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[[XCOM:_Gray_Dawn#Recaps]]<br>
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When we last left off...

Game #23 & 23.5 12/6-13/14

Day 25

The Enemy You Know

The dust slowly settles from Doug Wilson's breakdown, and the people at ground zero try to cope with what this development means for them and the future of the resistance.

Lt. Spiers approaches AJ and requests that he find suitable members of Captain Newton's infantry company to provide guard detail on Doug; he feels it poses a conflict of interest for his men to watch over him when it was one of their own that Doug nearly killed.  He says the Rangers are a close-knit bunch, and he doesn't want any of them tempted by vengeance.  In response to this, AJ reveals that he is considering whether Spiers, the Rangers and the rest of the infantry should split ties with X-Com and the civil authorities.  AJ feels a certain amount of responsibility because it was a member of their own team that caused this problem.  He wants to broach the option of the military and X-Com operating as separate, independent entities to prevent any future clashes.  Plus, there is also the question of what will become of Doug, and who will lay claim to pursuing justice for his actions...

Marie throws herself deeper into her work, trying to find some way to rationalize Doug's break, and spare him from the inevitable consequences.  Failing that, she hatches a plan to avert the alien invasion...a plan that can only succeed with Doug's help.

Fayth tries to talk to her brother again, to try to get some answer or resolution from him, and also to assess his mental state.  He is still manipulative, and obsessed with some plan that only he knows and that he will not share.  He seems to relay that he didn't mean for his actions to unfold the way that they did, but even Fayth can barely eke out a sense of remorse from him.  Finally, when it is clear that even blood ties will not help him, he suddenly and violently calls Fayth and all the others fools for not trusting him, and that their ignorance will doom them all.  Fayth leaves, broken-hearted; the last hope for her family has crumbled before her eyes.  Her mother is living on borrowed time.  Her father seems to have lost hope and spends his days and nights walking the ramparts of the Great Wall of Elma with his rifle.  To top things off, with the recent commotion, Carville is tasked out and unable to provide her any comfort.  She implores him that if he can break away from his duties, even for a bit, she could really use his company.  Fayth is at her rope's end.  With the alien invasion due any day, she must contemplate facing it at her breaking point.

After midnight, Carville is finally able to be at Fayth's side.  She confesses that with all the horrible things going on right now, one after the other, she just wants to break down and cry.  But she is a doctor, dammit, and people all around are relying on her not only to do her job, but she feels that if she falls to pieces in front of them, it will shake morale.  She tells him that he is the only person she feels she can open up to right now.  Carville tries to help her as best he can, but he admits that he is more accustomed to boosting the morale of soldiers, and isn't sure she will be comforted by his brand of advice.  She asks for him to share it with her anyway, and Carville does not fail to deliver; his wisdom provides little comfort for her, and his floundering attempts to make things better nearly drives the situation off the rails, until he grabs her wrist as she is trying to storm off.  He hesitates for a moment, contemplating all the ways his next actions could go horribly wrong.  Finally, he mutters under his breath, "Oh, hell, ya only live once," pulls Fayth to him and kisses her.  Contrary to his fears, she embraces this display of Hollywood-esque manliness, and asks him to stay with her for the night and watch over her so she can sleep.

The next day, AJ convenes a meeting with the core membership of the Elma Resistance regarding the future relationship between X-Com and the military, the fate of Doug, and what to do about the looming alien invasion.  The military representatives are supportive of continued civil/military cooperation.  Lt. Caesar Ramierez, Captain Newton's senior platoon leader points out that now is not the time for this group to be breaking apart.  Major action is coming soon, he reminds them.  He points out that there has been talk of the aliens building a base in Brazil.  He suggests that instead of waiting for the enemy to strike, they take the fight to them and wipe out that base in advance of their invasion.  Marie reveals her proposal to ground alien vessels using alien power transmission principles; if she can get her hands on the "frequency" an alien ship's reactor uses to transmit power, she can tune remote power beacons to essentially drain their reactor, dropping the ships out of the sky.  However, to accomplish this goal, she would have to access some of their technology, like a drone on board their ships.  Doug can take over enemy drones, and therefore, could save them all...

While everyone has to admit it's a bold gambit, no one--not even Fayth--can bring themselves to get behind a plan where Doug is again given accessed to remote control death machines.  He is too unstable and obsessed with his schemes for them to trust him.

It is reluctantly pointed out that the direness of the impending invasion might require that they temporarily ally with the Red Hand; they certainly have a lot of manpower and resources.  If anyone can fight an alien invasion, they can probably help out.  It is at this point that Fayth remembers (in an "oh my gosh, I left the stove on" kind of way) that Vladimir Gurov requested a meeting with her.  She tells the others about it, and they call a recess.  Whatever Gurov wants to discuss with Fayth may have some bearing on their future plans.  Fayth is a bit baffled (and likely nervous) that he wanted to speak to her specifically, but he did not demand she come alone, so she arranges a meeting and comes with backup.

Gurov is not wearing his power armor.  Instead, he is dressed in a nice business suit (which is more conducive to conversation).  After exchanging awkward and tense pleasantries, Gurov explains that he would like to help Fayth out with her family situation in exchange for her assistance.  He claims that he can cure her mother, but he would like her to get him some data from the Project Covenant archives.  The information he seeks is old geographic survey data that he can use to predict the arrival and location of incoming alien vessels.  He says that the data will do X-Com no good because they do not have the ability to respond to the threat, while he does.  He wants to try and repulse this wave, and give Earth a chance to prevail.  As good as this deal sounds, Fayth isn't sure she should hand over the information.  Gurov's history of deceit and treachery is legendary, and who knows if he is telling the truth?  She tells him she will think about it, and they depart.

