Passing Time (22 AUG 2016)

The barracks were nearly empty. Most of the troopers were down in the common room, or the gym, but here and there someone laid on their bunk reading a book, or with a laptop propped up, casting pale light onto their faces. While there weren't many people, that didn't mean the barracks were quiet. Laughter and conversation rang out from the back corner, where the overhead lights were still on, illuminating four women. On one bunk, SSG Monica de Matos sat, leaning back against the wall with another woman's head in her lap. The reclining woman, Lieselotte Faber, was writing a letter and not taking part in the conversation, though she smiled occasionally at the banter that was going on.

Another woman sat backward in a chair that had been pulled up to the bunk, her legs straddling the seat, and her forearms crossed on the back. Recently promoted SFC Leigh Fahey was a boisterous, loud woman who had a joke and a smile for nearly everyone. On a nearby table, SFC Jade Colman had a cloth spread out, with several rocks and tools laid out on top. At the moment she was examining a promising specimen, looking for the best place to strike to break it open with her rock hammer.

"Heard your last mission was an interesting one," Jade said, never taking her eyes off the stone in her hand, turning it left and right slowly.

"Oh man," Leigh said with an exaggerated eye-roll. "this Van Doorn character." de Matos chuckled as well, absently stroking Liesel's hair.

"Get down here!" she said, affecting a deeper voice, which sounded oddly charming with her Brazilian accent. "Can't let me have all the fun!" Colman glanced at her and laughed.

"Rumor says he's going to be joining us, along with his attache," she said.

"Yeah," Fahey replied. "I checked the roster this morning, after hearing about that. Must be weird for 'The General' to not be in a command position, but they are giving him a field 'promotion' to Staff Sergeant." Her wry expression and air-quotes made it clear how she felt about that decision.

"It was a strange mission overall," Monica added. "The Council intel made it sound like we'd be stepping into an absolute warzone, and the devastation on the bridge was pretty bad, but the resistance wasn't anything, really." She patted her hip, where she normally carried her medpak. "I never even had to open my kit."

"Seriously," Leigh agreed. "We had to chase that last Thin Mint clear to the end of the bridge. It was like they weren't even trying to put up a fight. Why bother blowing the bridge if they weren't going to commit?"

"Who knows why the X-Rays do anything?" Jade asked rhetorically. "Still, I wish we could have been there with you girls." Liesel looked up from her letter briefly, nodding in agreement. "But I get with the Captain just getting his RTD Orders from medical, Command was eager to get him back in the field." Monica nodded; She'd served with him for half of her missions, and she held a great deal of respect for CPT Lindemann. Leigh shrugged; She'd rather have had Jade along, but it was Command's call, not hers.

The conversation lapsed for a few minutes, the quiet broken only by the nearly silent scratching of Faber's pen on the notepad, until Colman took up her hammer, and struck the stone firmly, resulting in a sharp crack as the stone broke cleanly in half. Leigh half-rose to get a look.

"Whatcha get?" she asked, leaning to catch a glimpse around the other woman's shoulder. Jade turned around, presenting her prize with a satisfied grin.

"Amethyst geode," she declared. "A good find." When Fahey held out her hand, Colman passed the stone over, smiling as the American woman held it up to the light, the crystals casting back tiny sparkles that played across the other woman's dark skin.

"Nice," Leigh agreed, reaching out to pass it back. "Amethyst is my birth stone."

"Keep it, then," Jade offered. "I've still got the other half."

"Really?" Fahey's brows lifted in surprise.

"Absolutely," the British woman smiled, suppressing a pang as she remembered the last time she'd given away one of her stones. She wasn't going to let sad memories stop her from sharing her love of stones, though. Leigh's eyes widened further as she saw the play of emotion across Jade's face. Her friend seemed oblivious to her scrutiny, so she said nothing, merely folding her hands around the stone.

"Thank you," she added after a moment, which earned a smile from Colman.

