Disclaimer: Just an advisory, this chapter contains stuff that might be slightly disturbing, though descriptions do not go over the T-rating. Just a heads up!
XCOM: From The Ashes of Temples
Chapter Ten: Compromise
Operation Flying Hydra
Aveyron, FRANCE
Personnel Deployed:
Strike-1: Lt. Kim Chun Hyun (Wounded)
Strike-2: Sgt. Hector Valdez (Incapacitated)
Strike-3: Lcp. Akinawade Kotsi (MIA)
Strike-4: Cpl. Shaojie Zhang (Wounded, Minor)
Strike-5: Spec. Sarah Isabel McLeod
Strike-6: Spec. Rene Mercier (KIA)
Strike-7: Spec. Gina Zervas (Critically Wounded)
High Value Asset Recovered:
Annette Durand
Council Personnel Recovered:
Sgt. Patrick Carlock (Seriously wounded)
Recovered aliens and artifacts:
Live Alien Capture (Sectoid Commander)
Weapon fragments
Mechtoid core
Sectoid Corpse
Muton Corpse
Thin Man Corpse
MELD canister
Note: The corpse of the Muton Berserker has yet to be recovered from the bottom of the dam due to the dangerous conditions onsite.
Assessment:
Despite considerable losses, the successful recovery of Annette Durand is a great accomplishment for the Strike Team. Once Durand is safely returned to the base, investigation into her abilities, and what happened to her while she was in alien and EXALT custody is paramount.
Cpl. Zhang and Lt. Kim's capture of the Sectoid Commander is an unexpected bonus, and research on it will be pivotal in understanding the extent of the aliens' psionic abilities.
Scans show no survivors from the downed Abductor UFO. The XCOM Salvage and Recovery team will be sent to retrieve the craft and any alien material from the dam site. Full report and inventory to follow.
Hector Valdez remembered falling into the darkness.
It was a controlled fall and the Strike Team were going deep into the bowels of the earth. The dim light of the night sky outside was now a little blue patch high above them, and below them the descent lines of the access shaft stretched into the darkness. The black of the pit was only broken by a square of faint green light below which was rapidly growing in size. Finally they got to the bottom of the shaft, through the square of light which plunged them back into open space.
The source of the green light turned out to be from the indirect glow of the alien devices in the room. Valdez had an impression of some sort of high-ceilinged chamber, with a raised walkway and rows and rows of glowing alien capsules on each side. There was no time to gawk, as soon as his feet touched the floor he moved forward. Bravo Team was right behind them and they would need the room to land. In front of him, the rest of the Strike Team were already taking up covering positions. He joined them, taking in more of the contents of the strange room the Strike Team had found themselves in as he did so.
"Central, Strike-1. You getting this?" Major Henry Harris was standing in front of one of the capsules, directing his shoulder-cam so the people back at HQ could get a good look.
"What in God's name... are those the abductees we are looking at?" Dr Shen's exclamation was filled with horror and disgust at the depravity of what they had found.
Valdez agreed wholeheartedly. On closer examination the glowing capsules appeared to be some sort of stasis chambers. Inside were figures, humanoid figures— no doubt some of the numerous civilians abducted from all those sites all around the world that XCOM hadn't been able to respond to. There were rows and rows of those capsules, each with a victim in them. He was suddenly reminded of the words of the girl they had rescued— the one who had escaped from alien captivity, months ago.
"There were so many bodies!" she'd sobbed into Hamdar's shoulder after Bravo team had extracted her from that city square. Valdez wondered briefly what had happened to her after they'd handed her over to the Council. They certainly hadn't heard anything about her since then. He hoped she was all right, wherever she was now.
Had she escaped from somewhere just like this? What were the aliens doing to all those people? Why?
Valdez had no time to ponder further; Major Harris was already barking out orders. "Kimchi, take point. Nukem and the Doc will cover the rear. Zhou, Eri, try and get a good spot to cover our advance. "
Kim, who had been staring at one of the stasis chambers in horror, broke off her gaze and quickly got to it. Valdez turned to see what she was staring at, and immediately felt sick. Inside that particular chamber was a woman who looked to be heavily pregnant, her face frozen in a scream, arms still defensively covering the belly containing her unborn child.
Major Harris let slip a string of colourful English expressions on noticing the same thing. "—cking alien bastards! I don't know if those poor sods in there are still alive, but watch your fire in this area," he raised his voice at the last part, turning to address both teams. "Don't damage those pods if you can help it."
