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>>2746240

As you might have already guessed, I'm going to be trying a different OP style this time around with the meta stuff in a second post. I've heard around the block that seeing a bunch of links does not attract new blood, we'll see if this changes anything!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurningGray
Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=XCOM%20Trooper%20Quest
Squad Info: https://pastebin.com/4KJN5HKK

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>>2746240
>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.
ALL
HAIL
THE
COMMANDY
ONE

>>2746240
>>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.

>>2746240
>You’re not so sure about this… you joined XCOM to kill aliens not participate in espionage.

>>2746240
>>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.

>>2746240
>>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.

>>2746240
>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.
"And Ma'am? Something else psionic was here. Not Sectoid grunt level either, stronger than that."

>>2746240
>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.
Time for shadowruns

>>2746240
>Strike-1 will get it done. It was only a matter of time until XCOM started doing things behind the Council’s back.

>>2746251
>>2746253
>>2746267
>>2746282
>>2746304
>>2746312
>>2746318
Strike-1 doing the thing then, writing!

File: Logo.png (362 KB, 535x535)

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“We’ll get it done, Commander.” You say. It’s not a difficult decision for you. XCOM has done nothing but good for you, and the times you’ve had to ‘work’ with Council affiliated personnel did not give you a good impression of the group.

“Thank you, Strike-1.” The Commander says warmly. “We’ll leave you all to it. Anna will keep you posted on the ETA of the Council force’s arrival. We do not want you all to stick around when they arrive, it might arouse suspicion.”

You guess that Anna was your comms support prior.

“Yes ma’am.” You say. Before she hangs up however you quickly add something. “And ma’am? Something else psionic was here. It wasn’t just a Sectoid grunt level either, something else. Something stronger.”

“I see.” The Commander says, pondering this new information for the moment. “You are XCOM’s sole expert on that particular topic, so we’ll defer to you with whatever findings you gather on that. Is there anything else?”

There isn’t.

At that, The Commander hangs up, leaving you back to deal with your squad. The Commander’s new assignment is enough to jostle them out of how they’re dealing with your newly revealed powers. You honestly can’t blame them for needing a moment. You’ll want to see what you looked like in the bodycam footage later, partly to review your abilities and also… well… you’re just plain curious at what sort’ve spectacle you basically were. They’re not completely back into it, but at the very least they’re not reacting extremely negatively to the reveal. You hope the rest of Strike-1 will take it well, as with the cat out of the bag for this part of the squad you might as well tell everyone.

“What are your orders?” Zhang speaks up, still the most adjusted of the situation out of everyone.

Good question. Time’s of the essence and you and the rest of the team should get to intel scouring… but maybe further reassurance and a quick explanation of things to the squad would help. It would take some time to do so, not a lot of time fortunately, but still time nonetheless.

Strike-1 has less than thirty minutes left.

>Give a quick explanation of your abilities to reassure the squad.
>Get straight to work, explanations can wait.
>Other

>>2746378
>Get straight to work, explanations can wait.
GRAB EVERYTHING NOT BOLTED DOWN!

>>2746378
>>Get straight to work, explanations can wait.

>>2746378
>Get straight to work, explanations can wait.
"We are on a time limit so let's get to work. I'll explain everything about what just happened once we are on the Skyranger."

>>2746378
>>Get straight to work, explanations can wait.

>>2746378
>Get straight to work, explanations can wait.

>>2746379
>>2746382
>>2746383
>>2746384
>>2746389
Straight to work it is, writing!

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“We’re on a time limit right now, so let’s get to work.” You say, pressing your squad to action. “I’ll explain everything about what just happened once we’re on the Skyranger.”

“That would be most appreciated.” Loki says. The rest of the squad are in agreement at that. Though, they’re certainly very curious. Hopefully it doesn’t distract them.

You take the moment to look around the AO, taking mental notes of each of the particular ‘landmarks’ in the area that could provide information on what the hell just happened here. The most obvious place would be within the truck itself, the interior of some portable medical room raises a lot of questions and will likely be the first place to check out. But that’s not all, of course. There’s the rest of the vehicles in the convoy, which while mostly destroyed could still provide some sort of information or a better understanding of the events that transpired. There’s also the buildings itself where the bodies of most of the suited mercenaries (for a lack of a better word) are strewn about. Those vans that blocked the end of the street look rather suspicious as well, were they blocked there on purpose?

Before you can even start picking out places to investigate, the first order of business is how to effectively use what manpower you have to pick through the area. There’s six members in the squad, and four main points of interest.

How to divvy up the squad?

>Search each area as one unit.
>Split the squad in half to check two areas at a time.
>Divide into three pairs.
>Have one member in each of the four POIs and have the remaining two fill in where applicable.
>Other

>>2746472
>Divide into three pairs.
Nothing can go wrong here boys!

>>2746472
>Divide into three pairs.
Both for security and the fact that two pairs of eyes are better than one.

>>2746472
>>Divide into three pairs.

>>2746472
>Divide into three pairs.

>>2746472
>>Divide into three pairs.

>>2746472
three pairs, us and zhang as one. He's least likely to be distracted by us and accidentally miss anything while searching

>>2746500
burnout and rook
loki and harita

>>2746472
>Divide into three pairs.

>>2746500
This

Whoever has the most medical experience should go into the medical room. Wish Sweet was here but we can record everything we see and show it to him later.

Calling the vote here, writing!

“Alright, we’re going to be splitting up into pairs.” You explain. “Burnout and Rook, Harita and Loki, and you’re with me, Zhang.”

Zhang nods at that.

“That is perfect.” Loki agrees. “I will need to convene with Harita anyways about what had just happened.”

“We do?” Harita blinks.

“Very much so.” Loki says, placing a hand on Harita’s shoulder quietly insisting for her. Harita nods at that, a bit unsure.

Hm. Suspicious...

“Right. Just focus on keeping your eyes out. Just focus on the mission at hand.” You shake your head, crossing your arms.

“You have my word.” Loki smiles.

At that, Rook suppresses a laugh at Loki’s reactions. Loki looks over and merely shrugs innocently, seeming to understand at whatever’s going on with Rook at that moment. Burnout scratches his chin, not exactly following things but not commenting. Harita is a bit confused as well. As much as you want to grill your squad on that you also have to focus on the mission at hand.

With everyone paired off, it’s time to decide where to take a look. You have first dibs on where to go given your ranking in the squad, and you’ll just let the rest of the squad decide where to look. One place will be checked last, but it’s not that bad so long as everyone is efficient in their search.

Where will you and Zhang investigate?

>The truck.
>The rest of the convoy.
>The buildings.
>The vans.

>>2746626
>The truck.
See if we can't get a clue of what was being delivered.

>>2746626
>>The truck.

>>2746626
>>The truck.
>Warn Zhang we felt a psionic signature here. Keep an eye out for spooky purple shit.

>>2746626
>The truck.

>>2746631
>>2746634
>>2746637
>>2746677
Truck it is, writing!