Monica, who had been there when CPL Huismann died, knew a little of what Jade was feeling. She looked down at Liesel who was so focused on her letter that she was actually biting the tip of her tongue absently. She didn't know what she'd do if anything were to happen to Liesel. She looked up then, at Leigh, Colman, and to where she saw someone across the barracks, faintly illuminated by a laptop screen, she thought it might have been SGT Parsons.

"Where would you be," she began, then paused to formulate her thoughts. "Where would we all be if not for this war?" Colman and Fahey looked at her, but didn't say anything, realizing that she wasn't quite done speaking, despite the question. "I would probably be in Manaus, doing some training Op for some cadets or something." She looked at each of them again in turn, meeting their eyes. "I wouldn't know any of you."

"You saying this war was a good thing?" Leigh asked, a certain mischief sparkling in her dark eyes.

"Not at all," Monica answered seriously, not catching the joking nature of the question. "But good ha come of it, I think. Look at the technological advancements we're making, that one day we'll be able to share with the world. Look at us, close friends from different countries, different parts of the world." Liesel looked up at her with a soft smile that was mostly in the eyes, and Monica stopped talking, meeting her gaze.

"I agree," Jade added. "I think that the human race will come out of this stronger and more unified than we ever were."

"I certainly hope so," Leigh said with a sigh. "We've got a lot to make up for. I certainly hope that this is a start." After several moments of silence, she shook herself. "Aren't we a bunch of Serious Susans? Hey, Liesel, you almost done with that letter? Let's go hit the common room and play some pool, first round of near-beer is on me."

The others quickly agreed. The gravity of the moment was seemingly forgotten as the four women made their way out of the barracks, chatting and laughing once more.

OPERATION DEMON HYMN - AFTER ACTION REPORT (20 JUN 2016 @ 2219)

OPERATION DEMON HYMN - AFTER ACTION REPORT

PREPARED BY: SGT Monica de Matos


SITUATION

o Enemy Forces:
 - 1x Sectoid, 3x Seekers, 11x Thin Men, armed with plasma weapons

o Friendly Forces
 - SGT Monica "Alpha" de Matos
 - SGT Lieselotte "Maschine" Faber
 - SGT Lorena "Bombshell" Kline
 - SGT Ghaith "Horus" Khadem - KIA
 - CPL Simone "Tomahawk" Ribeiro
 - CPL Beatrice "Preacher" Rydberg
 - SPC Anant Dhalon


MISSION

o Strike Team deploys to Shenzhen, China, 20 JUN 2016 @ 2219 hrs, IOT secure and escort political figure back to HQ.

EXECUTION NARRATIVE

We received the Mission Alert at 2016 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 2025, and we touched down in China at 2219 hrs. We touched down and located Thorne; He wasn't precisely cooperative, but moved when we told him to. Upon moving out for the LZ, we received reports of incoming hostiles, and deployed tactically to engage. I moved most of the squad inside, but kept Tomahawk, Preacher and Maschine outside to provide overwatch as we moved forward.

We immediately caught signs of movement from the other building, but I deemed it better to just keep moving for the LZ, and keep an eye out. We finally made contact when Horus advanced to scout forward. As soon as he called contact, SPC Dhalon rushed forward and managed to cripple one of the Thin Men, which I managed to finish off. The squad advanced carefully, keeping Thorne at the rear, while my overwatch element kept an eye outside.

When Horus advanced again, he alerted another pod of Thin Men, on the far side of the building. Dhalon moved up and eliminated the remaining Thin Man from the first pod, while Horus injured one of the ones outside. With the action heating up, I called in the overwatch element, but Liesel stayed out to cover the alley. That was when one of the Thin Men ducked out from behind the bus stop, and shot SGT Khadem in the head. 

Kline charged up and tossed a grenade, killing one of them, but apparently they make bus stops strong in China, and the other was unharmed, but exposed. She checked on Khadem, but it was too late. Dhalon, though apparently suffering from acid poisoning, advanced and killed the other, that had entered the store. Finally, we had action from the alleyway, but Rydberg, watching from the door way, managed to destroy the Thin Man before he'd taken two steps into the open. Faber took a shot at the other, but was only able to make it dodge back into cover. Inside, Bombshell moved up and nailed the last Thin Man with an AP grenade, but he was tougher than most, and kept coming. 