When Major Harris— who was often at loggerheads with Dr Vahlen for advocating generous usage of explosives by the troops— told you to watch your fire, you knew things were really serious.
As it turned out, the capsules were nothing compared to what they found next. The back of the capsule chamber contained two doors leading to parallel rooms, so once Bravo Team had finished their descent, the two teams split up to investigate.
The room the Strike Team had been assigned to investigate contained rows of surgery tables, several with human bodies still strapped atop them. Nightmarish-looking devices and implements were scattered around the tables, and some of them had clearly seen recent use, if the marks on the defiled bodies were anything to go by.
"Doc...?"
"All dead," Valdez managed to say after a quick examination of the corpses. There was a palpable sigh of pity from the Strike Team at this. Valdez decided not to mention to the rest of the team that judging by the signs, the victims hadn't been dead when they had first been placed onto the tables. Thinking about it was already enough to make him ill, he didn't need to spread the feeling to the rest of the squad.
Five minutes later, no one was thinking about the alien surgery tables, because they were all fighting for their lives.
It had started with the reports of 'Contact!' over the comm from Bravo Team. The reports quickly escalated to cries of 'Heavy resistance!'.
Major Harris immediately swore and barked out orders for The Strike Team to backtrack and assist. "Bravo team, hold on, we're on our way!" The Major said as he charged to the front. "Guns out, Strike Team! Move move move!"
They quickly found that 'heavy resistance' was a poor choice of words to describe the alien forces that had tangled with Colonel Spencer's Bravo team.
As the team medic, Valdez took up the rear of their formation and was the last of the Strike Team to enter. The first thing he saw on rushing through the door was the Bravo team defending their position from the top of a ramp. The two assault specialists from Bravo, Rossi and Kozlowski, were holding the base of the ramp, shotguns blasting away at the teeming tide of purple Chryssalids advancing on them while Colonel Spencer and Jabs, the Bravo Team's medic, provided supporting fire with their laser rifles. The remaining Bravo Team members were retreating up the ramp, the power-armoured figure of Cpl. 'Tanky' Turk bringing up the rear and shielding her more vulnerable teammates from enemy fire, which was coming from—
"Mutons on right!" came the warning from the Colonel. "Ducky, they're yours. Tanky, do something about their cover!"
While Captain 'Sitting Duck' Douglas dashed for a favourable position to shoot, Tanky stopped in the middle of the ramp, turned and then the deafening rattle of her Minigun autocannon echoed throughout the chamber. There were roars as Tanky emptied her gun at the Mutons, sending a hailstorm of high-explosive rounds ripping through the low wall they had been using as cover, leaving them exposed and easy pickings for Ducky's sniper fire.
Unfortunately not all Mutons were created equal, and before the Strike Team could take advantage of the opening as well, several of the noticeably larger ones went berserk. Instead of retreating, they turned around and with blood-curdling roars, charged right at the Bravo team.
"The hell?" Such behaviour had never been seen in the Mutons before. Mutons were like Thin Men, they stuck to cover, used tactics, and generally were shrewd opponents to deal with. The suicidal Mutons however, ignored the streams of fire from the Bravo Team, charging and plowing right into the two assaults at the base of the ramp. Rossi and Kozlowski, still fending off the waves of Chryssalids, never had a chance. Profanity filled the air as the defensive line broke, leaving Bravo team vulnerable to the Chryssalids' onslaught.
"Nukem!" Major Harris already had his rocket launcher out.
Hamdar didn't need to be told what to do. A series of explosions rocked the rear of the Chryssalid swarm seconds later, sending alien parts flying everywhere. Unheeding of the destruction and the hailstorm of firepower from the Strike Team cutting them down, the surviving alien bugs continued forward, the first three pouncing on a fallen Rossi. One was blasted away at point blank range by Rossi's scatter laser, but the remaining two were able to attack unhindered. Screams rang through the comm-line as the alien-spiders viciously dug their spear-like appendages through the Italian's armor. Kozlowski was no help to his partner as he had been knocked down as well and was currently being pounded into the floor by one of the oversized Mutons.
"Pick on someone your own size!" A rocket-powered punch from Tanky's armoured suit sent the berserk Muton flying away from Kozlowski. She herself was forced to back off as another trio of Chryssalids skittered up and began swarming her. "Backup may be required!"
