at the other end,” Wagner said.

The pilot grinned. “Heh, you’ve never been in the Paris rush hour, Doc.”

“All right,” Garret said. “Ken, make sure that the Skyranger’s ready for the long flight. Alphas, get your gear and meet him in Hangar One. Dismissed.”

 

[Richard Rawen]

A note for my regular readers: those who have followed the various stories I've written over the years know that I have also written a number of novels in the fantasy genre. Some of my long-term readers have been very encouraging and have suggested that they'd like to see some of my works in print.

One of my resolutions for 2010 is to revise and edit some of my earlier works and self-publish them online. I am currently planning on releasing a book or two on Smashwords by the end of the year, and perhaps something on Amazon.com for the Kindle as well. The price would be minimal, a dollar or two for each novel-length book. I will update again when I have more details.

Wunderbar (and damned well about time! )
You know we'll be lined up around the internet corners

 

[Tamlyn]

Wunderbar (and damned well about time! )
You know we'll be lined up around the internet corners

Concur!

 

[Innocent Bystander]

Nice to see some mental and physical down time after the last two grueling encounters. I'm surprised they haven't put more emphasis on researching new weapons technology. In those games I've found the best way to survive the fights is to make sure you've got something so that when you hit, what you hit goes down.

 

[Vanya Mia]

To be fair LB only really gives a flavour of the research and manufacture side of it. We were really deeply into it and a lot of what went on is passed by, only where the items became significant in game are they introduced via LB's story. There was a lot of early emphasis on armour, for example, and several grades of laser weapon to research, to say nothing of the medical kits and so on. Plus there was only the laser as a 'earth originated' option as I remember, the rest came from ones we found on dead aliens. These between sessions posts were for XP if we were successful, as well as to try and con... I mean persuade improved kit out of LB. The ones he's used tend to be where we got really inventive, where it helps to show the character development and background, or a lot of banter came out of it, we weren't always that creative. A lot of them were plain dull.

Either way, you don't want endless posts of us researching do you? You want the action! Even if it's like the Vegas posts.

 

[Lazybones]

Plus, if I remember right I required them to research Elerium first before they could work on the alien plasma weapons. But even after they got the advanced weapons, some of the players preferred to keep their older weapons because of feat selections and the like. I'll try to clarify that in the story when appropriate.

The module download at Neverwinter Vault (link in the first post) includes an Excel spreadsheet with all the weapon, armor, and alien stats, if anyone is curious.

* * * * *

Session 15 (July 21, 2008)
Chapter 51


It was almost nine hours later when the Skyranger began its descent toward Dijon-Longvic Airbase, where X-COM’s European air contingent—two advanced interceptor craft—was stationed. The hangars at X-COM Europe weren’t completed yet, so they had to transfer to a wheeled APC for the forty minute drive to the new base. The ride started smooth as they made their way west, then culminated in an increasingly rough ride as the quality of the roads quickly deteriorated. Finally, after they began to feel the bruises start to rise on their backsides, the vehicle rolled to a stop. Vasily grunted and rose to the hatch in the rear of the APC, which dropped open to reveal a green, hilly landscape overlaid with the brilliant sunshine of a bright morning.

“France in springtime, mmm,” Catalina said, taking a deep breath as she stepped toward the open hatch.

James fumbled with his medical satchel, which had gotten stuck on a protrusion under his seat. “Where’s my foie gras?” he asked, still a bit grumpy from the lack of sleep on the flight over.

Catalina, on the other hand, managed to look refreshed. “Still in the goose?” she said brightly, letting out a slight laugh at the doctor’s scowl. Behind him, Moshe banged his head on the low ceiling of the APC, and muttered a curse in Hebrew as he gathered his gear and followed after the others.

As the Alphas filed out of the APC, they got a good look at the surrounding landscape. The low hills surrounded them and rose to a respectable height in the distance, where the scattered trees thickened into more substantial forests. They could see the battered dirt track snaking through the hills behind them, with dust raised by the APC’s passage still floating in the air. Ahead of the armored vehicle, the road ended in front of a small wooden building, the ideal picture of a rustic French farm cottage. There were no power lines or phone cables that they could see, but the long outline of a propane tank was visible on the far side of the building, and the bottom of a video camera housing was just visible under the eaves that jutted out over the cottage’s front porch.

A man in the familiar X-COM uniform emerged from the house to greet them. He was accompanied by a huge dog, a mastiff whose shoulder was nearly at the level of the man’s armpit. The dog merely eyed them silently as they approached.

