81st Mission: Firefight in Switzerland
The ASIA COM Skyranger soars west over Eastern Europe, its destination today a high field in northern Switzerland. The men are itching for action, but today’s target, a small, crash-landed UFO, may not provide much of a fight for this highly experienced crew. Our only rookie is 3ric IV; otherwise, every other agent on board has a kill and multiple- mission experience.
Jeff Nights II has seniority over Qwikshot II, and therefore will lead our forces today.
After a short while, the green light goes on and the Skyranger begins its descent through the mountains of Switzerland to the early morning countryside below.
Our troops today:
Left Side:
1. Render II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Rich (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
3. Jeff Nights II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Danny Van Halen (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Fonzie II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
Right Side:
1. Split Personality III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Zippy II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. 3ric IV (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Qwikshot II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Condors II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
The Skyranger begins its vertical descent to the battlefield below. The men scan the farmland below, and immediately pick out the smoking remains of the UFO. It’s a cross-shaped scout, which usually holds a half dozen aliens or so. We’ll be landing about 50 yards to the craft’s west. Except for the UFO, we see no other buildings or obstacles: in all directions, it’s just the standard fare of fences, fields, and stone walls. The area to the left of the Skyranger exit is secure ground, however, so we can safely ignore that side of our craft.
The Skyranger drops the final meters and touches ground. The ramp falls away with a dull thud. All is quiet. Cool fall air wafts into the Skyranger bay.
Our tank heads onto the ramp and down towards the battlefield. Once there, it spins right—Muton, 20 yards away, approaching through the field to the right of the exit! Render II rushes out the exit, dives left, rolls, and comes up firing on full-auto. Plasma tracers race toward the creature as it raises its weapon to return fire. Render II is too quick however: a plasma blast catches the Muton in the face and splatters its skull. The creature twists and falls dead to the ground! X-COM 1, Aliens 0.
Our tank and Render scan the area for more signs of life: nothing. We begin our deployment. As our tank heads straight for the UFO, Zippy, 3ric, and Split Personality exit the Skyranger and take up firing positions. This will be most likely be a short mission, so Render heads back inside the craft to let others get some action.
Our tank gets about ten yards away from the Skyranger, when its sensors spot a Muton working its way around the left side of the UFO, about 40 yards from our position. Split Personality and 3ric pick up the creature on their helmet HUDs and open fire. Plasma blasts send puffs of dirt up around the startled Muton. It turns to flee, but 3ric catches it in the thigh with a shot that rips a chunk of flesh off. The Muton hobbles two more steps towards safety when Split blows a hole in the middle of its back. The Muton drops to the ground, twitches, and dies. X-COM 2, Aliens 0.
Things go quiet after that, and we begin to spread out. Split heads back into the Skyranger to play cards with Render. We’ll keep the two of them inside unless we need more firepower. Qwikshot and 3ric are joined by Condors, and the three of them head straight out from our exit area in order to search the fields that lie in that direction. Danny Van Halen and Fonzie exit the Skyranger and begin an advance behind our tank towards the UFO. On this type of craft, the exit doors should be on the far side of the craft, so we should be able to get to the near wall of the UFO easily. Zippy makes a cautious advance for the right side of the UFO, to cover our flank on that side. Rich exits the Skyranger and sets up a firing position with the Blaster Launcher. Lastly, Jeff Nights II exits the craft and follows our main advance. We’ll use him as a reserve.
X-COM forces advance on an alien scout. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
Things continue without incident for the next few minutes. Danny Van Halen and Fonzie make it to the side of the UFO, where they proceed to toss grenades up and through a hole in the craft’s roof. The muffled explosions shake the ground, but the two men get no result.
As Danny and Fonzie toss the grenades into the UFO, our tank breaks to the left of the UFO and waits for Condors, Qwikshot, and 3ric to wrap up their search of the fields at the rear of the Skyranger. This group will sweep around the left side of the UFO.
Danny Van Halen and Fonzie give up with the grenades and head for Zippy at the right side of the UFO. These three men will sweep around that side of the craft.
As our groups make their way around, we can hear the whir of a UFO door. Damn it! They
are inside the craft! Our grenades must have missed. Jeff Nights II and Fonzie start pouring more grenades in through the UFO roof.
X-COM troops set an ambush for aliens trapped inside a downed UFO. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
As explosions from the grenades rip the quiet Swiss morning, our two squads wrap around the UFO and come up upon the exit door. As they do this, the exit door whirs and a Muton comes stepping out! Danny Van Halen is the first to react, as he opens fire on full-auto and nails the alien in a hip before it can turn to fire. The creature howls and falls to the ground dead! Right on its heels comes a second Muton. This time Condors--approaching from the other side--gets to the trigger first. Shots rip two huge holes in the creature’s chest, and it too falls dead to the ground! X-COM 4, Aliens 0.
And that was the last alien! Well done, men! Good mission to get some of the rust off!
Kills: Danny Van Halen, 1; Condors II, 1; Split Personality III, 1.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Danny Van Halen, Condors II, Split Personality III, Jeff Nights II, Fonzie II, Render II, Zippy II, 3ric IV.
Final score: 126
Mission Notes:
For some unknown reason, Render didn’t get a kill for the alien he shot at the beginning of the mission. Not sure if I had miscounted his kills earlier in the dynasty, but I distinctly heard the Muton scream, and the results screen showed four alien kills, yet Render still only has six kills on his record card.
The grenades we threw into the UFO must have wounded the aliens inside, because everyone who threw grenades racked up some solid attribute gains. Nice to have eight people get some experience in a short mission where we kill only four aliens.
Note to self: Mutons are tough. I have to remember that. I gave up on the grenades too early.