4657/Operation: Black Ring

Operation: Black Ring
Date of Scene:	10 October 2016
Location:	ADVENT Earth <XCOM>
Synopsis:	XCOM deploy to extract a Council scientist. Turns out to be a blast from the past for the Resistance chief scientist.
Cast of Characters:	62, 1046, 673, Kotone Yamakawa, 152, 256, 919, 977

---

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    22:00 hours, Earth-115. XCOM HQ, Contact Room.

    The Council Spokesman appears on the screen, "Hello, Commander. One of our scientists was conducting some field experiments, and has been captured by the Aliens. We meed you to send a team in to extract them. We cannot allow our personnel to be interrogated by these aliens."

    Elise nods. "I'll send a strike team straight away." She cuts the comm, then exits the Situation Room. "Bradford, assemble Strike Two in the launch bay. They're heading to Perth to pull out some Council egghead. Vahlen, Shen, I'll need you on comms for technical support. You're moving in five people, lets go!" she says, assuming her position at the Tactical Globe, while the six-man squad charge through from the Armory to the Launch Bay.

    23:15, Perth, Australia, Earth-115.

    "Central, this is Big Sky, Airdropping Strike Two at target location then moving to Extraction LZ, receiving ground fire!" The Skyranger takes splashes of plasma fire against its hull, leaving glowing marks, but not breaching the reinforced armour. Strike Two airdrops from cables deployed from the back of the Skyranger, two Heavy Weapons specialists, a Support, a Sniper and an Assault. The final member just leaps right out of the craft, smashing through the roof of the building and crushing a Sectoid beneath the heavy metal feet of his exosuit. The MEC trooper covers his head with thick arms from plasma fire. "Secure the area!"

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Not long after the call had gone out over XCOM's encoded channels, Samira had a decision to make. Her forces had taken a beating during their last mission... But she did indeed feel that she owed the military XCOM for their help in dealing with the aftermath of the Black Tears incident. Therefore, it's not long before Firebrand is transmitting their position and willingness to assist. Within it's hatch are Shinobi Magdelena Martinez, Sharpshooter Philipe DeGaspard, Specialist Olivera, and a fresh new Jamaican rookie. They move in further away from the rest of the group... Obviously looking to flank the alien positions and start bringing in pain from the rear while the rest hit the front.

    The Resistance Skyranger doesn't bother to land, instead letting the team drop into an alleyway due southwest of the known alien position. THere's no contacts here yet, though that's probably going to change soon. Regardless, the team takes cover in the darkness and waits for their order to move.

Rory White (673) has posed:
As the Skyranger opens up, the rippling-flexing metal of Rory's mechanical form goes vaulting out and immediately drops down next to the MEC trooper... and springs into action zigzagging into cover next to a wall.

    A wobbling frisbee-sized Saucer, ironically shaped much like the UFOs but far tinier, stays high in the sky and radios what it sees on many sensors to Rory.

    Her six-legged, person-sized form bristles with weapons. It's been repaired since the previous encounter, more or less, and should serve her well here.

    "Working to locate our target!"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
It was good to be back on the ANT farm and to catch up with XCOM here. There was not much time to catch up though as Kotone barely had time to suit up into her stealth armour. She'd manged to get other thing ready before she deploys which would be a SHIV to act as combat support for the other operatives as soon she's piling out of the Skyranger. The Mec takes out a Sectoid and honestly she feels little, it's a strange feeling but given what the aliens have been doing? She's not going to lose much sleep over it.

She moved after the larger mecs as they went in as really? When she thought about it she might be seen as some Support Mec? Either way the SHIV was along with her but more and more Kotone was curious about trying to do her own take on the Gremlin from the alternate XCOM's world. However that would have to wait, they'd had to go to natures bio hazard containment vault, I mean Australia. There is also a ripple as Kotone cloaks and she starts to send the SHIV which is disposable when it comes to it to scout ahead of the living personel.

Faruja (152) has posed:
A good old, simple, uncomplicated rescue mission? It's a relief from Ivalice's ever seedy politics, and so as soon as XCOM called for backup the rat got a team together. After the impressive drop-in and ceiling-crushing from the XCOM troopers, there's a flash of grey, twisting ether as reality warps itself and practically spits out first two fully armored Temple Knights clad in gold and red, swiftly followed by Faruja and a certain Dhampir that's joined up.

Really, the Inquisition employing a vampire isn't the worst of the Church's hypocracy.

The Inquisition arrives not that far away from the front of the building, the two knights guarding the robed Inquisitor. Already, he's casting. "Oh grand flame, burn away all sinners! Salamander!"

