Dirk Ralthar

I once again seem to have the most TU's. haven't caught the rest of mine, will need to take a look at that when I get a chance.

I was going to suggest giving the shield guys a backup shotgun for when their shield is destroyed. Just a suggestion.

I've actually seen something like that before, only I don't remember the wraith throwing a grenade, but that was back in beta. It was just something I stumbled onto, was just checking out a corpse (because the Non-Com seemed out of place on a terror mission) and found it was a Wraith warrior, had the right image in inventory for it though.

You could just click on soldiers on the battlemap for your squad, then shift over to the other squad. It doesn't use the convenient hotkeys but it does avoid repeated transfers like that. Also it seems to me like the soldiers in the ground combat screen are ordered based on what order they were added to the dropship. I could be wrong on that, but it might be something for you to check on.

So you kill them all out a misguided sense of mercy rather than try to save a few. Good to know, I'll be sure to keep my head down if you ever come to my town to save me!

Nathaniel T. Winters, so badass that hell itself spat him back out. Same deal as last time.

Ummm.... Most I could say would be load up the Rockets and just level the area? The only thing that impacts funding is success or failure of the mission, casualties and property damage should be irrelevant.

Your strike team should never be out of range. The effective range of all three dropships should be anywhere in the world.

I do use medieval weapons for my fighters. Condors: Dagger, Shortsword, Gladius, Sabre Foxtrots: Lancer, Falcata, Cutlass, Scimitar Corsairs: Rapier, Fencer, Katana Marauders: Claymore, Halberd, Nodachi They vary from play through to play through.

I typically name my dropships: Charlie - Thunderclap Shrike - Thunderstrike Valkyrie - Thunderstorm When I stand up a second team I usually add Lightningstrike and Lightningstorm as the Shrike/Valkyrie respectively.

Xenonauts episode 2: ATTACK OF THE CLONES!

I don't know. I landed on an arctic map once, scout class UFO. 2 shotgun wielding, parka wearing Russians killed 4 of the 6 surviving aliens. The only ones I found were in the UFO and too scared to leave.

With a few modifications, the last big posting I have would be the good tie in for the whole deal too. As long as NTW doesn't bite the dust too early on. Kinda puts the whole "I'm your kid from the future thing" into the paradox bucket.

Episode 4 shows as "Video Does not Exist" Here is the functioning link.

I've got your dos equis ad! *You with a laser rifle in one hand and a reaper head in the other. Hot girl hanging off each arm. Camera zooms in and you say:* I don't always save the world. But when I do, it's from Aliens. I do need to add, Nathaniel T. Winters was one of those things that's just way over-hyped. Always referred to as a bad ass, but he only had 3 kills going into the base assault mission, wounded once (from a grazing hit), broke and ran twice. The only thing he had going in the bad ass department was never missing a combat drop from arrival at the base to the mission he got killed on. Might have had something to do with his degrading mental state there towards the end... guess we'll never know. And Fend. This musical tribute is where you need to go with your mindset when you see those Two eyed, two clawed charging purple people eaters! (I coined calling them that first by the way, see one of my earlier posts, page 2 or 3 I think.)

Fraggy Jack needs those better grenades, cause this is ridiculous. They seem to heal as much per round as one of the nades does in damage.

I don't know, Redshirt's was epic. I love the way that plasma round zipped right past two guys to hit him like it was guided or something.

Callsign: Fraggy Jack Sex: Male Ethnicity: White General Appearance: White, whatever works Role: Specialized Grenadier Equipment: Two Combat Shields, all the Grenades I can carry.

I believe that is called "the point where the game tells you to go F%#@ yourself".

Knowing that I was gonna die in episode 16 over a week ago gave me time to think and come up with that around a week/week and a half ago. So it had more thought and time put into it than most of my others. The posthumous two rank promotion would make me a major... and a delay before D.Dub hears about it would make sense, you are half way around the planet and it's not like someone could hit you with an IM. To be honest, I did entertain the idea of having him come back alive, but so badly wounded that he would never be able to fight again, but that would have just kind of cheapened the whole thing.

