Chapter 1: Crossets trial by fire. Centcom , TN, USA, 23:39/1999 /02/14 GMT CCR (Central Command Room) -Target at 020, capn´ , a cool voice replied over the commlink. Captain Gennadi Samusenko stared at the interceptors´ status display. It showed all systems in perfect working order, with 3 avalanche missiles in its rack and 200 round for the vulcan gun. The guncam of the aircraft showed, surrounded by height and heading indicators, a large, gray object, shaped like a big plus sign and about 16 meters across. it was less than 200 meters away from the Interceptor. The captain thought for a moment, wondering if it could take a volley of firepower without falling apart.He decided that it was worth the risk. In 20 minutes it would reach the Carribean, where it would dissappear in the deep water, perhaps to never be recovered. -Capn´? ,a suddenly restless voice replied over the commlink. -Free fire Alpha 1, but take it easy, i DO NOT want it falling apart. -Affirmative, openin´ fire. The pilots answer was followed by a thunder of gunfire in the commlink and a hail of tracers on the 50 inch screen in the command room. The UFO crumpled under the onslaught, large chunks of pinkish-grey metal alloys spinning away from the dying craft.Suddenly the ufo took 2 Avalanche missile hits, sending it down in a rapid descent over the Venezuelan Djungle.The pilot followed it down to the deck and saw it rip up a path of destruction in the dense djungle, finally stopping in a clearing. -WILKES! -Yes sir? -Sound the alarm, i want Skyranger one up in twenty! -Affirmative! The sound of sirens filled the underground base. LQ1 (Living Quarters one) David Crosset was yanked from a deep, dreamless sleep by the siren in his quarters. -What the hell??, he thought as he dressed in his grey coverall with a golden XCOM logo on the right chestplate.He threw the door open and started running down the corridor, as did his 7 comrades. -Carr, whats going on?, he asked as he ran down the corridor alongside Kelvin Carr, a big englishman, his squads heavy weapon trooper. -They´ve downed a big one down in Venezuela!! -Oh Crap..... They all rallied on the flight deck, standing in line in front of the loading ramp of the Skyranger. -ATTENTION ON DECK!!!, sergeant White exclaimed.He looked as mean as ever, sporting the new Blue personal armour, a laser rifle and a 9mm pistol.The rifle was a Nice addition to the XCOM arsenal, being able to cut down anyone or anything even remotely resembling a human being. Captain Samusenko appeared from the elevator next to the grey skyranger. He wore a personal armor, and held a plasma rifle in his grasp. A magnum revolver dangled in a combat holster from his waist. -good evening people, excuse the late hour, but we do work for XCOM, right?Everybody nodded in unison. -The situation is as follows, Captain Samusenko continued: One of our Birds nailed a rather large Ufo down in the Venezualian djungle, and as most of you already guessed WERE´ going in to get it, and with a little luck, a couple of live bugs. -But remember, if it comes down to a dead bug or a dead trooper, choose the dead bug.This brought murmurs from the squad and a sigh from the sarge. -Get your guns and load up!! Everybody scrambled for the weapon rack in the Skyranger. Samusenko grabbed Crossets shoulder. -Stay cool out there, down get your head blown off. He continued towards the rack and got there in time to grab the last Plasma rifle and laser pistol.He now had 2 fragmentation grenades, 2 Elerium-115 clips, one laser pistol and the plasma rifle. The rifle was the latest toy from R&D, it fired plasma bolt at speeds excessive that of the speed of light.It took its incredible power from the new material, Elerium 115.clips for the weapon were rare, due to the scientists inability to reproduce the material. He buckled down and looked at the rest of the squad. Up front the two Korkia brothers sat, chatting in a quiet tone. Both of them were VERY big, and always, even in mid battle, had a grin on their faces.Across from Crosset sat Carr, The cool and calculating englishman.Behind the sat Akira and Sharpe.Both of them were snipers, with cool heads and a steady finger.They rarely talked much to the rest of the squad, but in the field they had, at least according to Carr, ”saved the squad an uncountable number of times”. Last but not least the Captain, Samusenko and the Sergeant, White, sat. They were both sleeping, totally ignorant to the by now steadily rising g-forces from the acceleration of the Skyranger. Bushes and trees, are there anything else out here? That was the first thought that ran through his head when he woke up. He looked around and saw that the squad was prepping up for combat, loading their guns.He asked Carr what was going on. -Hot drop! -Oh no...... He loaded his plasma rifle. The skyranger had ceased moving forward in air, and was now slowly descending over the hilly and dimly lit terrain.Crosset stared at the large, gray