"Yay," Evans said, her voice full of sarcasm. "Another UFO."
"Yeah, or maybe another training drill. Did anybody say anything to you about this, Sergeant Bailey?" McNeil put special emphasis on the 'sergeant' part.
"Nope. I don't know what's going on. And if I did know it was a drill, I wouldn't tell you about it. Against regs."
"You mean you wouldn't tell your friends about a drill? Why are we even your friends if you won't be honest with us?"
"Ah, shut it," Evans said, coming to Bailey's defense. "It's for our own good."
"Yeah, whatever."
All of the other soldiers were already there, standing next to the Skyranger,
forming a semicircle around Commander Tefts. Bailey, Evans, and McNeil pushed their
way into the circle. Bailey was thinking about making a wisecrack, but then noticed the
harsh look on Tefts's face. He decided to keep the remark to himself.
"Another UFO was detected a few hours ago. Our radar caught it over the coast of Virginia, moving west. We tracked it as long as we could, but it moved over California and out of range. We lost it. It was hoped that it would go away, and now we have an even bigger problem on our hands." Tefts paused. "It landed in India, in the city of Delhi. We received the distress call eight minutes ago. Reports state that the UFO took off immediately after it landed, but it has left behind a large group of aliens." Tefts paused again, and took a deep breath. "The aliens are killing civilians."
McNeil wasted no time in asking "Why didn't we shoot it down when we had the chance?"
Tefts gave him a stern look, but then softened, and said, "Moving too fast."
"But what if it had slowed down? The Interceptor would've at least had a shot at it."
Tefts paused, and took a deep breath. "It was too big. Classified as a large UFO."
Bailey's eyes widened, and he exhaled a deep breath. He thought that last UFO was big, and the computers had classified it as a small. Now a large. He hated to even picture it. That last small had six aliens aboard... how many could a large carry?
Tefts let the murmur of the crowd go down, then continued. "On this mission, you will need to kill the aliens, while protecting the civilians. So you will have to be careful with explosives, and try not to make too many stray shots. Don't get too jumpy, or you could end up gunning down a surprised civilian."
Bailey had to ask. "Where are the police and the Indian army?"
"They tried to get in, but pulled out. Too many casualties."
"Well then, why are we going in? Why will we fare any better?"
Tefts walked up the ramp of the Skyranger, and pulled out a strange piece of equipment. "Because you have these. Laser rifles. More accurate than anything you've ever used, and far more lethal. Take down a sectoid in one shot." He stopped talking for a moment, then looked at McNeil. "We got rid of your heavy cannon, McNeil. These do more damage, are more accurate, and fire faster. Sorry."
McNeil opened his mouth to complain, but he reconsidered. No sound came out.
Then he piped up again. "Is that it? Those are our secret weapon? I still think the police should deal with their own problems. Why can't they?"
Tefts looked sternly at McNeil, and said gravely, "The police are paid to take care of the common criminal. You are paid to take care of aliens. Both police and X-COM fighters understood the risks when they signed on, and knew that not everyone would return alive."
The flight to India was mostly silent. Bailey gave individual pep talks, but toward
the end of the flight, gave the last one that some of the soldiers would hear.
"You knew the risks when you signed on, so stop complaining. Nobody ever said that this would be all hero garbage. This is war. War isn't pretty."
"But you're not dead yet. Nobody said that you are going to be one of the ones who is going to die this mission. Maybe everyone will come back alive. Maybe nobody will come back alive. There's no way to know. But I know for sure, if I'm gonna go, I'm gonna help the earth as much as I can by killing one more alien, stopping one more plasma shot, muffling the blast of one more grenade."
"And for those of us who do come back at the end of the mission, things will be looking up. I've seen the prototypes for a new suit of personal armor the scientists are working on. It uses alien metals, to keep it light, but it is stronger than anything we could make on earth. We're getting smarter. Slowly turning the technology of the aliens back on them. I just hope that we're all there to see it."
The alarm buzzed, signaling the five minute warning. But Bailey wasn't quite finished. "Okay, everybody get suited up, and good luck to all of you. I have a feeling that the ones who don't make it will meet up with those of us who do - someday, in a better place. Kill some bugs, and good luck again."
The tank didn't even wait for the ramp to hit the ground. As soon as it was
horizontal, the tank moved onto it, its massive bulk slamming the ramp down. Bailey
stood, ready for action, in his usual place; fourth row on the left. Plasma shots hit the
ramp under the tank, one grazed the turret. Bailey and Catherine Bryant exchanged
nervous glances as the tank reported, "Two unknown aliens in sector two." The tank
moved out of the way, behind the cover of the house that was diagonal to the right of the
Skyranger. Dreyfus dropped out of the cargo bay, Gudrun Esser dropped right after him.
Over the comm, Bailey heard Dreyfus mutter, "-unknown aliens, my ass. I'll cook their
extraterrestrial little-" His voice rose to a shout. "-what the?! Sergeant, we've got pink
flying aliens. Big horns, cape." Bailey heard three shots laser rifle shots, followed by
Dreyfus's voice saying, "Tough, too, hit him, he's still standing." Esser opened up a
second later, with a six shots. Dreyfus informed the crew, "They die just like sectoids,
though. Same noise and everything."