File: The Truck.png (684 KB, 998x385)

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The truck is the most obvious choice to investigate, so that’s where you’ll go first. Burnout and Rook will check out the rest of the convoy and Harita and Loki will investigate the vans. With the locations and pairs divvied up, your squad splits up to check out their respective locations.

Zhang thankfully doesn’t comment on things and remains quiet and professional. You appreciate that.

As you head over to the back of the truck you see there’s a numerous number of bodies that consist of both the security forces and the mercs all around the trucks. There was definitely a struggle for the truck but the mercs all have plasma burns while the security forces have only bullet wounds. The truck is a heavy duty vehicle as well, whatever the cargo was the Council did not want to take any chances.

What stands out immediately is that one of the doors of the truck has been ripped off by sheer force. You don’t even see where the metal door is, did the mercs pry it off? Looking inside the truck itself, the interior of the portable medical lab is a complete mess. It’s almost as if a tornado had shook up the interior tossing things all over place. Personnel wearing labcoats are among the dead found within the mess. The ways they’ve been tossed about is a rather grisly sight, with either random objects embedded within them or their limbs are broken and bent in different very wrong angles.

“Could they have been transporting an alien such as the Muton?” Zhang wonders as he steps in, kneeling down to inspect one of the corpses.

“Maybe…” You murmur, stepping in. It’s a good thing you’re not claustrophobic as this sight would likely cause you to lose it.

A thorough search would normally be in order, but you are on a time limit… and not only that, a part of you still wants to investigate the other psionic influence in the area. The problem with that as well is that only Zhang would be searching through the truck alone and you don’t how long or how difficult the process is. It’ll be a first for you, obviously.

Strike-1 has around 25 minutes left.

>Do a quick search. It will take the shortest amount of time. (TN 65)
>Do a moderate search. (TN 50)
>Do a thorough search. It will take the most time. (TN 35)
>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)
>Other (TN ???)

>>2746769
>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)

>>2746769
>>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)

>>2746769
>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)
>Do a thorough search. It will take the most time. (TN 35)
>Other (TN ???)
Relay to the rest of Strike-1 that if they finish investigating their location and can move they should head to the 4th location (Buildings I think) as soon as they can to get some eyes on it.

Cause I don't think that Dozer and Zhang are going to be able to spare the time.

>>2746769
>>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)
>Do a moderate search. (TN 50)

>>2746769
>>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)

>>2746769
this >>2746788

>>2746769
>Examine the psionic influence. (TN ???)

Calling the vote here! Just a heads up the next update is probably going to take a bit longer due to having step out for a bit!

I'm back and writing now, apologies!

File: The Gift.jpg (121 KB, 1600x900)

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Without even actively using your abilities you can still just passively sense the change in the air. You can’t fully describe the sensation even to yourself besides the instinctive feeling that the area is more… deprived of something. The truck doesn’t seem as vibrant, possibly even duller. This requires more investigation and examination, and you’re the only person in XCOM who can get to the bottom of this… so far.

“Zhang, I’m going to be doing my ‘magic’ thing. You’re going to have to handle looking through the truck yourself for the moment. Relay to the others to investigate the buildings if they finish looking through their first place.” You say as you prepare yourself once again to manipulate the gift.

“Yes sir.” Zhang says curtly.

Zhang starts to call it in to the rest of the squad but the words rather quickly fade out once you start to focus, feeling that power that you are starting to steadily grow accustomed too. You were initially concerned that you’d be mentally fatigued after you went Juggernaut, but you still feel rather energized with how well you had… uh… ‘casted’ your power.

You still need to work out the terminology. With the rest of your squad now in the know they can help, you suppose.

Putting the minor distraction aside you compose yourself and reach out once again to your Gift to help you…

>Roll 1d100

File: XCOM Activity.png (257 KB, 400x400)

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Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>2746947
Oops, I forgot to add roll myself, don't mind this it doesn't apply to your guy's roll!

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>2746947

Rolled 21 (1d100)

>>2746947
I hope this is not a vs roll and just how noticeable her signature was Pixel.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>2746947

File: Glowing Eyes.jpg (17 KB, 596x334)

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Casting your mental net out, you take as much time as you need to try and piece together and understand what exactly caused this noticeable psionic imprint to be left behind. The first thing you notice is that whoever or whatever was manipulating psionics earlier was… ferocious. There was no eloquence or subtlety in how it was used, there was only trying to use as much raw power to meet their desires, like an animal throwing every bit of strength it has in a desperate fight for survival.

You very quickly realize the convoy was transporting the psion.

You mentally latch onto the animal concept as a mental anchor to give your own mind something to relate what you are finding. Your other normal senses are rather dulled in the process, for all you know days could be passing while you do your thing, this isn’t exactly something you’d want to do in a firefight.

You realize there was desperation in how it was used. In comparison, it’s like your own anger left unchecked and caused by fear more than anything else. Whoever was the psionic was doing everything in their power to defend themselves. Desperation and terror hang heavily within the truck particularly directed to the corpses of the doctors. Whoever the mystery psion is took a great satisfaction in ending the doctor’s lives, and you start to empathize thoroughly before you catch yourself. Tere was a fair chance you could’ve been swept up in it that raw emotion and be dragged down by it. Psionics, you are starting to realize, seems to be linked intrinsically to emotions. Or, at least it is for both yourself and the mystery psion.

Wait. There’s something else you also sense, a slight change in the mental ‘air’. There’s something you can latch onto. However you’ll really need to focus and spend a lot of your mental Focus to isolate from the sheer emotional noise of dread that lingers in this truck… and you are starting to wear yourself out being immersed in these remnants of a hell.

You pull yourself out, partly to get your bearings around you of the investigation… and also to take a breather. Some truly reprehensible stuff has been happening in this truck, and it makes you feel sick to your stomach. You check the time, ten minutes have passed.

Zhang is intently looking through collected series of documents with a grim look on his face, he’s also carrying numerous ID cards, likely looted from the bodies of the doctors. He’s tense, whatever he’s found is important.

You’re about to ask him what it is when you realize… you're losing that lead you had psionically found. It’s as if you’ve woken up, and the memory of a dream is rapidly slipping away from your mind. Decaying.

Shit.

>Dive back into your psionic investigation and find that lead. It will take more time and energy. (TN 45-65)
>Drop it. You need to gather more information elsewhere. Find out what Zhang has found, it might relate to what you’ve learned so far and give you a better idea without wasting resources.
>Other (TN ???)

>>2747036
>Drop it. You need to gather more information elsewhere. Find out what Zhang has found, it might relate to what you’ve learned so far and give you a better idea without wasting resources.

>>2747036
>Dive back into your psionic investigation and find that lead. It will take more time and energy. (TN 45-65)
We can review the documents on the Skyranger if needed.

>>2747036
>>Drop it. You need to gather more information elsewhere. Find out what Zhang has found, it might relate to what you’ve learned so far and give you a better idea without wasting resources.

>>2747036
>>Drop it. You need to gather more information elsewhere. Find out what Zhang has found, it might relate to what you’ve learned so far and give you a better idea without wasting resources.

>>2747036
>Drop it. You need to gather more information elsewhere. Find out what Zhang has found, it might relate to what you’ve learned so far and give you a better idea without wasting resources.

