"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of
us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time"--Lewis B. Puller, USMC
82nd Mission: Terror in Nairobi
The EU COM Skyranger cuts through the dark skies over the Sahara desert on route to Nairobi. This will be our 82nd airborne mission. The ten men inside fiddle with weapons, run equipment checks, and prepare themselves for the carnage that waits. Second only to base assaults in ferocity, terror missions have been some of our most deadly missions to date. The last two have been against Ethereals, and every man inside the craft says a silent prayer to Thor, the Norse god of war, that Ethereals are not our target today.
We’ve got some of our best agents on board today, and the mood inside the Skyranger is a veteran calm. However, we do have two rookies, Sachmo III, whose family has a long line of (dead) X-COM heroes, and Chuck U Farley, legendary football player of the Silicon Pirates.
The green descent light goes on as the orange glow of sunrise lights the eastern edge of the horizon. We’ll strike at dawn, in limited light. The Skyranger drops altitude and slows…
Our troops today:
Left Side:
1. Jfbbis (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Revrew (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Real Deal III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
4. Coffee Warlord II (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Sachmo III (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
Right Side:
1. Kodos (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
2. Breeze (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
3. Naiwf (Blaster Launcher, Power Suit)
4. Swaggs (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
5. Chuck U Farley (Heavy Plasma, Power Suit)
The Skyranger begins its vertical descent through clear skies to the dusty city below. It’s hot and still down there; ground temps are already at 87 degrees. In the early dawn light we get a glimpse of the battlefield. We’ll be coming down on an empty plot of land at the corner of an intersection in the center of the battle zone. To the rear of the Skyranger, where we’ll exit the craft, we can see an open lot of land. Immediately to the left of our exit is a large, two-story shopping complex: a hive of shops and stalls. On the other side of the exit, to our right, a two-lane road runs parallel with our craft. On the other side of the road there are some one- and two-story houses. The nose of our Skyranger will come up against another two-lane road. On the other side of this road, we can see more houses. In short, we’ve got one of the worst landing spots I’ve ever seen in a terror mission: we’re surrounded, with no immediate cover to our rear, and with lots of buildings on the other three sides. We could take a ton of fire from well concealed enemies before we make it to safety. We’ll need our best performance today.
The wheels of the Skyranger touch down on African soil. The ramp falls away with a thump and sends a cloud of dust swirling up in front of our exit. Seconds later, the red warning light flashes and the alarms go off: hot landing!
Our tank picks up the outline of a Floater, in a small park to the left of the open plot at the rear of our craft. Incoming plasma streams towards then past our exit, missing the entrance by inches. Our tank rumbles onto the exit, followed closely by Kodos and Jfbbis, who are right on its heels. The two men stop at the exit, drop to their knees and open fire over the hull of our tank. Kodos’ first shot catches the Floater in the chest and blows a hole right through the creature. It tumbles to the ground with a howl. X-COM 1, Aliens 0.
Kodos and Jfbbis hold at the top of the ramp, but our tank continues to the bottom, where it spins left: Holy Crap! Two reapers—those big, hairy, man-eating beasts—lie in wait for us at the edge of the shopping plaza, about 10 yards away. Our tank spins right: two Floaters are scrambling into firing positions next to a house across the street, about 25 yards away! Ambush!
As shots from the Floaters ping off the side of the Skyranger, our tank heads straight towards their position. Kodos screams to Naiwf to fire the Blaster Launcher out the mouth the Skyranger at the near Reaper. Naiwf checks his HUD, slaps the coordinates into the Blaster Launcher, and pulls the trigger. Kodos dives left behind Jfbbis just as Naiwf’s missile tears through the spot he vacated. The missile roars out the back of the Skyranger, breaks down and left, cuts back into the shopping center, drills the first Reaper in its bulky torso, and explodes. The front of the shopping plaza disintegrates in the explosion and the Skyranger rocks violently right as a massive fireball engulfs the craft. Still under enemy fire, our tank spins to check the damage: the two Reapers are piles of gore, and the corpse of a third alien—another Floater—lies just inside the shattered façade of the shopping center. Wow! Naiwf gets himself a hat trick in one shot! X-COM 4, Aliens 0.
Alien corpses lie in a shopping complex hit only seconds earlier by an X-COM Blaster missile. Miraculously, the civilian in the photo was unhurt. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
A cheer goes up from the men in the Skyranger, but before it settles Breeze and Jfbbis are out the exit and into the smoky, flaming air. They dive off the ramp to the right and land right behind our charred tank. They stand up and trade shots with the Floaters dug in beside the house across the street. Plasma blasts fly back and forth, but no one has yet to beat Jfbbis in a marksmanship duel. With brutal efficiency, he drills one Floater right between the eyes, then switches aim and guts the second Floater. Breeze can only admire the master’s work, as all of his shaky shots sailed badly wide. X-COM 6, Aliens 0.
