OPERATION FALLEN LAW - AFTER ACTION REPORT (02 AUG 2016 @ 1123 )

OPERATION FALLEN LAW - AFTER ACTION REPORT

PREPARED BY: SSG Spencer Donohue


SITUATION

o Enemy Forces:
 - 2x Outsiders, 4x Floaters, 5x Drones, 5x Sectoids, 1x Muton, 4x Seekers

o Friendly Forces
 - LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
 - SFC Ana Lucia "Mustang" Mardones (Ecuador)
 - SSG Spencer "Leo" Donohue (United States)
 - SSG Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
 - SGT Sylas "Fawkes" Maillet (Canada)
 - SGT Jirina "Stiletto" Markusova (Czech Republic)
 - CPL Rainhard "Ogre" Horn (Austria)
 - SPC Jermaine Glynn (United States)


MISSION

o Strike Team deploys to Nigeria, 02 AUG 2016 @ 1123 hrs, IOT exploit a landed UFO site, and extract an X-Ray Captive.

EXECUTION NARRATIVE

When the UFO was spotted over Nigeria, they told me to assemble my squad at the Skyranger, just in case. The interception did not succeed, but the UFO was reported as landing at 0948, and we were boots up by 0954, with touchdown at 1123. The site was a forested area, with the UFO immediately to our left flank. The LT sent Stiletto up to get a closer look, then we all took up cover positions, except Glynn, who remained on watch.

Immediately, a large pod of Floaters lead by a Muton came across the front of the UFO. Half of them scattered back out of view, and Stiletto and Fawkes managed to land a pair of solid hits on the Muton as it moved for cover, but did not finish it off. The LT took a shot as it reached cover, and put it down. We repositioned to engage the remaining visible Floater. Glynn managed to injure one of them as it took a shot at the LT, who returned fire and finished it off. 

SGT Markusova moved up to get eyes on the other Floaters, dodging reactive fire as she advanced. As soon as she called contact, Glynn brought down the pain, blowing the first of the Floaters to scrap before Stiletto, lacking any decent cover, withdrew. We heard the remaining Floaters pulling back, and LT Bowden deemed it unsafe to try the UFO before we'd cleared the known threat, so we advanced across the front of the UFO, careful to avoid lines of sight to inside, while Maillet and myself moved to cover the only open entrance to the craft. Unfortunately, Mustang got spotted by a large pod of Sectoids as she advanced, causing us to refocus to our right, away from the UFO.

Mineral took the first shot, putting a Sectoid down for the count, as the remainder of the squad, out of position for the new threat, moved back to cover. Then one of the Sectoids, glowing with ethereal, violet energy, dodged into view, avoiding two shots, and put a bolt of plasma directly into the LT's chest plate. Before anyone could react, several Seekers burst from the inside of the UFO. I managed to shoot one down point blank, with Maillet taking down a second moments later. Glynn and Colman took down the remaining Seekers, clearing them from our midst, before Colman slewed her gun around and crippled the one that had shot down LT Bowden. Meanwhile, Stiletto was focused in on the Floater that had come back into view, and shot it down with a well-placed shot. I don't even think she'd noticed the LT was down yet.

Mustang ran up the hill, roaring in anger, taking a plasma bolt on her front armor plate; With it still sizzling, she executed the Sectoid that may have killed the LT, and took down the one that shot her for good measure. I just hustled my ass down to check on the LT; She was breathing, but only barely. When a pod of Drones flew out of the UFO, Horn calmly stepped out, set his rocket to airburst, and blew them all to sparking wreckage. I was able to stabilize the LT, but she wouldn't be coming back into the fight.

We repositioned, and waited for the X-Rays to come to us. Stiletto managed to wing one of the Sectoids, but no one else had a clean shot, as the aliens remained back in the trees. I did manage to kill a straggler Drone as it exited the alien craft, though. We exchanged a few shots with the one visible Sectoid before I winged it, and Mineral finished it off. SFC Mardones advanced to try to put eyes on the remaining Sectoid, but it put eyes on her first; She took another shot in the chest, but managed to stay vertical, and crawl to cover. When the Sectoid scampered out of cover, Stiletto took it down, while Mustang made her way back toward me, so I could give her a double-dose of repair nanites, stimulants and pain-killers.

SFC Mardones, temporarily recovered, took charge, and ordered us to assault the alien craft. Ogre was the first one in, getting clear eyes on the interior, and Stiletto took up a good position inside, so the rest of the squad could follow. The Floater took everyone by surprise when it jetted into the bay, avoiding several reaction shots; Colman, standing ready in the back, unleashed a barrage of laser fire, and took it down before it could kill Stiletto.

Moving tactically through the medium-sized craft, we finally approached the aft-chamber of the craft, immediately behind the control console. Thus far, we hadn't encountered any of the Outsiders that usually crewed the alien craft. When Stiletto breached the aft-chamber door, that changed. Mustang fired through the dissolving wall of light as the Outsiders scattered, seriously injuring one. The rest of the squad focused fire on the other, which attempted to flank by coming around to the other side of the control chamber. Colman and Glynn managed to nearly cripple it.

That was when Mustang made the judgment call, abandoned the Outsider in the aft-chamber, and pulled the Arc Thrower as she approached the staggered Outsider, and blasted the X-Ray to the ground; It dissolved, but this time left a strange crystal behind. When she called "Got it!" I stepped out and blasted the other one; We had what we'd come for. 

Before we could return to the Skyranger, SFC Mardones collapsed; The painkillers weren't able to keep her conscious anymore, with her extensive injuries. It didn't matter. Horn shouldered her and we made our way back, picking up the LT on the way, with Maillet carrying our prize.


LESSONS LEARNED

o Sustain: 
 - Decisive response to new threats
 - Tactical advancement

o Improve: 
 - Recklessness when things go badly
 - Utilize lines of sight better