AN: FINALLY, THE NASTY ONE HAS COME BACK TO FANFICTION! Welcome back everyone to this historic next chapter as with this entry here this story officially becomes my longest endeavor regarding the Xenonauts video game. Moving past that little note, with the traction this story has been getting on the site I just had to update it again immediately on the heels of last chapter's relatively clean outcome. How do things go moving forward? Tune in to find out!
Chapter 4: Much Needed Rest
== The Following Day (9/10/79) ==
The team arrived back at the base without issue and with no new threats arising to the surface for the time being they could take a much-needed break in the grand scheme of things. The Commander was given a thick document of briefing materials from the head of the science and research division regarding multiple items that had been in the works since the first mission had completed. He was briefed on the small UFOs they'd encountered so far which seemed to be scouting vessels used primarily as a recon drone of sorts to see the capabilities of the forces in certain areas of the globe. Which could only mean that there were bigger ships in the aliens' arsenal that could spell disaster for Earth's brave defenders.
The next topic of study were the humanoid aliens they'd encountered the most so far. Upon anatomical observations from the autopsy of the bodies, the humanoid structure was in fact extremely similar to a normal human's body. The only differences being that the alien bodies were far more brittle than average human bodies, bigger amounts of brain tissue in the alien minds, and extremely atrophy afflicted vocal cords. In effect this meant that the aliens never used the vocal cords to communicate outside of their death screams, but that they possibly shared a telepathic link and could see each other's thoughts and communicate silently and relay information that way. The head researcher, Dr. Snidely, also went into detail on the red-shirted Caesans, as they'd been named by the research team, seeing them as more than likely the non-combatants of this particular race of creatures. They exhibited poor combat skills and equipment, plasma pistols compared to the rifles of their blue-shirted brethren, and were most likely the navigators/technicians of the UFOs that were shot down by the air force at the base. He also pointed out that all of the creatures were exactly identical physically, effectively making them clones of one another and that they seemed to be the lowest combat unit available to the aliens at this moment.
After reading the doctor's report, the Commander was deep in thought wondering what other kinds of aliens would be thrown at them if his opinion of them was true.
== The Next Day (9/11/79) ==
Another day of no contact awaited the heroic few stationed at the base as new buildings ordered by the Commander were fully operational. These included a medical center to help heal wounds quicker, a missile battery to shoot down any enemy ships that discovered the base, a new laboratory for extra research space, and a new radar array to extend the range of the current radar and cover most of Africa, most of the Middle East, and nearly all of Europe could be seen with the enhanced equipment.
The base also received five rookie soldiers recruited in secret to cover the losses the base had sustained already in combat. Colonel Blake set about getting them briefed and up to speed with the base routine as he drilled them repeatedly and relentlessly.
== The Next Day (9/12/79) ==
Another research topic was completed by the science team as the blueprints for a faster scouting aircraft based off the small UFOs encountered so far, the Foxtrot Interceptor, was completed. Essentially would be a scout plane that could see what was out there and offer support for the Condor Interceptors in a dogfight, but aren't capable enough to take things out on their own. The Engineering team got to work making one straight away after the Commander reviewed and submitted the blueprints to their department. Head Engineer, Pyotr Radchenko, was just happy to have something to do as his team was bored sitting on their hands for the first two weeks of the campaign with nothing to build.
Later in the day, a radar contact was detected thanks to the newly expanded radar up over Norway by Radar. Condor 1 was dispatched and was able to shoot the UFO down over the ocean off the northern coast of Europe, but this meant that the aircraft was unsalvageable and none of the aliens survived the crash meaning another day off for the soldiers as they continued to get healthy.
== Four Days Later (9/16/79) ==
The new Living Quarters building was finished up and opened up the ability for more personnel to be safely housed in the base with the necessary number of supplies to sustain everyone. This allowed the Commander to place an order for 11 more personnel to come to the base, 5 scientists and 6 engineers, and help complete research and building projects quicker. The Engineers also finished construction on the Foxtrot Interceptor, Foxtrot 1, and a new pilot was made available to take over immediately from the reserve personnel.