object.Looks harmless, he thought.Time would prove him otherwise. -Get ready to unload!, Samusenko exclaimed. -Now the crap really hits the fan, was Sharpes only, and last comment. The skyranger touched down hard, its landing gears crushing plants and small bugs.The ramp fell like a brick and the squad stared out into the djungle. -UNLOAD!!! Sarge and Capn´ were the first of the ramp.they both moved quickly, yet calmly and calqulating.Next to the ground were Sharpe and Akira. Then it was his turn. He Jumped from the last half of the ramp, landing in the soft grass, nearly tripping over Carr and his autocannon. -Watch it! He looked around, trying to spot a bug.He was after all scout for Squad heavy, the element of the squad supposed to support Squad recon, and it would look really bad if they got blown to bits on account of his negligence. Then all hell broke loose. Out of the dense foilage, yellow bolts of plasma began flying, cutting Sharpe to ribbons.Everybody went flat on the ground trying to spot the threat. -BUG LEFT!!!! Crossets eyes darted left, and what he saw nearly made his mind fall apart.Standing about 10 metres away, stood what veterans called a Snakeman.It was about 2.5 metres tall, and had two large fangs in its mouth.it had big, snakelike eyes and bulgy, musclous arms.Below its green torso a big red-green snakelike tail protruded. In its green, humanlike hands it held the absolutely biggest gun Crosset had ever seen.Big, grey and with a bullpup style design, the gun spewed plasma over the troopers, disemboweling White and gracing Carrs´ shoulder. It was a fearsome, but fascinating sight, but he had absolutely no time to admire it.He threw the rifle up to his shoulder without hesitation, set it to full auto and crammed the trigger down. Yellow streaks spewed from its barrel and hammered in into the snakeman, ripping it apart and sending its big gun flying. -Clear! The squad got to their feet. Samusenko checked Whites bloody corpse. -Damn, now i have to get me another sergeant... -Status report, Crosset, Samusenko yelled, studying the big hole where Whites heart had been located. -Sharpe and White dead, Carr lightly wounded, sir. -Heavy, secure the perimeter around the UFO. -Recon, cover them. -GO GO GO!, he yelled the second after. Heavy ran towards the low hill covering the UFO from their position. Another snakeman appeared from behind a big bush, only to hit the ground with a large hole in its forehead. -Good job Carr! They came up on the hill, scanned the surroundings, and found them secure. -Area secure, Crosset called out. -Put Crosset and Carr outside the door, Shoot everything trying to get out that door. -Affirmative. Crosset and Carr knelt on each side of the door, guns on the ready. -Heavy, go in on my mark. -You first, Carr said and waved his hand in the direction of the door. -Thanks a LOT! Crosset stepped up to the door, thinking frantically of a way to open it. maybe it can only open from the inside, he thought, for safety i m- The door slid open to his proximity. Carr went in after crosset, plasma pistol in hand. -Clear here.The rest of the squad poured in after them. The room inside was brightly lit, and in the middle of it a big bulge poked out.On each side of the bulge a short corridor led to a door. -You take the right one and i take the left, Crosset whispered. He went down the left corridor, thinking of where he would cover if somebody or something went through that door before him. -BUG!!! the Thump-Thump-Thump of plasma fire was heard over the commlink. -GOT HIM!!, a nervous but cheerfull Carr exclaimed. -AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -Carr? -He´s dead! get in here! Crosset threw him self against the door, missing it when it opened. He was in a small room with another door to the right. He took a deep breath, thought about all the dead civilians in the terror sites all around the world, finally managed to overcome the fear and threw himself on the door. This must be the control room, was his first reflection inside the room. In the front of the UFO a large array of some kind of controls sat on the wall. The bulge partly concealed the room and he figured it must be the engine room.A snakeman was spraying plasma in the direction where the other door should have been.Screams could be heard on the commlink.He raised the rifle and let him have it.The volley of plasma fire burned large, jagged holes in the snakeman, making its head explode when the water in its brain boiled and cracked the skull.It slumped to the floor, and he heard footsteps, nothing near to the sound a snakeman makes while moving.Samusenko appeared, his forehead red with blood from a cut.He was holding the .357 magnum xcom special issue revolver in his right hand. -Out of elerium, he said before Crosset could ask. He scanned the room and saw the other door.Three dead troopers lay by the door, two without heads.There was a door in the middle of the bulge, and Samusenko moved up