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Post by Serena Mc'Ivor on Nov 27, 2014 18:59:05 GMT -5
Serena turned a few heads as she slowly walked back to her room, though not for any of the usual reasons. Her face was white as a sheet, her usual khaki XCOM uniform caked in blood after she'd carried the wounded Swarsh to the infirmary. He was in surgery now, the nurses had told her not to wait around. She can't have arrived more than 3 minutes after Gary had been stabbed... 3 minutes too slow to stop that bastard from escaping. And without command online, a search was fruitless for now. Luckily the base was still miles from the nearest town, that being Konin. Once everything was up and running again, it was likely that they'd be combing every inch of ground between here and there. The man's chances of escaping were negligible, even if he'd managed to get beyond the boundaries of the base. That still didn't allay the fact that this had still happened. People had died, and for what? Because someone was bored.
She slumped herself down on her bed, she meant to change out of her clothes but for the time being was too exhausted even for that. She hadn't felt this lousy since after Flying Law, and it was made worse by the fact that this was definitely someone's fault. There was no second guessing of the aliens capabilities, no slip up in movements, no surprise tactics. Someone had fucked up, and now Alpha was once again a man short. This was going to take some getting over...
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Post by Random Commander on Nov 27, 2014 19:07:54 GMT -5
So shit has hit the fan.
The base went on lockdown, a soldier lost his guts, a security guard lost his life, and a mad doctor lost her sanity. Wait, Vahlen has always been like that, nevermind.
Worst of all, Tom hasn't found the people responsible for all this just yet. The Commander is looking for them through the video tapes, but Tom has to get to them first, he has something worse planned than whatever the commander has. He passes by the infirmary.
There was someone moaning in there. Tom thought it was Swarsh with the pain he had endured, but on closer inspection it seemed more Australian... or British... or something that is kind of like fine English.
Tom realized who it was after a few seconds: Thurston! He must have been really hurt after what Farrell did to him. Tom almost feels sorry for the poor guy.
What is he moaning about, anyway? Tom puts his ear to the wall:
"Urrrggrrgh! ArrrVrrrgh! Uuuuggh..."
Did Tom hear that right? It was mostly nonsense, but either Tom is actually hearing things, or he heard Thurston mention Grarock and Averill. Or Gary and Adler? Fuck if he knows, but it sounded like two people he knew.
It's probably pure coincidence, but Tom would like to check it out anyway. Shotgun full of Simunition in hand, Tom walks to where they are most likely located.
Haven't had a chance to do something like this in a LONG while! This is gonna be fun!
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Post by Ziv Adler on Nov 27, 2014 19:14:57 GMT -5
Ziv Adler Personal Log Between missions 16:00 April 28, 2015
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We interrogated the prisoner today. Myself, Mc'Ivor, Swarsh, and Dogovich were asked to have a go before Dr. Vahlen got her hands on him. He proved surprisingly cooperative. He asked to see Rekani first, and he seemed to know about her visions. He called her "the apotheosis", but even he wasn't sure what that meant. He claims to be from an organisation called Exalt, which from his description sounds like the Illuminati. I think he thinks he was telling the truth, but he strikes me as a low-level operative at best. He'll believe whatever his superiors tell him. I'm sure Exalt exists, but I doubt they're as grandiose as our prisoner claims.
Regardless, they are powerful enough to stage a successful attack on a military convoy, and it sounds as though they will target us soon. Hopefully Dr. Vahlen can extract more from Mr. Davidson.
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run SUB-TEXT_embedded_message_decryption extracting [||||||||||] done decrypting [||||||||||] done
The name Exalt sounds familiar. I think it came up on one of my jobs a few months ago. I'll have to check when I get into the archives.
On that note, I think I've solved the last of the problems with my new server. The cooling fan should be muffed well enough by the carpet and the ambient noise in the base, and I should be able to access the server from my laptop without tipping off security. Power was my biggest hurdle, but I think if I tap into the base power grid and gradually ramp up the server from idle, the increase should be slow enough not to be noticed through the normal noise in the grid. If someone does notice that average consumption has gone up, they'll hopefully assume it's the construction down below. Now I just need to finish the CloudStore hack.
In other news, engineering has finally produced our first laser rifles. I'll have to head down to the range and see what I can learn about them.
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Post by Jchizz on Nov 27, 2014 21:32:48 GMT -5
Talia rubs her face and flops back onto her bed. The security "breach" had given her a fright, to say the least. "For fuck's sake... maybe Aran was right. Maybe everyone here really ~is~ a child." She sighs and pulls her phone from her pocket, opening and reading the memo regarding the incident, sitting up and widening her eyes. "Somebody ~died~? Holy shit!" She frowns and reads the memo again, then lays back. "Planting an unarmed IED wouldn't be funny... why is this? Stupid westerners..."