Sergeant Esser ordered, "Tanida, get out here with that rocket launcher. We've got four aliens in a clump. Soldiers, spread out, we've gotta save these civilians. Move fast. "
The X-COM soldiers poured out of the Skyranger, firing their weapons. Another of the pink aliens went down with a scream, the victim of Maria Evans's laser rifle. Bailey moved out of Tanida's way as he moved past, his rocket launcher ready. Tanida dropped to the ground next to the Skyranger's ramp, but dove for cover as alien plasma ripped up the ground nearby. Tanida yelled in something in Japanese, then said in English, "Somebody get him! We're all pinned down!"
Bailey hesitated as a stray shot hit in the cargo bay, missing him by mere inches. Bryant, who was next to Bailey, jumped out to the left, crossing to Bailey's side of the Skyranger. She hit behind the ramp, and went into a crouch, taking cover behind the ramp. She brought her rifle up, and fired three shots off to Bailey's left, toward the alien.
Bailey dropped out of the Skyranger, to back Bryant up, just as a burst of hot plasma shot past him. He heard Bryant scream, and turned around just in time to see her crumple to the ground, blood spurting from her side.
Bailey nearly dropped his laser rifle as he jumped over the ramp, landing next to Bryant's unmoving body. A quick check of her pulse revealed that her end had come quickly.
After checking her blood soaked body to make sure her dog tags were in place, Bailey raised his rifle at Bryant's killer. The tank boomed out a shot at the alien; the aliens responded with a hail of plasma fire. Sergeant Esser got off two shots before Bryant's killer fired twice, forcing her to dodge behind the Skyranger's landing gear. Bailey sighted carefully down his rifle's barrel, lining up with the alien's torso.
The laser rifle fired in response to Bailey's squeeze of the trigger; the shot felt strange, since it produced no recoil. The laser bolt burned into the alien's chest, causing it to crumple in a heap; its antigravity device had stopped working.
Out of the corner of his eye, Bailey saw two more aliens rushing to take the place of their fallen ally. One fell, the victim of Gudrun Esser's laser rifle. A rocket hissed from Tanida's launcher, flying through the window of a nearby house. The house exploded in a brilliant ball of flame, exposing another alien. In the blink of an eye, McNeil fired three times, and managed to down both remaining aliens as they lined up perfectly in his sights.
After a few seconds of silence, the X-COM forces began moving away from the Skyranger, some to examine the corpses, others to make more alien corpses. The tank moved out first, followed by McNeil. Chrystel Esser shot a hole in a house, and entered. Bailey began move in the opposite direction, with Evans, Dreyfus, Bouissou, and Shalimov covering him.
McNeil's dryly informed the squad of yet another new alien species. "Sergeant, we've got a funny alien here. It's huge - looks like a giant, furry frog."
Bailey couldn't believe his ears. "What?" he demanded over the comm.
"Yeah, I just kinda stumbled across it. Oh my-" Nine laser rifle shots followed. "Oh well, it's a lot meaner than it is smart. It doens't look like it has any weapons - besides its teeth. It just kinda stood there for a minute, dumbstruck. Then it tried to pounced on me. They should be last priority for killing - they're pretty dumb."
"Everybody hear that?" Bailey asked. "Kill the big furry frogs only if there's nothing else to shoot at."
A minute later, Evans said, "Sergeant, I see what he means - I've got one of those frogs over here, too."
Bailey looked, and saw a giant, furry monstrosity growling. It was huge, almost two meters in each direction. It had large hind legs, tucked under it like a frog's. It had no forelimbs, but its face was covered by a metal plate, letting only the fierce eyes and gnashing mouth show through.
Bailey was still puzzling over the walking monstrosity when a massive concussion jarred him back to his senses. The concussion faded, along with human screams. "What was that? All squad members, report!"
"I've got an alien over here, Sergeant," Bouissou responded. "He threw a grenade of some kind, took out three civilians. Big explosion." Bailey heard a muffled shot, then another - quieter - explosion.
"Dammit, I have missed. But he has learned his lesson." Bouissou chuckled. Bailey had to smile as Bouissou said, in his French accent, "Sergeant, do not ever take cover behind a gas pump when somebody trying to shoot you!"
"Gotcha, Bouissou. You remember that too, funny man."
"I shall not forget my own advice, Sergeant."
Bailey was snapped back to reality by the movement of an alien nearby. A purple alien floated out into the open, coming from an alley between a maintenance garage and a store. The alien fidgeted and pulled a brown object into its fist. It was manipulating the brown lump when a shot from Evans's rifle killed it. Before the alien hit the ground, another floated into view, saw Bailey, then went back in between the two buildings from which it came.
Bailey couldn't see it, but he knew it was there. He plucked a grenade from his belt, primed it for almost instant detonation, then tossed it back into the alien's alley. He waited.