== The Next Day (9/18/79) ==
It'd been nine days since the last mission for the soldiers and they were sitting around the base bored out of their minds as there wasn't much to do outside of watching the new guys being trained into the dirt, or practicing their shooting at one of the firing ranges on base, or sitting in the living quarters killing time. The squad was doing just that as all 11 veterans of the first three missions were healthy and hanging out playing cards, reading books, or laying on their cots talking with one another about their lives before signing up for the project.
ALERT! TWO RADAR CONTACTS DETECTED!
The squad scrambled to their equipment to get ready as they awaited their orders to deploy if the situation arose.
Inside of the radar room, Radar had the contacts drawn up on the big screen as two contacts were simultaneously being tracked side by side. The first UFO had appeared over Central Africa and was smaller than the normal craft they'd been dealing with up to this point, and one of the one's they'd been dealing with appeared over the Middle East. The Commander made the order to send out the new Foxtrot Interceptor out to deal with the smaller of the two, while Condor 2 went after the craft in the Middle East. As both crafts were in route to their respective targets, another alarm sounded.
ALERT! RADAR CONTACT DETECTED!
A third UFO had materialized relatively close to the small UFO in a shocking move. It appeared to be either acting as security for the smaller ship, or was on a separate mission really close to the UFO by coincidence. It was too early to tell, but the Commander wasted little time and sent Condor 1 after it to keep it from ambushing Foxtrot 1.
The move paid off as the ship ignored the smaller Interceptor, but it was still shot down in its confrontation with the small alien craft as it was revealed to be a Fighter Craft. The craft was much more agile than anyone had ever seen and would need to be taken seriously if encountered again as it was still patrolling the skies over Central and Southern Africa. The Foxtrot crash site was located easily in Central Africa as the pilot managed to eject safely and activated his distress beacon. It would take a team three days to retrieve and transport the wounded bird back to base for repairs.
The other fights went better for the Xenonauts pilots as Condor 1 shot down the third UFO an hour after it was detected in an industrial part of Cairo Egypt. Big Sky was scrambled immediately and sent to the Crash Site post haste as there was only a few hours of daylight remaining. The other UFO was shot down by Condor 2 in Afghanistan two hours later as the site would have to be secured at a later date since Big Sky was already in route to Egypt. The team landed twenty-two minutes later at 1550 hours Greece time.
== On the Ground (1550 Hours 9/18/79) ==
The ten soldiers that had been chosen for the mission were disembarking the craft in an industrial part of Cairo, Egypt as they were in a parking lot at the SE corner of this particular industrial park. The squad was divided into two teams of five as they embarked on securing this particular crash site. Team 1 consisting of Lt. Alten Vidrai, a fully healed Sgt. Jens Meier, a full healed Cpl. Zee Loharani (who beat Bhandari in rock paper scissors to be on the mission), a fully healed Joaquim Rodrigues, and Cpl. Andy Kurniawan who advance in a northern direction to try and locate the crash site, while Team 2 consisting of Sgt. Fernando Santos, Sgt. Claire Lefebvre, Sgt. Masao Fujita, Cpl. Natalia Zielinski, and Cpl. Bayomi Danjuma would advance to the west with the same goal in mind.
Team one advanced to a building directly in front of the craft and breached in a stockroom that was clear of alien activity. The team noticed the UFO had crashed in a field directly beyond the building and would move towards it slowly to avoid any surprises. Team two advanced and linked up with a policeman who was patrolling the streets and looking a bit nervous as he clutched his sidearm with sweaty palms and shaking arms.
"Are you okay sir?" asked Zielinski who reached him first.
"Not really, those things are out there. I heard them up ahead in that building on the left side of the road." he said pointing towards a two-story factory building. No sooner had he said that did the sounds of screams and shots come from inside of it.
BZZT! BZZT! BZZT! *DEATH MOAN* *DEATH MOAN*
That was enough for the policeman to run away in terror as he fled into the stockroom with team one and was seen cowering in the corner as he cried about wanting to go home over and over again.
Team 1 split up into two groups with Vidrai, Rodrigues and Kurniawan heading towards the UFO, while Meier and Loharani advanced into a connected mechanic's shop of their current building to help support Team 2.
