OPERATION FALLEN PRIEST - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: SFC Shaojie Zhang
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 22x EXALT Operatives, armed with conventional weapons
o Friendly Forces
- SFC Shaojie "Chilong" Zhang (China)
- SSG Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SSG Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- SGT Ward "Shroud" Parsons (Australia)
- SGT Lara "Athena" Jordan (Australia)
- SGT Rainhard "Ogre" Horn (Austria)
- CPL Jermaine "Da Pain" Glynn (United States)
- SPC Kaseem Quadri (Indonesia)
o Covert Operative
- CPL Joosef "Loki" Hintikka (Finland)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Nigeria, 13 AUG 2016 @ 0755 hrs, IOT protect transmitted EXALT Data.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 0619 hrs. The squad was assembled and ready to roll by 0633. I made contact with Covert Operative Hintikka who informed me that the data was transmitting back to XCOM HQ, but that the local EXALT cell had caught on; Operatives were in-bound.
I directed the squad forward, taking positions around the trailer where CPL Hintikka and the Transmitter were located. Shortly after we were in-place, SGT Parsons reported contact, in the same moment that CPL Hintikka did so, followed immediately by the sound of laser fire; Moments later, Parsons confirmed one EXALT Operative down, but that several more were in possession of the Encoder.
This was unacceptable, so I directed the squad to advance, to reclaim the Encoder before EXALT could hack it, and gain access to the transmitter. Unfortunately, when SGT Parsons advanced, he spotted another group of EXALT in the other trailer to our front left. As we were positioning to deal with this new threat, I heard CPL Glynn come across the comms "I got this," just before one of the EXALT Operatives, in the cover of the trailer, took a laser in the head. SGT Jordan came in a moment later "Me too," and shot another hostile who was out of cover. CO Hintikka then informed me that the EXALT would be busy for a little bit, so I ordered everyone else to advance.
The EXALT began hacking the Encoder, so I knew time was growing short. SGT Horn announced "Shredder Out" before sending an air-burst rocket into the target zone, injuring several EXALT agents. SPC Quadri followed it up with an HE grenade, but only managed to kill one of the hostiles. Meanwhile, Glynn reported moving to a sniper nest on top of the trailer, and Colman managed to wound another hostile in the target zone. Unfortunately, the EXALT still had decisive control of the Encoder. That was when Hintikka dodged down into the construction zone, and took cover behind an EXALT transponder, furiously trying to hack before they could bring a shot to bear. SSG Fahey followed right behind him, dodging past, right into the midst of the EXALT troopers, and blasting one of them out of cover. With their comms interrupted, the enemy panicked, fleeing in all directions, while Fahey, cool as ice, executed another two of them at close range, and Hintikka snapped a shot off, finishing off another. Meanwhile, taking advantage of the distraction, I took a pair of shots at the hostiles in the trailer, killing one, and wounding the other.
While the EXALT agents were recovering, SGT Parsons and CPL Glynn teamed up, designating, then eliminating a sniper who had an advantageous flank on the target zone. Once CPL Glynn announced it was clear, Fahey dodged around the cement truck, took a moving shot to eliminate a target, then continued her move into cover to reload. Meanwhile, Quadri moved up and soft-lobbed a grenade, putting it within feet of the remaining EXALT sniper, blowing him down before he could react. The last remaining operative ducked in cover, so I ordered Horn and Jordan to assist me in setting up a kill zone, while Hintikka moved for the next transponder. When he saw that, the hostile took a chance, and paid with his life.
We didn't get a lull, as we received a report of several more EXALT moving into the zone. Glynn reported eyes on the sniper that dropped into the crane overlooking the construction site; A second later, he reported that the hostile was no longer a threat. SPC Quadri managed to injure another agent with a grenade; CO Hintikka, having finished hacking the next transponder, charged toward the injured operative, his pistol (which he later reported was bone dry) raised as if to shoot. When the panicked EXALT agent ran, I took him down with reactive fire. The last hostile charged into the fray, but SSG Colman and SGT Horn were ready, and he only took a half-dozen steps before he was gunned down.
In the brief lull that followed, the squad moved to more advantageous positions in and around the Encoder, and reloaded their weapons. Then the last wave of hostiles came in, a large contingent; Unfortunately for them, we were ready; Quadri stepped around the corner and flanked an EXALT medic, taking him down. Glynn reported another dead sniper in the crane, and SSG Colman eliminated another at almost the same moment. SSG Fahey and SGT Jordan maneuvered on the last visible hostile, but it was Parsons who took the shot and eliminated him. Horn, having taken several seconds to steady his launcher, fired the lost shot sending a rocket clear across the construction zone to blow the last operative completely out of cover.
Shortly after, XCOM HQ reported having received the data, and we exfiltrated, not waiting for any further EXALT reinforcements.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Positioning makes all the difference
- Judicious use of explosives
o Improve:
- Ammo discipline
- Pre-op review of the intel maps
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Monday, October 26, 2015
Great Big Sky (06 AUG 2016)
It was usually fairly quiet in the pilots' barracks, and today wasn't any different. Unlike the barracks for the troopers, there were rarely more than 6 or 7 personnel at any given time, unless there was a pilot awaiting transfer to another air base. Most of the pilots were a mix of U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots, with a smattering of pilots from other countries. There was only one former U.S. Army pilot; Flight Officer Thaddeus "Big Sky" Gentry.
Lt "Casper" Fallis and Flight Officer "Raven-4" Johnson were sitting in the common room, playing a casual hand of blackjack; The pot was the next week's trash duties. XCOM didn't employ any cleaning staff, so excepting the occasional punitive work details, all personnel were expected to maintain their own living and work areas. Johnson was a rookie pilot for XCOM, only recently in from the Interceptor course. His pre-XCOM record was impressive; all of the pilots had impressive records from before, all of them with actual combat missions under their belts. Still, Fallis knew that Johnson really didn't know what it was to fly against the aliens, and it couldn't really be explained, no matter how many simulator missions you ran or cockpit recordings you viewed.
"So, what's up with the bus driver?" Johnson asked, nodding toward FO Gentry's room. "He never seems to come out of there except to hit the chow hall, gym or showers."
"Dude," Fallis said, disgust coloring his tone, "shut the fuck up."
"What'd I say?" Johnson asked, his features warring between surprise and anger. "I'm just asking what his deal is."
"His deal," the Lieutenant replied, allowing himself to take on a lecturing tone, "is that he's not a fucking bus driver."
"Whoa, chill out," the rookie shot back. "I know his mission is important, I'm not trying to disrespect the guy. But he hauls the kids back and forth. He's not out there exchanging fire with the X-Rays."
Fallis just stared at him for a long moment, letting the silence stretch out. Johnson flushed, and the anger started to come to the fore. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Fallis cut him off.
"You really don't get it, do you?" His tone was now more surprised than critical. "Lemme ask you something. How many of us are there, Interceptor pilots?"
"Um," the junior pilot considered for a moment. "Between us here and the pilots in the African base? A dozen or so."
"Nine," Fallis supplied, "to be exact, including those on recovery rotation to South America. Next question: How many "bus drivers" does XCOM have?"
"Just him, so far as I know."
"Exactly. He's flown dozens of missions. I'm the most experienced Interceptor pilot XCOM has got, and I've flown barely five, most of which didn't result in a downed enemy."
"So?" Johnson shook his head. "His missions are cakewalks. Fly in, drop off the squad and wait around until they're done."
"Tell me something. You ever see any ground combat?"
Johnson shook his head. "No. Plenty of fights in the sky, though." Lieutenant Fallis rubbed at the bridge of his nose, then lifted his card to peek underneath, buying time to think.
"I was shot down in the early phases of the Iraq war. Got cocky, barely made it out alive. I broke my leg when the eject mechanism misfired, but I made it to the ground in one piece. I had to sit in hostile territory and wait for Para-Rescue to come get me, and I will tell you something; Having to shoot a man in the face before he can do it to you is a very different thing than what we do in the sky."
"I got no disrespect for the troops-" Johnson cut in.
"I'm not finished. What we do in the sky is a video game. Line up the dots, push the button, and we're rewarded with an explosion if we do it right. He," Fallis paused, nodding toward FO Gentry's door. "has to get down in the weeds every day. Yeah, he's waiting outside the combat zone for the squad to get back, but the X-Rays don't always follow the rules. You know he went through 3 co-pilots in the early days, before he asked the Commander to stop giving him one? Having to sit in the LZ and hope the X-Rays don't come sniffing around isn't a cakewalk."
"I didn't realize," Johnson said, glancing toward the closed door. "So what then? He doesn't socialize because of his dead co-pilots?"
"It's a lot more than that," Fallis said. "Do you realize that we've lost four troopers just in the last month? Two of them veterans who've been here since the very beginning."
"Yeah, I heard about those."
"Gentry's got to bring all of those people back, plus many more wounded. They've got another LT in critical care right now, after the last UFO. They're not sure if she'll pull through."
"Yeah..." Johnson said quietly, his face troubled.
"We've got the luxury of not seeing all of that," the Lieutenant gestured around. "We've got our own barracks, separate from the troopers. All we really see is the bulletin board announcements. Even though we fail to take down the enemy more often than not, we usually manage to make it back alive, and get the crazy stories to tell."
"Okay, fuck man, I get it," Johnson said, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm an asshole, alright?"
"Nah," Fallis said, finally knocking the table to indicate he'd stay on the nearly forgotten hand of cards. "You're just new here. This is a different kind of war than we've ever seen before, and we cannot afford to bring old prejudices with us." Johnson also decided to stay, so they flipped up their cards to reveal their hand. "Shit, twenty one. Looks like I've got trash next week." The senior pilot glanced toward Gentry's door as they shuffled their hands back into the deck. "Honestly, I worry about him," he said quietly.
Then, almost as if the comment had summoned him, Gentry's door opened, and he stepped out dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and running shoes, with a towel around his shoulders. Johnson looked at Fallis quickly, then seemed to make a decision.
"Hey, Gentry!" he called, rising from his seat. "You're headed to the gym, yeah?" FO Gentry stopped, and gave a cautious nod, his deep southern accent rumbling a quiet affirmative. "You mind if I join you? I won't be but a few minutes behind you, just gotta change." At the non-committal shrug, Johnson glanced back at the Lieutenant with a brief, apologetic smile, and moved toward his room.
Fallis leaned back in his chair, and shuffled the cards a few times, meditatively. He doubted that FO Gentry would be drawn out of his shell so easily, but maybe it was a start. This war didn't look like it was going to end any time soon, and if they wanted to survive this, they'd all have to learn to lean on one another.
Lt "Casper" Fallis and Flight Officer "Raven-4" Johnson were sitting in the common room, playing a casual hand of blackjack; The pot was the next week's trash duties. XCOM didn't employ any cleaning staff, so excepting the occasional punitive work details, all personnel were expected to maintain their own living and work areas. Johnson was a rookie pilot for XCOM, only recently in from the Interceptor course. His pre-XCOM record was impressive; all of the pilots had impressive records from before, all of them with actual combat missions under their belts. Still, Fallis knew that Johnson really didn't know what it was to fly against the aliens, and it couldn't really be explained, no matter how many simulator missions you ran or cockpit recordings you viewed.
"So, what's up with the bus driver?" Johnson asked, nodding toward FO Gentry's room. "He never seems to come out of there except to hit the chow hall, gym or showers."
"Dude," Fallis said, disgust coloring his tone, "shut the fuck up."
"What'd I say?" Johnson asked, his features warring between surprise and anger. "I'm just asking what his deal is."
"His deal," the Lieutenant replied, allowing himself to take on a lecturing tone, "is that he's not a fucking bus driver."
"Whoa, chill out," the rookie shot back. "I know his mission is important, I'm not trying to disrespect the guy. But he hauls the kids back and forth. He's not out there exchanging fire with the X-Rays."
Fallis just stared at him for a long moment, letting the silence stretch out. Johnson flushed, and the anger started to come to the fore. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Fallis cut him off.
"You really don't get it, do you?" His tone was now more surprised than critical. "Lemme ask you something. How many of us are there, Interceptor pilots?"
"Um," the junior pilot considered for a moment. "Between us here and the pilots in the African base? A dozen or so."
"Nine," Fallis supplied, "to be exact, including those on recovery rotation to South America. Next question: How many "bus drivers" does XCOM have?"
"Just him, so far as I know."
"Exactly. He's flown dozens of missions. I'm the most experienced Interceptor pilot XCOM has got, and I've flown barely five, most of which didn't result in a downed enemy."
"So?" Johnson shook his head. "His missions are cakewalks. Fly in, drop off the squad and wait around until they're done."
"Tell me something. You ever see any ground combat?"
Johnson shook his head. "No. Plenty of fights in the sky, though." Lieutenant Fallis rubbed at the bridge of his nose, then lifted his card to peek underneath, buying time to think.
"I was shot down in the early phases of the Iraq war. Got cocky, barely made it out alive. I broke my leg when the eject mechanism misfired, but I made it to the ground in one piece. I had to sit in hostile territory and wait for Para-Rescue to come get me, and I will tell you something; Having to shoot a man in the face before he can do it to you is a very different thing than what we do in the sky."
"I got no disrespect for the troops-" Johnson cut in.