>>2747036
>>Drop it. You need to gather more information elsewhere. Find out what Zhang has found, it might relate to what you’ve learned so far and give you a better idea without wasting resources.

>>2747036
>Dive back into your psionic investigation and find that lead. It will take more time and energy. (TN 45-65)

>>2747036
>Dive back into your psionic investigation and find that lead. It will take more time and energy. (TN 45-65)

>>2747042
>>2747047
>>2747051
>>2747059
>>2747075
Dropping it is, writing!

>>2746243
>I've heard around the block that seeing a bunch of links does not attract new blood
Interesting. Archive link is always the first thing I'm looking for if the quest thread I'm checking out isn't part 1.

>>2747142
Narrative looks better from the catalog. A bunch of links doesn't mean anything to anyone but some nice writing might tease someone to click on the thread (which is the hardest part)

As tempting as it is to dive back into psionics you need to be practical right now. Time is of the essence and gathering as much diverse information as you can to paint a clearer picture is more preferred than one single piece of intelligence but nothing else to work with. As frustrating as it is, you let the psionic lead you found slip away. You’re only left with the knowledge that there was something but you don’t know what.

“What did you find?” You say, walking over to Zhang. You have to sidestep one of the doctors whose neck was snapped.

“What I had feared…” Zhang mutters, flipping through the documents. “Some of the documents are in French, but picture painted in these papers are quite clear. It is numerous medical reports and studies on the ‘Subject’ and their abilities. They were trying to replicate or understand your power themselves, and they have been doing it for quite some time.”

“Fucking Council.” You grunt as you take a look at the documents themselves. Most of it is graphs, data, and other difficult to understand information, but it’s quite clear it’s all directed on trying to research psionics.

Son of a bitch. It’s very likely then these guys either captured one of those Sectoid Commanders, another more powerful psionic alien… or another Gifted human such as yourself. There’s a good chance it’s the latter. You were hoping to find out about others like you in another situation, not like this…

Others like ‘yourself’. Is that really the right thing to say? You frown at the thought. The last thing you want is to be considered separate from human. Even if you might just be..

“No, it isn’t the Council entirely.” Zhang shakes his head. That surprises. “I believe this is something else internal. Behind the others backs, as you would say. Secretive. Why go through all of this effort to move this important cargo so openly? The entirety of the Council would likely have a more efficient way of transporting something so important than just moving it in a fairly overt military convoy.”

More in-fighting and politics then. Of fucking course. Whoever it is has connections to the Council and clearly is not a part of the mercenary group who were trying to take it. The aliens also really wanted the psion badly too. It… checks out with how the Intruder was so interested with you…

“...Any idea who’s behind it then?” You say, suppressing your sudden spike in anger at thinking about the Intruder again.

“I am not sure, at least not with this raw information.” Zhang says, taking what he can into a folder and making sure to record the rest on his bodycam. “I am sure Burnout will be able to go through all of this information more effectively. I believe I have thoroughly searched the area enough.”

You believe him, the place looks pretty well turned over even after the thrashing it got. Zhang has a keen eye for this stuff. Probably was important skill to have in his previous... 'profession'.

(Part 1 / 2)

File: EXALT Logo 1.jpg (19 KB, 1280x720)

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Both you and Zhang step out of the truck, feeling relieved to escape the oppressive atmosphere of the place. If events were different you could’ve been in a similar situation as the psion. And that pisses you off. You sympathize with the psion without before even realizing you are.

“What’s everyone’s status? Me and Zhang have found some things out.” You ask over the comms.

On the other end of the ruined convoy you see Burnout and Rook look over. Burnout does not look happy and it’s Rook speaks for him.

“We’ve found out that most of the security forces were French. There were some soldiers from other nationalities, but it is minor in comparison.” Rook explains over the comms. “Most of them are affiliated with the GIGN. Ah… Burnout knows at least one of the dead.”

You don’t need to have psionics to see how Burnout is taking it. He is clearly upset and conflicted in more ways than one seeing his fellow former comrades dead, all by those mercs pretty much. It was what he was fearing after all. With France being a Council member it makes sense most of the security forces were local. Burnout’’s not going to like what you and Zhang have found out…

“Harita and I have checked the vans, and barring more dead assailants there is nothing of note.” Loki chimes in. “All of it is unmarked and likely would’ve been disposed off after their attack. The aggressors themselves have little to no identification whatsoever barring their peculiar attire, particularly their orange scarves and bandannas.

“They are all of different ethnicities and their equipment is military grade.” Harita points out. “A possible insurgent force? These are not mere criminals.”

“It’s no difficult to acquire military equipment in a organized criminal group.” Zhang says.

“That may be true, but their equipment is all unmarked as well. They are extremely well funded. We did find a patch off one of them of their organization... they certainly like the color red and particular iconography...” Loki says, bemused.

You're curious about what the patch looks like but overall that’s not good news. Whoever this group is knows about the Council and their operations. Could they be a splinter faction within it? Or a throw-away force from one Council member to attack another? Something else? This shit is way above your pay grade, and you’re fighting aliens with lasers weapons.

You check the time left, you got over 15 minutes left, you’re making good time to investigate the buildings. You and the rest of strike one could properly check out the last location or more here or get out with extra time to spare. Command hasn’t warned you of any surprises, but you have a hunch that some complication will arise the longer you stick around…

>Keep investigating and search out the buildings.
>You got enough, it’s time to leave.

>>2747170
>>Keep investigating and search out the buildings.

>>2747165
I feel like we can say there was a good chance of it being human due to the medical equipment and medicine in the truck yeah?

Along with how frightened the aliens were in our fight. And the fact the aliens were still here. If the psionic was on their side they would have taken it and left with no fuss.

>>2747170
>>You got enough, it’s time to leave.
Scoot with what we have before the council guys show up.

>>2747170
>Keep investigating and search out the buildings
>I want Burnout somewhere high and looking out for the Council clean up crew. Give us some early warning.

>>2747170
>Keep investigating and search out the buildings.

>>2747170
>>Keep investigating and search out the buildings
>Call in the Skyranger now so we can leave at a moment's notice

>>2747170
>Keep investigating and search out the buildings.
>Call in the Skyranger now and bring the unconscious ayys to it

>>2747174
>>2747183
>>2747185
>>2747188
>>2747194
Sticking around to check out the buildings, writing! This will also be the last post for tonight.

>>2747170
>Keep investigating and search out the buildings.

“I’m calling the Skyranger to land for pickup but we’re going to regroup and take a quick look at the buildings before we leave. We still have time.” You say, calling in Big Sky as the squad links back up. Big Sky’s going to have to land on the other side of the buildings, it’s the only open landing area. A short jog but not a problem unless you somehow get held down.

Loki shows you the patch, which is a rather peculiar logo for the merc group. The ‘eye’ in the design raises some implications on how this group view themselves, but besides that and the scarves they’re pretty nondescript. It’s a good find but there’s not much you can figure out from that for now. At the very least it’s an identifier if you ever encounter more of these guys.

