The Invasion Has Only Just Begun(XCOM EW+LW, Interactive)

[Brian Swartz]

May 18, 0602 -- We finally found out what those 'scanner' UFOs are up to, and it's not good. The ship shot down our satellite over the United Kingdom! The British are understandably not pleased. Next month's funding from the islands will be considerably reduced, and the alert level both there and in France has been raised from Green to Aqua. This is a major blow to our efforts against the aliens here in Europe.

Coffee Warlord returned to active duty in the morning as well after an extended injury recovery period .

[Brian Swartz]

CDB, May 20

Australia wants to trade cash for 8 kg alien alloys. Another 12m is added to the treasury ,and is much needed. Later our injured list is reduced by one as well.

[Brian Swartz]

This is a completely out-of-character post as a heads-up on some personal stuff. Crazy weekend at work but I should have the thread back up to date by Saturday mid-afternoon at the latest. Also, my ankle issue which I mentioned once before I think in this thread is going to cause a bit of adjustment.

The diagnosis basically is that some time last fall I twisted my ankle and broke off a ligament from the talus(and a very small piece of bone, but that's not causing any problems). The ligament is bunched up and causing all manner of problems, including rather massive inflammation throughout the joint. Having exhausted all other possible options, I am having 'minor' surgery on June 3rd. For at least two weeks afterwards I will be in a cast, hopefully able to start using it some after that if everything goes well.

As of right now I'm planning on 'playing ahead' a few days prior to going in for the operation and then I'll resume updating the thread whenever.

[Brian Swartz]

May 20, 0155 -- After spending ten minutes in an emergency conference with the Council, Bradford informs me of a disturbing new threat. A quasi-terrorist organization known as EXALT has been uncovered by intelligence agencies. To call them misguided is an understatement -- apparently they are attempting to undermine XCOM's field operations, intent on acquiring alien technology and artifacts. It's hard to believe, but they seem to share more sympathy for the alien cause than their fellow humans. Their first strike was in Russia, where a propaganda campaign has increased panic to the previously unseen Orange status. There is considerable instability in the nation right now. We must stop these activities as soon as possible: it's hard enough to combat the aliens without being sabotaged by our own species!

As this new enemy specializes in striking from the shadows, as it were, the only way we can combat them is to first send in a covert operative. Emphasizing disguise and mobility, covert operatives cannot be a gunner or rocketeer, and they carry no primary weapons, only a pistol. They are trained in various skills for data gathering and disrupting EXALT communications however. LCPL Amber Mitchell(ZAF, Scout) is selected to infiltrate/disrupt/destroy the cell in Australia. According to Bradford, it is expected to take her about a week to investigate the situation.

0655 -- As the latest priority research is completed, another meeting is recorded between Bradford and the two doctors ...







Bradford: So ... what is it, Doctor?

Vahlen: It's ... ... remarkable!

Commander: *Facepalm* **Double Facepalm** ... (thinking) you didn't answer the question . ..

Vahlen: The crystalline structure housed within the canister is actually a suspension, containing billions of cybernetic nanomachines, each made up of both organic and mechanical components.







Shen(walking to another monitor, Bradford follows and Vahlen looks on from her station): My team's analysis indicates these microscopic robots are capable of assembling mechanical structures with unprecedented facilities. With further study, and some specialized facilities, we may be able to engineer a sort of cybersuit that interfaces with the human body.







Vahlen(speaking over him): MY team is more interested in the possibility of physically altering the tissue itself; incorporating aspects of the aliens own adaptations by using the nanites to fuse the foreign material.




One does not simply get the last word in over Dr. Vahlen. She won't allow it





Bradford: The Commander will have to decide where the greatest advantage lies. Is there anything you agree on?

Shen graps his chin, deep in thought.

Vahlen: Given the apparent purpose of the nanites, they allow combining organic materials with one another, or with machines. We have at least agree to call them ...

Shen(decisively): Meld.

After all that, they've definitely announced that ... the mysterious orangish goo has a name. Meld. That's fantastic. The xenogenetics research has been codenamed Project Purity.

'the amazing Meld subtance ... appears capable of rewriting the genome to a specific design in a way similar to how we install computer software. ... we were able to devise several methods that allow for direct manipulation of the Meld substance and it's physical properties. ... should allow for a wide range of applications in the field of genetic modification, although we will need to build a dedicated research facility to enable these potential research pathways. It is probable that the invaders are already more familiar with Meld than we are'

Essentially a denser version of the meeting transcript. Dr. Shen reports that a Genetics Lab for this purpose will require a relatively modest amount of power, and cost 20 million to construct. After we get satellites up over North America, this may well become a top priority, but we will not be able to divery resources to it anytime soon.

Vahlen has also noted that as a result of this discovery, we have the potential to research ways of duplicating the mental powers of enemies such as the sectoids. While this is definitely an exciting possibility, we don't have quite enough staff right now to pursue it efficiently. The planned Thin Man Autopsies will proceed next, with an expected time of just under a week.

Later in the day, a few more soldiers returned to duty, and the UK officially requested a replacement satellite.

[Brian Swartz]

May 21, 1655 -- The Council sends an urgent burst transmission, requiring my presence in the Situation Room. They report that there is a developing situation in Newfoundland. Apparently a fishing village on the coast has gone completely dark. While this would not ordinarily be a particularly large concern in the grand scheme of things, they claim to have intel pointing to alien involvement. They want an investigation and are willing to pay 22.5 million to get it.

This is a big opportunity to solve the mystery and get a considerable amount of much-needed cash. Three more soldiers have returned to active duty, leaving only Mitchell out on her mission in Russia and four on the injured list, the lowest unavailability we've had in a long time. As with all Council requests, this has been classified as a Priority Mission.

Strike Team

LT Rebecca 'Snake Eyes' Burke(USA, Scout, CO)
CPL Brooke 'Twitch' Carter(USA, Infantry)
CPL Thozama 'Whiskey' Khumalo(ZAF, Medic)
CPL Courtney 'Spitfire' Mason(UK, Assault)
CPL Yolanda 'Angel' Pena(ESP, Engineer)
LCPL Shigeru Endo(JPN, Rocketeer)
LCPL Jace Hunter(FRA, Sniper)

The best of the best here, with Jace Hunter the lone FOFC representative on the squad.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION BURNING ENGINE
5.21.2015, 1801
St. John's, Canada

Bradford gives me the latest as we touch down. Apparently locals were investigating a mayday signal from a ship docking at the village when all contact was lost. Not just the village, but a rescue team and the ship itself, everything went dark at apparently the same time. Something fishy(pun intended) is definitely going on here. Maximum caution is the order of the day until we find out what it is.

It doesn't take long for us to hear them ... chryssalids. Lots of chrysallids. They seem to coming from up on a right, where there's a truck parked by some buildings. We focus in that direction ... slowly. Those things are fast, and we don't want to be caught by surprise.







Burke spots a zombie briefly on the flatbed of the truck. Bradford, ever filling his role as captain obvious, says that this means chrysallids won't be far behind. No kidding?! Spitfire Mason stays at a safe distance, and is still able to drop the zombie with a shotgun blast. That was a bit fortunate, but I'll take it. We hear more noise further out to the right, the squad will need to keep shifting in that direction. Meanwhile another zombie approaches. Hunter sends it flying with another one-shot kill. Well done sir!







We move up, and several chrysallids, I think four of them, come at us from ahead and some from the left by the docks. This is about to get real. Carter and Endo combine to take out the closest one. Two more scamper into view, and Whiskey Khumalo injures one of them. Hunter finishes off the wounded one, while Pena and Carter take out the third. We'll stay right here for the moment and see if anything else is coming this way.

Nothing. At least we've taken down a few of them, hopefully that will improve the odds. Pena hears more straight to the left out by the docks, but from a tactical point of view I want to clear the area straight ahead. If we head left now we could easily be fighting them in two directions. No thank you. And unless my eyes deceived me, there's still one out there that we saw but retreated. I don't want to walk into an ambush.







There's lots of high ground available in the more open area ahead, positions that I would like to gradually acquire as we sweep the village. Burke moves on top of one of the platforms, and then that remaining purple menace decides to attack ... by using the roof. We wound it on the way in, and then Carter is the closest and finishes the job. Six down.


Chryssalids are fast enough without lightning reflexes, the lastest improvement we've noticed. Whiskey gets in a shot here anyway though, but we missed a couple other tries





Pena reports more sounds further ahead, another sizable building past these towers or whatever they are. We approach from the front and right side, and soon a zombie emerges. Pena and Burke are the closest and they eliminate it.

A zombie comes at us from the docks, wounded by Carter ... and then a chryssalid hops out of a shark hanging down by the docks. Bradford, ever the master of understatement: 'that's new'. Endo gets a better look at the large ship docked here, and it appears to have been overrrun by something. It seems probable it's the source of the problem here, and Bradford again: 'I guess we should be thankful it wasn't a cruise liner'. We maintain our distance, and Hunter continues his good shooting by finishing off the chryssalid after Endo wounds it. Like shooting fish in a barrel. Oh, perhaps too soon?







We can't see the zombie from here due to the angle down on the docks, so we'll just wait for it. Except this time it doesn't come. The only thing left is to move towards that ship. Slowly. We can still hear more of them. Mason sees the zombie down some stairs, and ends that threat.

Then suddenly we have more of them. A lot more of them. Two groups of three chrysallids each, one the largest I have ever seen, and a zombie back there as well. They scamper across the ruined deck of the ship towards us. Time for a fighting retreat here. Endo looses a rocket, he was a little too close and is injured by the blast, but takes a couple of them out. Khumalo takes out the third close one.