Before we can catch our breath, there is motion up past the nose of the Skyranger. Breeze and Jfbbis turn and spot a Floater, about 30 yards away, cutting towards our position from a house across the street that runs perpendicular to our Skyranger. Breeze opens fire first. This time his aim is true, as he catches the Floater in the shoulder with a blast that sends him spinning to the street. Blood gushes onto the street out of a hole in the creature’s upper chest, and within seconds it dies. X-COM 7, Aliens 0.
Finally, we catch a moment to move out. Chuck U Farley and Sachmo exit the Skyranger and take up firing positions around the rear of the craft. Breeze starts toward the front of the Skyranger. Revrew exits, takes up a position behind our tank, and together the two of them start towards the street to the right of our exit. With our exit now cluttered with men, Jfbbis steps back into the Skyranger to let things clear.
X-COM forces advance across a Nairobi street. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
Suddenly, a plasma blast comes streaking towards our tank from across the street to our right. It clangs off the turret and ricochets away. The tank and Revrew scan the other side of the street…There! A Floater sniper, over the back end of a house on the other side of the street, about 40 yards away. The Floater ducks out of sight, but Revrew and our tank train their weapons on his last position. Sure enough, the Floater pops into sight again, and Revrew instantly opens fire. His first shot is perfect: it blows apart the top of the Floater’s head in a splash of purple goo! The creature falls back out of sight. Well done, Captain Revrew! X-COM 8, Aliens 0.
Floater corpses litter a Nairobi house. October, 2003. X-COM Archives Photo
Suddenly, from across the street by the nose of the Skyranger, two more Floaters bear down on our position, firing plasma weapons as they advance. Revrew and Breeze dive for cover while Chuck U. Farley and Sachmo shift to firing positions and Swaggs runs out of the Skyranger to add his firepower. All three men open fire at the same time. Streaks of plasma race alongside the Skyranger and into the street. Chuck Farley is the first to score, as he catches a Floater in the groin and sends it crashing to the ground. The second Floater veers right and makes it to a hedge on one side of the intersection, but just as it gets there Swaggs hits it in the head with a shot that scalps it. The Floater roars, grabs for its open skull as purple blood rushes down its face, and falls backwards dead. Boo yah! X-COM 10, Aliens 0.
Finally, things go quiet for a moment. We can see civilians scurrying through the houses on the other sides of the street, but there are no signs of the remaining aliens. We take this opportunity to get Coffee Warlord II and Real Deal III out of the Skyranger and into action. They’ll push the point as we search for more aliens. Coffee and Real exit the Skyranger and work their way to the nose of the craft. We send our tank forward, then have it sweep by the front of the Skyranger and down the long road that runs to the left of our position.
The tank makes it about five yards past our Skyranger when it picks up the hulking shape of a Reaper advancing down the street on our position. Real Deal has a shot from where he is near the front of the Skyranger, and he opens fire while Coffee Warlord, slightly behind Real, preps a grenade and tosses it at the Reaper’s positions over the corner of the ravaged shopping center. Plasma races down the street; the grenade lands and rolls to within two meters of the slowly advancing alien. Most of the plasma tails wide, but one shot slams into the Reaper’s chest, sending a spray of green out of the creature. Enraged, it hunches to charge, but Coffee’s grenade goes off a fraction of a second later and blows the thing apart! X-COM 11, Aliens 0.
And that is the last alien! Wow! Amazing! Not one civilian got killed after we touched down! Outstanding job, men!
Kills: Kodos, 1; Coffee Warlord II, 1; Naiwf, 3; Jfbbis, 2; Revrew, 1; Swaggs, 1; Breeze, 1; Chuck U Farley, 1.
KIA: None.
Wounded: None
Attribute Improvements: Kodos, Coffee Warlord II, Naiwf, Jfbbis, Revrew, Swaggs, Breeze, Chuck U Farley, Real Deal III.
Final score: 686! A record!
Mission Notes:
That mission was so fast and so furious that we didn’t have a chance to take good combat photos. All we got were shots of dead aliens littering the streets.
Usually on terror missions all but one or two of the civilians in the battle zone get killed. I think the fewest we’ve had is a half dozen or so left. But today, all 15 civilians were left alive. Unbelievable job, men! Simply outstanding! Nairobi thanks you!
I wonder if such a high score will entice the aliens to start looking for our Africa base. Maybe we should hire more guards?