After another minute or so of internal grumbling, Talia decides to get up and wander the base, looking for someone to talk and/or vent to. She straightens out her tanktop and jeans before exiting her room, taking a long and winding route over to the recreation room.
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Post by Ziv Adler on Nov 27, 2014 22:00:55 GMT -5
Ziv sat in his room, thinking about the security breach that evening.
And I thought 'Paintgate' was bad. What is wrong with these people?
The base is on lockdown, Swarsh is wounded, a security guard is dead, and our prisoner has escaped, all because someone decided to play a prank. If I did this in the Mossad, I would be jailed if I was lucky. They might even deem me a security risk and have me killed.
While pondering the apparent idiocy of his comrades, he has a thought.
If the base is on lockdown, what's the network look like?
He opens his laptop, and starts digging.
Interesting. Almost all the security is policing the external connections. Xcom is all but cut off from the outside, but they aren't expecting an attack from their own network. Some systems might be vulnerable.
His search isn't as fruitful as he'd hoped. The science and engineering networks are completely cut off. The HVAC system is virtually unguarded, but that isn't terribly useful. However, the physical security systems are relatively exposed. Thanks to the added power of his new server, he quickly taps into the base camera network, and is pleased to discover that there are cameras in key junctions in the vents.
Now maybe I can find out who did this. I'm sure Xcom is already looking through the footage, but I might be able to do it faster.
After making sure his intrusion wouldn't be noticed when the lockdown is lifted, Ziv pulls up a visual pattern matching algorithm. He sets it to search backwards from the time the hand was found, looking for anything that looks like a face. He has it prioritize the soldiers, but he tries the other base staff as well just to be safe.
Should find it in a day or so. Less if I'm lucky. If I'm really lucky, they'll confess and it won't matter.
This done, he heads off to the firing range. Hopefully they're still open.
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Slater
Lance Corporal
Wants a SHIV as a pet
Posts: 79
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Post by Slater on Nov 27, 2014 22:15:39 GMT -5
Well this was Annoying.
Slater slumped into his bed, laying on his back and looking at the ceiling. "Who thought pretending aliens were inside the base was a good idea." Reaching over to his bedside table he picks up his game of Monster Hunter. "I mean Paintball is one thing but putting the whole base in alert is something else completely." This was supposed to be an organization of the best, not a group of half crazed individuals. "little difference." Now that the whole thing has blown over Slater had decided to try and wait out the aftermath. Avoiding the Rec-Room and the high traffic areas, Slater didn't want to be anywhere near the fan once shit started flying. "There will be hell to play and I don't want any part of it."
Finishing up a quest Slater pauses to look around the room. Scattered around were his usual items and thrown here and there were a few new ones. A finished meal strait from china itself, A true Atlanta Coke can and his Laptop open to the memo from the Commander.
Deciding to hunt a Nargacuga Slater returned to his game. "I hope it wasn't Keith."
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Post by Gregor Solovyova on Nov 28, 2014 8:36:52 GMT -5
Gregor woke up from the sound of the alert. A voice came through the speaker:“All soldiers report to the armory at once we are under attack.” Gregor could really feel how his brain switched to trained routines:"The cell was under attack!"He quickly put a white shirt on,over the white shirt he dressed a black vest. Then he dressed a black trousers and finally he took a piece of cloth over his mouth as a bandana. With his routine for that he only needed about 30 seconds to do so. He opened his room door and dashed for the armory.While he was dashing there came another message through the speakers:“They’re in the vents, watch the walls, We’ve locked one in the command Centre but 2 of our staff are locked in with it. We need immediate backup." Just a few meters away from the armory he realized that he shouldn't wear a bandana.He cursed and ripped the bandana of his face, but a single engineer had already sprinted past him.(If Gregor would have watched the recording of the mission Purple Breath,he would maybe have recognized the "engineer".)"F***,I think he saw it",Gregor thought fighting against his upcoming panic."Damn,Gregor remember you're training no emotions;stay CALM,stay professional goddammed.He probably didn't really saw you,he just dashed past so STAY CALM." He opened the door to the armory,and took the rifle Garth handed him.Garth pointed in the direction of the command center and told him:"One of them is locked in the command center but Thurston and Mc'Ivor already went to take care of the situation". "OK,I will go help them than",Gregor replied. When he was on half way to the command center there was a new message from the louder:"Ok false alert". After he heard that Gregor returned to his room immediately to dress in normal XCOM uniform,but he focused on not meeting anyone in the corridor.
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Post by Blacknife on Nov 28, 2014 13:41:45 GMT -5
Gary Swarsh
He was still spitting blood even after the time the stab happened, he was also still pale from blood loss which is still covered all the cabinet floor. He was constantly harassed by the Nurses and doctors into injecting him with items and fluids into his blood trying to make him better even though he was in tip top condition -Besides having a hole in his stomach and 6 cracked ribs-.