Burke misses a longer-range try, but Hunter gets yet another tally while Mason wounds a big one. There's still two plus that zombie, which is further back. The chryssalids jump up from the docks but can't reach us in time. They are right on top of Endo when he finishes one off and multiple shooters end the second one. Hunter and Khumalo combine to take out the zombie, and I have no clue how many of these things we've killed now but once again we are clear for the moment.


or not





Only for the moment. Three more, out by the docks but closer to where we landed. Whiskey gets Endo healed up and he treats them to a shredder rocket. Carter and Hunter each finish one off, but Burke misses the third and Pena's burst leaves it barely still up. Mason was the last person with a chance, moving in for an easy shotgun execution. That was fairly close, down to our last gun but we don't hear any more of them.


This rocket worked a little better





Then there's the sound of more out inside that ship. There's nothing for it now, to investigate further we have to go down onto the docks. Mason and Endo cross a makeshift wooden 'bridge' onto the upper deck of the ship itself. They see nothing, it appears to be coming from down below.

Burke moves in and all becomes clear. There is a whale in the hold of that ship. Bradford reports that sensors indicate a lot of activity inside it ... we could soon have dozens of chryssalids upon us. More than we can handle. The only option is an air strike, which will require activating the transponder up on the top deck. Mason is already up there and is the fastest that we have. The others will look for good firing positions to cover her while she moves in.


Some things are just too wrong for words



Another chryssalid pops out of the whale before she can reach the transponder, but we have no shots. Spitfire is up to the bridge and activates the transponder. Bradford reports that the air strike is incoming, and we've got only a few minutes to get back to extraction or we'll be caught in the blast. Mason climbs over the side of the ship. It's time to make a run for it.

It isn't long before the chryssalids start 'hatching', or whatever it is they are doing, at a rate of one every 15 seconds or so. They give chase, but we've got more than enough of a head start and everyone makes it back with plenty of time to spare. The Skyranger takes off, and the team is glad just to have made it out of that hellhole.


A nice, peaceful village ...




So much for that





Post-Mortem

26 aliens were killed by the ground team, and goodness knows how many more by the bombing raid. The only injury is that of Endo, inflicted by his own rocket blast. Jace Hunter takes the moniker of 'Walker', at least temporarily, and is the only promotion despite the success. The Council promises a full assessment of the risk to the world's oceans, and suggests that we just got a glimpse of how the Earth would be transformed if the aliens win. It wasn't a pretty picture.

Overall, a fantastic mission.

[Brian Swartz]

Promotions

Jace Hunter, you are now the first sniper corporal! If you don't like the callsign 'Walker', pick another one. Also,

** Disabling Shot: A sniper skill that allows a shot which causes the main weapon of the target enemy to malfunction. They can use reload to fix the weapon. This does very little damage but is an effective way to take a powerful enemy out of the fight.
** Precision Shot: A sniper-only shot that ignores long-range critical chance penalties, gets an extra +30% to critical chance, and extra damage on critical hits based on the quality of the weapon.
** Snap Shot: Allows firing or overwatch after moving, at a modest -10 penalty to aim

Commander's Recommendation: This is more a stylistic choice than anything else. Snap Shot is beneficial when you aren't quite in the right position to fire on an enemy. Disabling shot can take a powerful enemy out of the fight for a moment, helping the rest of the squad have time to take out some foes. Precision Shot is the choice for a real heavy-hitting sniper. I think either Disabling Shot or Precision Shot is best. It's probably a coin-flip as to which is better and really depends on the situation.

CPL Jace Hunter, you are on the clock.

[Travis]

Nice mission! I'll stick with the assigned call sign and I'll take the Precision Shot upgrade please.

[Brian Swartz]

So be it. CPL Jace 'Walker' Hunter, you had 5 kills by the way raising your total to 13. That's not at the top of the list, but it definitely puts you in the elite of XCOM soldiers.

I'll do your promotion as soon as I'm done with the current mission. Speaking of which ...

After the Newfoundland chryssalid-fest, 6 Sectoid Corpses were dealt to Egypt for another scientist. And then the next day ...

May 22, 1025 -- Access lift finished. Excavating the space for the power generator will take another five days, and cost 4m. At least we have plenty of cash at the moment.

1833 -- It never rains, but it pours. Just over 24 hours after the Newfoundland crisis, there is another one brewing. Apparently the terror attack last month in Melbourne was not a one-off: Nigeria is now receiving the brunt of the alien wrath.


Strike Squad

LT Benton 'Sheriff' Gale(JPN, Infantry, CO)
LCPL Coffee Warlord(ISR, Scout)
LCPL Georgia Murdoch(AUS, Medic)
LCPL Ivan Drago(HON, Assault)
LCPL Amiyah Banerjee(NIG, Engineer)
LCPL Dean Hoo(UKR, Gunner)
LCPL Esperanza Guerrero(ESP, Rocketeer)

This is not as good a group as just went out on Burning Engine, but it's pretty darn good. Sheriff Gale gets her second mission as squad commander, and will have plenty of FOFC help in lance corporals Coffee Warlord, Ivan Drago, and Dean Hoo. Meanwhile, it's an interesting choice emotionally to send out engineer Amiyah Banerjee here, as she'll be attempting to defend her home country. It seems clear the aliens are out for revenge on this one, and these seven soldiers are all that stands between them and the innocent Nigerian civilians.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION BLOODY SHROUD
5.22.2015, 1918
Benin City, Nigeria

The squad touches down in a miserable downpour on a bombed-out highway. A large bus separates us from the other side, an area that must be secured if we wish to avoid a large-scale flank which I certainly do.







They spot nothing initially, but among the sounds are a trio of seekers popping in to say hello. Surprisingly, none of them go to stealth, they simply fly toward us in a group. We've got enough to guns to take them all down, with Drago, Hoo, and someone else that I forgot getting the kills.





Soon both sides of the thoroughfare are secured, though we've heard the dying screams of a couple of civilians as well. Coffee Warlord moves forward past the end of the bus a bit ... and spots a trio of purple spidery fiends. Superb. he retreats immediately. Our best chance here is a grenade or rocket and he'd be caught in the blast. Guerrero unleashes a shredder, Drago is unfortunately caught in the edge of the blast but it was necessary to thin the herd here. It takes everyone, but Gale, Hoo, and Murdoch get the kills and we surivive the ambush. Meanwhile, a zombie is headed toward us but we are encouraged by the fact that no more civilians have bought it in the meantime.





We're running low on ammo, a situation exacerbated by Hoo and Warlord both missing open shots at the approaching undead. Banerjee uses an AP grenade to help that a bit, Drago gets the kill and a heal from Murdoch. A couple more seekers are spotted further up, but they don't see us yet it doesn't appear. Two more civilians die: 14 left.

Warlord moves up and gets a better look -- yep, two seekers and they brought a drone with them as well. Two advance, one of the seekers goes to stealth. Drago moves in ... and three more chryssalids show up. He'll have to pull back as well, it's rocket time. Guerrero's offering is a little off-target but damages four of them. Banerjee's second grenade does more damage. Gale drops the closest chryssalid, but the second burst just bounces off the seeker. Hoo takes it out, and I can only hope that's enough to survive this wave.


Juuuust a bit outside ...




A rare look from the perspective of a seeker, moments before destruction



Another civilian dies, the two wounded chryssalids dash off in search of civilians to kill, and the drone fires at and wounds one without killing it. 13 left. We must push forward. Warlord moves up, spots another zombie, and finishes off one of the spiders. Drago spots two more seekers and another drone. This is getting ridiculous. After a number of missed shots, Guerrero takes out one the first, wounded drone, but we've got a lot of work to do and low on ammunition.

Two of the seekers go back to stealth. More civilians are dying, but it's all we can do to hang on here. Drago takes out the closest zombie, Banerjee the other drone. We miss a couple of other shots. One of the stealthed seekers shows up and attacks Drago, we damage it but can't prevent the stranglehold. Meanwhile almost half of the civilians are gone ...


Call him the Zombie-Killer. This is one of many occasions today where Drago sent what used to be a human being to it's grave. Err, second grave.




Good shooting here by our Australian medic, but it doesn't dissuade the seeker





Dean Hoo gets a one-burst kill on another zombie, freeing the rest of the team up to rescue Drago. It only takes Gale one shot to do so. We dash down the hill ... which may have been a mistake. A chrysallid comes around a corner and attacks Murdoch, who is very lucky not to be dead. The other stealthed seeker goes after Hoo, another zombie shows up, another chryssalid further down ... there seems to be no end to them here.




Somehow this purple menace missed most of the vital organs, probably because we had previously wounded it with one of the rockets. It's the first time I've seen anything attacked by one of those things and live to tell about it





Drago dashes over to take out the seeker attacking Hoo, while Guerrero fires a rocket that damages both chryssalids and the zombie over on the left. Banerjee moves in with a grenade, and it's down to a chryssalid and zombie on top of us now, one of the spiders is dead. Time for the Sheriff to lay down the law. He wounds both of them, but can't take either out. Warlord finishes the chryssalid, leaving badly wounded Murdoch to go for the badly wounded zombie ... missed, but it's damaged enough that it can't quite reach Guerrero. We see at least one seeker out there still, but it flies off to shot at a civilian.


This wreckage was the major battleground of this mission. Here Gale wounds a chryssalid, with endangered soldiers and dead aliens of every kind strewn all around.





Drago takes care of business on the zombie and it's once again time to move forward. It's soon apparent that the lone seeker is all that's left. Warlord wounds it, Banerjee misses, and Guerrero finishes it off.

It is over.

Post-Mortem

That was just pretty much insane. 21 aliens killed, no operatives lost though Murdoch at the least probably should have been, and 10 of 18 civilians rescued. We were on the edge of being overrun for much of it and needed every last bit of ordnance to survive. I'm very pleased to have gotten through that with no permanant casualties.