Fortunately backup was there in the form of the Strike Team, and Major Harris, who fervently believed in overkill, had moulded his team with a preference towards heavy weaponry — perfect for dealing with Chryssalids. The two Chryssalids attacking Rossi exploded in a shower of carapace and gore from two different XCOM sniper rifles, while Kim had rushed forward to help Capt. Mary Harris fend off the remaining swarm that was attacking Tanky, the gunfire from three heavy lasers covering her as she did so. Bravo Team on the other hand, had focused their fire on the Mutons, the concentrated firepower finally taking down the maddened brutes they would later call Berserkers.
By the time the Chyssalids and Mutons had finally been put down, both teams had suffered casualties. Rossi and Kozlowski were both unconscious and critical. Tanky's armour suit had taken heavy damage but she herself was unharmed. Kim had taken a glancing hit and was now disoriented with Chryssalid poisoning.
"You'll be all right, Kim, just a flesh wound, and this shot'll have you right in no time." In addition to his skills as a leader, Colonel Spencer was also an experienced field medic as well. Valdez always respected the Colonel for that, and his willingness to get his hands dirty. The man could have been commanding from the safety of the base but he chose to be on the front line with them. Currently he was helping Kim towards where Valdez and Jabs were trying to keep the two critically wounded Bravo Team assaults alive. He gently propped her against a wall, checked her vitals and turned towards them.
"It'll need a while for the antidote to take effect, but we need to push on and secure this section of the base. Doc, Jabs, stay with Rossi and Kozlowski and do what you can for them. You stay here until the poison effects wear off too, Kim. The rest of Bravo and Strike, group up and follow me."
Valdez was working on one of the lacerations on Rossi's leg when he had the sensation of something prickling at the back of his head. He turned around. Nothing.
"Something wrong?" Erikssen asked him. She had been assigned to stay behind to cover the medics and the wounded and while on overwatch, apparently hadn't noticed anything out of place. Jabs looked up from where she was working on Kozlowski and gave him an enquiring gaze as well.
"Thought I heard something. Must be my mind playing tricks on me."
"You know it is bad luck to say that, right?" Jabs pointed out to him in their native tongue.
Right on cue, there was a soft sound from above. Valdez looked up and the realisation hit him. "Something's in the vents above!" he shouted just as the thing darted out and dropped into the room.
Thank God it wasn't a Chryssalid. Valdez caught sight of the silhouette of a large Sectoid that was vaguely familiar. Almost looks like the one from Operation Devil's Moon, he thought. Then a laser shot hissed through the air, the creature flinched, ran, and ducked behind one of the barrels in the room.
Eri was quick on the draw and had the creature covered. "Doc, Jabs, get in cover! I've got this!"
Jabs immediately darted for cover. Valdez swept up his heavy laser, ready to lay down fire the moment he could, but the moment of pause turned out to be a mistake. Too late he saw the tendril of purple light snake out, too late to do anything but brace as it hit him...
The world spun and he stumbled. An unearthly shriek, echoed by thousands of others, rang in his ears.
He woke up, his scream coming out as a sound that was barely anything more than a hoarse rasp. It took him almost a minute to realise where he was— the infirmary of XCOM headquarters. There was a rustle as the privacy curtains around his bed were pulled aside, and he saw the diminutive figure of Doc Yi peer in.
"Good to see you awake, Hector."
"Yishimura-san..." Valdez managed to choke out. He then tried to sit up, and found he couldn't, because of the restraints that secured both his arms to the sides of the bed.
The old doctor met his eye and smiled. "Ah, very good. Lucid. Recognises people. Do you remember anything about what happened to you?"
"Operation Hidden Hydra... We were going to find that girl Durand— why am I in restraints?"
"You don't remember?"
Then the events of the mission came back in a jumbled rush. He remembered flashes: Kotsi gone, Mercier gone, Zervas dying. Then his toes curled. Now he remembered the worst of it: The Thing had been in his head and he'd been helpless to resist, just like before. Worst of all, he had nearly killed Hyun again...
It was in his head. It was in his head and he couldn't get it out.
He fought against the presence, and he was finally rewarded when the attack faded, and the Commander was there. Everything was all right. He could move now. He reorientated himself. That was right. He had to move, protect his comrades. Protect the Commander.
The alien trooper screeched at him and raised its long-barreled weapon at his commander. Valdez knew that it was called a sniper, capable of firing over long distances, and this one intended to kill the Commander.
Protect!
Yes, he would protect. Without hesitating, he spun around and opened fire. With satisfaction he saw the alien, not expecting fire to come from him, take the shots right in the chest. It crumpled without so much as a scream as the volley of red light flashed from his heavy laser and burned it into a husk at point blank range.
You did well. But there is one more.
