We've arrived.
Twenty-four hours ago, the Nigerian government, responding to reports of alien activity, evacuated the area we will be operating in and cordoned it off. Three hours after that, someone identifying herself as “Anna Sing” used a radio within evacuated area requesting help. Anna Sing was the name of an abducted civilian during the attack on Shanghai, a former British Army corporal visiting a friend of the family when she was abducted. Given her background, it's likely she would have noticed things of importance to us.
The Nigerians launched an extraction mission. They've lost several armored vehicles and gutted an infantry company trying to make progress, but they're tying down a large alien force. We're going in to locate Anna Sing and extract her if possible. If this is a trap, we evac. Hopefully intact.
Landing and deployment are smooth. The Skyranger took no fire, but local aircraft that flew escort were both shot at and damaged. Our stealth system appears to be effective against the aliens for now.
First contact. A man in a business suit, but he doesn't move human, and he's armed. The area is supposed to be evacuated. Direwolf and Polpolion both take shots. Direwolf misses. Polpolion hits, but the alien does not go down.
Esarai brings it down in the next turn. The alien's plasma weaponry ruined that rather nice fountain when it fired on us in its own turn, but it did not connect. It also exploded into some kind of cloud, which suggests a defense mechanism.
Several turns of careful advance bring us into contact with more hostiles. Polpolion and Talon 1024 move up by fire and movement.
Then Polpolion gets shot.
The hit's bad, but a frag grenade lobbed back hurts the alien and blows up the car it was using for cover. Esarai moves in and kills it, but his fire buddy Direwolf reports contact on the other flank.
Then Direwolf is hit. The surviving alien of the pair also fires at Polpolion, but misses. This is going to **** pretty quick.
The damaged car explodes, too.
Esarai, Talon 1024, and Polpolion combine fire to bring down the enemy on the right flank of our advance, with Polpolion hitting and Esarai finishing again.
Esarai runs back to support Direwolf, who is effectively pinned while the enemy maneuvers, while Talon and Polpolion continue the advance cautiously.
Direwolf deals with his tormentor of the last three turns when it tries to flank him only to miss the shot. Grenade out!
Esarai reports eyes on the objective, one hostile remaining. They have good cover, and grenades risk the objective.
I thought we'd have to flank, but esarai took the last alien out easily.
Esarai approaches Anna Sing cautiously while the others cover. After the German fiasco, we half-expect aliens to swarm out of the woodwork instantly. It doesn't happen. Miss Sing is coherent and able to move. We're getting out of here.
Talon spots an alien moving in and fires at it, hurting it. Esarai, now known as Captain Killsteal, takes it down. It jumped out of a nearby building onto a truck, and was immediately fired on by both soldiers before it could realize its danger.
Miss Sing is directed to stay close to Direwolf while we extract. And keep her head down.
Droid803, monitoring from home base, reports the Skyranger is tracking multiple small hostile airborne contacts inbound. We expect enemy troops to drop momentarily. One alien stands between us and the Skyranger. Its plasma fire nearly takes Talon's head off and blows a massive hole in the bus behind him. Talon's return fire, however, brings it down quick and painless. This is what you get for standing the open!
Droid reports troop drops in the surrounding area, but there's no further contact before we make it aboard the Skyranger.
Both Talon and Polpolion were badly hurt and will be out of action for nearly two weeks, but the mission was a success.
