"Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" Masambe said as he successfully Mindfrayed the Sectoid, and it dropped to the floor. Maxim and Ketih had been helping him, and the twins (Harold and Joe Sanders), with psionic training. Right now, only Maxim was with him. Sometimes they both helped, other times, there was just one of them. Masambe had been showing potential, but this was the first time he'd done it.
"What?" Maxim asked
"It's a quote, from, Robert Oppenheimer"
"Who?"
"The man who created the Atomic Bomb"
"Well, that's... interesting"
"It's a contemplation on the power I now wield. What man would think to wield such power over others"
"Stop ruining it"
"What do you mean?"
"You're being all philosophical about it, making it seem like a deep issue"
"It is a deep issue"
"But I don't want to think of it like that. I like it as something fun I can do"
"I'm sorry if you feel that way and I'm wrecking your fun. But I think like this"
"You should've been a philosopher"
"That's what my old army friends told me"
"Why didn't you then?"
"Because I wanted to protect people. And all philosopher's protect people from is thinking too much"
"True"
"Anyway. Any tips, now that I have these powers"
"Oh. Yeah, well, don't focus too hard around other people, I did kill a couple Sectoid's by accident"
"That doesn't sound too good"
"Don't worry. You'll learn to control it after a few days. And you'll probably develop your own little powers"
"Pardon?"
"Like my Psionic Vision, Keith's Telepathy. Just a little thing that you have. Nothing major, but useful in a pinch"
"How do you develop them?"
"They just kinda, develop on their own"
"How?"
"I don't know how to tell you but, they just kinda, show up"
"Well. It will be interesting to discover what mine becomes"
"Keep me posted"
"Of course"
"Operatives, Karl Wagner, Keith Taylor, William Ward, Aya Haidar, Maxim Popov, and Eva Solovyova. Please report to the Hangar"
"Guess I gotta go"
"I'll keep at this. Hopefully I'll have something when you get back"
"You do that. See you later"
"Bye Maxim"
Maxim left the training area, passing by Vahlen as he went
"Any progress with Mr. Sanders?"
"Some. I'm still not good at seeing if someone's getting Psionics"
"That's to be expected. We still know very little about this"
"Anyway. Not to cut this short. But I gotta go"
"Yes, head on out and get me some specimens"
"Sure. First thing on my list"
"Hey Max" Keith said as Maxim came in "New guns". He was holding a different gun than normal, it was smaller, and had had a window on the top showing a tube with green gas in it.
"Are those. Plasma weapons?" Maxim asked
"Yep, Shen brought them up" Karl seemed happy "Gotta love more firepower"
"Can't wait till I get mine" Maxim said
"That won't be for a while"
"Why?"
"Shen said their working on a new suit of armour"
"Well maybe after that"
"Maybe"
"Ew" Eva said, she sat closest the door, so was the first one out
"What is it" William asked
"Dead animals" Eva reported
"You're right next to a farm" Central said over the coms "They're probably doing some kind of tests on the animals. This is what brought their location to our attention"
"Right" Eva replied
"Vampire" William said
"One sec" Maxim engaged Psionic Vision, and scanned the area. He couldn't see any aliens. The ship was pretty obvious, they'd set down just in front of it "Nothing in sight"
"Ship is in sight. Advance together" William said, and they began moving forward, using fallen trees for cover in case of ambush.
"Muton's, Berserker" Aya said, raising a pistol and taking a shot at a Muton, which were currently running at them from the side, 2 Mutons heading for cover, and a Berserker running right at them
Keith and Karl both brought up their rifle's and fired, each shot either missing, or only burning it's armour
"Damn new guns" Karl complained
Eva then popped up, and fired a shot at a Muton as it ran for cover, striking it right in the chest, but not killing it.
"I thought you liked the new guns" Keith said as he popped up from cover and fired at the Berserker, striking the side of it's face, and burning off the skin, showing the skull of the alien.