"I'm not finished. What we do in the sky is a video game. Line up the dots, push the button, and we're rewarded with an explosion if we do it right. He," Fallis paused, nodding toward FO Gentry's door. "has to get down in the weeds every day. Yeah, he's waiting outside the combat zone for the squad to get back, but the X-Rays don't always follow the rules. You know he went through 3 co-pilots in the early days, before he asked the Commander to stop giving him one? Having to sit in the LZ and hope the X-Rays don't come sniffing around isn't a cakewalk."
"I didn't realize," Johnson said, glancing toward the closed door. "So what then? He doesn't socialize because of his dead co-pilots?"
"It's a lot more than that," Fallis said. "Do you realize that we've lost four troopers just in the last month? Two of them veterans who've been here since the very beginning."
"Yeah, I heard about those."
"Gentry's got to bring all of those people back, plus many more wounded. They've got another LT in critical care right now, after the last UFO. They're not sure if she'll pull through."
"Yeah..." Johnson said quietly, his face troubled.
"We've got the luxury of not seeing all of that," the Lieutenant gestured around. "We've got our own barracks, separate from the troopers. All we really see is the bulletin board announcements. Even though we fail to take down the enemy more often than not, we usually manage to make it back alive, and get the crazy stories to tell."
"Okay, fuck man, I get it," Johnson said, raising his hands in surrender. "I'm an asshole, alright?"
"Nah," Fallis said, finally knocking the table to indicate he'd stay on the nearly forgotten hand of cards. "You're just new here. This is a different kind of war than we've ever seen before, and we cannot afford to bring old prejudices with us." Johnson also decided to stay, so they flipped up their cards to reveal their hand. "Shit, twenty one. Looks like I've got trash next week." The senior pilot glanced toward Gentry's door as they shuffled their hands back into the deck. "Honestly, I worry about him," he said quietly.
Then, almost as if the comment had summoned him, Gentry's door opened, and he stepped out dressed in shorts, a T-shirt and running shoes, with a towel around his shoulders. Johnson looked at Fallis quickly, then seemed to make a decision.
"Hey, Gentry!" he called, rising from his seat. "You're headed to the gym, yeah?" FO Gentry stopped, and gave a cautious nod, his deep southern accent rumbling a quiet affirmative. "You mind if I join you? I won't be but a few minutes behind you, just gotta change." At the non-committal shrug, Johnson glanced back at the Lieutenant with a brief, apologetic smile, and moved toward his room.
Fallis leaned back in his chair, and shuffled the cards a few times, meditatively. He doubted that FO Gentry would be drawn out of his shell so easily, but maybe it was a start. This war didn't look like it was going to end any time soon, and if they wanted to survive this, they'd all have to learn to lean on one another.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
OPERATION BLOODY MOTHER - AFTER ACTION REPORT (07 AUG 2016 @ 1508)
OPERATION BLOODY MOTHER - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: LT Jared Houston
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 5x Seekers, 3x Floaters, 1x Thin Man
o Friendly Forces
- LT Jared "Mercury" Houston (United States)
- SGT Svetlana "Eclipse" Petukhova (Russia)
- SGT Monica "Alpha" de Matos (Brazil)
- SGT Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Sa'idah "Wing" Ramli (Egypt)
- CPL Rhys "Blizzard" Waddell (Canada)
- SPC Caio de Abreu (Brazil)
- PFC Mahjoub Benhassi (Algeria)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Boston, Massachusetts, 07 AUG 2016 @ 1508 hrs, IOT disrupt an Abduction in Progress.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 1425 hrs. The Skyranger was wheels up by 1448, with boots down in Boston by 1508 hrs. We approached the office building cautiously, but met no immediate resistance. Once the squad was positioned inside, I sent CPL Waddell up to open the door that lead deeper into the building. Immediately, a pod of Seekers swarmed through the door. PFC Benhassi had a rocket readied, so Waddell and SGT de Matos scrambled back as he fired, severely damaging the Seekers and most of the nearby walls. Before the smoke even cleared, Alpha snapped a shot off, and de Abreu followed up with an AP grenade, destroying most the original Seekers just in time for another to come into view, as well as a pod of Floaters entering the back room.
Waddell was completely exposed, his cover having been blown in the rocket blast, so I yelled at him to get to cover, as Ramli and I finished off the last of the Seekers. Before he moved, he reported a Thin Man in the back; Eclipse said she had him, and a long moment later I hear the sizzle of her rifle and the gaseous detonation of a dying Thin Man in the distance.
Rather than advancing into the unknown, I order the squad to stay put, and let the Floaters come to us. They jet into range, and Alpha is the first to fire, putting down the first of the monstrosities. Beacon dives through the window and blasts the second Floater that was moving directly for Benhassi. A few tense moments pass, and just as I'm about to order the squad forward, a Seeker comes in on our rear flank, and goes down in a hail of laser fire.
Another minute of silence, and Waddell reports that he believes he heard the sound of a Meld canister from the back, so I direct the squad to move that way. No sooner than we start our advance than a final Floater blasts into view on our right flank. Petukhova cripples it as soon as it comes into sight, and I execute the severely damaged wretch with a quick burst.
We continued our careful advance through the building, managing to recover the Meld, and encountering no further resistance.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Explosives to deal with clustered threats
- Massing fires to quickly remove threats
o Improve:
- Flank awareness
- Don't count on cover to survive an explosion
PREPARED BY: LT Jared Houston
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 5x Seekers, 3x Floaters, 1x Thin Man
o Friendly Forces
- LT Jared "Mercury" Houston (United States)
- SGT Svetlana "Eclipse" Petukhova (Russia)
- SGT Monica "Alpha" de Matos (Brazil)
- SGT Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Sa'idah "Wing" Ramli (Egypt)
- CPL Rhys "Blizzard" Waddell (Canada)
- SPC Caio de Abreu (Brazil)
- PFC Mahjoub Benhassi (Algeria)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Boston, Massachusetts, 07 AUG 2016 @ 1508 hrs, IOT disrupt an Abduction in Progress.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 1425 hrs. The Skyranger was wheels up by 1448, with boots down in Boston by 1508 hrs. We approached the office building cautiously, but met no immediate resistance. Once the squad was positioned inside, I sent CPL Waddell up to open the door that lead deeper into the building. Immediately, a pod of Seekers swarmed through the door. PFC Benhassi had a rocket readied, so Waddell and SGT de Matos scrambled back as he fired, severely damaging the Seekers and most of the nearby walls. Before the smoke even cleared, Alpha snapped a shot off, and de Abreu followed up with an AP grenade, destroying most the original Seekers just in time for another to come into view, as well as a pod of Floaters entering the back room.
Waddell was completely exposed, his cover having been blown in the rocket blast, so I yelled at him to get to cover, as Ramli and I finished off the last of the Seekers. Before he moved, he reported a Thin Man in the back; Eclipse said she had him, and a long moment later I hear the sizzle of her rifle and the gaseous detonation of a dying Thin Man in the distance.
Rather than advancing into the unknown, I order the squad to stay put, and let the Floaters come to us. They jet into range, and Alpha is the first to fire, putting down the first of the monstrosities. Beacon dives through the window and blasts the second Floater that was moving directly for Benhassi. A few tense moments pass, and just as I'm about to order the squad forward, a Seeker comes in on our rear flank, and goes down in a hail of laser fire.
Another minute of silence, and Waddell reports that he believes he heard the sound of a Meld canister from the back, so I direct the squad to move that way. No sooner than we start our advance than a final Floater blasts into view on our right flank. Petukhova cripples it as soon as it comes into sight, and I execute the severely damaged wretch with a quick burst.
We continued our careful advance through the building, managing to recover the Meld, and encountering no further resistance.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Explosives to deal with clustered threats
- Massing fires to quickly remove threats
o Improve:
- Flank awareness
- Don't count on cover to survive an explosion
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
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
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
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
OPERATION COLD DAWN - AFTER ACTION REPORT (31 JUL 2016 @ 0813 )
OPERATION COLD DAWN - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: SSG Yusuf Hassan
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 1x Outsider, 2x Cyberdiscs, 4x Drones, 3x Floaters
o Friendly Forces
- SSG Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan) - KIA
- SGT Yusuf "Thunder" Hassan (Sudan)
- SGT Anant "Rooftop" Dhalon (Pakistan)
- SGT Beatrice "Preacher" Rydberg (Sweden)
- CPL Simone "Tomahawk" Ribeiro (Brazil)
- CPL Osazenomwan "Mental" Olufunke (Nigeria)
- SPC Synclair Mallari (Phillipines)
- SPC Caio de Abreu (Brazil)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to rural Oklahoma, United States, 31 JUL 2016 @ 0813 hrs, IOT exploit a crashed UFO site, and extract an X-Ray Captive.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The UFO was splashed at 0403, and Central told SSG Daiwa to have his squad ready in the Skyranger by 0800. We touched down in Oklahoma by 0813, SSG Daiwa moved first, spotting three Floaters immediately. As soon as he called contact, I drew a bead on the first one, and put a laser beam through its head, while the rest of the squad found cover positions. SSG Daiwa took a shot and wounded another, then we waited for them to come to us. The first took to the air, firing a shot that singed SSG Daiwa's armor, while the second blasted off, coming down on our right flank. SGT Dhalon moved to flank the second Floater, destroying it with a close-range blast, while SSG Daiwa finished off the one he'd wounded, before he ordered the squad to come up on line.
Unfortunately, when CPL Olufunke moved up, he set off a Cyberdisc and its attendant Drones. The Drones moved toward us, drawing startled reaction shots from the squad; The drones were both winged, but not disabled. The Disc took a shot at CPL Olufunke, but he managed to hunker behind his cover and avoid injury, or worse. SSG Daiwa ordered us to focus fire on the Cyberdisc. CPL Olufunke lead off with a Shredder Rocket, killing one Drone, and shredding the Cyberdisc. SSG Daiwa moved to position to get a clean shot on the Disc, designating it for the rest of us, and damaging it severely. SGT Rydberg and I focused fire on the Disc, but as it had closed into defensive posture, we were unable to finish it off. Meanwhile, CPL Ribeiro took a shot of opportunity on the remaining Drone, and took it down. The Cyberdisc continued to focus on CPL Olufunke, so SPC de Abreu took advantage of this to move into range and kill it. While we dealt with that, SGT Dhalon took the opportunity to grab the meld canister to his immediate front.
SSG Daiwa directed the squad forward cautiously, until we had a good position on the UFO, encountering no resistance as we advanced. SSG Daiwa activated his stealth camo, and move directly up to look into the UFO, though he reported no X-Rays inside. No sooner than the squad had gotten into position, however, than the Outsider, a Cyberdisc and a Drone entered the UFO from behind, spotting the squad. Reaction fire took out the Drone immediately, and CPL Olufunke blew out the front wall, removing cover for the Outsider and the Disc.
SSG Daiwa ordered us to focus on the Disc, as we wanted to capture the Outsider alive. SPC de Abreu tried to soften our targets with an AP grenade, but the Disc's armor appeared to absorb the blow, and the Outsider was only caught in the periphery. SSG Daiwa, CPL Ribeiro, SGT Rydberg and I pumped several rounds into the Cyberdisc, which succumbed to our massed fires, leaving only the Outsider. SSG Daiwa was shouting that we should soften the Outsider up before Dhalon attempted the capture when it moved up to the wreckage he was taking cover behind, and shot him point-blank in the head.
De Abreu started screaming, and lobbed a grenade at the Outsider, knocking it down and destroying the wreckage. Realizing that someone had to try to salvage the mission, I started yelling over the comms that we had to take that bastard alive. I thought I was going to lose control of the situation, until Dhalon unholstered the Arc Thrower, and said that Vahlen would make that thing regret coming to this planet. Before the Outsider had recovered, I heard the agreement of everyone in the squad. Ribeiro drew her pistol and shot it straight in the chest, knocking it back down, while Dhalon moved up and fired the Arc Thrower at it. At first we thought it was down, but when it raised its plasma carbine toward Dhalon, I knew we'd lost this one, and put a shot through its head, and watched it dissolve in flickers of orange light. When the last Drone hovered into sight, it met the massed fires from the squad, and was nearly disintegrated.
SGT Dhalon checked on SSG Daiwa, but he could only confirm what we already knew. A quick sweep through the UFO revealed no more resistance, and we called the recovery team to come in and salvage the wreckage.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Massed Fires
- Threat prioritization
o Improve:
- Longer engagement range
- Equipment that actually performs its function
PREPARED BY: SSG Yusuf Hassan
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 1x Outsider, 2x Cyberdiscs, 4x Drones, 3x Floaters
o Friendly Forces
- SSG Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan) - KIA
- SGT Yusuf "Thunder" Hassan (Sudan)
- SGT Anant "Rooftop" Dhalon (Pakistan)
- SGT Beatrice "Preacher" Rydberg (Sweden)
- CPL Simone "Tomahawk" Ribeiro (Brazil)
- CPL Osazenomwan "Mental" Olufunke (Nigeria)
- SPC Synclair Mallari (Phillipines)
- SPC Caio de Abreu (Brazil)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to rural Oklahoma, United States, 31 JUL 2016 @ 0813 hrs, IOT exploit a crashed UFO site, and extract an X-Ray Captive.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The UFO was splashed at 0403, and Central told SSG Daiwa to have his squad ready in the Skyranger by 0800. We touched down in Oklahoma by 0813, SSG Daiwa moved first, spotting three Floaters immediately. As soon as he called contact, I drew a bead on the first one, and put a laser beam through its head, while the rest of the squad found cover positions. SSG Daiwa took a shot and wounded another, then we waited for them to come to us. The first took to the air, firing a shot that singed SSG Daiwa's armor, while the second blasted off, coming down on our right flank. SGT Dhalon moved to flank the second Floater, destroying it with a close-range blast, while SSG Daiwa finished off the one he'd wounded, before he ordered the squad to come up on line.
