Danger Close
The Battle of Olympia, Operation: Showdown, part II
It was a battle months in the making, ever since the dreaded team of Muton Elites had darkened Earth’s doorstep and spearheaded the capture of X-Com personnel at the Battle of Brazil. The Elites had loomed like a spectre over many of the plots the men and women of Bunker November had faced since. The human soldiers managed to best one of them in combat at Gakona, while it was serving as the personal bodyguard for one of the elusive “Ethereals.” That particular Elite’s severed head currently dressed a pike atop the Great Wall of Elma as a grim warning what doom befalls those who incur the wrath of the defenders of Earth.
This affront had not gone unnoticed by the Elite known as Khur’rhal’lll, who seemed to have made vengeance his mission. He sent a protege to kidnap Marie, which resulted in the death of Ranger Daniel “Rabbit” Rabinowicz. He hacked into Fayth and AJ’s sim and could have destroyed their minds were it not for Douglas directing Brock and Sgt. Carville to his real-world location to tangle with him. This resulted in Carville being teleported away when he tried to prevent the Muton from escaping, and landed him in the hellhole of Aberdeen, where he was almost turned into a chryssalid. After all that, Khur’rhal’lll escaped again. While X-Com licked their collective wounds, Douglas diligently conducted surveillance using drones and psionics, scouting out Khur’rhal’lll’s bastion: the city of Olympia. Douglas’ recon discovered greater evils afoot than anyone imagined.
Along the way, X-Com found two more allies, one familiar and one new. The familiar was Hector “Slick” Gaspar, the talented engineer who stepped in to fill Janice’s shoes in the field. The new was Dr. Rhys Aloysius Catalano-Moore, a rogue Australian scientist recruited by Project Covenant a few years ago who had been captured by the aliens just days prior and rescued by Sgt. Hoff and team Rampage.
Olympia looked to be a formidable battle zone. With such a wide array of targets and a ranging field of engagement the likes of which they had never tackled before, Commander Wilson chose to field more troops than they have ever committed to an attack before: three full squads. Rampage was dropped off outside of the city to begin a diversionary attack while Menace went into the heart of Olympia to infiltrate the alien base there. This would allow Douglas to take out their power source.
After a nearly disastrous encounter with a new breed of Muton—the Berserker—Douglas slipped a scout drone inside the base and the team fell back. Menace rallied outside the compound of the Gene Clinic, which was Fayth’s primary target for this operation, not just for what the aliens might be storing there, but because according to Douglas, it seemed to be the seat of Khur’rhal’lll’s power.
However, by this time, Douglas detected spikes of psionic energy within. He knew they were related to alien teleportation. He suspected there was machinery or an entity within facilitating this. Sgt. Hoff reported that Khur’rhal’lll had left the safety of the Gene Clinic to enter the combat, drawn by the lure of Rampage’s diversion at the “processing center.” Much to their horror, the Rangers quickly discovered the Elite was nearly impervious to harm, teleporting a few paces away whenever a shot landed! As the alien commander tore through their ranks, Menace was put on the clock to neutralize whatever in the compound was granting the murderous Muton its invulnerability.
They got word from Douglas that X-Com’s presence inspired rebels in the city to attack as well, and alien forces were being dispatched to quell the uprisings. Fayth and her team made a hard call and chose not to intercede to help the rebels, opting just to capitalize in a second diversion and the chaos it would bring. Knowing they have almost certainly sealed the rebels’ fates, Menace prepared to assault the Gene Clinic armed with two elerium bombs. These weapons were fueled by the power cores in the alien base. Not only will they do a ton of damage, but their detonation would also temporarily crash the alien power grid.
Menace encountered heavy laser turrets and a new breed of alien guarding the walls of the compound. This new alien was dubbed the “Archon,” an imposing aerial unit. It was slippery and evasive, and had a dangerous area of effect attack. However, when Slick used the robotic arms of his power armor to scale the walls, he was quite literally able to get the drop on the Archons guarding the gate and smashed one of them into the opening mechanism. This exposed the rest of the pod to the fury of Menace, who cut them down handily.
However, this attack stirred the compound’s heavies. A pair of monstrous Sectopods rose from beneath the wide-open tarmac of the barren killing field, which chilled Fayth to her bones; it was one of these machines that nearly ended her life in Gakona! It launched an artillery barrage, and the squad dove for cover while Brock, Carville and AJ peppered it with deadly precision rifle fire.
Dr. Rhys unwittingly dove for cover inside a building whose roof had been targeted by one of the sectopod’s mortar rounds (as this spot had formerly been Brock’s sniper perch), and when the shell burst, he was trapped in a cascade of burning wreckage as the structure collapsed. Fayth dove into action to peel through the rubble and pulled him out. She took a glancing hit from the walker’s amp cannon, but thankfully it was nowhere nearly as devastating as the last time she was hit. Rather than run the risk of his girl getting smoked again, Sgt. Carville tried his best to draw the robot’s fire, which also allowed AJ to devastate it with shots guided by his cybernetic eye.