Other than rocketeer Guerrero, everyone gets promoted! Six of them, all to corporal or higher! Only Murdoch has to spend any significant time in medical, three weeks after that chryssalid attack. She appears to be no worse for the wear mentally. Benton 'Sheriff' Gale is now the highest-ranking soldier in XCOM, officially now a Second Lieutenant, and is back at the top of the killboard with 21.

Artifacts Recovered

6 Chryssalid Carcasses
2 Drone Wrecks
6 kg Elerium
8 kg Alien Alloys
2 Weapon Fragments
2 oz. Meld
7 Seeker Wrecks

Nigeria is up to Yellow Alert, while Egypt remains at Green.

[Brian Swartz]

PROMOTIONS

There is a lot of business to take care of here. Five of them to be exact.

CPL Jace 'Walker' Hunter, your choice was already made and here's how you did:

Health: 5(--)
Will: 43(+1)
Aim: 91(+8)

A deadly shooter to be sure, nobody in the agency is even close right now on that score.

LT Benton 'Sheriff' Gale, you are now the highest-ranking soldier in XCOM at the moment, up to Second Lieutenant(LT2). 21 kills in 7 missions. Not bad for someone who can't shoot straight.


** Lock N' Load -- One additional burst of ammo capacity before reloading, and you can perform one minor action after reloading.
** Close Combat Specialist -- Automatic reaction shot against any enemy that closes to within 4 tiles.
** Suppression -- Same as the Gunner version of the ability, penalties to aim and mobility on the enemy and a reaction shot if they move.


Commander's Recommendation: A fairly close call between Lock N' Load and Suppression in my view, close combat isn't as useful for infantry. Both are decent, and allow for more tactical flexibility. You make the call.


LCPL Coffee Warlord(7 kills in 4 missions), you are now up to Corporal and have been dubbed 'Slim' unless you'd like a different name.

** Lock N' Load -- As noted above.
** Battle Scanner -- 2 uses per mission.
** Low Profile -- Partial cover acts as full cover.

Commander's Recommendation -- This is a no-brainer. Battle scanner is nice and allows the use of equipment slots for something else, but given the amount of danger scouts face, low profile is the only choice. Commander's prerogative is exercised here and the training is assigned.

Health: 4(+1)
Will: 45(+1)
Aim: 76(+6)

A darn good shot for a scout, and finally not quite as fragile.


LCPL Ivan Drago went on a killing spree and is promoted as well(11 kills in 4 missions). The nickname 'Vandal' has been provisionally assigned, Corporal!

** Battle Scanner -- as above
** Extra Conditioning -- extra health based on the type of armor. Heavier armor increases the bonus.
** Lone Wolf -- +10 aim and critical chance when 7 tiles or more away from all other soldiers in the squad.

Commander's Recommendation -- This is another example of their being only one good choice. Extra Conditioning is by far the best choice, particularly for an assault soldier who is low on physical survivability.

Health: 4(+1)
Will: 40(+8)
Aim: 74(+5)

Good work, this training session went a long way toward correcting the mental vulnerabilities and solid improvement in the other areas.


LCPL Dean Hoo is now a corporal as well after 7 kills in 5 missions. The nickname 'Strobe' has been selected.

** Shredder Ammo -- Any enemy hit takes additional damage from all sources for the next several minutes(4 turns).
** HEAT Ammo -- Additional damage against robotic enemies.
** Sharpshooter -- +10 critical chance always, +10 aim against enemies in full cover.

Commander's Recommendation -- Tough call here. All three are good. I would lean, barely, towards HEAT Ammo. The number of seekers we are facing indicates they are a major part of the alien arsenal and often smaller weapons just have their bullets bounce off the armor. A dedicated seeker-killer would be very valuable. Having said that, any of the choices would prove quite useful. The choice is yours.


CPL Dean 'Strobe' Hoo and LT2 Benton 'Sheriff' Gale, you are on the clock. As ever, if any of the others which to change your nickname/callsign, you may do that as well.

[Brian Swartz]

Then it was time to relax, heal up, and for the Commander to finally get the timeline up to the current ...

May 23, 0219 -- Abduction alert in Egypt! Heavy resistance for the first time, with a slightly higher 10m reward offered.

So much for that thought. It's been nearly five hours since the terror mission squad came back. Axle is the only officer ready to go and she'll be held back for any possible priority mission that might come up. Given that limitation and the more numerous resistance expected, the squad was limited to only one private. As usual for non-priority missions, the 'next-up' protocol was used for each class.

Strike Squad

SPEC Lakshmi Pillai(NIG, Scout)
LCPL Soledad Sanchez(MEX, Medic)
LCPL Ches O'Peake(USA, Infantry)
LCPL Katia Rivera(MEX, Engineer)
SPEC Duncan Ross(FRA, Rocketeer)
SPEC Alma Demirovic(BIH, Sniper)
PFC Luca Basso(ITA)

O'Peake and Ross will represent FOFC on this op, and provide a considerable amount of the squad's firepower. By way of update, as of this moment Christy Kodos is now the next private slated to go out when the opportunity arises.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION GLASS HEART
5.23.2015, 0243
Cairo, Egypt

I tried to ignore the ominous operation name as they landed in what appeared to be an old military storage yard. Crates, shipping containers, destroyed tanks, there was a little bit of every kind of scrap you can imagine here. It's time to get the drop on the alien scum.







They didn't hear much at first, and saw nothing. There was the sound of possibly floaters, faintly towards a tall building across the yard, but nobody could be sure they weren't imagining it. It was as good a direction as any to work towards though. No canisters in sight either, just a whole lot of nothing. Scout Pillai moved that way and spotted a trio of mutons. Superb. Two of them were clustered together, but crates in the middle blocked any attempt by Ross at a rocket blast and it was way too far for a grenade. We'd have to hole up.







Demirovic had a look at one but missed. Ross could move forward and ready a rocket, but it seemed better to just retreat and see if we could goad them forward, hitting them as they came.

One moved out, O'Peake missing as it did so. They were more spread out now, mostly in defensive positions, but also had left the best cover. This was the time to hit them, if we could. Ross fired his lone rocket at the middle one. That was the leader, and if he missed it might hit one of the others. He didn't miss, and the most dangerous of the three was badly wounded. Another miss by Demirovic, but a fantastic difficult shot by famed screw-up Ches O'Peake impressively took out the enemy on the right. She missed the second burst but it was still a job well done. Katia Rivera's cover wasn't great, but she was just close enough lob an explosive grenade at the crate being used by the one healthy muton. That kind of backfired though when Sanchez completely missed. Pillai had to dodge the angry muton's fire, and did so, wounding it afterwards. Well done, newbie scout! Private Basso nearly finished it off, but couldn't.


I know you're just a medic Soledad, but he's just standing there in the open. Seriously.





At that point the mutons turned up the stupid. Both wounded, one suppressed Pillai while the other moved up to the opposite side of her crate. Basso moves up for the point-blank gimme kill. Everyone else just stayed safe, reloaded, and waited for the wounded leader to give us an opening. It turned and ran, and sectoids were heard out there.

Pillai moved up to the roof of the three-story building, and still saw nothing. Strange. Everything she could hear was coming from past the other end of the structure as the rest of the squad moved that direction. She was joined by three others, and then they were spotted. The muton, still moving, was on one side, four sectoids spotted on the other side, both at the far end of the structure. Ross got a shot at one of the scrambling sectoids and almost took it out.


Haven't seen these guys in a while ...





That muton was just asking for Pillai to drop down over there ... and she spotted four more drones. Ok. This was about to get real. Nine enemies. She missed the muton, just to add to the fun. Basso moved over there ... and also missed. Up top they couldn't see anything. Ross finally ended the muton's participation in this fight.


Crap on a stick. Nothing wrong with a target-rich environment ... unless we are the targets





The next couple of minutes were crazy. We spotted a couple of floaters on what was now our 'right flank' where the sectoids were, but they didn't see us yet. The sectoids advanced over there but couldn't get a shot. Meanwhile, all four drones missed Pillai, while the only hit we got was Ches O'Peake damaging one of them. We retreated and missed as a rule, with no semblance of a real plan other than staying away from what was now four floaters out there by the sectoids.


When outnumbered, it is critical to thin the herd so to speak. Instead, we got way, way too much of this ...





Finally, Basso planted the damaged drone. Ok, only seven enemies left. Plus another now-four floaters who didn't know we were here yet. Pillai got another one, but then the floaters joined the party and all hell broke loose. Two sectoids hit Sanchez up on the roof somehow, nearly killing her.

O'Peake almost took out one of the floaters, Ross damaged a drone, but there were just too many of them. Rivera had panicked, multiple soldiers were hurt, and the enemy was all over the place. Pillai damaged another drone.


One of many moments, this one featuring Duncan Ross, in which outnumbered and nearly surrounded, we were fortunate not to have somebody die





Mostly they missed, but one of the floaters went up the roof and flanked Sanchez. She's as good as gone, because nobody is going to get up there to revive her. A floater(O'Peake) and a drone(Ross) were quickly taken out as we just tried to knock out the closest foes and somehow survive this.


When this floater knocked our medic out, it looked like this might be Tactical Ops' first failed mission





A combo kill(Rivera grenade and Basso shot) took out one sectoid, while a nice sniper shot by Demirovic got another. The enemy was starting to thin out. They advanced, but only got off one try, a miss at Rivera. The closest drone and floater were taken out, but another floater advanced, flanking and critically wounding Basso. Demirovic panicked. It just would not stop.

Two of us tag-teamed the floater, didn't quite kill it but made it miss. There's not much left on either side. Sanchez bled out, but nobody seems to care anymore. O'Peake finished off the floater, Rivera's last grenade took out the closest sectoid ... who else is even left?


Injured engineer Katia Rivera managed to find targets for all of her grenades, and every last one was needed. She managed to keep the sectoids and floaters at bay inside the building for quite a while, saving the rest of the soldiers for handling any penetrations



Looks like just the one sectoid as Pillai moved in. We can still save Basso if we can get him in time ... what the heck, she has an arc thrower and it's almost dead. Why not.