Zielinski, Danjuma, and Fujita advanced towards the wall of the building the shots came from, as Danjuma peeked around the corner and spotted a blue-shirted Caesan in the middle of the intersection just looking around as if trying to spot other targets to shoot. Lefebvre and Santos hung back a bit as they kept watch on the first-floor windows of the building. Seeing movement flash by the far-left window, Lefebvre fired.
BANG!
The shot impacted the wall to the left of the window and missed the target completely. The two advanced slowly to try and get the drop on the creature. The alien in the intersection, came closer to the sound of Lefebvre's gunshot and spotted Zielinski crouched down behind a green sedan in the street next to the building Danjuma and Fujita were posted up on and opened fire on her before falling back slightly.
BZZT!
The shot flew wildly overhead as Zielinski kept her head down regardless of that fact.
Hearing the shot, Meier moved to the third room of their building which was a smaller mechanic's shop in the back left corner of the building. Inside he surprised a red-shirted Caesan and opened fire without remorse when it tried to raise its pistol at him.
BANG! BANG! BANG! *SHREIK*
All three shots impacted the alien dead on in the chest as it fell to the ground lifelessly before it could even blink. Loharani rushed in behind Meier and realizing the area was clear, lowered her gun and gave him a thumbs up as the two prepared to exit into the street and into another building on the other side.
Danjuma moved to behind the green sedan's front bumper on the driver's side as he sent a burst of fire at the blue-shirted Caesan.
BANG! *SCREECH* BANG! BANG!
His first shot connected, but the other two missed their mark as the alien was only wounded. Zielinski rushed from around the car and moved up to the corner of Meier and Loharani's building as she fired a shot at the creature.
BANG! *SHREIK*
The alien yelled out as another bullet tore through its cranium and ended its life as it collapsed to the ground unmoving in purple blood. The two soldiers then kept vigilant watch on the intersection for anymore movement.
Santos and Lefebvre slowed advanced to the left side of the building's wall, and Santos was suddenly shot in the back by the creature Lefebvre saw move past the window.
BZZT! OW!
Santos didn't take too kindly to that wound and brought his rifle up and fired a sniper's round through its forehead.
BANG! *SHREIK*
The blue-shirted Caesan collapsed forward onto the body of a dead mechanic which the squad had heard the screams of earlier. After a quick moment to mourn his death, Fujita and Lefebvre secured the first floor of the factory.
== With the Breaching Team ==
Vidrai, Rodrigues and Kurniawan were set to breach the downed UFO as they'd advanced to the door of the craft with Vidrai providing overwatch on their western flank. Rodrigues opened the door as he spotted two Caesans inside, a blue-shirted one on the left side of the craft's power supply, and a red-shirted one on the right side. Kurniawan made a risky dash to the right side of the UFO's door and was rewarded with a wound to his side.
BZZT! OW! BZZT!
Thankfully the second shot missed, as Kurniawan opened fired on the two creatures.
BANG! CLANG! BOOM!
Kurniawan's shot missed the mark, but unintentionally struck the already damaged power supply which exploded inside of the UFO as Rodrigues quickly shut the door as the two aliens were caught up in the explosion and incinerated without so much as a sound. The two men looked at each other in shock as Vidrai ran up quickly having heard the explosion.
"What the fuck was that lads?!" he asked as Rodrigues looked at Kurniawan, looked back at Vidrai and opened the door to show him the aftermath.
"Who did it?" Vidrai asked authoritatively as Rodrigues held up his hands.
"Wasn't me." he said as he thumbed over at Andy who was busy healing himself with his medical kit.
Vidrai just facepalmed before ordering the two to secure the craft as he started moving to link up with Loharani and Meier.
== Back With the Assault Team ==
The team advanced further into the park as another mechanic's body was discovered in the street with plasma wounds to the head. They then heard movement in a small workshop attached to the factory Lefebvre, Santos and Fujita were currently in.
Lefebvre advanced out the rear door of the factory and was immediately shot in her left side by a blue-shirted Caesan hiding in the back left corner of the workshop.
BZZT! OW!