"Just need to get used to them" Karl replied, taking some shots at the Berserker, one shot skimmed the armour, and only burned it, but the other stuck it's non-claw arm, and took the hand clean off
The Berserker roared, and was right next to Karl, about to claw him, when Karl drops down, firing a plasma shot at it, the bolt riped into the claw, taking the blades off the aliens wrist, as the alien recovered from the hit, Aya appeared next to Karl, and fired her super-Taser, the Berserker seemed unaffected for a second, but it dropped to the ground unconscious.
Maxim meanwhile had been waiting for the Muton's to pop up from their tree's. One of them did so, and Maxim swivelled, firing a laser straight into it's head. The alien's body dropped to the ground, headless, Maxim then turned back in time to see the other Muton getting up to take a shot, but Maxim fired first, the shot striking cleanly through it's chest, and dropping it to the ground.
"The fuck is that?" Eva called, Maxim turned, and saw 2 of the drones from the base fly forward, one of which was badly damaged by a beam of plasma from Eva, but they weren't what prompted the cursing. Behind them was a large metal object, in the shape of a disk, it was hovering and flying towards them.
There was a loud whirring, and William began unloading at the disk. Somehow, despite it's shape, it moved with amazing speed, for a second a thought went through Maxim's head 'Aya?', as it weaved effortlessly through the hail of laser, not one striking it directly.
"Damn. Bitch be fast" Karl remarked as he took his shots at the disk, just as it came out of 'evasive manoeuvres'. This time the shots struck it straight in the side, burning a deep hole in the machinery. Eva then brought her gun up, and finished it off. Maxim raised his sniper, and destroyed the undamaged drone, just as the other was shot at by Aya taking a pistol shot, the drone turned, and began flying away, narrowly avoiding the beam of light.
"He'll be getting friends" William called "Hold position"
Maxim ejected the cell from his gun, and loaded in a new one, as they waited for the drone's 'Friends'
"Floaters" Aya called, firing a pistol, and striking one in the shoulder, it didn't drop but was hurt.
Maxim looked at one, and focused. The alien dropped to the ground. Another dropped to the ground, and, using his Psionic vision, saw the slight purple glow around Keith, showing he'd also just Mindfrayed.
The floater that Aya had shot began flying for cover, but a plasma bolt fired by Eva struck it in the jetpack, and it disappeared in a ball of fire.
"The Drone will be telling them where we are. But we're in a good position. Load up and wait" William said
Maxim kept his cell in, having not fired a shot, and kept his eyes open, scanning around for any aliens attempting to sneak.
"Floater's" William called, and began spraying, he struck one with a hail, badly damaging it, but not dropping it, like it should have done to a floater. Karl and Aya both also took shots, but the Floaters moved faster than they should have, and jumped over the shot.
Maxim raised his rifle, and took a shot, striking one in the head, and dropping it to the floor, he turned, and fired another, striking it's gun, during this shot, Maxim noticed it was holding the same gun that a Muton did, and has a lot of armour on it "They got big guns and armour!"
"It would seem like a more elite version of the Floater's" Central reported over the coms "Bring one in alive if you can"
Aya and Karl began running forward from their position as the tree's, to the consoles the alien's were flying above. Karl providing covering fire with his rifle as they went, and Aya taking out her Super-Taser. William raised a rocket launcher, and fired, hitting the 2 floaters. Neither were killed by the blast.
"Smoke out!" Eva called as she threw a smoke grenade towards Aya and Karl, covering them in smoke to give them cover. The one Floater went to take a shot, but instead had to spend a few seconds fiddling with it's gun. The other flew around to get behind the console they had run behind, and fired into the smoke. As Maxim saw it fire, he focused, and the alien seemed to stumble, one hand going to it's head. Before it finished this action, a laser scythed through it's head, dropping it to the ground. Keith Mindfrayed the other alien, preventing it from taking a shot, as Aya emerged from the smoke, and Taser'd the alien, it dropped to the ground.
"Rest up again" William called "We need to go in together"
Maxim began jogging forwards, ejecting the cell, and putting in another one. The others did similarly as they moved up.