22August2005 1400 Hours Deep Desert Coodinates classified The small contingent moves through the desert. The doctor has been pushing them at a brutal pace. It has been over 20 years since the aliens completely overran humanity, and only a few groups of survivors remain. The Major's battle scarred wolf armor retains most of the heat of the desert, and he can tell his men are nearing the end of their stamina. But the mission is too important, the objective too critical to stop. Despite his own growing fatigue he pushes his men onwards. As he crests a sand dune, he can see their destination in the distance; the gutted out buildings of an old military base. Amongst the blowing sand can be seen the wreckage of old fighter jets, likely destroyed while trying to take off. He holds up a closed fist for the group to hold. Lifting a set of old binoculars, one of the lenses cracked, to his eyes, he examines the facilities. No movement. That's a good sign. He hopes the aliens forgot about the base after they attacked it. He moves back down the sand dune. The objective is about half a klick past that dune. Take ten. Get hydrated. Be ready for anything. No telling what surprises the Sebs might have left behind. The men aknowledge and the few lucky enough to have the last remaining sets of old sentinel or predator armor remove their helmets. The Major examines his men. The fifty men under his command represent roughly ten percent of the remaining fighters humanity has left. They wear an array of armor from the high end sentinel and predator armors that were used in the final days, and the wolf, buzzard, and jackal armors of the early war. Many simply have their fatigues. Their weapons aren't any better, two of the soldiers carry the only MAG rifles ever built, two of his best marksmen, but they only have about 12 rounds left between the two of them. One soldier carries a plasma carbine, with two spare power cells. The scatter laser the heavy weapons specialist is carrying is the only advanced weapon that has any real ammunition left. The rest of his unit carries whatever ballistic weapons they've been able to scavenge in working condition. Most of them carry AK's or M-16s, a few have shotguns and some are unfortunate enought to only have a pistol. One of his snipers had managed to find a .50 calibre Sniper rifle though, and he was quite grateful for that. Ten minutes later it was time to move out. The Major leaves behind the thirty or so non-combatants with an eight man squad and takes the rest down to the base. They fan out to avoid any area weapons that might be lying in wait. The only sound is the soft padding of boots on sand and the blowing wind. He motions for squad one to move left around the base perimiter, squad four to shift right. The other two follow him across the airfields to the buildings. The first building they reach is a hanger. An old MiG is partially buried under the caved in roof and the blowing sand that has entered over the last twenty years. Second squad takes up defensive positions in the hanger. Squads three and five stack up on the door unobstructed door. They turn on the flashlights mounted to their weapons and make entry to the base. They cautiously move room to room. They find the mumified bodies of the base personnel as they move through the facility. His men remained unfazed, death is such a constant companion that none of them waste any time lingering over the bodies. They enter the old armory. A plasma rifle and a plasma pistol sit untouched in the racks, covered in dust and sand. Spare power cells are strewn across the floor from an overturned locker. The body lying nearby easily explains what must have happened. Check those weapons, lets see if they work. The two men armed with pistols closest to the rack move in and pick up the weapons. They find a few powercells that still glow with energy and slam them into the weapons' receivers. Racking the charging levers the weapons hum to life, the first bit of good luck they've had in a while. The rest of the squad polices what grenades and conventional ammo they can find. Moving on they make their way into the living quarters. The sound of something falling over in the distance alerts the team and they immediately drop into defensive stances. The faint sound of something moving, almost scraping along grinds at them. The Major closes his eyes, trusting his men to engage anything that reveals itself. He focuses his thoughts, trying to harness the little bit of innate psychic power he was born with (some belive it to be a result of Alenium exposure before he was born, he just wishes his power was useful for more than a little bit of empathic