Unfortunately, when CPL Olufunke moved up, he set off a Cyberdisc and its attendant Drones. The Drones moved toward us, drawing startled reaction shots from the squad; The drones were both winged, but not disabled. The Disc took a shot at CPL Olufunke, but he managed to hunker behind his cover and avoid injury, or worse. SSG Daiwa ordered us to focus fire on the Cyberdisc. CPL Olufunke lead off with a Shredder Rocket, killing one Drone, and shredding the Cyberdisc. SSG Daiwa moved to position to get a clean shot on the Disc, designating it for the rest of us, and damaging it severely. SGT Rydberg and I focused fire on the Disc, but as it had closed into defensive posture, we were unable to finish it off. Meanwhile, CPL Ribeiro took a shot of opportunity on the remaining Drone, and took it down. The Cyberdisc continued to focus on CPL Olufunke, so SPC de Abreu took advantage of this to move into range and kill it. While we dealt with that, SGT Dhalon took the opportunity to grab the meld canister to his immediate front.
SSG Daiwa directed the squad forward cautiously, until we had a good position on the UFO, encountering no resistance as we advanced. SSG Daiwa activated his stealth camo, and move directly up to look into the UFO, though he reported no X-Rays inside. No sooner than the squad had gotten into position, however, than the Outsider, a Cyberdisc and a Drone entered the UFO from behind, spotting the squad. Reaction fire took out the Drone immediately, and CPL Olufunke blew out the front wall, removing cover for the Outsider and the Disc.
SSG Daiwa ordered us to focus on the Disc, as we wanted to capture the Outsider alive. SPC de Abreu tried to soften our targets with an AP grenade, but the Disc's armor appeared to absorb the blow, and the Outsider was only caught in the periphery. SSG Daiwa, CPL Ribeiro, SGT Rydberg and I pumped several rounds into the Cyberdisc, which succumbed to our massed fires, leaving only the Outsider. SSG Daiwa was shouting that we should soften the Outsider up before Dhalon attempted the capture when it moved up to the wreckage he was taking cover behind, and shot him point-blank in the head.
De Abreu started screaming, and lobbed a grenade at the Outsider, knocking it down and destroying the wreckage. Realizing that someone had to try to salvage the mission, I started yelling over the comms that we had to take that bastard alive. I thought I was going to lose control of the situation, until Dhalon unholstered the Arc Thrower, and said that Vahlen would make that thing regret coming to this planet. Before the Outsider had recovered, I heard the agreement of everyone in the squad. Ribeiro drew her pistol and shot it straight in the chest, knocking it back down, while Dhalon moved up and fired the Arc Thrower at it. At first we thought it was down, but when it raised its plasma carbine toward Dhalon, I knew we'd lost this one, and put a shot through its head, and watched it dissolve in flickers of orange light. When the last Drone hovered into sight, it met the massed fires from the squad, and was nearly disintegrated.
SGT Dhalon checked on SSG Daiwa, but he could only confirm what we already knew. A quick sweep through the UFO revealed no more resistance, and we called the recovery team to come in and salvage the wreckage.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Massed Fires
- Threat prioritization
o Improve:
- Longer engagement range
- Equipment that actually performs its function
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
OPERATION RED STAR - AFTER ACTION REPORT (28 JUL 2016 @ 0726)
OPERATION RED STAR - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: SFC Shaojie Zhang
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 1x Sectoid, 4x Mutons, 10x Floaters, 6x Thin Men
o Friendly Forces
- SFC Shaojie "Chilong" Zhang (China)
- SGT Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- SGT Lara "Athena" Jordan (Australia)
- SGT Clarisse "Interrogator" Poncelet (Belgium)
- CPL Maurice "Nitro" Vos (Netherlands)
- CPL Kelly "Luna" Meirelles (Brazil)
- CPL Meixing "Yuan Gui" Wong (China) - KIA
- PFC Sivert Harstad (Norway)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Aswan, Egypt, 28 JUL 2016 @ 0726 hrs, IOT extract a scientist with possibly useful research.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 0515 hrs. The squad was assembled and ready to roll by 0533. We made contact with Dr. Marazuki by 0726, and prepared to escort him back to the Skyranger when Central came across comms and alerted us to incoming hostiles.
I directed Wong into the next room to try to get eyes on our flanks, and she caught sight of a mixed pod of X-Rays. Myself and Meirelles moved to support, backed by Jordan and Poncelet while the rest of the squad took up positions near the other entrances to the observatory, closest to the LZ. Before we could get into proper position, the Muton fired through the window and killed Wong instantly.
Meirelles moved immediately into the room where Wong was killed, and took the Muton down with a blast from her shotgun. Vos and Harstad opened the door to reveal a trio of floaters and another Muton moving into cover positions between the observatory and the LZ. Luckily, one of them took cover inside of the room that Tu-Tu was covering, so he kicked open the door and shot the Muton, nearly killing it. Vos took a shot at the nearby floater, critically wounding it as well. Poncelet threw a smoke grenade to cover Zhu; The Muton was still dangerous, even wounded. Harstad fired a rocket at the Floaters further back, but only managed to injure them slightly.
The X-Rays, meanwhile, continued to advance, including one Floater who rocketed up to come down on our rear. Before it could draw a bead on our flanked troopers, I dove through the window and shot it point blank. Meirelles, still stationed at the window, took out a Sectoid as it approached. Vos eliminated one of the Floaters that Harstad had damaged, and Zhu came under fire as he drew his pistol to finish off the Muton he'd injured, but the smoke seemed to do its job, and he was unharmed. Jordan joined Meirelles at the window, and took a shot at a nearby Floater as it took a shot at Meirelles, managing to throw off its aim, but not kill it.
I caught the sound of movement on the rooftop, so I directed someone to try to get up there and investigate. Jordan responded that she saw a ladder up, but the Floater was covering the window. She and Meirelles took shots at it, finally taking it down. Vos and Harstad combined fires on one of the remaining Floaters, and eliminated it at the same time. This seemed to set the X-Rays off, as several more Floaters jetted into the cover of the distant panel van. Meirelles took this momentary calm to charge out, and climb the ladder, her shotgun raised to shoot. However, once on the rooftop, she reported negative contact. Then we waited for the aliens to move in.
When the X-Rays moved, they moved fast. We took several shots, but only Zhu and I managed to wing one Floater. Meirelles finally spotted a Thin Man on the rooftop, and move in for the kill. Vos and Harstad continued their double-team, and took down another Floater. Jordan, moving to support Meirelles on the roof, took a shot of opportunity and finished off the injured Floater. Then even more Floaters and Mutons charged into view, quickly scattering to cover positions.
Realizing we were in a target rich environment, Harstad threw his launcher up on his shoulder, and launched another HE Rocket into their midst. One was killed in the blast, and their cover was completely destroyed. Vos followed up on the Muton before it could recover and blew it away. Poncelet, inside with Zhu, popped the door and took a shot at a Floater, knocking it out of the sky. Jordan, moved back into ground cover, took some potshots at one of the remaining Floaters, while everyone else repositioned and reloaded.
Most of the X-Rays, disoriented by the blast, withdrew out of range, but two Thin Men charged forward, both focusing fire on Poncelet, injuring her. She returned the favor with a grenade that appeared to do minimal damage. Vos managed to catch and eliminate one of the withdrawing Floaters before it was out of range. Zhu moved up to support Poncelet, throwing a Flashbang into the panel van. Meirelles, Jordan and I moved up to the forward edge of the roof to provide overwatch for the rest of the squad below.
The X-Rays focused fire on Zhu and Poncelet, but the flashbang had done its work, and they both escaped injury before Zhu returned fire, resulting in a dead Thin Man. I took out the remaining Thin Man and Muton that were plaguing Zhu and Poncelet from my rooftop vantage. Poncelet moved forward to cover Meirelles' advance to the fore.
When a single Floater returned to the fray, Zhu ensured it didn't survive to regret its decision. Meanwhile, Meirelles, having moved to the front, provided first aid to Poncelet. With no immediate resistance, the squad advanced carefully, clearing the way for Dr. Marazuki to move to the LZ. Suddenly, Central broke in with a report of incoming hostiles, at the same moment that Poncelet, Harstad and Jordan reported contact to our rear, and fired. The single Thin Man never had a chance as he was vaporized by three lasers at once. We advanced slowly, weapons at the ready, when another Thin Man came into sight from the rooftop to our rear. Vos designated it, and I shot it down so the rest of the squad could continue their advance; With Marazuki in the open, we could afford to keep still.
The squad continued to advance until the LZ was fully covered; We could see the pilot revving the engines through the back hatch. When Central reported movement on our left flank, we repositioned, with Meirelles moving to the roof, where she was able to lock a Thin Man down and injure it. Then I directed Dr. Marazuki to make for the Skyranger, while the rest of the squad moved to eliminate the remaining hostiles. Poncelet and Jordan moved to support Meirelles on the roof, as she barely avoided return fire from the Thin Man. Jordan was able to catch the Thin Man as he withdrew to cover, and that was the end for him.
A cursory inspection discovered no further resistance, so we returned to the Skyranger to bring the VIP home.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Fire team structure
- Clear enemy cover with explosives
o Improve:
- Move carefully into the unknown
- Withdraw into more secure cover when in doubt
PREPARED BY: SFC Shaojie Zhang
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 1x Sectoid, 4x Mutons, 10x Floaters, 6x Thin Men
o Friendly Forces
- SFC Shaojie "Chilong" Zhang (China)
- SGT Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- SGT Lara "Athena" Jordan (Australia)
- SGT Clarisse "Interrogator" Poncelet (Belgium)
- CPL Maurice "Nitro" Vos (Netherlands)
- CPL Kelly "Luna" Meirelles (Brazil)
- CPL Meixing "Yuan Gui" Wong (China) - KIA
- PFC Sivert Harstad (Norway)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Aswan, Egypt, 28 JUL 2016 @ 0726 hrs, IOT extract a scientist with possibly useful research.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 0515 hrs. The squad was assembled and ready to roll by 0533. We made contact with Dr. Marazuki by 0726, and prepared to escort him back to the Skyranger when Central came across comms and alerted us to incoming hostiles.
I directed Wong into the next room to try to get eyes on our flanks, and she caught sight of a mixed pod of X-Rays. Myself and Meirelles moved to support, backed by Jordan and Poncelet while the rest of the squad took up positions near the other entrances to the observatory, closest to the LZ. Before we could get into proper position, the Muton fired through the window and killed Wong instantly.
Meirelles moved immediately into the room where Wong was killed, and took the Muton down with a blast from her shotgun. Vos and Harstad opened the door to reveal a trio of floaters and another Muton moving into cover positions between the observatory and the LZ. Luckily, one of them took cover inside of the room that Tu-Tu was covering, so he kicked open the door and shot the Muton, nearly killing it. Vos took a shot at the nearby floater, critically wounding it as well. Poncelet threw a smoke grenade to cover Zhu; The Muton was still dangerous, even wounded. Harstad fired a rocket at the Floaters further back, but only managed to injure them slightly.
The X-Rays, meanwhile, continued to advance, including one Floater who rocketed up to come down on our rear. Before it could draw a bead on our flanked troopers, I dove through the window and shot it point blank. Meirelles, still stationed at the window, took out a Sectoid as it approached. Vos eliminated one of the Floaters that Harstad had damaged, and Zhu came under fire as he drew his pistol to finish off the Muton he'd injured, but the smoke seemed to do its job, and he was unharmed. Jordan joined Meirelles at the window, and took a shot at a nearby Floater as it took a shot at Meirelles, managing to throw off its aim, but not kill it.
I caught the sound of movement on the rooftop, so I directed someone to try to get up there and investigate. Jordan responded that she saw a ladder up, but the Floater was covering the window. She and Meirelles took shots at it, finally taking it down. Vos and Harstad combined fires on one of the remaining Floaters, and eliminated it at the same time. This seemed to set the X-Rays off, as several more Floaters jetted into the cover of the distant panel van. Meirelles took this momentary calm to charge out, and climb the ladder, her shotgun raised to shoot. However, once on the rooftop, she reported negative contact. Then we waited for the aliens to move in.
When the X-Rays moved, they moved fast. We took several shots, but only Zhu and I managed to wing one Floater. Meirelles finally spotted a Thin Man on the rooftop, and move in for the kill. Vos and Harstad continued their double-team, and took down another Floater. Jordan, moving to support Meirelles on the roof, took a shot of opportunity and finished off the injured Floater. Then even more Floaters and Mutons charged into view, quickly scattering to cover positions.
Realizing we were in a target rich environment, Harstad threw his launcher up on his shoulder, and launched another HE Rocket into their midst. One was killed in the blast, and their cover was completely destroyed. Vos followed up on the Muton before it could recover and blew it away. Poncelet, inside with Zhu, popped the door and took a shot at a Floater, knocking it out of the sky. Jordan, moved back into ground cover, took some potshots at one of the remaining Floaters, while everyone else repositioned and reloaded.
