X-Com's Finest (An X-Com 2 play through)

Operation Gasping Shroud

***

The braniac watched the scenery go by. In an hour or so, they would finally have their missing ship back in possession. This ship had presented no end of trouble and a demotion, or two, but that would finally come to an end. He would see this silly rebellion destroyed. And in the process, maybe some people would forget how he accidentally left the keys in the ignition for the rebellion to find....

His minion walked up to him. "News Your Exactledness. Your plan is working perfectly! The rebels are being forced to land, and when they do, your forces will surround and destroy them!"

"Excellent." There was a short thoughtful pause as the alien reveled in being right..for once. "Tell me Costrix, how many troops do we have on the ground there?"

The grunt known as Costrix paused before replying, "Your Worhsipfullness, we should have a few mind melders, a few beserkers, several muton grunts, and half a dozen soldiers of various kinds."

"And how many reinforcements do we have incoming?"

"How many would you like Your Grand Alienness?"

"Excellent."

"Should I summon all the warriors to mass and attack as soon as the ship lands Sire?"

"No, I want these humans to suffer slowly and painfully. Go ahead and spread out our forces into groups of three or four. Send our reinforcements in at a predictable but steady rate. That way, the humans will tremble with fear at their inevitable defeat!" The braniac held his fist up high in triumph.

Costrix paused. "Wouldn't a single glorious slaughter when the ship lands be just as compelling Your Mightiness?"

"You have much to learn slug. Much to learn..."

Costrix bowed his head and turned to the monitor to watch the inevitable victory by the alien forces.

***

Pubentz couldn't believe her luck! Sure the Avenger had all been shot down, sure they were likely being tracked by alien forces, sure they were about to be in for the fight of their lives, BUT SHE WAS OUT OF MED-BAY!

It had taken a miracle, a literal miracle to get her out of the clutches of the doctor. But somebody, somewhere had listened to her prayers, and she was out!

She looked around. She was in a very defensible position with a solid team, Gunner, Ranger, Zalewski, Campbell, and SPARK. They had already taken down the welcoming party, a codex and a pair of grunts with little real effort.

They had landed on a plateau. A small strip of land oversaw the lands around them, and somewhere up ahead lie the pulse generator that was keeping the Avenger on the ground. It was also giving her a pounding headache. She sure wasn't going to tell the doctor.

With the path clear, she dashed forward to a nearby tree to get a better look of the land. She saw more open land beside her including some more contestants of "Who Wants to Die?" There was more plateau ahead of her but she still didn't see the generator. Ahead of her, SPARK continued forward, and the ominous electronic "Additional Targets Identified" made her groan inwardly. It was still better than being in Med-Bay...

***

"YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS WITHOUT ME!"

Bomber Van Dyke ran into position along the firing line and the enemies started falling. There were quite a few, but the firing line that had been established was a very strong one. Enemies that showed themselves tended to die, one after another including a rather nasty scuffle when Zalewski shoved his brain sucker into one of the grunts. That was pretty cool. No matter what the Ranger said, Zalewski still did a better job of the hacking thing than he did. The current wave had been halted except for a single lancer. Those things were always irritating.