Then the X-Rays advanced in force, coming in from the alleyway. We took a toll with reactive fire, then Tomahawk burned down a Seeker while Kline finished off the wounded Thin Men with another AP grenade. CPL Ribeiro then caught movement coming in the door, and eliminated a Sectoid before it could get inside. While we were focused on the enemies within the building, a shot from the rooftop, across the alley took me straight in the chest, but my armor managed to absorb the fire without it cooking through to me. We returned fire, but it became apparent that we were going to have to clear that alley before we could get Thorne to the Skyranger.

It was Rydberg that finally put steel on target, so to speak, and put that overwatching Thin Man down. The rest of the squad shifted to focus on the alley, while we moved Thorn up in cover. Dhalon informed me that his armor was mostly gone due to the Thin Man acid, so I told him to move to my position and I'd take care of it. Before he could move, a Thin Man moved to the doorway and shot him at close range. He and Ribeiro shot the Thin Man, but it managed to duck back and avoid some of the fire. Liesel moved inside and took fire herself from a Seeker we didn't see. Kline, based on her report, lobbed her last frag grenade into the alleyway, hoping to catch them both.

In the brief lull that followed, Dhalon made his way to me, and I was able to handle the worst of his injuries, and block the pain. I told him to take it easy, but I don't think he intended to. One doesn't become an Assault specialist by taking it easy. Meanwhile, Kline and Ribeiro moved up to cover the door, so Thorne would be able to break for the Skyranger, once we knew it was clear. While focused on that, another Thin Man made it onto the roof and took another shot at me, but my repaired armor was able to take the hit. Once Thorne made it onto the Skyranger, it was time to finish this.

SPC Dhalon obviously thought so. Before I could say anything, he'd burst across the alleyway, leapt halfway up the ladder, and rolled onto the rooftop, blowing the Thin Man perched there into a greenish mist. The rest of the squad moved to support, which is when the last Seeker uncloaked, and wrapped up Tomahawk, and a Thin Man moved in to flank. Kline burned the Thin Man before it could get into position, and Dhalon blew the Seeker off of Ribeiro.

We recovered SGT Khadem's remains, and retreated to the Skyranger in good order, meeting no further resistance.


LESSONS LEARNED

o Sustain: 
 - Use of explosives to clear clustered hostiles
 - Fire team discipline

o Improve:
 - When you don't have a shot, don't keep waiting for one
 - If they don't see you, they can't shoot you

Visiting Hours (20 MAY 2016)

The medical bay was quiet, but there were a few visitors still, despite the late hour. It had been determined a month ago that, unless there were actual life-saving procedures going on, there wasn't any particular reason to limit visitors to the medbay. Lieselotte Faber sat in a chair near de Matos' bed, while Ana Lucia Mardones leaned against an empty bed nearby.

"You're kidding me," Monica said, her brows lifted in disbelief. "A whale?"

"I wish I was kidding," Liesel replied. "I didn't get a clean look at it myself, but Mardones," she paused, jerking her head toward the other woman, "got an eyeful."

"Si," Ana Lucia confirmed. " It was covered in pods, you could barely see the whale, and the bugs just kept ripping their way out of it."

"Jesus Cristo," de Matos whispered. "How many do you think there were?"

"Armarnis said we killed at least thirty, maybe thirty five," Liesel said with a shrug, referring to her countryman by his nickname. "Who can say how many would have kept coming, if they hadn't blown the whole village to scheiße." 

"It was pretty terrifying," Ana Lucia interjected. "Those monsters, up close, they just..." she trailed off, unable to adequately express it.

"Especially after seeing what they did to the people of the village," Liesel agreed. "Mardones here was fearless, though. She killed three of them in under five seconds. Probably would have been more, but she ran out of ammo!" Liesel laughed a bit when Ana Lucia blushed and scowled at her.

"La mierda," she growled back. "I was scared out of my mind. Just couldn't let it get to me."

