Right at the end of January, X-COM picked up a third UFO over Spain. This time, Interceptor-02 was deployed to bring it down, with phred at the helm. A trio of Stingray missiles put it down in a farm in western France.
The xenos will PAY for ruining our winefields.
This time, we switched out most of the lower-ranking troopers who completed the terror mission in Siberia for a fresh batch of rookies, led by our most senior ass-kickers, in order to get everyone properly trained and experienced.
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UFO-03
Squad: Heavy Zablorg, Weemadando, White Haven, Decue, Vanas, Alfonso, MJ12-2, MJ12-3, Stark
HWP Rocket: piloted by Hawkwings
Hawkwings got off the Skyranger, only to add further credence to our suspicions that the aliens are deaf and dumb. This sectoid was looking away from the spot our bird had landed.
Kaboom.
The rest of the squad disembarked, led by our heavy weapons troops. Decue, Zablorg, Haven, and Weemadando (carrying a heavy autocannon for this run) emerged, and spotted several most suspicious farm buildings to the south. Highly suspicious, with all their wood . . . and
hay.
They were dealt with most harshly, to ensure no foul xenos scum lurked within.
Meanwhile, as the rookies disembarked, we made a shocking discovery.
This asshole was standing not ten feet away from the Skyranger. Our senior officers leading the mission will be lined up later on so Commander Wong can run down the line, slapping them across the face in turn for somehow missing the big-headed alien standing in the middle of the goddamn field with no cover.
The rookies proceeded to greet the alien in the traditional X-COM manner, and as usual, missed spectacularly. Stark got the closest to actually hitting the little gray bastard, but didn't have enough TUs for anything except a snap shot.
Then, our turn ended, and I expected the fucker to do a double auto-shot with his rifle and kill half the squad.
Instead, he ran the hell away. Apparently, the weapons team's vigorous abuse of the French countryside made him brown his nonexistent pants and flee into another nearby field. MJ12-3 got him with a quick burst of laser fire.
The squad fanned out, with MJ12-2 searching around the remnants of the buildings for any living sectoids. He found this one in another field.
Auto-fire dealt with it quickly enough.
Hawkwings moved to the south while the weapons team dealt with a suspicious orchard. Those apples must have been conspiring with the invaders. Why else would the aliens have landed
here?
Our tank driver spotted some barns that might have been providing cover to lurkers.
We dealt with that.
The squad then stacked up to assault the UFO.
Once again, the interior was blown to shit. MJ12-3 spotted the only alien in the ship and ruined his day.
Mission completed, with zero casualties except to our ammo stocks and the French countryside. Some corpses and weaponry recovered, including one mind probe, which will fetch a good price tag on the market. Unfortunately, no power source or any of the mysterious fuel the aliens use was recovered.
Decue and Karza, for their part in standing around and firing at harmless buildings and fruit trees, were promoted to captain. Command was especially impressed with the way Haven lobbed multiple rockets into one empty building, and promoted him/her to colonel. The MJ12s and Rhoenix, meanwhile, were rewarded for actually contributing to the mission by being bumped up to sergeant.
Post-mission analysis: Despite the massive abuse of explosives this mission, most of the kills were achieved at medium to short range by laser pistols. That being said, sectoids make a point to hide in buildings, and if any had been lying in wait to snipe our troops, they would have been obliterated. The lack of casualties in this mission only underscores the need to combine high explosives with valued, expendable assault troops who can get in close to deal with the enemy.
Our next update will be the beginning of February, with a report on our strategic progress thus far.