ability). He can feel the unease of his men, that isn't surprising, it has long been considered taboo to disturb these old bases. But just beyond that he can sense something savage, almost feral. And it was hungry. He opens his eyes. Claw. That one whispered word is enough to make the men next to him go pale. Of all the legions the aliens had sent against them, the reapers where the worst. They were the most monstrous, and the fact that they made their victims into more of themselves was terrifying. It's close. He rises, weapon held ready. He and his men advance slowly, expecting an attack at any moment. They aren't left waiting long. The violet creature drops from overhead, landing on the soldier just to the Major's left, burrying one of it's long talons into the poor man. The Major quickly spins and lets loose a burst from his M-16, at the same time several others follow suit. The abomination goes down in a spray of bullets and purple ichor. But not before it had worked it's dark magic on the unfortunate soldier it had dropped on. The zombie begins to push itself up, but the heavy weapons specialist with an RPK lights up. The zombie is quickly blown apart from the barrage and a fully grown reaper jumps at the machine gunner. The man holds his ground and keeps the trigger depressed, the 7.62 x 39mm rounds shredding the second reaper before it gets to him. The Major bends down and picks up the dead soldiers dogtags and tucks them into his pocket. The squad continues moving. The rest of the base is empty, save the corpses of the dead, both human and alien. He makes his way back to the hanger. Pulling a mirror from a pocket in his armor he signals the remaining squad. 23August2005 1700 Hours Abandoned Military Base Coordinates Classified The major looks at the device the technicians have assembled in the old mess hall. The old power generator still had Alenium stock piled, and they were able to get it running with a few repairs. The scientists are still running diagnostics and the device is almost ready to enter the testing phase. His radio squaks and he hears the voice of the lookout in the old flight control tower. Major, we have a problem. Multiple UFO's spotted, all carr... The transmission breaks up into static and he hears a muffled explostion from outside. The Major assumes his lookout is dead. We have incoming, Doctor. Whatever you're going to do needs to be done now. The older asian woman ignores him, continuing to run the diagnostics. He speaks into his comm next. All units, Defensive positions. He meets his men at the MiG hanger they had entered in, by the time he gets there three men are already down, smoking plamsa wounds in their chests and faces. Outside the hanger Sebilians are firing blindly, and plasma bolts streak into the hanger in very high numbers. He meets his Lieutenant near the decrepit MiG, the blonde woman barely peaking out and returning fire with an AK. The rounds take a Sebilian square between the eyes and it goes down in a spray of blood, but the amount of incoming fire doesn't dwindle at all. What have we got, LT. Looks to be a Seb landing party, sir. Looks like fliers and disks, too. Maybe fourty of them. The other carriers deployed to the far side of the base. Her french accent is thick. But he understands her just fine. We need to draw them in some, where their numbers won't count for as much. Everyone, fall back to the doorway. He looks out over his dead and sees that among them is one of the corporals that was carrying a MAG rifle. Without thinking he dashes out of cover and grabs the weapon. As he slides back into cover a stray plasma round wings his shoulder, but the armor absorbs it. He checks the weapon, only one shot left. He leans around the edge of the MiG and spots a Seb in heavy armor. He lifts the MAG rifle to his shoulder, takes aim and squeezes the trigger. The small pellet of Alien Alloy flies true and a punches clean through the Seb's torso. It collapses, dead. The Major tosses the empty rifle to the side and falls back to join the rest of his squad. The fighting is brutal, and the humans are steadily pushed back, with casualties mounting on all fronts. Only seven of the soldiers make it to the mess hall alive. They barricade the doors with what they can but they know it won't last forever. Doctor, no more time. It's not ready yet! It needs two more minutes! We don't have two more minutes! As if to accentuate his point, an explosion sounds from the other side of the door. The aliens are trying to blast their way in. Can't believe we're all gonna die in this God forsaken Hell Hole! He holds up a grenade and pulls the pin, waiting to cook it until the doors are about