Monica took Liesel's hand, and reached out to Ana Lucia. After a moment, Ana Lucia shoved herself off the bed, and stepped over to take the offered hand.

"I'm glad you're both okay," Monica said. "It kills me whenever I hear that we've got wounded coming in, and I'd hate to lose another sister or brother." Ana Lucia smiled and squeezed Monica's hand before letting go and dropping back to lean against the other bed again. Liesel continued to hold her hand, while the two of them shared a long look. Just as Ana Lucia began to think she should leave them alone, Liesel turned to her and smiled.

"Who would ever have thought?" she asked. "A German, a Brazilian and an Ecuadorian serving together?"

"Sounds like the start to a bad joke," Ana Lucia agreed. "Stop me if you've heard this one..." The women laughed at that for a moment, before the conversation turned serious again.

"What do you think is next?" Monica asked. "The médicos say I'm going to be in this bed for another few weeks, but I'm dying to get back out there."

"I don't know," Liesel replied pensively. "We keep seeing more out of the X-rays. This new armor is excellent, and I hear they're working on actual laser weapons, but I can't imagine that things will continue to go as well as they have been." As she spoke, Monica and Ana Lucia caught the shadow that crossed her features. Both of them knew that Oksenov's death still bothered her, though she normally hid it well. They also knew the stoic German would open up about it when she was ready, and not a moment before. There was a long silence, each of the women finding herself momentarily lost in her thoughts. It was Ana Lucia that broke it first.

"I think I'm going to head to the gym," she said, "let you two have some time alone." She glanced around, seeing only the newly promoted SSG "Armarnis" Lindemann, taking his leave after visiting Hassan and Daiwa. De Matos smiled at her in farewell before reaching over to take Faber's other hand, holding them both as she looked up from the bed. Mardones left them in silence, nodding to Lindemann when she caught up with him at the entrance, where Makhandule stood waiting for him.

She glanced back once before she left, and smiled a little whens she saw de Matos pulling Faber down for a kiss. They'd be alright. With luck, they'd all be alright.

In Memory (01 MAY 2016)

"It was the dodgiest squiddie I'd ever seen," de Matos said. She was lying in bed, her upper chest a mass of bandages, while Faber leaned against the side, listening. "It took three shots from point blank range, and still it kept coming. It was Hassan that finally put the caralho down. We were all so focused on it, we never even saw the bastardo Thin Man until he was almost on top of us. Daiwa was the first to react, but not fast enough. Huisman didn't make a sound. He just.. he.."

"Shh," Faber turned and caught de Matos' hand, lacing her fingers through it and squeezing tightly. "Monica, you don't have to talk about it right now." De Matos reached across and covered Faber's hand with her other hand, but she didn't stop talking.

"There was nothing I could do. I heard the shots and Daiwa called that it was down, but before I could even get Houston out of my way, I knew. The hole went straight through, Kevlar, alloy vest, everything. His eyes were still open. They were green. I never realized they were green." Her voice started to choke up and she finally stopped talking, as Faber leaned in to stroke her hair with her other hand, making soft soothing noises.

"But you made it count, Schätzchen," she murmured into Monica's ear. "You went on, and you put the rest of those fickeren into body bags, and you brought him home. More importantly, you brought the rest of them home alive." Faber glanced down the line, where most of the rest of the squad rested. She saw SGT Lindemann visiting with Houston and Maillet, the most severely injured of the survivors.

"Thank you, Liesel," de Matos said, pulling Faber's attention back. "Gata, could you get me some water? My throat is dry." Faber nodded, reaching out to stroke de Matos' cheek before moving away to grab the pitcher and a cup.

-

"How are they?" Constance asked. She was chafing at being stuck in medbay after her collapse, but the medics said she'd be out in a few more days, at most. Oskar came to visit her regularly, though today he'd spent most of his time visiting the member of the squad he'd just brought back from Oklahoma.

"They're very out of sorts. The pain medicine is very strong," he replied. "Still, they remember what happened."