“Are you alright?” Harita says to Burnout when everyone’s together, worried for him. She can clearly see how troubled the Scout is over seeing the dead. The cigarette in his lips is all but the stub and ash. Burnout sigh and composes himself at that, putting aside the troubling news until later. When he lights another cigarette that’s when Harita relents.

You’d ask for Burnout to take a look at the recovered documents from the truck, but you decide to let the man have a bit of space for the moment.

With your squad together you and the others begin to quickly comb through the pair of buildings for anything of note to add to the growing evidence. The storage building does not have much besides the unconscious Thin Man (which is collected for retrieval) and more corpses that don’t say anything. Loki’s effectiveness at destruction for once becomes a problem with the record store turned to a giant pile of rubble. Loki apologizes for that.

Your group is thorough and as quick as they can be, but it seems that there is nothing. At just under the eight minute mark remaining you decide to call off the search, wanting to be well in the air and far away from the AO before the Council’s forces arrive. As you and the others turn to leave with both alien captures in hand… the rubble in the record store begins to move and turn over.

(Part 1 / 2)

Your squad stops immediately and spins around to bring their weapons to bear on the movement. Did one of the aliens survive a building dropping on them? It’s not clear yet, but you’re not going to take any chances. Without a word, you motion for the rest of the squad to fan out around the pile of moving rubble, weapons trained. Nodding to Harita, the both of you approach. Assaults are the best to investigate this, after all. You have to be careful to not lose your footing as you traverse the rubble and slip, but you manage to reach the moving mound of rubble.

You and Harita wait for a few tense moments… until you see a hand pry itself out from the rubble. A human hand.

Weapons are lowered as you and Harita opt to help remove the rubble for the trapped person within… until you see there’s not one but two pairs of human hands. Two survivors.It could be civilians or perhaps a convoy survivor, whatever the case you’ll gain some valuable information from them. You don’t have the rest of the squad assist on the off chance whoever’s underneath will do anything funny. It’s not difficult to make an opening however.

An opening is made to… a basement access of the record store where the two survivors have taken cover. With the rubble removed, the night sky, fires, and street lights illuminate the pair below. The pair you see… essentially confirmed what you had feared. Within you see a Council security member… and one of the men wearing a suit and orange scarf. The pair look like they’ve seen some shit and their respective uniforms are completely dusty from the building collapsing on them. Both of them have lost their weapons.

“Oh shit.” The scarf wearing man sputters.

The Council trooper exclaims something similar in French, it’s very likely some sort’ve curse.

The pair look at you and your squad, and you and the rest of your squad look back at them. Things have just become complicated, and to make matters worse, you can hear sirens in the distance. Burnout in particular bristles at sight of the pair. The pair are frozen.

Strike-1 has less than five minutes left.

>Demand answers! Keep them right where they are.
>Get the pair out of the rubble. They’ll probably be more cooperative in explaining things.
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
>Other

File: Sleepy Naru.jpg (119 KB, 500x500)

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>...And with that, I'm going to call it here for tonight! So until next post...

Thanks for playing!

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

HAI BUDDIES! WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN X-COM? WE GOT FREE FOOD!

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
Stun them with the Arc Thrower if we have to.

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
Seconding the suggestion of using arc thrower if they try to start shit. Nothing beats waking up sandwiched between a thin man and a sectoid.

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
Violently if necessary

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
Let someone up the chain of command deal with this shit. You were asked to gather Intel so Intel you shall gather whether it likes it or not.

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
Use improved cuffs AFTER boarding the Skyranger if you have them.

>>2747247
>>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!

>>2747247
>>No time, just get them both on the Skyranger and get out of there!
Thanks for the run! I love this quest so much!

Calling the vote here!

“You both are coming with us.” You say matter of factly. XCOM needs to be scarce right now and these two are going to be hitching a ride whether they like it or not. Your team complies and moving closer to wrangle them in, weapons remaining drawn so neither of them don’t try anything funny.

The Council soldier however is completely confused and speaks nervously in French. He doesn’t know English. A rarity given how most multinational forces usually know passable enough English for communication. The scarf wearing mercenary very much knows English and he can see where the wind is blowing. He sighs and shakes his head, an amused look in his eyes.

“Look. You guys are making a big mistake. A real fucking big mistake” The man starts speaking big, looking at you and the rest of Strike-1. “You really don’t want to mess with the group I work for, we’re way bigger than you think we--”

Your Arc Thrower makes short work of the guy before he can even say another word, immediately knock the man out in one shot. He drops like a sack of potatoes onto the rubble. The french soldier yelps in surprise at your quick draw, looking down at the KO’d merc. You nod appreciatively to the arc thrower. It’s a fine piece of kit.

“Oh good, you stunned him.” Loki says, relieved. “Thank you. I wouldn't have been able to bear hearing his drivel for much longer.”

Loki volunteers herself for carrying duty and is already moving over to carry the man over her shoulder. Meanwhile, the French Council soldier, while initially glad that you seem to be on his side… very quickly realizes the squad isn’t lowering their weapons. Zhang moves him forward himself, prodding him with his Autolaser towards the Skyranger. A bit more aggressive than you’d hope, actually. Relief turns to hesitation which turns to confusion and worry in a drop of a hat. He speaks but you don’t understand any word he’s saying, though he’s instantly pointing towards the sirens.

“He is asking why we are not waiting for the authorities.” Burnout translates.

The French soldier quickly catches Burnout’s accent and his gears shift to trying to ask what’s going on to Burnout. Your Scout doesn’t reply back. You’re surprised, you expected Burnout to have some doubts about this but… he instead merely nods to you. He understands the situation.

The French soldier is getting desperate now as Zhang forces him forward toward the Skyranger.

“Maybe we should convince him we mean him no harm?” Harita says, put off by this. “At the very least his cooperation would make things go more smoothly, yes?”

“We don’t have time for that.” Rook grunts, wincing with each step he makes. “Council’s about to arrive.”

“I can make him comply, if need be.” Burnout answers. “But it will take time we may not have.”

There’s always just stunning him. It’d save the most time, but he’s definitely not going to be happy or cooperative later...

Time’s running out.

>Just stun him.
>Have Burnout try and get him to comply.
>Other

>>2752753
>>Have Burnout try and get him to comply.

>>2752753
>Tell him the authorities are in cahoots with the orange scarves. He has to come with us if he wants to leave.

>>2752753
>Have Burnout try and get him to comply.
>Other
Tell him we need to evac now and we're with the council. We'll explain more on the way home.
If he resists too much we need to stun and GTFO. The optional objectives compliance shouldn't risk us getting caught by the council.

>>2752753
>Other
>Have Burnout tell the guy that the 'authorities' may have been infiltrated by the orange scarves and he's safer with you
No point telling him the truth, this should be good enough to calm him down.

>>2752753
>>2752790
Also seconding the vote to use arc thrower if he doesn't comply.

>>2752792
go with this

>>2752753
>>Other
Leave without the French Council guy. Drag the Exalt merc on board.