to come down. Another explosion at the door, then another. One more and the doors fly open, at the same time the Major slings the grenade into the hallway. A moment later a blast of plasma vaporizes a few of the Sebs and a Harridan with a plasma cannon. He quickly reshoulders his M-16 and opens fire. The Scatter laser hums constantly as the soldier strafes the hallway repeatedly. Another explosion from another grenade, then the aliens are in the room. The blonde Lieutenant goes down, half her face melted from a shot from an alien battle rifle. The Major guns down the Seb that fired, but it's too late. A Hellion floats into the room and begins firing at the scientists and engineers. The sniper with the .50 puts a shot into it, then another, and another and the thing explodes into a miniature fireball. Immediately after the sniper gets hit full on with a shot from an assault plasma, disintigrating him from the waist up. The trooper with the scatter laser slams home a set of fresh powercells and breaks cover advancing on the aliens as they pour through the door, trigger held down and bolts flashing rapidly. Plamsa bolt after plasma bolt strikes him, and his heavy predator armor slowly starts to fail under the withering fire. Another Harridan with a plasma cannon fires and the trooper explodes into a mist of blood and gore. The device is ready! The doctor shouts from near the control console. A shimmering light appears behind him, and he shouts to those still standing. Everyone through the portal, NOW! He tries to cover his men as they make a break for the portal, but the M-16 doesn't have the power to penetrate the alien's armor that the Scatter Laser did, and they largely ignore it. His men get gunned down before they make it to the portal. He turns and makes a run for it himself, stoping only long enough to see the doctor take a plasma bolt between the shoulder blades. He doesn't have time to worry about it, he's the only human in the room left standing. Quickly throwing his last grenade at the control console he dives through the portal. 06December1979 0720 Hours Research Facilities, Maximus Base Somewhere in the Egyptian Desert Instruments all over the lab are going haywire, and the base power flickers again. This has been going on for the past several minutes. What the Hell is going on in my Laboratory? Dr. Goldblum demands from anyone who might have an answer. We're detecting a massive energy surge from somewhere inside the base. We can't lock it down though. Date Unknown Location Unknown The Major hits the ground hard. He looks up to see the portal shimmering in the air a few feet off the deck. A Sebilian in heavy armor jumps through the portal right before it closes. The Major kicks upwards and knocks the creature's plasma rifle from it's hands, the crimson weapon clattering across the room. He barely notices the people who are frantically making their way to the exit, his only focus is on the Seb that is right in front of him. Quickly pushing himself to the side he narrowly avoids the Seb's attempt to crush him underfoot. He rolls into a crouch, pulling the combat knife from it's sheath over his left collar bone. The old blade is well cared for, and as sharp as the day it was made. The sebilian lowers it's stance and lunges at him. The Major spins into a kick, connecting squarely with the side of Seb's head, but it ignores the impact and grabs his leg. The alien's claws dig into the armor, adding faint scratches to the multitude of other damage it has already sustained. The major slashes forward with the knife, burying it into the alien's shoulder, and it reflexively lets him go. The major regains his balance and kicks low into the alien's knee, the force of the impact dislocating the joint. The alien collapses, and the major gets behind it. He knows it won't be vulnerable for long. Grabbing the alien's head he tries to snap it's neck, but the alien hits him with a blow to the chest that sends him flying across the room. He lands heavily on a table and it buckles. Rolling to his back he feels his hand land on something. A quick glance and he sees the alien's plasma rifle. He grabs it and levels it at the Sebilian, already recovered and once again preparing to pounce. He depresses the firing lever and bolt after bolt of plasma tears into the sebilian. After the fourth shot it collapses into a smoking heap. He stands, tossing the rifle to the side. Ignoring the pain in his chest he pulls his knife from the alien's shoulder; wipes the blood from it and returns it to it's sheath. The doors burst open and uniformed soldiers with rifles charge into the room, weapons leveled at him. No sudden moves! Hands