Here in sunny Siberia, well above the Arctic Circle, it's a balmy -34 degrees. We'd tell you if that's Farenheit or Centigrade, but the last guy who tried to look blinked and his eyelashes froze to his cheek. Those of you in personal armor, well, I hope you wore your thermal underwear.
One alien challenged KyadCK to rifles at twenty paces. It missed (this is a recurring theme with Flying Suits by now), but KyadCK did not.
TrashMan and KyadCK lead the way towards the UFO with their Flying Suits, while -Joshua- and SpardaSon use theirs to scout the area in concert with still ground-bound The E and and Jg18. Two more rifles are used to back up Trash and Kyad, but Fury and Scourge of Ages have something special: Heavy Plasmas.
The first real test of the Flying Suit: TrashMan just got shot.
UnFortunately he survives, and returns fire to kill the alien. Another alien shoots the still-Personal Armored The E, and meets a similar fate. Neither HLPX-COM operative is injured.
We're on the Ice Shelf here, quite close the edge in fact. What the aliens thought they could abduct out here is mystery. (Maybe they're dealing with the Whale Probe from
Voyage Home.) How the ship didn't crash through the ice is also a mystery; presumably it's still under power and is somehow negating most of its mass. We know they have a non-reaction drive.
Anybody who goes into the water and isn't in a Flying Suit isn't coming out alive. The tank is carefully kept away from the edge where possible.
KyadCK meets another alien. He's tempted to just punch it and test the suit enhancements, but The E would probably get fairly pissed at him for risking that, so he just shoots it.
Amazingly, the alien takes all three hits and fires back, but Kyad's armor stops it. Scourge of Ages uses his Heavy Plasma to ensure the alien's demise.
Meanwhile, both The E and Jg18 ran out of energy heading to the map corners and back. No stamina, guys! They and SpardaSon/-Joshua- are told to take a break, as being exhausted in this environment is potentially life-threatening. The rest of the team can handle the UFO. (I actually did not end up regretting writing that.)
Something happened here; plasma shots were exchanged and something blew up, but **** if I know what. I never saw an alien, and though I heard one die, there's no body. I suspect, based on past experience, that it's the crappy coding and design of this class of UFO. Things can occasionally be seen through exterior walls and the floors, implying a line of sight that any attempt to actually fire will quickly disprove.
Everyone assembles around the lift. Kyad goes first and clears the hall towards the bridge with a burst of laser fire, killing one alien. TrashMan advances next. Fury and Scourge of Ages will follow soon with their heavy firepower. No further resistance is met before arriving at the door to the bridge.
TrashMan leads the breach. He trades remarkably inaccurate fire with the alien captain; both sides miss their first auto bursts, but Trash recovers by not missing his second. Kyad storms in after him while Fury and Scourge grab corners; but the room is empty save for the dead captain.
Mission Complete. The first real combat use of the Flying Suit can be considered an unqualified success.
By the time Squad One returns to base, sufficient Flying Suits have been completed to issue them to the whole squad. Squad Two will start receiving them in the very near future.
Many UFOs have been detected inbound to the Asia/Australia area, but we've largely been unable to intercept them and the Skyrangers are too slow to follow them to their operational areas. A new base is being constructed on Luzon in the Phillipines, with the working codename "Storm Track" to monitor this activity and stage interceptions out of. Anyone with a better name, make your suggestions.