He sat in the infirmary for a while doing absolutely nothing, he did just watch people come in and out of the ward,"How many people actually come in here? I'm guessing that allot of them are from the engineering department." Gary said to himself.
A nurse walked over to Gary with a syringe full of green liquid,"Okay Mr.Swarsh its time for another jab" she jiggled the syringe so it leaked drops on the floor.
"No, I have had around 20 jabs by now how many more do I need?" Gary replied putting his hand hand up for her to stop.
"Don't worry Mr.Swarsh there is only around 16 more jabs to give after this," She smiled and lunged at Gary with the needle but Gary grabbed her wrist, "Mr. Swarsh" She started shakily,"You are preventing me from making you better."
"No. No more jabs I've had it with them," he said tightening his grip on the nurse's wrist
"Mr.Swarsh tha...thats starting to hurt. MR.SWARSH!" she screamed as the grip tightened more,"HELP! HELP!" she screamed
Almost immediately doctors and nurses started to run toward the bed with Gary in it, they then all grabbed him trying to pry his hand away from the Nurse's wrist.
Gary started," I DON'T WANT ANY MORE JABS!" he shouted
A doctor picked up a syringe by Gary's bed and stuck it into Gary's neck.
"No, notz againnn." Gary slammed against his bed and let go of the nurse's wrist, which was very white but was bleeding slightly.
"Bloody English bastard, I tell you they're not all tea sipping pussies," one doctor replied to the event that just happened.
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Post by Serena Mc'Ivor on Nov 28, 2014 18:31:04 GMT -5
Serena retired back to her room, sitting on her bed, hair completely disheveled from her nearly pulling it all out. When did everything get so complicated? The aliens weren't getting any easier to deal with, Serena was constantly shuffling strategies around to cope. She still had to wonder how they were going to deal with the perpetrators of the 'prank'. And now Adler was working for the Mossad. Of course she knew he had been, but she honestly beleived he would have put that aside when he joined XCOM like everyone else. How was she going to deal with this? She could tell the commander directly, but this was a serious breach, at least Ziv would likely no longer be in a leadership position, which would make her the squad leader of Alpha, a position she wasn't sure she was ready for. And even then, they'd be down a sniper, and potentially more depending on how this investigation panned out. He was a good leader, which was part of the reason Serena had really wanted to beleive he hadn't been a part of any of this. Maybe she could confront him herself, talk him out of sending any more information... No that was an even worse idea, the man was loyal to the core, and an assassin. If he knew she hadn't told anyone else, she wouldn't put it beyond him to organise an unfortunate 'accident' for herself and Swarsh. She buried her head in her hands, staring blankly at the floor as she tried to put some plan together in her head. She couldn't just do nothing, XCOM was supposed to be the last line of defence for all humanity, not unwillingly playing favourites. In any case, whatever she came up with, it had to be quick.
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Post by Random Commander on Nov 28, 2014 21:48:19 GMT -5
Tom knows their plan. At least he thinks he does. If he was the pranker, he really would try to hide in one of his higher-ranked squadmate's room to avoid (at least for a little bit) the security team. He just has to find out which one. He keeps his shotgun close and--
Sirens blared. "Charlie Squad, report to the Armory for deployment..."
"FUCK!" Tom almost threw his shotgun to the floor in anger. They were lucky this time, but once Tom comes back, there will be hell to pay.
First, he has to get the simunition out of the shotgun. Garth can help with that, though he may not be happy with Tom's plan...
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Post by Ziv Adler on Nov 28, 2014 23:42:14 GMT -5
Ziv Adler Personal Log Operation Broken Future 19:00 April 29, 2015
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We got another alien scout today. Our interceptors managed to damage it enough to force it to land. Not too much resistance, but Dogovich took a hit and will be spending the next few weeks in the infirmary. The new laser rifle he was using performed well, though it offers little protection against plasma burns. Injuries aside, this was a good mission for us. Because the craft made an emergency landing and not a crash landing, it was still mostly intact. We recovered a lot of working alien technology. We could certainly use the boost after what happened yesterday.
The 'prankster' still hasn't come forward, but I doubt it will be long before he's found with all the security Xcom has. I'm wonder what the Commander will do with him. We can't just expel him from Xcom, he'd be a potential leak. Jail is one option. More likely he'll be detained on-base. I'm still not sure this is in our best interest though. While this was a catastrophically stupid thing to do, the consequences that resulted might be enough to hammer home the seriousness of this conflict, and we still need experienced soldiers. Better to judge by expected future behavior than by past behavior. The trick is accurately predicting the former.
