May 23, 2015
The continued alien presence is having a worldwide detrimental effect. The USA, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Nigereria, Japan and Australia all are in a state of terrible panic. The scientists have finished their analysis of the captured alien shard and developed plans for an improved satellite Nexus so we can track a larger grid. We’ve built a harmonic resonance key, according to plans the scientists developed from the alien shard. Using this we’ve located an alien base in South America. This will likely be our most fraught mission yet, so we’ll be sending our most experienced soldiers!
Will will be leading. Laura H and Joanna will be our Heavy support. Billy and Adam our Assault, and James T will be our support unit. This time Billy will be equipped with the Arc Thrower, as James now has certification in advanced field medical techniques.
The infiltration of the alien base is a breeze thanks to the HR Key, though the set up is definitely alien. Adam takes point and flushes a pair of Thin Men almost immediately, with our cover blown he opens fire dropping one of them. Billy rushes up and takes out the second one. The rest of the squad moves up to support. While moving to a good sniping position Will is spotted by a pair of floaters. In addition a number of holding tanks are spotted containing bodies… What they are doing with the abductees isn’t immediately clear, but it can’t be good.
The floaters take several shots, but lay down some heavy suppressive fire on Will. Laura moves up and tries to take out the floater who is laying down the suppressive fire, but the range is to great for her MG. Joanna takes cover and drops the other Floater. Bill and Adam both forsake cover to flush the floater out of it’s hiding spot. Will takes the opportunity to put it down before it can hide behind a different bulkhead. Billy moves to cover to reload and spots a pair of mechanical drones that we haven’t seen before; he decides to empty his clip into one, much to our scientists likely chagrin. Will pops the second one with a single shot while the rest of the squad moves up. Unfortunately these drones seem to explode rather easily. Maybe we can modify the arc thrower to stun them and capture one.
Terrifying sounds emanate from deeper within the base. The squad is a little spooked but keeps it together. However this base is HUGE. We pass countless control panels, and more tubes filled with goo and bodies. Adam finally spots 3 new aliens, frightening centaurs with chitin back plates, talon like legs, scythe like cla
ws and pincer mouths. At this point the squad had become a bit spread out. Billy takes a shot and misses. Joanna gets a few hits on the lead alien, but barely wounds it. Will gets a solid shot on another but it remains standing. James and Adam manage to finish off the one Will wounded, and the remaining to rush forward. Holy crap these things are fast, and deadly. One of them is on Adam in a flash and he doesn’t even have time to react before it has eviscerated him. Will puts another shot into the wounded one, but these creatures are also startlingly resilient, and it takes a burst from James to put it down. Billy and Joanna both unload on the third one, both hit and somehow it manages to remain standing. Joanna keeps firing, completely emptying her clip and managing to finish it off with her last bullet. Laura moves up and spots to Floaters that were sneaking up on us. She manages to take one out before they can spring their ambush.
Horror of horrors! Adam has stood back up, only what has risen is generating no life signs. We can only conclude this is some sort of horrid alien zombification process enacted by the centaur aliens. After confirming the situation with the scientists Will puts a shot into the zombie, and Billy finishes it off. Meanwhile the other floater tries to circle around during the distraction, but Laura is ready and drops it as it moves between cover.
The squad takes a minute to reload, then begins moving forwards again, even more cautiously than before in case more of the centauroids show up. More vile experiments are discovered, more gruesome sounds are heard and the general unease increases until finally James spots two more pairs of floaters. Will takes one down from what seems like half a mile away. The rest of the squad takes up position and James falls back. Laura unloads on one as it approaches, grabs some cover and finishes it off unloading the rest of her clip. Will drops a second one, leaving one more somewhere out of site. Billy, Joanna and James move up and James spots the remaining alien first, pumping it full of bullets before either of the other two can draw a bead on it.
As the squad continues to move forward will throws a scanner, revealing a huge and ominous door. No doubt speaking friend here would be purposeless. Everyone takes a minute to check that their clips are full as they slowly advance. Maybe there is an end to this base after all.
As the squad moves through the great door another pair of drones and another pair of the centaur aliens moves up. The squad has been going very carefully and the drones both go down under a hail of fire so intense no one is really sure who is responsible, unfortunately the centauroids show up a bit later and what little fire can be concentrated upon them is insufficient during the reactionary fire. Will takes aim and plugs one. Laura says “Screw this, I’m not becoming a zombie!” and launches a rocket at them. Amazing one of them is still standing after the explosion, but Billy is able to finish it off.
While moving to a new sniping position Will spots a pair of Sectoids, but the scuttle out of sight so he reloads. James moves up and manages to take one of them out. Billy tries to find a position to take down the second and spots a new alien, similar to the sectoids, but different. The scientists declare they’d like this one alive, but Will has already pulled the trigger and put a bullet through it’s, admittedly slightly bigger, head. Laura moves up and finishes off the remaining sectoid. After a sweep of the area it’s determined that all aliens are dead and the base is secured.
The destruction of the alien base has reduced panic throughout the world. Leaked cam footage from soldiers helmet cams has made it to youtube, but since that seems to be having a beneficial PR effect command doesn’t seem too interested in investigating the source of the leak. The scientists are in a tizzy, barely able to decide which research to focus on.