Meanwhile, Rampage was getting hammered by Khur’rhal’lll and Menace didn’t have time for another protracted gunfight with the other sectopod closing in. Lieutenant Spiers offered to move Trample to engage while Menace tackled the Gene Clinic head-on. Trample drew the other heavy’s attention away while AJ and Slick planted charges to blast the place.
They discovered that the majority of the structure was protected by its own force field. The Outer Sanctum was reduced to rubble, though, and as they tore through it trying to find a way into the Inner Sanctum, the ruins began to shift. A massive metallic sphere nearly ten feet across slowly rose from the ruin. It opened its shell briefly and gated in a pod of sectoids to attack! This was the Gatekeeper; the mysterious entity responsible for teleporting alien forces around, and also the source of Khur’rhal’lll’s teleportation-based untouchability.
Menace discovered the Gatekeeper was heavily armored and the majority of their gunfire spalled ineffectively off its shell unless it was open while performing an attack. Slick, who had almost been on top of it when it rose up, hopped on its back and rode it like a bucking bronco. He did this not only to avoid its powerful psi-blast, but to put him in a prime spot to poke it in the eye when it attacked. AJ found that even though it’s armor was tough, he had a trick up his sleeve for just an adversary. He was able to drill it with some of his cybernetically guided fire that found all the weak spots in its shell, which put a major dent in it’s ‘tude. From his perch on high, Slick was able to follow up on AJ’s gains and rained down sonic blasts that rendered the biomechanical monster inert.
Sgt. Hoff instantly reported that Khur’rhal’lll was grounded, and they were pressing the attack, but several members of the squad were down. Menace had only a limited amount of time to investigate the Gene Clinic and wished they had more; Fayth had an idea of what they were keeping here—human genetic samples like the one they had taken from her, Marie and Janice—but they found something else for which she was not prepared. The Aliens had a dozen tubes with human subjects in them for some unknown purpose. Dr. Rhys and Slick knew the rest of the squad needed to get into the fight to help Rampage. They offered to stay behind and do what they could here. Lt. Spiers and Trample had managed to best the other sectopod and offered to provide the scientists with perimeter security (and supervision). This freed Menace to do what Rangers do and leave no men behind.
Fayth’s goal was to render aid to her boys. AJ watched over and protected her as they went to one Ranger after another and stabilized them, all along a path toward where Khur’rhal’lll was cornered like a wounded beast. Fayth released her own avatars of vengeance and wrath in the form of Brock and Carville, who rode in on the gunship to join Rampage.
Carville manned one of the miniguns and when the Gunship closed within range, furiously hosed down Khur’rhal’lll’s position, shredding the vegetation all around that he was hiding in, and lighting the vicinity with the hellish strobing of his tracers. This offered just enough light for Brock to line up a perfect shot with his sniper rifle and drill the Muton, dropping him out of the fight.
The Gunship touched down and Brock and Carville rushed in to engage; they didn’t want this one slipping away again. Despite the devastating blow Brock had delivered with his rifle, it had only just knocked the wind out of Khur’rhal’lll’s sails for a moment, and the monster was rising to its feet even as they approached. Carville did something he had been fantasizing about for some time now, and as Brock thundered forward, ready to pounce, the Master Sergeant pulled the mysterious package he’d had slung on his back, whipped the wrapping off it and revealed Khur’rhal’lll’s own heavy plasma rifle. He brought the weapon to his shoulder and fired off a burst, nailing the Elite with his own weapon and knocking him off his feet. Brock had no qualms against beating someone while they were down, so he pounced on Khur’rhal’lll’s supine form, ripped off his facemask and helmet and began pummeling him, dripping a blistering stream of invective that might make a sailor blush.
By this time, Fayth and AJ had made their way to Rampage’s position and the scene playing out before them. They saw Carville set the plasma rifle aside and belatedly move in to restrain Brock before he managed to completely smash his foe’s skull in. After all, he figured Fayth might want to take him prisoner.
But little did Carville or anyone else know that she had other plans, and she did not let anyone else in on them, either, lest they try and talk her out of them. She would not suffer this one to leave the field of battle alive. Not for what he had done already to all of them. She closed in and quietly picked up the discarded plasma rifle with it’s wicked bayonet; a personal touch from this particularly cruel enemy. Carville managed to ease his friend off the defeated alien, which gave Fayth a target free from the risk of collateral damage.
“God-Mother be with me,” Khur’rhal’lll chanted softly over and over, some kind of mantra of their alien religion, she supposed, but she knew this creature’s deity would not save him from her. Before anyone even realized she was there or that she was armed, she raised the rifle and hacked it down into the neck of her nemesis, severing his head and ending the fight once and for all.
Back at the Gene Clinic, the prisoners were secured and transport for them was arranged. The site was searched as thoroughly as time allowed, and several items were found that might help the scientists back home with various research projects. Many genetic samples were found and secured, and Dr. Rhys was even able to do a little digging in the alien computers for data he would have to decipher later on. Once all this was done, it was time to demolish the site before reinforcements could swoop in, to make sure none of what the aliens had stolen and stockpiled here could ever help them in their war against Earth again.
On the ride home, though, Fayth learned that not all of the prisoners were random strangers, though. She had a connection to at least one of them, and suspected that others around her might, too.