just outside of opening range, and knelt down. -You first, he said and waved his hand. -Story of my life, Crosset said sighing. He lifted a grenade from his belt, set it to 5 second fuse and pulled the pin.He stepped up, rifle in right hand and grenade in left. GO! he thought and threw himself against the door.It slid open to reveal a glowing pillar with a grey base, about 1 metres high.two Snakemen stood next to it.Without thinking he threw the grenade, the safety handle separating in mid-flight.The Snakemen seemed to stare curiously at this new human gadget.He quickly backed out, leaving the two Snakemen mesmerized at the sight of the grenade. The explosion was deafening, but still a Snakeman stepped out and pointed his gun at Crosset.He stared into the long, black barrel and thought he was dead.He thought he saw a small smile on the things lips.He closed his eyes. BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.The Snakeman released its grip on the plasma rifle and slumped to the floor with six bullet holes in its body.He stared in amazement at the smiling Samusenko. Samusenko holstered the .357 magnum, let out a long sigh of relief and sunk, leaning against the wall, to the floor. -That was a tad too much for my taste, Samusenko calmly murmured. -Mine too..... Crosset could say no more, he was too tired. Samusenko reached for his commlink.He set it to #9, Skyranger comms -Site Secure.He mutterd into the mike.Mission accomplished. -Welcome to XCOM, hope you liked your initiation, Squaddie. END OF CHAPTER #1 Chapter 2: Trouble in a compact package Centcom, TN, USA, 13:45/1999/03/07 GMT BR1 (Briefing Room one) .......And this is the Medikit.The tech picked up a small, pink box about the size of a cigarbox.It had a big, red cross on the side. Crosset looked in interest at the device.So far this tech briefing had been nothing more than aircraft weapons and base defence gizmos. It had been three weeks and two missions since his first one, and they had had to get a brand new bunch of people.He was Sergeant now. -This thing is from now on mandatory equipment, as important as your clothes.It will save you from a direct hit in any body part but the head. What it does is that it patches you up barely enough for survival through the use of nanobots. -Now for this big box here... the tech smiled and opened it. suddenly everybody stared at the thing on the table, awed by it. -This is the brand new P-666 HPAW, Heavy Plasma Assault Weapon. The gun was BIG.it was about 1.5 metres long, had a bullpup configuration and a big telescopic sight. A large pump handle sat underneath the thick barrel.it was painted metallic with the XCOM logo on the barrel. -this thing holds 32 plasma charges and 1 grenade. -Grenade?? -45mm grenade launcher, range about 500 meters with a 1 kilo warhead.There´s one available for each one of you in the armory. -Now for our latest armor, the powersuit............ CCR (Central Command Room) Chief tech Wilkes paced nervously.The interpretations of the Hyperwave traffic was printed out on the screen in front of him, and what he saw made his blood run cold.The hyperwave decoder was a Brilliant invention, which decoded the alien radio traffic, a Supra-dimensional wavelenght which traveled instantly to its reciever.The Characteristics of the UFO which sent the message was on the screen, somewhere over Africa.The message read: HYPERWAVE MESSAGE DECODED: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UFO-219 Type: Battleship Race: Sectoid Mission: Alien Retaliation Mission Country:North America Speed: 6,000 Knots Altitude: 30,000 Feet Eta: 45 minutes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The battleship was the most powerful ship the aliens could muster, with a firepower that overshadowed any Human Technology.It carried at least 25 Battleworthy aliens inside, usually heavily armed. -SHIT!!!!, Wilkes assistant exclaimed when he scanned the printout. -Yeah, were in trouble. -Signal the base alert alarm, scramble INT-1 and FIRE-1 stat, power up the weapon turrets and get Samusenko up here NOW! PQ1, pilots wing. Jake Williams and John Carter were playing poker when the sirens started screaming all over base. -All combat pilots, please report to Hangar 1 immediately They exchanged puzzled looks, then both got into their Jump suits and headed out the door. When they arrived at Hangar 1, everything was chaos. Techs were running everwhere, securing loose objects and removing barrels of fuel.They saw their commanding officer, Flight officer Stephen Luget, in the middle of the mess yelling orders to a bunch of techs.He spotted them and walked over to them, standing next to the two fighter craft. -Hello people, we´ve got a messy situation and we require your assistance.A battleship is closing in on the base, about 30 minutes out.It´s heading straight for us, no doubt about that. -Your ordes are to Destroy the Battleship.If it gets here we will have a bloodbath, so do the best you