Disclaimer: FF:TSW characters belong to Square. X-COM is property of Microprose/Infogrames.
Author's Note: The Deep Eyes get their first taste of combat with a new type of alien. And this is just the start. PS: Some salty language follows.
UFO AssaultPain.
Perhaps not in the fashion that we are familiar with. Pain is universally understood by man, plant, beast…
And alien.
A pair of black, inhuman eyes slowly opened in the darkness of the UFO's control cabin. After only a moment, their disorientation cleared as another creature pulled itself upright on the slanted floor, standing on stubby pipe-stem legs. Then a third one joined the first two. There was a forth figure lying crumpled in a corner. The large hairless head lay almost on its shoulder, angled far beyond the limitations of normal anatomy. In the dim light its greenish blood was almost black and decorated the floor and wall. Sympathy was not coming, however, for it received only a passing glance. The atmosphere reeked with a combination of shorted circuitry and scorched alloy and, beneath it all, the faint odor of seared flesh.
Flexible, almost jointless fingers stroked a darkened control surface covered with incomprehensible symbols. Some of these icons began to glow and the hand's owner spoke in a buzzing voice…all it could say, really, since it possessed no true vocal organs. The second hissed a reply, and then it and the last survivor turned to exit through the single doorway that pulled back upon itself. This scout ship was no mere simple construct. Like the mothership that had grown and launched it, it was partially organic.
The first alien motioned its slim, four-fingered hand at a blank wall, and a screen appeared in midair. Fluctuations from the ship's damaged power plant made the image jump and waver with static. Still, it was clear enough to show two other craft just descending behind a nearby ridge.
The enemy.
The alien contacted its companions again, but this time it spoke with its mind.
Prepare. Humans come.
Sweating inside his armor, Neil squinted up at the early afternoon sun, a bright disc hanging in the pale blue sky and followed the others through a small dry ravine towards a twisting column of grayish-black smoke. Both the Super Avenger and the Copperhead had landed behind a protective spine of rock. Tyler had reported brief ground contacts but he couldn't give a definite number, and so the corporal couldn't help but be nervous…they would surely engage hostile aliens, in the flesh, and more than likely armed ones at that, something that he never thought he'd be doing. The Deep Eyes had exchanged their half-helmets for the increased protection of the heavier full-coverage models, but unfortunately they were stuffy, lacking any sort of stale-air exhaust. Neil cracked his open, grateful for the flow of relatively fresh air no matter how dry it was. Lovely design, he grumped. Why don't these things have any vents? The bright vista stabbed at his eyes, making them water, and in that good old Fleming style he began to complain.
"Are we there yet?"
"Oh, quit bitching!" Jane muttered.
"I like bitching." His reply contained equal parts affection and sarcasm. "I gotta' take a leak, and besides, I'm hot."
"Yeah, I know."
"And just what do you mean by that?" Proudfoot's helmet was also open and she scowled at Harper, who smiled back smugly. Eri was delighted to have gotten under her skin so easily. She had hoped that Neil would end up with her, but since she was stuck with the self-appointed Queen of Sheba instead, why not have a little fun?
"Cut the chatter, we're getting close." Hughes paused at the foot of a small hillock, checking the small cylinders secured to his accessory belt; Atwood and Harper wore these as well, and between the three of them he figured that they could recover a fair amount of Elerium. He looked at Ryan. "Any luck yet?"
The sergeant tried his suit radio again, then shook his head. "Our signals still can't get through. It's just like the communication blackout when the mothership first arrived. Operations is probably worried sick about us by now."
"Some sort of suppression field. Okay folks, here's the plan once again. I'm taking Fleming and Atwood around to the far side. Sergeant, you lead your group in the opposite direction. We'll circle around and flank the ship."
Jane felt her system flood with adrenaline. "A pincer approach?"