"Vampire, Spray, take the ramp on the left" William called "Everyone else, take the middle"
Maxim turned, and fired a grappling hook at the railing, launching himself towards the ramp. As he pulled himself over, another grappling stuck into the railing, and Karl cam flying over, also pulling himself over "Screw walking" he said, and put his hand up for a high-five. Maxim high-fived him, then turned, and began moving up the side, keeping pace with the others in he middle.
"Drone's back" Eva called firing a shot, which the drone hovered over, the bolt of plasma managing to destroy only a railing. The drone turned, and flew back out a hole in the ship.
Maxim turned to where it had gone out of the ship, a second before it flew back in. Maxim fired, striking right in the 'eye', destroying it. "Got it"
They moved into the room before the command deck. "Form up, Assaults at the door. Shield, across from me. Vampire, Scotch, take the back". They formed up in the usual formation, Eva taking Masambe's place
Aya passed her hand through the door "3 Commander'. They're grouped", Aya moved around to the other side, next to Karl. William raised his rocket launcher. Maxim turned away, he really hoped Shen finished those 'tactical glasses' soon (they were going to work like a helmet, but only cover the eyes and ears, so they wouldn't interrupt the psionic abilities, but still let them see tactical readouts, and dull vision and hearing at noises and lights).
Maxim looked back to see the wall had been destroyed, and he now had vision on the aliens, and he fired, striking one, just as 2 bolts of plasma came from Karl and Keith, killing the aliens before they had a chance to put their Psionic barriers back up, killing all the aliens in one unified burst of plasma and laser. Luckily they'd all shot at different Sectoid's.
"Nice job everyone" Central said
"Ah!" Maxim exclaimed on the way back, putting a hand to his head, as he suddenly felt extreme pain in the back of his skull, and his vision suddenly became blurry
Keith immediately got out his seat and crouched in front of Maxim "What's wrong?"
"I don't know. Sudden Migraine from no-where"
"Has this happened before"
"Nope"
"This could be some symptom of your Psionic abilities. I'll try to reduce your pain. But we need Vahlen to take a look at you" he produced a med-kit, and sprayed him. Maxim immediately felt the pain fade, but not disappear completely, and his vision cleared
"Ugh. Vahlen had better not dissect me"
"I'm sure you'll be fine" Karl said
"Hello Maxim" Vahlen said, as he entered the upper level of the Psionics training area "Keith said you've been suffering from a migraine"
"Yeah. I took some tablets, but they're not helping. Keith used a med-kit, and the dulled the pain, but it's coming back now"
"Lie down here" Vahlen said, motioning to a table she was standing next to. Maxim did as instructed, and a large white device came down from the ceiling, settling into place over his head. Maxim was slightly worried, thinking back to his comment about her dissecting him.
"Uh, doc, what is this?"
"A modified M.R.I scanner. In addition to it's usual capabilities, it can detect some Psionic energies"
"Oh, uh, alright"
"It's not going to hurt you" Vahlen assured
"I'm trusting you"
"This will take a few minutes Maxim"
A few minutes later, the device rose back into the ceiling.
"You can sit up now Maxim" Vahlen said. Maxim did so
"How's my brain looking?"
"Take a look" she turned a screen around, showing a cross-section of a brain, Maxim's brain. Most of it looked normal, but for a slightly purple glow to the back portion
"Uh, what's that?"
"That's a good question. What do you think it is?"
"Well. It looks like what I normally see when someone uses a Psionic power"
"Exactly, it seems as if you have a small build up of Psionic energy located in the back of your brain"
"Any idea what's causing it?"
"Yes, actually"
"What then, stop being a dick about it"
Vahlen laughed
"No, seriously, hurry up, this hurts like a bitch"
"Oh, sorry. Anyway, from what we've learned from some captured Sectoid's, this is a fairly common occurrence. It should fade down in a few days"
"Ugh, a few days!"
"But afterwards, the energy should burn itself out, and unlock some hidden psionic potential"
"So, I'll know more Psionics?"
"Potentially, yes"
"Know any way to stop the migraine's?"
"It's a build up of Psionic energy, simply using your psionic abilities will lessen the amount of energy that can build up, lessening the effects of the migraine"