From beneath the ground, a fiery scaled lizard tears its way out, sucks in a breath and begins to douse the front of the building with flame to clear a path of any resistance. Miraculously, the fire only seems to scorch enemies, leaving building and allies completely untouched.

Yulia Koslova (256) has posed:
    23:22, Perth, Australia, Earth-115
    There are exosuits, and then there are mobile suits. Both are meant to augment human capabilities. One is designed to directly fit and support its human that wears it. The latter is closer to the size of a two storey building.
    The specific mobile suit in question (http://www.puttyandpaint.com/projects/9447) is coming in hot, not so much 'flying' as 'falling with style' after its pilot releases the rediculously huge parachute that slowed its fall from the upper atmosphere. Its circular shield is held up in front of its chest protectively, beam rifle tucked safely behind. As nice as the angle is from this high, she'll not be taking any potshots here.
    There is absolutely no way whatsoever that Yulia can be stealthy in a machine this big, so why bother trying?
    There is also absolutely no way she can land on a dime, though she is generally drifting (insofar as thrusters meant for space can make this machine drift) in the direction of whatever Elise and Bradford tipped her off about.

Genya Arikado (919) has posed:
    Genya is not in the form of Alucard at the moment. But he's there, showing up with Faruja's teleportation. This time he's perhaps a little smarter, having ditched his business suit for some of the body armor that his troops tend to wear, and he's outfitted with standard combat gear. His hair's been pulled back for the helmet to fit. In fact... he doesn't look much different than one of his own soldiers, truth be told.

    Of course, that was his plan. He'd caused some bad feelings with the -other- XCOM when he'd had to leave so that he could appear as Alucard, and he figures they'll be here to help this one. Radio conversation confirms it. So he decided to come incognito. No sense causing more bad feelings. They might get in the way, and that's the last thing they need.

    His voice may be disguised on the radio. But it won't be hard to tell he's a friendly. As soon as he sets eyes on something that his allies are firing on, he does the same. He's got damn good aim, too. He's using the standard-issue rifle for his government's soldiers. Not great, but serviceable.

Ixqor Nathrach (977) has posed:
The forces of this old XCOM had assembled, and oddly enough, alongside the XCOM forces of another reality, and a cohort of Motely Elites. The Sorcerer had not thought that mulitverses allowed for multiple versions of the same universe but the idea intruiged him greatly. This excursion was a learning experience, on multiple fronts. He had plans to gain contact with the elders controlling the Advent forces in the future XCOM reality, but found it difficult to remain within their psychic channel. If his suscipsions were correct, then the same psychic beings would be controlling this invasionary force, and capturing some of their units, if not an elder itself, may prove to be the key to enacting his great works.

     All of this, Ixqor thought to himself as the tear in time space emerged, through the fire and flames that the Inquisitor had shot forth and encompassed the room in. Fully clad in his armor, still scuffed from yesterdays engagement with the forces of XCOM from a time in the future. His helm had been repaired, but the right side of his helmet, where his eye would be, was heavily modified, depeciting a vertical slash, tinted a murky green like the left side of his helm's eyepiece. It was a quick fix, but it would serve. Luckily enough for Ixqor, he arrived moments after the purifying spell had been cast, so his armor allowed him to move about the cinders unharmed, and he approached the group, bolter in hand. "You find yourselves in need of assistance?" The sorcerer asked with a small, wicked smile beneath his helm.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Big Sky pulls off and lands about a hundred meters away in an open field area, hatch open with the Pilot sat on a mounted gattling gun to keep the LZ clear.

    Yulia would see the approaching UFO soon, a mid-sized 'Scout' with its plasma beams pointing downwards for strafing. It either can't reorient the weapons, or hasn't spotted the Mobile Suit yet, so the Jagd Doga will get the first shots off in this engagement.

    Menace 1-5 is unopposed for now, though they'll be able to hear the shuffling of Sectoids nearby, and the huffing hiss of a Thin Man telling them to shut up.

    Faruja's PURGING FLAMES catch a pair of Thin Men, cooking them alive fast enough that their poison bladders just explode and the gas to catch light, purged along with the aliens.

    Genya's arrival doesn't get any undue attention, though one of the XCOM troopers on the roof calls out. "Get your ass in cover! Do you want to lose your head to a plasma bolt!?" Which earns her some plasma fire. "Shit! Strike Two-4, I'm pinned down, heavy fire coming from the north side!"