The other alien trooper was backing away from him, hand holding a smaller weapon from what the sniper had used. It was making strange screeching noises at him in its panic.
Panic? Good. Panic is good. Fear is the catalyst. Kill it!
A shot whizzed past his shoulder. Did that alien not know what it was shooting at? Valdez raised his gun and fired. A few shots struck the second alien, but they were only grazes. The alien seemed to have had enough anyway, it had already fled for the door.
Let it run. Kill the remaining.
Remaining? Then Valdez turned his attention to the wounded aliens lying on the floor. Of course, they had to be put down. They were hardy, the new aliens. Turn your back on them and they would get back up and shoot you again. Just like the little dark-haired one that had just clambered to its feet and was reaching for a white boxy weapon that the aliens used.
Valdez raised his weapon, but the gun would not fire, and made little beeping noises.
Stupid terrestrial weapons, so inefficient, the voice in his head reeked of disgust. You are strong. With enduring physical form. Kill it with your hands!
Yes, he would not need the gun. He tossed it aside and charged at the little dark-haired alien. Unlike the other, this one did not scream. It stared back at him out of those tiny little eyes. It tried not to look scared, but he could tell it was afraid. He could smell its fear. With good reason, with his strength he could snap its neck so easily.
But as he came close, the weapon in the alien's hand spat lightning. The shock hit him, sending him on his knees, screaming in pain.
Not enough. Get up. Kill it!
The Commander was right. The weapon only worked on weakened targets. But Valdez was not weak. He struggled back to his feet and tackled the dark-haired alien, knocking the white box out of its hands. His hands found its soft throat, and he squeezed, choking the life out of it. It hit back viciously, scratching his face with its claws, striking him wherever it could, but he was larger, he had the leverage and thus, the upper hand. It was only a matter of time before the alien would die.
Their leader is coming! Kill it!
Leader? Valdez turned to see two more aliens, one larger than himself, run towards him. He knew, somehow, that the smaller one was the leader. He loosened his grip on the little dark-haired one as he scrambled for a weapon to kill the two before they came near. Then stars burst into his vision as a precise strike from the little alien he had been trying to kill connected with his jaw—
Pain. The pain allowed it to slip out from beneath him, but the little alien had no intent of escaping. It continued its attack, striking him again and again, the frenzied blows to the head dazing him. Then the other two aliens arrived, tackling him to the ground.
"No!" Valdez cried out as the aliens overpowered him by sheer numbers. The large one twisted his arms painfully behind his back, while the foot of the other was on his head, forcing him down. "Commander, I need backup!"
Weak. This one is weak. A disappointment. Leave it.
They were gone. He closed his eyes in despair, cheek against the cold ground as the aliens paced around him. They would take him, put him into one of those chambers, or onto one of those tables and cut him into pieces while he was still alive. A fate worse than death.
"Christ, what the hell happened here? Jabs, check Erikssen... Kim, are you all right?"
"Colonel Spencer..." Valdez's eyes snapped back open. He hadn't been abandoned. The team had returned, just in time to rescue him.
"I-I think so, Colonel." Kim's face was pale and her hands were gingerly massaging her neck. Her helmet was off and he noticed the angry red bruising around her collar. What the...? She'd been attacked by a Chyssalid, not a Seeker. He'd been sure of that, how had those strangulation marks gotten there? He tried to rise to his feet so he could help, but was stopped by the feel of the cold muzzle of a gun pressed against the back of his neck.
"Oh no you don't," a voice warned him. "Move an inch and I swear I will kill you, Valdez. You stay where you are."
Valdez's mind reeled in confusion. The voice was that of Captain 'Hail' Mary Harris, but her tone was cold and hostile. Compared to her brother she had always been a pillar of calm and friendliness. Valdez had never been on her bad side.
"I don't understand..."
"That makes both of us," she replied grimly as someone— Major Harris, roughly secured his hands behind his back with a plastic tie. "Erikssen, then almost Jabs and Kim? Why, damnit?"
Valdez heard Jabs' voice next. "Erikssen's gone. Can't do anything for her. She was dead before she hit the floor."
No. How could that have happened? He'd taken out the alien sniper before the thing had gotten a shot off. He'd been sure that the subsequent attacks had all been directed at him. How could Eri have gotten shot and he not know? At the risk of getting his head blown off, he turned ever so slightly to gaze at Jabs' direction. His eyes widened.
Jabs' Carapace armor was partially melted and scorched, though from the look of things, the shots hadn't gotten through. But something was very very wrong, and it wasn't just the look of fear on his fellow medic's face as she felt his eye on her. He saw her flinch involuntarily and her hand reach for her pistol...
