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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 5343840" data-attributes="member: 143">The shield was something I came up with. There are certain things you could do in the Aurora engine that didn't work well with what was in the original X-COM game, and vice versa. I also modified the final sequence coming up to better suit the narrative flow of this story. In the actual game, the end of the Mars mission was somewhat more abrupt. * * * * * Session 30 (November 24, 2008)Chapter 138The Alphas dodged into cover behind the corners where the sloping passage entered the brain-chamber, and fired down into the alien ranks.  There were at least a dozen of the hulking aliens in their green suits, and while several of them provided covering fire with their heavy cannons, the rest formed up into a wedge and started up the ramp.  They carried huge vibroblades, almost lances, their heads blazing red with heat as their Elerium power cells shook the shafts of alien metal at a high frequency.  Those blades would cut through even heavy armor with little problem, the Alphas knew. The Alphas’ fire was accurate, and several of the leading mutons took direct hits in the first exchange.  But none of the aliens so much as flinched, the flaring explosions clearing to reveal black smears on their armor, but little else. “We need to get out of here!” James yelled.  The doctor fired and ducked back into cover just as a plasma bolt hit the wall near him, punching out a segment of the corner as big as his head.  Jane found a small access panel a short distance back from the entry, and slung her rifle as she headed over to it.  “Cat, help me, you’re better at this,” she said. “Go on!” Vasily yelled at the British agent.  He stepped out into view, drawing fire.  A plasma bolt clipped his arm, and he grimaced, but held his ground.  He took an alien grenade from his belt, triggered it, and rolled it down the ramp.  Behind him, Catalina ran across the room to where Jane was trying to access the alien computer systems.  The grenade missed the lead alien, but it struck the foot of the one behind it to the left, and exploded.  The explosive force of the blast lifted the muton into the air and then slammed it hard into the ground.  Its companions were flung aside, and three of them fell.  For a moment the alien ranks were obscured by a gray haze of smoke, but then a muton materialized out of the fog, followed by another, and then the rest of the aliens, reforming their ranks as they resumed their march forward. “More grenades?” Vasily asked, looking at Hadrian, but the Marine shook his head.  “I’m out!”  Neither man bothered with the gas grenades they carried; against the mutons they would have little effect.  “They’re not going down!” James yelled, as he scored another hit on the lead muton.  The alien’s body was covered with black smears now, and its armored hide had been penetrated in several places, but still it kept coming, moving in unison with its companions, step by step closing the range.  “Catalina!” Vasily yelled.The agent smacked her hand against the wall above the alien console.  “I’m locked out!” she shouted back.  The alien symbols flashed across the display.  Mary leaned in, and pressed several of the symbols, and to Catalina’s surprise, the control panel came to life.  “It works both ways,” the Indian doctor said, tapping the side of her helmet.  There was no time to discuss the matter; the aliens had covered more than half the distance up the ramp, and the others were following behind the vanguard, firing as they came.  Vasily and Hadrian blasted the lead muton with their plasma cannons, and the alien finally fell, its body all but torn apart.  Even then it kept crawling forward, dragging itself forward with the one arm that it was able to move.  The other six aliens closed ranks and resumed their march.  “We have problem!” Vasily shouted, rushing over to where the women were gathered around the console. “Can’t access any of their primary systems from here,” Catalina said, her fingers dancing over the odd controls of the alien panel.  “Here!” she said, activating something, and a small opening in the wall appeared, revealing a narrow passage beyond.  “I don’t know about this,” Mary said, but Vasily yelled, “No time!  Go!” Jane unlimbered her rifle and darted into the tunnel, the other Alphas close behind.  Hadrian brought up the rear, firing blasts at the mutons until his energy cell was depleted, then he turned and ran after them.The tunnel was crowded with conduits that pulsed blue and alien machines that they could not identify, and was barely big enough for them to fit in their bulky armor.  But it sloped steadily downward, and the tight squeeze at least suggested that the mutons would have a difficult time following them.  They passed several side-passages that were even smaller, probably intended for sectoid technicians, and finally came to another access door that Catalina was able to trigger, the wall splitting apart like a blinking eye to reveal another chamber beyond.  They were in another control room, much smaller than the one they had left earlier, with only about six control panels clustered around a pillar that supported a number of staggered display units.  They weren’t alone; several sectoids were at the panels, but the aliens didn’t even look up, even when the Alphas started shooting.  Catalina went immediately to the nearest panel, pushing aside the carcass of the dead alien technician slumped across the controls.  The room had two visible doors, and Vasily gestured for Hadrian and Jane to secure them.  The Russian stepped forward and looked over Catalina’s shoulder.  “What they working on?”Catalina frowned at the alien controls, focusing on her VDU as her computer translated the symbols that flashed there.  She pressed one of them, and an image materialized on the display above.  The space it showed was cavernous, massive, so huge that wisps of cloud formed near its ceiling.  They could see movement, but the aliens looked like ants, tiny specks moving across the huge structure that filled the chamber.  Huge machines attached to control arms arched down from the walls, enfolding the structure like caressing fingers.  Other machines rolled into access ports in the alien construction, laden with cargo.  The display didn’t carry sound, but they could almost hear the din of furious activity through the visuals alone. “What are they doing?” Mary asked, hanging back as she stared at the display. “Alien battleship,” Vasily said.  “They preparing to launch.”  He looked down at Catalina.  “How long?”The agent’s expression grew even more focused as she worked the alien controls. Symbols flashed on her panel, and were echoed in one corner of the display above.  For a long moment she could only stare at the translation that appeared on her VDU. “Cat?” “Fifty-one minutes,” she said, looking up at them in horror.  “Fifty-one minutes.”</blockquote>

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