    Titan, meanwhile, unhunkers and charges the Muton currently laying down heavy fire. The hulking beast roars in challenge, before getting its braincase caved in by a rocket propelled 'NO' from Titan's Kinetic Strike Module, hurling the beast through the wall behind it. "Area secure. Seraph, situation report?"

    Kotone's SHIV earns some plasma fire... seems the main bulk of the alien force is holed up in a bunker due north of the landing site. Rory's sensor drone would spike three roaming 'packs', and the bunker as 'hot spots'... and a Council Beacon coming from inside the building she and Titan are currently in! Seems their mark is right there with them.

Faruja (152) has posed:
The bolter-and-sword wielding armored sorcerer has Faruja backing off. His face blanches, and he has to swallow to avoid his stomach turning. The Burmecian immediately yanks out his flamethrower, finger on the trigger.

His two guardians have their swords pointed, already glowing with holy light.

"BACK, HERETIC!" He screams with all the gusto of a brimstone and hellfire cleric. "The Inquisition does not require the services of someone so tainted! Get thee to whatever Abyss ye crawled from lest ye be purged where ye stand!"

They stand down, however, as the two Commanders allow the man to join. The Inquisition looks very jittery however, one member of the party always watching Ixqor.

"...You live for now, filthy Heretic. But I am not as naieve as the Commander. Should you so much as think of betraying us, you will die." Spits the Inquisitor.

Then, the two knights breach the newly clear front door with the rat following. The Salamander dissappears, holy bolts falling from the knights' swords to deter any aliens that might try to meet their advance.

Meanwhile, grey-black clocks appear around the six XCOM soldiers, time dilating around them as the Haste spell takes effect.

Yulia Koslova (256) has posed:
    A light flashes on Yulia's console, followed by a blink in front of her on the all-surrounding cockpit screen as her Jagd Doga's sensors pick up the incoming UFO. It's definitely moving fast, but for the moment the mobile suit holds the higher ground. Altitude. Whatever. Though that won't be for much longer.
    "Handing off flight controls to you, Rose," the Zeon pilot says without looking back to the pink haro in its cradle behind her seat. "Warn me when we get within five hundred meters of ground."
    'Roger, haro!' it warbles in an electronic voice.
    Free to fire at will, she plans to do just that. It looks like she's been unnoticed by the alien ship so far, which gives her the chance to bring out her shield arm and untuck her rifle to bring it to bear.
    Anyone looking up at the night sky in the right spot will see the burst of supercharged plasma fired after she takes aim at the craft, though the thunderclap of its report probably won't be heard for a while. Getting a disabling shot would be way too much to hope for, but she is aiming for the heaviest heat signature she can pick up on the craft.

Genya Arikado (919) has posed:
    There are benefits to blending in. One being that... the aliens don't seem to pay him much mind. Though he's a bit concerned when one of the ally soldiers draws attention to herself. It doesn't take his sharp eyes long to locate the source of the trouble. "Heading north now. Stand by," he says, in response to the soldier's words of being pinned down. And then he... blurs. He runs, so quickly he leaves behind afterimages. He's not adversed to using his supernatural abilities like this.

    He's trying to find his way around the building, trying to use what cover he can, to locate the source of the trouble. Are they shooting from the windows? That'll be easier-- he can shoot aliens poking out of windows easily enough. Though if they're on the roof he'll need to get into the building to the north. Which could prove difficult. Though he's going to be using cover to try and get to the building without being spotted.

Ixqor Nathrach (977) has posed:
Ixqor was not alone it seemed however, the tear remained open, and two humans, a man and a woman, clad in ragged militia like clothing, with bits of metal looking armor on their shoulders or chests. Both had the mark of chaos upon their foreheads, and each carried a weapon, the man a mace, the woman a sword. They seemed rather strange, being somewhat gaunt in the face, but muscle bound in the arms chest and legs with placid skin. They approach Ixqor and grovel at his feet.

     They speak then"We arrive as commanded master! We live to serve!" "What are thine orders!"

     Ixqor turned to them with a smile beneath his helm and raised them to their feet with a fluid motion of his hand, signaling them to rise. "Gather up the bodies, maim and disable any xenos you see, bring them alive, barely though." With that the two servants held their weapons high and gave an eager war cry. "And mind not the rabble, they are our allies." For now. Ixqor thought to himself.