Most of the X-Rays, disoriented by the blast, withdrew out of range, but two Thin Men charged forward, both focusing fire on Poncelet, injuring her. She returned the favor with a grenade that appeared to do minimal damage. Vos managed to catch and eliminate one of the withdrawing Floaters before it was out of range. Zhu moved up to support Poncelet, throwing a Flashbang into the panel van. Meirelles, Jordan and I moved up to the forward edge of the roof to provide overwatch for the rest of the squad below.
The X-Rays focused fire on Zhu and Poncelet, but the flashbang had done its work, and they both escaped injury before Zhu returned fire, resulting in a dead Thin Man. I took out the remaining Thin Man and Muton that were plaguing Zhu and Poncelet from my rooftop vantage. Poncelet moved forward to cover Meirelles' advance to the fore.
When a single Floater returned to the fray, Zhu ensured it didn't survive to regret its decision. Meanwhile, Meirelles, having moved to the front, provided first aid to Poncelet. With no immediate resistance, the squad advanced carefully, clearing the way for Dr. Marazuki to move to the LZ. Suddenly, Central broke in with a report of incoming hostiles, at the same moment that Poncelet, Harstad and Jordan reported contact to our rear, and fired. The single Thin Man never had a chance as he was vaporized by three lasers at once. We advanced slowly, weapons at the ready, when another Thin Man came into sight from the rooftop to our rear. Vos designated it, and I shot it down so the rest of the squad could continue their advance; With Marazuki in the open, we could afford to keep still.
The squad continued to advance until the LZ was fully covered; We could see the pilot revving the engines through the back hatch. When Central reported movement on our left flank, we repositioned, with Meirelles moving to the roof, where she was able to lock a Thin Man down and injure it. Then I directed Dr. Marazuki to make for the Skyranger, while the rest of the squad moved to eliminate the remaining hostiles. Poncelet and Jordan moved to support Meirelles on the roof, as she barely avoided return fire from the Thin Man. Jordan was able to catch the Thin Man as he withdrew to cover, and that was the end for him.
A cursory inspection discovered no further resistance, so we returned to the Skyranger to bring the VIP home.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Fire team structure
- Clear enemy cover with explosives
o Improve:
- Move carefully into the unknown
- Withdraw into more secure cover when in doubt
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
OPERATION BURNING CROWN - AFTER ACTION REPORT (25 JUL 2016 @ 0605)
OPERATION BURNING CROWN - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: LT Jared Houston
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 6x Chryssalids, 1x Cyberdisc, 1x Drone, 4x Seekers, 3x Thin Men
o Friendly Forces
- LT Jared "Mercury" Houston (United States)
- SSG Spencer "Leo" Donohue (United States)
- SSG Ana Lucia "Mustang" Mardones (Ecuador)
- SGT Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SGT Lieselott "Maschine" Faber (Germany)
- SGT Sylas "Fawkes" Maillet (Canada)
- SGT Jirina "Stiletto" Markusova (Czech Republic)
- SPC Osazenomwan Olufunke (Nigeria)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Ogmobosho, Nigeria, 25 JUL 2016 @ 0605 hrs, IOT combat Alien Terror Attack.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 0420 hrs. The squad was assembled and ready to roll by 0437, with boots down in Nigeria by 0827 hrs. The site was completely destroyed by the time we arrived, but we found what cover we could as the first pod of Chryssalids came into view. Stiletto was the first to fire, managing to injure one of them, with Olu taking a shot immediately after, injuring a second. Donohue flashbanged the pod, which caused them to pause briefly in disorientation, allowing Fawkes and myself to maneuver and kill two of them. The last one, showing more self-preservation than we've previously seen from the bugs, fled into the line of fire from Mineral and Maschine, who put it down. Only seconds later, another pod of 'Lids charged Mustang. She let loose several hasty shots, but only managed to slow them down slightly, injuring one as she withdrew.
Olu followed up with a Rocket which seriously injured the pod, leaving Fawkes to bomb them into oblivion with an AP grenade. When there was no more immediate resistance, we advanced to locate civilians to evacuate. Stiletto made contact with a single drone, but did not manage to do more than graze it. This brought the Cyberdisc into the open, where it started to focus fire on her. The rest of the squad took shots at the Seeker that swooped over the wall, hitting it with several shots, but failing to stop it before it wrapped Markusova up. Faber didn't let that stick too long; She put the Seeker down from the back almost as soon as it got to Stiletto.
Markusova didn't rest long; Despite just having been choked by the Seeker, she drew her pistol and designated the Cyberdisc for Mineral. Unfortunately, it managed to jink aside as she cut loose with her cannon, completely avoiding damage. The rest of the squad, lacking a clean shot, held in place and waited for a target. Meanwhile, we could hear the X-Rays continue to make civilian casualties.
Colman took a second before firing another burst, and managed to nail the Disc head on, while Stiletto eliminated the Drone before it could move forward to support the Disc. Instead of advancing, the Disc continued to focus it's fire on Stiletto, who thankfully avoided it, and spanged a few pistol rounds off of it, which didn't seem to help the rest of the squad. Fortunately, Olu had been taking careful aim with his rocket, and managed an air-burst which badly damaged its armor, without seeming to slow it down any. Finally, Mustang took it down with a shotgun blast, freeing the squad to move.
Our line of advance didn't reveal any more X-Rays, but Fawkes did manage to direct two civilians back to the Skyranger, before I decided we needed to flex to the right. As soon as we redirected, A pod of Seekers jetted out from behind the ruins of the building. I managed to take the first down with a reaction shot, while Fawkes ran up and lobbed an AP grenade, damaging one and killing another. Leo took a few shots and managed to finish off the damaged Seeker before it could close further.
When Fawkes move to the left flank, he spooked three Thin Men into cover, though his HE grenade blew one of them out of cover before it had properly made it. Stiletto, waiting for a clean shot, finished the Thin Man off before it could recover. I moved up and managed to wing another as it peeked out from cover. When it tried to advance, Olu, from his elevated position, finished it off. Leo and Mineral managed to eliminate the last one as it tried a desperate charge into range.
We scouted the rest of the ruined district, but we managed to find no more civilian survivors. The only thing I was thankful for is that we didn't have to deal with any survivors that had been caught by Chryssalids. We evacuated the two survivors, and returned to HQ.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
o Friendly Forces
- LT Jared "Mercury" Houston (United States)
- SSG Spencer "Leo" Donohue (United States)
- SSG Ana Lucia "Mustang" Mardones (Ecuador)
- SGT Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SGT Lieselott "Maschine" Faber (Germany)
- SGT Sylas "Fawkes" Maillet (Canada)
- SGT Jirina "Stiletto" Markusova (Czech Republic)
- SPC Osazenomwan Olufunke (Nigeria)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Ogmobosho, Nigeria, 25 JUL 2016 @ 0605 hrs, IOT combat Alien Terror Attack.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
The Mission Alert came in at 0420 hrs. The squad was assembled and ready to roll by 0437, with boots down in Nigeria by 0827 hrs. The site was completely destroyed by the time we arrived, but we found what cover we could as the first pod of Chryssalids came into view. Stiletto was the first to fire, managing to injure one of them, with Olu taking a shot immediately after, injuring a second. Donohue flashbanged the pod, which caused them to pause briefly in disorientation, allowing Fawkes and myself to maneuver and kill two of them. The last one, showing more self-preservation than we've previously seen from the bugs, fled into the line of fire from Mineral and Maschine, who put it down. Only seconds later, another pod of 'Lids charged Mustang. She let loose several hasty shots, but only managed to slow them down slightly, injuring one as she withdrew.
Olu followed up with a Rocket which seriously injured the pod, leaving Fawkes to bomb them into oblivion with an AP grenade. When there was no more immediate resistance, we advanced to locate civilians to evacuate. Stiletto made contact with a single drone, but did not manage to do more than graze it. This brought the Cyberdisc into the open, where it started to focus fire on her. The rest of the squad took shots at the Seeker that swooped over the wall, hitting it with several shots, but failing to stop it before it wrapped Markusova up. Faber didn't let that stick too long; She put the Seeker down from the back almost as soon as it got to Stiletto.
Markusova didn't rest long; Despite just having been choked by the Seeker, she drew her pistol and designated the Cyberdisc for Mineral. Unfortunately, it managed to jink aside as she cut loose with her cannon, completely avoiding damage. The rest of the squad, lacking a clean shot, held in place and waited for a target. Meanwhile, we could hear the X-Rays continue to make civilian casualties.
Colman took a second before firing another burst, and managed to nail the Disc head on, while Stiletto eliminated the Drone before it could move forward to support the Disc. Instead of advancing, the Disc continued to focus it's fire on Stiletto, who thankfully avoided it, and spanged a few pistol rounds off of it, which didn't seem to help the rest of the squad. Fortunately, Olu had been taking careful aim with his rocket, and managed an air-burst which badly damaged its armor, without seeming to slow it down any. Finally, Mustang took it down with a shotgun blast, freeing the squad to move.
Our line of advance didn't reveal any more X-Rays, but Fawkes did manage to direct two civilians back to the Skyranger, before I decided we needed to flex to the right. As soon as we redirected, A pod of Seekers jetted out from behind the ruins of the building. I managed to take the first down with a reaction shot, while Fawkes ran up and lobbed an AP grenade, damaging one and killing another. Leo took a few shots and managed to finish off the damaged Seeker before it could close further.
When Fawkes move to the left flank, he spooked three Thin Men into cover, though his HE grenade blew one of them out of cover before it had properly made it. Stiletto, waiting for a clean shot, finished the Thin Man off before it could recover. I moved up and managed to wing another as it peeked out from cover. When it tried to advance, Olu, from his elevated position, finished it off. Leo and Mineral managed to eliminate the last one as it tried a desperate charge into range.
We scouted the rest of the ruined district, but we managed to find no more civilian survivors. The only thing I was thankful for is that we didn't have to deal with any survivors that had been caught by Chryssalids. We evacuated the two survivors, and returned to HQ.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Use of Cover and Terrain
- Explosives to control the fight
o Improve:
o Improve:
- Faster OPTEMPO could have saved lives
- Pre-Combat Checks on Equipment
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
OPERATION BROKEN CALM - AFTER ACTION REPORT (24 JUL 2016 @ 1254)
OPERATION BROKEN CALM - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: LT Naomi Bowden
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 5x Sectoids, 2x Seekers
o Friendly Forces
- LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
- SGT Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Beatrice "Preacher" Rydberg (Sweden)
- CPL Rainhard "Ogre" Horn (Austria)
- SPC Jermaine Glynn (United States)
- SPC Qutuz Safar (United Arab Emirates)
- SPC Joosef Hintikka (Finland)
- PFC Kaseem Quadri (Indonesia)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Marseille, France, 08 JUL 2016 @ 2301 hrs, IOT assist CO Markusova in protecting the transmission of EXALT Data to XCOM HQ.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 1229 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 1244, and we touched down in Arizona at 1254 hrs. We expected it to be blazing hot, based on the intel reports, but the sky was incredibly overcast, though it wasn't yet raining. It was still uncomfortably warm however, and it didn't take long to be drenched in sweat.
There was scant cover near the LZ, so I advanced my squad the best I could, and was able to get everyone to some sort of cover before Hintikka made contact with a pod of Sectoids. Glynn was able to zap one, which forced them to keep their heads down while the squad moved into killing formation and took two of them down, leaving the third to flee.
Hintikka advanced again, taking cover in front of a semi-truck, and spotted a pair of Seekers, which immediately advanced, snaking through the air and dodging our initial fire. From the back, Glynn managed to line up a shot and knocked one of the squiddies out of the sky. Hintikka drew his pistol and designated the second, lighting it up for Rydberg to blow to hell.
Our next bound forward revealed a live canister of meld. With no contact, I ordered Hintikka and Safar forward to keep eyes on it as the rest of the squad moved into position. Just then, we heard movement off to our right flank, and a pair of Sectoids came into sight, just as the Sectoid we'd scared off earlier came back, presumably to secure the meld before we reached it. Safar and I took reaction shots at the sectoids on our flank, managing to kill one.
PFC Quadri moved under cover and claimed the meld, spotting another in the distance, then lobbed an AP grenade at the Sectoid to his front, wounding it. Rydberg was perfectly positioned to eliminate the Sectoid on our right flank, and took the shot, putting it down for the count. Horn attempted to blow the Sectoid to our front out of cover, but his rocket went slightly astray. I drew a bead on the Sectoid, but ordered Beacon forward, holding my shot in reserve. She was able to finish off the X-Ray, after which point, we met with no further hostilities. We also managed to recover the second Meld canister, just before the rain started.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- High Operational Tempo
- Multiple shooter coverage
o Improve:
- Better Skyranger recon
- Calibrate weapon sights prior to mission
PREPARED BY: LT Naomi Bowden
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 5x Sectoids, 2x Seekers
o Friendly Forces
- LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
- SGT Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Beatrice "Preacher" Rydberg (Sweden)
- CPL Rainhard "Ogre" Horn (Austria)
- SPC Jermaine Glynn (United States)
- SPC Qutuz Safar (United Arab Emirates)
- SPC Joosef Hintikka (Finland)
- PFC Kaseem Quadri (Indonesia)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Marseille, France, 08 JUL 2016 @ 2301 hrs, IOT assist CO Markusova in protecting the transmission of EXALT Data to XCOM HQ.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 1229 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 1244, and we touched down in Arizona at 1254 hrs. We expected it to be blazing hot, based on the intel reports, but the sky was incredibly overcast, though it wasn't yet raining. It was still uncomfortably warm however, and it didn't take long to be drenched in sweat.
