And Then There Was One
When we last left off…
It was a clear, late-Winter morning when members of the Elma Resistance crept toward a powerful alien signal not far from their base of operations. Scientists at Bunker November discovered that this new signal was very similar to the one emitted by another alien device: the chryssalid inhibitor. These devices had been found in Seattle and Elma when the aliens tried to corral the spidery beasts into a killing zone to wreak havoc, and individual aliens wore them, as well, to prevent their own monsters from attacking them. Professor Marlowe suspected that the origin of this new signal might be how the aliens plan to control the Aberdeen Horde, as the swarm of chryssalids from Grays Harbor had been named.
As the strike team approached, they found entrenchments and fortifications. They also found a whole host of aliens, spread out to defend what looked more and more like a base in their own backyard! By taking advantage of cover and misdirection (and not holding back on the ordnance!) the team was able to make their way into the base, where they fought their way to the command center and encountered their greatest threat yet: One of the elusive “Masters,” and its terrifying personal guard.
Upon defeating the Master and the Elite, the team was able to shut down the hyper wave beacon that would help guide larger alien vessels to Earth. They emerged from the alien base victorious, right into the jaws of a trap.
A Red Hand gunship waited for them outside, hovering above the battlefield. Through the windscreen they saw the gray hair of Vladimir Gurov—or one of his many “representatives.” Fayth could also see a woman just behind him, with a face that she almost recognized.
In the previous few days, X-Com’s relations with the Red Hand—which had always been strained—began to rapidly deteriorate. Where before there might have been grudging cooperation in the face of a common threat, the two groups had been frenemies at best. Now, they dropped any pretense of friendship. Despite the potential for collateral damage, Gurov had ordered the shelling of the Lucky Eagle Casino because X-Com had not agreed to help him root out the Alien presence at what had become a Pershing stronghold. Now that X-Com had cleared the alien base, Gurov swooped in while they were battered and bloody and demanded that they surrender to him and turn over the spoils. The alternative was a barrage of rockets. They could give up, or he would kill them all here and now and take the base anyway.
With the threat of their deaths looming, the recognition within the cockpit began to flow both ways as the woman recognized Fayth and Douglas in Gurov’s crosshairs. Like all of Gurov’s people, the woman was a clone, and her mind had been twisted to serve the Red Hand, but minds can only be twisted so far. This was no ordinary clone. She was Lorelei Wilson. She thought of Fayth and Douglas as her children, and she would not stand by and let this monster threaten them.
The team saw a struggle in the gunship’s cockpit. The young clone of Fayth’s mother grabbed the pilot’s sidearm and shot Gurov in the back of the head. When the pilot turned at the noise, she shot him in the face. The gunship pitched forward and crashed, killing everyone else on board. Lorelei Wilson sacrificed herself to keep her family whole.
The following days and weeks pass in a haze for the Assault Team. They all need to recover from physical injuries, and some need to learn to cope with injuries that are…not so physical. Marie decides that her talents will be best served clearing the backlog of research she’s put off while traipsing around with the outdoorsy-types. She picks a team of scientists and engineers from the Bunker and sets up shop at the alien base; not only does she need to get the buried UFO air-worthy again, but this arrangement will keep her mother at arm’s length for a while.
AJ contemplates his alien, cybernetic hand, looks at the world through cybernetic eyes, and begins to see things more clearly from his hospital bed. He has changed over these past few months, and he is not sure if the change is for the better. Not long ago, all he wanted was to put the Army on the back burner and focus—for once—on being a husband and father. Then the aliens came and he felt compelled to jump back into action. He doesn’t even know how he lost his hand and eyes; only Fayth does, and she isn’t telling, yet. He has stared death in the face many times now, and he doesn’t want to leave his children without a father. The Rangers are training new people now. AJ finally feels confident that he can step back and leave the fighting to younger men and women, but he won’t leave them behind completely. He will still be a member of the local council, and vows to keep an eye on Lillian Kjelstad, in case her plots and plans threaten to grow too ruthless for his conscience.
With the only people he knows laid up in the sick bay of the Bunker, Mal’K’Rettt, the turncoat Behemoth, doesn’t linger for long. He has too many questions needing answers, and he worries that his presence in this community may only complicate things. With Dog at his side, he sets off, heading East, glad to have met friends and learning that not all humans need be enemies.
While the team recovers, they miss the action when the Aberdeen Horde finally reaches the Great Wall of Elma. Wave after wave of chryssalids throw themselves at the massive spraycrete bulwarks and are met with deadly resistance from atop the ramparts. Without the guidance of the signal from the alien base, the Horde is just a mob of ravening monsters. Janice Faraday pioneers the tactic of swooping drones behind the chittering lines to draw the beasts’ hyper-aggression—which allows snipers like Steven Wilson to drill through the weaker armor of the chryssalids’ backs.
A small portion of the Horde breaks off and homes in on the alien base. Fortunately for Marie and the Eggheads working there, Brock Jankins still honors his deal with Peter Kjelstad, and while he cannot guard Marie from his hospital bed, he has already seen to it that she is not without protection. At Brock’s request, Lt. Spiers gladly deploys a team of his Rangers, and during the fighting, one machine gunner and his M249 almost single-handedly holds the line and keeps the bugs at bay. His name is John “Whiskey” MacNaughton, and for his bravery, Lt. Spiers puts him in for a promotion and a spot on the assault team. Brock is tickled pink and buys the new guy a drink as soon as he is able.
Thunder, Flash and Alamo revel in their new-found freedom, and help out around town wherever they can; cleaning debris, building things or policing the outer perimeter of the city walls, dozing chryssalid corpses into mass graves…and they are always on the lookout for one that might show a hint of life so they can step on its head. Every day, they try to finish their work early because the local children—who know no fear—are fascinated by the alien robots, and the trio love showing off their soccer skills by playing with the kids while they patiently wait for Fayth to recuperate.
Meanwhile, Lillian Kjelstad watches from her command center in Bunker November. She watches, and listens to the airwaves, waiting for the sign of a reprisal attack by the invaders, or the hint of some new plot. Things are quiet for now, and she wonders if the loss of the alien base set them further back than she expected. X-Com finally has some breathing room. Since there is no front on which to press the attack, her calculating eyes turn inward, to her own community. She knows all too well that the most dangerous enemy is the one within. She is certain there are collaborators out there; there is no way that everyone is marching to the same tune. One of her couriers has been asking interesting questions lately, which means he may have interesting suspicions. There is also drifter come to town, and she has heard rumors he might have talents that could be useful when it comes to clearing one’s house. Her assault team will soon be back on its feet, and then she can release her hounds.
Our story resumes with Fayth releasing Brock, her brother and her Carville from the sick bay, with a request for all of them to meet up with the new members of their team. Now that they are back on line, Lillian would like to have a word with them….
The date is now May 1st, 2014. The war is now in its 96th day. As Fayth re-reads the sheet of paper she found slipped under the door to her quarters this morning, it dawns on her that she is the only member of the team who has been here from the beginning, and been through it all. Even Brock and Carville have had to stay behind now and again seeing to other duties. With AJ retired and Marie taking stepping away from field work, she realizes that she is the old hand, now, and doesn't know how to feel about this sense of perceived responsibility. Hopefully she can figure it out before the rooks she's expected to train start looking to her for answers.