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run SUB-TEXT_embedded_message_decryption extracting [||||||||||] done decrypting [||||||||||] done
I had a chance to try out the new laser rifle before the last mission. Very impressive. No recoil, no dropoff, and effectively infinite projectile speed make it the easiest to use rifle I've ever seen. It also packs a significantly greater punch than our conventional rifles. I look forward to trying the inevitable marksman variant.
From a technical standpoint, the emitter itself is fairly unremarkable. It's a conventional red chemical laser. The interesting parts are the power supply and the heat sink. I could only learn so much from visual inspection, but both components are far smaller and lighter than any existing designs. Even the Russians don't have anything approaching this. This one rifle would advance our weapons development by decades.
Still nothing from the pattern matching algorithm. Got a few hits on Saunders, but all after the incident. I think he's trying to find the culprit on his own. That could end badly. He could wind up implicating himself. I'll keep looking.
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Post by Random Commander on Nov 28, 2014 23:56:47 GMT -5
April 29, 2015 Operation Broken Future Somewhere in Germany?
Tom mumbles to himself. He was so close to finding the perps. But there is nothing like killing aliens to relieve himself. The UFO is just ahead. Tom and the rest of Charlie move in.
He scans the area, following up with de Korte. Tom makes a mental note to know him better, so that his tactics and formations work well with de Korte. "Nothing on our side" Tom remarks.
"Got something..."
Tom turns to LaMarche's general direction. "Got what? I still see nothing"
"They cloaked."
"Shit."
Tom keeps his eyes more peeled than before. These seekers are getting more and more common. And dangerous. Any minute now one could...
Pop out. A seeker heads straight for Tom, bullets bouncing off its right side as it lunges towards him. Tom readies his shotgun, he has done it once before, he can always do it again...
He was too slow. The Mechanical thing knocked his shotgun out of his hands and wrapped around his face. Tom's nightmare had become a reality.
He tries to look at de Korte and got a glimpse of another seeker, headed for his direction. The resonating "Bzatt, Bzatt!" of Dogovich's laser rifle leaves a bit of a searing wound on the Seeker's hide, but still it moves. Gasping sounds which Tom knew was de Korte's occur as the scouting team officially gets temporarily incapacitated.
Tom tries to speak, but ends up literally choking on his words. He cannot pry the tentacles off the beast. This can't happen!
Don't die, Saunders! Don't die! Listen to your own advice!
Tom tries all his might to push off the tentacles just so he could get a little gasp. He got a short wind, and held his breath. More laser fire erupted from his immediate left. He cannot turn to see what's going on, but the sound of fried electronics sounded a tad reassuring. Tom hopes de Korte can free him soon...
"Saunders, Look down!"
Tom did so, and a shotgun discharge deafened his left ear for a moment, but it eventually passed, and the "Seeker" let go. Tom gasps for breath.
When he caught it, Tom looked to de Korte. "Thanks, guess I wasn't fast enough."
"If Todd was in your position, he would say the exact same thing."
Tom laughed weakly, he didn't know how de Korte knew Todd, but that's probably the pilot's renown shoving itself everywhere...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Operation Broken Future Above the UFO
I am fucking READY for this! That outsider will pay dearly!
Tom can't help but get excited about the encounter, even after suffering a strangulation wound. He is positioned over the third "doorway" of the scout UFO. Dogovich has this plan to surprise the aliens inside their own UFO. All he needs to do is give the word and Oscar, de Korte and him can unleash hell.
"Go Charlie, Go!"
Saunders immediately drops down. The sectoid he got behind got startled, it turned around just in time for Tom to point his shotgun at it. The X-ray's eyes adjusted, Tom thinks it's fear. He smiles devilishly as he lets out the 00 buckshot, making the alien fly backward before ultimately expiring.
"THAT one is for Onn, and your buddy's strangulation wound! I am the fucking AVENGER!"
Tom sees his nemesis: the crystalline avatar. The crossfire seems a bit too dangerous to move into, however, so Saunders holds back a bit. Eventually only the Outsider is left, so Tom prepares to lunge. He was interrupted when he heard the crack of LaMarche's rifle. A bit fazed, Tom notices Oscar start running towards it. Damn, I was too slow again!
Oscar finishes off the crystal bastard and ends the operation once and for all. Now it's phase 2 of payback time: the "pranksters."
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Post by randomkeith on Dec 20, 2014 23:04:16 GMT -5
They came shortly after sunrise. He'd seen them over the years but mainly they were just passing by, but not this time. This time they were coming for them. All of them.
The creatures disembarked from their vehicle and began to chase him and his companions. Smaller creatures ran with them herding everyone into a small enclosure. The huge vehicle then opened its doors and they were herded inside, it smelt of excrement and unwashed bodies, everyone was terrified. After the last of them had been ushered inside the door closed and with a jolt the vehicle started to move.
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