There was scant cover near the LZ, so I advanced my squad the best I could, and was able to get everyone to some sort of cover before Hintikka made contact with a pod of Sectoids. Glynn was able to zap one, which forced them to keep their heads down while the squad moved into killing formation and took two of them down, leaving the third to flee.
Hintikka advanced again, taking cover in front of a semi-truck, and spotted a pair of Seekers, which immediately advanced, snaking through the air and dodging our initial fire. From the back, Glynn managed to line up a shot and knocked one of the squiddies out of the sky. Hintikka drew his pistol and designated the second, lighting it up for Rydberg to blow to hell.
Our next bound forward revealed a live canister of meld. With no contact, I ordered Hintikka and Safar forward to keep eyes on it as the rest of the squad moved into position. Just then, we heard movement off to our right flank, and a pair of Sectoids came into sight, just as the Sectoid we'd scared off earlier came back, presumably to secure the meld before we reached it. Safar and I took reaction shots at the sectoids on our flank, managing to kill one.
PFC Quadri moved under cover and claimed the meld, spotting another in the distance, then lobbed an AP grenade at the Sectoid to his front, wounding it. Rydberg was perfectly positioned to eliminate the Sectoid on our right flank, and took the shot, putting it down for the count. Horn attempted to blow the Sectoid to our front out of cover, but his rocket went slightly astray. I drew a bead on the Sectoid, but ordered Beacon forward, holding my shot in reserve. She was able to finish off the X-Ray, after which point, we met with no further hostilities. We also managed to recover the second Meld canister, just before the rain started.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- High Operational Tempo
- Multiple shooter coverage
o Improve:
- Better Skyranger recon
- Calibrate weapon sights prior to mission
Friday, September 11, 2015
Gratitude (24 JUL 2016)
Constance woke slowly, as though rising from the lightless deeps of the ocean. The first thing she consciously noticed was how bright it was through her closed eyelids, and even through the fogginess of the drugs they were pumping into her system, she ached. The second thing she was conscious of was of the fingers wrapped loosely around her left hand. Groggily she pondered this, considered opening her eyes to see whose hand it was, but in the end it was too much trouble, and she slipped down once more into the darkness.
When she woke again later, the light seemed less intense, and her eyelids flickered open. It took several long seconds for her eyes to focus on the sterile ceiling above her, though the steady beeping from somewhere nearby still seemed to echo weirdly through the haze of anesthetics. After several more moments, Constance remembered how to move, and she gently squeezed the fingers that still grasped hers, before turning her head to look at the owner.
She was unsurprised to see Oskar's bed pushed close, his hand stretched out to grasp hers. He was asleep, his face relaxed artlessly, and his whole torso still swathed in a mass of bandages from his injuries of a month ago. She smiled gently, though even that bit of movement set off twinges; How long had she been out? For everything to feel this stiff, it was probably several days at least. She heard a quiet shuffle, and turned her head the other way to see a medic approaching her.
"Sergeant 1st Class Makhandule," said the medical officer as he approached. "You're finally awake." His address caused her to lift an eyebrow; She must have been promoted while she was under sedation. "How do you feel?" Constance considered the question before answering, idly noting the name tag that read "Medical Officer 3rd Class Lentz" on his chest.
"Sore, stiff," she replied after a minute. "Alive." It was the medic's turn to raise an eyebrow at her reply, and she smiled. She was alive. That was what counted. In the end, that was almost the only thing that mattered. "What happened? My memories are hazy right now."
"Well, the laser went straight through your chest, burned through a lung; Luckily it cauterized the wound, or you probably wouldn't have made it," his smile faded as he described her injuries. "It was touch and go, but we've managed to patch the lung as best as we're able; The rest will be on your body's ability to recuperate." He paused and looked at the chart that he'd picked up from the foot of her bed. "The flak from the rocket explosion was more problematic. It opened an artery on your cheek, and completely tore up your chest and abdomen. The blood loss, aggravated by your continued activity, was extreme, and there will be extensive scarring." Medical Officer Lentz's face was grave as he delivered the news, and Constance winced at the matter-of-fact description of the damage.
"Thank you," she said, and once again his eyes widened in surprise.
"Thank you?" he repeated uncertainly. "Why are you thanking me?"
"Thank you for being honest with me," she answered. "Thank you, and the rest of the medical staff, for my life."
"I expected you to be considerably more upset by the news," he admitted frankly. "Most troopers aren't happy to hear that they will carry extensive scarring for the rest of their lives, especially on their faces."
"I'm not happy either," she replied with that same serenity. "But what will getting angry do about it? Will it heal the scars? Will it bring back my lung capacity?" She shook her head, and smiled again, realizing now why it hurt to do so.
"Well, it might help with the lung capacity," he said with a fleeting smile, "though I'd refrain from yelling at medical staff until the mesh is fully healed." He shook his head, and returned the clipboard to its hook on the foot of her bed. "That's a surprisingly healthy outlook."
"When you have seen what I have seen," Constance explained, "you have a few choices before you. You can let it break you, you can let anger define you, or you can accept that there is evil in the world, strive to change what you can change, and be grateful for the good things that come your way." She paused to formulate her thoughts before continuing. "Today, I am alive. There are others who cannot say so. So I am grateful for what I have."
Before the medic could respond, the fingers wrapped loosely around hers twitched, and she heard Oskar stirring. She gave the medic a brief smile before turning to watch Oskar as he woke. His eyes opened, and she saw the startlingly blue-green eyes focus on her face, and he smiled sleepily. He was pale after a month in medbay, but all in all, he was looking good. Medics said he had another month at least, but she had a feeling he'd be up and about before they knew it.
"Connie," he said, his voice scratchy from his slumber. She wrinkled her nose, bringing another twinge of pain, then smiled. She hated the nickname really, but from Oskar, it wasn't so bad. He laced his fingers within hers, and scanned her face intently. She could see the small winces as he took in the bandaging on her cheek, and as his eyes trailed down her neck to the full cast that encased her chest, but he said nothing else for a moment.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked quietly.
"Nein," he replied. "Not really. Couldn't, until I knew you were okay." they laid quietly, their hands intertwined, for several minutes, with just the quiet hum of the machinery and the beeping of the monitors. Oskar finally broke the silence. "I thought I might lose you, when they brought you in. You... flatlined three times."
"It seems the medical staff earned their pay," she murmured back, gripping his hand tightly. "I'm still here." Bits and pieces of the mission were coming back; It had gone well, all things considered, but she knew she'd be out of action for a while. The very real concern she saw in Oskar's eyes told her just how close permanent retirement had been. "Besides," she continued, smiling though it ached, "I had to make it back. I couldn't let you have all the fun."
When she woke again later, the light seemed less intense, and her eyelids flickered open. It took several long seconds for her eyes to focus on the sterile ceiling above her, though the steady beeping from somewhere nearby still seemed to echo weirdly through the haze of anesthetics. After several more moments, Constance remembered how to move, and she gently squeezed the fingers that still grasped hers, before turning her head to look at the owner.
She was unsurprised to see Oskar's bed pushed close, his hand stretched out to grasp hers. He was asleep, his face relaxed artlessly, and his whole torso still swathed in a mass of bandages from his injuries of a month ago. She smiled gently, though even that bit of movement set off twinges; How long had she been out? For everything to feel this stiff, it was probably several days at least. She heard a quiet shuffle, and turned her head the other way to see a medic approaching her.
"Sergeant 1st Class Makhandule," said the medical officer as he approached. "You're finally awake." His address caused her to lift an eyebrow; She must have been promoted while she was under sedation. "How do you feel?" Constance considered the question before answering, idly noting the name tag that read "Medical Officer 3rd Class Lentz" on his chest.
"Sore, stiff," she replied after a minute. "Alive." It was the medic's turn to raise an eyebrow at her reply, and she smiled. She was alive. That was what counted. In the end, that was almost the only thing that mattered. "What happened? My memories are hazy right now."
"Well, the laser went straight through your chest, burned through a lung; Luckily it cauterized the wound, or you probably wouldn't have made it," his smile faded as he described her injuries. "It was touch and go, but we've managed to patch the lung as best as we're able; The rest will be on your body's ability to recuperate." He paused and looked at the chart that he'd picked up from the foot of her bed. "The flak from the rocket explosion was more problematic. It opened an artery on your cheek, and completely tore up your chest and abdomen. The blood loss, aggravated by your continued activity, was extreme, and there will be extensive scarring." Medical Officer Lentz's face was grave as he delivered the news, and Constance winced at the matter-of-fact description of the damage.
"Thank you," she said, and once again his eyes widened in surprise.
"Thank you?" he repeated uncertainly. "Why are you thanking me?"
"Thank you for being honest with me," she answered. "Thank you, and the rest of the medical staff, for my life."
"I expected you to be considerably more upset by the news," he admitted frankly. "Most troopers aren't happy to hear that they will carry extensive scarring for the rest of their lives, especially on their faces."
"I'm not happy either," she replied with that same serenity. "But what will getting angry do about it? Will it heal the scars? Will it bring back my lung capacity?" She shook her head, and smiled again, realizing now why it hurt to do so.
"Well, it might help with the lung capacity," he said with a fleeting smile, "though I'd refrain from yelling at medical staff until the mesh is fully healed." He shook his head, and returned the clipboard to its hook on the foot of her bed. "That's a surprisingly healthy outlook."
"When you have seen what I have seen," Constance explained, "you have a few choices before you. You can let it break you, you can let anger define you, or you can accept that there is evil in the world, strive to change what you can change, and be grateful for the good things that come your way." She paused to formulate her thoughts before continuing. "Today, I am alive. There are others who cannot say so. So I am grateful for what I have."
Before the medic could respond, the fingers wrapped loosely around hers twitched, and she heard Oskar stirring. She gave the medic a brief smile before turning to watch Oskar as he woke. His eyes opened, and she saw the startlingly blue-green eyes focus on her face, and he smiled sleepily. He was pale after a month in medbay, but all in all, he was looking good. Medics said he had another month at least, but she had a feeling he'd be up and about before they knew it.
"Connie," he said, his voice scratchy from his slumber. She wrinkled her nose, bringing another twinge of pain, then smiled. She hated the nickname really, but from Oskar, it wasn't so bad. He laced his fingers within hers, and scanned her face intently. She could see the small winces as he took in the bandaging on her cheek, and as his eyes trailed down her neck to the full cast that encased her chest, but he said nothing else for a moment.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked quietly.
"Nein," he replied. "Not really. Couldn't, until I knew you were okay." they laid quietly, their hands intertwined, for several minutes, with just the quiet hum of the machinery and the beeping of the monitors. Oskar finally broke the silence. "I thought I might lose you, when they brought you in. You... flatlined three times."
"It seems the medical staff earned their pay," she murmured back, gripping his hand tightly. "I'm still here." Bits and pieces of the mission were coming back; It had gone well, all things considered, but she knew she'd be out of action for a while. The very real concern she saw in Oskar's eyes told her just how close permanent retirement had been. "Besides," she continued, smiling though it ached, "I had to make it back. I couldn't let you have all the fun."
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
OPERATION PATIENT THUNDER - AFTER ACTION REPORT (21 JUL 2016 @ 0826)
OPERATION PATIENT THUNDER - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: SSG Constance Makhandule
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 16x EXALT Agents
o Friendly Forces
- SSG Constance "Deadbolt" Makhandule (South Africa)
- SSG Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan)
- SGT Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- CPL Anant "Rooftop" Dhalon (Pakistan)
o Covert Operative
- SPC Edward Dudek (Poland)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Argentina, 21 JUL 2016 @ 0826 hrs, IOT extract CO Dudek with EXALT Data.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 0655 hrs. The Skyranger was wheels up by 0714, and we touched ground at 0826 hrs in a trainyard in Argentina. We made contact with CO Dudek, who notified us that he needed to hack two more transponders before he was complete, but that EXALT had already moved into the area. I directed him to flex around the edges of the trainyard, and meet up with us, so that we could attack from the same direction.
As he moved toward us, we moved toward him, and spotted the first EXALT agent. Daiwa, in concealment took a shot and crippled him, leaving him vulnerable for me to finish off. When Dhalon advanced, he spotted another, and was able to put Zhu on target to take him down. When another pair of EXALT came into view from the trainyard interior, Zhu was able to put one of them down as well. When I advanced to get a better angle, I was spotted by a few other EXALT, who scattered to cover, leaving myself fairly exposed. To eliminate the biggest threat, Dhalon charged in and took him down. The remaining EXALT, caught off guard by our advanced, took one shot at Dhalon and pulled back to regroup.