where we can see them. What date is it? I said no sudden moves! Don't test me Private. Answer the fucking question. The soldier is momentarily confused. December sixth. What year? 1979. The major closes his eyes, the device worked. But the mission still failed. He was supposed to be bringing a full complement of soldiers, scientists, and engineers. He was the only one who made it. But he was here, he might still be able to save his men, his family. I need to speak with Lieutenant Winters and Doctor Takimoto. Now. The soldiers exchange looks. Lieutenant Winters is on deployment. To the soldiers around him. Secure his weapons. Put him in a holding cell until the Brigadier decides what to do with him. The Major doesn't resist as they confiscate his weapons, and his armor. Some time later he is sitting in an interrogation room. The door opens and a bearded Russian man enters. The Major easily identifies his rank. Who are you? The Major remains silent. Why are you here? The Major doesn't respond. How did you get onto my base undetected. I won't speak to anyone except Doctor Takimoto. They say you also asked for Lieutenant Winters. I won't be able to speak to him. Why do you think that? Because he won't be making it back. Now bring me Takimoto. The Brigadier stands to leave. We have ways to make you talk. Try whatever you want. There is nothing you can do to me that I haven't already experienced. You don't know what true torture is Mikhail. Now bring me Takimoto. The Brigadier leaves the room. Moving into the viewing room next to the interrogation room, he examine's the Major through the one way glass. A moment later Doctor Takimoto enters. Brigadier, I'm very busy in the lab trying to figure out those bizarre readings we just got. The brigadier motions to the man in the interrogation room. He demands to speak with you. I have a feeling he might know more about those strange readings than you do. Then let him wait, I'm very busy right now. Doctor, he had this on him. I know I've never met him before, but he knew my name as well. The Brigadier hands Aki the Major's combat knife. She doesn't think anything of it until she sees the small charm hanging off the grip. Dirty, stained, and tattered. But the small red charm with gold embroidered kanji and a floral pattern is unmistakeable. I'll speak to him. She leaves the viewing room and enters the interrogation room. The Major sizes her up. She lays the knife down on the table and points to the charm. Where did you get this. It had belonged to my father. When I was seven, my mother gave it to me as we hid from clunkers in the burned out ruins of Rome. Rome isn't in ruins. In a few years it will be. Unless something can be done now to stop it, the entire world will be. I've seen what the world will become. By the year 2000 there will only be around three thousand humans left on Earth. By 2005 that number will have dwindled to just over fourteen hundred. You're delusional. I wish I was. The future is dark, and it's full of suffering. I was part of a team led into the desert to find the ruins of Maximus base. It was the only facility with a reactor capable of powering a device that would rip the fabric of space-time and allow us to come back. My entire company, 49 men and women died making that happen. Every person on that team gave their life because they believed that we could make a difference, and I am the proof that the device worked. That your device worked. You expect me to believe that? My name is Nathaniel Theodore Winters Takimoto. I'm your son. You might not have realized it yet, but you are already pregnant. With me. And I wish I could say otherwise, but today is the second most painful day of your life. The most painful will be the day Tokyo is burned to the ground. What do you mean? My father doesn't come home from the mission today. The intercom blares. All Medical teams report to Hanger 4 for arrival of critical wounded. Again, all Medical Teams Report to Hanger 4 for arrival of critical wounded. OOC: So it turns out I was telling you that story, so I could tell you this story. And yes, I feel like I can let it out now, that I knew that was coming. Was really disappointed he didn't make it to the end. Also, I demand tears, and a really nice speech, and maybe some skittles... meh, forget the skittles. I did like the way the other guys in the room just went into full on "LET'S ROCK!" mode after I died, spraying lasers everywhere. Nathaniel T. Winters, USN, LTJG. Lost but never forgotten. For future reference, I always leave the command room for last, specifically so I can charge in and clear it quickly. Also, use those 100% shot block panels to your advantage.