"Exactly. A UFO that small is usually crewed by no more than four, and we can catch 'em in a crossfire. I want a person in each of our groups can watch our backs at all times, in case any hostiles get any ideas. Any questions? Good…switch to coded battle channel oh-two-four." He began to shut his faceshield, but paused when his gaze caught Ryan's. He tipped the larger man a wink. "Good hunting, sergeant. Neil, Ty, with me." He turned and the trio left, stealthily using large rocks and stunted trees for cover. Before they vanished around a far bend, Ryan was already guiding his own small company onward. They encountered a small bubbling brook at one point, crossing it carefully, taking care not to make excess noise.
Eri kept a constantly roving eye on their six. Too bad that they didn't have a better motion detector…it would make tracking any aliens much easier and she wouldn't be running around in this damn desert. All the Black Ops had to rely on were the short-range scanners built into their helmets, and God only knew what funky technology the Deep Eyes were stuck with. Atwood claimed that he detected three hostiles on his fly-over prior to landing but he didn't sound one-hundred-percent certain to her. If flyboy's report wasn't accurate she'd take it out of his hide, personally.
UP ahead, on the other side of a slight depression, Ryan squatted behind an enormous fallen monolith of reddish rock and held up a hand, signaling the others to stop. The smoke column had thinned but was still visible, rising into the air just ahead. He slowly peeked over the rock's jagged edge and he froze. A mere fifty or so meters away, the crashed scout had plowed a long trench that ended in a shallow crater. Half of it was buried in the sandy soil and scattered debris lay everywhere. The ship's visible portion was badly damaged; smoke rose from buckled hull plates, and there were more of those strange organic-like growths twisting over the exterior. If anyone ever told Ryan that he would see a UFO, much less attack one, he would have advised them to check into the nearest nuthouse with a quickness. But now, especially after seeing the gigantic mothership first-hand, he was more than open to suggestions. He sensed his comrades hunkering close beside him, and he spoke softly into his mike.
"Whittaker to Hughes. Objective in sight!"
The reply came back almost immediately. "Confirmed…we also see it. We're north of your location, on higher ground We've found no evidence of hostiles so far. You got anything?"
Ryan zeroed in on the downed craft. The helmet's complex electronics had been upgraded over the past year to enable it to identify signatures across a much broader spectrum than the older model, which had been primarily tuned for phantom detection. A slow pan from left to right failed to reveal anything new. "Negative, nothing so far." He zoomed in on what appeared to be an open hatchway, and as he did so something emerged, blinking in the bright sunlight. "Hold on, I have something here!"
"Specify."
"It's short…the size of a kid! Big head, gray skin, large eyes. No clothing or armor that I can see."
"Sectoid. Damn. Just that one?"
"Affirmative. He's just standing there. Doesn't seem to be aware of our presence yet."
"Hopefully the others were killed in the crash. Well, it could be worse…"
"Hate to say it, but it is. He's packing a rifle. A big one."
"Then we're in for a fight. Hold your position. We'll be in place in a couple of minutes."
"Copy that." He signed off and gravel crunched as he turned on his heel. "Right. 'Couple of minutes,' he says…Jane? What's up?"
She was staring at a nearby outcrop that was slightly above and behind them. As long as she could remember she had experienced strong flashes of premonition, a sort of 'sixth sense'. It especially came on strong when she was in danger. Senses alert now, she brought her gun up and slipped a finger inside the trigger guard. "We're not alone, guys."
Eri stood beside her. "What're you babbling about?" But if she expected a response to her question none came. Jane continued to study the area upslope.
"Trust her, if she says something's weird, she's usually right." Ryan peeked out at the crash site again. The alien was ambling back towards the UFO.
"C'mon, there can't be anyone up there." Harper toggled her own visual filters through several displays but detected nothing. She shook her head. "'Usually', huh? And if this is one of those times she's wrong?"
Any further discussion on the matter was academic. A flash of green and a small Joshua tree a stone's toss away disintegrated in a small explosion of splinters. As they all dove for cover, Ryan spat an oath, not at all happy to note that the other alien had now joined in, adding his fire to that of his hidden companion. The humans now found themselves pinned down from two directions, victims of the very strategy they had planned to lay out for the aliens.
"Hughes! We are under fire! Repeat, under fire, we need assistance, now!"
"We're almost there! Sit tight!"
