[Raven Hawk]

Operation Black Stroke

Objective: Raid the Advent Troop Transport

We lost two Rookies on our last mission and the rest of the team isn’t quite healed yet. Two more Rookies get their chance at glory! Cpl. Chesapeake will lead again with Cpl. Suarez brining his Sniper rifle along. Rookies Ilyushin and Johanessen kit up. We give Rk. Johanessen the rifle with the Hair Trigger and the Frost Bomb. Rk. Ilyushin gets the incendiary bomb.

We drop in concealed and send the Rookies out on point, one moving forward to 2:00 and one moving forward to 11:00. Ilyushin picks up contact on a Sectoid and a Stun Lancer. As they move forward, we see that there are 2 Lancers in this squad. We are going to want to freeze them if we can.
Concealed, Johannessen moves into range to throw the Frost Bomb. He tosses and is able to freeze one Lancer and the Sectoid. The second Lancer charges us. Chesapeake misses his shot and Suarez hits, but doesn’t drop the Lancer. The Lancer pokes at Johanessen with his stun stick and . . . MISSES! Whew!

Johannessen moves back to cover and fires on the unfrozen, injured Lancer and finishes it off. Suarez tags the frozen Sectoid, but it’s still alive. Chesapeake drops the other Lancer with a single shot from the Bolt Caster. Ilyushin picks up the spare on Suarez’s Sectoid with a burst from his rifle.
The Rookies cover while the Chesapeake and Suarez reload and move forward into formation with the Rookies. As Chesapeake moves up, he spies a turret. He takes a shot and hits it. Ilyushing plays clean up again and finishes the turret off with his rifle.

We continue to move up and spot an Officer and two Clackers. Johannessen takes a shot and hits a Clacker, but doesn’t drop him. Ilyushin flanks the Officer and takes a shot, hitting him. Suarez and attempts to Shadowfall (using the the Shadowkeeper to kill an opponent) the Officer, hits, but doesn’t do enough damage to drop him. Shadowfall fails. Johannessen is also able to flank the Officer, fires his rifle and drops the Officer. Chesapeake moves to overwatch.

The injured Clacker moves out of cover and Chesapeake drops it. It, in turn drops some loot for us to check out. The remaining Clacker moves to flank Suarez, but misses its shot.

Damn. A Sectoid and two more Lancers must have heard the gunfire and move in to get some action.

Suarez drops the remaining Clacker from the first squad, freeing up the rest of the team to deal with the newcomers. Johannessen is able to flank a Lancer, but misses his shot! Ilyushin throws the Incendiary and hits the Sectoid, setting him on fire. We know that Sectoids can use Psionics even when they are on fire. We aren't taking our chances, so Chesapeake takes a low-percentage shot on the Sectoid, hits it, finishing it off. Shit, we still have 2 Lancers to deal with . . . . the Lancers charge.

Johannessen is hit, but not killed. He is disoriented, though. The second Lancer moves on Ilyushin, pokes him with its stun stick. Ilyushin’s hair stands on end and his body begins to shake as the energy from the stun stick courses through him. The Lancer pulls his stun stick back and watches Ilyushin drop to the ground, dead.

Suarez, recognizing the threat but wanting the loot, moves to pick up the loot before it expires and Flashbangs the two Lancers on his way. The loot is good – another Hair Trigger, a Repeater, and a PCS chip. Johannessen fires on the Lancer standing next to him injuring it. Chesapeake finishes Johannessen’s Lancer with a shot from the Bolt Caster. One Lancer yet to deal with, though it is a disoriented Lancer.

The Lancer that dropped Ilyushin charges Chesapeake, Bolt Caster and all, pokes Chesapeake with the stun stick and HITS! HARD! Chesapeake drops to knee as he exhales heavily, trying to manage the pain.

Johannessen flanks the Lancer, but misses his open shot. Suarez moves to flank the Lancer, but gets into a position where he can’t see the Lancer and has to go to overwatch.

Chesapeake, grunts as he stands up and runs for heavy cover. He gets his rover to heal him as he makes the dash. The Lancer charges Chesapeake, AGAIN! This shot hits Chesapeake in the leg. Chesapeake howls in pain as the energy courses through him . . . .

Chesapeake screams, but he's still up. He reaches deep, grits teeth, reloads the Bolt Caster, and sticks it into the Lancers chest. He pulls the trigger. The Lancer flies backward as the bolt tears a huge hole in its chest. All hostiles are down in the AO

Operation: Black Stroke
Enemies Killed: 10
Soldiers Wounded: 2 – Chesapeake, Johanessen
Soldiers Killed: 1 - Ilyushin
Rating: Good
Loot: Hair Trigger, Repeater, PCS: Focus (+11 Will), Corpses
Award: 112 Supplies, 57 Alien Alloys, 17 Elerium Crystals, 1 Elerium Core

AAR: We were doing awesome until that last squad dropped in on us. I was pondering if I should have moved back when I saw them, but saw that J could get a flanked shot in. I shouldn’t have gone for it. The Rookie didn’t have the firepower to drop the Lancer even if he did Crit the bastard. Those Lancers can be brutal when you don’t have a Ranger on the team . . .

Casualties
Ilyushin: KIA – Lancer’s Stun Lance
Chesapeake: Wounded – 8 days (the AWC REALLY helps here)
Johannessen: Wounded – 11 days

Promotions
Chesapeake: Corporal > Sergeant SPECIALIST (Haywire Protocol)
Johannessen: Rookie > Squaddie RANGER (speaking of Rangers . . . I’m hoping Kodos is good to go for the next mission)

Kill Count
Chesapeake – 5
Johannessen - 2
Ilyushin – 2
Suarez – 1