Operation Broken Daze, Part 2 (Site Recon - Newfoundland, Canada)

Gentlesophs, I am your host, the Kid With A Pen, and welcome to XCOM:  War Interminable - my playthrough of XCOM:  Enemy Unknown, with the Enemy Within expansion, the Operation Slingshot DLC, and most importantly the Long War mod.  Links to all of these can be found on the "What is XCOM:  War Interminable?" page below this post.

Last time, on XCOM:  War Interminable:

Strike One responded to a request from the Canadian government to investigate the loss of contact with a fishing village in Newfoundland.  What we found was a town devoid of human life - instead it was crawling with Zombies and Chryssalids.

Lance Corporal Kostopoulos, our engineer, was killed in a Chryssalid rush on Strike One, and killed again by his former teammates after he rose from the dead a Zombie.

After making their way through the village, they discovered a large ship that had run aground, a vessel that they suspected was the source of the infestation - a suspicion backed up by the emergence of Zombies from the cargo hold.

Now, the thrilling conclusion:

 Boom Boom and Scooby land hits on the Zombie, hurting it but not dropping it.

In the aliens' turn, the Zombie shambles into Zilch and Trips' overwatches.  It did not survive the experience.

The squad takes the turn to reload.  The last thing you want is to be out of ammo when the Chryssalids come calling.

Another Zombie shambles out of the hold...

...and Zilch and Trips make quick work of this one, as well.

Boom Boom steadies her aim, just in case another pod of Chryssalids comes running.

 

Meanwhile, Caper and Geronimo board the ship to get a better look at what's going on.

Checkmate steadies aim from his new position on the roof of the market stalls.

Trips and Zilch reload while it's still quiet.

Well.  This could be a problem.  Central, looks like we've found the source of this Chryssalid infestation!

Remember how whaling kills?  Well, the aliens have managed to demonstrate this in a way the environmentalists of the '70s and '80s never imagined - the Chryssalids are using this whale as a breeding ground for more of them, perhaps dozens or hundreds.  The Chryssalids probably got aboard hidden inside this whale and killed the crew, which would explain why the ship did her best Exxon Valdez impression.  From there...  ...well, the results speak for themselves.

Needless to say, Caper's plan to take off and nuke the place until it glows actually sounds like a good plan.  In fact, Central's already requested that the Royal Canadian Air Force send a plane in to destroy the site - they have a CF-188 Hornet inbound from CFB Bagotville with a payload of JDAM-equipped B83s.  6 megatons of thermonuclear ordnance ought to do the trick, but they'll need a target.

Thankfully, the whaling ship's transponder appears intact, if inactive.  If we can activate it, it'll give the Hornet a continuously broadcasting target for terminal guidance.

Of course, this requires getting to the bridge to activate the transponder.  Checkmate steadies his aim - he suspects that his services will be needed shortly.

Geronimo and Caper cautiously make their way aft to the bridge.

And, as anticipated, Chryssalids begin to pop out of the whale carcass.  This will end well...

Geronimo sprints to the bridge while Caper covers him.

Boom Boom steadies aim.  We might need a third rocket soon.

Meanwhile, Caper blows a Chryssalid away with a resounding blast from her shotgun.

Trips and Zilch advance and overwatch, preparing to take out any aliens that come our from the hold.

In the aliens' turn, another Chryssalid is birthed in a grotesque and horrifying perversion of the circle of life.

Geronimo makes it to the bridge, and waits for the order to activate the transponder.

In the meantime, the squad covers his escape route.

In the aliens' turn, more Chryssalids emerge from dead sea life.

For the next turn, I feel that some background music is appropriate:

(sorry that it's a faster version - it looks like this is the only version that Youtube hasn't taken down or restricted to Japan)

(Also, I recommend watching Ghost in the Shell as a series, especially Stand Alone Complex)

Back to the matter at hand, Geronimo activates the transponder, and takes a flying leap off the side of the ship to get back to the squad.

He takes the opportunity to wound another Chryssalid hatchling.

Caper joins him in the Newfoundland trust fall and finishes the Chryssalid off.

The rest of the squad finishes off the turn with a round of overwatches.

Now, I know what you're thinking:  "KWAP, what about that enormous red timer counting down the number of turns you have left until the airstrike comes and everyone dies?  Shouldn't you be running as fast as humanly possible to get away from the specter of imminent atomic demise?"

Well, that's exactly what I'm doing, but 8 turns is plenty.  While I'm not going for kills on this mission, I'm not exactly in a rush, either.  I'm actually more interested in putting some distance between me and those Chryssalids so I can ambush them as they pursue me.

Checkmate steadies aim.  His time will come.  Probably.

Geronimo hears movement coming from behind.  Whatever you do, don't look back!

More Chryssalids emerge.

"I looked back!" Geronimo yells as he rips a Chryssalid a new one.

...and they just keep coming.

