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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4963047" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 6 (May 19, 2008)Chapter 16Their destination wasn’t very far from X-COM’s Nevada base, but it was dark by the time that the Skyranger began its descent over the rugged northern California landscape.  The coordinates Buzz had isolated were in a fairly isolated area, with maybe a dozen small farms within fifty miles of the target site.  Unfortunately, the aliens hadn’t provided a time to go with the coordinates, or at least they hadn’t been able to decipher one from the data they’d collected from the alien ship. They’d established a search pattern that would take them in an expanding circle around the target coordinates, but before they even got within fifty miles of their intended landing zone, Ken’s excited voice came over the intercom.  “Just got the latest sat feed from base, guys.  We have a bogey.”As the members of Alpha Team exclaimed in surprise, the pilot continued, “Don’t know how it got there, didn’t pick anything up on the radar net, but there’s definitely something there, an alien ship, at one of the local farmhouses.  Setting a course.”“Any sign of individual aliens?” Cat asked, as Vasily checked his rifle. There was a slight pause.  “Nothing on the feed,” Ken reported.  “But it’s not a very big ship, barely larger than the Ranger, maybe the same class as the ones you guys found in Canada.”The team members shared a look.  None of them had forgotten how that mission had turned out.  Another voice came over the communications net.  “This is Doctor Wagner.  I know you’ve seen the feed; capture of an intact alien ship is top priority.  Good luck.”Ken’s voice came back.  “Okay, there’s no way they’re not going to see us coming in, but I’ll give them as little warning as I can.  Be ready, down in sixty seconds, but you won’t want to get up until I give the signal.  Yushi out.”The Skyranger’s engines screamed, and the ship banked hard as Ken approached the target.  He cut out the main engines and shifted to VTOL at the same time, and they each felt their stomachs rise into their throats as the ship plummeted hard, only to be slammed back as the landing jets kicked in.  Catalina looked over at Buzz, who was holding the motion scanner in his lap.  “How close does that thing need to be to detect anything?” she asked. “Don’t really know.  Maybe you should play with it.  I think you would be better suited than me, especially since you have to be out front to use it.”  He smiled, but swallowed hard and closed his eyes as the Skyranger leveled out, and dropped the last few feet, land hard enough to jolt his teeth together.  “Let’s go!” James said, moving into place behind Vasily as the Russian sprang out of his seat and moved with fluid motion to the rear hatch.  Buzz got free with a bit more effort, with Jane stopping to help him pull free of his seat harness.  He handed the motion sensor to Catalina, who looked it over curiously.  Vasily was out before the hatch had opened fully.  Ken had put them down in the middle of a pasture about fifty meters away from the farmhouse.  It was a two-story house done in the chalet style, almost like a rustic hunting lodge, with an unpaved road connecting the house to the world beyond.  There was a large white SUV parked in front of the house, but no lights or other indicators that there were people at home.  In the moonlight they could just make out an orchard beyond the house to the right, and a hill rising up beyond it to the left.  Before they could do more than take that first look around, however, they heard the sounds of the alien energy weapons coming from the orchard, and streaks of white fire as plasma bolts started flashing past them.  Buzz, just coming out of the hatch in the rear of the Skyranger, was almost hit in the face, and he staggered back, dazed, as a second bolt hit the craft, sending up a blast of fiery sparks from the point of impact. “Aliens!” James yelled, diving for cover.  There wasn’t much to be had, but at least the thick grass of the pasture offered some concealment from the unseen alien snipers. “Shoot back!” Vasily yelled.  “Buzz!  Get back in ship!”  The Russian ran forward, firing from his hip as he ran.  A plasma bolt narrowly missed him as he darted in front of the SUV and up against the front wall of the farmhouse. Jane squeezed out of the hatch as Buzz tried to force his way back in.  She ran around to the front of the Skyranger, where Ken was frantically gesturing behind the armored glass of the cockpit.  A plasma bolt struck the ship’s hull, punching a hole six inches across in its skin.  Jane ducked under the nose and fired the laser pistol in the direction of the muzzle flashes.  The red beam tore a bright streak across the landscape for a moment, but it wasn’t clear if she’d hit anything.  She did draw counterfire, as one shot narrow missed both her and the ship, while another struck the cockpit with a glancing hit, splashing energy across the glass with a black smear that obscured half of the canopy. Vasily glanced around the edge of the house toward the orchard.  He couldn’t see the aliens, but they could apparently see him; a shot lanced out, and blasted away a hunk of stone the size of his head from the foundation.  He quickly dropped back into cover, and reached for his belt, taking up a grenade.  His only warning was a faint skittering sound.  He turned just in time to see another alien come around the far edge of the house.  Before Vasily could so much as shout a warning, it turned and pointed its plasma pistol straight at his heart.</blockquote>

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