>>2752753
>>Have Burnout try and get him to comply.
Make it matter-of-fact but not menacing. Tell that there's shady shit going on and we need his help.

>>2752753
>Have Burnout try and get him to comply.
Tell him that we have reason to believe that these scarves have people on the inside with the council. That's how they were able to ambush him and his squad. We need his testimony to get to the bottom of this, but we also need to keep him safe and make sure the scarves don't alter the official report.

>>2752775
>>2752790
>>2752792
backing these

>>2753046
Not technically a lie and it's something the Commander can use for politics later.

>>2753046
That's solid there

Calling the vote here!

Oh good, I caught it live.
I wanna say it’s a good quest, and thanks to it I’m recently reinstalled XCOM with a long war and try to finally beat it. Damn, those damn sectoids.
And I’m surprised that no party, not XCOM, not EXALT, not even Council dubbed sectoids most obvious nickname - Greys. Why sectoids anyway?

>>2755611
>Why sectoids anyway?
It sounds alien.

I'm going to start updating/writing now but it will be phoneposting unfortunately, please be patient for each upcoming update!

As close as the local military and Council forces may be to the AO, getting this surviving soldier to cooperate would make the interrogation process go a lot smoother. Hell, it could probably be spun in a way that would make the guy nome the wiser...

“Burnout, let our friend here know that we're getting him out of the area for his safety. Tell him about how the scarves have likely infiltrated the Council and were going to need his testimony. We don’t want the scarves to alter the official report on us.” You say, motioning for a understandably suspicious Zhang to be less pushy. Its probably what's actually going on anyways so the logic checks out.

Burnout nods and gets to relaying the information to the very rattled soldier. It’s quite fortunate that Burnout got to tag along for the mission. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring certain squadmembers along for particular missions if they know the local language. Something to consider.

The downside to getting the soldier to be on “your side" is that it's taking precious time. You can see the familiar flashing red and blue lights of police in the distance, rapidly closing in. You and the rest of the squad move as quickly as possible without spooking the survivor. Picking up the extra stunned aliens does not help with time but with the very real possibility of the scarves being highly placed, you don't want the Council to touch the stunned aliens.

Strike-1 manages to reach the Skyranger and take off, however the authorities arrive just in time enough to see the dropship take flight. It’ll raise questions, but they don’t catch anything too incriminating.

Mission accomplished, with only one injury and bonus objectives in tow. Not bad.

(Part 1 / 2)

“Ah, what a enjoyable mission. I had the opportunity to level a building and enjoy a free show from Dozer.” Loki chuckles, settling down in one of the Skyranger seats. She pushes aside the Scarf guy sprawled out on the floor with the Thin Man and Sectoid to give herself more leg room like nothing.

Burnout is still talking to the shaken soldier who is calmer having someone to talk to but still twitchy.

“Um, I don’t think we should be talking about what Dozer [i]did[/i], impressive as it was…” Harita says, looking over to the French soldier and then you.

“I will later, and it will be with the whole squad.” You say, keeping The Gift as vague as possible just in case. “Zhang already knew, but I was told to keep it under wraps until necessary. Rook getting hit was necessary enough in my book.”

Zhangs shrugs and Rook just awkwardly nods in thanks, his enthusiasm from earlier winding down with the adrenaline of combat.

“We’re looking forward to it.” Loki hums. Harita nods in agreement.

The flight back to base is mostly uneventful barring the Thin Man seeming to stir before you stun it with your Arc Thrower to keep it unconcious. Its successful with only the side effect of everyone’s hair getting frizzy. The Arc Thrower seems to get the French trooper to suddenly explode in conversation with Burnout over something, which you’ll have to wait until later to ask.

What do you do to pass some free time?

>Try and review the documents Zhang found.
>Observe how the survivor is holding up.
>Chat with someone. (Specify)
>Just relax.
>Other

>>2756745
>>Try and review the documents Zhang found.
Who's that Pscionic?

>>2756745
>>Try and review the documents Zhang found.

>>2756745
>Try and review the documents Zhang found.

>>2756745
>>Try and review the documents Zhang found.

>>2756745
>Try and review the documents Zhang found.

>>2756745
>Observe how the survivor is holding up.

>>2756745
>Chat with a Rook
Poor guy is almost completely broken by us. We REALLY should sorry him.

>>2756947
Rook only deserves a punch in the face.

>>2756986
Why you are mean to him? Dude literally did nothing wrong.

>>2756745
>>Chat with someone. (Specify)
I'll vote for Rook. It has to be hella awkward to be in his position, and we still need to clear the air.

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Going to leave the vote ongoing for a bit longer as I wont be able to write for some time. Ill let you guys know when I got the opportunity to. Sorry!

>>2756995
>did nothing wrong
I'm not even going to touch Gangplank or him hiding the fact that Rachel was a MEC candidate. Rook was only ever a passable leader at best. He can give decently competent commands but he has demonstrated repeatedly that he cannot handle a situation that has gone tits up. He can 'probably' get you through a mission alive, but he cannot inspire loyalty and fighting spirit the way the Commander and Dozer can.

>>2757079
You said it yourself though, Dozer is a better leader. Now that Rook is a subordinate shouldn't we treat him as well as we do the others?

>>2757086
You're right, which is why we aren't giving him the punch he deserves.

>>2757079
Room got them through about who knows how much missions before us without any casualties. It speaks something about his abilities as a leader.

>>2756745
>Try and review the documents Zhang found.

>>2757132
I like to think that over time, he became so obsessed with not losing anyone. Which was probably why he cracked super fucking hard and basically shattered.

>>2757132
We also know that the ayys started escalating
their operations not long after we arrived. His "play it safe as fuck" style was perfectly fine at first, but as things have heated up a different kind of leader was required.

>>2757229
Kind of leader that rushes into every battle available?

Finally back home, gonna take it nice and easy and keep updates steady, still on the slower side though. Writing!

>>2755611
They have bug eyes like insects

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With the very likely prospects of another Gifted individual like yourself, you can’t help but turn your attention to the collected documents found by Zhang. The Gunner hand managed to very thoroughly sweep through the truck’s interior and collected a sizable small stack of files and papers and a hard drive from one of the computers. You’ll have to thank him later for the good work. You’d ask Burnout to skim through the documents but he’s still busy with the survivor, but that won’t stop you from trying to figure things out as best as you can yourself.

The entire flight back, you bury yourself into the documents at hand. It’s all unfortunately in French so most of it is simply lost in translation alongside flying past your head when charts and more technical jargon, but just getting the very light gist of the findings is both extremely intriguing and… quite frustrating actually. The scientists have been busy, and had been researching psionics for quite some time. Very thoroughly.

A lot of the findings is all centered around a single ‘subject’ as Zhang had explained. The entirety of their research was built around this single individual, who is almost certainly human such as yourself. Without this subject, the whole research project would be non-existent. The subject seemed to be highly dangerous and many precautions seemed to have been required for experiments and handling. Almost half of the documents seem to be procedures and safety protocols if it isn’t data of some kind. They were very clearly afraid of the subject, and those lingering emotions you felt are to be anything, the subject absolutely despised their captures and wanted to escape.