Why were they all looking at him like that? Then he saw Eri. Or more accurately, what was left of her. It was then, when he set eyes on her corpse, he finally realised what it was that had killed her. It was then when he finally understood.
"No..."
It was not the unearthly green glow of residual plasma that Eri's corpse simmered with. Instead it was charred flesh and the melted alloy of her Skeleton armour, all consistent with the wound pattern of someone who had been hit with heavy laser fire at close range. There was no escaping the cold truth then: the only person in that room who had been equipped with a heavy laser was himself.
The marks on Jabs's armour, the bruises on Kim's neck... They all made sense now. He'd been the one who had attacked them. He had been the one who had murdered Eri.
This was a nightmare, it had to be a nightmare. But no, the scratches Kim had left on his face were stinging, burning, aching...
No longer caring if his own teammates executed him, Hector Valdez lowered his head back onto the ground, and prayed for the mercy of a swift death.
It took a firm touch from Doc Yi to draw him back to the present. "Deep breaths, Hector. It's not happening now. It's all right. Come back."
Valdez refocused, blinked and cursed when he realised what had happened— his pulse was racing and he was sweating. Damn it.
There was sympathy in the doctor's eyes. "You had an episode. I'm sorry, I should have been more careful."
"I'm fine now," Valdez replied shortly. He eyed the ready syringe in the doctor's hand and then slumped back a little, forcing himself to calm down before Doc Yi felt it was necessary to do so with the use of drugs.
"Ah good. As for those," — the old doctor indicated the padded cuffs— "They were just a precaution. For your own safety, really. Once Dr Hendriks clears you we should be able to take them off."
Pretty words, but Hector had been through this before. He knew how it worked— he was being viewed as compromised and his restraints were for the protection of everyone else in the base as much as his own. "Am I in isolation until then?"
"No no no, nothing like that." Doc Yi's answer was too quick to be believable. Even more telling, he immediately changed the topic. "It's just a security precaution— did you know, you spent five out of the past seven days unconscious in that bed? In that time, plenty of people have come to check on you. Even Commander Bradford himself."
"I've been unconscious for five days...?!"
"Ah, sorry for the confusion. I was including the three after France, two after the dam and your encounter with Ms Durand. All within a week. Very injury prone, you are. Sure you don't want to come back and work in the infirmary again?"
Valdez scowled. "What happened in the mission?" he asked, racking his memories for the last few moments of what had gone on after the situation with the Abductor had been resolved. He'd been backing Hyun and Zhang up, they were supposed to retrieve Durand from the truck but somehow he just couldn't remember much about anything afterwards.
Doc Yi gave him an apologetic smile. "Not my place to say, Hector, you know that. Commander Bradford will probably come to debrief you soon, and Dr Hendriks after that."
"At least tell me if the rest of the team came back alive!" He might have raised his voice; waking up in restraints and then being reminded of what that Thing had made him do hadn't done much for improving his mood or patience.
Doc Yi quickly finished his treatment and prudently took his leave. "Sorry, Hector. Orders are orders. Please, lie back, take a rest. You'll probably want to be alert when Commander 'Sweaters' comes to see you."
It wasn't like he had much of a choice on that matter. Valdez was left alone fuming and staring at the vague shapes beyond the green drapes. The unreasonableness of it all stung; that bastard of a Doc Yi could have at least let him know if Hyun and the others made it out all right!
Fortunately, Valdez didn't have to wait much longer. About half an hour after that, there came the clatter of footsteps and the curtains were pulled apart again to reveal Commander Bradford himself, flanked by the base psychiatrist Dr Hendriks, and much to Valdez's relief— an unharmed-looking Lt. Kim Chun Hyun.
Hyun saw him looking for her and flashed him a reassuring, if stressed-looking smile. From her body language he could tell she wasn't very happy about something, though she hid it behind her professional exterior. His eyes wandered to the new addition to her uniform insignia and he felt a jolt of surprise. Captain Kim Chun Hyun. Now that was a new development.
"Sergeant, good to see you up. You had us worried," began Commander Bradford. He looked just as he had when Valdez had last seen him in the briefing room three days ago— the same green military sweater, headset permanently embedded in his right ear. Valdez briefly wondered if their new commander ever slept. Then he noticed the dark circles under the man's eyes. Probably not.