"The fuckers! It was a set-up!" Eri snapped off some rounds, her plasma rifle thrumming deeply as she tried to flush out the concealed sniper, cutting down bushes, scrubs and blowing apart some good-sized rocks. Ryan meanwhile squeezed off a few shots at the other alien; his laser rifle bucked as it discharged lethal red bolts, and he finally forced the alien to seek cover, at least for the moment. He slid down the slight slope on his posterior and landed in the shallow dry gully amidst a cloud of dust and a small shower of pebbles.
"So, you were saying?" Jane asked, squatting down beside Eri and ducking the plasma fire pocking the ground all around. She threw a glance at her comrade before sending out a flurry of fire, but got no answer. Harper was either concentrating on nailing their assailant or, more than likely, ignoring her.
Plasma rifle fire whined again and a corner of the crag behind Ryan vanished. Chunks of rock bounced off his armor. He saw that the angle of incoming fire had changed. The alien was circling towards a group of large boulders, trying to obtain a good shot. "Godammit, where the hell are they?"
He was just about to raise the comm channel again when the sniper's perch erupted under an onslaught of withering red and green fire that came in from the left. As the dust and smoke cleared it was evident that nothing could have survived such a barrage…the spot had been literally vaporized. Neil's voice came in over their suit radios, cracking with either good cheer or excitement. "Hey guys, the cavalry's here!"
Now that one danger was neutralized, the humans turned their full attention to the remaining one. The second alien's fire slackened and it bolted for the protection of its ship. "Get that bastard!" Tyler shouted down his com-link.
"Jeez, keep your pants on, will ya'?" Eri scrambled out of the ditch.
"Harper! You utter idiot, get your ass back here now!"
But she paid no heed to Martin's bawling…she was caught up in the passion of battle, focusing on her target, and nothing else mattered. She charged forward and with a move verging on precognition, dropped as a burst of plasma ionized the air a finger's width above her head. She struck the ground on her shoulder, rolling, and let her inertia bring her up into a crouch. Her plasma rifle spoke and one of the gray's legs blew apart below the knee in a spray of greenish blood, flesh and bone. The sectoid screeched, its last shots going wide into the Arizona sky, but incredibly it was still trying to bring its weapon to bear on the human. A split-second later Eri's gun barked again and the alien's other leg vanished, and it finally dropped. Watching it all, Jane was absolutely astounded. She would never have suspected that Eri, with her impulsiveness and cocky attitude, could have been so accurate.
Getting to her feet Harper swore a few choice words. Apparently this bug was a hardcase, never mind the shattered legs…it was crawling towards its plasma rifle that lay a couple of meters away. Its fingers were closing on the butt of the gun when an armor-clad boot stomped down its wrist, and the other kicked the weapon from its grasp. The alien looked up at her and glowered, and she stiffened as the cold touch of its telepathic powers began to sink into her mind like a fishhook. She reflexively fell back on her psi training and her implant activated, canceling out the sectoid's telepathic abilities. She ignored what felt like the start of a headache and readjusted her rifle's output.
"Just call me the cleaning woman." She tapped the trigger and a single low-powered plasma bolt precisely aimed at point-blank range instantly vaporized most of its forebrain. The alien twitched once and died with an expression eerily like human frustration.
She dealt the corpse a swift kick. "Shit! You got blood on my gun, you asshole!"
"Hey!" Hughes exclaimed, finally reaching her and pulling her back. "Knock it off. That's decent postmortem material."
She shrugged him off. "I already know what its guts look like."
"But they don't." He hooked a thumb towards Ryan, Neil and Jane, who had gathered around the body. They were looking warily at it like they expected it to jump back up. "And you disobeyed my orders!"
"Oh. So sorry," she said with false sweetness. She snuck a glance at Neil, hoping that he had been impressed by her performance.
"Show-off," Atwood said.
"Keep pissing on the third rail, dronehead," she snapped.
"You know, Harper, I really wonder how the captain puts up with you sometimes. Since you're so enthusiastic, take point." Ignoring her predictable mumbling, Hughes turned to the Deep Eyes. "So…who's ready to storm their first UFO?"