“Uh, bonjoor?” Vasily offered in greeting.

“Hey there, Alpha,” the guard said.

“Je mapple Catalina, et vous?” Catalina asked.

The guard chuckled. “I’m from Kansas City, lady.” He jerked a thumb back toward the house. “They’re expecting you.”

Vasily looked up at the old house. “I think there some kind of mix-up in the blueprints.”

“Heh,” the guard said. “Elevator’s inside.”

Inside, the cottage looked as rustic as its exterior. But instead of leading to a back bedroom, the large sliding wooden doors against the back wall of the front room revealed the elevator, its doors open and waiting for them. There was only one button inside, but before any of them could press it, the doors closed and the small chamber began its descent. The Alphas completed the twenty-second ride in silence, sharing a few wary looks as the elevator slowed and finally stopped, the doors parting to reveal a slightly shadowed corridor that extended to the left and right. There was a man waiting for them, a Gallic copy of Garret, down to the black suit.

“Bonjour,” he said. “I am Jacques Nemot. Welcome to X-COM Europe.”

“Hiya,” Jane said.

“Merci,” Catalina added.

“It is a pleasure to have the legendary Alpha Squad here on French soil,” Nemot continued. “We have heard a great deal about your exploits.”

“We are charmed to be here,” Catalina said.

“I am certain that the day of the alien defeat is soon at hand.” He gestured with a hand toward the corridor to their left. “Come, let me show you the base.”

“You are more certain that we, monsieur Nemot,” James said.

If the French administrator was affected by the doctor’s comment, he gave no sign. “It is our hope that this facility will greatly aid us in our case,” he said, pausing at a large steel door with a security keypad set into the wall next to it. Ahead, the corridor ended in an area that was obviously under construction; even before noting the warning signs, they could see the tools and heavy machinery scattered about. Nemot saw their notice and said, “As you can see, we still have a bit of final work to do.” He tapped in a code on the panel. “This will be the first of our new research laboratories.”

As the door slid open with a thick hiss, Nemot gestured them forward. “If you would, Doctor Allen?”

The lab was likewise unfinished, but they could see the potential in it; several banks of heavy equipment had already been installed, including both devices familiar from the X-COM facility in Nevada and some other machinery that looked new. It was spacious, easily half again the size of the largest lab at X-COM HQX. There was a diagnostic array mostly complete in the center of the room, with a half-dozen bulky sensors arranged on adjustable metal arms around a slightly raised metallic pad. A dozen large LCD screens, each a good six feet across, were set into the walls just below the ceiling, angled so that anyone in the room would have a clear view of all of them. The only thing powered in the room at the moment were the emergency lights on each end of the room, but they could almost imagine it full of people and activity.

“Impressive,” James said.

“Kind of… bigger,” Vasily added.

Moshe had gone over to the scanner array, and was poking around at the heavy instruments. “Very advanced,” he reported, continuing his examination.

Nemot had waited in the doorway. “Hopefully, this facility will contribute a great deal of information to our knowledge base,” he said. “Come, let me show you the rest.”

“There is so much packed in back at home,” Catalina observed, as Nemot led them back to the elevator and then down the corridor in the other direction. “We wanted to create a facility where our brightest minds could work in comfort,” the Frenchman said. They passed the entrance to a barracks, which Nemot let them briefly look into. The décor was much less Spartan than back in Nevada, with wood paneling and soft red carpeting offsetting the military-style bunks that ran in orderly rows down the length of the room. There was easily enough space to sleep twenty comfortably.

“How are the defenses here?” James asked, as Nemot continued leading them on their tour. They passed several storerooms, and Nemot showed them a communications center that, like the laboratory, was currently dark and unused.

“Our proximity to the air force base is our primary defense,” Nemot replied. “In addition to the Armée d l’air, the two interceptors that X-COM has given us will have to do until your new experimental craft is ready."

“The Firestorm?” Jane asked.

Nemot nodded. “Ah, yes. A very evocative name. I hope you can press the urgency of our case, and get the second such craft, at least, assigned here on a permanent basis.”

“Is possible they not know of this place yet,” Vasily said, looking up at the ceiling. “Maybe we have new craft by the time this base really working.”

“We’ll keep our fingers crossed,” James said.

“Come, let me show you the temporary crew quarters,” Nemot said, bringing them to the end of the corridor. The open door led into a lounge slightly bigger than the one in Nevada, with a full kitchen set up along the far wall. Comfortable-looking chairs were arranged around the perimeter of the room, and there were two tables that could each seat a dozen people for dining. Two doors to their left obviously led to restrooms, while another to the right was marked, “L’office.” There were two men in guard uniforms seated at one of the tables, who looked up as the Alphas entered.