"It was a good mission," Constance replied. When Oskar's face clouded, she said it again. "It was a good mission, Oskar. Your squad faced the biggest threat we've had, and you brought back enough materiel that the research and engineering teams are going to be busy for months."

"It was not worth the loss of a man," he replied, bitterness thickening his accent.

"It never is," she agreed. "It never is, but you're a soldier, as was Hidde. He knew what was at stake, and he made us all proud." She waited a moment, gauging the expression on his face. "So did you, Oskar. You wouldn't be wearing those stripes on your shoulders if the Commander didn't agree." She reached out for his hand, and after a moment, he extended it, letting her wrap her calloused, slender fingers around his larger hand. The contrast between her nearly black skin and his pale skin never ceased to intrigue him. She squeezed, hard, and he looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time since he'd sat down by her bed.

"It is harder, somehow," he admitted. "When I was KSK, it was human enemies. Even with the terrible things they did in Afghanistan, it wasn't so bad." Oskar clenched his fist, his jaw tightening as well, until he heard Mak make a small sound of discomfort. He relaxed his hands, and gave her an apologetic look, to which she smiled slightly. After a deep breath, he continued. "When I saw Huisman fall, I was scared," he said quietly. He glanced around to see who was near, but no one appeared to be listening in. "It was so much, I wanted to order everyone back to the LZ. We'd barely moved twenty meters, we were still outside the craft. I didn't know what else awaited within, and I didn't want anymore blood on my hands." Constance made a sound of protest, but he overrode her. "Hidde..." he paused, seeking the words. "He was quiet. Barely spoke to anyone, but always willing to help out, if needed. But on the battlefield, he was a monster. He charged in where brave men would hesitate, and he was a virtuoso with that shotgun."

"Oskar, you forget who was with you on that last mission," Constance interrupted. "I knew him, too." Lindemann nodded as she continued. "You couldn't give up, because you knew he wouldn't, in your shoes." Oskar just nodded again. He couldn't dishonor the man's sacrifice by giving up. "You know, he'd be proud of what you accomplished. This is a solid win, and Hidde's contribution helped bring it home, but it was your leadership that saw it through to completion."

Oskar just nodded again, no more words to be said. Mak seemed to know this too, and she just held his hand and closed her eyes with a small, sad smile.

-

The day room was quiet, but it wasn't empty at all. Most of the troopers were there, those not on duty or in medbay, but even the inevitable hum of packed bodies wasn't enough to cover the occasional cough. The small table by the memorial was lined with empty shot glasses, and all of the tables and chairs were occupied with small groups sitting quietly, some drinking, others talking in hushed tones, others still just sitting in silent contemplation.

Most of the troopers didn't know CPL Huisman well, but he was the first casualty since they got here. Some remembered Jensen, but they'd all been so new that his death hadn't made the same impact. Since then, there'd been injuries, even serious ones, but it had begun to seem like XCOM was invincible, that the war was inevitably theirs. Now, the reality of what they did was pinpointed by the photo on the memorial wall, and no one felt like celebrating the strategic victory that the mission represented.

Jade Colman didn't sit with any of the groups clustered around the room. She stood alone at the memorial wall, a full shot of whatever whisky had been going around clutched forgotten in her hand. She hadn't really known Hidde all that well either, but she'd been starting to. After he'd approached her the other day, she'd asked around, and learned that he didn't talk much. Most of those who'd been on mission with him expressed surprise that he'd managed to string so many words together as to actually hold a conversation, let alone the several they'd had before he'd gone on mission. She'd prattled on about rocks and geologic pressures and he'd listened without ever giving any impression that he wasn't really interested. When she'd prodded, he'd revealed small details about his life in Rotterdam, and had told her a couple stories about his brothers in Amsterdam that had her roaring with laughter. He had been a friend, and she'd thought maybe there was more.