One of them was foolish enough to take cover in a direct line from SGT Zhu, who ensured he'd never learn from the mistake. SSG Daiwa moved forward to the nearest transponder, drawing fire from a pair of EXALT, which cleared Dhalon to advanced and take down the sniper across the flatbed car, and me to move up and injure the other agent. He was still able to take a shot at Dhalon, but he reported no injury. I then advanced to nearby cover, but did not account for the sniper in the rear; I felt the bullet pass through my chest, and I had to crawl into cover.
Zhu and Daiwa reported black ammo, and Daiwa withdrew to reload, which left Dhalon to cover the center. he advanced and eliminated the injured EXALT, remaining in cover to hopefully dissuade any further advance. Dudek also linked up with us, and hunkered in cover near me, asking if I was good to continue the fight. Somehow, knowing I was injured, the EXALT fired on my position, but I avoided further injury hunkered by the cargo crate.
Daiwa and Zhu, reloaded, advanced to provide cover. I attempted to eliminate the two who had Dudek and myself pinned down with a rocket, but when the launcher kicked against my shoulder, I nearly dropped it, and the rocket went wide. Dhalon went after the sniper remaining on the right flank, taking a hit in the armor as he charged. Unfortunately, he only managed to wound him, when the sniper threw himself to the ground. Meanwhile, the EXALT on the left side continued to focus fire on my position.
Then I felt the heat as Zhu took a long shot directly over my head, through the train car, and eliminated the EXALT agent furthest back on the right side. Then Dudek rushed forward, disabled the transponder and shot the EXALT rocketeer at close range. Daiwa took this opportunity to meet me and provide first aid for my wounds. Feeling somewhat better, I took a shot and winged the wounded rocketeer. The EXALT withdrew, disoriented by the comms outage from the disabled transponder, as heavy reinforcements came in from an EXALT chopper.
Dhalon finally managed to catch the sniper in the open and put him down, clearing our right flank for now, and opening the path for Dudek to move to the second transponder, once the overwatching reinforcements were taken care of. In the meanwhile, he finished off the rocketeer he'd wounded. I took another shot at where the reinforcements were positioned on top of the train car with a Shredder Rocket. At the same time, Daiwa moved into the open to draw their fire, allowing CO Dudek to get clear and move toward the second transponder, before dropping back into cover.
As Dudek continued toward the second transponder, Dhalon did a scoot-and-shoot, throwing himself into the train car where one of the EXALT had taken cover, putting him down decisively. Daiwa moved onto the top of the train car to take a look, and spotted the other EXALT agent, eliminating him before he could get a shot off. Then Dudek reported that the second transponder was down, and we started to move back toward the LZ.
That was when I heard a warning beep from my rocket pack. I pulled a Shredder rocket and realized it had been damaged when I took that hit, and was about to detonate. I flung it as far as I could, but wasn't able to get completely out of range before it detonated, peppering me with flak. Only the painkillers from the medkit kept me upright.
Then EXALT reinforcements came in from our front, and rear flank. Zhu was able to take down one immediately, while Daiwa killed another. I ordered Dudek to get the data onto the Skyranger, and tried to get the squad back too, but we found ourselves surrounded on all sides. They started firing at me and Dhalon, pinning us down. I managed to make it to the Skyranger ramp, but was still in the open while the rest of the squad maneuvered in. I did not expect to survive.
The rest of the squad moved in as quickly and safely as they could, except for Dhalon, who opted for cover by superior firepower, shooting down the EXALT agent who tried to get into his way as he made a beeline for the LZ. I can only credit God that the sniper who had me pinned did not manage to hit me as they moved in. I also credit Daiwa, as he reached the LZ, for not giving the sniper another chance. I fired my last rocket at the remaining target, managing to catch him in the blast, though he was still moving. Then Zhu and Dhalon made it in, and I was unceremoniously scooped up and carried into the Skyranger before I passed out and woke in medbay.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Coordinated movement and fires
- Maintaining appropriate OPTEMPO
o Improve:
- Manage ammunition better
- Trust cover over divine intervention
PREPARED BY: SSG Constance Makhandule
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 16x EXALT Agents
o Friendly Forces
- SSG Constance "Deadbolt" Makhandule (South Africa)
- SSG Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan)
- SGT Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- CPL Anant "Rooftop" Dhalon (Pakistan)
o Covert Operative
- SPC Edward Dudek (Poland)
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Argentina, 21 JUL 2016 @ 0826 hrs, IOT extract CO Dudek with EXALT Data.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 0655 hrs. The Skyranger was wheels up by 0714, and we touched ground at 0826 hrs in a trainyard in Argentina. We made contact with CO Dudek, who notified us that he needed to hack two more transponders before he was complete, but that EXALT had already moved into the area. I directed him to flex around the edges of the trainyard, and meet up with us, so that we could attack from the same direction.
As he moved toward us, we moved toward him, and spotted the first EXALT agent. Daiwa, in concealment took a shot and crippled him, leaving him vulnerable for me to finish off. When Dhalon advanced, he spotted another, and was able to put Zhu on target to take him down. When another pair of EXALT came into view from the trainyard interior, Zhu was able to put one of them down as well. When I advanced to get a better angle, I was spotted by a few other EXALT, who scattered to cover, leaving myself fairly exposed. To eliminate the biggest threat, Dhalon charged in and took him down. The remaining EXALT, caught off guard by our advanced, took one shot at Dhalon and pulled back to regroup.
One of them was foolish enough to take cover in a direct line from SGT Zhu, who ensured he'd never learn from the mistake. SSG Daiwa moved forward to the nearest transponder, drawing fire from a pair of EXALT, which cleared Dhalon to advanced and take down the sniper across the flatbed car, and me to move up and injure the other agent. He was still able to take a shot at Dhalon, but he reported no injury. I then advanced to nearby cover, but did not account for the sniper in the rear; I felt the bullet pass through my chest, and I had to crawl into cover.
Zhu and Daiwa reported black ammo, and Daiwa withdrew to reload, which left Dhalon to cover the center. he advanced and eliminated the injured EXALT, remaining in cover to hopefully dissuade any further advance. Dudek also linked up with us, and hunkered in cover near me, asking if I was good to continue the fight. Somehow, knowing I was injured, the EXALT fired on my position, but I avoided further injury hunkered by the cargo crate.
Daiwa and Zhu, reloaded, advanced to provide cover. I attempted to eliminate the two who had Dudek and myself pinned down with a rocket, but when the launcher kicked against my shoulder, I nearly dropped it, and the rocket went wide. Dhalon went after the sniper remaining on the right flank, taking a hit in the armor as he charged. Unfortunately, he only managed to wound him, when the sniper threw himself to the ground. Meanwhile, the EXALT on the left side continued to focus fire on my position.
Then I felt the heat as Zhu took a long shot directly over my head, through the train car, and eliminated the EXALT agent furthest back on the right side. Then Dudek rushed forward, disabled the transponder and shot the EXALT rocketeer at close range. Daiwa took this opportunity to meet me and provide first aid for my wounds. Feeling somewhat better, I took a shot and winged the wounded rocketeer. The EXALT withdrew, disoriented by the comms outage from the disabled transponder, as heavy reinforcements came in from an EXALT chopper.
Dhalon finally managed to catch the sniper in the open and put him down, clearing our right flank for now, and opening the path for Dudek to move to the second transponder, once the overwatching reinforcements were taken care of. In the meanwhile, he finished off the rocketeer he'd wounded. I took another shot at where the reinforcements were positioned on top of the train car with a Shredder Rocket. At the same time, Daiwa moved into the open to draw their fire, allowing CO Dudek to get clear and move toward the second transponder, before dropping back into cover.
As Dudek continued toward the second transponder, Dhalon did a scoot-and-shoot, throwing himself into the train car where one of the EXALT had taken cover, putting him down decisively. Daiwa moved onto the top of the train car to take a look, and spotted the other EXALT agent, eliminating him before he could get a shot off. Then Dudek reported that the second transponder was down, and we started to move back toward the LZ.
That was when I heard a warning beep from my rocket pack. I pulled a Shredder rocket and realized it had been damaged when I took that hit, and was about to detonate. I flung it as far as I could, but wasn't able to get completely out of range before it detonated, peppering me with flak. Only the painkillers from the medkit kept me upright.
Then EXALT reinforcements came in from our front, and rear flank. Zhu was able to take down one immediately, while Daiwa killed another. I ordered Dudek to get the data onto the Skyranger, and tried to get the squad back too, but we found ourselves surrounded on all sides. They started firing at me and Dhalon, pinning us down. I managed to make it to the Skyranger ramp, but was still in the open while the rest of the squad maneuvered in. I did not expect to survive.
The rest of the squad moved in as quickly and safely as they could, except for Dhalon, who opted for cover by superior firepower, shooting down the EXALT agent who tried to get into his way as he made a beeline for the LZ. I can only credit God that the sniper who had me pinned did not manage to hit me as they moved in. I also credit Daiwa, as he reached the LZ, for not giving the sniper another chance. I fired my last rocket at the remaining target, managing to catch him in the blast, though he was still moving. Then Zhu and Dhalon made it in, and I was unceremoniously scooped up and carried into the Skyranger before I passed out and woke in medbay.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Coordinated movement and fires
- Maintaining appropriate OPTEMPO
o Improve:
- Manage ammunition better
- Trust cover over divine intervention
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
OPERATION LOST KING - AFTER ACTION REPORT (08 JUL 2016 @ 2301)
OPERATION LOST KING - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: LT Naomi Bowden
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
-
o Friendly Forces
- LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
- SSG Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan)
- SGT Spencer "Leo" Donohue (United States)
- SGT Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SGT Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- CPL Sylas "Fawkes" Maillet (Canada)
- PFC Osazenomwan Olufunke (Nigeria)
o Covert Operative
- CPL Jirina "Stiletto" Markusova
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Marseille, France, 08 JUL 2016 @ 2301 hrs, IOT assist CO Markusova in protecting the transmission of EXALT Data to XCOM HQ.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 2115 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 2129, and we touched down in France at 2301 hrs. Despite this being a Covert Op, the damage to the police station made it obvious that the alien occupation was not going easy on the country. We made contact with the operative, and staged our advance toward the Encoder while Stiletto, our Operative, moved to hack a nearby transponder.
We heard a helicopter as we entered the room where the Encoder was, but it was Lightning who first put eyes on the enemy; Two EXALT agents behind the building. They scattered to cover when they spotted Fawkes moving into the building. Meanwhile, Tu-Tu and I took up flanking positions at the front of the station lobby. Then Maillet fragged the EXALT and blew their cover away, opening them up for Leo and Lightning to eliminate two of them, while Fahey, dashing in from the back severely wounded the third and flushing him out, where she finished him off with a second blast. Meanwhile, CO Markusova finished hacking the transponder, disrupting EXALT communications.
One EXALT agent advanced too aggressively and took a shotgun blast from Beacon, and a followup from Fawkes put him down. On our side, I moved into the room and spotted an enemy through the back door, then ordered Zhu to take him out. Once that was done, I had Markusova join us on our side, as there was another transponder nearby. Then the EXALT made their move. The first to advance on the main squad was tagged, but not killed, by Leo. I snapped a shot through the backdoor when I saw movement, and managed to take down an enemy.
Then we heard the chopper moving in, as Central alerted us to heavy EXALT reinforcements to our rear and flank. Markusova dodged through the enemy lines of fire to hack the nearby transponder, and cripple the EXALT agent nearby with a point-blank shot from her laser pistol. We're unsure of why this seems to disrupt their ability to fight so thoroughly, but it saved lives just then. Zhu then took down the rocketeer to his immediate rear, and I eliminated the other with a couple of shots, leaving only the critically injured agent near the transponder.
Maillet, back on the right flank, lobbed a grenade at the advancing EXALT, killing both of them as they got close. Another pair of agents charged recklessly in. The first managed to dodge several shots before Mineral tore him to shreds, and the other ate the business end of Beacon's shotgun. Not content with one kill, she runs forward as Leo covers her with smoke, flanks and puts down another agent. On our left, Lightning comes to join us and finishes off the wounded EXALT, as Stiletto eliminates another reinforcement with her laser pistol.
The EXALT continue to show a reckless disregard for their own lives, rushing toward the Encoder. Fahey manages to wound two with snap shots from her shotgun as they close on her. Once again, we hear the chopper dropping reinforcements on the right flank. Zhu spots one of the new agents, and drops him before he can even get his bearing. Olufunke unlimbers his rocket, and yells at Fahey to get clear. She darts forward, rolling under reactive fire, and blows her attacker away, just as Olu's rocket splashes down and kills the two agents that Fahey had previously wounded.
At this point, we did not immediately meet any further resistance, though Central had reported more agents entering the AO. The squad searched around the building, including tossing out a Scanner, but initially found nothing. We were about to report negative contact, when an EXALT rocketeer dashed out of the shadows behind a large delivery truck, followed by another agent, both managing to avoid the startled reactive fire from Colman and Maillet. Maillet followed up with his last grenade, injuring them and blowing the rest of the wall. Fahey and Colman then finished off the shell-shocked and exposed agents.