Once through the open hatch, they spread out in a loose group. A haze quickly enveloped them; the lenses of Ryan, Jane and Neil's helmets glowed with blue radiance, while the black-armored forms of X-COM blended into the shadows, nearly invisible save for the red light from the slits of their visors. "If you guys have any extra lights, fire 'em up."
"You heard the man," Ryan said, and six beams sprang to life, flooding the rounded corridor with light. As they proceeded, Neil anxiously looked behind the group…the gloom back there was giving him the creeps. "Um…do we have to split up again?"
Eri let a grin slip into her voice. "Naw. That only happens in Hollywood."
"Where?"
"Never mind."
The short tilted passageway intersected a corridor, and Eri advanced cautiously in a crouch, peeking around one corner, then quickly swinging around to cover the other. The laser sight on her plasma rifle scratched a thin ruby thread in the dimness.
"Clear," she said quietly, waving the others forward with a hand motion.
Martin divided his attention between his five teammates and the small pointer displayed on his interior HUD. He swore to himself under his breath, because the Elerium detector he had designed still hadn't picked up anything. There couldn't be more than two levels total on this ship but perhaps the stuff was so effectively shielded that it wouldn't show until they were almost on top of it.
Ryan glanced up and could see more of the ubiquitous tendrils snaking over the gray metal ceiling. Where they piping or conduits, or something more? What were they for? Although the skewed floor still had a solid feel he expected to see giant hairs any minute. It was like walking into an immense nostril. Just behind him, Neil touched the nearest wall. "Check this out." He turned his light onto his hand and saw that it wasn't grease on his gauntlet…it was some sort of viscous, slimy gray substance that reminded him unpleasantly of snot. He turned and shoved his hand before Jane's helmet. "What the hell kind of place is this?"
She smacked his hand away. "How should I know? And don't touch me with that crap, okay?"
They continued on, alert for any possible hostiles or booby-traps. From their route they ascertained that the corridor encircled a core, like a ring around a hub, and the bridge must be located at the center of the craft. They did not find anything resembling an entrance until they had reached the opposite side of the ship. On the innermost passageway wall was a door that looked oddly like a huge tricuspid valve. Harper approached it warily from the side, scrutinizing the surfaces beside it, searching for some sort of activation mechanism. "Must be some sort of sensor or similar device nearby."
"Well?" Hughes asked after a moment.
"Hold on, I'm looking," Her light swept across a slightly darker square, in the middle of which was a small black circle mounted at roughly waist level...just about the right height for a sectoid. "Aha! Stand aside, everyone." They did so, and she took her own advice before waving an armored hand in front of the sensor.
Nothing happened.
She tried again, but still without success. "Dammit," she murmured. "Must be locked, or jammed, or something. Should we blast it?" She raised her rifle.
"I should've known you'd ask that. Some things require finesse. Chill for a minute." Hughes pushed her barrel down and approached the door, cradled his rifle in the crook of an arm and produced a small, flat circle of some thin metallic material that he adhered to the wall, just above the sensor. He jacked its slim cable to a small nondescript panel on a forearm, pushed a couple of softly glowing buttons located there and spoke. "Faye, Code D-17, initiate."
The silky female voice that answered was surprisingly seductive. "Acknowledged. Breaker programs engaged and running." A long moment passed, then a series of harmonic chirps echoed in the corridor. "Lock circuits bypassed and released."
"You'd think the bugs would've at least changed the locks, after all these years." The computer tech disconnected his hardware, ignoring the stares. Neil was grinning–he could identify a fellow hacker a mile away.
Eri's helmet light wagged back and forth as she shook her head in mild disgust. "'Faye?' Give me a break."
The crimson visor angled down at her. "You're not jealous of an AI, are you?" he teased.
"Oh, please," she answered, almost sulkily.
He unlimbered his weapon. "Good. Then take the lead, please. I strongly suspect that the control cabin lies behind this door."
Harper tensed, passed her hand across the sensor eye again, and this time the 'petals' of the door silently pulled apart. "Here we go…" she muttered, and crossed the threshold.
