OPERATION CRYPTIC SLEEP - AFTER ACTION REPORT (23 AUG 2016 @ 1547)

OPERATION CRYPTIC SLEEP - AFTER ACTION REPORT

PREPARED BY: LT Jared Houston

SITUATION

o Enemy Forces:
 - 1x "Berzerk Muton Thing", 1x Muton, 6x Floaters, 4x Drones, 2x Outsiders

o Friendly Forces
 - LT Jared "Mercury" Houston (United States)
 - SFC Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
 - SGT Svetlana "Eclipse" Petukhova (Russia)
 - SGT Lara "Athena" Jordan (Australia)
 - SGT Clarisse "Interrogator" Poncelet (Belgium)
 - CPL Kelly "Luna" Meirelles (Brazil)
 - CPL Osazenomwan "Mental" Olufunke (Nigeria)
 - CPL Al Safi "Stretch" Ahmadi (Egypt)

MISSION

o Strike Team deploys to Boston, Massachusetts, 23 AUG 2016 @ 1547 hrs, IOT exploit a splashed UFO.

EXECUTION NARRATIVE

The Mission Alert came in at 1520 hrs. The Skyranger was wheels up by 1539, with boots down by 1547 hrs. Big Sky had dropped us closer than expected; No sooner than we'd pushed through the underbrush, but the UFO was before us. I ordered CPL Ahmadi to stretch his legs, and take a look around the aft of the UFO; Before he'd gone any sort of distance, a pod of Drones appeared, several of them taking shots before he could duck behind a stout tree. Eclipse had been tracking him with her scope, so it took her no time to refocus on the drones, and take one of them down. The rest of the squad cut loose, with SFC Colman and Poncelet registering kills. The remaining Drones zipped forward, with Athena and I managing to damage it, before Interrogator darted forward and took a close-range shot to finish it off.

With that initial engagement done, I order the squad to find cover before we advanced again, especially considering the likelihood that the Drones had signaled for reinforcements. Unfortunately a pair of Mutons and a pair of Floaters came around on our flank from the fore of the ship. The larger of the two mutons was different than anything we'd seen before. First, it was MUCH larger than its companion, and red; It also did not appear to be carrying a weapon. While the other muton and the Floaters took some sort of cover, this beast came charging directly at us, fast. Ahmadi took a shot at it, but misjudged its speed.

We repositioned and started taking shots at the monster, but it kept coming, despite several solid hits. Only the fact that it seemed intent on charging whoever shot it kept it from reaching me in no time at all. It was terrifying to see the juggernaut shrugging off laser fire, and I heard someone whimpering behind me; At the moment, I was only glad it wasn't me. Finally, as it closed on Luna, its monstrous paws reaching to tear her apart, she shoved her scatter las into its chest and fired; Finally, the beast succumbed. 

Eclipse reported that she never had a clear shot at the beast, so she focused on the others; I was too distracted to notice, but she reported a Floater down once we'd finally taken down the berzerker. Luckily, the remaining X-Rays didn't feel like engaging after we'd taken their monster down, so they withdrew and we had time to reload and regroup. As we prepared to advance, the other Muton darted out, apparently trying to surprise us, and was cut down by combined fire from myself and Jordan. 

As Ahmadi was in the back of the formation after our re-direction, Luna took point. As we neared the fore, several Floaters darted in, just at the edge of sight; Jordan and Petukhova managed to take one down, but the others remained out of range, taking potshots at CPL Meirelles. While they focused on her, Interrogator darted forward and took a shot, taking one more of the ugly bastards down. The other cowards had had enough, and withdrew again. I didn't allow myself to get overeager, and ordered the squad forward carefully. Meanwhile, Luna talked Eclipse onto the only visible target, which then quickly died.

Once in position, Mineral made short work of the only other Floater in range, and we moved forward again, until finally Ahmadi spotted and engaged the last Floater as it attempted to flee toward the far side of the UFO. It didn't make it. At this point, I was tired of chasing X-Rays that didn't want to fight, and re-directed again, into the UFO. It was time to take down the Outsiders I knew would be waiting inside. An earlier motion scan had given us their rough position, so we moved in through the deflector shields to engage. 

Once we were in position, Athena dissolved the door, and Luna darted in, just in time to see both Outsiders waiting for her. As she reversed course, dodging for cover, I order Olu to blow the wall. Before the smoke had even cleared, Mineral laid down a blazing wall of laser fire, covering Poncelet's advance with an HE grenade to further destroy any cover they may have left. As soon as I could see, I took two quick, targeted shots, one at each Outsider, hoping to wound them enough to try for another capture, but Interrogator's grenade had worked too well, and both of them went down.

Surprisingly, though we waited for reinforcements, and then did a sweep of the perimeter, there was no further resistance; Either this was a skeleton crew, or many of them had been killed when the craft crashed down.


LESSONS LEARNED

o Sustain: 
 - Explosives shape the battlefield to our advantage
 - Preparation leads to smooth execution

o Improve:
 - Don't make assumptions about X-Ray locations
 - Never assume we've seen everything