The explosion came, but no alien screamed, no alien fell. The grenade did nothing but make a small bit of fire. Bailey cursed, then, keeping his back to the wall, moved away from the Skyranger.
Shots were ringing out all around. Dreyfus fired at the hairy frog spotted by Evans, ripping chunks from the wall of a nearby warehouse. The frog collapsed with the same noise made by the sectoids and purple aliens. Bailey wondered if the noise was the universal alien death noise.
Reports were coming in from all over of aliens dying. Bouissou and Evans shot at the alien that Bailey had thrown the grenade at, Evans made the kill. Shalimov killed another hairy frog. It was odd, Bailey thought, that all these lasers were firing, but no plasma weapons were being fired.
Then he heard a single shot from an alien's plasma weapon, followed by three laser shots. A moment later, McNeil's voice came over the comm. "Sergeant Bailey, Sergeant Esser has taken a hit. Floater came out of an alley, plinked her with a little pistol."
Bailey immediately demanded, "How bad?"
Sergeant Esser's voice cut McNeil off. "Not bad at all, sergeant." Bailey could hear her trying to cover the pain. "The shot merely grazed my arm. I will be fine." "Roger that. We'll have the medics look at it back at base."
Bailey went back about his business, hunting aliens. A moment later, McNeil's voice came over the comm.
"Sarge, you there? I've got us on a closed channel. She won't admit it, but she's out of action for a while. Her aim is shot, and she's bleeding pretty bad. We'd better get back to the medics soon, or she might bleed to death."
"I hear you, McNeil."
Bailey switched to an open channel. "Okay, lets clean the rest of these things up fast. Be careful, and be quick."
"McNeil, get up here, we got one of your hairy frogs standing here like an idiot." That was Sergeant Esser's younger sister, Christel.
"I'm on my way."
Bailey took up a position in a nearby warehouse, looking for any stray aliens. He saw movement at the other end of the storage room. He raised his rifle, tensed his finger on the trigger.
It was Gudrun Esser. She limped into a corner, holding her arm. McNeil hadn't been exaggerating - she was hit bad. Blood was soaking her uniform. She collapsed in the corner, her rifle propped up between her knees. Leave it to a German to say that a hole like the one in her arm was only a grazing.
Bailey moved to help, but stopped as his comm squawked with McNeil's voice. "Holy - we've got two of these froggies over here. Tanida, get up here with that launcher of yours, fry them with one shot. Never mind - I'll get a grenade and take them out." A moment later, Bailey heard the muffled blast of an X-COM fragmentation grenade. "On second thought, I will need that launcher. Tanida, they're in the street in sector ten. Pick your route, but get over here fast."
"Tanida here. I am coming." A moment later, Tanida said, "Ooh, there they are. I have a nice shot. They clump too tight. What the -"
"Tanida, watch out!" McNeil's voice was full of tension - he sounded on the verge of panic. "They're charging!"
Bailey saw two of McNeil's hairy frogs running at Tanida, who had set up to take a carefully aimed shot with his launcher. He was now fumbling to get his launcher onto his shoulder, into firing position.
The frogs charged past an alley, already halfway to Tanida. Laser bolts shot from the space between the two buildings, ripping one frog down, but the other kept charging.
Bailey gasped. If the last frog got much closer, Tanida would kill himself and the frog with the rocket. And Tanida didn't even have his launcher close to firing position - it was still next to him.
As Bailey watched, a streak of smoke shot out from the rocket launcher that Tanida was holding next to his hip. The smoke hit the frog, causing it to explode and ignite in a ball of flame. The burning corpse fell to the ground, dead.
"Tanida, you're not supposed to fire a rocket launcher from your hip." McNeil's voice.
"I am very sorry, McNeil." Tanida paused, then continued. "For future reference, the hair on these frogs makes them quite flammable."
The citizens of Delhi had tried to thank them, but the X-COM soldiers weren't in
the mood for celebrating. Besides, they were supposed to be top secret. They collected
the artifacts and corpses from the site. The artifacts were put into the Skyranger's belly
hold, along with the alien corpses in the body bags. One body bag rode in the Skyranger's
troop compartment, however - the one whose occupant had arrived in India in the same
troop compartment.
Before they took off, McNeil went to the side of the Skyranger, and pulled his Bowie knife. Bailey noticed that it was bloody, but not with human blood. The blood on it was blue.
"What happened to your knife, McNeil?"
McNeil, looked up, his eyes cold, but containing a defiant fire - a fire created from his burning rage. In a low, cold voice, he said, "One of the alien bastards wasn't completely dead."
Bailey said nothing, only made a slight nod. He knew that Bryant's killer was dead- he had shot the alien himself. But Bailey knew that McNeil needed to release his tension and rage somewhere. Better on an alien corpse than on another X-COM soldier.
McNeill went back to his work. He put more scratches on the 'Human' side, for a total of 24. Then, in disgust, he made a vicious swing at the side of the Skyranger, marking that the aliens had finally put a point on their side of the scoreboard.