The meeting reconvenes, and the group cannot come to a decision about which type of doom they want to embrace.  Every option sounds pretty awful.  After several hours, Fayth gets a call from Dr. Richards.  Her mother has had a miraculous recovery, and is asking to see her.  Fayth screams out of the meeting.  Brock goes with her.  For the first time in recorded history, Brock begs someone to slow down as Fayth screams her VW Beetle through town to the hospital.

Fayth finds her mom being fussed over by nurses who are removing the last of the life-support gear and IVs while Lorelei Wilson is sipping water.  Fayth checks her out; she seems healthy, but the timing of her recovery is too much to be a coincidence.  It has Gurov's red fingerprints all over it.  She goes to investigate, but when she leaves, she sees a flower on the chair in the corner with a note attached.  It reads "You're welcome.  This is to take a difficult decision out of your hands, and a promise that your entire family will be restored in the fullness of time."  The note is signed "Vladimir," confirming Fayth's suspicion.  Now, she feels a debt looming over her head...

Later, AJ gets a call from Macarthur Nils at Area 51.  The Leader of X-Com sympathizes with their personnel issues, and wants to do what he can to help in their group's decision-making process by requesting that AJ take the role of Regional X-Com Commander.  AJ declines, but cuts a deal with Nils that he and his team will discuss the issue and return with a suitable answer to the leadership question.  The team loosely decides on something civil and vaguely democratic, and they return to the issue of what to do about the alien invasion.  Both Fayth and Marie have made discoveries in the last few hours that may inform their decisions.

Fayth learned a bit about how alien FTL works by questioning the Firestorm's computer.  What she discovered was that the impact data Gurov wants is the signature of just the smaller alien craft dropping out of FTL.  The larger craft require something called a "hyperwave beacon" in order to transition on target.  Without it, the alien capital ships will not emerge into real space near Earth, and would likely spend weeks or even months trying to jump blind from deep space to our solar system.  If a hyperwave beacon is to be found anywhere on earth, it is most likely at the alien base in Brazil.  If they take out that base, they might prevent a huge portion of the alien invasion fleet from getting to Earth anytime soon!  That begs the question of whether they should give Gurov the information he is looking for.  Marie then reveals that she has received a message from her old friend Alistair, who is now one of many Alistair clones under the employ/slavery of Vladimir Gurov.  He has told her not to trust Doug, but he can't explain why.  He only promises that if Gurov doesn't make things right, he will do it himself.

Fayth's phone keeps going off to remind her to visit her mom.  She finally breaks off to do so, and finds that Doug was there earlier to visit, and according to mom, he looked so much better!  Fayth checks in with the base and finds that Doug did not escape again; this all stinks of clones, and the man that dabbles with them!  With impeccable timing, as though he can sense when people are talking about him, Gurov sends a text message to Fayth, requesting another meeting.  The group goes in force again.  This time, Fayth is less nervous and a bit more full of bluster and indignation.  She gets in his face a little bit about her mother and what he knows about clones and Doug.  As if to save him from a blind date gone wrong, Gurov gets a conveniently timed text message regarding important issues that he must attend, but slips Fayth a card with the number of a representative who can explain things further and help her.  He then walks out, telling Carville in passing, "Dr. Wilson is an extraordinary girl.  You should take good care of her; it would be terrible if anything happened to her."  To his ears, this sounds kind of like a veiled threat, and he is tempted to shoot the Russkie in the back of the head, but Fayth stays his hand before he can draw his pistol.  Wasting no time, Fayth marches across the dark motel room to the phone and dials the number Gurov gave her.

The line is busy.  She realizes as she slams the handset down in frustration, that the number she dialed is the same one taped on a bit of paper to the back of the phone.  Then the office chair nearby turns around and a familiar yet strange voice calls out to her from the darkness.  "Ah, Fayth, I see you're still as driven as ever."  The figure turns on a desk lamp, and Fayth sees Doug.  He is clean-shaven, his receding hair is styled, he's wearing a suit and tie and acting kind of...normal.

Douglas reveals that when his drone command trailer was hit in Afghanistan several years ago, Vladimir Gurov rescued him and nursed him back to health.  Douglas also wants to know if they plan on helping him out, since he certainly has a plan in motion to help repel the alien threat.

With the knowledge that one or both of the Dougs she knows is a clone, Fayth runs some tests and discovers that the clean-cut one is not a clone, while the crazy one under guard in the sick bay is.  This is the weirdest reunion Fayth has ever been a part of, and can hardly do it justice; they still have to decide a course of action.

The importance of destroying the hyperwave beacon is mentioned again, and since they can't get any nukes in the air to level the place, they will have to go there and do it themselves.  AJ is reluctant to take the Firestorm (at Fayth's suggestion), fearing that the aliens ability to detect it will scrub any chance of success.  It is pointed out, however, that because of the limited size of the current alien fleet and the number of aliens they have already killed, it is likely that they may be only facing 50-60 aliens at the most (and probably fewer).  Also, there is no way they could get a plane to fly to Brazil without a mid-air refueling or two, so insertion by captured alien spaceship is the plan of the day.  Plus, if the aliens can see one of their own ships on their sensors, they can probably ''really'' see an airplane.  And then shoot it down.  At least the Firestorm has shields and guns, and is fast as balls.  And unbeknownst to the others, Fayth has become a surprisingly decent pilot...  Preparations are underway, and the fate of the world once again rests in the hands of the Elma Resistance.