Many questions swirl in your head the more you attempt to understand these documents. How long have they had the subject? Was the subject aware of their abilities prior? Is there some sort of trigger or way to determine those who have the Gift that is hidden in these files?

Why are they keeping all of this to themselves? XCOM’s fighting the aliens head on, dealing with the receiving end of psionics ever since the start of the war. Until now, you were the only one who had the Gift. All of this research would have benefited the war effort immensely. There’s a project lead and main laboratory somewhere in France, and a part of you wants to kick in the door and get to the bottom of what the Council is doing. That or find the subject and get them safely within XCOM’s hands.

Like what the fuck, the world should be working together not hiding shit like this from one another.

(Part 1 / 2)

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By the time you are fed up with staring at illegible text and confusing charts and graphs, you feel Harita shaking your shoulder.

“We’re back.” She says, motioning towards the now opening ramp.

You blink. The others are already making their way down and waiting for you on the ramp. Scientists are on hand to bring the stunned aliens to containment, a paramedics are on hand and are getting Rook ready to be transported to medical, and a squad of Blueshirts are handling detaining both the unconscious Scarf and surprised French survivor with the help of Burnout.

“Oh. Er, thanks. I didn’t realize we were back so soon.” You answer, restacking all of the papers together into one pile from your lap.

“You were so engrossed looking through those files that nobody wanted to bother you.” Harita replies, giving you a reassuring smile. “Did you learn anything of note?”

“That there’s another one like me and the Council’s been holding out on us.” You frown, standing up and taking care not to drop the files.

Stepping out of the Skyranger with Harita you see the Commander approach the landing platform with Bradford in tow. Bradford makes a beeline for the French survivor for ‘debriefing’ and the Commander makes her way to you and the rest of the squad. You and the rest of Strike-1 snap salutes alongside the other Blueshirt security. The survivor is taken aback by the sight of her before Bradford gets his attention.

“Welcome back, Strike-1!” The Commander says. “What gifts did you bring for me?”

“Documents, survivors, and captures.” You answer, presenting the stack of documents to her. “It’s all in French, unfortunately.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I know French then! Excellent work once again.” The Commander chuckles, before motioning for your squad to follow her. You all do. You note the Commander gives the survivor a reassuring look before leaving Bradford to him.

You all eventually arrive at the debriefing room where there's already prepared cups of coffee and donuts for each of you. You join the rest of Strike-1 in settling down. You very quickly find out both the coffee and donuts were prepared by the Commander herself, as only she has the ability to make some real damn good coffee and pastries.

“Now then. I’d like to hear what happened down in France directly. Is there anything important that you’d like to tell me first that you couldn't over the comms...?” The Commander starts, looking among the squad.

>There’s another Gifted person like yourself somewhere.
>The Council is holding back on XCOM.
>Have Loki show the Commander that red patch she found. Would the Commander know?
>Ask that Bradford goes each on the convoy survivor. Explain the ‘situation’ as you had Burnout tell him.
>Other

>>2757421
>>There’s another Gifted person like yourself somewhere.
>>Have Loki show the Commander that red patch she found. Would the Commander know?

>>2757421
>The Council is holding back on XCOM.

>>2757421
>>There’s another Gifted person like yourself somewhere.
>>The Council is holding back on XCOM.

>>2757421
>The Council was transporting another Gifted person like myself, only they had been working on this person for quite awhile and neglected to tell us. I can't tell you the order of events but both the aliens and a human third party ambushed the convoy, both probably having the intention of capturing the Psionic. From the looks of things and considering how afraid and rattled the aliens forces on the ground were I'd wager that this third party won the fight and made off with the Psionic, leaving the aliens to pick up the pieces.

>Ask that Bradford goes each on the convoy survivor. Explain the ‘situation’ as you had Burnout tell him.
It'll be good to keep everyone's story straight.

>>2757079
>but he cannot inspire loyalty and fighting spirit the way the Commander and Dozer can.
Bit unfair, as Dozer and the Commander are Psions. I also dont understand why he was bumped down to Trooper instead of second in command.

>>2757421
>Ask that Bradford goes each on the convoy survivor
What ?

>>2757421
>There’s another Gifted person like yourself somewhere.
>Which was withheld from us, whether by the council as a whole or just the French I can't say for sure.

>>2757541
Supporting, but adding
>I'd suggest we be careful with the orange scarfed survivor. He appears to be with the human third party. Perhaps it's paranoia, but he might attempt suicide to prevent us from learning anything. They seemed like a pretty serious paramilitary group, brave and well informed enough to attack a Council convoy which France was clearly trying to stay covert.

>>2757678
seconding

>>2757685
Genre savviness has me already assuming this dude has a cyanide capsule in one of his teeth, desu.

>>2757694
Well, Usually exalt have a needle full of "Fuck you, you're dead in 5 seconds" juice

>>2757694
Think we should try to convince him that we got him out of the clutches of the Council?
>>2757700
Well usually but this quest has proven some very unique things have happen.
>>2757421
Terror from the Deep DLC when PIXEL? WHEN?

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>>2757421
>There’s another Gifted person like yourself somewhere.
>Have Loki show the Commander that red patch she found. Would the Commander know?
>Ask that Bradford goes each on the convoy survivor. Explain the ‘situation’ as you had Burnout tell him.
I just want to vote for every option but I'm sure the Commander already knows the Council isn't being very cooperative.

>>2757678
I suspect he would already have done that instead of trashtalking us when we dug him up if he had had one. Maybe he had an injector but he broke it.

>>2757421
supporting >>2757541 and >>2757678

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Oh jeez, I fell asleep at the keyboard. I'm going to try and crank out another update but if I don't I probably just went to bed. Suffice to say it'll be the last one for the evening. I'll try and post more tomorrow.

>>2757764
Calling the vote here if that wasn't obvious also!

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It takes a moment for you to answer as you only now realize you and the rest of Strike-1 are going to town on these donuts. It’s not that you DON’T want to answer her but… these donuts are simply too delicious for their own good. The Commander isn’t in any particular hurry and waits for you and the others to finish eating the donuts, washing it down with some coffee. Coincidentally the coffee is also fantastic and it's made just how you’d prefer it, black and with sugar. You like to keep it simple. You assume The Commander prepared everyone’s coffee the same… but it appears that everyone has a different variation. Huh, The Commander is pretty thoughtful of her troops.

“The Council was transporting another Gifted person like myself, only they’ve been working on this person for quite a while and… neglected to tell us.” You start, setting your empty coffee mug down onto the table. The Commander listens. “I can’t tell you the order of events but both the aliens and a third human party ambushed the convoy, both probably having the intention of capturing the Psionic.”

“It was a mess down there, even before we arrived.” Loki adds. “Though, we did contribute to the mess a fair bit.”

“Right.” You nod. “From the looks of things and considering how afraid and rattled the aliens were on the ground, there’s a good chance the third party had won the fight and made off with the Psionic, leaving the aliens behind to pick up the pieces.”