can. -You have had the tech brief about the new weapons, right? -Yeah, Carter replied. -You will both be packing one Fusion ball launcher and one plasma beam.The launcher is rigged to work with standard targetters, so you fire it like the Avalanche missiles.The plasma beam is fired with a cannon sight, and can be tricky to hit with.To add to the problem the Battleship has weapons that outrange the plasma beam and are on par with the fusion ball launcher, so stay evasive.Your birds are gassed up and loaded so get going.Good luck! They saluted each other, and headed for their aircraft. The Interceptor was Jake´s bird.It was a truly beautiful aircraft, with a streamlined airframe, long, narrow wings and small, stubby rudders. The weapon packs under the wings reduced its beauty factor, however. under the left wing hung the fusion ball launcher, a short, thick pack with a big barrel sticking out the front.Under the right wing the plasma beam nested, looking like a vulcan gun pack, but with 3 metal rods instead of barrels.On the side of the cockpit he had painted ”hope we return” with big red letters.Under the plexiglas hub three small flying saucers were painted, his three 16-meter UFO kills. The Firestorm was, ”the coolest aircraft i have ever seen”, according to its pilot, John Carter.It did´nt look anywhere near the average aircraft, instead it was a shamless copy of the old ”flying saucer” design so popular in the movies of the fifties.Its weapon pods were hidden in the frame, under steel gray doors.On the side of the saucer it was painted ”bugbuster”, with a overcrossed sectoid head.He had 5 kills in the craft. They both blasted vertically out of the hangar, towards the clear blue sky.Once they were heading out, John opened the commlink to base. -Fire-1 and Int-1 on course, ETA 20 minutes. Airspace somewhere over the Atlantic, 14:04 John Carter stared down at the radar screen.So far they had seen nothing.They were supposed to make contact any second now. -Int-1, you got any contacts? -No, not ye- wait, got something, bearing 203, altitude 3500 meters, speed 3000 knots. Carter looked down only to confirm the sight, a big echo 5500 metres below them. -I got him to, bank right. -Roger, banking in 3, 2, 1, now. Both aircraft banked heavily to the right, and began descending. John engaged the targ sequence for the fusion ball launcher. -Fire-1 to base, do you read? -This is base. -UFO 219 sighted and targetted.Awaiting fire clearance. -Engage and destroy, repeat, engage and destroy. -Roger, engaging. -Int-1, fire at will. -Tally ho! Both aircraft closed on the Battleship, the Interceptor ahead of the Firestorm. -Firing, Jake said over the commlink. John watched as a bright yellow fireball blasted of from the left wing of the Interceptor.It reached the battleship in moments, exploding with a clear flash.John also began firing, hitting the craft with three fusion balls.Soon both of them were out of ammo, and closed to fire their Plasma beams. -Range 400 metres, Firing -Im hitting him, jake reported, He´s smoking! Suddenly a yellow beam burst from the Battleship and quickly connected with the Interceptor.it exploded in a large fireball of fuel and elerium.The remains fell from the sky, and the battleship kept firing. -What the hell?? -Int-1 is down, i repeat int-1 is down. he evaded the hailstorm of plasma, furiously yanking the control sticks of the Firestorm.He saw a beam lance out at him, then everything went white, then black. The battleship resumed its heading, speed unchanged. CCR, 14:07 -WHAT? Samusenko roared. -It wiped the Interceptors clean of the map! Wilkes replied. -Eta? -10 minutes, tops. -Signal battle stations.Get the troopers their Heavy plasmas and get the Sentries their Lasers, got it?The sentries were soldiers, hired from the best mercenary units around the globe, used for base security. -Yes sir,Wilkes snapped. Armory 1, 14:10 All troopers on the base scrambled for the armory, where their battle equipment was.the sentries got their obsolete laser rifles.The troopers were kitted out with shiny new Heavy plasmas and powersuits. CentCom, 14:15 All external doors were secured and rigged with prox grenades. The troopers layed down in entrenched positions inside the base. The defensive turrets suddenly began to swivel, locking on to the big target appearing from the east.They began firing, only to be ripped apart the next second by fusion balls from the battleships guns. A fusion ball landed on the access lift doors, blowing them wide open The battleship crashed down on the Hangar, opening a big hole in the already badly stricken doors.Then it unleashed its cargo of Soldiers. Samusenko and wilkes observed the action from the CCR. The new powersuits all had cameras in the helmet, giving a good battle overview.Plus the big increase in armor, and power amplifiers in them, they were close to perfect. Hangar 1, 14:16 The doors on the top of the Hangar gave way to the weight of the battleship, sending