     Specifically, Faruja interested him. He was clearly some xenos creature, but knew that Ixqor was by all means, tainted, and corrupted. IXqor sensed it then, the pure and holy aura about the mouse inquisitor and his knights. "Settle yourself, saint, we may wage war another day." He chuckled briefly and readied his bolter, motioning his two warriors to follow. "For now, keep your wits about you, 'holy man'." Ixqor took up position behind rubble that had crashed down from the ceiling, his troops already moving to the corpses of the muton, and whatever other xenos TITAN may have killed, doing their best to drag them away to the warp tear. "At the ready, they may strike from all sides!" Now ready to do battle, Ixqor checked for windows, crevices, and catwalks the aliens may attack from, training his bolter n various entrances.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    At least the Resistance XCOM operatives didn't have to deal with being fired upon as soon as they'd landed. That gave them some breathing room, time to set up a position and do some damage on the unprotected flank. A drain pipe leads up to the roof of the outbuilding that they'd landed by; DeGaspard and the Jamaican rookie get orders to go up and give covering fire to Martinez and Olivera. THose two start creeping around the side of the building... being very careful not to disrupt anything before everyone is in position.

    From the roof, DeGaspard peers over a half-cover wall to spot and mark the targets. Mini-Sectoids and a modified Viper. Once everyone is in position, he takes out his revolver, points down... and fires on one of the Sectoids, aiming for it's big fat head. The rookie fires down as well, aiming for another Sectoid, while Olivera and Magdelena sweep around, firing rifle and shotgun at the Thin Man before moving into full cover along the wall.

Rory White (673) has posed:
If Rory's morph wasn't expressinless, she'd be showing some amazement at Titan's feat there. SMASHING DOWN A MUTON in a head-on fight, now that's a feat of engineering and skill to be sure. "Our target is below us! Head downwards. There are three alien squads of unknown composition not far from here and we need to finish this extraction before they reach us!"

    Rory, of course, is making a mad dash for the stairs...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone's Shiv is doing exactly what it is intended to the Shiv is taking fire and it gives her an idea of where they are. That will help she moves the Shiv in openinf fire with it's chain gun right back at the aliens. Hopefully it can help distract them for her to tyr to get closer. So that's what she's going to so Faruja also does a good job of geting the enemy's attention but what else is showing up? She's really concernd about what else is showing up. Yulia has not been seen in a long time and it's good to have her backing them up along wiuth the mysterious Genya as well. However with Chaos? Oh God in Heaven why /them/ why now? For now she'll try to get to the bunker so he can better deal with the aliens.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Yulia's plasma beam strikes the dorsal side of the UFO. It continues flying for a few moments, then something inside RIPS open the fuselage, a green blast coring out the flyinf craft, sending it crashing down into the ground, a few miles away. Bradford calls in another pair of signatures, but the Mobile Suit isn't alone anymore. The Pulse Detonation engines of three Raven Interceptors rip through the sky. "Talisman Lead to Jagd Doga, we're here to back you up. Talisman Two, Talisman Three, enemy is padlocked, fangs out you are weapons free!" The two new UFOs have their plasma beams primed for air-to-air, and lash out with green pulses of boiling hyper energetic matter. They're met with lances of red laser light, and the armour piercing warheads of Avalanche missiles.

    Faruja's Haste spell gives the Military XCOM troops the advantage they need. The Heavies poke up and unleash a torrent of bullets from their LMGs, strafing the Bunker and earning a minor respite. Nitro leaps over the side of the building, and beats feet to flank around the opposide side from Genya, shotgunning a Sectoid in the face when it pops out of cover.

    Genya comes across something odd. A pair of strange 'squid' drones, which suddenly vanish once they notice the dhamphir... probably a good idea to call those in... but there's also a Muton who lets loose a bestial roar and beats it's chest, before leveling its Heavy Plasma on Genya, firing large bolts of the green 'gunk'.

    Ixqor's cultists would find no living aliens in the building, but the crushed corpse of a Sectoid, flattened by Titan on his entry, as well as the hulking form of the Muton, blasted through the wall, and a couple more sectoids are the spoils of their efforts. The Thin Men were vaporized by the purging flames of Salamander.

    The Resistance XCOM catch the pod unawares, the Sectoid going down to the .44 magnum, the second Sectoid perforated by the Jamacan Rookie's rifle burst, and the Thin Man falling in a burst of poisonous smoke from the shotgun blast going through his center mass.

    Rory's intel is accurate. Down the stairs, through a door and past the already dead body of a Sectoid... is a much younger Doctor Tygan. Dreadlock hair, orange ichor spattering his lab coat and a cobbled together nightmare device that looks like something from a horror movie in hand. "Ah, seems you're finally here! I was getting bored and my companion stopped squirming about twenty minutes ago. They locked me up down here but forgot to take away my intruments." he brandishes the device... it looks like a mini-crossbow that fires scalpel blades. "Pet project, weaponized nicely if I do say so myself."