The team converged on the building as Santos moved up to supported Lefebvre, while Danjuma, Meier, Zielinski, and Fujita breached the rear door of the shop. Danjuma and Fujita entered the building, while Zielinski and Meier stayed outside against the wall. Danjuma, Fujita and Zielinski all opened fire on the alien.
BANG! *SCREECH* BANG! BANG!
Danjuma's shot hit its mark, but both Fujita and Zielinski missed as the alien returned fire.
BZZT! OW! BZZT! *MOAN! *
Both Fujita and Danjuma were struck with plasma rounds from the alien's rifle. Danjuma was lightly wounded in the arm as he was crouched down behind a small table, but Fujita was hit in the chest as he was standing behind Danjuma to get a better shot. He collapsed onto Danjuma and was unmoving as Danjuma gently laid him on the ground behind the table out of the line of fire.
BANG! *SHREIK! *
Santos finished the alien off with a headshot through the window on the alien's right as it stood up just high enough for him to get a clean shot off. The squad gathered around the fallen body of Fujita as they mourned the loss of the quiet man from Japan. He rarely spoke his mind, but was one of the bravest fighters on the team and always had their backs. They couldn't believe that he was gone, until he wasn't. Danjuma had calmly placed his fingers on Fujita's neck to check his pulse to make sure he was gone.
Thump...Thump
"Someone, help me get his shirt open!" shouted Danjuma as he tore his medical kit off his back as quickly as possible. Zielinski being the closest helped in the endeavor as she tore it off in one go. Danjuma went about treating the wound as best as possible, while Meier went about plugging the wound with Fujita's torn shirt. It was a serious chest wound as Santos radioed everyone not present on the team's open channel.
"Everybody, back to the Chinook. We had one serious casualty that needs immediate evacuation and surgery!" he said as Lefebvre grabbed a small wooden panel to act as a makeshift stretcher and handed it to the three currently working on stabilizing Fujita.
Danjuma got a plasma bottle going and held it aloft, as Zielinski and Meier carried the plank back along with Fujita's equipment which he dropped when he fell. The squad wasted no time getting onboard as the Chinook quickly took off and raced back towards the base in an effort to save his life.
== Mission Four Summary ==
Alien Combatants Killed: 6/6
Civilians Saved: 2/4
Xenonauts KIA: 0/8
Xenonauts WIA: 5/10 (Sgt. Fujita (serious wound), Sgt. Santos, Cpl. Danjuma, Sgt. Lefebvre, and Cpl. Kurniawan)
Kill Tally (Active Soldiers Only): Sgt. Santos (4), Sgt. Fujita (3), Sgt. Meier (3), Lt. Vidrai (2), Cpl. Kurniawan (2*), Cpl. Loharani (1), Sgt. Lefebvre (1), and Cpl. Zielinski (1)
*Game doesn't count these as they were killed by the UFO explosion not him physically. I'll still tally it anyway.
Medals: Sgt. Masao Fujita (Crimson Heart for serious wound)
Active Roster:
Lt. Alten Vidrai
Sgt. Jens Meier
Cpl. Joaquim Rodrigues
Cpl. Zee Loharani
Cpl. Natalia Zielinski
Cpl. Mohandas Bhandari
5 Unnamed Rookies
Out of Action Roster:
Sgt. Masao Fujita (2 Weeks)
Sgt. Fernando Santos (6 Days)
Cpl. Bayomi Danjuma (6 Days)
Sgt. Claire Lefebvre (5 Days)
Cpl. Andy Kurniawan (4 Days)
Memorial Wall:
Cpl. Benjamin Muller (KIA on Mission One)
Cpl. Delfina Calvo (KIA on Mission Two)
Cpl. Konsta Mattila (KIA on Mission Two)
Cpl. Rameen Bhabra (KIA on Mission Two)
Cpl. Moheem Kurd (KIA on Mission Two)
AN: And that's a wrap on this chapter as the squad got almost a week and a half off from missions to rest up in preparation for the next incursion, but suffered a good number of wounds and one extremely serious one for Fujita. How much of the team will be healthy enough to go on the next mission to the Middle East? Will we even go to the Middle East, or will the crash site be erased off the map? Tune in next time to find out! Until then this is "The Nasty One" signing off!
PRAK #TheNastyOne