them against the floor in pieces.The battleship slammed into the floor, sending sparks and metal shards everywhere. A door opened in its front, and aliens started to unload.They walked in line, straight forward.As they saw no opposition they stopped and shared confused looks. -FIREEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!! Twenty laser rifles, ten heavy plasmas and five rocket launchers opened fire on the totally surprised aliens.The dimly lit Hangar became totally illuminated by weapon fire, blood and brain matter spraying everywhere over the walls.in those bloody first seconds, the aliens lost at least fifteen soldiers.But then the troopers ran out of luck. A sharp whining sound was heard, and several metallic-colored football looking objects came flying towards the troops.Second later nearly all the Sentries were dead, spread out over the wall behind them. Crosset stared as one of the rockets came flying against his position, made a sharp dive and sent his world into blackness. ..............What??? What happened????? were am I???? He opened his eyes.All he saw was a gray roof, with a big hole in it. He could see the sky outside.Suddenly a plasma ball streaked by in his vision field.He moved his head right to see something. Chaos.That was the only word his mind could associate with the display he saw. The troopers were holding out in the corridors heading from the hangar to the rest of the base, the aliens were holding their last stand on the floor of the hangar.Plasma, laser beams and grenades were flying in all directions, disemboweling and maiming humans and aliens alike. Crosset saw the back of a sectoid, which stood up after ducking from a laser volley.It raised its heavy plasma, mowed down a squad of sentries, then its head exploded in a grey-red mess which drenched Crosset. Crosset felt that his body was badly bashed.He could´nt feel his own legs, and he coughed up blood.Plus that his chest felt like a freight train had gone right through it.He knew he was dying. A grenade rolled up next to him.looking at it, he saw that the safety handle was missing.That meant that he had about ten seconds left to live. -i am so tired of this, was all he could utter. The last thing David Crosset saw, was the image of Rudi Hafner, the soon to be squaddie, slammed the butt of his heavy plasma against the skull of a Sectoid, which cracked like an egg. We´ll make it, he thought, we´ll beat them. Then a bright light and a deafening bang came to carry him into darkness. The following report was sent to the COFN (council of funding nations) BATTLE REPORT: Centcom, TN, USA, 13:45-14:30/1999/03/07 GMT At 13:45 GMT, European Command established radar lock on a UFO heading over the atlantic.The UFO was classified as a Battleship, the most powerful alien craft available.The hyperwave decoder at CentCom Managed to establish a mission purpose: Raid of Central Command. Central Command sent two interceptors to ”Discourage” the attack. Both were shot down over the atlantic, no survivors. The UFO destroyed the CentCom´s perimeter defense and landed a raiding party at 14:16 GMT.The aliens were ambushed by base guards, but the aliens used a previously unknown weapon system of great destructive proportions-this system is undergoing intensive research. The alien raiding party was destroyed, but with a high casualty rating: AnR (Assault and Recovery) Team: 25% losses, 60% wounded. S(Sentry) Team:95% losses, 5% wounded. AT (Anti Terror) Team:100% losses, 0% wounded or survivors. Xcom is now in dire need of new soldiers, and funding to repair Central Command. REPORT ENDS MedLab 1, Damage recovery section Dwight Hill opened his eyes. were the hell am I? The last thing he remembered was that one of those damn alien hand grenades had stopped next to his foot.He had, by pure reflex flung himself away from the grenade, only to get hit by a Laser shot, from a damn Sentry! So he guessed he was in hospital. as he scanned the room, it became obvious that he was in a hospital, but with few patients.He only saw 5 of his buddies from AnR team, and about three sentries.He did´nt se anyone which belonged to AT team. -Damn, was it that brutal? Hey Dieter! He called to Dieter Steinbach, his Squad’s scout. -Yeah? -What happened? -We got blown to hell and back, that’s what happened! -Where are all the AT guys? -All dead from what I heard. -?????All of them?? -Yepp, the bugs had some kind of new missile weapon, I think its called a "blaster launcher", supposed to be waypoint guided or something. -Hey doc! Dwight yelled at a small, fragile looking man in a white lab coat at the end of the room. -Excuse me? -Can you get me a whiskey, cause I really need something for this damn headache
Lio Mangubat
X-COM (and XCOM) are trademarks of MicroProse Software. Get yourself a copy!
X-COM: UFO Defence is copyright 1996 by Microprose Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
X-COM is based on characters and design by Mythos Games.