    Kotone's SHIV manages to distract the aliens, who turn their fire onto the drone as it opens it's attack profile. It won't last long under a sustained barrage, but it shouldn't need to.

Yulia Koslova (256) has posed:
    Score one for plasma weapons and dumb luck! The tryrian-purple mobile suit continues its graceless fall toward the ground, boot and shirt thrsuters firing in a staggering pattern to keep the descent a controlled one.
    Yulia's IFF refreshes as the Talisman squad streaks into local airspace. Now that there are more than hostiles sharing the sky, she keeps her missiles locked down unless she knows she has a completely clear shot - guided homing missiles aren't really a thing in her corner of the multiverse, so they're fired with either dead reckoning or nothing.
    'Five hundred meters!' the haro warbles a warning. One that gets punctuated with green plasma flashing across the night sky. One gouges the mobile suit's shield as she brings it up to defend herself, another cuts a deep graze across the side of its helmet. Damage alarms light up on a less important corner of the screen to be for the moment ignored. Plasma is answered with more plasma, fired at the UFOs' engines with as much care as she can to avoid friendly fire.

Genya Arikado (919) has posed:
    Genya-- Yasen to those on the XCOM radio-- stops when he sees the squid-like drones. He raises his rifle to get a shot, but they disappear before he can. Can't be good. He does indeed call this in. "Just saw something strange here. Drones of some kind. Look a bit like squid. Couldn't get a bead on them before they--" He cuts off there because... well, he's suddenly been shot at by a roaring, bestial creature with a plasma weapon.

    The roaring and beating of the chest was warning enough for Genya to prepare for an attack. But he'd expected a bull charge, not a blast with the weapon. As such he can't quite dodge out of the way in time, and the large blast from the weapon tears a large swath across his side and part of his back.

    See... plasma weapons are a bitch. Particularly for him. Because do you know what else is plasma? That's right, the sun. And sure, he doesn't burn in the sun... but when hit with concentrated 'might as well be distilled pure sunlight'? Yeah. That hurts.

    As such, he stumbles to a knee, biting down on the urge to scream in pain. His eyes flash briefly red. But before the creature can get another shot off, his free hand comes up, moving to shape a strange rune-glyph thing in the air. "SOUL STEAL!" He aims the spell at the Muton, aiming to drain the creature's lifeforce to replace that lost to the plasma burst.

Ixqor Nathrach (977) has posed:
With the area seeming secure, and the bodies being hauled near the warp tear, Ixqor signalled his cultists, moving as a group across the threshold to reach the bunker where Nitro and Genya had been supposedly. Reaching an entrance to the bunk, Ixqor posted up against the wall with his two cultists before counting down. They breached the bunker and took sights on the Muton, Ixqor firing several bolt rounds at it before ducking into some form of cover. Oddly his shots were aimed at the creatures arms and legs, hoping to stun or disable it for capture. The two cultists waited by the door, their weapons held at the ready. They were waiting for something, likely for the invisible machines to show themselves so they could smash em to bits.

     Once behind Cover, Ixqor noticed the downed ally and reached out, trying to drag him into safety. "Keep your head down!" Ixqor shouted above the gunfire. "And do try to leave it breathing. I have need of these creatures, but only if they live, just barely." Genya might recognize Ixqor from the initial first encounter Ixqor had with Xcom, in the wooded areas. They were enemies then, but allies now? SUch is the nature of the Alpha Legionnairre though, always taking differents ides to further their own twisted goals. The sorcerer kept the dark energies that this man could call on in mind, for perhaps he, among all present, would be the easiest to bring onto his side so he would watch him closely when he could.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    The term 'Seeker Drone' doesn't exactly sound very comforting... But at least the Resistance operatives are too small a force to really spread out effectively anyway. Not seeing any further contacts outside leaves them to assume that they have to start going for the bunker. The Rookie and DeGaspard have to hop down from their vantage point and start moving with the rest of the team... Keeping to the shadows, they move to a set of trucks roughly ten meters southwest of the actual bunker complex. Probably in sight of the team on the roof.