D, the date on your last entry should be 01December to match mine, with a time of probably around 2015ish. Otherwise it looks like he just hung around outside his door all creepy-stalkerish for three days.

I think at some point we're going to need to go through and put all of these in chronological order, to make it a little easier to follow down the road.

I would watch the shit out of that. The issue is ultimately the funding, artwork, scripting, publishing, etc. etc. etc. Just don't let it go all DBZ on us. No reason a fight against a sebilian should last 14 episodes!

04December1979 1900 Hours Onboard Janeway Enroute to Maximus Base Winters is still rattled from the barrage of psychic attacks he took on the last deployment. He understands now what it was that made Darkwombat lose it when he killed Fend. He remembers the feeling of something in his mind. The images of his team getting slaughtered, their weapons completely ineffective against the aliens is still burned in his mind. The aliens, no the Caesans, can get inside our heads. We only ever seem to have major breakdowns in discipline when fighting the skinnies. He thinks to himself. If he ever had any doubts as to whether D.Dub had just lost it, they were gone. He knows for sure now that Williams was manipulated, not controlled, but manipulated into killing his ally. The repercussions of that fact are terrifying. What could happen if that happened to someone with a more dangerous weapon, like a rocket launcher? He doesn't even want to think about it. Two or three casualties could be best case scenario in that situation. The squad seems in a decent mood on the flight back. The new rookies performed as well as could be expected, and the senior soldiers are congratulating them on coming out of the mission clean. But Winters remembers the fear he felt when the alien entered his mind. He remembers throwing down his weapon and running, and he is just glad the other squad members were not nearby to witness that. It feels like he is losing control of himself. He can feel the cracks forming. He closes his eyes, and tries to use some of the meditative techniques that Aki was teaching him. Steady his breathing, clear his mind, just focus on breathing. 04December1979 2300Hours Maximus Base Somewhere in the Egyptian Desert Aki is waiting in bed for him when he returns to his barracks room. She's been here the last few nights. He pours the last of the sake into a glass and lifts it to his lips, his hands shaking. He wasn't able to calm down on the flight back and he hopes the drink will help. Did everything go ok? He looks at Aki. Everyone made it back. There won't be any funeral services this time. You look pretty shaken up for everyone coming back home. I think I know what caused D.Dub to shoot Fend. Aki is confused. She can't draw the connection between everyone making it back alive and Darkwombat having shot the former squad leader. I remember you saying that the Caesans communicated telepathically. I don't think it is limited to amongst themselves. While we were out there, one of them... He pauses, trying to find the most sane way to say this. I felt something in my mind. Like a presence just at the edge of my consciousness. And then I saw the team, dying horribly. Ripped apart by abominations. They must have been seven feet tall, with massive claws. Then I saw them being riddled with plasma from the clunkers. Then eaten alive by the Sebs. The next thing I knew I was already ten meters from my previous position. I remembered having dropped my weapon. And I remembered running. And at that point I felt the presence leave, but the damage was done. It got inside my head, it found something I was afraid of, and it made me witness that repeatedly. Aki quietly tries to absorb what he just told her. She has suspected a similar ability in the Caesans from the autopsies performed to date, but they haven't seen any real proof that they did have such powers. It explains much as to why the Caesans, a race that is so frail and poorly suited to battle has been seen regularly on the front lines. Please don't tell me you think I'm going crazy. I don't think I could handle that right now. I don't think you're crazy. I think you're right about the Caesans. It would explain a lot about why the aliens are using them as soldiers. She stands, and walks behind him. She embraces him, wrapping her slender arms around him. She can feel him shaking. He's been rattled in a way she hasn't seen before. This was worse than just losing another squad member. She can't possibly understand what he's feeling right now, but she knows that he needs support. She can see him unraveling. She knows his men can see it, as well as the command. He's under a lot of stress, more than he has ever been under before and it is breaking him. And every time he seems to be recovering, he gets hit with something else. He clasps her hand in his, squeezes tightly, just trying to find something real; something of a world grounded in an enemy that bleeds, a world where his enemy can't manipulate his thoughts, a world where combat involved dodging bullets not plasma. Never before has he felt so helpless. Not even when his men were being slaughtered around him and all he could do was watch.