"Commander Bradford, I..." Valdez began, then trailed off as he noticed and recognised the fourth person in the group. He'd seen her in person once, a long time ago, and again in the images from the briefing videos. Annette Durand herself, clad in XCOM casuals, looking like a scared child trying to hide behind Hyun. A ludicrous thing, considering the girl was easily three inches taller than the petite Korean.
Hyun, observant as ever, noticed his distraction. "Annette wanted to be here to help. She is very sorry about what happened in France. Isn't that right, Annette? " Hyun added, stressing the last question with a sidelong glance at the French girl as she did so.
"I am." Annette wasn't very convincing. Her eyes were downcast and it was almost as though she was trying to avoid looking at him directly. He wondered if he had done something to scare her and he just hadn't remembered it, but before he could ask, Dr Hendriks, who was never one who liked beating around the bush, spoke up next.
"You probably have a lot of questions, Valdez, but because of the incident with the Sectoid Commander we just need to clear you for residual psionic influence first. I'm sure you will be relieved to get that out of the way—"
Whatever Dr Hendriks meant to say next was drowned in a blood-curdling scream.
"Annette?"
For a brief moment, the girl had looked up and right into his eyes. For a brief moment he thought he saw a purple light flare around her head, then her reaction had been immediate: she shrank away and screamed. Except that she didn't just scream with her voice. She screamed with her mind as well, and a lance of stabbing pain shot through his temples. He wasn't the only one affected. Through the haze of pain, he saw everyone present reel from the backlash.
"Stop!"
The pain was like a electric drill through the brain, his vision was blurring...
"Annette! You need to stop. Annette, listen to me: Calm down!" Hyun's voice cut through the madness. Valdez looked up to see Hyun had her hands on Annette's shoulder's, and had forced the girl to look at her in the face in a bid to snap her out of her panic. It worked. The pain faded.
Still staring at him with horrified eyes, Annette Durand wrenched herself free from Hyun's grasp and backed away."I can't do this. No, not him. I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" With that, the girl turned and bolted from the infirmary, ignoring Hyun's calls for her to come back.
There was a stunned moment of silence, then a visibly-shaken Commander Bradford spoke for all of them.
"What the hell just happened there?"
End of Chapter Ten
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
(Email communication to Cmd. David Bradford, sent after the Skyranger's return from Operation Flying Hydra)
From: Dr Eiichiro Yishimura
To: Base Commander David Bradford
Subject: Strike Team Medical Report
1. Lt. Kim Chun Hyun
Lt. Kim's injuries were fortunately limited to a hairline fracture of the tibia and a minor concussion. There is concern over disruption patterns detected in her neural scan results which are consistent with that of an alien psionic attack. The head pain and neural disruption ceased approximately five hours after her first contact with the source. She will be fit for duty once the R3 treatment takes care of her physical wounds, thought I must warn against anything more than light duty for a week.
2. Cpl. Shaojie Zhang
Cpl. Zhang suffered no physical injuries other than the same neural disruption as experienced by Lt. Kim. As with the Lieutenant, symptoms faded five hours after they were first acquired. Cpl. Zhang is cleared for duty once he recovers from the exertion of the mission.
3. Sgt. Dr Hector Valdez
Dr Valdez has yet to regain consciousness after 24 hours. It is still unclear why the psionic blast from Durand incapacitated Dr Valdez in this manner while the other two exposed to it were significantly less affected. I suspect his prior exposure to the Sectoid Commander's psionic attack may have played a part and the second blast by Durand somehow overloaded his neural network. Neural scans show some activity in the brain center, so we can rule out brain death for now. However, he remains unresponsive to external stimuli. As his physical signs are stable, we will continue to monitor his condition in hopes he will be able to recover from the brain trauma in due time.
*I have noted your instruction on the possibility of residual psionic control and have put safeguards in place as ordered.
4. Spec. Gina Zervas
Spec. Zervas suffered severe plasma burns, severe blood loss and irreparable damage to both arms. While she will survive with intensive care, the R3 treatment cannot regrow lost limbs. Unless there are alternatives, Zervas will have to be invalided out due to the nature of her specialty.
AN: I apologise for this chapter taking so long. I completely scrapped the previous version I had, it wasn't working out and I'm one of those annoying authors who will not post until satisfied with how it reads.
I'd just like to say a warm thanks to all my lovely reviewers for their informative feedback. If you go back and reread the story you might possibly notice some minor changes I made incorporating your comments and suggestions. As always, reviews are not required, but very very appreciated. It always feels nice to know someone is reading and enjoying something you put a lot of effort into, so many thanks! -4P