“Hullo, boys,” Catalina said to them.

“Hey, you guys are from the States, right?” one of them asked.

“Define ‘from’,” Vasily said.

The guard who had spoken grinned. “Sorry, I meant US X-COM.”

“We from there,” Vasily said, walking over to them. “What up?”

“Not many comforts, as yet,” Nemot said. There was a buzzing at his hip; he took out a small communications unit, and frowned down at it. “Excuse me, I need to take this. If you wouldn’t mind waiting here, thank you.”

The Alphas joined the guards, who seemed pleased to see new faces, and particularly the members of Alpha Team. “We’ve heard a lot about you guys,” one of the guards said.

“Did not realize we talked about,” Vasily said. James headed over to the kitchen, and started poking around the stainless-steel appliances. Here too it looked like the work was incomplete, but there was a working range and twin ovens, a massive refrigerator, and even a gleaming espresso machine. The second guard, who came over to get a Coke from the fridge, saw him looking at it and smiled. “Damned if I know how it works,” he said.

“It’s nice to visit and check this place out,” Jane said.

“Yeah, it’s small, but we’re growing,” the first guard said.

“It’ll be as impressive as the US base soon, I’m sure,” Catalina said.

The second guard returned with his drink. “Mike, don’t keep the pretty ladies all to yourself,” he said, smiling as he reclaimed his seat. “Name’s Derek,” he said, offering a hand to Catalina.

“Is not as… boxy? As X-COM US,” Vasily said, looking around at the décor. He started to say something else, but was cut off by an odd, high-pitched whine that seemed to come through the ceiling tiles. “That normal?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound good,” Mike said. He started to get up, but before he or any of the others could do anything to react, a massive explosion shook the base, and then everything went black as the room collapsed onto them.

 

[Innocent Bystander]

And then again, maybe the aliens do already know about the new base...

 

[Richard Rawen]

Either that or the farmers are on strike again. Cow-bomb anyone?
Seriously though, Dropping the BASE on them LB? That's RBDMing even for you!

 

[Lazybones]

That's RBDMing even for you!

Oh, it gets worse.

* * * * *

Session 15 (July 21, 2008)
Chapter 52


The darkness receded by degrees, accompanied by waves of pain. Vasily blinked, and realized that he was lying face-down, the heavy weight of debris pressing down against his legs and back. For a moment he felt a twinge of panic at being trapped here, crushed under the weight of the collapsed ceiling, but when he stirred, the material fell away and he could move.

The room was dark; the emergency lights either weren’t working or had been dislodged by the partial collapse. There was a dim glow that Vasily recognized as Catalina’s xPhone, its screen turned up to maximum brightness. Vasily could just make out the pale skin of her face in that glow.

“Mike?” A voice came, from a pile of wreckage where the table had been moments before. “Mike? Speak to me!”

“Doc?” Vasily asked, as he staggered to his feet. “Everyone okay?”

James was already crouched over Moshe, checking the scientist’s pulse. As the Israeli groaned, he got up—more than a bit unsteady himself—and made his way toward the fallen guard. As he moved around the table, which had been crushed by a fallen beam, he saw Mike, with Derek, the other guard, crouched over him.

“Where is Nemot,” Catalina said, groaning as she looked around. Jane was digging through her gear, and finally located a small LED lamp, which she switched on, scanning the room with its beam. The partial collapse of the ceiling had been worst around the table; the area near the door to the outer corridor was mostly clear, with just some ceiling panels scattered around the floor with the odd metal fitting here and there. Bits of wiring and piping jutted from the ceiling, and in the kitchenette area two beams stabbed down almost to the floor, like claws.

“We under attack?” Vasily asked. “Surely base sensors pick it up…”

“I don’t know,” Derek said, rising to his feet as James checked the fallen guard. “I’d better check. You all wait here.” But before he could move to the door, James shook his head. “He’s gone.”

“We all go together,” Vasily said. He took his laser pistol out of its holster at his hip, checked the connector to the power unit snuggled in the small of his back, and activated it. The hum as the weapon powered seemed ominously loud. The others checked their pistols as well. Jane was the only one of them who had a heavier weapon, the more compact laser rifle that Grace’s technicians had upgraded earlier. She unfolded the weapon and charged it up as they made their way to the door.