A final sweep through the area revealed no further hostiles.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Split squad into fire teams
- Explosive shaping of the battlefield
o Improve:
- Never assume your rear is clear
- Judicious use of Scanners can shorten a long engagement
PREPARED BY: LT Naomi Bowden
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
-
o Friendly Forces
- LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
- SSG Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan)
- SGT Spencer "Leo" Donohue (United States)
- SGT Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SGT Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- CPL Sylas "Fawkes" Maillet (Canada)
- PFC Osazenomwan Olufunke (Nigeria)
o Covert Operative
- CPL Jirina "Stiletto" Markusova
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to Marseille, France, 08 JUL 2016 @ 2301 hrs, IOT assist CO Markusova in protecting the transmission of EXALT Data to XCOM HQ.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 2115 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 2129, and we touched down in France at 2301 hrs. Despite this being a Covert Op, the damage to the police station made it obvious that the alien occupation was not going easy on the country. We made contact with the operative, and staged our advance toward the Encoder while Stiletto, our Operative, moved to hack a nearby transponder.
We heard a helicopter as we entered the room where the Encoder was, but it was Lightning who first put eyes on the enemy; Two EXALT agents behind the building. They scattered to cover when they spotted Fawkes moving into the building. Meanwhile, Tu-Tu and I took up flanking positions at the front of the station lobby. Then Maillet fragged the EXALT and blew their cover away, opening them up for Leo and Lightning to eliminate two of them, while Fahey, dashing in from the back severely wounded the third and flushing him out, where she finished him off with a second blast. Meanwhile, CO Markusova finished hacking the transponder, disrupting EXALT communications.
One EXALT agent advanced too aggressively and took a shotgun blast from Beacon, and a followup from Fawkes put him down. On our side, I moved into the room and spotted an enemy through the back door, then ordered Zhu to take him out. Once that was done, I had Markusova join us on our side, as there was another transponder nearby. Then the EXALT made their move. The first to advance on the main squad was tagged, but not killed, by Leo. I snapped a shot through the backdoor when I saw movement, and managed to take down an enemy.
Then we heard the chopper moving in, as Central alerted us to heavy EXALT reinforcements to our rear and flank. Markusova dodged through the enemy lines of fire to hack the nearby transponder, and cripple the EXALT agent nearby with a point-blank shot from her laser pistol. We're unsure of why this seems to disrupt their ability to fight so thoroughly, but it saved lives just then. Zhu then took down the rocketeer to his immediate rear, and I eliminated the other with a couple of shots, leaving only the critically injured agent near the transponder.
Maillet, back on the right flank, lobbed a grenade at the advancing EXALT, killing both of them as they got close. Another pair of agents charged recklessly in. The first managed to dodge several shots before Mineral tore him to shreds, and the other ate the business end of Beacon's shotgun. Not content with one kill, she runs forward as Leo covers her with smoke, flanks and puts down another agent. On our left, Lightning comes to join us and finishes off the wounded EXALT, as Stiletto eliminates another reinforcement with her laser pistol.
The EXALT continue to show a reckless disregard for their own lives, rushing toward the Encoder. Fahey manages to wound two with snap shots from her shotgun as they close on her. Once again, we hear the chopper dropping reinforcements on the right flank. Zhu spots one of the new agents, and drops him before he can even get his bearing. Olufunke unlimbers his rocket, and yells at Fahey to get clear. She darts forward, rolling under reactive fire, and blows her attacker away, just as Olu's rocket splashes down and kills the two agents that Fahey had previously wounded.
At this point, we did not immediately meet any further resistance, though Central had reported more agents entering the AO. The squad searched around the building, including tossing out a Scanner, but initially found nothing. We were about to report negative contact, when an EXALT rocketeer dashed out of the shadows behind a large delivery truck, followed by another agent, both managing to avoid the startled reactive fire from Colman and Maillet. Maillet followed up with his last grenade, injuring them and blowing the rest of the wall. Fahey and Colman then finished off the shell-shocked and exposed agents.
A final sweep through the area revealed no further hostiles.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Split squad into fire teams
- Explosive shaping of the battlefield
o Improve:
- Never assume your rear is clear
- Judicious use of Scanners can shorten a long engagement
Monday, August 31, 2015
Butter Bar Blues (06 JUL 2016)
Naomi and Jared sat together on the love seat in the farthest corner of the day room. They'd been talking all night, occasionally laughing, as they shared stories of their fallen comrades. Jade had been with them until about an hour ago, and for the last ten minutes, neither of them had spoken. They'd broken out the whiskey again, as they always did after a death, but the buzz was long faded, and they just sat in silence.
"It hurts," Naomi said finally, breaking into the stillness. "Doesn't it?" Jared just nodded numbly, his eyes far away. She knew exactly what he was thinking, feeling, as it had only been a week since CPL Cable had died on her watch. It had been her first mission after her promotion, too. She'd heard it whispered about as the Curse of the Butter Bar; Only LT Lindemann had managed to lead his first mission as a Lieutenant without any casualties.
"Was it your fault?" She asked the question, knowing it would hurt, and wasn't surprised when she saw him flinch and tense up. She knew the answer, of course, but she also knew that he'd be blaming himself. She waited for him to answer.
"Allah help me," he whispered at last. "I don't know." He leaned back on the couch, bringing his hands up to wipe at his face in frustration. "I've been replaying it all, ever since then. I didn't know that Bombshell's cover had been blown inside the building. I feel like I should have known, but I didn't. Carter though..." He trailed off, and stared at the ceiling. "He was a volunteer, did you know? He told me how he'd raised hell when the news reports starting coming in about the attacks, about how they should be doing something. Eventually, he got mysterious transfer orders, and was only told where he was going when he was already en route." Jared grinned hollowly as he spoke.
"I know," Naomi replied. "I spoke to him when he arrived, gave him a bit of a tour." Jared nodded, remembering that he was her countryman. "He was just so excited when he realized what we were up against. Kid wasn't even twenty, and nothing scared him."
"That's the honest truth," Jared agreed. "He told me that he had a clear line on the Cyberdisc, and he knew he could take it down. Hintikka reported that he didn't see anything else in the vicinity, so I gave him the go-ahead." He sighed, dropping his eyes from the ceiling, meeting her gaze for half a second before looking down into the hands he'd folded in his lap. "It was only after he'd reported the Disc going down that anyone saw the Drones move in."
"So you made the best decision you could, based on the information you had?" she asked gently. Jared looked up at her sharply, but after a moment of tense eye contact, he let out his breath in a gust, and looked away. "Merc', you know that leaving the Cyberdisc operational any longer than necessary would have put the whole squad in danger. He probably saved other lives by taking it down."
"I know," he admitted. "But seriously, two? No one else has lost two troopers, and this wasn't even that intense of a mission. It wasn't an assault cruiser flying through the sky, or anything." His voice was bitter, and she heard the thickness of tears in his throat.
"Lorena wasn't your fault," Naomi said. "She was my friend, and I loved her, but she was also a veteran who knew what she was doing. She took a risk, and it didn't pay off for her. She was strong enough to take responsibility for her own choices. Don't take that away from her by blaming yourself."
"It's just... It's getting harder, isn't it?" Jared met her eyes firmly, and she could see the worry in them. "Mistakes are costing more, the stakes are getting higher. We're seeing new threats we've not seen, and I don't think we've even begun to see what they've got." Naomi nodded quietly, as she'd had some of the same worries. "Can we even win this fight?"
"Of course we can. Yeah, we've lost a bunch of our friends, our brothers and sisters, but look at how far we've come. I agree that it's just going to get harder as the fight goes along, but we're going to win. This isn't a couple of nations disputing a border, or foreign policy. This is an enemy from behind the stars, and they've come to try to take the lives and freedom of every human on the planet." Naomi reached across and covered Jared's clasped hands, and squeezed. After a moment, he squeezed back and smiled a little. "We will win this fight, Jared. We'll win because we have to."
"It hurts," Naomi said finally, breaking into the stillness. "Doesn't it?" Jared just nodded numbly, his eyes far away. She knew exactly what he was thinking, feeling, as it had only been a week since CPL Cable had died on her watch. It had been her first mission after her promotion, too. She'd heard it whispered about as the Curse of the Butter Bar; Only LT Lindemann had managed to lead his first mission as a Lieutenant without any casualties.
"Was it your fault?" She asked the question, knowing it would hurt, and wasn't surprised when she saw him flinch and tense up. She knew the answer, of course, but she also knew that he'd be blaming himself. She waited for him to answer.
"Allah help me," he whispered at last. "I don't know." He leaned back on the couch, bringing his hands up to wipe at his face in frustration. "I've been replaying it all, ever since then. I didn't know that Bombshell's cover had been blown inside the building. I feel like I should have known, but I didn't. Carter though..." He trailed off, and stared at the ceiling. "He was a volunteer, did you know? He told me how he'd raised hell when the news reports starting coming in about the attacks, about how they should be doing something. Eventually, he got mysterious transfer orders, and was only told where he was going when he was already en route." Jared grinned hollowly as he spoke.
"I know," Naomi replied. "I spoke to him when he arrived, gave him a bit of a tour." Jared nodded, remembering that he was her countryman. "He was just so excited when he realized what we were up against. Kid wasn't even twenty, and nothing scared him."
"That's the honest truth," Jared agreed. "He told me that he had a clear line on the Cyberdisc, and he knew he could take it down. Hintikka reported that he didn't see anything else in the vicinity, so I gave him the go-ahead." He sighed, dropping his eyes from the ceiling, meeting her gaze for half a second before looking down into the hands he'd folded in his lap. "It was only after he'd reported the Disc going down that anyone saw the Drones move in."
"So you made the best decision you could, based on the information you had?" she asked gently. Jared looked up at her sharply, but after a moment of tense eye contact, he let out his breath in a gust, and looked away. "Merc', you know that leaving the Cyberdisc operational any longer than necessary would have put the whole squad in danger. He probably saved other lives by taking it down."
"I know," he admitted. "But seriously, two? No one else has lost two troopers, and this wasn't even that intense of a mission. It wasn't an assault cruiser flying through the sky, or anything." His voice was bitter, and she heard the thickness of tears in his throat.
"Lorena wasn't your fault," Naomi said. "She was my friend, and I loved her, but she was also a veteran who knew what she was doing. She took a risk, and it didn't pay off for her. She was strong enough to take responsibility for her own choices. Don't take that away from her by blaming yourself."
"It's just... It's getting harder, isn't it?" Jared met her eyes firmly, and she could see the worry in them. "Mistakes are costing more, the stakes are getting higher. We're seeing new threats we've not seen, and I don't think we've even begun to see what they've got." Naomi nodded quietly, as she'd had some of the same worries. "Can we even win this fight?"
"Of course we can. Yeah, we've lost a bunch of our friends, our brothers and sisters, but look at how far we've come. I agree that it's just going to get harder as the fight goes along, but we're going to win. This isn't a couple of nations disputing a border, or foreign policy. This is an enemy from behind the stars, and they've come to try to take the lives and freedom of every human on the planet." Naomi reached across and covered Jared's clasped hands, and squeezed. After a moment, he squeezed back and smiled a little. "We will win this fight, Jared. We'll win because we have to."
Monday, July 13, 2015
OPERATION SOARING SLEEP - AFTER ACTION REPORT (01 JUL 2016 @ 0202)
WAS TO HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED WITH PART 2 OF GANGPLANK;
Sorry folks, I suck. I'll get it done, though!
Sorry folks, I suck. I'll get it done, though!
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
What's in a Name? (29 JUN 2016)
The chow hall was crowded, as it usually was on "sectoid fingers" night. Private First Class Jermaine Glynn hated the nickname, since it reminded him of Ox, but he never missed it. He loved spaghetti. He grinned at the cook and gave him the "keep it coming" gesture until his plate was nearly overflowing, then slid down a bit, snagged a couple slices of garlic bread, and picked up his tray.
Turning, he looked out over the packed room, looking for a spot to sit down. He saw a seat come open and hurried over, sliding into it and dropping his tray hard enough to make the silverware clatter. Across the table, the Chinese Corporal looked up, met his eyes and nodded. Glynn recognized him, and nodded back.
"I know you, I think," he said as he picked up his fork, twirling some spaghetti around it. "Corporal Zhu, right?" The Corporal glanced down at his name tape, raised an eyebrow, and swallowed the food in his mouth.
"What gave me away?" he said, the accent thick, but understandable. Glynn flushed a little bit and shoved the bite of spaghetti into his mouth instead of retorting. No matter what rank he'd held before joining XCOM, here he was just a Private, and Privates didn't mouth off to Corporals.
"I've seen you around the Bs," he replied once he was done chewing. "De Abreu said you were on his last mission." The Corporal nodded.
"I remember him," he said. "Good engineer, opened a wall so we could get eyes on the fight inside a building."
"You're a sniper too, yeah?" Glynn wasted no time on his spaghetti, taking large bites between speaking. Corporal Zhu was nearly done, but did not seem to feel the same urgency.
"Shi De," Zhu said with a nod. "Yes, I should say."
"You mind if I ask you a personal question?" Glynn inquired, setting his fork down for a moment. When the Chinese trooper nodded again, he continued. "Why do they call you Tu-Tu?"
"Oh. That." Zhu lowered his face for a second, then looked back up, a slight color coming to his cheeks. "It is a bit of a story."
"I don't mind, if you don't," replied Glynn. Honestly, the question had been on his mind ever since de Abreu had told him.
"Well, it was after Operation Lone Line, a week or two ago. We were talking about where we'd been, what we'd done before joining the military." Zhu took a moment to drain the glass of juice before continuing. Glynn polished off the second piece of garlic bread, and listened. "Prior to joining the People's Republic Army, I'd been trained as a dancer. My mother and father were very proud, as I'd been accepted into the best academy in China."
