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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5185052" data-attributes="member: 143">Beta did tend to end up with Alpha's hand-me-downs. I had them in my palette as NPCs but never had the Alphas run them directly (though they did appear in some of the vignettes that the players posted on the game forums). Today, the aliens take the gloves off. * * * Interlude: Total War (September 19, 2008)Most of the alien ships that had been encountered thus far had had a certain sleek elegance to them.  With their Elerium-powered antigravity drives, the ships did not need wings or bulky thrust units.  For all their size, they were almost graceful. Not this one. The monstrosity that descended from orbit was a bulging, awkward hulk.  It formed a bright streak over the Atlantic Ocean as it entered the atmosphere, visible in the early morning sky from Cuba to South Carolina. After steadying its course somewhat, it headed for New York City. The Americans had not been idle in their preparations.  Two Firestorm-Bs with conventional engines and forty F-35As armed with pulse-laser cannons greeted the alien ship.  It punched through them almost effortlessly.  Thirty-four fighters were lost. Twenty nuclear-tipped surface-to-air missiles rose to greet the battleship as it crossed New Jersey.  The ship was equipped with some sort of repulsor array, knocking the missiles out of the air while they were still dozens of kilometers distant.  Only two of the missiles got close enough to detonate.  The atomic blasts caused the ship to wobble, but weren't enough to stop it. The battleship's main cannon made short work of the human city.  Four fusion blasts bracketed Manhattan Island, leaving the core of the city a blazing wreckage, and the surrounding boroughs a smoldering wasteland. The ship pulled away from the devastation it created, and started east, flying a high arc over the Atlantic.  On its way to Europe, it was hit by a swarm of SLBMs from two British missile submarines, again with little effect.  More interceptors engaged as the ship crossed over Iceland, including two X-COM fighters. Firestorm-1 was not with them, as its innards were lying strewn across the hangar bay at HQX as its new plasma cannon was being installed.  In any case, it is doubtful that its presence would have made a difference.  All fighters were lost without noticeable damage to the alien battleship. The ship fired a pair of fusion bolts that vaporized 90% of London.  It slid east, giving France a comfortable berth before coming down over the Low Countries and into Germany.  German land-based laser batteries blasted the ship as it flew over the border, but again there was no apparent effect.  The ship ignored the defenses, firing a last blast of its main cannon at the city of Frankfurt.  The fusion bolt exploded directly over Saint Bartholomeus's Cathedral, and destroyed most of the city core. The alien ship turned ponderously, and began to ascend once more into orbit. Initial casualty estimates were in the millions.</blockquote>

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