    Martinez raises her arm to wave, showing their friendly to the people upstairs, then start moving east to start securing the rest of the grounds from any further threats.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone is not happy there is Chaos here and it seems to be the one that has focued harm on Alexis.. She's got to focus on the mission at hand and she's got her chance making sure there's no friendlys in the blast range of the alien grenades XCOM has figured out how to make? Ko will let several of them fly towards the thicket pasck of aliens. <<Fire in the hole!>> She's almost certain Valhen will be frowning somewhere for this, but they need to clear the aliens out to get the VIP out and she has no idea just who it might be a counterpart of either. That's going to be something when she finds out. She'll order the SHIV away if it's still functiona if not? Well it was made to tank shots for living personel in the end.

Rory White (673) has posed:
Poor Tygan. The six-legged machine that bursts into the room he's in would look pretty horrifying. But it's thankfully not terrible vulnerable to being shot at with scalpels, as it has no arteries to cut and doesn't bleed.

    Thankfully more, she's not hostile.

    "This is an AI-controlled body." She explains quickly, in case it freaks him out. "We're here to get you out, doctor!"

    The optics swivel all over him. Huh. It really is him but younger...

    "Impressive jury-rigging job. Here's a proper weapon though!" A panel on the robot's side opens, and the Flexbot reaches out with a snub-nosed... well it looks kind of like a sub-machine gun?

    "It's called a Shredder. Consider it something like a hybrid between an automatic rifle and a shotgun. Hopefully you won't need it! Calculating safest route out..."

    mapping software gets to work as she starts analyzing the various conflicts outside....

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Young Tygan looks at Rory's Flexbot. He knew it wasn't hostile because it didn't immediately try to melt him with plasma. "Ah, facinating! A fully functioning Artificial General Intelligence?" he drops the device, the jury riged weapon shattering into components and shreds of duct tape as he reaches for the new side arm. A look over, analysis. "Interesting design choice. I would be honoured if we could share technical specifications sometime." He's getting... uncomfortably close to an obviously alien and armed robot.

    The Cultists find the Seekers... the pair decloak and move to strangle the melee weapon wielding pair in unison, unfeeling robotic optic sensors glaring down into their Chaos tainted eyes.

    Thunder-12 succumbs to the plasma fire, it's onboard AI chip signalling distress, before the transmitter is fried and the blackbox ejects. It's beacon pings for pickup, but is a low priority.

    Resistance troops would spot the incoming X-rays first. A pack of Sectoids, a pair of Thin Men and a group of Mutons. Including a Berserker... they're coming back from patrol and don't seem to notice the signs of battle just yet.

    Yulia's fire on the UFOs gives plenty of openings for the Ravens to get their own missile locks. Avalanches slam into the hulls, blasting off chunks of alloy, while lasers gouge glowing streaks, overwhelming one UFO, casing it to detonate in mid air as its main core goes critical. The remaining UFO wheels about, and with a burst of speed far outstripping the Raven's maximum, peels off back towardsd space, trailing smoke from multiple missile impacts... it too detonates in the air, sending a cloud of shrapnel flying in a cone to rain down across the ocean several dozen miles away.

    Genya's Soul Steal makes the Muton convulse.. and something 'else' to speak to the dhamphir. <YOU KNOW NOT WHAT YOU DO!> it's brief, and ceases contact as the Muton falls lifelessly to the floor... though it wasn't from the Soul Steal or trauma from bolter rounds... something /fried its brain/.

Faruja (152) has posed:
With the inside of the building well and cleared out aside from Ix and his Cultists, Faruja gives a nod to his men. He'd rather toss himself off the height of Lindblum Castle than actively assist the Heretics. Luckily, it seems the XCOM Resistance is in need of a distraction.

Snapping his fingers, with a quick teleport spell Faruja and the two nights are once more sucked across space. Not far from the Resistance troops, the two knights appear and toss a quick salute. No outright attacks just yet, instead falling in with the team as they move from shadow to shadow. For men in armor, they can be rather quiet.

Faruja, however, appears behind a bit of cover somewhat nearby the pack of aliens. A murmur of a spell, and all around the creatures, reality wavers as great horrors are called in from elsewhere.

Birds. Big, beaked, two-legged almost ostritch-like birds appear. Bright red feathers cover them, and they stamp the ground in agitation at their summoning. With a shrill WAAAAAARK of rage, wings flap and the things start practically jumping up and down.

A dozen Red Chocobos peck, scratch, and summon a whole horde of burning ChocoMeteors onto the poor, poor sods. Anything that survives will then get to fend off stampeding warbirds.