It worked. It's about the only thing that worked today, but it was finally over.

Post-Mortem

14 aliens dead, and one soldier lost. It was an important one, a solid medic in Soledad Sanchez who had 5 kills in as many missions during her career. Today they used our philosphy against us and overwhelmed us with numbers. There were a dozen of them clustered in one sector of the map and they didn't expose themselves to much fire from the rooftop. There are things I could have done better, but for the most part they just ambushed us for once instead of the other way around.

Three others were wounded, all for at least half a month. Two were promoted, sniper Demirovic and private Basso. The latter won't be seen until July though, and is showing early signs of PTSD. It's not surprising. Also injured were Ches O'Peake(again, 2-3 weeks) and engineer Rivera(three weeks). I've been telling myself one of these times we're going to get railroaded and the squad isn't going to come back at all. That almost happened on this mission. Unbelievable nonsense that we got through everything that happened the last couple of days, the Newfoundland crisis and the terror attack in Nigeria, and then this on a freaking abduction mission. It didn't help that almost all of our best were in recovery ...

A wake-up call to be sure. I, and we, cannot afford to be complacement. The enemy is ever-dangerous and growing more irritated with our continued resistance. We must be ever-vigilant.

We have only three medics left, two less than I'd like to have as a minimum. Basso isn't as mobile as I'd like but he's not going to be great at anything else either, particularly now that he's basically afraid of his own shadow. He becomes our fourth. With Murdoch also injured for the next three weeks, over that timeframe we have only two available. That could be big trouble. We have plenty of active soldiers with all the privates, but currently only a dozen experienced ready to go.

Meanwhile, France has been asking for a captive alien for a while now. It's decided it's best to keep it around in case we need it.

Artifacts Recovered

1 Alien Pistol
2 Sectoid Corpses
3 Floater Corpses
3 Muton Corpses
4 Drone Wrecks
1 Sectoid Captive
3 kg Elerium
3 kg Alien Alloys
15 Weapon Fragments
2 oz. Meld

[Brian Swartz]

May 23, 1438 -- Canada turned down for more sectoid corpses.

1806 -- Large UFO over Germany flying NOE. Best we can hope for is that the only available fighter, piloted by 'Chainsaw' Katz, can dissuade it. Nope.

1905 -- It's landed in Germany. With the soldiers we have out, and as much difficulty as we've had with even medium-sized UFOs, we have no chance at a successful raid. There's no choice but to let the aliens go about their business.

May 24 -- One soldier is back from injury, one of the rocketeers.

May 25 -- 0130, Civilian targets in Australia are bombed. A couple of more experienced soldiers are back including LT Burke.

Germany trades for 8 kg alien alloys(12m). Considering the raid we couldn't stop a couple days ago, it's the least we can do.

[u]May 26 -- Notso Sharpe's fighter is back, given us at least one again. At 0200, we receive word from Mitchell that she is ready for extraction. Due to the need for a stealth approach, the Skyranger can only hold equipment for four operatives on this mission. I've designated it a priority operation given the need to combat EXALT's operations and the uncertainty of the situation. With a smaller team, the goal will be a quick hit-and-run approach, with an emphasis on firepower and mobility.

Extraction Squad

LT Rebecca 'Snake Eyes' Burke(USA, Scout)
CPL Brooke 'Twitch' Carter(USA, Infantry)
LT Lily 'Axle' Brodie(SCO, Medic, CO)
LCPL Beth Campbell(AUS, Assault)

It's the first time two officers will be sent out on the same mission, but they are the only quality soldiers available at their vital positions. As the more experienced of the two, Brodie will have command of this operation.

[Breeze]

So help me out...let's see if I am understanding the skills correctly...

Suppression is a skill designed to hinder the enemies aim and movement, and Lock and Load provides me with extra rounds (so assuming extra attacks) before reloading.

[Brian Swartz]

Both correct

[Breeze]

So I'll take Supression then...let's help the group as much as possible.

[chesapeake]

"Famed screw-up" Ches O'Peake had a pretty solid mission. Sucks to be back on the shelf for the better part of another month, though.

[Brian Swartz]

Indeed she did. You're getting better, but unfortunately not in the area of avoiding getting shot .

[Brian Swartz]

Suppression it is for LT2 Benton 'Sheriff' Gale

Health: 4(--)
Will: 64(+1)
Aim: 74(+6)

A bit subpar overall but quite a solid bump to your shooting accuracy.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Indeed she did. You're getting better, but unfortunately not in the area of avoiding getting shot .

Tell the doc to put a little butter on it and get me back on duty!

[law90026]

HEAT for Strobe Hoo!

[Brian Swartz]

Health: 6(+1)
Will: 48(+5)
Aim: 73(+1)

Could be worse, but could have been a lot better too. Either way, a corporal gunner is nothing to sneeze at.

[Brian Swartz]

It's a new month, and time to get this back up to date. The aliens have kept coming and coming, which didn't make it easy. First up, the EXALT mission ...

OPERATION BLACK HEAT
5.26.2015, 0305
Russia

The drop is some distance away from Amber Mitchell, who was detected by EXALT before her mission was complete. We've got to cover here while she finishes downloading encrypted data, but she's two buildings and an alley away. Time is of the essence.

The team moves up to a rooftop to approach the alley where the comm relays are, while Mitchell approaches from the other direction. It sounds like they have operatives on top of the roof across the alley. She moves into the alley, but then spots no less than five of them and has to beat a hasty retreat. Campbell finds an angle on one from the rooftop and takes it out with a shotgun blast. Four more of them out there. The others move across the roof, still too far away to be of any real use.


The first EXALT casualty





One moves into the store where Mitchell is hiding, tossing a grenade. She's alive, but barely and will need medical attention if this operation is to succeed. Things just got a lot more dicey. Burke drops down into the alley, dodging fire as she goes. Carter wounds one and Burke uses a flashbang on another. One soldier misses Carter, another hits her with a grenade, but the resulting explosion also kills him. A second has an open shot to finish her off but misses. This has already been a very hazardous operation with two seriously injured soldiers. These guys aren't playing around. Another grenade tags Burke, and they miss Carter on the roof again.






Suicide by grenade





Burke, Carter, and Campbell each finish one an operative each, but three more are spotted in the store. There's no time, Brodie has to get to Mitchell and get her moving. A couple medikits later and she's on her way again. Two of three new contacts move forward, one using a smoke grenade to cover the other. EXALT's combat doctrine seems to be grenades and plenty of them.

Mitchell hacks the first relay ... and four more of them show up. That's ... not good. She hacks the second, and the play here is to get the freak out of dodge. The biggest problem is that injured soldiers don't move that fast, and we can't stop to heal them ...





More operatives show up near the extraction point. I don't see everyone getting out of this after the comm disruption is over. A grenade by Mitchell and a burst from Carter take out the enemy closest to the extraction point, while Campbell moves back behind a green van and takes out the closest enemy to her. We see a couple of them close in, but they aren't yet in position to fire ...




Another Mitchell grenade, Carter is down off the roof, Brodie administers a couple of medikits, but there's one guy in a position to flank coming the opposite way that we can't do anything about. He waits and goes on overwatch, a gift. They're closing in, more reinforcements coming ... but Campbell isn't close enough yet.

They missed all of their shots but only took three as more and more came in. We took a couple more out which helped, and nearly a third who was near death as he tried to finish off Mitchell. Burke took out one more, and we got the heck out of there.


Overrun, we somehow got everyone out alive


Post-Mortem

This operation confirms that exalt is going to be a real problem. We took down ten of them and got some intel in the process(not in Japan) along with 20m in funds seized, but Carter, who has been promoted to sergeant will be gone a month. LT Rebecca 'Snake Eyes' Burke will miss two weeks, but even worse is that Amber Mitchell died of injuries sustained on the way back to base. She was an solid scout and excellent fit for covert ops, probably the best that we had. It's a tough loss to take.

[Brian Swartz]

May 26, 0617 -- Less than a half-hour after touchdown, the thin man autopsies were complete. The good doctor dubbed this Project Viperus.

'specimen is roughly two meters in height, and weights just over 80 kilograms ... bones are segmented, rather like the vertebrae of a serpent. This segmented structure appears to give the creature a rather spectacular range of motion in combat. ... we may be able replicate the unique connective tissues ... '

'thoracic cavity is devoted to enormous glands capable of producing a toxin that is then expelled ... we've theorized that it could be used to produce a powerful disinfectant to treat our soldier's injuries in the field. Dr. Shen is working to develop a means to integrate this substance into our existing medikits.'

Although there are other quicker possibilities, studying the telepatchic abilities of the enemy via xenopsionics will occupy the next couple of weeks, requiring nearly a pound of Meld for the effort.

1510 -- Low-flying medium raider spotted over Germany. With only one fighter, we have no real chance against this kind of ship and let it go. Meanwhile several more soldiers are back on the line.

May 27 -- Four soldiers return to duty, including Coffee Warlord and [b]Dean Hoo[/u]

2200 -- Excavation is finished and construction begins on the new fission generator to expand our power grid, which will take about 12m. Another 2m is spent on excavation up on Sublevel 3 to make space for another satellite uplink, though the generator will take several days longer.

May 28 -- Benton Gale is back on duty.

0235 -- Abduction Alarm from from Australia! Heavy activity has been reported, with a 10m reward on offer. Given what happened last time we'll want to be careful here, but once again don't have an available officer to lead the mission. Again only one private will go out. With ten soldiers on the injured list, most of them there for two weeks or longer, we really need a clean sweep here with no more major casualties. After the last couple of missions, confidence down in Tactical Ops is beginning to waver, though there's no lack of commitment to the cause.