"You went to dance school?" Glynn sputtered. When the Corporal gave him a look, he subsided.
"Yes, and no," the Chinese man answered. "I trained at a studio through school, but when I received the acceptance letter from the Academy, I announced to my parents that I was enlisting in the People's Republic Army."
"You didn't like dancing, then?" Glynn interjected, finishing his meal with the tall glass of milk, then leaning on one elbow as the Corporal answered.
"I loved it," he said. "I was talented at it, and I would have been great, I think."
"So why did you join the Army?"
"Because I'd lived my whole life for my parents' dream for me," Zhu explained. "I wanted to make a choice for myself. Joining the Army wasn't my dream, but it was the only choice I could make that would not dishonor my family."
"I can understand that," Glynn said, nodding. "I grew up in a rough neighborhood, had a lot of run-ins with the cops. I joined the Navy to get away from that life, but all of my friends thought I was a chump. I just didn't want to keep going down the path I saw ahead of me." Zhu nodded in return, and started to gather his tray. "So, they call you Tu-Tu 'cause you're a dancer?"
"Yes," the Corporal replied. It was Fahey's idea, apparently she thought it funny." The Corporal chuckled lightly as he started to rise. At Glynn's raised eyebrow, he explained. "She did not think it quite so funny when Lieutenant Bowden, then just a Corporal, pointed out that Fahey's laugh would draw Thin Men like a beacon."
Glynn laughed and shook his head as he gathered up his own tray and stood. He was sure he'd garner a nickname as well, since it appeared to be the way the troopers of XCOM operated. He just hoped his story would be nearly as interesting.
Turning, he looked out over the packed room, looking for a spot to sit down. He saw a seat come open and hurried over, sliding into it and dropping his tray hard enough to make the silverware clatter. Across the table, the Chinese Corporal looked up, met his eyes and nodded. Glynn recognized him, and nodded back.
"I know you, I think," he said as he picked up his fork, twirling some spaghetti around it. "Corporal Zhu, right?" The Corporal glanced down at his name tape, raised an eyebrow, and swallowed the food in his mouth.
"What gave me away?" he said, the accent thick, but understandable. Glynn flushed a little bit and shoved the bite of spaghetti into his mouth instead of retorting. No matter what rank he'd held before joining XCOM, here he was just a Private, and Privates didn't mouth off to Corporals.
"I've seen you around the Bs," he replied once he was done chewing. "De Abreu said you were on his last mission." The Corporal nodded.
"I remember him," he said. "Good engineer, opened a wall so we could get eyes on the fight inside a building."
"You're a sniper too, yeah?" Glynn wasted no time on his spaghetti, taking large bites between speaking. Corporal Zhu was nearly done, but did not seem to feel the same urgency.
"Shi De," Zhu said with a nod. "Yes, I should say."
"You mind if I ask you a personal question?" Glynn inquired, setting his fork down for a moment. When the Chinese trooper nodded again, he continued. "Why do they call you Tu-Tu?"
"Oh. That." Zhu lowered his face for a second, then looked back up, a slight color coming to his cheeks. "It is a bit of a story."
"I don't mind, if you don't," replied Glynn. Honestly, the question had been on his mind ever since de Abreu had told him.
"Well, it was after Operation Lone Line, a week or two ago. We were talking about where we'd been, what we'd done before joining the military." Zhu took a moment to drain the glass of juice before continuing. Glynn polished off the second piece of garlic bread, and listened. "Prior to joining the People's Republic Army, I'd been trained as a dancer. My mother and father were very proud, as I'd been accepted into the best academy in China."
"You went to dance school?" Glynn sputtered. When the Corporal gave him a look, he subsided.
"Yes, and no," the Chinese man answered. "I trained at a studio through school, but when I received the acceptance letter from the Academy, I announced to my parents that I was enlisting in the People's Republic Army."
"You didn't like dancing, then?" Glynn interjected, finishing his meal with the tall glass of milk, then leaning on one elbow as the Corporal answered.
"I loved it," he said. "I was talented at it, and I would have been great, I think."
"So why did you join the Army?"
"Because I'd lived my whole life for my parents' dream for me," Zhu explained. "I wanted to make a choice for myself. Joining the Army wasn't my dream, but it was the only choice I could make that would not dishonor my family."
"I can understand that," Glynn said, nodding. "I grew up in a rough neighborhood, had a lot of run-ins with the cops. I joined the Navy to get away from that life, but all of my friends thought I was a chump. I just didn't want to keep going down the path I saw ahead of me." Zhu nodded in return, and started to gather his tray. "So, they call you Tu-Tu 'cause you're a dancer?"
"Yes," the Corporal replied. It was Fahey's idea, apparently she thought it funny." The Corporal chuckled lightly as he started to rise. At Glynn's raised eyebrow, he explained. "She did not think it quite so funny when Lieutenant Bowden, then just a Corporal, pointed out that Fahey's laugh would draw Thin Men like a beacon."
Glynn laughed and shook his head as he gathered up his own tray and stood. He was sure he'd garner a nickname as well, since it appeared to be the way the troopers of XCOM operated. He just hoped his story would be nearly as interesting.
Monday, July 6, 2015
OPERATION FLYING HYMN - AFTER ACTION REPORT (29 JUN 2016 @ 0316)
OPERATION FLYING HYMN - AFTER ACTION REPORT
PREPARED BY: LT Naomi Bowden
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 8x Thin Men, 2x Seekers, 2x Mutons, armed with Plasma Weapons
o Friendly Forces
- LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
- SGT Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SGT Monica "Alpha" de Matos (Brazil)
- SGT Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan)
- CPL Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- CPL Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Tegan "Cable" Reed (United Kingdom) - KIA
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to China, 29 JUN 2016 @ 0316 hrs, IOT plant transponders and redirect the X-Ray Assault Cruiser.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 0045 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 0108, and we touched down in China at 0316 hrs. We received word upon getting into the train station that the Cruiser was inbound, and that we didn't have much time. We moved into position near the back of the train, with CPL Zhu set to provide cover the length of the train. He was the first to get eyes on the enemy, and put down the Seeker as it moved toward the squad.
SGT Daiwa moved to the first designated location, and placed a transponder. The rest of the squad moved into the train, and I fired upon the Thin Man. When it moved to avoid further fire, SGT Daiwa finished it off. Then he advanced up the train toward the next designated point, where he spotted several Thin Men and a Seeker, which he reported went immediately into stealth mode as the Thin Men scattered.
CPL Zhu had eyes on, and managed to put one of the Thin Men down instantly. On the other side of the train, CPL Fahey charged forward and put down the only Thin Man to cross over. SGT Daiwa provided cover for Fahey by critically wounding the Thin Man on her flank, while SGT Colman critically wounded another, on the far edge of the station. The X-Rays returned fire, and CPL Reed managed to wing the Seeker as it came out of hiding and grabbed Fahey. However, she exposed herself to do so, and a Thin Man burst into the train and put her on the ground with a plasma burst that burned through her chestplate.
SGT Colman put a burst into the Seeker on CPL Fahey (further padding her reputation as a Seeker-bane) while de Matos moved to check on Reed, and get her back on her feet. Daiwa managed to wing the Thin Man up ahead in the train, which I followed up and destroyed. CPL Reed, back on her feet but still seriously wounded, moved to cover, but didn't quite make it before another Thin Man fired and put her down again. De Matos, preparing to move to her side again, was taken by surprise by a Muton from the next set of tracks. Her injury was severe, and she fell to the ground, screaming for several seconds. Fahey moved up and planted another transponder, while Zhu provided cover, and blew the Muton's head into a greenish mist. The rest of the team was shaken, and was less successful in their counter-attacks.
Two Thin Men fired on the prone de Matos, which seemed to snap her out of her panic. While she gathered herself and moved to check on Reed, Daiwa spotted another Muton that appeared to be teleported in. He charged forward to draw it's fire, and landed a solid, but non-critical hit on it. Colman finally managed to get into a position to kill the Thin Man that killed Reed, and Zhu managed to finish off the other one. After confirming that Reed was dead, de Matos crawled to the nearby designated point, and planted a transponder, and managed to provide self-aid. No one has a solid shot on the Muton, so the squad advances under cover, as de Matos manages to dodge yet another shot.
Advancing to the next transponder location, Daiwa gets eyes on two more Thin Men. He quickly plants the transponder, while Fahey charges up, hops the railing and blows the muton into the planter behind it. Daiwa, complete with the transponder, puts a bullet into one of the Thin Men.
Zhu reported movement to the squad's rear, but did not have a clear shot. I peeled Fahey and Colman off to support Zhu while de Matos moves up to start the train running, now that all transponders have been emplaced.
I order the squad off the train and we maneuver to eliminate the rest of the X-Rays, but apparently with the train gone, their command ordered them to exfiltrate. We did not encounter any further resistance as we cleared the station, so we collected CPL Reed, and returned to the Skyranger for our own exfiltration.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Sniper support and overwatch
- Tactical momentum
o Improve:
- Insufficient use of cover
- Unfocused fires
PREPARED BY: LT Naomi Bowden
SITUATION
o Enemy Forces:
- 8x Thin Men, 2x Seekers, 2x Mutons, armed with Plasma Weapons
o Friendly Forces
- LT Naomi "Artemis" Bowden (United Kingdom)
- SGT Jade "Mineral" Colman (United Kingdom)
- SGT Monica "Alpha" de Matos (Brazil)
- SGT Shousei "Lightning" Daiwa (Japan)
- CPL Wushun "Tu-Tu" Zhu (China)
- CPL Leigh "Beacon" Fahey (United States)
- CPL Tegan "Cable" Reed (United Kingdom) - KIA
MISSION
o Strike Team deploys to China, 29 JUN 2016 @ 0316 hrs, IOT plant transponders and redirect the X-Ray Assault Cruiser.
EXECUTION NARRATIVE
We received the Mission Alert at 0045 hrs. The squad was assembled in the Skyranger by 0108, and we touched down in China at 0316 hrs. We received word upon getting into the train station that the Cruiser was inbound, and that we didn't have much time. We moved into position near the back of the train, with CPL Zhu set to provide cover the length of the train. He was the first to get eyes on the enemy, and put down the Seeker as it moved toward the squad.
SGT Daiwa moved to the first designated location, and placed a transponder. The rest of the squad moved into the train, and I fired upon the Thin Man. When it moved to avoid further fire, SGT Daiwa finished it off. Then he advanced up the train toward the next designated point, where he spotted several Thin Men and a Seeker, which he reported went immediately into stealth mode as the Thin Men scattered.
CPL Zhu had eyes on, and managed to put one of the Thin Men down instantly. On the other side of the train, CPL Fahey charged forward and put down the only Thin Man to cross over. SGT Daiwa provided cover for Fahey by critically wounding the Thin Man on her flank, while SGT Colman critically wounded another, on the far edge of the station. The X-Rays returned fire, and CPL Reed managed to wing the Seeker as it came out of hiding and grabbed Fahey. However, she exposed herself to do so, and a Thin Man burst into the train and put her on the ground with a plasma burst that burned through her chestplate.
SGT Colman put a burst into the Seeker on CPL Fahey (further padding her reputation as a Seeker-bane) while de Matos moved to check on Reed, and get her back on her feet. Daiwa managed to wing the Thin Man up ahead in the train, which I followed up and destroyed. CPL Reed, back on her feet but still seriously wounded, moved to cover, but didn't quite make it before another Thin Man fired and put her down again. De Matos, preparing to move to her side again, was taken by surprise by a Muton from the next set of tracks. Her injury was severe, and she fell to the ground, screaming for several seconds. Fahey moved up and planted another transponder, while Zhu provided cover, and blew the Muton's head into a greenish mist. The rest of the team was shaken, and was less successful in their counter-attacks.
Two Thin Men fired on the prone de Matos, which seemed to snap her out of her panic. While she gathered herself and moved to check on Reed, Daiwa spotted another Muton that appeared to be teleported in. He charged forward to draw it's fire, and landed a solid, but non-critical hit on it. Colman finally managed to get into a position to kill the Thin Man that killed Reed, and Zhu managed to finish off the other one. After confirming that Reed was dead, de Matos crawled to the nearby designated point, and planted a transponder, and managed to provide self-aid. No one has a solid shot on the Muton, so the squad advances under cover, as de Matos manages to dodge yet another shot.
Advancing to the next transponder location, Daiwa gets eyes on two more Thin Men. He quickly plants the transponder, while Fahey charges up, hops the railing and blows the muton into the planter behind it. Daiwa, complete with the transponder, puts a bullet into one of the Thin Men.
Zhu reported movement to the squad's rear, but did not have a clear shot. I peeled Fahey and Colman off to support Zhu while de Matos moves up to start the train running, now that all transponders have been emplaced.
I order the squad off the train and we maneuver to eliminate the rest of the X-Rays, but apparently with the train gone, their command ordered them to exfiltrate. We did not encounter any further resistance as we cleared the station, so we collected CPL Reed, and returned to the Skyranger for our own exfiltration.
LESSONS LEARNED
o Sustain:
- Sniper support and overwatch
- Tactical momentum
o Improve:
- Insufficient use of cover
- Unfocused fires
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)