Yulia Koslova (256) has posed:
    'Two hundred fifty..' The haro co-pilot dutifully ticks down the descent as Yulia continues firing, giving the Talisman squad the supporting fire they need until the second ship breaks off its attack. '..one hundred..'
    "Full thrusters!" Yulia slams down hard on both footpetals under her boots, and the thrusters in the mobile suit's own boots flare brighter until it lands on the ground with a heavy ground-rumbling KA-ThunK. Followed by a lighter ka-thunk of a spent energy canister being dropped out of the rifle.
    Which is then followed by lighter clanks and thunks of what's left of the first of the second wave of UFOs raining down. Without thinking too much of it at first, she lifts her suit's shield over its head as a sort of makeshift umbrella. This turns out to be a smart move, as one sharp jagged piece of fuselage strikes with enough force to puncture through it. *clang*
    "...yeah, too close," Yulia breathes, and she starts backpedaling towards the extraction point. "Rose, call the Philadelphia, tell them where to park the shuttle."

Genya Arikado (919) has posed:
    Genya had been about to teleport to a more advantageous position. But the strange voice in his head threw him off, and he emitted a choked sound of surprise. Thankfully Ixquor seems to save him the trouble. However warily Genya might regard the Chaos Sorcerer though, he allows himself to be pulled into cover, keeping his head down as requested. There's a bit of his side and back exposed through the body armor. The skin there is pale and nearly-white. Well, what of it isn't still burnt. That part is near-black.

    He does get his bearings as the warnings of another group of enemies come in. Looking to Ixquor, "Come on. I don't think this one's salvageable." Well, would you look at that? This soldier is actually talking CIVILLY to the Chaos Sorcerer!

    'Yasen' will make his way over to where the new enemy group is, staying in cover for the time being, making his way quietly. Until Faruja unleashes his summon spell. Then he pops out and starts trying to take down the smaller fries, so more fire can be concentrated on the big one!

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    The Resistance operatives were the first ones to see the new pod arriving on the scene, and they immediately duck for cover to prevent having to deal with a FUCKING BERSERKER with ballistics as their only means of offense. Good news, they're getting backup - though Sq. Martinez damn near shoots one of the knights as they suddenly port in beside them. At least now they have a little more backup, though!

    Or maybe... a lot of backup. Suddenly there are giant red birds warstomping aliens, and shit? It was really strange, but the rag-tag group takes it as a sign that maybe they should start opening fire. They don't bother with the little ones, instead focusing all their fire on the big assholes: the Mutons.

    DeGaspard and Martinez in particular are aiming at the Berserker, while the others aim for the rest of the Mutons. Once everything's down, they pull away from their cover and start moving to extract.

Ixqor Nathrach (977) has posed:
Ixqor grumbles, having felt the psychic link suddenly snap from the Muton. Had it's masters known all along that Ixqor was trying to capture specimens, or was this standard procedure for them to prevent any sort of capture? It would be hard to tell and not worth their time now. Ixqor looked to 'Yasen' and nodded. "It's handled had no use for it, they killed it from the inside... A shame. Regardless we best get moving. Those mechanichal creatures are still-." Ixqor paused, hearing some shouting from his cultists at the door. He stoo and ran then, finding the woman wielding a sword fending for herself very well, cutting the tendrils off before tehy can reach her, while the man with the mace was already caught in a hold. Ixqor, frustatedly moved to the strangled cultist and looked to the machine. "An insidious design, with insidious purpose... Useful, for later." Ixqor casually strapped the boltgun to his back holster, seemingly uncaring of the threat his servants were in, befor holding out ttwo hands to the seeker and unleashing a blast of warp electricity, hoping to fry the creature while keeping it's general body in tact.

     If he was needed to dispatch the other he would do so, but if not he would take a simple sigh. "We will not be making off with any live subjects today. But we still have a good deal to learn. Come. Gather that burly one and these 'seekers' I have a potential contact on the vox who may prove useful to us in studying them. Quickly now. The Xenos will overwhelm the area soon." The two cultists bow and thank their master for assisting them. "We live to serve you and the Gods! RIght away!" They then scurry off to play vulture, and move the corpses to the warp tear. This would be enough for now.

     Relaxed, Ixqor moves to the main building and begins tossing the corpses through the portal. Once finished, his cultists would take their steps beyond the etheral plain. Ixqor remained briefly, to make a final vox call to the remaining combatants.

Ixqor Nathrach (977) has posed:
WIth that last remark over the comms, Ixqor dissapeared beyond the warp tear, closing it shut behind him.

Rory White (673) has posed:
"Certainly! Though I'm more of a roboticist and programmer than weapons engineer... I believe you are, or will be, quite a generalist yourself." WILL BE? What?