Strike Squad

SPEC Carl Tanner(USA, Scout)
SPEC Elfriede Fischer(DEU, Infantry)
CPL Ivan 'Vandal' Drago(HON, Assault)
SPEC Naomi Foster(USA, Engineer)
LCPL Eman Hodzic(BIH, Gunner)
SPEC Hannah Cullen(CAN, Rocketeer)
PFC Christy Kodos(CAN)

With no medic available for this mission and a number of relatively inexperienced soldiers, the level of danger for this squad is very high. It's one of those times where everyone needs to step up and more than pull their weight.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION LAZY PALACE
5.28.2015, 0450
Melbourne, Australia

I noted quickly that we were landing on a highway, and didn't have time to consider much else. We spotted three floaters and a muton immediately. Without knowing what else was out there, I couldn't safely order the squad forward and there was almost no decent cover close-by. This is just what I hoped to avoid, there were few options and none of them safe.

Cullen launched a long-range rocket, hoping to catch them by surprise. If it didn't, she would be completely exposed ...

Fortunately, it was only a little off. As best I could tell, there were four of them. One floater and a muton survived the blast. Eventually we discovered that both were badly damaged. Hodzic took out the floater, while the rest set up in overwatch positions.







The muton didn't risk it, simply firing and thankfully missing. With only one of them, we took a chance on moving up to better cover. Although nothing happened immediately, soon four sectoids came out from behind the bus on the right. Hodzic mowed one down on the move, and the muton did a suicide charge, missing Tanner.

It was tempting to try and capture it, he did have an arc thrower handy. At first I decided against it, then figured why not since we wanted to push forward some anyway to get all of our guns in the fight. Drago got a little too much oomph on his pistol shot though, and ended up with the outright kill. That worked too. After it was wounded by Tanner, Kodos got a kill on her first shot. Two sectoids left, six enemies down, pretty good tactical position -- feeling pretty good about things.


Annoying little twerps





The sectoids decided to run away, straight up the highway. There was a canister out that way, so what the heck, I'd follow. Slowly, that is. One left itself exposed, and Tanner got a good look, emptying his SMG to wound it. It was too risky for anyone else to get close enough.

One stayed while the other retreated, we moved up again to pursue -- and a swarm of none less than five seekers awaited. Um yeah, time to back up again. Drago took out the closest sectoid, and the rest once again moved up to firing positions. The sectoid retreated, and all but one went to stealth, choosing to stay on overwatch. When one of the cloaked ones went after our scout Tanner, that effectively made everyone else immobile. A smart play, bastards. Drago was close by though, and poof went the seeker.


It's a party now





Ok, four seekers left and one sectoid. Three of the bastards were invisible. Foster was able to do a small bit of damage to the visible one, but everyone else either went into defensive fire or reloaded. They were coming for us, it was just a question of when and where.

One went for Kodos, which was a mistake. Fisher and Hodzic took care of business. Emil Hodzic is an overwatch specialist and obliterated the seeker. A second put a stranglehold on Drago. Fischer somehow managed to miss two near-gimme shots at it. Ahem. Hodzic blasted away again, he is just mowing them down here and basically single-handedly winning this op for us.


Emil Hodzic, a virtual one-man alien wrecking crew. By this point I'd lost count of how many kills he racked up




On the other hand, while she was solid the rest of the mission, this was some of the worst shooting I've ever seen by Elfriede Fischer. Not once, but twice





Then they made their final surge. The final stealther went for engineer Naomi Foster, while the visible one moved up and flanked Drago, who had just used his medkit to get healthy. It did minimal damage, but any plasma burst still hurts like hell. Fischer hit the one strangling Foster, but couldn't release the grip. It was a big sucker. Hodzic again, moving in close to be sure, and ended that threat. Kodos maneuvered for a good look at the other one ... and missed. Would have been nice to hit that shot, private. Wounded or not, Drago ended that nonsense himself.


You've got talent Christy, but this wasn't your best moment





There was still the one sectoid out there at least, but we had some healing and organizing to do first. Once again it was Cullen who spotted them, a trio of floaters up ahead on the right side. Sigh. She had a good look at one, though no rockets left. Wounded, but ...

There was also a muton involved, and the sectoid came back to play. Five of them, and the muton flanked and badly wounded Tanner. On the other hand, they'd exposed themselves ... A couple of big shots by Fischer knocked out the closest floater, and Cullen/Kodos/Drago combined with flanking shots on the muton, the rookie getting the kill. Hodzic planted the previously wounded one, leaving only two left. They both missed, and it was just a mop-up operation left.


Carl Tanner has displayed an ability to survive dangerous situations, and somehow lived through one of the most fearsome sights there is: a flanking muton with a clear line of sight





Foster eventually finished off a combo effort on the floater, and Drago, limping along, still had the range to dash forward and take out that pesky sectoid.

Post-Mortem

Even more here than the last time: 17 aliens were taken out on this trip. Carl Tanner out for a very long time, over a month, so it wasn't the clean sweep I'd hoped for but as good as can be expected given the resistance. It really all came down to that rocket launch by Cullen at the beginning. If that had missed any further to the left, this could have gone very badly. Four promotions were gained as well, indluding the injured Tanner.

Artifacts

4 Sectoid Corpses
4 Floater Corpses
2 Muton Corpses
6 kg Elerium
7 kg Alien Alloys
12 Weapon Fragments
11 oz. Meld
5 Seeker Wrecks

[Brian Swartz]

Promotions

PFC Christy Kodos, you are now a lance corporal after notching two kills on your first sortie. That's the good news. The bad news is you have been recommended for gunner/rocketeer duty. You'd be good there, but it's bad news because they are the most stocked classes with six each already trained. We've got five infantry by comparison, and four everywhere else except medic(just three).

Commander's Recommendation: I don't like doing it on a major thing like class choice, but I exercised my prerogative here and went with the random option. There's just no use for any more gunners or rocketeers right now and too many other places where we just need warm bodies. A soldier with your shooting skill is pretty much useful almost anywhere. So the survey says ....

Sniper! Well that could not have gone better. FOFC is loading up the sniper talent -- and for some reason lately they've gotten gipped in mission frequency -- but you're the fifth in the class. On the other hand ...

Health: 3(--)
Will: 31(+3)
Aim: 75(+3)

Disappointing, but you still have a promising career ahead of you.

[Brian Swartz]

Later in the day, 10kg Elerium shipped to Brazil in exchange for a pair of scientists. A couple soldiers return to duty, including Duncan Ross.

May 29 -- Argentina requests a satellite.

May 30 -- A second fighter is back in operation, with three more expected within days.

May 31, 0002 -- A low-flying scout over Germany. A tough call here, but we decided to send a ship up after it for two reasons. One, we still need to capture an outsider and this is the optimal scenario in which to do it, and secondly we have another fighter expected back by the end of the day which would restore the two-craft minimum. 'Notso' Sharpe gets the call.

Unfortunately it did not go well. He only got one hit in and was forced to break off. I'm disappointed, but simply can't afford to send up another fighter. Sharpe's fighter will be out of action for over two weeks now. That was a bad break.

The UK requests 10kg of alien alloys in the evening, and we make the trade for a pair of engineers. Two more return including LT Axle.

That's it and that's all for May. Three months in the books, and the usual monthly report including overdue roster update, killboard, and all that jazz will be up next. When is an open question though, since I go in for surgery in about 12 hours.

[path12]

Good luck with the surgery!

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks -- all appears to have gone well. I've got the ligament back in place and lost a piece of bone from the back of my heel that was floating around there and causing problems. About had a heart attack when I saw the XRay, it was like two inches long, a lot bigger than I thought. But anyway, I'm on good drugs and doing well, full recovery is expected and all that. The hard part now is waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting some more

[Brian Swartz]

COUNCIL REPORT
May 2015

Overall Grade: B(pleased) -- down from an A the last two months.

2 Council Missions Completed
1 UFO Shot Down
1 Terror Mission Stopped
6 Abductions Stopped
4 Research Projects Completed
1 UFO Raided
1 Satellite Shot Down
8 UFOs Escaped

Clearly the main development of May was in the Air War: we are simply getting overwhelmed by the attrition. 1 UFO escaped in the first two months combined, and it was the first time we had a satellite get shot down. XCOM theoreticians believe the two might be related: i.e., the aliens used some of the escaped UFOs to scout for satellites before sending another ship to take them down. Regardless, the strategic direction of getting coverage over North America so we can snag their aerospace expertise appears more vital than ever now.

Panic Overview

Yellow Alert: Russia, Australia, Nigeria
Aqua Alert: Brazil, UK**, France, China, India
Green Alert: USA*, Canada, Mexico, Argentina*, Germany**, Japan, Egypt**
Alien Collaborators: South Africa

** Indicates a nation with significant panic resistance due to trades for alien technology & artifacts with XCOM. At this point there are three, none of them yet up to half of the maximum.
* Nations with a minor, but notable amount of panic resistance. All nations not denoted at all have received little to no such assistance. Those with significant panic will now be prioritized for potential future deals.

That's two more nations added to the Yellow list and one more on the Aqua than we had at the end of April. It's getting worse, but not by leaps and bounds and nobody else is in imminent danger of leaving the Council -- yet. Another month and that situation may change.

Latest Headlines

** United Kingdom reinforces critical infrastructure using advanced materials and building techniques
** Brazilian military procurement records indicate new power source supplied by unknown agency
** Local media report indicates aggressive military response to ongoing threat of alien abductions taking place in Australia
** Major newspaper in Sydney claims to have undeniable evidence of alien life on Earth as fear among residents grows
** British troops continually outgunned by invading alien forces

The last couple here are seriously in the Captain Obvious category at this point. Media reporting non-news with breathtakingly fake urgency is not a new phenomenon, of course.