“That does seem to have lined up with what information I had managed to wriggle out of the Spokesperson.” The Commander replies. “The initial call for help was of a conventional attack, not alien. But, with Thin Men and Faceless being a possible enemy it wasn’t a far stretch that it was alien activity. How did you confirm it was another Psionic such as yourself, Dozer?”

“Zhang had found enough documentation to point things to the right direction, the AO was affected in certain ways that couldn’t have been a normal firefight, and… well… I sensed it.” You say, pausing at the last part.

Even just talking about your abilities is enough to get some form of curiosity from the others. You try not to look back, but you do catch Zhang just shaking his head again from the corner of your eye.

“Interesting.” The Commander says.

“They practically tortured the other Psion, ma’am. I could feel it. If it wasn’t for the fact we could’ve used those doctors for research I’m glad they’re dead.” You mutter, feeling a small surge of sympathetic anger for what the other Psion had went through.

“Noted.”

(Part 1 / 2)

“Speaking of the third human party, the orange scarfed survivor was one of the them. I made sure he was out cold before he could try anything funny. We found both him and the convoy security member together underneath one of the buildings.” You say, forcing yourself to get back on topic.

“The pair had a sort’ve unspoken truce after the aliens had arrived that in normal circumstances they’d try to kill the other, but they both had a better chance surviving the aliens if they worked together.” Burnout explains, filling in the blanks for everyone.

“That’s… oddly nice.” Harita comments.

Shame it took the threat of dying by aliens for enemies to work together.
“The convoy member, Corporal Maret, was knocked unconscious by a specialist unit of some type sent by the third party. He was too shaken to explain the details but it sounded as if the third group has alien tech.”

The Commander frowns at that, and for a moment you see a flash of that very terrifying other side of her flicker through. She’s not happy to hear that. You aren’t either.

“They did seem like a pretty serious paramilitary group, after all they were brave and well informed enough to attack a Council convoy which France was clearly trying to stay covert.”

“Funny you should mention that.” The Commander replies. “From what I was inferring to with my discussions with the Spokesperson, France was keeping their little experiments secret from everyone. I’m letting Burnout specifically know this ahead of time, it’s only fair he and other French personnel knows.”

“I… am not surprised.” Burnout sighs. “I am disappointed in how my government has acted. The lives of good men and women were wasted. From Corporal Maret’s explanations most of the security team barring higher ranked members were not in the know of what they were transporting besides it being a high valued objective..”

“Speaking of the corporal, could you have Bradford go easy on the guy? We gave him a plausible enough story involving the third party to get him to tag along and comply.” You say.

“I’ll let Central know.” The Commander smiles. “You all did very well overall, Strike-1 and barring an mission report soon, I won’t keep you in one place any longer, unless any of you have something you wish to add.”

Nobody else has anything to say. Do you?

>Specify.
>You don't have anything to add.

>>2757848
>Specify
The red patch, that's important.
Also, did we get any of the third party's firearms? They could be useful by tracking them down by serial number.

>>2757851
We also need search a red scarf guy before he does any funny stuff like needling someone with a insta-kill stuff

>>2757848
also how many aliens did we manage to capture ?

>>2757859
If I remember right, a Thin Man and one of those Flyers.

>>2757861
Sectoid, actually. We RIPANDTEAR’d Floaters.

>>2757848
>Specify.
We should probably confront the Commander and request permission to reveal the nature of our psionic abilities to our squad. At the very least we should know the extent of what we're allowed to reveal, even if it's hopefully everything.

Also the red patch, that too.

>>2757859
It was a Thin Man and a Sectoid!

>>2757851
Unfortunately all the weapons were unmarked. EXALT's used to throwing mooks at their enemies after all!

>>2757864
The Commander's already fine with letting Strike-1 be in the know of Dozer's psionics so long as he has them keep quiet. It's going to be more difficult keeping things under wraps obviously, but it was only a matter of time before Dozer was going to be a big damn psionic hero for the team. The Commander practically planned for it ahead of time!

>>2757848
>France was keeping their little experiments secret from everyone
I don’t believe that for a second

>>2757870
I bet if it would be Engl*nd or G*rmans, you would eat it up, huh, frenchie?!

>>2757856
That, too.
What if they implement the fun time syringes exactly due to this incident?
>>2757866
>unmarked
I should have seen that coming.

>>2757848
Seconding the vote to give her the red patch.

>>2757898
>>2757885
Why not both?
Show the Commander a red patch AND search a guy?

>>2757848
Both of these:
>>2757851
>>2757856

>>2757899
He's an enemy prisoner so the blueshirts are going to do a bodycheck anyway and I'm sure they won't let him keep any items they find on him. And if he had a capsule hidden in his mouth I believe he would've killed himself when he realized we're not his allies. But instead he started trying to negotiate with us.

>>2757912
I guess in this timeline, “suicide needle” will be introduced to the EXALT troopers kit after this fuck-up.

>>2757917
It makes complete sense for the original timeline as well.

>>2757912
>>2757917

Alternatively, this guy is just too cowardly to use whatever suicide method he has. Even in real life, suicide capsules weren't standard issue for most government spies and covert military groups. You usually had to request them.

>>2757995
Didn't Gary Powers have one?

>>2758017
Yeah, he had a poison needle version, basically. People did request them as an option. I was just saying that people aren't generally required to commit suicide or always given the means, even in covert missions.

>>2757912
>going to do a bodycheck anyway
What if he has one hidden in his anus ?

>>2758212
Then I guess Valen will have to do a cavity search without any lube nearby.

>>2758215
But what if he has the needle exposed facing out, so when someone reaches in they get stuck by the needle? We should have a red shirt do the search.

>All these shadowruns
Jesus, people, you're being way too paranoid! He was tazed! What could possibly go wrong?

>>2758265
You've just raised a dozen death flags, you know.

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>>2758262
Then you use a magnet to pull it out while keeping the agent's Anus open with a medical spreader.
>But what if-
Then shut up and deal with it as it comes up. No sense in getting your knickers in a twist about what can happen when it has yet to even come up.

>>2758265
Alright, he said it. We're all dead.

>>2758265
And you. You go back in the weapon locker like the bullied nerd that you are.

>>2758265
I just hope that the faceless can't keep their form through being stunned. It would be a really nasty surprise for this guy to turn into a faceless now that he's inside the base. Especially if some poor blueshirt has his hand up to elbow inside the guy's ass when he transforms.

>>2758392
>the scarfdude is a faceless
Yeah, right, and next time you will say that Loki under all this mysterious sophistication is actually is a huge dork lovestruck to a Dozer, first glance stuff.
OR, maybe she is a FOOOKING SPY, READY TO SAP OUR SENTRIES FOR A GLORY OF EXALT

Calling the vote here!

>>2758768
>OR, maybe she is a FOOOKING SPY, READY TO SAP OUR SENTRIES FOR A GLORY OF EXALT


I knew it!

I really hope this quest will fill that Blorp-shaped hole in my heart. Damn, I miss that guy, his quests was awesome shit.

>>2759093
Tell me about it. I miss Urist and Big Sis.