The outer corridor was as dark as the lounge had been. Dust floated in the air, sparkling in the light of Jane’s lamp. The corridor seemed more or less intact, at least until they came to the elevator. The doors had bent outward, as if kicked from the other side by a giant, and they could see the rubble that choked the shaft.

“Another way up?” Vasily asked.

“There’s an access ladder,” the guard said. “We can get to it through the storeroom.” He started back toward it, but Catalina held up a hand. “Where is Nemot?”

“I don’t know,” the guard said. “Maybe he went into the one of the other rooms?”

They searched, quickly, but the rest of the base was deserted. “Maybe he went up topside,” the guard said. “We’d better join him before the rest of this place collapses.”

They started after him, but Catalina paused, tugging on Vasily’s sleeve. “Nemot gets a call, he leaves, and now…?”

“One thing at a time,” Vasily said. “First we get out.”

The guard took them to the storeroom, which was cluttered with crates marked in French, and showed them the panel that opened onto a maintenance crawlspace. The ladder was there as well, and the shaft appeared to be clear, ascending into the darkness as far as Jane’s light extended. The guard started to step forward, but Vasily cut in front of him, making his way up the shaft. The others followed behind.

The shaft ascended a good sixty feet before depositing them in a small antechamber. A hatch, dangling slightly ajar, provided access to the elevator shaft, but one look told them that the shaft had completely collapsed. Jane shone the light upward, but saw only a tangle of broken beams and rubble. The guard directed them to another hatch that he got open with some difficulty, revealing a narrow staircase leading up.

“This leads up to the back of the house,” the guard said. Vasily started up, but they didn’t get very far before they came to another collapse, with sheets of metal crumpled at the top of the stairs. They could just make out a faint glimmer of light through the tangle of metal, obscured by thick eddies of smoke and dust that filtered through the wreckage.

“Aw, man,” Derek said, as he got a look at the wreckage over Vasily’s shoulder.

“We could use our lasers, cut our way out,” Jane said.

“If you can make a hole, I might squeeze through,” Catalina said.

Vasily nodded. “Then we make hole.” He shifted back enough to let Jane and Moshe come forward beside him on the stairs. The three of them lifted their lasers, and started carefully cutting through the metal barrier. The three beams tore through the heavy metal, and a large piece fell away, clattering loudly on the stairs. “Careful now,” Vasily said. “Do not want it to collapse more.”

They continued working, cutting away a large enough swath to let someone squeeze through. Vasily came forward and carefully pulled free a large piece of metal, and Catalina slipped forward, ducking low to squeeze through the gap. She wiggled forward through the opening, and quickly vanished. “Looks like the cellar of that cottage,” she said. “There’s a lot of debris, looks like the entire place has collapsed.”

Vasily grunted as he pushed against the metal, trying to widen the opening further. “You go, Derek,” he said. “Then Moshe and Jane.”

The others moved into the opening, one after the other. They could hear Catalina on the far side, helping those get through.

Moshe staggered to his feet as he escaped the narrow tunnel—it was quite claustrophobic—and was helped clear by Derek. Catalina remained crouched by the opening, encouraging the next person through. He could hear Jane grunting as she slid forward through the tight passage, and shivered.

“Is there a way out?” the scientist asked. From what he could see, the cellar was a total loss, with beams and wreckage crowding down upon them from above. The light they’d seen earlier filtered through cracks in the debris, but none of them looked large enough to accommodate a sparrow, let alone any of them.

“The stairs were over here,” the guard replied. He ducked under a low beam, and disappeared. “Hey! I can see daylight!”

Moshe glanced back and saw Catalina helping Jane. The bulky power pack of the rifle was giving her some trouble in the cramped space, so she slid out of it and pushed it forward to Catalina before crawling after. “Wait up!” he said, moving forward after the guard.

Derek was already on the stairs, grunting as he pushed at a heavy steel door, set almost horizontal like a hatchway, at the top. Moshe moved to help him, and together the two were able to get it clear, something heavy on the other side scraping as it slid away. The two men staggered forward, into daylight. The smoke was thicker here, and as Moshe looked around, his first thought was that he’d stumbled into a warzone. The cottage was a burning wreckage, and the ground for a wide radius was scorched black. The APC that had brought them had been flung aside, and now rested on its back against a nearby hill.

But he didn’t have a chance for a second thought, as a bright flash shot past him, striking Derek solidly in the back. The guard was flung forward and fell hard onto the ground. Moshe was frozen, standing there staring at the body, for what seemed like forever, but was barely a second. He started to reach for his laser, to open his mouth to shout a warning, but before he could complete either action a plasma bolt struck him in the back of the head.