I can only assume that exposure to RF waves triggers the Chryssalid...  ..I really don't know what to call it, but whatever it is that they do when they explode out of their parents' victims.

Speaking of which, another Chryssalid jumped out of a shark, right in one of the least convenient places imaginable.

Boom Boom steadies her rocket, just in case we need it...

...and Checkmate wounds another Chryssalid.

Caper reloads, just in case any Chryssalids get too close.

Zilch backs her up with an overwatch.

Surprise Chryssalid from the rear!  Checkmate, get out of there!

The fleshy exploding sounds we hear from the ship are an unwelcome reminder that we are on a time limit here.

And if we didn't have enough problems, another Chryssalid jumped out from a shark near the extraction zone.  Oh, I hope that Big Sky hasn't been overrun in our absence...

However, Zilch and Trips get overwatch shots on it as it runs toward us chittering.

Zilch takes aim...

...and gets the kill!  The extraction zone is secure, for now!  Go!  Go!  Go!

Trips takes a moment to reload (coincidentally in exactly the same spot where Kostopoulos got killed by a Chryssalid).

"They're coming out of the goddamn walls!" Checkmate yells as he leaps down from the stall roof and gets as far from the Chryssalid that jumped him as humanly possible.

Boom Boom and Scooby get shots on the Chryssalid that ambushed Checkmate, but it's not enough.

Trips gets up to higher ground and lays down an overwatch.

A Chryssalid gallops down the docks...

...drawing Trips' overwatch away from the more imminent threat behind him...

...which Geronimo blows away before it could even get to the ground!  Things are looking up!

No, don't say that!  The game might hear you!

Trips finishes off the Chryssalid that drew his overwatch...

...and the squad's in sight of the Skyranger!

I don't need to show you all of the Chryssalids spawning in the ship.  After all, they're not going to live long.

All right, let's get to the Skyranger, people!  Move!  Move!  Move!  Zilch, you're the first to make it!

Checkmate and Trips make it to the extraction zone!

Scooby's in, too!

Caper gets on, and turning to Boom Boom and Geronimo yells, "GET TO DAH CHOPPAH!"  Even in a high-stress situation like this, she still can't resist breaking out one-liners.

Boom Boom's aboard!

Geronimo!  Get your ass in here, or you're gonna be a permanent resident!

Geronimo's safe!  Everyone's present and accounted for!  Big Sky, let's bug out!

And now, for thematic impact:

 

Nuclear.

Launch.

Detected.

Have a nice winter.

Op success!

Wow, I did not expect to only lose a Specialist engineer.  Sorry, Kostopoulos.  You will be missed.

And, we have some promotions!  Trips made it to Sergeant, where he gets the Suppression perk.  Basically, he gets to do the gunner thing where he shoots at a target to make it keep its head down, and gets overwatch shots if it doesn't.

Caper also made it to Sergeant, and gains the Close Encounters perk.  Basically, Close Encounters means that if she doesn't use Run and Gun that turn, the first shot she makes at a target within 4 tiles doesn't cost an action.

And Canada is grateful that they don't have a Chryssalid colony festering on their coasts.  We'll definitely have to keep a closer eye on the aliens' activities around our oceans.

OK, Shen!  We're going to need another satellite uplink, pronto!

Also, a repair bay!  While I'm amazed that all of Kostopoulos' gear came back intact (I can only assume that the Skyranger also carries a recovery team that handles this sort of thing), we can't rely on this sort of luck forever.

It's been the Month From Hell, but we finally have a moment to visit the Memorial and update the list of our honored dead.

Back to the Hologlobe!

Germany wants alloys!  Take 'em!

UFO contact inbound over Mexico!  Hooter, get up there and take a look!

It's another Transport UFO.

Hooter, come back to the barn.  We're gonna let it land so Strike One can deal with it.

I forgot to promote Long Shot after her last mission.  She's made it to Sergeant, and I'm giving her the Sharpshooter perk.

Lynne "Vixen" Triplett is leading this mission.  Standard medic loadout.

Lacking any better options, we're bringing Long Shot on this one.  She's been really disappointing recently, but I'm not about to bring Checkmate along when he's still fatigued.  Not unless it's an emergency.

Banzai and Albright are our infantry on this one, packing the standard infantry loadout.

Tat is our scout, with the usual scout gear.

Chilong is coming with, packing the usual engineer load of enough grenades to sack Fort Knox.  We should try that sometime.  I think we might actually be able to pull it off.

However, this is a Transport UFO, so we're going to need more than just things that blow stuff up.  So, we're bringing our tech support engineer, Kozlov, along for smoke grenades and more boom.

Finally, Schuster comes along as our gunner.  He has the backup medkit in case the worst should happen.

Strike One has reached the landing site.

And, that's where we'll leave this update for today!  Join us tomorrow for Operation Rotting Sleep!  Remember, you too can join the fight by going to https://www.patreon.com/user?u=177434 and subscribe today!  Every subscriber gets to have a rookie named after them!

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