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Hey, Piixel, are you open for a commission or some rough sketch? Because I have an idea for picture of your quest:
A Burnout with a classic “XCOM haircut”, looking slightly uncomfortable and frustrated.

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“We did find one thing of note from the third party, this patch.” You hand the red patch over to the Commander.

“Hm.” The Commander looks it over for a moment. “The design is almost religious, and definitely… secretive with the eye symbol. It doesn’t like a mere unit patch either. It’s very likely their logo for their organization as a whole, much like our own.”

“Do you have any idea on what their organization could be? What their plan could be?”

The Commander lays the patch on the table alongside the somewhat sprawled pile of documents and other collected evidence. Her eyes flitter from across the findings. One of her hands is idly resting on her revolver, reminding you of a gunslinger ready to draw her weapon with lightning reflexes.

“Trouble for the Council… and eventually us, whether we want it or not.” She eventually says after a moment, that other side of her coming out. “Be it Inter-conflict or some wildcard third party, the Council isn’t going to let their nose being bloodied like this stand. They’re all too chickenshit to actually commit to anything so they’ll send us instead. Our prime directive to protect all humanity be damned if it means they can get away with it. Cowards.”

The other members of Strike-1 are thrown off the loop, not expecting this more… harsher Commander all of a sudden. You’ve seen this side of hers a few times before, it's still fairly intimidating even to you, and you’re psionic. The Commander probably keeps this side of her directed at enemys and not her own troops. You’re glad for that.

“Thank you for finding this patch.” The Commander says, calming down. “It will be very useful in learning about this group.”

“Anything to help the effort. Speaking of which, given how suspicious Mr. Scarf is, would you be fine if I were to assist the Bluesh- Security team in searching him? I have experience from the FBI, plus you know what. He might try and kill himself if he gets the chance” You say, recalling the prisoner.

“...You do know that’s the Blueshirt’s job, yes?” The Commander smiles, amused.

“Er… yes.” You cough. “But still, you never know.”

“That’s our Dozer. Always rather eager to be useful.” Loki muses. Strike-1 murmurs in agreement.

“It is a very Dozer quirk.” Burnout nods.

“Yep.” Rook mutters.

Zhang shrugs and Harita gives you an apologetic look. Neither deny it. The Commander giggles a bit.

Gee, thanks guys.

“I won’t stop you if you really want to Dozer, but I believe the Blueshirts will have it under control. Speak to the Security Chief, I’ll let her know you're interested in helping.” The Commander winks.

You nod.

“Now, is there any other questions?” The Commander asks, looking about the room. Nobody replies. “Alright then, you’re all dismissed. Have a good morning. You’ve all earned it.”

Strike-1 salutes her and you all take your leave.

(Part 1 / 2)

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It’s when you and the rest of the squad exit the briefing room to be left among yourselves that it dawns on the squad what the Commander had said at the end. It is in fact morning. Around about 0640-ish in fact.

“I did not even realize the time until the Commander had said so…” Harita says, a bit surprised.

“It’s hard to tell the time anymore when one is either down in the base or flying in the Skyranger.” Zhang says.

“The Commander’s coffee and donuts definitely helped.” You add.

Everyone's in agreement at that.

You think Loki is about to comment positively on the ferocity of the Commander at the end of the debriefing when you see a familiar face hurrying over to meet up with the squad, Rachel. She’s… hopping towards you and the others, actually. Trying to attach her right metal leg as if she were hurriedly trying to slip on a pair of shoes. Judging by her bedraggled hair someone woke her up to let her know Strike-1s back.

“Hey! Welcome back guys! I was bored out of my goddamn mind waiting for you all.” Rachel calls out with a relieved grin on her face. “Did ya give the aliens hell of a beating out there?”

“That we did. Though, it was mostly Dozer that did all the work.” Rook says quietly.

“Oh?” Rachel looks over to you. “You beat the crap out of them with your bare hands or something?”

“Uhh…” You look about and see some random staff nearby. As much as you want to say yes-

“Oh he did more than just that.” Loki says quickly. “He threw a car door at a Floater.”

“Hey-!” You go wide eyed at Loki.

“Pfft! Yeah right.” Rachel laughs. “I’m the MEC in Strike-1 here not him. What else did he do, freaking glow?”

“Why yes he did… do you want to know what color it was?” Loki smiles cheekily, leaning forward and lowering her voice. Rachel is none the wiser, playing along with the ‘joke’.

You just facepalm. Rachel and the other members of Strike-1 are going to find out real soon about your Gift… you’ll just let Loki have her fun. Everyone that came along on the mission earned a bit of leeway, after all.

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>...And with that I'm going to call the thread here! Not much to say but hopefully expect some new art next thread if I can get motivated enough for it. So until next time...

Thanks for playing!

Thanks for the run Pixel!

>>2760082
Thanks for the run!

>>2760082
always a pleasure!

>>2760078
Time to get out the latex gloves..

Hey guys. How long you think do we have threads before sneks and Snakemen will arrive?

>>2760347
Which squad member do you expect to bring up the fact that the poison sacks on snakes are shaped like tits? My bet is on Burnout.

>>2760394
I bet it’s some girl with a some insecurities about their breast size. I bet it’s a ____Harita__

>>2760432
My bet is on ___Rachel___

>>2760438
>>2760432
Oh, for fucks sake, it will be a Peppermint. Sweet we also spreg out about anatomy, and Burnout would be unphased. Because that’s his fetish

>>2760553
And Rachel will want to have Battery packs added under breasts but over her pectoral so she can go longer harder.

So, what’s your headcanon about Sneks and Snakemen (from UFO)? Are they all from same race? What’s their deal with a Chryssalids? Are they free are yet another experiment?
In my headcanon, they are same specie, and their home planet. Provided that Snakemen usually have for about 20 eggs with at all the times, snakemen role in Snek society much more passive than a Sneks, thanks to their venom sacks. Mens are homemakers and artisans, while women are hunters and warriors. Their planet is quite harsh where key of survival is a spew as much babies as you can. Chryssalids are an apex predators/parasites of said planet, and when Etherials came, they saw potential of both dominant species - Sneks are spies and Snekmen as technicians and Chryssalid herders.

Snakemen are much more bigger and bulkier than a Sneks, but they are much more agile and have venom to boot.

>>2760844
>Mens are homemakers and artisans, while women are hunters and warriors.

I'm pretty sure that Snakemen would actually be the women and Sneks men. Because the ones who produce eggs are female by definition.

>>2761696
>tfw your snek Waugh is actually a futa.
Kinky.
Maybe they are like seahorses - snakemen just carries eggs with them?

>>2761719
Snek waifu*

>>2761719
The description from the original XCom implied Snakemen had eggs inside, not in pouches or anything. So probably not like seahorses.

>>2761734
Not implied, but outright stated it.
So, yeah, Sneks are futas.

>>2761773
>snakeposters are literally homos
Not surprised to be honest

>>2762115
You know what they say: it’s not gay if it’s alien.

New thread soon!

>>2762654
ETA?

>>2763555

Writing the op now, came back home a bit late!

>>2763837

Thread's up, sorry for the delay!