    Whatever! The six-legged walker can't look pleased, but Rory's tone sounds so. And a bit strained. She quickly calculates an escape vector, but...

    But then there's a Tygan in her face. "Doctor...? N-now is not the time, we must go!" Rory's many legs tip-tap impatiently and she begins heading towards the door. "Keep down near windows, No matter what appears you must get to the skyranger alive. Leave enemies to me and use cover whenever possible. Very solid cover. Their plasma weapons rip through everything but dense metal easily..."

    Her turrets swivel in all directions towards the nearest alien coordinates she knows of while heading for the door...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has cleared the aliens out, she's lost the SHIV but it's brough her enough of a diversion to avoid personal harm. With her grnades spent for a moment. She's moving for the aliens now as Yulia attacks the UFO and she's trying to press the attack to get on the next bit namely the laiens who are attacking the Resistance fightes and he moves to start an attempt to flank the aliens gong for the Berserker trying to catch it while it's off it's guard. She ends up opening up and tries to open fire it with everything she has and failing that she'll target the ret of the patrol.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Ixqor's intervention saves his cultists. The woman with the sword managing to skewer and destroy her assailant, while the mace user gets saved as Ixqor fries the drone with chaos lightning. It convulses, then falls limp, clanking heavily to the ground. It's amazingly heavy for its size... able to fly only because of the Alien's anti-gravity technology, most of which has been destroyed by the method of disabling it.Regardless, the Chaos whorshippers get away with their spoils, for who knows what.

    Faruja's engagement with the arriving aliens gives Strike Two enough time to regroup and get moving. The pod is beseiged by War Chocobos, bullets and buckshot, and Kotone's laser rifle, along with whatever other magicks the Templar see fit to throw at the aliens. They're overwhelmed, the Berserker being the last to fall, taking one of the Chocobos with it.

    Titan is waiting at the top of the stairs for Rory and the Doctor. As they reappear, he falls in to provide mobile cover for the Doctor. "Strike Two, all points, form up on me. We are LEAVING!" he roars, firing a few Railgun slugs into the melee over the far side.

    "Strike and Menace elements, be advised, the remaining aliens have been tipped off to your presence, they're coming in /fast/ get to evac ASAP!" says Bradford(The younger one) over local comms.

Faruja (152) has posed:
With both Resistance XCOM and Genya's fire pouring in, the knights make themselves useful. The taller one casts a few Protect spells on the troops and Genya, and the shorter knight swings his sword in the air. A bolt of ice rips from the ground to try to freeze the thing in place, or just turn it into an alien-sicle.

With the aliens falling, however, the Inquisitor concentrates. A majority of the feathered jerks dissappear, minus the dead one. The Inquisition team forms back up as Elise calls for a retreat. They'll teleport out, though the XCOM RESISTANCE members can certainly hitch a ride should they please.

Otherwise, they'll get a good dose of Haste to help them get back to their own transport!

Genya Arikado (919) has posed:
    No sooner does 'Yasen' hear the all-clear than he turns and heads back towards the evacuation area. He's not taking it easy, either. Oh no, he heard the warning of more aliens, and he doesn't want to risk them getting here before he can get out. So he's moving fast as he approaches the craft in which one of the crew offered a place on board. Hopefully that place is still available.

    His particular means of locomotion might be worthy of an eyeraise at least, since even without Faruja's Haste spell, he's running back so fast that he almost seems to be gliding over the ground without touching it, ghostly blue afterimages trailing behind him in his wake. That's not how Haste works, is it?

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Once the call for 'all clear' hits the waves, the Resistance members relax - Magdelena and Olivera snickering and ribbing each other, Magdelena even throwing a punch at Olivera's arm. DeGaspard does his own thing - though he makes a note to go over and snap some pictures of himself with the Berserker corpse. The rookie... Squaddie Aman Jackobi, looks over the alien forces with an unreadable expression on his face... even making the motion of a cross in front of his body before he starts heading back to evac.

    The Resistance Skyranger makes a landing point in the center of the vehicle bay... a tight fit, maybe, but it allows everyone to pile into the ship without having to walk too far. Once everyone's in, Firebrand gives the all-clear and picks up, sending her ship screaming back to the nearest warpgate, and back to the Avenger.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is sad to see a Chocobo fall but it's better than losing someone. That bird did it's job above and beyond the call of duty. Kotone meanwhile makes sure that no one is left behind. It's time to get the hell out of here she'll attmept to et the SHIV black box on her way out and get on to which ever of the skyrangers is closer.