But there was no more. Not now, not ever. No more quiet conversations. They'd never go digging around in the tunnels like they'd discussed. This was war, and war tore friends away and ended possibilities. This was the greatest enemy humanity had ever faced, and she'd be damned if Hidde died for nothing. Those bastards wouldn't win this, no matter how many others fell. With that thought ringing defiantly in her mind, Jade lifted the shot glass of whisky, raised it slightly in salute as she stared at the photograph, and drank it down in a single swallow. She placed the glass on the end of the row, then opened her other hand, looking down at what it contained. She blinked several times, then set it down on the shelf, below his picture. It was a geode, broken open so the purple and green crystalls within caught the light, casting tiny ovals of color against the wall. Jade turned away then, approaching the nearest group, who made room for her without a word. Tomorrow was another day, another battle. Tonight, however, she planned on forgetting everything.

OPERATION STONE GAZE AFTER ACTION REPORT (20 MAR 2016)

OPERATION STONE GAZE - AFTER ACTION REPORT

PREPARED BY: SPC Monica de Matos


SITUATION

o Enemy Forces:
 - 8 Sectoids, 3 Drones, armed with plasma pistols

o Friendly Forces
 - PFC Monica de Matos (Brazil)
 - PFC Lorena Kline (United States)
 - PFC Beatrice Rydberg (Sweden)
 - PVT Lara Jordan (Australia)
 - PVT Ana Lucia Mardones (Ecuador)
 - PVT Jade Colman (United Kingdom)


MISSION

o Strike Team deploys to Kolkata, India, 19 MAR 2016 @ 0325 hrs, IOT disrupt abduction operations

EXECUTION NARRATIVE

We received the Mission Alert at 2030 hrs on 20 MAR. We lifted off at 2109, and arrived in the strike zone at 1124 hrs. The abduction site was on top of a building, currently under construction.

I identified a likely line of advance, and pushed PVT Colman, designated scout, out forward to get a look at the area. When PVT Mardones advanced, she caught sight of what appeared to be a couple drones in our initial waypoint, but did not have a clean shot. When she moved forward for a closer look, she identified three more X-Rays, Sectoids, along with the two drones, which immediately began firing upon her. Mardones returned fire, eliminating the first of the drones. The rest of the squad opened up, but were unable to hit the quickly bobbing drone, until PFC Rydberg pinned it with suppressing fire, and Colman and Jordan were able to take it down.

The Sectoids then tried to pin and flank Mardones, but when the Sectoid dodged around the shipping crate, Colman charged forward and fed it hot lead at close range. Kline took a snapshot when one of the remaining Sectoids dodged to better cover, and put it down. Rydberg took charge of Colman and Mardones to clear the remaining Sectoid, while I took Kline and Jordan and moved toward the sound of Meld, per guidance from Research. Kline made contact as she moved behind the shipping containers toward the Meld. 

That's when things went wrong. I'd underestimated the mobility of the drone, and it came around the shipping container, immediately in front of Kline. I snapped a shot at it, but missed as it blasted Kline at close range. I dove forward to provide medical care while she blew it out of the air. Jordan provided overwatch while Rydberg's team moved up to support. By the time I had Kline patched up, the Meld container had locked down, and we were unable to recover it.

One of the Sectoids took the high ground, but PFC Rydberg charged forward, SAW blazing, and took it down before it could line up a shot, while Mardones took the close-up shot and destroyed the other. The squad advanced cautiously to ensure the rooftop was clear, but made contact with another pod of Sectoids. PVT Colman took fire, but it only seemed to graze her armor. PVT Jordan, realizing there was a Sectoid just on the other side of the wall, darted around, firing as she went, into another cover position, flanking and destroying the X-Ray. Colman took a reaction shot when one of the other Sectoids broke cover, putting it down for good, leaving just one X-Ray remaining. Mardones broke cover while the Sectoid was suppressing Jordan and put a burst into its head. 

We cleared the remainder of the rooftop, and found one more Meld container. Unfortunately, it had also locked down before we could get to it. Research will just have to content itself with the Meld they can extract from the corpses.


LESSONS LEARNED

o Sustain:
 - Flank shots are kill shots
 - Always have a plan B
o Improve:
 - If you bring equipment, use it
 - Never underestimate the enemy