Finances

Council Funding: 59.8m(-11.8m)
Aircraft Maintenance: 30m(+4m)
Facility Maintenance: 16.6m(+600k)
Net Council Income: 13.2m(-16.3m)

UFO Bounties: none
Mission Rewards: 73.5m(+14.5m)

Gross Income: 133.3m (+2.2m)
Net Income: 86.7m(-2.3m)

For the first time, reward money from missions outstripped the direct contributions of Council nations. The Newfoundland operation was the biggest change here, and allowed XCOM to see only a marginal drop in funding.

Air War: 98.9m
General Fund: 200k

It's almost certainly temporary, but the General Fund is back in the black while most of the current balance will soon disappear in building the necessary infrastructure to get the North American satellites up. There's a lot yet to go on, but perhaps, just perhaps, we might finally be able to invest in some better equipment for Tactical Ops in the near future.

Artifacts in Storage

2 Alien Pistols: 2m
1 Alien Carbine: 3m
33(77) Sectoid Corpses: 200k -- 19(25%) traded/sold
33(36) Floater Corpses: 300k -- 3(8%) traded/sold
29(44) Thin Man Corpses: 300k -- 5(11%) traded/sold
10 Muton Corpses: 400k
8 Chryssalid Carcasses: 700k
16(18) Drone Wrecks: 200k -- 2(11%) traded/sold
1 Sectoid Captive: 1m
1 Thin Man Captive: 1m
104(146) kg Elerium: 500k -- 42(29%) traded/sold
123(173) kg Alien Alloys: 500k -- 50(29%) traded/sold
140(190) Weapon Fragments: 100k -- 40(21%) traded/sold
46(93) oz. Meld: 700k -- 16(17%) traded/sold
6(7) UFO Flight Computers: 3m -- 1(14%) traded/sold
5(6) UFO Power Sources: 6m -- 1(17%) traded/sold
36(39) Seeker Wrecks: 300k -- 3(8%) traded/sold

Total Asset Value: 266m(+112m)

We didn't sell anything off, but also only had the one UFO raid which are the real cash cows so the gain was about as much as last month. Over a quarter of a million Euros there if desperate situations should arise needing cash. There are seven open requests right now. Two of the five for satellites(Mexico and the UK) may be filled this month before they expire when new birds make themselves available. The others are for sectoid corpses(we don't have enough to justify it with the reward a single scientist) and a sectoid captive(which we may still need for some purpose of Dr. Vahlen's).

Personnel

Researchers: 30(+7)
Engineers: 27(+10)
Soldiers: 60(+21)

Available Research Projects

Xenopsionics(**Priority**) -- In Progress, 7 days remaining
Expiremental Warfare -- 7 days, 10 Weapon Fragments required
Beam Lasers -- 7 days, 10 kg alien alloys, 25 Weapon Fragments
Improved Body Armor -- 7 days, 8 kg alien alloys
Muton Autopsy -- 7 days, 10 muton corpses
Chryssalid Autopsy -- 8 days, 5 Chryssalid Carcasses
Alien Computers -- 9 days, 4 flight computers
Thin Man Interrogation -- 9 days, 1 Thin Man Captive
Elerium -- 25 days, 35 kg elerium

Other than the elerium project which won't be seen anytime soon, we've got a bevy of long-standing possibilities that are all in the week-to-ten days range. Unless xenopsionics reveals a particularly interesting new possibility, we will hopefully knock a few of them out in June. The number of projects has stayed pretty consistent the last month or so -- we definitely still have plenty to keep Vahlen busy.

Finally, a couple of recent comments from the senior staff:

Bradford: 'This new technology is incredible, weapons in particular. I don't know what we're going to do with this stuff once the aliens are gone.'

Shen: 'Men have fought for gods and kings alike. But now we fight for the very survival of our species.'

Bradford's curiosity is natural, but it's also kind of like worrying about dinner when you haven't had breakfast yet. If we survive this war, we'll worry about such possibilities then.

[Brian Swartz]

May Review

UFO sightings increased significantly, and to a degree Tactical Ops can be thankful that we weren't able to handle most of them. Between the chryssalid attack in Newfoundland, another terrock attack, and larger abduction attempts, they were kept quite busy.

Kills: 145(287 total)
Soldiers Lost: 3(6 total)
Operations: 11(26 total)

Once again the aliens upped the ante, and it's open question how much more acceleration and attrition XCOM can take. Despite doubling the total soldiers lost, including a couple of veterans, we actually increased our kill ratio by a hair(47.3 to 47.8 aliens for each soldier lost). They just came at us in larger groups, and there are more and more situations where we need to take them out quickly or get overrun. We faced and killed more of them in May than in March and April combined. On the ground and in the air, the pressure continues to increase.

Air War Overview

We have seven fighters, two of them flight-ready. Two more will be back on the roster within the next 24 hours, another several days later, so we're finally getting a handle on that again at least temporarily. There is only one satellite up(over Germany), with another to be ready in about three days time.

Tactical Ops Overview

Officer Training School -- We are at 86 total ranks, a sizable increase of 31 over last month despite the losses.. Another increase of that amount will be required to expand to an 8th squad member in the OTS(115 required), so that's unlikely to happen until next month. Company Officers will probably happen sooner with LT Lily 'Axle' Brodie needing only one more operational command to qualify. The other two need 2-3, so they have a little more time before they are ready.

Sergeant/Second Lieutenant -- 3
Corporal/Lieutenant -- 12
Lance Corporal -- 15
Specialist -- 8
Private -- 22

The rank breakdown here shows that we are progressing upwards in terms of overall training and skills, with Corporals about to become the most numerous rank soon. The current challenge is getting privates promoted up through the chain, as the number of specialists is dwindling and lately there haven't been many chances to get the greenhorns out there. I'd like to get at least another 8-12 privates moving upwards as soon as possible, we still need more bodies in most classes. We have enough gunners, rocketeers, and probably snipers, but scouts/infantry/medics are still significant need areas and assault/engineer are ok at four apiece but I'd like to see more depth there also.

There are six currently in recovery and due to be back soon, with a whopping 11, many of them highly capable, injured. Only one will be back soon, four of them have three weeks or more yet to heal, putting a lot of stress on the healthy soldiers to not add to the problem.

Current Priorities

** Research Xenopsionics(one week left)
** Capture an Outsider -- in the few weeks since this directive was activated, we've yet to have a single chance due to the struggles in the air.
** Narrow down EXALT's base of operations -- we've eliminated only Japan so far from the possibilities.
** Satellite coverage in North America -- Excavation for the next satellite uplink will be finished in a day or two, and the fission generator to power it in less than a week. After that, the new uplink is expected to take another three weeks to build, and meanwhile more satellites will be needed. At least we have the money for them now.
** Getting more privates promoted
** Upgrade field equipment. This can only be put off for so long. It might not happen this month, but as the alien challenge continues to grow, the only way we are going to continue to be able to handle it is with improved gear for Tactical Ops.

We've definitely got our work cut out for us, but so far we're still hanging in there.

[Brian Swartz]

XCOM ROSTER -- as of June 1

Assault(4)
** This should mostly be self-explanatory. The % listed is progress towards the next promotion. The number in paretheses by each class is the total number of that class currently in XCOM(including those who are recovering and/or injured)**

CPL Courtney 'Spitfire' Mason(UK, 6 missions, 17 kills, 95%) -- 5 Health, 14 Mob, 47 Will, 69 Aim, - 2 Def
** Bring 'Em On, Sprinter
LCPL Beth Campbell(AUS, 3 missions, 7 kills, 53%) -- 3 Health, 14 Mob, 35 Will, 68 Aim, 3 Def
** Tactical Sense

Engineer(4)
CPL Yolanda 'Angel' Pena(ESP, 6 missions, 10 kills, 43%) -- 7 Health, 12 Mob, 44 Will, 69 Aim, 3 Def
** Sapper, Smoke and Mirrors
CPL Amiyah 'Cargo' Banerjee(NIG, 6 missions, 6 kills, 2%) -- 6 Health, 13 Mob, 50 Will, 67 Aim, 1 Def
** Sapper, Sharpshooter

Gunner(6)
LCPL Didier Keita(MEX, 2 missions, 3 kills, 6%) -- 5 Health, 13 Mob, 50 Will, 57 Aim, -2 Def
** Opportunist
SPEC Geoff Russell(USA, 3 missions, 0 kills, 91%) -- 6 Health, 12 Mob, 22 Will, 68 Aim, 0 Def
LCPL Mac Roguru(AUS, 3 missions, 6 kills, 59%) -- 7 Health, 12 Mob, 38 Will, 73 Aim, 2 Def
** Sprinter
SPEC Isabelle Mirabeau(FRA, 2 missions, 2 kills, 99%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 40 Will, 70 Aim, -3 Def
CPL Dean 'Strobe' Hoo(UKR, 5 missions, 7 kills, 2%) -- 6 Health, 12 Mob, 48 Will, 73 Aim, 0 Def
** Low Profile, HEAT Ammo

Infantry(5)
LT Benton 'Sheriff' Gale(JPN, 7 missions, 21 kills, 19%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 64 Will, 74 Aim, -4 Def
** Ranger, Low Profile, Stay Frosty, Suppression

Medic(4)
CPL Thozama 'Whiskey' Khumalo(ZAF, 6 missions, 13 kills, 66%) -- 5 Health, 14 Mob, 54 Will, 68 Aim, -1 Def
** Revive, Paramedic
LT Lily 'Axle' Brodie(SCO, 9 missions, 12 kills, 3%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 51 Will, 70 Aim, -2 Def
** Revive, Paramedic, Lead By Example, Field Surgeon

