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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5207115" data-attributes="member: 143">Session 23 (September 29, 2008)Chapter 94The base bustled with activity; there was still a lot to do, and only a few hours to get everything done before the scheduled launch of the X-COM assault force.  Hadrian reported to Grace’s workshop for the final adjustments to the new suit of powered armor, while James packed up the latest set of improved medikits to come out of Stan’s production line.  Vasily made a stop at the armory, where he made a quick farewell. “I going to miss the minigun, Musa,” he said, as the big African packed the weapon and its ammunition magazine into a storage locker. “Ah, I find good home for it,” he said.  “You need more gas grenades?”“I have plenty,” he said.  “Better keep handy for other Alphas, though.”  He left Musa to return to the physical sciences workshop, where one of the researchers waved him over.  “Been expecting you,” he said, opening a sealed case that hissed as air poured into the vacuum that had been inside.  “Try not to lose it, this is the only specimen of this model that we’ve recovered.”Vasily reached into the container and took out the heavy plasma cannon.  It was big and bulky, and a few pounds heavier than even the autocannon.  It would be cumbersome, no doubt, but the powered armor would help with that, and there was no bulky backpack full of bullets to lug around.  The weapon used the same Elerium cartridges as the other alien plasma weapons, although the cannon could only manage ten shots before depleting a power cell.  Each of those shots, however, would pack a punch.  “Now I am ready,” he said.    The Alphas met up in the staging area and made their way to the hangar, where the Lightning waited for them.  With Vasily, Jane, and now Hadrian clad in the powered armor, the floor under their feet literally shook with their coming.  The Alphas had upgraded their weapons, with most of the team members swapping out their plasma pistols for the heavier rifles that they’d captured in their last two missions.  The supply of power cells with their tiny shielded cores of Elerium-115 had not caught up with the supply of weapons, but they’d shared around what they had, and several of them still carried hand lasers or more conventional firearms as backups.  Grenades dangled in strings from the mesh belts strung across their armored bodies, and emergency medical kits hung in easy-to-reach places.  Doctor Sandesh was waiting for them in the hangar bay, a new HWP idling at his side.  This one had a new layer of sleek, improved armor plating covering its body, and a new turret with a weapon and sensor array that resembled a crouched insect.“These things just keep getting scarier,” Vasily observed. “This is the finest implementation of portable AI wedded to supreme destructive force,” the Egyptian scientist declaimed.  “Do take care of it, please!” “Well, we try bring it back in one piece,” Vasily said.  “Focus on me,” he said to the platform, initializing its voice command sequence.  The platform obeyed his orders and rolled up into the small cargo hold slung under the Lightning’s belly, sitting their mutely as the outer doors swung shut.  With that taken care of, the Russian followed the others up the ramp into the interior of the aircraft.“All aboard for the Antarctic Express,” Ken said to them, as they quickly stashed their gear and strapped into their seats.  The Lightning rumbled as Ken quickly brought the engines up to full power, then they felt the familiar but still unsettling lifting sensation as the aircraft rose quickly up into the air, then tilted back as they blasted away toward their destination, and what they hoped would be the turning point in the war against the alien invaders of Earth.</blockquote>

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