Rocketeer(6)
LCPL Eliana Soares(BRA, 3 missions, 2 kills, 9%) -- 5 Health, 12 Mob, 40 Will, 71 Aim, 1 Def
** Steadfast
LCPL Sophie Deschamps(FRA, 3 missions, 2 kills, 26%) -- 6 Health, 12 Mob, 36 Will, 73 Aim, 2 Def
** Holo-Targeting
LCPL Esperanza Guerrero(ESP, 4 missions, 12 kills, 95%) -- 4 Health, 15 Mob, 31 Will, 73 Aim, 1 Def
** Will to Survive
SPEC Duncan Ross(FRA, 3 missions, 3 kills, 90%) -- 3 Health, 12 Mob, 41 Will, 72 Aim, 1 Def

Scout(4)
CPL Coffee 'Slim' Warlord(ISR, 4 missions, 7 kills, 8%) -- 4 Health, 15 Mob, 45 Will, 76 Aim, -1 Def
** Will to Survive, Low Profile
SPEC Lakshmi Pillai(NIG, 3 missions, 4 kills, 99%) -- 5 Health, 13 Mob, 35 Will, 64 Aim, 3 Def

Sniper(5)
LCPL Path Twelve(DEU, 3 missions, 8 kills, 81%) -- 3 Health, 12 Mob, 36 Will, 80 Aim, 3 Def
** Executioner
SPEC Takumi Fujita(JPN, 2 missions, 2 kills, 55%) -- 4 Health, 15 Mob, 25 Will, 69 Aim, 3 Def
CPL Jace 'Walker' Hunter(FRA, 5 missions, 13 kills, 33%) -- 5 Health, 11 Mob, 43 Will, 91 Aim, 3 Def
** Damn Good Ground, Precision Shot
LCPL Alma Demirovic(BIH, 3 missions, 3 kills, 8%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 46 Will, 81 Aim, 1 Def
** Packmaster

Private(22)

Covert Operations

Recovery

SPEC Elfriede Fischer(DEU, 2 missions, 3 kills, 63%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 34 Will, 70 Aim, 2 Def -- 11 hours
CPL Ivan 'Vandal' Drago(HON, 5 missions, 16 kills, 33%) -- 4 Health, 15 Mob, 40 Will, 70 Aim, -1 Def -- 19 hours
** Extra Conditioning, Tactical Sense
LCPL Eman Hodzic(BIH, 4 missions, 10 kills, 85%) -- 3 Health, 12 Mob, 41 Will, 74 Aim, 1 Def -- 1 day
** Opportunist
LCPL Hannah Cullen(CAN, 3 missions, 4 kills, 6%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 47 Will, 73 Aim, - 1 Def -- 1 day
** Holo-Targeting
LCPL Naomi Foster(USA, 4 missions, 3 kills, 33%) -- 6 Health, 12 Mob, 43 Will, 65 Aim, 1 Def -- 2 days
** Sapper
SPEC Christy Kodos(CAN, 1 mission, 2 kills, 11%) -- 3 Health, 13 Mob, 31 Will, 75 Aim, -2 Def -- 2 days

Injured
**Injured soldiers are out of action until they recover. The expected time until they are available for active duty is listed here as well.**

CPL Su-Min 'DJ' Kim(KOR, 4 missions, 14 kills, 22%) -- 7 Health, 14 Mob, 42 Will, 72 Aim, 1 Def -- 2 days
** Resilience, Tactical Sense
PFC Rin Mori(JPN, 1 mission, 0 kills, 83%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 34 Will, 62 Aim, -1 Def -- 6 days
LT Rebecca 'Snake Eyes' Burke(USA, 8 missions, 12 kills, 88%) -- 5 Health, 13 Mob, 45 Will, 79 Aim, -1 Def -- 8 days
** Low Profile, Close Combat Specialist, Stay Frosty
LCPL Ches O'Peake(USA, 4 missions, 6 kills, 54%) -- 6 Health, 13 Mob, 37 Will, 71 Aim, -2 Def -- 10 days
** Aggression
CPL Georgia 'Strings' Murdoch(AUS, 6 missions, 5 kills, 31%) -- 3 Health, 13 Mob, 61 Will, 69 Aim, -2 Def -- 12 days
** Revive, Paramedic
LCPL Shigeru Endo(JPN, 4 missions, 7 kills, 87%) -- 4 Health, 13 Mob, 40 Will, 77 Aim, 1 Def -- 12 days
** Battle Scanner
LCPL Katia Rivera(MEX, 4 missions, 6 kills, 77%) -- 5 Health, 12 Mob, 39 Will, 66 Aim, 5 Def -- 13 days
** Sapper
CPL Shaojie 'Chilong' Zhang(CHN, 1 mission, 1 kill, 20%) -- 7 Health, 13 Mob, 39 Will, 75 Aim, 0 Def -- 21 days
** Opportunist, Sharpshooter
SGT Brooke 'Twitch' Carter(USA, 7 missions, 23 kills, 14%) -- 7 Health, 11 Mob, 56 Will, 84 Aim, 5 Def -- 24 days
** Opportunist, Executioner
SPEC Luca Basso(ITA, 1 mission, 3 kills, 10%) -- 5 Health, 12 Mob, 28 Will, 67 Aim, -1 Def -- 29 days
LCPL Carl Tanner(USA, 4 missions, 1 kill, 119%) -- 5 Health, 14 Mob, 24 Will, 72 Aim, -2 Def -- 34 days
** Rapid Reaction

KILLBOARD

SGT Brooke 'Twitch' Carter -- 23
LT Benton 'Sheriff' Gale -- 21
CPL Courtney 'Spitfire' Mason -- 17
CPL Ivan 'Vandal' Drago -- 16
CPL Su-Min 'DJ' Kim -- 14
CPL Jace 'Walker' Hunter -- 13
CPL Thozama 'Whiskey' Khumalo -- 13
LT Lily 'Axle' Brodie -- 12
LT Rebecca 'Snake Eyes' Burke -- 12
LCPL Esperanza Guerrero -- 12
LCPL Eman Hodzic -- 10
CPL Yolanda 'Angel' Pena -- 10
LCPL Path Twelve -- 8
LCPL Beth Campbell -- 7
LCPL Shigeru Endo -- 7
CPL Dean 'Strobe' Hoo -- 7
CPL Coffee 'Slim' Warlord -- 7
CPL Amiyah 'Cargo' Banerjee -- 6
SPEC Seung-yeon Kim -- 6(KIA)
LCPL Ches O'Peake -- 6
LCPL Mac Roguru -- 6
CPL Georgia 'Strings' Murdoch -- 5
LCPL Soledad Sanchez -- 5(KIA)
LCPL Hannah Cullen -- 4
SPEC Lakshmi Pillai -- 4
LCPL Katia Rivera -- 4
SPEC Luca Basso -- 3
LCPL Alma Demirovic -- 3
SPEC Elfriede Fischer -- 3
LCPL Naomi Foster -- 3
LCPL Didier Keita -- 3
SPEC Duncan Ross -- 3
LCPL Sophie Deschamps -- 2
SPEC Takumi Fujita -- 2
SPEC Christy Kodos -- 2
SPEC Isabelle Mirabeau -- 2
LCPL Amber Mitchell -- 2
LCPL Eliana Soares -- 2
PFC Stephen Garner -- 1(KIA)
LCPL Carl Tanner -- 1
CPL Shaojie 'Chilong' Zhang -- 1

Carter will almost certainly lose the top spot here soon as she's out for a few weeks. FOFC has a few among the elite in alien-killing(Gale, Drago, Hunter) and several more in the middle of the pack. The contingent here is gradually moving up in the ranks as a whole.

MEMORIAL
**Here are remembered all those missing or killed in action.**

PFC Ace Idol -- 0 kills in 1 mission. KIA during Operation Demon Pipe by a sectoid plasma pistol, March 17, 2015.
PFC Stephen Garner -- 1 kill in 2 missions. KIA during Operation Unceasing Night by a sectoid plasma pistol, April 4, 2015
SPEC Seung-yeon Kim -- 6 kills in 2 missions. KIA during Operation First Engine by a sectoid plasma pistol, April 27, 2015.
PFC Chris Kodos -- 0 kills in 1 mission. KIA during Operation Hot Line by a seeker alien pistol, May 11, 2015
LCPL Soledad Sanchez -- 5 kills in 5 missions. KIA during Operation Glass Heart by floater light plasma rifle, May 23, 2015
LCPL Amber Mitchell -- 2 kills in 4 missions. KIA after Operation Black Heat due to injuries suffered by an EXALT frag grenade, May 27, 2015

[Brian Swartz]

June 1

In terms of initial expenditures, there was a lot to do. 20m goes to the usual fighter purchase bringing us up to 8, the minimum we need to have four on each continent, and three more satellites are also purchased at a cost of 37.8m. That will give us a total of five, the maximum we can support once the planned satellite uplink is built after the power generator is finished.

I also order a monthly intel sweep to help combat the spread and influence of EXALT at a cost of 5m. Evidence of a cell in Australia is uncovered by this, and mobile sniper SPEC Takumi Fujita is deemed best for the job. It's one of our three priority nations that are at Yellow Alert, making it even more important to disrupt operations there before they can cause havoc.

Ivan Drago is one of two soldiers back to active by the end of the first day of June, and two fighters are back on the flight line as well. With no major alien activity, it was definitely a good start to the new month.

[Brian Swartz]

June 2 -- A request from India for 15 kg elerium is turned down, we're near the trading max right now. Two more soldiers are ready to go.

June 3 -- The new satellite is ready to launch, and we send it to Mexico with a pair of fighters headed over there as well. They are willing to be a significant financial contributor, increasing their commitment from 6.1 to 13m, and they send us a pair of engineers as well which was the clincher.

A small UFO flying NOE is seen on Germany approach at 0402. We let it go, having just two fighters with the other pair having been dispatched to the interceptor base in North America to support the Mexico satellite. 40 minutes later it lands, and we've got our first mission of June. Not only that, but our first chance to capture an outsider and unravel the next part of the alien mystery. It's only a small scout, landing or not, so we'll take the opportunity to send out a pair of privates as well. This is a good opportunity to really move forward on multiple fronts.

Strike Squad
CPL Coffee 'Slim' Warlord(ISR, Scout)
** Will to Survive, Low Profile
CPL Thozama 'Whiskey' Khumalo(ZAF, Medic)
** Revive, Paramedic
LT Benton 'Sheriff' Gale(JPN, Infantry, CO)
** Ranger, Low Profile, Stay Frosty, Suppression
CPL Courtney 'Spitfire' Mason(UK, Assault)
** Bring 'Em On, Sprinter
LCPL Didier Keita(MEX, Gunner)
** Opportunist
PFC Antonio Santos(BRA)
PFC Kobe Cuvelier(BEL)

Keita, Warlord, and Gale are the FOFC headliners in a strong lineup, a lot of top soldiers were due up for this one.

[Brian Swartz]

OPERATION DEMON THORN
6.3.2015, 0455
Germany

The squad deploys with the right flank secured, so Warlord moves a bit forward and left to secure high ground. Directly ahead he spots the faint outline of the ship. We hear nothing, but canisters are in three directions. Two by the ship, one sweeping around to the left which we are headed towards. Seekers perhaps? Quiet is usually a sign of them.

Then there's something else nearly straight left ... sounds like mutons. We have to be close. Yep, Warlord soon spots them, but it's just a floater and a single muton, two enemies with a canister to the right of them. We should be able to handle this. Warlord misses the muton, Cuvelier can't get close enough for a flashbang so he misses the floater. Ahem. Santos uses a flashbang on the big guy while Keita suppresses. Spitfire Mason has the range to dash up for a shotgun blast that fells the floater. The muton just fires back at Keita, missing badly.







Gale and Cuvelier both hit the muton, a couple others miss. Once again it's Mason finishing the job. Two clean kills, a nice start for us in clearing out the perimeter. We hear movement inside the ship next though it's a ways off, and the distinctive wheezing of thin men. Warlord moves up to the canister, and secures 10 oz. Meld. Alien resources continue to grow, a bad sign.


Tucked in behind some rocks alongside Khumalo, private Cuvelier manages to hit something for the first time





Nearby, Mason spots a trio of drones near the ship. Certainly could be worse. One of them takes a shot but she's in good behind a tree and nothing. Coffee Warlord shows off his best-among-scouts trigger finger and knocks the closest one out of the sky. Sherirf Gale plants the second one, and we've got no worries.

Well maybe another one now. The remaining drone slides over, then advances as Keita misses. We can take it out fine, but three thin men come out of the ship to join the fray. Warlord empties his gun ... and his bullets just bounce off the drone. One of the thin men decided to advance and is a flanking threat. This is a job for ... yep, Spitfire Mason again. She closes in and executes for her third kill already, and we've got decent cover now against the two thin men remaining. Keita wounds the leader, then Gale really puts us in a good position by dropping him and the drone to leave only one thin man left. It tries a long-range, ineffectual shot against Keita.







The last thin man was set up pretty well defensively behind the side of a doorway, and as we tried to move in it set up for reaction fire. Time for a shootout, but this was a very one-sided situation. We spotted another active canister further up that way, if we could finish this quick there was a chance to snag a second one. Private Cuvelier wounded it, but we only had a few in range and couldn't finish the job. It just stayed there though. Warlord finished it off, and we made for the canister. That doorway was our probable entrance to the ship, and it was now filled with toxin anyway.


It held us off for a bit, but the lone thin man was hopelessly outnumbered, and Coffee Warlord finally ended him





It was too late. The canister shut down before we could get close. Oh well. With eight enemies down we had to be near the end here. It was time to get inside and get the outsider. Warlord was still some way from the ship when we spotted it. Crap. Not really ready yet. Keita found a good perch from which to suppress. It fired back at Keita, missing, as the toxic cloud dispersed.

It was time now to go for this. Capturing this bastard would be a little tricky. A low-percentage shot by Gale helped, taking it halfway down. Hitting it again might kill it. Warlord weakened it a bit more, and Mason moved in with the arc thrower. It failed! Cuvelier loosed our second flashbang, while Keita kept up the suppression. Hopefully those would save her.


Doh!





It simply moved away to better cover, Keita missing which was all for the better since she probably would have killed it. That was surprising though -- a big risk. Mason moved in with a pistol shot to weaken it .. and accidentally killed it instead. I've never seen a pistol shot do that much damage. Tough break there, we were set up perfectly and Warlord had another arc charge to use.

Post-Mortem

Nine enemies killed with no damage taken, a good clean mission and other than failing to capture the outsider it was perfect. Four promotions including both privates were earned, and Gale moved back up to #1 on the XCOM kills list with three more for a total of 24 confirmed. Santos is now our sixth infantry soldier, Cuvelier our fifth assault. Both classes are pretty close to what we need now, medics and scouts are the top needs at the moment with these additions. Another engineer wouldn't hurt either.

Artifacts Recovered

1 Floater Corpse
3 Thin Man Corpses
1 Muton Corpse
3 Drone Wrecks
16 kg Elerium
26 kg Alien Alloys
10 Weapon Fragments
11 oz. Meld
2 UFO Flight Computers
1 UFO Power Source

[Brian Swartz]

1649 -- About ten hours after we get back, a low-flying medium raider is spotted over the eastern Atlantic. Once again we don't have enough aircraft to go up against a ship that size right now. It flies off eventually, but ...

June 4, 0349 -- A medium-size ship at high orbit comes in next, emitting that scanning signal. A satellite hunter. Can't say I'm surprised. 'Chainsaw' Katz is the first to go up. Gets in a couple hits but also hit pretty hard and not able to stay in the fight long. 'Lunchbox' Turnbull is our last hope against the interloper. This time both craft put up an impressive display of not hitting a thing, he takes only minor damage but only gets in one missile on the target after several misfires.

Thankfully it apparently was enough for now, as the UFO flies off without having been able to do anything to our satellite. By the end of the day, 'Plugger' Martin is on duty in North America. That gives them three active fighters and one is transferred back to Europe. In a couple days we'll be back to our desired minimum of two fighters on each continent, with the other four needing anywhere from a week to two and a half for repairs. It's really going to be tough for a while to keep enough of them operational.

2319 -- Good grief. A low-flying medium raider on Germany approach from the northeast. We are 15 hours away from having anything to put in the air over Europe, so it'll be ignored as well.

June 5 -- The raider eventually finishes it's business and flies off, thankfully not bringing another hunter with it. At least, not yet.

[Brian Swartz]

Overdue update -- I've been mostly confined to bed since shortly after the surgery, all is going well but it makes playing XCOM impossible. The current game date is June 7th. I have a follow-up appointment on Thursday, after which I hope to get back on feet a bit at least(literally). If that goes well, I may be able to start getting caught up next weekend.

[path12]

I hear aliens are very patient this time of year. Glad to hear things are going well!

[MacroGuru]

Hope things are going ok.

[Brian Swartz]

They are for the most part, still swelling up like a freaking basketball but getting a little stronger and a little more stable every couple of days, it's just sloooooowwwwwwwww .

Expecting to get an update going on this tomorrow.

[Brian Swartz]

The next mission will be up soon. As I'm now almost a month 'behind' there's a lot of catching up to do. Since there's been an extended break in this thread, I'll be PM-ing those who have decisions for a while.

[Brian Swartz]

And here we go.

June 6, 0250 -- Time to extract the operative in Australia. It looks like Fujita did his work quickly and effectively enough to give us a chance to silence the cell there before they caused any mischief. This time we've been able to launch in enough time that stealth is not as much of a concern, allowing a full squad. That's the good news. The bad news is that we are short at a few positions. Most of them will have somebody back from recovery within 24-48 hours though, so we'll just have to hope nothing vital comes up in that time. Scout, Infantry, and Medic are all bare after sending out this group

Extraction Squad

SPEC Lakshmi Pillai(NIG, Scout)
SPEC Elfriede Fischer(DEU, Infantry)
LT Lily 'Axle' Brodie(SCO, Medic, CO)
** Revive, Paramedic, Lead By Example, Field Surgeon
CPL Yolanda 'Angel' Pena(ESP, Engineer)
** Sapper, Smoke and Mirrors
SPEC Geoff Russell(USA, Gunner)
LCPL Eliana Soares(BRA, Rocketeer)
** Steadfast
LCPL Path Twelve(DEU, Sniper)
** Executioner

[Brian Swartz]

deleted due to technical difficulties

[Brian Swartz]

CPL Dean 'Strobe' Hoo, do you wish to join the ranks of XCOM officers and represent the gunner class among them? If yes, you will need to select one of the lieutenant abilities:

** Legio Patria Nostra -- +1 will per nationality in squad
** Stay Frosty -- -24 hours recovery time

You are now on the clock, with the usual 48 hours response time.

[law90026]

Sorry for the late reply! Stay Frosty please.

[Kodos]

Eagerly awaiting my next death without any accomplishments!

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by law90026

Sorry for the late reply! Stay Frosty please.

Late you most certainly were not. The Commander is well pleased with less than 9 hours response time. The Commander himself has been known to be far less punctual .

Oh, and Stay Frosty it is, as soon as XCOM returns from Japan -- the site of the mission I stopped in the middle of. Err, at least we hope they'll be returning ... the Skyranger will be at least :P.

Originally Posted by Kodos

Eagerly awaiting my next death without any accomplishments!

After sniggering a moment, the Commander notes that you actually have some this time around. In contrast to your predecessor, you have survived a mission with two kills and a promotion to Specialist -- for which you earned a fancy run-of-the-mill dusty and rusted Miss-O-Matic 2000 model sniper rifle from the least polluted of the armories. I can't wait to see what you do with it!

[Brian Swartz]

deleted due to technical difficulties

[Brian Swartz]

deleted due to technical difficulties